A new adventure

Our friend Anne is soon off on a new adventure and we gathered to wish her well on this new chapter in her life.

The awesome lady in the white shirt, in the middle of my family, is off to the other side of the country soon. She’ll be living where she’s always dreamed to live. She’ll be doing the work she loves the most. She’ll be getting paid more than she ever has.

To take this adventure she had to be willing to take the risk. She’d created a pretty awesome life. A home, a family of pets, and a great collection of friends and activities. There was truly nothing lacking from the life she created. Her six-year-old granddaughter visited weekly. Her daughter considers Anne – a best friend. Her son truly adores – his mom. And her son-in-law, well, he’s an awesome character! Who adores his mother-in-law!

Earlier this month, her daughter threw a surprise birthday party for Anne. We learned that night it was her first, ever. Not even her mother had celebrated Anne’s birthday, not once.

When we moved to Oregon in ’97, my intent was to give my daughters more family-and people -to enrich their lives. Anne was there from the beginning of our new adventure. I could not envision then the brilliant example of courage and resilience that she has become for my family.

When the potentials of Anne’s new adventure appeared it was a tough choice. Happiness was present and assured. But. The dream. Oh, the dream.

Though 54 years old, Anne took the advice she would give her children. Reach for the prize.  And she is. The future is always waiting to be written. Anne’s will be stellar!

buzzwords

To attend an intimate writer conference as Mercury stationed and turned direct meant there were hourly AHA! moments and tons of – Oh, I hadn’t thought of that.  One thing that stood out as an important AHA! this past weekend is that industry buzzwords mean different things from the point-of-view of an editor, agent, author, or new writer.

Let’s skip, for now, the variety of marketing misinformation buzzed. Instead I was reminded about word choice. I love the word, sassy. I think it is fun and for me represents quirky conversations, with bosom-buddy girlfriends, often including wine. One agent stated the word sassy instantly triggers the taste of bile in her mouth. Maybe she had too much wine?

Industry buzzwords can mean something significant but are often undefined and what they meant last year is not the same as how they are used today. The example this past weekend was what it means to work with an agent. In my POV, the author-agent partnership is for the “talent” to have a career “advocate.” One works at producing the art, the other works at understanding the business, both benefit and readers win.

With the rise of electronic and self-publishing as a legitimate option for authors, there’s been a lot of buzz about the changing role of agents. Some agents are evolving their business in new directions that to me sound like a conflict of interest. This weekend there was talk about “the agent of record for a book.” There was encouragement that an author grow their own career and the agent partnership could be nothing more than a single sale. A revolving door relationship?

Writing and publishing already has some risky quirks built into the business model. Being considered a disposable one-book-wonder from the start of a relationship is not a warm and fuzzy feeling. And there’s the potential of using a sassy word and triggering the wrong reflex.

But the most important point I viewed this past weekend was when the buzz was about a great story. That one thing united everyone because we are all readers and we buzz with delight over a story we loved.

on again wedding

Relief! The new venue is closer, easier, and even more awesome. Bride and Groom are thrilled and full of new plans. We wandered and cured developing ulcers in one hour.

Then, I did not see a boulder in my path and performed a nice face plant in the gravel. Skinned nose in three places that we can see, fat lips, bruised and skinned shin and wrist. Nothing broken, only dented.

First my fender, now my face. Bride stated, “Mom, they come in threes.”

wedding plan change

I’m still trying to process everything that happened this past weekend!

The date Friday was 4/22/2011 so that’s a lot of fours and dual digits. I’ve posted about 4 energy in dates before and it was Good Friday which has always been a significant day for personal reasons that would be too long to list here. The Sonata punch may have happened at 1:44 since I was in the parking lot at the hotel and called the insurance agent at 2:08. The room I was assigned for the weekend was #144.

My marketing partner and I finished some final details regarding our workshop for Saturday and went to dinner. While waiting for our food my cell phone rang and I could tell my bride-to-be daughter was upset but didn’t want to tell me why since I was busy. I got her to tell me…

Their wedding will be on 6/21, a Tuesday. The Bride & Groom wanted their wedding and the anniversary of their marriage to be on the summer solstice with the ceremony deep in the woods and the reception to have the flavor of a summer festival. For those of you who know Tolkien, the example is Bilbo Baggins 111st party.  The groom and groomsmen are wearing kilts.

We had heard there was a winter road/bridge mudslide/washout on Lolo Pass road but only got the news on Friday that no, the road will not be cleared in time for access to the chosen location. So a year’s worth of plans and arrangements must change and the bride was understandably upset but also relieved the invitations were not yet mailed.

I assured the bride this was a salvageable situation and I would give it my attention (I’m her wedding coordinator) on Monday and we’d have it solved and redo her handmade invitations before the end of the week.

She appreciated my assurances and sympathy so we ended the call before my lobster ravioli arrived. However, the point of this post is that her call to me on Friday was at 4:44.

I only noticed that today when I checked my cell phone log. !

sonata punch

I stopped at a store for some supplies and snacks on my way to the writers conference. As I pulled into the parking space I had the awareness that the car next to me could have pulled out and hit me. The lady in the car rolled down her window and stated she saw me turn in behind her then couldn’t see where I went. So we exchanged a few words about what could have happened but didn’t. Then I wished her an awesome weekend and we went on about our lives.

As I drove up I-205 I noticed a blue car just like mine on the left, then a mile later, a white Tiburon on the right. I seldom see cars like mine so two was cool. My mind was playing the memory game of listing events from my past that have contributed the goal of the moment. It’s a great plotting exercise and a way to understand the nuance and layers of story.

The novel I’m rewriting is the one drafted that year I was on the road with Ed after his car accident.  The last job I worked in marketing included weekly website updates and is now called blogging. It amused me to sift through the events during the years that have sort of brought me full circle where I’m doing both again.

Then I realized I made a wrong turn and pulled into a parking lot to turn around. That’s when a nice older man put his Sonata in reverse and didn’t see me. His fender punched the rear panel of my shark. It didn’t even jar me, other than the panic of seeing it happen. It’s also the first time I’ve ever had to exchange insurance information with anyone.

Since there was only an hour between the first event and the second it’s weird enough to make a good story. But the spooky part is the car Ed was driving when the course of our lives took a drastic change was a Sonata.

Writers love stories like this.

the plan

Tonight I met with my marketing partner, Morgan. This is the 3rd time we’ve sat at my table for hours refining the slides, notes, and handouts for a workshop we’ll be presenting this weekend. As marketing professionals, we can see the benefit of a book for authors as they wend their way through the chatter of social media. We expect that will be our next step. We love authors so the work was fun.

Last night we created the graphic representation of the process that could become our logo. I stared at this graphic and knew it represented a plan and process for any small business. With a bolt of insight I knew it was the 3rd part of my personal business plan, sketched out years ago and unearthed recently as I settled into my new home office.

It was in 2005 when I actually put my intent out to the universe for a three tiered career devoted to books and storytelling. The 1st being a novelist. I interviewed many published friends about their daily activities then I wondered if it was enough. I love to multitask and am horribly efficient. Would a lifestyle of writing then promoting a book a year be enough for me? I’m a people person and that cabin in the woods thing is not for me.

Since then I’ve researched being an agent or reviewer. (Nope!) I’ve done visualization exercises about how my life will look. One showed me on a stage so I signed up for speech classes. I’ve also gotten advice from friends, family, astrologers, and a palmist.

Advice included writing for TV (snappy dialogue!) so I took two quarters on screenwriting. Another suggestion was writing self-help articles but I would have to be an expert on something specific and build a platform when I’d rather write stories. I resigned myself to getting words on the page until published.

But last year I attended a marketing workshop where two new authors disclaimed any marketing knowledge but presented what they were learning about how to utilize social media. I was not impressed and Morgan and I made that first connection of, “this is so wrong, we should get together and do something.”

We began meeting monthly to discuss how to bring what we knew of corporate marketing plans into a process for authors with only a few books on the shelf. We did a short workshop and were asked, “Why isn’t this information out there? Why haven’t I heard any of this before?”

The answer is, because this is so basic it’s overlooked. There is so much attention on tracking sales there’s no information on how to make a sale.

This past month Morgan and I have really tapped our passion to develop this process and it’s exciting. I can see this as the 3rd part of that business plan sketched out six years ago.

Six years is a good time frame for a response from the universe to a desire so undefined as “what do I want to do with the rest of my life” type question. I’ve enjoyed finding my way to this answer and all I’ve learned is now part of the new plan. The cabin in the woods has been left behind for an awesome office.

Writing for publication is a business and anyone who thinks being an author is a dream needs to wake up. Publication is all about connecting with readers and I’m blessed to have made the connection with Morgan.

sunny skies

It was a bright and beautiful day in Oregon but colder than it looked. No gardening today but the yard clean up is already done and I was able to admire all the buds ready to pop forth into full bloom.

I reviewed the marketing workshop my friend and I are presenting on Saturday and it’s good. We’ll finalize the slides, notes, then we’ll practice and get the handouts together.

Since I was energized with sun, I also did some light reading and realized I have a lot of rewrites to do on Chaps 10-12. These chapters are almost a mini story of their own since they need to raise the stakes and precede the Major Setback, Dark Moment and Climax. It’s my job to complicate their lives and I intend to. 

I also watched a cheesy “date movie” and read some relationship advice columns for research. It’s a tough job but my latest fortune cookie message was, “You could prosper in the field of entertainment.” So I will align with the wisdom of Panda Express to entertain.

Two pieces of news today, my niece is going to her second round of X-factor auditions in Seattle and one of my friends signed with her agent.

I also got together with a friend and chatted in her backyard. After dinner we went to the frozen yogurt & fruit bar. The full moon is now shining in my window. A satisfying day.

reflection

**disclaimer: astrology references commence **

There’s usually an event that stands out in our memories as when the course of our life shifts. There are the chosen ones like weddings, births, graduations, moves, and more. Then there are the events that are a surprise.

Surprise events with a dramatic impact are the inciting incidents in a story and the hero begins a journey that transforms them.  There’s a lot of denial, wishing for what was, and no clue what is yet to come…

One of these life shifting events for me was a phone call on Mother’s Day in 2002. The news was, Mom had been accepted for Hospice House.

There were a bunch of things in my life at that time like unemployment, financial challenges, and living in an animal-infested-hovel in the wilds of Oregon. Where it rains, a lot. The truth is, there were two dogs, a horse, a cat, a bunny and the hovel was a bit old and tawdry but rock solid with decent landscaping and energy efficient appliances. However, I loved working downtown and wearing skirts and nice shoes while chatting with influential people around the globe. And for a few years in my life I was almost doing that.

Mother’s Day has always been an emotional roller coaster day. I’m a mother of four amazing women yet I never intended to take the mommy-track-career. I’m a daughter of a polio quadriplegic which means my mothering skills are more analytical than nurturing. I learned to tie my shoes by direction, not by example. And if I needed a hug it required some maneuvering around the wheelchair.

A lot of tricks and clues are popping up during this current Mercury retrograde. I blame Ed for all of them. He’s the father of those amazing women and he was born under a Mercury retrograde. That means that for a few weeks, a few times a year, he’s in his zone and may actually compute what his wife has to say. The rest of the time he’s flying mach two with his hair on fire.

So I checked the ephemeris and yes, on May 16th, in 2002, Mercury stationed and turned retrograde. That was in Gemini air energy and today in 2011 the Mercury-retrograde-trickster is in Aries fire energy.  Which means this Taurus Earth mother, with a watery moon in Scorpio, is on a new path with no clue where she’s going. But I did officially announce to my daughters last month that I’ve retired from motherhood.

We’ll see what the next nine years will present.

The mommy-track career was not my intention decades ago. I must have known on some level it was the toughest career because it requires being the advocate for dreams. It’s really awesome to see dreams manifest and know you were part of their foundation.

I like to reflect on what I’ve done so far on my life journey and how it is integrated into who I am today.

The moon is full and sunshine is forecast for tomorrow.

a touch of Sun and Mercury

The sun in Aries is initiating energy (spring!) and lots of my friends and family have new ventures planned! New jobs, new homes, new life plans, and a plethora of weddings and babies. This gives me a nice distraction from news of disasters, deaths, financial and government crisis, and holes in airplanes. My intent is to spend as much time where the sun shines. Or as today, outside in the sun between bouts of hail.

Now to the Mercury aspects – it is retrograde and the flavor until the 23rd is revision and regroup. I’d like to add a the word “respect” to the trickster energy of Mercury this month.

Today I began rewrites of Chapter Nine. It’s an important chapter with a dramatic water rescue and shows the depth of the heroes issues. I began the rewrite to remove a 4th POV character from the novel. While it was fun writing from her perspective it really diluted dramatic impact. The main action was related in retrospect instead of on the page in present time.

Instead I researched the type of boat involved, including engine size, and charted the river route the hero had to take to determine how long before he arrived on the scene. Then I realized why I’ve kept this book on-the-self since it was originally created. The story triggers memories of loss. The loss of river adventures that I adored so much I wrote a whole novel around them.

This is a good clarity for the character issues in the novel. My personal memories are more nostalgic than sad now because I’m focused on exciting potentials not just in the book but in my life. This is why I’ve added respect to all the “re” words associated to Mercury retrogrades.

Revision, regroup, retrospect, and remember, so we can respect who we are and how we embrace why we live. That’s where I am, in the midst of multiple projects with my mother-of-the-bride role on my current agenda.

Now I have to add a link for all of you to check out Megan MacGreggor’s beautiful dolphin art.  Enjoy!

scabs and bugbites

The weather is more turbulent now, which is energizing and not like the winter consistency of heavy gray clouds and a continuing curtain of rain. Instead there are episodes of brilliant sun where I shed the jacket, followed by hail. Wind gusts and fog and frost play a random leapfrog across the neighborhoods.

Spring is here and we had a few days to clear winter debris though the rains began again. The hydrangeas and shrubs are trimmed and most of the weeds were plucked from loamy and muddy soil. I’m so done with massive yard care.

I’ve got this itchy lump on my neck and thorn scabs on my scalp. When I lurch forward into weeding rituals I tend to go full force because I am so NOT into it. Get the job done. Now I look out the windows and see stuff budding and blooming instead of chores waiting for my attention.

Spring season includes pollen allergies, itchy bumps on various places of my body, and cramps where I didn’t realize I had under-worked muscles. And we’re still making fires in the woodstove to take the chill out of the rooms.

But I’m halfway through the rewrites on my novel and continue to be amazed at some scenes, delighted with some dialogue, and totally appalled at how I diluted conflicts, missed the story points, and backed into the drama because I didn’t see the power of hitting it straight on.

I know that where we place our intention is what we create and I created a solid story and a cast of characters with potential. Just like the gardens I created around my home to establish themselves years ago and now just need a little attention and water.

The similarity is charming because what I’m creating now in my novel is a better presentation of a story. I’m just pruning debris and letting the buds blossom. In both cases I’m the one in power.

I can snip delicately and avoid the thorns or plow forth and realize the thorn makes a more interesting story. Seriously, there’s one scab right at my hairline and another on the back of my head. Then that bug bite, it was oval and angry behind my ear and now is an itchy pebble I can’t see but will feel often.

I have to consider my power over Mother Nature is limited, she will quake and crack some of the best engineering.  She’ll also drop a spider on my shoulder and give thorny vines a resilient root.

The beauty of each spring is the presentation of a new season and the appreciation that I store after-bite medicine in the drawer.

webbit tour time

Today began with cuddling a two-month-old baby in town from San Diego with his mom. Then our bride-to-be this summer stopped by to chat wedding plans.

I got in a few hours working on rewrites of my novel. Dinner. Glancing at the TV while compiling our pending marketing workshop with an outline for the companion workbook. It was a full day.

So here’s some fun stuff I want to share – my friend Nancy’s 2 B A Published Writer Board Game.

Another Nancy’s post on repetitive numbers and the shorthand meaning behind triplets from 111-999.

Jessa Slade’s 3rd book in her Marked Souls series is on the selves and she got to see a customer actually choose it!

In the course of cyberspace development, Nathan points out the energy behind virtual witch hunts. While it is sad this type of stuff happens, it is good that Nathan is using the same cyber tool to shine light on this issue.

At Ted.com this talk by Chade-Meng Tan of Google reveals that Compassion can be Fun and Profitable.  Now this would be a great topic for Polly’s creative visualization exercise.

And just to keep this webbit tour balanced, Mike posted about The Failed Predictions of Jehovah Witnesses.

I hope all those links work since Mercury is retrograde (until the 23rd) and while the energy is the flavor of revision and regroup, Mercury is also know to cause communication glitches.

I think I also heard it was the coldest April 6th on record for Portland, Oregon.

 

Friends and Family

I’m at the stage in my romance story where the heroine has to point out why she can never be friends with the hero. This should be really easy, we all know what it means when we say the word friend. Except I found there were no interesting words showing up on the page of my story.

As I in my stories, there’s usually something mirrored in my own life. Like a friend who is taking the job of her dreams but it will also take her to the other side of the country. I’m also establishing new friendships in my life specific to my career as a writer. Within the busyness of my life I didn’t feel the need to research “friends” yet the information started to show up anyhow.

Michael Hyatt posted Be The Friend You Wish You Had so I printed out his list on being a close personal friend as, yeah, cool information. But I set it aside because I was busy with projects. I had email from family that required my attention, a friend stopped by to ask for assistance, etc. etc.

Here’s the four characteristics that I received and gave in one day from my friends and family:

• Affirms me when I doubt myself.
• Reminds me of who I am, when I forget.
• Celebrates my wins and mourns my losses.
• Remembers the things that are important to me.

So I’m feeling warm and fuzzy with virtual hugs in my own life and can now work on the scene where my heroine has very clear points to make as to why she can never be friends with the hero. Then I’ll have even more fun messing with their minds and hearts as I turn them into friends and lovers.

For an author to play god we need to truly believe what our characters will achieve. Otherwise we’re just creators of misery as we stir conflict and drama into the lives of our characters as they are stripped of ego to become open to dreams.

Friends are also the mirror of who we need to be for ourselves.