*Practice Thoughts*

A quote from the inimitable Madeleine L'Engle:
"I know writers who write only when inspiration comes. How would Isaac Stern play if he played the violin only when he felt like it? He would be lousy."

I've often wailed over all the *practice* novels I've written and why it took so many of them before I got published. Why do I have to practice more than other people? Why aren't I more talented? Why does this feel harder for me than other writers?

Whine, whine, whine. Oh, woe is me.

Maybe I just have more to learn.

Maybe I spent too much time in my early years of writing waiting for inspiration. Or the dishes to get done. Or a clean house so I could concentrate. Or the errand list was finished. Or waiting for the babies to take a nap. (Which mine rarely did, even as infants. They were born wide-awake and stayed that way!)
Or. Or. Or.

Maybe I really did not practice enough.

Great Books I read in October

Call me totally lazy for not blogging for 3 weeks, but I took an enforced *blacation*. "Blog Vacation" as created by the cute jmprince due to total craziness around here.

But I gotta mention some incredibly terrific books. I REALLY wish I could have posted pictures of the covers. I want to figure out an easier way of posting pictures without having to copy and save them into my personal files, then upload them. Anybody have a faster way? It makes blogging SO time-consuming. I don't know how y'all do it every day with pictures, too! Check out these author's websites and you'll see the books for yourself! FABULOSO COVERS for FABULOSO NOVELS!!! Delicious until the last word . . .

SUCH A PRETTY GIRL by Laura Weiss

WUTHERING HEIGHTS by Emily Bronte

BROTHERS, BOYFRIENDS, AND OTHER CRIMINAL MINDS by April Lurie

WICKED LOVELY by Melissa Marr

EMILY GOLDBERG LEARNS TO SALSA by Micol Ostow

CASTING THE GODS ADRIFT: A TALE OF ANCIENT EGYPT by Geraldine McCaughrean

DEVILISH by Maureen Johnson

CURES FOR HEARTBREAK by Margo Rabb

Adult Novel: THE THIRTEENTH TALE by Diane Setterfield

Slammed. And a klutz!

Slammed with stuff right now and the big revisions for four novels (same ones they just take a long time!). So I'm a little scarce lately. I hope things will calm down in a couple more weeks.

In the klutz news: I've been notorious since I was a kid for hurting myself. My family used to laugh at me and now my husband does. Sliding across the blacktop on my bare knees during Steal the Bacon or falling off the clothes hamper (60 stitches in my leg) or cutting myself with a knife in the kitchen or burning my finger on the stove.

In the last week:
1. Almost burned the house down when the oven caught fire. Yeah, I hadn't cleaned it in a while. See, I've been slammed with work lately. Anyhoo, I thought it would stop if I didn't give it any oxygen and when I checked a few moments later the whole oven was ablaze. Smoke pouring out, alarm going off. I almost called the fire department, but I managed to get close enough finally to douse it with baking soda. It took the rest of the afternoon to get all the smoke out of the house. Later that night I cleaned the darn thing. My cookies burned.

2. On Saturday we went to the BYU/UNM football game with a big group of friends. We rooted for BYU, our alma mater - of course! - and the game was SO exciting and we clapped and pounded the bleachers so hard I completely bruised up my left hand. It swelled and now it's all purple. Embarrassing. BYU won - whadda ya think? 31 - 24. And that was after the referees took away one of the touchdowns five minutes after the fact. Sheesh.

3. That same night I was finishing up some dishes and I was washing a very large glass lid that goes to the frying pan. It slipped and SHATTERED into a thousand pieces into the sink. Gravity defying glass. It flew UP! My hands were literally covered in about two dozen tiny shards. Blood dripping. I didn't move. Screamed for my husband and he and my son slowly and carefully picked out all the shards and pieces over the next 10 minutes while I stood there trying not to freak out.

See, I have weird accidents.