Ok, so not THAT busy, but it felt busy. 
I’ve had this awful head cold–major sinus pressure, headache and dizziness–and it’s stopped me from getting a lot done. I’ve finally accomplished some personal stuff and am still working on the editing. I’m on page 103, so that’s something, but I have just about a week to do the rest. I really want this book sent out by the 23rd.
Just a quick update. Nothing special. 
Yesterday I started from the beginning editing my ms. again. Upon sending a scene to a contest, I realized it still needed a bit of work, which only suggested it all may. So I started over and accomplished 66 pages. Pretty damn good if you ask me. Then I critted two chapters of a member’s book. Did I mention I joined another group of writers? No, probably not. Well, I did. It’s a small group, which I love, all romance writers and all serious about their work. I just joined on Thursday, the 4th, and there is a one crit per week rule. So, I did two.
Then I attempted to judge at the contest but didn’t get around to it for various reasons. I’ll be heading there shortly. I did however go through some old plots I started. I like to get rid of the ones I have no intentions of working on and haven’t done more than mapped out a couple of paragraphs of plot. They’re useless to me. So, I opened up the dark version of V3. V3 is the first chick lit book I ever wrote. That first year, I went back and forth between whether or not I wrote light or dark. I went through some small sided tormoil. I attempted to turn the chick lit novel into something darker. It became Carnal Whispers.
Yeah, not too thrilled on that titled but it’s there until I decide otherwise. I still have V3 and last night I perused through both. Based on what I read and what I recall, V3 is funny but needs work. CW isn’t DARK, so much as not light–mediumish I guess. ;) But it’s in third person, and I included the POV of the hero and a sidekick. The sidekick is a 15 old and I simply adore her. I think I’ve learned some since I first wrote this, so it could use some work, and I’m only on like chapter nine, but I wondering if I should work on that next.
In some sense, the book is written, it just needs to be altered (into the dark side) and I really like the ending–the final mystery. I recall I left off at some new scene where I needed to get the hero and heroine to work together. I wasn’t sure how to accomplish this then and I’m not sure now, but it needs to happen in this scene. Two people reluctant to not only work on the case but together, what becomes their common denominator?
The cool thing though is I didn’t think I wanted to ever look at that book again. I spent SOOO much time agonizing over light or dark, dark or light that when I finally said, “stop!” I shoved it away with plans on it collecting dust forever. Now, it’s calling me again. And hopefully the darker side won. 
I need to get 30 pages per day done (actually a bit more) in order to send the ms. out by the 15th. So far today I’ve completed 21. Yeah, it’s only nine more, but I feel like I’ve been working on this for decades. I will get it done before bed though. *yawn*
ISBN Number: 978-1-897560-10-5
Genre: Time Travel Romance
Length: Novella
Heat Index: Hot with Explicit Language
Dreaming of the past.
Hannah Falcon loves her job cataloging medieval artifacts and setting up the displays at the Natural History Museum in New York. What she doesn’t love is her father’s steadfast refusal to let her go on any of his archeological digs, or her friends insisting she date more. When a man dressed as a medieval knight shows up in the museum, Hannah mistakes him for her friend’s latest attempt at a blind date.
Sent into the future:
Sir Gavin of Rogueforth is a battle-hardened twelfth century knight, having seen and caused his share of death in the crusades. He expects nothing more from life than to live and die by his sword. After Gavin rescues a woman and her daughter from a band of highway thieves, she sends him through time to protect another Hannah, claim her as his own and fulfill his destiny. He doesn’t expect a woman who refuses to be protected.
Timeless passion:
Can a man in chain maille convince a twenty-first century woman to follow her heart? Can a modern day woman show a medieval knight there’s more to life than being a protector? When two people from two different times explore Manhattan during the holiday season will time be an obstacle or will they find the magic to span centuries under the mistletoe?
I received comments from my first beta reader. She had a couple of “issues” and a couple of wishes. lol I agree about most of them, and honestly didn’t even think about one of them…which is pretty stupid of me. So, I have some changes to make. Nothing major, more like things I need to add. I need to clear up the hero’s motivation and why the heroine’s fallen in love with him. I need this one to sit and stew in my brain for a bit, trying to figure out how to make it work. I’m also wondering if she should BE in love with him or simply open to everything she feared before–marriage, kids, etc. I figure I have until the second beta returns her comments to figure it out. 
My fingers are freezing, my son’s outside riding his bike and the cat’s locked up in m y daughter’s room (who is in the bathroom). This is the time of day when my concentration doesn’t exist. I figured I’d step away from the brainstorming for a moment and blog. Thanks goodness dinner is left overs tonight.
So, yesterday I sent off the ms to three beta readers. I plan to revamp the syno and write the cover letter this week, but I’m thinking sometime between Tuesday through Thursday, maybe Friday. The weekend should be setting up that dang-gone Christmas tree. *sigh* So that leaves a free Monday.
I woke up this morning thinking, what am I suppose to do today? It feels like I’ve spent months (ok, I did) on that book and having a day where I didn’t need to sweat over it is not only exhilirating but confusing. I felt a bit empty. :P But it’s allowed me time to move onto the next project. Dare Night! Not the official title, but it’ll do for now.
What suprised me with what I have so far, is the magnitude of the information needed. I believe it’ll be written in first person, but even if I choose third, I want to write the whole thing through my heroine’s eyes. It will include each of her five friends though. So, I’m sitting here trying to figure out what the readers need to learn about each individual character then them as a group and what events need to take place during the book.
It’s fun…it’s hard but fun. lol
I spent most of today cooking, sleeping and posting on Once Upon A Crime. I planned to spend my last few hours brainstorming my next book (a YA about six kids spending the night in an abandoned building and learning some terrible secrets), but I figured I take a look at my WIP and see how much work it needed.
When I write, I use WriteWayPro. It’s a writer’s software that I absolutely love. One of its many great aspects is no red or green squiggly lines. It’s great for ignoring your internal editor. So, while the revisions are done, there’s still the spelling, grammar and punctuation that needs to be checked.
At this stage, I’m just zipping through the pages looking for obvious mistakes. Once I get it back from any beta readers, I’ll go through it one more time with a much closer look to detail. So, I just completed 210 pages. Only 164 for tomorrow. There goes my braintorming for the evening, but it’s for a good cause.
