Welp, we are staring at April. I did not authorize that, but here we are still don’t know if am signing up formally for Camp NaNo, but now that Melva and I are waiting on word for Drama King at The Wild Rose Press, I get to turn my attention back to Her Last First Kiss. I am excited to get back to writing historical romance in general, and back to Bern and Ruby’s story specifically. I am starting out the month at 55k out of a projected 100k, and last week was gutting the second half of the book and totally rewriting the outline. It’s rough as heck and that’s exactly how it should be at this stage of the game.
My goal for April is to go in small bits, scene by scene, and figure out what method works best as I go. I know that one thing that works well for me is accountability, so I will be doing some form of tracking. Hence the new bujo pictured above. 120 gsm paper, coated, in a gorgeous ivory shade, all pristine and ready to move into. I’ll be sharing more about my stationery love here in blogs to come, because A) I can talk about stationery anytime, and at length, and B) posting here is a totally legitimate way of keeping track of things. It’s a process. I may also add reading posts here, or in a separate place. Still working that out at present, but right now, for me, vintage historical romance = life. All the adventure, all the history, all the swash and buckle; I am all about all of that stuff. I will now stop saying “all” as much as in that last sentence.
The best way I can describe things in general right now is pushing the lid off a sarcophagus. Oh, this is what I do. Okay, I can handle that. The spring-cleaning mode is strong in this house at the moment, and a bunch of that includes my writing life/area. I am hoping go bust my secretary desk out of stuff jail (aka storage) and move my beloved fall and winter stationery into a clearly labelled and easily accessible box so they can nap until August. Spring-and-summer falls most naturally for me into one category, so I am treating it that way.
As far as reading is concerned, I am three books behind on my Goodreads goal, but lucky me, I also have three books going a present. Two are vintage historical romance and one is fantasy romance by one of the OG historical romance authors. All are rereads. One is hardcover, one is paperback, and one is on audio. Nope, I lied. There’s also an e-book that is also vintage historical romance.
April is turning out to be a refresh in several areas, so it feels right to show signs of life here as well. Right now, it’s time to put away a mountain of laundry and then some planner/bujo setup. What’s going on in your world?
Another Thursday, another blog. We are now past the midpoint of February, and I am not at all sure we are going to get smacked by winter this year. I am not sure how I feel about that. To be determined, I suppose. One way this reflects is in the way I handle my stationery, because stationery is life. Though I didn’t manage to get the pastel Christmas theme this year (but I did get a start on it for next year) I figured that pastel winter would do as well, but then it wasn’t clicking, so I am now in a themeless wilderness. I will probably keep the Bloody Valentine theme for the rest of the month and then we will see. March, for me, suggests RWA conferences, though we haven’t been for the last few years for various reasons. I’m sure that will pick up again in the very near future. In any case, full speed ahead.
In full stationery nerd mode, I am currently fiddling around with my everyday carry (EDC) aka what’s in my bag. With spring in the offing, I want to stretch myself into going out more. Ever since we got this apartment, after our year of vagabondage, I have bene more of a homebody than I would like to admit. Not that it’s a bad thing, but I am an extrovert, I work at home, and I live in a city. There are people out there. :gestures to window: Part of this means doing some of my journaling and possibly discovery drafting outside of the house.
Not going to lie, nifty stationery goes a long way toward that end. Right now, I am sorting things out when it comes to my EDC. Pictured above is a leather traveler’s notebook from Chic Sparrow, in the size A6. This size is new to me, so I didn’t have any inserts that size, wasn’t sure where to find them, but I found a bound sketchbook that looked like it might fit. I popped it in, and oh my mercy, it’s great. The shiny things in the first picture are plastic dashboards, also from Chic Sparrow, which I can fill with whatever strikes my fancy. I moved the pocket sized inserts I had been using into a pocket-sized cover from another maker. Do I want to carry A6 with me, or pocket, and what about my B6? The good news is that as a writer, I absolutely am going to write in all of these books, so I’m not worried.
Here you see my very first Archer and Olive journal. That’s a silver spiderweb on the front cover, black linen with dark blue sparkles, and black dot gridded pages. I am challenging myself to make one spread per day. No theme, no plan, but throwing stuff on the page as I will, which I will probably show later. Right now, we are getting to know each other, and I am definitely planning on getting more, but definitely will wait until they go on sale. Go figure I finally discover this brand when they phase out the lined books. Eh, it’s fine. What I do know is that I am all about the GSM these days. I always suspected, but now I know.
For the rest of today, I get to transcribe that scene, send it off to Melva, and then tidy my desk area. I am excited to get back to historicals and seeing what I can do with that genre now, both with stories that have been on pause for far too long and new stories yet to come. I am eyeing Camp NaNo in April, which will no doubt get a notebook of its own.
That’s about it for that for the time being, so I will move on along to the transcription and then it’s desk tidying time. When we renew our lease in May, I want to get my secretary desk out of storage, because I want all the nooks and crannies. what notebooks are you using this season?
Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. I’m a little late on posting here, because, well, naps. Anyway, I’m back now, and ready to help Mama Anna conquer the new year.
This year, Mama Anna is scaling back her reading goal on Goodreads, in hopes that it will encourage her to read more. What she wrote in her reading journal (I will let her post pictures. I can’t work the scanner because I have paws and don’t feel like reading the instructions) is “Drop and Give me Fifty (Two)” referring to the weeks of the year. She can do a book a week. Actually, she did two last night, one audiobook historical romance and one contemporary YA romance. She has also found that reading before bed, with me providing cuddles, obviously, helps her sleep, so she is going to try making that part of her evening routine. I, of course, help by sitting in the drawer nest to her desk. Of late, I have begun walking across the desk, and sometimes the keyboard, to let her know when he has been on the computer Long Enough. Needless to say, Mama Anna is not always delighted when I do this kind of thing. Can you believe that Spotify has no results for the search, “iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii?” If you’re looking for a name for your musical act, maybe try that.
Mama Anna has been doing pretty well on the writing front so far in January. If all goes well, she and Aunt Melva will be submitting Queen of Hearts to The Wild Rose Press. After that, they are going to use this quarter to focus on their individual projects. For Mama Anna, that means historical romance. She is looking ahead to Camp NaNo in April and thinking about, if she were going to start a new historical romance, what would that be? What would be fun? She has enough to keep her busy until then and probably beyond, but Facebook thought she might like to remember when she began working on Her Last First Kiss, and no, she did not want to know the number of years that was. It was before I was born. Yeah. She has co-written three books in that time and also had a lot of life happen, plus getting me, obviously the best part.
Christmas was pretty good. I got a robot litter box. The humans have not yet put it together, ahem, but that will happen soon. I don’t know how it works, but as long as it does, that is all I care about. I also did get that promised red dot, aka my death ray. I LOVE it. It lives in Mama Anna’s nightstand. I have to see her take it out and put it away. It’s her toy and I get to play with it. Sometimes Papa helps me play with it, so maybe it is really their toy. Eh, as long as I get to play with it, does anything else really matter? I don’t think so.
That’s it for this week, or at least until naptime. Believe it or not, a roll of toilet paper (Aunt Linda had it on her bed to clean up one of my hairballs. I fell asleep on it before she oculd put it away, so now it’s my nap pillow. That’s how it goes. I don’t make the rules. Oh wait, I do. I’m a cat.)
Hullo. It has been a hot minute since I last sat down to blog like this. I’ve missed it. why the hiatus? Mm, life. Low gradde depression, because not doing things that bring joy is one of the things that happens with that. Not that this has been a big depressive episode, but more like one of the quiet ones. we are, as far as I know, doing fine. Housemate got a new car less than a month ago, which is awesome, though it happened at exactly the same time a dear friend had a surprise life adjustment.Melva and I are currently in the process of editing not one but two of our collaborative contemporaries (alliteration for Melva’s sake; she would want that in there) and then after we have swapped edits and sent things where they need to go, we get to turn to the start of the new year with a focus on our individual projects, before plotting out book number four (four!) together.
I have dearly, dearly missed writing and reading historical romance as part of this quiet spell has been reading habits that best translated to “meh.” I did complete my Goodreads Challenge though, which I like. The fact that it’s half of what I had hoped the final target would be, eh, I’m not thrilled but I’m not mad. It is what it is. I am not yet sure what my goal for 2023 will be. Right now, I am looking at my winter reading plans which mostly will involve reading soem favortie classic historical romance authors. Always go back to the well, right? That’s what I’m thinking.
NaNo did not happen, and I am fine with that. We writers do things as we do, anyway, all year round. Melva and I finished one book, we re editing that one and the previous one, and I am now re-plotting the second half of Her Last First Kiss, because sometimes how they did things back in the olden days actually works out better for us modern people writing the story than what we had assumed they would do, Do your research, old timey writer people. It helps.
The lovey journal above, I had meant to be a reading bullet journal, only when I got down to it, my brain said not so much. I am going to use the darned thing (the book, not the brain, but that too. The problem there was in attempting to emulate a favorite You Tuber’s work, when, while though gorgeous, is not how I do things. which is fine. I’ll find my own way. Not, however, by staring at a blank wall and not socializing because please. Have you met me? I need to blabber and play and make messes and then I will sort it all out when the thing is ready for sorting.
Surprising no-one, I have no agenda for this post, but to make it, because that’s the hardest post to write, the first one after a long time of nothing. The same with reading (Pick one book. Read it. Yay.) and socializing (Hi, Friend. Me. Alive. You?) and a lot of other small but not unimportant regular things. Right now, it is five-eleven PM. It’s totally dark out. I love this time of year. NO tin the holiday spirit yet, but I will be. Right now, I am in love with the black velvet night and the glow of the streetlights and the feeling of being tucked inside for the night, warm and safe, with loved ones nearby. Later tonight, I will probably be playing in a journal while I watch You Tube or maybe see what’s streaming, drama-wise I have a Sim about to delivery his alien baby in my current saved game. I am loking at making my own save file in the year to come. Eyeing 1899 on Netflix, the only thing I know about it being that it was made by the same people who made Dark, and I love Dark.
I kind of want to rewatch Dark, come to think of it, and also Into the Night. I have so far watched zero holiday themed programming, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t. Leave your suggestions in the comments and maybe I’ll take a peek. Maybe something more European/British Isles based? Holiday themed episodes of TV shows are awesome as well. Might even help me start mmm, baking or something. Cookies would probably be a good thing.
Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Mama Anna found her picture taking thingy, so get ready for new pictures of me. other things as well, but mostly me. I mean, look at this, Calico cat. Sunbeam. Does it get any better? No, it does not.
Things are going pretty well around here. Mama Anna is getting into a super good planning and journaling groove, which does really good things about the whole writing area. Right now, she is doing a lot of it. She did not sign up for NaNo, but she is tracking writing her own way. I will let her talk about that in her own post.
This weekend, Mama Anna will be writing the final scene for Queen of Hearts. After Aunt Melva gets a look at that and adds anything needed, then that book draft is DONE, and they move on to the editing phase. That will actually be two books they are editing at the same time, because Mama Anna will look over the draft of Queen of Hearts, while Aunt Melva will look over Drama King. After that, they will enter the submission phase. After that, they will take some time to focus on their solo projects. Aunt Melva has a nonfiction project, while Mama Anna will be working through the current draft of Her Last First Kiss.
Speaking of which. Mama Anna has stated a special notebook for that, breaking down the changes to the second half of the book into specific scenes. That seems to be working really well, so she will probably stick with that for the time being. She says it’s fun to get back into that mode. Sinc eit involves stationery, she looks forward to get into the book and immerse herself there. I, personally, am all for this because it means I get to sit on a lot more paper, and that is always a good thing.
Hullo, all. Another week, another blog entry. Could this be the start of a streak? We will have to see. No real pan for this post, but to have it, lest I need to share with Storm tomorrow. She does like her spotlights. And sunbeams. And her new fuzzy tent.
Typing fast, as I have Storm bapping me with her paws. That is the official signal to wrap things up on the glowy box and get to bed because it is bedtime. Wherein I read an e-book (hopefully) or fall asleep listening to a You Tube video (likely) Storm did well with her cat sitter, but she is thrilled to see us, especially me, home.
The wedding itself was gorgeous, and it was my first time in a Greek Orthodox church. Lovely ceremony, happy couple, gorgeous foliage, but we got super lost, events transpired, and we did not end up making the reception. There was a panic attack involved, but not mine this time.
Anyway, we are back home now, (mostly) unpacked, and I am giving my calendar a side-eye because who gave it permission to be the second half of October? I’d planned to give some version of Prep Tober a go, and while I probably still could (it would give me a reason to use a new planner) part of me says there isn’t enough time to wrangle something like that.
Once again, I’m looking at the whole NaNo thing, and not sure how I want to handle it. Maybe I’ll be a rebel, and maybe I’ll do my own thing. We will see. One thing for sure, I will be writing. Melva and I are closing in on The End for our third book together. After that, we get to edit books two and three, and see what’s what on that front.
When I think about NaNo, though, my brain goes straight to historicals. It’s been a while. Two years now in our wonderful apartment, three years with one very sproingy calico cat, and I’m getting an itch to get back to my first writing love, which is historical romance. Big, sweeping, epic, angsty historical romance. Ideas are not the problem. Hoo boy, do I have ideas. Hoo boy, do I have partial manuscripts. That’s the thing. I want to get past the partial thing. A Heart Most Errant is looking at me, but there are things, and there is a part of me that wants to throw caution to the wind and open a new document into which to go wild. Throw a bunch of things in there and see what sticks. That’s got to be either genius or insanity. Maybe both.
I have noticed that the more I delve into my love of pen and paper, the more I end up noticing that it’s all about finding out what works for me. That can be a messy process, but if what comes out of it is a functional routine, then that’s a good thing. I haven’t had much to do with historical romance at all lately, and I am feeling the lack.
I love the idea of a clean slate I love the idea of clear horizons. I love the idea of having that new book feeling once again, of diving into another place and time, and tell a love story worthy of historical record. I also like the 50k goal (wait, did I say that?) because it’s not that huge, really. If I’m looking at a big thick doorstopper, we’re talking somewhere about halfway. If something shorter, then more than that. If a novella, it’s the whole thing. My considering NaNo this year isn’t about productivity, though. It’s about fun. It’s about grabbing for that brass ring and rediscovering the love of the game.
Not that I don’t love writing the contemporaries with Melva, because I do, but Melva-and-Anna is a different writer than Only Anna, and Only Anna is feeling a bit … itchy? Is itchy the right word? Or waking up from oversleeping and wanting to get back to the normal routine. Maybe ‘routine’ isn’t the right word, but yeah. I did manage to read some vintage historical romance on the ride back from the wedding, and I hit a spot of “oh, I remember this. I love this. I want to do this.”
Soooo….I’m doing it. I don’t know yet if I will do official NaNo. I don’t consider this in any way pushing aside Her Last First Kiss, because I’m not. I need to stretch before a run, that’s the best way I can think of to put it right now. Goal for November: write historical romance. That’s it for now. Nobody ever has to see it. It’s okay if it’s not perfect. Maybe it will be a stinker, and that’s okay. Because maybe I’ll have fun. Maybe I’ll want to do more of that Maybe I will rediscover old passions and find new ways to make it to The End.
Still room for one more sticker in that lower corner
:clears throat:
:blinks:
Wow.
July.
:fidgets:
Well.
Let’s jump into a Q and A, shall we?
Q: Hey, Anna. Where’ve you been?
A: Uh, yeah, about that. Home, mostly. I did go to CT for a weekend, for a family celebration and a papercraft expo. That was cool. A bunch of craft stores. The garbage/recycling area about a billion times. Anxiety, depression, insomnia. For the last two weeks, shingles (not fun, but better now.) Before that, Real Life Romance Hero was in the hospital for a couple of days. He’s home now, doing fine.
Q: I meant writing. Which includes blogging.
A: That wasn’t a question.
Q: Still answer it, please.
A: Well, you did say please. Writing. I am doing that. Melva and I are clipping right along with Queen of Hearts. Over 40k right now, probably more. We are laying groundwork for what comes next, and we will be off and running when she gets back from her family vacation next week. Blog hiatus was not intentional. It just kind of happened and it’s just kind of over. Probably.
Q: Mmhmm.
A: Still not a question.
Q: Historical?
A: That’s a word. Okay, though. Guilt. So, so much guilt. I love writing historical romance oh so very much. This month, I’m going to try something new; instead of whipping myself for being a slacker, I am going to try…wait for it…actually writing historical romance. I will be drafting friends for accountability partners/readers/permission to kick me in the bumbum if I sleep on it any more than I already have. (Volunteers can drop me contact info in the comments.) My awesome friend, Mary, from CT, sent me home with two huge bags of historical romance classics, which is turning out to be highly motivational, especially when we can gab about them.
Q: Are you doing Camp NaNo this year? Camp NaNo is great for that kind of thing.
A: Ehhhh, no. Yes? Kind of? I didn’t sign up for the official thingamaboo, but I am writing in July. I’m counting that. Also every day journaling is a huge, huge help.
Q: How about One Book July, then, for the planner/journal side of things?
A: Ahahahaha, no. I thought about it, and was even looking forward to it, but then, boom, when I got sick, I watched a ton of stationery videos on You Tube, and now I want to Use All The Things, even things I thought I wouldn’t be interested in before. I’ve been browsing Archer and Olive a lot. I don’t normally go for white paper or dot grid, but 160 gsm and those covers…That’s probably a whole post in itself, so I’ll put it on the list and work on that.
Q: Sounds like you’re right on track for All The Books August.
A: In oh so many ways.
Q: Anything else you’d like to add?
A: I finished a journaling insert in my traveler’s notebook in one month. Turns out I really like watercolors. I thikn they like me, too.
Have I ever mentioned that I have since single digit ages had a very soft spot for alternate titles. Completely unrelated to the Monkees song, “Alternate Title,” though does have some surprisingly boppy social commentary, and The Monkees are on the top of the list of music to play when I write Heather’s scenes in Queen of Hearts. I have my second scene from that written out in the notebook I have specifically for that, and all it needs is transcription and then it’s off to Melva.
Right now, I am borrowing Housemate’s office chair, with laptop on a folding desk, in front of a fan, and I am almost done with my third bottle of water for the day. The morning passed in a delicious virtual chat with my friend, Mary, whom I can’t believe I have known for almost twenty years. Doesn’t seem that long, and hasn’t she always been there/ Must be right, though, because the adorable little boy she had with her at our first meetup is now a firefighter, and, come October, will become a husband. Time does move.
Yesterday, Housemate and I made a library run, to a different branch than our usual haunt, and hit the motherlode of well stocked romance section. Well, well-ish stocked. I’ll take it. I am writing a script for a library haul video after I post this blog, and will flim either tonight or tomorrow. I’m also figuring out how I want to present my current planner/notebooks situation, as I am making some changes, and they are working much better than I had expected. There’s also the reading order to suss for abovementioned library haul, and how I want to figure in ebooks as well as physical books. I have missed paper books far more than I knew, and I know my eyeballs will be thankful for the respite. from all screens all the time. This will also require major surgery on my TBR notebook, but I knew that was coming. I am not a plain paper sort of girl. Never have been.
One thing I definitely need to make time for is writer (and reader) blabber, because after three hours of happily babbling over multiple topics, including historical romance (okay, a lot of talk about historical romance) I didn’t even want to break for lunch (but I did) and instead wanted to make plans for more socializing. Not going to lie, lockdown has not been easy on us extroverts. I love my family but I need to see faces taht do not use my bathroon on a regular basis. I’m thinking about making a regular time to open the discord server or a MSM room, for a regular supply of book blather, of both writing and reading varieties. I am positively starved for historical romacne writing talk. If I had decided to officialy do Camp NaNo this month (unofficially camping this time. Maybe November.) I had decided that I wanted to find a cabin that was historical romance only. Maybe I’m early for November?
No matter. This feels like that’s what was in msy brainpan for right now, so off I go to roll around nekkid in my library haul. Kidding, kidding. I will be wearing clothing, and there may be nappage. There will definitely be many cat headbonks, and calico cuddles.
Happy Wednesday, feral and domesticated cryptids. On Monday night, Melva and I hashed out a rough outline for our third co-written (or to be co-written) contemporary romance, Queen of Hearts. I don’t think I would have added contemporary romance to my repetorie on my own, but with Melva, it makes sense. It also has a tie to historical romance, because I need that. Heather, the heroine, is named for Heather, the heroine of The Flame and the Flower, by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, the first modern historical romance as we know it. The Heather in Queen of Hearts is an editor of historical romance, a genre she adores.
I am extremely thankful to Ms. Woodiwiss for writing the story of her heart and putting it out there in the world. I am extremely thankful to Nancy Coffey, the editor who wanted to take only one submission home with her over the weekend, and picked the biggest manuscript from the slush pile. Boom. Kicked the bedroom door (and other things) off the hinges, and things have never been the same. How many of the original Avon Ladies (having nothing to do with cosmetics, and everything to do with historical romance. One of them wasn’t even a lady. His name was Tom.)
Now that Drama King has been put on the schoolbus, as it were, and Queen of Hearts is a darling baby who sleeps through the night and wakes to the playtime that is discovery drafting, it’s time to turn attention back to my troubled teens, aka historical romances that have been on hold for far too long.
A Heart Most Errant is soooo close to being done with the first round of edits. I started John and Aline’s story a long time ago. Not long enough that it was a contemporary when I sat down to write it, but I lived in a different state then, in a time that feels like another life. I won’t say that it doesn’t feel odd to be getting back in touch with characters that, if they were people born when I first put them to page, would be old enough to…well, let’s say cross the street by themselves. Among other things.
Image by Sandra Schwab
They are not that much older than Bern and Ruby (image by the fabulous Sandra Schwab) the hero and heroine of my Georgian romance, Her Last First Kiss, which I have missed like a deep sea diver misses air. Been a while on that one, too, but I am beyond eager to get back to it, and probably use as my focus for Camp NaNo this year. It’s one of those things where I got the whole thing outlined, then the writing-writing got to a certain point and then…stopped. I chalk it up to life being in-bloody-sane for the last few years. We’re back, now, though, and that’s what matters.
Whiiiiich brings me to the whole genre thing. I’ve been watching a lot of You Tube videos about historical romance. Like, a lot. I love watching these mostly young women getting excited about my favorite genre, and doubly excited to see them discovering classic historical writers like Julie Garwood, Judith McNaught, and Johanna Lindsey. Not yet a lot of non-J-named writers, but that will come, I am sure.
It’s this development that makes me think that maybe historical romacne does have a divide that I don’t yet know how to name. Many of these videos mention prefering historical romance that is light and funny and rom-com-y, historical accuracy either not a priority or even a detriment. Can’t say I can get my head around that but if those are the books that get a reader’s motor running, read on.
The historical romances that have a permanent home in my heart are of a different ilk. Darker rather than lighter, historical versimilitude a must, big thick bug squasher books that have heft and weight. Plots where the history is a major player, as in plucking this couple from medieval France and dumping them in modern times, the old west of the US, or ancient Rome, would not work at all, because they are people of their time.
A lot of the shining stars I see in these You Tube recommendations are great at weaving the nineteenth century backdrops with keen observations on the fads and foibles of modern life. The covers of these books have what are commonly referred to as “prom dresses” on the heroines, often with titles modeled after references to popular modern works, and in very modern-looking fonts. I don’t have a problem with that. It’s its own genre, and a pretty darned popular one, so rock on and keep going. Is it my taste, though? Weeeeel….I’m okay with that.
I’m also more than okay with accepting that my personal preference is for those big thick bug squashers, whose covers have historical garb on their humans. Often standalones, and often with authors who not only didn’t stick with one family or friend group, but spread it out over several different centuries and continents. An author could come on the scen with a Victorian historical, but the next book is sixteenth century pirates, then a western, then ancient Rome, then colonial Maine, then the early days of Australian penal colonies, back up to Gilded Age New York, then the English Civil War, and….:happy sigh: I love that. I miss that. I want to do that.
Love can happen any time, any place, as an online historical romance friend often says, and I abundantly agree with that. New school or old, traditionally published or indie, series or standalone. What absolutely must, must, must be there is the love story that is intrinsically intertwined with the time in which it occurs, and bonus points to the couple coming So Close to losing it all that I forget that the HEA is a gaurantee and then, at the last second, BOOM, they make it work. They get to the top of that metaphorical mountain, not without some bumps and bruises along the way, some bittersweet losses likely, and I pump my fist in victory.
At least that’s the plan, and that’s why I am working on my Anna Log You Tube channel, to talk about some of the stuff that I love that may not be the newest kid on the block, but my word, the staying power. Which reminds me, time to get to work on that.
Last week was, in a word, disgusting. Mostly for the heat, though there are most assuredly worse ways to spend days where the temperature reaches the nineties than sprawled in front of a box fan, mainlining coconut seltzer. That’s as close to a tropical vacation as I care to get, as I am pale and heat sensitive. Big plans to plow through my mini library haul were for naught, and I made only slow progress on e-reading as well. That’s all okay, though, as Drama King is now in the hands of its potential editor, and I am currently getting ready for tonight’s video chat with Melva where we will get the ball rolling on an outline for Queen of Hearts. This also means I now have brain space to give back to historicals, whihc I have sorely missed.
None of that is news to the regular readers here, but sometimes the best way to get the ol’ brain in working gear is to write stuff one already knows. That’s not a bad thing at all. Firm footing and all that. Another thing that helps here is to get my plans down in a visually appealing manner. Here is the desk planner for the week, mostly before the pen.
This is my first ever time covering the left hand (my left) side with scrapbook paper and totally ignoring everything pre printed on the page. I have heard this is not an uncommon issue but for some reason I always thought I was “supposed to” deal with what was printed on the page, the way it was printed on the page. This is the same me who would be the first person to tell someone else to white it out, cover it, but don’t stare at the page and feel dumb becuase they’re not making it work. Ahem. Yeah.
So. Part of all that was spending a big chunk of Sunday putting together my first Frankenplanned writing notebook to see me through the stretch from July to January. I’ll share pictures and maybe a flip through later. Don’t ask me about specific goals at this point. Still working on those, and I am pretty sure I know how I want to deal with Camp Nano. Pretty sure I’m going to be in the rebel encampment for that one but very much looking forward to the cameraderie and shaking pompoms in the general direction of any potential cabinmates. Would love to end up in a cabin full of historical romance writers. That hasn’t happened yet as far as I know. Well, for me that is.
For now, I have a hot date with a cool drink and a good book before I get ready for my chat with Melva and the requisite color coded highlighters and index cards. Tonight, we lay the foundation.
Typing With Wet Nails 