It reminds me of the book I’ve been working on all week.  It’s almost finished, too.  And I wonder if my editor will winnow out all the weaknesses.  The sweater is going into the Goodwill pile.  I don’t think I’d ever be happy wearing it.

Unfortunately I can’t give away the book.  It’s got to be sent to my editor by the end of next month.

Anyway, when I’m knitting in front of the TV, I feel virtuous because, well, I’m not exactly vegging, although it’s a close call.  And knitting is a great excuse for not working on the novel that’s due to the publisher in October.

The novel has many, many problems that I don’t want to face.  Knitting allows me to avoid them.  Knitting problems can be so easily fixed, I have discovered.  I can rip and start over and all vestiges of my mistakes are eradicated.

Plot problems are much tougher because I am anal and save every draft.  So it’s impossible to actually unravel a scene and start over without having what I wrote before influence what I’m writing now.

This is why rewrites are so hard.  I get so locked into what I’ve already written.  I wish I had the courage to unravel this story and start over.

Anyway, I thought I’d post a few photos of the ugly sweater I’m knitting as a first project.  Which makes knitting a metaphor for writing in more than one way.  My first novel was ugly, too.  Of course ‘the draft of my 15th novel isn’t so pretty either at this point.

Anyway while avoiding my book’s problems, I’ve finished the back, front and a sleeve of the ugly sweater.  At this rate I may have the whole thing done by next week.  (The sweater, not the book.)

Here are some photos to publicly document my progress.

The sleeve

The back

The front (the neck is still unfinished)

So I blissfully started the front, while catching up on Tivoed Law and Order episodes.  And I dropped a stitch.  I didn’t notice the dropped stitch until I had knitted a good two inches.  So, of course, I had to rip and then my hands got sweaty and then the yarn started splitting and I dropped more stitches when I tried to get the piece back on the needles, and then I snarled at my husband and said a few choice curse words.  So i ripped everything out and started again, only this time I managed to goof up the knit 2, purl 2 ribbing on the first inch of the garment.  I must have purled three somewhere along the line because it looked funky.

And I ripped some more and snarled again at the darling husband and well . . .

Bottom line:  knitted for two hours yesterday and managed to cast on 90 stitches for the front, and then it was time for bed.

.

Now let me be clear, my mother taught me how to knit when I about ten or twelve, but I didn’t really take to it.  For one thing, Mom had amazing talents with knitting needles.  She knit snowflake sweaters, and cable sweaters, and even a Ramsay plaid mohair afghan once.  I could not compete.  For another, I had sweaty hands as a child and you just can’t knit with sweaty hands.

So, instead, I let Aunt Annie teach me how to embroider.  I could embroider rings around Mom.   Eventually I even bested Aunt Annie in that department, but I could never match her skill at tatting.  (I still have some of her tatted lace, waiting to be put on a grand child’s dress.)  But I digress.

Why was I standing there reading a Debbie Macomber book filled with knitting instructions?

Several reasons:  1) My critique partners are yarn harlots.  And they have been trying to suck me in for a long, long time.  2)  I hate grocery shopping, and 3) I needed a vacation . . . bad.

For the last several months I’ve done nothing on my weekends but stare into a computer screen wrestling with manuscripts, new webpages, and day-job demands.  This weekend I hauled home a boat load of work-related things to do, in addition to a box filled with copy edits.  I really needed to get the grocery shopping done and get back to the computer.  I had a whole weekend planned — and it was all work.

But I just couldn’t do it.

So instead, ended up fingering yarn at the craft store.  And the yarn won.

I bought some of it, and I started a project.  I spent most of yesterday knitting while listening to the entire season of Morgan Freeman’s ‘Through the Wormhole.”  In the process I discovered a few things:

1) Knitting is like riding a bicycle.  Once you learn, you never forget how.  I haven’t knitted since I was a teenager.

2) My hands are not nearly as sweaty as they used to me.  So maybe there are some positives to being post menopausal, and

3) You can justify all kinds of procrastination when you’re actually making something.

So, here’s a photo of what I accomplished yesterday.  This is the back of a basic V-neck sweater:

And yes those are watermelon earrings in the photo — a  gift from Heidi Hamburg who is tickled by the fact that Last Chance has a water tower painted like a watermelon.  I didn’t have the heart to crop them out of the photo.

It was really fun, yesterday, to get away from the computer and practice an art that is ancient.  It really relaxed me.  And I was surprised by how connected I felt to Mom, who passed away in 1997.

I’ll be posting my progress on this project from time-to-time.  That way I might actually finish it.  I was notorious as a youngster for starting knitting projects and never finishing them.  Although I did ultimately finish the obligatory stripped scarf (Met’s colors), and the basic crew neck sweater (knit with really chunky yarn on ginormous needles.)

So, okay, CPs, you can snort and giggle and whatnot, but you finally sucked me in.  You and the burning need for a vacation from the computer screen.

Highlights of Day One:

At the airport shuttle kiosk, when I purchased my ticket to the Dolphin Hotel, the young lady looked up and asked, “Are you one of those romance authors?”  And I got to say yes.  And then I handed her one of my little excerpts.  I was walking on air.

Opening up my badge material and finding the First Sale ribbon.  Here is a photo of my badge. I feel like a kid in girl scouts when she gets that merit badge she’s been working months for.

I ran into my friend and author Judi Fennell.  Judi was having a conversation with a reviewer from Romantic Times.  So, I officially made my first elevator pitch for the book to a review.  She took notes and I handed out my second excerpt.

Attended the Golden Network Retreat and listened to agents and editors talk about the market.  These conversations always leave me slightly queasy.  I think I’ll just keep my head down and write what I love to write and God-willing the rest will take care of itself.

I met Amy Pierpont, editor at Grand Central Publishing.  She is so nice.  And before our late afternoon snack was over, she gave me several new ideas for inclusion in one of the Last Chance books.  We talked at length about quilting and crafting –things I used to do with a passion.  I suddenly realized that I had learned my love of those things during my summers in South Carolina.  When I think back on all the things my mother and aunts taught me, I realize that I want to share those things in a deeper way.  Sewing and making dolls and gardening have immensely enriched my life.  Those were the things I learned from Mom and her sisters.

I have a few friends who have been trying now for the better part of a year to get me to take up knitting.  But I have already determined that I am terrible knitter.  My thing is sewing, and embroidery.  I really need to get the sewing machine out and do some quilting.  Or maybe some cross stitch.  My hands are itching to work on something that doesn’t require a computer.  Thank you, Amy, for reminding me of how much I really love doing that stuff.

After that, it was on the the big literacy signing, where I cruised the room seeking out Washington Romance Writer chapter mates.  It was there that my friend Robin Kaye put the squeeze on me, with a little help from WRW chair (and 2010 Golden Heart Finalist) Keely Thrall to become a co-pan-liason for the chapter.  I think I’ve been drafted.

My day ended with dinner with the Ruby Slippered Sisterhood.  I, like dummy, left my camera in my room, but there are plenty of photos of our night out being posted over at rubyslipperedsisterhood.com.

I’ve got blistered feet (of course), and am suffering from a lack of sleep.  But I’m having a great time, meeting old friends, making some new ones, and learning new stuff everyday.

I recently saw an interview with a hot, young pitcher who had just made it to the big leagues after toiling for a number of years in the minor leagues. The kid was kind of ga-ga eyed. Here he was sitting in front of a TV camera being asked by someone how the big leagues were different from the minor leagues, and he looked about twelve years old. The kid kind of nodded at the question and then, in an aw-shucks manner said, “Well, the club house is a lot nicer.”

He went on to point out that the game, itself, while played at a higher level in the “bigs,” is still the game.

And so, on the eve of my departure for the Romance Writers of America annual conference, where a seemingly limitless number of writers, editors, and agents are about to convene, I’m feeling a little like that rookie pitcher. I’ve sold my book, and for the first time the cover art will be out there. I’ll be meeting people I never met before who are publishers, editors and important people in the industry. This is the big leagues for a person like me.

Like that rookie pitcher, I intend to go to the sessions and learn everything I can about this business. I still have a lot to learn about everything from promotion to the writing craft, and RWA makes an incredible number of writing veterans and coaches available at this meeting. I know that even though I’ve sold a novel, I still have to write every day and remember that, really, not much has changed about the writing process itself.

I’m excited to be going to RWA this year. I’ll have a first sale ribbon and a Golden Heart (c) ribbon. I’ll be posting impressions and emotions here for the rest of the week. But for now, I feel like a rookie pitcher about to pitch his first major league game. The butterflies are there, but I know I just have to trust my stuff and the stories I want to tell, be humble and grateful for this chance I’ve worked so hard for, and remember that writing is still writing at any level. If I do the best I can, every day, then the rest will take care of itself.

Which means I’ll have a place to make posts about being a rookie author at the BIG MEETING.  I’ve been to RWA before, of course, but never with both a spiffy First Sale AND Golden Heart  ribbon on my chest.  So next week is going to be an experience.

I’ll be posting reactions, photos and other fun stuff, so check in starting on Wednesday July 28.  I’ll also be blogging about the conference on www.blameitonthemuse.com on July 30.

When I get back I’ll be making some more improvements to the site, but I would sure love to have your thoughts and opinions.  If you have suggestions or comments, please feel free to leave a comment.