Emily's Secret

Emily’s Secret

Chapter One

        Had Emily Taylor known she was going to die that morning, perhaps she would have told her husband the news she had been too stunned to tell before then. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to tell Earl, it’s just that she could hardly believe it herself. She had decided to wait awhile and let it all sink in, the notion that a novel she had written was going to be published. The letter from the publisher was so unexpected it didn’t seem quite real. She sent the manuscript in on a lark, after all. 

If she had known she was going to die that morning it’s possible she would not have spent any time weeding the flower beds, but there she was: she loved gardening. It felt purposeful, pulling out weeds by the roots, checking under leaves for bugs, spying the latest garter snake on the perimeter of the lawn.

Writers Roundup

Some good stuff from across the digital spectrum this week:

Rob on Writing: Are You Still Tryign to Sell a Million E-Books?
Read what Rob Guthrie has to say about tenacity.
http://tinyurl.com/6m4ss6g


Writers Digest: 5 Story Mistakes Even Good Writers Make
Find out when to hold back and go for broke.
http://tinyurl.com/85nverz


WriteToDone: Patrick Ross talks about 4 Rewards from Creative Writing Immersion
See what Patrick shared about tapping into creativity.
http://tinyurl.com/7trywtl


CheryRiefWrites: How to Pitch Your Book
Linda Rohrbaugh covers the basics of the book pitch
http://goo.gl/6TOja

The Write (fill in the blank)

I have to admit I've been uneasy about blogging. Brave New Deadline is the progeny of a column I wrote while editor of a weekly in the B.C. Rockies, After Deadline. As I shift from daily journalism to writing novels and, with hope, luck, sweat, luck, good karma and luck, I have been focusing on creating a blog about writers, writing, publishing, the whole magilla.

So I thought I'd start with this: http://tinyurl.com/86jan6a.

Nine Writing Milestones: Let's see...

1. First completed piece: Done.

2. First readers: Done

3. First critique: Done

4. First publication online: Not so fast. I know I should be paying attention to this, but here I am, with my blog, putting this out into the ether. So I have some catching up to do.

5. First publication print: I've had plenty of things published in newspapers. I count this.

6. First payment: I earn my living writing and editing stories. Call it a back-door entry, but I'm counting this, too.

7. First book-length draft: Now I'm into what the writer is talking about. I've written three book-length drafts. Several times. Over and over. And it's a bitch. In a good way.

8. First completed book: Taking into account what the writers's definition is: Yes. Twice. And the one I'm working on now is the one closest to meeting my personal level of "it's ready to go."

9. First published book: The author promotes the notion that if one's manuscript is published in ebook form this satisfies Milestone No. 9. Perhaps. And perhaps I'm still a hidebound traditionalist that wants to go the author-editor-publisher route, get the contract, the advance, proof the galleys, see the book in print, and send that to my Mom, who won't care a fig if it's on the Internet. You know what I mean.

My own 'big step': I'm in my first writers group. I've never taken a creative writing class, never even sniffed an MFA. Journalism major, like I said. And I'm transitioning to what I hope is a writing career. So yep, I am in writer's group. And it was a great time. I look forward to the next one.

I'll be checking out other writing blogs and sharing what I like. I hope you do the same. Let me know. We're all in this together.

A timely reminder

A reminder of what finishing writing projects can lead to came in the form of an unexpected weekend house guest. I welcome his company, and with his arrival an evening of talk about projects, possibilities and ideas flowed at such a pace that I felt a need for pen and paper to jot everything down. And it's like that when you talk to a friend, who is a writer, about writing. This man is an inspiration to me because he did what I am not yet ready to do: chuck my daily bread for the tenuous but oh, so satisfying life of writing and publishing. As I draw nearer to completing two projects I can envision a change in my life where I will be able to fulfill this ambition. His timely visit reinforced that.