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Why I Write
When I write, I draw on my experiences as a woman with a painful past, a rapturous wife and mother, a world traveler, and a spiritualist. For me, writing is an art form. Like an artist, the work becomes more than I imagined it would be. When I set out to write a story with a particular idea or character in mind, words I cannot claim as my own flow from a magical and mysterious place through me and onto paper. The work takes on a life of its own; it is living art. The process fascinates me, satiates me, and makes my life more meaningful.
Please read my stories! If you would like to offer me feedback on my work, please click here and sign up for a free membership: https://heftynicki.Writing.com
I hope to see you there!
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Blog, Blog, Blog
 
Welcome!
 In 2011, my main focus will be on writing a novel. Since I'm a novice novelist, I've decided to come at the project from different angles, exploring the genre and experimenting with its elements. This blog and its offsite sister blog will be my journals where I attack novel-writing one day at a time.
As I was creating my BlogSpot page, the inspiration for the blog solidified in my mind. I named that blog "One Significant Moment at a Time." In essence, I want to use the format as a reminder to walk through my life with my author's eyes open, taking in the details, feeling the emotions of the day. As moments unfold and I feel their affects on me as a person, a woman, a mother, a sister, a member of the world community, I'll let the writer in me talk about it.
Creative Nonfiction is the genre most fitting to describe what I envision accomplishing here, moreso than blogging or journaling. The style is best suited, I feel, for my ambitions as a novelist.
In addition, Friday entries will not be written by me. Instead, I'll turn the keyboard over to one of the characters in my novel. He or she will relate the events of the day as s/he saw them, through the filter of his or her perception.
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Become a Follower there, and I'll send you a Supportive Merit Badge! -- You don't have to go to blogspot.com each day; in fact, I post much of the same entries here in this WDC blog. But building up a verifiable readership may prove important one day when I'm knocking on literary agent/publishers' doors!
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2011 Reading Goal = 25 Books in 52 Weeks. To see the list of books I've read so far, CLICK HERE 
 Leave me a comment anytime ~ even on older postings!
Thanks for reading!!
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I spent the afternoon revising and spit-shining a story for submission. It's amazing how much easier the editing process is when you've put the project aside for a couple months.
I hadn't reread this particular story since early spring when I submitted it to a literary magazine called Independent Ink. That market generally takes 120 days to notify authors of acceptance or rejection, although they state on the website that if the story is good but not right for the issue they're currently preparing, they may take longer to announce the acceptance, to coincide with the issue it will appear in. I've now been waiting to hear a 'yay' or 'nay' for 139 days...A good sign or not, I can't guess.
At any rate, I decided to submit the story to other markets. If it is accepted someplace else, I'll withdraw it from Independent Ink's consideration.
I hadn't forgotten what the story was about, but I had become distant enough from it to enjoy it as a reader would. I wasn't skimming the words like I did when it was well-rehearsed in my writer's brain. I actually read it.
And, naturally, I found places where a tweak was in order. After some minor adjustments that, I think, strengthened the flow and overall emotional impact of the story, I sent it off. I don't think I'll ever get over the nervous, flip-flopping jitters I feel when I push the "Submit" button. It's a gulp from a big glass of exhilarating terror. Makes me sort of drunk, every time.
Now I have to settle in for another 90-day wait, on average. Plenty of time for cramps to take hold of my tightly crossed fingers. Going to try to put it out of my mind and just write.
Just write.
Just.Write.
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My own father has many strengths, but for whatever reason we've butted heads for about forty-two of the forty-four years we've known each other. He's taught me a lot, but usually by demonstrating in his own speech and actions how not to behave. I thank him for that. Many, many characters I write are heavily based on him, me, and our experiences together. And for the most part, we get along now. We've been around the block enough times to know what subjects to stay away from and what buttons must only be pushed in rare and extreme circumstances.
My husband is a fabulous father to our two children. They love him a lot, and that makes me so happy. It stops up some of the holes punched in my heart by my father.
On Father's Day, I celebrate my husband and the fathers out there that find a healthy balance in rearing children, that teach their children boundaries without crushing their spirits. Dads that are stern while still conveying the love they have in their hearts, and want only for their children to soar, even if their children soar higher than they have managed to fly.
For all of you dads out there who love, teach, protect and mentor, I salute you! |
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I logged into WDC this morning and found it strange that none of my highlighted items appeared in my port. Then I tried to pull up my WDC Survivor book item, but when I opened the folder labeled Short Stories 2011, it was empty. So were all the other folders. I thought, what is going on??
Then my eyes strayed to the bottom right corner of my monitor and I saw the date. Today is June 16th?? ALREADY??
My account membership expired last night at midnight. 
Of course, I knew it was going to expire on the 15th. SM sent at least two reminders in the past couple weeks. The problem is I live in la-la land in the summer. I rarely know what day of the week it is, let alone the calendar date. In past years, I renewed the first time I received an email reminder. But this year, I just put it off.
I've never let my membership expire, and I panicked this morning. Were all but ten of my items lost forever? My short stories and poems are backed up, of course, both on my hard drive and in the cloud at Dropbox.com. But not my blog posts, my book items, my signature shop, my TWIST items and forums, and not my contests and activities. Yikes!
All's well now, though. I paid for my premium membership, logged off and logged back in. My port has been restored, thanks to the four week grace period the SMs grant us. Thank you, beautiful staff at WDC!!!
And a good lesson learned. In 2012, I will definitely renew my membership the first time I'm reminded...for certain!
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It's the final round of WDC Survivor, and Fyn   and I have our work cut out for us with the prompt. We are to write a story/scene about a character who receives devastating news in a telephone conversation. The first part of the story must be dialogue-only, but then we have to write the same story/scene only the second time, we can't use any dialogue.
Tough, tough, tough! And my child had a birthday sleepover party last night and a friend has invited us to her pool tomorrow -- and I'm freaking out a bit with this entry!
The good news: I've just now finished the first draft. And I've been editing and revising as I go, so even though it's a first draft, I have much of the work done. Now, I have tonight and early tomorrow to polish the thing up and submit.
The great thing about this final round is our entries will be anonymous. In other words, we submit to Sara Jean privately, and she'll put our stories in her port with our names taken off them. This is brilliant because voting will be based solely on the merits of the writing and not on whose group turns out the most voters.
I'll link voting info here when I have it. Deadline for our submissions is tomorrow night. Any well-wishes are greatly appreciated! And drop Fyn a note too. She's amazing and I'm thrilled to have my bar raised so high by competing in a contest with her.
Until next time, have a wonderful evening!
Nicki  |
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Today we reached a milestone in my family. My son is officially a teenager. And it's his Golden Birthday, because he is 13 years old on June 13th. (I didn't celebrate my own...my birthday is October 3rd  )
So there you have it: I'm the mother of a teenager. I guess this is when the fun starts!
*gulp*
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This morning at the pool I overheard a young boy about ten years old say to a group of kids, "One thing I've learned from my mom and dad is: never trust a girl."
Wait, what???
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I've begun my Italian lessons -- nothing fancy, just CDs I picked up at the library. It's fun though, trying to parrot the pronunciation and cadence of the speakers on the discs. Fifteen years of speaking French has definitely helped my lips and tongue loosen up to form the Italian words.
Is this really happening? Am I really going to be over there for fifteen whole days?
No one pinch me. I never want to wake up!
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I'm so grateful to all the wonderful WDC friends who voted for me in the WDC Survivor polls. Thanks to you, I racked up the most votes and wasn't "voted off the island!" Since this is a fundraiser game, I'm thrilled beyond words to hang in there for one more round in the hopes of bringing even more GPs home to Rising Stars.
There are just two of us left now. The incomparable Fyn is my inspiration and my competition in the finale. We've been cheering each other on over the past two months or so. When I held the Immunity Idol one week and was safe from elimination, I rallied votes to boost Fyn's standings. I know I don't consider us in competition with each other. Rather, we're nudging each others bars ever higher. What a great thing!
But, in the end there will be only one winner who brings the final 575K+ grand prize home for her charity group. Rising Stars have been so incredibly supportive of me during this adventure, and I really want to be able to thank them with all those GPs.
The final prompt isn't posted yet. So for now, I'll just say thank you for voting for me, for reading and reviewing my entries, and for making me feel like an appreciated writer. I've grown yet again in my craft, thanks to your support. Come on, now; group hug!
Nicki  |
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I'm very excited about our summer vacation plans and have been preparing for the past two weeks. We don't leave until mid-July, but considering we're going to Italy, there's a lot to get ready for. The first few days we'll be at my sister's new house in Tuscany. My parents may be there the same time we are, so Mom and I have decided to read Eat, Pray, Love "together" between now and then, to get extra excited about it (if that's possible!).
On the fourth day, we're flying down to Naples where we'll board my sister's boyfriend's yacht. Between the 18th and the 30th we'll sail down Italy's Mediterranean coast, taking our time and docking in seaside towns and island ports. Gah!! I can't wait!
I'm fluent in French but don't speak a word of Italian. The local library didn't have How To Learn Italian audio tapes, but have ordered them for me from another location. As soon as they come, my lessons begin. The kids want to do the tapes with me. Fun!
More to come about our trip as details are settled. For now, the whole thing is surreal. Trips like this just don't happen to me!
Until tomorrow...have a great day! |
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| Up early, the kids are still abed...I #amwriting! |
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I'm going to have a blue blogging month. There. That's my goal. Jot down what I'm up to for the day.
I'm finishing up the trim in the kitchen and dining room. The detail work is my favorite -- and luckily I have a steady hand. It's going to look fan-tabulous once we get all the art back on the walls and the decorations back in place. What a project!
The kids and I just got back from the public library. My 11 yo. daughter took out a YA book on her summer reading list. But my (nearly) 13 yo? He took out Melville's Moby Dick, and an audio book to learn Mandarin Chinese.
I was disappointed there wasn't an audio book for learning Italian. I ordered a copy from a neighboring library, which should be here within a week. I picked up a travel book on Tuscany and Eat, Pray, Love. Getting ready for our Italian vacation -- can't wait!
Okay, no more stalling. Off to paint. Ciao! |
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Comment • View 5 comments 
Where'd Ashy go??)~
