Week 4:
The first chapter is done and I’m already bored with this whole project. Why isn’t my life as challenging and exciting as Diane Ladd’s in UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN? I could buy a villa and meet kooky new friends and fall in love with the wrong guy…(I’d be good at that last one!)


This must be that infamous muse…WRITER’S BLOCK. But my story is already written. Is there such a thing as REWRITER’S BLOCK? At least, I’m combining chapters two and three and the new chapter only needs a tweak or two. New Plan: cut the chapters told by William, rewrite a few strong chapters into Laurel’s voice and find a way to tie the story together without using so many “quilter’s knots.”

Loved, loved, loved my weekend read: TURTLE IN PARADISE. O inspiration, why did you abandon me so quickly?

Week 3:

Show, don’t tell. Ever writing class, every workshop, everything I know about writing preaches this concept. SHOW, DON’T TELL. This is the equivalent of rushing into a room and acting out (a la charades) that the house is on fire!


MOUNTAIN LAUREL begins with the single-most horrifying event in Laurel’s life-she was thirteen when Hattie Myers died. The South is known for their funerals and this one would prove to be the granddaddy of them all. When I began the story, I had to describe the events—hence the outline. I used the outline to set the stage. I used bullet points to add detail. Many, many rewrites later, I used that outline and begin the chapter where the action really begins—Miss Ella Mae Myers lying spread-eagle on her dead-as-a-doornail sister’s body. My story opens with a scream. So does life, when you get to thinking about it.

Week 2-Where Do I Begin?

Well week one slipped by and my journey to publication or rejection is well under way. Least I sound like I know what I’m doing, let me establish right up front I have two good friends to whom I turn for advice. Nancy, successful author and conference speaker, and Janet (writer buddy and very busy grandma) are there for me to bounce around ideas and tweak words, pick me up when I’m ready to give up and whoop and holler when I get the least bit of encouragement. Everyone should have a Nancy and Janet in their corner.

Remember this story was already written-almost 25,000 words of it. How do I take something of that substance and slice and dice it down into one tight little package? Advice from my would-be publisher: “…wherein each sentence pushes the story forward. What you may need is an over-arching story that keeps the knots together…” Over-arching means beginning, middle and end. Writing 101.

Where do I begin? How do I begin?

Outline.

On A Journey to Publication or Rejection?

I'm staring at my computer when an email pops up. It's not just any ordinary email, it's from a publisher who was doing a second reading on my at one time semi-biographical, now not-so-much story about my parents growing up in the Smoky Mountains. I began this story back in 2000 and oh! the twists and turns it has taken.
This latest challenge? A complete re-write. BUT she thinks it has merit. She even went so far as to compare my story to a well-know historical fiction that is so well-written, it blew my socks off. I was elated. I was high-stepping. I had HOPE!
Then reality set in. Another re-write? I can't possibly do another re-write.  What if I fail ? All that work! I don't have the (insert word here) time, energy, words, muster...
After much self pity, I took that first feeble step. I re-wrote the hook. Every story needs a hook--those opening comments that grab you at the get-go and forces you to turn the page. After many attempts, my hook still isn't perfect,  but it's getting there. Whoever said writing is easy, doesn't write. Tell me again why am I doing this????