His First Week of Freedom

Last week I told you all that my youngest graduated from high school. I had thought that he would at least wake up a little to realize boyhood is almost over and he has to start looking at the real world with different eyes. Boy was I ever wrong as it looks as if the kid is barricading himself in for the long haul.  That's him playing soccer this past year. Not a bad looking kid if I do say so myself.

Me...I had wanted to get out of my parents house the moment I could. Our oldest wanted to do that as well but he understood it would take him a while. Unfortunately, it took him eight years and I’m not sure we taught him much after eighteen by not making him pay rent. Not that he expected a thing. He didn’t as the oldest always paid his own bills and did his own thing.

Now this youngest one is a lot different. He’s decided that this is his last summer and he’s telling everyone he does not want to grow up. Nope, doesn’t want it in the least. He wants to be able to sleep in, watch TV and play basketball all his life. He is in for such a rude awakening. Sigh.

Just wait until August when I am planning to go to Vienna with his dad. He’ll have to drive, get his own meds as he's type 1 diabetic, get his own food and heaven knows what else. Then again, maybe he’ll just call his older brother who has an incredible soft spot for the boy. We’ll see.

Here’s this week’s writing quote:

Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. ~E.L. Doctorow

And isn’t this the true for us writers? There are times when I have so many stories running around in my head, my DH asks me about the voices or which world I’m in. Many times, I just look at him with a funny expression because I don’t even realize I’m doing it at all. LOL!

The funniest time was when I was talking to myself in the car. I forgot the youngest was with me until he started to laugh. I gave him a startled look the moment I realized he was still there. Thank goodness, I wasn’t doing a sex scene. I don’t know who would have been more embarrassed at that point.

See you all next week! Have a great one!

Lynn

Life’s Moving Forward

Hope you all had a great week. I know I did as I got a lot of writing done and actually finished some projects. Not as much as I had hoped to mind you as this week my youngest graduated from high school. This means more time for travel and writing and me. Yippee! 

This week’s quote is:

There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein. ~Walter Wellesley "Red" Smith

I love this quote and I heard it a lot in my early writing years. Maybe because I read all those books on writing. Yet, after all these years, it is still a true phrase. You need to emotionally draw others into your world or they will never get the story you are trying to tell them.

I still read the writing books but with such a different eye. Today, I want help with marketing, saggy middles and how to fix all the little uglies which creep into a manuscript. The good thing is I have the hard part down as I do write every day. In the beginning even that was a challenge.

I can remember the first book I ever finished. I was on such an adrenaline high for weeks. I still get the high but it’s from a different perspective. I think every writer has a love/hate/love relationship with writing. The best thing to do is to overcome everything and just be the best writer you can be.

Here’s a little more for the writer in you. I came across these websites during the week and thought I would pass them on. You make get something from them which will make you a better writer.

http://suspense.net/whitefish/cliche.htm

http://www.inkygirl.com/

http://www.quotegarden.com/writing.html

Hope you all have a great writing week!


Lynn

A Quote from Churchill

Okay, everyone, I have some deadlines, which are looming and I need to get writing. But I don’t want to forget any of you either. So, I’ll be putting up a writing quote every week with a little discussion. I will also let you all know if I have any interviews or the like for that week as well.

Today’s quote is:

Before you can inspire with emotion, you must be swamped with it yourself. Before you can move their tears, your own must flow. To convince them, you must yourself believe. -- Winston Churchill

I personally love this quote and I tell my crit group this all the time. You have to live life in order to write about it. You must have a belief in yourself that no one can shake – no matter what. This is the crux of being a writer, as you have to feel to be able to effectively put it all down on paper. Think about Churchill’s world – there were daily happenings, which made one cringe, but he kept a positive attitude and became one of the best-loved and well-known statesmen of his time.

I’m just pushing for being a good author with a decent fan base. LOL!

So far this month, I was at Gracen Miller’s blog. Here’s the link:

http://moonlightlacemayhem.blogspot.com/2010/05/tantalizing-tuesday_18.html

See you all next week and have a great one!


Lynn

Bling Me

By A.J. Llewellyn

Any author will tell you that we love what we do. Some lucky ones get to completely support themselves on their earnings, the rest of us either have full-time jobs on top of writing or, we take part-time work to supplement our incomes.
To be honest, I enjoy working. Being in the grip of the Protestant work ethic was ingrained in me from the time I had my first paper route at the age of nine in Bondi Beach, Sydney.
I don't mind juggling. I really don't. The busier I am, the more I like it. I get a huge satisfaction out of paying bills out of money earned from writing, but I also get a lot of fodder from my day jobs.
A few months ago, a friend of mine got me in with a celebrity assistant's club. I've picked up work here and there and have had the terrible misfortune of working a few times with an actress whose career is on the slide. I say on the slide because she recently lost her home to foreclosure due to her shopping addiction and...diminished income.
I accompanied her to bankruptcy court and small claims courts - all of these incidents will no doubt show up in my books some time soon - and I was even there when she went to a salon to get her asshole bleached.I swear.
This last one I did already use in The Book and the Rose.
Anyway, the Actress was pissed about moving from her oceanside digs in Malibu to -shudder- The Valley. Now, I happen to live in the valley and bitterly resent the constant jibes people from the other side of the hill make about my home town.
I've worked for Z-list Actress now for a few months and off and it has never been pleasant.
A couple od days ago, I helped take her dogs to the vet.We have a saying in my birth country of Australia. When someone is taken advantage of, we say, they saw her coming.Well this vet saw The Actress coming.
A routine office check-up for three small dogs turned into a $2,000 vet bill. It would have been more if I hadn't argued the point about unnecessary tests and phantom illnesses.Yesterday, her credit card must have been burning a hole in her pocket. We dropped the dogs home and traipsed along Ventura Boulevard where she shopped her heart out.
She dropped another $2,000 on an electric blanket, bought a new lap top at the Apple Store, some bling for her iPhone. Then she remembered she'd lost her iPhone and we bought a replacement.We stopped by my goddaughter's house where I deputized her to bling the new iPhone. I'm all thumbs when it comes to crafty crap.
My goddaughter however, was born to bling.The Actress and I drove off. I kept wondering how somebody who'd just been through bankruptcy and foreclosure was still able to spend this way.
She bought French underwear - a snip at $500 for two panties and a push-up bra - blinged dog collars for the pooches, new shoes - for her, not them. They all got tutus [I swear] - and then she insisted on having lunch.
I didn't want to have lunch. I had fresh bread and peanut butter at home. I was happy to go home and have that.
But oh no. She wanted a lavish lunch. Unfortunately, I know her well and have had terrible experiences with her before.In spite of her lavish public declarations that she would buy me lunch, I knew she would make my life miserable if I picked anything she deemed expensive. I ordered a cup of soup and an iced tea. I knew I could afford these should she gripe. And I just knew she would.
She berated the poor waiter and I begged her not to. I am always nice to people who handle my food. They could spit in it. Or worse.The Actress hauled out her laptop in the middle of this swanky restaurant as she tore through spinach salad, char-broiled salmon, apple pie and several cappuccinos. She shopped for more crap online - a lanyard holder for her new iPhone and new sunglasses.
She argued with her mother on the phone and didn't seem to notice how aggravated our nearest neighbors and the entire restaurant staff were.After being sniped at for four and a half hours, something came over me when she griped about the $7.00 for my soup and tea (tax and tip included).
I told her I couldn't take it anymore. I think I actually said I hate you. She looked shocked. I don't think she hears those words too often, except from her ex husbands.
She owed me $67.50 for the time I'd been her whipping post and dangled this over my head.I said I didn't care.
"You don't care?"
"No, I don't," I said.
I got up and walked out.
"Can't you take her with you?" the waiter begged.
My dear friend Kelly has quoted me from Benjamin Franklin who once said never to keep friends who are not like yourself. Somebody else once said - maybe it was Heidi Fleiss - we are guilty by association.
I didn't want to associate with an asshole boss. I don't care that money is involved. It's too painful dealing with such insanity. I drove home feeling both bad and good. It's hard to walk away from an income.
She apparently collected her cell phone from my goddaughter and was very sweet with her, paying her $20.
Then she drove to my place and somehow got into my building and showed up at my front door. She put on a marvelous performance.
Oscar-worthy.
I accepted her check for $67.50 and then said goodbye.
She hasn't stopped calling since. This morning, I found a pink diamante in my socks. My little ode to bling. And to her.
I dropped the bling off my balcony and deleted all her messages.
Maybe I am being foolish, but I think not. What about you? Would you put up with Miss Bling? I'd really like to know.
Aloha oe,

A.J.

When Life Intervenes

Recently, I've had some things happen which has made me question my life as a writer and I've run the gamut of emotions from weepy to out and out mad. These times also skew my world view and make me wonder about the big picture. During these times, I look at what I've done to get my motivation back. I look at old blogs, various other notes I've written to myself and other methods to get my groove back.

I was happy to run across this blog which I had written for someone else as it helped me a lot. Hopefully, it will say something to you as well.

Writing Blues

What’s a writer to do when they can’t write?

I have experienced this many times and most of them have been around the time when I have just finished a deadline of some sort. However, recently I have found I’m not up to my usual 5K per day and I’ve had to go back to some interesting stratedies I’ve developed years ago to get me back on track.

More importantly, I’ve been recently asked that question by many writers and I’ll tell you exactly what I tell them: It depends what you’re writing and what the problem is. And this is very true. You must be able to figure out just why you aren’t writing. It can be a variety of things which keep you from your goals.

First, if you’re ill, you just do the best you can. Since I have allergy days quite frequently in both the spring and the fall, I make sure my daily word count is exceeded on some days so that I can make up for those days of the pounding head. Illnesses of any kind aren’t good and you must heal yourself before you can heal your writing.

Now, if it’s because I can’t get my Muse going, that in itself is a completely different thing. There are a few techniques I use to try and get things flowing again. Here’s my list:

1. Listen to music – when nothing comes, I will sit down and listen to music as I attempt to write. Again, the type of music depends upon what I’m writing. Something classical just won’t do if I’m writing a battle scene so I make the music appropriate to what I’m doing.

2. Write anything – the day doesn’t always start good and I don’t always start on my story right away. Sometimes, the best I can do has nothing to do with what I’m writing. So I just write. Usually by the end of the second hour, I’m back on track for the story.

3. Plot a new story – I have a lot of series going and sometimes the best thing for me is to move away from the story I’m working on and start plotting the next one. For many of my stories, I am a pantser which means I just work it out in my head and sit down to write. However, when I’m working on a series I have to make sure that I don’t violate something I’ve previously done in the series. This also allows me to plan new and different things for the books. And it also just gets me back into writing.

4. Read – I can’t say this enough, read the genre that you write. If you’re doing urban fantasy, read urban fantasy, if you’re doing futuristic, read futuristic. You must know your market and you will never gain that knowledge unless you read the genre.

5. Take care of yourself – What I mean by this is get a massage, take a walk, talk to your kids, make love with your husband or significant other. It can’t all be about the writing because without you there would be no writing.

If none of these techniques work, then try to remember why you became a writer. Grasp that same joy and use it to elevate yourself to feel the creativeness rise in you. Embrace it when it arrives and make sure you nurture your muse as much as you can.

Being creative can be a finicky business and as a writer, you may need to do a variety of things before you can again create the stories you love. Just never give up on your dream to bring those stories to life because if you don’t, they will never get written!

Good luck in all your writing endeavors!

Have a great week everyone...and I should have some wonderful news next week!

Lynn

A WIP Revisited - Part Deux

First, let me apologize for this being a day late. It’s allergy season here in Southern Nevada and I’m in hell...figuratively at least...LOL! Things are blooming and my eyes are swelling and the nose is dripping. It’s hit me hard especially this year as we’ve had more rain than usual. More rain means more blooms and while I don’t know what’s getting me, I do know it will be over by June...I hope...:-).

Still, life must go on and I need to make sure I do my weekly blog as it gives me direction. Again, here is my creative process on a book I will be finishing early next week. Enoy!

My Creative Process: Your Glimpse Into a WIP – Part 2

Well, here we are in month two of our work in progress. And I’ll be honest, the whole time between last column and this one, I’ve been thinking about what really does come next.

This is where I should come up with something brilliant and insightful but to be honest, I had to think about it once again. Even pantsers do some thinking about their stories. First, let’s recap what I went over last month.

Last month, we talked about how to get ideas and how to formulate that ever important first line. You all learned that I’m a pantser when it comes to writing certain things while there are others I have to meticulously plan. You learned that I continuously play head games with myself while I’m at the computer and that sometimes because of those head games, I have brilliant insight to how a story should go.

In this case, the inspiration for my work-in-progress came in the form of an intriguing picture. Add to that a really cute title and an interesting heroine who realizes her underwear is missing and suddenly you have the premise for a really good story.

Still there are some things that need to be done in the development of this story. When we last left our characters, Aeryn and her best friend, Monica, are sitting in a local pub discussing the previous eventful evening.

Let’s look at what we know about them. We know that Aeryn and Monica are lawyers who are in Scotland because of a conference on international law. We know that one of them drinks tequila like there’s no tomorrow and that one of them likes tea. We know that both of them know someone they call ‘the stud’ and said stud has Aeryn’s underwear. We also know that Aeryn is considered an all-American-blonde who has been hit upon by everyone at the conference. We also know that they have toured the continent before right after they became lawyers. Other than that, we don’t know much more at all.

So just where do we go from here?

At this point I usually ask myself some questions. What did they do when they had visited the continent? Who really is ‘the stud’? Does ‘the stud’ and Aeryn have a history? Is that why she’s so worried? Just what was that history if they had one? Will we stay in the city of Edinburgh or will travel to the Scottish countryside? Do I know enough about Scotland to write something like this? What’s the basic plotline going to be?

Okay, let’s look at these questions in order. First up, what did they do when they had visited the continent? Okay, what does one do when they get out of grad school? For this I either can look at myself and my friends or talk to others. I know that we weren’t the ‘Girls Gone Wild’ bunch in the least but we did party hardy when we realized that school was going to be in the past. By that time, each of us had significant others and did a variety of things. I went to Tahoe, a friend of mine went to the U.S. Virgin Islands, three others went to the continent for the trip of a lifetime. And believe me, I have talked to them extensively and there were at least one or two studs along the way. None of them spent the time in Scotland that I’ll have these two spending there but my friends gave me enough ideas to fill at least five books.

Second up is, who really is ‘the stud? And it goes right along with the third and fourth questions, does ‘the stud’ and Aeryn have a history and is that why she’s do worried? My obvious answer here is that ‘the stud’ is someone the girls met during their first trip to Scotland. The second answer is a little more rocky. Yes, Aeryn and ‘the stud’ have a history. What’s up in the air at this point is what kind of history. If I make them lovers, the obvious thing would be that the relationship had no resolution and this story will give them one. But what if they had had a resolution but it was one that neither one of them could accept. It would have to be something along the lines of ‘I love you but I have my whole life ahead of me. I have a wonderful job waiting and I don’t know you enough to throw it all away on good sex’ type of thing. But then again, there are a couple of other scenarios that could have happened. They had great sex and she disappeared in the morning. Or maybe they made a heart-felt promise that if neither had married before a certain age, they’d try to get back together. The answer to the fourth question is easy – no matter how you slice it, she has reason to be worried. The worry can be a total angst thing on her part or it can be because the relationship was great or the relationship was bad. Every one of those scenarios would work wonderful and I’m going to have to pick one. Actually, I’m going to have to let the characters pick one. They always tell me what they are going to do anyway.

The fifth question, just what was that history if they had one, will be answered like I said by the characters themselves. Since I write character driven stories, I need to try and figure out what is in their heads not mine. Sure I can shape the way things are going to go but in reality I’ve got to become that character briefly so I know what they would say, do, think and so on.

Next question, will we stay in Edinburgh or travel to the Scottish countryside? I’m all for traveling to the Scottish countryside. I’ve been to Scotland for a total of about nine weeks and am planning another visit at the end of this summer to start in August and end sometime in September as I’m going to a Tolkien Moot that’s being held in a highland castle. My hope is that this stud character will be a man of some means and live some place really cool in the countryside of the country I’d love to make my second home, Scotland. It really is a beautiful place but I’ve only been there in the summer. Now there’s a thought, some where in this story, they could get snowbound in a highland cottage. How cool would that be? LOL!

So I’ve answered the next question too, do I know enough about Scotland to write something like this? What I don’t know I can get from friends I’ve made over there and by reading more books on the subject. Since I do have a point of reference, I can extrapolate from there. On my first trip to Scotland, I spent a week in England and then the rest of the time on a farm near Stirling. The second time, I again spent a week in England, ten days at the farm and the rest touring the Scottish country side to places we hadn’t made it the first time. This next trip, I will be mainly by myself or with a friend and her family. Every time I go, I pick up more books on Scottish history and see more of those little obscure places that most people never get to see.

So, what’s the basic plotline going to be? Okay, so now that I’ve gone through and answered some of the questions to move forward, here’s the direction I plan to take right now. Remember, I let the characters talk through me and this is what they are saying right now.

Aeryn and the stud, who I’ve name Logan MacKenzie, do have a history, a hot and heavy one at that. Logan is the only man in Aeryn’s life who ever made her think her life choices weren’t the right ones for her. He made her live life instead of just being a participant. But Logan, at the time that Aeryn knew him, was too much of a free spirit for her and she bolted in a big way.

Now Monica was witness to all this but she’s hiding a secret, a big secret. Logan had gone to her early on in his and Aeryn’s relationship and got her to agree to a minor deception. The deception being that Aeryn thought the man was playing the field with her best friend also. But it was all a lie to make Aeryn think that Logan wasn’t as in love with her as she wanted to believe. The point of the matter is, Logan has never gotten over her. Period. That doesn’t mean he has had relationships since. Quite the contrary BUT none of them have even held a candle to the relationship he and Aeryn had.

So now, imagine what he is thinking when he finds both Monica and Aeryn at Clancy’s Pub in Edinburgh where he too has come for business. I know that I’m writing in first person POV and that it would be very hard to show you what Logan’s POV would be. But I have a very special surprise in mind for him that can’t be revealed until next time. Now on with the story. Here’s the next excerpt in my exciting new tale and we’re starting from the exact place we left off.

“What? No pithy comeback…nothing…you’re just going to lay your head there and say nothing?” She snorted like she always does at that point. “I thought you’d have at least something to say.”

The table felt cool to my cheek and I tried to concentrate on it while I plotted my response. Maybe saying nothing would be better in this case but I doubted it. “Let’s make sure we’re talking about ‘the stud,’ if you know what I mean.”

“What other stud is there, Aeryn?” She scowled at me over the edge of her teacup as I rested my chin on the table.

“Well…it could be someone that you met here…it doesn’t have to be our stud.”

Monica laughed. “For a lawyer, you can be really dense sometimes.” Sipping her tea, she just stared at me and I really hated when she did that. “You know you wanted to see him.”

I grimaced. Was I that transparent? “What if I did?”

“Pluazzzeee. Just who do you think you are talking to here? Your Grandma?”

“You just keep my Grandmother out of this,” I retorted back and frowned.

“Sweetie, your Grandmother would be hot and bothered if she knew the stud.” She just sat there giving me that all knowing look of hers. Sometimes I really hated her.

We had called him ‘the stud’ from the moment we met him. Logan MacKenzie. His very name still made shivers of delight run down my spine. But we didn’t end well, any of us. He liked both Monica and I way to much and I wasn’t into sharing any more now than I was then. But Monica could never know as my loyalties are with her and always were. I could still picture him in my mind with his wild warrior look comprised of his dark curly locks framing his almost romanesque face and his brilliant green eyes. His hair had a touch of red which matched his touch of temper. And he had been tall, much taller than my five foot ten frame. He was a man I could actually look up to as he dwarfed in comparison.

And he was the only man for which I had fallen completely head over heels. Not a day had gone by since I left him where I didn’t wonder if I had made a mistake all those years ago. Sighing heavily, I licked my dry lips. This damn hangover wasn’t making my life any easier.

“How did he know we were here?” I mumured still holding my aching noggin in my hands.

“He didn’t.”

I glanced up at her and realized that she told the truth. He hadn’t know where we were. It was a chance hapenstance that got me into this mess. My frown deepened. Logan had hated the city and swore he would never be caught in one. This lead me to my next logical leap…why on earth had he been here?

“Is the little lady any better?”

I wearily watched the barkeep, Clancy MacDougal, bring Monica another hot pot and while his brogue definitely turned my head, it would never turn me on. The thing that gave me pause was when the handsome redhead leaned down and gently kissed my best friend. “What’s this?”

Monica leisurely finished her lengthy lip-lock with her usual attention to detail and turned my way. “While you’ve been four sheets to the wind most nights, I’ve been doing some searching of my own.”

“Oh.” I couldn’t say a thing. I knew that she had been in the market for a long time for a good man. Still there were questions to be answered. “I thought that Clancy was an old man.”

He turned a brilliant smile on me and I could glimpse what had stolen Monica’s heart. “I’m the younger,” he stated, his brogue light and airy.

Again I had little comment. “Oh.”

“Is that all you can say is ‘oh’?” She continued to sip her tea.

“Well…” I began, “…I’m not sure what to say.”

“You could say you were happy for me,” she growled at me.

I knew that this was a serious thing to her as she never growled at me. “Umm…sure…I’m happy for you.” I must have looked like a wide eyed puppy or something because then she did a very rare thing. She took pity on me.

“Look. You really should be happy to know that all any one got was your underwear.”

I sat up straight. “What are you talking about?”

“You haven’t told her about the table yet?”

My eyes switched rapidly from Monica to Clancy. “Table?” I saw her jab an elbow into his side.

“Ouch. Whad’ya do that for?” They exchanged a look which I could read. “Oh,” he said and turned away. “I’ll leave ya to explain that one.”

Next time we’ll talk about Logan’s appearance and how I intend to clue you in on his point of view. Oh, yes…and then there’s how he actually got the underwear left to be told. Again, I promise not to leave you hanging too long! Later…and have a great month.

I hope you enjoyed this look into my novel. Let me know what you like, what you don’t like and we’ll go from there. Have a great week everyone and I’ll see you next!

Lynn

Travel and Grandbabies

Hi everyone!

I hope you’ve had a wonderful week. I haven’t written anything for two weeks and the last thing was the post for this blog. I’ve had a harrowing two weeks which I’m sure all of you are dying to hear the details. LOL!

On March 1, I went to New Orleans to participate in one of my yearly conferences, EPICon. This conference is for authors specifically in the ebook field and as I have a lot of friends there, always have a great time. This time though, it started more auspiciously than I could imagine.

I boarded the plane here at 10 am and we took off in beautiful weather. I landed in horrible weather and had my first real moment of thinking that a plane I was on might actually crash. The wind sheer was so bad that two hundred feet from the ground, we were called off the landing. The bumpy climb back up was horrendous but when the pilot calmly quipped, “As you can see, we didn’t land” I knew I was in good hands. It took us another eight to ten minutes to get down to torrential rainfall. During that whole time all I could do was think about just how bumpy my characters on my spaceships had it. If I hadn’t done that I would have been sobbing. Sigh.

Once on the ground, I took a taxi to my hotel and not once could we see two hundred feet in front of us because the rain was coming down so hard. That coupled with the fact the ride cost eleven dollars more than had been posted on many NOLA websites didn’t make the trip begin well. This was all forgotten when I got to my first hotel, Chateau Bourbon, which was beautiful. I had one of the most expensive rooms for a very cheap price as hotels.com worked its magic again. And I did the lazy thing. I had room service and soaked in the huge tub to work out all the kinks.

The next day, I packed up and went to the conference hotel, the Sheraton on Canal Street. This was the same hotel I had gone to twice for RWA, so I knew it well. I had to actually wait three hours to check in, so I walked to the nearest spa and got their $99 special because heaven knew I needed a massage and facial. It actually calmed me down from the previous day’s happenings and I finally began to relax. And this day was sunny and a little warmer than the day before.

I should have realized I was being deceived when I had an allergy flair up. This flair up blossumed into a full case of bronchitus in less than 48 hours and other than my own talk, I was in bed a lot during the conference. Of course, the nearly 80% humidity factor didn’t help either. I got the chills, a fever and a horrible, horrible cough which I could have done without.

Still, all in all, I had a wonderful time with my friends and meeting new people. I also did the online announcements for the awards ceremony, letting everyone know just what was going on that special night. Congratulations to all those winners.

On Sunday, I called my family while they were doing the normal family day and my DIL informed me that she didn’t feel well either and she would be going to the doctor’s the next day. One of the major reasons I decided to go to EPICon this year was the fact that the boys weren’t supposed to be born until March 24 when the C-section had been scheduled.

The best laid plans...sigh...I should have known. My DIL calls me on Monday to say that she was already dialated and they were going to do an amino that day. The results came back late that night and suddenly the C-section was moved up to the very next day, March 10. I scrambled and discovered that there was no way I could catch and early plane home with the bad weather everywhere and every flight booked solid.

I was really bummed and being sick didn’t help at all. I left the hotel Tuesday to get one closer to the airport. Close to the time of the C-section, I began texting my friend Brenda and we talked the whole time. So here are the first pictures of my grandsons, Michael and Joseph...aren’t they adorable? Joseph is the first and Michael is second. Sorry about Joseph being out of focus.

True, they were small, Michael was seventeen inches and four pounds while Joseph was sixteen inches and four pounds eleven ounces but considering they were early, the doctors were very pleased. And they have continued to thrive since their birth. But they will stay in the hospital until they weigh a little more.

Now, I’ve been home over a week and am just getting better myself. I got one peek at the boys after I landed but haven’t been back since as I don’t want to get them ill. I finally went to the doctor myself on Monday and got a lot of medication which is finally making this crap go away. Like I said, today is the first day I’ve even wanted to sit at the computer and type at all.

And overall, the benefits far outweighed the negatives these past two weeks.

Still, as the old saying goes, there’s no place like home!

Hope you all have a great week!

Lynn

It’s All Good

I bet you’re wondering just what I’m talking about here. Well, I’ve decided to put a positive spin on life and everything. Hence the picture of a quite park in the middle of London where I enjoyed an afternoon of no stress. This is the reason I’m veering away from my usual and giving you all a little update.

Last month, we had a major roof leak, which necessitated in us calling our insurance because the darn thing was leaking from at least seven places. Now, you’re thinking that I live in the desert and right you are but in January 2010 during the week of the 21st, we had five days of rain. Count them...five...it nearly blew my mind. I couldn’t even remember when we had that many days of steady rain. It had been years.

Since then, I’ve had the insurance adjuster out here and am very unhappy with the amount they gave us for damages. The fact is the roof is flat and over 40 years old. A flat roof in the desert is bad unless it’s made from natural products and not synthetic like this one was. And now it’s bowing. Sigh. But I’m taking the stance that it’s all good and it will because I will finally get the new roof I’ve always wanted. LOL!

Along with that, my youngest received some devastating news regarding his graduation. No, he’s going to graduate but just not where he thought because his counselor dropped the ball then blamed it on him. He was depressed for quite a few days until he could put it in perspective and he’s decided not to fight what happened even though my DH and I were willing to try and make it right. He just wants to get to college and play basketball if he’s lucky.

My computer got a virus the end of January which put a halt on me doing things like submitting finished products and critiques. Actually, it had two viruses and three trojans and the bad part is that I don’t know where they came from at all. So I turned it over to my computer guru and things are slowly returning to normal as I don’t yet have my standalone hard drive back. I should have something over the weekend.

My last thing is two-fold: One, I placed this year on the Preditors and Editors Poll. This is a coup since I didn’t really push for votes or anything. I mean, I knew I was on it but I really didn’t think much about it. At any rate, I placed #20 in the Erotica category for An Elf’s Love and #18 in the book art category for More Than Robotics. Rather on that last one, Martine Jardin placed as she’s the one who designed that lovely cover for me and I’m thankful for her doing so. Two, I’m up for Love Romances Cafe's "Best of 2009" Award Best Sci Fi/ Futuristic Book-2009 More than Robotics published by eXtasy Books. I also have some great friends up for other awards, C.R. Moss and A.J. Llewellyn, two fantastic authors. Check out the top of this blog for information on how to vote. You have no idea just how jazzed I am for these two little things.

So that’s the update on my life. All of us are healthy, we aren’t starving, my husband’s job is solid but we’re not sure about the oldest’s, who is expecting twins, still, life is good. And even though the DIL was in the hospital over the weekend, the twins are thriving...we can’t wait to meet them...LOL!

Let me know how you’re doing these first month and a half of 2010...I might just give you a book...LOL! I’ll see you all next week!

Lynn

Me & Bedrest

Sorry I didn't post this week as I have been on bedrest due to a bad hip.

Do you know just how bad it is for a writer who's not allowed to get to her computer?

Let me tell you, it will be a week of being a couch potato, plotting in my head and praying I don't go crazy. But there are a few episodes of Heroes I need to catch up on and I suppose now it the time. LOL!

See you all next week and we'll continue our journey toward publication. And how much did you all write this week?

Have a great week!

Lynn

Selling On Spec

This past month has been hard for me to figure out just what I’m going to write here at The Many Shades. This is not withstanding the fact that each blogger here brings a new perspective of writing, research or a writer's life information to this blog. To put it bluntly, I learn things here and this is a very good aspect of any blog as it’s my feeling if you can’t learn something from what you read, what’s the point.

I’m not talking about what you read for pleasure because usually those readings are for entertainment purposes only. Meaning, I don’t read those books to learn something even though many times I do. Now sometimes I do read a book with the idea of dissecting it to see why such and such a person was such a good author and therefore published by NYC.

So this morning, I was pleasantly surprised by a few things in my email box. One was an invitation to speak at my local writers group’s conference in a day. This is where they try to get some of the best local people to speak regarding writing and a writer’s life. I’ve been part of the program before but was surprised this time on what they wanted me to do. I was to go over the submission process and include the topics of researching agents, researching publishers, choosing the right agent or publisher for you, writing a synopsis and writing a query letter.

Wow...lots of stuff...big stuff for a writer. Sigh. Yeah, I know this stuff but since I’m with a few houses already, my submission process is quite different. When you are a publisher’s author, you usually just submit to your editor and go from there. Very few things in the last five years have been rejected by any of my current publishers. I’ve been asked to tweak, rearranged and do overhauls on pieces but none have been rejected. And this is great but these are my epublishers not NYC publishers.

As for my foray this past year with NYC publishers, my luck hasn’t been so good. But I’m getting close. And part of the reason for this is because I present a decent proposal package. Still, I’ve decided once my current contracts are completed, I don’t want to write on spec any more as it makes me crazy. Basically, what writing on spec is that your publisher is making the speculation that you will complete the proposed novel and turn it in on time. What I do when I sell on spec is submit a package consisting of, but not always, a synopsis, a sample chapter and a complete outline of where the book is headed but I don’t necessarily have the book complete. With NYC, you can get an advance, but usually only a portion of the full amount, then finish the book. It all depends upon how the contract is written. I want to have everything I submit complete, meaning ready to go to an editor, as this cuts down on my stress level as an author.

I hear what you all are saying...but every author writes on spec...and this is true. Almost every writer does. I currently have twenty-two books sold on spec and right now am writing on six of them at the same time. Here’s how many deadlines I have scheduled for the next year: January – 1, February – 6, March – 2, April – 1, May – 1, June – 2, July – 1, August – 2, September – 1, October – 1, November – 1, December – 1. This leaves one last book on spec due in 2011. Then, I’ll be all done with spec unless I’m stupid. And as everyone knows, I can have hoof and mouth disease at the drop of a hat. LOL!

Now the real reason I would like to stop writing on spec is the fact I have found that writing this way can stymie my creative process. And it doesn’t matter if you are writing something in one of your beloved series. Point in case was my recently completed Christmas novel, An Elf’s Love from my Santa’s Elves series. The first book is a true stand-alone while the rest of the series has pretty much has been decided by the epilogue of the previous book. But I altered what I had originally planned for this latest book by sticking in an August release in the series called Giselle’s Elf. This addition to the group, while necessary in the story arc, totally threw off what I had originally sold on spec.

At this point, I had to explain to my editor what happened and curse the fact I had sold to her this Christmas story on spec. Imagine trying to do this with an NYC publisher whose deadlines are normally in stone. With my epublishers, I have a little latitude on where and how I go, so if I screw up something, they at least have a little wiggle room where they can have another book step right to take another’s place and maybe I’m able to take that person’s slot. But with a seasonal book, or a themed one, it’s a little harder. After all, Christmas does only come once a year. Thank god...LOL!

But here’s the real kicker: I could not wrap my head around what I needed to do. For almost a full week, I was paralyzed with nothing coming in regards to this story. So, to make sure I wrote every day, I went back to other stories where the deadlines weren’t so close and looming or one of my uncontracted pieces. Finally, something in a show kick-started the process for me and I was off, writing a 38K story in only eight days. This is not something I recommend for anyone. Not that it isn’t possible, obviously it is since I completed it, but if I had done things differently I wouldn’t have been in such a crunch at the end, no matter if my muse left me or not.

Knowing this will color how I put together my presentation for this mini-conference. Never have I told a group to have the book complete before submitting. This time I would. Right now, along with all those contracted books, I am working on one or two which aren’t contracted by any one. These I’m completing at a more leisurely pace and once of them I am actually going to pass through both the agent and NYC circuit. It is a good solid story written from the heart.

Now each of my stories have been written from the heart and are good but something is different when you don’t have it already sold. I don’t write a story I don’t have an investment in or don’t like. I’ll never do that although I know authors who do. They write to the market and not what their heart tells them. Even the ones I sold on spec have a piece of me in them.

I don’t know if it’s the fact that I am only writing a chapter a week or that I’ve taken longer to plot it out or that I now have a wonderful critique group to bounce things off of regarding this story. But something feels different and right and oh so good that I’m not getting with any other book.

This whole experience has made me think about my plans for my portion of the blog next year. Next year there will be more articles on the actual process, like a submission process, and what a new writer can or should do. I’ll talk about contracts as well as other portions of what a writer should really know when coming into this business. I’ll even talk about royalty statements and how the different publishers do them. I plan to use some connections and get some interviews with well known editors, publishers and other writers to share here. There will be a few give aways but only once a month max as sharing my knowledge is more important to me than giving my books away. I do that anyway...I rarely have to opportunity to share what I know.

And that to me is a writer’s true legacy.

So...you all have probably been waiting to learn who this week’s winner of An Elf’s Desire is...SiNn! Email me and I’ll send you a copy of this eBook!

Next week...I’m giving away a copy of my new book...An Elf’s Love! Hope you drop by to get your name in the hat!

See you all then!

Lynn

A Day in the Life of a Published Author

By A.J. Llewellyn

I've had a few emails recently from readers who want to be authors, or who are struggling to write, juggling their many family and day job commitments. They've said how envious they are that I get to stay at home all day and churn out lovely, best-selling novels, whilst they deal with the realities of life.
Huh?
I deal with the same realities and can only encourage them to do what I do. WRITE. NO MATTER WHAT.
With this point in mind, I present to you my day yesterday. No, not typical. But, true. And still, I managed to write 5,000 words.

6.22 AM alarm goes off. My kitten Henry, asleep on my feet, is an instant furball of action. He jumps on my head, my chest, my arm...anything to get me to feed him. The house is cold, I can feel it. I refuse to get out of bed until 6.40AM. I am a devoted listner, nay, a crazed fan of Bill Handel and I must listen to him and the news before facing the day.
6.32 AM Not that my animals control me or anything, but I rise and stagger, oops, I shine...into the kitchen to feed and water my dog, cats and a house full of plants. I make coffee, waiting for the water to boil as I do this.
Having had a nasty bout of flu for two weeks, I am enthralled with my good health. I can see, hear and smell again.
My plan is to chant for half an hour before I do any writing. Once I have done this, I will come back to the kitchen and investigate the funky odor in it.
For now, I will not do nothing but focus on my goal, which is to change my karma this lifetime. Yes, we Buddhists believe we get our rewards THIS lifetime, not the next. No celestial virgins for me.
I have written out my goals and I will work with my gohonzon on achieving each and every one of them.
6.50 AM I am in front of the gohonzon with my coffee, a glass of water and determination to do deadly serious daimoku.
6.52 AM I am chanting when the phone rings. Assuming it is my best friend Tony, who is visiting and never came home last night, I go downstairs to answer it. Too late. Ten seconds later, there's a knock at the door. I open it. It's the guy from the Gas Company. He'd just called me, but saw my car in the garage and knew I was home. He's here to disconnect my service for non-payment. he knows it's my car because he's been here before and my car is noticeable. It's the one with all the surfing stickers on it.
How embarrassing! I tell him I was sick last week with flu. He says he'll wait for my check. I feel my determination to succeed is already working, because he could have cut me off and left me without gas. I stare at the bill. $74. Had he cut my service, it would have involved extra fees and a gigantic deposit. I thank him profusely.
He says, "The guy in your car looks like a weirdo."
I say, "What guy in my car?" and I go to the garage and sure enough, he's a weirdo and he's sleeping...IN MY CAR!
He tells me his name is Eddie and he refuses to leave "his crib."
He's a young guy from the midwest with a red and white bandana on his head. I have no idea if he has gang ties and if this color will get him shot, since I don't follow this stuff anymore.
The police are mentioned and he reluctantly vacates my car. I lock the doors and he gives me the finger.
I give him directions to the front door.
7.10 AM My phone rings again and I ignore it. I am now fearful other services will be cut off and I immediately make calls checking on my own well-being.
7.39 AM My dog, Venus, pitches a fit and pees on the carpet. She wanted to meet Eddie the weirdo. I take her for a walk. It's a gorgeous Cali day and Eddie's outside my building with his belongings strapped to his back. He mutters something as I walk past and Venus jumps up and licks his face.
On her way back down again, my geriatric companion twists her right front paw and I am stricken when she needs to be carried home. I give Venus an Aspirin and she contemplates her misery. I give her a cookie, which she accepts with grudging reluctance. Nothing is broken, so I'm getting back to work. She's going to be okay.
8.30 AM Okay, I've lost valuable time and I must start writing. I'll chant in the evening. I have three book deadlines looming and I am halfway through writing Blue Moon, my December 15 release. I have struggled with this book not because I'm stuck or anything...I just can't bear to put my protagonists through the anguish they are suffering. I am a method writier. What my characters go through, I go through. I re-read what I wrote last night and immediately pick up the threads of my tale.
8.45 AM My mate Tony comes home and asks me what I did to my dog. I tell him Venus twisted her paw. It's the same paw she had problems with before. He wants to hang out, but I have to work so he goes downstairs to talk to her and I can tell they decide I am a complete, uncaring bastard.
So do my book characters.
9.04 AM My phone rings and Tony answers it. It's a pal of mine from Universal Pictures. She picked up some script-reading work for me and I must be at the studio at 10AM to collect the material. I'm jazzed. Woo-hoo me!
9.55 AM I am outside Universal. Nobody left a drive-on pass for me and the woman I am to meet with is not answering her phone. I'm forced to park in the studio lot like a tourist and walk over to the office. I chant Nam myoho renge kyo. I feel better, even though I'm going to be late.
10.20 AM the only thing security didn't probe as I cross the barricade into studio business territory was my ass. And I'm sure it was only because others were waiting. I arrive at the office and they're pissed because I'm late. I explain about the drive-on and the seven executive assistants all turn on each other pointing fingers.
11 AM Having been duly punished by being forced to wait, I'm ushered into the executive's office. She asks me for my resume. I blink and blank out. I tell her I was referred by our mutual friend. She checks her computer beside her, tip-tapping with a large, fake fingernail.
"I thought you were here for the assistant's position," she barks. "I'm interviewing people to replace Anna [not her real name]. You don't need to see me."
She points to the door. One of the flunkies out front hands me a batch of screenplays.
"Would you prefer me to email them in future?" she asks me. I see her nameplate on her desk.
Hello Anna, and goodbye.
11.32 AM Having lost valuable writing time and $12 to parking, I dash home and coax my dog down the stairs to my front door. I open it and my loony next door neighbor is standing there, naked.
"The voices in my head told me to jump in the pool, except the pool is empty."
"Yes," I said. "We had to drain it to re-tile it."
"The voices in my head want me to die."
She starts dancing around in the courtyard and the old Russian man who just moved in opposite me is doing exercises in his bedroom with the blinds and windows open. He's wearing big daddy underpants and black socks. I'm not sure which sight is more gruesome. Him or the mad dancer.
Tony comes out of my apartment. He takes my neighbor back to her house. Upstairs, I have her ex-husband's phone number so I will call him after I walk the dog.
Poor Tony is given a tough time by my neighbor. We swap duties. I take her home and I'm devasted by the condition of her townhouse as she tells me garbled nonsense about people spying on her and how we're all CIA or Nazis, I couldn't follow which. I'm even more horrified that she hasn't been looking after her dog. The dog, an old Bichon, is lying on the floor in her own feces. I call 911 when I realize the neighbor has gone mad.
An emergency mobile unit of therapists comes out. The guy who comes to the door is a huge black man. He asks me to meet him outside the building.
Poor Tony rushes Venus back to my place to come and help me. Apparently this unit knows my neighbor well and tells us how the whole thing will go down.
They send big guys like him out because they never know what to expect. He tells us he will ask her some questions and based on her responses, he may or may not recommend a 72-hour hold.
All three of us return to her unit. Tony and I hunt on the table for her insurance card. She is not responding to generic questions and keeps shrieking, "You know it's hot on Saturn."
The therapist orders an ambulance and helps the woman dress. I walk downstairs with her and she is the picture of mental and verbal decorum until they try to get her inside. The neighbors all come out to watch her go nuts when they put her in a strait jacket.
12.40 PM Tony takes the Bichon to the vet. I go to my neighbor's apartment after the mental hospital calls to tell me that her insurance card is old. I find a current one. I find her ex-husband's phone number. Disconnected. I spy a goldfish in a filthy aquarium. I have a neighbor who loves fish. I carry the disgusting-smelling container to her unit. She takes it from me.
"I can't promise you I can save the fish, but I'll try," she says.
1.00 PM I read through the screenplay deemed urgent by the studio and it's a pile of bat shit. Tony has good news from the vet. The dog's getting fluids but she can't stay with me because she and my dog hate each other. We ponder the problem of what to do about the Bichon.
I call my go-to guy, my wonderful friend Tracy who says he will take her.
I call the president of my HOA to check this is okay and leave a message.
I get back to work. I must report on the horrible screenplay by 6PM. I am due to go to a district meeting, the last one for our Buddhist group for the year and I need to be there by 7. I will make it. I will!
2.00 PM I'm working on my ten-page report when the phone rings. As usual, I ignore it. There's a knock on the door a few minutes later. Lord, help me. I open it and it's a geriatric couple. The cutest little Japanese people I ever saw in my life.
HOLY CRAP! I forgot. These are pioneer members of my division and they booked a home visit. I have no recollection of doing this, but smart peope that they are, they know I never answer my phone and apparently emailed me. They show me the email. I must have been in high fever when I scheduled the visit. Of course, I welcome them inside.
I make tea and discover the bad smell is vegetables I left in a cooking pot last week. They play with my dog and ask me what's wrong with her.
I've never had a home visit before but I am blessed that in spite of everything, they came to see me. Their stories and their courage inspired me. They come upstairs to chant with me. They love my altar and are encouraging about my chanting. They feel the love I put into my life they tell me. They enlighten me and I still feel quite...high from their benevolence.
Tony arrives with the Bichon, with whom they fall in love.
The homeowners in my building meet in the courtyard. We all have felt for a longtime that our kooky neighbor did not look after her dog. She now has a new home with my elders, so I can always check on her.
I finish my report, send it in by email, take my dog for a short walk. Her limp has improved.
Tony and I go to our meeting and come home. I write.
Today, it all starts all over again. Another day in the life of a published, working author.
Aloha oe,

A.J.

Self-Limiting Beliefs and Writing

Hi Everyone,
I have something special to share with you all today - a wonderful blog by the amazing and inspirational Rhona Berens who is a Hollywood movie industry Life Coach here in Los Angeles. I love her work and have learned so much from her. I asked Rhona to guest blog today and in this post, she addresses self-limiting beliefs that affect our lives and specifically, how this works against novelists - so read on and enjoy! Love, A.J.

Self-Limiting Beliefs & Writing by Rhona Berens, PhD, CPCC

As a Life Coach, and writer, I’m always looking for ways to navigate creative roadblocks. I recently read some advice for screenwriters that went something like this: one way to get in the game is to throw your hat in the ring. If a writer announces—to colleagues, professional contacts—that she’s polishing a script for an agent, or [fill in the blank with a time-constrained goal and someone to whom you pledge completing that goal], the deed will be done. If we create accountability structures—actions for which we’re accountable to others—we’ll propel ourselves forward and “just do it.”

That’s sound advice. Solid advice. Inspiring advice, even. Except if you’re a writer for whom self-doubt (and its pal, Paralysis) is a more familiar comfort-zone than confidence (and its buddy, Action). If you’re that kind of writer, it’s often hard to get into the game and, harder still, to stay in it. So what’s that fiction writer to do?

I want to introduce a technique to help you step more consistently away from self-doubt and toward self-confidence. In other words, I’m going to encourage you to expand yourself as a writer by expanding yourself as, well, you. (Groan.) I heard that; I also saw the dismissive wave some of you just gave. Bear with me. What does any of this have to do with staying in the game? First of all, it’s pretty hard to tease apart you from the writer, the writer from you. Second, shifting how you do things (including how you view yourself) is an opportunity to befriend those, sometimes, elusive comrades: Confidence, Accountability, and Action. The idea is for you to hone a new skill that helps you generate sustained energy and passion to get your work read… and bought … and published. Who knows? Maybe you’ll also find some golden nuggets along the way to improve your writing, too.

The story of your reality
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the ways in which people—not just writers—storify pretty much everything. I stumbled on the word “storify” a few weeks ago when I considered turning the noun, story, into a verb (e.g., to story my experiences), just like businesspeople have morphed the word “grow” so that now they can grow a company. Turns out, storify does what I was looking for: “To form or tell stories of; to narrate or describe in a story;” or, most succinctly, “to make up.”

To state the obvious: Fiction writing is, at its core, the ability to storify scenarios and characters. To state the not so obvious: Autobiography—including our self-focused thoughts and beliefs that we never write down—is how we storify ourselves. What I mean is, we believe a lot of the stuff we make up about ourselves (or others); we often believe what others make up about us; and, sometimes, we believe what we think they make up about us. In short, humans storify all the time; writers take that skill and parlay it into art.

Let’s take a closer look at one common “storifying” tool that’s an entrée into growing ourselves (and a boon to character development): Self-Limiting Beliefs. Brian Tracy, a motivational speaker and author, defines a Self-Limiting Belief (a.k.a. SLB) as: “An idea you have that you are limited in some way, in terms of time, talent, intelligence, money, ability, or opportunity.” I’d add a few other items to his list, like the belief you’re limited by how well or poorly (you think) others love, respect, or treat you. Plus, there are limitations you might ascribe to yourself based on appearance, cultural or ethnic background, gender, age... you get the picture.

The bottom line is: SLBs constrain how (far) we take action in our lives. If we’re in the territory of our SLBs, we might take some action, maybe the first or second or third step toward a goal. Then an SLB will intervene, either in the form of discouraging words articulated by our own Inner Critic or by rejection/criticism from people in our daily lives, whose opinions matter to us (even when we say they don’t). What’s the impact? We stop sprinting full-tilt boogie toward the finish line for the things we really want to do, the person we believe we can be, the dreams we yearn to fulfill. In other words, when it comes to our own lives, SLBs suck the momentum right out of us.

Want to find out how you can overcome your SLBs and use SLBs as a tool to develop fictional characters? Click Rhona Berens - Self-Limiting Beliefs & Novelists at http://www.fortedreams.com/resources-overview to download a free copy of Rhona’s complete article. If you’re interested, you can also sign up for a complimentary coaching session.

Found Writing

By A.J. Llewellyn

You hear about Found Art all the time, but I rarely, well in fact I never read about the literary equivalent, Found Writing.
This is the story of how a #1 best-selling E book almost wasn't...and how some stories finally find their homes...
Back in the day when I went to pitch meetings at film studios, my house was filled with story synopses (four pages) and treatments (ten pages) all of them ready at a moment's notice to be sent via fax to some development executive's office.
I had an agent and she loved my work. I practiced all my pitches on her and went off to meetings, but in spite of some great responses and near-calls with actual deals, I remained empty-handed.
I had a dream after watching a particularly odious athlete mouthing off about love and women and wondered how he would react if he woke up as a woman one morning?
Well, it was an idea but I took it even further and ran to my agent's office the next morning and pitched her the idea for Tall, Mean and Darkly, a play on the 'tall, dark and handsome' stereotype.
My idea was this: A guy's wife dies. They had a pretty good marriage, not perfect, but he loved her. She comes back. As another man. How will he cope with not only having her back from the dead but with a dick?
The agent stared at me. "And?" she said.
And?
Was she kidding me? I thought this was a great idea. I could see it as a movie. Right there and then she burst my bubble. I put aside the four-page synopsis I'd pounded out.
A couple of months ago when I was in a rare mood to clean up the place, I found it again.
Tall, Mean and Darkly, was I think a little too adventurous back then even though Ghost was a big hit...I realized my agent at the time didn't like the gay element in the story because for the husband to accept the wife as a man he'd have to be...gay.
In my newish career as an author of gay erotic fiction, I didn't have to worry about upsetting any executive's sensibilities. I pitched the idea to my co-author Stephani Hecht and I think the book is not only one of my best and certainly our best collaboration to date, but its stellar sales have been a redemption for all those shutdown ideas I ever had.
It was a reminder that agents and those in The Biz who should know a good idea from a bad one, don't.
It was a reminder not to listen to negative thought. Not to stop the creative process. No doesn't mean no in the writing world. It just means its time to get it to somebody who'll say yes.
I owe a lot to Stephani who jumped in with both feet and contributed her own wonderful ideas to our collaboration.
I have to also thank our publisher, http://www.extasybooks.com/ for running with it - and to our fantastic cover artist Martine Jardin for turning out such a wonderful cover.
Yesterday I sent my former agent a note letting her know about Tall, Mean and Darkly. She wrote back that she often wondered what I did with it. She said she'd followed my career and had this to say, "I think of all the commissions I could have been earning from your book deals. Let me know if you need help in that area."
Yeah, right!
If you have an idea, however remote or weird, don't listen to No. Find your lost writing and Just Do It.
In the meantime, Stephani and I are doing the sequel to our book. Taller, Meaner, Darker comes out February 1. I can't wait!

Aloha oe,
A.J.

This and That

Here I sit at my desk. It’s 7:05 am in the morning and I find myself wondering just what I’m going to write today. I almost never get up this early but knew I needed to do so today since it was my blogging day. It didn’t help that I went to bed last night with this very issue on my mind. What surprised me the most, is I don’t really have much to say this week. And for the woman who always has something to say about most things, this is pretty new.

It maybe because I have a book coming out in just eleven days, count them, and I’m still putting on the final touches. The eBook world is amazing in this because there are such fast turnaround times. But this one is a small book and will be very, very clean when it gets there. I’m not only going to go over it with a fine tooth comb, I’m going to have my critique group trounce on it as well. It will be so squeaky clean once it gets to the editor, there won’t be much left to fix.

Now back to my lack of subjects. It maybe that I’m also in NaNoWriMo which is National Novel Writing Month. It’s where you write a book in a month. The book I’ve chosen is my Christmas book, An Elf’s Love which zooms in on Merna Locklin and her would be kidnapper, Trevor Haines. What better way to spur me on except to get a chance for winning lots of prizes for doing something I had to do anyway. The word count we have to aspire to is a mere 50k which breaks down to a mere 1700 per day. A drop in the bucket when I look at the scheme of things.

I could talk about just how depressing the economics is as I have just had another friend impacted by another unexpected layoff. My heart clutches everyday for people I know and my own son who works for the construction industry in the worst place in the world to work right now. And with twins on the way, my oldest and I have discussed what he would do and how I could help if it happened. For those of you in this situation, things have to get better. They just have to and I know I’m trying to do my share by being a good consumer when I can.

I could talk about how my youngest gets up, watches TV for at least a half an hour before hopping into the shower. After about twenty minutes in, I go tell him because he’s almost made himself late for school. Then he gets out, takes his time to get dressed, putzs around a little more and asks me to write him a note for being late. I get a wicked glee when I look at him and ask him whose fault it is for him being late. He stomps out the front door cussing and yelling because I’m being so unfair. He knows I’ll only write him a note when he has a diabetic episode. Everything else, he has to deal with and he has only himself to blame as he wanted to be treated more like an adult. Welcome to the real world, kid! LOL!

I could talk about how my new puppy has forced me to be more active and by being more active, I’m beginning to lose weight. I even started to keep a diet diary because that’s the only thing which keeps me honest during the whole process. Or I could tell you about how when I popped out the batteries of my scale, I sent one of them flying behind my stove. It had been years since I had actually moved the stove, and I had to because I didn’t know what the battery size really was. The dust bunnies back there nearly killed me. But I got the battery, evil little flat thing that it was. LOL!

I could talk about just how beautiful it is today out my front window. For those of you who don’t know, my office is in the front of my house and I have one of three picture windows. It has a lovely bamboo shade over it which allows me to watch the world in the day without anyone seeing me. Now, night is a different thing as everyone sees me which is one of the reasons that I don’t write in this room very much after dark. I have my little travel computer for that. Today so far, I’ve watched the kids walk to school, seen people walking their dogs, the humming birds drink from the hollyhocks and the sparrows take up residence on my front lawn for whatever reason. The wind is calm, the sky is blue and the temperature is perfect.

Naaa....I don’t have anything at all to talk about today!

The winner of this week’s FREE eBook giveaway of Subtle Invasion is booklover0226, Tracy D! Next week, I’ll be giving away a copy of The View From Santa’s Sleigh as we gear up for the Christmas holiday bash! See you all then...

Lynn

The Middle Place

We all have a middle place, a time in our lives where we start looking at things differently, start realizing our own mortality and what we’re going to leave behind.

That was not the case when I opened the article below whose link had arrived from a friend in my email box. No, those things were the furthest from my mind. I had opened this article because she said it was cool and because it talked about author promotion. Take a moment and read the article and you’ll see what I mean.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/23/AR2009092304603.html

Okay, I think, just what is so special about this person. She had this great story idea, she does some readings and bang, she gets a lot of media time. Geez, what does she have that I don’t? So, I decide to go one more step and go to her website. Take a look.

http://kellycorrigan.com/themiddleplace/newsevents/index.html

Yeah, the website is great and I just love the layout and if I were a jealous kind of person I would be jealous. But I’m not because I’m still intrigued by what is making her so popular. Why are these myopic look at one’s life so great? Geez, I’m only 51 and I am blessed to not ever really having a devastating disease and it is my one hope that I never get Alzheimer’s which is what my mother died of.

So, I’m not getting it and then I see the YouTube link, realizing that it all started here. Sigh. Now go look at it and come back to read the rest of this blog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_4qwVLqt9Q

I get it. I so, so get it as I sit here trying to type through the haze of tears. Maybe it’s just because I am still reeling from the news that a 40 yo brother of a friend died so unexpectedly. Maybe it’s because I’ve been suddenly missing my mother and God only knows why. Maybe it's because my dog, who had been kissed by the fairies with his one blue eye and one brown eye, had also unexpected died at the beginning of this month. Or maybe it’s because I feel stymied by my own fears and wants and desires that I seem not to be moving forward in my own writing career and this brought it all to the forefront.

Maybe I just needed a good cry. So thank you Kelly Corrigan for bringing it all into focus once again. You don’t know me and probably never will but with just those three things you have enriched my life in ways I didn’t know it needed to be enriched. And I thank you from the bottom of my heart. This is just the kick I need.

And like a good little consumer girl, the next time I am out, I will be trying to find your book so I can purchase. So don’t be offended if the first place I look is Costco followed by Wal-Mart as I have a very cheap, very Scottish husband who is always admonishing me for spending more on books than I must.

Good luck in everything you do, Kelly, you deserve to be the ‘it’ girl as you have a way with words.

Here are the other websites mentioned in article http:/www.shewrites.com/ and http://www.inkwellmanagement.com/about.php

And no, no big promo push this week because even I need to rest. But here’s the winner of this week’s drawing: Tierney O'Malley.

See you all next week.

Lynn

My Daughter Can Read!

Several months ago I blogged about my daughter and her learning disabilities. Not only is does she have a severe speech delay, but she is years behind in reading and writing. I think there is a kind of sick irony that a child of a writer can’t read. While I spend my days making books, she can’t comprehend what’s between the covers. Books are my greatest joy and her biggest frustration. I can’t count the number of times I watched her cry in despair when she would want to read the latest book, only to find the skills she need to do so eluded her. While her friends got excited about the latest Harry Potter, American Girls or Magic Tree House books, she would be left out. Forced to watch from the sidelines.

Over the summer she was given the opportunity to attend a specialized reading class. After she got done complaining about having to go to school while all her friends were at the beach, she found that she actually enjoyed it. I took her there twice and week without fail, but was disappointed when I didn’t see any improvements. I thought it was a big waste of time.

I could not have been more wrong!

This week she brought home a book from the library. It was about dinosaurs and that just happens to be one of her favorite subjects. She came to me and asked if I could read to her and I’m ashamed to admit I told her I didn’t have time at the moment and she was would have to wait until later. Then I got to feeling guilty so I went to find her.

She was in her room, sitting under a window, reading the book. I don’t mean just looking at the pictures, but actually reading the words! I stood there, not making a sound as I watched her gaze travel over the pages, her lips soundlessly forming the words. She finally noticed I was there and glanced up at me. The look of pure joy in her eyes made me cry.

“I’m doing it Mommy, I’m reading.” She pointed at the book, her finger shaking with excitement. “I know what it says.”

Now I can’t get books out of her hands. She reads in the car, in the bathroom, between classes at dance. She almost ran into the door going into school because she was trying to read while walking. It’s like a switch turned on inside her head and there’s no stopping her. She now knows the happiness books can bring to her and there is a whole world waiting for her to discover. She won’t be stopped either.

This is one of the happiest moments of my life and I shall forever remember it. It was the day my baby finally found a love for reading and there is no greatest gift in the world.

-Stephani

I'm So Hollywood

By A.J. Llewellyn

As a kid growing up in Australia, movies were my life. I was obsessed with the classics. I was obsessed with the daily lives of celebrities and hid movie magazines inside my text books. A sure sign I was gay, yes. A sign that I was headed to Hollywood? In my mind, another yes.
When I got the chance to move here and complete my college education, I jumped at it. I threw myself into the Hollywood culture but the Hollywood I loved was frankly, gone.
The famed nightclubs are now freeway overpasses.
The Garden of Allah is a parking lot. I could go on.
Oh, there are glimpses of it, but the glamorous city I loved, the stars, the movie sets are there only when I am on a studio lot.
I discovered quickly I don't like the Hollywood of today. I love the Hollywood of yesterday, when story was important, when story mattered. Today, being famous, wearing the hot new thing, getting noticed is more important than the movies coming out of the celluloid factory.
There are many like me, who care about story still. And I have carved out a niche for myself helping to nurture story. As a writer and a script reader, I feel I am right there, able to offer input and a genuine concern into the process of movie story telling.
Sometimes though, I must take work that is So Hollywood I want to kill myself.
Yesterday, in the early evening (true Hollywood is in bed by 9pm folks) I found myself hiding out in a big white chair in the men's room of the SLS Hotel which has become the mecca for the trendsetters.
My boss, who is a Hollywood player insisted we go.
This is another thing. I discovered early on I am not into the 'scene' and yes it's still called a 'scene' but I thought hey, it's research and I found myself squashed at a table at the buzzingest of buzzing places in Hollywood at this hotel.
The owner is a Jacques somebody who has a cooking show on PBS and he prepared scientific meals.
My boss and a handful of her friends had to go and I wheeled and dealed to get a reservation and was dismayed to learn that as her new assistant I had to go.
Since I've become accustomed to a few of life's luxuries, like gas and electricity for example, I went. I was hungry, too.
I still am.
I have never eaten such an expensive or minuscule meal in my life. The appetizer of an egg sounded okay until the egg shell arrived. I believe it was a quail egg shell with a tiny bit of yellow foam at the bottom. I wasn't sure how to eat it. Each person treated it differently. My boss used a fork, some of us used spoons. None of us could really say we loved it and so the meal progressed.
"Talk about pretentious," I said after the third ridiculous non-existent food setting was placed in front of me. A spinach souffle was another bit of green foam. I felt like I was in my own private I Love Lucy episode, the one where Lucy snatches the food away before anyone can taste it. Only Fred Mertz has a drop of soup left on his tie and proclaims it to be split pea.
Last night was like that. I was so hungry I thought I would die.
I sloped off to the men's room and found this ludicrous big white chair and wondered why it was there until a famous actor ran in and looked pissed to find me there.
"You took my hiding place," he said.
Oh, that's what it's for!
We chit-chatted about the ludicrous meal, the stupid Hollywood-ites who gushed over the invisible portions and then he said, "You want to see something really stupid?"
He led me to the sinks, which have been built at a slant so that as you wash your hands you are not offended by the sight of water going down the drain.
Oh My God. Really? Is this what we have become? Even the sinks are Hollywood?
As for me, I wrestled the star for that big white chair and ultimately found myself back at the table demanding coffee, which mercifully arrived in a regular cup.
And I got my story, which I bring to you today.
Aloha oe,

Hollywood A.J.