Dude, Where's My Muse?

I'm thinking that's the sound that happens when I hit send lol Sent another partial out this afternoon. Still need to do the synopsis so I can send another one out next week. Its sad its been so long since I wrote one, I'm going through my notes on how I write one lol I have to pick out my top 5 plot points and then fill in the gaps. Hoping it won't take too long.

Printer is almost out of ink, so need to change cartridges this weekend so I can print out everything I typed out the last few days and do one last hard copy edit before I paste it in with the partial into my final draft file. I'm averaging somewhere between 6-9K a day retyping the last 4 days, with yesterday off because my brain said enough is enough lol

Looking forward to the new season of LAS VEGAS tonight. And want to catch Moonlight too.

No big plans for the weekend other then working and listening to the swiss hockey game tomorrow. Ok, so I can't understand a word they say besides the players name, but hey by the end of the season I might be able to understand a few words lol

Thirteen Books Read This Summer1. Undercover In High Heels by Gemma Halliday2. Harry Potter #7 by JK Rowling3. Viva Las Bad Boys by Helenkay Dimon4. Hard and Fast by Lisa Renee Jones5. Revenge of the Homecoming Queen by Stephanie Hale6. The Boys Next Door by Jennifer Echols7. Top Ten Uses For An Unworn Prom Dress by Tina Ferraro8. Untouched by Samantha Hunter9. Secrets Rising by Suzanne McMinn10. Fanged and Fabulous by Michelle Rowen11. Wednesday Night Witches by Lee Nichols 12. The Haunting by Hope Tarr13. Divine by Mistake by PC Cast 1. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! Impulsive Hearts (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

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On the agent requests. Emailed the partial to NYC. Would have been a lot sooner if Word would have co-operated all weekend and not lost chapter 4 numerous times. Which I didn't catch till I was working on the laptop and the scene I knew I cut Friday night was suddenly staring me in the face. So I had to try and remember all the new parts, move them to one file then go back to the original and put them in there. Talk about a P.I.T.A *g*

Still in the agent news, another request arrived yesterday afternoon for an agent wanting an exclusive, which obviously I can't give her... but she sounded excited about the project, so I'm hoping she'll take a look even though it won't be on exclusive.

I found one thing with this project, I'm retyping it as I edit and its easier to cut scenes this way lol Might be because I'm too lazy to retype them, but I'm noticing what isn't as important to the story a little more.

The weather here is COLD. We've had a couple frosts already which have sorta claimed half of my four o'clock plants, the flowers are pretty withered up but I'm leaving them till I get the little seeds off. Last year I got about 2 envelopes full and this year's were so much nicer, so hoping to get at least one envelope's worth.

My petunias though are still going strong, which is surprising :o) Though I may have lost my portulacas on the weekend.

Did this week go? Just me or did it pass by super fast? It wasn't a bad week though, 2 agent requests to see Chey *happy dance* I'm printing out the release form tomorrow and getting it in the mail this weekend. One agent said I could sub the partial either by snail mail or email, I'm opting email because its quicker, cheaper and 99% better chance of it actually arriving. :o) (I'm still traumatized over the 3 missing partials from the summer of 05).

Woke up early this morning (well early for me -- 8 am) so I wouldn't miss the chat with Deidre at ten. Amazed I woke myself up without an alarm clock since I'm usually a night gal and don't fall asleep till 2:30 - 3 anyways. But there I was, watching mindfreak till chat time and working on inputing Nell's crit. (btw, thanks Nell!)

Looking forward to the weekend, probably give myself a day off of polishing and just veg out. My belated Xmas gift from 2 of my best friends arrived (they gave me gift certificates last year) that I finally used, Miami Vice Season 3 and Mindfreak Season 2. So I think I'll curl up with the laptop and watch some Sonny Crockett and Criss Angel for inspiration :o)

I would have posted yesterday but I had Caridad touring so I waited till today.

Chey got her first request for a FULL... *g*

So that'll be a partial and a full circulating around NYC by the end of the month. :o)

Today there's a special guest on the blog, author Caridad Pineiro, author of SOUTH BEACH CHICAS CATCH THEIR MAN (Downtown Press 2007)!

I was lucky enough to have a chance to interview Caridad about her writing and SOUTH BEACH CHICAS.


Why did you want to be a writer?
I love to create and tell stories and writing is one way where I can do that. I enjoy the process of getting to know the characters, finding out what kind of story will best tell their story and then sitting down to write it.

How long have you been writing?
I wrote my first book in the fifth grade. I wrote essays and other things through school, but after high school, I sat down to research and write my first book. I continued working on that book through college and law school, but didn't finish it. I found out that this book was set in an historical period that would be impossible to sell and so I turned my attentions to a contemporary book. A couple of years after the birth of my daughter, I decided to complete the book and try to get it published. It took me nearly six years to sell my first book after that.

What inspired the South Beach Chicas series?
I always wanted to write a book about female relationships and the changes that most women go through. The Chicas were born because I wanted to explore their relationships and do it in a locale that was sexy and fun.

What was your favorite scene to write?
My favorite scene to write was actually the scene between Virginia and Pablo, Sylvia's mom and dad. It was important to me to show that fortysomething women can be successful and sexy and the romance scenes between these two let me do just that. I also loved writing the scenes between Sylvia and her mom, Virginia. It was important for me to show the friendship between them and how special it was because that relationship was a lot like my relationship with my mom and my relationship with my daughter.

Which character is most like you or most opposite of you?
Tori is most like me. Responsible and dependable, but with passion lurking underneath. Of course, Sylvia is the exact opposite, but the fun thing about being a writer is that you can explore all these different personalities in the stories that you create.

Describe your writing in three words.
Passionate. Thoughtful. Emotional.

What's the most gratifying thing about writing for you?
The most gratifying thing is hearing from readers. I love knowing that they identified with a particular character or that the story helped them escape to a different world. It's that kind of thing that makes the tough world of writing worthwhile.

Do you have plans for another South Beach Chicas book?
I am in the process of working on the proposal for the next Chicas book -- Adriana's story. I think that many women have experienced situations where they have a relationship with a man that is platonic, but possibly want more. Or maybe there has always been something simmering beneath the surface between the two and both are waiting for something to make it become more than just friendship. Adriana and Riley have taken the first steps in moving their relationship from friends to lovers, but will it work out? The next Chicas book will explore their relationship, the change from friends to lovers and the complexities of that kind of relationship.

What's next for you?
Besides the next Chicas book, there will be three more novels in THE CALLING Vampire series in 2008/9. Also, I am working on proposals for some single title paranormals and romantic suspense novels.

Visit Caridad at http://www.caridad.com/

I had a great blog post worked out for yesterday all about confidence and really good stuff and then, I lost it. Gone into the abyss. Wah!! :o)

So I'll play catch up on my week instead.

~ Monday
*the highlight was RAW and I was so totally right on who was the mysterious son

~ Tuesday
* the arrival of my RWA CDS. Woohoo. Much rejoicing, till I realized that added to my nicely already inflated visa bill due to my purchase last week... (see cute pic below...)

~ Wednesday
* listened to the Nora chat twice, just to hear her say F-Off lol
* entered pitch for YA into agent's blog pitch

~ Thursday
* listened to YA workshop, decided to query agent in workshop
* request for first 5 pages
* emailed back within an hour saying nicely written, not for him

~Friday
* hear back from agent blog pitch, not right for her list...rewrite entire query letter.
* find interesting individual on myspace, debate friending said person... still debating...
* get reading done
* listened to hockey game in Switzerland of which the only words I understand are ice, powerplay, GOAL, players names... sounds like a lot of 'grab booty' but as far as I can tell favorite player (again, see below) had lots of ice time and was on the power play

And this would be me Friday afternoon...wearing the new jersey :o)

And it kicked off on the right foot. I ordered something for myself this week, a little treat kind of a thing and didn't expect it till next week. Fed ex delivered it at 2pm yesterday lol Totally surprised me

Editing is going well, except for one glitch. There's a scene I know I wrote, its still in my head but I can't turn it up. Not on the computers. Not in my back-ups at yahoo and not in any of the handwritten pages or the print outs. So I have no clue where it disappeared to, but I know that at some point I did write it. Looks like I get to do it again. *sigh* Also have to decide where one character makes his grand appearance. I cut a couple pages which seemed a little slow but led up to him being in the backyard. Now with those gone, I need to move him somewhere else that makes sense. Probably think better once I have some caffeine in my system.

Anyone have any big plans for the weekend?

Nothing major for me. Still editing. Need to mail a package to some friends in Philly tomorrow. Most Haunted's on tonight and it should be a 'new to us' episode.

Wow, didn't realize the last post was #450, I'll try to hit 500 by the end of the year :o)

Been very busy lately. Actually went out driving on the weekend which I hadn't done in years. But since dad was getting rid of the car, he thought since I drove it new I should drive it when it was old (12 years). So I went out on the highway and didn't actually do too bad. Only got nervous once when a pick up tried to pass me on the left as someone was turning right into his lane.

Chapter polishing still going on. Funny thing about first person is making sure she sounds the same all the way through. And I found a missing scene or so I thought. It's at the end of my print out pages so moving it back to where it belongs in chapter 2. CPs have the first chap to look at and hopefully get chapter 2 over to them tomorrow. Would like to hit send on it next Monday if possible.

What else is new? Long weekend passed. Got a pizza from my favorite pizza place, Boston Pizza. Nothing reminds me more of Rexall/Skyreach/Hockey games then a slice of pepperoni and mushroom and a coke. :o)