And more of this:

To do less of this:

And more of this:

I have a couple of big goals for 2012. One is to finish my novella (draft above) ASAP — I had hoped it would be done by the end of January but that seems unlikely. I do hope to have a solid draft by the end of January and will be happy if I can get that accomplished.  I’m also brainstorming for a new book. This is an enjoyable stage of preparation for me but I haven’t had near enough time to read and that is an absolute necessity. I also plan to do something for this book that I’ve never done before which is to go out and find live sources. And since I’ve never done that I need to bone up on the protocol of approaching professionals who might be interested in helping out a fiction writer with their deep expertise.

I’m always on the lookout for tools that will help me in my writing. I was generously given an iPad about six months ago and it’s been interesting for me to discover ways I’m incorporating it into my writing life. I plan to write a blog post soon on this but in the meantime I’ll just offer a screenshot from the latest app I downloaded. It is a dictation app from the long time leader in that industry, Dragon. It is shocking how the technology has improved over the years. In about a minute I had downloaded it and had it up and running. This was the first thing that popped into my head when I was prompted to speak — let’s hope it is true:

I doubt I’ll make much use of this for actual writing. But it could prove to be very useful for transcribing since I still occasionally write longhand. I think it will also prove to be handy in composing emails.

Oh yeah. I have a new book out! Buy it. Read it. And let me know what you think about it. Reader’s thoughts ultimately count the most. Links are on the right hand side of the blog.

I did the work on the final draft of Sleepwalk at a friends house. She set me up in style:

I don’t have many good photos from my reading at Busboys & Poets back  in May (since my camera had gone AWOL) but here’s one with Fay Jacobs. We are listening to Lisa Gitlin read from her funny novel I Came Our for This?

And some random pictures that I find kinda cool:

These two guys remind me of a few characters in Scapegoat

The sky looking particularly dramatic as I headed out of DC one night

A tiny snake snug in the bark of a tree in my yard

A remembrance of the moment that I discovered a bottle of my favorite beer in the world priced for 1 dollar. I bought it.

George, one of the cutest dogs ever.

Scapegoat, long hand edits, looking atmospheric.

I like this shot because I think it’s a good representation of the way writers hope they will be visited by some kind of inspiration. A lot of people call it the Muse and though I don’t myself I can see why people do. Mainly because it is something that belies explanation. Sometimes it happens and the words come and sometimes they don’t. But it always feels really good when they do.

Pre-order from Bella Books

Pre-order from Amazon

And yes! The (unplanned) blogging sabbatical is over! I have to admit I was tempted to back date this blog post but I figured that was cheating. So I am owning up to not blogging for many months. I loads of catching up to do. I have pictures from the Busboys & Poets reading in May. I have GCLS pictures from June. When I have a moment, I’ll be getting these up.

Thanks to all my friends on Facebook and elsewhere who have been so patient with me this past year while I’ve been working on this book. I have to admit, it’s been stressful. I had a lot on my plate generally and to add on top of everything else a deadline for my second novel was, well, challenging. But I’ve learned a lot and have a better sense of how I will approach things next time round.

Coming (very) soon — a Scapegoat sneak peak.

Busboys & Poets

2021 14th St NW

Washington, DC 20009

4pm

I don’t usually think of this a fashion blog (ha!) but I can’t resist sharing my new favorite v-neck tee shirt. I discovered them at my local Whole Foods, bought a few there and since have acquired about ten or twelve from the company’s website. They are very comfortable. They are long so they are great for tucking in when it’s cold but they also look great untucked. They seem to be holding up well — I have washed them multiple times (I don’t put them in the dryer though). The only caveat would be that on a few of them a few white threads have appeared — maybe these are threads that didn’t get dyed? I’m not sure but I’m not much bothered by them. But aside from the comfort the best thing about the tee shirts are the colors — an incredibly array of great colors. Oh, and the price — they’re 10 bucks. Click the company logo above to check them out.

This award is given to authors early in their career who, in the committee’s opinion, have an outstanding “maiden” novel…

This is a real boost as I’m working hard to finish Scapegoat, the sequel to Miles To Go.

In other news, I’m going to be attending the Rainbow Book Fair in New York on March 26th.

I’ll be sharing a table with Spinster’s YA writer Jan Donley and Bella writer Nat Burns. If you’re in the city, be sure to stop by and say Hello.

1. I will never be a pantser again. Right before I began the 20 days, I realized that there was no way I was going to write 2000 thousand words a day (a goal I considered to off the charts crazy!) if I didn’t know where I was going in the book. So I sat down and brainstormed with a friend. And got out some pink index cards (which are really outdated property pass cards from work — I used the back side) –

And then I got down to business and figured out the rest of plot. I wound up with about 15 cards that I taped up in order on a piece of board and placed it strategically where it would always be in my line of vision as I worked. All I had to do once I finished a scene was glance up and I knew what was to happen next. I cannot express how much easier this made the whole process. And I can promise that from this day forward I will be a planner and will outline the next book from start to finish before I start to write. Things may change as I go but at least there will be someplace to go.

2. I can write more than 1000 words a day. Most days I wrote around 2500 words. This was very eye-opening for me and made me realize when the pressure’s on I can rise to the occasion more than I thought I could.

3. It all goes a lot faster if you write directly on the computer instead of writing everything out longhand and then transcribing. A lot faster. (Duh.)

4. It was still hard. Every single day. It was still a challenge to make myself sit down and just do it. Because I had outlined, though, most days once I got going I could keep going.

5. Every writer gets stuck. Or has trouble getting going. In my former life, I was a smoker and I always wrote outside on my deck. Whether the sun was beating down unmercifully on me, whether I was so cold that even with my fingerless gloves (necessary for holding a pen) pain shot through my hands, or whether I shoved the Adirondack under the barely big enough overhang when it was raining, I always wrote outside. And when I was stuck, I would smoke and look out at the view — the pine trees in the distance or the night sky. It was very effective. When I quit smoking I wasn’t sure I would be able to write again. I just didn’t know how to do it. I thought, Well just go outside and write. But I didn’t or at least I didn’t very often. Especially if it was cold. Or hot.

I eventually learned to write again, just sitting in my living room, feet up on the ottoman. But I didn’t have a replacement for my view when I got stuck. Until now.

It’s been cold here, being winter, and I made a fire every day during my vacation. And one day when I was stuck on a tricky scene I got up to tend to the fire. As I sat there my brain began to wander and before you know it I had my next sentence and knew where to go. After that, whenever I was in jam, I would stare at the fire and it worked every time. I think what this indicates for me is that my brain, as a matter of course, is not in the free, relaxed state it needs to be in for me to be creative. But by, sort of, passively focusing on something it can be unlocked. It’s the best thing I’ve discovered in a while. Just not sure what I’m going to do when it’s too warm for a fire.

6. But perhaps the most important thing I learned on my book vacation is that you can’t back out of the garage unless the door is up. Really, you can’t.

This blog post is 712 words — including these . Can I put that toward my word count for the day?