Two Weeks Before Christmas...

I've been having a hard time getting into the whole Christmas spirit this year. We live 2000 miles away from our family and have no visitors this year. Not to mention we've had no snow until now.
Today, Dec 12, we've been blessed.
First of all, it started to snow today. Everything is white and fresh.
Secondly, I hosted the HWG Christmas Luncheon while my husband went to a karate seminar.

Not all of the HWG group was here, but the ones to joined the party had a wonderful time. Plenty of food. Great conversation. And my cats. I was worried about the cats causing problems but they were wonderful. Oscar slept the entire time, Jazz made his rounds as a social butterfly. He checked out all of our guests - heads and feet - and seemed to approve of them all. Tonight, Jazz was asleep on the foot of my son's bed. Exhausted from the festivities. So were the kids!

As writers, we all had a similar complaint. Not enough time/too busy to write. Although today gave some of us a lot of inspiration. The company, the snow and the food.

We did get to see the proof of our book A Walk in Fields of Gold which should be in our cold little hands later this week. A step toward getting more work published.

I've made the same New Year's Resolution for the past several years: to have my own book published.
This year, 2010, I've had stories published in two anthologies, A Walk in Fields of Gold and Stories of Prayer and Faith, and photographs published in Escarpment Views and more lyrics recorded on my dad's albums.

In 2011, I'm making an even bigger push to get my own novels published.
One baby step at a time, I'm making my dream of being a "real writer" come true.
Stay tuned to track my progress!

The Great Procrastinator

If there's one thing I'm great it, it's procrastinating.
It's true.
If I weren't so darn good at it I'd already be published several times over, my house would be spotless and my kids would have the cleanest, most hole-free clothes on the block.
Alas, this is one area in which I excel.

Then I get those phases where I see a job that needs to be done and get it done before I have the opportunity to put it off. No seizing the chance to procrastinate - I jump before the dust can settle and get things done. In general, I'm not exactly a go-getter. Nope, not me. But the more I sit back, the more nothing gets accomplished.

Query letters don't write themselves. Novels don't edit themselves. (Although the kids are learning to cook and clean.) In short, no one else will do it for me. At the end of the day, it's ME who has to put on my "game face" and do what must be done if I ever want my novels to grace the shelves of Coles, Chapters and Amazon. I am the only person who cares if my work is ever published.

Every little triumph I have, whether it be publishing a photograph or short story in a magazine, a story or poem in an anthology or a full-length novel in bookform or on-line is added to my list of accomplishments. Every year, that list grows a little bit longer. This year alone, I am part of two anthologies - the second due for release by Christmas (I hope!) called A Walk in Fields of Gold.

Procrastination gets you nowhere.

Rolling up your shirtsleeves and working hard to make your dreams come true can get you much farther.
I know I'm a month ahead of schedule, but I have two Resolutions for 2011.
Number 1: I'm working harder than ever to get my novels published. I have two that are ready aside from a great hook and cover letter.
Number 2: I'm taking better care of ME next year. It's hard keep on top of things when you feel like someone ran you over with a team of sled dogs.

To be honest, I was going to post Chapter One of Date with a Dead Guy but...I procrastinated.
I'll get right on that. Soon. Maybe.

Keep on Writing.

Edits and Re-writes...

I've spent a lot of time this week - between trying to get rid of a sinus infection, doing the laundry and going to work - editing. The working title of the book is "Date With a Dead Guy." I started it right after I finished "The Bookstore Lady" (less of a mouthful than The Bookstore Lady's Secret Life) a couple of years ago. Both books have been written, edited, re-written and edited again until I'm starting to hate them both.

But, alas, I don't. They are my babies after all.

As I type, "Date With a Dead Guy" is being printed off so I can give it one last good reading before I submit it to a couple of friends to read. Regardless of their comments, I also need to rework my query letter and come up with a darn good tag-line. You know those lines. They're the one's that hook readers and shoppers alike. Every product on the market today has a phrase that every consumer associates with it. We all know them by heart - ever sing the Oscar Mayer wiener song? - even if sometimes we can't quite remember what product they're for.

Next week, I'll post a chapter from "Date With a Dead Guy."

This week, I have a lot of work to do and an agent to find.

Marge's First Novel

Okay, I admit it, I watch The Simpsons. I was one of the skeptics who said they'd never last, but they have and I am a fan. My favourite episode has to be the one I saw the other night. Marge meets a writer at the public library and asks what kind of training you need to be a writer. The woman tells her that she needs to take courses. She'd taken one at the local continuing education program that lasted a whole hour and was now a published romance author.

Marge dives in and writes a romance based around a painting in her livingroom of Moby Dick and "what she knows." The instant she completes it and sends it to a publisher, they love it and print it. Of course, we all know this is for the sake of a 30 minute cartoon. The fallout from neighbours speculating on who characters are based on leads to a confrontation between Homer and Flanders on top of a cliff beside the ocean.

I don't think any of my novels will end in any confrontations between friends, family or neighbours, but it was a fun view of someone who wants to be a writer. Marge demanded her time to write from her family and stuck to it until she had a manuscript. She sent it in without hesitation. Lucky her, the first person she sent it to loved it and sold it all over town. She didn't even have to research agents or publishers, nor did she have to face rejection.

We don't live in a cartoon world.
We get rejections.
We get readers and editors who tell us "this doesn't work, make me love it."

For every writer who gets their "first" novel published, there are several practice manuscripts in the closet that could say otherwise and a stack of rejections to keep them company.

Happy Halloween. Heeere's Johnny!

We had our writing meeting of the Headwaters Writers' Guild today and I was inspired to write a short Halloween story that I HAD to post. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Thanks to Richard for the many prompt suggestions I used.

"How many times do I have to tell you 'Never run with a sharp cleaver!'" Johnny's mother yelled at him for the tenth time that day.

"For heaven's sake, ma," he said. "I know what I'm doing. I've been a butcher for thirteen years now."

Ma stood in the doorway and glared. The colour combination of her outfit was hideous, but none of her customers seemed to mind. Particularly not the ones she led to the back room into Johnny's lair.

"I'm a psychic," she said. "Don't you think I know what's going to happen?"

Johnny rolled his eyes. "Then how come you can never predict the Super Bowl?"

Ma waved him away. Her gaze fell on the severed hand that still clutched a red rose. "Will you finish cleaning up in here already? I have a ten-thirty appointment and the last thing worn out housewives want to see in my shop is disembodied body parts unless--"

He groaned. "Unless they're bat wings or newt eyes or snake fangs. I know, I know."

The bells of the front door chimed and Ma straightened her black wig. Her own hair hadn't been black since Trudeau was in office. She shot him one last warning glance and disappeared through the black curtain.

Johnny grinned and finished tidying up the workroom. This would be the final guest he would have in the back room of this shop. After tonight, he and Ma would take their act out on the road.

The smell of incense greeted his nose and he held in a sneeze. He hated the stuff, but it added to the aura of the fortuneteller's store front and masked the smell of the blood. Ma murmured to the customer out front. A woman, he knew. Johnny could recite the entire routine in his head. "You will come into money. You will meet a tall, dark, handsome man." The normal schtick. He had thirty minutes from the time their guest sat down until his debut in the waiting area.

Today, however, he was tired of the usual routine. He longed to get on the road and see a different part of the country. For today, Johnny decided, he would go into the room through the black velvet curtain rather than around the building and through the front door. Ma would be angry, but she'd get over it.

A red light flashed above the doorway. It was a signal that he and Ma had hooked up between her seat at the table and the back room. An emergency beacon in case anything went wrong. Johnny watched the light flash once then twice before it remained dark.

"Now what?" he asked the silent room. "Is she in trouble or not?"

He picked up the cleaver and crept toward the black velvet cloth. Taking a deep breath, he grabbed a long-stemmed red rose and pulled aside the curtain. "Here's Johnny!" he said.

A scream shattered the stillness of the night. His mother's eyes were wild. "Run, Johnny, run!"

"Don't bother, Johnny." The well-dressed woman across the table from Ma turned her gun on him. "You're under arrest."

Johnny dropped the cleaver. "Some psychic you are."

Happy Halloween!

Hi ho, hi ho...

It's been a busy couple of months for me. We've been short staffed at my "day job" so I haven't had a lot of time to write or submit. What precious time I have had, has been spent editing. I am lucky to have some great readers/editors in the Headwaters Writer's Guild who have been nudging me along with my work.

I had a boost of inspiration this weekend by an email from Wynterblue Publishing. They host a 24 hour contest every month with different prompts to get your juices flowing. If you are a member, they are free to enter. If not, they ask for $5. Being a member, I decided to get on board and write a 1,500 word short story. I even entered it.

This got me on a roll this weekend. I also submitted a short story called "Tula's Miracle" to Glimmertrain.
AND another short called "Ball of Beige Wool" to the Dorothy Shoemaker Literary Contest out of the Kitchener Public Library. The Wynterblue contest may be closed by now, but the other two go on until the end of October for Glimmertrain (they always have contests brewing) and the end of November for KPL.
Feel free to join me!

Now that I've got the contest stuff out of my hair, I'm back to editing and working on two new stories, one of which is for my kids and their patience with me is running out quickly.

This week will be another busy work week, but I know I've gotten some submissions in and that makes me feel a lot more like a writer than I've been feeling lately.

It's raining, it's pouring...

There's a gentle rain that has been falling all night. Much nicer to wake up to than the frost on the lawn yesterday. Frost is too closely related to snow for my taste! I find rain to be good for my writing. I'm forced to stay indoors and at my computer since I can't be out working in the yard or walking. (Although I could get the laundry done if I wanted.)

Today, however, I am using the rain to my benefit. Editing and writing top the list.
I attended a Brian Henry writing workshop Oct 2 to learn more about writing for children and young adults. From that workshop, I have been inspired to do two things. 1) Edit the two or three YA book I have tucked in a closet and 2) start to write a book for my two younger boys.

The editing part is causing less stress than having to create a new chapter every night! At least the boys are having fun listening to it and giving me more and more ideas. I take note of the suggestions and use the ones that will fit the storyline. So far I've discovered two things: my kids have great imaginations and (thanks to me and Gordon Korman) they are terrified of going to summer camp! Good thing it's autumn.

Fall is a great time for reaping ideas, squirreling them away and using them up all winter.
Happy squirreling!