Sunday Salon: making lots of progress

Happy Sunday!   Our weather has been absolutely gorgeous.  I think spring has sprung early here.  And with Spring comes creativity because we all seem to making a lot of progress with our various projects.  James lessons are going well and he's showing some incentive in doing things independently and Father's making progress with his latest electronics project.  I'm feeling a bit more creative myself and getting more writing done.

Left Coast Crime is having their convention in Sacramento this year from March 29 - April 1st (yeah!) and I signed up for the writing workshop.   I'm psyched because Jennifer Sawyer Fisher, a former editor for Kensington, Penguin, Morrow/Avon and HarperCollins, will teach a session on self-editing. Participants were asked to submit pages for Fisher's session.  Since I wasn't done rewriting Blue Steel's first chapter, I spiffed up Eyes in the Ashes first chapter and submitted it.  It's the one story hubby actually read while I was in the middle of writing it and really really liked from the get go, and has been wanting me to edit so he can find out what happens.   Look like he is getting his wish.  Once I submitted the pages, it made me realize that I probably should be working on Eyes for the workshop, so....  Plus it's will be the first time anyone other than hubby has seen my writing.   I have three weeks to get all my ducks in a row and review the story to see what needs to be done. 

Plus Alexandra Sokoloff will be teaching a session on using screenwriting techniques to enhance your novel. I've been following her for a long time so looking forward to it. 

ROW80 Check in's Here

So in addition to editing the first chapter of Eyes, I totally rewrote chapter one of  Blue Steel.  It still needs a bit more tweaking but it's coming all together.  So I feel like I've actually accomplished something this week.    I'm reading "Revision and Self Editing" by James Scott Bell and in the middle of chapter 2 about characters. One thing he suggests is doing a character voice journal. Just write free form stream of consciousness in your character's voice and see what happens. According to Bell "You're trying to let the voice of the character develop organically." and he suggests several questions including "What do you care most about in the world" and "what ticks you off."   This ought to be interesting.  We'll see this week if I can channel Elizabeth from Blue and see what she has to say.

I signed up for a couple more courses through Savvy Authors. For the month of March I'll be taking "The Business of Creative Writing" and in April I'll be learning how to critique through the Four Point Critique class. So happy I discovered this site. You know they've only been around 2 years now? They are doing a really awesome job.  

I'm halfway through Moby Dick and will be glad when get done with the story. Will be able to say I read it.   I read two new to me authors this week:  Lisa Scottoline's  Dead Ringer  which is one in a series of books about Bennie Rosato a lady lawyer. Pretty good, story with a humorous heroine.  Plus  The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens. First book in new fantasy series about 3 orphaned children. Not sure when the next book coming out, but very well done. 

For the month of February I completed 13 books of which all were new to me authors except for one by J.D. Robb. 

1. The Passage - Justin Cronin
2. Close Case - Alafair Burke
3. Why Read Moby Dick - Nathaniel Philbrick.
4. Trouble in Mudbug (#1 Ghost in law series) - Jana Deleon   (ebook)
5. Prime Suspect #1 - Lynda La Plante (TLC Tour)
6. Eternal Rider (Lords of Deliverance # 1) - Larissa Ione (ebook) 
7. Fade to Black - Leslie Parrish (ebook)
8. Goblin King - Shona Husk (ebook)
9. Hard to Hold (hold trilogy #1) - Stephanie Tyler (ebook) 
10. Celebrity in Death - J.D. Robb 
11. Prime Suspect #2: A Face in the Crowd - Lynda La Plante
12. Prime Suspect #3: Silent Witness - Lynda La Plante
13. Dead Ringer - Lisa Scottoline

Pretty good reading month.  This week on Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks I highlighted Gabriel Garcia Marquez since his birthday is March 6th.  My plan is to read One Hundred Years of Solitude as my G book for a to z by author challenge. 

Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house.  ~Henry Ward Beecher