Archive for the ‘ADD Writer’ Category

Back from the wilds of Indianapolis, where we spent the weekend for MILs birthday. Happy Birthday Sue!

I’m finally caught up with the entire Lora Leigh Breed series. I think…uneven is the word I want. Some were definitely better than others, and that’s the end of my commentary. Still, they were strangely engrossing.

I read Angela Knight’s Master of Fire. Yet another excellent addition to the series.

While I was gone, I made the teensiest bit of progress on A Dark and Stormy Knight. Don’t worry. It’ll definitely be done by the end of the month. I can’t guarantee any sooner, though. No progress on anything else, though. I hate these dry spells.

But today is about catching up from the weekend. Loads of laundry, picking up the dog, restocking the fridge. Fun stuff.

Glad to be home!

I’m over at Beyond the Veil today wondering where they keep the serenity and when are they gonna crack open the can?

Or rather, continue.

I wrote a rough draft of the first ‘episode’ of my freebie. It still needs some work, but most of it is done. This is going to be fun!

I took my inspiration for the idea from the inimitable Inez Kelly, who has written a 9-part series of free reads called “Beauty and the Badge.” I loved the idea of short episodes to tell a whole story, but still working within a whole arc. I’ll only be doing 3-4 episodes, in any case, as opposed to Inez’s 9 because, honestly, that’s too long term for me. *gg*

The plan is to fiddle with it here and there and post it for my Valentine’s Day read either here or at the Samhellion. We’ll see.

But at least it’s done enough that I can turn most of my attention over to Wild Wild Western Bride. I’ve spent the first 4K words introducing characters and setting the initial conflict and the scene, but now I’m ready to start playing with some of the Steampunk. Yay!

BTW, the last two installments of “Beauty and the Badge” will be up at the Samhellion this month — the Christmas story is posted and the last one is scheduled for New Year’s. Enjoy!

I swear, I try to blog. I honestly do. But it looks like ATT Uverse … or someone … despises me. I’ll be able to get here for several days in a row, then poof. I can’t see my website at all, although I know that other people can!

I’ve been putting off dealing with these people for far too long. They make me feel stupid, but I just can’t take the uncertainty of not knowing whether or not my website will work today. Very frustrating.

Also, I’m sick. DH and I have both been down with colds all weekend. His was really bad over the weekend, and mine was just middling, but enough to make me tired. Until yesterday. Now I feel rotten and he’s still in bed, taking a sick day.

Too bad. My house likes like a bomb site. DS is Star of the Week and we haven’t done his poster. I missed a judging deadline which I HAVE to make today. And I’m only 1500 words into Carolina Dream (I hate that title — will have to change it.)

Apparently, I have an 18-25K length novella due on November 15. A paranormal romantic comedy, preferably set in the same world as Carolina Wolf.

CRAP!

I’m in the middle of an angsty historical romance! And after that, I’d planned to go back the medieval bestiary!

CRAP!!

Not only do I have nothing written for this rom-com, I have No Flipping Idea what to write about! I got nothing. Nada. Zippo. Coming up blank. Where the story should be in my head, there is empty space.

crap.

Guess I’m changing gears today.

I just happened to look over my work thus far for the year. It’s not good news.

I’ve started or worked on four different stories since Jan 1.

0 finished.

That’s right. I have absolutely nothing to show for 8 1/2 months of work.

I could practically have had a baby by now — at least then I’d have a tangible product!

I started out trying to fix up the mess that is my erotic fantasy, “Daughter of Privilege.” Complete disaster, btw. I’m no further along now than I was when I started messing with it.

Then there was that whole Gorgon thing. Jeez. I can’t even remember what went wrong with that one.

I was about 10,500 words into “The Misplaced Marriage,” my Jane Eyre homage, when I lost that chunk of revisions and it broke my heart.

Now I’m playing with “Beasts of the Forest,” the one with the medieval bestiary.

ADD much? I think so.

I’m playing around with “The Misplaced Marriage” again to see if I can clean it up. It’s messier than I remember, but I also remember getting the words down pretty quickly and the HEA showing up out of the blue…and in the wrong place. *gg* I know I can edit it into something worthwhile.

It would just be nice to finish something this year. Anything.

MIL is on her way. I am in my jammies, still need to do about 8 dozen things, and remembered just now that my galleys for Carolina Wolf are due on Monday. Printing them out now. Ooops.

Got an e-mail from a reader the other day who said that she re-read Carolina Wolf and enjoyed it just as much the second time around. Then someone else mentioned that they’d read it 3 times! I got all misty-eyed. I only re-read the stories that I truly love, so hearing that other people put my story in that category is…wow.

We took the kidlets to see UP last night at the drive-in. What a cute film! Highly recommended, even though I did get all verklempt near the beginning. And the short was adorable.

Ok, gotta run. Lots to do!

Thank you for all the birthday wishes! Hugs to everyone!!

Playing catch-up, that is.

I’ve been writing my monster and doing the mom thing. DD had her first piano competition on Saturday and she did really well!

I’m volunteering all over the place. Again. I used to be able to say ‘no’ to things, but I seem to have gotten out of the habit.

Tonight, we’re having the neighbors over for dinner. They’re always very generous and have us over for informal get-togethers frequently, so we’re reciprocating.

DH is headed to mom’s house tomorrow to help her put the finishing touches on her house. The painters are there now, so it’s a question of staging. She’ll be on the market some time in the next two weeks. Anybody want to move to Idaho?

I read the whole Circle trilogy by Nora Roberts last week. Her “Irish” voice is such a familiar comfort.

Let’s see….what else? Not much. Writing. Cleaning. Mom-ing. I don’t even have anything to get all worked up over right now! Not a soapbox in sight. I’ll see if I can find one this week.

On Monday, everything was going pretty well.

I’d just joined ESPAN, the e-pub chapter of RWA. A lot of people have joined there recently.

My Valentine’s Day freebie for Samhain was finally coming along.

I had things lined up for promoting CAROLINA WOLF, which, btw, releases Feb 3!!! (That’s next week. Ummm, yikes.) 

Then on Tuesday, my mother called and said she needed me to come to Idaho.

And I got my proofs.

And that was big laundry day since we’d all been sick with colds for several days.

So Wednesday, after a lot of laundry, I got on a plane. I did my proofs sitting in the airport.

But writing? Promo? Completely out the window. I have my laptop, but haven’t had time to write. I forgot my promo notes, so I can’t remember who’s due what. I know I’m guest blogging with Paranormality. And I got some awesome interview questions from MeanKitty (which are currently buried in my e-mail somewhere). But anything else? I have no idea.

And so I present to you this brief telephone drama for your enjoyment.

“Panic? Hi, this is Sela.”

“Sela! I haven’t talked to you in, what, a few days?”

“Yeah, I know. It’s been forever.”

“Hey Sela, have you seen Chaos lately?”

“Oh yeah, sure! He’s sitting right here, would you like to talk to him?”

(munchy crunchy sounds)

“Hi Panic. This is Chaos. I’ve taken over Sela’s body. She’ll get it back when I’ve wrung out what’s left of her sanity.”

“Excellent plan, Chaos. Ok, then. Just wanted to make sure our plan for Total Sela Domination was proceeding on schedule.”

“You bet. I’ll let you know when the job’s done. Shouldn’t take long!”

I can hardly believe it. Tomorrow, they’re back to school.

Getting ready for middle school has been quite a journey. New clothes, new haircut, new attitude. Yesterday was the Open House where we met the teachers and filled up their lockers, etc. Discovered what ELSE we were missing. Honestly, I know we had everything, but they can’t keep their grubby fingers off of new school supplies! So it’s back to the shops today to pick up just a couple more things. Sheesh.

DS had his Open House last night, too. I *heart* his new teacher. Know why? Because she took her class to the library every week last year! And you know what’s sad? The other teachers didn’t. I don’t understand. Why would anyone not use such a wonderful resource? Librarian know TONS of stuff and they’re just waiting for someone to ask.

I signed up to volunteer in the library again at the elementary school. I need to stop by the middle school today and see if they need any library volunteers. I don’t do room mom stuff, I don’t head committees. I play to my strengths. I volunteer at the school library.

But you know what the countdown is really for?

I get to start writing again!!!

When the summer started, I had some fantasy of squeezing in an hour or so a day to keep working on DEFINITELY DEAD. Shyah. When monkeys fly out of my butt. I finally realized that it just wasn’t happening, so I let go. How freeing! As soon as I made that decision, I let go of a lot of day-to-day stress that I wasn’t getting anything done. And you know, for the last couple of weeks, I’ve felt an eagerness to write that I haven’t had since spring when I started CAROLINA WOLF. It’s an amazing feeling. Like being a new writer again. Except hopefully without all the same mistakes. I’m sure I’ll find new ones to make.

Speaking of CW, I should be getting edits around the end of September. Plenty of time to get well stuck-in with DD’s rough draft. Woohooo!!!

Today’s big tasks: Laundry and baking.

Yes, baking. I don’t usually like to bake, but in my desperation to finally make decent kid lunches for school, I asked the Romance Divas what they do. Several mentioned baking muffins to take for snacks and I thought, shoot. If I can bake anything, it’s banana bread and muffins. So off I go to the grocery store to stock up on all the fun things I’ll need for snacking and baking and dinner this week.

Tonight: Jamaican Red Beans and Rice. I can’t remember the whole recipe, but it’s got coconut milk in it. We’ll give it a shot.