Write Early. Write Often…Write Something!

And now…

Been a busy time.Last Wednesday we left the four puppies  at the kennel and headed out to Washington DC for a business conference. Ah, yes and if you're going to go to a conference do so at the Mandarin Oriental because it's nice. Very nice. We had a view of the Washington Monument from our window.    Dinner Wednesday night at Ristorante i Ricchis and the food was amazing, as was the service and the company. Hello Veronica and Guillermo Villa. Thursday was a trip to the Hillwood Estate. Marjorie Merryweather Post's estate in DC. 25 amazing acres   near Rock Creek Park. No pictures of the inside 18th century porcelain collection or the Russian icon collection, but the gold fountain outside the breakfast room was a wonderful treasure.    Dinner that night was a gala affair at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Can't resist those pictures with statutes. Here's Tom back in the 20th century and then me! 

   The Gala was a fun time and oh, ask me sometime about the dessert options. Let me tell you, Towers Watson does many things right, but they go way past right into incredible for dessert!!!  All good things end and we left the Mandarin Oriental for the Embassy Suites near the Convention Center and the Marine Corp Marathon. This 35 year old marathon started with just 1175 runners [four of whom have continued to run in each and EVERY marathon since] and this year there were 30K plus runners. It was amazing. Running on Sunday October 31, from Arlington Virginia into DC, past the Pentagon, Crystal City, The Mall, Lincoln Memorial to Rosslyn.  Here are our three marathoners: Lori Shannon, lovely niece and starter of the running craze in our family. Miss Meghan on the right and fiance, Greg Vogt on the left. A marathon time of 5 hours 37 minutes and 5 seconds for all three as they held hands and crossed the line. Limping and tired they were thrilled to have finished. A long walk across the bridge [because the Metro lines where HUGE] to Georgetown and a snack at Rhino Pub  on the main street with Mike Braun, Lori's boyfriend, Bayley and fiance, Dan Hockradle. All in all it was a great week. Not much writing on my part,  a little revision and a need to get home and focus. But I must say the puppies were most pleased with our arrival on Monday afternoon and were happy to be home. They each found their favorite part of the house. Missy, the coonhound on the far right, on the chaise upstairs. Marcus, middle back, on the couch in front of the TV, Sammy, the little rat terrier in front, who is afraid to venture up stairs stretched out in the middle of the bed and Grady, the Queen and old lady of the pack, just followed me around and sat where ever I was stopped.  

 So. home now. Emails answered and sent. Bills recorded, paid and filed. Clothes washed and ironed --well, not ironed. The wedding plans are four hundred and fifty miles to the north. Tom is at work. Just a couple of more SCBWI Carolinas stuff to finish off. But me? I can get my mind back to Aaron or Tommie or even Jerome Sue. I have three weeks, then its off to the north again. <sigh> I need a better system!  

Conference Overload

Whoa! Onto the third day of the conference. I need time to process, but I think it worked :) 

Amazing editors in Liz Waniewski and Alvina Ling, ditto for literary agent Chris Richman. Awesome Art Director Laurent Linn had us all wishing we were able to at least draw a solid story evoking, emotion ladened line and the presenters?  I have nothing but wonderful things to say about all of them. 

So. not much to write now. After I put this conference to paper and close out the year I have a place to go in my own writing and a better understanding of my character. It's my opportunity to see if I can take this an run! 

time is NOT on my side…

Down to nine, no seven days until I leave for Charlotte and the fall conference. I've made spreadsheets of just about everything. Had lunch today with Tammy at Marriott, planning menus, setting up rooms for sessions, ID-ing where to place the registration table and the breakfast table. Okay, so I think we're good. Registration closes on Monday. But we're in pretty good shape. Need to send out e-vites to faculty dinner and, oh, yeah, must remember to have some fun!

I really love this part of the process; the getting down to the wire, making this a worthwhile activity for so many people. I learn so much about people, stories and how to make them go together. There's a good nugget of knowledge in just about every day! That's a good thing.

Getting harder and harder to concentrate on Tommie, but I know she's sitting in my subconscious and she's plotting and planning and she's getting ready to explode! I hope I've got the time and the words for her to come out and play.  

Home Again, Home Again Jiggity Jog

So, the five days of renewal, rest and relaxation are done, over, nothing but a memory, a couple of pounds and some digital images stored on my camera and soon on my computer. But the lingering effects are mighty. I hope.

We ate, drank, visited shops, art galleries, street fairs and the Biltmore House. It is an exercise in mental acuity to understand the lifestyle of the Vanderbilts and their scion. Even in the twenty-first century. Today an  eight thousand acre backyard compared with one-hundred years ago and a one-hundred fifty plus yard. 'Cause that is what it is, it is their backyard. The Vanderbilt family treat it with care and respect and do more than their fair share in that regard, but Whoa! it's still their yard. Sort of like the ultimate 'living over the store' idea.

It defies the anonymous maxim 'Truth is stranger than fiction…." And we usually forget the ending '…but not so popular.'We were visiting after a major holiday, and school has begun and still there were a lot of people. I don't even want to think about what it would be in the middle of summer!

So, now. After leaving Tommie to her own devices for a week, it's time to get her going, moving to the next scene; finding mysteries where there may be none, bringing her own brand of confusion and dissemblance, working on her career goal of totally annoying her older sister right out of the house. <sigh> we have a ton of work to do!

Refresh, Relax & Renew

LOL, being economical of words I should just say Vacation.

Not this time are we visiting an 'activity' spot. Not this time are we tied to seeing as much as we can so that we don't miss anything. Not this time are we going to be busy from early early morning to late late at night. Vacations like that should not be called vacations. They should be called trips or journeys or treks. These words that imply more than going someplace they harken to an adventure, a time of discovery or information overload.

Not this time. We are going to a place where there is one tourist spot. So. One day trip. The rest is for reading, and walking. Sitting by the pool. Eating a slow lunch after a long breakfast in preparation for a leisurely dinner.

Vacation.  

Writing Partners

There is something amazing about writing partners.

First it is the amount of time they spend reading your words. Words that are hard won, hesitant on a page, adolescent enough to want to fit in.  Then there's the time they invest in being brutal to those words, snapping at them, picking them up and examining them on all sides, poking them for size and texture and suitability. 

Writing partners are like the parents of a comely child with a date approaching the front door. Will this date be good enough, kind enough, strong enough to take care of my child should the need arise. My writing partners want every word to be a sure thing, every comma and period to mean what it should, be placed where it should and be gainfully employed in holding the entire work up to critical light.

SOUP is more than up to the challenge. For me, that's why I work so very hard come a Wednesday submission. 

Now to rewrite that pesky bus scene…

Late in the Day…

Two hours of tennis this AM. Why? It makes me feel like I'm normal. Not tied to my phone, the internet, the texting. I get to be out there, soaking up all that Vitamin D. Running around, laughing, hitting the ball. Smashing an  overhead. Slicing a backhand. Acing a serve. Whoa!

Then home. Lunch. And reading. Back to Charlie Bone. Lots of stuff going on. Trying to keep track. Getting back into the swing of his life and his problems. Jenny Nimmo has some awesome evil characters. It would be amazing to spend a dark and stormy Halloween night in an ancient Welsh castle with her. I bet her ghost stories would rock!

Critiqued Spivey and another chapter of Pilot Mountain School. Yes, I always have something to say. But I am always grateful for the opportunity to read my critique partners work and to learn.

Quandary

It's the middle of the week. Two days until the end, then a new week begins with the promise of new. I Love New! but then am I wasting this week if I don't make real progress on my own writing? Besides eleven books just came from Amazon. Yes! I'm not just eating bonbons I'm involved in Professional Studies <note the caps> reading these books as a writer a la Katherine Prose, which is very cool. But [self-disclosure here]  I get so wrapped up in the stories I forget to read like a writer. 

I'm 10 again. For me that was sixth grade. I'm snuggled down behind my bed, in the corner, hiding out, reading instead of doing the chores Mom gave me. But, hey, can she really get mad at me? Again. I'M READING! 

Yes, yes she can and did. Amazingly often. Because I was hiding somewhere in the house reading when I should have been doing something else. Talk about a slow-learner! 

Okay, I'll write. I've got some good ideas. But then, by gum, it's a glass of milk, a cookie and a book…

Back on Track

Alright. Or is it All Right? Anyway, it's Tuesday, feels like Monday because of the Lost Weekend thing, but now I have to do two days in one. Wait. Is that any different than before? Who knows. You hit a certain again, like this side of 21, and you have to wonder what goes on in your brain.

Resolution. Twenty-five days, give or take, not counting weekends because using them would be BONUS! to get a first draft of what ever MM will be called. That about the time to the Fall Conference. I could really be nutzy by the September 23, but then who's to say I'm not already.

Ya think I can do it? So, we'll mark this day. August 17. Resolution Day, 2010. And now [drum roll please] TO WORK!

Lost Weekend

No matter how hard I try, every once in a while I lose a weekend. This weekend was it. With the best intentions in the entirety of the universe I took all my stuff with me--computer, books, journal, blank writing pads, pens, etc. And I carted it from the hotel to the house and back again--TWICE! So. Nothing. I can't even claim thinking 'cause my brain was totally on hold while I painted. You'd think painting would be a no brainer, but not so. You've got to concentrate. You've got to focus. You've got to pay attention otherwise the paint will be where it shouldn't. And now I've got a ton of emails to sort through and make some sense out of [oh, brain freeze, should I be ending that sentence in a preposition? Do I really care?] 

Tomorrow get conference stuff done, then back to MRDR MYSTRI. Although I'm not sure that's what it's going to be--a murder mystery. I think it's going to be something completely different!