Greetings Ladies!

I’m back! (Does anyone else think of Jack Nicholson in The Shining when you hear those two words? I must be sick. Ha-ha, no comments from the peanut gallery, ya hear?)

I’ve been burning that crazy candle at both ends (again) this time I’m trying to learn a new software technology where I can record audio programs on my computer and convert them to MP3 files and offer them as downloads on my new web site that will launch in January.

Oh! That reminds me. Ladies, if you are not already signed up to receive my FREE e-zine, please visit my web site soon and sign-up, okay? The format of the e-zine is going to change and we will be sending out an announcement in a couple weeks. I sure hope to have all of you gals on the list…okay? Go here to sign up: www.godallowsuturns.com –End of Commercial Announcement.-

Okay…back to the Forum…

Dotsie, I’m sending you books for your church library. And thanks for the kind words about looking forward to my second novel. It’s written in a different POV, I’ll be anxious to hear what you think.

Nancy…the theatre was in Santa Ana and it was called THE WAY OFF BROADWAY PLAYHOUSE owned by Tony Reverditto. It is no longer in that location. Did you know of it? I also went to school at Cypress College in the Theatre Arts Department – a great program!

As for the ideas for my first novel, it was first conceived as a screenplay (read my forum posting #98464 dated 11/7 @ 3:12 PM) but many of the story ideas came from my life. Having had weight loss surgery I thought it would be a kick to write about a character that had the same surgery but lived a totally different life from mine. I also gave her a profession I once had, so I had a lot of material from which to draw upon. I did develop a chapter by chapter outline before I sat down to write the book. I also had an idea how I wanted it to end…but how I got to that eventual point was always a work-in-progress every day I wrote.

I work a lot on the computer, but I also take legal pads with me wherever I go, so I often have handwritten notes and dialogue that I then type into the manuscript.

Nancy, as a new empty nester you now have the time to CARPE DIEM! Seize the moment! Go for the dream! I am so serious about this. As someone who has survived abuse you have been given not only a second chance at life (literally) but you have a unique viewpoint that only you have and it is in life experience that we learn and grow and become equipped to see things from a different perspective.

Ladies, when it comes to writing we are NEVER too old, or too uneducated, or too ignorant, or too ANYTHING! Pick up a pencil and write! Where there is a will there is a way. It might be an old saying but it’s no less true today than it was a ga-zillion years ago.

To Chatty Lady in Nevada….ha-ha-ha…this cracks me up! The Martha Stewart of the writing world. I love it. Hope I have a better CPA than she had, eh?

Dotsie asked about my writing schedule. Sigh. It’s crazy. But for the past two months I have been undergoing a kind of “housekeeping of the heart” with respect to looking at my priorities and re-evaluating the projects on my plate for 2007 and beyond. I write every day. I’m not always working on a manuscript, but I’m always writing something.

I work best with deadlines…self imposed or editor/publisher imposed. I write a book review column for a national magazine and it’s due on 12/1…so I’m working on that right now. My next book is due on May 1, 2007 and I’m working on the research and development aspect of that book right now. I will sit down and type the rough first draft in January when I take a writing sabbatical for the entire month. Then, I begin rewrites and edits and more rewrites. I’m also launching a new web site and e-zine in January, so I am writing content for that and working on the scripts for audio CD projects and teleseminars I will be having.

It’s a never ending series of juggling rewrites, proposals, manuscripts, emails and on and on. The key...truly...the main thing I have learned…is to know your passion with respect to your overall message and target market. I have fine tuned this over the years and this has enabled me to be a better time manager and to prioritize my projects. My target market is baby boomer women, so I’m in the right place here!

Jane talked about “striking while the iron is hot,” YOU ARE SO RIGHT ON SISTER! When we get that opportunity to be published…when all the hard work begins to pay off...that means we have to work harder...not sit back an relax. Sorry, gals, that’s how it is. Perhaps a day does come when book sales sky rocket and you can sit back and take it easy…but until that time comes it’s a never ending cycle of proposing a new project, writing, editing, delivering and starting the entire cycle all over again.

It’s not drudgery when you love what you do….but it is hard work. And I continue to thank God each and every day that I wake up and each and every night that I go to sleep, that I get to do what I am doing. I am blessed and I take the gifts God has given to me very seriously. I know we are all on different playing fields where spirituality is concerned, and that's okay...but it’s my faith that gets me through each and every day of this crazy life I have as an author and speaker.

And I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Have a blessed evening, ladies. Post more questions! NOTHING IS TABBOO.