If only I could write in the shower......

If only I could write in the shower. If only my plot board was waterproof. If only my computer could sit on a little stand and not short out if the hot water splashed it.

If only.

Well, one thing is for sure: I'd be pretty darn prolific.

After an hour and a half of torture at my computer, I managed to write a measly 1k.

Twenty minutes in the shower and another 15 minutes at the computer afterward, and I manage to write nearly 1k of IDEAS that really help fill out my plot board.

Go figure.

If only I could stay in the shower all day.

Where to you get your best ideas?

Macy

3000 words per day

I need to write or revise 3k per day to meet my goal of having a submission worthy 50k to give to my writing group on October 22. This is one small step in getting my manuscript off to Harlequin and getting it off to Golden Heart.

Needless to say, I'm doing some serious rewriting.

Is it doable? Yes. Will I lose alot of sleep? Probably. Am I now past the stage where I alternately hate then love then really hate my MIP? Hell no.

However, for the first time since I started this story I feel like I now have a plan that works -- sort of. I have a plot -- sort of. I truly understand what motivates my characters -- most of the time.

So, expect daily check-ins here.

Today, I've completely rewritten the first chapter. That's 15 pages when you count the prologue. Almost 4k.

Wish me luck.

Macy

NaNoWriMo

Yep, I did it. I signed up for NaNoWriMo 2007. I'm a NaNo virgin, and I'm very excited. I've been adding friends at the NaNo site.

Are you doing NaNo?

If so, let me know so I can add you to my friends' list.

Macy

Writing group, book club

My girls and I at Affairs of the Pen (our writing/crit group) have recently begun a book club. It isn't the traditional, read-a-literary-novel, book club that meets for coffee and sits in comfy chairs. Since we are all over the country (literally), we meet via chat. Since we all write romance, we select books to read that relate to what we write. We have a complex yet haphazard process for selecting books, but it seems to work well for us.

Our first book was Barbara Samuel's A Piece of Heaven. The second was Kresley Cole's Rita winner -- A Hunger Like No Other. We'll discuss Cole's book later this month. However, currently we are nominating two or three choices each for next month. After nominations we'll use a unique process to whittle it down to a few selections, and then we'll vote.

My nominations for next month are:

Green Angel by Alice Hoffman:
In lyrical words that "unfold like white flowers, petal by petal, each in its own time and season," Hoffman introduces us to Green, a gentle teen whose name reveals her connection to the earth and a peaceful beauty that contrasts with her sunny sister, Aurora. Yet when Aurora and her parents perish in tragic, fiery events in town, a solitary Green transforms herself into Ash: hard and closed, cropped hair, thorns on her sweater, with ink roses and ravens drawn on her skin. Facing an apocalyptic future of looters visiting her garden and suspicious looks from townsfolk, Green has only the family dog to keep her company. But when a ghostly greyhound and a hooded boy suddenly appear for companionship, she slowly realizes that "Ash" is only temporary, while "Green" is her soul, her life, healing all this time inside, waiting to be reborn.
Weaving magical words into images that caress the spirit, Hoffman's Green Angel is no less remarkable and awe-inspiring than nature itself. The author has not only told a life-affirming story about a girl who must survive on her own, she's captured emotion itself by using language to enchant and teach. Readers will be absorbed by the book's transcendent power, and as Green begins a new future that takes shape at end of the book, readers will come away feeling rejuvenated and uplifted themselves.


*******************************
the Kommandant’s Girl by Pam Jenoff:
An achingly beautiful account of a young woman forced to bend loyalties, deny truths and betray her own beliefs . . .
With luminous simplicity, Jenoff's breathtaking debut chronicles the life of a young Jewish bride during the Nazi occupation of Krakow, Poland, in WWII. Emma Bau, a shy librarian, escapes the city's Jewish ghetto with the aid of the underground resistance movement that Jacob, her activist husband, has already joined. Emma assumes a new gentile identity as Anna Lipowski and goes to live with Jacob's elderly aunt, a wealthy Catholic widow who has also taken in Lukasz Izakowicz, the only surviving child of a famous rabbi and his murdered wife. As Anna, Emma catches the eye of Kommandant Georg Richwalder, second in charge of the General Government, at a dinner party. The handsome Nazi is so impressed by her German language skills (and her beauty) that he asks her to become his personal assistant. Emma accepts, hoping to secure valuable information for the resistance, but the chemistry between them presents challenges that test her loyalties to Jacob and her heart. This is historical romance at its finest.

New Look

Like Alyson, I decided I needed a new look to go with my new voice revelations. I've played with this layout for a couple of days now. It isn't perfect. Someday, I'll pay someone to design exactly what I want, but in the meantime, I like this.

I love the red.

I used to like red less, but lately red is a color for which I have great affinity. Perhaps it has to do with my new boldness as a writer. I took a silly little color test online. Of course I picked red first as the color I was currently most attracted to. This is what the test said about me: You are likely an emotional person who experiences strong feelings. The fact that you chose Red first also indicates that others probably see you as a passionate and vibrant person.

I like that. I have decided that I have an emotional voice. And color is important to me. And I really hope people experience strong feelings when they read my work (about which I'm very passionate).

(Of course, I didn't post the other color test results that said I was over-stressed, trying to do too many things, and was experiencing some serious procrastination as a result. I mean... that's not me. I would NEVER procrastinate with silly little online tests or anything like that.....)

Macy

10 things I love that start with the letter H

I've been tagged by Julie Scott at Julie Says.
She posted 10 things she loves that start with the letter P.

She tagged me with the letter H.

Here goes:

1) Hot showers: These are especially great after a long, wet, Friday night, high school football game where the hubby's team loses and everyone is miserable.
2) Holidays which get you out of the bill paying job: Enough said.
3) Harry: Potter
4) A Hotty Hero in a good romance novel.
5) My Home on my little lake with the great views and new kitchen.
6) Horses: Have I ever told you my totem animal is a wild mustang? I love them.
7) Howling: With my pack of writers. For those of you who've taken Barbara Samuel's "Girls in the Basement" class, you know just what I mean. For those of you who haven't, you should considering taking it. It's worth every penny to learn how to howl.
8) High heels
9) Houston's -- the restaurant, not the city; I love meeting friends for good steak and good wine at Houston's.
10) (I'm saving the best for last) My Husband. I never thought it was possible to keep falling more and more in love, but it is.

If you want to participate, let me know and I'll tag you and send you a letter.

Also, check out my post over at the Affairs of the Pen blog. I posted on voice -- yet again.

Macy

Voice...again

We had to write a statement that described our voice for the final week of voice class. I wrote a "real" one that talked about writer sorts of things, but I like this one better. It illustrates my "just so" thing, along with my intense love of color and nature. I guess it's a writer sort of statement, too.

My voice is crimson and burgundy and just-before-a-storm-blue muted with fog and twilight and lit with candles on stone pillars that threaten to go out in the gusts of the impending storm.

Macy