I'd Like to Thank the Academy...

Lots of great news for Southern Magic ladies over on the Romance Magicians blog--check it out!

Anybody heard the Daphne results?

They Held an RWA Conference in Atlanta...

...and I didn't get to go. Man, is it quiet around the romance writing side of the cybersphere or what?

All this downtime should be giving me the opportunity to finish up DEADLY ILLUSION. I'm on page 228 out of a projected 270, and I'm heading into the home stretch. But I still don't know how it's going to end! Yikes. And a variety of distractions (family stuff, recreational stuff, etc.) are conspiring to steal my focus away from the story.

One of the distractions involves a couple of feral kittens at my vet's office. Feral kittens don't fare well in the adoption market because of their behavior and they often end up euthanized. I have experience taming feral kittens, and I can't bear the thought of two little kittens getting killed just because nobody wanted to mess with them. But my mom is adamant—no more cats until the ones we have die off. I can't blame her—we have seven cats and have had as many as 12 at one time. However, I think I could handle fostering these kittens, taming them and then giving them back up to be adopted. I'm looking into the possibility.

So, did anyone else around here have to skip the RWA conference? Come commiserate with me.

Mmmm, Sexy....

Over on Romance Magicians today, Carla Swafford asks the age-old question: what makes a man sexy?

Go answer the question. You know you want to.

Prozac Soundtrack

I think I'm mentioned before that I usually make a compilation CD soundtrack for my books. I listen to it to get in the mood for the story and sometimes can even listen while writing, although I really have to be deep into a scene to make that work.

I was listening to my CD for DEADLY ILLUSION today and realized it's a real downer. Here's a list of the songs on it--feel free to Google the lyrics:

Hurt - Johnny Cash
Bring Me Down - Miranda Lambert
My Skin - Natalie Merchant
I Think It's Going to Rain Today - Randy Newman
Tonight I Wanna Cry - Keith Urban
Underneath the Same Moon - Blake Shelton
If Only For One Night - Luther Vandross
There's a Wall - Miranda Lambert
Real Emotional Girl - Randy Newman
Slow Like Honey - Fiona Apple
Walk on Water - Blue County
Goodbye Time - Blake Shelton
El Cerrito Place - Charlie Robison
Maybe - Alison Krauss
Breathe - Faith Hill
I'd Settle for a Slowdown - Dierks Bentley

I must be going through my blue period. ;)

It's really sort of weird, because my hero is a sarcastic smart mouth with some great one-liners. But all that humor hides a deeply wounded man, and that's where all the angst comes in.

When Characters Attack

Iris and Maddox are being naughty characters, throwing me curveballs I didn't expect. Now, the control freak in me feels like slapping them around and ordering them to behave the way I expected, but the adventurer in me kind of wants to see where their latest little rebellion takes me.

I guess that's the luxury of not being under contract--I have time to follow them down a few rabbit holes to see where they go.

Speaking of not being under contract, I have no idea if the customary rules about how long to wait to hear from an editor apply the same when you're published as when you're not. Because to me, two months on a full should be enough time to know whether or not you want to buy it, especially since you've already seen the partial and the synopsis. However, my editor may disagree.

Anybody have a clue how long I should wait before e-mailing my editor with a request for a status update?

Everything But the Kitchen Sink

Ever written one of those books where you throw in everything you've ever loved about a romance or mystery or both? I think the book I'm working on now, DEADLY ILLUSION, is turning out to be one of those for me. Here are just a few of my favorite story elements that I've managed to weave into this story so far:

1) International intrigue

2) Paranormal gifts

3) Rough, sarcastic bad boy hero with a vulnerable heart

4) Troubled heroine with a spine of steel and a big heart

5) A dangerous, enigmatic trickster character whose actions stir the plot

6) A shadow couple whose love shows the hero and heroine that the obstacles between them don't have to be insurmountable

7) A lush, exotic setting

8) The hero getting beat up and the heroine nursing him

9) Lots of snarky dialogue

10) A mysterious secret society whose motives are unclear

11) Alphabet soup (CIA, DSS, MSG, etc)

12) Did I mention the snarky dialogue?

I have no idea how this book will hold together when it's done, but it sure has been fun to write.

Today on Romance Magicians...

Today was my day to blog on Romance Magicians. So, of course, in keeping with my obsessive nature, the topic is Steve and Kayla from Days of Our Lives. Okay, so it's really about writing a strong, transcendent romance. Check it out!

And now, for a little eyecandy...Steve and Kayla then...


And now...


Still cute together after all these years.

Conference Info, Plus Some This and Some That

Southern Magic will be hosting a reader's luncheon in November. The keynote speaker is fan favorite Teresa Medeiros. Check out the post over on Romance Magicians for more details.

Still haven't caught up on my sleep, but I have worked through a twisted mess with my WIP. I needed to spread the scenes out over a longer period of time than I'd originally planned, and some of the scenes had to be reshuffled and put in a different order. I've ditched my new idea to kill of a character I liked, but I've decided to kill off a different character than I originally planned to kill off, so that's still a change. And the romance is making a much bigger impact in my WIP than my first drafts normally do—I think it's because I adore the hero in this one and can't imagine any woman being able to resist him for long. :)

Finally, just a reminder that while FORBIDDEN TERRITORY is no longer in most book stores, it's still available on Amazon.com and other online bookstores. Wouldn't it make a lovely birthday gift or Christmas gift? Hey—it's a spooky story, you could even buy it for Halloween.

:::yawwwwwwnnn:::

What is it about vacation that makes a normal person think that it's okay to try to exist on less than five hours of sleep a night? Do we really think we have to pack every free moment full of all the things we don't get to do when we're working eight hours a day?

Alas, vacation is over and now I'm having to get through eight hour workdays again without nodding off.

On the upside, the WIP is moving along nicely. My hero just got beat up--comfort schmoop coming! Well, after he works through the discovery that Iris can actually feel his pain--literally.

Still no word from the editor on Rose's story. I'm beginning to feel like a red-headed stepchild.

A Little Whine with that Cheese?

:: whine ::

My laptop is dying. Actually, I think the fan that cools the thing has stopped working, which means that I'm trying to limp along, running it for thirty minutes at a time (so it doesn't overheat) while I desperately burn essential files to CD, until I feel comfortable handing the baby over to someone to see if it can be salvaged.

It also means that I've suffered the cruel fate of being forced back downstairs to the dank, chilly basement den to work on my WIP. And this is my vacation, darn it! I was supposed to be able to lounge on my sofa, typing away on my trusty laptop all week. Not sit here in this uncomfortable desk chair, wearing a sweater in the middle of the freakin' summer, trying to carve a hole in the middle of my WIP because I realized I had enough stuff happening in the first day of my manuscript's timeline to fill a season of 24.

:: /whine ::

Quick--Need a Topic

Tomorrow's my day to blog on Romance Magicians and I'm drawing a blank. So come on, people--gimme some ideas! This is no time to go AWOL on me!

Well, That Was Quick

Wal-Mart is already taking FORBIDDEN TERRITORY off the shelves in my neck of the woods. But hey, you can still find it on Amazon.com. So if you haven't bought a copy, all is not lost! ;)

Today is my birthday. We won't discuss how old I am. I'm off work until after the 4th of July, which means I'm mostly sitting home gorging myself (metaphorically) on all those old Steve and Kayla clips I downloaded. Oh, and I somehow managed to eke out 6 pages on my WIP today, meeting my day's quota.

But if blogging is sporadic for the next few days, you'll know why.

Lost Weekend in Salem

I discovered the motherlode of old Steve and Kayla episode clips on a website called Devoted to Deveraux (referencing another Days of Our Lives character). They covered the Steve and Kayla storyline from the beginning through the early stages of the relationship. I'm talking about complete episodes (at least the Steve and Kayla portions), not just snippets. Needless to say, much downloading and watching ensued. I barely came away from my computer long enough to eat and go to the bathroom.

I would probably feel a lot more ashamed of myself if 1) the clips weren't sooooooo good and B) I hadn't written my targeted number of pages of my WIP over the weekend. But they were, and I did, and I even managed to write one page more than today's projected pages during my lunch hour. Which means I can go home this evening and watch more downloaded clips if I want to, with only that faint frisson of guilt that comes from knowing you are a pathetic fangeek.

One of these days, I'm going to write a scholarly treatise for my blog about the archetypal structure of the Steve and Kayla relationship. But that's several clip viewings down the road.

Stay tuned. ;)

Like Sands Through the Hourglass...

I'll admit it. I can be an obsessive TV fan. I don't mean just watching every episode of my favorite TV show. I mean frequenting message boards and forums. Subscribing to Usenet groups. Writing detailed episode reviews. Taping and rewatching episodes obsessively. Ferreting out every spoiler available. (You should have seen me during the X-Files heydey).

I've tried to wean myself off of that sort of single-mindedness. I love LOST, but I limit myself to watching all the episodes and watching out for spoilers and news. And, okay, I did join a Battlestar Galactica listserv, and I do own all the DVDs, but I don't write Helo-Boomer fanfic or anything.

My Days of Our Lives obsession--or more specifically, my Steve-and-Kayla obsession, circa 1986-1990--rivaled my X-Files passion, and that's saying a lot. Keep in mind, back in 1986, when it all started for me, the Internet wasn't an issue. I didn't even own a computer then. But I taped every episode of Days of Our Lives during the Steve and Kayla era. In fact, I still haven't completely forgiven my brother for taping a stupid pre-season NFL game over my tape of Kayla convincing Steve to let her take off his eye patch to clean his wounds after Victor Kiriakis's thugs beat him up and left him bleeding on the docks. (Ah, the memories).

Eventually, those characters left the show (Steve "died"--although a switcheroo with his casket after the funeral but before it was lowered into the grave gave us Steve and Kayla fans a small nugget of hope that one day, he'd return). The writing lost its luster and I lost interest in the show, although I sort of kept up with it because my mom still watched.

But a month ago, news broke. Steve and Kayla were coming back to Days of Our Lives. What happened next? I went out and bought that DVD recorder I'd been considering for over a year. And I just spent the morning (when, frankly, I should have been writing new pages on DEADLY ILLUSION) downloading and viewing vintage Days of Our Lives video clips featuring Steve and Kayla.

I am such a geek.

Gotta say, though. Seeing them back on Days has been a lot of fun. I'd forgotten how much chemistry they had with each other. For that matter, Stephen Nichols is one of those actors who seems to have great chemistry with almost anyone he works with on-screen. Reminds me of David Duchovny in that sense--a big part of Duchovny's appeal on the X-Files was that he managed to have really good chemistry with almost every actor he worked with on that show. Nichols is the same way. He zings with just about every actor he has scenes with. It's fun to watch.

I hope the younger actors on Days are watching closely. They could use the acting lessons.

Today on Romance Magicians...

Happy endings. Lots of questions posed, including why some people think that a happy ending disqualifies a story (and thus all romances) from being considered significant fiction. Go share your thoughts!

Mmm, American Men

eHarlequin has a big splash ad on their front page, with the question "Love American Men?" When you click through, there's a page with several books selected and the subhead: "If nothing makes your heart race faster than an all-American male, then these books are for you! This 4th of July, celebrate all that it means to be an American with these born-in-the-U.S.A. heroes!"

Guess which wet T-shirt wearin' hottie is one of the ones listed? :)

Yay for extra promotion!

Today on Romance Magicians

Today was my day to blog on Romance Magicians. The topic? Connected stories. Like 'em? Hate 'em? Go join the discussion.

Sudafed Hell

Yesterday morning, I took Sudafed for a sinus problem. Within 45 minutes, I had called the paramedics.

I had tachycardia and sporadic arrhythmia, plus strange, fluttering spasms in my chest and upper abdomen. The paramedics said that it didn't look like I was having a heart attack, especially since all my other vital signs were good, and that the fast heartbeat and occasional irregular beats were almost certainly caused by a reaction to the Sudafed. They suggested that I rest at home and see if the symptoms went away as the Sudafed metabolized in my system, with the understanding that I'd call them back immediately if it didn't get better.

When it did get better, it was sudden. One minute, I was still feeling the weird flutterings and my heart racing; within about six minutes, all the symptoms were gone and my heartrate was steady and normal.

Needless to say, it was a scary situation. So, moral of the story--no more Sudafed for me!

Just Another Sunday

I've been feeling depressed all day. I slept all morning, felt cruddy all afternoon. Couldn't quite figure out why I had a hot lump in my stomach all day.

Then I dropped by Miss Snark's blog and found this poem.

I ended up crying like a baby.

Four years ago this July 7th, my father died after lingering in the hospital for a week following a massive stroke. Today is Father's Day. Do the math.

I feel better after having a good cry, but it's kind of sobering to know that I'll never be completely all right again. There will probably be days like this throughout my life, when remembering my dad is gone hits me like a truck.

So do me a favor. If you still have your dad in your life, and he's ever done anything good for you--no matter how crazy he's made you at other times--give him a hug for me. I wish I could do the same. Even though he'd probably look at me like I was nuts.

Contest Kudos!

My friends Kelley St. John and Tracy Montoya both placed first in their respective categories in the First Coast Romance Writers' Published Beacon Awards. Way to go, ladies!

Congrats are also in order for my friends Danniele Worsham, who placed first in her category of the Lauries and Carla Swafford, who placed third in her category. Major kudos to you two as well!