Meanwhile . . .

When I lived in Louisiana, I knew a writer who had six books published in a single year. He didn't write them in one year, though; that phenomenal year happened because he kept his head down and wrote word after word, page after page, day after day. As he completed and then finished each manuscript (completed and finished are two different things) he submitted that work and moved on to the next.

He's a good model to follow. He stayed faithful to the muse and eventually the publishing world caught up with and recognized his work.

I'm polishing Love is the Thread so I can send the final version to the publisher, ready for publication. Meanwhile, I have other work in the pipeline. Last night I spent a couple of hours on the phone with my writing partner in Virginia. We've known each other about fifteen years. We started a writers' group when I lived in Roanoke and have kept connected ever since. Right now we're in the middle of sharing our current works in progress. Once a week she gives me feedback on a couple of chapters from The Fairy Gate and I offer my responses and suggestions to a similar number of pages from her new novel.

It's not only useful to hear and apply her criticism. It's good to drop into the raw writing of earlier draft, and into the deeper relationship of revising the manuscript. Not to mention the comfort and challenge of my sister writer's feedback. Writing is so solitary. I am grateful for her presence at the other end of the phone line as much as for the valuable remarks she gives.

I may or may not ever have the kind of amazing year as my Louisiana acquaintance did. I am savoring this time in my life just as it is--with one work on its way to readers, and another still evolving under my care and that of my friend in Virginia.