Lots of Writing - Yahoo!

I'm going to ignore the fact that it has been two weeks since I last blogged and just get to writing!

Busy couple of weeks. Finished sprucing up 'Abby' and have it ready to send out. It is damn good and I only hope some editor agrees with me.

Moving 'Lita' along nicely. Poor Dave is having a time of it trying to crit it. He does alright with murder and mayhem, but let a woman have a baby and mention blood and he's queasy. We are so good for each other's writing. I'm getting a taste of realism and he's having to deal with feelings. I think it makes both of our stories better.

Some really good news. My friend Gloria sent a copy of my book 'After the War, Before the Peace' to her daughter in LA who is the hairdresser for a famous actor. I don't want to mention his name here, but he has a TV series on the air these days. Anyway, she gave him the book for his birthday when they quit filming last spring. Her daughter told her the other day, that the actor is reading my book now and doesn't want to discuss it until he finishes it. I am so jazzed. I try to keep it in perspective though by remembering what a published author who taught at our college once told me. A famous editor asked to read his book. The writer just knew it was his big break and told everyone. When he got the call to come get his feedback, the editor's wife answered the door. She gave the writer a sad smile and said, 'Oh, and we did so want to like it.'

Managed to get some crits done for all four writer's groups and even wrote a couple new short stories to submit. I do love the wonderful world of imagination.

I took my blind writer friend over to our local book store last week. She has a new book out and wanted to have a couple available for sale. She is amazing. I feel so bad for her bad luck in going blind. She is upset and angry about it and I can't say as I blame her. Her book is titled 'Vestal Vixen'. I'm only into it about 30 pages, but it is interesting. Not a page turner, but interesting.

Had our local writer's group meet on Saturday. They all felt my 'A Lucky Guy' was a powerful, timely story. But, the feedback was skimpy. One fellow didn't like my choppy sentences. I have mixed emotions about them, too, so will have to think about what he had to say. Then it was our gathering at Denny's. Lots of good talk! Oh, two of the folks who attended my Spring Frenzy workshops showed up at the meeting. And, they both joined the group. Already read a story by one of them and she's definitely going to be an asset to the group.

I finished my Howard Fast book 'The Confession of Joe Cullen'. I hated the premise of the story, but I loved the characters and the way Fast put the story together. We will be discussing him at our meeting on Mar. 8th and so far all I've heard is good things!

On a sad note, last week-end, I went over to Simi Valley to visit my friend Yvonne and to spend some time with her son Joe who is dying of cancer. Only 48 years old. Very sad. She cries a lot, but seems to be holding up. Now, that's three of my old friends that have lost children. Jesus, I don't think I could handle it if anything happened to Rob or Kim. I MUST go first.

Lita is calling, well it's actually Dan, so I must go jot down some lines for him. I will be back! Nite, nite