Fish or cut bait

PHOTO: Just messing with ya. There's not two of me, the world couldn't handle it...

THE LULU CHRONICLES

As many of you know I’m a writer. With two published books under my belt, you’d think it would be easier to get the third one published, right? Not so much. Now, if I were a Grisham, a Lucado or Kingsbury publishers would be lining up for that next book. Alas, I’m not. I’m just me and the truth of the matter is that I haven’t written that ‘breakout’ book yet.

It’s tough being a ‘newbie’ at age 60, but that’s really what I am, at least in the world of publishing. But I heard something today from author Brennan Burchard that has struck a cord with me, and has put me on notice. He says that he’s never met a New York Times Best seller author who just dabbled in their writing; Who just wrote a couple of hours here, and an hour the next week and so on. Nope, the writers he knows, and he knows several NYT Best Seller authors and is one himself, make a commitment to their writing. They do this by “disappearing off the planet” for a while and immersing themselves in their work. They block off huge chunks of time to write to allow the creative flow to happen. Without a true, gritty commitment to what you want in the writing world, you won’t get it.

That’s probably true in any other world a well. If you want to be the best teacher you can be, you have to work at it. If you want to be the best mom, you have to commit to it. If you want to be an individual who when they leave this world want to be known as kind, compassionate and giving, you have to commit to living that kind of life. Just dabbling in what you want, will not make it so.

That goes for commitment to better health and riding a pink bike as well. I’ve got to decide if I’m satisfied to just continue to dabble in my writing, play around with my health, and just ride LuLu when the spirit moves me. All of the above would be okay, if that is what I truly want… to dabble… to play around… to get as much fun out of LuLu sitting in the garage as I do pedaling down the road on her. I’m 60-years-old. It’s time I make up my mind about these things and others.

How about you? Anything you need to fish or cut bait on? As my granny, Ginny Mae, used to say, Pee or get off the pot!

Have a thoughtful weekend, friends,

deb

LET'S MAKE A DEAL

PHOTO CAPTION: October 2010- The hubs, me and our twin granddaughters, Isamae & Kasia.

December 3, 2010

Okay, so I just may be the worst blogger ever to take up space on the invisible internet airwaves, which I completely don’t understand how they work, by the way. I’m still trying to figure out the radio and TV, and yes, I couldn’t record a show off of TV if you paid me. Let’s see, I haven’t blogged since April. Yep, I’m the worst.

However, just because I haven’t blogged in a coon’s age doesn’t mean I haven’t been writing. I have and not particular on a subject I ever saw me blogging about—cancer. Melanoma to be exact. Well, actually atypical cellular blue nevus that had metastasized into a rare form of melanoma. Never heard of it? Me either. But now I’m an expert.

For those of you who did not keep up with the Clevelands on Caringbridge.org, let me quickly review. In March, my husband, Gary, had his yearly physical. Once again he asked the doc to take a look at the knot that had risen on his ankle. He’d had this knot for about seven years, but the last two years, it had started to grow into a small planet. To make a long story short, after three months of biopsies, etc., we were finally sent to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN to have them try and figure out what was going on. Turns out it was Stage three melanoma. And, the cancer had spread to his lymph nodes in his groin. I’m going to skip a whole lot, the bottom line is that Gary just finished his last radiation treatment a couple of weeks ago and all appears to be well. We’ll go back to Mayo in January for another PET scan just to check up on things. We’ll probably be making this trip to Mayo every three months for a while.

I had been working on my third book when all of this started. But, as soon as we began what Gary called his “medical mystery tour”, all writing on the book stopped. I couldn’t get my brain to work in that direction, so I became the family chronicler of the tour. We received lovely, touching messages from friends and family all over the country—even some from out of the country. I can’t tell you how those thoughts and prayers from others sustained us during those first awful months. Plus, we have an awesome family of God’s people that we worship with every week, who took care of us in all the important ways. I’ve truly been made aware of how holy a ‘ministry of presence’ can be.

Going through something like this has taught us many lessons and revealed more to us about our faithful God and ourselves than anything else could. I’ll be blogging about some of those enlightenments as I go along. I’ll try my best to blog a little more regularly, if you promise to stop by and visit a little more regularly. Deal?

I’ll go for now, but not before I tell you where I am right now—one of my favorite places in the world. Door County. Sister Bay to be precise. Gary and I have been here all week to celebrate the end of radiation and the beginning of what comes next for us. And…I’ve finished writing my third book while here. More about that later as well.

Thanks for stopping by. I’ll keep in touch…. I promise.

deb

Putting The Book To Bed

Last week I had a little ceremony to participate in. It was a quiet ceremony attended by only me.
I finished writing, MAN FROM MACEDONIA, MY LIFE OF SERVICE, STRUGGLE, FAITH & HOPE at the end of the summer. The book is at the printers and hopefully by the end of the month, I will be holding the finished product in my hand, yet in my office, I still had my files out and my ‘storyboard’ up on the wall.

With all the editing that had to be done from manuscript to galley, I kept the storyboard up and my files at the ready—just in case. And I’m glad I did, because during the editing process, I needed to go back several times and check a fact or two. When you write a book that spans several decades, let me tell, you have lots of notes and files and photos and interviews and timelines and… the list goes on. And, when your story intertwines with historical events that are very well documented, you need to have your resources on hand, at all times.

But, that’s all done now. So, the very last act for me, as the writer of this project was to pack it all away. It was the putting the horse out to pasture, or the putting the baby to bed ceremony. With the packing and labeling of storage boxes and the taking down of my Post-it Note storyboard, this project came to an official end.

Tears flowed a bit as I looked over my wall. The section headings, once only vague ideas that, three-years ago, were only written in my head, are now forever recorded on the pages of the book. File folders with marker scratchings all over them and stuffed with news clippings, photos, and timelines are now bedded down in two storage boxes taped shut.

My wall is once again empty and needs a fresh coat of paint, by the way. But my file drawer is not. Already about, five or six folders are laying on the bottom, as research has begun on the new book., a novel this time. In fact, eight chapters are already written. I even woke in the middle of the night last night trying to figure out a plot twist. And so it begins.

MAN should be out and available by the end of February. I hope you buy a copy and enjoy meeting a remarkable man. I certainly enjoyed introducing him to you. But now, I have a mystery to solve and a new character to flesh out. And, I’m sure it won’t be long before my wall will be covered in Post its once again. How else will I figure out how a police dog ends up in a graveyard by himself one spooky night? Gotta go, I’ve a new package of bright blue sticky notes to crack open.

Almost Done!

I got home from my North Carolina editing trip last Wednesday. There simply are not words to describe all that went on. What a wonderful feeling listening to Aaron Johnson read from the manuscript! And then visiting Willard, NC where Aaron grew up was a 'charmed' experience. Thanks, Aaron and Mattie for your graciousness and hospitality.

Well, one more week of polishing and the manuscript, MAN FROM MACEDONIA, will be ready for review by the publisher that has requested it. I brought home a couple of hours of video of Aaron, Willard, and other stuff as well, which we are working into a promotional book trailer. That's going to be way cool!

As this book winds down, my fingers are itching to get started on my next project-- a novel that's been stewing around in my head for a year or more. While working on MAN has been a labor of love, I am looking forward to working on fiction now. It feels so freeing to be able to make it all up and not adhere to all those pesky facts. I'm gonna make up people, locations and events. If I want it cold and rainy one day and sunny the next in my novel, then so be it. Don't have to check with the Almanac to see what the weather was doing back on a certain day in 1960. If I want my character to have a car accident that breaks his left arm and as he rides in an ambulance where he suddenly gets beamed up by aliens for a joy ride in their starcraft, then there it is. No checking if it's true. It's true if I say it's true. Can't wait.

I won't be able to start the new book until sometime late September. First, I've got to get caught up in my real life. I've got kitchen cabinets to finish painting, flower beds to prepare for winter and...well the list goes on. But until then, I get my edits done. I kiss this baby good-bye, and leave it the editors and marketing committee to do their thing. Wish me luck!

blessings...