I belong to a writers' listserv that recently exchanged information about their "writing space"--where they like to do most their writing. While my desktop computer sits on a rolltop desk in a bedroom converted to an office in a quiet cul-de-sac with deer grazing in the garden, this is actually my second choice of a place to write. First is Panera Bread located in Parker, Colorado. I love the atmosphere, a mixture of friends gathering to discuss whatever over a danish or egg souffle and a cup of coffee (morning is my favorite writing time), and other patrons turning on their laptops and digging into their own writing or business world. Friends ask me if I get distracted trying to create in such an environment. The answer is no. I can lose myself in my story while feeling comforted by the surroundings. It's like working out at a gym with others working up a sweat along with you. Although my husband works and we have no kids at home, that's where I get distracted. I could do laundry...or read something written by someone else...I should answer the phone...So I leave, and go to my favorite place to write.


At this particular moment, though, I am sitting at my desktop. Outside my window, snow is blanketing the trees and bushes, and swirling past my window in the wind. Oh, wait, maybe this is a good place to create. It's that inbetween time of year, the holidays, when there's much to do and buy, and summer when the beautiful weather is bekoning you away from your computer. In Colorado, March weather can change from sunny to blustery in minutes. Sunny is good for shopping, but I love blustery because it's the perfect excuse to put off shopping, and write--guilt free. Which reminds me, I have some revisions to make.



My current project is a few minor revisions to my YA novel, AWAKENING AT SPIRIT LAKE. This contemporary, paranormal romance is about a twelve-year-old girl who dislikes the Native American side of her half-breed heritage. When her family decides to spend the summer in the Rocky Mountain town of Grand Lake, Colorado, she prepares herself for a summer of boredom. Instead, she encounters strange and frightening events around the lake when she meets and falls for a boy descended from a rival tribe, a tribe blamed for the untimely death of April's great-great-great-great grandmother. My husband and I own a small cabin in Grand Lake and I wrote much of the novel there. The manuscript was awarded first place in the Pikes Peak Writers Paul Gillette Contest and was a finalist in the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Colorado Gold Contest. Unfortunately, now that I'm ready to start sending it out, I'm worried that almost anything from unproven authors will be denied in this terrible economic time. I'm struggling with whether to hold the manuscript until the economy looks brighter, or take my chances and send it out, knowing I could be burning some bridges if my fears are valid.