I'm Ba-aaack

Sorry for the long absence, but I just got back from a 10 day vacation comprised of a Disney Cruise (heavenly!) followed by a relaxing stay at a Florida condo. Needless to say, it was a shock to come back to snow so early in the season. Who ordered this white stuff anyway? Definitely not me. I want my palm trees and sun shiny skies back!

So now that I'm back it's nose to the grindstone. No more excuses. Starting today, I'm going to stop worrying so much about what I'm writing and just write...even if it's not romance. Hopefully that will get the juices flowing. I'll let you know.

New blahs

To add to my previous blahs, I got an R on the short story revision that I sent to Woman's World back in July. I was really hoping this would be the one. But at least I've got another story with them. All hope is not lost.

Thanks for the great suggestions on getting rid of my writing blahs. I especially love the day dreaming one, Jude. An excuse to escape into my own head for a while with no expectations...sounds divine!

On the upswing, a cute Halloween story that I wrote and my daughter did the illustrations for won 1st place at the Fall Fair at my daughter's school. I'd feel a lot better if I hadn't beaten out a bunch of 6th graders, LOL.

*Sigh* Has it come down to this?

Feeling blah

What do you do when you're feeling blah and unmotivated to write?

This is my challenge right now. Too busy to write during the day when I'm feeling motivated...but when I finally have some time in the evening after getting the kiddies to bed, my mind draws a blank. My creativity goes out the window.

Any tips on how to get the mojo back into my writing life? What works for you?

Today's the Day...

If you'd like to swing by and have a read, today's the day that my short story, entitled Starting Over, is posted over at Read-a-Romance.com.

There are a lot of other great stories there too. If you've got a few minutes to indulge, you won't be disappointed!

Good News

I just had some good news...one of the shorts that I wrote is going to be featured on the Read-a-Romance website next Monday, October 6th. Read-a-romance.com is the premier online choice for free romantic reads. So please stop by and tell me what you think.

If you forget, don't worry; I'll remind you ; ) !!!

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

As I was trying to think of a title for this post, Dory's song from the movie Finding Nemo kept playing in my head. Nothing too exciting to report, but I just keep swimming, swimming, swimming...


The short story has been mailed to Woman's World (on my father's B-Day, so I'll be sure to remember the date), I had a fabulous couple of hours of writing today (during daylight hours, no less) helping the word metre thingy to grow nicely, and DD1 has successfully completed first day of grade 1.

And I'm still swimming.

Here's hoping I'm not in need of any life vests in the coming weeks.

More WW

I'm just finishing offer another short story to send to Woman's World. It's one that I wrote a few month's back and after some feedback from a very wise CP, I decided to take a little space from it until I could sort out the true conflict. Well, I think I cracked it, and it's better than ever... I think. *G*

I haven't heard back yet on the revision that I sent in for the other WW story, but I want to make sure I have something else out there to take the sting off if I get the dreaded R. *shudder*

On the novel writing front, I haven't had much time to get absorbed in Mitch and Cait's journey, but I'm hoping to escape with my mini laptop tomorrow night and get back into it. Oooo...can't wait!

More eye candy

Now that's some serious inspiration!

Now back to bringing Mitch and Cait to their HEA.

Brain Storm

Just had a brain storm with regards to my wip. The H and h dated in highschool but something about their previous relationship didn't sit right with me. I kept assuming that they had been dating for a while, but then why wouldn't he know certain things about her? How could she keep them hidden? Then it dawned on me...it's because they didn't date very long--maybe just a month or two. So she was able to keep things hidden, stay distant. Now it all fits together!

It's funny how on piece of information can make all the difference to your story. So I'll leave you with this scrumptious photo of Mitch Roades, NFL football player and hero of Home to Stay?.

Can you see why I can't get this story out of my head?

Updates

My revised short story is probably already on some one's desk at Woman's World. Yippee! I wrote "Requested Material" on the envelope hoping to hurry things up, but another woman on the WWW writer's loop who had a revision request said that she waited 5 months to hear back. Yikes! Oh well, it takes what it takes.

My other writing is progressing nicely. Each time I sit down to write I try not to stop until I hit 1000 words. It's been working well. If only I had more time to BICHOK. DH and I are on vacation with the kiddies for the next week, so hopefully I'll be able to wrangle some alone time.

Hope everyone is having a great summer!

Happy Dance!

No, it's not a sale, but the closest I've ever gotten!
Yesterday I got a very thin letter from Woman's World magazine in response to a short romantic story I sent them in March. Assuming it was a rejection, I opened it up with a heavy heart. Imagine my surprise when I saw the words "happy to take another look at it..."!

She was requesting a small change and then suggested she would look at it again! That's a revision request, right? Right?

So off I go to make the small change while cutting back a few words to accommodate the change. I just hope I don't screw it up. Keep your fingers crossed for me...

Ah, Bliss

This afternoon I sat outside on our back deck overlooking the perennial garden and wrote; the birds were chirping, the sun was shining, and the words were flowing. I can only imagine how nice it would be if that were my JOB everyday.

I can dream, can't I.

Look at that word metre!

I'm trying not to get too obsessed with word count, but look at that word metre thingy! I'm up to 17.5% complete. Woo hoo!

I refuse to even think about the fact that I have 82.5% left to go. My glass is half full, people. I'm on a roll. I'm gonna nail this sucker while it's still fresh.

Gotta go write (tee hee).

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my thirty--grumble, grumble--th birthday. At least it's a beautiful day here in southern Ontario...helps take some of the sting out. We're having a quiet day here, taking my daughter to a dance recital rehearsal, having a few family members over for dinner, and maybe end the day with a bit of writing. My DH's gift to me was a mini portable PC that I can take to a coffee shop, while waiting for DD at dance class, anywhere really. Hope to try it out at the local Tim Horton's tonight.

Does he know me or what?

My Collage

Well, here it is...the collage for my wip. Can you guess what the story's about? No? Guess you'll have to wait till it's done. I'm such a tease ; )

DD and I had a lot of fun making this. She even liked hearing what all the pictures represented. Who knows...maybe I've got a future romance writer on my hands.

So Long Gone

It's been a crazy two weeks...hence my absence.

I started the month with the best of intentions of completing a challenge over at catauniversity.com--write 25,000 in a month. I was making good headway writing every day, and then boom...I hit a wall.

My sister had a baby last week, so on top of making baby gifts, rushing to the hospital for the birth, visiting the bub at home, all on top of the day job, time slipped through my fingers. And now I am so far behind that I don't think I have any hope of getting back on track.

It's kind of depressing. I really did think I was going to be able to do it, to actually write half of my book in a month. I suppose that I can still continue on my own, but there was something about having the whole group working toward a common goal that I found motivating. And now that everyone has moved past me, I feel... I feel...left behind.

What about you? What keeps you motivated?

Check it out!

I was fooling around with Picasa and found this cool feature that will create a collage of your photos. Sooo...here is the collage for my new WIP. FYI...I started working on a new project since I wasn't feeling the love for the last one. Fickle, I know, but as my wise CP told me, if you're not enjoying writing it, scrap it. So I have...at least for now. I put it aside to work on this one that has me rarin' to get at it. The pictures are inspiration enough!

Meet the Cast

Meet Naomi Bryson and Griffin Sloan, the stars of my current WIP. I checked out Rachel Weisz as Jude suggested and although she is gorgeous, I wasn't able to find a photo that really made me feel the connection.

And then I found this shot of Sandra Bullock in a tank and it seemed to fit. I'm picturing the sassiness of Miss Congeniality with her looks at the END of the movie.

So now...no more stalling. It's time to get these characters to their HEA.

In need of inspiration

I'm hoping to get some help from my cyber-friends. I'm having trouble coming up with a heroine inspiration for my WIP. She is brunette, cute, natural looking, more comfortable in workout pants and t-shirt with her hair in a pony tail. She's in shape, and as a rock climbing instructor she's pretty tough. Any actresses coming to mind?

My initial though was Hilary Swank, but I'm rethinking that. She not quite cute enough for my mental image (I'm picturing brown doe eyes and a smattering of freckles--but the freckles are negotiable). Here is a picture of the hero, if that helps.

I'd love to hear any thoughts you have. I hope that once I have a clear visual of my heroine, my muse might just start working again.

Winner!

No, I didn't win a writing contest, but I did win a contest run by Harlequin Romance authors Jennie Adams and Donna Alward. The prize...hardcover copies of both of their new releases! Yippee! I always get such a thrill from adding new books to my growing library and reading them will be an even bigger thrill. Thanks, ladies!

On the writing front, the winners of the Instant Seduction contest have been chosen and will be notified before Easter! Since there were over 600 entries, I'm not expecting to be one of them, but I am excited to read the winning entries. Good luck to everyone who entered. It would be so exciting if someone from the eHarlequin community won!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In case I don't make it back here on Monday, wanted to wish you all a happy St. Patricks Day. I'll be working and then going to a memorial service for my Romance Writing teacher who passed away last week, so have a frosty mug of green beer for me!

Something New!

I just knocked off another short story for Woman's World, and I LOVE it. It's got the feel good emotion that I think my last story was missing. And the thing I like most about it...it's believable. I can actually see this scene unfolding...somewhere. And since it involves a couple on the brink of divorce, I think there are many women who will be able to relate to it. The idea just hit me one day, and I wrote it in a few hours. It's funny how quickly things can move along when you love what you're writing.

Hopefully I'll get it in the mail tomorrow. And then it's back to the waiting game. Last time it took 5 months for a response. But at least when I'm waiting I feel like a real writer instead of a 'wanna be' who talks about writing but never really does it.

Maybe this one will be the charm. WW is a tough nut to crack, but I'm determined to do it!

P.S. What do you think of the new blog template? Wanted to change things up a bit but not sure that I love it.

Sad

I had some very sad news yesterday. The man who taught me my first Romance Writing course, the man who got me excited about the genre and made me feel as if I really could make it in the industry, passed away yesterday.

His name was Tom Torrance, and he was a wonderful teacher. At 57 years old, he taught many writing classes at my local college: Romance, Writing for Publication, Grammar for Writing, Writing Children's Stories...and the list goes on. He was so knowledgeable and a wonderful man personally as well. He was always the first to cheer you on when you submitted somewhere and to encourage you to try again if you received a R.

His death is a tremendous loss.
I'll miss him.

Subs and progress

I'll be subbing something tomorrow. Yay! It's a non-fiction article for a woman's mag, not romance, but the thrill is the same. I get such a rush from putting my words on paper for someone else to read and hopefully love. This story is very close to me since it's the tale of the events that convinced me that my father (who'd passed away 2 years earlier) was with me on my wedding day--a topic that never fails to bring tears to my eyes. I'll let you know how it goes.

On the romance writing front, I've started my new wip and I'm finding that there is still so much I need to nail down about my characters. I know I'll continue learning things as the ms progresses, so I'm just trying to make notes as I go so I can answer the questions early on in the process. Don't want too many surprises later.

Hope your writing is going well too.

Rejection and new hope.

Got a rejection last week for a short story that I subbed to a woman's magazine back in September. At least it was a good R...said that it was nicely written but too close to something they've already published. So I'm determined to find a unique angle.

But on the plus side I'm working on 2 new projects.

The first is another short story. It's rough right now, but I'm just trying to get it all down now. I'll polish it up later.

I'm also very pumped about my new ms. I've been doing a lot of work on understanding who my characters are--something I didn't do enough of with my first ms. And given the R it received, that's probably what was wrong with it. Needless to say I can't wait to get writing.

So much to do, so little time.

I made it!

The deadline for the Instant Seduction contest through Mills and Boon was yesterday, and I made it...just. I was still making revisions a few minutes before I hit the send button. But I think I do my best work under pressure, so we'll see how it goes.

I'm sure the competition for the contest is pretty steep, so I'm not holding my breath. But at least I know I gave it my best shot. Not much more I can do.

Good luck to all those who entered.

Tagging myself

How lame is that?

Saw this on Judy Jarvie's blog and thought I'd share six non-important things/habits/quirks about myself with all of you. So here goes:

1. I LOVE candy. Any kind of candy. I'm not picky. If I buy a bag I can't stop till it's gone. In honour of Vanetine's day, I'm currently enjoying a whole bag of cinnamon hearts. Spicy!
2. I cry easily. Give me an emotional situation, and I have a very hard time keeping my eyes dry. Sometimes I really hate it.
3. I'm a pack rat. Love to keep things for unknown reasons. But what if I need it one day...
4. I hate jumping in the shower first thing in the morning, although I have to do it 5 days a week. Heaven to me is lounging in my pj's with a hot cup of coffee. Drives DH crazy! He's a get up and go kinda guy.
5. In university, I was so afraid to flunk out that I barely went out the entire first year. Then I woke up, LOL.
6. I hate putting away laundry. Don't mind sorting it, washing it, folding it, but hate putting it away.

Okay, it's your turn to post six interesting/quirky things about yourself. C'mon, we wantta know...

The worm is growing...

No, this is not a reference to an erotic romance (ha, ha).

Take a look at the right side panel...see my new word meter? And it's got words in it! I'm making progress!

This is the story for the Instant Seduction contest, but isn't the one I originally started with. Given how long I'll end up spending with the story, I figured I better love it. I didn't, so I moved on.

This new story is based on a short story that I wrote for a contest and loved. It's coming along nicely, but I better put my butt in gear. The contest deadline is Feb 14.

Eek! Only two weeks?
Gotta go...

My baby is growing up

Last night I took my oldest daughter to get her first real haircut...and she's five years old! She had a little trim before, but this time she had her hair really cut...11 inches cut! Yikes.

The reason? She's donating her hair to an organization that makes wigs for children that have lost their hair due to sickness or injury and can't afford to buy them. I have to admit I did shed a few tears before the actual cutting. I feel like like I'm saying goodbye to my baby and welcoming a little lady...and it's a little hard for a mother to take.

But once I saw it done, she looked so beautiful and grown-up that I wondered why we hadn't done it sooner.

And it makes me feel really good to know that someone will be getting some use out of my baby's beautiful hair.

Excuse me while I go hug the pony tail one last time.