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Wednesday, February 25, 2009

What's Up Wednesday

Busy, that's what's up. Lots and lots is going on, most of it of little interest to those following this blog. But there are a couple things you may be happy to hear.

I actually have a marketing update. Woo hoo! My agent emailed me this morning with some really good news, but nothing definite yet. I'd love to reveal the details, but that would be unwise. Suffice to say we have a very interested editor who loves KNIGHT'S CURSE, but needs feedback from further up the food chain, so to speak. So keep fingers crossed for me. This is a big publisher and I'm impressed with this editor. That said, there are four other publishing houses still considering the manuscript. So hope lives eternal!

On the puppy front, we had an incident on Sunday that was kind of scary. Kinsey ate some grapes out of the compost pile in the backyard. Dummy us weren't thinking when we put the shriveled things in there, but grapes are toxic to dogs, as are raisins. They cause kidney failure. I saw her speeding by the window with a bunch of them in her mouth and ran outside to stop her. I didn't know how many she'd eaten, but she was chewing so chances were good it was grapes she was chewing on. I called the emergency vet.

The vet said to bring her in and they would induce vomiting. And how much was this going to cost me? It would be $95 for the exam, and $68 to make the puppy throw up. Times are lean and we don't exactly have $158 to toss around unless absolutely necessary. If the puppy had to vomit, my husband and I decided we'd make her do it ourselves.

I went to the store for some Ipecac syrup. Did you know it's not a common item in the pharmacy aisle anymore? No one had it, and we were running out of time. So we decided to use peroxide instead.

A tablespoon should do it. It was easy to give it to her, she swallowed it right down, and then ran around out back like it was nothing. So we gave her more. Still nothing. I held her upside down and shook her a few times, hoping gravity would do the job, but no luck. A few minutes later we were rewarded with 2 big upchucks that yielded about a half dozen grapes. She's fine now. Phew.

I'm closing in on the final scenes of the WIP and then I'll take it with me to the coast on Friday for some heavy duty edits and revisions. That's my favorite part! It's like putting the finishing touches on a sculpture where you polish and really bring out the details. Fun stuff!

What's this about the coast, you ask? Oh, yeah. I'm going on a writer's retreat this weekend with some friends from my RWA chapter. We do this once a year and it's so much fun. I can leave my worries and cares behind, and just concentrate on myself for a few days. Pacific City is beautiful and my friends and I rented a house on the beach there. I'll take pictures and post them when I get back. I did this last year, too. And the year before. It's become a ritual.

Okay, gotta walk the pup, then back to work on day job stuff. I'll keep y'all posted on how the pub subs go! *happy dance*

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Thursday Thoughts - The Virtual Water Cooler

If any of you have ever worked in an office, or at least had co-workers sharing space, you know what it's like. You're never alone, there's always someone to talk to, you overhear gossip, you sometimes slip out for lunch together. Your work mates are your community. Well, I miss that.

So to make up for the lack of chumming around with work buddies, I play with my online writing pals online. And you know what? It's better than meeting in-person. There's more of us, that's for sure. Like an entire building's worth. Depending on the kind of virtual water cooler situation you're into, you can even "listen in" on conversations (lurk) as well as have private discussions (PM).

I don't know what I'd do without my online writing communities. I participate in a few, and some can be addictive. The one that sucks me in the most is the Absolute Write Water Cooler Forums. There are 30,000 members, each have varying interests, and you can chat about anything from how to train your puppy to asking for a critique of your query letter. There are even discussions about cooking, politics, screen writing, and every genre of fiction, short and long. It's an awesome place to have stimulating discussions and make long-lasting friendships.

I do have to force myself to stay away sometimes. The urge to communicate with other humans can be compelling. I can talk to my cats and my puppy all day long, but their only way to talk back is meows and barks. I need feedback, support and encouragement now and then. Online gatherings are almost as good as getting together face to face. Only I don't have to change out of my sweats or put make up on. That's awesome!

How do you converse with other writers? If you don't work during the day, do you ever feel the need for adult human companionship?

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Teaser Tuesday - Mystic Taxi

I'm bummed! I didn't make it through to the next round of Karin Tabke's First Line Contest. Rats! Well, it was fun while it lasted.

The following is a short excerpt from my steampunk urban fantasy WIP, Mystic Taxi:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wanda looked at her aunt and asked, "Anythin' else you can tell me about those Hebeites?"

Alva's forehead creased with concern. "Other than them being ruthless killers with the single-minded goal of staying young forever? No, can't say that I do."

"I know something about that group," Henry said. "Goddess worshippers. You have one in your building?" He felt the temperature in his eyes heat up. "Did one of them take my Vox?"

"Calm down," Wanda said, handing the coffee maker to her aunt. "I don't know if she took it or not."

"So it's a woman." Figures. Women were at the root of most of his problems lately. "Not enough to make a deal with a goddess, she has to mess with an innocent demon, too?"

"Henry, I told you I don't know. I'm not even a hundred percent sure she's a Hebeite."

"Then let's find out." He spun on his heel and stomped down the hallway to the stairs. The sound of clomping footsteps followed. Wanda had the grace of a Clydesdale.

"We need a plan before we go barrelin' into a person's home and accuse 'em of bein' a thief," Wanda said to his back.

"What's the apartment number?"

She didn't answer and he stopped on the bottom step. He turned to glare at her and asked more directly, "What's the number?"

She stood two steps above him and met him eye to eye. "I'm not tellin' you until we have a plan." She reached out as if to touch him, then pulled her hand back. "What's that you have around your neck?"

He touched the crimped end of the metal hose containing the Snit that tried to kill Max. "I almost forgot. This is yours, too. It tried to kill my nephew's son."

"My, but ain't I the lucky one," she said with a smirk. "So many gifts, and I didn't think to get you somethin'."

Running his thumb along the rough edge of bent metal, Henry had an idea. "You can give me something. Like a chance to get my Vox away from that filthy Hebeite."

"But we don't have all the facts—"

"Don't need 'em." He grabbed both ends of the hose and lifted it off his neck. "I know what to do. Now tell me the number."

Monday, February 16, 2009

Marketing Monday

See the picture above? Yeah. That pretty much sums up my marketing update.

Moving right along...

How was your Valentine's Day? Mine sucked. My husband and I got into an argument, and he really pissed me off. It's not the topic of the fight that upset me, but the way he went about "making his point." After hearing his side of things, I saw that he was right, and told him so. My position changed. So you'd think that would be the end of the discussion, right? Far from it. I should have known better.

He was bothered by the fact I had an opposing view to begin with. WTF? This isn't unusual. He can never understand why the world doesn't think the way he does. And the fact that he swayed me with a valid argument makes no difference. Then, after I gave in, he wouldn't stop. He kept digging in, driving his point deeper and deeper until I snapped! I hardly talked to him the rest of the day. Why couldn't he win gracefully and just let it go? Sigh. I'm still kind of ticked at him. We went to his mom's for dinner that night. It wasn't particularly romantic.

A friend of mine in Colorado coordinates The Sandy Writing Contest, so all you unpublished writers out there, listen up! The deadline is tomorrow, February 17th. She tells me they're very light in Fantasy/SF and Suspense/Thriller, so if you write in those genres, polish up your beginning pages and email them to Theresa Rizzo. The final judge for Suspense/Thriller is Alex Logan of Grand Central Publishing and the final judge for F/SF is Cameron McClure with the Donald Maass Agency. Details about the contest are here.

Another Secret Agent contest comes to a close at Miss Snark's First Victim blog. The Secret Agent's identity has been revealed as Kristin Nelson! It's a really great contest that goes on every month for the unagented, so if you want a shot at an agent, and honest feedback on your work, you should enter. It's free!

I'll find out this afternoon if I made it to the next round of Karin Tabke's First Line Contest. I'll announce it on Twitter if I remember. I'm always forgetting to post stuff with that.

Have a great week!

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Thursday Thoughts

Yesterday was a busy day. I worked on 3 client projects, then had a lovely (NOT) visit with my dentist. He's a great guy, love him to pieces, but damn, it seems so unfair to pay so much money to have someone hurt you. I had two super old and cracked silver fillings that needed to be replaced because decay had sneaked underneath (crafty buggers), one on each side of my mouth. I walked out of there looking like a squirrel hording nuts. I hate that!

Good news! The laptop LIVES! The motherboard did not get fried, but the keyboard has to be replaced. Not sure when I'll get it back, but it's a cheap fix and I'm ever grateful for its impending return.

Link Stew:

Fine Print Literary Agent Colleen Lindsay had a rather uplifting blog yesterday. It's nice to know I'm not the only optimist out there.

Some exciting sales by debut authors! S.W. Vaughn has an inspiring story to tell that sounds a lot like my own writer's journey, minus the sale, of course. Ahem. :-)

Freaky Toys. But I gotta say, I wouldn't mind having some of these. They're awesome!

The Secret Agent contest is up and running at Miss Snark's First Victim with all entries posted, and the mysterious SA dropping in to add comments. Who will win this month? Hmmm...

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Teaser Tuesday - Mystic Taxi

I'm happy to let you all know that I made it through another round of Karin Tabke's First Line contest. I'm one of the 30 left after the initial 100, and next week it will be whittled down to 25. Fingers crossed Mystic Taxi will make all the way to the final 5!

It's Tuesday, so it must be teasert time! The following is an excerpt from my steampunk urban fantasy WIP, Mystic Taxi:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The door to the apartment next door opened and a young woman Wanda didn't recognize poked her head out. "Gladys isn't home. Can I help you with something?"

"Yeah, um, I'm staying with your neighbor, Alva Snow? My name's Wanda and Alva's my aunt. I need to talk to Mrs. Stravinsky."

The woman narrowed her eyes. "What about?"

Busybody. "Do you know when she'll be home?"

"She had to leave town for a family emergency." The woman was petite, her light brown hair like a frilly cloud around her head. She was plain looking, but not unattractive. No make-up, no hat, no jewelry. She cleared her throat and stepped out into the hall. "I'm Mrs. Stravinsky's granddaughter, Eloise. I'll be house-sitting for her while she's away."

Wanda gave her a questioning look and jutted her chin at the apartment she just left.

Eloise offered her a tight-lipped smile. "It's vacant and the landlord gave me a key. I'm thinking about renting it so I can be closer to Gladys. To my grandmother."

She called her grandmother Gladys? Wanda wondered if it was common for folks in the city to refer to their grandparents by their first names. "Then welcome to the neighborhood. My aunt and I live on the third floor. Feel free to stop by any time."

The woman ignored her. When Eloise walked past her to Mrs. Stravinsky's door, Wanda detected a very unpleasant odor, like rotted meat. She looked down at the woman's feet and noticed her scuffed and faded shoes. Talk about old, and old-fashioned. The shoes were like the lace-ups her own grandmother used to wear. Wanda's gaze wandered up to Eloise's dress, an out-of-date number with faded floral fabric and a frayed hem. Had the woman taken over her grandmother's wardrobe as well as her apartment?

"I'm looking for a redwood box I lost in the building's basement yesterday," Wanda said to the woman's back. "You haven't seen it, have you?"

"No." Eloise stepped inside Mrs. Stravinsky's apartment and Wanda caught a whiff of sulphur mixed with stale cooking odors. "I'll keep an eye out for it." She slammed the door shut.

"Rude bitch," Wanda said. "And what the hell's she cookin' in there? Smells like spoiled onions and dog farts." She pinched her nostrils and marched down the hall to the stairs.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Marketing Monday

I can hardly keep my eyes open this morning and coffee isn't helping. The puppy got up with my husband at 5:15 and I couldn't get her to go back to sleep. So I entertained her while hubby got ready for work. This dog is driving me insane. She doesn't stop for a second. Chewing and biting and chasing the cats and getting into mischief every second. I have to put her in her crate just to get some peace, and I feel bad about it. But she gives me no choice. Anyone want a 3 month old border collie/pit bull puppy? I really am a cat person.

It has now been a full week without my laptop and I haven't chewed off my hands yet, which is a good sign. The shop that has it should give me a diagnosis by the end of the week. I keep wondering what I'll do if the laptop is really truly dead. Will I buy another one? Tempting, but I just bought the new behemoth I'm working on now. Several clients still owe me money... Hmm...

Marketing news? Bwahahahaha! No, not a peep. At least not for me. But a couple of friends have fantastic news this week. Rose Pressey just got offered a book contract with Medallion Press, and as result was able to entice an agent to her corner to help negotiate the contract. You go, Rose! Another friend, whose identity I shouldn't reveal yet, is working through her agent with an editor who has asked for revisions to her middle grade manuscript! So exciting. I love seeing such positive activity happening in the publishing world. It gives me hope that it will happen some day for me, too.

Oh! I need to tell you how fabulous Malia's one-woman show was last Friday night. Such excitement! There was a write-up about the show, which started mid January, in the Lane Community College newspaper. There are pictures! So you can see the lovely gallery and how her art was displayed. So cool. I couldn't be more proud!

And I have to add that the drive over the pass and through the valley to Eugene was majestic and peaceful as always. I adore those amazing 3 hours of natural beauty through the Oregon wilderness. See the photo at the top of this post. It's the McKenzie River that runs alongside the highway. Fabulous!

Despite the laptop crisis, I continue to add words to Mystic Taxi. The devil puppy makes my life miserable, but I will prevail!

There will be news here tomorrow, and on Twitter, as to whether or not I made it to round 9 of Karin Tabke's First Line contest. So far, so good.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Thursday Thoughts

I know I'm late updating the blog, but better late than never, right? I may not post tomorrow because it promises to be a busy day. I'm leaving town to drive over the mountains to Eugene so I can be there for the opening of eldest daughter's art show at the Fenario Gallery. I'm so excited for her! Her art is featured on the front page of the website. Her name is Malia Schultheis. It's a long drive to get there, about 3 hours, and I don't know what the weather will be doing. Probably snow on the pass. Yuck. But once over the pass, the valley is absolutely breathtaking. It's a beautiful drive.

I got quite a bit of writing done today, which was a shock. Almost 2000 words, and that's unusual considering everything else I was doing, like the day job, not the least of which involved keeping track of an energetic puppy. But I made her favorite sweet potato treats and she is the happiest little doggy camper.

For anyone looking for a good writing contest to enter, I happily endorse The Sandy, an annual literary contest sponsored by Crested Butte Writers Conference. It's open to entries right now! All genre categories are available to enter, and the final judges are fantastic. Check it out! I'd so love to attend the conference, but I can't afford more than one trip to Colorado, and that's in September. But Donald Maass will be at Crested Butte this year. Waaaaah! I'll get over it. *pout*

Another contest on the horizon, which is free and online, is the monthly Secret Agent contest sponsored by the Miss Snarks First Victim blog. If you don't yet have an agent, you don't want to miss this one. It's interactive and it's fun.

Okay, gotta go make dinner and make sure the puppy isn't chewing my husband up. He can't control her. Apparently, I'm the only one who can. Sigh. I'll post a new picture of Kinsey soon so you can see how much she's grown.

Have a great weekend!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

What's Up Wednesday

I'm still in mourning over my laptop. Sigh. I sure hope it can be fixed. I'm supposed to go on a writing retreat at the end of this month and there wouldn't be much point without my computer. Though lazing around at a beach house with my writing friends and taking long walks on a secluded Oregon beach wouldn't be such a bad thing. I could read a book. Wow, what a concept! I haven't read a book in months! And my TBR pile is teetering.

Speaking of writing friends, my online critique group "meets" the first and fifteenth of every month. We meet via email, and the meeting consists of submitting chapters of our WIPs to each other. Most of us have been in this group for a long time, like over ten years, though we just brought a couple of excellent writers onboard to freshen things up. It's been great. Their stuff is fantastic!

One of the ongoing problems I have with my group is when someone says "...you need to remind us about thus and so. And you need to explain XYZ." These criticisms have caused me to take on the bad habit of repeating myself more often than necessary, and over-explaining. My crit partners mean well, but what happens when you're submitting a novel chapter by chapter is that they forget information from something they haven't read for a while. Crit partners go on vacation, take a break from the group, or simply have swiss cheese memories. Sometimes they skip reading your stuff for months, then come back with suggestions for reminders and explanations. Ugh.

This means it's up to me to determine whether or not I should follow those suggestions. In my early writing days, I'd always follow this advice, only to be told later by someone reading the book for the first time that I'm repeating myself and over explaining things. I'm trying to break myself of the habit, but after ten years of beating it into me, it hasn't been easy.

So what I've learned to do is flag those areas remarked upon by two of my crit buddies (it's always these same two writers, the others never mention reminders or the need for repeating details) and then when I'm done with the manuscript, I can determine if repetition and extra explanation is a warranted. Fresh beta readers help with this, too.

Are you in a critique group? What do you see as the pros and cons of critique? What's the worst advice you've ever received from a critique partner?

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Teaser Tuesday - Mystic Taxi


I'm happy to announce Mystic Taxi made it to the next round of Karin Tabke's First Line Contest! Woo hoo!

The following is an excerpt from my steampunk urban fantasy WIP, Mystic Taxi:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wanda hadn't talked to any reporters, not even the college student, so she knew her name wouldn't be mentioned in the story. Though the article had nothing to do with her or Henry, it had plenty to do with uppity lesser demons messing with folks in very unhealthy ways.

Alva stood beside her, hands on hips. "Pancakes or waffles?"

Wanda didn't answer. She was too busy reading. The article wasn't a long one, but it mentioned a few demon-related incidents that had gone on in the city last night. It claimed more reports could be found in the police blotter. She'd known it would come to this someday, or rather, her great-grandmother had known.

She frowned, concerned about the press. It wasn't a good time for the city to start a panic over a possible demon uprising. It would only lead to chaos, which would in turn interfere with her goal. She wasn't ready for a full-on catastrophe and hoped to avoid one altogether, but organizing a multi-demon exorcism would be like herding cats. Wanda had her work cut out for her.

"I could really use Henry's help," she said, taking a distracted sip of the brewed chicory her aunt set by her elbow. "He calms the beasts, I destroy them."

"So you don't intend to send the demons back to Hell?"

Wanda shook her head. "Too many of 'em. When they turn murderous, they can't be allowed to live. Demons ain't smart enough to repent. They can't feel emotions."

"Think Henry will go along with your plan?"

She shrugged. "Not sure, but he seems the decent sort. He'll do the right thing."

Taking a swig of the chicory that was turning cold, Wanda left the table to get herself a refill. She stood at the kitchen counter and glanced out the window to see a yellow taxi steamer drive past the building. Her heart twitched at the thought it might be Henry. "That spawnster spyin' on me?"

Alva joined her at the window. "Could be. That same taxi's been by a few times since this morning."

Wanda grinned. She didn't mind. She had nothing to hide, though she guessed his interest was due to her promise of finding that fifth Vox box. Time to start canvassing the building. She was about to get busier than a stump-tailed cow in fly time.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Marketing Monday

I was a bad blogger last week. Bad. I was in "wait for something to happen" mode, but nothing did. Don't you hate when that happens?

Still nothing...

But I heard about an interesting sale last week for a manuscript called Angelology that's supposed to be a cross between The DaVinci Code and National Treasure. What's fascinating, aside from the fact that it sold for a six-figure advance at auction, is that it features half-angels called Nephilim. Well, my main character in Knight's Curse is Nephilim, though she's one of the good guys and the Nephilim in Angelology are supposedly monsters. Hmm... Point is, the theme is catching on. Let's hope that means something good is on the horizon for Knight's Curse. Chalice's story yearns to be read by the masses! LOL!

I entered the 50 word hook contest on Casablanca Authors blog. Results will be posted on Valentine's Day. There were some really awesome hooks entered! I can't wait to read some of those books.

No news about whether or not I made the cut for the next round in Karin Tabke's First Line contest. Hopefully I'll find out tonight, but it wasn't posted until Tuesday last week, so who knows?

The puppy killed my laptop yesterday. It wasn't totally her fault because I shouldn't have had my mug of coffee so close to it on the coffee table. Kinsey snagged the cord, which pulled the laptop into the mug, which fell off the table and hit the floor, spraying coffee everywhere. I tried steaming the stain from the carpet to no avail. First I thought the computer was okay, then the a key started sticking, then the s key, then the d key. Now when it's booted it has nothing but a black screen with lines of white code. So I'm dropping it off at the computer place in a little bit to see if they can fix it, but they can't even get to it for 10 days. Aargh! Good thing I had a back-up of my WIP. I have my gigantic desktop Mac Pro to use in the mean time, but it's so cumbersome for writing. I prefer the intimacy of my little laptop.

February is a short month, and I have mixed feelings about that. It's good that it's short because it brings us that much closer to spring. Yeah! But it's also bad that it's only 28 days because it makes the bills come due quicker. I hate living hand to mouth all the time. It would be nice to sock funds away now and then, but in this economy? Ha! Ain't gonna happen, at least not for us.