Have I quit writing yet?

Just got back on Sunday afternoon from a long weekend writers conference. I've attended the San Diego State University Conference four or five times since 2000. It's one of my favorites because it encompasses all genres. I find it invigorating to mix with short story writers, poets, authors of children's books, literary fiction, thrillers, SF, fantasy, and of course romance.

I'd booked this conference back in November and then lost my confidence in my writing abilities. It seemed nothing was going right in my life. I procrastinated about cancelling right up until a couple of days before, then I had to email Jenny Crusie about something else and mentioned my fragile state. She got the pom-poms out and gave me the Crusie blessing. Or did she say, "Quit bitching and get your ass to San Diego," either way it worked? Even though I'd had a bad sinus attack that had lasted ten days (and still lives on, darn it) I ended up having one of the best and most fruitful conferences ever.

One of the highlights was meeting and chatting for an hour or so with Susan Wiggs. It turns out we both have relatives who live in this tiny Northern Territory of Australia town that has a population of about 4,000. Small world, huh? Susan is one of my favorite authors. I love the emotional character arc of her protagonists. In fact I told her I'd nicknamed her novel, A Table For Five, the two hand sweep. I'd have to put the book down and sweep my cheeks with both hands because I was constantly crying. Not that boo-hoo sobbing kind of crying, more the type where you don't even realize you're doing it but your face is constantly wet. Never been there? Never mind. It must have hit an emotional chord with me. It's truly a lovely story and very well written.

I also got to quiz Bob Mayer on a couple of writing questions although I didn't take any of his classes this time as I'd just gone to his retreat. I met up with a lot of lovely ladies, had many memorable conversations and attended an evening critique session that started at 8:30pm and ended at 2:15 am. We each turned in the first three pages of our manuscript, the facilitator read the entry aloud and we all got to comment, then she gave her critique. It was extremely beneficial and pointed out to me that 75% of the problems newbie writers have is in the area of point of view violation and exposition. I remember those days well.

I received several invitations to submit my work and am beyond thrilled. Today I began an indepth polish of the manuscript and I'm liking it more than ever. I asked for three or four weeks before sending because I don't want to rush this. My norm is usually to run home, print up the manuscript and send it immediately. As I told some of my writing buddies, in the past if my work had been steak it would still have been mooing on the plate. By taking my time, this time around, I'm hoping the work won't be undercooked.

So by the looks of things, I'm back. All I needed was a little injection of confidence. My stint away from writing lasted less than a month. Not bad, huh?

Judge or Judge Not?

An issue in the world of romance writing raised it's ugly head this past week and caused many to sit back on their heels. Some chose to scrutinize their own work, some became indignant, others hurled insults, some tried to defend or reserve judgment, others enjoyed playing this out.

What happened? An author was publicly exposed for plagiarism on a blog site titled, Smart Bitches who Love Trashy Novels. Before we go any further, I am against plagiarism. But I am also against murder, rape, child abuse, stealing, lying, road rage, cheating, false accusations, flaming, public ridicule, assumptions, self-righteousness, judging others, and oh, yeah, kicking dead horses.

The thing that made me sick to my stomach this week was not the plagiarism (which I know is wrong, wrong, wrong, and when discovered the blog site owners had every right to disclose it) but the way the author was treated. Her treatment was as criminal as the charge made. The pack mentality ran rampant. I don't believe we have the right to judge anyone or to publicly berate and humiliate another person. We can make a statement of concern. We can raise issues. We can make a complaint. We can discuss and give an informed opinion. But I think that's about as far as any individual can go. Aren't we supposed to give everyone the benefit of doubt? Aren't they considered innocent until proven guilty, no matter how damaging evidence looks on first appraisal, or even second or third appraisal?

The author in question (who by the way, I do not know nor have I ever read her work) was interviewed and she made a public statement, Romance Writers of America made a statement, the publishers who published the novels made a statement. Each one used their right to remain silent, or reserve judgment, until a full examination of the claim of plagiarism is made.

Unfortunately, the commenters on the blog site mentioned continued to berate, and in my opinion, harrass the author to the extent that they would not accept any reference to a "let's wait and see" attitude or any opinion that disagreed with theirs. They gloated and congratulated each other with every new mention in a blog or newspaper article. It was a sad week for women, for romance authors, and for writers everywhere.

Plagiarism is a crime punishable by law. There are fair right usage laws, copyright laws, ways to attribute research. If the author did not follow the law she'll be punished by the law, not by fellow authors or blog owners or readers of romance novels. There is a common decency in treating another human being who is under scrutiny. Innocent until proven guilty is one of them. Compassion is another. We all make mistakes. Allowing a person to present their case, get a fair trial, accept a judgment, pay a penalty, serve time, apologise for any wrong doing, those are their rights as a human being in our society and I don't know about you, but I'm willing to take a non-judgmental attitude and wait and see how the author handles this awful situation.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone and may the new year bring you whatever it is that makes you feel good about you! Me, I'm going to shoot for enjoyment of my surroundings and loved ones.

Maybe I'll quit writing completely, or publish one of my completed manuscripts, or tackle a new manuscript. I don't know what is in store for me and for some strange reason I'm not worried about anything. I recently stepped away from my local romance writing group, and I've decided to forgo my prior intensive drive to get published again. I'm thinking of taking a few interesting classes, doing some volunteer work, travelling, mixing it up.

I'm taking back the bit of me that I kept in reserve to get the writing done and to pursue that dream to have a career as an author. It's been five solid years of learning the craft of writing, completing six manuscripts and getting nowhere. As each year has passed I've recognized the increased difficulty for new writers to get published with large publishing houses. Most likely I won't give up writing completely as I do enjoy it, it will however take less of a role in my life. I figure I'm not getting any younger and the years are slipping away, there are so many adventures yet to be had and I can't embrace them while glued to a computer chair. So look out Tibet, Machu Pichu, The Amazon, Corsica, that Mediterranean Cruise I've always wanted to take ... I'm saving my money and here I come.

So raise your glass with me in a toast to 2008 and new adventures! May we all have as many as we can comfortably handle and may they bring us intense happiness.

Happy Holidays!

Regardless of what you celebrate, or if you choose to celebrate nothing, you must admit this is a lovely season of the year. I don't think of it as religious just as connecting. I drove through the gates of the development that I live in tonight and admired the palm trees around the lake, which are wrapped with twinkle lights. Many of the houses are decorated, people stop their cars to shout out Merry Christmas, and even though I haven't truthfully celebrated Christmas in years, I open my car window and grin and shout the greeting back. It feels good.

In recent years I've chosen to ignore the holidays. I converted to Judiasm when I married my ex-husband and raised our two kids in the Jewish faith. Whatever I knew or believed in from my upbringing, which was Anglican, changed with that decision. After our divorce I was in limbo for a long while. What did I really believe? The answer was, a little of everything. My children grew up and chose whatever life partners and beliefs they wanted. I accepted their decisions.

The only time I ever think about things like this is at the holidays. I have such a mish-mash of understanding when it comes to religion and am open to everything. I love to attend Temple, yet I'm blown away by a Catholic High Mass. When I studied Neo-Paganism for a story I was writing I could totally relate, I even told my daughter I wanted a scrying ball for my birthday. And she very nicely bought me one. When I read about Zen Buddism it makes sense to me. When I read about Quantum Physics I understand. However, a few years ago, I stood in the middle of Notre Dame and cried bucket loads because of the sheer overwhelming beauty of the place and the way it spoke to me. Then I bought a St. Christopher medal and wore it on a bracelet next to my wristwatch. I wouldn't even take it off to shower. Weird huh?

I can't fathom what has gotten into me this year. I even accepted an invite to Christmas Eve dinner at my best gal pal's home. She said, "We're by ourselves. The kids aren't coming this year. It would please us immensely." My friend's husband is of French birth and loves to cook. He put on his black apron from the Margaux district and set to work, loving that he had an audience as he chopped and basted and mixed. Nothing pleases him more. We, my friend and I, sat at the table in the kitchen and drank fine wine and nibbled on cheese and watched him and kept him entertained with our chatter. He doesn't have an accent, having lived here since his late high school years, but man can he speak French beautifully. I know why she fell in love with him. That language is like catnip to this cat. He spoke of growing up in France pre-world war two and scoffed at my description of a chicken recipe I learned to make from a Frenchman I dated several years ago. My date had assured me one should always use a good white wine, and the entire bottle, none of that cheap cooking wine for him.

"In France we drink the wine," my friend's husband said. "Who would waste a good wine by pouring it on food?" I laughed and took another sip of the buttery-smooth cabernet sauvignon and had to agree. Nobody was getting my wine to pour over a chicken.

Today I took my dog over to the Polo grounds and watched a few players put their horses through their training. My dog was fascinated. We love to watch them, man and beast fused as if one. It's a great game. Can't wait for the season to start. Then I came home and prepared a mini-feast for one, well, one and a dog. I had long conversations with friends and family, wrote emails and read emails.

Tonight I'm alone but I don't mind that one bit. I've had invitations but prefer to be here savoring the peace and quiet. Giving doesn't have to rely on a season, or a day, or family, or company, or giving of gifts. We can make it what we want. We can derive simple pleasures from the day and give silent thanks, or talk to our dog, or think up ways to give to others in small non-commercial ways. Like giving a French Chef the praise and attention he needs to perfect a grand meal.

Happy holidays to all, and a very happy, healthy, and creative 2008!

What are you Reading?

The Island, by Victoria Hislop, was my last truly amazing read. This story is Hislop's debut novel. The book was published in Europe and the U.K. in 2005 and has been acquired by Harper Collins, I believe it has either just come out in the U.S. or it will any day now. I had the opportunity to read an arc or advanced reader copy.

The story is set in Greece in the 1940's on the island of Crete. It starts out in contemporary London where the heroine is drawn to trace her family roots in Greece. She knows there is a mystery in her mother's past, something her mother refuses to discuss. When she arrives in Crete she is told the story of the town, of her mother's relatives, and the history of an island, Spinalonga, which was once a leper colony. A colony where her own relatives were sent. The story deals with the complexities of mother/daughter relationships, sisters, forbidden love, disease, and prejudice, and all with a deft hand and a sensitivity that is evident through the author's beautiful prose.

After reading this novel I had a yearning to read books from earlier times, historical romance, classics, I couldn't get enough of the lyrical prose that had filled my thoughts when reading The Island. Last week a friend gave me an early Christmas gift, Cotillion, by Georgette Heyer, it was originally published in 1953, this one is a 2007 release from Sourcebooks Casablanca, the cover is gorgeous, the paper is fantastic, the interior design simple but elegant. It has a really good feel to it and I love that.

I'd never read this book, although as a teenager I loved Regency and Gothic novels best of any. I've been swept up into the Regency period again and loving it. I read until almost two a.m. last night, unable to put this story down. It's a slow start and if I were writing it I'd start from the protagonist point of view in chapter two and weave the tedious male conversation in chapter one throughout the novel, but that's a contemporary author speaking. For the period, the story works, but for many of today's readers it's a slow start. Stick with it, it's a great read.

Both books are beautiful to look at, a total luxury to read, and would make excellent holiday gifts for any lover of romance.

Keeping it Real.

November has been a strange month for me emotionally, one of change, perhaps mirroring the season? Trees are losing their leaves or changing color. Mountain tops are capped with snow. Nights are cooler, days are shorter. The ducks and the Coots are setting up residence around the lake, and inside my little abode, my writing is getting a major overhaul.



I finished the story in NaNoWriMo, pushing through and completing the remaining 30,000 words in the first ten days and then dropping out as it was hard to do an actual wordcount once I began revising.



Several days later I read that Bob Mayer had two last minute cancellations for his writers retreat on Whidbey Island. I'd been interested in going. As luck would have it my dog sitter had just returned to work after a six week abscence following abdominal surgery. Was this a sign perhaps? Or would I merely shoot myself in the foot, become dejected after intensive feedback and give up writing forever?



I went. Now I'm back and more determined than ever to get this writing thing under control.



At the retreat there were six writers, one Category Romance, two Sci Fi, one Literary, one Chick Lit, and me. I'm writing (attempting to write) Romantic Suspense. Bob is multi-published in Sci Fi, Thriller, and Romantic Adventure. It was an interesting group and I did learn a lot. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who feels stuck. Bob has this knack of pulling the eyes of the story out and saving those, getting rid of what doesn't work, reworking the original story idea or concept, and keeping it all simple. I had thrown in everything but the kitchen sink, all external conflict, not much emotional. Sigh. He uses the KISS theory--keep it simple stupid--I'm simplifying like crazy now.



I'd tried a story within a story and Bob didn't like it. Neither did anyone else. It had major flaws. He advised ditching the second story and using a clean, linear structure. At first I didn't like my simplified story idea, it semed barren, perhaps told too many times by more proficient and talented writers. I felt I had no new spin to give this story, then I realised the details are all in the characters anyway. Sooooo, make my characters more interesting, dig deeper, I mean really, really deep, show more real motivation. It's a start. Painful, but a start.



This is going to be a long journey. But I swear, I'm keeping it real. Who knows, I may have a major break through in my writing style. It'd be about time.



For information on Bob's future retreats, go to http://www.bobmayer.org/

NaNoWriMo

I'm so excited, I've always thought about doing this writing challenge but each year November rolls around and I'm struggling to get an RWA Golden Heart entry finished and can't see my way clear. This year is different.

I am a proud first time participant in NaNoWriMo. Yay! me! I'm part of The Cherries group which has I think nine or ten writers.

For those who don't know what I'm talking about, this is a free organization that challenges authors around the world to write their little hearts out during the month of November. You can't start writing until the first of November and then you complete your writing on the 30th. The idea is to finish a novel of fifty thousand words in one month. You don't stop to tinker, or make corrections, you just plow through. What fun, huh? Block that internal editor and just fly free putting copious words on the page. There's time over the holidays to play with the story and embellish it or make it better. And if it's really, really bad and totally beyond redemption, there's always the trash bin. *grin*

I've been learning the craft of writing all year long. In some ways I've been intimidated rather than stimulated to write. Now that I know more of the rules of writing I realize those same rules have been holding me back. It has taken me until now to try to really write anything new. I've been doing rewrites all year and while that has been helpful, they aren't fresh ideas, or stimulating new work.

This is the end of the second day of NaNo. Yesterday I wrote an entire chapter, today not quite as much but I have a two day total of 6,679 words. On the website you can record your daily word count and do an accumulative count. Also, you are associated with a region and each region around the world competes for the highest total word count. There are also discussion blogs, sharing of excerpts if you want to do that, and groups often form to do physical write-ins using their laptops. Loads of fun! I love how the story is shaping up and am excited to keep at it but realize I do need some sleep. At my current rate I'd be finished in two weeks but probably have severe back ache or a total meltdown. *grin*

There is a huge NaNo website, www.nanowrimo.org if you want to read about it. It truly is quite amazing. So, just in case you don't hear from me again until the end of the month, know that I'm here and slogging away. Wish me luck!

Fun Stuff

Not much writing going on here in the past couple of weeks. It's all been fun, fun, fun. I had family visiting from Australia and had a wonderful time with them, then they took off for NYC, Vegas, Grand Canyon, S.F. and a drive down the West Coast to L.A. My son and daughter and son's girlfriend came to visit to help celebrate my birthday. More fun. Then everyone left and I had ten days to catch up on writing, however, I live in a development that has a home owners association and house painting was about to happen. No clear date, just a vague idea of when this would happen. I kept my fingers crossed it would all be done before everyone returned.

I spent days cutting back shrubs that grew near walls, moving garden furniture etc. House is finally done and looks gorgeous. I think of the color as iced cafe mocha, it's actually called Casita. The trim is vanilla. Yum. I'm having a front arbor built as there isn't much of an entryway to my front door so no curb side appeal, and it gets full sun. Then I'm training dark red bougainvillea up the posts. Should be gorgeous. I chose new outdoor lights, carriage style in antique brass, they look black but are actually a dark brown and the handyman got those up yesterday.

I cleaned everything, put the garden furniture back in place. Today I dead-headed the roses and then cleaned the house from top to bottom. Tonight my Aussie's return for four days before flying back home. I feel like I'm sitting here in my ballgown and jewellery waiting for my date to arrive. *grin* Everything feels wonderfully brand spanking new. Next week, I write.

Lopping off heads!

I've been tromping through my current WIP (work in progress for you non-writers) in combat boots and wielding a big sharp knife, you know, like the one that Crocodile Dundee brought to NYC with him. When the young guy challenged him in the dark alley with something that looked like a switchblade, Croc laughed and in his pure Aussie accent, said, "Ya' call that a knife? This is a knife." Then he pulled out some huge, foot-long, sharp looking instrument and the bad guy ran away. I digress. I'm more like the Queen of Hearts walking around her garden screaming, "Off with their heads," and giving grandiose flicks of my chubby wrists.

I've removed many superfluous characters from this manuscript, which I wrote when I was a young babe (about four years ago) and have either merged them making for one much stronger character, or just eliminated them if the scene wasn't necessary. Remember, I said I was a babe and I meant in terms of writing. He he. Anyway, I was plowing through the manuscript fixing things, tweaking things, creating better character arcs, yet I still didn't like it. I'd come to this screeching halt at about the mid-point. It was boring. How could I ever expect anyone to pay money to read this story? Well, actually I do have to say the story is good it's just the heroine, she's not strong. She's boring. She's so damn passive I want to shake her and tell her to get a grip on her little old self.

On the verge of tossing the entire work, I went to the HWSW blog and Jenny Crusie had posted a lesson today 0n character arc. For those of you not familiar with this year long writers workshop: www.crusiemayer.com/workshop you must go and visit. It's the best.

Anyway, how timely was this? I asked Jenny the meaning of the term string-of-pearls plot. She replied: "The string of pearls plot is a series of events that are linked by problem or situation, but they don't escalate and therefore don't cause character change." I knew instantly what I had in this current story. My heroine was boring because she was making attempts to change but never did. Secretly, I think she was waiting for the knight in shining armor to come save her. Ain't gonna happen. This is a contemporary story set in NYC. Hell, the guys are too busy trying to save themselves let alone learn how to ride a big white horse.

Is my manuscript salvageable? Hmmm? I looked at it objectively and asked a lot of questions. Here are my answers: story is good, vibrant setting, I like the hero. He's a skank at first but he redeems himself. That's always good. I like my secondary characters and their subplots, like the paranormal aspects, plus there's a good mystery thread. It's a contemporary paranormal mystery.

Okyaaaay, so not as bad as I'd initially thought. Just make the heroine stronger. Make a kickass heroine. Now how hard could that be? I know, I'll just make her everything I'm not. She'll be my fantasy side. Yeah. She's already half my age so I'm writing a fantasy anyway. That's it, that's the ticket. For today at least, one head has been saved, there will be no more decapitations. Back to the drawing board.

Busy Time!

"Well, you'd think the Queen of England was coming to visit." I can hear my mother saying that now. Heh. Or my other favorite, "This isn't a hospital, it's a home." I'm a bit anal, my Mom doesn't mind a bit of clutter, but then again she had seven kids so probably got used to stuff lying around. I've been busy cleaning closets and kitchen cabinets and getting rid of clutter. It started out two weeks ago in preparation for having the guest room and the dining-room painted and because my house is small and I'm expecting my niece and nephew and two kids in a couple of weeks.

And yes, I love the color. Straw hat. It came out a little more yellow than I'd intended but I love it in the daylight, and in the evening with overhead lights on. It's accented with white. It's perfect. Looks lovely with my dark woods. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, clutter.

So, I've cleaned and organized. Heck, I even cleaned the silver pieces from the shelves of the dining-room hutch. You know the pieces nobody ever uses, the things that take up space and are supposed to look pretty but just look tarnished. I had to remove everything so we could move the hutch to paint that wall, I figured might as well clean the stuff before putting it back in. Next house I move to, I'm selling it all. Who needs it? Does anyone entertain like we did in the old days? Not me! I barely cook. It's just me and George. (I saw the raise of that eyebrow!) George is my George Forman grill. I'm in love. I toss a piece of ginger-marinated chicken breast on the grill, make a salad, cut up the warm chicken, toss it on top and I'm good to go.

Anyway, last weekend I took a breather from cleaning and wrote a little bit. It felt good, first real writing since my Aussie trip, but I couldn't quite get organized. Then I went to Jenny Crusie's blog and cracked up. She's doing the twelve days of cleaning and reorganizing. She started with an overwhelmingly cluttered office. I watched her progress and organization because she posted photographs, before and after, of each day's chore. The idea was to do fifteen minutes of cleaning per day. I know she did more than that. So I glanced around at the bookshelves in my office, they threatened to burst their walls. I had file drawers with papers I no longer needed, and drawers with bits and pieces that layered on top of each other, and fifty percent were of no value to me or anyone.

Every day I did a little more work. I also read Jenny's blog and listened to everyone cheering her on and chatting about the stuff they'd cleaned or reorganized in their own homes and apartments. It was fabulous. What a great community! Now I'm sitting here in my organized office, in my clean house, I feel good because I've donated unwanted but in perfect condition items to my favorite charity. Books have been donated to the library. I'm ready to write.

I have one manuscript out at Kensington Publishers, another with Medallion Press. I'm starting the deconstruction of a story I had great fun writing a couple of years ago. It's a light paranormal mystery, set in NYC. I remember going there and walking those streets and talking with people. I want to visit again. I'm tearing the story apart and reconstructing it to make it stronger, but first I'm doing a collage because I never did one on this story and they now help me to get focused. It's such fun to look at my photographs and maps and bits and pieces to do with New York. When the kids were younger we visited every year. Now I have to go back again, just for me, maybe this fall. Fall is lovely in NYC.

Slow down, it's not a race!

When I got home from my Aussie trip there was a letter from Medallion Press requesting the full manuscript of Beyond the Shadows. I'd sent them a partial in June, just on spec, and really didn't expect it to go anywhere, this being the tough business it is. Anyway, I was so thrilled and panicking a bit as the letter was dated July 26th and this was now August 14th. I wondered if they thought I thought I was so darn special I wasn't even answering. Heh.

They had included an email contact and asked for a heads up if they were to recieve the manuscript. I emailed, told them to give me a week to recover from my jetlag. In typical style two days later I was futzing away at the thing and totally disregarding the fact that I was indeed suffering with jetlag.

By the Friday I thought it was good to go and printed it up and had my envelope made and at the last minute realized I hadn't printed a manuscript cover page. I quickly did one, wondering why mine was not in the folder because that's normally what I do. (I put manuscript, synopsis both long and short, query letter, pitch blurb, manuscript cover all in a folder.) Anyway, I was using the flash drive as I'd stored everything on it to take with me to National and to the Aussie conference so I could get some work done. When I closed out the document it asked if I wanted to replace with the original and I pressed yes, still thinking manuscript cover. The ms. cover of course had the same title as the ms. I had this sinking feeling as I removed my finger from the key and hurried back to check. I had replaced an entire manuscript with a one page manuscript cover. OMG! I was frozen in place. How could I have been so stupid? I began my search. Nothing. I did a wider search. Still nothing. I looked everywhere. There was an older version of the entire story but it didn't have all of the updated information, the new weaves I'd done post the HWSW workshop.

I called everyone I knew and they all said the same thing, "It's gone." So I took the printed version to Staples and had a copy made, then I mailed the package to the Publisher. Then I took a few days off to totally shake the jetlag, and with my photocopy I started re-typing it into a new document. Have you ever tried that? I hope you don't have to. With all of the dialogue and the checking and re-checking it's a slow process. I'm good for about five to ten pages a day.

Today, I took another look at the old copy still on my hard drive. I decided it would be simpler to work from it as I realized a lot of the in-depth changes had been done in the first act. The changes to the other acts were more weaving through and there were later pages that were unchanged. Whew! So I copied in my newly typed four chapters and deleted the four older ones. It's still a chore but at least this way I've managed a twenty page chapter in four hours. Tomorrow might be better. Now I'm taking a break. A chapter a day is good news. I'll be done with this baby in two more weeks, but I'm not rushing.

So, for all of you newbies out there (like me) don't panic like I did. The person requesting our material isn't sitting drumming their fingers on the desk impatiently awaiting the arrival of our manuscript. They have a lot of others ahead of ours. We should let them know we're delighted at the request, but take our time, get it right, it's not a race. And, back it up, back it up, back it up. I had to learn that the hard way and I don't think I'll ever forget it.

Cakes and pies and cups of tea, oh my!

I spent a short but sweet week with family in the Hunter Valley and even though the nights were cold, cold, cold, the days were lovely. We had a picnic at the vineyards and got to browse in the new collector's book store. It was a huge old barn of a building that reminded me of the antique bookstores I used to visit in New England when my daughter attended boarding school there. And of course I had to buy something, a book on Irish myths and legends. Maybe because Ireland is next on my list of places to visit? Does anyone smell a new work in the makings? It was hard to say goodbye to everyone, but the next step was the Australian Romance Writers conference in beautiful Sydney, Australia.

What an amazing four days! The cakes and pies and cups of tea ... yikes! I'm not getting on a scale this side of September! And even with jetlag, this morning I'm looking at the key to the gym and planning on tomorrow to begin getting back in shape. Well ... maybe the day after. *grin* Anyway the Aussies put on a great show, so thanks to all of the hard working organizers. The highlight was of course, Jennifer Crusie's workshops and meeting Anne Stuart (Sister Krissie) who has a most infectious laugh. I also met up with Allison Ahearn and her hubby Mark again, which was lovely, and met and chatted with author, Lillian Darcy who is a doll, and also Anne Gracie and Paula Roe. Allison Rushby did a great workshop analyzing the movie, Notting Hill, which was very informative. Also ran into many of the medical romance authors who are friends with my chapter mate, Janet (Lynne Marshall.) It's winter downunder and I think someone forgot to tell them that, or maybe they were rolling out the red carpet for international visitors, the weather was glorious.

The hotel, The Four Points Sheraton, overlooking Darling Harbour, couldn't have been better. The perfect moment to my day was sitting in the window seat with a cup of tea and watching the sun set, then I'd scurry around and hit the shower and change clothes for the evening's scheduled event. One night was a Venetian Carnivale hosted by Harlequin Australia. We all wore masks. 'Twas a little steamy under those masks but everyone had a great time. The next evening was a dinner for the awards ceremony. I didn't really know anyone so slipped in the back door and asked if a seat at a back table was taken. One of the ladies at my table turned out to be the Cherry who organized our lunch with Jenny, Melanie Scott, she was a winner of the Emerald Award, so it was terrific to share in her delight. Also, Robyn, another Cherry (I've forgotten her last name but she has a very nice chef husband ... I think if you have to have a husband that might be the best kind to get) was at the same table. It's really a small world this writing one. The Australian writer who sat on my left at the dinner, Keziah Hill, is friends with one of my California chapter mates, Eden Bradley.

Jennifer Crusie's one day workshop on Friday was the best thing I've done for myself in my writing career. I think this workshop, coming on the heels of the year long HWSW workshop on her website, really cinched everything I've been learning all year. And here is another irony. I was standing in line chatting (as writers are wont to do and met another Cherry, Erica. We ended up sitting together for the entire day.) We covered so much material in Jenny's workshop but with her personal anecdotes and bubbly humor the writing points took on more meaning. And she had jetlag, too, poor thing. And as if that wasn't enough, Jenny taught several more two hour workshops over the weekend. One was Sex and Violence, another, Motif, Metaphor, and Theme. I looked over the notes on the long plane trip home and couldn't believe how much information was in there.

I think Jenny has a story about every aspect of the writer's journey and she shares her knowledge, both professional and personal, so generously. On the last day, I even got to have lunch with her and five of her Cherries, plus writer Anne Stuart. We chose a seafood restaurant in Darling Harbour and had the best John Dory I've ever eaten.

But, to have Jenny come down from the lectern into the audience to hug and greet me on the first day of conference was beyond fabulous. We've met a couple of times before, but a hug? Wow! It made my day.

So now I'm back, and work is beckoning, and so is housework, and gardening, and bills and mail, and laundry, and I have the writing bug. Sigh.

Post National Conference

Well, I made it through another Romance Writers of America National conference, this time in Dallas, but am not sure how I survived. *grin* I mean I am still in one piece, my mind is still working, I have some voice left, and I can still smile, although some have said the smile looks more like a grimace but that could be old age. There was good news and bad news and absolutely awesome news, but first the bad so we can get it out of our system and get all that good karma in here.

I had the room overlooking the railroad tracks and from approximately midnight to 5 a.m. the freight trains came rumbling through downtown Dallas, creating what I could only describe as a 3.8 good old California earthquake. Not enough to make you jump out of bed and run for cover under a door jamb, but definitely enough to make you thump the pillow and curse. And this was a five star hotel? I know you do things differently in Dallas, but what were y'all thinking?

Besides the trains, I roomed next door to the party goers from hell. We're talking mature women here, not teenagers or young adults on a wild vacation away from authority figures. They shrieked! I mean laughing and shrieking until 1 and 2 a.m. The second night I kept thinking they'd go to sleep soon, but when 1.45 a.m. hit I gave them the old college dorm three thumps on the wall. It worked. The next two nights they were as quiet as mice. But did a frustrating nights sleep (I figured I got about four hours) help with my 9 a.m. pitch to the agent of my dreams? We'll see. Sha-Shana Crichton did request to see my work and I have diligently put that package together and that baby flies tomorrow. She's an interesting lady and I've heard wonderful things about her, I can only hope.

I had an appointment with John Scognamiglio who is the Editor-In-chief at Kensington Publishing. Just his title had me quaking in my boots. He was very quiet and nice and my pitch was done in two minutes, he handed me his card and said send the full manuscript. I had chosen to pitch my romantic adventure, Gone Tropical. I couldn't believe my luck and I still had about six more minutes of time on the clock. What to do, what to do? Should I say thanks and leave, or make conversation? I had no idea what to do. So I talked. (I know I would talk to a tree stump, in fact sometimes I do.) Anyway, after a couple of minutes passed and he figured he was stuck with me, he relaxed, I relaxed, and he actually smiled a couple of times. Let's hope he likes my work because I could see myself working with him. There's an intelligence but a sweetness about him. There are lots of barracudas in this business, a lot of harshness, but I don't get that feeling about him. Yesterday I went over my manuscript again, today I'm printing and doing a straight through read, then I'll reprint and hope to have the manuscript to him by first thing next week.

I met a ton of wonderful well-known authors and got to chat with old friends and hung out with chapter mates in the lounge and the bar and learned more about them. My old critique group is moving ahead in leaps and bounds. My friend Trish didn't win the Golden Heart for her category but she was offered a contract while at conference and she was talking with an agent. She's extremely happy! Haven't heard yet about her deal as I'm sure she is going over that contract with a fine tooth comb. My friend Lynne who has three medical romances out and I think a couple more in the works, gave her first RWA workshop, a collaboration with several other authors, and did a wonderful job. She's so poised as a speaker. My friend Thieme drove up from Houston and she looked happy and relaxed. She has two books coming out with Medallion Press.

I see all of this business and development in my friends achievements and although one might expect me to be envious, I'm not. I'm proud to know them and happy for their success, and I think they've all worked diligently to get to this place. Sometimes I do wonder why I've been left behind. Yet, on the other hand, I have a clear vision of where and how I want to grow in this business, so in the meantime I just keep learning and my writing keeps on improving, and I give myself rewards for every tiny step that I achieve along the way. It's a long journey but a worthwhile one and it's all about the writing. Publication is nice, but it isn't the only benefit one gets out of putting pen to paper, or in this case, fingertips to keyboard.

Whew!

Well, the last part of June was exhausting both emotionally and physically. Three lovely women I was connected to in some way, all passed away. One was a friend, an actress from the late fifties and sixties, a talented lady who continued to teach acting classes into her late seventies. We only saw each other at Thanksgiving or a holiday party in the last few years but I always admired her. Another was an artist, the mother of a friend and a woman I knew well, she was also very talented and continued to show her amazing art creations right up until the end. I saw her last at Christmas. The third lady was the aunt of a writer friend, the woman who raised her like a mother, and influenced her giving support and encouragement for her creative abilities. I didn't know her personally only through my friend. All of these women died quite suddenly and were active, vibrant participants in life, right up until those last few weeks or days.

I thought about all of this as I remembered each woman's life and what they had contributed. I realized that is what I truly want. To depart this world still active and doing something I feel very passionate about, giving something back, contributing even if in some small way. It gives life purpose. It gives you energy and it keeps you young. Anything you learn, anything you create, requires energy of thought and action.

Then I was bitten by a black widow spider. Yikes! I was surrounded by death. And yes, she met with a swift passing, in case you were wondering. It stung like crazy, and I wanted to tear at my leg. It was night and there was no way I was going to drive myself to the emergency room and be billed $500 for first aid I could do myself. I visited the internet and read up on everything I should do and found that for most old people like me the venom isn't deadly. Whew! Guess there is so much poison in me it doesn't matter. Heh.

So I played doctor. I washed it off and applied Neosporin and ice packs. Then I took some Benadryl. Anyway, the leg swelled, and something like cellulitis extravasated into the surrounding tissues making me look like I had a two inch reddish-purple butterfly tattoo. Sexy! I went to bed and wondered if I'd wake up the next day. Anyway, I did, so I called the doctor the next morning and he asked if I felt dizzy, did I have any shortness of breath, was I sweating excessively. I laughed, it was 112 degrees Fahrenheit that day. I think he was a bit annoyed that I laughed, but it was funny. A week later it's almost gone. It has been two weeks and there is still a hard lump beneath the skin, but no more tattoo. I kind of miss it.

Middle of the Month

So, a writer friend said, "You haven't posted in a while."
I replied, "Yes I have." And honestly I tried very hard not to get all defensive. I smiled. Well, my eyes were a little narrow and my lips were kind of tight, but it was still a smile. I squared my shoulders and puffed out my ample chest. "I wrote that one on nothing, I'm sure that was the title. I thought it was kind of cute."
She rolled her eyes. "I don't do cute."
"Well, neither do I, as a rule, but I was in a playful mood."
"Yeah, more likely had a few cocktails. You still need to post."

So here I am. And I haven't even had a glass of wine. Honest. Anyway I was thinking about some writing stuff today as I began the second deconstruction and reconstruction of an earlier manuscript. I've grown immensely, as a writer, this year and it's obvious to me. Well maybe also as a person, still haven't tried on either pantsuit. But back to writing. The Crusie/Mayer workshop in itself has been amazing, and all of the blogs and links to other sites and writers minds that I've learned about from the Jenny Crusie Forums have proved invaluable.

The workshop has helped me clarify so many points in storytelling structure. Where I may have known or read of these steps in writing a good story (and believe me I have a huge self-help library) I only understood them on an intellectual level. The workshop made me work, duh, therefore the name. Slaps herself upside the head. It made me take the knowledge learned and get out of my own way. I had to physically apply that new knowledge to my manuscript and then step away, then come back and look at it again. Believe me, it is much better for the effort.

I think to be a good writer those step-points have to be fully integrated, part of the very essence of you. They need to flow unhindered from mind, to fingertip, to page. It's like learning to drive a car, you have a teacher, a companion sitting beside you as you venture out onto the highway. Then you're finally on your own. You're still a little unsure, a little too careful, at first you think about all of the rules and you go through a step-by-step process. You put on your seat belt, adjust the side mirrors, glance several times into the rear view mirror, turn the ignition, put the car into reverse, check the mirrors again, reverse out of the garage and try not to kangaroo it (make it jerk for those non Aussies reading this) and the whole time your heart is pounding and your saying, "Man this is awesome I'm driving a freakin' car. I got my license." Several months later you drive home and think, "How the hell did I get here?" Everything has become so automatic it seems the car, with a mind of its own, left the origination point and somehow found its way to the destination, your garage. Your confidence as a driver grew out of sheer practice, going through the steps until it became automatic. You didn't question, you didn't overthink, you just did.

I feel confident that I'm there now, doing what comes naturally not kangarooing it, just staying with the flow and letting the words fill the page. It feels good. I love being on automatic.

Nothing

I love blog posts about nothing, they seem so decadent, like champagne and strawberries, or thick dark chocolate. Mmmmm. Now I want a hot fudge sundae. But no, I'm on a diet so I will be strong. *grin* Have to fit into my conference clothes. If I turn up in the black pantsuit I was successful with the weight loss, if it's the brown, okay well that's my fat suit. Pretty soon I'll be known as that gal from California who wears the brown pantsuit.

I chose "nothing" as my subject tonight because that's what I've got, zip, nada, nothing. It's been a quiet month, but a good one. I just finished up the manuscript I'd been working on. It feels good. Not the most spectacular thing ever, but good and solid. I like it. It's about witches and ghosts and old curses on land and a couple of innocents falling in love through the manipulations of the coven. Highly unlikely but hey, it's my story and I'm sticking to it.

This week we have the LARA chapter workshop. It should be fun and informative. I've made the goodie bags, have a huge box of new books donated that we'll put into them, plus all kinds of promotional goodies. I made book thongs out of hemp (they're cute bookmarks in case you don't know) and threaded pretty glass beads and other things onto either end. A fun project. I'm kind of craft challenged, mainly because I can't see to thread a needle, but this time I used hemp and it was amazing, no needle necessary and it knots easily, so much better than the embroidery thread I used last year. Geez, I could become an expert at this and then I'd be known as that gal from California who wears the brown pantsuit and makes book thongs.

Anyway, I'm planning on sending out my story to one or two people by June first. Then I'm going in and reworking Gone Tropical before National conference. I want to really submerge myself in that book and those characters as I haven't looked at it for about four months. I want to relearn who they are so I can effectively pitch the book to both agent and editor. And I did decide on the conference to Australia and I'm so looking forward to going. It will be a blast and I get to take a whole day workshop with Jenny Crusie. So then I'll come back home with all of this amazing information and I'll be known as that gal from California who always wears the brown pantsuit, is an expert at making book thongs, and thinks she's so darn smart just because she took a Crusie workshop. *wink*

An odd duck

I think it's important to recognize and acknowledge strangeness. I'm quite proud of everything weird about me, even though for the most part I don't say publicly what those odd things are. *grin* I just know I'm a bit of a strange duck. The other day I cut a quote of Colin Powell's from a local newspaper, I believe he was addressing young people, could have been a graduation or something like that, I don't remember, but I do have the quote taped to my computer:

"No matter what anybody thinks about you, no matter what box they put you in, you have got to believe in yourself."

I spent a good part of my young adulthood defending myself against the people who wanted to pigeon-hole me. I was a "this" because I was a "that." It never made sense to me then and it makes less sense to me today. I just am. When anyone asks me, "How could you go from being a nurse to an author?" Well, I mumble something polite and just stare off into the distance. I'm not defined by one thing, never have been, never will. I like to think we are all multi-faceted human beings with a deep need to create. For many of us though, life gets in the way, we have to work at our other jobs to provide for ourselves and our loved ones and then creativity is stunted by necessity. We forget how to play. At some point, the opportunity to create arises, or we hear that inner voice that says "You can do it." A tiny stream of creativity will re-enter our lives and we'll begin to dabble again. Before we know it the stream becomes a river and a whole new world has opened up.

Anyway, I love that quote of Colin Powell's and it got me to thinking about quotes in general and then to thinking about my maternal grandmother, one of the neatest women ever. I so want to be like her when I grow up. Ooops! Too late! Already grown! *grin* Anyway, Granny lived in a small house on a small farm in Australia. She lived by herself, from her early forties onward and was amazingly independent, and had a great love for words. No television. But she loved listening to the radio. She was a simple woman, an artist who created incredible watercolors, loved to garden, and read from the good book every day. She used to cut out quotes from magazines and tape them to the verandah wall, or put them in her kitchen. Some had been there for so long the paper had yellowed. Wonderful wise words from famous people.

As a kid I loved the one that went like this:
"The kiss of the sun for pardon, the song of the birds for mirth, we are nearer God's heart in a garden than anywhere else on earth."

Years later, I found that quote etched in black enamel on a garden decoration. It has place of honor in one of my patio flowering pots. I'll never be a gardener like Granny, and I can't draw or paint like she could, but I have a passion for words. I love words. I've decided of late to use my words honestly and to own what I write, whether or not anyone else appreciates my talent. I love story telling and I'll keep on doing it until I get too old to see the keyboard. And no matter what anyone else thinks about my so-called life of writer's isolation, it's my choice and I love what I do. And odd duck or not, or swimming that river against the current, of most importance I do believe in my ability.

Am I the Sanjaya of Writing?

So I watched American Idol last night. I know, I know, I'm an addict, I confess. But I love viewing the raw talent and watching the growth and development throughout the elimination weeks, seeing who has the savvy, who doesn't. Who can read through the lines, sift through the crap, and find what it is in commercialism that works. Doesn't matter if it is singing, or writing, it's all the same.

I loved Sanjaya because he had a presence. Yet on the same hand, I wanted him to be eliminated because he wasn't quite cutting it. He couldn't sing, damn it. Geez, he's as tone deaf as I am, but that kid has something and it might be sheer determination, I'm not sure. He touched me on some inner level. He's a fighter.

He made me ask that awful question: "Am I the Sanjaya of writing?"

What if I can't write, but people are humoring me to continue to perform? What if I'm an embarassment to the writing community? Sanjaya cried in public, in front of millions of viewers, and I cried with him. I felt and understood his pain. His loss of the dream touched me at my inner core and I wanted to hug him, tell him he was brave, and wonderful, for trying and to never give up or give in. Many don't. Many have the idea, the glimmer, I coulda, shoulda, didn't. Sanjaya did. For getting out there, for putting his stuff up for everyone to take potshots at, I admire him. And the thing is he's a kid, just a kid with a dream, he's not some old jaded fart like me, someone who's been around the block a time or two. I hope he takes voice lessons and uses that amazing charisma and works his charm and his art and becomes the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Me, I think I'm toast.

I'm back!

Wow! I can't stop writing (despite having a toothache that had to wait until today before the dentist could see to it AND do a darn root canal.) Man, last Thursday I was typing away and took a swig from a cold water bottle. A pain like you wouldn't believe ran straight down to my toes. I swear! (Well, I did too, but I won't tell you what I said.) I jumped up and ran to the kitchen and swished my mouth out with warm salt water. Then I called the dentist's office. He was on vacation until Tuesday!

This has been an amazing week and I've accomplished so much. The deconstruction (and reconstruction of Beyond the Shadows) is almost completed. Then I'm giving it another read through and submitting it. I really like what I've done with the story and I love my characters. I always did, but with the rewrite they have become more real, well-rounded, really likeable. Just hope I can do the same with Gone Tropical, because it is going to go through the same process, and probably I'll be starting it next week.

Only one person, one agent, has seen GT, so I'm going to pitch it at RWA National in Dallas. Have to go this year because my critique buddy, Trish Cerrone, is a Golden Heart finalist. Her second final in two years. Yay, Trish! I need to go to applaud, whistle, and cry when she wins. She's a fabulous writer.

Finally made my decision on conferences for the year. Unfortunately, I won't go to Australia. My kids want to come with me and visit with family and that's just too darned expensive for this year. That would blow my entire vacation and conference budget. We'll do a family trip next year.

Have revisted my one year and five year goal plan and adjusted those. Now I'm ready to rock 'n roll. Look out world, here I come.

Deconstructing

I've been soaking up the information on how to deconstruct a novel on the Jenny Crusie Forums. I wanted to figure out how a favorite author wrote a story, made it work for me so that I was completely engaged, and answer why I stayed up until 2 a.m. to finish it.

There are many books I read and either don't get, or wonder how they got published in the first place. I've had my fair share of "how to write lessons," whether these came from books, classes, conferences, critique groups, forums, online classes, it doesn't matter, if I can't see the big picture, I just don't get it. Oh, I'm good at seeing other authors slip-ups, just not my own. That darn ego, it can get you into a lot of trouble. *grin*

By deconstructing and looking for the turning points, the spine that holds the book together, the symbolism, the internal and external conflict that drives the story, I'm finally seeing that big picture. It's not enough to just sit down and write a story. Maybe I'll always be a storyteller and engage my audience if sitting around a campfire, but to get it onto the page and make it work, now that's tough. This is the closest I've come to understanding how books work and when and why they don't work, at least for me. You can tell a story with emotion and feeling, you can smile, or scowl, and throw your arms around, you can sit tall, hunch over, lower your voice, scream, rage, simper sweetly, BUT, when you write it you have to show that emotion and feeling on the page through words alone. Big task.

With recent rejections still stinging, I've taken a long hard look at my past two manuscripts and can now see ways they can be improved. I've begun the first deconstruction and if I don't deconstruct myself, *grin* I'll do the second one also. The first one is shaping up beautifully and I'm very pleased with it.

News

News can be good and bad, both at the same time. I discovered this last week as I sobbed over my email and blog entries about a rejection that I'd just received from an agent. Rejections don't normally make me cry. I feel a bit low, think it over, fix what I can, and move on. Not this time.

I felt I'd been so close to acceptance with this submission. The rejection was so nice, so carefully worded. Wonderful compliments, and an offer to submit future work, but essentially the agent didn't like my heroine. In a romance, that is instant death. Heck, it's the heroine's journey, if she's not likeable who is going to stick around for 350 pages?

I'd taken huge risks this time. I'd started to wonder if my voice was too old. I deliberately wrote my heroine younger, made her sassier, made her what I thought would sell. Big mistake. I wrote against my normal voice. Against what I feel in my heart that it is to be a woman. When I reread the manuscript, I could see instantly why she wasn't likeable. Talk about a revelation coming too late, hindsight is indeed 20/20.

In the midst of my little session on the pity pot, a multi-pubbed author emailed me privately and said, "I make this offer infrequently but never lightly. If you would like to send me your manuscript, I'll critique it." I offered to pay her for her time. She wrote back, "Nope -- no fee. Someone did this for me early in my career, this is paying it back." She made me cry all over again. I only hope I can get published so I can do the same thing for someone else.

Then I thought of all of the people in my life who were dealing with personal tragedy, ill health, death of a loved one, chemotherapy. It put everything into perspective. I'm so grateful for what I have achieved so far. I'm grateful for my family, my friends, my health, and my humor. If this is not my time to be published, maybe the universe has something bigger in store for me. I can believe, and I can wait.

So, I went out and bought fresh flowers, new candles for the coffee table, chocolate, a nice bottle of wine, and I made myself a lovely dinner. I raised my glass and made a toast to karma. Send out a plea for help to the universe, be open to receive, arms outstretched, and you never know what will fly into them.

Home from conference

The SCWC conference was nice, different, but nice. It's a change from the romance writing conferences as most writers who attend are either general fiction or thriller or sci-fi writers. Don't quite know why I keep turning up (this is the third one since 2000 that I've attended.) They aren't exactly welcoming to the poor old romance author. In fact, I fear I was the only one present. Heh. I experienced more than one or two sniffs of disdain. Oh, well. I don't apologize for what I write, a writer is a writer, and I happen to enjoy the journey of two people who embark upon the happily ever after. Call me an old romantic if you like.

There were workshops that Bob Mayer gave on point of view that helped immensely. They mirrored what I've been learning this year through the online workshop that he and Jenny Crusie are doing. In addition, the Saturday night workshop on police procedural/ forensics, etc. was quite amazing. That will help immensely in my current work, as it is a cold case. There was a veteran San Diego Homicide Detective, John Teftt, another police officer, and a Forensics expert who lectured, showed slides, and then invited us to examine the tools used in forensic examination. By 11 p.m. I was about to fall asleep, so left, but heard the session lasted well past midnight.

Now I'm home and trying to settle back into writing but feeling "itchy" can't seem to settle to anything of worth. Maybe tomorrow will be a better writing day. There's always tomorrow.

Stuff

This has been a strange couple of weeks. Lots of "stuff" going on to keep me busy but not a whole heck of a lot to show for all of that "busy-ness."

New York City was amazing. I do so love the big apple. Good food and pleasant company. Finally got to see the Broadway show, The Producers. Had always wanted to, but for some reason kept missing it. Anyway, Tony Danza had the lead and he was really good. I mean really good. It was like the role was written with him in mind, which it wasn't. Love Mel Brooks' humor. Didn't do too much shopping this time. Prices were outrageous. Weather stayed perfect for me and only turned cold the day I left.

Oh yeah, and on the trip out of LAX they couldn't get the cargo door closed, so there was a delay. Made up the time in flight and guess what ... at JFK they couldn't get the cargo door open. Hah! We waited almost two hours, finally six pieces of luggage came down the chute and then the carousel stopped working. Forty-five minutes later, I got my luggage and a cab and arrived in Manhatten at quarter after seven, the flight arrived at three-forty p.m. Watcha' gonna' do?

When I arrived back in L.A. after an amazing flight I got my car and headed back to the desert. Friday afternoon and heading for the desert? Not good planning there. What would normally be a two hour and fifteen minute drive took four and a half. I was about to tear my hair out. If the dog hadn't been waiting to greet me I'd have checked into a hotel.

I went to a luncheon honoring Lisa Scottoline, yesterday. She's an ex-trial lawyer turned author and lives in, and writes about, Philadelphia. Her stories are wonderful. I love her character descriptions and she has incredible story lines. Loved Devils' Corner and am about to start on Dirty Blonde. Thrillers, but more legal than gore. I can read them and still get to sleep at night. Can't read all of those descriptive blood and guts things. They have me up all night peeking through the shutters. I try to convince myself nobody would try to enter my place with the huge beast I have guarding it, but after one of those stories I'm not at all convinced.

Today, I decided to be proactive instead of sitting around biting my nails and awaiting answers on my writing. I wrote a short story and had so much fun doing it. Then I packed it up to send tomorrow to a magazine. Who knows, it might get picked up. If not, it was an exercise in editing because it couldn't be longer than 1,000 words and I had to cut, and cut, and cut. Hard for a garrulous person like moi. *grin*

I've also been doing some editing on an old story that I like and putting a bit more polish on it. I'm thinking of where I'll submit it, but will wait until after the conference next week. I'm looking forward to taking classes and meeting up with fellow writers. I get stimulated by classroom learning. We have a huge CD library of workshops from RWA National conference and I never check them out. It seems my mind runs off at tangents when I'm forced to sit and listen to a taped lesson. Put me in the classroom, and I'm fully engaged. What's with that, eh?

I'll post again after conference, or if I get good news before. If not, Happy Valentine's Day everyone. Hope you get lots of smooches.

The frozen desert

No I didn't say dessert, that would be ice cream, or sorbet. Much too cold for either one.

I'm talking about the California desert. Can you believe the nights are below freezing? I had a busted pipe on Sunday with a fountain of water spurting off the roof. Of course that meant calling a plumber and paying twice as much for the repair but Monday was a public holiday and I figured, who can go two days without water? Not me. The irony is, the pipe ran over the roof, was totally exposed to the elements, and had no purpose but to supply water to an additional hose bib. It wasn't even done to code. Damn. We took the whole thing down but I still had to pay $200 for something I didn't use or need, thanks to the prior owner, Mr. Fix It.

The fruit farmers are having a tough time with their crops. We have oranges and grapefruit that will not recover if this cold continues. My grapefruit are doing fine, I've picked and refrigerated a lot of them. Plus I sent dozens back with a friend who'd come down from northern California. Red peppers have frozen on the vines and will have to be destroyed. Look for rising prices in fruits and veges over the next few months.

I'm heading off to NYC for a week and figured I'd have a huge adjustment to the change in temperature going from the desert to the big apple. Not so. They've had a fairly mild winter so far and ours has been extra cold. I've been wearing gloves and scarf and heavy coat in the mornings and evenings when I walk the dog, so it will be no different. Maybe I'll pack a couple of turtlenecks, and one heavy sweater but otherwise, it'll be the same old same old. Which is good, cause I hate worrying about packing the right stuff for different climates. As I've gotten older and wiser, heh, I find I pack fewer items. I try to travel light these days.

Haven't heard anything back from the agent who has the full manuscript of Gone Tropical. My mother would say "no news is good news" I however, am chewing at my fingernails. Next month I'm off to a conference in San Diego, so if the news from the agent is a negative, I hope to get some feedback and put a bit of polish on it before pitching it to anyone else.

Jenny Crusie and Bob Mayer are conducting their ongoing year long workshop over at www.crusiemayer.com/workshop It has been very informative so far. A great opportunity to not only get free lessons but insight into the writing process of two fabulous authors, and to interact with other writers in the comments section. Check it out.

In the meantime, I'm working on my new story retitled, Unlock the Truth. It's a cold case and requiring a lot more research than I've ever had to do before. While I'm excited about this story it's a lot slower getting it off the ground. I do have access to a female lawyer who is giving me some assistance and also have a fellow LARA member, Melissa Jarvis-Prieto, who is not only a great writer but works in Public Relations. She has given me insight into crisis communications which is a thread that runs through my story. It's all good, just not my usual seat of the pants, make up the story as I go along kind of writing. Not sure if it will be better or worse, but something is making me plod through it. I think the research, combined with the workshop, might help me produce something deeper than I've written in the past.

Happy New Year!

The holiday season is over, thank goodness. Now I can get serious again.

I've done very little writing in the past three weeks, there have however been lunches, dinners, parties, and playing around on several blogs. These blogs have proven to be of great help (entertainment factor aside.) I've found wonderful tidbits of writing information, references to workshops and suggested books to read. So while I haven't been writing I've been learning. I ended up spending an entire week researching one aspect of writing that I really knew little about and that was, how to really tap into the unique world of your narrator. I ran across something written by Alicia Rasley and was immediately acting like my dog, ears straight up, still as a statue, prepared and ready to take off. I've been reading up on this ever since and think I might now understand it.

I've just started the Crusie/Mayer year long workshop: www.crusiemayer.com/workshop
The first lesson was posted by Bob. On Thursday, Jenny will comment and discuss Bob's blog. If you haven't already stopped by, go and check it out. It's free. How great is that? You get the wisdom and writing insight from two talented authors, plus you get to discuss in the comments with other writers. It's all good.

The holiday season was quiet for me, an occassional lunch or dinner out with new friends. A lovely brunch on Christmas morning with old friends who came down from L.A. They're TV producers and have their own production company. Interesting people and it's always fun to hear of their projects. The kids were both out of town. I spent New Year's Eve with friends in my neighborhood, they had about thirty people over for dinner, with dessert and champagne at midnight. I left at 11:20pm to avoid the whole "kissing of essential strangers" thing. No matter how swiftly you turn your cheek someone usually manages to plant a wet one. : )

Today I delve back into my current story, Behind the Gates. My goal is to write 1,000 words per day in the rough draft. I should be able to get the draft done in three months but am adding one extra as I have a couple of short trips to take. NYC this month, San Diego conference in February, maybe a trip to Australia for a wedding in March. Still working on that last one. It's either that, or I go to Australia in August for the RWAconference. Can't decide. I need more money. Have to write faster and better. I'm going now, to clock in.

Mid December

Only a couple of weeks until Christmas. It's so hard to believe the year is fast coming to a close. I looked back over my goals for 2006 and couldn't believe the progress I've made in my writing. I achieved every goal I set, and then some. Next year however, is my cut off.

In my five year goal plan, I wrote that if I didn't have a book contract by my birthday in 2007 I'd have to seriously re-assess my direction. I've been slogging away 24/7 trying to make what I love doing into a career, and that's a lot of sacrifice, and a lot of energy put into something that isn't paying off. So, essentially I have one year left to prove myself. If I'm not successful in getting published I won't stop writing my stories but won't make them my entire life either. I'll call writing a hobby and put energy into other things, like giving back to the universe with volunteer work, or taking a part time job. I'll socialize, and travel more. Heck, maybe I'll even start dating. Whatever I do decide, I'm sure my life will be richer for it. Irony is, maybe then I'll sell. Heh.

I stepped down as President of my local writing chapter yesterday. It was a wonderful experience and I learned so much about RWA, LARA, and myself. I also achieved what I set out to do within the rapidly growing group. I know that the incoming President will do an excellent job and I wish her well. I'll stay on the Board but in the Past President position which is more of a consulting role.

My manuscript, Gone Tropical, came third in Where the Magic Begins contest, and I'm extremely proud of that. I don't have my scores yet but this was my first attempt at Romantic Suspense/Adventure and I'm thrilled with the results. The agent who is reading my full manuscript sent a message that she is taking it on vacation with her. Wow! I might have some feedback from her in the early new year. I'm staying positive, thinking all good thoughts about my little story, but if she doesn't take me on as a client, she might offer some feedback and that would be helpful.

Hope you all have a warm and wonderful holiday season!

Post Turkey Day!

Well, for those on the other side of the pond, yesterday was Thanksgiving day! A day spent with family and loved ones, eating way too much, giving thanks, watching football, and groaning with a stomach ache for hours afterward. *grin* Not me this time.

My son and daughter were not with me this year and I had a quiet, pleasant, and very comfortable day. I cleaned my office in the morning, then in the afternoon the dog and I went to the park. We took a long walk in the crisp afternoon air. Yes, even in the desert the temperature drops by 3 pm. I love the long desert shadows at this time of year. We sat on a bench near the man-made waterfall, watched the Koi swim lazily around, and the sun slip over the top of the Santa Rosa's. I even tapped into my muse. My current story is set down here. It's shaping up nicely, but has a long way to go.

Because it was still early, we then drove out to Palm Desert and cruised along El Paseo, which is the designer shopping area. The store fronts were lit up and the street was almost empty. Only a handful of restaurants were open. It's amazing what you can discover in these moments of calm (when you're not watching traffic and avoiding tourists ambling haphazardly across the streets.) Being fairly new to this community, I found stores and restaurants I never knew existed. Now that could be a good thing, or a bad thing. *grin*

Today, I'm getting another contest entry ready, it's for my Doctor/Nurse story which involves strange near death experiences. I've found a publishing house that is interested in medical stories and they're running a contest. I figured why not get it out and dust it off. Plus I need to do the big entry for the Golden Heart contest run by Romance Writers of America. I'm entering Gone Tropical in that one.

I did further revisions on GT and the agent very kindly allowed me to submit a fresh copy of the manuscript to her. I should know her answer in a couple of months. GT is also a finalist in a contest to be announced in December. So it's all good. I can be patient. You learn patience in this game, you have to or you go crazy.

Contest win!

I was notified today that Beyond the Shadows placed first in the Gothic Romance, Haunted Hearts contest in the contemporary category. I'm so thrilled. What a nice finish to an amazingingly busy year. Gone Tropical is a finalist in a contest and placements will be announced December 9th and I'm entering it in the Golden Heart contest this year. Nephele Tempest of the Knight Agency has asked to see the entire manuscript. She had read the first three chapters after the RWA National in Atlanta, and enjoyed those. I'd love to work with her.

Today I took my Roadrunners to a thank you lunch at the La Quinta Resort restaurant, Twenty Six. We had a great time and discussed my next book, the title, Behind the Gates. It's a murder/mystery cold case, with of course a hunky hero, a determined heroine, and a wonderful romance. Won't tell you any more yet because it is in the very early stages, and it may change direction as stories often do.

I made a very difficult decision this month and that was to step down from the office of President at my local writing chapter of RWA. I've loved the position and the opportunity to serve. I had so many dreams for the chapter but life got in the way. If I could possibly have done it, I would have run for another term. However, I need to take care of myself and my family first. My mother had a bad illness in September and although she has recovered quite well, it hit me hard that she is over eighty and no longer has the same bounce-back we've all come to expect of her. I knew I needed to travel back to Australia a couple of times next year and stay in closer contact. That would have been hard to do with the obligations required of the President. I'll stay on the board as Past President and will continue to volunteer wherever I can.
I know others will step up and make changes and improvements and do their bit to keep everything running smoothly. There's nothing like new blood.

Finalist in another contest

Wow! I arrived home from Los Angeles, after a very busy chapter meeting and critique session and then a doctor's appointment on the Monday and felt totally brain dead, and dreading fronting up to the computer. The first email I opened changed all of that.

It said, Congratulations, in red, in all caps.

My heart took wings and flew around in my chest and then I settled down and read some more. It said, "You're romantic suspense, Gone Tropical, is a finalist in the Where The Heart Begins contest." I was so excited I sent off an email to my critique partners and some friends and family. I never noticed the attachment.

My critique partner Janet Maarschalk had given a talk the day before on entering contests. She's a whiz at these things, I'm quite a novice when it comes to contests. Anyway, Janet has had some great experiences and many wins and placements over the years and noticed the attachment. I then went back, read the entire email and saw my first round critiques were attached. :0

Shauna Summers from Random House will judge the finalist entries. I could kick myself, because this isn't the real beginning of my story. I'd entered the contest because I was unsure if the story would hold up as a suspense. I was looking for feedback from a rough draft. Don't ever do that. Always send your best work. Sigh. Now I've missed a golden opportunity. Since that time, I've written a new higher energy beginning with more suspense and showing insight into the villian. Dang. Oh well, hopefully the agent who is reviewing the full manuscript will appreciate the new changes and can convince Shauna to take another look. ; )

I'm still happy, still doing the Snoopy dance. I now have a contest placement for both of my current manuscripts. Yay me!

Post birthday week

Well, the birthday week has come and gone and there was much celebrating in the desert. : )
I had a writer friend from the mountains come down here to the valley to get me out of my computer chair and that was good.

Her timing was perfect, I'd just put the completed manuscript in the mail to the agent. Even though the last half is a bit rough (still to be revised a third time) I was happy that the story was finished and in reasonable condition. I have two of my roadrunners notes on the manuscript back already. All are wonderful suggestions that make really good sense to me. Just minor issues e.g. where a sentence or two of dialogue can give more clarity to a secondary character's relationship to the heroine. Or, in another case, information on a secondary character could be trimmed because it wasn't necessary to the ongoing plot. One reader wanted more of a fight in a scene between the hero and the bad guy. In my version the fight was over too quickly ... guess that shows you that I don't like physical violence, even though he had to protect the heroine. : )
Everyone liked my sex scenes. Good. I hate writing those.

My friend stayed for four days and we did a lot of talking about life and relationships and of course, writing. I barely got the housework done before my kids came (well, they're no longer kids) and the celebrations continued.

A friend from La Quinta and my son and daughter and I went out to dinner at the Hog's Breath Inn. That afternoon my daughter had taken me shopping in Old Town. She bought me a bracelet to match my energy muse necklace, which I love. It has energy stones and an ancient Chinese coin in the center. My son gave me back a nice sum of money he'd borrowed a few months earlier and I'd already written it off. What a nice surprise. He's turning into quite a mensch. That for the non-Jewish is a gentleman. My kids are fabulous people. I love them not just because they're part of me, I actually enjoy being with them and find them to be strong, intelligent, thoughtful, and VERY entertaining. Now on the latter, their senses of humor are often a little over the top but heck, they keep me young and on my toes.

Nothing much to report on this week other than the desert is a dust bowl as they do the yearly ritual of "scalping the grasses." They churn up the grass, cutting it to a sixteenth of an inch of its root, disturbing the sandy soil beneath, and blowing dust and pollens for miles. And I'm not just talking about here in the development which I live in, but everywhere in the valley. The beautiful green manicured grass of every development and country club (and there are many) do the same thing at approximately the same time. It takes a week to ten days to do our development. Then they re-seed.

Having had to visit the Doctor with asthma caused by these irritants I asked why? Back in smog-ridden L.A. I didn't have asthma. And we didn't scalp our grass. We just tossed down steer manure and then threw down seed. In the spring it grew back nice and healthy. The Doctor said, it's because the people who return every winter during "the season" pay big bucks to play the golf courses and they want everything green and pretty. They can't wait for spring. Okay. So, no complaints then. This is definitely a seasonal town and our tourists bring income to the area, even if it means I have to get out of town for days on end so I can breathe. ;)

I'm taking time off from writing for a couple of weeks. I have outlines for a couple of stories but am going to give more thought to my decision on whether to go the same route as the last, another Romantic Adventure, or go back to Contemporary Gothic. I do need to write darker. I know that and I'm trying, so this time I'll have to push beyond my own boundaries and limitations. Should be interesting.

Before we know it, October will be here. This is my favorite month in the States as well as in Australia. I was born in October but in the spring, and my Mum said she was sitting in her hospital room in Tasmania looking out at the new born lambs frolicking in the fields while she nursed me. I love the month because in either hemisphere it's always just about perfect as far as beauty and temperature are concerned. Even though the California desert doesn't have a dramatic change of seasons, as far as foliage goes, it has its own special way of indicating winter is only a couple of months away. We call them cool nights and wonderful cool mornings.
Excellent walking weather.

I've finally written the end on my story, Gone Tropical. It was such a fun write that I felt I'd been left behind while my hero anfd heroine sailed off somewhere on a wonderful cruise, or took a vacation, or attended some big event and just forgot all about me. And I was the one who created them. How selfish can these kids get? : )

I've put the story out to my Beta readers, Gail, Gayle, and Laura. I call them my Roadrunners after the birds that frequent our neighborhood. This is the first time I've used the Roadrunners and they are excited to do this for me --I'm both nervous and excited. These women are avid readers and we walk the lake with our dogs and talk and share info on the latest books we've read, in addition to which stores are having a fab sale, what new restaurant has opened, or what is playing at the movies or the theater.

I do have a wonderful critique group, the Four Fabulous Fictionists, Janet, Gina, Trish and yours truly. We've been together for quite a few years now and also have a couple of honorary members, D'Anne and Thieme. These ladies are amazing for looking at my story from a writer's perspective, keeping me on track, correcting errors and flying finger typos, bolstering me when the going gets tough, and generally just being good friends.

The Roadrunners will do straight reads and comment on tone, where I could have expanded my story or plot, if I goofed up on tying up a thread, or if I've gotten too mushy or not mushy enough. I think it will be helpful to get the pure reader perspective and I'm looking forward to their comments.

Nothing more to report on, other than the germ of a new story has started to form. Several threads started around the lake a couple of weeks ago, and yesterday I had an almost complete plot line. I'm going to sit down and play with the ideas, if it takes off, the story will be set here in the desert and will be a contemporary Gothic with a legend that dates back to the early settlement of the Coachella Valley.

Almost September

This has been a very interesting and fruitful month. One which has had many missing pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that is my life fall nicely into place, and while there may still be a piece or two under the couch cushions, I'm happy with the overall picture.

RWA National was great, but as I said in the last post, very exhausting. On the positive side, I'm becoming more comfortable pitching my work and taking rejection. It's all a process and a growth and necessary in this weird choice of career. I'm getting better at not taking everything so seriously, or getting my feelings hurt.

I topped off my American conference by leaving for the Australian National conference in Brisbane, one week later. It was well worth it. The Aussie's are a fabulous group. I truly felt welcomed and not because I was born in the country (I left for the States when I was 23 years old and never returned, except for frequent visits with family.) The women were very generous with their time, their energy, and their expertise. I never felt lonely or alone. I participated in everything and enjoyed the workshops, the events, and the camaraderie. Author, Debbie Macomber and her longtime agent, Paula Eykelhof, were both amazing and completely available for casual conversation. Such lovely ladies. Every class I took, I must say I learned something new, and isn't that what it's all about? Would I go back? You betcha!

I got to meet and hang out with Allison, one of Jenny Crusie and Bob Mayer's CherryBombs. We're a secret society. Not! : ) Actually, we met on the blog, an incredibly oddball community that has become entirely too addictive. I like to think of it as a reward to be taken after each long session of writing. Sort of like, okay, now that I've worked, I'll treat myself to ... no, not chocolate, not a cocktail ... a nice little rambling chat on the blog, a discussion, a disagreement, a joke shared. And if all else fails, or it's a quiet night, a little teasing of Bob and Jenny. They take it all with a grain of salt and just keep egging us on with their posts.

Anyway, after I left Allison and her cute hubby in Brisbane, I took off to Cairns in Northern Queensland and met up with some of my family who are all, barring one couple, from New South Wales. My mother, older sister, younger sister, younger brother and their spouses, all arrived and we rented a house in Palm Cove. It was spacious, nicely appointed, had a salt water pool, and was a few minutes walk to the beach and the shops and restaurants.

We had two four-wheel drive autos and took off each day on explorations for my book. What fun! We took an aerial tramway up to the Atherton Tablelands, took a train ride back, walked tropical rainforests, swam in lagoons, visited Cooktown, Mungumby Lodge (which my fictional lodge is modelled after) visited waterfalls, boated up the Daintree River to look at crocodiles, saw all kinds of snakes and birds and other wildlife. My brother is ex-army, a Sargeant who served in 'Nam. He's in my book and called Sarge. He said he'd only agree if he could have great sex. I told him he was happily married to a woman who still lusted after his hunky bod. I also assured him he definitely was the only one getting any action because the hero and heroine were at loggerheads. He thought that was cool, but he doesn't know romance and how many great scenes those two have to get through before the happily ever after. : ) Or, that I had to put his charming wife into a leg cast.

Some of the wildlife was actually in the city of Cairns, mostly lying on the beachfront called the lagoon. Cute girls in bikinis, buff guys in not much of anything, and lots of open air restaurants teeming with people. Excellent people watching. I also got to visit the Police Station in Cairns, and make some young cops day, or at least give him something to talk about at lunch. He was highly amused at my questions of under-cover drug trafficking, extradition of criminals to the U.S. What authorities would be involved and what procedure would need to be observed. At one point he looked at me rather quizzically then figured, nah, she's just what she says she is, a middle-aged romance writer. I did have a chuckle though when I first introduced myself.
I said, "I'm a romance author writing a story set in this area. It's a romantic suspense."
He grinned, in true hero fashion, and quirked one sandy-colored eyebrow, "Well, you've got the right place, lots of that going on up here."

When I got home I had a delightful surprise. My witch story, Beyond the Shadows, finaled in a contest called the Haunted Hearts. The category I entered was contemporary gothic. I'd wrestled with this story for some time, not being sure what it was. It didn't fit any sub-genre of romance that I knew. Then I ran across something one day on Gothic romance and remembered it was what I had loved to read as a pre-teen and teenager. I spoke with Melissa, one of my part-time critique partners and she got all excited. She said I was indeed writing contemporary Gothic. I figured I had nothing to lose, but everything to gain. Even if they hated it, I'd get feedback, and I so wanted feedback. So I entered the contest.

Happily, that little baby is now off to St. Martin's Press for final judging by an editor who I could never get my work in front of, because I don't have an agent. I'm thrilled to have finaled and honestly don't care if I place first or third. I'm just happy to have my work validated.
But winning would be really, really nice. :0
And, come to think of it, being asked to submit a full manuscript would be awesome.

I can't believe it's August already ...

... what happened to July?

Oh yeah, I went to RWA National, in Atlanta. And I worked like a dog in advance to get my manuscript ready. Good news, I did get a request from an Agent and another from an Editor. This is my first shot at writing Romantic Suspense, so fingers and toes are crossed. They both know the manuscript isn't quite completed. I was honest about that. I'll submit the first three chapters then take off to Australia where my story is set and will take my laptop with me. I'm visiting the Daintree Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef and will feed some of the setting, texture, adventure, through the mid to last chapters. By the time I get home the story will need one more fine tuning and it will be good to go. This one will be my golden Heart entry for 2007.

National was good, I worked like crazy. My best buddies were on different tracks this year so most of the evenings they were off doing the private parties and having fun. *Sigh* It was a bit odd at first. I did get to meet several of the Cherry Bombs though, and that was cool. We'd been blogging all year on the Jenny Crusie/Bob Mayer blog, and were total strangers, so it was fun to put names and faces together.

I attended the President's Retreat, the PRO Retreat, the Annual General Meeting, worked the Literacy evening boxing up books and the following night making money for our chapter at the Moonlight Madness Bazaar. There really wasn't much time for socializing. The ladies in my chapter are amazing and it's such a pleasure to work with them.

The Awards Ceremony on Saturday night was fabulous. I personally think it was the best ever. The amazing Nora Roberts was the M.C. and RWA President Gayle Wilson did a fabulous roast of author Susan Elizabeth Phillips. What a fun night.

And now I'm off to do it all again at RWAust. It will be fun to meet up with Aussie writers in Brisbane. Will report back on my adventure in the tropics next month. Have a great summer!

Temperature rising but temper is calm

With the current temperatures being in the 108 to 110 degree Fahrenheit range there is not much to do but stay inside. A writer's dream, right? Yes and no. If the muse hits it's wonderful, one can certainly accomplish a ton of work. If the muse is being contrary or evasive, then no, you find every possible excuse or reason to not plant your behind firmly in the chair. There are books crying out to be read, bills to pay, the house to clean, a television to watch, phone calls to make, emails and blogs to play on. Not to mention the new treadmill in the corner begging to get some action. Okay, I'll do that later, I promise.

Good for me, my muse is dancing around the edges of my mind, urging me on, whispering in my ear. It's a delight. She's been missing for some time so I'm happy to see her back again. I woke up this morning at four thirty rearing to go to the computer, but figured that was dumb. I'd gone to bed around eleven after having several glasses of merlot. I haven't been drinking much alcohol since my recent stomach ailments so I must have zonked out. Must have slept like a log for five hours, definitely a welcome treat. I'm a light sleeper and usually awaken several times a night.

So, I stayed in bed until I couldn't stand it any longer and got up around six a.m. I've been pretty much writing ever since and I loooooove how this book is shaping up. I haven't been this excited about my writing since my second book. I remember going off to a hotel and writing twenty-four seven for three days and getting that sucker finished and off to the editor. I had incredible back ache afterward but it was such an exciting weekend. That's how this one has been.

When you're in the zone there is nothing better. Nothing. Not a single solitary thing.

Having Fun Again

So I had another rejection and this one explained more of the reasons why. It seems my voice lacks spark. Well, likely so, my life has lacked spark of late. : ) It's funny how life, our moods, our illnesses can get in the way and muddy up the works. I knew there was something wrong with my stories but couldn't figure it out. They just seemed flat, kind of like my affect. Hah!

Guess that's what you get from living in a computer chair rather than getting out and embracing life. So I'm doing that now. Embracing life. I'm socializing more, I'm swimming daily, walking my dog and chatting with neighbors, I even bought a treadmill so I can take off some of the pounds that I've wanted to get rid of for years. My dog, Nikki, was getting chubby, too. The Vet put her on the Eukanuba diet and I told Nik if she lost ten pounds I'd lose twenty. That was last October. Well, Nik took off her ten pounds and I think I lost two. Guess I'll have to start chowing down on kibble or walk faster. (grin)

I'm finally writing again and believe it or not, I'm having fun. This story is unfolding faster than I can type it. I started to outline, started to block out my story scenes, but kept getting drawn back to the computer with the actual story. So I gave up and just started typing. I've gone back to being this weird seat-of-the-pants type writer who listens to the voices in her head and just lets the story unfold however it wants to. Of course, I'll go back in later and make sure I've covered all of the basic elements of story telling, maybe vamp up certain aspects of it, but for now I'm having fun. Later on I'll put it before the critical eyes of my critique group but first I'll write my story the best way I know how, by just doing it.

Good news

Well my life has taken a nice turn for the better. My doctor did an endoscopy and took a look at my stomach, seems I have gastritis and have inflammed the stomach lining. An easy fix. I'm already feeling better since starting on Protonix a month or so ago. I'll just continue on that for a couple of months and it will repair the damage. I'd already begun to change my eating habits so am half-way home. (grin) I asked the specialist what might cause this and one of the things he mentioned twigged my memory, food allergies.

The irony is, as a kid I had a huge allergy to citrus and thought I'd overcome it. Apparently not. We'd moved from the Snowy Mountains when I was about twelve years old, to the Hunter Valley. When in the Snowy we never had totally fresh fruits and veges because they had to be trucked in, the Hunter is good farming country, everything grow's like crazy. Being a little piglet, I apparently overdid it on fresh citrus and got sick. I'd swell up in the lips, feet, hands and my whole body would be covered in hives. They'd send me home from school and Mum would cover my poor little body in Calamine lotion, in a few days I'd be fine again. It took quite a bit of investigation to find the culprit.

Anyway, last year I moved from Los Angeles to my new home in the California desert and acquired a nice little citrus grove. The grapefruit are pink and absolutely delicious. The lemons are huge and sweet. The limes perfect. The oranges and tangeolas are to die for. In January my New Year's resolution was to lose 25 lbs. And how was I doing that? By eating two grapefruit a day, putting lemon slices in my water jug, eating oranges, heh heh. The things we do to our bodies thinking we're doing the healthy thing ....

So, I'm good to go now and trying to figure out the best time to visit Australia and research that romantic adventure story I've been hankering to write. I've fine tuned the other two manuscripts and I'll submit those over the next couple of weeks, then I'll begin outlining this new one. I'm really excited that my energy level is back and I'm sleeping better, not in pain anymore AND my enthusiasm for writing has returned. For everyone who has told me not to write an Australian story, I say, "I don't care. I'm doing it anyway. It's what makes me happy. If it doesn't sell I really don't care. I'm writing it because that's where my heart lies."

Successful event

The event for LARA on May 6th was wonderful. The ladies in this chapter are quite simply, amazing. Everyone pitched in and helped out even if they hadn't officially volunteered to do so. Jodi Gottlieb, Deanne Avner and Trish Cerrone worked their butts off as coordinators of the workshop. It was a super day.
Shelley Bradley taught us how to write sexier scenes and Susan McCarty talked about what editors are looking for in submissions. The two balanced each other beautifully with me being the "ham in the sandwich" or otherwise known as the M.C. (a rather spacey M.C. if you ask me.) I've been having gall bladder attacks and have to have a scan this week. From the sounds of things they will have to remove that sucker and toss it in the trash. Good riddance.
Anyway back to the event, I had a doozy of an attack the evening before and got about two hours of sleep, I was functioning on automatic pilot all day Saturday. Fortunately in one of my twenty-nine careers (previously mentioned) I did a stint in development and fundraising which meant putting on special events. Trish was in Hong Kong so most of the luncheon fell to me. I think I pulled it off but how I'm not sure. I tried to make it fun after the intense morning of "learning how to write hot sex scenes." Probably just made a fool of myself. Oh well, too bad, the harm is already done so no sense stewing over it. (grin)
I had an appointment yesterday with a psychic who channels spirit guides. This is the second time I've met with him and he was spot-on in the last session. This time I told him I might have to have surgery. He told me he could see a sac containing green goop. I burst out laughing and said, "Yep, that would be my gall bladder." Anyway, he assures me all will be fine and this will be a major turning point for me, no more feeling poorly and my energy will be back. Yay! Can't wait. So far 2006 has been a bumpy ride. And he also told me I need to take the trip I've been contemplating and I have to write the story. He was talking about my trip to Australia and described scenes for the book that could only be the tropics. So, I guess I leave the Hannukah story for someone else and focus on my tropical adventure. My hero is sooooo happy. He's been bugging me to tell his story.
Now back to work, I'm putting the spit and polish on my manuscript, The Good Luck Penny, just in case I get a request from Lucienne Diver for a more in depth look. Plus I'll pitch it to an editor at the National convention in July. Haven't heard back from Anna Genoese but it's still early. Perhaps I'll get an appointment with her at National. I can continue to dream, this is my blog. (grin)
As soon as I'm finished polishing this manuscript I'm going to outline my adventure story and possibly take the trip home in the early fall. No more wimpy ghosts and friendly witches, all characters will be firmly anchored in this world ... well, at least this world as we know it.