If you missed Nathan Bransford’s blog yesterday, you should go over and take a read. It’s good stuff as he talks about the Ten Commandments For the Happy Writer.
And here’s a quote from the above mentioned blog post:
You don’t have to quit your job to write. There is time in the day. You may have to sacrifice your relaxation time or sleep time or reality television habit, but there is time. You just have to do it.
I couldn’t agree more!
Anyway… It’s Friday! I love my Fridays. It’s the best day of the week.
With all the controversy of Facebook (I had my say, too), I thought I should post a little something that sheds some positive light on the social network. I know some of you won’t go there, and I totally respect that. But for me, it’s been a really fantastic connecting experience.
Long ago, when I first starting writing there was The Writing Life, a message board on iVillage. I met several people through this forum that have since become long-time friends (Leigh and Devon, for example). At the time, I was a very green writer, starting my first novel. It was a magical fantasy and I hadn’t a clue as to what I was doing. This was all before I joined Romance Writers of America, before MySpace, Twitter and Facebook. When the Internet was barely ten years old.
The moderator of the board was a really awesome lady with whom I became friends. Eventually, I became a co-moderator. And while I was moderating The Writing Life, I got my first paid gig: writing a serial for Keep It Coming ezine. Eventually, I had to give up my moderator duties. I moved on to other things. I started to get published. But I remained friends with the moderator for a while. We lost touch which usually happens when you only know someone by their email address.
But then…Facebook comes along. And there’s my long-lost co-moderator! We finally reconnected after…oh…nearly ten years. I’m not sure if The Writing Life is still around (Update: JudyB tells me she’s still at the helm of TWL hehe). But it sure was good to “see” my old friend JudyB again.
Since being a member of Facebook, I’ve networked with a lot of other writers and high school chums. My ballet teacher whom I haven’t heard from in, oh, twenty years, found me. Facebook may not be right for everyone, but it’s right for me, right now. I enjoy reconnecting with people I haven’t talked to in years. I’ve found it much more useful than the virus-infected MySpace.
In other news… <segue> I’ve been working away on Phoenix this week. I realized I need a map of my city because I need to really describe it when they people are in it. So I’ll be sitting down with some library books of Ancient Rome and sketching out my city. I love the way the story is going. It reminds me that yes, I’m still a romance writer. I can’t help it. Despite the fact I’m dying to write Fantasy, Romance just keeps creeping into my stories. One of these days, I’m going to yield to that and fully embrace it. 🙂
Board meeting tonight, soccer game this weekend. We’ll be busy. Gotta love that. More edits on the horizon, I’m sure!
Happy weekend, all. 🙂
There’s plenty of room for romantic fantasy! Go for it!
I think that might be my calling!
Facebook can be amazing when it comes to networking and re-connecting with long-lost friends, like say my friends from Kindergarten and elementary school. Hehe.
I mapped out my fictional town. When I sell, I plan to write sequels, so I wrote a two-page directory of churches, bars, real estate office, etc. I’m a pantser, but I needed to be grounded in the town before I could start writing.