I think I beat the blahs. I went through a phase last week where I really didn't know what I wanted to work on. I flitted back and forth from wip to wip. But I think I have a reasonable plan. I've resurrected a short story to work on, I hope to send to Samhain at some point, and I'm again working on Dreamer's Sea. Thanks to lots of advice from my JaNoWriMo companions I have an idea that may carry me through, along with the other changes I'm implementing.
So, I'm looking forward to a good writing week.
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What a hot weekend! We've gone from April to July in a matter of 2 days! Saturday the temps reached 90. I finished planting the veggie garden and then lay in the grass and stared at the sky. It was so relaxing. After that DH, DS and I attempted to do some geocaching but our GPS doesn't go into enough detail to lead us directly to the spot we need. So we ended up drivng down some really pretty roads where I practically drooled all over the homes and farms we passed. It was a pleasant way to spend the day.
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And now it's back to work. Back to school for the kids who were on spring vaca last week. Joy to the world!
Start working on a car at 6pm after the heroine has spent an entire afternoon digging a garden and just wants to go in, get showered and have dinner. I was out until after 7pm while DH installed new headlights in his truck. Sheesh. Can't we do this tomorrow??
Yes, got about 1/3rd of a garden dug at my mom's and now I'm very sore. Got to go back today and continue. It's a little late to do this, but had to wait for the ground to thaw enough. We'll have beautiful veggies in no time!
I submitted Forever Home to L & L Dreamspell this morning. I've heard good things about them. Wish I could've sent an entire chapter, but they only want about 5K for a sample and my chapter 1 is 7k. My fingers are yet again crossed.
And I have to get my Kensington submission ready again and hope this time it doesn't disappear. In the meantime I need something exciting to write. Need a break from the other manuscript. I have a few ideas.
I heard from Samhain today, a very nice letter from the editor who reviewed Forever Home. She gave me the reasons behind the rejection, so I'm feeling better now. Of course I'm still bummed out that they didn't take it, but at least I know why. So, now I have to work on my characters. They weren't engaging enough. Okay. My heroine is a young woman who's tough, independent and cynical. She doesn't believe in romance except when it comes to the hero, who she was in love with when she was a child. He's ten years older and married his childhood sweetheart when he was eighteen, and broke my heroine's heart. But now she's grown up, he's been a widower for two years and they are developing a friendship. So, okay, I can do this. Currently she doesn't have a romantic bone in her body. Maybe I need to give her one. I also heard from Kensington and they told me to resubmit That Kind Of Magic. So, it was a better day than yesterday. I have a little direction now at least. Of course my JaNoWriMo weekly total is going to bite! :)
I heard back from Samhain regarding Forever Home. They said no. In a form letter. With no explanation as to why they said no.
Of course getting a rejection hurts, especially when I love this story, more than Sweet Forever even. But it happens. I can handle it. It's the fact that I got a generic form letter is what bugs me. I have two books with Samhain, they've been fantastic to work with, but I'd think they'd give their authors a more personal note. I'm not looking for them to give the manuscript a second chance, but I'd like to know why they said no.
Am I asking too much?
So, here I am, two manuscripts that are ready to go (though I'll have to tweak FH so it'll work as a stand alone instead of being a sequel). I don't know, at this point if I should resubmit to Kensington, or submit That Kind Of Magic to Samhain, or try another publisher all together.
It's put my new writing on hold.
So, I've got some thinking to do today. Got lots to do so I'll be out and about for most of the day, but I'll do my mental pros and cons list on this.
I'm feeling completely and utterly frustrated! I'm feeling bored with my current wip so, upon recommendation, should find something else to work on. Problem is I'm not "into" any of my wips. Maybe I'm just needing a bit of a writing break. I hate taking breaks though. I want to write through it, but when I'm in this frame of mind I'm too easily distracted. So, maybe I'll give myself today to rest and plunge in tomorrow with something. But what, I don't know. My "problem" is that I have several wips that I can work on, wips that have lots of potential if I could just get going on them. Maybe hypnosis would work. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On the submission front: No word from Samhain yet regarding Forever Home. Wish I would hear back because I can't submit anything else to them while I have something already submitted. And then there's Kensington. Kensington Kensington Kensington. I discovered that the editor I submitted That Kind Of Magic to left Kensington in February and apparently didn't hand off to anyone else. Who knows what happened to it. I have an email into another editor to find out for sure, but I'll probably have to resubmit it, and that means ANOTHER 3 month wait. Or I could just send it somewhere else. Problem is that it's a hard story to place. It's paranormal... sort of... not enough of a paranormal for it to fit into a real paranormal catagory, but not really contempory. CURSE MY IMAGINATION! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So, off I go to make dinner and figure out what wip I'll go with next.
Seriously. I just kill plants. Why would a veggie patch be any different? Luckily for all involved, especially the harmless lives of the tomato, pea, and corn plants, they'll be living at my mother's house and she has a green thumb. But I can just hear them shrieking with terror at my approach.
I really need to read up on gardening. We want to grow corn. Can you buy corn that's already starting to grow, or is this something you start growing from a seed (in a hole with a dead fish)? If my mom was smart she'd make me my own "special" garden that's always green and healthy....and plastic. I'd probably never know the difference.
I tell ya, this is definitely going outside my comfort zone.
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Despite a busy weekend the writing is coming along pretty well. I miss having something to edit, but that'll come eventually. For now I'm giving my attention to The Staying Kind, which is/was my 2007 NaNo project. I never made it to 50K with it, but I'm almost there now. It's turning into a relatively steamy project, but I have to make sure there's plenty of sigh-inducing romance, which is difficult when my heroine doesn't believe in love and romance. My hero is working on that though.
My mind, though, is on how to make Dreamer's Sea into something viable. Marketable. Need that strong oompf. Right now it's just a calm ride, but who wants to read that? But I'm not going to rush it. Still have SK and another one that needs more editing.
Now I have to get ready for a fun filled day of work.
I've had a wonderfully productive morning. Even though I'd love to sleep in I was still up before 430am. I find I can get a lot done early in the morning. Today was no exception. In fact got over 1000 words written by 530am. I call that a good morning! But I'm going to have to take a break soon to take DD #1 to school. She's off for the state Special O basketball tournament today. Then I have spring cleaning plans. Then have to go help my mother pick up a table. Oh, and plot out a garden (help!!)
We've decided to put in a veggie garden at my mom's. I'm not known for my green thumb. In fact I have no plants here in my home. My kids gave me seeds and little pots to plant them in a few years ago for mother's day but I just can't bring myself to plant them, knowing that they'll die a slow torturous death. Herbocide. That's what I commit on plants in my care. I'm hoping that, with my mom's help (plants love her, they thrive in her presence) we can make this garden work. I'm really wanting fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, peas and beans and zuchini.
Anyway, my breakthrough. I've been trying not to think about Dreamer's Sea. I feel horrible that I wrote this long story, which I really do love, but it has no zap, no zing, no pizzazz. Not that I found the missing element, but I've been playing around with the basic elements, like giving my hero a son who he's raised on his own since the boy was an infant (I have a reoccuring abandonment theme, I think). And now I've written a prologue that'll change the relationship between my hero and heroine. Before they didn't know each other before chapter 1 but now they were childhood summer sweethearts. It'll give them a foundation I can build on
Boy, I hope this works. I really want this story to be good. I still need that zip zang pizzazz, but at least this will build the romance between the two characters.
Just need to finish the prologue and brainstorm the rest of it.
Location: Southwestern, New Hampshire, United States
I'm 44 year old mom of 3. I work as a customer service rep for a publishing company, and I write. I have five published novels and working on adding to that.
THAT KIND OF MAGIC--AVAILABLE NOVEMBER 17,2010
What's a witch to do when she refuses to use magic to find love? Beautiful Wiccan Charlotte Noone has a shop for magical supplies and a goddess who's pushing her to find the man of her dreams. When Patrick Riordan, a straight-laced non-believer enters her life, Charlotte falls madly in lust with him. Despite their very different lives, neither can stop the erotic journey they’ve embarked on, but will it be enough to break through their barriers so they can accept that love itself is magical?.
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