Sierra Is Iced In...

I'm coming to you with the news that Sierra has been hit by the ice storm and is without power. Right now they're telling her it could be as long as a month before she has power! That freaked me out just a little, so I'm sure she's really freaking out. I'm wondering how they expect folks to stay warm, how they can shower with hot water, cook meals, yadda, yadda, yadda, you get the routine. She says electrical lines are down everywhere, with poles snapped in half, so it's really bad.

Anyway, please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Not a good way to start the year!!!

Hey everyone. Many of you probably don't realize that I've pretty much been awol from the internet lately. I've managed to get my Monday posts in, but that's about it. I hope you don't mind, but my post today is probably going to be more of a rant than anything writing or paranormal related. I'm going to spill the beans about what's going on in my life right now, in case you're interested.

As some of you know, I'm a travel nurse. I've been in Texas from September through December, at which time I went home for the holidays. Well, I was due back in Texas on January 12th to start the second contract I signed with the hospital. Great! I arrived here and went back to work. No problem.

Well, my computer decided that it was tired and needed a rest. So, I sent it in to the shop to be fixed. I tried to call the company to have them change the shipping address so it would be returned to me here in Texas, as they told me to do. Unfortunately, I didn't get an answer in time and it was shipped back to Missouri. My mom had to pick it up and ship it to me here. I haven't received it yet, but hopefully today. No problem.

I found out my temporary nursing license for the state of Texas was to expire on January 16th. I still haven't received my permanent one yet. So, I called the board to find out what was going on. Apparently the fingerprints I sent in for the background check weren't accepted and I had to pay more money to get them electronically scanned. I couldn't do this in Missouri, where I was when I found out. I had to be in the state of Texas to do it. Fine. I did it first thing Monday morning when I got back. Put in my 12 hour shifts at the hospital for the week and waited to hear something about my license. I called the board later in the week to find out what was going on.

Here comes the really bad news...they can't get my permanent license to me for another 2 to 3 weeks. I can't work until that time. And no, they can't extend my temporary license for that long, it's not allowed. Uck! NOT GOOD!

I notified my company of the latest news on the license. They want me to go home until it gets straightened out. Okay. So, I'm supposed to go home when I don't even get my check until this coming Friday. The company won't pay for my apartment or rental car while I'm not working, so if I stay until Friday, I have to pay for it myself. Eeeek.

This is not mentioning the hundred dollars I paid for concert tickets back in December for a concert this coming Sunday, which I guess I'm going to have to miss. :( This is also not mentioning the almost one thousand dollars I paid back in December to keep my apartment so I wouldn't have to move everything out and back in again. And only get to say for a week once I'm back.

They expect me to lose three weeks of paychecks, live on one paycheck for those three weeks, plus pay my bills and moving expenses to go home and come back here again once my license comes in.

I'm at my wits end. I have no idea what to do. If I don't come back, they can sue me for not fulfilling my contract. If I wait around for three weeks, there's no way I can pay my bills. The mortgage company doesn't like it when I don't pay the house payment. Neither does the loan company for my car payment.

Ok, so there you have it. My life so far in 2009. Please tell me it's going to get better. Please, please, please!

Ok, just to put a little writing stuff in here. No, I haven't been able to write one word since the year started. Nada.

I'm having withdrawal symptoms from not getting to talk to my friends. I miss you all. Hope to talk to you soon. Eeek. It just occurred to me that I'll have to cancel my internet here and pay to have it turned back on when I get back. Drat!

Sorry for the rant today. I had to get my frustration out. I really just meant to let you all know where I've been and why I hadn't been around. Really, I did. :)

Starting Out 2009

Wouldn't you know it, I'm finally back home and my computer decides it needs repairs. So, it's off at the shop and I'm stuck one more time without a computer to use. Anyway, I'm back at the public computer for now until I get my baby home. Not the best start for the new year.

I have high hopes for 2009. I've been reading my horoscopes and tarot online trying to decide if this is finally going to be the year for me. The last few have left plenty to be desired. So, my time has to be coming, right? You can just agree here, I don't mind if it's not true. I just need the empty confirmations for my peace of mind. Can anyone say "grasping at straws"?

Anyway, I have big plans for this year. I'm wanting to take my writing to the next level. I think I've spent enough time spinning my wheels and not enough time moving forward. So, I've decided that this is going to be the year for it. My horoscope told me to write down my goals on Dec 27th and read them occasionally, this is supposed to help me meet them. Well, it should. I mean if I'm constantly being reminded of them, that should keep me focused, hence it will help. Anyway, I did what I was supposed to do like a good little girl and wrote out my list. We'll see what happens.

I've done absolutely zero writing since the new year started. Not very promising as far as my writing goals are concerned. I'm not letting that get me down, though. It's just because life has decided that I need to focus on other important things at the moment. I do not believe that it means I won't get much writing done this year. I refuse to believe that. I've convinced myself that I will progress no matter what. If I set my mind to it, it can happen. I'm of the belief that anyone can get whatever they want out of life if they work hard enough to make it happen. Once I get my computer back, I'll be able to accomplish a lot more, and that will help.

So, I've made my goals for the year, but what about resolutions. Everyone makes New Year's resolutions. Well, no that's not true. I don't. Most of the time anyway. I've made no New Year's resolutions this year. Yes, I know I should have, there's plenty about me that needs to be changed. But really, do resolutions work? Not for me. If I want a change, I just need to set my mind to what I want and go for it. I do better with goals. If I'm working towards something, I have a tendency to push myself until I get it. I know I can't get everything I want, but I try to set my goals realistically. At any rate, are resolutions and goals the same thing? Yes, and no. In my opinion. I could make a resolution and forget about it easily by February. Don't ask me why. But, if I set a goal for myself, I usually don't give up on it. Maybe it's just the difference of wording, but I guess we use whatever works best for us.

Have you made any New Year's resolutions? Made any goals for the year? What are your opinions on the subject? Leave a comment and let me know. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

May we all meet our goals this year, whatever they may be! Good luck!

Book of the Week: Nora’s Soul

I recently had the opportunity to read Nora’s Soul by Margay Leah Justice. The story is a sweet romance about Nora Kendall, a lonely woman who’s all but given up on life. When her brother died at a young age, Nora thought that God had forsaken her, and she’d given up her belief in angels. Throwing out everything she owned that depicted the heavenly creatures, they somehow managed to turn up everywhere.

When her boyfriend dumps her for another woman, Nora is surprised and confused. She’d expected something completely different. Her job also proves to be a constant source of tension in her life. Finally, deciding she can’t take any more, she quits her job. With the loss of her job and relationship, she agrees to help out her best friend by becoming the nanny for her friend’s brother, Kyle.

Kyle Cameron is fighting his own demons. After an unplanned pregnancy ruined his plans for the future, he took up responsibility and married the woman he really couldn’t stand. He’d still be stuck in an unhappy marriage, if his wife hadn’t passed away, leaving him with two adorable twins to care for.

Kyle really needs Nora’s help, but the two of them share a past. He’s not looking for a replacement wife, even though Nora might be just the woman he’s looking for. Tension rides high as the two try to live together with differing opinions on how to care for his kids. Can Kyle keep Nora at a distance, or will he realize that sometimes the chance for happiness can be staring you in the face?

Nora has loved Kyle her entire life, even though she doesn’t feel worthy of him. She’s not trying to become his new wife, although it would be a dream come true for her. She’s just trying to get through life as happy as she can be, considering she feels like she shouldn’t be alive. Why didn’t God take her instead of her brother? He was the good one, as far as she is concerned.

When two very different, but appealing men show up in her life unexpectedly, she has no idea that one is after her very soul, and the other is trying to save it. Unaware, that her own life hangs in the balance, she must realize that life is too important to give up or risk losing her soul.

Nora’s Soul was a very interesting read for me, nothing like I’ve ever read before. It had all the elements for a good story. Good vs. Bad, the struggle to find out who you really are. Nora has many challenges to overcome, as does Kyle. Tension fills the story from page one.

Ms. Justice does an excellent job creating the scene. I felt myself getting angry and aggravated right along with the characters. She brought me into the story and kept me there until the end. Good job, Margay!

Dealing with Rejection

I know we’ve discussed this before, but I recently received my first Rejection and so it’s been on my mind lately. It was very difficult to receive the comments. I didn’t take it as a personal attack or want to get back at the editor. I know it was nothing personal. But, that doesn’t make it any easier to take.

I received a lot of feedback, so much so, that the editor really didn’t have anything nice to say about my story. I think if they would have said something nice, it would have made the rejection a little easier to take, but unfortunately, that’s not always the case. At any rate, the editor found plenty wrong with the story. There is a lot of work ahead of me if I want to fix it and resend it out. I haven’t decided yet what I’m going to do, but that’s a lot of work to just let go to waste. Many months have gone into writing and revising the book.

I did share the comments with my critique partners and they did not agree with the assessment given by the editor. That made me feel a little better. But, I’m still questioning my writing abilities. I’m sure that happens a lot with writers when they receive negative feedback. I have to admit that I didn’t agree with everything she said either, but I do know that she was right about some of it.

All we can really do is keep plugging along and try to improve our craft as much as possible to decrease the amount of R’s we receive. I’ve been considering taking some online classes to help me improve my writing abilities. I’ve heard good things about some of the classes online and they can be relatively inexpensive. Of course, in this economy, it doesn’t take much to be too expensive. Anyway, that is my plan for the first part of the year. I will keep writing as well, but I do want to work on my writing at the same time.

I’ve heard many times to just read to improve your craft, but I’m afraid that method doesn’t work well for me. I’ve tried it numerous times and although I have to be absorbing some of it subconsciously, I’m not getting the full effect that many people get from it. I know my problem is that I get too involved in the story and forget to notice the writing. Maybe I should reread something I’ve already read, that way I already know what happens and then I can pay more attention to the writing itself. I’ll have to try that next.

Have you taken any online classes that you recommend or don’t recommend? Let me know your experiences with them, I’d love to find out more. If you haven’t taken any online writing classes, how do you feel you learned best? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

A line in the hand is worth...

Hope everyone had a terrific Christmas!! Sorry I’m so late posting my blog today, I’ve had a hard time getting to the internet. Anyway, my Christmas was pretty good. It’s been nice visiting with the family. 

This has been an interesting week for me. I decided I wanted to learn more about palm reading, so I went to the library to pick up a few books on the subject so that I could study my palms and see if I could figure anything out about my future. It’s not easy, let me tell you. The main lines on the hand are easy enough to pick out, but that’s just the basics. There is so much more to it than I ever could have imagined. There are different curves to the lines, and breaks, and branches. You have to be able to determine if the line is high or low in the hand. Then there are crosses and triangles and mounds. Yikes.

I did my best to try to figure out what my lines meant, but there are so many lines on my hands that I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be looking at. There is a marriage line and stress lines. It would take a lot of studying to do a good reading. So, I gave up for now. I’ll try to decipher the books a little more before I try reading my palm again. 

I find the whole idea of palm reading very fascinating. One day I’d like to go have my palm read by a professional. I’ve never had it done and I think it would be a lot of fun. Hopefully, sometime I’ll be able to learn it properly and do an actual reading for myself. It would be so cool to be able to read other people’s palms, too. I’d like to learn more about them by simply reading their palms. 

Have you ever had your palm read? Do you think the lines in our hands can provide insight into our lives? Can it provide information about our futures? Leave a comment and let me know what you think. I’d love to hear your stories.

Time Travel- I wish!

Hello everyone! I've made it home to Missouri! Yay! I drove straight through. After 16 hours in the car with a teenager and two dogs, I can honestly say I was glad to arrive. Unfortunately, I'm staying with my mom, who lives where high-speed internet is not available, ugh!!! So, I'm using dial up. Slow, slow, slow. Which brings me to my point of today's blog. Time travel. Oh, I so wish it was available to us mortals. I'm not just talking about another time period, 16 hours is fine with me. :D

If it was possible, I would have skipped those hours in the car and just popped here magically. That would have been wonderful. Let me tell you a little about myself here for a moment. I can't just get in my car and drive. Oh, no. I have something ingrained in me that says if I'm in the car, I have to play my radio and sing along. Shhh. Don't tell anyone my little secret. At any rate, for 16 hours, I sang along with my favorite tunes, and there are many. Many different artists and genres of music piped through my speakers on the way home. By the time I got here, needless to say, I was hoarse. The singing served two purposes for me, other than the ingrained problem I mentioned before. First, it helped to keep me entertained on the boring, dark highway, considering I left at midnight. And second, it helped keep me awake. But it was fun, made the trip much better for me. However, if time travel had been available, that would have been the way to go. I wonder if music is allowed during time travel? Hmmm.

Anyway, it would also be wonderful if I could just pop here and visit for a while, then pop back to my apartment at night. (Where there is high-speed internet just waiting for me). I could sleep in my own bed and be comfortable. Actually, I wouldn't have had to wait 3 months to come back to visit. And I wouldn't have gotten attacked as soon as I walked in the door. :D I'd be able to pop back and forth as much as I wanted to. Wouldn't that be nice?

I'd have to wonder, though, would the time travel highways become congested with travelers during the holidays? Would there be lines of people hoping not to have their "flight" cancelled? Would it just be another form of transportation for all of us? I don't know, but it would at least be something to explore.

Right now I'd settle for traveling by flue powder. As long as I didn't end up where Harry Potter did, that is. Enunciate! That's the trick, they say. Ah, well, I guess I can dream.

I wonder if time travel will ever be possible. I'm sure somewhere out there, someone does believe it exists right now. Personally, I don't, but hey what do I know? If you do know of it's existence, let me know. It could really save me on the way back. :D

What do you think? Do you believe in time travel? Do you think it's possible? Someday? Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Encouragement is welcome.

I hope everyone has a happy holiday season!

How many is too many?

Hey everyone, hope you all had a terrific weekend. I've been working like crazy on my writing, trying to get caught up, I'm sooo behind. One of the reasons is I've got several works in process (WIPs) going at the same time. I know, that's probably not the best idea, but I can't seem to help it. It just sort of happens to me. I've got at least 4 different WIPs that I've started writing, not counting the ideas I've stored away for later use. Sometimes, I think I must be crazy.

When I started writing, I was lucky to write one complete story. I don't know how many books I started writing, only to get about 30 or 40 pages in and get stuck. Ah, those poor discarded manuscripts. When I finally did finish a complete book, I was thrilled, but it was a full year before I was able to do it again. Since that time, I've written three complete stories and have several more in the works. It's hard to believe.

I've heard many authors state that they can't write more than one story at a time. Others, like me, have several going. I guess each person has their own style and way of doing things. Both ways have their positive and negative sides. I'm not saying one way is better than the other. To each his or her own. Find your style and go with it, that's my opinion. Just do it, as Nike would say.

Honestly, I didn't set out to write more than one book at a time. I actually started the first one for a challenge. Fast Draft, the goal to write a book in two weeks time. Well, at least about 50k anyway, not necessarily a whole book for some people. At any rate, I made my goal, but didn't finish the story. After the two weeks was up, life got in the way, I was tired, I had other more pressing matters to attend to, pick your excuse... I stopped writing it. For a little while, I focused my attention on revising my other stories. I had two that needed revision so I figured that would be a good time to do it. When the time came to get back to my writing, I just wasn't feeling it for that story. Maybe I burned myself out on it, I don't know. At any rate, I didn't want to not write, so I started another, thinking I would finish it and return to the first. LOL, that didn't happen.

Shortly, thereafter, I was asked by two other authors to write a novella with a combined theme in order to sub it for an anthology. I liked the idea, and guess what? I accepted. So, now I had three works in process.

Ok, that's enough to give you an idea of how it happened. I won't bore you with the rest of the story. The fact of the matter is, I've done it and now I have to finish them all up. I write on each of them at different times, depending on my mood. This is one of the benefits I was speaking of earlier. The problem is, negative side here, that sometimes you can lose sight of the story and end up never finishing. I hope that doesn't happen.

How do you write? Do you focus on one story at a time or do you have several going at once? Have you tried both ways? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think. I can't wait to hear your methods.

I have a cover! Squeeeeeee!!

Check it out. I love it!

Legend or Fact?

Ever heard the phrase "This is the stuff legends are made of"? Of course, you have. Everyone has. Why do you think it became so popular? Because legends are popular. They can stick around for centuries. Vampires, werewolves, ghosts, fairies, leprechauns. All these creatures are legends with stories that get passed down from generation to generation. They're interesting and fun to read about. 

We've discussed several of these creatures here on our blog. We write stories about them. In plain truth, we love them. They're the creatures of our dreams, waking and asleep. But, how do the legends come to be? Where do they come from? Was someone just really imaginative, or are they based on reality? That's an interesting concept. What if they are real, or were at some point in time? 

One of the most famous legends that I can think of is the Loch Ness Monster aka Nessie. I can remember hearing about Nessie when I was just a small child. I loved to hear the stories of her being spotted. I always thought to myself that one day I would go there and try to catch a glimpse of the famous creature. I'd still love to go! Who knows, maybe someday. 

At any rate, there have been tons of people who claim to have seen the mysterious creature and many more who think it's nothing but a hoax. But I say, why not? Why can't she be a real monster? Just because they haven't found her doesn't prove anything. They're still finding creatures that they never knew existed. Just because we have high technology doesn't mean we know everything. Maybe Nessie is just elusive enough to avoid those that would like to catch her. If that's the case, I say Yay Nessie! 

It's highly possible that she's an ancient creature from the time of the dinosaurs. There are other animals that are still around from that time. It's hard to believe, but it is true. It's been suggested that the platypus has descended from the time of the dinosaurs, so why not Nessie? 

The first recorded sighting of Nessie was way back in 1871, with the last one being June 17, 1998. Has she disappeared? Or have people just lost interest? I doubt that. There were many years between sightings in the past, so I'm hoping that it's just a lag. I'd hate to think that she'd passed on before I could go see her. At any rate, if you're interested in seeing all the documented sightings for yourself, check out this site. 

There are plenty of other legends throughout the world. Many are similar and some are just too crazy to consider. But, it makes me wonder, just what is out there that we have no idea about? I know we don't know everything, if we did, we'd be gods. And isn't it interesting that there can be several monsters that look and act so much alike. Is it simply the active imaginations of people, or is there something to the similarities? Maybe they did evolve and they are all that remain from our distant past. 

What do you think? Do these legends actually exist? Or is it just people out to make a profit or have fun at the expense of others? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Book of the Week: Must Be Magic by Patricia Rice

Please bear with me as this is my first review. This week, I chose to review "Must Be Magic" by Patricia Rice. This is the first book of Patricia's I've read and now I'm hooked. I loved it. I've since read all the books in the series. I decided to review this one, because it was the one that brought me into her magic world.

The story is based on the widowed Lady Leila Staines. She is a member of the Malcolm family, a highly known, well to do family where the women all have a certain gift for magic. Each one is different. However, Leila doesn't know what her gift is yet and she tries to discover just what it is. She believes it must have something to do with scent, as she is very adept at creating her own perfumes and soaps. Deciding she needs help to create her own garden for use in her craft, she enlists the help of an agronomist, Dunstan Ives. Since he is without land of his own, he agrees to help her.

It is rumored that Dunstan killed his wife in a jealous rage. Most people have already convicted him of the crime. He sets out to prove his innocence.

Leila doesn't care what people say about Dunstan, she needs his help and she's willing to do whatever it takes to get what she wants. Even allow the man her mother warned her about to have free reign over her land.

Not only is Dunstan a considered killer, he's also an Ives. Ives men are trouble for Malcolm women. Leila knows that her family is against any relationship the two could have, but she can't control the feelings growing inside of her for the dangerous man.

Dunstan doesn't want anything to do with women, especially after the way his cheating wife treated him. But, he can't fight his attraction to the beautiful Lady Leila.

Sparks fly and the two soon discover the magic between them.

I loved this story. It's interesting and unique. I love to read stories about magic, but this series is one of the best. I really enjoyed the fact that each woman had a gift all her own. It wasn't just ordinary magic either, there were gifts I would have never even thought of. I highly recommend this book and the whole series. Patricia Rice has won me as a fan.


http://www.patriciarice.com/

Must Be Magic

Unidentified Flying Objects. Oh, my!

Greetings, earthlings! Hope everyone had a great holiday. Did you stuff yourselves silly? Ah, I'm totally jealous. Anyway, I hope the turkey induced coma has resided. 

I've been sitting here thinking about what I'm going to blog about today when it hit me. I can't be this close to Roswell, NM without discussing UFO's at some point. Unfortunately, I haven't made it to Roswell yet. I've been wanting to go, and the one weekend I was planning on it turned out real cold and I chickened out. It looked like a long walk to the crash site and I didn't feel like battling the cold to get to it. At any rate, I'm still planning to go and see it. 

Which brings me to question, do UFO's really exist? Well, that's a silly question, of course they do. A UFO is simply an unidentified flying object. Anything can be a UFO, even just a bird, if it's unidentified. So, that question goes out the window. But, what about aliens? Are they real? Is there really life out there in the universe? Are we the only ones?

I don't know the answer to that. It seems a little far fetched, but it is possible. It would be really arrogant of me to assume that it wasn't possible. What makes me think that there isn't intelligent life in the universe? 

Well, if there is, why haven't they contacted us? Are they just shy? Unfriendly? Maybe they think we're stupid and beneath them? Are we on the wrong side of the universe?

I know Roswell is the supposed site of an alien crash that happened many years ago and was supposed to be kept hush, hush. But why? To protect us from fear? Sounds more like a government cover up to me. They were probably testing in the area and didn't want the public to know it, so they created this whole crash site to distract us. I personally believe, if there was really something they didn't want us to know about, we wouldn't. The government is good at deciding what we should know about and what we shouldn't. But, as I said, I could be wrong. 

I'm still interested to go visit the site. Even though I really don't believe that's what happened, it's an interesting story. I'd like to check it out for myself. It looks like they've made the site inaccessible to the public, so maybe that wouldn't be possible anyway. 

From the pictures I've seen online, there's not much to see anyway. There is a stone monument (and I use that term loosely) where the crash site occurred. It is simply a large rectangle stone with words poorly inscribed into the top. It reads:

We don't know who they were    

We don't know why they came

We only know

They changed our view of the universe

This universal sacred site

Is dedicated July 1997

To the beings

Who met their destinies

Near Roswell New Mexico

July 1947

You can't copy the pictures to show, so if you want to see them, visit this Roswell UFO Crash site. In the upper left corner is a link to the pictures. It really just looks like a barren farm land. Not much to see as far as the crash site itself. At any rate, there it is.

I can't say I believe or don't believe in aliens. I've seen a UFO myself. I'm not saying it was an alien vessel, but I didn't know what it was and I couldn't explain it. I'll share the story....

Back when I was a teenager, we used to sit outside on my grandma's carport. She had a porch swing there and it was nice to sit outside in the evenings. My grandma had a farm and it was peaceful. We could watch the lightening bugs and listen to the crickets chirp. Well, one evening we were sitting outside and we saw this large orange ball in the sky. It just kind of hovered there for a long time. We watched the bright light and discussed it with just a little interest. What was it? Where did it come from? We tried to figure out what caused it. The airport lights came from a different direction, and any airplanes wouldn't hover like that. Helicopters maybe, but they were rare and it really didn't look anything like the lights we'd seen from helicopters before. 

The light hovered above us for several hours. It did move closer for a while, before backing up to its original location. Finally, it disappeared completely. It was strange and we never figured out what it was. This wasn't the only time we were visited by the strange orange ball. It came back occasionally over several years, providing us with some interesting discussion topics. To this day, I have no idea what it was or where it came from. We could never find a reasonable explanation for it. 

So that is my story of seeing a UFO. Maybe they were aliens and they were watching us with as much interest as we were watching them. It never scared us. In fact, it just drew our attention and made us sit outside and watch it more. Who knows, maybe we were lucky we weren't abducted. :)

Have you got any stories of UFO sightings? Do you believe in aliens? Share your stories with me, I'd love to read about them.

Big Yahoo!

I'm so excited, I had to share with you all. I received the contract today for my first book!! It's going to be published with the Wild Rose Press!! I can't tell you what a great feeling it is.

Wooohoooo!!!!

Time for a celebration!

I've finally finished those edits. Woohoo! Two manuscripts. I was getting pretty tired of reading the same stuff over and over, let me tell you. But now, it's done and I can celebrate an accomplishment. Yay!!!

As most of you know, I haven't done NaNo because I had all those edits to finish. But, I finished them and now I can move on. I started writing again last night. Got a little over 200 words written. Not much, but at least it was something. I'm happy about that. I've been in a pretty big slump with my writing since June. I probably haven't written 3000 words since then. But, I can feel things changing for the better. I feel like writing again. I'm so happy. I was getting worried. 

I have to work 12 hour shifts for at least the next 3 days, maybe 4. So, I won't be getting much done this week, unfortunately. I hate that I'm just starting to get back into my writing and then I have to pause it because my time is so limited. But, that is life and we just have to face our roadblocks head on. 

I've decided it's time to get more serious with my writing. There for a while, I was feeling like Gracen and not sure my writing was worth the effort I put into it. Finally, I'm feeling a little better about it and it's time to step it up a notch. So, I've made a goal. I'm going to sub to NY next year. Period. I can put it off forever, but then I'll never get anywhere. 

I'm very proud of myself for meeting my goals for this year. I've subbed to online pubs. Twice! I'm happy to say that I have two things under consideration with The Wild Rose Press at this time. It's more than I ever expected from myself. I've always wanted to be a published writer, but I never thought I'd get up the courage to actually submit anything. So, my goal for 2008 was to sub. I'm thrilled that I did it. Thanks to the encouragement of my two wonderful blog partners! I'd never have done it if it wasn't for their help and support. If they hadn't pushed me, I would still be sitting here on my hands. Thank you girls, you're the best!!

So, having met my goal for this year, I've made my new goal for next year. I want to sub early in the year if possible. Since NY has such a long response time, I figured the sooner the better. If I sub early enough, hopefully I'll get lucky and hear back by the end of the year. Fingers crossed. So, I have to get busy and get a story written. :D

I'm thinking of doing a fast draft or trying to do a NaNo in half the time. If I can finish a story by the end of this year, then hopefully I can have it revised well enough that by the end of February I can sub it out to NY. Maybe sooner than that, if I can get my behind in gear.  

Gracen, I've already talked Sarah into joining me. It's your turn! Since I haven't been lucky enough to catch you online lately, I'm afraid I'm going to have to use my powers of persuasion on you here, LOL. I want you to agree to sub to NY in 2009 too. You're writing is definitely good enough. It's better than many NY writers I've already read. So, no excuses. You deserve it. You're stories deserve it. What do you say? *You can say no, but I'm not going to quit hounding you, so you might as well agree ;) *

This is our time! And the time is right to make our goals and get busy on them. The year is nearly over and the new one is coming in fast. Too fast, but that's beside the point. 

Okay, I'll quit my rambling for today. I'd love to hear what you all think. Have you made goals that you're working on? Have you met a goal that you're proud of? Share it with me. Can't wait to hear from you.

P.S. For those of you interested, Romance Divas is holding a Workshop for Historical Romance. It's free!! Here's the info...

Sleep. What a beautiful concept.

Oh the joys of staying up all night. I'm so tired that I want to go to sleep right now and catch up on all the missed hours. Unfortunately, that's not a good idea. If I don't stay up tonight, I'll never sleep tomorrow day and work tomorrow night will be a bear. So, I'm sitting here trying to keep my eyes open, and hoping they don't just clamp shut on me. That is a real possibility. 

I think one of the things that makes it more difficult, is that very few people are awake at the same time as I am. It's quiet. Perfect sleeping condition. It's dark outside, which tells my body that it's time to go to bed. Even after years of working nights, I still have trouble with my sleeping schedule. I hate it.

One positive thing about it though, is that when I stay up all night, I usually can get a lot done. I don't have all the distractions to keep me from my work. I can sit at the computer and write away. That's always a nice thing. Who doesn't want hours of uninterrupted computer time? It's definitely a big plus! If I had time to do that NaNo this year, it would make things a lot easier. 

Unfortunately, I have too many edits to do to try writing a new story right now. I would love to do NaNo this year, but I've got two stories that desperately have to be revised/edited and I am so slow at that process. I may have to do a NaNo on my own in December :D

I am doing pretty good on my edits so far, yay. I'm halfway through with the first story already. I may have to go through it one more time though. I'm not sure yet. I'll finish it up before I decide that. Then I'll have to move on to my second story for revision. I'm on a bit of a timeline, so I don't have any time to spare. The first book is with TWRP and they want the edits back in a couple of weeks, so I've really been focusing on that one. It's my first submission, so I want to make sure I do a good job with it. 

My second story is one that a partial was requested. I want to go through it again just in case they request a full. I haven't had time to really work on it yet, but I figured it's not as high a priority as the first, since the edits are already requested on it.

So, that's my writing life right now. No actual writing going on, just a lot of editing. How many of you are doing the NaNo this month? How is it going so far? Let me know what you're up to with your writing. I hope to hear from you.

My life

Good morning everyone. I just came home from work, so I'm sitting here writing this about to fall asleep. Please bear with me if it doesn't make a lot of sense. :) Things have been kind of crazy for me lately. My dad had an accident and flipped his car, totaled it, and my mom has to have surgery on Wednesday. So things have been a bit of a mess for me.

I haven't had time to think about what to talk about, so I'm unsure what today's topic will be. 

I've been busy working on edits for a couple of books I've subbed out. One of them is for my novella that the editor requested edits on, so I really have to get it done quickly. The other is for a novel that a partial has been requested. I need to go over at least the last few chapters in case they request a full. But I have a little time on it since I just sent the partial in. So that is what's been going on in my writing life. 

I think I'm improving as far as my revision goes, and the comments that the editor left for me have really helped. It is true that the more you do it, the easier it gets. I've still got a long way to go, but at least I can say that I'm improving. That's always a good thing. 

How has your writing been going? Is there something you feel you're improving on? Or something that you feel like you need to improve on? Leave a comment and let me know what you think or how you're doing. I'd love to hear it. 

Timed writing

I'm sitting here this morning thinking about all I need to get done, but wondering when I'm actually going to get to it all. Many times, I join in a chat room where we do writing challenges for 20 minutes at a time and then at the end, we report back how much work we finished. These challenges have really helped me get a lot done. In fact, I wrote my whole novella in chat challenges. 

Timed writing can work even if you are writing by yourself. Just set the timer and see what you come up with at the end of 20 or 30 minutes. You can amaze yourself at just how much you can get done when you are focused like that. 

One of the main things to remember is that in this short time of writing, you're not supposed to edit yourself. Just write. Don't think about anything but what comes next. You can always go back and edit later. Once you turn off your inner editor, you can get a lot more written. 

Sometimes it goes well and sometimes it doesn't, but even if you're sitting there writing junk, you never know when a pearl will show up in your writing. If you get stuck, skip that section and just write "add later" and keep going. If you need more research on something specific, then you can type in "fill in when researched" and move on. Just don't forget to go back in and fill that in once you have the information you need. This is one of the big concepts of the fast draft notion. The point is to get it all down and not lose momentum. 

Have you ever tried timed writing or fast drafting? It can be a lot of fun and you can surprise yourself at how productive you can be. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think. Happy writing!

Bringing characters to life

While my computer is out of commission, I've been working on writing exercises to improve my craft. Since all my works in process are on the computer, I'm not able to work on them, so I decided it was a good time to work on other things.

I've been focusing on my characterization. I've really been focusing on figuring out the different aspects of people's personalities. The way they dress, talk, walk, or whatever. All of that is what makes each one an individual.

It's not an easy task creating well developed characters. It's so easy to fall into stereotypes. But that is not what makes interesting characters. People want to read about characters that leap off the page. They want real lifelike people they can relate to.

I'm taking an online conference this week that I hope will help me with this and other issues that I need to work on. Unfortunately, since the computer is in the shop, I won't be able to participate fully. Hopefully, I can at least print out the important information and use it on my own time to improve my own writing.

Another thing I've done is purchased Debra Dixon's book online. I can't wait to get it in. I've heard so many good things about it. I'm waiting anxiously for it to arrive. In the meantime, I'm trying to read up as much as I can in writing articles.

What do you use to improve your writing? Or what kinds of things do you look for in a book? Share some of your thoughts with me. Do you have any good articles to recommend?

Halloween is coming!

Ahhhh. October. Don't you just love this time of year? Fall is setting in and the cool air is blowing. Not too hot, not too cold, just right. But, that is not the only thing I love about October. Nope, I know that Halloween is just around the corner and I start to get excited. What a great holiday. It's so much fun. Everyone gets to dress up as ghosts or witches or vampires. You can be anything you want to be. How often do you get to do that? Not very, at least in my life. That's one reason I love reading so much. It takes me out of this world and puts me in another one. It's an escape from reality. Well, guess what? So is Halloween. It's a night when anything can happen. When thoughts about the supernatural become foremost in everyone's minds. It's the one day a year when it's cool to be different.

Not that I'd want everyday to be Halloween. If that was the case, I'm sure I wouldn't love it so much. It would be normal and boring, no longer special. Teens would try to rebel by being good. Could you even imagine that? Of course, that would be a unique story idea, wouldn't it? Hmmm. Anyway. I'm sitting in the computer room at my apartment complex in the middle of the night and looking out the giant window at the dark, wet streets and getting excited for what is to come in just a few short weeks. No one ever said I was normal. LOL.

One of my favorite things about the costumes, is when people take the initiative to make their own. I love to see a costume that hasn't been bought at some shop where every tenth person has bought the same thing. I hate watching the night pass and knowing I've seen at least fifty kids in the same getup. It probably stems from my own childhood. I never had a store bought costume. I can remember my mom trying to figure out what to put together to make me a costume for the night. It was really a lot of fun going through the stages of costume building. If we put this shirt with that skirt, we could get a cowgirl. Or, if we put these two together, you could be a princess. I'll never forget my favorite costume ever. My mom tied strips of cloth in my hair and I looked like that woman from HeeHaw. It was a lot of fun. And I have to say, I was the only one dressed like that. Of course, I understand that scary is the way to go, but sometimes, I like the unique just as much.

So, tell me about your favorite holiday traditions or your favorite costume. I'd love to hear about them. I'm getting excited now. Hmmm. What could I be this year?

I'm still here!

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been MIA lately, but things have been a bit crazy. I've been in the process of moving to Texas for a few months for work and it's been more of an ordeal than I'd planned. Well, I've made it, I'm actually here in Texas. Yay!

Now for the bad news... I still don't have internet. My internet service provider is down in many parts of Texas because of Hurricane Ike and I'm not able to get service yet. So, I thought, that's okay. I'll just take the laptop somewhere and use wi-fi. LOL, word of caution to everyone, never plan anything in advance :D. My daughter spilled coffee on my laptop and now the keyboard is fried. So, I'm sitting here in Texas with no internet (which isn't a problem now because I don't have a computer to use).

Lucky for me, the apartment complex I'm staying at has an office center with computers for the residents use. Yay! The only problem with that is that there are only 3 computers and most of the time they're full up. Luckily for me, I work the night shift, so when I'm awake, most other people are sleeping ;) . So tonight, at 3 minutes to midnight, I'm coming to you live from the office center of my apartment complex. (And I'm the only one in here at this time!) It's great having the place to myself. At any rate, that is why I've been missing in action and hopefully, things will get settled before my post is due for next week.

Well, there you have it, that's what's been going on in my life lately. I'm having a wonderful time so far in Texas. I love exploring new places and meeting new people. I've already met some wonderful people that I'm enjoying getting to know better. Although, I've certainly missed getting to talk to all of you lately. I'm having withdrawal symptoms, shh, don't tell anyone. ;)

I'd love to hear from you. What's been going on in your life lately? Catch me up! What have I missed? Leave me a comment and let me know how you're doing. See you next week.

Sierra