Monday, December 18, 2006

Sharon Poppen's Thoughts on Writing and Stuff

Yahoo!!!!! Heard from Avalon Books. They read the first three chapters of 'Abby' and they said that 'It appears to be a book that may be suited to our needs.' Yahoo, I made the second cut. I just know when they read the entire adventures of Abby and her companions, they'll love it. Hey, I can hope and think positive can't I! And I am! Wow, I'm so excited. Looks like it's going to be a good year. I have a short story coming out in Long Story Short in Feb. and now this! Went to the writer's meeting on Saturday. Small crowd. Lots of folks are gone for the holidays. Got some good reviews on the excerpt from 'Mama Played for the King' It turned into a good story despite my reluctance to work on a semi-autobiography. I still need to let Yvonne read it as it was based on her life story, but I've fictionalized it so much that I'm not sure she'd recognize it. Been so busy getting ready for Christmas that there is little time to write. Got friends staying overnight tomorrow, so again no writing is on the agenda. Then Thurs., it's back up to the Bay Area for Christmas. The days just fly by. I need to work on 'Abby' so I can get it sent off to Avalon within the next week. Avalon Books! Yes! By the way, did you know that it is very hard to type with your fingers crossed? Well it is, but it feels so good and it can't hurt. Avalon Books!

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Sharon Poppen's Thoughts on Writing and Stuff

I can't believe I've let so much time go by. Where do the days and hours go? Got my feed back on 'Hear About Phil?'. Needs work. Lots of work! :-) Also, got word from the agent that read three chapters of 'Abby'. Here are her comments, 'This is a nice story based on early American history. Unfortunately (you could see that coming), I found no outstanding element here to convince me that it would go in today's very negative market. Sorry to have to pass. Best of luck elsewhere.' Hummmmm, outstanding element and negative market. I understand about not hooking the agent with an 'outstanding element', but I'm not sure what 'negative market' means. Oh well, one man's gold is another man's ..... At least she read a couple of chapters. Had a great Lake Havasu City Writer's Group Christmas party last Friday. Lots of good food, fun presents and warm camaraderie. They are a great bunch of folks. Heard from Jack Simon. He's writing again. Hurray! He sent me a chapter to crit. I'm so flattered. Also, a local newsletter is going to print some of his short stories. They are lucky folks. He's a good writer. Met with Lois and JOan last Thursday night. Two more good writers. We visited and critiqued our short submissions for over 2 hours! Dear, dear friends and I'm blessed to share time with them. I need to start back with 'Hannah' and plan on doing that this afternoon. My editor has been tied up with family illness, but is back to work which means so do I! Nothing exciting about my writing these days and that's probably why I've been lax with my blog. I have been meeting with Dave. He's reading my 'Abby' and I'm reading his story of a turtle and a lizard making a trek across the desert. Our tastes are quite different, so I think we're exchanging good, honest critiques. I look forward to the meetings. Now, off to 'Hannah'. I shall return, soon.