Retreat Review In Thirty Seconds Or Less

What a WONDERFUL weekend! I'm tired and I'll give you more details tomorrow, but I finished my 4th draft of Fractured Paradise AND wrote the blurb for it! I've got errands tomorrow and a few hours of work, but I promise to post my few pics and give you a rundown of the weekend tomorrow night.

This Just In....

I'm blogging from the Austin RWA retreat in Central Texas. It's been a productive day, although I'm not moving as fast I'd hoped. Still, I'm down to a few scenes left to revise/write to finish this draft. I had hoped to finish today, but there's something simple preventing me from finishing. Of course I don't know what it is, but I know it's very simple! So, I'm getting off the computer, taking out my handy-dandy pencil & paper, and I'm going to handwrite my blurb so I can remind myself/remember my characters' GMCs. Maybe that will remind me what's important and shed light on what needs to be deleted or added to make that happen. Wish me luck! Update coming tomorrow night!

While I'm Busy Finishing My 2nd Novella....

* * * Permission To Forward Granted and Appreciated! * * *

Contests: The Basics
Presented by Alexa Bourne
Dates: March 5 – 28, 2012
Deadline: March 2, 2012
Fee: $16.00

Course Description:

Students will explore reasons to enter contests, how to find the right contest for their work, how to follow the “rules,” how to deal with the results/feedback of contests, and finally choose contests.

Topics covered will include:

·       Pros & Cons of Contests

·       How to Find Contests

·       How to choose Contests

·       Rules of contests

·       Contests vs. Publishing Industry

·       Dealing With Contest Results

·       Other advantages to contests

Instructor Bio:

Alexa Bourne has been working toward publication for several years. She entered her first contest in 2002 and has since finaled or won in 21 RWA contests with seven manuscripts. She has a Bachelor’s in English Literature and a Master’s in Education. She has been an English teacher for children and adults. She has also written various articles for RWA chapter newsletters and befriended the competition in a contest on more than one occasion.

You can register for the following on-line class through March 3.  Each class is $16.  FMI: www.lowcountryrwa.com/online-workshops/

Or email Online Workshop Coordinator, Veronica Alderson, alde02@knology.net using the Subject line: LRWA ONLINE WORKSHOP.  To subscribe to LRWA Online Workshop monthly mailing list, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LRWAonlinecourses/join

Thank you.

Veronica Alderson,
LRWA Online Workshop Coordinator
LRWA Treasurer

Temporary Heaven...Lexi Style!

It's almost Friday. I've got a sub job in a 4th grade classroom tomorrow and then NOTHING to do but focus on writing! (Well, I'll probably fill out some job applications tomorrow night, but that's it.) How am I so fortunate to have nothing to do but write, you ask? This weekend is my Austin RWA annual writing retreat. I'm getting up early Saturday morning to drive to a beautiful place for some quality time with some of my writer friends and my current FANTABULOUS characters. I'm so excited because I've been trying to finish the 4th & 5th drafts of Fractured Paradise for almost 2 weeks now. I expect to get tons done before I head home late Sunday afternoon. No, our retreat is not taking place in this location, but the way I feel when I look at this picture is EXACTLY how I know I'll feel Saturday when I arrive. Come on back Sunday. I'll post pics and details of my retreat experience AND deets about my universe plea from Tuesday. Have a great weekend!

PLEASE, Universe, Swing My Way!

I won't get into details here, but if you've got thoughts, prayers, or good vibes to spare, PLEASE send them my way. I've got several "irons in the fire" on a professional and personal level and I could really use any one of the five things (or three or four, or all five...) to work out in my favor. I'll share deets when I can.

2/8-So far two of them are a big, fat NO! :-(

Ooops, I Did It Again

Somewhere around 2001: I wrote 150 pages of a romantic suspense and realized something wasn't right. I liked my supposed villain way more than my hero. And the hero and heroine had little chemistry. So I revised the 150 pages with the original villain as the hero and the original hero as his sidekick (who would get his own story later). It was painful, especially after 150 pages, but once I made the change the characters sparkled.

November 2010: I was working on NaNoWriMo, writing my 1st ever bounty hunter story. I'd reluctantly started watching Dog the Bounty Hunter to see what the lifestyle was like. My hero and heroine were both great people, I eeked out 50,000 words and a lot of blood, sweat and tears. In the end, I realizd the hero and heroine were wrong for each other. The hero was the wrong guy. He was the brother of the correct hero. After NaNo, I revised with the correct brother and the couple exploded on the page. I LOVED the revising and it became one of my strongest full-length books.

November 2011: I started NaNoWriMo with my 2nd bounty hunter story and an AWESOME couple. (Yes, I'm still a Dog the Bounty Hunter fan!) I got through 50,000 words after some difficulty (some "real life", some writing-related). I liked the characters, loved the premise, but the spark wasn't there. No true chemistry. Over the last few days I started thinking, "Maybe the correct hero is one of the brothers." (I had a specific one in mind. There are 4 boys and a girl in the family.) I haven't gotten back to revising it yet mainly because I'm knee-deep in the novellas, but already the choice to change the hero feels right.

Now, the real question is, when I write the 2012 NaNoWriMo manuscript, will I switch the brothers again or will I learn my lesson and make necessary changes BEFORE writing the rough draft??? Is there ANY hope for me?

Line Edits

On Wednesday I got my line edits for Champion. They looked relatively easy, mostly grammar (commas and I don't get along) and a few dialect issues, so I told the editor I would return them Thursday night before I went to bed.

Wow, I REALLY need to think before I promise to return stuff. Why? I left the house Thursday morning at 7, got home at 8:30 PM and then had to start my "relatively easy" edits. At 2:30 THIS morning (yes, FRIDAY morning-after 4 hours of editing!), I emailed them back to her. (Then I went to bed for 3 1/2 hours before I got up to spend the day with a class of 2nd graders.) I could've emailed earlier and said I couldn't finish at that time, but I felt I had to honor my word. It may not be a big deal at the moment, but if I let it slide now I run the risk of letting it slide later on and eventually that will come back to bite me on the arse.

Since I've been home today, I received my final edits before the story goes to the senior editor. I quickly started an email to my content editor and I had to literally take my fingers off the keyboard so I could think about my response. Can I really get everthing done before bed tonight and returned or do I need the weekend too? (For the record, I'm pretty sure I can.)

Now, as you know I've been knee-deep in revising Fractured Paradise so I can submit that to my publisher (yep, still smiling when I say that!) within the next 2 weeks. It's coming along, I'm pretty confident I'll submit it late next week and I'm absolutely LOVING everything about it. Well, when I started re-reading and editing Champion last night, what was in my head? Paradise. I kept having to remind myself to focus on the right story. It wasn't difficult, but it did feel very strange. This was the first time I'd done something like this because I usually work on one story at a time. (Not quite sure how that will play out when I have multiple contracts, but I can't wait to find out!)

So now I'm off to make a cup of tea and sit down to my final edits. I'll let you know if I get them done tonight!