The reason for my absence...

I haven't been blogging much lately and there is a very good reason for that:

We're moving!

My family and I will be moving in August and while that is a ways away, we still have a ton of preparation. Not to mention purging our household down to a manageable amount of "stuff."

I wanted to say that I love all of my followers (both official and unofficial) and can't thank you enough for the support you are all showing me.

Just a quick update on the status of my book: I am awaiting a response from the query critiquing agent to see if she chooses mine to review. I recently checked her blog to find that she had somehow managed to delete all the emails she had received since April 20th and was unable to recover them, so I resent it about a week ago. Meanwhile, I am expecting a reply to a snail mail query any day now. Other than that, I haven't been doing much. Writing is entirely too life consuming for me to resume my current project. It will have to wait until after the move.

But, thanks to all of you for believing in me. I hope I don't let you down.

Lastly, I would like to turn-on any new writers out there to a new-ish blog I found that always puts a smile on my face. A self-proclaimed "grumpy" agent comments on lines from some of the worst queries he/she has gotten. I wish I knew who this agent was...

http://slushpilehell.tumblr.com/

Enjoy!

Let an expert explain...

Some people look at me like I'm crazy when I tell them that characters direct my writing more than I do at times. It's true though! The characters decide something's going to happen and there's no arguing with them. I can see why some people would find this a hard concept to grasp.

I recently read one of Dean Kootnz's newer novels, Relentless, and his main character (being a writer) explained this vary phenomena. He worded it beautifully. And, maybe you'll still think the concept is crazy after you read this, but at least I'll be in the same crazy category as Dean Koontz.


Relentless pg. 79:

This happens often when writing fiction. Outlines are a waste of time. If you give your characters free will, they will grow in ways you never anticipated, and they will take the story places you could not have predicted, raising themes you might or might not have intended to explore. Characters shape events; events illuminate the characters. The people in a story begin as seeds, become buds, and blossom in ways that surprise the author...

I love when famous authors slip stuff about writing into a book. In this case, it was easy because the main character is a writer, but still. These words might as well have come straight from Dean Koontz's mouth, and it's nice to know it's not just me who feels this way when a character grabs the reins and takes me for a ride.