Working Hard or Hardly Working

Sorry I never came back yesterday. I meant to, but you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men. But even though I wasn't here on the blog, I was working. Off and on throughout yesterday I was tweaking Blink, and I was reading The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance, I was keeping up with the industry by reading other people's blogs, and I was hanging out at the Romance Divas forum .

Right now I'm sure you're thinking to yourself that other than tweaking Blink, the rest sounds more like screwing off than working. I know how it looks, and you're probably right - it was not so much work as play, but at least it was productive play. I could've spent the day playing Tetris, or watching Judge Judy, or sleeping. Those are totally unproductive. Instead, I read a book that, while it wasn't in my genre, was filled with excellent writing and writers should be able to glean experience from anything they read. I also did my morning run through the blogosphere, and since my blogrolls consists of posts by authors, agents and editors, it's work I can enjoy.

And hanging out at Romance Divas can be incredibly productive. Most of the posts there are helpful and informative, while still being fun. It's nice to hang out with other writers - especially since none of them are out to crap on your parade. It's necessary to network, to commiserate, and to get/give a little empathy from people who truly understand.

Of course, the hour I spent watching Animal Cops was screwing off - unless I can stretch to it was location research (but I'm not writing a book set in NY or Houston or Detroit) or pretend that I'm planning a book wherein the villains are animal abusers (which I'm not).

I guess what I'm trying to do here is assuage my own guilt. I haven't written new words in a while, and that always makes me feel like a slug. But when I really look at what I'm doing with my day, it isn't nearly as slug-like as I think.

What are you up to? Anything you'd like to admit to doing that maybe isn't as work-like as it should be, but still can be labeled work?

Brief Update

I'm still slogging through Blink to eradicate the extra 'it's. The only thing I can say about the process at this point is that it's a probably great cure for insomnia. Since I don't have insomnia, I think it's causing a bout of narcolepsy. Now every time I see the word 'it', I want to fall asleep.

Yawn.

Back later.

Sunday Book Review

Today I'm talking to you about a book I heard a lot about, and because of the buzz, looked forward to reading. It's a collection of mystery/suspense/thriller short stories called Killer Year.

First let me start off by saying I like the premise of this book. A group of people from International Thriller Writers got together and decided to promote the work of their debut members, and with those thirteen stories, they added in three from bigger name novelists who also belong to ITW. Each of the thirteen stories has an introduction by someone more recognizable, and I was interested to see who said what and how it compared to the story being presented.

Unfortunately, most of the stories missed the mark for me, and many of those I never finished reading.

Now I'm the kind of gal who, when she slaps down good money for a book, wants to read all of the book (except the sex scenes - I'm no prude, but I'm just not into reading that anymore, and I'm fine with skipping those pages). I try my hardest to finish reading stories I start. In the cases of some of these stories, I just couldn't make myself finish, and in one or two cases, I couldn't make myself move beyond the first couple paragraphs.

Of course, in keeping with my mantra of 'if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything', I'm not going to point out which stories were which. Let's just say for some of them the voice threw me, and in others the subject matter, and with at least one, the total negative sense of life made me want to rip out my eyes.

I really wanted to like this book - partly because I'm a fan of the genres, and partly because I wanted to see what the industry is putting out there. With the latter, knowing that this may be what the industry is looking for was just depressing. I can't write what I won't read, and I don't really want to. I don't read books to become depressed, and I don't know anyone who does. Sure I like a good cry when the writing is so awesome I get sucked into the character and crying is called for, but I don't want to come through the crying and feel like life is hopeless.

So, in the end, I'm dreadfully sorry I paid for this book. If I'd known what it was going to be like, I might've still checked it out through the library - read the few good stories, and been content - without shelling out my limited book funds. I'm even a little pissed that I put a research book on forensic science back on the shelf so I could buy this. Live and learn.

Next week on Sunday Book Review look for a positive review. I hate writing negative reviews, but I think this one just needed to be written.

Saturday's Special Site

In keeping with the new blog, I'm trying out a couple of weekly features. Sunday is going to be my book review day, and Saturday will be the day when I pick a site I like and pass the link along. Sometimes the site will be a blog, other times a writer's site, and occasionally, I'll just pick something fun. We'll see how it goes.

For the first Special Site, I'd like to invite you all to check out a daily blog-read for me...

Murder She Writes

I've been visiting the MSW gals for a couple years now - back when it was just the five of them: Allison Brennan, Karin Tabke, Natalie M. Roberts (aka Natalie R. Collins), Deborah LeBlanc and Jennifer Apodaca (aka Jennifer Lyon). Not too long ago, they added another five fabulous gals and made the blog twice as wonderful. The newest additions are: Toni McGee Causey, S.J. Day, Heather Graham, Roxanne St. Claire, and Debra Webb.

Now these ladies have a lot in common, but I think the thing that brought them together at MSW is that they all kill people - albeit only in writing. Aside from their murderous bent, they are all awesome writers and incredibly bright ladies to boot. Their posts every day provide a glimpse into their writing careers, or give their readers something to think about, or allow their fellow writers insight into what this writing life is all about.

I haven't missed a weekday morning with them since I found MSW - through Karin Tabke's blog way back when I was still learning about this whole writerly blogosphere. I'm ashamed to say I don't comment nearly as often as I should, because they're usually posting about something worth commenting on. I've found hope and inspiration within their posts, and I've learned something about my own writing along the way. Additionally, I've come to them to refill the well when I was feeling low.

So, if you haven't visited the blog, please wander over to soak up the knowledge, and the camaraderie that comes from being with such incredibly talented people.

Oh, and as an aside... Allison Brennan's latest book just hit the shelves, so if you're a fan of romantic suspense, run out and get yourself a copy of Sudden Death. I scooped mine up the other day. I'm only a few pages in, but it's already got me. If I'm not careful, I won't be getting to bed until I hit THE END.

Shoveling my Brains Out

As predicted.

I don't know if we got the other five inches, but the wind was blowing and we have drifts. Yay.

Break's over. Back to shoveling.

Synopsis Draft Complete

Six pages and tingling fingers, but it's done. I'll take the old editing freshener to it over the weekend, and it should be as lovely as lilacs in no time.

Meanwhile, it's come to my attention that I may have way too many 'felt' words in my manuscript - and too many occasions of 'it'. I started rectifying that error this morning, and got all the 'felt's dealt with. I'm still work on the 'its'. I'll probably get both the synopsis and the tidying done round about the same time. Then I may finally be ready to start querying. Yay.

(Fear? What fear? We don't gots no stinkin' fear.)

Oh, and on the snow front... We got a friggin' blizzard today. Stupid weather. And they're predicting a possible 'nother five inches by morning. I'll be shoveling my brains out tomorrow morning. Ugh.

How are things with you?

Forging Ahead

I've got the fear in a half-Nelson now. It's still trying to get the upper hand, but I think I'm winning. My synopsis is more than two-thirds of the way done now, and although it's still filled with stinkiness, it's there. (Limburger cheese wrapped in sweat socks stinky.) Here's hoping I can finish it up and spray it with Febreeze.

Additionally, I've been plugging agent info into my database with wild abandon. (Okay, not wild - I get a few in and the repetition makes me too sleepy to go on. Worked wonders to get me to bed last night, though.) Life would be easier if I just imported the agents I wanted from the last book's database, but each of those have notes and things attached, and because of the ancient program I use, I have to take all or take none. I chose none. I want a fresh start with this book. Data entry is sleep-inducing, but it's better than the alternative - which is trying to keep track of all my submissions in my head or in hardcopy. Umm... No.

So, with some last minute tweaks and this synopsis that I need to de-stink, it could be a week or two at least before I get to submitting.

Of course, that little voice in the back of my head keeps telling me that I'm using all these things as an excuse, but I'm trying to remind that little bastard of the pitfalls of sending out a manuscript too soon. We'll battle that out in the steel-cage of my skull over the next few days. If I start talking in a deep villiany voice, you'll know it won. ;o)

Wish me luck.