Monthly Archive for October, 2007

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Take a Deep Breath…and let’s begin

Published on October 21, 2007 in Goals and Life. 8 Comments

This next week is going to be an interesting one. I’ll be starting my new job tomorrow, so that means I won’t be online until later in the day. In fact, there are a lot of things that will be changing for me. Nothing major, but it will require me to adjust my writing/posting schedule a bit.

I didn’t do anything on the writing front last week. I only plan on doing a bit of planning out for NaNoWriMo this week, and maybe a paragraph or two here and there if I find the time. It’s going to be hard for me to write in my temporary accommodations, as there isn’t a lot of personal space. Four people in an apartment with two bedrooms doesn’t give a lot of breathing room. But it’s all good.

I did my final line edits for Sweet and Spicy Spells, so I’m anxious for that to come out next week. This one seems to have snuck up on my from a marketing perspective, so the word isn’t out there as well as my other. Let people know!! HUGS!

So goals for this week:

  • plot out most of book for NaNo
  • finish reading Amy’s book :D
  • get newsletters ready
  • rest :D

I think once I have a week in for my new position, I’ll have a better idea as to how much time I’m going to have to write. I think it will just mean I’ll be up earlier and staying up later. I have a feeling I’m going to lose my lunch hour writing time.

What are you up to this week?

Arrived!

Published on October 21, 2007 in Life. 3 Comments

Hello everyone! I wanted to let you all know that we made it safe and sound to Ontario. Now I just need to get myself organized and ready for my day job tomorrow. I’ll be figuring out about the writing in a little bit. I’ll post again once I find where I left my head. :D

Thursday??

Published on October 18, 2007 in Life and Thursday Thirteen. 8 Comments

This is going to be my last post for a few days. Our Internet is getting shut off today, and we’ll be on the road starting tomorrow. I’ll let you all know once we’ve arrived safe and sound in out temporary accommodations.

I’m doing Thursday Thirteen over at Six Degrees of Sexy this week. I was going to do another one here on the thirteen things I was going to take in my car to keep my kids happy on this trip, but I ran out of time LOL! :D

Instead, I hope you enjoy this post about some fun places to make love!!!

I’ll talk to you again once I’m off the road. :)

HUGS!

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Wild Wednesday

Published on October 17, 2007 in Life, TV and Writing. 15 Comments

Hello my friends.

Today is packing day in the d’Abo household. And no, we are not doing it. Part of the relocation deal is work hires someone to come in and pack everything for us. The movers will be here tomorrow and Friday to put everything in the truck and then we’re off. So while we don’t have a lot to do, I find myself getting emotional, missing the friends that I’ve made here over the past year. Basically, I feel like this right now:

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Writing hasn’t happened at all this week. I was actually home sick yesterday (still feel icky, but I’m at work anyway), and I’ve been getting caught up on my reading. I’m not stressing about it at all. I think I owe myself the small break. I might not do much in the way of writing next week either, but I do plan on doing some plotting so I’m ready for NaNoWriMo.

Speaking of which, if you are participating and would like to add me as a friend, my ID is Christine99. Please add me and we can keep each other happy in our insanity!

At night we’ve still been watching NCIS getting all caught up. We’re on season three now, and I’m still loving the show. I can’t wait until I can actually see all the new episodes on it’s regular night. It’s officially been added to my must watch list. :D

How are things with you??

Release Date!

Published on October 16, 2007 in Sweet and Spicy Spells. 8 Comments

I’m thrilled to let everyone know that we finally  have a release date for Sweet and Spicy Spells! Halloween this year will see our launch and I can’t be happier. :D So on October 31 brace yourself for some hot stuff.

I’m also running a fun little Halloween contest this year. If you haven’t joined my newsletter yet, you’ll want to! One lucky subscriber will win a fun little prize just for Halloween. A Wee Little Kitchen Witch!

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Sign up by November 1st and I’ll draw a name.

Today I thought I’d leave you with this hilarious little video someone sent me yesterday. You can’t help but laugh at this one. Enjoy!

Monday Message

Published on October 15, 2007 in Home, Life and Writing. 12 Comments

Well we had a good/bad weekend. Good in that my daughter had a fantastic birthday party. She got to laugh and giggle with her friends, eat junk food (which I happily supplied :D ) and watched a movie. She got some very cool presents too. I think a good time was had by all. (And somehow I survived 7 screaming girls)

I also had my last RWAC meeting on Sunday. This was a fantastic presentation on Marketing for Writers by the very talented Cathryn Fox. As always, Cathy gave us tons of very practical information on how to get your name out there with readers. Thanks again to Cathy and her lovely assistant for pulling together such an enlightening session.

It also gave me a kick in the butt to run another contest! More on that tomorrow. :D

The bad part of my weekend came when my washing machine decided to stop working. Water flooded the laundry room and we spent forever getting it cleaned up. The kicker, the appliances are part of the sale of my house…and the new owners get it on Friday. *sigh* Couldn’t have lasted one more week…could it! Not sure what the new owners want us to do yet. We’ll have to see.

This week I’m going to take it easy on the writing. I might pick away at The Bond That Consumes Us (Taber’s story), but it won’t be anything hard core. With the big move happening this weekend, I want to keep the pressure off myself until things settle down. Plus I’m gearing up for NaNoWriMo in a few weeks. If you haven’t joined up yet, please consider it. There are a number of us who will be participating in the insanity this year, so join us for the fun!

Bloggers Unite - Blog Action Day

Finally, I found out that today is Blog Aaction Day. This is a day for us to post about our concerns regarding the environment. I saw this video this morning on climate change. Now, normally I keep all talk of political things off this blog. But this man’s argument is such that I think it’s really worth spreading. Please listen to this with an open mind.

Victory Dance!

Published on October 12, 2007 in Life and Writing. 20 Comments

After weeks of me bitching and complaining I finally finished my novella yesterday!! This is only the first draft and it needs a good clean up, but I’ve never been so happy to type the words The End before. Yes, I actually typed them at the end of the manuscript. LOL!

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It’s funny that sometimes writing can come so naturally to me and other times its an exercise in pain. I still love the feeling of creating characters and putting them through hell. I guess it’s only fair they do the same to me on occasion. I’m going to spend a part of today reading through what I have, might make a few changes, and then I’m walking away from this one for a bit.

This means I’m free to work on whatever I want for the next few weeks. I was considering taking a short break, but I don’t think I can. Writing keeps me sane, and the next two weeks are going to be crazy with my move.

This weekend I have to get my girls off to Girl Guide cookie day and have my oldest daughter’s eighth birthday party. Seven girls in my basement watching a movie, playing the Wii and eating pizza. It should be fun. I also get to go to my last RWAC meeting on Sunday. I’m going to miss them. :(

What are you up to??

No Thursday Thirteen

Published on October 11, 2007 in Fun, Thursday Thirteen and Writing. 13 Comments

Hello my friends. I’m taking a break from TT this week so I can focus on a few other things. First off, I’m going to try and push through to the end of my novella. I managed to write another 2000 words on it yesterday, which brings me to with in 5000 words of being finished. I’m hoping between today and tomorrow I’ll be able to finish it off.

That said, I don’t want to leave you with nothing…so I present you with THIS LINK!!! You must all watch the video for this – you’ll laugh your heads off. Tell me what you think and if you played the game that follows. Don’t forget to comment and I’ll come visit your site. :D

Looking Up

Published on October 10, 2007 in TV and Writing. 14 Comments

So after my whinefest yesterday morning about how I thought my novella was sucking, I sat down and wrote 1400 words (not 14000 like I had a second ago). I think I know where I’m going to take this plot now (thank god) and I just need to sit down and write it out.

This got me thinking about writer’s block. This isn’t something that has happened to me very much over the five years that I’ve been writing seriously. In fact, I normally suffer through having too many ideas. This is almost as bad in some ways because you don’t know where to focus your attentions - you love all your stories! But to have no idea where to go, it’s a terrifying feeling.

I wanted to thank everyone for their kind words and fantastic suggestions yesterday, and to my Six Degrees of Sexy sisters who’ve had to put up with my freak attacks. I promise, I’m going back to the laid back me soon. :D

And speaking of laid back…anyone see House last night?? I want the old team back *sniff*. They keep teasing me with glimpses of them without giving me the whole package. Not…fair…

And my husband and I are almost done watching season two of NCIS. This is a show my dad insisted on us watching, mostly so he can talk to me about it. I’m really loving it so far. Apparently something big happens this season, but we haven’t gotten to it yet. I hope we will get to it this weekend.

Give my head a shake and get down to business

Published on October 9, 2007 in Writing. 8 Comments

I’ve been taking a bit of a break from writing recently. Not necessarily because I’d planned to do so, but mostly because of life putting pressure on my creative muscles. Understandable…of course. But I’m the type of person I need to keep going forward or else I’ll get my wheels stuck and won’t be able to move forward.

I’d set a goal for myself of getting 20 pages written for this week. I’m not sure if I’ll reach it, but I’m going to give it a shot. If I do, then that will take me to the end of my novella and I’ll be ready to move on to another project. I’m not sure why I have a block with this story (though I think it might have to do with how I’m going to get my hero out of his mess – I have an idea but I think it’s lame) but I just need to push through it. I can fix this up later on, after I have the first draft done.

So, I’m going to relax, take a deep breath, and see what I can come up with. If I’m lucky, I’ll catch a brain wave and will be able to get it done.

Cross your fingers.