This morning, I did think about how being an author is such a solitary endeavor. It’s not a new thought I know, but I think that’s why so many authors I know enjoy Twitter so much. Think about it, you’re working away, typing, scribbling, deleting, maybe, like me, talking to yourself as you go. You just pour your heart and soul on to the page, or write and extreme action packed scene. You have been through the emotions with your characters. You take your hands off the keyboard, or for some of the more old-fashioned authors, put the pen down, and you know you’ve nailed it. You’ve just done some of your best work. Your heart is racing and you want to share your enthusiasm and elation with someone. . .anyone. Here’s where Twitter comes in. You pop onto the Internet, bring Twitter up and instantly have a sense of community. Someone out there is listening and you can Tweet or Twitter about your success and the feelings that you have. Someone is bound to tweet back, and even if unrelated to what you have written, you feel comforted. There is another soul out there who understands.

Anyone who follows this blog knows that I am an avid college baseball fan. I enjoy the team spirit, the competitiveness of the games, and how even the crowd is considered a part of the success or failure of the game. I follow our team’s games very closely, either from my seat in the stands, or when they are away via Gametracker and radio broadcasts. I am a devoted fan. Of course, then my mind segued into fans of books, like the following that JK Rowling and Stephenie Meyer have. Their fans are just as devoted to their writing as I am to my baseball games. The difference is that JK and Stephenie, and all the rest of the writers in the world, are competing (against the blank page) for the most part alone. When they write the passage that’s a home run, there’s no one to go crazy in the stands. Can you imagine it? A stadium full of screaming tweens and teens as Rowling or Meyer work at a table (the playing author playing field). Oh, the delete button is in heavy use, a groan arises from the crowd. A sudden a burst of typing occurs. A hush falls over the crowd. A smile lights up the corner of their mouth. A chant erupts as the fans cheer their author on to the finish line. And then it happens, the passage that has been such a struggle. All of the attempts, the strikeouts, the fresh starts, and all of a sudden, it’s out of here. A home run. The crowd goes wild.

And since it will never happen, we have twitter. Somewhere to share that burst of feeling we simply can’t contain. I know we have friends and family, but unless they also write, do they truly understand what it’s like to walk on air after having climbed a mountain and stand looking from the peak at the path you have conquered? You’ve run the race, conquered your opponent, it’s a feeling like no other. So we twitter.

The post Thoughts from the Morning Commute – Authors Twitter appeared first on Be the Cat.

1. Dreading the Day **Untitled** Reliving the Nightmare
2. Out of Sarah’s Past
3. Bad Boy Rusty   Motorcycle Ride **Untitled** Family Rift Overprotective Cousins
4. Overprotective Cousins Whiskey Kisses
5. Slander Anyone? Slander
6. Matchmaker Midge
7. The Accident
8. Keeping Secrets
9. Hiding Timmy Runaway
10. Crankiness Rising
11. Managing Anger Take a Deep Breath
12. The Deal is Done Admission of Guilt
13. The Talk
14. Added chapter Retaliation
15. Sneaking Out
16. Return to School   Tell It To The Marines New Beginnings

Don’t get too wedded to these names as even this morning some of them are up for the chop. But, it helps me to have names for the chapters, so I feel good to have a list to start playing with.

**Addendum** – I’ve decided to edit the list every time I change a chapter heading just for fun to keep the list up to date, but leave the old title as well using strikethrough, so we can see how many changes the titles underwent before publication.

The post Nowhere Feels Like Home – Tentative Chapter List appeared first on Be the Cat.

I took two days of vacation last week because I wanted to get this part of the editing process completed, but really didn’t buckle down until Saturday. Then, since I haven’t been able to sleep much for the past two nights, when I got up this morning (at 0500 after drifting off finally at around 0300) I decided to extend my vacation, which is something I never do. I started working right away, with very few distractions throughout the day and while I was hoping to get a chunk completed, I never dreamed I’d be blogging about being finished tonight. So, sometimes playing hookey from work pays off.

The beginning of the editing process is difficult to get me to focus as that last page is just so far out of sight. I hit a good pace today and managed to knock out an unprecedented 80 pages. For those of you who have been following along, you will remember just yesterday I said I had 76 pages to go. Yes, as I edit, my work tends to grow rather than shrink. Since I am always trying to keep a cap on the word count and page numbers this becomes an issue from time to time. Fortunately, the initial manuscript of Nowhere Feels Like Home came in right where I wanted it to be, and I am still on target to keep to my original page and word count maximums. We’ll have to see what happens during the next few editing phases.

My poor niece called this evening (sorry Justine) to tell us about exciting happenings for her through her involvement with the school soccer team (she’s been invited to play in a tournament which could lead to an offer for a club team), and she caught me about 7 pages from completion and I was giddy by that point. So she got an aunt who was ready to scream and shout whooo hooo for any reason at all, and made her get excited on the phone too.

I think I’m going to enjoy this feeling for a few moments (almost as good as finishing the manuscript the first time around), make myself a cup of tea, and then slowly, ever so slowly, let reality creep back in with the realization, that I still have more editing to do.

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Today, I managed to pick up where I left off, and edited the section I wrote in last night. This was actually an unprecedented move on my part because I am never able to edit a passage so close to the actual writing of it. In fact, I not only did some tweaking on the work (which wasn’t terrible to my surprise), but rewrote a section and managed to stave off a bout of distractability while doing so. That was an accomplishment in and of itself, and I am still patting myself on the back for it. After completing that, I went on and finished the editing on 32 pages (for this phase of the editing process). So at the conclusion of my writing session today, only 76 pages remain to be edited, and while a part of my brain is screaming 76 pages!!!! and sounding like a teenager being asked to take out the trash, the rest of my brain knows that I have made it over the hump and should experience the downhill slide any moment.

Then we get to go through the whole cycle again for phase II of the editing process. Oh well, I still have a few months before my self-imposed deadline.

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LK Griffie
Visit me at Griffie World
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com or purchase at Amazon.com
To track Misfit McCabe across the country, visit:
Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?
Own a Kindle? Download Misfit McCabe in an instant.
To read book reviews by LK Griffie, visit: The Lulu Book Review

The post Day 2 of Good Progress appeared first on Be the Cat.

I started off the morning by waking up thinking that it was Sunday and was kind of bummed because I didn’t accomplish nearly what I wanted to, considering I took time off of work so I could focus on writing. Ok, to be strictly honest, I also took time off work because if I didn’t take some vacation days, I’d start losing them. Plus, I really needed the break. Anyway, when I woke up this a.m. and thought that I was returning to work the following day, I was a little down. Then when I realized that it was actually Saturday and I had another whole day before returning to work, the day ahead seemed much brighter. I mix up my days from time to time, and usually think that it is later in the week than it actually is, so this was nothing new for me. Except, usually, when I mix up my days, its during the middle of the week and I think that Tuesday or Wednesday is Thurdsay or Friday and that is depressing when the truth hits. Don’t get me wrong, I do like my job, but it is never a good thing when you think you have only a day or two left until the weekend only to discover that you were wrong and there is more work to be done before the weekend arrives.

Buoyed by the fact that I had both Saturday and Sunday in which to still work on my editing, I opened up my manuscript and started working. Also, I had a conversation with my friend Gail the night before (Oprah is not the only person in the world who has a Gail), and she had finished reading the raw, unedited version of Nowhere Feels Like Home, or as I like to call it, the monstrosity, and she had some good feedback for me. Notice that I said good feeback and not positive. While overall, she liked the manuscript, she gave me constructive feedback as well, which is what I was looking for.

By the time Saturday has wound to its conclusion, I feel quite accomplished with my progress. I wrote a 650 word article for the Lulu Book Review to go live in April, re-read the review of Along Came a Demon by Linda Welch which will be going live on April 1st to make sure that the review reflected what I wanted it to, edited 24 pages of Nowhere Feels Like Home, and wrote a pesky flashback that I had been avoiding like the plague, but had to be written, which added 2,500 words to the total word count. Oh, and I did some re-chaptering to break down some of the overly large chapters into more bite size chunks.

Now that’s what I call a good day – if only I could wake up tomorrow morning and find that it’s Saturday again. . .

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LK Griffie
Visit me at Griffie World
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com or purchase at Amazon.com
To track Misfit McCabe across the country, visit:
Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?
Own a Kindle? Download Misfit McCabe in an instant.
To read book reviews by LK Griffie, visit: The Lulu Book Review

The post A Good Progress Day appeared first on Be the Cat.

I did a quick read through of the manuscript last night, and I do have some editing work cut out for me, but overall I am definitely pleased with the shape and the scope of the book. The good thing is that I also have set myself up for the next book, because apparently I’m writing a series (I wish the characters had clued me in to that a little earlier). There is definitely more story to be told.

This weekend I’ll be able to get into the editing process and will hopefully come up with a title. I usually give my books at least a working title prior to writing, but this one I deliberately didn’t try to title because I wasn’t sure where the book was going to end (I had a feeling once I started that it would develop into two books)

The post Celebration Dance appeared first on Be the Cat.

Denny wanted to go to his folks house for the Super Bowl, so he could watch it with his dad. Now, in theory, I have no problem with that. I like for him to spend time doing things with his dad. I told him it was no problem as long as no one minded that I was bringing the laptop and was planning to write while the game was on. I didn’t even intend to be in the room where the game was on.

Oh well, we all know what they say about the best laid plans. . . Here’s how things went.

We arrrived at lunch time, so I was sociable and waited until we were finished with lunch before breaking out the laptop. I went into the living room (next to the den where the game was going to be on.) Laptop on – check. MP3 player out and on – check. Headphones in – check. And the typing began. So far so good. Pregame on in the next room. Denny and his dad are chatting away. The dogs are all relaxing, until Elsa, our youngest, discovers that I am no longer in the room. There is a baby gate in the doorway between the living room where I am sitting and the sunken den to keep their dog Daisy from running throughout the entire house. So, Elsa comes over to the baby gate, stands on her hind legs and barks that shrill bark that could break glass at twenty paces.

I asked Denny to see if he could get her distracted and have her sit with him. No good. She kept coming back to the baby gate and barking. I can ignore many things when in the writing zone, that bark just doesn’t happen to be one of them. I even tried bringing her in with me, but then she wanted to get down and wander around, which wasn’t a good idea, since their dog is not allowed to do that. By this time, the game is on and the battle is starting to heat up.

Finally, when Daisy starts to mimic Elsa and I have two puppies barking at me, I give up and move on into the den and set myself up in the recliner. There I am with laptop on my lap, Elsa tucked under one arm. Next thing I know, Gryphon and Phoenix join her and I have 3 dogs, and a lapotp on my lap. I sigh and cointinue to type. Then up hops Daisy and all of the dogs think they need to move around. Need I say that this was not conducive to getting any writing done?

After everything finally settled down, I usually had at least one pup in my lap, but was able to continue on with my writing. After all was said and done, I was quite amazed to have written 8,000 words during the course of the day. I’d have never thought it possible with all of the obstacles that kept getting in my way. I declared myself the champion and we went home so the game can be played with home field advantage.

Think of what I would have been able to accomplish had I stayed home and sent Denny and the pups to his folks. . . .

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LK Griffie
Visit me at Griffie World
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com or purchase at Amazon.com
To track Misfit McCabe across the country, visit:
Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?
Own a Kindle? Download Misfit McCabe
in an instant.
To read book reviews by LK Griffie, visit: The Lulu Book Review

The post The Writing Super Puppy Bowl appeared first on Be the Cat.

I have high expectations for getting a lot farther, so I’ll have to keep myself honest and post my progress after the weekend.
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LK Griffie
Visit me at Griffie World
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com or purchase at Amazon.com
To track Misfit McCabe across the country, visit:
Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?
Own a Kindle? Download Misfit McCabe
in an instant.
To read book reviews by LK Griffie, visit: The Lulu Book Review

The post Gearing up for the weekend appeared first on Be the Cat.

As I am writing this, I am emotionally exhausted. I was able to write over 10,000 words this weekend, so I feel good about my progress. I would probably have been able to get a few more thousand words written, but I was hampered by having written a very emotional passage, which always saps me.

Earlier in the week, I had written a scene between two of my characters and by the very nature of the setting, the whole scene had to be in conversation and I was a little frustrated because I wanted to bring a little more action to the story. I decided that since one of the characters was telling the story of what had happened in the past, that the way to make the writing more action packed was to write the scene in flashback. Well, I started off well enough, but then the characters in the flashback gripped me and took the story the way they wanted to go (writers love when that happens). Anyway, by the time I finished the flashback, it was one in the morning and I had gone through about 10 kleenex. My eyes were red and puffy and my mind was still spinning with story line possibilities (but I could barely see through the slits that used to be my eyes).

Since I wrote the flashback passage Saturday night, I was still reeling from the influences all day today and wasn’t able to get as much writing accomplished as I had hoped. One of the issues was that I had broken off at an emotional point to go back and write the flashback, and I was still not ready to dive back into the serious emotion that would be required, so had to look for a lighter passage to work on.

Of course, then I have to deal with the fact that I am highly distractable and it doesn’t take much to get me off course. Even if I had been 100% in the writing zone, like I was on Saturday night, I would still have had to contend with Elsa jumping up on my lap every 5 minutes and laying her head on the keyboard – effectively stopping me from writing. But, even with all of that, I was able to get 3,000 words done.

Now I’ll have to go back to work tomorrow and work toward next weekend when I can once again find a chunk of time to write in. Although, I have been doing fairly well during the week. Unless I have a night conference call, I have been averaging 2,000 words a night. The sequel is now up to slightly over 26,000 words and I feel like I am just getting started.

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LK Griffie
Visit me at Griffie World
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com or purchase at Amazon.com
To track Misfit McCabe across the country, visit:
Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?
Own a Kindle? Download Misfit McCabe
in an instant.
To read book reviews by LK Griffie, visit: The Lulu Book Review

The post Emotionally Drained appeared first on Be the Cat.

And for those of you who think I’m being a mite harsh, let me explain. When you’re in the middle of writing, a single interruption to the flow of thought can alter the direction to your story. If you don’t get the thoughts captured as they are coming, sometimes you never get it back. Especially when you get into the writing zone and enter the world of your characters. Distractions are the enemy.

So, I bless my little mp3 player. Of course, there’s nothing to be done about Elsa trying to crawl into my lap and putting her paw on the keyboard.

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LK Griffie
Visit me at Griffie World
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com or purchase at Amazon.com
To track Misfit McCabe across the country, visit:
Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?
Own a Kindle? Download Misfit McCabe
in an instant.
To read book reviews by LK Griffie, visit: The Lulu Book Review

The post Possibly a Writer’s Best Friend appeared first on Be the Cat.

Today was a day, like so many others, that had some good moments, and some not so good ones, in other words, pretty typical. By far, the highlight of my day was after getting home, fixing dinner, and finally getting a chance to boot up the laptop and check my email, was finding a message from one reader who lives in Canada. Here’s what she had to say:

my name is Kali I am Linda’s neice I have enjoyed reading your book that you so kindly signed for me!!! I can honestly say it is the best book I have ever read!!! That is no suck up! It is so neat that you know my aunt and I am hoping to meet you someday!!! When is your next book coming out I have heard that you are only just finishing the first chapter. Well sorry I dont mean to rush you but ….. i am almost finished the first book already, and i only got it for Christmas!!! Well looking forward to hearing back from you soon hopefully!!! I know you probably get a lot of e-mails in one day, what with your book being so darn good!!!

I happen to know Kali’s aunt because we work for the same company and I used to travel to the Vancouver office a few times a year. What a lift to my day at any rate. I guess I’ll have to put my writing hat on and get the sequel finsihed.

So, when you read something you really like, drop the author a line and let them know. They may not have time to respond to you, but I can guarantee that a message telling them how much you liked their work will definitely brighten their day.

The post Message from a Reader appeared first on Be the Cat.

So, the polls are now open for everyone. Go to Griffie World and view the book trailers, and then to Griffie World Talk to cast your vote for your favorite book trailer. If you register, then you can comment on the book trailers and offer your opinion as to what works and what doesn’t work. If you post a comment, you will automatically be entered to win an autographed copy of Misfit McCabe.

Happy voting and Happy Reading!

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LK Griffie
Visit me at Griffie World
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com or purchase at Amazon.com
Own a Kindle? Download Misfit McCabe in an instant.

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