Racy Humdrum

Last night, I submitted my monthly column to my local RWA chapter's newsletter editor. I always have trouble thinking of topics. The column is entitled 'Ask A PRO'. I am a PRO, which in RWA lingo means that I've finished a full-length novel and submitted to an agent/editor for consideration. Yes, I've done all that, but I don't really feel all that qualified to be offering anyone writing advice--I don't feel like an actual pro. I feel like I've barely scratched the surface myself--I'm still figuring out things that most writers probably get from the get-go. But that doesn't stop me from having to write the columns, so coming up with a topic is always a trial. This month I wrote about critique partners--I've only had mine for a few months now, and so I felt I had a fresh perspective. I sent the column out at about 10:00 pm on the day of the deadline. Within five minutes, the editor had written me back to tell me that someone else had already submitted an article on critique groups.

She told me she was fine with including them both but did I mind? Did I want to see the other article. No, I didn't. Because I'd already written this article and I didn't have another topic in mind. But I looked. And it was great. Written from a different perspective from mine, but still about the same basic thing. So even though I thought it was sort of weird, I asked her to go with it unless the author of the other article had a problem with the overlap. I haven't heard from her. And I'm crossing my fingers because I still don't have another topic. But still...I feel weird about it.

And thanks to my Thursday 13 commenters, I'm now frantically trying to collect a thorough and entertaining list of Body Part Euphemisms. So thank you all. Feel free to add your favorites in the comments. I'm trying to stick to terms used in historical novels, but feel free to let loose.