July 2008
Getting Cozy with Karen.
July Musings
"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing---that's why we recommend it daily."
~ Zig Ziglar ~
Declare Your Independence!
JULY 4TH.one day to celebrate America's Declaration of Independence.
JULY 4TH.one day to consume millions of hotdogs and hamburgers, tons of potato salad and deviled eggs, and thousands of gallons of carbonated beverages of all kinds.
JULY 4TH.one day to party, throw Frisbees, catch baseballs, mow lawns, gather with friends and relatives, and watch amazing fireworks displays.
JULY 4TH.one day to convince our panicked, inner muses that, yes, there is still time to start/write/finish our best-selling novels before year's end.
I'll be the first to admit my 2008 writing career isn't exactly proceeding as planned. My current project is languishing, okay, not exactly languishing, but limping along at a sloth's pace. Which means the nominal fee I slipped into my chapter's "I Will Write a Book in 2008" raffle envelope has every right to blow raspberries at me as it flies by me every month.
Let's face it. Life gets in the way. The muse doesn't always flow like Niagra Falls off our fingertips. Yet each day is a new one.one more opportunity to get started on page one, travel to that next paragraph, proceed to the next chapter, or type THE END. I'm not licked yet, and you don't have to be either.
As I write this, I know we have more than two weeks before we pull out the potato peelers and top off the ice chests for Independence Day. But, for our purposes, let's assume the Fourth of July is here. Using all of my fingers and half of my toes, I've done a few calculations. When we roll out of bed tomorrow morning, we'll have 25 weeks of 2008 left with which to play, give or take a few days. Assuming we take weekends off, that means we still have approximately 125 days to work our story magic.
But, you ask, what does that really mean?
If we started right now and wrote one chapter a week for 25 weeks, we'd have 25 chapters. Those who write short contemporary novels still have time to write not one, but two complete books! What about the mainstream, long contemporary, single title, and historical writers? If we write only three pages a day, we'll have 375 completed pages. Four pages a day? 500 pages. Five pages? 625 pages. With 91 (at last count) Getting Cozy with Karen subscribers writing five pages a day, we could conceivably have 78,125 manuscript pages by the end of 2008.if we all start tomorrow morning!
Is there still plenty of time to start/write/finish our best-selling novels before year's end? How can we miss? Join me. Declare your independence from procrastination, inertia, laziness, and excuses. Tomorrow.roll out of bed, get up and GO. Revise, write, and create. Make your dream a reality.
Happy Writing!
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What else is happening in my writing world?
My father-in-law lost his battle with cancer June 16th. This loss has been a tough one for me because he filled my "Dad" shoes the moment I married his son 28 years ago. I'll miss him terribly. Needless to say, I don't write well when such life events smack me up the side of the head but I'm working to pick up my writing life again. It was one of the things he was most proud of, his daughter-in-law, the writer.
I just finished up a "W" plotting class for the great folks at Washington Romance Writers. If you have friends who missed it and they can't wait until my next class in August, I do have the entire lecture course available to purchase on the website. Click on NEWS.
Thanks to a friend's invite to Shelfari, I've been busily filling my virtual bookshelves with all of the book titles from my personal Keeper Shelf. I finally got them all rated, but still haven't started "tagging" everything. Have I mentioned I may have to kill off my friend in my next novel for tuning me into another Internet project over which I obviously have no self-control? [G] Naw, having fun! I really love the ability to talk about books with so many other book lovers. Still, time-consuming to set up considering my Type-A personality. Getting smart. Using a timer now to control my urges. If you're on Shelfari, look me up. I'd love to be friends and share what we're reading. If you're not on Shelfari and would like to be, contact me at karendocter@yahoo.com and I'll send you an invitation. All I need is your email address.
For those of you who are going to the RWA national conference in San Francisco, I hope you have a ball! Wish I were going but I couldn't line all of my ducks in a row this year. Maybe if I start planning for next year now, I'll make that one. If you've never been to San Francisco, take a couple of extra days if you can to do some serious sightseeing. Lived on the peninsula for five years and there's a lot of wonderful things to see.
As always, if you'd like to comment on this newsletter or anything else, please feel free to sign into my guest book at the bottom of this HOME page. Looking forward to hearing from you! If you have your own listing on MySpace, I'd love to be friends. You can find me at www.myspace.com/authorkarendocter. And, by all means, if you enjoy reading my newsletter each month, please tell your friends. They can sign up for their own copy easily at the bottom of this HOME page.
See you in August if you'd like to Get Cozy with Karen again. In the meantime, feel free to check out the rest of my website at your leisure.
I wish you a month overflowing with creativity and confidence. May you realize all of your dreams!
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Articles
Plotting.Beauty or Beast?
First Print - savvyauthors.com blog, June, 2010
Born to Write
Colorado Romance Writers Romance in the Rockies newsletter - February, 2006
The Big Kids Clubhouse Secret Handshake.Finally!
Colorado Romance Writers Romance in the Rockies newsletter - August, 2006
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