Someone Worth Protecting is Finally Here!!!

And it’s only 99cents until Sunday 8/25! So grab your copy today! Get Someone Worth Protecting and 24 other amazing stories in this incredible collection! https://books2read.com/SweetestObsessions By some fluke, he’d managed to land on top, pinning her to the ground with her arms above her head. Her breasts strained against the thin material of the …

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An Excerpt from SOMEONE WORTH PROTECTING

Get your copy Here! “I’m sorry. I’ve been too busy living in a world with real action, actual bad guys who try to kill me with real bullets, and dodging explosions that literally blow things to pieces, to watch you play grown up while your adoring fans eat popcorn and dream about licking melted butter …

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New Book News!!!

I have a new book coming soon!!! August 20th to be exact. SOMEONE WORTH PROTECTING will be part of the SWEETEST OBSESSIONS romance boxset with 22 other books. The boxset just went on preorder today at iTunes, Nook, and Kobo! Kindle preorder will be available in May. Check it out! There’s something for every reader. …

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Family Life Friday

I have 2 daughters and I want more than anything for them grow up knowing they are strong, independent, and capable of anything they set their minds to. Sometimes that seems overwhelmingly difficult while raising them in a world that feels chaotic so often now. There are so many messages out there for them to take …

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Someone Worth Protecting is Finally Here!!!An Excerpt from SOMEONE WORTH PROTECTINGNew Book News!!!Family Life Friday

Sep
23
2010

Balance, Smalance

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Did someone here say something about balance? *Looks around and hides under a blanket of shame—it’s blue and fuzzy and I like it here.*

Okay, so here’s the thing… The thing is this… Well, see it all started when…

Epic failure on the whole finding balance/scheduling thing this week. There I admit it. Last week went great! So let’s start there. I followed my own rules and M’s lunch was packed according to plans each day. She was a happy little Kindergartener. I exercised 3 out of 5 days. Not too shabby, right? Right? (You better be nodding your head.) Could be better, but I did get back up to jogging 1.5 miles in 20 minutes. So that was an achievement in itself. And, I cooked dinner 4 out of the 5 nights. Friday night became date night so I get a free pass that night. Technically, I did make dinner for my kids, so actually I think that counts as dinner cooked, I cooked all 5 nights. Whoo hoo!

Okay, so this week wasn’t so great. But, sh*t happens, right? It does, believe me. So M is still getting lunch which has mostly stayed as planned with a few tweaks here and there. Nothing major. I have exercised only one day so far, but it’s only Thursday at lunch. Technically I could still squeeze in a jog today and tomorrow. So I’m not counting that as a washout yet. Dinners you ask. Yep, not so much this week. The hubby is away with work this whole week so it’s just me and the girls. Well, I hate cooking. Let’s be honest about that. And any excuse I can swindle to skip out of making dinner is a bonus for me. So dinners haven’t been ‘made’ this week. I think I’ve made dinner twice and once we ate at a restaurant. Tonight I plan on cooking homemade pizza so that M can take leftovers for school lunch tomorrow.

On to writing. Ah writing. How I’ve missed you this week… I usually get a lot of writing done while Mike is away since I don’t watch TV in the evenings if he’s not here. Well…Monday I worked until 10 which was great. Got my contemporary romance in great shape and it is officially just waiting for an agent to request it *hint, hint*. Now I’m working on a new opening for my novella based on some chit-chat with my beta reader about it. So that’s coming along. I wish I could say that I’ve gotten a ton of work done, but really, it’s only been a marginal amount. I’m trying, but I’m just so tired this week.

I’m tired for a few reasons. First, because I’m the only one here driving kids to school and back, cooking *ahem*, fixing lunches, playing, bathing, cleaning, and running to school activities. Oh, and did I mention that ballet and gymnastics started this week. Whew. I’m exhausted just listing all the things I have to do. Then, factor in trying to squeeze some writing in wherever possible. Lastly, I’ve been staying up way too late reading Hunger Games. Who knew that was such a great book? If you haven’t checked it out, you should. Fun stuff, but created late nights and a tired mom.

So there you have it. I found balance the first week, not so much the second week. I guess that’s a form of balance in its own way. If you’ve read this far, I applaud your efforts!! My life really isn’t that interesting, but maybe someone out there in the interwebs will be comforted by knowing they are not the only ones struggling with the balance between life, work, and sleep. I’ll see you back here later, hopefully when I’m less tired. Hopefully this whole post made sense. LOL! I have a feeling I won’t be back until I reach the end…of Mockingjay, that is. It’s the last in the Hunger Game trilogy, and I see many more late nights in my future until I finish reading it.

Until we meet again, happy reading and happy writing to you!

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Sep
14
2010

Finding Balance

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This first couple weeks of September have been all about finding balance in my life. My little Miss M. just started Kindergarten, Miss K. just started preschool, the hubby started overtime at work, and I started a new my schedule for writing time. Whew! A lot of change to balance out.

So far, I’d say it’s going well. This is our first full week of our new schedule since the first two weeks were filled with school holidays. This week I get a chance to see if the plans I put in place will work. Here’s hoping! I think my writing time while both kids are at school is working great. The hardest part is transitioning in and out of writing mode. Since I only have three hours M,W, and F, I have to make sure I use my time as effectively as possible. That means sitting down and focusing on my tasks immediately—no checking blogs, facebook, twitter, or email. Then after my time is up, I have to transition back to mom and put aside what I was focusing on in my writing. That often means leaving a scene right in the middle. It’s frustrating to have to walk away from it when I’m on a roll and the words are flowing, but kids can’t pick themselves up from school. And I try to find a extra snippets of time throughout the week while the kids are watching a movie, taking naps, and in the evening.

I even have a schedule for exercise. How pathetic is that?! But if I don’t go into each week knowing what I’m supposed to do and when, I make excuses and before I know it, the weekend is here and I’ve done nothing active. But not anymore! Not with my new schedule!

Did I forget to mention this is the first week in history that I’ve ever scheduled dinners? Oh, and M’s lunch each day? How crazy is that? I’m hoping I can actually stick to the plan I wrote on a cute lined post-it note and stuck to my kitchen cabinet door. One has a list of all the possible dinner ideas — with ingredients I actually have on hand! — so I have no excuse not to cook something. The other has M’s lunches planned for the week so all I have to do each morning is look and see what’s on the list for that day. Day two, and the plan is working!

So what am I spending my time on right now? I’m currently doing my last revision on my single title contemporary romance since I recently got it back from my beta reader. I’m just about finished it and making good progress each day. She’s now beta reading my novella — the title of which keeps changing. Once I get that back from her, I’ll spend a little while revising then it’ll be time to send it out to a few epublishers. I need to spend a little time now figuring out which ones exactly and their submission guidelines. And lastly, I’m beta reading a novella for my beta reader!

To this point I’ve been able to balance all the responsibilities in my life with the only casualty being this blog! I need to try harder to find a spot to fit in a regular update at least once a week if not more. This post got written while M is at school and K is watching an episode of Little Einstein’s. Now the show is over so my time is up! Off to Target to take care of a few mom-type errands.

How do you find balance in your life between your writing desires and your real-life responsibilities? Are you a scheduler like me or do you fly by the seat of your pants each day?

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Aug
27
2010

What's Next?

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So, what’s next? Do I want to try my hand at another novella? How about a short novel? Or perhaps another single title? Do I want to start on my idea for book two in my series? Do I want to change my idea for book two and go a different direction than what I was previously thinking? Decisions, decisions…

I think for the next two weeks before my kids head back to school on a regular schedule, I’m going to take it easy. I’m going to work on a few things and see what jumps out at me the most. Then that’s the project I’ll start really focusing on and writing when the kids go back to school and I get my regular writing schedule back.

I currently have four possible ideas for the sequel to You’re Not the One. I need to spend some time with each idea, plotting, planning, and developing the characters to see which of those ends up being the strongest. I also want to develop an idea for a 50,000 word novel since I’m thinking of taking part in NaNo this November. It also might be fun to try and think of another 20,000-ish word novella. It was a different experience writing a novella than it was my single title. Maybe I’d like to think about writing another, but I need an awesome idea first.

So I guess my official answer to my question is that development is next for me, at least for the next couple of weeks. What’s next for you? What are you looking ahead to as your next WIP?

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Aug
27
2010

The End of the Novella

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I finished my first novella this week!! It’s only the first draft, so I know I still have a bunch of work to do with it, but for now it’s done. I have to say it was much harder to write it than I expected it to be. I think it’s because I didn’t spend a lot of time planning this one. I just sort of had an idea and went with it. I’m not sure that way of writing works for me. So I wasn’t surprised when I had to stop in the middle and spend some time on an outline of where the story started and where it was going. The characters and the plot changed completely! Just about the only thing that stayed the same was the setting. My original idea was just too simple for 20,000 words. I think what I have now is much more interesting and fun to read.

I’m still going to spend some time revising and polishing, but for now I’m going to take a break from it. I need to get a little distance from it so that I can go back and read it with a fresh eye to find any potential problems. I have plenty of time to work on it still before submitting it for consideration for an anthology, if I still decide to submit it. I can take my time and work with it to make sure it’s as good as it can be before I have to send it in to meet the deadline. Or I may decide that it would be better suited for somewhere else.

Right now I’m just happy that I completed it. I’ve never written a novella before and it was a good challenge. I set a goal to complete it by the end of August and I met that goal which in my eyes is a huge accomplishment. Especially since I wanted to give up in the middle! I didn’t give, I pushed through, and in the end I think I ended up with a decent novella. I’m hoping when I go back to it, I’ll think it’s awesome, or at least know what to do to it to make it awesome. That’s why it’s called a WIP though, right?

Now I need to come up with a catchy title. I think the one I have currently is kind of lame. Hmmm…..

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Aug
13
2010

Thick Skin

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A writer has to have thick skin to make it in this business. It hurts to get critiques. It hurts to get rejections. It hurts to wonder if you’re good enough.

If you want to be a writer, you walk away when it gets tough. You get a critique and you take it to heart like someone just said your beautiful first born child is ugly. You get a rejection and it crushes you to the point of wanting to give up. You lay in bed at night and wonder to yourself if your writing is good enough, if YOU’RE good enough to be in this business and you decide that maybe you need a break from it all.

If you are a writer, you take a deep breath and square your shoulders when it gets tough. You get a critique and use it to make your ms stronger. You get a rejection and you take a moment to mourn the loss of something you hoped for, then you shove in a drawer and smile to yourself because you know that’s a milestone that every writer has to reach. You don’t wonder if your writing is good — you KNOW you’re writing is kick-ass! It might need a little revisions or tweaks, but it’s good.

If you are a writer, you hike your pants up, slip into some tall rubber boots (preferably camo ones, not pink — those are far too girly for the trenches!), and you jump into the mud slick with both feet. You grab the rope and wrap it around your hands so you can’t let go no matter how much you might want to and you trudge forward. You pull one heavy leg from the mud and take a cautious step forward. Then repeat it again a few hundred times more. Eventually you come out on the other side with an amazing ms and a contract in your teeth — your pockets are far too muddy. Your toes are numb and your hands are hard and calloused. But you’re skin is thick and you’ve made it because you are a writer and you didn’t give up.

Today I got another rejection. It was a not a form letter which was a good step in the right direction, and it gave me something new to think about. It’s disappointing to receive, but I am a writer so I’ll lick my wounds and do what I do best. I’ll write until I get to the end.

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