Author: Cindy

I'm irritated because my posts won't publish.

Wanna Sweat?

First, CONGRATULATIONS to my buddy and two-time Golden Heart finalist, Avery Beck, who just sold her first book to Samhain Publishing! Way to go, Avery. I’m so proud of you!

I’m sure Avery didn’t accomplish her wonderful achievement without losing a bit of sweat (note the clever segue to my previously scheduled blog post?)…

Not cut out for NaNoWriMo? Want to suffer for 70 days instead of one wimpy month? Check out The Seventy Days of Sweat Writing Challenge. Round 4 starts November 10th. Ends January 26th. In the ’09.

No, I’m not sweating with Sven. But I do like the concept of Seventy Days of Sweat better than NaNoWriMo. For NaNo, you’re supposed to just write, write, write. Write whatever dreck comes into your head. Yes, you’re allowed to plan out your novel beforehand, but the idea is to pound 50,000 words of whatever comes out of your fingers and then fix it later.

I’ve participated in NaNoWriMo, and I guess it’s great for first-draft writers. But those of us who edit, revise and polish as we go along? How are we supposed to plan out our NaNo manuscript beforehand and then just write, write, write when we need to plan AS we’re writing?

That’s my excuse, anyway. (Hmmm, what’s Avery’s?)

For Seventy Days of Sweat, the word length goal is between 60,000 – 100,000. MUCH more manageable, IMNSHO. Were I participating, I would be much more likely to succeed. So why not participate? Because. That should be enough explanation for you, my lovelies!

I might participate in the next round of 70 Days. For now, I know what I’m up against in various facets of my life over the next couple of months, and I also know I have less than 60,000 words to write on the WIP, so I’d be participating under false pretenses. I really know that once I’m finished the WIP, I’ll need a break. I call it December. Or at least 2 weeks at Christmas. And I plan to enjoy it.

Not to mention that my birthday falls during the current challenge. What sort of fool wants to sweat on her birthday?

If you want to sweat, you can sign up here. Then drop into my blog every once in a while and brag. I want to hear your achievements!

And, once again, CONGRATULATIONS Avery Beck!!!

Welcome Guest Blogger Mary J. Forbes

ESCAPING TO…WHERE?

The other day one of my kids asked what I wanted for Christmas this year. My response?  “I want the chance to escape.”

A beat of silence followed. “Escape?” she asked cautiously. “You mean you don’t want to celebrate Christmas this year?”

“Of course I want to celebrate Christmas,” I clarified and smiled at her frown. “What I mean is I’d like you to get me a book.”

“Oh!” The frown vanished. “Well, that’s easy. You want a romance, right?”

My daughter knows me well.  

I love reading romances. Contemporary, historical, women’s fiction, suspense, long, short—the list is endless. If there’s a romantic side to the story—a strong, savvy heroine and a man she can count on—I’m there.

I love the “escapism” of reading about relationships between men and women. Whether the story takes place in today’s world or in the 15th century, the same innate guidelines of attraction follow. There’s the little frisson of excitement the moment that “chemistry” is present. Then there’s the need to explore a friendship or reunion. And finally, the intimacy.

But that’s not why I read—and write—romance.  It’s the relationship that tugs me into the story, the journey the hero and heroine go through together to resolve the difficulties in their present day life in order to eventually find love and happiness. 

I want to laugh with them as they travel this journey. I want to cry and sigh and know that, no matter how rough their waters, they will reach dry ground where the promise of a better future awaits.

Relationship stories are all about characterization, emotion and heart. The heart of the characters and that of the reader. These are the stories that tell a truth between men and women—that love can happen, no matter how bad the past or what demons chase the characters. That a man will do anything and everything to protect his woman, and that she will be his “soft place to fall.” Of course, in real life this isn’t always the case. Simply reading the stats on the divorce rate these days is a clue. Yet, I’d like to think there are real relationships out there in which couples have overcome the odds and found that forever kind of love—just as a hero and heroine do on the printed page.

And, perhaps, in that way it isn’t escapism at all. It’s hope. Hope that somewhere someone is finding their true blue happiness—right now.

***

As Cindy mentioned in yesterday’s post, I’m giving away the first 2 books of my current miniseries, “Home To Firewood Island.”  But before I do, I’d love to hear what endears you to certain books…

To learn more about Mary and her books, please visit her website.

Mary J. Forbes Blogging Tomorrow!

Tomorrow I welcome my first ever guest blogger. I’m please to announce that Silhouette Special Edition author Mary J. Forbes is blogging on Escapism in Romance—and will give away Books 1 and 2 of her “Home to Firewood Island” trilogy to one lucky commenter. Both HER SECRET CHILD (Book 1, May 2008) and AND BABY MAKES FOUR (Book 2, November 2008) have received  4.5 Star Ratings from Romantic Times.

Back cover copy for AND BABY MAKES FOUR:

She never imagined that an unexpected pregnancy—or handsome new passenger—would push her carefully mapped-out plans wildly off course! But charter pilot Lee Tait had to focus on her business—and she couldn’t bear the thought of getting hurt again. She and her baby would be just fine on their own.

As soon as widowed single dad Rogan Matteo met vivacious Lee, he felt the pieces of his shattered heart begin to mend. Now all he had to do was convince the beautiful pilot that some risks in life were worth taking…

About Mary:

Mary J. Forbes writes poignant and emotional stories for Silhouette Books. She has been on the Waldenbooks Best Sellers list, won the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, the Holt Medallion and Laurel Wreath Award, as well as finaled in the Aspen Gold and Golden Quill.  Mary was also interviewed in last September’s issue of the Romantic Times about the NFL hero of her book, THEIR SECRET CHILD (May 08), the first of her “Home To Firewood Island” min-iseries.  The 2nd installment of the series, AND BABY MAKES FOUR, is available in stores and online.

—

Hope to “see” you there!

Check out the Guest Bloggers box in my sidebar (under the Blogroll links and just above the Calendar) for  the current schedule of upcoming guest bloggers.

If you’re an author who would like to guest blog on Muse Interrupted, please contact me for available dates and information.

Monday Musings

Welcome to my first post of November! What makes this day even more special? It’s my first ever first post of November! What would have made it even MORE special? If I’d posted my first ever first day of November post on November 1st! But I didn’t. So I guess this day isn’t as special as I’d thought. And here I got all excited for nothing. Hmph.

I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween weekend. Did you attend any parties? Kid or grown-up? Accompany kidlets trick-or-treating?

I had an eventful week in my writing world last week that reminded me what a front-car-of-the-rollercoaster experience writing and publishing can feel like. I received one bad piece of news followed by three good pieces of news.

Early in the week, I received a rejection from an Industry Professional I was eager to connect with (note how I am not admitting in public if the I.P. was an editor or agent? This is to keep I.P.s who might read my blog guessing/in the dark/curious/scrambling to snatch me up—snarf!). The rejection hit me a little harder than usual, not so much for the rejection itself, I realized later, but because of an Act of Ungracious Behavior on the part of someone from whom I’d expected better. Yes, life is strange when someone else’s reaction to your rejection hits you harder than the rejection…but no one ever said writers weren’t neurotic (honestly, NO ONE has ever said that, and if they have, they should be shot).

Thank God for the good news. And guess what? The first piece of good news was the rejection itself. I realized when I read the rejection what an excellent rejection it was. Personalized, specific, basically saying only good things about my writing followed by a comment about worries about the tight market. And it was very, very bad of Moi to allow the Act of Ungracious Behavior to overshadow that.

The publishing gods must have decided to take pity on me and force me to get over my bout of blues, because the next day I received my second piece of validating news—a thank you note from an unpublished writer I’d judged in a contest. What a smile it brought to my face. To hear that the writer greatly appreciated my comments and input, to hear that I’d mentioned points she felt she should have caught herself, to hear that my critique was the best she’d ever received from a contest judge…okay, maybe she wrote the same note to all her judges, but I don’t think so, and I don’t care. I needed that. Thank you, contest entrant. Honestly, unpublished writers out there who enter contests, yes, we judges need our thank you’s!

Number three good news came the day following the thank you note—a manuscript request from another Industry Professional I’m just as eager to connect with (I’m not playing favorites at this point, Moi, and, even if I were, I wouldn’t announce it here). So I had to put aside the writing of the Work in Progress to feel great, re-read the requested material yet again, and submit it. No matter what happens with this submission, I needed the request to come when it did. I needed the thank you note. And I needed the wonderful compliments in the <insert bad word that starts with a R that should not be spoken aloud> letter.

I think there’s a lesson in there somewhere…

Halloween Costumes, Part II

There’s such a thing as getting too creative… (Funny, I’ve been told this by editors, too).

First up, The Halloween Costume No One Can Guess:

Pond Scum!

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Steal husband’s pair of baby blue one-piece long johns in comfy waffle-print cotton. Do this completely ignorant of the fact that it will cost $100 to replace them.
  2. Tie-dye long johns in shades of moss green and puke yellow.
  3. Cut old pillowcase into strips and also dye in shades of scum green and scuzz yellow. Sew these “weeds” all over your long johns so that they flutter when you walk.
  4. Smear face with dirt and draw vines and weeds on your temples with liquid eyeliner.
  5. Wear spider or other insect earrings. Glue little plastic bugs all over your costume.
  6. Attach more plastic weeds to head using barrette.
  7. Assure guests that YOU ARE NOT MOTHER EARTH!! YOU ARE POND SCUM!! POND SCUM! Can no one get it?
  8. Remind self to invite smarter guests to next party.

Second up, even if your child begs and begs and begs, unless he’s a strapping 15-year-old with Incredible Hulk-like muscles, do not ever ever create the following costume: 

 

Robot Boy!

INSTRUCTIONS (For Those Who Do Not Follow Warnings):

  1. Allow child to destroy old computer. Allow child to pick out which pieces of computer he wants glued onto his costume. Do not ever think of advising child to choose pieces other than those he desires with his oh-so-cute widdle heart.
  2. Promise child that should a device call a Blog ever be invented you shall not admit if he is Eldest or Youngest on said blog.
  3. Buy gray vinyl and and cut hole for his cuteness head, creating a poncho that can fit over even the heaviest snow suit. HINT: Vinyl for kids’ Halloween costumes is my Best Kept Secret (regarding Halloween). I’ve created homemade Batman and Ninja Turtle costumes using vinyl on which you can then draw muscles, etc. Vinyl makes a great shell for a turtle, on which you can draw the turtle shell lines, and then add a fabric front in yellow, all stuffed with newspapers for padding. You want pictures and detailed instructions? Come back next year.
  4. Glue computer parts onto poncho with Shoe Goo. (Shoe Goo can be found in your workshop, if you have a forester for a husband. If you can not find Shoe Goo in your workshop, divorce current husband and marry a forester OR go to nearest workwear store or maybe hardware store and insist on Shoe Goo and no other!) HINT: If you’re too lazy to follow my instructions, find some other glue, but it must be thick and gooey and capable of holding heavy computer parts on vinyl.
  5. Cover child’s face with silver makeup.
  6. Create hat out of cardboard and tin foil. Attach over toque with torn-up pillowcase strips for ties. (Sure, you can use fabric other than old pillowcases, but why bother when fifty million old pillowcases are falling out of your linen closet?) HINT: Pillowcases make excellent Trick or Treating bags.
  7. Very quickly clean every last trace of silver makeup off child’s face once you REALIZE HE’S ALLERGIC TO IT!!
  8. Take child Trick or Treating for maybe 10 houses, because the costume is too freaking heavy and he can barely move his widdle tiny legs.

What Halloween costumes would you not recommend?

Happy Halloween tomorrow everyone! (I’m taking the day off to carve pumpkins). Stay safe and guard your children. Eat their candy to test for danger. Tell them it’s in their best interests. Don’t blame me if they don’t believe you.

Halloween Costumes I Have Been

I used to be known as quite the Halloween costume designer—and Halloween party-giver for grown-ups. I had to give up the parties when My Liege and I were forced to refinish our hardwood living room floors one year because all that dancing in high heels (those of my guests, I assure you) was not friendly to our 40-year-old wood floors and also because one of my guests BROKE MY CLARINET!! The clarinet I’d had since grade seven and proudly displayed on my fireplace mantel even though I couldn’t remember how to play it any more. After several months passed and I received confirmation that it was, um, Moi who dropped the clarinet, I decided it was time to grow up.

First up, the perfect group Halloween costume for a young family, very easy to make (if I can do it, so can you), and inspired by a lack of ANY Halloween costumes for sale in the tiny logging town where we lived at the time:

The Wrigley’s Gum Family!

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Measure family members and buy appropriate lengths of broadcloth in Juicy Fruit Yellow and Doublemint green (if can’t find shade of Doublemint green, fake it like I did). HINT: A cotton diaper works wonderfully for the baby’s costume.
  2. Sew tubes to fit bodies.
  3. Use felt pens and/or cut out and sew letters onto broadcloth, depending on how dark your background is. Draw very straight, and remember, if I can do it, so can you!
  4. Sew on shoulder straps. HINT: If you’re breastfeeding, make sure straps attach to costume with snaps—very handy.
  5. Create silver gum crowns out of cardboard and tin foil.
  6. Go forth and elicit oohs and ahhs.

Second, another easy group costume:

The Three Witches of Macbeth!

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Locate two friends who’ll agree to play the Three Witches of Macbeth with you, as long as you guarantee that should a device called a Blog ever come into existence, you will not post their photos.
  2. Agree that each of you will memorize your assigned parts of the “Bubble, bubble, boil and trouble” (or whatever it is) speech in the play. Provide your two fellow witches with photocopies of the scene so they have no excuse not to memorize it!
  3. Have the good grace to have been born a brunette. If you’re not a brunette, dye your hair.
  4. Grow hair as long as you can and get a spiral perm (Yes, you can always buy a wig, if you’re not, you know, truly committed to Halloween).
  5. Spray white Halloween paint on your hair in streaks.
  6. Dress as witch. HINT: If you have a huge zit on your chin, cover it up with wart makeup.
  7. Include hat but forget to wear it in pictures.
  8. Create witch’s brew.
  9. Note that carrot in brew does NOT represent anything other than a carrot, so advise guests to get their minds out of the gutter.
  10. Try as hard as you can to forgive the other two witches when they DON’T MEMORIZE THEIR LINES!!! (Agh, does no one take Halloween seriously?)
  11. Repeat the three witches speech several times throughout the evening all on your lonesome.

So, what have some of your favorite Halloween costumes been?

Tomorrow – Halloween Costumes I Have Been or Created for Others to Be That Are Not Recommended.