Last Day in Seattle...

...and we're resting, reading and writing...
Well, Morgan's doing the writing. But right now he's napping since he's come to a lull in his story and he's doing what I do when that happens to me: nap. But I nap with a purpose. I tell myself, "Think about the story...character...plot...whatever..." And usually by the time I wake up, I've worked it out.
Unfortunately, that's not working for my werewolf-sex scene, but I'll keep trying.
Maybe I should nap with a wolf...werewolf...er...no.
I'll just keep trying.

Thoughts on NJRW

I have a request from Alex Logan of Grand Central Publishing. I have to reread the manuscript and get it ready to send off.

I saw so many people I haven't seen for a couple of years (missed NJRW last year) but couldn't chat - laryngitis.

It was wonderful to see Dianne Gerber/Autumn Jordan win the Golden Leaf for Evil's Witness. I was sitting next to her and the vibes were so positive. Dianne has worked diligently at her writing and deserved to win this award - besides, it was a great book.

If you EVER, EVER, EVER have a chance to hear Bob Mayer speak on the Warrior Writer and/or the change in publishing that's happening fast and furious, run to the conference. He was great!
Heather: He may be developing his own conference in Seattle. If he does, WE ARE GOING!!!

Some new favorites (because I learned from their workshops/keynote) that you will read about on www.witchlit.blogspot.com:
Robyn Carr
Hannah Howell
Virginia Kantra

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Judi Fennel of Valley Forge Romance Writers also won a Golden Leaf.

If you can't get to National (which on 2011 is in NYC and I am going!), then you MUST go to NJRW. And you don't have to be writing romance to enjoy this conference and learn from the great writers who present.

New Jersey Romance Writers Conference

Here I am - again.
At 63 (well, by Monday anyway), I'm still pitching and hoping for a book deal.
Yeah, I know. My alter-ego, Macie Carter's published. But I'm old fashioned enough to want a New York publisher to snap me up.
Yes, yes, yes. Publishing's changing - going to Bob Mayer's workshop on just that later today.
But at 63 (see above), do I have the energy or drive to everything necessary to change with, too.
Maybe I have to encourage Heather to develop that publishing company she once planned. I could at least edit for her.
Sigh. I still want that book in hand - my book.
And, so, here I am - again.

Is It Me?

Next weekend is New Jersey Romance Writers Conference - one of the leading regional romance writers conferences in the country. I go every year. Well, every year but last year. Last year I was in the hospital getting a stent put into my right renal artery. My blood pressure was higher than God before that and now it's better.
But I digress...
Last year: no conference.
This year I'm going, but...
I'm not as excited as I've been in years past.
I know I'll see many writer-friends. I know I'll hear some good information. I know I'll pitch to at least two agents/editors.
And, I know, they will probably ask for a partial. I'll send it and maybe I'll never hear from them again. My partial will be lost in the milieu of submitted/requested/agented/slush pile manuscripts.
Maybe my stuff is just not that good - not good enough to get published.
But I don't know how to stop writing.
I don't know how to stop wanting to get one of my books published.
I'll keep trying.
The fire in the belly's still there...
But the thrill is gone.

The Writing Process

"Where do you get your ideas?"
Non-writers often ask that. Real writers know where they come from: from John Lennon's "man on a flaming pie". In other words: we have no friggin' idea.
At least I don't.
Sometimes I can trace an idea back to the source - or several sources. But the entire process of development - the character, the plot, the theme, the frame of the story... Got me - have no clue.
But for the sake of anyone still reading this blog, I shall try.
My latest short story in the writing process: "Phantoms of War" - a Gothic erotic short story set during Sherman's march to the sea in 1864.
I "friended" (or she friended me) another Mitzi on Facebook - an erotica writer from England.
She also has a site that publishes erotica and she sent out a call for submissions - Gothic erotica.
As "Macie Carter" I had some very mild success with an erotic romance.
I love Gothic stories and was in the middle of reading a book about Mary Shelley.  I blogged about that book and my reaction to it.
I read the Shelley book during a week I had to stay at home because of asthmatic bronchitis. I felt like crap but I loved the book. Once again I was seeped in the wonderful world of the Romantics and the beginning of classical Gothic writing.
Maybe I should try a story for the English Mitzi's call for submissions.
I had an idea - vague idea.
And then Friday, after trying to stay an entire day at work, I went home and sipped on some Wild Turkey with honey. Nectar from the Goddess. I hardly had a shot. But with the bronchitis and feeling so tired, it did me in. So I did what I usually do at the beginning of writing a story. I laid down, thinking: work out the plot of the story...
Maybe Hemingway and Fitzgerald had it right - maybe it's the booze.
Or maybe I'd fermented myself in the time period (Victorian) and the theme (the phantoms of war are not always visible) and the characters (lovely Southern women and war-weary Yankee soldiers) and it came to me - or rather, the man on the flaming pie came to me.
It may not ever be published, but it will be written.
Where do I get my ideas?
Maybe they are always there in my subconscious and something brings them forward - like Michelangelo carving away the marble surrounding the statue of David.
How do I write?
I let ideas ferment - with or without the Wild Turkey.
Mostly without.