Meeting God in Texas

The 2006 ACFW conference is over. I went there to work because I'm on the board. I also went there to see friends and meet editors and agents. But, I got so much more than that! I met with God and that just about tops any to-do list!

I learned just before leaving for Dallas that my appointment with an agent was in jeopardy because the agent had to cancel due to a health issue. It was too late to reschedule as all the other agents' slots were taken. Because I've been without an agent since last winter, connecting with agents was my top priority. So there I was with no agent appointment and most of the agents there had little time to squeeze another appointment in. Discouragement is not a nice feeling, but that's what I felt.

It wasn't until Saturday morning when, with my mind in a fog, I skipped a continuing class and went to the prayer room. There, I opened my Bible and had the first "real" quiet time I'd had in several days. I spent my time once again at the feeding trough feeding on God's faithfulness (Psalm 37). I was reminded of how in so many ways already He'd been faithful to me. Immediately, I sensed without a doubt I was to let go of the agent thing and concentrate on getting my ducks in a row first. So I gave it over to God and was at peace. After all, I'd already had a request for the full manuscript for Murder for Breakfast, a request for a proposal for that story from two other editors, and a request for a proposal from two editors for Shiloh Legacy. Is that God's faithfulness or what????

More about the conference. Our keynoter was Liz Curtis Higgs. What a delightful lady. A great sense of humor with a deep spiritual message interwoven with the laughs. She was such a blessing. Here I am with Liz at the book signing event.

Saturday night we had our award banquet. In addition to Book of the Year and the Genesis Writing Contest awards, we had the Mentor of the Year for 2006 named. I had the honor of making that presentation. I'll never forget the look on Lena Nelson Dooley's face when I said her name. It was so priceless.

In addition, Texas is a great big state with a great big heart so I've learned. The one morning I had a few minutes to escape to do a little shopping I had a little God thing happen that let me know He's full of surprises. That will be another story on another day

I sure did meet God in Texas. But then as Psalm 139 says, we're never away from His presence. Meeting Him in Texas shouldn't have come as a surprise. He was with me all along!

God's Money Well Spent

Is it really 12 days and counting? Did I get to the writing yesterday afternoon like I planned? The answers are yes and no. Yeah, you read that right. But wait! I have a good excuse.

For the past number of months my laptop (my only computer) has been giving me fits. One fit, as you may recall, was my own fault when I spilled Diet Coke on the keyboard. Yeah, that'll really muck up the works. I paid Dell to replace the keyboard and motherboard. All seemed well for a while, but then soon after the 90-day warranty on the work was over (of course) it started doing really quirky things.

Quirk #1: The cursor would jump up to the next paragraph or two right in the middle of my typing. I'd have to stop and delete what I'd just typed then move the cursor down to the where it should be. This got so bad I stopped using the keyboard altogether and went to the axillary keyboard which plugged into the USB port.

Quirk #2: When I put the computer to "sleep" or on standby I couldn't wake it up. I don't usually turn off the computer completely at the end of the day, instead putting it on standby by closing the lid. One day, I couldn't get it to wake up and ended up having to hit the on and off button and starting it up again. I tried all sorts of things like going to shutdown and clicking on standby. That seemed to work for a while, but lately that didn't even work. I was afraid one day I wouldn't be able to wake it up at all.

So yesterday after much prayer, I decided to look into an HP laptop on sale at Office Depot. The special price included a combination printer/scanner/copier, a wireless mouse, an extra battery, and a few more bells and whistles than I'm used to, like a built-in web cam.

View from my Web Cam

All for less than I would have spent on a less souped-up laptop elsewhere! Even at the good price, I hate spending the money. After all, it's God's money--not mine. I prayed very hard about this and I know I'll recoup some of the cost through rebates and tax deductions, even so it's harder than ever to part with my money when I'm on retirement status.

So the quirks are gone, only to be replaced by new ones. I can't get the file transfer program to work right between the two computers. I finally gave up late last night and went to bed. Today is another day.

So, you know what's coming next, don't you? I gotta get busy and get to that writing so I can sell something! Make this new laptop pay for itself! Haven't heard of getting paid for blogs, so I'm off to you know where!

13 Days and Counting

Thirteen days and counting. That's how many days left until the ACFW national conference begins, and I feel so behind on things!

This time my pitches need to be on target because I'm not only shopping my stories, but also shopping me. I need to find an agent and, God willing, the ACFW conference will point me toward doing that.

Since getting back on Monday afternoon from the three-day weekend, I've been bogged down with other responsibilities, including ACFW board stuff. Every day I've determined I would start working on Shiloh. Didn't happen until yesterday.

Okay, I have to admit the fault is partially mine. I've found myself easily drawn to doing something other than pulling out a story I haven't looked at in a year and a half. What's with that? As much as I'm excited about the new ideas for punching this story up a notch or two, I dread the process. It means getting reacquainted with the characters, thinking once more about the plot, trying to decide what stays and goes. I find it much easier to write a brand new story from scratch. But this is a story that won't let me go.

My story has a new name, and I've already jotted down new plot points. All I need to do is put rubber to the road as the saying goes.

Today is the day...but wait! This morning is booked. This afternoon is the afternoon. I'll let you know what happens.

Who Says Writing is Easy?

Yesterday I reached a milestone I've been trying to reach for a couple weeks. (Remember the previous post about distractions?) I finally finished round one of my Murder for Breakfast revision. Now for Step #2. Going through it again using a program called Natural Reader and have it read back to me with a woman's voice. It's amazing what you can catch that way.

Then I'll be done and I can move on to my other project you say? NOT! Then I print it out and read through it again noting if my character arcs are clear, do I have enough of the five senses included, have I missed inserting details here and there that move the plot along, etc. etc. This I'll do while on a five-hour drive Saturday. Don't worry. I won't be driving LOL. But my friend will be subject to a new version of books on tape. If he falls asleep then we'll both be in trouble. Hopefully, he''ll keep saying "Don't stop. I need to know what happens next!" Ahhhh. Music to a writer's ears.

My point this morning is that writing is hard work. Very hard work. There are times I'd like to just close the file on my computer and let these people figure out the mystery by the themselves, and then there are other times I can't wait to get to the story and find out what happens next.

I don't have the luxury of giving the story a rest right now. The ACFW conference gathers three weeks from today and I have to have this ready to pitch to editors and agents along with my other story. Hey, I just came up with a new working title for that novel. "Shiloh Legacy" I like it. It's a story about.... Well, you'll just have to wait and see. Right now I have work to do.

Distractions--What's a Writer to Do?

Distractions are aplenty. Right now as I write, men are outside my window trimming the hedge just below my balcony. Motors revving, slashing away wayward branches. Noise pollution at its finest. What's a writer to do?

I've always been easily distracted by outside noise. Guess that comes from being alone so much. I never had to learn to tune out noisy kids. But could even the mom of half a dozen boisterous youngsters tune out a machine that sounds like a rocket? Do those men wear ear plugs? If they don't, they'll be needing a sign language interpreter soon.

But my distractions aren't always noise when it comes to being pulled away from my writing. The phone rings. It's a friend needing to talk over something burdening her heart. Or my mind wanders to something I'm curious about and the next thing I know, I'm Googling for information. Or new email comes in. Now that's a biggie. I have a feature in my Outlook that causes a mini view of the email to show up for a second in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. That's something I thought would be great. If it was something that could wait, I could keep on writing. But, alas, more emails draw me in than don't. Working at home can also be a distraction. My eyes sweep the room and I see dust on the coffee table, a book left out that needs putting away, dirty windows needing cleaning, etc. A dirty window is probably the one thing that doesn't get me out of my chair. :-)

What keeps me on task with all these distractions? The goals I set for myself. Currently, I have the ACFW conference looming. I need to have MFB ready for pitching, as well as a roughed up synopsis of my women's fiction which is still in mothballs. Not to mention there are responsibilities as an ACFW board member that need to be accomplished. In fact I just thought of one that's due today. The motors have stopped and I have no more excuses--at least not until the phone rings!