Jan. 18, 2010

While I know many people think of this day as simply an extra day off, providing a long weekend, I always have a sense of the somber history of the day. When I was a little girl I recall the assassination and the call my mother got from a college friend telling her of Martin Luther King's death. I remember her sitting down and crying.

The sun is out here on LI and it's milder than it should be for January, but I'm enjoying the restive nature that allows me time to just sit and think (when, of course, I should be writing, cleaning, shopping, or doing laundry).

Contemplation, recognition of the world around me - especially right now when the tragedy in Haiti is still occupying center stage around the world. The opportunity for quiet time to just think and remember my place in the scheme of this world is very humbling. I had a couple of upsets during the holiday season that further reminded me I'm not all that and a bag of chips. So get over myself.

Thinking about the heroic character archtype. No hero is perfect. All heroes are flawed. They wouldn't be human if they were perfect. (Hey, even the Gods aren't perfect!) That MLK had his human frailties does not negate the contribution and the sacrifices he made for a greater good.

And I am saddened only that more people don't take the opportunity to remind themselves that there are bigger things out there in the world, more monumental events occuring, than just them and the incidents in their own lives.

Always remember and please never forget - it's not always about "me".

A hard lesson to be learning and for most of us, we need a remedial course!

Today is the day I always try to remind myself to be a better person, a stronger person, and a less selfish person. Sadly, I need the reminding.

January 1, 2010

It's here. The new year, the new decade. And I'm very excited about this year. Last year (and the year before) I had taken on way too many non-writing responsibilities for RWA chapters. This year they have all concluded and I am FREE FREE FREE to write.

I ended 2009 on a high note, however, despite the setbacks, frustration, procrastination, anxiety and myriad responsibilities that kept me from my writing. My Mother's challenge to me - her insistence that what she wanted for Christmas was a completed novel - caused me no end of angst from the minute she made the request (in October) until December 1. I tried 2 different novels (one based on her suggestion that I write "what I know" and write a romance set in an enterainment law firm, but toiling away all week in same made that a far less appealing concept.) I couldn't come up with anything that tempted me or inspired me and dropped that idea. I had a 2nd idea and wrote about 50 pages of it (based on a NYC, gossip type plot). But nope, didn't grab me. Then on December 1 I decided I had to write what I really was enthused about. I returned to an older idea - an urban fantasy with lots of adventure and humor - that I'd originally entitled Dead Man Talking. I wrote 1 first scene, and then a later scene that subsequently won third place in an RWA contest. But never went further. But I've thought about it in the 2 years since I started and that was the novel I decided, ultimately, to write.

Between 12/2 and 12/24 I wrote 200 pages, and added them to the other 20 pages already written. I gave Mother 1/2 of the newly titled BLACK MAGIC WOMAN on Christmas Eve. And them from 12/26 - 12/30 (that's right, FOUR FREAKING DAYS) I wrote another 128 pages. The total page count: 348. Total word count: 75,000.

She got the second half last evening.

My first, first draft, done, completed, finished. There's a lot of editing to be done, certainly, but I've already begun the editing process. And have spotted some great ways to add to what I already think is a great, fun, rollicking novel. Lots to do on it, but this milestone is HUGE.

And it means I can check off at least one of my 2009 goals: Finish a book. And it means I can start 2010 with a sense of accomplishment and success that will fuel me as I move forward in a new decade.

Color me totally psyched!