June Update: ConQuest Recap

I'm a little late in talking about my ConQuest experience. Most of my cohorts posted blogs a week ago. You can visit Jack Campbell, Jr., Kevin Wohler, and R.L. Naquin to see what they had to say about the convention.

Overall it was a ton of fun. It was crazy-busy. I missed out on doing a lot of the things I wanted to do, but I got to do a lot of things I hadn't prepared for, so it all it all worked out in the end.

I missed out on Story in a Bag, I did not drink with my fellow writers, and I was on panels for a majority of the Brandon Sanderson events. That being said, my fellow LFK Writers defended the Story in a Bag title: Dianne Williams won amateur sci-fi and Christie O. Hall won amateur fantasy. I'm so proud of my ladies! I also went to the Masquerade for the first time, where Dianne also won an Honorable Mention for her cosplay costume. We cheered super loud for her. Also? I went to the late-night panels instead of drinking. We wore pajamas (mine are Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and Rachel and I wore tiaras. I'm not even kidding.

I got to spend time with old friends - Sean Demory, Holly Messinger, and James and Anita Young - and made some new friends, too, like Gareth-Michael Skarka and his wife Laura, as well as the brilliant and enthusiastic Sarah Bredeman, who spoke on the NaNo panel with me. My network is ever-expanding, but more importantly, these conventions are becoming like big reunions.

As for Brandon Sanderson? Well, after closing ceremonies, we were standing around chatting, and he ended up right behind us. Bolstered by the buddy system, fellow LFK Writer Eliza Jaquays and I made our way up to him to say hello and get his autograph. The man was well-spoken and kind, and even had book plates in his jacket pocket since our books were already packed. I'm a bigger fan of him now than I was before.

My panels went well, I think. The panel on Working through the Bad Days wasn't entirely what I was expecting, but it turns out I have a lot of knowledge and experience, so I felt like I was able to speak authoritatively and supportively. I'll probably suggest a panel on mental health and art for next year, since it was a well-attended panel and I strongly believe the more we talk about mental illness, the less stigma there is associated with it.

The NaNoWriMo panel was kind of a mess, but it was fun. It was basically the panels on the panel and the panelists' writing groups in the audience. It became more of a "what does NaNo look like in your region" rather than an informative session. I had fun, though. I gave the KC municipal liaison my card, so hopefully we can talk joint write-in sometime this year.

Jack did an amazing job on all of his panels, sold several books, and promoted the heck out of Bottle Cap Publishing and the Confabulator Cafe. The Cafe has had many hits and a potential guest blogger since the convention. It's all very exciting.

Best of all, as always, my convention weekend has lit a creative fire in me. I'm moving ahead with projects and making plans. I'll give an update about those in another week or two. I've innundated you with enough information for now.

Thanks for stopping in! Hope you'll join me and my friends at ConQuesT 47 next year!

May Update: Beta Readers and ConQuest

ConQuest is in less than a week. The fated convention Jack and I look forward to every year with gusto. The convention that happens the weekend of Jack's birthday. The convention where our creative batteries get charged, make new friends in the business, and learn a ton of stuff about writing and publishing.

This year, we're actually speaking on panels. This is super exciting news! Jack is moderating four panels, participating on four, and doing a reading. He makes me feel like a slacker with my measly two panels, but I'm happy to be invited to speak at all, really. Our good friend R.L. Naquin will be on a few panels, as well. She and I are kind of dipping our toes in the water this year to see how things go. Maybe we'll be more involved next year. Jack basically did a cannonball into the deep end without even testing the waters. I'm excited for him, but I have a feeling I'm not going to see too much of him for three days!

I'll put together some sort of wrap-up after the weekend to let you know how it goes. There may even be pictures of us gals in our pajamas attending the brand new adults-only panels. Panels that start at 9pm and 10pm? That's past our bedtimes, so we're going appropriately dressed. Which may also include tiaras, depending on how much we've had to drink by that point. It should be fun. We've encouraged several of the LFK Writers to join us this year, so it'll be an awesome party.

If you are interested in the panel schedule, you can find it here.

Here's my speaking schedule:

Saturday, May 23
11:00 AM - Working Through the Bad Days
1:00 PM - NaNoWriMo: 30 days, 1 novel

I'll have swag for the NaNo panel, sent specially from NaNo HQ just for you. The rest of the weekend, I'll be following Jack and Rachel around to all of their panels and maybe stalking Brandon Sanderson a bit.

In other news, I have all but one of my critiques over Monsters of Lawrence back from my beta readers. I am equal parts excited about and dreading the amount of work this novel still needs. I'm overwhelmed, mostly. I'm not sure when I'll dive into edits for it. It might not be soon. It's going to take a lot of energy and creative inspiration.

Right now I need to work on something else for awhile. I don't know what yet. I'll let you know as soon as I figure it out.

In the meantime, I'm still over at the Confabulator Cafe every month writing short stories to their monthly prompt. So I'm not being completely idle!

A Look Back and a Look Ahead

It's been awhile. I've shifted from a writing focus to an editing focus over the last couple of years, which is why it's been pretty quiet here.

I recently set up a website for my editing endeavors, though, so that frees up this space for a focus on my writing pursuits. If you are interested in following me on my editing journey, look me up at selundberg.com.

As I mention in my "about me" section, I do have goals to have a novel published eventually. It's not as high of a priority these days as it used to be, but since I've made a great deal of progress on the editing front, it's time to start thinking about my writing again.

To look back at 2014, here are some noteworthy writing accomplishments:
-I won the Story-in-a-Bag short story writing contest for the amateur horror category at ConQuest
-I won third place (and $200) for the Writers Weekly 24-hour story contest in the fall
-I completed my tenth year doing Nanowrimo, sixth year as Municipal Liaison
-I started writing passages at the new job

To look ahead at 2015, here are some goals:
-Write a short story a month for the Confabulator Cafe
-Participate at the professional level for Story-in-a-Bag at ConQuest this year
-Participate in panels at ConQuest this year
-Start to submit short stories again
-Edit and send out Monsters of Lawrence to beta readers
-Haunted Mansion writing retreat in California in September this year
-Talk to Jack's sister's young adult book club to encourage young writers

I haven't decided if I'm going to participate in Nanowrimo again this year or not. Having done it every year for the last decade, I'm feeling a little run down and burnt out. My fellow writing group members encourage me to still participate even if I don't ML. We'll see how I feel when November rolls around. I'm ok with the idea of retiring. I know I can write a novel, with or without the help of the month-long competition.

It is kind of a relief to switch this blog back to Prospective Writer. I need a place to keep track of my writing progress separate from my editing. They are two different sides of my brain. It's nice to have to completely different spaces to play.

Besides, here I get to brag about the books I'm reading, share any awesome quotes I've heard, and talk about what I'm writing.

Time to get back to basics. I'm shabby and out of practice being a writer. I'm relying on this blog to help me get back on track.

A Super Long Shot

I am behind.

I suppose as a writer whose full time job is not being a writer, that happens sometimes. The reason I'm worried about it is because I'm behind on an assignment for the Confabulator Cafe. Other people are counting on me there, so it's not my own success that's on the line.

But I have no plans tonight, so I will buckle down and get it finished.

It's a story for flash fiction week next week, and the reason it's late, aside from the fact that I just haven't worked on it, is because I really like it. It's like, one of my favorite things I've started writing all year, and it has so much potential to be awesome, that I'm thinking about it too much. I need to just drink a glass of wine, let go, and finish writing it. There are major changes I'd like to make some day, but I can clean it up and edit it for submission later on down the line.

I need to finish what I started first.

In other news, I took a huge gamble today. Well, truly it wasn't a gamble at all, because I don't have anything to lose, really. I submitted a story that I wrote almost ten years ago and have spent at least once a year every year in that amount of time polishing it. It has been sitting there on my hard-drive all that time, wanting to be told, and I had resigned it to something I might someday self publish.

Instead, I decided to clean it up one more time - polish it within an inch of its life - and submit it to Tor.com.

See? Insane crazy long shot. They receive hundreds upon hundreds (maybe even thousands) of submissions a year, and I'm not confident this story is good enough to be part of the Tor catalog, even if it's only an online short story version of Tor. It's still freaking Tor.

Tor. One of the big names in sci-fi and fantasy.

I decided, though, that it was better in their hands than doing nothing on my computer. The only drawback is that now I have to wait around eight months or more to receive the likely rejection.

That's ok, though. I have lots of other projects to keep me occupied while I wait.

Wish me luck. Check back in about a year to see whatever came of it!

http://www.tor.com/

Promo Day - My Wine Education and Page-Turning Tips

It's Tuesday, which means it's Promo Day! This is where I plug the two other blogs I hang out on every week.

At the Cafe this week, the Confabulators are talking about how we keep readers turning the page. It's our jobs as writers to write compelling stories so readers stay engaged, and we all have different suggestions on how to do that. My suggestion? Just Write Awesomely.

Over at Red Wine Reminiscence, I talk about the night I received my red wine education from my sister's roommate. There's a lot to learn about wine - I'm still learning - and she gave me a place to start. It's too bad that the Senda 66 wasn't a very delicious start. But at least I ended up with a pretty bottle from it.

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy the posts, and see you Friday!

Promo Day - Wine Flashback and Life Events

This week at the Confabulator Cafe we all talked about life events that changed our writing. I've talked about how losing my mom two years ago affected my writing before, but I explored how various life events, including death, affect a writer a little more in Writers are Clay, Life is the Mold. It's been very interesting to read what life events have shaped my fellow Confabulator's writing, as well.

I haven't been drinking as much wine lately - I was on antibiotics for a week so I couldn't drink at all, and I've been trying to cut back to once a week, so I had to unearth some wine stories from a few years ago for Red Wine Reminiscence this past week. It's a good story, though, about one of my favorite wines: The Chupacabra from Merkin Vineyards.

Hopefully this Friday's post will actually go up on Friday, unlike last week where I accidentally saved it as a draft instead of publishing it. I've been having blogger interruptus lately. I apologize, friends. Thanks for your patience.

Promo Day Plug - Italian Wine and Breakups

Everything seems to be back on track this week, so here I am for promo day. Check me out at my other internet homes.

At the Confabulator Cafe this week, the question was asked if we've ever quit. If you've ever been a reader of my blog, you know that I have. More than once. I always come back, but usually when I "quit" I'm convinced I'm forever broken. Prospective Writer reminds me that I'm not. I recognize my cycles now: My Break-up/Make-up Cycle, which I address at the Cafe today.

At Red Wine Reminiscence, I review a delicious bottle of Italian wine, which was kind of an impulse buy, but one that totally paid off. This has been one of my favorites so far. I might have to explore more Italian wines. They aparently have the wine reputation they do for a reason! Check it out: Villa Parini - 2010 Montepulciano d'Abruzzo.

Holy crap, I've had too much coffee today. I seem to be vibrating.

I'm excited because I have a writing date with the Writing Buddy tonight! I'm hoping to get a brand new short story knocked out.

I should be back for my regularly scheduled Friday post this week. Hope to see you then!

Wine Stories

It's Promo Day! The day I plug my other internet hangouts.

It's a wine-y week this week.

It's flash fiction week at the Confabulator Cafe, and our assignment this time was to write a story taking place in one room (and only one room) of a cyber Manor we are building. We are putting it together room by room, story by story, year by year. I wrote my story in the wine cellar in 1855. Check out "Bloody Wine" if you're in the mood for a quick story.

On Sunday at Red Wine Reminiscence, I wrote about a fancy French Cotes-du-Rhone wine I drank the night of a great catastrophe. I don't care how well it goes with a turkey dinner, I think I might be giving up on Cotes-du-Rhone from now on. It makes for a good story, in hindsight, although I can't tell you much about how the wine actually tasted. Go read about it!

I'll be back Friday.

Philosophical Questions and Cabernet Sauvignon

Hello, friends. It's promo day today, where I encourage you to check out the other two blogs I hang out on every week.

This week at the Confabulator Cafe, we're being introspective. Although as writers, I guess we always are. This week we answer the big question, though. The question we ask ourselves almost every day, and a lot of people want to ask us, as well. Why do we write? The simple answer for me was that I Write So My Head Doesn't Explode. Pretty serious consequence, but it's true. Probably. Too many thoughts, too small of a head.

On Sunday, Red Wine Reminiscence had a brief post about the Castle Rock Cabernet Sauvignon I tried a month or so ago. The story that goes with it wasn't too exciting, nor was the wine, although I still do have fond memories of the Castle Rock Zinfandel I loved so much.

Hope you come back and see me on Friday. I have some super exciting news to share with you! I promise to post on time this week. I know I was very late last week, although there is the old saying "better late than never."

The Confabulator Cafe Mafia

Tonight was a night of mixed emotions.

Over the past year, my writing group has become more than just some people I write with now and then, and have become much more like family. We encourage and support each other, we're brutally honest in our beta reads, we feed off of each other's success and bolster each other when we have our own.

We always have lots of exciting and new things going on, but this month, there are two particular things, one great, and one very sad.

Tonight we had a little pre-release party for our first published novelist, R.L. Naquin. Her first book comes out July 30th from Carina Press (go pre-order it)! We're all very excited and proud of her.

But this party had another purpose. One of our family members is moving away at the end of this month, so it was also a farewell party. He'll still be with us at the Confabulator Cafe, but our monthly meetings and drinking nights will definitely feel his absence.

And so our group evolves yet again. That's sort of how life works, I know, but it's never easy. The internet enables us to never be very far away from our friends and family, though. The Cafe unites us, and really, it's a bit like the Mafia. Once you are part of the family, you never get out. You can move away, but you can't escape us. Maybe someday we'll have branches of our family all across the US (we already have one in Texas, an honorary member in Washington, and now we're conquering Virginia).

But the Confabulator Cafe will always be home. And these writers will always be my family.

Congratulations, Rachel, and best of luck to you, Larry.

You bet we had cake! (photo by Dave Dehetre)

Time for more Wine and Writing Advice

Missed posting my promo day post yesterday, so here you go:

Read all about best and worst writing advice received from all of us over at the Confabulator Cafe. There's quite a range of opinions, some of them dissenting. As always. My advice? Just Write.

Over at Red Wine Reminiscence, I reminisced about a bottle of Columbia Crest Syrah, which I drank on a night while video chatting with my best friend. We're talking about making more frequent video drinking dates in the future, which should be a lot of fun.

Come see me again on Friday for more about my life as an aspiring writer!

Some Port with your Subplots

It's Tuesday, so that means it's my day at the Confabulator Cafe. The topic this week is the importance of subplots in longer fiction. I think all of us are in agreement that subplots are pretty crucial. I mean, you could eat just a hamburger, but it's better with french fries and a soda. Or I suppose if you are a healthy eater, you wouldn't want to eat a salad with just lettuce. It's better with other veggies and dressing and some croutons, maybe a little shredded or feta cheese...ehem. I'm making myself hungry. At any rate, go take a look at my post "A story isn't just vanquishing foes and saving the world" at the Cafe. Be sure to read the other posts this week to see how the rest of the crew uses subplots.

While you're at the Cafe, you should check out some of our new site functionality. We have a tab that links to all of the different post categories, so if you want to go read all of the Ephemera answers we've ever posted, you can hover over the "Categories" tab to pick which category you want to see more from.

Even better, if you want to just read the flash fiction we've posted, you can hover over the "Flash Fiction" tab and select which story prompt you want to read. It lists all of the stories by name and author for that week.

The Cafe has been open for six months now! I'm so proud of all of our contributors and that we're still going strong and always making improvements.

This past Sunday, I wrote about my first experience trying Port wine over at Red Wine Reminiscence. I wasn't much of a fan, and I'm not sure if it had to do with the wine selection - the Founders Reserve Sandeman Porto -  or port in general. I'm not sure if I'm brave enough to try again. Sadly, even over a month later, we still haven't finished the bottle. We even tried to pawn it off on our guests on Father's Day. I should have just sent it home with my Dad. He liked it, at least.

I've been enjoying the wine blogging as much as the wine drinking. It's given me a chance to practice my photography skills, as well. I've been having fun coming up with artistic shots. This photo contains the boyfriend's awesome wine rack.

Thoughts on Writer's Block and Wine

My posts for the week are up at both the Confabulator Cafe and Red Wine Reminiscence!

At the Cafe, read about why I think writer's block is a real phenomenon in my post The Semantics of Writer's Block. Be sure to check back all week to see what the rest of my writing group has to say about it; the opinions vary drastically.

When you're done, you can read the much lighter review over on my wine blog of one of my new favorite wines, the Lomas del Valle 2010 Malbec.

Come back here and visit me on Friday, where I'll talk about how Camp NaNoWriMo got rained out for me, but how the month wasn't a total bust.

I Heart Flash Fiction

I love flash fiction more and more every month that we write it at the Confabulator Cafe.

I love being able to tell a full story in a quick little bite. Deciding exactly what details belong and which ones don't matter enough to be left in. I love to play with word choice. It's easier to work on the crafting of sentences when you only have 1,000 words to make them with.

It's also given me the opportunity to explore my darker side. The thing about horror is that reading (and writing) an entire horror novel can be exhausting. It takes a lot out of a reader and a writer to have to constantly maintain that suspense and continually add more horrifying things. In a short story, you don't have to sustain it for long, so it can be short and intense and then you can put it down.

Every time I sit down to write flash fiction, I'm worried my idea will be awful or won't work, and some weeks I don't get it done until the night before it goes live. But I'm four for four now and I'm happy with every story I've written. It's given me a lot of confidence in my ability to write. And even edit, since I have to be so meticulous when it comes to a 1,000 word story.

One of the best parts is, I am developing a portfolio of short stories, so I've been able to pick my best ones and start sending them out to anthologies. It's great practice, and once a writer has something published, it's easier to get the next thing published. Not to mention, submission is a goal I've had for years. Now I've finally done it. Twice!

The last part that I love about it isn't so much about me or my writing career, it's about my love of reading. I love to see what stories come out of the minds of my fellow writers. They just blow me away every week. And I find the stories ever so much more enjoyable knowing the faces and the personalities behind the tales.

Maybe after a year or so of all of us doing flash fiction, we can collect all of our stories and put them in an anthology of our own. I'd love to found the Confabulator Press someday.

Spooky Stories and a Lovely Bottle of Zinfandel

Today is the day I promote my other blogs, so let the shameless self-promotion begin!

I need a picture or icons or something for promo day. I'll work on that for next time.

So it's my favorite week of the month at the Confabulator Cafe. Flash fiction week! Once a month we all get a writing prompt and have to write a short story in 1000 words, give or take. This month our prompt was to write campfire stories; the kind of spooky stories you would tell while sitting around a campfire. So far, my fellow writers have managed to scare the bejesus out of me, so if you're up for a case of the chills, head on over to the Cafe and read the stories so far, including my story "The Fools on the Hill." Make sure to stop in all week for your daily cup of horror from the rest of the Confabulators, as well.


On Sunday, I posted about one of my favorite bottles of wine so far: the Castle Rock 2006 Zinfandel. It was a gift from my best buddy on my birthday. My only regret about this bottle is that I didn't crack it open sooner! And that it is all gone now; this wine was consumed in less than a week. To learn more about the bottle (and my birthday hi-jinks) head on over to Red Wine Reminiscence.

Poetry and Wine

It's Tuesday, and that means it's my day over at the Confabulator Cafe. Come see what I have to say about poetry (and stick around all week to see what my fellow Confabulators have to say, as well) in my post called What Rhymes with Poetry?

And if you find yourself thirsty, you can read about my latest wine conquest that I wrote about on Sunday at Red Wine Reminiscence, in my entry about the Sabor Real 2008 Toro.

Because poetry and wine go together pretty well, in my opinion.

Even if I didn't particularly like the bottle I reviewed, and my favorite book of poetry is Zombie Haiku.

According to my new regime, I should be back here on Friday, so I hope to see you then!

No more broken promises

I know I've made promises in the past about blogging more frequently, but as you may have noticed, I've never actually followed through.

I'm about to try once again to be a more active blogger.

These days I have three different websites where I live. One of them is here at Prospective Writer, albeit not as actively lately. I can be found a little more actively (in fits and starts) over on my wine blog: Red Wine Reminiscence. I try to post once a week on Sundays, although sometimes it is a month or two between strings of posts. And the last, most notable place where you are guaranteed to see me every week is over at the Confabulator Cafe. I blog every Tuesday at 11am at the Cafe.

That's three places where I hang out in cyberspace, so if I wrote a blog for each site week, you would get three touches from me each week.

My hope is to link to the wine blog and the Cafe from this website, so this one gets a bit more action.

I have my reasons for doing this, mostly because if I am required to write a personal writing blog once a week, it keeps me a bit more accountable. I should do at least one thing a week to make further steps towards my goal as a professional writer. I've stagnated lately, and I feel like it's time to get back to it.

The other reason is, I am a huge nerd, and just ordered Confabulator Cafe business cards. I decided after writing down the web address for the Cafe on slips of paper on two separate occasions, it was time to get more professional. On this business card, I also include the links to my other websites.

If I am going to start promoting my sites, I'd best start reliably providing content.

So the goal will be to post a wine blog review on Sundays, my weekly spot at the Confabulator Cafe on Tuesdays, and an update on my progress here on Fridays.

See you soon, friends. Be sure to visit Red Wine Reminiscence on Sunday!

I'm a Writer

I've always been a writer

One month ago I announced that I was giving up on my dream to become a published writer.

I've done a lot of thinking since then. I received a bunch of pep talks and encouragement from my writing family. I explored alternatives to editing my full length novels, primarily shifting to short stories to submit to magazines and anthologies. I've made attempts towards that in fits and starts and haven't gotten very far. I continue to write about writing for the Confabulator Cafe. I finally started reading the memoir I wrote two years ago and never looked at again. I've reconsidered the idea of self-publishing.

The conclusion I've reached, in the one month after giving up on myself?

I will always be a writer. Even if I'm in a fight with writing, even if I'm taking a break from it, even if I never publish anything or make a dime, I will always be a writer. It's who I am. They say your job doesn't define who you are, and that's true. I'm not an administrative associate. I am a writer.

It doesn't have to be my job to be who I am.

I don't know where that leaves me on the quest I set for myself, though. What is the next step? I don't know. I just know I was a bit over-ambitious when making my writing goals for this year. I got overwhelmed by all of the work I suddenly made for myself, and I wasn't entirely prepared.

So I took a step back. And now, hopefully, I will start taking baby steps forward again.

My very first step? Find a literary magazine or anthology for a horror short story I wrote several years ago. Once that is submitted, I will work on another short story. And then I'll submit it. And then I'll write another one, and submit it. And then, maybe I will have heard back about the first or second one. And then, if they were rejected, I will submit them elsewhere. Rinse and repeat.

And hopefully I will start writing every day again. I found a book at Half Price Books on Sunday, and I think it is exactly what I need to get started again: The Writer's Book of Matches - 1001 Prompts to Ignite Your Fiction. If I can use a prompt every day, whether I write a paragraph or a page or a short story or a novel, I will write for at least 1001 days in a row.

I know. I'm being overly ambitious again. But if this can help get me past my slump, it'll be $8 well spent.

I'm now picking up the pieces leftover from my breakdown. I'm getting it together and I'm getting back in the saddle, as it were. It's only February. I still have time to salvage some of my 2012 writing goals.

And I'm only a little worse for wear.

The Second Year

I turned 31 on Saturday. I had a lovely birthday, filled with good wishes and all of my favorite people. It made my transition from being just 30 to being IN my 30s a little less overwhelming. I think 2012 is going to be a good year.

A year ago Saturday, I made the resolution to focus on my writing career. I set the goal for myself to be published by the time I turned 40. It's hard to believe the first year is already over. Only nine years left to make my goal a reality!

But I made a lot of progress towards my goal in 2011. It was to be my year of creation, and I went above and beyond my expectations.

• I finished the second Sally Prescott adventure story
• I wrote a 30 pages Doctor Who fan fiction piece
• I transcribed a story I started to write by hand several years ago that I'd like to finish
• I finished my 107k word draft of Monsters of Lawrence
• I finished my 55k word draft of Online Dating for Demons
• I became editor and contributor for the writing group's Confabulator Cafe website

I pushed myself and accomplished more than I thought possible. I'm starting to believe that maybe I can do this whole writing thing.

Yesterday I made up a list of New Year's Resolutions like I always do, and the first half of them were all writing related. I have my goals set for this coming year. It's to be the year of editing. I will continue to create, but I want to focus on the rewriting process. I know I can write. I know I can finish a full length novel. Now let's see if I can clean up a novel to the point where I can start querying it. Maybe by this time next year I will be negotiating contract details. Hah.

Here is my list of writing goals for 2012:

• Edit Monsters of Lawrence
• Edit Online Dating for Demons
• Edit Sally Prescott and the Haunted Treasure (and post to Scribd)
• Write and submit 3 short stories to literary magazines
• Write at least 2 writing blog entries a week for Prospective Writer (you are here)
• Write at least 1 wine blog entry a week for Red Wine Reminiscence
• If/when novels are cleaned up to final draft status, begin the querying process

I will also have my hands full with writing and editing for the Confabulator Cafe, but that's going to be a ton of fun and a great experience. My writing group is amazing.

So my December hiatus is overwith, which means it's time for me to buckle down again. I have a few more manuscripts from fellow writers to read and give feedback for, and then I have to decide which novel to begin editing first.

Requests?

One last thing. I've got to put in an official plug for the group's new website! We're all very proud and excited for it. You should all come see us at the Confabulator Cafe. Meet the great people I get to work with and learn about the craft of writing. You'll be looking inside the minds of local writers and get to follow all of us on our writing journeys. I'll be posting every Tuesday, and we will have original content Monday through Friday. Leave comments, ask us questions, and enjoy the many different perspectives on life and writing.

www.confabulatorcafe.com