Monday, August 29, 2011

Wouldn't it be nice to be published?

Yes, my answer is a resounding YES.  It would be really nice.  I am growing frustrated with the rejections.  Even more frustrated with my apparently inadequate query letter.  I have three different projects going now, all very different genres, all very enticing to me.  I know that one is more commercial than the others and it is rolling easily, but my heart lies with Estelan.  Some friends have suggested I go the commercial route for now, and I think they are right, but I really wanted to see Estelan in print.  I have thought of self-publishing, but funds are low for that kind of venture.  So, new plan, work out this paranormal romance, see if I can at least get it into eBook form and push that series forward - lots of market for romance these days - and maybe by some stroke of amazing luck I will actually find some little toe hold in the industry that could propel my Estelan series.  I will always be grateful for Estelan, no matter what happens, because it got me writing again.  Somehow Estelan re-animated my writing, and that is why my blog remains "Creating Estelan" - just to answer the queries I have gotten on that topic. 

Thank you again to all of you who have supported me in this journey. 

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Dental work - a major buzz kill

So, had a fabulous birthday on Wednesday.  It was nice and relaxing and I was able to enjoy a few beers with my awesome parents.  Feeling pretty good until I woke up on Thursday with some flu-like symptoms and the knowledge that I already had a dentist appointment for some major work (and I mean the kind where they have to sedate you and you wake up all loopy).  Needless to say, I went to work for all of three hours before I tapped out and took a small nap before the dentist who did a wonderful job but left me looking like I got bitch-slapped.  Yep, you read it right.  That evening I found that the entire left side of my face was not only sore and swollen but bruised.  It was charming.  Friday was not much better and when you have to drink out of a straw to boot - well, let's just say those looks of sympathy from other patrons told me all I needed to know about how I looked.  Today, I am happy to report I am almost able to smile again, almost able to chew again, and with some make-up I can almost hide the bruising.  Still, dental work = major buzz kill for this glorious weekend in Seattle!

P.S. For those of you following my paranormal romance...I am just over 8,000 words so it is coming along fabulously and I hope to have initial copies to my four initial readers after Labor Day. 

Monday, August 22, 2011

Is it a good idea to blog when you are sleep deprived?

I am not sure.  I was in Ohio over the weekend for my fantasy football drafts and to drop the kids off for two weeks with their grandparents.  The weekend was full of ups and downs.  It unfortunately ended on a down when my flight got changed and delayed and changed and then delayed again.  I didn't get in bed until around 1:30 am and definitely made it up at 5 and to work by 6am.  Wow, I am exhausted and perhaps jet-lagged.  However, I am here.  And sadly, I have missed my blog - and my writing.  While I transported my netbook back and forth I did not get to write at all - thanks to a red eye, a busy weekend, and then a very discourteous set of travelers who made me feel even more claustrophobic than I already do on an airplane.  I sit here now, more than 12 hours after rising from a very brief sleep stint, thinking about how I really, REALLY should hit the gym seeing as how I am kid and dog free, but cannot possibly muster the least bit of energy to walk across the street to the fitness center.  Wow, that is sad.  Does it balance out if I don't have the energy to prepare food either?  I mean, I could just call it a night and head to bed, right?  But see, that doesn't really work either, right?  The likelihood of waking around 3am is too high if I go to bed now.  I am wondering if this pseudo-stream-of-conscience thing I have going on right now is working for me or not.  Hm.  Oh well, either way I am putting this up and hoping that somebody gets what I am saying or that somebody else tells me I need to go to bed....ha ha.  bed.   Ah.  soft violet sheets, fluffy pillows and an extremely soft purple blanket...oh how nice that sounds, wait, am I?  Yes, I am slightly slack-jawed with drool building in the corner of my mouth.  EEK, that makes me somewhat pathetic.  Probably more than somewhat.  Egad.  Have I mentioned that when sleep deprived I tend to overshare?  Half of the time I go so far as to overshare embarrassing and/or inappropriate information to avoid oversharing a current personal truth that somehow I would find more traumatic somehow.  Hm.  Goodness.  Yes, perhaps bed is a good plan.....

Sunday, August 14, 2011

The Kids are back in town!

After a few weeks traveling with my parents, my kiddos are back home and I am ecstatic!  I have missed them so much!  They have grown, in many ways, and of course, I now have more material for PEANUT AND MADSOX!  I don't know that they have stopped talking since they got back, but it has been funny.  They have so many great stories and their take on everything is just hilarious.  Of course, they simply do NOT want to go to sleep right now - even though they are absolutely exhausted. 

So, I sit here, ready to work on one of my projects and find myself feeling utterly at peace.  I can hear their little voices upstairs, chatting about their new room (and bunk beds) and even debating whose bunk is better.  The pauses between words are growing longer and the enunciation is slipping as well.  It will not be long until blissful dreams fill their heads. 

The joy of being a mother, I don't know anything like it!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Ryder on the Storm

Yes, my new paranormal romance novel is now 1,000 pages in and in part I pay homage to Jim Morrison and the Doors who I have loved since I was maybe seven years old (thanks Dad!!).  It hit me today when I was talking to a friend (who is actually editing FALL OF IA for me).  Here is my intro chapter (pretty rough so far) but what do you all think??

When you first realize you are different it can come as a shock.  It should come as a shock.  Storm just took it in stride, as if her mother said “Your eyes are blue” instead of “You are a Seer.”  She was seven.   Storm had awakened from a nightmare, or what she thought was a nightmare, to find herself seated between her mother and Aunt Trin.  The rough fabric of the 70s style sofa, the one her mother refused to part with even though it was fraying and covered in stains, chafed her legs beneath her gingham checked romper.  Aunt Trin stroked her hair, from the nape of her neck to her waist and over again. 
Even then Storm knew that Trin was moral support for her mother, not her.  Nothing new.  Trin had been there when Storm’s father left, and the next three boyfriends after him.  Aunt Trin, her mother’s twin, the stronger of the two.  Aunt Trin who taught Storm to control it.  Aunt Trin who took Storm in when her mother couldn’t handle it anymore.  Aunt Trin who was being lowered into the ground, the grinding of gears echoing through the graveyard.  The stargazer lilies on the top of her coffin were wilting in the heat, sweat dripped off Storm’s brow.  She wondered briefly of the sheen made her appear to be crying.  Trin would have liked that. 
Two caretakers emerged from a truck with shovels and began filling the grave.  Burly men with sweat stains under their arms that had spread in all directions, the larger man even had sweat lines down his back.  Storm refrained from sneering as she approached them. 
“Could I have another moment, please?”  She loosed the belt of her jacket revealing the navy sheath dress beneath.  As expected the caretakers’ eyes bulged slightly at her defined curves and nodded in that stunned manner Storm had become accustomed to but failed to grasp.  Once they were out of sight, she knelt beside the grave and took a handful of dirt from the pile.  With the other hand Storm reached into the pocket of her jacket and withdrew a vial.  She cast them both into the grave, stood up, brushed herself off, and walked away. 
In the driver’s seat of her VW Beetle, Storm exhaled.  It was done.  Everything she’d been asked to do.  She was free.  Sort of.  The visions would still plague her.  Unless she could break the curse.  Storm started her car and kicked the radio on, this one’s for you Aunt Trin, as Jim Morrison blew through her speakers with her namesake song.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

When life gives you lemons....

Slice them up, grab the salt, and start shooting tequila.....it works, sort of.  I am using beer today, it goes better with the slice of pizza I just forced down because my friend Jenn said it is not good to work out and not eat.  Be proud of me Jenn, I ate.  It has been one of those days where I would yell about the sky falling if I were a chicken.  Still, I am ready to write, heading that way now with a beer in hand.  Plan to move out to the deck and enjoy the last rays of sun as I tap out a few more pages of ECHO RISING. 

Today would have been a great day to get a partial request or something from an agent, would have made the world make sense again.  Alas, no go.  I am giving my Estelan series one more year and then I give in and switch to trashy romance novels for a bit - which will make a few of my coworker/editors quite pleased.  I have some great ideas for romance novels but my heart is not in them as much as it is in Estelan.  I am hoping for a sign, something to show I am on the right road with it.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Echo Rising

Finishing up chapter 2 of Echo Rising (#2 in the Estelan series) and what I think will be my favorite of the series. I wonder if it is bad as an author to have a favorite character, one that stands out, one whose entrance into the story has to be absolutely amazing to be worthy of this particular character.  My character is Echo.  I love her and I am very excited to introduce her in the Estelan series. 

On that note, a friend of mine feels that I should make book 2 my book 1 if I feel so strongly about it.  I toyed with the idea but I just cannot justify it.  One of the little things that I set out to do with this series is to create a strong 2nd book.  It is an issue for me that many series have yawners for 2nd books (LOTR, HP, Twilight) - not that they were bad, they were just lesser in the series.  I really loved LOTR and HP - two of my favorite series of all time, but the second books in both were not up to par with the others in my humble opinion.  Anyway, I am up for feedback on this line of reasoning, perhaps I am full of it, but what do you all think, does Chamber of Secrets really stand up to the rest?   Can the Two Towers hold a candle to Fellowship or Return of the King? 

Anyhow, I have been bad about blogging lately, I chalk it up to the move and a lot of writing (oh and working out regularly!  yay me!!!).  Have a great one all, Mondays can be hard!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

still unpacking....does it ever end??

Truly, I wonder if I will ever have everything put away.  I have been hanging art work and clothes, putting away books and pots and pans, hanging shower curtains and rearranging.  UGH.  I love the new place though, I did get to write a bit the last two nights which has been great.  I have the beginning for PEANUT AND MADSOX, I think.  It is very different to write a middle grade book than a fantasy novel.  WOW.  However, it is very fun to pull in bits and pieces of conversations I had with Autumn, I hope she likes it when I am done. 

I am still working with ESTELAN, I love the world, a place I can get lost and find new characters around ever corner.  Book 2 is moving along fairly well, I know where it all is going I just need to fill in and get there!!  Thanks to everyone who has been supportive in this!

Monday, August 1, 2011

All moved in!

I hate moving.  But, we are all in, just going to be unpacking for quite some time.  Love the new place, very open, very comfy, and a great neighborhood!  Many thanks to my wonderful friends who helped with the move - THANK YOU!!

I have tabled FALL OF IA for a bit, waiting for three of my readers/advisors to finish up the versions they have and give me some feedback on them.  In the meantime, I have added a bit to ECHO RISING (Book 2 of the Estelan series) and started PEANUT & MADSOX which should be a fun break when I still need to write but need to take some time away from Estelan.