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Listening to My Body
I have a sucky relationship with food. I try hard to control it, but more often than not, food controls me. All the great words about being perfect just the way I am, dieting doesn’t work, I’m beautiful…they’re wonderful thoughts, but the bottom line is my joints hurt. So I need to lose some weight. I know myself well enough to know that I’m not going to diet–Weight Watchers is a fantastic program, but I’m not going to pay to fix my body and I’m not interested in weighing in or going to a meeting. Been there, done that and it worked–for a while. All the other choices leave me…
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Today I Turn the Blog Over to Author Sandy James
Sandy is my critique partner and my inspiration. Her “Damaged Heroes” series and rom-com novel Turning Thirty-Twelve are published by BookStrand. The newest Damaged Heroes book, Twist of Fate, a time-travel romance, debuted October 25. Her novel, Rules of the Game, is coming from Carina Press in April 2012. Find Sandy online at www.sandy-james.com. Today, she talks about the importance of having someone else read your work. Take it away, Partner… I always remember what agony it was as a child to have my father tell me his “stories.” You know the ones I’m talking about… They usually began with In my day or When I was a kid.…
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Synopsis Writing Is Hard!
Today, I spent the afternoon writing the synopsis for the third novel, which I finished this week. It’s out to the beta readers, and I already got back one good report. YAY! Now, logically, you’d think that if one has completed three novels and has a rip-roaring start on the fourth, then one could certainly produce a five to seven page synopsis. After all, you wrote the damn books, you’d say, surely it’s not that hard to sit down and tell what they’re about. Well, you’d be wrong. Synopsis writing is really, truly hard! I sweat bullets over writing a decent synopsis. How much of the story do I include?…
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Guest blogging today…
…at the Bettyverse. Come on over–we’re talking about being a lefty, that’s handedness, not politics…
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Awesomeness Abounds…
…and I’m completely jacked up! Lucy March has set up a CafePress store with Bettyverse gear! Items include t-shirts, mugs, tote bags, messenger bags, and best of all, for me at least, jammies! Woot! I ordered them immediately and am picturing myself hanging out in Bettyverse pink plaid flannel pants and a cute tee while I create brilliant works of romantic fiction. I’m fairly certain anything Bettyverse-related will have magical properties and thus, set my creative juices flowing. In case you don’t know, this is out-of-character. Generally, I object to wearing anything at all that has words emblazoned across my considerable ta-tas, but hey, it’s the Bettyverse! For the Betties,…
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Wherein Nan and Husband Pay the Piper
So, today was the day we got the boat out of the water for winter–much harder than putting it in, I’ll tell ya. We did get to enjoy a small ride up to the Beach and back down to the Point where we waited for our storage guy to come trailer us home. He dropped the boat on the trailer in the driveway of the cottage and then it was our turn. Holy Mary, Mother of our Lord! First, we scraped algae off the pontoons–a wicked nasty job. Just FYI, algae stinks. Then we worked with a scrub brush and a couple of different kinds of cleaners and the power…
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Guest blogging…
…at the Bettyverse, today, Mes Amies. I’m on my favorite rant…if you visit here regularly or know me at all, you’ve heard it before, but come on over anyway and join in the conversation. Love to hear your viewpoint! Maybe you can change my mind… 😉
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Autumn…
…is my favorite time of the year, even though I’m often restless and sad in the fall. It’s an ending in so many ways, particularly this year. We’ll be taking the boat out of the water this coming weekend and then probably closing up the cottage in the next two weeks. So our next couple of lake weekends will be busy with scrubbing the boat and getting it to storage, packing perishable items that can’t stay over the winter so we can take them home, storing linens, and winterizing. The saddest thing is leaving our new friends. It’s odd, but all summer, the lake has felt like our real life…
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Rejection and Reflection
Okay, so yeah, I’ve visited this topic before and I probably will again, but it’s my forum, so just deal. Got another rejection yesterday–this one of the second novel, which I will admit is not as strong as the first one or the third one or the fourth, for that matter. Editor said, “…the first chapter, especially, was built on a number of coincidences that made the plot difficult to buy into.” Hello? It’s romance–all the plots are difficult to buy into. That’s why we read them! We’re writing escapism here, not gritty reality. If I were going to veer off-course and write what really happens, our heroine would be…
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Come on Over…
…to Chick Lit Writers today! My fabulous critique partner Sandy James is talking about writing older female characters–women with more experience that bring vibrancy and attitude to a story. She’d love to hear your viewpoint and so would I. One of the novels my agent is currently submitting for me is about a 37-year-old woman who rediscovers a lost love. Do you like reading about heroines who are over forty? Do you believe romance still blooms even if you aren’t twenty-one and starry-eyed? Come on by and talk to Sandy about being as old as you feel. You could win a copy of her newest novel, TWIST OF FATE, due…