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!