I've been doing really well with posting each week...until last week. But September is a very busy month for my family with birthdays and anniversaries, so you'll just have to accept my apologies. This is the view outside my kitchen window today. Seems appropriate for the first day of Fall, doesn't it? I don't mind Fall, but there is something sad about it. I can look forward to a nice crisp Winter's day, but somehow the season that bridges Summer and Winter is an unwelcome reminder that time is passing. I am in the final stretches of what I'm calling "my Azores book." I don't have a title yet, but it is a contemporary romance set mainly on the Portuguese island of San Miguel. It's about now that I start wondering what my next project will be. Of course, I will still have to polish and edit the Azores manuscript, but it doesn't do to get out of the writing habit for too long. If you get a chance this week, I will be visiting a couple of blogs, so come and say hi! On Monday, September 23, I'll be guest blogging at Long and Short Reviews and Sharon Buchbinder is interviewing me. Then, on Thursday, September 26, I'm back at Long and Short Reviews for another interview. (Please note, the links will not be live until the days listed). I'll be giving away copies of MOUNTAIN FIRE to commenters on Long and Short Reviews, so pass it on!
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For some unknown reason, some of the text on my website has changed. The buttons are supposed to be white on a brown background... now it is either red or green. Not attractive, let me tell you. I've contacted Weebly support and they are working on it, but that was three days ago. Hopefully it will be fixed soon. It seems like such a little issue, but I imagine there is a mind-boggling series of steps that need to be done before fixing the bug that is causing the problem. I'm reasonably competent when it comes to technology, in that I can figure out how to use it. But I have only a teeny tiny understanding of how software is created. I know I'm dating myself, but I was in high school when computers were introduced to the classroom. And by classroom I mean one room where we all went to learn how to use these amazing new machines. We actually learned how to write programs...simple math calculations, even how to make a graphic stick figure man walk across the screen. We saved our programs on cassette tapes, and if you wanted to copy a program from one to the other you simply played the cassette, which made a horribly screeching, whining noise, and record it onto another cassette. Times have certainly changed since then. By and large, technology does make our life easier. Writing can still be hard work, but using a word processing program is certainly more efficient (for me, at least) than rolling sheets of paper into a typewriter. Research is a lot simpler when the power of the World Wide Web is only a couple of keystrokes away. And thank goodness for "Track Changes"...what a great way to revise! When things go wrong with technology, it is a good time to remind ourselves of how things used to be, to take a breath, and step back for a moment to appreciate what we do have. At the end of October I will be attending my first ever writers' conference. A good friend and I have talked about going to the Surrey International Writers' Conference for years, and we are finally going!
I don't really know what to expect. There will be workshops and lunches and dinners and get-togethers, and I am hoping to learn a lot and meet many like-minded people. But I am most excited for the Pitch Session and Blue Pencil appointment. In the Pitch Session, I'll have a chance to present my work to an agent. In the new publishing world, an agent's role is changing, but I think there are still many times when an author with an agent is in a stronger position that one without. At the very least, it will give me practice in promoting my work! In the Blue Pencil appointment I can bring three pages (only three? How can I pick which three?) to a professional and have them review it. I am torn about this. What if our styles don't match? What if she thinks it is trite and cliche? Pitching an idea seems much less nerve-wracking than actually showing someone my work in progress. Regardless of what happens, I'm sure the weekend will give me much to think about and endless opportunities to grow as an writer. I can't wait! |