Love is in the air…

So… Tomorrow’s Valentine’s Day. I often wonder how someone like me who used to rejoice when the annual Black Hearts Ball rolled around on Feb 14th came to want to write romance? Back in high school, I got dumped on Valentine’s Day. Yeah, a real kick in the teeth. I didn’t realize it at the…

Puzzle Pieces

I’m a sucker for puzzles. Nothing makes me happier than finding a solution. Must. Solve. Puzzle. Nearly any type of puzzle, as long as a bit of challenge exists, will keep me amused for quite a while. The sense of accomplishment is one of the reasons I like learning new things and coding (which involves…

Thursday Thirteen: Cold Remedies

  13 Cold Remedies   If you’re one of the many people suffering from a cold or the flu, the Mayo Clinic has a list of remedies that have been proven or disproven to help. Conveniently, there were thirteen items on the list. Now, I’m not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV…

Cheese with my whine?

So, I began this writer’s journey in earnest a little over seven months ago. I’m not counting any previous false starts (they never lasted long before) or tangential experiences (we’re talking stringing sentences together, but more interactive and emergent stuff or related non-fiction). What I mean is a serious focus on craft and honest attempts…

Thursday Thirteen: Editing Headaches

  13 of My Bad Writing Habits   1. “I’ve got” — yes, I talk like this, but gah, no one should write that way. 2. She verbed. / He verbed. — this is probably my favorite sentence structure. I know why, but breaking a decade+ of habit is hard. 3. Initial -ing phrasing. —…

The Plot Thickens…?

I’m stuffing the rewrite of Revealed back into a “drawer” again. I want to wait until a couple people have read it and commented more thoroughly on it before tearing it apart again and just sitting here second-guessing myself. I still don’t have a lot of ideas on how I’m going to fix the hero’s…

Thursday Thirteen: Barrington Interview

  13 Questions for Hugh Leighton   I decided to take Dana’s advice and put the reticent viscount on the spot. Now, I didn’t force him to wear pink or call him “Bo Peep”, he knows if he doesn’t cooperate, he might just be attending the masquerade dressed as such. I think the Duke and…

Holding Out For A Hero

I find myself rather annoyed with Hugh Daniel Leighton, Viscount Barrington. Last fall, he whispered sweet seductions in my ear like the practiced rake he was, urging me to tell his story. So I abandoned the ms where he’d been a secondary character and found him a nice girl with a few quirks of her…

Shrinking Word Count!

I’ve been going through my WIP and zapping all the extra words that don’t add anything. Lots of “thats” and the like. On one hand it’s depressing to see the word count dropping, but it is reassuring to know that the writing it tighter and flows better overall because of it. The hero is still…

Tagged & Hero Issues

Hm. It’s been another 10 days since I’ve updated. Bad me. Let’s see. I’ve been tagged no less than 4 times to do this meme. The following people are to blame for this: AJ Chase, Leigh Royals, Ally Kendall and Jodi Henley. I’m not going to tag anyone else, but I will add my 7…