I work in a building that houses a warehouse. Our offices are in the front of the building and we have very little interaction with the people in the back most days. There’s only two people who work back there, one is a cankerous elderly man who I get total hoot out of, he’s very old school in some of his ways but in others he’s just downright male. Then there is a young guy, maybe out of high school a year or two, he’s new, replacing the last one a month ago. That job never carries someone more than a year or two at most.

Well this new guy I didn’t even know his name until I had to write his cheek a week ago. He doesn’t speak unless he has too and I’ve discovered he has another strange compulsion. He replaces the bags in the trashcans every time there is something in them. Seriously. I mean yesterday we ate Subway in the front office and no sooner had we finished eating, he was there changing the bags. Today? I had a sandwich from home I ate it on a paper plate with some fruit, tossed it in the garbage can and next time I went to get water the bag had been changed. He eats his lunch outside, so he must toss his ‘food garbage’ into the dumpster. I had to make copies last week and some didn’t come out right, so I chucked the crumpled pages in the trashcan, same thing, it was changed immediately, so it’s not just food he’s getting rid of oh and he’s always fooling with the coffee pot and he always talks with his cell phone on speaker and it makes me nuts because it carries all over the warehouse.

Okay, I feel better now J

12,250 / 60,000 (20.4%)

A reminder to Thank all those who serve, have served and will serve our country.

Another note... Sven, I made it through day one (with 5 pages) and even wrote one page this morning. Oh and uh, I've chosen to take the whole sweating thing literally and started back on an exercise routine yesterday too. I figure I'll need the extra strength to make my word count :)

1)      S&M In the Morning

2)      Shepard Stein, Radio DJ

3)      Lucy, Bakery Owner

4)      New Orleans

5)      90-95K – need 65K

Today I'm doing a little prep work getting ready for daily writing again I'm going for 5 pages a day which should get me the 65K in the 77 days! Keeping my fingers crossed and putting my faith in this WIP through the end of the year. I want it finished. At that point, I will make up my mind where to put my focus. Once this is finshed I can take some time and polish up it and my last WIP and get back to the very serious business of queries and submissions.

Making list, staying focused and reaching goals. It’s already November. It’s so hard to believe how fast time seems to fly at different periods of your life. Lately I find it amazing how much the little one now knows. Sure we read to her and she goes to a daycare that has a fantastic pre-school program, but it seems she’s all of a sudden a font of information. And at time a very opinioned font… like with her Christmas list.

Make list is about the only way I can stay focused on what needs to be done, and when. I have lots of goals to reach before the end of 2008. I think I’ll be doing the 77 days of sweat with Sven even though I haven’t actually registered, hey I have until 11/10 to do that. I chose not to do http://www.nanowrimo.org/ because I need more focus and plan to do some editing along the way besides, I’ve never done nano and it just doesn’t seem like the right fit for me right now. I want to finish my current WIP because I believe it is something I could successfully query and I want it ready to go for the beginning of the year.

Other list… well my brother is getting married at the end of December. Weddings take some planning and well my SIL to be is a full-time student and works and is currently applying to pharmacy school on top of that. And her mother speaks very little English and is out of town. My brother works full time and well, he’s a guy. So I think I sort of volunteered to help over the weekend and of course I’m happy to do what I can since I’m very excited for both of them and look forward to having a new member in our family. The wedding is December 28 and that is really close. It’s taking place at a local (okay not exactly local, 1 ½ hour away) castle where lots of the little details are being handled by the venue, so that certainly helps.

Happy Monday. Happy November!

This is the little one this morning for pre-school, she was very excited about being a "RED BAT" at least that's what she's calling it... I gave her the choice between princess, angel or uh, red ummmm.... bat :)

She was very excited because she LET me take her picture... below is what usually happens when I TRY to take her picture:

The oldest plans to be her "Pops" (my FIL) for Halloween, but we won't see her as an old man until tonight - but since little bit let me take her picture I had to share :0

Happy Halloween!

Me, The Male Model (sorry, don't remember his name, Jason maybe? seriously, who would?) My friend Jo, and the ever lovely Cynthia Eden 

This was taken at Muriel's, it was part of Heather Graham's Writers for New Orleans Conference (that Gustav interrupted!). It was the Friday night event hosted by Helen Rosburg. It was a super fun event... and okay a little on the spooky side. I mean there was a table set up when you walk in for their resident ghost and umm... this picture was taken in the séance room (really good thing I didn't know this until after ;P We just got the picture a couple of a days ago and I figured it would make a nice pre-Halloween post and besides I just posted about Cynthia's Spellbound from Everlasting Bad Boys - you've got to love a bad boy!

We are well into the forth quarter of the year. I tend to break the year down into quarters because when my husband was in business for himself I did his bookwork. I have keep up the habit but now it’s more a way to look back each quarter and see what I accomplished. In January I said 2008 was going to be my year of determination writing wise. It’s been a whole lot harder than I ever thought to remain focused, but I feel like I’m doing pretty okay. Honestly I needed the focus this year, it’s been good for me. And I do feel like I have made some headway. I might not be where I want to be – yet, but at least I know what I have done and what I have not done to help accomplish that goal.

Saturday I drove with my writing friend, Jo, to the SOLA meeting (Southern Louisiana Chapter of RWA, New Orleans group). Jo was scheduled to speak. Like me she works full time, she works for an accounting office, group of CPAs to be exact. So she’s the queen of spreadsheets and she’s devised a spreadsheet plotting system, so that was her topic. She did a good presentation and made it into a hands on workshop – my favorite kind J

I’m not a plotter. I’m write by the seat of my pants for the most part, but the more I write the more I’ve come to realize I plot, it’s just by the seat of my pants too. I gleamed a few things from Jo’s workshop, as did everyone in attendance. It’s was a very nice way to spend my Saturday! I hope everyone had a great weekend. Happy Monday!  

Today I am celebrating my dad. I thought these were a few neat pictures. My oldest daughter and I pulled pictures and created a memorial photo arrangement. It started as a way for her to get through the emotional turmoil during the days leading up to the funeral, but it turned out very therapeutic for her and me and for everyone who looked had a chance to see the pictures. As we pulled photos I found it interesting that my dad tended to have the same pose with me as a baby and then again with each of my girls.

With me 1970ish <g>

With my oldest 1997

With the little one 2008

It’s been a year and I miss him dearly. I find myself reaching for the phone to call and tell him something that going on or to just hear his voice. Then it hits me that I can’t do that anymore. But I know he is a good place and I’m the one who’s dealing missing him. I love you, Daddy.

Okay this a book I have been dying to read since Ms. Maya fist started giving little teasers about it, so when I got to read the ARC I was thrilled. In my last post in mentioned her book, Stay With Me and the uniqueness and how I truly enjoyed it. Well that is one of the reasons I wanted to read Be With Me. If she could do with two heroes could she really do it with THREE? Some of it is perverse curiosity on my part. I read a lot of books, over lots of genres including erotic romance and erotica, but I think I’ve said before, what really truly makes or breaks a book for me is the realness. And honestly there are a lot of books in both these genres that just don’t have anything close to realness when it comes to feelings and emotion connection between the characters and sometimes that’s fine and dandy and I even enjoy some of those books. But those books won’t turn those authors into auto-buys for me. And yes I read to escape and for the fantasy and for relaxation. Hell no I wouldn’t want to put up with three freaking men on a daily basis, jeezums, the laundry along makes me shutter. BUT I wanted to see if Maya could make it REAL for Reggie and her guys. And boy oh boy oh boy did she ever. Maya seriously rocks as a writer in my humble opinion, she is an auto-buy and her unique stories fascinate me as a reader and as a writer.

Review of Be With Me, by Maya Banks

When smart mouthed cop Regina “Reggie” Fallon’s life is endangered her three best friends show up and demand she let them take care of her. Cam, Sawyer and Hutch are not only her best friends, they are men she’s been running from for a year. An erotic night with them overwhelmed her and she’s been avoiding them since.

Reggie had a stiff and formal childhood with wealthy disinterested parents. The men who were once lost orphans ended up growing up as brothers with Birdie, a wonderful mother figure to them all. The unique bond of friendship between Reggie, Cam, Sawyer and Hutch is obvious.

Reggie knows she can’t fight them, nor does she want to any more, especially not with a loon on the loose. She moves in with the men for the time being, but as the plot unfolds with more threats and twists and turns she’s determined to stay with the men as a means of protecting them.

All the while the romantic relationship that as a reader you can feel pulsing from the pages starts to unfold. The unique bond between the men and the love they each feel for Reggie is palatable. Each man is totally different and genuine hero material. Cam is strong and steady. He sets the pace and keeps the peace all in an effort to allow them the love each of them craves. Sawyer is the ranging bull - take me or leave me, what you see is what you get man who doesn’t quite know how to say what he needs to until given an ultimatum. Hutch is sweet and loveable, but when ghosts from the past haunt him he snaps.

Maya continues to take the reader on through surprising plot twist and unique elements that give the reader enough to make you want to read faster just to find out what will happen next and how Reggie, Cam, Sawyer and Hutch came overcome it together!

I found the write-minded reader group when Jaci Burton officially closed her reader’s loop. I had been on that loop since the beginning, though I didn’t participate much. But I knew it when it was ending I wanted to keep up with Jaci, so I figured I’d check out write-minded. I’ve known Jaci since way back, pre-published days (gasp) which seems impossible considering all the kick-ass books she’s put out over the years.

I figured any group of writers she was involved with had to be good so I signed up and lurked. I started reading snip-its and excerpts and of course started buying books by new to me authors. I will admit I sometimes buy books I never plan to read, I just buy them to support writers. I did that with one of the WW authors. It started out that way, it really wasn’t something I planned to read in the beginning, but now I can say it opened a whole different reading world for me. I have sung the praises of Larissa Ione before and I’m sure I will again, reading Pleasure Unbound, took me out of my comfort zone reading wise. I knew it would but something about Larissa’s voice pulled me kicking and screaming into the story and the world she’s created. I cannot wait for the next books in this series to come out.

I had read Stephanie Tyler and Amy Knupp’s books prior to joining WW since I tend to read HQ Super’s and Blazes fairly often. They both have unique voices and have both created some great reads I’ve truly enjoyed. Sydney Croft is the writing team of Larissa Ione and Stephanie Tyler; I have a couple of the Croft books in my TBR stash and already know I will love them.

That brings me to Maya Banks, well she writes super sexy contemporary stuff (yes my true love) so buying her books didn’t take any thought it was just picking where to start. Since I have no concerns about reading series in order I just picked one and read it and found that she was able to do something no other author I had read before could do. First and foremost reading is an escape, a fantasy, something to take my mind off of everyday life. Secondly, my absolute favorite reads are ones that feel ‘real’ I cannot explain this further I don’t know how. I know that I have discussed this with other readers and writers and have disagreed with many about this. Some readers don’t want that ‘real’ feeling and some do. For me it makes or breaks a story. I think that is why I favor contemporary or historical romances over any other genre. Back to Maya, she is the first author ever to make a polyamorous relationship seem real and convincible for the characters involved. That was her book, Stay with Me. So when I read the blurbette of Be With Me – Three Men, One Woman, so much closer than just Friends. I knew I had to see if she could do it again. More on that in the next post J

Recently I was reading a book (surprise) I’ll call it Book A. Depending on what is going on around me I’m a pretty fast reader, I had been reading this book on and off for maybe two days. I was about 300 pages into it. Well I got another book (Book B) during the work day that was I very anxious to read so I pretty much decided I would go home, do what needed to be done and settle in to finish Book A so I could jump right into Book B.

Well I’m happily reading a long page 320 and there is a pretty major plot point, joy, happiness, excitement (yeah, feel good stuff). Next page discussing the funeral of joy, happiness, feel good stuff moment. POV had changed, there were 3 in the story so I had no reason to question it until the joy from the previous page was shattered. I look up, start flipping pages and generally freak out. Right page 320, Left page 353. OMG. I was devastated. I’d just invested 320 pages into a book and had no clue what HAPPENED! Maybe it had only been a couple of hours of my life but again, it didn’t matter I was devastated. Completely utterly horrified.

I got the book new from Sam’s Club, it’s a HQN copyright is 2006. My TBR mountainous range is huge, I don’t know when I bought it, only know it had a Sam’s sticker on it. Returning it for exchange was not an option. If you read this blog (and I sometimes wonder if anyone does) you know I have issues with ebooks. I buy the ones I must have (friends, favorite authors – who are sometimes one in the same) otherwise I am a complete ebook dork. So I go look for the ebook so I can finish this book. Well I did, but I personally couldn’t find it – ebook dork again, but a wonderful person on a readers loop I am on (because I freaked out and had to complain vocally and immediately before I imploded when this happened) found it in e-book format online and gave me a direct link – which is the ONLY way I would have been able to get to it, because my efforts only came up with a Kindle version – which Kindle’s are looking better everyday to me.

My question is how far would you go? I bought the book once. I could have ordered it from Amazon or Eharlequin and gotten it in a few days for about the same price I’ve paid for it once. Or I could have ordered the ebook for even more than I paid originally. Or I did find it on paperbackswap.com – which signed up for a long time ago and have used exactly once. Or I could see if the library has it. What would you do???

I went the library route because one I pass daily happened to have it on the shelf and sorry but I’ve vested time and energy into the story and I had to know the rest of the story! Oh and I did email the author because, again if you read this blog, you know I hope to be published one day and well I KNOW it is not her fault, but I was really enjoying the book and wham, bam my joy got squashed. If and when I am published I would really want to know if a reader came across a misprinted book, sure there is nothing she can do or that I expect her to do but I would want to know. Would you???

I recently read a blog post from an agent about the stages agents go through. She broke it down in a way that made a light bulb click in my mind. I’ve queried about fifteen agents within the past six months. I have gotten a fair number of requests out of the queries and the response I have gotten has been positive, but no offers of representation, yet - must keep that positive note there. The resounding comment I have gotten from agents is they just don’t think they could sell what I’m querying in this ‘full market’. In some ways I could pass this off as a nice form of rejection, but since I had a conversation with a NY editor recently who basically told me the same thing I tend to believe what they are saying. Also after reading the blog post it is very clear to me, that I have been targeting mid to late career agents, so in some little way her post actually makes me feel a little better about the ‘passes’. Why? I’m not completely sure. Maybe it has to do with the fact I have gotten so many that say the same thing, good/great voice, competent author, etc. A couple had writing compliments but just didn’t ‘love’ or ‘fall in love with’ the plot for my query project. I’m branching out… I have found a beta reader, who’s general reading opinion I value, so I am taking a step to see what might make the plot stronger, of course, there is always the next project J

The question in my mind has become, what do I do now? Or what do I do next? I think for now I choose to stew on this, I still have some queries/request out. I have a beta reader for a general opinion and I have a wip that I could work on, but for now I started something completely and totally different, something I have wanted to so for a very long time, so I plan to focus on it for the next month and see what happens next.

The little one took pictures at pre-school on Tuesday. The amazing thing is she actually let them take her picture, course they aren’t exactly ‘happy’ pictures, but I plan to buy them since they are the first semi-professional (school pics!) pictures that have been made of her since she was six months olds. At least you can see her face in these, the ones in between consist of tears, hands covering the face, tears, or a blur – as she exits the backdrop. Mostly I want proof when she older of WHY there are no pictures of her at certain ages! The oldest took school pictures Wednesday. She got up an hour early to straighten each gorgeous curl out of her hair and otherwise made herself ready for the said picture event. Those I’m sure will be just as beautiful as the others.

Picture day for the little one started with her three-year-old self-trying to skip school because she just knew those picture-taking people were going to be there. I got up early and took her to school earlier than normal – because leaving her after those picture taking people where there would have been nearly impossible. Picture day for the oldest started with excitement, oldest has always been a picture-taking princess. Little one, not so much, ever.

Picture taking attitudes are only the tip of the differences between my two girls. They are night and day, light and dark, and so on and so forth. One is a blue-eyed blonde, one a brown-eyed brunette. One has a few freckles, one has an olive completion. One sleeps, one does not. One eats, one does not (okay, just really picky!). One is agreeable, one is not. And on and on. My pregnancies could not have been more different. One was easy, one was hell. Births, ditto, both c-sections, but night and day difference in recovery, etc.

We have been blessed by both girls, but each day is an adventure. Friends of the oldest say our house/family is better than cable, and considering our lack of TV viewing most days I’d have to agree.

I bought this at the HeartLA Readers Luncheon. I’m only about ½ through with it, but man, I plan to go back and pick up her two earlier books. I do not normally read this type of non-fiction book but I enjoy hearing Hollis Gillespie speak and just knew I would enjoy the book. I was right, it’s different and fun. You should give it a try!

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/102-1460424-0111317?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Trailer-Trashed-Dubious-Efforts-Mobility&x=1&y=16

I have a love hate relationship with ebooks and it’s only because I don’t own a fancy smacy ebook reader. And I work on a computer all day most days and my eyes can only take so much, but I picked this up yesterday. But I love Shannon’s writing! I highly recommend this awesome read. It’s a Western, it’s fun, the characters are intriguing and multi-layered and the opening will draw you right in! I highly recommend you pick up a copy today. More details at Shannon Stacey's website.

http://www.mybookstoreandmore.com/shop/product.da/becoming-miss-becky

I recently read this book. It is not something I would normally read, but I have such admiration for Larissa I just had to read it. Besides, she kept teasing readers with excerpts and something about the characters just totally drew me in. I bought thinking I was buying it just a means to support another writer. I mean I picked it up and put in my TBR mountain, but something about it kept drawing me back to it. I finally gave in and opened it thinking I would read a couple of pages. Well a couple of pages turned into a reading binge where I spent every spare second for the next two days devouring it. Another book you should run out and buy! More details at Larissa Ione's website.

http://www.amazon.com/Pleasure-Unbound-Demonica-Book-1/dp/044640103X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222274292&sr=1-1

Recently I cleared some of my books and tried to do some organizing. I can’t say I did a great job, just made it somewhat easier for me to find what I want to read. I have lots of books in my TBR but I know myself and have figured out I get behind if I don’t buy books I want when they come out. Some I devour as soon as they reach my hands, others I put to the side to read later and honestly there is no difference in the way I feel about the books it’s just a timing and life thing I guess. As you can tell from the books I mentioned I’ve not only added to my collection lately I’ve read some really good books, over a variety of topics. I’m sure I’ll post a few more recommends in the coming weeks since I have so many new books thanks to the readers luncheon and other recent events!

Ever have that feeling – of I’m really glad it’s over? Well that’s where I am right now. I truly enjoyed the HeartLA Readers Luncheon, but am really glad it’s over. The event was Saturday. It was very nice, went very smooth and was an overall success.

Due to extenuating circumstances I wasn’t able to attend the first annual event, last year. I had participated in planning of the event, but bailed out near the end for very good reasons. And quite honestly I had not planned to be very involved this year for other reasons. But I’m a sucker when it comes to helping out and well I can become militant in organizing and motivating and moving things along and apparently that doesn’t offend everyone. So… I paid my dues to my local RWA chapter and did what was asked.