Where does time go?

The days are passing faster than I can count.

This last week has been a world wind of getting things done, just not writing things.  With the holiday last Monday (President's day) it threw my week totally off.  Then on Sunday, my sister reminded me that the first of March is this Friday and here I thought I had another whole week in February yet.

The life of a writer isn't always about writing.  I'd like it to be, but life does get in the way.  This last week is an example.

There are things like: grocery shopping, cleaning the house, laundry, bills, balancing check books, runs to the bank, run to UPS to overnight paperwork, phone calls, cleaning out e-mail boxes, taking the dog to the groomer, training the dog (although I think she's training me), errands, lunch out with family and then there is preparing dinner every night and the clean up.

Oh and I forgot to add exercise.

In the next week, my life should calm down considerably.  A lot of last week was dealing with the sale of property, having the check finally arrive, and needing to get it invested where it would keep making some money and trying to minimize tax implications.

But it was also doing some necessary other things that I'd put off.

I honestly work at putting my writing first, but it doesn't always work for me.  I'm a work in progress, just like my books.

Have a great week.

Marie  

Snippet from Work in Progress

I thought I'd try something different and give you a snippet from my current work in progress.

            His kiss would be the death of her.

            "Oh, darling," his breath, hot and moist against her ear.

            "Yes, honey." She rubbed her body against his. She was giving the performance of her life. Her hands tightened on his broad shoulders, his soft hair just brushing her skin.  She nibbled at his ear.

            "Bedroom?" His voice was tight.

            Reaching down, she slipped her fingers between his hard stomach and jeans, then pulled him by his belt buckle.  She kept the barest of distance between their bodies while walking backwards.  The bedroom lay at the end of the hallway.

            Once inside, their legs tangled and they fell upon the blue satin quilt.  His hard erection pressing into her softness.  The bed quivered.

            "Oh, baby."  His fingers began unbuttoning her blouse.

            A crack and a snap filled the air, then there was air between her and the mattress.  She didn't even have time to let out a scream as the bed collapsed beneath them.

How is that for the beginning?  Can you guess what happens next?

Have a great week.

Football Season is Over

Now that the Superbowl has been played, the football season is over.

I wished the San Francisco Forty-Niners could have won, but the Ravens played a great game.  Watch out in 2014 the Forty-Niners will be back.  It was a win-win for the Harbaugh family, both coaches have something to be proud of.

Since its all done, I can now reclaim my Saturdays, Sundays, Monday and Thursday nights.  Yes, I watched football whenever it was one.

Now I'll watch some golf, but only the major ones, such as the Masters, FedEx cup and the US Open.  I enjoy watching the younger players moving up and the older players showing they still have the right stuff.

Do you watch sports on TV?  Or maybe play a sport or two?

Marie

Too Many Ideas Not Enough Time

It's one of those rare times, for me as a writer, where I have too many ideas.

I know it sounds strange.  How can a writer have too many ideas?

Usually most writers love it when they have too many ideas, me I like it, but right now its driving me crazy.  I have ideas for 4 different books and they're all trying to get my attention.

Its hard for me when I get ideas of characters and new story lines, I want to sit down and write those books now.  But I can't.  I'm under contract for two books right now.  One is in the middle of edits and the second one hasn't been written yet.  Plus I'm working on another book for an editor that will be under contract shortly.

What is a writer to do?

I don't have all the answers.  I've barely written a word in the last week because of all these ideas floating around.  So this week, I'm going to try something different.  I'm going to write myself notes in a brand new notebook that captures these characters, their stories, and what ever else they want to tell me and see if that frees my mind up to work on the book I need to work on.

So how do you handle this when it happens to you?  Or do you have an advice?

Have a great week.

Marie

It's Monday

It's Monday and I'm running late today.

I want to say it's because of the NFL playoff games yesterday.  I love football and the games were good yesterday.  The Forty-Niners/Falcon's game was a nail biter.  The New England/Raven's game was fun to watch, but not so much a nail biter.

My family and I were rooting for the Forty-Niner's and the Raven's.  We decided to call the Super Bowl the Harbaugh Bowl.  Because of Jim and John Harbaugh.  Jim coaches the Forty-Niners and John the Ravens.

I'm looking forward to the Super Bowl even though it means the end of football season for me.

Is there a sport you love?

Have a fantastic week.

Marie

When Characters Take Over

I've been hard at work in this last week working on my new Work In Progress (WIP).  It was slow starting and I couldn't figure out what to do.  I had a goal of how many pages I wanted to get written because this book needs to be done in a certain amount of time.

Finally about Wednesday the words started flowing and I was moving along at a good pace, making my word count every day.  On Saturday I realized why I was moving so quickly, my male characters had taken over the story.

Yes, male characters.  I'm trying my hand at writing a committed menage story.  I love the characters and the story itself.  But this week, my hero's took over.  I just let them tell me what they want me to write and I write it.

I know it sounds strange, but I've found over the years that I do my best writing this way.  When my characters really begin to talk to me and take over, then the words flow and I learn all sorts of interesting details in their lives that I didn't know.

I'll see over the next week how this all plays out, but so far, I'm pushing my own boundaries as a writer and loving every minute of it.

I'm sure you have a favorite character, from a book, a movie or a TV show. Let me know who or what it is?

Marie

It's a New Year

Happy New Year!

Sorry to have been missing for the last couple of months.  2012 was a very busy year for me, especially from September until the end of the year.

I retired from my day job at the end of April figuring I'd have plenty of time to write and keep up with everything.  Not the case.  Six weeks after I retired, I closed on a new home in Washington State.  That was a good thing, right?

Well, it was, but then my entire schedule was totally thrown off, now I had to pack up and clean the existing house, which since it belonged to my mother and she lived in it for almost 60 years, took up most of my days.  After almost 4 months, the house was packed, cleaned and on the market.  This also included another trip up to Washington.

At the end of July, I attended the Romance Writers of American National Conference in Anaheim, it was fun to catch up with friends, but I lost an entire week of packing.  Then two weeks after I finished the move to Washington, I left for Texas for my publishers, The Wild Rose Press, retreat.

Because I'm not a good flyer, I decided to drive.  My sister went with me, so we made a nice trip out of it.  Stopping to see historical sites and enjoying ourselves. We had a blast at the Silver Spur Ranch.  After the retreat, I came back home to leave a week later to go to the Emerald City Writers Conference.

That was a lot of fun, I was able to meet many of the friends from the area I'd met on Facebook, and make some great connections.

Then came the holiday's.  It's been over 20 years since I was really close to family for the holiday, so this year I was caught up in all the family stuff.  Not that it was a bad thing, just a time suck.

Plus I had 3 books released last year.  His For The Weekend from The Wild Rose Press.  Hooked Up at The Wedding from Sybarite Seductions and Hooked Up The Game Plan from Sybarite Seductions.

So 2012 was a very, very busy year for me.  But I'm back to blogging on Monday's now, either I will blog or I'll have a guest blot.  And 2013 is starting off with it's own bang, I have two contracts already in place, one book for The Wild Rose Press and another book for Sybarite Seductions.  So it's back on the writing wagon for me.

Hope everyone has a great start to the New Year.

Marie