It's Done!!!

I'm so excited - my new website and blog are up!!! Please stop by www.christinedabo.com to visit my new home. I'll be blogging over there from now on, and I would love it if every wouldn't mind updating their links for me.

My new blog home is www.christinedabo.com/blog

See you there!

Batter Up

After having finished the second draft of All Bottled Up, I'm taking a short break from it and am moving on (back) to a story I was working on before NaNoWriMo in November. Perfect Match was causing me some problems, and I'm not sure what was wrong. I'm hoping the short break and successful completion of two other manuscripts will help me work through the problems of this one.

The premise is a scientist on Mars (yeah sci fi!) gets hauled off to a dating service by some friends to find her perfect match. Which of course she finds in the form of a former boss who sabotaged her last project. The idea that they are romantically suited irks her. They go on a date, have some amazing sex only to discover that the heroine's current project is in danger.

And then the story seems to stall. I think the issue is around the internal conflicts of the two main characters. I also don't feel I'm making good enough use of the various sci fi elements.

As for a plan of attack, I'm going to push through and finish the exteral plot first. If I only have a skeleton cool. Then I can go back and check out the other layers and see what I can do to beef them up.

Okay I feel better now. :)

Done Second Draft!

I wasn't sure I was going to get through it tonight, but I managed to finish up the new ending of All Bottled Up. The last page was so hard trying to find the right words to tie everything together without it losing the light hearted fun of the rest of the book. But now it's done!

This weekend I'll start the third draft. This won't be as long or painful as I'll only be fixing grammar, spelling, and typos. I may add the occasional detail here and there, but not too much.

Ideally I'd like to add another 5k of words to get it closer to 80k, but I'm not going to stress over it. If the added description works, great. If not, I think I'm at an acceptable word count now.

The next step is to figure out what to do with it. :)

And Vicky, here is a cat for you. :)

The Flu

I hate it. Most of my plans for yesterday went out the window, including reading everyone's Thursday Thirteen lists. Both of my daughters were home sick with high fevers. Their temperatures bounced between 101 and 103.5. My poor husband was home all day looking after them, but when I came home I wanted to try and give him a break.

Needless to say I didn't get any writing done last night.

I was also up half the night with my youngest daughter so I'm beat this morning. I have a four hour class to teach and then I'm going to veg in my office for the rest of the afternoon until I can go home.

On my lunch hour yesterday, I scrapped the last chapter of All Bottled Up and started a new version of it. I think this is going to work much better and prefer the direction the story is ending in. I mentioned in a comment over at the Drunk Writers board that I suck at writing endings. I really do. I usually race through the last chapter and end up having one of my main character saying some sort of cheesy line. I'm trying to do better this time round. I'll let you know how I make out. :)

Thursday Thirteen # 13

Wow this is my 13th Thursday Thirteen! Hard to believe I've been participaing that long. :) In a means of celebration, here are thirteen Thursday Thirteeners I visit on a regular basis and never fail to learn something. :)

Thirteen Of Christine's Thrirteen Friends. 1. Alyssa Goodnight - I forget how I stumbled across Alyssa's blog but I'm so happy I did. It was on her site where I was first introduced to Thursday Thirteen in the first place. Thanks Alyssa! 2. Angela (Sci Fi Chick) - I think Angela was one of the first Thriteeners I visited. I love sci fi and thought it was awesome to meet another "chick" like me out there. 3. Jaci Burton - I'd read some of Jaci's books through EC and was really excited to find her blog. I've been reading her daily ever since. 4. Michelle Braden - It was so great to meet Michelle online. Fun to find another romance writer who lives on the opposite end of the country and see her struggles and her triumphs. 5. Angela James - This was my first introduction to an editor's blog. As a writer, it's important for me to see the other side of the business. Plus Angela puts up really sweet pictures of her daughter. :) 6. Joely Sue Burkhart - Joely is another writer who I find I have a lot in common with. And she is much more diligent with her editing than I am. 7. Racy Li - Kickass Ninja Smut. Enough said. 8. Colleen Gleason - I love Colleen's blog. Not only does she have cool 80s trivia, her books are awesome! I'm so happy I found her site. 9. Amy Ruttan - I didn't so much discover Amy through TT, but I know we've become great blogger buddies as a result. And even better, I've met her in person! My fingers are crossed for this book going out Amy! 10. Wylie Kinson - Wylie, Wylie. I love your name! And your TTs always make me laugh or think. 11. Vicky Krain - I promise I won't call you Victoria anymore. Another TTer who cracks me up on a daily basis. 12. Tink - Not only does she have a great name, her TTs are very cool. 13. Caylynn - She is always impressing me. How you are able to run that much I'll never know. Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

TAG!

Angela tagged me for this Name Game:

1. YOUR REAL NAME:
Christine

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first three letters of your name, plus izzle)
Chrizzle. LOL

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three of your last)
Cabo. I sound like a chocolate bar.

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (fav color and fav animal)
Green Platypus. Not very intimidating. :)


5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, Street you live on):
Alyse Timber. Sexy!

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 3 letters of mom’s maiden name)
Dabchwal. I say that and have the urge to apologize.

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (favorite color, favorite drink)
Green Sangria. Fear me!!

8. YOUR IRAQI NAME: (2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, any letter of your middle name, 2nd letter of your moms maiden name, 3rd letter of your dad’s middle name, 1st letter of a sibling’s first name, last letter of your moms middle name)
Hbaacah. ???

9. YOUR STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/body spray)
Orange Melon. ROFL!!!!!

10. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother & father’s middle name)
Rose Michael. I like this one.

Anyone looking for a tag? How about Kelly, Joely, and Alyssa. Or Maureen!

The Great Agent Search

One of my goals this year was to try and find an agent. I hadn't really planned on doing very much on that front until later on in the year. To be honest the prospect of sending out to agents was scarier than submitting to an editor. I'm not sure why. :)

However, as I'm approaching the end of my edits of All Bottled Up, my mind is debating what to do with the completed manuscript. I know I could submit it to a few publishers myself, but is that the best route for me at this time. After talking it over with my husband, I think I'm going to spend another week or so polishing it up, and then I'll try submitting to a few agents. EEK!

Now this means I need to do some homework. As this is completely virgin territory for me I want to make sure I'm making an informed decision. I'll be looking for someone who will want to be with me for the long haul. Someone who will be there to not only sell my book, but to help me build a career.

So tonight when I get home, I'm going to log onto to RWA site and start writing down some names. Then off to their sites and submission guidelines. :)

Getting a website

The past week has been a flurry of emails back and forth between myself and Moonglade Designs. The amazingly wonderful M.L. is building me a website. I can't wait to show everyone what an awesome job she's done!

But it did bring a few things to light for me. Things that I hadn't considered before I went down this road. I didn't know the first thing about a web host and what they do. And that there are lots of people who can build a functional site, but will the visual appeal be what I want it to be. Present the image I want as an author.

I wanted a professional sleek look. I've been fortunate enough to see some really excellent websites from members of the various writers groups I belong to. This was my gauge. I wanted mine to be on that caliber.

My advice if you don't have a site and want to get one, is do your research. Get examples of sites you like. Then, go out and get at least three quotes from professionals. If you have family and friends offer to do the site for you, let them know that this is a business - your business. You want to have the best site possible, with the best image. If they don't have the skills to do that, don't feel bad saying "no thank you".

Once you've made your decision, don't second guess yourself. In the end you'll be happier.

Goals

Now that my muse is back from her party with Amy, Vicky, and Wylie's muses, I think I'll be ready to get something done. For the last three weeks, it feels like I haven't been able to stop. Between work, trying to get a website up (it looks awesome I can't wait to show everyone), spending time with the family, writing has been very low on my list.

Not anymore.

This week I'm set my minimum goal of completing two chapters of revisions. But the question is how to do that. I always work best when I write these things out, so that's what I'm going to do today.

This week I will...

1. Actually take a lunch hour and write for at least 40 minutes.
2. When I am feeling a writers block approaching, I will put on my ten minute yoga tape to clean my mind.
3. I will write for one hour after supper before I watch TV. (And Heroes, Doctor Who, and 24 are on tonight so I better haul butt!)

If I can do these three things I should be able to get through most of my book this week.