I'm Writing--Honest!

I must be the slowest writer on Earth. My friends have been telling me that I need to get another book into the hands of my editor before I lose the momentum I've created.

They are absolutely right. At night I hear their voices, haunting me to get it in gear and write. But therein lies my dilemma. I have two books ready for an editor, but I decided to shop them around to other publishers and that takes time. Not that I don't love my publisher. My goodness, they've treated me well, but this is a business and I want to expand my reach.

I RE-started work on Touch Of Fire's sequel. It scared me at first because all I could find was the original story and not the new plot I liked better. I finally found that mischievous file on a jump drive and opened it up to take a look. It was good! It gave me that giddy feeling, the one I had when I wrote the first book.

My ducks are finally in a row and I hope 2010 will be the year things start jumping again. A lot is going to happen in the next two years, both professionally and personally. And new prospects have cropped up in the last two weeks alone, opportunities that need to be nurtured if I want them to bloom.

My only regret is that these new prospects will limit my time on the homestead and that makes me sad. When you're in your 50s (and up), choosing long-term projects requires careful reflection.

I don't want to lay on my deathbed and complain I spent too much time writing/working/traveling and not enough time with the people I love. I've become far more selective on how I spend the time I have left.

Funny story:

Greg and I went garage saling recently and we ran into a young guy who smiled at me and said, "You don't recognize me, do you?"

And I'm thinking: Oh lord, who is this guy? And what must Greg be thinking that young fellas out of nowhere are recognizing me?

The guy is still smiling and says: "A lot of people don't recognize me without my uniform."

(This is where I get funny.) "Okay…refresh my memory. Did you arrest me recently?"

He gets this dread look on his face and he says: "Uh, no. Maybe I'm mistaking you for someone else. Aren't you the author?"

Now I'm grinning from ear to ear. This guy recognizes me as an AUTHOR! "Yes, I'm an author." (I say this in my most Stephen King voice.)

"Oh good," he says relieved. "I'm your vet."

I only started going to this vet a few months ago and I must have mentioned what I do.

Made my day--but I really need to pay more attention to faces.