A Grateful Writer

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Fall is one of my favorite seasons. The colors of the leaves enchant me. The cooler temperatures allow me to turn inward and settle into a good story--either my own or someone else's. Everything says that it's time to be thankful for what I have, so I'd like to take this post and list a few of my reasons for thanksgiving this year.

• My mother is home after a few trips to the hospital and doing better.
• I pitched two agents at the Surrey International Writers Conference and both requested a submission--one a full and the other a partial. These requests are on their way.
• My husband and the pups are doing well and make my life easier and more fun.
• My best writing buddies and I planned for one and half years  to meet up at Surrey and pulled it off. From all over the world, we were able to congregate fourteen of our seventeen members for five days of amazing camaraderie and fun. Without these ladies, I'd not be submitting stories to agents and contests. So, I'd like to dedicate this post to the ladies who share the journey. Long may we write!

The Ladies!

With Diana Gabaldon

• I got to meet many of my buddies from the Books and Writers

  

  Jackie, Nan, and Cat

  Forum.

Taylor, Beth, and Veronica

Me, Taylor, and Beth

The Forum Gang!

With Aven

More of the B&W Crew!

Beautiful Surrey and Snow in the Rockies!

The next post will be in two weeks. See you on December 7 with another post from #IWSG.

Giving Thanks!

 



It's Thanksgiving week in the US and we're cleaning, shopping, baking, and cooking up a big feast. I wouldn't mind having those turkey cookies! ;-)

And I thought it was a perfect time to take stock and list a few things I'm grateful for.

• I'm thankful for the CompuServe Books and Writers Forum and most especially for the Writers Exercises folder. I've learned all I know about craft there. Thanks, y'all. You're the best. You've helped me from my first struggling scenes to a nearly finished rough draft.
• I'm thankful for the Women's Fiction Writers Association and all the support, resources, and friendship that finding a genre home provides.
• I'm thankful for a few very discerning Beta Readers who helped me see that FRIENDLY FIRE Part 1 was sorely lacking in tension. Thanks John, Sara, Susan, and Deniz!
• I'm thankful that ways to provide said tension have come to me relatively quickly. This month has seen a great new aspect being added to the manuscript.

I wish for all of you a wonderful end to November and a delicious meal on turkey day!

I'll Take All the Help I Can Get

~~It's the Friday before Thanksgiving and I'm up to my ears in chores.
1. Clean the house for company
2. Plan and start the cooking for Turkey Day
3. Keep writing at least 600 words a day and type them all in
~~And I need help! My puppy boys aren't much help unless you count licking my face and wagging tails. Where is my Jesse? Watch this marvelous video clip to see what I mean.
~~Enjoy!


~~By the way, my new word total for Friendly Fire in November is now 14,270. That includes my "monster day" on Thursday when I wrote 1700 words.