Here I Go Again

I seem to need challenges and goals to get anywhere, so I decided to get ready for NaNo again. I made it to 50K in one month last year, so why not again?  I've sketched out my characters and began a timeline so I can hit the ground running...writing...on November 1.

In the meantime I'm revising and adding to last year's NaNo novel, getting ready to pitch it a New Jersey Romance Writers.

And I've also challenged myself to read/listen to 100 books this year and blog about the journey. 
Should be an interesting few months.

The Last Prophecy

I spent several hours today reading and editing my werewolf-themed book, The Last Prophecy.  I'm not sure if this book will get published but I've certainly enjoyed writing it. I've also enjoyed reading it - I guess that's a good thing.

I was so involved in the process that I forgot to eat breakfast and lunch - reminding myself of the first scene of the romance writer Joan Wilder in "Romancing the Stone".

I could disappear into my reading and my writing...
Oh, crap - that just gave me an idea for another story.

Daffodil Season

I have everything for this book transferred from a floppy disk (that's how long ago I worked on it) to a thumb drive.

I reviewed it, thinking, "Damn. That's not too bad."
Did I really capture the voice of a widower who's just lost his wife of many years? I hope so. In many ways, I can relate losing a love - just not a love of so long a time.
I have a pitch and a basic synopsis.
I think I've got a project.

When a Wizard Tells You Something....

....maybe you should listen.

I just saw The Sorcerer's Apprentice and it validated my belief in magic. Not necessarily the abracadabra kind, but the magic that's all around us if we only take the time to acknowledge it. We are also full of magic and need to tap into that.

Recently talking to a friend, a wonderful man who many consider a magician, a very powerful one at that. I was telling him about one of my unfinished books; unfinished because, when I pitched the idea to an agent, she visibly paled and told me that the hero and heroine were "too old".

"That's the book you should work on," my friend said. "Go back to that book."

Years ago another man, this one with psychic powers, had stopped my reading and said suddenly, "What about the book with the little girl? That's the book you should finish." I was surprised at the remark because I'd never mentioned I was a writer.

I don't think I need the third reminder. I might get one, but I won't need it. I've already "restarted" that book.

Writing Retreat

I got back this morning from PLRW's yearly writing retreat. We actually critique, write and/or work out plotting issues - around talking, eating, and drinking (wine and this year, Tuscan lemonade).

There is no internet (there's barely cell phone connection) and TVs stayed off except for a late viewing of "The Hangover" - well, even writers need some down time.

Any one who wants stuff critiqued sends the pages to everyone and we spend Friday evening and Saturday morning critiquing and plotting. Saturday morning we set our goals for the weekend and then we either continue plotting or start working toward our goals.

I had a goal of 10 pages on my next erotic romance novella. After some great critiques and plotting brainstorming. I met my goal and then some. I also did some of my own brainstorming on the plot of my time travel and The Last Prophecy.

PLRW's 2010 Writers Retreat was a success - for me, at least.

Our next writers' retreat may be a cruise to Canada. I may take my favorite cowboy-writer.

Once Upon a Time...

Once upon a time there was a writer who had been writing a long time and who was lucky to get some things published - even an erotic e-book.

Now this writer was older, really over 60, and her daughter was grown and living in another kingdom many miles away. And this writer, though fair of face with a very good hairdresser and plump (but in the places where a lady should be plump), did not have a gentleman in her life. She did, however, have two cats and a full time job but when she wasn't working or petting cats...or reading...she wrote.

And then one day, a man came into her life. A man who was tall and strong and who loved to read and who loved to write and who had a son and daughter who lived away - but not that far. He no longer had a full time job so much of his time was spent writing or talking to our heroine every evening...for a very long time. Our heroine-writer began spending at least one day every weekend with this new gentleman. And although he made her very happy, she did neglect her writing...not her cats, for she still petted them.

And then one day, our heroine-writer had to decide what was really the most important thing in her life. Was it her gentleman or was it her writing? She loved them both and both made her very happy.

She thought and thought and thought and then she thought some more and in a dream, without the help of a fairy godmother (because she was busy getting the hormones for her trans-gender surgery), the answer came to her...

Would she give up the gentleman or her writing?

Neither.
She gave up television...or some of it anyway.
And she was the better for it.

My Other Personna

Macie Carter's Teasing the Muse, an erotic novella from The Wild Rose Press, will be released on March 26, 2010.

Macie and I are very excited!

This is my first erotic romance, under my pen name. I wrote it just to see if I could. I pitched it to a Wild Rose Press editor at New Jersey Romance Writers conference and they bought it. Now it's being released and the work really begins - promotion, promotion, promotion.