Writing for the Love

My writing weekend was a great success. Saturday, I dedicated to Livinity edits. Sunday, to completing the first draft of Lance & Ringo Tails: O Brother, What Art Thou?  I also outlined the next story and began writing that first draft. Then I returned to Livinity edits, which continued into Monday. I probably got through about eight chapters instead of ten, but that's okay. I still feel great about how far the story has come. The hard part was stopping at 11:30pm on Monday night to get enough sleep for work in the morning. I did allow myself one break to watch Downton Abbey with my best friend, but other than that, all writing. Not only did I meet the majority of my goals, I received an email acceptance on a short story reprint. Thank you, Lord! It uplifted and encouraged me so much. FICTION on the WEB accepted "This Is Hollywood" for online publication. The short story reprint will appear on their website Jan 27, 2013, and it's free to read. ht...

For the upcoming long weekend, I realized that I made NO plans. Hubby works, and I get Monday off for MLK day. Therefore, I am creating a dedicated Writing Weekend. This means no cleaning, no cooking, no laundry, no phone calls, no hanging out, no couch potatoing, and only a little running (if at all). I will make sure the animals get fed. I’m sure hubby will call to make sure I’m eating. I’m very excited about the opportunity. I don’t get many three-day weekends, and we usually use them to visit family or hang out with friends or do house projects. Like most writers with a day job, life is soooo busy. ALL-THE-TIME. Weekends often become dedicated to cleaning, cooking, laundry, and long runs. It’s just dirt, I’m sure I’ll tell myself when Lance comes in from the back yard (which no longer has grass). And it will be there for me to clean up on Tuesday. To set all those things aside, I felt the need to generate some accountability by announcing the plan. Saying it aloud ...

Happy New Year! I don't intend to review 2012. I'm ready to move forward, and focus on the goals for 2013. I will mention what God put on my heart all of last year: humility. The message of being humble resounded almost everywhere I went. I hope to continue to strive for humility this year. The get-a-novel-published goal remains, and will remain, until it happens. I have hopes for trying to get more short stories published. My first paid short story comes out in March. Although it has been some time in coming, I'm glad it's coming up soon. I've also decided to test the self-publishing waters with something completely different. A fellow FWA member has an e-book series (self-pubbed through Smashwords) about zombies in St. Pete. They are comical, somewhat gruesome, and definitely entertaining short stories. Visit http://www.jgerardmichaels.com/  for more info. The e-books are available on Amazon. After seeing how he made his stories available, I go...