On the long bumpy road to publication

Panic!!!

2009-10-09T09:14:00.005-04:00

Panic has set in...

A few months ago, I made a promise to myself that I was going to finish this ms and enter it into the Golden Heart this year. As the beginning of October hit, along with it came a stark reality...I only have 2 months to finish, polish this thing and get it mailed out! Add to that an upcoming trip and birthday for DD2 and I'm in some serious trouble.

I don't have that much left to write before I hit The End. That isn't what scares me. It's the editing. The first draft is pretty rough, so I know there is going to be a LOT of editing. I'm determined not to go back on my target, but I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with the whole thing.

I almost wish I could get up really high and get a bird's eye view of this story so that it could all become crystal clear...like when you're reading someone else's story. Do you ever feel like that? Any tips you could share would be greatly appreciated!

What's your Happily Ever After?

2009-09-27T10:17:00.003-04:00

The house is quiet. A rarity for a Sunday morning.

My mom offered to take the kids for a sleep over last night so DH and I could go out and celebrate our wedding anniversay. So we jumped at the chance for a night out.

As of Monday, I will have been married for 13 years. Worthy of a night out, right? The kicker...we've been together for 22 years. Considering that I haven't yet hit the big 4-0, I think it makes us, as a couple, pretty unique. We were high school sweethearts, however we waited 9 years before we got married. In those 9 years I went away to university, coming home only on weekends when my studying schedule would allow. My DH started a career with a schedule that made it difficult for him to come visit. And yet through it all, we managed to stay together. Not because it was easier to stay together. Because it was too hard to stay apart.

So there you go--my own little romance novel. Maybe that's why I've been drawn to this genre. What about you? What's your story?

The drama that is my life

2009-09-21T21:01:00.006-04:00

This past week has been filled with bad luck.

It all started during an evening speed walk with my friend. Imagine our surprise when a barking German Shepard emerged from the side of a house and proceeded to CHASE us across across a busy street. An energizing walk turned into a speed-run for our lives (or so it seemed). Very scary. Note to dog's owner: Giving your vicious dog a cute name like Ollie doesn't make him less scary. Just sayin'.

And then in the same evening, not five minutes later, we narrowly missed being spattered with egg thrown from a car full of teenagers. Stupid, to say the least. I mean, really, what's the point?

Then the kicker. This morning, I pulled into the day care to drop off the kiddies, and when I returned to the mommy-mobile, it wouldn't start. Nothin'. Dead as a door nail. So after calling a tow truck, waiting for the nice driver to arrive and start it, I drove promptly to the garage and had a new battery installed. The whole ordeal landed me an hour and a half late for work and a whole lot lighter in the pocket book. What a way to start a Monday.

But bad things happen in threes, right? So that should be the end of my crummy luck. I can hope anyway.

Anyone else out there having crummy luck, or is it just me?

I'm weak...

2009-09-19T19:23:00.002-04:00

I did it.

I gave in to the travel itch and booked a family trip to Orlando. I know, I know, all those reasons I gave still have merit, but the kids are only small once, right? Soon they won't want to hang around with us. They'll be too busy with friends and *gulp* boys to want to go see Mickey and Minnie with Mom and Dad. So I'm going to eat it up while I can.

I can rationalize anything.

I'm a writer, after all.

The Travel Itch

2009-09-11T09:27:00.006-04:00

What is it about the Fall that makes me want to book a vacation?

Maybe it's the impending Winter and mental flashbacks of digging out from under several feet of snow. Or maybe its the thought of the sun setting at 4 pm and the cold, dark drive home from work. Or the memory of the -20 C temperatures that leave us shivering in our warmest Winter gear. Whatever it is, it almost had me convinced to book a trip to Orlando this week. I came really close. Even had DH convinced. Until reasonable thought returned reminding me of the outstanding bills, car maintenance that needed to be done, my shaky work environment--none of which are conducive to spending thousands of dollars visiting Mickey and friends.

Darn.

So I have no trip booked. I'm dreading the thought of Winter coming. But on the plus side, I have a week of vacation time unaccounted for.

I smell a writing week in my future.

Go Read My Story at Read-a-Romance.com

2009-08-29T21:47:00.005-04:00

One of my short stories is going to be posted at http://www.read-a-romance.com/ starting Sunday, Aug 30. If you've got a few spare minutes, please stop by and have a read. It won't take long. And don't forget to rate it so I can see how many people stopped by.

The title is Home is Where His Heart Is. It's a story that was inspired by a time in my life when my husband was traveling a lot for work. I was at home thinking how much fun he must be having traveling all around North America, eating in restaurants every night, sleeping in hotels. Turns out, excitement is all in the eye of the beholder.

If you'd like to drop me a line, I'd love to hear what you think of it.

When I grow up...

2009-08-25T12:14:00.003-04:00

...I want to be Jodi Picoult!

I know, I'm a little slow on the uptake, but I just finished my first Jodi Picoult novel, My Sister's Keeper. I had not seen the movie, so I had no idea what to expect in this book other than what I'd seen in the movie trailers. I'm so glad I was clueless.

This book was fabulous. Not just a great story, but great writing. She wrote it in 6 different points of view, and each was executed flawlessly. Each story line held its own and yet she managed to tie them all together beautifully.

I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read the story, but let's just said it's been a LONG time since a book has made me cry...like actually cry. This book had me sobbing. Now that's a good book.

This was the kind of book that makes me want to be a better writer, makes me want to evoke that kind of emotion, to leave people talking about my book long after they're finished it.

If you haven't had a chance yet, definitely put this book in your To Be Read pile.

I'm about to start another of her books, Vanishing Act. I wonder if I'll be raving about this one in a few weeks time?

It's Official...

2009-08-21T20:33:00.002-04:00

I didn't final in the Golden Opportunity contest. I did come in 6th out of 17 and got some great feedback, which is worth it's weight in gold. Once I'm finished with the first draft, I'll go back and revise the first chapter keeping those comments in mind. Hopefully it'll make my ms even stronger.

Onward and upward, right? It's all we can do.

Contests and Short Stories

2009-08-21T08:53:00.004-04:00

By today, all the finalists of the Toronto Romance Writers' Original Golden Opportunity Contest will be notified. The calls started last night, and my phone did not ring. Not sure if it will today, but either way I'll be getting my scores/comment sheets this week, so that is something to look forward to. I haven't entered this ms into any other contests, so it will be interesting to hear what they have to say.

In other news, one of my short stories will soon be appearing on Read-a-Romance.com. I'll let you know when. Hopefully you'll go by, have a read and give it a rating on the site.

Yup...still here

2009-08-14T08:39:00.002-04:00

It's been a while. I knew this would happen. As soon as I went back to work after vacation, writing took a back seat again. *sigh* Other than a half hour here and there, I haven't had any solid writing time for 3 weeks. And frsutration is setting in once again.

It doesn't help that it's summer and here in Southern Ontario we're finally getting some seasonal weather. The last thing I want to do is keep the kids inside on a gorgeous sunny day so that I can write. But summer is fleeting in this part of the country, so we need to embrace it with both hands (restraints may also be required). Fall will be here before we know it, and with Fall comes... SCHOOL!

My youngest will be starting school this year. *deep sigh* My Baby. Hope I don't break into tears when they play the National Anthem on the first day like I did with DD1 (and it had nothing to do with national pride). I just can't believe how quickly she's growing up. Every mother says that, I know. But there's a reason for that...it's true! The only upside is that with DD2 in JK, I will have 1/2 day once a week for writing time. I guess that's what happens. As they grow up, I'll get more time for me. As good as that sounds, not sure I like the trade off of losing those baby years. But I don't have much choice in the matter, do I?

Woo hoo!

2009-07-16T19:00:00.005-04:00

Another 2000 words today! I'm loving this vacation--or make that my stay-cation. If I had a good solid month of days like these, I could finish this draft, no problem.

Honestly, I think I'm more like 75% done rather than 50%. I tend to write light, and I know I'll have to go back and layer in detail when I edit, so I'll leave room to do that. I'm guessing that I'm about 4-5 chapters from THE END. Woo hoo!

Even though I'm going to have to go back to writing at night and lunch hours very soon, I've made so much head way this week that now I'm itching to write. I may even try and squeak a few hundred more words out after the kids are in bed tonight.

Look at me, acting all writerly.

Happy Dance!

2009-07-16T09:50:00.002-04:00

2600 new words yesterday!

And no editing!

And the best part...as I hit a part in the story when I didn't quite know where to go, something remarkable happened. The story took an unexpected twist, something that I had never even considered adding until that moment. And now I am so excited about where it's headed. It makes so much sense!

I'm off to write. Hope I can add another 2600 words today, or better yet...more!

Progress

2009-07-14T21:59:00.005-04:00

See that little word metre thingy on the side...have you noticed? It's getting bigger! Yay! I added about 2000 words yesterday (today considerably less since I was distracted by a very important shopping trip, LOL), and plan to make even more tomorrow.

I'm determined to have a reason to attend next year's RWA conference, and for me that means entering the Golden Heart contest. And wouldn't it be sweet if I managed to final? I know, one step at a time. For now, I'm going to focus on finishing my first draft (although its been revised so many times I don't think I can call it that any more), no matter how rough and dirty it may be.

It's all about the progress.

Murphy's Law

2009-07-11T19:11:00.002-04:00

The muse is finally working again, and I have no time to write. But all of that is going to change...soon. On Monday I'll have 4 whole daylight days to write for hours uninterrupted. Whoopee! I can't wait. It's supposed to be nice outside too, so my cup of coffee and I can take the writing outside.

Does it gey any better?

Happy Canada Day!

2009-07-01T10:16:00.004-04:00

Today is Canada Day for us canucks. A day to celebrate our nation, to spend time with family, friends, and most importantly...a day off!

I started the day with a brisk sweat provoking walk with a friend, and now I'm energized! What a great feeling! With DH at work (unfortunately, the theatre doesn't stop for holidays), and kiddies home and itching to have some fun, there won't be any writing during the day. But I hope to sneak some in this evening.

In the meantime, I'm sure the day will be filled with loads o' fun. Hope yours is too.

And for all you Canadians...

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

Urggg!

2009-06-28T19:16:00.003-04:00

I'm getting anxious to spend some real, uninterrupted time on my writing. Okay, I manage to grab an hour here, twenty minutes there, but it's just not cutting it. I spend as much time reviewing where I left off as I do writing. It's frustrating, to say the least.

But for right now, it's what I've got, so I've got to make do. Anyone have any ideas as to how to make the most of sport writing spurts? Do you have a system that works?

Birthday and Progress

2009-06-09T12:23:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was my birthday, and I was spoiled rotten over the weekend. Dinner out with DH, breakfast in bed from the kiddies (with Daddy's help, of course), and a lovely cake with my family on Sunday evening. A wonderful weekend like that does help take the sting out of a birthday.

As for the WIP, I shined up my first chapter (with the help of lovely CP, Jude) and entered it in Toronto Romance Writer's Golden Opportunity Contest. Its the first contest I've entered in a very long while, and I'm hoping to get some valuable feedback from it. As for finaling...that'll always be the dream, but I won't hold my breath. I need all my brain cells.

Such is life

2009-04-18T15:37:00.002-04:00

Even though my week of uninterrupted writing didn't turn out quite as I'd planned due to DD1's visit from the flu fairy, I still managed to get down 5500 new words. Not bad for a week that was intermixed with sofa snuggles, fetching drinks, and cleaning vomit (yuck).

But the one thing that the week did give me is a new found determination to finish this damn book! Now that I've gotten the partial down on paper, I'm seeing new depth to the story that wasn't there before. I'm getting better at layering in tid bits that reflect the character's personality and conflicts without the back story dump that I'd previously used. I think I'm getting the hang of this!

So rather than going back to polish the partial, as I'd spent so much time doing in the past, I'm charging on. I'm determined to get this story down before my muse flies the coop again.

She's not getting away so easily this time!

Bliss...

2009-04-07T10:19:00.001-04:00

I'm spending this week writing. Just me, my laptop and an endless number of empty pages to fill. This is this first time I've had so much consecutive time to write with no kiddies about, so I'm lapping it up. Yesterday was a little less productive than hoped due to a sick kiddo at home, but today there are no excuses.

So what am I doing here?

I'm off to write!

Back at it

2009-03-21T21:45:00.003-04:00

After much obsessing I finally gave in and resubmitted my story to Woman's World after waiting 6 1/2 months. I'm pretty such it got lost in the mail somewhere. So now I go back to the bottom of the pile and get ready to wait another couple months. Oh well... at least I'm subbing.

And while I was at it, I also mailed off a children's story that I wrote a few months ago. It's Halloween themed, so I wanted to send it early enough to make it for the Halloween season if they choose to publish it. I only sent it off to one Canadian Publisher. I do want to send it to others but I need to do more research to decide exactly where. I'll get there.

As for the romance MS, I've been doing a lot of work on nailing down the internal conflicts. I really think it's going to pay off in a stronger story. I hope to get some writing time tomorrow to try out my theory.

Hope your writing is going well.

It's been a while

2009-02-06T21:20:00.002-05:00

I'm returning from my little blogland hiatus, and guess what...nothing much has changed! Yup, how sad is that? Two months away and I'm still in the same spot. I'm still working on my WIP, and still haven't heard on the story I sent to WW on August 25.

It's been 5 months. At first I thought that was a good sign. Its the longest I've ever had to wait for a response, so maybe that meant it was being passed up the line, I thought. But then I read on a yahoo group for aspiring WW writers that someone else had recently sold her story and she mailed hers in September. So, has it been passed up to a senior editor? Possibly. Has it been lost in the mail? Possibly. Should I stop obsessing about it? Definitely.

Moving on. I've decided to start working on the synopsis for my wip. I know, there are many different schools of thought on when to do the synopsis...before starting, during, when complete. But I was really feeling the need to nail down the story and the conflicts, and writing the synopsis is helping loads. Once I'm done I'll send off to my CP Jude for a quick boo (by the end of the weekend, I've promised) and then it's back to progressing the story.

So what's new with you?

I'm Ba-aaack

2008-11-20T11:19:00.005-05:00

Sorry for the long absence, but I just got back from a 10 day vacation comprised of a Disney Cruise (heavenly!) followed by a relaxing stay at a Florida condo. Needless to say, it was a shock to come back to snow so early in the season. Who ordered this white stuff anyway? Definitely not me. I want my palm trees and sun shiny skies back!

So now that I'm back it's nose to the grindstone. No more excuses. Starting today, I'm going to stop worrying so much about what I'm writing and just write...even if it's not romance. Hopefully that will get the juices flowing. I'll let you know.

New blahs

2008-10-29T20:46:00.002-04:00

To add to my previous blahs, I got an R on the short story revision that I sent to Woman's World back in July. I was really hoping this would be the one. But at least I've got another story with them. All hope is not lost.

Thanks for the great suggestions on getting rid of my writing blahs. I especially love the day dreaming one, Jude. An excuse to escape into my own head for a while with no expectations...sounds divine!

On the upswing, a cute Halloween story that I wrote and my daughter did the illustrations for won 1st place at the Fall Fair at my daughter's school. I'd feel a lot better if I hadn't beaten out a bunch of 6th graders, LOL.

*Sigh* Has it come down to this?

Feeling blah

2008-10-21T21:08:00.002-04:00

What do you do when you're feeling blah and unmotivated to write?

This is my challenge right now. Too busy to write during the day when I'm feeling motivated...but when I finally have some time in the evening after getting the kiddies to bed, my mind draws a blank. My creativity goes out the window.

Any tips on how to get the mojo back into my writing life? What works for you?

Today's the Day...

2008-10-06T08:00:00.001-04:00

If you'd like to swing by and have a read, today's the day that my short story, entitled Starting Over, is posted over at Read-a-Romance.com.

There are a lot of other great stories there too. If you've got a few minutes to indulge, you won't be disappointed!