Feelin’ Hot, Hot, Hot

The weather here in Virginia has hit the 90’s, and the humidity is through the roof. On days like this, I’m happy to just stay indoors with the air conditioning running. The problem is, my yard is now on life-support, hanging in there by the mercy of the sprinklers. We desperately need to get a sprinkler system, because our grass just turns brown in July. I have joked in the past about my Harlequin advance money going toward a refrigerator, then chairs. Next, it’ll be a Harlequin Sprinkler System, I imagine.

Last night I watched “The Pursuit of Happyness” with Will Smith. I hadn’t seen the movie before, and it was quite a tear-jerker in parts. But then again, any kind of movie with a parent fighting to give their kid a better life just gets me. Especially since I have a five-year-old, and I could completely relate.

Next week I need to inventory my wardrobe for RWA. I found 2 dresses that might fit, but I’m still not at the stage where I really look pregnant. I look like I have a beer gut. On the bright side, the munchkin seems to be doing well, and it kicks around quite a bit. If it’s a boy, we have a few names picked out. If it’s a girl, we’re hosed. Not a clue what we’d call her. The names we don’t like far outnumber the ones we do like. It’s a tough call.

Today I am hoping to finish my proposal for the new book and send it off to my agent. I’ve got everything but the last 2 paragraphs of the synopsis. I have also consumed about half a bag of potato chips, in order to provoke inspiration, but so far that doesn’t seem to be working.

I did, however, inhale two books by JR Ward over the past two days–Dark Lover and Lover Eternal. Wow! She’s quite an author. Now I have to get my hot little hands on books 3 and 4…

One quick question for you. Has anyone seen “The Holiday?” Was it good? I’m in the mood for another chick flick while my husband’s away on travel.

More Mistaken Words

So, we were in the car on the way back from Vacation Bible School, and I happened to ask my son about what songs he was learning.

“Lots of songs,” he replied.
“What did you sing today?”
“Um, I don’t know the name of it.”
“Could you sing a little of it for me?”

My son clears his throat and belts out, “Be strong! Act curvaceous! Be strong! Act curvaceous!”

I was having great difficulty not busting a gut. Very seriously, I corrected him. “It’s courageous, honey.”

But inwardly, I’m thinking it must be the new Victoria’s Secret theme song.

A Little of This, a Little of That

After last week’s terrifying Library Story Hour, you can imagine that I was a bit wary of dropping my five-year-old off at Vacation Bible School. If he balked at being left alone for 30 minutes with a librarian, imagine what 3 hours of Kumbaya would do to him.

Amazingly, it wasn’t too bad. He was a bit shaky and nervous, but I had pumped him up, making him think it was like the day camp mentioned in the Berenstein Bears books he’s addicted to. He admitted he was nervous, but didn’t panic when I left. As for me? I had 2 and a half hours of completely alone time. Oh heaven. Oh bliss. Oh Starbucks.

Yes, indeedy, I packed my laptop and headed down the road to the Coffee Mecca. I’ve given up caffeine during the pregnancy, but thank goodness Starbucks can create a decaffeinated Cafe Mocha. Armed with the aforementioned coffee, a thick slab of banana walnut coffee cake, and my trusty laptop, I settled in for the long haul. I have one chapter left to write on this proposal, and I’m stoked about the new book. My hiney went numb after the first hour, but I forced myself to continue. In the end, I finished up 6 pages, which is great for the time I had. Thankfully, this Starbucks did not have free wireless Internet. There is nothing that sucks away your time more than Internet surfing and e-mail.

When I picked up my boy, he was grinning. I asked how he liked it, and he replied, “I LOVED it, Mom. We played soccer, and that’s what put the smile on my face.” Apparently they also had stories, crafts, and a snack, but his overall impression was that soccer made it all worthwhile. He’s eager to go back tomorrow, and I’m hoping to knock out the rest of this proposal. It’s the synopsis that will kill me, I’m sure. Like I really know what’s going to happen next in a 375 page book.

Thanks to all who stopped by my eHarlequin chat. I appreciated the support! Also, don’t forget you can still enter my June contest by e-mailing me your favorite beach read. I’m giving away a signed copy of Her Irish Warrior, a beach ball, flip flops, and sunscreen–everything you need to enjoy the beach!

Last, I will confess that I have found new mindless reality tv shows to watch in the evenings. I’ve started tuning in to “So You Think You Can Dance” and “The Next Food Network Star.” I really do love the cooking reality shows. “Hell’s Kitchen” is pretty interesting, but the Food Network Star one is really fun. Have you watched any of these? What do you enjoy during the summertime?

Why I Need a Toddler-English Dictionary

Me (to my 3-year-old daughter): What do you want for supper, honey?
Her: Hosanna, Mommy.
Me: Hosanna?
Her: (bursts into singing the church hymn “Hosanna in the Highest”)
Me: (frantically going through what possible word combination could rhyme with Hosanna) Are you sure that’s what you want?
Son (interrupting): She means lasagne, Mom.
Me (to daughter): You want lasagne?
Her: Yes. Hosanna.

She is now up in her bed singing the Barney song at the top of her lungs instead of sleeping. Ah, motherhood.

It never gets any easier…

I’m still posting daily over on eHarlequin and so far I’ve given away a copy of my book, chocolates were from yesterday, and today I’m giving away two more historical romances. Feel free to stop by!

Yesterday I started digging away at the new Irish proposal. I had about 8 pages, and let me tell you, the writing never gets any easier. I was ready to throw them all out. Then suddenly, my hero started coming to life. He’s a bad boy hero, a former Irish slave. And ohhh, is he fun to write. I think this will be a situation where those 8 pages were needed in order to get me on the right track. I’ll still probably throw them out, but maybe it’s like exercising. You have to run around the block a few times to warm up. After working most of the day, I ended up with about 3 pages. How pitiful is that? So today, I’m hoping that I can push myself further and get more pages. On my best writing days, I can achieve 10-12 pages.

I also took my five-year-old to the library storytime yesterday. My goodness, the boy is a nervous Tilly. He stared up at me when we were at the circulation desk waiting and said, “Mom, I don’t think this is a good idea.” I told him it was storytime, not brain surgery. But he remained attached to my leg the entire time. So much for my dreams of having a half hour of uninterrupted writing time! Next week might go better.

I’ve started reading Alyssa Day’s book Atlantis Rising. It’s good so far. At first, I was a bit confused with all the characters thrown at me, but then it settled in and it’s a fun read. It reminds me a little of Christine Feehan’s “Dark” series.

I am getting so excited about attending the Romance Writers of America National conference. To me, it’s like one big slumber party with all of my best friends around me. Love it! Are any of you folks going to be in Dallas? If so, please PLEASE come by and visit me at the Literacy Signing Wednesday night. I will be forever grateful.

My Little Graduate

My son graduated from preschool last week, and I just had to share a few photos. Notice the way he’s hiding his face, even though he’s stuck in the front row? It was a cute ceremony, complete with songs and children sharing “What I Learned in Pre-K.” When it was time for my son to do his part, his teacher said, “Would you like to share what you learned?” My dear boy blanched and shook his head wildly. “No.” Poor boy. He inherited his stage fright honestly.

Now he’s home with me, and I’m going to do my best to mix a balance of summer fun (e.g. lounging in the inflatable kiddie pool) with making sure he doesn’t forget everything he learned. Today we went to the library, and I browsed for more research books while my darling son picked out a mix of Berenstein Bear books, books on the solar system, and a biography of Abraham Lincoln.

I turned in my revised manuscript today for Her Warrior King, so now I can focus on the new ideas. I wrote 11 pages on a Victorian manuscript and realized that I wasn’t going to get any further until I figured out the external plot (which means—research!).

Also, all this week I’m hosting a discussion group on eharlequin. The topic is “Boys Your Mother Warned You About.”

This is the first time I’ve done this, so if any of you wouldn’t mind, I’d welcome your company! We can talk about Ireland or hunky warriors…anything along those lines, really. I’m going to do prize giveaways to random commenters each day, so please stop by! I’m kicking it off with an autographed copy of Her Irish Warrior and as each day goes on, I’ll do drawings for chocolate, other signed books, blatant bribes that sort of thing. Hope you can stop by!

The Last Day

All over the county, you can hear the screams of excitement from children and the screams of despair from parents. For today, my friends, is the last day of school. For the kids, at least–I have one more day.

I remember as a child being excited about the last day, because it meant I could SLEEP IN. It had nothing to do with the lack of homework and so on, it was the ability to sleep as much as I wanted. During the summers, when I lived on a military base, my friends and I would walk to the pool, swim for two hours, and then I’d go to the library and check out books for the next hour. One year, I started in the middle grade/YA section and just started with the authors beginning with the letter A. Over the summer, I worked my way down all the way through the alphabet. You name it, I read it. I remember reading Mary Poppins and thinking: That was nothing like the movie! Mary Poppins was EVIL!

Reaching further back, I remember the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle Books, Amelia Bedelia, and anything by Judy Blume or Roald Dahl. I used to read and stay up late and my mother would let me…up until she and my dad went to bed. My grandma would let me go through the books in her attic, and I read Nancy Drew, and A Girl of the Limberlost, along with Anne of Green Gables. Summers, for me, were all about the books.

What about you? What was your favorite thing to do over the summer?

Balancing Motherhood

In 4 days, my son will be out of daycare and home with me during the summer until he starts kindergarten. Before now, I never really worried about juggling my own responsibilities and having a child around, but I’m starting to wonder how stay-at-home moms manage things like doctor appointments and dental appointments. Do you just hire a babysitter? Drag the child along with you? (My OB office doesn’t allow kids, and as my pregnancy progresses, I’ll have more and more doctor appointments.)

Then, too, I have no idea how I’m going to handle teacher work days. What do you guys do when your child is off from school for a day but you aren’t able to take off a day from work? I have a feeling this is going to be trickier than it seems…Any advice is welcome!

Maybe I should just try to sell more books faster and be a SAHM instead of a teacher.

Finding the Fun in Writing

Thursday I received my revisions on Her Warrior King from my editor. She said she absolutely loved the book, which made me do the happy dance. I’m not sure how much you guys know the stress this book put me through. I’d never written a book on a deadline before, and it was the scariest thing. I felt like my brain was cracking a whip, yelling, “Be creative now, or your career is over!” I think a pound of flesh and a pint of blood went into that book.

But now is the fun part. While I find my self-imposed revisions rather like a root canal, I really like editorial revisions. It’s like having a guidebook to follow, and while I might not know exactly HOW I’m going to accomplish what she wants, it’s fun for me.

For instance, there was one chapter opening where I had the hero spending the night with the heroine. Apparently, I had somehow forgotten to justify WHY he was doing this, when he was still in the wow-she’s-hot-but-I-can’t-have-her stage. I let the idea percolate, and wham! Out of the blue I got a brand new idea for a scene, which was so much fun. I had them make a wager, and the hero lost. His penalty was having to spend the night with the heroine (just keeping her company, get your mind out of the gutter). Problem solved, and I love this new scene.

I’m down to three revisions left, and then I can e-mail the book back, after I’ve done one more read-through to catch any repetitions I’ve done. I like to start with all the little tweaks and fixes and save the big changes for last. That way I have enough time to let my subconscious work on the issues. It seems to work for me.

Tomorrow marks the last week of school. :scream::streamer: To celebrate, the teachers in sixth grade are going out for breakfast at IHOP. We look forward to this every time there’s a 7th period exam for a 2-hour block. (We have planning 7th period.) I’m a complete sucker for Belgian waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. Mmmm….can’t wait.

Last, I just finished reading my friend Anna Campbell’s Claiming the Courtesan. Anna is the sweetest person, and an absolute delight. I think some of the reviewers have put her through the wringer since this book is very controversial. Ever heard the 80’s song “Obsession?” I think that sums up the plot very nicely, and it was a fascinating read. To write about a hero like Justin took a great deal of guts, and I applaud her for it. I did enjoy the book, and to carry off the plot she did was pretty amazing.

Right now I’m reading Stephanie Tyler’s Risking it All. Love those Navy SEAL heroes! Have you read Anna or Stephanie’s books? If so, what did you think?

A little medieval humor

Carol Townend sent this link to me, an animation of the Bayeux Tapestry. I found it a bit amusing.

And then, as many of you know, I am a complete “Robin of Sherwood” geek. I found these outtakes on youtube as well. Even if you’ve never seen the series, I think they’re pretty funny in a Monty Python-esque way. Here’s a second one.

Hope you enjoy them!