Pity Party Is Over

Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm. -- Winston Churchill

Okay, now that I've had the night to get over not finalling in the contest I entered, I'm feeling better. I also read that article in the latest RWR about persistence and that helped.

That article also pointed out something: that every book you write may not be publishable. That they may just be for learning and practicing your craft. I think that may be true of Playing House and maybe even for Camilla. We'll have to see how it goes.

In the last contest I finalled in, the first round judges loved my entry, but the Harlequin editor hated it. That got me to thinking about whether editors are really in touch with what people want to read. I'm not saying what I wrote was perfect, but I found it interesting that I got unbelievably high marks from three readers and then flopped with the editor.

I'm just hoping that the feedback on my entry is good and constructive. And I'll be interested in seeing what my scores were -- whether I was at least close, or flopped badly.

By the way, has anyone else realized that this year is almost half over? We're in the fifth month! Wasn't it just Christmas? Where the heck does the time go?

Okay, I'm going to go work on the character profiles for the next book for now and putter through some more of the Maass book for Camilla. Onward and upward. Right?

:-(

Got the contest results.

Didn't final.

Must go eat chocolate.

:-(

I Am Omnipotent

"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race." -- Calvin Coolidge

Well, Cal Coolidge said I am ... sort of.

I have persistance. I am determined.

I am woman, hear me roar (in numbers to big to ignore...la, da, da...).

I have a plan. I'm stopping my actual editing in Camilla (which really takes a load off) while I finish trying to wrap my brain around Donald Maass's workbook. THEN I'll go back and make my changes. Because, it seems every time I've figured out where I want to go with "stuff", he asks a question that sends me off in a different direction.

And, I am going to do much of his workbook for my new idea before I start it. Some of what he has you do in his book can only be used for existing drafts, but honestly, I'd like to keep editing angst to a minimum because if I ever have to totally tear apart a book and try to put it back together again I may never write another novel. I mean, for crying out loud, I have three sitting around right now that need serious reassembling and I really, really, really hate editing.

Passionately.

I also decided to give myself permission to start working on the bones of the new novel: characterizations, scene cards, a basic outline. I may have to write some scenes, though, because that's one of the ways I get a handle on my characters and see how they act and think.

Now, to find the time. Yesterday, I couldn't go pee without someone sitting outside the door waiting for me. I. Never. Had. Time. Alone.

My husband got home at the same time my niece left to hang out with her boyfriend and my daughter was in her shower. He walked in and smiled at me where I sat, curled up on the couch with a book -- that I hadn't read one lousy word out of all day -- and I said, "This is the first time I've been alone all day." I think I must have growled it, because he did an about face and went into the kitchen to eat dinner.

Yes, I felt a little bad. No, not that bad. I'm telling you, I had the shakes from being around people all day. People that talked to me and expected me to talk back. UGH.

Oh, and my niece made me feel unbelievably old yesterday. She saw me right after I washed and dried my hair and hadn't pulled it back yet. I have BIG hair - thick, curly, frizzy hair that I usally pull into a braid or pony tail ... and she went "Whoa!" and I said, "Yeah, kinda like Diana Ross on a bad hair day." and she said, "Who?"

Whaddya mean, "Who?" c'mon... Diana Ross... hangs head.

Woozy Wednesday

"Being a writer is like having homework every night for the rest of your life." - Lawrence Kasdan

My niece, whom I adore but who is a typical teen (okay, 19, but still), is staying with us for a few months.

I don't recall if I've mentioned before that I'm very much a loner. As in "leave me ALONE for a couple of hours every day -- if not more -- or I will absolutely lose my mind and not be responsible for my actions."

I got no writing done yesterday. My daughter was so excited about my niece being here, that she was up early (kinda like Christmas morning). And, between the two of them, I had someone on my tail all day.

Go down to the mushroom pit to check email? Five minutes, people. Didn't matter. Niece followed me down to chat. ACK! I know, I know... she's lonely. I get that. And she's sort of drifting right now -- This year of college over, finding an apartment and starting at a new school... and there's so much more that I could write a soap about it (for instance, why is she living here when her mother and step-father live only a few miles away? Well... remember the evil step-mother in Cinderella?)

Additionally, she and hubby are both night owls. Before that wasn't a problem. Hubby would stay up watching TV quietly. Now he stays up watching TV and talking to her. Loudly. And, oddly, she talks back. Just as loud. Did I mention that the TV room is directly below my bedroom? And that I'm a light sleeper?

Lack of sleep + oversleeping = no writing

So there you have it, folks. Life as I know it is over. For three months.

But, I should be able to gather info for a killer YA book. I just don't know when I'll have the time to write it.

Stuck

"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do." -- Goethe

I'm struggling with my writing currently... it's not really "writers block", but I don't have a better name for it.

Have you ever looked at something so long that it no longer makes sense? You know, like when you write some word over and over and eventually it seems like it's spelled wrong?

That's where I am with Camilla. But I don't want to stop working on her story. So I stare at it a lot and wonder where the places are for me to edit in the changes I need to make. Thankfully, I have some great writing friends who are helping -- and catching weird things that I miss, but they can't download my brain, my ideas and thoughts, into my novel.

It doesn't help that I have an idea for another book that's nagging me either. I don't want to start on it until I'm done editing Camilla, but I'm wondering if it might help to bleed off a little of the pressure. You know, work up character profiles or something.

Then there's the fact that I'm still trying to submit short stories on a monthly basis, just to keep something in submission to be hopeful about until I can start querying with Camilla -- if I ever get her done.

Ugh.

I've got the butt in chair part down, hands on keyboard... yup. It's the actual working part that stymies me.

How are you?

ACK!

I just found out that the contest that I'm in -- that was supposed to announce their finalists by April 30th -- has been delayed. They say it should only be for a few days, but I'm pulling out my hair, here!

ACK!

I need to stop submitting stuff, I swear, I'm a jinx. Submit a short story, the eZine goes out of business. Submit a flash piece, the editor gets leukemia. Now this.

I swear. Stay away from me. I'm cursed (LOL... the first time I typed that it said "I'm cursing"... Freudian slip? I think not).

Real Life You Can't Put in Your Novel

I've been thinking, over the past few weeks, of things that happen to us that would never make it through editing in your romance novel. And, I'm trying to figure out how I could write them in one of mine.

• Your heroine finds her first gray pubic hair.


• Your heroine starts her period while in bed with the hero. (Okay, this rates on the squick meter, so maybe I won't use this one, but I often wonder why women never have periods in romance novels unless it's required in order to show that they aren't pregnant.)


• Your H/H (either one) sneezes, and a booger comes out for a visit.


• In a moment of spontaneous sex, you heroine realizes that she hasn't shaved her legs in a week.


• The hero wakes the heroine up for some nookie in the morning and she rolls away saying, "Ugh. Morning breath."

Most of the stuff that bugs me about real life vs. novels is that missing icky stuff that always happens, yet never gets mentioned. I suppose that we read to escape, but sometimes I wonder what's really going through the hero's mind when, after a week on the lam in the jungles of Brazil when he and the dark-haired heroine can't fight their feelings anymore, and begin foreplay on the leaf-covered ground. He whips off her clothes and looks at her trim, curvaceous body ... and she's covered in stubble from head to toe.

Am I the only one who wonders?