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Life

May 20, 2008 on 9:00 am | In Life | No Comments

It’s been an interesting few weeks. I’m sure you realize that writers don’t usually get out much, so the yearly party that is the Romantic Times Convention is something a lot of us gear up for all year. It’s a whirlwind week of craziness when all those carefully laid plans either come to fruition or fail miserably.

I’m happy to say that most of my plans - for shipping/carrying promotional items, travel, hotel arrangements, etc - did rather well. All it all, I think it was a successful conference, but now I look at my calendar and realize it was a month ago and wonder “What have I done with my time since?”

Recovering from the conference is always tough. Like I said, we writers don’t get out much. But this has been worse than usual. Why? I think being on a book deadline has had a lot to do with it. But the good news is that the first draft of the book is done and will be polished and in my editors hands sometime in the next few days.

The other reason is part of the season itself. I’ve been enjoying Spring in my garden, Spring cleaning my house and doing a few signings here and there, which has been a lot of fun, but I don’t really have my “nose to the grindstone” the way I do during Winter months. I’ve also been dragging my feet to accomplish some goals I’ve set for myself, including submitting partials to a few places and earnestly searching for an agent.

But all that is over! You hear me? Over! This is my self-pep talk. Today I’m going to work on those submissions and hopefully grind one out. I’m also going to polish that book and get it fit for my editor. So no more playing around here. I’ll see you all later! Now it’s back to work.

Life: Ups & Downs of The Writing Life

March 9, 2008 on 9:27 am | In Writing, Life | 2 Comments

Just when I’m down in the dumps, something comes along. This writing life is full of amazing - and constant - ups and downs. When I get good news lately, I start anticipating some bad news in the very next email. But today is a day where the good news actually follwed the bad, so I just *might* be feeling a little “glass is half full” today.

Let me start by telling you that on Friday, I received some disappointing news - a rejection from a large publisher that I’d waited 6 months to hear. After that long a wait on a mere partial (first 3 chapters and synopsis), I guess I expected more than a photocopied form letter where they had to hand-write my name in on the blank after “Dear: __________” and then the title of my book on the blank typed into the body of the letter. I mean, how unprofessional does that look? Don’t they have a computer? Don’t they use Word? Heck, even WordPerfect or NOTEPAD for cripes sake! What does it take to type in a name and title? At least if they’d done that, I wouldn’t have known so blatantly that it was a form letter.

Then I read the letter, only to be insulted. Now, I’ve had to reject people in my business life. I’ve even had to fire people. My goal was always to let them down easy. Say no, but be nice about it. Be polite. I guess these folks don’t care about politeness. The form letter said my writing was “weak.” OUCH! And it didn’t just say it once. It went on to say it was “weaker than other submissions they’ve gotten.” Double ouchy! So I’m asking myself at this point, is this just one of many insulting form letters they have? And if so, how do they decide which insult to send to which author? Or do they just tell everyone they’re “weak” regardless of why they’re turning down your book? *sigh* I could drive myself crazy wondering about this, right? (As if I need any more stress!)

So then this morning I woke up eager (and nervous) to find out what had happened last night in Portland, OR, where the EPIC conference is being held this year. I went to the conference in VA last year and was tickled pink to win my first EPPIE Award for The Ice Dragon. Hara’s Legacy managed to Final this year and they were announcing the winners last night. I didn’t expect lightning to strike twice, but according to several eye-witness reports, Hara’s Legacy actually WON!!! YAY!!!

That kind of news totally negates and outshines the depressing form letter, wouldn’t you say? (Now, I just hope the reports are correct and Hara’s Legacy actually did win, or I’ll be very embarrassed for posting this before the official results went up on the EPIC site.) Congratulations to all the winners and finalists!

The Winter Blues

February 7, 2008 on 7:14 am | In Life | 2 Comments

I know my friends Down Under aren’t having this problem right now, but here in the Northeastern United States, it’s Winter. It’s been a mild Winter so far, that’s true, but it’s still the time of less sun and more wind, rain and cold. Personally, I like cold weather, but I really do miss the sun. It gets me down when it’s dark at 5pm and about this time each year, I’m ready for Spring!

I want to plant things in my garden though I know it’s too early. So I start seeds indoors and always make a hash of it. I’m considering getting one of those aerogarden things for my kitchen, but I have no idea where to put it. Counter space is at a premium.