A Great Mood!

July 29, 2008 | HellHound, Living Lies, Reviews, Writing

I’m in an fantastic mood today.

First, I’ve finally finished my revisions for The Witch’s Stone and sent it off. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Second, I received an awesome review from Fallen Angels Reviews for Living Lies. Five angels and a recommended read. WooHoo!

So with Witch finally finished and off my desk for now, I’m going to get back to Blood & Bone–I would love to have done and ready for submission by September–and back to the WIP. I put aside last week to finish with Witch and I can’t wait to get back to it.

Hellhound is doing better. I wound up cancelling his vet appointment as the spray seemed to bring the hotspot under control in a matter of days.

I guess that’s it for now.

Mood: Excellent

Music: I Feel it All - Feist

Well, Summer’s Here

July 8, 2008 | Writing, life

I can tell because the attic feels like it’s about ninety degrees by noon. This makes for a rather busy morning, followed by a slightly more leisurely afternoon. All I can say, is thank God for laptop. The purchase of my lovely laptop really pushed me to the edge of my budget, but for the convenience of being able to work where ever I need to, it was well worth it.

Okay, enough of my love affair with my laptop. (If I keep it up, I’m liable to get into my great love for my new/used laser-jet printer. After that piece of crap ink-jet, how could I not.) I must say, despite claims that all a writer needs is a pen, paper and imagination–one can not submit hand written manuscripts to an editor–an absolute must for any writer is a decent computer and good printer. Oh, and place you can hide to get the work done. Makes life sooo much easier. 

Okay, made some changes to the opening of my WIP, that I’m much happier with. The cold really slowed me down last week, so I did not get as far on Witch as I would have liked, but I’m back to it this week and am moving right along. I did reread Blood and Bone last week (while sniffly and feeling sorry for myself), and I’m back to rewriting. I have a pretty decent writing schedule in place right now and things really seem to moving right along. (Touch Wood.)

Over the next couple of days I’ll be updating the links page on my website and my blog. I’ve been woefully neglectful here. And I guess that’s it for now.

Mood: Good

Music: If The Sun Refused to Shine - Led Zepplin

My First Review & Other Happenings

June 23, 2008 | Living Lies, Writing, life

I received my first review for Living Lies, and it was a good one. WooHoo!!! You can read it at ParaNormal Romance. I must admit, as nerve wracking as this part of the process is, it’s exciting too.

This week I am determined to finish up the changes for The Witch’s Stone. This is DS’s last week of school and I want to be finished with that MS so I can really concentrate on Blood & Bone and Thicker Than Water over the summer.

The past week I’ve been working to switch my writing schedule from working the WIP in the morning to after DS has gone to bed. So far, so good. Though, it’s tougher on weekends.

Tonight, I’m going out to dinner with some friends. I’m really looking forward it. What’s better than great coversation and great food? Not much!

Mood: Good

Music: Hello, I Love You - The Doors

Digging Deeper

May 29, 2008 | Writing

So I opted to go back to the beginning of my WIP and fix both plot and character problems. When I reread all that I’d written so far, I realized that if I fixed the character issue the plot issue would fall into place. After all, the two are interwoven. It only makes sense that by digging deeper into my characters, addressing how they would really react to a situation instead of trying to force them into doing what I wanted to move the story forward, the sense of rushing would go.

Now I’m going back and really trying get into my characters’ heads–probably what I should have done in the first place–and what’s happening? Why all the those little pacing quibbles are working themselves out. So this week’s lesson to self is to always, ALWAYS, remember to be true to the character and the story will follow.

Mood: Up

Music: Everybody Knows - Leonard Cohen    

Detours and Write Arounds

May 25, 2008 | Books, Writing, life

This week I hit my first snag on the WIP. I’m not terribly worried at this point. These things happen, and fortunately it hasn’t brought the story to a screaming halt. A definate plus. The situation however leaves me with a decision. Do I push on and fix the problem on the rewrite? Or do I stop, go back and fix then move on?

Truth is, I discovered there are two issues that have cropped up. The first, the scenes I wrote last week are leading to a major plot point, but it’s coming up too soon. I need for more information to be revealed before this happens. The second is the romance element has fallen by the wayside while I develop the mystery. Again, this happens. Sometimes I become so fixed on building the story I forget the relationship between the characters and I need to flesh that out some.

This is tricky. I don’t want to spend a great deal of time fixing things further back for fear of losing momentum. At the same time, making the changes now while the ideas are fresh in my head means less work on the rewrite. Hmm, what to do?

I’ll have to deal with the plot point problem immediately, and the write around will be minimal. It’s the fleshing out of the relationship that will be the most work. Hmm. I’ll think on it awhile.

Made a trip to the bookstore last night, and bought three new books because God knows I can’t leave the place empty handed. Today the weather is gorgeous, and what I really want to do is sit in my backyard with a cup of tea (This week’s tea is Bengal Spice, in case anyone cares.) and read one of my new books. What I should be doing is weeding my garden.

So many decisions. 

 Mood: Good

Music: Strawberry Fields - The Beatles

New Website, New Blog

May 20, 2008 | Writing

Welcome to my new blog!!! And my new website. Pretty cool, huh? I’m so pleased with the overall look. It’s so…me. My good friend Karen at Swank did an awesome job.

It’s been a while since I last posted so there’s lots of new stuff. First, I’m finished my edits for Living Lies. The excerpt is now available to read. Less than a month until the release date. I’m so excited. Also, I have a revise and resubmit for The Witch’s Stone which I’m hard at work on right now.

The WIP is coming along, though I did back burner it for a few days while I was wrapping up my edits. I’m also wondering what I was thinking setting the story in Wales. Doing so has led to few hassles that will no doubt create more work when I’m rewriting. But the setting worked so well with mystery element. Oh well, I’ll worry about it when I have to.

Okay, because I’ve spent so much time playing with the new website today, I really need to stop now and get some writing done.

I’m In A Bad Mood Today

April 11, 2008 | Writing, life

It’s cold and rainy and miserable here today. The temperature fluctuations this week are wreaking havoc on my sinuses so now I’ve got a brilliant headache, (I’m writing this as I wait for the Advil to kick in) I’m out of coffee cream and one of my favorites got voted off American Idol last night.

I perhaps would not have minded so much if his exit had been the result of a poor performance, but it wasn’t. I do, however, think the nonsensical ramblings from the judges swayed the vote. So I’m officially going to stop watching the show. It’s just too aggravating.

Writing has been going well. Hard at work on a new WIP. I’ve set aside rewrites for Blood and Bone for now as I’ve started edits for Living Lies.

Advil is working. Yay! I think I’ll make a pot of vanilla chai tea (so tasty) turn on the fireplace in the attic, light some candles and let the dark, broody day get me in the mood to continue writing my dark, broody story.

Things are looking up

The Best Laid Plans

March 31, 2008 | Writing

Okay, so when I started Thicker Than Water two weeks ago, I had decided to try doing a little plotting. Gasp! I know shocking. But I suppose after all the rewriting I’ve been doing lately I really wanted a solid first draft so I wouldn’t have as many write-arounds when I went to work on the second.

Now, as I have done plotting before and found that it effectively killed my story, instead of plotting the book from beginning to end. I noted what I felt the turning points would be, jotted down any ideas for various scenes as the popped up in my head (which I would do anyway because since having a child, my memory sucks) and plotted the scenes of the first few chapters. Then, at last, I sat down to write.

At first, I was excited. These scenes played out beautifully on my cue cards. Sadly, as I wrote I just couldn’t feel my characters. AT the end of last week, and about 12,000 words in, I stopped, chucked the the cue cards , opened a new document and started again. And by the time I saved I’d written 1,000 words and, more importantly, I had a sense of my characters.

I have no choice but to accept, no matter how appealing the idea of plotting is to my Virgo brain, it’s not for me. I’m a pantser, an into the mist writer or whatever else they call the type of writer who sits down and writes. In order for me to be able to write the best story I can, I need to let my characters tell it.

Today I hit 3,200, meeting 1,000 word per day goal since I restarted the story. Yay! I’m also back to rewriting Blood & Bone. Added a new scene to chapter 15, tomorrow I’ll complete the second and hopefully by Wednesday I’ll have something to post with my crit group.

Mood: Good
Music: Hey Jude, The Beetles

Living Lies

March 19, 2008 | Writing

Don’t have a whole lot of time tonight, but it’s my cover. How cool is that?

Also you can read the blurb here.

Page One and Stuff

March 17, 2008 | Books, Writing

Started my new WIP today. Hit my thousand word goal for the day too. Yay me!

I love starting a new story. Granted, facing the blank page can be a touch intimidating, but it doesn’t take long for the words to flow. And the excitement of discovering a story’s twists and turns, a new set of characters far out weighs any nagging doubts. At this early stage, everything is possible and I’m staggered by my own brilliance. By the end of the month things will change. Just you watch.

Also, finally finished up re-rewrites for Witch. Then backed it up six thousand different ways. Okay only three, but you get my meaning. This was a hard lesson to learn, but one I will not forget.

Tonight’s a lousy night for TV and I was hoping to slip out to the bookstore, but it’s getting too late.

I just finished Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning which I really, really liked and so now I must read the next book in the series. Yes, I have hooked myself on yet another series. Bad, Dawn, bad. The good news, the second book is already out. The bad news, the third book won’t be out until September and there’s fourth and fifth book without release dates. Sigh.