Friday, October 31, 2008

I'M DONE!!!

Yay!

I am finally, finally, FINALLY done.

139,743 words and 540 pages.  But it's done.  

I can't tell you how happy I am.  

And it's good.  IMHO.  I have some major revisions and some scenes I want to add (in December) but it's done.

Now, onto NaNo!  I'm looking forward to it because my current WIP so dark, I want fun and sexy.  That's what I'm going to write.

I will be posting my daily word count.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

It didn't work

I'm not going to make it.  

SIGH

Tomorrow is another (the last) day.


Wednesday, October 29, 2008

The End Is NEAR!!!

So I have been struugling to finish my current WIP so that I can move on to NaNoWriMo and I think I've made a breakthrough.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I think (hope) that I can be done tomorrow.  Which would be great because that would give me one good day off before I do NaNo.

Wish me luck!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

That Dreaded Word- CROSS-POSTED

When I was deciding what to write this week for the blog, I was thinking initially that I would do something to go along with Helen's NaNo theme, but as I am a Panster and not a Plotter, this blog will once again go awry.

So what am I going to talk about?  Well, my least favorite part about being an author.

Research.

The reason that I have been thinking about this is because I am in the process of completing my as of now 131,055 word monstrosity.  It's a bit of a departure for me.  There's a lot less sex than normal for one thing.  (Although the H/H do have some pretty good down and dirty in a stairwell.  Didn't see that one coming.)  Plus, it's a romantic suspense which I'm not all that familiar with but thought that I wanted to try because I read so much Linda Howard, Elizabeth Lowell, Linda Castillo, and numerous other RS writers that I thought...What the hell?  (Of course lately all I've been reading is historical romance but rest assured, I will not be attempting this genre.)

As a writer, I should know that actually doing something is not as easy as it looks.  Or in this case writes.  I want my story to be authentic.  I don't want to be a published author and getnitpicky letters from people highlighting all of the mistakes that I've made.  (SIDE NOTE: I've 'heard' from some authors that fans, especially historical romance fans, will send these kinds of letters.  I know how they feel  Every time I read a story about a social worker [my day job] I want to pull my hair out at all of the inaccuracies.  I've stopped myself from actually writing a response.  Barely.)  

And you would think with the amount of 'Law and Order' that I've watched in my life (seriously, I'm sure I've seen every single episode at least four times) that it wouldn't be that difficult.  

I know in my head, that I should try to meet with a homicide detective and interview him.  But the truth is, I'm scared.  (And lazy.  We should never forget lazy.)  Helen, Vi, and Trish would probably laugh to hear me say this because while I do consider myself outgoing, it take a bit of effort (and the right environment) before I'm completely comfortable letting out 'The Full Monica' as it were.  I haven't the vaguest idea how to go about interviewing someone for research purposes.  I kick myself for not taking some sort of journalism class in college.

I know, I know.  I can find this stuff on the Internet.  But A) there's that lazy thing and 2) I want specific answers to MY questions.  Not have to sift through massive amounts of data to find what I need.  (But that does seem to fit in with the laziness.  I'd have to do a lot of work to gather the data before tossing everything that I didn't need.)

So I put it to you out there in Blogger World.  

Any advice for a novice author about  how to go about doing in-person interviews?

Monday, October 20, 2008

Save the Contemporary!

Okay, I am a big fan of contemporary romance. I write it and I read it. But as the Smart Bitches point out, they seem to be a dying breed. Most publishers seem to want to go with what's popular. Of course! They want to make money. And what's popular right now is paranormal, erotica, romantic suspense, and other 'sub genres.' The problem is that straight forward contemporary romance has now been dwindled into a sub genre.  

So Erin McCarthy has teamed up with Smart Bitches and Dear Author for the 'Buy a Contemporary, Save the World' campaign to celebrate the release of her new book 'Flat Out Sexy' which is a flat out contemporary romance. Now, I love Ms.McCarthy. Her books rock! Very sexy. So of course, I want to do my part. (And possibly win $100 along the way.)

So go out! Buy Contemporaries! They miss you!



Monday, October 13, 2008

FREE BOOK!

Hey all of you aspiring authors, Donald Maas, literary agent extraordinaire, is giving away a free downoad of his book, The Career Novelist.

If you haven't heard of him, he wrote the book that should be on every novelist's bookshelf, Writing The Breakout Novel.

CHECK IT OUT!

Saturday, October 11, 2008

This reminds me...

If you've read The Colorado Vixens' blog you know that our Viola is a very innocent person and Helen and I are the bad influences on her.  And if you read my blog about Sex, you would know that Helen and her webmistress Laura took it upon themselves to show her some porn which absolutely shocked out little Vi.  (And if you believe any of that I have an Alaskan Bridge for sale on Ebay.)

So when I saw this clip over at the Smart Bitches website, it made me think of them.  It's porn that presented in a 'Safe for Work' manner.  

It's like getting the best of two worlds.  Helen gets her porn and we keep our little Vi innocent as pie.

 Enjoy!

Monday, October 6, 2008

LIFE

So, you might be wondering where the hell I've been.  Well, I'll tell you. 

The Sunday Book Blog and really all blog entries are on hold right now as I finish up my current WIP.  I'm at 120,000 words and I should have been finished a month ago but I got lazy, plus my job was starting up again so it made it harder.  I'm determined to finish this and I'm giving myself another two weeks.  I can do it.  I need to do it.  I'm even eschewing Jeopardy! (one of my favorite shows) to get it done.  Don't worry, you will definitely know when I'm finished.  You'll probaby hear my roar of triumph.

I am also gearing up for NaNoWriMo.  But more about that in later posts.

PLUS, I may have some VERY good news soon.  Keep your eyes out.

Later Gators