Fee Fi Ho Hum

For anyone who thinks a writer's life is glamorous, all you have to do is read the titles of my blogs. Today I re-read the ending of the historical. I kept promising myself to start reading the printed beginning but I didn't do it. Did a little market research (what other authors do readers buy when they buy one of my titles? And who are their publishers?), played e-mail tag with my agent, read a friend's synopsis, paid bills, and cursed winter. La la la la. I reeeeeaaaallllly need new material to work on. Not that I don't have a dozen proposals in here in various stages, but I'm getting tired of rewriting them everytime I'm told they're too "romancey" or not "romancey" enough. If they'd just let me write them the way I like them.... Right.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Inspired to Tedious

Okay, the WIP has finally reached the point where instead of being madly in love with my characters and eager to paint them in all their flaws and perfections, I just want to shoot them and put them out of my misery. No matter at what point I try to edit or revise, it's all trash. Maybe it's time to set it aside and consider other projects.

Anyone have a good solution for editing a WIP when it reaches tedious? Or a new project to work on? I guess I could scout the bookstore shelves and see what publisher is selling what these days, but my head begins to spin after a shelf or two. Anyone read any great books lately?

THE END dance

I've worked my way through to the end of my revised historical draft, tweaking and twitching and attempting to thread all the snipped bits seamlessly into the remaining tapestry. I have no idea if I've succeeded. Tomorrow, I'll have to re-read those final chapters once again, and then I'll have to print out the whole mess and really begin editing and revising.

Which leads me to the question--at what point do we call the book done? When am I allowed a real happy dance of joy and triumph at completing a project? When I send it to my editor? When she sends it back, I revise it, and send it again? When and if she approves the revisions? After the copyedit is finished? The proof pages corrected? Or when the book finally shows up on the store shelves?

Right at the moment, I'm thinking all of the above. Does anyone have a celebration process they want to share?

Still Unproductive

My computer is apparently as reluctant as I am to get out of holiday mode. I had to threaten it with cannon and dragons this morning, and it still took hours before I got it up and running right. I'm definitely considering an Apple laptop when it comes time to replace my dying Toshiba.

Even when I finally got up and running, I wasted another hour tracking down my characters' clothing in the current historical in process. Clothing! And not even good clothing at that. I had a strong vision of my hero in rags in the original amnesia version of this story, and there was no reason for rags in this second version. So I apparently left him naked. "G" Always a good practice in romance, if there's justification for it. Unfortunately, a naked hero running around Brittany in 1793 probably isn't justified. So I had to make certain he was dressed and that the clothing didn't jump from boots to sandals and back according to my whim of the day.

And I've pretty much puttered ever since. It's my husband's birthday today, so I have reservations at a wonderful local restaurant for the evening. Maybe I can quit pretending I'm working and go get dressed now!

All right, so everyone tell me what they're doing with the manuscripts they finished over the weekend while I was playing?

Holiday Over

Such a lovely, lovely break from the quiet writing life! Spent the week ice skating, visiting the zoo, the fabulous City Museum, eating, and eating some more. Lots of talking and watching of DVDs. (Did everyone see the news article about gabbing stimulating memory and mental activity as much as any intellectual exercises? So it pays to get out of the house and talk occasionally!)

Today, back to work as usual. Yawn. The historical is finally falling into place but it's been like pulling teeth and then pounding them back in. Painful, very painful. So I went out and bought new eyeglasses this afternoon. Not quite ready to get back into the grind apparently!