Life and lessons...

Just because I haven't posted doesn't mean I'm inactive. I've been dealing with taxes, loss of our beloved Blackitty, repairs to the house, and a full e-mail Inbox demanding attention. I wrote a guest blog on Persistence that turned into a nostalgia trip into my past. I also write something on my work in progress (Troubadour's Quest) every day, even if it's only for 10 minutes, and I'm polishing an Ancient World story I wrote many years ago about one of my favorite characters, Karie, the last true High Priestess. I hope to publish that as a stand-alone. Every month I get out the Monterey Bay Fiction Writers newsletter.

~*~

My favorite sweater is falling apart. The design came to me in a meditation during a journal retreat in the early '90s. Using a basic cardigan pattern, I put the design onto graph paper, one square per stitch, and selected the yarns from a lovely knitting shop that has since gone out of business. They had most of the yarns in stock but the basic color, an aqua blue, came from an Italian company. The shop owner ordered it from the U. S. distributor but when the order didn't come for over a month she followed up--many times. After 3-4 months we gave up, I got different yarn and knit a different sweater. Six months later the shop owner had to phone the distributor about another matter and, out of curiosity, asked what happened with that order. Turns out that the manufacturer had gone out of business and mine was the last lot produced. The distributor checked around and found my yarn--in the desk drawer of an employee who "no longer works for us." So I got the yarn and knit the sweater.
       I had to re-knit the sleeves 10 years ago when some helpful person put that "dirty sweater" in the washing machine (never, ever ever put a hand-knit sweater of different wools in a washing machine!!) and I used blue acrylic for the elbows. Now the front bands are unraveled, there are holes around the leaves on the front, the neck is stretched out of shape... Even so I wear it all the time, it's perfect over my shoulders on a cool morning or under a light jacket.
      While researching what fabrics and fibers my priestess heroine would wear in a high mountain religious community I came across Alpaca. It sounded wonderful--soft, lightweight, durable, warm. Fearing I'd have to go to Peru or Ecuador to get some, I rolled into a knit shop and asked the owner: "Do you happen to have Alpaca?" She pointed to the wall behind me--full of the most luscious, yummy colors. Very hard to choose. It's designed for large needles so I can have my new sweater faster.

End of an Era

     Well, it’s official. Today I received a black-bordered e-mail from RWA National that begins: “We regret to note that the final date for renewing your membership with Romance Writers of America (RWA) has passed. In accordance with RWA’s bylaws, your membership in the organization has been terminated.” 

      So ends an era that began in 1991. I wanted to write novels and, after every publisher in the country rejected my first, I was advised to join a writers' group and get critiques. I saw an ad in the paper for the local RWA Chapter and went to my first meeting where I learned why every publisher in the country had rejected my novel. I realized that I, a former editorial secretary with a B.A. in Creative Writing, had to go back to writers' kindergarten and learn the whole process from the ground up. (A business journal is not a genre novel.) 

      Lots of learning, lots of growth through good times and bad. Thanks to RWA I learned to write fiction (plots, character development, dialogue, pacing, POV) and tons of "how to be a writer" stuff, like critique groups, how to query and submit, identify publishers, how to find an agent, how to get rid of an agent. I felt really good about serving on the Board of my local Chapter, first as Secretary, then Treasurer, and for the past years as Newsletter Editor--again, lots of work but tremendous learning (I got to read all the articles posted to the Editors' loop). And I'm one of those nuts who enjoys obsessing over formatting and type-fitting. 

     Je ne regrette rien. But sometimes one’s just gotta move on, so I chose not to renew my membership in RWA.