Read the article here.

I have been a busy girl.

Add to that the whole darn H1N1 thing. As I think you know, both of my kids have cystic fibrosis. This puts them as high risk and darn it all if some kid in my son’s class didn’t get H1N1. So, we pulled both kids out of school until the vaccine is available. I have been home schooling them…ahhhh!

So, anyway all that is why I haven’t been blogging here although I have been blogging elsewhere. Kind of the cobbler’s children having no shoes I guess.

As to where I am now…Still writing Nocturne due November 1. I’m a bit behind where I would like to be, but staying basically on track. It’s not in the Unbound world. I’m afraid that series is ending. The last one THE WITCH THIEF, a dragon book, will be out next year. This book is a stand alone with werewolves and another creature I’m keeping to myself for now.

I’m also leaving for the Novelist’s Inc. Conference in St. Louis on Wednesday. It’s a great group of multi published authors and I always learn a lot. I also get to show friends a bit of my home state. I’ll try and post pictures.

And finally I got a new review today for my short story When Gargoyles Fly in the Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance. This was out earlier this year. I really liked this story. It probably could have stood to be longer, but well there is that darn thing called contracted word count…Anyway, here is the review from Bitten By Books…

Aside from that I’ll be blogging at Romancing the Blog on Wednesday (actually I’ll be driving the length of Illinois, but words I write today will be posted there then) and on Friday at Something Wicked (probably Ninc pictures).

And eventually, I’ll be back here and hopefully, once life settles back down we’ll do another event with fun guest blogs and prizes!

Lori

And that would be OK, if you got up refreshed and ready to take on a new challenge, but I’m betting you don’t. I’m betting you get up feeling more tired or even angry than when you sat down.

Why is that and what can we do to combat it?

Personally, I think we all need to take back life’s little joys. Those little things that have no “get something done” value, but that bring us that hard to describe sense of peace, where just for a few seconds or minutes everything feels all right. Where we know we are OK and we are just happy to be.

When is the last time you felt that? I’m betting it wasn’t while trolling blogs.

Now, obviously, we are all individuals, but I’m going to give a few suggestions of how I think you can bring a little joy back into your life and it would be great if you could add to the list too. Because, honestly, can we have too much joy and peace?

• Buy fish–the live kind in a tank. Okay, I know cleaning the tank can be a pain, but there is something about watching fish that is just restful. This summer we bought a tank for my daughter–her fish, her tank. Two guesses who cleans it. Uh, yeah, me, but guess what? I don’t mind because I truly enjoy taking care of the little critters. And bonus last week one of them have babies. Now we have fish available to share the joy with others.
• 
  Grow a plant. Plants can be a pain, but they can also be quite rewarding, and some just bring you joy by looking at them. Have you heard of moss terrariums? My cousin has started selling them and while at first they seem a bit silly, I can really see the appeal. They just make people happy.
• Hug a tree. It’s become a joke, but honestly there is nothing that makes me feel more a peace than standing in a grove of trees, especially old trees. I’m a big believer in energy and it is almost as if trees soak up all the negative things we carry around with us. If you don’t believe me go sit outside under a big oak one afternoon. See if you don’t just feel better.
• Go for a walk, but somewhere in nature. I take my dog for a walk every day and one of our special joys is seeing a heron that has taken to fishing in a local pond. It’s a bird…see birds all the time, but seeing that heron makes me smile.
• Wander…discover. When I was little my grandparents had a farm. It was around 360 acres of fields and woods. I wandered that land a lot and I discovered a lot. My family were not the first people on that land. I found signs of Native Americans, and old farm houses, cemeteries with slaves and deserted hidey holes (root cellars built to hide from tornadoes), persimmon trees and walnut trees. I found all kinds of things I wasn’t looking for and every discovery brought me some kind of peace. When is the last time you wandered where you didn’t know what you were going to find?
• Snuggle with your children if you have them. My kids have both gone through their afraid of the dark/can I sleep with you stages. And I have given in at times to both of them, but here is the real secret…I never feel safer and more at peace than when my kids are snuggled up next to me. Everything just feels okay.
• Watch a puppy (or for some maybe a baby). They get such joy out of everything. How can’t a little of that rub off on you?

Okay, now your turn. What can you do today to bring yourself a tiny bit of joy. (Not fun, not pleasure…joy.)

I didn’t used to feel this way. I think it’s the kids…who knew they came with such increased chaos?

Anyway, this week I could maybe should be at the RWA National Conference in D.C., but I chose to stay home…second year in a row staying home. And, I have to say, I don’t regret it, because this darn life of mine is hard enough to keep under control without me trying to chomp out five days (plus shopping) for a conference.

What am I doing/done? (warning it doesn’t sound like that much…)

1. Edits on February 2010 Nocturne x 7 because it’s an every day thing this week
2. Housework…not much because I’m trying to be honest here…
3. Took kid #1 to Doctor (three hour visit)
4. Took kids to county fair
5. Blogging…here
6. Emailed and twittered (following RWA National…hmm, maybe this has something to do with out-of-control life…)
7. Updated web site…And it is still seriously not up-to-date
8. Entered receipts/paid bills…another seriously waited-too-long task
9. Fish shopping…TWICE because first one died same day!
10. Interview with and conversing with Husky Rescue people about adopting a new dog…
11. Preparing kids for next week’s camp AND house in general for potential new dog
12. Driving five hours to see potential new dog…and back…
13. Jogging, but not enough…it could be worse, I could be at National sucking down daiquiris…
14. 5,000 other little things I have now forgotten

So, there’s my list…do I deserve to feel out of control? Probably not…sigh.
p.s. Here’s a picture of the dog we are thinking of adopting… How freaking cute is he? (and yeah, one of his eyes is half brown and half blue!)

In other news, I’ve been writing and writing some more. Took a short break for a trip to a very wet St. Louis, and another to fill out the art fact sheet for my next Nocturne–due out February 2010, but that’s about it.

Amazon Queen, the book I’m working on, has been a bit of a roller coaster. I’m starting it with a kind of difficult goal for Zery. One that has potential to make her a tad unsympathetic…but she is an Amazon, so I don’t want to defang her right out of the box. You know? Plus she has to have a starting point for growth. The goal I picked for her definitely provides that!

It’s also the third book in a row where I have not been 100% clear where it was going. I think it’s going one place then realize that is just too pat. So, I stew and in general beat myself up while still trying to meet my daily word count goal. Then when I discover where the book should be going I have to rewrite. Sigh. I hate going backward on my word count. I get twitches. But for the sake of the book, it must be done!

The good news is this morning I had a major epiphany and realized two fairly easy to fix problems. I redid one today and have the second on the agenda for tomorrow. And two very generous authors in the Ninc critique group read my first three chapters and offered feedback. So, I’m again hopeful I will reach the end feeling fairly positive about the book. There’s still plenty to write though…so plenty of time for more freak outs. :)

In more fun and exciting things, we got a new front door. It is lovely.

I know I live an exciting life. ;-)

And now my mom has something she can show my grandmother that will take attention away from the fact that I put sex in my books. ;-)

But yesterday my doorbell rang, and for whatever reason my ears perked up. I wasn’t expecting anything. I’d already heard my author copies from Pocket wouldn’t arrive until the books were shipped to bookstores, but still I walked a little faster to the door…and there it was one chubby envelope tucked behind the storm door and the return address said Simon & Schuster…It was my book–Amazon Ink. An editor had got a copy and knowing I wouldn’t get my author copies for a while, she sent me one.

And I have to admit, it was a thrill. It looked just like the cover they’d sent me a pdf of, minus the typo on the back (meaning it was on the pdf, but isn’t on the book), but it was still a thrill. My picture is in the back (a little dark, but there) and I even like my bio. (Yes, I wrote it but that doesn’t mean I’d like it.) And they deleted something I’d had in the acknowledgements that I REALLY wanted deleted. All was good in my world.

And, I realized I’m a bit of a liar, because getting a book you wrote all printed and packaged and bright, shiny new IS still a thrill. And I’m betting it always will be. :)

I’ve written a number of books, and plotted even more. For the first four or so, my process changed with each book. I thought I was incapable of having a process. Then I hit on one that seemed to work for me…for a FEW books. This is where I made a mistake. I tried to force myself to stick with that process because, “HEY, it worked before.” Unfortunately, a book can not be forced. If you try to force a book or any element of a book (characters, romantic connection) it reads like that and I can feel it as I’m writing it. This makes me twitchy. It is way far from fun.

I have three projects to plot and I’m taking bits from the processes that worked before and mixing them into something new. So far its working for me.

I started with the characters, not just their goals, motivations and conflict, but their physical appearances. I did not, however, do the fill in the blank thing–this has never worked for me. Instead I trolled the Internet and found pictures. Then beside each I write the book title, the character’s name and what they are (werewolf, vampire, Amazon queen). From there I open Word and just start typing.

I love this part–this is the story telling part. First I write a short blurb describing each of the main characters–like you might find on the back cover of a book. Then I move on to the actual book–a synopsis. I keep this like back cover copy in tone too, but longer and with an ending and plot twists.

I just tell the story, writing it down as I do. It is FUN. And by doing this I keep from slipping into the analytical part of my brain. I think that is why writers freeze while trying to write synopses. They move out of story-teller mode into business-writing mode. A synopsis is your story–just a boiled down version, don’t get so caught up in the facts, let it flow. Then later when it is on the page you can do exactly what you do with your book…revise.

(FYI, the main difference between this process and my last version is that I was charting turning points before I started the writing. That’s what began to feel forced. I have that form on my web site, if you are interested. It might work for you and even if you do the more story-teller oriented version of this, plugging those pieces in afterwards is a a great way to check and make sure you have them all there. Also the pictures. I used to do that, but then I let my A personality take over and I tried to rush things. To write a book you have to be relaxed. That’s my new mantra. :) )

I have five books in print, four more under contract, two short stories ready to be released and a novella. Kind of wild. I also just found out my next full-length Nocturne is scheduled for April. Which means two of those books (Dark Crusade, the Nocturne and Amazon Ink, urban fantasy) will be out in the spring. By this time the novella and both shorts will also be out and about. Even wilder.

So, does this make me real?

Being a writer is a weird thing. I tell people that is what I do, and they usually assume I don’t really have anything published, then when I say I have five books out they look at me like I’m from Mars. It makes me strangely uncomfortable, like I am impersonating someone. Very, very weird.

But there you have it, by spring I will be able to say I have seven books published–eight if you count my Holiday with a Vampire novella. Will I feel real then? Hmmm…maybe after ten.

Oh, and I got the Holdiay with a Vampire cover. I’m in it with Merline Lovelace. She is real.

Now, I have to decide whose book to write next. Dark Crusade is a garm book, and it took on a bit of a dark fairy tale theme. It might be fun to stick with that theme. It also has a witch in it who, although I don’t spell it out in book, is Lusse’s sister. I plan on there being three of them and considered doing books with all of them. Then there are the characters that always show up in books who could have their own stories. In Dark Crusade it is a dragon. I haven’t done a dragon yet, but this one is a tad angry and he wants a witch’s heart to satisfy his need for revenge. He really should get the chance for that….

Speaking of dragons, a friend of mine, Meagan Hatfield, just sold to Nocturne. Her series is going to be about…yes…dragons. No details on run date yet–but watch for it.

What else? Time for me to write a short story for the Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance. I think I’m going to do something with a gargoyle. A short story is a great way to play with something new, and for some reason gargoyles have been calling me.

Also on the short story front, I may have one coming out soon with Mundania Press. Funny story. I wrote this story WAY back before I sold my first book. It was actually my first “sale.” I put sale in quotes because the sale was to Arabella the short-lived romantic short story magazine. When the magazine folded I got my rights back. A couple of years after that I decided to send it off to Mundania, just because and they contracted with me to do an e-version. But then it got lost somewhere. So, I contacted them again recently just to see what was happening (they were very nice and prompt in their reply) and it looks like they will be putting it out.

It is a weird story for me now. It is a historical–which I never wrote novel-length–and set in southern Missouri–my first two books were too. It plays with some old hill superstitions that I thought were quite fun. So, anyway, watch for it. I’ll let you know when I get word that it is out.