It's fixin' to get busy all up in here.

First off, I need  to express my gratitude to a group of women I lovingly refer to as my "Crazy Ladies." These are a group of friends, family and acquaintances that took the time to read my entire book and comment...my "beta testers", as it were. I have to begin with Shanna Sloane who was the first person, outside of my husband to read my book. She's an avid reader, a fan of chick lit and I'm just happy I got to her before her second baby arrives and she has her hands full. I have plenty of thanks to go around to Julie, Ellen, Tina, Veronica, Melinda, Marsha, Robin, Mary, Patti, another Patti, Marcia, Belle, Amanda and MaryAnn. If I forgot to include your name, yank my chain because if I EVER get this puppy published your name will be in the acknowledgements. You can take that one to the bank. There are two other women I need to thank and they're not from around here. First is Lisa. I've mentioned her in a previous post and she read my book after I posted it on authonomy.com. She's from Ireland and has become my soul sister in this journey to become a published author. Secondly, I need to thank Abi. I haven't know Abi long. She's a friend of a friend but has quickly become a friend of mine. She's lives in the U.K. and has taken on the task of reading and editing my book along with trying to cure my of my severe case of "tense-itis." This is an affliction where I use past tense for the most part, but get lazy and slip into present tense on occasion. She has also sent me off to work on the first bit of my book. Abi seems to like my writing and sense of humor just fine, but says I need to strengthen the tension in the beginning (and quite possibly the middle and ending) but she's only returned the first 150 pages for revisions this point. This is where the learning comes in and the "fixin' to get busy" begins. Novice that I am, I thought that the story of a lonely young woman searching for answers about her parents' death, interwoven with stories of the relationships she forms might be enough. I now realize this tension thing is a weakness I need to work on and I'm excited by the prospect of learning. Abi says the book has sheds-load of potential. I don't have a clue what that means, but I'm taking it as a positive. This entire process is great fun for me. Even if it is a ton of work, it's the kind of work that leaves you feeling as though you've accomplished something. Many of you know that I majored in art in college. I think most creative types have had that moment of terror when they look at a blank canvas or a blank page and think "Now What?" Just putting a stroke or a word on that field of empty whiteness can make it so much less terrifying. I'm off to kick those pages butt.

Many of you know that I majored in art in college. I think most creative types have had that moment of terror when they look at a blank canvas or a blank page and think "Now What?" Just putting a stroke or a word on that field of empty whiteness can make it so much less terrifying.