The Sickies Have Got Me!

I apologize for not having a blog post the last couple weeks...

I am currently going into week # 2 (actually midway through it) of being sick. While I can edit, creating two sentences together that belong together is still a bit a problem.

So, instead of a blog post from me, I'm going to urge you to go over to Chila Woychik's blog and check out a couple of her recent posts. From today, How to Discuss a Controversial Topic in 7 Easy Steps, and from last week, Why Writing Mainstream or Crossover Books Pegs You as a Serious Writer.

I'm going to go enjoy my cough medicine and try to get some more editing done (the one productive thing I can actually think about). Hopefully, I'll be back next week when my lungs aren't going berserk for no apparent reason.

Until next time...

Craziness

It's been a bit of a crazy couple weeks.

First, we found out that I'd been published--yea! :)

Then, our little guy came down with a mysterious ailment that we're still not 100% sure what it was--acted fine, but ho-boy, was his skin broke out! Every day for about a week, I was on the phone to one or more doctors offices.

In the middle of this, our daughter came down with a 102° fever for some inexplicable reason. Ugh...

A friend called that day... said another friend of ours has stomach cancer which has spread...

Five hours after that, I learn an old friend of my mom's had passed away, someone I've known for the better part of my life, and still run into his wife and daughters periodically.

And, if that weren't enough, my grandfather, who is 91, went into the hospital with pneumonia.

Ay-yi-yi.

I'm not writing this as a woe-is-me piece. Just venting.

But, it's been a long couple of weeks.

Texas Momma has been encouraging me to work on my novel to tweak it up a bit, so I managed to get a bit of that worked on. Actually made it to my favorite coffeehouse to do so! And, I bit the bullet and asked Texas Momma if she'd look at the whole novel... Hopefully in the near future, that'll happen.

I had hoped things had calmed down, but oh no... The tornadoes in Kansas this weekend? Damaged the facility where my dad works. Haven't heard when he'll be able to go back, but the pictures coming out of Wichita are kinda scary--thank God no one was hurt! I can't count how many times I've been in that area, and to see some of the pictures... really tugs.

God has kept me sane the last few weeks, just barely. (It's been a tough job!) Probably what's been most helpful is the fact I've been reading in II Samuel and I Chronicles about the trials of David the last few weeks. If he could get through all kinds of junk happening, so can I. Sure, I don't have to slay a giant, or stay on the run from my father-in-law who wants to kill me, but I can keep things together because God's with me. He's in control.

And, that's what's most important.


Until next time,

Published!!!

I'm thrilled to announce that "Family Reunions Are Murder" has officially been published at Over My Dead Body.

Please read, enjoy, and come back here and let me know what you think!!!


Until next time,

Liberty

A Punch In the Gut

Everyone needs a punch in the gut once in a while. Whether it's physical or mental, something that brings you back to reality is never a bad thing.

I got my own slap in the face last week. I was lamenting (okay, I was whining) to a writer friend that even though I'd "improved" my query, and done some tweaking to my first pages of my novel, that I was still only getting form rejections to the agents I was sending to.

She offered to take a look at my query (both old and newly revised) as well as my first five pages.

Now, this writer friend is kinda like my Texas momma, and I've told her so on several occasions. We laugh and joke, and I know without a doubt that if we ever have the chance to meet, after the initial awkwardness, we'd have the same relationship offline as we do on.

So when the first line of her reply was, "Get out the rifle, you're gonna wanna shoot me", my heart sank.

What do you mean my story isn't ready yet? Really? I've been querying and making a fool of myself--again?

Basically, in all my editing, I've managed to leave some B.I.G. beginner errors in my novel... which is probably why I'm not getting any nibbles.

Seeing as my TX Momma is published, and works as an editorial assist to a small press AND her lit agent, I'm inclined to take her advice.

So, here's to hunkering down--again--and doing another MAJOR pass on "Homebody"... and hopefully, I'll get it right this time.


Until next time,


Liberty