Ahhh… today marks my second day of no writing whatsoever. What a relief it is! :satisfied: I did open a ms that needs to be edited, but I forced myself to leave it and picked up a book instead. Just what I needed! Tomorrow I leave for Vegas, just until Sunday. The kids and I are going to pick up their new puppy. Of course, they’re thrilled. I’ll be sure to post a picture of him when we get back.

Speaking of pictures, I wanted to remind everyone that there is a photo album on the message board. Every member can upload up to 5 photos in their personal album to share with everyone. Authors–feel free to display your book covers. Post any picture you like or if not, stop by the album and look at the pictures other members have posted. There’s ranking available, so vote!! There are also some public catagories you can upload to, such as Men Who Could Be Romance Heroes, Romance Cover Models, and Romance Heroines :hehe:

You can access these areas using the links above or go to the message board and you’ll find the link to the album up at the top. I look forward to seeing the things that are important to you! :rolleyes:

Well, my pirate story, Stolen Pleasures, must be all right. It just finaled in another contest. :laugh: Actually, it won second place in Kate Rothwell’s Short and Sweet 55 Words Contest. She chose pirates as the topic. Immersed in all things pirate for the last few weeks, how could I resist?

Here’s my 55 word entry:

STOLEN
Sebastian, Lord Merrick, had captured a bride in his most recent act of piracy.

?Who claims you?? he asked.

She flushed. ?I?m recently married by proxy.?

A shame she wasn?t his, she was ravishing. ?To whom??

?Lord Merrick.?

He stilled. Bloody hell. ?Proxy??

?H-his father arranged it,? she stammered.

She was his wife.

He grinned.

Too fun! My prizes?

1.) The cool winner button you can admire in my sidebar ->
2.) A copy of Kate’s new book
3.) Goodies from judge Valerie Parv

Thank you, Kate and Valerie! :hehe:

I finally finished my edits and sent out my WIP to be critiqued. I am so freakin’ relieved to be done. Not because of the story, but because I’m burnt out. I haven’t watched an entire hour-long tv show in months. The movie I watched on Saturday was the first I’ve seen in months. It’s been months since I picked up a book and finished it in one sitting (or at the very least, a couple of days). My family has been very tolerant (Bless them!), but my house needs some undivided attention and they do too. :blush:

You see my problem is, I’m ambitious. And after waiting so long to start writing, I’m now driven to succeed. In the last 11 months I’ve finished two ST, three novellas, one short story, and started eight other mss. Is it any wonder I’m so wiped out?, I ask myself. *shakes head* :confused: And then I launched this site and the pressure was really on. Or at least I felt like it was. I’m not regretful, no not at all, I love my site. Love it! I love the wonderful people I’ve met through it and all the fabulous people who sign up for my mailing list. But I want to give them something in return (think book! LOL) and in order to do that I’ve got to keep writing.

But I need a little breather too.

So tomorrow, I need to complete two critiques–one for each cp. And then I’ll take a break. Relax. Watch a little tv, read a couple books, eat some low-carb yummies, play with my kids. *sigh* I can’t wait. :satisfied:

Thanks, Larissa, for the apt quiz! (I’m just wrapping up my edits of Stolen Pleasures.)

You Are A Pirate!

What Type Of Swashbuckler Are You?
brought to you by Maddog Varuka & Dawg Brown

In other news, Sidonie started a thread on the message board about historical romances, based on yesterday’s roundtable at AAR. It’s given me a lot to think about and it’s sure to be a long reply, so I’ll save my blogging for later! You can find a link to the roundtable on the message board post.

I guess the shock of the Brava thing finally wore off. This morning I read the new finalists (both historicals :hehe: ) and the butterflies just went nuts in my stomach, I mean we’re talking crazy I’m-going-to-be-sick kind of butterflies.

When I don’t think about it, I’m fine. But the minute the thought enters my head, I freak out! :crazy: And the thing of it is, I have no control over when the realization comes to mind. It just does.

I began this morning with every intention of finishing my edits and sending my ms to my crit partners. I started out with blog surfing, a ritual I perform every morning over my mega cup of coffee, as I wait for my brain to begin functioning properly. :confused:

This morning, however, I was distracted by a notion. One that I’ve been kicking around in my head for months and couldn’t figure out how to accomplish. It solidified today. So I’ve spent most of the day working on this new project that will one day (maybe) become part of the website. I enjoyed myself immensely, but I wonder, “What is the deal?” Good grief, I only have 25 more pages to go and not writing pages, but editing pages already written. How easy is that? *sigh*

Ah well. I’m quickly discovering that every time I set a goal for myself, I rarely accomplish it almost as if I sabotage myself deliberately just to break the rules. *shakes head* I just have to go with the flow and let things happen as they choose to happen. (Not a good sign for eventual contracted ms deadlines. )

At any rate, I’m really enjoying my new project, as time consuming as it is in this initial stage. And I do have only 25 pages left, so when I finally set my mind to it I should be able to finish in no time at all. Right? :blush:

On a personal note, hubby and I, devout Atkin’s followers for years, are back on the wagon again. We kinda fell off for awhile and we’ve both been feeling rather sluggish lately. So a trip to Costco and a jaunt to the local grocers later, we’re now stocked to overflowing with a variety of yummys. My mom popped in today and was delighted to find salmon steaks, tri-tip, and avocado salad for dinner.
I feel better already! :rolleyes:

Well, today I didn’t get much editing done, but I did pay most of our bills (fun. :crazy: ), sent hubby out on his “Honey Do” list for the weekend, got some gardening done (haven’t done that in forever!), did some updates to the site, went out to dinner with the family, and watched Timeline (bad movie.).

I also ordered some new books today from B&N:

Mine to Take by Dara Joy (based on Jordan’s recommendation on the message board.)
Menage by Emma Holly
The Stone Prince by Gena Showalter

Overall, I feel accomplished today. And once I finish editing a few more pages I can go to sleep with a clear conscience.