Ready to “Run For It?” Book Three is Out!

January 13, 2016January 12, 2016 ~ Meg ~ 56 Comments

After a lot of hard work, an actual editor’s polishing, and a professional cover design, Book Three of The Bucks County series is here! This is Joni and Graham’s story. Even if you haven’t read the first two books of the series, you will recognize Graham from the prequel short stories: Lips Like Sugar and Dear Mr. Fantasy that appeared in Sunday’s Song Lyric in the last couple months. Run For It is available in print and e-book on Amazon. You can find it here. I hope you all will enjoy:

Joni Cooper is in the best shape of her life. In fact, she’s training for the Boston Marathon. So why does she feel like the last kid picked for the team? Mostly because her two best friends have fallen in love with a pair of handsome brothers. It looks like she’s stuck with the third and final brother, Graham, as an escort for both weddings. Even though Graham is gorgeous and successful, he’s also irritating as sin. Will the two of them manage to call a truce until the two couples are married? Or will the sparks these two generate erupt into a five alarm fire?

Black holes and exaggerations.

January 4, 2016January 4, 2016 ~ Meg ~ 39 Comments

Black holes have always fascinated me. Science fiction portrays them as gateways to other universes, dimensions, etc. And while that’s impossible (or so they say 😉 ), it’s still a cool concept – using a point in space to travel extreme distances and arrive in strange new worlds. Officially, black holes are points of matter so dense that their extreme gravity doesn’t even let light escape. Is there a force in the universe powerful enough to counter the effects of such tremendous pull?

What if metaphorically, your light has slipped past the event horizon? You are too close to break free. There’s no point in fighting it. You are stretched into the tiniest of particles as the gravity rips your matter apart. From a body, to organs, to tissues, to cells, to molecules and atoms. Your atoms don’t even stand a chance. They are ripped into their components: electrons, neutrons, protons. Do they also disintegrate into even smaller particles? And all of it in an instant. Poof. You’re gone.

Have the last few weeks or month felt like this to you? Maybe it happens to you in the summertime, when sunshine and warm weather have you daydreaming about cocktails on the beach. (Um, unless you’re in the southern hemisphere, where it is summertime. In that case, double whammy!) Whatever it is, something sometime is going to pull the energy and enthusiasm right out of your proverbial mind/body, rip you into your component parts and scatter you to the wind. (Mixing metaphors, I know). (Does the period go inside or outside the parentheses? Anyone?)

What if, (still speaking metaphorically) you reach the center of the black hole, the singularity, and instead of being destroyed, antigravity pushes you out the other side? The force is equal to that which pulled you in. Your atoms coalesce, cells join into tissues and organs, your body reforms. You’re alive! Best of all, your mind is clearer and more focused than ever before. You are ready to get to work with discipline and determination. If that is true, then taking a break from the normal routine has been beneficial. Even though the time off may not have been productive, it has served a purpose. Yes, other responsibilities may have stretched you thin. But it’s over. You made it out the other side. So long black hole. Until the next time you get too close.

*Please don’t take this for a scientifically accurate article. Nothing can survive a black hole. Not even Maximillian Schell.

From “The Black Hole” 1979, starring, you guessed it, Maximillian Schell.

Time is not on your side…

December 9, 2015December 9, 2015 ~ Meg ~ 31 Comments

Last week, in my post about the book cover faux pas, I listed the writing projects I have in the works. A couple of my readers asked how I had time to write like that. The short answer is: I have no life. Ok, that’s a joke, sort of. Many of us who are trying to live the writing life are fitting it into an already busy schedule. How does someone with a day job manage to carve out time in the day to write? Schedules vary, but there are some principle to apply.

One of my writing heroes is Nora Roberts. She has written over 209 romance novels in her illustrious career. Now, I see you all turning your noses up at romance novels, but quit it! The genre is underrated by literary snobs for no good reason. Jane Austen was a romance writer. So were the Bronte sisters, Margaret Mitchell, Gustave Flaubert, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edith Wharton – need I say more?

Back to Nora – PBS (Public Broadcasting System, for those of you outside the USA and a true bastion of the arts) did an interview with her a couple years ago and it made a big impression on me. She said she approaches her writing like any other person would approach their work day. She gets up early, exercises, puts the coffee pot on and by 8:00, she is at her desk to write for an 8 hour day! That’s right, an 8 hour day. It’s a job, people. A very, very fun job, but a job nonetheless.

I have tried to impose that kind of discipline upon my writing. Every weekday, I get up early and write for an hour or so, exercise and go to the office to see my patients.* Tuesday and Thursday, the days I don’t have office hours, I keep on writing. (So that’s how she does it!) I set deadlines to keep from getting off track. I have writing goals for my novel series, for my blog and for an unrelated project which I hope wins me the Pulitzer. Just kidding…

Anyway, the trick is to be analytical and slightly selfish when it comes to your writing. Take a look at your weekly schedule. How much time do you spend in front of the TV? Playing video games? Fooling around on Facebook and Twitter? I know, I know, I do it, too. This is time you could be spending on your writing. On the other hand, don’t let your writing become so burdensome that you lose your joy. After a big project is complete, or sometimes in the middle when you’re hitting the wall, take a break, step back and recharge your batteries.

Here are some things you should NOT sacrifice for time to write:

-your spouse/partner and children (unless you secretly can’t stand them)
-your health and wellness: take time to exercise, drink plenty of water and eat healthy food – it powers your brain (also booze, but that’s a subject for it’s own post)
-your spiritual life: whatever that means to you, be it meditation, prayer, or just quiet time to think (and have a legitimate excuse to ignore your family)
-reading for pleasure: writers need to read, period
-spending time with friends (if you still have any)

Why that last one? Because frankly, writers spend a lot of time in our own heads and can invent our own friends by writing them. I am totally guilty of that. While that internal chatter is essential for good writing, you have to turn it off once in a while. Don’t give up the chance to have real life human connections in order to create your fantasy world.

Writers, the bottom line is if you are going to do this, you have to make it a priority. It has to be important to you. It can’t get shuffled so far to the bottom of the pile that you never finish anything. If you find that happening to you ALL THE TIME, then reevaluate your plan to be a writer. Maybe the writing life is not for you. That’s ok, too. Be a reader. After all, someone’s got to read all this stuff we write!

How about the rest of you? Writers, how do you find time to write?

*I am a Doctor of Chiropractic in solo practice in the Philadelphia suburbs. As always, some of that was meant to be humorous. I assume you’re all savvy enough to pick out the useful stuff from the nonsense.