If It Weren’t for the Cat. . .

Today is an exciting day! But to show you just how exciting, I need to back up about four years. Yes, FOUR YEARS ago I wrote a story and today it will finally be published. It’s called “If It Weren’t for the Cat,” and it’s a story dear to my heart. I was first seized [...]

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Something has shifted in my writing perspective, and I thought I’d share.  My story begins last year, when I penned a piece of flash about a reformed prostitute who keeps the cards of her former clients hidden in her recipe box. It was a story I loved, one of those that just bubbled up and [...]

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As you may have guessed from the title, I’m participating in NaNoWriMo this year. It’s not my first time; I took part (and won) 4 years running, beginning with 2005. Then last year I took a break. My dad had just passed away and I wasn’t feeling particularly creative. Instead, I focused on rewriting a [...]

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Actually, that title is a little misleading. Up until yesterday, I thought my muse was a woman. Her name is Suzie, and  in a word, she’s pushy. Her voice is a running commentary in my head. “Did you finish that chapter yet? What are you waiting for? Don’t you want to be able to send that rewrite to Ms. [...]

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Today is national Poem in Your Pocket Day. It sounded like a fun thing to do, but here’s my problem. Today is my day off, and I am home writing. Which means I am in my sweatpants. Which have no pocket. So instead of carrying the poem in my pocket, I’ve opted to post a [...]

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Dear WIP, Look at you, so smug and silent, with your one inch margins and your fancy Courier font. You knew I’d be the one to crack first, didn’t you. Didn’t you?!? But something has to be done.  I can’t stand this distance between us any longer. I’m not going to rehash the whole break-up. [...]

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Usually, it’s not even a question. I am a procrastinator of the worst kind. Definitely when it comes to housework, usually when I have chores that involve leaving the house, and even when it comes to writing. Here’s an example. Say I’m working on a project, like the revision of my Tooth Ferry book (it’s [...]

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Who remembers that Jeff Foxworthy bit, you might be a redneck? Good for rednecks, but how do you know if you’re a writer? Read on and see if this sounds familiar: If you keep a file on your computer of your murdered darlings that is the same length of your finished manuscript, you might be [...]

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So I entered a pitch contest over at Market My Words – a fabulous blog run by author Shelli Johannes-Wells (find link at right).  I stumbled across the contest purely by accident, when my son was home sick on Tuesday and I was procrastinating on revision yet again. The setup was simple – give your [...]

Continue reading about A @*%!& Typo! »

I know I’m late to the party, but I just came across an interesting statistic – the average writer will write 1 million words before they are published. 1 million. Just out of curiosity, I decided to see how I matched up, seven and a half years into this crazy dream of mine – that [...]

Continue reading about Halfway there! And still livin’ on a prayer »