Learning · to · Write

Just wanted to pass along the info...

If, like me, you're not going to be at RWA's annual conference in San Fran at the end of the month, despair not! Romance Divas is hosting their annual Not Going To Conference Conference. Check out the awesome schedule of events! There are loads of fabulous door prizes, too. You do have to register for the Romance Divas forum to participate, but registration is free.


http://romancedivas.com/



Wednesday, July 30

Paula Guran, Editor, Juno Books
Q&A on Creating Kick a** Heroines


Laurie Rauch, Editor, Samhain Publishing
Workshop on What Happens After the Contract (aka Editors are People Too!)*




Thursday July 31


Joyce Hart, Hartline Literary
Q&A on Inspirational Romance Stories and the Inspy Market


Sandra Schwab, Historical Romance Author
Workshop on Historical Accuracy and Anachronisms



Friday, August 1


Yolanda Sfetsos, Author of Guarded by Stone
Q&A on Paranormal and Urban Fantasy World Building


Katie MacIver, KatieDidDesign
Workshop on Website Design and Color Selection



Saturday, August 2


Joey W. Hill, Erotica Author
Workshop on Plotting Erotica and Erotic Romance


Rhonda Stapleton, Editor and Author
Workshop on Style and Voice

From underpope

When you see this post, quote from Doctor Who on your LJ.

"Oh, look--rocks."

From May 5 - May 19, you can join the National Marrow Donor Program for free (there is usually a fee for tissue typing).  The first 10,000 people who sign up online get the kit for free.  There is also a link to find a donation center, where 36,000 people can register for free.

http://www.marrow.org/HELP/Join_the_Donor_Registry/index.html

I signed up in honor of my friend Kim, who learned during her pregnancy that she has leukemia.  She left today to receive her marrow transplant, so she can hopefully watch her little girl grow up.  She's busy kicking cancer's ass, and if I can help someone else do it, too, I will.

My husband--being the bestest spouse evah--surprised me yesterday with The Deluxe Transitive Vampire: A Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed.

I love the explanation of gerunds:  "A gerund is the -ing form of a verb, and it gets to live the unpredictable life of a noun, buffeted about by caprices and verbs."

I saw it on underpope's LJ

( Read more... )

Since I haven't posted anything in weeks--again--I thought I'd just post a writing update. I'm still plugging along on the first draft for Reconciliation. I'm in my usual middle of the book slump, when anxieties run high and I wonder why I even bothered to start the bloody book to begin with. As always at this point, I've convinced myself that I can't write worth a damn, anyway, as evidenced by the way my chapters are rambling around all over the freaking place.

So, to appease the inner heckler editor, I've adopted a new outlining technique for at least the next several chapters to try to keep myself on point. I am handwriting a page per chapter, with notes under the headings: POV, Goal, Motivation, Conflict (both internal and external), and Outcome. So far... ok. I still feel like I'm banging my head against the wall, but at least I know at which wall to aim my cranium.

News borrowed from kady42.

NASA to broadcast "Across the Universe" into deep space tonight:

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/nasa-says-hello-universe-meet-the-beatles/?hp

Limitless undying love. Let's hope.

On paper, even.

Today I got the first rejection letter for Hearthstone since I mailed three out a couple weeks ago. It has been a loooooong time since I got a rejection letter on actual paper. It's a nice one, too: letterhead, heavy weight paper, with my name, address, and title of my book included--a real letter.

I'd forgotten that holding a rejection in my hand stings a little more than the e-mail I can quickly close and ignore. This one is sitting on the table, folded up but looking at me.

Still, I rallied and got together a submission packet for another agent, which will go in the mail tomorrow, to meet my self-inflicted standard of keeping three queries out until I have a contract or I run out of agents.

Funners taken from several on my flist...

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Empress Betsy the Elephantine of Much Moulding upon Carpet Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

After taking November off for NaNo, and December off for the holidays, I've revamped my query letter, tweaked my one-page syno, and sent off three sub packets for S&J. I'm going to try to keep three subs out at all times, until that special, magic offer of representation comes along.

I just recently learned (like, this past weekend) about a workshop called Viable Paradise, which is just for spec fic writers.

http://www.sff.net/paradise/

I won't be applying this year, but it looks fabulous.

The month flew by and I hardly noticed it going.

One of my friends came all the way from the Internet to visit while she and her family were passing through our area. It was fun to finally get to sit down with someone I've known for a couple years now.

Christmas was good. The kiddos had a happy time. I got stressed out making too much food. Again. My family came over for the annual rib roast and Yorkshire pudding feast, and everyone loved it. Again. I swore next year it's on someone else, but I'm sure in the end I'll do it. Again. What can I say? It's a fabulous dinner and I have control issues when it comes to food.

The husband gave me a freaking awesome boxed, hardbound volume of Sandman (issues 1-20). I lurve it so very very much.

I wrote not a word all month. Oddly, I hardly even thought about either of my WIP's, other than, "Gee, I haven't written anything in a while." But with the hectic holiday stuff over with, I feel the compulsion starting to tickle at my fingers.

2007 turned out to be Not Too Shabby. We got a beautiful daughter out of it (who has somehow managed to turn 8 months -- !!!). I got a nibble on Sev and Jalia, which was great, even though it didn't result in a big bite. Even taking into account the various, normal crises that arose, it was definitely a Not Too Shabby year.

As seen on hookedoncoffee's page:



A carol for his Noodliness!

Phew! It came down to the last day, but I did it!

I'm nowhere near close to finishing my novel. I'm at about the halfway mark. But, I hit my 50k NaNo goal, and it feels AWESOME!!!

Last night, the mister and I spent too long on YouTube digging for childhood memories. We found the Capital I song, and the Pinball song ("1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 678910, 11, 12 do do doo, do do doo..." remember that one?). We also found my very favorite Sesame Street segment, Teeny Little Super Guy.



I love this line:

"There was a melancholy air about him, with a touch of the ol' ennui as he approached me."

I don't think they use words like 'melancholy' and 'ennui' on Sesame Street anymore.

More's the pity.

Yesterday, I hit the halfway mark with this year's NaNo. Current word count is 25, 495. Woohoo!

I think it's been a while since I've seen a D&D related meme.

( Cut because the table won't post correctly. )

Current word count is 11,574. I'm hoping to finish before Thanksgiving, as the holiday will likely derail me for the rest of the month.

I hit the end of the prologue, and stopped for the day, 2878 words. The NaNo site is being ridonkulously slow, so I haven't updated there yet.

Best wishes to everyone participating in NaNoWriMo! I'm off to get going on my Regency novel, The Reconciliation.

Get it, gang!

I just got the rejection for the S&J partial. Onward!