Honey, I'm Home!

Hello, gang! I'm back from England. The trip was good despite the cause and I didn't want to leave, but here I am. I'm on spring break this week and already have a TON of things to do. I fell off the writing wagon on the day of the funeral and haven't written anything since. I've been reading at least, so that's something. I'm really hoping to get the fire back sometime this week.


As for the rest of my England trip: The weather was good, just a bit too windy on some days. I LOVED being with the extended family and eating all those full English breakfasts. Our hotel was right on the seafront in a part of Sunderland called Roker. Literally, you could look out the window, see the main road and across the way was this lighthouse and the North Sea. Very beautiful, don't you think? (And we actually saw a rainbow here!)

I managed to get to Edinburgh for a day on my own and that was quite relaxing. I traipsed up and down Prince's Street and the Royal Mile. I shopped a bit, had tea and scones, haggis and pints.

The funeral ended up being on....Friday, the 13th. I did well with my reading (that my mom had asked me to do one of the other times we thought he was going to die)...after a whisky. Then I had a few more drinks after the funeral with the family. Saturday night we had a party for all the family to get together for a happy occasion. I stayed up since the last people didn't leave until after 1 and my taxi was picking me up at 3:30 yesterday morning so I could make my 6 A.M. flight. But, I'll be back there in June and that'll definitely be a happy visit.

Oh yeah, and I thought my plane was going to crash in Austin when we BOUNCED on the tarmac coming in. I'd slept on the short flight from Houston and burst out with a few choice "metaphors" when we landed. I swear, I saw my life flash before my eyes. I think somebody was practicing landing...

So now I'm back to reality with lots to do this week, but at least I'm on spring break!!! I thoroughly plan to celebrate St. Patrick's Day tomorrow and THEN I'll get back on my diet. Ugh, I gained 5lbs eating and drinking on this trip!

Connor Curse Continues

My travel curse is still in charge of my life. My flights from Austin and Amsterdam last Thursday and Friday went well, so well I thought to myself, "Wow, this trip has been uneventful." Of course, I immediately reminded myself of my travel woes. And sure enough, I got stopped at passport control in Newcastle. I got asked a bunch of questions, given a slip saying I'm being detained for further questioning, and asked to sit down while they clarified a few things. I didn't really worry about it because I had done nothing wrong. (They were asking so many questions because I didn't know the name or address of the B & B we're staying in.) So they paged my mom, asked some questions (who are you meeting, why is she here, where are you staying) and then they let me go. They told me I could throw away the slip that says I was detained, but I kept it. Who would believe this actually happened without proof!

Oh!!! The travel curse extends beyond me. The airline lost the casket on its way up from London. And then it was so big (because apparently American caskets are bigger/wider than British ones) they had trouble transporting it. AND the funeral director had to drive a few hours to Manchester to pick up the casket!

Since then the trip has been going well enough, although my grandfather still isn't buried. The funeral is set for Friday, almost 3 weeks after he died. I've seen a bunch of family, wandered around town with my mom getting things ready for the funeral and eating candy. There are so many details to take care of! The weather has been cool (in the 40s), but clear and sunny. Yesterday I took the day to myself and went up to Edinburgh. It was wonderful to listen to bagpipes, wander along the Royal Mile and Princes Street, and have a bit of haggis. Today we've got some other family coming up from London and more errands to run. I'm going to try to finish Terri Brisbin's book. As for my own writing, It's coming along. I'm getting a clearer picture of what story I want to do next and I'm still writing at least 100 words a day. For now, I'm still taking things one day at a time.

Catch you later!

England Via Amsterdam

In only a few short hours I'll be boarding a plane to take me to my extended family, to my mom and to the final goodbye to my grandfather. I'm feeling kind of...odd. I'm not upset, but I'm not happy either. I'm not content, but I'm not ready to fall apart. I'm just...in the moment. I have a 4 hour layover in Amsterdam and then I'll actually arrive in Newcastle, England tomorrow around 4 p.m. local time.

I don't know what kind of Internet access I'll have, if any, so this may be my last post until I return. Take care and stay out of trouble while I'm gone. Knowing my extended family, I can't promise to do the same.

Reality Hits

Wow. Today was my last day at school until after spring break. The kids were great and my co-workers were even better. One lady brought in a black dress for me to try on. It fit pretty well and everyone liked it. (AND it has long sleeves!) Then, someone left me an envelope on my desk and it had some lovely messages from my coworkers. AND they'd taken up a collection and gave me some cash to put toward my expenses. I about cried! How wonderful and humbling to be the recipient of such kindness!

The reality of my trip is starting to hit me, although I'm not crying yet. I imagine I will be when I see my mom on Friday afternoon. Everyone at work kept saying, "Have a great time...uh, I didn't mean it like that." I know what they meant. My grandfather had a long and glorious life doing what he loved, going where he wanted. We should be celebrating his life. And we will, I have no doubt. I promise soon I'll stop talking about all this, but right now I need to. So thanks for listening.

As for me, I'm off to finish my laundry, my packing and reading Tracy Wolff's book. I'll chat at you tomorrow!

Eureka!

Got a dress that's simple but nice and cheap. Also picked up a black raincoat that's nice...not so cheap. But I justified it because every single time I wear a nice outfit and have to wear a coat, I always have to wear my leather coat, which is not exactly dressy. A friend of mine also loaned me a black dress to see if I wanted that one. Um, thanks to my friend, but I won't be taking that one. I tried it on at home and promptly couldn't get it unzipped! I had to go to the neighbor for help. Of course, said neighbor couldn't be a young stud. She's a very nice retired lady who will be picking up my mail while I'm gone.

Still managing 100 words a day for my writing challenges. Don't know what story I'll be working on, but I imagine I'll figure that out once the plane rides begin. I was telling one of my students today that when I go away I like to take a fresh notebook or journal to write my story. I'm using a journal that said student gave me for my birthday back in October. One of the couples will take control while I'm away, I'm sure. And if not, maybe I'll just write about my relationship with my grandfather.

I'm kinda nervous now about this trip to England. Since my grandfather died, I've been focusing on school work. It's been sad sometimes, but mostly it's just been like he's away. Once tomorrow's school day is over, I'll have nothing to think about BUT the trip. I haven't been doing much mourning yet. I imagine that'll come when I'm with the family. And then there's the reading I'm supposed to do for the funeral. I foolishly agreed to read one of my grandfather's favorite Bible readings. At first I was worried because I didn't think I could hold it together long enough to do the reading, but then I figured no one will fault me for stopping to compose myself if I have to. And plus, I wanted to do it to honor my grandfather. And hey, I could always take a shot of whisky before the service, right?

No Big Black Moment

Okay, I knew this trip to England was coming. I knew I had to go shopping for a black dress. So why did I wait until NOW? I spent most of the afternoon going from one shop to another searching for the perfect funeral dress. I found some clingy cocktail dresses, which won't do for this but would be great for a date! I found some beautiful suit-type outfits. Of course, nothing that would be absolutely perfect for the trip to England came in my size. Who knew that after losing 16lbs I'd still be stuck between two sizes? I did manage to get a bunch of stuff I needed for the trip, though, and I've done some more school work tonight. But now I need to leave work right on time tomorrow and venture out again in search of a black dress in which to honor my grandfather. With only Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to go, I'm cutting it awfully close. Wish me luck!

A Day Of Broken Promises

Ah, yes. This day reminded me why I first took up the pen.

My good friend Monika picked me up and we went early this morning to the Austin RWA Critiquing/Write-In Day. Now, I didn't participate in the critiquing part because I'm pretty confident with my critiquing abilities and my AWESOME critique partners. So I, like a few other ladies, sat in the back of the room and worked...all day. I made great progress on Broken Promises after finding I'd written the opening several times. Not several ways, mind you, just several times. I spent the day pulling the stellar bits and pieces out of those several drafts, and the way it was coming together had me so excited for the story.

That said, my goal to have the entry ready for the Daphne may not be realized. I've been working on it most of the night and I'm only on page 9. I don't have a synopsis done, although I know where the story goes. I might, by some miracle, still be able to pull it off if I have my evenings free this week, but I'm not going to push it. To me, it has more work to be done before it's contest ready and I don't know if I'll have the time this week to deal with it before my trip. There will be other contests for Broken Promises and there will be finals. Hopefully too, there will be an editor who falls in love with it as well! But I figure I've got enough stress right now. Why add to it?

But, I've found my muse. Yep, you heard that. Caitlin has returned to me. We'll be working on a new Scottish adventure when my plane leaves Austin Thursday. I'm looking forward to sharing more positive things with you.

And Another Update

My grandfather is being sent to England this coming Wednesday. I'm leaving Thursday. The funeral still hasn't been arranged, but it will be no earlier than Monday 3/9. (Two weeks after he died.) Although my friends, coworkers and students have all been wonderful this week, I'm looking forward to being with my family.

Tonight I get to work on Broken Promises. I want to organize "stuff" so that I can be productive during my Austin RWA "Write-In" we're having tomorrow. Wish me luck!

England Update

Hello, blogworld! I'm doing all right. I have good moments and bad moments, especially with still being in limbo over the funeral details. But I have wonderfully supportive friends, co-workers, family and even students. There were some glitches with the funeral home getting the death certificate until yesterday. We're still waiting on word for the day of the funeral. We should know that today and then I can make my reservations. I've been keeping myself busy with work details for my sub. This weekend I'm going shopping for the trip (black dress and all) and hopefully working on my writing. I was going to back out of my writing challenge with my local Austin RWA, but then I decided to stick with it because my grandfather was always so supportive of my writing. For him, I'm going to put another contest entry together over the weekend (one I've been thinking about for a while) and I'm going to mail it Monday. I owe it to him, to my muse and to myself.

I'm Going To England

Jimmie Martin
May 25, 1919-February 22, 2009

Checkin' In

Had to work late 2 nights this week. Had to work 4 hours this morning. Got work to do at home tomorrow.

I was depressed yesterday after work so I went to the bookstore. Not that I need any books, but I wanted some new ones to add to my TBR pile. I picked up Instant Attraction by Jill Shalvis and Highland Warrior by Monica McCarty. Both of these authors are automatic buys for me.

As for writing, I managed to get Fractured Paradise off for that contest. I was supposed to then switch my energies to 2 more contest entries, but I haven't been in the frame of mind to do much more than a page or two. I've been sleeping a lot instead.

Today I picked up Tracy Wolff's book again. Since I've had it on the sidebar for weeks, I figured it was time to go back to it. Naturally I got lost in the world Tracy created and I'm loving it.

My grandfather slipped back into unconsciousness last Wednesday and hasn't come out of it since. Mom and I had a long chat today. It was good for both of us, I think.

That's all the news I have. What about you?

ACK!

So last night I was supposed to finish my latest contest entry for Fractured Paradise and e-mail it off to the coordinator. What did I do instead? I fell asleep on the couch at 8:15!!! I hardly ever fall asleep on the couch! I woke up somewhere around 9:45, fell back to sleep and woke up around 10:15. Then I went to bed. Ugh. Now I have extra work to do today, but at least I feel well rested! I guess I needed the sleep.

How About China?

Got an e-mail from a company that teaches kids in Hong Kong asking if I was still interested in teaching overseas. Hhhmmm, very interesting. Maybe this means more people will notice my resume and start contacting me for interviews! I haven't ruled out going overseas to teach next year. There's just a lot of other factors that would influence my decision.

Life Goes On

Well, like Kelly said in the comments to my last post, my grandfather isn't ready to die! Hey, I'm all for that as long as he's not in pain. In the meantime, I'm living my life, doing what I have to, but he's never far from my thoughts. I'll try not to bore you with all the details. It's just hard when I feel so isolated when the rest of the family is in RI.

I'm almost done revising part of Fractured Paradise so I can enter it in a contest. It's been a couple of years since I worked on this one (or even read it for fun) and I'm loving it. I'm incorporating the craft elements I've learned since its first draft and I'm so excited to revisit my fictional Scottish village. My CP is quite pleased with my decision to revise this story because she believes it has untapped potential. I think she's right! I thought briefly about making it a suspense, but my heart and my muse (not to mention the characters!) say it needs to remain a short contemporary. I just want it to be the best story it can be.

And wouldn't you know it? Right when I get excited about revising Fractured Paradise, I start getting those warm and fuzzy feelings for Broken Promises! I've already promised myself to start cleaning up the 1st chapter this week for a contest, but after that I was going to focus all my energy on my Scottish contemporary. Now I'm thinking I might have to revisit that plan. Somehow I don't think my suspense hero and heroine will allow me to abandon them totally over the next few months. We'll see what sort of compromise we can come up with.

Slipping Away?

The weather in northern England is in the 30s & 40s. Much different than I'm used to here in central Texas.

My grandfather slipped into unconsciousness yesterday morning and hadn't come out of it as of my talk with my mom yesterday afternoon. She doesn't believe he'll come back to us again. I hesitate to agree simply because of his medical history. And yet, I still want to mourn the loss I know is coming.

UPDATE 12:30: He's awake and eating.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wherever you are, I wish you much love and happiness today! Spend some quality time with those you love and let them know how much they mean to you.

My day will be spent rereading Fractured Paradise, my Scottish short contemporary romance, working on a contest entry for it and enjoying the love I have for that story.

An A-Ha Couple Of Days

Tuesday: My local Austin RWA meeting. Lots of fun, lots of chocolate, lots of Newcastle Brown Ales. We had in a woman who works in an ER who told us all about writers who write medical stuff incorrectly. I'm very fortunate to have my very own nurse to contact when I have medical questions. She's my friend Laura Iding and she's AWESOME! I forget how we exactly met. I know it was online and I think I'd put a medical question to one of my loops and she answered. We've kept in touch ever since and even managed to meet at the last Dallas Nationals.

Wednesday: The day job is a little too intense and if I let it, it will swallow me whole. Must work to avoid that. Actually, I took some steps to combat the fatigue I'm feeling and to influence how "things" are run next school year. I thought long and hard before I opened my mouth (I'm really good about doing that) and I'm quite happy with my decision to voice my opinion. We'll see how it's received in the coming weeks.

Thursday: Long day. Short on academics. Long on candy and Valentine's excitement. I skipped lunch and dinner and...ate chocolate. Even my kids were surprised with how much candy I ate and they were all telling me I'd be feeling sick tonight and tomorrow. (I think they might be right!) We had our Valentine's dance tonight and I stayed for the whole thing. It was cute, but I'm exhausted and I didn't get home until 9:15. And now I've got to go to bed so I can get up and be back there at 8 A.M. Ah, yes, but at least tomorrow's Friday!

Weekend plans: Grading, grading, more grading. Tons of work to prepare for parent conferences Monday. Also got a training video I have to watch for the ESL part of my job. Oh yeah, and I'm planning on finishing Fractured Paradise's contest entry and then get back to Broken Promises.

Ode To My Creative Mind

Take care as you read this. I've never claimed to be a poet:

A thousand voices spring through my head,
not one will let me rest in bed.
They each believe they should be the new story,
Rem and Ryan and now a guy named Corey.
But my muse is starting to get upset.
All these men she hasn't even met.
She's tired of me sneaking off with one or the other.
She's threatening to leave altogether.
Caitlin is ready to work hard and tough
if I can just pick a plot, enough is enough!
Eeny, meeny miny moe won't do it,
There's a whole lot more crap to it.
A plot, some conflicts, a monumental change,
a love story that's not too far out of my range.
In the end I know I'll have to choose
or Caitlin will desert me and then I'll lose.
But I'm not a quitter, I won't give in.
I'll wrestle with these men and damn it, I'll win!

And So It Goes...

I finished reading and judging the Golden Heart entries I had. It never fails, I always learn something when I judge. This time I realized how important it is for the reader to connect with the characters. You can have the best plot in the world, but if your reader doesn't care about your main characters, she won't care about the intriguing plot you've crafted. Anyway, I ended up with a couple of really outstanding entries. I hope at least one of them manages to final!

I don't think I'm going to make my goal of writing a chapter of something this month (for my local RWA group meeting on Tuesday). I've been trying on the new suspense, but it feels forced now and I don't ever want to force myself to write when it's not working.

I mailed off my GOTCHA revised entry to the coordinator. Once she gets all of the winners' entries in, she'll mail them off to the editor! Then it's back to the waiting game.

I've got a few contest entries to work on in the next few weeks in between day job work. 5 weeks until spring break!

My grandfather's in the nursing home again and they brought in hospice. We have a DNR order on file now and the doctors say it could be up to 6 months. Who knows? He's refusing to eat and refusing his meds. When I talk to him, he doesn't make much sense. One day at a time, right?

Letter Fun

Stolen from Avery and Cindy, who stole it from someone else, who stole it...

Rules: It’s harder than it looks!

Copy to your own blog, erase my answers, enter yours, and tag 10 people. (Or not. I'm not into tagging others, but if you want to do it, leave a comment and I'll come and read your answers.)

Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following questions.

They have to be real… nothing made up!

If the person before you had the same first initial, you must use different answers. You cannot use any word twice and you can’t use your name for the boy/girl name question.

1. What is your name: Lexi

2. A four letter word: Love

3. A boy’s name: Liam

4. A girl’s name: Lily

5. An occupation: Librarian

6. A color: Lilac

7. Something you wear: Lingerie

9. A food: Lasagna

10. Something found in the bathroom: Lotion

11. A place: London

12. A reason for being late: Lost the car keys

13. Something you shout: “Love you dearly, but get out of my room!" (Often shouted to my students when I can't get them packed and lined up fast enough to go to their next class.)

14. A movie title: Lion King

15. Something you drink: Lemonade

16. A musical group: Loverboy

17. An animal: Lynx

18. A street name: Lindy Ave.

19. A type of car: Lexus

20. The title of a song: Loch Lomond

Wednesday Miscellaneous

Allergies are still attacking me (and people all around me), but I will not surrender!

Grandfather went back to the hospital (by choice) and today they were going to do a psych eval on him.

My friend Jess Dawson is a soldier in Iraq right now and she's got a blog to share her experiences. Um, today's entry is...different. It's about an initiation she's had to endure. Check it out for yourself. Click here.

I've added 2 more blogs to my list of places to go. Joining the Fray and Romantic By Nature. Check them out when you have a chance!

As for my stories, here's the deal. I've been going back and forth for weeks now on which story to concentrate on, right? Then I had my ARWA sisters brainstorm Broken Promises with me last weekend. Then I was feeling I needed to reconnect with my British heritage, so I said I was going to go back to Fractured Paradise, right? Well, here it is Wednesday and the only writing I've done since the retreat has been on that brand new couple, Eric and Shannon. Remember them from this post? So I'm going to see where these new people take me. Obviously they have something to say if they're knocking not one, not two but THREE other couples out of their way!

Cedar Is Evil

I don't know for sure that it's cedar trying to kill me, but allergies are running rampant. I could go to sleep now and not wake until tomorrow morning. Except for the coughing. On top of all this, I have a wake to go to for a co-worker's husband. I can't not go. Even if I just stay 15 minutes, I have to make the effort. So I'm off to nap until the wake.

Retreat Review

Well, my retreat was very relaxing and we had a great time. I've got something- allergies, a cold, allergies AND a cold- and so I coughed most of the weekend, but that didn't stop me from indulging in the champagne, wine and chocolate we shared as we laughed and talked writing. (Wow, we have some AMAZING talent among us!) We also celebrated my friend and CP Jenna Stuart who signed with an agent. (Yay, Jenna!) I had the group brainstorm Broken Promises and they gave me lots of GREAT ideas, but....

I still can't find the fire.

Through the night, during my bouts of coughing up a lung, I realized I really wanted to revisit my Scottish contemporary village. With my grandfather failing, I'm really floundering and to do anything takes a huge effort. "Life" in my fictional village is always soothing and might help ease my soul. I need something to make me feel connected to my British heritage again. So I'm going to reread Fractured Paradise and start planning how to revise that one with all the craft tricks I've learned over the last 2 years. Also, I'm going to enter it in the Picture This Contest because there's a scene that I absolutely love and I've toyed with entering this contest with this scene for the last couple of years. So why not?

Good Times A-Comin'

Tomorrow is Friday and I have a writing weekend planned! A few of the ladies from my local ARWA group are having a brainstorming mini-retreat. We'll be working to knock out all the kinks in each others' books. This is EXACTLY what I need because I can't seem to get my head or my heart committed to one story. Yes, I know I said Broken Promises was too easy to walk away from and therefore I was going to put that one on the back burner, but then Nicole commented on my blurb for the story and that got me excited about it again. Although Resisting Ryan still feels like the stronger story of the two. Ah, well, never mind. We'll figure it out this weekend! I'll report back to you on Sunday with details!

I'm also looking forward to this weekend to get away from the grandfather drama and the stress that's starting to pile up again from the day job. No changes with my grandfather, although I've spoken to him a couple of times this week. The job is good, just busy and this semester is ALWAYS busier for me than the 1st due to my ESL kids. Man, do I need this break!

What about you? Any big weekend plans?

More Grandfather Drama

They released him from the hospital back to his old nursing home. He didn't eat lunch and barely touched any food at supper. He's got 3 drug-resistant infections and now some of his organs are shutting down. But to talk to him he sounds fine and he still insists they fight for him no matter what. Tomorrow I'm going to talk to the boss and give him a heads-up in case I have to go to England during the spring semester for the funeral. Usually writing is soothing to me at a time like this, but even getting the 470 out that I wrote today was like pulling teeth. As always, one day at a time.

GOTCHA!!!

Celebrate with me! Dance Away, Danger took 2nd place in the Silicon Valley Gotcha contest!

Stuff

Woohoo! Happy weekend! Just a quick note to you to bring you up to speed:

Grandfather- He's still in the hospital, but out of ICU. I swear, he should've died at least 10-15 times already. They're talking about discharging him maybe Tuesday after they get more test results back. Oh yeah, and they still can't find the source of his infection. He's still not doing well, but we'll take things one day at a time.

School-Gotta go in tomorrow to move my classroom. The middle school's been on a separate campus waiting for all sorts of permits for our portable buildings to be ready on our main campus. Then of course, I have tons of grading to do through the rest of the weekend...maybe.

Computer- A lady from my local Austin RWA group is going to come over and help me reinstall Word. I know, it's probably very easy, but when it comes to computer things I'm a wuss. (Oooh, I should be careful saying that since I've just taken over duties to update my Celtic Hearts chapter's website!)

Writing- I'm doing a little each day with my Austin group's writing challenge and my 50 words a day for 50 days challenge with my students. I'm still not committed to one story yet, so I just work on whichever one fires me up the most at that moment. Soon though, maybe this weekend, I need to make a clear decision and start some serious crafting. I'll let you know how it goes.

Writer friends- Nicole Reillan is part of the reason I've decided to take another look at Broken Promises as the potential next story. She said my blurb about it on my website gave her chills (or something to that affect). With that kind of reaction, how could I NOT consider that story to be my next award-winning thriller? And Marian Pearson Stevens just finished her website. Marian writes "classic romances" and has a couple of manuscripts with editors. Check it out and let her know what you think!

RWA Nationals-I registered Friday for the RWA National Conference in DC! I'm already getting excited! Are you planning to go?

Okay, that's enough for a "quick" note. I'm off to bed so I can get up fairly early and go into work...on a Saturday.

Wednesday But I Keep Thinking It's Thursday

Just checking in. I said this in a comment in my last post, but I want to say it again here. Thanks to all of you offering kind words, thoughts and prayers. I'm doing okay today, which just means no tears. My mom's been calling me each night with an update. He's still in ICU and they still don't know what caused his infection. He's a little more lucid, but not much. So I'll stay in limbo.

We watched the inauguration in the classroom yesterday for two hours. It was electrifying, wasn't it? I cried a bit, but that was grandfather emotions I'm pretty sure because my grandparents lived outside of DC and I spent a lot of time there. Also, my grandfather worked in DC. And then I'd think about how my grandfather decided to move his family from England and settle in a new world for a better life. Between that and the day's events, I was feeling pretty proud to be an American.

Have you registered for RWA Nationals yet? I haven't, but I'm thinking I will before I go to bed. My friend Brenda is planning to come and room with me, but we're also going to look for other roommates so we can cut down the cost.

I've done a bit of writing on Resisting Ryan and of course Eric and Shannon have still been whispering in my ear. Well, Eric has. I'm not really sure Shannon likes me yet.

Can You Spare Another Prayer or Two?

My grandfather went into the hospital yesterday and is in ICU with an infection and a breathing tube. Before this happened he told my mom he'd been dreaming of everybody, all the dead relatives. The doctors & nurses keep him sedated because he keeps trying to pull the tube out of his throat. I kept myself pulled together while I was on the phone with my mom, but then one of my brothers called to see what was going on (he hadn't been able to get in touch with our parents) and I started bawling. I'm okay now, just in limbo again, waiting for the phone to ring and for my mom to tell me it's over. My mom's tired. My heart hurts.

A Funny Thing Happened As I Worked On The Website

I realized Broken Promises is an easy manuscript to walk away from, which isn't a good sign. The story premise is good and I love the characters, but there's been no fire. I mean, last week I started my new writing challenge with my Austin RWA group and I've barely written 1500 words on Broken Promises. It was easy to walk away from it when I decided I HAD to finish the website. When I was putting the finishing touches on that last night, I thought about going back to Broken Promises today. Immediately I got a nugget of golden inspiration from an old hero from my manuscript Resisting Ryan. Again I walked away from Broken Promises, this time to start rereading Ryan's story, which immediately got me giddy and excited and smiling like a fool to anyone who would listen to me today. So I didn't need that frying pan up the side of my head. Broken Promises is a great story I definitely want to share. Just not now. I've got the fire with Ryan and his heroine. I've got a good premise for that and some great scenes to work with. I'm following Caitlin and jumping headfirst into that fire!

And We're Live!

Thanks to Brenda Bradshaw's amazing help, my website (www.lexiconnor.com) is up and running! Go check it out and let me know what you think!

It's Official

Eric and Shannon will wait. I haven't heard a peep out of Shannon. Eric's been slipping me golden nuggets of dialogue and ideas for a scene here and there, but he's not ready to give me anything more. Hhhmm, maybe he doesn't trust me yet?

So as of tomorrow, I'll be focusing entirely on Broken Promises. That story is in my heart and in my head lately and I'm really looking forward to exploring that. It didn't start out there. In the beginning of the draft, I had a hard time figuring out what the hero and heroine wanted and why they were meant to be together. More than usual, I mean. I actually got to the point where I thought of tossing the story into the recycle bin. After the "ease" of Danger, Broken Promises felt too hard for me to write well. But as time went on, as I crafted rough scenes, as I decided who would play them in the made-for-tv movie, my enthusiasm for the story grew. Now I'm in the perfect place to take the almost 40,000 words and mold them into a story worthy of a book contract.

And what about Eric and Shannon, you ask? I expect Eric will sneak a scene to me here and there as he opens up to Caitlin (my muse, for those who don't remember) and me. Then maybe Shannon will join the conversation too. Their story, whatever it's about, will come when they're ready to share.

The New Pain In My Rear

Weeeeelllll, Eric's not saying much. He gives me just enough to get me interested and then he shuts up. At this rate, he won't make it through the three-day test. I'm telling ya, he needs to give me something good to scribble or I'm going back to Broken Promises. THAT couple is ready to share their story and not give me any grief!!!

Update 11:55: Oooh, I don't think he likes that description. He's starting to talk faster than I can write his comments down. I'll let you know how we make out tomorrow, his last chance to prove he and Shannon should be next!

A Hot New Man!

There's absolutely nothing in the world like finding a new hero to write about. He shows up when you least expect it, throws your life into immediate, addictive chaos, and expects you to drop everything for him.

I was watching some of my favorite shows over the last 2 days and a dark and brooding hero popped into my head (along with the actor I'd like to portray him in the movie!). I don't know much about him yet, only that he can't be pushed into one of the roles I already have for a hero. He is definitely his own man. As with anyone that demands his or her story be told, I will give this nameless hero three days to prove he's worthy of my time.

Something tells me I'm in for quite a ride between now and the weekend.

UPDATE WED MORNING: He and his heroine have first names. Shannon and Eric. I'm still giddy with all the possibilities. I've had a few ideas pop into my head, but they're too "good" for Eric. They're not dark and dangerous enough.

Taking The Plunge

Evil Brenda Bradshaw talked me into creating a website. It's sucking up the time I should be grading papers or reading Laura's fantastic book, but I'm having a lot of fun. I don't expect it to be long before you'll be able to check out www.lexiconnor.com. I'll keep you updated!

I Don't Suck!

I just recently realized something about myself and my writing. I can, without a doubt in my mind, say I am a good writer. I can put together stories that people enjoy.

I DON'T SUCK.

Heehee. Now you may be rolling your eyes thinking "she's either giving herself another pep talk after another rejection or she's had one too many beers" but I can tell you it's neither.

I worked for 3 days on revisions to my manuscript, Danger, and then sent it to my AWESOME critique partner. That was before Christmas. I was thrilled and confident and totally feeling that this manuscript could be "THE ONE". I happily went on vacation, read several books, played around with my next 2 stories and came home.

Well, my critique partner responded with some self-editing tips and exercises to get me thinking more critically about my work BEFORE she'll send me her actual comments. My first instinct was to think, "Crap, I suck. Why does she keep finding things wrong with it? I shouldn't even bother writing anymore."

But it occurred to me that I've forgotten the meaning of a critique partner. She's not trying to tell me everything that's wrong or trying to "teach" me to write. She's pointing out things she thinks will make my already good story even better. Something else that played into me having this grand revelation was "listening" to the published people in my local RWA group talk about their revisions. That's when it occurred to me (again) that most people have to go through several drafts before their books are publisher-ready. Just because I'm not there yet doesn't mean I suck. It just means I still have revisions to do. It just means my job isn't done. No one is saying I can't DO the job.

Now here's the craziest thing. I started to compare this attitude to the way I teach. I know I'm a good teacher, but I know I can always improve. I may have some parents grumbling at me, but just because I do doesn't mean I'm a horrible teacher (unless EVERY PARENT was grumbling). It just means I may need to change my focus or my approach to what I'm doing. I've been living with that understanding the entire time I've been teaching. But I've never seen that the same approach applies to writing.

So I guess I'll keep plugging away on Danger, Broken Promises and No Surrender and sooner or later someone will want to buy my books!

New Stuff To Share

I'm tickled that I'm reading a copy of Laura Griffin's newest book, Whisper of Warning! I was trying to think of what I wanted to read next and Laura was kind enough to take the question right out of my hands. Thanks, Laura!

I just found out another Austin RWA member has a blog. So check her out. Shellee Cruz. Her latest post is about her writing goals for 2009.

Happy release to another Austin RWA member, Tracy Wolff! Her first erotic suspense comes out today and it looks H-O-T! Grab a copy when you go to the bookstore. Tracy's doing a book signing here in Austin on January 18th so that's when I plan to get my copy!

Inspiration

It's amazing what pictures and the right song will do for my writing. (Anybody else agree?) I spent part of Sunday searching for the perfect pictures of the actors and actresses I imagine would be best to play my next 2 couples (you know, if the books were ever movies). When I found what I was looking for, I started feeling good about my next story again, Broken Promises. I've kinda been going back and forth about whether I actually want to continue writing it, but it's got close to 40,000 words already, so why not? But still I worried because everyone says if you don't love what you write no one else will.

Well, let me just say the Hollywood couple who'd have the starring roles are already doing their jobs! All day as I looked at the pictures, I liked the story a bit more. I can already feel the tension between the characters, can see them falling in love and how difficult it will be for them to give in to each other. The story has so much potential and I'm so excited to get busy shaping it into the best story it can be. And then last night I found one song that fits the couple perfectly and it was all by accident.

The audience will love my new story because WOW, these characters are honorable, courageous, loving people who have some very tough decisions to make before they'll get their happily ever after! But they can do it and so can I! Woohoo!!!

Back To Life in Austin for 2009

I got back from cold RI last night. When we landed it was 75 degrees. I'm glad to be home in some respects, not so in others. My grandfather continues to fail and I'm DEFINITELY NOT ready to get back to work! (And I know all you parents are quite ready for the kids to go back to school) No worries, though. It's only 10 weeks until spring break.

So what will I do today? Well, I watched a bit o' Bourne with breakfast. I printed pictures of the actors and actresses that are inspiring my current heroes and heroines. I've got to go grocery shopping. And I should probably do some school work.

New Year's Resolutions:
1. Make time for myself
2. Finish 2 manuscripts this year (Broken Promises and No Surrender)
3. Lose another 20lbs. (I did well enough throughout 2008, but I've gone up and down. I'm back on the diet now and can't wait to get back to the gym.)
4. Get to the gym 4-5 times a week
5. Sign a book contract! (Okay, I realize this is beyond my control, but I'm planning to do everything I can to get there! How about it, NY? Are you with me?)
6. Limit/organize my internet time so that I'm not wasting hours when I should be working
7. Read at least 5 new-to-me authors
8. Be more outgoing in all aspects of my life

That's a lot, but they're all achievable. We'll see how it goes in 2009!

Happy 2009!

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's Eve. I'll be heading back home to Austin in a couple of days and then I'll be sharing with you my goals for the new year. 2009 is my year. I can feel it in my bones. How about you?

Another Year Over

Say goodbye to 2008. It's been a wonderful year! Everyone, be safe tonight ringing in the new year. Have you made a list of your New Year's Resolutions yet? I still need to make mine. Ah, well. I still have a few hours left.

Take care tonight and I'll have a drink for you while I sing Auld Lang Syne!

AROUND 5 PM: It's SNOWING!!! I'm still in RI and we've got snow...lots of snow. I think it was supposed to be 6-8 inches. i'm LOVING it! Although, I don't have to drive in it or go out in it except to make some snowballs and possibly a snowman.

A New Romantic Suspense Author!

Happy Release Day, Elisabeth! To the rest of you, if you like romantic suspense make sure to check Elisabeth's debut, which hits the shelves today!

Checkin' In

Hi! I hope all is well as you wait for the New Year to take over. Christmas has been...interesting for me. I got some wonderful gifts and have spent some wonderful time with family and friends. I got FIVE Barnes & Noble gift cards!!! Can you believe it? I was giddy as I opened the last couple. I thought about how if I worked it right I wouldn't have to actually PAY CASH for a book until the last quarter of 2009.

I haven't done much writing, but I've done a bit of brainstorming and I've been reading a lot. I've got about 6 pages on the new suspense that's going to take place in Scotland, No Surrender. Today I started reading Tall, Dark & Lethal by Dana Marton. It's my 5th book since leaving Austin. I tried to put it on the blog, but I can't for whatever reason. I'm hoping to get some more writing done in the next week, but if I don't that's okay too. Everyone needs a break once in a while.

My grandfather has been in a nursing home for a week now (after a week in the hospital) and he is continuing to fail. More is wrong with him every few days and he's starting to say things that make no sense. I've been to the nursing home six out of seven days. It's painful enough to watch him go through this, but to be next to my mom and know I really can't do anything to help her is a vicious pain. As for me, I'm all right. I know change is coming in 2009 and I'm just trying to wrap my head around all the possibilities. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers and give an extra hug to those important people in your lives.

Merry Christmas!

I hope it's a wonderful day for all my blog friends. I hope Santa brings you everything you ask for. I have already received my best gift...your friendship. Thank you!

Holiday Travels

I've spent the last few nights watching the Bourne movies as I've revised my manuscript. I mentioned yesterday that Danger was done. By the time you read this, I will have consumed a few Guinness beers and sent my manuscript to my AWESOME CP. Danger will be out of my mind, but I don't think this one will ever be out of my system.

And yet now I'm on my way to RI for Christmas. My grandfather got out of the hospital on Saturday and went straight to a nursing home. He's better, but not well. I'm just thankful I'll get to spend some more time with him. My oldest brother called and made plans to visit with me during my 2-week visit. One of my best friends will be joining my family for dinner. Later this week I'll visit with my aunt, uncle, cousin and cousin's wife (who's pregnant!). In my suitcase, I have notes for Broken Promises and the Scottish suspense, LOTS of warm clothes and 6 romance books. There will be no day job talk or work until I get back to school.

I'll get online when I can and check e-mails and blogs. Until we "meet" again, take care, stay warm (or cold...yes, this is especially for you, Tez!), and enjoy the season.

Um...What Does This Mean?

My favorite show (The Unit) is about to come on with a new episode and I really don't want to watch. I'd much rather follow the insanity my hero and heroine are forced into in Danger!

I'm Done!!!!!

Woohoo! I JUST finished the revisions to Danger! I'm in that "I'm so excited because I'm surely a genius" stage. I LOVE this feeling! I'm going to run some errands and start packing for my trip to RI and then this afternoon I'm going to reread the entire manuscript for any last minute changes. Then it's off to my CP and I get to celebrate...and start pulling Broken Promises together (or play around with the Scottish suspense that my muse is reminding me I have).

Check This Out!

My blog friend Elisabeth Naughton has her first romantic suspense coming out this month and she's having a contest to spread the word. It's kinda fun, so if you've got a minute or two in between shopping, baking and wrapping have a look.

Rollin' Along

The start to my vacation has been WONDERFUL! I worked for a few hours at the day job yesterday, but then I came home early afternoon and worked on Danger for hours. Have you noticed the Danger progress meter? It's looking pretty good, if I say so myself! It's still going to be tough to finish the revisions today with all the Christmas shopping I still have to do, but I really want to finish Danger today. My plan is to reread the entire thing tomorrow to make sure it flows and all my "t"s are crossed and my "i"s are dotted.

I'm really excited to keep writing once I get to my Mom's. I thought about taking a break from writing for the next 2 weeks, but then I realized I've virtually had a 2 month break since the day job wouldn't let me do much on my manuscript. So I'm going to take advantage of the school vacation and I'm going to write, write, write! My muse, Caitlin, is VERY happy about that! She's got tons to share with me. I can feel it!

Whhheeeeeeee!!!

I'm FREE! I got a couple more wonderful gifts, my 7th graders did an AWESOME job on their play and now I'm free for the break! Well, okay. I've got to go in for a few hours tomorrow, but it'll be an easy day. I was going to go Christmas shopping this afternoon for a bit, but the weather is foggy and drizzly. So I'm staying home with my Christmas music, my cup of tea and my manuscript!

Thoughts & Prayers

If you're the praying type, please say a prayer for my grandfather. If praying isn't your thing, then consider keeping him in your thoughts. He's 89. We joke that he's got 9 lives because he's had some close calls in his life and he's managed to survive.

Last weekend he went into the hospital and he's still there. Each day they talk about releasing him, they find something else wrong. He's always been a very proud man and going through this has been very difficult for him. It hurts my heart what it's doing to him and to my mom who is an only child.

Early But Not So Bright

Good morning! (It's cold, dark and dreary here, hence the title of the post.) I'm very excited and I wanted to share it with you. Nothing earth-shattering. Just that school is almost out for the holiday!!! I have today and a half day tomorrow, and neither day has any real teaching in it. Kids making up work, packing up the portable for the move, our Christmas party, the 7th grade play of their version of A Christmas Carol. I'm almost done my grading for the semester. I should be able to finish in an hour when I get home tonight. Then guess what? I get to work on Danger!!!! THAT'S what I'm so excited about. Ok, I guess I better finish getting ready for work and head out. I'll catch you later. Have a wonderful day!

Word Woes

Well, it's definitely a Word thing. I can open other applications on the computer and obviously I can still get on the internet. So I'm e-mailing important documents to myself and my friend/ computer expert is trying to arrange a time to help me reinstall Word before my vacation.

In the meantime, my campus is moving to the main school campus. (We've had separate campuses for about a year now.) So we have to pack everything and take valuable items out of the classroom for the move at the end of this week. Guess what I get to bring home? The PC in my room! So, if nothing else I'll be able to work on Danger's revisions (you know, all the revisions I've done by hand over the last week or so AND the last 2 chapters AND the Epilogue). I desperately want to finish it up and e-mail it to my CP just so I can have a true vacation and not worry about it over the holidays. (No, that time will be devoted to reading and working on one of the other two stories.)

But what did I do tonight after dinner? I did work for school, work that I could put off until next week. I finished reading the book I'm assigning 6th grade for break and then I started reading the book for 7th grade. This could easily be done AFTER Danger's revisions. Yes, friends, it's true. Tonight, I was guilty of procrastinating. I know, it's a shock since I've been doing well about NOT procrastinating, but the queen has to retain her title, right?

I'm Back, Baby!

Yay to my friend who's a computer GENIUS! She played with some buttons, read some instructions on the computer and there ya go! Although, I'm afraid to turn the computer off now.... Maybe not until I go away for Christmas.

The first thing I did when I got on the computer was to back up all my manuscripts, notes, synopses and queries. I won't lose anything important! I won't!

The next thing I did was cruise through some of my blogging buddies' blogs to catch up on what I've missed. Let me tell you, I realized just how much time I spend on the computer and how much time I put into blogging. Hhhhmmm, maybe in the new year I'll limit my blogging time and concentrate on...oh, I don't know...WRITING???

I'll be chatting at you more this week as my workload at school decreases. YAY! I'm off now to continue grading papers.

LATER: Too good to be true. I can use the internet, but I can't go in and do anything with my word documents. Sigh. Good thing I backed EVERYTHING up this time!

Almost....

Almost... done with school for this semester. I'm still hoping to get a bunch of grading done today and tomorrow.

Almost... done with my Christmas shopping. I've got a bunch of places to go today and I think it'll only be a few more nights next week of shopping. Then I can relax!

Almost... done being without my home computer!!! A friend of mine who used to work for a computer company is coming to my house tomorrow to get my computer working again! I can't thank her enough! I'll post from home as soon as I can! (Um, enough exclamation points???)

Almost... done reading one of the books I'm assigning for vacation homework. Every teacher is assigning a book for her class. I decided to read all 3 of the books I assigned. It's only right, after all, that I know what the kids are reading.

And So It Goes...

Still without my home computer, still no sign of getting it fixed anytime soon. Spent the last 3 days in Washington, DC for a work conference, which renewed my enthusiasm for teaching. (JUST what I needed!) Got a school holiday program tonight, babysitting tomorrow night and I'm going to work like a dog this weekend to grade and record everything I have so that I can start to relax for the holidays!

During my Washington trip, I read one Harlequin Romance book about Christmas and I managed to revise chapter 6 & 7 of Danger AND I started revising chapter 8!!! (Hhmmm, maybe that has a part in my good mood today too!) I hope all is well with you. I'm checking blogs when I can but not leaving messages. I'll keep you updated on the computer...stuff.

Computer In ICU

Well, I went to work on my revisions last night and the computer was acting kinda funny. So I shut it down. And now I can't get back in. It won't accept my password. Reverts back to my old password and then won't accept that either. The box for entering the information shakes. And of course now I can't check e-mails or get to ANY of my documents. And of course I'm not one of those who learned her lesson about backing up stuff the LAST time this happened! I'm afraid to do anything in case I ruin whatever chance I have to retrieve my documents.

But a couple days before I did e-mail to myself my query and synopsis for Danger. I also e-mailed the last revied version of Danger right after I sent my Golden Heart entry. So all is not lost....

I'll keep you updated...

Christmas is A-Comin'!

I'm in the Christmas spirit! I started my shopping. I've written some cards and plan to write the rest tonight. Yesterday I pulled out the decorations and started putting them up around the house. I found and am LOVING my Celtic Christmas music. Naturally I watched the cartoon version of the Grinch the other night and tonight is Rudolph! My 7th graders have written their own version of A Christmas Carol (my favorite story of all time!) and we're practicing it so they can perform it during our campus Holiday Party in 2 weeks. I love everything about this holiday season and I intend to enjoy every minute of it! Except for the HUGE commercialization of the holiday (which I don't allow to interfere/ruin my holiday), what's not to love about a season of giving?

Honey, I'm Home!

I'm back from Beaumont and my relaxing Thanksgiving vacation. I hope everyone who celebrated had a great holiday too. Now it's back to the chaos. School plans and grades, putting up Christmas decorations, planning and packing for a school conference next week, Christmas shopping, writing out cards, reading and of course writing! I managed to get a few pages of Danger revisions done and I LOVE where my characters are taking me. I'm trying to focus more on making sure they're properly motivated. No easy feat, I'll tell ya! I also figured out that I'm gong to take the last 2 weeks of December off from writing and then in January I'll be jumping into Broken Promises because that story deserves to be told next!


Oh, and speaking of stories that deserve to be told, I read Private S.W.A.T. Takeover by Julie Miller during my Thanksgiving break and WOW! I absolutely loved it. The hero is a sharpshooter with 3 other brothers (who naturally have their own stories too). You can bet your bottom dollar I'll be reading the last in the series and then hunting down copies of the first 2!

So, what's new in your world?

Gobble, Gobble!

Wherever you are, Americans, have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! Eat lots of turkey, enjoy good company and toss back a few drinks!

I'm thankful for:
the friends I have (in real time and on the net)
my wonderful family
my health
my talents that I promise I'm not going to waste
my great set of students (although some of them could work a little harder!)
the best co-workers ANYWHERE!
the roof over my head
the food I've been eating all this week with a bunch of special events
the founding fathers of my country and all the sacrifices they made
the men and women in our armed forces who sacrifice for us as well (Hi Jess!)
and I'm thankful for the simple fact that I have choices when so many people in the world do not.

I'm FREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

This morning I'm officially off work until Monday, 12/1! Woohoo! Can you hear me cheering and giggling all the way out where you are? Are you sure? Because I'm pretty sure you can.

Today I'm off to Beaumont, TX until Sunday. My sister-in-law invited me to go with the family to her parents' house for the holiday. They, her brother and his family are a great group of people and I'm very excited to spend some time with them. I'm also excited to get some more time with my hero and heroine of Danger (still making more changes after working on my latest contest entry). Plus, I'm bringing notes on my new Scottish suspense story and I'm bringing two books to read! There will be no school work done until at least Sunday! Oh, and I have some college football to watch too! And lots of food to eat and several adult beverages to consume. I don't know about you, but it looks to be a great holiday!

Monday, Monday...Or Tuesday, Rather

Here I am, fresh from printing my Golden Heart entry for the Romance Writers of America Contest! I foolishly left it all until the very last night. Although the deadline is 12/2, I wanted to mail my entry Tuesday before I head out for Thanksgiving. I started double and triple checking my entry at 7 p.m. Monday. It's now after 1 a.m. on Tuesday and it's still printing. But you know what? I absolutely LOVE my story and honestly believe this will be the manuscript I sell. (Hopefully the first of many!)

And now I'm wondering if I should go to bed at all tonight...this morning...now. See, I have to be up for work in about 4 hours. I usually fare A LOT worse if I try to grab a few hours of sleep. So I could stay up, have A LOT of tea, pack for the holiday, read, grade some papers (okay, that last one was meant as a joke) and watch some Jason Bourne. Then tomorrow afternoon (this afternoon?) I can swing by the post office and mail my GH entry, pick up some treats for the holiday weekend and then sleep.

Hhmmm, decisions, decisions. I think I'll see what time it is when the GH entry finishes printing and then go from there.

UPDATE: Here it is 5:04 and I'm still awake. I did start to doze for a while on the couch, but then I had 2 cups of tea, I finished my laundry and then I popped in a Bourne movie. Now I'm trying to talk myself into getting to the grocery store before work so I won't have to think about it this afternoon. Don't know if that'll happen though.

ANOTHER UPDATE 2:37 p.m. : WOOHOOO! I'M FREEEEEE! Didn't sleep, didn't really teach much, ate good food at our Thanksgiving feast, mailed my GH entry. Now I'm off to do some chores before I think about finishing my packing for my Thanksgiving trip!

Wow!

Thanks, everybody, for your thoughts and comments! I never expected that many people to weigh in!

As I'm sure you realize, I'm still weighing all my options. I imagine I will be for a while. There's so much to consider. I'll keep the poll up so that more people can weigh in and I'll keep you updated on my thoughts and progress.

I went to Houston this weekend for a whirlwind trip. We left Friday and came back Saturday. One of my brothers is turning 40 and his wife threw him a surprise party. On the trips to and from Houston, I managed to get through 2 chapters of Danger revisions! It's more than I've been able to get through in the last 2 months! I'll be going away for Thanksgiving with family too, so I'll have more travel time to work on Danger. I'm tickled that I'm making such good progress. Right now I'm thinking to finish revisions by about the middle of December. Then I can play for the rest of the year or work on the new Scottish story. Or not. The joy will be in not having any pressing writing work until 2009.

But first I need to finish checking my Golden Heart entry and get that puppy in the mail!

Wanna Weigh In?

I've always been a wanderer. I've moved on average every 2 years, whether new house, new city or new state. After I graduated college the first time, I looked into teaching in Japan, but emotionally I wasn't ready for such a commitment.

When I went back to school to get my master's in education, it was with the intention of working with English as a 2nd Language students. I took classes for that and loved it all. But I moved to Austin and got a job teaching 2nd/3rd grade. Then I moved up to the middle school. Then I got the additional duties of the ESL Coordinator at my school. While this has been wonderful, it no longer feels like enough.

So, I started thinking about teaching overseas again. I've continued to talk about it for years and it's feeling kinda right for next school year. I've started researching a couple of programs. There's a worldwide certification that I can get that will open countless doors (or so I'm thinking), but I'd have to take classes for a month to get it. Then they'd help me find a job. My friends and co-workers are telling me to go for it, saying it's an investment in myself and something I've always wanted to do.

And then I think, wow, what a blog readership I could get with blogging about my life in a foreign country and how cool would that be to have all those readers ready for when I sell. PLUS think of all the intriguing plots I could come up with!

I just don't want to wake up on my deathbed and regret that I never went overseas to teach. I just have a strong pull to this and I'm thinking I really want to jump off the roof and see if I can fly.

So, wanna weigh in?

Nope, Not Tellin' Yet

Chuck E. Cheese was fun, but I was glad to get home. And now I'm free until Sunday afternoon! I have tomorrow off, got some plans this weekend (which include talking to some friends about my life-changing possibility). I'll also be putting the finishing touches on my GH entry so I can mail it early next week! Yay! I'll probably spill the beans over the weekend about my "possible situation" simply because I wanna share! I promise not to string you along for too long. Have a good weekend and I'll catch up with you Sunday if not sooner!

Dangerous Delays

Update: Wednesday night. Still haven't touched Danger since at least the weekend. PTO board meeting last night, family in town tonight, Chuck E. Cheese school fundraiser tomorrow night. Oh, and I've been grading and working on sub plans for Friday for my day off.

On a personal note, got some "stuff" going on that I'm looking forward to sharing with you soon and getting your opinion. It might be very positive and exciting and it could DEFINITELY change my life. (And no, it's got nothing to do with a book contract.)

And Now Back To Me

What's Going On In My Writing World:
Tuesday 11/18-Thursday 11/20-- Finish revising chapter 4 of Danger
Friday 11/21- Saturday 11/22-- Revise as much of chapter 5 of Danger as possible
Sunday 11/23-Monday 11/24--Review & revise Danger for Golden Heart entry, prepare entry
Tuesday 11/25--Mail Golden Heart entry to RWA Nationals!!!!
Thanksgiving Break-read, relax, read, write on the yet-to-be-named Scottish suspense and continue Danger revisions (2 chapters? 3?)
I'd like to have Danger revisions "completed" AGAIN by the time I get out of school for winter break, which is 31 days! Then I guess I better think again about another round of agent queries. Over winter break I'll also play around with Broken Promises OR the new one. Or maybe I'll just take the 2 weeks off to play and be a normal, non-neurotic individual. Nah. What fun would that be?

Enough About Me

I thought it was time I actually talked about someone other than myself for a while. There's so much good news around me.

This one is a bit overdue, but the sentiment and good wishes are still there! My blog buddy and recent returnee to the Austin RWA Avery Beck sold!!! Congrats, Avery! Click here to find out the details.

Another Austin RWA member, Skye, received her first offer too! Woohoo, Skye! (I'd give you a link, but I don't have anything to link you to.)

Emily Mckay's new book, Baby Benefits, is a great read! And one of my favorite suspense authors, Laura Griffin, signed a contract for 3 more books! (And both of these ladies are also members of the Austin RWA chapter.)

Jess Dawson (yep, ANOTHER Austin member!) gave us a great talk about life in the Army at last week's meeting. We celebrated Jess that night because she's being deployed to Iraq in less than 2 weeks. (Please keep her and her family in your prayers.) She's got a blog that she plans to keep up while she's deployed.

Nita Wick has a release date for her new book, The Wagonmaster. The excerpt on her blog sounds great! You should check it out.

I'm a Libra

That's my defense when I can't make up my mind. Recently I whined and complained that I couldn't write new stuff, I wasn't getting enough Danger time and that my writing challenges were causing me too much grief.

Today I've added a new progress meter for my newest manuscript.

My thoughts are like this: Danger is coming along. I know I haven't updated the progress meter in a while, but I've been revising a few pages of my hard copy each night. It's coming. My writing challenge with my Austin RWA group to write at least 100 words a day is over. Woohoo! Great weight off my shoulders. Yesterday I only wrote 13 words. I also realized Broken Promises is as done as it can be until I can spend some serious evening time revising and rewriting. In other words, the hard part is up next for that one. So, it stays at almost 38,000 words until Danger is revised or close to being finished. At the same time, I've had an urge to get back to writing a Scottish story, so the new suspense is set in Scotland. I'm getting so excited about it and I love just jotting down whatever I can on it. So why not do so when I can?

The bottom line is I have to keep working toward my goal of eventually getting published. As long as I'm doing SOMETHING toward that, I can't complain.

A Christmas Wedding

A Review by Lexi Connor

Tracy Wolff knows how to suck a reader in with the first pages of her novel, A Christmas Wedding. Jesse Rainwater, the world’s best horse trainer, hands his wife divorce papers. On their daughter’s wedding day. Triple H Ranch owner Desiree has always tackled trouble with an iron fist, but Jesse’s bombshell makes her realize this may be a problem she can’t fix. However, Desiree refuses to give up on her marriage, on the only man she’s ever loved, without a fight.

A Christmas Wedding is a fantastic story that immediately piqued my curiosity about how the author would tell the tale. Right away Ms. Wolff made me care about Desiree and Jesse, and then she pulled me on an emotional roller coaster straight through to the end of the book. I didn’t read it all in one sitting, but each day when I got home from work, I looked forward to curling up on the couch and uncovering the next layer of Jesse and Desiree’s story. I laughed, cried and sighed as I followed their journey and watched them revive their hope for an everlasting love.

I admit I’m much more of a suspense reader and the thought of reading about people involved in horse racing at first gave me pause, but wow! The time I spent reading this book was well worth it. Tracy Wolff is definitely an author I’ll read again.

Sunday Already?

Hi, hi! This weekend is flying by. Yesterday I watched college football ALL day. (My Texas Longhorns kicked butt, too!) I also read more of Michelle Gagnon's The Tunnels. Good story! I've got about 85 pages left. I can only read it during the day though. It's too freaky to read at night when the house is making noises and the scene is about the killer torturing and killing the college girl victims. (Ooh, I'm getting a shiver just typing about it!)

Today I have a BUTTLOAD of grading to do. And progress report grades to put into the computer. And yet I'm going out to lunch. Hhhmm, maybe later on the school work.

Only 2 more days in my Austin RWA writing challenge (where we commit to write at least 100 words a day in between our meetings). I swear, I'm pulling my hair out and it's like pulling teeth to get 100 words done. And remember that 50,000 words by 12/31 challenge I joined? Well, I have done some serious soul searching and I've decided to drop out. I'm at a point in the new story where I really don't like anyone. I've got almost 38,000 words on the rough draft and I can't be bothered to write on it anymore. I've learned that I really can't work on two stories intensively at the same time while working at my crazy day job. If I was just writing notes on the new one while revising Danger, then that wouldn't be bad. But trying to revise Danger AND mold the new one into a great story WHILE spending countless hours on school stuff has become too difficult. So, my new goals are....

Finish as much of Danger revisions as I can by Golden Heart deadline.
Finish the rest of Danger revisions by 12/31.
Figure out which story is actually next.
Relax and take a writing vacation when Danger is done.

Part of my problem is I really, really, really want to focus on Danger. (I sound like a broken record, don't I?) I think another part of my problem has been that Broken Promises feels like it's morphing into two couples with two very different stories. It feels like I've been forcing it and therefore ruining it and my motivation. So my new goals are really in my best interest (and the best interest of my characters too!).

What's new with you?

Out Of The Ashes Of Despair

This morning there was a shooting a few miles from my school and 3 of the suspects ran away. The neighborhood was blocked off, the helicopters and SWAT guys were out in force. Six other schools in the area closed. We stayed open.
BUT...
The whole situation gave me a GREAT idea for a new book...
AND...
Then it worked itself into a character I already had and loved, one of those that had his story way back when I didn't know anything and I planned to someday rewrite it.

Huh...such awesomeness to come from a tragedy.

In the end, a couple of the criminals are still on the loose, but we're pretty sure they're LONG gone from our school neighborhood.

Exercise Your Right To Vote!

If you didn't participate in early voting, make sure to let your voice be heard today. Go out and VOTE! And now I'd like to share with you my version of the perfect political ticket:

President- Jack Bauer (from the show 24) because he's always willing to do what he thinks is in the country's best interest, even sacrifice himself.
Vice-President- Jonas Blane (from the show The Unit) because he's calm in a crisis, sensible, brilliant and I think he would be the perfect person to talk Jack OUT of sacrificing himself for the good of the country.
Secretary of State- Patrick Jane (from the new show The Mentalist) because he can read people in a flat second and can tell people what they need to hear.
Secretary of Defense- Jason Bourne (I shouldn't have to tell you where he's from) because he kicks butt, outsmarts the CIA and he's always thinking at least two steps ahead.

What about you? Which characters would you want running our country?

My New "Job"

Celebrate with me! I just became the Vice President of the Celtic Hearts online chapter! I offered to run because I wanted to make sure we had enough people to take over the board. Turned out the VP position was the only position that had an actual race. All the other positions only had one person running. It was very humbling to know that enough people had faith in me to vote me into office. I'm very excited about this, although I don't think I thought it all the way through when I offered to run! But still, I will give it my best because it's a chapter near and dear to my heart.

Austin Celtic Festival

Woohoo! My students that came to the Austin Celtic Festival had a GREAT time. We got pictures of them "fighting" with soldiers with wooden sticks and shields. They ate, they bought stuff and they didn't want to leave. Sadly, several of my "yes" students didn't bother to show up so I had 8 extra tickets.

Once I passed the kids off to their parents after the field trip, I went back to the festival by myself to have a few Guinness pints and listen to the music. Since I had all those extra tickets, I decided to stand just outside the gate and look for someone who might want them. I spotted a woman with three little girls. I stopped her, explained I was a teacher and had extra tickets and that I wasn't trying to scam her. She took the tickets (and one for her husband who was parking the car) and thanked me. I can't tell you how AWESOME it felt to give to someone else. Their tickets would have cost them $60.

After that I looked around again at all the things I wanted to buy. I stayed until it closed (about 45 minutes ago) and I had a BRILLIANT idea while I was listening to the musicians. I've still got one extra ticket left, so I'm going back tomorrow! I've decided to start my Christmas shopping there, have a few more pints AND I'm bringing my stories (Danger and Broken Promises) so I can sit, listen to the band and work. That may seem strange to you, but the atmosphere at the Celtic Festival is exhilarating for me. It makes me want to go back to Ireland and Scotland. It makes me want to work on a story set in Scotland. It makes me feel like anything is possible!

Thursday

Isn't that an AWESOME blog entry title???? I couldn't think of anything more creative. After my 3-day writing weekend, I've barely done 6 pages of revisions and 4 pages of new stuff on Broken Promises. I've been to the gym and taking care of myself so that's good. I've been reading Tracy Wolff's book and that's awesome. I just got out of an online party for my Celtic Hearts group. Tons o' fun! Saturday is the Austin Celtic Festival and I've got 12 students and 3 chaperones coming with me! I usually go with the kids for a few hours and then I go back on my own once the kids have all been picked up so that I can relax, enjoy the atmosphere, do some shopping, listen to the music and have a pint or two! I'll catch you later this weekend and let you know how it went!

3 Day Recap

Oh I had a WONDERFUL time as a full-time writer for the weekend! I ended up revising 27 pages on Danger. I wanted to get to an even 30, but my brain shut down and refused to work any more tonight. I'm amazed with how much more structure and detail I've been able to add and WOW what a difference!

As for the new manuscript, which is now called Broken Promises, I wrote 17 pages over the 3 days. I hadn't planned to spend so much time with the new one, but I figured as long as I was writing something then I was in good shape.

All in all, I'd say I had a VERY productive weekend!

Not So Bright, But Early Sunday

Got 5 pages written on the new manuscript and 12 pages revised on Danger! (Well, and I did watch the Texas Longhorns football game too.) Woohoo! I hope to do even better tomorrow...er, today...um, later Sunday. Keep your positive thoughts coming my way!

Later That Same Day...

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can....
I know I can, I know I can!

Danger revisions are slow as far as page count, but the QUALITY is what matters and the pages I've been working on are shaping up BEAUTIFULLY!

I Am A Big Danger Slacker!

Been up since 8:30 and haven't touched Danger yet. I have written over 700 words on Borrowed Time though. Must run errands and then get into Danger! Come on! Guilt me into getting the Dangerous job done!

3 Day Weekend!

Woohoo! We had a fall festival at work tonight that went really well. We made a nice chunk o' cash for the school and we had a lot of fun. One of the games was to pay two tickets to put someone in detention. Then kids had to go find that person and escort them to detention. I was sent to detention a couple times, but I got them back! I spent a nice bit of cash sending people to detention!

BUT the best part of tonight? I came home, wrote my words for my writing challenge and now I'm officially off for the next 3 days! I took Monday off as a mental health day. My plan all weekend is to revise as much of Danger as I can. My goal is at least 3 more chapters. I'll let you know how it's going. Wish me luck!

Me Need Chocolate!

Another agent rejection today from someone I really like. I think I'll take an hour (but no more time!) to soothe my wounded soul. This calls for a fudge popsicle and some Jason Bourne. Later I'll get back to Danger.

Rollin' Along

I'm making slow progress on Danger's revisions. I'm just not ready to update the progress meter yet. But keep checkin' back! I think I'm on a roll, though, and I'm so excited about BOTH my stories right now. I put in a request to take next Monday off as a personal day so I can spend a whole 3-day weekend doing nothing but revisions...and some exercising, of course!

Got another rejection today from an agent I'd love to work with, but it was a GREAT rejection! She actually said she's not as familiar with Intrigue as she'd need to be to make a decision about my manuscript, BUT THEN she gave me the name of another agent and told me I could use her name when querying the new agent! As far as rejections go, that's been one of my best!

More Than Enough To Do

And of course, not enough time to do it all! Honestly, I don't know how those of you with families get any writing accomplished. I admire you all!

A crazy friend of mine (Hi, Monika!) challenged me to write 50,000 words by December 31st. We both knew we wouldn't be able to participate in NaNoWriMo, but we wanted to do something. Foolishly I said yes. So now we have to write an average of 650 new words a day between now and 12/31. Um, WHAT WAS I THINKING?????

But, I'm amazed with how much more writing time I'm finding in the day. I write for a 1/2 hour before school, which puts me in a great mood. Then during my lunch hour I write when I finish eating, which keeps me in a good mood or puts me back in one.

However, I really need to focus on Danger's revisions now. My CP, brilliant woman that she is, has been reminding me that I really need to take a glance at this whole situation from a business standpoint. I am no longer a hobby writer. I haven't called myself that in a long time, but now I've passed into another level I think. Danger is a good enough story to publish. I firmly believe that. Of course, I still need to finish revising it so someone will want to represent it AND someone else will want to buy it.

So, after tailgating for the UT/ Missouri football game today and watching the game tonight, I'll be jumping into my "new life" with both feet tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Shopping Treasures

Last night I'd planned on telling you what books I picked up at the bookstore. Finaling in the Finally A Bride Contest kinda gave me something else to think about.

So, here are the books I bought with my birthday gift card and the reasons behind the purchases:
Laura Iding (the blue book) and Emily McKay are two friends who happen to have books out this month, so naturally I'm supporting them and getting a great read too!


I loved Kerry Connor's 1st Intrigue so I wanted this one.

Jeff Abbott was our guest speaker at my Austin RWA meeting a couple of nights ago and I confess I actually bought this that night so I could have him sign it.

John Hart is new to me, but the cover caught my eye, the back cover blurb got me to open to the first page and the writing kept me interested. So I had to buy it.

Julie Miller's Intrigue had a great cover and the story sounded just right for me.

I'd already checked out and was at the front of the store waiting for my friend and I saw this Lisa Scottoline book. I've heard wonderful things about her writing, so I figured I'd check it out while waiting. Well, before I knew it I was giggling in the front of the store, so I got back in the check-out line and bought it!

Good News!

After a wonderful evening buying books with a birthday gift card, I came home to an e-mail that I finaled in the Finally A Bride Contest!!! I got 2 perfect scores, wonderful comments, and a chance to revise before it goes off to the final editor judges. AND, one of the final editors just gave Danger 4th place in the Heart of the West. The Heart of the West entry was written and sent months ago. Danger's had a face lift since then. I'm excited to see what she thinks of the latest revised version of my opening.

Withdrawal

It's been WEEKS since I watched one of the Bourne movies. I hadn't even been playing the soundtracks until today. I got out of work earlier today than I thought, so while I'm working on Danger (yes, you read that right!) I might have to watch a few scenes of Jason Bourne. Or maybe it's Matt Damon. Or both.

Another Stab

It's Sunday night and I've spent a huge chunk o' the day on school stuff. I sort of did it to myself because after I left work on Friday, I decided to write instead of doing any day job work. Then yesterday I worked at school for an hour and then went to my brother's house for a party, which lasted for me for about 12 hours. I stayed at my brother's and fell asleep watching the Boston Red Sox. By the time I got home today, I wrote my 1oo words for the day and then dove right into school stuff. It feels good to get so much accomplished, but of course I've still got tons more.

Tomorrow though, I'm going to try to take my life back again. I've got parent conferences all day, but once I leave school in the afternoon, I'm not bringing papers home. I intend to go back to the gym and FINALLY get back to Danger. I have to put Danger back on the top of my priority list. If I don't get much accomplished this week on my manuscript, I'll definitely be taking a day off just to work on the book. My writing is too important for me to neglect it, especially now that I feel I'm closer to publishing than ever before.

Later That Day...

Woohoo! What a day! I started with a serenade from an Australian relative who called me early this morning. Then I opened my gifts from my mom & stepdad and my grandfather. $$$$ and jewelry, and a girl can't complain!

When I got to school, the kids kept yelling happy birthday to me and one of my sweet 6th grade girls gave me a beautiful picture frame and a beaded journal. I wish I had a digital camera so I could post the picture and show you.

Some more kids drew me pictures, which I promptly taped to my board for everyone to see. My co-workers gave me a cake during lunch and a card they're still signing. :)

Then one of my sweet 5th grade girls gave me the most wonderful card that almost brought me to tears (one she made herself) and a bag with presents: a stuffed pig that I'm going to name Allie after one of the characters in my next book, a plastic Mardi Gras type necklace she said I should wear so I feel like a queen, and a copy of Tom Sawyer.

Then when I got home, I talked to my grandfather, opened my mail (more cards and money!), went out to eat (had dessert and a few adult beverages), and then talked to my big brother who keeps trying to convince me there's only 4 years between us and I'm really 2 years older than I am.

OH! And I got another agent request for part of Danger, which I promptly e-mailed. What an awesome present, huh?

Now I'm off to write my 100 words for the day, have a cup of tea and think about going to bed.

THE BIG 3-7!!!!

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!

I still get excited, although 40 is scaring me a bit already. (Don't know why. 30 wasn't a big deal.) I scheduled easy lessons for my classes, I'm having a "party" with my homeroom during study hall, my mom & stepdad came into town and I'll be going out to eat. I'm trying not to have to do ANY school work tonight and I just might put it off until Sunday. Oh and Saturday I'll get together with some other family too in order to celebrate! I pretty much celebrate for a straight week. And why not? I'm happy (for the most part), healthy (almost to my goal weight) and I have so much to be thankful for. Oh, and 30 years ago last month (That's September 1978, people) I had open heart surgery and I've been very fortunate since. I truly am lucky to be alive!

Coming Up For Air

The Austin RWA retreat was FABULOUS. I read, relaxed and wrote a lot. I plotted the new story. It's a loose plotting, but enough to get me going and give me a map of where to go.

Heart of the West-Danger and I got 4th place in the Romantic Suspense category. The good news is a lot of the comments from the final editor were things I'd already addressed in my latest round of revisions. (The contest entry was sent about 4 months ago.) But my friend Jessica Dawson won FIRST PLACE in the same category! AND she got a phone call from a different editor a couple days later. Congratulations, Jess!

Day job is kicking my butt again. I'm having trouble getting my life back, but I LOVE teaching. The next few days are a bit hectic too, but I'm really hoping to pull myself back together (and my writing life) by Sunday.

But I will find time tomorrow to post because it'll be my birthday!

For now...back to grades and other day job work...

Celebrate the Weekend!

Wheeee! My local RWA group, Austin RWA, has their annual retreat this weekend. I'm SOOO ready to ditch the day job and focus only on my writing and reading. I'm going to work on Danger revisions and I plan to brainstorm/plot Borrowed Time. I'm trying to get my school work done tonight, or mostly done, so I can skip out early and head to the retreat location. I'm also bringing a couple of books with me. The plan is to relax, have fun and concentrate on my 2nd job for a while.

Saturday the winners of the Heart of the West Contest will be announced. Keep your fingers crossed for me! Of course, I won't find out anything until I get home Sunday because we don't have Internet at the retreat location. I'll let you know as soon as I can.

Finally, this week has been better than last week. I managed to get to the gym 3 times, I've been limiting my school work and I've been focusing on more things that make me happy. We're still overworked at my school, but taking control over my life again has made a huge difference in my attitude and my sanity this week.

Have a great weekend whatever you do and I'll share the highlights of my writing retreat with you when I get back!