Summer Workshop Submissions

I spent some time this morning combing the websites of some of the summer writing conferences and planning my strategy for applications. I have the first part of a novel that I can excerpt for submissions. I will probably apply to three and will try to get them all in as soon as I can.

I've been to Napa Valley once in 2009 and greatly enjoyed that. I've been wait-listed at Squaw Valley three times. Maybe four times will be the charm?

Don't quite know why but's it's given a little spring to my step to think about getting to go to one of these workshops. Always inspiring and I've meet such amazing teachers and writers. And of course one of the big benefits of having my own law practice is that I can put these things on my calendar and have some control over protecting them.

Fingers crossed.

Date With My Alter Ego

I'm ready to go. I've dusted off my promises to myself about writing schedules and word counts. I've selected a project I started about two years ago that I still feel a lot of juice for. I've reached out to writer friends to arrange meetings and start to be accountable.

I've resurrected the writing schedule that has worked for me in the past -- 5,000 words a week, with the week starting on Friday. I used to have a regular writing group on Thursday night that always left me enthused and bursting to write. I would go to breakfast by myself before work on Friday and get out a thousand words easily. Then I just sailed through the weekend and didn't have that much to do on evil Monday through Wednesday. So I'm going to do that again even though I no longer have my Thursday night group (both of the other writers have published the book they were working on in that group).

So, here I am on Monday night of the first week of my new schedule. I have written 2,867 words so far. That's good. So -- when am I going to find time to produce the other 2,123? I just sent Outlook invitations to myself for Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning. An hour and a half scheduled, just like a client appointment. In fact, the name I put in the slot is the writing alias I have used since I was eight years old, when it seemed vitally important that I select a pen name. I'm not going to disclose that name here other than that it has the initials "KAD" (imagine by surprise when I was a partner in the law firm where those were the initials of the managing partner...). Every computer I've ever used for writing has had a "KAD" directory for my writing. I have boxes of notebooks and drafts in my house labelled "KAD" and I have used variants of the name for household computer passwords (to be husband's displeasure). And now I have appointment booked for myself on my office calender with KAD. I hope to treat her with the respect and highest regard I treat any client.

I'm Back -- Best Books of 2011

I'm back after a long absence. I opened my own law practice in the summer and I was greatly surprised at the amount of creative energy it took to get that up and running properly. So I did very little writing. I did, however, keep up with my reading. I even got my first Kindle and am working on discovering how I best like to read books.

As it came to the end of the year I realized I miss having a platform like this to record my thoughts and ideas on writing and reading. I also realized I do have the energy to put into blogging again. Listing my favorite books of 2011 seems like the right way to come back to this.

These are not all published this year, just ones I got around to reading this year. I had great difficulty cutting the list to 17 from the 102 books I read this year. In no particular order:

The Guards -- Ken Bruen
The Mistress of Nothing - Kate Pullinger
Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese
The Essence of Style: How the French Invented High Fashion - Joan DeJean
Nature Lessons - Lynette Brasfield
The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty - Sebastian Barry
The Forgotten Waltz - Anne Enright
State of Wonder - Ann Patchett
Just Kids -- Patti Smith
The Line - Olga Grushin
The House in France - Gully Wells
You Are Free -- Danzy Senna
Birds of Paradise - Diana Abu-Jaber
Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgiveness -- Alexandra Fuller
Life - Keith Richards
Bravura: Lucia Chase and the American Ballet Theatre - Alex Ewing
The Language of Flowers - Vanessa Diffenbaugh