At long last...

The weekend is here! Been dealing with a sick husband this week. I always feel so bad when he's under the weather b/c it rarely happens. Usually he won't admit it, but this time he could barely get out of bed.


I finished Jill Sorenson's Crash Into Me earlier this week and OMG, I wish I'd gotten to it sooner. I can't remember where I saw it reviewed. Maybe Carolyn's page? It's one of the best books I've read in a long time. So often in romantic suspense, the plot overtakes the story, but this one was very character driven. In addition, all the characters were quite flawed, making the story that much more believable. I'm not a 'crier' and I teared up a few times. Since I'm not a reviewer I'm not going to give a breakdown of the story, but I did want to share that it's definitely worth picking up.


This weekend I'll be working on tweaking a synopsis and hopefully getting the manuscript out on Monday. I feel like it's ready now, but I want the weekend to review it one more time (or maybe twice). It's like I can't send it out until I'm completely sick of looking at it. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Writers Gone Wild

I'm blogging about contests at Writers Gone Wild today. Come say hi!

New Website

I finally found a designer I loved at an affordable price! In addition, I can do updates myself. Check out my new website if you get a chance.

And the winner is...

The winner of the March contest is Sarai! Thanks to those who participated :)


The man and I aren't actually doing anything big for our anniversary today, just relaxing. In three weeks we're taking a weekend trip to St. Augustine in celebration, but today I think we're going to try and sneak over to the beach (weather permitting) for a few hours and catch a movie later.


Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Writers Gone Wild

I'm over at Writers Gone Wild Today! Come see me :)

Don't forget, tomorrow is the last day to enter my March contest!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This has long been one of my favorite holidays! My sister and I were actually in Ireland one year (2003) for St. Paddy's Day and so far, it's been the best year yet! The day is a bit of a blur but I know we saw a parade (have the pics to prove it), drank a lot of beer, and came back to our hostel with a lot of green beads. If I'm being really honest, that entire trip was a bit of a blur. Years ago, we took a month off and backpacked through Ireland taking millions of pictures and making lots of friends as we went. A few of the places we stayed in were sketchy, but there was only one place we actually left after paying for a room. Can't remember the name, but it was somewhere in Belfast. I shudder thinking about the stench and the creepster that wouldn't leave us alone. Ugh. That was the only city we actually splurged the entire trip and stayed in a nice place for a couple days.


Hope everyone has a great St. Patrick's Day! We've got corned beef and cabbage already cooking back at the house!

Yay for Friday!

This daylight savings nonsense is really kicking my butt. It's totally thrown off my writing schedule in the morning. Some good news however, I finished plotting out the last six chapters of my current WIP. Met with my CP last night for coffee and we were both struggling through some plotting issues. She gave me some good insight but I was still a little shaky on my direction so when I got home I busted out a book I got a couple months ago, The Writer's Brainstorming Kit. I got it b/c I heard it was amazing, but haven't had a chance to use it yet. My last WIP I did a pretty good job of pre-plotting and my current WIP I had the basics down so I didn't think I'd need it. Well, I hit a roadblock concerning the Black Moment so I tried using the book/cards and I found what I was looking for. Sometimes all it takes is a phrase to point me in the right direction. Sweet relief just in time for the weekend! Now hopefully I can get some actual writing done tomorrow!

Don't forget my March contest is open until next week.

WGW Wednesday

I'm over at Writers Gone Wild today. :)

March Contest

Next week Josh and I will be celebrating our 5 year anniversary! I’ve been very nostalgic the past couple weeks, going through old photos and trying to get organized. I have two bins of photos that I haven’t backed up so that's something I hope to get knocked out in the next couple months. I also realized that I still haven’t mailed off our wedding video to be made into a DVD. It’s officially on my list of things to do this week. I’m hoping to get the video in time for our actual anniversary.


In honor of this month, the March contest will be simple. What’s your favorite anniversary story? Yours or someone else’s? Winner will be picked at random on March 20 (you have until the 19th to enter).


One winner will get to pick two books from the following list:


Playing with Fire – Gena Showalter (HQN)
Deception Point – Dan Brown (Pocket)
Breaking Point – Suzanne Brockmann (Ballantine)
Devil May Cry – Sherrilyn Kenyon (St. Martin’s)
Down in Texas – Delilah Devlin (Aphrodisia)
Tempting the Prince – Patricia Grasso (Autographed - Zebra)
The Italian – Elaine Coffman (Mira)
Wicked Woman – Denise Eagan (Zebra)
Bite Me if You Can – Lynsay Sands (Avon)
Make Me a Match – Diana Holquist (Warner)
The Supplicant – Lucinda Betts (Autographed – Aphrodisia line)
To School A Cowboy – Susan Shay (Wild Rose Press)
Blood Lines – Kit Tunstall (Ellora’s Cave)
Murder List – Julie Garwood (Ballantine)


Please note, if you join my newsletter you’ll be automatically entered into any contest I have from today until December.

2009 Touch of Magic Contest

If you're looking to enter a good contest this year, my local chapter is having their annual Touch of Magic contest for unpublished authors. It's very organized and they've got some great final judges! Not to mention, there's an electronic option this year.

Touch of Magic Contest, open to all unpublished RWA members

Fees: CFRW Members, $30 Non-Members, $35

Electronic: subtract $5: CFRW members, $25 non-members, $30
Fee includes return postage.

Finalists will have a chance to revise before entries are sent to editors.

Receipt Deadline: March 22, 2009

Enter: Up to the first 25 pages of your manuscript (prologue included in page count), plus a synopsis (not judged, 3 double-spaced pages, max).

Categories:
Series Contemporary
Paranormal
Historical
Single Title Contemporary
Novel with Strong Romantic Elements.

Judges: experienced/certified, published

Final round judges:

Series Contemporary, Gail Chasan, Silhouette Special Edition

Paranormal, Allison Brandau, The Berkley Publishing Group

Historical, Helen Rosburg, Medallion Press

Single Title, Danielle Poiesz, Pocket Books

NSRE, Esi Sogah, Avon/HarperCollins

Top prize: Touch of Magic award, certificate, announced in RWR.

For more information, entry form and rules, visit the CFRW website at www.cfrwa.org or send an SASE to:
Touch of Magic, c/o Lorena Streeter
4758 Sturbridge Cir
Orlando, FL 32812
Email: lorenas@cfl.rr.com

Done with Taxes

Whew! For the past two hours I've been working on taxes, but I'm finally done. If you're a writer and you haven't taken a tax class (and you're not a CPA) I highly recommend it. The one I took has been a better investment than any plotting or characterization class I've ever taken (not that I'm knocking any classes). I'm extremely organized, but the class not only taught me how to fill out a Schedule C (among many many other things), but how to organize my records throughout the year so that I was ready come tax time. I took this class a couple years ago and it helped with my taxes even before I was published so if you haven't, look into it! Here's Diane O'Brien Kelly's website for more info.

Shopping at B & N (and why I'll never take my husband again)

I finally got to use the Barnes & Noble gift card my sister got me for Christmas! Of course I hit up the romance section first b/c I've been waiting (impatiently) to get Jill Sorenson's Crash Into Me. It came out in February, but I haven't been able to make it to the store until now. Lucky for me, I got the last copy! Okay, it might not have been the last copy in the store, but it was the last one on the shelf. I'm still reading Allison Brennan's Tempting Evil, but as soon as I'm through, I'm devouring this book! I also got books by Karen Rose, Sherrilyn Kenyon, and Suzanne Brockmann. (Found the SK hardback on sale for less than a paperback...I'm so happy!) I've never been book shopping with my husband before and I don't think it's something I wish to repeat. Josh (hubby) is very secure in his masculinity. If we go to a club or out dancing, he doesn't have a problem holding my purse and five of my girlfriends' purses. He was a Marine, the man can handle anything. Or so I thought. Apparently I overestimated his ability to handle walking through the *shhh* romance section of a bookstore. Good Lord I'm not going to go into detail but it wasn't pretty. He knows what I write, that's why his reaction was a lil' surprising.


Once we rushed through 'my' section of the store we hit up the military/history section b/c I wanted to get some reference books and all was well again. The man's face was no longer red and he wasn't hiding behind shelves like a scared rabbit.


Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend! I got some writing done this morning, but I plan on reading the rest of the evening.