The Journey

They say "success is a journey not a destination." I'm not great about the journey part. I like to measure my accomplishments by the big result. I have to practice daily to stay in the moment and find suceess in the small steps. Yesterday's journey on the road to publication blessed me twice.

I went to see my critique partner Marykate speak at Georgian Court University's Authors Day. While she was up there offering her knowledge and expertise on writing she mentioned me to the group! My breath caught in my throat and my eyes teared up. While she was there for herself she selflessly told them to be on the look out for my work. How blessed am I to be loved like that? Every challenging step of this journey to write books and get published has been worth it just so I could sit there and hear Marykate tell her audience she believes in my work. Oh yes, that was full blown success if you ask me and right in the middle of the journey to being a pubished author! That was my first little dance with grace for the day.

After Georgian Court I headed over to my daughter's elementary school to speak to her class about writing. Those kids are great fun. I love the opportunity to inspire children to write. But at the end one little boy raised his hand and said my daughter was lucky to have a mom as nice as me! What a touching thing to say. That young man inspired me! My second dance with grace for the day!

Yesterday was definitely successful and I'm still not published this morning, but that's okay. Right now I get it and when I don't I can remember those moments, take a deep breath, and plow forward.

What journey are you on? Share with us some of your successful steps.

Talk to you later...

Zombies

Zombies are the new rage. They're popping up in novels. One of my favorites is Patient Zero by Jonathon Maberry - an absolute must read! Movies are made about zombies, television shows, and even video games. What makes them so likable? I've heard they're the new bad guys ever since vampires became the hero.

I've been sucked in too! I walked around all morning wearing a sticky note on my shirt with the time 11:14 on it so I wouldn't forget. Forget what? To harvest the zombies!! That's right. My son needed my help. He's playing Zombie Farm on his ITouch and at exactly 11:14 two new zombies would be ready for harvesting and when he accumulates eight zombies he can invade. What he can invade I don't know, but that's not the point. I couldn't let my son down, right? How hard could it be to play a video game and I needed an excuse to walk away from manuscript for five minutes.

The pressure was on. I didn't know how to make the farmer dig the little boogers up! I pressed the screen a hundred times, but the zombies remained in the garden. I couldn't fail in my first video game attempt to win the invasion, could I? Thankfully, sheer stubbornness won out. I pressed every button on the screen, praying I didn't delete the game, and discovered the farmer needed a harvesting tool! Duh!!! I freed the zombies and in the nick of time. Phew!

And let me tell you what, those zombies are cute! (Sorry, Jonathon, these zombies wouldn't work in your novel!) The whole game is animated in bright colors and the zombies have adorable faces. I dug up a Garden Zombie with a gnomes hat on!! Way cool! And every zombie has a name: Ted, Bill, Tom, you get the idea.

It looks like I've gone full circle. I enjoy everything from science fiction - thriller novels to the adorable Zombie Farm. Are you catching the zombie fever? Share some of your favorite zombie experiences with us.

Talk to you later...

Writing Skills

There's been a lot of talk lately about the public school system in this country. I for one, am very interested in seeing the movie "Waiting for Superman." As usual, I have my opinion about public school, but I'd like to hear yours. So tell us what you think about tenure, incentive based raises and job security.


Let me touch briefly on children's writing skills. I'm not an expert in this area, but what I can see students today are struggling in this area. Why do you think that is? Is it because pen and paper are going by the way of the dinosaur? Personally, I love the yellow legal pad and a black pen. I've done some of my best creative work with those instruments.

I'd like to change the fact students lack strong writing skills. I've started speaking to elementary and middle school children about writing. I hope I've motivated at least one child. What other ideas could we implement to get kids cheering for writing?


What's your opinion? Let's talk...