What next?

My revised Hood Hamlet manuscript is with my editor. I emailed it last night, my twenty-sixth project for Harlequin, if I did the math correctly. I've had to do second round of revisions for a couple of books so I won't breathe a sigh of relief until I hear if these have been accepted or not.

But I'm really happy to be finished!

Granted I'm sad to close the book on the Hood Hamlet series. I've loved each and everyone of the characters like they were family. But I always said Paulson would be the last story. So here we are.

I find myself in an odd place, however. For the first time, in what feels like forever but is only a few years, I have no deadlines. I'm out of contract. Free. It's a very odd feeling, given I feel like I've been writing non-stop, with delivery dates looming while life (and death) tried to derail me. The three books that are/will be out in 2013 especially.

With my current release, WINNING BACK HIS WIFE, my dear friend Elizabeth went into hospice care while I was writing it. She lost her battle with breast cancer while I was doing revision.

With my upcoming, THE MAN BEHIND THE PINSTRIPES, my 14 year old foster cat, Miss Mousie, needed an expensive surgery or to be humanely euthanized. With the help of romance authors and readers, we raised the money and she had her surgery, all while writing and revising the book.

And if you've been reading this blog, you know that my beloved cat Rocket, who would have turned 16 next month, was diagnosed with liver cancer while I was writing TWELVE DAYS IN HOOD HAMLET (working title) and he died on Sunday. I'm still crying all the time.

I'd been working so hard to get this final Hood Hamlet book written in February and then the revisions finished, that I haven't figured out what I'm going to write next. I thought the LOLcat above was perfect for this post. I am in the planning stage! Lots of ideas floating around in my head and waiting for one to pop!

I'm hoping that will happen soon. But in the meanwhile I have lots of other stuff to do.

Thanks for all your support with my writing, Rocket and everything else. I really appreciate it!

Quiet

With revisions on the final Hood Hamlet story due tomorrow and a heavy heart, I've been a little quiet on-line. I've been shushing the kids. Yesterday the two youngests were screaming and shouting over who got to use the laptop first. I told them to quiet down. They didn't so the shushing turned into neither of them being able to use the laptop. They got quiet after that!

I'm loving how the revisions are turning out. Just feels weird to have an empty spot next to me while I write. The others are still there, but it's going to take time to get used to Rocket being gone.

Not much else going on here. How about with you?

Forgot

This LOLcat forgot their key. I forgot to blog!

I've been so focused on revisions and sleeping that I let Monday slip by. Oops.

But I'm on a roll with the rewriting and just don't want to stop. I keep getting all these ideas on what to do with the story. It's fun and exciting and overwhelming at times. But it's my favorite time as a writer, when the characters and story keeps coming to you 24/7. Though it makes me a tad distracted at times!

Anyway, I just wanted to check in. I still have contest prizes to send and figure out what the prizes will be. I wanted to run a specific contest with books I got from the ALA, but I got sick and was on deadline and it never happened. But I'll get around to it soon. I promise!

Have a great Tuesday! Happy Anniversary to my mom and dad! And Happy Birthday to my niece!

Swim mom

Hubby has the girls, cats and dogs this weekend. Me? Finn and I are heading to Corvallis for the Short Course Championships aka State. This is our mother-son weekend. A long one since we're leaving tonight (Thursday) and won't be home until Friday. Three days of swimming for him. Three days of being a swim mom for me.

I'm taking two of my RITA books and my complete manuscript. My revision letter arrived from my editor. Needless to say, I'll have lots to keep me busy in between his six individual events and 2 relays this weekend!

I'll be back on Monday! Until then, I hope you're having a great day!

Back

Pumpkin Kitten - Yoda '09

 I'm still coughing, but made it out of the house yesterday. We were out of cat food and the kidlets needed Halloween costumes so that necessitated a drive to Portland to visit MEATS where I buy the cats food.

I thought a quick trip to the Halloween Spirit store would fix us right up for costumes, but it wasn't until five stores later that we had what we needed for the two younger kids. Then I needed a nap.

Rose is going to be a raccoon. Finn is going to be Finn from Adventure Time.

Oh, I almost forgot. We found a costume for Chaos. Last year she was a pumpkin. This year, she's going to be an astronaut!

If you want to see some cool cat pumpkins, check out this link. The website is called Mousebreath.

Also back yesterday were revisions on THE MAN BEHIND THE PINSTRIPES. That's the book I turned in on Thursday. I must admit I was very relieved. Considering how sick I've been for the past month, I was worried I'd have to rewrite the entire thing. But the revisions aren't bad at all. They are due back on the 5th of November, too, so I'll have time to do a nice polishing pass which I didn't do the first time around!

I will get Norwegian Elkhound puppy pictures up at some point. They are still on the camera. Until yesterday, I hadn't been doing anything except sleeping, reading and a little writing.

Anyway, I hope to be back to regular blogging and life now!

Thanks for all your get well wishes. I appreciate them!

Hump day randomness

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The LOLcat above is Yoda's catchphrase if he had one. The smaller the box, the better. And he's not a small cat!

I'm almost finished with the revisions-that-won't-end. I typed in everything and was over 1K words too long. So I've been cutting. Again. But I plan to be finished tonight. Fingers crossed.

Today I have an appointment at the Apple store. When MobileMe moved to iCloud on 7/1, my email went crazy. For some reason I can't upgrade my operating system and you need that to run iCloud. I finally figured out how to access my email, but it's web-based. I sure hope they can help me! I love my MacBook Pro but this has been very frustrating.

Are you a Mac or a PC person?

Back at it

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My cats have been anything but silent since we got home last night. Spirit especially is so happy we're home. Either that or she's excited she can now plot my final demise. But she hasn't left my side except to eat or play. She actually played with the laser light last night something she hasn't done in a long time. Maybe I should go away more often!

Of course, we're back to the same old same. Soccer tourney, swim meet and dog show this weekend. Worse, the flames are licking at my heals once again. More revisions arrived on my latest complete. I also have a proposal due which means the delivery date for that will have to be changed. That always wigs me out since I usually have due dates picked for certain reasons that don't always have to do with the writing but life and family.

One thing I learned being away in Sunriver is we need more balance in our lives. Me, in particular. Looking forward to making some much needed changes around here!

Well, after I finish the revisions and another complete ;)

Have a great Friday! I'll be working on revisions and watching my son play soccer today. He has two games that are about ten minutes from our house. (Both his tournaments are super close to home this summer!) I'm really looking forward to seeing him play!

Transported

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I have been transported to Hood Hamlet. It's a pretty cool place. I wish it existed outside my imagination.

I'm currently reading through my revised complete on paper. I can't tell you how good it feels to be at this point, only looking for typos and things that could be clearer. The light at the end of the tunnel is near!

Hope you enjoy your Sunday! I know I'm going to enjoy hanging out with some hottie mountain rescuers!

Multitasking

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This LOLcat might be a multi-tasker, but I'm relishing in the fact I have very little else to do today other than write! Hubby offered to take our oldest to a dog show today which means I don't have to be out in the pouring rain all day. Yay hubby!

I'm going to embrace the role of multi-delegater today. That means the two youngest kidlets will be multitasking today. They can take care of the cats and the dishes and whatever else pops up that doesn't involve fire or blood.

What will you be up to?

Oops!

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Just how tired have I been lately? Well, late Wednesday night, I emailed an update on my revisions to my editor Carly. At least I thought that's what I'd done. On Thursday, I found an email in my inbox from bestselling author Carly Phillips. I'd sent the email to her by mistake! Oops!

I think my editor must have taken pity on me because my revisions aren't due now until Monday. What did I do yesterday in addition to more writing? I slept! It felt really good. Now it's back to work! I want to polish this manuscript until it shines!

A friend posted this link to a story about a kitten named Mercedes on my Facebook page. Read about a Good Samaritan who ended up with a kitten. And you'll also find out how Mercedes got her name.

Enjoy your Friday!

Titanium

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I heard Titanium by David Guetta featuring Sia on the radio and fell in love with the song. I listened to it yesterday when I needed a boost while cutting all those words.

I checked out the video on YouTube and it's is pretty cool. A mini-movie! Have a look...



I managed to cut enough words from my book. I'm planning to do final read-thru later today and then I plan to email the manuscript to my editor. But first I need to sleep. I'm running on about 4.5 hours of sleep over the past two days. I need to be sharp to catch typos and what not.

Fingers crossed everything goes according to plan!

Ack!

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Replace "grabiteez" with "maximum word count" and I'm so there with this LOLcat! I compiled all my revised chapters into a complete manuscript last night around midnight. I just about died. Okay, cried.

I'm long. (i.e. over the maximum word count for my line)

Really, really long.

So long I stayed up until 2:35 am cutting. I was back up at 6:30 am this morning to begin again.

I hope you have a better day than I'm going to have!

Monday Blues

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I feel like taking another day off and being like the LOLcat above. Not sure I have the time though with more deadlines looming. The one downside to multi-book contracts! Once you get behind it's a domino effect on the other projects!

Yesterday, my plan to continue my full-frontal assault on revisions while the family away was a complete bust. I retreated. Hard to write when you can't stop crying, but I had a couple of great phone conversations with friends (one in NY and the other in the Bay Area) who knew I was alone at home. I made it through Mass, too. Only needed one tissue!

What are you up to today?

New Cover!

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This LOLcat brought back memories of various sporting events when an animal got loose on the field. But I always figured they ran crazily because of fear, not because they had a mission!

Speaking of sports, I received the cover to my soccer book that'll be out in May.

Here's the back cover copy:

The return of her favorite rebel…

Lucy Martin’s dream of marrying her Prince Charming might
have fallen apart, but she’s determined to make her soccer-mad
nephew’s dreams come true. But that means asking her old crush
Ryland James, the legendary bad boy of soccer, to coach her
nephew’s team.

Injured and ordered to polish his tarnished reputation, Ryland’s
looking for distraction. Coaching might be more involvement
than he likes, but with gorgeous Lucy offering cookies as a bribe
he can’t resist! This soccer superstar might have met his perfect
match…if he can convince the once-burnt, twice-wary Lucy to
get back in the game.…


I'm busy typing in revisions. It's coming along and is a stronger story after my editor's feedback. I just need a few more hours to get the final 70 pages inputted. I always end up rewriting more than what's in the revision letter. Once I finish inputting changes, I'll print the manuscript again and do another pass.

I also have to pack. I'm taking my son to his short-course swim championship meet aka "State" even though it's not quite the entire state. The two of us are going on our own as we did last year for Sectionals. It'll be nice to have some mom-son time!

Revisions

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This is how I wish I were spending my Sunday. But after attending two of my son's soccer games yesterday, I'll be skipping the one he's playing this morning so I can work on my continuity revisions.

So far it's going well. But I'm sure there will be a bit of this...



And this, too.



What are you doing today?

TGIF

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I love this kitty. I'm wondering if this is what they call a Russian Blue. That piece of paper would be a big hit here. No thumbs required, only paws to bat it around the hard wood floors and chase after it!

I'm all thumbs today. In a good way. I have two things to work on now. My revisions came back from my editor. She loved the story and was very specific about the changes she wanted. I always like to give myself a little time to let the suggestions sink in before tackling them so am not making changes just yet. This is what I call the percolating stage.

Of course, that's not helping me make progress on the new proposal. Two stories in one head. Pass the Advil, please! But I'm sure I'll be able to keep them separate enough. Hood Hamlet is the new setting. Hollywood is the revision setting. Very different! As are the characters.

Speaking of writing, I came across this blog article from Terribleminds yesterday that talks about writers. If you aren't a fan of certain four-letter words, skip it. But if you want to peek into what's going on inside a writer's head, it's worth a read. I was nodding along as I read. A little scary how close to home it hits. Well, except for the coffee and alcohol. Just change it to tea and chocolate for me! LOL!

Have a great Friday.

Revisions are outta here!

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This is me right now. It would just be one less manuscript to write rather than a test to take.

I just emailed my revisions to my editor. I'm happy how the book turned out, but I'm too tired to cheer. Plus, no matter how I feel about a manuscript the final verdict rests with my editor so I'll be waiting to hear what she thinks!

I wish I could say I got a break, but I have a proposal due on Halloween so I'll sleep for a few hours then start back to work on that.

Also, I have to get ready for two visitors who are coming to our house later. Pink puppy and orange puppy from the litter of Norwegian Elkhounds I've been posting about all summer will be out our house for a couple of days. Yes, we are puppy sitting! Doesn't that sound like a lot of fun? Of course, I know nothing about taking care of puppies so who knows how I'll feel come Sunday. But be ready for a lot of cute puppy pics!

Have a great Friday! I'm only 35 minutes into mine and I have to admit, I'm tired, but feel pretty darn good getting the soccer book revisions sent off.

Sunday Soccer

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The above picture reminded me of Yoda last night. He wasn't making a mess, but both of his toys made a lot of noise. It sounded like he played all night long. And yes, I'm tried this morning.

We had to be at the soccer field a little after eight. It was wet and cold, but Finn had a fun time. The team won!

Now it's time for more soccer. My soccer book that is. I'm working on revisions. It's coming slowly, but that's okay. I want to get it right and that takes time.

Hope you have a nice day!

Always something!

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I wish this photo described my life at the moment. Everything in their place (or close enough.) But it's not even close.

Okay, that's not exactly true. The writing is going well. The good news is my editor approved my proposal revisions! With the book due in a little over a month, you can imagine my sigh of relief. I've been writing the story, but kept wondering if I'd have to go back. She only asked for two minor changes that I did last night! Now to get more words on the page. Fair put me behind a bit.

On the home front is where it's crazy. Our house is scary messy. I worked for an hour last night just to see if I could see a difference. I couldn't. At least the clothes are clean. Now to get them folded.

If you read the comments from yesterday's blog, you'd know I got a call from the doctor's office yesterday morning. They asked me to bring Mackenna in for another X-ray. I don't remember if I mentioned Mackenna hurt her foot. She's had many sprains due to dancing, but she said this felt different. The pain was not only in her ankle but shooting up to her toe. I took her in on Sunday to a local urgent care. They did a couple of x-rays and said it was a sprain. The doctor said she could go to the Fair that day, but should do RICE after that. She was told to wrap it, too, and see if that helped.

Now we're waiting to hear if this new x-ray showed anything. Given we haven't heard, I'm hoping that means there was nothing there. I'll call later this morning if I don't hear from them.

My To Do list is getting crazy again. Not just the house, either. I still have stuff to send out from the contests and order curriculum for the kidlets. For some reason my new MacBook Pro doesn't like Amazon or Paypal or anything else where I'm required to order something. It's making life very difficult.

But this is pretty typical after a busy week so I shouldn't stress out. All I can say is Fair Week is insane. I'm thinking a vacation far, far away during Fair Week next year would be a very good thing! At least for me!

That's about it. How about you?

Please Vote!

I received an email last night from the Cover Cafe. Christmas Magic on the Mountain is one of the ten finalists in the annual Holiday Favorites Cover Contest. If you have time, please go here to vote. One voter will be chosen to win a prize. You can vote until December 20th. Thanks!

In other news, really good news, my revisions for Not-So-Perfect Princess were accepted. I'm going to take another day off before getting the new due dates for the next Mount Hood/Hood Hamlet mountain rescuer story! I'm still pretty worn out and trying to catch up with all I let slide while writing and then jumping right into revisions!

Have a nice Wednesday!