AFDOC Week 5

AFDOC and I did not spend much time together this week. However, I did write quite a lot - short stories and editing for several contests, including a non-fiction piece on the WAVES during WWII. My mother was in the WAVES, and I've had a short piece on hold about the fabulous women that defend our country for some time now. I'm expanding it to enter a contest and hopefully pay homage to them. Finished a ms I'm reviewing for another hopeful writer, whose work looks promising, so it isn't that I wasn't busy, but..... You know the story. And in my defense, I had one at home with a GI bug and one with another problem that required a doctor's visit, and then there was homework to catch up on and the beginnings of her first book report, etc. etc. etc.

AFDOC and I have a date every morning next week and I hope to be back in the groove. Oh, did I tell you that I've started the underpinnings of another novel? Yes, I spent time on that as well. What could I do? My writing angel woke me up in the middle of every night last week with ideas popping. The characters were lined up and ready to introduce themselves and the opening chapter was champing at the bit to get typed onto the page, so I now have six pages of new story info {one I have notes on as far back as the 70s} and it's clambering to get inside my head and push AFDOC aside, so it's obvious I've got to get back on my regular writing schedule or I'll have multiple personality disorder in no time.

I subscribe to what John Irving said with one caveat - STAY ON TASK!

The way you define yourself as a writer is that you write every time you have a free minute. If you didn't behave that way you would never do anything. ~John Irving (1942 - )

Mahala

Novel Idea

A good friend of Lyrical Pens is Linda Busby-Parker, the noted author of Seven Laurels, an insightful novel about the human condition. Linda is also the owner and editor of Excalibur Press which is still actively selling Christmas is a Season! 2008, a testimony to the excellence of the personal essays and fictional stories contained in it. The deadline for submissions to Christmas is a Season! 2009 is upon us -August 1 -as mentioned by CJ a few posts ago. If the submissions are anything akin to the first ones, this will be another excellent book, so be sure and watch for it. I am the assistant editor for the book and anxious to get started reading the manuscripts we've been receiving. What a rewarding job. Last year's submissions were from across the country, and they were all so different from a child's story of seeking Santa Claus to a personal view of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

A supporter of new writers, Linda has a new addition on her blog called the novel gallery and will consider your submissions, including works in progress. This is an excellent opportunity for you to get your work out to the masses and get feedback on it. Check out her blog at www.lindabusbyparker@typepad.com.

Thanks to CJ for announcing my wins in the Alabama Conclave contest. I was really stoked! This was an important contest for me since both items I entered are chapters from my new book. My book is set in a small Southern town in the late 1950s when a lot of change is on the horizon from the post WWII environment in America to civil rights and the autonomy of women. And, of course, it is filled with plenty of humorous stories.

Are you old enough to remember those wonderful Burma Shave signs on little boards by the road or girdles? If not enjoy this anyway. Substitutes Are like a girdle They find some jobs
They just Can't hurdle.

Mahala