I’m back home after a trip to the pharmacy. Waiting for the muscles relaxers to uncoil my lower back. The spasms, a product of FCAT testing and too many hours sitting, sitting, sitting. So now, I’m laying. Knees up. Trying to type.

I’m re-reading SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson. Wondering why it’s taken me so long. Trying to figure out why she used present tense. Melinda feels so real. So alive in her desperation. Is that because it’s in present tense? Or maybe it’s simply the fact that LAH is a master storyteller. The best. Once again, I’m totally lost in the story.

I’m trying to decide if my WIP should be in present tense. Re-writing a few chapters. I email LAH. Ask her why she chose present tense. Immediately after hitting send, I am embarrassed. I’ve been on this writing journey for over five years. A newbie I am not. Yet, such a newbie presumption that she would have time to answer.

I ask myself, why did I ever conceive that contacting her was a good idea. It comes to me…

Books are my friends. Authors are my friends. I’ve met many great ones. Mostly from Florida. They are people like me. People that understand the desire to re-write, and re-write and re-write. People who are excited at the prospect of being alone, only a book and computer to keep you company. People like me who get so lost in their characters that they forget where they are.

I find an author I enjoy and I read everything. I read all their books. Their blogs. Try to figure out what makes their writing so amazing. So hard to put down. In cyberspace, I feel as though I know the author, when in reality, I do not. They are my friend. But they are not.

So, I apologize for the newbie mistake. Wonder how often it happens. And know it’s often. Even now I have people beg me to tell them how to go about writing a book. How do you answer? It’s not easy. It’s not overnight. It takes practice. It takes work. Then more work. And, if you’re lucky, you’ll reach a point where you can let go and say it’s finished. And if you’re really lucky, someone will agree with you.

So today, if my back will let me, I’ll re-write more of my WIP in present tense. Try to figure out if I’m just putting on an unnecessary coat of paint with distracting embellishments, or if indeed the makeover makes the story come alive so the reader is compelled to sit down, relax, and spend time in my imaginary world.