Notebooks

This is a Planning Post About Planning Posts

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Can you believe it’s almost November? Not only are we coming up on a new month, but the end of the current year and start of the next, which means the start of a new writing year, which means time to take stock of my planners, see what I have, how I want to use what, and what needs to find a different home. I am mostly talking about planners/planning, but it does apply to writing projects as well. Only so much time in the day, and finished is better than perfect.

i sm not keeping track of word count in Drama King (that’s Melva’s job) but I do know what scenes need writing in order to get to that point, and it’s pretty much the same with Her Last First Kiss. My best educated guess on how I am going to track writing on these projects is by scene, which works perfectly fine for me.

My original first draft of this post, handwritten in a mini composition book, because most of my first drafts are handwritten, was largely about how the midst of a months-long move is both not an advisable time to curate one’s planner repetoire, and turning out surprisingly well. Basicslly, where I hsbe landed on that one is that starting out minimally and then noting whst i wish I had, then filling that need, works decently in both writing and planning.

The planners in today’s deskscape are sll in current use. The Hsppy Plsnners are birthday gifts from Housemate, who has pulled me over to the Happy Plannerverse. She says thst mesns nothing, becsuse I am her planner dam, and thus anything she does in the planner world traces directly back to me. Fair enough. I had been snobbish about HP in the past, largely due to the disk binding, but I like the layouts and the artwork, and whst better way to find out if I do like the system or not than to use it.

I could say the same thing about trying contemporary romance, or submitting to e-pubs, both of which have turned out oksy, so i hsve high hopes for the new plsnners. Things will sort themselves out in time, usually when I’m not looking, rather going along, telling stories, playing with pens and paper , etc. There definitely can be more reading, especially as I craft what I am cslling my mission statement for Buried Under Romance, which may end up with a planner of its own.

All of thst is part of planning future blog posts. I do want to talk more about how I use planners as a writer, and still keep the focus on writing. We will see how this goes. Fiction writing comes first, and planning should, in theory, make that go more smoothly. In practice, well, we will see about that.

Typing With Wet Paws: Mid-October Edition

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Hi! How is everybody? I’m Storm, and I’m good. I am learning my job as Aunt Anna’s new mews. So far, a lot of that has been sitting behind her and complaining that I don’t have a good enough view. Aunt Anna says I am her Velcro kitty, because I always want to be near her. She says she is probably going to have to make a space for me to sit next to her computer when we are settled in our new home. Right now, I have a folded towel and/or t-shirt. Sometimes I sit there.

The big development here is that the apartment the humans thought would be a good match, really was not, so they are on the search once more. Aunt Anna says that they are only looking at cat-positive places, which is good because I am a very positive cat. Actually, I will probably get two seats, on two desks, because Aunt Anna likes to have her computer desk and her handwriting desk be two different desks. While we are in the motel, she has her computer set up on the only desk, and then she writes longhand on the bed, with me. Her pens make great toys.

Okay, on to the usual information. There is the usual Buried Under Romance update, and a bonus one as well.

Purr-sonally, I think the answer is pretty obvious, but you can read Aunt Anna’s take on the issue on her latest Saturday Discussion post.

Since I did mention a bonus, here is what that is. This week, Buried Under Romance has had excerpts from more than ten (that’s as high as I can count right now, but I am learning) Regency Christmas novellas in the Winter Wishes anthology. The authors have some interesting things to say, and they will be giving away books to two lucky commenters, so get your comments in on the first link above, to get your chance.

this book falls under “high time”

On the reading front, Aunt Anna is not very happy about being six books behind in her Goodreads challenge, but she is determined to get current and maybe even exceed her goal. There are still more than two months left in the year, and she has me to supervise her reading, so I think odds are good. Her current reads include Blue Heaven, Black Night, by Heather Graham, originally published under her Shannon Drake name. It is a big, medieval historical romance, that Aunt Anna started reading many many years ago, but wandered off. She figures it is now high time to move that to the “read” list.

On the writing front, it has been pretty real-life-y this week, but Aunt Anna did send a chapter to Aunt Melva, and they were both interviewed by a journalist in advance of their author event on the 26th. So far, Aunt Anna is feeling pretty good about that, but still thinking she may need to go buy red shoes (if you have read Chasing Prince Charming, you will probably know why) because the ones she wanted to wear are still packed. I am glad I only have to deal with paws.

I think that’s probably the important stuff for this week. Aunt Anna says she will have a good sized planner post to make up for the last couple of months, especially since the holidays and new year are around the corner. I, of course, will be on hand (or paw) to assist as I deem necessary. She has some idea of creating a writing planner. That should be interesting, or at the very least, a good cat bed.

Headbonks!

Of Human Vagabondage

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Week two of Vagabond 2019 is going well, all things considered. Still enjoying motel living -not sarcastically; this place is nice, and it’s actually a relief to have a breather while we search for the next location of Stately Bowling Manor. Real Life Romance Hero and Housemate are off to their jobs, and I am back at mine.

I haven’t been getting a lot of reading or viewing done, though that should be picking up in the next few days. I am three or four episodes into season nine of The Walking Dead, and will likely binge So You Think You Can Dance when I am through. One show at a time seems to be what makes the most sense viewing-wise, right now. When I am through with that, I will probably be on the hunt for a great historical drama, so if you have recommendations, leave them in the comments. I have Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime.

I also have Kindle Unlimited, which makes the fact that I am only partway through two KU books in the last two months, and I am not okay with that. I am starting an experiment where I schedule reading time, and, hopefully, that will get me back on track on that front. Planning has been a big help with all of the things that have to be done on our route to the next apartment. I have also drawn Housemate over to the planner side, and I am a proud planner mum, watching her find her own system and style, while refining my own.

Which brings us to writing. When we were packing and hauling stuff to storage, my original plan was to put my writing notebooks in storage, and write everything in one composition book, then transcribe when we land. That lasted as long as the ride to the storage unit. I couldn’t do it. They stay with me, because longhand first is how I work best, and I am, as I go, finding what each individual binder needs, and what gets me to where I want to be – The End of each individual draft. I do have my desktop set up in our room, and I like that bit of home, that space that is all mine. I also like that the hours when the rest of my family is out of the room are my one shot at getting any work done without interruption, short of parking myself in the lobby and getting in some longhand time.

Yesterday was laundry and errands, but today is blocked off as a writing day. I find that exciting.

Talk to you soon!

Writing While Packing, and other stories

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Yesterday, I emptied the kitchen cabinets of all foodstuffs we do not intend on A) eating in the next week, or B) taking with us to the new place. Today, we view our first potential apartment. Yesterday, Housemate and I drove past it. It’s a gorgeous neighborhood, as Mr. N requested, close to Panera, where I meet with N every Tuesday. It’s near my beloved park, that I have missed over the past year, and on the same street where my delightful acquaintance, D, lives. It’s not a guarantee, but it’s a step in the right direction.

That means that, on days like this, when both Real Life Romance Hero and Housemate are at their places of employment, I get to go into full Domestic Warrior Queen mode, which, when combined with Planner Woman mode, is both satisfying and effective. This does not mean that there is no writing going on, because A) this whole “eat the elephant one bite at a time” thing applies to both writing and packing, and B) both processes go a lot faster and more smoothly when I am listening to my story playlists, with songs that keep my story hamster happily running on her wheel, no matter what my physical body might be doing.

I am not sure, yet, what the electronics situation will be when we blow this popsicle stand. A lot of that will depend on when we turn in our router, and our move-in date for our next place, whatever its location. Laptop (in need of repair) set up desktop if we are going to be in a hotel for half a month. Third option, tablet, AlphaSmart, and good old notebooks. Who are we kidding, the notebooks are coming anyway.

One thing that is markedly easier in this move (besides mental health) is that packing books is a heck of a lot easier. With the exception of a few volumes for RLRH, all of the books in our current abode are electronic. They all fit in my (and Housemate’s) purse. The others are all still in storage, and will be unpacked in the new apartment. There are times when I want to pet my physical books, pop in and revisit favorite books, authors, and characters. The ability to do that whenever I want is a big perk of the upcoming change of address. Putting my all-time favorite historical romance novels in the bookshelves my father made for toddler me will be a big indicator that we have indeed landed.

Writing, during this move, is a vert different experience than with the last one. This time, it’s not just the idea of writing, but the actual act of it. I want to get my time at the keyboard or with pen and pencil. My plotting board (big cardboard tri-fold) was a victim of the infestation, but that only means I get to pick up a new one once we are settled, or, more likely, more than one> Melva and I are agreed we are beginning the home stretch of Drama King, and it’s time to start sketching out Queen of Hearts. After that, we want to work on a collection of Christmas novellas, outside of the Love By The Book (LBTB) world.

For my solo historicals, I am chomping at the bit to get to the end of the second draft for Her Last First Kiss, and to hop back on my discovery draft of Plunder. As to finding homes for My Outcast Heart, Orphans in the Storm, and A Heart Most Errant, that will be put on pause until the moving dust has settled, but that’s still happening. The waiting room in my head is getting crowded, with all those characters demanding I tell their stories. I’d tell them to take a seat and wait, but this isn’t my first rodeo, so figuring out the best way to get those stories told is a necessity.

They (ah, the mysterious they) say that necessity is the mother of invention, and, as I go about packing our home and my writing (and art/planning) I have to agree with them. Whether it’s a place to put this oddly shaped thing, do we really need this or that, or it’s better to junk XYZ and get a new one when we have settled, the best thing to do is make a decision and move forward.

So that’s where we are right now. Putting stuff in boxes and bags, then storage unit or set aside for the truck, looking at apartments, and planning on what gets written when. All in all, it’s pretty good deal. Maybe the bedbugs did us a favor after all.

Happy Book Birthday, Chasing Prince Charming!

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Today’s the day!

For everybody who has been Chasing Prince Charming, today is the day to catch him. Meg and Dominic have been let loose on the world, and, for the first time, people neither Melva nor I know (and some whom we do) get the chance to read the story of a fallen chick-lit author, determined to revive her career, the history professor turned romance publisher who beckons her out of her comfort zone in more ways than one, and their path through the writing process to their very own happily ever after.

Watch this space and melvaandanna.com (one word, all lowercase) for news on our upcoming author visit to Buried Under Romance. Melva and I will be having our regularly scheduled Skype chat, to celebrate, and work on our assignments for the next phase of Drama King. The best way I can think of to celebrate this achievement, of my first release in mumblecough years, is more writing. There were times, a lot of them, when anxiety and depression, and domestic tornadoes had me looking at what ws behind me, writingwise, to the point where I actually cried when Facebook thought I would like to remember when I had sold my last book.

There have been three anthologies since then, the invitation to the first two of them landing in my inbox the day after we moved out of our old apartment, and now a new chapter has begun. I don’t think I would have written contemporary romance on my own (jury is till out on the time travel, which is still on the back burner, until I figure out what the fluff is at the heart of that one, which may be more than one, thanks to my natural tendency to stuff ten pound cats into two pound bags) but as soon as Melva and I sat in that hallway outside the ballroom for a conference breakfast, and tossed around ideas until we landed on a simultaneous “we should write that,” it’s been a very natural thing to add to my usual bag of tricks, or, more accurately, binder of tricks.

my Love by the Book binder

My other great passion besides romance fiction is the whole world of planners and notebooks, but as I have said here before, all of my previous attempts have been the way I thought a writer’s notebook should be set up: always a three ring binder, always letter size, always with the same amount of sections that the package of dividers I bought had. Which never, ever worked. So, earlier this week, with the knowledge that the first book would be out to-freaking-day, and it says “book one in the Love By the Book series” right there on the cover, that people can actually buy, that is in peoples’ Kindles right the heck now (a huge thank you to those who have confirmed it’s on their devices) then I better make sure I do my part in getting book two to The End. Which meant a binder, which meant my kind of binder. (A5, I am making my own dividers, and applying tabs as needed.)

WIP binders

The binder with the white background is for my contemporaries with Melva, and the solid blush pink is for my historical solo romances. They both feel like home. I have three historical pieces, one novella and two novels, that are in need of (new) homes, and I need a place where I can comfortably settle in and get Her Last First Kiss to The End of draft two.

Her Last First Kiss binder

These notebooks feel like home, and these novels feel like home. This morning, I researched UK to US work visas, because the hero of Drama King has one, and part of Sunday pinning eighteenth century aesthetic images, for use in my Her Last First Kiss binder, to bring Bern and Ruby’s world into visual form. It works. Show up, put pen to paper, tell the story. As hard and as easy as that.

So, that’s my rambling for the day. Chasing Prince Charming is out. Meg and Dominic are ready to meet their readers. It’s a love story, of second chances and new beginnings, and digging down deep to find that, when we have to, we really, really can Do the Thing.

Happy reading!

Typing With Wet Hooves: Pre-Release Weekend Edition

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Hi, everybody. Bo Bison here, subbing for my good buddy, Sebastian, once again. As the fight against the fleas continues, Sebastian is due for a thorough vacuuming, so I, who am flea-free, will be filling in until he is cleared to resume his usual duties. Didn’t want anyone to think I was horning in on him, heh, heh.

Only three more days now…

Okay, the big news about all things Anna is that this is the last weekend before Chasing Prince Charming, the first book in the Love By The Book series, written with Melva Michaelian, through The Wild Rose Press, will be released. That’s very exciting news, and there is a lot to do in preparation for that. If you have already subscribed to the new melvaandanna.com site, then you can watch the countdown to the big day.

The big day also includes an author visit to Buried Under Romance, and wouldn’t you know, Anna is the one who gets to be in charge of that one, so she and Melva have some fancy footwork to do. Thankfully, they’re pretty good at that sort of thing, and whatever form it takes, it’s bound to be a good time.

What romance family do you want to see on TV?

Speaking of Buried Under Romance, click that caption in the picture above, if you want to read about some of Anna’s picks for what iconic historical romance families might be in line to catch the Bridgerton bouquet, if the upcoming Netflix series is a success. There’s a new topic every Saturday, so if you would like to join the discussion, or just listen to Anna ramble, please consider subscribing there as well, and suggestions for topics are always welcome. Who knows, you might see your idea as topic of the week.

Moving on to Goodreads, Anna is holding steady at six books ahead of schedule, with sixty-three books read out of her goal of ninety=five, putting her at sixty-six percent of the way toward her goal. Not too shabby, considering it’s been a domestic tornado-y week. That kind of week is exactly why being a few books ahead of schedule can be a good thing. With Kindle Unlimited, and Overdrive, and that nifty trick Lisa at Buried Under Romance showed Anna, to turn any book into an audio book, if it has text to speech capability, I think Anna will be pulling even further ahead.

What follows One Book July?

On the planning front, now that One Book July, which Anna actually liked a lot more than she thought she would, is over, what comes next? Apparently, there is also an All The Books August, where the goal is to use all of one’s planners/notebooks, which is an idea Anna loves, but seeing as how we’re almost half of the way through August already, Maybe she can make Some of the Books September be a thing. In the meantime, here is a sneak peek at the traveler’s notebook Anna plans to move into for the fall season, at the start of September:

Pen + Gear personal size traveler’s notebook

While Anna is all about the blush pink for spring and summer, autumn requires richer hues, so be prepared for a tour of her autumn lineup, coming to a blog post near you, in the very near future. Anna is also well on her way to moving into a project notebook for Her Last First Kiss, which she will actually use. Normally, her story binder setup goes something like:

  1. acquire three ring binder
  2. make sections for hero, heroine, villain, plot, and misc
  3. invest strongly in an aesthetic that is admittedly cohesive
  4. never touch that binder again

Could it be that story notebook peace can be found in a six ring binder? Keep eyes peeled, to find out. On that note, I am going to head on out, because it’s lunchtime, and I have a hankering for some buffalo wings. Don’t worry, they are not made with real buffalo. Actually, we buffaloes are vegetarians, so I’m mostly there for the carrots and celery.

I Will Call Her “Spinebreaker”

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Greatest hits picture for today’s header because we are burning daylight, this is Monday’s and Wednesday’s post, and there are a few things to cover. We are now less than one week away from the release of Chasing Prince Charming, my first contemporary romance, my first book written with longtime friend and critique partner, Melva Michaelian. We can’t say “someday” anymore. We can’t say “next year,” or “hopefuly” or even count the months or weeks, because that baby will be here Monday. Eep.

Houston, we have a website!

melvaandanna.com

In addition to the book baby, we are also proud to announce a website baby. Early days yet at melvaandanna.com, but we now have a website. Hop on by, follow us if you are so inclined, and watch us grow. Let us know what kind of content you’d like to see on an author website. Since the webmistress is me, there may be (aka will be) a learning curve, but this is the place where news about future books we write together, and the workshops we teach, in person or online, as well as other hopefully fun stuff in the very near future.

Melva and I are closing in on the home stretch of Drama King, the second book in the Love By The Book series, and I have, as of Monday, started an official notebook section for the third book, Queen of Hearts, so that will be next up for this partnership. After that? We’ve got a few ideas.

August Planner Post

One Book July is now past, and time is coming soon to start setting up my everyday carry (EDC) planners/notebooks/binders for autumn, which has a completely different vibe than spring and summer. This is where Spinebreaker comes into play.

When I first started this whole planner thing, I was pretty dedicated to the cahier size and pooh-pooh’d everything else, but then I started watching planner videos and joined FB groups and a ;whole new world opened. I did not have to be locked into One True Planner, forever and ever, eternity and beyond. That took some getting used to, the same as thinking I could only write one genre, or one way, yappity yap and all that.

Now? Well, now, I’m all about exploring. I had seen mentions of the B6 size in multiple groups, and in multiple videos, and then there was one, right where I get my groceries, in blush pink, and under eight dollars. Yeah. So, that happened. Meet Spinebreaker:

Hi, Spinebreaker!

Why Spinebreaker? I’m glad you asked. I don’t remember if it was in a Facebook group or a YouTube video where I first encountered this, but what I do remember is that the narrator, an artist, knew, in art school, who was going to do well in the class. On the first day, the professor passed out bound, blank sketchbooks. The nice kind. The narrator recounted how they stared at the perfect untouched purity of the sketchbook and how afraid they were that they were going to ruin it with their imperfect art. Other students immediately picked up the books, broke the spines, opened the book to several different pages, wrote their names in the front, and put marks on pages, be they first, last, or random, while the narrator was still staring at the blank perfection and dreading being the source of its ruin.

This resonated with me, a lot. I am very guilty of staring at pages, paper or electronic, fixed on the blankness and the preciousness of the unblemished page…but, as Pable Picasso said, all creation begins with destruction (of the blank page or canvas.) I am not a Picasso fan, myself, but “Picasso in a Café,” a song by one of my favorite composers, Brian Lowdermilk, is a favorite of mine (gentle readers who prefer not to hear strong language, take my word for it; otherwise, click the link) especially since I followed a series of videos he make, chronicling some big changes in his life and creativity, after a creative disappointment. He and his wife, Anna Levinger, who contributed the portion of the song with the strong language, took a gap year and traveled, exploring the world, as well as creativity, etc.

No gap years here, but learning to create again after a big shift, that I know. I know the feeling of the wandering in the wilderness, and the combination of strangeness and coming home, to come out of it in a different place than one went in; new genres, not instead of, but along with, expanding the sizes and purposes of binders and notebook covers I use. Mushing all of that with the story I wish I had written down so that I could attribute it properly, I like the idea of being a spinebreaker. That’s why, earlier this week, I made myself slip some inexpensive inserts into that pristine new B6 cover, and start swatching watercolors on the first few pages. There. Not blank anymore. Does that make it easier? For me, actually, yes.

Those blank pages are powerful. Sometimes, too much so. That’s why melvaandanna.com (all one word, all lowercase, tell your friends) is up in its tiny, imperfect, baby steps glory. We don’t serve the website. It serves us. That perspective may not be true for everybody, for us, this is just right.

Typing With Stuffed Paws: This Time, It’s Hooves Edition

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Hi, everybody! My name is Bo Bison. You may have seen me in the corner of some of Anna’s deskscapes. That’s because I live on her desk. This week, I’m filling in for my good buddy, Sebastian. Sebastian is on a top-secret mission in the master bedroom, making sure Real Life Romance Hero gets some much-needed rest, so I’m filling in for today. Let’s get to it.

First, a little bit of housekeeping. There have been a few change around Stately Bowling Manor. The census shows a marked decrease in the flea population, but things are not flea-free quite yet. In unrelated news, Housemate has taken on a different work schedule, which means, that because Anna’s office is in the great room, which is also where Housemate does her stuff, there may be a change in the blogging schedule. Anna is looking at maybe Sunday/Tuesday/Friday, instead of Monday/Wednesday/Friday, but we will see the difference when theory becomes practice,

Speaking of which, let’s get right to that. Take a look at this badge of honor:

Plunder = Camp NaNo Win!

Even with a week off for real life related reasons, Anna still made it through fifty pages of Plunder, and shows no signs of slowing down. You know that feeling when you have to keep reading so you can find out what happened? That is where Anna is at this phase of the discovery draft, only with writing instead of reading. There will be regular updates here.

Moving along, Anna was at Buried Under Romance, as usual, this past Saturday night. Why does Anna think romance books may be some of the real-est “real books” of all? Click the caption below to find out, and leave a comment if you are so inclined.

Buried Under Romance: Saturday Discussion

Next, we come to Anna’s Goodreads Challenge. Currently, she is at sixty-six percent of her way to the goal of reading ninety-five books this year, with sixty-three books read. She will admit to a bit of a book hangover for When We Believed in Mermaids, by Barbara O’Neal, the newest addition to her favorites shelf. This book has a lifelong sist-mance, childhood traumas, adult healings, and a cuddly flamenco singer who makes one very level-headed ER doctor believe in love.

It’s allllmoooossssst heeeeere!

For those who have been asking if Chasing Prince Charming will be available in paperback, the answer is yes! It’s also eligible for Prime, so place those preorders, no matter your favored format. It’s now less than two weeks until release day, August twelfth. Both Anna and Melva are very excited to have Meg and Dominic meet all of you.

Before I sign off, I have one more achievement upon which to report. That is, that One Book July, the planner challenge to use only one planner in the month of July is now over. Anna considers it a worthwhile experiment, and plans to tell you all about it, and her plans for the turnover of summer planners to autumnal ones on her next blog. There will be glitter, color theory, and the making of inserts from scratch.

Welp, that looks like everything that wax on my list. Until we meet again, I wish you the happiest of days, the best of friends, and a TBR pile that never runs out. That’s how this buffalo roams.

Typing With Stuffed Paws: Hot and Humid Edition

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Greetings, Foolish Mortals. Sebastian Thunderpaws Hart-Bowling, once again, coming at you with all the stuff from the week that was. If I look somewhat disgruntled in this week’s picture, it’s because the heat index for tomorrow is going to be above one hundred. That means very, very hot, which is not at all what anybody here wants. Except the fleas. They probably like it, but joke’s on them, because the humans voted, and that piece of furniture where they have been hiding out has been unanimously voted as toast. This will mean A) buh-bye to a large number of the tiny vampires, and B) a new couch in our future. Hopefully one that complements my handsome orange stuffedness.

Chasing Prince Charming

It is now less than one month until the release of Writer Chick’s first book with Other Writer Chick, Chasing Prince Charming. They are both very excited about this, and, this morning, Writer Chick talked to a different human, about her and Other Chick doing their first promotional online appearance as an author team, which means that Writer Chick probably wants to get on the ball with that whole website thing. Watch this space for details as they come.

Buried Under Romance 2.0

The human Writer Chick talked to today is from this blog. We shall refer to her as BUR Chick. Writer Chick is excited about the upcoming changes, because A) having a hand in shaping an online romance community is something she’s always wanted to do, and B) she gets to set up a new notebook and calendar that is only for Buried Under Romance doings. She will probably share pictures of that in a future post, but, for now, suffice it to say that good things are coming. For one thing, Buried Under Romance has a birthday. Mark your calendars, because there is going to be a birthday party, and the readers get the presents. September 13th, save the date.

Also, Writer Chick wrote a thing over there. What book has been on Writer Chick’s TBR list for the longest? Is she going to get to it anytime soon? Follow the link below to find out the answers, and the question a reader left, that gave Writer Chick the idea for another Saturday Discussion post yet to come.

read it here

Goodreads Challenge

Writer Chick is kicking tush on this one, with sixty books read out of her goal of ninety-five. This puts her at sixty-three percent of the way to a win, and a whopping nine books ahead of schedule. This is a personal best, as far as I can tell (which is not far in this heat; I am sacked out in front of the fan) and is that a historical romance from her “really should get around to reading that” list I spy as the most recent entry? I do believe it is.

Plunder

Writer Chick says yesterday was a good writing day for Plunder, her project for this year’s Camp NaNoWriMo. Her goal for this camp is fifty pages, and she is already on forty-four, which is pretty good progress. She says Cornelis and Lydia are chatty, which is a good thing. Writer Chick is writing their story in longhand first, in a notebook that has only this story in it. So far, this is going pretty well. Writer Chick is writing on one side of the paper only, using the other side for notes on things she has to look up or work out, later. Right now, she is plunging ahead and telling the story until it is told.

Other Stuff

Writer Chick’s downstairs neighbor has a great fondness for 1970s soul music, and sharing said music with the world at large. Writer Chick is not complaining; the guy has good taste, and knocks it off at a reasonable hour. As neighbors go, that’s pretty decent, as opposed to Writer Chick’s last downstairs neighbors who were, no lie, a step dance troupe. Anyway, Writer Chick will not have a soul soundtrack tomorrow, because she will be avoiding the heat by taking her show on the road, and stick to air conditioned spaces, where she can read, write, and art journal, with bottomless cold beverages. That may be one of her smarter moves. Right after making me Cat Regent, of course.

Peace out,

Checking In On A Bunch of Things

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My life is weird. That is not a complaint, but a statement of fact. Comes with the territory when writing, working from home, or any number of other things. Today, my work area is dark, because clouds are heavy outside. I am hoping we get a thunderstorm. If we don’t, I will probably fake one with ambient sound videos on You Tube, because that makes sense for me. I am waiting for pest control people to come and check the bait box in the kitchen. Please note that this is not for the flea issue; this is for totally different pests. We have come up clean on the rodent side of things so far, but, if there is a hit on the bait box that would explain where the fleas are coming from. Might be worth a mention, when pest control gets here.

Anyway, this is not a post about vermin. For anyone who is disappointed in that, my heartfelt apologies. What this post is, is checking in on a few of the ongoing things around here, mostly as related to writing and publishing, but we will start with planning.

One Book July

For the most part, I would say that, halfway through the month, this is mostly successful. Alert readers will spot that there are two books in the deskscape for today, both Big and Li’l Pink, but those are my everyday carry, and they seem to be working out pretty darned well. I have my pen pouch down to the bare minimum of what I need, which will probably be a post of its own, and certainly the art stuff would not be needed by someone who isn’t into that kind of thing, but I very much like the discipline of keeping to a color scheme/aesthetic, and keeping my daily use stuff all in one place.

This does not preclude the fact that my new love for the B6 size continues to grow, and I am stealthily assembling items in that size, for their own purpose, probably more art-related than writing. I trust that things will sort themselves out as I browse the back to school bonanza that is cropping up everywhere, and that, too, will fall into place.

Camp NaNoWriMo

So far, so good on this one, as I am currently thirty-eight pages into my goal of fifty, but A) I wanted to be done=done with all fifty by now, and B) there are days when I can’t get to that particular project, which irks me, but C) I keep moving forward, which is the most important part. I also would prefer to be more active on the message board in my cabin, but , as I told N at our breakfast this week, if I’m awake, I’m writing or killing bugs.

Buried Under Romance 2.0

I am super excited about this one, and, at the same time, tempted to retreat to my blanket fort, because what have I gotten myself into, here? Good things. Always good things. It’s been a summer of rest while we turn things over and map out how we are going to go from here on out, but there are dedicated people involved, and the future looks bright. I can say, with confidence, that there will be an author visit, in August, that readers will not want to miss. Cough cough me cough cough.

Chasing Prince Charming

Less than a month now, to the release in both print and e-book. Less than a month until readers can properly meet Meg and Dominic, and get their first taste of the Love by the Book world, while Melva and I plunge ahead with Kelly and Jack’s story. Kelly, you’ll meet in Chasing Prince Charming. Jack will make his entrance later.

This is not my first novel, not my first published novel, but it is my first contemporary romance, my first published co-written work, and, while I can’t say it’s my first in a planned series, because it isn’t (oh so many times we reminded ourselves “this book first,” but then there was Heather, and then there was Kelly, and linked books are good business, and well, such is life) it’s the first book in an unplanned series (can we call it that?) and that is exciting, too.

Historicals In Limbo

In April, with the closing of Awe-Struck E-books, the rights to my first two full length historical romance novels, My Outcast Heart, and Orphans in the Storm, reverted to me. That’s not news. They are mine again, and I have been sitting on them, thinking about what, if anything I would like to do with them. Are they still going to hold up after all this time? Did they ever, looking at the sales figures? Then again, I know a thing or two more about publicity than I did when I started on this historical romance journey, and I have a platform, so, as a dear family friend once told me, “the worst they can say is no, and then you’re exactly where you were before you asked.” In short, these books are going back out there, to make the rounds, in search of new homes. I am querying again. Dalby and Tabetha, and Simon and Jonnet are not ready for retirement quite yet, so I will keep you updated on that.

Other Stuff

In preparation for the launch of Chasing Prince Charming, Melva and I are making headway on our website, and batting around a few other ideas. Since I am looking at graphics for that site, I am getting the feeling that halfway through the year may be a good time to freshen the graphics here on the blog as well, so please pardon any dust while we get that settled.

For now, that’s the time I have for blogging, so I am going to toss this up there, and get down to business on some Chasing Prince Charming information, the better to help readers find us. How’s your midweek going?