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Book Blogging From #SFWC18

  Sunset in San Francisco

is remarkable when there are clear skies, warm temperatures, and you are drinking a glass of wine at the Top of The Mark! This is what they are all out there talking about when they say, “be in the moment.”

I am a nearly 50 year old woman, with an empty nest, a husband at home I love, and a dream I’ve had since I was in the 5th grade. I am a writer. With or without an agent, with or without a published book, I am still a writer, and I still dream to live a comfortable life as a writer….and live happily ever after.

From the time I read my first novel without my teacher selecting it for me, I knew I was going to write. I can thank V.C. Andrews for Flowers in the Attic, in planting that seed. I chose that book from a shelf of many when my dad said to go select a book and read it in his office until it was time to go home, when I was 11 years old.

I had to pass time at my father’s deli and he had a paperback book shelf. I went and grabbed the book for it’s cover. As a librarian, I know book covers sell books! Maybe I should have gone into graphic or book jacket design, but anyway it sold me at 11 years old. I only looked inside the book because the cover was amazingly haunting and engaging! The story proved to be just the same.

Anyway, here I am more than 3 decades later, and I still have the same dream. I am in San Francisco, California, gearing up to pitch agents on Sunday about the book I’ve written as a genre/ romance fiction about the Valley Fire in Lake County, California.

Funny note: Tonight I was at the networking party and milling around. I bought a glass of wine, bought a few books, (after all, it’s not hording if it’s books), and basically killing time until I collapsed in my room for the night. When who do I see as I’m about to leave, but the agent I pitched my book to a year ago at the Redwood Writers Conference, Laurie McLean! She loved the idea of my book then but I only had a 1/2 written manuscript and she only looks at completed manuscripts so I had to wait until it was done. Well, I decided to talk to her briefly. Not an easy task! She is the director of this conference and very much in demand. So I see she acknowledges me, laughs and shakes my hand, almost like she remembers me but I’m sure she couldn’t remember why. Then another presenter from the conference approaches her and it’s all over. My brief connection is lost.

Not overly dismayed, I politely retreated from the conversation and made my trek upstairs a flight to the elevator that would take me 8 more floors to my room. I was tired anyway. But who do you suppose was running to the elevator to join us but Laurie McLean! This time I decided it was a moot point to so late in the evening discuss work. We simply joked at how damn tired we all were. She left at the 5th floor and I smiled on the way to the 8th, realizing it was very early in this weekend to obsess about missed opportunities. I will have plenty before I leave. It’s only Thursday night.

  SFWC 2018

has started out with a bang. I reconnected with a friend from two years back. She is the one lady that talked me off a cliff last time I was at the SFWC pitching agents and nearly hyperventilated! Good times! I also met new friends from New Zealand, and Morgan Hill, California. Writers Conferences are a great place to collaborate with fellow writers, and I am so grateful to find my people. The next three days should prove to be very interesting!

Stay tuned to information on how this all pans out. As many of you already following know, I’m here to try and find an agent that fits well with me and my book.

Wishing you all love, light, and joy! From San Francisco,….. sleep well y’all!

*All pictures taken by me, Patti Diener.

2017 Blogging, Christmas, and a Literary Agent!

Reflecting is normal

as the year comes to a close. I’m sure we all do it. These past few years I’ve felt like life has accelerated to the rate of hurry up and do what you really want to do, speed. I worry about running out of time.

I started this blog to build a better book. It was intended to get the word out that I was writing a book about the Valley Fire, and to include my friends and community in this journey I’ve been on since the fire happened in Lake County. As we all know, California has since been on a rollercoaster journey of tragedy, loss, rebuilding, restoring, and finding faith and strength where we’ve least expected. At times writing allowed me to vent, in other times though, I lost my ability to express myself entirely. Those of you whom it has hit hardest will understand what I mean.

But the remainder of the country isn’t exempt from their own tragedies. With hurricanes, tornados, shootings, and other acts of terrorism, we live in an uncertain world! It’s come to the point I don’t even want to turn on the news. So how do we move forward without living in fear? What can we do to make things better?

HOPE!

There still is hope! Each day I wake I feel hope for a good day. I believe it starts with me so I try my best to be in a good mood and make the day good for myself, my family, my students, and friends. The ripple effect is real!

This holiday season has continued to bring hope. I decorated less and spent more time helping where I could. I truly enjoyed my friends and family more this year than I have in years past and made time for people I hadn’t in a long while.

In Murphys, California

we have friends we rarely see. They are a good solid 4 hours away and have lives just as busy as ours. We all attended the funeral of a mutual friend earlier this year and asked ourselves WHY we didn’t make more time to see one another. It was agreed that funerals were not going to be the only time we saw each other anymore, so on the first weekend in December, 7 of us drove to their house in Murphys, California, and spent the best time going to the town’s annual Christmas event. The entire town was open for shopping until late in the night, with fire pits lined down the main street of town, and lights on every building. A festive parade started it off, then hot chocolate, mulled cider, food, and wine were around every corner. Children in costumes ran by us as we stopped to talk with strangers around the warming fire, and my husband fell in love with a hound puppy. Christmas magic was all around and we ended the night visiting around a fire back at our friend’s home, reminiscing about old times.

This was the trend for our season, visiting with friends, doing things we never made time for in a long while, and just slowing life down to enjoy the moment. Each weekend was spent with friends and family.

I tried to think of what I’d write about this Christmas. I mean, really what hasn’t already been written about the holidays? The best I came up with was I found that even as I’m nearing 50 years old, (probably why I feel like I’m running out of time), I still feel curious about the world. I don’t feel this milestone birthday will make me depressed or anything, it’s just I am realizing we don’t live forever, and it’s kind of nice that I can still say my curiosity for life is as strong now as when I was a kid!

Moving into the New Year of 2018, I have so much I’m looking forward to! For starters, I’m going with my husband to visit our first born in the Portland, Oregon area soon and I can’t wait to see her. Children have a way of growing up and having their own lives whether you like it or not. But the excitement of a new city will be fun and I look forward to her playing tour guide to her parents. She only just moved there after Thanksgiving, but hearing the joy in her voice each day we talk makes me happy for her to begin her new life.

  The time we spend

with our family is always precious. Soon I will have an empty nest, (youngest moving this month), and instead of being sad, I’m finding hope for a future of new experiences. Staying curious!

Since the book is basically done, I am in the dreaded editing phase and it’s my least favorite part of writing! The romance novel taking place in the aftermath of the Valley Fire is finally going to be pitched this February at the San Francisco Writers Conference. Here’s a sample pitch………needs work but here goes:

After losing his fiancé in a terrible car accident, an embittered excavating contractor is sent to a rural town to help clean up after the Valley Fire and not only falls in love with the community, but with a local girl as well.

Synopsis: When Gabriel Hart came to Lake County, California, after the Valley Fire burned over 1,000 homes, all he had in mind was to help rebuild the community, not fall in love. But when his job put him up in a local hotel, he saw the most enchanting woman with green eyes!

Helping the fire victims to clean up their home sites on Cobb Mountain, Gabriel happened upon this woman once again. Sarah McKinney was helping her friend sift through the rubble of her burned home site just yards away from where Gabriel was working. Could it be fate?

With both Gabriel mourning the loss of his fiancé, and Sarah’s untimely loss of her young husband, the two find an unexpected bond that is undeniable and ignites a passion like no other! But will haunting pasts, long distances, and a secret Sarah keeps stand between their true love?

 In this story of catastrophic loss, community support, and renewed hope, two souls try to mend their broken hearts while assisting those who lost virtually everything in the fire.

So wish me luck my friends and followers! I hope all my editing between now and then will polish the book so it’s ready to submit.

Many blessings to you all in the New Year of 2018! Stay hopeful, stay curious, spend much time with loved ones, and slow your life down to take care of yourself! Remember to breathe, and always drink the good wine, and read a good book!

A Scar Heals Stronger

Loss changes a person. Loss of any kind. It changes the very fabric of our being. But like a scar, sometimes it can grow stronger where it left it’s mark. For others, it simply never fully heals.

These past few months have brought to mind the truth that we are all here for a finite amount of time. What we choose to do with that time we are given is usually up to us. However, sometimes life changes direction and blows our sails in the opposite way from where we wished to be. The struggle to get back on course can be daunting.

Community is something I have found to be a constant. Sometimes we shut it out, sometimes we long for it. I have found myself at both ends of this rope. When times become difficult it can be very easy to slip into that pool of darkness, slowly drift away to a place of solitude. But it’s dangerous to stay there for long! Reaching out when we are at our lowest can be the biggest struggle of all! Living in a small town, I have come to realize more and more, that community is the greatest blessing of all.

The light that touches us when we are brave enough to reach out, can save us. In moments of great loss, of any kind, we often are unable to find our way to move forward. But lately, I’ve seen how compassionate this world can be in the midst of great tragedy. You will be able to move forward again only when you open yourself up to those who wish to give to you.

When we are most vulnerable, we often also are feeling unworthy of anyone’s help. Pride can block healing. But the people of our community in Lake County, have banned together on so many occasions these past few years to bring help, hope, honor, and grace back to us, that if those who need it would just let go of that pride, they would find something even stronger. It’s love.

Breathing again, after loss, comes one conscious breath at a time. But eventually the fog will lift. It does blow away, and if you can look up from grief, you may find that there have been people from our community there all along, helping you to breathe once more on your own.

Gratitude comes when you can see miracles in the smallest, everyday things. The sound of birds when you awaken, the smell of fresh coffee brewing, the smell of fresh cut grass, or the sight of an evening sunset. These things are there but when you really become aware of them, they can awaken you.

This blog started after the Valley Fire, and was primarily to help me gather thoughts for the book I’m writing. Oddly enough, it’s turning out to be mostly a book about the love of a community! The loss that so many had from the fires over the last few years is what prompted me. But after these past few months, the human loss of friends, relatives, community leaders, and icons, has brought me to this blog post. I simply want to say, I am so proud that however damaged our community has been, it still rises up to help each other through the storms.

A safe port for those searching, is usually right in front of you. Don’t be afraid to reach out. I believe I have experienced divine intervention many times in my life. Today I was driving home from our ranch, thinking about writing this post, and Marc Broussard’s song DON’T BE AFRAID TO CALL ME, came on and I found myself crying. I knew then what I had to do.

I believe it was intended for me to write this today, if even just one of you out there reads this. Maybe my words were meant for you. Remember, wherever you live, and especially in small town communities, there are always lots of people willing to help. People that want you to feel loved. People willing to help change the winds in your favor. It might not be the place you first set sail to, but it will hopefully be a place, (physically or spiritually), you can feel safe and call home.

Where the heck have I been?

  It’s been awhile

since I have blogged. Life has gotten in the way and my New Year’s Resolution of better time management has worked just fine for my “job,” but my “LIFE,” not so much! Guess I need to prioritize now.

I read the opening line today of John Steinbeck’s, Travels with Charley, and I was almost brought to tears! It reminded me that being an adult with adult responsibilities often has some stigma attached that you should do the things in life that are viewed by others as “stable.” Well what if what I want to do is somewhat unorthodox or to some, even scary? Here is what John Steinbeck said:

When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch…..

We all know that with John Steinbeck, this was far from true and he was never cured of this ailment. No matter what “they” said, he was always fevered with the urge to travel. For me, it’s the urge to write. But who has the time?

My daily life is very full, and draining I might add! So by the time I arrive home and do the usual chores, or God forbid, add to my routine the need to attend a meeting, or shop before going home, I am spent! There is no extra time for my writing and it has drug me farther and farther behind than I had imagined. I still have to finish the end of the book and have it edited. It’s really all I think about!

The thing that I love is giving me anxiety and that is worrisome. I say that because, I will always write. ALWAYS! But I don’t want the one thing I love and adore to bring me stress. Writing is what I’ve always done to relieve stress. Now I worry that the choices I make in my life, (because I’m middle aged now), might possibly be keeping me from achieving what I really want to be doing. Time management is not only important now for my daily life in getting things done, but also, because when one reaches middle age, you start wondering how much time you have to do all the things you really want to do.

 I want to be a novelist!

Looking at the youth of today, I try hard not to envy those with their whole lives ahead of them. There are always things everyone would do differently if they knew then what they know now. So I strive to stay grateful instead. I have to learn everything possibly about the publishing industry in order to get my book out, and a positive attitude is the only thing that will move me forward.

So where the heck have I been? I’ve been learning, reading, and living my daily life in between. Writing my book is my great joy, but that isn’t happening as often as I’d like. What a wonderful life it would be to be able to write daily for a living and not have to clock in for “work.”

It’s close. So close I can taste it! And I have made a decision, that if the literary group I’m targeting decides not to pick me up, then I’m going to self publish and get this book out. I’d really rather have the backing of a literary agent, but I’m not so set in that idea that I would wait an additional year pursuing a literary group. I will give it a limited amount of time, then set out on my own, if necessary.

And there you have it, my friends! That’s the scoop on where I’ve been and why I haven’t blogged in quite awhile. It’s a process, that’s for sure. But I will continue to keep you all abreast of the situation and take you all on this journey with me as it unfolds. Hug your loved ones, love your life, and pursue your dreams! No matter how big or small, we are all here for a reason. I don’t believe we’d have such strong emotional ties to our dreams if we weren’t meant to try and fulfill them.

I’m Still Here!

  Hey Everyone!

Happy New Year! I’m still around and held one of my last two interviews I need for the book, this morning. Things are looking good for me to be in the final stages of the writing process for the manuscript. Then the fun stuff begins………. editing! UGH!

Upon logging onto my blog this afternoon, I went into it from just Google, looking to see how easily it would be picked up. I didn’t log on using my administrative URL, (cool computer lingo), and wanted to see what everyone else would see. I WAS NOT HAPPY!

Somehow, back in NOVEMBER, (yes I let it go that long), I made a change to the site without realizing I had. That just shows how completely UN-savvy I really am when it comes to website setups stuff. So apparently for the last month and a half, people that found my site initially saw a huge blank screen that simply said it was the HOME SCREEN! How freakin’ embarrassing. Not to mention unprofessional looking. Bummer for me! Let’s just hope no swanky publishing company or fancy literary agent was looking at it during my hideous screw up!

But I am hoping it’s fixed. Lesson being, look at your work from ALL view points and check your blog more often to see if your site is down or, in my case, just screwed up.

So it’s back to work for me. Keep praying for OUT OF THE ASHES to be published in 2017! It’s my goal this year. I’m shooting for a traditional agent/publishing house relationship, but if I cannot find a good fit, I will publish it on Amazon. Either way, you should all be able to read this baby soon.

May the year 2017 bring you all hope, happiness, love, and peace! Practice gratitude whenever possible, and find joy in the everyday, little things.

ENJOY!