How is everyone?

Marissa D said:

All your shopping in one day...? Plus writing? Glad you're feeling better, but don't you overdo it either!

I love NOAA--they're my home page, in fact (I'm a bit of an earth science geek.) Looking forward to hearing what they say. Is your setting coastal or inland?

And survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2CLYKLZ

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I didn't have that much shopping to do. I had a list of what I wanted to get for the man, his daughter, and our fur children and new exactly where I needed to go. My kids are all getting money deposited in their accounts - my daughter is in China and anything I send to her will be quarantined for six weeks, so I'm putting together a care package I'll send out after the first of the year. Both my boys are working their way up in kitchen management and need money more than things. If they were coming home I'd put gifts under the tree, but since their work schedules won't allow it this year, money it is. And even though it feels less than Christmas-y, it is easier.
Neither of us has extended family and I already exchanged gifts with girlfriends earlier this month, so that was it.

As to NOAA, I know what you mean. I'm a marine science junky myself and I love weather. I work pretty closely with the local NOAA and National Marine Sanctuary folks here. WIP is set on a coastal island. In this instance, it made sense to "write what you know."

I completed the survey. If you're interested, I'll message you why I chose what I did. Not sure I'd be much help with social media, but I left my email address and will do whatever I can to help!

Jan74 said:

Mrs. S- wow I'm impressed doing all of that in one day. I did 95% of my shopping back in november, we always do a girls trip to the city and spend a few nights. I'm doing zero baking however, my sister and mother in law gave me baking so I'm covered, plus my daughter did some baking too.

Yay...my daughter arrived in town, she popped by for a visit. We won't see her tomorrow, but then she'll be here for Christmas supper. They always stay at her boyfriends when they come in since they are empty nesters and have a spare room. Tomorrow night we go to my hubby's families xmas eve celebrations, huge family so they'll be at 40+ people there. It's def chaos on a grand scale.

I can't focus on writing. I will return to it after the holidays. Hope everyone is doing ok.

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See above about shopping. It wasn't too bad. As to baking, I got a little realistic yesterday and knocked about half the stuff off my list. I'm going to make orange peel cookies that just taste like Christmas, Pillsbury choc chip cookies that you break apart and bake, and I picked up a box of gingerbread cake/cookie mix. Totally cheating, but without a houseful of people, who do you suppose would eat all that stuff if I made everything I'd planned to? lol.
Glad you're off the hook for that too. Your plans sound like fun! Enjoy!

Just realized: I write a lot of paranormal/shapeshifter romance, so "loco polecats" could work. I'll have to write them into a story now.

Going out to see Star Wars tomorrow. Enjoy the holidays, everyone!

Dang! Y'all make me feel like a real slacker. My Christmas was just hubby and me (his kids are down in Mass and can't be bothered to do more than Merry Christmas him on Facebook) and the buns. I got out my electric blankie, wrapped up on the sofa, and alternated watching Christmas movies with documentaries on Everest climbs (which fascinate the heck outta me). Oh, and I ate. And ate. And....ate. UGH.

I'm glad you're feeling better, Jan and Mrs.Smith! Congrats to CEtchison on your presidency - may your chapter flourish!

Marissa, LOVE "Between Silk and Sand"! And I do like loco polecats, Pterofan, even if just as a placeholder.

I've been off for 5 days, just coming back to work today and what a jolt that was. I mostly spent my time off finishing a little dollhouse that I'm selling on Craigslist, and working on the bigger Cape Cod vacation house I'm been laboring on for two flippin' years now. I almost finished the bathroom, just need to complete the shower, and then the roof goes on along with second floor electrical lighting. Roof and lighting will be done by my construction crew. Meaning my husband, poor man. I've already started bricking the fireplaces on my next project, my Nantucket B&B, and put in the kitchen floor. I'm easily bored and need to move from one thing to another or I fall into a coma.

Which has been my downfall when it comes to writing. On my time off, I didn't write a word. However, I did upload some scenes to my mental computer and will download them this evening. I write a lot in my head while I'm doing other things and let it percolate for a while. I've got to get cooking before the bloom goes off the rose and I start poking around in my back burner files again and sabotage myself!

Happy Holidays, everyone! Here's looking at 2018 when all our dreams will come true!

I bought a trilogy I had been eyeing up for awhile. The first book is called Bound for Hell, I loved it till mid book when the guy does things that no women in a new relationship would deem acceptable. I swear these controlling alpha males who treat these women like children aren't written by women. So what ends up happening mid book and turning me off completely is the man demands her phone and whenever she gets a call he checks it. I find this behavior infuriating and the fact she allows him to check her calls is even more infuriating. Its such a turn off! The minute the man treats his girlfriend like a child that's when I'm out.

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Seriously? Checking her phone? That's the kind of thing they list on domestic abuse posters in women's bathrooms. As in, if you've got some dude monitoring your personal calls, you're in trouble, sister. I'm afraid that if a man wanted to check my phone, he'd have to pull it out of his ass first.

Congrats on the e-reader! My husband bought me a Kindle years ago when I had to proctor exams once a year, which meant just sitting there all day for three days. I carried a big bag of paperbacks in with me just to retain my sanity. That Kindle was a blessing!

Yeah, controlling assholes don't do it for me either! Yikes!

I'm currently sitting near a gate at the airport in Hong Kong, waiting for my next flight which is going to L.A.. We're staying there for the night & then flying up to Spokane, and driving from there up to the Canadian border and crossing over. My bro lives in B.C. so we're spending a few weeks with them, then back to L.A. via Palm Springs to spend time with other family.

I'm tired, but excited...mostly about the next time I get to sleep properly. Naahhh really I'm mostly excited about heading for the snooooowwwww! (we don't get ANY snow, EVER, where I live, and we're heading from summer to winter which is always my favourite thing to do!)

I agree completely with the abusive behavior of some of the male characters and I have no patience for it anymore. I'll just stop reading.

Jan - congrats on your kindle! You can delete books from it, but damned if I can remember how. My kindle died and I got a tablet a while back instead and downloaded the kindle app. On that, I can press and hold the book image and it'll open a short menu with the option to remove the book from the device. But IIRC, you have to do it from Amazon or whatever source you downloaded the book from on a Kindle. I could be entirely wrong though. There is a way or you'd eventually run out of space. You'll figure it out!
I love, love, love Kindle Unlimited. It's the best $10 I spend every month. The man is a sports and news junkie and I'm not much on TV unless we've found a series we both like on Netflix, so most of our evenings are spent on the couch with him watching sports/news and me reading, with frequent pauses to chat. I can go through several books each week and there's no way I could afford to read that much otherwise. My only concern is if the authors are making any sort of royalty on their books that way. I feel a stab of guilt when I think about it, but I can't NOT read.

Our Christmas was good. Got to Facetime with my sons and texted with my daughter (who's in Beijing, Yoghurtelf, what were you doing over there?). The SO's daughter and her boyfriend came over and had dinner with us - she's a great kid and I enjoyed the time with her. Helps having her around since mine are so far away.
But I do need to vent for a minute. After two days of running a fever, I felt better when I woke up Friday, so spent all day getting gift shopping done and was wiped out when I got home. Saturday was out for about five hours getting groceries, stocking stuffers, booze, etc., then wrapping gifts, and baking. Sunday was house cleaning and laundry because it drives me crazy when things are cluttered and undone at the holidays. Christmas day I spent several hours cooking. Then that night, SO asked if I'd go to work with him the next day and help because he was going to be short-handed. The job entails standing on cement all day putting together orders. I didn't want to, but he so seldom asks me for anything and does so much to make my life easier, I felt obligated. By the time we got home Tuesday night, my hands and feet were swollen, I was getting muscle cramps in my legs and back, and I was beyond exhausted. I'd planned to spend the day relaxing, writing, and just enjoying the peace and quiet, but NO. I was so resentful that morning when we left the house that I spent most of the day mentally composing a rant to post here, knowing you'd all understand my selfish desire to work on my novel (while sitting on my tired ass). It helped and by the time we got home, I was over my mad and let it go. It helped that he thanked me repeatedly and rubbed my neck and shoulders. lol.

I've gotten caught up on rest since then and am ready to get started on magazine deadline, for the most part. But I had a great writing session this morning and I'm having trouble mustering up the desire to worry about what I'm going to use for a cover photo this month or care about the last couple articles I need to write. I'll get it done, and I truly do love what I do, but I'm struggling this morning to switch gears from fiction to non-fiction. Which is why I'm here procrastinating ...

Anyone doing anything special for New Years Eve?

Mrs.Smith, you have earned some good karma for helping your SO despite your desire to spend a day as you wished! That he was sweet and grateful is the frosting on the karma cupcake.

20 degrees below zero (Farenheit) this morning as I went to work. Bitter cold for the last week. I don't really mind too much. I could live in the Arctic and be happy, but lo! - there is much bitching and moaning all about me. My mother's ancestors retreated into their longhouses all winter, and spent the time telling stories. Which they didn't do the rest of the year. I see it as a time of rest, introspection, creativity, transformation, and indulging the imagination!

So, I'll be spending this New Year's weekend telling stories with my writing. All too soon the days will be long and hot and I'll want to lock myself in a closet until the autumnal equinox!

Thank you for letting me sound selfish and petulant and not judging me too harshly! I know it was the right thing to do and I felt bad later for not being more gracious about it.

As to the cold, it's been in the mid-40s here for the past few days. Compared to what y'all are dealing with that sounds downright balmy. But when you're used to 70s, it's a bit chilly! My home office is in the sunroom with floor to ceiling windows next to my desk and only a thin rug over the slate flooring. I'm currently wrapped in a blanket and have my feet shoved in the foot warmer the SO got me for Christmas (bless that man). I had a little portable heater but it stopped working last week and the only times I've remembered that I need to pick up a replacement is at the crack of dawn when I sit down to write. I don't envy you ladies up there in the frozen tundra though. I've been trying to figure out a way I can spend December 26 through March 15 on some warm tropical island, but have yet to pull it off. I'm definitely a summer person and of the opinion that hell has nothing to do with fire and everything to do with freezing. lol

Hope you've all gotten some writing done and that you have a wonderful time tonight and tomorrow! The man and I are going to cozy up on the couch with adult beverages and try to stay awake to watch the ball drop.

I'll second MerriTudor's wish that 2018 be the year that all of our dreams come true! Happy New Year, ladies!

Oh, forties sounds lovely right now (we've been hitting negative temps every night, even as close to the ocean as we are.)

I've been doing goal setting for the coming year with a group of writer friends on FB--the only rule is to set goals for things that are strictly in your control (so a goal like "selling my WIP to HarperCollins" or "signing with Donald Maass" isn't allowed. "Writing two books and two short stories this year" absolutely is.) Do you all have any goals you're striving for in the coming year?

Happy New Year's Day, everybody!

Finally got through that scene that's been holding everything up. A lot of the rest of it's already written, so my short-term goal is to finish this puppy and get it out the door by the end of the month. Then I'll go back to the other story and do the same thing. Maybe I'll aim for March to give myself a cushion.

Jan - enjoyed the movie. Wasn't in love with it, but liked it. Lots of action and explosions, so your boys should love it. Mark Hamill looked like he was having a good time as a crusty old Jedi. And Yoda made a guest appearance! That by itself made me smile.

It was 8 degrees when I woke up this morning. In this corner of Pennsylvania the traditional New Year's Day meal is pork and sauerkraut, to ensure good luck in the coming year. I've got the pork but can't stand sauerkraut, so I only get six months. Hope it's spread out and not all in a clump.

Hey everybody! How was your week last week?

I turned another year older last week. But my brother will always be older than me, so it's okay.

Happy belated birthday, Pterofan! And congrats Jan74 on the progress!

I'm still plugging along. The proposal for the next three American Valor books has been turned in but I'm not expecting much to come of it. So I'm full steam ahead on something else and having a total blast.

So... I guess that means I should quit procrastinating and get back to it. Have a great one, everybody!

Happy birthday Pterofan! Did you do anything special?

Jan74 - I'm right there with you. Should finish the first draft tomorrow or Monday. Got held up a day when I realized I needed to talk to a cop, but got his answers back last night and am ready to get the final scenes written. This morning I have to go to a homeowner's association meeting and raise hell, which will be a pain in the arse, but I'm more aggravated by the fact that it's interrupting my writing time! Good luck with you finish!!

Real world stuff here - I'm sick of being cold. SICK of it! I live in a subtropical climate for a reason and being cold isn't it!
I'm also waffling on whether I want to spend the money to go to a writer's conference in March. There will be six agents there from good agencies in NY, all of whom are accepting women's fiction. But I had to buy a new (to me) vehicle two months ago and we now have to replace the septic system drain field (nearly $4K). It seems risky to spend money on a conference and pitch session on a CHANCE that I might get asked for pages, when I could query agents the old fashioned way and spend nothing. But that scares me too. Should I bite the bullet and spend the money? When all is said and done with conference costs, pitch session fees, hotel for two nights, gas, food. It's going to run close to $600. While not a huge amount of money, it's a chunk when you're self-employed and have other huge expenses to deal with. Can I justify it?

Jan74 said:

Mrs. Smith- I'm not sure about spending the money, I think you have to go with your gut on that one. Congrats on almost being done....I've tweaking a few of my last written chapters so I'm essentially stalling the ending deciding HOW I want this to end. It's hard tossing the "is this realistic" stuff and just going for it.

I think where I'm struggling is...do I write a squeal or tie it all up neatly in an epilogue. Do I have to have the sequal written before publishing the first one? To me I would like to have it done but that would be another year and I don't know if I have enough to make a sequal. Ughhhhh....so my ending is stalled since I have no idea if I want a part 2 or not. Meanwhile my brain is slowly moving onto other works which tells me that I should tidy this one up and squash the sequal and do an epilogue and move on. aghhhhhhhh!

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It sounds like you've made your decision. I'd say if you're not chomping at the bit to write part 2, that's your answer. Though you could still write your current ending in a way that leaves it open if you ever do decide to write a sequel. Close this one out, but don't close any doors that would need to be opened later. But trust your gut.
Hmmm. I didn't mean that to sound like a "pot meet kettle" thing. lol. You're right, I need to trust mine too. At this point, I'm going to have to say it doesn't make a lot of sense, financially. If I increase sales with the magazine like I hope to and there are still seats available at the conference (and agent slots) when it gets a little closer, then I'll go. If not, then it wasn't in the cards. So a little trusting the gut and trusting Karma.

I missed this place so much when it was down! Even though I'm a newbie, I've come to look forward to spending a few minutes here when I'm done writing each morning. So glad it's back up!

MarissaD - the weather here has been ridiculous. Three week ago it was in the low 20s and we got snow for the first time in almost 30 years. It took a week to go away because it didn't get above 40. Then Monday, I was out tromping around in the marsh and on the beach (looking for rattlesnakes and bobcat paw prints) and broke a light sweat because it was 74 degrees out! This morning it was 37 when I sat down to write and the high today is only supposed to be 55, but supposed to be in the high 60s for the rest of the weekend. Crazy.

Where is everyone? Happily writing I hope

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Getting my lurk on (I'm doing the Thriller dance, you just can't see me).

I don't have much going on by way of Romance, other than that I'm trying to make a burnt cinnamon roll out of my hero. The recipe calls for at least 900 degrees and 80,000 more words. I'll let you know how he turns out. Maybe I'll post a piece of him and we can all have a bite.

Glad the writing is going well!

Jan74 said:

So in conclusion this will be a stand alone novel with a few epilogues at the end. Who knew you could write more than one epilogue? I didn't....but recently I read a book where the author had 3 epilogues....I love epilogues, the more the merrier.

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Three epilogues!? What book was this? Seems like overkill to me, but I know sometimes as I fan I've begged for a satisfying epilogue, haha!

As for me, I am still diligently outlining my newest project. I have the habit of telling myself I'll figure out certain details later, but it always bites me in the butt during revisions. NOT THIS TIME! I've gone full nerd. I have a spreadsheet and a separate Word outline where I put more details. I'm sure I won't think of everything, but my Excel spreadsheet should make it easier to move things around and keep it straight without having to reread the whole book. I hope.