March 31, 2003 -- I'm happy to report that I finished with my revisions on Every Breath You Take! And my critique partner, who has been writing books targeted to Blaze since the inception of the line really liked it!! Yay! Which freed me up to start writing on the new Blaze, Night Fantasy. In fact, I'm already through chapter 3. So both the full manuscript for Every and the proposal for Night Fantasy are going to be heading out to my agent this week.
Unfortunately, in the midst of all this writing, I found out I did not final in the Golden Heart contest. I admit the news is disheartening (and here I tried not to care), but I'm trying to move on. Congratulations to all the finalists, many of whom I count as friends. You can see a list of their names here. And a list of the RITA finalists (published) here.
Happy Birthday to my only true hero, Michael (April 3). Thank you
for for your unwavering support, and for being the love of my life!
March 24, 2003 -- Not much to report this week. I did revise a few more chapters of Every Breath You Take. I spoke to my agent this past week, as well and my partial for that book is on its way to Toronto. She sent it March 17, claiming that we'd have the Luck of the Irish behind us. :) Is it any wonder I love her?
My other big news for the week is that I wrote a synopsis for my second Blaze. Down below I called it Seven Nights, but the working title has since changed to Night Fantasy. Honestly, I still hate the title, but I'll go with it for now. Anyway, you can see more about it in My Books if you are so inclined. I'm actually starting to get very excited about writing it. I should be doing that by the beginning of April if this week's revisions go well and I'm able to finish up with Every Breath You Take.
March 17, 2003 -- This past week I only revised a little due to the fact that I was out of town with my husband for several days. :) However, I did present my first online workshop at the Hearts Through History historical chapter of RWA. It was on "The Great Agent Search" and seemed to go over very well. For any chapter that is interested in hearing this workshop or my one on website development, please contact me.
March 10, 2003 -- Well, not much to report this week. I did manage to revise a few chapters of Every Breath You Take. I'm trying to slow my pace down in the next few months. I've found myself burning out on a fairly consistent basis while working at my usual frenetic pace. I'm hoping that by forcing myself to calm down I'll not only produce better work, but not find myself feeling so useless. There isn't much use sprinting all the time when you're just in a warm-up for the big race, you know?
However, I did also sit down and plot out my next Blaze. I won't say much, but the working title is Seven Nights. I'll be writing up a synopsis in the next few weeks and once my agent sees it, look for more info in the My Books section.
March 3, 2003 -- Well, I had the best of intentions to have a week off, and I did really well until Wednesday. My agent called to tell me how much she liked the proposal (first three chapters and synopsis) I'd sent for my Blaze. I raced through a revision on the first three chapters, rewrote the synopsis and off it went on Friday. It should hit Toronto (the Harlequin headquarters where they do Blaze) some time soon. Cross your fingers for me!
Unfortunately, I also got two rejections on Wednesday. One was from Kensington on Heart of a Wolf, the other was from Avon for A Lady's Desire. The Avon one is the first rejection for Lady since Michelle mailed it out in November, so it got to me a little, but such is the writer's life. I suppose it only takes one that isn't a rejection for everything to work out well in the end.
February 24, 2003 -- Well, I'm happy to report that I have finished my first Blaze manuscript, Every Breath You Take as of Thursday, February 20 at 7:30pm-ish. While I have no idea if it's good, bad or otherwise, I did have a great time writing it. However, it is time for a week off before I dive into revisions and serious plotting of my next Blaze.
February 17, 2003 -- Her Husband's Bed, the partial for Every Breath You Take and the synopsis for Never a Gentleman have all been delivered to my agent, along with all the hopes and dreams that accompany any manuscript into the great wide open. Hopefully she'll like them all (especially the Blaze) and good things will be coming my way soon.
And speaking of "the Blaze", I cranked out another 60 pages this past week, rocketing past the halfway mark. This week? Another 60 page goal. Which will mean if I work hard, I could see THE END to this book by the end of the month... Taxes, the chat I host at Hearts Through History Romance Writers and the workshop I'm presenting at their conference next week not withstanding. :)
Happy Writing week all!
February 10, 2003 -- Yahoo! Here I am, doing my happy dance around my office. I finished my final revision on Her Husband's Bed!! Oh yeah, I'm done. Uh-huh-uh-huh-uh-huh...
OK, I guess that's enough of that. This past week has been filled with pretty much revision, revision, revision, so I'm obviously happy to be done. Now I can put all my energy into working on Every Breath You Take. I spoke to Michelle on the phone this past week and she again expressed her excitement about my branching into category. That kind of enthusiasm is pretty contagious, so I'm planning to put head down and try to plow through this book in record time. I have two hundred pages to write, so it will be kind of fun to see how long it takes to finish it. Of course, this means Never A Gentleman is officially going on hold, but never fear. It will be written, it's just been nudged!! I have so many historicals in line to be pitched right now that having another kind of book to put out in the world seems like a better use of my time at this point.
In other news, my phone call with my darling agent (to steal a phrase from another one of her clients) also gave me the news that Dorchester has promised to look at my Heart of a Wolf within the next couple of weeks, so I'll hopefully be hearing some news... any news... soon!
February 3. 2003 -- Well, it's been a productive week for me! And one with many exciting changes coming on the horizon. First, Michelle contacted Dorchester publishing to do a follow-up on Heart of a Wolf. It was a really glowing email and we'll just have to see where it leads. I'm crossing my fingers.
Also, while updating her on my progress, I mentioned that I'd be working on a contemporary category romance along the lines of a Blaze. Yes, you've heard it here first, the historical writer has branched out into category. Michelle was very excited and asked to see the partial when I'm done. When I send Her Husband's Bed next week, it will be accompanied by my recently completed partial and synopsis for Every Breath You Take, my Blaze. I will probably be putting a bit of information about this work in My Books some time soon, so look for a description there in the next few weeks.
I'm very busy right now, working on this new venture, doing the final revision on Her Husband's Bed and still preparing to write Never a Gentleman, but it's all really good stuff. Here's hoping one of these projects leads to The Call.
January 27, 2003 -- I have finished the first revision on Her Husband's Bed and dramatically reduced my problem of page shortage! The book has really pulled itself together and I found myself actually liking it in spots. This week I'll be focusing on some other issues, like a quick revision of the synopsis and some work on a couple other projects, but then I'll be back for a second bigger revision, then a read-through and then it's off to Michelle!
After completing this, I was able to write the prologue for my next book, Never a Gentleman, so that is on it's way toward completion, as well. The beginning of a book is always such a neat time for me as I try to figure out character motivations and plot points. Writing that first chapter always really solidifies the process for me, turning my labor from a bunch of notes in a couple of notebooks to a real manuscript that will be completed.
In other news, I will be running a weekly chat again! The catch is, you need to be a member of the Hearts Through History chapter of RWA to attend. Click the links to find out more about joining. :) Happy writing all!
January 20, 2003 -- The revisions on Her Husband's Bed are coming along really nicely! Last week, I reached the halfway mark, Chapter 10, with a goal to revise through Chapter 15 for this coming week. I worried at first, but I think I will make my goal of finishing my revision by the end of February.
No news on the submission front, but now that the editors are back to work from the holidays, I'm hoping they'll start sending some responses in soon.
January 13, 2003 -- Well, my new computer arrived mid-week and I have been happily transferring files and getting it all set up! It's just awesome and I'm hoping it will hold me in good stead for a few years and maybe see me through my first book contract. One can hope.
In writing news, I did begin my revisions on Her Husband's Bed last week and have revised through Chapter three already. I'm actually enjoying the story so far and have already added some of the needed pages to reach my target word count. Yay! I've also begun to arrange the plot points for Never A Gentleman, so that book is slowly taking shape in my head and on paper. I'm excited about starting it!
January 6, 2003 -- Well, my New Year has started off well, with me finishing the character sketches for my new book, Never a Gentleman. Serious plotting and arranging is to follow. Check out My Books for more info on this latest endeavor. In other news, today I plan to begin the great revision of Her Husband's Bed, the manuscript I finished around Thanksgiving of 2002.
In other news, you may have noticed the award on the first page of the website. This was given to me by a site called Book Crazy Radio, which is a radio site that streams on the internet 24-hours a day. They are romance friendly and gave me not only a link for best site January 2003, but also informed me they would promote my website on a couple of their show. Very cool! Thanks!
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