Inspiration Strikes!

So I'm lazing about in bed this morning trying to convince myself to get moving... Suddenly, my brain goes into brainstorming mode. I have a couple of secondary characters who were left hanging at the end of their respective novels--Jeremy from A HELPING HAND and David from HIDDEN FORCE. By coincidence, both of the characters are based in Memphis.

Actually, this isn't really that much of a coincidence. I love Memphis. It's one of my favorite cities so I use it alot as the setting for my books. But for the purpose of Jeremy and David, it was not planned to give either one a book of their own, much less one where they interact with each other.

I blame it on my brilliant readers. The most common comment about both books has been, "I hope Shayla writes (insert David's or Jeremy's name here) story." This morning, my thoughts drifted to a book with both of them in it. *grins* I've jotted down a basic synopsis and I think this story is going to interfere with the mainstream story I planned to work on next. Oh, well, when inspiration strikes, seize the day!

EC Novella


I'm starting with 18k as a minimum but you saw what happened to the last one.

Trouble comes in all shapes and sizes...

Well, the past few weeks as our economy tanked, my evil day job disappeared and the presidential campaign moved into high acrimony, I've been dealing with a personal health crisis.

Now, I'm a very laid back kind of person. I refuse to worry about things I can't change. I change the things I can. And I move on. I squirreled away my 401k and my savings into safe funds last December. I've been looking for a job for quite a while now...just no luck. And while I try to keep Shayla's stuff non-political, I tell everyone I meet that we can't afford another four years of Republicans. Go Obama/Biden!

But the one thing I could have done about my health, I needed to do thirty years ago. Quit smoking. I finally succeeded in July. Then I got pneumonia in August. I've talked about this on my blog. What I didn't say was the subsequent testing revealed a spot on my lungs--about 2.5 cm or one inch in diameter. Over the last eight weeks, I've undergone two CT scans, a PET scan and, finally this last Tuesday, a lung biopsy using a needle.

Today, I received the fantastic news that I don't have cancer. It's a benign lesion, possibly an infection. We'll be playing the watch and wait game that doctors loved to do so much.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, I refuse to waste energy on things I can't change so I really haven't been driving myself crazy with worry. My mother, however, has. Driven me crazy with worry. And my sister. And my friends. My boss. Co-workers. Pretty much everyone who knew what was going on. So while my sigh of relief was small and grateful, the gale force winds you heard whipping through central Arkansas were the combined breath of my friends and family. And to them, I say many thanks.

Now, since I've let the cat out of the bag on Shayla's political leanings, I will leave you with this most hysterical video. If you are a McCain/Palin fan, you probably don't want to watch it...unless you can laugh at the things you can't change!

I found this video at one of my favorits blog reads, Are You There Blog? It's Me Stephen.

Finished!

EC Novella (revised target)


Done for the day. My first full day of being a writer instead of an accountant! Woo hoo!

Finished the story. Ran through critique partner's comments from a partial I sent last week. Started through self-edits. I'll finish those tomorrow!

Finally!

Today I get to actually sit at home and write! *cackle* This week begins my full time writing but so far, I've spent the first two days doing other things! Monday was a trip to Little Rock to check out Veteran's health benefits. I need to get them set up so I have coverage once the day job stuff goes away. I have some additional paperwork to fill out but I should get that taken care of next week. Yesterday, I spent all day dealing with some tests at the hospital. Good thing the day job coverage is still in effect!

But today...I've got coffee brewing and I'm sitting at my desk working. I consider blogging working as long as I don't get too carried away. *cackle* Here's a picture of the new setup. I moved my desk into the living room to get away from the television. Too much distraction and the only TV is in the bedroom. You can also see I have plenty of help--not! The cats think the placement of the desk is for their use as a kitty condo.

And the chair is absolutely the best new "bed" in the house, complete with a nice warm throw.

I'll be working the kinks out with the "help" as we go along. *snort* Or until I'm properly trained.

As for now, the 18k novella went overtime. It stands at 20,062 and will probably end closer to 21k. As I wrote the last scene, I kept "telling" things that happened off screen between one of the heros and another character. Finally I gave up, went back to about the middle of the story and "showed" the scene. Now I'm back to finishing the last scene. Then it's off to my wonderful critique partner and I'll be on to the next project!

EC Novella (revised target)


Mainstream submission

Blogging at Liquid Silver, Monday, September 29!

Stop by Liquid Silver's blog on Monday, September 29, and check out my latest oral fixation! I'll be drawing one name from the comments for a free download of one of my books plus some other goodies--playing cards, autographed cover flats, bookmarks, chapstick, etc!

http://www.liquidsilverbooks.com/blog/

Hope to see you there!

Life Happens!

Well a lot has changed since I last posted! First, the job interview went well but they chose someone else. *shrugs* I was a wee bit over-qualified but it would have been work closer to home. And then this week, I find out the Evil Day Job is finally going away. I'm kind of being laid off but kind of not. LOL No, nothing is ever easy with me. *cackle*

The long and short of it is, as of next Friday, October 3rd, I no longer have an Evil Day Job. I've worked out a deal with the Evil Boss' Boss where I'll still be doing some work from them. Mostly from home. Occasionally might have to go there. Of course, the pay will be limited. But the upside is I'll have more time to write. I'll keep looking for another job but I won't jump into something just because I'm unemployed. I can manage for a while without a job and it gives me much more time to write. And the more I write, the more I have to sell, the more money I can make, the longer I can stay home! Woo hoo!

Unless a really great job comes along, I don't expect to go back to full time work until after Christmas. I might do some part time or contract stuff. I'll wait and see.

So, since I'm going to have a lot of time to write, I need to make the most of it. I've set myself a rather brutal schedule for October and November. Of course, November is NaNoWriMo. I'll be working on a submission for Harlequin Blaze this year. Lots of sex allowed so hopefully I won't stall out like I did last year. I can't seem to write without sex scenes! LOL I'll be posting my progess on my blogs and I welcome all whip cracking anyone cares to provide.

As far as progress...the novella is almost done. I should be able to wrap it up tomorrow. I should have finished today but I managed to paint myself into a corner. I finally figured out what to do to get out but I'm about done for the day.

EC Novella


I have to be up early tomorrow. Delilah Devlin, Myla Jackson and I are playing on the Ellora's Cave readers loop starting at 8AM Central tomorrow. Stop by and join us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ellorascavechat.

A Little Is Better Than None...

Some more progress--though it's slow.

I quit smoking a little over two months ago. July 3rd, actually. I'm beginning to wonder if the lack of cigarettes has affected my ability to concentrate. I say the lack of cigarettes because I was on the patch for the first six weeks so it wasn't lack of nicotine. I still have stories running around in my head but I can't seem to sit still long enough to write. Or I sit too still and fall asleep. *cackle* My sleep cycles have been totally whacked since I quit as well.

I'm not going to start smoking again. As much as I need to write, my health needs to take priority. I don't have any contracted deadlines pending so the only urgency is in my self-imposed schedule. I just need to retrain my brain but the old adage about teaching old dogs comes to mind.

EC Novella


The story now has a tentative title and at almost 15k, it's shaping up to end maybe a little short of 18k. But that's fine.

Now I need to do some Evil Day Job stuff. I'm working from home this morning since I have a job interview at 10AM. It's a lot closer to home (58 miles roundtrip rather than 108 roundtrip) but I'd be taking a pay cut. Of course, since the Evil Day Job may go away on its own, a small pay cut would be better than no pay at all! *cackle*

Gustav and Progress Update!

Well, I had to go to work yesterday. Got a text message late Thursday night that the power at the office was back on. So my progress slowed to a crawl.

Last night, with a break to watch the replay of Stargate Atlantis' The Shrine, I critiqued my friend Cynthia D'Alba's short story. Finished it up this morning. Since she hasn't finished my crit, I'm moving on to the Ellora's Cave novella. Since I really, really want a nap right now, we'll see what happens. *cackle*

EC Novella

Progress!!!

Short Story! Woo hoo!

Nearly 2k today! Except it's too long. I'll need to cut nearly 400 words. Oh, well, that's what edits are for!

EC Novella--soon...


First I have to crit a short story for Cynthia D'Alba. Only fair. I'm going to get her to crit my short story! LOL

And it looks like the office is still without power. Don't know if I'll have to work tomorrow or not. If I don't, I might finish the EC novella this weekend too!

Good Grief, Gustav!

Yes, I know I'm in Arkansas. You'd think old Hurricane/Tropical Storm Gustav wouldn't be that big a deal, right? Wrong!

Record rain--7-9 inches in two days. Besides the flooding, there's still nearly 70k people without power in Arkansas. Yesteday there was over 100k. Because Arkansas borders Louisiana on the south, linemen were sent in droves to Louisiana in advance of Gustav. Then the storm raced north, leaving a large bulk of Arkansas' energy workers out of place for the mess here.

I didn't go to work yesterday or today because there is no power at the office. We aren't sure if we'll get things back on today or not. Fortunately, I have power at home. Obviously, since I'm blogging. *cackle*

The power outage at the day job happened shortly after we shipped 20 truck loads of bottled water for FEMA. Thank goodness.

So I have two guilt free days off. Maybe three. We'll see. Right now, I'm going to finish a short story I've been working on. Need another 1600 words. After that, I have a story to crit for Cynthia D'Alba. Then...finish an Ellora's Cave novella. Don't know if I'll get it all done today but we'll see!

Progress meters... Let's see if they change today!

Short Story


EC Novella