Where did a year go?

It is December 11, 2012 and I just realized I lost a year on the Blog. It has been a busy time and although I've been away from the Blog I have continued to write. I am working on a mystery set in Williamsburg, VA with a working title of HISTORIC ACTS and I continue to hone RIGHTEOUS ACTS. Also, I have started on a sequel to STRING WEAVERS called WHITE HAIR. I find that working on multiple projects right now keeps me fresh in all of them. Eventually, I'll center on one as the characters take over the story.

Our children and grandchildren have had my attention recently. Lucy had an author's tea at school last Friday. She is excited about my book and I am anxious for her to be old enough to read it. Eight is a too young for a Young Adult book. STRING WEAVERS is a little dark for her. Jack happens to prefer Dr. Seuss because of his rhymes so I am going to have to practice my poetry and write a story for him.

In Touch with the Spirits

Yes, it is only a week until Halloween. I attended Bouchercon and have had a continuing stream of guests since then. Hence there has been no entries to my blog.

The mystery conference was thought provoking and fun. The company who came were even more enjoyable. Many of them were friends of many years, one we've known since our college years, and the reunions were special. It always amazes me how you can pick up where you left off with long time friends, even if you haven't been together for years. Such were the visits with these people.

Now I am back to writing, full of stories in need of telling. The spirits of the muses are presenting themselves in large numbers. You'd think it was All Hallows Eve today.

STRING WEAVERS, which has been with a publisher for nearly five months for review, was recently rejected. Perhaps it is time to retire this book, but before I do, I am sending it to a writing competition in Alabama.

I continue to work on a new mystery in the Rorschach series. I hope to pitch it at the Northwest Carolina Writers' Conference in November.


I continue to be hopeful.

Getting ready for Bouchercon

I am so excited about going to St. Louis for Bouchercon, a mystery readers/writers' conference, next week. I love hearing other writers discuss their books and the writing process, but I also like being able to meet and discuss the publishing process with agents and editors. I am going with three other writers and we will discuss our books as we travel. It is an energizing time. I'll come back ready to write more and better.
In that vein, I have been rereading DON'T MURDER YOUR MYSTERY by Chris Roerden. It is the quintessential writer's Bible on how to write better. The wonderful thing about Chris's book is that it gives good examples to model. The right way to write becomes embedded in your subconscious. This is a great teaching technique and Chris uses it with acumen. 

End of the Month/End of the Summer

I know that summer officially ends on September 21 or there about, but really it ends the day after Labor Day. Labor Day is a week from today so we are unofficially at the end of summer. It has been a busy one, a good one. We attended a sweet wedding in Birmingham, I traveled and was with friends and all four of our children, not all at once. Mandy and Lucy and Jack came to see us as did James and Rawlins. The only more a mom could ask for would have been visits from Katie and Kenn.
The garden is getting tired of producing and Ken and I are both tired of picking and canning and freezing, but the harvest has been bountiful and we will be so grateful come winter.
I am making progress in Righteous Acts and have entered String Weavers in a competition. The winner gets a publication contract. Persistence pays, so I am told, in publishing. I am persistent and I work at improving everyday.
I am glad to have this blog to talk to. It clears the mind and gets me ready for the day to come. Off to exercise, meditate, pray for our world, and write. Oh, and I have a friend coming for lunch, a treat.

Harvest Bounty

Ken's garden has produced far more than we can use. He has enjoyed giving away the extra, to our children, to our neighbors, to the church, and to the food pantry in the county. That is wonderful! I am glad his labors have brought him such pleasure and pride. However, I have not been such a willing participant in using the bounty. I have canned and frozen my part and I'll enjoy it next winter, but I want to be writing. I want to dance and sew and organize and visit and entertain company. This is what I am supposed to be doing. This is living my life, not living Ken's which is what I have done all our married life, except for a few brief years in Dothan and a year or two before we moved here. It is frustrating to have to bump against his expectations for me, frustrating for him and for me. I am a pleaser, but the time has come to please God and me, not necessarily anyone else. Back to rereading DON'T MURDER YOUR MYSTERY and rewriting RIGHTEOUS ACTS.

Time for Guests

Summer is time for company in the mountains. This summer has been especially hot everywhere, even here, but here we still have cool nights and the occasional cool day to make the heat dome tolerable. Because of this and a backlog of people who have been meaning and wanting to visit, we have been and will continue to enjoy lots of guests. I love it!

Living Your Life

A friend said to me, "I just want you to live your life." Wasn't I? I got up every morning, took care of my family, taught school, took care of my family, graded papers, sometimes emailed friends, and started all over again the next day. Wasn't that my life?

In KING OF LIES by John Hart, Work discovers that he has been living the life his father wanted him to live, down to who he married, not just what he did. Sometimes now I feel like I am not living my life. I am not sure about the days when I took care of my family, taught school, and sometimes communicated with friends, but now I understand what my friend who wanted me to live my life was saying.

I canned 21 quarts of beans yesterday and cleaned and broke a bushel before I canned them. I will be grateful for all those beans next winter, but I am not sure that spending a whole day doing them is how I was supposed to spend my time.

As I grow older, I realize how precious every minute is. I ask for Guidance every morning and yesterday all day I felt the pull of my computer to get back to writing. When I feel pulls from elsewhere, I am not living my life. People are imprisoned by many things and in many ways. Mostly we imprison ourselves with false beliefs or anachronistic assumptions. Today I write and visit with friends and have my hair cut. I think that will be living my life.