Almost done

Woohooooo! I'm almost done with Family Jewels... wow! For the longest time I had a mental block on the last action scenes. It came to me a few days ago, and I got it written lickity-split. My crit-buddy, Barbara Karmazin, got to read it first and really liked it, too. Not nearly as many red "chainsaw" marks as I expected either. ;o)

So, now to tidy up the loose ends with a final chapter. I have a few ideas, just need to mull them over and decide which angle feels best.

Congrats to buddy Tyler Blackwood on finishing her paranormal story, Riana Unveiled! This is one I started critting/reading for her a while ago and couldn't wait for her to finish!!! It should be awesome.

It just occured to me that I should exchange blog links with some of my author friends and crit partners... I've been keeping to myself too long. Now that Family Jewels is just about done, I have to consider the old promotion thing again and get myself out in front & center.

aargh....

Lunch Date

Wednesday, Oct. 26. Weather: sunny, cool, breezy

Hey, two days in a row? Wow, I'm getting better at this. But I'm still skeptical that I'll be able to keep up a daily journal...er, blog.

Today I'm meeting my old friends from work. Yeah, I hated the job, but I had people there I really liked and we've stayed in touch. We're all meeting at a local Chinese buffet - YUM. Can't wait to see them again. One of the girls in my circle from ex-job knows that I write romantica, and I've given her a sample of my work - two chapters of Shadow Fire, my paranormal/werecougar story. I was a bit nervous about her reading it, because she has a major in English. She pretty much tore apart the very first story I tried out, 4 years ago. But, I'm very happy to report that her response to this story was "WOW!! This story Rocks, girlfriend! When can I read the rest of it??" [yaaaaaay for me!] I might consider letting her into my group of crit partners - she'd be really good at it, and it's a way for us to stay in touch even more. :o)

So, I have to go shower and dress now, figure out what to do with my hair - which needs cutting badly. It's grown down to the middle of my back and is way too heavy for a ponytail without giving me a headache. Unfortunately hubby is liking the long locks... ugh.

I was fairly productive yesterday and wrote one of the last two chapters of Family Jewels, my contemporary suspense. If I can figure out the last action scene either today, or tomorrow, I could be typing "The End" on that one sooner than I thought! Yihawwwwwwww!

I'm retired and I'm BACK!

Tuesday, Oct. 25 - Weather: cool, windy, rain predicted.

1 1/2 months since I "retired" from my day job on Sept 9. Hardly seems that long ago. The days just melt into one another now. Although I'm really too young to officially retire, it sure feels GREAT not to have to get up every morning and fight traffic to do a job I hated. And then fight my way home, fix a meal, spend time with my dogs and horses, maybe the hubby(*G*) and fall into bed again. I always felt like I was trying to catch up with myself and never quite got there. Can't imagine how people with active kids do it! But, the stress is GONE now, thank you thank you. I'm forever grateful for my hubby, who took a new, better paying job so I could stay home - and WRITE.

Took me this long to get into a daily routine where I partitioned my days to include writing. I admit I felt a bit lost the first month off, not sure how to get into a 'groove' to be home and be productive at the same time. I kept finding other things to do...like baking, something I love to do, but never really had a lot of time for. Think I've got that out of my system now, and fortunately haven't gained any weight because of it. **G**

So, what have I accomplished so far? Not much, sorry to say. I've read thru the 4 stories that I have in various states of completion and did some editing on each. I think I've set my goals on finishing my novella first, Heaven's Warrior. Because it's only 35k words I feel it has more of the instant gratification factor. Both my paranormal, Shadow Fire, and my SciFi, Rogan's Quest, have major plot issues that need reworking before I finish them. And then there's the contemporary suspense, Family Jewels, it just needs the ending - but I'm hanging on to it for some stupid reason.

I'll try to be more diligent about keeping up the Muse. Technically I have the time to do that now, but I've never been one to keep a schedule without resenting it - so we'll see. ;o)