Nice Weekend

The kids were at my aunt's house, which meant the house was quiet from about 11 am Saturday to around 4 p.m. on Sunday. The weather was gorgeous—sunny and mild—and I took the opportunity to turn off the television and hang with my mom. We planned this year's deck garden (more vegetables and fruits, fewer flowers) and I finally got around to reading my friend Kris's book HELL'S BELLES. I was blown away by how good it was. Textured, complex, funny, heartbreaking, scary—in short, a great read. I highly recommend it.

I also managed to write 14 new pages on my WIP over the weekend, bringing my page count to 242. It's going to run long, which means lots of trimming during the second draft edit, but the light at the end of the tunnel is finally in view.

To Agent or not to Agent

I recently turned down an offer of agent representation, largely because I don't see myself writing anything outside of category for the next three or four years. Frankly, with H/S being the only game in town for category length novels, and with their contracts offering very little wiggle room for negotiating terms, I don't see the point of handing an agent 15% to do what I can do myself.

My five year plan includes writing enough category books to build a name and reputation for myself. I think my voice works well for Harlequin Intrigue, my preferred line, and I think I have plenty of category length stories in me. I like reading category and writing category, so it all works out.

However, I know that some day, even if I'm still writing category, I'm going to need an agent to take me to the next step in my writing career. I just wonder--when will I know it's time to take the agent step? Was I wrong to turn down the agent who was willing to represent me? I have one more submission out there, under consideration with an even bigger agent. What if that agent wants to represent me? Should I consider signing with her, even though I don't think I'm going to be writing a single title in the next couple of years?

Gah, I hate making decisions, sometimes.

Shameless Self-Promotion

Don't forget you can pre-order FORBIDDEN TERRITORY from several of the on-line bookstores. There are links to Books-a-Million, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com on my website. I'd love to have great sales for my first book—it'll make it that much easier to sell the second!

When it gets closer to June, I'll start posting some "behind the scenes" stuff about FORBIDDEN TERRITORY and how it came into being, how I conceived of the characters, how the characters have evolved over the course of the multiple rewrites and revisions, and how a book targeted for Silhouette Intimate Moments for a decade found its home as an Intrigue.

Also, I'm going to open up the comments section of this post for questions. Anything you've ever wanted to know about selling your first book, writing for Intrigue, writing category length romance, etc. If I know the answer, I'll give it, and if I don't, maybe some of the other authors who occasionally leave comments will have an answer.

So, have at it!

In Vain Have I Struggled

Sorry for the lack of recent posts. I've only now dragged myself away from my DVD player since the arrival of the new PRIDE AND PREJUDICE movie in the mail earlier in the week.

As a hugely obsessed fan of the 1996 BBC/A&E miniseries and the owner of almost all of Colin Firths available films, I think my creds as an aficionada are pretty much self-evident. Therefore, I'm as shocked as I can be to say that I think Matthew MacFadyen made a lovely Darcy, one who is coming to rival Firth's Darcy in my affections.

Spoilers ahead, so if you haven't seen it, turn away now...

The miniseries definitely hewed more closely to the book than the feature film. Because of the time constraints, the two-hour movie, of necessity, had to conflate several scenes into one, trim out characters (Bingley has just one sister in the movie) and give shorter shrift to others (Wickham's role, while pivotal, is much shorter). That said, there was a lot about the feature film that I liked better than the miniseries.

I always thought Jennifer Ehle's Elizabeth was too mature and self-composed for her age. Keira Knightly captured the girlishness of Elizabeth that Jennifer lacked, which I think added to the moral of the story: that Elizabeth's pride and vanity--common and universal flaws especially in the young--led to her gravely mistaking the characters of both Darcy and Wickham.

And speaking of Wickham, I always thought the casting of Wickham in the miniseries was a weakness. I didn't find that Wickham physically attractive to begin with, and the actor's choice of how to play him made him seem far too smarmy to ever attract a girl as sensible as Lizzie. However, the feature film's Wickham, Rupert Friend, is, well, pretty hot. Friend played Wickham as a subtle charmer, and it worked much better for me than the Wickham of the mini.

Finally, the chemistry between Knightly and MacFadyen was sizzling. Every scene between them sparked, especially the doomed proposal scene. In the miniseries, this is one of the most excruciating scenes, one I usually cringe my way through. In fairness to the mini, the scene is much more true to the book than the one of the movie. However, I'm going to forgive the movie for straying from the book because the way the proposal played out on screen made my palms sweat. Even as Lizzie and Darcy argued and antagonized, the sexual tension between them set my TV ablaze.

On the whole, the romance worked better, for me, in the movie because it was not so rigorously constrained as it was in the miniseries. Even though there was no kiss until the very end, in a coda that gives us a brief, lovely glimpse of the newly married couple at home, the passion between Elizabeth and Darcy pulsed in every scene between them, growing inexorably until they meet early one morning and confess their love in a sweetly understated moment that throbs with emotion.

My first time through the movie, I found myself missing the things that had been in the miniseries but not in the movie. However, on second viewing, I really appreciated the elements the movie chose to highlight and illuminate that the miniseries didn't.

Lovely, lovely adaptation. I highly recommend it.

Throw Me Somethin', Mister!

You just can't keep a party city down.

I've been to Mardi Gras a few times, mostly in Mobile, Alabama, home to the oldest Mardi Gras celebration in the U.S. Mardi Gras in Mobile is more laid-back and somewhat more family-friendly than the bacchanal in New Orleans. My favorite of the Mobile parades is the raucous and crazy Joe Cain Day parade, which is sort of the equivalent to a GDI in collegiate Greek society. It lacks the focus and discipline of the Krewe parades, but makes up for it in sheer creativity and enthusiasm.

I have been to New Orleans during Mardi Gras, once. Since I don't drink, smoke, toke, or bare my breasts for beads, it wasn't exactly a fun experience. However, I've visited New Orleans at other times of the year and loved it. I'm glad to see the old city slowly coming back to life. May she live to throw down for centuries to come.

Oooo, Looky!

I'm one of the Intrigue Authors!

My next big milestone is coming up quickly---I should get my June bookcover in the next couple of week. I've heard cover horror stories, but I'm really liking the current Intrigue covers. I like the new emphasis on the author name (well, duh, of course I do) and the more stylistic art appeals to me in a big way.

Here are some of my recent favorite Intrigue covers:

SECURITY MEASURES by Joanna Wayne

HOUSE OF SECRETS by Tracy Montoya

PRIMARY SUSPECT by Susan Peterson

PERSON OF INTEREST by Debra Webb

BENEATH THE TEXAS MOON by Elle James

As you can tell, I like the "evocative scene" covers better than the "lone hot guy" or "clinch in the midst of danger" covers. Although I must admit to some fondness for the "lone hot guy" covers, too. :)

I'll probably be happy with any cover I get--just getting a cover the first time will probably eclipse any more esoteric considerations. But I'm hoping for an "evocative scene" cover that really captures the eerie undertones of my story.

Bronze, Baby!

Congratulations to the U.S. Men's Olympic Curling Team (aka Team Fenson) for winning the first ever U.S. Olympic medal in curling!

As I noted in a previous post, I've become addicted to this little known and little understood sport (at least down here in Dixieland), thanks to the Olympics. Curling ran early morning on MSNBC, for the most part, and I was able to watch a good bit of it (especially the days I was out sick from work with the crud). Once I got the gist of how the game works, and what the strategies are, I found it utterly fascinating. It's a finesse game, full of thinking and strategy, easy to learn and difficult to master.

I'm not sure I'll ever go curling myself---the whole ice-o-phobia I have would make it problematic---but I'm definitely a fan of the sport now.

(And look! An online curling game!)

Blogging Blues

I'm in some sort of blogging funk. I haven't been able to think of anything to blog about that's not political, and I don't do politics on this blog, so I've just been silent. Part of it's due to the nasty upper respiratory infection I'm battling. Part of my funk is also dealing with my prima donna of a writing muse, who apparently took one look at the cold, rainy February weather, grabbed her hot pink bikini and hopped the first plane to Tahiti.

And part of it is my strange new obsession with the game of curling (I blame Paul Gross and the U.S. Men's Olympic Team). It's a very weird new obsession for an Alabama girl who thinks traversing ice by foot, ski, snowboard, skate or curling shoe is insane. (You could slip, fall and break something!)

Also did Sasha Cohen really have to skate such an amazing short program just when I'd talked myself out of getting sucked into the women's singles competition?

Maybe I have ADHD.

Die, UM, Die!

Some things are just sacred.

;)

Know Jack?

Jack Bauer's Friendster Profile.

We Wuz Robbed

And no, I'm not talking about the Super Bowl. I didn't really care which team won.

I'm talking about the rain falling outside that was supposed to have been at least mixed with a little snow. The local weather guys were practically salivating last night at the prospect of a little of the white stuff, but noooooo. Just rain.

I know, I'm silly to wish for snow in Alabama. It only mucks everything up. But it's so rare down here that just the prospect of it is enough to make me giddy, and having the rug pulled out from under me, as usual, still stinks.

Can You Tell I'm a Frustrated Artist?

I can't ever get happy with the look of my website or my blog. I'm more limited on the blog due to using Blogger software and templates, but I wanted at least a little coordination between my blog and my website, so I decided to go for a blue-toned blog theme.

I'm a little obsessive about blue. It's been my favorite color from childhood, and I love to be surrounded by it. It makes me happy.

Is that weird?

Wow, That Was Fast!

Congratulations to my fellow GH 2004 finalist, Tessa Rallis, who gave an online pitch to Silhouette Desire on January 9th, earned a request for a full, and got The Call today. Way to go, Tessa!

Done!

My proposal is packaged up, ready to go in the mail to my editor tomorrow. I'm going to have to get right back on writing the rest of the book soon, but working up the synopsis for the proposal helped me outline the rest of the book, so hopefully it'll go faster now.

To celebrate reaching my goal of having the proposal ready to go before the end of January, I treated myself to the Battlestar Galactica miniseries and first two episodes on DVD. My critique partner and former best friend Jenn talked me into giving the series a try, the evil wench. I can see why she likes it so much, but did I really need another television show to obsess over, I ask you? Did I? Some friend she is!

Off to watch episode 3...

I Need a Hero

From The Listkeeper in the comments section of a "24" thread on PoliPundit: (some words masked for content - see link for uncensored list)

Some random facts about Jack Bauer:

1) If you wake up in the morning, it’s because Jack Bauer spared your life.

2) If Jack Bauer was in a room with Hitler, Stalin, and Nina Meyers, and he had a gun with 2 bullets, he’d shoot Nina twice.

3) Upon hearing that he was played by Kiefer Sutherland, Jack Bauer killed Sutherland. Jack Bauer gets played by no man.

4) Jack Bauer’s favorite color is severe terror alert red. His second favorite color is violet, but just because it sounds like violent.

5) Jack Bauer once forgot where he put his keys. He then spent the next half-hour torturing himself until he gave up the location of the keys.

6) Jack Bauer got Hellen Keller to talk.

7) Jack Bauer killed 93 people in just 4 days time. Wait, that is a real fact.

8) Jack Bauer was never addicted to heroin. Heroin was addicted to Jack Bauer.

9) 1.6 billion Chinese are angry with Jack Bauer. Sounds like a fair fight.

10) Superman wears Jack Bauer pajamas.

11) Jack Bauer doesn’t miss. If he didn’t hit you it’s because he was shooting at another terrorist twelve miles away.

12) Lets get one thing straight, the only reason you are conscious right now is because Jack Bauer does not feel like carrying you.

13) When you open a can of whoop-ass, Jack Bauer jumps out.

14) If Jack says “I just want to talk to him/her” and that him/her is you… well amigo, you’re *******.

15) Killing Jack Bauer doesn’t make him dead. It just makes him angry.

16) When life gave Jack Bauer lemons, he used them to kill terrorists. Jack Bauer ******* hates lemonade.

17) In grade school, a little boy punched Kimberly Bauer, and Kimberly ran home to tell her dad. That little boy’s name? Stephen Hawking.

18) Jack Bauer does not sleep. The only rest he needs is what he gets when he’s knocked out or temporarily killed.

19) No man has ever used the phrase, “Jack Bauer is a *****” in a sentence and lived to tel-

20) In kindergarten, Jack Bauer killed a terrorist for Show and Tell.

21) Jack Bauer literally died for his country, and lived to tell about it.

22) As a child, Jack Bauer’s first words were “There’s no time!”

23) Jack Bauer’s family threw him a surprise birthday party when he was a child. Once.

24) If you get 7 stars on your wanted level on Grand Theft Auto, Jack Bauer comes after you. You don’t want to get 7 stars.

25) Guns don't kill people, Jack Bauer kills people.

26) Everytime Jack Bauer yells “NOW!” at the end of a sentence, a terrorist dies.

27) Jesus died and rose from the dead in 3 days. It took Jack Bauer less than an hour. And he’s done it twice.

28) If you send someone to kill Jack Bauer, the only thing you accomplish is supplying him a fresh set of weapons to kill you with.

29) Jack Bauer could get off the Lost island in 24 hours.

There are a few more, but I'll let you read them yourself.

This, That and the Other

I've had a breakthrough on my sucknopsis, and as soon as I track down the author of the method I used to achieve it, I'll share it with you. It's a fill in the blank questionaire that I used to brainstorm the book idea, and I've also been using it, with minor tweaks to take into consideration changes that happened during the writing process, to set up my synopsis. I've tried every "write a synopsis in six easy steps" method known to man, I've read every article titled "The Dreaded Synopsis," and I've even listened to RWA conference tapes on the subject, but this method was the first one that ever actually worked for me.

So I'm ahead of where I thought I'd be, and it looks like I'll easily make my self-imposed Monday deadline to mail the proposal to my editor. To celebrate, I'm going to allow myself a brief, stream-of-consciousness blog post.

Read in my daily Publisher's Lunch e-mail that Frederick Forsyth will have a new book out this fall titled THE AFGHAN. I'm a sucker for a good political thriller, and I liked the only other Forsyth book I've read, so I'm looking forward to reading it. It reminds me, also, that I need to see if Tom Clancy has put out any Jack Ryan novels I haven't read yet. One of his later Ryan novels gave me the seed of the idea for one of my novels, the one I'm planning to turn into the first in a series for Intrigue (think Deb Webb's Colby Agency books or Gayle Wilson's Phoenix Brotherhood series).

Has anyone been watching AMERICAN IDOL? I didn't watch the first season, but thanks to Birmingham boy Ruben Studdard, I got sucked into Season 2. Fantasia kept me there for Season 3 and local boy Bo Bice for Season 4. I promised myself I wouldn't watch it this year, but slowly I'm being sucked back in, this time by a pretty girl with an amazing voice named Paris Bennett, granddaughter of inspirational soul singer Ann Nesby. She's terrific, gutsy (her song choices were Dixie Chicks and Billie Holliday) and charming. If she makes the top twelve—and why in the world wouldn't she?—I'm probably doomed to watch it again this year.

I'm also watching LOST again this season, and I'm still loving it, especially the slow transformation of bad boy Sawyer from surly maverick loner to surly maverick community member. They're doing a good job of softening some of his harsher edges without turning him into shapeless mush. I like it. Could do with a lot less Charlie and Jack, though.

And belated congrats to Hugh Laurie of HOUSE, MD for his Golden Globe win. Much deserved. HOUSE is a great show and Laurie is phenomenal in it.

That's it for now. Hopefully more regular blogging will resume when I get my proposal out the door.

Drive-by Posting

Crazy busy at the moment with more than just the writing thing, although the writing thing is enough. If you're bored and looking for something to spend time on, try this.

You can curse me later.

BAMM!

Books-A-Million now officially has FORBIDDEN TERRITORY listed on their website for pre-order. If you're a BAMM club member, you get a discount! So what are you waiting for?

Order now. Order often.

Also, in related news, The Writing Playground's May/June contest will feature an autographed copy of FORBIDDEN TERRITORY as one of the prizes, so if you're going to be all penny-pinchy and stingy and not order my book yourself, you can always enter that contest for a chance to win it. I'll also be one of the June author interviewees, so keep a look-out for it.

Nerves of Mush

Well, my editor is supposed to call this afternoon to discuss WILD CARD and future projects. I'm trying not to freak out. (And thank goodness it's a relatively slow day at work).

My gut instinct is that WILD CARD is a no-go. Since the word count change, it won't fit SIM as is, and I'm not sure it was that great a fit to begin with. I don't think it really works for Intrigue, either, and unless she sees it as a perfect fit for Superromance, I can't see where else it can go at H/S. That's why I'm peddling it around to agents.

As for future projects, I'm 203 pages into an Intrigue, with about 55 pages or so to go to meet my page goal for the book. I do think this idea works well as an Intrigue, and it's a sequel to FORBIDDEN TERRITORY, which I hope will please my editor. If not, I have some other ideas to pursue.

Not that any of that makes the butterflies in my stomach go away as I wait for the call.

UPDATE:

Okay, heard from the editor. She's not buying WILD CARD yet, because she thinks it needs substantial changes to fit Intrigue, just as I thought. But, she didn't reject it outright, and she's going to send me a revision letter, although she stressed that I should backburner it for now, because she wants me to have a couple of books waiting in the wings after FORBIDDEN TERRITORY hits, and she thinks that the revisions to WILD CARD will take up time I'd better spend writing new stuff specifically targeted to Intrigue.

So I'm sending her a proposal for CODE NAME: WILLOW next week, since it's finished, and I'm going to work up a proposal for my WIP, DANGEROUS PURSUIT, which isn't finished but isn't far from it, to send to her by the end of the month.

Whew. Nerves back to normal.

Jack is Back!

Twenty-four more hours of heart-pounding, breath-stealing television, and it starts in just four hours.

Can. not. wait!

Triskaidekaphobia

I'm probably about to jinx myself, but today's turning out to be a pretty good day. I got a raise at work, my revisions are off to the editor, the online contest judge seminar I was co-teaching is finished, and in an hour, I get to go home for the weekend.

Not a bad Friday the 13th, as such things go.

Ugh

Up to my eyeballs in edits on FORBIDDEN TERRITORY. Have to get them in the mail by Thursday morning.

Drowning...

Talk to you Friday. Maybe.

Discipline in Small Doses

A while back, I discovered the joys of using Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to track my editor and agent submissions and my contest entries, finals and wins. It didn't take long for me to discover that I could also use Excel to keep up with my daily writing schedule as well.

Last year, when I wrote my 80,000 word novel WILD CARD within two months, part of what kept me going was setting up a daily page goal in Excel and doing all I could to keep to it. I was lucky that WILD CARD was one of those marvelous creatures, a novel that practically wrote itself. Keeping to my daily writing schedule wasn't hard; many days I went over my total and got to subtract pages, even days from the entire schedule.

I used the Excel trick when I was revising two other books, including the one that would become FORBIDDEN TERRITORY. I was able to revise as much as twenty to thirty pages per day using the Excel method.

But then came my current WIP. I wasn't what I'd call bogged down, exactly, but between the holidays, my work schedule and my family responsibilities, my goal of writing five or six pages per day clearly wasn't working. I'd come home from work dead tired and mentally drained, look at my Excel schedule and see I was supposed to do six pages per day. Overwhelmed by the very idea, I'd just punt and add days to my schedule.

Finally, I realized that I had to give myself small, reachable goals every day. Two pages I could do, even on a brain-dead night. The thought of it didn't overwhelm me. And I soon discovered that when I gave myself permission to do only two pages a day, I often did five or six a day once I got going on the story.

The fact is, if you don't set up a disciplined writing schedule, where you write every day or almost every day, you will not finish a book. And if you don't finish a book, you'll never sell a book. So you have to face the fact that writing a book, while it can be fun, is at its core hard work, and you have to make yourself do it. Every day.

But don't overwhelm yourself, either. Set a reasonable goal, one you can meet virtually every day, while being flexible enough to account for unexpected setbacks and obstacles.

Look at it this way: if you write two pages a day every day, by the end of four months, you'll have approximately two hundred and forty pages. That's a short contemporary romance novel, a short mystery or a young adult novel. Two pages a day on week days and five a day on weekends, and you're looking at a long contemporary or a single title romance, mystery or historical at the end of four months.

Those are doable goals, if you're willing to put in the work. And if you can do more pages a day, even better. You can finish a book in a month, or two months.

I started this version of my WIP on November 29th. I now have 192 pages, well over halfway through my novel, and I'm on track to be finished with the first draft by the end of January, all because I gave myself manageable goals that I could meet or exceed.

You can do it, too.

Saturday Morning CatBlogging

About three years ago, I was packing up stuff from a rental house to move into the house with my mom and sister. I hadn't been to that house in almost a month, since I was already living with my mom, and unknown to me, someone had broken into the back door of the rental house. They stole a few things that I wasn't that attached to, but in the process, they'd left the back door open. So when my mom and I went into the house to pack the stuff up, not only did we find the break-in but when we looked in the open cabinet under the kitchen sink, we found three tiny kittens. They were wild as hares, having never seen a human before.

Their mother was nowhere to be found, so we gathered the kittens up and put them in a box (though not before I got the stew bitten out of me by one of the kittens), and continued with our packing. When we were ready to go, we had no choice but to take the kittens with us. We couldn't leave them in the house, since we were closing it back up, and we couldn't put them out to fend for themselves with no idea where their mother was. So we took the tiny fuzzballs home.

Taming them was an ordeal. The one who tamed earliest, Oliver, turned out to have feline leukemia. probably contracted from his mother. We had to have him euthanized. However, Toby and his sister Sophie were leukemia free, and somehow, we managed to tame them (although with Sophie, I had my doubts it would ever happen).

Now, Sophie is a delightful, quirky little cat, a long-haired tortoiseshell with a sweet disposition. Her brother Toby is a large buff tabby who's a little more stand-offish but lets my niece manhandle and drag him around at will, without ever scratching or biting or even putting up a fuss. Since my sister's digital camera is new (a Christmas present), we haven't gotten a picture of Toby yet, but here's a nice shot of Sophie:

The side shot doesn't do her justice; she has gorgeous two-tone eyes—chartreuse on the outside and olive green around the pupils. And she's silky soft, her hair long enough to make her fluffy but not so long that her hair tends to matting.

Can you tell I'm sweet on her? :)

It's All About Me

Well, me and a half-dozen or so new Harlequin/Silhouette writers. The eHarlequin website has my bio up now. Whee!

If you want to read a little bit about me and how I sold my first book, check it out here.

By the way, if you write category-length books and you're not a part of the eHarlequin online community, you're missing a gold mine of information, access and support.

Money Money Money

Got the second half of my advance in the mail today. I'm rich!

Well, richer than I was. Which isn't saying much.

But it was nice to see "on acceptance" checked off. Between that and the thing that I promised not to blog about today, it really feels official.

I'm an author.

Amazon.com Sales Rank

Today: #297,570 in Books.

What's the hold up, people? I should at least be in the high hundreds! Get crackin'!

Seriously, I'll try to go tomorrow without blogging about my Amazon.com page. Really, I will.

Lt. Danny Agan to Speak at So. Magic Meeting

*******Permission to forward is granted*******

Southern Magic, Birmingham, Alabama is pleased to present:

LIEUTENANT DANNY J. AGAN, ATLANTA POLICE DEPARTMENT (Ret.)
Date: Saturday, February 25, 2006
Time: 10 AM to 3 PM
Location: Homewood Public Library, 1721 Oxmoor Road, Homewood, Alabama

Cost: $10 for non-Southern Magic members (paid at the door); $0 for S-M members

Lunch will be provided: Sandwiches, chips, dessert. Everyone to provide their own drinks

Bio: Danny Agan joined the Atlanta Police Department in 1974. Following graduation from the Atlanta Police Academy in July 1974, he was assigned to the Foot Patrol Unit for two years. In 1976, he was transferred to the Narcotics Unit as a plainclothes officer. In 1978, he was promoted to the rank of Detective, which soon led to an assignment with the Homicide Unit the following year. As a Detective assigned to the Homicide Squad, he gained experience investigating aggravated assaults, officer involved shootings, murders and other death investigations.

Agan continued to rise through the ranks with promotion to Sergeant in 1982 and then promotion to Lieutenant in 1990.

During his tenure as a supervisor with APD, Agan was assigned to the Sex Crimes Unit for 5 years, the Field Operations Division for 8 years, and the Homicide Squad for 8 years, 4 years of this time spent as Homicide Commander. Agan has extensive experience in the field of violent crime investigation, particularly murder and rape. Job experiences over the years have included investigating and supervising serial offender investigations.

Agan retired from the Atlanta Police Department in 2003 and is currently working as a consultant in the field of violent crime.

During his program, Danny will take you through a mock crime scene, show how evidence is processed and witnesses and suspects are interviewed. You will get the opportunity to see what a real homicide detective does on a crime scene.

Please email Christy Reece (bjcreece@aol.com) to reserve a space. This will help us determine an estimated number of people expected to attend.

For directions, go to www.southernmagic.org.

Link-O-Rama

Today, I don't have much to say, so I'll let a few of my writing friends do the talking.

Mary at The Bandwagon has a book recommendation.

Trish at Writing, Reading and More, Oh My! has a genre recommendation.

Gena Showalter is asking for book recommendations.

Tanya at My Irrationalities has some good news.

So does Robin D. Owens.

News from Toni, the Romance Writing Mom, could be better, but it does have a humorous aspect to it.

Dixie Belle (and Thomas Jefferson), offer smart rules to live by in the new year.

Kelley St. John's book, GOOD GIRLS DON'T, is still available, and don't you forget it!

You can also still buy Kristen Robinette's 2005 RT Reviewer's Choice finalist, HELL'S BELLES.

And just in case you forgot, my book FORBIDDEN TERRITORY is available for pre-order from Amazon.com.

All done. Bye-bye.

Shriiieeeeeeekkkk!!!!!!

My book is listed on Amazon.com.

I'm all tingly!

Pre-order it now. Come on, you know you want to.

Update:

Large Print edition available too, for all you out there like me whose eyes could use a rest.

An Early Spring

Or at least, a nice attempt at one. It's seventy-five degrees today in sunny central Alabama, a simply glorious day for January. It won't last, of course; we're due for colder weather this weekend, but today was a day to break out the short sleeves and sandals and enjoy a sunny day with low humidity.

Oh, and the Crimson Tide won the Cotton Bowl. Yay!

I haven't done my scheduled writing for today, but I did manage to get two of my unsold manuscripts printed out and ready to go to an agent who requested them, so I've not been a complete slug.

And so far, I'm keeping my New Year's resolution to blog something every day. Even if, as you can see from this post, I don't really have much to say. :)

Happy New Year!

I wish I could say I spent my New Year's Eve doing something exciting and glamorous, but the truth is, I sat in my living room with my mom and my nine-year-old niece, watching various TV programs until around ten central time, when we turned it to Fox News Channel to see their coverage of New Year's Eve in Times Square. I started nodding off around ten thirty, as did my mom, so we decided to break out the "bubbly" (in our non-alcoholic household, sparkling white grape juice) a little early. The three of us had a little nip of the sparkly stuff and managed to make it to eleven, when the ball dropped in Times Square. Then we all went to bed.

I tried to stay up 'til midnight, really I did, but I dozed off around eleven thirty. I did wake up around twelve-thirty, groused to myself about missing midnight in the central time zone, and went back to sleep.

I woke sometime later in the night and couldn't go back to sleep, so I found GROUNDHOG DAY on one of the movie channels and watched it. Great, underrated movie. Brilliantly conceived and written, and good acting, even from Andie MacDowell. Bill Murray was terrific.

Anyway, happy 2006, everybody. I hope we all have a spectacular new year!

Auld Lang Syne

As usual, I'm stealing from Mary at The Bandwagon. But reflecting on the past year and looking ahead to the next year is appropriate for Dec. 31st, so here we go:

Name Five Bad Things That Happened to You in 2005:
1. I lost my cousin in a car accident
2. I had to have two of my old cats put to sleep
3. My jerky ex-bro.in law wrecked my car
4. My mom had to have gall bladder surgery
5. I had to be out of work for over two weeks with cellulitis

Name Five Good Things That Happened to You in 2005:
1. Sold my first book
2. Won several contests, including the Duel on the Delta
3. Gained a new niece (Catherine) and a new potential niece (Amber)
4. Received my first advance check
5. My friend Kris's book, HELL'S BELLES, made the RT Reviewer's Choice finalists list.

Name Five People Who Have Touched You in a Special Way in 2005:
1. My mother
2. My best friend Jenn
3. My editor
4. Lonie
5. My wonderful RWA chapter

Name Five Things You Achieved in 2005:
1. Sold my first book
2. Won several contests
3. Got a several agent requests
4. Refinanced my house from 30 to 15 years at virtually the same monthly payment
5. Submitted four different manuscripts to four different editors

Name Five Things You'd Like to Achieve in 2006:
1. Finish DANGEROUS PURSUIT and two more books
2. Sell all three of the aforementioned books
3. Get an agent
4. Lose weight
5. Enter the Rita contest

Pretty good year, overall, I'd say.

Unexpected Day Off

Is there anything better than your boss coming into the office around 4:50 pm Thursday afternoon and telling you that since your biggest clients are taking the next day off, you don't have to come into work on Friday before a long weekend? Okay, I guess there are a few things better, but it's right up there with Hershey's chocolate kisses and finding ten bucks at the bottom of your purse that you didn't know you had.

So I had today off, and while I'd like to say I didn't waste any of it, I can't. I did, however, manage 13 pages on my WIP and reached my big Act Two complication spot. (If my book were a one-hour television drama, we'd have just reached the half hour commercial break). I'm up to 162 pages (so, actually, page-wise, I'm a little past the half hour mark, but whatever). That means I'm past the point where I was a month ago when I tossed all but the first five pages and started over.

I'm still on track to finish the first draft by the end of January, and that's with a schedule of only two pages a day on weekdays and five a day on weekends and holidays. Very doable. And just in case I need a little more incentive to write, my To Be Read list is growing. Tracy Montoya's MAXIMUM SECURITY came in the mail today and joins Gayle Wilson's DOUBLE BLIND in my growing stack of reward books.

Meanwhile, Mary at The Bandwagon has a book recommendation that looks intriguing. I read the Romantic Times' reviewer's blurb on GRIN AND BEAR IT, and it sounded like it would be a great read. Also, check out the comic strip Mary posted. If you're a reader with children around, or other similar demands on your time, it'll look extremely familiar.

And Now for Something Completely Different...

I get a little focused on romance, given my chosen writing genre, but I read pretty widely when I get the chance. Some of my favorite books are thrillers, and here are a few I've loved enough to read again and again.

THE STAND - Stephen King
The great, apocalyptic Good vs. Evil story of modern literature. Sure, it's a tad overwritten and windy, especially the unabridged version, but the characters are compelling, the story complex and all too believable, and the ending is deeply satisfying.

NIGHT FALL - Nelson DeMille
A well-written, complex fictional exploration of the crash of Flight 800 over the Atlantic east of Long Island. Running with the rumors of a missile streak seen shortly before the plane exploded and fell from the sky, DeMille's hero, John Corey, explores the mystery behind the crash and comes to startling, timely conclusions. The last chapter is stunning and sobering.

PATRIOT GAMES - Tom Clancy
Jack Ryan back before he became a politician. Action, a smidgen of romance, IRA terrorists looking for vengeance, loved ones in danger and a visit from royalty. What more could you want from a political thriller?

RED STORM RISING - Tom Clancy
It's a little light on characterization, although there are a few characters who stand out in my mind, but the shocking events of the story are compelling, and I happened to be reading it when the first Gulf War began, so this novel about an unexpected war had extra immediacy for me at the time.

WATCHERS - Dean Koontz
Einstein, the genius Golden Retriever, made this my all time favorite Koontz book.

BLACKOUT - John Nance
Maybe it's the combination of political intrigue and flying that really got me with this book, but Nance delivered a heck of a story. Like a lot of thriller writers, he's not great at writing the romantic elements of the story (DeMille, listed above, does a much stronger job with romantic relationships between his characters, as does Koontz and even King), but the action and suspense is non-stop.

I really need to read more female thriller writers. I love thrillers in my category romances like IM and Intrigue, but I haven't really gotten attached to any single title thriller writers who are women. Anybody have suggestions?

Contest Judging Opportunity

And this one's for the non-writers among us.

My local RWA chapter, Southern Magic, is currently accepting entries for the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence for published writers. You can find out more about the contest on our website.

We're having terrific response for the contest, and we need more judges. The contest is judged not by other writers but by avid romance readers and booksellers who are not writers themselves. The score sheet couldn't be simpler, and the judges keep the books as a gift from the authors. If you are interested in judging this contest, or you have friends or family who might be interested, contact the contest coordinator at GWContest@southernmagic.org.

And by the way, if you're a published writer of a book with a 2005 publication date, you have until January 15th, 2006, to enter. See the website listed above for more information.

Post Christmas Link-a-thon

First, I read this post at Tightly Wound and had a good laugh. Kids today!

Then, at IMAO, there's this rather perplexing nativity scene. For the record, I agree with the commenter who says they're made of plywood, but it was the Yosemite Sam comment that really made me snicker.

How about a story that has a happy ending, but sends your stomach cramping before you get there (especially if you're a writing using a computer)? Check out this poor woman's tale of woe and triumph.

And if you're interested in blogosphere minutiae, there's a poll on Jim Treacher's blog that seeks an alternative term for the now played-out "fake but accurate."

The Day After

If I never see any more wrapping paper or bows, it'll be too soon.

Despite my big plans to get extra writing done over the holidays, I didn't do squat. Well, actually, I did figure out how to proceed with the next few scenes of my WIP, but I didn't commit any words to paper (or computer screen—whatever). So I've got to do seven pages today just to start catching up. Except I'm fat and lazy today, and I don't wanna. And the newest Gayle Wilson HQN romantic suspense, DOUBLE BLIND, is sitting there, tempting me...

I am such an undisciplined slug.

Update:

Well, all the gifts are opened, the ham, white beans and cornbread eaten (we were pretty lazy with our Christmas dinner this year), and everybody's either napping or, in my case, just up from a nap.

The kids were very pleased with their gifts. They got several smallish things, plus the elder two received scooters and a three-in-one game table shared between them. The baby got a LeapStart™ Learning Table that she hasn't really gotten to play with yet, because her biological parents whisked her off to visit her maternal grandparents and brought her back just in time for a nap. But she'll get to play with it when she wakes up.

We probably went a little overboard, but the kids had hard lives before they came into our lives, and I guess maybe we want to make it up to them, at least at Christmas.

I hope everyone had a happy, safe Christmas!

Ho Ho Ho, Hee Hee Hee

I admit, I'm shamelessly stealing this from Mary at The Bandwagon (so please click the link and go visit her blog, which is great, to make me feel a little less guilty). But this link is just too cute not to share.

As my baby niece said when she saw this little web video, "Ho ho! Ho ho!"

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas.

Just try not to sing along. Just try.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

::sigh::

It never snows here for Christmas. Or, for that matter, just about any other day of the year. It's part of that double-edged sword called living in the deep south. We have gorgeous springs and pleasant falls, but summer is hell and winter is too cold to be comfortable and too warm to snow.

Not. Fair.

Oh, I'm not wishing for a blizzard like the one that passed through here in on a weekend in March 1993, leaving as much as 15 inches of snow in some places (including my back yard). That weekend, the snow weighted down tree branches which broke, taking out powerlines just in time for the temperature to drop to the teens. With no power and no fireplace, we didn't dare go out in the snow; there was no way to warm ourselves back up when we came back inside. So we shivered under piles of blankets and cursed the cold white stuff.

But 1993 was a long time ago, and there haven't been many snowfalls since. Is it really too much to ask to have four or five inches of the stuff on the ground, just enough to turn a winter day into a vacation day from work without being so bad that ambulances and fire trucks can't safely navigate the roads?

Just sayin'.

Another Step in the Process

I got my line edits from my editor today. I haven't had a chance to look at them yet, being at work, but just knowing they're there, waiting on me to address, gives me a little chill.

I also got a request from an agent to see two full manuscripts. Whee!

Update:

I'm home now, and I've looked through the editor's line edits. Beyond the nitpicky stuff, which I expected, there were only three suggestions that are going to require a little bit of thought. One was a plot point that's going to be hard to dispense of, so I'll have to rewrite it to work better for the editor. One was a timeline question that I'll just have to chart out so that I have all my days in the right order. And the third request was to punch up a chapter ending so that it was more of a page turner. Of the three, that one might take the most thought of all.

Of course, I haven't seen the copy editor's notes yet. Yikes.

This, That and the Other

Whew! Looks like the revisions on FORBIDDEN TERRITORY were accepted, and now I can breathe a small sigh of relief. June 2006 is still on!

Update on the WIP: I mentioned earlier that I was going to have to backtrack and revise. Basically, I started over at page 6. 152 pages down the drain. Well, not really; there's a lot of the already written stuff that I'm incorporating into the new version of the WIP, but still, that's a lot of writing to have done only to start back over from nearly the beginning.

On the up side, I think the first 50 pages of version two are a LOT stronger than the original draft. The story is more streamlined and makes more sense, it creates a more immediate sense of danger for the heroine, and the relationship between the hero and the heroine is more adversarial and suspicious at this point, adding to the overall sense of suspense. It's definitely more of an Intrigue-style book in its second incarnation than it was.

And now, a few gratuitous plugs for some friends:

If you like sexy, sassy contemporary romance, check out GOOD GIRLS DON'T by my buddy Kelley St. John, JANE MILLIONAIRE by American Title winner Janice Lynn and CHERRY ON TOP by Kath Long. For romantic suspense, you can't go wrong with DOUBLE BLIND by Gayle Wilson, SILENT RECKONING by Deb Webb and KILLING HER SOFTLY by Beverly Barton.
And if you like sassy hen lit, you can still get my friend Kristen Robinette's delicious HELL'S BELLES.

Hmm--all these Amazon.com links bring up a question: who sends book information to Amazon for their listing? Authors or the publishing house? I'll have to look into that.

Purple Fingers

Iraq the Model is live-blogging the Iraqi election. Lots of correspondents reporting from various parts of Iraq, plus plenty of photos. It seems to have gone very well, at this point.

Christmas Music

In my ongoing effort to get into the Christmas spirit and stay there over the next twelve days, I've been listening to the local adult contemporary station, which became "all Christmas all the time" after Thanksgiving. Their playlist is pretty traditional--Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Andy Williams, lots of Carpenters and Amy Grant, plus the occasional Harry Connick, Jr., Barenaked Ladies and Paul McCartney.

I definitely have my favorites. My top songs in the "secular Christmas" category, in no particular order:

Sleigh Ride - Leroy Anderson
A clean, fast-paced version of the classic, with a jazzy little interlude near the end. Love it, love it, love it.

You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch - Thurl Ravenscroft
How can you not love a song with a jazzy beat, Ravenscroft's ocean-deep voice and lyrics like: "The three words that best describe you,are, and I quote: 'Stink. Stank. Stunk.'"

Carol of the Bells - David Foster
Synthesized instrumental with a flourish. It's this close to over the top, but doesn't quite make it into cheesy territory.

The Holiday Season - Andy Williams
I dig it, man. Don't forget to hang up your sock, 'cause just exactly at twelve o'clock, he'll be comin' down the chimney down! I'm there.

Deck the Halls - SheDaisy
The tight harmonies of this pop-country trio are amazing, especially on this song.

And in the religious Christmas songs, my favorites in no particular order:

Silent Night - no particular artist
The simple beauty of Silent Night never fails to move me, no matter who sings it.

We Three Kings - Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan
I just heard this one for the first time a few days ago. It has a light, breezy sound to it that somehow manages not to eclipse the spiritual essence of the carol.

Do You Hear What I Hear - Bing Crosby
My all time favorite from childhood. I can still remember sitting in the back seat of my dad's Plymouth Fury, listening to Bing sing this song on the radio. We kids knew all the words and sang them at the tops of our lungs, much to my father's annoyance. Good times.

O Holy Night - no particular artist
Like Silent Night, O Holy Night is gorgeous and moving regardless of who sings it.

The Little Drummer Boy - Lou Rawls
Another one of those childhood holdovers. I'm not sure it should even be considered in the "religious" category, since it's not strictly biblical, but it captures the wonder of Christ's birth as told in the Gospel of Luke.

Do you have any favorite Christmas songs?

Holy Cow

A pregnant skydiver hits the ground face first at 50 mph . . . and both she and the baby survive.

Cough cough

The worst part of a chest cold? Those last few days when you're getting over it, and you dry cough incessantly and uncontrollably, to the point that your ribcage and stomach muscles feel like you've been doing a hundred crunches an hour for the past two days.

Yeah, THAT part. Ow.

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

I just bought gifts for my smaller nieces (my brother's two, ages two yrs old and three months old) and it's amazing how buying a Potty Training Elmo leads to humming "Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas" under your breath at work all day.

I have one more baby to shop for, my nieces' half-sister, Amber, who's about 14 months old. Since it looks like my sister may be about to adopt her (her parents have agreed verbally to the adoption, and we're about to start the paperwork), this will be a special Christmas indeed. But what do you buy for a one-year-old? She does love "Momo" (as she calls Elmo) and she loves to pretend that she can read. She has about all the toys she could ever need already, which makes Christmas shopping hard. I wonder if it was that way for our parents thirty-odd years ago. I don't remember being overrun with toys I didn't play with, and I always knew exactly what I wanted for Christmas, but did my parents ever think, "Those kids already have more toys than they can play with--will this year's Baby Tenderlove be overkill?"

I guess it's part of the blessing that comes with living in a free, prosperous society. It's why we like to make sure the kids know that they're blessed and lucky, and there are a lot of kids in the world who aren't so fortunate. My adopted nine-year-old niece is old enough to remember a time when she was one of those unfortunates. For the first three years of her life, she lived with a neglectful mother in a roach-infested hell-hole. Then custody was given to her father, who didn't have anywhere to live but his car and sometimes left her in the car asleep to go do whatever it was he was going to do. She'd wake up to find herself alone, with no idea where he was. She still remembers that, six years and a vastly improved lifetime later.

Thankfully, her younger sisters won't have to remember that kind of life. The six-year old was just a baby, as was the one-year-old, when they came into our lives and our home, and we're almost all they've ever known. We're not rich by any means, but you don't have to be rich to make a difference in the lives of people, if you have love to share.

Having the children around reminds me of what Christmas is really about: a child born in a stable, to a family of modest means but transcendent love, who grew into his destiny as the Son of God and whose awesome, sacrificial love found its most profound expression in a cross, a death and a rolled-away stone.

That kind of love inspires you to show love to others, often in sacrificial ways. So if you have a few pennies to rub together, think about finding a worthy charity this season and give what you can. I still have links to Katrina relief agencies on the sidebar of this blog for reference if you're looking for organizations who do a great deal of good for people in need.

I'm giving to a local charity, the Jimmie Hale Mission, which cares for homeless men and women in Birmingham, Alabama, and surrounding areas. They've been doing worthy, difficult work for many years, and I'm proud to give them my support.

Ho Ho Ho

Christmas has officially started here in the Graves household, commencing with my sister's trip to K-Mart with the kids to do their Christmas shopping. Much grousing ensued afterwards when my mom realized how much my sister had spent, and my sister realized she'd now have to wrap all those presents.

Myself, I went the Amazon.com route. No crowds, no lines, massive inventory to choose from, one-stop shopping. What more could I ask for? (Well, besides Clive Owen in a tight jeans feeding me Hershey's kisses?) I also shopped for myself via Amazon, since nobody can ever find the stuff I want in regular stores. ("Alison Krauss and the Union who?") That way, I know I get at least one or two things I actually want for Christmas.

We'll probably decorate the tree this weekend. We gave into fate and purchased a pre-lit tree, but there are still all those stupid little plastic Disney ornaments the kids have collected over the years (Thanks SO much, McDonalds) to hang on the tree. And I wonder if they're going to find where I hid that stupid dancing Santa?

I love Christmas in theory. The birth of Jesus, the story of hope and peace, all the meaningful things that Christmas is about are beautiful things to honor and remember. But having worked in advertising for almost twenty years, where Christmas comes in October and is usually accompanied by high stress, ridiculous deadlines and incalcitrant clients AND suppliers, it's sometimes hard for me to get into the Christmas spirit.

Gotta say, though, the baby niece sure looks mighty cute in her Elmo slippers.

Intrigue Pitch Challenge

Man, if I hadn't already sold to Intrigue, I would so be doing this!

Go to the E-Harlequin's community boards and select The Write Stuff. Inside there is a thread titled: Enter our INTRIGUE PITCH CHALLENGE. Go there for all the information.

Editor Allison Lyons will be listening to pitches for your completed manuscripts targeted to Harlequin Intrigue. This is a good opportunity to get your pitch in front of an editor who can request—and buy—your manuscript.

If nothing else, it's good pitching practice!

Thank You, Dana Marton

I read CAMOUFLAGE HEART over the weekend. Lovely action/adventure/romance set in the Malaysian jungle. I love that kind of story, but I've been hesitant to try something quite like that myself.

Then it occurred to me that the urban jungle is fraught with its own dangers and beauties, and that navigating that urban jungle is just what I needed my heroine to do to become more proactive (and endangered) in my beleaguered WIP.

So thanks, Dana, for a great read and the inspiration.

Cat Bloggy Goodness

IMAO, a very funny blog (with a conservative bent, for those sensitive to such) is hosting this week's Carnival of the Cats. If you like catblogging, check it out. This particular post is politics free.

Unless you're a cat.

The Wench Won

My internal editor: winner and still champion!

I'm about 142 pages into my WIP when it suddenly occurs to me that I'm off course. I've got too many characters, my heroine (who's supposed to be the woman in jeopardy) is practically sitting in the backseat of this story, and my hero's big, dark back story secret is being eclipsed by another big, dark back story secret that was supposed to be just a passing thing.

So okay. I surrender. I've got to go back about three chapters, excise two characters (who I really liked, dang it!), move up a murder that I didn't have happening quite so soon, create a secondary character to be a stronger red herring suspect in the crimes at the heart of the story, and oh yeah, gotta put my heroine in escalating danger.

NaNoWriMo, I hardly knew ye...

The Internal Editor . . .

She's a harsh mistress.

::sigh::

118 pages. Fourteen scheduled for today. I hope.

Is it my imagination or did writing used to come more easily? I remember racing home to write, plotting every second of my drive to and from work, daydreaming about my books in the middle of the work day. I don't seem to do that anymore. But why?

I still love to write. I still think I'm pretty good at it. And now that I've sold my first book, I really need to be able to produce good stuff quickly in the future. But the ideas don't seem to flow like they used to. The stories don't come together in my mind as easily.

Is it the pressure of having sold? Am I just going through a dry spell? Am I not disciplined enough? Or am I afraid of success? (Calling Dr. Phil . . .)

Or maybe writing was a lot easier when I didn't actually know how to write, how to plot a story with enough conflict to sustain it. Maybe it was easier to write when the stories just weren't up to par.

I'll let you know if I ever figure it out.

Be Prepared, Redux

As I wrote in a previous entry around the time of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, we all need to take responsibility for our own preparedness in a time of crisis. To that end, a bright and motivated kid named Austin (who just happens to be actress Sela Ward's son) has created preparedpak.com, a site where you can purchase disaster preparedness kits, with the profits going to foster kids displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

It's a good idea benefiting a good cause.

Progress on the Quasi NaNoWriMo

I'm on page 94 of my current WIP, shooting for 270 pages total, and while I haven't really hit a block yet, my internal editor is being a real pain in the keister. "That paragraph stinks!" "Is that really the word you want to use?" "What a cliche!"

But even with obstacles in my way (got to put the leg up; oops, my six-year-old niece tripped on the power cord and broke the adapter, and now I have to order the replacement part and have it overnighted; and oh by the way, my ex-bro-in-law who I let borrow my car out of the kindness of my heart managed to have a wreck that was his fault and totally screwed up my perfect driving record with my insurance company—thanks SO much), I've managed to write a little bit each day. I don't know that I'll meet my 270 page deadline by November 30th, but I do think I should definitely be able to have the NaNoWriMo total of 50,000 words done by then.

I had worked out the plot using index cards, jotting down basic story events, before I started writing, but the story has already started surprising me. Like, who knew the hero and heroine were going to kiss a full two or three chapters before I originally imagined it? And already, some of the crime victims' identities have changed, and I'm only on chapter six.

I do like writing this way, though, hurtling through the story at breakneck speed. I've learned over the years that while I'd love to be a pantser, I'm really a plotter at heart, and the sooner I come to terms with that fact, the more prolific a writer I'll be. And now that I have an actual editor I work with who's given me wonderful insight into what Harlequin Intrigue is looking for, I know how to shape my book to better fit the line as I'm writing it.

Mega Update

Well, it's been quite a while since I blogged, and in my defense, I've spent most of that time out of work with a bad case of cellulitis in my right leg. I'm nicely on the mend now, however, and I go back to work tomorrow, much to the relief of my boss.

Cellulitis is a deep tissue infection that can be a real bugger to beat, and it's dangerous because it can spread from your leg or wherever to organs, becoming life-threatening. My doctor wanted me to be hospitalized but the E.R. doctors at the hospital where I went decided to send me home with antibiotics. When I went back to my doctor a little over a week later, he was not pleased, but the first round of antibiotics had lowered my white blood count quite a bit, so he just gave me a new round of two different antibiotics to finally kick this thing. My white blood count is back to the normal range now, and my leg is getting back to normal, so I go back to work tomorrow.

Unfortunately, I missed my local RWA chapter's Reader's Luncheon, which was going to be my first one as a published author. (Well, to-be-published, but you know what I mean). I was really bummed about that. On the upside, the need to do some office work here at home (with my leg propped up to fight the swelling) spurred me to finally get a wireless router so that I could get online using my laptop. Yay! I got a wireless adapter for my sister's computer, too, which means I can drop one of our two cable broadband connections, which will save me some money. Double yay!

And I started a new manuscript! Inspired to unofficially participate in National Novel Writing Month, I had prepped the basic plot points of my new story idea before I got sick. It was touch and go as to whether I'd be able to get started on November 1st, since I was pretty much sick as a dog from Wednesday to Saturday of the week before, but by Sunday I was starting to feel a good bit better, and by Tuesday, I was well enough to not only work on my new book but also start doing some office work at home.

It's now November 13th, and I have 75 pages written. I'm figuring on getting extra pages written during the long Thanksgiving holiday as well, so I'm hoping to have the first draft of my book finished by December 1st. We'll see how it goes.

October

It's finally autumn in Alabama, with chilly breezes and cloudy skies. We turned the heat on at work for the first time yesterday, and I gave into the inevitable and put away my sandals until spring or the next warm day, whichever comes first.

October has always been one of my favorite months. September in Alabama is still summer with all its heat and humidity, but October brings cold snaps and changing leaves. Alabama versus Tennessee on a mild October Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Little kids in costumes knocking on your door and asking for candy, bringing back a thousand childhood memories.

October is pumpkins and haunted hayrides, growing shadows in the afternoon and condensation on your windshield in the morning. October smells different, like fallen leaves and the first hint of woodsmoke. The color of the day is different, the light cooler and more distant, the sun a lover who has not yet abandoned you for the delights of the other side of the world—but his eyes are starting to wander.

I fell in love for the first time in October, on a cold, crisp night in late October. Some friends and I had gone out to the boondocks to a "haunted" barn and talked the folks running the show to let us dress up and play monsters in the exhibit. Afterwards, the boy I really liked held my hand as cheesy eighties love songs played on the radio. It never went anywhere, much, but you never forget your first love.

I think I'm going to set my new book in October, this brief, golden time between hellish heat and relentless chill.

Bloggy Goodness

Since I'm waiting to hear from my editor on my revisions and a second project, and I'm only in the planning stages of my next manuscript, and nothing else is going on much with me, I'm having trouble coming up with anything to blog about. So I think I'll direct you over to The Bandwagon, where Mary got good news. Or to Booksquare, which always has something interesting going on. The Knight Agency Blog is chock full 'o good stuff for writers, and there's always Romancing the Blog.

Or you could check out my website and sign up for my newsletter. Once every month or so I'll send out an update of what's going on with me. No obligation and you can quit anytime! Can't beat that deal!

That'n Makes Me Cry

Stealing shamelessly from Mary at The Bandwagon, who linked to this jewel of an anecdote.

It takes a lot to make me cry. That story did it--and in such a good way.

My hero is a heroine--my mother, who withstood my oh-so-pragmatic father's attempts to squelch my dreams of being a writer and never lost faith in my talents and my drive. She's the one who tirelessly took my contest entries to the post office over the past couple of years because the hours at our little local post office clashed with my work hours. The postal clerks know her by name! And she was the first person I tried to call when I found out I sold.

Who's your writing hero?

Update-O-Rama

Catching up on stuff I've posted about before...

Mom Update - She's doing really well. She even got up this morning and cooked breakfast, which she never used to do much of before the surgery. Honestly, she did better after the surgery than I did, and I was only 29 years old at the time. Mom's almost 72. Tough lady, my mom. I aspire to be more like her.

Vegetable Garden Update: Well, of the long-frozen seed packets I planted, three survived and thrived. The Tommy Toes and the crookneck squash didn't make it, although the squash gave it a good try. But the Atkinson tomatoes, the eggplant and the bell peppers all thrived and all three are still putting out fruit. I think my mom plans to pick the eggplants today to make a casserole or something. The bell peppers and tomatoes we've already been eating.

Book Update: No word yet from my editor about the FORBIDDEN TERRITORY revisions I sent about a month ago, and no word on the second manuscript she's considering (WILD CARD). I'm currently working on writing a working synopsis for my WIP, DANGEROUS PURSUITS, which is a sequel to FORBIDDEN TERRITORY.

LOST Update: I think the tough girl's gonna give Freckles a run for her money where Sawyer's concerned. Although, based on all the gaggy cute Jack/Kate moments last night, maybe I'm in the minority of those who like Sawyer/Kate better. Why do I do this to myself? Mulder and Scully should have cured me...

Who You Gonna Call?

Let me preface what I'm about to say by admitting that I'm a skeptic about all things paranormal. I believe in God, but not so much in ghosts, psychics, or the like. (Don't get me started on "orbs" and "vortices"). Most of the so-called paranormal activity people talk about has a perfectly logical, scientific explanation.

Still, to quote Fox Mulder, I want to believe. I like the idea that there's a whole world outside our physical world that most people just can't see, and that there are a few rare, blessed/cursed people who can see what the rest of us can't. It's why I made Lily, the heroine of my book FORBIDDEN TERRITORY, a psychic. It's why I loved THE X-FILES, why I like LOST and MEDIUM, why I love to watch shows like MOST HAUNTED on the Travel Channel.

And it's why GHOST HUNTERS is one of my favorite "reality" shows. Airing on Sci Fi, GHOST HUNTERS features two mild-mannered plumbers named Jason and Grant, who head TAPS, The Atlantic Paranormal Society. They and their band of merry men and women go out on ghost hunts, armed with cameras, sensors and a decent amount of skepticism. They approach every "haunting" as if to debunk it, their theory being that if they do the skeptic's work for him, they're a lot closer to proving the paranormal exists than if they claimed every dust speck and chilly draft is evidence of ghostly activity.

The downside of their approach is that they rarely find any evidence on their investigations. But what they do find gives you a nice little chill down your spine, and the drama of their interpersonal relationships keeps fans interested even when the ghosties don't show up.

Another downside is that it airs opposite LOST. However, it replays at 11 pm Central, and also at 7 pm Central a week later, before the new ep airs at 8 pm Central. If you're like me, and you get a kick from things that go bump in the night, give it a look.

What if I Run Out of Ideas?

I've heard a million times that writers never run out of ideas, they just run out of time to write.

Has the opposite ever been true? I know I used to be full of ideas for books, but as I've been seriously trying to structure my writing time more, in order to better meet self-imposed (and externally imposed) deadlines, I find myself curiously bereft of ideas that really get me excited. Am I causing my own mental block by focusing on writing for publication? But if I don't focus on that aspect of the business, will I ever produce books quickly enough in quantity enough to be successful?

Am I just overthinking this???

Monday Catch-up

Well, my mother is safely home from the hospital, although it took until Saturday to get her home. She's not having too much trouble from the surgery herself, but all the bed rest seemed to have messed up her arthritic knee, so that walking around is painful and difficult, at least for now. She'll be getting an orthopedic referral soon and, we hope, they'll be able to figure out how to fix the knee.

Over the weekend I received the first installment of my advance for FORBIDDEN TERRITORY and a copy of the signed contract. It all feels a little more official now! Still waiting to hear from my editor about the revisions I sent--once they're accepted, I get the second installment of the advance.

She's also looking at WILD CARD, but I don't think there's any way she'll be able to buy it as an Intrigue. It was conceived as an Intimate Moments, and it would be very hard to revise it to fit the requirements of an Intrigue, I think. I know she can buy for Intimate Moments, but will she want my second book out to be in a completely different line? I have my doubts. I guess I'll find out soon enough.

So...

Lost viewers...would you have pushed the button or not?

After careful thought, I think I would, because of the ticking clock. But you'd better be sure I'd put my best tech guy on figuring out in the next 108 minutes what the heck that button actually does.

How about you?

And by the way, Lost showrunners? MORE SAWYER. Sooner rather than later. In copious quantities.

Mom Update

My mother's endoscopy successfully removed the remaining gallstone and she's back in her hospital room, awake and relatively alert. Barring complications, she's on track to be home from the hospital tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who kept my mom in your thoughts and prayers.

Update to the update:

Well, it's going to be Friday before my mom comes home. She failed her first solid food test this morning (promptly threw up), so they want to let her have the rest of today to get her stomach used to eating again. However, other than that, she's doing well, and when she's not drugged up on the anti-pain/anti-nausea stuff, she sounds more and more like her old self.

So I Had This Dream . . .

Had another vivid dream last night. I, along with probably about two hundred other people, ended up stranded in a deserted city. No cars, trains, boats or any other form of transportation, and there was a sea around our little island city. Sort of like a civilized Lost—power grid was working, clean, running water, etc. (Apparently even in my dream world, I'm a soft, pampered urbanite without much stomach for hiking the wilderness). So we had all the basic civilized amenities except transportation off the island and communication with the outside world.

And in keeping with the Lost theme, Sayid (Naveen Andrews) was on the island city, and we had a sort of tense "will they or won't they?" sexual tension going on. He was in among the three or four people in charge, doling out responsibilities. And for some reason (I think just to put distance between us because he was disturbed by his passion for me) he assigned me on a scout team to go explore the rest of the island city while he and the others set about figuring out how to keep the island's resources going as long as possible.

I protested loudly, pointing out that in my "real" life, I was a thinker, not a trekker, and that my talents were better used there with them than trekking about the island city. But he would have none of it. His eyes were saying yes, but his mouth was saying no.

And then I woke up.

Of course, I'm still trying to figure out why my dream starred Sayid instead of Sawyer (Josh Holloway)...

Writing Through Stressful Times

I apparently can't, if the last few days are any indication. Maybe if I were in the middle of a WIP it would be different, but I'm still in the plotting process on my newest WIP, so I'm getting nowhere while I wait to hear if my mom's surgery went okay.

Maybe once it's over, the creative bug will bite again.

Update:

Mom made it through surgery just fine, but there's a gall stone stuck in her bile duct, so they're going to have to go in and get it endoscopically. That means it'll probably be Thursday or Friday before she comes home.

She's lucky they caught it; I had a stone floating around in my system after surgery that finally blocked a pancreatic duct and had one last, nasty bout of post-surgery pancreatitis before it was all over with. Hopefully, Mom will avoid that unpleasant surprise.

Owie Ow Ow

My mother had to go to the hospital last night with severe abdominal pain that has turned out to be gallstones. Ouch—been there, done that, got the laparoscopy scars. Gallstones is one of those ailments that make you willing to undergo surgery without anesthetic just to get the blasted thing out of you.

Looks like they're going to try to do a laparoscopic gall bladder removal tomorrow if everything goes well. Assuming they can do the laparoscopy, which isn't a given, she should be able to go home Wednesday. In a week or so she'll be back to her old self, it my experience is anything to go by.

As surgeries go, gall bladder removal isn't the most dangerous, but any surgery is dangerous, so I hope you'll keep my mom in your thoughts and prayers.

And owie ow ow #2: anybody watch the Alabama/Florida game Saturday on CBS? Roll Tide and all that, but daaaaaang, did they have to show the slow-mo replay of Tyrone Prothro's tibia and fibula breaking??? Nearly tossed my lunch. The good news is that it wasn't his ankle, which can be a much tougher injury to recover from, but that's about all the good news you can find in that kind of an injury.

(For those who didn't watch the game Saturday, search your memories for Joe Theissman's leg break a few years back. Ewwww—see what I mean?)

Be Prepared

With another massive hurricane bearing down on the U.S. mainland, and with other disasters, natural and man-made, always looming as a possibility, now is as good a time as any to start preparing yourself and your family to survive a disaster.

First--you need a survivor's mindset. The core of this mindset is knowing that you are responsible for your own survival. Know that if the hurricane hits or the earthquake strikes or another terrorist attack takes place, YOU are your own first responder. For situations that you can predict, like a hurricane, get out of the way. Inconvenience versus death--I know which one I'd choose. But some disasters can't be predicted, and that's why it's important to be prepared ahead of time. This isn't an indictment of any level of government (although it's not a bad idea that you hold your local and state governments accountable first, since they're already on the scene). But nobody can be fully prepared for every eventuality. That's why it's ultimately up to you.

Know that you are on your own for at least the first five days of a disaster, and prepare for it. Stockpile non-perishable food and water in water-proof containers. If you can keep the food lightweight (foil packets instead of cans, for instance), do so. Keep a large plastic jar of peanut butter on hand--it's a great source of nutrition, isn't particularly expensive and keeps well. Buy tuna in foil packets. Buy cereal bars. Buy instant oatmeal--it can be mixed with a small amount of water to make a hearty breakfast. Have some plastic bowls and cups on hand. Plastic utensils. And plenty of bottle water--a gallon per day per person is the recommended amount.

Have a couple of changes of clothing available. Hygiene isn't your primary focus in matters like these, but as the flooding in New Orleans showed, you don't know what condition your clothes will be in when you reach safety. If you have a change of clothing where you can reach it, you're ahead of the game.

Stockpile at least five days worth of your prescription medications. I have asthma, and I've already set aside a full 200-dose rescue inhaler for such purposes. I also have a five day supply of my other inhaler, and a three day supply of my two other prescription medications. (I'm working up to stockpiling five days' worth). Also, have a first aid kit with the basic supplies, plus extra pain reliever, anti-biotic ointment or cream, sunscreen, bug repellent and any hygiene items you may need.

Have some basic tools available—manual can opener, bottle opener, hammer, duct tape, plastic sheeting, matches or a lighter, candles, flashlights, etc. You know the drill, and if you don't, there are plenty of places to find a good working list.

Learn first aid and CPR. Keep your car in good working condition and full of gas if you can. Keep your cell phone charged up. Have an evacuation plan—do you have relatives or friends who can take you in? Have a plan for your pets—check with motels in the area to which you plan to evacuate to find out if they'll allow pets. Some do. Most don't. After Katrina, it seems like some of the public shelters are relaxing rules about pets. Check into what's available in your area. Or, if you evacuate ahead of time, you can find a veterinarian in the place to which you plan to evacuate who can board the animals for a few days until the crisis is over. Be sure you have enough carriers for all your animals. Stockpile some pet food along with your food in case you have to shelter in place together.

If you evacuate ahead of time, be sure to take copies of important records, such as birth certificates, social security cards, drivers' licenses, prescriptions, insurance, etc. You'll need those numbers if something happens to your home or property. Go ahead and make copies now and keep them in a zip lock bag or something similarly waterproof and easy to carry.

Everyone in the family should have a contact number to call in case you get separated. One of my contact numbers for my family is my friend Jenn, who lives in New Jersey, several states away. She can act as our clearing house so we can let each other know we got out safely and where we are.

Finally, be a good neighbor. If you know that a neighbor or friend doesn't have a car, for instance, or has health problems, see if you can help your neighbor or friend get to safety while you're getting to safety yourself. Help that neighbor or friend stockpile his or her own disaster kit--pick up some extra peanut butter or an extra pouch of tuna when you go to the grocery store, an extra six-pack of bottled water.

And not to go all Mad Max on you, it's not a bad idea to be prepared to defend yourself and your neighbors from people who will try to take advantage of the crisis. I don't personally own a weapon, but I'm all for personal firearm ownership if you're responsible, careful and well-trained. A group of neighbors banding together with just a few personal weapons among them can keep a whole neighborhood safe from criminals.

I haven't covered everything you'll need for everything that might happen—it's impossible to prepare perfectly for any eventuality. But if you'll do the basics and, most importantly, if you'll maintain a survivor state of mind, you'll have a good chance of being the one still standing when the dust settles.

Here We Go Again

Hurricane Rita is ripping through the Gulf of Mexico. Last I heard, she was already approaching Category Four with miles and miles of warm Gulf water between her and land. Please, if you're on the eastern coast of Texas or anywhere on the coast of Louisiana, take this one seriously. So what if you evacuate and it's not as strong as expected? At least you're alive--better than the alternative.

Vicki Hinze is on top of Rita the way she was with Hurricane Katrina. Once Rita has hit and things settle down, if you can, please check her Hurricane Check-in site: http://www.itgirlsseries.com/hurricane.htm.

She's not posting anything on who's safely evacuated ahead of time to keep down the possibility of looting, but do be sure to check in afterwards if you're in the affected area so your fellow writers will know you're okay.

Be safe!

Hell's Belles a Top Pick!

My friend Kristen Robinette's new Harlequin Next! novel, HELL'S BELLES, is a Romantic Times top pick, with four and a half stars! Congratulations, Kris!

Trying to Catch Up

I guess my earlier promise to get back to a more normal blogging schedule fell by the wayside. It's easy to get out of the habit of doing things, and I have been a little busy, what with getting the book out to my editor and catching up on family stuff that fell by the wayside while I was doing that.

I'm giving myself a week or two to do nothing but read. I'm trying to concentrate on the newest Intrigues, both to reinforce in my mind what the line is looking for and because I love Intrigues in general.

Up first: RELENTLESS by Jan Hambright. The cover sucked me in—very eerie with a strong sense of foreboding. Also, this book is Jan's debut, so it should provide a good example of what sort of story Intrigue is buying these days.

Have I mentioned how much I like the new Intrigue covers? They've managed to hold onto the "brand" while opening up the cover art to new fonts, more mainstream visuals, more author branding (at least, for the bigger name authors) and a lot of focus on capturing the tone of the books. I'm eager to see what they come up with for FORBIDDEN TERRITORY.

All of the Harlequin/Silhouette lines seem to be going this direction with their covers. I think it's a very good move for the company.

The New Normal

I haven't forgotten the victims of Hurricane Katrina; on the contrary, my continued concern for people I personally know who are affected has kept me too busy to post to my blog. But as life is starting to go on for those affected, it goes on for me, so I'm going to try to get back to a more normal posting schedule. However, I've added Hurricane Katrina disaster relief links on the right side of this blog, so if you haven't given, or if you have a little extra when the bills are paid, please consider giving more.

Over the weekend, I finished the first draft of my revisions on my June 2006 Intrigue, and I also finished revisions of those revisions based on a friend's notes. Last night, I added a couple of things that I felt the book needed and now I'm just about ready to send it off to the editor eighteen days early.

Up next—a new project. I'm hoping to get the first draft finished by the time I hear back from my editor on another book she's considering as well as the revisions on the one she bought.

Never Forget

Four years ago today, nineteen terrorists killed 3,049 people in New York City, Washington D.C. and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Soon after, I channeled some of my feelings about that event into a piece of art I titled "Ghosts of Manhattan." On the fourth anniversary of 9/11, I thought I'd share it with you.

GHOSTS OF MANHATTAN

Relief Effort for the Soldiers

Suzanne McMinn points out a good cause to support during this time of crisis: Soldiers' Angels. Many in the military deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world have lost everything in the hurricane and aftermath. Consider giving to this fund that will directly help the men and women on the frontlines during this time of grave need.

Still More Katrina

Note—I'll be updating this post throughout the day as I uncover new information about relief efforts for those affected by Hurricane Katrina. Check back often.

Once again, Instapundit has the links.

al.com has also put together a list of links for relief efforts.

And don't forget the FEMA list I linked to yesterday.

A warning, by the way—e-mail scams have already begun. Just know that legitimate charitable organizations aren't e-mailing you to solicit your donation. Scammers can be very sophisticated, putting up what look like reputable websites for donation funds. Stick either with the charities you normally give to, the charities recommended by reputable organizations like FEMA, or help individuals that you personally know are affected by the devastation.

Speaking of which, I'm getting news trickling in about romance writers affected by the hurricane:

Writer Larissa Ione lost her home. Some friends have started a fund-raising drive for her: http://www.writemindedblog.com/?p=137 Please help if you can.

Delores Fossen was also affected by the hurricane and has asked for everyone's prayers.

Kelley St. John has family affected by the storm, but she's personally okay. She also mentions that in the Alabama town where she lives, the local school is opening their gym at night to the refugees so their kids can have somewhere to run and play. They're also giving them free admission to the high school football game over the weekend and free meals at the concession stand. It's a small thing, but sometimes in situations like this, those small things mean a lot to a family who's lost everything. If you have refugees in your area and you have contacts with schools or local governments, give someone a call and see if your town can't do a little extra to help out the affected people sheltering in your area.

Vicki Hinze has a Hurricane Check In page for writers in the affected areas. If you're in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana or Florida, drop her an e-mail so she can put your name on the list so others who might be worried about you will know you're safe.

I'm personally looking for information about my friend Giselle Carmichael, a writer who lives in Biloxi. If anyone has heard from her, please let me know. I'm worried about her.

UPDATE:

The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity is collecting eyeglasses and disposable contact lenses for people affected by the hurricane. You forget how every tiny part of a person's life is changed when disaster hits. This particular relief drive is a vivid reminder.

UPDATE TWO:

Following are a few news stories of interest:

The BIRMINGHAM NEWS is reporting that Jefferson County is opening up some hospital and nursing home facilities to take in refugees with medical problems.

There's also a B'HAM NEWS report on some Birmingham doctors helping a New Orleans hospital evacuate premature babies to Birmingham facilities.

Also, Gov. Bob Riley of Alabama is offering lodging at all 22 Alabama State Parks to refugees of the hurricane. Several of these parks have very nice, motel-like facilities as well as camping areas for people with access to that sort of gear. The linked press release tells people what to do to take advantage of this offer of temporary housing--basically, FEMA is coordinating the effort. I suspect this is going on in other states surrounding the affected areas.

UPDATE THREE:

National Review Online has good advice from Karen Woods of the Acton Institute about complex needs verses simple needs in a time of crisis.

UPDATE FOUR:

Don't forget the animals! Here are some links to organizations helping with pet rescue:

Humane Society
Houston SPCA
Humane Society of Northwest Louisiana
Noah's Wish

Plus, Petco stores are asking customers to round up their purchases to the nearest dollar, and all the extra money will go to the Petco Foundation to aid in their animal rescue efforts.

One organization I do not recommend sending any money to—ever— is PETA, for reasons I've outlined in the past.