Thanks to my friends here...

3/1/2012



Thanks to my friends here, I'm back to writing and re-writing my new

murder mystery..

Cheers..Joe...

Well done, Joe! Good luck with it!

3/1/2012

Shelagh..

Thank you ! On the top of eachj page I put

a picture of the main character....



Cheers..Joe..



CLARA LAYTEN MAIN CHARACTER

Dear Joe,
Did you draw the picture you posted here of Miss Clara? You know that you are not just another pretty face. I believe in you.
Love,
Betty

3/1/2012



Betty..

Thank You ! The picture was drawn by a friend and I

watercolored it, that's how I imagined Clara Layten, a snoopy

supesluth with a cat who's a riot..



Cheers..Joe..

Sounds promising, Joe. Keep at it.

Good for you Joe.

You are an inspiration. I have lost my muse; I am not writing.

Dear Diane,
You know how long it has been since my muse has visited me! I have not sat down to think, to write, to imagine for a long, long time. The farm, the money, the everyday routines have been my excuses. I have a list that I could blame for my lack of imagination and story telling. But, it boils down to that I had lost my enjoyment of writing.

I finally figured it out, though. Before I thought someone would read what I wrote, I wrote willy-nilly without thought of money or ratings or publishers. I just wrote it all down as is came out of my head and heart. I was free to make any number of gramatically horrid mistakes, any number of run on sentences, any number of fragments. Once I began to try to write to be GOOD at writing, I lost all the joy of the writing.

God bless Sport, and you.

Love,
Betty

Work like you don't need the money.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance like no-one's watching.
Sing like no-one's listening.
Live like there's no tomorrow.
Fear like a stone.


I might add, write like no one will read it.

Love,
Betty

It's so much easier to do writer-directed writing than reader-directed writing. At least, that's what I learned at a seminar at Rice University back in 1980. It has been true for me, at least. The trick is to keep going with writing just for the sake of writing, then shift into reader's mode when you reach a point where you have something you are willing to share. And, eventually, you reach another point. You write something you feel compelled to share. And if only one or two people read it, that's OK. You took the risk and put it out there.

Joe, you and Clara are old friends. Getting to know what she is doing these days cannot help but be a good thing.

Keep on keeping on.

Ann

3/2/2012

Ann..

Thank You ! The ending will be a shocker !

Here's the book cover Shelagh helped me with.

Cheers..Joe..

Excellent cover, Joe. It grabs attention and is clean.

Betty, I know how you feel about writing. When I am not inspired, I can't write. I cannot force myself to write - it just doesn't work for me.

Joe, I eagerly await your Clara story. I am particularly fond of cozies, and I know you'll write a good one.

Betty and Diane, you can't let the muse die. She won't. She's just in hiding. She wants you to come find her.

Abe, we don't lack inspiration. But we've got to open the door and let it in.

Listen to Ann. Whatever she's doing, it works. You want inspiration? Read Ann's stories.

Listen to Shelagh. She writes wonderful stories and is herself an inspiration. I'd fall in love with her, but Judy wouldn't let me keep her. (I already asked.)

Don't listen to me. I don't know my ass from Ninth Street. Particulary at four in the morning.

Al,
you'll have to get in line concerning Shelagh, although your youth has a decided edge with pursuit. Then there is the wife death-threat. At the end of the race it may depend on who survives only to be done in by the husband.

Thank you, Al. That meant a lot.

Ann

LOL! Al and Abe! I had a laugh yesterday. We played golf on a course close to Cardiff (Cottrell Park). A group of four men allowed us to play through. I hit a good drive, a good second shot and a 179ft third shot into the heart of the green less than twenty feet from the flag. When I played my third shot, one of the men said to my husband, "If she did that to me, I'd never speak to her again." I'm still laughing.

That is funny.

Good for you, Shelagh.

Nice picture, Shelagh. You look so professional.
Al, take notice that she carries clubs with her and knows how to wield them.