Brace yourself!

1. I get up most mornings. 6am people. Sometimes sooner if the puppy is not happy. I take care of our animals (Jack, Jill and Pip the cat) and then crawl back in bed to cuddle with the hubby. I’m then back up at 6:30 for the morning routine and to get ready for work.

2. Breakfast. I have two minions that I need to help get organized for school. Between my husband and I, we make lunches, check homework, go over “the list” for the day. I then kiss hubby and the kids goodbye and leave for my day job which starts at 8am.

3. Day job…’nuff said

4. Lunch time!! I usually eat at my desk and take the opportunity to write on my lunch hour. If I’m very lucky, I actually get an hour to be productive. Being a fast writer, I can get around 1000-1500 words written. If I’m not working on a WIP, I will do promotion (if I can) and type up blog posts (suck at doing this).

5. Twitter. I do have Twitter on my BlackBerry, which helps me take mental breaks from the day job, while keeping up to date on the world of publishing. I can’t do much, but every little bit helps.

6. Home. I get to leave the day job at 4:30pm and am home before 5:00pm most nights. Let me tell you that ten minute drive is the best part of my day sometimes.

7. Food! Supper time is like most homes – insane. We cook, eat, do homework. Then it’s either out for minion activities or family shopping.

8. Home…again. Once we are officially “in” for the night, I get to sit in front of my laptop. I would use my big computer, but minion the youngest tends to use it for gaming. *proud mom*. I then check my email (two accounts) and do any promo that I need to.

9. Writing. Normally, I have time between 9:00 pm – 11:00 pm to get some writing done. Depending on the day I might not get much accomplished because I’m tired. If I find myself slipping, it’s off to Twitter for some fun and chats, or to bed for TV.

10. TV. I watch very few shows anymore. Lie To Me, Dexter, Supernatural, Fringe, Shit My Dad Says (don’t judge me), Hawaii 5-0, and Doctor Who. That’s about it. When they’re not on, I don’t bother with it at all.

11. Dogs. I usually am the one to do the last dog run of the night. Not because hubby won’t (he totally will if I ask), but I’m usually the last one to bed, so it makes sense. On another note, I have been known to shovel the driveway in my pjs with the dog on a leash, in a snow storm. They need a place to pee after all!

12. The bedtime routine. Yeah, I’m a girl. We have stuff to do before bed. Savy?

13. Reading. I try to read a little bit every night. Some days that doesn’t amount to much more than a few pages, but I do try. It never fails to help me sleep.

And because there isn’t enough room..

14. Sleep…maybe. Dreamland and I don’t always get along. I am up quiet a bit through the night, or will wake up very early. The good news is that it gives me time to think about my books and characters. I usually put those ideas down on paper the next day.

So there you have it, the day in the life of this author. I schedule everything so I can get everything done. It seems to work.

That and coffee.

Since I posted my goals yesterday, today I thought I’d share with you some of the things I do to try and keep myself motivated to meet those goals.

1. Not give up when the going gets tough. I can be such a wimp at times. Time for me to grow a backbone!

2. Get my hubby to give me a kick now and again. He’s very good at this and helps me more than I can tell you.
3. Use my friends for support. You know I love you all.

4. Look at each day as a fresh start. It doesn’t matter what happened yesterday, today I can change things.

5. Have my kids motivate me. My kids are fantastic for this. It also helps to play with them or just sit and watch TV.

6. Revisit my goals. It’s easy to get down on yourself. I like to check in to see how I’m actually doing with my goals.

7. Exercise to regain my focus. I always feel a hundred times better when I exercise. It helps me focus and that helps my writing.

8. Get lots of sleep. I’m up early and stay up late. This does eventually catch up to me.
9. Know when to walk away. If I’m getting frustrated, I need to clue in and know when to let something sit for a while.

10. Take breaks. I don’t do this enough.
11. Adjust goals if necessary. Sometimes I set lofty goals and don’t realize just how lofty they are. I need to adjust them and not try to kill myself meeting them.

12. Accept small victories. So I didn’t write 1500 this morning. I got up and wote 500. That’s still more than I had.

13. Cut myself some slack. I’m my own worst critic. I need to just chill out sometimes.

So what are some of the things you do?

For this weeks Thursday Thirteen I thought I’d share my thirteen favourite Christmas carols. I hope you enjoy these.

1. Oh Holy Night

*Just for Kelly, here is the South Park version.

2. Silent Night

3. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen By Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLaughlin

*I wish I could find a better version of this.

4. Snow by Loreena McKennitt

5. So This is Christmas By John Lennon

6. I Farted On Santa’s Lap

7. Oh Come All Ye Faithful

8. The Little Drummer Boy

9. Good King Wenceslas

10. Mary’s Boy Child By Boney M

* My Dad had this tape when I was a kid and we listened to it over and over. To this day it doesn’t feel like Christmas for my until I hear this song!

11. Feliz Navidad By Boney M

*Ditto!!

12. Grandma Got Ran Over By A Reindeer

13. Oh, Come, Oh, Come Emmanuel

* I’ve saved this for last because it’s my favourite Christmas song. This version from Boyz 2 Men is awesome.

It made me realize just how much power storytelling has. Not only can stories teach us, but they can be used to help us explore a part of our being that we may be neglecting. Stories stick with us for years long after other experiences fade into the background. It also takes a piece of the storyteller and embeds that person into our souls.

Sorry…got a bit philosophical there.

On a totally unrelated note, I now have the release date for Wizard’s Thief! It will be coming out from Ellora’s Cave on February 27th, 2008 as part of the Jewel of the Nile series. I can’t wait to be a part of this series.

Now finally on to Thursday Thirteen!! Since I’ve been so busy with NaNo for the past month, I thought I’d share with you thirteen things I’m going to do now that I’ve recovered my life.

1. Sleep in. Oh yes, this is so sweet.

2. Diet. I’ve been eating a lot of crap during NaNo. I start Weight Watchers next week.

3. Watch TV. I’m getting caught up on Dexter and a few other shows I’ve put off.

4. Play Uno with my girls. We have so much fun with this.

5. Have sex…err…spend time with my husband.

6. Read. I’m so far behind, but right now I’m reading an ARC of Colleen Gleason’s The Bleeding Dusk. OMG This totally ROCKS!!

7. Enjoy my evening baths again. Enough said.

8. Yoga. I’ve gotten away from this over the past little while. I’m going to start up again.

9. Sit by the fireplace and chill. I need to relax more in life. This is a great way to start.

10. Blog and check up on blogs. I’m so far behind. Please forgive me everyone!

11. Talk to my family. I think they missed me.

12. Christmas shop. I’m so scared – I haven’t started yet!!

13. Recharge my batteries. I’m going to take it easy in the month of December. Then you all better look out in January!!

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…

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.

Tonight I’m going to a concert! My place of employment is putting on a surprise concert for all of our employees, and no, we don’t know who it is going to be. It’s very exciting and cool at the same time. They did this a few years ago and had Aerosmith and The Barenaked Ladies play for us.

So I thought for this week’s Thursday Thirteen, I’d list thirteen guesses of the bands people think will be playing. I’ll let you all know tomorrow who it was.

1. The Police

2. Van Halen

3. The Tragically Hip

4. Barenaked Ladies

5. Bon Jovi

6. U2

7. Dave Matthews Band

8. Greenday

9. Aerosmith (I doubt it is, but a lot of people want them back)

10. Rolling Stones

11. Nickleback 

12. Led Zepplin (I didn’t even know they were back together)

13. Rush

So who do you think I’ll be seeing tonight??

As most of you know, Sweet and Spicy Spells released yesterday from Ellora’s Cave. I thought I’d take this Thursday Thirteen to do a little self promotion. Here are thirteen reasons to read Sweet and Spicy Spells.

1. Halloween. Okay so it’s the day after Halloween, but it’s close enough. Spells takes place on Halloween and you get to see all the fun and trouble our couples get into.

2. Zack He’s my hero and I just looooves him. Zack is the oldest of the Kane brothers and is recently back from an under cover mission. He’s tall, dark, and can cast some very naughty spells when he wants to.

3. Priscilla. My heroine! Prissy as Zack calls her, is a high spirited woman who is used to getting her own way. And she’s the champ of the Cauldron Cup, a competition of all the wizards and witches in the area. She’s not going to let a little thing like her lust for Zack stand in her way of winning…again.

4. Foster. Foster is my co-author Renee’s hero. He’s the youngest of the Kane boys and has a boyish charm and a taste for sweets. But don’t let his smile fool you, Foster is as much a man as his older, more arrogant brother.

5. Kisha. Renee’s heroine. Kisha can’t seem to cast a single spell right. While she means well, if she can’t master her spell casting abilities before Halloween, she may loose her powers for good.

6. Sex. Okay, this is an Ellora’s Cave book. It’s hot…and spicy. When the spells fly, so does the clothing and our couples have lots of fun.

7. Mystery. Heaven forbid I just write a straight romance book. Renee and I have worked in a bit of a mystery for you to solve in between the juicy bits. I hope you notice.

8. Witches and Warlocks. I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for magic. And there is something fun about seeing what can happen when it comes to magic users.

9. It was fun to write! I know I’ve said this a few times on my blog, but I had so much fun writing this with Renee. We chatted about the plot over many cups of coffee at Starbucks. We got quite a few interesting looks when we were talking about about the sex scenes.

10. You can read an excerpt of the book here!

11. This is my second Ellora’s Cave release. It was also the first time I’ve written to a theme that someone else set out. That was a good challenge for me as a writer and I think it works.

12. Because you love me. Okay, maybe not, but I’m stretching here.

13. The butt on our cover. Enough said.

1. Fizz

2. Pixie Sticks

3. Rockets

4. Laffy Taffy

5. Popeye Sticks

6. Caramel

7. Chocolate

8. Swedish Berries

9. Candy Corn

10. Pop/Soda

11. Bottle Caps

12. Suckers

13. Tootsie Rolls

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!

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!