Challenged

Thanks to Donna K., I'm back! Last Thursday, a friend of mine lost her husband after 51 years together. I went to his memorial service yesterday. It was impressive and amazing. During the service, I not only thought of my friend and her husband, but also back to those I too have lost over the years. It was very moving. I would like to think that when I remembered those I've lost, they came forward to welcome her husband.

During the service Taps was played on a bugle after a 21 gun salute. I've heard this done in the movies but never in a service before. It was very moving. Our Writing Group members were there to support our friend and her family. Our group is very close. I have seen posts for other groups describing how close they are. It seems that our closeness follows true. The concept of sharing our work exposes each of us to the others on a deeper level. I think all writers old hands or new should be part of a writing group. The pencil is good to us but sharing is good for us too. Writers are funny people. Put them all together in one room and watch. You will see levels of trust, respect and protectiveness develop among the members faster than you will with a room full of Community Developers.

I would like to thank those of you who saw this blog and left comments. Read their comments. I enjoyed them and they're true. Involve the reader, don't complicate the world, be real and balance the info between detail dialogue and setting.

I have finished two books Byzantium and Voyage of 1896. Enjoyed them and am now on Hannibal Rising, about Hannibal Lechter's childhood. Seems he had a split brain.

I have been working on some of my own things. I received a rejection from an agency. It was thrilling. They told me the work had merit and should be submitted elsewhere. I am reading it again before I submit to someone else.

It is about Vampires set in 16th century Cuba. Involves a conflict between two brothers and their sister. The sister forced into a convent, arouses the love of a vampire who turns her and ruins his coven.

I am also working on a serial killer piece set in modern day Florida. He is a paranoid schizophrenic desperate to find company. No I have not modeled the character after myself. I am not mentally challenged. I have a piece of paper that says so. I think it's still in the bureau, Oh. Oh, I think I see people outside my window.

Another Sleepless Night

Thanks to my sister Martha, her husband Don, my friends Donna, K.and Ryland Y. and Ron R., I have spent a very difficult night. With their help I now have a blog. But what am I going to do with it?"

I think everyone has had this experience at one time or another. It was one of those sleep periods when you toss and turn and have to keep reaching for your note pad and pencil to record ideas flooding your consciousness. Ideas that will be a vague memory in the morning.

With the light of day you scan the sheets of paper. What you find is the ideas may have seemed better in the darkness or their rationale has been lost because your penmanship is so bad you can't make out the scribbles(you were too lazy to put your glasses on).

So what did I come up with you might ask. I thought it might be fun to do a section on "My Bedside Table" and list books I am reading. Currently the three are: Voyage, a Novel of 1896, by Sterling Hayden, Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris author of Silence of the Lambs, The Husband by Dean Koontz. What are you reading?

Other thoughts captured last night before sleep, from the mind of a Community Developer were, Yes, there are more of us than the President. The ideas were:

As an individual looking at a shelf of books, what is it about a particular book that makes you want to take a second look?

While reading a book what is it about the book that makes it sing for you?

Besides insomnia, what is it about a book that makes you stay up all night reading?

After obtaining a book, what makes you close the cover never to open it again?

These questions are usually answered by saying, plot, action, character development, theme, cohesiveness or insomnia. These answers while true do not represent the whole, I believe thinking about these questions a deeper reason will emerge that is a clearer understanding of what makes books work. Any thoughts?

I'm going to sleep on these questions and perhaps in the morning I will have a sheet of paper filled with answers.

The Pencil Pusher

A long time friend has come down from Washington D.C. to Florida and we have worked on a Face Book site and created this blog. I am a new fiction writer and hope to share my writing experiences for and about writers and those who are interested in writing but haven't tried.



I facilitate a bi-monthly Writer's Group and love the interaction. I have found that sharing experiences about writing helps the writer to grow. This is possibly because writing is such a lonely business. Just you and your pencil or computer.


I would like to thank my friends for encouraging me to work harder and spread my fingers into the world of electronic messaging. I look forward to hearing for others. Thank you.