Janet Q. Glaser, the Wordwright
The Writer's Life of Frivolity and Philosophy

We had to buy a new printer today. It seems our Brother printer’s black ink cartridge wouldn’t work in it anymore. It is not good to leave a printer idle for six months. Leaving it–an All-in-One Printer 665–in April, then returning in October is not a good idea. We have learned. But we thought hauling it back to Michigan in our truck for 22 hours didn’t seem like a very good choice either. This new printer, an HP 6500, is probably going to be our constant companion from now on.

No, I haven’t had a chance to hook it up and see how it performs, but I will tackle that job when I am bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning.

Having a home office is wonderful. But when a machine breaks down, the Internet access fails, coffee is spilled on the desk and all the papers, and there is no room to put anything away, I often wonder if it is worth it. When everything works though, it is fantastic.

Wishing you good luck with your home office experience. Don’t let any of those Halloween tricksters sneak in there!!

A fall tradition for writers takes place every November. With ridiculous high hopes and stellar dreams, we join up for NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month whereby we attempt, and some actually accomplish, to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. Ah, the foolishness of dreamers. Many of the writers hold down day jobs and still join in on NaNo. 50,000 words in 30 days equals…um. let me think…an enormous bunch of words per day.

Chris Baty, the father and cheerleader of Nano, began this crazy project in 1999 with 21 participants. In 2008 the number grew to 119,301 participants and 21,683 winners. You are considered a winner if you end up with 50,000 words by the end of the month. Incidentally noone decides if the novel is any good or if you even slung any ideas together or if it is only gibberish. As long as you meet the 50000 word goal, you are a winner.

I have participated for two years, but never reached my goal, although I did race through the novel and finish it…unfortunately I guess I am just not wordy enough…you’d never know it from this blog entry though…

I am on the fence this year as to whether to spend November revising the previous novels that I have written for NaNo or to jump in and start another absurd attempt at novel writing.

If you have always wanted to write a novel, this is your chance to make up your mind and do it!! Just do it!! Check out the site. It’s a lot of fun and you can meet writers and waste a lot of time just joining in and explorng the site.

The good thing is that if you only make it halfway to the goal, at least you have done something instead of talking about it. Try it!

Last night was the first meeting for the How to Begin Writing Your Life Story workshop. They are a great group. We had lively discussions, fun memories, touching stories, and everyone was courteous and participated throughout the evening. Every woman had already begun writing their story. They are all computer literate and even have emails where I can contact them.

I am really looking forward to the next two sessions and perhaps in continuing this class into the next semester if there is enough interest.

Now I have to get crackin’ planning the next session. These smart gals are going to keep me on my toes. I want them to experience a worthwhile workshop.

Founder of the Muse Online Writers Conference, Lea Schizas, says “Well, it’s time now to begin promoting next year’s conference. I’d like to please ask everyone to promote and tell your writing pals to register early because August 1st is the deadline to register. This year I had tons of latecomers and it bogged me down with work at the last minute driving me batty. I’m BALD!!!

Next year’s conference will be held October 11 – 17, 2010. Only those who register and follow my INDIVIDUAL EMAIL request will get updates throughout the year about upcoming new workshops and pitch sessions I’ll be hosting in 2010 before the 2010 Conference.”

To register click here

I recommend this conference for new or experienced writers.  If you have a complete ms, you can pitch it to many publishers who chat with you online in the chatrooms at specified times.  I did pitch my book for girls and the editor asked for three chapters, bio, and synopsis.  Woo Hoo….Now cross your fingers that she likes the writing and the profiles.

I am attending a writers’ conference this week, but there is no need to dress up or put on make-up, or for that matter to find the car keys. It is online. I don’t even HAVE to make sure I am on time because it is available 24/7 when I can click into it. It is the Muse Online Writers Conference held every Oct. All things writing is covered as well as publishers, agents, fiction, non-fiction. Lea Schizas is the organizational guru who leads this daunting operation. Kudos to you, Lea…

Next year be sure to register early because once registrations close in Sept, you cannot enter.

Ah, the glamorous life of a writer–  Check it out…