Posted in Uncategorized, tagged check in, createspace, finished, libby fox, novella, ROW80, starfane on November 30, 2011| 19 Comments »
Just a quick check in since I’m at work and I’m SWAMPED with figuring prices and making spreadsheets.
I finished the third (and last) Libby Fox novella Sunday night. I think the cover is ready. I just need to 1) Edit, 2) Send to beta readers, 3) Think of a title!
Also, I sent my Starfane files to CreateSpace and have ordered a proof copy. Keeping my fingers crossed that it looks ok.
How are the rest of you doing?
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged alex o'loughlin, count of monte cristo, eye candy, hawaii five-o, jim caviezel, john reese, mick st. john, moonlight, person of interest, steve mcgarrett on November 28, 2011| 8 Comments »
Okay, it’s time to post about a couple of my favorite TV guys again. Of course, I HAVE to include Alex O’Loughlin again, since he’s my favorite. I promise not to use him the next time, but…sometimes I can’t help it. LOL The second set of pictures for your viewing pleasure are of Jim Caviezel. Sorry, but sometimes a romance writer just has to be inspired.
Alex O'Loughlin as Mick St. John in Moonlight
Alex O'Loughlin as Steve McGarrett on Hawaii Five-O
Jim Caviezel as The Count of Monte Cristo
Jim Caviezel as John Reese in A Person of Interest
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged check in, goals, libby fox, novellas, novels, ROW80, thanksgiving, word counts on November 27, 2011| 8 Comments »
Last night I came here into my office to finish the third Libby Fox book. After writing 1193 words, I STILL have another scene left. This is a good thing, though. I was worried about how short it was going to be, but both times I tried to finish it, another scene leading up to the final one made its appearance. So it won’t be quite as short as I feared. After this, I’m done with series. I’m all about the new and shiny thing. I also want to concentrate on novels instead of novellas. More about that in Round One of next year.
Did all of you in the U.S. have a nice Thanksgiving? What did you do? Did any of you outside the U.S. have any kind of holiday? Or at least a good weekend?
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged calorie counting app, check in, libby fox, ROW80, thanksgiving on November 23, 2011| 6 Comments »
Well, I thought I would be finished with my third Libby Fox novella by now. I did add a little over 1100 words to it the other night. I thought I would only have the love scene to go, but I realized I needed a scene to lead up to the love scene. I was really worrying about this novella being about 2000 words shorter than I wanted it to be, but with that extra scene added, I think it’s going to be okay. Plus, I think I need to flesh out some other things in the story. I’m looking forward to these two days off so I can really work on writing stuff!
For those of you that didn’t see my last post on weight loss and are interested in a good calorie counting app for your Droid (don’t know if it’s available for other operating systems), it’s just called Calorie Counter and it’s by FatSecret. It’s had in its database almost every food I’ve looked up. Mostly what it’s lacking is drinks, like the strawberry lemonade at O’Charley’s. But that has to have LOTS of calories anyway, so I opted for unsweetened tea. 🙂
Also, I was complaining the other day that I wasn’t going to be able to cook on Thanksgiving. But we’ve decided to have Thanksgiving on Friday, and both of my boys are coming with their wife/girlfriend. Yay!
Happy Thanksgiving, y’all! (Yes, I’m from the south.)
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged calorie counting app, tracking exercise, tracking food, tracking weight, weight loss on November 21, 2011| 2 Comments »
I found this awesome app for my Droid. It’s a calorie counter, and so far, it’s had in the database every food at every restaurant I’ve been to in the last week. It even had the soft pretzels filled with cheese that I had in my freezer. And the Pillsbury biscuit breakfasts I’ve had. It’s had every single food that I’ve eaten! It figures your recommended calories based on your height, current weight, gender, and activity level as well as how fast or slow you want to lose weight. It’s actually giving me more calories than I thought I should have, but I’ve lost weight even going over my recommended calories on some days. I lost two lbs. this week! I could have lost more if I had stuck to the right amount of calories. It also lets you track your weight and gives you a little graph to see your progress. Even though it mostly keeps up with the calories you’re supposed to have and what you have left, it also tracks how many carbs, proteins, fats, etc. that you’ve consumed. It also tracks your exercise, but…ahem…I haven’t needed that feature yet…. Oh, did I mention this app was free?
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged check in, ROW80, thanksgiving on November 20, 2011| 10 Comments »
I’ve written nothing. I hope to change that tonight. I should actually have the final scene of the last Libby Fox written up tonight, so I should be wrapping up that first draft.
These are the three things I need to do immediately.
1) Finish the Libby Fox novella, do my first edits and proofreading, and get it sent out to beta readers.
2) Upload my files for Starfane to CreateSpace. (I have no idea why I haven’t done that yet!)
3) Upload my free short story to Smashwords and other places that allow free. A little glitch in this project is that a beta reader wanted me to expound on some things in the story. The point to this story was to be short, sweet, and free. But she loved the story and wanted a little more, especially in a couple of areas. Now my question is…do I spend the time to make the changes or not? Really, even though it’s free, the story should be the best it can be, right? So what if I have to wait a little longer to put it out there. If I can make the story better, I should. Hmmm, I think I just made my decision! 🙂
Thanksgiving
I don’t know what I’m going to do this year. My mom decided to take off to Ohio to visit with her brothers. My oldest son is married now and lives a hour away. He has to work Thanksgiving evening, so he won’t be coming over. My brother is going to go to Ohio to pick up Mom, so he won’t be here. My youngest son will be at his girlfriend’s house most of that day. My husband and I have been invited to Atlanta to his brother’s. But I WANTED to cook! 😦 Maybe I can have everyone over after Thanksgiving. But I’m really a little bummed about everyone being gone. I’ve just gotten used to cooking for everyone on Thanksgiving.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged check in, grammar, ROW80, WIP on November 16, 2011| 17 Comments »
I haven’t written on my WIP in several days. But this is kind of a planned thing. The reason is that I’m almost finished with the first draft…maybe only one scene left. So I’ve been pondering on how I want to do this last scene. It’s going to be a love scene, and I always want to make those intense. I don’t write as graphically as most romance authors do these days, but I like the intensity and the heat without describing body parts. LOL. I don’t mind reading the works of others with more graphic scenes; I just don’t write that way. If I ever do, I would probably use another pen name. 🙂
One problem I have with this last Libby Fox novella is that it’s shorter than the other two. Really, it may come out about 2,000 words shorter than I want it to. We’ll see if that’s how it ends up after the first edit. I’m not one of those who goes back in and cuts scenes. I’m more likely to add them.
I have a question for everyone. Is there one phrase or word that you say that makes you cringe after you say it? Is it something you would never dream of doing in your writing? I’ve noticed one of my big problems is using the word “less” instead of “fewer”. I grew up in the rural south (still live there) surrounded by people with bad grammar. So from time to time, I cringe at some of the things I say. When my mom is in a restaurant ordering salad, she says “I don’t want no cheese”. That drives me crazy. (Not to mention the fact that there’s something wrong with someone who doesn’t like cheese, LOL.) So ‘fess up. What do you say that makes you cringe?
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged check in, first novel, goals, publishing, ROW80, word count on November 13, 2011| 25 Comments »
I’ve been on a business trip in Tampa this weekend (yeah, I know, I was just in Orlando), but I’ve found some time to write. On my current WIP, I managed to get 864 words ahead of goal, even skipping Saturday. That was because of the 1500 word sprint on Friday. For some reason, the words just came. I skipped Saturday because I just wanted to rest on my last day here, especially since we’re leaving at 7:00 this morning! Bleh.
Also, while I was manning a booth at a rose show, I was able to finish the short story I started awhile back. I had done about 650 words and stopped. The story is now about 4900 words. That means I wrote about 4250 words while manning a booth! I’ve never written that many words in one day before, and I did it between customers. This story just starting coming out and it felt good, so I did it. LOL. The tentative name of the story is The Beast in the Mirror. I’m going to offer it for free on Smashwords, and maybe if I start it at .99 on Amazon, I can “tell them about a cheaper price” and they will mark it down to free. Or I could give it away on my website. Which should I do? All of the above? I have it with a beta reader right now, and I’m also going to beg Anya to make the cover art for free. LOL.
Question: Did you or are you going to publish the first book you ever wrote? The reason I ask this is that there’s a thinking in the writing world that your first novel has to be crap and it should be just practice. You should never publish the first novel you write. Well, I broke that rule and published my first novel. I have eight novels/novellas out right now, and an author friend asked me the other day if I didn’t wish I hadn’t published the first thing I wrote. The truth is that my first novel has been my third best seller out of the eight for awhile now. And it has a better rating average than most of my other ones. So what’s the downside of publishing it? I can’t see one. I know this is going to have to be an individual choice for each author. So what are you going to do?
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged demi moore, ghost story, great movie, half light, hans matheson, lesser known movies, movie on November 11, 2011| 2 Comments »
I have a question for everyone. Is there a movie that you absolutely love, but it’s so unknown that most of us would never have heard of it. If so, what is the movie, and what makes it so special? Why do you like this movie so much?
If I had to pick a favorite lesser known movie, it would have to be Half Light, starring Hans Matheson and Demi Moore. The way I even saw this movie was just luck. My husband was at Blockbuster looking for a movie I might like. Usually, he’s looking for something for himself, but this time he just happened to get something for me. I had never heard of the movie and saw that it had gone straight to DVD. After viewing it, I immediately had to buy my own copy.
Why do I like this movie? Several reasons. It’s really dark, for one thing. There’s a mystery to be solved. It’s set in Scotland. Hans Matheson is really hot in this movie, and the love scene is awesome. (I lusted after Hans Matheson for weeks after watching this movie the first time.) Several weird things happen, and I’m all about the weird stuff. There was just something about this movie that touched me deeply. And this was a ghost story…my favorite kind!
I would love to hear about your favorite lesser known movie!
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged avengers, captain america, check in, iron man, ROW80 on November 9, 2011| 13 Comments »
I don’t have much to report. I would have been caught up as of last night, but I got in so late from a Pampered Chef party, that I was too tired. And I had to finish watching Captain America so my husband could take it back to Blockbuster. So I’ll probably catch up in a couple of days. Not too bad considering how far behind I got on vacation. 🙂
Speaking of Captain America. Has anyone else seen the movie? Was anyone else disappointed? I’m beginning to think that I’m getting too used to special effects in these types of movies, because I miss them when they’re not there. And there aren’t too many of them in this movie. But the story line didn’t interest me that much either. I mean, it was ok, but it wasn’t that interesting. I couldn’t make myself care about it that much. (After all, I did fall asleep while I was watching it the first time.) So far, Iron Man has been my favorite among the graphic novel based movies. I’m really hoping The Avengers will be good. Anybody else got an opinion? Is it just me?
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