"The Imaginary Writing Process"

You have to watch this You Tube video. It's an absolute scream. It's called "The Imaginary Writing Process". When I first heard of You Tube, I wasn't impressed. I could care less. But I'm beginning to become a fan. I've even made a few of my own book trailers and posted them to You Tube. This clip above has me drooling to buy a video camera so I can make actual film. Soooooooooooooooooooooo, per this video's premise, before you became published, or if you're not published (yet, or because you have no desire to be a writer)what did/do you picture the writing/publishing process to be like? All sunny mornings with roses shooting up? Roses without a single thorn? Did you imagine you'd be instantly famous and people adore you (not only your books) so much and swarm you whenever you went out in public, begging for autographs, lavishing you with gifts, begging to hire you for public appearances? Did you imagine you could tell the day job boss to "take this job and shove it"? That your first novel would be such an instant success you'd be a multi-millionaire, buy a new mansion, hire a full wait/cook staff to follow your every whim, and that you could travel the world whenever you desire? Did you imagine your editor, publisher, readers, and book reviewers would love every single word you wrote, exactly the way you first wrote it? That you'd be hailed as the greatest literary novelist since Shakespeare, maybe even BETTER than Shakespeare? Did you imagine that everybody would respect your position as writer? That your family and friends would be in total awe of your new profession? That they would be 110% supportive? That they'd tell all their friends and associates how wonderful your book(s) is? I don't know about anyone else, but I can imagine A LOT. However, I never quite imagined any of it as a musical like in this musical, LOL. But this is a cute interpretation. My reality is not quite like this video. Or my own musings. Most of my family could care less that I write, even find it annoying. They certainly don't want to read my romance novels (underline "romance"). They're embarrassed to tell their friends that their mom/wife writes one of "those things". They won't be quiet for me to write. They won't even try to be quiet if I'm trying to do a phone interview. I have to escape to Borders or the library or my car for a quiet place. Of course, Borders or even the library isn't always quiet either, so I have to use ear plugs or my MP3 players. As per money and fame - let's just say I'm still working on these... I'm not quite a millionaire yet - after 40 published books. And no one recognizes me as an author, not even at Borders or Barnes & Nobles which are full of readers. Oh well... Spill. I want to hear what you thought. And what the reality has been for those of you who are published writers. What do you think I was doing on Labor Day 18 years ago? Think hard... Did you guess? If you guessed, did you guess that I was actually in labor, getting ready to give birth to my daughter #2? Honest to God. I was in labor on Labor Day. Everybody got a laugh out it, except me. Eighteen years later, I now see the humor. :) I'm worried about my friends in Gustav's path. I'm writing this post on Sunday evening, so the storm's not made landfall yet, but New Orlean's already been commanded to evacuate and most people have done so. My friend "C" supposedly hopped in her car to evacuate NO yesterday. My friend "P" who lives in Baton Rouge, is hunkering down at her friend's house. Having lived through two category 3 storms and on the verge of a category 4 storm, I respect these things. I fear them. I'm glad so many people in NO are taking Gustav seriously. It's better to be safe than sorry. During Hurricane Elena (1985, a cat 3 that hit Biloxi) we were miserable. We were in the Air Force shelter for a few days. It was hot and sticky and stinky. Nerves were frayed. I was chasing 3 toddlers around so it was not fun. Our electric was out for weeks. We had a lot of debris to clean up. Luckily, we had no real damage although some people did. Biloxi/Gulfport/Ocean Springs was a mess and hard to navigate for well over a month. Here's a spot of good news! I'm doing the happy dance. Billy Mac from Critique My Blog: http://critiquemyblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/happilyever-after.html likes it. "....My hat's off to Ashley and I wish you much continued success in your craft." Thanks Billy! You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, and Cindy Spencer Pape are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)