Is it The Scot or Procrastination?

I haven't yet finished the re-write of the first chapter of Jess' first book, due in large part to my obsession over finding additional attachments for my vintage sewing machines.  Which, in turn, causes me to stop and drool over newly available vintage machines.

I'd like to blame it on my latest character Stewart (aka "The Scot).  He's as obsessed with vintage machines, perhaps because that's his cover, and he's been chiming in my ear for the past few days about a real steal on an old Singer.  It's one that was made in the Kilbowie, Scotland plant and he's really getting insistent that I need one of the Kilbowie made machines.  I have "enough" machines made out of Singer's New Jersey plant apparently and now need ones from Scotland.  He is helping me decide if it's worth restoring my latest find, this poor machine has water damage to the case which may be fixable, but it's missing parts too and may or may not work at the end of the day.

Jess needs attention too and is starting to stomp around and complain a bit about some of the changes I'm thinking of making.  Namely that the F-bomb isn't getting dropped in the first sentence of the book.  It was suggested that I not start out with that as the reader doesn't care about her at the start of the book, it may be more viable further in.  She does have quiet the colorful vocabulary though.  I'm hoping to calm her down a bit later today as I happen to have the day off and was planning on reserving time for writing.

Writing Excercises Provide New Inspiration

At my last writer's group, we walked through a writing exercise that proved extremely helpful.  I learned so much in such a short amount of time.  It was great!  And my smaller group liked what I had so far.  I think The Scot is going to be fun to write.

Through the exercise I learned his name, what his wife looked like, his job, his traits, his Achilles heel, and worked out the start of his story.  It was amazing!

And now were' just a few short weeks from our local writer's conference.  I'm totally geeked.  And NaNoWriMo is right around the corner!  So much to do, so little time.  Can I win Lotto please?

I've been baaaadddd....

I haven't blogged here in way too long. That's because I've been busy with my 2 other blogs (which I will eventually link here - but later). One's my techie blog, that acts as my purse for all my tech notes that I need for my day job. The other one is my new blog for my new etsy site, and which holds the clue as to why I've been bad here.

To be fair, I did get a huge chunk written on Collie's first book (25,000+ words - she was very chatty), I got editing done on Jess' first book, rewrote the synopsis for A Reluctant Psychic, and added some to Merie's story, so I've been busy.

Also, I have a new obsession which has resulted in a new character popping up, and a possible new series, revolving around an older, talented, gentleman who restores vintage sewing machines. He's in the back of my head telling me "Oh, lookie there, what a nice little machine that could be with just a bit of TLC and elbow grease". Great. Thanks. Just what I need, another vintage sewing machine. Aren't 6 enough? My Kenmore doesn't count yet, it's still in it's teen years.

Here's what I know about "The Scot". He's from the UK, I'm thinking Scotland, but I'm not sure as his accent isn't hugely thick. He's a widow, and I keep picturing him in the NorthEast, but I also see him in the UK, so he may be hopping back and forth. His wife got him into saving old machines, and he continues it as a labor of love for his late wife. She's a cute little thing, about 5'1', masses of red curls, with a touch of grey, fiesty, with a perpetual twinkle in deep blue eyes. He's about 5'10" now, a bit shorter due to age, salt and pepper wavy hair, with dark eyes, and BIG hands from years of mechanical work. Always with a twinkle in his eye and a quick smile, I'm not sure of his name yet either. He makes me smile like Merie makes me smile. He was a whisper in the back of my head when I got this little beauty home and out of it's trapped location inside a bent wood case with a bent lock.

The Scot popped in full force when I decided on a name for this old, neglected beauty that was my grandmother's and is now mine. I've named her Black Betty, and have dubbed her restoration project "The Black Betty Project" at which he let out a musical belly laugh. He's really quite charming.

So please forgive my lapses in posting here, I promise to try to get better at it. I have so much to do, machines to restore, pages to write, an agent to find, and a short story to get ePublished. Oh, and I've learned how to can, make jam and pickles, and next weekend I'm learning how to make and can salsa. It's a very good thing I'm a Gemini...otherwise I'd be a bit freaked out about all the people in my head. :)