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Saturday, June 7, 2008
Settling in and Setting New Goals
The trauma of my move is over. I now live in Monrovia instead of L.A. I left a 2 bedroom house on a hill
for a small apartment next to Old Town. I had to condense, purge and settle for less than I would want in the way of
space. My desk went to the dumpster. My DSL set-up went to a UPS warehouse somewhere in Baldwin Park. I
began to wonder whether I would ever clear boxes that stacked to within a foot of my living room ceiling.
But hope springs eternal, time heals muscle pains and the desire to drive off into the hills has receded. I can
move again inside the apartment, I have finished the several-times-a-day trips to the dumpsters with all those boxes.
The little green table I bought in a yard sale for $5 all those years ago in Houston has become my new desk. I found
human responses at UPS and got the DSL sent back out (5 lengthy calls to Verizon resulted in nothing but getting transfered
around and yes, disconnected 5 times when I actually did talk to a real person instead of the automated phone tree--a big
thumbs-down to Verizon and their lack of customer service.)
I finally got back into "Indelible" and resumed my revisions yesterday.
I decided I may even like living here, apart from the lack of space. I don't have to tackle a yard that grew more
weeds than seemed possible. I will never have to drag giant garbage cans up and down the hill. I won't have to
deal with the leaky roof, the leaky plumbing, the antiquated kitchen, the spiders that somehow always found a way into the
house or the wildlife that always found a way under the house. I can park my car and leave it there--the bank, post
office, restaurants, grocery store, etc., etc. are all within walking distance. I don't need to drive to the park because
I can walk the dog on Main Street and it's only a short block away.
I'm setting a new goal for those revisions. Drop dead is September 1. I'm determined.
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
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Hobbies:
Travel. Anywhere, at any time. Two years ago 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.
Last 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. This year, my son came with me up to
Portland Oregon as we both have wanted to check it out for the last couple of years. EPICon made it a business trip
with 2 days of pleasure on either side. We drove the Columbia Gorge and hiked to a waterfall. We had dinner in
Chinatown. It was too early in the year to go hiking up to Mt. St. Helen's or visit some of the other attractions.
The only day we had to drive to the coast, rain was forecast. We may just have to go back...
Other hobbies: Hiking and camping with friends in the Sierras. I've even learned to fish.
Reading (of course!)
Researching (why do people think research has to be boring?)
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 Monrovia with Taffy, the Canine Escape Artist.
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 resided somewhere in the bottom of a closet until my last move,
when it finally went into the shredder,) and then 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 romantic-suspense novels 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.
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