Good, Bad, and Ugly

Well, the good news--I got the scholarship for RWA National Conference! Squee! I am so very excited to be going to Orlando and attending workshops, meeting favorite authors, agents, and editors.

I had to ask my doctor to help me out, so she doubled up some of my radiation treatments on certain days, and as a result, I am very, very burned, but totally worth it!

The bad news--I did not final in the TARA, but I didn't really expect to (that's my story and I'm sticking to it). Just wanted the feedback, which was insightful.

The ugly--I can't get very far on my current WIP. I don't know what the problem is. It's a great idea, but I can't move it along. I keep at it, but I can only eek out about a page a day.

Oh, well! Happy writing!

Updates

I am working on my new WIP. I am about 1/7 (50 pages) of the way through. It will need lots of revising, but I'm going to keep at it.

I should get feedback about the Molly and the TARA by the end of this month. Still haven't heard from RWA concerning scholarship, but they sent an e-mail asking people to stop phoning and such. They would announce the scholarship recipients when they could. So, I'm not totally out of the running yet.

Happy Writing!

I'm Back!

I am back and feeling great! Not only am I feeling overwhelmingly positive because of my last chemo treatment Monday, but I have made a major breakthrough on my manuscript. I am so excited about the final product that will be produced (excuse the passive voice), and I hope to work diligently to get it finished this week.

I also entered the Molly (Heart of Denver Romance Contest) and am crossing my fingers that between the TARA and the Molly, I will get some good feedback and be able to move on from here.

I should find out in the next few days whether I received a scholarship to attend the RWA conference. More than likely, it's a no, but until I find out for sure, I'll keep hoping.

Life is good! Happy writing!

So Close

I have officially written over 40,000 words on my manuscript. I have also revised the first 25 pages and submitted the first 4,000 words to the TARA writing contest (that's the Tampa Area Romance Writer's of America), but I really only hope to get some feedback. I'd love to have a critique partner, but right now, that's only my dear husband, whom I will from now on call Sharky in this blog (pet name when we were way, way younger). He does have great ideas, but he doesn't read romance nor, obviously, write romance.

Here's a little taste of what Cole Anderson, my hero in my current wip, looks like in my head. Hope you like.

What have I gotten myself into?

Ok, so I'm in quite a pickle. I went and entered a writing contest that requires a complete manuscript for the second round. Ha-Ha! Funny thing about that is I have a little over half of a manuscript. You can see the humor, right?

The reality is that I have three weeks until the second round, so it's possible to finish the manuscript (I have an outline after all) in two weeks and revise in the third week. Yeah, I could do that, except that's not all I have to do. I have a day job, a husband and three kids, and on top of it all, I have a large presentation and paper due about the same time. Doable? Yes. Easily doable? Probably not without ticking off some people I love dearly.

Well, I do love pickles, usually the ones that are dill (crunchy and a little sour), but this one might be just what I need to give me a good kick in the butt to get my book written. And, just to be realistic, there are thousands entering this very same contest. My odds of getting chosen are slim, so I really don't feel a need to break out into an itchy rash or anything just yet.

I'll keep updating on the *fantastic* progress I'm making.