bohemian season: Be reckless when you write!

Be reckless! Be a lion, be a pirate when you write!

This is one of my favorite quotes from If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland. It's actually a chapter title, but for me it stands alone.

I have been writing like a pirate lately. Things have been stirring....

1. I had two story ideas brewing since December. I called them Project A and Project B. I'd been working on Project A, but then about a month ago I switched from project A to project B (a difficult decision). I hope to share more about that soon...

2. Then I started trying to write at least 2K words a day or work for 2 hours a day. It's a time consuming aspiration, but the focus is doing me good. Most days I can do it. Although home cooked meals and exercise have declined. Oops.

3. I sent several pages to a friend to read, which was stimuli to see things from a fresh perspective. I'm not quite ready for hardcore critiquing yet - I need to stay in my bubble a little longer, but I feel like I dipped my toe in the pool.

4. Then a Google search for critique groups led me to a Texas Writer's League conference in late June right in my backyard. It's a chance to learn more about publishing, agents, queries and all of these things that make me shake in my boots. It still feels a little premature, but I registered for it. Knowing me, it would always "feel" premature. I need to jump in... SPLASH! and start learning wherever I can, and I'm not willing to wait until 2011, so I'm doing it now.

So all of this added together has given me an even greater sense of urgency and narrowed focus around writing.

This means you may see a little less of me 'round these blogging parts. I don't know yet... I don't know how much energy I have to go around. It's all a grand experiment.

Don't think I've fallen off the planet. I'm still here, I'm just on a big game safari, hunting for the wild words that I need.