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.

Do What You Love...

One of the writing websites in my favorites folder is http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/mt/. Dean Wesley Smith is a writer and editor and if you have any questions about writing he is more than willing to teach. In fact, he's teaching two writing workshops next month that I am attending.

The link above opens to his latest article, which is titled, "Do What You Love." It is of course about deciding to be a writer, but the principles could apply to other professions.

It reminds me that if I want to write, I can make it happen or hold myself back. I know this is what I want to do, I just need to say "no" to the excuses and do it. :-)

Anyway, thought I would share...

One thing I want...

Today I drove to St. Pete to drive my mother-in-law home after she had laser surgery on her eye (it was to help prevent glaucoma). While in St. Pete, I decided to treat myself to a trip to Barnes and Noble.

I walked in the door and there it was. A display with a new Diane Mott Davidson novel. For those who don't know, this fabulous author writes a series concerning a caterer named Goldie who solves mysteries. There are delicious recipes through the book (including a fantastic brownie recipe in a book appropriately titled "Dying For Chocolate")

So I saw the book, and I said to myself, "OK, I have a lot of reading to do for the upcoming workshop. I don't have time to read this novel. It will be there later, it's not going to disappear. I haven't balanced my checkbook."

I walked away from the display.

I was back there picking up a copy before too long.

I paid for it with a snack and latte and started reading it, getting caught up in a few pages.

I write this not to demonstrate a lack of self control on my part (though yeah it does) but because I want to write that kind of book one day. The kind of book that makes someone not able to talk themselves out of buying it. The kind of book that makes a person WANT to read it.

Someday, I hope...

Drip...Drip...

Ok, I recently got diagnosed with glaucoma. This means I have the questionable joy of putting in eyedrops every day.

Because I had an allergic reaction to the first eyedrop medication, I am on liquid tears for the next few days. Unlike the medicine, which is once a day, I have to use these 2-3 times a day. Lots of opportunities to practice.

The thing is, I have trouble putting on eye makeup, much less dripping fluid into my eyes. One reader of my column emailed me after I wrote about this with some tips. I'm wondering if any of the rest of you have any ideas on how people who blink a lot get eyedrops in their eyes.

Coming back up for air...

Yes, Virginia, the novel is finished. It came to around 77,000 words.

I finished it while dealing with a horrible stomach flu last week. For the most part I lived on Gatorade and slept a lot when I wasn't writing.

This week I worked on a novel proposal. I had never written one before, so I had to research how to do it.

When I started writing it, I had to keep referring back to my manuscript. Which is how I discovered I had to reprint half of it - understand that the manuscript is 365 pages long. That is a lot of paper. Reprinting half of it meant more trees died.

Add two copies of a thirteen page proposal, a one letter query, the first 50 pages of the novel for an editor to see, and a cover letter, and I probably mailed nearly a ream of paper.

I admit looking at the novel fully printed was a funny feeling. I almost couldn't believe I had typed all that in the space of five months. It was a major stack, believe me.

Now that it's off to Oregon (in preparation for a Novel Workshop I'm attending next month) I can concentrate on some short stories that have been neglected.

And, yes, the blog that has been neglected too.

Am I forgiven, Tina? ;-)

Entering the deadline cave

I have a firm deadline to get this novel finished - next week! This is because I am attending a novel workshop in May to learn more about writing such a thing and part of the qualifications for attending is a finished novel.

I have been working on it and sometimes wish I could just find a box to crawl into with my laptop and room service. It's hard to write at home sometimes because there is so much here that cries out for my attention. Plus John is home from college this week and silly me I want to spend a LITTLE time with him...

Well, I'm going to chain myself somewhere and get this finished. I will warn family and friends I may be very focused this week and just be patient with me I WILL get back to normal (or what passes for normal with me )

Back from Tennessee...

Hardest part of the trip was the drive - Central Florida to Tennessee is a long hard drive, even with Don and I taking turns. But the benefits were worth it.

One great part of the trip was seeing my oldest friend Tina. We figured out we have known each other 20 years and we have kept the friendship up in one form or fashion all that time. She is probably my best friend, one I can tell ANYTHING to, and I was happy to see her house for the first time. It was great seeing her husband and son as well.

The real goal of the trip though was to visit John and his college and see for ourselves how things are going. They are going pretty well. We have some minor concerns, but the president of the college told us many parents would give anything to have a son like John. He is doing well in his studies and seems to be growing more comfortable in interacting with others, though he will never be Mr. Life-of-the-party. We left feeling pretty good about stuff there.

I got some writing done as well. Going through Atlanta enabled me to get a lot of stuff for my novel, which is partly set in the area. Tina here was again a big help, and I have promised a glowing acknowledgement in the book if it gets published. :-)

Today was the first day back from the trip - I unpacked, checked online stuff, deleted a TON of email and started organizing a long list of stuff that needs to be done. Will write my column after Bible Study tonight and work a little bit on the novel. The next few days will be busy with writing and family stuff as I try to finish the novel, get some short stories mailed out and other stuff.

Funny quote...

My friend Tina sent this quote to me. Since I am a columnist (not a "communist" like some of my friends like to joke) I see a lot of truth in the funny:


"A reporter gets an assignment and writer the necessary coverage, but a columnist always starts with nothing but a deep hole to fill."
-- James Qwilleran, The Cat Who Dropped A Bombshell

Plugging away

I have written short stories. Some have taken around a day - others longer.

Right now I am working on my first novel. This incarnation of it was begun back in November. I have nearly 56,000 words into it and counting.

A novel is so much more complex than a short story. There is so much more to keep track of, to keep on top of. It is a challenge - my biggest challenge ever as a writer.

I had hoped to have it finished by the end of January. Then by the end of February. At this point I'm hoping to have the first draft completed by mid-March.

Back to the Word Document...

Losing battle...

Anyone else ever feel keeping an area of your house clean and straightened up was an exercise in futility? I'm feeling that way with my office. Every time I come close to getting the clutter and stuff cleaned out, something happens and it resembles a disaster zone.

For example, I recently cleared out a bunch of old newspapers and had gotten some stuff cleared off. Then my youngest needed me to work on his computer. Things were disrupted because we had to make a work surface for his tower. So once again things are scattered about...

I need "Clean Sweep" to come pay a visit...

It's been almost a month...

...since I updated this thing. My apologies. Real Life kicked me in the teeth some in January.

Some of it was holiday blues, some of it was anniversaries of my mother's death and the death of a good friend. Some of it was sleeping and concentration problems. In all, it was a lousy month in a lot of ways.

The one bright spot was my 23rd wedding anniversary. I am blessed with my husband, who loves me in spite of some of the difficulties I've been having.

And yes, Tina, I owe you an email. I've been out of town a couple of days, but I will get around to it. :-)

Writng stuff

Well, I looked through my stuff for 2005. Last year I wrote (or finished) 16 short stories and around 50,000 words of a novel. I sent out 17 short stories (some had been written in previous years and were retweaked and sent out again). I got 12 rejections (some stories got rejected by more than one editor) and none bought.

This week I found out my number of rejections is up to 22, since 10 stories I submitted for the Star Trek Strange New Worlds anthology were rejected.

One of my goals this year is to write and mail out 36 short stories. Another is to get my novel finished. This year I intend to get a lot more writing done and hopefully I will improve in it as I go.

Happy New Year!

Greetings from the New Year! I didn't stay up to see it happen this year - I am dealing with what Don calls "reactive airways." In English this means my airway is irritated from a recent cold and/or allergy flareup, which means I've been coughing a lot and flirting with laryngitis. So I took medicine and went to bed early in hopes of getting this through my system.

Later today or tomorrow I am going to review how my writing went in 2005. I have set writing goals for this new year and may share them here. I am also setting personal goals that I want to meet.

Hope the year starts off right for you today! :-)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of you reading this! I hope your holidays are happy and you get at least ONE thing you want under the tree! ;-)

A Bird Flies the Nest...

This was a column I wrote when my oldest left for college. It was published in the Highlands County News Sun on August 28th, 2005 in my column, "Laura's Look." Please don't copy without permission... :-)

The fact I would cry at some point was a given.

Don knew it, John knew it, all my friends knew it, and I knew it. My hope was I wouldn’t burst into tears in front of the whole college.

We had spent two days driving from our home in Florida to this small university in western Tennessee. The van was packed with the things John would take with him for his new home – a dorm room. These included a computer, a two drawer filing cabinet, and several suitcases filled with clothes and linens.

John did some of the driving on that long journey. I looked at him over these past few days as I have in the past few months, with wonder. I can still remember when he was so small I could hold him comfortably in one arm. Now he towers over me, well over six feet tall.

When did his voice get so deep? Will he always look like a child to me? I searched his face, wondering when I would see not the boy I raised, but a man on his own. Other parents assure me I will see that one day. Now, I still see the boy.

I knew this day was coming – this time of severing more of the apron strings that bound him to me. Don and I knew that this was a process, that one doesn’t let go all of a sudden, but step by step. This was the biggest step of all.

As the days of John stepping into the college world approached, I know I asked myself all kinds of questions. I have said in the past that John was the first teenager I ever raised. That much is true. Because he was the first, he got two parents who were inexperienced and not yet broken in. Obviously, mistakes were made. (This is not to say we’re doing a perfect job with his brother James – we’re just making different mistakes).

I think most parents at one point in time or another ask themselves if they are doing a good job. As the child enters the late teens, I think the question acquires a new urgency, as the parent realizes the window of influence they have is closing. The young man or woman is no longer under their wing – they are on their own.

Back to the trip. Don, John and I set up his stuff in his room once we got there. College dorms haven’t changed that much since I lived in one more than 20 years ago – the walls are still cinderblock, the furniture still utilitarian. We discovered we had forgotten minor things, such as a trash can and a phone. These things were obtained.

Finally, Sunday afternoon came. It was time. John had an orientation event to attend. Don and I had a fifteen hour drive to start. The bird was ready to fly.

Yes, I cried. I didn’t make quite the fool of myself I thought I might, but there were tears shed. To his credit, John put up with them with a minimum of eye rolling.

I am more fortunate than my parents were in this day of the Internet. We no longer are restricted to expensive long distance calls or snail mail for contact. Email and various chat programs give us more opportunities for communication than there were in the past, though they still haven’t figured out how to drag long detailed answers out of your college student when you ask how things are going.

The bird has flown. Mommy can’t help but watch him go with mingled tears of sorrow, pride, and joy.

Between Nano and Christmas - beware, rambling!

50,175 words. That is my total count for National Novel Writing Month. I felt a great sense of joy and relief when I uploaded the wordcount to the Nano Website and got a "good job!' message. That was a lot of work. Now I have to finish the thing, but at least I'm on a less crazed timetable with it!

The column still goes on. I'm lucky that I can usually find something to talk about every week. Reader input is always a joy. Even criticism. It means someone is reading the thing.

I got a reject on a story I wrote before Nano consumed me. It's waiting to get booted back out into the cold cruel world. I need to decide where to send it next.

I also need to finish a short story I started before Nano. It's a little different for me - more of a suspense kind of story. I also need to do some research on the thing.

We are now an iguana-less household. We've had 3 iguanas for a while. The boys decided to give the two big ones to a local pet store, because they were not exactly friendly. The third, a little one, must have missed them, because she turned up dead in her aquarium one evening - we aren't sure why.

I would like to get 4 short stories written and sent before the year is up. That would make 20 short stories I've written and sent out this year. A start. Right now I am trying to pick my writing goals for 2006.

Hope everyone is doing well and not too insane during this season...

Okay, this was embarrassing

I was WIPED this morning. We drove John and his roomate to Orlando to catch a plane back to school, and got home late. I went to bed even later to allow the caffiene I had drunk to stay awake to drive to wear off. Big mistake.

This morning after I drove James to school I was exhausted, so I decided to turn the radio on low and lie down for a bit. I fell asleep. Big mistake number 2.

A few times I woke up a little and heard Perky barking, but they are delivering fill to the property next door so I didn't think much about it. However, at one point his barking sounded like he was outside, so I got up and checked.

The front door was ajar. I have no idea how it got that way. I called for Perky and he came trotting right up to the house. I decided to get the mail.

At the end of the driveway, I heard one of my neighbors call me in an alarmed tone of voice. He said he had chased Perky to the house, seen the door ajar, and tried ringing the doorbell (which I obviously didn't hear). He assumed the worst and called the cops.

Now, on the one hand, I am thankful we have such good neighbors. On the other hand, the cops might STILL find a dead body here if the embarrasment I'm feelling kills me.

Anyway, it's not boring around here...

Nano update and college kid home

Well, as I continue in the insanity that is Nano (National Novel Writing Month) I have passed the 28,000 word count milestone. That means I need to write a mere 22,000 words between now and November 30th. I'm pretty sure I can do it, though I might have lost what's left of my mind by then...

Meanwhile, John is home for Thanksgiving Break, and that has been great. I'm not sure who missed him more - me or the dog. I've been spending some time with John in the evenings - bad news is that sometimes means I've been up with him until 3 am or so, and am exhausted - I've slept away the past two mornings. But I'm not sorry. I'm glad to spend time with him.

Hopefully things will approach normal next week, and I will be back to working on short stories and getting them into the mail. Meanwhile, back to work...

What I've been up to...

Yeah, bet you've been wondering...

Well for one thing, I'm participating in National Novel Writing Month, where the challenge is to write 50,000 words of a novel in the month of November. I've been meeting with some friends in a local coffee house to help motivate me (and vice versa) to grind out those words. I have good days and bad days with it, up to nearly 12,000 words now (I think). Will keep plugging away...

Earlier this week I sent off three short stories that had been rejected by various markets. Currently I have 10 Star Trek stories submitted to the anthology Strange New Worlds and 6 short stories sent out to various editors. I have another short story partway done that I need to finish up and mail somewhere.

I am also playing World of Warcraft and trying to get in and chat with with my IRC friends.

At some point I am going to finish organizing my office so it doesn't look like it got hit by a hurricane....

Anyway, still alive, still nuts, still trying to do my best.