Celebrate the small things 30-1-15

This post is part of  Lexa Cain's bloghop, Celebrate the Small Things (Lexa has just taken it over from VikLit who has hosted it for the last 2 years). Head on over there to join up! 
So, what am I celebrating this week?




My agent emailed me this morning to tell me my book is now officially out on submission.  While I know this really is something to celebrate, I can't help feeling incredibly nervous.  You know how it feels when you get a full manuscript request from an agent?  Well multiply that by 50 and you'll know how I'm feeling right now.

I've made it through my first week back at work since my vacation. It's been busy, and I foresee it getting even busier from here,but I love what I'm doing and my fear that I might get bored without being in the dynamic cinema world is totally unfounded.  There are SO many things going on and SO many new challenges to dive into.

The kids go back to school toward the end of next week (for one day, then it's a long weekend).  It's felt like a long summer, even with the time they were away and the time I was off over Xmas and New Year.  I think it's definitely time for them to go back.

What are you celebrating this week?

Back!

I'm back!

It has been a wonderful week and I'm feeling very refreshed and ready to attack the year with everything I have.

The place we have our beach house is gorgeous.  In the entire 9 days we were there, it didn't rain once. Every day was sunny and warm and we ate all our meals outside on the deck except one evening when the sea breeze got a little too breezy to be comfortable.

Our house isn't on the main beach but set back along an estuary.  Because of this, tides are a constant topic of conversation.  When the tides are right, we can kayak on the estuary.  When the high and low tides are dictates where we swim in the afternoons.  If it's low, we head to the bay along from the one in the picture because it's better for low-tide swimming.

When the tide is going out, there is nothing more fun than going to the river where the estuary empties and riding the current to the sea.

The tides are also important when we go walking in the national park nearby because several of the tracks have low-tide options that cut up to an hour off any walk.  So when deciding what part of the park to walk through, the tides are an important consideration.  A consideration we failed miserably this year, having to take the long way around two bays because the tide was such a big one neither had emptied enough to allow us to walk across.

But as well as all that activity, there was a lot of time to laze in the sun and read.  And I did a lot of that.  And a lot of eating good food and drinking nice wine and craft beer.

But now it's back to work, and time to read through the monstrosity that is my NaNo novel….

How has your week been?

Away!

It's time for my annual pilgrimage to the South Island and The House With No Internet.  So until the 26th of January I will be away from the blog.  I'll try to check in whenever I get into town, but that's only every 3 or 4 days.

So until next week…  I hope I come back to great news from you all!

And… Done!

I finished my NaNo novel last night.

It feels like a huge relief.  Not because it's been hard to write because it hasn't.  But because I kind of discovered the story as I wrote it and now I know what it is, I can revise and make the book work.

It's a daunting task.  Right now I'm too scared to even go back and read through the entire thing.  I know it sucks.  I know it sucks badly.  It's going to need to be re-written almost entirely so the beginning, middle and end match up and the themes and character arcs are consistent.

So this is where I leave it for now.  I need some time away to consolidate what the story is before I try to revise it.  So I'm going on holiday and not taking my computer.  I'm not going to write at all for the 9 days I'm at the beach.

Hopefully when I get back, I'll be ready to look at my words again and get into shaping my steaming pile of poop into a book that people might want to read.  If I'm not, I have other projects that need attention while I work myself up to attacking My Murder Year (which I'm thinking might become My Own Kind of Crazy). Feel free to weigh in on which title you like more…

How long do you leave your manuscripts before diving into revisions?

Weekly Goals 12-1-14

It's simple this week: finish my NaNo book.  I actually came within a whisper of finishing on Saturday, but my tendonitis is playing up and I thought it might be a bad idea to keep typing through the pain.  So in the next three or four days, before I go on holiday, I'm going to finish it.

But on that….  If anyone knows a lawyer or social worker who might be able to answer a couple of questions for me, could you put me in touch?  In this book I'm dealing with a weird situation and I want to be sure the way I'm solving it is the way it would be solved in the real world.

What are your goals this week?

Celebrate The Small Things 9-1-15

This post is part of  Lexa Cain's bloghop, Celebrate the Small Things (Lexa has just taken it over from VikLit who has hosted it for the last 2 years). Head on over there to join up! 
So, what am I celebrating this week?

Mostly, no kids!  My children are away for a couple of weeks spending time with my parents at the beach house.  Not having to worry about them and keeping them entertained has made going back to work this week much easier.  Not to mention how quiet the house is.  By Monday I'll be missing them, but right now, I'm enjoying the peace and quiet.

I'm making some progress on my WIP.  My goal is to finish it before I go to the beach house next weekend, and if things keep up the way they are, I should be able to do that.  It's going to need a crap ton of revising because a lot of the book has written itself as I went along, and it's turning out a little differently than I had planned.  But one thing, no one will be able to say this on is boring or plotless!

I didn't get nearly as many entries into my giveaway last week as I was hoping to, so rather than picking 2 out of 3 to win the book, I'll give a copy to each of the three entrants.  Congratulations L.G. Keltner, Ava Quinn and Jess (DMS).  You have all won a copy of An Unstill Life.  I will be in touch so you can tell me what format you prefer….

What are you celebrating this week?

To join the bloghop, just fill in the link below!

Giveaway still going on...

Just a quick note to remind you that I'm giving away two copies of An Unstill Life to celebrate the anniversary of its publication.  To win, just leave a comment and tell me what your favorite LGBTQ read is…

Winners will be drawn at random on Friday.

Good luck!

Celebrate the Small Things - and giveaway!

This post is part of VikLit's blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things. Head on over there to join up! 

So, what am I celebrating this week?




Today is the one year anniversary of my book being published!  What journey that has been.  I have learned so much from having a book out and I feel like I have grown as a result.  I've never been great at talking about myself and my work, or felt comfortable pushing my words on other people.  But if you want to make your book a success, you have to do those things, so I've gone out and done it.

And how successful is my book?  Well, not so much.  I've sold more copies than can possibly just be friends and acquaintances, so that's good, but at the same time, there's no way I'm going to be quitting my day job soon.  So far I've made enough money to buy a dress from ModCloth (if you haven't looked at dresses there, don't…  you'll spend a fortune).  I wear the dress proudly because my book paid for it, but it's not a house I can live in proudly.

To celebrate the anniversary of my book's publication, I'm giving away two copies to lucky blog readers.  To win, just tell me what your favorite LGBTQ read is (I'm always looking for more to read) in the comments and I'll pick two lucky winners (at random) when I write next week's Celebrate post.

What are you celebrating this week?