Good morning! What an absolutely gorgeous morning! The weather plays such a huge role in our mental state. I feel like I could tackle a million projects - and finish them - all because the sun is shining, the air is crisp, but warm enough for a light sweater. By noon, the kids in the neighborhood will all be wearing shorts.
Enough about the weather. Ralph Keyes. If you haven't heard of him, listen up. If you have any desire whatsoever to be a writer (or any type of artist), you need to read his book, THE COURAGE TO WRITE. Why? In one sentence, he addresses issues about the writing process that no one else has ever touched upon (not that I could find anyway) and to me, they were the real issues about why we as a culture find it so difficult to put ourselves out there in the world as artists. Ok - it was a really long sentence, but you get the drift. I have a rolltop desk and when I open it, I have a quote typed and taped up to read that I pulled from his book. It is not his quote, but one he collected from Shirley Hazard. "The state that you need to write is the state that others are paying large sums to get rid of." If you have ever lost yourself in the writing process, that quote makes a ton of sense.
The Library of Congress still has my case for THREE CROSSES in open status. It is a several month process to become a closed case - which means that the book will be assigned an ISBN and will be a registered literary work through the LOC. Cool, huh? It is my wish that some agent from a publishing company will read THREE CROSSES and contact me about publishing it. I allowed the LOC to make my contact info public with the book. Apparently it is common practice for publishing agents to visit the LOC for new material. Actually I wouldn't mind a literary agent to approach me. Of course, I could be dreaming, but heck, why shouldn't I have that dream. It's not like I am a bad writer. I am a good writer. Maybe not a great writer; however, my small fan club would argue that.
I remember coming home one day to find my assistant, Mel (and not the Melanie that is a follower - which makes me want to say - hey Mel, when are you going to become a follower?) hugging my manuscript of COVET. She had been typing the manuscript from my handwritten copy (God bless her!) and when I walked in and saw her hugging the stack of typed papers, I could have sworn she looked on the verge of tears. She said, "I love this book." My immediate reaction was to scream with joy that I had impressed her so, but I suppressed the desire and instead my brain told me that she was just trying to be nice. Over time, I learned that she genuinely really loved the manuscript (as do I). When she read a draft of THREE CROSSES, she told me that she really liked it but that she really still loved COVET and wished I would put my efforts into that one. I am still torn about which book to focus on at this point, but I think she is right. I think COVET needs my attention. I have a couple of characters in that one who are screaming for my attention. But the same goes for characters in ALONG BLACK RIVER. What to do? What to do? Make a decision and get on with it, girl! Well, I am going to end this post because I want to discuss something personal about THREE CROSSES that really demands its own post. So I will see you again in a few minutes.
Thanks for reading my blog. Knowing that there are people who open it everyday to see what I write, makes me want to keep going. :)
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