I’ve been trying to catch up on the list of things I need to get done. Though I have a lot left to do, the binge method that Candace Havens recently taught on her online workshop helped tremendously.

In the last week I finished polishing my manuscript MAGIC AND THE MARINE before sending it in to the editors and agent that requested it at Nationals. I knew the story itself was ready, and though I was tempted to sen it off immediately upon my return home, because I’m the kind of person that if Isay something is complete and ready to go I mean that it is and don’t see a reason in delaying when it’s requested, I took the time to read through it one last time. I am sooo glad that I did. Not too long ago I got a new computer, which meant moving data and restoring, yadda yadda. Well, apparently in the moving of things, some of my stuff got wiped out. The document I had on the computer for MAGIC AND THE MARINE was missing chunks of stuff. Not huge chunks, but big enough ones that when reading it I was left scratching my head tryin to figure out what was going on. Yeah, that’s not how I like to send things to publishers. Call me nutty.

So, I finished the clean up of the document and got the requests sent off a little bit ago. Whew.

Yesterday, after my monthly RWA Chapter meeting, I went to Starbucks with a group of friends. We chatted for awhile and then my good friend TL Cash sat with me to help me brainstorm my next story (though we will not discuss the names he had for my villains because while they were highly entertaining for the purposes of keepin straight who we were talking about there’s no way they would make it to the printed pages of a book). Four pages of notes later I have an outline for an extremely complicated, but totally awesome sounding, paranormal about an empath and a former Marine who take on a mission that will have them bringing down political enemies, both foreign and domestic. I’ll be working on blurbs, maybe this afternoon, and beginning my full blown plotting process very soon. I’ve been revising and polishing stories for so long I’m looking forward to tackling a new project. Eastern Europe, Russia, and DC here I come!

Also this last week I had the honor of interviewing Robert Gottlieb of Trident Media Group. I learned so much from the thirty minute converstation and gained insights into the publishing business that I’m sure would have otherwise taken me years to figure out. I’m as eager to get this article written up as I am to write up the ones from the other interviews I conducted while at RWA Nationals. As soon as I have the articles finished, and know where they’ll be published, I’ll be posting them to my site on the Articles I’ve Written page.

I hope you’ll check back to read them.

I’ve had several people ask me how I do as many different things as I do and still not (always) feel like a crazed lunatic. Granted sometimes I slip into the crazed lunatic realm, but I try to keep my visits there shortlived. I’ve also had people accuse me of being OCD, which all right I’ll admit that I am a tad bit that way. Whether you call it OCD or just really organized makes little difference. Either way, considering everything I have to do on a daily basis I almost have to be one or both.

And one of the ways I learned to get as much writing done as quickly as I do is that I signed up for a super awesome workshop. It’s free and though it focuses on writing the principles hold true for everything else in all areas of your life. The workshop? Candace Havens’ Fast Draft. She gives the workshop or free through a yahoogroup she set up. You can access it through her website (that she has recently overhauled to give a new awesome look to.)

Today, she kicked off a new workshop that is similar to Fast Draft, but she’s put a new spin on it. Here’s the intro to the workshop:

Hello lovely people!

1. We are counting hours working, not pages. You can choose to work between two to six hours each day on your WIP (Work in Progress). This is time without interruptions. No email, phone, blogs or any other distractions. If your goal is two hours, then you might want to write an hour in the morning, and then again later in the evening. Or, if you’re like me, you’ll have to log 30 minutes at a time whenever you can get it. Folks, it’s amazing what you can do in 30 mins when you can focus quickly on your book. You commit up front to the program as to how many hours you are going to write each day, and then you hold up your end of the bargain. This is not an hour of sitting staring at the blank page. Your fingers must be typing/writing at all times.

Now, if you want the rest of the info, and I assure you it’s good stuff, check out Candace’s site and sign up! I’ll be applying the rules to my day job work and then to my writing work beginning today. It’s one of those things I know in principle, but have lost site of.

Oh, and don’t forget to check out Candace’s latest release.

And keep an eye out for her new book. This is going to be awesome!!

Some weeks are busier than others, that’s a given. Just as you’re almost always crazy busy the week you get home from being out of town. This proved to be true for me this last week.

I have beenfighting to catch up on sleep that I missed out on while in San Francisco, but I think what they say is true…Once you’ve missed the sleep you can’t really make it up. So, I’ve been trying to reast and recover as best I can, but wouldn’t you know that life and my children conspired against me.

Monday was a longer day than usual in the office, with my girls with me, as I tried to catch up on all the work that I missed while in San Francisco. While a lot of the things needing attention were simple, they were still time consuming and even in a large quantity simple jobs add up quickly. I also think Destruction missed me because she was in rare form for the beginning of the week as she tore through the house and office looking for things to demolish.

Tuesday was a round of dental appointments and errands followed up by more work and playing catch up. And Chaos began cleaning her room and sorting through her clothes to see what how much new stuff she could get before school starts. Things were so crazy Tuesday that Icant really remember any one thing that I got accomplished, or not. I barely remember the day.

Wednesday, after putting in a day at the office, again tackling that inescapable to do list, I packed up the family and headed to Love and War for a BINGO night and Silent Auction that my sister and her team of 3 Day Walkers held to raise money for their breast cancer walk.

Check out her progress or make a donation to her at her 3Day Website.

Here’s a video I made for her last year before the walk. We’ll update it this year as she has new team members, but it never stops amazing me to see my sister doing something so completely awesome as walking 60 miles for such a great cause.

If you make a donation to her through her site, include your name in her Fundraising Honor Roll and email me! I’ll send you a special thank you for your help and support!

After BINGO, which was great fun, I packed up my family, and the giant tub on On The Border Margarita Mix that I won in the silent auction, and headed home where I settled at my computer once again for more work.

Thursday was back to he office for a meeting where I got approval to move forward with the planning of a commercial to support the Toys For Tots Literacy Program. We are looking at having a Dallas Maverick come do a reading for underprivileged kids, after which we’ll have Marines on hand to deliver them books. The commercial, once it’s ready, should be aired in December when Toys for Tots is in full swing. I know this project will require a lot of legwork, but it’s something that I am as passionate about as my sister is about her 3 Day walks, so I know it will be worth it.

Ah, Friday at last! For the first time all week I had a chance to work on some of my writing. I finished up a synopsis for a novella and submitted that to an editor with Samhain. We’ll see what happens. I then turned my attention to another project that I had shelved for a long time and in going through it again I am remembering just how much I enjoyed it!

I found a link to a fun video on Nathan Bransford’s blog this morning about getting published. Oh, if only it really worked this way. :)

I hope everyone is having a great weekend! It’s back to work for me.

Well, it’s the recap of the memories that have come back to me. I’m still not running on a full battery, but fortunately the pictures help refresh the memory. The trip started of slowly enough with a cool (and I mean that literally) shuttle ride to the hotel. We stepped out of the airport in San Francisco to find ourselves standing in 60+ degrees of heaven. For the 5 days we were there we forgot all about the 100+ temps we left at home.

I told you last time that I’d interviewed several agents and some editors. I have a lot of information for a series of articles that I will write for my local RWA Chapoter newsletters and the RWA PROspects Newsletter. I am also planning an article for the RWR.

I had two successful pitch sessions, made new contacts and friends, ran into old ones, adn had a good time with all. I visited the Fisherman’s Wharf briefly wth Dawn McClure one evening for dinner. We sat at a table with a sight of Alcatraz and had a great shrimp and crab dinner, accompanied by fried zucchini and crab fondue. Tasty.

Jessica Prater (roomie) and Shelley Bradley enjoying the cool breeze coming in from the windows as our driver hustled us to the hotel.

Melissa Schroeder, always ready for a snapshot to be taken, stopped mid sentence to smile for me. She picked up her train of thought and speech as if nothing had happened.

Tracy Ward (roomie) who inspired some really entertaining conversations.

Me, wishing I hadn’t thought I needed a picture of myself beginning the SF treck, as it’s not the greatest picture.

The Literacy Signing got things kicked off to a fast start. I volunteered andfound myself working Nora Roberts’ line of fans. They were all very kind a patient as they waited for their turn to meet her. One woman was carrying a letter that Nora had written to her back in 1985. Fans are nothing if not loyal and the five minutes that Nora took to write that note created a connection that this one fan still feels. After finishing my assignment there, I had a chance to visit some of my favorite authors and do some stalking for a friend of mine who couldnt be there.

Barry Eisler, a cool guy who writes great thrillers! And he was super nice to the crowds of women swarming him.

The Nancys! We’re in a writing accountability group together and they are super fun and super sweet women!

Diva Dude Ted and Diva Jax just before the Romance Diva dinner. They are great!

Me and roomies Tracy and Jessica just before heading to the Romance Diva dinner, where we ate entirely too much food. Delicious!!

Linda Carol, former country singer turned writer. She has a huge list of people in the music industry that she knows. Lucky!

I love playing dress up, especially when it’s with friends like Shelley. We were heading down to the Berkley party where we heard an hysterical story about a dance at RT.

Diva and Erotic Romance writer Eden Bradley. She’s awesome and is always smiling.

Jennifer Satterfield, Golden Heart Finalist. WooHoo!! How awesome to make such an achievement.

Leslie Langtry, a super woman who writes about a the Bombays, a family of assassins. She also has a rocking cool hubby!

Karaoke night. I didn’t think I’d ever get Dawn McClure up on stage and though we butchered the song, we sure had a great time!

In between all the fun were workshops on promotion and writing outside the box, as well as spotlights on publishers so writers would know where to send what they write. The days were long and tiring, but fulfilling and productive. There were more pictures and I’m forgetting some stories, but I’m going to have to get them from other people. My camera battery died on me.

I said I was going to blog daily, and shame on me it hasn’t happened. I now have to remember all of the highlights from the last two days. To top it off, I’m going to try remembering it all in the next ten minutes because I have an interview with an agent for a series of articles I’m working on, so here’s the quick and dirty run down.

Since the literacy signing Wednesday night I have (and this is the rough order it’s all happened in) interviewed Lucienne Diver, Holly Root, Heather Osborn, and Nathan Bransford. I attended the Romance Diva dinner at Buca Di Beppo which was oh so much fun. I met new friends and had a great time with existing ones.

I interviewed Deb Worksman, Caren Johnson, Chris Keeslar, and met Laurie McLean. I then interviewed Kim Whalen. I’ll expand on who everyone is and their interviews later, but trust me I’ve been having fun with this.

I pitched to Denise Dumars, and that went well. I attended the Berkley party and met some wonderful people. Afterwards, there was dinner and drinks in the bar with friends including Leslie Langtry, Gemma Halliday, and Erin Galloway and Brook (so sorry I can’t recall her last name at the moment). A trip to a local karaoke bar provided massive amounts of entertainment, but left us all whooped.

I know I’m missing things and details, but it really is a bit of a blur, and I need to go meet my next appointment. I hope everyone is having a great weekend.

It’s been a long day, but an exciting one. I left the house before 8 am to head to the airport for breakfast with Shelley Bradley before catching our flight. After a minor delay, we made the three hour flight safely. The weather, oh my gosh, I can only say is FANTASTIC! Coming from 105 temperatures, the 60 degree temps and the breezes here are a wonderful change.

My roomies and I walked around the city for a bit, grabbed a bite to eat in an Irish pub. Since we hadn’t eaten in ten or so hours we were starving. The rest of the day was a bit of a haze. We ran into people we knew, met some we didn’t, and just had a good time.

At the iteracy signing, with approximately 500 authors in attendance, you can imagine how crazy the place was. As an author attendant volunteer, I was assigned the tak of helping to manage Nora Roberts’ line of fans. It was great getting to meet her again in person, she is always warm and friendly. My official task was to work the line, jotting each person’s name on a post it and putting it in the book so when they got to Nora she could sign the book and chat with her fan without having to spend extra time discussing how to spell their name. One really cool thing was getting to meet a Nora fan that has kept a note written to her by Nora in 1985. There’s a powerful loyatly in romance fans.

Once I finished my task as Nora’s line monitor, I made my round of the authors in attendance. I was able to see Bella Andre, Kresley Cole (who I have to say is hysterical!), Janelle Denison, Barry Eisler, Cherie Feather, Sabrina Jeffries, Carole Mortimer, Nalini Singh, Jordan Summers, and Eden Bradley. I was also able to chat with a few of my favorite people Rosemary Clement-Moore, Candace Havens, Sylvia Day, Jordan Dane, and Jamie Leigh Hansen.

After the literacy signing, Shelley Bradley took me to the Trident Media Group Party. During the party I had the chance to chat with several authors and had the pleasure of meeting Robert Gottlieb, Chairman of Trident Media Group while enjoying an amazing view of the city.

So now, I’m off to bed so I can get some rest before hitting the ground running tomorrow morning. It should be another fun day filled with authors and my first interviews with agents and editors.

I’ve been accused of being many things, but boring has never been one of them. The same hold true in my writing, partly because I’m always looking for new ways to mess with my characters to make things tough for them.

Currently, I’m working on edits for Romancing the Chalice that should up the word count enough that it would no longer be considered a novella. In this process, I am taking Eden and Andrew on a tour of historical sites in the US an then around the world to Jerusalem as they hunt for buried treasure. The research into the parts of history I’m working with has been fun, as I’ve learned tidbits about our own history that I either never knew or have long forgotten.

I’ve also found myself doing research into Jerusalem. As I’ve never been there, I want to be as accurate as possible in my descrioptions. Google Earth and online pictures have been a tremendous help, though I think it would be awesome to one day visit the area for myself. In my research for all things Jerusalem, I started wondering what Eden and Andrew might encounter as they roamed through underground tunnels. You know, fun stuff like bugs or snakes.

I stumbled across the most bizarre looking bug I’ve ever seen. It’s called a Potato Bug or the Jerusalem Cricket. What do you think? Would if freak you out to encounter this in a dark, underground tunnel that’s been sealed off for a hundred plus years?

photograph © Alex Wild 2003

With each new book I write, I try to find something that my hero or heroine can do for the other that’s romantic. The catch is that I try to think of things that aren’t traditionally romantic like flowers and candy. Here are a few of the things I’ve come up with. Some of them I was lucky enough to get from my own husband.

~ Taking the kids out after work so Mom can have some alone time.
~ Bringing your SO their favorite drink without being asked.
~ Doing the dishes or laundry.
~ Running a bath.
~ Taking the protective side of the street on a walk. Andrew does this with Eden in Romancing the Chalice. CIS does it for me.
~ Listening to you ramble endlessly about your day.
~ Cleaning the entire house so no signs of a break-in remain. BD did this for Maggie in Criminal Promises.
~ Trainng guard dogs for battered women. Craig does this in Criminal Obsessions. He gives one to Grace to help her regain her confidence after her own attack.

Who needs flowers and candy when there’s romance in the small gestures of everyday life? What has your SO, or ex-SO, done that you found romantic?

Last week I helped my daughter with her first housesitting job. We were out in the country where many things kept me entertained throughout the day, and some of the nights.

Here are the Top Ten.

1. A swimming pool. This was great. For the first time in I don’t know how long, I have a light tan, and I’m kind of excited about it.
2. Toads, and not just a couple. No, there were lots and they all thought they needed to swim with us.
3. Animals. We’re talking dogs, cats, and horses.
4. Trees. Lots of them.
5. Trains. I didn’t time them, but it seemed like one passed every hour on the hour.
6. Wasps and Bees. Now, if you’ve beenkeeping up with my blog and read about my trip to San Antonio, you know how I feel about these creatures with stingers. They seemed to migrate to me in the country as well.
7. Rocks. Nice, sharp pointy ones perfect for jabbing holes in the kiddo’s knee so she thinks she can’t walk for two days.
8. A satellite dish with 100+ channels that somehow rarely gets turned away from Hannah Montana or the Suite Life of Zach and Cody.
9. A rowdy group of dogs ready to send up a rousing rendition of the Dog Carol every time one of the train went by. Singing and howling filled the air almost every time I heard the train.
10. Thunderstorms that knock the electricity out for several hours at night.

Now, some people might think that the country is uneventful. I assure you, it isn’t. So, how did my plans of getting soem work and writing done play out? Not as badly as you might think. Just like writing at home, where I have multiple distractions like cats hissing about who is going to lay where and which one gets to block the monitor…

I’ve trained myself to work around, or through, the distractions. (Including now when Destruction is locking herself in the cat crate in the room next to my office because she’s playing house. Oops, strike that she just dragged a cat across the room to lock him up in the crate with her.) So, when the thunderstorm took out the power, I kept right on working.

See, it’s my desire to find my own books on bookshelves one day, and I have to work hard with no excuses to make that happen. Come on, who doesn’t want to see the rewards of their hard work? And can you think of I’m aiming for a similar placement as Sylvia Day’s ASK FOR IT one day.

So, I thought I had enough animals with the 2 cats, the full grown Collie, and the fish. Apparently I was wrong.

My sister, who is never home anymore, needed a new home for her two cats. Yes, I’m a sucker and took them in. So now, I’m blessed with:

~ Lovey, as her name suggests, is my fat cat who sits on my desk or in my lap while I work and sleeps beside me in bed. She comes to get me around 10:30 each night to let me know that it’s bedtime but if I don’t answer to her right away, she waddles back her spot on the bed. She’s an unassuming kitty that just wants to be loved by me, and anyone else handy if I’m not around. CIS swears that she paces the house meowing when I’m out of town.

~ Rose, my daughter’s cat who is a holy terror and sits still as stone, aside from her head that bobbles slightly in the oddest way, as she glares at whatever it is she’s getting ready to pounce. She’s the instigator of all the fun and fights. This cat has a bizarre connection with my daughter. She follows her to the bathroom and the longer Chaos is gone from home visiting family the more testy Rose gets. She came up to me the other day, butted her head against me wanting petted, and when I reached out for her, she bit me. Yeah, she’s the troublemaker all right.

~ Frack is another fat cat who stalks the house thinking he’s the king of all despite the reality that he’s only lived here since last Sunday. He’s actually like a little dog in so many ways. He meets you at the back door, follows you around until you sit somewhere, rubs against your legs, and if you’re a man he bites your toes when he’s rubbing on you. Oh, and he likes to lick your toes too. LOL. He also terrorizes the 90 pound collie and doesn’t let him near CIS for attention. Oh, and in the few days that he’s been here, he’s almost totally killed a poinsettia that I’ve had since November that has been getting bigger and bigger despite my uncanny knack at killing plants. I’m going to have to find a way to keep him off it to bring the plant back. It’s a new challenge of mine that I could have done without. Oh, and he has a tendency to race for the door when one is opened. He didn’t have this habit at my sister’s apartment, so I guess he figured that with all the kids in and out of the house I needed yet another thing to keep up with. Sneaky devil.

~Little Kitty is one that I suspect people will think we’re dreaming when we say he’s here. He’s the phantom of the crew. Late at night when all is quiet and no one is around he’ll creep from his hidey hole in the bottom of my bed, yes that’s the bottom of it not beneath it, as he’s ripped a hole in the thin fabric covering the bottom side of the box springs. He’ll allow us to greet him and look at him, but so far we can’t get close enough to pet him. I’m thinking he was incorrectly named. If he thinks we’re going to get close to him, he is faster than lightening as he jets from the room and finds a corner. I consider myself lucky that I got this picture, not that Little Kitty had to see me when I took it. I reached around the back of the bed with the camera. I’m surprised he’s not in the bed.

At least they’ve all settled in to a fairly peaceful coexistence among themselves. Frack and Lovey I think will take a bit longer as they both think they have the domain of my desk when I’m working. It’s a big desk, so there’s room, but only if they learn to compromise. Umm, I’m not holding my breath on this one, as currently Frack is lying in the doorway of my office as if he’s intent on keeping intruders at bay.