West Side Gang Tuesday

 
It's hard to believe I've been going to my writers' group since 2010. The critique group meets twice a month, and I'm usually there unless I'm out of town.

I didn't get any other pictures today, so this is what you get. But it's a good choice to demonstrate a quality day because their comments have helped my writing to grow so much.



In other news: I wrote a short chapter and continued trying to organize my thoughts for the next one. Got the exhaust on the car repaired. Continued preparations for leaving.

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Tea with Cindy

 
Did something today I haven't done for probably 20 years. I was invited to an afternoon tea with a bunch of ladies, and I actually went. This is because it was to have a chance to visit with a member of our writer's critique group, West Side Gang, whom we have not seen for quite a while.

Cindy (on the right) has been battling a serious health issue, and agreed to come to a tea at Seema's house after a therapy session. She told me it was all right to take her picture, and we all think she looks great after all the months of treatments.



We did all the things you would expect. We chatted, we chatted some more. We shared other health stories (never sure this is helpful to someone who is ill, but Cindy seemed to be OK with it). We talked about the arts in general. We talked about writing.

We ate delightful sandwiches and treats provided by Seema (whose picture I did not get, unfortunately), with some really good tea (in my opinion).



Cindy read us a humorous, but true, story she had recently written and we laughed a lot. That's always a good thing.

We probably tired her out too much before her husband picked her up, but hopefully it will be worth it to her for the memories of time with friends.

In other news: I wrote a chapter and maybe, maybe, maybe came up with the missing plot piece that DMS Mistletoe needs to complete the story line. That should make the writing go better.

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Editing and Tooting

 
Ha, ha! Made you look just to see what I meant, right?

Just about all I've done for the past two days is edit Dead Mule Swamp Druggist. I took a short walk each day to keep my joints from turning to concrete, but I'm on serious wordcraft overload.

The MS will go to my Beta Readers tomorrow, and I've got it almost ready.



The tooting? No, my digestion is fine; thanks for asking!

I quote the late Gospel singer London Parris, who always said, "He who tooteth not his own horn, it shall not be tooted." I know, I know, this isn't exactly the way one shows humility, but once in a while one needs to say a positive thing or two in self-promotion if an indie author.

And, I present the source of the tooting with great humility. My West Side Gang writer's group has heard most of the chapters of all the Dead Mule Swamp books. They provide constant encouragement and some great critique. It's a great company to be a part of.

Today, I've been going through all the notes they have made on this story over the past months and incorporating changes, fixing typos, etc, etc. Of course, as author, I don't have to use every change they suggest, but quite often they catch things that seriously need changing. Sometimes the way someone else reads a phrase will impart a different meaning than I had in mind, so I'll need to fix those to be less ambiguous. And on and on...

Here are some of their comments:

"This is a fun story- I really want to know what is going to happen."

"The first person point of view is smoothly done without a lot of 'I's."

"I like that funny Adele," and "Great dialogue. That Adele is still a character."

"Pulls me right in."

However, this is my favorite set. These are all from the same person:
on Chapter 8- "I like this and am really curious as to where it is heading."
on Chapter 33- "like the story but am pretty sure I know where it is going.
on Chapter 44-"I like where it's heading but I really have no clue as to where that is."

Music to a mystery writer's ears! Keep 'em guessing.

If you plan to get the eBook, you can pre-order at Amazon, B&N, Kobo or iBooks for delivery on December 26.

If you have signed up for the email newsletter, you will receive Chapter 2 for free next week (see link in header). Chapter 1 can be read at Shark Bytes and Tales.

Now, I need to get back to the task- I'm SO close!

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