Monday put me a little bit ahead of my goal, but Tuesday and Wednesday I didn't write at all. So I've been falling behind.

I made up a bit of ground with a 1,000 word day today. Plus, I did some jiggling, editing and rearranging. I know you can't make big word count gains while editing. That's one reason I set a relatively low goal of 15,000 words. I knew I was going to have to do some editing and continued research on this crazy story I'm working on. (Not that it is actually crazy, more like I'm crazy for tackling such a completely new and different story).

Anyway, I'm happy with my progress. But I'm ecstatic with the donations we're bringing in for the event as a whole. We went over $3200 today. Right on track for our $10,000 goal and maybe even a little better.

If you haven't already, please consider donating to the event. Just click on the Unleash Your Story button in my sidebar.

Visit UnleashYourStory.com for more news about our fantastic event.

Day one: I have $175 toward my personal goal of $500.

I've written 711 words on my novel so far today. Remember my goal works out to 500 words per day, so I'm on track there.

I've added a little progress bar on the sidebar to the left. I'll try to update it daily so that you can keep me honest.

Okay, must get a bunch of stuff done so that I can try to write some more before I go to bed tonight.

I'm psyched for this event! If you want to join me in unleashing your story to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Visit our website at:

www.unleashyourstory.com

Or click on the Unleash Your Story bumpersticker in my sidebar to make a donation!

Tommorrow we start the Unleash Your Story event.

It's not too late to join me. Here's how it works--it's like a walk-a-thon with no walking. You set a writing or reading goal and a donation goal. Head on over to the Unleash Your Story Event Page at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation website.

Registration there is easy. Fill out the form, decide whether you want to start a team, or work individidually. Once you have your donation page set up, you can edit the message on the page, invite donors by e-mail and you're off and running.

E-mail us at: mywords@unleashyourstory.com to give us your writing goal or pages@unleashyourstory.com to report your reading goal in pages.

That's it. We will have prizes for those who raise the most money and virtual certificates for those who meet or exceed their goals. To make it more fun you can challenge your friends to write more, read more or raise more money.

If you want to help, but just don't have the time to participate, you can sponsor me by going to my donation page at:

http://www.cff.org/LWC/TeresaBodwell

Monday is September first and we kick-off the Unleash Your Story event. I've got my page set up, my goals set and many e-mails already sent out to supporters. I am $100 towards my $500 goal. Now I need to get my writing on the right track. Of course nothing I write now counts toward my goal, but it would be great to have a couple of chapters written so that I'm on a roll when Monday comes around. We shall see.
Click here to sponsor me!

           


Join me in fighting Cystic Fibrosis. Click this link to sponsor me with a donation!

I have $100 towards my $500 personal goal. My friend Laura Drewry is already at $240, so i feel way behind.

As far as writing, this event works out perfectly for me. I am starting a new story, so I really need to boost that writing 15,000 words will do for me. I'll let you know on Monday what my starting word count is and post new word count totals daily so that you can see my progress.

In the meantime, I'd love to have a few more sponsors!! Donating is as easy as clinking on the link  and filling in a form. The CFF website is a secure place to enter your credit card info. After you donate you have that wonderful feeling that comes from knowing you've made a bit of a difference in your world.

Our group goal is $10,000. That means 20 people each raising $500, 100 people each raising $100,or 200 people each raising $50. Broken into small increments it all seems so very possible!

Thanks for your support!

Join me! Donate at my Unleash Your Story page.

I'm participating in the Unleash Your Story event to fight Cystic Fibrosis. My goal is to write 15,000 words during the month of September while raising $500.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a devastating genetic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system. More than ten million Americans are symptomless carriers of the defective CF gene. Advances continue to be made in finding a cure, but your help is needed now-more than ever-to help keep up the momentum of this life-saving research. To learn more about CF and the CF Foundation, visit www.cff.org.

Together, we can make a difference in the lives of those with cystic fibrosis. Thank you for supporting the mission of the CF Foundation!

  Watch here for updates on my progress starting September 1 through September 30.

Thanks to everyone for your support!

I recently joined a great group called "RomVets"--a group of romance writers who are all Veterans of the Armed Forces. Between meeting with these ladies at the RWA National Conference and doing a lot of Army research for my curren WIP, I'm experiencing a lot of nostalgia for my days with the Continental Army Band (now known as the TRADOC Band)

I scanned a few of my photos from those days and added a couple from the Band website. So--this is me, making the world safe for John Phillip Sousa marches!

Some of the photos did not scan very well because they were done with the linen look that was intended to keep them from smudging. Who knew then that we would be digitizing these photos today?

It has been a long and grueling primary season. Didn't it start like 2 years ago?

I know a lot of people are sick of the Democratic presidential race. I for one am excited. It's because I live in Montana where our votes seldom matter in Presidential races. The chances are good that our tiny electoral vote won't make a difference in November either. But now--for this one vote, our choice does seem to matter.

It feels great! Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have both been to Montana more than once! Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton have also appeared here. They are talking about Montana issues as though we matter in the grand scheme of things. It will all be over after Tuesday. It has been nice while it lasted. I hope, if Clinton or Obama is elected, he or she will still remember us after inauguration day.

The latest polls show that McCain is ahead among Montana voters. But we Montanans are a bunch of independent thinkers, so who knows will will happen come November. Maybe the candidate who spent a lot of time here in the Spring will be the one to prevail after all. We shall see.

Passionate about writing or reading?

Need an excuse to write more or read more?

Love a challenge? Want to challenge your friends?

Want to help find a cure for Cystic Fibrosis? My friends at Romance Unleashed have put together an event that we hope will be fun for readers and writers and also raise a money to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

You've heard of walk-a-thons, swim-a-thons or other a-thons that raise money for all kinds of causes. We wanted to capture the fun and challenge of those events while avoiding the part where participants knock on doors and ask for money.

Instead we've created the Unleash Your Story: Make a difference event. Participants can set their reading or writing goal and invite their friends, readers, colleagues or fans to donate to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in their honor. All you have to do is put a button on your blog or website that will click through to the CFF site. No need to knock on doors or collect money. CFF handles the whole transaction.

Easy, right? Mark September on your calendar. Start putting your team together. Challenge your friends and spread the word about the Unleash Your Story event.

Signet's announcement that they have parted ways with Cassie Edwards is bound to stir up a new wave of controversy in the romance community. But that's okay because we love our controversy like our sex. The hotter the better.

I'm not in favor of using the internet for personal attacks. I'm an attorney by training and I don't like to see someone convicted without a trail. I do think there is enough evidence in this case to make a strong argument that the books in question did cross the line into plagiarism. You can see an excellent summary of possible instances of plagiarism compiled on the Smart Bitches Trashy Books blog.

Actually, I don't think there is any controversy about that part. The copying is too obvious. The controversy seems to be about Cassie Edwards intent. Did she mean to plagiarize? Was she taking an intellectual shortcut? Did she simply misunderstand the concept of fair use? These are the questions I'd like to address by pointing out that it doesn't matter.

There is no intent requirement in our copyright laws. The basic law is simple--an original work is is protected by copyright the moment it is set in a tangible medium of expression. This blog post is protected by copyright. An article in a magazine is protected by copyright. A novel is protected by copyright. Song lyrics you hear on the radio or a haiku written on a bathroom stall are all protected by copyright. Copying any of these things, or even copying a small part of them is infringement.

Fair Use is a defense to a claim of infringement. This is a misunderstood concept. To quote the explanation on the Copyright Office Website:

"Under the fair use doctrine of the U.S. copyright statute, it is permissible to use limited portions of a work including quotes, for purposes such as commentary, criticism, news reporting, and scholarly reports. There are no legal rules permitting the use of a specific number of words, a certain number of musical notes, or percentage of a work. Whether a particular use qualifies as fair use depends on all the circumstances. See FL 102, Fair Use, and Circular 21, Reproductions of Copyrighted Works by Educators and Librarians."

Fair use is very limited. Notice that works of fiction are not on the list of purposes for which the fair use defense was created. Fair use is for "commentary, criticism, news reporting, and scholarly reports." That said, we know that novelists do research and they do include facts from their research in their novels. Is that copyright infringement? No. Facts are not protected by copyright. A fact is not "an original work". The problem of copyright infringement arises when the novelist goes from including facts in her work to copying the expression of those facts from her sources.

It is easy to make a mistake. We are all subject to having a clever line or interesting way of putting something stick in our heads. We may unintentionally copy something that we read during our research or even a line from a novel we've read or a song we heard. With some care we should be able to avoid this sort of accidental copying. Take careful notes so that you can go back and check that you haven't copied the expression in another work. Even if unintentional, the copying is still infringement! A court will, however, take into account the innocent nature of the copying when assigning damages.

The more serious concern is the confusion about fair use. We can all avoid mistaking what is "fair use". A good rule of thumb is this: if you're using it in a novel it almost certainly is not fair use. That should be pretty easy to remember.

Baseball and springtime go together. I know the season goes on through Summer and into Fall, but honestly, baseball in Spring is best. Spring is a time of hope and never more than when you're sitting in the stands rooting for your favorite team.

In spring, everyone can have World Series dreams. The Red Sox are the defending World Series champs and there was no doubting the hopes of the faithful at Fenway last week when I was visiting. The Sox came through with a win over Detroit on a beautiful evening that started out in the 70s before the windchill made us all pull our hoods up over our Red Sox caps. I was thrilled to watch the whole spectacle, enjoying my Italian Sausage sandwich, Coke and some Cracker Jacks.

That's Spring!

Okay, I'm the last Romance Author in the country to blog on this topic. And, sorry, I'm not going to comment on the plagiarism controversy itself.
It goes without saying that plagiarism is a bad thing and trial by internet is also bad.

What I do want to talk about is the gracious and charitable sub-plot that emerged thanks to Nora Roberts, the Smart Bitches and their readers. One of the allegedly copied works was an article about the endangered black-footed ferret. Author Paul Tome wrote an amusing article for Newsweek.com, talking about his feelings about being copied, but more importantly, discussing the plight of the black-footed ferret.

Nora Roberts offered to match the first $5,000 raised by Smart Bitches readers for Defenders of Wildlife. Generous romance readers and writers donated that amount in 3 days!

I love the generosity in the romance community. I love it when someone finds a way to turn a negative into a positive.

I love happy endings. Unfortunately, this is probably not the end.

Have you noticed that snow in December is magical? People smile and enjoy the bright flakes dropping from gray skies.

Sure we have to shovel and the roads are a mess and the sidewalks can be slushy or icy or both. But we all look forward to a white Christmas.

Flash forward to January. Another snowstorm hits and suddenly it's all about the shoveling, the slush and the mess. The only ones who are excited are the skiers (but then again--they like flying down mountains on a couple of sticks--so we can't really believe they have good judgment).

So--what does this mean? Is it just Christmas--or do we get tired of the snow after a couple of months? Or is something else going on?

I don't know. What do you think?

(If you're a writer looking for a warm and cozy escape from all that winter--don't forget the workshops at Athena Critique Services.)

Technology. We love it. We hate it. It shapes our lives.

Having a natural gas stove definitely changes the making of dinner. It's so easy these days. I'm reminded of this when I write my historical books and I start thinking about the amount of time they would spend just getting hot coals before cooking really begins.

But when it comes to communication technology, things get personal. I've had Caller ID on my phone for only the past 2 years. I love knowing who is calling before I pick up. Sometimes I don't pick up if the caller is unidentified. I definitely don't pick up if I can tell it is a telemarketer.

If I'm working, I only pick up for something that looks like it can't wait.

This bit of technology has really helped to cut down on interruptions in my day. I used to feel I had to pick up in case it was the kids' school calling to say one of them was sick, or broke a leg at recess. Now, I look. It's an 800 number, I know that isn't the school and I can keep working.

E-mail is another story, I suppose. I do take several breaks every day to check my e-mail. This takes time since I now ave about 6 e-mail addresses. My life neatly divided into author stuff, Athena stuff, personal stuff, etc.

Voice mail is probably a time saver over all. It isn't so important that you catch the person in because you can leave a detailed message that may substitute for a long conversation. But this raises the level of expectation. There is no excuse for a failure to communicate because you could have left a voicemail or an e-mail. There is no vacation from communication either. You may as well keep up with those messages because, if you don't, when you get back to the office you will be inundated.

I think all this technology is a net gain. It makes communication easier, if a little less personal. But I do understand those last holdouts--you know who you are. Those annoying people who don't carry a cell phone with them everywhere. Some folks don't even have voicemail that can pick up when they are on the phone--so you sometimes still get a busy signal!  Monkey wrenches in the cogs of communication progress.

They'll all die soon with their memories of hand-written letters and dropping in on a neighbor to have a cup of coffee and chat. We can listen to those old stories in a nostalgic podcast.

True, the snow has completely melted around here (three days and nights of rain will do that), but it is the holiday shopping season.

If you're like me, you have plenty of folks whom you'd love to remember for Christmas, but you know they don't need another knick or knack. So, what to do?

Here is my list of favorite charities. I make donations in my loved ones' names and send them a nice eCard so they know I remembered them. (BTW, I recommend the classy animated greeting cards at Jacquie Lawson's site).

Habitat for Humanity  This organization needs no introduction. They do great work building homes for people on the margin around the world.

ELCA World Hunger  Your faith community probably has something similar working on hunger and disaster relief around the world. I don't know if communication is getting better, or if we just need this more. But it seems as though I'm always hearing about another famine somewhere.

Speaking of hunger, America's Second Harvest supports food banks across our nation.

Food for the Poor is a non-denominational Christian hunger relief program that focuses on Latin America and the Caribbean.

If you know a charity that is particularly close to your friend's heart--that can be a really special gift. This year I'm thinking about gifts to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Girl Scouts of the USA in honor of friends to whom those organizations are important.

And for those gifts that you're buying online--consider purchasing through the iGive website. You pay the usual price at sites such as L.L. Bean, Land's End or Gap.com and the store returns a percentage to your favorite charity. It is easy to sign up and use iGive.com and the stores you shop online with are probably on their list of sites.

It is more blessed to give, and it is a lot of fun too. Especially when you can give something great--like a pig for a small village. Or a toilet for a Habitat House in honor of your best buddy.

Or do you know a word nerd?

This might be a good time to visit The Athena Critique Services Cafe Press Store. We have new products especially for word nerds. Tired of seeing those math geeks with their Pi shirts and hilariously funny equations? (At least they think they're funny). Well, it's high time we fight back with our own shirts, mugs and totes. Here are a couple of our newest designs.



Visit the store and take advantage of the Cafe Press holiday sale!

 I just bought a gorillapod to go with my new camera. Now I get to inflict everyone with pictures that have me in them! 

Seriously, this is a fun device with strange flexible legs that make it easy to set a camera up on a rock, or any uneven surface. It's small and lightweight too, so adding the gorillapod to my camera case was easy.

Nanowrimo update--it is not looking good for me to get the full 50,000 words by November 30th. I'm not giving up though. I'm hoping to come away with at least 40,000 and a great start to my novel.






 

I went for a walk yesterday morning, as I usually do. And as I've been doing lately, I took my camera. On an impulse I decided to walk along the Kim Williams Nature Trail. I haven't done that trail in ages and I really forgot how long it is.

I walked and I took pictures and admired Hellgate Canyon and the Clark Fork River. There's a rather spectacular burn on Mount Sentinel here from a 1985 fire. You can see the new trees coming in on that black mountain. 

So Jenny and I meandered and when we got home I was amazed to look at the clock and find that three hours had elapsed.

  Jennyis great on these walks. Here she is alerting to another dog on "her" trail. Did I mention that she is rather territorial? She is very patient when I stop to take pictures.

I know I should regret taking that extra two hours for my walk, but I don't. It was a perfect morning. 

Just a reminder we have a new workshop coming up at Athena Critique Services We're calling it "Keep Writing Through the Holidays". If you're looking for a little push to keep you writing going through the busy holiday season, consider this workshop. We'll have weekly deadlines and comments from two published authors to keep you going.