Too many characters
With all the re-reading of my old stuff I’ve been doing, I have way too many characters running around in my head. Suddenly, they’re all jockeying for attention. As a result, I’m getting a lot of nothing accomplished. Why is it that more ideas does not equal more productivity?...
Banned Book Week
No writer — or reader, for that matter — should let the American Library Association’s Banned Book Week pass without note, so here goes. Censorship has always angered me. It’s one reason I haven’t followed in the footsteps of my college adviser, who specialized (I believe) in media law...
On a roll?
After last night’s good news on my contest final, I got more excellent news this afternoon. One of my writer friends had asked to read “Beauty and the Ballplayer.” She’s read a couple of my other manuscripts (“Blind Date Bride” and “Operation Snag Mike Brad”). She’s always busy, though,...
Doing the wrong things?
I’ve been so busy writing on Beth and Cody’s story and thinking of a new title for Bree and Mike’s that I haven’t done any editing on my Golden Heart entries. What is that about? I need to get busy … that deadline is going to be here before...
Weekend update
Unlike the crew from “Saturday Night Live,” I don’t have a lot to report: I’ve been reading/editing most of the weekend. That means I’ve done no new writing … and I’m waffling about entering a third MS into the Golden Heart. A couple of nights ago, I started to...
On editing
I wrote this post for the Editor’s Note in the Sept./Oct. issue of the NARWA newsletter, High Country Highlights. However, I liked it too much not to share it here on the blog, too. Since I’m trying to get in edit-mode for the Golden Heart, the subject is dear...
Handy tool
In preparing “Beauty and the Ballplayer” to send to the friends who’ve volunteered to read it, I found something handy to share. It’s a free service that converts Word documents into pdf files. Nice, eh? And so much easier than the way I thought I’d have to do it...
Putting it out there
I know my writer friends are busy — some of them getting ready for the same contest I plan to enter. As such, they’re probably too busy to read anything of mine. (And they could well be my competition!) With that thought in mind, I posted on Facebook that...
My ambitions are showing
Now that the 2010 Golden Heart winners have been announced (none of them NARWAns, alas), it’s time to start gearing up for the 2011 competition. That is exactly what I’m planning to do. My request for judges arrived in my e-mail inbox a few days ago, and I think...
Not the most productive few weeks
After months of writing like gangbusters and ignoring the healthier lifestyle I’m supposed to be living, I feel the pendulum swinging back in the other direction. My weight loss blog has been getting all the attention (and is already closing in on 400 hits for the month), but I...