Get Off My Duff!

by Wendy Burke

I have no excuses, even the way my life has been the past year or so is not an excuse. 

Best Big Brother, ever!

Some would say writing would be a great distraction, helping me forget about losing a job, the terror of trying to find a new one, and driving 800 miles roundtrip nearly every weekend for the past six months tending to my ailing lone sibling -- who died a week and a half before my latest story, Wise Men Say, was released.

But, life can interfere with writing. Right now, though, I have no excuse -- I have a job (two actually) and the last time I was in the car for more than six hours one way was to Nashville a few weeks back - the first 'real' vacation I've had since my brother took ill.

So, now it's time to GET OFF MY DUFF!

You see, my BWFF&BR (my 'best writing friend forever & beta reader), Deanna Wadsworth, just had #thebestever contracted. Why is that important to me?

Well, although the story stands alone, it's also part of a series of six 1NightStands the two of us are writing with overlapping characters. Should you read DW's (and no, not Darrell Waltrip!) Bear It All you'd find John is brother of Grace, the main character in my story -The One He Chose. The main character -Martin -  in the next 1NS, Deanna's Accidentally Beautiful, was Grace's concierge. When I penned Haste Ye Back, my Ian was an old friend of Martin's and Ian's 'date' Bryn a friend of Jason -- who is the main character in #thebestever.

And, where does that leave me? 5,000+ words into For Me, the story Jason's sister, Abby, who's having her own 1NightStand.


I don't regret that which distracted me for the past three years or so--it was time immensely well-spent with my brother, and I was able to get stories written and published.

I'm hoping, though, this time around, I can actually 'bask in the glow' of a a new story being released with little outside interference. Wish me luck!

Now, it's time to GET OFF MY DUFF and finish this story!

When not playing with the people in her head, Wendy has a full time job behind the scenes in television, a part time job in radio and an even 'parter' time job trying to keep her house clean. She lives with her cute chef husband and two fuzzy felines in the Great Lakes region of the Mid-West.