Tuesday, November 27, 2007

I have SPACE!!

You heard me right, I said I have space. My very own space to do whatever I want in. Hubby and I decided to clean our room- quite a task because it's a huge room that tends to be a catch-all for stuff that no one knows what to do with. So we cleaned and low and behold we have clean surfaces and empty spots on the walls.

So, back to my space and how it came about; Hubby has this desk in the bedroom that sits at the foot of the bed. It's a good size surface and has drawers and a power supply and big lights over it. Hubby used it to work on his Remote Control cars but he's started using the kitchen table for that because the kitchen table is bigger. So he figured he'd just get rid of the desk but then I started thinking- this is never a good thing. Not only am I a writer but I'm an avid scrapbooker and I haven't been doing much of that since I have nowhere to really set my things up and work on my albums. Sure I could use the kitchen table but then I have to pick everything up and put it all away come dinner time so I just don't get it out.

Thus my brilliant idea. I asked Hubby if he was really set on taking the desk out of our room and he looked at me skeptically. (I'm the one that's been complaining that the desk takes up too much space in our room so his skepticism is understandable) "Noooo." He replies. "Why?"

"Well, I was thinking that it would make a great scrapbook station." (And writing desk when I want to get away from the kids) This last part I didn't vocalize but it was there in my head.

So here I sit at my newly cleaned desk that has nothing more than my laptop on it at the moment but the drawers are chock full of scrapbook supplies that I can now find and use whenever I want!

This is very exciting for me, as I'm sure you can tell, and I wanted to share this wonderful fortune with you all. In a house with four children, uncluttered space is a rare commodity. 

Sunday, November 18, 2007

What's in a name?

Today was the final day of the writer's retreat that I attended with Bob Mayer. It was an amazing experience and well worth the money spent. The information I gleaned was invaluable and I believe I've learned more in the last four days than I've learned all year.

We discussed, among other things, pen names. I had sort of unofficially decided to use Marie Peck as my pen name because Danielle Peck is already taken by a delightful country western singer. But Bob suggested that I use my name, Danielle Peck, as my screen name because it could be benificial and looked better on a book cover than Marie...Sooo, what do you all think about using pen names?

Friday, November 09, 2007

An Amazing thing happened yesterday...

A dear friend of mine who happens to live in Australia, emailed me with some information about a writer's workshop that takes place right here on my little island. I looked up the info and contacted the author who is hosting the event- his name is Bob Mayer- and got to talking with him about it. At first the finances just weren't there for me to go but now they are and my wonderful husband is insisting that I go. I'm so excited. Writing is my dream job and to be able to get input and knowledge from a New York Times best selling author is going to be so amazing. I can't wait for next Thursday to arrive. It's four days, here on Whidbey Island at the Saratoga Inn in Langley. What a beautiful place for a workshop!

So, my To Do list, in order for me to be ready to go, includes the following:

  • Write a cover letter
  • Write a synopsis for City Nanny, Country Singer
  • Polish first 20 pages of manuscript
  • Send all of above to my wonderful crit partners for a final polishing and do any and all necessary edits.

And you can all be sure that I'll be posting some of the wonderful information I glean from this experience! If anyone wants more information on Bob Mayer, just click on the title of this blog post and it'll take you to his website.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Another year draws to a close

Today is November 1st. The year is 5/6 over already. People over the world are starting their NaNoWriMo challenge. The United States will celebrate Thanksgiving in three short weeks, Christmas 4 weeks after that and a week later it will be 2008. Then it will be time to put into motion New Year's resolutions, force ourselves to remember that it's 2008 when we write a check or some other document that requires the date.

So what will be your goals for the new year? Do you need to eat less and exercise more? Organize your home? Finish a book you're writing, start a new book, find an agent? Learn a new skill? Take up a new hobby or maybe finish that closet full of crafts you started and set aside?

As I look at that list, I find it kind of funny that most of those apply to me! I need to do most of those things, all but the start a new book and find an agent ones.

So tell me, what are some New Year's Resolutions that you're considering?