Well, I’ve started writing again.  This is a huge thing for me because while I was pregnant and the majority of my postpartum (which was fraught with complications) I did not write.  I did not have the energy, time, or brainpower.  Even now, sitting is not my forte so often I am blogging from my phone while laying down, or writing with pen and paper, while laying down.  I am digressing.

Goosebumps.  I’m not talking about the book series, though I did enjoy that series as a kid.

No, I’m talking about reading something you’ve written and knowing that it’s right.  It portrays what you want, has the right emotion and pull.  The chapter or scene has come together perfectly and the end result is goosebumps running up and down your arms or other body parts.

Now it may sound conceited to say that I can get this feeling by reading my own writing, but I am a firm believer that if I cannot manage to entertain myself with my writing then why on earth would I expect others to be entertained by it.

I am reworking the ending of Pelegra and (especially since I haven’t read it for nine months) was particularly struck by the emotion of, well it’s not the last chapter but it’s close to the last chapter.

The point in my ramblings above is read your own work.  Expect it to live up to the books you read for entertainment and if your own writing doesn’t give you goosebumps then maybe you need to rework some things.

Something I do every so often is run my name through search engines to make sure my website is coming. Primarily my concern is google. I type in my name see that my site pops up and call it good. Well this time I clicked on the link and boy was I surprise (and frustrated and irritated and generally grrrr) when it brought up a very old and crappy “cached” version of my site. What I don’t get is I rebuilt my site I made sure to have google re-crawl my site, but it still didn’t update it, which is rather bizarre. So now I’ve learned to insert noarchive meta tags into the head and I’ve contacted google to remove the offending cached page. So hopefully by next week it will be updated. So on to more pleasant things…writing. I am working in a new scene for Pelegra which is going quite well and I’m very pleased with. No, this one will not show up here, but I believe with enough persistence it will someday–preferably soon–end up in print. I am also so excited for the Willamette Writers conference that I can’t stand it. I met some great people last year, whom I still stay in contact with. If you have never gone to a conference and been surrounded by other people as in love with writing as you are then you are seriously missing out. Even if you can only attend for one day (which is what I did last year) it is so worth your time, money,and effort. I recommend this particular conference to anyone in the northwest or out of the northwest if you are willing to travel. Well I have to go to work now. ~Keep Reading

Well, I entered the secret agent contest at miss snark’s first victim and received feedback that I was going through the refrigerator too early.  I needed to let my reader get to know Aiden more.  Sooooo, I am working on rewriting the beginning of Pelegra, again.  I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve rewritten the beginning.  Oh well, with each rewrite, it gets better.  I do not have the new beginning posted here yet.  Probably after Tuesday.  I am also reading another book (more than one actually) The anatomy of story by John Trudy, which is quite excellent and reinforces the fact that you must fully develop your characters–all of them–in order to have a vivid story that your readers will care about.  I’m also reading a YA fiction book titled Pucker by Melanie Gideon.  I just started it and like it so far.  I’m also mapping out another book–non pelegra related.  I found a great mind mapping site called WiseMapping.com.  If you want to mind map and don’t want to pay for software, this site is a great solution.  Well back to the “writing” board.

~Keep Reading.

Well, I sent off three more submissions. I’ve decided, for every rejection I get, I’ll try to send off three more submissions. So, now I wait.

Well, somehow I managed to condense the prologue and first chapter into two paragraphs. I’ve run it by my critique group and a few other people, and it appears to be a success.

Well the agent who requested the manuscript decided it wasn’t for him. Oh well. Moving on to the next submission. I haven’t decided who that will be yet, but I do have a few ideas. 🙂