Crimson City by Liz Maverick is number 7 on the Waldenbooks' Paperback Romance Bestseller List! Yea, Liz!!!

Huge storms rolled through last night, and about 10pm the power went out. Again. On the plus side, I was getting ready to go to sleep. On the minus side, my alarm is electric. I don't know what time I woke up, but I was worried it was getting close to time to get up, and was trying to figure out what I could look at that would tell me the time. :-( It was while my brain was sluggishly working on this problem that the power returned. I love clocks that set themselves. :-) It was 12:20 and I had hours left to sleep.

Of course, the other minus in all this is that my early night didn't happen. 10pm? Gah! I really needed to be in bed much earlier than that. But I wanted to get more of the galley for Crimson Veil done. I should finish my second run-through today and be able to start the third (and final) reading tomorrow.

I'm kind of frustrated right now. Why do people always argue with me about simple things? I contacted someone because a group that should be showing up on my Yahoo list isn't. She's insisting that I'm on there and that I should check my email. I'm an internet/email addict, there is absolutely, positively no unread email on my computer. There is nothing in my spam filter, and when I check Yahoo Groups, I am still not a member of said group. The really weird thing is the date she said she added me--June 19th. That's impossible since I signed up on the 25th.

Anyway, I need to email her again, but I'm worried that I'll sound as frustrated as I feel. You see, this happens to me all the time, people not believing me when I tell them something that any idiot should know. I don't understand why. What's the lesson here? There must be one since it happens constantly. The thing is, once I can get the other person to actually trust that I know what I'm talking about, they always apologize because I'm right. (nine times out of ten, swear on it). Do I need this aggravation? No. I'm too damn busy to keep emailing and trying to get across the fact that I am not computer illiterate and that I know what the hell I'm talking about. Grrr.

I really didn't mean to go on about this, but maybe if I vent here, I can be nice and polite in my email. I don't want to come across as snotty. I know this is a volunteer position and probably a thankless task, but this is one more event in a string of them, where someone is arguing with me about something I KNOW.

So last night, I'm reading galleys and flip over to watch Wednesday Night Baseball on ESPN. It's supposed to be the Damn Yankees and the Orioles. Sigh. Does anyone in MN give a damn about this game? Only people transplanted from the east coast, I'd bet on it. But ESPN is biased toward the east, and at least it's baseball. But the heavens smile on me and it's raining in Baltimore! Hurrah! The game they cut to is Atlanta and Florida. I'm gleeful! I started following the Braves a few years back and I've been frustrated for two seasons now with the low number of games TBS shows now.

I became excited too quickly. ESPN in their infinite wisdom, starts game hopping. A couple innings of this game, then switch to Philadelphia/Mets, then on to the Angels and the Rangers, then on to CIN/STL. It was impossible to follow any game because they were flipping around faster than a guy with the TV remote in his hand! I finally became fed up enough that I jumped on their website and sent them an email to complain. I'd reached a point where I didn't care which game they showed as long as they would just show one. I received a form letter in reply. Oh, well.

ESPN did flip over to the Braves again at the top of the 8th. Lucky me, I was able to see Atlanta's bullpen fail again and Florida tie the game. We were going into the 11th inning when the power went out. Probably a good thing. :-)

And before I bore y'all any farther, I'm going to sign off and try to compose a friendly email.

MN Weather Report: 66 degrees. The humidity as finally broken and the dew point is 56.

I was late for work yesterday. Punched in at 6am on the dot. I would have been on time if it weren't for that damn train. Very frustrating. Luckily, my boss is really great about this, but I still hate being late. It bothers me! This isn't the part that's worthy of comment since I've managed to be late about once a week for the last month. Nope, the reason I'm mentioning this is that I totally spaced out my tardiness. I always stay and make up the 6 minutes I need to not be tardy. Well, yesterday I punched out at 14:33 and was almost to the Urban Assault Vehicle before I realized I had time to makeup. So the goal is to get to work at least 6 minutes early today. Sigh.

Speaking of my SUV, when I was caught at the traffic light at the bottom of the freeway off-ramp yesterday, I had this little bitty car in front of me. It was ugly, I thought, very boxy for a sports car and very, very tiny. It was an Alfa Romeo Spider something or other. Which had me thinking about how much money the old guy driving it must have paid. Then I was studying the size again, it was like a toy car. I measured him against my vehicle and decided that I could pretty much get him underneath the front bumper of the Urban Assault Vehicle without doing any damage until I hit the cabin of the car. Now that is tiny!

I'm still reading through my galleys of Crimson Veil. Finding more stuff that needs to be fixed. The repetition is making me nuts, and while I take responsibility for some of it, it's not all my fault. Most of it is word choice stuff, but there are a couple of bigger things. Of course, since these are the galleys and we're not allowed to make all that many changes, I figure some of what I'm marking won't be fixed. :-( There's also a couple of run-on sentences that I know I didn't create. If anything, I write too many fragmented sentences. This isn't the first time I've had an editor combine stuff up and do this to me. No reader has ever commented on it--at least that I've seen--but it's frustrating. TACV contains a sentence that is so long, I couldn't remember the beginning half of it by the time I reached the end. :-) I'd laugh, but it's not that funny to me. Anyway, I added a couple of commas to--hopefully--make it more readable since I doubt I can rewrite the whole thing and have the change made.

I'm about halfway through my second read through and still catching stuff. I know I'll catch more on my third and final read through, but will miss mistakes anyway. Since typos, missing letters, missing words, etc., bug the hell out of me, I can only hope the publisher's proofreader catches what I'm missing.

My goal for the day is to go to bed early. It's been three late nights in a row.

MN Weather Report: 72 degrees. Still very humid. Sigh.

The fourth book in the Crimson City series, A Darker Crimson by Carolyn Jewel, is up for preorder at Amazon now! Carolyn has a really cool cover too. You can find out more about her book on her web site.

I feel like the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, you know, the one who's running around saying, "I'm late, I'm late." My problem isn't so much tardiness as just being behind. I have emails stacked up that I need to answer, regular mail piled up that I need to deal with, bookmarks to mail out, and assorted other tasks. I just don't have energy to do any of them. :-( I tend to blame the heat/humidity--or I'd like to anyway--but that wouldn't quite be accurate since this started before then. Maybe it's because I've been so busy at work in addition to busy at home. Shrug.

Anyway, I looked at the calendar this morning and almost shrieked. Why does July 4th seem such a long way off? The long weekend is this weekend! =8-O ARGH!!! I thought I had plenty of time to get through my galleys, but figuring out just how close July was, shook that out of me.

Then there's the RWA conference. Gah! I always have fun once I'm there, and I'm never sorry I went, but getting ready is a PITA. All the damn shopping. Sigh. I despise shopping, but RWA requires new clothes/shoes every year. The only plus is that this time I don't have to worry about flights to Reno and back. I've got confirmed space tickets. They're in coach (Wah!!!!!!), but at least I'll get there and back without having to stay extra days or worry about being bumped.

The highlight of my day yesterday? I ordered note cards with my name on them! :-) I've heard again and again that good stationery is a must. I went looking for nice paper, couldn't find anything that wasn't totally blah, but did find some cute notecards. Since I despise shopping, I went looking online and found these Millennium Cards. There were other style cards I really liked and I had to narrow it down, but these ended up winning.

MN Weather Report: 69 degrees. Still humid.

I found a cool website on today. You go in, click the countries you've visited and it creates a map with those countries highlighted for you. The site is World66.



create your own visited country map

Clearly, I need to travel some more. Unfortunately, I've been using all my vacation time to write. :-/ And I really have spent more time traveling in the US than abroad. I wonder if there's a map to click on the states I've visited?

I shouldn't complain about the weather, but it's so damn humid right now, it's darn near unbearable. One of the DJ's I used to listen to years ago called it EIEIO weather--Extremely Icky, Extremely Icky, Oppressive. I have no air conditioning, and with only about 2 hours of sleep last night, maybe less, the last place I should feel like going is work. But work has AC! And this message will self-destruct before the onset of the next Minnesota winter and anyone who reminds me of this post will be ignored. ;-)

Instead of reading my galleys, like any sane person would be doing, I continued to rip more music onto my MP3 player. I think I have about 2800 songs on there now, maybe a little more, and I'm almost done with my CD collection. This leaves me lots of room for future growth which is a good thing.

I also spent some time adding things to the Crimson City Blog. What can I say? I love playing with web stuff and I have a new playground now. I'm trying to stop. Plus, I had Mika posting yesterday. Um, her voice isn't coming through at all. It's glaringly apparent as I read through galleys. I might be the one writer in the world thinking about writing in third person, then changing it to first person to get a better grip on her heroine's voice. :-/ How weird is that?

BTW, have I mentioned that Conor absolutely refuses to participate despite the fact I signed him up? I'm querying male secondary characters now to see if one of them can be enticed to share the Crimson City side of things. I have one that might be convinced.

I did finally start going through the page proofs around, oh, 4pm or so. I'm hugely relieved that it reads as well as it does. There are a couple of paragraphs that I'm not happy with, but paragraphs as opposed to pages/scenes/chapters is minor. :-) But as I read through I was reminded of just how much I love Mika and Conor. The two of them together are just so...I don't know? Special?

Jake and Cai were sweet together. Ravyn and Damon too, although in a different way. But Mika and Conor are more in some indefinable way. Maybe it's because Conor's so scarred and Mika's so full of life. I don't know, but I have to read through the galleys a few more times before I send them back, so maybe I'll figure it out.

MN Weather Report: 81 degrees. Heat Index: 83 degrees. Very Humid.

You'd think getting my galley copied would be a simple thing. After all, I just wanted one single-sided copy and five or so double-sided. Since I had a coupon for Office Max, that's where I decided to have the job done. And so begins the saga.

Despite arriving there shortly after they opened, they couldn't have the copies done until 4pm. I'm like, huh? There was only one guy working, I'd have to come back at 4pm. Okay. Seemed kind of silly to me since they have multiple machines and all he has to do is put the originals in the feeder, set the features and hit start. The copier will do the rest. But I can be patient. I mean one day isn't that big a deal, right? And I have plenty of other stuff to do, like play online mini-golf.

Then, about 3:15, the phone rings. The copies won't be done until tomorrow. By noon. Now this simply does not work for me--at all. I can't lose another half a day on going through them. So I say to him, can you make the double-sided copies off the single-sided copy and let me have the originals? No, of course not because he went through the originals and turned every other page so that it would copy correctly.

I then very calmly explained that he had galleys and that the publisher only gave me X number of days to proof them. I couldn't wait till noon on Sunday (if they were even done by then!) So he said he'd see what he could do. Whew!

I actually ended up with my copies in my hands around 5pm. Hurrah! The first thing I did was check the galley to make sure all the pages were there. They were. Next I looked at my copies. Because he spent so much time turning every other page, all the double-sided copies are wrong. Sigh. Now, whoever is reviewing them is going to have to turn them to read them. If he'd just copied it exactly as I'd given it to him, it would have been perfect. Where did the idea come from that the pages had to be turned?

Of course, since it costs like $12 for each copy, I'm not having the job redone, but it's irritating. And no doubt it'll be irritating for the people who get these copies of TACV. I just have to shake my head. If I could have made the copies myself, I could have had the job done in maybe an hour and the pages would have been set up properly for easy reading. Just goes to show you, never let a copy expert do the job of a clerk. We clerks know how to get the job done right and quickly. :-) I used to work in Technical Publications--I have experience with copying.

In other news, I received my official "you won the Golden Quill" email yesterday night. Hurrah! Now I feel all official. And I'm going to get a plaque! Maybe this isn't a big deal to some people, but I never received trophies or plaques when I was growing up. Oh, sure, I have my National Honor Society pin, and I think I have a ribbon from 4th grade when my softball team finished fourth, but no cool hardware. The idea of a plaque leaves me ecstatic! It's going up on the wall of my computer room the instant I get it. :-)

I was playing with TypoGenerator again while I was waiting for my copies. After all, I can only play so many rounds of mini-golf, and this time, I was doing Mika's name. I'm only going to post one of the results.



MN Weather Report: 77 degrees. Humid--very humid.

Yesterday was my day for things that were semi-surprising. It kind of started on Thursday, when I received an email from an online friend congratulating me on winning the Golden Quill. I was like, huh? I did? I had no idea. She was a finalist as well, so I'd assumed she'd received an email and that mine would be arriving, but it never did.

So Friday (yesterday), I'm paging through my RWR, and there, in a full-page ad at the front of the magazine, is the Golden Quill winners listed. And there is The Power of Two listed as the winner for best SF/Fantasy/Futuristic. That was a really cool semi-surprise. :-) The information isn't up on the website yet, so I'm not posting a link. Even though I saw it in black and white in the RWR, it still doesn't really feel official yet, you know? I think if I had an email telling me I'd won, or if the winners were posted on the website, I'd feel more comfortable. Weird. I know.

My second semi-surprise came when I arrived home from work. My galleys had come. Now I was expecting them, so it wasn't a complete surprise, I just thought they'd be a little later since the revision work was done so late. My cover flats were there as well, so now I have more than one cover flat--HURRAH!

I did a quick reading-scan of the galley and it doesn't look too hideous on first glance. I'll have to read more carefully, of course, with red pen in one hand and post it notes on the other. The major thing that I noticed is the epilogue. My editor wasn't happy with the way I closed the story and he asked me to try again. So I did. Obviously, however, version 2 was worse than version 1 because the galley ends with the first one, not the revised one. Only now that I reread it, it just seems so abrupt. :-( I don't like it and I'm trying to come up with one or two (maybe three) sentences to close it more smoothly. GAH! There's not much room to play because this is the galley.

The big plus is that the other changes seem to have been incorporated smoothly enough which is a minor miracle considering how little time I had to do everything.

There's a letter with the galleys from the production assistant that I found amusing. He's my third production assistant in three books, so he doesn't know me, but I still thought it was humorous. He wrote something along the lines of: if I want my changes incorporated, I need to get the galley back to him by July 8th. If he'd worked with me before, he'd have just said to have the galleys back by that date because I'm obsessive.

What he is going to get back is a galley with a post it note on each page where I found something that needs to be changed. There will be comments on the post it notes. He will also receive a spreadsheet with all changes listed in order by page number. It will have the way it is in the galley and what it should be changed to. The information on the spreadsheet will also be in various colors depending on how important the change is to me. :-) Because it's the galley, not all changes will be made, so I think it's vital that production be aware of the order in which to make the changes.

I keep telling people, it's not easy to be obsessive/compulsive. :-)

MN Weather Report: 76 degrees. The humidity dropped, but it's windy today.

Check out the really cool Crimson City blog!

It's just up and running as of this week. I forgot to mention it this morning. Ah, well, my brain is rusted up from typing corrosion data from non-routine maintenance cards.

Either I'm psychic, my coworkers are too predictable or one of them is reading this blog. The inbox was turned sideways about 2 hours ago. I still haven't touched it. :-)

Crimson City by Liz Maverick, the first book in the Crimson City series is shipping from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.com. It's so exciting to see the series finally kick off!

And with no transition whatsoever, I move on to talking about my coworkers at the day job. There's a inbox away from my desk that I have to check. I get to log stuff in and out. Whoo hoo. Anyway, where it's situated is the perfect height for my guys to spread manuals out and lean as they talk to people, so the box frequently gets knocked askew. And being the obsessive/compulsive person that I am, I continually straighten it, making sure that it's lined up just right.

For a couple of months now, I've been pretty sure that some smart-aleck has been moving it purposely to irk me. I've been trying to figure out who, but I suspect it might be a team working together because my prime suspects have been off on days where it's been messed up. Of course, there are a few that seem so innocent, but none of them really are.

Last week, I started a new tactic. When I saw the inbox slightly out of alignment, I ignored it. Yes, it bugs me when I see it, but it's away from my desk, so I don't have it constantly in my view. After a day or two with my not fixing the box, whoever it is (or the team of whoevers), must have decided that I didn't notice that slight movement. (Yeah, right! Snort! I would notice an 1/8th of an inch.) So they moved it more. A lot more. It's edge is falling off the table top now. I still haven't fixed it. :-) I can only imagine what they'll do next. Maybe put it sideways?

MN Weather Report: 81 degrees. Humid. Still.

I have to share. One of my engineers showed up for work today wearing a yellow, polo-type shirt; baggy, greenish-khaki shorts that reach his knees; dark socks scrunched around his ankles; and dark khaki tennis shoes. =8-O I almost made a smart-aleck remark, but I restrained myself. He looked like an British archeology professor (my vision of that stereotype) ready to lead an expedition of grad students to the dig. All he needed was a pith helmet!

Definitely a Glamour Don't!

Romancing the Blog had a guest post yesterday from agent Deidre Knight. She was talking about why there are so many similar books out on the market place. (See "A Parade of the Exact Same Thing" posted 22 Jun 05.) In her column, Ms Knight says:

We're all just trying to find a way to make books stand out in an extremely sluggish book-buying economy, but that said I happen to believe that risk-takers rise to the top. I also believe that if you mold every work to the exact same shape (or perhaps I'm being overly generous, and that's just pencils being sharpened as they're applied to the bottom line), then you've lost the ability to say something truly innovative. And when you cease to be innovative in this business, you cease to find the pulse of your readership--that next really big thing. All you're doing is mimicking the last really big thing, which will obviously work for a period of time, but will eventually run its course. "Publish to the market" is how I've heard this philosophy described at one company. "We must publish to the market, and we can't ignore the dictates of the market."

This has been my endless frustration as a reader, the sameness of books. I've been complaining, moaning, wailing about this for over 8 years now as most of my online friends can tell you. I remember when romance was the hottest it had ever been as far as sales go, I remember when readers used to RUSH to the bookstore the day the books were released because they couldn't wait to buy them. I remember and I long for that time.

What's so different between then and now? The variety of books offered. There was everything a romance reader could hope for, and the more excited we became about books, the more we bought.

I rarely see that excitement online any longer. Oh, sure, now and then there will be a book that readers are all aflutter about, but it's sure not with the frequency it was back in the "old" days. (I'm talking 1993 here, folks.) I promise, though, that I'm not going off on this topic again. I don't feel like it, but I still miss the days where I would help unpack the books at the store just to get my hands on them immediately (and I've never worked in a bookstore.)

What I wanted to talk about was my experience with this. I've touched on it before, I know, but it bears repeating in this context. I have this paranormal proposal that has been rejected by everyone and their cousin--almost. It has a really kick ass heroine, but that's Ryne's issue. She has something to prove, although eventually she'll figure out that the only person she has to prove it to is herself. If I ever get to write this story again. Ryne is a troubleshooter for a society of magic users and she rescues the hero. So far so good, right? Nothing too unusual or out of the ordinary, right?

Wrong.

For 10 pages the reader knows what the hero needs to be rescued from before Ryne saves him, and the situation is over. Yet in 90% of my rejections, it's that one element that has been cited as the reason. I have a ton of comments that go, "the writing is wonderful, but I can't wrap my mind around this element. I'd be happy to look at something else by Patti."

I did have one editor who flat out rejected it because she wasn't interested in the romance and another editor who rejected it because she wanted more mainstream paranormal (she did, however, give me a fabulous rejection. If I have to hear no, I at least like to hear the good stuff. :-)

This element, it's not that different from stuff I've seen in other romance books. It's just slightly left of normal, but you'd have thought I'd killed the hero or something. I confess, I was totally floored by this reaction. The first time it happened, I figured okay, the editor just didn't like something in the book, couldn't put her finger on what it was and choose that. After, I don't know, the sixth time it happened, I have to believe it actually is that one different idea.

Ten pages. The reader only knows about it for 10 manuscript pages before the heroine rescues him and it's over with.

Does this mean I'm going to play it safe? Probably not. I write the characters that are talking to me and if they have stories that haven't been done a 100 times before, so be it.

I'm dying, though, to write the rest of Ryne's story. I had just finished writing Power of Two. I was burnt out to the max after the deadline from hell and months of only about 4 to 5 hours of sleep a night and the last thing I should have been doing is writing. I should have been resting! But Ryne showed up about a month before I was done with TPOT, and while she never interfered as I was writing, when I wasn't, she was talking. And talking. And talking. She told me all about her people. She gave me so much information that my world building is the strongest I've ever done in any book so far. So the day after I mailed TPOT off to NYC, I was hunched over my keyboard--totally fried--but typing the beginning of Ryne's story.

Once I had the first 4 pages down, I was able to rest, but as soon as I had recovered sufficiently, I was back writing it. I've never felt so driven before in my entire life to get a story down, and believe me, I've had other stories I've really loved and felt compelled to write. This was like a mission or something. :-) It's because of the way I was so obsessed by this story, that I know it was meant to be written, meant to sell and meant to reach people. It has to. Why else would this happen? I believe the universe has a plan for this book, and I'm trying to trust in the perfect timing of the universe, but it becomes discouraging at times. There's so much cool stuff here. Ryne's thinking she has something to prove, Ryne's relationship with her sister and with the hero, among other things.

Can you hear my passion about the story as I write about it? I really want to work on this story. It doesn't help that the first scene is in the cemetery across from the building I work in, and every time I look out the window in the ladies room, I think of it.

The universe has perfect timing. I'm repeating that like my mantra. :-) And different is good!!!!

MN Weather Report: 80 degrees. Heat Index: 84 degrees. (On our way to 98 with a heat index of 105!)

I whipped out my calculator this afternoon and figured out approximately how many more pages I'd have to write to reach 450. (I'm budgeting my time on the WIP for 450 pages instead of 400 because I always go over anyway. If I actually finish the story in less pages, then I'll be ahead.) Took out my calendar and wrote out where I need to be on page count on which day. I can finish this story by the end of September--even taking a week off for the RWA conference--but I'm going to have to push. No more online mini-golf!

The thing that's going to mess up my oh, so pretty schedule is galleys. Those should be coming for Crimson Veil either next week or the one after, and since I read through them three times looking for mistakes, this is going to eat up pretty much a full week. Which means I'm going to have to make up the time somewhere. :-/

I didn't get much writing done today. I had to read through the tweaked promo thing and tweak the tweaks, then send it back. I had just finished and had opened chapter 6 in the WIP when Loud Vendor Guy wheeled into work. Of course, LVG could not logon to his computer without calling his company's IT help desk. He calls them *every* time he tries to logon to his computer--almost at least. Needless to say by the time they fixed his little problem, my lunch was over. I think I wrote 3 sentences. Sigh. I really hate it when the conference room is in use during lunch. I need the quiet to write.

MN Weather Report: (you know you're dying to hear it!) 89 degrees. Heat Index: 91 degrees.

I finished reading through everything I've already written for the WIP late last night. For me late is around 10pm. :-) I was lying on my bed, laptop propped up on my knees when I finished, but I did make it through all 127 pages. I have a general idea how I want to end this chapter, so now it's just a matter of getting there. I also have a target date that I want to finish this story by, and I need to work out a schedule to meet this self-imposed, early deadline. I'm shooting for 2 months before the actual, for-real deadline. We'll see if I can do it. I was struggling to get my head out my demons when last I worked on the WIP.

There was an article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune yesterday about the use of smilies. Seeing my little emoticon in the paragraph above made me think of it. First, let me say that I find it difficult to believe that anyone cares enough about smilies to get bent out of shape about others using them, but apparently there are. :-/ I probably use more emoticons than I should, but I can assure you that I most certainly do not dot the i in my name with a smiley face or a heart or any other character. I tend to agree with the woman who commented that the emoticons are a good way to get tone across since online communication lacks body language cues.

I'm very tired today and I have a headache. The hot, humid weather has been making my sinuses unhappy, and in turn, they're making me unhappy. Only in Minnesota can you go from 50 and rain to 90 and sticky in a matter of days. :-( And since I don't have air conditioning, I really am affected by it.

MN Weather Report: A sticky 69 degrees on our way to a sticky 91 degrees.

Summer Solstice is my second least favorite day of the year. The only day I dislike more is the Autumnal Equinox, and since I whine about the weather all winter, y'all can guess why. Summer Solstice makes my list because it signals the end of summer. Yes, it's true. As far as I'm concerned summer ends on June 21st. :-)

It's not a totally irrational belief. Before Summer Solstice, the days keep getting longer. After Solstice, the days get shorter again. And each day that the sun sets earlier signals that we're one step closer to winter.

So on that cheery note, how about a Summer Solstice Quiz?

My score on the quiz:

Good Day, Sunshine! The Summer Solstice Quiz

You scored 80 out of a possible 100 points.

How bright are you? Compare your score to the ranges below. 0-20:Candle. 40-60:Halogen lamp. 80-100:The sun!

I made a stupid boo boo. :-(

Happy Summer Solstice!

MN Weather Report: 66 degrees

So many people who aren't writers themselves think because I'm published, that means I'm good at writing anything--no matter what it is. I only wish it were true. For example, I'm completely lousy at writing any kind of business letter. I'm also not real good with what to write inside cards. I usually end up saying something totally predictable and not very fresh.

My project for the last five days has been to write a promotional piece for Crimson Veil. All I need is 500 words or thereabouts (about 2 pages, double-spaced). I figured my biggest problem would be figuring out what to cut to come in at the required number of words. Wrong! My biggest problem was getting more than 200 words. I surprised myself.

I finally managed to bang out a decent first draft yesterday, but not without some sweat. I have one huge problem that I know about--the transition between the second to last paragraph and the last paragraph. It's pretty much non-existent. That will be my project for today. I need to finish this as soon as I can even though I never received a deadline.

One thing I've really learned is that when you don't do a particular kind of writing for a while, that ability seems to fade. Like advertising copywriting. :-) I majored in that in college, and I believe I was more than decent at it. At that time. Not using that set of skills has atrophied them and any kind of promo writing now is excruciatingly difficult. And writing blurbs for my own books??? Forget about it! Of course, I am hampered by the fact that I think every plot thread is important and so I end up with these monster blurbs. Thank God for editors. :-) I can leave the cover copy to them.

With a little luck, I'll finish this promo piece, including polishing, today and then be able to get back to my WIP. Of course, I'm hampered by my usual Sunday night insomnia. :-( What is with that thing???

MN Weather Report: 75 humid degrees.

This is the last of my playing on Typogenerator. These are for The Power of Two.

Yes, I'm still playing with TypoGenerator. And yes, I have gotten some writing done. :-) Here are more results for Through a Crimson Veil.

My oil change yesterday ended up costing over a hundred dollars. :-( It seems my serpentine belt was worn and while the guy thought it would last another 3000 miles, he couldn't be sure. Sigh. Since the last thing I want is to be stuck on the side of the freeway, I had a new one put in. Three hours later, I finally got out of there and got home. By then, though, the entire day was shot and I didn't write anything.

I did, however, find a really cool site. :-) Typogenerator. You put in some text and then click and wait. This is what I got.

This one is my name. I also put in Through a Crimson Veil and got this image below. Not really legible, but still cool.

I also received an email with the really cool PRISM finalist logo for my website. I put that up right away, and then decided since I wasn't writing, I would figure out this CSS stuff that I learned in my class. I never did figure it out and I don't understand why I don't get it the way I understood HTML. I find it frustrating and not intuitive at all.

I need to get writing.

MN Weather Report: 75 degrees.

Why can't the bugs just stay outside?

Last night, as I'm getting ready for bed in the bathroom, I look into the hallway and see THAT spider. You know, the one I missed killing the other morning. I swear, this thing is a mutant, monster spider. This is Minnesota, we don't get the huge bugs like they do down south, but this thing was the size of a Buick. Or at least bigger than a quarter. ;-)

I'm barefoot, so no stepping on him. There are no shoes in the bathroom. I have ant and spider spray, but that's not in the bathroom either and I'd have to step OVER this HUGE spider to get it. That isn't happening. Uh-uh. So that leaves hair spray, my usual weapon of choice when it comes to slaying bugs. Only I can't find any damn hair spray! =8-O

I had it when I had the wasp problem. Oohh. I bet it's still in my bedroom from wasp duty. Okay, well, I have a ton of hair spray, I have to have another can in the bathroom. Somewhere. I keep one eye on the mutant spider as I look around, trying to find some. How humiliating. Trapped in the bathroom by a spider blocking the doorway. Sigh. Anyway, I locate two cans of scrunch spray on one of the shelves. In the back. I knock over bars of soap, trying to arm myself. Finally, I have a weapon. I take the cap off, shake it up and take a test shot into the sink. Yes! A spider is going down.

I don't know why I never remember that spray shoots better when it's held parallel to the floor, not pointing at the floor. Do I need to tell you that the spray sputtered before it fired? Do I need to tell you that the little bit that landed on the mutant spider probably wasn't enough to kill it? Do I need to tell you that the thing ran for cover before I could discharge enough hair spray to cause it fatal injury? No, I didn't think so.

Anyway, there's a mutant spider loose in the house and he must die. I hate spiders. Not as much as I hate wasps, but I spiders are high on the list of bugs I hate. (Yes, I know they're not really bugs, but as far as I'm concerned, they are. Ick!)

Found my hair spray in my bedroom where it's been since the wasp episodes.

I slept really late today. Now I need to get showered so I can take the SUV in for an oil change. Then, when I get home, I have to do laundry and write. I seriously, really, truly need to start kicking some butt on the writing. You know what I've discovered about myself? I think I do better on short deadlines. I procrastinate too much otherwise. How sad is that? Of course, it is hard to get into the new story when I keep getting interrupted with stuff for Crimson Veil.

MN Weather Report: 78 beautiful degrees.

Working in the airline industry has been on my mind a lot this week. Once, long before I hired on, it used to be a good, stable job. In the time I've been with the airline, it's been anything but stable. There's always some crisis, either fuel prices are high or there's a recession and people aren't flying or some other thing going on. Things have become really horrible since 9/11.

So how did I get to work for an airline when I majored in advertising in college? It seemed like a good idea at the time. I was out of college, needed a full time job with health insurance, and I loved airplanes and flying. I figured I'd get my foot in the door and then work my way into the airline's advertising department. I was hired in Revenue Accounting, which is also known as Hell On Earth, and I nearly quit before my four month probationary period came to an end. I hated that job so much, I literally became sick to my stomach every morning when the alarm went off. Fortunately (or unfortunately as the case might be), after 11 months, I moved to a better department, one where I didn't hate going in. I eventually ended up in Tech Ops, which I enjoy and here I am in 757 Engineering.

Okay, so why do I stay now? Inertia is at work, that and five weeks of vacation. There is no way I could go back to only two weeks. I need that time off to write too much. My ultimate goal is to write full time, so I figure I'm going to stay until I'm laid off or I finally start making enough money to quit the day job.

This week, working for the airline has been on my mind a lot. (To get back to my original premise.) Since 9/11, airline employees have become somewhat like tsunami victims. The first wave hit, then things seemed to stabilize, we went down to the beach to check it out, and wave number two came in. Repeat the incoming waves over and over and over for nearly four years. We have the same kind of shell-shocked reaction as disaster survivors. Every time things seem to be quiet, that maybe we can relax and just work, in comes another tidal wave.

And on Wednesday, wave number 10,894 hit shore. Six hundred more mechanics received their layoff notices. (Yes, this does affect me directly because the clerical support personnel for these mechanics will be/were also laid off and they can bump. I should be okay, I hope, but...)

My mind works in really odd ways, I'm the first to admit that. The project I've been working on for the last month or so has involved databasing non-routine maintenance work. The check package I'm working on was in hangar August 2001--pre 911. As I'm looking at these cards, I glance at the employee number and I think, well, he's probably gone. And I start wondering about some of these guys, what they're doing now, how they're surviving since being laid off.

Like I said, working for the airline now is like surviving a natural disaster that just doesn't stop. I think we're all numb now. The first few waves of layoffs caused a lot more reaction, now it's like, well, here we go again. I feel bad for the people affected by this current wave. But I'd just like some stability back, some sense that I can come to work without this niggling stress at the back of my brain.

MN Weather Report: 57 degrees.

I overslept again. At least today, I have enough time for a quick fly through the internet, but boy, not that much time. I think switching to this new radio station for the alarm may have been a mistake. It's called Smooth Jazz and it must affect me the same way Classical music does--it relaxes me enough to keep sleeping. :-(

What kind of makes this funny is that I napped yesterday afternoon. I haven't done this in about forever, but I was just so tired. I slept for about 2 hours, and when I woke up, I drowsily looked at the clock. It said it was 8. I thought it was 8am and leaped out of bed, ready to call in and say I'd overslept, but I'd be there as soon as I could. Then I realized that it was 8pm. I didn't have to rush anywhere. It was a huge relief. Now look. I'm flying through this post as fast as I can type. :-(

MN Weather Report: 57 degrees.

I'm happy to report that there have been no new wasp sightings for a couple of weeks now. Hurrah! And to make me even happier, I haven't seen an ant in about 2-3 days either. Thank you Raid ant traps! I was going to happy dog dance, but this morning I saw a spider the size of a Buick run across my bedroom floor. Since it was about 15 minutes ago, and I'd barely had coffee, I was slow. I grabbed a shoe and tried to whack him, but he disappeared by my dresser, waiting to pounce at his leisure. :-( I hate spiders. Not quite as much as wasps, but they're high on the list.

You know, I can't figure out when it happened or what the deal is, but I've got this Vulcan eyebrow thing happening--just with my right eyebrow. No matter how many times I smooth down that brow, the next time I glance in the mirror, the Mr. Spock look is back. :-( What's up with this? I did buy some eyebrow shaper gel stuff, but it's packed in my toiletry bag. I guess I should buy a second one to keep handy. I don't look good as a Vulcan. :-/

Writing has not been wildly productive. I cut everything I wrote this week and started over yesterday. I may cut everything I wrote yesterday and start over a second time. I can't get a handle on this h/h right now, and I'm sure it's because I'm still immersed in Mika and Conor. I didn't have time to make my list of things to do in this book, but I think I'll try to work on it today and see if that helps. It's very frustrating because I know Kendall and Wyatt are there, they're just not talking to me right now.

MN Weather Report: 64 degrees.

I overslept this morning. Not just a little either. Usually when I do this, I wake up early enough to still read email and have coffee even if I can't do the rest of my morning routine. Today, I only had enough time to chug a cup of coffee and hop in the shower. I hate days that start out like this. :-(

Checked email from work and saw that I was inundated by spam. Sigh. What a waste of pixels. Apparently, though, this is big business. There was an article in the paper here about a week and a half ago about some local guy who made millions by spamming people about prescription drugs. No wonder we can't halt the spread of spam, people are actually responding to this crap. :-( Who are they and how do we stop them???

Of course, the one email I was waiting for didn't come. Now I'm wondering if it made it where it was supposed to go. With spam filters in place, it's easy for legitimate email to get caught. Then there are the vagaries of technology--sometimes things just plain don't work the way they're supposed to. Or maybe this person hasn't checked their inbox yet. Not everyone is an internet addict like me. Or maybe they read the email and plan to respond when they have time. Look at me, I'm obsessing already. Yikes!

MN Weather Report: 63 degrees with almost 100% humidity.

Some preliminary results are posted for Carter Nipper's survey of readers and writers about blogging. Some interesting info. To check it out, go to his blog.

The survey is still live. To participate, Click Here.

Maybe chick fights aren't your style. You're someone who prefers a more sedate game. Why not try Mini Golf? It only took me 8 holes to figure out I was shooting backward (I had a hell of a carom thing going on) and I read the instructions. Yellow line goes the direction you want to fire, golf club behind the ball.

Have fun!

I may have mentioned before that I have a heck of a time sleeping on Sunday nights. Always have. So I spent my sleepless hours last night obsessing about TACV. I know what brought this on, and I do know better. I guess I'm just a slow learner. Anyway, I was worrying about the end of the book.

I always get such opposite responses. I've mentioned this before, that I'll see somewhere online someone saying how much they disliked something I did in one of my books, and that same week, I'd get an email from another reader telling me how much they loved that very thing. If I could only get a consensus, I'd know what to work on. Sigh.

In any case, this opposite response thing extends to professionals too. My agent thought I needed to add a little something to the last part of the book to make it as strong as the start of the story. My editor thought I started off slow, but he liked what I did at the end and wished I could have set more in Orcus. Because of the tight time frame I had on revisions, though, I didn't get much of a chance to work on anything that wasn't in my revision letter. I did rewrite chapter 15, and I'm hoping that helped.

I just wish that I would get a majority opinion on something. If 75% of people who read my work would agree, I swear I'd read some books on how to improve and try to fix my deficiencies, but it just never works that way for me. At my first RWA book signing, I had someone come up and tell me how suspenseful they thought the opening was in RF. Five minutes later, I had someone tell me how ho hum they thought my opening was, but that they were glad they kept reading. I've seen comments that the last half of RF sucked, I've received comments that the last half of RF was the best part of the book. Subjective. And split evenly. So I just keep trying to improve what I think needs work.

And honestly, people wonder why writers are neurotic? Huh? How can we not be?

Anyway, I didn't mean this to be my sole topic of conversation today, but I'm tired and it tends to be easier for me to worry like this when I'm sleepy.

MN Weather Report: 69 degrees.

OMG, this is just too much fun! I know, I should be writing, but how could I resist beating up Paris Hilton or JLo? Being a peace-loving kind of gal, I didn't expect to enjoy this so much. If you want to hold your own prize fight, visit Celebrity Girl Fight and have at it.

And I have been writing today. It's probably not as smooth as I'd like, but I still wrote pages.

Check out this LINK and enter your birthday. You'll get some info about yourself, some of it relating to numerology. Here's some of what I was told.

You were born on a Thursday
under the astrological sign Capricorn.
Your Life path number is 3.

3
The number 3 Life Path is one that emphasizes expression, sociability, and creativity as the lesson to be learned in this life. Here we are apt to find the entertainers of the world, bright, effervescent, sparkling people with very optimistic attitudes. A truly gifted 3 possesses the most exceptional creative skills, normally in the verbal realm, writing, speaking, acting, or similar endeavors.

The lesson to be learned with a 3 life path is that of achievement through expression. The bright side of this path stresses harmony, beauty and pleasures; of sharing your creative talents with the world. Capturing your capability in creative self-expression is the highest level of attainment for this life path.

The characteristics of the 3 are warmth and friendliness, a good conversationalist, social and open. A good conversationalist both from the standpoint of being a delight to listen to, but even more importantly, one who has the ability to listen to others. Accordingly, the life path 3 produces individuals who are always a welcome addition to any social situation and know how to make others feel at home.

The creative imagination is present, if sometimes latent, as the 3 may not be moved to develop his talent. The approach to life tends to be exceedingly positive, however, and your disposition is almost surely sunny and open-hearted. You effectively cope with all of the many setbacks that occur in life and readily bounce back for more. It is usually easy for you to deal with problems because you can freely admit the existence of problems without letting them get you down. You have good manners and seem to be very conscious of other people's feelings and emotions. Life is generally lived to the fullest, often without much worry about tomorrow. You are not very good at handling money because of a general lack of concern about it. You spend it when you have it and don't when you don't.

On the negative side, a 3 may be so delighted with the joy of living that the life becomes frivolous and superficial. You may scatter your abilities and express little sense of purpose. The 3 can be an enigma, for no apparent reason you may become moody and tend to retreat. Escapist tendencies are not uncommon with the 3 life path, and you find it very hard to settle into one place or one position. Guard against being critical of others, impatient, intolerant, or overly optimistic.

Typically, the life path 3 gives an above-average ability in some art form. This can encompass painting, interior decorating, landscaping, crafts, writing, music, or the stage, or all of the above. You are apt to be a happy, inspired person, constantly seeking the stimuli of similar people. Your exuberant nature can take you far, especially if you are ever able to focus your energies and talents.

Some of it isn't accurate. I'm pretty shy so not particularly social or invited to do a lot of things by others. Which kind of makes me feel bad, you know? It goes all the way back to grade school and always being picked last to be on the teams. I'd at least like an invitation even if the other person is sure I wouldn't be interested. Oh, well, I'll feel sorry for myself another day. I need to get back to work.

It's nearly noon, I've barely finished my coffee and it's a beautiful day here in MN. Hurrah! We've been deluged with rain for a month and a half and seeing the sun (and on a WEEKEND, no less) is a miracle. I don't feel like writing, I want to be outside getting some of this rare sunshine, but I seriously have to get back to work on Kendall and Wyatt.

I went to my local RWA chapter meeting yesterday (Midwest Fiction Writers) and it was a small group. The meeting was quick as well, but I'm glad I went. I also got a haircut yesterday and ripped a lot of CDs. Um, I'm still finding music I didn't know I owned. I guess it's been a while since I've played some of this music. I'm finishing up my rock artists, then I'll move on to country music.

I love my MP3 player and the ability to carry so much music with me in one small device. It's absolutely wonderful because I don't have to guess what kind of mood I'll be in and pick a CD that I think I'll want to listen to. What if I picked dance music when what I really wanted to listen to was heavy metal? Now it doesn't matter (Or it won't once I finish ripping all my CDs and loading the music to the MP3 player). Whatever mood I'm in, the music is available. Hurrah!

In a complete veer off in subject, I've decided there isn't enough baseball on television. I used to be able to count on TBS and WGN to broadcast a ton of games, but WGN fell off the bandwagon a few years ago and TBS last year. Do they not understand that I like to write with a ball game on? (sound muted) And what's with this lack of names on the back of uniforms? The damn Yankees are arrogant enough to believe everyone knows them, but what's up with the Cubs? Hardly any of their games are on WGN any more and they got rid of so many players from last year, that I can't figure out who's who.

So back to writing. And Kendall and Wyatt. Sigh. I am so NOT feeling like writing, but it's definitely time to get back to work. I've had a week and a half off--more or less--since finishing Crimson Veil revisions. I should be rested up and raring to go. I'm not. Sigh.

MN Weather Report: 73 beautiful, sunny degrees with a light wind and low humidity.

A friend who knows how much I love shoes, sent me an email with pictures of some of the ugliest (and most unbelievable) shoes I have ever seen. GAH! I sure hope these are fetish shoes and not the latest fashion trend. The email claimed the styles were from Japan and Italy. I'll let you be the judge of how hideous these shoes are.


Ballerinas end up in permanent pain from standing on point. What was the designer of this shoe thinking???



At least these have a wedge...toe?



Lace on with some ankle support. Maybe some women need that with an 8 inch heel. :-/



Gives new meaning to the song lyrics: "one of these days these boots are going to walk all over you." OUCH!



Looks like a kind of boot/shoe combination for the woman who can't make up her mind.



Do you think she'd fall over if she leaned back a little too far? Yikes!



For that special night out, a woman wants boots with glitter/sparkle to catch attention. Like these boots wouldn't do that on their own.


And finally, the star of this show. This pair gives me hope that these are fetish shoes and not fashion wear:


Horsie boots! Whoa there, Nellie!

I was talking to a friend last night, and we were discussing her story. One of the questions I asked her was whose story is it? The hero's or the heroine's? I don't know why, but it seems like once a writer knows the answer to this, it becomes a little bit easier to write.

Once, I used to believe that a book could belong to both the h/h. Ravyn's Flight was meant to be a 50/50 split between Ravyn and Damon. But a funny thing happened as I was writing--the focus ended up on Ravyn. Oh, sure, Damon still had his issues. They colored his actions, weighed on him and they were raised in the story, but it was Ravyn who did the most changing.

Maybe that's what it comes down to, which character needs to change the most--at least in their perspective of themselves. In RF, maybe the focus was on Ravyn because her self-perspective was more easily changed. Or maybe the circumstances forced her self-image to shift and that was why the story became hers. Damon's issues were something he'd need counseling for and probably would never completely go away.

In The Power of Two the story was always Cai's. Again, Jake had his own issues, his own reasons to hold back, but it was Cai who changed the most during the course of the story. She gained confidence, both in herself and in her ability to meet challenges. In a lot of ways, she finished growing up. Yeah, she'd matured earlier than most people in some ways, but in others, she had work to do. She did it in TPOT.

The WIP (Work In Progress) is Kendall's book. This is the first story I'm writing that has a hero without any major issues. :-) Wyatt grew up in a loving family, he's well-grounded and he's totally got his head on straight. It's Kendall who has a messed up perspective, but that comes from the way she was raised--mostly. Luckily for her, Wyatt doesn't give up easily.

My two connected paranormal stories (as yet unsold) are both heroine-centered stories as well. Especially the first book. Ryne feels she has something to prove and she doesn't even realize half of what she's up against. Of course, when it comes right down to it, she'll discover that the only person she needs to prove something to is herself. I really want to be writing this book. I set the first scene in the cemetery I can see from the windows at work, and whenever I look outside, I think of Ryne and Deke.

I do have some stories that belong to the hero. Through a Crimson Veil might be mostly in Mika's POV (point of view), but it's Conor's book. He's the one who needed to change the most. Mika was pretty well balanced and centered before the start of the story, although she did change some during the course of the book as she understood what loving someone else as much as she loved Conor meant for her.

My romantic suspense proposal is the hero's story too. Poor Tyler. He's so burnt out, so ready for this part of his life to end, but he has to complete one more mission. It's the assignment that might cost him what's left of his soul--and it's the job that brings Sloan into his life. She's cynical and wounded too. She's cut herself off from her family to a large degree even though she loves them and she's a little short on trust, but it's definitely Tyler's book. This story is calling to me loudly too. I'm going to have to squeeze in time to finish revamping this proposal. I think the prologue and chapter one are done, but it's chapters two and three that need work. And the synopsis. Sigh. I hate writing the darn things, but I like having the framework to write with once I'm working on the book.

MN Weather Report: 70 degrees.

As I wound my way through the neighborhood to the house, I heard the sound of chain saws in the distance. Amazing what that storm did. Trees everywhere around me were down--I saw even more than what I did the day before--and people were working to remove them. I hate seeing so many trees die, but what can you do? Mother Nature took them out in just a matter of moments.

Anyway, I had coffee this morning and I get to post to the blog from home. Hurrah! Electricity--and all the things we do with it--is something we take for granted. Until we lose it.

I heard from my editor and he said that he thought the revisions for TACV turned out well. I'm really glad he let me know because I've had a couple of sleepless nights worrying about it. I was just so rushed as I worked on it, and there wasn't time to reread and see if everything was smooth. I'm still holding my breath on galleys because that's when I'll see what I have. Should be sometime this month, although since it was so late going to typeset, maybe it'll be early next month. I do want to read through this and see what I ended up with, but on the other hand, I'm in no particular hurry just now. :-)

MN Weather Report: 68 degrees. Rain.

HURRAH!!!

Power was back on when I arrived home! I just saw on the news that almost 15,000 people are still without electricity. Thank God I'm not one of them.

Email tonight. Coffee and hair dryer in the morning. Yea!!!

Gah! Like I said yesterday, I was not cut out to be a pioneer. This would be day two without any power. I can live with the showering by lantern light, it's the lack of coffee and no email that bite. And I miss my hair dryer. A lot.

Yesterday, I came home a different way than the direction I left and found my way blocked by another big tree! I had to back up and go around. I couldn't believe how many more trees were down. I had to have seen close to a dozen, maybe even more, and none of these were repeats from the morning! And I saw there was another tree down in the lot next door. That must have been some storm that whipped through. Yikes!

So, no power. They claim we'll have it today. I sure hope so. It's hard to do anything without electricity. No email (The laptop battery gave out pretty darn quickly. Sigh. I think I need to get a car adapter.), no internet, no writing, no reading, no radio, no televised baseball. I came into work early this morning so I could have coffee and read email. I didn't get a chance to visit any websites, though. :-( This is really inconvenient. I'm posting on the blog from work, which I shouldn't be doing, but how can I not share?

In other, non-storm news, would you believe FIVE wasps??? Wasp number five was lying dead in the living room. I never saw him alive, thank God, but holy cow! Even with him dead, I feel creeped out.

MN Weather Report: 62 degrees.