Today, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06.


A little bird sent me my first birthday present this week.



Isn't it AWESOME? Does she know me or WHAT?

This made me think of some of the most thoughtful gifts I've gotten. My friend Cindi got me a gift certificate for a pedicure, and a pair of sandals. (She always buys me clothes I wouldn't think to buy for myself, which the dh loves!) My son buys me things like bird feeders and other garden decorations. One year my dh bought me a bundle of romantic DVDs.

I guess my favorite gifts are the unexpected ones. I'm sitting at my desk here looking at a candle from the president of our chapter, an angel from a dear friend, a set of musical emblem paper clips from a teacher friend. All people who thought of me at a special time.

All from people who "get" me. Isn't it great when that happens?

I've been a bit lazy on the present buying end these days, pretty much sticking to gift certificates. But I do try to match the gift certificate with the person. I plan to make more of an effort, though, of finding a thoughtful gift. Because the thought DOES count.

And I love my kids, but I'm READY. This time change is beating me into the ground. And the end of the year is so frantic. Today 5th grade tests in math, so we have to be extra quiet. Then in 2 weeks, we test in math. After that, it's paperwork, field trips and count downs (oh, yeah, I'm doing that already.) At the same time, I'm freaking out because it's not ENOUGH time to do all the things I want to do. Some teachers think summer vacation starts as soon as the TAKS is over, but I'm worried my kids aren't strong enough in math skills and writing for 4th grade. Plus, it would be nice to do something FUN for a change.

Only 4 more days of tutoring! THAT'S the best part. When I taught 5th grade, we had to tutor till 2 weeks before summer!

Oy, Monday morning and I'm tired already. If I didn't have my student observer and a parent conference today....

I received a critique back not too long ago and on the sentence, "She leaned forward, intrigued," I got the comment that this was telling. in particularly the word "intrigued." Now for those of you who don't know, Telling Is Bad. Yes, there are instances when you have to tell so you cna kind of get on with the story, but I'm wondering why my little innocent word was telling. Anyone know?

On the other hand, I read a book recently (a 2006 book) where more than half of it was telling - even some of the dialogue! Stuff like, "She told them she would meet them...yadda yadda." If I hadn't known the show vs. tell rule, I might have enjoyed the book more. As it was, I was thinking, "Doesn't she know she can expand this, and it will be much more interesting AND she'll have more words?" Because as interesting as the story was, I could not root for the character because I wasn't inside her head.

Craft show rundown: Had $115. Bought a rhino tile, a rhino stamp, a bluebonnet little dish, a silver choker that you can hang different charms from, a pretty paper towel holder for my classroom, an Africa charm for my writing charm bracelet, funnel cake and three sodas (not all for me.) Have....$30, I think. I hope.

Writing rundown: I'm back on DLB and I'm 20,000 words short after cutting two major action scenes. I have no idea where those 20,000 words are going to go.

Today my mom and I are going to do one of my favorite things - hit the Starving Artist show in La Villita. It's always the first weekend of April, and they have so many pretty/cool things. And funnel cake. And kettle corn.

Yesterday I spent the day reading Trish's new manuscript, targetted to Next. I laughed. I cried. I thought about it all night. It's WONDERFUL.

My friend Kris (Queen-a Athena) sent me this. Fortunately, my evaluation was MUCH better than this.

For everyone who has ever had an evaluation - just remember, it could have been worse. These are actual quotes taken from
federal government employee performance evaluations.

1. "Since my last report, this employee has reached rock-bottom and has started to dig."

2. "I would not allow this employee to breed."

3. "This employee is really not so much of a has-been, but more of a definite won't be."

4. "Works well when under constant supervision and cornered like a rat in a trap."

5. "When he opens his mouth, it seems that it is only to change feet."

6. "This young lady has delusions of adequacy."

7. "He sets low personal standards and then consistently fails to achieve them."

8. "This employee is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot."

9. "This employee should go far, and the sooner he starts the better."

10. "Got a full 6-pack, but lacks the plastic thingy to hold it all together."

11. "A gross ignoramus - 144 times worse than an ordinary ignoramus."

12. "He doesn't have ulcers, but he's a carrier."

13. "I would like to go hunting with him sometime."

14. "He's been working with glue too much."

15. "He would argue with a signpost."

16. "He brings a lot of joy whenever he leaves the room."

17. "When his IQ reaches 50, he should sell."

18. "If you see two people talking and one looks bored, he's the other one."

19. "A photographic memory but with the lens cover glued on."

20. "A prime candidate for natural de-selection."

21. "Donated his brain to science before he was done using it."

22. "Gates are down, the lights are flashing, but the train isn't coming."

23. "He's got two brains cells, one is lost and the other is out looking for it."

24. "If he were any more stupid, he'd have to be watered twice a week."

25. "If you give him a penny for his thoughts, you'd get change."

26. "If you stand close enough to him, you can hear the ocean."

27. "It's hard to believe he beat out 1,000,000 other sperm."

28. "One neuron short of a synapse."

29. "Some drink from the fountain of knowledge; he only gargled."

30. "Takes him 2 hours to watch 60-minutes."

31. "The wheel is turning, but the hamster is dead.

When I was in third grade, there was a picture in the paper of the Tower of the Americas (the Space Needle kind of looking thing that makes the San Antonio skyline so neat) with a GIANT bird, a kind of vulture, I guess, sitting on top of it. I remember going to school and ALL the kids were talking about it, really freaked out. What was this giant bird going to do? Where had it come from? WERE THERE OTHERS?

Our very patient teacher, Ms. Dubois, explained that it was an April Fools joke.

These days, all I get are, "Mrs. Fechter, you have something on your cheek/in your hair/your shoe's untied."

What was the best April Fools joke you've ever heard? Did you buy it?

Here are some good ones: Top 100 April Fools Jokes

I finished Hot Shot revisions yesterday, including the synopsis. I've got to hit the grocery store today, do some walking, cleaning and reading for some friends, then it's back into DLB.



He's saying, "I'm back!"

One of the 2006 finalists is getting interviewed for the newspaper, so Trish and I thought it would be fun to do our own interviews. Go to her blog to read mine!




1) What did you do when you got the news?

I was on the road headed for Atlanta and had stopped at a rest stop just over the Georgia state line. I was actually in the bathroom about to wash my hands when I got the first call. The second came as I was driving down the interstate, and I managed to knock the hands-free earpiece to my cell phone out of my ear while trying to answer. I’m going, “Hang on, whoever you are!” Luckily, she didn’t hang up.

2) Who was the first person you called/e-mailed/told in person?

Maureen Hardegree. She’s one of my Noodler buddies and is also president of Georgia Romance Writers. She’d called me earlier to see if I’d finaled because she was going out to buy roses for all the chapter members who’d finaled. I’d previously told her that no, I hadn’t, so I called her back and asked, “So, you bought those roses yet?”

3) How did your family react? (I’ve heard of children who said something like, “Gee mom, that’s great. What’s for dinner?”)

My husband was happy for me. My sister said, “Cool!”

4) Why did you enter this manuscript?

Both finaling manuscripts were complete at the deadline. ☺ Both were new entries for me, and I was hopeful that finaling would give them an extra little push toward possibly being bought.

5) To what do you owe your success? (copious amounts of chocolate, etc.)

Chocolate’s good, but I’d have to say hard work, perseverance even when it was really hard to keep going, and a very supportive husband.

6) In addition to practicing your Golden Heart acceptance speech, do you practice accepting any other major awards? (e.g.: An Oscar? A Grammy? A Nobel?)

I have to admit to fantasizing about the Oscar speech. I’m a big movie lover and would like to be an extra in a movie someday, preferably a big western.

7) In event you win, can we expect an exuberant, life-affirming acceptance speech (a la Roberto Benini’s Life is Beautiful speech), a tearful, endearing acceptance speech (a la Julia Robert’s Erin Brokovich speech) or a boring, politically-motivated speech (a la Micheal Moore accepting anything)?

Well, since I’ve actually done one of these and made people cry, I’d say the Julia Roberts type. It’s just so important to me to thank the people who support me in my writing, day in and day out, friends that I wouldn’t even have if not for writing.

8) If on Golden Heart night you could wear any Oscar dress that’s been seen on the red carpet, which one would it be?

The black-and-white vintage Valentino Julia Roberts wore when she won the Best Actress Oscar for Erin Brockavich. To see it: You can see it here.

9) If you could be escorted by a famous hunk to the Golden Heart award ceremony, who would it be?

Brad Pitt. Yes, I know he’s a bit on the outs because of the whole Jennifer-Angelina thing, but did you SEE him in Mr. and Mrs. Smith?



10) Is there a negative side to finaling?

The fact that there are so many talented writers out there, many of them friends, who didn’t. The day the calls go out to finalists is a mixture of elation (if you final) and sadness (for all the great writers who didn’t).

I did take a break to watch Lost last night, and watched Bones over my shoulder....but I've got nothing to blog about. So enjoy these!

"Stewardesses" is the longest word typed with only the left hand and "lollipop" with your right.

It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable. (I'll bet you're going to check this out.)

No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.

"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".   

Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.

The words 'racecar,' 'kayak' and 'level' are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left (palindromes).

There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous

There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: "abstemious" and "facetious."

TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.

All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill

A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.

A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.

A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.

A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.  Heyyy. who called me a goldfish???

 A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

 A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.

A snail can sleep for three years. 

Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.

 Almonds are a member of the peach family.

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.

 Butterflies taste with their feet.

 Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds. Dogs only have about 10.

February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.

 In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

 If the population of  China walked past you, in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.

If you are an average American, in your whole life, you will spend an average of 6 months waiting at red lights.

Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.

On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament building is an American flag.

Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite!

Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.

The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.

The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.

There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.

There are more chickens than people in the world. (Not after that sale at HEB)

There's no Betty Rubble in the Flintstones Chewables Vitamins.
          
Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.

Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks; otherwise it will digest itself.

SO as you know I'm revising Hot Shot again. Six years, folks. I started it in the summer of 2000, when the CO fires were so bad. I've written more stuff in between, but have come back to it at the urging of editors and now my agent. Some things about it make it not too bad - I know the characters really well. Other things slip away, like all the research I did. I'll read through it and think, "How do I know that?" Or if a CP tells me to go into more detail about something, I'll know I KNEW it, but I've forgotten and I don't know where to find it (maybe I should start making footnotes or something, but I don't remember how to do THAT either.) Other problems are that, since I've worked on it so long, I can't see it in a different way. It's hard to change things because in my head it's always been that way. I've been using a lot of cold readers this time.

This latest round is changing the heroine's motivation to make it less category. This advice was given to me on March 17. It took me almost as week to figure out how to change it (I mean, it's been the same motivation for six years.)

I've done 100 pages of revisions in 2 days, and all I can think is that I'm ruining the book. I'm not making it better. All this new stuff is stuck willy-nilly in my story.

So last night, exhausted at 9:30, I crawled into bed and started thinking. A couple of years back, my friend Karen went to a workshop where they were talking about motivation and you have to keep asking yourself WHY to get to the character's motivation.

So I started doing that last night, and wow, do I like the results.

Peyton is on the fire to show she's a committed reporter.

WHY?

She's never been committed to a job before, and her husband was so committed to his job that he died for it.

WHY has she never been committed?

When things got tough in a job, she just quit.

WHY?

She's never been good at anything, and her parents were good at everything. Her mother is a surgeon, her dad is a dr (I've been working on this story for 6 years and never thought to think about what her parents did. They will probably never show up in the story, and I may make one mention of her mother the surgeon, but it's good to know!)

EDITED TO ADD: OMG, DO YOU REALIZE WHAT THIS IS???? PARENTAL APPROVAL!!!!! DANG, I DON'T LOVE IT NEARLY AS MUCH AS I DID THIS MORNING.

Soooo, when Gabe pokes at her about being a reporter, he's poking at her own doubts about herself.

See? (If that really sucks, don't tell me. I'm happy.)




HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my buddy JoAnn!!

We hardly ever watch cable anymore. Time was, it was TNT, TBS, USA, all these other networks to fill in for what WASN'T on network TV. We always have had cable, since we were married. But now the Big Four have gotten so good, with such quality programming, I think we could live without cable (except Sci Fi - I might end up divorced if I tried to get rid of Sci Fi).

Sunday night used to be a no-TV night for me. THANKS, Grey's Anatomy.

Monday it's 24. OMG, did you see it last night? Do you believe Audrey?

Tuesday - when I'm not writing it's American Idol. Or DVDs.

Wednesday - I LOVE Wednesdays! Bones, Lost, Invasion to a lesser extent. I want to see Heist, too!

Thursday - Earl and Office.

Friday - nothing, usually.

Saturday - nothing.

Hey, you'd think I'd be getting more writing done, huh?

What do you watch? Could you live without cable?

Where do you get them and what do you do with them? I mean, when you can't get to them right away, but they're calling you.

I mostly get my ideas from dreams. That's where Surface came from, and my first book, and my "scary" book, a kind of a futuristic. Also my spy girl book that I will probably never get to write.

I get some from the news. That's where Hot Shot, Vanished, Heart of a Knight and Second Chances came from.

I get some from TV. My Antarctica book (saw something on the travel channel) and DLB (what happened to Jack Bauer after he faked his death) came from TV.

I have other ideas that are from movies, that I may eventually get to write when I escape revision hell. Others that are just what-if, like a type of job I think would be interesting to write.

Some, like the spy girl book, call to me. And writing on it is kind of a reward. If only I didn't need sleep....

The following are crappy movies with hunky guys. Do not waste your time or energy (or like I did, reward yourself after a hard day of writing) with any of these movies. (The pictures don’t match the movie because, well, I like GOOD pictures.)


1) Solaris with George Clooney. What the HELL was that movie about? Single handedly killed my crush.



2) The Musketeer. Singular. Alex from Grey’s Anatomy…with a mullet. Like that wasn’t bad enough. Just bad, bad, bad.



3) Shooters, The Cherry Orchard and Timeline with Gerry. He was in Shooters like, ten minutes and it was very…intense. The Cherry Orchard he was just goofy, and Timeline, well, the whole movie was running and hiding and getting caught, repeat. (That said, I do OWN the movie because he was just too cute.)



4) Swordfish with Hugh Jackman. Again, WHAT was that movie about? And he was so sweaty and icky.



5) Nick of Time with Johnny Depp. There’s a reason he’s not an action hero.



6) Chain Reaction with Keanu. Or the one where he’s a serial killer. Actually, pretty much just like him in Matrix, Speed and Replacements.


7) Some dumb Sci Fi movie called Sabertooth or something with Josh Holloway. Holy crapfest, Batman!



What movies can you add?

I'm a teacher, I can't help myself. I make tests.

Name the movie each quote came from.


1) “That’s some bad hat, Harry.” YAY, MICHELE GOT IT !!! JAWS!

2) “Are they heavy?”
“Yeah.”
“Then they’re expensive. Put them back.” CANDICE GOT THIS ONE - JURASSIC PARK!

3) “I coulda been at a barbecue!” LINDA GOT IT!!!! INDEPENDENCE DAY!!! ONE OF MY FAVORITE MOVIES!!

4) “I seriously think you should rethink the length of your sideburns.” BONNIE GOT THIS ONE - BRIDGET JONES

5) “There is a huge space between us and it keeps filling up with all the things we don’t say to each other.” Here’s another from the same movie. “Same old, same old. People need killin’.” MICHELE GOT THIS ONE - MR. AND MRS. SMITH

6) “I take a vitamin every day. It’s called a steak.” (This is a favorite quote around here.) MAYBE I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO'S SEEN THIS ONE - KICKING AND SCREAMING WITH WILL FARRELL.

7) “We die free or we die trying.”
“Are those the only choices?”
Another from the same movie: “I saw my whole life flash before my eyes…it was BORING!” YES! CHICKEN RUN! GOOD JOB, APRIL!

8) “I'm scared of everything. I'm scared of what I saw. I'm scared of what I did, of who I am. And most of all... I'm scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life, the way I feel when I'm with you.” MARIANNE GOT THIS ONE - DIRTY DANCING

9) “Where do these stairs go?”
“They go up.” CANDICE GOT THIS ONE - GHOSTBUSTERS

10) “Today I saw a slave become more powerful than the emperor of Rome.” MARIANNE GOT THIS ONE TOO -GLADIATOR

11) “You got to fire your big gun. Did it meet your expectations?”
“Overrated.” MICHELE GOT THIS ONE - LAKE PLACID. ONE OF MY FAVORITE GUILTY PLEASURES.

12) “There’s no crying in baseball!” MAIRANNE IS ON A ROLL - THIS ONE IS A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN

13) “Do you recognize him?”
“No, but he was young and vigorous. He was very vigorous, father.” MARIANNE GOT THIS ONE - THE MASK OF ZORRO

14) “Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.” YES!!! MATRIX!!! YAY, MICHELE!

15) "Gentlemen, congratulations. You're everything we've come to expect from years of government training." KRIS!!! GOT THIS ONE - MEN IN BLACK!

16) “It must be some life, seeing all those different places.”
“You should know... you've been writing from them for years.” MICHELE GOT THIS ONE - DEAR FRANKIE

17) “You’re laughing at me.”
“I'm laughing at the fact I used to find you charming.”
“I am charming.” MICHELE GOT THIS ONE, TOO, TOMB RAIDER 2!

18) “What's in this can?”
“That's for your breath. You could use it. Squirt some in your mouth.”
“Yeah, well that's mace, isn't it?” TRACY GOT THIS ONE - OUT OF SIGHT!

19) “Got any beer?”
“This is a school.”
“So that’s a no?” YES!!! CANDICE GOT THIS ONE - X MEN 2, CONVERSATION BETWEEN WOLVERINE AND BOBBY IN THE KITCHEN

20) “You don’t have to walk me home.”
“You block the wind.” MARIANNE GOT THIS ONE, WHICH I THOUGHT WAS PRETTY OBSCURE - WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

This is a clue to one of them!

Oh, my gosh, I am SO EXCITED! The Wet Noodle Posse is having a great finalling year in the RWA Rita and Golden Heart Awards!

We have eight finalists in the two awards, with eleven books (three of the Noodlers are double finalists). And here they are (drum roll):



2006 RITA for Best First Book Finalists


Show Her The Money by Stephanie Feagan (0373513542) Silhouette Books - Natashya Wilson, editor


Worth Every Risk by Dianna Love Snell (0-373-27426-2) Silhouette Books - Allison Lyons, editor



2006 RITA for Best Long Contemporary Romance Finalists

Worth Every Risk by Dianna Love Snell (0-373-27426-2) Silhouette Books - Allison Lyons, editor



2006 RITA for Best Regency Romance Finalists

A Reputable Rake by Diane Gaston (0263843912) Harlequin Mills & Boon Limited - Linda Fildew, editor



2006 RITA for Best Traditional Romance Finalists


Smart Boys & Fast Girls by Stephie Davis (843953985) Dorchester Publishing - Kate Seaver, editor


Who Needs Boys? by Stephie Davis (843953977) Dorchester Publishing - Kate Seaver, editor




2006 Golden Heart for Best Contemporary Single Title Romance Manuscript Finalists

Don’t Look Back by Mary Fechter



2006 Golden Heart for Best Paranormal Romance Manuscript Finalists

By the Book by Jennifer Smith



2006 Golden Heart for Best Romantic Suspense Manuscript Finalists

Fanning the Flames by Trish Milburn



2006 Golden Heart for Best Novel With Strong Romantic Elements Manuscript Finalists

Telling Lies by Esri Albritten

2006 Golden Heart for Best Young Adult Romance Manuscript Finalists

The Wishing Tree by Trish Milburn

Some of my non-Noodler friends finalled, too. Good friend Chris Fletcher finalled in Romantic Elements.

Two former SARAs, Julie Ortolon and Jen Holling are Rita finalists, one in ST and the other in paranormal.

Tawny Weber and Shane Bolks finalled with me in 2004 and finalled again, Tawny in the GH and Shane in the Rita!

And one of my favorite authors, Virginia Kantra finalled – that girl is consistent!

Golden Heart Finalists

I woke up this morning to find my tax refund check was deposited (in the nick of time, I might add - I got paid BEFORE Spring Break and won't get paid again till the end of the month) and that my electric bill was the cheapest it's been since we moved into this house.

Yay.

So keeping in the money theme, let's talk about advances. Not how much you'll get, but what you'll do with it. I know one friend bought a beautiful chaise lounge kinda thing so she can sit in it and do her revisions.

I will admit, part of my advance will go to something practical, like getting the house painted (I really REALLY hope I sell soon, because it needs it.) And probably to pay for the conference. And I promised my son I'd buy him a tube amp for being such a good sport. And my dh needs a new laptop. But what do I want, to signify the accomplishment? (And will there be anything left??)

Hm.

You'd think I'd have thought this through a little more ;)

Okay, I know. I want my patio redone. I know, it SOUNDS like home improvement, but if I had my patio redone, I'd get a limestone rock wall built around it, just high enough to sit on. I'd get a spot for the grill that wasn't unsightly. And I'd get the little flower bed on the end contained a little better. Then I could sit out there and enjoy it and that would be a good reward, right?

What will you do with your advance?



Good luck to everyone waiting to hear today!!!!

I was thinking this morning that the more a hero has to interact in society, the fewer base sexual thoughts his characters seems to have. He's had to subvert them to function. And the more a hero is on the fringe of society, the more animalistic his thoughts. Which may be why vampires et al are so popular in erotica - they haven't had to conform to society, so their thoughts are much more sexual in nature.

So, at this point I’m so sick of Hot Shot I never want to read it again. I certainly wouldn’t want to write a series based on the same characters or setting. (okay, if Emily called tomorrow and said someone would buy Hot Shot and a sequel, but that was the only deal, I might be able to force myself) But once I’m done with a story/setting/character, I’m ready to move on (sometimes BEFORE I’m done with the story/setting/character.) I have no interest in revisiting secondary characters. I guess I just don’t make them that compelling. And frankly, I have a hard enough time finding plot for ONE setting. Which is a shame considering the amount of research I do.

I know several writers who LOVE writing series, tying everything all together, but I’m not one. I don’t think I could come up with anything I could love for two or more books. Except maybe the archaeology book. I found so many different interesting places where archaeology could be a main factor.

I'd also be worried that I couldn't make the characters consistent, especially if I wrote other books between book one and book two.

So what about you? Series interest you? Or not so much?

*** This post was written by a writer stuck in revision hell since October 2005. All rights to change her mind at a later date are reserved.



Will this help keep your mind off what tomorrow is?

Two things inspired me to write this blog. One was reading about a writer feeling bad about feeling envious of a friend who just sold. Another was reading an email of another writer talking about how hard it is to be a published author.

I’m thinking these two situations can create a pub vs. unpub split. Not that it’s a rivalry, but I think there are differences that can’t be understood by the person on the other side.

The first situation I mentioned was actually one that I’ve been concerned about. I worry that when I sell, I will go off the wall, and I don’t want to inadvertently make another unpub feel bad by my enthusiasm. I’ve felt jealous at times, and so I might feel the need to dampen my enthusiasm out of concern for others. And I don’t feel that’s altogether fair, if you know what I mean. So I can kind of see a tendency of the newly published gravitating toward other published authors, who have been where they are and will probably be less likely to be jealous.

The other incident also made me think that pubbed writers stick together because really, unpubs don’t WANT to hear about the bad side of being published. And even if we do want to know, we don’t want to believe it’s THAT bad. But I know this writer, I’ve known her for a long time. I know if she says it’s rough, it is.

But after these two incidents, I can see why published writers tend to band together and distance themselves, even a little, from the unpubs.

Here’s George



But THIS guy has been in my dreams the past couple of nights.



Yes, Alex from Grey’s Anatomy. Why? Why? Why?

Writing sexual tension between the hero and heroine has been a challenge for me lately, and I think part of the problem is, dare I say it, I’m a bit old fashioned. Don’t get me wrong, my characters get along really REALLY well. But I have trouble with the lead in. I just don’t want my hero to be thinking about THAT all the time.

I know, I’ve heard, guys do think about it all the time. Maybe so. I live with two men, I have two brothers, this could be true. If it is, I DON’T WANT TO KNOW ABOUT IT. My dad told me this is true. MY DAD – yes, I’m scarred. Okay, admire her body, but for heavens sake, think about something else, too.

Del is the most sexual hero I’ve written, I think. He thinks Liv is hot, but he holds himself in check because, well, for one, they’re in the middle of the jungle and for another, she has a rough past and he is a rough guy and feels she deserves better. Doesn’t stop him from wanting her, but that he restrains himself makes him heroic to me. Did I mention I love Del?

I’ve read too many books where the sexual tension feels forced. Where you get the feeling the author was told, “You need to make it sexier.” And it just doesn’t ring true. Okay, maybe it is TRUE, but it doesn’t feel romantic. And more than knowing my hero lusts after my heroine, I want to know he loves her and respects her, too. How do you find a balance?

Double your pleasure today ;)



No, not THAT! I’m also blogging over GH mania over at Wet Noodle Posse today. Come stress with me.

Do you have a writing mentor, someone you can turn to with questions of writing, of publishing? One of the most helpful people in that regard, for me and several SARAs, has been Delores Fossen, multi-published with HQ Intrigue. When I joined SARA, she was going through what I’m going through now, the rejections, the revisions, the frustration. But now she’s had maybe a dozen books published and is extremely generous with her time and knowledge.

Several of the Wet Noodle Posse are the same. Published authors willing to read for each other, and the unpubs, sharing information, even passing on recommendations to agents.

Do you have a mentor, or a group you can turn to for help? Where do you go?

You’ll probably be seeing a lot of Clooney pics – these revisions are kicking my butt.

Soooo, I’m revising Hot Shot because it’s been rejected for being too category. So I’m digging deeper into my heroine’s motivation to make her conflict…more.

Bringing it up a notch – it’s what I’ve been doing since I signed with my agent. First with Hot Shot, making the ending as exciting as the beginning (I have a tendency to have two halves to a book). Then with DLB, making it sexier, more conflicted.

I know Donald Maass is famous for talking about bringing your book to the next level. I suppose I should go check out his book?

With Hot Shot, what I essentially did was rewrite the back half. With DLB, the way I’m doing it is going through scene by scene, line by line, to dig as deep as I can with each sentence. It’s exhausting, and I have to remind myself to stop when I get too tired or I won’t do the book justice.

Once I have the new ideas in place for Hot Shot, I’m going to do the same. It’s hard. As well as you think you know your characters, sometimes you don’t. And sometimes you know them too well and you realize your reader may not know why the characters are doing what they’re doing.

It looks like this will be the year of revisions – Beneath the Surface after this, then Vanished. All of which need to be tilled and mined for the best story I can tell.

How do you bring your writing to the next level?