Posted by: Author | October 21, 2010

Loving My Beta Reader

She is the best!  She’s always so enthusiastic about my stories.  I know she’s not just talking smack, too.  She is an avid romance reader and I know she’d tell me if I was on the wrong track.  She just finished Surfer Bride last night and thinks it’s great. 

I was a tad afraid that I made the villain too bad and that the reader would wonder what the heck the heroine was thinking, but my Beta reader says I made the gradual exposure of his evilness work. So, a big sigh of relief there.

She also found some boo-boos that I’ve fixed and I’m grateful for her.  I mistakenly called one of my characters by the wrong name and old eagle eyes, Margo, found it.  Thank God ’cause that  is one of my pet peeves when I’m reading a book. One NY Times  best selling writer that I adore does that at least once in every book.  So, I guess I’m in good company,  huh?

Hope to have this one ready to start submitting next week.  Wish me luck!

If you recall, my inspiration for this hero is Mark Strong.  I adore him but he always plays a bad guy.  Cynthia Eden and I were talking about him one day and  I said he was sexy and it was too bad no one had ever written a story with him as the hero.  Her response was, “you do it.”  So I did and I hope someone with an editorial eye likes it as much as my beta reader, Margo Columbus.

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Posted by: Author | October 20, 2010

Wordless Wednesday

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Posted by: Author | October 19, 2010

Angst Relieved

Was getting a tad angsty over Solo Honeymoon edits. Came real close this morning to emailing a friend of mine that writes for the same publisher. I have a January, 2011 release date and the publisher told me I’d get my edits about six weeks after I signed my contract.  I was getting anxious as it is now the middle of October and my control freak issues were starting to stress me out. So, I planned to email Laurie today and ask her if I was just freaking out too soon. 

Been crazy busy today in the day job and I hadn’t had a chance to email her. Well, I guess that’s good ’cause I just opened my inbox and lo and behold, there are my editorial comments and my edits.   So, weekend work, here I come! 

Those of you who are familiar with my psychic tendencies would say that I somehow knew it would be today!  LOL! 

AND Thank God, they catagorized it as a Mainstream Romance which was important to me.  They catagorized it as sensual and that fits, too.  AND they let me keep my title which was also a nice thing- as some of my writing buds will remember, the title for this one was up in the air for a very long time!

Crystal Ball

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Posted by: Author | October 17, 2010

Working on Edits and Thinking about NaNoWriMo

Am editing Surfer Bride and adding some more detail. I always go back and add additional information after I write “The End.”  I’m filling in stuff I knew I needed to go back and do.  Once that’s done, I’ll read it from beginning to end and tweak it one more time.  Then on to the beta reader in Memphis. Then it will be submission time.

Was thinking I would finish this particular manuscript after NaNoWriMo starts but now I realize I have 14 days to get ready for NaNo. I have my hero’s name and a few details about him in my head.  So, I’m going to work on a new WIP for NaNo. The working title is Obsession.  This one is going to be a biracial story. Wish me luck.  I may not get it done since I have edits also to work on for the two books I have coming out in 2011.

Here’s my inspiration for Sebastian, the  hero for the new WIP:

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Posted by: Author | October 16, 2010

The Vagaries of this Writing Thing

Got a rejection today from an agent that kind of cracked me up.  I pitched to her at RWA National Conference and I liked her but I told one of my friends that I felt like she wouldn’t “get me.”  Turns out I was right. The manuscript I pitched to her was one I’ve already had feedback on from two editors. One of them said she loved my sassy heroine and the international scope of my story but didn’t think the romantic element was strong enough (at the time, I didn’t realize this was code for “fix it and send it back”).  The other editor that saw it said she liked the heroine and the international setting but she wanted it longer. I added more to make it longer and it’s with her now on a resubmission.

Enter agent. Her letter said my heroine was unlikeable and she also hated the international setting.  Since the few people who have read this manuscript say my heroine is a lot like me, there ya go- I was right- this woman did not “get me.”

I think I’ll stick to the editors’ opinions. Aren’t they the ones that really matter, anyway?

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Posted by: Author | October 15, 2010

Friday Facts- October 15, 2010- Esther

Interesting tidbit about the Book of Esther in the Old Testament:  it is the only book of the Old Testament that doesn’t mention God. Bet ya didn’t know that one, now did ya? 

This book in the Bible deals with a  woman of  Jewish ethnicity that lived as a non-Jew.  She was married to King  Ahasuerus.  She learned of a plot by a prince name Haman to kill all the Jewish people in Persia over a perceived slight by one, who happened to be Esther’s cousin. When Esther told the King, he put a stop to it and decreed that the Jews could destroy those who had planned to destroy them. (this is a major paraphrasing of this book- I suggest a read of it as it is intriguing).

The day after the battle, there was a feast and that feast is the origin of the Purim Festival that is celebrated to this day. One of the the ways to celebrate is a recitation of the Book of Esther and a celebratory meal. The festival is also celebrated by giving charity to the poor. 

Esther as Painted by del Castagno 1423-1457

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Posted by: Author | October 14, 2010

New WIP and Soundtrack

As most of you know,  I make a soundtrack of the songs that inspire me or relate to the story I’m writing when I’m working on a manuscript. I made a new soundtrack on October 12. This will be the one for my NaNoWriMo novel this year. All I have so far is the name of the hero and a group of songs that I feel are related to what I want to do. Nothing is gelled yet but here are the songs.  And I do feel a little sad that there is no P!nk song as I usually have one of hers that fits what I’m mulling over.  I’ll spend the next couple of weeks with these songs on CD, my I-Pod and my computer. Immersion is the name of the game. Then the writing starts.

You and me, Alice Cooper; Standing at the End of the Line, Lobo; Misled, Kool &  The Gang; Kiss You All Over, Exile; Under Pressure, David Bowie and Queen; Every Time I Think of You,  The Babys; Stay With Me Tonight, Jeffrey Osborne;  Stop Your Sobbing, The Kinks; Candida, Tony Orlando and Dawn; West End Girls, Pet Shop Boys; Is She Really Going Out With Him, Joe Jackson; Just One Look, Doris Troy; Obsession, Animotion; I Need to Know, Marc Anthony.

He really is pretty cute!

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Posted by: Author | October 13, 2010

Wordless Wednesday

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Posted by: Author | October 12, 2010

One More Chapter to Go

and the first draft of Surfer Bride will be done. Geez, I hate to think about the second run through. The first draft is always a wild ride and I love to see where it takes me. The second draft is tedious.  I already have several places tagged to add detail, but I know it’s going to take a lot of time.   I definitely have to add more surfer lingo. It has some but needs more.

I wrote the penultimate chapter last night. The denouement if you will. It was so much fun. Makes me wonder sometimes if I’m a closet psychopath. I adore writing the evil antagonist. It is such a blast to have the spittle flying and the venom spewing.  I sit with a huge grin on my face when I write these guys. I’m thinking my next psycho will be a girl! That should really be a blast.

So, tonight is the wrap up chapter. All the crazy violence is over and now it’s time for some hot sex between the hero and heroine.

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Posted by: Author | October 10, 2010

Shocking Even Myself

I had a goal to hit 50,000 words on the WIP today. Since it was 10/10/10, thoughts of  nice round numbers danced in my head. Well, I amazed myself this time. I wrote 11,594 words  today and yeah, I couldn’t make myself do 6 more to even up to 11,600. Couldn’t do it.

But I’m proud to say, I have 57, 268 words so far in this manuscript. Once I finish the basic story, I’ll edit in probably another 20,000. I have, I think, one more scene in Chapter 14 to write and two more full chapters til I get to “the end.”  But I’m not sure. Since I’m a pantser, I have no idea. I first thought this story would have 12 chapters. Even as of last week, it was 12.  And, now, here I am nearing the end of Chapter 14 and I know there are at least 2 more. I believe 15 will be the denouement and 16 the aftermath.  That’s my story for today anyway. It could change tomorrow. I love to follow the rabbit trail. The things my characters do to amaze me never ceases to amuse me. And it all comes together in the end.

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