I’m one of those crazies who likes to quantify things. so I thought I’d throw some random stats for the year out there this week, and next week, we’ll get to open the Good Things jar!
29 – Number of novella length or longer works published (Going Deep).
3 fabulous vacations – Las Vegas, Chicago, and New York. 🙂
1 agent acquired!
52 Weekend Writing Warrior posts.
2 beloved pets lost, 1 fairly goofy pet gained.
6 – number of books contracted for 2016-2017.
76 episodes of Friday Night Lights watched in the month of August.
1 visitor from abroad. Literally, a broad. Her name is Julie and I fed her every chance I had.
23 – number of strands of Christmas lights purchased to replace old strands.
47 – the number of candles that would have been on my birthday cake if I’d had a birthday cake. We ate ice cream sundaes instead.
175,000+ words written on drafts. This doesn’t include proposals, edits, material that was cut, blog posts or other peripheral writing.
4 grueling days of physical inventory at the day job.
Whew! So that’s what I’ve been doing. I need to rest now.
Great weekend, but a busy one. Saturday was our annual DSRA annual lunch. We were actually fairly well-behaved this year. Don’t know how that happened, but I’m sure we’ll rectify that next year!
l to r: Brinda Berry, D.T. Dyllin, me, Jen Crane, KD Reep, Mia Kay, Carol Lytle, Cynthia d’Alba, Mandy Harbin, Elle James (Myla Jackson), Nena Clements, and Holly Goslin.
That evening, we also attended the party thrown by my company. A lot of talking for a girl who prefers to leave the dialogue to the characters in her head.
Sunday, I cooked a turkey dinner, and the family came over to help decorate the tree and inside of the house.
Now, I am in my stretchy pants and slippers, trying to psyche myself up for another busy week.
As I usually do at this time of year, I’ve been assessing some of my writing related activities and determining which are proving to be a good use of my time, and which I can/should ditch in my quest to be more productive in putting words on the page.
This year, I tried adding some new features (Teaser Tuesday, Whatcha Reading Wednesday, and Fangirl Friday) to the blog to make it more interactive. They weren’t as much of a hit as I had hoped, so I will be discontinuing them. I’m also going to take a little break from the Weekend Writing Warriors in January, but will most likely pick it back up again as the year goes on.
That leaves us with our traditional Mondays together.
I’ll continue to post weekly updates on what’s happening in my life and with my writing (good news coming!) here each week, and I hope you’ll continue to keep me company.
With the holiday rush in full tilt boogie, it’s hard to keep on track with the writing, so I’ve started a new challenge to keep me moving forward even on the most hectic days. I’m trying to do 100 words for 100 days. It’s just like it sounds. I have to write a minimum of 100 words (about a paragraph) on my work in progress each day. Most days, I won’t stop there, but there may be times (like Saturday) when there’s so much to do in the real world, that 100 words will have to suffice.
What am I looking forward to in 2016? Well, it’s good of you to ask!
I’ll be wrapping up edits on book three in the Coastal Heat Series, LOVE AND ROCKETS, and starting drafts on books two and three in the Warrior series, RANSOMED HEART and TOSSING THE PLAYBOOK.
If I can get my act together, I’ll be re-releasing the HOT NIGHTS IN ST. BLAISE novellas in one big set this January. Then, there will be 4 more releases, so mark your spanking new 2016 calendars!!
April: FLIP THIS LOVE, Coastal Heat #2
July: A WILL AND A WAY, A Worth the Wait Romance
October: LOVE AND ROCKETS, Coastal Heat #3
December: FULL COURT PRESS, Warrior series #1
So, yeah, lots of good stuff coming up. Make sure you stay tuned!
It’s that time of year again…those crazy few weeks when ‘I have revisions’, ‘this book is going to galley’, and ‘I need to write this proposal’ are not counted as valid excuses for avoiding the world and all around me.
I do have revisions to do, and a book going to galley, and the first few pages of a proposal started, but those things count for nothing when this needs to be done:
I also need to attend to some shopping and baking. Somewhere out there, some poor, unsuspecting Christmas tree is out there just waiting to be dragged home and dressed up in a decades-old collection of mismatched ornaments.
The revisions, galley, and proposal will have to take a backseat for a few weeks. The holidays are upon us, and I have a candy apple red KitchenAid that needs to be christened.
To all my friends who celebrate Hanukkah, I wish you the happiest of holidays.
Well, this is it. The last day of NaNoWriMo for 2015. I’m happy to announce that I verified my word count yesterday and have completed my seventh challenge!
Also, in the course of NaNoing, I FINALLY typed ‘The End’ on the first draft of LOVE AND ROCKETS!
Every year, I tell myself I won’t do it again. Who needs the worry? The stress? The sore wrists and fingers? Then, every year, I sign in, sign up, and get going again. Unlike the first time I did it, I know now that what I have at the end of NaNoWriMo is far from being ready to go out into the world. Thirty days and nights of literary abandon is great for writing, but doesn’t make for good reading.
Trust me on this.
For this reason, I have deemed December has become EditThisCrapMo. There are three stages to this process.
1) Distance. I can’t look at this book anymore. I can’t think about it. I just need to put it out of my mind and play with some other idea for a while. Believe me, it’s for the best that these characters and I go to our separate corners for a while.
2) Clarity. There are two parts to this one. The first part is acknowledging that a good portion of what I churned out in November is crap. But, even better, is coming to the realization that the majority of it is not-quite-crap. Crap gets cut, but I can work with not quite crap.
3) Reading like a reader. I think this is the most important step for any author. I read through the entire steaming pile before I make any drastic decisions. What might look like a dangling plot line at first glance, might be transformed into an additional layer of conflict, or a set up for future series installments. Reading like a reader means I have to look at the hot mess of a novel a whole before I tear it to shreds.
This is what I’ll be doing this month.
And shopping. Picking out a tree, decorating, and going to holiday parties. I’m also hoping to catch a few of my holiday favorites, now that I’m not in full-on writing frenzy. I always look for Holiday Inn, Going My Way, and the original Miracle on 34th Street when I’m cruising the listings.
Oh! The Grinch. Boris Karloff, not Jim Carrey. And, I love the one with Heat Miser and Snow Miser. Of course, it’s not Christmas until Lucy and I extort a few nickels from the mister.
Oh, and the baking! My 17 year-old stand mixer is moaning and groaning. The knobs have all cracked and been super glued. The plastic coating on my flat beater is worn through. I think I need this sexy beast as an early Christmas gift, don’t you?
Looking for a quick and easy recipe for the office party? Try these Magic Cookie Bars. Even my coconut-hating hubby eats these tasty tidbits.
What’s your plan of attack for the holiday season? Got any yummy recipes you want to share?
It’s Thanksgiving week here in the States, and I want to tell you that I am thankful for each and every one of you. Thank you for being a part of my life. Here’s hoping the coming year is filled with popcorn, jelly beans, toast, and pretzels sticks.
And if there’s an ice cream sundae sitting around, make sure you eat it too!
I contemplated this dichotomy as I slathered Oxy 10 on my face the other night (stupid hormones). Sometimes I feel like I’m just starting out. Others, I look back at what I’ve accomplished so far and I think, “Wow! I did that!”
Birthdays rarely get me down. No, I’m not crazy about getting older, but there isn’t a damn thing I can do about it, so that’s that. All I can do is keep moving forward and trying to grow. When my forties began, I resolved to try to lead a braver life.
This has been another big year of change. Some sad, some good, and some great. All in all, I’ve tried to not only stay in the moment, but to enjoy that moment to it’s fullest.
On Saturday, Fodder and I were out running errands. It was past lunch time and our tempers were getting a bit short, so we did the only thing a rational person could do in that situation: we stopped at the local ice cream parlor and ate sundaes for lunch.
This year, I made it my goal to ignore other people’s yardsticks and keep my eyes on my own paper. There are days when I’m better at this than others, but for the most part, it helps me lead a happier life.
Well, that and cake.
It’s my birthday today, and I want you to be happy too. If you were here, I’d buy us all one big cake to share. Since we aren’t able to celebrate together, I want you to do this: go buy some cake. A sheet cake, a layer cake, a cake you have to bake, or even just a cupcake. Buy yourself a piece of cake today and eat it. Because birthdays aren’t the only days that need to be celebrated and we all need more cake in our lives.
What can I say? I am a work in progress. I’m also a bad influence.
You like that about me.
Now, go forth and eat cake! Oh, and stick around for the next chapter, I think there’ll be some good stuff coming up.
Got a slow start to my NaNoWriMo projects due to last week’s migraine and general lethargy, but I made up my words over the weekend. Thanks the Julie’s whip cracking, I cranked out almost 4800 words Saturday and managed to stay caught up on Sunday. Going to have to be more diligent this week so I can get ahead. You can keep tabs on me by watching the graphic in the sidebar. If you see me slipping off pace, be sure to yell at me in a public forum. 😉
In case anyone in the Mags-o-sphere missed it, my big news finally went public last week. FULL COURT PRESS (and two more in the Wolcott Warrior series) will be coming from Samhain Publishing in 2016-2017! You can read more about it here if you want. 🙂
If you aren’t already on my newsletter list, be sure to add your email address in the sidebar. I’ll be sending a newsletter on Friday with all sorts of news and giveaways! –> –> –>
And last, a call to action! Are you a member of my street team, The Margaritas? Well, if you’re reading this, you ought to be!
The Margaritas are a special group of readers who help me promote my books. Word-of-mouth is still the most effective marketing tool an author can use, and with SIX releases in 2016 and 2017 (so far!), I need your help! In exchange for help in spreading the word, my street team gets good news first, special giveaways, some swag to hand out to friends and fellow readers, and advanced read copies of my upcoming releases!
If you’d like to join my merry band of Margaritas, click here and give me a little info (for my eyes only) on how I can contact you!
That’s all I have for this week. Happy Monday, everyone!
I’m so excited! I finally get to announce that my steamy battle of the sexes, FULL COURT PRESS, has been sold to Linda Ingmanson at Samhain Publishing!!! Check this out:
That’s right – a THREE BOOK DEAL!
FULL COURT PRESS (December 2016) will be followed by RANSOMED HEART (March 2017) and TOSSING THE PLAYBOOK (June 2017)!!!
I can’t tell you how happy I am that this book found an editor who loves it and understands it as much as my #superagent Sara Megibow did when she first read it. Check out the fabulous things she had to say about it: http://ktliterary.com/2015/11/sold-congrats-to-maggie-wells-and-full-court-press/
Huge thanks to Sara and Linda for falling for Kate and Danny as hard as I did.
I also owe a huge debt to my Prime Minister of Posisitivty, Julie Doner, for her unflagging support and optimism. I can’t wait to share these stories with you all!
I visited my mom this weekend. Though it makes me sad to see her struggling, it was just good to see her.
And to hold her hand.
Her skin is now thin and soft with age, but though I may have my daddy’s eyes, nose and mouth, these delicate digits are one thing I undoubtedly inherited from my mother.
I don’t have much to report this week other than the fact that I’ve been a complete slug. I’ve been fighting allergies/migraine/the after effects of dental torment all week and I have been totally lazy. At least, when it comes to writing.
Someone posted this on Facebook the other day, and it’s so true:
Too true. Book #2 in the Coastal Heat series just flowed right out of me. I may need a stash of dynamite to get #3 out.
The good news is, I’m feeling a little better, so I’m upgrading my look from this:
To this:
Oh, and my Spider Solitaire skills are wicked sharp.
How about you? Lose your head over anything (besides a good chop) lately?
