The Life Of Reilly

I am leaving for several days, and will post again in a week. I hope you enjoy the pictures! Also, the cover for my Christmas anthology is now on my website.

My children live the life of Reilly, don't they? We tell them that Reilly just wishes he had their life!

Inspiration

One of my readers here asked for inspiration.

My favorite quote about inspiration--and the one I use when I'm down--is one by Eleanor Roosevelt. She said that we must do the things we are most certain we cannot. I love that. I realize she was talking about being afraid of facing things, but isn't inspiration provided when we conquer our fears?

I feel the best about something when I've put my head down and plowed right through some emotional brick wall. Or gone over, under, or around it.

I hate being afraid. My more famous and gifted female predecessors set the example for me to get up off my whiny ass and do something with my life. Really! Do you ever find yourself thinking, "I can't do . . ." and then realize you have to, and once you do, it's a Rocky moment?" Those are the great moments in life.

So, for inspiration, I would like to offer you the wisdom of the ages. It's there. We just have to sit down and listen to the ghosts of our elders. And in case you think I only listen to female ghosts, well, I do mostly. The men had a lot to say, too, and they inspire me as well. The recent Russell Crowe movie wasn't about boxing so much as it was about putting your head down and making yourself go forward through the most difficult of circumstances, which for him happened to be the ability to feed his family and survive the Great Depression. There are thousands of men and women to be admired for their courage.

It just so happens that I tend to take a butt-kicking a bit better from the ladies, because I want to be them. I want to be strong, like a woman.

So here's my inspirational gift to you for the week: don't be afraid to write your words, breathe your story, and listen to your spiritual elders. Most of all, put on your suit of determination, and keep walking forward.

That's what the great ones always did. Let your voices be heard.

http://www.time.com/time/time100/leaders/profile/eleanor.html

Currently listening to: the stock market channel
Currently reading: a book on natural remedies
Currently cooking: Nada
Current rave: my Brighton organizer
Word of The Day: INSPIRE

FOCUS

Focus is one of my favorite words. I played tennis today with a new partner, and she kept saying, "Stay focused. Stay focused." This was after we lost the first set 0-6.

Stay focused. Fifteen years of marriage takes focus. Raising kids takes focus--can I hear the Amen chorus? Writing takes focus. In fact, every single step of a writer's life takes focus.

My partner and I switched sides, with me playing forehand just to give our opponents--who were better than us, actually--a different look. We won the second set--with my partner hissing Stay Focused at me, and me repeating it back like a mantra--and then we won the tiebreak.

"What was the difference?" my partner asked. "I think we focused better the second set. Nice comeback."

Focus means writing every day. It means making a promise that the work comes first. The imagination is a garden which needs watering and attention.

St. Augustine said--and I paraphrase--that on a day in which you do not pray, you should not eat. Now that's a real focus.

Focus. Food for the writer's soul.

Currently listening to : Venus and Serena William's reality show while I type, and Anastacia
Currently reading: Too much stuff to list
Currently cooking: Starbucks cocoa was dinner--no cooking!
Current rave: Coppertone continuous spray 30 spf sunscreen. No washing the hands, no sticking sand at the beach, no yuck on the racket! Easy!
Word of The Day: FRIENDS

P.S. Many thanks to everyone who bid on my books at the auction in May. My books--two sets--sold for $150.o0 each. I'm grateful for the support and that the Jefferson wild boys are loved. ALSO, thank you for your support of Bandera. I hope you love Crockett as much!

And in case you're wondering about the pic at the top--that's my 16-year-old in the back of the raft, focusing on not falling out in a rapids in Tennessee. My dad and brother are in front of her on the left side. They look like they're having a great time living life--and my nearly ninety-year-old grandmother complained bitterly that she got left behind. It's all about the focus, whatever we choose to do.

The Pesky Internal Editor

This is what I mean by killing my editor: I like to write so much that I keep tearing my current manuscript apart.

The internal editor can be a friend or a foe. What drives me to tear the back half of a manscript off and start over? What insidious thing makes me chuck an entire book ten days before deadline, call my editor to tell her the book was no good, but that I'll give her greater things?

The internal editor. That person inside my head who reads my work and says, "Not good enough. More plot. Better pace. Deeper characterization."

The book I threw away and wrote again in ten days received 4 1/2 stars from Romantic Times. (CATCHING CALHOUN) Maybe I just need to pre-write all my books!

But is it possible to learn how to do the book better the first time, so that the internal editor isn't such a pain in the rump?

With LAST'S TEMPTATION, I tried really hard to focus on that goal. I only wrote it once. I did tear off part of it at one point, told my editor everything was fine (knowing that her editor antennae had picked up another mass re-do), and promised her she would be happy. Tried to give her daily updates.

Continuing with my new goal of trying to be more pleasing to my internal editor the first time, I channeled the great writers, the classics, who wrote everything by quill, and begged them to give me better wordsmithing. Plot that my readers would love. LAST was finished, I loved him, and my editor does, too. I hope all the readers will find him worth keeping.

Now I'll see if I can do it again. Maybe my I.E. doesn't need to be completely fired; maybe she just needs more excitement in her own life so she can leave mine alone! I'll give her a Susan Elizabeth Phillips book to read--that ought to make her happy. Mmm, good reading!

Currently listening to : Joel Olsteen
Currently reading: AIN'T SHE SWEET? by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (so good)!
Currently cooking: Turkey sandwiches, with blueberries on the side
Current rave: The new long skirts, watching Mary Poppins (again)! with my kids
Word of The Day: VITAL

Also, another word which comes to mind is WISTFUL. My daughter is starting eleventh grade. I have taken hold of this summer and squeezed it like grapes for wine, and forced her to go on a family vacation with us. Forced myself to send her to my father's so that he could drag her around to colleges in the East, knowing I must turn loose of her.

Whew!

I seriously cannot believe I have not written in my journal since May! I have so missed it.

I suppose I got off-track with my son's illness, and subsequent gall bladder removal. It was pretty hard to take in a twelve-year-old, though he never complained about all the tests. The pain had gotten pretty intense for Dean, and even narcotics didn't knock it out. Didn't even touch it. He missed the last three weeks of school, and then I had to prep him through finals.

Then my sixteen-year-old decided she didn't want to go back to her old school. This is not an easy decision to make when one is going into the eleventh grade, and that took some time to straighten out. Meanwhile, Dean had developed heartburn from his surgery, which took some more research. Enzymes proved to be the trick, and now in July, he is comfortable.

We spent some time outrunning Dennis and Emily, those sneaky hurricanes, and just got back from our first family vacation in five years. My husband had started a new job in May, so it was nice for all of us to get together and just troll around Galveston, Salado, New Braunfels, and Waxahachie.

It was nice just to be a family.

I see I have a lot of updating to do on my website, too!

I have one last Cowboy By The Dozen to complete--Mason's story! And then I will be out of contract. Meanwhile, my wonderful agent called two weeks ago to say she is leaving the biz to move to upstate New York with her husband. The agent hunt ensues again!

I am going to RWA National next week, which I am really looking forward to. My daughter starts her new school four days after.

I am in no way ready to give up summer!

Currently listening to : some rock crap my daughter is into--yuck! But trying to be open-minded! (Still miss Led Zeppelin, Boston, and Rush for the teen years)!

Currently reading: Doug Kauffman's fungal books and alternative medicine

Currently cooking: Nothing! Still on vacation!

Current rage: Odwalla Grapefruit juice, Eddie Bauer Linen capris, and Johnny Depp's Willie Wonka movie~~wonderful, wonderful!

Word of The Day: EXCITED