May 13
	Times flies when you're having fun. I'm revising or some call it revisiting two stories.  Now I am looking at sentence structure, word choice, ensuring there is strong description and that the five senses are used.  Also I keep a style sheet with names and descriptions of all the characters in the book.  It's hard work but can be an interesting puzzle.

May 12

Ah, wild life... last week we had two baby geese.  This week the mother duck is surrounded by what appears to be a dozen ducklings.  She keeps pacing my fence with a flock of babies scooting in and out. We have to watch the dogs. Also, while Beppie and her mate moved on, I now have an a new and aggressive robin building a nest on my porch post.  Sigh. We have destroyed it twice and put up pepper dust to no avail.  This morning new nesting materials arrived.  The thing is the painters come next week to pressure wash and paint the deck and trim.  We have to continue to discourage this nest building until then.  The last thing I want is a mother with eggs being blasted out of her home.

May 11
	Happy Mother's Day!! To every woman who ever helped a friend, nurtured a pet, babysat for relatives, took care of brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, mothers fathers...This day celebrates you!!! Have a great day.

May 10

Write for joy. This is one of the best pieces of advice. A writer gets into story writing for the love of story or the love of words.  Lose yourself in your characters lives.  Lose yourself in your thesaurus.  Celebrate the very act of writing.  Dance around. Read a cool passage.  Forget the demons at the door.  This, the joy of writing, is the only real reason to do it.  Sure, there is joy in sharing the story, too.  But that is not necessarily something you can control.  So revel in your story.  Play. When you find joy in your story, it shows.

May 8

Take your mind off publication. Some people would wonder why this is important. I mean don't they say to keep your eye on the prize? Isn't the prize publication? The corner office? Or the best McMansion in town? I take this as meaning- live in today.  Publication is something you have no control over. Some of the best stories never see the light of day. (I think this is a theme in my blog, but true in real life.) You can't control where art goes.  All you can do is live inside it's creation. Enjoy the act of creating, writing, revising.  Like raising kids, enjoy each and every tooth gritting step because once they are raised you have no control over what happens next.  Same with art. Once it is done, you can admire it. Show it off, but no one can control the circumstances after that.  That thought-the very idea that the story may never see a reader can be discouraging, daunting.  It can kill your personal joy. Don't let it. Live for today. Revel in today's sunshine.  The sparkle on the water. A puppies kiss.  It is the only way to write.  The sanest way to live.

May 7

Dare to Dream. It is daring to dream and even more daring to share your dream.  People love to put you down for daring.  Only because they'd rather see you fail then imagine that they could succeed if they dared to reach for their own dream. As for failure...I'd say it runs 90 percent of the time and is necessary for learning. Remember, success isn't in reaching the ultimate dream.  Success comes from getting up each morning and daring to try.  A page a day will get you a finished novel in a year-365 pages. A row knitted a day will produce a blanket.  A single weed pulled will change a garden. For me there is meaning in life as long as I dare to live it.

May 6

Have faith--not cynicism. Hard to do these days. I've been actively pursing my writing for twelve years.  In those twelve years I've seen trends come and go. I've been told to write what I know; write the book of your heart; write what you like; write to market; don't write to market because the market changes regularly. I've seen a boom in comedy, replaced by a boom in chicklit, replaced by a boom in gothic, replaced by a boom in paranormal. I've seen trends come and go so swiftly it will make your head spin.  It's hard not to be cynical when you hear rules like: don't use said, its repetitive and bad. Use said, the eye reads over it and it's good.  Then suddenly, don't use said it's bad.  Sigh.   Have faith. I wrote my latest story about a modern woman's struggle with her fairy godfather.  It's probably the best story I've ever written. I debuted the idea to agents and editors at the conference and the reaction was less then stellar.  Oh, comedy? I don't know. Oh, Cinderella, it's been done. Oh, hmmm, I don't do paranormal. (Some people think fairy godfathers make it a paranormal story. Sigh. Right now the paranormal trend lends itself to vampires, were-people, shape sifters and witches.  Eight years ago paranormal was angels.)  Does it matter what the story is, if the story is good?  Unfortunately, the cynic knows it does matter.  Marketing matters. Which means this story, like so many others may never see the light of day.   Have faith. Write it anyway.

May 5
	A good friend e-mailed me the 21 Rules for Writers. I am going to give you the top five rules- I think you can apply them to any part of your life. 1.  Have faith--not cynicism. 2.  Dare to dream. 3.  Take your mind off of publication (or the end goal...live in the moment.) 4.  Write (live) for joy. 5.  Get your reader to turn the page (or share the joy!). Have a great week, everyone.

May 4
	I look outside my window today and see that the mother goose is being followed about by two fuzzy babies.  They are so sweet swimming behind her and ducking underwater.  The leaves are popping out on all of the trees and the sun is warming the land.  Just need to keep the giant rabbit away from my flowers. Any suggestions?

May 3

I like to try new technical things. They say if you keep learning you never grow old. Anyway- yesterday I went to a video conference...while sitting in my office.  Have you ever done a video conference? I turned on my web cam, put on my microphone and head set and popped over to the video conferencing website.  Then poof the other members came up and I could see myself and them on a split screen. The meeting itself was interesting because when I was speaking I wanted to appear to be looking at the person I was speaking to, so I looked at the camera. Then I would look at the computer screen for reaction clues. It was better than a phone call because I could see who I was speaking too.  But still not perfect because I couldn't see their reaction clues while I was speaking. Anyway- one step into the future I guess.  It was cool and fun to do.

May 2

So, I am reading Tom Clancy. It is interesting. The story zips along with small sections of the stories of ten characters.  The plot is viewed through ten points of view. Some of the segments are the characters focusing on their weapons and the history thereof. Some are characters focusing on the computer technology. Some the characters tell the history of cars for goodness sakes. If we put our research so blatantly into a romance we would get called on it.  The rule of thumb has always been-just because you know that the first design of the toilet nearly killed the king and thus the second design won out-does not mean you mention it in your novel...unless you use it as a weapon. <G> Keep reading!

May 1

How odd, I got into my website this morning and yesterday's blog isn't there. Sometimes I wonder about the craziness of computer software. I know I blogged and you all read it because I got e-mail on it.  So, what happened? It will be one of those mysteries I may never solve. Hmmm, I'm sure I saved it before I published. Weird. Okay- May 1st. It's been a while since I asked...are you reading anything? With the lovely weather and new episodes of Ghost Hunters and American Idol, its hard to get back into reading books. I have a stack of good thrillers to read, but the lovely weather outside my window beckons.  I can solve this by taking my books outside to read! Have a great day. May this blog stick.

April 29

Kismet- that's the term for when things seem to fall into the right place at the right time. You really need kismet in a writing career. My latest run in with kismet was at the conference this weekend. I ran into my former editorial director. She has left the publisher to become and agent and I just happened to be looking for an agent.  The nice thing about this is that she knows my work. She likes my work. I like her and like working with her.  So, kismet.  It begins with my sending her work and seeing what she thinks. I respect her opinion and her work ethic.  I'm always hopeful.  This time I think I have a valid reason. I'll keep you posted.

April 28

Beppie's Story Yesterday my daughter noticed a beautiful mourning dove sitting on our deck railing.  She was fluffed up against the cold--(It's supposed to snow today)--and her breast feathers had a lovely pink hue.  She flew off when we let the dogs out, but later, she was back on the rail.  So we decided to name her Beppie. (I helped Debbie Macomber with her book signing this weekend and Beppie was the name of a lovely woman who came through the line.) Later that night, Beppie was joined by a second dove.  He was darker and less fluffy.  They were a beautiful pair, sitting side by side. Until this morning, when I got up and let the dogs out only to discover they found the place where the robins nested last year--( Sigh)--the top of the portico right under my patio door.  I pulled out a chair and took a look.  They had a nice set of twigs up there and a lovely blue string.  I hate to disappoint them and all their hard work, but we are painting the portico as soon as the weather allows. (We hope to have lasting warmth at least by June).  I can't allow a bird to nest there.  So I had to knock down their foundation and put up the pepper repellent again as I did to discourage the robins.  Hopefully Beppie will find a better place to lay her eggs.

April 27

I have been away to the Chicago-North Spring Fling conference. Now that I'm back I'm feeling a bit hung over-not in the terms of drinking-but in terms of being woozy from two days of great food, great learning opportunities, meeting old friends, making new friends every time I sat down and talking into the wee hours of the night... So many great speakers! So many books to buy, to read, to have autographed.  So many wonderful people to meet. I think the glow will stick with me for a while. Also there was a glorious jazz band at last night's gala and I'm still humming "When the Saints go marching in..." It doesn't get any better than that. For even more details and gossip go to www.nancyjparra.blogspot.com I blog there every Sunday as well.