Err Apparent

I've polished the 7 pages and I'm working on the rest of the story now. And the best news of all is that I've found a better title. Art of Deception fit the first version of this story, before it grew up and became more three-dimensional. The new title fits this storyline. I'm very pleased to announce that the new title for my mystery is:

Err Apparent

According to my dictionary (American Heritage) heir apparent is defined as: an heir whose right to inheritance is indefeasible by law provided he survives his ancestor. Publishers usually change the titles that authors come up with, but I enjoy the play on words and the fact that the new title fits the plot: my main character is being punished for a mistake her father made.

I'll give the 7 pages another polish and then send it off to the contest.

Learning to Walk Again

Last night, my sisters and I sifted through decades of my father's photos and that was just from one of his many large boxes of photographs. The experience was bittersweet. The memories and the decades of his life surrounded us. Yet how can the vitality and diversity of my father's life be depicted in something as two-dimensional as a photograph? There was so much more to the man than boxes of photographs can reveal to the world: the ups and downs of his life, the people he knew and loved, the dreams he held.

The task of presenting his life in photographs at the memorial seems daunting.

I'll be travelling to Mexico to visit my mom later this month. I feel the clock ticking away the time I have left with her, and with all I'm experiencing in mourning my father, I want to embrace the days she has left.

My house is a mess: the laundry and dishes and vacuuming and dusting have all seemed so unimportant, and the remodel work has been on hiatus. But I think my husband feels the same as I do: it's time to pick up one foot and put it in front of the other. Work and dreams and goals have all been difficult to concentrate on, but now they are welcome distractions. We're easing back into our lives, trying to figure out where we left off.

Madison Leigh encouraged me to look into a local contest. Thank you, Mad :) I'm polishing the first 7 pages of my mystery manuscript in preparation for the GSRW Emerald City Opener Contest. Even though the Emerald City Writer's Conference is in October, the deadline for the contest is only days away, so I'm brainstorming titles. The Art of Deception was only a working title - it fit the very first draft of the story. The revised version is so much better than the first draft that it deserves a more appropriate title.

So, 7 polished pages and a better title. First one foot and then the other.