There's a great reason why I haven't posted anything recently... I was working non-stop on my novel: Dreamer's Heir and finished it around 3 am three days ago!!!!! I am so excited! The whole story is sooo much better than what I had imagined when I first began this story well over five years ago. I had known that this would be the first book to start it all for me as a published writer. And until now I was frustrated with why I couldn't find a publisher for it a few years back and how I totally disliked it. I guess that should have been my sign that the book was not ready for publication--a writer should NEVER publish what they hate. Now I completely love it. My characters make me so excited. I just can't wait to get through one revision so I can have my test readers read it. (Mainly because while they read book 1 I will be using my time wisely and starting book 2).
So a little bit about what has been happening while I was writing....
Two weeks ago I had an amazing experience at church, actually two experiences, but on the same day.
ONE, I had a moment where I came to peace with all the stuff that has been happening with my wrist. (I am still not able to work.) But while I do not believe that God causes bad things (like this) to happen in my life, I do believe that he can use the bad to make good things happen. I had been struggling for many many years with trying to find time to write around work. So in my moment with God, I learned that he is using this situation to give me the gift of time to write. I never really understood until then just how precious the gift of time is. I have spent my whole life trying to do things and get somewhere that I totally forgot what it having time means. Where you can have a period of time to absolutely do anything with it that you want to do, that you have not been able to do. (Thus my excitement that I mentioned above. In a month's period of time I completely rewrote my book where 3/4 of the material is new and I've added nearly 300 pages in length.) This is such an amazing gift that I wish that everyone could enjoy!!!!
TWO, I had one of those amazing moments teaching my kindergartners in Sunday School. At the end of class I had one little boy who came up to me and told me, "Miss Leah, did you know that there are two Gods?" My first thought was how children often think that God and Jesus are two separate entities (not able to grasp the concept of the Trinity). So I smiled and asked him why he thought there were two Gods. He told me, "There's God and you." It was one of those "Ohhhh" moments for me. My reaction was explaining to him that I just work for God. He didn't quite get the concept of that until I explained to him that I teach him what God wants him to learn. When he finally understood what I told him he told me about how his dad beat his mom the other night. It broke my heart because there's not much that I can personally do. All I could do was pray with him and just show him love. And off he ran to join the rest of the class. It was not until after class when I told my director about how he said I was God that I finally learned what he had meant. My director took it from a different perspective. She did the whole "Ohhh" and then said that is the greatest compliment to receive from the children because it's vocalized proof that I have become Christ like to the children. It's not too often that I can even come close to admit that I am anything like Christ because I know my flaws and weaknesses. So for one more brief moment I got to learn that I am doing what I am meant to do, that I am accomplishing that, and I'm making the most with what I have been given.
So the Tuesday after that I had an appointment with a second doctor to get a second opinion on my wrist. It was interesting because my attending physician was at a complete loss as to what is wrong with my wrist. This second doctor took one look at my x-rays and saw that my bones are too far apart and is most likely causing my pain. That and even though my MRIs have been negative does not mean that there is not the possibility that there is a tear in my cartilage (since that is where my pain is coming from), it just means that at the time of the MRIs that any possible tear, the flap could have been down, not showing a thing. So for a total of about 5 weeks I'm supposed to keep my wrist secured in a brace/splint to try to lessen the gap between my bones. (As of right now at times my pain has greatly increased, but I have found my first painless times for the first time in a long time while I am in the brace.) The doctor's guess is that if the gap is taken away, my pain should go away. At my next appointment, if the gap is smaller the doctor sees that as a step in the right direction. It could mean more time in the brace or even the possibility of being put into a full arm cast. Now that idea is not what I'm looking for. Quite frankly, I hate casts on the arm. Showering is pretty horrible. So if I can avoid that, I'd much prefer it.
I've also joined with a dinner drama group. That's a riot already because so far I've been able to cause a lot of reactions from my acting; bringing men to tears and causing the greatest amounts of laughter. That last one is the most memorable to me because I've never thought of myself as a comedic actor. But with this role that I was given, the team start impersonating me in anticipation when I'm taking the stage for rehearsal. I'm beginning to see my gifts in a new light, as an actress. But what I find exciting is that there are new people who are now supporting me as a writer. I have a few test readers from this group. But also the husband/wife team who head up this troupe are anxious for me to start writing for the group. It's been a while since I've done script writing, but I'm kinda excited to get back into it. Mainly just to keep my writing skills flexible and adaptable for many areas. While novel writing is what I want to one day soon be my bread and butter maker, I don't want to limit myself just to that. My main reason being because I have a few book ideas that I would love to see on the silver screen. It would be great to be the writer for the screen adaptation. I can use the film to enhance the book(s) and bring out more of the story that just doesn't quite work for the pacing of the novel. So now is a good time to begin some strength training for script writing (start small and train myself up to the larger project).
I'm sure that I could go on with an update but that would be too long. And quite frankly I really should just start writing more frequently again to prevent these long posts. Sorry. :)
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Fortune Cookie
Okay, so I just had to come on and write after I had Chinese for lunch and read my fortune. I don't take much heed of fortunes, especially the mass produced ones for mass production. But they are entertaining. But this one was just so hilarious! This was the first time that I found one with a typo! So I'm re-writing it here and the typo is exactly as it reads.
You know what you what - get to work and make it materialize.
I do have to admit that I was surprised by the coincidence of that message being in my cookie, though. Seeing how for about a week and a half now, I have been working practically non-stop on my novel. I want to be published badly. And it's not so that I can go to book stores, find my book, and yell, "This is my book!" Although, now that I think about it..... Ha! Just kidding. I write for me. And the people who matter most to me already read what I write. It's just the thought of having my work in print that gives it a sense of finality. In college I would write and the finality was the grade. Since I don't get graded anymore... that leaves publication. Oh and the sense of accomplishment! Now I can't deny that I want that. There are certain people that I sometimes pretend that I am looking through their eyes and see that they wonder what it is that I do with myself. And there's no sense in denying the fact that even though my mother loves me, I'm certain that she thinks that I flounder too much in life. The funny thing is that I don't see myself as floundering. There is just so much to life and I want to absorb it all. Being off of work with my wrist has shown me that much about life. Sometimes I get too serious and focused that life passes by. So not having my nose to the grindstone has been such a blessing. But now I'm trailing off.
The other night my mother came to visit with me while I was writing. I took a little break and we talked about my writing. Not that I could tell her much about what I am working on. (It is amazing how this novel has evolved since I first wrote it many years ago. It keeps changing so much that I don't know what is going to happen until it comes on my screen.) And it was one of those rare tender moments between us. My writing has probably been one of the few things that my mother has ever truly supported me 100% ever since the time I first began writing. But that night, I felt her love and her hopes. It all came across to me that she sees that my writing is the part of me that I was destined to express and produce.
So while I am writing this I am taking a break from writing Chapter 21. Actually I stopped working on it a quarter after two this morning. Things were not feeling right at all. And that bothered me. In the scene that I had just wrote, my hero looked like a complete wimp. I kind of put him in an impossible situation (a new idea) and have been trying to make it work. It's playing with how a man responds when expectations of a personal nature are placed on him by a female relation. This is a difficult train of thought to produce in a book because my brain is so female. But I want him to be real. And I like the idea of this situation because it will come full circle for the climax of the book. But on the plus side, last night I thought of a better title for my novel. Since it's conception it's been called "Weaver's Apprentice". In the original form it sort of made since. I have long been dissatisfied with the title, because it no longer fit. And with the new revisions and addition, it most certainly did not fit. But "The Dreamer's Heir" fits so much better. And unfortunately any of my friends reading this and my manuscript, I know they have not yet come to the section of chapters where this will make sense. But I like the new title nonetheless.
As a final thought and side note, there have been two CDs that I have been helplessly addicted to while writing: Josh Groban (2001 self titled CD) and Celtic Woman (The New Journey, 2007). I have been listening to them non-stop and continued to be inspired by them! Josh Groban is the newest to my play list and I am in love with his voice. Now that is how a man should sound!!!!!!
You know what you what - get to work and make it materialize.
I do have to admit that I was surprised by the coincidence of that message being in my cookie, though. Seeing how for about a week and a half now, I have been working practically non-stop on my novel. I want to be published badly. And it's not so that I can go to book stores, find my book, and yell, "This is my book!" Although, now that I think about it..... Ha! Just kidding. I write for me. And the people who matter most to me already read what I write. It's just the thought of having my work in print that gives it a sense of finality. In college I would write and the finality was the grade. Since I don't get graded anymore... that leaves publication. Oh and the sense of accomplishment! Now I can't deny that I want that. There are certain people that I sometimes pretend that I am looking through their eyes and see that they wonder what it is that I do with myself. And there's no sense in denying the fact that even though my mother loves me, I'm certain that she thinks that I flounder too much in life. The funny thing is that I don't see myself as floundering. There is just so much to life and I want to absorb it all. Being off of work with my wrist has shown me that much about life. Sometimes I get too serious and focused that life passes by. So not having my nose to the grindstone has been such a blessing. But now I'm trailing off.
The other night my mother came to visit with me while I was writing. I took a little break and we talked about my writing. Not that I could tell her much about what I am working on. (It is amazing how this novel has evolved since I first wrote it many years ago. It keeps changing so much that I don't know what is going to happen until it comes on my screen.) And it was one of those rare tender moments between us. My writing has probably been one of the few things that my mother has ever truly supported me 100% ever since the time I first began writing. But that night, I felt her love and her hopes. It all came across to me that she sees that my writing is the part of me that I was destined to express and produce.
So while I am writing this I am taking a break from writing Chapter 21. Actually I stopped working on it a quarter after two this morning. Things were not feeling right at all. And that bothered me. In the scene that I had just wrote, my hero looked like a complete wimp. I kind of put him in an impossible situation (a new idea) and have been trying to make it work. It's playing with how a man responds when expectations of a personal nature are placed on him by a female relation. This is a difficult train of thought to produce in a book because my brain is so female. But I want him to be real. And I like the idea of this situation because it will come full circle for the climax of the book. But on the plus side, last night I thought of a better title for my novel. Since it's conception it's been called "Weaver's Apprentice". In the original form it sort of made since. I have long been dissatisfied with the title, because it no longer fit. And with the new revisions and addition, it most certainly did not fit. But "The Dreamer's Heir" fits so much better. And unfortunately any of my friends reading this and my manuscript, I know they have not yet come to the section of chapters where this will make sense. But I like the new title nonetheless.
As a final thought and side note, there have been two CDs that I have been helplessly addicted to while writing: Josh Groban (2001 self titled CD) and Celtic Woman (The New Journey, 2007). I have been listening to them non-stop and continued to be inspired by them! Josh Groban is the newest to my play list and I am in love with his voice. Now that is how a man should sound!!!!!!
Friday, January 2, 2009
Happy New Year!
Okay, so this is a bit late being posted. New Year's Eve I spent finishing up reading the Twilight Saga. I don't remember ever being so addicted to a series of books before! I read all four books in less than six days. And I wanted to read them all over from the beginning again. I never want to do that. Usually I have to wait a year or more before I even think about rereading a book, if I ever do. But there are so many other things that I need to do. This for one. But more importantly I need to get back to working on my own book. I'm about two thirds of the way through completing chapter eleven. And I'm feeling a three way pull in my "stuck" feeling. There are only a couple of scenes left in my memory from the previous revision (that got lost with my computer crash), but I need to find the right pacing to put them back into the story. And my problem right now is the pacing. The biggest help in this issue is the fact that the world of the gods fall in a completely different time span as the mortal world. So everything that had originally been slow (or other problems) can now be remedied. But I love the world of the gods so much that I want to spend more time with them than I am actually able to do. Anyway, the other stuck is that, I need to change the original story to fit with everything that is new. And that's the hardest part, even though it is the most necessary. The characters are different then who they were when I first created them. It's not so much as frustration that I feel as much as feeling my brain slow down, way down, as it processes everything. Sometimes it I am sitting in front of my computer and find myself wandering into some fictitious location just to pace and think. It's quite actually funny now that I think about it and am not living it. I create a place for my mind to think out the answers to a creative problem! Whose brain does that???? Leave it to me, I guess. :)So on New Years Eve my brother-in-law asked my sister and me what our resolutions are for this year. It turns out that none of us really believe in resolutions. For me, it's just too easy to say you resolute to do something, but a day, a week, or a month goes by and you forget or drop it. And yet it's funny, because last year I thought long and hard and did give myself a resolution. At the end of January last year, I decided to work on losing the weight that I've put on since High School. I know very ambitious. But I was a healthy weight. (Not that I've looked bad these last ten twelve years. Dang! Has it been that long?) And I must say that I really do love one of my best friends. Whenever we talk about weight, she's always told me that I don't show it. I have no doubt of her sincerity. Love ya! Anyway, I decided to do this for me. So at the beginning of 2008 I had weighed myself in at about 285 pounds--I know bad, very bad. But yesterday, I weighed myself for 2009 and I'm now down to 225. Last year I lost and kept off 60 lbs.!!!! That made me so happy. The best part about that is that I lost all that weight when I spent over half the year recovering from a surgery and still not able to do a lot of physical things. Usually the general trend, when this kind of lifestyle change happens in people, is that they gain a lot of weight. So I am very proud of myself.
This year... I want to keep working my weight down. I figure that I have a ball park of about another 50 lbs to lose to be back down to my high school weight. After last year, this is totally doable. Really, all I have to do is lose one pound a week this next year. Anyway, enough about that. There is one goal for this year that I am really working toward. I need this novel finished and out of my hands so I can move on to the next story. So the moment I am finished with this book, it will be sent off to find an agent. I have every confidence that this book can land a huge publishing house, which is what I want. So by the end of the year I will find an agent for this book. And it is my hope that also at the end of this year that I will be (or have already) signing a contract for its publication.
So here, I raise a toast to myself--to my health and the realization of a dream come true!
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