HOW Romance Contest Finalist!

While working on WIP - CANDACE, I received an email stating I am a finalist in the HOW Romance contest YA category! RAE scored an 86 and 94! (that's out of 100)  I am beside myself! Now RAE is being judged by a Lit Agent from NYC! They are announcing the winners at their Conference in UT on October 6th. I'm not going so I won't find out until after that date. Wonder if I will still have any nails left by that time?

WIP CANDACE'S CHOICE

I have a new WIP thanks to Candace that has been keeping me pretty busy as of late. My working title is Candace's Choice. I am so excited about this WIP because I feel so close to my characters and what I find funny is that I've only been with them for such a short while unlike WIP - Rae. These characters just magically came alive. I only knew the minimum about them, age, looks and what has made them who they are. After two weeks, I had over 280 hand written pages. Took me a little longer to finish it off because I took a few days break and then I didnt make myself write 20 pages EVERYDAY. I hand wrote 343 (going back and typing some along the way with my hubby's help) and then the end of the book I wrote on a Sunday so I sat down and typed 17 pages. Wow! Now I have to go back and type pages 279-343. Wish me luck! And then comes the editing. UGH!

Candace Havens' One day workshop.

I'm amazed! Candace stuffed so much new information in my brain in one eight hour day than I know what to do with! Good thing I took notes! HA-HA! She taught me that there are a lot of ways to plot my story before I begin, such as a synopsis, scene wish list, guide posts and six stage plot structure, which includes opprotunity, intising incident, point of no return, all is lost, climax and resolution.
She reminded me that I we have to give our hero what they need and not what they want. That reminds me, when I wrote my first novel my heroine had the chioce of two boys, the one she knew her whole life or the new boy. I like both boys, but now I know why I picked the boy I did.
Candace's workshop however, was about FAST DRAFT in TWO WEEKS. No whining, no excuses, unless you are dead or in a coma. The hardest thing to learn and perfect, if we can ever actually do that, is to turn off our internal editor. This means no going back, no looking for the perfect word, no spell check. Then let your story rest, do the research you need for editing, then enter EDITING HELL in TWO WEEKS.
If you are a writer, I highly recommend this course.  Desk clean, distractions eliminated, pens up, get writing.

The Emotions Thesaurus

Several years back, I purchased a book on body language in hopes it would help give my characters emotions without me 'telling'.  Needless to say, the book didn't not help me much, at least not in the way I wanted it too.  The book talked more about power plays, stand during the meeting, have your enemy sit with their back to the door, etc., how to tell if someone is available and interested in you and more.

With the book recommended by my writer's group, THE EMOTIONS THESAURUS, I can hit the trifecta in expressing a character's mood or behavior with physical signals, internal sensations, and mental responses.

Take for example:

Sam made Jacob mad.  He knew he was lying.

or

Jacob loosened his collar.  Being careful not to say what he really wanted to, he bite those words back.  He knew Sam had kissed MaryBeth but he wouldn't get him to admit it like this.

The book even gives you cues on long-tem effects of the emotion, such as anger and what other emotion it may escalate to, like rage.  They even give you examples of suppressed anger. 

I give this book the thumbs up!

You can buy the book on Amazon for $4.99.

First Publisher Interest

I came home from work Monday evening and found my husband in the kitchen going through the mail.  He looks at me with the most seriousness I've seen in a while and says, "You're in big trouble, Missy."  In his outreached hand, was postcard.  I knew then I didn't go over my Kohl's limit so it must be a postcard that I slipped in with my manuscripts that I mailed out the beginning of June. 

So, I'm excited someone opened my manuscript.  But then, I flipped over the card.  Not only did I see my handwriting, but there is red ink all over it!  They wrote me a note!  I begin reading it, to my joy the editor not only said she was intrigued by my story but wanted to see more!  I was so excited!  I didn't know what to do with myself.  So, like an other rationale adult female, I ran around the inside of my house happily screaming with my dog, Birdy, running and barking with me.

A new cartridge of ink ($38), postage ($9.20), the knowledge that someone in the publishing field thought my first chapter and query letter were intriguing, PRICELESS!