Family Pictures

My cousin and I have been talking about a vacation that she and her mother and our aunt and my beloved and I (four women, one guy, and his golf clubs) are taking. In the process, we've swapped a couple of photos. When she and I were this age, people thought we were twins. We know my brother and both of hers, and she and I are both almost positive we know which of us is which--but I distinctly remember wearing the coat that she's wearing. Weird, although we may have swapped.

And how does this pertain to writing? Look at those boys. They're adolescents, fully personality-ridden, one leaning into the air, another an older brother, covering his younger, taking over at the handlebars, and the last, a cousin, clinging, white-knuckled, but all on the verge of racing into the parent taking the pic. We two girls are so young we're just kind of grinning. We're not so comfortable in our personalities yet--passively sitting, not willing to state who we are with a pose. Someone just set us on the horsies, and we're staying put.

We're characters without characterization yet. (Sorry to my sister/cousin if you see this. I could be wrong! And since you were so quiet and "ladylike"--and I was so not--I'm sure everyone who knew us, knew us apart, even then!)

Gotta go fill up a character with some characterization.

It's Tuesday

No time to read; no time to swim; gotta write.

Always time to sort out my family's IT problems! :-)

Here's a silent plea that next book I get the conflict right the first time! ;-) However, even though I'm doing a rewrite because of that slightly sideways conflict, I love these characters, and I'm thinking I want to move to Honesty, Virginia!

Just before I hit the Publish Post button, I saw that I still can't spell "right." It always comes out "write." Or perhaps I'm flaunting my Freudian slip!

Lovely Photo!

A picture of our favorite child! (Sorry girl and boyo!)

But look at that charm! And we just pretend not to notice his addiction to chewing anything made of hard plastic.

Mondays Look Different to Me Now

I've been lucky in that I've always made my living by writing or editing or both, but some of those writing/editing jobs weren't as much fun as writing romance. I can remember Sundays when I spent all day dreading Monday.

Not so, now. Monday is a new day, a new week, a new chance to get ever so much accomplished! I hope everyone finally comes to a job where Mondays look so good.

As for me, I'd better take advantage of all this newness!

Slogging

Remember when writing was purely fun? I sort of do. Right now, I'm 'rasslin'.

The old conflict--wasn't. So, my friends Susan Floyd and Jennifer LaBrecque sorted me out. Sometimes you just can't see that stinking forest, and I apparently had a redwood in my eye (to mix metaphors or analogies?).

I'm back at it, but panicked so everything else is moving slowly. I took a break to plant some stuff by the wall this morning. Now I'm back at those pages. Imagine the shock of running straight into a five-page scene that totally deflates any conflict ever. You'd think, after 14? 15? books, I'd know better.

A New Blog Day!

That's what it is for me because we've finally given in to satellite Internet access. I hope to be a bit more faithful in showing up!

We're having a lovely day in the South, not too hot, crickets/frogs singing up a beautiful, raucous storm (you can't imagine how much that sounds like home until you haven't heard it in 5 1/2 years!), and my girl's sitting a few feet away, catching up on her Harry Potter re-read. She reads the whole "oeuvre" again each time a new one comes out. How sad to think this is the last new one! I love those stories, love the characters, love the battle, hate to see it all end. (And who else is worried about stumbling on the answer to the "big" question?)

Can't hang around long. There's this WIP deadline... And my friend, Kate Walker, is still having her international blog party, and she's invited me to join in--so I have to finish getting some stuff together now that I can finally send it in something less than two days. Thanks, Kate for your extreme patience!

Back soon!

Hellllloooooo!

Long time, no blog. I've been buried in a deadline and house stuff and the false promise of high speed. ;-)

However, lovely news draws me out again. Romantic Times gave The Man from Her Past a 4. Yay! I haven't actually seen the review, but I saw the number. Exciting! I never actually remember to send the ms. out for reviews elsewhere so this is a moment I wait for each book.

I wish you all a lovely summer, and I'll be back tomorrow.