So Excited!

Okay, the changes my agent asked for are not only making the manuscript better, they are kicking ass! Changing it from third person POV to first is making it pop and sparkle the way it never did before. Adding more angst and edge to the main character's persona is creating a vibrancy in a way I'd never imagined. The story was good before, but compared to this version it was flat. A mere shadow of what it could be and what it is now.

Can you tell I'm excited?

I have always loved revisions, but when they makes such a huge difference to the story, they're almost addictive. I should be working out, cleaning my house, driving my kids to the rink. Instead I am working on Lips, playing with this, changing that, adding the charged up sexual excitement you felt in highschool, but rarely acted on. Adding in some of the anger and mean that was also a big part of highschool. Anyone else dump perfume or shampoo on someone on the bus on their way to school? No? LOL. Ahem.

Anyway, back to work. And I am also managing to keep up with my nonfiction too, which is good cause I have nine assignments due in the next month.

What the?

Have you ever went on a diet and gained weight? I was steadily losing until I gained a pound yesterday and another pound today. I swear, I was almost suicidal until I looked at the date. Oh. Duh. That's why. I don't mind this though, because of the big loss it will take in a week or so. As long as I am faithful.

Writing wise, I got the notes from my agent about my proposal. Great ideas all, so now I am doing a rewrite of my previously rewritten and polished chapters... and they are ever so much better. That's probably why she's the agent, eh? I think her ideas are spot on.

Busy running day today, but luckily most of it should be done by three this afternoon. Then I can relax this evening.

I had this weird dream that I went to an animal shelter and my husband ended up asking if we could do foster care for two more dogs in our home. Gads. Just what we need. More animals.

The Insecure Writer

We all have em. Those little insecurities that plague us no matter what we do. Even the most innocent letter from our agent can take on double and triple meanings. I love the concept, am sending notes... can mean a billion things except, of course, I love the concept, am sending notes! HA! I even asked for input, so why am I paranoid? Because I am an insecure writer.

Some people are so insecure they won't even send their writing out. Some people won't even finish anything because they are so convinced their writing sucks. Writers who can't take critism are writers plagued by insecurities... even when they seem to have it all together. And it's too bad because such writers never grow.

I admit it, I am totally insecure about my writing. But not to the point that I won't finish or I won't take critism or won't turn it in. My desire to be a published author overcomes my insecurities.

That's why I am going to succeed while other, more talented writers will fail... pure, in your face, tenacity. The kind of strong teeth gritting will that made my parents crazy. It overcomes the insecurities.

Men are babies

My dh is sick. Now, I won't go into a blow by blow of what a baby he is when sick because I don't want to disrespect him like that. Suffice it to say that I had brain surgery, and a week in ICU and no one had to hand feed me when I got home. Unlike someone I know stricken with the flu. That's all I have to say about that.

My best friend is in Hawaii this week. So unfair. It's also pretty boring without her.

In spite of a sick dh and enormously busy babies, I am up to chapter eight on my edits of LIPs. It's going well, except I have some changes to make in their relationship... the tension is there, but it isn't feeling right to one of my CPs. So I have to figure a few things out and see what I can do. My agent still has the first three chapter so it's just a waiting game now. And speaking of my agent... she was a busy woman this week and made calls to five more publishers and sent it back out! So now we are up to ten publishers again. Just waiting for someone to bite. Someone has to bite, right?

sheese.

treading water

Busy busy busy

Articles. Editing. Driving.

Trying to lose a gazillion pounds before San Jose.

Will write soonest.

Sometimes I just do good work...

I managed to already polish off both articles I had to finish up this week. I LOVE that. Now the rest of the week can be low key plugging away. As a reward for getting them in early I was offered more articles. I took them. What can I say? Until I start selling some fiction I will remain an article slut.

Am busy today, but hope to get into Lips at some point. Am going to have the ice princess fitted with a custom dress for the upcoming season. Also have to get her to the rink to teach this afternoon. Child best get a move on her school or else she'll be staying up late tonight.

Ethan ran into some BS at work. Hate to tell him so young that is a part of life. He has a meeting with his boss on Friday. I gave him some pointers but can't fix it for him. He has to do it himself.

Back to Lips. Agent has first three chapters. We'll see. Gulp.

Mondays to do list

Ah, yes, it's that time again!

Write Potty Training Independence
Write Nuts and Bolts of toilet training
Get anecdotal Sources for Hormonally Speaking
Contact Mom of the month people
Send out questions for temporarily wihtout kids
Polish, revise and edit Lips
Do crits for Cp's
Get sources for Understanding the uterus.
Get sources for Fibromyalgia.
Write synopsis for Lips
Develop new YA idea


Going to be a fun week, eh? Add that to my regularly fun schedule of running the children all over creation and the fact that I am desperately trying to lose some weight and you have a woman living on the edge of sanity and reason.

WOOOHOOO!

My Writing Weaknesses

Okay, time to fess up. We all have em. Writing weakesses. My CP's, current and former, know what mine are. And they don't know how lucky they are they didn't get me six years ago. As one of those "non college going writers" (No, never been, don't really want to go, though it has crossed my mind) I am a bit weak on mechanics. Comma's confuse me, tenses befuddle me, and the thought of reading Strunk and White tortures me. I am big enough to confess this. I am MUCH, MUCH better. But some spellings will always slip my mind. It's like a missing synapse. For instance, how many times will I have to write nessesary or consicous before I just know what they are instead of having to stop to think.? By this time, I think never.

I actually got denied entrance into a YA Crit group when I started six years ago. Yeah, I can see why now. Six years of writing 9-14 articles a month can be quite the education. But fiction writing is vastly different and it has been a learning experience.

What else am I weak on? Patience. I have shot myself in the foot more than once because I am impatient. My tendency to jump the gun has cause me more humilation than I can count and yet I never seem to learn my lesson there. Perhaps its a sign of immaturity? Or a character flaw? This has impacted my career and my writing.

I have capital issues. I capitalize random letters in a sentence. I do it both printing and typing. No one knows why.

Speaking of typing, I don't know how to type the correct way. My fingers actually rest on the right keys, but I have to look most of the time cause I have an unruly left hand. It won't do anything right. I use two fingers on my left hand, the pointer and the middle finger. I will use the ring finger on occassion for the shift key. But mostly my right hand does all the work which is why it is aching right now. This typing style is also why I write fmaily that way and form (supposed to be from) Wierd.

I have dyscalcula and my daughter is dyslexic so I think I have some left/right brain issues going on. My son is a lefty but he does a lot of things with his right hand and I am a righty who does a lot of things with her left hand. (I find brain stuff like this fascinating)

I have more weaknesses, but my weird brained kids need to get to the rink. Ice princess has to practice for an hour and then teach for two and my son has to work all day. Which means Mommy gets some quality alone time with the keyboard! YAY!

What are your writing weaknesses?

WOOHOO!

I am done with the rough of READ MY LIPS!

A whole weeks and a half after Gena finished hers, but better late than never is certainly apt in this case:) Now I get to the fun! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

What's New In Teri's World

French Press Coffee

Lurve this stuff. Really. Am so addicted. I remember a long time ago I used to be satisfied with Folgers or MJB or brands like that. My mom and dad switched to newly ground coffees as soon as it came out, but I turned up my nose. The expense! As a new mom I drank far too much coffee to get started on that stuff. Even if it did taste better. Ridiculously better. Then I got a grinder from Christmas and that was all she wrote. Starbucks on every street corner didn't help either. Then someone gave me a french press. I disdained it for a year. Then I tried it. Oh.My.Gawd. Now they are all I drink. Problem is that it takes roughly half the amount of a full pot to make one lucious cup. Pretty soon I'll just be sitting at my desk eating the beans.


A Gardener

Ab finally broke down and decided to hire us someone for the yard... not full time, just someone to take care of the grass, rake up and cut down the slimy plants I should have cut down last year. Cause he has realized that I. Am. Just. Not. Going. To. Get. To. It.

When we first moved here I wasn't writing full time and I put in about 15 flower beds. Actually they were here and I expanded. Now I drive and write and that is the sum total of what I can handle. Oh, and the occasionally hot and sweaty bonus to keep him happy. But really, that's all I can do. No more garden calendar. No more pouring over the catalogues planning for the spring. I think he misses that in me like he misses banana bread and homemade cake. Not gonna happen, Mister. You're lucky to get the hot and sweaty bonus. So he hired someone to make it look reasonable again. God bless him.

Conferences

Ab has also realized that just like the tides, his wife now gets to abscendate herself from the fmaily on the occasional business trip called the writing conference. Am going to both San Jose this year and Emerald City. YAY me! One in the fall and one in the spring. If I could go to nationals I will. But Alas, the chances of me finalling in the YA cat is slim to none so I won't even consider it. Way too much money and too much time away from home. How would the children get around for that long?

A Bloody Eye

Started this weird veiny bleeding thing yesterday. Children told me to go to the doctor. But will they give me good drugs? Probably not. Then eh. Whatevah. Though I did wake up with a headache this morning. Hate that. I keep thinking that maybe my pituitary gland is dying from all the radiation leveled at it and this is a symptom. I'd rather bury my eye, er, head in the sand.

So what's new in your world?

Not Quite Done, But...

Getting there.

I won't even go over how many times I had to run to the ice rink yesterday. No way would I get any writing done on the last couple of chapters so I sat down with some of my Cp's crits and went at it. Good comments by all and the first three chapters are now very, very clean and ready to go. Really wish I could just finish it. But alas, I have a ton of nonfiction things to do. I hope to start that last chapter today, wish me luck.

Revising the finished product is actually the part of the process I enjoy most about writing. Gathering enough clay to work with is hard for me, but once I have enough clay to make a ball, watch out! I can shape it and pull it and dig my fingers into it. The best fun. And sometimes, like yesterday, I can't wait till I finish to start playing with it.

She passed!

Not much on the writing front yesterday as I was busy with the test session at our rink. Not only was my dd testing, but I am the vice president of one of the local clubs so I had to be there to help out.

The levels go: Pre preliminary, preliminary, pre juvenile, juvenile, intermediate, novice, junior, senior.

The senior level girls skate in the olympics and at nationals. Actually the novice and juniors do too,(nationals) but you never see them on TV.

For each level you have to pass the move in the field, like figures in the ice, and a freskate, which is a program so they can check out your jumps and spins and spirals. You can take and pass as many moves in the field tests as you like, but you have to pass that level's freeskate before you are offically at that level. Which is why my baby is in the Intermediate level but passed her novice moves on the first try! Like hardly anyone passes them on their first try! She almost fell apart from the nerves, but held it together and passed. Whew! That's done. Only two more moves tests to get through. Now on those free skates....


Today I write!

You Play You Pay

Shooting pains in first two fingers of right hand. Ooops. Guess I typed and clicked too much the last two weeks.

Good news is...I finished chapter twelve and started on thirteen. I am a bit behind word count so I am going to need two big chapters, but I have some layering to do too.

Bad news is... it almost crippled me. Hee.

I also have an article due today so the crippling matters not. I have to continue.

I also have a germ of an idea for the next one. Will play with it to see if it turns out right.

One Lousy Scene

That's all I did yestersay. I cleaned my house instead and it was good.

Still struggling with the her mom or mom POV thing. I am leaning towards her mom. The other way just sounds weird. I will try to stay in deep pov for everything else, lots of brisk internals, lots of physical emotional clues, etc., but that just irritates me. If an editor wants it changed, I'll change it. At least, I think that is what I am going with now. LOL.

I should get a lot of writing done today. Kids will be gone a good portion of it. Have a couple of crits to get to as well.

Maybe a nap? No, no nap!

UPDATE:

Finished chapter eleven. It was a short chapter, but it brings me one step closer to being finished!

Chapter ten is done

I took a break yesterday because I needed to analize what has happened and what needs to happen in the last 4 chapters. The muddy middle people call it, except it really isn't the middle. The last quarter is what I always have trouble with.

What needs to happen to tie up all the loose ends? How happy does my character have to be to fool people into thinking things have been resolved so that when she gets her black moment it seems really black. Especially when it's only a false black moment and things get even worse.

Then the resolution. The end sort of scares me. It's where the building blocks of a good story come in. If you did it right it won't fall apart at the end, but come together in a nice tidy manner.

Also, I am have a small problem with distancing. One of my CP's says that when I use her mother, such as, her mom grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down at the table, it is distancing. For deep POV it should be, Mom grabbed a cup of coffee and sat at the table.

??? That sounds first personish to me. I want to be deep... I want as great a connection I can get.

Comments?

Yeah. Uh huh.

Couldn't finish the chapter today. I had so much running around to do. But I did manage to add 18 pages.

I have over 32,000 words.

I rock.

I'm gonna try

Wish me luck.

Pumped out another chapter. Seventeen pages. I am on chapter ten.

Also managed a 3 page article so am feeling pretty good.

Too tired.

Thanks for all the encouragement.

She Won!

Gena Showalter has a proved herself the better alien, err woman, and finished her YA rough draft before I finished mine. By how much? Let's just say by a lot. I averaged 20 pages a day for the five days. I just can't do more than that.

So the question now becomes... should I stop the insanity and save my arm and family life? Or should I push for five more days and finish the rough draft of my book? I have five chapters left. Or there abouts. I have a lot of work coming down the pike, but I can actually manage it. Hmmmm.
What should I do?

Stop the Insanity!

I managed 24 pages yesterday and 13 so far today. I noticed that Ms. Showalter hasn't announced her win yet, but I expect her to tomorrow. Heck, I'm almost hoping she does so I can stop! Until then I am stuck, forging ahead exploring new reaches of exhaustion, insanity and carpal tunnel.

My muse on the otherhand is a whirling dirvish of energy and light. I havn't paid her this much concentrated attention since my last attempt at nano.

Eating Gena's Dust.

No, I am not admiting defeat.

I did manage to polish off two articles this morning and turn them in a day early, much to my editor's delight.

Now I can work round the clock!

But she's definitely ahead of me. But I did manage another chapter today. Unfortunately, it was a short one. Only sixteen pages. But I did have the two and three page articles to do ahead of that so I think I did great.

Basically, I have written four chapters in four days. And even if I am eating Gena's dust... that is phenomenal.

Still writing.

Rachel, root for both of us. We are both winners here.

(spoken like someone who knows she's going to lose!)

Heading Around the First Bend

I think she be a wee bit ahead. Ahem.

But I won't give up. I won't think about the three assignments that my children need correcting before they turn them in. I won't think of the four articles I have due by Tuesday, nor the floor that needs mopping.
Must. Beat. Gena. Showalter.

UPDATE

Am delirious. Just finished another 20 pages. That is 56 pages in three days and three chapters. My family is about to disown me and I have three articles due Monday. Tomorrow I can't allow myself to write on lips until I finish the articles.

Then I am back at it.

Be afraid, Gena. Be very afraid.

And the Race Begins!

Since the lovely Ms. Showalter writes out her first drafts by hand, (I knew she was a Goddess among writers) there is no way to truly figure out who's ahead. Not until she finishes it and types it out. And no one knows if her chapters are as long as my chapters. But I am racing anyway! So yesterday page count for me:

20 Pages!

I did all of chapter four and a couple of pages of chapter five.

Gena goodnaturedly agreed to the race and very graciously told me she was busy this weekend and wouldn't be able to write much. So she's either being sweet or it's a diabolical plan for me to be put off my guard.

Hey, whatever motivates me to write, eh?

Racing Gena Showalter

It's on!

She has done the rough draft of three chapters of her new YA and I have done the rough draft of my first three chapters. Of course, she did hers in like two days and it took me about two and a half weeks to get mine done, but no matter! I threw the gauntlet down! (And my back out) Of course, I will no doubt be thrown out of the qualifying round by tomorrow, but a girl can dream, right?

Now to figure out how to get my articles done!

And life and work go on

My CP group will be shutting down at the end of the month. Now, I credit this group with being partially responsible for obtaining an agent. I knew very little about novel craft before I joined. If you needed a fluffy nonfiction piece, I'm your girl. But in spite of having had written a YA book six years ago and a chick lit book two years ago, I knew nothing on how to do it. This group generously gave of their knowlege and time and as a result I was the first one to score an agent among these incredibly talented women. Not exactly fair, but the business isn't exactly fair. Who among you has read books riddled in adverbs, clunky dialogue or pages of internalization? Right place, right time, right editor has tons to do with being published or not and all the little rules we writers create to make sense of a business that seems to break all the rules, just fly out the window.

But stuff happens and the crit group will be shutting it's doors. The list owner found herself critting too much of other people's work and not doing her own work. A hazard to be sure. Luckily, I have formed a fabulous partnership with a new CP and I think a couple of surprise CP's and I will also form a small group. I like the idea of small. Having just went through GH madness in which everyone was trying to get entries ready and screaming for crits, I have decided that seven is just too many for one group.

I have been on many lists since I got online eight years ago and I have discovered a few things as I watched lists, both big and small, of women writers fall apart.

• Women can be warm and wonderful and giving. They can also be vicious.
• With every step in your career you are going to lose a few people who you thought were friends but really aren't. (I have watched too many women writers deal with this not to believe it)
• Most lists implode. I was on a list of about 1500 of the most wonderful women I had ever met. We had parties, reunions, give aways, you name it. Then the actions of one person backfired and the whole thing was gone.
• Bitchiness happens. Women are hormonal. I have snarked and been snarked at. But honestly, though I have been on a number of lists, I have been attacked out of left field only twice but I have seen it happen more times then that. In one of those cases the writer later apologised. Said it really had nothing to do with me, she was lashing out at my client, her former client. I'm still waiting for the other apology.
• Some women can have disagreements with maturity and grace. Some feel it is a personal afront if you don't have the same opinion.
• Christian bashing is alive and well on lists, as in, this one Christian did such and such to me, therefore you are all bad.
• Did I mention how kind and giving women can be on lists? Did I mention how mean they can be?

Later, I may post on how to recover from list implosion or being flamed. Maybe there should be a 12 step recovery program! Snort.

"DUH"!

Having your own young adults in the house is interesting, isn't it? No matter how mature and caring they are, they just have their DUH moments.

How many times does my oldest have to say "whateva" to my husband and watch him explode before he gets a clue? DUH!

How many times does my youngest have to pull weeds and then say, "But I didn't know you wanted me to pick the piles up and put them in the recycler!" DUH!

Or how about my personal favorite, "I didn't know when you said do the dishes you meant I had to wipe the counters too." DUH!

That could also work for, "I didn't know that cleaning the bathroom meant doing the sinks. Or that cleaning my bedroom meant making my bed, or cleaning the living room meant putting away the CD's/Dvd's!"

DUH! DUH! DUH!

Or how about, "I didn't know that fighting with my YA writing mother meant she would be running to her notepad to take notes during an argument!"



DUH!

When the week ends

I learned a long time ago that in the writing world, at least my writing world, the week doesn't end just because Friday has arrived. Instead of being disgruntled about that, I find it rather comforting. Because the three things left on my weekly to do list could possibly get done by the end of tomorrow. Maybe.

Let's see what I have. Find sources for bedwetting activities. I found one. Does that count? I am supposed to have two, so probably not. I haven't sent questions for the crying solution because I am waiting for the book. Hopefully it will be here today.

But the biggy though-- I haven't finished chapter three. After staring at a blank page for half a day, I managed to write seven pages yesterday. Because of my nonfiction work, I rarely write more than then a chapter in a week, if that. I need to ramp it up. I need to pull a Gena Showalter or something. A chapter a day. As if. My arm would fall off.
So today my goal is to do another 7 pages, which would pull me in close enough to finish it tomorrow, (which is still a part of the week, dontcha know) and finish off an article so I can invoice. Tomorrow... write and edit, baby, write and edit. Maybe even get chapter two to my fabulously cool and talented CP.

Oh wait. Tomorrow is chapter meeting. Okay. That's it. I have to finish today. Gads. Oh no... I have a doctor appointment today! (Much cursing and ranting ensues) I'm fine. I'm good.
Must run.

Passes and work space

Got a couple of passes, but they are the kind of passes that hurt so good. One editor liked it so much she took it to her editorial director who passed and another one passed because it wasn't right for their line, but she would be glad to see anything else by this author. Since it's an editor I would love to work with, that's not so bad. Not bad at all:)

Had another difficult time starting a new chapter. Have decided to do some plotting exercises to get a better grip on where the books going. I am more in touch with my characters now, so it should be easier. I did get the working first line of the third chapter which is important if I am going to finish it this week!

"You are not following me to the football game and I am NOT wearing too much eyeliner!" (said to parents) Hey, give me a break. At least it isn't a white page anymore.

The above is my work space. The color and the dark wood floors are new from last summer.

Progress

My to do list is scary this week. And as it's weds I'd best get started.

I did finish chapter 2 on lips! YEAH! I have a bunch of revising to do but may set it aside in order to move onto three cause I that was on my list too. I usually don't write that fast, but I am really wanting to push this one to the end. Also, just because I am stoopid, I took another article due the fourth week of Feb. That makes, um, five that week. I must be nuts.

I managed to knock off another entry for a contest I am judging. I was going to do another one, but the first sentence was so adjective laden and full of word pictures that my head actually blew up and I had to put it back together again. After that I was ready to go to bed. Putting your head back together is hard work.

I have about a gazillion sources to contact and send interview questions to. I would love to get one of those articles knocked out this week to take some of the pressure off. I also have to crit my Cp's third chapter.

Hmmmm. I think I liked it better when I was talking about how I finished chapter two instead of dwelling about what I have yet to get done.

My Baby is 15

Years ago I had a fuzzy headed baby that we called the chicken. Now we call her the May May. She is by turns incredibly sweet and thoughtful and yet amazingly self centered in the way teen girls who are exceptionally lovely can be. (Daddy's fault!) She's turned into a capable, talented, passionate young woman. She is loving and kind, artistic and focused and raucously funny.

She loves figure skating, her friends, cats and dogs, the mall, cleaning (Oh yeah!) organizing, throwing parties, cooking, Audrey Hepburn, drawing, eyeliner, Lucille Ball, and Usher.

She loves her mom and dad passionately and her year older big brother, tolerably.

She hates spiders, pants that are too short, Thai food, yelling, boys who wear their hair too long, people who tuck shirts into sweats, old cars, waiting in line, being rushed, and movies with sex.

Oh, and she recently discovered boys and the boys have discovered her. (Hockey players! ACK!)

I love her just as she is.

She also hates getting up in the morning. Which makes it hard to be a figure skater.

Her favorite movies are Legally Blonde, Breakfast at Tiffanys, Oklahoma, State Fair, Little Women, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Fried Green Tomatoes.

Her favorite TV shows are Gilmore Girls, American Idol, Seventh Heaven, Desperate Housewives and Grays Anatomy.

Her favorite color? Pink! Though she had been moving more towards and array of beiges and browns.

Happy Birthday Baby! Mommy loves you forever!

Monday Madness

No, my madness isn't due to the fact that I have a bunch of places to go today. It has everything to do with a series of shady calls at the super bowl yesterday. Now I had fun at the party, but the funky calls sorta ruined it for me. Now we probably wouldn't have won anyway, but I felt incredibly sorry for all the fans that spent thousands traveling to that thing. And I felt sorry for my 16 year old son, but we drowned our sorrows in rootbeer floats and a game of Sorry.

Enough about football. Season's over.

Lips is going well... I wrote about a 1000 words on it yesterday before the game. I finally figured out where I wanted to start the second chapter and once I did that, things started falling together. So I have to ask... does anyone else have trouble getting into the next chapter? Sometimes I want to have the next chapter start right after the previous chapter. Sometimes it has to. Other times it doesn't and you are wondering where to begin... just before the action starts? Do you have to kind of allude at least to how you got from point A to point B? For instance, my first chapter ends at a hook just before the family is supposed to have dinner. Chapter two starts with her being stuffed from dinner. So you know she ate, but I didn't have to write what would essentially be a boring family dinner. Enlivened by the hook, but basically a time and word waster. I have to watch that cause I only have about 45,000 words to play with.

Another question. How do you write about the passage of time? I have a friend who is writing some short cats. She has between 45 and 50 thousand words. To grow a heart thumping romance. Now most people aren't going to believe that true love happens in a week or two, so she has to move time along without gaps in the sotry. Without people wondering... how the heck did that happen? I have thought about trying some of those myself, but the time thing throws me off a bit.

Today will be a good day. Work on nonfiction a bit. Fiction a lot. Crit my Cp's chapter. Judge another entry or two. I have basically nothing to do today except to get my daughter from the rink. She spent the night with a skate friend last night so I just have to pick her up. Later!

Not a bad week a'tall

Not too bad writing wise. Finished the first chapter of Lips and have already edited it a couple of time. It is out with my CP right now so will no doubt edit it one more time. Depending on what they think. I had a couple of transition issues. We'll see. I hope to write one article and another chapter over the weekend. Again, we'll see!

Picked up several more nonfiction assignments this week which is super good. They keep my daughte ron the ice and if she quits skating will buy me a new car. Snort. Unfortunately, they are all on incontinence. Don't ask. They pay. And who knows, maybe they will help someone. I love getting feedback on how something I wrote helped someone. I remember one article I wrote for Baby Years magazine on Plagiocephaly (flat head) and an issue later a woman wrote in telling how she would have never thought anything about it if she hadn't read the article, but her baby was diagnosed with it. WOW. I helped. So I try to think of all my articles that way even if I don't particularly want to write them.

We have a serious storm headed our way. The coast is supposed to get gusts up to 100 mphs and inland in the willamette Valley are supposed to get sustained winds of 45-50 with gusts up to 60. And I am supposed to be out and about in it. Yay.

Writer's Exhaustion

Have you ever just wanted to write and write and write. Beyond reason?

I started this morning writing longhand which I haven't done in ages. I mean, I plot and take notes, but I don't write actual scenes. This morning, looking at another hour and a half at the rink, I decided to go for it. I read a couple of pages of my manuscript to where I'd left off. When I got to the rink I sat down with a yellow pad and wrote two pages... and that was with interruptions. Came home, worked on some nonfiction stuff and started in. I had a bunch of other errands to run including three more trips to the rink, but every spare minute I ran back to the computer and wrote. once the kids were at work I had several solid hours to work. Not that I work without stopping. Sometimes when I write I type a few sentences or a paragraph and then get up and wander around for a minute. Put in a load of laundry, wipe down the counters or something like that. then I come back and write a bit more. Sometimes I do write an uninterupted page or two, but I usually get up and do something while my mind works out the next scene. Does anyone else do that?

Now, I am tired... I have had several nights of little sleep and should be in bed... but I want to write. I have a few more ideas and would love to finish chapter one. I have written sixteen pages in the last two days and think I have a couple more till the end... I want to do it! But would also love sleep. Mmmmm. Sleep.

I'll tell you which won tomorrow.

The problem with plotting

I'm so glad that different people plot in different ways. I struggled with plotting the first skate book, probably because it was fairly new to me. My other two books were done completely on the spur of the moment. Ha!That's probably why they were crap! Colorless was fairly easy to plot, but of course, we all know what happened with that one. But this one is being weird. The first four chapters were easy to plot out. I sat down with my little 3x5 cards and scribbled away, inspiration flowing through my fingertips. Then I reached chapter five and it all just... stopped. I have bits and pieces, but nothing coming together into a cohesive whole. Ideas I have. Plot...not so much. So I decided to go ahead and start writing today. Sometimes it takes a few chapters to really get to know the characters. Again I struggled with what POV I should write in? First or third POV? I decided on first.

Firmly.

That lasted the first page and a half and I went back and changed it to third. Sorry, I just can't do it. I enjoy reading it, I just can't write it. It feels all... wrong!

After that it really seemed to go pretty well. I'm on page six and hope to make eight tonight. I like it so far. I think I might really like this girl. She's gutsy. But then, she's deaf. She'd have to be.

I love starting a new book. The possibilities are endless! So exciting!

New Concept, New Title, New CP!

What a change... from last Friday's disappointment and resulting hoohaw with my CP's, to today's resolve and productivity.

First, my new concept is actually a shift from my old concept. I got some great feedback from my fabulous agent and I am dropping the paranormal aspect completely. It will still be about a deaf girl, but no ghosts. SOOOOO Dead Teens Talking won't work anymore! LOL My new title:

READ MY LIPS!

The next awesome thing is that even though neither one of us were really looking for a new CP, Shannon Mckeldon and I have decided that we just work too well together not to give it a shot. Remember me blogging about the brainstorming session we had? That seems to be the norm with us! Plus we are at the same place in our lives and our careers. Well, no, not really, she is contracted and has a book, Venus Envy, coming out soon. But I am hoping to catch up with her soon!

So onward and upward! Full speed ahead!

Strangly Relieved

Okay, the bad news. For several reasons, my agent doesn't want me to pursue Colorless in it's current state. SO I am shelving it for now, though I do think that I can rework it and it would be perfect... they are sending a sheet of notes.
I was pretty crushed at the time, but have snapped out of it. I tend to do that... get real emotional about things right after it happens and come out of it later with a renewed perspective. But I can tell you that I will never, ever, send another email out of emotion! HA! Some lessons come hard.

On the good news front they really liked the idea of Dead Teens Talking. Sure, the one I have written nothing on! They are sending notes on DTT.

I think the relief comes from not being in limbo anymore. It's very strange after working on a novel for so long, then working on a proposal and then sitting around with nothing to do but wait. Makes people crazy. You don't really want to start on anything else until you get some direction. Granted, I am not going to let my agent dictate everything, but, let's face it, when you have one of the best in the business with a reputation for building good careers for her authors, you wanna wait for her input!

So right now I feel relieved. I wait for notes, do some brainstorming and start writing! Direction! Purpose! YAY!

Aw, shucks!

Thanks for the love people, but I wasn't whining:) I was stating the factual. This is a blog of whining, joy, honesty, thoughtfulness and the occasional deep moments.

I just meant if yall want deep on a regular basis there are better blogs to be frequenting!

Sometimes all I have to talk about is driving my life away (wasn't there a song like that?) and stepping in dog doo. (Don't ask:)

Happy weekend!

What's it all about?

For those of you who know me (and are still reading me,) they recognise that there comes a time when I ask, "What's it all about?"

This is my fourth blog. The first one was the HUMOROUS TUMOROUS, a log of dealing with my brain tumor and the resulting radiation. There were times during that blog that I was at my caustic, humorous best, but I was being NUKED for crying out loud and people will forgive a lady with a brain tumor just about anything.

Then I became the MAD MOMWRITER . I morphed out of my tumor phase and into my pretty darn pissed, off crazy stage. During that blog, I tried without success to make myself seem crazier, zanier and more upper class than I actually was. I also drank a lot during that blog... but it had a certain cache.

I was inspired during that phase to lose a bunch of weight because I wanted to be a real winner, dontchya know, and had a secret blog called WORKING AT SLIM. I only shared that with a bunch of other crazy people who had nothing better to do all day except obsess over calories, carbs and other off limit treats. I was really pathetic... though even now I wish I had kept it up. I lost forty pounds, for heaven's sake.

Now I am MARTINIS, MOTHERHOOD AND MAYHEM. (Boy, can I relate.) This blog was supposed to be more serious...more about my fiction career, writing and the publishing world in general. Except I have found that other people do it so much better. Diana Peterfreund, for one. Intellegence and serious literary thought are her hallmark. I always come away from her sensitive, thought provoking posts on literature feeling like a Clampett. "Sure baby, bring me another beer and pass me them thar peanuts will ya?" Rachel from Work in Progress is another one. (What's she doing? She's plotting? For how long? What the heck is that all about?) One of my crit partners, an amazingly talented writer is all stuck on the theme. Theme? What the hells a theme? Isn't that the thing that so confused me in highschool that it made a voracious reader like me, skip literature class to go have a smoke? (Am I revealing too much here?) (And for your information I quit seven years ago and was rewarded with a brain tumor, thank you very much) What do you mean I can't read ahead... what the heck is a lit class for except to read?

But I digress. Ahem.

So I guess I am here for the support. I want to be able to say, "this sucks, I suck" and have a bunch of people say, "no, you don't, this is just a part of the process." (Though for all you people know, I might really suck! Snort) I want to whine and gloat and whimper and roar and snivel and beam. I want to be understood. I want to vent to people who get it. I want to read about other people whining and waiting, even Rachel and Diana, who are so much smarter than I, have to whine and wait. Maybe being a writer is the great equalizer. We all must whine and wait. No matter talented we are or aren't.

As my friend Linda says, "Thanks for playing."

Feel our pain

First novels.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. That's the advice I should be giving my friend Rachel today. She, like me and many other authors who's first book is making the rounds of editors, is waiting by her phone praying for the phone call. (I know that is grammatically wrong, but I haven't had enough coffee to know how to fix it. You can tell me if you like....) It's all so close. You hear of other people who only had an agent for a couple of weeks before they sold and why aren't you selling? Inside you know why. The agent made a mistake. Everyone made a mistake... you really do suck. It's the secret no one is telling you.

Why do writers do this to themselves? How do you know you are good enough? Is it the worst with your first book? I am hoping that I am so busy working on the next novel that I don't feel this way each and every time. Right now I feel kind of loose and unfocused.

I need my agent to call me.

So like Rachel... I just wait for a phone call.

Happy Monday everyone!

It's a good Monday for me!

My Dh and son have taken off for a fishing expedition and won't be back until Weds! That means the ice princess and I will have plenty of time to live in a clean house, eat out if we want and not have our leftovers disappear and generally just be girls. What a nice little break. And since he is gone for the actual day I won't have to listen to the same, "But it's my birthday," BS that I give him on my birthday! HA!

Still waiting to hear from the agent concerning Colorless. Still waiting to hear if I sold my book.

I only have a couple articles to crank out this week and one symnopsis to write... so I guess I will be taking care of some house business that has been neglected since September. Gah. I just can't keep up with everything. Especially when I spend some much time poking around the computer playing and blogging.

WOOOOOOHOOOOOO!

Go Seahawks, NFC Champions!


We heading to Detroit, Baby!

(Strange how much I care after 3 Fat Tire Ales and a half a pound of peanuts!)

No Stress

My agent didn't not like it, she hadn't read it yet.

WHEW!

She mentioned she was going to read it over the long weekend and when I didn't hear from her... Well, being an insecure writer, I assumed she hated it and was trying to find a way to break it to me. Gah. How stupid can I be? So I get this email yesterday afternoon saying it was a crazy week and she would be in touch next week. WHAT DID THAT MEAN! She didn't say she loved it, just that she would be in touch... we would talk about it.

No no no no no. No way was I going to go through the weekend with that on my chest. Forget it! So I called her.

She just hadn't read it. We both laughed. Luckily, she knows what writers are like and no doubt dealt with this many times. Now I have to promise myself not to call for a long time because I don't want to be a troublesome client. I just want to be a selling client.

I have another article to get out and then will work on the rough synopsis of my new DTT.

I wonder if there is any profession that has been impacted by the Internet as writers have. Think about it. Beyond giving us another medium in which to ply our craft, we have support never before imagined. It used to be a pretty solitary profession. Now we talk with other writers on a daily basis. We bounce ideas off one another, learn from one another and network. Communication that used to take weeks now takes months. I don't think I could have been a working writer without the Internet. I mean, really, I hated the post office. I know what people say, well maybe you just didn't want it enough. Well, maybe they'd be right. But so much for the writer back then was trail and error. Getting writer's books and hoping they would steer you right. I remember... I tried it. Oh and writing on the typwriter. ARG! Not that I didn't adore my typwriter. He was fabulous. I even had a name for him. Herman. He boasted a small screen and erase tape. But he was still a pain in the arse compared to Peter. (My computer)

Because of the Internet I am a contributing editor for a national magazine and website. Because of the Internet I have an agent. And because of the Internet I have a huge support system. Viva Le Internet!

Ideas, Ideas and More Ideas

Sometimes book ideas take time to grow and mature and other times they just pop up out of nowhere. Rink Rats was a natural because I am at the rink so much. I watch all these young girls maturing in both their skating and their persons and I thought, this is a perfect backdrop for a story. Some take much longer.

Take Colorless for instance. I thought of the concept of colorless three or four years ago, but in a short story format. A very pale teen girl has friends who are Latina and Asian and feels colorless, both physically and culturally. I could never find a suitable conflict for her that would promote change so I left it... but it never went away. I was at a very different place in my career and just wanted to get my nonfiction going. Well, in this last year when I started writing YA in earnest, the idea came back to me. The market place is very different and all of a sudden paranormal was mainstream and time travel normal. That's when it hit me... she could time travel and learn about her own culture and voila! The book was born. It wasn't until I was in the act of writing the first chapter that another aspect of the plot leapt into my mind and added an extra dimension to the book that I think rounds out the entire book and makes it so much more fun. The idea took four years to mature and ripen.

Now with Dead Teens Talking, (working title only) my latest idea, I started with a character. I knew I wanted to do a book about an oral deaf girl. That means one who doesn't know sign language. My neice is profoundly deaf and is completely oral. She reads lips and uses what residual hearing she gets from her hearing aids to see what you are saying and then speaks. Quite well, actually. But I knew that if I had a deaf protagonist, my story better be smoking or people wouldn't be interested. Within the last week a story developed and with several emails to Shannon Mckeldon, it became more well rounded with some fab plot ideas.

Then she told me about a chick lit idea that she just thought of. A couple ideas came to my mind concerning hers and now she is having to write them all down before she forgets... Now her plot is forming and taking shape. Then bouncing off of her chick lit idea, I had an idea for another YA. Don't know whether she's gonna run with that idea or not, but the energy is fab. (Note to self: make arrangments to meet with Shannon as soon as possible for a brainstorming session and map out our books for the next several years)

So be on the lookout people... you never know when you are going to get a fab idea. And don't discard them to quicvkly... they may take years to fill in, but will be really worth it when they do!

Where Oh Where has my Motivation Gone?

Oh where oh where can it be?

Finished off one of many articles that need doing. Should be working on another. I have everything I need. It's a simple profile peice that would take maybe an hour if I were to crank the baby out. But my crank done broke.

I just want to work on my fiction. Tre horrible of me. I want to get back to Ana, who is currently languishing on the Oregon Trail, waiting for her adventures to start so she can get home to the year 2006. I want to get back to the Rink Rats girls because Madison and Rielly are waiting for their story to be told. And poor Serena... she's sitting there without even a first chapter to breathe her to life. (I am sorry Serena R... I didn't name her after you that was just her name!)

Do I sound crazy?

The last thing I want to do is write a profile piece or an article on The new ultra sounds. Don't my editors know that I have whole nother worlds waiting for my attention... or more importantly don't my creditors know that?

Oh bother. I'll write it tomorrow. Isn't tonight the start of American Idol anyway?

Bill

This is my talisman. Bill Walton of the 1976 Portland Trail Blazers championship team.
Sometimes, when my writing isn't going well, I shake him and beat his head against the desk and scream, "Oh no Mr. Billlllllll!" Which my children think exceedingly funny. At our Halloween parties we play "Hide Bill" and we hide him somewhere in our house and people look for him. One little part of him has to be visible. He has spent time in the Spagetti Jar, on a fan light twirling high above our heads, and even hid in my hair once, which was hysterical. He once took a trip to Sacramento with his head rolled up in the window looking at all the other cars. Meet Bill.

They Won!

In spite of injuries and turnovers they still managed to win! Oh yeah! Which means they are in the NFC championship which is in OUR house! And we have a noisy house people. One of the loudest stadiums in the NFL. 115 decibles! Yeah, I remember. My ears actually rung after the game we went to. So fun!

I have had some positive feedback on my new novel idea. I knew it was a good one. Today I am going to work on Crits and some nonfiction... in between running my son around of course!

I Got It!

I got the idea for another book. I took Shannon Mckeldon's idea blueprint and just let these little scraps of ideas grow. I played with them here and there. Moved this and that, matched up one idea with another and discarded them. The problem is that I had two different ideas and was trying to meld them together, but it didn't work. Obviously they are two different books.

Then today it all started sorting itself out and falling into place. I was driving in my car and one of the key ideas just laid itself out in front of me and everything else just came together. I was wild with excitement. Not really conducive to safe driving.

But I LOVE when that happens, when the germ of an idea grows into a fully plotted novel. I still have a few holes, but it's there! I wrote it all down today because I am not going to work on this for a while. I am just trying to map out some career goals because once I sell Rink Rats things will start happening. (I will make sure of that:) I wanted the series plotted out, a proposal for another book and a fully realized idea for another one. Now that I have that I can rest. Or at least focus a bit on making some real money! I ahave been completely neglecting my nonfiction work. Well, not completely, but I haven't invoiced yet this month which is scary!

Okay... time for the Seahawks game!

The Trouble with Time Travel

I was working on my YA time travel synopsis when one of my CP's came up with an interesting comment. She had an issue with one of my paragraphs when the girl realizes she is her own ancestor. She said, "this is why I don't like time travel books... there are little plot things that the author usually doesn't explain." Now, I wasn't offended, she is actually enjoying the story when she does crits, she just had issue with something in the synopsis.

So that brings me to my question... isn't it our job to make the unbelievable, well, believable? I once asked Gena Showalter that question because she writes paranormal/fantasy romances. She told me it is a process of seeing things through your characters eyes. As the character enters a world that isn't real, they are disbelieving as any sane person would be. As the details of the world come to light, they are forced to believe it because they are really there. She says if the reader is connected enough to the character they will come to believe as the character does.

My character, Ana, time travels back to the mid 1800's. When she first realizes what has happened she thinks she's been punked. But she has to believe what is in front of her own eyes. And like she says, "Until I wake up or find a pair of ruby slippers I am stuck here." So then she turns to survival, which is where the story really starts. It wouldn't be realistic if she sat down and screamed for several days because it wasn't believable. Not to mention make a really boring story.

So how do you authors who write paranormal make your story believable?

Craft Books

I generally don't read craft books. Of course, I didn't used to be involved in a critique group eithe rand it's the best thing I have ever done for my career. So I figured craft books can only make me a better writer, right? One hopes. The first one that came in was Write Tight by William Brohaugh. Some very good information in there about redundancies, and sixteen different types of wordiness. Unfortunately, I can see myself just browsing this book because it's pretty flipping boring to read. Or maybe it's for someone far more intelligent than I. I am getting a lot out of it because it has a huge list of commonly used redundant phrases and I am learning how to spot unneeded words in my own work. So that's good.

The other book I can see myself reading cover to cover, Self Editing for Fiction Writers. It's easy to read, easy to understand, has tons of examples and exercises to reinforce the point of the chapter. Two chapters in and I am already smarter. And it was painless. Some of this stuff I knew instinctively, but now I have names to call it and improved ways of executing it. For instance, I have always written scenes separated by short bits of narrative summary and instinctively knew how to pace my books, but I certainly never thought about why I did that. Now I understand the best way to go about it and what can be successfully narrated and what should be written out into a scene. There was a whole chapter on showing instead of telling and even though I knew what it was, the book showed (har har)some fab examples. Like I said, I knew a lot of this, but it's just so clear and concise. It is probably more geared towards rank newbies, but even experienced writers will find some take away value in it. It should be given to every writer who has judged a contest so they can give a copy away when they return manuscripts:)

So what are your favorite craft books...the ones that really made an impact on your writing? Or maybe the ones you turn to when stuck?

Some common redundant phrases

Absolute truth
brief moment
cash money
chowder soup
crazy maniac
fatal suicide
gambling casino
gather together
meaningless gibberish
false pretenses
foreign import
mix together
merge together
pour down
pure unadulterated
kneel down (as opposed to kneeling up?)
radiate out
same identical
talking out loud
restore back
switchblade knife
starve to death
visible to the eye (as opposed to visible to the ear?)
Easter Sunday (as opposed to Easter Tuesday?)
valuable asset

Some are pretty funny when you think about it. There are several hundred here... that is just a taste. The book is Write Tight by William Brohaugh.

It's Off!

Okay. So I waited until Monday to bug her. My patience groweth. A weeee little bit. Anyway, I called my agent yesterday got the we are waiting a couple of weeks on the book before following up. I told her about my new proposal and she wants to see it Asap. So I sent that off with bated breath. Now I am in for more waiting. Since I am not working on any more fiction currently, I am stuck trying to fill up my time with nonfiction which doesn't occupy the part of my brain that is waiting for word on something.


I picked up two craft books the other. Self Editing for Fiction writers and Write Tight. I haven't had a chance to look at Self Editing yet, but I really enjoyed Write Tight. Haven't read the whole thing. I'm not like that with craft books. I just browse and glean. I am not published yet, but I decided I want to be the kind of writer that never stops learning about what I do.

Speaking of the career. My DH read the first three chapters of Colorless. He came out crying. CRYING. And asked to speak to me in the bedroom. So we went in and he cuddled up to me and told me that he owed me an apology. Now I had no idea what he was talking about, but an apology is always a good thing. Just for general purposes, if nothing else. He said that he had so underestimated me as a writer. He couldn't believe that I thought of that story and wrote it and that it was such a good story. He says for the first time he really believes I am going to "make it." He said he always knew I was talented... he has read a lot of my nonfiction... but he had no idea how "professionally" I was writing now. He went to work and I woke up yesterday and came out to my desk to find a sweet card on the desk. He keeps asking what I need to write better. Um. A trip to Florida? LOL It feels really good to be validated.

I have another germ of an idea... something that is floating around in my head. Not sure what it will turn out to be, but it's there. Maybe I should do a character sketch of the main character. See what happens with her. See what her story is. I do know she's deaf. Not a signing deaf girl, but an oral deaf girl. I love this part of writing...when you know a story is there, you just can't get to it.

Better get started. I wan tto run through some blogs and get started on my nonfiction stuff... so far I only have six articles this month...I would love to be able to write them all up in the next two weeks and take another week break. That was nice:)

I was so good

I so did not bug my agent with an email. I had already written one during their absence and thanked the assistant for sending me a copy of the magazine article. Told her we should send a copy to the editors. Offered to send her a book I got for Christmas. (She sent me a book and I got one by the same author as a gift) They came back to the office on the fourth so I didn't bother them. Am sure they are super busy. It took all the patience I could muster. See, I am so growing.

On the food front, I have done well. Made a lot of good healthy choices. Went to the gym three days. Drank too much Starbucks though. Think I may need to give it up for Lent or something. Can noncatholics give up stuff for Lent? But I am ordering nonfat lattes with a shot of almond. Much better for me than a mocha. I actually had two of them yesterday. I bought one on my way to the rink yesterday morning with my daughter and then a friend of mine drove past and saw my car. She came running in and told me she had about fifty minutes for a cup of coffee and we better go now. We haven't been able to connect much because of her new job, so I took her up on it. Oddly enough, I managed to take a nap later on, but then I woke up at three this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. I do that a lot when I drink Starbucks... It seems like it waits twelve hours to kick in or something.

I finally finished chapter three of my WIP. How slow can I go anyway? Good grief. I am not as happy with this chapter as I was chapter two. Will have to go back and see why. Maybe I didn't layer in enough emotion or perhaps I didn't do a good job of anchoring it to a place. This is the first chapter when she is actually in the past so it has to be good and believable. Yet, it also has to be entertaining for the YA group. So I can't dwell on her fear, but move her past it. But I can't move her past it so fast that it isn't believable. I printed out the entire three chapters and will take the red pen to it, today or tomorrow. But not at a coffee shop. I don't want anymore coffee!

Back in the Saddle

As the publishing world comes back to life after a voluntary vacation, I sit on pins and needles waiting to hear from my agent. So I guess that qualifies as back in the saddle again. Since I knew I wouldn't hear from anyone until this time I was able to actually relax. Enjoy the holiday. Remember when I was bellyaching about not hearing from an agent for weeks and weeks? This is infinitely worse. I am such a baby. Really, no self control or patience at all.

But at least I have an agent. Funny how that is no longer enough. Now I want a sale. I guess I always wanted one, but one step at a time, eh? I am sure after the sale of my YA Skate series, I will want to sell a different type of YA book, just to proove that it's me, not the topic. Then maybe another series. Then an anthology. Then I think I will want to do some adult single titles too. Or maybe a series. See. The human soul is a greedy thing.

Doing well on the diet front. Am afraid of looking at the scale. Did make it to the gym on Monday, but not yesterday. I took a nap yesterday instead. Hey! So not my fault. I woke up at three am and couldn't get back to sleep. Had to go to bed!

Got a huge checky yesterday that I wasn't expecting. YAY! We are starting out the New Year on the right foot. Now a sale would really help things! I am loving actually having money in the bank. Nothing like knowing that if an emergency arises that you have the cash. I think I should get started on my nonfiction again just to add to it!

A new me?

Feeling much better. Got back on the same diet and exercise plan that lost me forty pounds last year. Of course, you need to keep doing it or else you put it all back on again. (DUMB, DUMB, DUMB!) But I do feel better than I have in a long time. Feel all proactive and all that.

Writing wise I am on a bit of a break. Will putter with my fiction, but other than that, nada. Won't hear from the agent until the fourth or after.

Am tired. Must sleep.

Thoughts on the New Year

Well,

I don't have too many thoughts because I am uber tired. Was up until midnight last night listening to my daughter cry. I felt so bad for her. She got into a mess of her own making, but in her innocence had no idea it would blow up the way it did. This older guy was being really nice to her (he's seventeen my dd is almost fifteen) the ice princess was flattered even though she knows he is going out with a friend of hers, a 20 year old superviser at the rink. (All rink people) Heck, I know he was flirting with her and she flirted back... she just recently discovered she has that power, you know? YOU KNOW! So he asked for her number and she gave it and later that night they text messaged back and forth a bit. I know because I was reading them. (My dd and I are tight) It was totally innocent. (Well, as innocent as it can be for a seventeen year old male, freaking pervs that they are)

And that was the end of it. Or so she thought. Last night she was running the DJ booth at the rink with her 20 year old friend and the friend was ranting about her boyfriend getting text messages from some girl (only she named another girl) The ice princess freaked out because she knew it was her. (How the supervisoer knew and what gave her the idea it was this other little girl, I have no clue) The ice princess called me in a panic because she didn't know what to do. Tell the truth. It's no big deal. HA! It turned out to be a big deal. The girl wasn't mad at ice princess she was mad at her boyfriend and flipped out on him. While ice princess was there. Crying. Sheese. The girl has some issues... why is she dating a seventeen year old in the first place. Poor dd. Being a homeschooled chicky she has never played those flirty games in school and watched the drama unfold. She was like OMG! I didn't mean to cause this!

Sigh. She is so almost fifteen... everything is bigger than the world. And she really doesn't want the truth that this too shall pass and isn't the most important thing EVER! So I am super tired. But she did give me a great idea for my next skate novel! LOL!

Anyway... on to the next year. Thoughts.

This will be the year that I sell! (thinking positive here) I honestly didn't think I would get Jenny Bent as an agent so that prooves that miracles can happen. Now I am thinking about my career as a whole. I want to put out the ice skating series. I want to do some YA time travel books. I want to write a couple of adult books... maybe a few cat books. Then a couple of Single titles books. And some anthologies.

Not all this year though:)

I'll save some for next year!

Is there anybody out there?

I guess the blogging world isn't the only one that slows down at this time of year. I have had a horrid time getting a hold of the experts who promised they would get my email questions back to me before the holidays. ARG! I have three articles due day after tomorrow and as it stands I can only do one today. The rest are waiting for people to get back to me!

And the one I do have all the info for is one I am really dreading. It's a medical and every paragraph will be hellish as I check and recheck all of my facts. Besides, I have a week till my agent gets back and I would really rather work on that. My WIP... cause as soon as the first one sells I want to WOW them by having another fabulous proposal ready to go:)

It is going pretty well... I am having trouble with the transition from the present to the past. I mean, she's freaked out, but I don't want her to spend the whole book scared. Yawn. And I have to introduce and establish a bunch of new characters. It's time for me to head to the End of the Oregon Trail Museum for research! I think I am going to ask one of my CP's to go with. Will be fun.

Festive Festive

What a blast!

Got books!

Am reading!

Merry Christmas!

What a wonderful Christmas Eve with the family. There were many lovely gifts, though less this year than last ... inflation is getting to everyone. But that didn't matter, we all made merry anyway and when the FIL passed out his checks (the gift that keeps on giving) everyone was VERY surprised by the number of 0's on the end. HO HO HO!

Now we must get the teens to head to bed so we can have our sips and wrap gifts together. it's traditional:)

What else is traditional? Well, I really hate tinsel on a Christmas tree so Santa always finished decorating our tree. he would put up the tinsel that is so messy and our kitties eat and also the candy canes our doggies would eat. So even the tree was different when my children come out to open their gifts in the morning. Even as teens, they look forward to it. Because I take my tree down on the 26th, there is less of a chance of our cats geting sick.

Also. Well, there is a very important inanimate object in our family called Scamper. He is a beaver. A very important beaver. Once he spent 3 weeks at the movie theater. Another time he spent two months at our church. Every year he gets a stocking all to his own and even though Scamper's mama is a lovely and poised almost 15-year old girl, she still asked tonight... "Did you remember to get stuff for Scamper's stocking?" Yes, baby we did. This year Scamper is the proud owner of a hershy bar (Which he will share with mama) and a Canadian Quarter.

Merry Christmas to all!

Thanks for the Felicitations!

I had a truly wonderful day. The US Posty was kind and brought me a big fat checky... I was able to buy what I needed for my dh and some festive alcoholic beverages. Gifts for friends... that sort of thing. Very nice.

My son bought me Sk8er Boy by Mari Mancusi. Remember I write YA and need to keep up on the market:) And also a bar of imported dark chocolate. My daughter cleaned the house instead of giving a gift... which as nice a gift as you can get and dh had already taken me to dinner at the macaroni grill. All in all a good day!

Happy Birthday to Me!

YAY for me! I am offically old!

Plan on spending the day shopping and sleeping and eating nummy things!

Tired

How many phrases and words can we think of for I'm tired? You can relate? Yeah. Me too.

I'm bushed
I'm beat
I'm whacked
I'm hammered
I'm exhausted
I'm numb
I'm drowsey
I'm sleepy

Thinking of craft

I have some great CP's. They not only tell me (in detail) what is wrong with my writing but they tell me how to fix it. We just finished having a discussion on deep POVand what it means. Since I have finally decided to go third with my WIP, they told me to go deep. Add sensory elements to fix the reader firmly in the characters head. One of them found a great link to show the difference between deep POV and shallow or limited POV. Check it out... it was a lightbulb going off in my head. I think one of my daily exercises before I begin writing will be to read this:)
I even made my husband read it in case he thought that what I do is ridiculously easy. HA!

One of the things my agent told me was that I am a natural at dialogue. About seven years ago I wrote a YA book. It was pretty bad, but one of the things my writer friend told me was that my dialogue rocked it. It was everything else that needed help. Part of me wonders where I would be if I hadn't stopped writing fiction to working at nonfiction, but on the other hand, I think it was a good training ground. And even my dialogue takes work to make it sound not just natural, but naturally teen-like, as well. Before I send my chapter in for a crit I will go over my dialogue and ask myself, is it young? Does it sparkle? Trust me, my cp's let me know if it's not. I think that's what second and third drafts are for... adding the sparkle.

Sometimes in order to do that(add the sparkle) you need to kill your darlings because sometimes those are the very passages that keep you from thinking of the big thing, the thing that will make the difference between a scene that works and one that doesn't. I think of them as concrete... they keep my mind focused in the mud and won't let it free to entertain other ideas. My prologue was a perfect example. My CP's didn't really like it even though they thought it added a lot of tension to the plot of the book. My agent felt the same way... you may remember me sweating over the prologue last week. In my desperation to come up with something that worked, I threw out all the rest of my preconceived ideas of what it should be. Only in letting it go was I able to come up with something completely new and fresh. Something that sparkled.

So what will the week bring? I dunno. Probably not a sale, though a woman on a list made a sale last week. YA. The market is definetly out there. But I am looking forward to the New Year. After last weeks pitch it was sent to ten interested editors. I think that is one of the perks for having a big name agent. You have editors dropping stuff to listen to them and read what they have to offer. No doubt it is because they offer quality. Hee. I like the sound of that. Someone thinks my stuff is quality! Will keep you updated!

Dilemma

I spent all day Thursday working on my WIP and switching it from third to first. Now I am not so sure it's what I want. I wanted first person past, but my tenses were all over the place and I thought maybe I should just go back to what I know. But... I am not sure. Should I ask my agent and her assistant to read a couple of pages of each and see what they think? After all, this will no doubt be the next thing they rep for me after my series sells. I am so uncertain here.

I really felt her voice strongly when I was finishing up with On the Edge. Then she got shy on me. No, I mean really... her shyness became a part of the book. I even wrote a synopsis for her a couple of months ago and the girl wasn't shy then! But... I really don't plan on having another POV in the story. So maybe I should just go with first person.
I wish I had a clear path with this one.

May have to hit up additional friends with this one.

Be-otch, You Fat!

And how did this happen?

Last year I took off about forty five pounds and was in striking distance of goal weight. But last spring something snapped in me and I started on a seven month eating binge that leaves me 60 pounds overweight and totally demoralized. Honestly, it was about the time I got the regional magazine position, started writing fiction in earnest and got a promotion to contributing editor with a national magazine. At the time I contributed it to stress. But wait. There's a pattern. I started sending out queries and with every request for a partial I ate more. The requests for fulls had me stuffing those candybar cookies (Who the hell thought up those things?) into my mouth at unbelievable rate.

It isn't stress. I am afraid of success. Someone said on her blog the other day that fear of success was really just fear of failure, because the higher you get the harder you fall.

I am far too driven to ever stop trying to succeed, so I eat to mask the fear. How insecure is that, eh?

So I guess I will join the rest of the US and hit the gym in January. I know how to do it, I've done it before. I just don't know how I will find the time, but I think I am gonna have to get a handle on this. After all, I am going to soon have to have the stamina and energy for all those book tours, yes? Not to mention publicity photos. Though I think that my book will be one of those without the author picture!

Snort!

Talk about productive!

Nerves must make me produce, because I wrote an article, sent out a bunch of emails for my next three articles, critiqued three chapters for one of my Cp's and typed up the Christmas letter.

I should get some kind of award!

I also managed to straighten up the house once, though that is kind of moot now. Of course, you don't see me writing that I worked on Colorless today! Now I have a bunch of running around to do.

I also got a partial list of who they sent a copy of the book out too, but I don't think I will share that now. I will just wait till I get an offer:)

Wish I were more interesting and witty...mind is just too full of other things!

And All is Well

Sigh of relief here. They lurved the prologue. Thought it was smashing. They are sending out the manuscript today. Will send me list of editors when they are done.

So excited.

Now rationally I know it may be weeks or even months. The other part of me (the part that was in hiding yesterday) believes editors are going to be fighting for it. It is a series after all, and for all they know I may be the next Meg Cabot. Which I have every intention of becoming, so hey. Am plotting my next career move as we speak. I have many good ideas and am working on my next proposal. Of course, it all depends on this first series selling.

I fell asleep thinking about my next series. Trying to plot it. Figure out how the series is going to be connected. I am thinking it should all be connected by the neighborhood. An odd little neighborhood shaped like a wagon wheel, though from the air it is more like a star. Not sure though. It's a paranormalseries and all Time travel...that much I do know.

I have the first book plotted and I am working on it, though I am going to have to change it from first person to third. One of my Cp's likes it in first, but I am having a horrible time with the tenses, so I'm takin the easy way and going back to third.

So send a little prayer out with my manuscripts. What a wonderful Christmas present that would be, eh?

Insecurities

Oh, Lord do I have em.

Just when I thought I was safe from them, I find myself wondering when my agent is going to realize that she made a mistake.

I got the the rewritten prologue back and they didn't care for it. Said the tone was too different from the book. I could toally see that and rewrote it and sent it back... the tone matches the book and really raises the tension. It is now almost 2:00 their time and I have heard nothing. Nothing. They were supposed to be sending it out today. What if she hates it. What if she decided the book sucks and is trying to figure out away to rescind her decision?

Oh God, that's it, right?

See, I told you I had them.

The pit in my stomach is down to my feet and I am ready to go back to bed and pull the covers over my head.

Productive day

Finished up everything I needed to for the proposal except my bio. I am not sure how to go about that. I relied on my excellent Cp's for help today and as always they came through with some good feedback. I also managed to send out some interviews and organize my articles. Not too bad.

Have to write up two articles tomorrow, get the newsletters printed out and addressed and get megan to the rink for the holiday show. She has a lesson in the morning, and then my son has to work too. Guess who will be doing his school work on Saturday. The life of a mom is amazing.

Speaking of Amazing... my husband is amazing. He called and said that he knew I was under the wire and told me that he would do whatever it took to keep me at the computer so I could work. What a doll! This form a man who used to hate me pecking away!

Boy how things change, eh?

Just a tiny nervous breakdown... really.

I felt just a wee bit overwhelmed last night. Wednesdays are like that for me. So much driving. So little working.

My agent (I still get a little thrill when I say that) my agent, my agent, my agent. Ahem) would like to start sending out submissions next week. That means I have to get the revisions finished, write a synopsis for book two in the series, change the current synopsis to reflect the change and get a bio together.

I also have two articles due, interviews to conduct and an unholy schedule to keep for my children. Oh, and I have to make sure they get their school work done. Not to mention Christmas. Oh, did I mention Christmas? SHHHHH!

The skate club newsletter needs to go out and I have two proposals to get together before the new board meeting.

I have the holiday skate show on Friday, a party afterwards, my RWA Holiday party on Saturday and we have to get the tree on Sunday. (I didn't say the C word!)

OH and did I mention the 50 pounds I have to lose before Atlanta? Sheese how did that happen? I took off forty last year and ran two and a half miles. then I gained fifty and got shinsplints.

Okay, if I don't stop I am going to have another mini nervous breakdown now.

So what does it all mean?

I woke up this morning and wondered what it was all about. Not the headache. I am pretty sure that was due to the margaritas I inbibed at the Mexican restaurant. Family took me out to celebrate and then we listen to and sang, "Beverly Hills, That's where I want to be.e.e, all the way home."

But what does it mean now that I am agented? I have extra input on my book. I have someone who is actively selling the book. That's good! Someone to help me make decisions on my career? I hope so. Someone with more knowledge on my side in the publishing world. That counts for a lot. But honestly, in my day to day life, I still have 14 assignments waiting to be done, another novel to work on, critiquing to do for my Cp's and work to do for the magazine. Do I feel more professional? More... Acknowledged? No, that's not it. Affirmed? Yeah, that's it. I feel like my dream of writing fiction has finally been affirmed. Not that I am more of a writer than I was yesterday... It just helps that three talented agents all told me I was good and wanted the privilege of selling my work. It just does.

So now that I have stopped crying and cheering and doing the happy dance, I guess I will have to get back to it and write.

It's Official

I signed today with Jenny Bent from Trident Media.


Can't even begin to express my joy and thankfulness. Am so excited about the future! She asked for a small change to the beginning of the book, but other than that.... WOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Time keeps on slipping slipping slipping...

Into the future.

Tick tock tick

doo doo do doo

Now can anyone tell me who said that?

And the waiting begins

I can't believe that my career will change in just the next few days. Not sure what is going to happen yet, but I am excited for it to begin. Usually things happen so quickly you don't really have a chance to think about it. It is odd standing upon the precipice watching things happen.

I am glad I will be gone most of the day at the figure skating test for my daughter. It's at our rink so I have to be there. She is nervous. She is afraid of passing because it's a big test and she doesn't know if she is ready for the level she will be going into. (Boy, do I know how that feels) I know she's ready and her coach knows she's ready, but she doesn't. She does know that no matter what, we will love her and it will be okay.

As for me, I do know that I am excited to get on with it. To go to the next level and then the next level. In spite of my own fear that I'm not ready for it. Like my daughter, I know that I am not alone. I have some good friends and six CPs who are totally responsible for me getting to this point.

Right now, I'm happy observing. For the first time in a long time, the waiting isn't driving me nuts.

Have to Chuckle

About how many agents are reading ON THE EDGE this weekend.

I couldn't get anything but the occasional R for the last three months and now I have people wanting fulls left and right. Talk about psychology. One agent wants it and the book suddenly becomes more valuable in the eyes of the others. Think of the gulls on Finding Nemo. Me. me. me. me. me.

Of course, I have only had one offer and I am pretty pleased with her. We'll see.

Must dash.

BIG THINGS

Are afoot.

I got an offer of representation today. Not from the same big unnamed agent who asked for a full yesterday. Someone else. Someone that I already feel a connection with. had a nice conversation with her today. I contacted the agent from yesterday and several others who had fulls. I should know by next week who I am going with. It never rains but it pours, eh? I know, cliche, but apt.

Spent all day on the phone. Have a dozen articles due this month, but they will have to wait. Today is for joy. Drugged and happy joy. Am so excited and happy.

Real thankful too.

big things?

Might be afoot.

We'll see. But I have a much shorter wait time. Suffice it to say tht some big named unamed agent wanted an exclusive full. When I replied that I couldn't give that to her she said fine, just let me know if someone offers representation so I can have a chance and by the way I will let you know by the end of next week.

So if it's a yes. (And Lord, I hope it's a yes) Then I will have to make a hard decision on who I want and let the others know. Of course if she says no, I will cry a bit and go on waiting. But the adreneline was worth it.

Oh, I took off my shirt last night and tweaked my shoulder. How tweaked? Enough to take me to urgent care for painkillers. They have no idea how it happened. Probably pinched a nerve. Welcome to the forties.

LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Thanks!

Thanks for all your support. Waiting is a part of the game, which doesn't make it any easier! And I am truly ditheringly happy for all of my friends who have had the call in recent weeks. I just want it too:)

I am done with articles for the month and hope to get to some serious critting and writing. I have a bit more research to do. I need to take a trip to The End of the Oregon Trail museum. My family loves that place so it's not a problem. Need to get on with it though, I tell you!

Right now I am just tired. Had a horrid fight with Dh last night. Probably should have avoided it, but it was one of those cleansing fights that left us both bruised, but refreshed (I didn't mean physcially!) Just an airing out type of fight. Then I had to run and get the kids from the rink... we have an extra one, a skater friend of Megs whose mum is in Vegas on business and needs rides to the rink. That's fine, but they stayed up too late talking last night and no doubt will skate like crap this morning. I will probably get it from both of their coaches when I go to pick them up.

I am hoping for a nap, but I don't think I will get it.

The Call

So what does the call feel like?

Cause I am ready to find out. My friends are getting the call. So exciting. Several have been signed in the last week. I'm still waiting. Always on the verge of something. Just enough to keep me going. Keep me writing and hoping.

Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I had kept writing YA when I started to six, almost seven years ago. My first novel was a YA. It pretty much sucked. And I went with what I could to make money. So now I am making money, but I am behind the eightball as far as my fiction career is going. How come I always feel behind? Like everything good will be done by the time I am ready for it. I feel like all the agents are going to shut their gates just before I get there. Or that all the big publishing houses are going to fold before I even get an agent.

Then there is the other fear. The one that haunts all writers at one time or another. What if I am just not that good?

Post Thanksgiving Post

Ate too much, but I did resist the urge to go shopping this morning. Actually it wasn't much of and urge. More of a yearn. But after two days of festive hot buttered rums, doctored eggnog and irish cream in coffee, I am not much feeling like running about.

I finished this years Christmas letter which is as snarky as ever. I try to give people something entertaining to read and the response has been wonderful. I think I'm going to make some lables that say warning: Not your grandmother's Christmas letter, so I can stick it on the outside of the envelope.

Camne home last night and wrote up four pages of chapter two. I would like to finish it today, but my neice is spending the weekend so I'm not sure how well that's going to go. The paranormal aspect is growing a bit deeper and I had to rewrite some things in the first chapter to go with the flow. I like it though... lends it more plot depth than it had before. Pretty cool.

Speaking of which... I wanna go write:)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Have a Wonderful Holiday Everyone!

Another Big R

An R on a Sunday?

I guess so. Amazingly enough, I wasn't upset. And it was an agent I really wanted too!

But I finally was into Colorless when it came. The chapter was rolling along well except I didn't have a chapter hook. And then when it did... it was so unexpected and so fantastic! I couldn't believe it. It added new depth and an unexpected twist to the story. I am going to go over the chapter a few times before handing it over to my cps to rip up, but right now, I'm pretty happy with it. Very, very excited.

So the rough of chapter one is fini. I am really and truly started. And that agent is going to be regretful that she didn't sign me when she had a chance;-)

Top O The Morning To You!

Yes, I am channelling my Irish roots.

My silly cat woke me in the wee hours, but for some reason I am feeling pretty good. After a hideous day yesterday... (is there anything worse than having printer issues when you are trying to get out a manuscript?) I am looking for a good day today. I have some stuff to crit for my CP group, an article to write and then I am going to start in earnest on my new novel. It's only going to be about 45 thousand words... if I work on it I can finish it by mid January and then start on the romances that I have ratteling around in my brain. Unless, of course, I get a contract and need to start on another skate novel at that time.

Speaking of which... the first line in OTE is, "Hey Cassie! Watching you skate gives me a zamboni!"

The next book will start out with, " Okay girls, let's get out there and kick some ice." Pretty good, eh? Except someone said it to me the other day and I forgot to ask her where she got it... I should do that first:)

Well, another week went by and I heard nothing from anyone. Well, I can't say that because I did get another request for a full and a partial. And then I sent out another partial. I made up a new timeline too. I am pretty pleased with the agents that are itnerested right now. After getting an R from my dream agent, I just got a new dream agent. Everything is relative, eh?

Okay... must hop up and clean the house before starting in on my writing day. Must keep the dh happy!

End of the week

Do I feel caught up? Not really?

The GH Contest looms over me, though I do have all the changes made that I want to have. I have the disk with the full made and properly labled and all I have to do is print out six copies of the partial and six of the synopsis. Then buy a box and send the sucker out.

I also have three articles that I need to have done by the end of next week. And that includes Thanks giving.

Things are going on at the magazine. Not sure what. I know that the office Goddess left and the boss needs to get a new one. I wish it were time to start an office up hear. Or maybe I'm not, maybe I am supposed to be waiting on an agent. Just like with that job... you have to sense which direction your life should be going. Sort of feel your way.

With all the GH stuff, I haven't hardly even started Colorless. I would love to get that one done by the end of the year. I would really like to have the proposal done now so if an agent asks if I have anything else I would have it there to show them.

How do you juggle writing with everything else? I just keep wondering. Last night i had some time to write, but was so tired I ended up playing frog frenzy. What a time waster! I know I need to be more efficient, but I am not sure I have the discipline:)

I'm not dead

Sorry to have disappeared for so long. I spent most of last week getting ready for son's sixteenth birthday bash in Seattle and then yesterday and today recovering. had much fun, the seahawks won and we got to do the whole Pikes Street market thing. Too cool.

Today, I had a gazillion and one things to do including articles on this that and the other. I also got a request for a full from an agent I would love to have, who had actually read the proposal and liked it enough to want more:) That, my friends, feels good. I am hoping to have an agent by the holidays:) Also got another request for a partial.

Now to get my GH entry ready to go. I have been working on it and have tried to help my CP's get there's ready to go as well. We agreed that next year we would start earlier... not that any of us will be eligible next year cause we will all be published authors and all! Hee.

Tomorrow I have tons more nonfiction work to do. Am going to try to get to some blogs before I hop off to watch TV and head to bed.

Plotting!

Okay, I did it.

I just finished plotting out all twelve chapters of Colorless. I think nine and ten are a little weak, but I think by that time I get there I will have some new ideas. I will have to do a lot more research for this one, but I am excited to get started. She doesn't actually do the time travel part until the end of chapter two so I can get the first couple of chapters going before I really have to decide where she is on the Oregon Trail, exactly how many families are on the wagon train, which famous characters they meet on the way and exactly what year it is. Because I live in Oregon and have been to the End of the Oregon City Museum many times, that part of the research won't be too hard... I actually have access to covered wagons, the supplies they needed, the clothes they wore, etc.

I am so excited! I think this might end up being my best novel yet, though I don't want to take anything away from On the Edge. It is the best I have yet done, but we are supposed to improve with each one, right? I love starting a new book. All the possibilities! It's ahead of me. Like starting a new adventure and even though I have plotted it out, there is so much I don't know yet.

Now I just have to catch up on my nonfiction stuff. Yikes!

Golden Heart

I did it, I entered the Golden Heart Contest!

Am busy revising my already revised synopsis. It is even better than before! Will send my six fifty page proposals and one disk with the full in it and hope I final. If I final I will get to go to Nationals, no questions asked. I don't expect to, but it would be nice:)

Must run!

Thanksgiving Angst

I don't want to go to my in-laws for Thanksgiving. That's not as bad as it sounds.

When I was 23 I went to their house for Christmas for the very first time. It was just before my dh and I were leaving for Reno to get married. It was magical. My dh has four siblings and two of them had little ones. They had many traditions that had to be adhered to and were done with huge amounts of humor such as slapping the turkey before it went in the oven. Dh's dad handed out all the gifts and their was much froliking, dancing about and noise. My Mil hustled and bustled and created fabulous feasts and everyone else just cavorted. So different from my own quiet childhood Christmas'. I have been to Turkey day at their home and it was just as much of a riot as were the monthly birthday get togethers. As time went on, in fairness to my family, we began spending Turkey day with them and Christmas with my dh's family. Then I started doing Thanksgiving on my own every once in a while.

Now my beloved MIL is gone. Beloved doesn't even begin to describe how much I miss her and think of her everyday. She was my mentor and my sensei. Last Christmas was the hardest. But we got through it and will get through it again. I just don't want to go for Thanksgiving. Too much sadness altogether for the holidays. I wanted to go see Finding Nemo on Ice or SOMETHING else. But Dh didn't get it and now we have to go. My own parents are in AZ for tehe winter so I have no excuse.

I am a bit torqued.

Am still trying to figure out a nice way toduck out of it. My fav radio station is giving away tickets to Finding Nemo... if I can get a hold of a fourpack of those for Turkey day... then YAY!

Send good thoughts.

Have a drink on me!

I finished editing and polishing On the Edge today. I am going to let it sit before I go over it one more time. I am afraid to look at it any more cause I think I will find things to change and tinker with. Am sending out tomorrow to agent who wants the full.

But better yet, I get to start on my next novel. Colorless. First person past. A time travel YA. Am excited about it. (sip) Am celebrating. (Sip)

Oh, oh, oh! I'm in the December issue of Writer's Digest, baby! I wrote an article called Class Act... and it's in there:) Funny cause they rejected a query the same day I got my magazine by Fed Ex! Too cool! (sip)

Am drinking the most nummy new drink. Coconut rum, orange juice and cranberry juice on the rocks. (sip) Is most delish.

Okay. Must run. Might start book tonight.

(Sip)

No NANO allowed

I seriously thought about doing Nanowrimo this year. For those who don't know, it is when a bunch of looky writers try to do 50,000 words in 30 days. NOw for those prolific types like Gena Showalter, that isn't a stretch. For the rest of us it's crazy. But fun. I've done it.

But no. I thought that juggling three "jobs" not including mothering and taxi driver was enough and I should leave the nanoing to others. I sort of wanted to because I have a 50,000 word novel I need to get into, but I have to finish polishing this one. I have an agent waiting for a full. So not this year. Good luck everyone.

In other news, I have received 3 more R's from the agents a followed up with. I didn't hear anything about the query from them and I figured the least they could do was send a form R. Takes seconds:) One of them did want the full ASAP, so following up is a good thing.

Okay. Off to do some critiqing for my cp's and get my dd to the rink and my son to the zoo. Busy drive day, weds are.