I'm not a big contest person. I just don't have the time. Okay, I don't make the time. Heck, 98% of the time I don't know about contests because I lead a very sheltered life. I follow a handful of blogs. I should follow more. I really, seriously, don't have the time. Yes, I know, that's a very lame excuse, but it's my excuse, and I'm holding onto it for dear life.
The point is: I found time this weekend. I discovered two contests and entered them both. Woo-hoo!
Will I win? Will everlasting glory finally find me? Will I be raising a toast with Sister Cabernet in the near future to my new found success? Will I be raising a toast anyhow? Uh, that would be a YEAH to the last question. Sister Cabernet (for the most part, except for Friday nights, is my friend - Sister Margarita is my friend on Friday nights). She's always there waiting for me at the end of the day. I pour my glass and then, over the course of the next few hours, slowly imbibe. Yes, hours, people, it takes me hours to drink a glass of wine. I'm easily sidetracked. I get immersed in a book or my writing and forget about Sister Cabernet. I go and bond with the boyz (Jesse and James) and no drinks of any type are allowed because they are rambunctious rascals and I have, unfortunately, born the stains of their frolicking. It took a few stains for me to learn my lesson. So, it takes me a while to finish a glass of wine.
As to the other questions, I hope the answer is YES to all the questions.
The main point (yes, there is one, it's still early and the caffeine has not kicked in yet) of this post is: find time for contests. Use the blogsphere and hunt and hunt and hunt, and then hunt so more. Make the time - 15 minutes, maybe some more, maybe some less. I just happened to luck onto both of the contests. It happens. Sometimes, luck is noticeable. This was one of those times.
BTW - I'm on Book 12 of the Stephanie Plum series. Janet makes me laugh. Heck, sometimes she makes me laugh so hard I cry. I wish I had just a smidge of her talent with humor. The woman should be a stand up comic. Now, if I was reading her books on my Kindle, I could do the whole highlight thing and have a whole file of JE Funnies. Since I'm not reading them on my Kindle (sorry, a friend has loaned me the entire series), I just have to write them down as I come across them. Sigh! Still, humor in any shape or form is a good thang!
"Holy Mary Mother of God, you were being chased by Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon, and a rabbit". That line still makes me laugh out loud.
S
Monday, April 13, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Editing
So, yesterday, I forced myself back into the editing process. It was a mighty struggle. Okay, it really wasn't that bad, but mighty struggle makes it sound - at least to me - all dramatic. I'm all about the drama. Okay, maybe I'm not all about the drama, I leave that up to my 5 year old niece. Trust me, she has the drama queen thang down pat. My poor sister. She had to wait until her 40s to have children - one girl and one boy, who is all boy. Of course, the rest of us just sit back with amused grins on our faces. There's also a reason I stuck with cats and dogs. I'm just saying . . .
Yesterday I edited Chapter One of the very, very, very rough draft of a project I wrote a few months ago. For a change, I didn't write so many words per day, I didn't set daily/weekly goals, I just wrote. I think I pounded out the rough draft in a little over 30 days. Now, technically, the pounding out was a somewhat edit where I took an old draft and revitalized it with some ingenious new ideas. Yes, ingenious, get over it! There was some cutting and pasting from one draft to the new rough draft, but not as much as you might think. In the end, this story that I once thought so brilliant took on a new and vibrant (nope, no Bailey's in my coffee this morning) life that amazed even me. That happens a lot when I write. I'm always amazed at the depths of depravity I find in my imagination. Ooops, did I actually write that sentence. Inner voice, inner voice, fingers stop typing. Seriously, though, I am often amazed at what pops into my mind and flows down to my fingers to get typed across the laptop screen. Who knew what a childhood spent reading could do for the imagination?
The new story (at least in my sometimes, not often, humble opinion) flows so much better and makes so much more sense. I sometimes think that rough drafts should be set aside for years. When I initially came up with the original concept for this project (years and years and years ago), I was a different writer. My writing has evolved over the years. I think some of my best writing - EVER - has occurred in the last few years. I know I'm damned proud of the project I currently have out for query. I really do think that that project is some of the best writing I ever did. I took that brilliance (my blog, I can say what I want about my writing) and infused it into the project I am currently editing. That melding of two styles of writing, two different projects, became something so different from my original intent. I am content with that difference and with (at least at this moment in time) the end result.
My plans are to edit a chapter a day, maybe more on the weekends, as I somehow attempt to recreate the balance I strive for in this life - work, partner, animals, life itself, writing, margaritas with the boyz, and all that jazz. Balance is essential. Somewhere along the way, I lost my balance. I did not make a big SPLAT as I fell, just tumbled a little from the balance I vowed to maintain in this crazy life. I took time away from writing to immerse myself in reading - something I haven't done in a long while. It felt good to lose myself in the words of other authors. I'm on Book 9 of the Stephanie Plum series. I'm not totally immersing myself in the reading any longer. I'm stepping away and finding time to let my imagination delve into my own words/worlds. I'm feeling the energy, the feeling of satisfaction, as my eyes read my words and as my fingers make the necessary adjustments that will hone the rough draft into a more perfect brilliance that will stun agents and leave them speechless (in a good way).
So, with that thought, I bid you adieu for the moment. It's 10 AM and I haven't had breakfast yet. Soon, the sound of bacon sizzling in the frying pan will be heard in the kitchen. YUM!
S
Yesterday I edited Chapter One of the very, very, very rough draft of a project I wrote a few months ago. For a change, I didn't write so many words per day, I didn't set daily/weekly goals, I just wrote. I think I pounded out the rough draft in a little over 30 days. Now, technically, the pounding out was a somewhat edit where I took an old draft and revitalized it with some ingenious new ideas. Yes, ingenious, get over it! There was some cutting and pasting from one draft to the new rough draft, but not as much as you might think. In the end, this story that I once thought so brilliant took on a new and vibrant (nope, no Bailey's in my coffee this morning) life that amazed even me. That happens a lot when I write. I'm always amazed at the depths of depravity I find in my imagination. Ooops, did I actually write that sentence. Inner voice, inner voice, fingers stop typing. Seriously, though, I am often amazed at what pops into my mind and flows down to my fingers to get typed across the laptop screen. Who knew what a childhood spent reading could do for the imagination?
The new story (at least in my sometimes, not often, humble opinion) flows so much better and makes so much more sense. I sometimes think that rough drafts should be set aside for years. When I initially came up with the original concept for this project (years and years and years ago), I was a different writer. My writing has evolved over the years. I think some of my best writing - EVER - has occurred in the last few years. I know I'm damned proud of the project I currently have out for query. I really do think that that project is some of the best writing I ever did. I took that brilliance (my blog, I can say what I want about my writing) and infused it into the project I am currently editing. That melding of two styles of writing, two different projects, became something so different from my original intent. I am content with that difference and with (at least at this moment in time) the end result.
My plans are to edit a chapter a day, maybe more on the weekends, as I somehow attempt to recreate the balance I strive for in this life - work, partner, animals, life itself, writing, margaritas with the boyz, and all that jazz. Balance is essential. Somewhere along the way, I lost my balance. I did not make a big SPLAT as I fell, just tumbled a little from the balance I vowed to maintain in this crazy life. I took time away from writing to immerse myself in reading - something I haven't done in a long while. It felt good to lose myself in the words of other authors. I'm on Book 9 of the Stephanie Plum series. I'm not totally immersing myself in the reading any longer. I'm stepping away and finding time to let my imagination delve into my own words/worlds. I'm feeling the energy, the feeling of satisfaction, as my eyes read my words and as my fingers make the necessary adjustments that will hone the rough draft into a more perfect brilliance that will stun agents and leave them speechless (in a good way).
So, with that thought, I bid you adieu for the moment. It's 10 AM and I haven't had breakfast yet. Soon, the sound of bacon sizzling in the frying pan will be heard in the kitchen. YUM!
S
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Sex Scenes
Here are my thoughts (possible only a thought) on sex scenes: if they don't do a thang for the story, then leave them out.
No, I'm not a prude. I'm just more the type that likes to leave things up to my readers' imaginations, rather than spell everything out for them. Sometimes, the imagination is better than reality. Trust me on that one! : )
More often than not in my writing, I allude to the sex, but don't actually give detailed descriptions. It's just what works for me. Now, could I give a detailed description if needed? Hell, yeah. I just haven't come across the need to show the erotic exploits of my characters. For me, it's more fun to just let my readers figure out what Jack and Jill did when they went up the hill for the pail of water.
A perfect example of this can be found in Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. She never goes into full detail when Stephanie and Morelli have sex, or when Stephanie had sex with Ranger. I'm only through Book 8, so I'm not sure if she has sex with anybody else or not. Janet always provides the barest minimum of details with out going into extended descriptive passages. Sometimes, it's the reactions of the other characters - OMG, you had sex last night - that are more telling, rather than the actual event itself.
I know other writers/authors do things differently, because that is what works for them. Now, if I was writing some erotic story, yeah, I'd go into detail. The extensive details just don't need to be there in my current projects, even though quite a few of my characters do the big nasty.
S
p.s. Speaking of Janet Evanovich . . . one of the best lines ever: Holy Mary Mother of God, you were being chased by Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon, and a rabbit. I laughed for at least five minutes, and was crying by the time I was finished. Janet Evanovich is a Humor Master. It's never an entire passage, an entire book, just a sentence here or there that absolutely cracks me up.
No, I'm not a prude. I'm just more the type that likes to leave things up to my readers' imaginations, rather than spell everything out for them. Sometimes, the imagination is better than reality. Trust me on that one! : )
More often than not in my writing, I allude to the sex, but don't actually give detailed descriptions. It's just what works for me. Now, could I give a detailed description if needed? Hell, yeah. I just haven't come across the need to show the erotic exploits of my characters. For me, it's more fun to just let my readers figure out what Jack and Jill did when they went up the hill for the pail of water.
A perfect example of this can be found in Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. She never goes into full detail when Stephanie and Morelli have sex, or when Stephanie had sex with Ranger. I'm only through Book 8, so I'm not sure if she has sex with anybody else or not. Janet always provides the barest minimum of details with out going into extended descriptive passages. Sometimes, it's the reactions of the other characters - OMG, you had sex last night - that are more telling, rather than the actual event itself.
I know other writers/authors do things differently, because that is what works for them. Now, if I was writing some erotic story, yeah, I'd go into detail. The extensive details just don't need to be there in my current projects, even though quite a few of my characters do the big nasty.
S
p.s. Speaking of Janet Evanovich . . . one of the best lines ever: Holy Mary Mother of God, you were being chased by Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon, and a rabbit. I laughed for at least five minutes, and was crying by the time I was finished. Janet Evanovich is a Humor Master. It's never an entire passage, an entire book, just a sentence here or there that absolutely cracks me up.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
The Breach
A breach has appeared amid all the frustration . . . and my immersion in all things Stephanie Plum. I finally, after weeks of thinking, made the minor revisions necessary - thanks to MSFV, the Secret Agent and all the commenters that provided the necessary feedback for the minor revisions - to start re-querying my project. Who knew the first 250 words were so important. I understood about the first sentence, just not the first 250 (not that those words were horrible, they just needed a slight bit of polishing).
So, today, I finally did what I have been procrastinating about for weeks on end - fixed the minor things that needed fixing. Whew! I feel much better now.
In the end, it all boils down to perspective. Were my first 250 words horrendous? No, sorry, I just don't do horrendous. I've done crap a time or two (okay, maybe multiple times), but horrendous doesn't fit in there . . . that's my story, and I'm sticking to it, people!! The perspective gained from MSFV secret agent contest gave my novel the jolt it needed. Well, it gave me the jolt I needed. I leaped the hurdle today, dove through the slight breach in the wall of frustration that has surrounded me for weeks, and . . . voila!!!!
There's a definite sense of relief. I have no clue why I delayed so long. The fix wasn't that difficult. It was kind of like the time my mother butterflied the gaping wound in my head when I was little. I still have the scar, btw. I was prone to cracking my head open as a child. Well, the first two times were Mom's fault (not that she beat me or anything, we just didn't have car seats back then, and she had to swerve to miss the Fuller Brush Man, and my forehead hit the dash, it did the same thing one other time, and the third time I stumbled and hit the fireplace - ah, the joys of being a boy; girls just don't have those problems). So, I did the butterfly thing with my opening and I'm back on to the frustrating query process. Woo-hoo. Boy, Sister Cabernet is beckoning my name. Is it 5 yet?
S
So, today, I finally did what I have been procrastinating about for weeks on end - fixed the minor things that needed fixing. Whew! I feel much better now.
In the end, it all boils down to perspective. Were my first 250 words horrendous? No, sorry, I just don't do horrendous. I've done crap a time or two (okay, maybe multiple times), but horrendous doesn't fit in there . . . that's my story, and I'm sticking to it, people!! The perspective gained from MSFV secret agent contest gave my novel the jolt it needed. Well, it gave me the jolt I needed. I leaped the hurdle today, dove through the slight breach in the wall of frustration that has surrounded me for weeks, and . . . voila!!!!
There's a definite sense of relief. I have no clue why I delayed so long. The fix wasn't that difficult. It was kind of like the time my mother butterflied the gaping wound in my head when I was little. I still have the scar, btw. I was prone to cracking my head open as a child. Well, the first two times were Mom's fault (not that she beat me or anything, we just didn't have car seats back then, and she had to swerve to miss the Fuller Brush Man, and my forehead hit the dash, it did the same thing one other time, and the third time I stumbled and hit the fireplace - ah, the joys of being a boy; girls just don't have those problems). So, I did the butterfly thing with my opening and I'm back on to the frustrating query process. Woo-hoo. Boy, Sister Cabernet is beckoning my name. Is it 5 yet?
S
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
What Genre Am I?
That is the quiz I would like to find on Facebook that would - hopefully - easily classify the project I am currently querying. Would the result be: literary, commercial, gay/lesbian, or some unknown genre that nobody has ever heard of before? I have no clue. All I have are a bunch of questions without easy answers.
Now, do I actually need a genre to query? No. A lot of the advice on the agent blogs say if you do not have a clue to the genre of your novel, just don't mention a genre. Then again, there are blogs that say you must, must, must, must . . . must indicate a genre. Geesh, people, as if my stress level isn't high enough with my declining 401K and receding hairline. Now I have to - somehow - limit my brilliance into a specific genre!!!
I mean, an agent referred to this project as chick lit with a gay narrator. Well, does that make it chick lit (definitely not my intent, though I did intend to have a broader audience than just the GLBT community)? Does it make it gay lit? Does it make it commercial? Since it is character driven, does it make it literary fiction?
I have no friggin' clue. Initially, since the characters were gay (sorry, it's not erotic or filled with lusty sex scenes) I searched for agents that handled gay/lesbian fiction. Now, I'm beginning to think maybe I should expand my search and look for agents who handle commercial and/or literary fiction.
So, in the meantime as I wallow in frustration, I have backed away from writing and searching (only a momentary pause in my life) and immersed myself in the exploits of Stephanie Plum because I need a good laugh right about now. I know I need to expand my potential agent horizons, and have that on the agenda for this weekend. I just need to flip a coin and hope for the best, because nothing else seems to be working. I know, I'll write each potential genre on small pieces of paper, fold them up, and then draw them from a hat. Where's the sorting hat from Harry Potter when you need it?
I just need a simple answer . . . along with a more brilliant than I've obviously written query letter . . . and all will be right in my little Universe. I've stocked up on Sister Cabernet, Friday is Margarita Night, and it's a long weekend because of Easter. Life is good (well, if I don't count my frustration, lack of a concrete genre, and the fact that after being 78 degrees on Sunday, it dropped into the 40s and almost to the point of freezing yesterday).
Any thoughts on narrowing down a genre from the followers of this blog would be great.
S
Now, do I actually need a genre to query? No. A lot of the advice on the agent blogs say if you do not have a clue to the genre of your novel, just don't mention a genre. Then again, there are blogs that say you must, must, must, must . . . must indicate a genre. Geesh, people, as if my stress level isn't high enough with my declining 401K and receding hairline. Now I have to - somehow - limit my brilliance into a specific genre!!!
I mean, an agent referred to this project as chick lit with a gay narrator. Well, does that make it chick lit (definitely not my intent, though I did intend to have a broader audience than just the GLBT community)? Does it make it gay lit? Does it make it commercial? Since it is character driven, does it make it literary fiction?
I have no friggin' clue. Initially, since the characters were gay (sorry, it's not erotic or filled with lusty sex scenes) I searched for agents that handled gay/lesbian fiction. Now, I'm beginning to think maybe I should expand my search and look for agents who handle commercial and/or literary fiction.
So, in the meantime as I wallow in frustration, I have backed away from writing and searching (only a momentary pause in my life) and immersed myself in the exploits of Stephanie Plum because I need a good laugh right about now. I know I need to expand my potential agent horizons, and have that on the agenda for this weekend. I just need to flip a coin and hope for the best, because nothing else seems to be working. I know, I'll write each potential genre on small pieces of paper, fold them up, and then draw them from a hat. Where's the sorting hat from Harry Potter when you need it?
I just need a simple answer . . . along with a more brilliant than I've obviously written query letter . . . and all will be right in my little Universe. I've stocked up on Sister Cabernet, Friday is Margarita Night, and it's a long weekend because of Easter. Life is good (well, if I don't count my frustration, lack of a concrete genre, and the fact that after being 78 degrees on Sunday, it dropped into the 40s and almost to the point of freezing yesterday).
Any thoughts on narrowing down a genre from the followers of this blog would be great.
S
One smile/laugh per day . . .
Laughter is allegedly the best medicine. I happen to agree. So, with that thought in mind, I've started a smile per day email campaign (or, at least a smile five days per week campaign). It all started yesterday with this video that was posted on Tara's blog. Yes, the video made me smile and I've watched it quite a few times since yesterday.
Today's smile (and perhaps a happy tear or two) is . . . this. Enjoy!
I'm not sure what tomorrow's smile will be, but I'll try to post it here. My main goal is to email out these little smiles as I find them, because the world is filled with too much horror and sorrow. For every piece of bad news, there should be five pieces of good news. A psychologist friend once told me that. When she suggested such a thing to the local news networks, they told her that good news didn't sell. Go figure!
S
Today's smile (and perhaps a happy tear or two) is . . . this. Enjoy!
I'm not sure what tomorrow's smile will be, but I'll try to post it here. My main goal is to email out these little smiles as I find them, because the world is filled with too much horror and sorrow. For every piece of bad news, there should be five pieces of good news. A psychologist friend once told me that. When she suggested such a thing to the local news networks, they told her that good news didn't sell. Go figure!
S
Thursday, April 2, 2009
The Three Sisters of the Order of Maintaining Sanity
It's been a crazy week and the snark, at least on my part, has been flowing greatly. Somewhere in all the snark, in comments back and forth between my sisters and I, I made the following comment: Life is an adventure made more pleasurable by Merlot and Cabernet and Margarita - the Three Sisters of the Order of Maintaining Sanity. Well, things sort of spiraled more out of control to this point . . .
In the beginning, the Order of Maintaining Sanity was comprised of Sister Merlot, Sister Cabernet, and Sister Chardonnay. Life was good for the Three Sisters as they attended their respective vineyards and maintained the sanity of people worldwide. Life never remains good forever. Soon, rumors began to spread that Sister Chardonnay was not as pure as she implied. Sister Margarita - a visiting Sister from Tequilaville - soon announced that she caught Sister Chardonnay and Father Zinfandel doing more than stomping grapes in the vineyard. It soon came to light that Sister Chardonnay gave birth to . . . White Zinfandel. Oh, the scandal, the scandal. Both Zinfandel and Chardonnay were booted out and Sister Margarita became a permanent member of the Order of Maintaining Sanity.
Enter the young novitiate Sambuca who is under close scrutiny by the Three Sisters, Margarita especially. Sister Margarita (not actually a product of the vineyard) is worried about her position in the Sisterhood. There have been claims by exiled Chardonnay that she was set up in the nasty struggle for power that left Margarita in charge of the Sisterhood.
Sister Margarita is maintaining her innocence hoping that the worm does not turn against her.
Only time will tell who remains in charge of the Three Sisters of the Order of Maintaining Sanity.
In the beginning, the Order of Maintaining Sanity was comprised of Sister Merlot, Sister Cabernet, and Sister Chardonnay. Life was good for the Three Sisters as they attended their respective vineyards and maintained the sanity of people worldwide. Life never remains good forever. Soon, rumors began to spread that Sister Chardonnay was not as pure as she implied. Sister Margarita - a visiting Sister from Tequilaville - soon announced that she caught Sister Chardonnay and Father Zinfandel doing more than stomping grapes in the vineyard. It soon came to light that Sister Chardonnay gave birth to . . . White Zinfandel. Oh, the scandal, the scandal. Both Zinfandel and Chardonnay were booted out and Sister Margarita became a permanent member of the Order of Maintaining Sanity.
Enter the young novitiate Sambuca who is under close scrutiny by the Three Sisters, Margarita especially. Sister Margarita (not actually a product of the vineyard) is worried about her position in the Sisterhood. There have been claims by exiled Chardonnay that she was set up in the nasty struggle for power that left Margarita in charge of the Sisterhood.
Sister Margarita is maintaining her innocence hoping that the worm does not turn against her.
Only time will tell who remains in charge of the Three Sisters of the Order of Maintaining Sanity.
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