Monday, May 05, 2008
Reporting In On Project Relaxation
So, yeah. I'm not so sure how relaxing things have been. I've been trying to get all the stuff I've been ignoring for practically a year done and off the To-Do list. Today, I tackled a major one -- which is getting together the paperwork for submitting an extension course proposal to my alma mater. I'll refine it tomorrow and make a call to find out what I can email and what has to be snail-mailed.
Other than that, I've finally started in on the TBR pile. So far:
Mine to Possess By
Nalini Singh. I've been meaning to read her forever, and at last I could. And am glad I did. Fun read!
The Short Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao By
Junot Diaz (Still working on this one, but it's great!) Only, I've set it aside for:
Indian Killer By Sherman Alexie
I'm becoming a
Sherman Alexie fangirl. His YA
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian was so freaking good -- rush out and buy or borrow this book, people -- I went out the next week and bought two of his adult titles. Wow. Just wow. He's amazing.
I should be ashamed about setting aside Diaz, but you know what? It's my TBR and I can read in whatever order I want and I can be reading as many books as I want at the same time, too.
Today, I notebooked some of the next historical and I think I nailed the basic idea. Things began very badly. All confusing and none of the parts were fitting together. But then I realized I needed to change the location and ta dah! everybody was very happy.
OK, off to bed because I want to read some before it's too late.
Labels: Authors, brainstorming, plotting, reading
(0) comments
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
In Which Two (2!) Funny things Happen Today
I was busy all day and feel like I have nothing to show for it. That's not so uncommon, I suppose, but I do get tired of all the little things that eat up my days. Honestly. Anyhooo.... Today I mailed back the copy-edits for
My Wicked Enemy. That feels good. And, I'm told the cover will have
special effects on the flames and some decorative bits. That's pretty neat. Can't wait to see the final! Then I had a few website updates to do. That always takes longer than I want it to and there's managing or posting on the social sites like Twitter and My Space.
Sigh.The first funny thing that happened today is one of those,
it's scary to be a writer things: I'm going to be doing a few chapters of Xia in the Point of View (POV) of Kynan, the hero of the next book (this is assuming my publisher will want to go to contract on more; with a fancy cover, let's hope so!) and I've been wracking my brains about the circumstances of the chapter and the fact that I want him to meet his heroine (but not know it) in at least one of those chapters. How to do that, I've been muttering to myself these last few days. So in an unrelated plotting dilemma, now that I have my first crucial fight scene drafted, my vague intention was that someone -- didn't know who, would call Kynan who would then do some stuff -- careful, that's advanced panster plotting there! I mulled over a bunch of lame-o or otherwise unsatisfactory ideas and moved on. I started thinking about the fact that my heroine has called her best friend (Kynan's heroine-to-be) to arrange a get together, only the big fight comes along and by the time of the meeting Xia and Alexandrine are long gone from the house. So, I'm driving home and thinking about this and admitting that I cannot leave this appointment thing unresolved. What to do? I'm sure some of you are shouting the answer at me. Bear with me, please. So, I'm imagining the heroine-to-be standing at Alexandrine's house where it's obvious
something awful has happened, and I swear to Dog, this is exactly what happened in my head --- Kynan walks up to her and says, "Are you Alexandrine Marit?"
See, the whole time, Kynan has been trying to get a hold of Xia but can't because Xia's cell phone was crushed in the big fight. So he finally drives over to talk to him about what's up and there's the heroine-to-be wondering where her best friend is. Two problems solved with one frightening glimpse into the writer's mind. Sometimes it's best not to look too hard. But it was like I was watching T.V. or something. Kynan just walks up and
voila!Another funny thing happened today. Over on the
Crimson City blog where no one has posted for ever and ever, because, well, we're done with the City for now, it seems, someone posted two comments: Here they are for your reading pleasure, along with my response since, for good or ill, they were directed at my book:
my mom is reading "a darker crimson" with the characters Korzha, and Claudia Donovan, and I think the third is Lath. she's almost finish[ed] reading and wants to know if their story line continues?
Nice! I think. But, hey! not so fast, Carolyn!
never mind about the continuation, she finally finished the book. And is cursing..." how the hell can an ultra alpha gorgeous male die at the hand of a twit who didn't know her own lust. As she is banging on the table and cursing at the characters. it is a anti- climactic book. why could they both have her. love on one side lust on the other, the dumb twit didn't deserve her. he wasn't evil just true to his nature, i didn't agree with him but that twit should not have be able to kill him and he deserved better than her twit ass self." "maybe she could write that he vanished and he really wasn't dead. he deserves love too and make the twit jealous. maybe when he died he regenerated and now can have someone else better than her and make her jealous he just should go out like that"
Oh. But the thing is, I don't really disagree. My response:
Dear Anonymous:
In the un-revised version of A Darker Crimson Lath did not die. But my editor, and others, strongly believed that Lath had to die. ::Sigh:: So, I did the dirty deed. I didn't want to do it. Honest. But, I understood the Lath-Must-Die faction's point. It's not a traditional HEA ending if Tiber has a rival for Claudia's affections at the end. Still...
Lath was a total hottie. But with writing, you cross some lines, which I did with Lath, and see if you get pulled back. Which I did. If it helps, my story (DX) in Shards of Crimson, features a demon who doesn't die. And I have a book coming out where I got pulled back at a different line, a little further out. (Heh, heh!) So, yeah, I totally get your frustration.
Thanks for the comment, though. If you see this, feel free to email me directly, and I'll send you the original chapter where he doesn't die.
And I added my email address. I'm hoping she sees my reply either over there at the
Crimson City blogLabels: A Darker Crimson, plotting, writing, Xia
(2) comments
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Back from the Frozen North
Ok, let me just say that I have been cold for two days. The boys won all 3 of their soccer games and so they advance in the tournament and play next weekend in the frozen south.
I got some work done on Xia, naturally not as much as I'd hoped, but some and then a 2 hour drive home during which I plotted.
I'm tired. As soon as the laundry is in the dryer, I'm putting on my jams and going to bed.
Labels: plotting, soccer, Xia
(0) comments
Friday, September 21, 2007
It's a plot, I tell you!
Hopefully I can keep this short and sweet. (Right. I write
novels!. I went to the gym while my son was at soccer practice. His practice lasts longer than my workout, so I notebooked while I was waiting for him to finish up. I worked out a lot of stuff. Folks, I think I have a complete plot! I worked through what issues I need to deal with in the remaining chapters. I wrote the first half of one of them tonight.
Tomorrow the Darling Child's soccer game is 40 minutes away and he has to be there at 8:00 am.
Sigh. Which is why I'm going to bed now. I have to get up early. But I'll have the afternoon to work, plus I'm not dead tired like I was last weekend.
Off to bed.
Labels: plotting, Scandal
(0) comments
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Can't.... keep....eyes.... open
Well, gee! Blogger ate my post. Now I'm really tired. I'll have to make it fast.
I'm tired. I worked a lot on Magellan's Witch today. I fixed some plotting issues. I have a book signing Saturday and haven't done anything to advertise it. I'm now even tireder.
Labels: Magellan's Witch, plotting
(0) comments
Monday, January 08, 2007
Getting There
I exceeded my minimum word count tonight and hit my secret target count. Plus some cool stuff came out of all that agony, and I had an idea I can run with. Yay. So, right now, all's happy here.
My really exciting news is that today I used the credit card (sigh) and bought a GPS for the car. This weekend, my son has a soccer tournament down south a couple hundred miles (moved from the previous weekend) and I have spent the last two weeks feeling sick with the certainty that I will get lost. We're driving down Friday night, so gosh only knows we'd probably end up at Yosemite Lodge before I realized I really did miss a turn. It's just horrible and I hate it. So I bought the GPS and it took less than five minutes to set up and get working. Really really really easy. And when I picked my son up at Aikido, I told it I wanted to go home, and waddya know, it found my house. The dear child may possibly be MORE excited than I am.
Okay. It's late, I wrote more than 1,000 words, and I'm deeper in debt but not dreading the weekend quite so much.
Labels: GPS, plotting, writing
(0) comments
