Pat Down? No Problem, Mon!

~~It's all over the news.TSA's new secuity measures are causing a fire storm. I have to admit, I'm not worried by it all. You see, I was patted down several times before it became the norm. Only they weren't hunting explosives, but the 'sacred weed, Ganga.' Really. I know you look at my white bread photo and shake your head. Who in their right minds would dream of this little, middle class woman as a drug smuggler? Well, Jamaica customs would. ; )
~~If you know our travel history, you know we have been to Jamaica nine times, Mexico twice, the Bahamas twice, and Aruba once. What can we say, but we love warm beaches in the winter. I had had to take off  my shoes several times when they began the pat downs. John, of course, sailed on through in nothing flat, when they began to pull me over. Let me tell you, I've had gentler mammograms. The first time, I was shaking in my socks. Remember, I've already taken off my shoes. ; ) But pat down number two was harder. I nearly laughed in the woman's face. For some reason, I don't think that would be conducive to moving on to the plane for Atlanta. I wouldn't be worried now if I had to be patted down.
~~I'm not trying to make light of any one's concerns. I'm just saying there are far worse things than an airport pat down. Like being blown out of the sky.

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.

Happy Middle of November

~~It's a gorgeous fall day. The leaves are lovely. Just look at our maple and the ginko at John's mother's house. The weather is changing, though. The forecast is for one to two inches of rain by the end of the day on Tuesday and by then, the leaves will be nearly gone. In fact, the maple tree has dropped three-fourths of its leaves today. Be glad I took the photo yesterday. ; )

~~Today marks the end of NaNo week 2 as well. I'm excited to report that I'm officially over ten thousand words for the month. 10,120 to be exact. And they're mostly good words with very little dreck. Now don't get me wrong, there's still a lot to do on these new scenes, like adding bits of underpainted setting and emotional feelings. Still, I'm very pleased with my month. I've typed all these words in and they're ready for play later. On to new words. At this rate, I'll break 20,000 by November 30. ; )

First November Update

~~It's the seventh of November and I'm widing up my first week of NaNo inspired writing--4900 new words for Friendly Fire. And I like the words. John does too and that's a wonderful thing. Now if I can keep writing at this pace for the rest of the month, I'll add 19,600 words by November 30. Cheer me on. ; )

NaNoWriMo

~~If you looked at my blog title and said, "Huh?" you might not be a novelist. National Novel Writing Month (Here) is a concerted effort for novelists to turn out words on their novels. Some opt to start on something new. Others work on their novels-in-progress. Which ever plan a writer has, the goal is to write 50,000 words during the month of November. That's an average of 1,667 a day. It's a staggering number of words. To do it, the writer can't stop and edit. Words have to flood onto the page.
~~Before you question my sanity, I'm not an official participant in NaNo. I know the physical limits of my wrists. But I do have a group of friends on the Forum who are. We have a thread going so that we can share our output and number of words created every day. I'm piggybacking on the energy and momentum of the group. Some of then have already written nearly 10,000 words in two or three days. I'm proud to say, I've been productive if nowhere near their output. I wrote 600 new words on Monday and 900 new words on Tuesday. If I maintain an average of 600 per day for the month, I'll create 18,000 new words for Friendly Fire by the end of November.
~~I'm going to try. Keep your fingers crossed. ; )

The Ghost Speaks

~~What do you do when a ghost refuses to shut up? If you're a writer, you take dictation. I thought I'd tell you about my ghost. It is nearly Halloween, after all.
~~During the Cherry Hill House Party on the Forum--Here, we found some of the characters in the past of my mythical west Georgia town of Cherry Hill. My novel-in-progress, Friendly Fire, is set in the present, but as I created back story for the other writers, I created a history for Laura Grace Chandler's hometown. That history included the founder, Lawton Cherry or "The Law." As we wrote, he became more than than just a name in the "history book" of Cherry Hill to me. Law Cherry began to speak and tell me his story. I thought you might enjoy reading two snips about my ghost. Who knows, someday I might have to write his story.
#
~~Lawton Cherry was six foot eight and weighed a bit over two hundred pounds. It was the ranginess that fooled them into thinking Cherry was weak. That mistake was apparent the minute they challenged him. Law Cherry could out reach and out punch anyone. For one man, it was his last mistake. But he wasn't worth a cuss any way.
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~~"Law, I know you is prodigiously wealthy," Josiah Barnes spat a brown stream dangerously close to the large mud-caked shoes, "but why you won't buy a slave that's cheaper than any 'cropper is beyond me."
~~The light brows drew down over the slate blue blue eyes. Anyone else knowing the man well, would have run then.
~~"I might consider it, Josiah, if I needed all my money for 'bacca and lightning like you do." The voice was quiet, but full of disdain.
~~There were only two vices in Lawton Cherry's book--wasting time and wasting his money.
#
~~Have a happy Halloween. May your ghosts all give you good stories. ; )

Entitled To Be the Best

~~If every sentence of your novel's elevator pitch--the four or five sentence synopsis--doesn't tie back to your title's image and theme, it may not be the right title for your novel. That's what I've discovered was the problem with my novel-in-progress' original working title. Mother's Day referred directly to Laura Grace Chandler, my main character, and indirectly to her daughter, Samantha. The novel is so much deeper and broader and the title wasn't big enough to cover it.
~~Before you remind me that a novel's title isn't set in stone (or ink) until a publisher prints it, let me assure you, I know. My need for the best working title is all for me. When a friend, who knows the story of the novel commented that she wouldn't pick it up if all she knew was the title, I knew something was wrong. In fact, I think I already knew that. I'd been having trouble answering the question, "What is your novel about?" for some time. As I mentioned the characters Rosemary, Dean, and Mack, my subconscious was telling me that Mother's Day didn't fit. So, I went on a title hunt.
~~My first try was Lady in Waiting. At least I could tie this title to Laura Grace, Samantha, and Rosemary. Some of my fellow CCWC members liked it better than Mother's Day, but something was still wrong. Lady in Waiting sounded like a historical romance. And my book isn't either. It's a contemporary and not a romance at all. So, back to the drawing board.
~~On the Forum, the October Exercise in the Writers Exercise folder proved to be fertile ground. And yet, I still didn't see it. John did. The exercise centered on Mack Singer, a retired Marine, now teacher. As he spoke through the free association exercise on physical and emotional abuse of Dean, he used the term "friendly fire" and it was perfect. It just took me a week to realize it.
~~During MeccaFest, I was asked constantly about what I was writing. As I used Friendly Fire to describe my novel, I was struck by how easy it had become to explain my theme. In other words, the perfect title had appeared.
~~So, here it is--my new elevator pitch for Friendly Fire. Tell me what you think. ; )
Our deepest wounds come from the friendly fire of those around us who should be our strongest support. Laura Grace Chandler, a retired, recently widowed teacher, finds her friendly fire comes from losing her husband of many years and childlessness. The foster child she adopts has been sexually abused. Laura Grace's best friend and her son are abused by their husband and father. Healing must come by helping each other. Their new friend, a retired Marine, has wounds from his own friendly fire. Together they will learn to heal and love again. Friendly Fire is the first of two novels set in Cherry Hill, Georgia.
~~By the way, as an added bonus, I've found the title for Friendly Fire's sequel as well--Line of Fire. I'll save that story for another day. ; )

What a Weekend at MeccaFest!

What a weekend! MeccaFest was a blast, a wonderful weekend, and a great couple of days for the Carrollton Creative Writers Club. The photos above come from our tents where T. L. Gray, Diana Black, Mary Cunningham, and I sold our books. The second photo is of Amanda from Bowdon, one of my customers. I sold a lot of books--more than I really dreamed I would. It's a really good feeling to simply tell someone about your work. When they turn right around and buy a copy, it's beyond good. ; )

Along with selling our books outside amid the art, CCWC also read our works in the Mabry Threatre. Here's a shot of me reading from my novel in progress, Friendly Fire. Applause is as good as a purchased book for a writer's ego.

Penny Lewis, Director of the Carrollton Cultural Art Center, had warned us that there would be some subtle performance art on Sunday. She wasn't fooling! Our 'Bronze Man' was wonderful! He moved through the crowd with deliberate stealth and began interacting. One time I watched him turn a shy 4-year-old ballerina into a fast friend without a word, simply by mimicking her dance positions.

All in all, MeccaFest 2010 was beyond all my expectations. Great job, CCWC and the Artist Guild of the Carrollton Cultural Arts Center. On to next year. ; )