Excerpt from Search for Sorren

Hi everybody :)

I'm still alive and kicking. More than that, after two months of having my meds and one month of running, I feel pretty damn good. I've edited and re-posted Sex Rehearsal and Murder (quick erotica) and The Winds of Fire (Romantic Thriller with a military bent) on Smashwords here and here and on Amazon here and here. (there's even a customer review up from early on :) I edited The Ghost of Kristen's Past (TWF and TGKP are omniscient POV stuff I've been grousing about) and sent it off. I don't know if they take omniscient, so we'll find out won't we?

I've started editing (again!!) The Search for Sorren again. It's the full length novel for Splintered Lands that I should have had finished a YEAR ago...thankfully they're slow as molasses. For some reason (and really, I don't know why. In rereading it, I really like it!!) I'm having trouble finding my rhythm and have groused about it on more than one occasion. I worked hard to get over the 55k mark. I was stuck just under 54 and seemed like every word I wrote took an hour. :P Well, maybe this editing mode will help me to par this up into chapters (I was so into writing this, I forgot to do chapters right! in that 55k there's only 2 chapters!! LOLOL) So, that's going well :) I've already taken out a bunch of words, but I'm still up about a hundred words :) So wish me luck that some other emergency doesn't happen.

In celebration of my new found editing prowess, I want to share a piece of the first chapter. The main character has been fighting the council and refuses to give approval for the outlying areas to do an experimnet. The results of the experiment are as she feared--deadly. (Note: For the rules of this world, go to Splintered Lands and while there, check out Dangerous Journey, partly co-written by Anne-Mhairi Simpson and continued in a short story later :)

“Mistress Sherrone!” someone called her but she did not heed them. She stayed with Krong, not wanting him to die alone, if indeed he was going to die. “Sherrone!” this time the strident tones would not be ignored.

She looked around to see who was calling. It was Hielan. “What is it?” she asked resignedly.

“Ye need to move. We are going to attempt to roll the log off them, but need everyone to help move the—“ he stumbled. She saw him swallow hard, his adam’s apple jumping, high, then low, before he spoke again. “The bodies. We need to move them as quickly as possible so we can attempt to save the ones who are still alive.”

She nodded and squeezed Krong’s hand. “I have to go help,” she said, her voice strained with the tears she could not hold back . “Don’t leave this world while I’m gone,” she ordered. She stood up and turned to Hielan.

“Okay, show me where I can be of the most use,” she said, wiping her face with both of her hands, trying to regain her composure.

“Grab the ones still alive first, and move them as far as ye can away from the area. We don’t want any more accidents. After the live ones have been moved, we can put the ones who have already died there,” he pointed to a spot not too far. “It’s unlikely that the log will roll there, but if it does,” he trailed off.

If it does, the dead won’t feel it, she mentally finished for him. She did not want to say it aloud anymore than he did. “Good plan. I’ll see that the others who are unhurt help us with them.” She turned and moved to the nearest live person and began implementing the plan. She called out to the others to help, many of whom stood shocked, not moving or speaking. “We need to help those still alive get a fighting chance to live,” she ordered them. “Now come and aid us,” she ordered.

Many were shoved out of their shock by her terse words and began to do as she said. She lifted the torso of the first woman, grasped under her arms, clasping her hands together over the woman’s chest. She pushed her feet into the ground and stood up as much as she could and began to drag her over to the area Hielan had pointed out to her. The woman moaned and attempted to help, but her feet dangled uselessly and she could only look up at Sherrone.

The fear, pain, and sadness in the woman’s eyes almost broke Sherron’s composure, but she gritted her teeth and pulled. About half way to the designated area, Androna came and grabbed the woman’s legs under the knees and helped Sherrone move her.

Together they moved three people who were still alive and two who were not. By now, Sherrone’s emotions had steeled, and anger was making its way to the forefront. She kept moving, not letting her personal feelings get in the way, even when she saw that one of the dead people included the other woman who was on the council with her.

The area was finally clear. Sherrone stood to the side while the pushed the log off the men who had been caught under it. The men all screamed in pain as the weight was lifted off. She dropped down next to Krong as soon as Hielan gave the all clear sign. Never in her life had she seen so many dead and injured. Their community had grown to almost double in the last decade. But in one fell swoop, they had lost about a quarter of the adults.

She pushed that thought to the side as Krong smiled weakly at her. “I waited for you. But I’m afraid I cannot wait much longer before moving on to the next stop on the Great Path of Life.”

“Krong,” she wanted to deny his claim, but knew he was right. “I did na know ye believed as those in the temple high up the river do,” she said instead.

“Don’t tell the others on the council, but it is where the Haring people are from. We came to seek a different life but never lost our beliefs in a higher power. I must go now, down the next path in store for me,” he said, his voice barely a breath on the last word. He took in one deep breath, let it out. Then, no more.

She cried out against the fates and the council members who had approved of the experiment. She heard others crying as well as the townspeople realized the dead and dying were one of their own family members or their good friends. She did not know how they would find enough wood to do a proper burning burial without it becoming obvious that a large settlement lived there, but that would be a problem for tomorrow. For now, she stood up, her eyes boring into the gazes of the other members of the council, who looked away.

At tonight’s traditional follow up council meeting, she would have her say. And this time, they would listen. She took one last look at Krong and the others who had died and marched over to the other lead council member. The one who always opposed her and sided with a man no matter how wrong he was, Pflimer. Orion Pflimer.

“Orion! I would have words with ye,” she called out.

“Now, woman?” he asked in exasperation.

“My name is Mistress Sherrone. Or Council Woman Sherrone, if ye prefer,” she said through her teeth. “And aye, now.”

“What do ye want,” he said demandingly. “I’m a little busy ‘ere.”

“We’re all a little busy ‘ere,” she said pointedly. “Dealing with injuries and deaths that should na ha' occurred if the council had done its job.”

He looked around and she knew he was searching to see who else was listening before responding. “If ye were na such a shrew, then maybe more of the council would heed your words.”

Sherrone stared at him aghast. “If ye were less bigoted and listened to people regardless of whether they are man or woman, I would na have to demand to be heard. Ye are vile. I’m going to see to it that your seat on the council be revoked.” She turned and walked away before she said or did more in the heat of her rage.

It was nightfall before the injured had been taken home and the bodies placed near the burial site. They would start digging the graves and chopping the wood tomorrow. Ironically, they would be using the logs they had felled for the experiment. There were not enough trees to let the wood go to waste for sentimental reasons.

Tired, dirty, and hungry, she made her way with others to the council hall. More people than usual followed them. This would not be a typical follow up on an experiment. People’s emotions were riding high, and they wanted someone to pay. She did not blame them for she felt the same way.

She sat in her rough hewn chair. It was not as fancy as the others, for she had made it herself. All of them had chairs of sorts and one long table that separated them from the rest who attended the meeting. It was thick and heavy and made from some of the oldest trees they had seen in their area. Some had even speculated that they may have been some of the very few trees to have survived the splintering.

She ran her hand over the table and winced. Even her customary comfort in the idea of something that had outlasted human folly and nature’s wrath was to be denied her tonight. Her hands were blistered and cut from the clean up. It would be worse tomorrow.

:) anyways, I really like it. The dialogue is my own rendition of American south and Scottish accent :P LOLOL Well, off to copy and past to WP and then back to work :)

HA TWICE IN ONE DAY

LOL I'm so tired that my editing efforts have been useless so I've been reading some back blogs to try and catch up. As a result, I'm full of information, doubt, righteous anger and what ifs.

I decided to post a couple of those to you. What if you're writing a multiple POV book? I can here the dreaded word "headhopping" hopping around in your heads already. But really, if you're writing a book form omniscient or multiple POV you must have some transitions. I've heard everything from, "Make sure you put space here so reader knows it's a change of POV" (heard it from multiple writer friends) to you can't do that. You have to have new chapter, scene change, whatever.

I've also heard from some editing friends. Mostly, they say the key is transition, like dialogue. But then, you have all the writer wannabe's (including myself) reading books going "hey that's headhopping, how come they got away with it! or I can't read this book cuz I'm now in the 7th person's POV for the book.

What do you do if you're reading an Omnscient storyteller type book? If you have an all knowing narrator, you're going to know everyone's thoughts and feelings. Have we gotten so stuck on holding everyone in the craft to a list of rules, that we've forgotten how to enjoy a well crafted story? I took one such person's supposedly educated wisdom to heart that, I, who was in AP classes growing up, have a hard time staying in one tense because I radically and frantically worked too hard at taking "was" out of my vocabulary because someone's creative writing teacher told her was was passive voice.

I was new at the writing thing and enoungh years out of school to believe said person. They were wrong. Anyways, I'm working on it. Of course, it's not helping that I've spent months changing my mind about tenses in a particualr book I wrote (went from third person past tense to first person present to first person past. You try it. Change a completed 85k word MS from one tense to the other and see what happens!)

Then there's the self pubbed stuff going around about poorly written etc. Well, to my deep horror, I have published a version of Winds of Fire that wasn't the final draft and can't seem to find the final draft (after beta readers & final changes.) so I dropped the price on my books and offered a major coupon to the twitter followers. I may have to pull it for a bit since I started a job and I'm having MAJOR formatting issues with everything. I got to thinking. Everyone is saying, you have to pay for editors, etc. Well, most of the writers I know are not rich enough to pay the 2-5 cent PER WORD cost of a professional editor. We are all trying to help ourselves. In doing that though, a lot of, "you absolutely have to do it this way" is happening and when I ask my editor friends (which I got through following their blogs and participating in discussions!) will tell me the right way and I have to follow my heart on it.

Then there are people who say don't cuz you might get poor sales. Well, maybe. I've backed off on advertising when I found the errors (after a fit of crying) so I can fix them. But also, I'm selling the fun ones through indie means. Not that the ones I'm holding back are dull and boring (quite the opposite, in fact!) but the ones I'm self publishing are the ones that I wanted out there, but have decided that I no longer want to pursue traditional publishing routes with those particular books. I wonder how that will bear on things later? But since I'm querying a project that is not of the same genre, will it be a mute point whether the sales turn out good when I go back to hitting the advertising hard, or if I pull it from the market? They're not the same genre, just some books I've written.

And maybe I'm too tired to really see any of this clearly LOL Oh, and by the way, I don't LOL in my books or use much in the way of parenthesis, or say cuz. Those are cheats here as I'm lazy on the blog :D (Oh, and I don't put smiley faces in either, even though it's tempting since I'm self pubbing LOL)

If you've self pubbed, share why. If you now read books looking for errors instead of enjoyment, even if it's subconsciously done, fess up here!

For the first time in 3 years

I've doubted my ability as a writer. Seriously, all my other doubts boileddown to time. Do I have time to become the writer I know I need to be. But today, I had the thought that I was trying for no reason. I don't have many sales, I'm not getting positive responses from queries I send out and it's so hard now. Twice as hard with a day job, twice as hard with sick kids, and I've had both the last two weeks. which makes it all about ten times as hard. (trust me the math's right, even if it doesn't look like it on paper :) It's taken me most of the day to shut myself up and the whispers are still coming.

So, I'm posting an excerpt from Winds of Fire: Eagle Claw Series here, and the links. If you like it, please buy the book. If you like Harlequin's Blaze line, you'll probably like this as I'd originally intended it for them, but even after cutting scenes (which I now regret) I'm still 250 words over their max, so I toughened it up, (It's now a thriller with strong romantic elements instead of a romance w/ strong thriller elements. Wasn't on purpose, just happened as the scenes were cut!) and slam, bam, there it is! Here's the excerpt.

Victoria's fiance has taken off with her files and sold them to the highest bidder. She's in the process of a sting operation to buy them back in the midst of clearing her name of treason. We start with the two men she who have the stolen files:


The two men finally looked at each other and nodded and walked to the plank that went to the dock. They looked around uneasily as if expecting something. Her adrenalin kicked in and she went to high alert. Now was when something was supposed to happen. She could smell the fear wafting off the men as they approached her.


She did the swap as quickly as possible and instinctively dropped to the ground. Erica followed and a split second later, popping noise accompanied the men in front of her dropping. She had a frozen moment in time to decide whether to play dead or roll away. She chose to roll away and the wood splintered where she had dropped.

Erica was already up on her feet and squatting behind one of the pier's piles. Victoria grabbed both the money and the file cases and joined her. She pulled her Glock out and they waited for more shots. The silence droned on for a few seconds.

"Victoria, Erica. Come out, come out wherever you are," Kurt's voice rang through the still night air. Both women cursed under their breaths.

"I should have known you would be here, Kurt," Victoria replied. Neither woman moved.

"Of course. I had to draw you out somehow. You proved to be too good, even for the top brass. It is really too bad. If you were not so provincial, we could have ruled the world together. I'm going to send someone over to your position. Give them the cash and the files."

Victoria laughed coldly. "Yeah, right. You know I'll shoot the traitorous bastard that actually thinks I'll hand over sensitive files to them. You must hate this person. Despite your cavalier attitude, this isn't a game."

"Well, I'd hoped to test my men's loyalty. But, since you put it so bluntly, I'm afraid I'll have to save the test for another day. I didn't actually need those files. I simply wanted some ready cash as I was losing my army pension." His voice was suave. He could've been flirting with a debutante. It grated on Victoria's last nerve.

"So that's all the security of your country is worth to you? A few bucks? You make me sick," she retorted.

"Oh look. Now you've gone and hurt my feelings. I don't think I'll play anymore tonight. As much fun as this is, I want to be gone before your boyfriends get back from the goose chase I sent them on. I'm sure they realized it by now as neither the Colonel or the Captain are fools. I do regret the body I had to leave for them. Good help is hard to come by these days."


And there's your free piece of the book :D A reminder note, both kindle and smashwords let you read a bit for free, and I have allowed lending so you can share with your friends :D

And while writing this post I was told in no uncertain terms, by the main beta reader of this book, that I don't get to quit being a writer because she's hooked. I shall hold her words close to my heart whenever the whispers get too loud. For now, I'm off to do more housewife crap (although I now have a job :P) and finish up the spaghetti sauce, which my family only likes when I doctor it up to the hilt or make it from scratch. :D

bits & pieces

Here's the opening to new paranormal I started. What do you think?

His black fur rippled in the wind, gleaming under the blue rays of the full moon. He lifted his nose in the air, sniffing for hunters. Getting caught in wolf form was not on his list of things to do before he died. In fact, being caged might kill him.

He put his nose down to the ground. He had her scent. At first, she had been hard to follow, but her scent had grown stronger the deeper into the evergreens they were. As soon as he realized it, he slowed down his hunt. His instincts told him it was a trap. He still had to track her down. She had killed three pregnant women in his pack.


Here's an excerpt from the thriller Winds of Fire:

"Who would want to hurt either them or Eagle Claw? Perhaps they, whoever ‘they’ are, are trying to bring down all of us." Definitely something she planned to look at more closely. "I don’t like this." She repeated.

"Don’t like what?" a male voice intoned.

Victoria whirled around at the sound of his voice and was unprepared for his impact on her. She felt like someone punched her in the gut. It was Mario da Vinci. The one who got away. He had lost much of his accent, but none of his deep timbre. His golden brown eyes were harder than she remembered, and his short-cropped hair had grown out long enough for his natural wave to be noticeable and for the wind to have ruffled it out of place.

Not now, she thought. Out loud she said, "What are you doing here?"

"Hello to you too, Victoria. See you haven’t lost any of your cold shoulder since we last talked." His brown eyes were laughing, although the edge in his voice belied the joke.


Feel free to comment on likes/dislikes and any and all grammatical errors you might find. I'm seeking perfection. Haven't hit it yet.

Yep, again already

I am bouncing up and down as I came to a realization. I have written three COMPLETE Novels in two and a half years. I'm still editing on a couple, but I've done it. Word count is something like this:
Rebellion on Piza 7: 71k+
Quest for Riverhand: 85,721 so far (this is one adding back in my adjectives, and world building and--you get the idea)
Winds of Fire: 59,800

Plus I've written a couple of shorts and had a few fals starts on a short I need to turn into a novel. Plus, I have about 15k on the sequel to Rebellion on Piza 7

Last night, I told my husband, "I finished a novel!" He was sorely underappreciative of what an accomplishment that was. He apparently can't decide whether he wants me to succeed sooner or later. See, I have a a few advantages.

One, I type, tested, at 69 words per minute. That's copying some unknown, usually foreign subject/names out with 1 or fewer mistakes while being timed. When it's the words coming out of my head? Wowzers. Believe me, being able to type fast is a HUGE deal for getting writing done.

Two, I have a vast array of general knowledge. This cuts down on research time for two reasons--I may already know, and if not, I have a good starting point for getting that knowledge.

Three, I have a good grasp on the English language and know most of the general rules. Some of the tricky ones I've learned from networking. I'm always learning more, but it helps to have a good grasp of grammar from the beginning.

And four, I have so many story ideas, they are fighting for supremacy. I can't quit writing. It's like once I decided to open that damn, it flooded. Not a trickle or controlled flow, it just goes. If I don't get it written down, I may not get it back.

Anyways, he seems to think it should take me years and years, yet doesn't want to wait that long for success. *Sigh* I'm simply going to keep on going and trying the way I've been doing. Learning, over learning, learning, making mistakes, learning, networking, and most of all, writing to my heart's content.

Has it really been that long?

I am trying to do this AT LEAST once a week. Honest. I'm trying to not play on internet as much and get more done. I did get lots done. I printed out Winds of Fire up to the point I had finished (about 5k shy of the end), hand punched holes one by one on 180 pages to fit into three ring binder, and edited said pages. I will let someone else do the math as my head hurts just writing it :)

I have input all the changes into the computer, finished the story and wrote the query. It already needs help. *Sigh* I've thought of this query for a year. No joke. A year. I started this story last March, did a large chunk last July, a bit in October, pre-Nano, and another chunk this July. (Thanks Tami and Traci for your July challenges!) I have now officially finished the story. I am sure I will make changes here and there, but it is time to query. I sent my query to query shark. I felt all good and self righteous. You know, cuz I'd read everything, knew what not to do, etc. I even refreshed my memory right before hitting send. Guess what jumped out at me immediately? I put in too many characters in the first paragraph. Groan, GROAN, GROAN! Well, I'm not sure how to fix it. I mean there are two main characters, the bad guy and a strong supportive character who is the main character in the next book. Also, I repeat myself. I don't say the same thing exactly, rather different things the same way. What can I say? Apparently not the right thing LOL

Happy days, another novel finished. Now to go back and ad the adjectives and world building back into the story. *headpalm slap. Have a great week!

Today is another day

So, if anyone sees my handy dandy notebook with everything important in it, please contact me *looks around beesechingly* No? Well, on with it then. Update on Family:

Eldest going through a "Black Manic" No, that is not a technical term, it is my term for it. An Angry, Dark, Evil state. Instead of hyper-happy we get Doomsday-darling. UGH None of the stages are fun, but this one is hardest for me to cope with. Even when she thinks she's being nice, she's being critical.

My eldest son will be 80 before he's off grounding. Sneaking out, lying, and disobedience are not the way to mother's good graces.

My next eldest is doing better today. At least he didn't procrastinate today, so his half hour chore didn't turn into three hours.

My second-to-the-last is doing very well today. Happy change from yesterday. He is doodling away and painting with paper and left over modeling paint. Should be interesting to see the results. :D

My youngest is doing very well. Happy, not being bothered by his teeth at this moment *knocks on wood* and is extremely curious and active. A blessing every day to us. Especially since we were warned that he might not do so well when they diagnosed him with Downs Syndrome.

Writing update: Much more fun to talk about than the family angst.

I have to, as said in previous post, PUT MY VOICE BACK IN to fantasy novel. *puts head to desk multiple times. I cannot believe I allowed it to happen. And worst, that I didn't notice it happening! I got stuck on rule, rules, rules. Not happening again!

I am currently printing out my thriller that is ALMOST finished. It's been a difficult book to write. I put it away for six months or so and forgot some of the nuances. Before, it was flowing off my fingertips like water over a fall. *sigh* maybe it will come back to me. I will be reading and editing, NOT OVEREDITING, and trying to remember how it was supposed to end. Yep, you heard me. I forgot the ending. It sets up the next book, yet completes this book. I had it well figured out. Now I can't remember. Write it down? Are you crazy? I'm a writer, why would I write it down? Oh, yeah. You got me there. Let's hope that I either have an epiphany, or remember the original plan.

I also have a science fiction darling that needs to be written as it is a sequel and there are people asking for it. Get to work already, woman. *peers over shoulder with slanty eyes to make sure that wasn't hubby talking.* Nope, my inner muse is telling me in no uncertain terms to get to work and quit being so damn lazy. :D

Reminder, I know a few of you were going to try and write. I am giving the bookmarks out to anyone who tried for consistency, despite life's foibles. You know who you are. Give me a color! This includes international people. When I have it done, I will have you email me a physical addy to send it to.

Sleep. I found you.

Now if only my wallet would show up, I'd be peachy keen :D

Seriously, I have lost my wallet and have no clue where it has possibly gone. I know the last place I saw it and the only other place I've been before it's disappearance was noted is home. With a migraine. Needless to say, migraine's and lost wallets do not mix.

I have spent the last 5 days with severe headache and no wallet and little sleep. Last night, I slept in the neighborhood of 6.5 to 7 hours. That's like two nights worth of sleep! LOL My writing ought to explode today. Notice the blog is written??

I have beta readers and a writing partner. I'm ecstatic to be writing again with sleep and that kind of help. It is fate that I got sleep the same day my writing partner has first full day off work. Here I go!

At some point this week, I will post another excerpt from Quest for Riverhand. I am editing that one and my thriller, Winds of Fire. So maybe I will post from there as well. I am entering Winds of Fire's first 25 words (more or less) in a critique of sorts on another blog. I will post the link if I get in the first 50 :)

Have a great day everyone!

Finished!

Quest for Riverhand is polished and ready to match the Query of Awesomeness :D

It's about 20k short of what I wanted, but I like the story. There is another scene I'm contemplating adding. It would help the sub-plot and I could run a thread in that would help with the sequel, but I don't want to mess with it.

Yeah, I like the story the way it is and I know that agents/editors will peruse and say X and X and X and etcetera anyway. Might as well make the sweeping changes then and add to word count as they suggest.

Winds of Fire is very close as well. I have to revamp the beginning and wowsers the end :D Probably take a week of intense writing, but the story is very good and I'm sure I'll be able to sell it.

My paranormal is at 11k and needs at least 35k more words. A friend, Jami G. gave me a good idea how to get around the whole problem with being a pantster who already outlined the story :D Thanks, Jami!

My other paranormal is at 19k. It got the bulk of the details from the short the two paranormals are ripped from.

If you remember, (I think I posted it earlier) I sent in a short story into an editor at a publishing house that got rejected with words like make novels out of the premise, series, etc. etc. make sure it fits our house. Best rejection ever, LOL

Plus, I have Blood Traitors, the sequel to Rebellion on Piza seven to worry about now. I have to fix a couple of sequencing erros that I put into the second MS and add like 60k to it :) I have like 15-17k on it.

Missing Pages

So I found some of my missing pages. Still missing the all crucial initial meeting between my hero and heroine. :( oh well, I can continue from here and hope to find them soon...

I will also be participating in script frenzy... Call me crazy, LOL. Winds of fire needs less back story and more dialogue and an ending. How better to do that than turn it into a script to fix those errors. Major problem is the format. I'm not familiar with the format. Even though I have a base story to work from (at least thats my plan, I may change it, like I did for NaNoWriMO) I still have to learn how to do it right.

Mainly, this will give me the writing time I need and get back into the habit. I had good habits going because of NaNoWriMo, but then we moved and I didn't have internet and got stuck on all my stories for lack of easy research.

With our schedule, sick kids and a 17 month old, easy research is a must! lol

I need to get two stories out for a publisher, though, so I may have to use script frenzy for that. Hmmm, so many choices! Well, off to do my rituals that I had before and write, write, write. :D

Have a great day!

PS for an idea of what script frenzy will be like, read over Novembers blogs on After the Beginning!

Winds of Fire

So I've updated authonomy. I've reloaded the chapters with the new corrections, plus inserted a new chapter between the old eight and nine as well as adding a new chapter to the end. There are now 12 chapters on authonomy for critiquing and reading. :) it takes a while to do that because you have to save each chapter individually.

The process is kinda like this:

Write.
Edit.
Write.
Someone else edits bits and pieces.
Edit some more.
Write.
Oh yeah, must copy/paste to individual chapters.
Copy. Scream because I hate touch pads on laptops.
Erase old words.
Paste new ones.
Wait until such a time that I can get online and Update.
Read new comments.
Start process over...

I'm getting near the end and I'm excited. I'm also working on my fantasy novel, which you might remember from NaNoWriMo (see other blog :) By the end of March, I will have both finished, approximately, 45k words, and sent of to at least one publisher/agent.

There. I've put it in writing. How's that for making goals :) Now all I have to do is convince my family. Especially the 16 month old. He is sure that 2 am is playtime :D

I guess that's okay. Last night I sent my backups to myself by email. Thank God for Mother-in-Laws! It has been great having the Internet at my beck and call. LOL

In the midst of all the writing, I also need to do the exercises on my favourite blog, edittorent. I wish I knew how to do the damn link thing because I'd link it in a heart beat. Also, there is another blog I follow, Fierce Romance, that has a neat story on it that I'd like to link to. GRRRRRR so much to do and so little time to do it in.

Also, I'm outlining/previsualizing the changes to my paranormal story from one short to two full length novels. I have my work cut out for me :)

Winds of Fire work

I love Winds of Fire. Keep that in mind when reading this post.

UGGGGGHHHHH LOL I have it on authonomy under Harper Collins. Response has been good, with comments about punctuation and a few cliches that I've already fixed (I think). I'm not good at finding the punctuation and stuff cuz I already know what I mean. Well, I asked my husband for help. All I have to say, is I'm very glad he isn't using a red pen this time!! My poor paper would be bleeding to death. He took an English comp class last semester and now is picking my work apart!! :) I'm glad. The story rocks, so I want nothing to detract from it.

In the meantime... WAAAAAAAAA

But I'm getting some serious work done on it and getting back into my flow. Good luck to the rest of you :)

I also think I found my photo albums, which have been missing. There is still a lot to find, but we're getting there.

I've decided to make quilts for my families Bdays this year and I'm almost finished with Patricks. Edward's Bday already passed, so I'll have to think of something for him :) Nate's is coming up quick. It's at the end of the month. Will have to find soething relatively easy, yet spectacular to put together with the fabric I have on hand.

The baby got his already. Soft flannel fabric. mmmmm. It's a project I finished that was started like 13 years ago! LOL I finally had all the stuff in the same place! Last year, before moving to TX, I finished a lot of old projects. It was my New Year's Goal. It's my goal again this year, but with an addition. It will include my WIPS not just my arts. I'll have to make a list and break things down into smaller pieces. Patrick's quilt is one that I started a long time ago, so that's doing double duty. Will have to work out the rest.

Have a good day :D

Authonomy

I found a spot on Harper Collins (a publisher) that allows wanna be authors to send their work for people to read and critique. I put Winds of Fire, first 7 chapters, up. So far, I'm having good reviews! It's fun reading it. I didn't expect such a good response so quickly. I hope it keeps up!

Off to WA!

countdown to Chrismas

It's December 21st, I think. I'm donw to a tickle in my throat and being exhausted but getting better. We've finished wrapping our presents and if I didn't know we were moving, I'd be sad. Have to save the money for the move. Our van is acting up and we will be taking it in tomorrow. I'm sick of car trouble, that's for sure.

It needs to be working before we move and that's in less than two weeks! UGH. The week after Christmas is going to be hectic as my MIL and daughter will be here. I would prefer our van worked by then as we want to tour the missions here in San Antonio with them.

I'm fixing on finishing up a couple of stories, but between cleaning house after being sick, my appointment today and the van I'm ready to pull my hair out! I have a contest for Winds of Fire though so IT WILL BE DONE. I HAVE SPOKEN. **insert scary voice there. lmao

When I get all moved to Washington, I'm hoping to sponsor a contest and if it has arrived, I will be giving away a signed copy of a romantic comedy, and another book, sorry not signed of an historical romance. I haven't decided which will be first or the criteria yet, so I'll have to think about it. I just know I'm going to do the give away for all my LOYAL fans :) They are both good books in their genre.

I'm going to go back to work now and print the info on Chicago that I need to finish Winds of Fire and get it entered into the contest.