Success!

I gave in.
I sent my first 3 chapters to my sister. So far she's read the first chapter, and you know what...she loved it! And I truly think she's being genuine. As an added bonus, she actually found the funny parts funny! Yay! When I'm writing something that I think is humourous, I never know if other people will think so too. Looks like I succeeded!

I'll be writing my query letter today and will be submitting early next week.
I can't wait!!!

Family Time?

My sister recently asked if she could read my MS.

Not a big deal, right? Then why am I so worried? Worried that she'll hate it. Worried that she'll tell me she loves it, but I'll be able to tell that she hates it. She is a voracious reader, but she usually reads historicals and they always have some...umm...sexual content. I close the bedroom door. She's been such a big supporter that I don't want to turn her down, but I also don't want her to be disappointed with the story either.

What do you guys think? Do you let family read your wip?

Mammy!

The funniest thing...my 18 month old DD calls both me and my DH mommy or "Mammy". Today when DH dropped her off at daycare he said she started crying and calling for him..."Mammy! Mammy!" It breaks my heart to hear that, but knowing that she stops crying as soon as we're out of sight, the day care provider must have gotten a kick out of it.

On the writing front, I am just about to make the final revisions on my partial. I printed out the pages and went through them with a fine tooth comb and was amazed at the things that I didn't notice when it was on the computer screen. So it was time well spent. And I'm still on track to submit by the end of June. Yay! Every time I think about actually submitting I get this excited flutter in my stomach. I'm actually going to do this!

Remind me of this wonderful feeling a month from now when I'm clutching the silver bucket.

Wednesday Writing Romp - Chapter 3

More Chocolate Flirtations comin' right up...

Here's chapter 3

First Page Challenge

As part of Julie Cohen's first page challenge I'm posting the first few paragraphs of my WIP, Her Client's Wishes. I'd love to hear comments:

“Wait, wait!” Tess shouted over the uneven clip-clop rhythm of her sensible heels on the black polished tiles. She hobbled towards the rapidly closing elevator doors attempting to balance the weight of an overstuffed briefcase on one shoulder while trying—unsuccessfully—to prevent the coffee in her other hand from sloshing through the hole in its plastic lid.


If she missed the elevator, she’d have to wait at least five minutes for the next one. She didn’t have the kind of time to spare. Not today.

Please, not today.

Comment: She's frantic, rushing to something very important to her that she absolutely can't be late for. Hopefully this makes you wonder what that is. Also she's the kind of woman who wears sensible shoes--no stilettos for this one.

Tess Morgan scanned the crowd of elevator passengers hoping that if she was able to make eye contact with just one of them they’d have to hold the door for her, right?

Unfortunately, making eye contact with anyone in a busy downtown Toronto elevator was down right unheard of. Avoid eye contact at all cost: the cardinal rule.

Her hobble advanced to an ungraceful scurry, but still no one made a move to hold the elevator.

The doors slid shut in her face.

After five years in this city why did she still hope for the same courtesy she’d get in her hometown? She was always disappointed.

Comment: She's not from Toronto and not used to the ways that people behave in big cities. Hopefully this gets across the idea that she's from a small town.

Wednesday Writing Romp - Chapter 2

So, are you ready for more?
Want to learn more about the crazy woman who doesn't like chocolate? Are you wondering what will happen when she's forced not only to indulge herself but also to spend 24/7 with her pushy client Grant Severson?

Click the link below to read chapter 2 written by Debi Phillips.

Chocolate Flirtations - Chapter 2

Wednesday Writing Romp

Welcome to Wednesday's Writing Romp!
Each week a new chapter written by a different author will be posted (stay tuned for Chapter nine--that's mine). The story, entitled Chocolate Flirtations, is a romance about a gal who doesn't like chocolate (crazy, I know). Check out the Introduction written by Cole Reising, and then come back every Wednesday for another taste written by one of the talented authors listed below.

Hope you enjoy!

Contributing Authors:
Kristi Ahlers
Marcy Bassett-Kennedy
Kendra Clark
Julia Clark
Bronwen Cleathero
Meagan Hatfield
Debbi Phillips
Nicole Reising
Andrea Shuman
Rita Trevalyan

Six Word Novel...C'mon and Vote!

Take a swing by Julie Cohen's blog today and vote for your favourite six word novel. You may even want to vote for number 4 because...ahem...well, I wrote. Okay this is a blantant attempt to scrounge up some votes for my entry.

You can't blame me for trying.

Someone was on my side today

Totally unrelated to writing, but today we had my daughter's birthday party, and miracle of miracles...it didn't rain. The forecast had been calling for rain all week, but it never materialized! Hallelujah! We were able to keep all ten kids (and all their mess) outside for the entire party. Everyone had a great time playing Ariel themed games and playing on the slide and swing set. All in all, very successful.

Now before I pass out from exhaustion, I've posted some pics of the Ariel cake I made (I'm quite proud of myself).

Crossroads

I've hit a cross roads with my ms. Despite my voice being more suited for the Modern Extra line, I think my characters are better suited for the Romance line. What do I do???

There has been lots of great discussion on the topic of sex in the Modern X line over at Natalie Anderson's blog, and it helped me to see that I can't just add in the sexuality required for the line--my characters have to want it. And they don't. At least not as badly as characters from other Modern X books do. Or maybe it's more accurate to say that they want it but aren't forward enough to take it...not right away at least.

So that leaves me with the task of tweaking my voice so it fits better in the Romance line. Not a small feat given that I'm not quite sure how to do that. In the end I guess all I can do is try to revise it to the best of my ability while still staying true to my overall voice as a writer. I like the way I write and don't want to stray too far from it. If an editor sees promise in my writing, I gotta hope that she'll work with me to make it perfect for the line rather than saying "forget it...it's not perfect for the line".

I can hope anyway.

Romance Writers Rock!

I can't believe how helpful everyone in the writing community can be!

As a newbie writer I have A LOT of questions, and I am constantly amazed at the lengths to which published authors will go to help. On top of their writing schedules, their blogging/website obligations, their own personal lives, they find the time to help someone they've never met before.

Are romance writers the nicest people, or what?

Me and Modern Extra?

I recently had some very good advice from a very reliable source that my voice may be better suited for the Modern Extra line than for the Romance line. The only thing missing from my current ms? S-e-x! Well, maybe not the only thing, but the most prevalent thing. So what does this mean? Simply, I won't be submitting any time soon.

As disappointed as I am by this, I definitely don't want to waste the one chance I get to submit this ms to Harlequin by submitting to the wrong line. I want to do it right. So that means going back over my ms, tweaking the hero's conflict to better reflect the line and adding in some juicy sex scenes. I don't have a problem with the last piece. I was actually a little upset that I wasn't able to include any sex scenes when subbing to the Romance line. They're so much fun to write...

...and even more fun to research!

Happy Mother's Day!

Hope all of the mothers reading this post are having a wonderful mother's day. My dh just took the kids out to give me some time to myself. Yay! I got some wonderful gifts from my kids including some lovely homemade cards and such.

My most favourite gift was an interview that my daughter's JK teacher did with her asking her questions about me. The first question was how old is your mother. My daughter's response...14! Gotta love it.

My husband also made a video card of the kids wishing me happy mother's day with my youngest blowing kisses. So cute.

Wishing all of you a happy and relaxing mother's day!

Baby Steps

I just submitted a non-fiction piece to Woman's World magazine! It's an article that I wrote two years ago and have yet to find a home for, but I love it. It's the story of my wedding day and the ways in which I became convinced that my father, who had passed away two years earlier, was with me on that special day. It's a story that moves me to tears whenever I read it, and I hope Woman's World finds it as touching.

Although this isn't as big as submitting my romance novel, it's a step in the right direction.

Baby steps, I keep telling myself. Baby steps.

Marcy

Mommy's Toes

Totally unrelated to writing, but I had to share this funny story. I was getting ready to go to the Christening of a friend's baby and since it was unseasonably warm, I decided to wear sandals. However, as all you women know, you absolutely must have fresh painted toes when you wear sandals the first time of the season. And so while DH took the kids out to get some groceries (what a great guy!), I quickly painted my toes a nice shiny red.

When my kids came home I was all ready to go to the Christening. It wasn't until I had my sandals on that my oldest dd (almost 5 yrs old) noticed my toes and commented "I like your toes, Mommy,...." she continued, "...but who painted them?"

How sad is it that my daughter thinks the only way that Mommy's toes get painted is if she gets a pedicure? I do paint them by myself occasionally. Honest! I'm not so pampered that I can get a pedicure whenever I want my toes painted. Although I have to admit...I do prefer to have someone else do it : -)

From the mouths of babes...

What about you? Have you had your first pedicure of the season?

Next blog it's back to writing topics. Honest again.

By George, I've got an idea!

Picture this - I'm sitting alone in my very hip, non-mommy mobile (aka minivan), waiting for the world's longest, slowest train to pass. I'm listening to the radio and my mind starts to wander, as is usually the case with us writers ;). And that's when it hits me - the idea for my next story. It unfurled before my eyes as if I was watching a movie. It was quite fascinating actually. By the time I got home, I was so excited I couldn't wait to share it with my husband, who replied with the apporopriate uh huh's and hmm's but I could tell he didn't get the magnitude of what had just happened. I'd just gotten past the hurdle of my first ms and was ready to move on...finally.

As soon as I had five minutes alone I kidnapped the computer and started doing some research for my heroine's job, and was pleasantly surprised with the amount of info I was able to collect (she's an A&R scout for a recording company). So now I'm itching to get started, but can't. Not until I mail off my partial for me current wip, which will hopefully be within a few weeks.

Needless to say, I'm anxious to mail that sucker off now, and that beats panicking any day.

Chapter 3 is complete!

Yay! I finished revising chapter 3 today. Hooray! And I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I made some significant revisions given changes to the story line that I've made since I wrote it, but not too overwhelming. Just enough to make the story a lot tighter. I love it.

I've sent it off to my critique partner to review, and then I'm sending it into a contest that an author is holding. I want to get all the feedback I can before I mail it off. I figure that I'll only get one chance with this ms--I want it be be everything that I know it can be.

Wish me luck...

I Think Too Much

Now that I'm sufficiently filled with candy, chocolate etc, it's back to work.

It's funny, I wrote a chapter for a round robin writing compilation, and I couldn't believe how quickly I finished it. 1000 words written and polished within 3 hours. Why can't I work that fast on my ms? I think it's because it was new and exciting where as I've been working on the same ms for 4 years. It's changed a lot...but it still has the same characters, same setting, same, same, same. Part of me is excited to just get it in the mail so I can move on to something new, something fresh. But at the same time, I want to make sure that my current ms is as good as it can possibly be before sending it off.

I know, I know...I think too much. I'm working on it.

Marcy
P.S. My daughter never got any spots! Thanks for your good wishes.

The Fever Has Broken

I'm so relieved! My daughter's fever has finally broken after 4 days. Hopefully this means she'll sleep through the night tonight : ) I guess the only thing to do now is wait and see if she gets the spots associated with Roseola. Keep your fingers crossed that she doesn't get any.

Maybe I'll try and get some much needed writing done this weekend.

Yay for the long weekend! I soooo need a break!

No time for writing...

My critique partner now has my revised chapters 1, 2 and my synopsis for review. All I have to do is revise chapter 3 and I'm ready to submit. But I haven't had much time for writing lately.

My youngest dd (16 months) has had a fever for 3 days and has been vomiting. It's so sad. All she wants is to be held. And we just found out that another child at her daycare has Roseola, which starts with a 3-5 day fever followed by a rash when the fever breaks. So, she won't be going back to day care tomorrow, which means I won't be going back to work. Oh well. Maybe I'll be able to duck in for the morning if dh can stay home.

The joys of daycare.