I’m feeling a little bittersweet about this being the last day of the Write or Die month. I haven’t managed to reach my goal. 
But I have accomplished more than I’d expected. I have 15 pages to go before I have a completed partial in my contemporary. I may try to get a little closer before midnight. I’m now sitting at 64 pages on my paranormal, so it’s coming along nicely. I still have a few more changes to make to it, but I’ll do that after I reach my desired page count.
Tonight is my local romance writer’s meeting, so the next few hours are a writing bust for me. I have to fix some dinner and get ready to head out the door.
I hope everyone who participated this month is successful in reaching their goals. I’ve decided to continue because I’ve made such good progress. I was shooting for a 90 page partial and ended up with 139 written so far this month. With any luck I’ll have two partials completed by the end of next week. 
On a separate note, I was notified by Ebook Eros that they have started carrying my books. To celebrate this fact, they are offering a 20% off coupon through 1/31/05 on all my books. To receive the discount all you have to do is key in the following code, summers05, at checkout. Happy shopping!
Archive for November, 2004
Well we’re down to the last two days of the Write or Die month. I think I’ve slipped and fell into the latter category, since there’s little chance of me meeting my monthly goal.:-/
I’m bothered by this, but there’s not much I can do. I had to go back and fix a couple of things in both manuscripts in order to continue forward. I’m going to write as much as I can. With any luck, I’ll miss my goal by ten pages, which isn’t too bad.
I’m having one of those days where I truly realize how blessed and grateful I am to have the people I have in my life. I know it sounds sappy, but I have some of the best friends and family surrounding me. I only wish everyone could be so fortunate.
That pretty much describes my writing progress this week. I’m trying to figure out what I can work on so that the week isn’t a total loss. I guess on a positive note, I’ve gone through my manuscripts and fixed the problems. (Okay, I hope I have anyway.) I’m going to read through them and see for sure, then continue writing.
My local romance writer’s chapter is bringing in Sherrilyn Kenyon to speak this week on writing multi-genres. Boy, that talk couldn’t come at a better time.
As you may or may not have gathered from my blog, I’ve been working on two new manuscripts this month. One is a paranormal story and the other is a humorous contemporary. I personally think they’re good stories, both enjoyable to read.
Yesterday I gave the paranormal to my dh to read. (He has excellent suggestions and is a wonderful storyteller.) He informed me that my paranormal isn’t really a romance. To say I was shocked is an understatement. I think the shock came from him revealing what I had been thinking, but was too afraid to admit.
This is why ‘boxes’ came to mind. We all tend to place ourselves in certain boxes. One of the boxes I put myself in is the ‘romance writer’ box. That’s what I like to read and that’s what I like to write. But this latest story has me wondering if I’ve been limiting myself. Is the reason I’m fighting this non-romance book because of my preconceived notions about myself? My abilities? Sadly, I think the answer is yes. My knee jerk reaction is to say it HAS to be a romance. If it’s not a romance, then where does that leave me as a romance writer?
Perhaps it’s time to not only think outside the box, but to step outside of it too. It’s a scary world out there. Gulp. But here it goes.
I wanted to send out warm wishes to my American brethren on this lovely Thanksgiving Day! Greetings to Bosnia and Australia where my family and friends reside. Thank you Sylvia Day and Beth Ciotta for the lovely Thanksgiving cards. I’m grateful to everyone who has sent warm wishes. (You know who you are. My wish is that you all receive them back tenfold. Happy Thanksgiving!
Dh and I spent the afternoon wandering through IKEA. It’s been a long time since we’ve been inside one of their stores. Boy have things changed. We found a ton of ideas that would work in a new home. It’s always fun when that happens.
Due to the shopping diversion, I didn’t manage to get anything written today, but I endeavor to make up for it tomorrow. I’d still like to reach 80 pages in the contemporary by Friday. I hope everyone is having similar success. I look forward to hearing all about it after we stuff ourselves with food on Thursday. Gobble, Gobble.
Had a really good writing day today. Wrote a scene that may or may not address the concerns of my wonderful critique partner. I really appreciate all the feedback I received from everyone. I also wrote several more pages in my contemporary. I’m up to page 62, so it’s cruising along. I don’t know how much I’ll get written tomorrow, but I figure I only have about 18 more pages to go with that story before I have a partial done. Yippee! Yahoo! Now if I can just come through with the paranormal I’ll be in business.
I sent off my paranormal romance to my critique partner and she returned with feedback. Yeah! I trust her judgement, so I’m a little worried. She loves the story and the heroine, but is concerned about the hero appearing so late. We don’t hear mention of him until chapter two (page 31). He doesn’t actually appear until page 35. Do you think that’s too late? Are there any hard and fast rules about when the hero should show up? I know there are in category books, but what about single title? I’m trying to figure out a way of bringing him in earlier, but I don’t know if it’s going to be possible. There’s a lot happening in chapter one.
It was a beautiful day today. Managed to make my way to the pool and actually do some writing longhand. Writing things out definitely uses a different muscle in the brain than when I’m typing a story. I did reach my page goals for the week and then some. I’m a little over halfway to a partial on the contemporary and sitting at the halfway point in the paranormal. I need to get fifty to sixty more pages written in order to meet my Write or Die month goal. No matter what happens, I’m pleased with the progress that I’ve made.
Tomorrow dh and I are going to go see National Treasure. We’re looking forward to seeing an action adventure just for fun flick. I’ll let you know how it is tomorrow.
