Happy Tuesday All, There is less than 62 days until the NWHRWA's annual Lone Star Conference. In the margins of this blog you'll see a little ticker with a black cat (in honor of one of my characters in a manuscript I'm in the process of writing) telling how long until the Conference and if you click on some of the words below it, they'll take you to the NWHRWA's Conference site. Some of you might remember how I went on and on about Todd Stone last year . This year, it's 3 agents and Randy Ingermanson of the Snow Flake Method .  Christine Whitthohn from Book Cents Literary Agency is scheduled to speak during lunch. Then, if that wasn't enough to whet your appetite for a writers' conference, there's 2 other agents as well:  Naomi Hackenberg from Elaine P. English, PLLC and Amy Boggs from Donald Maas Literary Agency. Last year was an incredible experience...with book signings and all kinds of things. I don't know everything that's planned...

Happy Monday Everybody, I hope y'all had a good weekend. Mine was pretty fun. Did some shopping, then Saturday had an NWHRWA meeting and in-laws came over. On Sunday, I slept in, went to Church, and hung out with my family. The NWHRWA meeting was fun. We talked about judging contests and critiquing other writers' work. One of the pieces of advice was basically about giving constructive criticism. Telling people how to improve something rather than just saying it sucks...or even telling someone why something is good. I've been reading Kim Lenox's Darker Than Night and so far so good :-) It's good. Hope you all have a good week :-) Have A Melodious Monday!

Happy Monday Everybody, Hope you all had a wonderful Easter and a fantastic weekend! Mine was pretty good. Friday I went to Good Friday service (very nice). Saturday morning I had an NWHRWA meeting and Sunday was cooking, Mass and hanging out with my husband and kid. So all in all it was a good weekend. A couple of things... The NWHRWA hosts a Conference every year (generally in October, which is when it is this year). Details are on the website. Last year's conference with Todd Stone was awesome, so if you all around around the Texas area, or can travel down to Houston/Spring/Tomball area, mark your calendars for Oct. 16 th (I think it's more than one day). Also, the Lone Star Contest is in full swing. Check details here . There's always cool things happening at the NWHRWA . Gonna have a lawyer come talk to us (in May)...this past meeting we had a creativity coach. I mean there's always something happening. Also, like I've said before, ...

Hello Everybody, Well, it's another Monday, and I have plenty to report: Elizabeth Pina's book, Learning To Let Go is now in print (not just in E-book, but actual print) for your reading pleasure. It's an Inspirational (Christian) Romance. So far it's very nice. I'm in the middle of chapter 3. It's a little over 200 pages. You can look it up here on Amazon . She's in the chapter of the RWA I'm a member of. She's a real sweetheart and a lot of fun to talk to. Elizabeth said yes to doing a blog interview with me, so hopefully that will be able to get going soon. I want to finish reading her book first. (Don't worry, I'm a pretty fast reader). You can find Elizabeth on her website and on this blog site. In other really cool news, I'm hoping to get with fellow author, Christie Craig to have her either do an interview or a guest blog post on here at some point. I have to email her and work out the details. She's written such things as...

Happy Friday One And All, Today's post is dedicated to the awesome folks in the NWHRWA . They're great people, lots of fun and really talented writers (I've read several of the members work including: Christie Craig, Kim Lenox , Ciara Gold, and Cheri Jetton ). Please note: Today's post is to be FUN . We're all working hard on writing, editing, querying, furthering our careers and everything in our lives, we need a chance to cut loose every now and again. This is also an opportunity for you to put in your own ideas of what works for a survival kit. Anyway...read on... First of all...for a lot of people you need chocolate. One of the things about chocolate is that there's actually some kind of study that says chocolate is good for you ( in moderation ) especially dark chocolate. One such article talks about dark chocolate lowering the possibility of cardiovascular problems in men. Although, the article warns that white chocolate doesn't contain the things...

Hi Everybody, At the Conference I attended October 2009 (The Novelist Boot Camp one) Todd Stone remarked that the writing world was one of the only professions where people competed against each other, but also were willing to help each other. (You can get some of the information/materials about the workshop from my previous posts. Click here , here , here and here ). So, in the spirit of helping each other, I thought I'd outline some of the materials and sites that have helped me thus far: When I was in my early twenties I found out about The Writers Digest School . I took a course on Short Story & Novel Writing, working closely with a published writer. I would read the material, do the assignments and mail the assignments to my instructor. I learned a lot and it helped me begin to understand how to shape my writing better. To check out Writer's Digest Magazine click here . Another magazine that I read was highly recommended is Publisher's Weekly Magazine ...

Happy Monday Everyone, Sunday afternoon I went over to one of the members of the RWA chapter I'm a member of held a Write-A- Thon at her house. It was a ton of fun. I arrived there later than I meant (didn't get ready as fast as I thought I was going to), but I was told it was no big deal. For awhile everyone just kind of mingled and got set up. Some people had already started working. Then, right around 3 PM things got started and I sat down to work on some edits on Surreal . There was quite a bit of food available (including chocolate and coffee), so people could take snack breaks. (there went my diet LOL ). There was also a published author holding brain storming in one of the rooms. I sat in because I heard a lively discussion going on and got curious. She said some really good things about character arcs and making sure there's growth and everything (particularly in Romance and Women's Fiction). I didn't ask any questions, but I took in what she was saying be...

Happy Thursday Everyone, The edits to Surreal are coming along, although, now I almost feel like I'm performing surgery. I had to change some things and I ended up cutting several pages to accommodate the changes. I think I'm able to use most of the original work now (with whatever edits it needs to clean it up). It amazes me how much time this takes and how hours just fly back as I'm working on it. If you need time to move along quickly, I recommend you get into serious editing with your manuscripts and watch time "fly". Yesterday I finished up a Debbie Macomber book that contained 2 novellas. The book was called The Man You'll Marry and it was fun all about an "enchanted" wedding dress. I enjoyed it. She has some really good stories out. I especially recommend her Between Friends and The Perfect Christmas . Another author I really enjoy is Regina Doman . Her work has suspense and romance. She's given permission to some film students to do ...

Good Morning Folks, First off I want to send congratulations to Stephanie. She just got a contract from an agent. You can go to her blog and wish her congrats. YAY FOR STEPHANIE! (She gets a major shout-out today). Today is another pretty day. Clear, blue sky, and chilly in the house LOL. Yesterday we couldn't find our TV remote. My husband must have found it this morning because when my son and I got up there it was right in front of the TV (and it wasn't there last night). Yay! (My husband also gets a shout-out). My uncle had a scan and found out there's cancer activity in his brain, so prayers and thoughts for his remission from that would be much appreciated. (Thank you). Last night I worked on chapter 2 of Conjure A Man , smoothing down some rough edges that were bothering me. I think it's getting better. I'm beginning to understand more of what I want in there and Delaney's character. When I first wrote it I felt like she was kinda weak, but wasn't su...

Good Morning One & All, It's Friday. For some that means weekend is right around the corner. Although, my husband is working part of Saturday, so Sunday will be his weekend. I appreciate that he is so responsible and loves me and my son so much that he wants to provide for us as best he can. Good traits in a man! In any case, for those of you that don't work on Saturdays, I hope you all have a great weekend and enjoy yourselves :-) Last night I was doing some work on Conjure A Man . It's coming together and I'm really happy with the reconstruction. I'm beginning to think this is a more viable solution for the story and that it leaves options open to me that weren't there originally. So, as a writer, gotta love that. I plan to work on it more today. Regina M. has the read the Prologue for Surreal and mentioned she had some comments for me. So, I'm looking forward to receiving that email to see if she says stuff that I had already thought of, or gives opt...

Happy Night-Time Folks, This quick little resource post is triggered by Regina (Kudos award goes to her this time!) She was talking about wanting to find a writers' group. One thing I recommended was finding the most recent (or the 4th edition) of The Complete Idiots' Guide To Getting Published by Sheree Bykofsky and Jennifer Basye Sander . Come to think of it, that's where I first saw the information about Romance Writers' Of America, although, I did end up searching on the internet and learning more about the RWA and the chapter I want to join when I was looking for Conferences near where I live. Just be sure that when you're looking things up the phone numbers and sites are updated. I tried to call a number once that was listed in a book for a group and the number was wrong. Here's some info on writers' groups (including the RWA): Sisters In Crime (for mystery writers) National Writers Union (for all genres--free-lance writers). The Authors Guild (re...

Good Afternoon Everyone, It's a pleasant Saturday outside my window and I'm on an emotional/writer's high. I went to a chapter meeting of the Romance Writers of America (RWA) and it was wonderful! Everyone was so nice to me, and I learned a lot. If you can find a group like that near you, people that are positive, encouraging and kind, I highly recommend it. I plan to join them officially, although, I'm able to go to one more meeting before I join. Kim Lenox gave the educational part of the meeting and she was quite informative. She recommends looking at your writing like a movie scene: taking in the sights, sounds, et cetera. Putting your reader right in the middle of the whole scene. She also signed my copy of Night Falls Darkly . She was incredibly nice about signing my copy of Night Falls Darkly and talked to me about my own writing. She's very sweet and very funny, too. If you are interested in Historical Romances or even Paranormal, I recommend her wo...