Sigh... it's been another mixed day. Some progress on editing what I've done so far on Buds, and I am feeling quite good about the editing and refining I've been doing... but I've not been able to do as much as I'd liked. I was involved in a chat writing challenge this afternoon, at Romance Divas, and that was fun and v. good incentive to work, but the chat room was a bit on the blink and when I took a break away, I couldn't get back into it.
Am feeling a bit anxious at the moment because I have a dentist appointment tomorrow... eek! I don't have any particular problems that I'm aware of, other than the usual wear and tear of age etc, but I still freak out with worry when that prodder goes in my mouth and starts probing! The only good thing about going tomorrow is that I have a dishy new dentist, who also happens to be brill at his job... The trouble is though, it's no good him being so fanceable when he gets to look in depth into my mouth and see my less than dazzling white teeth, and also gets a good up close look at my aged mush and my lines and general frazzledness into the bargain. Sigh...
I won't be able to chill now [as if I ever do!] until I'm back safely from my dental visit tomorrow...
--
Telly: UK History
Chocolate: Green and Blacks
Mood: bit frazzled
Writing: editing Buds
Reading: nowt
RSI/FMS: very, very achey and tired
Wednesday, 21 February 2007
Tuesday, 20 February 2007
busy buddie day...
I've been busy working on Buddies today... Too tired to come up with a post now, but if you wanna sneak peak of Buds, go here!
It's rough and unedited, I warn you...
It's rough and unedited, I warn you...
Monday, 19 February 2007
yesterday was Sort Out Sunday!
and that's why I didn't post.
Regular visitors here will have got some idea of the amount of chaos and clutter in my house from posts like this and this. Now things can only go on so long in this state before some sort of meltdown occurs... Last time it happened, our dining room was made into my office, but as my office is now the horrendous dumpster illustrated in one of those pix, and we have no more spare rooms, action has to be taken. So I've initiated Sort Out Sunday... which means that instead of writing on Sunday, as I often do, I will spend several hours sorting and throwing out, either in my office, or in other areas of the house where there's overspill... Hopefully, eventually, my productivity will increase when I can actually find things again... and I also would like to think I can take up the slack with the odd hundred or so extra words on the days when I'm not sorting out. One day, in the dim and distant future, I'll finish trying to sort out my clutter, and then I'll be back to normal.
Mind you, not that I'm doing all that much writing at the moment. I still haven't got back into Buddies Don't Bite, apart from one tiny bit of tweakage last night. Which was probably the first time I've looked at it in a fortnight! But I did have some thoughts about it whilst showering and dressing this morning [in the bathroom again, where I do some of my best creative thinking]... I've decided to slightly change Teresa's status at the beginning of the book, in respect of her so called boyfriend who's just dumped her. In the first version, she's supposed to have slept with this bozo, but now I think I'll have it that she hasn't yet done the deed... which will make her less likely to seem like a bit of a slag for fancying Zack at the same time!
Right, I suppose I should get on with that... although I'm sort of tempted to have a go with my new vacuum cleaner! Given my slatternly household skills, you'd think this would be the last thing I'd want to do... and it just proves the lengths of procrastination I'll go to in order to avoid writing... But we went to Makro yesterday and purchased an all singing all dancing Vax machine, to replace our old Hoover that went kerpuft, and I'm dying to get into a few corners here and there and massacre those dust bunnies!
--
Telly: not yet
Chocolate: not yet
Mood: not bad
Writing: not yet, but thought about it
Reading: ComputerActive
RSI/FMS: very achy from lugging stuff about on SOS
Regular visitors here will have got some idea of the amount of chaos and clutter in my house from posts like this and this. Now things can only go on so long in this state before some sort of meltdown occurs... Last time it happened, our dining room was made into my office, but as my office is now the horrendous dumpster illustrated in one of those pix, and we have no more spare rooms, action has to be taken. So I've initiated Sort Out Sunday... which means that instead of writing on Sunday, as I often do, I will spend several hours sorting and throwing out, either in my office, or in other areas of the house where there's overspill... Hopefully, eventually, my productivity will increase when I can actually find things again... and I also would like to think I can take up the slack with the odd hundred or so extra words on the days when I'm not sorting out. One day, in the dim and distant future, I'll finish trying to sort out my clutter, and then I'll be back to normal.
Mind you, not that I'm doing all that much writing at the moment. I still haven't got back into Buddies Don't Bite, apart from one tiny bit of tweakage last night. Which was probably the first time I've looked at it in a fortnight! But I did have some thoughts about it whilst showering and dressing this morning [in the bathroom again, where I do some of my best creative thinking]... I've decided to slightly change Teresa's status at the beginning of the book, in respect of her so called boyfriend who's just dumped her. In the first version, she's supposed to have slept with this bozo, but now I think I'll have it that she hasn't yet done the deed... which will make her less likely to seem like a bit of a slag for fancying Zack at the same time!
Right, I suppose I should get on with that... although I'm sort of tempted to have a go with my new vacuum cleaner! Given my slatternly household skills, you'd think this would be the last thing I'd want to do... and it just proves the lengths of procrastination I'll go to in order to avoid writing... But we went to Makro yesterday and purchased an all singing all dancing Vax machine, to replace our old Hoover that went kerpuft, and I'm dying to get into a few corners here and there and massacre those dust bunnies!
--
Telly: not yet
Chocolate: not yet
Mood: not bad
Writing: not yet, but thought about it
Reading: ComputerActive
RSI/FMS: very achy from lugging stuff about on SOS
Saturday, 17 February 2007
I made another purty thing!
But I really must get on with the naffing thing today! Haven't written for over a week, and I've still a big scene or two that need doing! I.am.bad.
--
Telly: UK History
Chocolate: not yet
Mood: okay
Writing: not a sausage
Reading: bits and bobs
RSI/FMS: not too bad
Friday, 16 February 2007
For Maria...
Maria! Hotel Chocolat is a completely fabulous online chocolate shop that sells gorgeously sumptuous goodies! Selections, great big slabs of choc, novelties... just pure heaven! I'm a member of their Chocolate Tasting Club, which means they send you a collection of yummy new chox every month or so. You can have a box *every* month if you like... but I only have one every three or four months. For the sake of my thighs!
And no, I'm not on commission, I just *love* HC!!!
--
Telly: UK History
Chocolate: see above
Mood: distracted, unable to focus
Writing: nothing
Reading: magazines
RSI/FMS: achey, but not quite as bad as yesterday
Thursday, 15 February 2007
quickie
Had a fantastic time with Rosemary yesterday! We had a lovely lunch out at a local cafe pub, with lots of chat about writing paranormals and other general writerly talk. Afterwards we adjourned to my gaff for more gossip, coffee and some Hotel Chocolat... yum yum.
Today, I've been trying to catch up on some stuff from my to do list... v. slowly. Am feeling a bit tired and achey, still in the midst of that FMS flareup.
Thassabout it for now... sorry this is so sparse. I promise to do better tomorrow!
--
Telly: UK History
Chocolate: Hotel Chocolat
Mood: not bad, but v. tired
Writing: nothing today, naughty naughty
Reading: Cosmopolitan
RSI/FMS: very very tired and aching all over
Today, I've been trying to catch up on some stuff from my to do list... v. slowly. Am feeling a bit tired and achey, still in the midst of that FMS flareup.
Thassabout it for now... sorry this is so sparse. I promise to do better tomorrow!
--
Telly: UK History
Chocolate: Hotel Chocolat
Mood: not bad, but v. tired
Writing: nothing today, naughty naughty
Reading: Cosmopolitan
RSI/FMS: very very tired and aching all over
Wednesday, 14 February 2007
busy day...
Have a busy day ahead! A lovely writing friend from America, Rosemary Laurey, is dropping in to see me today, and we're going out to lunch!
I've known Rosemary for many years and we've got together lots of times before, mostly in London but last year also in Leeds, when she's come over for writers' events and to visit her family. She's an expat Brit now living in Ohio, and a fantastic writer, best known for her fabulous vampires! So I will be picking her brains today about Buddies!
The proofs of Suite Seventeen went off back to the editorial assistant yesterday... thank God! I love the book, but checking its proofs has been horrendously gruelling. I got myself so worked up over them that I've been quite tearful with relief to see the back of them... Trouble is, I now have a huge backlog of jobs to do that I just didn't have time for while I was checking them... not least of all to begin sorting out the 'problem' and the 'bigger problem'... But these are humongous tasks that can only be tackled in baby steps, and while constantly telling myself not to panic and just work gradually... It's got to be gradual, because writing and web design has to continue too. And they take priority...
Anyway, must go now, as I have a whole bunch of last minute cleaning and tidying jobs to do before Rosemary arrives!
--
Telly: not yet
Chocolate: hopefully
Mood: weird
Writing: probably not today
Reading: probably not today
RSI/FMS: quite sore all over due to stress
I've known Rosemary for many years and we've got together lots of times before, mostly in London but last year also in Leeds, when she's come over for writers' events and to visit her family. She's an expat Brit now living in Ohio, and a fantastic writer, best known for her fabulous vampires! So I will be picking her brains today about Buddies!
The proofs of Suite Seventeen went off back to the editorial assistant yesterday... thank God! I love the book, but checking its proofs has been horrendously gruelling. I got myself so worked up over them that I've been quite tearful with relief to see the back of them... Trouble is, I now have a huge backlog of jobs to do that I just didn't have time for while I was checking them... not least of all to begin sorting out the 'problem' and the 'bigger problem'... But these are humongous tasks that can only be tackled in baby steps, and while constantly telling myself not to panic and just work gradually... It's got to be gradual, because writing and web design has to continue too. And they take priority...
Anyway, must go now, as I have a whole bunch of last minute cleaning and tidying jobs to do before Rosemary arrives!
--
Telly: not yet
Chocolate: hopefully
Mood: weird
Writing: probably not today
Reading: probably not today
RSI/FMS: quite sore all over due to stress
Tuesday, 13 February 2007
It's official!
Buddies Don't Bite is go! It's to be in a Black Lace Erotic Paranormal Romance novella anthology called Lust Bites, and it'll be published on 9th November 2007!
If I can raise my game and belabour this recalcitrant sukka into shape, this should be a v. fine anthology, because the other novellas are by top spiffing authors Mathilde Madden and Kristina Lloyd, two very bright stars in the Black Lace firmament...
If I can raise my game and belabour this recalcitrant sukka into shape, this should be a v. fine anthology, because the other novellas are by top spiffing authors Mathilde Madden and Kristina Lloyd, two very bright stars in the Black Lace firmament...
--
Telly: Gladiators of WW2
Chocolate: none yet
Mood: schizo
Writing: proof checking... agh
Reading: proof checking... agh
RSI/FMS: very achey in all parts
Monday, 12 February 2007
sorry for the gap
Yes, I really am... but I've been grappling with my proof checking and not feeling so great and generally frittering away time that could have been more productively spent... :(
Page proofs are great because you see the way the finished book is going to look, and it all makes it stunningly real... That mad idea that you thought was as thin as a wafer is suddenly an actual book, and when you read it, it almost seems as if somebody else wrote it.
Page proofs are nightmarish because you see things you wish you'd said a different way... and it's too late to change them. And, worse, you see inconsistencies that *HAVE* to be changed and you've got to work out how to do it with the least disruption to the text!!! Then there are things that niggle you, but could be left, and you have to have a fight with yourself as to whether you're going to ask for them changing... which involves big time decision making - which is one of the things I most hate and loathe in life. I HATE making decions!!!
I've also been feeling cruddy with my fibromyalgia, probably triggered by the stress of the proofs and by getting myself in a paddy over stupid things and stupid people which and whom I really shouldn't let bother me. I should just let it all flow over me, but it's not in my nature to do that. I niggle about every goddamn thing! And I get into cycles of negative thinking, which makes me depressed and anxious, which makes my FMS flare, and then I feel even worse than ever! Looking around on the web, I've been intrigued by something called Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, which is recommended highly for people like me... so I've ordered the For Dummies guide to it on Amazon. Even if it doesn't do anything for me, at least I can have a character who's into it in a book, can't I? Nothing's ever wasted...
On a brighter note, I may have some interesting publication news coming shortly. I'm more or less certain of it, given what I've read at a writing chum's blog... but I somehow daren't speak about it here until I hear some confirmation via my agent.
Page proofs are great because you see the way the finished book is going to look, and it all makes it stunningly real... That mad idea that you thought was as thin as a wafer is suddenly an actual book, and when you read it, it almost seems as if somebody else wrote it.
Page proofs are nightmarish because you see things you wish you'd said a different way... and it's too late to change them. And, worse, you see inconsistencies that *HAVE* to be changed and you've got to work out how to do it with the least disruption to the text!!! Then there are things that niggle you, but could be left, and you have to have a fight with yourself as to whether you're going to ask for them changing... which involves big time decision making - which is one of the things I most hate and loathe in life. I HATE making decions!!!
I've also been feeling cruddy with my fibromyalgia, probably triggered by the stress of the proofs and by getting myself in a paddy over stupid things and stupid people which and whom I really shouldn't let bother me. I should just let it all flow over me, but it's not in my nature to do that. I niggle about every goddamn thing! And I get into cycles of negative thinking, which makes me depressed and anxious, which makes my FMS flare, and then I feel even worse than ever! Looking around on the web, I've been intrigued by something called Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, which is recommended highly for people like me... so I've ordered the For Dummies guide to it on Amazon. Even if it doesn't do anything for me, at least I can have a character who's into it in a book, can't I? Nothing's ever wasted...
On a brighter note, I may have some interesting publication news coming shortly. I'm more or less certain of it, given what I've read at a writing chum's blog... but I somehow daren't speak about it here until I hear some confirmation via my agent.
Friday, 9 February 2007
Lustbites post today
I've posted at Lustbites today... it's utter twoddle, really, but why not pop over and take a look? There are lots of pictures, even if the text I've written is crap... LOL
LUSTBITES - Casting Continuum and Gothic Blue
LUSTBITES - Casting Continuum and Gothic Blue
Thursday, 8 February 2007
GOTHIC BLUE out today in the UK!!!
At an archduke's reception, a handsome young nobleman falls under the spell of a malevolent but irresistible sorceress. Two hundred years later, Belinda Seward also falls prey to sensual forces she can neither understand nor control.
Stranded by a thunderstorm at a remote Gothic priory, Belinda and her boyfriend are drawn into an enclosed world of luxurious decadence and sexual alchemy. Their host is the courteous but melancholic André Von Kastel, a beautiful aristocrat who mourns his lost love. André has plans for Belinda... plans which take her into the realms of obsessive love and the erotic paranormal.
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