2006
December 19, 2006
Can computers be schizophrenic?
After complaining to my electrical engineering
husband about my laptop's strange behavior, he says, "Oh, the battery
probably has short in it. That's a fire hazard. You should get a new
one." Duh. Well, Gateway doesn't have my model battery anymore,
so off to eBay I go. I bid on several and lose, then I see one offered
as is. The seller says it worked the last time he used it but that was
8 months ago and he has no way to test it now. I chance it. I win. The
battery comes. It won't charge. *grrrr* OK, so I gambled and lost. I
still need a new battery. I bid on another one that's offered by a seller
who's sold a lot of them and had no complaints. I win. Yeah! It comes.
It works! Woo hoo.
A week later, my montior goes completely black.
I try booting it up several times and can hear the hard drive whirring
and clicking and making all the noises it's supporsed to but nothing
on the monitor. I swipe the little desktop monitor from my kids computer
(bad mommie) and hook it up. It works. So, the diagnosis is the backlight
is burned out. So, yes I have my laptop working but now I'm using an
external monitor so it still keeps me immobile (no escaping to the library
to write).
So the big debate now is to fix the backlight
or bite the bullet and buy a new laptop. I'm worried that I'll fix the
monitor only to have something else go wrong. The hard drive maybe?
After all, don't things come in threes? Well, I'm going to tough it
out until I finish this manuscript (only 50 pages to go!), backing up
religiously, then once it's done, I'll see about putting it in the shop
or getting a new one. Merry Christmas to me.
October 5, 2006
Back up files. Back up files. Back up files.
That should be my new mantra in life.
I knew it was coming. My laptop has been having
a love/hate relationship with its power supply cord. Breathe on it the
wrong way and it resorts to battery draining mode. This has been going
on for months now. I kept telling myself I'd send it into the shop when
this book is done. Of course, we know how long I've been dragging THAT
out. So yesterday, I was working along just fine when the screen freezes
up. No need to panic. It's done this before. I just need to take out
the battery and unplug the power for a few minutes and it will be fine.
Only when I go to unplug the cord from the back of the laptop, it's
so hot I get blisters on my fingers. Ouch! Not a good sign. So I unplug
it from the wall. Give it a minute or two. Reinsert the battery and
plug it back in. It starts booting up. Good sign. Windows comes up and
Norton runs. Another good sign. I cannot open any folders or applications.
Not good. I'm starting to worry now. When WAS the last time I backed
up all my files? A month ago? Sooo not good. I figure I need to leave
the power off for longer than a minute. But this time, now that the
cord has cooled down, when I try to unplug it from the back of the computer,
I can't pull the plug out. The thing got so hot, it has apparently welded
itself to the back of my computer. This cannot be good. So I leave it
unplugged and batteryless for several hours. I plug everything back
in and start to pray as Windows boots up. Good sign but I still have
every possible body part crossed. We're not home free yet. Yeah! I can
open my folders. I spend the next hour or so backing up my entire laptop
and transferring the files to the desktop computer. Note to self: get
a larger jump drive. The laptop seems to be doing OK for now but I'm
scared to do any writing on it incase it crashes for good the next time.
That means I'm tied to the home office and can't escape the construction
work or the kids. *sigh*
September 28, 2006
This isn't writing related but . . . Woo hoo!
I'm going to be an aunt! My baby brother just called to tell me he's
going to be a daddy. Of the 2-legged variety. He and his wife already
have an ark full of 4-legged children (2 kittens, 3 dogs and 3 horses
with another one on the way). Finally, I can hand off all the baby stuff
I've been hanging on to for just such an occasion.
I don't know whether I'm happier about being an aunt for the first time
or having more closet space.
September 16, 2006
Did I really think I would get any writing done
when the kids went back to school? Silly me.
As soon as they were out the door, the construction crew showed up for
the master bath remodel. I can't concentrate with all the banging and
sawing going on over my head but if I try to leave, they call me with
something I just have to come back home to approve. Then there's all
the last minute details I have to take care of. I have to pick out hardware?
Do we really need to open all those new cabinets? And light fixtures?
I don't put on makeup anymore so why do I need to see myself in the
morning? I can shower in the dark if I have to. Paint? You mean the
walls need color? Sheesh. It never ends. Before I know it, my 3 hours
of freedom in the morning are used up and I have to pick my son up from
preschool and be his playmate until his sister gets home from school
at 4:00. I should have never tried to get published before they were
both in kindergarten.
September 7, 2006
You are not going to believe this. I've been
asked to give a workshop on paranormal romance at a writer's conference
next spring. Me? Speaking? In public? Ack! I've never done public speaking
before in my life. And I said yes? Am I insane? Probably. But it's one
of those things us writers have to do in the name of publicity. Still,
I'm in panic mode over it. I have until March to calm down and figure
out what I'm going to talk about for an hour and pray I can pull it
off without sounding like total idiot.
August 30, 2006
I got the best news tonight. One of my oldest
and dearest writing buddies got THE CALL! I couldn't be happier if I'd
sold myself. Diana and I started writing at the same time (I won't say
how many years ago). But while I took a break for a couple of years
to do the baby-making thing, she kept on going, writing every day, constantly
submitting, always persevering. She's been sooo close so many times
and now finally -- woo hoo! -- a 2 book contract with Kensington! Now
I can send her that beautiful engraved pen I got for her nearly 2 years
ago when I sensed she was on the verge of selling. I can't wait to see
her wearing that first sale ribbon at National next year. Wouldn't it
be great if I had a matching one, too? *G* Of course, I gotta finish
this book fast for that to even be a possibility.
August 10, 2006
Commentary time. In the past 2 weeks, I've read
5 novels. I know, I know, I should be using that time to finish my ms
but sometimes you have to recharge the batteries by reading something
other than your own words over and over again. Anyway, the books I read
were 2 older novels (1 historical, 1 contemporary), 2 recent historicals
and a debut author's first chick lit book.
The older novels were from 2 bestseller's backlists,
Pamela Morsi's SWEETWOOD BRIDE and Suzanne Brockmann's HEART THROB.
Both were very good, couldn't-put-them-down, books. Even at 5+ years
old each, they both stood the test of time and remained engrossing reads
even by today's super hot, fast-paced, over-sexed, instant gratification
standards.
The debut author's book, a fun chick lit called
SOMETHING BORROWED by Emily Giffin, was a pleasant surprise. It was
recommended to me by one of my fellow beach attendees who reads as much
romance as I do. One caveat here — I don't read alot of chick lit,
so I haven't reached the saturation point that many fans of the genre
have and that probably allowed me to enjoy it more than I might have
otherwise. My friend had the sequel to it at the beach house, too, but
I didn't read it because I predicted (to my friend's shock and amazement)
exactly what was going to happen in it and who the heroine would end
up with. "How'd you do that?" she asked. I laughed and said,
"Because I write this stuff!" Now, if the author had not gone
the predictable route, I might have read the sequel too. I still may,
just because I enjoyed the author's voice.
This brings me to the 2 recent releases, which
shall remain nameless. One was by a huge bestselling author, who I've
read many times before and always enjoyed, and 1 by a midlist author
who I personally know (shush, don't tell her!) with a decent sales history.
Both were throw-them-against-the-wall awful! As I stuggled to get through
them I wondered if their editors even bothered to glance over the manuscript
before publishing them. The midlist author's historical had nearly word-for-word
duplicate descriptions for different people just pages apart, repeated
actions in the same scene (how many times can you go into the water
or stand when you never sat down?), and anachronistic dialogue out the
whazoo. The bestseller's book was amateurish and sloppy, at some times
painfully confusing and at other times tediously predictable. Honestly,
if either book was submitted by an unpublished author right now, a rejection
would come back so fast it would make her see stars. What were these
authors thinking? Have they lost their touch? Were they under deadline
pressure and just threw something together in a few weeks? Did they
pull a 1st manuscript out from under the bed and not bother to dust
it off and/or fix major beginner mistakes? Or were they just plain lazy
and figured it was good enough and their fans would buy it anyway?
I may never know how these 2 authors were able
to publish such horrible books, but I did learn one thing reading them
— never, ever become complacent in my writing. It's a sure way
to lose faithful readers, because these 2 authors have lost me. So,
now I need to put my money where my mouth is and make sure DRAGON is
the best book I can write so that someone won't say the same thing about
me down the line.
August 6, 2006
Boy, it's been a long time since I've updated
my journal. Unfortunately, that also means it's been a long time since
I've made much progress on my book. Being the sole entertainment director
to two bored children during summer break has NOT been good for my writing
schedule. Can you say "summer camps" for next year? *G*
We just got back from the annual family beach
week and I'm happy to say I survived once again. Imagine 18 adults and
12 children in 2 beach houses. Totally insane, but we do it every year.
It's the only time my kids get to see their cousins from Atlanta. I
did try to be good and printed off the last half of my ms to take to
the beach with me to edit and polish. However, my good intentions stayed
tucked in their folder in our room. It might have worked if I'd 3-hole
punched it and put it in a binder so I could work on it under the beach
umbrella while the kids frolicked with their cousins in the surf. But
I didn't. Picture 100+ ms pages blowing down the beach to hang up on
the sea oats, float away in the waves, or stick to lotion-smeared sunbathers.
It wasn't pretty.
June 30, 2006
Got chapters 7-10 back from my critique partner.
I can tell when I'm doing good when she gets so caught up in the story,
she forgets to comment or highlight anything. *G* She said this section
had her on the edge of her seat. Yipee! Progress.
June 27, 2006
I finally did it. I've switched to DSL from dial
up. Woo hoo. Did I mention I'm wireless too? Double woo hoo. Not that
this is going to improve the speed of my writing, just the speed of
my procrastination when I surf the internet. Umm, maybe this isn't a
good thing after all?
June 24, 2006
I went up to DC to attend the WRW Deb Dixon workshop
with one of my critique partners. It was good, but I didn't learn anything
new. I own her GMC book and it's so highlighted, it looks like my kids
got a hold of it with magic markers. I was hoping the refresher workshop
would inspire me to brainstorm the sequel of DRAGON. It didn't. I still
have a hero with no story. Or actually, he has two possible stories
and I can't settle on which one to explore. *sigh* Maybe it will come
to me later. I don't have to worry about it now because if I don't finish
DRAGON so that my agent can sell it, I won't need to write the darn
sequel!
June 22, 2006
Sent of the next batch of chapters to my critique
partner. Ten chapters polished, 18 left to go. Argh!
May 8, 2006
We
survived camping. It rained most of the way to the campground, tucked
somewhere in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. Not a good sign. It
finally stopped by the time we got there but by then our assigned campsite
was a soggy mud puddle, so we decided to upgrade to a cabin. That was
fine with all of us. They were very cozy, spider-free and -- most importantly
-- dry. Saturday turned out to be a gorgeous day so we took the kids
to Natural Bridge. I'm still sore from all the hiking. But, just to
prove what a dedicated writer I am, my father-in-law took this lovely
*cough cough* photo of me sitting by the fire, early Sunday morning,
ingesting my daily caffine requirement and editing a hardcopy of my
manuscript. Please do not look too closely -- we were roughing it, after
all.
I also finished judging the last of the Fool
for Love entries this morning. That's it for judging contests for me
until I finish DRAGON. On the ego boost front, I found out my article
"Web Design 101 for Writers" was picked up and reprinted in
the April PROspects newsletter (yes, I'm a bit behind). I've been syndicated!
Woo hoo!
May 5, 2006
Gone camping . . .
Well, we're off for our first family camping trip . . . with the kids
. . . in a tent . . . for the weekend . . . and they're calling for
rain. Ack!!! Wish us luck. It should be an adventure.
My critique partner got the 1st six chapters
back to me this morning. It doesn't look that bad (not bad enough to
ruin my weekend worrying over, at any rate). She didn't see any pacing
issues so far, which was my biggest concern. She did point out that
I use "like" and "felt" too much. Boy, when they're
highlighted in the text document, they really jump out at you. Guess
I need to add them to my find and replace file (another critique partner
slapped my wrist earlier for abusing "seemed" too much *G*).
Of course, I haven't finished polishing the next 6 chapters yet. Did
you really think I would? But I'm taking some of them with me to see
if I can make some headway on them while the kids are terrorizing small
woodland creatures.
April 24, 2006
I've been polishing up the rough draft of DRAGON
and finally sent the revised 1st six chapters to one of my critique
partners (the other 2 are swamped right now). I'm hoping she can help
me tighten it up because I feel like some of the chapters are rambling
on too long. (3 are 19 pages in TNR) At this rate I'm going to have
a 450 pg ms. -- yikes! I've found that once I put the words on the page,
I have a hard time "killing my darlings." Anyway, it's now in her eager
little hands. I hope to get the next 6 chapters polished before she
gets them back to me. Think it will happen? If you know me, naaaa.
April 15, 2006
I sent back the entries I was judging for the
Romance Through the Ages contest. Three of the four were pretty good.
One had an awesome idea for the opening scene that I wish I'd thought
of! If I were an unethical person, I might steal it. But I'm not so
I won't. (Darn those pesky ethics.) Now that that's done, I have the
Fool for Love entries sitting on the kitchen counter waiting to be judged.
And I have to finish DRAGON (75 pages, give or take, to go!) I need
to finish this thing before the kids get out of school (when my writing
tends to come to a screeching halt). For my preschooler, that means
the end of May.
April 7, 2006
The Easter Bunny brought me an early present
. . .
OK, so I bought it myself. My kids seem to think the Easter Bunny is
like Santa and brings gifts. Wonder who gave them that idea? *G* (they
get one small toy each along with the candy and eggs). So I bought myself
a gift too -- a brand spanking new all-in-one laser printer. It copies,
it prints, it scans, it slices, it dices . . . Oh wait, no it just copies,
scans and prints. But boy does it print fast. Shot out my first chapter
in seconds instead of the 3 pages a minute my deskjet does. Woo hoo!
March 13, 2006
I finally decided to get tough on myself since
procrastination is my middle name and my self-discipline seems to be
non-existent these days. I tried to uninstall those time-sucking demons
Free Cell and Spider Solitaire from my laptop. It looked like they were
being uninstalled but when I restarted my computer . . . Ack!!! THEY'RE
STILL THERE!
Later that same morning
. . .
OK, I figured out what I did wrong. Silly me, I thought you CHECKED
the programs to remove them, not UNCHECKED them. So this means I deleted
a lot of necessary stuff (like the calculator) and kept the things I
was trying to get rid of. Goes to show what happens when you try to
mess with the operating system on 1/2 cup of coffee at 6:30 in the morning.
Thank heavens I didn't delete the System Restore. Now I'm restored and
solitaire free. Let's see if it increases my productivity like I hope
it will.
February 16, 2006
I finished judging my Golden Heart entries and
mailed off the scores today. I know, I know. I said I wasn't going to
touch them until I'd finished the rough draft of DRAGON. I caved, so
sue me. The entries were sitting there on my night stand, whispering
"Read me. Read me." I couldn't resist.
I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. There
didn't seem to be a newbie in the bunch (thank God). Most were very
good. One blew me away (and it wasn't the one I expected). I wouldn't
be surprised if 1 or 2 of them showed up as finalists.
February 11, 2006
I had dinner with Kensington editor Kate Duffy
and several other authors last night (she spoke to our chapter today).
She was very entertaining and there were no unfortunate spaghetti incidents
on my part (or on my shirt *G*). I just loved hearing her talk about
what goes on day to day inside one of publishing's inner sanctums. Those
funny stories of hers, while certainly entertaining, also gave me lessons
on what NOT to do when dealing with an editor . . . or at least when
dealing with Ms. Duffy, if I ever get the chance to work with her. I
didn't get to slip in a pitch -- a matter of too much table and too
many people. But that's OK. I figure if my writing is up her alley,
my agent will send DRAGON to her when it's done.
The highlight of the evening was when she talked
about a new author she's working with and how thrilled she is about
the series this woman is writing. Just watching how excited Kate was
when talking about this author and her books gave me goosebumps. If
I can land an editor who is half as enthusiastic about my writing as
Kate is about this author's, I'll consider myself very lucky indeed!
January 24, 2006
Did I say I hoped January would be better than
December? Didn't happen. After surviving 3 years relatively unscathed
during the flu and cold season, this year luck ran out in our house.
First, my 6 year old daughter came down with a mysterious rash all over
her body -- it looked like some type of an allergic reaction. Took her
to the doctor and guess what? She tested positive for strep throat.
Go figure. A day later, my 4 year old son starts throwing up (probably
caught a bug while we were at the doctor's office with my daughter.)
24 hours of holding his poor little head over a bucket was not fun.
3 days later, my daughter gets it too. More fun with the bucket. All
the while, I'm fighting a sore throat and the queezies myself. Now both
kids are better -- not counting the sniffles all children seem to have
this time of year -- but I'm sick. I'm going on almost 2 weeks with
this head cold complicated by bronchitis. It's just laughing at the
antibiotics my doctor gave me.
Needless to say, this has
shot my writing schedule to smithereens. Watery eyes and sinus headaches
prevent any type of long term concentration on even the simplest sentence.
And to add insult to injury, I've discovered a flaw in my facts so I'm
having to go back into research mode to revise chapters 7-9. I really
wanted to have the first 100 pages to my critique partners by now. *sigh*
Note to self: pad deadlines
with rolls and rolls of bubble wrap -- I obviously need it!
January 1, 2006
Happy New Year everyone! I can't believe how
fast 2005 went or what a roller coaster ride it was.
2005 started out a such a wonderful year for
me when I signed with my agent in March. Woo hoo! In the end, there
was no sale, but we did get a lot of interest from several editors who
want to see more of my writing. I was hoping to have the first draft
of my latest WIP done by the end of the year, but unfortunately life
got in the way...
The end of '05 turned out to be real a doozy.
Things seemed to go from bad to worse in the month of December. First,
my brother was injured in action (thank God it wasn't worse and he came
home alive and with all his parts), the next day one of my best friends
had a family crisis with her daughter, and a week later there was a
death in my family. They say things come in '3s' don't they? Hopefully
I'm done with the bad news for a while. Add in the insanity of the Holidays,
a new web design job that came up, two excited children underfoot and,
needless to say, I didn't get nearly as far in my writing as I had hoped.
As I said, I wanted to have the 1st draft done by the end of the year.
Big joke on me. Glad I'm not on a real deadline. But I did manage to
write 70 new pages during this month of chaos, which I think was pretty
productive considering all the crap life was throwing my way. Hopefully,
I can double that in January barring anymore life catastrophes.
Here's to a great 2006
(which will hopefully include a 2 book contract!)
