Thursday, November 30, 2006

Thirteen Things I Want For Christmas {greedy girl}



Thirteen Things about RG




1. Peace

2. A new computer with a flat screen monitor and enough RAM to write my stories without issues

3. Warm fuzzy socks to slide around on.

4. Did I say a new computer?

5. Being published-or at least offered a contract-before the New Year.

6. RWA Conference Fee

7. Good Health for my family and friends

8. A vibrator with ball thingies inside {LOL-thats a wish that really goes well with peace on earth}

9. A new filing cabinet-ok maybe I just need to organize the one I have. :}

10. A slice of chocolate raspberry Christmas cheesecake {even better if it didnt have any calories lol}

11. A pet Wookie

12. New books from my favorite authors instead of all these compilations and rereleases of books of I've already read! {thats a rant for later}

13. To be sitting in front of my new computer looking at an email from a publisher who wants to offer me a contract while wearing my fuzzy socks and stroking my pet Wookie. :}

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Great Minds? A writer's dilemma.

The archetypal mind? The Universal subconscious?
I know everyone has been overwhelmed when, after hearing nothing for years, dueling studios throw out their own versions of Robin Hood or {insert idea here-there are a dozen but my mind is blank} at the same exact time-saturating the market with what could have been a very good idea if it hadn't felt like a bit of overkill.
The same thing with novels/story ideas. Everyone's pregnant, everyone marries a prince, or everyone suddenly has to save the world from vampires and demons. I know sometimes it has to do with a study of trends and publisher requests, but just as often I imagine it is something in the air, some creative unconscious saying its time for this story.
But what, as a writer, are you to do when this happens? Especially if you are unpublished, and you've written something you think-if not utterly unique-at least has your own stamp and shows individual creativity. What if you suddenly look at a published author's new release, and it has eerily similiar elements to your own little masterpiece?
I know we can say there are a million stories out there-and that-specifically in romance-you are bound to bump elbows. But should you change your story? Should you chuck it and start anew? Or just say "that's life" and not worry about it?
They say a truly good story can never be told too often. As a reader I can't help but agree. As a writer...I wonder.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Giving Thanks

I love the name of this Holiday. Thanksgiving. While an outside observer could look at the Holiday and wonder why we are stuffing ourselves to sickness, watching football and mingling with relatives that drive us crazy...and a historian could postulate that the Pilgrims we look to as the founders of the day were really rather nasty to the natives that showed them how not to starve in a strange new land...I'd rather look at it from a philosophical standpoint.
To Give Thanks.
To Be Thankful.
To be filled with Gratitude, for everyone and everything in your life.
A whole day off from work and school meant just to think about all the blessings you have in your life.
A day we pray around the table, meditate or wish upon a star for others to be as blessed as we are.
And cranberries and stuffing :}
I am always struggling financially, I am always worrying about every little thing, I am always wishing for more.
But I am full and I never have to go without the necessities. I have friends and a home and a car and creamer for my coffee. I get sick but I can buy medicine. I do not fear walking out my door that I may be shot down by an insurgent or a gang of thugs.
I have running water and electricity, I have clothing to protect me from the elements. I am in fact, rather spoiled.
And I am so incredibly thankful for that.
So Thank you Universe for all your blessings!
And I hope all of you are equally as blessed this year and the next. :}
Have a Great Thanksgiving!

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Thirteen Things I Still Need To Learn About The Biz



Thirteen Things about RG




1.How to use html/make banners, websites etc

2.How to concentrate when you are waiting from a response from a publisher

3.How to stop the flow of story ideas-ie when you have one story you are writing-and another story pops in

4. How to tell my in-laws I'd rather they didnt read my story because I wont be able to face them after they see the word "co*k" in my book. :}

5.Doing taxes as a writer

6.How to save money on a shoe string budget{for a computer and RWA}this is an important one

7. How to deal with ever expanding subplots gracefully without creating chaos.

8. How to explain to my mother that this is a job and I am working LOL

9. DBA's Copyrights and Contracts {basically I need to make nice with a lawyer}

10. How to sit without falling on the excercise ball so my butt doesnt become the size of Utah

11. How to write a REALLY GOOD Synopsis

12. How to stay away from the forums long enough to get a full 8 hours of writing in.

13. A million other things I will probably come across along the way.!




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Saturday, November 11, 2006

Hospital Trip

My mother is having surgery on Monday, so I am going to be at the Heart Hospital for a few days. I know she is going to be fine, better than fine. We've gone through this before when she had to have a triple bypass, and this surgery holds a little less risk-though there is still concern of a possible stroke.

So I will let you all know how it went when I return, until then, love and light to you all.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Thirteen Reasons I'm Happy



Thirteen Things about R.G.




1. I got an email yesterday with a request from EC for my first full manuscript!

2. Same as above-the news is too good for only one line!

3. I can finally put pressure on my ankle again-it was a ridiculous wound caused by being a clutz.

4. Old friends I havent seen in over a year are converging on my humble abode to celebrate a wedding-I cant wait to see them {though I will need tons of wine and munchies!}

5. Despite financial hardships, life, and major changes over the last few years...I am still giddily, madly, crazy in love with my best friend and husband.

6. He apparently feels the same. Lucky me!

7. Since I began this new career, I have met some of the most wonderful people I have ever known {Divas and Editors etc}. I feel like I've finally found my niche.

8. I am writing like mad-and my story idea page is growing by leaps and bounds{now I just need to focus on one lol}

9. My mom is having a surgery next week that I believe will make her a million times safer from having a stroke, and allow her to relax and live a happy life.

10. My addiction to a certain vampire game {Thank you Lisa and Kristen!}is not as frustrating {mostly since I'm getting better at it lol}

11. Did I mention the full ms? {it is my first book you know, I cant help it!}

12. This is my first Thursday Thirteen.

13. Its a wonderful day!

Monday, November 06, 2006

A Story You Won't Want To Miss

What Lies In Winter
by Cassidy Kent
ISBN-10: 1-59279-628-1 (Electronic)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59279-628-1 (Electronic)

When workaholic Hayley goes on a much-needed holiday to her favorite cabin hideaway tucked deep in the mountains of the Mammoth ski resort, she doesn’t expect to meet the beast of a man occupying her rental.

Bestselling mystery author, Nicholas Rhiordan, happens to have the same plan in mind, vacationing in his luxury cabin. He wants nothing better than to be left alone to finish his next novel, but when Hayley makes a surprise appearance, he discovers she’s hell-bent on disrupting his peaceful balance. Like any feral beast, his only recourse is to throw her out on her ass in a heap of snow and hope that she gets the hint.

When a relentless blizzard forces them to share the same quarters, their fiery personalities and equally combustible attraction could melt the ice caps off the snowy mountains. Once the storm blows over, will their connection fizzle like a snow flurry or will they pen a perfect ending?

Genres: Contemporary / Voyeurism / Interracial
Heat Level: 2 Length: Novella (22k words)

Sunday, November 05, 2006

A Sunday Kind of Love

I like lazy Sundays
They are rare, but I love 'em. Staying in my p.j.'s for hours, hanging out at the computer and fiddling around the house.
The next few weeks are about to get crazily hectic. Mom's surgery, writing writing writing, wedding reception in my backyard, writing, spending time with my new addiction {thank you so much Lisa!}, writing writing, and now yet another friend is in the hospital with a cancerous stomach tumor.
So I am enjoying the morning-imagining that everyone is well, theres no place to go and nothing to do. That the most strenuous work my body will be required to do is typing and going to the fridge for Diet coke and snacks to fortify me. That I can take a break from that labor to lie on the cool grass in my backyard and watch the birds and the squirrels fight a bloody war for squatter's rights in my two trees.
Maybe even take a nap.
Of course I know it wont last-but leave me my illusions :}

Thursday, November 02, 2006

I AM A VAMPIRE

All the romance divas are playing a game-an online fight between Werewolves and Vampires. Though in my heart I no doubt would have chosen to be a Were-Alas-I was bitten in my prime. *sigh* Here is my story:

a young gypsy girl had been traveling with her family through the English countryside. They came across a troop of stunningly beautiful women, claiming they were story tellers. The women told her family that for a small fee, they would share the most magnificent stories ever told.
The young gypsy's father and brothers were so besotted with the sirens that they readily agreed, welcoming the ladies into their camp for the night.
The girl, who'd inherited the psychic gifts of her grandmother, had a feeling of foreboding, but she too was entranced by the lovely females who seemed to embody all that the awkward young woman wished to someday be.
After a few amazing tales of passion, romance, and magick...the women took the lusty men of the gypsy family into their tents.
The fire had dimmed, and the young gypsy thought she heard one of her brothers cry for help before the sound was stifled.
Her curiosity and worry consuming her, the gypsy girl peered into the darkness of her brother's temporary abode, only to find a pair of fiery eyes staring back at her own.
Drawn, mesmerized by the glowing gaze....the girl felt a moment of horror as she glimpsed her brother's broken form on the ground beside her. She could not control her limbs as she was drawn closer to the beauty that had obviously ended his life.
The stunning woman smiled kindly, her white fangs glinting in a stray shaft of moonlight as she discreetly licked the blood from her full, luscious lips.
"Were you happy being a slave to these men?"
The gypsy was stopped short by the question. Since her mother and grandmother had died, she had followed the males in her family around the countryside, cooking and cleaning and working her fingers bloody so that they could carouse and enjoy the carefree gypsy life. It was a lot all the women she'd ever known had accepted, taken for granted. It was a life she cursed as she lay upon the cold ground each night, with only a thin, ragged blanket to keep her warm.
The woman's smile widened as if she could hear her thoughts. Opening her alabaster arms in welcome, she embraced the dark haired gypsy. She smelled of freedom and romance and nature.
"Do you want to be one of us?" Her silken voice wrapped around the gypsy, infusing her body with a strange but not unwelcome feeling of relaxation.
"Who are you? What are you?" The gypsy looked up into the face of enchantment, knowing that this creature could say she was the Devil himself and she would still want to be what she was, want to have the same freedom, the same confidence.
A happy, almost youthful grin graced the stranger's face, and she leaned toward the gypsy's vulnerable neck. "My name is LisaMarie." She kindly intoned. And just before the gypsy felt the fangs pierce her flesh, "I am a vampire, but more importantly, I am a Diva. And after tonight little gypsy...you will be a Diva too."




So if you havent already joined-come and play-its fun-VERY realistic {what I mean by that is if you say you want to work in the graveyard for 8 hours to make money-you actually cant play the game for another 8 hours!-yes I found that out the hard way-BEFORE reading the directions LOL}

Let me bite you-I need the blood. Click on the link and have fun!!!!

http://world4.monstersgame.co.uk/?ac=vid&vid=47115277