Reading

I'm not only a writer but I love to read a good romance novel. I struggled through reading some romances and they were okay, but I had this amazing book waiting for me that I had waited for for over a year. That had been left on a cliff hanger for over a year!

Seriously, I devoured this book. I couldn't stop thinking about it when I wasn't reading it and I couldn't put it down when I was. There were issues with the storytelling. First person present tense and then last it went into past tense. She included a secondary first person point of view that I don't think really needed to be there. But overall the story telling was gripping, which makes me want to dissect it and figure out what makes it tick. Unfortunately that isn't my strength. I know other writers who could probably tell me exactly what technique she used that had me so captivated. A lot of time it boils down to voice, but in this case it was voice and questions. The outcome was never clear in my mind. I never knew who to trust and who not to (because the main character didn't and it was told solely from her POV). There are cameos of characters I loved from her past romance books.

Besides the story beginning (five books ago) with the death of her sister, only bad people died. Good people sometimes did bad things, but they all survived in the end. I know I cared about the characters and wanted to see them come through it. At times I didn't like some of them, but I always cared about the POV character, even when she was being stupid. If there's a secret formula it's evading me.

Moral of the story write a damned good book. How to do that? *shrug*

Back to the grind stone for me... Try to write a damned good book!

Busy, busy

http://romancetradingcards.com/

This is what I've been working on lately. That and writing....

Not much more to add. At least, not right now. ;)

Hopefully I'll have news soon, whether good, bad or indifferent.

So What Changes When You are Published...

So before I entered the world of the published, I could write whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. Granted that concept didn't always work, but it was fun. I could dabble in this and try out that. Now that I've sold, I'm trying to sell the same style over again. I went out on a limb with my option book and it unfortunately fell to the ground quivering in a heap. But the voice is still there. So I proposed a different type of book, a little more down to earth and a lot less Hollywood. I sent off the synopsis and waited and waited and wrote the book while I waited and waited some more.

Then I made all these grand schemes of how I was going to write more in 2011. I was going to conquer a first draft every month starting in January. Okay, well maybe not January, I want to try to revise my Hollywood story for single title, so I'll work on that and revise my poor Fallen, who has been neglected. And then I'll have the distance to revise the SSE I had completed. Yay! A plan.

In January I heard back on my synopsis and we talked about how to make it a stronger story. So Hollywood is off the plate and Fallen slips further off the dessert plate. I embrace this new concept for the completed story with the gusto of Eeyore. But when I finally get the right spin on it, I am once again Pooh (okay seriously how many metaphors can I throw in this, it's become a bit of a challenge at this point, bear with me). Ready to take off into the 1000 acre woods and find adventure.

So instead of tackling something new or making something old pretty, I'm working on (man, I wish I could use borrowed or blue here) revamping the NaNo book and giving it new life. So I'm postponing writing something new and revising the single titles to get the book that has the attention pretty as a posey again.

(I swear I won't try to stuff metaphors down your throat anymore. But heck it was fun trying) :)

What I'm trying to say is priorities change after you've become published and you have to be flexible enough to cope with different schedules and perhaps changing something you loved to make it a better story. And even if something wasn't good for Publisher A, maybe Publisher B will enjoy it. Oh, wait I've got it. When life gives you lemons, throw them at the person who gave them to you, because seriously without sugar lemonade isn't that good.

Did I mention the kids are home on snow day? :)

Happy New Year!!!!

Yes, I vanished for the month of December. I finished Finding Home Again, mostly on my netbook, because my laptop display died. :-( But then it came back :-)  And then it died again :-(  And then it couldn't decide what to do :-|  So as of the end of last year I have a new laptop.

I spent the remainder of December reading the following:
What I Did for Love by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Just the Sexiest Man Alive by Julie James
Breathing Room by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Glitter Baby by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Heartthrob by Suzanne Brockmann

All of the books were recommended from my friends as books with Hollywood heroes/heroines. Since I want to take one of my stories and expand it.

I do have goals for this year. I'd love to write at least 4 books for Silhouette/Harlequin and one additional single title. I'd actually love to write more, but that's a beginning.

I have three books currently that need revised, so that takes priority. Then I'll start writing again. Hubby wrote me a great program that is like the NaNo statistics keeper (I still have to load it on this machine). My much faster machine. :-) I'm feeling better and my hip feels better, so here's hoping for a painfree year.

How to Get a Husband to Stop Bugging You

Okay, so it would have to be my husband, but here's the story. After everyone left from Thanksgiving, I went to write. Usually I write in the living room, but hubby wanted to play an XBox game he got a year ago, so I went upstairs to my recliner in the bedroom (all good writers should have one lol, at least those that have hip issues). After a while, hubby wanders in and sits there. He'd finished playing the game for now. One child is on the computer downstairs and the other is playing the DS.

When I ask him what he's doing, he is done playing the game for now and doesn't really have anything to do. Which is fine typically, however, trying to write while someone stares you down isn't very easy. So I ask him about charts in Excel... I'm trying to make a word goal thingy like NaNoWriMo's NaNo Stats page, because it's really cool. I told him that I figured out what I want to have in there but would probably ask my favorite author friend to make it work for me. He volunteered to give it a go. He can program it, but it won't be too pretty. :)

So now he has a project for the weekend and I'm free to finish NaNo. How close are you to The End?

Long Time No Write

In any sense of the word. I have written a bit, but mostly synopsis. I've decided to put my Hollywood stories on hold and work on a different Silhouette Special Edition. When inspiration strikes, sometimes it's best to follow it. Well as long as my editor is on board with it, that is. :) I am NaNoing again this year and hoping to finish Finding Home Again, working title, of course. Last night I brainstormed another book with some friends, so hopefully I'll be able to tackle that one too.

NaNoWriMo is where I first wrote L.A. Cinderella. For the month of November you write 50K which is only a little shy of the SSE word count. So it's perfect for me. And as long as the story is flowing, I'm in a good place. I haven't given up on Hollywood yet, but it's nice to do something different. So back to writing...

Last Week

18158 / 20000 words. 91% done!