Busy

Yep, I've been busy. No excuse really to not keeping up at least 3 times a week with this blog, but I've been distracted. Good and bad distracted. Though I'm great at multi-tasking when it comes down to it, I can't keep it up for long—weeks on end to be precise—jumping from way too many jobs and having personal, emotional crisis to boot. Yeah, I'm about to lose it. Especially since I haven't done any writing this month, but the good thing is that my new characters for my latest story are really starting to form. In the midst of chaos, I've found solace in those few downtime moments and started really thinking about my next story and where I want to take it. I've come up with a few cool character traits and ideas for a series. I'm getting excited again about writing. Of course, that might also be because I've gotten great feedback lately and I feel like the gears are turning a little faster and I've learned a lot through this process:

• I learned from a published paranormal author that my story should be billed as Urban Fantasy when I send it out to editors/agents. I have a lot of sci-fi elements in it which take it somewhat away from the paranormal, but this is a good thing because it will help set it apart from what else is out there. Yeah!
• I finally won over my harshest critic. She asked to read my story again after nearly a year of revising it. And she was like, "This isn't even the same writing. What happened?" She thought the pacing, voice, dialogue, world building were dead on. I was so happy and relieved, since she's a very honest person and knows her writing stuffs. Though she still had a lot of questions about the story (unfortunately, I might've cut too much back story from my first pages), it makes me feel good that the last year of rewriting, researching, and reading books on how to improve my writing has finally paid off.
• Listen to your CPs and your inner voice. I had two CPs tell me to delete the first two chapters. I was devastated. I had spent so much time revising and writing those chapters and I felt they were integral to the whole story set up. But that was just it. It was just set-up. No action. No moving forward. And these chapters were in the beginning of the book, no less!!!! No wonder an agent turned that draft down because she couldn't get into my characters. I kept the two chapters but rewrote them so the characters were in action the whole time and we learned back story from outer and inner dialogue dispersed so it wouldn't interfere with the story but move it forward. That's the big deal: EVERYTHING SHOULD MOVE YOUR STORY FORWARD. And my first two chapters didn't, and now they do. *sighs in relief*
  
• Don't fall in love with your writing. One of the hardest things I had to was delete over 30,000 words. I was doing a series of flashbacks where every other chapter was a flashback to what had happened years prior. I had taken a cue from Lost when they highlight a character in the episode and intersperse a storyline from their background (before the Island) to help us understand where they came from. For my story, which I wanted action-packed, it didn't work. Plus, I wasn't pulling it off properly. Seeing my word count go down from 85K to 53K made me want to cry. But it had to be sacrificed so the rest of the story could live. (Yeah, that last sentence was kind of lame, but so true.)

Right now it's making the rounds at a couple editors and one agent. This week I'm going to focus on sending out to agents, since the advice I've been given is that they'll know how to market it better. Then it's off to the next story, though hopefully I've learned enough from this year-and-a-half-in-the-making story that my next one won't take as long.

Yeah right...

I'm It

So Sybir has tagged me for 8 random facts/habits about me. So here goes ...

1. I hate bugs. They gross and freak me out. In fact, I feel nauseated just writing about them. I scream like a little girl when a large one comes near me and go into a panic mode. I can't kill the big bugs because I get too grossed out feeling and seeing them crushed. I usually trap them in a cup and throw them outside, which sucks because sometimes they hit their hard little bodies against the cup, which ... well, you guessed it ... makes me sick.
2. I hate change. I'm a creature of habit. Unlike the proverb that you need to bend like the reed, I'm an oak that's needs to get totally uprooted and replanted to accept change, though many times I have broken in half because I wouldn't bend, but that's for another list.
3. Chips and dip are my weakness. I love going to Tex-Mex joints where they serve fresh chips and salsa and queso dip. Even if I'm not hungry, I can eat the whole basket and then some.
4. I've been writing stories since I was in elementary school. My first stories were plays that my friends and I performed using puppets and usually involved a murder mystery.
   
5. I'm a big Seinfeld fan. I love that show. I quote the show regularly and know when I find kindred spirits in a crowd of strangers when people recognize the quote. Favorite Seinfeld quote: "I don't know how you guys walk around with those things."
   
6. I also quote lots of movies and cartoons—thanks in part to my husband and his friends who used to quote certain sci-fi movies and The Simpsons. It's become a part of my vocabulary. Again, a great way to break the ice when I meet new people. Especially those who are pop culture geeks like me. Favorite random quotes: "Taste like burning." "We thought you was a toad." "They turned me into a nute. A nute? Well, I got better." "You're a daisy if you do." "He was a bit high-strung." "I'm not dead, yet." "Screw you guys. I'm going home." "Game over, man." (I've actually put worked of these quotes in my stories.)
7. I miss Angel and Buffy so much. I started reading the Buffy comic book so I can get my fix.
8. I never, ever tag other people. So the buck stops here on the random facts about me. I never do chain letters or e-mails, so don't send me e-mails that say "you're going to die or have horrible luck if you don't send this to a million friends in the next minute." Sorry don't respond well to chain letter threats. Now if a large bug was sending it to me ... then another story altogether.
   

Hug Your Spouse

Yesterday I received horrible news. One of my best friends since 4th grade just lost her husband. He was only 41 years old. He was playing golf with his friends on Sunday and had a sudden heart attack and died. They have a 4-year-old daughter and she's pregnant with their second and is due next month. I've been in shock ever since being told. I couldn't stop crying at first because he was her hero, her soulmate. I was there when they first started dating and we all used to double date. I just saw him a couple months ago and he looked great. He wasn't overweight but was athletic. If all of you could just take the time to kiss your spouse. Tell them that you love them. I can't even imagine what she's going through. He was a wonderful person, a great dad, and had such an awesome sense of humor. I can't imagine her life without him.

Appreciate the love you have. Live everyday to the fullest. And hug close your spouse. Everyday you have with them is blessed.

WRW Retreat

Ahhhh ... so I'm just winding down from a very fun and roller coaster weekend at the WRW Retreat. Overview of weekend:

1. Transported Kate Duffy of Kensington Publishing up to retreat with absolutely fabulous Karmela Johnson (who has the best style in clothes and makes me look like a geeky middle schooler) as my co-pilot. Decided that I'm a total idiot because as I replay my attempt at conversations with Ms. Duffy, realized I probably didn't us proper English or said some lame-brain things—and had a few FIMS (foot in mouth) moments. Yes, I am truly a dweeb. But at least she was cool about it and Karm was there to liven things up.
   
2. Had a meeting with an agent and editor who both wanted to see partials. The agent grilled me so hard about my plot, I felt a bit crisp after the interview. But it was fine because she was very nice about it and was just overall a cool person. Who said pitching would be easy?
   
3. Had a great time going over my story points with Karm, who also grilled me about my plot points and made me really think about motivation within my story. She also discussed her latest and greatest WIP, which is a totally awesome, kick-butt story! (She's the master at the KBH.) She's done a great job researching her subject matter. It'll be very interesting to see how her story plays out in the end. I enjoy her voice and her writing is strong, so I know this story will totally rock.
   
4. Karm bravely slayed two roaches in our room as I ran screaming on top of my bed. My hero!
5. I met some other wonderful writers like Dawn Oliveri, who writes erotic romance, and Alix, who is a finalist in the Golden Heart contest for Regency romance. Go Alix! Thanks to Jackie for getting an earfull the first night about my latest story and for being very supportive. A shout out goes to Karen who writes historicals and is a KBH in her own right for how strong she is in going to bat for her children day after day and continuing with her dream of publishing. She's truly inspiring.
   
6. Played WRW Jeopardy and totally sucked. Our team only got one answer right because, fortunately, Dawn knew her stuff. Though Karm knew the words to Copacabana, so she got points for being cool like that. Me ... not so much. (See "dweeb" note in #1)
7. Entered the first 200 words of my manusript in the American Idol-like contest with three editors as judges (Kate Duffy, Jen Enderlin and Tracy Farrell). Fortunately, they liked it!!!! Which is good because I had rewritten it like a million times and would've been forced to jump into the Potomac had they not. They suggested one rewrite but the rest of it they thought was good and they would want to read more. I was so freaking relieved. After a year and a half of working on this, it's nice to hear.
   
8. Had way too many Hilltop Sunsets and felt comfortably numb on Friday night. Enjoyed a great evening with the girls (and Tim) on Saturday night talking about fun stuffs like detachable penis and Justin Timberlake–don't ask.
   
9. Enjoyed some really good speakers at the luncheons/dinners: Julia Quinn, Madeline Hunter, and Lisa Gardner. It actually made me feel good to hear that Lisa, who has about 25 novels out, says that she still laments that each novel sucks as she's writing it. So I'm not the only one who is hard on herself.
10. Had a beautiful ride home. Karm and I enjoyed talking with Julie Quinn about writing and life stuff. She's very easy going and smart—she won $79K on Weakest Link—and I was so impressed with the amount of books she has out for being so young. She was first published at 25 and has 16 books out. Totally amazing! She's been called the Jane Austen of our generation. And it was great hearing her stories about writing and her good attitude over people criticizing her work.
    

Overall, it was a great retreat and I look forward to going back next year. It's always nice to be able to hang with other writers and people who are struggling like you to make it in the biz. Everyone—no matter what their level—was very supportive and so nice. Thanks to all who made this event so great!