Monday Miscellany: A Program, Fandom, and Work

Last week, Paperback Writer posted about Sketchup (which you can get here). I haven't really made anything with it yet, but I have played around in it, and I think once you get past the learning curve that it could be really, really useful. Probably the first "big" project I'll use it for will be to lay out the Vue de la Mer Inn, the main setting in The Guest. The free version is probably all you need if you're just going to be creating mockups for yourself/reference.

As I mentioned over the weekend, fandom has kind of taken over my free time lately. Despite the fact that I haven't gotten any "work" done, I can't complain. The thing about fandom is that it inspires creativity. It reminds you why you do what you do and what you really love and, at least for me, it helps push me back in the right direction. I remember to read the right things, watch the right things, and write the right things. If you've never thrown yourself whole-heartedly into a fandom, I recommend it.

This week here on the blog should be sort of a mish-mash. Tomorrow I have a nine things post for you and, since I really dropped the ball on reporting my book sales, you can expect two sales posts. According to my stats, a couple of regular visitors come looking for sales data, and even though my sales have been really low, transparency and help are two of the goals of this blog.

With any luck, I'll also be able to assemble the Smashwords formatting guide for OpenOffice and figure out how to offer it. Don't worry--like the official Style Guide, it'll be free.

Monday Miscellany: Cowboys and Toddlers and Books

I'm about halfway through the final editing pass on One Good Cowboy. Basically the same place I was on Saturday, but I have my reasons. It's not the horrible, sucky story I was worried it was. In fact, it's pretty good. I'm still shooting to have it finished by Friday, but we'll see.

My sister and mother have gone home. I took them to the airport on Sunday morning. It's just weird having the house all to ourselves again. Everything is quiet and my dishes don't magically get clean several times a day. (My mother, when she visits, does the dishes and the laundry, my two most-hated chores.) I'm adjusting okay (mostly by being lazy and watching "Community" on Hulu+) but my toddler... Well. Let's just say she got used to being constantly entertained and stimulated and is having a difficult time adjusting to mommy's version of "no" versus auntie's and grandmother's versions.

Last week, I started reading Stella Deleuze's No Wings Attached. Again, it's not my usual go-to genre for entertainment, but I have to say that it's pretty fun. It's so girly. I feel like I should be watching Lifetime or listening to Britney Spears and drinking red wine and eating really good chocolate while I read it. It's turning into one of those frilly pleasures for me, like Asking for Trouble. I'm glad I know the two main characters end up together because if I didn't, I'd feel really, really badly for Celia, but since I know they're going to be okay, my worry and sympathy are only mild.

This week, I'm hoping to finally finish that post on treating readers like customers, as well as a post on sales figures and at least one book review. I'm not sure I'll manage all of that, but I am sure going to try!

Monday Miscellany: Blog Posts, To-Do Lists, New Computers

It's Monday! You know what that means? You should go buy Stella Deleuze's Candlelight Sinner.

It also means that I have a random-ish post for you. And on the day of, too! How exciting for us all.

Tomorrow, I will be posting an author interview with Stella Deleuze. Be warned: she is adorable, intelligent, and funny. If you haven't noticed already, this blog is a fangirl-friendly zone, so feel free to squee over her as you see fit.

I finally buckled down this weekend and started breaking my to-do list into smaller, more manageable chunks based entirely on answering the question, "What do I have to accomplish to make me happy today?" Being "happy" for me is pretty much entirely reliant on being "productive" so that's a valid question. I managed to accomplish all of my to-do list yesterday and I'm on top of today's list, too.

One thing on today's to-do list that I'm not really looking forward to is calling Amazon. My Kindle has stopped working and I am kind of beside myself over it. I don't want to buy a new one. I like the one I have. If we can't get it fixed, though, I will end up buying a new one. It's silly that I've become so reliant on such a meaningless piece of technology, but I really, really love my Kindle. It makes reading so much easier. It gives me portable access to books like Candlelight Sinner and Morgan's Choice and it makes it easy for me to carry around The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Gone with the Wind.

I have mostly gotten my new computer set up the way I want it. I have all the programs I think I need and I've even started working on it (this post and the last one were written from it, I've written over 2,000 words of One Good Cowboy on it). It's strange adjusting to a full-size keyboard and to a screen on which I can actually see my entire blog and website, but it's working out well so far.

Do you want to see my new desktop image? Of course you do! It's Tim Armstrong. (At least until I commission the painting of Wes Janson and Hobbie Klivian from Kelsey McCarthy.) This photo is, apparently, from the 2007 KROQ Weenie Roast.

That sound you heard was me sighing happily.

Monday Miscellany: Progress Report, Coming Up

I am making slow and steady progress on One Good Cowboy. I'm filling in the action now and once that's done, I'll be able to go back and start drafting. This story is giving me so much trouble! Oh, well. I think it'll be a nice, fun, sweet, funny romance once I'm done. I hope!

My sister is out of town for the week (well, out of country--she took off to London on her own for a few days) so I have the time to catch up on a ton of work. I did yesterday's blog roundup post almost on time this week! And today's post is on time! I still have a lot of housework and of course the writing, but this should be a good blogging week. 

This week, I'll be posting my review of A. M. Belrose's Witch in Wolf's Clothing and an author interview! Expect to see those tomorrow and Wednesday.

Monday Miscellany: Rewriting, Shopping, Coming Up

I'm almost done rewriting One Good Cowboy. Well, I'm almost done with the action draft part of the rewriting. I think the story I'm going to end up with is much better than the story I had. I'm making progress, but it's so weird to be hacking it apart and piecing it back together. I feel like Dr. Frankenstein or something.

Over the weekend, I went window shopping. I plan to buy a new laptop in a couple of weeks and the online offerings have been quite dismal since so few models are available for APO shipping. I feel like I lucked out, though, because the exchange on post has a laptop that fits all of my needs for only $9 over the low end of my budget. That is so exciting. Now I can't wait to make the purchase!

This week I really am going to get up that blog post about writing like a reader. I have a few other subjects waiting in draft mode here in Blogger and in a notebook, but I'm not sure which ones I'm going to pick. I might steal an idea from Chuck Wendig and write about creating a best practices list. Who knows? Not me. I'm living dangerously this week.

SitRep Saturday: Rewriting, Deadlines, Blogging, Zombies

One Good Cowboy needs some rewrites and a lot more attention to detail. I was pretty upset with myself, but I'm not going to rush this story. My characters are turning out to be more interesting than I initially thought they would be so I'm going to give them a chance to do their thing. My (ambitious) deadline of January 17 has been pushed way back to January 31. I'm still secretly hopeful that I'll have it done in the next week or so, but I won't hold my breath and I won't stress.

I've sent off my questions to author A. M. Belrose and I've started making my notes on my review of her book. I will at least have that done soonish!

As for zombies, I think you should expect to see them from me in the near future. I love zombies and in rewriting a (joke) ending for Cowboy, I had an idea for an anti-Valentine's story that made me laugh like a crazy lady. Anything that makes me laugh like that is totally worth pursuing.

Monday Miscellany: A Mouthful of Title & Things To Do

Is Take a Chance on the Cowboy too long a title for a novelette-length story? It's the title that keeps popping up as "best," the title I keep circling in my notebook, the title that most efficiently captures the spirit of the story... but I hesitate because it seems like such a mouthful.

This week, I have a to-do list that fills an entire average-sized notebook page. I almost wish I could take a picture of it. Among things I need to take care of are blog posts on publishing resources and sales figures, finding a widget to help me track sales, and generating a tag cloud for this blog. So look for all of those things this week!

Monday Miscellany: WIPs, Recipes, and Blogging

So I have fleshed out the action draft of the new WIP and made some changes and, now, it will be decent to share under my current romance/erotica pen name. I just have to, you know, actually write it. Since it's a short story and I'm only shooting for 10,000 words it should be easy peasy. Well, that, and the fact that I really like it. I've even already found the cover art for it. Once I have a mockup I'm happy with, I'll share.

Last Friday, I made whiskey cookies. I used this recipe, but I would suggest the following changes: use half as much baking soda, add about 1/4 tsp lemon extract, and add an extra tablespoon or two of whiskey. I didn't add the nuts or fruit, but I planned to drizzle them with chocolate. They were still pretty good. Because writers don't have enough ways to ingest booze!

In the draft stages now I have a post on where/how to learn about the publishing industry. I am also planning a post on how and where to buy e-books and a post containing tips on cover design (the last one because I have seen some truly awful self-published covers recently).

Even though I'm not in the States, I'm still celebrating Thanksgiving this week. The hubs and I aren't doing it traditional, either. We have a brisket and a squash and we're planning mashed potatoes, homemade rolls, and some cherry cobbler. Nice and low-key and delicious.

And speaking of giving thanks: for a brief span of time, The Cowboy Next Door was on Amazon's Top 100 contemporary romance list. So a huge THANK YOU to everyone who bought the book!

SitRep Saturday: Blog Posts, New Projects

On Monday night/Tuesday morning, I finished formatting Better with You and published at Smashwords and Amazon. I'm pretty pleased with it. That, like Cowboy, is a story that has been floating around in my head for years. Now that it's written, I can forget about it. That feels so good.

As a companion to my recent Before You Take The Plunge post, I have in the drafting stage a post on what writers should know and where they should go to learn about the publishing industry. I think lack of knowledge hurts writers more than anything else.

In other news, I'm currently working on a short story I hope to have finished and out under a third pen name by November 30th. I'm going with a third pen name rather than one of my other two because of content. My goal is to write everything I want to write and still make it easy for potential readers to choose what they think they'll like. The story has already been outlined and action-drafted and I even found the right book cover image. Final word count should be around 10,000 words. I'll have more to report next week.

Monday Miscellany: Cover Reveal, Fangirl Business, Half-Assed Book Review

That, dear readers, is the cover for the soon-to-be-completed Better with You, a romance novelette about making good things better. It took a lot of angst to come up with that cover and I'm finally happy with it and proud of it.

I ended up getting rid of what was an important subplot point, so the editing has been going much smoother. I'm still in the paranoid/anxious mindset, so it's still very slow going, but I just keep telling myself that the more meticulous I am, the better the story is. Good stories that are enjoyable for the readers are the goal.

Let's discuss some fannish things, too, shall we? Is anyone else watching this season of Supernatural? I really enjoyed last week's episode. Maybe it was how the story reminded me so much of season two, maybe it was Dean's rant at Sam, maybe it was the use of the word "virile" to describe Dean, maybe it was just everything about the episode... I'm not sure. I just know I really enjoyed it. Dean threatening to punch the waiter if he "affirmate[d]" him again reduced me to giggles. Dean Winchester is totally my TV boyfriend right now.

Greta van der Rol posted a sneak peek at Starheart and you should all go read it and get excited. Jess is going to be fun.

I feel obligated to mention that I read Wicked Games by Jill Myles. Eh. Meh. It was all right, I guess. The heroine was irritating and inconsistent, the hero wasn't much more than a cliche, it got really weirdly homophobic at one point, and the plot was utterly predictable. That said, it was a nice, brainless read that required no effort whatsoever. I don't think it deserves the four-and-a-half star rating it has, even for what it is. More like a three-star. Not bad, not great, not even for being an easy read.

This week, look for posts on making the transition from fanfiction to original work, characterization, and resources for new writers. All of these things are pet issues of mine and I've seen a great deal lately that makes me want to talk about them.

Monday Miscellany

Last night, I finished my "last" round of edits on The Cowboy Next Door. I then transferred the text to a new document and started the formatting process. I'm still waiting on four betas to get back to me with their notes, so I'll make changes once I get that crit; I'll also read it out loud one last time and make final line edits and change anything that sounds awkward. Right now, I'm pretty proud of it.

This article on Facebook statuses do-and-don't is pretty good. I think it goes along with something I tweeted last night. There's an author on Twitter--there may be more than one, but I have only encountered the one--who tweets at me with a link to his book. We've never interacted in any other way. That just seems like a huge NO to me.

I am so excited! Next Wednesday, September 28, I'm going to post an interview with the fantastic Ms. Greta van der Rol to help celebrate the release of her new book, The Iron Admiral: Deception. Here's what you should do to prepare: go download The Iron Admiral: Conspiracy, read it, and fangirl (or boy).

In my quest to incorporate new dishes into our dinner menu, I made beef fajita soup last night. It actually turned out pretty well. I winged it, but here's a recipe that looks pretty easy if you're interested.

This week, look for another post on writer's resources and one on Hootsuite. I'm still trying to decide what the others should be.

Monday Miscellany

Last night, I finished the first round of edits for "Santa Rosa, NM," the third story in Cass Gets Her Kicks and my first-ever lesbian erotica piece. I need to read it over before I send it off to the betas, but I think I'm pretty proud of it. As long as I keep up this pace, I should be on track to have the collection submitted to Smashwords and Amazon by August 15th. I just have to stay focused.

A friend of mine reminded me of Hyperbole and a Half, and I spent some time reading those posts late last night. Know what else I discovered through that blog? Word Bubbles. Try it! It's fun!

The next blog post on less-common homophones is taking up so much time. I don't feel like it's going very well. I may put off finishing it for a while and focus on either the e-reader post or the confusing/misused words post. I'm not sure. I do know that once these are done, I'll be researching punctuation to review. 

Over the weekend, I discovered Melissa & Joey, a sitcom on ABC Family that stars Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence. The noise I make every time I see the title screen is somewhat embarrassing. I love sitcoms and, like most people my age, I grew up watching Blossom, Clarissa Explains It All, and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Seeing them all grown up is weird, but completely enjoyable. It's just a fun show. It certainly doesn't hurt that Mel's wardrobe is perfect.

In completely personal news, today is special for three reasons: it's my mom's birthday (Hi, Mom!); my husband was promoted to sergeant this morning; and today is the first day of the month in which my daughter turns a year old. It's kind of a big day for us all.

Monday Miscellany

There is a blog post on homophones in the works. It might be too big for one post (I have kind of a short attention span) so it might end up as two, but it is in the works. It should be up tomorrow or Wednesday... I hope.

I am almost done editing the third of five pages of "Galena." It. Is. Taking. Forever. I'm the sort of writer who hates sending anything to a beta unless I feel like it's ready to be public. While this particular neurosis has served me very well in the past by making the work of my beta readers and editors relatively easy, the actual work that goes into it can get pretty stressful and intense. I know it will all be worth it.

Quick blogroll: Sirra the Editor posted Fundamental Advice For Every Writer and it should probably be required reading for anyone who hopes to make a living with their words; she also has this post about How Not To React To Negative Reviews and while I can't be certain that she was referring to the incident at BigAl's Books and Pals blog when he reviewed Jacqueline Howett's The Greek Seaman, it does exemplify her point; Stella Deleuze has this post on dialogue and this post on her policy of giving reviews, the first of which is very useful advice (especially if you're like me and hate dialogue) and the second of which is thought-provoking; and, finally, Chuck Wendig (who you may or may not realize I kind of have a writer's crush on) posted a new Search Term Bingo entry, and it's funny enough to make you shoot your drink out of your nose, so I suggest not drinking anything that might hurt.

While researching the romance and erotica market, I came across this site which has a ton of information on publishers, the market in general, and sales. I also came across this site, which hurts my eyes to read and has some posts I didn't really "get" but seemed kind of useful nonetheless. If you're looking for romance/erotica-specific stock photography, Razzle Dazzle Stock has a pretty decent collection and reasonable prices. They even have premade covers!

SitRep Saturday: Strawberry Moon, Cass Gets Her Kicks, and Invitation to Eden

My dad is working on a cover for Strawberry Moon and I haven't done much to the manuscript. I know, I know, bad Ellie. I've been focusing on other projects.

For instance, I completed the action drafts of the last couple of stories in Cass Gets Her Kicks: "Santa Rosa" and "Flagstaff." I also started drafting the second story, "Vega." (The first story has already been drafted and is waiting for revisions and edits.)

I also have most of the rewriting done for a short called "Invitation to Eden" that I intend to put up on the website. I printed it out this afternoon to start the revising and editing process. I also have the theme worked out and have a clear idea of the message of the story, which always makes writing easier for me. I started looking at stock photos to use for story art.

There's even a blog post in the works about words and word choice. It won't be a long one, but it will be a post!

Even though I didn't make any progress on the novel this week, I am making progress with my writing. I just have to keep plugging along.