I'm having too much fun...

with this story generator. I was feeling a bit stuck, googled "story idea generator" just to see if there were anything out there that might help, and found this: Seventh Sactum.

I loved the Grimoire of Questionable Spells. I think I'll be back on track soon. :)

Sad start...

Well, I had designated Tuesdays for "tool tips" but I've spent several hours recovering from a blogger disaster (sigh...you'll notice the new temporary layout), then nearly forgot that I was supposed to be part of a publisher's chat for Aphrodite's Apples (My first author chat! I would have invited you but I forgot about it until it was already underway!)

Anyway, the point is, I got nuthin. I've been too busy actually taking care of technical difficulties to have time to write about them. I still need to update the links, background, etc. of the blog, but little by little. I also started a new blog, A Walk on the Weird Side, just for my non-romance works. I've had two stories bumping against my brain for some time now--one's been around for over a year, the other for the past few months--and they aren't exactly happily-ever-afters. In fact, one of them has no romantic elements at all, and the other... well, maybe it could be called "speculative romance." Not sure about that yet.

Oh, well. So how's your Tuesday shaping up? My ex once told me there's a saying in Mexico, "Los Martes son malos" - Tuesdays are bad. Let's hope that's not true. :)

Back to Civilization!

Well, my hands are still a little shaky, but my eye twitching is only slightly perceptible now... I think the symptoms of withdrawal are finally slowing down. *g*

Although it was wonderful to see my brother and meet his new fiancee (who is an absolutely lovely person inside and out) and also fun to see my critique gang after all these months, it's so good to be home and so good to be online again! :)
Thanks to Tempest and Edie for the welcome back. :o)

Here's wishing all of my online & offline friends a wonderful, safe & happy New Year!

Happy Holidays

Since I'll be leaving town soon and will be without Internet access for a week (gasp--oh the pain, the pain!), I want to wish all my web friends a safe, happy holiday season full of love and magic.

As a small gift, I'm also leaving you with a free holiday short story (age 18 and over only, please.) I hope you enjoy it. :)

A Christmas Tail

I'm a Real Boy!

Well, maybe not. :)

But I'm finally starting to feel like a "real" writer. The editor/webmistress of Aphrodite's Apples sent out a request to their newest authors (Yolanda Sfetsos, Tyree Kimber and yours truly) to send in their bios and photos for their website. It's finally starting to sink in.

Now, when I actually see it in "print" - I'll really crow. :)

Sick of Snark

After my long ramble earlier, I thought I would click on one of the scrolling links of random blogs that shows up when I login. I thought it might be fun to read some new blogs, see what other people were writing about.

Boy, was I sorry.

I've noticed over the past several years that "nastiness" seems to equal "cleverness" for a lot of people. Since when did criticizing everyone and everything in the most negative manner possible become a sign of intelligence? Yet is seems that is what a lot of people think. I was so discouraged after reading just a random sampling of blogs. It appears Snarkiness is In. Stronger than ever.

Which isn't to say I haven't been sarcastic from time to time. In fact, I'm sarcastic more often than even *I* would like. But it's just so prevalent now... so... so mean.

I hate that it's so common for television, movies, books and yes, blogs, to portray those who are rude and inconsiderate as "cool and clever." Downgrading others to make ourselves look better doesn't really work; the truth is that the opposite happens. We only look bitter and foolish - even if the media might try to make us believe otherwise.

So why not take the high road? Practice compassion, kindness and discretion. I saw this anonymous quote and printed it to hang over my desk at work. I look at it whenever I feel like strangling somebody. :) And since I've just sat here and put down several snarky people, I hope they'll think of it whenever they think of me. :)

"Resolve to be gentle with the weak, kind to the young, patient with the old, compassionate towards the poor, understanding of the wrong--at some point in your life, you will have been all these things."

Sales and Promotions

I've been a little under the weather lately (figuratively and literally - sick and snowed in), so I haven't been online much. However, I read a couple of interesting blogs - two at The Gab Wagon (11/30 and 12/4) on e- vs. print publishing, which was enlightening, encouraging and depressing all at the same time! Cheyenne McCray's blog at The Midnight Hour on self-promotion was also very good. (She's one who went from being e-pubbed to a USA Today Bestselling author, so I trust her judgment.) :)

Just say no...

Well, I've fought the fine fight, just not to the finish. I've realized there is just no way I can complete Nano this month. I will persevere with the writing and finish my story, but I seriously doubt I'll reach the 50K word count by the end of the month. I'm disappointed, but not going to be too hard on myself.

There have just been so many unexpected things that came up this month on the work and home fronts that I haven't been able to dedicate the amount of time necessary to finish, so like Elisabeth Naughton and Shanna Swendson, I'm backing down until further notice. I'll be joining the "Non-Conformist Novel Writing Month in January" (See Shanna's blog) when things will (I hope!) be back to normal...ish.

(And hey, wasn't it a group of young men ((20-30 somethings)) with lots of time on their hands and no families who thought it was a good idea to do this thing November? That says a lot.)

In the meantime, I need to do some revisions on the piece awaiting publication, my "to critique" files are backed up, and I'll continue with my WIP.

The good news is that I have a cool new witch's hat to wear for inspiration while I write. :) It seems to be working, too; though I really ought to take the tags off - I look more like a deranged Minnie Pearl than a wise Minerva McGonagall. :)

Last view from the webcam before it went dark:

Whose Space?

MySpace. My daughter is not too happy with me now that I have a "MySpace." Apparently, this is an unforgivable encroachment into her world -- a place no old woman (particularly a mother) has any business being. She bemoans the fact that when she tries to login, my name appears first and resentfully points out that it used to remember HER name first. Then of course, as if it's not bad enough that I'm on there, there's the embarrassing fact that I only have 16 friends at the moment. (Somehow her friends might find out about this and it will reflect badly on her.)

"Join a whore train!" she commands.

"WHAT?!"

"That way you'll at least automatically get signed up with a lot of friends."

"But I don't want a bunch of weird strangers on my space - I'm trying to cultivate writing and reading friends."

Lots of eye rolling, head shaking, and dark muttering follow. Apparently, I'm just too lame for words.

Trouble concentrating

I just can't seem to focus these days. It's harder and harder to care about the day job when I'd much rather spend my time creating worlds from my imagination, and reading about others' pursuits of the same. There are so many great blogs & websites out there by authors and artists, and I get such great emails from fellow writers - who has time to work a day job?

For example, if you go to Magical Musings, one of my favorite blogs, every single person on there has her own great site, so there goes several more hours clicking and reading. Then recently, my fellow Desert Rose members Mackenzie McKade and Cheyenne McCray had great new book trailers made on their MySpaces, so naturally, I had to check those out. (I want to be them when I grow up! Of course, it's probably too late, since I think I'm older than they are. :))

In the meantime, however, I still have to provide food, clothing and shelter to my daughter (kids are so demanding!) so I guess I'll have to stick it out with the day job a little longer. At least until I become rich and famous, or until she moves out and I can be a starving artist.

What a line!

Saw this headline on the front page of Yahoo and it tickled my funnybone.

Pitt Wants Marriage for All
"The actor says he'll never tie the knot with Angelina unless the U.S. drops marriage restrictions. "

What a scam... I can picture it now... Even the most hard-nosed conservatives wanting to appear "sensitive & socially conscious" (because let's face it, it's the clinically proven best way to get into any girl's pants) will all claim "I love you baby, but I just can't marry you until everyone has the right to get married. Damn my social conscience..."

(Okay, maybe I'm just a bit cynical, but I still thought it was pretty funny - a stroke of genius for men wanting to avoid commitment, while still appearing to be "good guys" - of course, I think Brad's good guy ship sunk with his divorce, but that's just my humble opinion.)

One down, several more to go...

Well, I finally updated my website. Will probably have to change the graphic, though - it's misleading since that is SO not me. :) (It was just a clipart image that I thought would like nice there.)

As I worked on it, I was reflecing on the supportive nature of the romance writers' community. Since I joined the RWA and a local chapter in Arizona a year ago, I have been amazed and constantly encouraged by the talent, support and generosity of the people with whom I've come in contact. When I branched out into the online writing community in newsgroups and blogs, I just found more of the same.

So here's a toast to all of you fabulous writers out there - published and still aspiring - you rock! :)

Now, I'm off to bed, perchance to sleep. Tomorrow, I'll think about changing the blog template to match the new look of the website...

Moving right along...

Well, I've added a new excerpt to my website - October Moon. I hope to soon re-do the whole site with two sections: one for sweet romance, and one for steamy. This version of the October Moon excerpt is one I submitted it to contest junkies, but I think they thought even this one was too much for the web. It's funny to me, because this is a very much toned down version from the original! Oh, well. You can't please everybody. :)

Coming out of the broom closet... well, sort of...

Actually, I'm poking my head out for a moment before jumping back in. :)

This is my first blog entry on my first website as a paranormal/erotic romance writer. It's a little scary - worse than a blind date! But like the awkward first date, if you don't go, you'll never know.

I hope to create a safe space for other aspiring or published authors to to feel free to jump in with their questions, comments, encouragement or just vent frustrations from trying to hold down a day job, take care of a family and still find time to do the things we love to do for ourselves, such as writing, painting or catching up on reading.