Still revising my book!

I'm 75% through with the current round of revisions on my novel. I made some pretty major plot changes as a result of the feedback I got at the writer's camp I attended last month. One of my secondary characters, a seven year old stuttering, psychic little girl, has become more important, and Nana (another secondary character) is now mildly, non-violently schizophrenic.

Research:

I did a fair amount of additional research as part of my rewrite. For example, I found out what a dead body would look like fifteen years after the murder victim was entombed in an underground, abandoned coal mine! I also talked to a very nice man at the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources about abandoned mines, subsidence, and the events that lead rescuers to abandon their searches for entombed miners (they don't make that decision lightly).

I also researched the blooming time of the poisonous herb that one of the victimized secondary characters uses to try to off the bad guy. It turns out the herb blooms in the early spring and my novel WAS set in the fall! So I'm incorporating a 'season change' in this rewrite and moving all of the events to early spring.

Attending Writer's League of Texas Summer Conference:

I recently joined and will attend the June 2009 annual conference of the Writer's League of Texas, headquartered right here in Austin. I'm eagerly looking forward to it. I also joined the Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime and International Thriller Writers, Inc. I've been a member of the Romance Writers of America for some time.

Finished scarf #2 and starting #3

I finished my second knitted scarf last week. I like it so much that I think I'll rip it out and re-do it. Seriously, I really like the soft, fuzzy, 'hairy' (like mohair) yarn but mostly I LOVE the bright yellow-blue-orange-red variegated color combo. It looks GREAT with my denim jacket and my black Gap vest.

But now that I'm getting a tad better at knitting, all of the mistakes I made on it are jumping out at me. So I think I'll wear it while I knit another one from a second skein of the same yarn. I bought several skeins of several different color combos when they were on sale recently at Hobby Lobby. When I'm thru making my much-better-knit replacement scarf, I'll unravel the first one. And make something else with the yarn! I think I'll use the garter stitch (straight knit) because it knits up so fast.

I started my third scarf last night. It's a future gift for my sister. I struggled a couple of hours and ripped out several beginnings last night but I think I've finally got the hang of the 'seed' stitch. It'll be a narrow 5-inch cream colored scarf. I hope she likes it!

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Spring gardening time!

I planted two tomato plants on the sunny side of my house last week. Hopefully in a couple of months I'll have some luscious, ripe, homegrown tomatoes!

I looked for zucchini seedlings (to support my zucchini oatmeal bread habit) but couldn't find any. Maybe next week.

My yard's not big enough for much more than a few plants, but between my few veggie plants and the Austin Farmer's Market and my grown kids' gardens, I should be well-supplied.