OK. New resolution....I will update my Blog once a week. Promise!! Cross my heart and all that.
Here's my dilemma, I don't know how to let other people know that I have a blog, and who would be interested in reading it anyway? I mean, really, I'm not that interesting. Not even to myself.
It's Spring in the Ozarks. An absolutely amazing time of year. All those trees, flowers and bushes that looked like dead sticks have leafed out, bloomed and turned all shades of green. It is such a transformation. No wonder the ancients equated Spring with re-birth and renewal. Things I planted last year, that I thought maybe were dead, have come back! Mable and Martha (tiny maple trees), Reginald (my rhubarb) and all the gladiolas and canas that had completely disappeared. What a magical time. Oh, yes, I do name my plants. Most of them anyway.
Does the young man's heart turn towards love in the Spring? Not sure. From what I've heard lately, the young woman's sure does. So, (I'm just guessing here) would the young man's as well.
Isn't that lovely? Probably why the species continues, huh?
I'm in the middle of two projects, one a nonfiction book on travel and one the sequel to my novel. I haven't been very disciplined lately (must be the Spring). I have to buckle down and get things rolling. I'm looking at about 30 reference books for my travel book. It's rather daunting, but I have to dig in there and start. Wish me luck!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Learning to be an "Author"
Writing a novel was easy......getting published is an entirely different story. (No pun intended). One gets an idea, makes an outline (0r not) of what might be a story, words flow from your mind to your fingers and the saga is born.
You fall in love with your characters. They become your bosom buddies. They do and say everything you want them to. You created them after all. You love every word you have written, thinking it all perfect. This form dementia makes editing rather difficult.
You can dream anything up and they will do it. You are living vicariously through the persona you have produced. Ah, the power of it all!
After much re-writing, friends proofing (and hopefully giving buckets of praise and kudos) and then it's time to send your baby to agents and publishers.
Get the wallpaper paste ready......you're gonna have a wall full of rejections.
Developing a thick skin is part of your own personal transformation. Never before have so many said such negative things about you.
But you still have those glowing reviews from your friends to sustain you.
Lo and behold....one day, when you least expect it, a publisher deigns to put your words in an actual book!
Glory of glories.....you have become an author!
Now the work really begins. First, getting the word out to everyone you know, ever met, nodded to at Walmart and passed on the street.
Waiting for the one day that you will get an actual Royalty Check.
Money in your hot little hand for the labor of love we call writing.
You fall in love with your characters. They become your bosom buddies. They do and say everything you want them to. You created them after all. You love every word you have written, thinking it all perfect. This form dementia makes editing rather difficult.
You can dream anything up and they will do it. You are living vicariously through the persona you have produced. Ah, the power of it all!
After much re-writing, friends proofing (and hopefully giving buckets of praise and kudos) and then it's time to send your baby to agents and publishers.
Get the wallpaper paste ready......you're gonna have a wall full of rejections.
Developing a thick skin is part of your own personal transformation. Never before have so many said such negative things about you.
But you still have those glowing reviews from your friends to sustain you.
Lo and behold....one day, when you least expect it, a publisher deigns to put your words in an actual book!
Glory of glories.....you have become an author!
Now the work really begins. First, getting the word out to everyone you know, ever met, nodded to at Walmart and passed on the street.
Waiting for the one day that you will get an actual Royalty Check.
Money in your hot little hand for the labor of love we call writing.
Monday, November 30, 2009
A Blogging We Will Go
I think blogging is a bit like a very public journal. I write my thoughts, post things I've written, and tell you all about my day. (as if you care!)
Did I ever tell you about what it was like to move from sunny Southern California to "interesting" Joplin, MO? I lived in Southern California all my life. Most of it in the San Diego area, but was born and raised in Los Angeles. I did live for one year in Hawaii. As you can see, I really knew nothing about weather, changes in weather, nasty weather, storms, thunder, lightening, snow, ice, wind (really big wind), trees with zillions of leaves with which one must deal. (My method is to just ignore them and wait for the snow to cover them up).
An old joke is if you don't like the weather, just wait 15 minutes and it will change. May be an old joke, but it is, none-the-less, very true. I've seen it go from sunny and fairly warm in the morning to an ice storm in the evening. Crazy stuff.
I remember the first time I actually saw snow fall from the sky. Big, white, fluffy bits of cotton drifting slowly, if irratically, to the ground. Amazing. I ran to the window in my office, rubbed the pane to clear space and watched it for the longest time. I ran outside just to see what it felt like. It didn't feel like much actually. More like rain drops that were colder than usual. It melted when it hit me. My staff all thought I was nuts, but it was all new to me.
I bought my house in January and everything was just sticks. Brown, gnarley, sticks poking out of the ground. I thought everything was dead and that I would have to re-plant everything in the Spring. In California when there are no leaves and just brown, dead-looking sticks, well, you can be sure the plant has gone to flora heaven. Not in the midwest. Spring came and everything began to sprout, and bud, and bloom and green up. It was the most incredible transformation. Every day something new was growing. I was mesmerized.
The same thing happened in the Fall. The trees actually changed to the most brilliant colors! Just like pictures I'd seen of New England. Red, orange, yellow, gold, brown all mixed together and forming giant vistas of beauty everywhere I looked.
Of course, that is what brings on the leaf problem. They begin to all turn brown and commit suicide by falling to the ground. And there they lie, just waiting for someone to take pity on them and put them out of their misery. (Which I do by waiting for snow, remember?)
So, the final moral to my story? Move. Go someplace new. Experience something different!
Did I ever tell you about what it was like to move from sunny Southern California to "interesting" Joplin, MO? I lived in Southern California all my life. Most of it in the San Diego area, but was born and raised in Los Angeles. I did live for one year in Hawaii. As you can see, I really knew nothing about weather, changes in weather, nasty weather, storms, thunder, lightening, snow, ice, wind (really big wind), trees with zillions of leaves with which one must deal. (My method is to just ignore them and wait for the snow to cover them up).
An old joke is if you don't like the weather, just wait 15 minutes and it will change. May be an old joke, but it is, none-the-less, very true. I've seen it go from sunny and fairly warm in the morning to an ice storm in the evening. Crazy stuff.
I remember the first time I actually saw snow fall from the sky. Big, white, fluffy bits of cotton drifting slowly, if irratically, to the ground. Amazing. I ran to the window in my office, rubbed the pane to clear space and watched it for the longest time. I ran outside just to see what it felt like. It didn't feel like much actually. More like rain drops that were colder than usual. It melted when it hit me. My staff all thought I was nuts, but it was all new to me.
I bought my house in January and everything was just sticks. Brown, gnarley, sticks poking out of the ground. I thought everything was dead and that I would have to re-plant everything in the Spring. In California when there are no leaves and just brown, dead-looking sticks, well, you can be sure the plant has gone to flora heaven. Not in the midwest. Spring came and everything began to sprout, and bud, and bloom and green up. It was the most incredible transformation. Every day something new was growing. I was mesmerized.
The same thing happened in the Fall. The trees actually changed to the most brilliant colors! Just like pictures I'd seen of New England. Red, orange, yellow, gold, brown all mixed together and forming giant vistas of beauty everywhere I looked.
Of course, that is what brings on the leaf problem. They begin to all turn brown and commit suicide by falling to the ground. And there they lie, just waiting for someone to take pity on them and put them out of their misery. (Which I do by waiting for snow, remember?)
So, the final moral to my story? Move. Go someplace new. Experience something different!
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