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.

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. :)

I've been baaaddd

Oh dear, a month has gone by with no posts! Shame on me.

I've been busy, still it's no excuse. I hope to hop on this weekend and make a posting about all the stuff I learned at my latest writer's group meeting. For instance, how my first chapter of my first book is completely wrong.

The good news is that I've found a reader - a REAL reader - who will be honest with me about my first book. I hope it's still worth working on. I've been begging for brutally honest feedback for several years now and have yet to receive any. This time though my reader is a fellow writer who is a hoot and a half, that I enjoy immensely.

Hopefully, I haven't lost my few followers!

Writing Excuses

Actually, this isn't my excuse for not writing more here, but rather a plug for a friend's podcast. It's all rather entertaining. He's self-published too, so I've been trying to take in as much information as I can.

I'm currently editing Jess' first book, while fending off Paul's constant demands for me to write about his wedding. I swear he's doing this just because I'm following after the SoulForce Equality Ride with more dedication than usual and he feels he's not get his fair share of attention as a result.

Anyway, back to the Writing Excuses information. You can find it at http://www.writingexcuses.com It's more than just a podcast, but I do love follow Howard. He's quit entertaining.

I haven't heard back from agent #2 and don't expect to any time soon. Instead I've decided to try a finding an editor. Once I get back from this tech conference, I'll be hitting up the local B&N for all those handy reference materials MaryJanice outlines in her book. And I'll be resubmitting to GlimmerTrain as well as looking for more competitions to try out.