NaNo Failure

Okay, didn't make it this year.
I DID get that 23K story done, but that's it. I didnt do more than a couple pages of editing/refining on the full length. ugh
I really need to get my butt in gear

NaNoWriMo 2008

Okay, the object behind NaNoWriMo (NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth) is to get us to start work on that great next novel. You are supposed to write 50,000 words on a novel in the month of November. BUT, and a couple other authors and I have been known to use it as a way to force us to finish a bunch of stuff, and get those 50,000 words done, but in a variety of projects.

I had originally planned on using it to work on the next edition of my Argus series, since my contract term is up with Loose Id on it, I am looking to sub to NY. So I need to have enough done for them to say "oooh, viable series" (at least that's my assumption).

BUT, lol, I have used the time to write other stuff. I just wrote a 20K word sci fi story set in a totally different futuristic world. Finished it last night. I wonder how much of AIL I can get done in the next 11 days? Wish me luck!!!

Fellow Author Kudos - Melinda Barron

Okay, I love to read. It is my favorite thing in the world to do. Well, maybe the second favorite :). As an author, I meet all kinds of other authors and read all kinds of books. I also have reviewed for a couple of the online review sites that can be found floating about. I read a lot of crap, and I read a lot of good stuff. Some stuff appeals to me, and some stuff turns me totally off. I have a habit of not reviewing any of my friends, as I feel it wouldn't be an unabiased opinion. You have seen me give kudos to a couple author friends of mine, but that is different. I really do like their stuff, and I never present it as an unbiased review.

So, today I have to tell you about another author. Melinda Barron. Mel and I have talked a bit back and forth for a while now, and I definitely consider her one of my online friends. But she is also a great author. Mel writes m/f and m/m/f. Everything from sci fi to fantasy to historical to paranormal. Basic romance to hardcore BDSM and capture fantasies.

Now some of you may know that I am not into the capture fantasies or the hardcore BDSM, it is just not my taste. But I would never tell anyone else not to read or write it, it is their preference. So, me praising Melinda might come as a shock to some of you, as half her stuff is "too much" for me. But praise her is what I am going to do.

If you haven't read any of her Desires of the Lamp Tales, then you need to read them. They are available at Resplendence Publishing, and I own every one of them. Melinda writes about women that are fat, thin, gorgeous, not so gorgeous, confident, not so confident. In short, she writes real women. She can take a "fat chick" and make her feel gorgeous and sexy and take us on the ride and see it as well. She takes a "barbie doll" the kind of heroines I never cared for, and makes her likable and makes us understand how and why she is such a bitch. A feat that I didn't think she could accomplish when she told me about it. But she did.

So, long and short, I just wanted to take some time to praise Melinda Barron and let her publicly know how much I have enjoyed her Lamp series, and am looking forward to more.

Bye Bye Halloween - Hello NaNo

I love Halloween. Every year the DH and I go all out for the month of October. We decorate in and out, taking weeks to get everything all in order. And now it's all over. We seem to have created this tradition that we take down everything on November 1. At least our outside stuff. This year we also did the inside stuff though.

So now instead of a graveyard in front of our house, I have a perfectly normal but leafy yard. And my living room no longer has a creature crawling out of the wall, bats hanging about and ghost hovering about.

It is a clean, cleared out living room. Thank goodness.

Shhh, don't tell hubby, but I already miss it :)

Hubby Loves Me

Hubby and I, like most families nowadays each own our own computer. We very rarely use the other person's unless something is wrong with ours. His is for his homework, and mine is for my writing.

He opened up MS Word on his the other day to start writing something for school, and almost had a heart attack.

In the "recently worked on" pane on the side, he saw "Tanya Cannibalized" and "Adele HOT SEX". He freaked wondering what kind of virus he had gotten and how the hell he had gotten it and what it did to his Word. And then he looked at me and laughed. He had forgotten my niece was over the day before and had used my computer for something, so I used his to work on my latest stories. (I tend to not title them til the end)

Ah, I am so glad he loves me :)

October

I love October. It is my favorite month of the year. The leaves are turning, looking all pretty. The air is crisp and getting cooler. Halloween is right around the corner!!! I am a Halloween fanatic. Anyone who knows me, knows that. It is really pretty bad, but I feel no guilt. Some love Christmas, I love Halloween.

The hubby and I every year have a Halloween party. It is never a huge affair, but we have to go all out and decorate everywhere for it. The bathroom, the kitchen, the living room, and of course, our graveyard that we make outside. I swear some years we spend more money on "Fog Juice" than anything else other than food.

Last year I made a black cheese ball, thanks to Martha Stewart. She gave directions on how to actually make the cheese filling/stuff, which I know a lot of people do, but I found a more fun idea. I get the cheddar cheese spread available at the grocery store and roll it into a ball, and then roll it into Poppy Seeds. Put it on a black plate, with blackberries, black grapes, blueberries and a couple strawberries and raspberries, and it looks KEWL. Mind you, when they cut open the cheese ball, the spread I buy is a Port Wine cheese spread, so it has red running through it. Nice. Needless to say I made it this year, too.
Oooh, I also made an eyeball cake this year. I need to post pictures, I think. LOL, so much for this being about writing. BUT, I think my whole intent is to say that October tends to be a creative time for me, so I look forward to more writing and submissions in the next few weeks.

Oops - Romantic Sap

Somehow I erased this post but yet saved it in drafts (I don't know :) )

I am a romantic sap. Yes, I am. Poop is hitting the fan in my real life. People dying, finances crunching, people being mean, cat getting sick. BUT when hubby hugs me and tells me everything will be alright, that we will survive. I believe him. It makes me feel better.

I guess that's one of the major reasons I write romances. I believe in love. I believe it can make things so much better, easier. I love the hubby.



And Caroline posted she would come help if I needed it. I love my friends.