Catching Up

Hi. It’s a warm day here in SE Colorado and the smell of spent fireworks still lingers in the air. We had a nice display in town, preceded by a great barbecue at our daughter’s home. Later, there was an array of any number of bottle rockets, roman candles, poppers, and other assorted noise and light makers that brightened the night sky. Hope everyone had a great Fourth of July!

Sorry I have not posted for a while. I have a wonderful interview with Kassy Paris, who’s book, First I’m Nobody, is now available in E-book format. Unfortunately, when I attempted to post the interview, I got some kind of HTML error. I have no idea what in the world that means and have referred the problem to my web master. You should see the interview soon. Check back to learn about Kassy’s book and her thoughts on E-book publishing as well as the advantages and disadvantages of writing with a collaborator.

I’m pleased to have recently joined an online critique group. It is through ACFW and we are all writing stories set in the 19th Century. My crit partners are astute at picking up my errors and I’m looking forward to learning a lot from them. A couple of them are published, which I consider an advantage. I feel like I’m getting advice from “experts”, or at least from writers who know a whole lot more about the profession than I do.

Profession? You bet, and I have to keep reminding myself of that. I’ve rewritten Chapter One of my WIP more than I would have liked to and still don’t have it right. Yet, it reinforces the fact that I am in the process of learning. It took me three years full-time to acquire the skills I needed for my basic nursing degree. Add to that another six years part-time to obtain a bachelor’s degree. Another thirty plus years in the work force and I still learn something new all the time. So, it stands to reason that the five years I’ve invested in seriously learning about writing are just the beginning. I only get time to read a writing craft book maybe once every two months, I’ve attended only one writing conference a year for the past two years, and my time to actually write is limited. So, I feel like I’m crawling along at a snail’s pace, but even a snail reaches it’s destination eventually!

Membership in the online critique group gives me a sense of responsibility. I have to meet a deadline, and for me, that’s a good thing. If I’m told that I need to have something done by a certain time, I manage to do it, even if I’m completing it at the last minute. We have each chosen a week during the month to submit our work. Mine is week three, so I want to have a revision of my Chapter One and the subsequent Chapter Two ready by Monday the fourteenth. Gives me a little over a week to get my work in top shape.

Oh, in case you’re wondering, I’m way past “Chapter One”. I’ve written twenty chapters, well over 200 pages, and the rest is in outline form, but I keep going back to that first chapter because I still don’t like the way the story starts. Many writers say that is the hardest part, figuring out where and how to begin the book.

Now that I’ve found the time to write a few lines for the readers of my blog, I’m all keyed up to keep on writing. But, unfortunately, it is time to quit and get ready to go to work at my paying job. Maybe it will be a quiet shift and I can add a few lines to my story during my dinner break or late in the evening when my work is done. Now, if I can just take Rosalynn Carter's advice, who says, "you have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through."