Emotional Roller Coasters & News...

Happy Sunday All,

Normally I don't update on the weekends, but lately I've been super busy during the week and I'm about to be even more busy.

There's been a lot of emotions going on lately as I went through the holidays missing my deceased friend, Sarah. It's not over yet, because on February 20th, it'll mark 1 year since her death.

Today I went over to her and her husband's apartment to help him and Sarah's mom go through Sarah's things. There were some moments of laughter, some tears, and in some cases, emotionally distancing myself from the whole thing just so I wouldn't breakdown and cry too much. I was allowed to keep several items that had belonged to Sarah, which was a comfort. Currently, as I write this, I have a small, very soft teddy bear that I was given sitting on my lap. There's things going to other friends, that will be sorted more as time goes on.

However, after the emotionally exhausting day, a wonderful thing

happened:

I signed and finalized a 3-book contract with my publisher, Soul Mate Publishing for my New Adult (NA) Paranormal trilogy!

The titles have also been approved and they are (in order):

Immortal Dreams Book 1: Divine Love
Immortal Dreams Book 2: Astral Love
Immortal Dreams Book 3: Immortal Love

Each novel will be released separately. I don't have released dates, yet, but keep an eye out for updates.

I hope all has been well with you. Happy reading. :-)

Have A Surprisingly Special Sunday!

Stop Number 2 On The Blog Tour!

Happy Weekend Everybody,

Normally I don't post on the weekend, but today is stop #2 of the Bethany Averie All's Fair In Love & Lion Blog Tour...

Today's stop is as the guest of Stella, over on the Soul Mate Publishing Blog. Stella is a chapter mate of mine. She's encouraging, generous, and fun to be around. We've had a blast bouncing ideas off each other and at one time critiqued one another's work. She's very creative, and I enjoy knowing her.

There's also two other Soul Mate Publishing authors being featured along with me! So come on out and check it all out.

Do I have a muse...?  Well the only way to find out, is to join me on the Soul Mate Publishing Blog!

Have A Great Weekend!

In Honor Of The Day...

In honor of the fallen real life heroes/heroines of 10 years ago...

Please take a moment of silence to remember and/or pray.

Welcome November!

Happy November Everybody!

The skies are clear, the sun is shining, it was freezing in our house because we didn't put on the heat last night, although it's supposed to be in the 70's today, but cooler weather, yay!

Hope those who are supposed to remembered to set back their clocks (remember: "spring forward, fall back!") We did, when we got up this morning.

Today is All Saints' Day for Catholics (remembering women and men who exemplified following Christ's words and having a close relationship with the Lord). We went to Mass last night for the vigil.

Today is also when celebrating my dad's birthday since we couldn't on his actual day. So spending time at him and my mom's house today.

As to writing, not sure how much I'm going to get done due to all the other things I have to do today (still gotta decorate the cake--Dad had me make a carrot cake, thank you, Joanne Fluke for the wonderful Carrot Cake recipe in Carrot Cake Murder--not a hard recipe to follow and very, very good--just takes time to grate the carrots if you don't have an electric grater. I use 6 big carrots and found it gives just the right amount--slightly over, but I've never had any complaints about extra carrot--that's how my husband likes carrot cake with plenty of carrot in it).

Anyway, hope you all enjoy your first day of November. Got big plans for today?

Also, please, if you're a praying type, pray for my uncle. He had a scan done and there's cancer activity in his brain. Not sure what else is going to be done at this point, but it's rough because he just went into remission earlier this year for about 2-3 other places he had cancer and he had hernia surgery. So please, whether you pray or you just hope things get better for people, please remember my uncle. Thank you so much!

Have A Scrumptiously Sweet Sunday!

Boot Camp Kicks Butt!

Hi all,



If you haven't checked out link (in my previous post) about Todd Stone, please do so. There is a ton of information I got out of the workshop, that if I tried to post it all in this post, it would be insanely long. So, I'll give you all some short cuts:



First of all, the workshop was called Novelists Boot Camp; the slides we saw are available in the margins of his website if you click here. Worksheets include this one (with the map) and several things from his book.



Second of all, if you can get to a Todd Stone workshop, I highly recommend it. He's informative, he's fun, he's helpful and he's dynamic. He had us cracking up more times than I can count. But he offered great advice.



I made more progress on figuring out what to do with the 3 scenes I brought with me (he has to bring 3 printed out scenes from a finished or work in progress) than I have in a long time. Granted, most of my pages now look like a war zone with lines and arrows and notes everywhere, but I have a clear direction on how to improve the scene as opposed to, "Oh cut this, and put this in...maybe."



Friday was pretty much an overview. We did a lot of drills, but it was "lightweight". There were authors writing all kinds of stuff there. I sat between two ladies working on suspense romance.



There was a lot of people from the Northwest Houston chapter of the Romance Writers of America (RWA). Awesome women (and men) Shout out to Will, Jen, Tessy, Melissa, Stacy, Jody, Judythe, Janet, Christie, Elizabeth, Marisa, Cheri, Melinda, Colleen, et al from the NWHRWA that were at the workshop. Y'all rock big time and are too cool and sweet! (Please note: Ciara Gold, a follower of this blog, and published author of Celestial Dragon as well as several e-books is also a member of NWHRWA).



In any case, it was fabulous. Todd Stone also recommended Donald Maas's The Fire In Fiction, which, I haven't gotten, yet, but have wanted it for awhile.



Saturday was the big stuff. We went through the 7 Revision Passes which I'll talk about more in later post (*If I get to Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009 and I still haven't posted them, somebody remind me!)

By afternoon (just a little before the workshop was over) I was tired...but I was very, very, very glad to have gone. Like I said above, I highly recommend it. Don't worry about the tough stuff, it gets broken down and Todd walks you through it. It's probably some of the best writing instruction I've gotten in a long time (I took a class on Novel Writing some years ago). The editing process makes more sense now.

Make no mistake. It is a lot of work. You will work hard. But it's good work and it's extremely helpful.

Todd Stone says that when writing stops being fun, then you have to change your tactic. You have to find a way to make it work, but also should be fun work. He says what he has to offer are "tools not rules."

My wish and hope for all of you keep your writing as not just work, but fun work!

Have A Swell Sunday!

Sprinkle In A Little Sunday

Afternoon One and All,

Well, it's Sunday and a very pretty one at that. I love this time of year when the weather starts looking nice (and feeling nice). Love having it get cooler and busting out the sweaters, jackets and such. Feels so cozy when it's cold out and you bundle up in coats, hats and pants. I love this time of year.

Yesterday's party was a lot of fun and I enjoyed seeing all who came. Some of my closest friends (and some I haven't seen in a long while) were there. It was great. 30 isn't too bad. Just odd in the sense that it feels weird to think that this is the era where I'm 30 and years from now some other time period will be another person's 30 era. Time really is a strange thing to contemplate. Especially changes in music, movies, dress, you name it.

Kind of like how the book business and the weather go through seasons, I think humans do the same. We all have our springs, summers, autumns and winters and it doesn't necessarily have to coincide with one's age. A person can have a springtime when they're 90 years old, but a winter when they're 15. All depends on what's going on and how they are doing.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful season in their life. I think it's important to let the sunshine in to let yourself find something positive to cling to.

So what's something positive in your life that anchors you? Maybe even helps you with your writing or just every day life?

Mine is faith, family and friends (the 3 F's!) What's yours?

Have A Stupendous Sunday!

Light Bulb Moments

Afternoon Folks,

Happy Sunday Sundae and all that :-)

Ever had a moment when you're writing where you go "Oh duh!" Or "Hey! That's what I needed to do."?

One of mine happened yesterday. I was frustrated with Chapter 2 and 3 in Conjure A Man having rewritten them several times and it still wasn't working. Then I thought, "Wait, what about the original chapter 2 from before I changed chapter 1?" I hunted up the file and to my great relief I hadn't deleted it. So, now chapter 2 is back and I can relax and think "It really works best there." I think chapter 3 will be easier, now.

But has that happened to you? You have this moment where you've tried and tried and tried, only to realize the original was best...go find and and lo, and behold, there it is! Problem solved. Had those moments?

Anyway, today's short and sweet (like a sundae, ha, ha, bad joke).

Hope You Have A Scrumptious Sunday!

This Sundae

Evening All,

I haven't really anything real inspired to write tonight. Got a lot on my mind.

The other day I did some writing on Conjure A Man since I finished going through it from page 1. It helped to remind myself a bit. I probably need to add some description, but otherwise, I think it's making some progress.

I've been doing A LOT of reading this weekend. I finished the Kerrelyn Sparks book and I'm about (or nearly) 1/2 done with The Host by Stephenie Meyers.

How about y'all? What's the weekend been like? Did you have fun?

Have A Stupendous Sunday!

Get Thee A Nom De Plume!

Good Evening One & All,

Shakespeare wrote in Romeo & Juliet, "What's in a name?...A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

Disney talked about names in Aladdin in the lyrics, "Better get a nom de plume." (the song, "One Jump").

So, for a writer, what does a nom de plume (or, pen name) say about the author? It could be a different spelling of the author's name, it could be a name that has a significance. They could keep their first name, but change the last, or change both.

A pen name is also the name a writer will write under for his or her books. The name that his or her readers will recognize them. The name on the autographs and the one where people will say, "Oh yes, that's so and so, they wrote..."

Some authors write under their own names. Others, for a variety of reasons, choose a pen name.

What about you? Are you considering a pen name? What have you looked at when thinking of your nom de plume?

For myself, I'm considering something easy to remember, something that is significant to me.


Have A Satisfying Sunday!

Update From The Klutz

Happy Sunday Night Everyone,

LOL, if you're wondering how I pulled my muscle in my shoulder on Saturday, you can thank Stephanie for posting the question in the comment section and the answer is there, as well.

How's my shoulder? Glad you asked. It's better. Not all better, yet. Still a little tender, but husband massaged it and showed me how me a stretch and I've been laying on the heating pad every now and again and being gentle with that shoulder/arm. So it's healing.

As to writing, the reconstruction of Conjure A Man has been smooth. I'm thinking this was a grand idea. (Kudos go to Tess for affirming my belief that the beginning needed to be changed and overhauled; I still maintain that you're awesome).

I've gotten questions answered by my editor for Surreal and hoping something brilliant comes my way to help me improve that one, until then, I have to just keep working on the edits.

But let's review, Surreal shall we? Let's go with some of the principle characters...

Monroe Dubay is a many faceted creature. He starts off dark and brooding and ends up with a sense of humor and find out that it's love, not the hunt that drives him to woo (to use an old-fashioned word) English Teacher, Sasha Brighton.

Okay yeah, we've got a dashing hero and a rather, reluctant heroine, but who's to say they own the whole stage, huh?

Monroe's best friend and confident, Bast Cantrell doesn't mind entering the scene and pushing Monroe's buttons any opportunity he has. He's got a special place in my heart and my laughter.

Oh yeah, and I have a villain...Lily Tygress. She's a pain in Monroe's arse, but doesn't seem to give up on the idea that she's the only solution to his single status. She wants him for herself and nobody better get in the way.

So yeah...with these characters I should have no problem, right? Well...I think I got a bit ambitious. The whole novel is told first person present tense.

Now, I'm curious...is that intriguing or scary?


Have A Scrumptious Sunday! (well rest of your Sunday anyway...)

Meatballs, Vampires And A Little Sunday

Good Evening All!

Well...today has proven interesting. For one thing I woke up from having a dream about my Dad baptizing my son in a swimming pool at night, during 60 degree (or slightly warmer) weather. My husband looked at me and said "Oookay." I figured out where the swimming pool figures (saw one on the way home from the Library yesterday and wished with all my might that there was a swimming pool--that didn't cost much and that we could go to--near my house--that wasn't "This neighborhood's pool ONLY"). As to my Dad baptizing my son part...I have no idea. As far as I know my Dad has never baptized (nor been given the authority to do so) ever. Color me confounded.

As to the rest...well this morning I finished reading Kerrelyn Sparks' How To Marry A Millionaire Vampire. I thought it was so much fun (loved Gregori, he was hailirious). So, I looked up the next one on the online catalog for my Library, only to find out there's 19 requests for it! 19! I can't wait that long! I want to read this series, not wait in line for it. But unfortunately, I'm going to have to wait at least 2 weeks anyway. My husband (based on our current finances and infinite wisdom) put a moratorium on any "unnecessary" spending (this doesn't include buying chocolate ice cream at the grocery store--thank you, God! Mustn't ban me from the chocolate). So, even though I have to wait a couple of weeks until September comes around to buy more books, I figure, I've got 2 other books to finish reading from the Library, maybe I can survive. (I just had a lot of fun reading that Kerrelyn Sparks book!)

As to Sunday--Mass with the husband and the boy and home again for a yummy Swiss and Ham sandwich. Then off to Blockbuster to get the boy a movie.

I made meatballs tonight for dinner--first time I ever made meatballs (I don't usually like putting my hands on beef, I usually have my husband work with beef and I work with chicken). They're actually pretty good. My husband said they're good! Yay! Go me! I do like to cook and bake (love to bake) I don't consider myself very good at it, but my husband likes what I make (my son, the picky eater won't touch most things, so we've learned to find things he likes and work on that).

I hope everybody has a nice rest of the weekend! Take care.

Have A Sensational Sunday!