I a bit sad to say I spent most of the Beau Monde conference in my room doing revisions. Then I went to the literacy signing and had a blast. I'll try to get some pics and video up in a bit.

Then I attended my agent's swanky agency dinner. Ohh la la! Great food. And it was really nice to meet my agent, too! And then all of a sudden it was midnight and time to go to bed. Did that.

I have not yet witnesses any bad behavior which is a disappointment, but it's only Thursday morning so there's yet time.

Off to see if I can find my videos...

Labels: RWA Nationals

Got to the Marriott about 1:00 pm and immediately ran into Candace Hern. Hung out reading His Wicked Witch until Megan F arrived and our room was ready. Then we hung out some more and went to dinner. We had ice cream at Ghirardelli with Amanda McCabe, Sabrina Jeffries and some other writers whose full names I will track down tomorrow I hope. The hotel is very nice. Our room is not stinky and all the lights are on. No flashlight necessary.I didn't realize how many people came on Tuesday before conference.

Tomorrow is the Beau Monde conference. Fun!

Going to bed now.

Labels: RWA Nationals

I'm pretty much packed except for all the important stuff I forgot. Now just last minute chores so things aren't gross when I get back on Sunday.

I'm close but no cigar to being done with revisions for His Wicked Witch. I'm taking a print out with me to RWA for a final read through for continuity and egregious errors. Note to self: turn on the printer.

Although My Wicked Enemy isn't quite officially out, I know it's shipping from Amazon and that it's available in stores now. So, w00t!! Go get your copy now!

One more RWA-related comment then I'm off to finish getting ready:

It's in San Francisco. In July. Of course it's cold!!

I'll be blogging and twittering at the conference so see you on line!

Labels: His Wicked Witch, My Wicked Enemy, Revisions, RWA Nationals

Quick update in case anybody missed me. (Well, there must be at least one of you, right? Mom? Fact: my mother doesn't read my blog. Oh well.)

Copyedits for Scandal got mailed off Monday the 21st.

I've been doing revisions for His Wicked Witch with the goal of being done before RWA. I think I'm on track. I've been on coughVacationcough since Thursday working on them. Funny, but the stuff my editor seemed to think was a big deal (comparatively) I dealt with by using the delete key or changing a sentence or two and the little throw away could you do this instead here? have been major whack a chapter, write a new one lots o work efforts. Good stuff though, I think.

My Wicked Enemy has started showing up in bookstores because I'm getting emails. I can't tell you how exciting that is! I love nice emails from readers!

Here's an excerpt from another review:

Carolyn Jewel takes readers on a dangerous journey with Carson, an untrained witch who finds strength through Nikodemus. Together they can stop the mage who threatens their existence and fills Carson with fear. My Wicked Enemy unfolds at a steady pace and offers up a host of characters that keep the deadly action flowing. The storyline is fresh, the characters are entertaining, and the romance is delightfully steamy.

Kimberly Swan, Darque Reviews

Back to work!

Labels: His Wicked Witch, My Wicked Enemy, RWA, Scandal

I'm sitting here at Starbucks doing day job work. Right now files are transferring and I can't do anything until that's done. So here I am!

I've finished the copyedits for Scandal. I just have to make copies of the MS then get it into the mail. Now I'm starting in on the revisions for His Wicked Witch

All done with the day job stuff... Bye!

Labels: copyediting, His Wicked Witch, Revisions, Scandal

Just a quick post. As many of you probably know, RWA has its national conference in San Francisco July 30 to August 2. Which is soon. Really soon. (Yay!)

I have the copyedits for Scandal (due date: July 31) Snort. Real drop dead last day: July 28, because I head down there the 29th since the Beau Monde Conference is the 30th.

Today I got the revision letter for His Wicked Witch or whatever it ends up being called. Argh! I've only given it a quick glance to make sure I wasn't being asked to write a completely different book. No. Very good, there!

And, of course there's the WIP and today I didn't get a chance to work during lunch because I worked through lunch which means 0 words today. Panic is setting in.

Right so I'm really busy and may not be blogging too much between now and July 29 when I will be blogging and twittering the conference. Hopefully on my iPhone...

For now, I'll be twittering more reliably than blogging because that's easier, shorter and faster than blogging. Also you can't get carried away and keep writing some big old longer than you intended post.

In Carolyn's perfect world copyedits and revisions are done by July 28.

Wish me luck.

Follow me on Twitter

Labels: copyediting, His Wicked Witch, Revisions, RWA Nationals, The List

So, a couple of days ago, I blogged about Jet Li at the Grand Central Cafe It would be awesome to show some Wu Shu love over there. I posted a video of a good fight scene, too. Plus, come on, it's Jet Li!

Labels: Grand Central Cafe, Jet Li

So I'm writing along tonight after moving a chapter to a new place and thinking it's boring, but then it wasn't after I fixed some stuff and took one conversation and gave all of Crosshaven's lines to Foye, and all of Foye's to Crosshaven. Me happy. I have nearly 30K words now. Which is not where I hoped to be by this time but reasonably OK.

In shiny new news, my author's copies came for My Wicked Enemy! There are indeed some special effects on the cover. The cover is matte which was a surprise because the ARC was glossy. But the matte finish looks totally awesome and serves as a good device to highlight the shiny bits. Oooh. And, the blub is there! I was afraid to post it before because, like what if she took it back or something? Here is is:

Jewel casts a wicked spell! Escape into a world of dark enchantments and fiendishly sexy immortals.

Lara Adrian, New York Times bestselling author

Pretty awesome, huh?

OK, off to bed for me.

Labels: blurbs, editing, My Wicked Enemy, writing scenes

Avoidance Behavior

Sunday was a tough day writing-wise. Basically, I wrote my characters into a boring place. Now, I knew better than to try to make it un-boring so I left everybody on the stairs because I had no idea what to do with them, and did other stuff so that the old brain wouldn't realize I was trying to trick it into giving me the answer.

Let's see. I fiddled around with MySpace and Facebook stuff, but that wasn't un-writing related enough. So then I read a book for a while. Also not un-writing related enough. I went grocery shopping. Definitely not-writing related, plus I listened to my MP3 player while I shopped. But that didn't help much. Groceries are expensive and I think I was in sticker shock the whole time. Then I came home with sandwiches and frozen yogurt and yes, the child was up, but he was cranky. Then I started cinnamon rolls after which I had a vague idea that turned out to be stupid so I picked up the dog and walked up and down part of the driveway for a while. Then I came back, stared at the computer, felt a bit panicky and decided to take a nap. Because NAP is just a short word for Avoidance Behavior.

Two seconds after my head hit the pillow I was falling asleep at which time a little voice says Send in George Brooks. He's a psycho and he'll make something happen and then I dreamed about this other story I want to finish up. But when I woke up an hour later, I sat down to write and brought out George the psycho and darned if he didn't get some conflict on the pages to the extent that I met my minimum for the day and knew the next 3 things to happen. One of which I wrote today, far exceeding the minimum, I'll have you know. Because I was stuck in the car at soccer practice.

Shopping Aversion

People have contacted me in various ways about my clothing dilemma. Thank you every one, and please keep with the advice and links. But I will say that I am now in this odd state of decision paralysis. I have some cute suggestions and I'm afraid to take any of them. I'm paralyzed by my lack of style. What if I only think something looks cute but in reality it's totally dorky? I was kind of hoping to avoid stores and shop online but I think I'm going to have to hit the stores anyway. I'm going so far beyond my comfort zone here (and the really sad thing is it's like an inch, not a mile) that I need to see what I'm getting into. I think. Or maybe I should order stuff online-- only so late that I can't return anything and have no choice but to wear this new stuff.

Waaaah!! I just want to put on my plain blue shirt or maybe the plain red shirt and pretend no one can see my feet.

On the other hand, I decided today that I would be okay with painting my toenails and that boots might be a nice shoe choice.

I am so pathetic.

Labels: I'm a dork, RWA Nationals, shopping, writing, writing process

FACT: The Romance Writers of America (RWA) National Conference takes place in San Francisco at the end of this month.

FACT: It's best to look nice YET feel comfortable at the same time.

FACT: My day job is so casual for the Systems department that Casual Friday is a dilemma. Benchmark: Wednesday, the CFO was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and Birkenstocks.

FACT: I no longer own nice clothes. I have jeans and have not worn a dress or pantyhose in, golly, six or seven years. In the next 6-7 years, this dress and pantyhose thing is unlikely to have changed.

FACT: I loathe shopping.

FACT: I have little to no sense of style. Put me in a store and I will admire pretty things while thinking people who wear stuff like that sure look cool and then I wander over to the casual stuff thinking that looks comfortable. Plus no ironing! There's a reason all my clothes look the same.

Carolyn has a Plan

The plan is that I will wear jeans but purchase (yes a flaw in the plan as this requires shopping) really really nice tops and some fancy cool shoes that are, miraculously, comfortable.

Read the above facts carefully. Like all plans, there are weaknesses. I've identified one right off the bat. Another glaring weakness is that I would be in charge of executing said plan.

Yes, I need help. I need links to pictures of cool tops and fancy shoes. Because if I go shopping on my own I will come home with clothes that look like the boring stuff I have now.

In short, I need help. Your help. Your fashion sense can save an author from going to RWA looking like the CFO of her day job company.

If I have time and anybody takes pity on me, I'll think of a prize or something.

Labels: RWA Nationals, shopping

I'm glad for the holiday weekend, but it turns out my bother and his wife who live in Santa Barbara have been evacuated because of the fire that started in Las Padres National Forest yesterday. This area hasn't burned since 1954, so you can imagine all the fuel there is to burn. They loaded everything they could into the car and went. So now I'm worried. He called again when they reached the evacuation center, so we know they're safe. Now we just have to hope they don't lose their house. At the moment, from what we can see on the maps and emergency pages, it doesn't look too good. But fires can be fickle and I know the fire fighters will do everything possible.

So, I'm distracted. And worried for them.

Inciweb: Gap Wildland Fire

County of Santa Barbara.org

Labels: Distraction

Ingrid Betancourt has been released.

Labels: Good news politics

I'm blogging early because I suspect I'll end up too tired later tonight. So, it's an early post.

In writing news, Scandal is being moved to February 09 from January which I am actually happy about. A February release is better. Holiday sticker shock is wearing off and there's Valentine's day. Romantic book for a romantic month. That totally works.

I have another review for My Wicked Enemy The reviewer picked a very intense scene as an opening excerpt-- No WAY am I showing it to anyone at work! -- but here's the review part:

Wow. This is powerful stuff and I don't like many paranormals. I may not understand every bit of it, for authors of paranormals tend to make up the rules as they go along (and why can't they list these rules and enlighten us?), but it held me captivated from the first page to the last. There are some pretty amazing characters in this story and I am hoping that we can read more of them in the future. Good going, Carolyn Jewel!

Donna Doyle, Romance Reviews Magazine

This will post in the August 2008 issue, so I can't give you a direct link yet. But that's a good review.

No, I am not performing stupid web tricks. My publisher sent the review to me.

In other writing news The List desperately needs a new name. There's no list in the story whatsoever. And speaking of new names, I changed some more names. My heroine's name is now Sabine. And my hero's late wife is named Camilla and before she didn't have any name at all. She was just, you know, dead.

Book Title, Book Title, Who's Gotta Book Title?

Not me. But the best title, the one I really like is The Philosopher's Daughter only that's never going to make it past marketing. But maybe I should just call it that because I like it.

What do you think?

Oh, and here's my current favorite line so far:

"If she's married, Foye," Crosshaven said, "I hope to God her husband is a neglectful ass and that she hates him soundly."

The reason it's my favorite so far, aside from being new and shiny cuz I wrote it today at lunchtime, is Crosshaven is talking to my hero, Foye, about the heroine, and Foye just happens to be married to her, which nobody knows. It's a secret marriage story!!

It's quite possible it won't be by the end, but it is right now, and speaking of which, I need to go write it.

Labels: My Wicked Enemy, reviews, Scandal, The List