Stuff

Hi! Deep in deadline mode, so again this is liable to be short. Bear with me please.

It's funny how a character can lead you down the garden path. You're going strong, it looks good, and then BOOM, dead end.

Lost a couple of pages yesterday. Production is important at this stage. LOTS to get done. SO, today I have to get a little more time in than usual.

But this morning, I'm happy: happy that I get the chance to do what I love; happy and grateful that I have the life I do. Yeah, the animals are work, but they also give me absolute, unconditional love. The things they want I can actually provide. Solveable problems are nice once in a while. (LOL)

Gotta run. Pages, pages, pages. Take care of yourselves.


Cie

Newsletter

Cathy and I are discussing doing a newsletter. If you're interested, drop an e-mail to cat_cie@msn.com and we'll add you to the list.

I'd write more, but I've GOT to get my pages done.

Take care everybody!

Cie

Batter UP!

Hi guys! Let's see. Book is cruising along. 15 pages yesterday. I wanted more, but life intervened. Went to bed last night wondering how I was going to tie everything together, woke up with the answer. Very cool.

House is an absolute pit -- but I'm on deadline. It has to wait.

Captive Moon's the next up -- comes out in August. Got the cover for Howling, which comes out in December or January.

Hope all of you are happy and well. I gotta write.

Later.

It's All HER Fault (LOL)

Hi!

Just read the LKH blog where she was talking about ideas and how they develop. I liked it, because it is very much like my process, which gives me instant vaildation and makes me feel SOOOOOO much less weird. (LOL)

For example, the other day I was reading something posted by my editor, where she talked about chick lit. (She's not that fond of it personally). POOF idea time. A post-chick-lit book. It's called: The Godmother: Or how I Learned to Let Go and Love My Bunions. Instead of a 20-30 something heroine, she's about to turn 40. She's changed careers from an editor to an agent, and has had to give up all of her Manolo Blahniks because of (GASP) BUNIONS! This costs her her foot-fetishist boyfriend (he runs off with an erotica writer) and... well, to say that it goes on and on and is completely absurd before she finally gets the man of her dreams (Raul, the romance cover model). I designed in my head the cover art. (You know all those cartoon Chick-Lit covers with the woman in a short skirt, her legs crossed and killer shoes. Picture the short skirt, shapely legs crossed, and ORTHOPEDIC shoes.) My son and I bounced ideas all the way to San Angelo (a nearby city) and even did casting of the movie version. (Charlie Sheen gets to play the ex.)

Now NOTE, I doubt this will ever get to be written (sadly). If I was going to use it, I probably wouldn't post it here. As it is, I'm not going into a lot of detail, but have a whole, dated write-up in my computer. (Paranoia, thy name is Cie). It was an idea whose time has not (and probably never will) come. BUT, it was an idea. And James and I had a helluva good time talking about it. And it came out of one comment, by one person in their blog that started a whole chain of "What ifs". What happens to the heroines of these chick-lit books as they get older? What would wearing all those heels do to your feet? (I know about this one! Not everybody gets bunions, but I did! THIS I can describe! LOL)

So, you don't go to the five and dime to pick up ideas (12 for a dollar). But sometimes you GET ideas at the five and dime. (OOOH, what if....)

ANYWAY, as you can see, I'm feeling somewhat frivolous this morning. I am about to change hair colors, and then will be getting ready to go to a book signing in Brownwood at the Hastings bookstore. I'm hoping we'll get some traffic. If not, I will at least get a chance to sit and talk with my co-author. I can barely imagine how boring it would be to go to a signing alone and have nobody show up! UGH!

Writing is going well. I'm thinking this book will span a period of about 7-10 days. Kate just had a VERY bad first day, and it's only going to get worse! Poor woman.

Everybody enjoy themselves. Live hard, laugh hard.


Cie

Moving Slowly

I'm having a hard time getting moving this morning. Just can't quite get my feet under me and get alert. I'm normally up at 5:00-5:30, but I just crawled out of bed a half hour ago. I vaguely remember sometime around 6:00 forcing myself out of bed to take the puppy out so she wouldn't have an accident.

I think the problem is that I couldn't get to sleep last night. The world was conspiring against me with late night noisiness. 5:00 comes damned early when you don't close your eyes before 2:00.

Cathy is doing the copy edits of Captive Moon. I'm going well on TOM. Life is good. But I just can't seem to get moving. Caffeine... time... for... caffeine. (SNORE)

It's Getting There

Okay, first thing, I want to say that I like Laurell K. Hamilton. I like her books [like 'em all, but am particularly hooked on Merry Gentry and the earlier Anitas], and I think that she is a really cool person. This is judging by the few times I have met her, the things she does for charity and for other writers, things I've heard of about her and... well, much as I hate to admit it... her blog.

Today her blog dealt with something that I have happen all the time and didn't quite know if it was common or normal. (Apparently it's at least 'normal' for writers. Good to know.) It is the emotional crap of either going ugly and thinking it's all awful and you might as well pitch it all and start over, or that it is too perfect and reads like a dream. In the end, it's probably somewhere in the middle and will need edits when you've taken the time to calm down.

This is a good thing to know.

Yesterday I actually (GASP) got some writing done. Re-read the synopsis (there is going to be some 'drift' away from the synopsis, BUT it gives me a good starting point.) Sadly, I NEEDED to. I had gotten so deeply into the edits of Howling Moon (Cat), and the next Sazi novel with Cathy (a stand-alone in Texas) right after having been deeply into Roxanne (the ghost story which is being put on the back burner until we finish all three books on this contract) that I lost the entire thing -- plot, characters, voice, everything.

Given a choice I would think of one book at a time. Unfortunately, that SO doesn't work in the real world. I work with a partner, we are always running at least two books (the one I am primary on and the one she is). I can run two books in my head. I can SOMETIMES push it to three with edits. I can't do four. I particularly can't do four paranormals at once. My brain simply will not hold that much info. Each world has so many different rules, such different people. Something has to give. The one that 'gave' was Kate/TOM.

Fortunately, re-reading TOE and going over the synopsis has gotten me back in the groove. I am getting a feel for it again. Still tentative, but I remember some of the subplots, etc. This means that, if I am careful and good, I can bang out some real pages over the next few days. SO, if you don't hear from me here (you probably will, but just in case), picture me in the new chair, in front of the keyboard with my glasses perched on the end of my nose, typing like a wild woman -- my eyes ever-so-slightly glazed, a huge can of Pepsi on my left, cats perched on the other desk, recliner, and the back of my chair.

Later.

Cie

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Hi Guys!

Yesterday I wrote a long rant -- and then deleted it, because, after all, who wants to be bummed anyway! It was all boring day-to-day crap anyhow.

Today, however, I am in a great mood. A little tired, but that's my own fault. I stayed up late reading a book. Basically, Cathy and I are constantly trying to improve our writing, so I was looking at a book by a master of romance -- Norah Roberts, to see what I could learn. It was a darned good book too!

I have cuts on the bottom of my feet -- so no walking for exercise this week. The puppy isn't too bummed about it, surprisingly. But then, again, it is close to a 100 degrees outside and exercise doesn't appeal in that kind of weather.

I am working on TOE2 (or TOM -- Touch of Madness). Yesterday I spent most of the day reading Norah and re-reading TOE to get in the right POV. I wrote a little bit, but I wound up deleting almost all of it today because it was going WAY gruesomely into the horror area which is not a good way to start a romance book. I love horror, and there will be more of it later in the book, but better to start out with the nice stuff.

I want this to be a great book, but I'm nervous. Then again, I'm always nervous, so what's new! LOL.


Cie

Pooped/It's a Book

Getting ready for bed. Edits came back from Cathy, and I went over and accepted or rejected them and forwarded the whole thing on to Anna. Since track changes was being persnickity I sent a tracked version as well as a clean version. Let us hope that it makes the editor happy. :) At any rate, I am glad and happy and think that the changes have helped the book.

Also found out that galleys are on the way for Captive, which will need to be turned around by 4/28. TOM (Little Toe) is due by June 1, and I have to have it to Cathy a bit before that so that she can make edits, so we are definitely in the middle of crunch time. Glad that I am now on full-time writing because I'll need it!

Well, I'm off to bed. So incredibly pooped. But happy. Definitely happy.

Cie

We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

Hi Guys!

OK, I have passed on the edits to Cathy and am waiting to get them back. I could work on Touch of Madness (TOE #2 or "little toe"), but Kate's voice is very different from Catherine's, so I'm thinking it's better to wait. So I scheduled myself a day of complete rest. (Well, actually, rest until noon with regular stuff in the afternoon.) I took an Excederin PM to get rid of the pain and help me sleep last night with the absolute GOAL of sleeping until noon. Yup. Me, the early riser, sleeping in. I did not want to be out of that bed before the clock struck 12:00. See, I have a sleep disturbance, and I've not been getting any rest worth a damn for over a month.

Alas, no rest for the wicked. Between the cats, the dog, the phone, and my son getting ready for work, 8:00 was IT. BUT, I did sleep HARD until then, and only woke up twice during the night (neither of which time I remember clearly). So today I feel more rested than I have in a while. YIPPEEEE!! So now I'm puttering around a bit before I officially face the day. :)

Did some internet surfing. And I have to say folks, it is time to thank Cathy. Because if she hadn't forced me to harden my skin, some of the things people have been saying about the books are BRUTAL. I would've been so hurt. I mean, yeah, I don't like every book either, but I don't turn on the author(s)! On the other hand, weirdly, it is sometimes a sign that you've arrived that people feel the need to pick on you. Weird, but true. I've seen it happen to all my favorite authors.

On a completely different track -- The Dixie Chicks have a new single out about being "Not Ready to Play Nice." I LOVE IT!! First, whether you agree or disagree with their personal politics, they GET TO HAVE OPINIONS, JUST LIKE YOU DO!!! Secondly, it comes out at a time when we're doing edits on a book where we have a character (a were jaguar) being forced to interact with a wolf pack. When James played this song for me it was just SOOOOOOOOO Catherine's take on the pack!

OK, I've got to go. The dog needs walked. I need lunch. There's house stuff to do. But I actually feel OK today. Not spectacular, but OK. Maybe if I can get sleep over the holiday weekend I'll even feel GOOD by Monday. WHOO HOOO!!

Gotta run!

Cie

On Demand

HI. I'm pooped today. Completely wiped out. No real reason for it. Just the way it is. Still, had a great time in San Antonio this weekend. Edits are moving along. I'm very happy not to be in the law office and hope that things are going well for my boss and the new person. I still have a TON of stuff to do, but I'm just too blasted weary to do it.

I did get a sh#tload of edits sent off to Cathy for her review. She is going to work on adding the villain's POV. She will send stuff back, and I will accept or reject her suggestions before sending the whole thing back to Anna. Hard work, but definitely worthwhile. If you've ever seen an uncut gem and compared it to the final cut one, you'll know what I mean.

I think that today I am going to get "stuff" done: Cleaning and organizing the office; picking up the mess the puppy made; getting the screens refitted and on to the windows before things get hot down here. All of it things that don't require me to be at my best either emotionally or mentally -- because I'm just not. I discovered a long time ago that there are some things you work through, and there are other things that you just have to accept and work around. Today's a work-around kind of day. I also think it's a good day for me to avoid people as I'm a serious grumpbucket. Mindless and soothing -- just the ticket.

Later kids.

Back Home Again

Went to the SARA conference in San Antonio. It was a BLAST!! Lots of fun! Had a bit too much to drink and was a little rowdy, but I'm not sorry at all. Tomorrow I'm going to get the digital camera to download photos.

Also, because it was a business trip we took care of a lot of business. This is a good thing. Ready and rarin' to go tomorrow. Tonight James and I are going to watch Danger Mouse. :) Later.

Cie

Guten Morgen!

Hi Guys!

Getting ready to (1) pack and (2) go rassel me some fence (yee-haw). We are STILL trying to come up with a fence that will keep in the dog. ARGH! Still, she's getting big enough that I THINK she's going to have a hard time finding a way out. On the other hand, soon, very soon, she may be big enough the JUMP the blasted thing! I really am considering getting an 8' privacy fence for the back yard soon.

OK, complete topic change. Have you ever had one of those total disconnects where you KNOW you see things completely differently than (nearly) everybody else does? It happens to me all of the time. For example, I came down to a small town in Texas from Denver. When I was standing at a grocery counter I saw a truck go by with flags and flashing lights that read "Joe's Escort Service." My first thought was "WOW." Because, in Denver, an "escort service" means, politely, a "rent a date." Apparently Joe wasn't running one of those, however. Nope, here an escort service is a company that escorts trucks carrying oversized loads. :D I had to wonder if I just had a dirty mind, so I asked my son, and Cathy and her husband. All of them had the same reaction. I guess it's a city v. rural thing. LOL

When I was little and was first going to the library they put up a sign in the window that said "Book Depository in Rear." I thought it was SOOOOOOO rude! I mean... OW! Yes, I knew what they meant, but couldn't they have said something like "Book Return Behind Building?" Still four words and SOOOOO much nicer.

As I say, I look at things differently. Some people find it funny. Others are deeply offended by it. I don't mean to offend, truly. (Well, not MOST of the time anyway. Push me hard enough and, yeah, I can be a bit of a hag.) But there you go.

Anyway, gotta pack, run errands, and get ready by noon, so I'd better run. Everybody be good. (I won't ask at what. ;) )

Cie

Life, the Universe, and Everything

Greetings all!

Day 3.

Yesterday was great. Got about halfway on the edits for Howling. Yeah, they were extensive. Kind of a bummer. But when I consider where we were in terms of Cathy was sick, I was sick, my job sucked, and that book was pure hell to write, I'm refusing to beat myself up about it. Just get the job done and move on. It certainly could have been worse.

I don't miss the day job. I'm trying not to miss the steady paycheck. I know I'm doing the right thing, but it DOES make me nervous. I guess that means we have to get ya'll to BUY MORE BOOKS. ;)

Friday we go down to San Antonio for the SARA Conference. We'll see Anna there, which is seriously cool. Looking forward to it, but it means I need to get off my butt and WORK today. So just a couple more minutes then I'm back to it. I've decided to treat it just like I would the other job. I have to be butt in seat at 8:00 a.m.

I wish there was more to say, but there really isn't. So, I guess I'll call it a day and keep moving. Best wishes to all.

TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY!!!

Today is a great day! First day of the writing full time without a day job. The edits for Howling Moon/Cat have arrived (tough, but not as bad as I feared), got good news at the doctor. No surgery for the time being (check back in three months for more testing.) All in all, a great day!

I'm going to take a quick nap now, and then to work. (My new boss is SUCH a slave driver -- LOL :D )

Clean Up

I prefer things clean, quiet and smelling slightly of lemon oil. I seldom get this, mind you, but I do prefer it. As soon as I am done posting here I am going to get started on my day. I'm trying to decide just how to spend it. There is a stack of stuff that needs to be done that is taller than I am. A lot of it is urgent. Some of it is critical. And there is almost nothing on the list that isn't important.

(NOTE FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE INTERESTED: Urgent = requires immediate attention, even if it isn't going to affect life in the long term and isn't terribly important in reality; Critical = requires immediate attention and has serious consequences in real life. Important = may not require immediate attention, but will cause the defacational matter to hit the rotary oscillator at considerable speed if not taken care of properly)

Still, there is only one of me, and I have to prioritize -- and hope that during the next week as I become my own boss, that I can actually get my... ahem... together and get things back on track.

DAY JOB -- One more day. I need to slip in there today to wrap things up and clear out the very last of my stuff while she's not there sharing the desk. (Do things like stick labels on the closed files, clear my personal crap off of the computer, clear up the last of the messes that she wouldn't know what to do with, but that we don't have time for me to do while I'm training her, etc.)

The good news is, she's very nice and very bright. So, I really hope that it works out. She doesn't have a lot of experience, which is liable to be a problem, but it isn't MY problem and I need to get and stay out of the way.

WRITING JOB -- I bought a good office chair. I needed one desperately because the hydraulics broke and my seat was about six inches from the floor. Not exactly ergonomic. I was in MASSIVE pain -- and that, my friends, did not bode well for knuckling down and getting the next mss out in a timely fashion. Since there's a bit of a crunch on this one, I NEEDED that chair, so I bit the bullet and did it.

Next weekend we're going to San Antonio for a writing conference. We'll see Anna there, which is always fun. Cathy is speaking, which she loves. She absolutely adores teaching. Such a foreign concept for me as I HATE the responsibility. It's one of the reasons I prefer setting up a notebook for the successor rather than trying to train them.

I go to the specialist on Tuesday. May need some minor surgery. Pain in the neck, but there you go. Just another reason why I have to hustle butt and get things done.

HOUSEHOLD = Pets are doing well. Dog growth has slowed, but she's still growing. Has several more months to go and hasn't yet come close to growing into her paws. Currently at 25+ pounds. As soon as it is practical, I'm going to try to get Lucky in for obedience training. Wish me luck on that. She's smart, but very willful. Fits right in with the rest of the family. LOL

Well, gotta run. The elves have not come along to do my work for me. Sigh.

Cie