the lusty month of May

May in North Carolina is magical.
Maybe it's because my semester ends so early and I actually get to enjoy the month. Maybe it's because the weather is so stunningly beautiful here in May -- in Massachusetts, one still needs a light jacket. Maybe it's because the birds singing are heavenly. Maybe it's because I've been writing nonstop.
In any case, May in North Carolina is magical, and I've been on a high for the last seven days.

My friend sarah sent me this -- it's Julie Andrews singing "The Lusty Month of May" from Camelot. As I told her after viewing it, how can anything be so sexy and corny at the same time?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg4YrOlAkds

I met with my teen writers group tonight -- they're pretty bogged down with finals, so we mostly talked, the topics ranging from swashbuckler films to Robin Hood stories to collaborating (I told them about my latest novel project -- they were quite intrigued by the process). These students are so talented, smart, and well-read -- much more so than I was at their age. At the rate they're going, they'll be published before I am.

sarah and I have completed at least fifty pages between the two of us -- we're both impressed and pleased. She resumed a new trimester today and is already missing the back-n-forth emails, the drafting, etc. I miss it too, and her. But, we're both so excited about this novel, about our collaboration, about knowing we've got a great novel and a great idea, messy draft and all. On top of that, my nonfiction book is underway -- the writing is not as smooth in draft, but right now I'm just spilling it out and will go back and revise at least two chapters, then get to work on a proposal to send out to agents. That's the good thing about non-fiction: you can getaway with not having the manuscript finished. I wish I could start querying agents for our work of fiction (forgive me for my secrecy of the title -- I'm superstitious!).

At any rate, I am loving life, loving writing and the writing process, loving writers, and loving the lusty month of May.