February 28th

My writing partner and I met today for our biweekly critique group meeting. Our meetings really help me to get the writing blood going. They inspire me. I love the face-to-face time with a *real* writer. If you are lucky enough to have that then don't waste it. Treat it as it is...precious time. We can get loud but the coffee shop owners have never forcibly ejected us. That's good! I know some writers think they can go it alone and I wondered about that too, but I would never want my meetings with Beth to come to an end. They're too valuable. You need to be in the company of other writers. Period!! That's my rant for today. I gotta get back to revising folks!!

February 23, 2009

I've decided to do what most of my fellow writers are doing these days--start a blog! So here goes. I know that I have to be out there in Children's lit blogosphere participating, just like real authors do. By real I mean published. I have written several picture books and I am writing an upper middle grade novel, entitled, Seventy Two Hours. It's an adventure novel set in the Blue Ridge Mountains. By Spring(I hope) I'll start querying agents. This process is new to me. I have always submitted to publishing houses. Never a query, just send in the entire manuscript. It's small enough after all, it's a picture book. My novel will probably end up finished at 30,000 words. Writing a novel can be a grueling process. What say the other writers out there? But it's worth every ounce of sweat and blood. The blood came when I hit my head against the wall searching for the right word. AUGH! That right word is essential when you're writing. Sometimes it comes easy, sometimes hard. And then there's the subject of tags. She said or she screamed. What say you writers out there? I think, she said, is tried and true and dissolves into the book and the reader doesn't notice how many of the saids are in the book. Anyone else have a preference?