August Newsletter will be LATE!

Dear readers,

I wanted to let each of you know that in anticipation of our pending relocation next week, combined with the excitement of the 2008 Creative Writing Championships, I will not be able to get the newsletter out by the 10th of the month. I will be posting updates here on the general blogspot as well as on the Allana Leigh website at www.allanaleigh.com as they come in about the competition.

Sincerely,

Allana Leigh

Update for Allana Leigh Blog Readers

I first need to start by apologizing to all the loyal readers for baring with me despite the lack of posts this month. You will find that the blogs have been organized in different areas to better suit the array of subjects we have posted. In addition, you can not subscribe to the blogs and get RSS Feeds for most blogs at the click of a button. The website will be updated soon.

Illness- Yes for those who have been emailing me asking what happened since BEA, I regret to inform you that I became ill after the conference and had a slightly harder time then usual recovering. I am getting stronger everyday. Thank you all for your hopes and prayers. Unfortunately, my lack of online presence has set me back some as I will have to requery agents and publishers who I connected with at the conference.

In the end you can not change what you can not control so I shall take it one day at a time and start anew yet again. Please feel free to continue to send email to Emailallanaleigh@gmail.com if you need to contact me directly. Until then, I look forward to posting again soon.

BEA Update

So you have all asked for it and here it is; well as much as I can let you know about at the moment.

BookExpo America was awesome. I met some very brilliant literary professionals, some of the best agents in the business, and some very encouraging publishers. Writing a book is like raising children. Just when you thought it was safe to let go, their walking legs become sea legs and knock them down. Writing a book means constantly reviewing, and constantly changing the manuscript. I love this book, and I know that this is one of the most important projects of my life time and yet, like many of you, I sit here scrutinizing the manuscript until I convince myself it should not go out.

BEA was a turning point for me. Like many of you, I went to BEA hoping to learn about all the new books on the market, little did I know that new opportunities would reveal themselves along the way. On the last day of BookExpo, I met a gentlemen who informed me that he did not understand the disease. He informed me that his wife was diagnosed a few years ago with Endometriosis. He went on to tell me that they are not able to have relations in the personal manner, she is not able to sleep in the same room as him at night because the pain wakes her up, and just the night before she called him from overseas staying she wanted to kill herself.

I wanted to cry for her. I wanted to take her in my arms and tell her she is not alone, but all I could do was try to tell this six-foot-four-inch tall man that she is falling apart and she feels like she is inside out. I spoke with him for an hour before I even thought about the new book or the title. I told him of my struggle and he told me of his. As we left, I simply gave him a copy of the new book on CD. I also gave him a list of physicians in the UK which can help his wife.

I left BEA knowing that this disease is not going to defeat me. I left BEA knowing that there is a reason for all that has happened, but most importantly I left BEA verily able to walk knowing that the reason I started writing in the first place, was still my reason to write today. Words have meaning; they have the power to change lives because they are a part of us.

Today, a simple email in broken English game across my desktop reading, "I held my wife she fell asleep, me arms with her," and I smiled.



Note: If you have not been able to reach me since the Expo, please do not take it personally, I am am answering as many emails as time efficiently as possibly while still trying to get the long anticipated newsletter out again. Sorry for missing last month news letter, but I promise it will be worth the wait.

Waking up

I wake up with his arms wrapped around me. My heart beats as if it is going to jump out of my chest. This is the first day to the rest of my life. As I lie here with the morning glow of the sun, crackling through the window, I know there is something out there for me.

I can hear the clamoring of the trees against the window of Aaron's room. I listen as the wind blows through the trees, creating an echo of nature through the apartment. I close my eyes as the wood of the rafters’ creek and crack with the change of weather outside. I open my eyes and start to stand trying not to wake him. I slowly move the covers off of my legs and crawl out of bed as he starts to turn in his sleep. I look down, as his eyes open to capture my attention.

“No,” he says, as he looks in my eyes and wraps his hand behind my neck, pulling me down to the bed. “Stay, just a little longer.” I lay my head into the curve of his neck and my lips rest against his chin. The pounding of my heart grows deeper. I fight the urge to say something. I fight to understand how my life fell apart, but I can’t make heads or tails of all that has happened. The only thing I know for sure is that Aaron is not only my rock of Gibraltar, but he is also my inspiration. I look up connecting with his eyes as my lips brush against his cheek. My heart aches as time stands still, like a picture capturing my lips upon him and my heart frozen in time.“I just want to hold you a little longer,” he says staring straight in my eyes locking me to his side.