seed catalogs

Is there anything more wonderful in winter than a seed catalog? It speaks of spring, which is right around the corner for you southerners (who are now buried in snow, I know). Here it's been sunny and 50 degrees. I actually snuck out on the deck a little while today and Paul asked, "Mom, is it spring?"

Our mailbox is getting stuffed with seed catalogs and it's almost time to start mapping out our garden. My favorite thing to plant besides wildflowers are peas and green beans and yellow squash. Randy likes corn. Since our garden is bigger than our house we start early and plan where to put what. I had to let gardening go last year when my writing heated up. I said goodbye to canning for the first time in many years. This morning I made biscuits and opened our last jar of wild blackberry jam which left me wishing I'd been a little more industrious last fall when they were ripe.

All quiet on the book front. I lack 15 pages from reaching the end of this edit of Red River Daughter. The word count is down from 149,000 to 136,000 or so. In a few days I'll start from the beginning and try to deflate it further as it still qualifies as a big fat historical. Somewhere in publishing land, TFD is getting a final proofreading before being put into actual book pages and then returned to me for minimal corrections. Book 3 is at the bottom of my big rag basket beside my writing chair. I really miss it. There's nothing like the creating part of a book. The rest I gladly give you!

So in the quiet I get to dream about crookneck squash and having a little garden in a sunny hollow (holler) somewhere in Berea, Kentucky. I've almost talked Randy into moving back there. Stay tuned.

I think gardening is nearer to godliness than theology. -unknown

a look back

I keep two old journals on my desk to remind me of days gone by. When I leaf through them - they're full of quotes and Scripture and my own musings - I see that while nothing seemed to be happening with my writing, a great deal was happening inside me, in my heart and my head. I thought I'd run the risk of sharing a few excerpts, some of which are embarrassing and even amusing to me now.

August 1, 2007
Much happening. I am 46 - where have the years gone? Up before 6 a.m. Every day I work on Dogwood Winter (The Frontiersman's Daughter). The editing never seems to end.

August 7
Almost finished with this final edit, something I prayed would happen before our Montana trip. It seems my self-imposed deadlines are silly as no one is waiting for the manuscript. Though it feels good to get it done. Sort of.

September 5
There is not enough time - not enough for all the books I want to read and write. Just many and varied interruptions.

September 8
Very discouraged tonight. Depressing to find 30 year old journals in the attic - myself at 15 - writing about my writing dream. And here I am all these years later and am no further than I was then.

October 28
My lesson at this point in my life is trust. Rather the lack. This hard, painful thing I'm in - writing, editing, waiting - really boils down to trust. Do I trust Him with my life? Do I trust Him with my writing? Do I trust His timing?

November 1
So tired I can't even sit in my chair and write. Too tired to even write. Nothing happening with my writing. My computer is 8 years old and slow and ready to crash. My prayer needs to be - what pleases Thee, pleases me.

November 9
So much happening (except writing). Maybe all this scribbling is for my pleasure and enjoyment only. There are a million authors in the world who write far better than I do and who don't seem to have to work as hard at it as I do. Am not going to mention my writing after this. Dead ends. I seem to lack the talent to publish. Missing Kentucky and home.

Looking back, I think my vow to not mention my writing again lasted a whole five minutes. Writers are a little bit like boxers. They get hit and they get up - again and again. This might not seem like much of a trial in the grand scheme of things but it truly tried me in more ways than I can mention.

Why does God allow trials in our lives? I think one of the reasons is so we can help others.

He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us.
2 Corinthians 1:4 The Message Bible

Hope this encourages you in some way today.
Laura

books and such

I hear you Kentuckians (and others) are very cold today and expecting to get colder. Funny that my mom was hanging clothes out on the line a couple of weeks ago and it was a warm 64' in the bluegrass state. Here it is foggy and 40 degrees with a bitter wind blowing the chimes outside my window. I'm already looking forward to spring which begins about late May here. Thought I'd give a little book update for those who are interested in the writing life.

The Frontiersman's Daughter is moving right along now that the release date is only a few months away. I heard yesterday that the preview copies were just sent out. One Ky. author emailed me to let me know she received hers and has read the first chapter. She's one of my picks for endorsements on the back cover. Hope she likes the book! Now that the galleys are done, TFD is edited again and sent to proofreaders. Soon I will get the "pages" which will be the actual book in page format just like the one you'll (hopefully) want to hold in your hands. I will read the book yet again (I can quote parts of it now!), and check for errors, etc. This process is so very thorough I'll be surprised if I find any at this stage.

Red River Daughter is finished but needs work after page 240. This is not a sequel to The Frontiersman's Daughter but is another stand-alone novel. However, there is one overlapping character that jumps from the first to the second book, albeit briefly. Sort of a cameo appearance in the opening chapter before he disappears completely. I dearly love this second book. It may be my favorite. It's also taking a great deal of work to make it work. I am sad that I can't spend eons on narrative about the wonders of Kentucky's Red River Gorge area. Readers tend to like lots of dialogue these days. I stuff in as much narrative as I can, otherwise I feel cheated and some readers might too.

And now for The Scrivener's Daughter. I'm up to page 221 and when I read it over I wonder who wrote it! It's that different. My writing has changed so much since TFD! I'm also writing from a his/her perspective for the first time and am really enjoying the change. But I've had to put it away while I work on RRD and I am missing it. Some writers balance multiple books at once but I don't like to do this myself. I may get Lael and Morrow and Roxie mixed up.

So after hours and hours in my chair with my laptop on my lap, it is sometimes a relief to just get up and do the dishes. Happy Friday.

facebook

It's early Monday and I've spent time this morning in Kentucky visiting with friends on Facebook. A month ago I didn't know what Facebook was (my brother set it up for me) and it really is an amazing experience! In a nutshell, Facebook was invented by a sophomore at Harvard a few years ago and is a free social website that connects people worldwide. You can type in the name of a long lost friend and it just might pop up and link you to that person, opening the door to a renewed friendship.

I typed in my maiden name on Facebook a few days ago and started hearing from old Kentucky friends from elementary and high school at Tates Creek in Lexington. I've not seen or heard from these people in 30 years! They've been posting old school pictures of us, etc. The danger is that it's a very fun but very time-consuming distraction. A perpetual party, so to speak. I'm always amazed at what the internet can do. I've discovered some interesting things - one friend lives in London (England, not Ky.), my elementary buddy married my high school crush, most of my friends never left Kentucky, and things like that.

So it's Monday here and I'm thankful for another day. Lots to do like homeschool, practice violin, and continue with that edit. I finished reading Red River Daughter last night and can now bring out the wrecking ball, so to speak. It always hurts a bit to delete scenes and change things even when you know it's better for the book. Writers really do need to develop a thick skin which I've always lacked till now.

Lately I've felt a little overwhelmed with everything. So many things in my life are changing. But I have that wonderful verse Beth Moore posted on her website sitting by my laptop to keep me grounded. It's a big help for a busy Monday.

He is your constant source of stability; He abundantly provides safety and great wisdom; He gives all this to those who fear Him. Isaiah 33:6

the wince factor

January is flying by. I'm down to one Christmas tree on the deck and just a few patches of deep snow. Paul and I leave soon for Old Time Fiddlers down in Sequim at the grange. While we're gone Randy and Wyatt will be bulldozing a chicken coop and other assorted buildings at a neighbor's farm. This is Randy's equivalent of fun so it will be a good Saturday for him. I just want to be writing!

About that Red River edit... Several scenes just don't work so I am noting which to cut. I'm about 75 pages from the end of the manuscript. The trouble lies in the back of the book which is not final draft material anyway. The first 235 pages are solid and almost as polished as I can make them with a few adjustments needed. Mostly missed opportunities to build tension/conflict. You can always tell when a scene doesn't work as it makes you almost wince reading through it. The solid scenes don't have that effect. Just imagine what it would do to a reader if it makes the writer wince - or an editor! So watch that wince factor:)

I never realized that this writing business is really all about rewriting. It takes a tremendous amount of work to make a book readable, and even more to create a good book, and that's why I will never criticize another writer. No one writer does everything well. Well, maybe James Alexander Thom, my hero, but not the rest of us.

I've decided to come out of the woods and join the wireless world. Next week, Lord willing, we'll ditch what I call dinosaur dial-up internet connection for the real deal. A friend of ours has both (dial-up in his office and wireless at home) and says it's kind of like going back to holding hands when you've been kissing. Can't wait!

Happy Saturday.

christmas in january

We're celebrating Christmas with our neighbors today as we haven't been able to get to them with all the snow till now. The news reports about Washington state being afloat are true - lots of road closures and things adrift now that the snow is melting and the winter rains begin in earnest. WET! Great reading and writing weather:)

On the home front, Paul is busy practicing his violin and trying to polish an old Civil War tune - a lively reel - called Soldier's Joy. He thinks he'd like to play banjo next. Wyatt is dreaming about beekeeping and basketball. We go to a high school game tonight for the first time ever. I don't know a basketball from a biscuit so this should be interesting. Hopefully Randy will be home in time. He's been working on a yacht down at the marina and has some interesting tales to tell. Personally, I think yacht-owning is extreme and I wouldn't want to be held accountable for that kind of excess but Port Angeles is noted for these big boats. This particular yacht has a game room below with glass panels in the floor where you can see through to the ocean and all that marine life, etc. If this is the best man can do, I wonder what heaven will be like?

I'm thankful for my humble little house and garden and woods. When Christmas is over today, I have to hurry back to the Red River and start editing again. I'm already dreaming of that next book. Interestingly enough, I just received my copy of the Chronicle from the Kentucky Historical Society and read that they've been given the nation's most significant collection of firearms from the master gunsmith Benjamin Mills. An old-time Kentucky gunsmith! This ties in very nicely for researching that next book.

Hope your day is sunny and dry wherever you are.

reading glasses

I've finally entered the realm of reading glasses. They must be about as comfortable as dentures! I really don't like them as they make me feel my age - and they're a very odd lilac color. But I find I can't do without them, especially in regards to this edit. I'm back in Kentucky on the Red River again and up to page 221 thus far. No major problems yet though we writers are at a decided disadvantage knowing the manuscript so well. Fresh eyes really do detect far more flaws. Maybe that's why editors are so good at what they do!

I am wondering why The Frontiersman's Daughter was so much harder to write than Red River Daughter. Now, TFD was my fifth book, not my first. I wrote my first at age 13 - a novella set in old Sturbridge Village back east. Then I penned (try not to laugh here) Gone With the Wind II, a romantic-suspense novel set in England, then Dances With Wolves II. I may have omitted one or two. I found Dance With Wolves II in the garage recently and hauled it out to have a look. Scary! Fifty pages later I was still on this one jail scene in the middle of the prairie. But I guess if you do anything long enough you will eventually make progress.

I think The Frontiersman's Daughter was difficult because it involved so much research about wildcrafting. I won't say more lest this be considered a spoiler. Also, I have three love interests in this story which I was told is a no-no for a beginning writer. But I've had a 40 year apprenticeship, remember. So maybe it worked:) I hope you think so.

I am learning so much. Maybe the most important thing is that there are as many books out there as readers. My writing won't appeal to everyone. I really write to please myself. And Him. If it spills over and reaches other people, that's a gift.

Anyway, the hard editing of RRD is about to begin. I wish there was no such thing as too long a book. I'm not one of those lean writers. I love words -the more the better.

Till tomorrow!