|
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Making Hard But Necessary Choices
Life has a way of interfering, even for the most dedicated writer. After six and a half years, I am moving this
weekend. Although I tried valiently to soldier on with the revisions of "Indelible" it became evident that quality had
flown out the window with my concentration level. So I traded creativity for packing. For a while. As soon
as I can see daylight beyond the boxes in my new home, I will disappear behind more than cardboard. My personal goal
for completion of second draft revisions has passed, and it will be time to set a new one that I may even be able to keep
without external conflicts.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
More Positive Reviews for "All That Glitters"
The number of reviews for "All That Glitters" has now jumped to seven, all of which are positive. I'm really happy,
to say the least. The reviewers have all been generous with their comments, and are listed on Awe-Struck's site.
Romantic Suspense is a popular sub-genre, obviously, and the blurb must have been sufficiently enticing to make them all want
to read. Once they started, they all said they were hooked. What more could I want?
Friday, March 14, 2008
Update on my Work-in-Progress
Just finding time to work on the second draft of "Indelible" has been a challenge over the last two to three weeks.
Suddenly, after over six years in the same house, I have to move. My landlord wants to simplify his life and sell.
I attended EPICon last week in Portland. My day job has gone into high gear.
So many valid excuses, but I could keep playing that same song and never complete those revisions. So, I took a
hardcopy of several chapters with me to revise on the flights. Yesterday evening, I stopped circling yet another of
those dialogue-heavy pivotal chapters in the middle of the manuscript and got a jump-start with the corrections I had made
while in the air. Once I got going, I found yet more places that I needed to beef up, eliminate altogether or save to
a file of "spare dialogue" or "spare exposition" that may or may not end up in this book. I may end up saving some for
book 2 or even book 3 of the series. Some of it may never end up in any of the books, but it's all saved, in case it's
needed somewhere along the way.
Once it has been deleted, I can never get it back. Saved in a separate file, it's always available. It pays
to be prepared, especially with a life that constantly seems to be in a state of flux.
Now, if I could just find a reasonably-priced new abode within driving distances of my home health areas, and pet-friendly,
too, I would feel less stressed out.
Friday, February 22, 2008
The Basking Continues Unabated
8:53 pm pst
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Still Basking, but working on Those Revisions, too.
By the amount of emails I have received, "All That Glitters" has sold to everyone in my immediate circle, including a
cousin in England. Thanks have been given to all of them, and now it's time to come down from whichever cloud I have
been sitting on for the last few days.
I'm working on the Chapter by Chapter outline of "Rose Tattoo" as I continue to call it to myself. Some writers
work off an outline, but I prefer not to, as it seems to stifle my creativity. I feel too confined. If I want
to pursue an avenue that has opened up in my plotting, an outline waves at me: "You can't go there. It's not in the
game plan."
So, I pedal backwards--the outline is to ensure I cover all the plot points and resolve them all, too. It's to
make sure my timelines are correct, etc., etc.
This time, I'm working with colored text: red for plot points, green when they're resolved. Magenta for background
info. Yellow for day changes. Aqua for timelines.
Intricate plotting requires more intricate outlines.
|
|
|
2008.05.01 |
2008.03.01 |
2008.02.01 |
2008.01.01 |
2007.12.01 |
2007.11.01 |
2007.09.01 |
2007.07.01 |
2007.03.01 |
2006.12.01 |
2006.10.01 |
2006.07.01 |
2006.04.01 |
2006.02.01 |
2006.01.01
|
Hobbies:
Travel. Anywhere, at any time. The year before last I spent New Year in New York with a friend
who lives in Lower Manhattan; took a trip with my son to Death Valley, Bishop and the Alabama Hills in the Spring; spent a
long weekend with friends in a cabin in Mammoth late summer and 5 days in November visiting friends in Houston.
This year, I returned to Houston unexpectedly in February due to a very dear friend's illness, visited more close friends in
Spokane, Washington in April and took a research trip up to Maine for the 3rd book in the "Rose Tattoo" trilogy, "Maine Issues"
(working title,) and then Salem and Boston for pleasure/business in September.
Hiking and camping with friends in the Sierras. I've even learned to fish.
Reading (of course!)
Researching
While growing up in England, I read everything I could get my hands on. The bookshelf my parents
gave me became overloaded with everything from the classics through mysteries, romances, science fiction and even horror. I
not only read, but began writing and won a novel contest while in high school.
My other time-consuming interest became travel. After trips to Italy and the South of France during childhood,
I took a cruise around the Mediterranean with my godparents, visiting Malta, Portugal, Egypt (I saw the Pyramids and
the spectacular Cairo Museum,) Turkey, and Venice, Italy.
After that, I decided to immerse myself in the French language by living in Paris. There I met two friends
who even today remain among my closest. We traveled from Paris to spend the summer in Florence, Italy, and
then with one of them, I went on to visit Portugal and Morocco extensively, then on to Spain, where after touring from one
end to the other and spending a summer on the coast in Marbella, I met my future husband in Madrid and stayed four years
before coming to the U.S.
I've continued my globe-trotting ways by crossing the continental United States twice and living in six States.
Now the divorced mother of two grown children, I currently live in Los Angeles with Taffy, the Canine Escape Artist,
and "the girls" (tortoiseshell tabby sister cats named George and Newt--and yes, there's a story behind that, too.)
Throughout these years, I not only benefitted from enriching, colorful experiences I've since woven into my
novels but also learned how to communicate effectively in three languages and how to be flexible and productive, whatever
the challenges.
My writing started with a 500 page historical that now resides somewhere in the bottom of a closet and progressed
through romances to mystery and suspense. I've also published short fiction and non-fiction articles
and completed the first draft of a screenplay for "tweens" (ages 11-13.)
Always looking for new challenges, while living in Boston, Massachusetts, I produced, wrote, directed
and edited two documentaries that aired on cable access (NewTV13.)
My e-published short contemporary romance and the romantic-suspense coming in 2008 are hopefully only the beginning.
I have many other stories to tell, and I'm a prolific writer, so expect more from me in the near future.
|
