WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR CHARACTERS SPEAK TO YOU.

LISTEN!

With my historical romance novel, LADY MIRIELLE'S FLIGHT,complete and emailed to the agent who requested it, I thought I'd have some leisure time to "fool around" with short stories and contest entries, but my secondary characters in the story had something else in mind for me.

No matter how I try to keep them at bay, they infiltrate my thoughts, and my dreams, or should I call them nightmares? I find myself constantly creating mental images, scenarios and plot lines for sequels.

That is all well and good, but the problem is the research. When I finished Lady Mirielle's Flight,
I thought if  I ever wrote another historical piece I'd be hysterical.  Hysterical as in madness."Too much research!

 I am now an expert (almost) on the type of clothing, foods, horses, housing, money, mannerism etc. etc. of the Middle Ages. Want to know what kind of bread folks ate in the mid- 1500s?  Depends.
Were they the upper or lower class of society?  No choice was simple. Did they drink mead or malmsey? Did they ride horses or ponies?  Which kind? Bays or Northumberlands?  What kind of armor? Do you know the difference between a shield and a buckler? Getting the picture?

I've developed a new admiration for those authors who write in this venue.

Meanwhile, I'll continue to listen to my characters. One  of them might persuade me.

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS ARE PILING UP

When I first began writing, I dreamed about the days I'd be invited to writers' conferences and events.
Well, my dreams are coming true.

I've just been invited to speak at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.. Their creative writing club has asked me to do a program on writing and getting published. What an honor!

The topics I will try to cover are: How to keep your manuscript out of the reject pile.
                                                      Queries vs. "Pitches" to agents/the value of conferences.
                                                       How to enter writing contests...and win!
Also, the Lynchburg Parks & Recreation Dept. has asked me to do a seminar on writing novels, short short stories and memoirs.

Later this month, I will be a panelist (surely this must be a dream!) at the Rustburg Library's "Writers' Circle."  Format is interactive (Q & A) with opening remarks from panelists. Can't wait!

Happily, each event will allow me to sell my contemporary romance novel, Marcel's Gift, and my eBook, Hurry Up Charlie.

Dreams do come true.

BACK TO NORMAL--WHATEVER THAT IS.

I'm certainly happy to be back in front of my computer after months of hours spent in veterinary clinics for my late dachshund, Ebenezer, cardiology offices for my husband, in hospitals for my husband (a stent) and me ( two eye surgeries).  But, I'm not quite finished yet. Just had my pre-op consultation and tests done at UVA for the removal of a parathyroid gland (Oct. 25th). Yes, as the old saying goes, "When it rains, it pours."

In between all these disruptions, I had to finish a re-write on my novel, Lady Mirielle's Flight. that an agent was waiting to see.

Now, I truly hope things will return to normal.