Time...

I made the blog loop this am and found Tonya Knapp's post Time, Time, Time about one author's ingenious ways of finding time to write...and I totally borrowed the Writing Time Tip cartoon from her site:)

Not sure if my comment was appreciated or not but I wrote:

"Boy, do I remember the days of writing in car line( always good for an hour) and–soccer, basketball, track, cheer-leading–practice (I think daughters don’t mind as much as boys because having the eccentric writing mom isn’t a bad thing), and at hundreds of doctor appointments…
I bribed my four year old one Big Comfy Couch at a time…
Over time I figured out what works for my primo-productivity (and especially now that my kids are older and understand the concept of “work”) which means going into my office and closing the door for defined work hours. No phone. No distractions.
It’s still a pretty cushy job, I’m my own boss, I set my own hours, and I can wear my PJ’s to the office.
Setting my own hours is a double edged sword because if I work 20, 40, 60 hours a week I have no one to blame but myself if I don’t reach my writing goals for the week.
Which brings me to goal setting. I define a goal for the year (2009 was to write and get accepted 12 novels) and then the big goal into workable chunks (one book per month) and then measurable (20K per week) and depending on how many days I planned to write (3-4K per day) and voila…
So, that’s what works for me…
Now, if I could just teach Petey (my male hound dog) to throw the Frisbee for Jazzi (my gal Aussie shepherd) I could really get some work done!"

Edits, Writing, and PMS...

As you know I've been working on LOVERS this week, hoping to start submitting it around by the end of the month...and ready to absolutely pull my hair out because every time I tie up a loose thread I find two more...completely ripped out a fatal flaw and started from scratch on one of my secondary characters...yikes...but with eight, yes I said eight, main characters...all interconnected lovers...and written from each character's POV it was bound to get messy.

I sent in a proposal for my paranormal that got only so far as, "maybe this is too much horror" for our audience...hmmm...last time I looked it wasn't very horrorific which just goes to show that both my proposal skills and my blurb skills need work. This time last year I had an amazing editor I could bounce proposal ideas off of and he would point out what worked and what didn't work...but since he has fallen off the edge of cyberspace I am now left to my own devices...sigh.

Maybe I'll just kill everyone off at the end of the paranormal and make it a horror story then I could use the current proposal to sell to a different market.

No doubt, they'd write back and say its too erotic romance for them...

Really, I'm not being bitchy, it's the PMS talking.

It is a frustrating game I play though, bouncing ideas back and forth and hoping someone somewhere will like what I've already written...and not have to go back to square one as is so many times the case. I have dozens of partials sitting on the back-back burner waiting to be fleshed out...and at least six (I think I'm forgetting one) on the back burner almost complete...and four I'm drifting back and forth between polishing up. Which means I am constantly scanning the lists for who is acquiring what in the hopes I have something that will fit...and in the case of the recent Secretary WIP (which is now titled SO YOU WANT A JOB) I started from page one word one and just wrote to meet the need...

The good news is...

Edits are finished on both REAPER and PRODIGAL SLAVE (both coming out with Liquid Silver) Reaper has been through both proofer and readers AND has cover art. Prodigal Slave should be shooting off to the proofer in short order....

A final draft of SO YOU WANT A JOB has been sent in to Loose-Id and is now awaiting edits.

Oh, oh...and PORNSTAR now has a home with Samhain!!! Yes, my lesbian erotica will be published! It also has a new title: HEART OF CHANGE.

And SACRED SECRETS is waiting in queue waiting for a release date with Lyrical Press:)

All in all it hasn't been a bad week...

Secretary WIP Done!

I am throwing confetti and doing the happy dance. The story even has a tentative title "Recession Crazy" though I'll assume it will be shortened in editing...

I can honestly say this was the hardest story I've ever written. Thank Goddess, it is done...even emailed to my editor. Whew!

And just in time to review score for Sacred Secrets...since my editor at Lyrical wants it back asap as well.

It's Sunday night and I haven't seen the light of day...gonna go catch some twilight and play with the dogs:) I know Jazzi is more than ready! Me too!

Some Days...

Some days writing is work...take today. I'd rather be playing but I 5K to write before tomorrow ends, meaning wrap up the secretary story...tie all the loose ends, give it a happily ever after...or at least I'm happy for today ending.

But hubby is home...and I don't want to write.
Pout.

I wish I would have stayed up Thursday night and finished it while ideas were coming at me by the thousands...oh well...too late for should have's. I need to just sit my ass in a chair and do it!

Maybe after dinner and another glass of wine...
Maybe after we snuggle a little longer...
Maybe.

Calling Out My Demon

Whew, I had no idea I was emotionally on edge about my current WIP, the yet titled secretary story. Yesterday, I was brainstorming with hubby about what I can do to kick the secretary novel up a notch...and eyyyow! The stuff that came to the surface made my blood BOIL...not in a good way...in an angry way.

Anything that stirs up that kind of emotion has to be written because a writer's best friend is intense emotion: anger, fear, hate, love, lust, envy, jealousy.

Raw, undiluted emotion is scary stuff and in the writer's world, separates the men from the boys, the women from the girls. No one wants to face their darkest fears, their losses, their inner demon on a good day, but to purposely poke those demons to make them rise even closer to the surface of thought so that the demon drives the thought--only a real masochist, or a writer--would force themselves through such torment.

My family is used to coming into the office by now and finding me slumped over the computer sobbing...and typing as fast as my fingers can move. I've learned that the scenes that make me ache or cringe or want to run screaming into the night are the scenes my readers write me about, saying they've been inexplicably "moved" "touched" or "in some way changed."

I've also learned from my critique partner that when I cheat and edge around an emotionally touchy idea it is obvious (maybe only to her since we can see right through each others writing, just sometimes not our own) She'll call and say, "You cheesed that scene so bad." And I'll take a fresh look and say "Yeah, yeah I did"

Fixing those scenes takes opening up...finding the pain inside...and harnessing it.

Yesterday, I outlined the scene, then backed away -- I need to be alone with my demon awhile to pull up the kind of emotion I need to write the scene. Cheesing out is not an option. Today I'm digging deep and hoping the scene flows easily.

Holy Crapola, It's A BEAR!

I just heard a black bear was sited just miles from where I live!
This is crazy!
I didn't even know black bears were ever seen in Ohio until I googled to see if the bear sighting rumors were a prank. The video shows a real bear!
And it's hit the news!

The local news is calling him "Buckeye the Bear"



So, I call Sir Hotness to tell him...because this is really exciting news to me...I think black bears were last seen in any numbers in Ohio in the 1800's! But after googling I found that several bear sightings are reported every year...

News to me. Not to Sir Hotness. In his words, "Baby, you thought coyotes were only seen out west until we moved." Smartass...yes, there are coyotes in our backyard every night. Again. Who knew? Not me.

The most surprising thing was how fast this bear seems to be moving, supposedly covering three counties in two days. Just where does he think he's going? And why?

And if I take the grandbabies hiking, do I now have to worry about running into a black bear? And I thought my biggest worry was the strange old man who seems to be always walking his dogs every time I'm at the park and seems WAY TOO CHATTY...

FYI, for local readers of the blog:
Black bears are an endangered species in Ohio and hunting them is illegal...
Do not call 911 if you see the bear, but do call the local police non-emergency number to report the sighting because his movements are being tracked.

Escapee Dogs!

Don't you just love it when you are all set to work (in my case type sexy hot stories) and a case of All Hell Breaks Loose sets a new course of events into action? Yesterday was a grey, rainy day and the dogs were playing in the living room, my daughter kissed me on the cheek goodbye before taking off on the first day of summer mayhem with friends...

And I look out my window to find my dog Jazzi running across the back yard and into the farmers field behind the house...

And I think "that's strange"...

Then there was the "Oh shit moment."

How did you get out of the house?

Followed by "where's Petey?" (the obstinant male dog)

You guessed it. Already across the farmers field and headed straight for the ponds. If you live in the country, you are probably scratching your heads thinking, "So?" Which we kind of live in the country ... if lots of fields count...but we also have a main road out front with lots of traffic. And both of my dogs are mostly indoor dogs which are kept on a lead at all times when outdoors.

So my heart was in my throat because unlike the good little Lassies that come when they are called on television shows, when my dogs get a whiff of freedom they shoot off like a bat out of hell...and the harder you chase, the faster they run.

Of course not realizing the implications of giving chase, I grabbed the leash and took off through the rain and mud after the dogs... twenty minutes later I gave up the chase and returned home angry and defeated...and worried "now what?" with the hope they might come home on their own because I'd lost sight of them when they hit the thistle thicket.

Having left the back door open, I was only slightly surprised to find two wet, muddy dogs waiting for me and dripping on my laminant floor...I can only assume they ran the ravine home.

They were rewarded with cheese (their favorite) and a long walk in the rain:)

Jazzi and Petey, looking much more innocent than they truly are...

Editing and Writing Today...Then Grandbabies

This morning the grandbabies are in preschool...until 4pm...so I am editting Reaper for Liquid Silver. Then crossing my fingers I will be able to crank out a few thousand words on the secretary WIP for Loose-Id.

Then grandbabies will be here to pick strawberries, help make s'ketti, and wreak general havoc.

Unexpected Visitors...

My oldest daughter and two grandbabies showed up this morning to stay a week...unexpectedly. So as of this post, I'm running behind on what was supposed to be a jam packed day. There are edits waiting, 2 WIP's waiting, Fetlife members waiting to be greeted...
I have a book I'm supposed to be reading to review...
Three blogs to contribute to...

I'm not sure how I ever managed to do all that I did when I was 23 with a five year old and three year old in the house...but I managed...I'm assuming I will will figure this week out too.

But honestly, family always comes first and the grandbabies are wonderful! I'm glad they are here:) Its been a long time since I braided a little one's hair...what sweet memories I have, of my own babies, and now my grandbabies...

I Never Thought I'd Say...

It's supposed to rain the next few days and I'm thrilled.
Bright sunny days are great for my soul but very very bad for my writing goals.
So, I've been very, very bad and haven't written in three days...

Cloudy, rainy...today will be much, much better.

I'm trudging through the paranormal...not because the ideas aren't working or because the plot is weak, but rather because I find myself questioning every single word in an attempt to build suspense.

It was making me a little crabby so I've pulled an erotica WIP off the backburner and am revising it with a strong-handed review from Xandra to take it to a different level. Women's Fiction...with bdsm elements. I think this one is probably the best thing I've ever written and am trying to figure out where it needs to go...

I may ask an agent to find me a home for it...
That's assuming I can get an agent. I've never tried very hard. I sent some stuff to a long time agent who was in the process of looking it over when her own life angst dropped her off the face of the map...and I haven't tried anyone else.

I got my first rejection letter for the year, which sucks btw, but I'm not taking it personally. One thing I've learned over the last few years is that every house has its own style. If you can figure out their formula and get it down cold, you become a goldmine to them. I made the mistake of sending something out of formula which means I only need to send it to a house that appreciates a little emotion and life angst from secondary characters along with their main character sex scenes. So, not to worry, I have a perfect erotic romance coming right up to send to that particular house...yay me, at least I'm a well-rounded writer.

I queried a different house and editor last night and she wants me to send a BDSM Menage WIP I've been working on to her...so this morning feels like a very yin-yang morning...

And I am up to my eyeballs with three different projects going at the same time this morning.

Welcome to a writers life...

Trust...

My ex BF stopped in on Saturday to show me and Sir Hotness his newest Harley (Um, yeah, it's my favorite color...purple...he has good taste)

And the conversation revolved around the bike and the garden we were putting out at the time. We steered clear of asking him if he'd fixed things with the latest lovely who at last chat wasn't working out because she was jealous that he remained friends with all of his exes...

But then on Sunday he text the question, "Is it okay with **R** that we're friends?"
Obviously...
Then came the text, "Ask him why."

I could see where this was going and its a question that I'd love to know the answer to as well...After three psychotically jealous partners, I AM THRILLED to have found a guy that just isn't. And I know it is a huge problem in a lot of other friends relationships. So I asked him.

Here's what Sir Hotness said, "Jealousy is lack of trust. The better question is why would I be in a relationship with someone I didn't trust?"

I can't really add anything to that wspecially since the ex concerned was once upon a time hideously jealous of anyone who blinked my way. A little karma maybe;)

Seriously, jealousy isn't pretty and relationships are soooo much better when it isn't a factor.

Rain...again

I'm not really not a big fan of rain...clouds...fog.
Yesterday was okay...a perfect drizzly English kind of day. A soft rain day that I could still garden in, take walks in, play with the dogs in. Today...pretty sucky. Especially since I had to drive home from the airport through interstate road construction in the poring rain and fog.

I ended up rereading the beginning of Bleak House (Dickenson) while I soaked in a really hot tub and pouted about it raining. I love Dickenson btw. But it didn't really trigger any great thoughts toward the paranormal or the erotic WIP's I have going...and I really didn't care because I remembered WHY I WRITE.

Words...
Strung together to create images, emotions...

OMG!
I just looked through the window and guess what I saw...

Beautiful Things...

What is it about an ass shot? White stockings? Bows? Polka-dots? Tattoos?

As long as I found all of my favs in one place, I just wanted to share...

So, more beautiful things...

I want to turn this beauty into my next mixed media...

Had to share a moment from my life...
Yesterday I was having a highly philosophical debate with Xandra about Jesus and Buddha and Isis...
And talking about end of times ... think Revelations...

And there is a knock at the door who turns out to be a preacher doing the door-to-door thing. Scary stuff.

Then I went to lunch with my middle daughter to celebrate the release of EDGE and ended up at the theater watching Knowing...she hated it, I LOVED IT!

Home again, working on the latest WIP...still title-less

Wierd Day?

Everyone has days like this, right?

9am

Bounced into a woman I have not seen in twenty-six years...and she's screaming my name from across the dining room of a McDonalds...my maiden name. And I'm thinking WTF?
There are disadvantages to moving "back home" after twenty-odd years: like everyone who stayed remembers you.
I didn't have a clue.
I start racking my brain, seriously going through the names in my head of girls I used to know and she's naming "mutual friends" asking have you seen__, have you heard__, have you, have you, have you????? OMG.
She even knew my first husband was in a horrific accident and wanted to know if I'd ever remarried...
Okay, so I'm not stupid.
Me: "Oh my goodness! We have to get together, catch up, do you have a business card?" (Yeah, I can think quick on my feet when needed.) The conversation went down hill from there when I got invited to her house for a "Revolution Meeting."
Me: "A what?"
Her: "It's like a party. We are going to discuss what has to be done to take our country back."
Me: "Holy fuck. You're joking right?"
Her: "No! We have to get rid of Obama before the world as we no it comes to an end..." I zoned for a minute so I lost some of the conversation but it had veered into patriarchal fundamentalism and I started backing away. I announced I voted for Obama, am still supporting Obama, and proceeded to start listing all the amazing things he's already done in a short amount of time. I also mentioned that I'm pagan and have no intention of ever going to her church.

11a.m.
Chat with a friend who wanted advice about becoming a Pro-Domme...I ran out of advice right after asking if she knew if there were prostitution laws in Ohio...which yeah, I know, a Pro-Domme is not a prostitute but does the average city cop know that?

12-ish
Chat with my critique partner to ask her what I should write today.
She advised going back to the paranormal maybe horror VooDoo book...
I'm taking her advice irst thing a.m. tomorrow.

1pm
Advice to a friend who keeps getting women mad at her because when they ask her out to lunch, they get mad when she denies being a dyke...and accuse her of just not wanting to have sex with them, demanding to know what is wrong with them that she isn't interested. Trust me, I've seen some of these women and I wish I had my friend's problem.
Advice for too many hot women wanting to buy her lunch=have them call me.
She says, "You're not a lesbian either."
My answer to that? The same one its been since I was sixteen. "Hello? Bisexual. Pay attention."

3pm
Conversation with another friend who says to me, "You will not believe what my father-in-law wants us to do! He wants us to go in with him buying some guns."
Remembering my earlier weird conversation from this morning I said, "OMG tell me he is not going to a revolution meeting?" (I was JOKING!)
Her: "I don't know about that but he says we need to learn how to be survivalists. Maybe move to Mexico so we can avoid taxation without representation and avoid the draft into the militia."

Question...Can you be drafted by a militia? Seriously?

4pm
I google "revolution." Did anyone think that anyone was going to take Rep-Michele Buchmann
serious when she called for an orderly revolution? I'm still hoping not.

6pm
I get an email from a guy who has emailed me once before asking me if I want to see LA. This time he is trying to put together a party where he gets to be the Dom and I would get to be one of three or four other slaves pampering him for his birthday. (the short answer was No Fucking Way...but then I thought of my friend who wants to be a ProDomme and I really thought about giving her his email. I've never seen the guy but I think she could take him.)

7pm
Started laying out VooDoo chapter heading by chapter heading to get a head start

8:30pm
Finally got around to reading my email tarot for the day:
Taurus: Just take it step-by-step at work

Hmmm...step by step...chapter by chapter...I think I finally did something right today;)

WIP Submitted

Whew! The latest WIP has been submitted...

Now, I can focus on my back burner which is bubbling over with WIPs. Deciding which to focus on is the problem. I have the paranormal monster, magic WIP Daughter of Darkness that could go horror...I have the yet unnamed paranormal werewolf romance...I have WIP Lovers, the BIG BOOK that I have been working on for eight months that is at 120K and nowhere near ending and falls somewhere between contemporary fiction, chick-lit, and erotica...I dare not call it literary fiction yet, but may have to face that truth when it hits 150K and I definitely see it doing that.

Actually, I think I'll take the weekend to mull it over since Sir Hotness will actually be in town AND we're celebrating his birthday before he goes out on the road for a week. Between trips he'll only be home for 36 hours (long enough for the Welcome Spring Party) before going out again, so I will have plenty of solitary time to focus and write which is making me feel like bringing the BIG BOOK forward to the main burner is a good idea.

Then there are a few short stories I'm playing with...

What is staying on the back burner for now:
WIP Frank's Garage (lesbian erotic romance)
WIP Perilous Rendezvous
WIP Prime
WIP Vow of Silence (George's stand alone story inspired by the Chronicles)
WIP Echo of Redemption (Book 4 of the Chronicles of Surrender)

Wow...looking at this list...I really don't think I have time to take a weekend off...geesh!

Down...for now.

Today I woke up at eleven am and thought it was barely dawn. Removing my sleepmask proved it was day...looking at the clock was jarring. I rarely sleep. A nine hour sleep night is not a good sign...

Sir Hotness was home to witness the crash...

Luckily, he's a big boy and can entertain himself. I made it to the table by noon to slam two Pepsis. Took some vitamins and headed to the shower, ended up in the tub instead and woke up to the phone wringing at two in barely warm water. Torn between adding more hot water or trying to start the day over for a second time.

I opted for the latter and tried to read a book, but after reading the same page three times decided it was time to take another nap.

It's eight pm now and I am beginning to feel human but am making myself sleep tonight and giving my brain another day off tomorrow. Hopefully, Tuesday I will be back to normal.

Did Anyone Notice?

Yesterday was Friday the Thirteenth, the second Friday the thirteenth in as many months...back to back...and it was a full moon...

Seems like the perfect time to talk about my split-writer-personality...

I love, love, love to write about sex, BDSM, and unusual romances...thus, Roxy Harte, erotica writer...

But I've also been writing paranormal both romantic and straight fiction since 1996...without submitting...because I've seen them as stories just for me. A vacation from my norm...

Recently, I've been looking them over with a critical eye and feel that they are just as well written, just as entertaining as my erotica, and I've been thinking, why not try to get them published?

Intent I have put in motion this month with my submission to Liquid Silver Books of REAPER...and had accepted...so it is coming soon. I am very excited!

I have several more I plan to spruce up, finish (they're kind of in an unfinished limbo on the back burner), and get submitted...

And I know I am not the first writer to worry about such things, but my pen name, Roxy Harte, has become associated with BDSM emotionally-psychologically charged erotica...and I don't want someone to pick up one of my paranormals and think that is what they are getting. Likewise, I do not want someone whose first impression of my writing as paranormal to pick up a BDSM charged erotic and hurl obsenities at me because they didn't realize what they were getting...

So what to do? What to do?

I'm leaving the question open over the weekend, anyone with any ideas or comments, anyone who has previously dealt with a similar issue or was disappointed or pleasantly surprised by an author who pulled a genre-changaroo...comment. I need input...

I'm kind of toying with using my maiden name...instead of Roxy Harte.
Or I could used my married name (which would be strange because I never changed my name to the last name of my latest husband)...