Merry Christmas!!!

Your Christmas Stocking Will Be Filled With a Puppy

Well - one cute, soft, cuddly puppy... And a very soiled Christmas stocking.

What Will Be In Your Christmas Stocking?

Reflections of the writer's mind

I realized it had been a while since I posted here. Not really doing too much in the writerly way of things. I have some days off next week and hope to get started on something.

I did hear from my editor at The Wild Rose Press and she is going to try and get the first round of edits back to me before the end of the year. Somebody pinch me...a story from me in 2008!

Lately I've been mulling over the art of writing. What does it take to become a writer? Though a talent is important, even more so is persistence, since it doesn't happen overnight! I recently got asked what it took to become a published writer. One of my responses was that you're constantly learning the craft of writing. Also, keep writing and you have a better chance than someone who writes one mss and never does another.

For 2008, I hope to write and sell more.

Oh, and keep up better on this blog. :)

If I don't post here before December 25th....

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAVE A HAPPY HOLIDAY!!!!!!!

Yeah! Another sale!

I know a few of you already know it....and once again I should've announced it on my blog...

But I sold another one to The Wild Rose Press!!!!!

It's called A Purrfect Touch and is the sequel to A Purrfect Love. Some of you may have read the little excerpt I posted earlier. Well, that is it.

They want it!

They like me!

What a Christmas present!

Win a free ebookwise!

In case you haven't heard.... TheBookBingeBlog is giving away an ebook readers.

Would I turn down a contest like this? No way!

Christmas Meme:

1. What is your favorite Christmas romance to re-read each year?

I really don't have a favorite Christmas romance, but I love to pick up the series romances and read them as a comfort read. You know Harlequin releases a bunch every year. My favorites are the Harlequin SuperRomances.

2. What is your favorite Christmas movie/show?
Definitely A CHRISTMAS STORY. The one with Ralphie in it. Love to watch it Christams Day.

3. What is your favorite Christmas cookie? Those kind that are rolled in powdered sugar. Fresh out of the oven. Yum!

4. When do you start Christmas shopping? For real, the day after Thanksgiving, but I've been known to grab a gift here and there throughout the year.

5. Do you re-gift?
Don't tell anyone...but, yes. Is Santa going to call me bad?

6. What is your favorite Christmas song?

Silent Night or Jingle Bells

7. When do you get your Christmas tree?
I do the ::cough cough: artificial trees. In fact, I have three up right now. :)

8. Wrapping presents: Love it or hate it? Hate it, because I am a lousy wrapper.

9. Who is the hardest person to buy for? My now 12 year old niece. Hard age to buy for.

10. Christmas tree: Real or artificial?
See #7--lol

And on the Seventh Day I rested....

No, I'm not God, but after working steadily on my writing since August, I decided I needed a week to rest. Last Wednesday I finished the first draft of A Purrfect Touch and yesterday sat down and edited. Two friends have looked at it and says it is "awesome!"

Just what an author wants to hear. :)

This week I'm taking an editing class and will be polishing a tad on my two completed (and edited) manuscripts. Otherwise, taking it easy and catching up on my reviewing at Romance Reviews Today.

As a teaser, here is a sample of A Purrfect Touch... PS...A Purrfect Love still sits on the Top Ten Bestsellers list at The Wild Rose Press!


"Damn cat. I wonder if Ben and Marisa would miss it too much if I opened the window and let her jump out."

Brock contemplated that thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Nah, Ben said Molly was responsible for bringing him and Marisa together."

The cat in question continued to meow, pushing her paw under the barely opened window. Marisa made it clear to only open the windows an inch.

He rubbed his jaw, suddenly realizing he needed a shave. Eyeing the clock, he decided he had maybe time for a quick shower and shave before the pizza arrived. "I ordered it with sausage too, Molly, so you should be happy."

The black Persian turned her head and yellow eyes gazed at him solemnly in disdain. Which pretty much mirrored what the whole damn city of Chicago felt about him right now.

Three months ago, a football hero with a full dating calendar. Now, he couldn’t even charm a female cat.

Shrugging, he headed for the bathroom. The apartment belonged to Ben, but Brock was staying here to hide out from the venomous media and screeching fans out for blood.

His blood.

He stared at himself in the mirror. Dark hair standing on end and nearly bloodshot blue eyes stared back. This is what injuring your knee and costing your team’s a win during the playoffs does. Who’d think Chicagoans carried a grudge two months later?

Shaking his head, he brushed his teeth, wondering if maybe it was time to find a new city to call home. Of course, nothing held him here, except maybe Ben, and now Ben’s bride, Marisa. The happily in love couple tied the knot in the Virgin Islands earlier in the week and Brock was feeling a little lonely without his baby brother around to cheer him up.

He undressed, taking care with his bum knee. He stared down at the ragged scar that, to some men represented masculinity, but to Brock meant a potential end to his career as quarterback of the Chicago Bears.

Stepping under the hot spray, a surge of energy swept through him. He needed to break out of his depression. He couldn’t hide out in Ben’s bachelor pad forever. It was time he headed home to his mansion with its magnificent view of Lake Michigan.

Riinnggg…

In the process of rinsing his hair, Brock paused. What the hell? The pizza delivery guy was here already? Cursing, he hopped out of the shower and grabbed his robe. He told them an hour and it couldn’t be that already. He was going to give them a piece of his mind.

Marching to the door, he briefly caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye, but he didn’t have time to investigate whether Ben now had a mouse loose in the apartment.

He tore open the door. "I told you guys—" he started to say, then stopped.

There wasn’t anyone at the door. He glanced down the hallway, but it was empty, except for…

"Molly!

Why do short weeks seem like long ones?

I only worked three days this week, but I swear I'm so tired tonight... Next week is another three day work week due to the Thanksgiving Holiday. Today they were putting up Christmas trees at work. Oy!

Right now I have four or five pages completed on my follow up to A Purrfect Love. This weekend I guess I need to buckle down. :) Hey, it's only a short story and I have a brief outline in mind, which is saying something for this pantser...

One thing I learned about editing this past weekend was that:

1. Once you write 'The End" let it sit and simmer. That way you have a fresh perspective on your story--and your writing.

2. No matter how many times you edit your WIP, it will need editing again and again. But, don't over edit. Sometimes it's better to just let it go. As much as we all want to be perfect, we can make a mishmash out of a perfectly good story.

3. One thing I was doing last weekend was looking at my WIP to see if looked close enough to a published book. Not the story, but the editing/grammar/usage.


Finally, make sure you watch for duh..spelling errors. Don't rely on spellcheck and for gosh sake, be sure to have a dictionary handy. :D Mine is actually a combination Dictionary/Thesaurus. Comes in handy, indeed!


Now, for something fun... I'm giving away 2008 magnet calendars (fridge size) to anyone who wants one and lives in the US or Canada. Just email me at patti@pattifischer.com and put "Calendar" in the header with your name and mailing address in the body of the email. I'll get one out to you! (while supplies last)

Here is what the calendar looks like:

Finished....

This afternoon I finished Reconstructing Cady! It came in at a little under 40K, which was my goal. Now going to let it sit for a couple of weeks or so before hitting edits on it.

Here is an unedited excerpt........

She looked over at Tanner and wondered where the hell she left her common sense. She’d be just another notch on his bed rail.
And she bet a whole month’s worth of tips that it was a very large bed rail.
He was still rubbing where Gillie had dug his claws in. If her overprotective cat hadn’t interrupted, she suspected they’d had sex right here in this kitchen.
“Damn that cat,” he said finally, looking up at Cady. “What the hell made him do that?”
She took a step back and smoothed her t-shirt down. The way he looked at her with his hooded hot gaze, she knew he meant to soon take up where they left off.
“He’s not used to having a man around. He wanted to protect me,” she replied, picking up Gillie, who purred against her cheek.
“Protect you?” He gazed from her to the cat. “What the fuck is that all about? We weren’t doing nothing he probably hasn’t done.”
That only made Cady angry. He was comparing what they almost did to two cats humping each other? “He’s my baby and we’ve been alone a lot this past year. I don’t have many visitors.” She petted Gillie’s neck. “He was right to interrupt us.”
“What?” He acted like Cady spoke a foreign language.
“It’s wrong, Tanner. We can’t have...” She could barely say the word out loud. Sex seemed dirty and making love...well, there wasn’t any love involved.
He ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head in disbelief. “Aww...come on sugar, it’s just me.”
“Don’t ‘sugar’ me. You get your things and get out of here.” She needed time to assess her feelings. She didn’t plan to get involved with any man and, even if she was, Tanner wouldn’t be at the top of her list.
His gaze narrowed as he contemplated her words. She sensed he wanted to argue the point, but her choice was made. He needed to get the hell out of here.
He finally picked up his tools without another word. She watched him in silence, continuing to stroke Gillie. She knew she was using the cat as a barrier against Tanner.

Are you a witch, werewolf, vampire, angle, elf, fairy, or mermaid?

You are a werewolf. You are wise and thoughtful. You are explorative and strong. You make a great friend and a powerful enemy. You are not afraid of blood shed. and your past is spatterd with spatterd with grief, rage, depression, and betrayle from those around you. You understand the concepts of life. and keep going. You know that life isn't full of happiness and gold. You are tatterd by things no one knows about. You see the world from a diffrent point of view. You like to be alone. Or with friends. You have your own style.
Take this quiz!








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Brava Novella Contest!

Actually, I did a month ago, but just now getting around to putting up the notice. :)

Got my cover!

Hey, not exactly what I envisioned but it'll work. I should know in a few days the exact release date. I've been working on my website and hope to have it tweaked and up and running this weekend. There'll be contest!

Selling Yourself

Or....lessons in Public Relations....

Yes, now that I'm about to be published, I realize that I need to promote my book and me to the buying public. Can you say...nervous?



Of course, The Wild Rose Press gives you suggestions on how to promote yourself. Chats, message boards, interviews,
giveaways...

Just getting out into the world and telling everyone to buy your book.

I'll admit, this leaves me feeling timid, but I know I have a great bunch of friends online that will/should buy my book. My next step is reaching the ones who don't know me.

Oh, and I already have one interview scheduled. :)

Hey, I can dance when I have to!

I sold!!!!

Yes, I sold to The Wild Rose Press!!!!!!!!!!!

A Purrfect Love will be out sometime in October and will be a Champagne Rosette. I'm thrilled with the news! I actually found out on August 13th but kept my news until I got the author contract. (Can we say I was just a tad nervous?)

But, I got the author contract on August 25th and have been announcing the news everywhere...except on my own blog. :)
Things have been moving fast. Last night got the edits back from the editor and I went through them today and returned them since I have the 3 day weekend off.

Now...I'm going to work hard to sell another story!

Oh, and please buy A Purrfect Love. Here is the blurb I sent to TWRP:


CAT ON A MISSION.....

Molly, a black Persian cat, has a few tricks in mind when she goes on a mission to bring together a couple who are just purr-fect for each other.

LADY ON A LEDGE...

Last thing Marisa Hamilton needs is her cat, Molly, going out onto the window ledge. Dressed in a skimpy outfit for a Halloween party, Marisa chases after her cat, only to lose her footing.

HUNK TO THE RESCUE...

New next door neighbor, Ben Singer, comes to Marisa’s rescue and offers her coffee and a chance to recover from her ordeal. More than just coffee sizzles between them. Will their chance encounter result in A Purrfect Love?


I'll post the cover and an excerpt later on. :)

Writing right along.....

Thought I would post a picture of my two cats in one of their more lovable moments.


Well, this month I started writing a new story and so far it's been sort of a slow but steady progress. Work has been hell, busier than normal, so when I get home at night, I've been fairly tired.

After starting this on August 8th, I now have...:drumroll: 44 pages! Not too shabby when the most I wrote was the first 11 pages. :D I also have a title: Reconstructing Cady. I've laced it with some humor and sexy dialogue. I'm having fun with the story.

Over the weekend I also whipped up a synopsis, but since I'm a pantser, I suspect that synopsis will change a little along the way.

Unfortunately, the reviewer in me has to dig down and work on her September reviews or I won't get them done on time. I'm one of those who has to get her deadline stuff done on time or I feel guilty.

My minimum goal this week is to write twenty more pages.

Coming out of lurkdom

Wow, it has been a while since I posted!

Seems like the summer has flown by and before you know it....

I should write an essay on "How I Spent My Summer Vacation."

I did go on a trip in July. Not to Dallas to swelter it out with the rest of the RWA members, but a trip to Lake Tahoe. Enjoyed it immensely and even came away with an idea for a story. Filing it away in my story idea folder. I think it could work out to be a single title, if I plan it right.

But, I am writing again. Yeah, after spending a lot on editing the past few months, I decided it was time to write again. Kate Pearce is the one who said to just get back to writing. So I did. :)

So far it is going good. A romantic comedy with a sexy premise. Hero is a bad boy and makes no excuses about it. Heroine wants no part of getting involved with him. But, of course, she ends up... Shh....... LOL

Oh, have to mention the past few days have been interesting. I finally buckled down and entered the Brava Novella Contest. Oddly, I started writing this story way back in December before they announced the contest. It's karma, I tell you. :) The story is done and edited. Now I just have to sit back and wait. Won't know any results until October when they pick the 20 finalists. Even if I'm not one of the chosen twenty, I'll be submitting this story somewhere. I kind of like it....

And then, I leave you on a teasing note... Shh...I'm not going to say anything yet on this blog about it. Just keep your eyes opened... ;-)

Popping in and looking for good vibes...

I know I really should post more than once a month. LOL.

Okay, most of my blog life is spent here: http://romrevtoday.blogspot.com/

But why can't I um...pop in here? My only excuse is I forget easily. A first sign of old age. ;-)

I do have some semi-news to report. I finished edits on A Purrfect Love and on June 17th I sent a query to The Wild Rose Press. A big step for me. Whew!
Then it got really exciting when...less than 24 hours later...I got the request for the full!

Yay! Wow!

I immediately sent it off and now it sits in the hands of the editor. Please sprinkle some good luck fairy dust on me.

In the meantime, I'm working on edits for my story for the Brava Novella contest. I'm 20 pages from the end, but right now this is the part I'm slightly changing. My goal is to finish it before the end of the month. Then let it rest and start up again to read it through.

Yeah, the sad state of writing for me is the time spent on editing.

Confession Time...

Well, sort of a confession.

One of the things I haven't done is tell my family that I'm writing and my goal is to be published some day. I guess because I see them as being critical of me and thinking I'm stupid to think I can be good enough to write.
My family is my brother and sister in law. My mother, before she passed away, knew I was just starting the process and I know she would be thrilled where I'm at today.
I once told a roomful of coworkers about a year ago that when I retired I wanted to work on getting a book published. Dead silence in the room but the workshop head nodded his head and said it was a good plan. Of course, he doesn't know me. Later, one of my coworkers asked me if i was serious and I told her yes. End of that story.

But anyway, last Sunday I called my sister in law about something and the subject of retirement came up. Not exactly a non issue since I have worked 26 years for this company and can retire in 6 years or so....
My sister in law and I talked about working after retirement, traveling, etc. Then I told her.

I want to be a full time writer and get published.

There was a brief silence and then she said, "Really?"
I told her, yes.
Her response, "That is nice. It will be something to look forward to."
Haha..I thought. Then I told her. "I'm actually doing that now but with work I can only do it part time."
That sort of broke the ice. She said, "Hey, that is great. I can see you succeeding. I look forward to seeing what you do with it."


We ended the conversation shortly afterward, but to me, that was an icebreaker.

I finally told someone in the family what I was doing. I'm no longer a closet writer.

Of course, I didn't tell her it was romance...

Yes, it is me..........

I know it's been a long time since I posted, but gosh, seems like life got busy. Now things appear to be calming down and I am actually thinking of writing again. LOL

I've decided to retool chapter one of Obsession since the feedback is that the heroine is not likeable. Okay, I can hopefully change that. I have a few ideas on how to make her less self-centered and shallow.

In the meantime, while checking out punctuation issues for a review, I came across a Grammar Blog. Looks like something that me, a writer, will want to keep an eye on.

Check it out!

http://data.grammarbook.com/blog/

My new New Year's Resolution

Here it is, only the end of February and I'm amending my New Year's Resolutions. :)

Here are the revised ones:

Get my PRO status with RWA.

Write one single title per year, polish them up and submit to publishers.

Write short stories with the idea of selling to ebook publishers.

Work on my writing craft by reading writing how to books or taking classes. That way I can hone my skills until I can concentrate on writing full time.

The reason I made these decisions is with my full time job that I cannot give up since I have a good retirement plan that I can access within 8 years. I also continue to work for Romance Reviews Today (LOL, Google my name and it comes up with a LOT of review quotes) and I don't want to stop that either. Reviewing is fun, and besides, I like the boss ;-)
The past few months I've been feeling somewhat overwhelmed, but only because I felt this intense pressure to crank out the stories so I can strive for publication. Okay, maybe this isn't something a publisher wants to hear, but I need to not go insane.
The last few months have seen me struggle to keep momentum. I write, but then I end up having to push it aside for a few days. You can't do that on a 100K book and keep it coherent. :( I'm also the treasurer for RWA Online and can now devote more time to it and the discussion loop.

So, you will see me continuing to write, but in a different way of achieving it.:-)

I love to write!

Tuesday Tales...The Art of Contests

Contests, contests, contests everywhere!

One thing an unpublished writer might do is enter contests. There are literally tons of contests out there and the big question is…which one?

Generally, I try to enter the ones with the most pages for the bucks. Another consideration is how the contest fits my manuscript. Finally, I look at the editor, agent, or whoever is going to be the final judge.

Lately I’ve found some contests with rules that are confusing. It’s not clear how the manuscript should be formatted, or how they want the synopsis done…
In the end, these contests lose me. 

Of course, for every contest I don’t enter, another one pops up. Luckily I’m not bent on entering every single one or as many as I can. I just want feedback.

On a side note, my writing is suffering a little. Haven’t written too much in the past few days and I’m still hung up on the final chapter. I’ll get it done…but I won’t meet my January 31 deadline.

Helloooooooooooo

Hey, I just realized I hadn't updated my blog since Dec 30th. Me bad.

Been busy lately it seems. Writing, reading and just all around busy busy. I got results back from two contests lately and no finals. One even was critical of my writing. That was a downer for me. :(
I had to make a decision on my part -- did I want to continue full steam ahead or put it all on the back burner?

I decided to hone my craft. I know my goal is to submit, but am I ready, or do I have a piece of crap? I could just submit and get my Pro status, but is that fair to the editor if it really isn't the best work? I don't know. I will have to think about it...

Planning on taking a paranormal class next month. It sounds like a good class for me, since I have one or two paranormal-type stories in my head.

Got-to-act-upon-these-ideas-in-my-head.

I will try and update this blog again in a few days.