The sun is shining, the cicadas are singing, the river is slowly finding its way back into its banks, the cat is asleep beside me (it’s the middle of the day, where else would he be?), and it’s time for me to settle down and work.
Except I don’t want to. I have a tendency to have a million things on my plate and when that happens, I try to play with all of them. So I make lists. That isn’t helpful at all. It just reminds me of how much I have to do. I prioritize. But then I usually run into a situation where five other things need to happen before I can work on the next item on the list and … whoosh, I’m back to being stall-foundered.
Stall-foundered. It’s not a real word. It’s two words. But it was one of my mother’s invented words and I like it. I didn’t know it wasn’t a real word. It had been part of my vocabulary for decades (I’m THAT old). I used it one day when I was working with a friend and he looked at me like I was nuts. “What?” I demanded. “It’s not a real word, Diane. Look it up.”
Whaddya know. My mother did it to me again. She had this gloriously immense vocabulary. Mom could come up with a word for anything … until she couldn’t and then she just made one up. (My goodness, I can get sidetracked.)
I’m at the point in the latest story where there is about to be a turn in the action. It’s a pivotal chapter. Those mess with me. I know what I’ve already written (good for me, right?) and I know what the end of the story is going to be. I even know where the action is taking place in the next few chapters here in the middle. I know the characters and the general plot line. But, what I don’t know is what shape the pivot point will take. I realize that I need to just write through it, but that is a lot of hard work and I’m feeling a little rebellious right now. It’s my go-to response, you know.
Last night I got excited about selling signed copies of my books through my website. That created a bit of a panic-storm as I had to pull out lethargic brain cells and force them to work. I tormented my poor brother, hoping that he would bring his rather hefty programming skills to the table and just do it for me. No such luck. He was willing to listen to me whine and help from a distance, but I was going to figure it out on my own. I’m smart enough for that. He’s a stinker.
But I did it. Now you can order Kindle and Paperback versions from Amazon through my site or, with Paypal, you can order signed copies from me! Right here on this website! Click on a book cover from this page (The Bellingwood Books in Order) and you will be taken to another page with ordering links galore. If you order signed copies, a shopping cart will show up on the right side of the page and you can check out when you’re finished. How awesome is this?! (It’s awesome, trust me.)
Now, if you’ve ordered copies personally from me in the past and sent a check, that’s still a wonderful way to do it. There’s nothing I love more (honestly) than the sweet notes I receive in my mailbox. Sometimes they make me a little emotional and I feel like I’ve just been hugged. I just wanted to make this option available to everyone out there because I have the technology!
Next on the list for my website is finding a way to introduce the Bellingwood characters to everyone. I haven’t figured out exactly what I want that to look like. There’s a lot of information about the characters and quite a few connections between people. The list of characters, both major and minor is pretty extensive, so I can’t just toss them out there without a little bit of organization. Entering Bellingwood through the books is kind of like moving into a new community. There are a lot of people to meet and get to know. Some will always sit out at the periphery, others will become friends, while still others will only be acquaintances. I’m going to develop a way for you to see who they all are and figure out how they interact with Polly. It’s also going to be extraordinarily helpful to me as I progress through the series. First comes the organization part, though and I’m not there yet. But, it’s happening in my head, so it will happen on paper pretty soon.
Okay, it’s time to get to work. Or maybe I’ll play with the cat. Either way, it will be fun.
