lurgi again

I think I've got a lurgi again... not Ebola, as illustrated above, but some cold/flu/virus type thing that's going about. Have the usual cocktail of cough, bunged up head, aches and pains and various... and it might account for the fact that I was in such a bad mood yesterday. And today...

And it's so hard to work when I feel like this. I just want to lie down. But I have managed to get my The Retreat proofs checked and returned. Pretty smooth process, thankfully, given the way I'm feeling. The story reads quite nicely, and I do like my hero, Ben...

Think I may have 40 winks, maybe, now, and perhaps that'll pep me up so I can do some bits and pieces of work later.... hopefully...

ps. have a good thought for my moggie, Kuffer. He seems to be a bit under the weather today too.



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Telly: Numb3rs
Choc/Yummy: various
Mood: low
Writing: proofs
Reading: nothing much
RSI/FMS: see above


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temper tantrums

I'm having one of those sorts of days again. Just feel swamped and aggravated and in that mood when if anything doesn't go exactly as I want it to, I'm likely to crush, mash, smash or grind it into bits.

I've been trying to get a few things organised, but the process of trying to get things into some kind of order just seems to create more disorder. I think I'm in some sort of twilight, inverse zone where the opposite of what I intend happens. Grrrr....

The only actual achievement today is finishing the second round of proof checking on ILL MET BY MOONLIGHT, and sending off the corrections to the editor. These proofs weren't too difficult a task, just one or two scrappy bits here and there, but now I've finished them, I've to start out on another set, for THE RETREAT. A cursory glance at the latter doesn't reveal anything too serious though, and it's only a fairly short novella.

When this is done though... I *must* get back to IN TOO DEEP!!!!! Again, I seem to have lost contact with it, but not too badly I hope. I keep seeing the next bit of it in my head, just a particular image that has really touched me somehow. I think it's in my mind because I'm watching a lot of Numb3rs at the moment, and Professor Hottie is quite clear in my mind.

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Telly: Numb3rs
Choc/Yummy: lots
Mood: deranged
Writing: proof checking
Reading: nothing really
RSI/FMS: really bad fibro type aching plus cough


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First of the Year!

Well, it's 8th January and I've broken my sales duck already!

I just heard that my short novella THE RETREAT, is going to be part of the Bound Brits anthology, published by Total-E-Bound on 25th February.

Check back for more news on this nearer the time, but while you wait, here's a piccie of delicious Ben, the hero of the novella.

Yeah, I know... it's Edward Norton in The Illusionist, but he's the guy I have in mind for the role. :)

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Telly: Numb3rs
Choc/Yummy: hotel chocolat
Mood: good
Writing: not yet
Reading: ipcress file
RSI/FMS: so so


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I hate myself...

I have so much to do... and I wasted almost all of yesterday procrastinating and foofing around on the web. I'm just unbelievable! I could credit it if I was young and irresponsible, but I'm an old bird and I should be more in control of myself!!!!

The only thing of worth I did yesterday was a bit of my web work, but I did nothing towards either the Ill Met proofs or In Too Deep. It's bloody ridiculous that I can behave this way, but I do it again and again. It's no bloody wonder I don't achieve the dreams I have as a writer... and I deserve to fail. Because I am wilfully stupid!

So much for my informal NY Resolutions... I've smashed all of them and it's only the 6th of January!

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Telly: going to watch Numb3rs on my exercise bike in a minute
Choc/Yummy: not yet but soon
Mood: disgusted with self
Writing: not yet, but proofs soon
Reading: Radio Times
RSI/FMS: rather tired and under energied


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Sitting around in rooms...

Could this be why I'm forever writing scenes where my characters just sit around in rooms looking at each other?


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Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

The Last Mince Pie

Well, I just ate the last mince pie of the Christmas season... and boy, it was nice. Still plenty of chocolate left though... :)

It's been quite a productive morning so far and it's not yet noon. Have done a bit of web design, and also a creditable 1.1K of IN TOO DEEP. Not bad stuff, a bit rambly, but at least it's words. I have to really buckle down at the moment, as not only am I trying to maintain the momentum with this book, I'm also catching up on around half a dozen sets of web updates that I couldn't do while I was chasing my THE RETREAT deadline, and a set of page proofs arrived this morning to check!!!!

These are for ILL MET BY MOONLIGHT, my novella in the MAGIC AND DESIRE anthology, which is published later this year. It's a long, long time since I looked at this novella, at least fourteen months! So reading it will be a bit of a novelty. Fortunately, it's not a huge checking job at 25K, but I still hate doing proofs... eek!

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Telly: Numb3rs
Choc/Yummy: see above
Mood: okay
Writing: In Too Deep
Reading: The Ipcress File
RSI/FMS: not too bad


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It's Queen Bella Michelle's Birthday!

Swing by Romance B[u]y the Book today and wish Queen Bella Michelle a Happy Birthday!

If you're not familiar with Romance B[u]y the Book, give it a try... it's a wonderful friendly place to chat about romance novels, naughty thoughts and hawt, hawt men!

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Telly: Numb3rs
Choc/Yummy: Celebrations minis
Mood: good
Writing: 1.5K In Too Deep
Reading: The Ipcress File
RSI/FMS: so so


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

Gemini Heat - Black Lace 15th Anniversary cover

Isn't this stunning? There was an earlier version, which was okay, but didn't have quite the right vibe... but this is perfect!

Progress... of sorts

Well, I finally caught up with where I'd previously got to with IN TOO DEEP. What a marathon that was... and it's taken so long that I've probably forgotten a lot of what I was supposed to be recapping. But I'm bloody well not going back *again*, that's for sure! I've started to move forward and I'm going to continue to do so... although I think I'm going to have to try and think things out more, as I go. I'm not sure this hoping for the best and pantsing it approach is working all that well with this particular book. I'm sort of tying myself in knots with the characterisation and the motivation of one particular character. I should have nailed him better first, because the mind-games he's playing throughout the plot need to be more consistent...

But then again, people in real life *aren't* consistent, are they? So maybe this makes the book more realistic rather than less so... it's hard to tell. I only know that there's going to be more, much more editing and tweaking and rewriting and layering to be done after the first draft is finished. Ack!

I've also made a tentative start on the gigantic backlog of web work that's built up while I was rushing to complete THE RETREAT and enjoying Christmas. Now there's a task and a half, 'cos there's *loads* of it! I'm sure it'll move along pretty swiftly though, once I get stuck in.

Himself is back at work tomorrow, so hopefully, I'll start getting more done then. It's jolly having him around, and the hols have been fun, but somehow I can't seem to focus properly when there's someone else in the house, even if he's busy doing something in another room. I seem to need the whole house to myself to be able to work properly.

I'm determined to waste far less time in 2008! It's not so much a New Year's Resolution as a simple hope that I can do better and be a bit more disciplined and productive. Wish me good luck with that one, eh? I'll need it!


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Telly: nothing yet
Choc/Yummy: nothing yet, but the Celebrations are calling, as are the mince pies
Mood: quite good
Writing: notes and thinking about In Too Deep
Reading: nothing yet
RSI/FMS: so so


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HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Let's all have a great year!!!!

Gratuitous Professor Hottie pic and end of year ennui

Isn't he gorgeous? I'm trying to focus on him, looking so hawt, as a way to connect better with IN TOO DEEP. I have to say, the Christmas break has really messed up my concentration, and I'm feeling slightly panicked about the months and the year ahead. There's so much to do, and some of it, I just don't want to do but I have to. Grrr... And 'cos it's there, it sort of distracts me from my focus in writing...

Everyone seems to be making lists and plans. Lists of achievements in 07 and plans for 08. I have achieved some stuff in 07, that I'm very pleased about, but I'm not one for looking back, because I always have the spectre of 'you're only as good as your *next* book' hanging over me like a looming black shadow. And that's very scary when, at the moment, I've no idea what that next book might be... and I get awfully depressed when I go to boards and blogs and folk are talking about the multi book deals they have for 08, and the fabulous book ideas that they're just dying to write.

At the moment, I feel as if I've lost some of the joy I once had in writing. And I don't think I'm going to write at my very best until I reacquire it again.

Any tips, writers out there? How do you maintain the magic and the joie de vivre in your writing when it's a job you do, of necessity, to earn your living?


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Telly: Numb3rs
Choc/Yummy: Celebration minis
Mood: despondent
Writing: nothing yet
Reading: The Ipcress File
RSI/FMS: achy


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This is just a small part...

of the Christmas chocolate I have to 'eat up'. Sigh... it's a tough job, but someone's got to do it. ;)

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Telly: Numb3rs
Choc/Yummy: see above
Mood: oppressed by sheer weight of jobs to do
Writing: not yet
Reading: The Ipcress File - Len Deighton
RSI/FMS: sore


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!