May 6, 2008

The Thing About Cleaning (and writing too)

Ultimate Sportsfan and I had friends coming over for brunch on Sunday, which meant we had to get ready for our guests on Saturday. And of course, that meant cleaning. Lots of cleaning.

I hope I can feel at home confiding to all of you that I don’t clean much. My house isn’t a pigsty or anything. I wipe off the counters, do laundry, run the dishwasher…but the heavy stuff like mopping and dusting and polishing the silver only get done when we have people coming over or I just can’t take it anymore. I’d like to do more cleaning, but the bottom line is that I can either clean or write, and I choose to write.

But Saturday I had no choice but to clean, and I started thinking that, in some ways, cleaning is a lot like writing. See, the thing about cleaning is that the more I clean, the more I see that needs to be cleaned. For example, if I clean the counters and the sink in the kitchen, then the stove looks dirty. Then the refrigerator doesn’t look spiffy. And what about the inside of the refrigerator? And if I’m cleaning in there, I’d better do the inside of the microwave too. And how long has it been since those windows were washed…

I think in the cleaning world this is called the dustball effect.

In the writing world, it’s called overwriting.

Right now I’m on page 354 of a book that really shouldn’t go over 375 pages. I’m generally a pantser, but at the end of a book I try to map everything out clearly to ensure I don’t forget anything and the pacing stays tight.

So after cleaning all day, I sit down to write. I know exactly what scenes I need to write, their purposes, the point of view, everything. And yet, as I write I can’t resist putting little extras in there.

Why not give this character a few lines? Why not throw in another kiss? Why not have the hero talk to his best friend one more time? Pretty soon what should have been 5 pages turns into 12. If I allow myself to do this unchecked, I’ll get 550-page books. I’ve done it in the past. But since I’ve been published and realized that no one is going to buy 550-page books, I’ve tried to save myself the anguish of cutting huge sections and written to publisher guidelines.

And so just like when I’m cleaning, and I think, “Why not pull out all the refrigerator shelves and wash them?”, when I’m writing I have to say, “No, best friend, you can’t have a part in this scene. Or a subplot. Or a love interest.”

Save that for the next book. Or the next Spring cleaning.

April 29, 2008

Things That Bug Me

10. When I pour a bowl of cereal and there’s only enough milk to fill the bowl halfway.

9. When, after said cereal bowl incident, I remember that I was supposed to do X and Y before work.

8. When I arrive at work late because X and Y took longer than expected.

7. When my boss notices that I arrive late.

6. When, breathless, I finally get to my desk and see notes from the day before reminding me of all the work I was going to do when I got to work early.

5. When the printer breaks, and it keeps saying, “Tray 2 Open.” And Tray 2 is not open, damn it!

4. When the copier has a paper misfeed, and there is not a scrap of paper anywhere in G2 or A5 or any of the other crevices it tells me to search.

3. When I get 10 minutes to eat lunch because I spend the rest of the time trying to fix the copier.

2. When someone tells me the copier has been broken since yesterday.

1. When I stop by the store after work (Finally! I can make those copies on Monday. I’ll just get there early.) to buy batteries for a portable radio I’m bringing to a picnic the next day. And then I get home and realize that I need 8 C batteries, not 8 D.

Ever had a day like this?

April 22, 2008

Vacation Time!

I love this time of year. In my part of the world, the sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, the temperature is perfect.

And it’s time to plan for summer vacation.

This year Ultimate Sportsfan and I had planned a two-prong vacation. My grandparents and my brother live in Michigan, so we planned to fly up and see them for three or four days. This was my part of the vacation. Then we were going to fly to Las Vegas and play there for three or four days. This was USF’s part of the vacation.

Then I finaled in the Rita.

For those of you who don’t know, the Rita is like the Oscar’s of romance writing. Authors and books are nominated in various categories and the awards are given the last night of the Romance Writers of America’s annual conference. I am extremely blessed to have finaled once before in the Best First Book category (The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Men I’ve Dated). Now I’ve finaled in the Regency Historical category. My competition is fierce: Julia Quinn, Anna Campbell has two nominations, and Nicola Cornick. The odds of me winning are only 1 in 5, and yet I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to be there. It’s so much fun to be a finalist, even when you don’t win.

Well, we couldn’t give up our trip to Michigan. How can you tell your grandparents you’re not coming for a visit? So Las Vegas had to go, and San Francisco took its place.

Wow. I think Vegas definitely would have been cheaper. But san Francisco, here we come!

Anyone been there? We thought we’d see Alcatraz and the Golden gate Bridge, but what else should we see?

And what vacation plans do you have? Or are you staying home this summer?

April 14, 2008

In My Shoes

I’ve really enjoyed reading about everyone’s day in the last few blogs, and I guess now it’s my turn. Since I have a day job, my schedule is a little bit different.

4:20 a.m. The alarm goes off. Feed the cats, empty the litter box, turn on the computer.

4:45 a.m. Finish reading last 2 or 3 pages written and start on the next page (or the end of the last page). Notice there’s no email checking in here. I’m not allowed to check email until after I’ve met my page goal. On weekdays, that’s 5 pages.

5:30 a.m. Start getting worried that I’m not going to be done with the 5 pages in time.

5:45 a.m. Ultimate Sportsfan’s alarm goes off. Type furiously. I know he’ll hit snooze.

5:50 Save the five pages, email them to myself, and check email.

6:00 a.m. Change into my running clothes. Try to convince USF to get up and run with me. Am successful about half of the time.

6:05 a.m. Run 2 miles.

6:40 a.m. Get in the shower.

7:20 a.m. Eat breakfast, make lunches, and head out the door.

7:40 a.m. Pull into the parking lot.

7:50 a.m. Sign in and head to class (I’m a teacher).

8:00 a.m. Drink coffee and try to wake up. Meet with parents or administrators. Lesson plans and grading.

9:30 a.m. Teach

11:55 a.m.-12:05 p.m. Check emails.

12:05-12:25 p.m. Gulp down lunch.

3:30 p.m. Head home unless I have tutorials.

3:45 p.m. Revise the chapter I have on my schedule. If I’m on chapter twenty, I’m probably revising somewhere back in chapter fourteen or fifteen.

5:00 p.m. Pick USF up from work (like Robyn, we only have one car). Go work out if we’re not too tired.

7:00 p.m. Eat dinner and read a book or back to the computer for more revising or to write a blog or answer emails.

10:30 p.m. Collapse in bed.

P.S. Sophie Jordan will be blogging with us tomorrow, instead of today, as scheduled.

April 13, 2008

Where do those covers come from?

If you’re interested in how romance novel covers are created, check out this feature from Better TV. Marianne Mancusi, an author with Dorchester, produced the piece.

April 6, 2008

Tomorrow!

Guest author TJ Bennett blogs with us tomorrow. She asked me to let everyone know that she’s having a contest whereby anyone who posts a comment on at least two of the blogs she’s touring will get a chance at a free book and a $40 gift certificate to either B&N or GermanDeli.com (a German foods importer).

Check out her blog tomorrow for more information.

April 4, 2008

Taxes

You knew it was coming, right? The inevitable blog about taxes. Have you done yours yet?

USF and I had them ready in January, but we’ve had to wait until this week to get one last form. We knew we were going to owe. Even though we itemized and took every deduction, we still owed.

Not because we make a lot of money. No way. We just make a lot of untaxed money. I do contract work and he sold some property and then there’s my writing income.

You know I really should pay estimated taxes, but I just never know how to predict if and how much money I’ll make. Royalty checks for all your favorite authors are showing up in mailboxes around the country this week. As far as my total, your guess is as good as mine. $10? $100? $1,000? $10,000? Who knows? I’m hoping for the last one, though.

So we got the last form in last night, did the final calculations, and wrote the check. Actually, no one writes a check anymore. We had it debited from our back account. When we realized we were going to have to pay, we started saving, so we had it covered. It was even a little less than we thought.

And now, of course, we’ll be getting money back from the government. Not so sure this whole economic stimulus thing is going to work. My refund will go right back into savings.

So what about you? Do you owe, have a refund coming? What are you going to do with your economic stimulus refund?

March 23, 2008

Happy Easter

The Jaunty Quills wish everyone a wonderful holiday!

March 20, 2008

Anniversaries

Last week was my anniversary. USF and I have been married 2 whole years. Sometimes it seems like it’s gone by super fast and other times…well, it doesn’t always seem to go by quickly.

So while I was on my way to the drug store to buy him a card, I started thinking that maybe I should get him a small gift as well. I remembered that our first anniversary was easy because that’s paper. A card worked perfectly. But what’s the second anniversary?

Enter good old Mom. Sorry, Mom. I mean, good, young Mom. I called her and asked what the appropriate gift for year 2 is. She told me it’s cotton, then looked it up on a website. Apparently, that’s traditional. The modern equivalent is china. Well, they don’t have any china at the drug store, so cotton it was.

I ended up taking cotton balls and making him a little card out of them. He liked it, though he was a bit confused at first. (Apparently, USF isn’t up on anniversary gift traditions).

Here’s the link to the traditional and modern anniversary gifts for each year. What do you think? I kind of like the traditional, though I don’t think that’s what they had in mind for lace.

Anniversary Gifts

March 11, 2008

Winning!

I’m not a lucky person. I’ve wasted money on lottery tickets, raffles, auctions…I just don’t win.

So imagine my surprise when I actually won something—something I really, really wanted to win.

If you’re a regular visitor to this blog, you’ll remember that I went to see my favorite group, The Newsboys, back in October. That was in Austin. Saturday night they played here in Houston, and I had tickets to go again. I also saw a contest in our local paper for a chance to win 2 front row seats and 2 backstage passes to the concert.

So, naturally, I entered.

And to my shock, I won!

And so Saturday night, I found myself in the front row of the concert. I could touch the stage. I was so close I could touch the Newsboys if I wanted (but I didn’t). Here are some pictures we took.

The concert begins

Peter sings

The drums rise and spin around

Right in front of us!

After the concert, we got to go backstage and do a meet and greet. I got all the Newsboys’ autographs and shook their hands. It was really cool! I was too nervous to ask for a picture, so I didn’t get a picture with all of us together. But maybe I can Photoshop my head into this one.

So what about you? Have you ever won anything?

P.S. Author and JQ friend Sandra K. Moore will be blogging with us tomorrow. Don’t forget to stop by.