Happy January, 2024, and Friday! If December snuck up on me, January just blew right in without me being ready to be done with December. Christmas cards got mailed Wednesday (as in January 3, 2024!) Yeah, I was that behind. But I think my close friends and my family members are a forgiving bunch and won't mind getting their Christmas cards a little late. My Christmas was fairly nice. I had a sparkly red dress this year (see my Instagram for a photo). I love sparkles. I don't always wear them, but I do like them. I did refrain from purchasing glittery eyeshadow for Mass (Catholic Christian Church Service). A little sparkle at Mass is okay, but I don't need to be attention-grabbing there. Later in the week we ate Christmas dinner at my sister's house (no, not on Christmas Day because we were waiting for one my brothers and his family to arrive in town and they couldn't get in any earlier because of their responsibilities at home). The weekend of New Year's my el...

  Happy Thursday Everyone! June is already over? I was completely unprepared for that. In fact, I feel like this year is flying by. (I was late sending birthday card to a friend who had a birthday near the end of June...normally I'm better about these things, but it snuck up on me!) Updates: June was full of working on revisions. At the moment, I don't want to go into detail...if something fun happens with this, I'll update y'all. For now, pray for me. :-) And if you don't pray, at least wish me well, please? Thanks. Writing: I haven't been working on my other WIPs because I was doing revisions. I've got some notes back on some chapters for revisions from my long-time critique partner, so I'm going to be working on those on Friday. I do plan on working on one of my WIPs, though. My CP (Critique partner) likes this WIP in particular. Reading: Yes, I've been doing some reading. I've really liked this one Beauty And The Beast retelling. It's ca...

Happy Tuesday all, It's been a while since I've updated my blog. Like always, I mostly concentrate on Facebook and Twitter. However, I do try to get on here at least once in a while. I used to be so much better about this. I'm sorry! My revisions for Immortal Dreams Book 1:  Dream Weaver are coming along. I'll be sending them to my proof reader very soon, then I'll go through it again and get it out. I'm ready for this novel to be going out into the world. It's not a Third Realm novel, but I think it's a lot of fun. I'm classifying it as a New Adult Paranormal Romance. It does have magic in it, which lends a little bit of the fantasy to it. New Adult is a fairly new designation. I was reading in article in a magazine about how it's not quite adult and not quite YA. In general, the characters tend to be between 18 and 25. It's based on getting into new adult situations--college, marriage, adulthood. (Most of what I'm saying is bas...

Happy Monday/Tuesday All, It's been long while since I've blogged. A big chunk of the reason is that I've been knee-deep in revisions for Immortal Dreams Book 1:  Dream Weaver --mine and Critique Partners' revisions--so I can send it out. It's not done, yet, but recent events in my life have inspired me to write this blog post. Besides synopses  I'm of the opinion that blurbs are hard to write. After all, you have to sum up your story in a few short paragraphs (or one paragraph) without giving away everything, but still giving the reader an idea of what your story is about--including, in some way, genre.  Some blurbs are taken directly from query letters. Think about it. When you query an agent or editor you have to encourage them to want to read the entire thing. So the blurb you include has to include enough information where they have an idea of what you're writing, but without giving away every single last detail of the story.  A question ...

Happy Wednesday All, Congratulations to Dana W. who won yesterday's giveaway! She's been notified. Enjoy your Amazon Kindle copy of All's Fair In Love & Lion and the necklace, Dana. This week I'm still doing revisions. I should finish before (or at) the end of the week. Then it will go to a critique partner of mine (new one) and I'll go through it again and whatever other revisions/proofing so it can go to my editor. Hope you all have a fabulous week, and please accept my apologies for being so silent on here. I post regularly on Facebook and Twitter (@WriteByBethany) so don't hesitate to look me up. Have A Wonderfully Witty Wednesday!

Happy Friday All, I know it's been a long time since I've written a post. I do apologize. There is A LOT going on. I'm working on edits based on critique given to me by my critique partner, Tess St. John.  This is for my New Adult Romance--book 1 in a series. I've got around 20 pages left to finish today, then I have to go back over it to check on what I've done (and there's a few things I put into my head to have a closer look on). I'm hoping within the next 2 weeks to get it back out to Tess and to my new critique partner .  I do plan to do a giveaway. Not today, but soon. Kathy with Beadmore Designs has made another All's Fair In Love & Lion Monroe Necklace and has agreed to send it to one lucky winner. I'm working on the details for that giveaway, so I'll let you know when the time comes. Meanwhile, I'll give a little rundown on my New Adult Paranormal Romance.   Immortal Dreams Book 1:  Dream Weaver centers around two ...

Happy Thursday All, I'm sorry I've been neglecting the blog. It seems like I haven't had too much to say that I don't already say on Facebook and/or Twitter, so I wondered if it mattered. However, I thought about it, and I figured if there were people who weren't on Facebook or Twitter, and wanted an update, then it would be a really good idea to post here. Besides, some stuff I post on the blog is too long for a Facebook update or Twitter. :-) First of all, thank you to everyone who has read and enjoyed A ll's Fair In Love & Lion . Some of you left very nice comments in a review on Amazon, and some of you have contacted me through Facebook or Twitter. You don't know how much that means to me. :-) Currently I've been working on revisions to a novel that   is the first book in a YA/New Adult Paranormal Series.  I'm also working on the Romance novel that comes after AFINL&L. The YA/New Adult novel ties in my love of Greek/Roman Myt...

Morning/Afternoon All, I have to have sympathy. I know, I'm not usually one to ask for a pity party, but in this case, I think I might actually need one. I'm having reflux issues and so I emailed one of my doctors (the 2 doctors are married to each other and own a family practice, I've been to both the husband and wife on different occasions for different things). I emailed because I really didn't want to call the office and wait for a call back or have to go in and negotiate the dang hospital complex parking lot. My doctor wrote me back told me what to do, but she also warned that I should avoid certain foods. Among the foods mentioned...caffeine and chocolate. (I can handle avoiding peppermint, that ain't so hard, and tomatoes I can avoid). But coffee and chocolate??? Okay, the chocolate I've been mostly avoiding for awhile now because of my diet--but CHRISTMAS is coming! I was going to make FUDGE...my sister and her husband make Million Dollar Pie--it has cho...

Good Morning All, My weekend was nice and quiet for the most part (other than Friday evening when I went up to my high school Alma mater to see my son's Godsister perform in the choir--she did not do a solo, but it was still fun). Saturday and Sunday were pretty quiet, though, which is fine :-) I've been wrestling with the question of approach and the way to write one particular story for some time (if you all remember previous entries about my trying to revise this story, you know precisely which one I'm talking about and how many times I've been trying to figure out what to do with it). I don't know if this new approach is going to work or not, but it brings up the question I've often brought up, which is when one method isn't working, that a writer should try a new one. Do you write mainly third person omniscient? If that's not working, try third person limited, or even try a whole different pov altogether. Trying to start the book with an argument bu...

Afternoon All, Okay, let's just say I'm blinking in amazement right now. I never expected comment I made on someone else's blog would generate so much traffic on my comment section (especially on one about laughing LOL). But in any case, thank you for the nice comments and the compliments. I appreciate it. Please, if you have something to say about another blog where I posted a comment, direct it to my email: bethanyintexas@yahoo.com I'll be happy to correspond with you about it there. I'm not trying to be rude, I just like to keep my blog pretty much about writing since that's it's purpose (NO offense meant to anyone ). Anyway, moving along. I sent my revised chapter 1 of Conjure A Man to the illustrious Tessy (my CP) and she sent me back comments (again, some good ones). A few things I'm gonna have to take more time to think about. On another note, until further notice, CAM is on hiatus. I just need to get away from it for now. I love the idea, and ...

Good Morning Folks, Don't you just love that saying? Okay, maybe you do, maybe you don't, but I think it's cool. So yesterday I did (as I said I was going to) actually get to writing on Conjure A Man . Chapter 3 is finished being rewritten (for now). But chapter 4 might need some work. The idea for chapter 4 isn't bad (I mean it makes sense Delaney's vampire friend, Caruso, would want to meet Pierre, especially since he suggested Delaney summon up a human in the first place). However, I'm not sure how well it works (hence the "dash it all" title for today's post). But, that doesn't mean it can't work. We writers sometimes have to make a decision. Sometimes this decision is easy and sometimes it's painful. And that decision is whether or not a scene works in one particular place or even at all for the story in question. Sometimes we have these "Dash it all!" moments where we think "If I have to revise this story one more ...

Morning Folks, Well another beautiful Fall Day (yay for pretty sunshine and cooler temperatures!) Yes, I will cheer on the cooler weather all Fall and Winter if it means I don't have to wear shorts during the Christmas 12 days (and earlier and through January). I think we writers need a slogan on button that says "I have a pen and I'm not afraid to use it!" Hmmm...I wonder what kind of questions we'd get about that? Maybe we could also have our own coffee from all the major coffee manufacturers (do they realize how many writers drink coffee?) They could have "The Write Stuff" or "Write Bold" or "Write Italian Roast" Okay...maybe the coffee is already hitting me and I need to back off the sugar. But still...it seems like novelty coffee would be fun. What do you think? In along the same lines as the title of this post (which, don't ask me how I thought of it, just all of a sudden it occurred to me and I liked the sound of it) Lately...

Morning Folks, Halloween Day seems like the perfect time to announce that I have a book preview video (not great quality, but I'm hoping to either figure out how to fix the problems or have my younger brother who knows about a lot of media stuff might be able to help when he's in town for Christmas). You see, I don't have a Youtube account (I might end up getting one; but I'm not sure, yet) so I think maybe I'll wait until I have a website to put it up. But once I'm able to work out the kinks I think it's pretty good. The preview is for Surreal . Other than that I'm working more on Conjure A Man . I worked on Chapter 2 yesterday, but I'm not sure if it's just right or if I went overboard a different direction. I'll have to review it and if necessary, I'll make changes. But I do like Delaney's character better for this, now. I just didn't like having her appear so weak because I know that in all her life she was pretty strong. I ...

Hi Everyone, So, this weekend is Halloween. Yes, we have a pumpkin, no we haven't carved it. It's been kinda busy over here. We've had a lot going on. But Halloween also marks the end of October. A month I'm rather fond of because it's when I start feeling more of the fall weather, my birthday happens, my dad's birthday, one of my sisters and her husband have their wedding anniversary, and it's just nice to see Fall breezing in. Kids of all ages look forward breathlessly to Halloween and everything they like about it (whether it's costumes, treats, parties or spooky movies) Halloween has a lot of things for people of all ages. I wish everyone a safe and happy Halloween--whatever you celebrate or don't celebrate, or what Oct. 31st means to you, I wish you well. What does the end of October mean for my writing? Well, pretty much the same as it meant for every other month. Working, working, editing, revising, and improving and getting closer to queryin...

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 ever...

Good Morning All, Today at the workshop we're working on revisions and this is the day we actually had to have our 3 scenes (from one of our own work) to work on. We haven't started, yet, but will be shortly. I'm not quite all the way awake, but it's already been fun this morning. If you can get to a Todd Stone Workshop I recommend it! He's really good. Also, if you can get to a chapter of the RWA for a meeting, go! Have A Scintillating Saturday!

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!

Happy Late Evening One And All, Whew. I've been immersed in some serious revising. I ought to be working on Surreal , however, I think one chapter a day works best for that project at this time. Once ideas start flowing I can do more. At this point I'm reintroducing myself to the story after an absence. The other revising I'm doing? Serious reconstructive work on Conjure A Man . After some thought based on some advice Kim Lenox gave at the chapter RWA meeting on Saturday morning, and some suggestions from Tess, I went back and cut out all of Chapter 1 to lead off with chapter 2. This way, I throw the reader immediately into the action and the story. The situation is right there and the back story flows through the dialogue. Combining chapter 2 and 3, I'm working on improving the beginning. Fortunately I only have about 11-12 chapters so far, but I'm getting reinvigorated. I have to quit for now, because it's almost 10 p.m. and with motherhood responsibilities I...

Hello Everyone, Welcome back from the Labor Day Weekend. Hope everyone had a safe and great time. Mine was peaceful, which is just fine by me. Recently I've received the first chunk of edits for Surreal back from my editor. Earlier this year I realized a valuable lesson: edit as you go. Either after finishing the first 3 chapters, begin the edits or go chapter by chapter. It will make the load of revisions lighter and give you a sense of already "polishing and buffing" before an editor or critique partner gets a hold of your story. Rewriting can be rough, but it's a fact of a writer's life. Writers write the first draft, go back, fix mistakes, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite, then begin the process all over again until the project is polished, buffed and as good as they can make it. You want to send your best work. Not your first draft. After having spent almost a year of hardly looking at Surreal , I realize how much I've learned about writing since having compl...