Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas

I'm on the last chapter!  Yahoo!  But, of course, that comes with lots of editing, and then on to the query process. 

A friend of mine asked me if it was like when you read a book - kind of sad to get to the end.  I suppose in a manner of speaking, it is.  There are a few distinct emotions that jump out at me.  One is procrastination.  I'm not ready to say good bye to my characters (even if they will continue on in a sequel), so it takes a while to push through that last chapter.  Another is relief.  Phew!  I'm finally done!  Then there is "Egads!  Now I have to edit this monster!"  All three of these cause delays in finishing the thing and, as always, it's hard to finish without a contract in hand.  Talk about motivation!

Keeping a rein on these emotions - I need to push through, so even though I'm late in my blog posting, I'm going to keep it brief so I can keep moving!  The next posting should be a "DONE!" posting and from there, you can watch me through the query process - that is going to be my focus when this is done.  I've been slacking in getting the other stories out there, so once this baby is "in the can" I'm going to spend some time marketing.

See you soon!

Catch the Fever!

Cliches, old advertising maxims, but they're buzzing around me while my fingers fly to release my imagination.

Thanks to the critique group for reminding me of a fun acronym, BICHOK.  Usually, it's meant to tie you to your seat to produce, but in this instance, its a description of where I am and it gave me a smile.

With my seasonal job taking a brief respite, this is where the work "drag" releases me and I have enough energy left when I go home at night to press forward with my own life, or the lives of the characters that live in my imagination, as the case may be.  I'm currently experiencing a writing fever which will propel me (I hope!) to the end of my current work in process - and I still love the story I'm writing (that doesn't always happen).  The energy level is high, the words are flowing.  I'm excited that I'm finally going to finish this story!  Six months isn't an extraordinarily long period of time to complete a novel, and yet I've had long spells during the process where I didn't have the time I would have liked or enough inspiration and wasn't sure I'd ever reach the end of this story.

For those folks out there doing the NaNoWriMo, good luck to you.  It's a good exercise for writers that need a goal, but not something I could/would ever do.  If I didn't have a day job (and I'm thanking my lucky stars that I do at the moment with the economy the way it is), I might give NaNoWriMo a whirl, but with limited time at my disposal, I wouldn't make it, and I CAN complete a novel (five, count them, five completed projects).  So to those writers - Catch the Fever!  Be Inspired and Enjoy the Ride!

But now I'm rambling when I have characters who are waiting for me.  Ladies and gentlemen, I'm really thinking this has the potential to be that "break-out" novel.  There will still be editing once I've finished, but I've got the fever!  Convincing an agent/publisher will still be a daunting task, but at least I believe I have the raw material to start with.

Almost there!

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?

Some days I'd like to be a Muppet.

Was sitting with my Dear Husband the other night and he asked me a question.  My response was, "Yup."  So he repeated me (considering I was using poor English).  So I repeated with a "Yup Yup Yup."  Which brought to mind the Muppets, and Sesame Street (more accurately) and the Martians trying to identify what species of life a telephone was.  It sent me into giggles, but DH, who is just enough older than I am to have missed out on Sesame Street, had no idea what I was giggling about.  So I tried to explain it to him, but it got lost in translation.  Fortunately, in this day and age, you can find most anything on the internet (or You Tube, in this case), so I was able to send him a link.  NOW he understands.  Now HE says "Yup Yup Yup," to which I respond with "Brrrring." (you can visit my FaceBook page for the link to the You Tube video.)

Elemental.  Regression to youth, when life wasn't quite so complicated.  I'm still struggling to finish my book, not because I don't know how to get there, but because I'm juggling hours in a day.  One of the only reasons I wouldn't mind being a kid again - fewer responsibilities and more "play" time.  It's these type of things that provide a break from everyday life - stress relief.

So back to finishing my story - I'm in the homestretch!  And instead of blogging, I need to spend some time putting down chapters.  Almost done . . . .