Doing Writing Stuff Without Much Writing...

Yeah, I know it sounds crazy, but it sums today up.

I did not do a lot of writing today. Instead, I finally finished a binder that contained markets I have submitted to. I also researched markets for 4 manuscripts that had come back and needed to be sent to new markets.

All this took a couple of hours. When I was finished I hadn't written much but was much better organized. I also have stuff ready to mail.

I'm wrestling with a couple of short stories that are resisting finishing. I have Chapter 4 of my novel planned out in my head and I have to figure where it goes after that.

Well, back to the keyboard...

Lazy Days of Summer

Things are settling down to the laid back slow days of summer. School is out for the boys, Ladies Class is over until the fall, and my schedule gets a little lighter.

Lighter is fortunate, too, since John is working in Human Resources at the hospital Don is at staff at. This means he needs a car, and so I am doing without wheels for now.

I've been working on Novel #2 and have 3 chapters done. I'm also working on some short stories. In June I will begin to crank out Star Trek stories to submit to the Strange New Worlds contest (curious? Check out http://www.simonsays.com/content/feature.cfm?sid=44&feature_id=5261 for details).

We'll be getting ready for our mission trip to Guyana that will take place in July. I intend to try to write some while there as well. I went there last year - readers of this blog might remember that.

Anyway, summer will hopefully be filled with writing and time with my sons. :-)

Back from Oregon

Got back Wednesday from the 2 writing workshops in Oregon. Still recovering from that ugly condition known as "jet lag."

John got home from college yesterday. It's good to have him back for the summer. Our dog thinks so too.

Soon things will settle into the leisurely pace of summer. I plan to be busy writing and studying writing during that time. And maybe even keeping up this blog, which will no doubt delight some of you. :-)

The blessing of a good writing workshop

One of my problems as a writer is an issue of self-confidence. Yes, I have a well received weekly column in a newspaper. Yes, I have been a contributing writer on a reference work (The International Book of Days). Yes, I am currently working on short stories and finished a novel.

But sometimes, I wonder: do I have what it takes? Can my fiction stuff get PUBLISHED????

That's why writing workshops like the one I am currently attending in Oregon are so important.

First off, Dean Wesley Smith (remember that name!) is not only a great writer and editor, he is a fantastic teacher. He has no problem with just hanging out with us and answering our questions. He emphasizes that while we have to tell our fellow writers what they did wrong with their novels, we also have to tell them what they did right. And when people are telling us what we did right, we'd better be writing it down!

This workshop (and the one right before it - I have been here since Friday, fueled by coffee, chocolate, Diet Dr. Pepper and bagels with cream cheese) has been an encouragement to me because the people here are WRITERS. Most of them are farther along the writing path than I am. Yet none of them see me as anything less than a writer. Like them. They take me seriously and urge me to get past the whole self-confidence issue and WRITE!

And I get a glimpse of the future and realize I can.

That alone is worth the price of admission.