Sunny Saturday

I've been sorely neglecting my blog lately. Really, I had good intentions. Just not enough time in the day to do everything. One thing I am keeping up with is the editing. Now down to the last chapter and will probably retool it a little at the end. Nah, won't change the climatic scene. That was too funny. :)
As I go through it, I'm finding less mistakes other than I needed to add dialogue. Note to newbies...thoughts are passive, talking is action.
I now have around 81,000 word...or nearly 350 pages. Not bad. It's a short single title. I also realize that I probably need to read it again to make sure I got the missed words. I have found a scattering of mistakes even though i have gone over it at least two times.
Read and read again and again to make sure the odd words or leftover words are taken out.

It's sunny here today and I'm enjoying it even if I'm indoors. I'm lucky that where my computer sits faces the sun coming in.

If I don't write a post for a few days...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Monday Monday

I had intended to write a blog post over the weekend, but totally forgot. I kept busy with this and that. Reviews, writing...actually editing. Oh, and finished up the contest entries I was judging. I spend so much time at the computer, I think I'm chained to it. LOL

On the bright side, I did do 20 pages of edits tonight and counted out that I have approximately 84 pages to go.

Hmm...should I make the end of October my goal to finish the edits? Eight days. Eight nights.

Stay tuned.

I also plan to get the blog up and presented to the public in the next day or two.

Just have to nag Terrie. ;-)

Whoops!

I realized it has been a few days since I posted. I've been busy. That's my excuse and it's the truth. I decided to at least post with an interesing thing. I'm busy at work editing DGBMH, but a new story keeps talking to me in my head.

Sigh.

Those voices won't go away. As I drove home today, I had a first chapter just about plotted out. Alas, I didn't write it down. I will though. But I leave with you the opening line that I have in my head:

Maybe she'd just serve her shoes to him on a silver platter.

Isn't that a bit catchy? LOL

Real Men....need hair on their chest

What do you think of this cover for REAL MEN DO IT BETTER? One of the stories features my good friend, Carrie Alexander, and she mentioned the cover today. Yeah, the guy's chest is hairless. I dunno about him. I like a little roughness under my fingers as I'm running my hand. Just something about springy hair that gets my toes curling. Unfortunately, the trend seems to be the shiny chests that makes you want to get the Windex out. Any cleaner and smoother and one could eat off the chest. I'd rather eat elsewhere.. :)

Thursday....uh...Is it?

Where did the week go? I was off Monday but back to work Tuesday, keeping busy both daytime and nighttime. Haven't really worked a lot on the editing, but my goal is to finish it by the end of October.
On one of my writing loops, there has been a discussion about writing contests. Why do we enter them? Mine from the start has been feedback. I crave feedback because I want to make sure my manuscript is the best that it can be. But the feeling I'm getting as I read some of the posts is wondering how many contests are entered? Hmm...wouldn't it be nice to know how many people I competed with? Ah...I'm just curious.
Right now I have OBSESSION out to two contests and DON'T GO BREAKING MY HEART (the revised Chapter One) out to one. No matter what happens, I will read the comments and see how I can improve. I can say that positive comments, even if not the words I want to hear, are better than a "this drivel is crap." Not that someone wrote that on a manuscript... I do feel a bit of annoyance though about one contest I entered...the judge coordinator made a comment on a sticky note that she agreed with the low scoring judge about my entry. Come on! Was that meant for my eyes? It seemed to be tacked on as it was between pages. It was disheartening, to say the least.

But, regardless, until I sell, I'll probably continue to enter contests. They can be interesting.

Monday Mega Closure

Here it's Monday, my final day of my short vacation. Weather was crisp this morning as it was in the 30's, but the sun came out and was nice. Got the car washed after I had lunch. As for writing things...well...I did meet my goal of getting 100 pages edited of DGBMH and have 225 more pages to go. Will probably work on that tomorrow night.
In the meantime, today I read and completed three short story reviews for RRT. Well, actually the erotic side. Still have a few more to read and tomorrow I go back to work. I also worked on the contest entries I'm judging. Really, it isn't that hard to do. At least, I hope I'm doing it right. lol I entered a writing contest for what-the-heck reasons. It's the revised first chapter of DGBMH.

In the meantime, I picked up LOVE, LUST AND PIXIE DUST by LuAnn McLane to read. So far it's good. Love the cover!


I'm thinking about my next writing project. Really, I need to get my butt in gear and start outlining it.

Totally Fantastic News!

If you remember, back in August I got notified that I'd finaled in the SFA-RWA's Heart to Heart contest.
Well....Friday I got the results back. I placed second in the Short Contemporary category. Can you picture me jumping up and down? I also got good comments from the final judge, Wanda Otewell from Harlequin. She said...

Overall, this scene sets up a nice attraction that promises to be fun with a touch of wickednessÂ…of the best kind.

And with this news, I started making changes to DON'T GO BREAKING MY HEART. It's such a tough sell, I may end up trying for the ebook market, where they can pretty much take any word count and a variety of stories. In my heart, I know I have a good story and could spend a lifetime trying to sell it, but I need to be realistic and go where it has the better chance of selling.
That way, I can concentrate on more marketable stories, like OBSESSION.

Yes!

I finished OBSESSION, my Blaze targeted story. Yes, I know there's already one by that name, but who said if I sell that'll remain the title? How many authors (unless your name is Nora Roberts) get to keep their original title?
The good news is that I came in right on target pretty much where I wanted it to. I also started this baby of mine mid-June and it took me a little longer than the other two to finish (and is shorter) but with the break I took to head to Nationals (and then some) it's not surprising. I have the synopsis done and halfway done with edits. My critique partner is knee-deep in her own edits so hasn't gotten the latest back to me.

For something fun I'd like to complete a short story. Maybe 25,000 words or so and try to sell it to a ebook publisher. I have something in mind already. I want to write something quirky and flirty. :)

It's October!

Hard to believe it's October. Of course, considering it has been in the 80's here all week, it doesn't feel like fall.
I've been working on reviews all week for Romance Reviews Today. I'm happy to say that I'm done with October reviews! Yay! Free to write and edit. Two books that I considered outstanding reads for October are I'M IN NO MOOD FOR LOVE by Rachel Gibson. My review is posted already.


The other very good read was THE PART-TIME WIFE by Maureen Child. It's part of the Secret Lives of Society Wives series, but still, if you can, pick it up and forget what happened before.



It's Sunday and I have a few things to do before I plan on digging in and starting on writing that final scene for my wip, OBSESSION. Yep, you heard that right. I did not do a single ::bleep:: writing this week.

Between working on reviews and work, I just didn't have time. I also read a book yesterday for a bit of break in between. I'll tell you about it in another post. :)