I'm Excited!

I pitched THE UNCOMMON ONE to an editor and she asked to read the full!  And yes, I've already sent it to her.

This is the FIRST TIME for me.  And I found out while my daughter was here (it was "Bufffy" night).  She's been texting all her friends.  I like how she's happy for me!  I like how I'm happy for me!

Hope I can sleep tonight!

Disorganized? Me?

I’m normally a very organized person. I file my DVDs and CDs in alphabetical order. I file my bills (the file may be over full because I’m too lazy to transfer, but that’s another issue). I make sure my keys and glasses are kept in the same place every time; otherwise, I’ll lose them. My son calls that OCD. I call it organized.

I hate feeling disorganized. It throws off my whole system. But that’s what happened to me since my laptop died.

After I backed up my laptop on Monday (which, by the way, took all night because I was doing it stupidly WRONG), I was all set to write last night. I was thrilled to get my laptop back and was excited about the prospect of writing. Then I realized I didn’t have my new notes or the scenes I wrote since my computer went kaput on me.

Some of my writing was on AOL. Some was on the main computer. Some was on my flash drive. Argh! What was I thinking? Why didn’t I put it all in the same place?

Now I’m in the process of getting all my documents together (e-mailed them to myself, just in case – makes it easier to transfer anyway and it’s all in one place). I did start last night by adding the notes I’ve been e-mailing myself to the notes I had on my computer. But the notes aren’t in any order and it’s driving me nuts.

At least the story isn’t going away. In fact it’s getting louder in my head. In a way, the break away from the story has been a good thing. I’ve been getting the characters firm in my mind (and notated). Finding their goals, motivation, and conflict. Now I just have to get organized so I can write the darn thing. I’ll get there, though. You can bet on it.

Goals

First off, I want to say:  I GOT MY LAPTOP BACK!  YEA!

And while I thought I would be posting this from my laptop, the first thing I did when I got home was copy my C:Drive to another computer (to be backed up on a 3rd harddrive).  Now I see why I haven't backed up before.  It's SLOW.  2-1/2 hours later it's still backing up.  But I will have a copy - that's all that matters.

Now on to my blog:

I’ve joined a group whose sole purpose is for me to post my goals for the next 100 days to help me meet them (we’re to also post our weekly goals needed to obtain the overall goal).

They don’t have to be writing goals. They can be anything. So I posted the following goals I wish to obtain by January 1st:

1) Continue to query THE UNCOMMON ONE until I’ve exhausted all avenues of submission (unless I require an agent or get published before then).
2) Edit SARAH’S TURN and provide to beta readers (this goal won’t start until mid-October, since I want to give myself six weeks away from the story).
3) Complete one-forth to one-third of MEMORIES (my third book - tentatively titled).
4) Watch last season’s episodes of “Grey’s Anatomy” that is recorded on our DVR.
5) Finish crocheting the tablecloth I promised my friend I would have done by last Christmas.

They aren’t elaborate goals and I’d like #3 to actually state finishing said novel, but I am trying to be realistic. I don’t want to make the goal too hard to reach (and #2 may take up more of my time than I realize).

I don’t think I’ll have any problem reaching goals 1-3. I love writing and I want to get published. #4 is time away from writing, and also requires coordinating time with my husband, but I do like the show and I want to watch it. #5 is the toughest. My friend would LOVE it if I finished the darn thing, so I will try, working on it during football games. It may very well be my last crochet project. At least it will be while I’m employed full-time. When I retire, I may rethink the whole craft project thing.

So…Do you find writing your goals down, and telling other people, help you get them done? We’ll see how it works for me come January 1st.

Laptop Update

Seems my system board (or my mother board as my husband calls it) is bad.  It's costing me almost as much as the computer did new, but a newer laptop would cost twice as much as the repair (since there are other options I would prefer to have - of course!).  We decided to go the cheaper route.  I just hope this board lasts longer than 17 months!

So, that means my data isn't lost.  Just unavailable until I get my laptop back.  And this is really teaching me a lesson, too.  Everything associated with writing is on that laptop.  My query, my list of agents I want to query to, my notes to all my books - past and future, my book (I do have book 1 and book 2 saved elsewhere - it's only book 3 I wasn't smart enough to save the day before and I don't have a copy of book 4 anywhere).

The FIRST thing I do when I get my laptop back (besides, maybe, kiss it?), is to copy everything from it to the computer that gets backed up.  And I mean EVERYTHING!  I raised an Eagle Scout for goodness sake.  I know "Be Prepared" by heart.  Now I should practice it!

Favorite Authors

Do you have favorite authors? You notice I didn’t ask who your favorite author is, like it would be possible to name only one. At least, I couldn’t.

In high school my favorites were Rosemary Rogers and Kathleen Woodiwess. I read everything I could find by them. Once I was done, my reading slacked off.

Post high school: Stephen King. After reading “The Stand”, I had to read everything by him. I’ve just about done it, too.  He brought the joy of reading back in my life.

Then came Dean Koontz. I read “The Vision” waaaay back in the 70’s. I loved the book, but wasn’t hooked on reading at the time (in other words, it hadn’t consumed me yet). After I started reading more often (see Stephen King, above), I started looking for more of his work. My favorite of his is “Lightning”.

For many years, they were it. Life became busy (young mother, working full-time) and reading seemed out of the question. So it was okay that Stephen and Dean only came out with one or two books a year. I wasn’t in any hurry to get to the next one.

Then my daughter introduced me to Stephenie Meyer. I couldn’t read the Twilight books fast enough. I had borrowed the books from her and when I told her I wanted to re-read them, she promptly told me to get my own copies. I did.

I became a reading fiend. But where could I find more authors? Well, the internet is a good place to look, but by pure chance, I read an article by Stephen King (on his website) mentioning Meg Gardiner (a high school classmate of mine). Her books looked interesting and after reading the first one, I was hooked. Her books then led me to Tess Gerritsen (if Tess Gerritsen liked Meg's books, maybe I would like Tess’s and sure enough, I did), which led me to murderati.com and even more authors (and I’ve read most of their books – check them out, they’re good).

But Twilight still stuck with me. I wanted to read more love stories like that. So instead of looking, I decided to try and write my own. Now I’m a writing fiend and my reading has gone on the back-burner. Not too much, though. I still read every day during lunch and anytime I have free time. I am on my 35th book of the year (see sidebar on right), so I’m not slacking too much. But my pile of books to read has definitely grown. I can’t seem to stop buying them!

So who do you like?

Was it Karma?

Is this what happens when I blog about having nothing to write about?  I now have something to write about?

It doesn't matter that this is something I don't want to write about.  Because it's depressing and I could kick myself.

I'm usually very good at backing up my data.  I usually send myself my WIP via e-mail every night I've worked on it.  But did I do that Saturday? Sunday?  Nope and nope.

I realize now that e-mailing my WIP isn't enough.  I need to back up my whole stupid computer every night.  And the thing is, it's not hard to do.  My husband has all the computers sharing.  All I had to do was copy and paste.

Last night, in the middle of a good flow of writing, my computer screen when BLACK.  I thought I forgot to plug it in and the battery died.  Nope.  Not that lucky.  Computer won't come on - at all.  The thing is, it's only 17 months old.  I might have done all that back-up stuff if I thought I was working on an older computer.  But 17 months?  Really?

Did I bring it on myself?  Complain about not having anything to write about?  Not backing up my data?  Was Karma listening? 

My computer goes in for repairs tomorrow.  If they can't fix it, my husband believes he can pull the harddrive and retrieve all my data.  I'm glad, but I have to wait.  That's not easy for me, especially when I want to write my book.  But I'll be patient.  I don't want to have to re-write what I had (granted, I only had 14 pages or so - I know I passed the 4000 word mark), but if I have to, I will.  The story will be told.  It will just take me a little longer to get back to it.

So in the meantime, maybe I'll get some more blogging done.  Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!  We'll see about that.

I'm Dry!

My mind is dry of anything interesting to write about. It seems to be that way during this time of year. This time of year when football seems to dominate my time.

Friday night – high school football. Son graduated in 2000, daughter in 2003 (both were in the band) and we still go to the games. When you’re hooked, you’re hooked.

Oh – and the Wayne Warriors won. A 0-2 start made us nervous. They are now 2-2.

Saturday – Ohio State football. Neither kid went there, but we’re fans. How can you not be fans when you live in Ohio? Well, one person we know is, gasp(!), a Michigan fan (and he’s not even from Michigan). You can imagine he gets a lot of grief, but that’s what it’s all about for him. He loves the controversy. Me, not so much. Husband is from Florida, I’m from California, but we’ve both adopted OSU. And they are currently undefeated this season. Go Bucks!

Sunday – Steelers football. Since the game wasn’t televised locally, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings (or what we call B-dubs) to watch the game. A lot of Steelers fans in the area do the same, so we have to arrive early if we want a good seat. You’d be surprised how many Steelers fans there are in Bengals country. And we’re happy fans, too. Still undefeated.

Even with all the football, I was able to write more of my book. But blogging, not so much. I need to start thinking of interesting topics and writing them down. Time can get away from me quicker than anything (I just realized today it has been a week since I blogged). I’ll do my best to think of something to write about before NEXT Sunday!

Break Over

Woke up with ideas of how to start my third book. That made me happy, because these characters have been quiet for a while (like since May). Other characters have been chatting in my head. But I wasn’t ready to write their story yet. I needed a story to stand on its own (even though it is part of my series).

So when I woke up with a solution to a problem I was having with the female character, and she started talking, I rejoiced. She hadn’t talked to me before. Only the male character had. I can now start writing Jack and Sunny’s story. Ben and Victoria (those characters who were previously chatting) are on the back burner. And what about Sam and Janie you ask (since I’ve written some of that)? They are too close to John and Sarah (their story is mentioned in SARAH’S TURN) and I need to break away from them. Like I said, I need distance from the first two books and Jack and Sunny are that.

Yes, I have strange names to books, but I got tired of calling them by numbers. So I’m naming them by the characters until a firmer title forms in my head. Some people seem to have an easy time naming their books. Not me. I was almost finished with THE UNCOMMON ONE before that name firmed up in my head. SARAH’S TURN came a little easier, though (although it’s technically THE UNCOMMON ONE PART II).

I am trying to plot some of this book out. I thought I had back in April (when I used these characters for an assignment during the Aspiring Authors class I took during the RT Convention). But now that Sunny is talking, I realized what I had plotted out before won’t work. That’s okay. I think I’m basically a pantser at heart.

I really didn’t think I would start on the next project so soon. But the urge to write never goes away. I’m looking forward to seeing where Jack & Sunny take me.

It's Done!

I can't believe I actually FINISHED my second novel.  It is such a wonderful experience (and a little sad, too - didn't expect that!).

Now, what to do next?  Should I take a break or start on the next one right away?  For those of you who have done this before, what did you do? 

When I finished my first book, I tried to stay away before editing it, but I couldn't.  I ended up reading the story too many times (although to be fair, I'm still not tired of reading it, so that's a good thing, isn't it?).  I don't want to do that with this one.  I'm FIRMLY putting it away for at least a month.

I think I might want a small break.  Probably until the weekend comes (my favorite time to write).  Then I'll start on book #3.

But today is such a wonderful day.  I finished SARAH'S TURN.  Life is good!

Dragon*Con

I’m currently in Atlanta, awaiting my first Dragon*Con. Having been to only one convention in my life, I’m not totally sure what to expect.

My daughter counted down the days to this Dragon*Con since last year’s ended. She loves it. She’s the one who talked me into going this year.

Now, I’m not completely unfamiliar with Dragon*Con. My husband and I came down here several years ago to pick our daughter up (she flew down, but since we were sight-seeing in the area during Labor Day weekend, we drove her home). We were amazed with the amount of time and money that went into some of the costumes the attendees wore. And they apparently wore them all day (not just for contests or parties).

I’m not a costume kind of person. And I’m glad my daughter isn’t either!

I’ll try and keep you posted on how it’s going, but with the limited access I have to the internet, don’t be surprised if the next time I blog, I’m back home!