Dude, Where's My Muse?

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Goals...

So its June 1st. And I have a few little tiny goals. See in a month I'm going to a wedding. Did any of my diet/excercise hopes/goals work. Erm, that'd be a big ol' no. I'm really thinking I just can't really lose any. But I've got 30 days to make use of my air walker and lift weights like there's no tomorrow :o)

But more then that, I really want to finish the final edit of Sabrina and be able to send her out this summer without cringing.

And today i stumbled on this, and thought I'd share...

http://stubbornworld.typepad.com/the_writing_coach/

The Writing Coach - 30,000 words in 30 Days

Scary huh? But maybe the kick in the rear I need. I drafted about 60K of Sab during NaNoWriMo last year and the words were flowing, so maybe if I finish the edits during this I'll get the same effect? Yes? No? Worth a try anyways.

Stop by if you're interested. Just reading day 3 now and i like what she's saying.
posted by Lis at 11:29 p.m. 2 comments

Another new book...

NOT SO SNOW WHITE By Donna Kauffman

Can a down on her luck princess really have it all?

A whisper away from thirty, gorgeous Tess Hamilton has been the tennis world’s top title holder and celebrity since she won her first championship at fifteen. Now the headline-making party girl is getting her first taste of mortality — and bankruptcy — thanks to new teenage phenom Gabrielle Fontaine. But it’s Gaby’s cool, calm, and all-too-collected brother and manager, Max, who really has Tess seeing double. He’s the first man she can’t seem to seduce — or intimidate. It appears Tess is truly off her game, until a real-life, modern-day fairy godmother steps in….

Aurora Favreaux, a founder of Glass Slipper Inc. and old family friend, has a plan to get Tess back on her stilettos, and it includes an unlikely meeting between Tess, Max, and Gaby, at Glass Slipper’s new London headquarters — just in time for Wimbledon. It seems that Tess is going to hit the court in a whole new way, to prove to the world — and herself — that a woman with the heart of a champion can ace life and love — even after the big 3-0….


Sounds like a fun read to me. Especially with the setting of Wimbledon. A little unusual and all that. Definitely keep an eye out for this one!
posted by Lis at 10:45 p.m. 2 comments

5x Faster?

Today just plain sucked.

First I had to get up 7 a.m. for the telephone guy who could show anywhere between 8am and 6 pm. And to top it off I didn't sleep last night in the heat and I felt pretty crappy anyways. So there I am up at 8.a.m downstairs, dressed, waiting.

Guy does not show up.

Calls at 12;30 saying he knows what the problem is with our just signed up for 2 weeks ago DSL that was supposed to start last Wednesday but someone forgot to tell the server and the switch and something else but hey it should be good to go. So fine, go back downstairs and install it. Which runs for somewhere around an hour before conking out and making me spend the next SEVEN hours trying to install it. With errors every time. Your cables aren't hooked up. Your connection is refused. The server is not responding. SEVEN FREAKING HOURS people. And now, its sorta working.

I never thought I'd say this, but I miss AOL.

Blah...
posted by Lis at 9:51 p.m. 0 comments

Enslave Me Sweetly

NEW THIS WEEK ON MY TO BE BOUGHT LIST:

ENSLAVE ME SWEETLY

by Gena Showalter

She has the heart of a killer, and the body of an angel. . .Eden Black walks among humans, protecting them from the murderous evil of other-worlders who abduct and enslave. And though she appears to be human herself, Eden is an alien, a Raka, distinguished by her golden hair and skin, and gifted with the ominous ability to kill without remorse – and with total accuracy. That is, until the fateful night she has one shot to eliminate her target, a human slaver – and misses.“Failure” is not in Eden’s vocabulary. Neither is “partner” – but that’s what she is forcibly assigned after recovering from her disastrous mission. A sexy, steely-nerved human agent, Lucius Adaire enjoys nothing more than sparking the fury – and rousing the desire – of the fiery female assassin to proud to admit defeat. Locked in an assignment they cannot afford to lose, Lucius and Eden find themselves bound in two high-stakes, heart-pounding games: the dangerous web of kill or be killed, and the erotic dance of seduction. . .Showalter first demonstrated her skill at blending sizzling romance and nail-biting suspense set in a convincing futuristic society in Awaken Me Darkly (2005). She now continues the roller-coaster-like adventure in an equally entertaining tale that will please a wide cross section of readers. *Starred Review* Booklist.Order your copy from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or BooksAMillion.For more information, visit Gena’s website at http://www.genashowalter.com/ and her blog at http://www.genashowalter.blogspot.com/

I've loved Gena's books since THE STONE PRINCE and THE PLEASURE SLAVE and this looks like another great one from her! And besides, she has some of the best covers I've seen *I'm becomng a cover junkie*


posted by Lis at 10:00 a.m. 2 comments

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

All About Books...

Finally a post near and dear to my heart :o)

Finally making a dent in the TBR pile (though I just got Underfoot by Leann Banks in the mail today so that just makes it go back up again) finally finished JANE MILLIONAIRE by Janice Lynn *loved it!!* and ONCE UPON A SEDUCTION by ooh I could guess this wrong because the book's not nearby, Jamie Sobrato?? Anyway, both were great reads. Helped clcear my head a little from the fog its been in lately.

Adding to my TBB pile this week are a few new ones. And some old ones, but ehq wasn't letting me get free book Friday last week *grrr* so I've decided to hold off on ordering a few more days. Anyways, look for some book themed posts this week!

OH!! ALMOST forgot, swing by Eve's blog (http://longandwritingroad.blogspot.com) she's having trouble naming her heroine. Winner gets Jill Shalvis' new book AUSSIE RULES which looks terrific, its definitely on my TBB list!
posted by Lis at 10:47 p.m. 0 comments

Monday, May 29, 2006

out for delivery

Checked postal tracking tonight, apparently Brit & Jas made it to NYC faster then I'd hoped, and as of Saturday morning were out for delivery. Just hope they get delivered tomorrow or Wednesday.
posted by Lis at 10:45 p.m. 2 comments

All Shiny & New...

So I got a new toy last week, all nice and new and shiny and pretty with these cool blue lights *reminds of the ones on CSI* anyways, it takes a while to get used to new things. Especially keyboards. And since I've never used one like this, its really weird. Its been typo city the last two days. So if you don't hear from me or you get a typo filled email, I'm sorry, still getting the hang of things with this set up :o)
posted by Lis at 12:16 a.m. 7 comments

Friday, May 26, 2006

Quick little fyi...

Jo Leigh's giving away books to the next 8 people on her blog. Swing by if you're interested.
posted by Lis at 10:49 p.m. 2 comments

Flyby...

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. Having some internet issues. The new ip hasn't hooked us up yet, though it was supposed to be activated on Wednesday...its Friday and we're still not hooked up. If I hadn't figured out how to rehook up the old modem, wouldn't be typing this :o) Good thing we didn't sign off of aol quite yet. Life without the net, just plain weird!!

Anyways, as of Wednesday at about 3:45 p.m. Brit & Jas are winging their way to NYC and the American Title 3 contest. Let me just say I have not been that exhausted in a long time! Damn most annoying couple I've written yet :o) (well maybe outside of fanfic hehe) But they're on the plane and I'm on vacation (at least till Tuesday)
posted by Lis at 12:28 p.m. 2 comments

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

When typos happen...

So I'm restructuring chapter 3. Too much introspection? Could very well be.
But I found this sentence:


Shaking her head, her hair flailing about as she chastised herself. Jas sure had managed to get under her in a hell of a hurry.

Guess what I left out?

It should be "Jas sure had managed to get under her skin in a hell of a hurry! Sheesh, I'm not writing erotica for crying out loud! This is what happens when I write at 2 a.m.
posted by Lis at 1:31 p.m. 3 comments

Phew...

So aside from spending 5 hours this afternoon revamping chapter 2 (I mean complete and total overhaul, I think 2 sentences were carried over from the M&B version) I decided that chapter 3 is pretty ucky though I had to mail it by 4 pm tomorrow for it to get to NYC by June 1st for the deadline.

Since yesterday when I went to the canadapost website and saw nothing about how long it takes an expresspost envelope to get from here to there, I went back a few minutes ago and this time smartly kicked on FAQ. Guess what? I just bought myself an extra day :O) I could mail it Wednesday and it would still get there guaranteed before the 1st. Hallelujah!!!!

Because a) chapter 3 SO isn't working for me right now. And if any one of my most lovely cps wanna take a look at 2 and then help me pick apart 3, I'd love you forever. Seriously. *g* and b) my synopsis could be called a suckopsis right now. So yeah 24 hours is a very nice bonus!

Off to blogland for a few minute break then back to stare at my notes I scribbled down during Raw.
posted by Lis at 1:05 a.m. 1 comments

Sunday, May 21, 2006

What's Going On...

Not much here. :o)

Finally I think finalized chapter 1 for the contest entry. Printed off the rough of chapter 2, and am cringing editing the hard copy. Yikes. Eeks. Can I just say I'm no longer shocked and awed M&B didn't want this lol Wouldn't want this either. *g* So I'm thinking I may scrap most of what I do have down and start over. Since I deleted the first half of chapter 2 anyways, its not that big a problem. Though the original chapter 3 is now chapter 2, which means I have to track down chapter 4 (now chapter 3) and see what horrible delights await me there. Oh did I mention I think this needs to be in the mail (expresspost) by 4pm Tuesday? Oh yeah, nothing like a crazy ass deadline to make me pull my hair out and turn what's left a nice shocking white. Just in time for the wedding I need to go in about 5 weeks.

Other news, the contest at RD is going well I think. Getting some nice comments on the queries which makes me think hey I'm not the big loser I thought I was! hehe

Oilers won again tonight, and they play Tuesday and Thursday here. There's a contest going on Wednesday to win tix to Thursday's game so I think I'll enter. Haven't been to a playoff game in uhm 5 years? Totally different atmosphere and since the Oil are on such a winning streak, it should be loud and fun!

Off to stare blankly at 16 pages of chapter 2 and wonder wtf these 2 are doing.
posted by Lis at 11:44 p.m. 2 comments

Friday, May 19, 2006

Really WEIRD

I have a bug inside my computer screen.

No kidding.

He's been running around between the layers for the last hour. He's some tiny red little guy. We've had them in the house before, but never ever in the screen. First I thought he was on top of it but no, somehow this guy had to figure out how to get INSIDE.

I'm just hoping he finds his way out before he somehows fizzles my screen. I need to get my entry finished for AT3. *fingers, toes, legs all crossed*

In other news, not so weird, spent the afternoon outside planting flowers and seeding the new flower bed dad set up for me. We tiered a few rows coming down off the back, then realized I needed to take the red flax seeds out of the shell. Darn things are like little onions, trying to break through the layers. At least the seeds are a reasonable size so I can see them. Some like the petunias yesterday are so small you can't be sure you actually got any lol

Plans for tonight are watching the Oilers play Anaheim at 7. Should be a great game!
posted by Lis at 5:59 p.m. 2 comments

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Crazy...

For the first time in forever, I took a nap today. In the blazing heat, I slept for 3.5 hours.
Feel a little better then I did before, and hey I guess it makes up for waking up at 6 in the morning.

Stumbled onto the query letter contest at romance divas tonight. Stupid me decided to enter. So yeah...yay me for getting stuff out there again *g* Though I'll probably regret it in the morning. Especially the name. Renamed Cena and frankly I don't quite think he's a Logan. :o/

What else, writing's at a bit of a standstill. Edited the hard copy of a set of chaps for one story. Got a new way to go with chapter 4 of Sabrina, which may actually work better, we'll see I'll test it out after I get through STTA. Trying to revamp the synopsis for that one a little, which maybe eh, didn't need that much work afterall but we'll see.

Anyways, that was my exciting Wednesday, topped off by the Oilers winning against the Sharks and moving to the conference finals!!!! Woohoo!!!!
posted by Lis at 12:03 a.m. 2 comments

Monday, May 15, 2006

Sunburns and other stuff...

So Saturday I decided nice weather, I'd spend the afternoon outside reading my ARC of Baby Proof. Why is you never notice sunburn till late? Its nowhere near me and Kris' Racoon days of the rainmaker rodeo of 98. But still. I may be able to step in for rudolph at some point and my forearms are a lovely shade of pink. Not too mention somehow I burned the top of only my right foot and a bit up my leg, left leg's fine. Weird & wacky.

Put the flowers outside in the starter kits. Apparently the wind and sun combined to break off some of my snapdragons :o( Am not too thrilled about that. So keeping them in till the fertilizer kicks in and they're a little stronger. Pansies are at least growing a little more. Sowed the side flower bed yesterday. Mom literally tore open a packet of seeds and they exploded everywhere. Oh well, you can never have too much alyssum right? :o)

Planning on working this week. Need to figure out how long it takes an expresspost envelope to get to NYC. I figure if I mail it next Monday I should be safe. Maybe even Tuesday. Not gonna push myself to do anything.

And *hugs* to Eve, sorry about your sore back!! Hope the advil and heat helps/helped. Anacin seemed to dull mine down to a dull roar.
posted by Lis at 11:36 a.m. 3 comments

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Its a little bit funny...

Okay well now that I have that elton john song stuck in my head. Since I'm nicely doped up on caffeine (ah, thank the heavens for coca-cola), anacin and pizza courtesy of my dad, not sure how much sense any of this will make. However the back is slowly becoming not as bad as it was the last few days (yay me!!!) Spent a few hours outside today, finally transplanted the peppers and the tomatoes one more time, they were a little too tall for the 4 packs we had them in.
Reseeded the inside trays with asters tonight and the carnations I started 2 days ago are up! What a surprise. Yay. Bought those specifically so I can have flowers on my desk in the summer. :o) Pretty the place up a little and all that.

What else what else... found out you can only enter ONE ms in American Title. Doh. So revamping the first three chaps of that one and see where it leads. I think it might be a little less work than HP right now. Though I keep debating on whether or not to really enter the contest or just concentrate on writing paranormal for awhile. It is hot right now.

Other than that, taking it easy. Back pain sucks. When you don't have any for awhile and suddenly you get it you forget just how miserable it makes doing the smallest things.
posted by Lis at 10:30 p.m. 7 comments

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Check this out...


First, love the cover.

Two, the book sounds cool

Taken from amazon:
BreakupBabe : A Novel (Paperback) by Rebecca Agiewich

Book Description
Blog: an online diary.
My Blog: How I got over the worst, most humiliating breakup in web-recorded history–and became stronger, smarter, and better off without the biggest Loser on the face of the earth.
Life is sweet for Rachel. She’s living with her boyfriend of two years in Seattle and is starting a new high-paying job at the same snazzy computer company where he works. Then Rachel’s system crashes. Her supposedly adoring almost-fiancé cheats on her, lies to her, dumps her, and hooks up with someone else–specifically, her own boss’s boss’s boss. Talk about tacky.
Heartbroken, beyond depressed, and stuck in nine-to-five hell, Rachel follows a recovery regimen that features an arsenal of meds (including General Celexa: "the holy pink pill"), deliciously detailed daily entries in her newly inaugurated weblog Breakup Babe, and a string of dates–from the irresistibly bad Little Rockclimbing Spy, who proves to be full of surprises, to the high-flying ladies man Sexy Boy, who loves weed almost as much as he loves women.With her shoulder-perched alter egos Sensible Girl and Needy Girl vying for her sanity, and a growing legion of supportive online fans threatening to snap her out of her grand funk, Rachel somehow survives, thrives, and discovers just how risky and liberating love, loss, and blogging can be.
posted by Lis at 1:26 p.m. 3 comments

Ouch...

Back pain sucks.

This is my third day with it and it sucks. So if I'm MIA, I'm just lying somewhere with a hot water bottle trying not to move.
posted by Lis at 12:37 p.m. 2 comments

Monday, May 08, 2006

No Sleep

Between my mind racing and a backache I didn't get any sleep last night. I think I briefly fell asleep somewhere around six a.m.

But however, it may have proved productive. A few new plot twists to Sabrina which will fit in nicely, a revelation about the hero I didn't even know about & a brand new way to start off Her Protector. WOW.

I'm also convinced my muse is European, what else can explain this damn sleepless nights but time differences? :o)
posted by Lis at 1:30 p.m. 6 comments

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Howdy...

Spent some time outside today. Didn't get the peppers transplanted like I wanted. But I did wash and wax 2 of the patio chairs and fertilize the flower pots outside. Warning about plastic as a greenhouse. Lift said plastic. It fries the plants otherwise :o( Lost a few bachelor buttons because of that but I reseeded.

Short post today, Oilers vs San Jose is on in about 15 minutes and I wanna watch.

Hope all had a good wknd!
posted by Lis at 5:40 p.m. 2 comments

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Untitled...

Went out running errands most of today with dad. Headed to costco, grabbed some groceries and came home. Oh and renewed my liscense. The picture sucks. Though I won't have photographic proof for 2 weeks because they know need to mail it to me. And the chick had an attitude. Just my luck. Dad had the perky girl as he was renewing his membership and I get that one. Add in wind gusts the likes of which we haven't known all spring and I'm gonna end up looking like a shaggy dog in the photo. And she didn't even offer me a 2nd chance photo like they did last time... *sigh*

Rant over
posted by Lis at 8:52 p.m. 6 comments

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Had to post this...

Taken from a link off Jenna's blog (erm, she might be on the sidebar, if not I'll add soon.)

http://www.evileditor.blogspot.com/
As she says, what Ms. Snark is to the agent blog, evil editor is the editor blog. And, evil editor is helping rewrite queries.

Swing by, take a look :o)
posted by Lis at 8:44 p.m. 3 comments

Monday, May 01, 2006

A little bitty post...

Not much time to post today. I've spent the afternoon *gasp* exercising. Used the air walker and thankfully so far -- knock on wood -- no knee pain. So happy about that.

Have to dig through my ms box as it seems I've somehow lost the first ten chaps of HP on the hard drive. Where they went I don't know but they are gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. (Maybe I should have typed byebyebye, well now I've got that darn Nsync song in my head *g*)
Other then that, will tape RAW and be watching the Oil game in 9 minutes. If they win they knock the wings out and I may be able to go to another hockey game. Which is always more fun in the playoffs :o)
posted by Lis at 5:50 p.m. 2 comments