Happy New Year!!

I can't believe this is my last post of the year. So much has happened this year both on a writing and personal front. I had my first request for a full from Ellora's Cave. I completed three complete manuscripts and started two others. In addition to the Toronto Romance Writers, I've joined two additional group, Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada and Passionate Ink.

And I started my blog!

In the up coming year I plan on adding a website and working on some newsletter articles that some of you may find useful. I still have my fingers crossed that I will hear from EC in January and I'll have some good news to share.

I wish you all the very best. Please have a safe and happy New Year's Eve!!!

Sneak away to post...

Today we have family visiting so I'm not sure how much writing I'm going to be able to get done. I've barely squeaked away to get a quick blog entry off. :)

At the end of the day yesterday I manged to get 4000 words written. If I can get a few more hours together I'll be able to finish the story and then I can move into a quick editing mode. This is probably one of the hottest stories I've written, so I hope it's coming off (no pun intended) well. I'll be sending it off to my critique partners very soon, so I'll find out then. :)

I thought I'd post this picture so you can all have a laugh. This has become the punch line to say in our house these days. :)I wish I could credit the original creator. If you know, please let me know.

Finding time

Today has been pretty crazy in my house. I've been struggling to find an hour where I can sit down by myself and get some writing done. I did managed to get about an hour of (relatively) uninterrupted time this afternoon. I was able to write about a thousand words and tweak two chapters. Once my kids go to bed tonight I'm hoping to get another thousand done and most of another chapter.

This new story has been really fun to write. Abbey and Michael have proven themselves entertaining foils for each other. This is also the first novella I've written and find the short word count to be an interesting challenge. We'll see how it ends up looking.

I think if I get it finished to my satisfaction I'll be sending it off to Samhain and Red Sage. And depending of if I hear from EC in the near future, I may hold on to it for them. Only time (and some planning) will tell. :)

Thursday Thirteen # 8

I know this will be a popular theme for the this week's Thursday Thirteen, but I wanted to get this written out. There's something "official" when you write your goals down for the upcoming year. I'm going to focus on my writing goals for 2007.

Thirteen Writing Goals for 2007! 1. To get published. Lets get the obvious one out of the way. :) 2. To write consistently every day for one hour. If I get more time then great, but I'm more concerned with actually setting a writing hour and sticking to it. 3. To read five writing craft books. No matter how good (or bad) I think I am at anything, there's always room for improvement. It's also a good way of keeping my mind fresh. 4. To read two new releases a month. As Stephen King said, writers need to do two things: write and read. It's important to see how other writers handle dialogue, settings, etc. 5. To finish the second draft of All Bottled Up. 6. To finish the second draft of Summer Theatre (novella). 7. To plot and finish the follow up manuscript to All Bottled Up. 8. To finish the first draft of Perfect Match. 9. If Ellora's Cave doesn't buy The Bond that Ties Us, to send out partials to at least three publishing houses. 10. To query at least three agents this year. This will be uncharted territory for me, so we'll see how I make out. 11. To send All Bottled Up to at least three publishers. 12. To send Summer Theatre to at least one publisher. 13. To blog at least five times a week. 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!

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Whew!!

Wow, what a fantastic holiday we've had so far in my household. Lots of family visiting us over the past week with more to come in the next few days. My husband and I have decided to stay home on New Years Eve to make up for all of the insanity of the past few days. We're going to watch football, eat pizza, and cuddle. Have to start the New Year off on the right foot after all. :)

My husband went all out for me this year and bought me some wonderful gifts. One of them was the Complete Idiots Guide to Writing Erotic Romance. Now he defended himself and said he doesn't think I'm an idiot (smart man), and said after reading a lot of descriptions of How To writing books, he thought this one looked the best. I have to agree. I've only had a chance to read the first few chapters, but so far it's awesome. I'll talk more about it once I've had a chance to read it all.

On the writing front I haven't had a lot of opportunities to write. I've solved a problem I was having with All Bottled Up and have worked out the plot with the erotic novella I was writing. I'm still having a lot of fun writing both and am going to try and sneak away for a few hours later today to get a good chunk of the novella finished.

I hope everyone else has had a fabulous holiday. What cool gifts did you get?

Happy Holidays!!

This will be my last post for a few days. With all of the excitement of the Christmas season upon us, and family members arriving tomorrow, I won't make it near my computer. I wanted to wish everyone the very best for the holidays!!

Merry Christmas!!

American Title III

So I've been a bit slow posting this and have no good reason. My fellow TRW member Kim Howe has made it to the next round of the American Title III contest! We're all super excited and thrilled for Kim.

To vote for Kim, please send an e-mail to webmaster@romantictimes.com with One Shot, Two Kills in the subject line. I'm not being biased here when I say I think she has one of the best entries. Come vote! Tell your friends! Use multiple addresses! :)


For more info about the contest visit http://www.romantictimes.com/news_amtitle.php

For more info on Kim come check out her website: http://www.kjhowe.com/

Two more videos

I came across two more cool YouTube videos today. I thought I'd post them.

Treadmills - A group of very talented men dance on treadmills to the song Army by Ben Folds Five. Warning, there is some adult lanugage in the song.

Family Survival Kit. I love my family, but I thought this was hilarous!

Thursday Thirteen # 7

I thought I'd break away from the Christmas theme and show you some of my favorite YouTube videos. Enjoy!

Thirteen Things I like to watch on YouTube. 1. Evolution of Dance 2. Office Space Trailer. If the movie Office Space was recut as a thriller. 3. The Sound of Music. Again someone had recut the trailer to make it look like a thrill. 4. The Ring. Okay a reverse here. Someone makes a horror movie look like a heartwarming drama. 5. Free Hugs. This is very touching. 6. Numa Numa. No respectable YouTube list is complete without the Numa Numa dance. 7. Behind the scenes of Stargate. It's cute. I just like to see them all laugh. :) 8. Weird Al interview Kevin Fererline. LOLOLOL 9. William Shatner - I am Canadian. 10. Mike McDonald. His views on remote controls. 11. Mary Poppins. Yes another happy movie to be recut into a scary one. But very well done. 12. Ms. Dewey. Okay I'm cheating here. This isn't YouTube but rather a new search engine. She is very cool and I hope they come out with a Mr. Dewey! 13. Direct TV Ad. I know I posted this yesterday, but for those of you who missed it, it's worth looking at. 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

LOL

A friend of mine posted this link on another site. Really funny Direct TV commercial. A brilliant way of taking an idea and twisting it on its head.

Enjoy!

Details

I'm not the most organized person in the world and miss a lot of the little details if I don't take care to write things down. I'm well aware of my deficiencies and work very hard to overcome them. But I'm still surprised how much detail I skipped over when I wrote my first draft of All Bottled Up.

Sad, sad, sad.

I'm working through chapter 8 right now and it's painful. I have my main character experiencing the genie's home for the first time and she barely comments on what she sees. She's in a genie's bottle!! I'd be gawking like a kid at a carnival. So why did I leave that out the first time around? The good thing is I'm cleaning it up and making it a richer experience (I hope). At this rate I'll be able to get through to the end of chapter 8 and start a new chapter to fill in another gap in the plot.

I guess that's why they say there's no such thing as a good writer, only a good rewriter.

I think I'm crazy

*imagine that title sung in my best Gnarles Barkley impersonation*

Christmas is coming and I actually think I'm ready. No more last minute gifts, odds and ends, or anything else to buy. I'll have to make one run to the grocery store, but that's minor. That means I have an entire week to concentrate on writing, add in the missing introspection and descriptions that I skipped in my first draft.

Or not.

I'm going to try and work my way through two more chapters of revisions this week. That is, if I can ignore the CSI Miami game that is now installed on my computer. One of my students let me borrow the game because I love CSI. Not CSI Miami so much, but my friend David isn't in the game very much so it's all good.

I'm not going to be too hard on myself with the revisions this week. If I get it done great. If not, I'll drink eggnog for punishment (I hate eggnog...unless it has a "helper").

I'll keep you posted. :)

I almost forgot...

I was tagged by meme creator Wylie. Here we go. :)

SIX - List 6 all-time favorite books:
1. Slighly Dangerous - Mary Balogh
2. Dime Store Magic - Kelley Armstrong
3. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austin
4. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë
5. In My WIldest Dreams - Christina Dodd
6. Anything by Julia Quinn

FIVE - last 5 books read:
1. Mistletoe Kisses - Elizabeth Rolls, Deborah Hale, Diane Gaston
2. Dishing It Out - Molly O'Keefe
3. Pleasure Control - Cathry Fox
4. On Writing - Stephen King
5. Portrait of a Lover - Julianne MacLean

FOUR – list 4 favorite authors:
1. Julia Quinn
2. Stephen King
3. Jane Austin
4. Christina Dodd

THREE - favorite literary characters (male & female if you like):
1. Captian Wentworth and Anne Elliot - Jane Austin's Persuasion
2. Wulfric and Christine - Mary Balogh' Slightly Dangerous
3. The Phantom and Christine - Phantom of the Opera

TWO – share 2 of your writing rituals:
1. Getting up when it is quite to write (usually first thing in the morning)
2. I have to put my hair in a ponytail before I write. I have a tendency to play with my hair when I think, so this helps.

ONE – share 1 of your favorite quotes on reading/writing:
I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter. ~James Michener

Thanks Wylie, that was fun. :) I'm tagging anyone who'd like to join the fun. Post a comment that you're going to participate and I'll make sure to check it out. :)

Goal Obtained!

I managed to finish up my edits for chapters 5 and 6. I'm really happy that I was able to get this done in light of everything else that's going on this week. Tomorrow, I'm going to try and buckle down and get through chapter 7. Then I have some big decisions to make. I think I'm going to have to change the ending and lead into a new chapter 8 to extend the action a bit longer. I'm also hoping that this will get me close to my 80k end goal.

On top of meeting my editing goals, I've also nearly finished my Christmas shopping. I still have to get a few things for my husband, and wrap the presents I bought last night.

I'm also still working away on my novella. I'm not sure if I'm going to get it finished before Christmas, but I'm going to try.

Goal

Okay, I'm posting this now so I'll force myself to do it. My goal for the next day and a half is to finish my edits on Chapter 6. Seems reasonable right? I think so. So now that I've said it I better well get my butt to chair and do it.

I just need to work out the timing...

Thursday Thirteen # 6

With all of my regular TV shows currently on break for Christmas, I thought I would post about some of my favorite Christmas Specials.

Thirteen Things holiday specials/movies I love. 1. How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Don't talk to me about the movie. Wrong, Wrong, Wrong! 2. Muppet Family Christmas. I used to love this one as a kid. When I saw it on TV last year I sat down with my daughters to watch it. I forgot that Jim Henson was actually in it. I cried. Couldn't explain it to my girls either. 3. A Christmas Story. I want an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle! 4. The Ref. I know, not your typical Christmas movie. But I love it and Dennis Leary is a scream. 5. A Christmas Carol. Patrick Stewart's version. I know there are many, many other versions, but I'm a sci fi fan remember. 6. Scrooged. Same story, but really funny. Bill Murry is great in this one. 7. Christmas Calendar. I'm not sure the actual name of this, but Teletoon in Canada does it every year. Each day they play a short 5 min story of what Santa does each day before Christmas before the big day. It's really cute. 8. Rudolf the Rednose Reindeer. It's a classic and looks a little dated, but I still love this one. 9. Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. I know you'll want to argue that this is more of a Thanksgiving movie. But I always seem to watch it at Christmas. It's a fantastic movie that makes me laugh and cry. 10. A Charlie Brown Christmas. I haven't seen this one yet this year, but I'm hoping I haven't missed it. Who doesn't love Charlie Brown? 11. White Christmas. Not normally a movie I'd watch. A teacher I used to work with showed it to his class every December. I'm hooked now. 12. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. The tree!! 13. The Nightmare Before Christmas. The music is so amazing in this show. I'm debating letting my girls watch it this year. I think they may still be a bit young. We'll see. :) 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

Tagged! Five Favorites

Alyssa tagged me to list my five favorite Christmas songs. Here they are in no particular order.

1. Snow - Loreena McKennitt. Actually, this whole CD I could listen to over and over again at Christmas. Not filled traditional holiday songs, Lorenna's voice is amazing and very haunting.

2. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Barenaked Ladies With Sarah McLachlan. Find this song if you haven't heard it. Awesome is the only way to describe it. (I found a copy online - enjoy!)

3. Happy Xmas (War is Over) - John Lennon. Melissa Etheridge also has a great version of this song.

4. The Little Drummer Boy - Boney M. This is a throw back to when I was a kid. My dad would play this tape over and over for me and my sister. This was my favorite.

5. O Holy Night - Josh Groban. Chills. Everytime. (found this one too.)

You're it! I'd love to see what other people listen to during the holidays. Write your own top five and let me know. :)

Christmas Concerts

No post yesterday because my life was insane. However, I did get to go to my daughter's Christmas concert last night. I wanted to cry they were all so sweet. I kept looking around at all of the parents sitting in the audience and thinking how old everyone looked. Now I'm not sure if I also look that old (eek) or if we had our children eariler than everyone else. I hope it's the latter.

On the writing front, I'm still working my way through chapter 5 of my revisions. I've side tracked myself a bit as a novella idea has popped into my head. I figured it will only be around 15k, so I can work on that when I start to get burned out on editing. Right now my hero is sitting in a chair blindfolded while the heroine is telling him naughty stories. And good times were had by all!

MG Braden tagged me for this fun get to know me...so here we go!

Four jobs I've had:
1. English/Business teacher at Fredericton High School (largest high school in Canada).
2. Training Design Specialist for an insurance company
3. Research Assistant for Distance Education for the University of New Brunswick.
4. Technical Trainer for RIM.

Four places I've lived:
1. Fredericton, NB
2. Virginia Beach, Virginia
3. Waterloo, ON
4. Halifax, NS

Four favorite foods:
1. Chinese Food
2. Lobster
3. Chocolate
4. Coffee...it's a food!!

Four movies I could watch over and over:
1. The Empire Strikes Back (I'm a geek)
2. Moulin Rouge
3. The Phantom of the Opera
4. Dogeball (cracks me up everytime)

Four TV shows I enjoy:
1. Law & Order: Criminal Intent
2. CSI, CSI: New York, Criminal Minds
3. Heroes, Doctor Who
4. Stargate: SG1, Stargate: Atlantis
(yes I know I cheated, but there are too many :))

Four places I've traveled:
1. London, England
2. Tortola, BVI
3. St. Thomas, Virgin Islands
4. Montreal, Canada

Four places I'd like to visit:
1. Scotland
2. Rome
3. Australia
4. Las Vegas

Four websites I go to daily:
1. IMDB (daily dose of entertainment)
2. I-Mockery (cause I need my daily dose of silly)
3. CBC (daily dose of news)
4. YouTube

I'm going to tag Amy, Angela, and Wylie.:)

TBR Challenge - Review of Dishing It Out

Yesterday I managed to get through to the end of Chapter 4 with my revisions. Even with cutting five pages at the end of chapter one, I'm back up over 60k for a word count. My end goal is to try and come as close as I can to 80k. Still a lot of work for me, but I know where I need to fill some holes, and I plan on scraping the last chapter and completely rewriting it. With those changes I should get pretty close.

I'm also taking part in Angela James December TBR Challenge. I have a lot of books that have been piling up for me to read since my move back in July. With the change in location, pressures of a new job, and everything else, I haven't been reading a lot until recently. So when I saw Angela's challenge I thought, "Why not?".

After picking through the stack of unread books on my shelf, I came across Molly O'Keefe's Dishing It Out (Harlequin Flipside, April 2005). I feel more than a bit guilty that I haven't read any of Molly's books before now. I worked with her this past year on the Toronto Romance Writers executive, and won this book in a raffle back in May (I actually pumped in quite a few tickets so I could win this). I'd heard wonderful things about the story and was quite anxious to read it. Plus there was bubble bath in the same basket. Who could ask for anything more!

But then I moved and her book got packed with everything else. Needless to say it was my first choice for the To Be Read challenge.

The cover sets the story off on the right food..er I mean foot. It's fun and sexy, and so is the story. It's really too bad the Flipside line didn't take off. The line was a perfect fit for Molly's style of writing. Her writing is as funny and witty as she is in person.

As for the story itself, I devoured it in two sittings. I'm not normally a Harlequin girl, but I would make a point of buying any of Molly's books in the future. Set in the high stress world of gourmet restaurants and cooking shows, Molly opens the kitchen door and lets her readers take a peek at the chaos in the kitchen. I always had a secret desire to work in a restaurant. But not if I have to get up at 3am to bake!

I loved both the main character Marie and Van. Ah Van. He could cook for me any day. Even with his bushy eyebrows. :)The characters were funny, flawed, but felt like friends. I wanted to reach out and both hug and shake Marie at times. Her pride and flaws made her very real. Someone I could see working behind the scenes of any restaurant. Van was a strong alpha, but with some wonderful quirks. Who'd think he'd get stage fright! Perfect.

Dishing It Out is a keeper for me. I laughed out loud more than once, and for me that makes for a great book. If you find a copy of Dishing It Out, I suggest you grab it and enjoy it with a box of chocolates. :)

How Quickly Things Change

There is a bad flu going around. Everyone I know seems to have it. Yesterday I got a call from my daughter's Spark leader. Their first aid leader was sick and as a result they had to cancel the camp. Needless to say, I have one disappointed camper. We're going to put up Christmas tree today, so I'm hoping that will cheer her up.

On another unrelated note, one of my favorite singers of all time, Lorenna McKennitt, has a new CD out. You can see her perform one of her new songs live here. I'm hoping I get An Ancient Muse for Christmas. Now I just need to get my husband to read my blog. :)

On the writing front, I got through most of Chapter 4 last night with revisions. I think I'm starting to crystallize the story, getting rid of the excess, and improving the pace. Let's hope the rest comes together as nicely.

Writing Weekend?

My youngest daughter is going to Spark Camp this weekend. In case you're not familiar, Sparks are the 5-6 year olds branch of Girl Guides. So tomorrow morning, my little one will be off to overnight camp for the first time in her short life. I doubt she'll miss us at all - it's not really in her personality. For me and her father, however, it will be interesting. And by interesting I mean traumatic.

The up side, is my oldest daughter will be easy to amuse and will probably spend most of her time outside playing. Which means I'll be able to get some writing done. I think.

My goal for today is to finish the revisions to Chapter 4 and to get a start on Chapter 5. I'll have to work this in between getting camping supplies ready, doing laundry, and decorating for Christmas.

It's not as bad as it sounds. Really.

As I do things, my mind wanders and I'm able to work out scenes in my head before I sit down in front of the computer. I find that really helps me when I don't have a lot of extra time. So cross your fingers for me and wish me luck.

(I still can't believe they are taking them to camp in December. I'm sure it's warm and she'll have fun...)

Thursday Thirteen # 5

Good morning everyone!! I'm so tired right now I could crawl back into bed and stay there for the rest of the morning. However, I'm sitting at my desk at work getting ready for class. I read a great article on sleep yesterday and considering my current state, I thought I'd pick out what I thought were the thirteen most interesting facts about sleep.

If you like this list, please check out the source article here.

Thirteen Things about sleep. 1. The "natural alarm clock" which enables some people to wake up more or less when they want to is caused by a burst of the stress hormone adrenocorticotropin. Researchers say this reflects an unconscious anticipation of the stress of waking up. (I love/hate this. The only thing worse than waking up before your alarm, is not waking up before your alarm.) 2. Some studies suggest women need up to an hour's extra sleep a night compared to men, and not getting it may be one reason women are much more susceptible to depression than men. (Explains why I get grumpy when I'm trying to sleep and my husband is feeling frisky.) 3. A night on the grog will help you get to sleep but it will be a light slumber and you won't dream much. (A night on the grog?? Great expression. Sounds better than drunk, hammered, plastered, completely pissed out of my mind...you get the idea) 4. In insomnia following bereavement, sleeping pills can disrupt grieving. (Good to know.) 5. Dreams may not serve any purpose at all but be merely a meaningless byproduct of two evolutionary adaptations - sleep and consciousness. (They serve a purpose. That's how I write my books!!) 6. Scientists have not been able to explain a 1998 study showing a bright light shone on the backs of human knees can reset the brain's sleep-wake clock. (Who the hell comes up with these studies? Come here Bob, I want to try something.) 7. One of the best predictors of insomnia later in life is the development of bad habits from having sleep disturbed by young children. (I'll back them up on this one. I haven't slept through the night in seven years.) 8. It's impossible to tell if someone is really awake without close medical supervision. People can take cat naps with their eyes open without even being aware of it. (This is very creepy. I think I may have been doing this yesterday.) 9. A new baby typically results in 400-750 hours lost sleep for parents in the first year. (Ah, that explains the delusions.) 10. Certain types of eye movements during REM sleep correspond to specific movements in dreams, suggesting at least part of the dreaming process is analagous to watching a film. (A pretty X rated film in my case. I love my heroes...and my husband of course.) 11. Seventeen hours of sustained wakefulness leads to a decrease in performance equivalent to a blood alcohol-level of 0.05%. (I'd rather drink than stay awake.) 12. Diaries from the pre-electric-light-globe Victorian era show adults slept nine to 10 hours a night with periods of rest changing with the seasons in line with sunrise and sunsets. (Smart people. I think we should revert to this practice.) And last but not least.... 13. Experts say one of the most alluring sleep distractions is the 24-hour accessibility of the internet. (We don't need experts. I could have told you that!!) 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

Decisions

Today is a great day for me at work. I don't have any classes to teach, so I have a little more flexibility around my lunch hour. I'm torn about what to do through. I was really hoping to attack chapter three with some edits at lunch. Add a scene that I think will help clarify things later on in the book.

But I also need to go by my husband a Christmas present. *sigh*

Maybe I can do both. :)

On the writing front, I think the edits for chapter three will go smoothly. I'm still tryiing to figure out how I can add another 15-20k words to the story. Right around chapter seven or eight I'm pretty sure I jump ahead in my time frame, so I may have some flexibility there. Only time and editing will tell. :)

I opened my big mouth

Here in Nova Scotia, we didn't have any snow up until yesterday. I kept telling people I wished it would snow. It didn't feel like December without a little snow. Well someone listened. We got dumped on yesterday and what a nightmare.

I wasn't driving my minivan, but instead had my father-in-law's Saturn. It's a standard, which isn't bad for snow packed conditions. The problem was, so much snow fell, and the car was so low to the ground, I got stuck. That wasn't as bad as when I caught a snow drift on the highway and spun out in the middle of traffic. How I didn't get hit, I'm still not sure.

The good news is I made it home in one piece. The car was fine.

On the writing front, I managed to finish up the edits to chapter one and two of my WIP. I think the pace is much better now and it leaves me room to expand in later chapters. I'm hoping I'll be able to work on chapter three today at lunch.

Forward Progress

This past week didn't go the way I'd hoped for writing. Yesterday though, I feel like I got back on track. I met with my friend Renee and she gave me some great advice regarding my first chapter of All Bottled Up. I've cut it down and combined it with the first part of chapter two. Things are now flowing better and the pace moved quite a bit faster than it did before.

I also have a new idea for an ending. I wasn't really happy with it before, but it was NaNo, so I didn't want to question it too much. Now, I have a great new idea to end the book, and I have some things I want to put into the middle to beef it up.

I'm excited again!!

I finished the second draft for chapters 1-7, but will need to go back again now to add in the extra things I thought of yesterday. I'm hoping to get the second draft done in the next two weeks. Once Christmas hits, I'll be too busy to sit down and thing of new plot elements.

(I had a cute picture of Snoopy, but Blogger doesn't want to add pictures today *sigh*)

Tis the Season

I'm off to my office holiday party tonight. Seafood and wine will be consumed by all! Of course, I won't be doing any writing as a result. In a way, I've earned the break. I wrote a lot during NaNo and deserve to celebrate. Which is exactly what I plan to do. :)