A little bit of this:

And a whole lot of this:

I’m trying to focus more on that first one, but the whole thing is crazy scary.

The road to this point has been paved with hours of writing and rewriting, disappointments, standing in the shower crying and cussing like one of those American Idol contestants who get rejected and flip off the camera, and all sorts of other highs and lows. And there’s a great big part of me that is freaking out that I’ll mess this chance up, let my new editor and team down, or worse, never get really, really good at this thing called writing.

But I’m going to stuff that part down into a drawer, one full of mismatched socks and other useless items, and just keep on going, day by day, word by word. Because this journey has taught me a lot of things, especially this – I’m not alone! I’m surrounded by awesome friends and family, great writing buddies, a terrific agent, and tons of people who want the best for me and this book.  And that feels like this:

My resolution is always the same – write more. Last year, In order to create a more “writer-friendly” environment, I moved my office out of the dank, dark basement and into the pool house where I can at least SEE people frolicking in the water while I work.

I got the posters on the wall at the last writer’s conference I attended, and they make me happy when I come in every morning.

Unfortunately, I haven’t seen an increase in my productivity like I’d hoped. I think it’s the view.

Who told my husband he could come out of the basement with me?

Anyway, here’s hoping you have a 2013 full of great books and lots of writing time!

Man, you sit down to watch one episode of the new Dallas, and the next thing you know, months have passed and you haven’t blogged once! I blame J.R.  In addition to rehashed dramas from the 80′s, I’ve been kinda busy with this thing agents call “revision”, also known as “rethinking every sentence you’ve ever written.”

Yes, I’ve been revising AGAIN. It’s been annoying, but through it all, I’ve learned one very important lesson – write it correctly the first time. Man, had I only know. This time I cut out almost 8,000 words! I know it seems like a lot, but since the entire manuscript was 67,000 to begin with, it’s not been too hard. Once you start “killing your darlings” it gets much easier.

Besides revising, I’ve also completed 14 picture books. Well, if you consider the mini-books I write for my daughter every morning and put in her lunch box, picture books. It started on the first day of school, where for some crazy reason, instead of the usual lunch box note, I folded an index card, wrote Moon Pie’s First Day, and made up a story. Guess what she wanted the next day? And the next day? Now I’ve written such masterpieces as Moon Pie Goes Fishing, Moon Pie Skips School, and Moon Pie’s Sleepwalking Adventure. Even though she’s a 5th grader, she still enjoys them, and reads them to her friends at lunch! Then she comes home and tells me what they think – “It was funny, but Brooke wants more illustrations.”

Awesome. Just what I wanted, MORE REVISION.

Almost everyone I know hopes to one day write a book, has an idea for a book, or has a half-finished manuscript under the bed just waiting to become a finished book. My friends have a lot to say, obviously. Maybe it’s because the first thing God did was “create” and we’re made in His image, but writing a book is a goal for a lot of people. I don’t know WHY we all want to write, but I know why most of us don’t – time. That’s where NaNoWriMo comes in.

November is National Novel Writing Month, for real. There’s a website and everything. The goal is to complete a 50,000 word manuscript in 30 days. Think it’s crazy? NaNoWriMo began in 1999 with 21 participants. Last year there were over 200,000! It’s become such a phenomenon that I was told not to query agents in December because their in-boxes are full from just-finished NaNoWriMo manuscripts.

NaNoWriMo is perfect for people who need a deadline, a goal, or to be with other crazy people doing the same thing for encouragement. It’s free to participate, and if you complete the goal, you WIN. Not a prize or anything, but you don’t become a Mary Faulker by sweating the small stuff.

MARY FAULKNER (1903-1973) 904 books

South African writer Mrs. Mary Faulkner, whom the Guinness Book of World Records ranks as history’s most prolific novelist, wrote under six pen names, including Kathleen Lindsay. Her novels include There Is No Yesterday, Wind of Desire, and Harvest of Deceit.

Sign up! Besides Thanksgiving, what else does November have to offer?

Years and years ago, I read a book about writing because, let’s face it, READING about writing is way easier than actually writing. The one piece of advice that stuck with me was that every writer should have a critique group to meet with on a regular basis. When a co-worker mentioned his wife, Deborah, was interested in writing, I contacted her. Deborah had a friend, Steve, who was ALSO interested and thus began my first ever writers group.

Can I just tell you how scary this was? Meeting new people, sharing my writing, acting as if this was anything more than a ridiculous dream? It didn’t help that this was my “Sue Grafton” period and I was working on a mystery novel about a 92-year-old woman named Granny Chickens who was arrested when her chicken cleaning knife was found next to a dead body in the trailer park.

They kept me around for entertainment purposes, obviously.

Anyway, we’ve met off and on for the past TWENTY years. There were a few “gaps” as people changed jobs, got married, had kids, gave up on writing, got back into writing – okay, that was just me. But the point is – I would have never finished The Junkman’s Daughter without them.

Deborah and I discussing DNA testing, CIA agents and 50-year-old virgins.

The group has changed somewhat over the years. In the beginning, we would meet and read each other’s work. Later, we started emailing our drafts so we could have more time to talk. Now we want to WORK. Last week I drove to Deborah’s house and we held a mini-workshop. We talked about new projects, spent about five hours hashing out plot points, character development, surprise endings and dispensing sage advice like – “No one wants to read about ugly, overweight country people having sex with their half-brother.” You can’t reach that kind of insight on your own.

One of our goals for the next meeting is to create a storyboard –a plot outline with photos. Since my main character is a 17-year-old hottie who’s super fit – I spent the afternoon searching the internet for “male models”.

I’ve learned so much since Granny Chickens.

Harriette Austin Writers Conference starts on Friday. Have you registered?

I’ve been struggling with my new novel and have written the first chapter about four times in four different voices. I plotted out the original a good six months ago, but there was something about it that wasn’t grabbing me. So I began playing with it ad nauseum.  Today I told a couple of friends about the FIRST idea, gave some general background, and plot twists, and the more I talked about it out loud, the more I remembered why I liked it! So now I’m moving forward. Whew, that feels good.

Or maybe not.

No wonder writers drink.

If you’re attending your first writer’s conference, I thought I’d give you a few guidelines that I learned the hard way.

DO be prepared. – The first time I went to a conference, I got up on the morning of, threw three copies of my first chapter and synopsis into my purse, and headed off. Optimistic, much? Because I waited until the last minute, I missed the manuscript critique, but I figured I might convince SOMEONE to take a look at my work. I figured wrong. The one, WELL-KNOWN agent I asked, didn’t want the hassle of carrying anything extra on the plane. Conference FAIL.

DON’T get discouraged. – It took me an entire session to work up the courage to even approach the above mentioned agent, and when she blew me off, I wanted to slink away and hide. Seriously? Grow a pair of pencil sharpeners and get used to it. Rejection is part of the game.

DO stay the weekend. – If you’re traveling far, this is a no-brainer. At my 2nd conference, I opted to go the night before, stay at the hotel, and participate FULLY. It was an awesome experience. Spending the entire weekend with writers, agents, editors, talking about BOOKS. What more could you want? I still hear from some of the people I met, and it’s been nice to be able to encourage each other.

DON’T drink too much. – Hey, it was my first weekend away and I was a little excited! I KNEW 2 glasses of wine was my limit, but no, I had to try a 3rd. Which is why I spent the first half, of my first day, on my bed trying to keep a cracker down and searching my purse’s lining for a stray Advil.

DO speak up.- At one of the sessions, the leader asked for volunteers to read. Even though I was scared to death, I did it. After the session, one of the speakers for the event came up to me and complimented my “voice”. It was a great moment. Writers LIVE for great moments.

DON’T skip the critique. – At my second conference, I was better prepared (see Do #1). I was surprised to see the amount of work the agent I had selected put into my critique. And not only did she like it, she requested the WHOLE manuscript.

Which I didn’t send. But that’s a blog post for another time.

Write ON!

So my last post mentioned a short story contest at Faith Writers. I entered, the Beginners Level of course, and breathlessly awaited the results posted today.

FIRST PLACE! Yea, ME. AND I also got what’s called an Editor’s Choice award which means they can use my short story in a book they publish every year. I am ALMOST a published author.

I admit that I did a little happy dance around the kitchen. Which prompted my husband to ask, “What do you get?”

Men. Geesh. I get to do a happy dance! And blog about it. Believe it or not, it’s enough.