Rizzo Rosko

Congrats to Contest Winner!

2012-01-15T16:36:00.000-08:00

Working On: Nearly finished The Princess' Dragon Lord, will send it off to editor soon :)
Out Now: The Calm Before The Storm

Alright, congratulations go out to contest entrant Sylwia M! :D

Little embarrassing to admit that she was my only entry, and since I was offering two prizes (but it would be rediculous to give two copies of the same book) she is also recieving a free copy of Angels & Demons.

Congrats Sylwia and thanks for entering!

-Mandy

The Calm Before The Storm

2012-01-05T17:45:00.000-08:00

Working On: Just One Touch

Coming Soon: The Calm Before The Storm

The Calm Before The Storm, the sequel to Night and Day, is now available for pre-order from Bookstrand! :D Super excited about that, and I can't wait for the actual release day. Not to mention that I lurv my cover <3

Check out the Blurb: One year after the battle between the sun sprites and vampires, Ben Volio finds a vampire on the brink of death alongside the road. With no other help available to him, and no knowledge of vampire medicine, Ben takes him to the home of his friends, where he hopes they can heal the severely injured stranger.

However, this is no ordinary vampire. Seth Sampson was a former guard employed by the vampire Lord Veturious, and ever since his betrayal of the family, he has been held captive and tortured as punishment, and now he's being hunted down until he's returned to his prison.

His very presence endangers Ben's friends, who are also in hiding from the vampires and sun sprites. Should Ben trust that Seth will not give away their secret as a trade-off? Or will becoming close to him prove to be the worst mistake of both their lives?

The book is on sale for 15% off until Jan 19th, but just to make it extra special, I'm also offering up a contest.

I'm giving away two (2) free copies of this book to two people. The rules are fairly simple and the same as my other contests.

E-mail me. Send me an e-mail at a_rosko@hotmail .com with the words I Want A Free E-book in the subject heading of the e-mail. In the body, write down the name you would like to be announced as on this blog if you are a winner, and the e-mail address you want your prize sent to.

The winners will be chosen at random from whatever entries I get, and I will be closing the contest on Wed Jan 11 11:59 Eastern time, and then announce my winners the next day.

That's it. Simple, right?

Void where Prohibited, no purchase necessary, I am not responsible for your tweens entering and miraculously winning, etc, etc.

This book was written for the readers who read and enjoyed Night and Day, and who asked me about a story for Ben. I guess because he got the short end of the stick in the previous book, but if you want to know about that one, you'll have to read it.

Happy reading :)

-Rosko

Angels and Demons Released!

2011-11-07T09:44:00.000-08:00

Working on: The Princess's Dragon Lord,
more edits for The Calm Before the Storm

I halfway didn't think the book would get released on time as the days began ticking away and my edits were still not in my inbox, but then suddenly they came on Nov 1st, with instructions that for the book to make the release date, they had to be back in my editor's inbox by the 5th, no later than noon.

Luckily, my editor kept on assuring me that if I needed more time, the release date could be pushed back, but that the manuscript itself was in pretty good shape and that not much needed to be changed anyway.

I still did them, got them in a little early, and was even pretty excited about getting my first to the wire deadline. I'd always heard about some writers whose release dates are coming up and they need to get their edits in within the week, or even in one case, a couple of hours, so I didn't have none of that panic. I'm not sure whether or not that takes away from the experience, though.

I'm aware that it's kind of crazy to be stoked about getting edits so close to the deadline. I think I was just more happy about having the writer experience of it, the thing that I'd read others dealing with in magazine articles and online. I think it makes me feel a little more like a writer :)

Either way, I think I'll super feel like a writer if that ever happens again and I discover that I need to work on the book edits a shit load more or else I'll pass out because I think it looks awful and it's about to go live in two hours.

Lucky me my editor was really nice and she did a good job, there were only a couple things I bothered with changing or deleting, and the rest was just spotting spelling errors I'd missed.

Well, the book is out now and it looks gorgeous!

LINK LINK LINK <--click on the links to get to the book!

Can you tell I'm excited?

I adore my cover. There's so much of it that's relevant to the story, like the chain that the dark haired hero is wearing, and if you look really closely at the PDF image and zoom in, you can see little skeletons and skulls floating around the heroes. A nice touch that's still relevant to the story itself, and cool Easter egg, although I don't think you'll be able to see them on the image I posted. :S Sorry

Contest Winners Announced!

2011-08-31T21:15:00.000-07:00

Working On: Final edits for The Wolf's Pack
& Sequel to Night and Day

Alright, announcing the two winners of my ebook contest!

Congratulations go to:

Renee

and Jennifer Labelle

Congratulations! Look forward to your ebook coming once Siren sends me my ARC's.

And lastly, the winner of the Night and Day print book contest.

Well, apparently, all this time I've been waiting on Goodreads to send me a confirmation that my giveaway for Night and Day had gone through on their site, and it seems it did and I was unawares. Three hundred and eighty-two people entered this contest, and one person won, whose name I will not give out because I don't want any privacy issues, especially since the winner didn't sign up to get their name announced, but Goodreads should have notified her, and she will be seeing her book in the mail from Amazon fairly soon.

Anywaaaaaay, because I screwed up so bad, didn't even know the contest was going on until it was over, I'm going to do it again, to give all thos people who entered a chance to win one more time. So if you're on Goodreads, check their contest spots in a couple of days because you might get another chance to win a print copy of Night and Day :)

Congrats once again to the winners! I'm out.

Two New Contests: Night and Day, and The Wolf's Pack

2011-08-14T07:30:00.000-07:00

Accepted! Angels and Demons to Noble Romance
Working On: Sequel to Night and day
Working On: Lady Deception Edits

:)

The Wolf's Pack, sequel to Mate of the Wolf, has a tentative release
date of Sept 13, and I'm going to give away two (2) e-copies of it to the
winners.

***The not entirely official yet blurb:

Shelley Star has run away with her Alpha werewolf lover and disappeared
from the grid, but not the spotlight. The tabloids are still having a
field day with the story of her disappearance, ironically, making
Shelley even more famous now than before she left.

This makes her very presence in the pack a danger to their secrecy, and
what's worse, there are some people in the pack want her, and
Michael, banished before the vampires return for his silver pelt, and
before the police and reporters show up for Shelley.

***

To win a copy of this book, my rules will be the same as in my previous
contests. E-mail me.

Send an e-mail to a_rosko@hotmail.com with "I Want A Free E-book" in the
subject heading, and in the body of the e-mail, put which name you'd
like to go by, could be your real one could not be, for when I announce
the winners, which I will do on September 1st.

August 31 will be the last day you can enter. The winners will recieve
an advanced reading copy of my book when I get them, which should be
before the official release date.

No purchase necessary, void where prohibited, odds of winning depend on
amount of entries recieved, and since this book is not meant for anyone
under the age of 18 I am not responsible if your child enters the
contest in your name and wins, and I won't secretly add your e-mail addy
to my newsletter or sell it. Etc etc etc

So send an e-mail to a_rosko@hotmail.com with "I Want A Free Ebook" in
the subject and any name you want to use in the body so I can announce
if you've won :)

For my next contest, it hasn't been approved by Goodreads yet, but I'm going to give away one (1) print copy of Night and Day. More details to come on this as soon as Goodreads approves it. I'll attach a widget on this blog so readers can enter the contest, but it will be done through them and they will choose a winner from the list of entries.

Blurb for Night and Day:

Cedric, a sun sprite from a highly respected family, is soon to be married to his wealthy cousin to satisfy family debts. Miserable, Cedric is allowed one night of freedom before his wedding. A vampire lord is having his centennial, and vampires make outstanding lovers. It is Silus Veturious' birthday celebration, and he sees no problem with taking a human, Cedric, to his bed for some fun. One taste and he discovers that Cedric is no human, and that taste gives him the most explosive orgasm of his life.

Despite their enemy status, Silus is intrigued. He has never been with a sun sprite before, and he wants to know more about the one who braved a house filled with vampires. Neither of their families are pleased with the match, and Cedric and Silus must choose if their new and fragile relationship, built mostly on lust, is worth risking their lives. ** A Siren Erotic Romance

Good luck!

-Mandy Rosko

Problems with Series Books

2011-06-29T18:30:00.000-07:00

Working On: New outline
And cover questionaire for Wolf's Pack

Alright, this is only because I was reading a couple of reviews for Mate of the Wolf where the writers spoke about a possible sequel, but I did write one, and Siren did accept it :) Their e-mail stated a possible release date of somewhere in September, give or take.

The thing about that was, I did leave the other story a little open, but that's just because it can be so difficult to cram everything into a 20,000 word story. The original first draft for MotW was only about 14,000 words. The draft I sent to Siren for the sequel is a little over 30,000, and with how I left that ending, the third book is looking to be even longer, with the possibility of a fourth, and because I've been messing around with side characters, there's the chance for spin offs as well.

So much for novellas, eh Elena? I tried ...

Anywaaaay ... even though I had no original intention of making a group of books out of this one story idea, I always in my mind had a couple of scenes for a possible sequel, and I always knew how it would all fit into place if I did it. Because I've had people mentioning the possibility, I just got it over with and wrote it.

But for the third book, I've got none of that, and I'll have to get new research done. Apart from also having two outlines in the works for two completely different books, I'm thinking it will be a lot longer before the third book comes out compared with how fast it was between the first and second. I'm not talking years or anything, but just longer.

All that info shoved in your face leaves me wondering: How do people who write series books all the time deal with this? I'm halfway freaking out over one or two other books, that are really just long-ish novellas, but for the bigger guys like J.R Ward, Josh Lanyon, Nora Roberts etc etc etc etc ... they must have, not only some serious commitment, but also a lot of faith in where their books will take them, because I know not everyone can do a Geroge Lucas or J.K Rowling and plan out six to seven books before bothering with penning the first.

Most writers have to struggle with not getting bored halfway through writing ONE book, never mind writing seventeen of them (You know who you are)

What's done is done at this point. Even though I haven't got a contract in for it yet, and I'm only going through the questions for the cover art, I imagine that when the contract comes, it'll probably have a clause or something in there asking for the third book in a timely manner. Even if it doesn't, for whatever reason, the ending of Wolf's Pack makes it pretty obvious there's more on the way. With or without a contract, I've made a commitment to my readers (few that there are ^^;) to write the rest in the coming series.

But for those of you who hate series' that are ten books+ long, this won't be that long. At this point I'm thinking *maybe* four if things can't get wrapped up in the next book, which they likely won't. Five books max.

New Website and Blog is Here!

2011-06-19T18:24:00.000-07:00

Rejection from: Samhain
Waiting on: Noble Romance
Working on: Edits from Siren

The new website, and blog, look is here! I'm totally late with pointing this fact out on my blog, but with the recent computer trouble, and my own personal laziness, it was an act of Hercules just getting me to sign into my account :)

Aaaaanyway, I love the new look, it's so dark and mysterious-ish that can go several different directions. There's even a newsletter option to sign up for. But don't worry, if you sign your name up I won't bombard you with weekly, bi-weekly, etc, letters of me just mentioning who I got rejected from-as the few of you readers I have are aware, I'm too lazy for that anyway.

I'll only ever use it to let readers in on some news that I find pretty exciting or meaningful.

One piece of exciting news I have: the computers, and my usb junk drive, may have all crashed within the span of two weeks, but my bro the computer techie genius was able to save my books, so now I don't have to find the highest point in Ottawa and fling myself from it :D

New Website Design Coming Soon!

2011-06-01T09:49:00.000-07:00

Waiting on: Samhain Publishing
Completed: Second draft of MotW sequel

Alright, it's been a long time coming, but I've finally hired a real designer who's going to give my website, and this blog, a sweet new makeover. She already showed me the first draft of what's to come from the pic I selected from her folder, and it looks so awesome.

The problem for me was that I've always been jumping genres. Sweet historicals, paranormals, erotic m/m you name it and I'll probably eventually do it, and that always made it a little tough to think of any kind of design that would fit the image of what I'm doing. Only when I started to think about that kind of thing did it occur to me how difficult it was going to be for me to get a design that wouldn't entirely throw the (few) readers that I have. Then I was worried that I was going to hire a designer, and not be satisfied with any of the sample pics he/she put together, and eventually I'd be forced to simply settle with one I only moderately liked.

I totally lucked out. The reasons stated above, and the fact that this template was already pre-done, was a big reason I didn't want to take my chances elsewhere. Why risk something different from designer B when you already like what Designer A has on the shelf?

What they've got is perfect: A starry night with a woodsy background, a mysterious looking calm wolf staring off into the distance, and a pale, dark-haired woman in a long flowing gown that could be historical, or maybe she's just running out on a party, or is a vampire, who knows. Anyway, I love it and can't wait for it to be up.

The website will be under both of my pen names. Rizzo Rosko and Mandy Rosko. This is because, even though my pen name for Siren is Mandy Rosko, my website and blog is still listed as Rizzo Rosko. I thought Mandy sounded more romantic at the time I was asked to provide a pen name, to be honest, so there wasn't a real reason to change names so suddenly, but now it kind of works out.

Anything my publisher lists as erotic will be put under Mandy Rosko, and anything more toned down with be under Rizzo, and having both names on the website will help to lessen any confusion and let people know that those two names are one in the same. :)

Contest Over

2011-03-21T09:42:00.000-07:00

Hey, hey sportsfans! The win the free ebooks contest is over :D Congratulations to all the winners!

The novella itself is released on this Wednesday the 23rd for those who missed out on the contest and is already available for preorder.

Contest!

2011-03-07T17:18:00.000-08:00

Working On: Josh Lanyon edits
Waiting On: The Nintendo 3DS to come out. I reaaally want one!

Okay, to the one person who might read this, I'm holding a contest to get your hands on a free copy of Mate of the Wolf, or the iTunes song Howlin' For You by The Black Keys, a song that I really love for the theme of this book.

Here are the rules, there are only two of them:

1. Be 18 years old or older. This book is a little more explicit than my usual stuff and isn't suitable for anyone younger than that. You have been warned.

2. Drop me a line. Just send me an e-mail with your name, the e-mail you'd like the prize to be sent to, and I Want A Free E-book in the subject line.

This part of the contest is open to everyone. Just be aware that the free copies I'm getting will be PDF files, make sure you have something that can read that sort of file before submitting your entry.

The iTunes part of the contest is, unfortunately, only open to Canadian residents. iTunes does not allow gifting between people from different countries. Sorry, rest of the world :(

To get your chance at the iTunes song, just write in the body of the e-mail whether or not you are Canadian and are currently using the Canadian iTunes store. iTunes can be downloaded for free, but you can't play their songs on anything other than an ipod without a little tweeking.

Everyone eligable may compete in both parts of the contest, but no one will win both the song and the e-book at the same time. This will allow for more winners.

I've got ten e-books to give away, and the number of iTunes songs will depend on the entries I get. I'd like to give away a maximum ten to make an equal 20 prizes.

No purchase is required, void where prohibited, I'm not responsible if your fifteen year old wins, blah, blah, blah

I'll post the names of the winners on my website a couple of days before the 23rd. I'm shooting for the 20th. So get your entries in fast!

Good Luck!

Taking a Break

2011-01-10T16:25:00.000-08:00

Waiting on: Carina Press
Signed the contract with Siren Press

No, not taking a break from writing, but from my jobs. The contracted time on my second job will run out this week, and then it's just the one at Zellers to worry over. No more double shifts and a lot more time to catch up on the library I've accumulated in bedroom, as well as more writing time. I hate how little writing or revising got done in December, but I am nearly finished revising one of my novels that I started this summer, and even sent it out to be critiqued by Josh Lanyon.

My resolution this year is to lose weight (not saying how much), write two more books (minimum), and sell at least one more. Part of that two book resolution gives me a month for outlining, starting today, a month for writing, and another month (possibly longer) for revising. Maybe not too realistic, but that's part of the challenge :)

I'll need about fifteen hours of sleep first, but I think it can be done.

Happy 2011!

Best Day Ever

2010-11-27T18:36:00.000-08:00

Accepted by: Siren BookStrand!
Waiting on: Carina Press
Rejected by: Samhain

The best day of my life finally came. Siren BookStrand wants to publish my novella Mate of the Wolf in April 2011. I don't know if that title will get changed or not. I was so stoked when the email came in I could barely think, then to celebrate, ate a whole pumpkin pie (My all time favorite) went to the bookstore and spent money (Which was awesome) and then started emailing the other Siren author I know for advice and tips. She tells me they are a great publisher and very friendly. And FAST. I sent them my sub a week before the acceptance email came in.

It was a good day.

On a second note, I've decided to give up on my nanowrimo just before getting to 35 thousand. With two jobs it's just way too hard, plus, I now want to devote my spare time to looking over the accepted manuscript and polishing the ass off it, not to mention the other stories I have to finish polishing, or just finish in general.

Anyway, back to the real matter at hand, for those who bother reading this, according to the sample contract I got to read over, Siren will give me several free e-copies of the story after it comes out, so I'm going to try and think of a sweet contest type thing in which I can give those copies away to you, my non-existant readers. More details to come on that when I get them.

:D

Screwed by Twitter Again

2010-10-27T05:52:00.000-07:00

It's just waaaaay too easy to post on twitter than it is on a blog. I'm starting to think I should just give up the blog altogether and just use twitter. But whatever, I'll keep the blog up, for now, even if I'm the only one who reads it :P

Working On: 3rd draft of next paranormal novel
Waiting on: Carina Press and Samhain for one short novel and one novella
Rejected By: Samhain

I absolutey positively cannot wait for Halloween. Even if I'm too old to go out for it. I still love decorating the house and making up goodie bags with my bro and sister in law. We have 120 of them, with enough candy left over should there be more kids than bags like last year. I bought my own box of chocolate, and I'm not sharing it with any trick or treaters! It's all mine tucked away in my room, 95 sweet and delicious little treats for me for when I get my word count for the day, which, admitadly, I haven't been doing the last couple of weeks :S

Least it means I won't be guzzling down too much halloween chocolate, which is on sale today, by the way, so I might just end up going out to get more. This is all terribly bad for my diet, especially with my bro and sis in law offering me slices of their giant, delicious pumkin pie, and then I made a sweet looking Halloween haunted house cake. It stands upright and has a small tower-like second story and everything.

I need to get out of the house, it's calling to me to eat it all ...

Lots and lots and lots to do

2010-08-12T19:56:00.001-07:00

Working On: 100 words a day challenge (only 20 more days to go) And the final chapters for the new paranormal romance I'm working on.
Waiting On: Samhain and Carina Press

I actually managed to get the website updated, finally. My bro was next to me helping me out, and I got it back up and running, did the updates, and even changed the looks of the buttons, so now it actually looks better too :D

I still have a case of the jitters waiting on a Yes or No from Samhain. I don't think I was ever this tweaky, or if I was, the last time must have been when I was still guzzling Pepsi. To make matters uber better, Carina Press, the new e-publisher out of Harlequin, e-mailed and asked for a couple of revisions on my short story Mate of the Wolf. I was so excited that I actually read through it, did the revisions, read through it again, checked for more errors, and then sent it out the same day I was sent the list of revisions.

Which probably means I totally screwed myself. I really wish I had been blessed with more patience. My mother thinks I have it in boatloads, ha!

One more thing to be twitchy over (ever see Tweak from South Park? That's me), oh well. At least this is a good sign! It means I'm getting better (I think)! That I'm finding my voice (a long search)! And that one day I might actually get published (Hopefully)!

The Adventures of the World's Worst Waitress

2010-07-20T08:09:00.000-07:00

Waiting On: Carina Press, Samhain, and Judith Ehrlich Literary
Working On: New Historical Paranormal and Contemporary Paranormal

World's worst waitress, that's me. Once, a couple of years ago, one of my bosses at KFC told me he was surprised I ever managed to keep a job. I was pretty shocked about it to, not that he said it, but that he was right. I still kind of am shocked. I'm not very good at any of the jobs I get, the only upside to hiring me was that I showed up on time and handled customers pretty well. Aside from that there were forgotten orders, mistakes in the orders, no stock done when I closed, and I was just pretty slow in general. Which is why I'm hoping this writing thing pays off one day.

I don't ever expect to get rich off it or anything, I'm well aware of how few authors can actually make a living from their writing on its own. What I am hoping for is when the inevitable day comes when I do get my ass canned, that I might have a career (even a teeny tiny one) to fall back on, even though I suspect that, like my other jobs, I'm not too good at writing either.

Example--though this could be considered good news as well :D--I got a request for revisions from Smahain! Yay! Go me.

Anyway, the editor, Jennifer Miller, sent me an e-mail with a couple of points she wanted me to look at. One was that they fell in love too quickly. She wanted it more drawn out, more scenes, and a little more conflict between the men. They are enemies! There should be some tension between them when they're not having sex! Fair enough. Changed.

Second, she felt the families were a little too cardboard, they weren't villainous enough, and that when one of the characters thought about his future wife--whom he'd have to marry against his will--with glee when he discovers she is sick and the wedding needs to be postponed, she thought that was mean and not too heroic of him. Makes sense. Fixed it.

Third point: I need to work on my spelling and grammar.

....

Shit.

Honestly, it was kind of funny, now that I look back on it. The other points she made were in semi-long paragraphs explaining what she would like, but that last point was just a simple sentence. Like an afterthought.

Anyway, I made the changes, then re-read it for spelling and grammar probably ten times, and sent them to Miller's personal e-mail a bit over a week ago, I'm still waiting to hear back on whether I delivered on the goods or if she'd going to pass.

Seriously, though, my spelling and grammar are balls. My dream of being an editor are crushed. Which is why I need to work on that and actually sell some books, otherwise I'm going to stay being the world's worst waitress for the rest of my life. Who knows, I might even be serving you someday.

Refill, sir?

Went to the June Social

2010-06-07T19:09:00.000-07:00

Working On: Paranormal Novel 100 words for 100 days
Waiting on: Avon, WRP, Samhain, and Carina Press

Yesterday was the June Social and final meeting for the people of ORWA until September. It was lots of fun and even though it was meant to be a social, we still told each other what we did for the month, sent out queries and such. And then the awards were handed out for the ORWA First Meet contest.

Congratulations Coreen for winning (Even though you likely won't read this ;))!

Anyway, this was an insanely busy month considering I finished a novella and sent out a bunch of partials. It would be even better if I happened to sell one of them, but whatever, I won't go too insanely crazy if I have to keep at it a little longer @_0;

New focus on Vampires! Learning a bunch of mythology for vampires and angels. So far what I have came out of the new Vampireology book, which I really want because it has pretty pictures and extra little pages that fold out <3

More on that later!

I've Said it Before ...

2010-05-24T17:10:00.000-07:00

Complete: Paranormal novella
Waiting On: Wild Rose Press and Avon
Working On: Edits

... Twitter is evil. I keep putting off my blog because it's so much faster to just type a quick sentence and run back to whatever I was doing before, which was working on a brand new novella instead of focusing on my novel like a freak.

I just needed a break from those characters, and I had that other idea running around my brain for such a long while, I just had to get it out. So I sat down and started, I can't remember what day it was on, but definitely after the last ORWA meeting. Either way, I finished a 27,000 word novella in a little less than three weeks. Holy God, that's crazy. I haven't gotten anything down that fast in a long while.

Anyway, tomorrow the hundred words for a hundred days challenge begins, so I'm going to get a little bit of editing done on the novella before then. Maybe Samhain'll like this one :)

Jittery and Shaking Like a Crack Addict

2010-04-23T19:14:00.000-07:00

Working On: Paranormal Novel
Rejected By: Samhain
Waiting On: The Wild Rose Press and Avon

Lately I've been all hyped up, jittery and jumping around like someone who decided to quit their drugs cold turkey, or just took a whole lot of them. Why?

LOVER MINE IS FINALLY ALMOST HERE.

I've seriously been waiting forever for that book. Last year when Lover Avenged came out, I read it, enjoyed it, then found out the next one would be almost a year in coming. I read that part online and was all: WTF is she thinking?!

Then I stopped crying into my pillow and remembered that it wasn't really the author's choice. She could've had that novel written within the month for all I knew and there still would have been the process of editing, rewriting, then printing and distributing. That made me a little less angry with the world. A little.

But the whole point is that my freakin' birthday is on the 28th this month, and Lover Mine comes out on the 27th. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ME! I cannot wait, and it gets even better, I also have several days off that week. Normally that sucks so hard because it means my hours have been cut back and less money, but since it also means I'll be doing nothing during those four days but reading Lover Mine, I don't care :) I'll worry about food and rent later. I need to start dieting anyway ;)

Rejected by Wild Rose Press and Golden Heart

2010-03-28T19:04:00.000-07:00

Waiting On: Response from Amanda Bergeron and Samhain
Rejected By: Wild Rose Press & Golden Heart
Finished: Paranormal Edits

***

I was sick again for the last couple of days, which makes it twice this month alone that I came down with something. I already called in sick for work once, and there's no way I could do that twice in a month without suffering some serious cash issues, so it was back to the dinner and hoping no one noticed how nasaly I sounded.

Anyway, The Wild Rose Press rejected me. My charactes are too one demensional, parts were more drama than romance, and there wasn't enough conflict I guess.

I know that getting a form rejection sucks, and it's always great to hear from the editor who rejected you what was wrong in the first place, but I looked over all the points she didn't like and was all like, "Wow, really?"

I almost didn't want to know all that. She put in some helpful links to her website on how I could fix those problems, but to be honest, I was bad and didn't read over them yet. I'll get to it soon though (Shifty eyes)

I also didn't make finals for the Golden Heart, and I don't know why that one hit me so hard, but it did, so to make myself feel better I whipped out the old credit card and decided fuck it, I was going to spend money. I went to the bookstore and started browsing the ailes. I didn't want another How To Write book because I have tons of them already, and apparently they don't help me much.

I wanted something for fun and research. Anyone writing paranormals should seriously browse the Humour section, there's an awsome selection of books geared just for us. The Zombie Survival Guide has actual tips on how to survive after the undead holocaust. There's a guide for new werewolves, where to live based on location, the nearness of meat stores, cost, and neighbours, and another guide for new vampires. How to fake your way through a meal, what to do if you meet someone you knew decades ago etc.

I couldn't believe I never noticed this stuff before. How helpful would all this be. I picked up a few titles and continued to browse, then I went to the New Age section, a spot I hadn't been to since my Tarot Card phase in high school. There, I found my prize and immediately returned the other books I'd been hanging on to. An Encyclopedia of Vampires. It's big, thick, purple, and not quite a hardcover, so it was only thirty bucks as opposed to the forty or fifty you'd otherwise expect to spend on a book that size. Seriously, it's huge, and I friggin adore it.

After reading through so many modern paranomal romance novels, a person starts to forget what a Vampire really is, what their powers can be, and what their weaknesses can do to them. I've gotten so many ideas reading this book and am super exciting to get to writing them down.

Next year, Golden Heart. Next year.

Twitter is Evil! But Who Cares!

2010-03-11T14:00:00.000-08:00

Working On: Last pages of Paranormal edits
Waiting On: Mar 25 when I find out if I final for the Golden Heart, reply from Susan Yates at The Wild Rose Press, and a reply from Amanda Bergeron regarding a partial at Avon
Rejected: By Samhain (Again)
Recieved: My Pro status baby, yeah!

***

I've decided that Twitter is evil because I use it when I'm too lazy to update my blog, which means a couple things mentioned here will me repeating myself. That being said, HOLY SHIT Amanda Bergeron asked for a partial at the ORWA Pitch!

I pitched my Medieval Historical Lady Thief, and the funny thing was that one or two of the women who went before me, when she came out of the room we used, she seemed kind of upset and said that Avon was apparently not taking Medievals at that time.

I overheard that and was all like, "Ah, you've got to be kidding me."

I quickly tried to think of anything else I could pitch, one of my other manuscripts that might catch her fancy, a paranormal maybe, but I had nothing prepared and my whole plan revolved around pitching Lady Thief. Makes you extra, extra nervous when you hear that the editor from a big time house isn't looking for what you're selling.

Eventually I just sucked it up and figured, whatever, I'll just have to wow her ass off or something, and I guess I did well enough bonding with her between talk of Johanna Lindsay and the amazing covers Medieval Historicals produce, because she told me to send out a partial. Teresa said I was shaking when I came out, and me, all struck dumb, was confused when one of the others asked, "Was this your first pitch?"

"How did you know?"

"Because this is your first year here."

Meaning in the ORWA group. It's not difficult to get me to ask stupid questions. I sent out the partial that night.

Anyway, Samhain rejcted my last story, but I'm nearly finished the last draft of a paranormal I feel good about. Hopefully they'll like that one better than the historicals I've been sending them.

Also, after looking into the benefits of being a PRO member of RWA, I found out that at their yearly connferences, PRO members are a little higher up on the ladder than non PRO members when it comes to the Agent/Editor Pitches. Meaning if I decided to go, I would get a better spot in line to do my thing. That kind of makes me want to fork out the money and go, but I'm not sure yet. We'll have to wait and see what happens.

PRO Membership app sent out!

2010-02-10T21:26:00.000-08:00

Working On: Paranormal Prequel
Waiting On: Response from Samhain and Golden Heart Contest
Sent Out: RWA PRO membership application

Busy day today, I finished up the edits for the volunteer editing I signed up for, then I filled out the forms, printed out my rejections, and copied my novel to a disk and sent it all out to RWA so they can (hopefully) make me into a PRO member. What are the benefits of being a PRO member? No idea. I need to do more research.

I was also in contact with Melena from ORWA because I wasn't able to access the chat loop on the ORWA website. There's a newsletter and everything we're supposed to get that I didn't know about, but again, my fault for lack of research.

Tomorrow when I get my ass to work for the morning shift, I need to remember to book of March 7, because that's when an Avon editor is going to come and speak with us, and before the actual meeting she'll be taking pitches, so I need to sign up for that too. Great excuse to spend money on a new shirt so I look somewhat professional when she gets here. Speaking of pitches, I need to work on that too.

unfortunately, I tried doing my taxes with one of those Same Day Cash Refund places, and something went wrong so I have to go back when the Canada Revenue agency is open again, so no tax refund for me today :( My horoscope was right. I'm facing challenges today.

Yes! Back To Work on my Short Story!

2010-02-01T19:20:00.000-08:00

Working On: Paranormal Prequel
Waiting On: Response from Samhain Editor Laurie Rauch

The title isn't sarcasm. I finished with the Genesis and Phoenix awards for the Ottawa Romance Writers' Association and that means more free time for character building! I got started today, and after reading through what I had already written, because it had been a while, I realized how much I missed being with characters that I had created. So while re-reading (I know, you're not supposed to do that) I fixed up a few minor details I found, then got started on my next chapter, though the story still needs a lot of work and is far from done, I'm looking forward to getting on it.

All I need now is for my Write or Die desktop edition to re-download and I'll be moving at the speed of friggin' light baby, yeah!

Thinking of Giving the Website a New Look

2010-01-15T07:27:00.000-08:00

Working On: Awards for the ORWA Genesis and Pheonix
Waiting On: Response from Samhain Editor Laurie Rauch for Lady Deception
Rejected: Lady Thief

I just finished downloading several brushes for my Gimp program, and after working on the Genesis and Pheonix awards for the ORWA, I'm a lot more confident with that program. I'm actually thinking about giving my website, a bland thing, a nice little face lift. I still love the colors I picked out for it, but adding some eyeliner and mascara wouldn't hurt to prettyfy it up a bit.

Unfortunately I got my rejection for Lady Thief from Samhain, but two days later I sent them off my proposal for Lady Deception, which according to my mother ::rolls eyes:: is the better of the two books. Thanks mom.

New Year's Resolutions

2009-12-28T17:58:00.000-08:00

Working On: Nothing today. I'm a lazy bastard :)
Waiting On: My acceptance letter from Samhain XD

It occured to me that this is December, the twelfth month of the year and therefore the LAST month. While going over all the things I wanted to accomplish this coming year, it dawned on me all the things I didn't get done. 08 I completed three manuscripts. THREE manuscripts, one of them being a Nanowrimo novel which I think turned out really well. This year, I got two short stories completed, both rejected so far, but that detail hardly matters since you expect to get just about everything rejected if you're in this business. I started and as of this writing have still not completed Nanowrimo (I don't count chapter outlines as getting work done), which was the only novel length project I set out to do this year.

Being as I had such an amazing year last year, all this really burns. So for this year, I'm going to start off a little smaller than my Amazing 08. My New Year's Resolution for 2010 is to complete my novel, and two others before 2011 hits. I'll also put a bigger effort into getting back to my crit partner faster, and sending out more submissions.

That, and losing fifteen pounds, is my promise to myself.

Updating the Website

2009-12-11T18:52:00.000-08:00

Working On: Still doing my Nano-novel, I'll get it done if it kills me!
Waiting On: Christmas! (and for the RWA judges to start reading submissions)

I went to the ORWA a few days ago, and it was fantastic and very educational on how e-publishing works. That's all I'll say on that, though, since I'm planning on submitting something to the editor who came to visit us, and if by chance she reads this post I don't want her to think I'm sucking up :S

I also got my brother to help me with my website. I kept having trouble updating it and fixing the buttons, and he's sick of me nagging on him for tech support. I actually stood behind him and wrote down what he did so I wouldn't have to bother him so much for help anymore, because even though I can apparently take apart and repair a famicom disk system, I know absolutely nothing about computers. It's a good thing I live with him otherwise I'd be totally screwed.

Didn't complete Nanowrimo :( but got a lot done :)

2009-11-30T20:25:00.000-08:00

:Quickie Post:

I guess with hours increasing at the Diner because holidays coming up was just too much, but at nearly a thousand words a day, plus I think I finally figured out why the plot was bumming me down so much, it was definitely no waste of time. I'll keep chucking out my word count regardless of what month it is, get my Christmas shopping underway, and hopefully have the first draft finished in time to start revisions before the new year :)

Oh, and I checked the RWA website, despite my gigantic screw up with putting Rita contest on the envelope instead of Golden Heart, it seems they still got the submission okay :D Now all that's left to do is wait and see what the judges think.

Behind on Nanowrimo

2009-11-22T14:15:00.000-08:00

Working On: Nanowrimo novel (slow going)
Waiting For: Response from Nocturne Bites submission
Sent Out: Historical novel for Golden Heart contest

Well, in case you couldn't tell from my Twitter post -->

I'm pretty behind on my nanowrimo novel. This is also the reason for the lack of my regular once a week updates on this blog. Trying to catch up takes up a lot of energy. But I figured it's pretty early in the day, so I'll get back to this.

I'm halfway to the 50,000 mark, but I should be a lot further than that at this point. So, I've taken some drastic measures and started going back to the Write or Die website, which is a nifty little actually forces you to start writing and not stop until your time limit (that you set) is up. Punishments for stopping include flashing lights, annoying music, and even your own words being deleted one at a time until you start writing again. Doing this I've managed to get my goal every time I use this site, and now I'm just trying to catch up.

Also, according to the RWA website, they got my submission in despite my having written down the wrong contest. I wrote Rita contest on the envelope instead of Golden Heart, but every thing else was fine, and they got it, so now I just have to sit back, go nuts, and wait.

Going to a Nano Write In

2009-11-03T13:21:00.001-08:00

Working On: Nanowrimo novel
Waiting On: Response for Nocturne Bite Mate of the Wolf

The ORWA meeting was amazing. Joanne Rock was the guest speaker, and she handed out bookmarks of her new historical, and pink information sheets for what we would be discussing, which was happy endings. I tried to get her to sign the bookmark she handed me, but because of how glossy it was on both sides, she said that a signature couldn't happen :( Oh well, next time, it was still cool meeting her and listening to what she had to say.

Everyone was so nice too, I got a business card from Teresa Wilde. The thing looks awsome too, it's got a nice bendy font with pink all over the place with stars, broken hearts, and an interesting girly skull and crossbones.

After the meeting I was invited to join them all for drinks too. A few people asked what I write, and because I don't normally talk about it to anyone, I found it hard to come up with answers.

"I have two historicals and the rest are paranormals."

"Oh that's interesting. What are they about?"

" ... Uh ..."

Not so good if I ever have to pitch to an agent.

Anyway, back to Joanne Rock. She mentioned that the nearest chapter of RWA was about two and a half hours away from where she lived, which means that she had to make a trip just to get to us. This made me feel especially fortunate just because my new chapter it a ten minute bike ride away from where I live. I don't drive a car, so if the place had even been on the other side of Ottawa, I would have been screwed, especially in the winter time.

A few of the members announced that they were doing Nanowrimo this year too, and there's a write in tonight which I'll try and get to. The place will probably take me forty-five minutes to get to on my bike, but that's still close enough for me to go.

Makes me glad my shift was changed from tonight to tomorrow. I got super lucky there :D

Submission Made Today

2009-10-28T20:44:00.001-07:00

Submitted: Mate of the Wolf to Nocturne Bites
Working On: Prequel and story outline for Nanowrimo

Well, it's been over seven months now with nothing back from harlequin about my Nocturne Bites submission, so I decided to consider it rejected and submit something else. I really feel good about the story and so far it's a favorite, hopefully the editors at Nocturne will feel the same :D

As for the weekend, I'm stoked for it. Halloween is coming, then the day after that I get to go to another ORWA meeting, and then Nanowrimo. I can barely contain myself I'm so giddy for it. Excited and scared to start a new book.

I keep reading from other authors that this feeling does not go away, but I guess it's also part of what makes the leap so exciting.

Got My Mic In :)

2009-10-10T19:27:00.000-07:00

Working On: Got a few more pages of paranormal prequel finished :)
Am going to polish up and send out my paranormal short story to Nocturne Bites on Tuesday

Yesterday I got my Blue Snowball Mic in the mail. I'm so happy :D I've wanted this thing for like, ever. I ordered it on Thursday thinking I wouldn't get it for another two to three weeks, so I was amazingly surprised when it showed up the next morning. Nearly missed it though as I had to hop out of bed. The buzzer woke me up. So in my pajamas and with no bra on I ran downstairs. In the end my sister-in-law ran down the hall and signed for it for me since she got out the door first.

I guess the mailman was in the middle of signing that, You Were Away, slip, and gave her a bit of sass when she caught him before he could leave. So I'm especially thankful for her quick feet.

The thing looks great and sounds like a dream, even with no pop filter, which I'm still waiting to come in. I got the filter from another online place, which is why they're separate. After it comes in, I'll be able to play around, do some tests, and then hopefully start putting my shorter works online as audio files. :o) Can't wait.

Getting Everything Ready

2009-10-03T18:35:00.000-07:00

Working on: Crit for my critique partner, and my chapters of Lady Thief for the Golden Heart Contest ^_^

October already. Wow. On the eleventh I go back to another meeting at Ottawa Romance Writers, can't wait for that because I'll get to take out more audio disks from their library. And since next month is nanowrimo I'll have to really buckle down and get my first draft ideas on paper. I already started my manuscript, but since I don't like the beginning and have a bunch of nice chapter outlines ready, I think I'll rewrite the beginning to keep myself within the nanowrimo rules.

Thursday is going to be great, because by then I'll be able to buy that mic I want so I can get started on my audiobooks, and maybe even hunt down a few authors at the meeting to do interviews with :)

Learning How Writing Works

2009-09-20T17:01:00.000-07:00

Working On: Moving at the pace of a snail with my new prequel. Maybe there's something wrong with it that I need to search for and fix ASAP

Even though the going was still slow for the last short story I worked on, doing it long hand in my little notebook made me feel better about it. In fact, writing a lot of notes long hand seems to work best for me. I have a notebook with really tiny writing of my chapters for Lady Thief up in my room, and though it was just a really involved chapter by chapter outline, I still love the way that book turned out.

Writing long hand seems to work for me best, and it sucks that I'm only just discovering this, but I guess that's how the writing business works. I was always told there is no one way to do it, you just have to find the right way for yourself, and after trial and error, this seems to be the way to do it. Writing with a pen is a lot slower than just typing something out, maybe that's why it works better for me, gives me a chance to think everything over at a nice pace before I actually type it into my computer.

I've started another notebook with more chapter by chapter outlines for my next novel, maybe something to be done during NANOWRIMO, I can't wait for that! :D

I've also booked off the next Sunday I need in order to go to the next ORWA meeting. I still can't get over how lucky I am that their meetings are so close to where I live, otherwise, taking a bike or busing it in the winter time would suck so hard. Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait!

ORWA Meeting Was AMAZING

2009-09-14T08:47:00.000-07:00

Working On: Outline for Nanowrimo
Waiting On: Nocturne Bites sub, though at this point I'll consider it rejected and sub another story

Being at the ORWA was great. The fact that I was getting over a cold didn't even hinder my good time :) I met a whole bunch of authors, a lot of whom were already published, some still working on getting there like me, and a few who were just starting out. Jo Beverley wasn't there, but Eve Silver was, and I met her. She came down from Toronto to do a workshop with us, explained how certain things worked, and even gave us a few exercises to do, and because of that I walked away with a few nice little story ideas :)

My cold only ever got to be a problem when I had to leave the room so my cough wouldn't interrupt anyone, or when someone would introduce themselves to me and reach out their hand for me to shake, and I'd have to step back explaining that I had a cold. It wasn't as bad as the day before, but I wasn't going to risk it. I sat in the back because of it, and a few times someone would come up to me, smile, and ask if I was a little scared and see if I wanted to join everyone up front. Again, I had to explain my cold, but everyone was really nice.

There was even someone there in charge of an audio library, which consists of disks from other workshops from RWA. I took out three of them. One for agent hunting, another for Historical Writing, and another on psychopaths, and will listen to them today :)

All in all, great day, can't wait to go back for October. We were told from the president and vice president that for December we might even get to meet an agent or an editor! Fingers crossed for that :D

Gena Showalter's Book is OUT!

2009-09-02T17:33:00.000-07:00

Working On: Got a few more sentences of my prequal done :)
Waiting On: Still no word from Nocturne Bites. I'll wait a little longer before considering it rejected and sending out the next story.
Reading: Finishing up on Shadow Kiss Vampire Academy

I got my copy of Darkest Whisper by Gena Showalter :) My audio copy, but still. I just have to finish listening to the Shadow Kiss story and I can get started. Part of me just wants to put it aside for a bit and get started on Gena's story, but no. I won't do that. I'll be patient because whenever I put half finished books aside I never end up finishing them.

Still, I love Gena's Lords of the Underworld series so much! Can't wait to find out what happens next :)

Excited for ORWA :)

2009-08-31T10:20:00.000-07:00

Working On: Paranormal Novella
Reading: Last book in the Vampire Academy series :(

I'm still so excited to go to the ORWA meeting that I can't stand it. I've gone onto my audible account and put up some of Jo Beverly's books into my wish list, trying to decide which ones I want to get. They all look so good I'm having trouble deciding.

Not only am I excited for the ORWA meeting, but tomorrow the next book in Gena Showalter's Lords of the Underworld series comes out, and I'm super stoked for that.

Anyway, today I'm going to pick up another mic, test it out, and then annoy the employees at Wal-Mart if I have to return the thing. Hopefully this one will have decent sound.

More News on Audio and ORWA

2009-08-22T07:22:00.000-07:00

Waiting to Hear From: Nocturne Bites
Finished: New Paranormal Short Story :)
Reading: Vampire Academy

So the audio thing is coming along slowly. I've so far tinkered with three mics. The one in my laptop, which sounds cheap, and is, since it's built into the laptop. One that clips to my ear, but the earpiece was too huge and it kept slipping off, so back to the store for that one, and then one that clips to your shirt.

With that one, the problem was that since the mic wasn't in front of my mouth, but pointing in the opposite direction, I sounded a little far away. I pulled it off my shirt and put the mic to my mouth to record a few words, and while it sounded alright, it sort of defied the point of a clip on mic. So I'm sending that one back today before I go to work.

I really want to buy a decent mic that costs more than 10 to 20 dollars, but I just don't have the money for something like that right now, which is why I keep experimenting with the cheaper ones.

I've also learned through a few test readings that I cannot speak in any kind of accent, so unless I hire someone to read Lady Thief and its sequal, Lady Deception, I'm stuck leaving those two out, but right now I think I'll take it slow and convert one of my short stories to audio and see how that goes.

And! One more bit of news :) Ottawa Romance Writers finally got back to me, they're a chapter that's part of RWA. They're closed for summer, but it seems their next meeting is Sept 13, so I need to book that day off so I can go, can't wait! On their website is a list of a few of their authors, one of which is freakin' Jo Beverly XD Can't wait to go!

Maybe Audio Books

2009-08-14T20:40:00.000-07:00

Working On: Paranormal short story, converting long-hand written material to text now.
Waiting: Still waiting for a response from Nocturne Bites

Lately I've been tinkering around with the thought of turning some of my books into audio books. I've started downloading and listening to them from audible since February, and I don't know how I ever got along without them. My bike ride to work is a lot more productive now since I'm listening to my favorite authors as I'm writing.

Audible was even how I discovered Gena Showalter's Lords of the Underworld series. So far I've listened to them all and am impatiently waiting for the next one, but that's getting off topic.

Things always kept me back from starting the audio book thing, though. I don't have the equipment, don't know how to convert files to mp3, don't even know where to get started etc etc etc. I'm still doing a bit of research, but I found a program that I'd like to test out. Something might come of it, something might not, but I thought I'd just write it down.

And as you've seen above, I'm finally starting to write down my short paranormal, now called: Mate of the Wolf, onto my computer. This is pretty exciting. I keep watching my word count go up, and unless I do some editing and a lot of chopping, it will definitely go over the 15,000 word maximum. Usually my word counts are always lower than what they need to be, so seeing it go so high is pretty exciting for me.

And one more thing I thought I'd announce. I'm mentally planning a short prequel to The Legend. It's an idea I've had floating around in my head for a while. Basically how Westley and Chris met, despite Westley's demanding father, and fell in love.

It would be short, probably novella or less, but I'd like to write it down and post it as something to read until my next book gets written. No idea when that's going to come out though.

:)

Website Has Been Updated!

2009-08-08T18:23:00.001-07:00

I finally got the website updated! Now all I have to do is update the thing again ;P

It's so exciting when things work right. Thank God my brother is good with computers otherwise I'd be so screwed.

Anyway, I already did my second draft to a query letter for one of the historicals I wrote, and now all I have to do is write the frigging synopsis.

Reading all those query tips in the RT magazines really helped me out, I think what I have is so much better than what it would of been otherwise. I just wish there was something like that to help with synopsis writing XS.

Website Problem Solved

2009-07-31T19:20:00.000-07:00

Working On: Just finished critiquing my crit partner's chapter, still working on short paranormal
Waiting On: Still waiting to hear back from Nocturne Bites

So, I finally asked my brother, Mitch, to help me with my FTP program to find out why everytime I update my site, the updates don't show up on my site. I'd log in, drag and drop the updated files, watch them transfer, and then ... nothing. I checked my passwords, all seemed fine, had my brother look at the way I typed in the website location, all seemed well.

I was sure it was a problem with my password because I wasn't even sure if I was using the right one. But then, why would the program even let me in if I was using the wrong password? Why make me think I'm updating my site instead of just putting in the usual pop up that says:

"Username or password is incorrect"?

Well, as it turns out it really was the password that was the problem. I was using the wrong one!

So for roughly two months, that's why there's been no updates to my site. I had to get Mitch to help me reset the thing. This isn't done automatically, so I'm still waiting for the e-mail that'll contain my new password. Then I'm going to tattoo that password to my forehead.

The good news is that this means within a few days the website will be nice and fresh again :)

Slowly Trecking Along

2009-07-23T21:00:00.000-07:00

Working On: Edits for Lady Deception, synopsis, and query letter

Because I'm a shopaholic and I can't go two days without spending money, I went to the bookstore today and bought three magazines, and another one yesterday. They are Poets & Writers, Writer's Digest Yearbook, RT, and Quill & Quire.

I friggin' love writing books, and I also love writing magazines. I've got my own library of magazines because I keep all the back issues. It's getting harder for me to keep them in order, luckily the Poets & Writers mag has a nice readable spine instead of something that's been stapled, so keeping those little gems in order is pretty easy.

Although I've stopped buying books on writing--for the most part--I still can't help but buy the magazines. I have a subscription to The Writer, and Writer's Digest, but not to any of the others listed above, and for some reason the Writer's Digest Yearbook doesn't come to my mailbox, which I think is pretty stupid. What if I lived in a town that didn't have a Chapters? Or worse yet, had one, but it was one of those small chains that are found in malls where the selection of magazines is so small you'd be lucky if they stocked any at all?

I used to be in those towns until I moved to Ottawa. Now there's a giant Chapters right down the street from me. It's a blessing and a curse.

Anyway, I'm pretty obsessed with having these magazines. There were a few others on the rack today too, but I stuck to my guns abd bought only three magazines instead of the six I really wanted. Maybe I'll go back for those others later.

But I can't understand where this obsession comes from. I know I used to buy the books because, somewhere deep down, I was searching for some kind of miracle tip that would allow me to churn out novels and story ideas like Nora Roberts or something.

I've since learned that, while writing books and mags are great, they can only help you so much before you have to do the rest yourself.

So why do I keep buying them?

Right now I'm broker than broke. I'm in my overdraft AND I owe my credit card at least $500. Which I bet doesn't sound like a lot to other credit card bandits out there, but that's a mountain to get down when your paychecks are barely $300 every two weeks.

Having all these magazines is getting to the point where I can't read them fast enough before another one comes out.

I wonder if anyone else has this problem.

New Book Started

2009-07-16T19:17:00.000-07:00

Working On: Started new outline journal for a new paranormal short. Did a few more pages on paranormal short story.
Waiting On: Response from Harlequin Nocturne Bites
Response from Harlequin Historical: Rejected

Sorry this post was a little late. One of the girls at work went on vacation so my hours picked up, which is great. But it leaves not somuch time for daydreaming, writing, or even videogames, which is bad.

Anyway, yes, Harlequin rejected Lady Thief. But that's alright. I'll try again with Lady Deception and see what they think, but writing those damn query letters and a synopsis is about as hard as writing the book itself!

Either way, I'm still waiting to hear back from Nocturne Bites, so that's cool.

Lady Deceptin is posted on Fictionpress if anyone wants to read it free, and I just finished posting another story titled The Legend. It's a paranormal, which seems to be my main thing even though my historicals get more readers.

Oh well, if Paranormal is what comes to me then there's not much I can do -_-

But on top of all that, I am doing a new outline for a new paranormal story that I'm getting excited for. The title isn't so great and is only there until I can think of something better, so I won't mention it. But I'm building a whole new world that won't tie in with any of my other books at all, so I'm still in the stage of being scared that what I'm doing won't work, and I have to keep reminding myself that it's an outline I'm doing, and almost everything can change.

Happy Canada Day!

2009-07-01T20:04:00.000-07:00

Working On: Got two more lines done on paranormal short

Not a blog about writing in any form, and the only writing I got done were about two lines longhand while I waited for my bro at the Kanata park today, but oh well, I'll have to catch up on that tommorrow.

On the bright side, the museum of civilization had a free day today to celebrate the occasion. Inside they have a mythical beasts section, and while there I made sure to take notes. Turns out that the Pheonix and Dragon together mean marriage in some places, representing yin and yang. That gave me a teeny tiny paranormal idea :D I'll have to keep those notes around when I want to write my next short story.

See? Even when I'm supposed to be having a day off I still work a bit.

Ottawa really knows how to celebrate Canada Day. There were jets flying around the Parliament building, which, from the museum across the water looks like a castle on a green forested hill. There were food vendors, entertainment, and Sarah MClaughlin. That was all on Parliament though. Next we went to Kanata, which is another part of Ottawa, and there were the games and rides, more food, and bands. I got a CD from Amos The Transparent, then got everyone in the band to sign it. XD Score.

Top it off with a Hello Kitty prize from the water gun game, and I'm happy, and ready to get back to work tomorrow.

Wrong Building

2009-06-25T20:07:00.000-07:00

Working On: editing paranormal novel
Waiting For: Responce from Harlequin Historical

Well, I went to the ORWA thing, or I tried to at least. I went to the wrong building. And I guess they were only posting the location on their chatroom, which you have to be a member to get into. So I didn't get to join.

Oh well, I'll try again later I guess.

And I'm not ignoring my website. I have updates saved for it on my frontpage, but I'm having trouble with my password when it comes to loading the thing. I'm still trying to fix that too.

I finished the next JR Ward book, Lover Avenged, and it was so awsome I was thinking about how hard it would be to wait the few months until the next book comes out. Just to find out exactly what the date is that I have to wait for, I looked up on the Internet and someone said the next book isn't coming out until April 2010.

o.O WTF? So long? SERIOUSLY? Jesus. Ima go crazy now.

Going to the Ottawa Romance Writers Meeting

2009-06-13T21:47:00.000-07:00

Working on: Edits for Paranormal, few more pages of short story finished.

Well, tomorrow I'm going to try and get to that meeting that the Ottawa Romance Writers have set up. Though I don't know what's going to happen. Their website describes it as a social. I've e-mailed them, asking if I could join, but didn't get a reply, so I'm just going to show up without an invite with cash in hand asking if I can join.

I haven't gotten my reply from Harlequiin yet. I'm hoping it comes in on Monday, but I work an eight hour shift that day, so I won't know until about seven thirty. Sucks how my hours are cut so bad because of the recession, that the only time I manage to snag a full shift it has to be on a weekday. Though with the weekdays outnumbering the weekends it was bound to happen I guess. Oh well.

Here's hoping I get in.

Problem Solved

2009-06-05T21:32:00.000-07:00

Working On: Edits for Paranormal Novel

Well, luckily for me the problem with the mistaken response being sent to my house have been fixed. I contacted the other author, and she got back to me promptly, so did Mills and Boon.

I sent the other woman her sample chapters and response to her, and even though Mills and Boon offered to reimburse me, I think I'd feel a little strange about bugging someone overseas over ten dollars. So I'm just going to leave it alone.

That and I forgot to get a reciept from the lady at the post office.

The e-mail from the editors at M&B that I got said I should expect my response in the mail sometime next week. Which is awsome for me because I actually know when to expect my rejection letter to come in the mail. Which means that until Friday next week I can stop being so obsessive with checking the mailbox.

Harlequin Blues

2009-06-02T20:19:00.001-07:00

Working On: Three more pages for Nocturne Bite finished, nothing on edits today though

I had a bit of a panic attack earlier today that consisted a lot of me pacing, going nuts, and swearing around the living room before heading out to work earlier today.

I finally got the SASE I've been waiting forever to get in the mail today. I had only another two minutes or so before I had to go to work, so when I opened up the mailbox and saw my orange envelope waiting there for me I blinked, grinned wide, snatched it up and ran like the wind back down to my apartment.

I tried to open it carefully, I tend to save the envelopes and papers inside because I'm a psycho, but the top ripped a bit in my eagerness to see whether or not Harlequin Historicals wanted to see the full manuscript, or if I was just going to add another rejection to the pile.

I scanned the first line without looking at the name:

Thank you for your submission yada, yada, yada, you're novel is not what we're looking for at this time.

I was more confused than depressed at seeing another rejection because the title they named wasn't the title of my book. I checked the name and address and saw that on the rejection, it wasn't my name either.

What?

I looked through all the papers, desperately searching for something with my name on it, but it was all the work of some other woman. I had someone else's work in my hands. Someone else's synopsis, sample chapters, and rejection letter. Wasn't even part of the same genre.

I couldn't believe it. You never know what it feels like to be so helpless, sad enough that it makes you want to cry, and fuming to the point where circling your living room swearing up a storm to take the edge off while your room mate is trying to sleep, until it happens. I think shooting myself in the face would've been less painless.

Anyway, as luck would have it, even though it was a super unlucky thing to happen, I had all of this woman's contact info! Right there on her cover page. After work I was calm enough, though no less depressed, to put that together for a possible solution.

I sent her an e-mail explaining what was happening, though I left out the part about what her reply said on it, and am still waiting to hear back from her.

The angels in the Harlequin forums also gave me an e-mail addy when I told them what happened. They said that if I explained my situation someone would get back to me as soon as they could. So I sent out that e-mail too. All apologies for taking up time in the hopes that someone will e-mail me back without having to wait so long.

Still waiting, but that's to be expected since I only sent the e-mail about an hour ago, and I'm pretty sure business hours are over. Just have to wait a little longer now to find out whether or not they want to read the rest of my book.

Joined RWA Part 2

2009-06-01T19:21:00.001-07:00

Nevermind about the one week thing. I just got an e-mail welcoming me to RWA and a password for their members only section. So now I get to read their June magazine online :)

Joined RWA

2009-06-01T18:54:00.001-07:00

Working On: Edits for new paranormal romance novel

Today I sent out the fax to Romance Writers Of America after sitting on the sign up sheet for nearly three years. I've always been hesitant to sign up for a membership because of the expenses.

One hundred and ten dollars for the first year, plus $10 shipping to Canada for their magazine, and then another $85 pear year, not including the $10 shipping charge after that. Not to mention that if I wanted to join a chapter here in Ottawa, it's another $40 per year.

That's big money for someone who waits tables. But the thing is that I know they do help authors. Despite what I've always heard about how money should always go to the author, and if someone wants to charge you to get your manuscript read by editers, run like the wind, these guys are legit. And every year that I'm not published made me think I should just bite the bullet and stick the charges on my credit card.

Which is what I did today. It should take about a week to process if I filled the form out correctly.

I'm nervous and excited all at the same time. I hope getting to say on my queries that I'm a member of RWA will help in getting me read, and that their next conference is an inexpensive plane ticket away so that I can do some real networking.

Bookstore Again

2009-05-31T19:50:00.000-07:00

Working On: A couple more pages of short paranormal finished today
Waiting On: Nocturne Bites and Harlequin Historical

Went to the bookstore again. I'm going to shop myself into the poor house at this rate, but I wound up getting a Nocturne book filled with six shorts in the Bites series. I consoled myself that it was all in the name of research, paid for the books, a chocolate, and the novel version of the new Transformers movie, and left.

For the first Bite I wrote, beforehand I bought two books with short romances in them. One was for Fantasy, the other Paranormal. I read some of them, wrote my story, edited it, and sent it off. Now that I have a book right from Nocturne I bet I'm in a better position to find out exactly what it is the editors are looking for. At least find out how those authors managed their pacing. Because in the other books, not all the stories even had a happy ending, and in one of them the Hero was more of a frog-type creature that I bet Nocturne editors wouldn't be stoked to read about if I had sent something like that in.

Nanowrimo is still months away, but because of Anna Hackett's blog I saw that in Australia they're doing something similar. 50,000 words in thirty days for June.

I'm not Australian, but having a goal like that sounds exciting, and should get me motivated to work harder on the edits for my next novel, then get my ass in this chair and crank out some of my next novel before the ideas go stale on me.

Working On My Day Off

2009-05-30T19:32:00.000-07:00

Working On: Did about a thousand words longhand on my short paranormal.
Waiting On: Response from Harlequin Historical and Nocturne Bites

Even though I was hoping I'd get called into to work today, I ended up with the whole day off. Which sucks for my hours. But I was told by another waiter that this wouldn't last long, that once summer kicked in the diner would be busier and we'd get to work more.

Even though I had the day off, I didn't waste it. Too much. I wrote about nineteen pages of my new paranormal short story today. It sounds like a lot more than it is. It's a small journal, so it was roughly about a thousand words I did longhand.

Longhand helps me to write when I can't bring myself to sit in front of the computer for too long. It gives me a break from the screen without sacrificing too much writing time. Luckily the little journals I bought are really cheap at Dollarama.

The downside of today is that I got no editing done for my novel length paranormal. It's on only it's second draft, and for some reason editing it is proving to be a lot harder than it was to write it.

Another bad thing, depending on your point of view, is that there was a sale at Chapters that I just had to go to even though I have no money. I walked out with a special issue of Writer's Digest, this month's Quill & Quire, Advice to Writers, and Coffee with Hemingway and Coffee with Shakespeare books.

I could argue that since they're all writing related that I needed them, so no harm done. So I'm going to get to my books, and enjoy them, while carefully avoiding my credit card until I get it paid off.

Getting To Work

2009-05-29T09:46:00.000-07:00

Working on: Short Paranormal for Nocturne Bites
Waiting on: Reply from Harlequin Historical and Nocturne Bites

Yesterday I managed to get through the critique of a chapter on a historical novel I'm working on. I'd been putting that off for a while, and since hours were cut back at work I figured there's no better time to get to it.

Janet's advice has really been helping me to improve, though sometimes I still have to fight with her suggestions over whether or not that paragraph needs to go or not. Sometimes I keep a few things, other times I have to admit that, yes, the flow of the story would be better without those extra words in there. I know it's for the best but it's still painful.

I guess I should be glad to have gotten a critique partner who's so tough on me. When it comes to critiquing her work, however, I usually feel like I'm cheating her since there's not much to critique. She's a lot better at story flow than I am, and I've only been able to make a few real suggestions for improvement.

At least now with her help I'm able to better recognise author intrusion and head hopping. But they still get me sometimes.

Advice for Writers

2009-05-28T10:25:00.000-07:00

For my first post I thought I'd start with something simple. A little bit of writerly advice.

I know, I know. I haven't even been published yet. So what advice can I give that will help anyone?

Pretty damn good advice I think. Especially for those who are having difficulty in finding the time to write, or even with just sitting down at their computer to do it.

So here it is:

Never, ever, read J.R.Ward's The Black Dagger Brotherhood series. You will become addicted and never have time to write until you get through the entire thing. And even when you do you'll need a few days to come out of that depressing cloud you flew in once you made it through all the books and realized you have to wait for the next one to come out before you can start reading again.

So there you have it. My first bit of advice. Probably the last too, at least until I actually publish some books.

I guess this could also be considered my first review as well. Short, and to the point. But seriously, if you're a working writer, or just trying to finish a novel for the Hell of it, then wait until you're done before picking up those books. Especially during Nanowrimo. If you start reading them in November you'll never get your 50,000 words.