First Post of 2011

Well, again, it's been over a month since my last post. As a writer and publisher, I really should do better. And of course, this year, I once again resolve to do just that! My goal is to post to this blog weekly. We'll see how I do...

I'm currently reading Julia Cameron's The Sound of Paper, subtitled Starting from Scratch. Since the 9th of this month, I have taken the morning pages to heart (although they may not always be in the morning, depending on what life is throwing at me that day), and done that daily since - 9 days and counting!

My artist date last week was a humble one. I picked up the latest copy of the Sacramento News and Review to read on my way back to the office from Starbucks. This week's artist date is attending the monthly My Girlfriends Garden event at Villa Fiorente - a winery in Auburn - on Thursday evening. This month, Robynn McCann (The Opal Within Us, Understanding Animal Voices) is speaking on the topic of Finding Our Journey. Last month, Persia Woolley - the Guinevere trilogy - spoke. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend that event.

Ms. Cameron also recommends walks for inspiration, which I am re-incorporating as part of getting back into my fitness routine. We are blessed to have a small nature area with a walking/biking trail near the house, so I walk there and see many species of birds come through, as well as other critters. Last week, there was this adorable Siamese-like cat with the prettiest blue eyes! Many times I'll see a white egret pausing in the large clearing by the road and always there are the smaller birds that dwell in the area as well.

There is a story calling to me in the Belkher Chronicles series, based on happenings along the Wise Canal in Auburn. Six men have drowned in that canal since January of 2009, many of them inebriated transients - but not all. Very much like the story line I was taking in a work tentatively titled Watery Death. Papacita started that way as well - a newspaper story caught my eye and sparked my imagination and off we went!

I have gotten as far as typing up How the Elephant Got Its Trunk from Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories series as well. Now I need to sketch the animals involved, get the layout done and get 'er published! I'm aiming to have that done by my grandson's birthday in late March.

Well, that's all the news that is news at this time - will do my best to see you again next week!

Lots of News Since Last Post

Let's see, where to begin!

I have a logo for my publishing company - Green Haired Lady Publications - done by AbsolutMudd at logodesignguru.com.

I have five published works, available here: http://stores.lulu.com/bethane41

The titles are:

Tales from the Character Realm, 2010 Edition

Theft by Character

Evicted by Darkness

Death by Delusion

Papacita

The first four are from the Tales from the Character Realm series, and Papacita is from the Belkher Chronicles series.

I also have website for Green Haired Lady Publications, here: http://greenhairedladypublications.com/

which has links to lulu.com, this blog, and the CafePress store I set up, also accessible here: http://www.cafepress.com/greenhairedladypublications

And...I have my inspiration for the next Belkher Chronicles story!

Now to just get through the holidays!

Belkher Chronicles Update

I am still working away on Papacita - and if you look to the right side of this blog, you will see a link to the blog specifically dedicated to the Belkher Chronicles.

Papacita Revisted

Well, to make good on my goals for 2010, it's time for me to get butt in chair and work on using the Snowflake Method to help me work the kinks out of several stories in the Belkher Chronicles line-up. I decided to start with Papacita, since it is the most nearly complete story of the series.

I don't like my one-sentence summary at this point, but it sounds better than the other one I came up with today. Here they both are:

The current one: The murder of a grandpa gone a-courting sends familial threads unraveling through three generations.

The one I came up with today: A boy's loss is no-one's gain when the man kills his grandfather over his father's death.

The second one better fits what happens in the story, but I guess I'll have to work on the story itself and let the summary cogitate from there.