Emily's ramblings...

I'VE MOVED!!!

2005-06-19T11:39:00.000-04:00

Please redirect your links to my new blog at:

http://www.emmasinclair.com/blog

My new blog!

2005-06-18T13:30:00.000-04:00

Wanna see?

My new blog

I'm not completely finished yet. I'm having some problems with my links so I'm adding a few at a time each day. Please let me know if something isn't working right, or if anything is messed up.

In other news, after working on the blog for most of yesterday, I got my edits for A Walk on the Wild Side!!!

Most of it was fairly easy, changing words, etc. But, I did find out that the new word I'll have to do the search/find thing for is "though." I must have cut about 30 of them.

I made myself do all of the easy ones (deletes, easy word changes, etc) last night and left the harder ones (ie, anything requiring the slightest bit of thought) for today or tomorrow.

I'll be adding about 4 scenes (well, maybe I should say I'll be adding to 4 scenes) where my editor suggested opportunities for more showing and less telling. I won't complain about 4 places since pretty much my first ms was entirely telling!

And I'm proud to say that the only edits in any of my love scenes were to add more to one of them!

I guess that's good for an erotic romance writer.

Coming soon

2005-06-17T10:13:00.000-04:00

I went to Bath & Body Workds yesterday and bought a whole bunch of stuff to give away as contest goodies!! (It's their semi-annual sale so I got a TON of stuff actually).

I stocked up for my author day in August and actually have plenty more for some nice summer contests.

So, now I just have to figure out what my first contest is going to be.

In other news, I'm hoping to get the whole wordpress thing figured out to start using it tomorrow. While I think there's going to be a lot more "behind the scenes" stuff that needs to be done, I'm hoping to change over tomorrow.

Idea: I'll have a contest for the launch of my new blog!! Check back Monday for details (except with a little luck it won't be here you're checking, but don't worry, I'll redirect you).

I think I managed to add maybe another half of a page yesterday.

But, I did start taking notes (since I have trouble getting out of editing mode and back into writing mode) so I do know places where I have to go back and add stuff. I also have another list of things that need to be added, but I'm finding it difficult to figure out where to put it.

It's stuff that's kind of important (like for instance, why the hero doesn't really have a job) but the place where I feel like it would most naturally fit is way after somone would throw down the book for not knowing why the hero doesn't leave the house!

But things are still moving forward, and as they say, slow and steady wins the race.

March 2006

2005-06-16T11:17:00.000-04:00

Yep, my novella Little Red will come out in March 2006.

[whiney voice]But, that's so far away....[/whine]

I don't even have a calendar that goes as far as March 2006. HOW AM I EXPECTED TO NOT WRITE DOWN MY OWN RELEASE DATE?!?!?

In other news. I'm slowly plugging along with my revisions for my werewolf story. On Monday I realized that I was 30 pages short of the minimum word count for SPICE (isn't that a porno channel too - probably not going to be a big help to the erotic romance cause that way). As of Today, I'm 28 pages short of the minimum word count.

Suddenly the end of July is feeling really darn close!

I've also decided to enter another ms in the HQ Blaze contest. Just for the heck of it.

But I really need to get back to oh, you know, WRITING!!!

I've got a chapter meeting tonight where Flo Fitzpatrick will be talking about "It's not what you say, it's how you say it," public speaking in time for pitches at Nationals.

Hopefully it will inspire me to actually do my pitch since I'm still waiting for someone to tell me that I should cancel my appointment (please, won't somebody tell me I shouldn't pitch).

I have this fear that my pitch is going to be like (bear with me here) the episode of The Simpsons where they all go to the bookfair and Lisa gets up and says to Amy Tan, " I love the mother-daughter relationships in The Joy Luck Club" and Amy Tan replies, "No, that's not what I was going for at all. You couldn't be more wrong. Please sit down I'm embarrassed for the both of us."

I'm afraid the editor is going to say, "What in the hell gave you the impression that we were interested in anything like what you write?"

if it quacks like a duck

2005-06-15T11:47:00.000-04:00

There's been some posts lately around the blogosphere about (what else) complaints about romance.

From yesterdays Romancing the Blog post, to the Smart Bitches who are taking a poll on people covering their bookcovers, it seems like a lot of people are down on the romance genre.

Here's the thing. If you don' t like the titles, if you don't like the characters, if you don't like the sex, NEWSFLASH: You may not like romance!!!

Is there anything wrong with you? Not necessarily.

But don't try to make romance into something else.

I don't really read a lot of science fiction. I don't like it. It's not my kind of thing. So you know what I do? I don't read it!! I don't tell science fiction writers "you shouldn't have so much science in these books."

The image of romance is such a huge thing. But you know what? Most people don't give a good god damn. And it's the people that care too much that are the ones giving romance a bad image.

Romance accounts for more than 50% of paperback books sold. All of those people are NOT active in the online romance community. They continue to buy books because (another newsflash) they like them. If they didn't, they wouldn't be buying the books.

So why do so many people online think they speak for everyone?

You don't like clinch covers? Fine, don't buy them. You don't like secret babies? Fine, don't read them. You don't like hot and heavy sex in your romance? Fine, don't read them.

Do horror writers have fits over the image of their genre? Seriously? I'd like to know.

Good Books

2005-06-14T10:37:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately, I only got through about two and a half chapters of edits yesterday (hey, it's not my fault VH1 was showing the entire first season of America's Next Top Model)!

Anyway, over the past two days I've read two really good ebook novellas.

First, Catching Caroline by Sylvia Day. This one was really good, but totally not what I was expecting. Now that I go back and investigate the website a bit more, it's not such a huge surprise, but I have to say, I liked the surprise.

This was the first book I bought by Amber Quill. I tend to prefer things in HTML, but I found the way they did things a bit confusing at first. Of course, once I read the directions, it was all good. Plus, it was a good deal at only $3.00.

Also, Three Wishes, the first book by Amelia Elias came out yesterday (earlier than expected). This too was quite a good book. Amelia and I share a cp, so I've heard good things about her writing though this was the first I've ever read. Three Wishes leaves room for sequels which I anxiously await.

Amy's publisher, Aphrodite Unlaced is a newer publisher, and at the moment they only offer titels in .pdf format. That's fine, but I found that they only way to read it was to use Adobe Acrobat (I've got a mac and ususally use preview to read .pdf's, it takes less time to load). That was annoying, but it won't stop me from reading more.

The only problem I had with either story was, well, there wasn't enough of either! But, I guess that's the problem with novella's, huh?

Hopefully, someone will have that problem with my novella too!

Groovin

2005-06-13T11:49:00.000-04:00

I really need to get back into the writing groove. Actually, that's not true, I need to get back into the editing groove (Ha - back - like I was ever actually there).

I've got two mss that need major edits before Nationals. Well, at least one. The other one I'm still not sure about. I didn't start edits on it a long time ago because I think there's just something wrong with it (though I have no idea what). It has too much plot or something or the external and internal conflicts don't align enough or something.

Anyway, I've got a short story to crit for Kim today, and I'm going to have to force myself to just write my darn werewolf synopsis.

I woke up with an aching back this morning (I hurt it doing laundry of all things yesterday) so whatever I do will have to be from flat on the couch - thank god for laptops.

Amy's book came out today, so everyone should go buy it!

I'm still struggling along with wordpress. Once I finish my synopsis, I'll try to tackle plugins.

NASCAR photos

2005-06-12T13:04:00.000-04:00

Since it's Sunday, I figured I'd share some pictures from last weekends race in Dover.

Unfortunately, this picture doesn't do justice to how bright the cars were.

Broken car going home early.

Can you find me? (I'm sitting next to my brother in law).

Hope everyone has a great Sunday!

Day off

2005-06-11T13:41:00.000-04:00

Thanks for all the congrats!

So, since I work up to to a selling email yesterday, I decided to take the rest of the day off.

I read Elizabeth Lowell's Death is Forever (a reprint of a 1989 book). It was pretty good. I love her series about jewels (Amber Beach, Jade Island, Midnight in Ruby Buyou and there's one more that I can't remember - and also the ones about Rarities Unlimited) so I figured I'd like this one. This one, while it was about the diamond trade, wasn't as good. There was way too much teaching and I never really got that into either of th characters.

I also finished It Had to Be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. It just further's my love/hate relationship with her. Reading experience says that I shouldn't really enjoy her books, but I do! I don't get it but man, I hope I can write like that. I've heard great things about Bobby Tom Denton's story, so I've got to get that one. I've got Ain't She Sweet on my TBR pile, too

This morning, I'm trying to tackle wordpress.

The "five minute" installation has already taken me an hour, so we'll see how it goes.

SOLD (part 2)

2005-06-10T10:25:00.000-04:00

Yay!!! I woke up to a message that WCP - Torrid wants to buy my novella!!!

I don't have a release date yet (will share ASAP), but frankly, I'm just thrilled that I'm not a one hit wonder!

Little Red will be a Torrid Twisted Tale.

Here's a little blurb to wet your appetite...

When Little Red Riding Hood headed into the forest on her way to her Grandmother's house, she met The big bad wolf and almost met a very untimely end.

When Scarlet Hood gets lost on her way to her Grandmother's house, she gets way more than she ever expected in the form of her sexy savior Tyler Carver.

There's only one tiny little problem - Tyler is a wolf!

Synopsii

2005-06-09T11:05:00.000-04:00

Thanks for the advice yesterday, ladies! I guess I'll hang on to the appointment for now. I actually found another first draft that needs some revisions, so having two mss that need pretty hard core revisons, plus, hopefully I'll soon get my edits on AWOTWS should keep me busy until July. Plus, I had so much fun with my novella, that I want to try even shorter - about 8000 words.

I'm sure most of you are aware of the RWA debacle and all I'm going to say about it is that I refuse to comment on it. I've been involved in discussions some other places, but I refuse to dirty up my blog with their dumb-ass-ness.

I've got two snyopsii to work on now - though I have both all sketched out, it's just putting in sentence format that I have to do now. I'm discovering that I actually kind of do like writing synopsii. For me, it's kind of when the whole story starts coming together. Yeah, I might have already written 300 pages, but once I make my little grid thingy, there's my complete story on one sheet of paper. Then, knowing where I have to strenghten things and what needs to change almost becomes like a game.

I'm a total freak in that I kind of like synopsii (whether they're good or not is another thing completely though).

I also really need to figure out where I'm going next.

I am so not a planner but I really am feeling the need to plan what writing I'm going to do next. It's weird. Maybe it's just because I have Nationals hanging over my head. I do tend to freak out a little bit when there's something I know I have to do. Even if I know I have to do something at 4 in the afternoon, it can ruin my whole day just because I have something hanging over my head.

This post is really boring. I have to come up with some good blog posting topics. I swear, I can be entertaining.

But for now...off to synopsize.

Help

2005-06-08T11:19:00.000-04:00

So, I have this problem. It's an affliction really, and I've had it all my life. I have the ability to rationalize just about anything to myself.

This makes making decisions really REALLY difficult because I don't know if my thoughts are actually good, or if I'm rationalizing things in some bizarre-o way. And if that's not bad enough, I can usually suck other people in too so the hubster is no help to me.

Logic is seriously a problem for me.

Anyway, I have a pitch appointment with the editor of SPICE at Nationals. I have a finished first draft of the book that I'm going to pitch to her - but, I'm avoiding edits and such because I know I have almost two months before it needs to be finished (though I definately want to have it finished before Reno).

Here's my issue. I don't need a pitch appointment to send the full ms to Spice - since they're a new imprint, they're accepting fulls. What am I going to get out of a pitch appt that I wouldn't get if I sent the full now (or finished the edits and then sent it) except possibly made fun of because my idea is so horrible?

I doubt I'm the only one that does this, but I have my own heirarchy of where each book is going to be sent first. This one is supposed to go to SPICE first, so I want to get it there so when they R it, I can send it other places (plus, it has two books which are going to come after it which I don't know if I should write or not - it's not a series as in over arcing plot lines, but the other characters are in each book and I'm hesitant to write those books until I get feedback or something on this one).

So, I'm pretty close to having myself talked out of pitching at Nationals, but is that really the most logical choice or is just me trying to rationalize my fear?

Any help would be appreciated.

gasp - a writing post?

2005-06-07T10:31:00.000-04:00

First, go congratulate Kate!! She sold a ms to Changeling Press.

I am anxiouxly awaiting news on my Novella which went out into the wild blue yonder yesterday (to Torrid). I queried and the editor said that she "loved the idea," so hopefully she'll love the whole thing just as much.

I'm really worried about this one. I think this is the first thing that I've written and sent out that I really love. Not to say that I didn't like the other ones, but everything else I've sent out, I've really expected the rejections. Let me tell you what a shock it was that A Walk on the Wild Side wasn't rejected.

But this one - this one I'll care.

Strange since it probably took me only a week and a half to write. This was simple to write. This flowed. This one is making me obsessively check my email.

And in other news, I've signed up for my first author chat!! The Torrid writers are starting Torrid Tuesdays on the Torrid Readers Group, and my Tuesday is August 23! I don't really know why I'm doing this. My book doesn't even come out until Novemeber so I don't really have any good giveaways (although I'm going to try to think of something semi book related). But, I guess I've got about two monts to make myself entertaining.

Things I learned from my first NASCAR race

2005-06-06T11:52:00.000-04:00

1. There are a lot of unnatractive people in the world. Not only that, but they either don't know that they're scarily ugly or don't care. I lost track of the number of toothless shirtless men walking around with their beer bellies sticking out (and it's one thing to show of your beer belly but quite another to rub in CONSTANTLY).

2. NASCAR fans are rabid! The guy sitting two rows in front of me was like a little kid at Christmas every time Jimmy Johnson drove past (yes, each and every one of the 400 laps).

While are seats were awesome (I can't imagine there are bad ones at Dover) we were pretty much as far as you can get from the driver introduction stage. Yet, it didn't stop people from booing the drivers they don't like. I found it interesting. (Big boos for the dumbass who said he wouldn't race against the Indy 500 girl, 'cause basically, she's a girl - bastard).

Also, I've never seen so many people get so excited as they did when Tony Stewart spun out Jeff Gordon (right in front of us, I might add).

3. NASCAR is a huge business. They have trailers that travel the country with them and they go for probably a half a mile outside the track. I went with the hubster and his brother, and we were just about the only people there not wearing some sort of NASCAR merchendise (and other people even commented on the fact).

4. 43 race cars on a 1 mile track are LOUD. Luckily I made a special trip to the store for earplugs the day before.

5. People watching at the race was just as much fun as watching the cars (if not more fun). Except for the problem of #1. (One guy was decked out in his Dale Jr finery, complete with homemade Dale Jr beer bong).

6. Only a man would pay the same amount for parking yet park a mile away ("Because that's a mile less that we'll have to sit in traffic.")

7. Dover Delaware is in the middle of nowhere! There's a one lane road that lead there (from the west anyway) and it goes through Amish country (and yes, we passed horses and buggies). On the way home there was tons of traffic and the Amish familes (all dozen kids) were outside sitting on the side of the road waving at the cars. This is apparently what they do for fun (since we can all assume they're not watching TV).

So, all in all, a very fun day. I'd definately go to another race (we're conisdering Pocono or Richmond since both are fairly close). Though, I did come home sunburned (I reapplied my sunscreen 4 or 5 times, too) and with large blisters on my feet (see above about parking a mile away).

Hope everyone else had a good weekend, and perhaps I'll get my tush in gear and resume the writing related posts.

(Oh, and thanks for the feedback on Wordpress - now I know who to go to when I have questions, too).

My brain is full...

2005-06-04T12:22:00.000-04:00

...and it hurts to think.

I have several blog topics that I want to write about, but well, I just don't feel like working my brain that hard. Hence, the pointless posts lately.

Anway, I have a request for those of you who read my blog regularly (or semi-regularly).

If I haven't already linked to you (over in my sidebar) or if your website isn't listed on the links page of my website, and you'd like to be, please let me know.

I can promise that if I've forgotten you, it's not that I'm doing it on purpose (it's that whole full brain thing). So, please let me know if you'd like me to add your link anywhere. It might not be immediate (as I'm considering a blog redesign at the least and maybe a switch to wordpress) but I do have a list started.

Also, if anyone has any yay's or nay's on wordpress, I'd love to know that, too.

I'm off to the NASCAR race in Dover tomorrow (it's my first one, I'm kinda nervous and yeah, I feel slightly foolish) so probably no post from me, but...

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

You're never to old for VH-1

2005-06-03T10:57:00.000-04:00

People do like me!

I checked my search phrases yesterday and (not joking) 6 (yes six) people found my blog while looking for Jerry Hall.

WTF? She's like 6 feet and blond and gorgeous. And I'm - Not.

But anyway, I guess it's because she has a new show on VH-1. Kept (which is awesome) is Jerry's (yes, with a y, most searches were with an i) search for a young american boy-toy.

How can this not be great television?

Aiding her on this search for lust/love/tv ratings are her friends, Charlie Watt's daughter, Bill Wyman's wife, Pete Towsend's girlfriend, and Bob Geldof's girlfriend (and some british actor that I think usually plays the gay friend in Hugh Grant movies, but I can't place him 100%).

Now, that show is almost as good as the one I caught last night (also on VH-1) Strip Search. The guy who invented Thunder from Down Under is searching for 12 All American guys to be an all male review (strippers) in Vegas.

Now, I have actually had the pleasure of seeing Thunder from Down Under and I must say, I don't think the guys he picked have what it takes, but hey, what do I know. You can sure as hell bet that I'll keep watching to find out.

I do write sometimes...really.

I finished a novella yesterday and once I get it back from my cp off into the wild blue yonder it goes. I'm pretty pleased with it if I do say so myself, but I guess sometimes that's the kiss of death.

I really need to do edits and work on my syn and pitch for Nationals. But...I don't wanna. So instead I keep writing short stories and novellas.

Hey, I'm enjoying my procrastiation, what else do I need....maybe some more VH-1.

I forgot

2005-06-02T13:46:00.000-04:00

I actually forgot to blog this morning.

How weird is that?

I hadn't really realized how set to my schedule I actually was. And it's not that I planned it that way, it's just that for the past few months I've been doing the same thing at the same time.

So with the graduations and then memorial day I'm just now starting to get back into the swing of things. And the hubster usually takes the bus to school, but it's not running all the time so he's either taking the car, or when the bus does run it runs at different times.

So, since I was in the habit of getting up when he leaves (usually awake at 8 and out of bed when he leaves at 9) today I didn't get up until almost 10!!

Then it's time to shower and do all of my morning blogging and emails and other groups. And the fledgling RWA chapter is still producing mass amounts of emails, plus there's a new message board to check there in addition to all the other stuff.

So, I've kind of been ignoring my blog. Not to mention the fact that I'm suffering from "summer brain" so don't really have anything worth writing anyway.

Especially since I've already gone the office supply route like Steph.

No one really searches for me like Shannon and Larissa.

And I didn't sell anything like Amy.

What's your story about?

2005-06-01T11:03:00.000-04:00

So, I've been slowly pulling myself out of the writing closet (and now I know why I kept myself there for so long) and telling people that I'm a writer. Though I'm still not tellng a lot of people that I sold - the ebook thing hurts me to explain - but I'll get around to it eventually - you know, before November.

The following are questions are ones that I hadn't really been prepared for.

Q: "What do you write?"

A: "Romance" or "Erotic Romance."

Translation: OK, I was prepared for this one, but it still is a hard answer. How people who don't even read can manage to get down on my chosen genre is one that I think it'll take me a long time to get over.

Q: "Oh, who are some of your favorite authors?"

A: "Hmmm, well, I read all over the place."

Translation: I don't think you've ever read a romance in your life, so basically I could make up names here and you'd never know the difference (though my friend's sister was pretty into romance, she liked Nora, though she prefered Christian romance, so the conversation didn't go too far).

"What is your story about?"

"Uh, a guy and a girl and they fall in love and have a lot of the sex."

Unfortunately, that's my answer. The problem is, I don't have just one story - I don't know any writers who have just one story, but really, my answer works for all of my ms. And even if I did have a better answer, if I were writing a mystery with some overly detailed plot, I still wouldn't want to explain it. This is the one that takes me the most by shock. They're not asking about the one I've sold, they're just asking. And I have no idea how to answer the question.

Now, I guess I should be happy that people are interested enough in me to ask me questions at all. I should take this opportunity to expound on the virtures of romance and sell a lot of books by me fellow authors, whip out all of my knowledge and give romance some new fans.

But, I'm a writer. I like my solitary life. Talking to people is hard work.

Stuff

2005-05-31T17:17:00.000-04:00

Is life back to normal yet?

I've been a busy bee lately, and all I want to do is sit down and write - heck, revising doesn't even seem so bad to me at the moment.

Today, we drove an hour into VA to see one of my college roommates (she was visiting her parents) and her baby. He's 15 months old now. The last time I saw him was at my wedding.

Anyway, I've got to get to writing now so in other news...

Kim got a request for a full! Woo Hoo Kim!!!

And Kate is having a book launch party.

2005-05-29T17:29:00.000-04:00

As promised, pictures from Naval Academy Comissioning Week.

This is the Marine Corp Silent Drill Team. We saw them on Monday afternoon. They do their entire routine without any verbal communication. They make really cool noises though as they slap their rifles around.

That's me out there exploring the waterfront. I was desperately hoping for the weather to clear up so the Blue Angles could do their show (which they eventually did, but we were already on our way home).

But, we did get to see them a little bit during their "circle and arrival" where they fly around learning their marks and such. They are so totally cool!

And they did a fly over at the graduation ceremony.

I'm only going to post one pic of the ceremony because from where we were sitting and with the hubsters camera this is pretty much what they all look like. This is the midshipmen taking their oath to become Ensigns.

So, enjoy and Happy Memorial Day!!!

Long Weekend

2005-05-28T16:56:00.000-04:00

I shouldn't need a long weekend. Seriously, I don't really do anything.

But, I am so happy that I have a couple of days off (of course, I'll write all day - hopefully - so it's not like I really have a day off at all).

Naval Academy Graduation was at 10 yesterday morning, but we were advised to get there at 7 to go through security. We sat with BIL's fiance and her parents, so that was nice, but it was HOT!! It was nice, but no amount of sunscreen was about to keep away the sunburn. I'm quite pink today.

Graduation lasted until 2. Yes, we were there for 7 hours!! But, the throwing the hat thing was very cool - and then, since the midshipmen turn into ensigns they get new hats so all the kids rush the field to see how many hats they can collect. The mids usually put their address or emails in so they can hopefully hear from the kids.

BIL had to head off to his last track meet afterwards, so we headed home.

We went to the park this morning. The hubster flew my Winnie the Pooh kite and attracted quite a number of kids who wanted to try. Of course he let them.

Tomorrow is going to be picture day (I promise, though I only have DH's digital pics and not mine yet (which are probably better just because my camera is better) so check back to see the Blue Angels and Graduation and whatever else I can find.

And with a little luck, I'll get a little bit of writing done today...

Websites

2005-05-26T11:38:00.000-04:00

I'm going to go out on a limb here -

It's better to have no website at all than a crappy one.

Just because your website can have all the bells and whistles doesn't mean it should.

I'm a big beleiver in simple is better. My website is probably oversimplified, and when it gets to the point that I actually have content to add, I'm probably going to have some problems.

Websites don't need fancy moving graphis or music or anything but well, good content!

Two other things that I think are stupid...

1. Super long scrolling web pages. There's a reason that someone invented links - use them. Don't make me scroll through a ton of crap to get to the actual content that I want.

2. Intro pages. You're just giving me one last chance to change my mind about visiting your website. I'll let it slide for some erotica authors, but if there's a warning page (for people under 18), I want to see (or read) something that I have to be over 18 to read!

In other news - I'm heading back to Annapolis this evening for graduation tomorrow. We have to be there insanely early to go through security since the president is going to be there. I'm looking forward to a swell time, let me tell ya.

I really do intend to post pictures eventually...

2005-05-25T12:06:00.000-04:00

I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who's a little bit of a hermit. We writers are a strange bunch, aren't we?

The first part of the week was nice. Apparently during the Naval Academy Comissioning Week (aka graduation) most people that live in Annapolis get the hell outta dodge - and they rent their houses out to Naval Academy Parents (which are a breed all of their own). So the in-laws are renting this gorgeous house. On Monday they/we had a party.

There were dozens of very tall - pretty darn good looking midshipmen. And all I could think was "in a few years these guys could make some great romance heros."

One track mind? Me? I don't know what you're talking about.

I met a couple of future marines, a future SEAL, a couple of guys headed off to submarines, lots of future pilots and some sailors (which is where BIL is headed).

But every time I met someone new I couldn't help thinking, "they don't really seem like alphas?"

Of course they all probably saw me as an old married lady anyway. Blech - I'd rather not think about that.

But what is it about a military man (especially fictional ones)?

I'm off...

2005-05-23T11:01:00.000-04:00

The problem with being a full time writer (aka staying at home all the time) is that when it is time to do something, it can become very stressful.

Busy days/weeks are huge events for me!

Saturday was my (half)sister's graduation. It was short (at Georgetown they do all the colleges seperately). A beautiful day and after the ceremony we went to lunch at a place with a bunch of different bbq sauces on the table - yes, I tried them all.

Anyway, today we're off to Annapolis for the BIL's graduation party. But first we have to go to the store to buy massive amounts of food - 3 lasagnas? 50+ hamburgers? 5 lbs of potato salad?

Did I mention that last time the MIL planned a party no one came?

Anyway, because BIL brought me a camoflage hat a few weeks ago, so of course I planned my outfit around it - olive green pants, a lime green shirt and my camoflage hat. It I didn't look so silly, I'm sure it'd be cool.

I'm about half way finished with the novella I started last week - I wrote 35 pages last Friday!! But it's going to have to wait a few days.

Oh, well.

If I'm sparse on the blogging this week, that's why, though I hope to be able to share some cool pics from the Naval Adademny & the Blue Angels (if it doesn't rain).

Taggity - tag

2005-05-21T15:13:00.000-04:00

I got tagged and I'm to lazy to think of anything on my own. So...

Total Number Of Books I Own: A lot, but not as many as I used to have. I down-graded two bookshelves full (and the shelves themselves) when we moved last summer. But then we got new bookshelf and I've filled about half of it.

Last Book I Bought: Awaken the Senses by Nalini Singh, The Boy Next Door by Meg Cabot (it's older but it was on the bargain book shelf).

Last Book I Read: The Greeks Innocent Virgin by Lucy Monroe, and on-going I've got The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature by Matt Ridley

Five Books That Mean A Lot To Me: OK....
1. Gone with The Wind by Margaret Mitchell - not so much the story (I don't love the story) but I've got a first edition copy of the book that was my Nana's.

2. Hester in the Wild by Sandra Boynton - This is (supposedly) a kids book that my mom used to read to me all the time when I was a kid, but I HATED it. It's about this poor pig who goes camping but gets a hole in his canoe so he cuts a piece from his tent to patch the canoe. But then that night when he goes to sleep it starts to rain, so he has to put the whole in the tent on the ground and then the gophers come in and take over Hesters tent and so he tricks the gophers to get his tend back but their friend the bear comes to get Hester and he kicks the canoe and then theres another hole in Hester's canoe. It's seriously a depressing story, but I gues it "means something" to me.

3. On Writing by Stephen King - Not only would I not be a writer without this book, but it's damn funny.

4. Surrender by Amanda Quick - because it brought me into the wonderful world of romance.

5. How about Rogets Thesaurus - I don't know if it "means something" to me, but I use it a lot.

OK, since pretty much everybody I know has already been tagged, I tag: Everyone who hasn't yet been tagged

Grrrr

2005-05-20T11:02:00.000-04:00

OK, so I think I've figured out that if I were to go back into my blog archives I probably get pissy about things once a month. Why does PMS still manage to shock me every month?

I'm feeling ranty, but since I don't really like to read ranty blogs (well, unless they're snarky ranty 'cause that's a different entity entirely), I'm not going to write a ranty blog (well, today anyway).

I had an awesome chapter meeting last night with Patricia McLinn. She's just the sweetest woman in the whole world - but the poor thing was stuck in traffic for 3 hours to get to out meeting. Yuck. Plus, at dinner before hand she made me feel really good about epubbing when I'd spent the day down in the dumps.

Today starts my week of family. My Dad and Grandparents are coming down today for my (half)sister's graduation from Georgetown (tomorrow and I'm praying that it stops raining).

Then, the in-laws are renting a house for the week in Annapolis because youngest BIL is graduating from the Naval Academy. So we've got a party on Monday night (I've socked up on Appletini and Margarita mixes - I'm no dummy). A picnic and The Blue Angels on Tuesday. More familiy arrives on Thursday and then graduation is actually Friday.

So, not much writing for me in the next week.

Oh, and for all of you erotic romance writers - check out Sylvia's blog!

Cranky pants

2005-05-19T11:33:00.000-04:00

Blogging can make me cranky.

Every day as part of my morning routine I do my standard blog-hop. There's probably about 15-20 that I read every day and then probably that many again that I skim (or just check to see if they're updated).

I've discovered that the content of the blogs that I read can severly affect my mood for the rest of the day!

Take yesterday, for example. I saw my genre being trashed (by some crazy lady that I've never heard of). People I respect a lot defended the genre (in a humorous way in most cases) yet the annoyance was still there.

Then I headed to a message board where people were trying to be polite, but kind of failing, while dissing epubbing ("well, I'd never do it.")

I was cranky yesterday.

By the time The Hubster talked to the mother-in-law last night, well, let's just say that there wa sno way the evening was going to turn out well.

So, today I'm blogging along and then I get to Jordan Summer's, blog.

I can already feel the crankyness seeping into my bones again.

And the damn bird is still flying into the damn window.

Negative Nellies

2005-05-18T11:59:00.000-04:00

Why do people think that being insulting and demeaning is somehow a good thing?

I mean, haven't we learned that IT DOESN'T WORK and really all it does is make you look like an ass?

Sure, things need to change, but isn't it better to be a positive force of change than just complain about all the bad stuff? Aparently not because it's happened again.

This time, I followed this link from Larissa's blog.

I think my favorite part is that she doesn't seem to recognize a difference between erotica and erotic romance (of course I guess that could be a part of her problem).

I don't really have anything to say that hasn't already been said better than I could say it so check out: Shannon (who gives her take on the entire article - Shannon says that the woman was trying to be snarky, but if that's the case, I think she failed miserably), Jaci (who lets the readers (aka crack whores) speak), and JaynieR (who has 3 posts which are absoluetly hysterical).

Plot - bad; Pansting - not much better.

2005-05-17T11:04:00.000-04:00

I don't plot.

I actually have an inability to plot. Occasionally I like to pretend I know how to plot, but then I write something like "a bunch of stuff happens before they live happily ever after."

Like I said, I don't plot.

This can create some problems (especially on the rare occassion that the hubster expresses interest in what I'm writing and I can't tell him). I'm not a plot focused writer and I'm not really a plot focused reader (I like a good story, don't get me wrong, but I find characterization much more important than plot).

I think that's one of the things I liked best about The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy movie (I've yet to read the book). It's really all about character. The story is great and there's some cool action but it's all about one man's journey.

So basically the beginnings of my stories are a mish-mash of "maybe I'll go this direction" or "ooh- that sound kinda neat." My characters are just starting to reveal themselves to me - I'm finding their voices, and I'm finding my tone. I'm writing but the whole time in the back of my mind someone is screaming "THIS IS GOING TO SUCK WHEN IT COMES TO REVISIONS!"

It does.

I still can't really plot.

And the bird is still trying to fly through the window.

My secret love

2005-05-16T11:53:00.000-04:00

Sunday BIAW pages - 5

I'm an office supply whore.

There, I said it. I can't get enough of pens and markers and paperclips and bulletin boards, etc. Going into Office Depot or Staples is akin to an orgasmic experience for me.

I love office supplies.

You'd think this would make me a very organized person, but not so much. My desk is a mess, I've got lists piled on top of other lists and very few of them have anything crossed off of them. When I need something, I have to dig through the piles and only occasionally find what I'm looking for.

I have about four daily planners and don't use any of them (although, I am the one person apparently that loves my RWA calendar - every day I write down my page totals and what I was working on. For me to keep this up for 5 months is a major accomplishment).

The point of all of this is I've decided I need a large wipe board calendar - the kind that shows three or four months at a time so I'll know at a glance what's coming up. Can you believe that it costs upwards of $25 for such a thing? A calendar in which I have to write the dates in myself (and the chances of which I'll stick with it are questionable at best)?

It costs too much to be organized.

In other news, I had planned on editing this week so I only pledged 20 pages for my BIAW. Plans changed and I'm not going to get to edits until next week so I plan on blowing my total out of the water.

Oh, and the bird is still her, flying into the window. This is going on day 4.

It's only rock'n'roll...

2005-05-14T21:33:00.000-04:00

...but I like it.

The hubster and I got up early today to order our Rolling Stone's tickets. They were more than we were anticipating spending, but hey, The Stones are worth it.

Then we went to the local outlet mall. It's a big mall and it was supposed to rain all day so it was partly to get a little bit of exercise, and an excuse to shop. I got 2 new pairs of pants, Nalini Singh's new book and a Meg Cabot book that was on sale. We also got a few graduation presents.

We went to see Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. It was a great movie!! I've never read the book and didn't really know what to expect, but it was great. I can't wait to read the book now. And let me tell you, it takes a lot for me to actually go to a movie theater (the last movie I saw was the second Lord of the Rings movie). And for me to actually like a movie is really saying something.

When we got home, it was storming, I mean really STORMING. So, we sat on the deck after dinner watching the lightening.

All in all, a nice relaxing day and I think I'm starting a BIAW tomorrow (I think it's tomorrow). So, with a little bit of luck, I'll have a very productive week!

The Birds and Star Wars

2005-05-13T13:21:00.000-04:00

OK, so there's a bird that's been flying into my window since eight o'clock this morning. His little beak keeps tapping on the window. I don't know if he's trying to get at the plants right inside the window, but you think he woul've learned by now. And the tapping is driving me crazy.

I've been watching a lot of TV lately, procrastinating since it's time to start something new. Mostly I watch VH1. Yesterday I watched a show called When Star Wars ruled the world. It was all about Star Wars by the people involved - no George Lucas, but pretty much everybody else.

Anyway, I had a lightbulb moment.

They were talking about the end of Empire Strikes Back just before Han Solo is frozen in carbonite. Princess Leia says "I love you" to Han, and he looks back and says "I know."

Probably one of the greatest moments in any of the three movies (I don't beleive in the newer ones).

Well, apparently the original line was "I love you, too."

How much would that have sucked?

The "I know" is so great, absolutely perfect characterization. It was such a light bulb moment for me showing that every single word is so important!

Yes, I know I should have known that (and I did) but I just totally love when the things you know are just bashed over your head!

MY FIRST COVER!!!

2005-05-12T21:00:00.000-04:00

Click on the image to read the back cover blurb on my website.

Dirty little secrets

2005-05-12T13:07:00.000-04:00

I'm reading The Flame and the Flower.

I felt like it's something I should read. It's so horribly wonderful. It's like a dirty little secret.

I don't really like historicals, but I'm enjoying it nonetheless.

The book could basically be a "how-to" manual about how NOT to write a romance novel, but it's still just so tempting.

So question time.

What is your favorite guilty pleasure book?

Romance world domination

2005-05-11T13:16:00.000-04:00

Larissa's post over at RTB got me thinking (I hate when that happens).

Her post (if you haven't read it, and if you haven't, you should) is about grit in romance novels. (And when you write erotic romance, I'm thinking grit is definately not a good thing).

I dilly-dallied with a comment over there but ended up bringing the discussion back over here. Here's the thing. If I am in the mood to read a gritty novel, I'm probably going to reach for something other than a romance novel. Just like if I want a mystery, I'll probably reach for something outisde the romance genre.

As both readers and writers, when did everything become about ROMANCE.

I'm certainly not saying that there aren't good gritty romances, or mystery romances, I'm sure there are (though I apologize for my mind being blank at the moment). Just as I'm sure there are horror/romances out there somewhere.

But for me, if I want horror I'm going to go to Stephen King.

I know it's not the case, I know what my fellow romance writers and readers are reading and it's not all romance. To be honest, they're probably some of the most well red people I "know."

But it makes me wonder. Why are we trying to force other genres to mesh with romance?

I agree with Larissa, I do wish that there were more gritty romances. But why? There are plenty of other gritty books out there that I can read if I'm so inclined.

Why does it have to be a gritty romance? Does romance have to take over the world?

Limbo & Inventory

2005-05-10T11:07:00.000-04:00

I finished my werewolf story last week and now I'm in limbo. I've got several things that I could work on, but nothing is really jumping out at me. Nothing's saying "Edit me! Edit me!"

I don't want to edit the werewolf immediately. I want to let it sit for at least a week. So, that brings be back to limbo.

And limbo isn't a plesant place for me. I don't really like taking time off from writing. I don't like "refilling the well." I get really cranky when I don't have anything to work on - and the hubster will confirm that fact.

I keep trying to plan my career, figure out what it's best to work on next, and give myself self imposed deadlines, but when there's so much out of my control in the publishing industry, it doesn't really work. Not to mention I couldn't plan something if my life depended on it.

So, anyway, Larissa's post got me thinking about my own inventory.

Completed Drafts

1 Sold manuscript - anxiously awaiting edits.

1 Shelved Reject - It was a Desire, it may be able to be edited into some shape but I'm not sure if it's worth it.

1 Rom Susp (kinda) - Needs major edits

1 Paranormal - The one I just finished, also needs major edits (trying to decide if I want to sub this one now or pitch it in Reno - if I chose to sub now then I have to figure out something else to pitch).

Partial Drafts

Patial Paranormal - Featuring the brother of Paranormal 1 - I'd like to finish edits on that before I go onto this one (I could pitch this one but it'd be to the same editor I'd sub the first one to so it seems silly).

Other Stuff

Female vampire from Paranormals demanding her own story.

Two friends from sold manuscripts that were originally demanding their stories but are now remaining suspiciously quiet.

Several ideas for Torrid Twisted Tales

Ugh, I just so need to get myself out of this funk!

Things that bug me - a lot

2005-05-09T14:00:00.000-04:00

I am a bad speller. Even worse than being a bad speller is my lack of spell check usage. I don't spell check my posts here before I publish my blog. I send emails with misspellings and grammar issues. I post on message boards with lots of mistakes.

When I'm intereacting in a more professional manner than I am a mad spell checker.

I've been known to have serious problems with then/than and lay/lie. I've been known to send entire emails about grammar while spelling it grammer.

My point in all of this is that I'm not a super stickler nor am I a perfectionist.

The thing is, once I'm taught, once it's pointed out to me that I have a problem spelling "grammar" or that I use "than when it should be then" I become much more careful when using thos particular words.

So, why are there so many people that spell the word alot?

Probably several times per week I see blog posts or emails or message board postings or whatever with a lot spelled as one word. I could take a few mistakes occasionally, but I see repeat offenders (several times in one email).

There are people out there that don't know that a lot is two words.

There are people out there that don't know the difference between there/their/they're or its and it's.

So here's my problem. How can you possibly have a future as a writer if you don't have even the most basic command of grammar?

I want my MTV

2005-05-08T17:16:00.000-04:00

Found this on Julie's blog.

I (we) got 113.5. Not bad considering we were 3 when the 80's started. I was the 80's music trivia champ in college (is that really something to be proud of?)

Seriously, though, does anyone get The Eagles one (unless they've looked it up before)?

(And it's totally Sting singing I want my Mtv!?!?)

Happy Mothers Day

2005-05-07T19:53:00.000-04:00

Hope all you Moms out there are having a great mothers day weekend!!

I'm with mine in Pittsburgh. We spent today shopping - I got a new pair of shoes!! We ran a lot of errands and then went to Outback for dinner (Mmmm. Plus we have leftovers to take home with us so we have dinner tomorrow, too).

I got some sample covers for A Walk on the Wild Side. They're gorgeous, but oh my goodness are they hot! I mean, HOT!! I love them. As soon as I get a final cover I'll post it here.

For Mother's Day tomorrow Mom wants pancakes so we'll make those tomorrow morning before heading home.

Hope all you moms get some special treats!

Stick a fork in me...

2005-05-06T11:54:00.000-04:00

I'm done!!

Whenever I say that I have flashbacks of my Nana saying: "Only turkeys are done, dear. Are you a turkey?"

Well, the fact is, yes, but I'm finished!!

Yes, I got to THE END yesterday. Do you actually write THE END when you finish? I do, usually in big, bright, red letters.

Late last night I started my first read through (generally called the "You suck, what were you thinking" read through). I read through and make notes to myself. And yes, a good number of the notes read "You suck."

Cause lets face it. At this point, I do suck. I'll probably end up cutting the first third of the MS, and rewriting it. My characters kind of swap personalities in the middle of the book. Oh, and as far as I can tell, they have no motivation.

I have notes in there like "this is boring, I'm falling asleep" and "aren't scenes supposed to have a point?"

This seems harsh, but it works for me - and places are boring, and there's supposed to be a point!!

The thing is, as craptacular as this MS may be at the moment, I really think it has potential!

Hee hee, now I get to send it to my CP (complete with my notes to myself).

Poor girl.

The Agoraphobic Werewolf

2005-05-05T14:14:00.000-04:00

As a change of pace, I'm going to talk about writing today! (What, no llamas?)

A lot of beginning writers do what's called the "info dump," putting all of the backstory into the first three chapter of the book (if not the very first chapter, or even worse, the prologue).

I, however, do the opposite.

Yes, I do the backwards info dump. I put all of the necessary information in the last three chapters. I'm a pantster. I don't know any information until I'm almost at the end of the book.

For instance, I'm just about at the end and I just discovered that my hero (the werewolf) is agoraphobic. I thougt it was weird that he never left the house, but hey, who am I to judge. (And doesn't that make a hell of a back cover blurb - oooh, or maybe the title. The Agoraphobic Werewolf)

Throught the WIP, I drop little snippets that may or may not be useful thoughout the rest of the book (the heroine burned her hand in chapter two - it seemed important at the time). But basically, the whole book is just killing time until I get to the last few chapters and realize that I don't even have anything to revise because there is no plot. So I throw a whole mess of crap in there and see what comes out. I was kind of surprised by what came out this time - that's what's so great about pantsting.

Once I have an ending, it can be almost fun to go back and connect the dots (or at least that's what I tell myself).

The new website!

2005-05-04T12:59:00.000-04:00

Check out my new website!

It's rather bare bones at the moment but I've been obsessive about getting it up. Let me know what you think (I am getting so darn needy). Obviously I will be adding to it. I want to have a contest but I don't think that's going to go over too well with the hubster. Since he's my website guru I can't really go behind his back. Let's just say that we have philisophical differences when it comes to websites. And at the moment, a November release date seems forever far away.

I love my sexy girlie, but I think she needs a name. Anybody have any suggestions?

Oh, and because I got tagged (in a round about way since I told Olga I wanted to be a llama rider)...

If I were a llama rider, that would be a stupid job. I mean, I'd assume I'd have a title other than "llama rider" - like whatever the South American term for sherpa is. Although I don't really like camping and aren't llama's pack animals? Although I could use my llama fur to weave yarn and make sweaters, scarves and hats so I could be both warm and stylish. I could be like Jimmy Neutrons friend Carl who loves llamas!! He rides around singing, "llama, llama, llama!"

Anyway, if you're still reading (why?), I want to take a second to thank everyone who reads and comments on my blog! I'm going to try to get better at re-commenting, but just so you know, I do love the comments, especially when you're answering questions! But, I like them all the time, too.

I'm trying to make my blog a little bit more intereactive, so stay tuned!! (And you know, every once in awhile you need to rant about llamas).

Groups, Loops and I can't think of anything else that rhymes

2005-05-03T14:06:00.000-04:00

I am a member of a TON (it seems) of yahoo group/email loop things. (Sidenote: Apparently calling them "loops" is a romance thing - or at least not a geek thing as my hubby tells me that he is a member of several yahoo "mailing lists." Whatever).

The ones that I only get a few messages every couple of days I can keep up with. But some of them are overwhelming (like the EC one - by the time I catch up on the messages I'm already a few days behind).

Some of them are helpful, some of them are entertaining, some of them are neither (okay a lot of them are neither). Then there are the ones that I have to belong too but only get mail a couple of time a month.

I've made some friends one some of them and some enemies on others (well, not so much enemies, but people whose books I'd never ever buy).

To make a long story short (too late), I'm thinking that I'm gong to have to rethink which groups I belong too. I probably won't dump any all together, but probably go to digest on some and no mail on others perhaps. Even so, I'm looking for more to join.

Also, I figure that when it gets closer to my release date, I'd like to start a message group (according to Jaynie websites with message groups get more hits which translates into more readers). And before I do that I want to know what makes a successful group.

But here's my question. What are your favorite yahoo/message groups?

And can I join them?

I've got a hole in my plot!

2005-05-02T13:29:00.000-04:00

I suck at plotting!

I don't think that's any big secret to anyone, and I've been happily embracing Stephen Kin's theory that a writer is like an archaeologist exavating a site.

Well, unfortunately, I missed a hell of a big part of the excavations.

My whole "plot" revolves around the fact that someone is trying to kill my hero. When he gets involved with the heroine, she's in danger as well. Basically, a hit is put on on everybody who the hero knows/cares about. They're forced into constant contact, a lotta sex insues, yadda yadda yadda.

What's the huge problem you ask?

I have no freaking clue who in the hell is trying to kill him!!!!

Oh, and did I mention that he's a werewolf? It's not so much that his werewolfness is a big part of the story, but when I tried to take it away from him, he got awfully angry. So, he's a werewolf.

I'm learning that you have to pick the battles with your characters wisely - he can have this one in the hopes that he'll tell me what he did to piss somebody off enough to want to kill him. If he doesn't tell me soon, he may find himself more than werewolf-less.

Slowpoke

2005-05-01T12:34:00.000-04:00

I can't write fast enough.

I sold one book and now I want to sell more. It's like I got a whiff of success and now I want more.

It's not that I just want to sell again (well, I mean, I do) but also I feel like I really have to. I need to prove to myself that I'm not just a one hit wonder.

The thing is, I screwed up. I don't have anything else ready for submission. I have one which would require a complete rewrite in order to sell (my first ms. I think the plot is ok, but I hadn't really learned craft yet at that point). And I've got two first drafts finished of two other mss. (OK, so 4 full manuscripts and several false starts in a year and a half is pretty darn good).

So, I don't know what to do next.

Also, I was thinking about this. I met my goal of selling before I'm 30 (though I do want to sell to an RWA recognized pub before I'm 30 - 2 1/2 years to go). So, let's figure I put out two books a year until I retire at 65 (though I hope to be more prolific than that) that's 37 years of writing which is almost 80 freaking books!?!?!?!

Do I really have that many people living in my head?

Relaxing Saturday

2005-04-30T12:50:00.000-04:00

My new favorite show is I Married a Princess on Lifetime.

It's a reality show with Casper Van Dien (they guy from Starship Troopers) and Catherine Oxenberg (I think she's an actress because she's totally familary but I don't know what she's been in and apparently her grandmother was the Queen of Yugoslavia or something like that). Anyway, they're a blended family, he had 2 kids, she had 1, they have 2 together.

It's not so much about him being an actor or her being a princess but the kids are hilarious, expecially the youngest 2. It totally cracks me up.

The hubby is off playing video games at his bosses house today so I have the day to work (obviously I'm getting a lot done since I'm blogging and watching tv).

But, I guess I should get to my werewolf. He's getting impatient and I think I'm only a few days from finishing.

Release Date and more...

2005-04-29T17:32:00.000-04:00

So, my release date is November 2005!!

I'm also filling out an Art Information Form. Unfortunately that means I have to go back to the ms because I don't remember nearly enough. Yeah, I don't even remember what my characters look like.

I'm also watching I Love the 80's Strikes Back on VH1. I've watched it before but I'm not laughing any less. And it looks like there are some great shows coming up soon on VH1, including a wanna-be male stripper show and a show where men compete to be Jerri Hall's boy-toy!

With a little bit of luck my website should be up and running by the end of the weekend (though it's a battle between my hubby and I). He insists I don't need a website, yet. I say he's wrong. And if you haven't read my post about websites below please do. I'd still like to know your thoughts on websites in general.

This is weird, a week ago I was just writing for the love of it and now suddenly I have a career to think about.

Who am I?

2005-04-28T16:23:00.000-04:00

So, I'm working on my website and as "research" (certainly not procrastination) I've been looking at a lot of author websites.

While I don't deny that that there are some super fancy sites with animation and music and a whole lot of other cool stuff, all I can think is "damn, that must take forever to load with dial-up." So, I've got the shell of a website made, and I'm fairly happy with it, but it just seems - plain. (Not a problem for be because I like plain).

I'm also trying to figure out what to put on my website. What will keep people coming back? What can I do to make my website stand out?

No, I was asking you guys for help!! :)

My website is totally sexy (if I do say so myself) but I'm not sure how "me" it is. But then again, should it be "me" or should it be "Emma" and am I her or is she way cooler than me? See how confusing this is?

Sure, I write erotic romance but I do it while in my jammies.

Then, there's the blog. I love my blog, but assuming that I have fans someday (which ok, is a big assumption) are they going to give a damn about any of the stuff I blog about? Well, I guess I haven't let people not caring stop me yet now have I?

And if I link to my blog then when I tell other people (non writing friends & family) about my website then they'll see my blog and the "non-writing Emily" is definately different from the "writing Emily" and I'm still not sure that either of them are the same as "Emma."

Or should I just forget Emily completely as an on-line person and officially become Emma?

Like the voices in my head weren't bad enough, now I'm suffering from mulitple personality disorder.

But really, I'd be interested in knowing what you think makes a good website? What keeps you going back for more? Are there certain things about a website that you absolutely hate?

A new game

2005-04-27T21:55:00.000-04:00

The other day Larissa posted about dialogue tags. I read her post to the hubby and now it's become a game to us to come up with the best dialogue (most obvious dialogue) tags. He's actually impressively good at it (much better than me which I guess is a good thing.)

"My stomach hurts," he belly-ached.
"California," he stated.
"This grape juice has fermented," he whined. (Ha, whined/wined get it. This one is my favorite).
"I want to go back to the forest," he pined.

It's a fun game. Come on and give it your best shot.

The day after

2005-04-27T10:50:00.000-04:00

So, my contract is electronically signed (how high tech is that) and sent off to - well, to wherever it is that contracts go. Now I find myself waiting for the email that says, "We didn't mean you, we meant someone else."

I don't remember my dreams last night but I woke up sure I did something wrong and I wasn't as good as other people. Why is it so darn hard for me to accept that something good happened to me because (gasp) maybe I'm good at this writing thing?

I'm sorry, I don't mean to be a downer. I mean sure, I was working towards this whole publishing thing but I guess I never really thought it would happen (or not so suddenly anyway).

But the hubby is thrilled (even though I keep telling him I probably won't make much money - if any). When I got home last night he made me jump up and down and even picked me up (which trust me is no easy feat). I IM'd with Kim and we cried together! And I'm astounded by all of the congratulations I'm getting.

So, Thanks, you really have no idea how much it means to me!

And we're going out for cheesecake tonight!

HOLY HELL BATMAN!!!

2005-04-26T16:51:00.000-04:00

I JUST GOT "THE EMAIL" FROM TORRID!!!!

Assuming that they didn't confuse me with someone else, I sold a FREAKING BOOK!!!

I have to go to my chapter meeting now, but I'm not sure that I can drive I'm shaking so much...

Back later...

To defend or not to defend

2005-04-26T11:28:00.000-04:00

I got my RWR yesterday (yay!) and like I do every month, I pretty much put everything else aside until I've flipped through it (and read most of it) at least once.

Surprise, surprise, there's another inteview with Eloisa James.

Now, I met her at Celebrate Romance (breifly) and she seems like a nice person. I've never read anything by her 'cause I don't really do historicals, but it's nothing against her personally.

Here's the thing that continually bothers me about her. She says ad nauseum that the romance genre doesn't need to be defended, yet she continues to defend it (spouting statistics, comparing it to Shakespeare, etc).

If something doesn't need to be defended try not defending it.

I know a lot of people look down on the romance genre as a whole. We're not the fools. They are.

There are two kinds of romance detractors that I've come across. The one's who really don't know about romance, and the ones who don't care. They're pretty easily distinguishable in casual conversation.

The ones who don't know - that's when you start spouting your RWA stats (1/2 of all popular fiction sold, etc). Introduce them authors that they might like (romance writers as a whole are REALLY REALLY knowledgable about their genre. I don't read historicals, but if I met someone who was interested in one, I could give them a list of names).

The other ones are the ones that don't care. You could tell them anything and they're not going to look on romance with anything but disdain.

If something doesn't need defending, please stop trying already!

Copying

2005-04-25T12:54:00.000-04:00

Pages written: I think there were some yesterday

I've started this blog 3 times and I don't really have anything to say. So, I'm going to copy off of everyone else.

Directions:
1. Take first five novels from your bookshelf.
2. Book 1 — first sentence
3. Book 2 — last sentence on page 50
4. Book 3 — second sentence on page 100
5. Book 4 — next to the last sentence on page 150
6. Book 5 — final sentence of the book
7. Make the five sentences into a paragraph.
8. Feel free to “cheat” to make it a better paragraph.
9. Name your sources
10.Post to your blog.

The keeper set aside the candle and opened the old, leather-bound volume. Using physical activity as an outlet for his emotions, he worked the lingering stiffness from his limbs. "Is that what you fear most?" Stevie reached for him in the muted light filtering through the curtains. So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

I didn't grab the first 5 on one shelf, but took one book from each shelf (the easiest to grab).

1. Don't Look Back - Amanda Quick
2. The Stone Prince - Gena Showalter
3. Night Play - Sherrilyn Kenyon
4. Yours in Black Lace - Mia Zachary
5. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

2005-04-24T12:11:00.000-04:00

Pages written yesterday: 6 Total for BIAW week: 58

Some people look at the total above and think it's probably pretty good. I say it's not enough.

I've got a full under consideration right now. The rough draft of the current WIP is about 100 pages from being finished. I've got a first draft of a romantic suspensey kind of thing that needs to be worked into some kind of shape, and I've got my first R'd ms that I may be able to do some major revisions on to make it sound like something I'd write, not following someone elses rules. There's more, but this is the only stuff I've deemed salvagable.

That's a lot of work, and for some reason it's totally freaking me out that I don't have enough "finished." If I were to sell today, I wouldn't have anything else to offer an editor.

But, in a way, isn't that a good thing? If I have a lot of editing/revising to do, then doesn't it mean that I'm still learning, still perfecting my craft? I'm a fast writer. I'm working on becoming a fast (and good) reviser. So, in a way, isn't it good that I don't have a stack of completed manuscripts stuffed under a bed somewhere? It means that nothing is ever going to be good enough for me. Which, yeah, will cause me some headaches down the road, but it means that I'm never going to be the one who says "oh, it's good enough."

Nothing is ever going to be good enough for me, and isn't that kind of a good thing?

SEP

2005-04-23T13:21:00.000-04:00

PMS, a sick (whining) hubby, and being poked & prodded by the doctor: 4 pages written yesterday

Since I didn't write much yesterday (but I did make my BIAW goals and still have most of today) I read a bit. I've been reading Susan Elizabeth Phillips. I've heard great things about her but I've never read anything.

She's amazing.

I don't really like her characters (even have some strong moral objections to some of them), think that they make really stupid choices (although the character motivation explains it, I still think the choices are stupd), but could put the books down.

I have no idea why, but I loved them. And it's the kind of stuff that I couldn't really analyze well. When I analyze, I come up with stuff that would generally annoy me, but for some reason she doesn't. I don't get it!

I read two (and already sent them back so don't remember which ones) and have a few more coming.

Religion is big in her books (the 2 I've read, so I'm not talking a large sample size here). I feel like I should really hate that, but for some reason I don't. It works so well for the characters that I ignore my own thoughts and feelings (ok, I don't really do that but I think you get what I mean).

She pulls me in the absolutely perfect amount. I'm just completely fascinated by her and can't wait to read more.

Oh, and I've also added The Flame and the Flower to my booksfree queue, though it should be a few months before it gets here.

Dashing through...

2005-04-22T10:03:00.000-04:00

Pages written=10

Don't have time to post (not that I'm going to let it stop me) as I'm off to the stupd horriblel doctor (she might be a nice person, I suppose, but it's hard to think that when you're dressed in paper).

Anyway, go congratulate Diana

Things

2005-04-21T10:56:00.000-04:00

Pages Written: 6

The hubby is home sick today. He's either got a cold (probably) or the plague (the way he's acting). He's still in bed and every once in awhile a pathetic moan wafts through to my desk in the living room.

It's getting chillier here now. It's not 85 anymore but it's still a lovely spring day. I see a walk in my future, even if it's just as far as the mailbox.

Stephanie has been on an On Writing kick, which made me go back and re-read it. First of all, it's an awesome book, and the beginning part, about his life (and especially about his childhood) totally cracks me up. Secondly, this is the third time I've read the book the whole way through. The absolute genius of this book is that I've taken something different away from it each and every time.

The one thing that really sticks in my mind from the first time I read it was the railroad tie he used to hang up his rejections. As far as I was concerned, it took up a whole chapter of the book. Nope, it's one line in passing, that's it.

This time the thing that really stuck with me is the analogy of "finding" the story like an archaologist (only it would be a paleontologist) digs up a dinosaur. What I chose to write about can't be wrong if I'm digging deep enough. I love the idea of uncovering a new layer of the story.

Perhaps it's just because it puts less pressure on me, the writer, at this stage of the game. If I'm just a stenographer than I don't have to worry about whether or not the plot makes sense or the characters are real. If I'm doing my job right, they are, and if I'm not, well, that's what revisions are for!

My happy place

2005-04-20T11:32:00.000-04:00

Pages written: 13

For the third day in a row, I'm sitting out on my deck in shorts and a tank top, listening to the birdies chirping away and watching the little brown bunny with the white fluffy tail that lives in the courtyard below my apartment. Ive got my laptop on my lap and I'm writing like a madwoman. I've written more in the past three days than I have in weeks.

So, what's going to happen tomorrow when it's supposed to rain and I have to go inside?

It's interesting, because while it's been a beautiful week here in Maryland, I'm writing about winter in Seattle, cold, dark and dreary. My desk inside in the dark corner should be perfect for that, right? The thing is, there's other stuff inside. There's bills that need to be paid and dishes that need to be washed (there's A LOT of those) and other stupid chores that have to be done.

Inside there are disctractions. Out here the only distractions are the occasional bee that finds its way onto the deck.

And hey look, there's a blue jay...

Fat girls and sexy boys

2005-04-19T11:17:00.000-04:00

Pages Written Yesterday - 12

I hate when this happens - I think of something really profound to say, the day AFTER I should have said it.

Anyway, I'm going to respond to Emma's post yesteday on Romancing the Blog.

Women today are programmed (for lack of a better word) to hate their bodies. It's something we know but it honestly doesn't really make self image any better. We know that the media skews body issues. But then, Gwen Stafani goes and gets a nose job, and I'm still left looking like I ate Gwen Stafani.

Every woman I know, fat/skinny, tall/short, blonde/brunette/redhead, etc has body issues. They're not fat, they're too fat. They're not skinny, they're too skinny. So, if we want realistic characters, why shouldn't our heroines have the same body issues. Very rarely do we see an unbiased view of any character (although a Nora where we see the heroine through a cabbies eyes stick out at me). We see the character looking at themselves, or through the eyes of a love interest, friend, enemy - someone with other influences.

Now, I know very few men with body issues. That's not entirely true, I'm sure they have them, but most men I know have been programmed to think they look like a stud muffin.

We want our hero's to be confidant, arrogant alpha's, yet why woule we think for a second that these men wouldn't (regardless of what they actually look like) project an attractive, sexy aura? I don't think I'd buy an alpha with a spare tire and love handles.

I guess what I'm saying is that it makes sense to me to have "average" herones (non-perfect bodies) and hot boddied alphas.

*****************************
I've kind of forgotten about my music thing the past few days. Oops, my blog, I can do things like that ;)

This WIP playlist is heavy on the Aerosmith. I don't really know why, sexiness I guess.

Crazy - I picked this one, but it could've been Amazing or Crying that I was going for. They're all the same song, right?

Dream On - I kind of picked this one for the title. During the middle of their "courtship" they're both kind of in a fog - a dream if you will. Plus, this song just kicks-ass!

Come Together - Well if we ignore the obvious dirty connotation, this song gives me the shivers - in a good way.

I'm not a one-draft wonder

2005-04-18T11:35:00.000-04:00

Pages written yesterday: 7

A pretty good start to this month's BIAW.

Actually, the writing has been going much better since I've finally just broken down and accepted the way that I write. Thanks in part to Stephanie's post aboutOn Writing. Not only did in inspire me to get out my copy (seriously, if you're a writer and have only one book, I think On Writing should be it), but it also made me accept the way it is that I write.

I can't plot. I have some mental block against plotting. My first draft is how I "plot." I've taken to calling it my "everything but the kitchen sink (and sometimes even that)" draft.

Now, I usually have a good idea of where the story is going. My characters have their Internal Conflict (IC) and sometimes they come right out and tell me, other times they give it to me piece by piece so that by the end I know what their problems are. There are some plot threads weaved through this draft, but also a lot of plot threads that kind of peter out over the course of a few chapters. (EX: In chapter 1 my h burns her hand - for some reason I thought this was important at the time. It hasn't come back yet, don't know if it will - if not, it gets deleted). Sometimes my brain is ahead of me, sometimes not.

So, the second draft is where I put things together, strenghten plot threads and make sure the store is coherent as a whole. Somtimes it almost feels as if I'm writing out of order because things need to change and get moved and deleted (that's the hard part).

This is also when I start sending it to my CP. Hopefully, if I'm doing things right, this will be the close to the final draft, with only the "just, so, anyway" searches, removing all passive, etc stuff left to do.

It's amazing how much better I'm writing now that I've just accepted that I'm not a one draft wonder!

What about you? Have you found a system that works best for you, or are you still plotting away? I really want to learn how to plot? Is there another way you wish you could write?

Not-so Relaxing Weekend

2005-04-17T19:22:00.000-04:00

Don't you just hate weekends when you're dying for Monday to come?

I've been a busy girl this weekend (made even worse by the fact that I've been feeling like crap for the past few days).

Yesterday morning we headed of to my youngest brother-in-law's track meet. It was the Navy meet vs Army (and vs Army always makes winning more important). The Naval Academy won, though it was close, a score of 102-100. The in-laws came down, as did the middle brother-in-law and his fiance.

Afterwards we went to a track meet picnic - with fresh hamburger! It was delicious.

The rest of the family took of to a Washington Nationals game, but DH and I decided to stay home and watch SuperVolcano on the Discovery Channel. Then, middle BIL and his fiance slept on our futon.

This morning, everyone came over for breakfast (Costco Muffins) and then, since it was a beautiful day and youngest BIL didn't get tickets to the spy museum, we went to Arlington National Cemetary. I've been there before, but it was during high school and I had a horrible case of the flu at the time.

We saw the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier and the eternal flame at JFK's grave. I almost wished that I wrote historicals because I find cemetaries absolutely fascinating. Oh, and some of the names practically had stories written for them. My favorite was Hezikiah Ogden. Isn't that great!?!

Anyway, we went to Chipotle for lunch and eventually, everyone went home. Now, I'm still not feeling well, but at least it's just the hubby and me!

Writing related posts continue tomorrow...

I'm back

2005-04-15T10:59:00.000-04:00

Pages written this week (so far) - 24

OK, apparetly there aren't many people with strong feelings one way or another on the whole Hilary vs Lindsay thing.

My bad.

Anyway, (fingers crossed) my network seems to be up and running again. It all started last weekend when the comcast DNS server went down - so I had email and IM but not internet. Then, I don't know what the heck they were doing, but for the past few days it's been down completely, but then would come back of 5-10 minute stretches every couple of hours.

It's always such a shock to me when technology doesn't work like it's supposed to.

But, I've gotten a lot written (nothing else to do when you can't procrastinate) and yesterday I took the time to make the playlist for the current WIP. I figured over the next little bit I'd share it with you, and why I chose the songs I did (plus, now that the network is back I can add to it from the hubbys music stash).

I create my playlist by going through my music library (I use iTunes) and picking songs without thinking. Then, I go through and try to figure out why I picked the songs that I did.

*********************************

I Want U to Want Me (Letters To Cleo) - I don't know why, but I like this version better than the original (this one's on the 10 things I hate about you soundtrack.) I think I mostly picked this one for the title, though it does happen to be a great song.

Sympathy for the Devil (Rolling Stones) - As far as I'm concerned, this is the best song ever by the best band ever! Also, this is totally Donovan (the Hero's) song (he's a werewolf). At one point in the story the heroine catches him singing it...Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of weath and taste...

Important Topic

2005-04-13T12:46:00.000-04:00

Since this is my blog and I can pretty much do whatever I want to do, I think it's time for me to add my .02 about a very important topic in todays culture.

Hilary Duff vs. Lindsay Lohan

(Yeah, Me=Big Nerd) I personally fall into the Hilary Duff camp. I watched A Cinderella Story last night. It's quite a cute move. There's no swearing, no teen drinking/partying and no teenage girls in exceptionally high heels. And let's face it - Lizzie McGuire is nothing more than this generations answer to Clarissa Explains It All! And I'll admit (albeit timidely) that yes, I might happen to own the Lizzie McGuire movie on DVD, ok, and perhaps I have the soundtrack, too, and all right, pry it outta me why dontcha, yes, I have Hilary Duff's CD (only the first one - Hello, I worked at the Disney Store, at least I did't buy anything by Raven!)

So, onto Lindsay Lohan, and while I liked her in The Parent Trap (yes, I have that one, too) in her more recent movies I can't get over the fact that she has freaking enormous hooters! It's distracting - and I'm not looking for it (much like Jennifer Love Hewett in I know What Your Boobs Did Last Summer). Yes, I am aware that it is not her fault, but as my hubby and I were watching Mean Girls every once in awhile one of us would just blurt out, "Damn, her boobs are huge!" And don't get me started on Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen. I think you have to have ADD to understand that movie 'cause really there are like 8 plots going on at once.

So, please don't leave me hanging thinking I'm the only one with strong feelings on this subject.

Pulling away

2005-04-12T20:32:00.000-04:00

Pages written: 8 - I'm back on the horse.

I don't know why, but this whole RTB fiasco has made me introspective.

Someone asked on another blog not too long ago (I think it was a RTB comment, perhaps) if a group of intelligent women couldn't interact without problems. Here's the thing - the answer is NO. Women are weird creatures. We get together and suddenly it's like we're in junior high again. I'm not saying it's something we should be proud of, it certainly isn't, but it's the truth, and the only way to counter it, is by being truthful.

Truth hurts.

So, I've been pulling away. I haven't been posting on as many loops, I barely read the emails from the yahoo groups I'm on and I haven't been on IM in forever. I've been pulling away from all of my online friends, and even my CP. I feel absolutely horrible about it.

It's very possible that people haven't even noticed that I've been missing. But, I've been missing it.

My CP got a request a while ago (3 actually!) so she's been revising her first 3 chapters like crazy. She's sent them to me and I've read them, commented, and sent them back. That's it. She's working on her synopsis, and I offered to read it for her. I realized I never even read the end of her manuscript. I cried, and I feel horrible. That was a lousy thing for me to do.

While I'm still a little bit iffy, I'm trying to put myself back out there. I'm going to try to get back into my old posting habits, I'm going to reply to more of my emails, and heck, maybe I'll even turn on IM (except not tonight, I've got a Hilary Duff movie to watch - see previous post about me being a nerd).

So, I guess I'll see you around.

Todays post: Take 2

2005-04-12T13:01:00.000-04:00

I tried posting once today, but I didn't like how negatively I came off, so I'm trying again. This one, well, it's pretty much about nothing.

I've been totally glomming Jill Shalvis's backlist. I'm having so much fun!

I usually have one non-fiction and one fiction book going at all times. The fiction books I usually read in less than a day while the non-fiction one lasts for a while.

So, alone with Jill's Blue Flame, I'm reading The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature by Matt Ridley

What can I say? I'm a nerd.

I spent most of yesterday web surfing. I'm trying to decide what my "image" is going to be so that I can make my website. It's really hard to define yourself (and your writing).

Ah well, just one more thing to worry about in this business, I guess.

Planning

2005-04-11T11:45:00.000-04:00

Requests sent: 1

So, now it's back to the writing grindstone, back to my werewolf and his girlie.

I've been trying to plan really well and I had the entire month of April mapped out in front of me, but then surprisingly enough, I got ahead of myself. I was supposed to have the rest of the week for revisions, but I went ahead and sent it last night (Gotta love those email subs!).

What now?

I think I'll end up doing a lot of housekeeping kind of stuff. I want to work on my webpage, I have to fix my mom's webpage, make a few doctors appointments, get ready for the inlaws who are coming AGAIN this weekend.

So, while I do want to write this week, I'm going to make the primary focus of this week "research." The more of that kind of stuff I do before I sell the less I'll have to do later, right? Yeah, website work. That's what I'll do this week.

Definately...of course I do have a Netflix movie over there...and there's Jill Shalvis' Blue Flame on top of my TBR pile.

This might actually turn into a good week.

Cherry Blossom Pictures

2005-04-10T13:39:00.000-04:00

Cherry Blossoms up-close!

Jefferson Memorial framed by Cherry Blossoms. We walked the entire way around the Tidal Basin which is where the majority of the Cherry Trees are located. There were a TON of people there as it was the Official Cherry Blossom Festival.

The White House. Note the snipers on the roof. These pics were taken with the hubby's digital camera, but with my camera with my super-duper lens I could see them much more clearly. They had huge rifle packs and an enormous telescope.

Me with Peace Mickey. For Mickey Mouse's 75th birthday, 75 Micky Mickey Mouse statues were painted by celebreties and now they're traveling the country. Unfortunately I don't remember who painted Peace Mickey.

Quickly

2005-04-09T18:55:00.000-04:00

So, I got another e-mail today from the Executive Editor from Torrid asking if I got the first e-mail - my request! I've gotta get my but in gear revising. I'll aim for Monday (eek!)

We went to the Cherry Blososm Festival today. I'll post pics later.

This post is really random and totally unnecessary. Oh, well, I apologize, but come back to see the pics!

Theoretical writing question

2005-04-08T14:23:00.000-04:00

Pages revised: The whole final chapter!

OK, pages revised doesn't really count because I'm not counting pages at this point, but it makes it look like I'm getting something done.

So, here's my question. I'm going to talk a bit about my WIP but my question is more theoretical.

As part of my H's backstory, he was in a bad marraige (I know, kind of cliche) and on the night his wife left him for another man, she was murdered by the other man's wife. So, he has some issues. This colors all of his relationships (friends, family, etc) not just his relationship with the h.

One of his main issues is that he doesn't fight for what because he feels that if he wouldn't have fought so hard during his first marraige she would have left sooner and then would still be alive.

He discusses these issues with his father, and comes to terms with them, but he never actually talks to the h about his marriage. Then, he goes after what he wants (the h - in a screwed up move) and messes up her life, too.

He discuss his issues with the h's best friend, too (who convinces him to go after her again, only this time not screw up).

The problem is (well, I don't know if it's a problem actually) that the H & h never actually converse about his marraige. By the time they'd talk about it, it's already been discussed to death.

So, does it bug you when things are necessarily confronted directly between the H&h? I would assume that after their HEA they'd discuss it at some point.

Just call me productive...

2005-04-07T21:14:00.000-04:00

Pages written today: 0
Pages edited today: 0
Jill Shalvis books read today: 4

So, I signed up for Bookfree (which despite it's name is not actually free), and I got my first shipment of books today. I'm using it to to read a lot of backlists for authors that I'm just discovering (not that I just discovered Jill, but I did just discover Bookfree!). It's like Netflix, only with books. Or like a library, only with an awesome selection of books (especially romance).

Anyway, I woke up with a headache (remember that post about spring when I said I'd be sick of it in 2 weeks when my allergies hit - try 2 days) and a tummyache, so I took the day off and read.

This evening I did sit down and go over my revision notes. Copying someone (and unfortuanately I don't remember who, sorry) I devided it up into medium hard things and HARD things. The easy stuff I already did (like making sure my h only had 1 set of boobs, things like that) and I'll do another "easy thing" read through before I send it off.

But, I have 6 medium things and 4 hard things, and then 2 things that will be easy fixes, but I'll have to do the hard stuff first.

The problem I'm having is that I'm second guessing myself. I'm battling, "oh, if I change this around completely, that might work" with, "but that changes the whole damn story so save it for another book!"

It's a pain in my ass. For a few seconds every day I almost wish I hadn't gotten a request. Then I smack myself and rejoice that I have to do revisions at all.

Pseudonym

2005-04-06T11:18:00.000-04:00

All right, I need some help. I've narrowed down my pseudonym search, but need so assistance in picking my favorite.

I've decided on Emma for a few reasons. One, it's close enough to Emily that I'll probably remember to answer to it. Two, my family never calls me Emily anyway, I've always just be Em. Three, my brother-in-law is engaged to another Emily, so I'm thinking that if I start going by Emma it'll make the whole in-law thing a little easier (I've suggested that they just stop talking to me so that they wouldn't have two Emily's, but that didn't go over to well with them. Darn).

So, here are my final choices, in no particular order.

Emma Laroux - This is the Hubby's favorite, but I get a strong stipper vibe.

Emma Sinclair

Emma Powers - Yes, all of the choices so far have come from the episode of The Simpsons where Homer changes his name to Max Powers.

Emma Loughlin - This one is a bit confusing. The hubby's last name starts with LUF. My last name ends with LEN. So, it's kind of putting them together and then spelling it differently which makes it really just a random name I came up with.

So, please comment, I'd love to know what you think.

It's Spring!!

2005-04-05T15:59:00.000-04:00

I had forgotten about Spring! In Seattle there were only 2 seasons, Rainy and Not Rainy. Now that I'm in Maryland, I get to have Spring!

It's in the high 60's. I've got the balcony door open, the birdies are tweeting and there's a nice spring breeze in the air! There are buds on the trees and the whole apartment is starting to smell of Spring! (Talk to me in 2 weeks once my allergies hit and I won't be nearly so happy about Spring.)

Tomorrow it's supposed to be 77 degrees! I think my sex scenes are going to be written with my laptop out on the balcony.

It's supposed to rain on Thursday, but April showers bring May flowers, so bring it on...

Revisions - the good and the bad.

2005-04-05T11:06:00.000-04:00

I'm about half way through my first set of revisions. I'm fixing the easy stuff but making notes on the hard stuff. I'll go back and do that next.

So far though, there's only one MAJOR thing that needs to be changed - the heroines motivation. A few scenes need to be clarified and I'm going to have to rewrite two love scenes.

As it stands now, I have to "first time" scenes which doesn't work for obvious reasons. (Just first time with each other, not in general). The problem is that both scenes are pretty good (if I do say so myself) they just don't work together in the same story.

I don't mind revising bad stuff but it's always so painful to have to cut the good stuff.

Most of what's been occupying my last two days is minor. I seem to get all the right words in the sentences but not necessarily in the right order. Also, I'm not too bad with that (woohoo, I'm not bad at something), but I'm having just, so, well problems.

Back at it now, and if you could, please read my blog tomorrow as I'm going to ask for public opinion and hopefully make a final decision on my pseudonym.

Until tomorrow...

Plugging along

2005-04-04T11:53:00.000-04:00

My internet died on Saturday and didn't come back until this morning.

I felt bereft. My right arm may has well have been cut off. I was starting to find it difficult to function without my internet. When did I become so dependant?

On the plus side, a day and a half with no internet meant that I was able to get a good chunk of revisions done. I'm not happy with Chapter 1, but 2, 3, 4 and most of 5 are pretty good.

I'm finding it interesting. This reqest is for 2 books ago. I know my writing has improved since then. I'm finding myself walking this strange line between, making this book perfect and making this book as perfect as this book can be.

I find myself wondering: What if I do sell? Is this the book that I want people to first identify me with? Is any book ever going to be perfect enough for me?

Probably not, so a plugging along I go...

REQUEST!!!

2005-04-02T11:58:00.000-05:00

So even through my bumbling yesterday, I got a request. An hour after sending the initial query. And, it's for a full no less - my very first one!

So, my plan for the next several days are to REVISE, REVISE, REVISE.

1. Remove passive-ness.
2. Clairify motivation that's good in syn, not so good in MS.
3. Try not to totally freak out.

Interestingly enough, now that I have a goal (that's not self-imposed), I feel much more clear on what needs to be done.

Oh, and read a bunch of Torrid books. Does anyone know anything about Torrid? It's the erotica arm of Whiskey Creek. I guess I'll be learning a lot more in the next few days.

Sheesh, I'm just happy to have some direction instead of just writing.

I'm a dumbass

2005-04-01T14:10:00.000-05:00

So, I'm feeling lower than low today. I feel like the mud that's been scraped off the bottom of someone's shoe. I am the worlds worst writer, I have no friends, and I'm fat and ugly.

What do I decide to do today? Send out a couple of queries!!

'Cause those rejections that'll come pouring in will surely make me feel better. Blech.

OK, if that's not dumb enough, I'm targetting mostly e-pubs so it's quite easy to query - none of that printing stuff, no going to the post office, I can do it all from the comfort of my little pink desk chair.

BUT I'M A MORON.

I wrote my little e-cover letter. Actually I copied and pasted from an older one and then made some minor changes. I read it over, spell check the sucker and press send. Then I notice that I "attacked" a copy of my synopsis!! Arghhhh!!

Luckily, I did find out today while the last query I sent out was rejected (and managed to change it before I sent out todays batch of queries). In the last sentence of my synopsis I had written that my heroine was happy to be father. WTF?!?!?!

Field trips

2005-03-31T10:45:00.000-05:00

Pages written: 3 + 22 pages of characterization AND I'm back on track!!

I think I need to start posting in my own blog before I do my morning blog hopping. Everybody else already said the good stuff.

Candy at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books says perfectly how I feel about Inspirationals. The only thing that I'd add is that I think I'd have problems with characterization when the heroine (or hero) looks to God for every single decision that needs to be made. It almost seems like cheating to me - I don't have to worry aobut characterization for my character, God will take care of it for me.

Shannon blogs about how rude people can be. I don't have problems with people not like erotic romance (hello, I just said I don't like Inspirationals) but I do have problems with people not liking something simply for it being what it is. I don't like erotic romance because it's erotic. Well duh!! And at least be nice about it. I may not like Inspirationals but I'm never going to tell someone else they shouldn't read them and hell, I don't even care if they enjoy them. The point is, BE NICE.

Sylvia's post kind of combines the last two. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. Wasn't that drilled into me since the time I could speak!!

Are you sure I can't edit a blank page?

2005-03-29T20:56:00.000-05:00

Pages written: 2

I'm blogging for tomorrow tonight because my goal for tomorrow is to stay off of the computer (well for most of the day). This story isn't going anywhere. I need to sit down with Madalyn Reese's Mother of all character questionaires and figure out what in the heck I'm doing.

It's my own fault. I started with an okay premise, but I never bothered to flesh it out in my mind. Then, I started writing and quickly fizzled. I listed to the whole "you can't edit a blank page" thing and pressed on.

That's true, you can't edit a blank page, but you sure as hell can waste a whole lot of time writing crap.

This isn't the first time it's happened to be. No, it happens with every MS. I hit a brick wall but rather than stopping and walking around the brick wall, I keep banging my head on it.

My characters and I have to sit down and have a nice long talk. It might be hard on all of us, but it's only going to make a better story in the end.

On another note, I've been having one of those days where I can't think of the word I need. Does that happen to anyone else? Also, I'm having an I can't spell day. Seriously, I must have waisted like 5 minutes trying to spell the word muscle and finally had to resort to my spell checker (and in the sentence above I waisted a hole lot of time)!

I think it's for the best that I take a day off from writing.

The state of blogging as I know it

2005-03-29T11:18:00.000-05:00

Pages Written: 6 crap-tacular ones - but I know, you can't edit a blank page.

First of all, if you have't read Shannon's post over at Romancing the Blog, please go do so (but after you read my wonderful post here, first). She doesn't really say anything that hasn't been said before (ad nauseum) but she says it very clearly and stays very objective.

Blogging is hard.

When I first started blogging, I figured I was only going to be accountable to myself. I would write whatever I wanted to write, not bother checking my spelling and grammar (which I still don't), and it wouldn't matter because no one was ever going to read my blog.

Oops, I was wrong.

Now, with blogging comes some sort of responsibility. I know that there are people reading my blog. They leave me comments (and every comment makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside). People whose books I have on my bookshelf leave me comments!! What the heck is up with that?

I feel bad when I don't post anything worthwhile. On the other hand, there are many days when I don't have anything worthwhile to say. I feel bad when I'm not at least somewhat entertaining.

The first time I found myself quoted on someone elses blog (even though it wasn't by name) I totally freaked out!! Did that mean I made a good point even though it happened to disagree with someone. My DH pointed out to me that there's no such thing as bad publicity. If someone is talking about me it means I hit a nerve right? Even if the nerve wasn't a good one?

Also, should I start commenting on other people's blogs? I mean, I comment when I have something to contribute, but well, I try to save all of the good thoughts I have for working on the WIP.

OK, wow, I didn't realize how intense this blog thing was becoming in my mind. Time to take a step back and cool down a bit. I wish I had some of Jill's girl scout cookies.

Watching vs Reading

2005-03-28T12:42:00.000-05:00

Pages written: Yeah, I need to get on that

Here's a bit of a secret about me. I don't like movies. 9 times out of 10, when I watch a movie I end up with the feeling that I've waisted 2 (or more) hours of my life that I'll never get back. (To give you an example, the last movie I saw in a theater was the second Lord of the Rings.)

Now, I've said that but I'm not going to say that there are NO movies I like. And the movies I like aren't all from one particular genre. I love the Mummy (with Brendan Frasier - and no, that's not why) and could watch that over and over again (and have done so). In the same vein, I like Indiana Jones. The Last Crusade is by far the best one (and I dare anyone to deny it) but I'm the one person in the world who likes The Temple of Doom more than Raiders of the Lost Arc.
(Can you tell I spent my Easter watching TBS?)

Now, totally opposite that, I love Love Actually (which I just recently saw for the first time). And if you're going for chick flicks, I like Sleepless in Seattle but don't really like You've Got Mail (and lets face it, they're basically the same movie).

I'd say that it's the characters that make me like a movie, but that's not true because I also LOVE teen movies (10 things I hate about you, She's all that, Can't hardly wait). And characterization really isn't necessary in those movies (well, unless you consider cardboard characters).

As a rule, I'm not a big fan of movies. I watch them because of peer pressure, but I don't really like them (thank god for Netflix and my laptop). So, what does all this have to do with anything?

Not a whole lot except for the fact that I'm trying to relate to writing but I can't. Sure there are books that I may not like, but I don't think I've ever come away from a book not liking anything. I learn things from every book I read, even if it's what not to do.

I've never read a book and put it down thinking "I waisted X hours of time that I'll never get back."

Now that I've waisted all of your time, I should probably get to that whole writing thing.

Happy Easter

2005-03-27T10:03:00.000-05:00

The PMS fairy's got me down so I went to bed at 9:00 last night. I got up at 9 this morning. Yep, that's 12 hours of sleep. I think I needed it though 'cause even though I'm in the midst of a WIP, I woke up with some good ideas for new stories. I think that hasn't happened in awhile and it was starting to make me nervous. A couple of YA ideas - what's up with that?

Anyway, I hope the Easter bunny and chocolate and jellybean faries made a stop at your house (and will be making a stop at my house sometime today).

May your day be filled with candy...

I'm back

2005-03-25T21:19:00.000-05:00

I blogged about my trip, but it mysteriously disappeared. Hmmm, enjoy some pictures instead. These are DH's pics with the digital camera. I'll probably post more over the next few days and weeks once I get my film developed (how old fashioned).

It stormed on Wednesday and the sea was churning!!

That's me and the ocean. I had some trouble walking on the sand which is why I kind of look like I'm about to fall over. Oh, okay, I waddled on the sand!

Agghhh!!! Attack of the killer crab! Run for your lives!

On the way home we went to Assateague Island to see the ponies!

Vacation brain...

2005-03-22T15:17:00.000-05:00

Pages written: hahahahaha (oh, that's a funny one)

My brain has already left for vacation.

I had to go to old navy today 'cause I needed a pair of fat jeans for my trip. Hello, they're fat jeans? Can they please make something that doesn't leave your ass hanging out? I mean, I don't like seeing skinny girls with their thongs hanging out of the back of their pants, does the world really need the horror of my butt hanging out of my pants?

My goal for the last two days was to finish revisions on my first 100 pages. I think I managed to make it through page 14.

I've got an RWA meeting tonight. It's on writer's block (preventing it, I imagine). It should be a good talk, but fortunately not very timly for me.

Oh, and my Christmas present finally got here. DH got me Dance, Dance Revolution. (The game where you jump up and down on an arrow pad and "dance" how they tell you too). Sometime in the last few years I've lost my rhythm. I swear I used to have it but damn if I can find it now.

If anyone sees my rhythm please contact the proper authorities.

I'll be back to bloggin (hopefully with pictures) in a few days!

Revisions, vacations and in-laws, oh my

2005-03-21T10:52:00.000-05:00

This week is DH's spring break (he told me on Friday). While he'd normally go in to work anyway, they're turning off all the water in his building so no heat, no water, no DH going to work.

So I decided that we should take advantage of the vacation and head to the beach for a few days. So from Wednesday to Friday we're going to Ocean City, Maryland. I'm excited. It's been almost 10 years since I've seen the Atlantic ocean!

I've got a chapter meeting tomorrow, we're leaving on Wednesday, coming back on Friday, and then his parents are coming down for Easter, and I'm making Easter brunch for the fam. on Sunday. So, I've got to fit in laundry and a trip to the grocery store but I really want to do some revisions.

Passive voice is kicking my butt.

I got an awesome critique from Kim, but it show's a lot of passiveness. She only critted chapter 1 and I'm up to chapter 5, so I think I've got a lot of work ahead of me. I'm going to try to get as many revisions as possible done in the next two days. I also would like to plot out where this thing is going.

Strangely enough - boy meets girl, girl finds out boy is a werewolf, external conflict interferes, hea - isn't actually considered plotting. Once I plot, I'll be able to tie up a lot of loose ends in the first few chapter, too. (I have sentences like "He thought about insert external conflict here.

Needless to say, I've got a lot of work ahead of me before my vacation, but hey, isn't that what vacations are for (please tell me they are).

Weekend randomness

2005-03-19T12:45:00.000-05:00

Pages written yesterday: 0, oops.
Movies watched: 2, you can see where my priotities were.

I was feeling a little bit meh yesterday and I'm at a part in my WIP that's got me a little bit stuck, so I watched a movies - 2 actually.

First I watched Raising Helen. It was all right, but I was really disappointed about not getting more into the kids who had just lost their parents. I mean, they were there, and they had some issues, but no one ever really sat down and tried to talk to them. There were people that loved the kids, but no body really showed that love, I don't think.

So, it got me thinking about secondary characters (there's also a great Q&A on eHQ this week about the same subject). There's a fine line that SC's have to walk and I'm not sure how to tell that line in my own writing (though I can tell it more in others, I think). They have a lot of jobs to do, but they can't actually do any of them too much or too well. Raising Helen didn't work for me because the SC's didn't ring true.

Then, I watched Troy. Other than the eye candy, it blew. I actually ended up skipping ahead during some of the middle though I don't really think I missed anything.

I don't know that I've ever seen a movie that had a more LACK of characterization.

I admit, I read the Illiad in 9th grade - that's like 15 years ago - so I don't remember it well, but it wasn't what I remembered.

Let's face it, they took creative license with the film (oh, like not really mentioning that Achilles could old be killed via the ankle - rant to come in a second) but if you're going to shake things up a bit, shake things up and give the characters some personality!! I couldn't get past the fact that I was watching Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom. The best actor in the film, IMO was Eric Bana as Hector.

And then there was just random introductions of characters like Ajax. He's one of the characters I vaguely remember from reading it and there was just a passing mention.

And did they really wear underwear under those short skirts? The fight between Hector and Brad Pitt would've been much better if they were going commando under those skirts.

The movie was rated R for "breif nudity and sexual situations." At no point in the movie do you see anything important - no butts, boobs but no nipples. UH, how about an R rating for violence. I'm an not a squeamish person and I actually found myself squirming in my chair.

Now onto my biggest gripe. Nowhere in the movie did they actually come out and say that the only way to kill Achilles was via the heel. I'm guessing that everyone that reads this blog knows the whole story (mama dipped him in the river & held him by the heel which made it the vulnerable place) but I'm guessing the average person does not!! (Note: I'd consider my Dh the physicist above average and he didn't know the story).

I couldn't help but be reminded of the move Clueless when Cher shows up the college girl by remembering the movie version of Hamlet ("I think I remember my Mel Gibson.")

If you're going to make a movie for entertainment, is there harm in putting something in there that may teach someone something? I'm not saying for all movies, but perhaps an epic like Troy!

So, needless to say, I wasn't a big fan of Troy. I like The Simpson's version much better when Ned Flanders (as the kind of Troy) says at the delivery of the horse: From now on, whenever anyone gets wood they'll think of Trojan's.

When does your brain turn on?

2005-03-18T13:08:00.000-05:00

Pages yesterday: 9

I figure by starting to keep track of my pages it'll make sure I keep my blog somewhat on topic.

Actually I keep track of all of my writing. Usually I do it by day - I have a special calendar that I use only for writing. I keep track of how many pages I've written, how many pages I've revised, any research I've done, etc.

I've found that 40-50 pages is an average week for me though I have done as many as 80 in a week. I probably could do more, but I like to keep the quality high even if I have to suffer some for quantity.

Thursday's are my most productive day of the week, on average.

At the beginning of the year I even kept track of writing by hour. I tried to keep track of writing vs. procrastination each hour. What I learned from that was that I didn't really hit my stride until about two in the afternoon. I get most of my writing done between 2 and 5 or 6 when the DH gets home, and if I'm going strongly then (rather then painfully pulling words from my brain) I can usually double the word count in the evening between about 7 and 9.

What about you, when do you tend to get either the most writing, or the best writing done? Are the most writing days and best writing days the same? What do you do if they're not?

As for today...well, I've met my BIAW goal (of 40 pages) and I have three netflix movies staring me down. Maybe I'll take the laptop to the couch with me and see what I can get done.

Hmmm, to procrastinate or not to procrastinate, that is the question.

Rantish

2005-03-17T11:08:00.000-05:00

I woke up feeling rantish, and while I've spent my morning trying to corral my thoughts I'm still a bit confused.

I'm going to start with yesterday's post on Romancing the Blog. Basically, the post is about not reading romance anymore, and as many problems as I may have had with that, there were a lot of comments by other people who don't read romance either.

Well, here's the thing. If you freely admit that you don't read romance anymore (and haven't for awhile), just because you write it, what gives you the right to criticize? I mean really you're no better than those "outsiders" who don't like romance simply because it's romance. See Sela Carson's blog for a great rant.

Feel free to criticize books all you want, but don't expect me to pay attention to you unless you're actually reading the books.

Also, RTB is a place for "Romance Readers and Writers." I think that yesterdays post was very irresponsible. Like it or not, Romancing the Blog is an industryblog. It's not a place where anyone can go to rant, it's supposed to be a bunch of people who love romance. I think it's niave to think that the only people that read it are the one's that are posting. I think there are a lot of non-commenters, and I imagine there are a lot of strictly READERS - not reviewrs, not writers (pubbed or otherwise) just plain old vanilla readers.

Why in the heck would you shoot yourself in the foot like that? (See Jaci Burton's post.) Save rants like that for your own blog.

Now, onto the whole issue of heroines. I don't think I've ever really read a heroine I didn't like (well, I may have but I probably put the book down after a few pages). I want my characters flawed - hell, I'm flawed. Even at Celebrate Romance, I heard this. Readers say that they want heroines "like them," but then at the same time they don't want to read about some poor shlub who hates their job and can't find a man and has issues with their parents." Which leads me to one conclusion. We don't want an h like us. We want an h that we want to be. What do we want to be? Perfect. Oh, but we don't want a perfect heroine 'cause that makes us feel less than worthy.

It's completely circular logic and basically no one knows what they want in a heroine yet no one's going to stop complaining about not having one they like.

Some days I wonder why I bother. And now I have the hiccups.

Writing the Breakout Novel

2005-03-16T13:09:00.000-05:00

So, I stayed up way too late last night reading Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass.

Meh?

"Author voice" really started becoming concrete for me by reading non-fiction books. The thing is, a lot of non-fiction books (well, at least the ones I read) are kind of condesending in a "if you don't agree with me then you're pretty much an idiot" kind of way. The Maass book came off that way to me.

He's got a lot of great points. He can tell me what I need to do to write a breakout novel. Unfortunately, he didn't tell me how to do it.

Now, I'm not looking for a how to book. I've seen those and ok, I even have a few. But his book didn't really say anything.

Maybe it would've been different if I were at a different point in my career. His book seems geared towards people who've written a few books that have been published, purely by luck, and who now have to learn about craft. Well, I haven't sold a book yet, but I've already tried to learn a heck of a lot about craft.

And since I was reading this very late I could be coming at this completely the wrong way, but, to me it seemed as if romance novels already have a lot of the elements of a breakout novel already ingrained in the. You can't have a romance without 2 characters and inner and external conflict. The theme of every romance novel is love (yes, ok, there is frequently more to it than that, I admit). The characters drive the plot.

Perhaps this book just came along at the wrong time for me. I'll keep it on my craft book shelf, and I can see myself breaking it out occasionally to look at the checklists he has at the end of each chapter, but my advice to anyone else. Save your money and get it from the library.

Bringing things to the table

2005-03-14T20:44:00.000-05:00

I love my CP's.

Kim writes paranormal romance and is currently revising for an editor and agent request. We've both been writing seriously for about the same amount of time. We're both focused on becoming published writers. We study craft and share knowledge with one another.

My other CP has gotten out of the writing thing lately. She's got some real life issues getting in the way and she said that writing doesn't hold the same appeal to her now as it did before. I hope she gets back to it though because she was a really good writer.

The thing is, we're all really different people, and as I realized the other day, we bring very different things to the table with us when we're reading.

I was critting and there was a line about the heroine and her table that she bought from Pier One.

I haven't actually talked to Kim about this, but I felt like I was supposed to know something about the heroine because of this (or it could've been something completely innocent that's been praying on my mind for days). I've been to Pier One. I think I had a chair from there once. And my mom had a bedroom set I think. When I think Pier One, I think wicker. Is that what I was supposed to get?

Anyway, it got me thinking about other things that a reader brings to a table when reading.

This is silly, but whenever I read the words Infamous or Plethora it reminds me of the movie The Three Amigo's and I get snapped right out of the book.

Dusty Bottoms: What does that mean, INfamous.
Ned Nedelander: Dusty, INfamous is when you're more than famous. This man El Guapo isn't just famous, he's INfamous.

Jefe: We have stuffed many pinatas for your birthday celebration!
El Guapo: How many pinatas?
Jefe: Many pinatas, many!
El Guapo: Jefe, would you say I have a plethora of pinatas?
Jefe: Yes, El Guapo. You have a plethora.

So, comment, please. Are there random things that snap you right out of the book? Not for any lack of research on the part of the author, but just random things that you've brought to the table.

Writing pet peeves

2005-03-13T20:24:00.000-05:00

I'm specifying writing since I've been accused of having a lot of pet peeves. This is partly influenced by Diana's post from the other day.

Writing seems to have a really bizarre learning curve. Ovbiously, no one's going to start out knowing everything, from crafting a story through submitting, all the way to your first book signing. But, when I decided to get really serious about becoming a published author, I learned all this stuff. Sure, I ask questions, but I also did research on my own, read craft books (and continue to read craft books), joined RWA, and beleive it or not, I actually studied the RWA web site *gasp.*

It seems to me, though, that a lot of people want fast answers. (Taken directly from Diana - how many people go to the eHQ web site and ask "what line should I target?") You know what? Only you can know what line you should target. It's your responsibility to learn the business!!

I spend hours in the bookstore. I don't always buy books, but I read the backs of books, I study covers, I look at what books are faced out, I STUDY.

I study craft, I study the market. I don't want to write a good book and have it published. I want to write a lot of good books and have them published!!

10 things to hate about me

2005-03-12T12:28:00.000-05:00

Well, I really hope you don't hate me at all, but it seemed like a good title.

There have been a lot of "10" lists floating around blogs lately so I thought I'd do my own. It's a combination 10 things you might not know about me and 10 things I've done that other people haven't.

So, without further ado...

10 things about me!

1. My husband got bitten by a fish when we went snorkling at the great barrier reef - ok, so that's not technically about me, but it's a cool story.
2. I held a Koala and a cockatoo while in Australia - The koala was planned (his name was Dusty, he was stinky) but the bird was just kind of friendly.
3. I've driven the whole way across the coutry, TWICE and the entire length of I-5 from Canada to Mexico.
4. I got married in Vegas!
5. I got engaged in Disney World - on the Jungle Cruise.
6. I've visited more than half the states in the union - 34 to be exact.
7. I've panned for gold in Alaska.
8. I graduated from the same high school as Dennis Miller - and when I sell a book, I'll become the second most famous graduate.
9. There are 13 generations of physicains in my family - I'm the black sheep.
10. I've written a novel - 3 actually, and most people that come to this blog know that and have also done so, but that doesn't mean that we're still not cool!

Nationals

2005-03-10T20:54:00.000-05:00

I'm going to whine a little bit.

I'm really afraid I'm not going to make it to Nationals this year.

Hubby's agreed to let me go, thinks it's a great idea in fact (couldn't make it to Dallas last year as I was too busy getting married). We finally got around to having our taxes done and we've got the money for it (woo-hoo refund!).

The problem is I'm roommate less. At one point (before registration opened) I had too many, now I'm short, oh, any.

Now, the thing is, this isn't the first time this has happened to me. I've always been the one left behind. When we went to band camp in high school, I was the one that got stuck with the girl that nobody else wanted to room with. She smelled like moth balls!

Writing is a solitary profession and I tend to like it that way (on-line friendships aside). So when it's time to "make friends" to room with at a conference with 2000 other introverts, you're asking for trouble.

So, here I am, debating whether or not I register and buy my plane ticket and hope to find a couple of roomies, or find a few roomies before I register. I tried the RWA roomie search but didn't have much luck.

But I do know that if I don't make it, I'm going to be really upset.

Characterization

2005-03-09T11:37:00.001-05:00

I'm going to take a second to talk about what I think is my greatest strength (someone please correct me if I'm wrong - Kim?) - Characterization.

I do a ton of thinking about my characters before I start writing, and I think I know them pretty well by the time I get to chapter 3. No, I certianly don't know all of their nuances, and I love it when the continue to surprise me, but with the exception of The Train Wreck, I they're not doing complete 180's on me.

I haven't felt well the past few days so I've been catching up on some of the movies I got for Christmas. The other day I watched The Prince and Me, now, I love Julia Stiles (10 Things I Hate About You is one of my favorite movies ever) and I love a good love story so I thought I'd be all over this movie. Well, I wasn't and well, it sucked.

Julia Stiles playes Paige, a poor Wisconsin farm girl who is working her way through college on her way to Med School at John's Hopkins. She meets the Prince, falls in love, and during her Shakespeare final realizes that she is in love and her plans won't go anywhere while she explores this relationship (in Denmark, in the winter, yet somehow the weather is such that everyone's wearing short sleeves and sandals). So, they're going along, seemingly happy, then all of a sudden, at the coronation ball, she decides that she has to go home (to Wisconsin, in the winter, where there is also no snow and once again we're wearing sandals and tee-shirts).

It had so much promise, but the character just - changed. Maybe if they had shown her being uncomfortable several times before she decided to leave, but to me, it was totally out of the blue, and it completely ruined it for me. Plus, she wants to go to med school and then join doctors without boarders. A noble cause to be sure, but I'd bet she'd be able to help humanity better as the Queen of Denmark!!

Celebrate Romance - part 2

2005-03-07T13:55:00.000-05:00

Now, things I learned (and generalizations I’m going to make because I can). I apologize if it's a little wonky, I'm not feeling to well. Blech!

I don’t think that the people at CR were an average cross section of the romance reading public (I’m pretty sure I was one of the few people there to never read The Flame and The Flower. And here’s the thing – I can’t really do historicals. I can’t get past the dirt and germs). I was in the vast minority.

Readers at the same time know too much, and not enough. At lunch, I heard a conversation on exactly how long it would take to get from pt. A to pt. B in 1800’s Britain, knowing that a horses maximum speed is X and the certain year was especially rainy and the wind was blowing from the west, etc, etc, you get the point. When we were in the smaller groups, several questions were asked like, Why did you decided to make the cover this way? I don’t like the blurbs that say XYZ, why did you do it that way? Readers don’t seem to understand that the books don’t go from writer to reader. There’s that whole editor/publisher thing in between.

The historical will never die! Even though everybody’s heard it (over and over again) people love the darn things. Then of course, there were the questions, Why don’t you write more cowboys, civil war, WWII stories? See above re: the existence of editors/publishers.

The Forums.

What do you think about eBooks and small press?
As a writer who pretty much plans to break into the publishing world this way, I was especially interested in this. I came away not quite so confidant. Most readers had no idea what a small press was, and had no idea how eBooks worked. Even the people who did claim to read ebooks primarily got their books from Fictionwise, and very few people went directly to the publisher (which means that they weren’t necessarily even reading ebook authors). As for small press? Well, if they were somehow in the store, they might buy them, but not know that it was a small press book. Like I said, disheartening.

Are more books today about lust than love?
The answer was decidedly, it depends. I felt pretty good about this answer. No one actually came out and said that there was too much sex. A lot of people claimed to skip sex scenes when reading in public, but they didn’t really think that it shouldn’t be in books. The answer was pretty much: we’re glad that there are books that range from a chaste kiss to all out down and dirty sex.

Is this the end of the Romance Novel as we know it?
In this session, I came to the conclusion that maybe RWA shouldn’t be asking the writers to define (or redefine) romance, maybe the readers should be included in the definition. I know a lot of writers who hate when the book ends and then there’s an epilogue in which the heroine gives birth to twins. The readers LOVE it. They not only wanted their happily ever after, they wanted to make sure that happily ever after sticks. And they want a clear happily ever after – nothing ambiguous. And they were militant about the Happily Ever After. It pretty much came down to they didn’t care so much about the kind of romance, as long as it had that Happily Ever After.

Celebrate Romance

2005-03-06T15:27:00.000-05:00

I decided to draw out the anticipation and tell you about Celebrate Romance over the course of a few days.

I arrived at CR early Saturday morning (the conf. went from Fri-Sun, but I was only there Sat). I found Kathy Love, from my MRW so I knew someone. She introduced me to Judi McCoy and Beth Ciotta. CR is primarily a reader conference so there were three types of people: Published Authors, Struggling Writers (most of us were from MRW) and readers (I’ll get back to the differences between the 3 categories in the next few days).

I sat with a really nice woman, Shirley Karr, who’s first book (a historical) came out in January, along with Hope Tarr (also a historical writer) and a few readers, during breakfast, and the first part of the day.

The first part of the day consisted of speeches. Jade Lee (the author not the porn star)/Kathy Greyle talked about Sex Secrets of the Orient and Eloisa James once again talked about her “double life,” (how many times can the woman say that romance shouldn’t have to be defended and yet, defend it?!?!?!). Mary Jo Putney talked about “Things They Didn’t Tell Me When I Started To Write” and Liz Maverick talked about Kick-Ass heroines (now, I’d heard of her before, but she’s an awesome woman. When her husband left her, she moved to Antarctica to work – hence her book, Adventures of an Ice Princess has been added to my Amazon list).

We broke for lunch. I ate with the above people, and we were joined by Mary Balough. (can I say that I was feeling quite out of my element with all of these historical people).

After lunch came what I thought was the most interesting part of the day. We broke up into smaller groups and had an hour each of three different forums. 1. Is this the end of the Romance Novel as we know it? 2. Are more books today about lust than love? 3. What do you think of eBooks and Small Press Books? More on what I learned to come.

After that, Writerspace hosted a tea, complete with scones, tea sandwiches and petit-fors. We looked to British Rosemary Laurey/Madeline Oh, (Yep, I’m name dropping) to teach us about “real” tea.

There was a book sale (somehow I managed to refrain myself) and a book trade. After the conference, a bunch of us went to dinner. I’m going to name drop again. There were a few of us unpubbed MRW members and 2 readers along with Flo Fitzpatrick, Kathleen Long, Sally MacKenzie, Kathy Love, Diane Wylie, Kristina Cook, and Kate Rothwell.

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow to hear about the things I learned.

Celebrating Romance

2005-03-04T20:06:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow (Saturday) I'm going to the Celebrate Romance conference. It's primarily a reader conference and this year it's being held in Baltimore. There're supposed to be forum type things to talk about "what's happening" in Romance.

I'm actually interested to hear things from a purely reader perspective. Although, I don't know how much it'll be purely reader since there are going to be a lot of Maryland Romance Writers there.

After the conference a bunch of us are going out to dinner. Should be fun.

I'll update when I get back...

Randomness

2005-03-03T20:34:00.000-05:00

Interesting, I have less to write about when the writing is going well. And apparently I hit a nerve with my post on the rules yesterday. How cool that people agreed with me, too!!

So, since I've been in The Zone, lately, I've realized that a lot of what I do, is stuff that influences my writing. Apart from all the writing blogs I visit (which need to be updated over on the side over there), I'm going to share some other stuff.

Following links from Sasha's blog, I've found Submissive Reflections, and Amber and Dan. NOTE: These are not blogs for the faint of heart, but they're beautifully written, and in my mind, show more love than you can find in a lot of romances. There's also Cowboys Baby Girl in the same vein, but sometimes they make me wanna puke.

Every day I take an hour "couch break" where I take my laptop to the couch instead of sitting at my desk. I watch City Confidential on A&E. To me, it shows, more than anything else, how setting combines with character and situation to really make a story.

I've also started watching re-runs of Dawson's creek. I know it's totally cheeseball, but theme is a big part of "the Creek" and that's something I'm working on. I think a lot of books get written without theme, or it just happens to be there by accident, but I definately don't think it can hurt anything.

The Simpsons. It's the greatest show ever. I don't think a question has ever been asked, or a situation ever existed that can't in some way be related to the Simpsons.

My hubby came home from work today and we did the usual "How was your day, dear" routine. He asked me if I had done the dishes. I said no. It was on my list, but I didn't make it that far down my list 'cause the writing was going well. He said, well, if you want to go back to the writing you can, because that's more important than the dishes.

You have no idea what a HUGE thing this was. We've had probably 4 major-almost-break-up fights in the 7 years we've been together. 3 have been about doing (or not doing as the case may be) the dishes (and the fourth was about cleaning the bathroom).

Also, I was lurking over at Sasha's room at Liquid Silver's SiN forum and they were talking about what was sexy. I asked my hubby what he thought was sexy. His response: "Well, pretty much all I need is a naked woman who's willing to do me."

That made up for the whole dish thing.

The Rules

2005-03-02T11:04:00.000-05:00

Larissa stole my post. I was going to post about "The Rules."

That's what they are to a lot of writers, you know, capital and in quotes, bold and italicized, sacred and never to be broken.

I say, screw the rules. After all, aren't rules made to be broken.

Actually, this stems from a discussion on the eHQ boards about "taboo" subjects. Unfortunately, we have to go back to the grand, "It's all in the execution."

Doesn't it always happen? The second that we hear something is "against the rules," a book on that very subject comes out. There are no rules people!!!

Now that I've said that, my rant about how these rules get started in the first place. I think people writer their manuscript, pour their heart and souls into the darn thing and send it off, only to get that big fat R. Well, it couldn't be their writing that was bad. So, obviously, Publisher A doesn't like stories about X. Post that on a few loops, and eventually you've got a Rule.

The more I learn about this writing biz, the more I learn to take everything that other people say with a grain of salt. I don't think there are writers out there that are intentionally being malicious (well, yes I do, but that's another post). I think that struggling authors are just so desperate to understand why they're not multipublished bestselling authors yet that the information they disseminate can be detrimental to newbies (much like that sentence).

I think the most important thing I've learned about this whole writing thing is not passive voice, or POV, or even GMC. It's don't take "The Rules" quite so seriously.

Fears

2005-02-28T16:05:00.000-05:00

I'm afraid of 1. anything that moves faster than me (if you've met me, you know that's a lot of stuff), 2. failure, 3. spiders (particularly the big black hairy kind), 4. butterflies (yes, I know it's stupid, but the scare the hell outta me!)

Lately, though, I've discovered a new fear. I'm afriad that one morning I'm going to wake up and decide that I don't want to write anymore.

Now, logically, I know that this is a lot like my fear of butterflies - stupid, but at the same time, it keeps creeping up on me. For the first time in a few months, I'm excited about writing again. I'm working on a story that I really like, with characters that I love, and I can see where it's going. Best of all, I think this could be the most "marketable" story I've written to date. I'm not saying that this baby is going to be the one to sell, but I definately feel really good about where I'm going with it.

Being a writer has been my secret dream for as long as I can remember. I know that I'm incredibly lucky to have a DH that supports me, and awesome writing friends (and even a few people that read my blog!).

So, why are the fear butterflies flitting my way (What? Some people have doubt monkeys, why can't I have fear butterflies)?

Is it that I always have to have something to worry about? The writing is going well but there has to be something to doubt?

Anyway, on another note, the hubby had a snow day today. I wouldn't be surprised if there's another one tomorrow. There's maybe 2 inches of snow on the ground and the University is closed. Schools were closed today and it didn't even start snowing until almost 10. What a weird place.

Hardly working

2005-02-27T13:26:00.000-05:00

In response to Jaci's post about dumb laws, I went hunting for some dumb laws of my own.

In Maryland (where I live now):
Oral sex can not be given or received anywhere [Nooooo!]

In Washington (where I lived for the past five years:
It is illegal to carry a fishbowl or aquarium onto a bus because the sound of the water sloshing may disturb other passengers. [Good think I never needed to take 1 fish or 2 fish anywhere.]

All lollipops are banned. [Well, they could be dangerous - maybe?]

In Cleveland, Ohio (where I went to college):
Women are prohibited from wearing patent leather shoes in public. [They were actually very proud of this law and it came up fairly often.]

It is illegal to get a fish drunk. [Had I known, I sure as hell would've tried it]

It is illegal to fish for whales on Sunday. [If you can find a whale in Ohio, I think you should be able to catch it whatever day it is!]

Pennsylvania (where I grew up):
No one is allowed to sleep on a refrigerator. [Well, duh]

And finally, couretesy of Larissa's blog...

You are a Random cat! Also known as an alley cat
or a mutt. You aren't given to high-falutin'
ways, but you're accessible and popular.
People love you for who you are, not what you
are.

What breed of cat are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Emily's ramblings...

I'VE MOVED!!!

My new blog!

Coming soon

March 2006

if it quacks like a duck

Good Books

Groovin

NASCAR photos

Day off

SOLD (part 2)

Synopsii

Help

*gasp* - a writing post?

Things I learned from my first NASCAR race

My brain is full...

You're never to old for VH-1

I forgot

What's your story about?

Stuff

Long Weekend

Websites

I'm off...

Taggity - tag

Grrrr

Cranky pants

Negative Nellies

Plot - bad; Pansting - not much better.

My secret love

It's only rock'n'roll...

The Birds and Star Wars

MY FIRST COVER!!!

Dirty little secrets

Romance world domination

Limbo & Inventory

Things that bug me - a lot

I want my MTV

Happy Mothers Day

Stick a fork in me...

The Agoraphobic Werewolf

The new website!

Groups, Loops and I can't think of anything else that rhymes

I've got a hole in my plot!

Slowpoke

Relaxing Saturday

Release Date and more...

Who am I?

A new game

The day after

HOLY HELL BATMAN!!!

To defend or not to defend

Copying

SEP

Dashing through...

Things

My happy place

Fat girls and sexy boys

I'm not a one-draft wonder

Not-so Relaxing Weekend

I'm back

Important Topic

Pulling away

Todays post: Take 2

Planning

Cherry Blossom Pictures

Quickly

Theoretical writing question

Just call me productive...

Pseudonym

It's Spring!!

Revisions - the good and the bad.

Plugging along

REQUEST!!!

I'm a dumbass

Field trips

Are you sure I can't edit a blank page?

The state of blogging as I know it

Watching vs Reading

Happy Easter

I'm back

gasp - a writing post?