Back in the Editing Cave

A couple weeks ago, I visited Fripp Island, South Carolina with a friend for a writing retreat. We watched 

sunsets, ate seafood, and brainstormed new ideas for books. Oh, and we wrote. The Atlantic coastal barrier islands are like no place else. Trees dripping with moss, the marsh, and so many creatures, as where we went was a wildlife sanctuary. 

The book I'm currently writing is set on Fripp Island, so this was a research trip as well as a really fun week. Being immersed in such a beautiful setting that happens to also be my book setting is powerful stuff for a writer. The descriptions come easily and there's a sense of rightness from knowing that everything I'm putting on the page is a hundred percent accurate. All I need to do is look around to nail the scenes and setting.

Sharing this special place where I've gone almost every summer for years was fun. Watching the deer that visited our yard daily, the many birds, the extreme tide, and yes, those incredible sunsets through someone else's eyes was especially rewarding. 

I'm back home writing again. Well, mostly I'm editing right now. I've just completed the line edits for book one in my upcoming Louisiana series, I'm working on peer edits for my current novel, and I've just received my developmental edits from my editor for book number two of the La. series. So much editing...

I hope you all are enjoying this final month of summer. I can't believe the kids here in Georgia are headed back to school already. My daughter left this weekend to return for her senior year of college. They begin rush a week before the semester starts, so it's a good transition to getting up early and keeping to a schedule now that summer break is officially over.

Stay cool, everyone!

Best,

Susan 

The Beach is a Magical Place by Susan Sands

I spent a week at Perdido Key on the Florida Gulf Coast last week. There's something about changing locations from that of a landlocked position to the coast. The salty air, the white sand, and the water--just the sight and sound of it bring instant relaxation. Well, after the packing, the prepping at home for being away, and the six-hour drive. After all that.

We had great weather and ate fresh seafood nearly every day. The key lime pie was awesome! I was at the beach for two days by myself before my daughter and her friend joined me. I'm almost never home alone, and I was able to finish my second Louisiana book during that time. I turned it in a month early, which never happens, so I've created a month to begin a new project. 

I'm home for a week, then I'll head to Fripp Island, SC for a "research trip" with a dear writing friend to work on my new book. Fripp is a barrier island that serves as a wildlife and bird sanctuary. I plan to include some of the island's ecological concerns in my novel as part of the storyline. It's a place I love and where I've visited many times. 

I hope everyone is enjoying summer and getting out to do the things you love!

Susan Sands

Does Age Matter? by Susan Sands

 Of all the terrible isms out in the world, some are far worse than others. While we're not all directly targets of the worst discrimination, at some point we do experience bias in our lifetimes. Discrimination because of factors we can't control about ourselves is frustrating and terrible. 

Things change as we go through life. If we have acne when we're young, at some point, hopefully, it goes away. Some things get better, and others, not so much. Those stages and experiences shape us for the better or worse.

When we're young, we believe we'll never get old. Looks fade, no matter what. The way we're treated in the job market changes as we age even though technically it's not allowed. As we age, we gain a better perspective about the balance of our life experiences. But our ability to find gainful employment decreases.

As a writer, I believe I'm improving my skills with every book I write. I'm constantly reading books, taking craft classes, and using my life experiences to enrich my stories. But does my age make a publisher pause? Will it? This is theoretical. I worry for the coming years, I guess.

We all want to remain relevant. And we can, given the flow of information all around us. But will be considered relevant. I've watched older people be dismissed as they try to contribute to conversations. It's heartbreaking to see the impatience all around. 

Ageism is age discrimination. And it's rampant in our world. Life doesn't end because we're not cute any longer. Most of us know this, but we are a society that still celebrates youth and beauty. That's okay as long as we can also celebrate age and wisdom. 

Let's be comfortable in our skin and help others to do the same.

Susan Sands

A Precipice of...Something by Susan Sands

Hello all! Tomorrow is election day. In 2020. The year has been, well, you know. It's been difficult, to put it mildly. 

I don't know what tomorrow will bring. I'm concerned. Mostly about the fallout no matter which candidate wins. Half of the country will be devastated. And angry. Will there be violence in the streets? 

Leading up to election day there has been an incredible amount of screaming by pundits on both sides. I don't like politicians and I don't like watching the news. Common sense seems to have gone out the window. 

I hope there will be a clear winner. I hope the election won't be contested. I'm sick of the country screaming at each other. I like my friends; all of them. But the media and social media tells me I'm not supposed to like anyone I don't agree with. I hate that it's come to this.

I wish you all peace during this time of unrest. We are all Americans and I hope we can get back to civility very soon. I refuse to scream. I refuse to predict gloom and doom for us all. All I can do is vote and deal with the results.

Stay well and healthy, everyone, and hang in there. We will get through this together!

Susan 

New Horizons by Susan Sands

I feel like I'm turning a page. Yes, I know the COVID is still all around me, and the year is still 2020. But I've survived the virus, thankfully, and I'm on my way to hopefully working with a new agent and getting the books of my heart published. Books set in my home state of Louisiana. My very first ones. They won't be exactly the same. But it's been a dream of mine to do these stories and see them come to life--finally.

No details yet, but. I can already see the covers--kind of. I've got a Cajun cookout menu already planned for the first book release. Red beans and rice with smoked sausage, crawfish etouffee, and crusty French bread with butter. Bread pudding with a vanilla glaze. So, yeah, I've been dreaming about these books in every aspect for years.

My new website will go live in a few days, and it's a beauty! I'm hoping to use it for my latest news instead of doing a newsletter. It's an experiment to see how many people will follow for giveaways, etc. There is going to be a giveaway as soon as it goes live, so be on the lookout at susansands.com.

Right now, it's still the old WordPress site, but it will switch over soon.

I'm focused on what I can control right now. Yes, I'm worried about the world. Very. But I'm mostly staying home and writing. I'm wishing you all good health, both mental and physical. 

I'm always available to writers who have questions, or who I can help. I will always try.

Have a fantastic day, or try to. Keep trying to. Love to all!

Susan Sands

Cover Reveal for Noel, Alabama! By Susan Sands

I'm thrilled to reveal my gorgeous new cover for my upcoming novel, Noel, Alabama. I love the red theme and the happy, holiday feel!! Lee Hyat worked hard and performed her magic once again!

It's amazing what goes into the development of a book cover. Not just the pulling together of a photo and fonts. I'm talking about the thought that goes into marketing and sales. I had what I thought was a fantastic idea for this one. Behind the scenes, a cover was put together utilizing my grand idea, then compared with a couple others, then shown to a group of potential readers. Mine tanked hard. The marketing team was kind enough to give my idea a shot.

The warm lights and the open door is welcoming and readers loved it! Hopefully, they will love the story equally as much!

I'm completed developmental edits, copy edits, and proofreads. Now, it's off to formatting! Each step gets us one step closer to the advanced reading copies and reviews. Every aspect of development is exciting and helps the time pass until publication!

This book was plotted and written during the onset of the COVID-19 quarantine. I tried hard to focus on my story and not on the news. I'm glad I had something to think about besides politics and viruses during such stressful times. Obviously, things have only gotten more stressful. I'm determined to get this story through all its steps while the summer rages, hopefully toward a more peaceful and healthier climax.

I hope you all are safe and healthy out there.

Best,

Susan

Writing What You Don't Know by Susan Sands

I turned in my new Christmas book yesterday, due out October 19th. The title is NOEL, ALABAMA:   An Alabama Christmas Story.

It was a journey in discovery in lots of ways. My heroine is a location manager for a film studio. Did you know they are called location managers with no s? I didn't. The job is to scout locations for filming projects. The location manager or location assistant heads to the place ahead of everyone else and secures lodging for the cast and crew, gets permits from the city for blocking off streets in neighborhoods, works to make sure there's a place to park all the trailers for talent, catering, directors, producers, and electrical. I could go on and on.

Let's just say, this book was thick with research. But as writers, we often have to find professionals to help us look like we know what we're talking about beyond our internet research. Fortunately, I had one. One in the movie business I went to college with. He set me straight about all my wrongness. Now I know all about key grips and dolly grips and honey wagons. Just ask me.

I did watch Steel Magnolias being filmed in my college town my senior year and remember some things about the sets and such. It was a big chaotic production and it turned that town upside down for months, it seemed. But it was such fun, and so exciting.

Maybe someday this very specific research will be useful again. Otherwise, I will store it in some unused part of my brain where all the other "I slept at a Holiday Inn Express last night" stuff has found its way. Just enough to be convincing. So far, I've written about a clinical therapist, an ER doctor, a photographer, a television chef, a beauty queen, and an art curator. I am none of those things.

I hope you are all staying healthy and safe. We are still lying low for now.

Enjoy this lovely weather as best you can. I hope to be able to share my new cover next month!

Susan

No Waffle House! By Susan Sands

My how the world has changed since my last post! Did we ever imagine we'd be on almost total

Photo Credit: AP

lockdown in our homes? Unable to get toilet paper or paper towels? Told we can't go to our favorite restaurant or catch a movie on the big screen? Or GO TO WAFFLE HOUSE?

Waffle House never ever closes. But they are shut tight now. The term "social distancing" hadn't crossed my ears until recently. I wonder if I have COVID-19? I wonder if you do? Maybe we already did and don't know it. Those are the questions that run through my mind. I haven't let my own mother in the house in over two weeks. For her own good. For our own good. She doesn't stay home. We are all careful if we have to run the dreaded errand, but mostly we order our groceries delivered. But what about those poor delivery shoppers? Do they have it?

This is frightening and the complete unknown. The health aspects of it for the country and for our mothers, and for everyone. And the ruination financially at our age. We already went through it in 2008. It has been an uphill climb to recover ever since. We aren't young either. We have two kids in college. The market is crashing. Our savings is at risk as is the health of our nation.

I know that my concerns are everyone's concerns. Except that we won't starve to death. Some people will. We have great health insurance as long as we can afford to pay the crazy-high premiums. Some people don't. So, pardon my slightly freaked-out post. It's a freaky time.

I'm praying next month's post will contain great news and great hope for a flatter curve and new cures and vaccines. And small business relief for dentists.

Stay safe and healthy!!

Susan

THE END by Susan Sands

I've been writing a story for almost seven months. Finally, after much research, and a gazillion hours

When the DNA is strong

of putting in the hard work, I finished the manuscript. My husband asked if I was feeling celebratory. My response was a blank stare. 

After I type the best two words (THE END), My brain goes hard into overdrive. Did I forget something or someone? Did I tie things up? Did I drop something I started along the way? Did someone have a cat and I never mention it again? That's before I dive deep into the editing. Then there's the timeline. Days, months, years. Did I stick with the continuity of it all?

That's when I ask some folks to read it with fresh eyes and give it to me straight. I can't do it alone. I don't trust myself after rolling around in the words for so long. Plus, there are multiple points of view, which makes it even more complicated. Every scene from each POV has to match up the next time I'm in their head. Pardon my brain fog...

But I'm excited about the story--or I will be once it's all cleaned up. 

It's a story of a woman who gets a DNA test as a gift instead of her expected engagement ring. Predictably, for a great story, the results aren't as expected. Not only does she figure out that she was adopted at birth, a minor detail her loving parents never found the right time to tell her, but she's got a sister who shows up on her "connections" profile. This leads her to her birth mother, who doesn't want her to know who her birth father is except to say, "He's a bad man."

But as fate and fiction would have it, she gets an alert on her profile soon after that she has another connection. A brother on her birth father's side. Now, there's a whole new branch on the family tree; one that's far more complicated. 

This is a story about family; the old, the new, and finding out that some things, as unwelcome as they seem, can complicate and enrich one's life in equal measure. 

Set in the Low Country around the Sea Islands.

Let me just say that researching unexpected DNA results was fascinating. I spoke to several people who'd found out they had siblings and parents who were different than they'd believed. One woman in Florida found four sisters she knew nothing about. Her father had impregnated women throughout the state. They expect to find more matches. 

I haven't done a DNA test personally, but I look so much like both my parents that I wouldn't expect any surprises, but I might do one for the sake of genealogy.

How about you? Do you have a good DNA story?

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!! 

Susan Sands

Back to Normal Life by Susan Sands

I hope you all are managing to stay cool with the heat waves that are passing through the country.

Today is unseasonable cool here in Georgia and I'm enjoying it immensely. I've just returned from New York City and the annual Romance Writers of America National Conference. What a whirlwind that was!

I finally met my agent, Erin Niumata, who is a senior vice president at Folio Literary Management in Manhattan, but works and lives in London. She and I were able to put our heads together and work out some ideas for submissions and other fun things we've got cooking.

New York city was wild and crazy as usual. The conference is set in the middle of Times Square across from Junior's. Which, if anyone cares, has the best cheesecake I've had. But I live in Georgia, so there might be better, but I haven't had it.

I attended the Broadway musical, Frozen  while there. I'm always amazed how true to the animated Disney movies the stage shows manage to perform live. The music, the performers, and the costumes and stage props are incredible!!

And as always, RWA did not disappoint. The hotel did an excellent job handling the many and varied needs of such a large group. Author panels, award ceremonies, meetings, and every kind of craft presentation imaginable were offered by seasoned professionals in the industry. The only way to not learn something new and valuable was to not attend.

I returned to both my children moving out of apartments, and I was pressed into service immediately upon touching down. It wasn't a glamorous week once I returned, let me tell you. Driving a cargo van and moving things in and out of storage brought me right back down to the nitty gritty of my normal life. And, as always, there is laundry...

Enjoy the last bit of summer, though it is bound to be hot around here for at least another six weeks or more.

Best,

Susan

Crawdads by Susan Sands

I'd been on a reading dry spell for some time before picking up Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia

Owens recently. After hearing so many wonderful things about the book, it would be my first read as I jumped back into novel reading.

The story was amazing. But what blew me away about it was how quiet the story was and how  nature lived and breathed within the pages. Ms. Owens is a bestselling non-fiction author and a wildlife scientist. In Crawdads, she applies her extensive knowledge of flora and fauna within the setting and creates a rich canvas where Kya, the heroine lives completely alone most of her life. But  even when she's alone, she's not. There are the birds she feeds, the insects and feathers she collects lovingly, the marsh. Constant sounds and activities of life surround her. They are her family. She can count on the tide to come in and recede every single day. It never lets her down, not like the people who were supposed to love and care for her but didn't.

I could go on and on about symbolism and the author's knowledge of her subject and how it enhances the reader's experience. But there's something else that makes this book so different. The way it breaks the rules. The rules of writers in many ways.

As a writer who's published several books and continues to work toward larger publishing goals, as most authors do throughout their careers, this baffled me. But as I read and relaxed into the story, I didn't care. I only wanted more. The constantly switching points of view without changing scenes or using devices to do so,  the pages and pages of introspection without dialogue where nothing much happened didn't throw me out of the story. Not. One. Bit. This book did all the things every craft class /book says not to, but it did it so well that I didn't care. I just wanted to keep reading.

And there was payoff. I won't say what it was to avoid spoiling it for those who haven't had the pleasure of reading the book, but there was.

So, breaking the rules well, as they say, works. As long as you can get it past your editor. Great job, Ms. Owens. I'm a fan.

Happy summer reading, everyone! Where the Crawdads Sing is wonderful!

Susan

My Month of May by Susan Sands

Hello all, and happy spring!!

I hope you are all enjoying some much-deserved warmer weather wherever you are. Here in Georgia, the days have gotten significantly less chilly and are often downright hot in the afternoons. Of course, after our wet and endless winter, none of us are allowed to utter a word of complaint.

Pollen, on the other hand, is another matter entirely. It's still around and coating everything and everyone in it's yellow glory, though not as thickly as in April.

I'm not particularly allergic to it, but what comes after. The grasses and such that bloom in early May are my kryptonite. I sneeze constantly and want to scratch my eyes out for weeks every year around this time. My husband refers to May as "My Month of May." Not his, but mine. My birthday, Mother's Day, and anniversary are all in May. So, we celebrate them all in the midst of my horrific month-long allergy attack.

If you see a photo of me this month, it will likely be with red, watery eyes, and a runny nose. Yes, I've tried Benadryl at night, Claritin during the day, eye drops, Flonase, and enough saline to lower the ocean's levels. I live in Georgia, y'all. Things grow and bloom. Mostly in the month of May.

Obviously, this isn't going to kill me, so my apologies for living in my own little ragweed-infested world while others struggle with far worse illnesses, but I blog about what's happening in mine. LOL.  I will trudge on with My Month of May and continue to write and enjoy the beauty around me and appreciate the mild temps before they scorch the earth in a month or so.

My current book is out on submission and I'm in limbo waiting to hear back from editors, so keep your fingers crossed on my behalf for good news...

I'm working on a new novel set in the Low Country in South Carolina, one of my favorite vacation spots. It's about a woman whose DNA test results set off a chain of events that threaten to destroy the foundations of several families in the area.

Best wishes on a lovely Month of May!!

Susan

Now We Wait! by Susan Sands

If asked to identify my most self-defeating trait besides procrastination, it would be IMPATIENCE, hands down. While I work to portray a calm outward demeanor, I have an internal screaming banshee who is rather hard to live with. Are we there yet?

I'm impatient with drivers who do dumb and dangerous (and incredibly slow) things on the road. And people in general who show no desire to move out of the general flow of humanity. I work at it. I really do. And I'm terribly hard on myself when I can't produce words when I'm writing.

So, you can imagine how this being on submission thing is for me. It's like watching paint dry in the rain. Molasses in winter. And the new book went out to editors just over a week ago. So, yes I understand this is going to take awhile. Don't "they" say we detest in others what we don't like in ourselves? Um, yes. Those who make me wait. But I procrastinate in starting work a new book while I wait. So, I am at the same time annoyed with myself for dragging my feet while others aren't as snappy as I'd like them to be.

I'm breathing deep breaths (of yellow pollen here in Georgia) currently. And settling in to start my new novel. And checking Instagram frequently. And Facebook. And Twitter. And Pinterest.

But I have a great new premise and I'm outlining currently. So, yes, I'm working at it. And taking my Allegra while I breathe the tainted air.

I hope you are finally enjoying a little Spring weather where you are. I hear there's still snow out there. No thank you. I'm also impatient for warmer weather.

Take care, y'all!!

Susan

Dogs in Books by Susan Sands

I've posted quite a lot about my canine friends, now friend, since I began blogging here at Tote Bag

Watson

'n' Blogs. As many of you know, we lost our sweet Boudreaux right after we moved into our new home just before Christmas. 

Our three-year-old Golden-doodle, Watson, has come through his confusion and sadness and surprised us by stepping up his game as single dog in the house. He's become the best dog ever. He's always been a good dog, but his behavior with Boudreaux had concerned us somewhat. We likened him to Eddie Haskell on a good day. If you don't know who that is, you should definitely look him up. 

The personalities in our pups vary so widely, as they do in people, so when authors write dogs as characters in our books, we must remember to create individual characteristics that set them apart from "just any dog." It wouldn't do the dogs we know and love justice to "under" write them as characters in fiction, and they wouldn't be believable.

While writing my recently-completed manuscript, I included a woman's best friend who my main character relied on heavily throughout her journey, both emotional and physical. Daisy Mae is a Beagle with soulful brown eyes and a heart of pure gold. She senses when her mistress needs support and stands by her the entire story.

I'd never written such a significant role for an animal before and found it quite challenging. Remembering to feed the animal, provide exercise, and let her out to potty consistently was exhausting. LOL. Of course, I do these things for my own dog, but remembering to include enough of the care taking in the story without a constant play-by-play that seemed monotonous created a new balancing act. 

This woman needed a dog, so I had to figure out the best way to include Daisy Mae and write her into the story well without detracting from the flow and plot line. 

I would love to hear about your furry friends!! And one day in the near future, I hope you can read about Daisy Mae and her journey with Sadie.

Looking forward toward better weather!!

Susan Sands

So Many Changes! By Susan Sands

Let me start by wishing everyone a very happy new year!! My life mirrors the old adage of "out with

Our Boudreaux

 the old and in with the new" like never before. I've complained incessantly on this blog as we've had three contracts on my house fall through over the last two years. We had so much hope and then excitement turned into bitter disappointment as the sales fell apart.

But, just before Christmas, we finally sold the old unique property we'd lived in for the past eighteen years. Hurray!! After two-and-a-half years on the market and a new realtor, the sale went the distance to closing. We lost our shirts as expected but the home is now a lovely memory as the place where our kids grew up. It was their childhood home and the place of many Christmases past, along with birthdays and other important milestones in our lives.  But we are thrilled to wave goodbye and move forward and embrace the next chapter.

Unfortunately, our sweet love, our family dog of eight years, Boudreaux, had been declining all the while we were packing and moving. We lost him the day after the move three days before Christmas. He was suffering from a neurological condition and a spinal tumor that affected his hind legs. I can hardly type this without tears.

Boudreaux's counterpart pup, Watson, has rolled with so much change in losing his sidekick and moving to a new place with amazing grace. I can tell he wonders and looks for Boudreaux and I wish I could explain it all to him puppy style.

There are still a few boxes left to unpack and moving from a giant house to a townhome has been a massive feat. I've donated so many things even after having an estate sale last year where I unloaded most of my furniture, rugs and art. I sold the baby grand piano just before I moved. So, I thought I was ready for the sizing down. Ha. Not so much.

Change has come to us in ways we've hoped and some we feared, but time moves forward and now we're embracing this new year in new surroundings with one less family member.

Again, Happy New Year to you and yours!! May it bring all the good and none of the bad.

Susan

Making Progress--Finally! Susan Sands

Hello, friends! Fall has finally begun to tiptoe its way into the South, Georgia specifically. I'm finally making some real progress in finishing my novel in progress. The past year has proved to be one that put a rope around my waist and pulled and tugged me back every time I tried to make headway or forward progress with my writing. No longer.

I plan to finish my new book within the month and hope it is in keeping with what my agent has in mind for this story. Obviously there will be editing and some rewriting, but typing the words, THE END, will be a personal victory for me with this novel.

Written in first person, this story is far different from anything I've attempted before. I'm excited to see what becomes of it. I'm not turning my back on what I love though, which is Southern women's fiction, and have plans for more stories that fall within a similar vein of my Alabama books to follow.

I hope everyone is enjoying the somewhat cooler weather and looking toward the holidays with anticipation of family get togethers and lots of stuffing, no matter where you are.

I plan to spend Thanksgiving on Lake Burton up in the North Georgia mountains with my family and in-laws. There is no more beautiful place on earth to me in the Fall.

The photo to the right was taken last year near the boat dock after a rain. Notice the amazing rainbow.

Happy reading and writing to everyone, and Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

Susan Sands

TV, Movies, Books, Oh, My! Susan Sands

My husband probably doesn't enjoy watching television with me as much as he used to. I've gotten so  accustomed to figuring out the plot lines of every show or movie that often I can tell him who will die, when, and how it's going to end.

I try to keep quiet, but often I blurt out, "They're going to kill him." Or, "His character has become unredeemable, and therefore he will die." I guess story is story, no matter whether it's in a novel, a television series, or a movie. Especially commercial fiction.

Some types of fiction are less predictable, and I'm pleasantly surprised when I don't see "it" coming. I can appreciate that writer's creativity and vision. Don't get me wrong, I love watching all kinds of comedy, drama, romance, and suspense. We run the gamut with our screen time. Netflix, Amazon, and all the premium channels are well watched in our house.

The problem is that as a writer of fiction, I understand it's all been done. Sometimes very well, and others, not so much. There are certain beats to a story, story problems to solve, and black moments stemming from conflict that occur within a given novel, movie, etc. Not everyone does it the same, certainly, but the underlying core of storytelling helps a writer predict someone else's ending.

In the meantime, I will try not to be that obnoxious I told you so who yells out what's going to happen next. Because I like to be surprised and wrong, so I remain hopeful as I continue to watch all the fantastic new programming that keeps me coming back for more.

Happy reading and watching to all!!

Susan Sands

The Alabama Series by Susan Sands

Moving, Moving, Moving! By Susan Sands

We are scheduled to move the middle of this month. Fingers crossed all goes well with the closing on

  

our house! It's a local move--a downsize that's a long-time coming. Add to that my daughter's move to college, my middle son's move to a new apartment for college, and my oldest son's upsize with roommates. That one I'm not paying for!

With everyone in my family moving, it means the landscape of our world is changing permanently. Forever. We've lived in the same house for seventeen years. Our children were eighteen months, three years, and in second grade when we moved in 2001. It's the only home they remember--their childhood haven. You'll forgive me if I'm having a moment. My youngest is leaving for college in a week.

I've also been searching listings for a place to live. Has anyone done that lately? Such a big decision to make in a short amount of time. I can't even...

Someone asked me how the writing was going and when my new book was scheduled to release, and I think my stare resembled a cross between wild panic and goofy drooling confusion that made her question my sanity.

Yes, that's how the writing has gone the past month. I've missed it terribly! But sometimes life truly takes over, and without a deadline, I've allowed my passion for writing to take a back seat to the demands of now. But the story hasn't left me. In fact, it's been rolling ahead in my brain during this hiatus. I've solved some plot issues and worked out a timeline conundrum during the packing and hefting. Taking a writing break might just make things go more smoothly when I sit down and open the file. Or, so I like to tell my guilt-ridden self while away from the document.

Anyway, wish us luck with our huge changes. I look forward to the coming weeks, when, for better or worse, we will be on the other side of change.

I hope your summer has been a sweet combination of reading, picnics, and very few mosquitoes! I'm imagining summers' past in my head and wondering where the years went.

Enjoy the last weeks of the best time of the year!!

Susan Sands

Just a little late for Christmas in July!!

Learning from Teaching by Susan Sands

Many of you don't know that I was a teacher in a former life. I even forget sometimes what it was like

to create lesson plans, hold parent/teacher conferences, and get up every morning and head to school and spend a full day shaping young minds. It was rewarding, challenging, and exhausting.

Recently, I've been asked to present workshops at several writers' conferences in my area. I've also been asked to judge a couple contests. I've created handouts for my "students," worked on my presentations, and received material to critique from writers trying to publish their work. I'm to meet with each person whose pages I've critiqued and discuss my notes and suggestions for ideas to help them reach the next level in their publishing journey.

I'm back to teaching, essentially.  And I'm really enjoying it. What I didn't expect was how much I would learn about improving my own work from critiquing others. When I return to my work in progress after editing someone else's, I'm able to recognize more clearly where changes and improvements are needed.

I'm grateful for taking some of, what would have been, my writing time to change gears and work with others. It's definitely helped me in countless ways. I can't wait to meet these writers and brainstorm with them about their stories. I hope I can help them in some way reach their goals.

If you're in the Atlanta area March 10th and have an interest, check out the one-day Atlanta Writing Workshop. I'll be presenting two one-hour workshops. There will be agents and editors on hand taking pitches and lots of other great information.

Happy reading and writing!

Susan

Reading and Writing

By:  Susan Sands

I'm reading and writing this month, but my reading load has increased exponentially between now and the next couple months. While normally I would spend my days writing with a little reading on the side, it seems I'm full up with reading as well as crafting stories.

I'm judging two contests and taking critiques for another workshop where I'm giving two one-hour talks on craft. Me? Craft discussions? Critiques? A few years ago, I would have actually laughed out loud at the idea of telling someone else how to improve their writing or edit their stories to make them stronger. But I've learned a few things since working with editors and publishing books of my own. Sharing any bit of wisdom and information is the very least I can do for those who are working so hard to get to the next level with their manuscript, find an agent, or publish for the first time.

I've had help from wonderful author friends along the way, and without it, I don't know where I would be in this very difficult process. We put in our time for others because it's our turn. I'm not a brilliant writer, but sharing the hard lessons that might make it less hard for someone else in their journey feels right.

I continue to learn about myself as a writer with every page I complete and rewrite. I still attend craft workshops and industry talks by other authors in hopes I'll hear something to get me to the next level in my own journey. Still waiting for the next light bulb to go on...

Wish me luck to finish all my reading, critiquing, and stay on my writing schedule!! It really is the most fun job in the world.

I hope everyone stays warm and dry until spring finds you.

Take care!

Susan Sands