Baby Van

Yesterday we had our daughter's car towed away. She had totaled it over a year ago and it had been sitting in the garage since then. She was sad to see it go. We all were. It was a really nice car.

The emotions brought me back to my first car. It was a black, brown and yellow '65 GMC Handivan. It had no power steering nor seat belts and the heater was about as hot as a mouse's breath. The linkage for the stick shift was worn and if you shifted too quickly it could get stuck in gear. Then you'd have to go under the vehicle and give one of the rods a yank to get them moving again. I got quite proficient at it, surprising both my passengers and some onlookers . For the first 2 years of ownership it didn't have a radio. So I sang a bit or rolled down my window at traffic lights to hear other people's music while I waited. As you can see it wasn't much but it was mine.

Then in '77, while driving on the Meadowbrook Parkway with my husband (then boyfriend) a car came off the entrance ramp into the middle lane, right in front of me, going about 15 mph slower than I was. I swerved into the right lane to avoid hitting them but lost control and went up the grassy side of the parkway. There were some planting of trees being done and my left front tire fell into one of the holes. The van flipped, the ass end coming up and over, landing on the front driver's side.

My husband had pulled me down when we started going over. He said it was surreal watching the windshield shatter and disappear then seeing blue then green, blue . . green, blue . . . green as we rolled down the hill three times. Having no seat belts we bounced around like two super balls. We landed upright and the van was now traveling back towards the parkway. Don tried to reach the steering wheel but couldn't because I was unconscious on the floor, blocking him. Someone was watching over us for the van started to turn away from traffic. My husband pulled himself up slightly to see what was going on just in time to witness us hit a lightpole. He lurched forward smashing his nose against the metal dashboard as the light pole came crashing down. The accident had finally ended. (picure is of the injuries poor Baby Van incurred. The right side had very little damage.)

Someone had stopped and helped Don pull me out. He then went and turned off my car. Yes, it was still running after all this. My father drove it home wearing goggles. Can you just imagine that coming down the street behind you? :)

But I don't remember any of this. In fact I don't even remember the car that cut me off or being in the middle lane or half the time I was in the hospital. Believe it or not, we just got very badly beaten and the only thing broken was Don's nose. More than a hour of my life, where I lost my car and we almost lost our lives, is blank. If it wasn't for him I wouldn't know what happened. It's really a strange feeling.

Like my daughter, I was so sad to let my baby go. I had gotten her when I was 18. She was my independence. My freedom at a time when I was vulnerable and growing. She gave her life for me. I still miss her.

500 Words

Remember how in my last post I said I finally sent out my ms? Well there was a bit of a snafu. It was an e-submission and the auto response never sent me the confirmation that they received it. I waited a few weeks and tried again. Same thing. I reached one of their editors and explained my situation. She’s helping me find out what’s happening. (I don’t want to say her name because I don’t want everyone to think they can email her personally. But I will say she’s very nice and understanding)

So that’s under control. Now what? I know they say to keep writing, editing and all that writer stuff but I haven’t had a real creative thought since March. Talk about a dry spell! Sure, I’ve had a several imaginative sentences but a few sentences does not a novel make. I also write this blog, I am a regular contributor to the LIRW blog and I write a monthly president’s message for Shorelines. But it’s not like the creative stream you need for a story.

I have to admit I haven’t tried that hard to write either. I’ve been putting a lot of effort into being president of Long Island Romance Writers. It’s taken up quite a bit of my time, especially since my computer is on the older side and I have dial up. Yes, dial up. I know, just give me a chisel and a stone slab. But the time the Board members and I have put in seems to be paying off. I sense an energy that’s growing within the group. We’re doing more things, trying new things and it’s been for the better. Yay!

But that doesn’t help my writing. So I’m going to pledge to write at least 500 words a day, starting Monday. I know that isn’t much but I have to start somewhere. I will place my total for the week at the end of each posting so you can keep me in line. You are permitted to virtually slap me on the back of the head if I don’t make the 3,000 words a week. (No, I’m not bad at math. Hey, I get to take one day off, right? : ) ) Deal? Anyone else care to join me in a pledge or am I the only one being a naughty little writer?

Celebrate the RED, WHITE and BLUE

Well yesterday was the 4th of July and I hope everyone had a safe and happy one.

I, like millions of others, had a barbecue but with bratwurst and vegetable kabobs; ending with the patriotic parfait of strawberries, blueberries and whipped cream.

Then we all loaded into the van and drove over to the beach. This has turned into a tradition for us. From there we can watch all the fireworks being launched on the mainland. And it is spectacular. (By next year I hope to figure out how to put a video on this blog so you can see it.) So many people are there to view this event. More just drive the loop for a quick glimpse. But we're all sharing in the celebration of our great country. I think it was John Adams who said in 1777 that the citizens should celebrate with bonfires. Well that idea has certainly grown!

Then we came home and watched the remainder of the Boston Pops with Craig Ferguson. I think it's fantastic that he hosts this special. One, because I think he's funny and two, and this is the important one, he's originally from Scotland and became a U.S. citizen. He seems to genuinely love this country, sometimes even more so than natural born citizens. After he took the oath, he got a tatoo of the snake divided into 8 pieces that had been published in Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette, on his forearm. I wouldn't have had the . . . you know, to do that. But he did. He is now a part of this country and it is a part of him. YAY!!

We forget a lot of times how good we have it here. So Hip Hip Hooray and happy birthday, America. May you always be strong and wise.

Screwing Up?

Bear with me, I'm running on empty with only four hours sleep. The past couple of days have been busy with with some presidential duties, writing a post for the LIRW blog, helping my husband replace two basement windows, cleaning, grocery shopping and having to assist in fixing our daughter's brake light that was constantly on. Thank goodness it was no biggie.

I finally emailed my ms to Samhain yesterday and mailed it to Kensington today. I know. I shouldn't have waited so long after the luncheon but for some reason I didn't want to send it. I guess I was afraid. I've sent things out before and have been rejected. Maybe this time I didn't want it happening again, didn't want to hear it. Fear can be like a giant thumb pressing into your back, forcing you down. But I got past it because if you're a writer, that's what you have to do. If you want to succeed that is, right?

Let me tell you two things that happened today. After I mailed my story, I drove a block away from the post office only to realize that I forgot to put a stamp on the SASE that was enclosed in the packet. I went back, was able to retrieve it and fix the problem. If I hadn't remembered, I would have seemed like such an idiot to Alicia Condon. Ok, one disaster overted. Then tonight I'm getting the paper ready for the recycling and saw The South Shore Press, in the pile. That's the same paper I told Linda at Samhain and Alicia had published a few of my articles but was now defunct. Obviously it isn't. It was Suffolk Life that was no longer around. Crap! What was I thinking? Jeez, there's no way to fix that one.

I guess things like this happen to everyone. I sure hope so. I'd hate to think I'm the only one to screw up. Hopefully they'll look past any mistakes I made and say send me the entire manuscript. Yeah, that sounds good. I'll go to bed and have that dream. Maybe it will come true.

Yippee! I've been rejected

Now that the luncheon is over, I thought it was appropriate to put this up. It's a little ditty I wrote awhile back for the LIRW newsletter, Shorelines. I hope you like it.

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For three years I’ve attended the Long Island Romance Writer’s Luncheon, where I’ve sat quietly, watched, listened and ate decadent chocolate mousse. But this year I was hitting the floor. I finally had something to pitch. Armed with my trusty index cards I approached editor after editor, agent after agent, touting my manuscript, THE TOUCH OF A LIE.

I’ll be the first to admit I wasn’t the smoothest out there. My nerves being what they were, I forgot what I practiced saying (that’s where the index cards came in handy), I couldn’t find my pen and had to borrow one from Jozelle Dyer, an editor for Tor, and when it was over, I realized I missed two people I wanted to talk to. But I did receive some positive feedback and a few said, “Send it.”

The following days I sent my baby out into the world where I hoped she could find a good home and would grow to maturity. Hearing it could take six months to a year to get a response, I pushed my submissions to the back of my mind while I worked on other things.

Imagine my surprise and partial dismay when I received one of my self-addressed envelopes less than three weeks after I mailed everything. I dropped it on the table unopened and walked away. I made myself a cup of tea and lit a cigarette. Now I was ready. Tearing away the flap, I pulled out the letter and read. Yep, it was a rejection from Liza Schwartz of New American Library. She was very kind and offered a few suggestions. She will go down in my chronicles as being my first.

Even though I knew my manuscript wouldn’t take shape there, I didn’t feel disheartened. I was kind of elated. It hit me at that moment, and thank goodness it did, that this rejection was a testimony to how far I’d come. I thought how many people are out there sitting at home, thinking of writing a story or writing that piece but never sending it out. Must be thousands, thousands upon thousands.

Yet I did it. I pushed myself to finish my idea, timidly placed it before others to critique it and forced myself to go past my comfort zone to pitch it. That’s no mean feat.

So I rejoice in the arrival of this letter because it tells me how much I’ve grown in four years. With this rejection in front of me I can honestly say I am a writer.

Steven Zacharius and the LIRW luncheon

Good evening. A quickie this time. And no, a quickie tonight is not what you might think it is. Get your mind out of the gutter! I was referring to a short post about the LIRW luncheon, not. . . you know . . . that!

Anyway, the luncheon went so well. I'm grateful for working with such hard working, talented ladies. Yes, I did flub my speech a bit but people said I did fine. And as you can see, I didn't die from fright. If you'd like to see pictures of the luncheon, go to the LIRW blog at http://www.thelirw.blogspot.com/. You'll see and read more about the luncheon there.

Steve Zacharius, our guest speaker, is so approachable, you can ask him anything. He is also a wealth of info. I won't get into everything in his speech but a few important things he told us were:

1) Though hard cover books are slowly dwindling, he is optomistic of Kensington being a strong presence in the future. Ebooks are about 10% of their business right now.

2) A good email list is essential. You can build one by using Twitter, Facebook and blogging.

3) Share that list with your publisher for e-mail blasts

4) Keep in touch with your publisher. Tell them what you're doing.

5) Be on time with your ms.

Well I hope that helped you a bit. Good night for now. ~ Donna

Jitters

A while back I mentioned that the group, Long Island Romance Writers, was having their annual luncheon. Well that day is almost here - June 11th. I just happen to be their president which means I'll be giving a speech, something I'm sooo looking forward to doing. Do you hear that? Ping! Ping! It's sound the little drops of sarcasm are making as they hit my metal desk. (By the way, that's me, pictured above, being dragged to the podium) Luckily for me it doesn't have to be long and the names are easy to pronounce. So it might not be as bad as my mind is building it up to be. I just have to get over my fear of speaking in front of a group of people. That's all. Ping!

When I get nervous I crack stupid jokes. I've warned the group about this so they're on the look out if I start to snap my fingers to do the lame butterfly with hiccups joke. Hopefully my mouth won't be on automatic pilot.

It's going to be a fantastic day. The luncheon committee has worked hard and Beth Glash has been instrumental in pulling this off. We have a bunch of agents and editors coming. We have people traveling from Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Connecticut to attend, all in hopes to make that one connection so they will get published. I wish everyone did but it doesn't happen that way. But some do. They either get their ms accepted or get an agent or both. That makes me happy. I like hearing good things.

Well I'm off to finish my speech. Wish me luck!