Sunday, September 5, 2010.

It is the third in a four day weekend, much to my sorrow. I have been productive, in a very non-writerly way. Perhaps a useful productivity - I have been culling (madly, insanely) all the materials, documents, papers, and "stuff" that has been accumulating over the last months (OK, I'll admit it, YEARS) while I was serving on RWA boards, trying to finish a novel and submit it, judging RWA contests and on and on. The result of 3 days is a good feeling of being unburdened, and the side discovery of all sorts of stories, ideas, and writings that I had "put away" and forgotten about.

There's nothing more thrilling than reading several pages and then recognizing that, holy smokes, I WROTE THAT! A nice little boost of confidence that, I hope, will see me through tomorrow as I wrap up this effort, and get started on the yard!

Despite the 4 days I have not addressed the short that I wanted to write for an anthology submission, nor did I read my novel again for any last, yes, again, tweaks before querying my "first choice" agent (who was not accepting queries until 9/7, so I WILL have my query ready to go at 12:01 Am on 9/7. Wish me luck!

September 3, 2010, Hey There, Earl

It's Friday before Labor Day. Ironically, my office closed for Friday as well, so I'm lounging about preparing to get up and at my day, whatever it may bring. Hurricane Earl is coming up the Eastern Seaboard, though at the moment the sun is out at 8:05 AM. It is humid, but unlike last night when the wind was quite whippy, it is still and quiet, with the sound of cicadas humming outside. I'm a bit nudgy today - I feel frustrated that I haven't stuck with my writing. After my big push to submit (and the subsequent rejection), I'm re-reading the MS again, tweaking, again, and then I'm going to be submitting to an agent (I'm thinking Trident Media will be my first target, but I've got Book Cents in my sights, too.). But I've got 4 days for lots of writing, and one real goal is a submission to Rachel Kramer Bussel for her upcoming anthology. I've even got the whole story plotted out. I've got motivation and the perfect fantasy - I'm calling it "Sanctuary". You'll see why! If she doesn't take it, there'll be some other places I'll try. Perhaps EC? Ah, well. I need a cup of tea. The first one went cold. Ta for now!

August 24, 2010 & Coping with LIRR Nonsense

I'm poised on the brink of yet another "first". My first query to an agent. I'm going to shoot the moon and query Trident Media. Not only do they rep several members of my local RWA chapter, but I have worked with them through my office, and so thought I could "name drop" a little - especially as we don't currently represent them anymore, so no one will get annoyed.

I figure that I can still continue to pitch to publishers - and will, though I've had to scratch Dorchester off my "potential" list, seeing as how they look to be crashing and burning - poor Chris Keeslar. A great guy, wonderful editor, enthusiastic dude and I'm sure he'll land on his feet, but it narrows my list.

Since some publishers say they take a year, or longer, to respond to even a query (though Baen wants you to submit the entire MS for consideration as a first step - which I'm a little feared of doing). So I'll have plenty of time while they consider, while I also try to find an agent. Perhaps then my "baby" can find the right editor, at the right house, as the right time!

Kismet!

August 22, 2010 - Forging Ahead Despite Rejection!

This week I got the rejection from Penguin's Ace/Roc editors. I'd submitted a cold query (i.e., no 'in', no agent, just hubris) to them on March 31 for my urban fantasy, and waited patiently (ok, not so much) for 4 months. I then received a request on July 26 to submit the full manuscript to them because they found my initial pages "intriguing". I was over the moon, beside myself, jumping on Oprah's sofa, what have you. Naturally I had to re-read, re-polish and generate a synopsis, but I sent it off with high hopes.

Which were dashed when I got the "thanks but no thanks" response. They liked some things, but had trouble with the opening pace (even though they liked the very beginning, I guess) and didn't "connect" with my protagonist.

Now, that, I knew, might be an issue. My kick-ass heroine has a potty mouth, is very snarky, and has a spanking fetish. She is tough and has taken care of herself all of her adult life. During the course of the novel I (think) I show her growth and her ability to learn to trust and love and bond with others. I don't know if the editor didn't read all the way through (didn't sound like they read the entire thing - all the comments referred to the beginning, so ...).

Anyway, as I wrote in an article for my RWA/NYC chapter newsletter, Keynotes, while I was disappointed, it did give me impetus to improve, to forge ahead, to submit elsewhere and investigate agents, so that I may have someone going to bat for me who knows just the right person, or the right house, to pitch it to.

Onward and upward!

July 8, 2010

We're having a heat wave. A tropical heat wave. And I hate it! When I am hot I can't do anything. Can't eat, sleep, can't even THINK. And grouchy? I'm a veritable ogre during weather like this when I am sweating constantly, and getting thigh burn from trudging the City streets going home on hot subway cars.

Yuck, yuck, yuck.

AND it isn't like I don't have a ton on my plate! I got my website up and running in June (Happy Birthday to ME!), along with a coordinated blog and Yahoo Group newsletter. I volunteered to write an article for my NYC RWA chapter newsletter (deadline July 15) on an erotic romance topic (don't you know I chose my fave, menage?!). THEN I succumbed to pleas for judges for RWA chapter contests and signed up for two. I got my entries just in time to further screw with my schedule.

On March 31 I submitted my very first query. To the Ace/Roc imprints of Penguin for my urban fantasy (first in a series), BETWEEN A ROCK & A BAD PLACE. 5 months to wait for the response, so I went merrily on my way, starting to work on my erotic romance project (having decided spicey is definitely "me").

Then I'm invited to submit a noir short story for a new Southern Noir crime anthology being compiled & edited by a friend. Color me tickled pink cause it came about on my birthday. What a gift!

But more was to come. The next day, while chatting with a gent at my place of business, a delightful guy I've known for almost 20 years, we got to talking about my writing and lo and behold, he's got a HUGE contact at the pinnacle of one of the NYC big "6" publishers and he says, "Give me your book and I'll get it to him!"

So HOLY COW, I'm totally psyched. I go back to my MS to pore over it and make sure every i is dotted, every T crossed, and that every subway my heroine takes actually goes where I'm sending her (mortifyingly embarrassing: THEY DIDN'T!).

So now, on top of my monthly newsletter, new erotic project, a newsletter article, and judging 2 contests, plus counting down til the end of the Ace/Roc period (August 31 will be the 5 months)I've got to get this sucker in pristine condition and pray to the literary gods for good fortune (and a 3 book deal and a movie option).

And it is TOO DARNED HOT!

Sob!

March 26, 2010 - TGIF!!!!!!!

The rain predicted for the day ended mid-morning and the sun came out bright and shiny. It's 4:50 on a Friday and I'm headed into a weekend where, please Gods! I can rest, sleep in, and address nothing more strenuous than my query letter, synopsis, and edits. My deadline of making my very first submission is 3/31 - next Wednesday and I'm a bit off target, but bound and determined (kinky, no?).

With the weather fairly cold this weekend in NY I won't be able to sit outside and bake as I did last weekend and will, instead, be able to sit inside and work on the edits.

A dinner date with friends that may well give me an extra dose of motivation is on tap when I break free in mere minutes.

Let's hear it for weekends!

March 24, 2010 - Unofficial "Mad as a Hatter" Day

Ever have one of those days? Mine started yesterday with a neighbor - having just sold his house but stopping by to remove some more junk he collected from the garage - whipped it out and took a whizz behind said garage, in direct line of sight from my bedroom window. How de-lightful! But onward and upward I grabbed my bags with my MS for further editing, my research for the revisions and my guide to writing the perfect synopsis and headed to work. Where nothing went right and I was stuck at my desk all day, including through lunch.

Ah, well, there's always the evening hours, right?

Except I got home and noticed my one dog (Scout, the elder of my two remaining rescued ex-racing greyhounds) was bleeding from her mouth. No doubt a dig from chewing on a Milk-bone or a stick, right? Well, after 45 minutes during which time the bleeding grew steadily worse, I made the decision to take her to the emergency vet. Clutching my credit card I arrived at 8:15. By then she was bleeding fairly hard and she and I were covered in it. Following the examination they sedated her (ka-ching), intubated her (ka-ching), sutured her (ka-ching), gave her fluids (ka-ching) and medications - 3 (ka-ching, ching, ching). I just sat there with the bloody clothes getting tacky, though I was distracted by running down the block to the Dunkin' Donuts, which had the only bathroom in the area. And I called a friend to kill some time before Scout roused after 11 PM.

In the end I coughed up $1,200 to pay for these various treatments and I drug poor old Scout on her wobbly legs back home where I then sat up watching the Law & Order SVU marathon until 1:30. Her cries, whimpers and wheezing had eased enough by then that I felt OK going to bed. But I woke up twice between then and 6:30 to check on her, so all in all about a meagre 4 hours sleep.

And then guess what?

I got to jump up and come back to work!

Where another day of hectic insanity left me without a lunch hour at all (and potty breaks were few and far between, too), and here I am, with quitting time having come, and gone, and I'm still at my post.

Posting.

Edits? Revisions?

Pshaw.

Oh, well, there's always tomorrow.

Didn't someone once say that?

March 18, 2010

Long time between posts for me and only now, with the Spring looming and some freakin' sun and warmth for a change (after 3 massive snowstorms and a nor'easter in March for crying out loud, not to mention ice storms, frigid temps, dark, gray, cold nastiness that led to post-apocalytpic nightmares and weird dreams) am I coming out of my mental and emotional hibernation.

I'm still plugging away on my edits and revisions to "Between a Rock & a Bad Place". I feel like the Scarecrow after the fight with the flying monkeys - bits and pieces of me all over the place - but I'm getting back together and am happy to report that I'm finding some good new "gems" of writing to move the book along.

I've found some super publishers to submit to (who take unagented queries) and even though I missed the first Liberty States conference (because of the nor'easter) my request for an appointment with the Grand Central Publishing editor who canceled anyway garnered me a letter of intro and her agreement to accept a full MS from those folks who requested appointments. So I can submit to her as soon as I've polished this sucker up!

I'm discovering lots of great new urban fantasy authors in my "research" at Barnes & Noble and on-line while hunting for the different publishers and imprints who do what my book is. Certainly better than studying for my organic chemistry final in college!

I'm holding out hope for an incredibly beautiful weekend so I can enjoy some time outside. Though I do have to do yard work (BIG TIME!) the physical labor is actually relaxing and uses up all that nudgy energy. And after a few chores I can grab my MS and sit in my favorite chair, soak up the rays and the Vitamin D and improve my glum mood and EDIT!

Then in just a few weeks I'm on vacation! By which time I hope to have some submissions/queries out and be ready to move on to the next project, which is my erotic romance suspense novel I'm going to do during the Liberty States "Mayke It Happen" May book in a month challenge.

February 15, 2010 - President's Day

Gotta love 3 day weekends, especially coming off the last two weeks of MY life. No wait, make that the last 6 weeks.

First was the last gasp of my Presidency for the Gothic Romance Writers, getting the Board filled in and passing on membership information and cleaning up the Yahoo site. Then came the LAST gasp of my Vice Presidencey's Love & Laughter contest work for the RWA/NYC chapter. Single-handed is so not the way to do the contest, but there I was, every day returning the 27 (record number) of entries to contestants with their judging and commentary sheets. No artist I, then the creation of the Winner's Certificate for her entry - which, if I do say so myself was simply stunning and NOT riddled with hearts and flowers, which is not my thing at all. Then I had to attend the last meeting to hand it out, say goodbyes (although no one seemed interested in saying goodbye, so I just went drinking with Maria and Lis). That weekend would have wound up so much better EXCEPT my oil burner went on the fritz on Sunday evening. Much sturm und drung and having to use a personal day on Monday after NO sleep Sunday night, the oil burner was repaired and that week ended up being just super busy at work. Did I write? Edit? No.

Then came the next weekend. Monday, not bad. The usual overwhelming workload. A super snow storm loomed on the horizon, giving me angst about getting to work on Wednesday. THEN on Tuesday I left my backpack on the train. It would not have been much of a loss, though I love the backpack, but it had all my BILLS in it (personal identity? ID theft?). I leapt off the bus to run back to Penn Station to get it - and got squished between the bus, which just took off, and a construction barricade. A protuberance on the bus slammed into my shoulder and I look like The Rock used it for a heavy bag. Green and yellow and blue from shoulder to elbow and hurts like the Dickens. I raced around like a madwoman trying to locate the bag to no avail. Frantic, I had to go home and then came the snow.

Bam. 17 inches. I shoveled like a robot all day long, 8 episodes from 9 AM to 8 PM. And then 6 inches fell after that. So, I lost a PTO day and still had to get up early and slog through the piled up white stuff. Writing? Editing? Nah.

Thursday arrives and I crawl to work. NYC has no discernable snow, though LI is a white freakin' wonderland. I checked at the Lost & Found in the AM - futiley as it turned out - but just when I thought I was on the brink of the "last straw" scenario, they called and said they'd found my bag.

YAY!

Going home after picking it up and finding all intact, did I write? Nope. Too weak with relief and exhaustion after the adrenalin and besides my shoulder hurt like a Mother.

Friday, I got through the day weak with relief and it was a hugely busy day so getting on the train at end of day was like being freed from a kidnapper.

BUT - I wrote. I read. I edited. I brainstormed.

Saturday - nothing. Exhausted, napped, cooked (great beef stew, BTW) and tried to recuperate.

Sunday - food shopping, bought a Nook and several titles (very cool, by the way and I actually got it up and running with no help from the dimwitted Nook "expert" at B&N). Nice long bath with epsom salts and then I slept from 9:30 to 9:20 AM this morning. Writing? Editing? Revising? Guess again.

So there you have it. It's President's Day and I have the "gotta go back to work Sunday blahs" only a day later. Another snow storm is on the way (lesser amounts - 2-5 we hope, we hope, but they say sleet and rain, which makes the snow heavier and my trees/bushes are already screaming for mercy.).

I've got a curry chicken dish to make for dinner. I have 1 load of laundry in in the vain hope that the 40 degree and sunny (for now) day will dry at least a few loads. The rest will have to hang around the living room/bathroom to dry, because I am OUT of work clothes.

BUT - I will be reading and editing and revising today. For sure. I've made it through 6 weeks of hideousness. The holidays took it out of me and my exultation that, on Jan. 1, I'd be free, was a vain hope. But now I am. The contest is over and everything's handled. The RWA chapter responsibilities are over and done. My Saturdays are free. Work is getting handled and I'm getting used to the stress of working for some of the busiest, and most exacting people in the office.

I've caught up on my sleep and while my housecleaning is lagging behind (Like it's still at the starting line) I'm getting there. And I've got vacation scheduled so I have something to look forward to (including Spring, btw).

So, today I'll be pulling out my MS and gathering the collections of printouts and all those revisions and I'll be prepared to have a fine-tuned first three chapters this week. Plus a serious outline of where I need to improve my scenes, my worldbuilding, my characterizations and then comes the big day:

March 13 - when I go to the Liberty States Conference and pitch my book! I don't know who I got for my editorial and agent choices - hopefully all of them! If not I'll get at least one. And then when I come back - if there has not been a request, then I'll begin my query process to the list of publishers I've already made, none of whom are attending Liberty.

Spring is on the way! My book is in great shape though it does need refining. I'm going to be making my very first submission before long and I've overcome a few weeks of hell.

Bloody but unbowed - definitely battered and bruised - but I made it through.

What did you say?

Oh, right.

So sit down and start writing fool!

February 7, 2010.

The Northeast missed being whalloped by the storm that dumped 2 - 3 feet of snow south from southern NJ through the mid-Atlantic. There's another predicted for Wednesday, though, so I can only hope we'll be that lucky again, especially since the LIRR has commented that they will cease all operations if there's more than 10 inches of snow - to avoid having another incident with a stuck train (but stranding millions of passengers in NYC would be OK? Sheesh. Talk about excessive ...).

Despite the bountiful sun today it's still pretty darn cold and after attending my last NYC RWA chapter meeting yesterday, I've got just today to get all my errands and chores done. BUT I feel a sense of freedom, having delivered the certificate to the Love & Laughter contest winner, which ends my 2009 VP responsibilities, and is the last of all my RWA chapter responsibilities (that have overwhelmed me for the past 3 years).

So today is the first day on which I feel that I can focus, solely, on my own work. Having gotten my first novel completed on December 30, 2009, I am now heading into revisions and re-writes. Once all the running around (food shopping, picking up Mom's meds, and repairing the shower - I swear, I wish they had Rent-A-Guy so I could just pay for one to come over and do things like that. I don't need a plumber - ka-CHING - just a pair of capable hands and that Y chromosome.)

For now - looking forward to focusing on me, me, ME. And getting my urban fantasy baby all dolled up to send out.

Jan. 18, 2010

While I know many people think of this day as simply an extra day off, providing a long weekend, I always have a sense of the somber history of the day. When I was a little girl I recall the assassination and the call my mother got from a college friend telling her of Martin Luther King's death. I remember her sitting down and crying.

The sun is out here on LI and it's milder than it should be for January, but I'm enjoying the restive nature that allows me time to just sit and think (when, of course, I should be writing, cleaning, shopping, or doing laundry).

Contemplation, recognition of the world around me - especially right now when the tragedy in Haiti is still occupying center stage around the world. The opportunity for quiet time to just think and remember my place in the scheme of this world is very humbling. I had a couple of upsets during the holiday season that further reminded me I'm not all that and a bag of chips. So get over myself.

Thinking about the heroic character archtype. No hero is perfect. All heroes are flawed. They wouldn't be human if they were perfect. (Hey, even the Gods aren't perfect!) That MLK had his human frailties does not negate the contribution and the sacrifices he made for a greater good.

And I am saddened only that more people don't take the opportunity to remind themselves that there are bigger things out there in the world, more monumental events occuring, than just them and the incidents in their own lives.

Always remember and please never forget - it's not always about "me".

A hard lesson to be learning and for most of us, we need a remedial course!

Today is the day I always try to remind myself to be a better person, a stronger person, and a less selfish person. Sadly, I need the reminding.

January 1, 2010

It's here. The new year, the new decade. And I'm very excited about this year. Last year (and the year before) I had taken on way too many non-writing responsibilities for RWA chapters. This year they have all concluded and I am FREE FREE FREE to write.

I ended 2009 on a high note, however, despite the setbacks, frustration, procrastination, anxiety and myriad responsibilities that kept me from my writing. My Mother's challenge to me - her insistence that what she wanted for Christmas was a completed novel - caused me no end of angst from the minute she made the request (in October) until December 1. I tried 2 different novels (one based on her suggestion that I write "what I know" and write a romance set in an enterainment law firm, but toiling away all week in same made that a far less appealing concept.) I couldn't come up with anything that tempted me or inspired me and dropped that idea. I had a 2nd idea and wrote about 50 pages of it (based on a NYC, gossip type plot). But nope, didn't grab me. Then on December 1 I decided I had to write what I really was enthused about. I returned to an older idea - an urban fantasy with lots of adventure and humor - that I'd originally entitled Dead Man Talking. I wrote 1 first scene, and then a later scene that subsequently won third place in an RWA contest. But never went further. But I've thought about it in the 2 years since I started and that was the novel I decided, ultimately, to write.

Between 12/2 and 12/24 I wrote 200 pages, and added them to the other 20 pages already written. I gave Mother 1/2 of the newly titled BLACK MAGIC WOMAN on Christmas Eve. And them from 12/26 - 12/30 (that's right, FOUR FREAKING DAYS) I wrote another 128 pages. The total page count: 348. Total word count: 75,000.

She got the second half last evening.

My first, first draft, done, completed, finished. There's a lot of editing to be done, certainly, but I've already begun the editing process. And have spotted some great ways to add to what I already think is a great, fun, rollicking novel. Lots to do on it, but this milestone is HUGE.

And it means I can check off at least one of my 2009 goals: Finish a book. And it means I can start 2010 with a sense of accomplishment and success that will fuel me as I move forward in a new decade.

Color me totally psyched!