I’m back! My sister got married this past weekend in Vegas. Don't get excited, it’s not like it sounds. She lives there. And I’m from there too. So it’s not like going to Vegas to party for the weekend. Some of my friends back home seemed disappointed in me. What did I do? Mainly hung out with my sis, new BIL and the kids. His, hers, and mine. Four total, two 13 year olds and two 5 year olds. And I had the best weekend. The wedding went smooth, shocking but true, one of those things where you go in expecting the worst and just happy when it doesn’t get that bad.
This was one of the few times I’ve been back to Vegas (I moved to Texas just over 16 years ago) that I felt truly relaxed. The childhood baggage seemed to be gone, or at least didn’t rear its ugly head this time. I got to take my daughter just outside of town and show her the mountains. She wants me to take her camping out there and I’m really considering it for the next time I come out. The Valley of Fire is one of the most beautiful and serene places I’ve been too. I try to get there as often as I can, but it seems I’ve managed it only one about every five years. I didn't make it this trip, but if I relent and take her camping I'll have to take her there to do it.
So back to work for me and preparing for the next trip. We are so busy in the summer time that we don’t really get to go anywhere. In a month we are taking our very first cruise. I’m so anxious and excited but DH is a bit of a paranoid freak. (That’s going lightly.) But mostly it’s used to give me a hard time. He bugs me all day with things like: Do you know we’re going during hurricane season? They have computers to monitor that. I just watched Titanic; do you think we might hit an iceberg? Not in the Caribbean. What about this? What about that? It’ll be fine dear. Now quit bugging me! I’ll let you know some of the other questions he bugs me with, if I listen to him. :)
Writing front: Not much writing, plotting the next scene in my head. I did go over what I’ve already written and discovered I haven’t skipped as many scenes as I thought. I have one transition that needs to be written, one scene I started but wasn’t quite sure how much info to give so truthfully that scene is about a third written and then this last scene that I skipped entirely. I don’t think it’s that bad considering I thought I skipped over more than twice that.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Sunday, September 7, 2008
How to make your smart heroine do something stupid?
Well, Leah will be proud of me. I’ve been writing forward. My word count hasn’t really changed. (Took away notes as I wrote. :) ) But it is going forward, now I’m at another integral part where I need my heroine do something completely stupid and get herself in trouble. She quick tempered, stubborn and will do stupid things when someone tries to ‘tell’ her what to do. Got that figured out, hero is going to order her to stay put. And in a huff she goes anyway.
Dilemma – I know where I want to end up, but I haven’t decided out how they are going to get there. I haven't quite figured out how to get him to be so pushy with her that he will start ordering her around. While I do know men get that way all the time, but doing it on paper where the female audience will get it is another thing. Any suggestions?
And I know Leah, just skip it and write forward, but I’ve just skipped over several other key scenes that now I’m starting to hate doing it. So far I have passed over at least four key scenes and I’m only a third into the draft. Some of it is necessary. I want to make sure my ending will fit the beginning. I like seeing where my characters take me, so while I have a plan, I leave a lot for inspiration from the voices in my head.
How many major scenes do you skip in a first draft?
And while I’m asking, how many drafts do you go through before you let others critique?
Oh, go check out The Goddess Blogs. This is a great, fun blog. Plus they are always doing contests for free books. I commented on the appeal of Pirates the other day and won a signed book by Sabrina Jeffries. Work has been sucking the life out of me so I didn’t even know I won. She graciously emailed me this morning to see if I wanted her book. Uh, YES! Anyone want my unsigned copy? I’ll send it to you.
Dilemma – I know where I want to end up, but I haven’t decided out how they are going to get there. I haven't quite figured out how to get him to be so pushy with her that he will start ordering her around. While I do know men get that way all the time, but doing it on paper where the female audience will get it is another thing. Any suggestions?
And I know Leah, just skip it and write forward, but I’ve just skipped over several other key scenes that now I’m starting to hate doing it. So far I have passed over at least four key scenes and I’m only a third into the draft. Some of it is necessary. I want to make sure my ending will fit the beginning. I like seeing where my characters take me, so while I have a plan, I leave a lot for inspiration from the voices in my head.
How many major scenes do you skip in a first draft?
And while I’m asking, how many drafts do you go through before you let others critique?
Oh, go check out The Goddess Blogs. This is a great, fun blog. Plus they are always doing contests for free books. I commented on the appeal of Pirates the other day and won a signed book by Sabrina Jeffries. Work has been sucking the life out of me so I didn’t even know I won. She graciously emailed me this morning to see if I wanted her book. Uh, YES! Anyone want my unsigned copy? I’ll send it to you.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Finally a Post
I know, I know, two months since my last post. What can I say? Summer is crazy busy around here for me. Work is always intense during the hot season and we seem to discover new ways customers try to abuse us. I’m telling you, I could write a whole column on some of the ‘interesting’ things that I’ve experienced with customers. 95% of our customers are great, but unfortunately it’s the 5% that stand out the most. Sad, but true.
Little Miss M is officially a Kindergartener. Everyone asked how I took it. One word, Great. She’s been at this school for their Preschool program and the Pre K, so by the time the Big K rolled in, it was old stuff for us. Now come talk to me in May and we’ll see. She is in a separate building right now and in May they have a graduation ceremony where the students (first grade through twelfth) from the other building line up the road and the Kindergarteners walk the way to the big school. I don’t think there will be many dry eyes that day.
You want to hear irony? I took Little Miss M up north for a quick weekend to spend with her Grandma before we started the Big K. Before I went up north the weather here was HOT, even my nephew that lives in the southwestern desert that came and stayed for two weeks this summer complained about our heat. The quick weekend I was away? It rained the WHOLE time. Twenty degrees cooler. Can you believe that? Now that I’m home again, HOT. One of life’s little jokes I’m sure.
Writing front – Not much happening. I’m stuck a bit on a scene and finally decided to just ignore it for now and start writing after that scene. I think that will help me figure out what to put into that one and what I shouldn’t. I finally decided who’s POV to put it in, it’s an integral scene where the hero realizes the heroine is truly a force to be reckoned with, where before he saw her as someone that needed him to rescue and shelter her. Not seeing that she has been doing for herself already for the last decade plus without him. I really like strong women and want to portray the special dynamic that entails those two headstrong personalities.
Reading – Well, that is something I’ve been doing a lot of. I have just discovered Anita Blake. I know I came to it late. But my, what a series. I’m on the eighth book now and I just love her. She’s smart and ruthless while still vulnerable enough that you want to see her have that happily ever after. But she’s smart enough to know that the HEA is just for stories, not her, she causes too much trouble along with being a smart ass from hell. I like cynical people. And her mouth gets her in trouble ALL the time. I can so relate.
What are you reading? Writing? Any trips lately?
Little Miss M is officially a Kindergartener. Everyone asked how I took it. One word, Great. She’s been at this school for their Preschool program and the Pre K, so by the time the Big K rolled in, it was old stuff for us. Now come talk to me in May and we’ll see. She is in a separate building right now and in May they have a graduation ceremony where the students (first grade through twelfth) from the other building line up the road and the Kindergarteners walk the way to the big school. I don’t think there will be many dry eyes that day.
You want to hear irony? I took Little Miss M up north for a quick weekend to spend with her Grandma before we started the Big K. Before I went up north the weather here was HOT, even my nephew that lives in the southwestern desert that came and stayed for two weeks this summer complained about our heat. The quick weekend I was away? It rained the WHOLE time. Twenty degrees cooler. Can you believe that? Now that I’m home again, HOT. One of life’s little jokes I’m sure.
Writing front – Not much happening. I’m stuck a bit on a scene and finally decided to just ignore it for now and start writing after that scene. I think that will help me figure out what to put into that one and what I shouldn’t. I finally decided who’s POV to put it in, it’s an integral scene where the hero realizes the heroine is truly a force to be reckoned with, where before he saw her as someone that needed him to rescue and shelter her. Not seeing that she has been doing for herself already for the last decade plus without him. I really like strong women and want to portray the special dynamic that entails those two headstrong personalities.
Reading – Well, that is something I’ve been doing a lot of. I have just discovered Anita Blake. I know I came to it late. But my, what a series. I’m on the eighth book now and I just love her. She’s smart and ruthless while still vulnerable enough that you want to see her have that happily ever after. But she’s smart enough to know that the HEA is just for stories, not her, she causes too much trouble along with being a smart ass from hell. I like cynical people. And her mouth gets her in trouble ALL the time. I can so relate.
What are you reading? Writing? Any trips lately?
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
POV
No news means I’m busy. At least in the real job anyways. Not much to report there, just trying to keep my head above water. What can I say, some days are better than others.
I’m still working on my reads for another writer. She has a crazy writing schedule this year. My heartfelt respect goes out to her. She is insanely prolific right now. I haven’t known her for a long time, but her hard work is obvious and a huge part of her getting six books on contract. A lot of people say they want to write full time and everything, but this is one woman that has actually done it.
On my own writing front, I haven’t gotten too much done. I wrote two scenes that I’ve been stuck on. I’m happy with the first writing of it, though it needs a ton of work, adding in the layers of emotion and tension I’m trying to keep up. My marker only shows I wrote about 2,000 words but it was more like 3,500. I have all kinds of notes throughout telling me where to put certain bits of info. Once I write the scene I delete the notes. It works for me, but it’s somewhat self defeating when my numbers don’t show better than that.
I have a scene that needs to go in between these that I was waiting on some info for. Now I have the info and I’m tettering on whose POV to put it in. Which one will give me more bang for the buck? So now I need to look at the other two scenes that I wrote and then rethink all three. I’m not going to lose sleep over it, but I’d like to get the POV right the first time. Leah, I promise I won’t spend too much time on this. : ) She is always reminding me to just keep writing, that’s what the edits are for. So as soon as I have some extra time one evening this week I’m going to look over it and write it.
Are there any tricks you use to help you figure out POV?
I’m still working on my reads for another writer. She has a crazy writing schedule this year. My heartfelt respect goes out to her. She is insanely prolific right now. I haven’t known her for a long time, but her hard work is obvious and a huge part of her getting six books on contract. A lot of people say they want to write full time and everything, but this is one woman that has actually done it.
On my own writing front, I haven’t gotten too much done. I wrote two scenes that I’ve been stuck on. I’m happy with the first writing of it, though it needs a ton of work, adding in the layers of emotion and tension I’m trying to keep up. My marker only shows I wrote about 2,000 words but it was more like 3,500. I have all kinds of notes throughout telling me where to put certain bits of info. Once I write the scene I delete the notes. It works for me, but it’s somewhat self defeating when my numbers don’t show better than that.
I have a scene that needs to go in between these that I was waiting on some info for. Now I have the info and I’m tettering on whose POV to put it in. Which one will give me more bang for the buck? So now I need to look at the other two scenes that I wrote and then rethink all three. I’m not going to lose sleep over it, but I’d like to get the POV right the first time. Leah, I promise I won’t spend too much time on this. : ) She is always reminding me to just keep writing, that’s what the edits are for. So as soon as I have some extra time one evening this week I’m going to look over it and write it.
Are there any tricks you use to help you figure out POV?
Monday, June 23, 2008
Success
Saturday night I took some dear friends out for a special dinner. They are venturing into self proprietorship with a few weeks. I am thrilled to see them so excited about operating their own business. My husband and I have owned ours for nearly 17 years now. And while it’s more work than most people can believe, it is also extremely rewarding. Seeing something that you’ve put so much of yourself into and finally seeing it work the way you planned. (I imagine all the mothers out there will give me some stories too.) There are lots of pros and cons to self employment, one is of course flexibility, but that isn’t always the case. I’ve said before that the business I’m in is dependant on the summer’s heat. So while in the winter time I’m able to leave early, take a couple of days of here and there, in the summer I have to work much longer hours and often bring much of it home at night. I’m not complaining. Far from it, but every time people think I’ve got it made, they’ve got no idea at the cost of that freedom they think they see.
Sorry I rambled a bit, it happens often. So at dinner one of them asked me, “How long were you in business before you thought you were successful?” My immediate response, “I still don’t. I’m hoping maybe next year.” And we laughed, but then he got serious again. “No, really. How long?”
I couldn’t answer that. And it’s bugged me all weekend. Everyone's definition of success is different. And my husband and I are very driven people, so as soon as we met one threshold (being able to pay bills), we set another for ourselves (being able to pay employees), then another (let’s open a branch office 4 hours away), and then so on and so on. Even now, 17 years into our business, we keep pushing ourselves to do more. I’m sure everyone that looks at us thinks we’re successful, but I don’t think him and I see it that way. We both believe that once you become complacent, that's when the problems start to happen.
I asked him the question and he said we’re not successful yet. :-) Knew he’d say that. Now there are reasons why we push ourselves so hard, but I’m SO not getting into that here. But it is true, everyone’s definition of success is different. It’s all based on what your goals were, how you met them, and even your background. I believe I’m successful in my life, but not because of my business. I have a wonderful husband, my little girl is about the coolest thing on the planet, great friends and family that I love and adore. My child isn’t sick and I’m healthy so I know I should be here to raise her and I don’t have to worry too much about paying my bills. Although with gas prices, you never know. :-) Plus I get to pursue my dream of writing professionally. For me all of that is successful and I am grateful everyday for that. What is your idea of success?
Sorry I rambled a bit, it happens often. So at dinner one of them asked me, “How long were you in business before you thought you were successful?” My immediate response, “I still don’t. I’m hoping maybe next year.” And we laughed, but then he got serious again. “No, really. How long?”
I couldn’t answer that. And it’s bugged me all weekend. Everyone's definition of success is different. And my husband and I are very driven people, so as soon as we met one threshold (being able to pay bills), we set another for ourselves (being able to pay employees), then another (let’s open a branch office 4 hours away), and then so on and so on. Even now, 17 years into our business, we keep pushing ourselves to do more. I’m sure everyone that looks at us thinks we’re successful, but I don’t think him and I see it that way. We both believe that once you become complacent, that's when the problems start to happen.
I asked him the question and he said we’re not successful yet. :-) Knew he’d say that. Now there are reasons why we push ourselves so hard, but I’m SO not getting into that here. But it is true, everyone’s definition of success is different. It’s all based on what your goals were, how you met them, and even your background. I believe I’m successful in my life, but not because of my business. I have a wonderful husband, my little girl is about the coolest thing on the planet, great friends and family that I love and adore. My child isn’t sick and I’m healthy so I know I should be here to raise her and I don’t have to worry too much about paying my bills. Although with gas prices, you never know. :-) Plus I get to pursue my dream of writing professionally. For me all of that is successful and I am grateful everyday for that. What is your idea of success?
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Long time, No Post
Yes, I know I haven’t been around in a while. I haven’t even been lurking. Just started going back on looking at Leah’s blog. Real job has been keeping me busy with a vengeance.
Not much new in the writing front. Working on my third read through for the author I mentioned before. I haven’t asked her permission to mention her name yet, so I’ll refrain until I ask. I hope that I’m giving her good feedback on her work. I’ve really enjoyed this and her stories are great. I’m amazed at how quickly she is able to produce such varied works.
I was checking my emails this morning and came across an interesting article on man vs. woman language. Here’s the link. Interesting perspective on what men say and what it really means. Working with mostly men, I can say the article is pretty accurate. My only complaint is that my husband NEVER cleaned during the early part of our relationship. He does now, but that’s after years of being together. And as he tells it, he’s finally out of the mid life crisis that started when he was 16. At least that’s what he tells the guys.
What is the biggest difference in what a man says and what he really means?
Not much new in the writing front. Working on my third read through for the author I mentioned before. I haven’t asked her permission to mention her name yet, so I’ll refrain until I ask. I hope that I’m giving her good feedback on her work. I’ve really enjoyed this and her stories are great. I’m amazed at how quickly she is able to produce such varied works.
I was checking my emails this morning and came across an interesting article on man vs. woman language. Here’s the link. Interesting perspective on what men say and what it really means. Working with mostly men, I can say the article is pretty accurate. My only complaint is that my husband NEVER cleaned during the early part of our relationship. He does now, but that’s after years of being together. And as he tells it, he’s finally out of the mid life crisis that started when he was 16. At least that’s what he tells the guys.
What is the biggest difference in what a man says and what he really means?
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Tag, I'm it.
Leah tagged me, so here it is:
1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
10 years ago I was planning my wedding to my husband. We had been living in sin, according to a large portion of my family, for the last seven and a half years. But we wanted to have a great big party with our wedding and had finally gotten ourselves in the position to pay for it. It was a blast.
2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today?
For work today: Get my VPN set up correctly for my other office. Go to the bank, try to clean desk some, pay bills. Deposit my credit card transactions, get square footages done on files for commissions for payroll this week.
Pick up Miss M, return library books, pick up and drop off dry cleaning, and if I can swing it, get her and my hair cut this afternoon. Oh, and I’m in the middle of rearranging her bedroom and organizing her toys, so hopefully get her books sorted and one box of toys sorted into: keeping, trash, and donate.
Oh yeah, plus fold three loads of laundry waiting to be folded and hopefully get two more loads washed tonight.
3. Snacks I enjoy.
I’m in a wedding later this year, so trying to shed the pounds the steroids gave me. (allergy problems) So lately my snacks have been rice cakes, which there is a lot of flavors now. Plus I have found some dark chocolate pudding cups that are only 100 calories. Yum.
4. Places I’ve lived, in no particular order.
Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Arkansas, Hawaii, and Las Vegas. Military brat.
5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire.
Oh, that’s a hard one. Too many things I’d like to do. Most certainly help my sisters out with some of their needs. Set up trust funds for my child and my nieces and nephews. Hire someone else in my office to help cover me so I can take an extended vacation in Europe. Probably take my family on a really cool vacation to Disney World (lots of young children) or a Disney Cruise.
Once reality set in then I would donate some time and money to my two favorite charities. Make a Wish and St. Jude’s.
1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
10 years ago I was planning my wedding to my husband. We had been living in sin, according to a large portion of my family, for the last seven and a half years. But we wanted to have a great big party with our wedding and had finally gotten ourselves in the position to pay for it. It was a blast.
2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today?
For work today: Get my VPN set up correctly for my other office. Go to the bank, try to clean desk some, pay bills. Deposit my credit card transactions, get square footages done on files for commissions for payroll this week.
Pick up Miss M, return library books, pick up and drop off dry cleaning, and if I can swing it, get her and my hair cut this afternoon. Oh, and I’m in the middle of rearranging her bedroom and organizing her toys, so hopefully get her books sorted and one box of toys sorted into: keeping, trash, and donate.
Oh yeah, plus fold three loads of laundry waiting to be folded and hopefully get two more loads washed tonight.
3. Snacks I enjoy.
I’m in a wedding later this year, so trying to shed the pounds the steroids gave me. (allergy problems) So lately my snacks have been rice cakes, which there is a lot of flavors now. Plus I have found some dark chocolate pudding cups that are only 100 calories. Yum.
4. Places I’ve lived, in no particular order.
Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Arkansas, Hawaii, and Las Vegas. Military brat.
5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire.
Oh, that’s a hard one. Too many things I’d like to do. Most certainly help my sisters out with some of their needs. Set up trust funds for my child and my nieces and nephews. Hire someone else in my office to help cover me so I can take an extended vacation in Europe. Probably take my family on a really cool vacation to Disney World (lots of young children) or a Disney Cruise.
Once reality set in then I would donate some time and money to my two favorite charities. Make a Wish and St. Jude’s.
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