I feel as if someone has pulled the power cord out of my body and I'm feeling one of the worst pains a person can feel - total empathy - and it hurts. My three year old grandson fell yesterday and broke his leg in two places above his tiny ankle.
My son said he was screaming and when he asked what was wrong, the child said, "I broke my foot."
Tomorrow, they search for an orthopedist and will find out how serious the break is. I sit here, nearly 800 miles away and wait, not knowing what may come from this situation.
It's been far too long since I've taken time to blog here and I have far too many stories to tell. My life has twisted and turned so much in the months since I last posted that if I were to simply write a bullet list, I'd probably be late for work.
I don't know why I surprise myself, but I do. I know I am capable of even greater things, but I seem to be only learning to recognize my own potential as a writer. I'm also learning that other writers actually look up to me and claim that I motivate and inspire them - that's downright awesome.
On November 1st, 2007, I took my laptop to work and on my lunch hour I sat down without a clue as to what I was going to write. I'd tried outlining a story plot in my mind during most of October and I came up with a few ideas, but when I started writing, they all went down the tube. I thought I'd created a couple of interesting characters but they went AWOL during Halloween.
So, on All Saints' Day, I started writing. By the time my sixty minutes in a quiet office had ended, I'd written about 1300 words. Not bad for a bad beginning, but I was certain the novel stunk. Still, each day, I wrote on my lunch hour and each weekend, I stayed in my office, abandoning my wifely duties, ignoring the housework, and disregarding all but the most necessary necessities of daily living. I still took my daily walks - most days. I still showered and made sure my clothes were clean, but I was not particular with how I folded or returned things to the closet. My focus was on my first novel. The first weekend, I wrote over seven thousand words, and I was ahead of the game. My goal had been to write about two thousand words a day. Some days, I barely eked out a few hundred, and other days, my word count soared beyond four thousand. By the time the month ended, I had verified 61,729 words with the NaNo staff.
Elated, I took a day off, then started editing. I was right - it stinks! I have a lot of work to do to make this a best seller and I've discovered that in my rush to write, I managed to create two completely diverse backstories for my main characters. That will never do! But I might have a good beginning on novel number two.
Fiction is fun, but it can become work at some point - if I want it to be good fiction, I do have to work at my craft.
If you want to know what is going on inside my brain, you may have to do a little clicking.
I'll be devoting most of my online writing time to my website at www.marybrotherton.com. When I am not contributing to that, I'll be editing, teaching, speaking, or maybe actually writing! My goal is to get some of my work published this year, get the garbage book proposal accepted, get the mystery into the hands of an editor, and get more editing work that pays.
My online writing will go towards those goals, and since Senior Life now puts my stories on the official website, I don't need to republish them here any longer.
I hope to see YOU at www.marybrotherton.com! Come join the forums and chat with me and others there.
Melbourne's One Day Mini Conference is a week away
We are in the final stages of putting together the biggest mini conference in Brevard County - Five dynamic speakers will give presentations and let you into their worlds. These people are scribblers,biographers, novelists, essayists, bards, poets, columnists, journalists, writers, authors, editors, and publishers - some are a little bit of each, while others specialize in one or two areas - but they are all writers. And each one is preparing to share with you, his or her unique knowledge of the writing industry, and how it can impact your life in a personal way.
Our team of volunteers have been working diligently to provide a fantastic experience for you, on the beach! We'll have a delicious lunch, snacks, and some tremendous goodie bags as well as door prizes and some amazing and amusing surprises.
This is a one day conference, you won't want to miss. If you haven't yet registered, you'll want to print out the form below and mail it in quickly.
If you have any questions, please email writermary@gmail.com
A small literary magazine is calling for submissions. If you'd like to be paid for something you've written, give this one a shot. You'll even get productive editorial help. Go to www.scwg.org and follow the links to the magazine's guidelines. You may not be paid much, but every little bit helps!
The “Mini Conference is Nobody’s Mouse” one day event is taking shape with great potential and promise. We’ve started taking registrations, and since space is limited, you don’t want to wait until the last minute. To register, send an email to brevardfwa@earthlink.net and mention the FWA Melbourne One Day Conference at Satellite Beach, or just say “Nobody’s Minnie.” He will know how to direct you to the next step toward pre-registration. We already have enough volunteers for the day, and I am getting more and more excited about the event. Being a writer, it’s not always easy to find peers. With this conference, you will not only be among peers, but you will gain valuable information that will help push your writing career beyond what you thought possible.
For only $59 (discounts for members of FWA and SCWG), you will have the opportunity to not only network and meet other writers, but you will be able to listen and learn, while five local writers give valuable information...and you get a free lunch!
Email me writermary@gmail.com or Dan brevardfwa@earthlink.net for more information, or just scroll down to the post about the conference.
