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Melissa Lopez

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Looking for a Few Good Blogger/Reviewers [November 10, 2009 | 9:23am]

anyabast
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NO RESERVATIONS IS NOW AVAILABLE!!! [November 10, 2009 | 6:58am]

lauren_dane

Four days in Vegas. Two sexy and determined men. One penthouse suite… And No Reservations.

Christmas isn’t so merry for Kate and Leah. Kate’s romantic winter holiday is destroyed by the sudden and uninvited presence of Dix’s annoying ex-wife while Brandon’s super-perfect family and a diamond ring sends Leah running for the refuge of a girl’s holiday in Sin City with Kate in tow.

Dix and Brandon both know what they want. Hopping a plane in hot pursuit, the men show up in Vegas, ready to use every sensual trick they have to convince Kate and Leah to take a gamble on forever.

This is a follow up to last year’s Taking Care of Business and a continuation of the story between Leah and Brandon and Kate and Dix. Megan and I had a blast writing this book and I think it’s my favorite of the two just because I got to watch Kate and Dix grow stronger – oh and I laughed a lot when we wrote it.

Sale on Samhain books/ [November 9, 2009 | 12:25pm]

emmyjag
If you haven't read JL Langley or Alex Beecroft, here's your chance to stock up!!


25% Rebate at All Romance and OmniLit on All Samhain Publishing, Ltd. Titles!

This Thanksgiving Season we’re giving something to you.
From November 10-November 24 readers will be receiving a 25% eBook Bucks rebate on all Samhain titles.
What are you waiting for? Hop on over to AllRomance.com or OmniLit.com and receive bucks back today…on us!

Sacred Fate by Eresse [November 9, 2009 | 12:17pm]

emmyjag
Blurb:
In the dual-gendered realm of Ylandre, the great divide between the high-born True Bloods and the lower-ranked Half Bloods is deemed impassable by most. Rohyr Essendri dared to cross it when he took young Lassen Idana from his provincial town and made him his paramour. Lassen perforce learned how to navigate the intricate byways of life at court. What he never expected, however, was to fall in love with Rohyr, a most inadvisable and impractical thing to do when one’s lover is sovereign ruler of the land. But anything worth having is worth fighting for, both figuratively and, as Lassen discovers, literally speaking.

Bottom line up front:
I read mpreg. And, to my everlasting shock, I absolutely loved this book.

The rest:
I got this book specifically because I like the cover, and not because I did anything smart like read the blurb or the disclaimer or anything that normal people would do. Dang Anne Cain and her breathtaking art. Because of her, I randomly pulled a book off my TBR pile in a fit of boredom, and read it with absolutely no preconceived notions as to the content. This is not a book I would have bought, never mind read, otherwise. Just not my bag, yanno? Another rare occasion when I would have missed out on something wonderful.

My first clue that shit was about to go wrong was the prologue. It starts with the current king sitting at the bedside of a very ill woman, who shortly passes away. This woman wasn't family to the king, or even known to him. He just kinda showed up because she was THE LAST WOMAN BORN TO THEIR RACE. And she just died, having never married or had children. My mind sort of leaped ahead to images of extinction, or some sort of alien race coming in with females to interbreed or something. In the meantime, Chapter 1 is upon me.

Fast forward some two thousand years into the future, and we meet young Lassen. Young being subjective here, and Lassen is twenty-six. In this world, people (and by people, I mean men, since that's all that's left) age quite slowly. Thirty is the age of majority, forty is the age when making babies tends to happen, and the average lifespan is one hundred twenty or so. By comparison, twenty-six is young.

Anyways, the pretty and inquisitive young darling is on his way with the rest of his small town to await the emissaries of the Ardan, or king. The elders of the town have asked the Ardan for protection against incursions from a neighboring country. They are surprised when the Ardan, Rohyr, shows up. Surprise turns to shock when Rohyr agrees to provide protection for the town, but at a price. Rohyr had seen Lassen in the crowd, and asked to be given the young man in exchange for his protection. Seems a little weird that a king would want an underaged piece of ass in exchange for protecting a small town in the middle of nowhere, but what are convenient plot devices for, if not convenience?

Lassen gets given away to be the sexual playtoy of the king and goes to live in the capital city. He quickly falls in love with the smart and considerate Rohyr. Life is happy happy so much joy for a good decade. All that happy joy comes to an end when Rohyr is forced into a political marriage to his cousin, who predictably doesn't want Lassen around. Tyrde (I pronounced it 'turd', because he was one), the new...queen?...quickly hatches a plan to get rid of Lassen once and for all. Poor Lassen is left fighting for his love and his life.

The characterization and world building in Sacred Fate was just stunning. There was the occasional too much info dump, but for the most part readers got a good sense of the universe being presented without having to resort to maps and a history lesson. The characters that we were supposed to like were likable and relatable, and even the bad guys had a few redeeming qualities to make them seem more like good people gone wrong. This is one of those dense stories, where so much happens in the space of a few short paragraphs and pages. Even though the book was only some 160 pages long (yeah, don't let the 'plus novel' label fool you), it felt like it was much longer in a really good way. I was very much invested in the outcome.

The mpreg...you know, just the thought of it has squicked me something fierce in the past. The characters in this story are hermaphrodites, possessed of both male and female sexual characteristics. However, they're all identified as male, and it's a male society they live in. There's a choice whether to breed or not, and a wine that can be taken for contraception. Like most m/m stories, the sex here was mostly anal, and the times that it wasn't anal were very glossed over and faded to black quickly. Because the two main characters were very male, I didn't get the feeling that either was taking on a feminine role, and the pregnant parts just didn't bother me at all. I kept waiting to get uncomfortable, if not actually nauseous, but it never happened. Even pregnancy was sort of a natural progression of a loving relationship, and again, it wasn't dwelt upon ad nauseum.

The only time things could have gone icky for me was in the description of how the guys gave birth. It wasn't vaginally, and vagina was never mentioned by name anyways. It was swords and sheathes and seed pouches and seed channels. Babies came through the stomach, in a sort of Alien-ish explosion of...oh here's the part in the book:
His eyes drifted down to his abdomen. There was no sign as yet that he was breeding. That would not be obvious until the end of the fourth month of the half-year gestation period. Only then would his belly begin to swell enough to require looser clothing.

He traced the faint horizontal line that ran under his navel, almost a shade darker
than his skin. The birthing seam began to show a fortnight ago. It would continue to
darken in color, its thickness gradually diminishing as the time of birthing drew near before finally and naturally splitting open to permit the babe to emerge.

And what they gave birth to was more of an egg than anything:
Through the haze of exhaustion, he saw...their son, securely ensconced
in his natal shell. The shell looked like half the cooked white of an egg. No longer smeared with blood and birthing fluid, it was dark beige, its opaque surface streaked with the faintest traces of what looked like bluish veins.

[He] gaped when he saw the tiny infant cradled in its cushiony center, the faintly pulsing pale rose birth cord trailing across his belly to disappear into the folds of the shell surface. He had never seen a newborn fresh from the womb. It was the custom to keep days-old babies indoors and away from nonfamily members until the shell came off.

Despite his miniscule size, the child was completely formed. And judging from the
strength of his flailing arms and legs, healthy as well. The natal shell would protect him and provide nourishment until he was able to suckle. Whereupon the desiccated shell and cord would naturally detach.

Odd, but not enough to set off any squick alarms. Kinda cute, actually.

Sacred Fate is the first book I've read by this author. I was very much impressed by this intriguing, engrossing tale. The cover says 'Chronicles of Ylandre, Book One'. I cannot wait to see what's next.

Really, just go get your copy here. You'll like it. Promise.

No hitting! [November 8, 2009 | 12:03pm]

emmyjag
[ mood | contemplative ]

I've just read my 5th story in a row where the bottom boy gets randomly smacked in the ass. Not BDSM stories or anything...two characters are going at it, dude on top hauls off and starts slapping other guy's ass.

That's...not sexy to me. Unless I'm actively in a scene, I don't want to be hit, and would be really pissed if someone thought it was cute or funny to start smacking me around mid stroke.

Why is spanking so popular in m/m romance, do you think?

New journal [November 8, 2009 | 8:09am]

emmyjag

I need a place to rant/whine/be randomly emo about shit that has nothing to do with m/m books. It's locked to friends only. Feel free to friend if you want to listen to me bitch about life in general.

[info]nurse_emmy 

[November 6, 2009 | 10:24am]

lauren_dane
If you want to head on over to my blog I'm running a contest to win a copy of Skin Tight! 

Fruity Bat story, cover art edition [November 5, 2009 | 7:05pm]

emmyjag
[ mood | amused ]

SO Jen, nasty biatch that she is, has come up with the cover model for the fruit bat smexing story.
heck no, it ain't SFW )

What do you guys think??

An introvert's view of the AADPW conference [November 5, 2009 | 11:47am]

mechelea
I heard a quote once that a writer's conference was where you had a bunch of introverts all pretending to be extroverts for the length of the conference.

Oh yeah.

I admit I'm an introvert. I'm quiet. I listen a lot. I can fake talking but I'm more content to find a corner somewhere and hide out.

At big conferences with several hundred (or more) people, it's easy to do. You can get lost in big groups. I know, I'm an expert at doing it.

Authors After Dark Paranormal Weekend was different. It was a small, intimate conference.

No hiding allowed.

There weren't really any good corners. I know, I looked. LOL.

With the smaller nature of the conference, it was hard to stay shy. Hard not to sit at your table and get to know the other people there.

I have to say, I enjoyed myself. I wish a lot that I were more extroverted. I'm not a big talker or funny or have all these stories to tell. But at the AADPW, it didn't seem to matter. People just wanted to talk and find out about you.

I know I'll still attend the big cons and hide. But once and a while, I think I'm definitely going to seek out a smaller con where I can't. Just like with my writing, I love pushing my comfort zone sometimes.

May the muses have AADPW
Mechele

A Contest and an Appearance [November 5, 2009 | 7:58am]

anyabast
( You are about to view content that may only be appropriate for adults. )

Dear Maine [November 4, 2009 | 2:52am]

emmyjag
Fuck you very much.

That is all.

Random Moments, Part II [November 3, 2009 | 11:26am]

emmyjag
So I'm reading science/health type stuffs, because I'm a nerd like that, and I come across this article here about fruit bats and oral sex.

My favorite part, aside from the whole concept of bats and oral sex? This:
Intriguingly, the female lowered her head to lick the male penis during 14 of 20 copulations recorded on video. The licking typically went on for some 19 seconds, or roughly one-twelfth the average time of copulation. The male never withdrew from the female when she performed fellatio.


Fuck me if that doesn't sound like a scene from a Lora Leigh book!

But then I got to thinking...well, why not? I would totally give $500 to any m/m author (because SO not interested in girl cooties) who can work that scene into a book and sell it. For reals. If you're stuck on your NaNo WIP, here's your push, lol.

ETA: Because I'm surrounded by smart assed fuckers...
1) Bats. Like shifty mammal bats of any sub-type that naturally occurs in the wild..vampire, fruity, whatevs. No Batman costumes or dudes prancing in pleather and playtex.

2)Sell. To a publisher. Who will then publish your book. Writing some crap that you give to your play partner/ fuck buddy/ spouse/ circle jerk team member for 50 cents does NOT count as a sell.

3)M/M only. No girl cooties or fag hags with a rabies fetish.

4)No other rules, because rules are boring and make my ADD twitch.

Who knew she wasn't randomly hatched in the lower bowels of Hell?? [November 3, 2009 | 9:33am]

emmyjag

Happy Berfday, [info]   asamisgirl!!!!!!!!

Easily amused Kitteh is amused [November 3, 2009 | 8:55am]

emmyjag
Would totally watch this version of that movie. NOM!

gerard butler and rodrigo santoro

Skin Game is out! [November 3, 2009 | 9:47am]

lauren_dane

Today is the release day for Ava Gray’s Skin Game! I must tell you all, this is a must read book, probably my favorite of Ann’s so far (Ann Aguirre writing as Ava Gray). I absolutely adore this hero, she knows this because I’ve gushed about it, but Reyes and Kyra are great together, the story is tightly plotted, quick moving and totally engrossing. You’ll need to set aside some uninterrupted time because once you start reading, you won’t be able to put the book down.

 

Blurb: A beautiful fugitive—wanted dead or alive.
Kyra is a con woman and a particular kind of thief. She steals with a touch, but she only takes one thing: her target’s strongest skill. Which means she can be a fighter, an athlete, a musician, an artist—anything she wants… for a limited time. Heartbroken, she turns her gift toward avenging her father’s murder; with deadly patience, Kyra works her way into casino owner Gerard Serrano’s inner circle. After pulling off the ultimate con, she flees with his money and his pride.

A hit man who never misses the mark.
Reyes has nothing but his work. Pity for Kyra, he’s the best and mercy never sways him once he takes a job. He’s been hired to find out where Kyra hid the cash—and bring her back to face Serrano’s “justice.” Dead will do, if he can’t locate the loot. He’s never failed to complete a contract, but Kyra tempts him with her fierce heat and her outlaw heart. So Reyes has a hell of a choice: forsake his word or kill the woman he might love.

[October 31, 2009 | 10:16am]

mechelea

Snippet Saturday: Horror [October 31, 2009 | 6:33am]

anyabast
( You are about to view content that may only be appropriate for adults. )

From a Proofer's (and Editor's) POV [October 31, 2009 | 12:19am]

treva2007
As an editor, I have several pet peeves. Almost none of them are spelling related, since I'm dyslexic. I take that back. One major spelling thing. RUN SPELL CHECK. DUH? Not really. My authors and critique partners who can spell tend to turn spell check off. They find all the little red lines distracting. Hence their MS come to me with far more wrong spellings than my dyslexic authors. (I get the dyslexic authors 'cause we understand one another.)

When you run spell check, add your characters' names to your database ONLY ONCE. Then you'll know when you've spelled them wrong the next six times. Keep a list of the words yuo [like now-TH] routinely misspell and do a search for them. Mine's every form of thou words. Thought, though, through... I know the meanings, I routinely type them wrong. Oh, and YOU.

Other than that, I'm at war with repetitive sentence structure. N-V, N-V-N, ad infinitum. He opened the door. He looked out into the hallway. He took a step. He fell over dead. (I cheered.) Some variety, please!

Since I was happily on a rant, I decided to ask our proofing loop about their favorite pet peeves.

M: What are some of your pet peeves? What makes you cringe?

Lil: From a proofer's POV? Well... honestly? OK, here goes.

Words that are two words put together as one, or hyphenated incorrectly. It irks me when "alright" is used instead of "all right." Numbers used when they should not have been, i.e., 7th grade instead of seventh grade.

There's also incorrect word usage. Inconspicuous in place of conspicuous, "then" instead of "than" (and vice versa). Improper usage of tense also bugs me. "There were also the other ten people who were murdered." Or maybe it's the way the past tense usage is worded. I asked that it be changed to "had been murdered."

Maybe I'm too picky. Maybe I'm not picky enough. Some things, like those I named, just irk me to no end. I've seen books from big New York publishers that I've found so many errors in, it's not even funny.

OK, guess I need to get off my soapbox!

Pat: Spelling/word confusion errors. Loose/lose, altar/alter, their/they're/there, hear/here, from/form, though/thought, through/thru/threw, bared/barred, lightning/lightening, of/off, definitely/defiantly and then/than are often confused.

Another real pet peeve is repetitive words -- i.e. and, that, but. I almost always make my authors remove at least half if not more of them. I hate those words. I'm not crazy about run on sentences either. Recently I edited a book containing the word and over 2000 times, the word that almost 3000 times... I asked one author if he thought his characters were bobble heads. All they did was nod, smile, or grin -- he had a tag for every dialogue.

Vicki: While on dialogue tags -- chuckled, giggled, sighed, snorted...

Or when an author only knows two dialogue tags -- said and asked.

Jean: All the aforementioned errors, plus:

Some authors try to use words that are not in their vocabulary. That is, they know there's a word that means what they want to say, but they're not quite sure which word it is. They end up using a word that sounds similar, but isn't quite it. For instance, "vicious" for "viscous" or "lathe" for "lave." Ouch! I can always tell when an author went to the thesaurus and looked for different words to mean "sexy" -- the new words are used in a way that is tone-deaf to their connotations.

(A final comment on tone-deafness to word meanings -- I hate the word "smirk" and I think authors use it way too much. To me, it means a little quirk of the lips with a malicious intent. Many authors use it as a synonym for "smile.")

I've pretty much decided that some people are gifted with storytelling talent, and others are gifted with a sense of language, but that only a very few people have both.

Lea: You have no idea how many times I have come across that problem. I think it is worsened by people's dependence upon spell check. I have noticed that if a word is not in spell check's dictionary, it will make suggestions that can be really off track. And if you take its word for it, you can come up with some really weird sentences. I came across one where the nun went up the hill and entered the "convenient." Yikes! Another problem with spell check is that if you misspell a word, and the word you accidentally formed is a real word, spell check will NOT catch it.

I'm one of those people who has absolutely no ability to tell a story. But the wrong word stops me like running into a brick wall. All my books have places where I felt it necessary to "fix" them.

Christina: I agree completely with all the previous posts about peeves, especially the homophones/homonyms. Also, the dreaded run-on sentence. And they..., and then she..., and..., and... ACK! Occasionally they work. Most times they don't.

Em: I'd love to see what other proofers say about what they found in a book. There are times when I know something is wrong, and I know how to fix it, but I don't remember the grammatical term for why it was wrong. Also, I'll think something like "improper use of a possessive," and then comment "Put an apostrophe there," or "Take out this apostrophe," or just write it correctly in the comment. I figure it's probably pretty clear why I've marked a grammatical mistake.

One that I seem to be seeing relatively often lately is "free reign" instead of "free rein" -- it's a term related to horseback riding or carriage driving, thus the use of reins. Another one that gets me is "may" instead of "might." Even if much of the rest of the story is in past tense, the author goes into present tense there. Sometimes it could more or less work in the context, sometimes not so much. Like, "He may be small, but he was feisty" just isn't right.

Another one I've seen a couple of times is "climatic" instead of "climactic." In the context, it had to be relating to "climax," not "climate." There's always lie/lay/had lain versus lay/laid/had laid -- and of course lie/lied/had lied. I've seen some where the writer put an unneeded "ed," like "she decided to sneaked" instead of "she decided to sneak."

I don't remember an exact example, but I've seen several uses of passive verbs which completely altered the meaning of the sentence. I do remember "The door was opened" either being "The door was open" or "The door opened." It wasn't really clear which one the author meant.


Chrissie: I have a few peeves.
You can add AS and THEN to Pat's list of repetitive words. I've had over 400 of each in a single manuscript.
"Letting/allowing" body parts to move.
Body parts moving on their own.
Eyes meeting.
The womb featuring heavily during sex.
Shattered into a million pieces (yes, still used).
"Core" being used instead of "pussy."
"Uttered" as a speech tag.
I had one author who insisted "he bore his teeth" was correct...
[M: Maybe they were removable? And heavy?]

Jess: A pet peeve of mine that I've been seeing a lot of lately (at another press, not so much at Changeling) is unnecessary quotation marks. I've had authors who put every cliché, idiom, figure of speech, or word they just want to emphasize in quotation marks. This really "drives me crazy" and makes it hard to "keep my head in the game" and focus on the more "important" issues. ;-) On a related note, have you guys seen this Web site? http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com/ -- Check out the "Greatest Hits" list on the right side of the page.

Kym from Loose Id: The two biggest problems I have at LI that weren't mentioned already are incorrectly attributed (or dangling) participles and simultaneous action. For the first, an example is "Unbuttoning his shirt, her eyes looked up to see his reaction." There's more than one thing wrong with that sentence, but for this example, it's that her eyes are unbuttoning his shirt, not her. I'd suggest something like "As she unbuttoned his shirt, she looked up to see his reaction" or "Unbuttoning his shirt, she looked up to see his reaction." For the second, a good example would be "He raced to get her a drink, returning immediately with a glass of water." As written, he's running away and coming back at the same time, which isn't possible. It should be something like "After racing to get her a drink, he returned with a glass of water" or "He raced to get her a drink, then returned with a glass of water."

Otherwise, I wholeheartedly agree with the ambiguously moving body parts, or the idea that our body parts have a will of their own, e.g., "Her hands reached up to touch his face." They might have, but it wasn't of their own volition. It's that she lifted her hands to touch his face. And finally, you shouldn't rely on spell check, and whenever possible, turn off the Auto Correct feature. In my experience, it introduces more errors than it fixes.

This article did make me happy. What a nice way to start the day.


Bill: One really basic complaint. Manuscripts with no NAME on them. We're not really all that psychic. And commas. People really need to learn how to use commas. Or  how, not, to use, commas.

Treva: Oooh! Oooh! I got one, though it isn't a proofing error. Manuscript submissions with no email address on them. We can usually hunt down an address but it wastes precious time in accepting. Can that count? [Sure! It's an editing error, isn't it? -M]

Margaret Riley
Dyslexic Editor par excellence
Changeling Press LLC


With commentary
from Treva, as always...

I recommend spill-proof travel mugs. Always. [October 28, 2009 | 9:08am]

anyabast
( You are about to view content that may only be appropriate for adults. )

Writerly Wednesday - Just Get it Done [October 28, 2009 | 7:38am]

lauren_dane

Writing is hard. Oh sure some days it’s wonderful and fun. You sell books, you get great covers or reviews, this is awesome. But very often, people don’t realize that making the commitment to write daily is damned hard work. Writing a book takes time. It takes your time and it takes you saying, “not gonna watch television this week until I get my words for the day done.” It means you get up an hour earlier to finish if you didn’t the day before, or that you stay up later.

I get a lot of letters asking about my secret. I don’t have a secret. I work hard. There are no shortcuts. No magic beans. No secret formulas or guarantees. I sit my ass down and I write. That’s what I do and that’s what other authors do.

Talking about writing isn’t writing. I know a thousand people who talk about writing, have talked about writing for years and yet, they have no completed projects. They work on the first fifty pages of a story they’ve been writing for five years but have yet to finish a single book. They go to conferences and sometimes even get themselves a request for a full from an editor. But they don’t have a full because they talk about writing instead of actually writing.

Yes, this sounds harsh. I’m not trying to kill anyone’s dream. But writing is a job. A job. If you want it to be a hobby (and there’s not a damned thing wrong with that either, not everyone wants to be a professional author) then it doesn’t matter. But if you want to be a writer you have to actually write. You have to put it first when it’s supposed to be first. Whining to me or to your friends about how such and such has it so much easier because they don’t have a day job or whatever is worse than useless, it’s negative. You will never have any schedule but your own. Period. It doesn’t matter that author x has all day to write in a swanky office with assistants and snacks delivered every two hours. You’re not author x and you’re never going to be an author of any kind unless you stop making excuses and finish the damned book.

Sit. Your. Ass. Down. Write. There’s the secret.

I don’t have a muse. I’m too busy for one. But if you do, make sure it’s a muse that supports your writing on a regular basis. There are very few perfect writing moments, most of the time you make do, as you do with just about everything else in the world. If you have a muse, makes sure you never use that as an excuse to not write. I’m pretty over seeing people complain that they took the whole week off to play video games because their muse wasn’t cooperating. That’s not a muse to blame, that’s you. Write the damned book.

People get rejected every day. Established authors get rejected. It’s a fact of this business. But they’re established because they write the damned book. People sell books every day too. It can happen. It does happen – Ann Aguirre just sold her first YA yesterday. A book she wrote in two weeks, LOL. This happens because she sat down, turned off the internet and wrote. And then wrote some more. And some more after that. I look at the successful authors and one thing runs between them – they do the work. I’ve never heard Megan Hart complain about the muse (and believe me, we’ve talked about everything under the sun, LOL). I’ve never heard Anya Bast or Cynthia Eden complain about anyone else’s schedule or timeline. Jaci Burton? She’s a machine. She writes because it’s her job and she does a great one.

I get asked for advice a lot – there’s no one true way. Some people outline, some don’t. Some do timed bursts of writing, some don’t. Some take the weekends off, some write three days a week, some use storyboarding, you get the idea. But the one thing successful authors have in common is that they write the book. It’s their job and they treat it like one. It can be a fun job, a job you love more than anything, but if you can’t give it priority when it needs priority, you’re not doing yourself any favors.

Have ten minutes a day? Use it to write. Have to sit in the carpool line? Bring a notebook or a notebook computer. I have a comp book I carry with me all the time. I buy comp books in bulk because they’re easy to carry, small enough to tuck into a bag and cheap. This is just me, you may need cards or time to plot or whatever. The point is, sometimes when life crowds in, you must push back, even if it’s ten minutes a day. Ten minutes a day will get the book finished. Stop worrying that your buddy in your local chapter writes 3k a day. If you write slower, own it.

Own it. Own the very true fact that finishing a book is one of the best feelings on earth. Selling it is even better, LOL. But you can’t sell it if you don’t finish it. Contests are fine and good if you have the extra time. But winning the XYZ chapter’s best opening scene won’t finish your book. If you do NaNo this year, don’t quit after the first week. Don’t quit after the challenge ends either. Now you have to edit (and remember that most books that sell to NY are longer than 50K so you may have to expand). Use NaNo or whatever challenge you enter to get in the habit of writing regularly. Keep that habit.

Writing isn’t a competition, it’s a job. Use the challenges to hone your skills, not as an excuse not to finish, not as an excuse not to write until the start date, and not as a way to compare yourself to anyone else and use that as a reason to quit. You can’t finish if you quit. Power through. Finish the book and let that be your award. Then open a new document and start the next project. And so on.

To everyone entering contests and challenges, I wish you all good luck and look forward to congratulating you all when you finish successfully!

In Which My Precious Orbs Are Tortured [October 27, 2009 | 5:32pm]

emmyjag
I'm not a huge American Idol fan. I stopped watching it several seasons ago, because it just got that boring. I did, however, follow along with all the various drama of Adam Lambert. The guy can sing, but I don't think he'll have much mainstream appeal. He's also fun to look at...or was, until I saw his album cover.




*winces* Really, Adam? Someone told you this was a good idea? And you believed them?

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