Because We All Need A Little Grace.

OK -- first of all, you guys have some creative minds. Great job on the continuing story -- now someone needs to wrap it up. Any takers? (I'd love to see how it ends!)

Secondly...

I started a class.

Taking it, that is.

(Or is it taking me?)

I thought it would be an easy way to fight the guilt I felt in my gut. Actually, I thought it would be an easy way to fight my gut. (10 lbs. increase in two months = not okay.)

I mean – if I was the only person under 75 years old – how “aerobic” could “water aerobics” be?

I was not prepared for the level of condescendingness. (See? I had to create a new word to even describe it.)

Women half my height and twice my age said things to me like, “Hello little girl. Are you sure you can handle this?”

Ten minutes into the class they said things like, “Are you drowning? Blow bubbles if you need to.” (In the words of Dave Barry, “I am not making this up”.)

And the sad part is… I needed to. Blow bubbles, that is.

It's been six weeks and the old ladies and I have come to an arrangement… they don’t bother me, and I get the spot in two feet of water (which sounds so much less condescending than the words “kiddie pool”. And yes – I was making that last sentence up.)

Seriously, though, if I keep drowning at this rate the ladies will just offer me the puddle by the side of the pool to exercise in.

I say all this to make a point – things aren’t always as easy as they seem at first glance.

Several years ago I contacted an editor about a piece I really wanted to publish with his magazine. When we talked his answers were short and almost annoyed – to the point of rude. He showed no interest in my pitch.

I was put out. Polite. But silently angry.

A few weeks later I found out the editor's mom was dying. The day we talked.

Major jerk alert... and I'm not talking about the editor.

So guys, it's true. You never know what someone's going through. Whether it's in the publishing world or every-day life...

I’d rather be blowing bubbles in the deep end of grace than standing in the puddle of unforgiveness any day.

Taking Advantage of Breaks

Lately, I seem to have a partner with me whenever it's time for me to get some writing done.

As you can see, he tends to be better at spitting up on my laptop instead of actually helping. :) And because of this, my writing time has been pretty much nonexistent up until about a week ago.

Then I discovered that I can write, eat, email and clean up my house all at the same time. Or at least attempt to do all that. Sometimes the writing gets done, sometimes the house actually gets vacuumed (shock! awe!).

I'm one of those people who likes to complain about the lack of time that I have. "If only I had TWO extra hours! Just two - I could get SO MUCH done!"

But I've also been noticing lately that I do have time - I just don't take advantage of it. Naps are a good example - all together, I've got probably four or so hours of free time whenever the Nater Tot goes down for a nap. The question is how I use that free time. Facebooking? Cleaning? Making desserts that I don't need?

So, I'm making a resolution and I'm writing it here so you guys can help keep me accountable. I'm going to work on my writing every day - whether that means ten pages or ten sentences. And I'm going to do it before I do any cleaning, snacking or mindless internet wandering.

How about you guys? How do you (or do you not) take advantage of the writing time that you have?

Back to Square (or Page) One

Now that I'm finally settled into my new home office, I had a rather shocking epiphany while opening my friend Microsoft Word the other day: It's been a little more than TWO years since my last novel, Blessed Are the Meddlers, hit store shelves.

And when I started processing that, all I could think was "Wow, time really does fly" because it really doesn't feel all that long ago.

In fact, those 14 hours days of writing and writing and writing to meet my manuscript deadline are still pretty fresh in my memory, which I'm guessing is why I probably haven't made all that much progress on my third novel yet. It's not that I'm afraid of the work, mind you, but I've needed some time away to figure out what I want to invest all of that time in. Writing two books in a year will do that to you, trust me.

After all, it's not merely enough to crank something respectable out. When you're dedicating that many hours to something, you want to make sure it's absolutely, positively worth it. And for me, I couldn't figure out if that was going to be the third and final book in the "Sydney Alexander" series or something new altogether.

In case you're curious, I've opted for the latter and am excited beyond belief—especially after watching one of my favorite writing movies, Miss Potter, the other night. In the opening voiceover, Miss Potter (played by Reneé Zellweger) says, "There's something delicious about writing those first few words of a story. You can never quite tell where they will take you. Mine took me here, where I belong."

And as I've been hammering out the first line of my new novel, tentatively titled Tuesday Nights in Italia, I know exactly what she's talking about because the process has been nothing short of glorious. I must say that it's so much fun being back in the novel-writing groove, and I can't wait to see where the journey takes me, and eventually, when the time is right, my readers.

Ok, Scribble Chicks readers, I'm curious: How do you get your groove back after finishing a novel? And when you've finished, do you already know what's next? Or do you not think that far when you're writing?

New beginnings

So my Little Miss starts her first day of Mother's Day Out today. I feel like I'm sending her off to school! She's two, and I wanted her to do this one day a week so preschool won't be such a shock to her clingy, shy little self next year. I have to bring a rest mat and pack her a lunch like a big girl... oh! Pray for both for us!

Thankfully I'll miss the tears-part, because my mom is taking her while I work.. so Nana will be the "mother with the break" today. :)

Sometimes we all experience the joy and pain of being new. Of first days. New ventures. Many of you might be on the verge of that now and attending your first conference. I highly recommend the ACFW conference in Indianapolis, though I will miss it this year. Look for me in 2011 though!! Maybe you aren't attending your first conference (which is a lot like the first day of school in some respects! lol) but maybe you're about to send your first proposal. Query your first agent. Send your first critiqe of your own precious baby to a fellow writer friend's eager red pen.

Whatever the case, you aren't alone. Just like Little Miss will make new friends and be well taken care of, so you will. By your friends, your mentors, your prayer buddies, your family, and of course, your Lord.

Share with us today. Any big firsts coming up?? :)

Your Turn... Scribble Chicks Activity

The rope was thin beneath his feet...

In the spirit of writing, the Scribble Chicks invite you to join us in this continuing story.

Your turn. Add a sentence to this story in the comments, and someone will add a sentence after you. (Be serious or humorous.)

Feel free to return and add another.

I can't wait to see how this turns out!

 

True Confession Part 2

Inspired by the illustrious Betsy's post yesterday, I, too, shall reveal my favorite manuscript "oops" moments.

I also am a big, big fan of the word "definitely." And I must confess that "decidedly," "amazing," "voracious" and "well" as in "Well, she thought blah, blah blah" are also favorites of mine, though, I'm determined to kick the habit.

I can also be a little too snarky for my own good, which is fine in small doses tone-wise, but it's certainly not something you want to overuse. Overkill=bad, after all. Just then I resisted my urge to insert "definitely" instead of "certainly." At least I'm cognizant of it, right? That's half the battle.

Sometimes when I'm writing, I can get so caught up in the story that I lose track of time, which majorly messes with the story's timeline. While it may seem obvious, it's easy to do and something you'll want to keep track of. For instance, you can't have a character out doing some major shopping on a Monday unless you explain that she's self-employed or on vacation or something. Those little details count, and that's where a good editor (you and your trusty developmental editor who'll guide you through the process) really counts.

I'm also an obsessive editor as I go along, which many writing pros advise against. I must get something exactly right (wording-wise anyway) before I can move on to the next section. While some might not consider this an "oops," I'll admit that sometimes I'd probably make more headway if I wasn't this way. But it's a Christa trait all the same, so what's a girl gonna do?

Ok, Betsy dished. I've dished. What other writing "oops" do we need to know about?

'Fess up...

Okay, it's time for a little true confession.

No, no, no, this will be fun, I promise. (And it's only truth, so don't try to take the "dare" option and streak your neighbhorhood instead...)

What are your manuscript boo-boo's?

That's what I like to call repeated mistakes. Do you have a heroine in your story that bites her lip in so many tags that she should be a bloody mess by now? Does your hero run his fingers through his hair so much he's probably in dire need of Head & Shoulders? Do you overuse the word "definitely" or "really"? Do you perform a "find" search in your Word document and come up with the word "just" about 1500 times per manuscript?

Oh wait. Those are my confessions... lol

What are yours? What are your critique partners constantly hounding - err, reminding - you about? Everyone has their quirks in writing, their "oops" habits they just can't seem to kick. So 'fess up. Let's break out the highlighter and do some group editing!!