Book Recommendation

For those of you looking for a new read, I suggest the following:  Good People, by Kelly Adamson.  This is the first novel released by this author, who happens to be from my home town.  The book was just released a few months ago.  (I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to read it before it made it to print. ;) )

Happy Reading!

Uh-oh...Disaster

Things are looking a bit grim for this chick.  For the past year, I’ve been under the impression that my power cord was shot.  Last night, 3 power cords and a trip to Radio Shack later, it’s looking like the problem is not the cord, but my computer itself.  Unfortunately, the infernal machine is holding about 2/3 of my book hostage because I, of course, failed to back any of my files up elsewhere.  (Which I honestly thought I had done.)  So now the frantic search for hidden files begins.  Between my editor and digging through my emails, I’ve managed to find several chapters.  I know (or at least hope) that worst case, I can have the hard drive recovered to get the rest, but I’m really REALLY hoping it won’t come to that.  Aside from being what I imagine to be a costly task, at that point I’ll have to face the need to buy a new computer—the thought of which makes my stomach queasier than that nachos and ice cream I gorged on for supper last night in an effort to drown my frustrations.

Lesson learned for this gal:  Back up your stinking files!  In more than one place.  

Weekend Wrap-Up

Now is the time when I should be bragging about how much I got done over the weekend.  Much to my own dismay because I didn't get ANYTHING written.  Not one.  Single.  Word.  <grumbles in discontent>  But, in an effort to look on the positive side, the weekend wasn't a total loss.  Here are a few non-writing related experiences and lessons I had the pleasure of bearing witness to over a mere two day stretch:

Valuable Experiences:
1)  I convinced a Chuy's employee to let me taze him.
2)  I tried a new type of cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory.
3)  I watched the police body slam the newest resident of the neighborhood after he drunkenly decided to stroll door to door introducing himself with a plate of chicken....at 12:30am.


Lessons Learned:
1)  The creamy jalapeno sauce at Chuy's contains a mysterious, highly addictive ingredient.  After careful analysis, my suspicions are that it is some variation of crack.
2)  The effects of a one million volt tazer are intensified if the victim is standing bare footed in wet grass.
3)  Endless hours of entertainment can be achieved if one acquires an $80 scooter held together by gray tape.

Now that I have gotten all of THAT out of my brain, I think I'm off to work on something a little more productive.  I feel a desperate need to reclaim those vital IQ points that I'm sure I misplaced in the past few days.

Status Update

I am happy to report that I seem to have found my mojo again.  (Like I'm really going to pass up the opportunity to use the word "mojo" in a sentence!)  I spent around 5 hours reviewing notes and writing yesterday and managed to get nearly an entire chapter done.  On top of that, I managed to finalize (I hope) my outline for the next chapter I'll be working on.  I've got bits and pieces of outlines and notes and segments written, so I'm working on trying to get them organized and pieced together, which is proving to be quite a challenge!  On the bright side, the more I put together, the further along I see that I really am with what remains.  Looks like a lot of writing connecting pieces more than anything, which is a nice discovery to make.  So, going to stay on the track I'm on for now and hope that soon I'll reach my chapter-per-week goal that I've set for myself.

Killer Nashville

Clearly, after looking at the picture above, one of two things has happened.  Either 1) I finally took out my frustrations on one of the bozos who cut me off on Hwy 280, or 2) I spent the past weekend at the Killer Nashville Conference.  Luckily for the bozos it was the latter.

My brain is so full of newly found information that I don't even know where to begin.  I got to attend several great mini-seminars led by some very knowledgeable panels of authors, agents, specialist and others deeply submersed and well experienced in all matters literary.  I enjoyed them all, but two really stood out to me in particular that I feel will be extremely beneficial to my continued journey to greatness (ha, ha) in the long run.  One focused on self promotion--basically "getting your name out there."  I'm very grateful to Nancy Naigle as well as the rest of the panel for sharing their experiences and giving me some really good insight on how to get started.

Another, which I fell I probably got the most out of in regards to improving my writing technique, focused on plot development and was led by Randy Rawls and yet another great panel of experts who have already traveled down this path. The short one hour session was packed with some of the specific information I was looking for.  I really feel like I'm going to be able to utilize everything they brought to the table.

Some other highlights of the event included activities and sessions with TBI Special Agents and Guest Speakers Donald Bain and Robert Dugoni.  (And one of the best local food finds I've ever stumbled across called the Mojo Grill.  I would seriously drive back to Nashville just to eat there.)

In summary, it was a GREAT experience and I can't wait to go back next year.  Can't wait to see where I am then.