IN THE BEGINNING, MIDDLE AND END...

Today while many of us have Veteran's Day off, I am spending my long weekend in Las Vegas. I couldn't let this moment pass without blogging. Oh, don't worry, these adventures will be a blog post later this month, with pictures. I wanted to talk a little bit about what is going on this month.

November is National Novel Writing Month, better known as Nanowrimo. If you don’t know what this is, it is the month of November dedicated to writers all over the hemisphere.

It challenges them to write a novel in 30 days.  Their website, http://nanowrimo.org gives you plenty of encouragement, tools, forums, blogs and contacts. They even have a place to find other Nano’ers near you to keep you motivated.

I have never participated because I have three books in progress but I do track my progress because I use this month to push me to finish up projects. Most of my projects end in November because I use the same concept.

For thirty days, I plop myself in my small office (pictured to right) and have my glass of wine beside me, my Ipod playing and I type until my hands get tired. Thirty days to finish up my novel is a great incentive. Now, this concept isn't for everyone but isn't the purpose of Nano Wrimo to encourage the author in us to get moving to finish our works in progress.

If you don’t finish your novel by November 30^th,  don’t fret. Go over what you have done. You never know you may be  closer to finish than you think.

There is one rule that all authors should practice:  don’t edit your writing while you are writing.

That is the biggest reason we authors never finish. You need to write and write and write until your words don’t come. Then you begin the process of editing and rewriting. This is when you will find those things that don’t need to be in there but you will also find things that need to be added.

Use this National Novel Writing Month as your tool to finish up your novel.

Are you participating in Nanowrimo? Or are you using this as a tool to move you along in your writing?

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE SHOES.....

I know you didn't think I was done with the shoes, fun and all around good times that I had at +ThrillerFest, now did you?

I learned a lot of things on how to "Buzz My Book" from +MJ Rose and +Meryl Moss

They invited people to stand up and say one line about their novel..."but don't go into plot" MJ Rose warned, "or I will stop you."

After a few people went, I got a nudge from the president of Intrigue Publishing, to Buzz you book....I let one more person go by and when they announced 'we have time for a couple more'..I took the chance.

I sheepishly put my hand up and they picked someone else but then..it happened. MJ Rose called on me...I was up! It was my turn...dear lord, please don't let me become a rambling fool!  


I stood, straightened my shirt, pulled in a quick breath and said, "My name is B. Swangin Webster, but really its Sandra and I write under that name"...and then I felt myself getting ready to slip in the bumbling, rambling stage...I had to think quick or they were going to make me sit down.

I found the courage and said, "I'm working on a novel about twin sisters, who are killing off professional men and it's called The Stiletto Stalker." Whew..it was over, I couldn't sit down fast enough and then it happened.

They both lit up...well at least I think they did, and began to tell me how great that idea was and how I should find shoe stores, small ones at first and set up signings in there...+Zappos.com would be a great place...but not right now...maybe in the future...but according to Meryl..."that's such a great title...and great shoes".

Oh my gosh! She noticed my shoes....and you could peel me from the ceiling...Me and my green shoes were a hit...they gave me the confidence I needed to buzz my book...and I kept that momentum going all weekend. Yes...me and my shoes, made a big splash...

Now...to stop shopping for more shoes and finish #TheStilettoStalker before next year...

The heart will always guide you

We don't want to think about the mistakes we have made because we were foolishly following our head instead of our heart.

You know the heart is the most wonderful part of the body and yet we don't listen to it enough.

When that girl/guy comes into our lives, we want to follow our heart but in reality we are following our minds. Our minds tell us to overlook those little things that would otherwise bother us with any other person. Our minds will tell us that "he is just a messy person" when in our hearts we know, he just might be lazy.

When your mind tells you that you can't write that novel, what does your heart tell you.

If you have had that nagging pull, small ache in your chest whenever you think about picking up a pen or opening up your tablet/laptop and then you don't. That would be your heart telling you that you need to follow it.

Our heart will lead us to where we need to be. Our heart is the thing that will tell us to follow our dream, even when our mind and sometimes our friends, are telling us not to.

I listened to my heart about five years ago and now I have two published novels and working on numbers three and four. If I had listened to my head, I wouldn't have taken that step. Instead I followed my heart and I can say that I am so glad that I did.

I dare you to try it, with anything that you want to do. Follow your heart, you will be amazed.

Looking good means writing well.

You look good, you feel good….

That was my son’s motto while he played football. He had to be one of the best dressed athletes on the field but it showed in his level of play.

I take that to heart every day. I dress the way I want to feel.

You may be asking: well what does that have to do with writing. Well, I showed you, a couple of months ago, a picture of my writing room and that is where “I feel good.”  So if I feel good, I write well.

Some authors have shared their office space photos with me and some of shared their writing space photos with me and sometimes I look and then I totally understand why ‘they aren’t inspired.”

Maybe it has to do with the hundreds of pieces of paper cluttering your desk. Or the post-it notes that are stuck on everything. Maybe it has to do with the dim light over your computer or maybe it’s because your space is cluttered and the more you sit at your desk; the more your mind wanders to “I should straighten my desk”, or “I need to throw those papers away that are on the floor.” Either way, you mind is too cluttered with cleaning and can’t focus on writing.

Is this to say that I’m always neat and tidy? Heck no! To the contrary, but what I do is; every time I sit down to write; it’s with a clean desk and everything is neat and orderly. By the time I get up; yes, I have post-it notes and paper thrown everywhere BUT I don’t leave it like that. I finish up; then I clean up. So that when I come back, my space is neat and clean and I can get right to writing.

So, the saying; you look good; you feel good; you feel good; you play good.

Holds true for me.

My desk looks good, so I write well.

Simple, right? Now, to clean up this mess before I get my lunch.

What do you write in?

Rosemary, or Rosey to her closest friends, found me on LinkedIn when I sent an invitation to blog.

Today she tells us what she likes to wear when she is writing.When I blog I rest my feet in furry pink slippers on a built-in obsolescence model printer. Practically it is to save my knees and level my bottom. Metaphysically, what is it? Lowest upward – let us consider.

Obsolete printer? I have finished with cheapos bought from department stores. The days of pandering to the teaching profession with lush handouts produced spontaneously in the wee hours for belligerent students are gone. When the school door was firmly closed, I emptied the ink for a friend who shook over a forthcoming inspection then declared this object redundant. It stubbornly retained the label some months later when I repurchased ink for another purpose so now it is under my feet. Any future model will have to be laser, imperishable and funded. The old model signifies the fight for better facilities.

Pink fluffy slippers? These signify comfort, warmth and refusal to totally negate a young girl’s dream world with the harsh realities of advancing age. Slippers hug my feet with love, for my daughters supply them. They remind me to see a pretty image in the mirror even if I have to dim the light. They defy the cold and whisper to me of days in the Jamaican sun where feet never feel a chill. Slippers predict better days to come

Bottom always pressed into a hardwood chair, computer bound, several mornings a week? This signifies persistence. It is the only quality lauded by pundits as likely to succeed. Using this, I keep electronically communicable, approachable as an author, aspiring as a marketer and battling as a writer. My relief is a walking job for limited wages but my belief is in the profit that will one day flow from the balanced cheeks here firmly pressed.

Who ever said writing does not pay needed to add “yet”. We live in an age when centenarians are becoming average. In the old span of life we were ancient at seventy, now we are late middle-aged. Let us all build dreams for our extended phase.  With electronic literature, e-sales, pyramid promotions we must redress the march of time, the conformity to stereotype, the deterioration of the fiery spirit that fuelled us and find obsolescence to climb over, comfort to cling on to and visions to invest in. My seat at my computer does all these things. I’m sure yours is doing it for you too.

Thanks for sharing the positive promise of a writing life.

Thanks Rosey, I'm making myself her closest friend and for me; I like to wear...wait this isn't about me, is it?

What do you like to write in?

Let us know and while you are at it, why not stop by and check her out

http://roseythomaspalmerauthor.wordpress.com