Layering

While I was sitting in rush hour traffic, which I thankfully rarely have to sit in, a thought occurred to me about my wip. There has been something not clicking in the development of my hero. Something that seems incomplete. Then it hit me like ice cream on a cold slab of marble, my hero and heroine are not just meeting. They have a past!

My brain immediately slammed to a halt, stripped a few gears popping into reverse and said, "Nope, no way. That means rethinking everything and we're not going to do that." The other side of my brain, the side routing for the change declared, "Sure we can! Not THAT much is written and adjusting the story to make it BETTER is never a bad idea."

The anti-change side is pretty stubborn, but I have a feeling I can get the two to compromise. Which sounds completely bizarre and troublesome because I shouldn't have two sides of my own mind arguing with each other. Who's driving the car while righty and lefty are going at it? Apparently they can each drive with one hand on the wheel because I made it home safely.

I'm sure that this delimma is not new to me. So I'm curious, how often, once you've done the ground work if you're a plotter or once you've got words on the page if you're a pantser, have you had a major revelation that changes the entire story enough that it's an overhaul? And how often have you ground your teeth about the idea? :o)

April

A New Do...

Okay, the other blog template had issues so I searched and searched and settled for this. It's a bit on the predictable side, but hey... when I sell my first book I'll work harder to make it unique.

The thing that sucks the most about changing it was that I had finally put some of my blog links back up and it removes and deletes them. Grrr! But that's okay, I'll find everyone and that's what matters most!

Speaking of selling books... I have written a full chapter plus another scene. WOO HOO! I thought of some things I need to go back and add in to the scene that foreshadow, but it's nice to have stuff on paper--or screen, which ever is more proper.

Okay, I'm off to write!

April

I Wrote Something!!!

Okay, it's not going to win me a Pulitzer, but I wrote something and it felt wonderful.

In fact, I wrote the entire first chapter of my new wip. YAY, I finally have a real wip. It's a nice feeling. Of course this means I get to deal with bickering characters and Lord help me, these two people are going to put up one heck of a fight as far as the whole romance thing is involved.

But chemistry is something they can't fight and I won't either.

So now I'm off to bed where I'm sure to dream of bickering and squabbles... oh this is gonna be great!

April

PS If you don't see your blog on my blog roll, please comment me with your web addy. I've lost some!

Hmmm...

That's been a commonly muttered sound in my head lately. Hmmm... My poor little abused mind has been Hmmming all over the place.

I've been reading up on craft because having been away from writing, it's so easy to let some of it go. And reading that lead me to go back and explore some of my favorite books. I read a wide variety. I like everything from contemporary comedy, to historical, paranormal, suspense... you name it, I read it.

But for some reason, I was drawn back to reading Judith McNaught. Her historials. While I love the classics as much as any other person and I still swoon at the thought of Mr. Darby, Judith McNaught's stories always manage to grasp me in a way I'm not grasped every day. Hers are not the only ones, but they are just where my mind has been recently.

It's odd for me, because I have never been drawn to writing historicals and I'm not now. But I am drawn to the turmoil and journey her stories put me through. If I could do the same with my stories, I would be a very happy writer. No kidding, you say...

I'm planning to explore some other authors whose writing pulls me in that way as well. There are well known recent authors that are almost always a guaranteed good read for me. I enjoy Susan Elizabeth Phillip's refreshing wit and I always love the way Karen Marie Moning weaves me right into her Faeland fantasies. There are many others, too many to name.

So I'm curious, whose writing have you found a particular pull from and what have you taken from their writing and used to enhance your own?

April

Finding the groove again...

I had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend and I pray all the other mothers out there did too. Hubby gave me a trip to a local spa for a manicure and pedicure. His brother is getting married at the end of the month and so I will put it to good use!

To be perfectly honest, I have never had a pedicure. It sort of freaks me out to think about someone working on my feet. I don't know, it seems sort of mean... "Clean my toes!" I'm probably making too much of it, but it's what has held me back.

I've had manicures. I love them! I don't get them really often because I wash my hands so much that I ruin them and they are a guilty pleasure.

So, I'm curious... Have you ever had a pedicure and did you like it?

April

PS I know that has nothing to do with writing... But it does. You just don't know it.

Cha-cha-cha-changes...

Since it's been forever since I regularly blogged and since I took down the ole' website for now, I decided I'd start with a fresh look for the blog too. It's a template which goes against my DIY propensities, but it's easier than redoing it myself for now and it gives me a fresh perspective.

I thought it would be kind of fun because it looks like a well used desk. Mine looks messier, so much so that I'm using my lap for one right now. But it spurred my creative juices and that's all that really matters.

I'm excited for the weekend. This will be my first Mother's Day as a mom. It's also the first weekend in a long while that we don't have jam packed with stuff to do. So I am planning to enjoy it to the fullest. Maybe I'll even get some plotting time in!

How about you, what are you doing this weekend?

April

PS I have discovered that many of the old blog links I had were old and no longer worked. Poo. So I'm going to be working on getting my links list up-to-date. So, if you're link is missing, just know I'm working on it! :o)

Two in a row!

It's a record, I'm posting two days in a row! Woo Hoo!

I'm having trouble getting my thoughts in order. I've been in survival mode for a little while which means any thoughts outside of making it through the day get lost in file 13.

So I guess this means one change to my writing habits I'm going to have to make is note taking, note taking, note taking. And I guess this means I'm going to have to accept that I may not be able to just sit down and start tappity tappity tapping on the keyboard. I may have to do a little refreshing of my memory.

Anyone else face similar challenges? Anything you can recommend to assist me with getting my head back into the story and picking up where I left off easier. It's sad that I can't sometimes remember what I did several hours ago. LOL!

April

This time I mean it...

Okay, so it's well past time I get back on the horse. Or wagon... I can never remember how that saying goes. Hubby and I talked yesterday evening and I'm setting aside two evenings a week for writing.

This is a very exciting development for me and for the characters sitting around reading dusty magazines in my mind. You know those plastic chairs at the DMV, (unless your DMV isn't as truly fun as ours that is) the poor people have been sitting around reading magazines from 2007 and wondering when the heck I'm going to get back to working out their stories. Well, the time is now. WOO HOO!

I just hope the clamboring doesn't turn into a five ring circus as suspense characters try to judo chop my loveable romantic comedy characters. I have a feeling we may need some medics thrown in just to ensure safety. Maybe a few military heroes to keep the peace. They're all in there and hopefully I'll be able to get into the swing of things quickly enough to make them happy.

The best thing is that this will hopefully afford me a little time to blog hop and check in on all my wonderful buddies I haven't seen or read in forever. YAY!

So I'll be seeing you soon!
April

Keeping Blogs Straight...

Okay, in an effort to avoid turning this blog into a family update blog and to avoid shocking my 87 year-old grandmother with my writing (heaven knows she'd be rethinking the decision to NOT push me to be a doctor), I decided to set up a more "personal" less "professional" blog for updates on the family. You all have become like family too, so I wanted to invite you all to stop by when you feel like it. www.mattandaprilupdates.blogspot.com. No, a shorter, appropriate name was not available. I tried. :o)

I've been keeping an idea notebook. And I even got to read recently. Dh had a conference and we tagged along to play. I read two whole books. Tara Janzen's most recent featuring her Steele Street team and a suspense which escapes my memory. It wasn't bad. It just wasn't that memorable. Although I have to give the author a break since I seem to have brain farts at least 3 times a day.

Okie dokie, that's it for now.

April

Baby Madness

Hello everyone,

I know it has been a long time since I last posted. Things have been nuts to say the least. But I wanted to post an update!

We settled into our new home in Mid-May. Just in time to get started on the nursery. Then on July 2, at 10:30AM, she was born weighing 8lbs even and measuring 20 1/4 inches.

She did really well and the delivery was smooth. Her cord was wrapped around her neck, but the dr was able to get it unwrapped during delivery and an emergency c-section was not necessary. There was one minor complication because our blood types are so different there was a concern over jaundice, but her billiruben levels never went out of the normal range. YAY!

Here's a picture of our new little angel:



Hope everyone is doing well and the writing is going great! I'm hoping to just be able to READ some soon. LOL!

April