Long Time, No See

Where has the time gone? Lordy, lordy, but I've been plotting and planning and writing and submitting and getting rejected for quite some time, now. 3 editors rejected me, and my first choice agent followed suit. But I've got it out with 2 more publishers and have moved on to work on my next project. I'm excited about 2011 and feeling good about what I've accomplished so far and what I have planned.

Now, if the government just stays open for business . . .

And if Mother Nature would cooperate and bring on Spring!

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!

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 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!

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.

November 13, 2009 - Friday the 13th!

I love Friday the 13th. I'm not at all superstitious and I actually seem to get an extra dose of energy and enthusiasm on these days. Maybe that is why I'm feeling especially optimistic and determined today. But it might also be the confluence of events that transpired - all yesterday.

I chatted briefly with my old boss, a great lady who was one of 5 of the attorneys I worked for who, 2 years ago, banded together to buy me a laptop for my Christmas gift. An incredible gesture, but also one that showed their support for my writing endeavors. She was, thereafter, a great champion of my contest wins and my various efforts. She left about 8 months ago and I rarely see or speak to her. Yesterday, however, she called and we chatted for a minute. And she asked me, "How's your writing going?". Then a short while later, a young woman I work with stopped by to fill me in on what was happening with a serious personal project of hers, and ended the conversation by asking me how my writing was going, and telling me how excited she was for me to have a book for her to read, and watching the process. THEN, I was asked to walk a client through a signing process (routine, and very easy). There were tons of signature pages and lots of copies, so it took a while and we chatted. I mentioned I didn't mind train delays because I always have a book with me, he asked me what I was reading and I told him it was a book called Get Known Before the Book Deal. He asked if I was a writer. I said yes - he's a screenwriter, and his latest film is just getting underway. He asked me about my book and I told him all about the "books of my heart", my 5 book World War II series on women (nurses, spies, scientists, pilots and journalists) in the War. He told me he thought the idea was "genius" and he asked to see the finished product. I smiled and said, "why thank you", and he reiterated. "No, I mean it. I really want to see it."

That left me floating all afternoon - it wasn't much. It was just validation. I haven't been getting much of that lately (in fact I'm feeling, emotionally, like I went a few rounds with Russel Crowe in Gladiator- bloody, but unbowed). And it felt great to get these 3 individual "pats on the back".

So today I'm feeling good. Like I've had the emotional equivalent of a B12 shot. Energetic, rarin' to go. And confident that I will see the fruits of my labors ripen and be made into pie.

Or something like that.

October 27, 2009

It's Tuesday of my last vacation week of 2009. And it is raining. And it is going to rain tomorrow. And Saturday. And Sunday. Cripes.

Well, I'm trying to take the Pollyanna approach and be glad - that it is raining; because now I need no excuse as to why I'm not out raking or cleaning the gutters or pruning back dead summer plants. I have to stay in the house and that means I can - ORGANIZE. I'm a total failure at organization. I'm a packrat and I can't throw anything away and I am always absolutely positive EVERYTHING will, one day, be very useful and must be saved. Given that my house is a small, unexpanded Levitt house (Cape style) that means I'm surrounded by chaos.

NaNo is just around the corner and I've got a good idea (a promise to my Mother, actually that the novel will be her Christmas gift - Oy vey.) and I've got some energy going and enthusiasm about getting underway. So what I need to do now is be organized - so I can find those craft references and research books that I will be needing as I go. So I can find my "lucky" fountain pen to write with (it made me absolutely successful in 2006 with my "Just In Time" time travel/romance/suspense/Jack The Ripper thriller....). And so I can feel as though I'm not inundated and overwhelmed (which is usually how I feel).

I'm anxious to get the L&L contest taken care of and wrapped up (I dread going back to my work email and finding the further problems that my judges have emailed me about....) so that I can face the end of the year (Goddess, where HAS it gone?!) and be prepared for 2010 with my life less insane, and my space all neat and organized and ready for me to be productive.

So on that note, guess it's time to CLEAN HOUSE!

Too many irons in too many overheated fires...

September 22, 2009.

OK, so I got out of the dumps that September 11th engendered. Then I got past my local chapter's awards event that sucked some more life out of me (rather the way the Dementor's sucked the joy out of the folks at Hogwarts?). The contest I am chairing is creeping along .... we may have enough entries to run it. The election committee I am chairing for said chapter (by default as the only one not running) is set for candidates (for now).

I was just getting ready to get back into the swing of my personal things. You know, writing, and stuff. I had gotten all revved up to get back to my World War II series and started researching, bought books, came up with a title and was chatting about it on my Yahoo group for the September challenge when Mom gets into the act.

My Mother - who nudges me constantly about never finishing my writing projects (OKAY SO SHE'S RIGHT! LET'S MOVE ON!) decided on what she wanted for Christmas. A finished book. She figures it's easy if I write "what I know" (i.e., being a legal secretary in an entertainment law firm). So since I'm poor, I never know what to buy her ANYWAY, and since it will keep her off my broken down back, I'm plugging away at this book. Fortunately, an idea came to me and the kernal of plot has blossomed into something else. I'm saying the concept is "Working Girl meets Charmed". Because, knowing me - well, you don't, but you're probably getting an idea, right? - it must have some paranormal in it! So enter my female protagonist - a WASP "White, Anglo-Saxon Pagan".

And we're off and running.

And if the pressure from Mom weren't enough, another gal, at my day job, who is going back to school to enable her to reach a bit higher, profession-wise, is ALSO egging me on.

But you know what? I'm feeling like there's a universal energy out there - "You can do it" vibes. Or maybe I'm just channeling the Little Engine that Could, but I'm feeling confident and motivated and maybe, just maybe, this one will be the charm.

And it's easy to wrap, too!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
- Douglas Adams

August 16, 2009

Sultry summer has arrived, at least for the short-term. It makes everything harder - including writing - for me. Besides yard work, house work, and work-work, I'm just drained by the commute, by sweating 24/7 and by forecasts that predict this current mini-wave will last through Wednesday. BUT, I'm in front of the fan today, and while I do have significant yard work (imagine cleaning up Jurassic park - that's about the size of my task) I'll have to break it into little bite-sized pieces in order not to collapse of heat stroke. Instead, I'm going to take blocks of time today and relax in front of the fan and work on my current piece. Or should I say pieces? My biggest problem - stick-to-it-ive-ness. Or, as my Grandmother often accused: "Your eyes are bigger than your stomach."

So what have I got on tap? My novella, The Diary of Desiree Lee, for the Gothic Red Rose novella project. I haven't made any progress to speak of on the Vampire erotic novella anthology, though I don't think I'm alone there....But I have my current, personal, full-lenght project, "Extreme" (working title) underway and I am very excited by it. With luck that means I'll be able to focus on it and not let my mind wander.

My original plans were to have this ready for the New Jersey conference, but at this rate, I won't have it done, AND since NJ's roster of editors attending was JUST posted (2 months after registration began) and there are only THREE editors attending - from Lachesis (Canadian small press), Crescent Moon (e-pub of fantasy/paranormal only) and Samhain - to whom I can submit without an agent anyway, it doesn't motivate me very much. So I'll have to find my own motivation.

What my "long term personal forecast" is: December 31, 2009 - the date on which I retake my life and my energies and can focus on my projects, branding, and everything else that goes along with being a successful writer. Instead of a successful volunteer.

July 22, 2009

Holy crap, I actually did it! I got some writing done last night - several pages, in fact. I was feeling inspired on the way home and I'd forgotten to print out the 3rd paranormal chicklit entry that I agreed to judge (vollunteered several times in fact, what's WRONG WITH ME!). But I did get a great amount of work done and am pleased with the choice I made for the prologue (it was one of two ways and I picked the one that I do believe is the stronger choice, though, of course, we'll see).

I got a bit stuck on the intro of Grace, though, and that took a bit of extra time and then when I got home I fell back into that deep rut....watching TV w/ my dinner.

Went to bed timely, though and slept well and so I am thankfully feeling a bit more rested and less gloomy than Monday morning, for example when I really was down in the dumps.

I wish at timees like this that I did have a serious writing friend to talk with. One who desires to keep writing, and is excited by the prospect rather than daunted and depressed. It makes for a sort of loneliness that, while not debilitating, is more wistful?

Ready to greet my day and continue to fight the good fight. Get the responsibilities out of the way and then, LOOK OUT WORLD, HERE I COME! I've already got a great game plan in place.

You just watch me!

July 11, 2009

Woo Hoo! It's Saturday. Mild, balmy, breezy and not too hot. A tad more humid than I would like, but there's rain coming later so it will get even more humid then. I am excited by my plans, and the work I've done recently on my new project. I plan on having it complete and ready to pitch at the NJ Put Your Heart In A Book Conference, although there aren't any editors or agents listed yet to get appointments with, so I'm not sure it will prove productive. Besides, if NJ has cut out all the e-pub editors, then there's going to be a real dearth of folks to accomodate all the appointments. It's going to be say, 10 editors instead of 20 or whatever the break down will be. I intend to get an appointment come hell or high water ("first come first served" is the rule, but my request got lost last year and I never got to see the folks I wanted). This year I'm hoping for an Avon Red or Kensington Aphrodesia or NAL or Grand Central pitch editor. Because EXTREME is going to be ready, great and eminently sexxxxxxxy.

I've got a lot of irons in the fire, I know. But I am also looking forward with great relish to the end of December when all of my RWA commitments draw to a close and I can finally get out from under the sense of responsibility for making sure chapter members get their money's worth. Can't do it all, as they say.

Come December I'm going to really wail on my projects, and in the meantime I'm not going to let this bout of cold and exhaustion get me down. I'll need to do some yard and house work, but I'll also get lots of time for myself. And instead of sitting in a chair and reading today, I'll be sitting outside in the breeze and writing!

I've got tons of plans, too, for website, blog, and yahoo groups, as well as newsletters and such.

For now, I've got to deal with my first "guest" on the Writing Love American Style yahoo group. Set some things up, and get it started.

June 24, 2009

Am I my own worst enemy? Probably. But I've made a vow to myself to step out of the circle of frustration, anger, futility, impotence, and into the light of unfettered creativity.

For all those people, things, stuff I cannot change - either habits, a situation, problems or issues - I will just admit defeat and move on. No more gnashing of my teeth (when I wake up middle of the night with a tension headache, that is exactly what I've been doing) and trying to push people, pull people, mold situations to my liking. Nope. No more. A pure and utter waste of time because if my assistance and help and expertise and support is not helping, then there's no reason to continue expending myself when I could, instead, be working hard on my own things.

If I suffer from a fear of success - or failure - that is where I should focus my energies and my positive efforts. To push past that and realize that pinnacle of submission to a publisher. Even if it is a short story or novella, rather than a novel (and short erotic and romance fiction sites abound, so there are plenty of folks out there to explore a relationship with, vis a vis, writing.

I'm working hard toward that goal - I was very excited yesterday, although I backslid by end of day (what is it about my day job that just sucks the very creative and energetic marrow from my bones?) but I did, as I promised myself, keep my distance from those situations that most entangle me in thei insidious webs!

But a new day has dawned. True, it is still grey, rain threatens, and worst of all the temps are rising so humidity will be the order of the day (yuck and double yuck), but I'm prepared with a light and sleeveless dress and lots of my favorite refreshing item - Jean Nate.

Does that take you back, or what?

June 19, 2009 - Grey and cool and filled with promise

OK, so like WOW, let me just rave on about some recent flash fiction I read on my Yahoo Loop, Let Me Get You Hot and Bothered. I put out FFFF - freaky Friday flash fiction (because we are all freaky erotica and erotic romance authors there). The prompts can be wild, wicked, wanton (oops, that's another blog of mine!) or poetic, dark or dangerous. Yesterday's was a DP, double prompt (tee hee) provided by 2 of my members and folks have been outdoing themselves, ME INCLUDED! There must have been something in the water, or perhaps it is simply that my creative juices have been flowing like mad, lately - so much so that I might need some literary depends. I've been filled with ideas for my current erotic novella WIP (the one that is definitely going out for submission by the end of this month - I have promised myself and I will not fail me - I've done that far too much lately). Between that and reading some other folks' work, well, I seem to be a veritable fiction Vesuvius at the moment.

Despite the grey weather that has been, it seems, unending (there may have been a sunny day somewhere - maybe back in the Pleistocene.), I have not felt the usual depressed morose feeling that I tend to get. Instead it is almost as if my absorption with my writing has insulated me from feeling it. I look up from the page - or the screen - and find myself surprised at where I am, in my mundane world, because I've been that drawn into my fictional worlds.

One of the prompts was the title of my favorite Tennessee Williams play, Talk To Me Like The Rain and Let Me Listen. I'd mentioned it in passing during a discussion on the art of writing dialogue - to use plays as a sort of education on the value of dialogue and how to use it to move plots forward and expose characters.

When my gal Jae said use it as a prompt, I did and it unleased (for me and, apparently for her) a whole new erotic and sensual sense of writing that was different by far from my nitty, gritty and sometimes witty erotic bits and pieces.

As a result I am sitting with only ten minutes to go before I have to hit the old salt mine trail and toil away again for another 8 to 10 hour day. But I am basically just excited to get going, so that I can take advantage of those bits of time here and there - on trains and buses - and get more writing done. Inspiration is a wonderful thing, ain't it? Not only that the community of WRITERS is a wonderful thing. For anyone who is tempted to secret themselves away in a world, hiding their words and suspecting other writers of possible attempts at word theft, you are doing yourselves a grave disservice. Because for every person tempted to steal from you, are a huge crowd who want nothing more than to cheer you on and praise your efforts and keep you on the path to creative fulfillment and professional productivity. So, guys and gals, let it all hang out - figuratively speaking.

6/3/09

Raining. I'm not writing, either, but, as usual, performing those tangential writerly tasks. Culling articles from newspapers ("ideas"), reading a craft book "Fiction Writers' Brainstormers", checking emails (RWA chapters, writers' loops, etc.).

I was determined to get my erotic short ready for submission on my birthday at mid-month. Not sure I can do that now, but I'll get back to work on it.

It is raining outside so it does permit me the "luxury" of coming inside and getting on my computer, which I always postpone because I cannot bear a single minute of NOT being out of doors when the weather is lovely.

Anyway. That's where I stand. Frustrated, but determined.

What else is new!

(P.S. - I am getting lots of ideas while my brain is not overwhelmed with the nonsense of work. A bit of anxiety off my shoulders because I paid my bills, have my tax refund and can pay a few more without sweating the penny pinching for a minut or two....but lots of ideas, which is always great. NOW to sit down and WRITE!!!)

6/1/09

Inspiration comes from the strangest places. Fortunately for me, I find inspiration just about everywhere. Today's story on the death of the last survivor of the Titanic sinking has my mind racing. I've always loved that era, anyway - as the old world slowly ceded to the new - a world filled with mechanization and World War conflagrations and so many inventions and changes that made the rather sedate, older world, anachronistic almost overnight.

The day is gorgeous (though the weather's supposed to change to more cloudy and more showers) and I'm feeling motivated.

Fortunately for me, I can write outside on a notebook and don't need to feel constrained about having to write on a laptop or computer. Why do people not realize that? I'm always puzzled when someone laments that their computer is getting repaired, or it died and they're waiting to buy a new one - and can't write until they do.

Weird. Take out a pen and a pad, dudes!

Too nice a day - gotta run and put all this motivation to good use. Vampires, here I come!

6/1/9 - Getting down to brass tacks

I haven't the foggiest clue what that expression means, but that's my plan for the week as I am now ON VACATION! While I always pray for beautiful weather (not too hot, and at this time of year, with my gardening to do too, certainly not too cold), I am usually thwarted. Sure enough, this morning the latest weather report has added to the 3 days of possible rain this week to make it - 5 DAYS with rain. Today was supposed to be clear until late afternoon, now a possible thunderstorm in the AM. Sheesh.

The upside? More time to write, of course!

So what am I up to? Same old, same old, actually, as has been the case for a bit. I've got my erotic vampire novella up and then my Gothic novella. And in between I am working on an erotic short piece that I hope to submit on my birthday (15 days from now). Beyond that, of course, are my longer projects (as my Grandma always said, my eyes are bigger than my stomach, and it doesn't just mean about food, either!).

Am I the only one who gets so overzealous about projects that not a single one ever reaches fruition? I certainly hope I'm not alone, but then again I wouldn't wish this on others as it is FRUSTRATING!

But I am going for the gusto, the brass ring, the gold, "Just do it!" as Nike says. And by the end of this week I will, by golly, have something to show for it!