The Life of a Freelance Writer

Hello, dear, long-lost blog! It has been so long since I visited you! Please forgive me. How have you been?

I have been really, really busy. (Hence, our sad lack of communication.)

This year marks my first year of NaNoWriMo. I wouldn't say it was successful, exactly, if successful means reaching that 50,000 mark. I was already behind at about 17,000 words, with about two weeks to go. That's when I was suddenly assigned a blitz of articles that I am still in the midst of. Nevertheless, I would not call this first NaNo unsuccessful. NaNo definitely encouraged me to write more than I normally would have. I look forward to trying again next year.

Two of the articles from that article blitz were published in last Friday's Westside Courier. It was a double cover story on the USI Madrigal and Christmas in New Harmony. The articles were supposed to start going online again on the Courier site. Unfortunately, they have not, so I can not post a link.

I am getting ready to work on another Westside article, this one about a couple of west side families with someone serving overseas through Christmas. It will be out on Christmas Day, so that will be neat. Meanwhile, I have been doing an article every day for a client who needs several online articles on probiotics. For those who don't know probiotics, they are the good bacteria that live in the body and help in all sorts of ways. They have actually been super-interesting to research, and I have learned so much.

Tomorrow--more of the same! I look forward to getting back to fiction, but I am very glad to have so much writing work to do. It's so great to be able to make (a tiny) living as a writer!!

Midsouth SCBWI Conference

I was looking SO forward to last weekend's Midsouth SCBWI Conference, and it did not disappoint! It boasted a stellar list of faculty headlined by author Caroline Cooney, who was delightful. As a big fan, I was super-excited to meet her. She was a wonderful speaker and so personable one-on-one. I was lucky enough to have one of my paid critiques assigned to her, and she took such care and went into such detail. The fact that she was really complimentary of my writing didn't hurt either :), but it really was one of the most in-depth critiques I've ever had.

The rest of the faculty, like editors Cheryl Klein and Kaylan Adair, were also great, and the Midsouth "staff" was incredible. Genetta, Sharon, and Susan were all so helpful and really put together a smoothly-run event.

Personally, it was great to see "old" friends like my critique group who all met at this conference last year. We have stayed together ever since, doing monthly critiques and offering advice. That's us in the top picture--David, Beth, Maria, Joyce, Ruta, Grace, and me.

The pictures below feature my roomie, Kristi Valiant. She won the illustrators contest for the second year in a row and was the star of the conference! Her amazing talent is impossible to overlook, and on top of that, she is always willing to spend her time helping out new illustrators, just as she did again this year.

What a great weekend! I can't wait to see what they new next year to try to top this one!

Revision Woes and the Possible Solution

Wow, I am long overdue for a blog post. Why the delay? Good question. Yet, no good answer. I guess I sort of feel like I'm in limbo. I have a completed novel that I really need to revise, and I think that's holding me up. Not that I haven't written anything in the meantime. I finished a short story and it's going in the mail this week. I'm actually really excited about it and proud of it. I also started a brand new story that had been wandering around in my head for a while. Actually, two ideas had been wandering around, and I realized out of the blue last week that they were part of the same story. That was a really fun epiphany, and I got the beginnings on paper right away.

But there I go again, off the subject I should be on--revision. Luckily, I now have a plan, and her name is Darcy Pattison. I had been hearing about Darcy and her novel revision workshops for a while. Then, this past Saturday I attended an SCBWI conference in Indy where Sara Grant was the speaker. Sara works for Working Partners, a book packager in the UK. She was a fabulous speaker with some great advice. Much of her presentation was on revision! Yay! She offered so many great tips, and I was soaking up the ideas. At the end, she held up Darcy Pattison's Novel Metamorphosis and said it was the one revision book we had to have. Well, if that's not a sign, I don't know what is. I'm getting it. I tried to buy it at Barnes and Noble yesterday, but they have to order it. I chose to wait because I'm attending the big Midsouth SCBWI conference this weekend (Yay!) and thought they might have it for sale there. If not, I'm ordering it next week. Finally, the help I need.

As to the Midsouth Conference, I can't wait, of course! Kristi Valiant and I will be taking off early Friday to head south. I'm looking forward to a weekend of writing, fun, old friends, new friends, and inspiration. I'm sure I'll have more to report next week!

Reading and Writing--the Staples of Life

My latest reading list has been made up exclusively of Rick Riordan's Olympians series. I have read 1 through 5 straight through, though I'm not done with #5 yet. I believe The Last Olympian is the conclusion of the series, though I read Riordan is working on a new Camp Halfblood series. These books have been great fun to read. I have really, really enjoyed them, and have added Riordan to my Twitter list. My son is a huge fan of these books too, so if Riodan is ever at a book signing within a reasonable driving distance, we'd love to hop in the car and go meet him.

On the writing side, I am waiting for the last of the critiques for The Doorway short story from my online group. Next week I hope to edit the story and get it ready to send out!

I have been staying busy writing online articles to supplement my regular and paltry writing income. These are no masterpieces, and I don't receive writing credits, but they do pay...and that's pretty important too!

Yesterday I submitted my latest article for the Westside Courier. This one was on teenager Kortney Fuller, who has had a pacemaker since she was six months old! She and her family were very nice to interview.

I have also been getting ready for this weekend's Evansville SCBWI event with Margaret McMullan. I anticipate that Margaret will be a great speaker. Kristi Valiant, Elsa Marston, and Marlis day will also be there to sign and sell their own books!

Pancit and Popcorn!!

Kristi Valiant had a wonderful turnout on Saturday, July 25th during her book signing for Cora Cooks Pancit, the beautiful picture book she illustrated for Shen's Books. The crowd at Barnes and Noble in Evansville, Indiana got to sample homemade pancit, which Kristi's husband made using the recipe from the book. It was an exciting first signing; no doubt Kristi will have many more!

As for my own publishing update, I received slightly less exciting but still fun news! After entering a poetry contest a few weeks ago at the Stories for Children Magazine blog, I received an email Friday from a friend who saw the results. I won 3rd place and some free popcorn!

Please visit http://familiesmatter2us.blogspot.com/2009/07/its-finally-here-popcorn-poetry-contest.html to read the poem. The editors also had some very kind editorial words. "As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of humankind on the moon, your idea of aliens coming to earth and smelling popcorn and wanting it so badly, combined with your awesome title, made your poem very funny and a kid-pleaser, Christi. WOHOOOOO FOR YOU, CHRISTI!"

Everyone Should Be Reading Caroline B. Cooney

As of two weeks ago, I had never read a book by Caroline B. Cooney, which is amazing considering she has 45 or more! Since she is a featured speaker at the SCBWI Midsouth Fall Conference, I thought I should read a couple so that I could speak intelligently about them and her writing.

Wow! It's hard to say more than that, but I'm sure I'll manage.

I started with Enter Three Witches, based on MacBeth. As I'm not a huge Shakespeare fan, I was skeptical, but the title drew me in. It was great! Really, super interesting. I almost want to read Macbeth. Almost.

Okay, so one book down, and it was really good, so no problem reading more. Next, I chose A Friend at Midnight. It's hard to say why because I don't read the back of books; sometimes they give things away! Anyway, it turned out to be a GREAT pick. This book is stunning! There were so, so many instances where I thought, oh, I wish I'd written that; I wish I could write like this; I wish my characters were so full and wonderful. I can not do the writing justice by my descriptions, but this is a must-read for YA authors--or anyone. The book is poignant, funny, heart-breaking, and hopeful. I sobbed through at least the last ten pages, but it was a good kind of crying, not the horrible crying of a kidnapped, murdered child or a canine best friend getting killed after saving the main character from a dire fate. No, this was the kind of crying I love to do when reading a wonderful book. You know the kind--tears flowing with each new sentence from every character. Thank goodness I was at home instead of my usual Starbucks because I wouldn't have been able to prevent those tears. I would have been bawling like a baby, and I'm sure the baristas and my fellow customers would have felt compelled to check on me. And that would have only irritated me--because it would have interrupted those crucial ending pages and the flow of my emotions!

After that, I'm happily onto my next Cooney book, Goddess of Yesterday, and I anticipate many, many more before the conference. I went from thinking I should read of couple to becoming a die-hard fan. It will be such a pleasure to meet Ms. Cooney and such a thrill to have her sign books for me. Until then, I have lots of happy reading ahead!

When Procrastination Sets In...

My son is at camp for the whole week. It’s 2:00 on Monday afternoon. I’ve been looking forward to all the writing that would occur this week. I mean, I’ll be by myself during the day. Hours and hours to do nothing but write. I have a short story that is only a couple of thousand words from complete. I have critique group stuff to critique. I have manuscripts to get ready to send in to for the SCBWI Mid-South Fall Conference. I need to send out emails for the August SCBWI Evansville event with Margaret McMullen.
Instead, I am checking out Twitter and Facebook and the camp website. (They post new pics every day, and my son might be in one of them!) I did write a new poem to post on Twitter—a Fib about not getting writing done.

Wait
Stall
Put off
They call it
Procrastination.
Like this Fib; instead of writing.

Does that count as “writing?” Hmmm…technically, yes.
Now I’m even updating my blog! Wow, I’m really grasping at straws to put off the writing, huh?
The question is, why? I love to write. The last several weeks, I have been thinking, I’ll miss my son, but I can’t wait to work on my story. I wonder how many thousand words I’ll get written? Well, one day is almost down and the grand total is 14—from the Fib!
Maybe it’s because the sun is shining right outside the library window. Or maybe I expected to get so much done, that I am afraid I won’t meet my expectations. Maybe it’s because I have a new (used) car, and it’s so much fun to drive that I really just want to keep zooming around town running errands (something I normally hate to do).
Well, in the immortal words of every procrastinator…maybe tomorrow…
In the meantime, I would love to hear from other writers out there. What causes you to put off writing—the very thing you supposedly love to do? More importantly, what do you do about it? Post your best tips and stories to help us all get to work!
Thanks…and get busy!