GOooo Saints!

I forgot to blog yesterday about our Saints, now 10-0. They won decisively 38-7. The only teams to ever get to this point have all wound up in the SuperBowl!!!

I only saw the second half of the game. My friend, Cadence, was taking pictures for me to use on the web or for writerly stuff. Here's an example. She's a real pro.



That one was for fun...might be why I have a krick in my neck today!

Getting on the Stick

That expression came from using the gearshift to GET THE CAR GOING -in other words - stop stalling and get on with it.

Fear of the unknown has been inhibiting my progress. I've been consolidating my notes and research, characters, paranormal rules, etc. into Scrivener. Sure that stuff needed to be done, but it doesn't need to take forever.

Yesterday, I made some real headway on the file, moving characters into my AS NEEDED file, deleting some old scenes, and making a list of the PNE questions I'd thought I needed to answer before moving on. Turns out almost all of them can be answered as I write. And they will be better answers in the context of what I'm discovering during the process.

Today, I'm going to concentrate on going through my synopses and old scenes to see what needs to be deleted at least temporarily. By the end of the week, I should be able to get my scene files cleaned up and I'll have almost made my goal of October 1st. I'll definitely make the BIAW deadline for October.

Thanks to fellow writers, Leah, Cadence, Michael and Cheryl, for the kick in the pants!

Nola Conference 2009

Well, the conference is over and Cadence and I had a great time!

Cadence Denton

Cadence got a request for a full! I knew it - she has built such a cool world. I got validation that I should set OTHR aside for now and concentrate on RC. Both the agent and editor I met with seemed excited about receiving a partial on that book.

(It always amazes me that some people just pitch ideas, barely born story blurbs.) So now I must concentrate on applying all of the recently learned plotting techniques to RC and getting it finished. I'm excited about that.

We missed Cora at the conference and wish her dad well.

Especially enjoyed meeting those authors from the new Diamond State Romance chapter. This chapter sounds like an up and coming force in romance. I can't wait to go on one of those writing retreats or the field trip to Memphis.



Shayla Kersten, Delilah Devlin, and Elle James on the right. Delilah and Elle were kind enough to teach a three week plus Plotting bootcamp for those of us who were registered for Nola Stars. What a great workshop!

It was nice to see our young author friend, Jamie Colette who got a request for a full on her ghost story.




Terry Spear on the left taught a workshop on Hooks and seems very knowledgeable about many subjects. I recently heard about her workshop on showing vs telling coming up in May. Then I met her and won a critique by her. Very serendipitous huh. and Ruthanne, a very sweet lady, was part of the organizing committee for the conference.

It was difficult to make more than a couple of the workshops with appointments overlapping them and workshops scheduled opposite each other.

There were some lovely baskets. I think I spent $35 to try to win the spa basket and didn't. Since I don't ever win anything, next year, I'll spend my bucks on a sure thing, our authors' books at the book signing.

Jennifer Blake gave the keynote address at lunchtime and I got tears in my eyes. It was on Inspiration. She went through quite a school of hard knocks but overcame every obstacle with perseverance and creativity. Most inspiring.

Congratulations too all the attendees!