It's a Wrap!

What a week! Though the Muse Online Writers Conference is over and done with, I've kept busy with a few of the goals I established during organizational forums with Cheryl Malandrinos and Susanne Rose.

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One goal for this week was to enter TWRP's Mini Halloween Romance contest. My goal was to submit an excerpt of Walks with the Moon. A piece I titled: Undeclared Love. Earlier this week I reworked another scene to submit in its stead. Yesterday I submitted Surrender. The winner will be announced on October 31st. If I don't win, I'll post it here and give you a little taste of the storyline.

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Another goal between now and November first is to get everything organized for NaNoWriMo. To help with that I'm going to read through Devon Ellington's 30 Tips for 30 Days. [Look the link on the side bar~after Writing Tip of the Day] I've read through Part One ~ Preparation. I like the idea of a creativity alter, and have the perfect spot in the far corner of my studio. One tip served to remind me of the music and CDs that I need to get in order. It's not just notes and files. There's an atomsphere that needs to be set as well.

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I also need to get another update posted to my Quill of the Heart blog, i.e., How Would You Live. That's a goal I committed to accomplishing this week. But, I have several entries sitting either in the blogspot draft folder, or hibernating in a Word.doc file. Not doing a bit of good sitting in either place. I need to get them moving. That's a goal for next year; regular updates.

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Claudia Suzanne's Before Copyediting forum truly opened my eyes. I will never look at editing the same way again. Charting the structure of a piece, whether fiction or non-fiction, was new ground for me. Before I take on the next major editing session I need to switch over, completely, to left brain logic. Editing is not necessarily a right brain function. Her sessions gave new meaning to the old addage, 'put it away for a few days to a month and look at it with fresh eyes.'

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Devon Ellington's lessons in Dialogue were invaluable, and Lea Schzias Short Story forum -- well, though I got a considerable amount of work done on my Beginning, Middle, and Ending [for Walks with the Moon], let's just say I came away with only half a hook! Not her fault. I believe I struggle most with what not to relay. Needless to say--it's just one more writing goal for 2009. I was in and out of many more forums, all of which I will talk about at later dates. But-- I already registered for Muse 2009. Lots to do between now and then.

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Oh! Here's the banner I did for NaNoWriMo:

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That's it for now. More soon,

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Gearing Up

I've been in recovery mode of recent; due to both my degenerating discs and fibromyalgia. Keeping frustration at bay is an ongoing battle. But enough of that. I don't want to give either condition anymore power over me than they already generate.

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This coming week I'm spending what time I am able to maintain on reading through the mountain of handouts I've downloaded for the upcoming 2008 Muse Online Writer's Conference.

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I've lost count of the number of online forums/workshops, and live Chats available. I signed up for more than I'll likely be able to handle, physically, but-- what with my sleep patterns all amuk, I do tend to have many up-all-night-into-the-wee-hour occasions to log in to any given forum and pick up on what I can.

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I hope to take advantage of Organize Your Writing Life (Cheryl Malandrinos), Query Letters! Editing them perfectly for a great first impression (Carolyn Howard-Johnson), Seek Your Bliss (Pat Harrington), Red Hot Internet Publicity (Penny Sansevieri), Wham, Bam, Thank You, Ma'am: Cutting to the Chase and Writing First Chapters That HOOK (Sara Reinke), What Aspiring Writers Need to Know (Marie Delgado Travis), A Blueprint for Your Creative Space through the Power of Feng Shui (Anna Maria Prezio), On Becoming a Professional Amateur (Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff), BEFORE COPY EDITING (Claudia Suzanne), along with a Dialogue Workshop (Devon Ellington), just to name a few.

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Several publishers and editors (e and POD) are also promised to be on hand, i.e., Niteblade Magazine (Rhonda Parrish), Double Dragon Publishing (Deron Douglas), and Red Rose Publishing (publisher & editors).

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There appears to be a fair amount of homework involved so I'm readying, Walks With the Moon, as regards dialog, plot, critique, and the like. Especially since I just fleshed out a new scene of dialog a few days ago, this would be my work of choice. It's going on 10K words and I want to see it through as I desperately want to get back to my Forbidden World Chronicles. (I'd post a link to the site, but ad banners are currently overriding access to my site. I have a trouble-shooting ticket in to Lycos.com Helpdesk, and hope to see this remedied soon.)

[LINK ADDED 10-6, PROBLIMO SOLVED. I'm leaving the parenthetical info in case
anyone experiences this. I know I didn't like seeing my site high-jacked!]

I also need to address the matter of getting my desk and workspace cleaned up and better organized. There are notebooks, questions, and homework in order.

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That's it for now. I'll let you know how the Conference progresses.

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