I have four weeks until STW (title will be changed) has to be sent in to my editor. One week will be spent in Reno, so let’s make that three weeks. Edits for Misled are slated to arrive by the end of this week. Edits for Bad Boys Ahoy! are slated to arrive any day now. I have a lovely interview to finish, incorporation work for Passionate Ink as well as the moving of the PI message board to its own domain, and sleep. :yawn: I do occasionally require sleep, despite the inconvenient time waster it is.

I have nothing of value to relate in any case, other than the happy deafening squeals of my daughter at the mini-golf place. You know how noisy those places are. She was decibels above that cacophony. Worth every dollar I spent to hear those squeals.

I won’t say I’m not going to blog, because if the mood strikes I’ll slap something up here, but don’t count on it. That being said I do intend to meet those of you I can in Reno. If you want my cell number email me and I’ll send it to you. Then you an give me a ring while we’re there and be sure not to miss each other.

Oh I forgot!! If you like erotic romance you should sign up for the Passionate Ink Book Notes newsletter. Delivered once monthly to your inbox, it features information on all the latest releases of Passionate Ink members!

Well I got my sister to the plane this morning. We woke up at 4:30, which was rough, considering I was editing until the wee hours of the morning. :yawn: I’ve been exhausted all day, but I’m on a roll and I hate to quit while the mood is on me. So this is me :cafe: , trying to keep going. I’m hitting the sheets early to make up for it.

*sigh* I miss my sister. A lot.

My mom came over to take me and the kids to lunch while my hubby was golfing. I feel so bad. I can’t talk about anything but work lately. Do any of you have that problem? A uncontrollable need to talk about your WIP and what you’re doing in your writing life? I hope I’m not the only one. I showed my mom my cover flats and she was suitably perplexed as to their purpose. *g*

Two weeks from tomorrow I’ll be flying to Reno. I hope I have fun. I’m planning on it, but I’ve never been to a writing conference before and with 2100 people running around, I hope I can figure out where to go and what’s going on.

I promised my kids a trip to Mulligan’s tomorrow. It’s a mini-golf, go cart, arcade-type place. They have a blast there and they play so well together. I’m so happy about that.

Okay, I’m rambling. Sorry. Off to bed for me. :yawn:

Well, we missed my sister’s plane today. I wish I could say this is a rare event, but I’ve been known to miss planes and other things. I’m perpetually late when it comes to minutes, seconds, and hours. My friend’s tell that joke about inviting me places an hour before I’m supposed to be there so I’ll make it on time. So now she’s flying out tomorrow morning at the butt crack of dawn. :yawn: Oh man. That’s soooo early. :yawn:

I’ve been staring at the revamping of a love scene for a week. A week. My love scenes always take the longest to write. They are the most layered in emotion. In this scene the balance of affection is shifting. One character is withdrawing, while the other is opening up, a reversal of their roles in all scenes previous. So it’s taking me some serious thinking and staring at the page. I can’t afford to spend this much time on one scene, but I’m anal and I can’t let it go unless it’s the way I think it should be. I hit my stride this morning after days of waiting for the pieces to fall into place. Now I have to get it all on paper.

In other news, a friend of mine just had the most amazing week. I love to hear about the successes of my friends and hers is truly amazing. I’m wishing sucess for all of you. I hope this year continues to see so many of us attaining our goals. I knew the *thisclose* club was going to burst on the scene with a bang, but WOW!! LOL, this year has been awesome. :clap:

Yesterday, Evan sent me congratulatory flowers. They’re beautiful and honestly, besides being pretty, they made me feel like a real novelist. I mean this time last year I was writing my entry for Lori Foster’s Brava Novella Contest. No way in hell did I imagine that a year later I’d be getting flowers from Evan Fogelman for signing a multi-book deal. Everytime I walk by them (they’re my dining table centerpiece), they make me grin.

Then my cover flats for BAD BOYS AHOY! arrived today. :dance: It’s real. It’s really real. I’m holding them in my hand. It’s not the book, but damn, it’s close enough. I can’t tell you how exciting it is. :bounce: I freely admit that part of my excitement comes from working with my editor. She is wonderful to me. I adore her.

Then I received an e-mail today from Erin Fry at RWA National which announced that Passionate Ink was approved. :cheer: :party: :beer:

Passionate Ink, Chapter #207 of Romance Writers Of America - the Erotic Romance Writers Special Interest Chapter

We did it!! I thank every one of the PI Board members who worked long and hard, dedicating hours of writing and personal time to get the chapter off the ground. Because of them, we were able to succeed. :clap:

On a personal note, my sister goes home tomorrow. I’ll miss her so much. We’re very close and I hate it that she lives so far away.

Everyone has a special talent. Some of us struggle our whole lives trying to figure it out, some of us know what is the day we become conscious of who we are, and some of us, like me, fall somewhere in between.

I didn’t always know I was a writer. Even though I was scribbling stories at an early age and heavy into make-believe, being “a writer” didn’t occur to me as a possibility for a very long time. However, I always thought of myself as “an observer”. I saw things other people didn’t because I was watching. Now, before you start thinking “stalker”, let me say that many people who know me would not describe me as particularly observant. I’m near-sighted, and I have a bad habit of walking around with my gaze on the floor, deep in thought.

But every once in while when I lift my gaze and focus, I take mental snapshots of other people. I notice the faces on the couple at the table next to me, and just “know” they’re breaking up. I smile at an old lady digging through her change purse to buy a small gift for her grandkid and see the wealth of love in her gnarled fingers. I pay attention to the special bond between a dad and his daughter when she races out of school with her latest art project, and he immediately oohs and aahs.

I think this observing thing is a fundamental part of being a writer. At least, it is for me. A love of words is also important, of course, but isn’t noticing the first step toward understanding? And from there, a short hop to sharing?

What do you think?

From Publisher’s Marketplace:

FICTION: WOMEN’S/ROMANCE
Sylvia Day’s Georgian-set erotic romance about a popular earl jilted by his fiancee, to Kate Duffy at Kensington Brava, in a nice deal, including a second historical erotic romance, by Evan Fogelman at the Fogelman Literary Agency.

Then, soon after hanging up the phone from this conversation, my agent received another CALL from another editor. (Nothing to share yet, but I’ll keep you posted.)

In the meantime, don’t pinch me!! No, no, no. I’m not ready to wake up yet.

:dance: :cheer: :bounce: :party: :dance: :cheer: :bounce: :dance: :cheer: :bounce:

(P.S. My next Brava will be released Aug. 06!!)

I thought my son, Jack, was better, but he :puke: again tonight during my chat at the Romance Junkies. My poor baby. I don’t know what’s the matter with him, but I’ll call his doctor in the morning. He was feeling better yesterday and all this morning. It went downhill tonight. So he’s been sick on and off since Wed. I thought the first bout might have been something he ate. But I don’t think so anymore.

RWA National officially approved the chapter name Passionate Ink today. We’re not a full-fledged chapter yet, but it’s one step closer. :dance:

Work continues on my edits, believe it or not. My sister is relaxing and vegetating, which is what she needs right now. We’re also eating ice cream and you all know how that helps.

Catching Caroline has been getting wonderful reviews so I’m very happy about that.

Are you all trying to Pay It Forward?