Archive for December, 2009

So I entered a contest. Or two. Possibly three. And I have another on the horizon that’s due Jan. 15th. Going up before the editor of my dreams. But that’s another post.

Back to where we were. Contests.

I entered I Heart Presents contest in November. It’s a contest for Harlequin writers, who ..um…heart Presents – one of the line of books Harlequin produces.

And the winners were announced last Friday. Did I haunt the announcement page? Did I hit refresh to the point I almost drug my internet service provider down into the dirty?

You bet your sweet bippy I did.

Did I win?

Not a snowballs chance babe.

However…and this is a big however…I did receive an email on Wednesday at 7:38am from a Harlequin EDITOR….I was right in the middle of receiving a phone call from an employee who was too sick to work and voila…there it was…in my inbox….

*hum the jaws theme here*

totally ignoring the poor sobbing girl on the phone, I read the email. I whispered to her no problem, get rest, we’ll be fine. (I then spent another 20 min trying to cover the shift..but again…another story, another time)

the email said ….thank you, and while you did not win, we felt your writing showed promise.

my stomach dropped. splat.

they went on to say they liked my writing style and LOVED my opening…loved…they used the word loved…..they also included some helpful hints on revising and said to please, submit again…3 chapters next time.

they LOVED my writing. LOVED. I sang and danced. I bought santa cookies and passed them out to the employees at work. I bought snickers bars. I danced more. I put out a hip doing a booty jiggle. Then I put out the other.

They like me, they honestly like me (for those of you old enough, remember the Sally Fields speech? yeah..that one) and now, it’s 36 hours later…have I calmed down yet? Physically yes….after two double shifts and a single, a visit to the chiropractor and a hangover, not necessarily in that order, yes…I have. Mentally, however…the mind is still screaming SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! lol…I’m not kidding.

And instead of working hard this evening on a new book, what am I doing? Eating Gardetto’s and addressing Christmas cards.

I’ll save the panic for this weekend when I finally realize I need to write 3 chapters, polish another chapter, make 3 bracelets, a necklace and a pair of earrings and design an entire website by next Wednesday.

But for now….SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

=)

carrie

So, one day in April, shortly after my forty-seventh fortieth birthday, I decided I was going to be a romance writer. Over the years, I’ve heard tons of people (ok, mostly family…ok, mostly my mother) say I should be a writer. So, I decided that’s what I’m going to do. So I bought books. Read agents blogs and artists blogs. And bought books. Amazon loves me, this I know.

So, I wrote a book. 250+ pages of romance novel, in about 2 months. And then I started taking online classes. This is how Columbus must have felt when he sailed to the New World. Not so much wow, look at that huge land mass I’ve discovered – but HOLY SHIT!

So, in taking classes, I found out everything I did in my ms is ..well…wrong. I did head hopping, had no viable GMC, I was a pantser without a clue. I was proudly showing off my first chapter, and getting blasted back to the dirt. “What’s your heroines long term goal?” Say what? Umm..to have sex with the hero? Bzzzztttt! Wrong answer! “What’s your black moment?” Umm…when I first look in the mirror every morning? Bzzzttt!! Not only was I mistaken in how to write a novel, but I found that very few online class instructors have a sense of humor about such things as GMC’s.

So I learned. And I polished. And I turned my 250 page ms into a 17 page chapter. Huh. I have a blurb, I have a logline, I have a query – all for a book I no longer have written. Those other 223 pages? Gone with the wind. Oh, I might be able to salvage parts, but once I got technical with the story, turns out it’s weak. Flimsy. Unconflicted.

Crap.

So, with the help of instructors, classes, books and so on, I’ve now polished my first chapter. It’s beautiful. It has conflict, sexual eye contact, flowing hair.

But now, I have to move on to chapter TWO. It’s taken me technically 6 months to have a perfect chapter one…how on earth do I start chapter two? I no longer know where my story goes, who my characters are…I have to learn them all over again, re-invent their story and move on….to chapter two!

Does anyone have a chapter two class out there!???!

hellllpppp!

=)

carrie

I have been MIA. Has anyone noticed? anyone? Bueller?

Anyways, as they like to say, life gets in the way. For me, it isn’t so much life, as I don’t much have one, but work has gotten in the way. And that’s not all bad right? At least I have a job – or three or four as the case may be on any given day.

I’ve started making myself to-do lists. I find this is the only way I can remember to do everything I need to do. Old age isn’t all it’s cracked up to be eh? My current list looks like this:

Matt mat (remember to get Matt his new barmat)
Shawn ws (fix shawns website for launch next week)
Teri ws (done!)
pump (order a new well pump)
computer (buy a new computer)
purple jewelry (make a purple necklace and earrings)
Linda jewelry (fix a bracelet and make 2 more)
Lynda jewelry (fix a bracelet)
Cindy jewelry (put new clasps on old jewelry)
GMC (turn in homework for online class)
big mailbox (buy a bigger mailbox)

and so on and so forth. Now if i had a real life what would my list look like?

Cut down Christmas tree and set up in living room with sparkling lights and handmade ornaments
Make and decorate sugar cookies
Visit elderly in the hospital spreading good cheer
Do laundry (yes, EVERYONE has to do laundry)
Frolic with the cats
Watch White Christmas while wearing a Snuggly

so maybe I’m not all that unhappy at not having a real life after all. =)

see ya soon!

carrie