Adventures at Home and Abroad

It's been a challenging time for my hobby...with Glass Warehouse closed, I just work by myself. Which, 90% of the time, is just fine. But every once in a while, I need help or advice...duh. Becky MacKenzie from GW is organizing an open studio series at D&L Glass, which sounds exciting. I don't love the idea of driving to 52nd and Pecos, but I'll do it anyway. I found this design (the left side of an antique English window) and decided to try it. My challenge was to combine multiple shades of the green glass for the leaves, so that it looked somewhat organic. I think it worked!

I've switched from writing to stained glass lately. Here's one of my early projects. I love the color.

I'm struggling to begin Chapter 1 of the second story in my Elvira Grey series. I've thought through a possible new story, thanks to hours wasted down the rabbit hole called newspapers.com (LOL). I do love reading the Woodland Daily Democrat, circa 1892-1893. It's painful for my eyes and I feel like I need cheat er glasses for my bifocals, but one gets the sense of the language, the happenings in the community, and the topics that seem important. And the advertisements are extremely helpful! In fact, I think I've come up with a great idea, and it's based on an actual situation. This book will  focus more on women of that era: Elvira and Ada, of course, but also other women of different classes and ethnicities. And prostitution. And religion. And flawed people. Now if I could just type a few words into Scrivener.

I'm polishing my completed manuscript of A Certain Deceit so I can send it to editors and agents. I was incredibly fortunate at HNS-2017: I pitched to two editors and they both want to see it (one partial read and one full read). I've gone through a hard copy, looking for nits, correcting grammar, and identifying any holes/issues to correct. I've had two other people read parts as well. It has taken me almost a month--I wanted to be careful and precise, not gloss over things. I bled a lot of red ink all over my text, then went into Scrivener and made my revisions. I copied my updated text from Scrivener to MS Word, chapter by chapter, and scrolled through each document, so I could see Word's editing function. This feature is handy and points out things I might have missed. I thought I'd done everything carefully. Then, as I'm preparing to send out the partial request, I saw an error! A big one, in the scheme of things, because it was on the third page (...

Dad came for his annual visit last week (he left today). The man is 83 years old and he's a golf-a-holic. Which means that John and I get to follow him around our course, spritely at the beginning and dragging by the last round. This year was no different, despite his health issues. We played one 9 hole round and three 18 hole rounds in five days. That's a lot of golf...I feel like I'm overdoing it if I play 2-3 times a week. He's a perfect example of someone with a passion and a goal. Each morning, he set goals for his overall score, the holes he'd improve upon, mistakes he'd avoid.  It was admirable, since my goals usually involve survival, or not dropping out after nine holes. I played fairly well, better than last year, so I was happy. I know it makes him happy to see me playing well. John played even better, which, after twenty years of being tortured on the course by my father and brother, was the most satisfying of all.

One of the Saturday sessions at HNS-2017 resonated strongly with me. Susanna Kearsley spoke about "Twin-Stranded Storylines", a subject I needed to hear about, since I tend to enjoy books that employ this technique. And I thoroughly enjoy her novels. However, before I get to the guidance she offered, one thing she said made the entire room laugh, then go quiet, as each person processed her simple piece of wisdom. Susanna said that when you're researching a project, just tell people you're a writer. Don't hedge around why you're asking nosy questions, or trying to find weird details (my words) from someone. In her experience, that admission--I'm a writer--breaks the ice, and then people bend over backwards to help. She acknowledged those words are difficult to say (and I would add, even more difficult to process if you've never allowed yourself to believe it). Her presentation was professional, well-organized, and thoughtful. The advice she offered ...

I volunteered at HNS-2017, and wow was that a smart decision (LOL). I hesitated before clicking the button during the registration process. What if the time commitment took away from my experience? Conflicted with sessions I wanted to attend? Or was just a hassle? But I took the plunge and now, in retrospect, I'm so glad I did. None of those initial worries occurred. In fact, I think it added immensely to my overall experience, especially since it was my first time at HNS. I met people right away...really! Even if my interactions were brief, I enjoyed making contacts with writers. learning about their work, or commiserating with them. After the first afternoon, I spied friendly faces, sat with acquaintances at sessions, and learned from them, many of whom were more experienced than I am.  And, I enjoyed helping attendees register or find their way, which was gratifying. So, next time, I'll click that button again!