Thank you for looking for me here. My blog has moved to: www.SherryAHudson.com

See you there!

I can't believe it's been so long since I blogged, but it has been.  I don't know where time goes, do you?  However, we all realize at some point in our writing career that we've been remiss in some area, like blogging, checking our favorite writers' blogs, or just keeping up with the here and now in publishing. 

While this past year has been a difficult time for several reasons, I have been busy with several rewrites on promising articles or stories. My downfall would be I avoided seeking representation because ... well whatever reason my silly brain came up with to procrastinate. It's easy to hide from responsibility by procrastination. Nothing new, right?

So, one of my critique groups came up with an idea to post to each other our goals for the WEEK.  Even though we only meet once a month, we keep up with each other on a regular basis.  We intend to put our goals out there, and update what we have successfully completed at the end of each week.  That puts enough pressure on us to make it happen, and/or to learn how to set realistic goal for ourselves so we don't feel like we have failed... we will cheer each other on to keep trying.  I love the idea. I also love the passion of these writing friends.

Number One Novels spotlights authors and their novels. This month's spotlight is on "Kevin Hearne" and his novel "Hounded", his first in the "The Iron Druid Chronicles". The description of his characters is fascinating and promises lots of action; I can't wait to read it.

Recently I attended my first writing conference - the SCBWI INDIANA CONFERENCE. It was intense, fun, and a great learning experience. I met some new friends, and enjoyed attending with writers from my critique groups.

The critique with an editor was too short but helpful. I don't know that I did anything right in the interview, but given the time of day, I was exhausted as was my brain, so nothing that came from my mouth made sense. Dare I say "babble"? The editor's written comments are worth a lot to me and will be taken seriously when rewriting my first novel.

The monthly critique groups will be the help I need to polish my work, and I am thankful they are all in my life. THANK YOU SO MUCH CRITIQUE GROUPS!

Until later, keep writing.
Sherry

I feel like I am back in the swing of things - writing things that is.
I finished my rewrite of my novel and it is ready to mail to a publisher. I have reworked my priorities to research publishers for my articles and stories that are ready for a home. Then while all of those are circulating, I will take my next short story or article and work on it to until finished, then find it a home, and so on. You get the picture.

I have to mention that last night I visited with a critique group of seasoned writers. It was the most awesome group of talent and I felt so honored to sit among them as a visitor. A very big thank you to all of them for allowing me to be there.

I am recharged and ready to jump into my writing again. It feels so good.

January 2011 is nearly gone with my new writing schedule sliding by without one single new page written. I find myself surrounded by so many ideas and works in progress, that I have no direction. Confusion on what to do next has overwhelmed me and I am severely off track. What to do? Time for a new list of priorities or I will continue to swirl in this pool of procrastination and confusion.

1. YA novel has been written for two years now, and although I have queried several agents, I haven't made that last pass through on rewites yet. What I have done is change the names of the two leading characters, so it seems fresh with new people in the works. Maybe that will help me while working on it yet again.

2. Make a list of publishers or agents to query for this novel, and DO IT.

3. Take my second novel in progress and spend one week on doing nothing but brainstorming on making it better, filing it out, etc., while my first novel queries are out.

4. Make a list of publishers or agents to query and DO IT.

5. While queries are out on my two novels, take the magazine articles/stories I have worked on and make a list of publishers to query for each one, and DO IT.

6. I have so many piles of projects that when I read about a new agent or publishing opportunity, I can't attach that information to the correct project. As soon as I do the first two things on my list then I must organize my projects, how to find them quickly, keep the list of publishers and agents with those projects, so I don't have to go back and keep looking them up. I have done this with my novel queries but not my magazine information.

7. Meet other local writers and hopefully connect to a critique group, to re-energize my writing, find support, and share the love of writing.

The procrastination period is going to stop here and now, just as soon as I sign up for the IN-SCBWI conference. : )

I didn't do so well on NANO this year. Partly due to being ill for about 10 days following the Thanksgiving holiday, but before that I tried and tried to stretch it, filled in more stuff, etc., but it just didn't work for a novel. The good thing with my NANO writing this year is I came up with a great short story instead of a novel in the first two weeks of writing. I will consider that a success. My congratulations to all who did complete their 50K words.

Following the busy month of November, comes the hustle of holiday shopping, wrapping presents, baking cookies and all that other good stuff. Since I am hosting our family's Christmas this year, I started early and am moving on to the next big thing: groceries for the big event. That will probably cost more than all the presents combined. Yikes! However, I look forward to my family gathering here to share food, gifts, and love.

Much to my embarassment is my lack of writing since mid November. On top of all I have mentioned is the fact that my husband bought me a Pandigital Novel for an early Christmas present. I can't get away from all the fun stuff it can do along with re-reading some of my favorite novels already loaded on my reader. I know, these are all excuses, but reading is so much fun when you are settled in next to the Christmas tree, watching the birds eating from the feeders in about six inches of snow, and a cup of hot chocolate with marshmellows, of course. I also know this would be a perfect time to write too. So I will promise myself this; two days reading, two days writing, and snacking on goodies every day.

Ho Ho Ho and Merry Christmas followed by a happy, healthy, and productive New Year to you all.

It is that time again; time to write 50,000 words in one month. Thousands of writers will try to write a new novel (rough draft only) during the month of November. Last year I managed to put down about 40,000 words, so I was not disappointed in my efforts. If I do the same this year, I will consider it a success. Watch my count with the NANO counter I have linked to my blog. Hope it works.

Best of luck to all who are entered in this challenge.

Parents are always telling their children what their childhood was like compared to what it is like now. While we remember the good and bad of our childhood, our audience wonders how we survived without all the electronic gadgets, instant gratification of fast food, or computers that control the lives of everyone today. I remember our first telephone, our first TV, and other firsts that kids can't imagine not having been around since the beginning of time. (That's why they think we are older than dirt.) I felt the same way about my parents and their stories. But, isn't that how we pass on actual events in history and our roots? While small children may not be that interested in our stories now, as they grow up, they begin to ask about their family's past and all the stories that go with it.

Let's keep those opportunities open. Tape or film conversations with your parents or grandparents to pass on to your children and grandchildren. They in turn can pass it on to their children. It is a way of preserving personal history and how life used to be.

Well, it is finally time to do some queries for my book, "Into the Fire". I have re-written and re-edited enough to put it out there for review by an agent, I believe.

I would love to have an agent who thinks the girl next door mysteries are more interesting than vampires. Don't get me wrong, fantasy is great for young and old, but there's something dark about vampires that I have never wrapped my head around.

I think kids of today do want to read about others who have it hard like them, who put up with poverty, predjudices and ignorance, and they also want to see those characters rise above life's hardships. It gives them hope.

I have hope that I will rise from a new writer to a published author too.

Best to all you new writers out there.

A week in upper Michigan was the rest I needed to get my creative juices flowing again. While I did take my computer with me to write a little each day, the other pressures of daily life were left behind. Beautiful blue lakes, fish jumping, colorful sunrise and sunsets all made for a picture perfect vacation. The strawberry festival that began the day before we left offered up quite a surprising delicious treat. I have had strawberry shortcake before, but none quite like this. Yummy is all I can say.

One thing that will remain in my mind, however, is how friendly the people were. Everywhere we visited folks greeted us as if we were old friends. That said, I came up with some characters for a possible short story or two. (Smiling)

Write on.

I am sure someone else has already found this great way to edit their writing, but for me it was a new idea. My opening chapter is not up to par, and I knew I needed to start it at a different point in time, perhaps open with the main mystery which originally began in chapter three. However, nothing I have tried seemed to work. So I got this idea to tape record my reading the first chapter and see what I could do with that. It was an eye opener for sure. What I found were some points that didn't need to be there right now (dragging it out), and I could also hear the parts that really brought the character's problems to the front, creating a better hook. Back to the drawing board. Beginning writers might try this and see if it helps.

This summer sure took off with a heatwave, didn't it? On Father's Day, my honey and I decided to drive to the lake near our home. We have had tons of rain and the lake was flooded, so we wanted to take a look. After a while we decided to stop at a little place that overlooks the lake, and have a bite to eat. Sadly, their air conditioning was not working, but the overhead fans did help a bit. There were only a few people there when we sat down, but it soon filled up as folks left the lake for some food. To my surprise, I looked up and saw John Mellencamp and his beautiful wife come in. They sat near us and I had a good look ; ) While admiring my view I hadn't noticed everyone there got their orders/food before we did (because they had lost our order). Finally after an hour we got our food. In the meantime, I made the most of the time by mopping my brow and watching this super star. What fun.

What does this have to do with writing? Well, I think maybe a funny story about a young fan of a famous person becoming obcessed with autographs, photos, sightings, starting an online fan club for local members etc. might be in order.

I love it when a new story is born by accident, or was it really fate? Happy writing!

Can we all say HOT? Sunny Ft. Myers is averaging high 80's to 90 this week, and I so appreciate airconditioning. The evening walks along the beach are great but it ends tomorrow when I fly back to Indiana to prepare for my two granddaughters' graduation party at my house. One graduation will take place in Tennessee, the other in Indiana, but the party is soon after that and I have a lot to do.

However, it won't stop my writing. I must make time to continue editing my manuscript. As I said in my last blog, the colorful markings require attention to polish my manuscript before moving on.

All writers out there, keep your writing a priority, have some fun, and enjoy each day of your life.

Sherry

Last week I read in The Writer's Magazine, (information I have read a dozen times before), about the importance of avoiding passive verbs, and other weak words, and such. Well, I decided that I would test my novel by searching and changing the color of fonts for each type of problem. I also highlighted sections consisting of telling (vs. showing) and I am still working on that part. I can't believe the colorful pages of my novel! The colored font is peppered all over my pages...I am so appalled! If you asked me if there were any of these problems on my manuscript, I would have said, "A few, I am sure." HELLO. Now that these problems are in my face, a complete rewrite of the problems must be addressed before I query another agent. If you are a new writer and wonder if your manuscript is clean, try colored fonts and highlighting to track areas that might need to be updated. It works. Time for me to go.....good luck on your critiquing.

Sherry

Last night the first real thunderstorm of the spring season slammed through our fair state. Lightning and wind were prevelant along with the thunder-booms. Luckily we did not have any damage, but some of the state was bombarded with golf ball size hail. Since my husband just bought a new truck, parked in our drive, I am very thankful we did not receive any hail. He would have had a cow! However, since the TV dish network was out, I did have some time to work on my writing.

Today, when I cleaned up my desk, I realized I still had some work to do on my writing database, which is taking more of my time to learn than I had anticipated, and I have so many projects waiting for me to find a home for, that I feel overwhelmed. There is so much out there in internet land to read and learn about, and great blogs to follow, that I sometimes think it takes away valuable time to write. On the other hand, it is wonderful to have all that help and advice from those who know about writing. I am grateful for the opportunities, and especially grateful to those that share with new writers.

Back to work....

Today I found this site: "Dear Lucky Agent" contest by Chuck Sambuchino, at http://networkedblogs.com/1Th5v , and of course I am going to go for it. All instructions are listed at this site, so check it out. What an opportunity for new writers to have their work introduced to an agent. Thanks for the opportunity, Mr. Sambuchino.

I am following some interesting groups on LinkedIn. Recently a really cool web site was opened by David Nicholls. He created a place for aspiring writers to post their e-books for purchase. It is really neat to be able to get in on the ground floor of this service. If any of you are interested in putting your work out there, go to Lebrary.com, and check it out. Just wanted to share this with you. Time for me to get back to writing. Have a great weekend.

It's that time of the year when all football lovers will be glued to their TV's or someone elses. Parties will abound and cheers and tears will follow. As for me, some of my family will be here to watch the COLTS win another Super Bowl while we feast on whatever we dream up. Whatever it is, we are sure to overdue it and have some fun together. GO COLTS! All you writer/football fans out there...enjoy.

Since I have finished my first novel, I thought maybe I would put a few blogs on some of its content. The title is "Into the Fire". It is about a sixteen year old girl whose life is turned up-side-down, the challenges she faces, and the mystery she is drawn into that nearly costs her the life of her newly found boyfriend as well as her own life. Here is the first blog:

````````````
I hate her, Alex thought, as she kicked at the pile of folded boxes stacked in her doorway. I don’t know why we had to move here. Grandpa could have come to live with us in Chicago; there was plenty of room for all of us there, not like in this old farmhouse. How am I supposed to live in this tiny, old room, she asked herself, looking around?
Alex tried arranging her things in different ways, but there just wasn’t enough space for all of it. Her dad’s stuff was still in place from when he grew up here, and she didn’t feel right in removing it; she didn’t want to disturb the memories of him. The blue and white quilt on the bed, and the hand-braided rugs that her grandma made, were just as her dad had left them. She looked around at remnants of her dad’s life growing up in Pineville: pictures of him on the basketball team, one of him with his arm around his little brother Ben when they were just kids, and one of him on his pinto horse, Patch. His sports trophies for basketball and football were lined up on a shelf. When Alex picked one up, dust that had collected over the years floated into the air. She rubbed her hand over the worn dresser where her dad had carved his initials many years ago. His room told a story of his life, just like my room would have been all about my life, but now that’s gone, and Daddy’s gone, and I am stuck here, she thought.
```````````````
That's it for the first blog... any comments or critiques?

Oh, boy. It is January 16th already and I am soooooo far behind in my writing. So I am starting here, on my blog, first. January 16th is my daughter's birthday AND my granddaughter's too. Since our family has six January birthdays, I hosted a dinner last night for the fam. My dad turned 86, praise the Lord, my daughter 42, my granddaughter 11, my son-in-law ?, my brother-in-law ?, and of course myself??? We had a lot to celebrate and a lot of great food to make it even better.

Well, now on to my writing. I am finished for now with my rewrite of "Into the Fire", and will work today on my second story. The outline is already in place and I need to move on with it. Having outlined that one, two more ideas for stories come to mind... if only I could write on all of them at the same time. Anyone figure out how to do that? I can't wait to get into them all and see where they go, but that would mean none of them would get finished, I would just be writing in circles, and probably get all the characters mixed up. That would be a hoot, wouldn't it. Reading along about one person and all of sudden everything changed, including the plot. LOL.

Better go and write now. All of you out there have a great day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! Wow, my birthday has come and gone this weekend, and I want another day just like it. My husband was out of the house, helping a friend all day, I showered and put back on my pj's, sipped my french vanilla flavored coffee, and watched the snow come down. Then I read a little, watched some old movies, and even finished up the 100th (give or take 50) rewrite of my novel "Into The Fire", which is a teen mystery. I just can't seem to find enough scenes that will add flavor to the story and boost my word count to at least 50,000. It is about 39,000 words now but that's it. Does anyone out there think that will be enough to interest a publisher??? Worry, worry, worry...I just don't know.

I have a presentation coming up this month, for a writing class of fifth graders. Planning some fun stuff, and a reading. Wish me luck. Fifth graders are smart, I know because my granddaughter is in fifth grade. They look at adults like they are a joke sometimes...(but then, so do I).

I need to do some sarching for a publisher, or someone who might want to represent me, and begin to shape up my second novel. I am anxious to get that one going. I think I am going to call it "The Unusual Gift" for now. It is a story of a teen's struggles with life's hardships, how he touches everyone's life around him in spite of his problems, and the gift he receives in return.

Bye for now and happy writing.

I can't believe it is December 31 already, and the day is quickly passing. I made a promise to myself to get better organized before the new year, at least with my writing. So, today I cleaned off my desk, organized my supplies, books, and magazines. Now I need to update my computer files, particularly with my writing submission dates, rejection dates, and any comments from publishers. The next thing is research more possibilities for my novel. Since I need to work on the manuscript before I query anyone again, I have that as a high priority. Some of my reading is behind too, so I need to put aside my evening down time, and catch up on all those magazines. My problem with my writing magazines is I get through about two-thirds of one, put it down, then don't get back to it until another one comes, and I do the same with that one. I can't bear to not read them all because they have so much great information in them; so they are piled up. The lsst thing I need to do is put all my current projects in order on my desk, so I can find the one I want to work on, and know it is all organized together.

Well, I need to start reading, so you all have a very happy new year, and I will talk to you next year!

Ah, the first real snow of the season. Just sitting here, writing and watching the snow coming down outside. It is blowing a bit too hard for me, but still, the snow is so beautiful. I was feeling kind of sad today; my sister from Tennessee has been home for a few days and leaving tomorrow morning to go back. I have enjoyed visiting with her and our other two sisters this past week, but now everyone goes back to their every-day lives. The snow somehow finalizes this transition.

I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season, and are looking forward to the new year with all it's possibilities; I know I am.

Well, November is almost over and I fall short of my goal for NANOWRIMO. I believe if it were any other month, it would be easier, but that's just an excuse. What really happened was a death in the family which took several days from my writing, and justly so. The other was the holiday that took another two days from my time. But, again, some would say they had it worse, and that is probably so. I stopped and didn't start again, and that my friends, was my failure.

So what did I learn from NANOWRIMO? I learned that I can write a scetch of a novel in a month if I wanted to. (It may take a year to edit, but that's not the point.) I also learned about perseverence and what you can accomplish when you set a schedule and stick to it. I learned there are a lot of writers out there that are just like me, with their weaknesses, their procrastinations, their determination to win, and that they all cheer each other on. Thank you for that.

While I didn't accomplish what I set out to do, I am happy with my first try at NANO, and will try it again next year for sure. For now, I am going to take what I wrote and finish it, and then put it into some form of a novel. I am clearing all the clutter from my desk and setting some new goals starting Dec. 1 of this year (not waiting until January 1). December will be full of distractions but I will set goals that can be accomplished, and take into account the season.

Seasons Blessings to you all.