December Louisiana Road Trips

I was very disappointed this year to find out that the Louisiana Book Festival had closed its doors due to budget cuts. My article on page 5 is my homage to book festivals and why they mean so much to writers and readers.

Open publication - Free publishing - More louisiana

Writing Outside the Box

"A word is not the same with one writer as with another. One tears it from his guts. The other pulls it out of his overcoat pocket." ~Charles Peguy

Oh, what can I say about a book festival? It is inspiring, educational, a chance for friendships, and super exciting...especially if you are one of the selected few that get to participate as an "author".

The word "author" is changing shape before our eyes. It is not always necessary to have a printed, paper copy of a work to be considered a writer. I was fortunate to be a guest at the Acadiana Book Festival in Lafayette, La on October 30th. I shared a panel with two very interesting authors Carla Hostetter, an independent romance writer, and Cyril Vetter (Dirtdobber Blues), a multi-media author who wants to expand the reading experience by adding audio and visual elements. I spoke for about 15 minutes about the art of blogging and its many purposes. Thank you Chere' Coen of the website Louisiana Book News for inviting me to be a part of the fun!

Unrelated Musings...

"Why do books have to look like they did in the 1500's? Why are they still made of paper? Imagine a beautiful synthetic book, feather weight, with bright white pages, impervious to mildew, water, or rot. Why not? Why is there no investment in this area? A new synthetic book could preserve the age old fonts, the glory of full color illustrations, the beautiful feel of the volume in hand, yet be cheap to produce, cheap to ship, and easy to store. To save the book, we need to remake the book. We have reinvented clothing with synthetics. Why not books?" – Anne Rice (Facebook post)

It's been a busy October full of literary happenings. I started the month out travelling across the state line to historic Jefferson, Texas, dressed in full black Victorian attire, to have dinner and meet author Karen Essex. Having written the novel Dracula In Love, I was excited to chat with the woman who dared to take on Bram Stoker's legendary vampire. She was elegant and witty and shared with the dinner guests the short play Asylum that she wrote based on her novel. It was a wonderful evening and I now find myself reading the original Dracula for the first time since grade school, now able to look at it in a whole new light. I am also reading The Countess by Rebecca Johns about the first female vampire Erzsebet Bathory...historic novels fit for Halloween!

Just a few days after having dinner with Karen Essex, I sat with several book club friends in front of the web cam, having a Skype interview with Major Pettigrew's Last Stand author Helen Simonson! She is such a sweet lady and inspiring for those of us who have to balance writing and family life.

Speaking of family life...with motivation from my husband and friend Connie, I have started writing again, although just in time for my daughter's fall break from school. Argh! I bought a new lamp and set up a little computer station in the living room. Each morning I fixed a cup of coffee in my favorite New Orleans coffee mug and turned on jazz from Terence Blanchard on my iTunes and typed away. Let's hope the muses stick around and are patient with the Caddo Parish School System calendar.

So, Saturday is the day. After much waiting, I will be speaking on a panel at the Acadiana Book Festival in Lafayette. I am excited to meet new and interesting authors and I hope to have many photos and stories to share with you soon.

Acadiana Book Festival Program

Acadiana Book Festival

Saturday, October 30, 2010

8:00am-5:00pm

Cite des Arts, Lafayette, LA

Program includes complete schedule and author bios! (My bio is on pg. 14)

Acadiana Book Festival Program

Peculiar Jaunts: Pg. 25 . Horror Writer Michelle McCrary Leads Shreveport Zombie Invasion.

My Article In Louisiana Cookin'

The new October/November issue of Louisiana Cookin' Magazine is now on newsstands! Pick yourself up a copy and check out my article on the Louisiana State Fair (pg. 44)!

September Louisiana Road Trips

My column Peculiar Jaunts: page 10.

When In Doubt, Open Up The Toolbox

Sometimes life can throw you curve ball, most times it is when you are still looking for the catcher's mitt. For two months I had been preparing to go into the hospital for major surgery. I saw this as an opportunity to read and write and be creative when I got home, seeing that my recovery time would be about 6 weeks. A month and a half...that's a lot of writing and reading time! Just what I needed, a lazy vacation with endless possibilities!

I am now coming up on week 2 and have just now felt as if I could read without pain killers throwing me into orbit. So far I haven't done the things that I had hoped to do; I spend a lot of time just sitting and staring off into space. I guess this time recovery means just that...recovery.

I have, however opened up my toolbox...well, I should say that I had a little help from my other half. Lying in bed, unable to even wiggle, my husband fires up his iPod Touch so that we can listen to the Writing Excuses podcast. In this podcast, sci-fi author Brandon Sanderson and friends discuss basic trouble-shooting, piece at a time, for new and old writers alike. Each episode lasts only 15 minutes, which I've found is nice when you're waiting in the carpool lane or trying to keep your eyes open before the medication knocks you on your back.

Another tool that I have discovered is Sonar. This easy to use (and free!) program is an excellent way to catalogue your writing submissions so that you don't accidentally send the same manuscript to a market that you've already tried. Surely I will soon feel well enough to lick envelopes and affix stamps to get another wave of submissions on its way.

At the end of October, when my recovery time is up, I plan to do back flips and cartwheels all the way to Lafayette, LA for the first annual Acadiana Book Festival, in which I will be speaking about non other than blogging!

In the meantime, perhaps the writing fairy will sprinkle some inspiration on me so that I can finish several of the projects that I began before I got hit with that curve ball!

Personalities and Bookcases

Each had his past shut in him like the leaves of a book known to him by heart; and his friends could only read the title. - (Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room)

I just finished reading an article on npr's website written by Tom Rachman about his eccentric collection of obituary compilations that he keeps on the bottom shelf of his bookcase. I think we all maybe have one of those "shelves" that we don't necessarily point out to neighbors or certain family members. I also think that we all have some topic that we find ourselves reading about over and over, whether it be obituaries, zombies, or in my case, Hurricane Katrina books. Some take it one step further and make it an obsession whereas others just dabble occasionally.

After contemplating Rachman's article, I stared for quite a while at my own bookcase. With the idea of soon installing built-ins for the living room, I am now double-stacking various cheap Wal-Mart bookcases throughout our house. One small bookcase holds signed editions that I hold dear to my heart, another holds my husband's fantasy and military novels. But the one that I happen to be looking at from the comforts of my couch is an interesting mix. It is a home for my college anthologies of art and dramatic literature; popular novels; an odd collection of non-fiction about the Black Death of Europe, and of course, my Katrina/Louisiana shelf. Peppered from one ledge to another are little trinkets...my curiosities. A little wooden box full of my grandfather's old keys; a milk glass candy jar given to my by my husband's grandmother; a treasure box holding my late father's cheesy leather belt, true 80's style; Mardi Gras beads depicting funny little Voodoo dolls; a Mexican jar candle and chocolate grinder; and no doubt, much dust. So what does your bookcases say about you?

Typewriters, Typewriters, Everywhere!

Monroeville County Courthouse in Monroeville, Alabama (home of Harper Lee and Truman Capote) has an eclectic collection of vintage typewriters. Notice, the small gray one in the case was actually used by Truman himself! Aside from typewriters, the courthouse also has a collection of old dictaphones and cameras.

Singers and Storytellers

I saw this couple perform live in Franklin, Tennessee at the Battleground Brewery. This song proves that great writing has no boundaries.

Robert Hicks And The Real Widow Of The South

When I first read Robert Hicks' historical novel Widow of the South, I knew that I just had to visit the place that gave Hicks the inspiration for such a riveting book, Carnton Plantation in Franklin, Tennessee (just south of Nashville).

Carnton Plantation and Confederate cemetery have no doubt gotten an onslaught of visitors due to Hicks' novel, however, on its own, Carnton is one of the most exciting plantation tours I've ever taken. After reading page after page about how heroine Carrie McGavock helped transform her beautiful home into a Civil War hospital, it was amazing to see her portraits on the walls, for it seemed as if she was still keeping house. The numerous blood stains and makeshift operating tables throughout the house brought to life that the Battle of Franklin, was in fact, the worst battle of the Civil War. The casualties top Gettysburg by leaps and bounds.

A few yards from the big house sits the McGavock and Confederate cemeteries. Unknown soldiers from every Southern state lay in even grids thanks to Mrs. Carrie who tended the cemetery until the day she died...including recovering the soldiers' bodies from mass graves and helping to locate names and relatives. It was a massive undertaking and one that Robert Hicks uses to make his novel come to life.

August Louisiana Road Trips

My article Mrs. Vera: The Patron Saint of Hurricane Katrina is on page 18.

Alabama Excursion - Part 2

In Monroeville, Alabama...home of author Harper Lee and Truman Capote, it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. It is not, however, a sin to think that every little gray-haired lady that crosses your path is Harper Lee herself. (is that sort of like so many years of bad luck? I hope it's not 50 since this is the 50th anniversary!)

We arrived in Monroeville (a.k.a. Maycomb) at about 6:30pm with no brisk hotel check-in. Apparently Expedia and Days Inn of Monroeville do not communicate well. After dinner, we relaxed in our room and I tried to be strong and not rip any pages out of the phone book as souvenirs. Alas, I did not come home with the page of L's from the Yellow Pages.

I was eager to get into town the next morning. We headed straight for the courthouse and were surprised that we were, in fact, the only visitors! We had the courthouse all to ourselves! We took picture after picture of the courtroom. You would have thought my husband was a professional photographer as many ways as he had me posing at the judge's bench. As I was taking a gander at Truman Capote's typewriter, I saw a short gray haired lady stomp into an office a few feet away. I thought I was going to have an "episode" for I thought that this woman was Harper Lee (or Nelle, as locals call her). The resemblance was uncanny. I was NOT trying to convince myself that every elderly lady in town was a famous author, but this woman could have been Nelle's twin. A couple walking through the building stopped and spoke to the lady, about town goings ons and I later asked them if that was actually Harper Lee. After a little stumbling around, they told me no, that Harper was in an assisted living facility in town. I was bummed but have found myself analyzing the photos I snapped quickly of the older lady in the office since I returned from the trip. Maybe she and Elvis are hanging out somewhere having coffee.

Of course I bought enough souvenirs it felt as if I were carrying around a bag full of bricks. We bought books at the Beehive book shop in the square and had buffet lunch at the Mockingbird Grill (your quintessential small town diner). On the way out of town I took photos of the rock wall dividing what was once the Lee property and the Faulk property (Capote's aunts lived here). You can now buy ice cream at a place called Mel's Dairy Dream, directly on the spot that the Lee family called home. On a lucky day, you can even catch Nelle's sister Alice in her pant suit and tennis shoes going into work, a lawyer at age 98.

Alabama Excursion - Part 1

So...I lived in Montgomery, Alabama for a few years. Had my daughter at Baptist Hospital and even met one of the best friends my family has ever had (we all moved away together). One weekend when my mom came to visit, we toured the F.Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald house in the old Cloverdale neighborhood of Montgomery. Zelda had family there and, according to my grandmother-in-law who had family in the same area, threw lavish parties that were the talk of the town.

5 or so years later, the photographs that I took of the Fitzgerald house had still not surfaced in my home. I do not remember ever downloading or developing anything remotely similar. Now, during my first visit to Montgomery since moving to the Pelican State, one of the first things I do (aside from being a bit glum after discovering that our favorite restaurants have closed up shop), is drive into old Cloverdale (near the historic Huntingdon College where To Kill A Mockingbird's Harper Lee went to college for a time) to replace the photographs that I did or did not take. We did not take another tour, but I had fun traipsing throughout the yard, taking snap shots of various angles of the home, now museum.

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, again. OR scream in rage and hurl copies of The Cantos, I find that works equally well.” - Ernest Hemingway

Today, July 21st, is the great Ernest Hemingway's 111th birthday. I seem to have a love-hate relationship with this brilliant, yet tragic composer....composer of books, that is. I remember having to pick a book in high school to do a report on and in trying to impress my teacher, I chose to read and write about For Whom The Bell Tolls. Not the best choice. I hated the book. I was not wise enough in my years to understand such an intense story. Of course I struggled through and wrote my report. For the next assignment I chose Faulkner's Light In August. I should have really stopped trying to impress people, for I disliked that one as well.

The greatest hunt in life is the hunt for truth and knowledge. Also, my trousers. BLAST! I cannot find them.” - Ernest Hemingway

Today I learned that sometimes an elephant-gun is just too much gun, especially when not hunting elephants. Poor goldfish.” *sigh. - Ernest Hemingway

In college, however, I bought a copy of A Moveable Feast. I had been intimidated to pick up another Hemingway novel after I was burned the first time, and I will admit, it was a movie that enticed me to try and try again. This book, I found, was in a category all of its own. I had never read a book that allowed me to almost smell the scents of a Paris bakery, feel the disappointment of having to live in a tiny, one room apartment in one of the glorious cities in the world. I could taste the fresh bread, I could feel the beads of red wine upon my tongue. It was truly sensory overload. And it is a book that I will always keep dear to my heart.

"You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees and their branches were bare against the wind and the cold, wintery light. But you knew there would always be the spring, as you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen. When the cold rains kept on and killed the spring, it was as though a young person died for no reason." - A Moveable Feast

Fun, Fantastic Read

Recently while checking my email, I got Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi's weekly newsletter. In it was an announcement of Southern author M.O. Walsh's upcoming book signing in the store of his newest book The Prospect of Magic: Stories. The synopsis sounded interesting, so I immediately ordered a signed copy to be delivered to my house after the event. I am SO glad that I did. The Prospect of Magic is light and deep at the same time and can be read from front to back in a single sitting (just because it's hard to put it down even to get a drink or go to the restroom, much less sleep). Walsh is a Baton Rouge native who imagined what it would be like if a travelling circus got stranded in small town Louisiana after the death of their ring master. What would the carnies do then? Would they get regular jobs or become the freaks of the town? In my opinion, this book of magical stories (pun intended) is destined to become a classic in Southern literature.

A Writer's Life - In A Nutshell

To Sleep, Perchance To Write

I have to admit that I haven't done much writing lately...while awake. Last night I had a vivid dream of sitting in the dark with a scrap of paper and a pen, scribbling wildly a string of prose that flowed as smooth as water. Was this my conscience trying to tell me that it's been too long since I picked up with the stories I have started? Perhaps I should listen to my inner-therapist. (it's a lot cheaper and easier to get an appointment!)

So...you may be asking "Well, what have you been doing?". The answer is reading....reading....and more reading. I seem to go through books pretty quickly, I think, and usually have several going at one time. I am also the happy chapter leader of the Shreveport area Pulpwood Queens book club (the Red River Pulpwood Queens). Once a month my friends and I (some who happen to be authors in their own right) meet to discuss books and literary happenings. I am quite disappointed that the Louisiana Book Festival has been cancelled this year, for I was looking forward to another exciting literary excursion to Baton Rouge this fall. My framed poster of last year's La Book Festival hangs on my living room wall, reminding me of all of the wonderful people I met in 2009. I suppose I shall have to get my "meet-the-author fix" by taking smaller trips throughout the year... Ooh! I see that one is coming up this weekend!

News: Awakening Inspiration Lost

BARATARIA BAY, La. – The sand dunes and islands of Barataria Bay, a huge expanse of water and marsh on Louisiana's coast, have become the latest casualty of the environmental disaster spewing from BP's offshore well. And fishermen are bitter.

Barataria has played a vital role in Louisiana history. It is where the pirate and Battle of New Orleans hero Jean Lafitte established his colony of Baratarians. The estuary was also the setting for "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin. Like other wealthy 19th-century New Orleanians, Chopin spent summers on Grand Isle, to the bay's south, and made the evocative island a focus of her work. (source Yahoo! News)

A Month of Mother's Days

"We thought that, perhaps," said I, hesitating, "it is right to begin with the obligations of home, sir; and that, perhaps, while those are overlooked and neglected, no other duties can possibly be substituted for them." - Charles Dickens, Bleak House

For me, Mother's Day is not merely just a once a year holiday. Mother's Day is every day. These are the days that Mother is obligated to take her daughter to dance classes, recitals, sit with camera in hand at the many school performances, pick up brownies at the grocery store for class snack (there is no time to bake), doctor's appointments, play dates, choir practice, meals, baths, and oh so much more. Therefore, I am reminded every single day of the gift that God has given me; my little girl.

That being said, there is hardly time for creative writing at the closing of an average school year. By the time the end of the day draws near, I want nothing more than to crawl under the covers and read...whittling down my stack of Southern fiction novels, a few non-fiction tomes thrown in for good measure.

So, when there is so little time, what should a writer do? I have found that you do whatever you can to stay focused on literary activities, even if that means you do nothing but blog, network, send off manuscripts, attend book clubs, scribble down story ideas in the carpool lane, and even write a poem while sitting at an ever-lasting red light. Even when a writer is not writing, he or she is still a writer. Life happens. If a writer goes a week or two without producing anything of significance, that does not make one less of a writer. This is the mantra that I attempt to remind myself while snuggling down with a good book at ten o'clock at night, when I feel as if I should be writing and my brain is too exhausted to think.

"The story I am writing exists, written in absolutely perfect fashion, some place, in the air. All I must do is find it, and copy it." - Jules Renard author

Time sure does fly when you're writing, have the flu, take trips, and spend more time at pre-school dance class than you do at your own computer. During these times I have to take creative inspiration where I can get it! I keep cursing myself for not purchasing a notebook to keep in the car and find myself scribbling poetry and story ideas on the back of receipts stuffed in my jumbled up purse.

I have recently submitted some short stories to the Oxford American magazine and the New Orleans Review. I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed and am determined not to let these magazines and others forget my name. The Tennessee Williams Literary Festival in New Orleans has created a poetry competition that I intend to take a stab at in the near future as well.

To add to my monthly schedule, I am starting a chapter of the Pulpwood Queen book club. I'm excited to gather my local friends for book discussions and various projects and road trips. Speaking of road trips, I have recently taken another excursion to New Orleans and I doubt it will be very long before I return once more. I just can't get enough! Each time I load the trunk of my car with plastic sacks of new and signed books to bring back home. The Garden District Book Shop is a Southern reader's heaven! Many people drink, gamble, smoke...I read and drink coffee.

Where is human nature so weak as in the book store? - Henry Ward Beecher

A Little Bit Here, A Little Bit There...

Waiting for my iced coffee with hazelnut, I watched the speckled brown finches swoop down from the clay awning, gathering twigs and the occasional french fry from the pollen dusted bushes lining the drive-thru. Aren't we all just gathering twigs for our nests?

- April, 9:05a.m.

Thoughts like these frequently cross my mind while driving, trying to sleep, and even taking a shower. Most times I do not have a notebook on hand and the eventual thought ends up being written down a bit skewed. Note to self: buy more notebooks for "twig" collecting.

I've been gathering quite a few twigs for my nest over the past two weeks. Many of them have been brittle, or have even snapped in half. I'm still waiting for the french fry! I currently have 3 articles going at once and have been doing extensive research on each. I've done everything from eating crawfish, driving south to look for frogs, and even found myself out in the woods looking for the grave of a possible saint. At the end of the day I'm overtaken by so many wonderful ideas for writing that I find it hard to sleep.

As for my creative fiction, aside from another submission round with the Southern Review, I have been lucky enough to have a great friend who has shared his writing expertise by giving me pointers on my newest short story. Owning his own publishing company and having written many books over the years, I am taking his critiques to heart in order to make my story even better than before.

I write down everything I want to remember. That way instead of spending a lot of time trying to remember what it is I wrote down, I spend the time looking for the paper I wrote it down on. - Beryl Pfizer (writer, actor)

A Commonplace For Everything

"To those, who have been accustomed to the use of a Commonplace Book, the advantage of a convenient Repository of the kind is well known; and to those, who have not, its utility must be sufficiently obvious. The man who reads, and neglects to note down the essence of what he has read; the man who sees, and omits to record what he has seen; the man who thinks, and fails to treasure up his thoughts in some place…will often have occasion to regret an omission, which such a book, as is now offered to him, is well calculated to remedy." RENAISSANCE COMMONPLACE BOOKS FROM THE BRITISH LIBRARY

In reading Unveiling Kate Chopin by Emily Toth, I kept coming across mention of something called a Commonplace Book. I had never heard of such a thing but seeing that Kate was a writer in 1800s America, I was compelled to find out what exactly what the biographer was referring to. I find Victorian culture fascinating and being an avid scrapbooker and writer myself, I found the following explanation:

According to Wikipedia, Commonplace books were a way to compile knowledge, usually by writing information into books. They became significant in Early Modern Europe. "Commonplace" is a translation of the Latin term locus communis which means "a theme or argument of general application", such as a statement of proverbial wisdom. In this original sense, commonplace books were collections of such sayings, such as John Milton's commonplace book. Scholars have expanded this usage to include any manuscript that collects material along a common theme by an individual. Such books were essentially scrapbooks filled with items of every kind: medical recipes, quotes, letters, poems, tables of weights and measures, proverbs, prayers, legal formulas. Commonplaces were used by readers, writers, students, and humanists as an aid for remembering useful concepts or facts they had learned. Each commonplace book was unique to its creator's particular interests.

I always find myself re-reading informative passages, newspaper clippings, beautiful poems, recipes, song lyrics or excerpts from various books wondering how I would ever remember that they were there later. What better way to compile these things and perhaps leave your children something that they can cherish once you are gone than a "Commonplacer"?

According to the website Self Made Scholar, the steps for creating a Commonplace book are quite simple.

1. Choose your medium (notebook, binder, journal, blog, etc.)

2. Choose your content (include anything you would like to remember)

3. Choose an organizational system (dividers, sections, chapters, tabs, etc.)

4. Keep it up!

Beauty and Brains

I did it. I finally finished the story I have been working on for the last month or so. Rome wasn't built in a day and when it comes to historic fiction, it can take forever! Since then, I have found myself procrastinating, wandering around aimlessly trying to figure out what to do with my brain and my fingers.

On pay day, I decided to take a visit to historic Jefferson, Texas to get my hair done at the world's only beauty salon - slash - bookstore, Beauty and the Book. Can you ask for more? Perfect hair while surrounded by shelves of books! Okay, maybe a few bars of chocolate and a cup of iced coffee. I would have never come home! Kathy would have had to put some chairs together to make me a bed.

So, this Kathy that I speak of is a Queen; a Pulpwood Queen that is. A writer, a reader, a book club creator, tiara wearing hair dresser. She has asked me to take over the Shreveport chapter that a good friend of mine started. Me, a queen? We'll see.

On another note, it has been 3 years since I began writing for Louisiana Road Trips magazine. I still remember the very night that my friend assured me that I could do it and gave me the editor's email address. I got hired that very night and have been rolling out the articles ever since. Today my editor sent me an email with exciting news! The magazine is going to publish it's first collection of articles in book form! About 300 articles from the past 5 years will be selected. Now we only have to wait and see which pieces of mine will make the cut!

Progress and Busy Work

A lot of things have been happening since we spoke last. Mostly busy work and probably a bit mundane for those of you who aren't familiar with the steps forward and backward in the world of writing and self-promotion.

The first of each month is always a wonderful time for those of us who contribute to any sort of magazine or journal...release day! So, as usual, the march issue of Louisiana Road Trips was released; my articles appear on pages 16 and 20, covering some fantastic places to visit "off the beaten path" in the Big Easy.

After doing some research and emailing in regards to some upcoming articles coming soon in Louisiana Cookin' Magazine, I then gathered up all of my rejection letters from various literary journals and put together submission packets for another go-around. Try, try, and try again!

My other exciting news is the creation of my new network Bayou Travels! Spending several years wishing that I could find a single comprehensive website that lists all of the cultural events and historic places to visit in the state of Louisiana, I finally decided to create one myself. This site shares photos from the places that I've visited myself, upcoming events that I plan to attend, La periodicals, novels, music, places to eat, and a way for everyone to share their thoughts and photos. I've been working hard on adding to my listings and am quite proud of the work I've done. You can check out what's going on in the state while listening to funky Zydeco music at the same time! Gotta love it!

So now comes the weekend...time to take a break and make a pilgrimage to see the one and only Wynton Marsalis with Jazz at Lincoln Center play in in "Big D". Have a great weekend!

Forget-Me-Nots

So, I started thinking about my own mortality while walking into the hospital for a check-up. As I rode the elevator to the 5th floor where my doctor's office is located, I was not worried about my health, per say, but about the mortality of the things that I do.

Being a parent has caused me to be even more aware of the things in my life that I would like to leave behind for my descendants. For instance, my writing and paintings are definitely something that I would like for my grandchildren to cherish after I am gone.

While sitting in the waiting room, I cracked open one of the last few chapters in my library book Louisiana Women: Their Life and Times, a fantastic compilation of biographical essays about powerful, intellectual Louisiana ladies. Women like Kate Chopin, who lived for a few years just south of where I now call home, helped pave the way for independent women writers. She was, and still is, seen as a fearless person who went against the norm of society and has lived on in pages of novels, short stories, and bios.

In 2010, when being a successful woman is the norm, what does it take to leave a legacy like the one Kate Chopin has left the world? Growing up we are taught that everyone has special qualities. So what is the new requirement for being special enough for a person's books to be read for years and years to come, to be the next Kate Chopin, Ernest Hemmingway, or Robert Penn Warren?

A couple of days ago the muses wiggled their magic wands and filled my head full of story ideas and the ability to edit flawlessly. I guess all things come in due time, but man have I needed a little sprinkling of fairy dust!

I found this interesting and humorous book by Heather Sellers in the Writers Digest online shop on Sunday evening...which is strange in and of itself considering I do not have a Writers Digest subscription nor have I bought one of their magazines in a couple of years. I immediately placed the book on hold at Barnes & Noble. Maybe I should have gotten a copy of the newest digest as well. Hmmm... Of course I had already begun writing again by the time I picked up my new "self-help" book yesterday. Nevertheless, this book is a straight up, rough around the edges, no bs guide to getting up off of your butt (or on your butt for writers) and start actually doing what you love. Between this cute little pocket-sized manual and reading Louisiana Women: Their Lives and Times edited by Janet Allured and Judith F. Gentry (a nice jolt of "I am woman, hear me roar), my creative storytelling fire is most certainly lit!

Speaking of the muses and inspiration, not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but it seems that most of my best ideas spring into being when I am trying desperately to take a nap or getting ready to go to sleep at night. I even get hit with the writing bug while I am reading something else...a book that has no relevance to the subject matter of my little idea bursts. Heather Sellers says "Write what you want to read." Is my brain simply feeling the urge to multi-task?

So, at the moment crisis has been averted and I am back on track. Who knows what tomorrow or even next week will bring. That being said, I will continue to sleep with a stack of books and a #2 BIC mechanical pencil on my bedside table.

Excuses, Excuses...

(Writing's) a lot like painting by the numbers; you may get one corner of the picture just right, but you're nowhere near experiencing the flow and excitement of creation. It's far more important (and constructive) to get the entire tale down on paper, warts and all, then come back and refine it. - Persia Woolley, How to Write and Sell Historical Fiction

"I have too much to do. It's too noisy. My favorite show is on television. I need to cook supper. I'm too tired." These are a few examples of the hundreds of excuses that I tend to make for myself to avert my attention away from editing the stories that I have written.

I mean, I wrote the story. It will be there when I get ready to edit, right? Sure. Unless a natural disaster occurs or the local thief peddles in scribbled-up notebooks, the manuscript will likely remain under a stack of magazines, just where I left it. So why can't I edit my story and get it over with?

My husband took note a few days ago that I had not actually sat in the "writing nook" that I painstakingly put together in our bedroom. The black chair is now covered in stacks of clothes and cat hair. I find my furry friend curled up asleep in my nook 9 times out of 10.

I am, no doubt, going through a phase that most, if not all, writers go through from time to time. I cannot pinpoint if it is a lack of discipline, the unwillingness of taking my job seriously, or if there is an amount of unconscious fear that has built up this barrier in front of me. Quite often I find myself reading the first page of Chapter Ten in Persia Woolley's book, trying to get it to sink in:

It is precisely this challenge, and the discipline required to meet it, that makes the difference between you and the hundreds of wanna-bes who have grand stories and interesting characters in mind but won't commit to treating writing like a job. It takes a combination of dedication, determination and desperation to become a historical novelist,...

So. why is finishing up a story, or writing it to begin with, so damn hard? The concept is there, the research has been done. Is it the fear of failure that plagues me so? Some of these questions cannot be explained in a simple "how to" book.

What do you think?

One Small Success and Overdue Library Books

Last summer while reading Neil Gaiman's book of short stories called Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders I was amazed by his methods as a writer - getting an inspiration for a story and immediately writing the entire thing, let's say during a flight to a particular city. In other words, he can write his stories in one sitting.

For those of us with toddlers, heaping mounds of laundry, and television programs to watch, writing a story in the span of a few hours is not very realistic. I my case, writing historical fiction short stories, I prefer to take it slowly - purging my brain in small inspirational bursts. Historical fiction is all about facts and I definitely do not want to be the nincompoop that gets her literary start by getting important details wrong. With that said, I have successfully completed the first half of a short story that I am becoming more and more proud of. One small step for man...

Now, as much as I would like to sit in a room surrounded by books that never have to be returned to libraries or friends and magically appear as I need them, I do have to think of little things such as due dates.

It is becoming more and more expensive to buy ink cartridges for the home printer, and even more to pay for copies at, let's say, Kinkos. So, I've figured out that between making copies of the many pages of a particular library book and then having to buy a new cartridge because I have used the ink up pretty much equals the price to buy the book from the bookstore. However, as awesome as it would be to have an unlimited bank account designated for the purchasing of books - either for pleasure or research, of course - this little resource does not exist, for me at least. So, now I am facing the issue of having to continue to recheck out the book over and over until I have the money to order a copy for myself (it is not one that can be found easily on the Barnes & Noble shelves) and NOT let myself mark or highlight in the library's copy. Therefore, I will keep the library book until I can get my own or else the Shreveport library system sends the book police after me.

I can see it now... A burly dog catcher-type man wielding a large net and a Taser gun waiting for me to leave my house so that he can shock me to the ground before scooping up my overdue library books in his net. Did I mention that he is wearing special goggles in case the reader tries to scratch his eyeballs out for taking his or her books? If it turns out that you never leave your house, said library police bursts through your door, pours out your coffee, takes books, and locks you up in a cell where no reading is allowed until you pay the fee and promise to buy your books from the store from now on.

Somebody should write a story about this...