A Year In Review

2008 has been an interesting year. Lots of ups and downs and some downs that were kind of up. My writing career progressed well.

My writing year in review:

PAST LIES was released in April. (Ellora's Cave) This was my 2007 NaNoWriMo novel.
Wrote novella LONGING FOR ETERNITY. Released July. (Book 3 Eternity series-Ellora's Cave)
Finished novella A HELPING HAND. Started in 2006! Released August. (Ellora's Cave)
Wrote novella DOUBLE HAPPINESS for another publisher and was rejected. Revised a little and sold to Ellora's Cave. Released October.
Wrote and sold a short story for Black Lace. THE SHOPPING LIST is in the SEDUCTION anthology. Release date Feb 09 UK/Apr 09 US.
Wrote and submitted another short story for Black Lace. Waiting for response.
Wrote and sold novella POSITIVE POSSIBILITIES. Release date February 4. (Ellora's Cave)
Wrote and sold novella HIDDEN HANDS. Waiting on edits. (Ellora's Cave)
Wrote and submitted novella FIGHTING FOR ETERNITY (Book 4 Eternity series-Ellora's Cave) Waiting for response.
Wrote 17k of new novella. Target Ellora's Cave.
Working on revisions of short story rejected by Spice for Ellora's Cave.
Worked on worldbuilding for a scifi series.
Did several false starts for Harlequin Blaze submission. I can't seem to strike a story that works. Maybe because I've been writing much hotter than Blaze.

The evil day job was a pain because there just wasn't enough work. I hated spending the day sitting in front of a computer with nothing to do. The days drag on that way. So it really wasn't much of a surprise when lay offs were discussed in October. The boss' evil boss and I came to an agreement. I took the severance and ran. My eventual goal of writing fulltime came way sooner than I expected but I looked at it as a blessing in disguise. Not having a day job, I could concentrate on writing and see if I have what it takes to make it as a writer. Yes, my poor savings would probably be reduced some but I was okay with that.

For October and November, I did really well at keeping a schedule and making sure I hit word counts. Didn't make NaNoWriMo this year because I was concentrating on novellas instead of a longer title. December I kind of crashed a little. With the holidays approaching, I was distracted. Still I managed a decent word count plus I've been mulling over a scifi concept for a good part of the month.

Heath-wise, life was interesting and filled with blessed relief. I had a lung cancer scare. Between CAT scans, PET scan and a lung biopsy, the pulmonary specialist said it wasn't cancer but an infection. We have to keep an eye on it for a while. Shortly after the relief of those results, I found out my thyroid wasn't working. Doc said hyperthyroidism. An ultrasound didn't reveal any additional problems so I'm on yet another pill for the rest of my life. But if that's the worst of it, I'm happy. It's not like I don't already take a bunch of pills! LOL

So as the end of the year approached, and the severance ran out, I started feeling a little paranoid about the budget. I knew I could make it but I abhor stealing from savings to live. The deductibles on the extra doctor bills pretty much guaranteed I would have to dip into the piggy bank. Then I hear from my counterpart at the old day job. She's found another job and was leaving the week of Christmas.

I was torn hearing the news. Thrilled for her, mind you! She had an hour and a half commute and her new job was ten minutes from her house. But what did this mean for me? I taught her most of the stuff she did and I'm collecting unemployment on this company. Legally, they could call me back full-time. If I refused, I'd lose my unemployment. Not that I thought my old boss would do that but hey, it's the company's right.

In the end, I called her and offered to come back part-time. We worked out terms, pay, hours, etc. For the most part, I'll work the first part of the month to close the books. The rest of the month, I'll be off with time to write. Plus it gets me out of the house some and the extra money will help me with the doctor bills! And I'm beginning to have a little cabin fever. *cackle* She doesn't really need someone full-time. I should be able to train some of the other staff for part of the responsibilities. The work may dwindle off or may end up just a week a month. What happens remains to be seen.

I dread the commute again. It's an hour trip one way on a back country highway. Then I tell myself to look on the bright side. I get a lot of good writing ideas during long drives. Need to make sure my voice recorders have good batteries!

So 2008 was full of the unexpected and it looks like 2009 probably won't change much. But that's okay. Life is an adventure and I don't want to know the end of the book before I've read it.

May your 2009 bring all your dreams home to roost! Happy New Year!

A Christmas Miracle!

I have a very peculiar cat named Princess. She's a tiny cat--about five pounds soaking wet with the loudest, most demanding meow I've ever heard. Twice I've had to take her to the vet for snake bites. She has a thing about running water, as in she fights me for the sink when I turn on the water. She feels it is her right to drink from the faucet instead of the *sniff* water bowl.

A few months ago, Princess disappeared for a couple of days. I'd stand outside and call her but to no avail, she wouldn't come home. Since the vet believes she's about 15 years old, each disappearance makes me think she won't be back. Cats have a tendency to wander off to die. But after a few days, she'd show back up looking none the worse for a few nights out in the elements. (No, she's not catting around, she's fixed!) Momma and I started joking about Princess' "other" family. The people she must be staying with when she wasn't here.

So a week or so ago when the weather turned off very cold, I hadn't seen her in a couple of days. No amount of calling or tramping around the neighborhood brought her home. Then a heavy sleet hit. It looked like we had several inches of snow but it was all ice and still no Princess. I couldn't get out to look for her because the ice was terrible and I had no idea where to look! So I worried and went to the living room window or the front door and called her a couple of times an hour. I told Momma I didn't think she'd come back.

So the day after the ice storm I tramp around--more like slip and slide around--looking for her or her poor frozen body. I headed off in one direction I'd seen her go--out of many but you have to start somewhere. Through a little patch of woods, there is a duplex facing the highway a block away. Near the duplex was a couple of storage sheds. I'd seen Princess over by the sheds before so I thought maybe she'd gotten locked inside one. Both sheds had latches and I didn't want to get caught rummaging through someone's property. I went around to the closest side of the duplex and knocked on the door.

A woman answered and I asked her if she'd seen a little black and white cat hanging around. She said wait a minute, disappeared for a minute then returned with Princess. Evidently Princess had been coming over there on a regular basis for months. The last time her mouth was messed up by a snake bite, she was getting special food from me and kitten milk and canned food from them. I told the woman and her teenage daughter that I didn't mind if Princess stayed over there. I was just worried when she didn't come home during the storm.

Now, I have seven cats, if you count Princess, and giving one away to someone willing to spoil a cat properly should be a good thing. And they knew how to spoil cats from the look of their other two. But it still pained me to lose Princess and I kept hoping she'd decide to come home. So a week goes by without seeing her little face or hearing her big meow. Until Wednesday.

Princess showed up, crying for food and demanding the water faucet be turned on for her personal use. I complied but I was supposed to pick up Momma to go shopping so I had to leave. When I got back, Princess wasn't around. I pouted for a little while. About six Wednesday evening, she showed up again and this time she stayed. Christmas Eve, yesterday, last night and today. Right now, she's perched on the back of the beddesk behind my laptop.

I told my mother it was a Christmas miracle. She suggested that Princess' new family had left town for the holidays. And damn if the last four times I've driven past their house, their car was gone. Momma's probably right. *cackle* But for now, all my critters are safe, sound, well fed, and happy with me.

Happy Holidays!

Have a very Merry Cristmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Yule, Happy Kwanzaa...

Whatever you celebrate or don't, I hope this season brings you joy, health, love, happiness and peace.

A Cold & Lazy Monday!

Well, I guess instead of bitching about the horribly cold weather, I could be happy I didn' t have to go anywhere today! Talked to my friend at the old day job. The temp was 15 when she left her house this morning. When she left her house, I was curled up under the covers with a dog keeping my feet warm and two cats sleeping on my side!

I did get about 600 words done today. Not much but more than yesterday!

I have some crazy ideas bouncing around for a new series but I have to work through some issues with it. Like, do I want it to be something to sub mainstream or gay, erotic or not. I'm finally thinking of doing something scifi. I mean, I've been a scifi geek since I was a child watching the original run of Star Trek (Yes, the original series--I'm really old.) You'd think I would have attempted something scifi by now. The closest I came to scifi was submitting a synopsis and sample chapters to an open call to Fandemonium Books in 2004 for the Stargate SG1 books. Still haven't gotten a rejection for that! Not really counting on hearing from them at this point.

I'm off to bed now. I'm aiming for at least 2k words tomorrow.

New Sale!

My Ellora's Cave editor made an offer on my gay romance novella, HIDDEN HANDS. Woo hoo! Snoopy dancing here!

Unedited Blurb:

Detective Jeremy Lawson doesn’t expect anything from his one night stand except sex. What he gets is a shooting, a mystery plus some of the best sex he’s had in a long time. Somewhere along the way, he also finds some tenderness for a lost soul in need of rescuing.

David March has let his troubled past blind him to any kind of happy future. But when a one night stand turns out to be a cop in shining armor, David begins to think differently about his life. As in, he wants one. But to have one, he has to stay alive.

(For those of you who asked for the story of some of my secondary characters, Jeremy is from A HELPING HAND and David is from HIDDEN FORCE. Two for the price of one! *cackle*)

Oh, crap...

I'm the first to admit I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to television. I watch few shows regularly but, I've always claimed with much pride, I absolutely do not watch those trashy reality shows! At least not until now. *hangs head in shame*

I blame Twitter. I'm not sure who on Twitter. I need to go back and figure out who made the comment about Top Chef. Something to do with someone said something about the Today Show host's lack of taste--as in an unsophisticated pallet. I had to check this out and I became hooked. Since Bravo replays all the episodes during the week, I've caught up on this season. I also watched another season of reruns.

Now I can't help myself. If I'm channel surfing and see "Top Chef" on the online guide, I'm there! I'm addicted to a reality show complete with the over the top dramatic music, the long (meant to be) suspenseful pauses and the back biting bitchiness of the contestants and sometimes the judges. ARGH!! Yes, I need to figure out who posted that comment on Twitter and then use the vodoo doll on them!

Busy Week!

I hope everyone had fabulous Thanksgiving--or Thursday depending on where you live. I had a blast at Momma's with my insane sibs and their offspring. Food was wonderful as usual. You can't go wrong with my mother and sister in the kitchen.

It was a really busy week. We not only had Thanksgiving Day, we had a day before TD meal as well. The oldest niece couldn't make it up on Thursday because she had to work. So sis put together ribs and all the fixin's on Wednesday. The eldest niece brought a few friends. I think we scared them but that's okay. They seemed to have a good time anyway.

Monday and Tuesday I had to go work for the old day job. The auditors were in for preliminary work. Since I helped with some of the major transactions last year, my former boss wanted me there in case there were questions. I remembered just how much I did not like the early morning thing with long commute. Blech!

Needless to say, the writing suffered this week. I'm not going to make my NaNo. My combined word count for the month was almost 26k words--and that was on several projects. Plus I had a couple of stories to revise and get ready for submissions--blurbs, synopses, etc. As much as I hate missing NaNo, getting stories submitted is more beneficial to my bottom line than NaNo bragging rights.

So now I have three stories subbed to Ellora's Cave and one short story subbed to Black Lace. *crosses fingers, toes and eyes* I'm about halfway through two more stories targeted at EC. I stalled on the one I was working (currently known as FS) on so I switched to another abandoned WIP (also known as OOC). I'll probably bounce between the two until they are done. Although OCC has caught my attention rather well this week. I might actually finish it first.

I spent part of the day with my critique partner, Cynthia D'Alba, and another writer friend, Shada Royce, at Starbucks in Little Rock. We had a write in from 9 to about 1 then went to lunch at IHOP. I did pretty good with OOC while I was there. I edited to make it more specifically targeted at EC--meaning I went from a M/F/M story to a M/M/F menage with an extra M in there somewhere. *cackle* The original story was rejected by Spice Brief earlier this year. I was going to make it longer and send it to EC as a M/F/M story. However, my wicked little brain took a left turn and I ended up revising much more than I planned. Plus I added some. I had about 1600 additional words and the old story completely revised by the time we finished up at Starbucks. I came home and did about 1000 words more. Now, I'm off to bed. Long day and I'm tired.

Plus, I have to get up in the morning! It's the last Sunday of the month and you know what that means! Yes, I'll be joining Delilah Devlin and Myla Jackson at the Ellora's Cave Readers Yahoo Loop. The emails will be flying from 8-4 Central US time. Lots of excerpts to post plus games and prizes! Stop by and check us out at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ellorascavechat/. You join the email loop and either have the emails sent to you or you can read and post online at the Yahoo Group page.

The word count meters for the week:

FS (Stalled)


OOC

Blogging at Liquid Silver!

Stop by and tell me what you are thankful for! You'll be entered in a drawing for a download of one of my ebooks! http://www.liquidsilverbooks.com/blog/

Hope to see you there!

Brrrrrrr....

It got cold in Arkansas! Yesterday morning we had our first hard freeze! The high never got out of the 40's! This is February weather, not November! This morning is still in the 30's with the high forecasted at only 50. Brrrrr... I have three cats vying for my lap. Glennie has taken the spot beside me and Romeo won the actual lap spot. Rusty keeps pacing around me, hoping to scare off Romeo. Not likely, Romeo will fight for attention.

I'm running behind in word counts again this week. Had a few interuptions such as a doc appointment on Monday and Momma's eye doc appointment on Friday. She had to have her eyes dialated so she needed a driver. And a walker. I had to keep her from running into things!

Back to the writing... Only about 3800 words of new stuff. My critique partner sent back Eternity 4 with her comments. I've made one pass through on the simple things. I'm getting ready to work through the harder questions. As soon as I get a fresh cuppa java and tap up the thermostat. It's a little chilly in here!

After I finish with her comments, I have to write the synopsis and a blurb. And then the hard part...a title! I suck at titles! LOL Wish me luck. Or give me a suggestion! The books in the series are 1) The Cost of Eternity, 2) The Rememdiu then 3) Longing for Eternity. I know, the second book didn't have "Eternity" in the title but when I wrote it, I really wasn't planning a series, it was just a sequel. Then I managed to set up the third book and voila...a series. So now, I'd like to continue the "Eternity" thing if at all possible. Especially since book four does set up a book five! I really don't do this intentionally! LOL

Word meter for the week...

Old WIP for EC

Hopefully, I'll get more written this weekend. I don't have any plans for the weekend except writing. Of course, synopses usually take me forever!

Another Boring Progress Update!

Except I don't have much progress to report! The last week has zipped past me in a blur with a conference, a lunch "meeting", doctor appointments and heating pads.

Last Saturday I went to a writers conference in Maumelle. Not exactly an RWA function but I did it more as a tax deductable excuse to spend the day with Cynthia D'Alba. I was suffering from withdrawal pains. LOL Cyndi lived close to my old evil day job. We'd have lunch usually once a week. Since I left the EDJ more than a month ago, I'd only had the chance to see her at our Diamond State Romance Authors meeting.

The writers conference didn't reveal any great secrets of writing. Then again, Cyndi and I snuck off during the first breakout session and brainstormed a book she's working on. The sessions we did attend really weren't applicable to the type of books we write so we ended up cutting out a little early. I had fun spending time with her and we made friends with a couple of people who might join DSRA.

Sunday was spent with Momma shopping! We snuck off and ate sushi without Lil Sis. I'm going to be in so much trouble if she reads my blog. Then again, we did call her on Thursday after my doctor appointment to go eat...you guessed it...sushi for lunch. I'm going to turn into raw fish one of these days. *cackle*

The lunch meeting on Monday was just another excuse to meet with writers. Cyndi was one of them but Melissa Francis and Shada Royce joined us for fabulous Mexican food and wonderful conversation! With humans! LOL I spend so much time at home alone with my animals, I've begun to meow and bark!

Doctor appointments were a pain. Thursday was a followup with the lung doc. Nothing to report. They took an xray and they are still waiting for some of the cultures on the infection. Friday was my regular annual checkup. Blech... Although Doc gave me something to help me sleep. We'll see how that works.

And heating pads... I spent part of Tuesday and most of Wednesday with a heating pad on my knee. Between Saturday, Sunday and Monday, on my feet, I was hurting.

So how much writing did I get done? Not a heck of a lot! LOL

Old WIP for EC


Wow! That's actually more than I thought since I last posted a progress meter! But 5k words in a week isn't a big deal when I was doing that in two days. *shrugs* Hopefully next week will be better... Then again, tomorrow is my DSRA meeting plus a NaNo meeting. Then Monday I'm back to the doc for a bone density test. Maybe next week will be better... *cackle*