The Work In Progress aka That Damn Novel

I used to hate books. As a young child I had a speech impediment and reading out loud in school was painfully hard. I would rather go to the dentist then to the library. When I was ten years old that all change. I was sent to the school library for one week during recess to help prepare for the book fair. The librarian, a very nice women who smelled like lemon drops had hurt her back so it was left to me to set up the Scholastic book fair displays under her sharp eye. That's when I saw it, a reprint of Lloyd Alexander's "The Black Cauldron." The librarian must have caught me admiring the new cover art as I set up displays because when my week was done she gave me a copy. It was the very first book I read on my own and the first book to every make me cry. I loved that book. That week changed my life.

I devoured everything I could get my hands on, preferring adventure stories with strong female leads. Tamora Pearce's Lioness series was a favorite that I reread often. However, I soon realized that there was not that many books with girl heroes out there.

Coming from a family of writers I decided to write my own. I have been scribbling stories for the past twenty three years. I have done this for my own pleasure and have never really pursued publication, mostly because I jump from story to story and write whatever pops into my head. My husband, the Darling Italian Rogue, after having moved my boxes of notes and story snippets from home to home, suggested I just write my damn novel already.

Never one to pass up a challenge, even a casual one, I took the bait. So I went through my old boxes and stumbled across a story that my brothers and sisters used to not only tell each other but would act out in our back yard. Those memories sparked ideas and my muse sat up and took notice.

So here's my goal - six months to finish one damn novel.

Wish me luck -
Story Scribbler

music: Byran Adams "On A Day Like Today."