blogging – Page 29 – Linda Nelson

I know, it’s been weeks since I last posted. A few weeks ago, I was so excited to be going to the New England Conference for RWA. You’re probably wondering how it all went.
It was a great weekend. There were lots of fantastic workshops, which I started off with GMC Your Writing Career. This workshop focused on looking at your writing career the same way one would write Goal, Motivation, and Conflict for characters. The difference is you – your writing career – are the character. It was an interesting topic, and something to think about.
Then I took self-care and Ergonomics. This workshop was full of exercises and stretches for those who sit at the keyboard for many hours. It also featured proper posture for sitting. Many of these exercises, I will be using in the coming weeks, after hysterectomy surgery, my future topic.
You see, during the entire weekend, I had a dilemma. I thought I was suffering from Kidney Stones or something similar. I was dealing with this as best as I could while maintaining my composure, and blowing up like a balloon. I just didn’t know how bad I had it.
So, I continued on with my weekend and learned about Expanding Your Audience On Non-Amazon Retailers. This was pretty impressive.
Should you ever see, any of these workshops offered, take the opportunity. They were all superb.
Sprinting: It’s Not Just for Runners! By Tracey Lyons was fun and witty. She is a must meet person. I did manage to work out three scenes while in her workshop in under five minutes. Thanks, Tracey.
Our dinner was with Sabrina Jeffries, whom I met and spoke with during the book signing. It was a pleasure to meet her. I had to have a book signed by her for a co-worker of mine who is from Thailand. I did my homework before going to NEC by reading the author website blurbs. If I hadn’t, I would never have known that Sabrina had grown up in Thailand.
By Saturday, I was petering out. My stone problem was slowly getting worse and the pain was increasing and by the time the book signing was over, I was pretty much done for.
Sunday and Monday, my agony was growing. Tuesday, I was due back to work. By 6am, I was ready to see a doctor. My DH agreed and took me to the ER.
Apparently, it wasn’t a kidney stone after all. A uterus fibroid was blocking off my urine flow. I was in so much agony, which was relieved when a catheter was put in place.
Now I wait. My surgery is a must. But my OB/GYN cracks me up. She had me have an MRI so they would be able to see what was going on before scheduling the surgery. Doc said, “You got to see these photos, they’re awesome!”
I’m like ugh. How can you be so excited about pictures of my insides?
She went on to show us and talk about all the details, being excited about the whole process. I said to her in response, joking, “Only on Grey’s Anatomy.”
She smirked and calmed down. It was still funny.
So now I await my upcoming surgery. It’s scheduled for this Friday morning. I don’t know how long it will be until I will be comfortable to sit and post after the surgery. Only time will tell.

I promise, I will not watch Grey’s Anatomy this Thursday. I don’t need to freak myself out before going under the knife.

Flop on the bed, that feather bed. So soft and comfy. It’s the best bed I ever slept in. By the way, I’ve never used down feather pillows either. Not like these.
These are some of the comforts I’m looking forward to at the end of the week when I go to the annual New England Conference in Burlington, Mass. I went last year for the first time, and even though I was there to learn, I’ve never had such a great time.

English: Romance icon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It was a busy weekend none the less, with its back to back workshops. I’m sure I was in information overload by the end of that Saturday. Though, what wasn’t helping was the fact that I was suffering from a bout of writers block. That nasty thing that happens when you become afraid to finish what you’re working on.
Fear can be a terrible thing. It can stop you in your track and keep you from achieving that which you want terribly. I wanted to write in the worst way. I think I was stuck in my story. No plot twist, and I didn’t believe my story line was going to work.
I can’t remember how the plot twist came to me. It may have taken me four months after that conference before I had that ah-ha moment when the plot twist hit me.
Ah-ha moments are the best.
This time, I’m not suffering from writer’s block. I’m only struggling with coming up with the right words to say and to be able to say it the way it needs to be said. First drafts are always the worst. We stare at them and struggle with how the whole scene sounds instead of racing to the end of the story, just to get it done and out there on a white screen.
I did rather well, last week. Considering I cut nearly 4k words from that manuscript, I’m working on. Since then, I’ve only replaced 600 words. But this is how we beat that plot outline into our characters and make them do what they are supposed to be doing. Let them struggle with the outcome of their actions instead of messing with how their fate is supposed to be.
Ah, the fate of the Gods.
We writers are the Gods of the worlds we create. Our characters should be worshiping us. No wonder they sometimes meet the fate of death. One more character becomes the sacrificial lamb of the story.