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My first published piece. Now available in the Spring issue of Jersey Shore magazine

Spring 2017

I can’t believe it has been a couple months since my last post. My art muse and the holidays took their tolls on my writing time but I am back making a concerted effort to carve out the time needed to start the rewrites for my novel.

In the meantime, all was not lost. A short story I sent off to an editor a few months ago resulted in a wonderful surprise email this past week.

A local magazine is going to publish my story, uncut, and I will be collecting my first professional writing fee. It’s not much money, but then it isn’t about the money. It is about validation from someone other than your significant other, your mother, your best friend.

I am still on cloud nine because this means that someone, a stranger, one who deals with words for a living, has determined that I have something worthwhile to say. Even though I tell myself that I already was a writer, receiving this affirmation makes it irrefutable.

So I celebrate today, and tomorrow it is back to the word processor. 🙂

Just want to wish all of you a very happy, safe, and fun Thanksgiving holiday! I haven’t been at the easel much lately. My inner crafter kicks in as Christmas approaches so I have been busy w…

Source: Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s not always easy to find time to write. Often there is this nagging voice inside your brain that says, you should be writing. Most of the time it is far too easy to ignore this voice but when NaNoWriMo comes around that tiny whisper morphs into a 90-decibel screech, YOU SHOULD BE WRITING!

So here I sit, in front of the laptop, basically wasting all kinds of time by checking email, browsing FB, and blog writing instead of adding to my Word Count. All the while that annoying metal on metal scraping sound, little girls screaming, fingernails on blackboard-take your pick-is there in the background, telling me what I already know, and I can’t ignore it for long. That is the whole point of doing NaNoWriMo. For this one month of the year, you have stepped up your commitment to make your writing happen. To hell with the housework, the usual TV fodder (that’s was recorders are for), the everyday diversions. This month you need to thrust the trivial and not so trivial things aside and put the writing first. So clear your home screen and open up Scrivener or Word or whatever else you are using and start typing. Get lost in your world. Get to know your MC. Create some problems and find your way out of them. At the end of the month you may or may not have a book, but you will have a habit of making writing a priority that, I hope, you don’t lose. You will have more of a book than you would have if you hadn’t tackled the self-torture known as NaNoWriMo. So enough procrastination. It’s time to get writing!

I got a call from a reporter a few days back with questions for NaNoWriMo newbies. While there were some misquotes (I am revising my first NaNoWriMo book but not as part of this year’s contest) I was thrilled the contest got some press exposure. Anything that helps bring along a new crop of writers is a plus in my book. Here is the article, for what it is worth…

Atlantic City Press article

Well, in spite of my woeful lack of preparation, I got off to a terrific start with about 4300 words on opening day. The kick-off write-in at Tuckerton Seaport had a total of two, yes 2, writers but that did not dampen our enthusiasm and both of us exceeded our goals for the night.

Today I wound up catering to my art muse (she was feeling neglected) and developed a whopper of a headache so I need to put in extra time tomorrow. My goal is to have 10K by Sunday evening, 12K would be better. I will keep you posted.

I have less than a week to get ready for this year’s National Novel Writing Month and I am nowhere near ready.

But that’s okay. Really. Because it doesn’t matter if I finish the month with 50,000 words in the bag, and even if by some miracle I do manage to get the word count to”win” I know from experience that most of what I churn out in NaNoWriMo will be complete drivel.

So why do it? Why agonize, put yourself through that Word Count torture, stay up late and live in the same sweats for  the entire weekend (and more) if most of what you churn out is going to eventually end up in the waste bin anyway?

Because (she says, with a knowing smile) that kernel, hidden in the chaff, may just become something. Something BIG.

The first time I did NaNoWriMo, I only managed to get about 17K on paper for the month. Ninety percent of that wound up in the trash, but the time spent spewing out those wasted words helped the idea form in my mind for what would eventually become my first book. I set the files aside for a couple years after NaNoWriMo, but that initial intense push kept things bouncing around inside my head. The story grew, changed, and fleshed itself out.

When I finally reopened the file, I was ready to write my book. I am not sure that would have happened had I not been through the ordeal that is NaNoWriMo.  Committing a month to focus on your ideas is really what NaNoWriMo is all about.

It’s not about finishing a book; it’s about starting one. 

Whether you have a carefully planned outline, complete with pages of character descriptions and plot point, or just a wacky wonderful idea that has been nagging at the back of your brain, jump in with enthusiasm and write, write, write. Whether you end up with 5K or 50K, you will still benefit.

Here’s what I have taken away from my four previous NaNoWriMo attempts:

1. You learn how to get your thoughts on paper (ok computer)
2.  You learn just how much time you need if you are serious about writing, and get in the habit of making that time
3. Editing while writing the first draft is a bad idea – you should let the ideas come-NaNoWriMo is so short, so intense, you don’t have time to edit so it helps keep you out of edit mode
4. Some really good book ideas can come from the process
5. You’ll meet other local writers, future critique partners, and potential friends at the local write-ins

If you have been on the fence, give it a go. DO join local write-ins and NaNoWriMo meet ups. The support and enthusiasm help keep you going when you get bogged down. I’ll be at the Tuckerton Seaport at 6:45 PM for the Nov. 1st kickoff in Southern Ocean County. Hope to see you there, laptop in hand.

Well, this weekend I take the plunge to sell my art locally at the High Fliers Art Market on LBI.  I shut my eyes, held my nose, and decided not to stick my toe in the waters. Instead, I am jumping…

Source: Selling at Art Fairs and Festivals

I keep telling you I am a lousy poet (and I am) but for some reason, I have been inspired to write more poetry lately. Today’s inspiration is a painting I have been working on.

It is called …

The Glider

Softly

In the blue silence

She glides past

With grace, majesty

She sails on silent wings

A peaceful creature

She disturbs no one

Coming ashore

In the secrecy of night

Bringing life

To her children.

Their chance is slight

The odds against them

Their days are numbered

In this world

For the sea is dying

And with it,

The Glider.