Did more work on the chapter biz last night. I’m trying to tie up some loose ends and get things out of my hair. I’ve got the entire year scheduled for workshops for next year for the local chapter. I also made the corresponding webpages, submitted our contest announcement, our December workshop, and filled all but two slots on the final judges list.

Good times.

I did manage to get about 850 words in on the new urban fantasy. Just when I get on a roll, though, it seems I either lose my train of thought or get interrupted and then forget it. Sad. It sucks to get old.

I have a general idea of the plot but I really need to get serious about doing a full-blown outline.  I’ve just been…busy.

Last night, I made a giant pot of chicken noodle soup and it was delish. Tonight, I have no clue what I’m cooking. If I was the uber-organized Mom, I would still be making my menus and cutting out coupons. I still do the coupon thing, but the menu thing has sort of fallen by the wayside. Oh well. I’m not perfect!

Hump day – the week is officially half over. SWEET.

The weekend was great with lots of fun things involved but last night was back to business as usual. I took care of a lot of chapter business (both local chapter and online chapter). It was good to get all that stuff done that I’ve been meaning to get done. Progress! Love progress.

Plus I’m launching a new incentive for the month of October for my local chapter-ites. The idea is to get them writing every day with a minimum word count. I’m sweetening the deal by giving them prizes at the end of the month. But you know, I figure if I can get them into the habit of writing every day, then they’ll continue that habit. That’s the idea anyway.

Am I writing every day? NO. But I hope this will motivated me to do so. I guess you could say the October incentive is a mini-NaNo. The total end goal is 15,500 words by October 31.

I also got my monthly newsletter scheduled to send last night. Which meant I had to write my issue of the serial story. Yeah, I procrastinate and wait until the last minute, don’t I? But I got it done and it’s ready to go. I can check that off my list of Things To Do now.

Today, back to work on the urban fantasy. That’s the idea anyway. Here’s hoping!

Hope everyone has a smashing Tuesday!

For the last few weeks, I’ve been cleaning. When you’re cramped for space, every inch counts.

I went through my son’s room and cleaned it up, rearranged the furniture, and threw a bunch of stuff away. I made him have a Donate, Keep, and Trash pile. He did fairly good. The donate items are still in my trunk, though. I really need to get rid of them. I want to give them to a placed called Arc of Texas. They have Thrift Town stores and I feel like the stuff will go to good use.

I also donated two giant bags of my clothes to Salvation Army. This week was about selling off my crappy furniture. I got rid of my two chairs that both Man and I hate (they were terribly uncomfortable). I sold off the bunk beds in my son’s rooms to a lady with two small children and one on the way. I sold the couch (which will be picked up this Friday). I made enough to put down a nice chunk on the new sofa that’s arriving this Saturday.

But this past Saturday… Man and I drove out to Arlington to pick up my son’s new bed. It was a nice afternoon drive and the wait wasn’t too bad. At least the distribution center was highly organized. And Man was happy because there was college football on in the waiting area. We watched the tail end of the LSU-Miss State game. Which was rather exciting, if I’m being honest.

Anyway, got home and put the kid’s bed together. It’s fabulous! See below.

I’ve already made use of the two drawers and the two side storage areas. It’s really nice to have all his junk off the floor and hidden away. Plus I now have more room for important things like socks and underwear and pajamas. And his room is CLEAN! Love that.

Yesterday, Man and I went to Wal-Mart and got two filing cabinets which we both needed. We are so organized is disgusting. I finally have a place for all that crap I needed to keep (years back of RWA contest stuff). I finally found a home for all my researching and writing files. It’s wonderful! I love getting organized! I love cleaning house! I love getting new furniture!

I also got back to the WIP. While Man and I had lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings on Saturday I talked through some plot problems and he helped me with them. I thought I had written myself into a corner, so he helped me figure out a way out. That night, I did more researching and I finally figured out my Dark King. Amazing what talking out loud about yoru story will do. And even though he’s not a writer, sometimes he can see the best solution. “Well, why don’t you have the queen do this and that,” he says. And it was like a light-bulb moment for me. He’s brilliant.

So I made some changes in one of the chapters and then finished writing chapter four. I think I can finally go on, now. I still want to have the draft done by December 1 and I’m fairly confident I can reach that goal.

Hard to believe October is right around the corner. Also hard to believe that is time for the State Fair. Where has this year gone?

Another good thing this weekend: my allergies weren’t bothering me as much. I doctored myself up a lot and also slept in Sunday. I didn’t get up until nearly 10 which is super late for me. I needed the rest, though.

It’s Monday, though. Another long week ahead. Here’s hoping for more productive nights on the WIP.

I’m a tired, cranky old woman and I have nothing to blog about.

So there.

Happy weekend.

This month, I’m happy to have my fellow chapter-mate and friend, Jennifer August, talk to us about her writing and her latest book. If you haven’t had a chance to pick up HER DARK MASTER, get your copy today! You can get it by clicking here.

Thanks for stopping by the blog today, Jennifer!

When did you know you wanted to be a writer? And how did you get your start?
Thanks for having me, Michelle, I’m excited to be here! I think on some level I always knew I wanted to be a writer, but it really hit me hard in the 10th grade. I’m not sure why, but I always equate my Marine Biology Teacher Mrs. Hill with that overwhelming desire to write a book. I got my start by diligently crafting an entire 32 page (front and back!), hand-written debacle of friends-into-lovers. Even though I had no real clue about what I was doing, I had a marketing hook! My real start came when my brother purchased a ticket for me to a writer’s seminar. That ticket included a year’s membership to the writing group and I was hooked. I learned so much from them, it’s just unreal.

Where do you find your inspiration?
Everywhere! Trite, but true. I’ll hear a phrase or see a word and it’ll spark an idea. Pictures also play a huge part in my creative process. I love to look at painting and whatnot, but sometimes if I know the type f book I want to write, I’ll Google a word and click on images. It’s sort of like sensory immersion. I’ve had two books come to me in dreams, too. My first book – a medieval with paranormal elements; and Her Dark Master.

One of my favorite places for inspiration, though, is the characters themselves. I find the more I learn about the people running around in my head, the more their story begins to evolve.

What is the one writer’s tool you can’t live without?
That’s a hard question but I’d say two words: What If. Pen and paper to write the answers down would also be helpful, but What if can create worlds and worlds of ideas.

How many words/pages do you do in a day/week/month? And how do you keep yourself motivated to do them?
I aim for about 20 pages a week, not that I always achieve that. A lot of time I go over and sometimes I go under. I keep myself motivated in several ways. Most notably by remembering my overall goal of continuing to publish. Next would be my CPs and my family, all of whom are constantly asking me “Did you write today?” They are intertwined closely with a yahoogroup I belong to called the Write_Now_Game. Those ladies are so motivating and inspirational that it’s impossible not to write. Plus, I have a feeling that if I didn’t get the words out of my head and onto paper, my brain might explode and that would just be sad. Not to mention messy.

Whose work has influenced you the most?
Amanda Quick, Julie Garwood, Julia Quinn and a fabulous author I just discovered Sabrina Jeffries.

This month is the release of your novel, HER DARK MASTER. Where did you get the idea for that?
That one came to me in a dream. One might say a fantasy, considering the subject matter. I have always been a very sensual kind of person and I remember going to sleep that night thinking about how far I would go to make love with the man I adored, even if I had to marry someone else. I’ve always been able to sort of direct my dreams and this was no different. The actual book really differs from my dream but the general idea is the same.

Tell us a little about the book.
Her Dark Master is a Regency erotica featuring an unusual (to me) heroine. Tori Ashford is a virgin, but she writes for an underground sex paper – anonymously, of course. When she learns she’s to be married off to an old man, she undertakes a very risky charade to ensure she spends one night of passion with the man she really loves – the hero Matthew Corwin. Matthew is a strong, alpha male with definite Dom tendencies coupled with a mistrust of women. When he learns Tori has deceived him, he plots an erotic revenge that has repercussions neither expected.

What are you working on now?
The sequel to Her Dark Master – the story of Tori’s brother Ryder and his own quest for love.

If you weren’t a writer, what would you be?
A baseball analyst. In my dreams, of course, but dreaming is what life is all about, isn’t it?

What’s your favorite genre to read? What’s your favorite genre to write?
I love historicals! I’m not all that choosy on time periods, though. Vikings, Medievals, Regency, Victorian, Civil War, Scotland… you write it, I’ll read it!

My favorite genre to write is actually medieval, though I’ve written a ton of Regencies and I’m itching to dive into the Victorian realm as well. I have so many stories in my head that my fingers really can’t keep up. Which, in this business, is a good thing!

My favorite non-romance genre is fantasy. I love sword and sorcery books, which is why so many of mine have paranormal elements. I have a huge fantasy epic I work on when I get frustrated, stumped or boggled by my current romance work in progress. It helps clear the air because I consider it free writing. It’s just for me, but I HAVE to know what’s going to happen to those characters. I’ve gotten them this far, I can’t just abandon them now. Right?

I love to hear from readers, especially what they are reading, what they like and dislike in the romance arena today, and what they’re just itching to read. I always reply to emails, so send me a note at jenniferaugust08@yahoo.com.

Links of interest:

• My website: www.jenniferaugust.com
• Where to buy my book: www.eredsage.com
• My infrequently updated blog: www.jenniferaugust.blogspot.com

Quick entry today. The weather has cooled off nicely after last night’s storms. I love this weather. It’s my favorite time of year!

Went home sick from work yesterday and collapsed on the couch and slept. I tried to watch “Becoming Jane” but slept through most of it. I sat about the first 30 minutes and then the end and not much in the middle. I’ll have to try again. 

I was still tired and ended up going to bed at 9:30 last night. I slept like the dead. And today I feel a thousand times better! Amazing what rest will do for a person. Now that the cool front is through, my allergies are feeling somewhat better, too. That’s the downfall of the weather – the allergies.

So. No writing. Which sucks but it happens. I hope to do some major catch up this week.

Happy Tuesday!

Is there such a thing as normal? I wonder…

Busy weekend. Sold some old furniture on Craiglist. Bought some new furniture at Rooms To Go. New sofa and new bed for the kid is on the way. SWEET. Plus I got no interest/no payments for 12 months. Which of course means I will be paying it off in less than that.

It’s a free preview weekend with Starz and Encore so Man and I stayed up until nearly 1 am watching movies Friday night. It was so bad of us but we had a great time just sitting with each other and watching movies (Twister, Armageddon and Enchanted). It was such a huge error because by the time we crawled into bed… the kiddo woke up sick. So I was up and down the rest of the night with him. We managed to sleep in late some on Saturday but WOW was I ever tired that time. Man watched the Texas-Texas Tech game while I dozed next to him. Good QT, ya know?

Soccer was canceled on Saturday. Cooked a big breakfast of bacon and eggs. I took the kiddo shopping with his Toys R Us gift card and he got some Clone Wars battle droid or something. He loves it. It’s good he picked it out and paid for it himself. The store was fairly busy for a Saturday afternoon and they only had two registers open with long lines and slow people. I don’t get that. You’d think the manager would want to get the people out of the store so the customers would feel happy about their purchase and want to come back.

Went grocery shopping. Went to church. Did laundry. By Sunday night, exhaustion had kicked in. Man watched the Cowboys in their fancy new stadium and I was in and out of the room while I got the kid ready for bed and myself ready for another long week ahead. Even though it’s been over 20 years, I’m still mad at Jerry Jones for kicking out Tom Landry. Yeah, I hold grudges.

So I did my part to help the economy this weekend.

Oh, and if you’re curious to see the new Cowboys stadium, following is a picture (you can click on it to see it bigger). And yeah, it’s just THAT big. (We’re calling it the Death Star around our house haha).

Happy Monday!

Four rejections this week. I don’t feel much like blogging.

Happy weekend, though!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by Devon’s blog yesterday with my characters/emotions post. It was fun.

We finally got a break in the rain yesterday. We even had some sunshine and a patch of blue sky! I’d forgotten what it looked like since it’d been raining for, oh, FOUR FREAKING DAYS. Ah well. We needed it. The lakes did. And especially my yard did. Plus we have cooler temps and the air isn’t running so much, which is nice. I like it. Keep it up!

The other night, I managed to get about 1500 words done on the new WIP. But then the next night I got only 200. BLAH. Hey, still progress, right? I inched closer to 12k, though. I finished chapter three and started on four and it’s hard for me to write. Hard as in there’s a lot of dark moments.  Makes me actually feel back for the charater.

I fully intended to work on the book again last night but I had some things I needed to catch up on and answer some emails and well, it didn’t get done. Plus I had a raging headache. Must be something in the air because I woke up with it.

Tonight, I get the kiddo back. Looking forward to that. Guess I need to think about something to thaw for dinner, huh?

Happy Wednesday!

Hey, all! I’m a guest over at my friend, Devon’s, blog while she’s off visiting Prague. You can read my post here! Stop on by and give us some love.

So I got two rejections yesterday from two agents. Something like that can seriously deflate a person, you know? And here I thought that book was kick-ass and it would easily be snatched up.

Wrong. Of course, I’m still waiting to hear back from a few others. Of course, I still have hope there will be a bite. But I still sat back and went, “You know, maybe it DOES suck.”

And I’m cool with that.

And then I thought: Maybe it’s not the book it’s the QUERY that sucks. Yes, that has to be it. The query letter is awful.

And then I re-read the query and I’m convinced it DOESN’T suck and the book is really as kick-ass as I thought it was to begin with.

I hate this business sometimes. It makes you want to rip your hair out. Then other times it makes you leap for joy. Other times, still, it makes you weep. For a variety of reasons!

Such is the way of things. Okay sure I know – work on something else while you’re waiting (I am). Don’t get discouraged (I’m not). Write the best book you can (I did). It’s just frustrating that it takes so darn long to get a response back.

Last night I spent a good portion of time doing some brainstorming on the new book and trying to figure out a particular piece of the puzzle. I also did some writing. I got in abou 1500 words and busted 11K. GO ME! That felt good and the story is getting fun. My poor heroine just got the shock of her life. And even as I write this, I’m wondering what sort of hell I can put them through to make it all worthwhile in the end.

And NOTE TO SELF: Never watch any show pertaining to Charles Mason before bedtime. I made the grave error of watching the documentary, Manson, on History Channel the night before and ended up with a restless night. That guy was just evil. And those mindless minions of his were evil and freaky. I’m fairly certain there’s a special place in Hell for them all.

AND! On that note, I’m off to work. But DO stop by Devon’s blog today if you can!

Hey gang! I’m over at Pop Culture Divas today talking about garbled lyrics. Come on by!

It started raining on Friday and didn’t stop until Sunday night. Sometimes it poured; sometimes it just sprinkled; sometimes it drizzled. But it rained nonstop, nonetheless. That meant soccer was canceled and it was increasingly difficult to run errands and go places. But run errands and go places I did.

I got a swingy new haircut and I love it. I decided to go with a layered cut and dump the one-length look. Since I’m trying to grow out my bangs, I went with a side-swipe while I’m in the horrid-middle growth phase.

Let’s see… what else… Drove to my friend’s house in North Dallas for a visit that was too short. But it was getting late and I had a long drive in the rain. Since I have horrible night-vision, I opted for an earlier trek home. Got home and literally crashed. I was exhausted from the day. I had RWA in the morning, hair appointment in the mid-afternoon, and then dinner plans. I finally hit the house about 10:30. I got up early Sunday, though, and worked on contest stuff and wrote my article for the Divas and then Man and I ran around in the rain.

Walmart, Lowe’s, Cotton Patch Cafe, and Macaroni Grill were all on the agenda. Along with a mid-aftenroon nap for me. And laundry. I was lazy yesterday and I deserved it.

Today I have a mid-afternoon meeting in Big D, which means I will be once again schelping through the rain. I’m not really complaining after the long hot summer and the rain is great but… do we have to get it all at once? Seriously?

Got another rejection on the gladiator book. I did nothing on the new one this weekend. Didn’t have time but I’m going to make time this week for it for sure.

That’s it for me. Happy Monday, ya’ll!

 

Take a moment today to honor those who died in the terrorist attacks on this date eight years ago. We Will Never Forget.

HA. Right I bet you thought I was serious. About the nothing to say thing, that is.

Actually, for the last two days, I haven’t had anything to sayvia the blog. I’ve been…moody. And not interested in blogging in the slightest.

I have, however, been working on the book. It feels like a slow process bu I’ve also been researching at the same time. There are things I need answered while writing and sometimes I have to stop and look stuff up. I’ve been looking for something in particular and can find nothing on the subject so I guess that means I get to make it up. So that’s what I’m going to do.

This weekend will be busy. At least on Saturday. I have my RWA meeting in the morning, an afternoon soccer game (provided it doesn’t rain), then a hair appointment, and finally I’m meeting my high school buddy for dinner. Whew.

Sunday I will collapse.

Tonight, Man and I are going to do some serious QT. I asked him if we could do something that didn’t involve computers or sitting at home. Have no idea what we’re doing but I hope purchasing a new Coach bag is involved.

Everyone have a SUPER weekend!

I spent the evening working on a contest as well as writing (a little) on the book. Hey I busted the 9K mark! So that’s awesome. I love having direction. It’s wonderful.

And that’s all I got for today! So I’ll be back tomorrow.

This weekend was awesome. And jam-packed with fun and frivolity. Okay maybe not the latter, but fun nonetheless. (I really just wanted to say frivolity.)

Saturday was about errands and visiting Mom. So we got up Saturday morning, I made my list, and then we headed to what the kiddo refers to as “the big Walmart”. And the absolute second we stepped a toe into the store, he started in with the fact that he didn’t get a Transformers toy for his birthday and he really wanted one and could he please get one? To which I answered a big fat NO.

Hey, I’m not that mean, usually. But, you see, his birthday party was the next day. No way was I going to buy him more toys when he was going to get more for his birthday. Yes, I know his party was a week late. But I couldn’t see sending birthday invitations to school the first week. And so, alas, I delayed things. So I had a pouty kid for about 10 seconds into the trip when I told him very firmly if he didn’t knock it off, he could forget about having a birthday party. Period.

Okay, so I was in no mood to drag a sour-faced kid around the store for the next two hours.

Yes, you read that right. It took me two, long, life-sucking hours to grocery shop. By the time I got home, I was ready to slash my wrists.

And, by the way, the temps were in the mid-90s all weekend. I’m sick of sweating my ass off everywhere I go! Come on, Cool Front!

Anyway. Got home, unloaded the groceries, fed the kid lunch and then decided to hell with getting party favors. I’ll get them at the place the next day. So we packed up and headed to Mom’s for the rest of the day. We stuffed ourselves silly with brisket (yum) and beans and lots of other yummy food. I was completely full and miserable the rest of the night. And the kiddo got more birthday presents from his aunt and uncle and his Grammy. He was happy. I was happy. Good times.

Sunday started with chores. Then we went to the game place for the birthday party where 12 boys showed up. And can I just say boys are completely rowdy? Yes, it was chaos. My objective was to feed them, open presents, and eat cup cakes as quickly as possible so I could release them into the wild. And release then I did, armed with $5 game cards and one free attraction. They scattered. I ran out to the car with all the gifts (oh, yeah, he made out like a bandit too) and then I was stuck in the game place for the next… two hours. My life seems to be revolving around the two hour time slot. Oh and I spaced and FORGOT the durn goodie bags. Ah well.

I came home exhausted and the kid came home happy. He tore into all his presents. He made a giant mess. There were cardboard boxes and directions and itty bitty guns everywhere. Enough to drive a sane Mom to the brink. So while I was trying to cook dinner (because I refused to eat that cardboard pizza), I think I heard “Mom” about a thousand times. So much so I think I’m ready to NOT be called Mom again. I think I heard “MOM” more in the last three days than in the last eight years of his life. Man said the cat was going to start calling me Mom.

Yes, that’s how much he said it. Mom, this and Mom, that. Hey, don’t get me wrong. I love being Mom. But Mom was tired and Mom wanted some dinner and a martini. And Mom crashed early, too.

Monday. Cook-out day. Man forbid me to do anything regarding dinner. I wasn’t even allowed to step foot into the kitchen. The Earth moved. The Angels wept. Somewhere in the distance, I heard the Hallelujah chorus. Talk about a woman’s dream come true! Sure. I’ll let you cook. You go right ahead. He even did the dishes. Gotta love a man who cooks and cleans. And yes, I’m keeping him.

Anyway, did some plotting on the new book that morning with CP. I finally have a direction and I completely forgot about using the 20 Master Plots book I have. Duh. Jotted down lots of notes and I’m going to start working on the GMC now. I have an idea and I have a big picture idea – but I needed something for this book. I’m thinking trilogy at least.

While Man prepped in the kitchen, I tackled the kid’s room. I figured I needed a task to keep me busy or I’d be in his way and he’d get mad. And BOY was the kid’s room a disaster area. I made the kiddo help, too. We made piles of things in the hallway: Keep, Trash, Donate. He was pretty good about getting rid of his ”younger” toys but I suspect he had a hard time parting with some of them. But I told him – everyone needs to purge every now and then. I just got rid of clothes I hadn’t worn in 15 years. And that felt great. And now it was time to clean up and organize.

I even moved his furniture around to change it up. I’ve discovered the bunk beds HAVE to go. And the sooner the better. They’re blocking the AC vent and the ceiling fan and the kid sweats at night. TIME TO GO. BUH-BYE. The only catch is I have to get some other things paid off before I can spend more money. Where is that money tree when I need it? I’m hoping we can hold out until January for a new bed.

I managed to get all his toy tubs in the closet (a big one for big toys, one for Legos only, one for action figures, etc.). And gave him a little more floor space to play in. Plus I finally found a new home for the chest so it’s not in the way of the closet doors. His room is small – only 10 x 10 – so it’s a challenge with furniture placement. And I don’t want his bed by the window AT ALL.

Dinner. It was fantastic. Burgers were awesome; hot dogs rocked. And yes, I stuffed myself silly. Again. But I wasn’t miserable like I could have been. I forced myself to stop. Even though I really wanted another chili dog.

Afterward we watched The Mummy because I hadn’t seen it before and Man picked it up for $7.50. Fun flick! And even the kiddo enjoyed it. And by the time that was over, the evening/weekend was done. Another one for the record books. Another Labor Day over with.

And today – it’s back to work and back to school. Another busy week ahead. I swear I think this was a marathon post like the weekend.

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend and a smashing holiday!

I forgot to blog!

The new HD-DVR is installed and awesome. Of course the guy showed up at 11:45 (I had a 8-12 window) and it took two hours, so I ended up taking a vacation day. Which actually wasn’t bad because I got a TON of chapter business done. It’s time to start getting final judges for our contest and I got one really, really AWESOME one. No, I’m not telling. But this editor is AWESOME. I’m excited.

I just want to see how many times I can use the word “AWESOME” in this post.

It’s raining. I love that. We need it. My lawn needs it. My water bill needs it. But the downfall is with the weather change, my old hand injury is KILLING me. I wish this cool front would hurry up and push through so I can type without cringing.

Did I write yesterday? NO. But I need to plot first. The no plot thing is a real killer on the writing. So that’s on tap for this weekend. BUT I have a busy weekend ahead. Which is great but … wow, I’m going to be tired on Tuesday. LOL

Monday is a holiday. HOORAY for 3-day weekends!

Have a fantastic long weekend ya’ll.