I have revised my new novel, 6 steps to Forever, and it is now in the hands of my editor. She says I should hear back by the end of September. By the time I finished, I was pretty much drained, with no idea of what my next book would be. All of a sudden, my brain started working again with the first glimmer of an idea. Stay tuned. The working title is Heartsong.
I've started a new painting based on a sketch I did in Tuscany. I've also started a new altered book. I am scheduled to teach an altered book workshop at a gallery near me this Fall -images and details to come. All this with five Zoom sessions every week. All of my groups are meeting that way. I have a new great grandchild near me, but I haven't been able to see her yet. I hope to meet her before she goes to collage! Take care, be safe!
4 Comments
Like everyone else I am working from home. It's been pretty quiet in New Hampshire compared to our next door neighbor, Massachusetts. Several of my kids are working at home. Daughter Megan has been furloughed, not getting paid a week every month, but she hasn't lost her job.
My biggest challenge has been learning to deal with Zoom since I'm technology handicapped. Almost all of the groups I belong to now meet via Zoom: writer's group, 2 art groups, a discussion group, and yoga. I'm getting better at it, but it still feels a little strange. Meanwhile, I am working on my novel, Seven Steps to Forever. My editor made several helpful comments which have led to a major re-write. I am making progress but not done yet. Stay Safe, Stay Well. I had a wonderful trip to NC for Thanksgiving. While I was there, I finished my new novel, Six Steps to Forever. It's about a woman determined to find a husband. It's now in the hands of my editor. She told me I won't hear back until the end of February, and since she very prompt with my first two novels I know I won't hear anything until then.
Meanwhile, I'm thinking about number 4. It's only a shadow of an idea so far, but I'm going to keep noodling around and see where it goes. In a few days I'm going to my granddaughter, Amy's wedding. Amy has asked me to walk her down the aisle. I'm thrilled. I may even come up with an idea for the book. You never know where or when inspiration may strike. I went to a place in Canada in August. I only had a few days there, too short, but my goal is two weeks next summer. Sitting on the deck, overlooking the lake, is where I started my first book, Heartfelt. I wrote in longhand because there was no WiFi there, so I wrote in longhand and it just poured out. I started Sassafras Summer the same way, sitting on the deck.
I'm working on Six Steps to Forever now. I'm past the half way point. This one has been different. I got derailed from my accident and it's taken over a year to recover. I'm finally feeling more like my self, and am writing every day. I call it slow progress. The writer's group I helped start, here in Northwood, NH, is going strong. We meet weekly, year round, and have around 8 or 10 people show up. It's interesting. It's the best part of my week. I'm taking an 8 week storytelling workshop given by Rebecca Rule. She's a storyteller well known throughout New England. I'm curious to see how it might enrich my writing. I had a wonderful Christmas with family in Cleveland and Buffalo. Now I'm back to my usual activities that have started up again after the holiday season.
I am also slowly getting back to the novel I've been working on for a while, Six steps to Forever. I've been stalled as I recovered from a concussion. It's on my mind now, thinking about it a lot, blocking out the next scenes, trying out dialog, getting reacquainted with the characters. I am feeling hopeful that I'll eventually get back to myself! I will be returning to North Carolina to do a reading from my novel Sassafras Summer, Sunday September 23, 2 PM, at McIntyre's bookstore in Fearrington Village.
I am recovering slowly from a terrible fall down a flight of stairs on May 3. I'm still not driving but I hope that will change after I see my neurosurgeon in August. I have started writing again, working on the new novel, working title is Six Steps to Forever. It's hard to pick up the threads from before the accident. I'm having to reacquaint myself with the characters and the story. But I've been through this before. The writing of Sassafras Summer was interrupted when my husband got sick, and it was months before I got back to it. So I did it then, and I will do it now. I hope to see you in September. I just participated in an open studio sale in Fearrington Village, NC where I used to live. When I moved to New Hamphire in 2016 I stored a lot of paintings too expensive to move. This art sale gave me a chance to finally pull them out of storage and put them on display.
A lot of people came, friends, former costomers, students, new comers to the area and to my work. It was a very successful weekend, with many sales. Now my attention has turned to my writing. I am doing a reading of my new novel, Sassaafras Summer, at the Chesley Memorial Library in Northwood, New Hampshire on Saturday, April 21 at 1:00. And I am going back to North Carolina in the fall to do a reading at McIntyre's Books in Fearrington Village. As soon as the date is set for McIntyre's I will post it here and on Facebook. I'm way overdue with this blog because I have been getting my new novel ready for publication. The title is Sassafras Summer. The cover has been finished and approved. Here a preview for you to check out. Now I am involved with the editing process, and once it is finished, I'll get a publication date. I've started on novel #3 (working title "The Boy Next Door"), but I found that I couldn't focus on it while still dealing with Sassafras Summer. I'm pretty good at multi-tasking, but even I can not work on two novels at once. We're coming to the end of a gorgeous New England Fall. It's hard to believe that the past August was the one-year anniversary of my move here. As I write this, it's November. I'm waiting to see what Winter has in store for us. At least it will be a good time to concentrate on writing! Last week I finished my new novel, tentatively titled Love X 2,and sent it off to my editor at The Wild Rose Press. I started it more than a year ago, before my husband got sick. Then it got stalled as I went through weeks in the hospital with him. I took me a while to recover when he died, when I couldn't do much of anything.
I recovered gradually. One day I thought I'd try to turn on the computer and read what I'd written some months before. Then, a few days later, I managed to write a sentence. Later still, I thought I might see if I could write a paragraph.I had to re-acquaint myself with my characters, and resurrect the passion I'd felt when I started the novel. In the midst of all this, I sold my house in North Carolina, and moved to New Hampshire. I am starting a new life here as I reinvent myself. The same week I finished the book, I learned that I am going to be doing a reading of my first novel, Heartfelt, at Gibson's Book in Concord, NH, May 31. It seems very appropriate that we are experiencing the first signs of spring as I feel the same way inside myself. I am getting close to finishing my new novel. The working title is Love X 2. This is a first draft. There is still work to be done, editing and perhaps rewriting. When I wrote Heartfelt, I changed the beginning to make it more active and to engage the reader right away. I won't know what needs to be done with Love X 2 until I can read through the whole thing.
It took me a while to come up with the idea for this second novel. I thought about places I've been and people I've met, and how everyone has a story. I finally remembered a woman I knew a long time ago. When I asked her how she'd met her husband, she said they met at their parents' wedding. I don't remember anything else she told me but that one thing stuck with me all these years, and that became the premise for Love X 2. |
Author - Carol Owen
We welcome your comments. Archives
May 2020
Categories
"Every spirit builds itself a house, and beyond its house , a world, and beyond its world, a heaven. Know then that a world exists for you." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
|