Still writing here, too...

Right now I'm:
Revising an erotic novella to make it a bit longer.
Rereading my paranormal mystery before sending it out again.
Working on a paranormal romance about 2012, reincarnation and shapeshifting (yeah, I forgot to put in aliens...)- an editor is "interested"
And not to forget "The Last RN" - memoir of a career I never wanted.

I think I have AADD - or I'm just scattered - too many ideas and not enough time.

We're all still writing...

...as far as I know. Life has been getting in the way of my novel, so right now I'm mostly writing at my day job. But at least it's writing. And I've been neglecting this blog , so apologies to anyone out there in blogland who's been checking for new posts.

I might have some news to share soon about a speaking appearance. Don't want to announce before it's completely final. Also want to get some freelancing assignments, which is probably not gonna be easy in this economy--but I'll try!

How about the other women on this blog? What are y'all up to, writing-wise?

I'm back!

So, 10 days on a sailboat from the Eastern Shore of Maryland to Fall River, Mass with my husband and in-laws. Good times.

Also, a valid form of procrastination. Now I'm back to work, writing and lining up a new client.

This week I plan to get those first two chapters on the go. As for a little more info on this book sitch, I'm writing it with another guy who has already published a book (Before the Glory -- it's on amazon and published by the Chicken Soup for the Soul folks). I'm not exactly sure where that puts this project, but he's making the connections and the meetings. In the meantime, I need to go tackle some of those mini-cassettes!

Plot party!

Well, it was mostly critiquing and a little plotting, but still a great day. Members of a local writers group I belong to got together at another member's home for a day of critiquing, plotting, chatting, and oh yes, eating!

We writers energized the summer air with ideas and I, for one, left with a renewed feeling of focus--even though I hadn't put any plot or issue on the (wicker) table! That happens a lot with writers. Although it is a solitary pursuit, when we meet, we feed on everyone else's creativity and fresh perspective. Thanks PLRW!

uh oh

Let's put it this way... I couldn't even think of a blog title.

I had the first two inerviews for a book I'm working on. Each one was two and a half hours long -- pretty intense. They're all kids (well, adults now) who were living in the projects with bad family situations. We have about 13 more people to interview.

Anyway, I can go into the details some other time, but here I am, mini-cassettes full of two people's lives and I'm daunted. I have to get over a long-standing fear I've had that I'm not the book-writing kind. The idea of thousands and thousands of words is quite intimidating for me. I'm more 500 words and done.

Would hypnosis help?

Mitzi's Back

I'm back and with some BSP:
BSP= Blatant Self Promotion:I've been working on several writing projects and just returned from a mystery writers conference in NJ: Deadly Ink. I'd entered their short story contest and received an honorable mention and publication in their 2008 Anthology.

http://www.amazon.com/Deadly-2008-Short-Story-Collection/dp/0978744233/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214140436&sr=1-1

The Heat is On

Ok, well we've been slackin'. I'm not here to judge, guys, so please don't take offense and I'm definitely stepping up to say I'm a bad one as well.

Maybe it's just too hot to write.

Or maybe everyone's had the computer troubles I am. It's already shut down the Internet three times. I'm about to throw it out of the window. However, one try is having this air conditioner in one of my windows. Hopefully it'll cool everything down, including my temper.

It's amazing to me when I stop to think about it how dependent upon technology us creative types are. I mean, people wrote even before there were printing presses. I must admit, though, getting a room full of monks would be cost prohibitive for me. And I'm just not sure we have the space.

At any rate, here I am writing on a blog from my computer with the air conditioner blowing. I'm also writing another blog (corkandknife.com -- I'm the giddy gourmet and now the writer of tube food -- plug, plug) from my computer with the air conditioner blowing. I send my invoices over email and get business calls on my cell phone (oh, another source of ire now that the screen of it blacked out and I can't call people because I can't see the numbers. Have no fear, they're sending me another).

But I try to keep something pure in my writing. I try to make it all sound like me. I don't want to use high falootin words that I wouldn't when I'm talking to friends or family and I try not to take on assignments I don't buy myself. It makes things a lot easier.

Stay cool!

I've got the music in me

When I was in high school, I used to listen to loud music while I did my homework. Usually metal of some kind, probably most often Guns N Roses.

This infuriated my mother. Most times she would come in and tell me to turn it off, that I wasn't concentrating. Other times I would wear my Walkman and when she called for me, I couldn't hear her. That didn't go over well either.

But, though Mom didn't believe me, I will tell you, dear readers, that music does indeed help me focus. I remember my stepmom telling me that a teacher once gave my nephew a one-legged chair because focusing on that helped him in class. I think that's the reasoning behind my love of music while I work. My head is always two places at once and if I hear the music (at a lower volume now) I strain ever so slightly to hear it over other ambient noise. That noise can be as simple as the click of the keyboard as a type or as annoying as a trash truck outside the open window of my office.

My cousin gave me a couple of CDs recently and while I was working on my most recent deadline I listened to them (I usually listen to an independent radio station, but I really wanted to check out these albums).

So I'm listening to the Across the Universe soundtrack and I notice that I actually stop typing between songs. All of a sudden I'm blank, like one of those toys that stop when someone walks out of its path. I also lose my vocabulary (typing) and make more typos. Am I completely insane?

I would go on, but I have to go put in another CD.