My Deflowerment Continues

I’m back with more ‘the virgin-writer-gets-deflowered’ stories. Okay, the ‘virgin’ part may have been wishful thinking.

The first time I read my material in front of people. I was recently asked to join a writer’s group with two published authors. I was quite honored, but silly me, I thought if I made my world famous eggplant parmesan and stuffed mushrooms for the group I wouldn’t have to read first.

Nope. They made me go first.

To read my work out loud made a huge difference. Huge. I caught things in my manuscript I never would have hadn’t I done that. Now, this is one deflowerment I’m grateful for.

Completing the first draft of my book. The birth of my literary child. My baby. No, I’m not married and I do not have children — yet. But I could have used an epideral a few times while writing this book. My grandmother called recently to ask what I wanted for my birthday at the end of the month. During the conversation she said, “C.J., now that you got this out of your system, maybe it’s time to think about settling down, getting married and making use of those childbearing hips.” She’s 90 years old, has cataracts and I may need to hit her up for money if I don’t find another job soon, so I let that one slide.

This pretty much covers most of the firsts for me over the last year of following my dream. The deflowerments I’m looking forward to? The first time I see my book in a store. I’d love to hear about those first’s, if anyone would like to share.

My upcoming deflowerment — I’m attending my first Bouchercon in Chicago. Now, I’m painfully shy. Painfully. So, I’m a wee bit nervous about this one. I’ve made wonderful friends, writers that have gone out of their way to offer advice and answer my freshman questions, Jason Starr, S.J. Rozan, Reed Farrel Coleman, and the exquisite Ken Bruen. They’ve promised to peel me out of the fetal position and drag me out of my hotel room. If you run into me in Chicago, I’m not C.J. Box, I’m C.J. Carpenter, the one with the childbearing hips.

Oh, and thanks, Sarah for another deflowerment. My first blog entry/guest appearance.

See you in Chicago!