Weirdest place to get ideas...

One of the things I love about RT is getting together with other writers and finding out what works for them. Whether it's a certain type of computer, a method of editing or revising, or whatever...

This year, in many conversations, I kept hearing how many of us think of new story ideas, solutions for tricky scenes and good bits of dialogue whilst (do you like that? I'm feeling very anachronistic today) showering. I suspect it's because the environment is fairly relaxing, there are few (if any) distractions, and it's the rare bit bit of private time during which it's acceptable to stare off at nothing and think of random bits of things...unlike, say, when you're driving. : )

Anyway, fabulous fantasy author, Lisa Shearin, mentioned something about shower markers, so when I had a minute this week, I went a-Googling and found the following:

Crayola Bathtub Markers

Woot! If they have these in Target, I'm picking some up, just to give them a whirl. Though, knowing me, I won't want to erase what I've written until I've got it [the scene, the character's motivation, whatever] all worked out, so our shower doors could could become quite colorful over the course of a week or so!

Side note: I also found this blog entry, 10+ Things to do with Dry-Erase Markers, which I thought was great. I never would have thought of all the ways to use dry-erase markers and I LOVE them. Okay, so it doesn't exactly work for those shower brainstorm moments, but I like a lot of the ideas he has!

Anybody ever used tub markers at home? Do they come off easily enough? We have glass shower doors so that's what I'd be writing on...Thoughts?

What he said...

I've been writing long enough now to recognize that in every book there will be scenes that nearly kill you in the writing of them. It may not even be an emotional, climactic scene. I don't know why it is that some scenes do this--refuse to die, as I call it--and others don't. I can't even predict which ones are going to make me wrestle them to the ground and which ones will go quietly. I was intrigued, then, to discover that this happens to screenwriters as well and John August, whose blog I LOVE, talks about what he does to work through the scene. What I found most interesting is that the questions he asks himself are some of the same I use when I'm wrestling with a difficult scene. (And it is wrestling--sweaty, backbreaking, frustrating, so close to pinning it down and yet so far.) ETA: Not that it would be surprising for a novelist and a screenwriter to use similar questions, but I was surprised to find that many of the questions I sort of discovered on my own, after hours or days of head pounding against the wall struggling, are ones he has and uses as well. So...cool! I must be doing something right! : )

The following is from his blog entry called the Six Hour Scene:

After writing three comparatively easy scenes, I took another stab at it. I asked some obvious-but-necessary questions:

• Was I starting at the right place?
• Was I ending at the right place?
• Could another character drive the scene?
• Would changing the location help?
• Did it need to be two scenes, rather than one?
• Did the scene even need to exist?

The answers confirmed my frustration: it was the right scene. It was just a bitch to write.

Jump over to his site and read the whole entry. It's both interesting and helpful, a rare combination in the world of writing advice, IMO.

: )

Did I mention I met Fabio at RT?

Okay, technically, I didn't meet him so much as pass him in a little narrow hotel hallway. Only Lisa Shearin was brave enough to say hello! (Yea, Lisa!!!) He's better looking in person and SUPER tall. Or so it seemed to me. : )

On that topic, here's a link to a video about how they make romance novel covers (Thanks to Colby Hodge for the link! Watch for her book, Star Shadows, in the video.):
http://better.tv/bettertv/?cid=507869917&tid=1493152359

Stephenie Meyer

I loved Twilight. If you haven't read it, you must! It's romantic, beautiful and sexy...without being sexual. Not sure how to describe it. It's a novel about resisting, I guess, and there's much deliciousness in that. I loaned it to my sister a couple of summers ago, along with a few other books, and it was the only one that I put a post-it on the inside of the front cover (I do NOT write in books) that said, "Return Me to Stacey." She also has a really cool "adult" novel coming out in a couple of weeks called The Host. At RT, one of the booksellers had an advance (or is it advanced? I'm never sure) copy, and I was embarrassingly close to salivating over it. : )

 

Anyway, I was reading a very interesting article comparing her to J.K. Rowling on Time.com and found this quote, which I loved:

 

" And people do not want to just read Meyer's books; they want to climb inside them and live there...There's no literary term for the quality Twilight and Harry Potter (and The Lord of the Rings) share, but you know it when you see it: their worlds have a freestanding internal integrity that makes you feel as if you should be able to buy real estate there."

 

 

I love that quality about certain books and what I've read of Stephenie Meyers definitely has it. That is what I want for the books that I write. I want readers to care about the people that inhabit the pages and wish to visit them again and again...or possibly become neighbors. : )

 

RT in photos

Okay, here are photos from RT. Start from the bottom and scroll up. Yes, I know that's backward but it's late and I'm too tired to fix it! : )

Also, take a look at the Rebels of Romance videos on the RT home page. Days three and four are now up. They show snippets of the Mr. Romance competition and the giant book fair! They did a great job!!!

Walker on the floor in my writing room, relieved that Mommy is home after a week of being gone. : )

My favorite piece of SWAG from the RT registration bag--new mouse pad! : )

The gorgeous Chris Winters, Mr. Romance 2008, posing as one of Colby Hodge's heroes in the pose-down portion of the competition.

Aack, sorry this one is out of order. This is more from Isabo's baby shower! Authors Jade Lee, Lisa Shearin and Linnea Sinclair. Did I mention how much fun this baby shower was? : )

Authors J.C. Wilder and Isabo Kelly!

Isabo and me at the book fair. Doesn't her hat look absolutely fabulous? It is SO her! : )

Louise and yours truly at the book fair. (Thanks for the photo, Louise!)

Me, at the huge book fair on Saturday.

Isabo did her best Cousin Itt imitation! Had us in stitches. : )

Baby presents!

Author Isabo Kelly's baby shower. We had so much fun!

Another sideways one! Authors Leanna Renee Hieber and Marianne Mancusi dressed for the vampire ball. : )

Authors Isabo Kelly and Carolan Ivey having a chat in the bar.

One of the advantages of coming to RT early--prime positioning in Promo Alley. Linnea's materials are on the left and mine are on the right.

Sorry, this one is sideways and I don't know how to fix it! The hotel was under construction and this was a door they evidently didn't need anymore. I found it kind of creepy and

very Stephen King like!

Day 2 of RT: Author Colby Hodge is catching a ride down to the lobby on a luggage cart! : )

Want to see what RT is really like?

Check out these awesome videos made by authors Marianne Mancusi and Liz Maverick. Leanna Hieber, another fabulous strawberry blonde author and a new friend, also worked on these.

These videos give you a pretty good taste of the costumes, the chaos, and the crazy fun. In fact, you'll see me, for a very quick second, in the first video when they show a snippet of the Intergalactic Bar and Grille. I think Linnea is on stage, but I'm not sure. It goes by very quickly! Isabo Kelly, dear friend and fellow SFR author is interviewed, too! She looked fabulous. She was dressed as a (pregnant) ninja with a huge (plastic) sword across her back. Kick ass!

Greetings from Pittsburgh!

I'm here! I've been teaching at the pre-con workshops and catching up with my friends Linnea Sinclair, Colby Hodge, Isabo Kelly and meeting new people like Jennifer St. Giles.

 

Have I mentioned how much I love RT? Seriously. I was trying to explain it to my husband, but the feeling of community I experience here kind of defies my ability to adequately express it. Here, it's like I don't even have to explain what I'm going through or trying to figure out. Everyone here has either been through it, is currently experiencing it or has found a way around it. I LOVE that. I learn so much, even, or perhaps especially, when I'm teaching and listening to other authors on the panels. The closest thing I've experienced to this before was when I was in college and we were all going through many similar experiences at the same time and helping each other out. I just love feeling a part of this larger community. : ) Writing, as much as I love it, is sort of lonely sometimes.

 

Anyway, I arrived on Sunday afternoon and found both Linnea and Isabo at the airport. Cool beans! Never had that happen before. Of course, finding someone at O'Hare would be quite a different thing than at Pittsburgh's airport. : ) Colby picked us up at the airport and brought us to the hotel. Linnea heard about this fabulous restaurant, Palomino, so we all went Sunday night. I had one of the best meals I've had in a really long time there. Chicken Parmesan and garlic herb linguini, plus a vanilla apple como, of course. SO GOOD. Of course, we're working with hotel bar, trying to help them replicate this most fabulous drink, but no luck yet!

 

Yesterday, Linnea and I did a panel on Plotting and, as usual, enjoyed the hell out of it. We work so differently from one another and yet I think that only makes her feedback to me that much more valuable. We think differently, but we end up in the same place. I also spoke on a panel about Sensuality, which was interesting to see the range and scope of what that means these days from YA to erotica. Then another dinner at Palomino. Flatbread pizza and another vanilla apple cosmo.

 

Today was a panel on submitting and querying agents. After which, Isabo, Linnea, Colby and I headed out to do a little shopping. Had to stock up for the little mini-party we're having in Linnea's room tonight. We're assembling the goody bags for our Intergalactic Bar and Grille reader party tomorrow from 3:30-5:00. We had so much fun last year and there are so many cool giveaways this year, I wish I was eligible!

 

Okay, so that it's for now. I'm going to try to attach a picture of Colby and Linnea. We'll see if it works!

 

More later...

Quick update

Eye of the Beholder is now available on Fictionwise!

 

Yea! : )

 

http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/eBook66279.htm?cache

 

Will be updating my site as soon as I'm back in town.

Woo me with paper products...

As almost all of you know, I LOVE office supplies, journals, pens, all that kind of stuff. One of my favorite notebook purchases in the last year or so was a side flip notebook with different colored sections of graph paper instead of lined paper. After deciding to splurge on a new notebook earlier this week (and it is splurging when they're almost ten bucks a piece), I found one in a faux-leather that is full to the brim of graph paper. Love it. Like, my heart actually skipped a beat when I found it on the shelves at Barnes and Noble. I realized then that I'm obsessed with graph paper notebooks. Lined paper implies a right or wrong way of use. Graph paper says, "Look out, I might start going in circles, and it's okay."

 

Yes, I am a complete weirdo. I've come to grips with this fact.

 

Despite the fact that I love my new notebook, I'm almost afraid to write it in. Which is typically why I don't buy the kind that are more like books (faux-leather and perfect-bound rather than plastic and spiral) than notebooks. I feel guilty tearing pages out. But you know what, screw it. I don't want it to look perfect. I want it to be a useful tool, a place to gather all the thoughts that are running circles in my head, and it should have post it notes and scribbles and pages missing. It should look well-loved.

 

Ha, take that perfectionistic tendencies!

 

(Yeah, we'll see how long that lasts.)

The latest

All right, I know I'm WAY behind on blogging. For example, we had a book launch party/community mixer event on March 29 for Eye of The Beholder. Stacy G. took fun pictures for me, but they are not posted yet. Eek. I'm just very, very behind on everything. (And they're on the other computer, which I can't get at right now, so I can't post them now!)

 

I always forget how busy this time of year is. From about January through July or so, things are a little crazy with conferences and events, family stuff, etc. Right now, I'm in the midst of RT prep. Can't wait. Next week at this time, I'll be there in Pittsburgh. That seems so hard to believe! But I've got the plane tickets (rather, the email confirming them) and the hotel confirmation number (ditto), so I'm all set...sort of. I need to get my promo items to Pittsburgh. 200 earth-shaped stress balls. : ) Fellow SFR author and panelist, Colby Hodge, has generously offered to take them with her in her car, but I've got to get them boxed up in something other than the ratty and somewhat broken-down box they arrived in or else they'll never make the trip! I don't have my promo alley stuff ready yet either. Promo alley is an area at the convention where all the authors put out their displays and people can come by and take bookmarks, postcards, etc. Some of these displays are quite elaborate. Yeah. Mine needs work.

 

Finished edits for Bitter Pill last week. Yea! It will be available for the first time at Printers Row in Chicago. : )

 

I'm wearing my glasses all day long for the first time in, literally, years. For those who missed this bit of drama, I managed to scratch my corneas with my lenses. Both eyes, though the left is worse than the right. I got a good scolding from the eye doctor and was told not to wear contacts for a week. Well, that was almost two weeks ago but it still bothers my left eye when I put a contact lens in. So, I'm wondering if I'm done with contacts for good. That would SUCK! I'm just so aware of the glasses on my face. I miss having corrected peripheral vision! But I'm being careful because I'd rather wear glasses than lose my already rather poor eyesight.

 

Anyway, what else?

 

Eye of the Beholder was available on Amazon for a brief and glowing moment...before it sold out. : ) More will be coming into stock, though, I know. I apologize to everyone who received the repeated emails from Amazon about its lack of availability. More books will be coming soon. Please continue to let me know, though, if you have trouble. I make sure my publisher is in the loop.

 

Okay, more later...

 

: )

 

 

Yes, I am a freak.

I have this weird thing about diseases. It's a combination of overactive imagination and anxious tendencies. Whatever disease read about, hear about, whatever, I inevitably begin to see said symptoms in me. It's a pain in the ass, but most of the time, I can manage it by just avoiding books, movies, tv shows, where a character is suffering from a specific fatal disease that I could conceivably contract. They're usually depressing anyway, so I don't feel like I'm missing too much. Life is real enough. I like my fiction, whether on screen or on the page, to be an escape.

 

But, alas, this week I was ambushed! I picked up a book that looked interesting and remembered, vaguely, that I'd decided against reading it before for some unknown reason. Well, this time, I decided to just go for it. Yep, major character, approximately my age, dead from an undiagnosed brain tumor. Fab. u. lous.

 

Can I tell you that it took me approximately 10 seconds after discovering this to start seeing mysterious spots and convince myself that my regular old migraine headache (which I've been getting for years) had to be "symptoms"?" Arggh.

 

I want warning labels, people.

My interview is up!

I did a promotional interview through Nikki Leigh and it's now posted.

 

: )

 

http://inspiredauthor.com/v3/blogs/litekepr/stacey-klemstein-promotional-interview

Books!

I received my copies of Eye of the Beholder from my publisher this weekend. I'm thinking it should be up and available on Amazon soon. I'm not quite sure what the hold up is. My thanks to all of you who pre-ordered. I promise, it is done and it will be coming to you soon!

So, what's new?

I feel strangely out of practice, sitting down to write a blog entry. Let's see what I can ramble about...

 

First, a quick reminder...

Tomorrow night at the Schaumburg Library at 7:00 p.m., I'm teaching "The Secret to a Good Query Letter." I'll be giving the same presentation at the Des Plaines Library on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. Come on over and see me! Learn a lot about query letters and improving (hopefully) your response rate.

 

I miss SCC.

It's only been a week or so, but I miss the Sarah Conner Chronicles already. It's the only show I made time for during my self-imposed hermit-dom. I realize that we're still suffering the effects of the strike and new episodes of some shows will be returning soon. But I'm going to have to wait until fall for more SCC, and that's if they renew it. There were some iffy episodes (the one where John gets locked in the warehouse with the Terminator who is in standby mode? Ugh.), but most of them were, in my opinion, pretty good. And actually as reluctant as I am to admit it, once I got past thinking "David Silver" every time Brian Austin Green showed up on screen, I kinda liked his portrayal of Derek Reese. The, um, shower scene may have helped.

 

The season finale--two eps run together--were actually two of my favorite. I loved Derek's birthday gift to John. John was not too horribly whiny. And the interaction between Cameron and John was intriguing and endearing at moments. Bring on more, please!

 

Of course, I've got less than a month now until BSG returns on April 4, and I'm beyond excited for that. Does anyone know if they will be running all the remaining episodes during this "season" or are they going to make us wait until '09 to get the last eight or ten or so? I know some of the eps weren't finished by the time the strike rolled around.

 

Books you must read!

Grimspace by Ann Aguirre: Fantastic SFR novel in my opinion. Interesting concept and well written. Can't wait for the sequel!

 

The Other Boelyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory: I don't typically read historical novels, but I got completely sucked into this one and couldn't stop. It was flat-out fascinating.

 

Good Girls by Laura Ruby: I read her collection of adult short stories and they didn't really speak to me, but I LOVED this YA book. Above all things, I liked how it took a different approach to the topic of teen sex and, in particular, the female view of it. Also shows how sex scenes can be emotional, moving, surprisingly detailed and NOT sleazy. Above all else, it is not overtly lesson-y. I SO appreciate that. : )

 

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson: To be fair, I just started this one, but I love her books (I think they're technically considered either mainstream fiction or women's fiction, not sure. I consider them "good fiction" and that's enough for me!) If you haven't read Gods in Alabama, drop what you're doing and go out and buy it right now! Seriously. Any aspiring writers out there want to learn about the much-talked-about-but-difficult-to-describe concept of voice? That is the book to read.

 

RT

Just one month away! Anybody in the Pittsburgh area, please come out and see us!!!

 

 

 

 

I'm back!

Revising is done. Hermit phase is, temporarily, over. :  ) Hope to be able to share details on this project with you soon. I had so much fun writing it, and I'm really proud of it. Right now, I'm in that weird disconnected period that always happens when I finish working on something. The pressure is off, for the moment, and all the stuff I want to write has equal appeal. Sooner or later, as I keep mulling over my options, one of them will jump out at me. I just hate this in-between, not attached feeling. *shudder*

 

More later!

 

 

Random stuff to entertain you...

Still working away on revisions, so limited blog time again. : )

 

But here are a few things I found interesting and wanted to share...

 

First, my friend Becky, an avid traveler, read about my experience with de-icing and wrote the following:

 

Stac, I had to email you about your latest blog and de-icing. As a traveler (especially from northern MI), de-icing is a ritual that we live with on every flight. So I chuckled at your comments. It never occurred to me that people who don't fly may be off put a bit by being de-iced, and not realize it's a COMMON happening during the winter months. Did you know that the de-icing liquid (which comes in pink and orange varieties) is actually the same thing as inexpensive shampoo? Basically you are making the wings too slippery for water to build up on and freeze. Also, because de-icing is only good for 13 minutes, you want to be on the plane when it happens. That's also why planes generally are delayed in the winter. It takes time to de-ice a plane, and you don't want to do it until the plane itself is within 13 minutes of taxiing down the runway. It causes a backup, especially at large places like O'Hare. See, I'm a plethora of de-icing information. :) So, next time you are on a plane being de-iced, breathe easy dear friend...it's good. (Actually, if you are on a small prop-job plane like we get up here, don't breathe easy, breathe shallow - that stuff stinks!)

 

Thanks for the info, Beck. Fascinating stuff. I LOVE random bits of fact like this. : ) Never know when the smallest detail (like the de-icing stuff being pink or orange) can be used in a scene to add that touch of veracity.

 

Second, check out Barbara Vey's blog entry with Margie Lawson, a kinesics specialist, on body language. This is incredibly useful information for writers when you're trying to convey emotion without being direct or obvious. Or, when you're trying to convey an emotion that the character doesn't want to acknowledge he or she is feeling...if that makes sense! So, check it out. There's even a quiz!!!

 

Finally, Barbara also has an excerpt from Diana Holquist's blog on the issue of posting e-books for the world to read (ala Napster) without the author or publisher's permission. Diana, in the excerpt, explains it beautifully. It's not just about the money. It's about sales. Publishers LIVE by the numbers, therefore writers must as well. If a writer does not sell enough copies, he/she may not be offered another contract, regardless of quality of writing, story originality, fan response, etc. That means, every copy counts. E-books are an especially tricky thing because, unlike paperbacks, when you "loan" copy of an ebook, you're actually duplicating it. You get a copy and the person you're sending it to gets a copy. I thought it was good information and a passionate plea for understanding from Diana.

 

Also, just a note, this same idea doesn't really apply to paperbacks, obviously. Most of us use libraries, borrow from friends and even visit used bookstores. But in each case, the author has been paid for that copy of the work. Multiple people are reading that copy, but that's okay because it's not duplication. I, for one, think it's great to borrow, lend or buy used. People are far more likely to take a chance on a new author at a library or a used bookstore. : )

 

Okay, back to work now!

Florida Trip, Part One

Sad to say, but I'm back in Illinois now. It's good to be home, safe and sound, but I had SUCH a good time at Linnea's house. I didn't want to leave. Seriously. I wanted to just hole up in a closet somewhere, emerging only to write by the pool and drink watermelon Cosmos (Linnea's husband, Rob, makes the most DELICIOUS Cosmos ever--strong ones, too!) Somehow, though, I think they would have noticed. : ) Especially if Rob had to keep making watermelon Cosmos!

I know I'm a midwestern girl and have been for the vast majority of my life. But when I was really little, there were those few years there on the Carolina coast that must have made quite the impact on me. I love sunshine, palm trees and warm, sunny beaches--and Florida has all of that in spades!

We got into town late on Wednesday night, weary and salt covered. Literally. It was snowy and slushy when we left Chicago, so the back of my jeans were stiff with salt about 4 inches up my leg. Also, we were late by about two hours. Our plane was delayed for de-icing, which is a uniquely terrifying thing to have announced when you're already on the plane feeling rather vulnerable and trapped. Greg and I joked about watching for the guy to come clean off our window with a car scraper. It wasn't anything that funny or scary for those who have never been "de-iced." It's just a bunch of orange liquid they squirt all over the plane. But me being the disaster-freak that I am, I'd just watched a special on how some airline trained employees in de-icing by giving them the answers to the required multiple choice test...while said employees were actually taking the test! Yeah.

Linnea and Rob were waiting at the airport to meet us, which was awesome! It was so good to see her again. I don't get much opportunity to gab about books and writing here in my regular life, and I just knew we'd have a blast catching up and sharing news. We left the airport and I drank in my first gulp of air that was not frigid but humid. My hair immediately frizzed, but I didn't care. I was warm!

They have a fabulous house--of course--with the coolest swimming pool area I've ever seen. It's completely screened in and it's HUGE. So you can sit out there at the table, working on the laptop with no bugs or birds (*shudder*) flying by your head. It's awesome.

We hung out poolside (yeah, I know, don't bother hating me though because I'm back here with the rest of the people-sicles) on Wednesday night, drinking and talking and eating. Rob introduced us to Lemoncello, an Italian liqueur that he'd made at home. Very powerful stuff. Tastes like liquid lemons but sweet, not sour.

I also met Daquiri that night. He has the biggest tail I've ever seen and the clearest green eyes. He's a cat, by the way, not a drink. Actually, I'm pretty sure he's a person, masquerading as a cat. : ) As I was not someone he knew, he did not deign to pay me any attention that night. But by the end of my visit, he was taking treats from my hand. Though, I apparently committed a grave offense by only giving him two treats--I was thinking like a dog owner--and after that, I'm pretty sure he thought less of me. Though, he did let me scratch behind his ears.

The four of us stayed up incredibly late on Wednesday night--2:45 a.m., I think--talking about books, career plans, writing, everything. At least, that's what Linnea and I were talking about. We left Rob and Greg to their own devices by the pool!

Thursday was a work day, but it was great. I set myself up in Linnea's kitchen to work on EOB edits. Greg was out by the pool, wheeling and dealing as he is wont to do in the course of his real estate day. Linnea went to her office to get some work done, and Rob went to the golf course. (He's a professional golfer--isn't that so cool?) I seriously cranked on the edits, and Linnea was standing by when I had questions or was dithering between two word options--that was incredibly helpful to be able to get a second opinion. So many times, I'm too close to what I'm working on to see it clearly. Also, I'm apparently in love with the word "but," especially putting it at the beginning of the sentence.

After a quick break for lunch at the club house--no, seriously, they have a clubhouse in their subdivision where you can go for lunch and dinner everyday, I'd never cook again and I'd weigh like 5,000 pounds--we took a tour of the neighborhood, enjoying the sunshine and the palm trees. Oh, and I forgot, we met the Muscovie ducks that live in Linnea's back yard! Also, she has an egg she rescued and is incubating--duh--in an incubator in her office. It was so cool to be able to see the duckling moving around inside the shell. It's not a Muscovie duckling, though. I think it's Mallard.

A few more hours of work and then we were off to downtown Naples and dinner at Tommy Bahamas. I had the Sanibel Chicken, and it was the best chicken I've ever tasted. It had a parmesan cheese crust and it was filled with more cheese and red peppers. I kid you not, my mouth is watering at the memory. And you know I'm not much of a meat-eating person. We also had fun watching tourists get embarrassingly drunk and dance to this sort of awful one-guy band (he had a keyboard that created the sounds of many different instruments).

 

Back at home, more Cosmos and Orangecello this time! So good.

 

Friday, we hit the beach! Something about being that close to the water--salt water, lakes don't count--just makes me feel peaceful inside. First, though, we took a little tour around Naples so we could check out the amazing houses there. The part that kills me is that most of these are "part-time" residences. Meaning the owners are probably there only a few months or even weeks out of the year. Sheesh.

 

If I lived in Florida, I'd get myself all bonded and insured to be a house-sitter. That would be awesome! I'm sure it's not nearly as much fun as I imagine it to be. Nor do you probably get to live at these fabulous houses for weeks at time "sitting" them. It's probably just dropping by every few days. Still, very cool.

 

More on my Florida trip, specifically on the hockey game (go Blades!) and the Donald Maass seminar, to follow....

 

 

under deadline again

I haven't disappeared off the face of the earth or abandoned Illinois for Florida again...though that last one is tempting! I'm working on revisions to another project, and I need every second I've got to pull everything together in proper fashion. I know...perfectionist, much? Can't help it. It's me! So, I expect to be a bit scarce over the next couple of weeks while I finish up.

 

Meanwhile, first part of my Florida trip should be up later today, sans pictures. Haven't had time to get that part organized yet!

 

: )

Weird

I did something last night I haven't done since college: I fell asleep while writing.

 

Not typing, mind you. Oh, no, I've done the head bobbing downward toward sleep at the keyboard plenty of times over the years since then. But last night, I was writing with a pen and notebook--yeah, I'm old fashioned that way sometimes.

 

I was sitting in the big comfy chair in my office (mistake one) with my feet up (mistake two), taking notes on some revisions I'm going to make. I'd been at a conference all weekend, getting up early and staying up late (not a mistake, but a contributing factor for sure). And it was 11:30 at night and I was in my new flannel pajama pants and fleece shirt (exactly how was I planning to stay awake is now my question).

 

Anyway, I was doing the head bob thing and feeling that momentary blast of adrenaline that comes when you wake yourself up after those little micro naps, so I convinced myself I was still awake enough to keep going. Until, during one lucid moment, I looked down and saw that I'd written words that made no sense in the context of what I was doing. I was dream writing or something.

 

In my notes on a story, I'd written "Creating RWA..." without any recollection of doing so. Unlike college, however, where notes I took in an 8 a.m. history class often resembled a failing EKG readout, these were perfectly legible and normal words. RWA was even all caps as it's supposed to be.

 

RWA is Romance Writers of America, an organization I belong to. I'd spent some time talking with various other members over the course of the weekend. No idea what the "creating" was all about. The weirdest part was, like I said, I had no memory of writing the words or even what bizarre dream thoughts triggered such words.

 

Anybody else ever dream write? Is that even a real thing? I'm just making up terms now. : )

 

Should have Florida post(s) and pictures up soon. This weekend at the latest. I really want to go over my Donald Maass notes and post the relevant thoughts/points. Not just because it might be helpful to someone else out there, but also because it'll make it easier for me to find them later when I inevitably misplace the notebook I wrote them in. : )

 

Hope you all are surviving your February so far. We've got about eight inches of snow on the ground. Actually, it's less now that it's started to rain, thunder and lightning. My mom says their forecaster called this "thundersnow." I told her I felt pretty certain "thundersnow" was a sign of the coming apocalypse. But we're under a winter storm watch tomorrow evening for another 6 inches or more of snow. I'm awfully darn sick of this.

 

It's crazy this week...

Hey guys, just a quick note to let you know we're back safe and sound from Florida. I personally would have preferred to be marooned there for several years, but alas, that was not the case. : )

I'm working on a full trip report. We had so much fun! I've got about half of it written, but I want to include pictures and I haven't even written yet about the Donald Maass seminar. We did a lot last week!

Anyway, at the moment, I'm attending Love Is Murder, having a blast and meeting lots of new people. Tonight I met a bunch of members from RWA (Romance Writers of America) Chicago North chapter. Thanks everyone, Deb Gross in particular, for being so friendly and welcoming and just plain great.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Barbara Vey who writes a great blog over at Publishers Weekly. Be sure to watch this weekend as she'll be posting pictures of the conference, and there are some terrific ones, particularly from the crime scene panel tonight. I'm also in one with two other authors, so keep an eye out! : ) Barbara also had a very interesting entry on reviews, which turned out to be a very hot topic with a lot of people. I've only recently come to the notion of not reading reviews before going to see a movie. I suspect, otherwise, I might not have enjoyed 27 Dresses as much as I did. I thought it was cute, fun and funny, but boy, the critics did not agree. And you know what? I respect their right to have an opinion, as much as I respect my right to make up my mind for myself without first being tainted. So, no more pre-movie reviews for me.

Anyway, check out Barbara's blog and contribute to the conversation, if you like. : )

More later...I met Tess Gerritsen and Lee Child this weekend as well. It's a star-studded conference all around!