A Writer's Workspace

Since starting this blog in February 2010, I've managed to post something at least once a month. Not wanting to break my streak, I've cast about for something quick to say today, and I've decided to share my idea of "getting away from it all."

Some writers adjourn to the coffee shop when they need a change of scenery. Some go to the library, or the park. I live and work in the country (where it's normally very peaceful, except when the neighbors across the road fire up their industrial-disco-strength sound system on a Saturday night). Very occasionally, I take a notebook into town and work in the library. Mostly, though, I prefer the fresh air of the countryside.

So when I need a change ("A change is as good as a rest," as the saying goes) I set up in the tool shed that my husband built for himself. Little did he know that it would prove to be the ideal place for me to sit and edit a manuscript while I soak up the sun. Even when it's 45 degrees outside, the south-facing doorway of hubby's tool shed is warm. So warm and sunny, I got a sunburned nose in early February as I sat out there and lost myself in revisions of my fantasy trilogy, WATERSPELL.

Right after the shed was finished, I moved an old bentwood rocker out there, meaning simply to get it out of the house. Now it gets more use, in my tool-shed office, than it ever did when it resided indoors.

On a recent afternoon, as I sat and worked, I was visited by a persistent bee. It seemed curious, not aggressive. I thought at first that it was attracted to the sugar in the cup of coffee I'd taken out there. But after it repeatedly flitted across the page of manuscript I was trying to edit, I decided it was an intelligent insect that could recognize a good read when it buzzed past one.

Progress Report

Harking back to my December 2010 post, where I listed my short-term goals, I'm happy to say that I have completed the first two:

1. Get a critique of my complete Book 1 from a fellow professional.
2. Finish my reformat and reread of Book 2.

I'm now in the middle of Goal No. 3, which was to return to work on Book 3. It's written; I'm now polishing it.

My goal for 2011 is to FINISH WATERSPELL and begin seriously looking for an agent. I've made halfhearted attempts before, but this time I'm going to seriously research and find the right one. I have discovered, through hard experience, that having the wrong agent is far worse than having no agent at all.