Back On Track

The last couple of months have been insane. I moved, had employment changes and am currently still in the midst of all this uncertainity.

Needless to say this has had an effect on my writing. I must say I admire those writers who seem to be able to soldier through and do their writing no matter what happens.

Sometimes I can do that and sometimes I can't.

For example, I'm no longer going to participate in the Seventy Days of Sweat. This really wasn't a good time for me to sign up for it. Usually my life isn't as hectic and insane as it's been these last few months and I'm working like crazy to achieve some kind of normalcy.

Now, that doesn't mean I'm stopping work on my writing project. No way! It just means I won't be trying to finish it in September. I'm pushing the finish date out until November.

I also have two other projects I'm going to be working on additon to that one. I have to be realistic, not only regarding how much writing I can get done but when I can write.

Thus the picture of the calendar. I was never one for using dayplanners or trying to organzie my time but it would be useful and helpful if I can at least try to schedule my writing time.

Working full-time is a reality I won't be able to ignore, if ever. So I have to determine when and where is the best time to write in order to accomplish my goals.

So, as for Sven, thanks for at least getting me started. And good luck to everyone still sweating along with the Nordic god. *grin*

Ciao!

Money, Money, Money!

Well, it only took a year but I finally got paid for the story I wrote for The MILF anthology. The book came out last year but it's only yesterday that I received my check.

But, that's okay.

I got it and that's what's important and it's the first bit of money I've made on my writing ever! I mean, I've gotten checks, of course, for working, or from tax refunds, etc, but to get a check, to actually receive money for something I wrote!!!

It's a great feeling.

Hopefully, the check for Cowboy Lover will be forthcoming and won't take as long.

Speaking of money, I've got to go and get ready to be a wage slave. It's still only Friday so have one more day of work before the weekend.

Ciao!

Work and Writing and Wizards

I managed to secure a temporary assignment for a few weeks so, today, it's back to work for me. I can't say how often I'll be blogging. at least for the time being. I may go back to my Sunday blogging but I'll try to post when I can.

I was very bad when it came to writing and spent the whole weekend reading the last Harry Potter book as I didn't want anyone spoiling the ending for me.

I will say I was quite pleased with the way the book , and the series, ended and that's all I will say. So, nope, I didn't write one word but I did quite enjoy my weekend. It was very relaxing and I needed that since I am returning to the world of work today. Not crazy about having to work but desparately need the money!

Hope everyeone else had a productive weekend and I will return to my writing today and will be able to post my word count on the morrow.

Happy Monday and Happy Writing

Just a Book

At 12:01 tonight, the last Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, will be released.

And one thing I've heard over and over is "it's just a book."

And I agree. It is just a book. So it does seem rather silly all the security measures being taken, the frantic efforts of its American publisher, Scholastic, to take legal action against those who, having received a copy of the book early, have posted reviews or, in one case, scanned all the pages of the book and put it up on the Internet.

They fear, as does J.K. Rowling, that people having already posted the book on the Web takes away some of the magic of people having the chance to read the book at (or near, taking into account time differences, of course) the same time.

But, what I find amazing is the fact that a book, a book, for goodness sake, is generating such a reaction.

In a world of cell phones, Ipods, video games, the World Wide Web, high-def, wide-screen TVs, DVDs, CDs, laptop computers, digital cameras, and so on and so forth, a simple thing as a book, with clothbound covers and paper pages, can still get so many people so excited.

Now, I've read that sales of Harry Potter books these past ten years have not exactly generated higher sales for other books. Don't know if that's true or not. But there's been a slew of YA fantasy books published during those ten years. And those authors don't exactly seem to be hurting.

Personally, book-lover that I am, I think it's fantastic that people, especially young people, can still get excited over a book. My brother is buying two copies so that he and his two young daughters and wife can read the books at the same time.

Now, will this ever happen again? I doubt it. At least not in my lifetime. But it won't soon be forgotten that a book (which, of course, has spilled over into oodles of merchandising and into a very successful movie franchise, and has spawned video games and hundres of websites devoted to Harry Potter and the Wizarding World) was able to garner this much attention, excitement and devotion.

Just a book? Yeah, just a book. And that's what so amazing.

Happy Reading!

P.S. I came across this while reading an article about J. K. Rowling. A couple of quotes from her that I think are of particluar concern to us aspiring writers. She's talking about possible future writing projects.

"I'll do exactly what I did with Harry — I'll write what I really want to write, and if it's something similar, that's OK, and if it's something very different, that's OK.

"I just really want to fall in love with an idea again, and go with that."

Fall in love with an idea. That's the key isn't it? And, of course, hope that lots of readers fall in love with the idea, the world and the characters too. *wink*

Survive My FIre

You'd have to be living under a rock or in a cave not to know that the seventh and last Harry Potter book will be released tomorrow at midnight.

But there's another relesae tomorrow that I'm even more excited about.

My dear, dear friend and writing pal, Joely Sue Burkhart, will have her first book released by Drollerie Press on Friday, July 2oth.

It's called Survive My Fire, her imaginative reworking of the dragon legend. And trust me, when I say "imaginative reworking" I'm not just throwing words around.

Joely creates these incredible, exotic, passionate worlds. The woman lives and breathes myths and legends and fairytales and in a world that's fast becoming cynical and jaded, her stories are like a breath of sweet fire.

I've known Joely now for over three years. We've yet to meet in person but I feel as close to her as I do any of the friends I've known for years. And she never ceases to amaze me in terms of not only her generosity of spirit but by the fact she's married, works full-time, has three small children and yet manages to write and write and write.

And she never gives up. And if anyone is deserving of this, it's her. Trust me on that.

Congratulations, Joely and much success!

Slow But Steady

Yeah, I know. My numbers so far for the Seventy Days are not that impressive. Not as impressive as some folks.

But I'm fine with that.

You see, I've done this kind of thing before. A little something called NaNoWriMo. It's held every November and the object is to write 50,000 words in a month.

Twice I've succeeded in writing those 50,000 words and twice I've wound up with a big file full of words. Just words.

I know I'm not going to reach 70,000 words by September 20th. And that's cool with me. If I only wind up with 20,000 words I'll be a happy camper. Because my hope is that it will be 20,000 words that I can finally use. 20,000 good words.

Now, I know that part of this challenge is to help us non-contracted writers to get a feel of what it's like to have to write to a contract. And I'm totally with that. It's a good experience.

But I've also struggled with writing a novel for the past three years and I'm determined this time to finally get one done. So for now, since I'm not writing to a contract, I'm not going to put pressure on myself by pretending I am writing to one.

To be honest, I have enough pressure in my life. I'm unemployed, I'm struggling to find work and I'm fighting to keep the wolves from the door. I really don't need any more pressure in my life, thank you very much.

So, maybe I'm not going to sweat like a fiend for this challenge but I am going to write. Every day. And I'm going to enjoy it and, with hope, by the time I'm done I'll have something I can finally feel good about submitting.

This is a race against myself. And for now, my motto is slow but steady.

Happy writing!

Bad Boys

Okay, I have to admit. I have this thing for broody, bad boys. Not that, in real life, I'd want to hang out with them, but in a romance they're so much fun to read.

I've been watching Angel on DVD because, of course, when the show was on I didn't watch it because I was, you know, like totally clueless And yep, I also didn't watch Buffy either, but I intend on fixing that by getting the DVDs from the library.

Thank the Muses for DVDs and free libraries!

Okay, techincally speaking I suppose Angel isn't really a bad boy. Or he's more like a bad boy gone good but still possessing those bad boy attributes. Like the dark clothing and the brooding good looks.

The reason I'm bringing up the topic of Bad Boys is that the hero for my 70 Days project. Rhade, is a bad boy. I'm just trying to decide how bad I want him to be.

Personally, I'd like to push him as far as the envelope will let me push it out. And then, once he meets the heroine, bring him back like a rubber band that snap backs after having been pulled too far.

Not wimp him out. Just soften him up. That's what I like about bad boys when I read about them in stories. They're so very, very bad to the bone and then, wham, the heroine shows up and those bad boy bones start to melt.

Well, I'll see how bad my bad boy gets. I am a prepper when it comes to writing, meaning I put in a bit of prep work before actually drafting my stories, but I also discover my characters as I write about them too. That's part of the fun.

Happy writing!

And It's Away!

I just emailed the 13,000 word story that I finally, FINALLY, finished. I always love that feeling of sending something off.

Ann Voss Peterson, who is a member of my local RWA chapter and writes for Harlequin, told us that we should always celebrate submitting something. Don't wait for an acceptance to celebrate, she told us. Submitting anything, from a short story to a novel, is a major accomplishment.

Unfortunately, I'm pretty strapped for cash right now but I am going to set aside enough money to buy the last Harry Potter book that is coming out this upoming Friday/Saturday! So, I guess that will have to be my celebratory gift to myself.

And, FYI, I'm in the "Snape is Good" camp. *grin*

Now! *slapping hands together* I can finally get to work on my Seventy Days of Sweat. Actually, I've done some work already but now I can get into the actual grunt work.

No pun intended, but I'm not going to sweat it if I don't make it to the deadline. To be honest just signing up for the challenge has made me get more work done than I would have if I hadn't signed up. I fully expect to continue working on my novel past the deadline but if this challenge does nothing else but get me two-thirds of the way to completion, it will have been a success for me

The Order of the Phoenix

Things are a little better on the homefront. Not a-okay and certainly not perfect, but somewhat better. Or at least I hope it will be. I didn't want to give the impression it was something dire. It was just one of those you-never-stop-being-someone's-mother-no-matter-how-old-you-or-your-children-get kind of things.

Since I must get to my writing ASAP, just a brief post to relay the above news and to say that I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and it's very good. Actually, I'd venture to say it's better than the book. The movie is leaner than the book by far and, yes, they did change a few things, but those were things that had to be changed in order to make the movie run tighter.

Movies are not novels. Let me repeat that. Movies are not novels. You cannot take a novel, and certainly not a novel as thick as HP & TOTP and translate it, page by page, into a movie.

Movies, IMHO, are more like short stories than novels. A movie has to get across a lot of information in the span of about two hours. And keep the audience from squirming in their seats while doing so. You can't have afford to have tangents in a movie, or extra characters, or meandering subplots.

I totally understood why the screenwriter and the director chose to make the changes they did. And I had no problems with them.

With each each movie in the series, there's no doubt the storyline has grown darker. But more is at stake now. Not just the wizarding world or the world of the Muggles, but Harry's soul is also in danger. He and Lord Voldermort now have a stronger connection than ever and it's now a question as to whether Harry will be able to defeat Lord Voldermort without becoming another Lord Voldermort.

Yes, secondary characters are given short shrift in the movie but the focus is where is should be. On Harry. And Daniel Radcliffe does a wonderful job portraying Harry's roller coaster ride of emotions.

I highly recommend it.

As for writing, goal is to get my submission out for my 13,000 word story today and to start on my 70 Days of Sweat project.

Happy writing!

Storm Clouds

I know that if you want to be a pro in the writing biz you have to be able to keep going no matter what happens.

I wish it were that simple.

I had a family crisis yesterday and, as much as I wanted to write, as much as I may have needed to write, writing was the last thing on my mind.

That family crisis has not abated. I woke up with it on my mind. I still have yet to resolve it. However, this voice inside of me is telling me if I'm going to realize The Dream, if I'm going to be a professional writer, if I'm going to really, truly do this, I have to write in spite of.

Again, I wish it were that simple.

But, like that bit of sunlight peering through the dark clouds in the picture above, I guess that's what we have to do. Whether we want to become writers, whether we want to become doctors or lawyers or chefs. Whether we just want to live a life that's more than just a life. We have to acknowledge whatever is going on in our lives, as stressful and painful as it may be, and we have to keep on going.

None of us are special in the sense that we're the only ones who make mistakes, or we're the only ones who are in pain, or we're the only ones who have problems.

Everybody makes mistakes, everybody feels pain and everybody has problems of one sort of another.

So, I'm not going to make some rah-rah speech about how I'm going to grit my teeth and throw myself back into the trenches and write.

I will write today. I'll finish my submission packet for my 13,000 word story and submit it. I'll work on my prep work for the 70 Days which I'll be starting tomorrow.

But I'll write because that's what I have to do. Just like I have to get up and look for a job, or find some way to pay my bills, or make sure that those that I care for are all right.

I'll write because that's what I do.

I write.

In the sun and in the rain.

The Finish Line

It's done. I finished my 13,000 word story. Okay, actually it's about 84 words over 13,000 but since I still have to go through and do my last major edit I can get rid of those 84 words fairly easy.

I'm just glad it's finished. It was, as usual, the last scene between the hero and heroine that was giving me the willies. But, as with anything, at some point you just have to stop knawing your fingernails and just get in there and write that darn scene or scenes.

So just some final cosmetic editing and I'll submit it sometime this weekend. I'm also doing my rather hurried prep-work for my project for the 70 Days, which I will officially start on Friday the 13th.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is out today! My son saw it yesterday at an employee's showing and he said it's pretty good. I plan to see it sometime later today.

Speaking of I heard that J.K. Rowling has hinted that she may return to the world of Hogwarts, after stating she had no intention of writing any more Harry Potter books. Or at least to the wizarding world that Hogwarts is part of

I'm not surprised.

I couldn't imagine that she wouldn't want to keep writing in that amazing universe she's created. And I'm sure----not to sound mercenary or anything----that she's had quite a lot of money dangled in front of her (as if she really needs it because last I heard she's worth more than $450 million dollars) to keep writing the HP books.

Just to give you some perspective on her suceess. The print run for the first Harry Potter book was 50,000 copies. The print run for the last book that is coming out next week is 12 million copies.

12 million copies! Mind-boggling, isn't it.

I've Already Encountered a Knot

Okay, if you've noticed, I've yet to post a word count for the 70-Days. That's because---and this is the reason I hesistated to sign up for the challenge----I was already working on a 13,000 word long, short story that I want to get submitted ASAP.

I can't really use this current story for the 70-Days as it can't be longer than 13,000 words, but I really want to get it done before I devote myself to the 70-Days.

So, I'm not going to offiically start until Friday, the 13th, which I believe is the last official day for the sign-up.

I hope that's not breaking the rules or anything but I really must get this current project finished and submitted. I've been working on it too long and the deadline for it is looming.

But I'm pleased to see that so many are already making incredible progress.

Write on!

More on Seventy Days of Sweat

Since I'm really chuffed to do these Seventy Days of Sweat, I'm thinking that one way to keep myself on track is to get back to posting every day on my blog.

Finding the time to post to my blog every day is always a challenge but if I tie in the idea of making a post every day to my blog with the goal of getting my writing done for the challenge, then, just as I'll have to make time to write, I'll also have to find the time to post to the blog.

If I post nothing more than my word count. Can't say it will be every day. But we'll see.

So, no word count yet, but I'll confess to being a bit of a pre-planner and I need a couple of days to pull everything together since I'm starting something completely new. I have notes but they are in boxes somewhere as I moved just a week ago. And, I'm also looking for work so that will cut into my time.

But I do believe that the time can be found. I know for a fact that I waste a LOT of time on non-writing related things. I'm basically very lazy. Yeah, I'll admit it. Very lazy.

But I also love to write and once I get into it I'm gone. It's just the getting into it. *grin*

That's why I decided to go ahead and jump into this. My writing pals have been egging me to finally step up to the plate and write a novel-length manuscript. And I agree. It's time.

So, I'm swinging my bat and, with hope. although I may not hit one out of the park my first time out, maybe I'll at least make it to first base.

Seventy Days of Sweat

Allison Kent and a number of other authors are sponsoring a challenge called Seventy Days of Sweat. Basically, during these sweltering, dog-days of summer, if you need or want to get a 60,000 - 100,000 word manuscript done you can sign up for the challenge.

There are more details about it at the link below.

Seventy Days of Sweat

It starts today and I just heard about it today.

Well, I'm going to go ahead and sign up for it. Maybe it's just the thing I need to finally, FINALLY, get a novel manuscript done.

Again, check it out if you're looking for a kick in the pants to get some writing done this summer.

Still Here

Just a short post to say that I'm still here although I'm currently in the process of unpacking everything, including my computer.

Other than moving nothing much else to report. I'm in the process of looking for a new job as job I had didn't work out. I'm still working on my writing and hope to get a 13,000 word story submitted, with hope, within the new few weeks.

So, for now, will post when I can. Have a lot on my plate for now. But, isn't that true of all of us. :)

Ciao!