Rock walls and writing

Here's the tally for yesterday (Thursday):

New pages written: 7 (goal: 6.4 pages)
Old pages revised on paper: 0
Pages of revisions typed in: 0
Pages lost or gained due to revisions: 0
Total page count to date: 133 (goal: 200 pages)
Days remaining until D-day: 33 (I'm thinking this number might be wrong, but I'm too chicken to check it!)

Emails from editor in UK: 0
Emails from agent in NY: 0

Chocolate consumed: Ice cream
Junk food consumed: Carl's Jr. for dinner
Exercise: Irish dance class
Television watched: Nightstalker and Without a Trace (on computer or writing during them)
Pictures of Hayden downloaded: None
Tears: a couple

I exceeded my page goal today. Only by .6 of a page, but hey, I'll take it. I struggled with words. I was so tired I didn't want to write. I wanted to spend time with my toddler so we played, colored and went to her little dance class. She was so cute in her pink leotard and skirt. It was the first time she'd worn it and didn't want to take it off. No tomboy here, though she can hold her own in a lightsaber fight and can already kick a soccer ball correctly.

Tonight I stopped in at a local health club to check out their rock wall and do some research for the story. I have a scene where Chase pushes Jane out of her comfort zone by taking her rock wall climbing. I spoke with a staff member who answered my many questions, explained the various equipment and even showed me the calluses on his hands from climbing. Did I mention that he was young, attractive and athletic? The things we writers must do to ensure accuracy in our stories!

And although I had fun with Rose and later researching, the actual writing was, in a word, brutal. I'm up to an important scene for my hero, Chase. It involves a little girl who has leukemia and I'm having a tough time with it. As a writer and as a mom. I've had sick kids. In another month or so, I'll be back at the hospital with one of mine for testing and a visit to the specialist to see if she's getting better or not. I'm not looking forward to that, but at least it won't kill her. And that's the big fear. One of my children facing a life-threatening illness. I don't like thinking about it and now I'm writing it. Remember when I sold this book and said I must be insane? I guess I'll see if facing my own fears brings out the emotion or simply pushes me over the edge. Anyone want to place a bet?

Another day, some more pages

Here's the tally for yesterday (Wednesday):

New pages written: 6 (goal: 6.4 pages)
Old pages revised on paper: 0
Pages of revisions typed in: 0
Pages lost or gained due to revisions: 0
Total page count to date: 126 (goal: 200 pages)
Days remaining until D-day: 34

Emails from editor in UK: 1
Emails from agent in NY: 0

Chocolate consumed: Cupcake
Junk food consumed: None. (forgot to eat lunch unless you count the cupcake since Rose was at a friend's house)
Exercise: None
Television watched: LOST and Invasion (wrote through invasion)
Pictures of Hayden downloaded: None
Tears: None

Busy day with school stuff and driving the kids to various activities so the focus wasn't on writing. I did manage to write pages, but they will need lots of rewriting. I've been dragging all day. Must sleep and remember to eat. That would help my output.

And of course it's Wednesday, which meant from 9-10 pm I didn't do anything except watch LOST. I wasn't blown away by this episode as the premiere. That means I'm probably too tired to pay close enough attention so I hope they show it again next week so I can rewatch it. Still going back to Locke being in the hatch was anticlimactic for me. I could've used a bite of Kate's candy bar. I was happy to finally see Sawyer and Michael and I'm so relieved Jin is alive. The ending with "the others" running out of the jungle was cool. Of course, Jin's version of the others is actually survivors from the back of the plane not "the others" who took Walt. And who knows whether either of those are "the others" Rousseau spoke about. Next week should be very interesting.

Here's another question posted in the comments: "how do you decide when you need an extra scene that wasn't there before?"

Something I learned from the talented Virginia Kantra (romantic suspense author) is to see if I've 1) maintained dominant mood/emotion between scenes 2) or if it is different, shown how a character's dominant mood/emotion has changed between scenes. That is if my heroine is happy at the end of a scene, she should start her next scene in that same mood unless you show what's caused her change. If not, the reader is missing something important. How could the heroine go from happy to depressed when the only thing that happened in between was a scene with the hero and his mother that had nothing to do with the heroine? The reader needs to know what happened to cause the heroine's emotional change. Not every writer does this, but it's good advice and a way to figure out if an extra scene (or a little rewriting) might be needed. I hope that makes sense. I'm so tired, I can no longer focus on the monitor. That means it's time for bed!

I love Tuesdays

Here's the tally for yesterday (Tuesday):

New pages written: 6 (goal: 6.4 pages)
Old pages revised on paper: 0
Pages of revisions typed in: 0
Pages lost or gained due to revisions: 0
Total page count to date: 120 (goal: 200 pages)
Days remaining until D-day: 35

Emails from editor in UK: 0
Emails from agent in NY: 3 (Some chit chat and book 2 delivery dates finalized: Proposal in mid January, Complete on April 1. It's going to be a busy few months.)

Chocolate consumed: Some more of the Darth mix of M&Ms, a piece of chocolate and bowl of ice cream
Junk food consumed: Rice chips (not sure if those are junk food, but at least I ate today)
Exercise: None
Television watched: Commander in Chief and Boston Legal (wrote during them, but hubby was watching)
Pictures of Hayden downloaded: One
Tears: None

Yes, Tuesday is definitely my favorite day of the week. By the time the nanny left today at 4 pm, the kids' homework had been completed, piano practice done, dishes in the dishwasher, the kitchen was clean and pages written. Not a lot of pages, but today I went for quality over quantity. The kind of pages that will actually make it into the book with limited revisions. They already have texture, the five senses, sexual tension and clothing. (I usually don't dress my characters until the final draft so YAY! One less thing to worry about.) Hubby didn't get home until late so I made dinner. Spaghetti and garlic bread. The kids treated us to a song and dance performance of Hillary Duff/Lizzie McGuire songs afterwards. All in all, a very good day.

I wanted to reply to a comment left by Michelle. Craft is not my strong point and I'm very tired so please keep that in mind. She posted: "The toughest part for me now is deciding whether the scene truly needs to be there. There are a few where, if I delete them, the manuscript feels jagged. But they're not quite where they need to be. :/"

I feel your pain! I really do. Some scenes need to go and it's brutal to cut them because most of the extraneous ones are nearest to my heart. Other scenes need to be moved and deciding where can be almost as hard as cutting them. Unfortunately I haven't found an easy answer to where a scene should go. Sometimes it's trial and error. Other times luck. I haven't developed the skill of just knowing yet.

If the manuscript feels jagged, you may only need to rewrite some of the transitions and/or a sequel. Sometimes we don't need entire scenes, but an image/feeling/emotion from a deleted scene that will bring it all together. I also end up combining scenes so one scene can do double duty. That can really help smooth out things plus tighten the story.

Something that has really helped me decide whether I should keep, move or delete a scene is watching DVDs. Listening to the audio commentaries of movies has taught me so much about storytelling and characterization. I love watching the deleted scenes and I use them as teaching tools, too. I can see (and hear) exactly why a scene wasn't included in the final cut at the movie. That's helped me be more objective when I decide what stays and what goes in the manuscript.

Forward Progress

Here's the tally for yesterday (Monday):

New pages written: 7 (goal: 6.4 pages)
Old pages revised on paper: 0
Pages of revisions typed in: 0
Pages lost or gained due to revisions: 0
Total page count to date: 114 (goal: 200 pages)
Days remaining until D-day: 36

Emails from editor in UK: 0
Emails from agent in NY: 1 (Not about this book or the contract)

Chocolate consumed: Two handfuls of Darth mix of M&Ms
Junk food consumed: None. (Just realized I didn't really each much today. No wonder I'm hungry.)
Exercise: None
Television watched: Attack of the Clones with my sick son
Pictures of Hayden downloaded: None. (But I got to seem him in the above movie. Sigh.)
Tears: Yes (A new category. I will only count tears that fall due to writing frustration/anger/despair. Lack of writing time, too.)

Okay. All is not lost. I finally made some forward progress today even with a sick kid at home and my youngest one who made her day's goal to annoy him. The kids had a lightsaber fight with Crayola makers at one point. But I had to stop it before one of them (namely my son) got hurt. My 2 1/2 year old, a Yoda fan, has the light saber sounds down pat.

To soothe the day and make it easier on myself, I bought the Star Wars Ep. 2 DVD this morning. I sat on the couch with my son, who now has two ruptured eardrums, and my trusty Alphasmart. I had to stop working every time Kit Fisto (my son's fave) appeared on screen, but that was okay and he loved pointing him out to me. I must admit to being more than a little distracted each time Anakin was onscreen, but I managed to meet my page goal thanks to my muse providing much needed inspiration as well as a new resolve not to go to bed until I've met my page quota.

This means I have now entered into panic mode as well as the dove head first into the hate portion of my love-hate relationship with writing. I love having written. I hate writing. Those blank screens/pages just mock me which is why I use my Alphie to draft. With only a four line display, there's not much to mock. I don't draft on my computer. Otherwise my poor keyboard takes take the brunt of my frustration. And nothing, including molded plastic and circuits, deserves that.

Focus, I must, and concentrate on the task at hand. A complete rough draft. A complete rough draft. That's my mantra and goal for the next two weeks.

One more thing, I'm going back to linear writing for a few days. I've been jumping around as the scenes hit me, but I need to know I have all the parts of the story down. So I started back at Chapter Four today and filling in the gaps. We'll see how long this lasts. I'm guessing until I get into Chapter 5. It never fails. I always hit a wall there. A huge I'm-never-going-to-be-able-to-muddle-through-the-middle wall-everything-I-wrote-sucks wall. I'll need lots of M&Ms when that happens and Kleenex.

Manic Monday

Here's the tally for yesterday:

New pages written: 0 (goal: 6.4 pages)
Old pages revised on paper: 0
Pages of revisions typed in: 0
Pages lost or gained due to revisions: 0
Total page count to date: 107 (goal: 200 pages)
Days remaining until D-day: 37

I took yesterday off. I needed to rest and take care of my son. He's got one ruptured eardrum. The doctor thinks the other will rupture today. He has a very severe ear infection. Poor little guy. He's home today from school and just miserable. I told him we could watch a Star Wars movie. That made him smile.

But...the panic has set in. I'm behind. I need to write. The book is constantly on my mind. Scenes popping. Characters talking. The entire plot imploding.

I just need everyone to be healthly! And start meeting my page goals no matter what.

The Circle of Life

Here's the tally for today:

New pages written: 0 (goal: 6.4 pages)
Old pages revised on paper: 0
Pages of revisions typed in: 4
Pages lost or gained due to revisions: 0
Total page count to date: 107 (goal: 200 pages)
Days remaining until D-day: 38

Emails from editor in UK: 0
Emails from agent in NY: 0

Chocolate consumed: Handful of Darth mix of M&Ms (dark chocolate Star Wars ones. Yum!)
Junk food consumed:
Exercise: None
Television watched: Weather channel
Pictures of Hayden downloaded: None.

Still not well. Still not writing. Worse, my son is sick. He skipped soccer and napped today, but I was a bad mommy tonight. Gave him children's Advil (we were out of Motrin) and took him to see The Lion King. We've had the tickets for months. We didn't want to miss it so what was I going to do? I knew the kids would love it. They did. Seeing the joy spread over Finn's face was better than the show (which was fantastic!) I had to keep telling him to sit down. He was so excited and never stopped smiling that I knew I'd made the right decision bringing him. By the end, he started fading, but he sat on my lap and hung in there like a real trooper. After the show my hubby carried him all the way to the car. We realized on the way home that Finn probably has an ear infection which means a trip to the doctors in the morning if we can get a Sunday appointment or it's off to urgent care.

Under the weather

Here's the tally for today:

New pages written: 0 (goal: 6.4 pages)
Old pages revised on paper: 0
Pages of revisions typed in: 14
Pages lost or gained due to revisions: +2
Total page count to date: 107 (goal: 200 pages)
Days remaining until D-day: 39

Emails from editor in UK: 0
Emails from agent in NY: 1 (from agent's assistant telling me agent is away in case the email I sent was urgent. It wasn't.)

Chocolate consumed: Bowl of ice cream
Junk food consumed: McDonalds for lunch
Exercise: None
Television watched: Weather channel, Disney channel and Nick Jr. (I was a bad mommy and let Rose watch more than one show.)
Pictures of Hayden downloaded: None.

Still not feeling well. I gave up on writing new pages and revised old pages. Our neighbor downstairs took my kids this afternoon so I could rest. (I tried writing, but my brain was mush.) Poor guy had his two plus my three. I owe him big time. Tomorrow we have tickets for The Lion King. I MUST GET WELL. Not only for the show, but the book. I'm falling behind, but I don't feel well enough to panic. But that will come.

Hugs and prayers to those affected by Hurricane Rita.

Sick

Here's the tally for today:

New pages written: 1 (goal: 6.4 pages)
Old pages revised on paper: 0
Pages of revisions typed in: 0
Pages lost or gained due to revisions: 0
Total page count to date: 105 (goal: 200 pages)
Days remaining until D-day: 40

Emails from editor in UK: 0
Emails from agent in NY: 0

Chocolate consumed: 1 oreo
Junk food consumed: 1 pretzel
Exercise: None (skipped irish dance class)
Television watched: Didn't keep track. Weather channel and Disney channel were on at various times today.
Pictures of Hayden downloaded: None. Not even Hayden could make me feel better today.

Yucky day. Woke up feeling bad. Checked email and took a long shower hoping it would help. It didn't. Unfortunately, mommies don't get sick days. I decided to not let feeling icky stop me. Stupid decision. I struggled to write one page when I should have taken a nap with Rose instead. I kept feeling worse. Survived a toddler dance class after lunch, was asked by more than one parent when I picked up the kids if I was okay and then forced myself to stay awake during the kids' piano lessons. At least we got through homework. By late afternoon, I was running on fumes and had the chills. No way did I want to head out again for Irish dance and then stay do my class, too, so I told kids we wouldn’t be going. My daughter took it well. She even offered to watch the kids so I could nap. Too bad she's only seven. I sat comatose while they watched television. My wonderful hubby made it home so he could take daughter to class and the other two kidlets to dinner. That would have given me a huge chunk of writing time. I thought about doing that for about a nanosecond then crawled in bed. That was a little before 5. I woke up when the family got home two and a half hours later. Napping helped, but not enough. Maybe tomorrow I'll feel human again. And I can write.

LOST!

Here's the tally for today:

New pages written: 6 (goal: 6.4 pages)
Old pages revised on paper: 0
Pages of revisions typed in: 0
Pages lost or gained due to revisions: 0
Total page count to date: 104 (goal: 200 pages)
Days remaining until D-day: 41

Emails from editor in UK: 0
Emails from agent in NY: 2 (still working out delivery dates for book 2. I have a deadline for the complete, now we're working on when the proposal will be due. I proposed a day.)

Chocolate consumed: oreos, bowl of ice cream
Junk food consumed: pretzels
Exercise: None
Television watched: A lot. 3+ hours-Safe landing of Jet Blue FLT 292, LOST (WOW! It didn't disappoint. I can't wait for next week.) and Invasion (a new show that premiered after LOST. It's still on so I'm not sure yet if it's something I'll continue to watch)
Pictures of Hayden downloaded: I lost count after 8 (New pics from the Star Wars fashion show and others posted to the yahoo groups list I'm on.)

I was sure today would be a lost writing day, but I surprised myself. Yes, a tad short on the page count, but I managed more than I thought I would thanks to my Alphasmart and-drumroll please-I have passed the halfway point and it's not even October yet! Snatching a minute here and there to write can really make a difference when you add up the pages. And the Alphie allows me to turn off my internal editor and just get the words on the page. I would be lost without it. I write every rough draft using my Alphie. Best purchase this writer ever made.

I received a surprise call this morning from my friend, Monica, who I mentioned in yesterday's post. Synchronicity? When we critiqued together, it was almost as if we shared the same brain sometimes! We spent nearly an hour catching up even though we are both on deadline. Remember the name, Monica Pradhan. When her novel, The Hindi Bindi Club, hits the stands, you'll be hearing a lot about this talented and gifted writer!

And finally we get to what I've been anticipating all summer. The season premiere of LOST. Amazing. My only complaint was I wanted to know what happened to the four on the raft. It looks as if some of those questions will be answered next week. That scene between Walt and Shannon sent a shiver down my spine. Why was Walt wet? Where was his life jacket? So many questions. But that's LOST. Each episode raises more questions than it answers.

Who is Desmond? Any guesses? Usually LOST surprises me, but you could see that one coming. Why else would they have a random stranger play such a big part in the flashback? And that accent was a dead giveaway. Still they managed to reel me in and had me on the edge of my seat once again. Kudos to JJ Abrams and crew.

A very good day!

Here's the tally for today:

New pages written: 8 (goal: 6.4 pages)
Old pages revised on paper: 0
Pages of revisions typed in: 44
Pages lost or gained due to revisions: 0
Total page count to date: 98 (goal: 200 pages)
Days remaining until D-day: 42

Emails from editor in UK: 0
Emails from agent in NY: 0

Chocolate consumed: 4 oreos, bowl of ice cream
Junk food consumed: Does a bottle of beer (Firestation Five Blonde from a local Portland brewery) count?
Exercise: None, but I actually thought about it for once and even picked up my pilates DVD
Television watched: 1 1/2 hours - Big Brother finale (Howie, the Jedi in training should have won. Loved his light sabers.) and Baby Noah video w/Rose (while counting and building/knocking down towers)
Pictures of Hayden downloaded: two plus a couple of videos (just the inspiration I needed to write the first kiss)

I'm psyched. Lots done. Page goal met. 2 chapters worth of revisions typed in. A couple new pics of Hayden to stare at. And I didn't go too extreme in my chocolate consumption. I'm a very happy camper:)

I wrote the first kiss scene! I love first kisses. It's always interesting to see what happens. Will it be hot or sweet? A combo of both? I wasn't planning for it to happen when it did, but I think it works. Some emotion is missing (the h/h reactions need to be put under the microscope as my former critique partner, the immensely talented Monica Pradan used to tell me) but I'm going for quantity not quality right now.

And I have to be honest for all you writer moms out there, I did not accomplish today's page goal on my own. The kids' amazing nanny, who stopped working for us during the summer, is now back one day a week. From 10-4, the only thing I had to do was kiss and hug Rose when needed and pick up the kids from school. No afterschool activities today, either. My hubby also cooked dinner (he usually does unless we're having company or it's a holiday so that's a huge help timewise.) Needless to say Tuesday is my new favorite day of the week. Of course tomorrow I'll be back to the real world writing during naptime and after bedtime and driving the kids all over for their various activities so I expect to see the output drop significantly.

Oh, and if anyone notices any math errors, please let me know. I'm usually pretty tired by the time I type this so my brain isn't functioning on all cylinders.

Don't forget. Tomorrow is the LOST premiere!!!! Tune in to the best show on television. All my pages must be completed prior to 9 pm so I can concentrate fully on my favorite show. Do any of you watch it, too?

Need to crank it up a notch

Here's the tally for yesterday:

New pages written: 5 (goal: 6.4 pages)
Old pages revised on paper: 0
Pages of revisions typed in: 0
Pages lost or gained due to revisions: 0
Total page count to date: 90 (goal: 200 pages)
Days remaining until D-day: 43

Emails from editor in UK: 0
Emails from agent in NY: 0

Chocolate consumed: 2 oreos
Junk food consumed: none
Exercise: None
Television watched: Jo Jo's Circus with daughter
Pictures of Hayden downloaded: none

I really wanted to get down to business this week and increase my page count. Didn't happen yesterday. Of course, Monday is the day I'm more bus-driver than anything due to kidlet activities. And I did have dinner with a friend from my old neighborhood. She's also a writer and wants to do a writer's retreat at her house in Bend, Oregon with her writer friends. Now to find a weekend we can all get away! Post D-day, I'm guessing.

I have found a few problems with the proposal either due to research (found something that requires an entire part of a conversation to be rewritten and I really liked how it was:( or just having a clearer mind when I think about the story now. I definitely need more conflict on Chase's part. I have no reason for him not wanting to pursue the relationship early in the story. I think that weakens the romantic conflict, but I now know what to do to increase that push-pull between the characters that ups the tension and emotion. Or at least I think I know. We'll see how it translates to paper if I ever meet my page goal and start typing in revisions. At this rate I won't be sleeping much the month of October. That won't be a pretty sight.

Maybe I just need more chocolate and some Hayden inspiration!

Better than expected

Here's the tally for today:

New pages written: 6 (goal: 6.4 pages)
Old pages revised on paper: 0
Pages of revisions typed in: 0
Pages lost or gained due to revisions: 0
Total page count to date: 85 (goal: 200 pages)
Days remaining until D-day: 44

Emails from editor in UK: 0
Emails from agent in NY: 0

Chocolate consumed: The remaining Junior Mints and 2 oreos
Junk food consumed: none
Exercise: An hour teaching 18 4-5 year olds
Television watched: The Emmys (YAY! LOST WON!!!! Only three more days until it premieres!)
Pictures of Hayden downloaded: none

Okay, I was half a page short from meeting my goal, but I'm not complaining. I could have turned off the TV, but I had to see whether LOST won. It's my favorite show. Of course, my hubby said the show is taped so why not just check on-line, but I'm a sucker for award shows. Plus I'm still ahead of page goal since LauraP's plan called for taking weekends off, but I haven't.

Today I managed to connect with a friend who is helping me with the leukemia research for this book. We've been playing phone tag all week. She answered my questions and gave me so much helpful information. I couldn't wait to get to work once I hung up the phone. I will admit that these past couple of days it's been difficult to put the children battling ALL out of my mind. Although the cure rates have increased to nearly 80% with the proper treatment, it's a horrendous journey for these courageous children and their families to endure. My heart just aches them and I pray they never hear the word "relapse."

Back on track

Here's the tally for today:

New pages written: 7 (goal: 6.4 pages)
Old pages revised on paper: 0
Pages of revisions typed in: 0
Pages lost or gained due to revisions: 0
Total page count to date: 79 (goal: 200 pages)
Days remaining until D-day: 45

Emails from editor in UK: 0
Emails from agent in NY: 0

Chocolate consumed: 1 bowl of ice cream and a few Junior Mints
Junk food consumed: none
Exercise: none
Television watched: none
Pictures of Hayden downloaded: none

Met my page goal. YAY! Tomorrow will be harder. My nephew's birthday party is tomorrow and it's a 90 mile drive each way plus I'm teaching a class. I'll just have to be real disciplined. And bring my Alphasmart with me everywhere I go.

Not so good day

Here's the tally for today:

New pages written: 2 (goal: 6.4 pages)
Old pages revised on paper: 0
Pages of revisions typed in: 0
Pages lost or gained due to revisions: 0
Total page count to date: 72 (goal: 200 pages)
Days remaining until D-day: 46

Emails from editor in UK: 0
Emails from agent in NY: 0

Chocolate consumed: none
Junk food consumed: 3 Teddy Grahams
Exercise: none
Television watched: The Wiggles during lunchtime
Pictures of Hayden downloaded: 7 (He showed up at the Star Wars Fashion show in NY last night so there were yummy new pics of him. Love his hair in them! One of the ladies in the Hayden group I belong to got his autograph there.)

Okay, a not so good day especially after the progress yesterday. I'm bummed, but I had no choice. I start teaching a class this weekend at church so I spent this morning and tonight finishing up the classroom. What writing time I thought I'd have disappeared when my youngest's nap schedule got messed up and she wouldn't sleep. I even tried laying with her, but I fell asleep and she woke me up. Oh, well... I thought about staying up until I met my page goal, but I'm not feeling that desperate and I really am tired.

I must do better tomorrow and try to make up for my lack of pages today!

I'm on my way

Here's the tally for today:

New pages written: 9 (goal: 6.4 pages)
Old pages revised on paper: 61
Pages of revisions typed in: 0 (I let revisions sit over night to make sure I want to make the changes before typing them in)
Pages lost or gained due to revisions: 0
Total page count to date: 70 (goal: 200 pages)
Days remaining until D-day: 47

Emails from editor in UK: 1 (No revisions or changes required on the proposal. I was asked to maintain emotional conflict throughout the story and make sure the reader knows why h/h can't be together.)
Emails from agent in NY: 2 (Also received a phone message from her. We need to determine delivery dates for book 2)

Chocolate consumed: 1 bowl of ice cream and 1 cookie
Junk food consumed: 2 rolls of Smarties
Exercise: 1 hour of Irish dance (We learned the 6-hand. My legs hurt from dancing on my toes and trying to kick my bum.)
Television watched: None, unless you want to count Blue's Clues while I built a tower of blocks with my daughter on the floor.
Pictures of Hayden downloaded: 2

A very good day. Let's hope I can keep this up!

The Countdown to D-day

Remember NOT SO PLAIN JANE, the proposal I sent in a couple Fridays ago? Well, I was offered a two-book contract with the new Harlequin Romance line. My agent is negotiating the contract, but unless something has happened in the last eighteen hours, I'll have a November 1 deadline (aka D-day) for the first book. That means:

1) I'll have a book out in October 2006
2) I can celebrate finishing the book by watching Revenge of the Sith on DVD (release date is 11/1)
3) I have six weeks to write the rest of the book
4) I am totally insane

The excitement of #1 and #2 quickly dimmed when the reality of #3 and #4 dawned. Okay, I've done it before. I've actually written a book in less time and it even won an RT Book Club award for best Silhouette Romance, but that was before. Before I had my third child, before I took time off to care for that child when she got sick, before I wondered whether I would ever be able to write and sell again.

As doubts set in, my faithful friends quickly came to my rescue with words of encouragement this afternoon. They know me so well that one friend actually broke down what I needed to do and emailed me the following:

6 weeks to 50,000 words, with 3 chapters already

Assume 40-45 pages for the 3 chapters, 250-word pages - say 10,000 words done, 40,000 to go.

40,000 divided by 5 weeks = 8,000 words/32 pages per week
Divided by 5 days per week = 1600 net words/6.4 pages per day with 2 daysoff
Leaving one week for tightening, cleanup, spellcheck, etc.

Not as scary when you break it down.

LauraP, the breakdown queen
(hmm, that doesn't sound so good)

Actually it sounded great considering I had 61 pages for the first three chapters and when I pulled out my organizer to double check the dates I discovered I actually had 7 weeks instead of 6. A doable game plan. Right?

There's one problem. I don't write. I revise. And revise and revise. But I'm still going to take LauraP's plan and go for it. A systematic approach might keep me from the exhaustion and deadline dementia that normally happens to me. Or it might not.

If you want to see what happens when a writer (okay, this writer) is on deadline, stay tuned. The posts won't be long because I have a book to write, but I'll keep you updated on my progress, my setbacks and any nervous breakdowns I suffer in between. Words of encouragement, chocolate and news/pics of my muse Hayden Christensen will be greatly appreciated.

Wish me luck! I'm going to need it:)

We have a winner...

Cherlyn Michaels is the winner of the autographed book. Congrats! Please use the website button on the left to go to the contact page and send me your snail address. I also need to know whether you want the book autographed for yourself, someone else or generic. Thanks!

No one guessed the correct answer. The picture I sent in for the cover was not Hayden Christensen. Back in 2003 when I wrote the book, I didn't know who Hayden was. Hard to believe, but true. I missed seeing Attack of the Clones in the theater due to a difficult pregnancy so I decided to wait until Episode 3 came out to watch it. I remained Star Wars spoiler free for two years. Not that hard to do living in a cave with three young kidlets and writing to keep me otherwise preoccupied:)

As for the picture... I was thumbing through a magazine and saw a photo of a man in a tuxedo. It was Henry Davenport! I looked again and realized it was actually Jude Law. So I bought the magazine and sent in that picture for the cover. Do you see the resemblance?

Free Book Friday

Hero, Henry Davenport, has been on my mind since seeing Troy. Imagine my surprise when I received a package from Harlequin M&B and found hardcover copies of Henry's book, The Billionaire's Wedding Masquerade. The pink hardcover copies are sold to libraries in the U.K. I love them and keep one of each title on our living room bookcase. I've never had extra to give away. Until now...

It's Free Book Friday! Simply post a comment and you'll be entered to win an autographed hardcover copy of Henry's book. I won't even make you answer a question like I do on the website contest, either. If you have an overwhelming urge to answer a question, tell me the name of the person who's picture I sent in for the cover art? But you don't have to get it correct to win.

I usually have between 1-5 comments on my diary entries so I've written down a number between 1 and 5. If more than 5 people enter, I'll use a random number generator and pick the winner that way. The winner's name will be posted on Saturday's blog so be sure to check back if you enter!

Random Thoughts

My parents offered to take the kidlets on Friday and Saturday nights so I spent the weekend resting, watching the coverage of the Katrina disaster and catching up on my to-be-watched list of movies.

Katrina: The images and stories are heartbreaking. There are plenty of websites and blogs offering links for donations and how to volunteer so I won't do the same here, but I hope everyone does whatever they can for those affected, including the pets who had to be left behind. I also encourage you to write your U.S. senators and representatives. We not only need long-term relief for the Gulf Coast, but we need to ensure that the lack of immediate and appropriate response never happens again. If you don't know how to reach them, simply try google.com. I received a response from Senator Cantwell today so at least I know that the email I sent last week arrived.

Movies: I watched two DVDs this weekend including Troy. The first question out of my hubby's mouth when I put on Troy was, "Is Hayden in this?" No, Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom. (Plus a bunch of other eye candy which I didn't mention.) "Orlando who?" Legolas. "Oh, him." My hubby says he's not into movies, but he just likes to say that. Put on Slapshot, Jaws, Rush Hour, Sense and Sensibility or a few others, and he won't move until the credits role.

What did I think of Troy? Well, the credits read based on The Iliad. Perhaps they should have said, character names, a few scenes and plot points borrowed from the Iliad, but the rest is all Hollywood (or rather what Hollywood thinks we, the audience, wants to see.) Still you can't beat the eye candy. Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Sean Bean and Orlando Bloom, just to name a few. So at least they got that part right. But Orlando's Paris was so absolutely beautiful that Helen paled in comparison.

Something hit me while I was watching that took me by surprise-Paris (not his looks, but his character) reminded me so much of Henry Davenport, a character from several of my books. Both men were privileged and indulged their every whim (i.e. flawed), but both managed to redeem themselves at the end.

Back to school: Today was the first day back to school for my two oldest kids. They dressed in their uniforms, put their lunchboxes into their backpacks and off they went to the school. I'm nervous about my seven year old adjusting to her new class and school. I still can't believe my five year old is in kindergarten. Full day kindergarten. It's been a hard day. I'm sure they are both fine. I just miss them so much!

Deadline Day!

My NOT SO PLAIN JANE proposal is finished. Finally.

I would have liked to go over chapter 3 again. Okay, the entire thing a couple more times. And I realized something I could have added to chapter 2 that would have motivated my heroine, Jane, better. But it's too late now. I emailed it to my editor in the U.K. a few minutes ago.

I'll keep notes in hopes that they like it enough to buy it. If they don't, I'll just start over again with a new story.

But right now I don't want to think about that. All I want is some food and some sleep. Too bad one of the kidlets is already awake and another is stirring. I could really use a nap!