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The revision process

on July 3, 2006

Well, it’s fourth of July weekend, and if it weren’t about a hundred degrees out, I’d be at a county fair looking at 4H exhibits. But I’m a delicate flower, so I’m inside working on revisions on the Miss Fortunes book. The basic way I go about revisions is this. I get through the first… Read More


I’m feeling MUCH better now

on June 28, 2006

There’s nothing like the end of a deadline. First, you feel as if you must be mistaken. You know that can’t be enough words, that the plot is wrong, the characters insipid, the theme obscure. Then you go back over the last chapter or two one or more time more just to make sure, and… Read More


back at 1

on June 22, 2006

Deadline. Writing. Words. Many, many words. I go now……..


words are my life

on June 21, 2006

I got to use the word concupiscent today. Okay, you might say. So what? So I’ve been wanting to use that word since I first read it in Wallace Steven’s poem “The Emperor of Ice Cream” in high school. The actual line is Call the roller of big cigars, The muscular one, and bid him… Read More


Busy, busy, busy

on June 10, 2006

I’m back on the road again. I spent the last four days in New York with Jenny Cruise and Anne Stuart wrestling “The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes” into shape. God bless Jen, she has the other side of my brain I’m missing. I’m so right brain wind whistles through the left side(that’s the linear, logic side… Read More


back to work

on May 17, 2006

So, here I am back home again after a lovely three weeks in Ireland and Scotland. I got to walk Edinburgh(did you know it’s all uphill?), ride a pony over the Gap of Dunloe in Ireland(I have to kiss my horsebackriding instructor full on the mouth for preparing me. Ponies trot, too. Badly. And considering… Read More


the road to tipperary

on May 4, 2006

this is going to be quick. i haven’t posted for a bit, because i’ve been in deadline fever–or, as my daughter so lovingly calls it, deadline psychosis. But the best news. Zeke is in! He’s FINALLY gotten his story, and i love it. The question will be, of course, if Silhouette will. I’ll let you… Read More


scoring a book

on March 22, 2006

I was talking to somebody the other day about music. Not in a general, “Don’t you like music” kind of way, but in a “What music do you play while you write a book?” kind of way. Each author finds a different source of inspiration. Some need absolute silence. Some tv’s. Some only music without… Read More


erin go bragh

on March 18, 2006

Okay, so I’m really not posting exactly on March 17. You really don’t think that a girl named Mary Eileen would have time on the exact holy day to sit at her computer, do you? Actually, my day isn’t as wild as it could be. It’s mostly a family day, where my siblings and I… Read More


a side note

on March 15, 2006

This will be quick, because I’m behind on my deadline due to a rash of thunderstorms and tornadoes that interrupted my work for two long days(no, I wasn’t affected. I can’t remember that many tornado warnings in one day through one state, though. It was overhwelming). Anyway, I thought I’d drop in a quick note… Read More