Hello from Orlando

I’m writing this from the Dolphin Hotel in Orlando Florida, folks…the land of Mickey Mouse.  This conference is fabulous! There are thousands of women here from all 50 states and 14 countries, as well as a handful of men. I’ve met so many people and have so many websites and blogs to explore once I get home and shuffle through the fifty or sixty business cards I’ve collected. The experience of meeting new people and making new connections and friends is worth every bit of trouble we went through to get here. We spent three hours in the PRO retreat today hearing agents and editors from different publishers speak about trends, submission guidelines, etc., and have several workshops to attend tomorrow and Saturday. We had breakfast with the very beautiful and generous Shirley Jump, who paid for all of our meals. We’ll have breakfast with two more authors, Rachelle Chase and Leigh Michaels on Saturday morning, as well as hang around with a new forever friend, Farrah Rochon, who is also published. I’ve met Sabrina Jeffries, Claudia Dain, Lorraine Heath and so many others that my exhausted mind can’t seem to remember right now. The luncheon today with Nora Roberts was fantastic..what a funny, gracious lady. We just watched the impressive Disney World fireworks display from the window of our hotel room…beautiful!!!  I have so many things to tell you all, but I just can’t get it all in tonight, folks. It’s bedtime…we’ve got to be up at 6 in the morning so we can go down and do it all over again tomorrow.

Catch you then,

~Lori~

MY LAST BLOG!

Well, folks…this is my last blog…before I leave for Florida tomorrow morning, that is.  Trish and I will be leaving early in the a.m. and driving all day to Gainesville, Fla. where we will spend the night.  We’ll have a short drive, just under 2 hours, on Wednesday morning to get to the hotel for our early check in. I’ve been busy printing out schedules for work shops, floor plans of the hotel because it’s HUGE, making lists, checking items off, packing too much clothes (I’m sure of it), and trying not to forget anything.  Have appt’s. to get nails done and a pedicure at noon, and waiting to hear if my prescription sunglasses came in, in which case, I’ll have to make a run to Lake Charles to get them. Busy, busy!  I will do my best to keep all of you informed and try to write a little on the blog every day. So keep checking in!

~Lori~

P.S.  Bayou Writers’ Group posted the 2nd blog article I sent her. Go check it out at www.bayouwritersgroup.org

One Week!!!

In one week, Trish and I will be on our way to Florida…the land of Disney World, Sea World, Universal Studios, and the Romance Writers of America’s 2010 conference.  We registered over three months ago, and it seemed like it would never get here. Now it’s just a week away.  Can’t wait to meet new people, ‘old’ friends I’ve only conversed with by email, blogs, online classes, etc.  More of those than you can imagine, folks.  Hope to get some networking done and learn alot about the business end of writing as well as take advantage of some work shops to improve my writing skills.  I feel as though this is another small step into a big, new world.  I will have both of my laptops with me over there, as well as my IPhone, so I’ll be sending you news from the land of Mickey Mouse.

See ya,

Lori  : )

The Story of Me

I just finished the first draft of the ‘new and improved’ version of my very first manuscript, Some Day Somebody.   This is the story I wrote about me…or the new me…the one with a degree, a new career, the courage to walk away from a bad marriage, and the self confidence to find the love of my life.  I never intended it for publishing because it was my life.  So much so, that once I finished, my daughters refused to read it because of its personal nature.  After completing it, I immediately began a second manuscript, my head filled with ideas and characters.  I used the two original characters and created new ones – coworkers and family friends from the original heroine’s hometown, a fictional town of Gardiner, taken from a real person, old Doc Gardiner. Doc Gardiner delivered so many babies in my hometown of Gueydan that they had a Doc Gardiner Day for him one year, with a parade and everything. He delivered me and all my siblings, as well as both my parents. 
  

Okay, so I finished the second book, then began a third, using secondary characters from the previous book, then a fourth, and even a fifth.  About halfway through the fifth book, something began to eat at me.   The first story, Sam and Carrie’s story (I’ve changed all names to protect the innocent – and the guilty) never left me. It kept insisting that it needed to be told. After all, Carrie is the cornerstone of the five books – she’s the hub.  Every character in my books either knows her or knows someone who does.    

I jumped back on it, changed or removed the personal nature so that my daughters can read it and still face me afterwards, and added some drama and suspense to make it much more interesting.   I revamped the story, in some ways telling it as I wish it had happened instead of as it did happen.  I made Carrie wiser, less prone to losing her temper than I am, and infinitely more patient than I was at thirty-five years old when it all came about. I can almost see my daughters rolling their eyes at the nearer to perfect version of myself.
 

Seeing my life laid out in black print on a white page, I’ve come to accept something about myself.  Doc Gardiner and my mom may have birthed me back in October of 1958, but ultimately, God and I are responsible for my re-birth back in December of 1993.   In writing this story, I’ve come to realize that God presented the opportunities for me, but he also gave me the courage to step up and accept each and every one of them.  Once I accepted the challenge, He closed doors and opened windows, essentially herding me to the destination He’d chosen for me.  This time, instead of fighting Him and choosing my own path, I followed His lead and ended up exactly where I should be. 

Catch ya’ll later,

Lori

Bayou Writers’ Group

The first meeting with the Bayou Writers’ Group was a wonderful experience. Trish and I met alot of very talented and sweet people.  We heard samples of their extraordinary work as several took turns reading aloud for five minutes…stories, essays, ideas, rhyming poetry, free verse poetry…all good stuff.  I read from the first scene of one of my manuscripts and got some great feedback.  Reading in front of everyone was a little nerve wracking, but I did okay.  I guess I can thank my one year stint as president of the Lake Arthur Jaycees for that particular ability to speak in front of crowds. Just like riding a bike. 😀   Later!

Lori

First Meeting with Bayou Writers’ Group

I’m excited about getting to meet everyone at the writers’ group this morning in Lake Charles.  Hope I fit in and can be a help to them if I become a member.  Trish and I, along with my new houseguest, my sister June, will be going. I hope they don’t mind.  I suspect that my older sis will provide me with all the material I need for a romance novel one of these days. :O

I have things to do this morning, so I’ll check back later to let everyone know how the meeting went.

Lori