I've had a wonderfully productive morning. Even though I'd love to sleep in I was still up before 430am. I find I can get a lot done early in the morning. Today was no exception. In fact got over 1000 words written by 530am. I call that a good morning! But I'm going to have to take a break soon to take DD #1 to school. She's off for the state Special O basketball tournament today. Then I have spring cleaning plans. Then have to go help my mother pick up a table. Oh, and plot out a garden (help!!)
We've decided to put in a veggie garden at my mom's. I'm not known for my green thumb. In fact I have no plants here in my home. My kids gave me seeds and little pots to plant them in a few years ago for mother's day but I just can't bring myself to plant them, knowing that they'll die a slow torturous death. Herbocide. That's what I commit on plants in my care. I'm hoping that, with my mom's help (plants love her, they thrive in her presence) we can make this garden work. I'm really wanting fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, peas and beans and zuchini.
Anyway, my breakthrough. I've been trying not to think about Dreamer's Sea. I feel horrible that I wrote this long story, which I really do love, but it has no zap, no zing, no pizzazz. Not that I found the missing element, but I've been playing around with the basic elements, like giving my hero a son who he's raised on his own since the boy was an infant (I have a reoccuring abandonment theme, I think). And now I've written a prologue that'll change the relationship between my hero and heroine. Before they didn't know each other before chapter 1 but now they were childhood summer sweethearts. It'll give them a foundation I can build on
Boy, I hope this works. I really want this story to be good. I still need that zip zang pizzazz, but at least this will build the romance between the two characters.
Just need to finish the prologue and brainstorm the rest of it.
This cold is just stomping me into the ground. It's been over a week and I'm not much better off. I hate colds. I'd rather have a 3 day stomach flu than a week and half cold like this. TMI? And I've had kids home nearly every day since last week. Various kids in various combinations. Today my stepdaughter is going to be home for the second time this week. Today is my son's first day in school all week. Crazy. Since I'm stuck at home I'm going to try to take advantage and get some writing done. Oh, I've switched wips again. Going Going Gone wasn't doing anything for me so I'm not back at work on my 2008 NaNo project. I wouldn't mind finishing it, I think it has potential. I've also been brainstorming Dreamer's Sea plot changes with a friend. I'm adding a major character who will change a lot of the story, so there's going to be MAJOR rewrites to be done. But I think it'll make a huge difference. At least I hope it will. But I won't be digging into it until editing on Forever Home is done. I'll be busy until November at this rate! And that is a good thing.
1. Thanksgiving is this week! Where are you going? Besides eat, what do you do on Thanksgiving? Do you have any family traditions you’d like to share with us? Don’t forget to take pictures! (You’ll be asked to show them next Monday! This will also prove handy for Coffee Chat!)
This year Thanksgiving will just be DH and two of our kids and I. Two kids will be going to other places. Usually we go to my sister in law's who puts on a big spread, but my mom is out of town this year, down in Texas with my brother, sister and their families. We'll have a belated Thanksgiving on Sunday with my in-laws (due to my m-i-l's work schedule). Don't know whether we'll have turkey or not. Maybe we'll do a pot roast. And no, don't think we'll take pictures.
2. What is your favorite gadget? Why is it your favorite? If money was not an object, what gadget would you buy for yourself?
I love my mp3 player. I listen to it at work every day (need my favorite talk radio show fix) It's not fancy, just a Sony Walkman that holds about 300 songs and has a radio. Can't afford an iPod and I don't really feel like I need one. I have a pretty basic phone. It does take pictures, but I could probably do without if I absolutely have to. If I had to have a gadget.... hmm... no, can't really think of anything that I really really really want. Maybe a new digital camera.
3. You’ve been chosen to be a contestant on “Survivor” and you leave in 6 weeks. How will you spend the next 6 weeks to prepare for the challenge?
I haven't watched the show, so I'd probably spend 6 weeks figuring out how I could get out of going. I'm not into these weird survival, eating bugs and swinging on ropes over 500 pits. I'd do much better, as another blogger says, on Biggest Loser (and I have thought about it).
4. How many times a week do you visit the ATM machine? Do you normally carry a lot of cash?
A few times a week. Usually to get lunch money for DH. No, I don't carry around a lot of cash. I dont' have a credit card, I do have a debit card and I prefer it that way. I've had issues in the past and I have no wish to go there again.
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I'm home for a little while, just til my son gets home from school. I'm very pleased with myself actually. Yesterday we spent most of the day at my mother's house since she left crack o' dawn yesterday for Texas. I came armed with only my laptop and my memory stick... which didn't work with my laptop (argh) so I got a pad of paper and started writing. Later I grabbed an older memory stick from home and typed my fingers off. I'm pleased to say I'm up to 47848 words!! Woo hoo! Only 2152 to go!!! So yesterday I wrote over 3000 words. I know I have many many many words to go before this one is finished so even if I get to 50K by tomorrow, I probably will put it aside and get back to the Sweet Forever sequel.
As always, I've been thinking of different angles for Dreamer's Sea. And I tossed around an idea which would COMPLETELY change the entire fabric of the story. Maybe the change would be too drastic and would render it unrecognizable as Dreamer's Sea. But what I thought was writing it over again... in the first person and making it more humorous. I would have to drop some of the story lines, or at least change them a bit so I lose the drama queen tone.
Would I really want to do that to a manuscript that I've put so much into? Or just write something completely different. After all, I'm planning on participating in January NaNo with some writing friends. Even though it doesn't have to be for new projects, maybe I could give it a shot.
But I have time to think about that. For now I just want to hit that 50K mark.
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Well, the whole family, except for my oldest, has done the stomach flu thing. My lucky DH got it twice. Fun for all!! I just hope my oldest doesn't get it. That would be horrible.
Well, not really, but it was a day away from writing anyway. Except for some notebook writing, I stayed away from NaNo yesterday. But I did help make Whoopie Pies, chili, go to the grocery store twice (which is a long trip since we have no grocery store within 20 minutes of home) and did a Walmart run. Ca-ching. I can't believe how expensive groceries are getting! At least gas prices are going down, but still...wow. We made the executive decision to get rid of our water cooler rental and buy one of our own. We don't have good drinking water from our tap so we go for bottled but it's one expense that isn't a necessity (well, we have lots of those, but this is the easiest to give up. So, I've lost a day, but my word count is at 37546 currently so I'm not in bad shape. 12454 words to go in 14 days. So I need to average 889 words a day. I can do that easily. Oops.... I shouldn't get cocky. On other fronts I've been brainstorming with a friend regarding whats to be done about Dreamer's Sea. I'm planning on leaving it alone for now because just thinking of the overhaul it needs makes me want to crawl under the covers and hide. It means taking one of my secondary characters and giving him a much bigger role in the story, which also means changing his personality from cold elitist jerk to absent minded cold elitist jerk and I'm not sure that will go together. So I'm not going to worry about it right now. I have a few minutes to write, so I'm going to make an attempt to shave off some of my average words per day.
I've been talking to friends who know a little about Dreamer's Sea and I've come to the conclusion that I need to shelf it until I can decide what I need to add to it to make it completely awesome. Not that it's not completely awesome right now, but I've decided that it's missing angst. With a few exceptions, it's a story that kind of strolls along with no twists or turns. I came up with a few wrenches to throw into the works for my heroine and hero, but none that really grab me. I really want to avoid the whole love triangle thing. I've invested too much time to give up on the story completely, but seriously, it needs more than just a new query and synopsis. I'm sad, but I figure if it took me over twenty years to get Finally Home published then I can wait a little longer on Dreamer's Sea. In the meantime I'm speeding through my Nano story and I have another story that's waiting for me. I have plenty of angst in both. In fact I have a bunch of angst-ridden stories that are awaiting my attention. I have no lack of wips to work on, thank goodness. My word count thus far is 31153. Yahoo! That means 18847 words left to write in 18 days. That's only 1047 words a day. I'd love to finish it in a week.
Yes folks, tomorrow is the big day. I'm really not pleased that November is starting on a Saturday. I actually find weekends the most difficult time to write. If I get up early to get something done I'm generally followed by my DH who loves to chit chat. And I work a full day on Saturday. And Sunday we need to paint. No, every November should begin on Monday.
I'm really looking forward to this story. While I had a touch of the paranormal in Dreamer's Sea, this one will have a full fledged haunting. Been watching Ghost Hunters for my tips. Diane Craver has my hero up as her Hottie Of The Week.
Speaking of Dreamer's Sea, I've decided that it's in NO WAY done. I thought it would be easier than it would be, but of course I've been distracted lately. I did hear back from one of the agents I queried. A polite no thank you but good luck form letter. Okay, I'm not bummed (well, a little) but I don't wear rose colored glasses either. I would not be surprised if I fall flat on my face with these three agents. Someone will love it. There's an agent for me out there somewhere!
I missed a lot of writing time yesterday with an unexpected trip to the doctor. My calf has been hurting with a cramp like ache for a day and a half so I had to check it out because of the worry of blood clots. Had an ultrasound done on it. Thank goodness its all clear. Still sore but no iminent death lurking down there. Then I had to do laundry. Blah. I need to be rich so I can hire someone else to do that stuff.
If only it could happen in real life. I dreamed that I heard back from Harlequin and they included a check for 9400.00 as an advance for That Kind Of Magic! Wow! I was absolutely thrilled. And to add to it I had another letter from another publisher with a check for 120.00 for a short story. Hey, a girl can dream, right? And so this morning I'm back to editing because I'd really really really like to someday receive a check like that. I've pretty much decided that I'll do NaNo. I've got a story brewing in my head and it won't leave me alone so I'm going to go for it. Ive got my characters picked out, I've got my setting, which I absolutely love, I'm going back to horses in my story, which I miss. I'll post a collage and a blurb on the story when I get it put together. This means I have half a month to finish up on Dreamer's Sea, which I think I can do. The synopsis is the most difficult part I have to face now. I really dislike doing them, but gotta do what I gotta do. We got more painting done (I'll have to post pictures when we're done) this weekend. Just need to do trim and then move my desk so we can finish the dining room. I really like the colors and can't wait to get new curtains. Going to be real purty. Time for breakfast. I'm enjoying a quiet morning. The kids don't have school today so they're sleeping in. I really enjoy the quiet even if I have to get up at 4am to get it.
I'll probably wait til the last minute to decide. I have to weigh the projects I have going against starting something new. Currently I'm still working on Dreamers Sea (this was my 2006 NaNo project), but I'm thiiiisss close to finishing it. Just have to rewrite the beginning and then I'm going to send it off to another pair of eyes and I'll write my synopsis. Then it's agent time! I should, if I concentrate, be done with this in no time. Right? Yeah, how often does THAT happen? Life always throws something in my path. But the good news is that I'm not expecting any visitors, no people in to do work on the house, no appointments outside the house for a while. So there's no excuse not to get the deal done. Well, except for Wednesday when I have to go pick up our new dining room table and a new chair. There is that. Otherwise my calendar is clear for the rest of the month. So while I'm inspired and have my DS document open I'm going to go work on it.
And there's no excuse. Yes, I've been editing. Nearly done with the editing for Dreamer's Sea, except for the crit process. So, I ask, how much stock do/should writers put in critiques? I'm just afraid with this story that by waiting for the crit process to be finished I'll be 89 years old and I'll have to rewrite the whole thing. Well, maybe 45. It's long book. So, should I depend on these critiques or just trust my own judgement and send it out when I my editing done? I'm still waiting to hear from Harlequin Blaze regarding the status of That Kind Of Magic. Anytime now. Aaaanytime. Well, anytime between now and November. Not much going on in my world. Kids are back to school and the projects are starting to pour in, as are school photos and soon fundraisers. Ca-ching!! I havent even recovered from school shopping. Well, must be getting back to what I do to earn a paycheck. Not writing. yet.
Yes, school is back in session tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it with mixed feelings. On one hand I've been really enjoying the fact that I don't have to wake anyone up in the morning. They can get up when they want, which gives me much peace and quiet in the mornings and it means I can go into work early so I can get out early. And they've reached the age where they can take over some of the chores that I've had to get done in the morning before work. But now I have to get them up and make sure they have lunches, have to share the bathroom and make sure they're out the door on time. My quiet is shaved down considerably. And I have to go in to work later, which means getting out later. And dealing with homework woes. Math is not a popular subject around here and I hear it. I'm just as bad at math so it's not like I can even help them out much. My DS is good though. I'm sure there'll come a day very soon when he'll be helping them with their math homework. Then there's my editing. I've reached the halfway mark in editing Dreamer's Sea. Now that doesn't include critiques, which are coming in slowly. But at least I feel like I'm making good progress despite the things that take me away from it (pesky things like laundry and shopping and work). I've been thinking of whether or not I'll be attempting NaNoWriMo this year. I have an idea of a story I could write but it would be MEGA WORK. It's a fantasy. I guess it depends on where I am with Dreamer's Sea by November 1st. I hope it'll be finished. Fingers are crossed. I want it to be read by many agents (or just one) by November 1st. Wish me luck.
Thanks Marianne and Diana for your advice. I think I've faced it.... I need to rip apart my first chapter and start it from scratch. Maybe the first three chapters. I've heard that some writers just chuck the first several chapters and start further into the story.
I don't know if I can go that far, but I believe a total revamp is in order. And I have no idea how I'm going to start it.
In the meantime I've been getting lots done on Where I'll Stay, which is the sequel to Sweet Forever. No blocks there so I'm letting it flow. Since it's all new stuff I can bring a notebook with me wherever I go and just write. At this rate, I'll have this wip done and out to a publisher before I'm through with Dreamer's Sea. But I love DS and I want to give it my best.
Even if that means ripping it apart.
At least the crits, for the most part, have been positive. People like the hero and heroine and that's pretty important. I just have to cut out the backstory. Yes, I said it... back story. I have it.... lots of it... HELLO, MY NAME IS CERI AND I'M A BACKSTORY JUNKIE.
Okay, I feel better.
And now for a little frivolty. (did I spell that right?)
I've got two writing projects up in the air right now. I've got the edits and the crits going on Dreamer's Sea and I've been typing my fingers off to get my notebook full of Where I'll Stay onto my Word document. I'm really happy with this WIP. The heroine in this story is so different from my heroine in Dreamer's Sea. She's actually fun to write. I'm going to hate to leave her behind when I have to get back to DS full time. The crits I've been getting for DS have been for the most part really positive. The one thing people have been saying that the beginning is a bit long and not much action. It frustrates me a bit. I feel like I'm walking a fine line here. It's a longer book than the others, I liked taking the time to set up the scene, draw the reader in. But I don't want to lose them either. I know I've agonized over this before. And I'm sure I'll agonize over it again. At least I don't have this problem with Where I'll Stay. But it's a totally different story. ________________________________________________________________ The dreaded summer work has arrived. I may have to be putting in some overtime at work to get what I need to do. Just great. Oh well... my bank account is hungry.
But I've had a very busy week. It was actually the first week of the kids' summer vacation. I took advantage of the fact that I didn't have to get them up early and went into work an half an hour early every morning. It's starting to get busy at work, one of my busiest times of the year, so I'm trying to keep ahead of the rush. Also we've been waiting for a last minute notification that we'll have to head down to Boston to the airport for my stepdaughter's flight down to her mom. Oh, what a joy. After 2 false alarms, I think we FINALLY have our date, July 4th. Of course we'll have to leave home around 3am. The flight leaves at 530am. The only two good things are that we'll miss the traffic and I don't have to work Friday so I'll be able to go back to bed when we get home. Unless the biomom yanks us around (again). Sorry, I won't go there.Oh, yeah. Our rent is about to go up. Again. Thanks to the cost of heating oil. I'm seriously thinking it's time to buy a house. We're paying more in rent than we could in a mortgage. We just have to buckle down and stop the spending on the unnecessaries.
____________________________________________________________ In other news, I've gotten a lot of editing done on Dreamer's Sea, which is good. I'm worried about my heroine, that she's going to be too wishy washy over her feelings for the hero. I've also been looking at agents, think I have a few picked out. Do I dare query an agent before I have the entire manuscript edited? I have the first three chapters pretty clean, but the majority isn't. If I work real hard I'm sure I can have it done in a few months which may be just fine if it takes a few months to hear back from a query. I really just want to get the ball rolling. Motivation, maybe? ___________________________________________________________ Borrowed from Marianne's Blog: What am I reading: The White Mare's Daughter by Judith Tarr. It's a "historical fantasy" set (I believe) in Europe around 4500BC. It's a long, but really good book, although it took me about 3 starts to really get into it. What I'm writing: Basically just concentrating on my edits of Dreamer's Sea although when I can't do that I've been writing bits and pieces of my sequel to Sweet Forever. Oh, and I've got another story idea in mind and that just drives me crazy because I have MORE than enough to work on!! But still, I've been jotting down notes because I'd hate to lose the idea. ___________________________________________________________ In case I don't get a chance to post again this week, HAPPY 4TH OF JULY ALL!!!!!!
Yes, I said I was going to have a contest and here it is!
I'm giving away a free autographed copy of Where One Road Leads and it couldn't be easier to win. All you need to do is to go to my new website It's All About The Romance, check it out and leave a message in my guestbook and you'll be entered to win. I'll announce the winner on Saturday. So go on and enter!
I'm very pleased to announce that my three chapters of That Kind Of Magic is off and away to Canada. Now I have to wait, but I've already plunged back into editing of Dreamer's Sea. Did I mention how much I hate editing? I submitted several chapters to my crit group before taking a break and working on TKOM. I don't know if I should pick up where I left off and send more in or go it alone. I love the input from the group, but it's such a loooong project and with the length of this particular manuscript I'd be submitting chapters for months. If I go it on my own I may miss areas that need fixing, but I could get through it faster. Then again, I may be able to do just fine on our own.
There's not much on tv these days. That's great for my writing but I'm very sad. We lost a completely awesome show this past week thanks to the poor treatment by ABC (long hiatuses while bad shows were playing, being moved from time slot to time slot 6 times in 2 seasons.... the writers strike). Men In Trees was still awesome and had such a loyal following and now we're all sad. I wish the cast well and thank them for some of the best tv on tv. I'll miss Elmo and all the Elmoians.
Here's one of my favorite videos from the show. Jack and Marin are awesome and Jack 9aka James Tupper)is so handsome. He's my model for my hero in Dreamer's Sea.
Now I have to get back to editing. Remember to get on over to my website and leave a comment and you may win an autographed copy of Where One Road Leads!
Life has been pretty stressful over here in the Hebert household. I won't go into details except to say that I haven't been able to concentrate on writing for the last few days. I have been able to look over other wips that I've started and put aside though (sometimes I like to check in with old projects to see if there's anything worth keeping, to see if anything sparks my interest). I think I've mentioned that I have a story that I started working on, oh, probably 17 years ago. A fantasy. It's a very ambitious project that I would love to complete because I love a good fantasy. But this project would be very time consuming, bigger than any project I've taken on before. Now my question (or questions). Is it a smart idea to write outside your comfort zone? I write contemporary romances. I think I do a pretty good job at it. So should I put it aside to start on a completely new genre? And is it even a good idea for a new writer, who's trying to establish a fan base, to wander away from the genre she's writing in to try something new, or is this something that should be put off to a later date. Not that I'm ready to jump into it today. I still have to polish up That Kind Of Magic, edit Dreamer's Sea (with it's new beginning) and write the sequel to Sweet Forever. Then I can decide. The 5th season in New Hampshire has begun. Black Fly season has officially started. They come straight from the bowels of Hell. I'm sure of it. Soon they'll be joined by mosquitos. I love spring in New Hampshire.
Well, after thinking about it for a few days I think I'm going to have to rewrite at least the first 5 or so pages of Dreamer's Sea. I'm kind of bummed out about it, but seriously, those first pages are a little slow. Generally, with my shorter manuscripts, I jump right into the center of things, but I thought I'd give myself a more gradual build up. So I have a feeling I'm going to be looking at a blank screen for a while. But I'll push past it. I always do. I'm still sitting on my Harlequin query and synopsis. I'm nearly to the point where I'll look for a US based publisher just to avoid having to find an international reply coupon. Maybe Kensington would be interested. They apparently work with Samhain as well, so maybe the association would help me out, get my foot in the door. But there's something about being published by Harlequin. It was something I really wanted when I started writing. Everyone has heard of Harlequin, afterall. But maybe it's time to look in a new direction. Broaden my horizons. Look at all the possibilities. I'm also rethinking the fantasy I started eons ago. I've wanted to write this one for, oh, 17 years or so. Maybe, once I get a few other projects finished, it'll be time to sink myself into it for real. Yikes, time to get ready for work. But it's been so slow there. At least I can think about writing.
I'm sending my query and synopsis out this week, come Heck or high water. I'm 100 pages away from being finished with my editing, which actually is going pretty well so I'm sure that it'll be done and ready to go by the time Harlequin Blaze requests the full. I'm going to stay positive. They WILL ask and they WILL love it. I hope. I hear that Blaze wants its authors to submit at least 2 manuscripts a year. I wonder if I have at least 2 Blazes a year in me. I do have several possibilities though. But do I want to go that way or do I want to go for an agent and write how I want to write instead of writing one single style. Then I have to turn my attention to Dreamer's Sea again. I'm wondering if I should continue submitting it to the crit group. I love them but it's such a looooong process. It'll be worth it in the end. It has to be worth it in the end.
Oh, I'm so happy!! I found Blake Shelton's new video on You Tube
Snow. More snow. Enough snow to possibly break our all time snowfall record. I believe it.
Enough snow so school is canceled today. The kids won't be pleased. Yes, I said that. Two of them have after school things going on and my oldest is just crazy about school. There's no place she'd rather be.
Got some more editing done on my HQ Blaze and have just added back in a very steamy Blaze-worthy scene but it's put me over the maximum word count so I'm going to have to do some trimming. Not as much as Dreamer's Sea, but enough. I just have to remind myself not to add anymore unless I take some away. I'm glad I've made some progress.
I've been looking for pictures for my book trailer and have been having problems finding someone to represent Ben, my hero from Sweet Forever. I wonder if George Canyon would let me use a picture of him. He's the model for he character and there is no substitute. It'll be the same when it comes time for a trailer for Dreamer's Sea (I'm staying positive). I'll need James Tupper for that role. He (physically) is Jonas.
A reminder! There are still two more days of author interviews over at Diane Craver's blog. Yesterday she interviewed Allie Boniface, today she talks to Diana Castilleja and tomorrow it'll be me.
at plans. Well, he must be having a heck of a belly buster at my expense.
I've hardly done any editing on Dreamer's Sea AT ALL. It's very sad. I want to get it done but by evening I'm just beat and I have the attention span of a goldfish. Maybe I should be doing my editing in the morning and new writing in the evening..... well, there I go.. making plans again.
Truth is I'm having much better luck writing the new stuff. I've got pages and pages handwritten just waiting to be transfered over to Word. I have the story on my brain, figuring out different angles, different paths to take. I love the story, I love the characters. But I love the DS characters too. But they're not new anymore.
So anyone have any tips to get focused on the work that NEEDS TO BE DONE? Besides moving into an apartment of my own with no other humans within 5 miles. Or more. Does anyone have a copy of Nora Roberts' bank statement? Maybe that would be motivation enough.
Okay, lets see what we can find to entertain us.....
Found some... from one of the best tv shows EV-ER!
I'm trying to come up with a writing plan. I've been doing a lot of handwriting of my sequel to Sweet Forever, pages of notebook, when I've been hanging out in the van waiting for some person or another. I think (for today) that I'll dedicate my mornings to writing this story and the afternoons and evening will be dedicated to edits of Dreamer's Sea.
Sounds fair, I think. I don't want to lose the thoughts I have on my sequel.
Let's see how long that works. Of course with the way my arm has been hurting I may lose all use of my right hand before I see either of these published. I'm kidding. Sort of.
And because it's Wednesday and we know what Wednesday brings....a new Men In Trees episode, I'm going to post this awesome video.
Can you tell I'm in lust with James Tupper? Lucky Anne Heche. She not only gets to kiss him on the set of the show but she gets to go home with him at the end of the day. Here's my Daily Inspiration...
Location: Southwestern, New Hampshire, United States
I'm 44 year old mom of 3. I work as a customer service rep for a publishing company, and I write. I have five published novels and working on adding to that.
THAT KIND OF MAGIC--AVAILABLE NOVEMBER 17,2010
What's a witch to do when she refuses to use magic to find love? Beautiful Wiccan Charlotte Noone has a shop for magical supplies and a goddess who's pushing her to find the man of her dreams. When Patrick Riordan, a straight-laced non-believer enters her life, Charlotte falls madly in lust with him. Despite their very different lives, neither can stop the erotic journey they’ve embarked on, but will it be enough to break through their barriers so they can accept that love itself is magical?.
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