Et Cetera

I posted at Romancing the Blog this week. Please check it out if you haven't already done so.

You've probably figured out that when I'm not blogging here, I'm busy writing. I'm pleased to say I'm getting back into the writing groove, which is nice, considering the number of works in progress I have. Now you know why one of the things I bought at RWA was a magnet that reads:

Finish the #%&* Book!!!

It helps that a few of my coworkers and I have started an informal writing group. We share some of our writing every day. It's nice, and it helps me stay motivated.

In book news, I'm getting excited about some upcoming releases, including Nalini Singh's Caressed by Ice. Speaking of which, I did this fun meme.

Which Psy-Changeling Hero Is For You?

Your Psy/Changeling Hero: Dorian

Strong, angry and wounded, Dorian has the lethal grace of a leopard and the seductive charm to melt even the hardest heart. But Dorian walks in the darkness and to reach him, you might have to give up everything - can you love that deeply, trust that much?Find out more about Dorian and the series at http://www.nalinisingh.com/
Take this quiz!






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Of course, I've been doing some reading. I just need to figure out which books to write a review for. One of these days, I'll finish my review of the last Harry Potter book . . .

Catching Up

I'm roaming around the blogosphere trying to catch up on everybody's news. The first thing I see is that there's a huge exodus from Blogspot to WordPress. What's up with that? No matter, I'll find you no matter where you go. LOL! I will update my links in the next few days, but if I miss yours, please let me know.

In addition to blog moving, Maili's got a new job. Wendy's hoping she enjoys her next batch of review books better than the one she just finished. Sylvia's wrestling with incorrect (to put it mildly) galleys.

Then there's Angie, nicknamed evil editor, who is evil not so much because of her editing (which is actually quite helpful), but because of this comment she left in my previous blog entry.

I'll tell you a not-so-secret. Once you enter the publishing industry, reading slumps happen because it's hard to switch your brain from "work" to "pleasure". And most people end up working more than reading for pleasure.

My response? She's right. Damn it.



As for what others are doing? From what I can tell, you're all reading. It must be nice. LOL!

As for me, I've got another story wanting to be written, so I'm writing it. And I'm working on an author newsletter, which will go out to subscribers May 1. You can sign up in the box at left. Subscribers will have access to exclusive excerpts, subscriber-only contests, and lots of other good stuff.

If I'm lucky, I'll get time to read this weekend. I'm starting Alison Kent's Deep Breath.

News

I got some exciting news tonight. Here's a little hint.



You can read about it here.

The Root of All Evil

On Saturday, the hot water quit working. So today, I called a plumber to have him take a look. I figured it was frozen water pipes, but it turns out that a water heater from 1979 is destined to give up the ghost at some point. In addition to replacing the water heater, I had them fix the garbage disposal and take care of a few other things. Here I am with water that will be hot within half an hour (they tell me). I'm also $900 poorer. Ouch.

I'm debating about whether I am going to remain a Northern Lights at Home presenter. They've raised the minimum to $300/quarter, so I have to decide if I would sell that many candles. Six months ago, I wouldn't have hesitated, but time demands are at the breaking point as it is, let alone trying to add a part-time business.

On a related-to-money note, I've invested in an author website. Just got the first spec, and I have to decide if I like it. And do I want my picture to be a key element of the design?

OK, here's the truth. I'm feeling very, very discouraged about writing at the moment and that's affecting everything. I got some feedback on a chapter today. The good news is that I know what I need to work on, as she's the second reader to make this comment. The bad news is that it's not an issue that comes naturally, and now I'm overanalyzing. I think it's an occupational hazard. So I'm taking the night off when it comes to writing and will come back fresh tomorrow.

I think I'll be a lot better after a good night's sleep.



P.S. I'm now reading She Wanted It All by Kathryn Casey. My mood demanded true crime.

More Writing Thoughts

I've entered. Now it's a waiting game until March 1 when the winners are announced. (And to my reader who was reading the revised version, keep reading! I'll still welcome any feedback.)

I read the story aloud tonight before submitting and discovered some interesting things:

• The hero took off the heroine's suit jacket even though she had already taken it off herself earlier.
• He took her hand twice in the last scene. He doesn't take both hands; no, he takes her hand twice.
• The hero refers to an event that happened "yesterday" when it really happened that morning.
• I used the same phrase twice in one paragraph several times.

I fixed these problems and definitely recommend reading your work aloud for just this reason.

I submitted under a psuedonym. When I first starting writing romance in high school, my pseudonym was going to be Rebecca Lindsay. I'd never read Johanna Lindsay, by the way; I just liked the sound of the name. I guess even then I knew that if I ever published fiction, it wouldn't be under my given name. I thought about sticking with the first name at least, but it doesn't have the same rhythm as the one I ultimately went with.

Speaking of which, it doesn't have to be a huge secret, but I'll still put the name of my alter-ego in the comments section rather than in the body of the post.

Wish me luck . . .

Writing Update

Since I've been sick, I haven't been doing much writing. Or wasn't, until yesterday. Then the writer in me started feeling frustrated that I wasn't writing, so I went back to the NaNoWriMo project for an hour or so.

Since 2006 starts today, I realized that I must decide whether I am entering the Amber Heat Wave contest. I had kind of assumed I would, but the date to start entering seemed so far off. Now it's here. Yikes! Suddenly I'm wracked with nerves about the whole thing. The worst thing they can do is say no, right? And there's no chance at all if I don't enter, right? Ugh. Thinking about this makes me feel sick of myself.

At times like this I wish I drank. I could use a stiff drink right about now. LOL!

Off to get a Diet Sprite,

A Variety

As you might have guessed, I decided against going to Carrie Vaughn's book signing today in Denver. After I found out about the credit card minimum payment increase, the possibility of that happening shrunk to zero. However, I have arranged to get an autographed copy of the book from that bookstore. I figure $8.50 to buy the book and have it shipped to me is far less expensive than making the trip. Of course, this way I won't meet the author, but I can't help that. Maybe another time.

Speaking of finances, I am figuring out ways to cut corners financially. I plan to get rid of long distance from my home phone, since I can use my cell phone for that. I will start planning meals for every two weeks instead of buying whatever catches my eye at the grocery store. I'm also giving some serious thought to downgrading my cable. I wish it were possible to choose one's channels. I'm paying an extra $20/month for two or three channels I like but only watch occasionally. I need to either downgrade or start watching them.

On another subject: NaNoWriMo. I met the 50,000-word goal, wrote another short story, and have turned my attention back to revising the first story. I'm wondering where to go from here. It's kind of funny. For a long time, I thought that writing for my day job made it feel too much like work to come home and write. I had stopped writing fiction long ago.

But I think I've got the writing bug again. I have continued to write since December began, although I fluctuate between thinking what I have written is brilliant or sucks. I go through that at work, but it's intensified significantly when I'm writing fiction.

As I said, I'm not sure what to do next. Just keep writing for a while and see what happens? Write as a hobby? Try for publication? That seems so pretentious when I've been writing fiction again for a little more than a month. I have sent the short story to two volunteer readers, and I am curious to hear their opinions. (If you volunteered and didn't get it, don't worry. Assuming I keep writing, you'll have a turn reading eventually.)

I've started a separate blog about my writing. I suspect its contents would be supremely uninteresting to anyone except me, but if I keep writing for a few more months, I'll eventually post a link to it here. (If you're dying of curiousity, post in the comments and I'll e-mail you the link. I don't want to be responsible for anyone's death. LOL!)

I'm doing pretty good with my book-buying moratorium. I've got a few gift certificates to use, so I'll be able to buy a book or two on occasion. But other than that, I'm putting books on hold at the library, reading other perfectly good books on my TBR shelves, and saving money for a book-buying spree at next year's RWA signing.

Realizations and Good News

I knew I had a lot of scrapbooking supplies, but I didn't realize how many I had until I started trying to put them into some kind of order. I had to buy a second filing cart for my 12 x 12 paper, and I imagine I will be organizing stickers and die-cuts into the next century. If I'm lucky.

I discovered something a bit more disturbing last week. I tend not to watch the news, so I don't always learn about things right when they happen. So this week, I'm eating lunch with my coworkers and they mention the new thing with credit cards that will increase payments in January. To say that this is disturbing is an understatement. I understand that it will help people get out of debt, but it will be problematic for me.

Good thing I have cut back on book buying sprees.

So it looks like I will be stepping up my candle business a bit and trying to come up with other ways to earn money. I don't want to take a part-time job, but I might have to consider it depending on how high payments go. I absolutely must have my garage sale next spring. Not only will it bring in a little money, it will also help with the clutter.

Anyone want to buy any candles? LOL!

Enough of that for now. My good news: my 2005 NaNoWriMo entry is more or less complete at 50, 111 words. If I want to do something with it, it would need a lot of revision, but I'm still enjoying the fact that I met the goal. Yay!

Happy Thanksgiving!

My blog images are back! Well, mostly. I ended up having to transfer them again using FTP, and there are some I haven't transferred yet. But at least my blog has stopped looking like a big blank screen with red Xs where the images should be. I'll get the rest transferred this weekend, I hope.

I'm closing in on my 50,000-word NaNoWriMo goal; I'm at 45,596 words and counting. I will probably get a fair amount of writing in tomorrow as well. I'm having a hard time imagining life post-NaNo, simply because I've gotten into a routine. However, my housecleaning will probably improve immensely.

This month's TBR challenge has been to read review books and to finish books I started in the past. I'm not doing so well with either goal. I'm in a reading slump, it seems. I've picked up half a dozen books in the past week, read a few chapters, then set them down again. I think it's me. I just haven't been sure what I'm in the mood for. I am about halfway through Susan Donovan's Knock Me Off My Feet, and I'm optimistic that I will finish this one, even though it isn't a review or a previously started book. Oh well, at this point, I will be grateful to finish something.

Tomorrow I will be enjoying Thanksgiving holiday with my family. If you're celebrating it, hope you have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Kidnapped by Love

OK, folks, do you realize that if you don't give me some title suggestions for my NaNoWriMo project, I am likely to end up with a hokey title like Kidnapped by Love? Please save me from myself and enter my contest. I have extended the deadline to Friday.

There is no official TBR (to-be-read) challenge this month, so I've decided to catch up on review books. I am woefully behind. I just submitted my first review for November, and I hope to write another in the next few days. I've had one book for several months, and I'm trying to decide whether I should read it or just hope no one (namely the TRR editor) notices it's missing.

When I'm not reading and reviewing books this month, I hope to read some books I have started and set aside. That will be my personal TBR challenge.

As for December's TBR challenge? Well, Maili said that she would be back and blogging online in December. To give her some encouragement, I officially announce my intention to read and blog about Scottish romance for the TBR challenge unless she does return. Anyone want to join me? ;)

Name My NaNo Contest

As you know, I'm participating in NaNoWriMo. The trouble with talking about it (and I really will try to keep it to a minimum; I'm sure I'm the only one fascinated by it) is that I don't have a title, even a working title, for the thing. I'm stumped. That's where you come in. I need a title.

So, post your title suggestions in the comments, and I'll pick my top three favorites as winners. Each of the three winners will receive an e-book download of their choice from three futuristics I've enjoyed recently:

• Sylvia Day's Misled
• Ellen Fisher's Never Love a Stranger
• Deanna Lee's Still Waters

Anyone who is wondering: fear not. I will BUY a new download for each winner.

Now, on to the story. I'm writing a futuristic romance with a human hero and a heroine from another planet. They team up on the heroine's home planet to look for a diplomat who has been kidnapped. Both have reasons for not trusting the other, but they are attracted, too (of course). There is a lot of action in the story.

So, I'm ready for your titles. You have until Friday, November 11 at 10:00 PM (mountain time) to submit your titles. I'll pick the winners and post them Saturday or Sunday (depending on how many entries I receive). I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

NaNoWriMo Update

If you've noticed my pink graph in the sidebar, you know that my plan to write 50,000 words in November is progressing nicely. Luckily the word count is what's important, not whether the story is any good, at least at this point. Ha ha! I'm still trying to get a handle on my main characters. I can tell you I would be lost without my outline. It's helping immensely.

Turns out the original name for my hero--Michael Vaughn--is the name of a character in the TV program, Alias. I've never watched the program, so I don't know what the character is like, but I want to avoid associations. I'm keeping Michael, but I'm playing with a few different last names.

Tonight I wrote a scene in a nightclub and one of the secondary characters basically took over. I figured there would be a few surprises as I wrote, and this one definitely came out of nowhere. At next year's NaNoWriMo, I may be writing another story with this character as the heroine. First, though, I must delve into the characters of this story.

I need to come up with a name, too. It would be nice to have a title to refer to.

An Insane Endeavor

I've embarked on an insane endeavor to write a 50,000-word novel in the month of November.



One of my coworkers and I are giving it a shot. We've been plotting our stories for weeks.

689 / 50,000 (1.4%)

I'm doing great so far, don't you think?

Evolution

"If you even lived 10 minutes in my head, you would run screaming."
--Alyssa

One of my coworkers has a quote board where she writes down quotes that she finds amusing. The quote above is from me, though I can't remember the exact circumstances. In any case, it seems appropriate for this blog entry, which will give you a glimpse into my head.

Now that my Romancing the Blog column is online, I thought it might be interesting to describe the evolution of a paragraph. Here is the original version:

While I like the FPS trend, I also appreciate what it suggests: (1) that some authors are trying different approaches; (2) that some editors and publishers are allowing or encouraging experimentation; and (3) that some readers are open to the new and interesting. I hope all three things are true and that more new ideas and trends will follow, whether they use a unique setting, character, or point of view.

This was the version I had until last Saturday. Though I had planned to go with this paragraph, I didn't really like it much. I wanted to make a broader point with my column, but I decided that the first-person trend isn't significant enough to lead to the conclusions I listed. I recognized this at the time and tried to counter it by using "some" in all three points. However, the fact that I had to qualify the conclusions that way meant that I needed to go in a different direction.

So here's the second version:

While I like the FPS trend, not every story should be told in first-person. What I want is for the author to stay true to her story--that's what makes it come alive for readers. And if that story happens to use a unique setting, character, or point of view, that's great. I look forward to seeing what new ideas and trends will come next.

When I reread this last night, the two middle sentences sounded like generic blah, blah, blah, so I revised it to put my voice back into it. This is the final version:

I like the FPS trend, but I don't think that every story should be told in first-person. As a reader, I really want only one thing: a good story. If that story uses a unique setting, character, or point of view, I'm all for it. Bring on the new and unique. I look forward to seeing what trends will come next.

Are you screaming yet? I hope not, but you can't say I didn't warn you. ;) You'll be pleased to know I don't usually spend so much time revising one paragraph. However, I spend considerable time writing, reviewing, and editing. I'm a bit more casual here at my blog, but I think this is why I don't write as many TRR reviews as I'd like. Good writing takes time--for me, anyway.

Alyssa

Writing

I've been writing a lot this weekend, but none of it has been for this blog (yet). Although I would have liked a work-free weekend, I decided it would be better if I brought some work home with me. I have some pressing deadlines this week, including one significant project, so I'm hoping to get most of it written before heading back to work tomorrow. (I'm keeping my fingers crossed . . . at least, when they are not attached to my keyboard.)

I have made time for reading, though, so once I get back to blogging, I'll definitely have something to say. I even managed to get some scrapbooking done, too.

Alyssa

Coming Out of a Writing Slump (I Hope)

There are times when, as a full-time writer, I simply don't want to write another word, whether it's for work or pleasure. Sometimes I can really relate to this quote by Gene Fowler:

Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.

This week writing has been a tremendous challenge for me, both at work and with my blog. However, I've finished a review of Wedding for a Knight and I think I'm back in the game. Watch for more blog entries soon.

Alyssa