Another New Year

It's another new year, another new decade even. But more than that it's another new day. Every single day is another new day. While I realize that new days are far more common than new years, I believe that if we treat each one as a gift, we'll be far happier and get way more done. My resolution for this year is to cherish each day as it comes, to pack as much living into every 24 hour period as I can, to make as many wonderful memories with my kids as possible so that when they've moved away and I'm left alone with just my husband, I can look back on these days and know that I lived them fully. So that when my kids tell their own kids about their childhood, they can remember it fondly, they can tell their children that their parents were good parents who invested in their childhood and created joy and learning and memories.

So many New Year's Resolutions are forgotten by week 2- or sooner- but I can't afford to forget this one. My children are teenagers and I know they won't be living in my home, under my roof, for a whole lot longer. It seems like yesterday they were tiny babies, then they were starting kindergarden, and now I have one in college, two in high school and one in middle school. Where has the time gone? If the last 19 years has gone by this quickly, the next 5 will be gone in a blink and I'll have an empty nest.

Now, don't get me wrong, there are times (usually when I'm washing 8 loads of laundry a day or picking up some discarded project or another) when I think I can't wait for my nest to be empty and tidy finally. But then I have to wonder, how will I deal with the quiet all the time? What will I do with those hours I now spend cleaning and doing laundry? Will I end up being one of those annoying old ladies my kids will hate having around because I'm bored and demanding to be included in their everyday lives? Gosh I hope not. I will have to find things to entertain myself with but in the meantime, while my children are still here and I have loads of laundry to do and clutter to pick up, I resolve to enjoy it and try so very hard not to take these final years with my kids for granted.

What are your resolutions this year?

Who says Time Travel is impossible?

I just finished a book recently called Confessions of a Jane Austin Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler. I enjoyed the read, in fact it left me feeling like I actually wanted to find some Jane Austin books to read as I've never picked one up. But what it also made me realize was that through books we can time travel! Through this book I was able to spend a couple of days in Regency era England and it was quite delightful. Of all the historical type books I read, I think Regency era is probably my favorite. For example, Julia Quinn is the Mistress of Regency Romance. I have all of her books and adore them. I truely feel like I'm part of the story with my feet truely in England in a long ago time.

Civil war stories are also among my favorites. I recently picked up a new copy of one of my favorite reads from when I was in high school. The Last Silk Dress by Ann Rinaldi is a book I read over and over when I was a kid and I just finished it last week and was once again transported back in time to the tumultuous 1860's. What a wonderful adventure!

Just because we aren't going physically through time, doesn't mean we can't travel back- or forth- in time through literature. Pick up a book and go visit sometime new or sometime old and familiar.

Love At First Sight

Here's a poem I wrote a few years ago about those wonderful feelings, those amazing, confusing, crazy feelings of young love.


Endless are the ties that bind.
Love that makes a heart go blind.
Whispered words on which we dined,
In hopes they’d be returned in kind.

Feasting ‘till we fill our mind.
Leave the weary world behind.
Seek the way in which to find
The love for whom we’ve always pined.

My heart for you, has been refined.
My life, with you, is redesigned.
You’re the heart and I’m the rind,
And thus our lives are now entwined.


© By Danielle M. Peck 4/20/2005

Poetry

This evening, while my husband watched a movie I didn't care to watch, I began thinking back on where my love of writing came from, when it began and it led me to pull out the file folder containing the poetry I wrote years ago, some of it decades ago- makes me sound old, hu? That I could have written something decades ago? Anyway, some of it is pretty rough, some of it is total rubbish, others aren't too bad at all and if I lined it up from earliest to latest the growth would be obvious.

Some of these poems force me to remember times in my life that were really bad, because they're full of anger, pain and tremendous dispair. It kind of awed me that I could write something that could evoke such feeling so many years after putting pen to paper...and I began to wonder if I could do the same with fiction work. Can I create characters that will grip my readers? Can I create scenes that will transport someone from here to there? Will I be able to produce a plot that is gripping and emotional from beginning to end?

And wondering this I am motivated to try. I know that my characters mean something to me but I want so badly for them to mean something to someone else as well. I want to touch someone and bring about strong feelings with my words on paper, to help them feel something they would otherwise not have felt; joy, laughter, sadness, angst, anger, love, excitement, anticipation, and in the end, fulfillment.

So tell me, readers, what kind of emotions to you like to feel when you're engrossed in a story? What makes you feel? What kind of characters evoke strong responses from you?

In the near future I may post some of my poetry on here, just for fun, so be watching for it :)

Studying?...at my age?

They say you're never too old to learn something new...I'm not sure who 'They' is but it's probably true. I am, however, having to learn how to study and learn again. It's been 18 years since I've been in school so my study muscles have gotten a bit lazy.

What am I studying, you ask? Well, I've decided that I need to study the art of writing. I'm obviously not getting very far on my own so I'm leaning on the knowledge of those who have actually gotten published in hopes of learning where I've gotten off track so I can finish this book and submit it.

Right now I'm reading the book "Writing Romance" by Vanessa Grant and thus far it's been very helpful. I've learned a few things about what editors and publishers want to see in a romance novel, how to get started and some great ideas about plotting. Publishing is a tremendously competetive marketplace and not just anyone can make it. I'm hoping that I can be one of the ones who can. I watch my dear friend Jane Porter: http://www.janeporter.com/ release book after wonderful book and travel the world on book tours and I'm so anxious to have a little bit of that for myself...but Jane has something I don't have- drive! She is sooo amazingly driven and so talented. Her books grab her readers and hang on tight but she has to work to make that happen. Writing isn't all play and no work, it's hard and it takes weeks and sometimes months to come up with an idea and see it from 'Chapter One' to 'The End'.

The point of this week's blog entry is that you truely are never too old to learn something new. Keep your mind challenged and active and it will see you through a long and wonderous life. Study things you don't understand, master a new skill, and for the love of Pete...READ!!!

My love story

Hello again my faithful followers. As I'm in the business of writing about love, let me tell you my love story...in a nutshell.

Today is my mine and my husband's 18th wedding anniversary. It is also the 20th anniversary of the day we met. I was 16, he was 19. I was contemplating taking my own life and he rode in on his big white horse...actually it was a 1976 Ford Mustang and yes, it was white...and saved me from myself. He was my best friend for a little over a year before we started dating and ten months after that we were married. A year later our son was born and the rest is history.

Our love was built on the solid foundation of friendship. Even today we can talk about anything, love spending time together and encourage each other in our various dreams and goals. We've had hard times and will probably have some in the future too but we cling together through those times and make it through each and every one. I can't imagine having to face those times alone.

So here's to you, my wonderful husband...HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!

My Non-New-Year's-Resolution

Today is August 15, not January 1 but today I'm making a new resolution. I've been lazy and procrastinating about my writing but I had a wake up call this week...my computer got a virus and I lost everything- pictures, music, and all of my writing. :( It was a devastating loss. I had a little of my writing backed up on my flash drive but it was all older, unedited stuff.

So here's my resolution: I resolve to start and finish a book by the end of this year- get it ready for submission- and submit it before I start anything else. Work on one story at a time instead of 8 and actually finish something for a change. I also resolve to update my blog more regularly. Facebook is taking up too much of my time and I have to think of Facebook as a reward for finishing my daily tasks, I can't let it monopolize my time like it has been.

So there we go, time to prioritize and get with the program so I can make this dream of publication come true.

Do you have any dreams or goals you've been putting off? Tell me about them and tell me how you're going to make those dreams come true.

Spring is on it's way....

You wouldn't know it by looking outside right now but it's coming. It's supposed to be nearly 60 here this weekend but today it's quite blustery and gray. I'm sitting in my favorite spot by the living room window watching the birds in my yard pecking at the seed I leave dumped in piles all over the lawn. This morning we have cardinals- male and female- mourning doves, a downy woodpecker, a couple of blue jays and some others that I don't yet know the names of. I love the birds and watching them brings me such joy.

Writing is slow but progressing. I'm trying very hard to get one of my favorite stories finished. It's been a work in progress for two years and it's time I got it done. Here's a little synopsis: Logan (inspired by Toby Keith) is a country music star who is worn out and a bit discouraged. He decides to go on vacation to his favorite childhood spot in the Florida Keys. Katherine, recently jilted, was supposed to be traveling to the Keys with her fiance but ends up there alone. A celeb smitten hotel clerk mistakenly rents Katherine's room to Logan and the two are thrown together for what promises to be a delightful vacation for both.

I love this story and I'm not really sure why it's taken me so long to finish it. My biggest hurdle so far has been bridging the first part to the end. I have 150 pages written and then I jumped ahead to the end...and now I need to bridge the gap. Or maybe I need to get rid of the ending and just move on from page 150 so it's not so much about a bridge as just finishing the story.

I don't know, right now I'm reading what I have to reaquaint myself with the story. I'm sure inspiration will come to me sometime between page 1 and 150.

Do you ever write out of order or do you write linear? I tend to be linear because for me it keeps things straight in my mind but with this story I got stuck and jumped ahead to the next scene...but now I'm still stuck so I'm gonna back up and keep being linear :)

Out with the old...

2009 is on its way out- already gone in some parts of the world- and many people are saying, "Good Ridance!"

Yes, it's been a rough year for the vast majority of the planet's occupants and most days there is little good new reported in the headlines, but surely there have been some good things that have happened over the last 12 months. In spite of the rotten economy, lousy job market, strange weather, and crazy political junk going on, I've managed to think of a few wonderful things that have happened to me this year.

1. In April we settled hubby's accident claim and were able to pay off ALL of our debt.
2. In June I got my very first ever brand spanking new car- a 2009 Jeep Wrangler.
3. In August we packed up and moved from Washington to Kentucky and bought our first home.
4. My children have settled in wonderfully, and are doing amazing in school.
5. We are all healthy and have, so far, managed to avoid the dreaded Swine Flu.
6. Our first Christmas in our new home was wonderful and so blessed.

I know there are more but I'm going to stop there. We have been blessed this year in spite of all the negative things that have managed to bring many in this country to their knees and, in my opinion, on our knees is where we need to be more often.

So, what kind of good things have happened for you this year (2009)? And what do you hope for in the year to come?

The promise of a new story

Hello all!

November 1st and the beginning of NaNoWriMo brought good productive things. More than 2000 words today and a story that promises to be super fun to write. I can't give away the details but picture The Bachelor with only one woman contestant chosen by the world and she doesn't know it until she's already won...has promise...right?

I love starting a new book because there are so many possibilities, so much adventure just waiting to be discovered, love just waiting to happen.

To those of you who read my blog and are fellow writers, what is your favorite part of starting a new book? To those of you who are readers, what is your favorite part of opening a new book to read?

Leave me a comment and I'll pick someone random to send a book to.