Spring Fever

Spring. I love that word. It means so many things - a coiled bit of metal, a babbling brook, my favorite season of the year, a surprise movement. . . verb, adjective and noun, it is overworked, but I never tire of it. Yesterday, I did some spring cleaning. . . also some planting for Spring. My spring bulbs are all bursting out of the ground. Of course, there's the spring in my step as another beautiful day unfolds around me. 

My trusty dictionary (Random House Dictionary of the English Language) lists 45 separate definitions for "spring," including to wiggle something loose, to crack or split (as in a boat that springs a leak). 

One of the things I love about "spring" is how compact it is - just one syllable, just one little vowel smooshed between five strong consonants. The past tense is formed by swapping out that little "i" for an "a" or "u." How cool (and irregular) is that?

So yes, I love spring. 

Who Am I Kidding?

Who knew that Blogger had so many templates and options to customize? I spent hours just clicking through all of the pics and backgrounds and design templates. And I convinced myself that this time is just as well spent as, say, writing. HA!

On the writing front - read an excellent article in this week's New Yorker by John McPhee, entitled Draft No. 4.  If you can get your hands on the article - read the entire thing. It is wonderful, especially for those of us struggling with self-doubt, self-criticism, and feelings of incompetence and ineptitude.

If you've ever asked yourself, Who am I Kidding?  Then this is for you. I'm having one of those days today, as a matter of fact. Who am I kidding? I ask myself that whenever I see a clunky phrase, a trite sentence, adverbs that I was sure I'd deleted several drafts ago. Where do they come from anyway?

So I am taking John McPhee's advice today.
The unrelenting doubt and discouragement that comes with writing is a part of the process. Whether I believe it every day or not, each draft gets better and gets closer to what I want to share with the world.

Wednesday already?

As expected, nothing got done last week. Well, to be precise, no writing took place. College visits, horseback riding, a trip to the Cheesecake Factory - these things happened. I'm looking at the bright side - I know have more experiences to inform my writing. . . particularly my new YA novel.  This new book is about 1/3 completed. It will be a classic horse and girl story - a market that is saturated with great books for horse crazy girls. But, I think my take on the story is new and interesting and I really want to write it.

As for the Board of Dead - it will be sent out to agents. It's ready to go, just needs a last read for typos after my last round of edits.

Vacation!! (At least for the kids)

I should start by saying how much I love having my kids home on vacation. I'm one of those parents that prefers vacation days with the kids than sending them off to school.

That said - why do they have to be off this week? Really? I'm so close to completing my second (or is it my fifth) draft of The Board of Dead. I am ready to put all the pieces back together and send out the queries. I just need a few uninterrupted hours - just like 4 maybe. But it's almost impossible to find 20 minutes without somebody having a question or needing a ride somewhere.

And then there is the older child. The one who turned 16 recently. There will have to be a day of sitting at DMV just to get the learner's permit. Then somebody needs to ride shotgun in those first days of learning to drive. As wonderful as it will be to eventually have another driver in the house. . . .at this point, it's just one more thing I have to add to my day.

And then there is the weather. It is predicted to be 70 degrees or better all week. I can't resist the first warm days of spring. I know what will happen. I'll go out on the deck to fill the dog's water container and then I'll notice some bird seed shells that need sweeping, sticks that fell in yesterday's rain, spots that must be raked, dirt that should be shoveled. A 30 second chore will lead to 2 hours of diddling around outside.  This is what happens on a good day when it's 70 degrees.

When the kids are home on vacation, the entire day will be spent in glorious pursuits that will build memories, but not manuscripts.

1st Wednesday = BOE time

It is the first Wednesday of the month - so guess what that means? Another Board of Ed meeting. I wish I could consider the time spent at these meetings as "research" but alas, in this regard, the meetings I attend are far less interesting than the fictional ones I create.

I think that is a good thing. There is nothing worse for a town than to have interesting board of ed meetings. That is a clear sign of trouble.

Spring Fever

With five teens yesterday - I have substantially less food in the fridge than I started with on Friday. As much as I love the house full of kids, I'm looking forward to Monday and getting a bit of work done on my book.

I always forget home much a 21 year old boy can eat, until he comes home. On the other hand - he's also very good at lifting heavy objects and it adds another driver to the household. All in all, I love having him home.

So my plan for today - write a bit this morning (even a paragraph would be an accomplishment), cook the passover ham, saddle up Jeff, bring K back to school, and then collapse.

Rewrite, rewrite

I am in rewrite mode. The first two chapters have been completely reworked and rewritten. Perhaps 2 sentences survived unscathed in the first 4,000 words of The Board of Dead. As difficult as it is, the book is improving with each pass through.  While I still consider the book "DONE" it is not apparently "FINAL." 

Here are the first few lines of Chapter 1 - 

"If Tallie Whitman had known she’d be asked about everything she saw and heard before Dean Hipley’s body was discovered in a physics classroom, she’d have taken better notes.

Tallie was a reporter, after all, even if she was only a volunteer reporter for the town of Oakwood’s biweekly newspaper. And even though this was only the second Board of Education meeting she had ever gone to, the police officer questioning her wasn’t making allowances for inexperience."

Thoughts? Would you read on?

It's another beautiful day in Connecticut. I'm still very pumped up after yesterday's Unicorn Writers Conference at the spectacular St. Clemens Castle in Portland, CT.  Favorite workshop - Query letters with Irene Goodman.

The agent and editor panel discussions were interesting, but I didn't hear much that I hadn't heard before. The biggest surprise to me? How difficult it is, even after you have an agent and have found an editor that likes your manuscript, to then get a contract from the publishers.

The big houses are terrified of this market and clearly have no idea how to transform themselves in a digital age. One editor said that sales dropped by 30% after Borders closed.

So with a dose of reality mixed into the euphoria of talking to agents about my book, I'm still optimistic.

Welcome!

Hello, Readers! As I put the final words to paper on the book that created this site, I'm eager to connect with potential readers (an agent would be nice too!).  This blog is intended for readers and writers of mystery fiction. It will chronicle the life cycle of my almost completed (four years in the writing) novel, tentatively titled, The Board of Dead.