Tuesday, December 01, 2009

The Big Picture



Here it is - December 1st. I was talking with the Hubster this morning, and I gotta say this hasn't been a very memorable year for me. He "argued" - not really - that it has been a memorable year and proceeded to name off a slew of things I should have thought of: Obama taking office, Mini starting preK, Oldest getting his class ring. After returning from summer break, Oldest taking on his senior year. Oh yeah, Fifi had puppies. Can't forget about that.

Hubster wins the argument hands down, but honestly the year still flounders in my thoughts. My brain cut off 2009 back in March around the time Moonlight and Shadows was either finished or came out. Something like that. The rest of the year, my brain has been flying on auto pilot, and I can't even figure out why. It's not like things have been bad, just...uneventful.

Well, I've definitely got something to keep my attention now. December 1st marks the first day of manuscript rewrites. Oh yes, it's time for draft 2. NaNo is over, and I have until the end of February to get this fantasy novel ready for conference. Over the next three months (good Pete, but I hope it doesn't actually take me that long) I'll be getting this monster ready to pitch at the Written in the Stars conference.

What's first on my rewrite "to do" list? Well, I've gotta run to the store for another print cartridge since I managed to get half the manuscript printed this morning - about 110 pages.

Once the manuscript is all printed up, I'll read through the entire thing, and kill off any dead scenes that have no bearing on the story. I'll be basically cutting my wip into chunks and stitching it together into a new word document so it's a fluid story beginning to end. Yes, it will be lumpy and ugly, and will probably have a few plot holes, but the shell of the finished book will be there.

I hope I can get this part of the rewrites done by no later than December 12th. I'm not sure I'll need that much time, or hey, I might need more. But for now that's what I'm aiming for. I've written it down on a post it note and stuck it on my printer.

If I can get it done by the 12th, that will leave me a week before Christmas to either note, or write in, any scenes needed to correct plot holes. I've got the week of Christmas marked off my calendar. I'll probably work that week because it kills me to stay away from my computer, but the time itself will be pre-reserved for slackassedness. Just in case I wanted to do that, you see?

At any rate, that's the goal. To have the entire big ugly baby propped on my desk by Dec. 19th. After that, I'll be able to sit down and fix the ugly prose.

I'll probably be documenting this insanity on the blog, so if you drop by between December 1st, 2009 through February 28th, 2010, prepare for graphic posts of manuscript desecration. Probably a good bit of screaming and gnashing of teeth will be going on as well. You've been warned. ;0)

That's all I've got for now. I'm off to go do my first batch of reading. Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Labels: god what was I thinking, let the insanity begin, visit from the goal faerie

Posted by Cora Zane :: 8:23 AM :: 0 comments

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Monday, November 30, 2009

Last Day of NaNo 2009

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday this year. I can't remember the last time we had such a peaceful, no-stress holiday. It was fantastic!

We went to my parent's house for dinner, visited for a while, then came home to chill around the house. Oldest stayed the night over at his Grams, and Hubster and Mini did their own thing while I worked on my NaNo story.

On Saturday, Hubster took Mini to the art show in town and realized they had a stand there for alligator on a stick. Lemme just say, alligator is yum. Hubster bought two skewered alligator nibblet things and brought them home to me while they were still hot. What a man! He wins so many brownie points for that, there is no category.

So, I ate alligator kebabs (Mini helped), and working some more on the NaNo story. That evening, they went to the Christmas parade. Mini came back with pockets full of candy, mardi gras beads, and a panda plushie. That's quite a haul for one little guy.

Yesterday, we left early in the morning to take Mini to my godfather's office. He got his first official checkup from the dentist. He was super scared, so I sat in the dental chair and pulled him into my lap. My godfather checked his teeth - which are perfect, no cavities - and did a flouride rinse on him. Once that was over, Mini was shocked. "That didn't hurt at all."

After the visit with my godfather, we went to Ryan's for lunch. First thing it the door, Mini says, "I want chocolate chip cookies!" Yeah, so that mussed everything accomplished at the dentist office, but what're you gonna do? ;0)

That afternoon, once we'd returned home, I set out to blast the doors off my NaNo project. I'd parked it the day before at 47k. I broke out the big guns: Diet A&W cream soda, parked my laptop in the bed room, and set to work. About an hour and a half later, I had 50k. I could have peed, I was so happy. I went instantly and put in my 50k over at www.nanowrimo.org

So for the first time ever, I win at NaNo. Wheee!



As a reward for my efforts, I folded two loads of laundry, and sacked up garbage to haul off to the "kitty farm". Good days, good days.... For the next 3 months I get the pleasure of pulling my hair out while choppin' and blockin' this fantasy romance novel into something presentable. It's going to be my pitch piece for the 2010 Written in the Stars Conference.

Speaking of which, I still need to call in and make hotel reservations. Hm...

That's all for now. I hope you have a pleasant Monday. Just think, tomorrow is December 1st!

Labels: a gold star for you, NaNo insanity, NaNoWriMo, vis

Posted by Cora Zane :: 8:31 AM :: 2 comments

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Thursday, November 26, 2009

Fleas for Thanksgiving

Last night I bathed Diva and all five itty bitty puppies, who apparently have monster, heat-seeking radar fleas. One puppy in particular, who we call JT, has apparently stated in puppy language DO NOT WANT when it comes to bath time. He wiggled and squiggled and squawked through the whole thing. Thankfully, puppy yips are full of cute otherwise it might not have been a fun experience.

Anyway, so now the Divadog family is all fluffy clean and without fleas. After they were all snug in a fresh puppy bed, I borrowed their organic flea killing shampoo and hit the showers. Yes. In case you're wondering, I did. I washed my hair with dog shampoo. Embarrassing, yes. On the upside, I'm flea less and have a glossy coat, er, head of hair for Thanksgiving. One more thing to be thankful for. ;0)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Labels: Diva Dog, hair trauma, puppies, Thanksgiving

Posted by Cora Zane :: 7:59 AM :: 2 comments

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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Caught in the Rush

On Friday, hubster took Mini and Oldest to the carnival in town. He drove my Jeep for space reasons, and the guys spent about two hours out there. I used the time to get in my daily word count and with whatever was left over, I played around on Second Life.

The next morning, the hubster went out to move my Jeep across the yard, but it wouldn't start. The battery was dead. When he walked around the Jeep to get the battery charger out of the trunk, he also discovered I had a flat back tire. Gee, see what happens when I let the guys take my Jeep for one night?

Anyway, I figured this was probably as good time as any to tell the man the transmission is going out. There are times I'll be driving along, hit somewhere between 35-45 mph and the Jeep will suddenly lose power and it makes that really high rev sound like you've pressed in the clutch and didn't shift, or missed the gear. The only thing is - my Jeep is an automatic. *_*

To correct the high rev, I usually just let off the gas pedal, and when I feel the down shift (I don't know how else to describe it), I put on the gas again until it catches. Sounds annoying, right? It is.

So the day after Thanksgiving we're going out to browse a couple of used car lots and see what we can bring home on a trade-in. I don't have anything particular in mind as far as vehicles are concerned, so we'll see what happens.

Last night I parked my NaNoWriMo manuscript at just over 39k, leaving me with 6 more days, and 11ooo words to get to 50k. I tell you, this thing is whipping me.... :P I wrote 2k last night, and turned in around midnight. Right about the time I got to bed Mini starts coughing. And coughing.... So, I got up with him, gave him some medicine, and put him on the couch with a pillow and blanket. I sat up with him until about 3:50 at which point I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.

Hubster said he shook me three times, around 6, trying to wake me up. He had to leave for work, and Mini was awake. So, after some grumbling in my sleep, about what I have no idea, I zombie walked into the living room and flopped on the couch.

I'm so tired right now it's not even funny. I'm anticipating a long couch nap before the kids and I take off to buy groceries - something I must do today since we're out of coffee fixins. *horror*

Whew! Ok, that's all for now. Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Labels: NaNo insanity, zzzzz

Posted by Cora Zane :: 6:31 AM :: 0 comments

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Thursday, November 19, 2009

Won't Be Doing That Again

I've written 2100 words so far today, which puts my NaNo project over the 32k mark. Whew! There are only 11 days left to write, so I'm trying to make each session count. I've been doing 30 minute writings all day, and it seems to be paying off despite the fact I've got people in and out of the house all day and Oldest is home sick. This year I am determined to win at NaNo. If I do, it will be the first time in no less than four attempts. ~_^

This time of year, I always start taking stock in what I've accomplished, and this go around I'm paying close attention to what has worked for me promotion-wise. So far, I've come to the conclusion that bookmarks and post cards from VistaPrint are worth every penny. They are very reasonably priced, and it is fast and easy to pass out bookcards.

On the other hand, I will be paring down on promotional book sites and social networking. For one thing, I'll be leaving one of the major pay-for-promo sites that I subscribe to. As far as I can tell, it hasn't done much for me. I've been a member there for 2 or 3 years and I don't think they've even reviewed any of my books, for better or worse. I feel like I'm tossing my money in the fire on that one. There are two others I plan to quit as well - it's too time consuming for one, and the other is just a spam fest.

So far, the only social sites I plan to keep are Facebook and Twitter, because of the industry connections. You can learn things over twitter that you won't hear about anywhere else for at least another day. If you are not on Twitter and you're shooting for NY - get thee hiney over there and sign up. Start following industry peeps.

Another change I'll be making in 2010: I will no longer be giving out my own personal ebooks for review. After Moonlight and Shadows came out, I got requests from two review sites wanting copies of the ebook for review. These were sent to me personally, at my Cora Zane email address. After researching each email address and the names of the senders to confirm the people were who they said they were, I sent them the books.

Here it is months later, and there still have been no reviews good or bad from either of those places. I feel like an idiot now for sending them, because I'm fairly certain the books were read, just tossed aside afterward, and never touched again. No review written, and quite possibly, there was never any intention of reviewing them. I won't be doing that again. And for the record, I have saved those emails to reference those people later. If this has happened to you, please email me and just tell me what review site did this to you. You can remain anonymous - I'll certainly not forward your information to anyone - but I'd seriously like to know if any others have had this happen.

That's the end of that. Only one more thing on my mind as far as publishing is concerned. Two words: Harlequin Muck-up. Or does that count as three words?

If you haven't heard the word about Harlequin Horizons, this post is a good place to start. There are also good opinion piece on this over at the Ashley Grayson blog, Dear Author, and Smart Bitches. Read Ann's first, then Google yourself silly.

Hope you've had a good day today. If not, hang in there - tomorrow's another day. A Friday, at that!

Labels: ...or something like that

Posted by Cora Zane :: 12:52 PM :: 1 comments

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Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Monday Sucked So I Skipped It

I registered for the Written in the Stars conference yesterday, and paid my NOLA chapter dues. So for the moment, everything is taken care of but the hotel for March. On Saturday, I went to the chapter meeting with Jamie, and Winnie Griggs gave a really good workshop on transitions. I took several pages of notes that hopefully I'll get the chance to review some time today.

I only wrote about 500 words yesterday. Boy, that's no where near the 5k I'd hoped to hit, but I feel okay about it though. Mini didn't sleep well the night before, so when he got up I couldn't decide whether to take him on to school or not. I checked his temperature, which was fine, but he has a bad cough, and a stuffy-but-runny nose. He was running through the house full speed so I figured he'd be okay up there. I dressed him, got everything ready to leave, and noticed it was raining.

Now, a stray dog has come up in the neighborhood, one our neighbors have been feeding. She wants to run into our house whenever she sees us hauling in groceries or checking the mail or whatever, and she spends a lot of time in our front yard. The thing is, while she's still puppy-ish and a bit klutzy, she's big.

I told Mini to stay away from her to go straight to the Jeep when we walked out of the house, but the moment he was out the door he shouted "Rosy!" and took off the yard in the opposite direction. He's been totally ignoring us lately when we tell him to do something. But anyway, in 10 seconds flat, Rosy had pounced him. I had just opened the car door for him and look back - there he is, laid out flat in the mud with the dog on top of him.

Lemme just say, the neighbors probably thought sailors had arrived at our house. I was not happy at all. I took Mini inside - he had mud streaked across his face, in his hair, all over his clothes. I redressed him and once again got ready to leave. We were about fifteen minutes behind at that point, I still had to haul out the garbage, and somewhere during that time it started pouring rain.

I put Mini in the car, and it was raining so hard I could barely see the road. It seemed the gods were against me all the way. I pretty much decided then and there Mini could just stay home. We took the trash "to the kitties" - the trash bins where all the stray cats hang out albeit not in the rain, obviously - then came home.

I spent the day reminding Mini to leave Divadog's puppies alone. I tell you, it's not calming to the soul. *_*

This morning, Little Man is definitely going to school. For the sake of Mimi's sanity, he must go run off all that kidlet energy among the other classroom heathens. It's the way nature intended.

My house is a hella mess, so once I'm back I've got to do some cleaning before I can settle in to write. But once I do...I have a mad date with Dr. Wicked's writing lab today. Bet your boots.

Oh! The new Star Trek movie is out of DVD today, so I gotta run by the store and pick up a copy for hubster. He's been talking about that one for a while. Last night we sat through The Plan (DVD). It was a lot of rehashed BSG footage sprinkled in with new bits. Catching a few glimpses of #2 was the only value to be had in it. Why, yes, I am just such a fan girl that I'd sit through it for that reason. Why do you ask? :P

So anyway, writing, kids...what's missing? Coffee! Cripes, I need another cup, and it's fifteen til 8. Gotta get the kidlet ready for school. Rush, rush, rush. I know, I bring it on myself. It's an illness.

Happy Tuesday, everyone. Hope your day is like rainbows!

Labels: ...or something like that

Posted by Cora Zane :: 4:53 AM :: 4 comments

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Friday, November 13, 2009

Surfacing from the Void

Oh wow! I didn't realize the last time I'd posted was on Tuesday. This week has been a bit hectic, so I've kinda lost track. Last night I was in a school meeting for 2 hours, and only realized mid-way through the meeting that I'd been elected to the board to cover my son's district. Heck, no one told me I'd been nominated, or that it was part of the current position - whichever it is supposed to be. At any rate, that's one more responsibility I hadn't counted on.

Tomorrow I'm hitching a ride with Jamie to the NOLA Stars meeting (RWA) in Shreveport-Bossier. I'm looking forward to it. Mini is spending the weekend with his grandparents, so that means when I get back home that evening, all I have to do is drive Oldest to the homecoming dance. If I can get my crit partner online around that time, maybe we can do a timed writing or two.

So far today I've written 2300 words on my NaNo project. That puts me over 25,000. Woot! So I'm past the half way point. I think that's the closest to goal I've ever gotten when attempting NaNo. Very happy with that!

Oh, goodness. Diva Dog's puppies... I almost forgot. Such cute little nippers. I have a photo to share. :*) They're a week old now!

Happy Friday!

Labels: Diva Dog, NaNoWriMo, puppies, writing stuff

Posted by Cora Zane :: 2:59 PM :: 4 comments

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