Moving forward

I attended the Emerald Coast Writers Conference last weekend. I walked away with the reaffirmed knowledge that writing the book was the easy part, now I need to be disciplined enough to see it through. I need to finish my editing. I need to tweak my query letter. I need to write my synopsis.

The same agent who has shown interest in my book was there. She requested a hard-copy of my manuscript to work on editing. Of course, I printed a copy that night and gladly handed it to her the next day. I will accept any help, criticism, at this point.

I finished my romantic short story this week and feel good about it. Several people read it and made suggestions in some areas and it is ready to go out. It will be going out tomorrow and I will see what happens.

I also began some research for my next novel. So, I do feel like I am accomplishing some writing goals and moving forward. I'm off to the river tomorrow after daughter's softball game, and being there always inspires me.

When a book disappoints.

Yes, I have personal experience with this. I am so aware that my book needs a WHOLE lot of work, but that is ok. When I have a little downtime, I edit. I have edited a small amount (truth, not much), I have jotted down several ideas to begin writing new manuscripts, I have vamped up a few short stories, and I made time to read. I always make time to read, as I am a firm believer that if you want to be a writer, then you need to continue learning and experiencing your craft.

I was at the beach this past weekend with my younger son (pictured above, what a handsome young man), and finally finished James Patterson's Witch and Wizard. Ughhhh! I made myself finish it, and it was extremely difficult. When I first picked it up, I didn't realize it was written for young adult, not that it should have mattered. I love the Twilight series. This one was also written with Gabrielle Charbonnet. I hoped that they would finish the story with Whit and Wisty explaining how they escaped the execution, if they did, but it was left open for you to continue reading the series. Which, I won't.

The constant change in point of views drove me insane. One chapter from Wisty, one from Whit, 2 from Wisty, 3 from Whit, 2 from Misty, etc. etc. There was no method to this madness. I kept thinking I was reading from the other one's perspective. Not only was this confusing to me, it must have been confusing to the writers, as I know for certain in one chapter from Misty's point of view, it ended with "said Misty." Alrighty then, I thought these were her words, yet you have to state it.

The storyline was so-so. I thought the characters were cheesy and didn't stay in character. I suppose I will just keep writing my own masterpiece and never receive a bad review (in a perfect world).

Is it ever good enough?

As hard as I am trying to keep up with my blogging, I am failing. My life is running me, again. This time due to issues that are out of my control. In my last post I mentioned I had an agent that wanted to work with me on editing my manuscript. Well, we haven't seemed to be able to connect, and by that, I mean actually begin. Though I believe it would be an incredible and educating experience to work with this agent, I just am not sure she truly is the right person. Maybe my book is the "fall back" one. If she has time, if nothing else comes across her desk or computer that blows her away, etc., she always has mine.

I have been writing though. I have a couple of short stories I am ready to submit, and I have entered several contests. When I edit anything I write to submit, I can't seem to stop adding, removing, rewriting. Ughhh!!! Just this morning, I finally just hit send. Now I just have to wait and see what happens.

The real work begins.......

Finally kicking the flu, that was ten days I'll never get back, I am ready to devote any spare time to my novel. Tomorrow is the day arranged between myself and an agent to start editing it one to three chapters at a time (depending on how much is needed). I must admit, I am intimidated, hesitant, excited, and overwhelmed. I wonder if I can give as much time and attention to this as I need to. It feels like writing the book wasn't the hardest part. I still have a full-time job in my business, I have a college age son living at home, and an active 11 year old with basketball practices and games. I want it to be the best it can. Constructive criticism doesn't scare me, I have longed for any criticism, good or bad for so long.

I'm diving in. I will never make it if I don't, and if I ever want to be a full-time writer, I have to continue, and this is the right, positive direction.

Following my own advice is harder to swallow than dishing it out.

I haven't been posting for quite some time now. I know, huge disappointment (actually, I am disappointed in myself). I didn't quit writing, but I haven't finished anything I have started in the last few months either. I have read a few good books, which is always helpful in improving my writing, but life has been throwing me some real hard knocks lately and I've had to focus and prioritize to maintain a good, healthy balance.

If you have nothing good to say, don't say anything at all. I live and teach my kids this, but with writing, you want anything at all from a potential agent, publisher, reader - you can learn from this type of negativity, if you can get it. Over the past summer, one agent who was patient with me after requesting my manuscript (I hadn't read or worked on it in quite some time and it needed fresh eyes and a lot of work), passed on my book. Happens all the time, I know, and it won't be my first rejection or the last. After that, I sent a query letter out to several agents and received several form rejection letters. I decided I needed to write a better query letter and really work on polishing up my book. What I really wanted was someone, anyone in the business to give me some advice, feedback anything - good or bad.

There was one agent that had also waited patiently for my book. I knew this agent was swamped, and when I did hear back that they wanted us to work on my book together, clean up some parts, basically improve it, but it had good flow, there were some major hiccups in my life. I got consumed in my day-to-day activities and writing got put on the back burner. After no further communication with this agent and no response to my email, I believed the agent wasn't really interested. WRONG! This agent contacted me, asked what happened and said we need to plan to work together every week on this project.

Now I am super-motivated and it isn't that I didn't believe in myself and/or my writing, but I have to remember to make time for myself and the things I love, reading and writing, even amidst life's turmoil, hence, follow my own advice (if you know me, this will make complete sense to you as you get tired of hearing it from me everyday).

Blah, blah, blah

Yeah, I know - SNAP OUT OF IT!!! I am desperately trying to get in the swing of things, with daughter back in school, son home and back in college, husband in and out of town with work, and still battling the economic woes of owning and struggling to keep my small business afloat. I still have my novel out with a few agents I queried, I submitted it in a novel contest, and I have two new ideas for my next projects. One I have started some research and am working on my outline. SO, I am still hanging in there. Here's to seriously picking myself up and "unleashing creativity!"

Rejection and the Blues

Well, my summer is coming to an end. Daughter starts school on Thursday, so we have to leave our river paradise and head home to Florida tomorrow. It has been a fun time, but extremely hot. What a blessing to have the river to attempt to cool off, though it mostly felt like bathwater.


We are planning on keeping our getaway place through the cooler months. Though I am inspired here and have multiple places I am dying to sit down with my laptop and release my ideas, it has been too hot. I am relieved to know that I will get an opportunity to do so.


One agent responded on my manuscript and made no offer of representation. :( It stinks, but my intuition told me it would be so. The more I followed this agent's blog, etc., I felt she represents more YA than romance. If I ever decide to change genres, I will contact again, but for now, I have another agent that read it, liked the pace, among other things, but has some suggestions. I sincerely appreciate her time and assistance, and I am continuing to polish it up on my own and haven't stopped submitting.


So, I will keep plugging along! Oh, and with being here in Alabama I haven't read one book (ughh), but I started The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and didn't finish, not because I didn't like it. My Mom rented the movie. We all sat down and loved it. The subtitles did not take away from the story, pace, acting. I can recommend the movie.

Eclipse - Edward vs Jacob (Edward, no question)

Ok, I went to see Eclipse tonight - yeah, I know, better late than never. This book though was my least favorite of the series. It was long, and not just in word count, but the story itself. I never doubted she would be with Edward (the old "the heart wants what the heart wants"). Not to diminish her feelings for Jacob, and though love, not the "you touch my soul," "melt my heart," "I am putty in your hands, do with me what you will" love. The movies are getting better. They encompass the story and feelings of the books and the characters. I have yet to be unhappy with any of the casting. I am eager to see how Breaking Dawn turns out.

I loved the books, couldn't put them down. If you haven't read Stephenie Meyer's novel The Host, you need to. It was slow in some places, just as in the Twilight saga, but she writes smoothly and her stories are unique and captivating (and once again, love the characters).

Black Cloud is in the house

Ughhh!! Okay, I come back down to Florida yesterday. You know, to check on things make sure everything is holding up in my absence. Good thing I did, the pool was sucking air, so I took care of that first. Grass didn't look too bad, but needed a cut. I wake up today after lounging last night in my huge bath tub with a glass of wine and catching up on my programs on my DVR. Today was a wasted day. Every single thing I tried to do, could not be accomplished.

I tried to sign on remotely to my server I left in Alabama. Oops, the internet here was not working. Reset everything several times, to no avail. It was obviously an external problem. Did go and get my nails done, they look fantastic :). Get back and the internet is working here now, so tried to sign on to the server, and it is now offline. Sometimes I wonder why I even try - lol. So, my work suffered today BIG TIME, but I have nice nails, the house, yard and pool are great, and tomorrow is another day. Good thing that when things do work as they should, I take advantage of it and bust some major booty.

I did grab some notes I wrote down in May while I was in the tub about some things that had me thinking and I thought I would blog about. Have plans to compose those at a later time, but for now, time to head up to Alabama.

And for your enjoyment, I am including a picture of one of my beagles in his bed in the laundry room, and our new addition, Thor (a chihuhua) in the other beagle bed. Yes, he does have a bed just his size in a crate in a separate room. He is a love! The beagles have chewed and torn up every bed I have ever bought them, and these were on sale during the holidays. They do curl up in them, usually.

First Week on the River

Busy week getting settled into the summer palace (lol, it's a trailer on the Alabama River, but I love it). Got everything pretty much how I want it and have everything I need. Business encountered a few kinks here and there, but that was to be expected. I am "Black Cloud." It has been great having my parents and my sister and her family right down the street. Also got to spend some time with my sons - really love that!

I have found a few choice spots to plant myself when things get more routine and unleash my ideas, characters and plots onto my laptop. Locked my car keys in my car the other day, spare set is back in a drawer at my home in Florida (good thing hubby went down today and can get them for me), so haven't read anymore, as my current read is in my backseat. I am not one to start one book before I finish one. Even had a chance to catch up and spend some quality time with my "go to" person, Katie Anne.

All is good!

The Waiting Game

Busy and fun weekend ended. :( Back at work today, and swamped, but I am used to that. I don't think I would know how to work any other way.

Now that I have my manuscript out with a few agents, I am experiencing the excrutiating torture of waiting on their response. Did they love it? Of course. I hope anyway. Patience is not a virtue I possess, but, c'est la vie!

No one has ever accused me of taking the easy route. Even being provided with one. It's no wonder I love a good challenge!

Finished my Novel!

Today was the day. I finally felt comfortable enough to send my novel to the agents that requested it, or I just had to stop myself from editing and rewriting. I loved writing it so much that I think I would never finish trying to make it perfect. I feel great about it! I love the characters and the story and have received great feedback so far. Keep your fingers crossed! Already have ideas for a sister novel.

Looking forward to the upcoming three day weekend, downtime and some breathing room. Think I may get some reading in.

Breaking Bad

Sun is shining, and I feel pretty good. When I am in a writing frenzy, it is hard to relax, but I make time for my favorite tv shows. I love to watch things that I feel are smartly written, shows that make me wish I was part of the writing team (yes, would love to sit around the table with the writers of Lost and throw in my ideas). Breaking Bad is such a show. For anyone who watched it this past week - WHAT THE HECK is wrong with Jessie? Can he be anymore stupid? Every opportunity he gets, he messes it up. Ughh!

I was disgusted he went to his group meeting to conjure up business. That was low. Does he not remember what he has lost and what he endured to kick his addiction (I know, they subsitute one for another, and his idiocy).

Happy Mother's Day! I had a great one. My oldest son surprised me and showed up Friday. We had a great visit. My Mom and sister came to see me too. We went to our local trade-in book store and I picked up a few books. I got a Ted Dekker novel I haven't read yet. Love his books. I also got the one I keep hearing and reading so much about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I can't wait to read it. Being the bargain shopper I am, I picked up one more book out of the 50 cent box.

So, here's to happy reading and writing. This week will certainly be as busy, if not more so, than they all have been lately. Can't wait to head up to the river in a few weeks and spend the summer. Bring on the inspiration!

Working through it

Yowza! Just realized I made some a big English errors in my last blog. Don't go back and look. Though you wouldn't have to look hard, it is pretty bad. What started out as an editing project with my novel has turned into more. I have fallen in love with my characters all over again. I find myself adding a little something here, and lot of something there, and it's not going as quickly as I planned.

I was grouchy this past weekend as after I added a section, I couldn't get it to flow into the next. Ughhhh! I was stuck. Two days later, and tons of thinking, jotting, and coffee - I got it. I was unhappy though, as I assumed it wasn't going to be any good. Was I thinking that way because it was such a struggle? I considered scratching the entire section. Well, after I read it, I liked it! So, it gets to stay.

Here's to another week of mindless, free flowing writing! Yeah, right. :)

Taking a risk

Woo-hoo. You would think I was taking a big bungee jump (not!). Though, I am jumping out of my comfort zone. This is my very first blog! I am pretty certain I wouldn't be considered a "risk-taker." If I had a million dollars, I might be the one hiding it under a mattress, and not taking the risk of investing it.

It has been an exciting week. After attending a writers' conference last weekend, I got over-the-top motivation pouring out of me. I realized there were many areas of my novel that needed an "extreme makeover." My day job, the one that pays the bills, may have suffered, but I am loving my writing!