Category: My books

Ending a chapter

I’m ending a chapter in my writing life this week. On Christmas Eve, I received an e-mail informing me that as of December 30, 2012, Harrisburg Horizons weekly newspaper will cease publication. I have written a local history column for the paper every other week since its second issue in May of 2006. I have learned far more about the history of Cabarrus County’s Township #1 than I could have anticipated when I set out on this journey. I enjoyed doing most of the research and loved doing the writing. The little bit of income this freelancing job gave me was icing on the cake.

It is time to start a new chapter, or perhaps return to an unfinished chapter as a writer. The manuscript for The Spanish Coin, my first attempt at writing an historical novel, has been on the back burner far too long. It is time to look at it with fresh eyes and get it published. It is time to look at other avenues of writing and see where that road takes me.

As I count down to my birthday in January… one of those dreaded birthdays that ends in a “0,” it seems fitting to take stock of what I have and have not accomplished and step into the next chapter of my life with boldness and enthusiasm!

A Day in the Life of a Freelance Writer

Making time to write has been a challenge this week.  I haven’t gotten enough sleep, a carpenter or painter has been here everyday, breathing paint fumes, poor air quality outdoors due to this heat wave….  It has been difficult to sit down at the computer and put any words “on paper.”

My goal for today is to take the research I did for a series of newspaper columns about an 1849 meteorite and write a 2,500-word piece to pitch to an almanac.

I entered the opening pages of my manuscript of The Spanish Coin in a writing contest this spring.  Two of the three critiques I received in return were disappointing.  It is taking me a while to get pysched up to work on that project again.

I’m currently reading The Testament, by John Grisham.  Other recent good reads:  The Help, by Kathryn Stockett (my new all-time favorite book!), The Postmistress, by Sarah Blake, several Jodi Picoult books, and Not My Daughter, by Barbara Delinsky.

It’s time for me to get to work on that meteorite piece.