Surprisingly enough, I had a flash of inspiration the day before yesterday and wrote down some notes on my fantasy sequel. I’m so glad I printed that sucker out  before I went into labor. I rewrote the first few paragraphs because the beginning was really annoying me and I started chapter nine. Not bad. I may give it another go in a few days when I’m not totally sleep deprived. But YAY! I count that as a celebration.

I hope you all have an amazing weekend. I have no special plans but I may rent a movie or two. In the meantime, enjoy this awesome dance break from one of my very favorite movies of all time.

Freakin’ hysterical. “I live in my sister’s basement…!” This movie is the one I pop in at 12:30am when Peanut won’t let me sleep and I need to laugh. It rocks.

To waste a day. Do what, you say? Waste the day away. (Sorry, random Dr. Seuss moment. I swear it’s over).

So it was back to work this morning. Opened up the cafe. There was a surprising calm in the wee, dark, hours of the morning with just me and a handful of people crawling through the store. Overall, it had that calm after the storm feeling. Like people have finally realized the holidays are over so they’re just getting back to their regular routines. Which I’m terribly happy about. The sooner things return to normal the better. Retail is insanity during holiday seasons.

It was nice not to have that insane deadline looming over my head in regard to my WIP. I felt like I could breathe easier. As a treat, I walked the store and bought myself a new book. It looks great. It’s a paranormal YA called City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. As I’ve decided to try the 50 books a year that most everyone else is doing, this will be the first. Once I’m done reading it, I’ll post a little blurb and some thoughts on the book, along with the cover and links to the author site. If anyone has any good recs to make, now’s the time to do it.

I got home, meaning to read a bit, to relax. I must have been more tired than I thought. I actually passed out about 2:30pm. Woke up at 7pm when hubby called asking if I wanted him to pick up dinner. So we had pizza. Which was surprisingly delicious, although I couldn’t have much cause my stomach is still feeling funny. I’m still groggy as all getout but I didn’t want the day to be a total waste. So I’m in bed now, editing a sci-fi romance manuscript that’s still incomplete. I got struck with this great idea for it today at work, and I think I finally realized who the villain is and what his motive is! Which was huge! So now, I just have to plot and finish the second half, and figure out how to wrap up the romance end of it, and I’ll be all set. I’m very excited about it.

I just thought I’d drop in and see what everyone was up to today. Hope you all had a wonderful hump day. I’m going to go crawl back under my blankets and work. And if I get delirious, which it feels like it’s coming, I’ll pick up my book and read some instead. What a day, huh?

I saw this done over at Romance Divas and couldn’t help myself. I think I owe it to 2007 to talk about the type of year that it was. So let’s see. Writing wise:

1. Submitted a novella to a publisher on a whim (more so threat of bodily harm by my loving CP). My first submission. On a novella that was as unique as they come… completely not my style, one of those random muse amusement things.
2. Novella accepted as part of submissions call. *holy crap*
3. Months of editing make me gain an entirely NEW respect for writers. Editing is much much harder than writing. And it sucks.
4. First e-book, Cinematic Royalty, released in September from Freya’s Bower.  *faints*
5. Cinematic Royalty gets reviewed. Three times! *cries* The outcome is quite positive so far.
6. Was asked to write a second story for the print release of CR!! OMG! Two stories to see print!
7. Finished first Book of my fantasy series and realized it isn’t the ending at all… (figures, huh?) it’s only the first half, hence, the second half is now a work in progress.
8. Picked up on my sci-fi/romance after rereading it on a lazy day and realizing it’s actually pretty good. (I love surprises like that).
9. Finished the contracted story with a stomach flu, against impossible odds, at like 2:30am on New Year’s!!!! <— I’m really proud of that one.
10. Queried three agents. Got rejected. Cried a little. Got back on the band wagon. Polishing up, tightening my writing. Who knows when luck will strike?

So all in all, 2007 was a pretty eventful year for me as a writer. It was full of highs and lows. Panic and elation. Overall, it was a wonderful learning experience. Now, I believe instead of setting resolutions for the New Year (which we all know nobody keeps) I think I will set some positive goals.

1. Finish the sci-fi romance. Have edited and ready for submission by February/March.
2. Submit to one of two e-publishers I’m trying to target specifically.
3. Get back to work on my fantasy story. Finally settle on the plot for Book 2. Finish it by the summer. Tighten book 1 and book 2. Send out to agents again. Play the wait/hold breath game.
4. Give myself a break from the fantasy story so that I don’t want to wring my neck. Read more. Give new genres a try!
5. Work on futuristic sci-fi that’s waiting in the wings.
6. ~OR~ (man I love having options) Try hand at that fantasy YA I’ve been contemplating but terrified of.

All in all, 2008 is looking to be a busy year.

So, I’ve been sitting on this novella for a while, the one that I have deadlined for December. I did about 2 different story ideas and they both failed. I gave it a break for a while. Sometimes, when you’re too close to a project, the only thing that can make sense of the madness in your head is distance. I think that was the best plan. Tonight, while chatting with my darling friend Annie, who I’ve missed so much (our brainstorming sessions are impressive!), I was struck with such a FUN idea!!!

It’s going to be the craziest, funniest, hopefully suspenseful/mysterious thing I’ve ever done. But I’m up for the challenge. Got my main characters’ names and it’s time to start plotting.

I’m back. The weekend getaway to Cape Cod was a much needed respite. I’m so thankful that hubby has family up there. It’s always just what my troubled little heart needs. And I had a tough week, so let’s just say I took in every moment.
After we arrived on Friday, we changed and jumped into the pool for a midnight swim. I’m not one to be spontaneous that way. Still, hubby promised me it would help me sleep, since my insomnia reached epic proportions last week. He was right. The water felt nice and warm. His cousins have an outdoor, inground salt pool. It’s relatively small, but they built it when they found it cheaper than paving their driveway. It goes to about 8ft, which is pretty neat. You can do some real swimming/diving in there. Either way, it was a warm, humid night for it. I splashed around, swam, lounged. I saw a bat for the first time in my life. I was both terrified and fascinated. It swept down about 3 times before our splashing scared it away.

Saturday we spent the entire day lounging by the pool. I got a decent suntan, for the first time this year! LOL Kinda, late, but hey, not complaining. Managed to catchup on a book too. My goal to read a few books a month has failed miserably this year. C’est la vie. But… I’m not giving up on at least one a month. This month’s I didn’t even have to buy.
See, I’d bought Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey a while ago. A LONG while ago. I started to read it and stopped. I was so lost for a while amidst the thick tapestry of characters and cultures she set up, I couldn’t get past it. I resolved to leave it. Some part of me convinced myself that I didn’t like the book. But that wasn’t it. I just didn’t understand it. My mission this weekend was to pick it up again.

I’m so glad I did. It’s one of those books you have to push through at first, to really get a sense of how everything works. It’s a long book to begin with (about 900 pages), and if put in retrospect, only the first of a series. Which means she’s doing A LOT of setup. World, character, etc. Now, 3/4 of the way through, I can say I genuinely enjoy it, and am considering getting the next.
This really taught me an important lesson as well. Some books don’t just grab your attention right away. It happens. Sometimes there’s too much that needs to be explained. Her plot is so full of deception and lies that if she hadn’t set it up that way, we’d be lost throughout the entire length of the story. But she was wise in how she planted clues throughout, and in the end, it has worked to her advantage. Bravo, Miss Carey!

What books have you all read recently? Anything good?

As for myself, I’m still working on my own little gem. Zerah and I have a love/hate relationship. Some days I love it, some days I hate it. Today, was a love/hate day. This morning, while forcing myself to sit at the comp due to DAYS of inactivity (how I miss my laptop… *wails*) I typed out some really awful crap. I said it. Crap. It was bad. I was trying so hard and each word only made me hate it more. It got to the point where I had to just let it go. It wasn’t worth the headache it was causing me.
In the end, I found myself drawn back to it. At about 2am. Yea, I know. I should be sleeping. I’m going, I swear. As soon as I finish with you guys. Either way, I skipped the troublesome/rebellious scene and went for the next one, in my heroine’s POV. *waves wand* Magic. She was ready to tell the story again, even if my stubborn hero wasn’t. And what she gave me to work with really got my blood pumping again. So, in a span of about 12 hours I went from pure loathing to giddy love all over again. This sort of bipolar relationship with my book can’t be healthy, but, you know, in the end, I got work done. So hey, whateva, right?
Wordcount: 46,132

So I’m so close to the middle of my story… too close, if there is such a thing. I’m now paralyzed with fear. I haven’t even opened it in like 3 days. What’s with the panic? Don’t I WANT this thing to be done? Well, sure I do, but some part of me is actually quite terrified of finishing. Hence, my unhealthy procrastination of something that really should’ve been much further along at this point. *sigh* I feel a bit like a basket case.

On another note, I was looking for inspiration and found some great movie scenes on YouTube, one of my fave places in the world. I get inspired when I watch actors bring characters to life. I try to imagine what it would be like to see my characters on a screen, really living and breathing, the way I see them in my head. I drunk in the tension and laughter, the great writing, the little details that always take my breath away. Acting is such an art. Many of them don’t get enough credit. Some of them, who aren’t so great, get too much. (But, I digress).

Anyway, I think the inspiration helped a bit. I’ve opened my WIP and am currently staring at it. If I write 3 pages, I’ll treat myself to folding laundry, which at the moment is looking WAYYY more appealing.

On a happy note, my friend had a baby boy last night! Welcome to the world Jayden!