From the Writer's Desk - Getting Back on Track

 First week of January and I'm already behind on every part of my goals for the year. On the way home from the day job on December 30th, I fell and torqued my knee. It was bad enough that I was afraid I re-tore my ACL.  It was repaired less than a year ago. New Year's Weekend was also spent with my family.  We crashed at my brother's for the weekend, which is not really conducive to writing. Way too many people and to much noise.  Holidays are important, it's a good time remember what's important in our lives.

So, after spending most of Tuesday evening in Urgent Care followed by strict orders to go home and not move any more than absolutely necessary because the doc was worried about a blood clot. I sat and stitched in bed for an hour before falling asleep.  Earlier I had made the decision to change focus projects, because there is a serious amount of world building that I need to do for Forbidden.  It's no longer NaNo, so I can -- and need to -- take the time necessary - and the word count - to do the world building.  So, I'm working on Behind the Masque again. But, I didn't want to jump in from where I left off, mostly because I don't remember where I was headed. So, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday were spent getting back up to speed and some editing at the same time. So, I'm back to a good starting point. The pain is gone and no blood clot. So, those are good things.

So, this week's goals are a lot like last weeks goals

1) Writing 5 times a week, 500 words each
2) 2 hours of world building and research
Focus - Behind the Masque (writing) and Forbidden (world building)

Have a Fabulous Week!

Simone.

Friends and Family In a Small Industry

Conferences are approaching. That's nothing new. There are several big conferences a year that writers go to. Either to learn more about their craft, to help others, or meet and inter act with readers. The weeks leading up to a conference is generally chaotic for writers. Aside from their regular commitments, they also need to make sure they have any and all books and promo material together that they'll need. And that it is the right promo for them and for the conference. When you're organizing a conference of any size, you effectively are taking on another full time job. Talk about chaos. I'm sure many events meet themselves coming and going.

The publishing industry as a whole, is really not that big. When you look at e-publishing, it's even smaller. Or maybe not truly smaller, but tighter knit. I don't know if authors from the traditional New York houses get that same feeling or not. Writing is a very solitary occupation, and it can be hard to connect with people. Writing e-books, means there can be less opportunities for booksignings, after all the bookstores can't order them and stack them in a pretty display, but the flip side of that is that as we talk to each other. On Facebook. On Twitter. And on E-mail loops. Short conversations or word count accountability messages become conversations that become friendships. Then we get to go conferences and meet those people and friendships deepen.

I'm heading for GayRomLit in Albuquerque, NM to spend a week with old friends and new ones and to remember those that we lost this year. In the days leading up to GRL there are more and more emails that say things like  "I'm useless at work, is time to go yet?". It is an event that readers and authors alike look forward too. Earlier this year I received a heart-wrenching email from one of my publishers titled "A Death in the Family", informing me of the unexpected death of William Neale, a friend and fellow author. Writers and readers alike, we've become a close knit community. We mourn the loss of friends and family, cheer for successes and good news, send thoughts and prayers and words of encouragement to those in need. And when we're lucky enough to meet them in person and again, it's like coming home. Those emails have led to friendships, to families of friends.


To Old Friends and New....I can't wait to see everyone in Albuquerque!

Simone

Oops

It's been a couple of weeks since I did little more than pop in and out. Oops.

I don't know who said this first or if there is anyone that you can attribute this remark to but really - thanks! I was in class and we were discussing the education, roles, and rights of women in early US history. And some brillant teenager brought up the fact that as more women go to college, the higher the divorce rate. Yup, it's that easy. The prof, bless him, said it's not the simple, its more complex than that. And I said something equally brilliant like "well, duh" which apparently my prof has eagle ears because I didn't say real loud, not even in a loud whisper, but a true whisper. And he says care to explain. So I said yeah, I'm divorced. Then he asked if it was possible for me to give the reasons for my divorce. That is a topic I don't generally go into but I did come up with the best answer:

"Aside from the fact that he thought he was God and I disagreed -" which brought much laughing from the teens and prof in the class "he thought women should be barefoot and pregnant and not as well educated as women. I disagreed."

Divorce - any divorce - is rarely that simple, but it worked for the situation covering a wide array of topics that I didn't really want to go into - so whoever should get the credit for

"He thought he was God and I disagreed" - thank you. Perfect timing there.

In other news:

I got the cover for Finding Love and will share that with you soon and I joined Dakota Rebel and Brynn Paulin at Carol Lynne's Reader's Weekend in Kansas City.