Author Christine d’Abo

Hello my friends. I promise I will be a better blogger and blog friend soon. Taber’s story should be done this weekend! NaNo has been fantastic and I’ve managed to write  62k in the past month and have been really excited about the end result. That said, it has taken a lot out of me in more ways than I can count. So once I get Taber done I’m taking a short break from writing so I can concentrate on other things, like all of you!

I have company visiting this weekend and then I’m going to a conference on Monday and Tuesday for my day job. I’m looking forward to the change of pace. What are you up to?

I’ve been so busy trying to get The Bond That Consumes Us finished, that I didn’t pull together a TT this week. But never fear, Wylie is here! She’d created a fantastic TT over at the Six Degrees of Sexy blog, so please stop by and check it out!

The good news on Consumes is that I crossed the 60k mark with it this morning. I’m on the last chapter now (well maybe one more short one after) and then I’ll be moving on to the second draft. I think out of all the Bond stories I’ve written, this one is my favourite. Red and Amy, get read for a beta read soon…

Not because I don’t like my day job, but because I really was into this scene this morning and now I have to get ready for work.

*sigh*

I wanted to thank those of you who popped over to The Romance Studio’s blog yesterday to say hi. I really appreciate it.

I’ve been continuing to work on Taber’s story as I’ve been getting my edits done on Wizard’s Thief, my February release and on The Bond That Heals Us, which is Sara’s story. Thief is done now and ready to go. I have to say I’m anxious to see what the covers for the Jewel of the Nile series are going to look like. I guess I won’t have to wait too long. I haven’t started my edits on Heals yet, but I should get them out the door this week.

And then there is Taber. Poor boy is currently tied up and is trying to get out of a sticky situation. I guess he’ll have to wait around until lunch hour to find out how much more of a punishment he’s going to have to take.

I also wanted to remind everyone that there is still two days left to enter my November newsletter contest. If you sign up by December 1st, you will be automatically entered into a draw to win a passion starter kit and a free e-copy of Sweet and Spicy Spells. All you need to keep you warm on a winter’s night. Simply click here and add your name to the list.

Hello everyone! I’m taking it easy this morning and let myself sleep in a bit later than normal. I’m about to hit my writing for the day and am getting anxious to finish up Taber’s story. I really want to go back and re-read what I have down on paper LOL! That’s the one problem with NaNo - no time to look back.

Today I’m posting over at The Romance Studio’s blog about Chasing Phoenix and secret identities. I’d love for you to stop over and tell me what you think of them!

And I also wanted to have a quick shout out for my friend Red Garnier’s new book The Sheeman from Loose ID. This book sounds so hot, I can’t wait to get my little fingers on it.

December 14th can’t come soon enough!

Blurb:

Abbey has a secret. Not only is she the mysterious Lady Phoenix, sensual storyteller, but she’s in lust with her co-worker and friend Michael Quinn.

I managed to somehow drag my tired butt out of bed this morning (stayed up late to watch a nail biter Patriots game), and managed to get the last 1,500 words I needed to cross the 50,000 word mark for NaNo!! I was doing the happy dance all alone on my couch.

That means that The Bond That Consumes Us is sitting at 56,787 words and I’m getting close to the end of my first draft. My goal is to cross the 60k mark by the end of the week and then go back and try to plug up all the holes I’m sure are there. I’d love to have this story sitting at around 70k.

I’ve also managed to get my edits for Wizard’s Thief out the door and need to finish up my edits for The Bond That Heals Us. I know there are a lot of people out there anxious to read Sara’s story.

How was your weekend?

Still working on my NaNo this weekend. I have to do some editing first though…I’ll keep you posted.

I’m so close now I can taste it! After this morning’s writing session I’m sitting at 45,073 words done for NaNo. I plan on plunking my butt down this weekend and wrapping NaNo up, even if it’s not quite the end of the story. I’m going to try and push through at this writing pace until the end of November, but it will be nice to know that I’ve reached my goal.

I’m also super excited to say that Chasing Phoenix, my EC Quickie that will be coming out December 14th has made it to the coming soon pages! I don’t know why I haven’t been checking to see when it was going to be up, but it’s there! And I love the cover. I’m hoping to get a copy of it today, so I’ll post it for you as soon as I do. If you just can’t wait, check out the Coming Soon pages for a sneak peek!

This weekend I only plan on cleaning my house and writing. Oh and buying new snow boots for my daughter. She’s grown…again…

What are you up to??

I’m starting to feel the crunch of NaNoWriMo these days, even more so now that I’m near the end of my goal. So for this TT, I thought I’d share some of the things I’m doing to try and keep myself going until the end.

1. Obsessively update my word count spread sheet. Please tell me I’m not the only one who does this?? I have my NaNo site updated too.

2. Kill off characters. There’s nothing more fun than killing off a character. Unless it’s point #5.

3. Check the progress of my fellow NaNo crazies. My friends who are participating are a very prolific bunch. Seeing how well they are doing is very inspiring.

4. Take a day off. I’ve quickly learned that I’m useless if I’m tired. I’m better taking the day off writing, than force myself to do it.

5. Write a sex scene. Oh yes…nothing fires me up more than writing about sex. Man that just sounds odd when I say it out loud.

6. Read writing comics. I love Inky Girl. Make sure to check out her site!

7. Blog about my progress. You guys keep me honest. Thank you!

8. Go back and read random parts. I do this not with the intention of editing, but rather as a way to keep myself going. There is something cool about reading a piece of your writing and saying, “wow, I wrote that?”

9. Listen to music. It’s like I’m activating another part of my brain when I do this. The images the music evokes usually gets me writing again.

10. Watch TV. This may seem counter productive, but I actually find this helps me with character development, especially if I’m stuck. It’s good to see how other writers handle their characters.

11. Read parts of one of my other stories. Sometimes when I get stuck with poor Taber, it helps to see him again as a secondary character. How did the other characters see him, and then switch things around to his POV.

12. Eat chocolate. Enough said.

13. Dream about December 1st. Oh I can’t wait for that day when I can sleep in and not feel guilty about it.

Eek!! I haven’t had a lot of time to write the past little while. I have managed to write 10,000 over the past week, but I’m still behind where I wanted to be. I currently have 39,375 words written for NaNo. I’ll be able to hit 40,000 tonight easily, but I was hoping to be closer to the end by now.

I’m at that point in my story where I’m not entirely sure where I want it to go. I could start to wrap things up and move it into the final act, but I’m not at the word count where I want to be doing that yet. I think I’m going to have to throw in at least one more dead body to make this work, maybe even go back a chapter or two and add some stuff in. And to make matters worse, I still haven’t worked out all the bugs for my heroine’s internal conflict.

Isn’t NaNo fun!!

I’ll keep pushing forward and hope I can fix everything up when I hit the other side. At least I know the second draft will be interesting.

My day job has been keeping me pretty busy these days. I’m finding I’m gettng very tired when I come home at night, so it makes writing a challenge. I’m trying not to push myself too much, but it’s in my nature. I’ll be able to have a bit of a rest once December comes. Then we’ll be in to Christmas fun and my last vacation of the year will be on me. I think I’ll be taking a break from everything that week- even writing. Well…we’ll see.

How is everyone making out?