What I'm reading

I'm supposed to be writing. . . I am writing, just not as enthusiastically as I'd like. But it's the holidays and hard to get motivated. I want to just curl up with a good book and take a day off.

I just finished Shelli Stevens Silk Hauntings. I love a good ghost story and this one had not only a ghost but was a very satisfying romance too! The best of both worlds (so to speak).

In my to be read pile is:

Stacking the Deck by Sara Dennis
and
Melting Iron by Ann Cory

No Winner Here

Well, my Christmas wish didn't come true, but in the spirit of sportsmanship, I'd like to offer congratulations to Dan Stroschein, The Naughty List, for winning the Fast and Festive Fiction Contest at Echelon Press.

I'm shelving Mary's Christmas List for this year, I'm planning on turning it into a much longer novella with a lot more character development and submitting it for next Christmas. . . I need to do some more research and am waiting on a book from the library that I'd ordered 2 weeks ago. Guess EVERYTHING slows down for the holidays.

Meanwhile, back to writing The Were Whisperer. . .I had hopes to have the first draft written before the holidays. . .guess we'll see. . .

Mary's Christmas Wish

Mary doesn’t believe in Santa anymore. Besides, Santa couldn’t bring what she and her brothers want the most: a new Ma.

Katherine Larson is a spinster, working in her aunt’s boarding house in Chicago. When her friend ends up with two marriage proposals, Katherine fixes the situation by taking her friend’s place and traveling to San Francisco to marry a man she’s never met. When she arrives, she discovers that the man she’s come to marry didn’t send for a wife.

The last thing grieving widower, Jonathon Muller, expects for Christmas is a new wife. However, his children have conspired together and answered an advertisement for a mail-order bride. Katherine isn’t the woman they are expecting, but is she the answer to Mary’s Christmas wish?

Fast and Festive Contest

I got the e-mail from Echelon Press (http://www.echelonpress.com) , announcing their Fast and Festive Short Story Contest. Further information about the contest is listed on their blog. Echelon only accepts submissions by invitation, so this might be a chance to get my foot in their doorway. This morning in the shower, I got the idea for a historical romance. So, I'm going to give it a shot. . .

I've been linked!

Cool -- I just found my link on Romancing the Blog -- I'm right there under Making Mischief!

Snow Update

Mammoth mountain has a snow update every morning during ski season -- but I figure once every few weeks will be often enough to keep up with MY snow update.

I completed most of the snowflake for my novel. I skipped writing the story out in narrative form-- I have trouble going from the narrative to scene structure. Instead, I hopped right into writing the first draft.

I'm almost 1/3 of the way in and I must admit, the snowflake method has been one of the easiest to implement and made the most sense to me as to how I plot/outline/write.

TWW (The Werewolf Whisperer) is turning out to be more of a suspense than a mystery, so I'll be using Carolyn Wheat's "How to Write Killer Fiction" to check the story arcs for a suspense/thriller.

I'm excited to get this finished and start polishing. I've been sending off chapters to my critique group. They've been asking some challenging questions but have been reaffirming that it's working ~ so I'm happy about that.

Can't wait to start writing tonight. I'll be working on the "good" part~ the love scene between my hero/heroine!!

Critique Groups -- Should you or shouldn't you

I belong to several yahoo lists and the talk on two of them have lately revolved around critique groups. Whether they help or hinder or don't make any difference a'tall.

Well, I belong to two critique groups. One is a mystery group that meets at a local bookstore once a month. One chapter a month is too slow of a critique for me personally. I write faster than that. I do enjoy reading what everyone else has written, the critiques are honest and challenging, and I always come home recharged and ready to write.

The second is an online critique group made up of women who write erotic romances running the gamut of genres: Sci-fi, chick-lit, historical, suspense.

What I look for in a critque group is a sample audience. I try out my words on them, they tell me if it works or not for them, and then I go fix parts that I agree are wrong and hopefully make it better. I dont' expect everyone to like and admire every word I write. Heck, I know I write crap at times. But, I do expect them to be honest and tell me that it's crap. That whole feedback loop breaks down when no one gives an honest assessment (good or bad).

I'd say join, try one out, if it doesn't work for you, try another one.

Writing is such a lonely occupation at times that it's great to have a group of people sharing the same experience.