Weekend!!!! Yeah!

A very hectic week on the day job but now it's finally Saturday. Some good things are happening. Check on TBR Blog. This weekend is the any genre blurb fest. You can post a blurb of your book in the comment area or just read all the blurbs and fill up your TBR pile. Admit it, it was getting a little small with only a few hundred books on it. 

Also for the rest of September, I'm still the featured author on TBR. Thanks much to Cate Masters for asking me.

Thanks to PAGAN who gave me a nice review on Amazon for Beneath the Mountain. Hope I can get a few more.

I'm going to spend part of the weekend catching up on visiting blogs including so many from the Favorite Genre Blogfest that I didn't get around to visiting.

I've mentioned my upcoming retirement a few times and this past week I've added so many things to my 'next year' list. There are lots of book events and festivals only a few hours from me. I could go to those weekend ones while I'm still teaching, but then I'm exhausted the next week at work. I need my weekends to regroup from school. But 'next year' I'm going to attend a bunch of these. Maybe I'll be able to sit on a few panels and get more involved that way.

In the meantime, I'm working on Book#4 of The Futhark Chronicles, Heir of Futhark, and hoping I can get it ready for publication before the start of the New Year. If the world doesn't end in December.

Have you attended any writing events lately? Any in the Mid-Atlantic region you recommend for me for 'next year?'

Acquired Skills

I played competitive sports until my children were born and they all participated on numerous athletic teams in high school and college. My daughter has one more year of high school softball and they've already started indoor practices.  They practice a lot. Hours and hours.  They practice hitting, fielding and throwing.  They practice strategies for baserunning and defense.  Practice, practice, practice.  Sure, lots of the girls have natural coordination but they weren't born softball players.  They learned it.  They acquired the skills needed to play the game and they practice so they can play even better.

from FB

Yes, it's time for one of my comparisons of sports to writing.  People aren't born writers.  They learn how to write.  They practice skills they learn from one source or another.  Then they practice some more.  They attend workshops, take classes, and attend conferences.  They study the art in its successful forms by doing lots of reading.  They share information with others in the field and help each other.  They improve their skills as they go and learn you can never practice too much.  And even when they reach the championship level and have a book published, writers need to keep practicing. Writer is an acquired skill and is only acquired by those willing to practice endless hours and hone their skills to perfection.