Sorry...

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  We enjoyed our time with our children, and especially our two grandchildren.  Lavinia is four and Matthias will turn three this month.  I'm wondering where the time went.

 If you're here looking for my short story "Black Deeds on a Black Friday," the week is up, and I've taken it down.  Thanks to all who read it and let me know what they thought.  

I'm currently working on a holiday collection I hope to get out the first half of this month.  I will keep you in the loop on it.  

I hope the season is treating you well.  What's your favorite part of this holiday season?

At the moment, I'm in Orlando, Florida doing some Disney time with a couple of friends.  Lots of fun, but of course I brought my laptop to write every day.  The streak is well over 800 days now (I don't recall what it is exactly) and I'm not planning on breaking it now.

See you in a couple of weeks!

How are you doing?

The world has gone sideways since I last posted.  I hope you are doing well and surviving under these circumstances.

I'm in the process of updating the website (yes, it's about time).  The Bibliography is nearly complete, but the ebooks section needs stuff added to it.  Please be patient with me as I work on this. 

If you're looking for something to read, check out the Bibliography - there's a lot there, I'm happy to say.  And stay tuned as I get to updating the ebook section.

And if you want a free short story, don't forget to sign up for my occasional newsletter!

Take care.

Um...hi?

Yes, I know, it's been a while.  Contrary to how it looked, I didn't die, fall off the planet, or anything quite so drastic.  I have been dealing with life, and that has taken a lot of time and energy.

Part of what I need to do is organize my time better.  This is important because a) I am a caregiver and my time isn't entirely my own, b) I work from home, and have no other boss besides me (unless you count the dogs), and c) I am not by nature an organized person.  I can have good intentions but see them vanish in a puff of smoke because I didn't plan my day.

So I am working on that.  This blog will be included in that plan.  I am not going to promise to blog a set amount - not yet, anyway.  I am pledging to blog more frequently, which may make at least SOME of you happy <grin>

If you're looking for stuff to read, I've had two short stories come out the latter half of 2018.  "The Case of the Dead Son" is a part of my Eli Leafrunner universe and can be found in Fiction River: Pulse Pounders: Countdown!  The second story, "The Devil's Muse," deals with a writer who sells his muse to the Devil, and the guy he hires to get it back.  That can be found in Fiction River: Hard Choices.  (Links are to Amazon, but you can get these anthologies wherever you buy your ebooks and such).

So I hope your 2019 is starting off well.  I hope to talk to you again soon!

Looking ahead to 2018

Wow, happy new year! I am so glad that 2017 is over and done with - it was not the best of years for me. Not totally awful (I did learn I was going to be a grandma for the first time) but overall, disappointing and troubling. But I am taking a page from Philippians 3:13-14: "Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (NIV) So I am going to concentrate on looking ahead. See what I can accomplish in this new year. There's a lot to look forward to. Here are just a few of my goals for 2018: • Write 182,500 words • Submit at least 1 short story/month to markets • Publish 12 short stories/novels • Get “Laura’s Look: 2001” published • Blog at least 1x a week • Reach goal weight • Keep better track of administrative stuff. I hope you will join me on my journey to become a better Christian, writer, person. Looking forward to it!

On the Road

I am in Alexandria, Virginia as I type this.  I'm here with my husband, youngest son, and his wife.  Together (along with the kids' dog Hobbes) we plan to check out Washington DC for the next few days.

This is primarily a fun trip, though I might indulge in a little research in case I ever want to set a story in this area.  Today we explored Old Town in Alexandria, visiting a number of shops.

Tomorrow we'll head to DC proper.  I will try to post stuff as we go, but I might do a column on the trip so I will hold back some details for that.

Stay tuned!

Monday Musings: The Problem of a Blank Mind

Here it is, time for me to post something for you to read on Monday, because I want to blog every week...and I got nothing.

It's probably due in a large part to fatigue.  It's certainly not that I've been in stasis for a week - a lot has happened, both to me personally and to our nation as a whole.

But somehow I can't bring together coherent thoughts about it.  At least not at the moment.

Writers have this happen sometimes.  We're supposed to create something but when we consult that portion of our brain, it's a blank slate.  All the brilliant ideas we had up to that point while lying in bed or eating breakfast?  They've gone into hiding for some strange reason.

What do you do in a situation like that?  When the muse has gone AWOL and you're staring at a sea of white on your computer screen that you're supposed to fill with little black marks?

You write the next sentence.  And the one after that.  And...well, you get the idea.

Sometimes it's a struggle.  Sometimes you have to change things up, toss in something new to shake up the story and get the juices flowing again.

But you keep writing the next sentence.  And the next.  Because you're a writer.  And that's what you do.  It may come down to one WORD at a time, but you keep on keeping on.

Either that or quit and become a professional video game player. <grin>

Whoops...

Yes, I know yesterday was Sunday.  Yes, I know I should have posted something for "Free Fiction Sunday" yesterday.

Truth of the matter is that I wasn't home very much from 8:45 AM to about 7:30 PM yesterday.  Just long enough to pick up things and/or people.  And I haven't gotten the sense that readers are all that interested in my last few short stories.

For now, I plan on working on getting this blog a little more together.  Which means posting more often.  Hopefully that means more of you will read and maybe even comment on what I say.  That would be nice.

In the meantime, I'm going to post this and think about going back to bed and getting some sleep.  Just letting you know I haven't forgotten about the blog - or you.

Thanks!

Why I don't quit

Before you go much further into this piece, I suggest you read my friend Brad Torgensen's excellent post titled "When Is It Okay To Quit?"  Go ahead.  I'll be here when you get back.

The post was strangely encouraging to me.  Not because I'm giving up the writing (though there are days I'm tempted to toss it all aside and become a professional video game player instead), but because it reminded me of why I CAN'T.

One thing about writing that many people don't understand - it is hard work, especially if you want to get anywhere in this business.  It takes hours of butt in chair, fingers on keyboard, whether the muse is firing on all cylinders or off somewhere on vacation.  It takes being able to hear the word "no" again and again and not taking rejection personally.  It takes practice, which is more butt in chair, fingers on keyboard.

And sometimes, a writer will look up from her laptop, bleary-eyed and frustrated, and whine, "Is it worth it?"

For me personally, yes, it is.  Here's a few reasons why:

• I believe any talent I have in this area is a gift from God.  To not use the gift He gave me is an expression of ungratefulness on my part.  We are given our gifts to use, not to put up on a shelf somewhere and forget about.
• I know I've gotten better.  I have been seriously writing fiction for nine years now, and the difference between Laura the writer in 2005 and Laura the writer in 2015 is staggering.  Moreover, I know I can continue to improve as long as I keep on learning and not settle for where I am.
• There are people out there who actually like what I write.  Whether it's the weekly column in the News Sun or a short story or even one of my novels, people have told me they enjoy what I've written.  Such statements make my day.  And it tells me I'm doing something right.
• I know that the "secret" to succeeding in this business isn't knowing the right people or even having talent.  It's persevering, sticking with it through good times and bad, getting up after getting knocked down...just not giving up.
• And in the end, this is something I enjoy.  Yes, there are times I enjoy it less than others, when it's really hard to get the words down or I can't seem to get arrested, much less make a sale.  But even so, I love sitting down and making up stories.  Even if I never saw a penny from this I would probably still make up stories, because it's how I see the world and figure it out.

And the cool thing is I'm getting there, to that place where the writing makes a nice chunk of change.  I'm not there yet, and I don't know when I'll get there - but I'm on the right road.  And stopping just when I'm on the verge of arriving?  That would be tragic.

So I'm not quitting.  And if you feel the same way I do, you shouldn't either.  Tell me about it, and we can walk this road together.  Who knows?  The success we seek may be just around the bend.  Let's go find out.

Looking for suggestions...

I really have intended to blog more.  I want people to come and read here to know what's going on with me and maybe share things that will make you laugh or think.

I hope you are enjoying "Free Fiction Sunday" every week.  I find I like looking back over the short stories I've put out and sharing them with others.

But I want to know what you are looking for in my blog.  Are there things you'd like me to post about?  Comments on columns I write for the News Sun?  Cute puppy pictures?  What interests you?

Let me know!!