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.

Back Story

One of the enlightening things I’ve learned in the past few months is that you don’t want to bog down your story with too much back story. Okay, you want your readers to know what happened, but what’s the point of telling them this right off the bat??? Weave it into the natural flow of the story.

Sometimes that is better said than done. I’m one of the worst offenders in that. I will start penning a story and before I know it, I’m telling too much back story. Argggghhh!!! Bad me. I usually then end up tossing it out and it ends up cutting out part of my first chapter.

But the good thing is that it makes me a better writer in that I learn from my mistakes. Right now I’m working on a story that I keep tossing out back story, but then I have to tell myself…STOP! LOL!

Ah, just another day in the life of writing ;-)

By the way....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

My goal is to submit for 2007. Big step, but I'm ready.

Merry Christmas!

I promise a post related to writing in the few days! I have a topic I have on the back burner. I'm currently working on a Christmas themed story that I'm aiming for the short story market i.e epublishers.

In the meantime...



Patti

A final!!!!!!!

Late last night, just before I was heading to bed, I got email that I finaled in the Beacon Unpublished contest. My erotic entry is being sent to Raelene Gorlinsky of Ellora's Cave for final judging.

Woohoo!!!

Thank you First Coast Romance Writers!!!!!!!!!

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Okay, I told myself this blog wasn't going to be a quiz place, but I saw this and had to share....


***For the twelve days of Christmas, your true love will send you:***


Twelve babies drumming
Eleven snowmen a-melting
Ten gymnasts a-leaping
Nine ladies yodeling
Eight llamas a-milking
Seven gingerbread men a-crumbling
Six kittens a-meowing
Five golden toe rings
Four calling booty calls
Three French fries
Two stale fruit cakes
And a owl in a pine tree


What Will You Get for the 12 Days of Christmas?
http://www.blogthings.com/whatwillyougetforthe12daysofchristmasquiz/

What American Accent do you have?

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North   You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
The Midland
The Northeast
Philadelphia
North Central
The South
The West
Boston
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Contests.........

I got my contest results back on the revised Don't Go Breaking My Heart. Lousy. I did lousy. In fact, one judge said my writing sucked. Eh......this is the same entry that has finaled in two contests. I know contests are subjective, but I would think the judge could've found something positive to say.

Yeah, it hurts, but I guess like submitting, you'll always have some who will love your work and others who'll hate it and I need to learn to live with the rejections.

But it's still hard to swallow.

On Friday, I did start typing out a Christmas themed short story. I know where it is headed, just not sure the path it will go.
You know how it goes with a panster. :-)So far I've done 2185 words. I am hoping to be done by Christmas. Not sure where'll I go with this. May not go anywhere, but I do want to finish it. It's a big step to finish any story you start. How many writers are there out there that have never finished a story in their life? People would be surprised at the answer.

Anyway, it's me marching onward with my writing. Gotta pick up the pieces and crank out the words.

Happpy Holidays!