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. 

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?

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.

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?

It's all about the dialog

Come over to Princesses Of The Pen to see what The Royals have to say about Dialog. http://www.princessesofthepen.blogspot.com/

70 Days of Sweat, update 1

How's it going, you ask? Well, if you're hoping to hear that I've written 1500 words a day since October 15, you're going to be sadly disappointed because I've barely been able to write even a third of that. Last night was my daughter's 12 birthday so that was a complete bust even though I did try. I took a shower once the house was quiet and sat down to write, only to fall asleep sitting up because I was so worn out. The rest of the week was just plain hectic. I have managed to get about 1500 words done during the week...much less than I'd hoped to accomplished.

I have learned something, however, from this experience so far and that is this: Even when I'm not at my computer, I find myself thinking much more about what I should be writing which means that when I sit down to write, I actually have something to write about. That's a good thing. Instead of staring at the blinking cursor just hoping for the muse to strike, I'm keeping that muse active throughout the day by engaging it, coming up with sub plots and scenes that would be perfect for this novella that I'm working on. That's a very good thing. I'm not ignoring my Muse then expecting her to show up when I'm ready to work. I have to nurture her and keep her actively on my side so that when I'm ready to work, she's already warmed up and ready too.

What do you all do to get psyched up to write? To prepare your brain and fingers to get down to the business of being creative?

Follow Me once more...

I'm blogging over at Princesses Of The Pen today so come on over and see what my fellow princesses and I have to say about Settings.

http://www.princessesofthepen.blogspot.com

Seventy Days Of Sweat

Yeah sweating for 70 days doesn't sound at all attractive but it holds great appeal to me because I've found myself in a terrible rut where my writing is concerned. So this challenge- write 750-1500 words a day for 70 days beginning October 15- sounds like just what I need to get my head back on the right track. The challenge actually lasts for 93 days because, unlike NaNoWriMo, you actually get some free days if you have things that come up and you are unable to write at all or as much as you need to. That's a nice perk and considering I have four children with very busy schedules, I'll probably need every one of those extra 23 days.

So, if any of you would like to join me in the 70 days of Sweat, click on the title of this blogpost and it'll take you to the official site where you can sign up.

or you can go here: http://70daysofsweat.com/wordpress/

It's Tuesday again...

So follow me over to Princesses of the Pen to see what we have to say about creating a world. Whether it's a realistic world such as the one we live in today, a world of yesterday, tomorrow or one that's entirely fantasy and will never exist in the real world, our written worlds must be nurtured and cultivated until our readers have no questions about the reality of what they're reading.

So come join us: http://www.princessesofthepen.blogspot.com/

I've been tagged...again

My writing partner in crime, Bronwyn Storm, has tagged me with the following question: "What is the most common grammar error you make?"

I'm hard pressed to pick just one so here goes:

1. Using commas where I should use semi colons and using too many of both.

2. Using the words 'then' and 'that' too often

3. Mixing up 'who's' and 'whose'

4. Run on sentences

5. Incomplete sentences

and I think I'll stop there =)

I'll tag Elle, Kristen & Anna