What is Playing on the iPod? Call Up the Homies - Ludacris
After a relatively uneventful Thanksgiving, I stayed up ridiculously late last night. This morning, I was still awake at 3:00, reading. While some of my friends and loved ones were up, probably in line waiting for a Black Friday sales location to open their doors, I was curled up in bed reading. This morning, coffee was obviously a priority and a need as calling as oxygen.
A sleep-deprived Candace is like David Banner in The Incredible Hulk. "Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I am angry." Needless to say, it has been a well-caffeinated day.
My house has been in relative order after the Thanksgiving cleaning frenzy, the dishes are loaded in the dishwasher and there is no pressure to do anything today. Obviously, my mind, unable to exist in a pressure-free environment, keeps going back to Rebecca and Christian. I have put Natalie and Rob to bed for a little while, having restarted the query process. Now, my mind is somewhere in Raleigh in a house with Rebecca, Christian and Jared. Unfortunately, the storyline has progressed to the point where it is time to torture the couple a little bit. Naturally, a change in music is in order.
I erased my iTunes playlist for my iPod and created another one. I erased my whole library and got the songs to put me in the tortured love mood. The playlist is short and consists of the following.
Let It Go - Cavo
My Little Secret - Cavo
The Flame - Cheap Trick
Never Think - Rob Pattinson
Far Away - Nickelback
Hands to Heaven - Breathe
Unfaithful - Rihanna
Last Kiss Goodbye - Hinder
I need the sad music to put me in the mood to do the things I am about to do.
I have to do some things to Christian and Rebecca that I am not happy with. As far as the story line goes, it is great. As far as being an author goes, creating a world revolving around two characters that I am crazy about, hurting them drives me crazy. If that sounds insane, ask any fiction author that you may know if they enjoy harming their characters. Chances are pretty good that you will find a couple that do not like it at all.
Why the title of this blog? Bliss and Tears? If I am going to bitch about hurting Rebecca and Christian, where does the bliss come in? Simply put, with writing. I have turned on my desk top and I hear the motor running. Knowing I am about to go and create more makes me itchy. When I used to smoke, there was a certain feeling when I knew I had a cigarette break coming up at work. I got excited, sort of jonesing for a fix. That is the feeling I have now. I have not worked for a couple of days with all of the Thanksgiving preparations going on, so I have a couple of hours where I can go to that Raleigh neighborhood. Even though I am not going to be doing Rebecca and Christian any favors this night, I am so damned excited to be writing, I am going to end this blog now.
Until next time.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Queries
What is playing on the iPod? Hallelujah by Hana Pestle
Musical commentary - Hana Pestle goes completely against type for me. I love rock, the harder the better and the very talented Ms. Pestle probably does not even own a rock, so the very fact that I listen to her dumbfounds me. However, that being said, I have at least five of her songs on my iTunes account. She has some serious game and I would love to see what she is doing musically in five years.
Today has tried really hard to suck. It put a good effort into being damned near sucktacular (sucktacular is related to craptacular only it is worse). I did get some pre-Thanksgiving cleaning done, so the day was not a total waste.
The bright spot in my day was from 9:45 - 1:30. I pulled up book one and read some more, reading over what I read a couple of days ago. Being completely satisfied with the end product, I went to one of my favorite writing websites and pulled up a saved list of agents to query.
At the beginning of this process, it literally took me a day to formulate one query letter. Today, I sent several individually written queries. As in hot damn, I may be getting over the overwhelming case of nerves I have had! The whole process felt fantastic, empowering and I have decided to send more tomorrow.
Get ready agents, here I come!
Until next time.
Musical commentary - Hana Pestle goes completely against type for me. I love rock, the harder the better and the very talented Ms. Pestle probably does not even own a rock, so the very fact that I listen to her dumbfounds me. However, that being said, I have at least five of her songs on my iTunes account. She has some serious game and I would love to see what she is doing musically in five years.
Today has tried really hard to suck. It put a good effort into being damned near sucktacular (sucktacular is related to craptacular only it is worse). I did get some pre-Thanksgiving cleaning done, so the day was not a total waste.
The bright spot in my day was from 9:45 - 1:30. I pulled up book one and read some more, reading over what I read a couple of days ago. Being completely satisfied with the end product, I went to one of my favorite writing websites and pulled up a saved list of agents to query.
At the beginning of this process, it literally took me a day to formulate one query letter. Today, I sent several individually written queries. As in hot damn, I may be getting over the overwhelming case of nerves I have had! The whole process felt fantastic, empowering and I have decided to send more tomorrow.
Get ready agents, here I come!
Until next time.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Sunday
What is on the iPod? Let It Go by Cavo
Plug for free here - I saw Cavo two weeks ago with Theory of a Deadman and Daughtry. Good Lord, I had no clue! These guys were worth every cent of the ticket price by themselves. They go on my list of people I would go back and see.
While I go on about bands, I found a site that I am giddy over. Earshotband.com is worth checking out, or maybe not. I got pissed beyond reason when I saw that one of my favorite bands played a $2 show in New Mexico. Geographically speaking, that sucked ass. I am on the East Coast, North Carolina specifically and while I would gladly jump at the chance to see my guys for $20, much less $2, they actually need to come to NC for that to happen. Still, go check out the website and go to iTunes and download a couple of their songs. My recommendation for an Earshot intro is Wait. I play an iPod in my vehicle when I am carrying my kids to school and I always try to work in a couple of songs to get their endorphins kicking (mine too for that matter as the java has not always kicked in at that point). Without fail, my 8-year-old sings along with Wait and the 12-year-old plays air drums while the song is going. What an awesome way to start the morning!
I scavenged the net this weekend and picked out my next set of agents to send queries too. I am scared as hell. Why? Because the book I am trying to gain representation for is dependent on my ability to write a letter. Can I write a novel? Hell yes, I have. Is it good? No, it is phenomenal. Can I sell it? Cue the cricket noise.
I am taking something that I have spent a year on, condensing it into an elevator pitch (more on that to come), throwing in a few odds and ends that I deem worthy enough to grab an agents attention and hope I catch said agent on a day where they are in a good enough mood to not toss my work on a damned slush pile.
AAAAAAAAAH!
By the way, if my children were not asleep, I would have actually made a noise similar to that. This is seriously scary! I am not a salesman, by any stretch of the imagination and it is now my job to sell this work to agents. I do not want to do that. I want you to read it and say this - "I want to read more."
Incidentally, an elevator pitch is a sales pitch that is condensed to the amount of time it would take you to travel from maybe the third to the eighth floors on an elevator. See what I mean? Take a year of your work and wrap it up into 20 seconds. Hard, isn't it?
Can I put in the email how I have tediously worked this book over until it no longer resembles the words I typed out in September 2008? Would the potential agent care to know that I would wake in a cold sweat, searching desperately in the dark for a scrap of paper to write an idea on before I lost it? Does the person who probably reads hundreds, if not thousands, of query letters a week, give a damn that I actually cried when I finished this book?
No, no and hell no.
What is going to matter to them is my ability to convince them, in a page or less, that I have a product worth their time. I think that if it were that simple, I could simply say this.
After her divorce, Natalie is diagnosed with advanced primary sclerosing cholangitis and is nearing the stage where a transplant is necessitated. After the transplant, she meets and falls in love with Rob who has just lost his wife. Come take this journey with me as Natalie gets her happy ending but has to come to terms with what it cost others to get her there.
That is so cheesy, I feel like I need some wine to go with it.
There is so much that is missing, but unfortunately, eliminating details is part of how the game is played. Cut to the chase in as clean a manner as possible while grabbing the agents attention.
Rob looks really good naked, just wait until page 123.
No, that is not how it works. Now, I am going to bed, trying not to worry too much about my prior lack of sales positions on my resume. I have to trust that the passion and belief I have in my writing to translate into the emails that will make their way into certain inboxes tomorrow. Belief in self can carry a long way. I hope it carries me to the right inbox and keeps me out of a slush pile.
Until next time.
Plug for free here - I saw Cavo two weeks ago with Theory of a Deadman and Daughtry. Good Lord, I had no clue! These guys were worth every cent of the ticket price by themselves. They go on my list of people I would go back and see.
While I go on about bands, I found a site that I am giddy over. Earshotband.com is worth checking out, or maybe not. I got pissed beyond reason when I saw that one of my favorite bands played a $2 show in New Mexico. Geographically speaking, that sucked ass. I am on the East Coast, North Carolina specifically and while I would gladly jump at the chance to see my guys for $20, much less $2, they actually need to come to NC for that to happen. Still, go check out the website and go to iTunes and download a couple of their songs. My recommendation for an Earshot intro is Wait. I play an iPod in my vehicle when I am carrying my kids to school and I always try to work in a couple of songs to get their endorphins kicking (mine too for that matter as the java has not always kicked in at that point). Without fail, my 8-year-old sings along with Wait and the 12-year-old plays air drums while the song is going. What an awesome way to start the morning!
I scavenged the net this weekend and picked out my next set of agents to send queries too. I am scared as hell. Why? Because the book I am trying to gain representation for is dependent on my ability to write a letter. Can I write a novel? Hell yes, I have. Is it good? No, it is phenomenal. Can I sell it? Cue the cricket noise.
I am taking something that I have spent a year on, condensing it into an elevator pitch (more on that to come), throwing in a few odds and ends that I deem worthy enough to grab an agents attention and hope I catch said agent on a day where they are in a good enough mood to not toss my work on a damned slush pile.
AAAAAAAAAH!
By the way, if my children were not asleep, I would have actually made a noise similar to that. This is seriously scary! I am not a salesman, by any stretch of the imagination and it is now my job to sell this work to agents. I do not want to do that. I want you to read it and say this - "I want to read more."
Incidentally, an elevator pitch is a sales pitch that is condensed to the amount of time it would take you to travel from maybe the third to the eighth floors on an elevator. See what I mean? Take a year of your work and wrap it up into 20 seconds. Hard, isn't it?
Can I put in the email how I have tediously worked this book over until it no longer resembles the words I typed out in September 2008? Would the potential agent care to know that I would wake in a cold sweat, searching desperately in the dark for a scrap of paper to write an idea on before I lost it? Does the person who probably reads hundreds, if not thousands, of query letters a week, give a damn that I actually cried when I finished this book?
No, no and hell no.
What is going to matter to them is my ability to convince them, in a page or less, that I have a product worth their time. I think that if it were that simple, I could simply say this.
After her divorce, Natalie is diagnosed with advanced primary sclerosing cholangitis and is nearing the stage where a transplant is necessitated. After the transplant, she meets and falls in love with Rob who has just lost his wife. Come take this journey with me as Natalie gets her happy ending but has to come to terms with what it cost others to get her there.
That is so cheesy, I feel like I need some wine to go with it.
There is so much that is missing, but unfortunately, eliminating details is part of how the game is played. Cut to the chase in as clean a manner as possible while grabbing the agents attention.
Rob looks really good naked, just wait until page 123.
No, that is not how it works. Now, I am going to bed, trying not to worry too much about my prior lack of sales positions on my resume. I have to trust that the passion and belief I have in my writing to translate into the emails that will make their way into certain inboxes tomorrow. Belief in self can carry a long way. I hope it carries me to the right inbox and keeps me out of a slush pile.
Until next time.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
What Makes Me a Happy Girl
What is on the iPod? Believe by Staind
Finding Natalie is the title of book one. I would love for another title for reach out and slap me, but nothing has done that yet, so...
I am nearly 50,000 words into book two. I have written, this week alone, 25 pages. Trust me, this is a lot for someone who has been out of the game for almost a month. I cut some dead weight and I added some enticing elements. I am reworking some stuff that wasn't grooving too well and I am making a background player into more of a presence. I am feeling pretty damned good about the direction things are going. Jared, Rebecca and Christian are making me very happy.
However, book one is still the pink elephant in the room. I sent 17 query letters, got three requests for more material and some very kind rejections. This, under no uncertain terms, has pissed me off. Why? Because the book is something that I would buy for myself. You have to write something that you would enjoy reading if you want success with it. I walked away from Natalie for three months. I did not touch it, I did not send a query out, I left it alone and poured myself in book two. Still, Natalie and Rob would not go away. There were certain elements of the book that needed to be reworked and I played and replayed plot lines, possible consequences of changing the parts that needed to be changed and decided to go for it. I pulled out my trusty flash drive yesterday and reread the book in the entirety. This morning, I spend hours tweaking. I can honestly say that the product I have now is worthy of a spot on the shelves of any major book chain in the country. Hell, why stop there, I may as well conquer this continent while I am at it. It is worthy of a spot on the shelves of any North American chain there is. I would love to reprint it and give it to the four people who have read the original to see their reactions.
Any given day of the week I would buy this book for myself. Why? Because at the end of the day, you care about Natalie and Rob. You want happiness for them both. You think Lisa is probably one of the coolest girls ever and would love to have her as a friend and you would love to have her car. You think that Jack may not be such an ass after all. You think that Amelia and Jackson are the kind of kids you would want for yourself. You actually go on the UNOS website to do a little research into transplantation because that is one of my original purposes for writing the book. You google University Memorial Hospital and no, it is not a real place. Truthfully, University Memorial is a split between Duke University Medical Center and UNC Hospitals at Chapel Hill because, although I did not truly define the area Natalie lives, she would be close to both. Rob is closer to Raleigh as is Lisa but Natalie is about 20 minutes away from University Memorial, so I combined them. My fellow North Carolinians know that for all the rivalry between the two schools, Duke and UNC are actually only 20 minutes away from one another, and that is allowing for traffic, which is hell on a good day.
Not only have I completed one novel this year, I am almost two-thirds of the way through a second and I have read probably close to 250 books this past year, all the while raising two children (and leaping tall buildings in a single bound - ha!). I have researched. I know the books that I enjoy and I know my favorite authors. I know which books made me sniffle, cry and sob. I know what hooks me. I know what makes me pull for a character. I know what makes me close the book after 20 or so pages (I usually flip to the end before I shelf the book permanently to see if there is any sort of payoff).
Not only did I read these books, I looked at how they sold. During the year of writing and research, I had the honor of meeting one of my favorite authors, Nicholas Sparks. Talk about shaking nervousness! I also went to the Backspace Writers Conference in Manhattan and met some of the most famous agents in the game. I had a well-researched year and I now have one hell of a completed book as a result. I only wait on the elusive agent.
Patience is a learned virtue, not one easily gained, I might add. I will find an agent and when I do, he or she will find that I am exactly what I say, one hell of a writer. All I need is the one bite, the one agent who will see the value of my work. For the ones that have passed, I would have loved working with you but it is your loss. For the agent that I will eventually find, come get me, I am waiting!
Until next time.
Finding Natalie is the title of book one. I would love for another title for reach out and slap me, but nothing has done that yet, so...
I am nearly 50,000 words into book two. I have written, this week alone, 25 pages. Trust me, this is a lot for someone who has been out of the game for almost a month. I cut some dead weight and I added some enticing elements. I am reworking some stuff that wasn't grooving too well and I am making a background player into more of a presence. I am feeling pretty damned good about the direction things are going. Jared, Rebecca and Christian are making me very happy.
However, book one is still the pink elephant in the room. I sent 17 query letters, got three requests for more material and some very kind rejections. This, under no uncertain terms, has pissed me off. Why? Because the book is something that I would buy for myself. You have to write something that you would enjoy reading if you want success with it. I walked away from Natalie for three months. I did not touch it, I did not send a query out, I left it alone and poured myself in book two. Still, Natalie and Rob would not go away. There were certain elements of the book that needed to be reworked and I played and replayed plot lines, possible consequences of changing the parts that needed to be changed and decided to go for it. I pulled out my trusty flash drive yesterday and reread the book in the entirety. This morning, I spend hours tweaking. I can honestly say that the product I have now is worthy of a spot on the shelves of any major book chain in the country. Hell, why stop there, I may as well conquer this continent while I am at it. It is worthy of a spot on the shelves of any North American chain there is. I would love to reprint it and give it to the four people who have read the original to see their reactions.
Any given day of the week I would buy this book for myself. Why? Because at the end of the day, you care about Natalie and Rob. You want happiness for them both. You think Lisa is probably one of the coolest girls ever and would love to have her as a friend and you would love to have her car. You think that Jack may not be such an ass after all. You think that Amelia and Jackson are the kind of kids you would want for yourself. You actually go on the UNOS website to do a little research into transplantation because that is one of my original purposes for writing the book. You google University Memorial Hospital and no, it is not a real place. Truthfully, University Memorial is a split between Duke University Medical Center and UNC Hospitals at Chapel Hill because, although I did not truly define the area Natalie lives, she would be close to both. Rob is closer to Raleigh as is Lisa but Natalie is about 20 minutes away from University Memorial, so I combined them. My fellow North Carolinians know that for all the rivalry between the two schools, Duke and UNC are actually only 20 minutes away from one another, and that is allowing for traffic, which is hell on a good day.
Not only have I completed one novel this year, I am almost two-thirds of the way through a second and I have read probably close to 250 books this past year, all the while raising two children (and leaping tall buildings in a single bound - ha!). I have researched. I know the books that I enjoy and I know my favorite authors. I know which books made me sniffle, cry and sob. I know what hooks me. I know what makes me pull for a character. I know what makes me close the book after 20 or so pages (I usually flip to the end before I shelf the book permanently to see if there is any sort of payoff).
Not only did I read these books, I looked at how they sold. During the year of writing and research, I had the honor of meeting one of my favorite authors, Nicholas Sparks. Talk about shaking nervousness! I also went to the Backspace Writers Conference in Manhattan and met some of the most famous agents in the game. I had a well-researched year and I now have one hell of a completed book as a result. I only wait on the elusive agent.
Patience is a learned virtue, not one easily gained, I might add. I will find an agent and when I do, he or she will find that I am exactly what I say, one hell of a writer. All I need is the one bite, the one agent who will see the value of my work. For the ones that have passed, I would have loved working with you but it is your loss. For the agent that I will eventually find, come get me, I am waiting!
Until next time.
The Five Weeks of Extreme Suckage
What is playing on the iPod? Wake Up - Three Days Grace
Unfortunately, I have had an extremely long period in between blog entries again, which is the inspiration for this particular entry. My youngest child, Logan, loves school. The whole process, learning, being with the kids, every part of school makes him giddy with anticipation. So, when he came up to me last month, crying and asked to stay home from school, my Spidey senses went off. This was so not good. A visit to the pediatrician later that day resulted in a bronchitis diagnosis. Logan missed the better part of that week of school, much to his dismay. By the end of day two, he was ready to go back and truthfully, I was ready to send him. In the meantime, I sounded like I was trying to cough up a fur ball the size of Alaska. I was fully convinced that it was a sinus infection until I ended up hooked up to an IV getting fluids the next week for dehydration. As it turned out, I had bronchitis and a kidney infection. Lovely, especially for someone who has been deemed immunocompromised (due to my four autoimmune conditions). Week two of hell was well underway. After 12 days of migrating from the bed, bathroom and vehicle to transport the kids back and forth to school, I gradually became upright - yippee! The Monday, which began week four, my oldest tells me he feels like he was hit by a truck. He woke me up at 2 in the morning, getting two inches from my face and informing me that his throat was in dire pain. After politely asking him to remove his undoubtedly contagious mouth away from my face, I got him some medicine, made sure he was comfortable, went about Purelling myself and crawled back in bed. The subsequent visit to the pediatrician later that day resulted in a negative strep culture (that was what my money was on) and a positive flu test.
After a litany of mentally spewed four letter words, I discovered that he met virtually every CDC-established criteria for H1N1. Being a healthy child (thank God), he was not eligible for Tamiflu. However, I was. I called my local doc (the only non-Duke doc I have) and informed them of the situation. A prophylactic prescription for Tamiflu was called in.
As evidence of my weird sense of humor, as soon as the nurse said "prophylactic", I snorted. I had all sorts of lewd thoughts running through my head...
"Trojan, it's no longer for birth control! We are now making Tamiflu!" Sorry, I digress.
Anyway, back to the five weeks of extreme suckage. Carson recovered and this past Monday went back to school. The day before he went back, it was a beautiful, sunny day. The day held much potential. Barring any unforeseen events, both children would be at school the next day and I could work on book two - woohoo! That night, my right eye started tearing up. Another mentally and verbally spewed litany of four letter words started as soon as I discovered that I could not bear to look at light. I went to the doctor the next morning for a recheck. As soon as the doc asked "is there anything else", I took my sunglasses off. She took one look at my eye and said, no joke, "Oh my God!"
Boy, does that boost confidence.
She went to get the black light and after getting some stain rubbed on my lower lid, she found that I had scratched my cornea.
Week five was off to a rousing start.
I got a good bit of antibiotic goo smeared on the inside of my lid and had my eye patched. I have not put a picture up, but let me assure you that I am white. Not only am I white, I am a shade of white that makes cotton balls look like they have a tan. I tell people that Duke has to keep a special set of pink sheets on hand for when I have surgery so I don't blend in to the white sheets. So, I dubbed myself Snowball, the pirate and went about the next 24 hours, which is the amount of time I had to wear the patch.
Here we sit on Thursday of week five and I am patch free. I still have some light sensitivity, which is normal, but not a deterrent to keep me away from the computers. I am back people and I am hoping for a much less eventful next week.
Until next time.
Unfortunately, I have had an extremely long period in between blog entries again, which is the inspiration for this particular entry. My youngest child, Logan, loves school. The whole process, learning, being with the kids, every part of school makes him giddy with anticipation. So, when he came up to me last month, crying and asked to stay home from school, my Spidey senses went off. This was so not good. A visit to the pediatrician later that day resulted in a bronchitis diagnosis. Logan missed the better part of that week of school, much to his dismay. By the end of day two, he was ready to go back and truthfully, I was ready to send him. In the meantime, I sounded like I was trying to cough up a fur ball the size of Alaska. I was fully convinced that it was a sinus infection until I ended up hooked up to an IV getting fluids the next week for dehydration. As it turned out, I had bronchitis and a kidney infection. Lovely, especially for someone who has been deemed immunocompromised (due to my four autoimmune conditions). Week two of hell was well underway. After 12 days of migrating from the bed, bathroom and vehicle to transport the kids back and forth to school, I gradually became upright - yippee! The Monday, which began week four, my oldest tells me he feels like he was hit by a truck. He woke me up at 2 in the morning, getting two inches from my face and informing me that his throat was in dire pain. After politely asking him to remove his undoubtedly contagious mouth away from my face, I got him some medicine, made sure he was comfortable, went about Purelling myself and crawled back in bed. The subsequent visit to the pediatrician later that day resulted in a negative strep culture (that was what my money was on) and a positive flu test.
After a litany of mentally spewed four letter words, I discovered that he met virtually every CDC-established criteria for H1N1. Being a healthy child (thank God), he was not eligible for Tamiflu. However, I was. I called my local doc (the only non-Duke doc I have) and informed them of the situation. A prophylactic prescription for Tamiflu was called in.
As evidence of my weird sense of humor, as soon as the nurse said "prophylactic", I snorted. I had all sorts of lewd thoughts running through my head...
"Trojan, it's no longer for birth control! We are now making Tamiflu!" Sorry, I digress.
Anyway, back to the five weeks of extreme suckage. Carson recovered and this past Monday went back to school. The day before he went back, it was a beautiful, sunny day. The day held much potential. Barring any unforeseen events, both children would be at school the next day and I could work on book two - woohoo! That night, my right eye started tearing up. Another mentally and verbally spewed litany of four letter words started as soon as I discovered that I could not bear to look at light. I went to the doctor the next morning for a recheck. As soon as the doc asked "is there anything else", I took my sunglasses off. She took one look at my eye and said, no joke, "Oh my God!"
Boy, does that boost confidence.
She went to get the black light and after getting some stain rubbed on my lower lid, she found that I had scratched my cornea.
Week five was off to a rousing start.
I got a good bit of antibiotic goo smeared on the inside of my lid and had my eye patched. I have not put a picture up, but let me assure you that I am white. Not only am I white, I am a shade of white that makes cotton balls look like they have a tan. I tell people that Duke has to keep a special set of pink sheets on hand for when I have surgery so I don't blend in to the white sheets. So, I dubbed myself Snowball, the pirate and went about the next 24 hours, which is the amount of time I had to wear the patch.
Here we sit on Thursday of week five and I am patch free. I still have some light sensitivity, which is normal, but not a deterrent to keep me away from the computers. I am back people and I am hoping for a much less eventful next week.
Until next time.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Back to Rebecca
What is on the iPod? Breaking Inside by Shinedown
It is Monday, November 3. Since October 24, I have been battling bronchitis. Yesterday, after my second trip to the doctor, I think we discovered the magical medicine because today I sit with a laptop open, turned on and my fingers are furiously banging on keys. YES! You just have to love modern medicine.
For ten days, I have been away from my girl, Rebecca. Today is a process of refamiliarizing myself with her world. I have felt so bad that I have not even given the computer a second glance. For someone who loves to write to the degree that I love to write, that says a lot. This morning, I woke up thinking about Rebecca, Christian, Jared, her neighborhood, Matt, the ending that I have shed tears over and lots of other Rebecca-related things.
Yes, I cried writing the ending. Yes, the ending is done before the rest of the book. I have a compulsion to write. I had initially planned on this big emotional reveal for Rebecca but the keyboard literally pulled me down with this ending. I had problems with it, stalked around the room and tried reworking it. No, the story had to be told and it had to be told this way.
My husband, the world's biggest carbon-based sack of emotionless goo, read it, blinked his eyes a couple of times and said "damn."
"What? Does it not work?"
"Oh, it works. I just did not see it coming."
I mentally high fived myself and decided that if I should rework the whole thing to become a book about the finer details of flower gardening, the ending was happening exactly as I wrote it. When I get an agent and they read the book, I want them to know that anything can be edited but the ending got that kind of reaction out of someone who does not typically react to anything other than having a nap disturbed. Or stealing his Snickers, but that is another blog for another day.
Today, I promised my son I would go for more Naruto Manga but when I am done, I will be diving back into central North Carolina on Rebecca's street. I am briskly rubbing my fingers together, excited to be back in the game.
Until next time.
It is Monday, November 3. Since October 24, I have been battling bronchitis. Yesterday, after my second trip to the doctor, I think we discovered the magical medicine because today I sit with a laptop open, turned on and my fingers are furiously banging on keys. YES! You just have to love modern medicine.
For ten days, I have been away from my girl, Rebecca. Today is a process of refamiliarizing myself with her world. I have felt so bad that I have not even given the computer a second glance. For someone who loves to write to the degree that I love to write, that says a lot. This morning, I woke up thinking about Rebecca, Christian, Jared, her neighborhood, Matt, the ending that I have shed tears over and lots of other Rebecca-related things.
Yes, I cried writing the ending. Yes, the ending is done before the rest of the book. I have a compulsion to write. I had initially planned on this big emotional reveal for Rebecca but the keyboard literally pulled me down with this ending. I had problems with it, stalked around the room and tried reworking it. No, the story had to be told and it had to be told this way.
My husband, the world's biggest carbon-based sack of emotionless goo, read it, blinked his eyes a couple of times and said "damn."
"What? Does it not work?"
"Oh, it works. I just did not see it coming."
I mentally high fived myself and decided that if I should rework the whole thing to become a book about the finer details of flower gardening, the ending was happening exactly as I wrote it. When I get an agent and they read the book, I want them to know that anything can be edited but the ending got that kind of reaction out of someone who does not typically react to anything other than having a nap disturbed. Or stealing his Snickers, but that is another blog for another day.
Today, I promised my son I would go for more Naruto Manga but when I am done, I will be diving back into central North Carolina on Rebecca's street. I am briskly rubbing my fingers together, excited to be back in the game.
Until next time.
Literary vampires
What's playing on the iPod? Wake Up by Three Days Grace
Funny side note, when I initially saw the name of the band Three Days Grace, I wondered why a Christian band would be classified in the same genre as Earshot, Three Doors Down, etc., etc. Then I listened to the words to Wake Up. I soon realized, again, what a mistake assumption is.
I am not, repeat, AM NOT jumping on the vampire bandwagon. I am not writing a book about a brooding Yugoslavian vampire just waiting in his centuries-old castle for his love to come along and save him with her blood. Nope, not hoping on that train. However, I am a sucker (ha!) for the brooding waiting-in-castle types and I love, love, love to read about them. So, I am choosing this time to write about my favorite vampires. Go to another one of my blog entries if you are over this craze or are a werewolf person, whatever. As I have been a vampire addict since Salem's Lot and I initially read that in junior high, this is something I like so I have just a few things to say.
First of all, for all of you Brad Pitt people, I apologize. No offense to you whatsoever. However, if we were watching Troy, I would fast forward through all the Pitt scenes to get to Eric Bana's stuff. I am all over the tall, dark and brooding.
LESTAT - We can not begin to delve into this category without going to the great Anne Rice. I will not write too much on him as it has been 20 years since I read Interview, but he left an impression. And I preferred the Stuart Townsend Queen of the Damned version to the Tom Cruise Interview version. If you have never seen the movies or read the books, please, please, please read the books first. You screw yourself out of such a great experience by watching the movies without reading the books. Next...
JEAN CLAUDE - I will go out on a limb here and say that Jean Claude is a much sexier vampire than Lestat and that says a lot. If you are an avid reader and like the supernatural, go to Laurell K. Hamilton's website, print off the correct reading order for the Anita Blake series and go to Barnes and Noble, Borders, Amazon, whatever and buy the first six. I say six because in either five or six (sorry, memory is not doing me any favors here), there is a bathtub scene that is worth waiting all of those books for. I am all the way through the last one and my black-haired, blue-eyed vampire is still with us.
JR WARD - No, she isn't a vampire, she is an author and a damned talented one at that. I have to say her in general as opposed to singling one of her guys out because she has written about two which could carry a series all on their own, V and Wrath. Each are tall, dark and brooding, drop dead sexy and both cursed. They, by far, are my favorites. I like Z but he doesn't quite get me like V and Wrath do. If you want to take a fictional trip to vampire-land, take the first plane you can out of Forks to Caldwell, NY. The Black Dagger Brotherhood will not disappoint, true?
Side note, for the Pitt fans, there is Phury and Rhage who undoubtedly put Mr. Pitt to shame.
My definition of a successful book is when you turn the last page and wish it was not done. All but one of those have left me with that reaction. John Michael's story is next in that particular series and I am chewing my nails waiting on it. She has a new series out about fallen angels and I just read Covet. WOW! JR, if I am ever lucky enough to have you read my blog, I just have one thing to say. Vin should have been a Brother. I am sure there is an extra pair of shitkickers laying around just waiting on him.
SHERRILYN KENYON - Again, ultra-talented author and you can not narrow down favorites to one or two choices. The Dark Hunter series is fantastic. Valerius, Zarek and Acheron are my favorites. Actually, after you get into the series, Acheron has a book all to himself, as they all do, but Acheron is easily in my top 25 favorite books of all time. It is an emotionally taxing read but there are lots of questions about everyone's favorite Goth answered.
If you do not like to read about mythology, then you may not like this series. I can provide this disclaimer. I have a deep faith in God and His Son. I serve in my church. He has come through for me way too many times for me not to believe in Him. However, I do read this series and will continue to read them as long as I am able. It is fictional entertainment, pure and simple. Enjoy it for what it is. If I have persuaded you to take this one for a test run, Nick's story is next. Unfortunately, it will not come out until next year. However, I will read it as soon as the opportunity presents itself. Ms. Kenyon is too talented a writer not to.
EDWARD CULLEN - Vampires do not sparkle, they incinerate in sunlight. They have fangs, for the love of Pete. They sleep, even if it is during they day. The Twilight series completely kills any preconceived notion of bloodsuckers except for the vampire/lycan thing. However, if you can get through these books and not feel something for the eternal 17-year-old then I can say the genre is not for you. No matter the age, women anywhere would love to have the devotion that Edward gives Bella, even if it borders on stupid sometimes (why leave her when a few decades ago there were werewolves living down the road - duh). The devotion is heartwarming and all four books were quite entertaining. Even if Emmett is my favorite, Edward gets the mention here.
I hope I have persuaded you to go book shopping. If not, I hope I have entertained you for a few minutes. Until next time.
Funny side note, when I initially saw the name of the band Three Days Grace, I wondered why a Christian band would be classified in the same genre as Earshot, Three Doors Down, etc., etc. Then I listened to the words to Wake Up. I soon realized, again, what a mistake assumption is.
I am not, repeat, AM NOT jumping on the vampire bandwagon. I am not writing a book about a brooding Yugoslavian vampire just waiting in his centuries-old castle for his love to come along and save him with her blood. Nope, not hoping on that train. However, I am a sucker (ha!) for the brooding waiting-in-castle types and I love, love, love to read about them. So, I am choosing this time to write about my favorite vampires. Go to another one of my blog entries if you are over this craze or are a werewolf person, whatever. As I have been a vampire addict since Salem's Lot and I initially read that in junior high, this is something I like so I have just a few things to say.
First of all, for all of you Brad Pitt people, I apologize. No offense to you whatsoever. However, if we were watching Troy, I would fast forward through all the Pitt scenes to get to Eric Bana's stuff. I am all over the tall, dark and brooding.
LESTAT - We can not begin to delve into this category without going to the great Anne Rice. I will not write too much on him as it has been 20 years since I read Interview, but he left an impression. And I preferred the Stuart Townsend Queen of the Damned version to the Tom Cruise Interview version. If you have never seen the movies or read the books, please, please, please read the books first. You screw yourself out of such a great experience by watching the movies without reading the books. Next...
JEAN CLAUDE - I will go out on a limb here and say that Jean Claude is a much sexier vampire than Lestat and that says a lot. If you are an avid reader and like the supernatural, go to Laurell K. Hamilton's website, print off the correct reading order for the Anita Blake series and go to Barnes and Noble, Borders, Amazon, whatever and buy the first six. I say six because in either five or six (sorry, memory is not doing me any favors here), there is a bathtub scene that is worth waiting all of those books for. I am all the way through the last one and my black-haired, blue-eyed vampire is still with us.
JR WARD - No, she isn't a vampire, she is an author and a damned talented one at that. I have to say her in general as opposed to singling one of her guys out because she has written about two which could carry a series all on their own, V and Wrath. Each are tall, dark and brooding, drop dead sexy and both cursed. They, by far, are my favorites. I like Z but he doesn't quite get me like V and Wrath do. If you want to take a fictional trip to vampire-land, take the first plane you can out of Forks to Caldwell, NY. The Black Dagger Brotherhood will not disappoint, true?
Side note, for the Pitt fans, there is Phury and Rhage who undoubtedly put Mr. Pitt to shame.
My definition of a successful book is when you turn the last page and wish it was not done. All but one of those have left me with that reaction. John Michael's story is next in that particular series and I am chewing my nails waiting on it. She has a new series out about fallen angels and I just read Covet. WOW! JR, if I am ever lucky enough to have you read my blog, I just have one thing to say. Vin should have been a Brother. I am sure there is an extra pair of shitkickers laying around just waiting on him.
SHERRILYN KENYON - Again, ultra-talented author and you can not narrow down favorites to one or two choices. The Dark Hunter series is fantastic. Valerius, Zarek and Acheron are my favorites. Actually, after you get into the series, Acheron has a book all to himself, as they all do, but Acheron is easily in my top 25 favorite books of all time. It is an emotionally taxing read but there are lots of questions about everyone's favorite Goth answered.
If you do not like to read about mythology, then you may not like this series. I can provide this disclaimer. I have a deep faith in God and His Son. I serve in my church. He has come through for me way too many times for me not to believe in Him. However, I do read this series and will continue to read them as long as I am able. It is fictional entertainment, pure and simple. Enjoy it for what it is. If I have persuaded you to take this one for a test run, Nick's story is next. Unfortunately, it will not come out until next year. However, I will read it as soon as the opportunity presents itself. Ms. Kenyon is too talented a writer not to.
EDWARD CULLEN - Vampires do not sparkle, they incinerate in sunlight. They have fangs, for the love of Pete. They sleep, even if it is during they day. The Twilight series completely kills any preconceived notion of bloodsuckers except for the vampire/lycan thing. However, if you can get through these books and not feel something for the eternal 17-year-old then I can say the genre is not for you. No matter the age, women anywhere would love to have the devotion that Edward gives Bella, even if it borders on stupid sometimes (why leave her when a few decades ago there were werewolves living down the road - duh). The devotion is heartwarming and all four books were quite entertaining. Even if Emmett is my favorite, Edward gets the mention here.
I hope I have persuaded you to go book shopping. If not, I hope I have entertained you for a few minutes. Until next time.
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