okay, I've been bad.

I havn't posted in a WEEK! AAAAAAA!!!! but I assure you everything is most ly fine. I have been in a pain fog with tendonitis with my knee this whole week and i've been focused on that. Hopefully by Monday I will be feeling better. :) Sorry guys.

Okay here it is. . .

My follower contest. I want more followers and I know how to get them, give something away for free!

I will choose one follower from everyone on my follower list and they will recieve a signed ARC of "Devils Food Cake" a cosy Mystery from Josi Killpack. I will as of today also give a second prezzie as yet to be determined to those who sign on as of today or later. I will close the contest on my anniversary February Seventh. So tell your friends (or not!) lol, and get in line for some free stuff.

I am traveling. . .

To Christine Bryant's blog tomorrow. She offered a space for a guest blog. So I jumped at it. Go see me tomorrow as I wander through the world wide web.

BTW, I am going to be starting a followers contest (inc. the ones that were the trend setters and followed me without me begging.) Stay tuned on either Saturday or Monday for the details. The winner gets a signed copy of "Devils Food Cake" a cosy mystery by Josi Kilpack.

Editor Moment. . . . . Following Through On Your Plot Promises

Another thing I have learned through the editing process is that if and when you promise your reader something, which is called a plot promise, you better show them that thing you promised.

For example, throughout the first three chapters my MC is talking about taking his wife to Tahiti. The next chapter I mention that they went and had a good time. My editor didnt like this. They wanted me to write the scene. I admit I was just being lazy and didn't want to write it so I didn't. When my editor asked me to write it, I did as they asked and found that not only did the scene turn out really awesome but it actually became my plot point #1 when I shifted the focus of the book from one plotline to another.

Another example is later in the book the MC meets up with a friend and the editor didnt know who it was. What I didn't realize is the chapter where I introdouce the friends is one of the chapters that I cut before my editor ever saw the MS. I will go back in a previous chapter and (re) introdouce them so the reader knows who they are.

The point of this post is this, If you are going to talk about something especially more than once you better include it in the story because you have piqued the readers interest and they want to "see" it.

Think about it. If Harry Potter had a twin sister and she was only mentioned a few times in the first book and then disappeared. You, the reader, would want to know what happened with her in the other six books.

When you include something of importance is a good idea to write it down. Even if it's a Post-It-Note on your forehead. I write all over my plot notes, or leave myself notes somewhere on my MS or computer, at least it keeps me almost allways on the mark. Reread your finished MS with plot promises in mind, and let others who arent as familliar with the story read it. They will be able to see things you can't see by being farther away from the story than you are.

Sunday Quote

One needs something to believe in, something for which one can have whole-hearted enthusiasm. One needs to feel that one's life has meaning, that one is needed in this world. ~Hanna Senesh Quoted in "Noble Purpose" by William Damon

Blog Maintainence Note. . .

I have added a playlist to this blog. This is the "soundtrack" to Emergence. The music I listen to as I write. It's on the sidebar and you have to click on it to play the music. (I don't like blogs that automatically play music.)

I will say some of it is hard music and if that isn't your style then you don't have to click on it. If your curious, I encourage you to listen.

Songs of note: Lean On Me by Limp Bizkit (not what you think) is particularly relevant "theme song" to Emergence. What I've Done by Linkin Park is the "theme song" for Latent, book #2. Dress by Buck Tic (Japanese music) is the song I just love to sit in my chair and write to.

Hope you enjoy.

If I Am A Writer. . .

Then why can't I write a romance?

I write science fiction. I love to sit down at my laptop and just let the words flow about my MC and his family. In fact what was once a two book "set" is now both a four book series and a three book trilogy with at least one companion book. They flow from my brain as if i opened a little door on my forehead.

When I started this whole mess I actually wrote a fantasy with some romance in it as my first book. I love the book and while it needs work, (don't all first books need work?) I will revisit the world of Amalathea again sometime, maybe even turn it into a series too. There are some characters in that story that I would love to explore thier lives.

It was actually the third book I wrote, "Dominion Day" that had shoved its way to the forefront of my brain PAST the safety glass and demanded that I tell its story first. So there I stand, Emergence is being edited as I type this and I am just waiting to finish it so I can re-submit it to the publisher I really desire. Then I have the rough of Latent #2 going through my crit group right now and books 3 and 4 plotted out waiting for that month of massive motivation so I can write them. I am also waiting a little to see how the big bad guy develops in book #1 because they are more prominent in books 3 and 4.

So if the sci/fi comes so easily to me and I have some awesome ideas for two romances, why can't I write them? What is it about romance VS sci/fi or fantasy for that matter that makes my brain literally shut off? My sci/fi and fantasy have romance, I am the queen, my readers tell me, at putting two characters together and having them fall in love. If I can do that surely I can write a simple boy meets girl fall in love romance. Right?

Except my romances aren't typical. One deals with Post Partum Phychosis and the after effects of that depression and a suicide attempt. The other deals with excaping an abusive marriage and finally fulfilling their dreams. Hmmmmmmmmm...... Perhaps that is why. Maybe the simple boy meets girl would be easier.

A Sunday quote. . .

Many persons have the wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.
~Helen Keller

Editor Moment. . . . . Repetitive words

I have been working with an awesome nameless editor for months now as I work on my manuscript. My freind at 700blankpages suggested to me that I should tell all of you what I am learning as I edit my book.

So from now on as I have a spare moment or a profound lesson, I will post them here under the title Editor Moment.

So now for the first lesson I learned from my editor. Word repetition.

In my third chapter I sent my main characters to a wedding. While the image of this huge luxury home in my head was amazing and lavishly decorated, it was hard to describe. I saw pale wood floors and dark wood furniture and banisters. Every surface was covered with white flowers candles tuelle and pictures of the happy couple. The smell of the home was also something I wanted to describe, heady with flower smells.

Going back to the chapter in editing mode, I found that when I had an object or image on my mind, I tend to repeat it. For example, in one paragraph I had the word FLOWER over six times. So in editing I had to rewrite the entire description so I did not have as many repetitive words.

I have found as I have worked through the chapters that my tendency to see repeat words has increased, and my tendency to repeat words in rough draft drastically diminished.

Just for my writer friends

I have a few posts to give you but I saw this and knew you guys had to see it. Tomorrow, or later today I will start a new series of posts. Meanwhile, Enjoy.

Reflections and goals

So today is it, the first day of the new year. Not only that, it is the first day a new decade. And while I tend not to be too introspective on my life or blog, I felt the time was right to do just a little.

While I tend not to be vocal with my goals and aspirations, I did, at the begining of 2009, make two goals for myself. One was to get my green belt in Tang Soo Do. Along side that goal was a general get more healthy. The second goal was to make signifigant progress as a writer.

As I sit back and reflect I am happy with this last years progress. I earned my green stripe on December 23 one belt higher then my goal and lost 60 pounds in the process. I actually broke a board doing a jump front kick, something that the thought actually gave me nightmares the few days before the belt ceremony. (If you know what I look like you know that is an amazing feat.)

2009 was also a banner year for me writing wise, I created one writing group, and helped facilitate another, I won an awesome three chapter review from the editor at Covenant. I atended LTUE and had an awesome experience especially when I shared my elevator pitch with a book blurb class. Last year at the LDStorymakers conference I recieved 2 MS requests. One from a ten page review and one from that elevator pitch.
I submitted to the publisher that just feels like the perfect match for me and was asked to revise and resubmit. I have an awesome friend that has offered to help me revise this MS so I can resubmit it. And for both of us the end is near we think. I am working on that now. I have made amazing friends and just had a general blast as I have written my way through this year.

Granted it hasn't been easy, there have been more then a handfull of days where I have just about given up as the adversary has tried to convince me that I am not a writer and that I will never reach my goal of being published. But all in all it has been a blessed year. Interesting, there has hardly been a day I didn't want to go to Karate tho, I love the class and what I am learning, I have even been sick on the couch and lamented that I couldn't go to Karate. Funny huh?

So this year is more of the same, I want to get to my red belt or red stripe by the end of the year, and I want to get that contract for my MS this year. I am also making a goal to write every day, I have fallen out of that habit and miss the intense, intimate work of just putting words on a page. I want to be healthy, and to continue to love my family and raise them in the right way, but that goal is usually unstated and is worked on daily without acknowledgement.