I’d Like to Introduce Sparkle Abbey

Tags

Books, Texas, Writer, Writing

I continue to plug along writing my current work in progress. Each day I get a few more pages done. I truly think writing a novel is probably the most difficult thing I have ever attempted. When it is finished, I hope I will think it was the most satisfying.  It’s just getting there. Each day, I try to enjoy the moment and there are moments that are enjoyable. I love when I get in the zone. If you write, you know what I mean. When it happens, it feels like you are lost in the story. I tend to produce a lot more words. I know what I want to say and it flows easily. That doesn’t happen every day. I have found that it happens more often though, when I glue my butt to the chair and write. Even though I would much rather curl up in front of a good movie with Mr. G. I keep telling myself it will be worth it in the end.

Over the years, I have met quite a few writers and some of them use their own name and some don’t. Some publishers request you use another name. After working so hard to finish a book, I think it would be nice to be able to put my name on it but I also know that it is a business and as writers we probably should listen to the people who want to see us be successful. I suppose if that was a requirement for publication, I probably would do it.

I ran into a couple of my author friends at an event this weekend and they have their first book out. They had to make that choice and I know how difficult it was for them, because I know how long they have been writing and like me, they really wanted to see their name on that cover. They agreed to use a pseudonym.  They go by the name Sparkle Abbey. They came up with that name when the publisher insisted they needed a name to tie the series together because they co-write. Sparkle is Maylee’s cat and Abbey is Anita’s dog. Marylee Woods is a writer friend I met at least 15 years ago when I joined the local chapter of RWA. She co-writes with Anita Carter, someone else I have known for a while. They co-write the Pampered Pet Mystery Series and the first of four books they have sold came out recently, Desperate Housedogs. They have a unique way of collaborating. They share the same setting, Laguna Beach, CA and the same secondary characters. They each have their own protagonist. They plot their books together and often sit across the same table to write so that they can bounce ideas off of each other, along the way. Marylee wrote book one, Anita wrote book two that will be coming out in early 2012, Marylee will write book three and Anita, book four. Marylee’s protagonist is a pet therapist, while Anita’s protagonist is a cousin to Marylee’s and she owns a pet boutique. The two women are former beauty queens from Texas and currently are not speaking. They are both feuding over a god-awful ugly brooch their grandmother left to “her favorite granddaughter”. She didn’t specify exactly who she meant. I read the book and think it is so clever and such a good read. If you like cozy mysteries that make you laugh; you really need to check this one out. I think they have a great future with this series. Future books are titled, ‘Get Fluffy’, Kitty, Kitty, Bang, Bang’ and ‘Yip, Tuck’. I can’t wait to read them.

I know they each would rather have seen their own name on the cover but I think they made the right choice and if they keep producing this quality of cozy mystery, it really won’t matter. They will be around for a long time and everyone who really knows them will know who Sparkle Abbey is.

Until next time, keep writing… and reading.

Virginia

Gathering My Books for Winter

Tags

Alexandra Sokoloff, Beautiful Lies, Elizabeth George Speare, Lisa Unger, Manitou Springs Colorado, Mary Roberts Rinehart

I feel like one of those little squirrels you see this time of year, hopping all over the yard gathering nuts, cheeks puffed out, storing them away for winter. I haven’t been gathering nuts but I have been picking up books for the snowy Iowa winter ahead.

We have an annual community book sale in my area that is so huge, they hold it at our state fairgrounds. Writer friends have driven to Des Moines from Omaha to check it out. It starts on Friday evening and runs through Monday. It used to run for two weekends in a row but the past few years they cut back to one and added Monday. The first night there is an entrance fee but for the remainder of the time, it’s free.

I happened to have both Saturday and Sunday off this week. Saturday I skimmed the long rows of novels and mysteries and felt pretty good when I walked out with – ‘In the Tenth House, by Laura Deitz – a Tarot mystery, ‘The Unseen’ by Alexandra Sokoloff, and ‘The Novelist’ by Angela Hunt. I read Tarot so was intrigued by that. I have always wanted to read Alexandra Sokoloff and was pulled in by ‘The Novelist’ because it was about writers. I spent $19.00.

I thought I was done until this morning I was playing around on the computer and joined a few groups on yahoo. One was a readers group that reads women mystery authors. They sent the reading list for the rest of this year. For October they are reading ‘ Episode of the Wandering Knife’ by Mary Roberts Rinehart, November – ‘An Expert in Murder’ by Nicole Upson and for December – ‘Beautiful Lies’ by Lisa Unger. Because they were not books I chose to read, I decided to check out the library first. The only book they had was Lisa Unger’s.

So I trekked on back to the book sale at the fairgrounds and started searching the tables of books again. Didn’t find any of the three I needed but I did find four more books I had to have. ‘The Witch of Blackbird Pond’ by Elizabeth George Speare, ‘Writers of the Purple Sage’ by Barbara Burnett Smith, ‘Murder on the Ghost Walk’ by Ellen Elizabeth Hunter, and ‘All Hallows Evil’ by Valerie Wolzien. In case you couldn’t tell, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and yes I do dress up, when I get a chance. For those four books, I spent $3.75. Sunday is half price. Monday they knock it down to 75% off but alas, they will be closing about the time I get off from work. If any of my local friends have any of the books from my reading list and wouldn’t mind loaning them, please let me know. I plan to check 1/2 Price Books on Tuesday.

What are your reading habits? Just curious.

Virginia

Book Store, Library, or E-Reader?

Tags

Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble, E-book, Kindle, Nook

Just got home from my weekly meeting with writer friend Sara. We get together one night a week for dinner and a chat. Because we both write and read, we always have a lively discussion. Since we meet at the local Barnes and Noble, books are a regular weekly topic. What we have recently read and what we are currently reading, always comes up.  She is a staunch paper book reader. I have a Nook that, I have to confess, I have not used as much as I had hoped.  I still catch myself buying paper. There is something about the cover and the feel and the whole experience that seems diluted with the electronic version. But, on the other hand, I have caught myself buying a book more than once because I take it home and forget that I have it and buy it again. With the Nook, I can buy it once and when I am ready to read it, it’s there. No searching through my bookshelves. Since so many of my friends have either a Kindle or a Nook, I thought it would be interesting to take of poll, just for fun, to see how everyone else is reading.

Virginia

Don’t Expect More From Yourself Than You Expect From Your Hairdresser

Tags

Audiobook, Janet Evanovich, Sue Grafton

Okay so the idea for this post came to me the last time I got my hair styled. Kelli, my hair stylist has been doing my hair for some time now. She recently moved to a different shop and because I couldn’t find her, I kept going to the old one. No one seemed to understand what I wanted. Luckily, Kelli sent me a postcard telling me how to find her. Her shop isn’t too much further from me than the old one so I promptly set up an appointment.

Because I was so thrilled to have her do my hair again, I may have been a little giddy. I told her that I wanted something that would make me look 10 years younger and significantly thinner. She laughed at me and said, “You aren’t serious,” as she pointed to herself? “If I could do that, honey, don’t you think I would have done it for myself, by now?”

I assured her I was joking but it made me think about what I expect from myself with my writing. Even though I am not a perfectionist, I tend to expect perfection in my work. I write a scene and try to go forward but the next day I read what I’d written the day before and cringe. Then I revise and edit and then go on. That is when I need to stop because if I don’t, I will re-read that section again the next day along with what I added to it and revise again. It can be never ending. There comes a time when a writer needs to just set it aside and go on. Worry about editing later. Going forward will get the book done. Continuously editing the same section all the time will give you a polished beginning but nothing else.

First drafts are not meant to be perfect. It’s okay to have misspelled words, grammar errors, out of sequence scenes, not enough conflict, drab description, and even cardboard characters, as long as those things are corrected later. That’s why we revise and edit.

This year I’ve had the opportunity to critique with a couple of published authors. Just having had the chance to see their process from first spark of an idea through the whole writing process and editing has been enlightening. They have encouraged and said that it is better to have a crappy first draft than nothing at all. At least with the crappy first draft, you have something completed. It can then be revised.

Go ahead and read your favorite authors but don’t expect your first draft to live up to that standard. They don’t even live up to that standard. Their work goes through many edits. You can no more make it perfect the first time, than my hair stylist could style my hair and make me look like a new person. Granted I can’t take off 10 years but with work, I can lose the weight. With work, you can revise a crappy first draft and have something worth sending to a publisher. Once you do, you’ll feel like a new person.

WHAT HAVE I BEEN READING?

I’m currently reading ‘Wicked Appetite’ by Janet Evanovich. I’ve also been listening to lots of audio books while driving. ‘Cemetery Dance’, by Douglas and Child,  ‘S is for Silence’ by Sue Grafton, and every other Evanovich book I can get my hands on. Her audio books are so entertaining, I am addicted. I spend so much time in my car, it’s a treat to be able to listen while I drive. Now I look forward to my commute each day. I highly recommend it.

Virginia

Train To Nowhere

Tags

Des Moines Register, Documentary film, Guatemala, Iowa, Iowa Public Television, IPTV, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

I have to admit a lot of what I read could be called fluff. ‘Train To Nowhere – Inside an Immigrant Death Investigation’ is not. I was lucky enough to attend the Montezuma All-Iowa Writer’s conference this weekend and one of the speakers was author Colleen Bradford Krantz. Colleen was a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Des Moines Register. Now she is an independent journalist who not only wrote the book but also co-produced an award-winning documentary based on the events depicted in the book.

Colleen’s talk was for writers and her task was to discuss other ways to publication. Colleen explained that when she heard the news story that is the basis for this book and documentary, it haunted her and she wasn’t able to let it go. She knew she had to write a book about it. While raising small children she pieced together enough time to research and write down what she wanted to say. Because this was a non-fiction project, she wrote a few chapters and a proposal that she sent out to agents and publishers hoping someone would offer to publish. She would then finish writing the book. Many rejections later, she was about to give up when someone thought her story would make a good documentary. She spoke with IPTV (Iowa Public Television) and they were interested but they wanted her to film the project. They said that if she could make the documentary, then they would talk. She found herself a step closer, but no promise. Because she didn’t have a lot of money to work with, she approached film students, thinking they might be willing to work with her for the experience. That didn’t work out so well either. Eventually, after receiving some grant money, she did find someone to help. She was able to travel to Texas for filming but had to pay someone else to go to Guatemala. Ms. Krantz became the co-producer as well as the writer of the documentary. After the project was completed, a publisher offered to publish the story and that was her path to publication.

No matter what your views on undocumented aliens, you will be pulled into this real life drama. It is not just a story about illegals entering the states and whether they should or shouldn’t be here, it is the story of what we will endure to reach our dreams and because of greed what we will do to each other.

It all started back in 2002, in Denison, Iowa, when they discovered a rail road car that contained 11 bodies. They were undocumented aliens who died when the smugglers lost track of them. It imprinted a gruesome picture that bothered me. How could this happen? What kept them from getting out of the railroad car? Were they murdered and left there?

Ms. Krantz succeeds in telling this human interest story through the unbiased lens of a journalist. Through her research she discovered who the victims were and where they came from. She tells about one of the victims, a young man Byron, who was trying to escape his life in Guatemala to be with his brother who lives here legally in New York. It is also about the INS officer assigned to the case. Officer Martinez is a Latino American who often found himself in an uncomfortable position. Some Americans questioned his ability to be impartial while some of the illegals he had to deal with expected him to show them leniency. He explained that he took an oath to work for his country, America, and never questioned what he needed to do. It is also the story of the smugglers and how law enforcement acted to track them down and make them pay for the murders.

Those eleven people suffered a gruesome death and the author describes in detail what really happened. Initially, I thought they must have starved to death or died from lack of water. The truth was even more startling.

If the documentary is half as good as the book, I would not be surprised that it will be the recipient of many more awards. Ms. Krantz, an accomplished journalist, tells the story with the heart of a novelist.

I was so intrigued; I started reading it as soon as I got home. I finished it quickly because it was so hard to put down. I would recommend it to everyone. Mark your calendar for September 26^th. IPTV will be airing this documentary then. You can find more information at Mon, September 26, 8:59 PM on IPTV. For a trailer about the DVD check out http://www.traintonowherefilm.com/trailer.php .

I look forward to seeing more from this author.

Virginia

Live and Learn – Always

Tags

Carol Bodensteiner, Chicago, Iowa, Louise Penny, Workshop, Writer, Writer Resources

If you are anything like me, I am drawn to everything writer related. If I hear about a gathering of writers anywhere, I tend to check it out. I guess it is like that saying, “Birds of a feather flock together.”

Over the years, I have been fortunate to be able to attend several RWA and mystery writer related conferences and workshops, including one RWA national conference in Anaheim and Love is Murder, in Chicago. Today I’d like to promote a local writer’s conference – the 2011 Montezuma All-Iowa Writer’s conference. This is the second year for this conference and I was lucky enough to attend last year’s. For the first year, I thought it was a very informative day-long event that I have no doubt will be even better this year.

This year’s speakers are Iowa authors Lesley Langtry, Kathy Bacus, Kimberly Stuart, Carol Bodensteiner, S. C. Sherman, Mary Zucker Reichert, Rebecca Janni, Colleen Bradford Krantz, and Sharon Helgens. The all-day event promises writing tips, as well as tips on choosing a publisher and marketing.

The conference is held at the Montezuma Community Schools, 504 N 4^th and runs from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., with registration at 8:30.

For a registration form and more information go to http://ourfrontporchbooks.com/about/.  Price is only $25 .

I have always felt that workshops and conferences are necessary for a writer to grow. If you spend one day and only pick up one new idea, it’s worth it and that doesn’t even consider the networking possibilities.

I continue to work on my novel and am thoroughly enjoying Cheryl St. Johns on-line workshop on Conflict. If you were unable to participate in this one, Cheryl frequently has workshops and I will let you know about them as they come up.  What really surprised me about this workshop is the number of participants who are multi-published. Don’t want to be a name dropper but if you signed up, you know what I mean.

Today is my day off from my real job so I have to get back to working on my novel.

Currently reading – Louise Penny’s latest ‘A Trick of the Light’. Love, love, love Louise Penny. Someday I hope to meet her.

As far as author’s I have met, Teresa Weir has a memoir out ‘Orchard’ and Oprah has picked it as her # 2 pick for the October O magazine. Might check it out; I met Teresa years ago at an awards luncheon for my local RWA chapter, Iowa Romance Novelists. Teresa lived in Iowa, at the time. She wrote several award winning novels using her own name back then. She currently has several paranormal suspense novels under the name of Anne Frasier now. Her memoir sounds interesting, another book to add to my- to be read list.

Happy reading and writing,

Virginia

Murder Most Persuasive – Book Review

Tags

Cozy Mystery, Jane Austen, Murder, Persuasion

Thanks to Librarything I just finished reading Murder Most Persuasive by Tracy Kiely. It is an entertaining story about Elizabeth Parker, the protagonist who has a penchant for everything Jane Austen. When her great-uncle Martin dies her family comes together for the funeral. His not so grieving widow leaves the next day for a health spa and the family who purchased one of their homes digs up the pool and finds a body that was placed there the last time Elizabeth’s family got together, several years earlier at a fourth of July celebration. That was the night Elizabeth’s cousin Regina broke her engagement with the murder victim. It was also the night the victim attacked Elizabeth’s other cousin and Reggie’s Sister Ann. After that night, the family had assumed the victim had decided to get as far from them as possible, especially since they discovered his theft of a million dollars. The situation places everyone at the scene of the crime and all as possible suspects.

Like an Austen character, Elizabeth not only finds time to solve the mystery, she also does a little matchmaking.

It was a well written, enjoyable read with characters that are nicely developed. I had noticed the covers from this series before but had just not gotten to reading any of them. I will keep them in mind in the future and would recommend them to anyone who loves a cozy mystery.

Happy reading and writing,

Virginia

Conflict in Life and in Your Story

Tags

Fiction, Gone with the Wind, Labor Day, Online Writing, Rhett Butler, Scarlett O'Hara

Sometimes it feels like my life is a total conflict. I always have more than one thing I want and need to do; leaving me conflicted, making it difficult for me to focus on my goals. I need to be more like Scarlett O’Hara. She was a woman who knew what she wanted and whatever got in her way, she either bulldozed through it or connived her way around it.

Conflict is something we try to avoid in our daily life but avoiding it in our writing will kill the story. There is no story without conflict. Who wants to hear about little miss perfect who always has every hair in place, is never late, never gets mad at anyone, never trips, never runs out of money, is never jealous, her house is perfect and somehow she manages to do it without a housekeeper, even though she can afford one, she doesn’t have to work because she is independently wealthy because some unknown relative died and she didn’t care and so inherited by default, all men are drawn to her but somehow she always knows how to keep them all happy. You get it, she is boring. Even though she has everything, she doesn’t have a story to tell.

The really good stories are those that torture the main character. They have to struggle. Think Scarlett O’Hara. She seemed to have everything, she was beautiful, lived in a gorgeous home, was cherished by her family and most men were drawn to her like ants to a plantation picnic, except the one she wanted. Even though Ashley had a small part in the movie and the book, without him, there would not have been a story. Scarlet’s goal was Ashley and her conflict was that he was in love with another woman, Melanie; a sweet woman who befriended her when no one else would. Rhett was a complication but he wasn’t a conflict. He wanted Scarlett and because of that, he sometimes got in her way but her focus was always on Ashley, until the very end when she realized she did love Rhett.

Take a good look at your story. Do you need to torture your characters more? Have you been coddling them?

If you are struggling with conflict in your stories, run, don’t walk, to your nearest computer and sign up for Cheryl St John’s September class on Conflict. You can find her blog on my list of blogs or at the link below. She is a worthy teacher and the price of $10.00 for a month long class cannot be beat. The class has just started so you should be able to catch up. What are you waiting for? Go do it, now!  http://cherylstjohn.blogspot.com/2011/08/september-workshop-conflict-makes-story.html

When you get done signing up, check out a few more of the blogs listed on my site. I’m sure you’ll find something of interest there.

Oh, fiddle dee dee, now I must get back to my writing.

Virginia

Writing Even When I’m Not

Tags

Librarything, Nail polish, Nail salon, Pedicure, Slot machine, Tamara Siler Jones, Virginia

Writers tend to be quiet but that doesn’t mean we aren’t taking mental notes. Everything we experience could be digested for our work.

Saturday was one of those days when I was alone but not lonely. I like to get out on weekends because I feel tied down all week, while at work. This Saturday, I pampered myself with a manicure and a pedicure. Summer and sandals gives me a great excuse to indulge in what I feel is a most relaxing experience. The only thing I can think of that is more relaxing is a massage and I will have to schedule another one of those someday. The women at the salon ranged from teens to more mature women, like me. Didn’t happen to see any men there, either as customers or technicians.  As I said earlier, during the week I am tied to a desk and really don’t have the chance to watch people. On weekends when I am out and about, I make up for it. Not because I am trying to be nosy, but for my writing. I might see someone who reminds me of a character I am developing. You never know, it could happen.

Watching people gives me cues for facial expressions, how they move, and how they interact with others.  Watching is important because as a writer I have to be able to describe everything. I’ve always thought it was like painting but with words. It also allows me to look at the setting. I might have a scene at a nail salon someday.  What do I see, hear, smell, and feel as I am sitting there. Listening to conversations allows me to pick up on current speech patterns and phrases. Just watching lets me see how people dress and what they do. I think I was the only woman who didn’t either use or check my cell phone the whole time I was there. When I first walked in, there was a strong chemical smell. Stronger than the normal smell of polish and whatever they use for those fake nails. I found out that they have a new shellac finish that makes the polish last longer. I opted out, because of the smell. The warm water swirled and bubbled around my feet in the foot bath, the  chair was smooth wood and leather, and the chair itself jiggled everything as it massaged my upper and lower back muscles.

Watching people is not new for me, I have always enjoyed it. Attending the state fair, shopping, walking around the mall, around the lake or wherever, I look for anything that might help me with my fiction. I know that it works because, I was working on a story once with a character who was a female impersonator in Vegas. She was one of three characters I loved in this story. The other two were a couple of older women, Freida and Agnes. They were from Keokuk, Iowa. They liked to play slots. I described them as wearing polyester pants with matching sweatshirts with slot machines embroidered on the front. When they got on a plane with the protagonist, the tickets were mixed up. The protagonist ended up sitting between them. When she offered to switch seats, they told her no, if they crashed it would make it harder to be identified. My female impersonator character’s name was Merci Fontaine. I described her as tall, over six foot, she wore size 12 stilettos, she had a deep voice, a little five o’clock shadow, and her long fingers were tipped with red polish. I don’t remember much more of her description without pulling out the old story but I described the character so well that a member of my writing group came to the next meeting to tell me she’d seen Merci. I took that as a great compliment.

My trip to the nail salon helped me build my description library. I also walked out with prettier fingers and toes.

What do you do to help with descriptions? Do you use your own senses to see, hear, feel, taste and record, or do you rely on a reference book for descriptions?

Finished reading ‘Love Lies Bleeding‘. Currently reading two books. ‘Murder Most Persuasive‘ by Tracy Kiely - It is an advance copy I was lucky enough to win on Librarything. Will have a review for it as well when I have completed it.  Started reading ‘Valley of the Soul‘ by Tamara Siler Jones – another of my critique partners. Valley is the third in her series and she is currently working on the fourth.

Happy Writing

Virginia

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

Spent a couple days with a writer friend and critique partner, Tammy Jones at a Bed and Breakfast this week and it was wonderful. It’s not that I can’t write at home because I can and do but there is something about going somewhere without any distractions to help nudge the muse. We’d stayed in this little college town, Grinnell, IA a year earlier at another B&B and the energy felt great. Was it because it was a college town with all the students or was it just the peaceful feel of a small town? I don’t know but for whatever reason, I had wanted to return. That first time, a year ago  a handful of us stayed one night before a day long workshop in the area.

Marsh House was our destination this year. As you can see by the photos it is a beautiful old Victorian and the inside is equally well cared for. It was my pleasure to live among all that history. Though televisions were available, we chose to ignore them and that helped with the feeling of living in the past. The house is filled with wonderful antiques. I like antiques but know nothing about them. The owner said they are all American and to my untrained eye they looked like they were all from the same time period. Beds had huge headboards and foot boards. Bathroom had a claw foot tub. Parquet floors greeted you in the entry and the stairs to the second floor had a landing with a stained glass window. There were several stained glass windows throughout the house that allowed enough light to give the home an airier feel than you might think from the exterior photos. All of the rooms had plants and live flowers.  I meant to get some interior photos but got involved writing and forgot. The owner is a gracious hostess who asked us the first day whether we wanted lemon bars or brownies. That was when I knew we would hit it off. I voted for the chocolate. She baked them that afternoon and the mouth-watering goodness floated throughout the house making them impossible to escape. We found them in a covered cake plate with homemade chocolate chip cookies. The first night, my friend Tammy and I were the only ones there. We probably spent more time visiting than writing but that was fine, we got it out of our system so that the next day we were ready to devote the day to our novels. Because we spent so much time talking the night before, we both went to bed later than either of us had planned . We finally called it a night and before we knew it – it was time to get up for breakfast.  Cooking bacon and fresh coffee called and I answered. The owner served eggs,  bacon, seasoned potatoes, muffins, blueberry and banana nut pancakes. Afterwards we both felt a little tired partly because of the late night and maybe a little because of the good food; so decided to start the day off with a nap. I know, I would never had thought about doing that at home. Mine was a cat nap so because I didn’t want to disturb Tammy and the two ladies who had come to do the weekly cleaning, I gathered my laptop and headed out to the front porch. The sun was shining and there was just enough of a breeze that I was able to enjoy the scenery and get something written even with a quick visit from the mail man.  By then, Tammy was awake so since we were within walking distance of the downtown area, we walked up for lunch and to check out a quilting shop – (Tammy) and a book store – (Me). I was grateful for the walks as a way to burn a few more calories and it enabled us to see more of the community. We met an older gentleman walking his corgis and by the second time we bumped into him, the corgis acted as if we were old friends. We then walked back and did some serious writing.  Finally about 8:15 P.M. we decided to stop and go find some dinner. We tried several different eating establishments while we were there and were not disappointed by any of them.

It was an enjoyable experience, kind of like when my mother shipped me off to my much older sisters, who had kids my age, only better. This time I didn’t have to help weed the garden.

Most of my escapes for writing have revolved around workshops and conferences so my days were always planned and there was little time for actual writing. This was a chance to focus on writing. I would definitely recommend a quiet get away, whether it’s a B&B, a cabin on a lake, or even a nice hotel.  Writing is a solitary experience and because of that, I do think it’s important to network and interact with other writers but I also think it’s important to balance that out with time and a place to write. It’s okay to get away and give yourself the gift of uninterrupted time. Mr. G., my hubby knew I wanted to go and the summer was slipping away so thanks to him for giving me that little extra nudge to follow through.

Do you ever get away to write? If so where do you go?

Happy writing,

Virginia