Sunday, August 22, 2010

Oh, What A Day Of Inspiration!


Hi-Dee-Oh!! Welcome back to another work week!

Are you amped up for tons of productivity? Well, I sure as heck am!!

Saturday I attended a meeting of the YOSEMITE ROMANCE WRITERS, my local RWA chapter. Our guest speaker was none other than valley darling Bonnie Hearn Hill. Talk about a treat worth its weight in gold! (And, yes, I'm working on getting an interview with her!)

Bonnie generously offered to give us a 'hands on' approach to writing. She read/crit'd the first three pages of members' manuscripts instead of giving a talk. I think everyone in attendance brought pages which was a wonderful surprise and added bonus. What better way to learn than by reading the work of others?!

When my turn rolled around I thought for sure my nerves would lift my big ole booty straight out of my chair! I was wound tighter than a tootsie roll wrapper. LOL I thought I'd be diligent and take notes, but my darn hand was shaking so bad I'd need a chicken or a doctor to help me 'cypher' my scratchings.

All my worry was for naught!

That's right! I got excellent feed back and what's more everyone enjoyed reading my submission! They even laughed at the funny parts!! No crickets cripping for me and my often goofy humor that day! ;)

Oh yeah! I was beyond thrilled especially since I'd wracked up another non-final just two weeks ago. This was definitely a HELL YEAH! moment and more proof of how contests can't be used to judge the merit of a story.

The praise and constructive advice set my gears to rolling and now I'm even more charged up to finish my manuscript. Critique aside, I also enjoyed spending most of the day surrounded by other writers. There's something about kickin' it with a group of like-minded lovers of the written word that just feeds the soul!

I'm hoping to crank out a healthy word count this week. 5-6K is my goal. I've got the spirit. Yes, I do! I've got the spirit--HOW ABOUT YOU?!

DID ANYONE ELSE ATTEND THEIR RWA MEETING? What tidbits of motivation did you walk away with? Last, WHAT'S YOUR GOAL FOR THIS WEEK?!


Here's something to get your thinker tinkin'. Thanks, June, for intro'ing me to MUSTANG SALLY and HOMEWRECKIN' MAN!! The day is a wastin' and there's no better time than RIGHT NOW to get rollin'!! Good luck, TLN'ers! Stay the course and JUST KEEP SWIMMING!

6 comments:

june said...

Glad you like the music. The girls do a pretty darn! good rock and roll yell too. Ditto the renewed outlook from the meeting. Great group of ladies to spend the day with. Looking forward to Friday night. You go girl.

EmilyBryan said...

Love your spirit. 5-6K words a week with toddlers. You should get hazard pay, my dear!

Sounds like you had a very valuable chapter meeting. We do a similar online critique with a single volunteer at my blog every Thursday. HOpe you can pop over sometime.

Sarah Simas said...

HI June!

Mustang Sally is definitely a getcha movin' band. Can't wait to read your new stuff! :)

Sarah Simas said...

I like your way of thinking! I'd love to have some hazard pay. Sweet idea!!

I'll be sure to swing by your place and scope your Crit Thursday! Sounds like fun! :)

Sandy M said...

Great post, Sarah. Our meeting was inspiring and a lot of fun. Think we need to critique a little more often just for sake of morale! See you next month.

Joselyn Vaughn said...

Congratulations on the great feedback! It certainly helps the motivation, doesn't it? Good luck with your goal this week.