Author: addiejking

Perspectives on Trunking My Writing

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A few years ago, I went to a writer’s conference, and a friend of mine pitched a book that I’d thought he had a great background to write. He pitched the book in person to the agent, and the agent had told him specifically that he couldn’t sell the book in the form it was in; he would be able to sell it if the author rewrote the book from a different perspective. My friend was upset by this; it wasn’t the book he’d written, it wasn’t what he was trying to say with his book, and he said that he wasn’t interested. He was polite; he was professional; there wasn’t anything in his manner that anyone took offense to.

 This rocked the conference like wildfire. There were a lot of hopeful writers there who were saying they’d write their books from any angle the agent wanted if that meant they could get their foot in the door.

 I’m ashamed to say that I was one of them. And it’s an understandable position. Aspiring writers toil away, sometimes for years. It’s a long, slow journey that’s successful for some, and not for others, and generally talent doesn’t have a huge part of that. The successful writer may not be as talented as the writer who can’t seem to make a sale. Sometimes it really is the lightning bolt of luck; sometimes it’s the right book for the right market at the right time. There is really no way to gauge that except to keep writing. Is it any wonder that all the writers at the conference were shocked and dismayed by someone saying that they might make a sale if one of their own made specific changes, and the writer refusing to do so?

 Well, even if the changes were made as requested, there’s no guarantee here that the book would actually sell. There’s no guarantee that the agent would have signed that writer; it was merely a suggestion based on the way that agent perceived the market at the time. It wasn’t necessarily a bad suggestion. I did think my friend had the background to write that book. He had no interest in doing so.

 I now completely understand his point of view.

 SHADES OF GRAY was the first novel I ever wrote. I’ve slaved over it, rewriting and editing and work shopping and critiquing until I’m sick of it. I’ve done several drafts, each one better than the last, and I learned something from the entire process. I’m a better writer for having gone through all of that. My first drafts are cleaner. I’m making fewer grammar and syntax mistakes. My analogies work better and my metaphors are clearer. In short, I wouldn’t trade the whole process for anything.

I made the difficult decision to trunk the novel; to file it away in a desk drawer (or a flash drive, whichever the case may be) for now. I’m no longer submitting it at the moment. This was a difficult decision, but my mind is made up, and at this point, I am concentrating on other projects.

Why did the memory of my friend and his refusal to rewrite resurface now? Well, that’s a bit of a long story. Let me see if I can summarize.

SHADES OF GRAY is a werewolf story, about a rookie cop learning that police work just isn’t what she sees on television. It’s a story about love, crime, redemption, secrets, reality, humor, and relationships. It is not a horror story. It is not a murder mystery, although it does have elements of crime solving in it. I was inspired to write the book because of all of the shiny new rookies on the police department that hit the streets with a gung ho go-get-‘em attitude, and have to learn about real life police work. Those new recruits either burn out very quickly, become very jaded, or turn into some of the best officers on the streets. It’s fascinating to watch the transformation. I also wanted to show an angle to crime writing that one doesn’t see often…the reaction of a victim to a violent crime.

Along the way, I’ve had several agents tell me to ratchet up the sex in the book. I’ve had agents tell me that they want to see more violence in the beginning. I’ve made some changes to the beginning of the book, starting it off with a faster scene, tightening up some wordy passages to jump a reader faster into the story. After I did that, I started getting more requests from query letters to send the full manuscripts, or to send a partial manuscript, than I had gotten before.

Most of the rejections I’ve gotten from the fulls or the partials have not had specific concrete criticisms. Some had criticisms that I disagreed with, for one reason or another. One or two had legitimate beefs that I took into consideration. I kept hearing a request to kill someone early, or to turn it into a murder mystery. When I announced my decision to trunk the book to my critique group, they protested immediately and then all decided that the book needed more blood and violence, that I should rewrite it that way.

Could I write that book? Sure. I’ve got a degree in criminal justice. I’ve got a law degree. I’ve worked as an investigator on murder cases; I’m an assistant prosecuting attorney now, with eight years experience. I have the ability and the background; the platform, if you will, to write that book. Why don’t I want to write that book?

I don’t want to write that book because that’s not why I sat down to write the book in the first place. I’m afraid that I would lose the point I was trying to make with the book; that police work isn’t glamorous, that victims of crime have very real struggles, and the rookie dynamic I was so infatuated with. I’m very much afraid that writing the book in the manner that has been suggested only adds to the glamour and mystique that I was trying to get behind in my book. And doing so loses the focus on victimization that was so important to me.

I feel for my friend from a couple of years ago, and I now agree with his stand. You have to write the book of your heart. If your heart’s not in it, it may sell, but it’s hard to make a career out of writing things your heart isn’t in. And if it sells, the industry may well want more of the same. And if your heart’s not in it, you won’t enjoy it. And then why do it?

I write humor. I write fantasy. There’s generally some element of mystery to my work, or crime elements, because that’s what I do for a living, that’s what I spend my day surrounded by and that’s what I feel compelled to write. I may someday write a murder mystery, or a story with horror elements. It’s not this book.

 SHADES OF GRAY will be put in a drawer for now. It may resurface at some point. It may be that I decide, a year from now, two years from now, a decade from now, that it’s time to revisit and maybe breathe new life into it. I may decide to rewrite it at that point into something like others have suggested, but for right now, this is the right decision.

 If you’ve read any part of this novel for me, I appreciate your help and your suggestions, but I am not going to change my mind right now. Your help and your suggestions have strengthened my writing skill; it is not effort wasted.

Truly Mooooo-ving

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RECOMMENDATION ALERT: I have received no compensation of any kind for this recommendation. I bought the book with my own funds, and personally made donations as listed below.

 Patrick Rothfuss is one of my favorite authors.

 Pat’s book, THE NAME OF THE WIND, took my breath away when it was first published.

 I generally have a hard time with epic fantasy, because too often the writer gets carried away with the cool world they created and forget that they’re supposed to be telling me a story. I love a good fantastical story. I hate reading about the cool weird bush that the characters just happen to ride past on their way to slay demons and dragons and evil wizards. The bush has nothing to do with the story. I don’t want to read about it ad nauseum for ten pages. It makes me give up on slogging through it.

 This book did NOT do that. It was amazing. I’ve recommended it all over the place. I’ve pushed it on friends who read fantasy, friends looking for gift recommendations for fantasy fans, for wives to buy their husbands, for husbands to buy their wives, for mothers to buy their teenagers, and on and on and on. Words actually fail me when I start trying to explain the awesomeness of this book. It’s just that cool.

 So when I got the chance to meet Pat in person last year (2008) at GenCon in Indianapolis, I was surprised that I was actually able to be cool and normal and not the gushing fan goo-girl I was afraid I’d be. Pat’s a hyper guy…but really nice and really enthusiastic about writing and fantasy in general. I actually sent him an email last year as he was getting his first book off the ground, telling him that his was the first in a long time that I’d been able to read without getting out the red pen (since I’d been editing my own work so much). He was gracious enough to personally reply. Cool guy.

 Completely unrelated to all of this, Pat last year launched a matching campaign for Heifer International.

 Heifer holds a special place in my heart. My siblings and I presented my parents with donations made in memory of both of my grandfathers to Heifer as part of their Christmas presents last year. Both grandfathers spent their entire lives in agriculture, and in working with family farmers. My maternal grandfather was an auctioneer; my paternal grandfather founded the family business, a feed mill and farm supply company that my father runs today. It meant a lot to me that we gave back, in their names, to a charity that would have fit their legacy.

 Don’t tell my parents. I’d like to surprise them. I’m planning to do it again this year.

 Check out Pat’s fundraiser. He’s got some cool prizes up that you might win. And you’re helping out a worthwhile cause at the same time. And there’s absolutely nothing cooler than that.

Writing Update

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A lot of people have asked me lately where I’m at with my writing. Since I posted a couple of days ago that I was not going to make the NaNo deadline, it’s a fair question to ask.

Here’s a quick snapshot.

NOVELS

1) I’ve made the decision, and it’s final, to trunk SHADES OF GRAY for the moment. I’ve gotten some really nice personalized rejections. I’ve gotten really close with this one. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s just not going to happen on that book. I hope to someday come back to it. That also means that the work I’ve done on the outline and first third of RING OF FIRE is also on hold. I only wrote the first 100 pages and an outline, hoping I’d be able to do more later. That’s looking more and more like one of the best ideas I’ve had; RING OF FIRE is a great story, but it’s definitely a sequel to SHADES OF GRAY.

2) FULL CIRCLE is still hanging out there. The first draft is pretty much done, but it’s going to need a metric ton of historical research and editing before anyone’s going to be allowed to look at it. I’ve started on it, but there’s a long road to hoe there.

3) I’m still working on the first draft of THE GRIMM LEGACY. It’s slow going, but it is moving forward. For those I’ve vented to, I’ve gotten past the scene that was bugging me. It fell together pretty easily once I finally forced myself to fight through it.

SHORT STORIES

1) POLTERGEIST ON AISLE FOURTEEN is out on submission.

2) DEMON BUSTERS, INC. did take Honorable Mention in the third quarter of this year’s Writers of the Future contest. I did some editing, and it’s back out on submission.

3) I’m in the middle of another first draft of a short story, this one involving a space shuttle covered in advertising, much like a NASCAR race.

BLOG ENTRIES

1) I submitted a guest blog to Lee Lofland’s The Graveyard Shift earlier this year on My Life as a Prosecutor. Lee’s been kind enough to invite me to write more entries, and I’m currently working on another one. I’ll post when it’s done and being posted, with links.

2) I am hoping to update this blog more often than I’ve been doing lately. There just hasn’t been a lot to post, or rather, not a lot that should be posted. There are some details about my job, about my family, or about my personal life that won’t be posted. I’m hoping to formulate a more workable writing schedule soon, and post it, as well as getting some details together about what conferences I’ll be attending next year. More to come soon!

NaNoWriMo Update

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I’m not going to make the 50K by November 30.

There’s lots of reasons. It boils down to this…

1) I’m not under a contract by which I get money to finish my novel on time. I am, however, on payroll for my day job. I have three briefs to write. That comes first. The novel will just have to wait until I get there. We’ve been shorthanded, I’ve been in court a lot, and they’re not done yet. They come first. If I was under a paying contract for my novel, you can bet your sweet patootie that I’d be burning the midnight oil to get it done. It’s not. For reasons you’ll see, I’m trying not to wear myself completely out.

2) I’m just coming out the other side of a horrendous bout of bronchitis. I had it a couple of months ago, and I don’t think I ever really kicked it. I actually lost my voice at one point last week, which means I can’t work. Not many lawyers can get stuff done if they can’t go to court, can’t interview witnesses and can’t talk on the phone. It’s also hard to talk to the staff and the co-workers, advise law enforcement, and otherwise function. I also kept getting really dizzy. Which means, I am still behind on my day to day work stuff.

3) Add those two factors together with the fact that I’ve got more on my plate than I have had during the past three Novembers with the new house, the lack of a roommate with which to beg, borrow, and barter household tasks with, family obligations, and other craziness, and my life has gone boom.

I’m still writing. I refuse to stress myself out with everything else going on. My hope is still to have most of the first draft of GRIMM written by February. I’m hoping that I’ll be somewhere near 30K by the end of November. For me, with how this month has unfolded, that’s about as good as it’s going to get.

On the other hand, if someone miraculously popped up with a publishing contract to pay me to write to thing RIGHTNOW, I’d stay up late and drink lots of caffeine to get there. Right now, however, I’m thinking that it would be a better idea to go to bed early, drink lots of water, and stress less going into the holidays.

Hope everyone else out there is having a much better NaNo. Have a great Thanksgiving!

On an unrelated note…still having an itchy cat problem. Anyone got ideas for an overgrooming kitty?

Why I Will Never Get an iPhone as Long as They’re With AT&T

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Seven years ago, there was a dispute over my AT&T residential telephone bill. It’s my understanding that this occurred as I was moving from one apartment to another.

 It was paid in full approximately seven years ago.

 AT&T continued to send the account to collections repeatedly, including the same collection agency over and over again, over the years. Every time they did so, I would call the collection agency, inform them that the bill had been paid, and offer to fax or mail the documentation. At one point, I called AT&T itself, spoke to several different employees, and faxed the information for their files.

 AT&T continued to send the bill to collections agencies, including the same agency, over and over.

 I’ve amassed a nice little pile of paperwork, documenting all of this.

 I finally sent a certified letter to the collection agency a couple of years ago, documenting all of the conversations I’ve had, all the documentation I’ve sent, copying all of it for them. I still have the signature card from the certified letter.

 When I applied for a mortgage earlier this year, I pulled all of my credit reports, and found references to a collection for this account. That ticked me off, but I dutifully wrote and disputed the account with each one of the three reporting agencies, and it was removed. My mortgage then went through without a problem.

 The statute of limitations for collecting old debt is seven years.

 My mother got a phone call this morning from the same collection agency I’d sent the certified letter to, telling her to have me call them immediately. She called me at work in a little bit of a panic, and I called. As I suspected, AT&T had turned the account over to collections again.

 I told the woman on the phone that they were not to contact me any longer, that it had been paid seven years ago, and that further attempts to collect on this debt would result in legal action. I informed her that I had successfully disputed the account on my credit reports. Her response? It was about to be reported on my credit reports.

 I admit I lost my temper a bit. I do feel a bit bad for that; I know the woman’s just doing a job, and that she doesn’t have any control over that. I try to remember this when I’m talking with customer service operators in general. They’re generally stuck with what their companies tell them to do. I could not help it.

 This, to me, looks like an attempt to revive a debt that would expire shortly on the seven year statute of limitations. It’s an attempt to collect a fee.

 I’m putting together the formal certified letters to the collection agency and to AT&T again. I’ll be pulling my credit reports before I apply for any major loans, which I don’t expect to do right away (since I’ve bought my house just this year, and my car is still fairly new). One more contact from any collection agency about this PAID bill will have me calling the family civil attorney (I’ve not done civil work since law school) to initiate legal action.

 As long as AT&T is the only provider that carries the iPhone, I will not have one. I refuse to do business with AT&T. I will continue to tell others about the lousy experience I have had with the company.

 Meanwhile, Verizon’s got better service where I live, and I do really like my BlackBerry. I’m okay with not having an iPhone. But they have permanently lost any business that I might have brought them.

The Best Laid Plans…

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And it’s definitely a NaNo month…and that means that procrastination is rife in the air.

I fully meant to come home tonight and do some yardwork, throw in some laundry, and then sit down to get another couple thousand words written.

Of course, very little of that actually happened.

I thought I’d actually leave “on time”. “On time” would be the time the courthouse closes as opposed to the time I normally leave, which is something like an hour or two after that. Of course, that didn’t happen, since I needed to talk to a co-worker who was hung up in court. And still ended up with a work related phone call a moment or two after getting home. This isn’t unusual; I was just hoping I’d avoid it tonight.

I got in the car and got a phone call from Mom, who invited me out to dinner. My first thoughts were “well, there goes the yard work,” (which wasn’t a depressed thought at all…I hate mowing the yard) and “I need to eat, and that way I get to spend some time with Mom and Grandma. Yay for me!”

Dinner was good, and I enjoyed spending time with them, as usual. They helped me out a bit by pointing out things in the yard that I need to get done (because I really really do have a black thumb, and I don’t have a CLUE what to do with flowers and stuff. That’s the part of homeownership that I’m really clueless about.) And it was good. Dinner took longer than expected, but I’m really glad I went.

I finished putting away the Halloween decorations, and hung the wreaths that Mom gave me on the front doors. I fed the cat, loaded the dishwasher, and unloaded some stuff from the car from the kick-off party last night. (I was so tired when I pulled in last night that I grabbed all things that needed to come in the house and crashed, figuring I’d unload it later. The Urbana to Dayton haul is going to get old quick.)

My brother called on his drive home from work and wanted to talk. Hard to tell him no, since I haven’t talked to him much lately.

I changed my clothes and started a load of laundry. At this point, I figured that I might actually finish laundry before it was time to start it all over again.

And then I finally booted up the computer. And I’m here instead of writing. Thank goodness I’m ahead on word count.

It’s definitely November again, and now I REALLY have to go write. Hope all of you are getting better word count than I am.

And We’re Off!

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I’m at a write-in at the moment, and have gotten 3400+ words towards my goal, putting me over 10K for the first draft of THE GRIMM LEGACY. The Kick Off event for the Dayton Area NaNoWriMo group is off to a strong start….several people out there are hitting it hard, typing like fiends, eating a lot of junk food (and normal food…we did try to make sure that everyone would have something somewhat nutritious to get us through the day), and giving away lots of door prizes and raffle prizes. We’ve made T-shirts for our own local group and taking donations from our participants to help with the costs of running the local events. Any and all profits above our costs will be donated to the official organization on behalf of the Dayton group! Woohoo! Words and raising money for a noble organization WAHOO!!

Anywho, life’s ramping up in a hurry around here. As usual, November means that the normal life crazy becomes life insanity. I’ve been stockpiling take out coupons, because I think we’re going to need them down the road. Everyone out there noveling remember this…a load of laundry will buzz about every 45 min to an hour…that’s prime writing time with a built in break! And clean socks to get you through the month!

And good thing to get us off and rolling in a hurry…I’ve got lots of cases going to trial this month in juvenile court, grand jury coming, and the holidays looming, as well as flowerbeds needing some work before winter, some winterizing being done to the house that needs done, and some other things on my plate as well.I’ve got a guest blog I’m still writing (will post where to find it when it’s ready) and working on both my NaNo project and a short story.

If you’re writing NaNo….keep your Butt In Chair, Hands On Keyboard. If you’re not writing NaNo…say a prayer, light a candle and wish us luck. We may need it!

Oh Noes, it’s NaNo!

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Well, yet another NaNoWriMo is threatening to shut down the family and home lives of many this year!

This will be my fourth year of participating. It will be on my fourth novel. Technically it’s not a true NaNo book, since I’ve already written into the fourth chapter, but I’ll be trying to get 50K new words written on it before December starts. That’s right…my already written and revised stuff will not count toward my word count for NaNo purposes.

Last year I was a Municipal Liasion, and would have done so again this year if life hadn’t reached up and grabbed me by the ankle. Between the move, the new job, the house, the sick cat, and actually starting to have a social life outside of gaming, writing, or the internet (yes, that means I am dating someone), there’s just no way that I can pull off as much as I have in the past. It’s still going to be a challenge. Why is that?

November is a month for take out. It’s a month for cramming as many dishes into the dishwasher, and for the speed-mowing that is “good-enough”. I try to have my Christmas cards written out before November even starts so that I don’t have to hurry before Christmas when the brain is whimpering from the decorating, the shopping, the social events, and recovering from NaNo. It’s also a good time-killer and distractor when you’re itching to get cracking on your NaNo novel, and you can’t get word count toward your goal because November hasn’t started yet.

I recommend to all first time NaNo participants out there the following:

1) Stock up on junk food and caffeine. Chocolate really can help you through the writer’s block. And it generally takes little to no cooking time.

2) Have a community you can commiserate with. Whether it’s your local NaNo group, your own writer’s community, the NaNo forums, or your understanding and about-to-be-put-upon family. You’ll need it.

3) Warn your friends, family and co-workers that you are about to lose your mind for about 30 days. It will come back.

If you are in charge of food prep for your family, put someone else in charge or start freezing some casseroles ahead of time. Putting the pizza delivery place on speed dial and teaching your kids/spouse/roommate/significant other/cat or dog/gremlin to pick up after themselves for thirty days will also help. Promising them thanks in the acknowledgements page if you ever get the thing published is not enough, but it is a good start. Reminding them that they will have your attention all through Christmas, and undistracted by rampant plot genies may motivate them. If nothing else, make Halloween very cool for them, and promise a pretty awesome Christmas (This does NOT mean spend a lot of money, by the way).

Last year, I did a lot of muttering about having a Ding Dong problem. (Yes, I do mean those Hostess cakes. If you thought I meant something else, you have a sick and dirty mind.) It was a plot problem in a story. Warning people ahead of time that random mutterings may be due to your writing may fend off any attempts to place you in a rubber room. So in that sense, it is self-defense.

4) I did say warn your co-workers. I meant it. That also means, no writing during work hours, unless on your break or at lunch unless your boss has told you that it’s okay. That’s pretty rare. It also goes without saying not to print off your novel at work unless you get approval. Please do not risk your employment in an economy like this. It’s too hard to get a new job, and especially will be harder as the holidays descend.

5) Chris Baty and the guys and gals at the Office of Letters and Light will tell you that it is possible to write a novel in 30 days without having any idea about plot before you start. I can’t do that. If you’re like me, start gathering up your planning materials and be organized for the first day’s rush. Your organization will crumble before it’s all over, but at least start out knowing where all your outlines and ideas are headed. And where they’re filed.

6) Get ahead in word count early and often if possible. To stay on track to finish, you must write 1667 words per day to finish on time. Every day you don’t write puts you 1667 words behind. For me, if the story’s really cooking, I can get over 1000 words in an hour. That means 2-3 hours per day to get ahead and stay ahead. I take longer amounts of time on weekends, so that I can take days off during the week and stay sane. If I average 12,500 words per week, I can still make it. I’ve had the 10K word Saturday. My brain is mush when this happens, and it doesn’t always happen, so I can’t count on it.

This year the first day is on a Sunday, which means that most people will not be working. Take advantage of it and get a couple days ahead. That doesn’t mean that you get to slack off on Monday. Save up that surplus for the day that your dog needs an emergency run to the vet or you end up with a kid with H1N1 at home, or you have to spend time cooking Thanksgiving dinner when you didn’t expect to. I guess what I’m saying is…have a pad of word count in case of emergency. That way you can’t fall too far behind unless something absolutely catastrophic happens.

7) Remember that the world will not end if you do not get to 50K. I’ve had a year that I didn’t get there. Between getting sick, falling down Mom and Dad’s stairs at Thanksgiving and hurting my back, and a plot that was just not cooperating, I wasn’t able to pull it off, but I was behind when these things happened. I had to suck it up and realize that the inability to sit at the computer for more than a few minutes at a time meant that I just couldn’t do it. I got over 30K. For me, that year, that was still an accomplishment. And I came back stronger than ever with another novel hitting 50K with time to spare the next year.

8.) Understand that the holiday weight gain begins early for you, with all the caffeine and junk you will end up ingesting to stay sane. Get ahead on word count, and go work out. Write for an hour and then go for a walk. Be sure to exercise more muscles than just your brain, or you will no longer fit in your favorite reindeer sweatervest for the holidays.

9) Really really clean and get all household chores done early. That way you can let it go a bit during the month of November. It’s okay not to vacuum every day. It’s okay if the kids eat McDonalds. It’s okay if you don’t dust every week. It’s just for November. Be prepared to catch up at the beginnining of December for the holidays, but don’t obsess about it in November unless you are hosting Thanksgiving. And if you are, you are crazy on a level that I can’t match. Time to go negotiate the hosting of Christmas instead, if you can.

10) Enjoy. This is writing at its most pure, its most fun, and its most addictive level possible. Everything is shiny and new. It’s easy to believe that you are writing a masterpiece. Believe it. Live it. Give that internal editor a swift kick in the pants and tell them that they are banished until December.

Understand that when NaNo is over and your novel is written, it is not completed. You will have many many hours of editing, critiquing, workshopping, shaping, chopping, deleting and angsting yet to come. You WILL NOT be sending it out in December; you won’t have time with the catching up on family stuff, housecleaning, reminding loved ones that they are loved and the holidays. You will likely not be sending it out in January. That will be when you can edit. And that will take longer than you think. That is when you’ll realize that November’s gold really isn’t. But enough about that. I’ll post about that later.

For now…enjoy the anticipation. And Dayton NaNoers…I’m with you. Let’s drive up that word count!

Wowza

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I feel like I haven’t blogged much lately, or written much, or slept much.

Which makes me feel like a slacker, even though I know I’m really not one.

It’s fall, and the weather’s kinda rainy and yucky, and I know that I’m having a hard time getting motivated to get much done. It’s pretty sad when your reaction to “it’s raining” is “Good, now I have an excuse not to mow the lawn.” Even sadder when you have a yard as small as mine. (I can have the whole thing done in 30-40 minutes with a push mower. Yeah, it’s not like it’s some Herculean task that takes hours and involves much physical exertion. If you guessed that it’s almost completely flat, with no trees, and I have a self-propelled mower, I really look like a wimp, don’t I?)

Anywho…the local writing and critiqueing group is meeting Saturday morning and I still have no idea what I’ll take them to look at, or if I can make it. I’ve been rather de-motivated lately, what with work explosions, work travel, and the family obligations. Somehow I thought I’d have more time to myself if I moved closer, because I wouldn’t be in the car so much, but it has devolved into getting called more. Having any kind of social life puts a crimp on things as well.

But NaNoWriMo is fast approaching, and that means time to clear everything else off the decks so I can start getting some real butt in chair time. It’s about re-connecting with the need to set aside that time for myself as a writer, as opposed to feeling guilty about not getting it done.

Good luck to all NaNoers out there.

Meanwhile, I’ve got friends coming up tonight to stay for the weekend, a couple of briefs due, and nephew’s birthday party to finish planning for.

Have a great weekend!

Hello world!

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I’ve been running a blog on myspace lately for writing and other fun happy stuff (www.myspace.com/addiejking).

I’m not going to re-create or cross post, so what I’m going to do is continue my blogging, starting today, with this account. If you wish to see previous posts, please click on the link above, and you’ll be able to read about my adventures in homebuying, switching jobs, moving, friendships, cat allergies, and writing. Any new posts will be posted here only.