Hi! I'm still here!

What does that thing say over there----> November 2011!? Gosh, does that make me a slacker or what?

Excuses. That's what I should have called this post. I started typing up a bunch of excuses as to why I haven't blogged in over 5 months, but I erased them all. I'll skip the excuses and only mention the exciting stuff!

The http://www.nanowrimo.org/ novel I finished in my last blog has survived. In fact it has been reworked and added to... it continues to grow and be rewritten as time permits. I'm thinking about ways to continue the book in fact, so that one day I can offer a series rather than a stand-alone book by a first time author. Something tells me that will be more appealing to the folks who matter.

In January 2012 I took over duties as President of an awesome non-profit group for writers called Saturday Writers. We're a Chapter of the Missouri Writers' Guild in our 10th year. We write just about every genre you can imagine and we range in age from 16-80, literally. We meet about once a month to encourage one another and learn about writing. I have an awesome group of fellow board members that are all willing to  go the extra mile, and continually offer great ideas and creative suggestions for our meetings.

I could go on and on about all the fabulous things happening Saturday Writers, but I'll save those things for future posts, because.. oh yes, my friends, there will be other posts. In the meantime, you can check out our group at http://www.saturdaywriters.org/

YAWN | STRETCH | YAY!!!

Oh My! 29 days ago I was warned that by this day I would be so ready to get my novel out of my face but, I didn't believe it. While I was writing I couldn't imagine how I could ever want to put my novel away. Of course I would want to write and write at it until it was perfection.

Ya, right.

I'm not sure how it happened, but it did. I think it was around day 25 or so. I'd written every single day until then, even if it was just 500 words or so. I was ahead and happy to have a bit of a break for Thanksgiving, and then... I didn't write, and I didn't write and I didn't write. I complained to my husband about it. I surfed the net for the first time in nearly a month.

Then, I feared.

I feared the spark was gone. What had been such an amazing story a few days before suddenly wasn't there. I was scared. I made myself sit down yesterday and write a couple thousand words. I made up a scene I hadn't outlined and I liked it. My spark was back. Today I needed only 500 words to be a "winner" and trust me when I say that as excited as I was to be winning, I was equally excited that I never had to look at the piece again if I so chose.

I really think I've written something good, so I will look at it again, but for now... whoooo! Next time I see that person that gave me that warning I'll have to let them know that they told me so. The best move I think I can make for my novel at this time is to close the file and not open it again until next year. I love the story, I love the plot, I know I love many of the scenes I wrote, but right now I can't bare the thought of having to read them!

Writer Be Aware

In completely unrelated news, I'd like to announce that if I didn't have mom, wife, cleaning lady, chef, frozen fundraiser pie delivery, field trip to the library, and visit to Grandma's and Doctor responsibilities today I would be heading to the department store make-up counter in pursuit of the perfect shade of red lipstick. Today feels like a good day to own a tube of red lipstick. I don't mean an off-shade like burgundy or wine, I mean RED. So red that people see my lips coming in the door before me. Well, okay, maybe not quite that red, but a red that looks great for the fast-approaching holidays. That is all I have to say about that.

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I recently wrote a sex-scene for my Nano novel. I've never written one before and quite honestly, I had to tap into the memory bank of all the lovemaking scenes I've ever seen in the movies. That task accomplished, I went on with my Nano-ing for the day, finishing at a respectable amount of words as I've been doing everyday since November 1^st.  (Expect yesterday, but I felt getting a bit ahead and taking a break was probably a good idea since I was beginning to feel a bit of a love-HATE thing for my story, more on that another day...)

I happily told my husband about the scene I'd written after the kids went to bed. I was excited that it had turned out quite well, in my opinion. I didn't want to write a porno-scene, but I didn't want readers to be bored with it either. All was well, my husband congratulated me and then asked a simple question that actually caused me to take a step back. He asked to read the scene. Of course I am happy to let people read what I've written, but my goodness... what if my nano-novel actually turns into something good and gets published and... my mother reads that sex scene, or worse, my Grandmother! My neighbor, my son's teachers. To use an expression from my old Jewish boss, "Oy vey ishmere!"

This past summer I heard the newly published Kelly O'Conner McNees speak about her book The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott (http://kellyoconnormcnees.com/ ). She was a very good speaker and I enjoyed listening to her as well as reading her book. One thing she talked about during her lecture was how surprised she was when she realized that people were reading her book. She mentioned a time that a perfect stranger commented on a scene from her book and she thought, "How did they know I wrote that in there?" It wasn't until then that she really realized what being published meant. It means anyone can pick up your book and read your words. All of them.

I'll likely keep the sex scene in the book, and in fact, I have planned an additional scene that I might not normally discuss with my mother or grandmother otherwise, but the story needs it. The scene will be food for the reader, and it is necessary to the story, I feel. But, let the words of those that have come before me whisper in your ear as you write, "EVERYONE will read this!"

*Gosh, if the fear of a bad critique isn't enough to scare you away from writing, now there is the awareness that if you do publish your book people will read it! LOL!