Clancy
Current mood: sad

My special companion, Clancy was called home to Dog Heaven yesterday. His memorial page is here

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What's a tour "by proxy"?

It's a free, fun way to help mystery writer Elaine Viets, who is recovering from a stroke. If you haven't read any of Elaine's "Dead-End Job" mysteries, you're in for a real treat. She has a unique way to research her novels and a style that's a hoot.

Her new book, Murder with Reservations, is being released this month (May), but she may not be ready to take on the rigors of touring for it.

Her friends and fans have come up with fun way to help her and you can participate.   Don't worry - it's totally free, no strings attached.

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Online writing classes

There are so many online writing courses these days that it's sometimes hard to decide which class to take.  Here are a few of my favorite places that offer dynamite classes (and the prices are right, too!) If you have an email address, you can take these courses.   

RWA Kiss of Death Chapter COFFIN (College of Felony and Intrigue) - Offers courses on writing craft and technical aspects of criminal behavior and law enforcement. You don't have to be a member of RWA or this chapter to participate in these classes.

Writers Online Classes - primarily on the craft of writing. Open to all.

Earthly Charms Workshops - offers 2-week and 4-week classes. Open to all.

Other good sites to help you learn how to write are Writers' Village University and InspiredAuthor.  Join WVU and get free access to over 200 courses. InspiredAuthor offers free articles, a free live chat every Friday, and paid courses through their online school.

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Dedicated to you
Category: Writing and Poetry

For all of you who want to see your name in print, here's your chance.

Readers Station is having a "Name Our Anthology" contest and the winner will have his/her name mentioned in the dedication of the anthology.  The anthology has a travel theme and will contain fiction and nonfiction works by the Readers Station tour guides. The winner will receive a copy of the e-book edition of the anthology, which will be released in the Spring. The winner will also get a a free promotional page on the Readers Station website for one month.

Find all the details in the Readers Station newsletter. 

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Starting the new year "write"
Current mood: ecstatic

Absolute Write has reprinted my interview with best-selling author Vicki Hinze in the January 4 newsletter.  I'm so tickled I can't sit still. The AW newsletter has an circulation of more than 78,000 online subscribers and is published weekly. Plus, the article is featured on the front page of their website until the next issue comes out.

The interview first appeared in Novel Writer, a Canadian publication geared solely to helping writers get published.

Now I suppose I'll have to update my website and my blog a bit more regularly.  Ohhh...the burden of being published.  LOL 

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Free Friday night chat for writers

Just a quick reminder about the free writers' chats sponsored by InspiredAuthor.com every Friday night at 7:00 pm eastern time.

These chats are a great way to network with other writers and get a peak into the real world of publishing and self promotion. Experienced freelance writers, published authors, and even an editor or two share their expertise with you for free.  Just show up and ask questions!

Tomorrow night's discussion will focus on getting published in the fast-growing genre of erotic romance. The chat will start at 7:00 p.m eastern time in the writers' chatroom

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Honor our veterans

November 11 is Veterans' Day and no doubt there are various activities around the country to honor our military veterans - past and present.

I'm proud of the men and women in our Armed Services. My parents - yes, both of them - served in World War II.  My grandfather was in both WWI and WWII.  You can read a brief account of my first day at Navy boot camp.

If you've ever seen "To Hell and Back", you know about Audie Murphy,  It's one of my all-time favorite war movies, along with "The Green Berets," "The Bridge Over the River Kwai" and "Platoon."  No, war isn't fun and it certainly isn't glamorous, but these movies have a "tell it like it is" approach.

So please take time tomorrow - November 11 - to remember our veterans. Canadian musician Terry Kelly pays tribute with a beautiful song.

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Competition or personal achievement?

With only two days into National Novel Writing Month, I was ready to quit.  Self-doubt kicked down my door and blasted my self-confidence all over the wall.  What a mess I was!  And how did I get in this state?  Simple:  I started looking at what other people were posting for their word counts.  I've been off to a slow start – no, the reasons aren't important.  But when I saw that some of my friends had written at least 1,000 words and others were merrily churning out almost 3,000 words, I just felt soooooo discouraged.  I had only managed a mere 628 words of total garbage on the first day of NaNoWriMo.  There was no hope for me at all.

Or was there?  Why did I decide to participate in NaNo this year? Was I really doing this for me, to kickstart my writing?  Or was I unconsciously thinking it was a competition – that I had to meet or beat the word counts other people said they did?  A big "ah hah" moment here for this writer.

I committed to NaNo for myself, to establish a habit of writing every day no matter what. So whether I write ten words or 1,000 words, I have the personal satisfaction of knowing that I am achieving my goal.  

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Focus on writing

NaNoWriMo is coming up fast. A whole month to dedicate to writing my novel. 

 I've stocked up on food for me and the dog, caught up on all my laundry, and am now checking through my office supplies. I want to have plenty of  paper and printer ink so I can have "hard copy" of my daily writing.  I've put my Alfie downstairs so it will be handy for quick notes or scenes when I'm away from my computer.  My answering machine message will remind any callers that I'm on a writing retreat (as in "I'm retreating from the world to write this (&#($&#& novel!" LOL).

There are only three days left. What are you doing to get ready to write during NaNoWriMo?

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NaNoWriMo

Only four more days until the start of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).  A group of writers met tonight to talk about how they are preparing to write 50,000 words in 30 days.  There was lots of discussion about chocolate and coffee...some mention of pasta and pizza...and a few good tips for NaNoWriMo newbies. 

My favorite tip of the night:  Don't allow yourself to edit or rewrite.

The whole point of NaNoWriMo is to turn off your internal editor and just let the words flow.  It's okay to write crap.  Crap can be cleaned up.  [pun intended]. Get your story down no matter how rough the draft is. Then on October 1st, you can start editing and revising.

Put NaNoWriMo to good use. A friend of mine has done NaNoWriMo for four years and has published work to show for it.

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