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I BELIEVE someone has a book coming out today!



Let me know if you see it anywhere!

I'm blogging at
Wet Noodle Posse about my grandmother, whose birthday is today.

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Today’s my mom’s birthday. I had to steal a pic from her school website because my computer doesn’t have many pictures and won’t let me access the ones on the desktop.



For my mom, family is the most important thing. My earliest memories were of her playing Disney records in the den while we danced around, her singing all the time, her making lunch while I played on the swings after kindergarten.

I remember her making me new clothes for the first day of school. I remember in particular two prairie skirts—remember those? I very rarely wore jeans in those days.

I remember season premier week and Friday nights were always made special. We’d have popcorn or cookies or apples as we settled to watch TV.

I remember her taking me to the school library one day a week during the summer to get books, often the same ones I’d read the week before J Also, she’d take us to the local public library, though she doesn’t particularly like to read herself.

Birthdays were always made special, I got a new dress, and had a party, usually out at my grandparents’ place in the country.

When I was nine, she and my dad divorced, but my mom was determined that family would still be her priority as she pushed her way through college in two and a half years to get a teaching degree.

As I got older, we’d sew together or do crafts together, loving that we had that in common. Now it’s more gardening stuff.

She doesn’t always get me, but she always supports me and I always feel like she’s proud of me.



Happy birthday, Mom!

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1) get through 1st Mother’s Day without dh’s mom. Wouldn’t be so bad if he’d talk to me, I think.
2) My mom’s bday
3) My son’s award ceremony
4) Finish edits on Surface
5) Send out announcements and party invites for graduation
6) Fingerprinting at school
7) Blog at The Romance Studio, Supernatural Sisters and Wet Noodle Posse
8) 3500 words on paranormal
9) revising Texas book—30 pages
10) Wolverine
11) Star Trek
12) Season finale fever!
13) Begin decluttering house
14) One big house project (I’m hoping for a new door.)
15) Order a birthday gift
16) Exercise

I knew it’d be a doozy.

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I'm trying to figure out how published authors ever write anything new. I got not one but TWO sets of revisions on Thursday. I finished one set last night (fairly minor, heavier at the end, natch), and am a quarter of the way through the others. Again, I suspect they'll be heavier at the end.

So my paranormal novella is on hold, and I still need to finish revising the Texas book. I'm stuck on a problem with the heroine's motivation. If I was more excited about the paranormal, I could move quicker on it, but I'm more excited about the opportunity than the plot, you know? And knowing I'll have to revisit it again and again in revisions....

It's just a rough time of year. The boy graduates a month from today. I scheduled maid service for the week before, the last week of school. It will be nice to come home the last day to a clean house! Also, season finales start this week....Thursday everything I watch ends. I think the last new shows for me are on the 19th. Wow. My Tivo will go into withdrawal :)

You guys have seen this, right?

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For one thing, it was 92 degrees yesterday! Miserable hot.

Also, saw my class for next year. All on the wall (in timeout) at recess. Oh, joy. Yeah, I'm not counting down my days with my sweet babies.

We get a treat at school today for Teacher Appreciation. After lunch, someone will come watch our class and we'll get to go to a movie on campus, complete with popcorn! It's a teacher movie, Freedom Writers, but still, a nice treat.

I had the house to myself last night. The boy had a gig and the dh had band practice. I got to stay home with the laundry, and got a LITTLE writing done. Am WAY behind my goals. Wonder if they'd mind if I took a notebook to that movie today?

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No, my school isn't being closed for Swine Flu. Apparently the chances of that are over, according to the CDC. My luck, I would have been the one sick anyhow.

I'm frustrated about not being able to go see the summer movies this early. Our usual MO is breakfast and then a matinee, but it didn't work out last week for Wolverine and won't work out this weekend, either. The dh and I decided we'd go one night this week, but he's been working late because it's television sweeps (AGAIN. Yeesh.) I know there are a lot of blockbusters this summer, but I miss when they'd start coming out on Memorial Day weekend instead.

I cut my hair. Do Not have a good picture. We'll see if I can emulate the style this morning. All the damaged hair is gone, and what's left is really soft and fine. That has never been an issue for me. It's also like Teflon, in that it didn't hold any of the product I put in it last night :(

I'm frustrated at school. We had a field trip planned for Tuesday. I usually don't like them, as you know, but I was ready to get out of school after testing last week. When I got to school Monday (I was out Friday), I learned the trip had been cancelled. Why?

Another test, a district test this time. They couldn't put it off a day or let us take it early. Nooooo. They cancelled the trip.

Now we're scrambling to reschedule, but we'd planned this back in March, and it's hard to get buses this month, AND it's hard to match them up with available activities. Plus, one of our teachers is gone to Japan for 9 days and we don't want to take her kids with the sub. Then we get to the end-of-year activities, like the talent show and field day that conflict. Sigh. I feel bad for the kids. At least my kids got to go on a good field trip. Now we're looking at going to see Disney's Earth and then coming back to school for the talent show. That stinks.

I need to get writing. I didn't write at ALL yesterday.

So, what's new with you?

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My SIL’s bday party was this weekend and since it was SUPPOSED to be a surprise (my brother couldn’t keep the secret any longer, a family failing), it was held at her best friend’s house. Rachel has an adorable garden home, two bedroom, completely remodeled. She has an open living/dining/kitchen area that was perfect for the party, and she has a side yard with a patio walled on three sides.

My first thought: I could so see myself writing here.

I remember thinking the same thing about my brother’s house, when he bought it 10 years ago last October. He has a deck off his bedroom, and a great breakfast nook. I thought the same at another writer’s house where we had a Christmas party YEARS ago. She had a deck with an amazing view of the Hill Country. I also do it when I look at those dream homes in Country Living or on HGTV. The first thing I scoped out when we went to FL a couple of years ago was where in the timeshare would be my writing space. (Guess where? On the screened porch.)

Apparently this shows two things about me….I don’t like to be confined when I write (all the places I liked were outside) and I think about writing way more than I should.

Or maybe I don’t. Do you think about where you would write if you lived in someone else’s house?

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I’ve been thinking about weddings, since I went to that one a few weeks ago, and I’ve been watching Harper’s Island. Then Nora has that Bride Quartet coming out next month, and one of my cps is trying to get together a series bible so we can write short, sweet novellas for The Wild Rose Press, all based around a wedding.

Harper’s Island is most interesting to me right now, because of the premise. A week long celebration, with all the wedding party and the guests in the same inn. This week’s episode had day-long bachelorette and bachelor parties, including matching hoodies for everyone with the couple’s name embroidered on them. Okay, I can’t imagine being so extravagant, or celebrating that much for anyone I know, or wanting to be the center of attention for that long.

However, the storyteller in me in intrigued. I’ve actually never written a wedding scene, but now I’m thinking about basing a short story around one.

Have you been watching Harper’s Island? Are you a fan of weddings? Are you getting Nora’s new book?

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1) SIL’s bday
2) Wolverine
3) Get ready for critique. Think I’ll brainstorm this time.
4) Get ready for Mother’s Day…at least figure out how to celebrate. Will be a bad day for the dh.
5) 7000 words on paranormal
6) continue revisions on Texas book
7) call Molly Maids for estimate
8) survive field trip
9) guess what? A test at school! Last one.
10) exercise.
11) Library
12) SPN blog

Not too bad. Next week is a doozy.

<

Here's the boy before his haircut:



And after as he dashes off to Prom:

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Am feeling a bit guilty for not going to chapter's conference this weekend. My official reason is that $70 is a lot when I won't manage to get any professional connections out of it--the agent is from the agency I was already with and the editor isn't someone I'd submit to. In addition to that, well, I spend all week being stuck indoors and around people. Right now I'm in my back yard with my blooming flowers and my cats and my glass of flavored water about to get going on the 2250 words I need to make my goal today. Sometimes I'd just rather be with make-believe people, you know?

Tonight the boy and his girl are going to Prom. He's going to get his hair cut this morning. I'm very anxious to see the results. He's going to have to actually learn to STYLE it.

Okay, need more water, then I'll get to work.

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The only thing on my Tivo (for me) is Dollhouse. I'm on the last 50 pages of John Winchester's Journal and the last disc of Heart-Shaped Box. Ready for something new....

Which I should get with writing. We got the go-ahead on the paranormal anthology. My class helped me plot it out (in return for having it dedicated to them). It will have the same characters as my Ghost Hunters book but the action will be different, for the most part. I will start writing it in the morning after my errands. My goal is 5000 words this weekend, then 1000 a day thereafter. (Yes, playing hookey.)

Will also try to fit revisions on historical in there, in case I get a full request.

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You know what they say about plans....

But I turned in my edits on Surface this AM. Next, revisions on Texas. I'm a little more than a third through.

Then, two short stories.

Then a partial for SRS.

Then, time off until after ds's graduation. I bought 2 more books this weekend and I NEED to READ!

First, must survive testing today and tomorrow.

KELLY!!!!! Kelly Boyce, email me at mfechter @ gmail dot com with your snail mail and I'll get the book out to you this weekend!!!



Trish is heading out in the AM :( We managed to shop AGAIN tonight, and both bought cute Crocs. (They DO exist.)

Tomorrow is testing, so I'd better get to bed!

I mean, she's HERE, in San Antonio, but she's also HERE on my blog today! I know I said I'd have pictures from our big adventure but we actually didn't take that many (they wouldn't let us take cameras into the rodeo) and, well, I'll give you a recap later. Today is all about Trish's new release as Tricia Mills, HEARTBREAK RIVER. Remember, a commenter gets a chance to win an autographed copy. You have until Monday at, say, 10 PM CST, how's that?



Tricia’s first Young Adult title released this month, an emotional story of a girl who’s trying to find her way forward after losing her dad on the river she’s always loved.

1) Tricia, you write for two publishing houses and you have an incredibly demanding schedule. How do you manage? Do you work on one thing at a time?

I’m fortunate that this is my full-time job now. Granted, I’ve not yet made what I did when I worked full-time, but hopefully someday. I’m pretty organized, so that helps. I don’t tend to write two things at the same time, and so far my deadlines haven’t forced me to do this. I do, however, seem to be writing one, revising another, doing promo for something else -- different stages on different books.

2) Do you find it difficult to switch between YA and romance?

No, actually. I really like switching back and forth. Sure, there are differences such as the style and point of view, but you’re really writing about the same basic things – people’s reactions and emotions to finding love, dealing with external problems, relationships with friends and family members, etc.

3) What drew you to writing YA books? What’s the hardest thing about it? The most rewarding?

I’ve always been a fan of books, TV shows and movies targeted toward teens. I keep saying I have an inner teenager still living inside me. J Hardest thing is probably making sure the books read as authentic to today’s teenagers, not people who were teens when I was in the late ‘80s. Pretty sure today’s teens don’t listen to Duran Duran. Most rewarding – so far, it’s been when I read blogs run by teens who say they love my book. It makes me smile ear to ear!

4) Who are some of your favorite YA authors?

So many! J.K. Rowling, Meg Cabot, Stephenie Meyer, Rachel Caine, Libba Bray, Suzanne Collins, P.C. and Kristin Cast. I could keep going, but I won’t.

5) You attribute a lot of inspiration to TV. Was there anything on TV that inspired you to write this book? What about music? Did you have a “soundtrack” for this book?

Strangely enough, TV didn’t really influence this book. Rather, it was a train trip aboard Amtrak’s California Zephyr. For about 200 miles in western Colorado, it runs along the Colorado River. During the warmer months, lots of people go on rafting trips along this stretch of river, and I wondered what it would be like to run one of those rafting companies, what it would be like if you were a teen whose family did this. I love the landscape out West, so I combined those two things (plus my own very real fear of the water) and Heartbreak River sprang from that. I honestly don’t usually come up with soundtracks for my books, which is ironic since I am such a HUGE fan of soundtracks. Most of my CD collection is made up of movie and TV show soundtracks. I do, however, do some shout-outs to some of my favorite bands in my YA books.

6) What are you working on now? What’s after that? When is your next Harlequin American Romance (under Trish Milburn) coming out?

I just turned in revisions on my second YA novel, Winter Longing, which is due out in the summer of 2010. Next up is working on a rodeo book for Harlequin American, which I also think is coming out in 2010. My second Harlequin American is coming out here in a couple of weeks. It’s a May release titled Her Very Own Family.

7) And finally, (since you’re staying at my house) which of my cats is your favorite?

Oh, I wasn’t expecting this question! Hmm, probably YaYa and Skippy, though I like them all.

Who doesn't love YaYa? :)



Or Skippy.



Thanks for the insight, Trish! I hope this book finds tons of success!

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We're heading out to Corpus today. I need to mention she'll be guest blogging here on Sunday, so if you ordinarily don't come by on Sunday, take a chance. I'll be giving away a copy of Heartbreak River!



We'll be back tomorrow with pictures!

Meanwhile, I blogged at The Samhellion about Fiesta

And my recap of last night's SPN episode is at Supernatural Sisters

He came to me when I was awake at 2 AM. Am very drowsy now, waiting for Trish. She just called from San Marcos on her way. Should be here in half an hour.

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EDITED TO ADD: My son is in a district wide competition for video. The winner will be shown on the local PBS stations. If you're so inclined, please vote for Change Is Coming

Also, happy birthday, JDM!



So I'm plotting another short story because revisions are getting to me. I'm meeting my daily goal, don't get me wrong, but it's stressful, so I unwind by brainstorming.

Now. I have a contemporary AND a romantic suspense AND another short story already plotted, but then I got the idea for this one. And I need some instant gratification.

Thing is, I don't know who to model my hero after. This never happens to me. I thought maybe



because, dang, he's pretty, and I want this guy to be pretty. But he's also fairly young and the conflict in this story is going to be about control, and while I think he'd be fine for that, he's still young.

I thought about



because he has the swagger and the build I want, but he's not pretty enough and I'm a little tired of him.

I also thought about



but I only like him when he's scruffy, and the setting is a wedding.

I'm already using



in my RS and I'm using



for the other short story and the contemporary.

So...any ideas for me?

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(I'm pretty sure I used that one last year, but computer is SLOOOOOOWWWW today.)

Yesterday I did something I very rarely do.

I stopped.

When I came home, I took my computer out back, along with a bottle of beer and a can of Pringles (Onion Blossom flavor. Oh. So. Good.) I read email and caught up on Twitter and started to read through some blogs, but I got restless and put the computer inside. I went to get a book of baby names for characters in another short story, but decided I didn't feel like doing that either. And since I'd already met my goals for yesterday (and today), I stopped. I sat back and watched the world. I appreciated my flowers. I played with my dog and brushed her. I just...stopped.

Okay, it was maybe 20 minutes, but still. I forgot how to do that.

I'm not blogging as much lately because it's more of the same...revised, worked, dug holes in the yard, watched TV. I should be getting my Surface cover soon.

Trish is coming this weekend, and I'm getting ready for her visit as well. We're heading down to Corpus. We'll tour the Kings Ranch, then go to a rodeo, then come home and Fiesta! Oh, and then my bday barbecue on Sunday.

I realized yesterday I can count on both hands the number of nights I've spent away from the dh, in 22 years. Will be weird Friday night!

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I survived the workshop. Didn’t sell one book L

Also I got an answer to my question, how do you know if Harlequin gets your submission? I got an air mail letter saying they received my electronic submission. Hmm.

I have nothing to watch on my Tivo, except Psych, which I watch with the boy. It’s very strange.

I finished reading an inspirational novella that frustrated me. I bought it because the subject fascinates me, but I just kept thinking I would do it differently. I actually did write a novella about the subject, ages ago, but my discs are obsolete L The big misunderstanding didn’t help my frustration, either, or the missing commas.

Also, I need to read an alpha hero now, please.

1) Clean house for Trish’s visit. Thank goodness I had a domestic fit last week! Mostly just need to sweep and dust.
2) birthday dinner J
3) revisions on Surface
4) revisions on Texas
5) continue plotting paranormal
6) plot short story
7) go to Corpus with Trish for rodeo
8) visit King’s Ranch
9) Fiesta parade
10) Remember gift for librarian, my birthday twin at work and secretary
11) library
12) Last day of tutoring!!!!!!
13) Exercise

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It is raining like hell right now. I hope it slows down in an hour when I have to leave to do the danged workshop. The rain even messes with my wardrobe--there are certain shoes I can't wear in the rain. WHY did I say yes???? WHY?????? I hate doing this stuff, and I hate doing it on a Saturday when already too much is going on. Trish is coming next week and the guest room is a mess and I have a deadline (which I don't think is a problem, but still on my mind). I could be home cleaning/writing. I am allowed to sell books, but if no one comes because of the weather....


And all I want to do is write something new, create, not revise. I find it the best stress relief. See, because I don't have to think about stuff that's stressing me out. The fun stuff invades and there's no room. So the past few days, I've played with the plot of the paranormal anthology and with an idea for another short story. I need a couple more things on my art sheet for Surface, then will send that in.

Also, how does one know if Harlequin Historicals receives your submission? I emailed it using the guidelines I saw on a blog interviewing Linda Fildew, but I wonder if it was received.

Okay, going to do some edits before I need to get dressed.

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I've been trying to figure out what to listen to next after that terrible terrible audiobook I listened to the last couple of weeks. I tried SHUTTER ISLAND by Lehane, I think. Only 5 discs. I listened to one, but it didn't catch me, so I tried HEART SHAPED BOX by Joe Hill.



Oh.

My.

God.

I could have been late for work driving around listening to that thing. Wow. My friend Dawn had recommended it a couple of years ago, but you know...time flies. My ONLY concern is that a lot that could have been revealed later has already been revealed, so I'm wondering if the ante will be upped or if it will flatten out. You know he's Stephen King's son, right? I think if he keeps it up, he can give Daddy a run for his money.

Most of you know this already because you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, but I was interviewed for a Houston paper yesterday. Cool!

Trish is coming next weekend and we're heading to Corpus. I need a car charger for my laptop so I can finish my edits on the drive.

Saw Bolt last night. Was pretty cute. Now my Netflix queue shows all the movies I want available. Go, Netflix!