Saturday morning contemplation....

Yesterday I wrote about 4,000 more on that little "story" I've been cooking. I hadn't worked on it since the other day that I wrote so much on it. Just wasn't feeling well. Sinus pressure and headache, so it was too much strain on my eyes to do any serious writing. Heck, I've got a huge pile of TBR books now and not sure how I'll get them read until my sinus pressure lets up off my eyes. I've been reading Witchling by Yasmine Galenorn and it's slow going...not because it's not good cause I'm enjoying it, but because my eyes just aren't willing to work with me right now. LOL Sinus medicine's not helping much..ugh!

I got my autographed copy of Maureen McKade's A Reason To Believe that I won over on Petticoats and Pistols. I got it on Thursday I believe it was. She had included some bookmarks and postcards with her novels on them. Thought that was really cool.

Then just a few minutes ago when I went to the mailbox, I got my autographed copy of Pam Crooks' Untamed Cowboy along with a couple of cool sparkly Harlequin pens. I won them over on P&P too. And I also got two of the four books I ordered from Amazon. The Stranger by Elizabeth Lane and Maureen McKade's other book A Reason To Live that is part of the same series as the one she signed for me.

I'm hoping I REALLY start to feel better soon, not only for my own writing's sake, but so I can get lost inside all these new books! I swear I had forgotten how addictive reading was until just a few months back. I hadn't bought new books or read anything new in a long time. I had given up my book collecting for the most part(except for keeping up with my V.C. Andrews collection) when I moved down here. Since I was staying home and not bringing in money, I never made any point of asking my hubby if he minded if I indulged in buying books from time to time.

When I was making my own money before he and I met, I would occasionally go to Joseph-Beth in Lexington and just scroll the shelves, in search of something new and intriguing to read. At the end of April of this year I rediscovered my love of books. I started out saying I was just investing in some research of what's *new* out now to find out if my ideas would fit in, but I stumbled across other books that weren't even close to my writing and I LOVED it!

Now I'm devouring books like a starving man at an all-you-can-eat-buffet. I was so out of touch. (of course, I've also said that about myself before in the past in regard to poetry. I have written a LOT of poetry since I was a teenager.)

I thrive on books, words, the smell of a new book's pages. The ink, the crisp pages and binding. I love going into Barnes and Noble. There's just nothing like it in the world to rejuvenate my senses. It refreshes my writer's soul. There's poetic justice in finding a great book that brings tears and laughter that make you connect with the characters, their circumstances and their "world." The satisfaction at the end of a book beats a lot, too. It chases away the blues and leaves you feeling hopeful about life and relationships and just everything.

How do new books make you feel? What's the best thing about them to you, as a writer or reader? Does a trip to the bookstore revive you?

Sleepy Gloomy Day...

It actually looks like rain outside. Boy isn't that a change!

That has been a rarity in these parts of Southern Kentucky all summer and the dark sky has me wanting to curl up into my cocoon, wrap my wings tightly around me and snuggle down with a good book or movie.

The sky is a hazy overcast gray, tempered by cooler weather than we've had in a long time. The trees are already losing leaves and I realize we're not really that far from the onset of Autumn. The ground is damp from the light rain we had through the night and the air is filled with the smell of fall. I can feel it in my bones and it sets my senses to tingling.

I've always found it funny. I can feel the changes in weather and seasons within myself...like a calling upon my soul that things are going into a transition, a different phase and mentality. It's darker earlier in the evenings as well as for longer in the mornings. And to think we don't even change the time until the beginning of November! I can only imagine how it will be come then.

My garden is done for, as are most of my flowers in the yard and there's a great urgency in the squirrels as they bounce across our yard with a walnut pooching their cheeks out to find a good hiding spot for them, stocking up. I actually found a walnut sitting on the stand next to our mailbox. Not sure how it got there considering there are no trees hanging over. The closest walnut tree is down the road on the opposite side in our yard. I honestly don't think the nut fell from the tree and landed that far away.

And here I am indoors, thinking about how it won't be long before I start decorating for Christmas on the porch and throughout the house. It will be upon us before you know it. This year has been full of ups and downs and what a ride it's been.

I'm also thinking about my writing, of course. The excerpt from my previous blog is turning into something quite different than just a short. Yesterday I almost reached 10,000 words and today I will pick back up at the beginning of the sixth chapter. I'm trying to decide if this should be a novella or a novel. I'm not really sure. I suppose I will write and just see where it carries me.

If anyone would like to read more of it, feel free to let me know and I'll be more than happy to share it.

Have a wonderful pre-autumn day.

Chugging Along and I'm A Winner!

I finally got all of my 1st novel moved to my new "rework" file. It still needs a lot more work though to pick up the pace at the beginning of the novel. No one wants to start a book that drags along at a snail's pace. It's hard to finish a book that is sluggish.

I've noticed the change in the story's strength in the end compared to the beginning as well. The ending holds up better than the beginning. I think I know the root of that though. When I first started writing it, I was in my early 20's and one of the main plot points that affects my character was something similar to an event that had recently occurred in my life.

Of course, what happened in my life wasn't nearly as severe as what I put my character through, but when I started writing this one, it was in the hope that I would find healing and strength through my character. She's close to my heart and always will be, even if this novel never makes it into print. She helped me discover my own strengths and grew as I grew, but I still need to strengthen her beginning so that the entire novel is strong in it's own right. All the way through.

So I'm going to open that file this morning and start again and see what else I can do to make this a powerful, moving novel.

Oh and I won a book! I have been going to Petticoats and Pistols reading the western romance writers' blogs and I commented on Pam Crooks' yesterday about strange foods. She was going to give away an autographed copy of her latest book Untamed Cowboy and a couple of cool sparkly Harlequin pens to a random poster. Well, she picked me! hehehe! I CANNOT wait to get it!

Well, I'm off and gone to immerse myself in Maplewood, Ky- the fictional town my novel is set in.

Bit By the Declutter Bug

I have to agree with my friend Maddie today....sometimes the writing part of me takes a break when the clutter around me is just too much. My house needs a good top to bottom cleaning, not just a lick and a promise.


Today I washed the living room and kitchen curtains. I'm also going to make a list of things I have to accomplish each day this week..dusting and cleaning and straightening and carpet cleaning and sweeping and mopping, etc. Whether I get to it is another story! LOL


I've let it go for a while. I mean, I keep the dishes and regular laundry done up, but it's been a LONG while since I actually "cleaned" the house. I'm thinking I'll wash the curtains in our room and my stepson's room tomorrow, change bed sheets as well and then just keep moving on to each task. And maybe if I'm a good little housekeeper, I'll give myself permission to work on rewrites/revisions each day once I'm done with the task at hand. These are things I have to get done because the clutter is EATING away at my brain so that I can't seem to concentrate on writing.


In fact.....you know how unexpected company usually shows up when you HAVEN'T cleaned? Well, then there's my Muse. In my mind she's sort of this finicky but graceful half-catwoman, half-butterfly and well, she's ticked at me. Her name is Amethyst. Light complexion, dark hair, violet eyes to match her name, and blue, lavender and green almost transparent wings. She says my house is too dirty and that she refuses to come pay me a visit until I get the place straightened up for her "highness."


Oh, it's not as if she doesn't bring cat dander and feather dust with her when she comes to see me, but she says that's not her problem, that a good housekeep would take care of that. LOL Mind you, I love when she visits, especially if she makes it an extended stay. But for now, she's not coming. She says I have work that needs to be done and that I need to get my butt in gear.