Bad News

Well, here I am, finally updating. I wonder if anyone even remembers me these days? I'm such a terrible blogger, it isn't even funny. But I've been busy with real life stuff - both writing and non-writing related, so unfortunately, something had to give. And since it seemed like I'd blogged about everything I could think of, guess what got sacrificed?

Anyway, I'm back for now and unfortunately, I'm the bearer of bad news. Last Friday, I woke to an email from Musa Publishing. It seems they are closing their doors as of February 28, 2015. And just like that, I've got orphaned books.

Six orphaned books, to be exactly.

The four books in my McKenzie Brothers series and the two in my Mordainia series are now homeless. Damn it.

Now, I'll admit, they didn't earn me a fortune, but the royalties were a nice little bonus every month. But more importantly, it just makes me sad that they will no longer be out there. I've received quite a few good reviews on them, and frankly, I'm very proud of them. They are--in my humble opinion, of course--good stories. And I've grown quite fond of both the McKenzie family and the Mordianian royal family.

So, I don't really know what my next step will be. I will have the rights returned to me free and clear as of the end of the month. I'm considering self-publishing them, since they've been edited and the only changes I want to make to them are very small. But I don't know yet. We'll see. One day at a time and all that and I have a ton of research to do before I make a decision.

But, considering I believe that every time a door shuts, another one opens, I"m trying to look at this as a positive thing. Trying. I was lucky when this happened with Aspen Mountain Press. Musa scooped up my three orphaned McKenzie Brothers books (The Pursuit, Playing With Fire, and A Perfect Lady) and gave them a home. This time around, I don't know what will happen. We'll see.

There is quite a long thread over on the Absolute Write Water Cooler forums regarding Musa--both the good and the bad--and I have to admit, I've had my ups and down with Musa, I was always paid on time, but there were issues with what seemed to be a long list of revolving editors. But over all, mine was a good experience and I don't regret it. What I do regret is that it's ending this way. And I wish they'd given more than a week's notice. But what's done is done. All I can do is look to the future now.

We'll see what happens.

Cover Love ~ Windemere

Yay! I can haz cover nao?

Here is the final cover for Windemere and I LOVE it. I think it totally captures the darker tones of Julian and Emma's story...

Seriously, this is probably my favorite of my Musa covers, and I'm giving Kelly Shorten all the props in the world because she did an excellent job (as always.)

It's hard to believe this book will be out in just a few weeks. What a stressful project it turned out to be, considering how tight the deadline was for writing it. And to celebrate its release, along with Musa's birthday, I'll be taking part in the Musa Blog Hop, with some copies of Windemere, and a few other of my Musa titles, up for grabs as prizes.

A Bit of This and That

The autumn is absolutely my favorite time of the year. The kids are back in school - and now that the Boy is in first grade, that means full day. For the first time in twelve years, my days belong only to me. Yay! More time to write.

Except that I've just finished the edits on Windemere and considering the pressure that came with that book, I need a little bit of a break before beginning anything new. I've never written anything on as tight a deadline as that book and although I tend to write my best under pressure (my editor joked that I should write every book that way. I think I'd have a stroke if I did. :D) it's not something I care to repeat any time soon.

I should have some cover love to share fairly soon and of course, Musa's birthday coming up, there will be a blog hop and some prizes and all that. And with any luck, I'll have more good news to share. Keep your fingers crossed.

But back to autumn being my favorite time of the year. This past summer was so hot and so muggy and so god-awful, that this autumn is like a gift. I love being able to open the windows and let in the fresh air. Especially after a summer of AC. Don't get me wrong, I think the inventor of central air should be canonized, but there's something wonderful about fresh, cool crisp, fall air. I swap out my summer candles (Yankee Candle is my home away from home, I have a candle for every season) for the autumn ones (Spiced Pumpkin left from last autumn.)

In my house, the master bedroom is on the top floor, which means it's always the hottest room in the house. During the summer, the ceiling fan runs nonstop (shut off only when we go away) and even then, it's still only barely comfortable. But now, I actually need a blanket and there's nothing quite like waking up on a chilly Saturday morning and being able to snuggle under the cozy covers. :D

October is my favorite month - my son was born in October and, of course, Halloween is here, which marks the beginning of the Holiday season as far as I'm concerned. But October is also the same month we moved into our house (which I love) and when the leaves start to change, my backyard is just the most beautiful mosaic of reds, yellows, golds, and oranges.

Right now, I've got chili simmering in the crockpot (the kidlets are off from school for Rosh Hashanah) and that's another plus about the autumn. I love to cook and bake and this is the perfect time of the year for that. I baked an apple pie yesterday. So you can imagine how delish my house smells right about now. :D  

It the Summer REALLY Almost Over?

O hai.

I know I've been MIA the last few weeks, but between revisions for Windemere and my family vacation, I've spent precious little time on anything else. I'm happy to say that after those edits (which included rewriting the entire last third of the book that required a fourteen hour writing session at one point) the rest of them should be smooth sailing. My editor was thrilled with the new ending and I'm thrilled that she's thrilled because I really don't know if I could pull off another 14 hour write-fest. Thank God for my husband, who took the kids down the shore that weekend, which gave me a writing block of three uninterrupted days. He was a godsend during this book's revisions. An absolute godsend.

And, yes - we did a family vacation - a 9 day cruise to the Caribbean to celebrate my inlaws upcoming 50th wedding anniversary. Fifty years and they haven't killed each other (or anyone else, for that matter.) It's amazing to think of being married to one person for that long. My husband and I just celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary in June and it isn't easy, that's for sure. I'd have killed me long ago, I'm such a pain in the ass to live with. :D

But this cruise was absolutely wonderful. It was my inlaws, my husband's brother, his sister, our nephew and the Boy and the Girl (4 people in one stateroom for 9 days is a bit too much togetherness, but we survived without too much incident.) We left from Port Liberty, Bayonne (I didn't even know cruise ships went out of Bayonne until this trip) and visited Bermuda, St. Maarten, Puerto Rico, and Haiti and it was probably the best vacation I've ever had. The Boy and I played on pink sand at Horseshoe Bay on Bermuda while my husband and the Girl swam with dolphins. We all went snorkeling in St. Maarten. We walked all over Old San Juan, and the hubs and I zip-lined in Haiti. A-MAY-ZING.

A few pictures that I took:

Cast-off Party on deck as we approached the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge sailing out of Bayonne, NJ

A scenic spot along the road in Bermuda

An elephant made of towels, left by our stateroom attendant one night. :D

St. Maarten, on the way back from snorkeling. No picture I took could possibly capture just how beautiful this island is

El Morro Fort - San Juan, Puerto Rico. Well, part of it, anyway.

Labadee, Haiti

Sunrise over New York City as we returned home...

Sunrise over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge as we returned to Bayonne

But now I'm back in NJ and I returned to find Windemere's second edits in my in-box, Phyllis Diller and Neil Armstrong died, and the Republican party is still chock full o'crazy. It was nice, being cut off from all the crap that is a 24-hour news cycle (I avoid politics like the plague on this blog for the most part because you'd never get me off my soapbox otherwise. And really, who cares what I think, politically-speaking?) I left my laptop at home, my cell phone remained shut off and locked in our stateroom safe, and it was wonderful. But, as all good things must end, here I am, back in the real world. Next week, the kidlets go back to school and the summer of 2012 go down in the books as one of the best, and fastest, summers I've ever spent.

Checking In

I'm up to my eyes in revisions for Windemere - and with the amount of red all over this manuscript, I have to wonder how it ever sold in the first place. Yikes. But, the good news is, most of the red is easily fixed, although the plot is going to change a little. I've been mulling it over for the better part of the last week, and I think what I need to do is going to be pretty smooth and seamless. Guess I'll know in a day or so, when I get to that part of the editing.

I've been tempering revisions with watching the Olympics. I love the Games (the gymnastics, swimming, and diving mostly) so they're on while I'm working and I'm sorry, but when the gymnastics came on, everything else pretty much got ignored.

But now we're moving into the Track and Field portion of the Games and they don't really hold my interest quite like the other sports. And since I don't think professionals should be allowed to compete, I don't watch the basketball or tennis (although I do love tennis.) For me, having pros in takes away from what the Games are supposed to stand for - which was always showcasing amateur talents.

And now, it's time to get back to work. I'm about halfway through these edits, and only now coming up on the really big changes that need to be made. **sigh** Wish me luck!

Freedom!

**happy dances**

Why am I happy dancing? Because Windemere is done. And by done, I mean, off to my editor to await the red pen of death (so to speak.) I am a free woman once more! Yay!

Okay, so I still have to turn in the cover art sheet, but the book itself is done. The rewrites (my rewrites, of course) are done. The pressure is off and I can sit back and veg tonight and not feel guilty because I should be working. It'll all start over again, of course, once the first edits come in (and those are the ones I dread the most, the ones that leave me thinking, "Wow, how on earth did I sell this crap?" The ones that make me think, "My editor must think I'm the worst writer evah!" and "She's probably wondering how on earth I sold this crap as well.")

Ah, the life of the writer. Or more appropriate, the life of the writer who signs the contract before writing the book. It's not nearly as nervewracking when I know the manuscript is written and rewritten and polished to the finest shine and goes out on submission. I far prefer the polished to a fine shine prior to subbing submission. But I'm also a glutton for punishment, soooo...

And now, I will take a little mini-vacation. Not long - just a few days - but it's a vacation that I have totally earned.

Windemere is finished! Yay! :D

Done!

With a week to go until my deadline, Windemere is finished! YAY! And lest my editor read this and faint dead away because she thinks it's only first draft finished, I mean the polished, finished book is done. Happy dance! I'll read through it, make sure I caught any and all typos (and apologize in advance for any I might miss) and then BAM! Off it will go.

And then? Then I will take a few days off and relax now that the pressure is off. It will come back, in the form of edits, but that's okay. I can deal with that.

So, we're nearing the halfway point of the summer. Already??? I know that technically, summer only began what? Three weeks ago? But as a baseball fan, the turning point in the season is the All-Star break, which is this week, so I think of it as the halfway mark of summer as well. Although, it is hot enough to fool me into thinking it's August - what's up with this weather? It's ungodly, really.

Anyway, my plans for the remainder of the summer are really quite simple. I'm halfway through Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series. I'll hopefully get a few blog topics out of it because, quite frankly, I'm not enjoying this series as much as I thought. Mostly because it seems to me each of Quinn's heroes is more of a jerk than the last. I know of at least one blog post I want to write, and it was inspired by these less-than-heroic-heroes. For the first time since I bought my Kindle, I've made notes in Romancing Mr. Bridgerton (the one I'm reading now.) I've never made notes in a book, but this one was irritating me to the point where I had to, because when and if I review it on Goodreads, I want to make sure I don't forget what some of my beefs with it were.

We have a family vacation coming up, which I am really looking forward to - I haven't taken a real vacation ins years. We aren't the type to take a yearly family vacation, so when we do, it's really something to look forward to and I can't wait for this year's! And other than that, I'll be polishing Don't Tempt Me to get it out the door and under submission. And aside from research, I have nothing else going this summer. Go. Me.

Gotta love summer!

Satan Called...

He wants his weather back.

I stole that from a photo someone posted on Facebook, and it fits perfectly with the beastly weather we've been having around here. I know it's summer, but it isn't supposed to be this hot and sticky until the end of the month, the beginning of August. The end of June/beginning of July? Too. Early. The thermometer in my car registered 103 degrees the other day. 103 degrees! Egads, what's that all about?

Our town did Fourth of July fireworks this past Friday and we sweated our way through them. By 9PM, the temperature had dropped, but you know it's freakin' hot when you think, "Hmm... it's only 95. That's not so bad." Because that's exactly what we were all saying as we sat there, waiting for the show. Despite the heat, it was so worth it. The kidlets love fireworks. I love fireworks. It was a nice (if albeit hot) way to spend a night as a family.

A few weeks ago, we took the kidlets to see the Somerset Patriots play. They're our local  Independent League pro team and they are awesome. I love going to the games because it's close to home and about 1/16th the costs of going to see a Major League game. I'd rather sit at TD Ballpark and watch the Patriots than slog all the way out to Yankee Stadium, sit in traffic, get all pissed off at the morons on the road (because we are littered with idiot drivers. You can tell who they are by the out of state license plates. Really, if you're in the left lane and driving 55MPH or less, by law I should be allowed to run your ass over. MOVE OVER!)

Now... where was I?

Right, the Somerset Patriots. So, we took the kidlets and it was the Boy's first pro baseball game. We were a little nervous about taking him, since he used to be very sensitive to sounds and overstimulated by crowds (gotta love ADHD) but we figured that since the tickets only cost $8, parking only costs $3, we'd wouldn't be out a ton of money if we had to leave early. (Eight dollars to see an awesome team, in a beautiful ballpark that doesn't have a bad seat? Perfect. You can't say that about any Major League ballpark/ball game. See why I like going??)

As it turned out, we worried for nothing. The Boy was a little antsy at first, but then he got into the game and all the family-oriented things they do between innings (I will confess to being disappointed that they didn't do the Dizzy Bat Race. That's always a riot to watch) and he had a great time. Every Friday night, after the game, they shoot off fireworks and the Boy adores fireworks. They go off to music, so he was up boogie-ing like a madman. It really was a great time.

And now, I'm diving into the last revisions for Windmere. I have to turn this book in to my editor by the 15th, so I probably won't be surfacing much before then (I know, huge shocker, right???) And that's only if I don't melt by then, due to this Hell-like heat wave. Yikes. How many days until autumn???

The End

It's done! It's done! The first draft of Windemere is finally done. I missed my self-imposed deadline by a week, but who cares? It's finished.

So now I can take a few days and relax (and replace my almost-empty toner cartridge) before I begin doing revisions. Whew... I need those few days, I've been writing like crazy for the last week, trying to get this finished.

I'll probably print it out and look it over this weekend, just give a real quick read-through, and mark a few notes, but the most intensive revising won't come for a few days. I need the time to let my eyes and brain recharge, so I can really see what needs revising. And I'm going to enjoy my little mini-vacation. Yay.

The school year is winding down now, the kidlets have nine days left. Then, I'll be the mother of a sixth grader (how the %#$^ did that happen???) and my baby will be a first grader (and will go full-day in September. What am I going to do with all that free time????)

It's funny how the pace just seems to slow - I can feel it even before the school year ends. Things just sort of wind down a little. And I don't have much planned this summer. We are doing a Caribbean cruise, but that's the only planned trip we have. Mostly, we're just going to laze around the pool, and maybe go down the shore a few times. That's it. That's what summer is about and why I love it. The pool was opened on Tuesday and because we had such a mild winter, it's almost crystal already. There's some sediment that needs to be vacuumed, but that won't be a big deal. Last summer, it took nearly two weeks to get the pool ready, because of all the snow, etc. Not this year. It'll be ready in another day or two.

At the end of the month, the hubs and I'll celebrate our fifteenth wedding anniversary. Fifteen years. We began dating right after the NY Rangers won the Stanley Cup (so close this year, but go Kings!) and now here we are. Fifteen years. Two kids. A home. A dog. Life is good.

I have a few projects ready to go over the summer. And I'm in the planning stages for a new book as well. This one's a little different. One I've wanted to write for a looooong time. I'm going to get out of the Regency era for a little while, since I've always wanted to write a book set in the Old West. But otherwise, I'm keeping a very light writing schedule this summer. I'll be into edits for Windemere before long, and Musa's birthday is coming up in October, so keep an eye out because I'm sure there will be some sort of contest going on.

A First for Me

So, right now I'm currently in the middle of writing the fourth McKenzie book. I was cruising along, nearing the 70k word mark, when I realized I was out of story. Not. Good.

I backtracked through the manuscript and realized, I'd had a huge turning point waaay too soon in the story. It concerned an event that happens at the beginning of the book, and is hinted at through the first half, but then-- BAM--I revealed it all too quickly. Without it, I lost a good deal of conflict and the story went as flat as a souffle gone wrong. Splat.

Normally, it wouldn't bother me. I'd just go back and fix it. But this time, I'm on a very tight deadline (why do I do this to myself???) so I have to not only go back and fix it, but I have to rewrite an entire third of the book. Yikes. And the scenes at the end of the book will now be moved into the the middle of the book. I'm also rearranging a lot of the second half of the book, which is really just a big mess right now.

It's been like piecing together a jigsaw puzzle and while I love jigsaw puzzles, I've never had to piece a book together that way. It's been... interesting. I'm still working out a lot of the knots, but the conflict is back and it's sharper, and that is good with a capital G.

But I have to admit, I will be glad when this draft is finished and I'm in the revising stage. Revisions will be a piece of cake compared to this. :D

Why is it...?

My WIP is driving me nuts. I have a self-imposed deadline of June 1st (the finished book has to be turned in to my editor by July 15th) and I think the story derailed, so I'm taking a few days to mull it over. And since I don't feel like kvetching about it, I'll kvetch about something else - like coupons that are for everything in the world except for that one item you really want.

That when I have a really good coupon (like, of, 20% off), the item I covet is listed in the fine print as excluded?

WTF is that? Drives me nuts.

I mean, I know why they do it - (and you know which store I'm talking about, don't you? They sell stuff for the Bedroom, the Bathroom, and beyond that...Oh, and if you need something Stapled - they do it, too) but I don't think it's really right. Instead of listing that endless paragraph of exclusions, they'd be better off saying something like: This coupon only good for a 10,000 count package of store brand used Q-Tips. (ew.) Because really, that's pretty much all it covers.(Or, if you're in need of Stapling, the fine print should read Good only for 10,000 ct box of broken rubber bands.)

I need a new toner for my printer. It's an HP laserjet. The toners are crazy expensive (and I'm relatively cheap, so you can imagine how many times I take that stupid cartridge out and shake the bejeezus out of it to eke out a just a few more pages' worth of toner,) Now, granted, I only replace it maybe twice a year, but still... So when I get a coupon for a specific office supply place, I'm happy when I find those coupons in the newspaper, or if they come in my email (gotta love those store cards. I've yet to be able to use any of the coupons they've emailed me. I'm pretty well set for neon pink pens, really.) My toner is ALWAYS excluded. HP toners are apparently as rare and special as deep-blue Tanzanite. And they must NEVER be discounted. Ever. The store, or maybe HP, would shrivel up and die if that happened, apparently.

We also need to think about replacing our vacuum. I've been coveting a Dyson since forever. But remember, I am cheap (and not rich, either, I might add) so $500 for a vacuum is going to leave a mark. And if you look in that coupon fine print, guess which ones are excluded? Of course. So guess who's probably not getting a Dyson. And guess who haz a sad over it. :(

The Love/Hate Relationship

Last night, the kidlets and I were heading out to our local Rita's because the Boy's school was doing a fundraiser and really, who needs an excuse for a Rita's?

Well, the place was a zoo and when we finally left, somehow, the conversation flowed to Windemere, my current WIP. The Girl has already decided she wants to be a writer when she grows up (which I can totally see happening because right now, the stories she writes are hysterically funny, even if they don't always make sense) and I said something about how aggravated I was with Julian and Emma (H/H from Windemere) because they weren't doing what I wanted them to do.

"But, Mom," the Girl said, sounding a little confused, "they're your characters. Don't you make them do what they do?"

Ahh... young padawan, allow me to show you the love/hate relationship a lot of writers have with their characters. Then you will understand.

Yes, they are my creations, but they take on a life of their own through the story. I know the basics about them - what they look like, where they live, what sort of upbringing they had- and that's about it. Their personalities, their quirks, their flaws all come out as the story unravels. And sometimes, where I think the story is going is nowhere near where it actually ends up.

And that's when I want to drop rocks on everyone and kill them--figuratively speaking, of course.

Right now, I want to drop rocks on them. All of them. Because they are going off script again. Gah.Why do they insist on torturing me?

Well, little by little, things start to work out, and usually, I don't have to drop those rocks. But it is tempting at times. And that's when I begin to think I should have gone to medical school instead. :D