2010 All Girl Cayucos Pier Classic-76 Female Surfer Hangs 10 – Hangs Ten.
I’m working on a novel called Surfer Bride and closing in on 50,000 words. My goal is to get there this morning. I like the symmetry of 10-10-10 and 50,000 is a nice even number, too. Hope to actually surpass it by a few thousand by the end of the day, but 50,000 before noon works.
She sold her 1920s historical novel named Redemption for the Devil. It will come out in July 2011. Desert Breeze Publishing. It is a story about an Irish Catholic lass that falls for an Irish Protestant lad who happens to have a very bad past. Can her love redeem him? Can they get past the religious issue? You’ll have to read it to find out.
Last year was the first year I’d heard of NaNoWriMo. November is National Novel Writing Month. There’s a wicked cool web site that lets you track your progress as you try to write 50,000 words in the 30 days of November. This book my pen name and I sold was our NaNo book last year. We wrote it in 21 days as we had to travel down to Boca Raton for Thanksgiving and we knew there’d be no writing down there.
Recently, we added an additional 25,000 words to flesh out the story. The basic story was done November 21, 2009 but we edited in much more historical detail in the last month. Made it much richer and it sold. Yesterday.
Join me this November for the next round. My user name there is sfcatty. Friend me and we’ll journey together. It’s a blast. Check out the website: http://www.nanowrimo.org/
Started Ghost Night by Heather Graham on Sunday. So far so good. I do like the way she writes. Very captivating. This is another of the Bone Island Trilogy. I have read them in the wrong order and that’s ok, too. I know what happens to Bartholomew but I’m cool with that. LOL!
I won’t read any tonight or probably the rest of the week- inspiration has struck on the current WIP and I gotta type, type, type. I’m only posting here since I realized I’d had this blog on ignore the last fews days- since the short story writing fest on Saturday, the 25th.
Have not heard from the two publishers that I have shorts out on submission. I think they’re both cute stories. One has a deadline of the 30th of Sept. and the other of Oct 1. I am hopeful for yeses on both. One is a Thanksgiving mystery and the other is a ghost story. Tis the season.
A new source of romance stories went live last night- my alter ego has a story in it but she can’t talk about it today because it is Wordless Wednesday on her blog. But check it out: http://romancestoriesmagazine.com/ One Night in Costa Rica is a story about a surfer and a herpetologist.
http://jillianchantal.wordpress.com/ and check out Wordless Wednesday too as the manuscript heads to the agent.
I got the elusive “call” today – except, turns out, it was an email. A totally unexpected, out of the blue, email that made my day– nay– made my week!
I’m pretty excited about it. A publisher actually wants to publish one of my books. Now, mind you, I’m still thrilled about the anthologies I’m in because it means a lot to me that editors like my work. I will still send in some short stories because I love writing short. I like stories where I can hold it all in my head at once.
But this is the next step on the rung. I’m just glad to be taking a step to the next level. Check out my pen name’s blog for more info: http://jillianchantal.wordpress.com/
I’ve been absent from this blog because I am in re-write hell. I had a story that I thought was complete at 55,000 words- it was short because I was targeting the Harlequin Romantic Suspense line. Sent it in and got a rejection letter but it was a great letter- the editor liked it but said it wouldn’t fit what they needed at the time- She was very encouraging about the story itself- she liked the heroine and the story line but felt I needed to ramp up the romantic elements. She didn’t say it, but I think it was partly due to the language my character uses.
I then pitched it to another editor- added more words and got it to 70,000- thought the story was complete at that length as well. I sent it to her and she was encouraging as well. She liked it, too but thought it was too short. Oy Vey! Too short?
Then, I attended RWA National conference and pitched it to an agent. She wanted it bigger, too. She asked me to re-evaluate it and send it to her after Labor Day. So, now I’d been told twice to make the sucker longer.
AND I have begun that quest. Started it on Sunday and am up to Chapter 8. I have added over 8000 words so far this week. I’ve been working two chapters a night for the last couple of nights (did 3 on Sunday)- It may not sound like much to say I’m working on two a night but this is tedious. I am trying my damnedest not to “pad” the story and sometimes, I add something only to get two pages further down and I already have something similar and have to go back and take out the stuff I just added. Very slow going.
AND now, I come home and am immediately distracted by a Clive Owen movie. He’s the inspiration for the hero in the story I’m working on. It’s a conspiracy. I’m sure of it. But, if I want that elusive contract for a full length book, I gotta buck up and meet the goal I’ve set for myself for the week. Wish me luck!
EDITED TO ADD: Just got an email that the newest anthology I’m in has released. It is called Halloween Dances with the Dead and my story is called The True Believers. It was inspired by the Pensacola Lighthouse and the allegations that it is haunted. Here are the front and back covers and order info: http://whortleberrypress.com:80/
under my pen name, I thought I’d share a photo of my inspiration for my hero in Redemption for the Devil.
He has longer hair than this in my mind in the story but ain’t he pretty?
Ramblings of a Writer 