Indulging Myself

IT has arrived. As in JR Ward's Lover Enshrined. Neener Neener Neener, Wylie! Sorry, couldn't resist. (Actually, Wylie, the lady in charge of the Romance section of Chapters just called me, they are putting them out on the shelves today in my town, so you might want to check your local Chapters too.)

Anyway since I've reached my goal wordcount for today - actually exceeded it for a bit, I'm going to reward myself by reading.

(How weird is it that I stopped yesterday at 23,768, and ended today at 26,368 (2600 words). Couldn't have done that if I'd tried. Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket with 2, 6 and 8 in it.)

Writing Meme

Marley tagged me for a meme the other day ... since I'd already created two blog posts and deleted them this morning for being too whiney, I figured this was a good time to do this.

1.List one of your writing goals for the month of June and how likely you are to accomplish it.

Main goal is to finish the first draft of the story I have targeted for Harlequin. How likely am I to accomplish it? I've written 23K in two weeks, I'm aiming for 55-60K, so yeah, that's pretty likely although it'll be a really rough first draft that'll need a big edit afterwards.

2.What genre or subject would you like to write about that you aren't currently?

I tend to go in cycles, last year was historical, the couple years before that was fantasy. Right now it's mystery/suspense. But then again, I was writing a mystery about ten years ago. So I guess I'd probably have to say a mystery. But you know, I really like writing romance, all my stories have a romance in it before I realized I wanted to write romance. (Even though I swear it's harder than writing a non-romance, all that emotional baggage, you know?)

3.What is your writing lifestyle, habits ? How do you manage the interruptions with your writing? HOW do you stay positive? Believe in your writing success?

Wow, this is a whole bunch of questions, not just one, Marley!

a) Writing lifestyle? I get up in the morning, check my email, open Word (I'm running late today, usually I'm writing by 8:30), and write in 30 minutes intervals, then take about 15 minutes off, then write again. If I'm writing a first draft, then I have a wordcount goal of 2K and don't let myself stop until I've hit that. If I hit it early, then I keep writing until the flow slows. Usually I'm brain dead by about 2 p.m. though not always.

b) Interruptions? Well, it depends upon the interruption and how urgent it is. When Dad was in hospital, that took priority. But usually, I retreat to my office and close the door. My kids are old enough to know that to knock on that door means they're REALLY intruding.

c) How do I stay positive? *snort* Me? Positive? You should have heard me talking with Marley yesterday because I was in an extremely grumpy mood yesterday. Feeling very sorry for myself about how everyone else I know is getting published and I'm still waiting to hear ... blah blah blah, world's smallest violin and all that cr*p. Usually I need a kick in the pants to tell me to stop whining. From Marley. From BlueSue. From Guitar Hero - he's REALLY good at that since he is physically here to nag me. And has, on many occasions, offered (very enthusiastically) to deliver said kick-in-the-pants to me in person.

d) Believe in my writing success? Hmm ... well, at this stage in my career, typing The End is a success. Clicking Send on a submission is a success. I figure that's put me further than a lot of 'wannabe' writers. An email saying "Hey, send us a full" or even better, "Hey, we're sending you a contract" would be even better validation. For now I'm just slogging on telling myself, "You're a better writer than you were a year ago, one of these days someone's going to pay attention."

4.Are you a pantser or plotter?

Plotser, as Amy Ruttan dubbed it a while back. I blogged about this a while back. I outline, and plot, but usually the outline takes a left turn part way through. So I'm a combination plotter AND pantser.

5.Who are two of your favorite current authors and why?

Only TWO?

All right, all right -- JR Ward. I love the world she's created and the extra-sexy tortured heroes. and Susan Elizabeth Phillips for her humor.

Honorable mentions (in no particular order of preference, just as they occur to me as I'm mentally going through my 'keeper' shelf): Patricia Briggs especially her Mercy Thompson series, Molly O'Keefe, Christine d'Abo (I love her Bond series - and I'm anxiously awaiting Taber's story), Robin Rotham (Robin - wow, she really got creative in her alien anatomy. You HAVE to read Alien Overnight to understand what I'm talking about, but may I say again, WOW!), Julia Quinn - especially her Bridgerton series, Lynsay Sands (another one filled with humor - both in her historicals and her contemporary vampire Argeneau series.), Allison Brennan - really scary suspense stories, her books are now ones I automatically look for in the stores.

6.How does your family feel about your writing?

My hubby and boys are 100% behind it. Gizmo Guy has actually started writing himself, has written three stories in the past year. I swear that if he decided to shop them around, I'd buy his books as I think he's a better writer than me. *gak that's hard to admit* Guitar Hero is the one who bugged me until I took my writing seriously. He's the one who said "Mom, if you don't try sending something out, you'll always wonder what you might have accomplished. Go for it." And Curly, my 17 year old, is also writing now - a YA urban fantasy. We often have family conversations about POV and tense, and styles and writers we like and dislike.

When I mentioned about going to Dallas last year, Gizmo Guy told me to forget about our financial worries and go, so yeah, I'd say I've got an incredibly supportive family.

Okay, so who wants to be tagged. Michelle Lauren again (I'm keeping you busy now I know you like memes, aren't I?), Wylie (if she's up to it considering she's cut down to two blogs a week, which really bums me out) and Julia. I'd sort of like to tag Bonnie Staring too, I'd love to see her responses to staying positive ... but I don't know her well enough to tag her ... so Bonnie, if you read this ...

A Woohoo moment, and a D'oh moment

The woohoo moment? I opened my email this morning and found a confirmation from Chapters telling me my order has been shipped. Which order is that? JR Ward's latest, Phury's story. Woohoo!!!! I should be getting it tomorrow or so - my Black Dagger Brotherhood fix is almost here!

The D'oh moment for today? Gizmo Guy usually goes to bed earlier than I do, so when I head to bed, I try not to disturb him; I creep into our pitch-black bedroom, and undress in total darkness. I have perfected determining whether whatever I'm putting on for the night is inside-out or backwards by feel. At some point in that routine I take off my glasses and put them on the night table beside my bed. By feel. Most times I manage to put them squarely in the middle, but occasionally I misjudge and they end up right on the edge and at some point during the night they slide off. So I get up this morning, and start looking for my glasses. Hmm, they're not on the night table. Oh oh. I check the usual spots - the floor between the night table and my side of the bed. Behind the night table. In front of ... well, you get the idea. No glasses. So I drag out a flashlight I keep in the drawer and get on my hands and knees, shining it under the bed, under the night table. No glasses.

Once Gizmo Guy returns from the bathroom, I enlist Gizmo Guy's help ... who looks at me and tells me ... Yup, you guessed it. I'm wearing them. I have no memory of putting them on. But the tip off should have been that I could actually see the floor instead of it all being a blur. So yeah, I had to chuckle and shake my head at my own ... idiocy? Talk about one of those classic "you're getting older" moments.


Amy, I'll post my Montmorency Falls pictures tomorrow ...

Je me Souviens

Wow, I let a long time go between posts there - sorry. But really life's been quiet and I've not had anything interesting to blog about - which is a good thing, I'm thinking.

Everything's going well on the writing front. The story I'm working on for HQ is up over 21K now. I've made a few adjustments - mainly I've decided to ditch the hero's geeky half-brother who had mysteriously inserted himself into the story; I turned him into a 40 something woman. He wasn't pleased at that, but I think it makes the story stronger.

And since I've got nothing else to really talk about, here's some more shots of Quebec City. Today's pictures are taken from Battlefield Park, also known as the Plains of Abraham (not a biblical reference but named for a man who used to pasture his cattle in that field. Didn't even own it, just turned his cows loose there.) It's a very important place in North American history - it's where the English defeated the French, and changed the tide of history both for the future formation of Canada, and possibly United States as well.

Here's Gizmo Guy looking across Battlefields Park. From what I've been told by a guide at the Citadel, the field has been landscaped over the years - the hills and valleys that are there now have been sculptured to create a more park-like setting. Whether that's true or not, I have no idea. But it really seems like quite a small area considering the history steeped in its soil.

Unfortunately cameras really flatten the depth of pictures - the hill we're standing on is extremely steep. You can see we're actually at the height of the top of the trees down in the valley.

While we were taking this picture, a police car with two officers pulled up and started questioning a man on the bench beside us. To this day we have no idea what that was about, but they took his ID and talked to him for about twenty minutes before driving on.

On the picture above, it's hard to see, but on the horizon is the Citadel - this picture is taken from the Citadel and it shows you WHY it's so hard to see the fort from the field. See the roof on the top of the wall? No? There's just grass and field beyond? That's because the roof IS several foot thick of dirt and grass that protects the ceiling of the buildings beneath. All methods of protecting the fort from cannon fire.

The Citadel is a working fort still - it's the ceremonial home and training facility for the Royal 22^e Régiment - a francophone regiment of the Canadian Army. Canadians may have heard them referred to as the Van doos - which is a corruption of vingt-deux, or "twenty-two." And their motto, which anyone who has seen Quebec license plates knows, is Je Me Souviens - I Remember.

Also familiar to most Canadians is this very famous picture - the young private in it who is staring down the Mohawk during the Oka crisis is a Van Doo.


Another famous part of Battlefield Park are the Martello towers that were built by the British, not the French.

According to Wikipedia,

The interior of a Martello tower was divided into three stories (sometimes with an additional basement). The ground floor served as the magazine and storerooms, where ammunition, stores and provisions were kept. The garrison of 24 men and one officer lived in a casemate on the first floor, which was divided into several rooms and had fireplaces built into the walls for cooking and heating. The officer and men lived in separate rooms of almost equal size. The roof or terreplein was surmounted with one or two cannon on a central pivot which enabled them to be turned through up to 360 degrees. A well or cistern was provided within the fort to supply the garrison with fresh water. An internal drainage system linked to the roof enabled the cistern to be refilled with rainwater.

There are eleven Martello Towers still standing in Canada. Some in various parts of Nova Scotia, three in Quebec City, more in Kingston Ontario. Most, like this one above, overlook a harbour, standing as silent sentinels guarding our harbours.

But the one Gizmo Guy and I had to look twice at was this one. The city has encroached onto what used to be the Plains, and now it stands in the middle of an urban area, looking as out of place as a Stetson in Old Quebec City.

(I left the stop sign in the shot as a reminder of how difficult it can be drive when you're trying to interpret signs in another language. Arret was simple. Some of the others? Not so easy for us unilinguists.

Weekly Wrap-up

After picking up Guitar Hero at work at 7 a.m., filling my car up with gas ($1.25 a litre - akk) and doing the groceries, I finally got down to my writing at 9 a.m. I followed my usual timer method, 30 minutes writing, 15 minutes of whatever else I wanted to do. At noon, I settled back in my chair, feeling like I'd had a fairly productive morning, hit the 'Wordcount' button on my toolbar, and dropped my jaw. The wordcount had increased by only 900 words.

That couldn't be right - hadn't I'd typed pages upon pages? I'd not done any editing, so it's not as if I'd deleted anything. I scrolled back. Yeah, I had typed pages. About four. One single scene. A good scene, introducing a character who will cause a lot of conflict, but still, not the numbers I'd hoped to see.

Knowing that the weekend was approaching, knowing it's tough for me to get any writing done with everyone around (although Gizmo Guy has booked another tee time for him, Curly and Guitar Hero tomorrow, so I SHOULD have the house to myself), I buckled down, intent upon reaching that 2,000 per day goal I set for myself.

I don't know when it happened, or why, but suddenly the characters decided to get chatty; the words flowed as they argued with themselves and each other, and I'm now at 3,224 words for today. And though I stayed pretty much to my point-form outline, the scenes came out better than normal for a first draft, more conflict appeared that I hadn't considered before. And the plotline I wasn't sure about suddenly is looking much more solid. Filled with conflict and angst (the type of story I like), there'll be twists and turns that I hope aren't predictable.

Guess I should have read my horoscope for today:

Start slowly and continue to build momentum throughout the day. Remember, time is on your side.

Or maybe this little guy, the only souvenir I brought back from Quebec City, lit a fire under me today as he sat and glared from the shelf above my desk.

Photos for Thursday, but not 13

Update on the writing front - I wrote just over 2,000 words today on my Harlequin manuscript. I've been working the 'timer' method. I focus on my writing for 30 minutes, let myself do other things for 15. I've stayed out of the kitchen today (Gizmo Guy and the boys are pouting, no double fudge brownies or corn muffins today). Instead I've read a couple more Harlequins - one Romantic Suspense, and one Intrigue. To be honest, I couldn't tell the difference between the lines. Both involved a woman in danger, the hero was there to protect her, both had a certain amount of sexual tension, and about one love scene each that came about three quarters the way through. (I really thought there'd be more - maybe I'm reading the wrong books, LOL). On to the Blazes tomorrow. Although they worry me - the guidelines say to write them about the dating world for 20-somethings. I wasn't dating in my twenties, I married at 18. Hmm. Guess I should be watching my 23 son - who has been dating his girlfriend since he was 17? Ah well, maybe it's time to visit the coffee shops to do some eavesdropping.

Anyway, here are some more pictures of Quebec City ... I promised you some a while back and finally got around to looking at them again ...

This is a square in Lower Quebec City, it's just outside Notre Dame de Victoires. If it looks familiar to you at all, it may be because you've watched Tom Hanks standing there in Catch Me If You Can. It's in the scene at the very end, where Tom is in France, and is about to apprehend Leonardo DiCaprio. As you can see from this picture, it was filled with about four different tour groups, and the voices of all those people rebounding off the stone walls was nearly deafening. Last time I was there, there was a violinist playing some absolutely ethereal music quite in line with the area.

Here's the church - it's not as old as you'd think for the area.

The original version built by the French in the 1600 and 1700s was destroyed when the British bombarded the town in 1759. This little church dates back therefore t o the 1800s. But it's still very pretty. It's the only church I've ever been that has a wooden ship hanging over the congregation.


Par to the course for Gizmo Guy and I, we did things backwards. We took the funicular (shown to the right) down the embankment that stymied the British for so long, and then when we were done in the Lower Town walked up the stairs. It really would have been smarter to do it the other way around.

The picture to the left is looking down on Lower Town from the aptly named Breakneck Stairs. We stopped off at a restaurant on the second level up for lunch (for me - French onion soup naturellement, and the ubiquitous fries for Gizmo Guy).

Writing 101

Just a quick post before I open up Word and start this morning's writing - take a gander at Ilona Andrew's blog on Showing not Telling. It's one of the best descriptions of that phrase I've ever seen ...

I'd rather have someone else do it ...

Akk! I can't believe that it's been four days since I last posted. Where the heck did the time go? (My usual answer when Gizmo Guy asks me that question is: "West.")

So what have I been doing with myself? Strangely enough, considering I hate housework with a vengeance, I've found myself in a housecleaning frenzy. I've scrubbed counters and floors, dusted, vacuumed, washed windows, and moved the winter coats out of the main closet by the door. (Then on Monday, it freezing rained on Gizmo Guy, so maybe that was precipitous, but come on, it's mid-May already!) I even made brownies today - for which I got a huge hug from Guitar Hero. The last time I remember feeling so focussed on housecleaning was when I was pregnant with Curly and in that 'nesting stage.' (NO, I am not preggers, nor do I have a desire to be at this age.) But my house is looking reasonably clean - at least on the main level. One down, and three more to go.

My Harlequin story is now up over 8K which is good. I spent Sunday and Monday bombarding Marley with questions as I agonized over my storyline: Does it have enough conflict, if I do X will the hero be heroic enough, if I do Y will the heroine come off like a b*tch? etc. Should I write it as a SuperRomance, or should I go for Blaze? (I'm wondering about writing it as a Blaze if I go to the Ottawa Conference in September, as Brenda Chin will be there listening to pitches. Though that means a major plot revision.) But I keep coming back to the original story.

Once I finally remembered Bonnie Staring's suggestion of choosing a path and sticking with it, the words started flowing again. I've been working by the 'timer' method. I write for 30 minutes and then give myself permission to get up from my computer for 15 minutes. And spend those 15 minutes cleaning - hence the cleaning fit. (If I opened up a game like Solitaire or Mahjongg I'd get stuck completely, so I force myself away from my desk. Plus I usually find if I'm getting bogged down in a scene, physically leaving the computer helps me think clearer rather than feeling tied down to the computer.) Anyway, I wrote over 2200 words today, so it's working out - now that I got my usual "is this enough conflict?" heebeejeebies out of the way.

A clean desk is the sign of ...

... a procrastinating writer.

Gizmo Guy, Curly and Guitar Hero weren't supposed to be here this morning. They'd reserved a tee-off time at a local golf course, so I got up this morning full of the joys of spring thinking "Hey, I have the house to myself! Think of how much writing I'm going to get done." (And I really wanted to write because yesterday I couldn't figure out what the Black Moment in my HQ story would be, but in the middle of the night I had one of those "Aha" moments, and a solution came to me. So I wanted to get it all plotted out. Again.)

Except 45 minutes before their tee off time it started raining.

Rats. That means they're going to be hanging around all day.

But I figured I'd go into my office anyway and close the door and see what I could get done. As I sat down I saw a pile of books on the floor and thought "I should put them in a bag to take to the used book store for trade-ins."

Next thing I knew, I was cleaning the wall unit beside Gizmo Guy's desk. Then Gizmo Guy came in and helped me, and we started a complete office clean up. It needed it - it had probably been a year since we last shoveled through it. We got two boxes filled with paper reduced down to one that has to be put through the shredder. Emptied the blue box - twice. Got rid of two bankers' boxes full of various phones, computer parts and cables (except they just went down into the crawlspace to be dealt with later - which means we just shuffled junk from pile A to pile B).

But I also got two empty shelves as a result to use for my books. So I now have a shelf just for my reference books, and another for some of my "keeper" books (two deep, and two high.) Then I turned to my desk and sorted through the piles of paper that has been accumulating there. I even went out to the mall and bought a couple of storage drawer/boxes that will fit in a cubbyhole in my desk to store my post-it note pads and calculator and address book and all those various little things that accumulate on top of my desk. I've been meaning to do that for a year.

So here it is - 5 p.m. and how much writing have I accomplished so far today? Um. 0. Nada. Zilch. BUT my desk is clean which shouldn't distract as much. Plus there's still a few hours left in the day, so hopefully I can add another 1500 words to one of my manuscripts.

Hi, my name is Leah ...

... and I'm a pantser.

That probably doesn't mean much to you, but it's hard for me to admit. I keep insisting to all and sundry that I'm a plotter.

Why do I insist I'm a plotter?

When I'm writing, I sit down and figure out who my hero is - I interview him, I figure out where he is in his family hierarchy - is the the oldest child, youngest, middle child? What's his astrological sign? What're his likes, dislikes, etc. What's his Achilles heel? His hobbies. Same with the heroine. I've even done big family trees and determined what their relationships are with their grandparents and great grandparents - especially when they live 200 years in the fantasies I wrote. I make outlines in point form of the highlights I have to hit. I make GMC charts. I question my plots - WHY is the hero reacting this way? WHY does the heroine not want or want this or that or the other? Why wouldn't they have just emailed each other? Is this realistic or cliched? I'm pretty sure I drive my critique partners crazy about stupid details when I'm starting to plot only to abandon them (my ideas) two days later. And then I rewrite all my charts and smooth out all the wrinkles before I start writing. Then at about 20K I got back through them all again and smooth out more wrinkles and write a second outline And a third. And a fourth.

I've spent since last Saturday 'plotting' out the book Michelle Rowen challenged me to write for submission to Harlequin. I've interviewed my characters, I've got the GMC charts, I even bought dry-erase calendars and started creating charts of what every chapter's going to achieve. I have books, and papers, and charts, and stickies all over my desk.

Isn't that the sign of a plotter, I ask you?

Well, apparently it's not.

Yesterday morning I finally decided that I was ready to start writing the *cue dramatic music here* first chapter. I'd written a half page - a HALF PAGE - and all of a sudden the hero's younger, and rather geeky, half-brother gets out of the taxi with him and starts discussing architecture. His half-brother! No where on my charts did he have a half-brother. A sister, yes, but no younger brothers, let alone a half-brother!

Where the heck did he come from?

So here I stand in front of the Writers Anonymous group meeting ...
Hi, I'm Leah. I'm a pantser.

Six Things Meme

Cora Zane tagged me, and these are the rules:
Posted at the beginning. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
Unfortunately, I was researching a real-life murder that affected members of my family, and Gizmo Guy's too. It was NOT a fun time of my life I want to repeat or even remember.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today?
Pick up Guitar Hero from work (done), WRITE (working on it), do the dishes (not done), WRITE MORE (still working on it), and um, WRITE (yeah, blogging doesn't technically count, but I will). There really should be a whole lot more housework and gardening on that list but I ain't doin' it! So why put it on a 'to-do' list. Now if it was a 'Needs to be Done list' that would be different.

3. Snacks I enjoy.
in the summer - barbequed Fritos with chocolate ice cream dip. Yeah, you heard me right. Works with barbequed chips as well, but Fritos are stronger both in taste and composition. Marmite on toast with my morning cup of tea. It's an acquired taste only the English have. Fresh peaches. Digestive Cookies.

4. Places I’ve lived, in no particular order.
Montreal, Toronto. And a whole bunch of tinier places like just outside of Ballyduff!

5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire.
After looking after my family to make sure they had money that would last them a lifetime, and long past their kids lifetimes, I'd probably fund a cancer hospice. I'd continue to write - and probably wouldn't have any problems getting it published because a) as a billionaire I may own some company that prints stuff, and who'd turn down the boss, and b) as a billionaire, I'd be in the news and we all know how people with nothing to say (can anyone say Paris Hilton) can get published because of their name. *Meow*

6. Peeps I want to know more about.
This is all voluntary, of course. I'm tagging Michelle Lauren (cause she likes to get tagged she tells me), Wylie, Marley, Amy, Julia, and Dani *nudge nudge*

A Man Worth Keeping

As part of trying to figure out what niche my newest MS would fit into in the Harlequin world, I've been reading a few Harlequins of the various lines. I figured, considering she's a member of TRW who taught me a lot at one of the very first TRW meetings I attended, I'd support Molly O'Keefe and bought her latest SuperRomance - A Man Worth Keeping.

Here's the blurb:

Delia Dupuis has found the perfect place to take cover. The secluded inn on the banks of the Hudson River is the last place her ex would think to look for her. Here she can plan her next step, then move on with no ties.

Too bad the inn's handyman, Max Mitchell, is making her rethink leaving. His steady ways and his indulgent treatment of her daughter tempt her to stay, to explore this heat between them. But can she risk endangering him with the secrets she carries?

When those secrets catch up with her, Delia discovers Max is a good man worth trusting with her daughter, her life…and her love.

I am almost to the end and I reach a point where Max's father, Patrick, is talking with Delia and he says something that just left me in tears. I hope Molly doesn't mind if I post it here ...

"Our kids learn so much from us. How to read. How to behave. How to think about the world. But you know what I just figured out. They also learn how to be happy from us."

I wish I could hand this to my mother and say "Read this!" It took me until I was in my mid-30s to learn that my parents' venom wasn't mine. It's something I think should be tacked on every parents' refrigerator, should be handed out in prenatal classes.

I love books that can be on many levels, that can be about a romance, but we can learn from as well. Molly's A Man Worth Keeping is going on my keeper shelf - and I'll be buying more of hers.

As I was writing this post, I realized that maybe there's a corollary for the kids when they grow up.

Your parents' anger isn't yours. Because they choose to stay mired in negativity, doesn't mean you have to wallow in the swamp beside them. You can free yourself of the jesses your parents knotted around your ankles, holding you to the ground; you can spread your wings and fly above those clouds to find the sun.

Okay, that's probably a little deep - and gives you a hint that my mother has been after me again with the guilt stick. But Molly's book reminds me to make sure I don't tie my kids down with my own self-doubts and depression. That I have to remember to laugh and enjoy life - and make sure my boys do too.

A Late Start Today

I've spent the day running around. It started off early - out of the house at 7 a.m. to pick up Guitar Hero from work since he wanted to start learning to drive. Again. I drove one block to the grocery store so he could help me load the groceries then he drove home from there across the top of the city. When we got home, he asked if I talked so much because I was nervous about him driving.

Hmm. Actually I thought I was being unusually quiet, deliberately trying NOT to talk so he wouldn't yell at me the way he did last time when I told him to 'whoa' when he was approaching a corner way too fast. But considering I don't have many people to talk to during the day face-to-face, maybe I was taking advantage of having a real live body in the vicinity? Or maybe I was babbling from nerves - he does make me nervous. Or maybe he was just overly conscious as he was trying to concentrate on gearing and such. I have no idea. But it didn't overly endear me to taking him driving again.

I got the groceries put away, and checked my email while trying to decide whether to work on Sam's story or the Harlequin story. Realized I'd really like to print out the outline of both, but my printer was out of ink. And I wanted to read some more Harlequin stories to figure out more about them. So out I went again. This time to the local mall where there's a Staples - for the ink, and a dry-erase calendar I wanted to use for plotting, and a Chapters to look for some Harlequins. And somehow I ended up meeting Gizmo Guy for lunch there which killed another hour. I decided not to buy the Harlequins there as I knew I could get them cheaper online, but I did end up picking up a copy of one of Angela Knight's books - Mercenaries for $4 - it was on sale, as were a lot of books there. The clerk said they'd slashed prices on a lot of their books to clear the shelves. Pity I didn't find that out until the checkout counter. Another book I picked up and is now close to the top of my TBR pile is Michelle Rowen's Lady & the Vamp. Figured it was the best way to support such a supportive TRW author! I tried to put Lady & the Vamp in the labels, but Blogger doesn't like the ampersand, sorry, Michelle.

Anyway, I didn't get to sit down at my computer until Curly was coming home from school late this afternoon. Then I sat and listened to one of the eHarlequin podcasts from the Silhouette Special Edition people, and did a bit more research. It's disheartening to hear that the SSE people only signed one new author this year. Won't stop me from writing, but it does give that nasty internal editor ammunition.

But the good news is, even though I got a really late start today, I started writing the first draft. And I'm really pleased that I won't be having to research letter bombs, and car accidents, and FBI agents, and ... well, all that detailed stuff. This story will be all about the romance, and it's set in ... yeah, you had to have guessed this one ... Quebec City!

A new challenge

Wow, the last few days have been busy. Saturday I drove into Toronto to attend the monthly Toronto Romance Writers' meeting. Although I went for drinks afterwards and Christine and Amy were there, I don't think I got to really say Hi to them as I was talking with so many other people. So ... this is for anyone I missed.

After a terrific talk on creativity by Bonnie Staring (yes, it's spelt like staring but pronounced like starring), I was talking with Michelle Rowen and ended up coming out of the restaurant with a challenge. (You can skip the backstory if you want. But sometimes it is necessary to understand your character's motivations and internal conflicts ;)

*backstory*

I originally joined a different non-romance writers group who concentrated mainly in literary works. They rarely actually talked about writing as they were more of a networking group. One lady there turned out to be an editor from Harlequin. She's the one who encouraged me to join the TRW initially. She encouraged me to write for Harlequin. Said she'd go over my manuscript and make sure it got to the right people. And she's kept in touch ever since. Keeps asking if I have anything written for her yet. It was her continued prodding that got me deciding to take my writing seriously and actually try sending something 'out there.' But Harlequin?.That was just a little too ... serious. Too competitive. Too ... scary. So I've been writing, but not specifically for the big H.

So Michelle looked at me, then closed her dropped jaw and said "So what are you waiting for?"
(And to be truthful, it's not the first time I've heard that. BlueSue basically said the same thing to me - several times - a couple years ago when I told her about my contact.)

Anyway, Michelle's told me that she will be expecting me to bring to our next TRW meeting: one proposal, one outline, and the first three chapters of a story for Harlequin. Yikes!

So I came home and my head was buzzing (okay, it could have been a result of the caffeine from the two diet pepsi's I had that evening.) Should I do this? "Why not" I heard Bonnie lecturing - it was part of her talk earlier that day. Still undecided, I went to bed at about 11:30 and tossed and turned. I couldn't sleep as I was thinking about what we'd talked about and trying to overcome my fears. I ended up getting up at 2:30 and writing down ideas and a tentative story outline until 5:30 a.m. before crawling back into bed and finally falling asleep at 7 a.m.

I woke up again at 8:30 a.m. so Mother's Day to me really was a blur. Gizmo Guy and Curly bought me a new mouse for my desktop. I loved my old one - a Logitech wireless that fit my hand just perfectly, but lately it was giving me grief - not accepting commands when I pressed the left mouse button, or when it did finally take the press, not releasing so it would highlights scads of text when I didn't want it to. It had me swearing. A lot. Gizmo Guy was not impressed since he doesn't swear much. And I swear like a sailor. Hence the new mouse. Guitar Hero bought me a slide-show frame thingy - I'd provide a link, but the product is so new, HP doesn't even have it up on their website yet. It's small enough to carry in my purse with a 3 inch LCD screen and takes a SD memory card with all my pictures. So now I can bore people with a slideshow rather than pulling out the proverbial wallet of pictures (which I never carried anyway.) I think it was Gizmo Guy's suggestion since I suspect it was something he would have liked for himself. After all, it's the latest 'Gizmo'. But still I love 'em all. Even if I did have to make my own dinner. And we didn't have dessert. And I had to do the dishes afterward. Ah well.

And that story? Well, I'm not going to abandon Sam's story. I'm going to keep working on it. But I've got an outline for a story that might work for SuperRomance or maybe Silhouette's Special Edition line so I'm going to see if I can work on it when I'm not working on Sam's story. Maybe see if I can come up with some sort of writing schedule to do both. And keep my fingers crossed - which of course will make typing that much more difficult.

Anyway, I now am going to be evil and give you a game to waste time with - be warned, it is addictive, or it was to Gizmo Guy and me. You have to move the "jelly blocks" so they form a complete shape. It's tougher than you think. And now you are hooked! Mwahahahahaha

Happy Mother's Day!

I'm Back!

Wow, though I was away only four days, it felt a lot longer. Don't get me wrong, Gizmo Guy and I had a fantastic time in Quebec City. Our bank account however isn't feeling so healthy - food is EXPENSIVE there, as is the gas which is approximately ten cents a litre more than it is in Ontario - $1.34 a litre (which for my American friends, translates to $1.34 per quart or $5.36 per US Gallon, or $6.03 for an Imperial Gallon (slightly bigger than a US gallon.) Ouch!

But the hotel, OMG - we made SUCH a good choice in our hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Clos St. Louis within the old city, steps away from the Hotel Frontenac. I posted pictures of our room on Tuesday, but take a peek at some of the other rooms available. Oh, and on Tuesday I said it was built in 1649 which is what the lady who checked us in said, but I discovered in a booklet in the room that it was actually built in 1849. Which makes more sense - still old, but not AS old. (Though there are buildings from the 1600s in parts of the city - I'll post more about that in the days to come.)

The breakfasts they provided were delicious, and they really knew how to look after you. GG and I would stay there again in a heartbeat.

When we checked out today, the owner handed me a lovely embroidered silk bag and said that everyone who stays with them takes a souvenir with them -- a lovely miniature teapot. I haven't had an opportunity to take a picture of it, but I thought it was really classy. Especially since I collect teapots!

We didn't realize how lucky we were to get a hotel room this week until we were sitting on a pub's patio last night and kept seeing men dressed very obviously in team colors walking by - Belarus, Italia, etc. "What game is going on?" we asked our waitperson. Duh, the World Hockey tournament is being held both in QC and Halifax. As I said, we were lucky to get a reservation in hockey-mad Canada.

Anyway, I haven't even checked my house - I saw dishes piled quite high in the kitchen so I immediately started up my computer and tried to ignore what else I might find. I'll try to get around to people's blogs tomorrow, and then Saturday I'm heading into Toronto for TRW's monthly meeting. Once I get over that eight hour drive - which is a story in itself.

But if you ever plan on going to QC - take some time to get yourself in shape before you go. There are LOT of very steep hills - some of the streets even have handrails on them to hold onto as you climb (or go down). Those of you planning to go to San Francisco this summer, you'll have a hint of the QC streets.

Part of History

We arrived! We had forgotten how aggressive Quebec drivers are - Yikes! And how their highway systems aren't as friendly as ours - for instance, it's frickin' hard to get onto an onramp you need when the sign appears AFTER the point of no return. Montreal was tough, so was Trois Riviere, and Quebec City itself? Oi vey! But still we're here.

I know Marley has been worried about the Mississippi flooding - but there's flooding up here too. We've been hearing lots of news reports about people in New Brunswick, but hadn't heard anything about people in Quebec - yet between Montreal and Trois Riviere every river we saw was over its banks - whole fields were beneath water. Gizmo Guy kept pointing to groundhogs sitting along the side of the highway, then we realized of course they'd be sitting there, it would be the only ground above water since the highways are raised. And the closer we got to QC, the more snow we started to see. Yes. Snow! It hasn't completely melted - not surprising considering they had 400 cms or more (14 feet?) And there are huge piles. See beside the church (between the two posts, that's snow that's at least four foot high. There are piles in various parts of the city that are still over 20 foot high.



We're in the old part of Quebec City - behind the ramparts. Yes, Quebec City is a fortified city, surrounded by walls and gates very similar to the Roman walls of York. And the hotel we're staying at was built in 1649 - yes, in the 1600s! And it's beautifully romantic.

Anyway, I have to head down to breakfast and then do some more exploring. There's a beautiful blue sky which promises a great day for our 30th Anniversary! I'll post more probably when I get back.

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...

Hmm, actually they're not, and I'm not either. I'm still running around doing all those last minute chores. So when I read my horoscope today I had to laugh ...

You could be thinking about vacation travel plans today. Of course, the difference between reality and your fantasies may not be significant until you start implementing your ideas. Unfortunately, you probably won't be satisfied with idle daydreaming. You may be eager to go on an adventure, yet you must accept the limitations of your current schedule. Do whatever you can now to make it real down the road.

Today's chores include getting Guitar Hero to the music store to return his rented guitar since the one he's bought/ordered arrived. Getting those last minute food requests Curly and GH had. Gizmo Guy wants to head down to one of the electronic stores and buy a second battery for the video camera he bought yesterday as an anniversary present. And um, ... gee, there was something we had to do - I'll probably remember once we're on the 401 tomorrow.

I wrote another 3500 words yesterday, but won't get any writing done today, or tomorrow, or the next day, or the next. I probably won't be online tomorrow, may not be again until Monday, so don't expect any new posts here until maybe Tuesday - the hotel we're staying at is supposed to have high speed so hopefully I'll have some photos up for you then.

Start of a new month

Okay, so technically the month started yesterday and I missed blogging ...

I have an excuse.

I was having my hair cut and highlighted - it turned out very nicely thank you - and writing - which also turned out very nicely. Another 2,000 words added to my total.

Sam's story is coming along quite nicely. I've signed up for the Romance Divas Writing Month challenge - which is their version of NaNoWriMo except it's May. I'm not sure if I'll be able to achieve the 50K goal since I doubt I'll be able to write 1700+ words a day between next Sunday and next Thursday. In fact I doubt I'll do much writing at all. But it'll keep me accountable to others and force me to keep moving forward. Which I must confess I've not been doing - I've been editing the start since I decided to change my heroine's profession to a more kick-ass one that will add more conflict for the h/h. But I won't have to cut much of what I've already written, just make a few adjustments which I'll do later. I am a little concerned though - the h/h aren't going to meet right away, there's some setting up to do. Which probably isn't great if I plan to market it as an erotica. I think it may end up being more of just a really hot romance. But again, I have to remind myself, finish the darned thing and then see how it looks when I start editing it.

I really need to print that up and frame it over my monitor.