Lazy Hazy Days of Summer

Like most of the country this week, NYC is baking!!!

Now if I were sitting on the deck of my imaginary beach house, 95 - 100 degrees might not seem so awful, but trapped in the city streets, it's oppressive.

It's also a really good excuse to indulge in my favorite summer activity - lazing away the day reading a good book.

This has been a really great reading summer for me. For some reason, last summer I was having a terribly hard time settling into any book (until The Hunger Games) but this summer is just one great read after another.

I just finished a marathon read of Terri Blackstock's Cape Refuge series which I really really enjoyed. I'm currently reading three books -

One for research - Miracles and Moments of Grace - Inspiring Stories from Military Chaplains - by Nancy B. Kennedy


Against All Odds by Irene Hannon - love her books!

and


Escaping into the Open - The Art of Writing True by Elizabeth Berg


I know I've been a really bad blogger; I think it's because I'd rather talk about reading than writing here.  I'm thinking of taking this blog in a new direction to talk books instead of writing so ...

I'd really like to know -

What are you reading?


Do you have any great books to recommend?

Off to RWA11

Not really "off to" in a physical sense since it's here in NYC this year, but going to Nationals definitely requires an "off to" mindset. It's always a little overwhelming - okay sometimes a lot overwhelming - sharing a conference experience with 2000 other writers, but the energy is amazing and it's so worth it if you can make it.


If there's anyone around out there, what are your conference experiences. What conferences are "Don't Miss" status for you?

HELP! A modern morality tale about the perils of not planning ahead

I'm a writer.

I'm also a teacher.

During the school year, that's not a great match. If I'm doing my job well, I have little left over energy for creativity, but if I only write on vacations, it's too easy to lose track of a story. My solution has been to promise myself to write at least 100 words every day on my story (the same story - no jumping around allowed).

I have been very good at keeping that vow, but it's left me with a very different problem.

See, the way I kept the vow was to write 100 words on whatever scene I thought of - or to write sort of a narrative outline to tell myself the story.

That's good because I wrote something every day.

It's bad because it left me with a huge mess!

A 529 page mess to be exact!

I've been reading a lot of blogs lately by people who are planners. Their dedication and planning style is starting to rub off on me. Since summer vacation is approaching, today I had the bright idea to plan out how I would finish this book.

Uh oh!!!!!

I very quickly felt overwhelmed by what lay ahead (see, planning is not my natural style!) so I decided to treat my notes and narrative outline like a rough draft. I'd print it out and read and take notes.

That's when things got scary.

See, in order to adapt to my busy life (and penchant for collecting electronic gadgets) I've been writing in Google Docs.  Google Docs is great because I can access my work from anywhere and not worry about having to transfer files from iMac to iPad to school computer that uses only Word to laptop, etc.
Alas, what Google Docs is not great at is pagination (or at least not that I've discovered).

So when I printed out those files today - turns out I have a whopping 529 pages written!

So now what do I do? (Besides cry???)


The best I can figure at this point is to take my trusty red pen, post-its, a notebook, an endless supply of coffee and tea, and start reading and taking notes about what stays, what goes, what needs to be rearranged, what works, what almost works, etc.

Or I could trash it all and play with another book. *hmmmmm There's a shiny new idea hovering above my laptop screen...



Seriously, though, I'm begging for advice.

How do you organize your "notes" or your planning. I DO want to be a better-organized person in the future.

Happy Memorial Day

Read Forever

Have you seen this Nook ad?

I rarely watch television, but I happened to turn it on today just as this commercial aired. I confess it made me misty.

Whether you love print books or you read with a Kindle, an iPad or a Nook, the sentiment is identifiable for any reader.

Which inspires you more?

I read a thought-provoking post over at Rachelle Gardner's blog this morning and it got me to wondering about how we read as writers.

The first part of my musings had to do with becoming a writer.

Over the years, I've read so many authors say it was one of those wall-tossed books that inspired them to write and prove they could "do better."

For me, it was an article I read aeons ago about how Rosemary Rogers and Shirlee Busbee got their starts writing that inspired me. I was in a hotel room on a business trip and leafing through a magazine. The article was something like You Too Can Be a Writer.

Honestly, that was the first time it occurred to me that I could. Me write a book like all those amazing authors? No WAY!

All these years later, I still haven't convinced myself I can, but I love trying.

So which inspires you more as a writer - an amazingly well-written book or one you want to toss at the wall?

Happy Easter!

I love this song by Matt Maher.