December 2nd, 2005
Thanks, everyone, for your kind words about my books. I finally finished A TASTE OF DARKNESS, and now I’m working on my novella for the July anthology, SURF’S UP, with MaryJanice Davidson and Janelle Denison. It’s tentatively titled, “Hot Summer Bites.” And no, it’s not about two mosquitoes who fall in love.
Michele, I loved your catnip story. And thanks Megan and Gabby for your suggestions on how to keep Abby from clawing everything. Believe me, I’ll try them all. Do they have a commercial catnip spray? Please tell me she’ll mature and grow out of this phase.
Robin, I finally finished my week of jury duty. They chose me to sit on a jury that heard a very ugly case. I won’t talk about it, but I definitely never want to do that again. And as for calling some kick-butt heroines “abrasive,” that was the perfect word to describe them.
I don’t know if I mentioned this already (I’m too lazy to check), but I’m treating myself to a digital camera for Christmas. I bought a magazine that gave info on all the cameras out there, and now I’m more confused than ever. I need something that takes good pictures but isn’t too hard to operate. I want it to be small enough to carry around in my purse. I want to get it now so that I’ll know how to use it next year when I go to Ireland.
What do you guys think about writing in first person? Some of my favorite authors do it (Janet Evanovich, MaryJanice Davidson, Charlaine Harris, etc.). And now, two of the members of my critique group have sold vampire series written in first person (Kimberly Raye and Gerry Barlett). I’ve thought about trying it, but I don’t know if I want to take the chance when readers have gotten used to me writing in third person. Hmm, just a thought.
November 28th, 2005
Hey, Michele, I always enjoy your posts. Abby is hardheaded. It doesn’t matter how many times I squirt her for clawing a certain piece of furniture, she always goes back to the same spot. I think it’s become a game for her.
I had jury duty today, and I have to go back tomorrow. I’ll have to hit the sack earlier than normal for me. So this will be a short rant.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m in favor of kick-butt heroines. But sometimes the heroine is so tough that I don’t like her anymore. I want my heroines to be smart and able to take care of themselves, but I don’t necessarily want them to leap tall buildings at a single bound while emasculating every male in sight. In a few books I’ve read, the heroine has been a complete witch to the hero, and he takes it while letting us know how much he loves her. Why? I couldn’t imagine any man wanting to be around this woman. Okay, rant finished. That said, I have to admit that I wish I could spot my own blunders more easily. It’s hard to distance yourself from your own work.
November 25th, 2005
I went to Charlaine Harris’s site yesterday and read the first chapter of her new Sookie Stackhouse book, DEFINITELY DEAD. It won’t be out until May. Ack! How can I wait? It seems like everyone has a book out in May. I belong to the West Houston RWA chapter, and six members have May books. Hmm, does that have some deep cosmic meaning?
I haven’t been doing much reading lately because of deadlines, but I just finished DARK LOVER by J. R. Ward and loved it. I know some people say the market is getting glutted with vampire romances, but I don’t see it. Considering how many romances are published each month, vampire romances make up a very small percentage of the whole. I’d love to see a lot more on the shelves, but that’s just me.
A little more about my trip to New Jersey (I’ll sprinkle in a few tidbits with each post). Barbara and I talked for hours about the good old days in Ireland. We only lived there for a few years, but it was hands down the most exciting years of my life. She’d put the music we’d taped in the Dublin folk clubs on CDs, and we listened to those over and over. I really want to get back to the music. I’ve been promising myself that I’d sign up for guitar lessons because I haven’t touched a guitar in so many years. Well, I’m really going to do it. I’ve missed the music, but life just got in the way.
Oh, and I went in search of the Jersey Devil while I was in Jersey. Since I’ll be doing a few more books set at the Woo Woo Inn, I decided I needed to refresh my memory of what the Pine Barrens looked like. Barbara drove me to Leeds Point, but I was really disappointed to find that the Leeds house (legendary birthplace of the Jersey Devil) was in the woods somewhere. There were no historical markers, no guided nightly tours of the woods, and no crass commercialism. I didn’t find one Jersey Devil postcard or cheesy souvenir. What a letdown. I did have Barbara take my picture standing under the Leeds Point sign. And the lady in the small post office there gave me the name and phone number of a local man who’s done years of research on the Devil. So if I decide to bring the Devil back in a future book, I won’t have to do any research.
Guess I’ll shut it down for the night because Abby is trying to dig her way into the room. Yes, she loves digging in the carpet. Grr. At first I thought she wanted to reach me, but now I think she just smells fresh unchewed phone cords (see yesterday’s post).
November 24th, 2005
Did everyone have a great Thanksgiving? I sure hope so. Now it’s on to the rest of the winter holidays. And no, I don’t have any shopping done, and no, I won’t be doing it next week. Next week I have jury duty. Oh, the joy of it.
Abby, better known as Wicked Kitty, is doing well. She survived ten days in boarding while I went to New Jersey. Or maybe I should say that they survived her. I’ve been trying to break her of chewing cords. I was surprised to find that the boarding facility still had phone service. Abby favors phone cords. They’re thin and she can chomp right through them. I’m now wrapping all cords in two different kinds of electrical tape and then coating them with Tabasco sauce. Yummy. If that doesn’t work, I bought some flexible tubing to protect my phone cords. Overkill, you say? Ha, you haven’t seen my cords. Only the fact that she’s a real sweetheart has saved her. Someone said that she was bored and that I should either get another cat to keep her company or buy lots of kitty toys. I went shopping and cleaned Petsmart out of kitty toys. We’ll see.
Yes, I know, I know, I have to update my site. I’ll try to get to that next week. Oh by the way, my server ate some of the e-mail messages I was keeping current until I could answer them. If you don’t hear from me in another two weeks, please write again. I apologize. I should have a better system for answering e-mail.
Hmm, I just realized that I’ve done nothing but whine. Okay, so here is something positive. I had a wonderful time in New Jersey. If you remember, I was going to my class reunion. Well, it was quite an eye-opener. I’ll tell you about it next time. I stayed with my friend Barbara. We met in freshman year of high school and have been friends ever since then. I haven’t seen her in twenty years. We had a great time talking about old times. Sigh. More about my New Jersey trip later.
I hope everyone has been keeping busy. What’s been going on in your life? 
October 29th, 2005
I’ll try to get back in the saddle by writing a few short paragraphs each day. Hope it works.
What’s been happening? I have three days to finish a book. Hmm. On to the next subject. I had to evacuate for Rita. Hated it, hated it, hated it. A three and a half hour drive took twelve hours. Twelve hours without a restroom break, I might add. The good part was that I live on the water near Galveston, and we missed Rita’s wrath. I feel badly for all those devastated by Rita and Katrina. What an awful hurricane season.
I’ll be in New Jersey from November 3 to 13. High school reunion and a visit with a best friend. I can’t do much about the body, but I will have good hair and makeup. That should count for something. I’ve been away for almost twenty-five years, so I’ll have fun visiting all my old haunts. I love nostalgic trips.
I promised Michele many many weeks ago that I’d talk about my critique group. There are four of us who’ve been together for almost fifteen years. When we started, only one was published. Now all of us have sold books. Kimberly Groff writes as Kimberly Raye. She moved to the Texas Hill Country, but we still talk every day about writing. Kim just sold a funny vampire series to Ballantine. Gerry Bartlett, who wrote under a pseudonym for Dorchester and Kensington, will use her own name for a funny vampire series she just sold to Berkley. Do we see a pattern forming here? Donna Maloy wrote for Kensington and Harlequin.
Several other members of the group have come and gone. We’ve learned that it helps if all the members of the group are close to each other in writing experience. When we first started, we spent a lot of time marking grammar and spelling mistakes. Words like “was” were viciously stricken from each others’ manuscripts. As we matured as writers, we spent most of our time discussing things like overall feelings, pacing, conflict, and motivation. We were never easy on each other. I remember coming home in tears because the group hadn’t loved my “baby.” But tough love got us all published. And we’ve been an incredible support system for each other. A critique group is wonderful with the right mix of people. And you have to be willing to accept criticism of your work and grow as a writer. You also must not allow yourself to be gobbled up by the group. Even today, I’ll look at the group’s suggestions and decide if they work for me. Most of the time they’re on target, but once in a while I choose to ignore them.
We still try to meet once a week at a restaurant. We exchange chapters, take them home, read and critique them, and then discuss them at the next meeting. We’ve become close friends over the years. I don’t know if I’d have hung in through all the years of trying to sell my first book without them. For me, joining the critique group was one of the best decisions of my life.
If anyone has questions about the group, please ask.
