A year in books

So the year draws to a close. And I figure an appropriate way to finish the year is to about books. As a writer and a reader, they’re just about my favourite thing.

For those of you following along, I decided to track my reading for the year…at least my new books read. So far, it’s sitting at about 100 books. Which doesn’t include books I didn’t like enough to put up on the list and most of the non-fiction I read this year. I’ve had half an eye on my re-reading as well and I figure I re-read about two – sometimes three books for every new book. Which means my total for the year is somewhere between 300 – 400 books. Funnily enough, that’s about what I thought it would be. I read a lot. But probably less than I used to given that some reading time is now writing time. My days are very story and word oriented. I don’t want to try and do the math on how many pages and words that might be. But I can’t think of many better ways to spend some time.

Anyway, I’ve looked backed over the list and here are my faves for the year…in no particular order.

Kushiel’s Scion – Jacqueline Carey
Wife for a Week – Kelly Hunter
Temeraire series – Naomi Novik
Crazy series – Tara Janzen
Lord Perfect – Loretta Chase
Balance of Trade – Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
The Compass Rose – Gail Dayton
Full Moon Rising – Keri Arthur
The Perfect Stranger – Anne Gracie
The Sharing Knife – Lois McMaster Bujold
Warprize – Elizabeth Vaughn
The Devil in Winter – Lisa Kleypas
Moon Called – Patricia Briggs
Pleasure for Pleasure – Eloisa James
Lover Awakened – JR Ward
Wintersmith – Terry Pratchett
Don’t Look Down – Jenny Crusie and Bob Mayer

Not all old favourite authors, which is good. Finding great new authors is always wonderful. Though my year seems to have been female heavy…not that surprising given that I read a lot of romance. But this year, even the fantasy and mystery stuff has been largely female. I need to find some new male authors I love. Some of the old ones have gone off the boil for me.

And if you’re interested…here are the authors that I know I’ve re-read everything I own of theirs, or my favourites of their series, at least once this year:

Terry Pratchett
Jennifer Crusie
Barbara Samuel
JD Robb
Janet Evanovich
Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
Lois McMaster Bujold
Jacqueline Carey
Anne Bishop
Guy Gavriel Kay
Susan Elizabeth Phillips

So here’s to a 2007 filled with fantastic stories. May I even write some of them.

And given it’s time to start a new list, I’m transferring the 2006 list here:

The Damascened Blade – Barbara Cleverly
Ways To Be Wicked - Julie Anne Long
Breaking Point - Suzanne Brockmann
Good Grief - Lolly Winston
To The Edge - Cindy Gerard
Only a Duke Will Do - Sabrina Jeffries
The Runaway Duke - Julie Anne Long
Lover Awakened - J.R. Ward
To Love a Thief - Julie Anne Long
Lover Eternal - J.R. Ward
Crazy Sweet - Tara Janzen
The Boss's Christmas Seduction - Yvonne Lindsay
Pleasure for Pleasure - Eloisa James
Motor Mouth - Janet Evanovich
Lady of Sin - Madeline Hunter
The Devil to Pay - Liz Carlyle
From London with Love - Jenna Peterson
To Pleasure a Prince - Sabrina Jeffries
Disappearing Nightly - Laura Resnick
The Grand Tour - Patrica C Wrede and Carol Stevermer
The Sharing Knife: Beguilement - Lois McMaster Bujold
Angels Fall - Nora Roberts
Courting Trouble - Nonnie St George
Lady Luck's Map of Vegas - Barbara Samuel
See Delphi and Die - Lindsey Davis
The Valley of Silence - Nora Roberts
The Book of Seven Delights - Betina Krahn
Crazy Love - Tara Janzen
Ragtime in Simla - Barbara Cleverly
Crazy Kisses - Tara Janzen
Crazy Wild - Tara Janzen
The Last Kashmiri Rose - Barbara Cleverly
Dance of the Gods - Nora Roberts
Crazy Cool - Tara Janzen
Wintersmith - Terry Pratchett
Crazy Hot - Tara Janzen
Touch the Dark - Karen Chance
Doppelganger - Marie Brennan
A Fistful of Charms - Kim Harrison
Undead and Unreturnable - MaryJanice Davidson
Cast in Shadows - Michelle Sagara
Scandal in Spring - Lisa Kleypas
Avalon High - Meg Cabot
How to be Popular - Meg Cabot
Morrigan's Cross - Nora Roberts
Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
Thunderbird Falls - C E Murphy
Wife for a Week - Kelly Hunter
The Inconvenient Duchess - Christine Merrill
Blade Dancer - S L Viehl
The Eight - Katherine Neville
Mr Imperfect - Karina Bliss
The Bought and Paid For Wife - Brownwyn Jameson
Balance of Trade - Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
Pregnant on Arrival - Fiona Lowe
Charmed - Nora Roberts
Flirting with Forty - Jane Porter
Memory in Death - JD Robb
Twelve Sharp - Janet Evanovich
Map of Bones - James Rollins
Sandstorm - James Rollins
The Oracle's Queen - Lynn Flewelling
Amazonia - James Rollins
Winter Moon - Luna Anthology
The Hallowed Hunt - Lois McMaster Bujold
Black Powder War - Naomi Novik
Kushiel's Scion - Jacqueline Carey
The Perfect Stranger - Anne Gracie
Captives of the Night - Loretta Chase
Tinker - Wen Spencer
The Barbed Rose - Gail Dayton
Petty Treason - Madeleine E Robins
Finding Serenity - Jane Espenson (Ed)
Warsworn - Elizabeth Vaughn
Broken - Kelley Armstrong
Madam Mirabou's School of Love - Barbara Samuel
Throne of Jade - Naomi Novik
Crystal Dragon - Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
The English Witch - Loretta Chase
Isabella by Loretta Chase
The Music of the Night - Lydia Joyce
Don't Look Down by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer
The Shades of Time and Memory by Storm Constantine
The Compass Rose - Gail Dayton
The Devil in Winter - Lisa Kleypas
Warprize - Elizabeth Vaughn
Taming the Duke - Eloisa James
Touch of Evil - C.T. Adams & Cathy Clamp
Undead and Uappreciated - MaryJanice Davidson
First Truth - Dawn Cook
Sebastian - Anne Bishop
Lord Perfect - Loretta Chase
Ideal Bride - Nonnie St George
The Ruthless Groom - Bronwyn Jameson
Full Moon Rising - Keri Arthur
Moon Called - Patricia Briggs
Temaraire - Naomi Novik
Poison Study - Maria V Snyder
The Decoy Princess - Dawn Cook
Sisters of the Raven - Barbara Hambly
The Reluctant Widow - Georgette Heyer
The Nonesuch - Georgette Heyer
Gods in Alabama - Joshilynn Jackson
Kiss Me Annabel - Eloisa James
Beneath a Darkening Moon - Keri Arthur

I hereby resolve

In the year 2007 I resolve to: Get an invisible friend. Get your resolution here.

I think I have some already...they're called characters.

But as New Years Eve rapidly approaches...it is time to think about next year. I don't know about resolutions but this is what I'm doing next year:

1. Staying on the rollercoaster ride that is trying to sell a book. And trying, as much as possible, to enjoy the highs and the lows and the attendant laughing and screaming.

2. Exercising. This got a bit lost towards the end of last year when I pulled a muscle in my side. And I felt crappy. Feeling crappy is bad, so more moving the butt for me.

3. Writing. I'm not setting a specific page goal but I'm going to finish my revision and write at least two more books of unspecified nature...we'll see which wips start yelling louder. Setting my friday routine up (including the odd treat).

4. Indulging...see the previous post.

5. Eating right. Losing the last bits of weight I want to lose after a year of mostly plateauing.

There. That sounds good to me. It's always a juggling act between writing, working, wellbeing and keeping the house from descending into a pit. But I'm going to try and keep the balls in the air most of the time. And if the invisible friends play nicely, it's going to be a great year!

Indulge me

Okay. Stuff tossed. Lunch and relaxing music and aromatherapy applied. Mood improved. Now I can think about fun things.....

2007 Indulgences (idea courtesy of Jenny Crusie)

1. Things that smell good. Aromatherapy, perfume, flowers, lotions and potions. I find scent can really lift my mood so daily applications of yummy aromas.

2. Relaxation. More massages (I think I managed a whole 1 in 2006 so topping that shouldn't be hard lol). More meditation. More naps or couching with my story fix in whatever form when I need it.

3. Girly stuff. More facials, manicures, pedicures, spa days, makeovers and pampering whether at home or elsewhere. If it includes hanging out with the gals, even better. If we can also add pink champagne, perfection!

4. More music, particularly live music. Every time I go to a concert I remember how much I love the sensation of loud live music, basses vibrating through your chest, singers pouring their hearts into songs and the energy of the crowd. And it doesn't have to be the ginormous stadium variety. More musical adventures in general but some more live stuff in particular. If there's dancing involved even better. Singing along goes without saying.

5. Do some fun short courses or whatever that have nothing to do with writing. Something weird and wonderful just because it sounds cool. Rope some of the gals into trying them too!

6. Cook more. Try new recipes, both healthy and indulgent. 3 or 4 a month. Traipse around some markets and experiment.

7. A real vacation even if it's a long weekend or something. Most of my leave tends to be writing related these days...so a trip somewhere that isn't.

Grrrr

I was intending to copy Jenny Crusie and list some 2007 Indulgences (go read her blog to get the low down) but given my day so far has tended to bank inspired crankiness, I might have to do that later.

I could do a list of top five annoyances. At the moment it would read Banks. Banks. Banks. Banks and ....you guessed it...Banks. Grrr. It's remarkable how banks never make mistakes when you're doing something that increases your debts but seem to be terribly slow and error prone when you're reducing them. Humph. And bah humbug to them. Hopefully it will be sorted out soon and I can stop wishing for a zombie doll of a certain bank.

In the meantime I am taking out my energy on throwing stuff out in an attempt to have a clutter reduced 2007. We'll see.

More later as my mood improves!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

It's almost Christmas and Santa has brought some much needed cool weather and rain. Which is supposed to continue...they're even forecasting snow for Christmas day in some parts of the state! Nothing like changeable weather to keep us all entertained.

And I'm now on holidays, so yay. To celebrate, I have been lazing around reading and ignoring my list of chores. Chores will wait. Books and a brand new DVD of Moonlighting (I LOVED Moonlighting) won't.

So I hope you all have a relaxing lead up to Christmas, that Santa has you on his nice list and that your plum puddings flame and your turkeys roast well!

The wrap up

In the end there was:

1 Lulu meeting complete with vampire ants
80% of Christmas presents obtained
0 Robbie concerts

and 1 brand spanking new baby boy at 7.35 pm yesterday.....welcome to the world little Sterling - your Mum is one tough cookie that's all I have to say. If I ever do that, I'm taking the drugs lol.

In the meantime, the orange cat spent his weekend approximately like this.

The waiting game

Still no babies. Two friends due. No news. Particularly not of the one I'm going to be attempting to help during the process. Though that one's not officially due for another day.
So I'm still jumping every time my mobile rings and carting around a bag of comfy clothes and hospital stuff with me.

One day to Robbie.

Four more working days till Christmas and 11 days off.

Lots of christmas shopping still to do, though I have now written my christmas cards. Except for the two families with the babies due. It seems a bit rude to write dear a, b, c and d and little mystery bump.

No days to Lulus. I'm off today to figure out how the heck to get to Keri's new place. The others are road tripping together but I need to take my own car in case of babies, so I get to get lost all by myself.

No news from agents yet. But that might be a good thing. I did find out the book has gotten through to the second round of RWAs Emerald ST comp, so that's heartening on its first comp outing. I'd love to final 'cos the final judge is an agent, so fingers crossed. Actually the other one I'm rewriting got through to the secound round of the Emerald category comp as well. In its un-rewritten form so not holding out hopes of it finalling. It will be interesting to see what the comments say though. I'm going to try some US comps with the ST. See what happens.

Writing wise it's been a quiet week. Busy at work and my Dad was in hospital so was visiting him and having Mum stay. I managed to get five pages down of a scene which I think might just be wolf book number 2, so taking that to lulus to see what they think. Which means I have to go get organised!

Hope your Christmas countdowns are going well!

Temperature's rising

Everyone think's Australia's a hot country. But it's not. Not always. And the state I live in is actually quite cool - most of the time. But every so often we get a stinking hot summer. Looks like we've got one this year. Combined with a drought, this is not good news. We're barely a week into summer and we have massive bushfires.

Melbourne smells like eucalyptus smoke and the sky is hazy and sullen. It looks like a winter day until you step outside and realise it's 37 degrees. Tomorrow is meant to be just as hot. And windy. Fires like wind. So, if anyone knows some good raindances, do them for us. We need the water in more ways than one.

Speaking of heat. The new James Bond. Oh my. I'll admit it, I was sceptical. Daniel Craig did not fit my mental image of James. I loved Pierce and Sean. Though the last couple of movies were getting to the "I really can't suspend my disbelief quite that much" stage in terms of stunts. But the trailers looked interesting, so I figured I'd give him a go.

Good decision me : ) You've probably heard this is kind of a reinvention of the franchise, going back to the beginning of Bond. And it works. It's kind of leaner and meaner. And Craig works just fine in that context. Not sure he would've in the old style Bond, so good decision also by the producers and the director to go a different way. I mean, when the opening titles of a Bond film don't feature any women, you know something has changed.

Which got me thinking about reinvention in general. New directions and when it's a good time to follow them. Some people ride a horse until it's beyond dead. Some people have faith to switch horses when they see the current one is tiring. And some people throw caution to the wind and try and rope a zebra. Which might not work out but sometimes it does. Writing the wolf book kind of felt like that. Like saying 'what the hell' and giving in to a different side of the muse. How successful a zebra it might be is still to be seen. But it was one hell of a ride and now I have more options. More knowledge.

Every book teaches you something, which is why it's better to finish a book than just write a partial and why sometimes it's better to move onto something new than keep polishing the life out of something that hasn't quite worked. But revising is another lesson. One in honing. In letting go and trying to see the angles. In figuring out why what was in your head hasn't always translated into what the reader is seeing. Sometimes you need to change horses in a revision as well. Let go of the original idea and try a different way. Having just polished up one horse so it will look beeyootiful for race day, I'm now circling another, wondering why it seems to be cantering on three legs. Hopefully I figure it out. I'm not quite ready to send it out to pasture.

So more horses, the odd zebra, more choices. I'm trying to sit down over the next week or so and see what I want to set as goals for next year. What to write. Who to target. What to learn. Because whatever you're riding, it helps to have a game plan. And other people along for the ride. Whether they're riding with you or cheering from the sidelines, it makes the journey even more fun.

PS For those keeping track:
8 actual days to Robbie.
8 work days to holidays.
14 shopping days to Christmas.
Yippee!

Zoom zoom

Every time I blink at the moment, another week seems to have flown by. The Christmas countdown has apparently been set to fast forward.

Of course that might be due to a very busy week between training and querying and the orange cat hurting his tail in a mysterious late night incident that resulted in yet more cash flying out of my hands and into the feline medicine fund. He is recovering nicely. My stress levels are doing so more slowly.

And the parents' birthdays are done as of today (happy birthday Mum and Dad) so now I can think about Christmas present shopping. I see list making in my future.

But at least the agent queries have gone out so the finger crossing and fingernail gnawing has commenced. This is my first long book - I've only queried agents with category before. And though I got some nibbles and some nice rejections, trying to get an agent as an unpubbed category author is playing long odds. And you can sell without one. Whereas this book, this is the kind of book you need an agent for. So let the periodic 'eeeeeks' commence and I shall be the one in the corner revising the other book and working out what to play with next and trying not to check my email every five seconds.

The other events looming closer thanks to the days deciding to disappear way too quickly are Robbie (yippeeeeee!!) and the arrival of babies (also yipeeeeee!!). All, as they say, is good. Plus, hey, twelve more work days to holidays. I like my four day weeks already, and I've only had one!

PS Gilmore Girls Season 6. Hmmm. I wonder how much of that was long term arc and how much was born out of the Palladinos leaving. I shall leave it at that given most people in Australia haven't seen it - including the VT ; ). Not sure what Season 7 might bring in new hands. (Please don't tell me, I'll be waiting for the DVD which I'm sure will come out before Channel 9 gets organised enough to show even the rest of Season 5 here in Oz). And we're now officially in a TV dead zone so mucho writing should be achievable. I am looking forward to Weeds - I love Mary Louise. Though part of me is forced to think that, if it is good, it's probably doomed to the Channel 9 shaft.

Industrious

U2, btw, were fab. Inner groupie happy. Thank you, thank you, ticket providing gods : )

And in other good news, the oldest best friend (oldest in time known that is...like um, 22 freaking years...which I guess makes us officially old) has passed her final exam. She's the same age as me and has been studying most of that time. Enough to make anyone's head hurt. So finishing is cause for congratulations. We celebrated her achievement (and my last five day week) with tapas and spanish bubbly on Friday night. Apparently spanish bubbly packs a punch. Or maybe that was the starting drinking it before starting eating.

Apart from that the thing that occupies my mind is that it's almost December. How did that happen? It hardly feels like any time at all since I decided to try this blog thing for a year in January. December. Eeek. Christmas shopping, friends having babies, me sending stuff to agents.

I've been industrious this morning, my bathrooms are clean, my floor is vacuumed, the cats are fed. Just tried to ring my Dad for his birthday but he is out exercising so take two on that a little later. So now today is writing and maybe some RWA stuff this afternoon. And avoiding the lure of Grey's Anatomy dvds. Because they're addictive and they keep making me cry. A sign of good writing when they make you cry more second time around.

Anyway, both my entries for the GH are en route or already there. Note to self, next time when you have two potential GH entries, both of which need "just a quick revision", one of said revisions will rapidly turn into "major rewrite" which will not get finished. Oh well, they got the old version. It's in the lap of the contest gods now. And now I'm doing the final polish on the Wolf book. The first three chapters, I think, are pretty solid. I've tightened up the start (mainly due to a need to change the impression of the tone of the book) and chopped my darlings and lost the redundant stuff. I don't want to polish the life out it, particularly not with a book that came so fast, so I am drawing a line on putzing around any further after this draft. Which means I have a partial and a synopsis and a query letter....so agent submissions here we come.

Eeeek.

Rejections are part of the game, as are submissions, but the more you like the stuff you're submitting, the harder it can be to hit send or chuck the envelope into the mail. Luckily I have the Lulus to tell me to stop whining and suck it up : ) So I will. And then onto the major rewrite and maybe something new for fun as well to entertain the girls.

Wish me luck!

Sometimes it's meant to be

U2 are in Melbourne this weekend but I had failed on the ticket scoring front. Pout. Which meant that my holy quartet of hot men who sing was to be a trinity only (consisting of Hugh, Chris and, next month, Robbie). Which isn't bad but I did want to add Bono to the collection because U2 come here far less frequently than the others. But my idea was shared by close to two hundred thousand others and the tickets sold out in seconds and everyone seemed to hold on to them when the shows were rescheduled.

So last night I was wandering around doing grocery shopping and trying not to think that I could be at U2 and that the VT would be at U2 the next night when I got a phone call from someone saying she had tickets and did I want to go? Hell, yes. So tonight I will be appreciating Bono and the boys. Yippeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

In other news, Captain Jack is hot, but we knew that. And writing...what writing? The girls are muttering in the basement trying to nut things out. I hope they'll surface soon with something brilliant but until then I'll be the one drooling at Telstra Dome.

Tricksy

So I went to see the Prestige last night. And all I can say is that Christopher Nolan and Christopher Priest are tricksy hobbits and um, magicians are...not so nice. Interesting movie. Lots of twists and turns and darker than I expected and several ewwww moments but fascinating in the end. Plus Hugh takes his shirt off so, you know, all good! Might have to hunt up the book now.

I spent the first half of the afternoon lunching in the sun by the water with one of my best friends learning about birthing preferences. She's having her first soon and I'm going to be there...yikes. Hopefully it's not so tricksy.

In other news I defeated the Chris Isaak cd by booting up my old windows ME machine. So now I have it in iTunes and the muse is happy. Sometimes older is better.

Writing wise the muse has called time for mulling over for the last week or so. Going to sit down and try and do some brain dumping today to see whether anything fruitful has been decided or whether more time might be required. Revising. Not always fun.

Luck be a lady

Well, it's Melbourne Cup day today. Which is a public holiday in Melbourne and yippee! Cup Day tends to come in two flavours, given its timing in late Spring. Stinking hot or chilly and wet. Today, because I am going to a bbq, it is so far chilly not yet wet. Maybe it will fine up a bit. But before the bbq there are choc cinnamon muffins to make to take with me, a walk and some writing to be done. My revision is slow so far, mainly because the first part of the book is the biggest chunk of pure rewrite but am starting to come to grips with this new twist on the story. Hopefully the rest will come quicker.

In other news....Chris Isaak is still hot (but you knew that already, I'm sure) and his show was a blast. That voice. Sigh. But the only one of his cds that I can't get to play on my mac so I can put it on my iPod is, of course, the one with the song I want for the book soundtrack...and it's not on the aussie iTunes store either. Grumble. So hot but unappreciated by iTunes in this country apparently. It's on the US store. But not having a US credit card, that doesn't help me. And me singing the song doesn't have the same impact : ) The VT's PC doesn't like her copy either so I think it must be one of those copy protected things...it came out about the time they were doing that. Dumb record companies. I'm all for protecting copyright, hey I'm a writer, but I should be able to listen to a cd I have bought on my computer and my iPod.

And now off to make muffins...may your horse run the fastest!

Time, time, time

Daylight savings started today. Anyone who knows me will know I don't handle the start of daylight savings well. My body knows darn well the clocks are lying and that I am hauling its butt out of bed at an hour that truly starts with 'six'. And it isn't happy with that concept. So I'm probably in for my usual week of being vague and bumping into things before my body decides resistance isn't futile. Maybe one of the things I'll bump into will be Chris Isaak on Friday night (yay).

At least it will be nice to have more light at the end of the day. My writing schedule for November seems to include revising two books (one of them twice, one of them a BIG revision thanks to the light that has been seen courtesy of a crit from a pubbed friend (really, romance writers are the most generous people on earth)), entering the GH (twice), getting two full critiques, a crit group weekend away, two online courses and having to get stuff off to both an agent and an editor if I can. Which I think means the optimum daylight savings arrangement would be adding about four extra hours to every day. So I might be scarce on the blog. Or else whining a lot.

In other news, his orangeness returned to the vet yesterday. She pronounced herself satisfied with the healedness of his butt but decreed two more days of bucket head were required. The orange cat, needless to say, has not received this news well. He is prowling around, looking out the window, making approximately the same noise I'll want to make when my alarm goes off tomorrow morning an hour early : )). And has been doing so for a day now. Sigh. He's a persistent little critter. Luckily, with the Melbourne Cup day holiday factored in, I only have one five day work week in the month.

And that's about it. Much to do, so just as well I'm up early. The real estate gods were busy yesterday, so happy move day for yesterday to Keri and yay on the house purchases for Jo and Chris. That's officially four lulus and two best friends who've bought houses or moved or both in the last six months. Me, I'll settle for tidying up a bit.

Deja vu

Poor orange cat says "I hate my butt".

Grey cat says "Yay, it's not me".

She can be funny that way.

Mel says "I need a nap".

Busy, busy

It's been one of those weeks. Busy at work. Trying to do the exercise thing (someone needs to invent the 1 minute total workout lol). Out Thursday night (and not sleeping so well cos of weird 36 degree day in October!!), out last night, two things on to today and that's not counting the driving home to the folks after I have done everything else. All good catching up and talking book and critting stuff but I need a nap already and it's only 8.30! Thank God for caffeine.

But I will be hauling the laptop home to get stuck into the wolf first revision now that I've had some noodling time and some feedback. Plus I went crazy and entered it in the GH so I need a pretty decent draft by early November to meet the entry deadline. Then I'll figure out what to work on next.

A writer's work is never done : )

Cooking

It's October. That can't be right. Where'd my year go?

I was meant to spend this week having a break from writing having finished the first draft of the book. However my brain has been reluctant to let go of it and keeps noodling away at things. Including another idea for these characters. Yikes. That one has to go on the back burner I think.

But I was noodling happily until I got home on Tuesday to the big R on the book that I'd just sent over. A fast rejection. A long, encouraging rejection but still the big R on a book I thought was good. And slightly different reasons to the last big encouraging rejection I got from these folks. So puzzlement (after the obligatory 12 hours of moping) ensues. Wiser heads are being consulted. But that's the nature of this game. The writing bit is fun even when it sucks, if you know what I mean. The trying to sell bit is not for the faint hearted. And from what I see in my pubbed friends, the published bit even less so. People who say popular fiction is easy to write and sell, well let them try it.

So my rest week became an examining my options week. Revising the wolf book is still the first priority. Then we decide what to do for the other mob.

Yesterday being my semi-regular Friday off (soon to be my all the time Friday off, yay), I had lunch with some gals from the RWA committee which was fun except for the bit where I got champagne tipped all over me (and not even a complimentary dessert or something to make up for it). Then I had a work thing. We did an Asian cooking class at the Queen Victoria Market, which was great fun and the dishes we made were universally acclaimed as YUM. Even the oysters which aren't my fave thing in the world. It was run by Allan Campion, who was also great, funny and knowledgeable. He writes the Foodies Guide to Melbourne which the VT (being married to a chef and all) tells me is excellent. And runs other courses and classes and has other books. So check him out if you're looking to improve your cooking skills (no stabbing selves in the thumb involved) or your knowledge of ingredients.

Just don't do it on the same day as going out for lunch or you will roll home. Lucky for me it's a good walk from the market to where I parked my car. And I'm heading out into the sunshine for another one now.

Done

Holy crap, I finished. A month ahead of my schedule.

374 pages. 94k. That's a LOT! : )))

Excuse me, I have snoopy dancing, shopping and possibly some drinking to do.

This is the time when writing is NOT hard!! It's just great.

Almost there

The end is coming into focus. I have sore fingers. More later.

PS Books are LONG.

Breathing space

So the book has continued to talk, there has also been birthday parties (I'm old!), birthday lunches, mid-week dinners with friends, work and general everything taking longer because of the sore thumb. Which is much better now and down to only a bandaid.
There has also been Melbourne playing a little game we like to call "what the hell will the weather be like today (or in the next five minutes)?". One minute it's beautiful and sunny (30 degrees!! in early spring!!), the next it's cold and blustery. Typical spring, yes but everyone is walking around vaguely tired and grumpy as a result.

Anyway, I got to Friday (my day off), full of good plans to write at least 10 pages. But instead my brain declared it was rest day. So I shopped (the new Fashion Targets Breast Cancer t-shirt - the symbol is gold (I don't wear gold but it's a good cause) and some SK-II to try (just a little trial kit). My skin can be quite sensitive so we'll see how it goes...Cate Blanchett has awesome skin though, so lets hope it works (after all, I'm old). Then I watched S5 of Gilmore Girls. The one which Channel 9 (yes, I'm looking at you, Eddie) showed about 7 episodes of earlier this year and then just stopped (because they can, that's why). It was really good. One bit made me cry : ) So um, that was Friday. Yesterday there was ballet and I'm happy to report it was much improved over the last one. And some Gilmore Girls S3 (there has been a purchasing Gilmore Girls DVDs theme to the month). I got some entries ready for some comps and wrote a few pages. I think this book has a theme! Go me.

But today I have to get back to writing. I've got four specific things that have to happen before the end of the book. Just not sure how I get from a to b to c to d. But I can do it. Then comes revising which the brain is already kind of chatting about in a "you need to put in more about x after y way". Hopefully I'll be done with the first draft by the end of the week. Then some folks can read it and see how much work it really needs. My first long book. Almost done. And that's a good feeling.

PS Apparently when you google cat vomit and australia, my blog comes up. That's what I want to be known for lol. But for leigh ann, I replied to your comment but in case any one else is wondering the Cavalier Bremworth carpet cleaner does a pretty good job.

PPS Next month "Wife for a Week" by Kelly Hunter is out. It's great. Funny, witty, romantic. Go read it.

Owie

Okay so all that stuff about doing dumb things with knives your mother told you? You should listen. As the splint on my thumb to keep the gash in that thumb from reopening if my thumb bends will testify. Older but no wiser that's me.
Luckily it is my non space bar thumb so I can still write.
Less luckily it is splinted for a week. And can't get wet. Interesting.
To cut a long story short, there was blood, there was much closeness to fainting (and I'm not the fainting at the sight of blood type).
There was a tetanus shot so I now have a sore arm to go with my sore thumb.
Owie.

Time flies

It's Sunday night again. How did that happen?

Oh yeah, two parties, a crit session, some housework and forty five pages or so of story.

I am knackered, my hands are starting to protest the lots of typing thing and I still didn't get half the stuff I wanted to do this weekend done.

So will have to ease back on the typing pace and treat myself to watching Elizabeth I on ABC. Just what Sunday night ordered!

Cake!

Happy Birthday to the VT!

Long may she reign in sappiness and VT spookiness.

Let there be cake.

If only to distract me from the fact that her being a year older means soon I shall suffer the same fate!

Weekend!

Hooray for the nine day fortnight! I have been sleepy all week and at least the day job is done with.

The writing job continues at a frantic pace. It's very weird to be 200 odd pages into a book and know there's almost that much to go. Normally I'm getting ready to wrap up. But this feels like there's more to go. All good. So no rest really for the wicked but somewhere I will find time for two parties and a lulu meeting. And maybe some purchasing of new bookcases.

Oh and I switched to page count on the word count. More satisfying, less torturous.
Call me shallow.

PS Sharon Lee and Steve Miller ROCK!

Full steam ahead

So the book is going well, I'm averaging ten pages a day which is a lot and fantastic and a pace I hope to continue even though I know it will ease up eventually.

I'm not sure how long this sucker will be but I'm telling myself 90k, page count (mainly to avoid freaking myself out about how long a long book is : ) - I'm used to 60k ). The word meter btw is actual words. Don't know why I'm not doing page count. Just to torture myself probably. Though there's not a huge difference in the two at the moment. Less than usual, so maybe the first person POV makes a difference. Page count wise, I've just passed half-way done thanks to my current roll, long may it continue.

As a result of which, not much other news.

Back to the keyboard.

Vale, Steve

You know, I was never a huge fan of the Crocodile Hunter as a show but Steve Irwin was 100% full-bore, flat out passionate about what he did. About saving our animals and our environment and teaching people to respect the planet. He donated huge sums of money and huge amounts of energy into the thing he believed in. Whether or not you agree with his methods, he was a great example of going for it fearlessly.

People are saying that at least he died doing what he loved, and yes, that's true. But I'm pretty sure that he'd have preferred to die surrounded by the people he loved after another forty or fifty years doing what he loved. And that's the sad thing. So to his family, as to anyone who loses a loved one, my deepest sympathy and to everyone else who respected the man, let's all think about what we can do in some small way to keep his cause alive and save this world for generations of humans and animals to come.

Write-us interruptus

So, I woke up on Saturday with the book shouting in my head. 7.30am. I'm never up at 7.30 am on a Saturday. But when the book is on a roll you don't argue. I'd managed 10 pages the day before, which is a lot for a work day but this felt different. This felt like I could write for hours and the pages would just flow. It felt like I could easily write 30 pages in a day.
It doesn't happen that often. But sometimes it feels like you're just bursting at the seams with story and it's like watching a movie that you just transcribe.
My only problem was, my day was booked. Ballet, going down to Mum and Dad's for Father's Day. Eeek.
So butt in chair and I got another ten pages in a hour and a bit before I had to go out. Reluctantly go out because, I love the ballet, but I didn't want to lose the feeling.
Turns out the ballet wasn't that great. So I could kind of write stuff in my head while sitting in the dark. And today I've managed another six pages so far in between Father's Day and driving back to Melbourne, so I didn't stall the whole thing by not doing what the muse wanting completely. That's happened before, book goes from pouring out to dead stand still. Not pretty. So fingers crossed it will keep flowing for a while, even at a reduced rate but next time, I'm clearing the calendar.
Keep the muse happy, do the work. And take the gift days when they come. Grab 'em with both hands.

Bye bye winter

Ah spring. Season of warm days, rain and birthdays. You're almost here. In fact, today in Melbourne, winter decided to give up and give in to Spring early. Which didn't make it easy to stay inside and work, even if they did bribe us with Krispy Kremes (of which I heroically had only one).

And today, thanks to the magic hands of my chiropractor, was the first day all week I haven't felt exhausted. Note to self, feeling exhausted means something is wrong. The book is chugging along nicely, about a third done and I know roughly how the next few bits go which is always nice. And I have a villain. Who is creepy. I know he's meant to be but eeek. Sometimes I wonder about my imagination.

In other news, hmmm. The weekend was much socialising and eating. The coming four weekends promise to be likewise. I'll be the one in the corner munching salad during the week. Spring means no more huddling in bed pretending it's too cold to get up and move the butt. Sigh. Apart from that, nothing exciting. Women having car crashes because they let dogs drive the car (not me, someone in china), the new Ikea catalogue apparently features a picture of a dog with an, um, interesting appendage (that will liven up your scandinavian furniture), krispy kreme is opening a city store in September (bad, bad bad but oh so good). I am even organised enough to have bought a Father's Day gift. More of the cute boys in tights this weekend at the ballet. Yays all round.

So happy spring everyone!

PS Whoever shot those seals at the Prom, there's a nice toasty pit in hell waiting for you. Ya better believe it.

Breathe

As I may have mentioned before, the combination of virgo brain and writing is not always a good one. Sometimes the aforesaid virgo brain seems specifically designed to torture the writer bit. Like today. Today is one week after I sent my manuscript off. Mail from here to the UK takes roughly one week. So of course today the brain kicks in with "hmm, wonder if it's there yet? wonder how long it will take for them to read it? wonder what will happen?". Can we say "Gah"?

When I finally got the brain off the ridiculous calculations of postal speeds between Australia and England it moved onto "how long will it take to finish the wip?" calculations. You know, the sort where you go, if I write four pages a day that's 28 pages a week and 10 weeks to finish, or if I write 5 pages a day, that's 35 pages a week and 8 weeks to finish or if I could write 10 pages on a couple of days and five the rest I could do 45 pages a week....yeah yeah yeah. And if I could write 100 pages a day I'd write the darn book in less then a week and then my hands would fall off. Then we moved on to exactly what is happening with this wip and 2 other wips and then to 'cool possible titles for other wips'. Upshot being I need to breathe. To get back to calm. Not sure how to do that exactly but I'll let you know how it goes.

I don't know if this was what my brain was doing all night but I woke up feeling vaguely off and completely exhausted. Sometimes you should trust your instincts. Instead I hauled my butt off to work. Only to haul it back again just after lunch when exhausted morphed to exhausted with pounding head and queasy stomach. Having applied a two hour nap, I'm now back to mostly tired with vague headache. I prescribe a quiet night and more sleep then we'll see. Thankfully it's my short week at work so tomorrow is effectively Friday.

In other news BSG Series 2 rocked. But DVD designers need to work on their menu systems. What might seem like a cute way of selecting an episode or feature when you watch one or two in a row can quickly become cumbersome and annoying. Remember, you're catering for geeks here who will suck down a series faster than you can say "Launch the alert fighters". And make sure the music isn't annoying (hello, farscape)!

And the orange cat is stitch free and stupid collar free and has resumed normal programming. So I now get a two month break until we do it all over again. The grey cat is still refusing to take a decent picture but I offer you this. Which is kind of what it feels like in my head at the moment.

Musings

Sunday again. The book is done and in the mail...so now we wait. The new book is so far playing nicely. Except I was writing after work on Friday while waiting to go and see the ridiculously gorgeous and talented Hugh in the Boy from Oz and the scene was whizzing along nicely and then I forgot to send it home to myself. So then I had to decide whether to try and remember what I was doing and do the rest of the scene and have it go pear-shaped or whether to leap to the next bit I knew.

Unfortunately in the middle of dithering I thought "maybe I'll just watch an episode of BSG" (Ezydvd having come through with Season 2 on Friday. Big mistake. Story is kind of my crack. And when I get one I love, one which I can access to big uninterrupted chunks of and it's GOOD, and good people are doing heroic things and not so bright things and bad things are happening, villains abound and the stakes are high, then ooops, there goes most of a day.

So today it's write first, chores next then play with the nice dvd machine.

In between wondering where all the men like Hugh might be hiding. Sigh and sigh again. Any man who can be playing a gay man and prancing round in gold lame and come off as funny, handsome, nice, talented and absolutely 300% SMOKING HOT, is my kind of guy. Every woman in the audience wanted to be Len from Frankston who got to dance with Hugh (and made him crack up completely which was also adorable). Hugh also proved the theory, started by Chris Isaak, that mirror ball suits look great on hot guys. I've seen Hugh a few times now live and every time he delivers. And he's Australian so there's gotta be more like that in the gene pool somewhere.

Possibilities

The blossoms on my tree say Spring is coming. My favourite time of year. Everything fresh and new. Anything possible.

Maybe I'm all inspired from conference, but my book is just about done after a solid day's work. One final check tomorrow and it will be in the mail. The very embodiment of possibility. Then I have to get stuck into another. See what possibilities it contains. What will it teach me? Where might it take me?

Writing is hard but it's also worth the effort. So is chasing your dreams.

PS

Just 'cos I couldn't resist...the orange cat, whose expression most eloquently expresses his opinion of stupid collars, butt surgery and me going away : )

Back

I'm back. It was fun. I am wrecked. Until I can write more coherently about the highlights...here's Keri and I looking glam at the awards dinner (it's amazing what good photos you can take one handed after a few champagnes!)

PS Wah, melbourne weather.

Off

Cat update: Not fight. Anal gland abscess (OUCH). He had an operation yesterday and is currently hiding under my bed singing a sad little cat opera that goes something like "Oh my butt hurts and I've got a stupid collar on my head and I think I'll go and eat worms". Which is understandable and probably close to what my reaction to butt surgery would be. Poor baby. He will be fine apart from the bit where he has to have more surgery in a few months to remove said glands so it can't happen again.

And I will be here. Doing this to recover from contemplating the expense of cat surgery.

Oh the glamourous life

Another installment in 'weird things the orange cat has done'.

The other day he got himself into a little blue as he sometimes does (you'd think he'd learn that he never wins but this is the orange cat). So the last few days he's been a bit quiet and sorry for himself. I know the signs. It means he's nursing a bite or scratch. Which will turn into an abscess as cat bites usually do. Problem is, not much you can do about it until the abscess comes to a head.

So, like a good kitty mother, I have been checking him over each day to feel for scabs and lumps. Today I didn't need to check. Today he wandered past, tail in air and my brain thought "hmm, something not quite right there". Sure enough, on closer (and hotly contested) inspection, my darling orange cat has managed to get himself bitten just below his um, nether regions. A literal pain in the butt : ) One nicely developing abscess. Gross. I'd post a picture but trust me, it's probably something you don't want to see.

Even better, it just burst so I got to spend ten fun-packed minutes trying to bathe my cat's infected bits with hot salty water. As you can imagine, he didn't exactly express his undying appreciation. So off to the vet to hand over yet more of my hard earned dollars tomorrow to get them to check him out and pump him full of penicillin.

At least I'm off to the Romance Writers of Australia conference in three more sleeps (yet another reason the orange cat chooses now to manifest an illness or injury) for hopefully a hint of glamour, some bubbles, some gasbagging with friends and some inspiration. Oh, and some sunshine and warmth on the Gold Coast.

From cat's butts to cocktails in one week. Lucky me : )

PS Ewwww. And I love my disposable gloves. Lucky he's cute, that's all I can say.

Sunshine and sponges

It's almost warm in Melbourne today...almost mild might be a better description. The sun is out and doing its best to raise the temperature about 14 degrees. It might even have succeeded.

The ornamental pear in front of my house is blooming, the jonquils are showing just-about-ready-to-go bulges and star flowers are peaking through. Spring is heading our way. My favourite time of year. Anything seems possible in Spring. And I also get the insane urge to clean and organise. Gotta stop watching Nate on Oprah.

I took advantage of the sunshine to wash my car. You may remember my adventure to the Dandenongs a few weeks back. Well, that drive left my poor little Squeak looking like he'd been offroading for months. They got them some good sticking gravelly sandy dirt in the Dandenongs. Of course, because my car is dirty, we have had very little rain in the last few weeks (given the water restrictions I only wash my car a few times a year if possible, in between he survives on rain baths and rubbing off the dust with a nifty microfibre moppy thing) and the little kid who comes round every few weeks trying to gouge me $10 to wash my car is nowhere to be seen. He's got a good thing going on that kid, in my day I got probably something like $3 to do both cars. And ours were grubby being country cars). Of course, he doesn't get to have the fun we did having water fights because of aforementioned water restrictions.

Given that fate was not coming forth with clean up Squeak solutions, I decided to do it myself. Which lead me to two discoveries. One, my hose attachment is on its way to the great garden in the sky - it will only let me do dribble or wimpy spray, the trigger requires great amounts of jiggling and two of the four settings don't work at all. Something to rectify on my next trip to Bunnings. The other thing is not really a discovery, more a continuing mystery. My front hub caps. The rest of my car is coated in sandy coloured grime, the back hubcaps are mildly dirty with the same stuff but the front hub caps, particularly the little indented bits were absolutely coated with dark brown goop. This happens all the time. The rest of the car can be spotless and the front hub caps grow goop that looks like Squeak has been swamp trawling. Weird. Not sure how you design hubcaps that do that, but well done to Ford. I'm sure it has something to do with physics. And physics and my brain don't get along. Whatever. I shall chalk it up to "things mysterious" along with "who is it who makes my house get messy when I am working ridiculous hours and barely there" and "why do fancy mag wheels look like they're spinning backwards when the car is going forwards" (if there's some easy obvious answer to this I'm sure it's to do with physics/optical illusions again but you know...it's weird).

So there you go. Housework mostly done, a clean shiny car and the cheque to pay for the RWAustralia conference next week posted and really, I'm running out of excuses to not sit down and work out what's going on with the structure of my book. You'd think Virgo Brains would like that stuff. But apparently this one doesn't. It likes composing lists of things to take to conference and things to buy so they can be taken to conference and things to put on the lists-I-must-write list (at this point we shall pause while Keri shakes her head at me and the VT nods in agreement) but timelines and acts and arcs are making it go "do I hafta?". Go figure.

And by the way, the answer, dear brain, is YES. Or maybe I can clean my microwave and see if the stuff I bought based on the TV ad really does work.....

Demands, demands

Melbourne has decided to turn on some sunshine for the weekend. We've had three or four beautifully sunny days in a row. Still cold but almost cold without an edge like an early spring day. Which probably means that things are about to turn and we'll have a month of freezing cold, rainy, windy, gloomy days just to remind us where we live but for today, the sun is shining and you don't need 10 layers of clothing.

News on the writing front is still slow. A fortnight working more hours than I care to think about in the day job (though they were productive hours) have rendered the girls into a state something approaching tired three year olds. They're whiny, they need a nap or five and they want to be entertained. Friday was my day off and sleeping, reading (apparently they required a Daemon fix) and lounging were high on the priority list. Yesterday they wanted to do something fun and pretty so I wandered around the quilting and craft show sucking down colour and creativity. Some of the quilts are just gorgeous...as much as the thought of teeny tiny stitches does make me kind of worried, I'm kind of leaning towards giving it a go one day. I like the idea of playing with so many colours...so now there's something new on the list of things to try when life gets slightly less crazy aka after the book is done, after work calms down, after conference! Then I can haul the sewing machine out of exile and see what happens.

I'm hoping the combination of friday and yesterday are enough to coax the girls into doing some actual work today (though there is still a large vote for napping going on). We'll see. After lunch perhaps.

Sleepy

Here's the thing about being sick and having time off work at the busiest time of year. It comes back to bite you. It's not like anyone else actually does the work for you.

Net result, this week I have more than made up for the days off last week. Sigh. And I'm not done yet.

Needless to say, on the writing front, well, I remember there IS a writing front but that's about it.

So move it along, nothing to see here....zzzzzzzzzzzz.

A good day

I have spent most of this week coughing and spluttering and fighting off the same virus that about 60% of the people in my office seem to be suffering from.

Net result - Wednesday and Thursday largely involved sleeping or lying on my couch.

This morning (my day off), I am feeling a bit better. Yay.

Plus it has been a great day.

1. I found out I finalled in the Clendon Award, run by the Romance Writers of NZ. This is a great comp, so I'm very chuffed to have finalled again.

2. A very nice man came to give me a quote on a skylight to transform my poky dark must-have-the-light-on laundry into one where I could see. The quote was in my price range and he installed it on the spot. Voila...I no longer feel like a mole in a cave while trying to do laundry. On the minus side, I can now see all the cobwebs in my laundry.

3. I bought a digital camera and it arrived today. It's a Canon Ixus 55 and I'm still figuring it out but here's an initial effort - the orange cat saying "Mrrrrowwww".



So far the grey cat is clearly saying "WTF? Why did you wake me up" in all her shots so we shall come back when she's in a more supermodel mood.

And now, more sanding of window frames.

Wax on, wax off

Well, paint on, dirt off. It's amazing how grubby windowframes can get! And blinds but I'm not washing them. They will be binned when the new ones arrive....yippeeeeeee.

Sugar soap has been applied, sandpaper has been used. Now I'm off to buy tickets for Pirates tonight (mmmm, Johnny) while everything dries properly then I shall be back to mask and paint.

And um, no. Book still not done. Maybe painting will inspire me.

Happy new financial year's eve

Which is really lame but I heard someone say it on the radio. I'm tipping it won't catch on. Because anyone who has a job vaguely finance related knows 30 June means two months of ridiculous busy-ness about to happen. Not much to celebrate. Though I did get a pay rise. So yay.

Not sure where the last 10 days has gone but turns out writing 33 pages in a day means my girls then take a holiday for a week or so. Which is fine, because I've had people reading the darn thing for me but now it's time to knuckle down and revise.

So of course today I have cleaned my house and um, spent lots of money on new blinds - thanks to my pay rise (yes, finally death to hideous vertical blinds that I have hated since buying my house) - cleaned some more and um, done everything but write.

And of course, buying blinds means I have to finally finish painting my window frames. Really, procrastination is simple if you try. But painting comes after book finishing. I hope.

Done

It's done.

I'm not sure how. Today I wrote over thirty pages. Over 6 thousand words. More than I've ever written in a day. In maybe five hours. Something shook loose and the movie started playing in my head and this sucker is done.

At least, the DLD draft is. I'm sure whatever I wrote today is high on talking heads and there's tweaking and filling in to be done and then critiquing and revising but for now, I'm done.

It feels done. Which is good. Sometimes you finish and it doesn't and you know something not quite right. But this feels done. Only other writers understand the feeling. It's pretty darn good.

Um, brain empty. Sleep now.

PS

The Perfect Stranger was lovely. Funny ("it floats" snort. not explaining, go buy it). Warm. Romantic. Go Anne.

And Captives of the Night was good too. And so far, two thumbs up to Kushiel's Scion.

Okay, back to torturing my little finger.

The road goes on and on

Or at least, the book does. So far this week, I've done 40 odd pages and edited still more. And I've got about forty pages to go I think. But it feels like more. Three big scenes. Books for me finish in one of two ways. Either it all pours out in a made burst (and earlier this week, this one felt like it was going to do that) or skirting around in stops and starts and ponderings. This one now feels like it's going to do that. A few more days hopefully. Even if I have to nail my butt to the chair. I know I've written a lot this week, I get a weird cramp in my little finger of my right hand. More glucosamine needed, I guess, cos I'm not stopping.

Not much else to report, due to said lots of writing. Took the orange cat to the vet for his anti-inflammatory shots for his dodgy knees. He always amuses me. He lurves his carrier. Jumps right in every time it appears. Doesn't blink when I shut the door. Everything is rosy. Until the moment I pick it up and head for the car. Then the yelling starts. Something along the lines of "What? You tricked me. Again. I was just getting in the nice box and now you're taking me somewhere. I hate going places. Let me ooooouuuuutttttt!" You'd think he'd remember that the box = going somewhere by now (after all, he's eleven and he's only ever gone to the vet or moved house in the box and those are both right at the bottom of the list of things that the orange cat enjoys. Waayyyy the hell at the bottom. I mean, he ended up on drugs to cope with moving house). Orange cat: high on good looks, low on good brains. But we loves him anyway.

Apart from that little adventure, I'm lacking in news. I have scored Chris Isaak tickets thanks to the lovely VT. Hugh, Chris and Robbie in one year. Yippeee, my inner groupie is very happy.

And, I just read on Anne Bishop's site (not procrastinating at all, nope) that she's planning another Black Jewels book. Double yippee. Only problem, not out until 2008. Wah and pout. But writing books takes a long time, believe me, I know this. And can feel like they're taking even longer. So I will be patient. Of course, it's freakin' mid-June already (I swear it's about 2 weeks since Christmas) so it'll be 2008 before we know it.

Not bad

Ended up with 12 pages yesterday, another 12 today. Plus assignments done. I'm officially 2/3 of the way through if it turns out as long as my books usually are. Not sure it will though. Still it's nice to be heading downhill with a reasonable idea of the rest of the book. Hopefully another week's hard slog will get me there. This is the part where I turn into a hermit, so to all the friends out there, apologies in advance if I'm awol this week.

On a writing break (a break, I tell you, not procrastinating : ) ) I hopped over to C.E. Murphy's blog. She was talking about how she doesn't see "pictures" in her head. Fascinating. Imagine thinking without pictures. Let alone writing novels. And she does great descriptions.

Now, I don't see my stories like a movie playing in my head like some people do, in fact, a lot of the time, it's like hearing a movie, with a bad picture. I'm good with the dialogue but often have to concentrate hard to get the images, like tuning the focus. Those times, I get the conversations down then go back and replay to watch the action. Other times, it is like a movie, with all five senses. But I can't imagine not having the images at all...that would make things tough.

Just goes to show everyone does this writing thing differently. Hopefully my movies will keep on rolling this week!

On another note, I read The Barbed Rose by Gail Dayton this weekend. Another good Luna, the sequel to the Compass Rose. A very unusual world where polygamy is the norm. A happily polygamous heroine...you don't often see that! I'm firmly in the Luna camp, they do great work. I just wish we got more of them here, they seem to trickle through in dribs and drabs and as usual, well after they come out in the US. Sigh.

This week I'm treating myself to The Perfect Stranger by Anne Gracie (and possibly other goodies lurking in Rendezvous). Anne is a great writer and a great person, and I'm looking forward to heading back into her story world.

And now we add rain

It continues to be C.O.L.D here in Melbourne. This afternoon, for variety, we added rain. It's meant to be warmer when it rains. Something about lower clouds holding the heat in (so sue me, I'm not a meterologist). I guess that theory doesn't work when there was no heat to start with. I went outside (pre-rain) to prune some stuff in the garden and my fingers almost froze in about 2 minutes.

Yesterday was grey and foggy all day. Luckily I spent most of it inside at the ballet. Unluckily it was not the greatest Giselle I've ever seen. Not sure why. Giselle is one of those classic ballets that I think could lose the first act. Peasant girl goes made when evil man two times her. Yeah. Yeah. The second can be beautiful when it all comes together but yesterday it just didn't grab me. Maybe the sore back didn't help. The orange and poppy seed cake at lunch was good though.

Still the rain makes today a good day for sitting inside writing. Which I have done. 6 pages or so on the wip, another 4 or so on assignments. As there's nothing on TV tonight, I'll probably keep writing.

Still feels like hard work though. Having a tired day. Which has nothing to do with the fact I got sucked into watching movies on TV last night. Movies which I own on video or DVD so I could've gotten up and fast forwarded to the bits I was waiting for. But no. Stubborn brain would not do that. So latish to bed. And latish up. Which some days is fine but others, like today, feel like I didn't sleep much at all. And I thought I slept pretty well last night. I need to get the routine happening better. Having a week off always throws me out. I'm such a night owl but I have to be up early during the week if I'm going to exercise before work and that means turning the light out at a reasonable hour. Which I'm not so good at. On the weekends I slip into night-owl mode far too quickly. Not like my brother who likes to stay up until 3am, but 12, 12.30 ish. I'm probably better at doing 11.30 and sleeping until 8.30. That routine would suit me just fine if there wasn't the small matter of the day job. But if I let myself switch on weekends, it makes the weeks hard. Even when it's not 3 degrees in the morning.

So back to routine it is, despite tomorrow being a holiday. Including the exercise. I just did some. I'd been avoiding all day. When I finally got on the elliptical, the time flew by but it's taken me all day to get there. Gah. Tomorrow will be a better day, I hope. I'm heading into last quarter/third of the book which usually picks up speed for me. We'll see.

More pages tonight after dinner wakes me up. But first meditation and a quick grocery trip. I think I've committed the dreaded sin of running out of cat food. And that doesn't make for peaceful nights : )

The hard part

First a note to Winter. Over it already. Start raining and warm up. Seriously. I'm not a 4 degrees, time to rise and shine kind of gal. I'm a 4 degrees, must hibernate under the doona kind. So it's been a fun week.

I've mostly finished revising the book and now have to write through to the end. I know what should happen. I kind of know how. But this is the part where the muse kind of freezes and resists the actual work. I know I just need to sit down and write but my chair feels like an ejector seat. Every few minutes I get antsy or distracted or find my self suddenly doing housework. Grrrr.

Doesn't help that I think my back is out a bit. Which gives me stomach aches. I went to the chiro on Wednesday and something hasn't quite stuck. But he was closed today. And it's a long weekend. So three days of potential sore back for me. Hopefully some walking will ease it up. If not, it will be mucho of the painkillers and zantac for me this weekend. Cos this butt is staying in the chair. Except for the ballet bit. And the checking out the photos taken by the lovely Jo bit and...hmmm, is that more procrastinating I see?

I will finish the damn book. If only because there's quite a few authors I love with new releases in the next two months and I want to read them with a guilt-free conscience. Oh right, I have to finish that other book too. Damn. Anyone got a cloning machine?

oh what a beautiful morning

Sorry for the Oklahoma, I saw Hugh last night in X3. Good stuff. And Chris and Robbie are coming to town....mmmmm.

To steal an exercise from Barbara Samuel....

Today in Melbourne it's a beautiful, crisp, sunny winter morning. The sky is a brilliant blue that would fool you into thinking it's summer if you couldn't feel the chill. The sort of day we don't get many of once winter settles into its stride.
It looks warm but the air is cool enough to make my hands and face feel slightly numb as I walk, despite the fact I'm sweating under my raspberry pink parka vest. Everything smells clean, faintly icy.

At the vet's, there's a fearless tiny black kitten who is firmly focused on stalking and killing her toy ball, leaping and bounding like a miniature panther, only pausing when she leaps into her water bowl and gets her paws wet. She doesn't even blink when dogs who must be twenty times her size decide to bark and snarl at her. She's got her eyes on the prize. She's my new role model. She reminds me of a black cat I used to own. I'd love to take her home with me but I think the votes of the grey and orange inhabitants of my house would be firmly negative.

Walking back, parrots and magpies chase each other through the gum trees and every thing is bright and sparkling. The grass is still wet with dew and gleams in the sun. In summer the way I walk is lined with gardens full of roses and other flowers to stop and sniff. There aren't many things blooming at the moment - odd patches of colour from the camellias and lavender and daisies and native flowering plants - and some trees still hanging on to the last of the autumn reds and oranges. But all the plants look lush and green - contented somehow as if they are taking a well-deserved rest to curl their toes into the earth and wait for spring. Everyone out walking is smiling. It's that kind of day. I wonder what else it will bring?

I have a lot to do today. Last day of my week off. I've had a great week, writing and shopping and lunching with writer friends. I've worked hard. But I've played too. The sort of week that confirms that I really do want to do this. This life suits me. Suits my rhythms. So I need to be like the black kitten. Fearless in pursuit of a goal. Dreams make life richer, brighter. Make every day seem sparkly like today. So why not chase them?

Happy pouncing!

I'm back

Well, mostly back. My stomach still seems to be on NZ time. I keep getting hungry two hours before meals. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be back to normal.

We had a fab time at Kara. Once we got there. Two of the girls had a bit of a flight cancellation drama so, instead of a nice leisurely drive up from Auckland on Friday afternoon, we had a long haul through friday peak hour and the wild NZ rain in the dark Friday evening. Of course, being intrepid romance writers, we made it in the end. Even if we were expecting an orc attack at any moment at one stage. It was that sort of trip. The trip home was much less eventful. Though there were feral chickens. My flight even left slightly early, made up time on the flight and landed early. The other two got stuck again. Obviously they didn't appropriately appease the flight gods or whatever.

Daphne and Robyn (and Keith) were lovely and full of wisdom and insight. Plus they revealed the recipe for a Ruby Tuesday to complement the cowboys that became the evening drink of choice. Plotting works well with added butterscotch schnapps apparently. And pineapple lumps. Though the scales this morning suggested butterscotch schnapps and pineapple lumps do not further one's weight loss goals. Back to the exercise grindstone for me. If I wake up.

The cats were even glad to see me. Mainly, I suspect, because I am keeper of the heater. And it is COLD here. It was warmer in NZ! But there has been lots of smooching and purring and instant occupation of my lap when I sit down so maybe they missed me too. The grey cat seems to be perking up a bit now that we've played with her medication dosage which is good. Only perking up has so far translated to destroying a cushion and strewing the house with shredded foam rubber. Nice. Lucky I have the trusty Dyson.

NZ is very beautiful. This is the first time I've gone beyond surburban conference centres and I'm keen to go back and see more. I'm sure Aragorn is lurking there somewhere : ) If not, there's plenty of breathtaking scenery to discover. Particularly if I go with the girls and have more adventures in navigation.

I even managed to solve the story issue that was stopping me in the wip, so have been editing and seeing where I'd gone slightly askew storywise for the last day. Now it's time to go forward again. I wonder how many pages I can do in five days?

The morning report

For some reason I have the Lion King in my head this morning. Hakuna Matata and all that. Who knows why?

Anyway, I am back from taking the grey cat to the vet for yet more siphoning of the liquid gold in her veins so we can see how her various exotic diseases are doing. She is not happy about this and is currently hiding behind the bookcase in the spare room glaring at nothing in particular but saving extra ferocious ones for me if I dare to check on her. She'll be fine in a few hours. Especially now she's had breakfast. Cats don't understand fasting. Lots of WTF? and WHERE THE HELL IS BREAKFAST? looks this morning. Followed by a nice dose of "If you put me in a cage I will yell and tell everyone all about it". Note to the grey cat - everyone has a care factor of not much. Except that dog who thought you were interesting (who was v.cute - a maltilier named Mr Darcy, all white with some faint apricotish-coffee coloured patches from the cavalier side, who apparently lives with his sister Lizzie so nice to see Jane Austen alive and well in the suburbs, even if it is a slightly incestuous take on it).

So anyway, that's my morning. I'm about to do some exercise then write. Goal today is 11 pages. Cos I like 11 that's why.

The rest of the day will be housework, a trip to the shops for a new camera battery and other supplies for my trip to NZ (6 more sleeps, almost there), and unfortunately some day job work. At least it's sunny, if chilly.

Hakuna Matata.

A good weekend

Take one copy of Madam Mirabou's School of Love (great book, beautiful cover, Barbara Samuel rocks).
Add a second dose of Temaraire and the dishy Captain Will in Throne of Jade (Naomi Novik rocks).
Season with a crit session, including the consumption of far too much chocolate.
Stir in more episodes of Mr Darcy is a spy (aka Spooks)
Top with 16 pages written today (see, miracles do happen).

There was even exercise and sleeping in.

Earlier in the week there was new Sharon Lee and Steve Miller too.

What more can a girl want?

PS Happy Mother's Day to all the mum's out there (particularly mine because she rocks and no, I'm not biased : ) )
PPS Have a great trip Ms Keri. Romantic Times will be a blast and we're looking forward to the pics.
PPPS 11 more sleeps until Kara. Wheee. Off to NZ, land of kiwis, hobbits and pineapple lumps.

Brrrr

Melbourne has decided that winter is here. It's FREEZING.
Good weather for snuggling up with Spooks DVDs (Mr Darcy is a SPY!), good books and a blanket.
Unfortunately, I ran around most of the weekend instead. The 40th wedding anniversary went very well, good food, good wine, good times.
Though a busy Friday and Saturday has equalled not too much on the writing front. And today I was zonked so have only managed a few more pages. But I'm almost through another chapter and getting some snippets of what happens next. So things will hopefully keep flowing along.

19 more sleeps to Kara and NZ!

The days are just packed

This week has been a good week. There have been Amazon shipments (Don't Look Down, yippeeee), there have been Brain Sync shipments (the meditation stuff is going very well, great in fact, I can highly recommend them and the Walking Meditation one is freaky - I can go twice as long on my elliptical trainer when listening to it - so lots of thumbs up there), there have been Krispy Kremes, there have been nice dinners cooked by the VT and her hubby (proving once and for all he is a chef), there have been Spooks episodes, courtesy of Quickflix and there has been a full request.

Due to the last of these, there has also been writing. Go me.

Plus tomorrow is the start of May. That means only three and a half weeks until I go to Kara and have 11 days off. I refuse to think about the fact that I have to fit a months worth of work day job wise into the 14 working days I have. It will work out somehow. Holidays - yay.

Now all I have to do is figure out what to buy the folks for their wedding anniversay (40 years - that's a LONG time) and I'll be set.

Relaxation and remembering

Well the weekend was a write off in terms of writing. Apparently the muse needed a holiday. So I read (Taming the Duke, Warprize, Devil in Winter, The Compass Rose, all excellent books. The Compass Rose is another Luna. I'm starting to think Luna, on the whole, rocks. And I see there's a sequel out in the US. Yay), I watched Gilmore Girls on DVD, I went to the movies. All that relaxing is tiring.

Today we have a day off in Australia. It's Anzac Day. We stop and remember all the men and women who've died in wars protecting the country. Who did scary things in terrifying conditions and paid the ultimate cost. And even those who survived were changed forever. We owe them remembrance, respect and thanks. Even if you don't think war is the answer.

And thinking about what they faced makes me remember that the things that scare me, the problems I have, aren't such a big deal. And I should just get on with it.

Going to write now.

Speed, glorious speed

Ha ha, back to broadband. No more e-snail-mail.

In other news - check out this. My friend Keri, she rocks : )

More tomorrow when I'm awake.

Stuffing around

Well Keri called her post Stuff or Stuffed, so I will continue her theme. Cos stuffing around is what I have been doing today instead of writing.

I have done the laundry, I have taken the folks' mac mini to the mac doctor (get well soon little mac mini), I have done my grocery shopping and I have surfed the net, eaten an easter egg and read InStyle. Then, just as I was thinking about maybe doing some actual writing, I made a fatal error, I decided to check out Library Thing, something I have been resisting for a while. To quote Pretty Woman, 'big mistake - HUGE'. lol

Talk about your perfectly designed to be a time sink for virgos-who-love-books site. 2 hours and over two hundred books already entered (which worries me because I haven't gotten terribly far in the collection) and a life membership purchased and I'm loving it. I've always worried about the book collection in terms of how do I prove what I had if my house burnt down? Well, this is the answer. I mean, books are my main extravagance in terms of what I spend my money on, so it makes sense to keep a record. It's not like I have millions of books, but I'm guessing I have well over a thousand. At a conservative replacement cost of $20 AUD for the paperbacks and maybe $45 for the hardbacks, that's a lot of spondoolas if someone torched the place. (I'm just doing the math now and yikes, I think I've freaked myself out - of course, they didn't all cost that when I bought them, once upon a time paperbacks were a reasonable price in this country, and some were second hand and some are gifts and the collection has been building since I was 10 or so but still!!!)

Note to the universe, no-one is to torch my house, please. At least now, I'll have a record. And I guess I'll have to limit myself to entering a shelf at a time or something.

Enough with the guilt. Off to write. For the first time ever I've gone over my data allowance on my internet for the month so I'm stuck with snail speed for the next two days. Grumble.

Happy Easter

Not such an original blog title but sincerely meant. I hope you have all partaken of the buns of hot cross goodness and received mucho chocolato from the bunny. Plus hanging out with whoever makes you happy.

I've been down at my folks and have only been back a few hours, which means I am still enduring the orange cat's 'you've been away' ritual. Which mostly consists of him stomping around shouting at me. I figure I know what he means - they are more than usually indignant yowls about how I left HIM behind and he was stuck inside and only that Jo and Dave pair came to see him and feed him. Though he also goes outside and shouts as well. I've never figured out whether that bit is "watch out world, the boss is back" or more along the lines of "free at last, free at last, thank god in heaven I'm free at last" but it's pretty funny.

I'll be forgiven by the time he gets dinner.

So home was good, hot cross buns were eaten, pink champagne (Hardy's something or other reserve - very nice) was drunk and I was taught a valuable lesson in remembering to check what you've set iTunes to when you burn a disc lol aka if it was data last time you need to change in back to audio before burning audio discs - sorry Mum.

I managed to write a few pages as well so that's good. And Mum made lamb roast for lunch. Yum. Yum. Yum.

So now I'm having toast, made with Dad's homemade light rye, for dinner. Dad is the son of a baker and makes very good bread and muffins. My Pa died when I was only three so I don't really remember him - a few vague memories of a short, smiling man always causing mischief (and even then I don't know how much of that is from home movies, photos and stories rather than my own memories) - so in a way, eating bread made by Dad feels like a connection. And a reminder of who I can blame for my own love of bread and baked goodies.

The lulus are coming tomorrow for critting so I'd better get cracking and print something out. And do some writing before I attempt to excavate the surface of my kitchen table which is currently covered in RWA stuff.

I had a massage last Thursday, something I always promise myself I will do more often and then invariably delay. It was fabulous. I want to make a concerted effort to keep the stress levels down because stress = bad sleep = cranky = less writing. So resolution number one to have more massages.

Resolution number two is to keep the stress down in other ways as well (this is the bit where you can stop reading if new age stuff bores you or makes you go "rubbish"). : ) To that end I've also bought a couple of mediation cds - another thing that interests me and I always say "must learn more about". These are by Brain Sync (someone on a writers list mentioned them - so thanks Karen!) and are meant to contain the frequencies to evoke the correct sorts of brain waves for various activities (ie Theta for meditation, delta for sleep and other sorts of ones (go read the link if you want the details) for other activities.

I've read a bit about this stuff over the years - the fact that expert meditators put themselves into theta states which is meant to be a very good thing so I figured what the heck. I got a meditation one, a concentration one (I'm hoping good for work and writing in those can't think times - it worked well last night letting me write 3 pages longhand in half an hour in the living room while the folks watched TV. That's faster than usual plus I don't usually write well with my folks in the room) and a sleep one. I don't know if the frequency thing actually works or not but I've drifted off twice now to the sound sleep one and it's very relaxing. And the meditation one is good too. I'll keep you posted on what I think.

And now I'm really going to write!

Hot cross writers

It's almost Easter. Five day weekend. Yippee. Writing time. Chocolate. Hot cross buns. mmmmm. And a lulu meeting. Hopefully we will be happy writers after that.

Though some restraint must be exercised or we'll be hot cross writers from being unable to fit into our jeans. But I love love love hot cross buns. I'm a bit of a bread freak anyway, I love yeasty doughy things. And hot cross buns are high on the list. Easter eggs I can take or leave but warm, hot cross buns with real butter. Yum.

So yay, it's Wednesday and tomorrow is the last day of the week. Plus tonight is House night. Re-run House night due to the vagaries of the Australian TV programmers but House all the same. So I'd better knuckle down before then.

I did have a point when I started this blog. What was it again? Right. Today, one of my online groups was asked the question of what they think their muse looks like. Interesting stuff. I know there are writers who scoff at the idea of a muse, and I agree with them that you can't sit around waiting for inspiration or the muse to strike you before you do the work and often the ideas flow better when you just sit in the darn chair and write. But I DO believe creativity is not an entirely mundane process because there are times when writing is almost an altered state of being. And times when you look back at something you've written and it feels like the work of someone or something else. That's the muse. The mysterious in the writing process. And everyone's process is different but I hope all writers have some of those magical spine tingling moments.

Productive

Ugh, 9 am is way too early on a Saturday to be up, showered, load of laundry on and already been out and back on an errand. Particularly when last night didn't exactly feature 8 solid hours of sleep. Why not, I hear you ask.

Well.

Remember how I talked about my cats deciding to bleed me dry um, I mean develop new and interesting medical conditions? Well, the grey cat needed some follow up blood work to see how her thyroid and kidneys are going. So I called the vet yesterday to book her in. And the dreaded words were uttered. "She needs to fast." Damn. Damn. Damn. So I dutifully booked her in for this morning and gave them dinner early last night then put them to bed and took the food away. That's right, I took the food away. Now with two normal cats this might not be a drama but don't forget I have the orange cat.

So I went to bed. About midnight the orange cat obviously realises there is no dried food in his bowl (I never said he was smart or maybe it takes four hours for the whiskas to be digested). He meows. I yell. He meows. I yell. He shuts up. Repeat on the hour until three am.

I try to figure out the logistics. I could put the grey cat in the bathroom with the litter tray, some cushions and some water but she would probably try to get out (and she's not bad at opening doors). And the orange cat would undoubtedly protest that he was being locked out of the special room where SHE WAS HAVING FUN DON"T TRY TO FOOL HIM NOT FAAAAAIIIRRRRR.

Eventually I came up with let the orange cat out of the cats room, while leaving the grey cat in with her water only diet, give him some dried food and access to the back yard via the cat door and hope he doesn't decide that ewww he couldn't pee outside, he might like get dirt on his paws or something.

This shuts him up for about two hours. Five am he meows (obviously the food has run out or he thinks grey cat is having all the fun in their room and I've secretly given food even though he didn't see me do it). I yell. He shuts up. He does it again at 6am, 7am, 7.30 and oh well, you get the picture. I am not well rested. I foresee napping in my day. Grumble.

Note to self, if cats need fasting, let them stay at the vet. In the meantime, the actual blood test process results in the grey cat and my credit card giving me pretty much the same disgusted look.

And now the orange cat has just thrown up the breakfast he bolted down to prove how hungry he was. Oy. And Vey and ONE ORANGE CAT GOING CHEAP.

Excuse me while I go clean cat puke.

Right, I'm back. Laundry sorted. Puke gone. Now I just have to wait for the stain to dry so I can use my super stain stuff on it. I don't know what they put in cat food but the browny yellow stain sure looks fetching on my pale blue-grey carpet. At least it killed my appetite, so I don't have to worry about not having had breakfast yet.

Where was I? Right. Being productive.

Yesterday I sent off my partial, wrote four pages of one book, one page plus six pages typed in to the computer from my notebook of another. Go me. Today I'm going to try and do some more. Amid scrubbing cat vomit from my carpet. That should produce some suitably romantic feelings : )

In other random weirdness, yesterday I was watching Oprah who was talking about debt (just as I was putting in a nice fat Amazon order to reward myself for the partial mailing - she made me take two books off the order to wait for a future date). Anyway, the ad for IceAge 2 came on. And it had the little rating thing down the bottom of the screen and it said "PG: mild sense of menace". What? Is this something new in the ratings? Besides the fact that kids movies often have scary bits and that's kind of the point in teaching 'em some stuff, what the frak (to borrow from BSG) does "mild sense of menace" mean? There's a bad guy? There's some scary critters (well, yes, it's about prehistoric beasts including mammoths and sabretooth tigers)? You're not sure what's going to happen? Isn't that the idea of a story? It just struck me as a very odd thing to state. What's next? PG: Slight hint of hormones? PG: A suggestion of discord?

If they're going to add these little hints to the ratings then why not make them actually USEFUL. You know, 'like 'PG: All the even slightly funny bits are in the trailer, don't bother'. Or M: the only good bit is hot hunk taking his shirt off'. Or 'PG: Complete massacre of the book, run away screaming'. Or 'MA: This movie is actually good'. That sort of thing would be handy. Mild sense of menace isn't.

And now I have to go write. Today this blog is rated: SSWWTOS (Slightly sleepy writer with touches of sarcasm). You can choose to view or not on that basis. Oh darn, this warning should've been up the top.

Things I have learned this week

1. Writing synopses doesn't get easier with time. I am convinced they are an arcane form of writer torture and possibly contravene the Geneva Convention.

2. House still rocks.

3. The writers of ER need to stop with the dying babies. Particularly when said baby is the most freakin' adorable baby chimp ever. Enough. I am out of tissues. The VT would be proud of my sappiness. Not quite as bad as 'Faces in the Mob' but close. And for those of you who have never seen the documentary 'Faces in the Mob' and are inclined to animal sappiness, I say "DON'T DO IT". FITM follows a bunch of kangaroos for over the time of two females getting pregnant and raising their joeys. One is a good mother. One isn't. You can guess the end result. That's right. Me crying for something like four hours. My boyfriend at the time came home, took one look at me and figured someone had died. He asked "What's wrong?". I believe my response was something like, "snuffle, snort, sob, the ba-a-a-by k-k-k- snuffle sob blow -kanga-roo-ooo-ooo."
"The kangaroo what?"
"d-d-d-dieeed. SOB SOB SOB."
The net result of which is I got one of those male "what weird female hormonal shit is going on here?" looks. And kept crying. Seriously, one of the saddest things I've ever seen and I'll stop before I start ranting on ethics in documentary film making and the ability to intervene when a joey gets separated from his mother and is being stalked by dingos. Ooops, too late.

4. If you have a cold and get a flu shot, the results are not necessarily going to be pretty. Excuse me while I hack up a lung.

April - how did that happen?

Well, it's April Fools Day and Melbourne is celebrating by suddenly realising it's well into Autumn and turning cold, wet and windy. Though the sun is shining right now, I have the heater on and am wearing a polar fleece. Last week I could've had the air con on. Melbourne, where the people are nice and the weather is moody. Better than the other way round I guess. At least I have a very nice picture of Robbie on my calendar for the month. For those of you who aren't Robbie converts, all I have to say is, if you've ever wondered what the "IT" factor is, go see a Robbie concert. Charisma, sex appeal, humour and a great voice (plus he scrubs up quite nicely). mmmm.

As does this guy....though Fillionaire is a way dumb term.

Writing wise it's been a bit of a stop start week but I think my partial, after last weekend's paralysis, has now just about come together. A couple more run through and tweaks and it should be good to go. Which leaves me with the unenviable task of having to polish my very rough brain dump synopsis into something that makes sense and works. Synopses are no fun. Even the most exciting story can sound lacklustre and trite when you pare it back to two pages. Gah. I don't know anyone who likes writing them. But it's part of the biz. I'm just telling myself after I do this I get to play with the paranormal for awhile. I want that one and the short one finished in the next three or four months. I foresee a lot of typing in my future.

In other news, April is going to be a great month. A new Crusie (well, a CrusieMayer), a new Samuel and a new James. Life is good.