Computers get the blame and the credit!!!

I took this picture. That's My Cowboy's Stetson straw hat
on a strange old stump by my house
Against which I have artistically leaned an old wagon tire.
Winnie Grigg somehow 'Christmas-ized' it.
I took the picture in the summer!
And My Cowboy for sure doesn't have holly berries on his hat.

I ADDED AN EXTRA PRIZE, DETAILS AT THE END OFTHIS POST! 

BOOKS!

THREE VOLUMES CONTAINING THE 12 BRIDES OF CHRISTMAS NOVELLA SERIES.
THEY ARE SELLING ONE AT A TIME (The Advent Bride is part of this series) AS EBOOKS BUT THEY ARE ALSO AVAILABLE WHILE SUPPLIES LAST EXCLUSIVELY IN WALMART STORES.
I'M GIVING AWAY THE WHOLE SET.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I probably could get a handicapped parking sticker
based on the quality of my handwriting

IT’S CYBER MONDAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, that was more enthusiasm that really, my muddled head is capable of. Why?

Shall we blame the L-tryptophan in our turkey?

Shall we blame the early morning cooking and the late night talking?

I don’t know what to blame but typing Cyber Monday and all those exclamation marks is extremely jarring and, while it is only 9 a.m., I’m seriously contemplating a nap.

I’m sure Ruthy will be ashamed of me. But I’ll be asleep so I can probably bear the brunt of her scorn.



$2.99 for hours of fun

Anyway, I wrote a new speech.

I’ve been giving one and ONLY one speech, with a few variations, for years. Of course I avoid speaking engagements as much as possible. And, on the rare occasion that they say, “You should come again.” (usually the speech ends with them demanding their money back but once in a while they invite me to return)…

I can always say, “Can’t do it. I’ve only got the one speech.”

Well, someone finally, after all these years, invited me back. It’d been a while so no doubt she forgot how it went…which is better than if it had been seared into her memory for life, I guess!

So I had to write a new speech and what I did was talk about the two questions I get asked more than any others (a possible tie with “I don’t know how you can write a whole book.” Which I get a lot)

The questions are:

Where do you get your ideas (which is usually accompanied by some version of ‘I don’t know how you write a whole book.’)

And

What made you start writing

6 books for $2.99!!! Deal with the wonder of that!!!

Well, the second question is what I want to talk about today, a small part of my answer. Because for years I’ve gotten that question and my answer was always something like, “It beat dusting.”

But then I got to thinking about it and wondering why DID I write a book.

Four things prompted me to start writing.

Today I’m going to talk about ONE of them.

I got a computer.

Honestly, I don’t know if I’d have ever written a book before computers.

$0.99...you pay more than this
for a can of Diet Coke, admit it!!!

The way I write which is to write a scene then revise and revise and revise....how do you do that with a typed out page of paper? Think of the work? I just can’t quite imagine it.

I read once that Louis L’Amour wrote all his books as ‘stream of consciousness.’ His son actually told me that.

Do you think he honestly just…started and wrote clear through to the end and handed it in?

My mind is boggled by that.

My books (in my opinion) only come to life on revisions. That’s where my characters gain depth. That’s where emotion comes to life on the page, including humor.

I just keep picturing me with a typed out sheet of paper and…what? Reading off it beside my typewriter while I type a new page.

Then type the same WHOLE page again, revised? And again? And again???

I can’t quite imagine it.

And don’t even THINK about writing by hand. Any editor who received that scrawled up mess would use the manuscript to beat me to death…and no judge would convict her.

So what about you?

Would you be writing without a computer?

I know people who write the first draft on paper with a pen. But then they key it into a computer and start revising.

Anyway, tell me if you think you could handle it. Or if you do write by hand. If you leave a comment, in celebration of Cyber Monday and the computers that make Cyber Monday possible, I’m giving away a $25 Amazon gift card….use it for Christmas shopping. Or just go nuts and buy something for yourself.

A SPECIAL BONUS LAST MINUTE GIVEAWAY!

Three volumes containing 12 novellas, available ONLY at Walmart. In their stores, too, no online. Good luck finding them. My contribution The Advent Bride, available as an ebook is contained in Christmas Wedding Bell Brides. And by a strange and wonderful coincidence my Seekerville buddy Pammy Hillman is in this series, too. (I'm strange, she's wonderful)
Her novella is in White Christmas Brides. All three go to one lucky winner. Or hunt them up at your Walmart stores.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!