Melani Blazer

A new date to write (and remember to write…I’ll be in 2008 until about mid-February). A new calendar to….crap, forgot a calendar for my office. What could replace a Pirates calendar? Must start shopping on that regard… Anyway, it’s that resolution time again, and yes, I heard you groan and will do it with you any time I hear that word.

Now, I’ve had resolutions in the past. Some, writing related, have been easier to maintain, at least for longer periods of time. So I’m not going to bother with the vow to work out or eat healthy cuz you all know damn good and well the first time someone says “Let’s have McDonalds,” dude, I’m there.

Because I have been lax here at the blog, especially in keeping my captive audience of two up to date on what’s going on with me, I am going to make an effort to come in and say HI once in a while.

Here’s what I managed to do with 2008. Um….

I learned a lot about kitchen remodeling and FINALLY, Fin-A-Leeeeeeee am on the final step, which is countertop installation. We’re waiting on the contractor to give us the scary dollar amount, then I throw up, then I write a check and then he comes and cusses, grunts, hammers, drills and all those wonderful things contractors do while working, and then I cry when I finally see the entire project completed. (Well, there will be little things like some ceiling trim, etc, but OMG it’ll be working kitchen with a SINK and a COUNTER!!!)

I reviewed, slightly edited and submitted a novellette (slightly smaller than a novella-length?) to Samhain and am waiting on my editor, dear Angela James to ask me what the hell I was drinking when I wrote it.

I wrote, by hand, a Nascar themed book. It’s still mostly on paper in really bad handwriting. A goal for early 2009 is to type it in, editing as I go, then let it brew for a little while, reread and edit it again and then torture Angie @ Samhain with it, too. It’s got some of the characters from Trophy Girl in it, but the sexual level is not even close. Apparently these characters didn’t take notes from Molly and Zander about how to get it on in a car hauler… But I guess not every book needs copious amounts of sex, right?

I added a few thousands words to several other books I have in progress. Mainly a vampire story I can’t manage to get into for long periods of time because it really messes with my moods. Also toyed with a humorous witch story, one I really love and want to finish, but the plot hasn’t all fallen together in my head so I can’t.

Just last week I did something I’ve talked about doing for a long, long time and that’s revise a book I submitted to Silhouette Intimate Moments (that ages it, eh?). It’s not THE story of my heart, but a damn close second, I think. It was ultimately given a personal rejection by the then-executive editor of the line. I think 7-8 years of learning and growing as an author will help me figure out what I didn’t know then and “fix” the things that made this come back to me rather than sell. Who knows what I’ll do with it then. Not sure the original length or heat level will remain. I’m excited about it, and despite one of my friends looking at me like I’d grown 8 heads, am up for the task of rewriting.

Oh, yeah. the other thing I wanted to torture you all with, if you’re even still with me after my babbling-ness. CLICK HERE and you can thank me later.

Today, I’m at work, lunch hour blogging, how’s that?

I’m a bit envious of all those at RWA, except for those little twitter excerpts I’ve seen about the frigid temps (no, I haven’t caved to temptation, I’ve simply read Angie’s sidebar). While you’re visiting Angie, the Executive Editor at Samhain Publishing, please take a look at what Mandy, Jaci, Shan and I have found while perusing the boxes and files in and around her blog. OMY!!! There’s more to come, too. You wouldn’t believe what else we’ve found, but we’re debating when to unveil it. We’ve got to see how the world reacts to the news about her evilness to see if they can HANDLE THE TRUTH!

Anyway, in between working, being envious of conference goers, writing and digging through Angie’s basement, I’m visiting the workshops some really grand and talented people are putting on this week.

Here’s some people I know and have visited already, but there are many more, and I’m intending on bookmarking them in the least so I can hone my craft, learn and grow as an author. That’s what it’s all about, right?
Jaci Burton- Work shop entitled the Anatomy of Sex. Whoo hoo! Hot topic, indeed, but OMG is she spot on!
Shannon Stacey- Work shop entitled “When only the Right Word Will Do” about punching up those first drafts. Great topic!!!
Emma Wayne Porter She’s hitting the self editing issues, which is SOOOO important, and one of the least FUN parts of writing.
Mandy Roth–is doing a neat bit on covers. She’s such a talent with graphics. I love her stuff!

All three of these hit on really important aspects of the writing craft–and I can’t wait to dig in and see the topics of all the other workshops. I’m sure there’s stuff for all writers, from beginners to the experts. After all, this is a “job” in which you can never stop learning and bettering yourself!

Now, back to Angie’s box of photos, bwahahahahahahahahha

The flu bug bit me. Musta been why I felt like I’d been run over with an eighteen wheeler late yesterday.

On a good note, I’ve been able to type in more handwritten stuff, so far I’ve deleted only a teensy tiny bit that was repetitive and I’m almost 1/4 of the way done with this book.

Angie wrote a refreshing post at Romancing the Blog–deviating from all the hoopla that’s going on an any given day in the romance-blog world and talking about why she–and the rest of us–love to read a romance. (It’s not genre specific, so if you have an opinion, stop in and say so!)

Dear Author has a post about E-books that has made me think a lot in the last 24 hours or so. (maybe it was the flu coming on, I dunno), but in a nutshell, it talks about the….concept of e-book branding as a whole and how many share Jane’s way of thinking when she says:

I admit that while there are many e-publishers out there, I mainly identify epublishing with erotic romance.

Hopefully this post will make others aware of some great non-erotic reads at various e-book publishing houses.

I wish my head were clearer so I could easily voice my opinion, but these flu meds really fog the senses. I just think it’s a circle. Erotic is buzzed about, more authors and publishers jump on board, it becomes more popular. Authors talk, realize pushing the limit might help sales, even more erotic goes out. Word gets out menage is the “it” thing, wham, publishers and authors feed the mass’s demands. Supply and demand and all that jazz. Isn’t it similar to the way paranormal became so widely popular and historicals waned? What happened to chick-lit? Not to say I think erotic is gonna go anywhere. I think once you open the bedroom door, you can’t exactly close it. Right now I think the focus [of e-publishers and non-erotic authors] is/should be to educate readers about their non-erotic offerings and break the branding or stereotyping or whatever you want to call it.

Okay, enough medicated babble for one afternoon. I might try a nap.

And the winners are:
Sheila, Jodi S, Teoh, Ana Lisa, Deborah, Shuck Ying, Little Lamb Lost, Robin, Zara and Cathie! You will each get a deck of cards. I will be emailing you to get your snail mail addy.

Additionally, the left over names (remember, you could enter more than once!) were tossed into a pile and 2 names were drawn for a download from any of my backlist (any publisher)… those winners are: Wilma and Sheila

Finally, I’m sending a print copy of one of my books out to Valerie. Again, I’ll be emailing you for your address and choice of book.

thank you all for playing along!

That’s my mantra for the day.

I’m writing this… actiony, guns and…fighting and well, without giving away too much of the story, it’s one of those in which the plot threatens to become some giant, mutant pacman and gobble up all the allocated word count without letting me get in much more than a kiss and hint of the romance to come.

But it never comes.

This has made me think about a couple of things. Don’t mind my rambling or seemingly unconnected thoughts here, I *Am* still on cold meds…
(more…)

Have you heard about the Ellora’s Cave card decks? They were handed out at the recent Romantic Times conference, but if you didn’t get a chance to grab a deck, don’t worry, you can get one here!

The details (and more will be updated soon, including a pic!) are here.

Comment, comment, comment!

Win, win, win!

easy?

I’ve been reading a lot, writing little, at least where blogs are concerned. There’s been an interesting array of posts about the RT convention, and some…fiery blogs about RT itself. I’ve refrained from adding even one cent in the mix of this, and the more I read, the more I realize sometimes it’s better to remain silent.

My life is rather routine these days, working, writing, occasionally eating and sleeping . Yesterday we got out of town for a bit and took my mother in law to Build a Bear. It was her idea, and the bonus was that mothers at B-A-B got a special gift including $5 off $25 purchase at Borders. SHOPPING!

I picked up #6 in a series where I don’t have #4 yet. Looks like I’ll have to get that from Amazon, because I cannot find it anywhere! Grrr.

Today the family took a walk through a local county park. I took pictures and we talked about how we’d love to have acres of woods and build a cabin right in the middle. All the creature comforts of course, but a lovely hammock in the back sounds divine. Much better than living on a busy city corner. Bleh.

Okay, I’m heading back to writing.

Looks like everyone had the same idea.

Mandy’s got her blog up and running smoothly. She amazes me with her ability with art. That blog rocks.

Then Michelle Pillow took the plunge. Hers is pretty damn cool too, but if you’re visiting using Firefox, her smileys aren’t clickable. They work fine in IE and I’ve gone over it a few times, but can’t figure it out, so if someone has a clue what’s up, get in touch with Michelle about it.

Then Angie got brave (I think it was the cold meds making her feel like superman superwoman) and upgraded. Her new blog is different but the same, and I like it more every time I visit it.

I ended up adding a few more smileys. Damn, I’m a sucker for them.

I have typed in about a thousand more words on my WIP and caught up with all my handwritten pages. I’ve wandered off from the synopsis I’d originally written, so I need to go back and re-outline (not formally synopsize this time). Just not sure if I should do that now or keep on writing. Sigh. (wait… I got a smiley to do that for me. No I don’t. Geesh, must go find a sigh smiley!) (Just kidding, not going there again today)

Hope everyone’s having a great weekend!

Oh, no, nothing bad, other than tweaking it and adding smilies and stuff is ADDICTING!

Mandy Roth decided to take the plunge. She’s so web savvy anyway, it was a piece of cake to get herself up and running. She had the entire template re-freaked while I added her smilies and made them show up on the comment page. Yee haw. She tried to give me credit, but that woman is amazing with a website. Damn.

She’s doing a really cool feature on marketing, so why don’t you stop over there and say HI!

I couldn’t help myself, and I got a few new smilies, too. Have fun with them. (And if you want any, feel free to help yourself!)

Off to write,
~Mel

It’s been my goal for awhile to update my book pages–and I’ve sorta started the process. As with most of us who have control over our own website, I’m sure I’ll fiddle with it more later.

So far I’ve updated SeXTC and Hot Rod Heaven’s pages. I still have another excerpt to tease you with for Hot Rod Heaven which I still need to figure out how to add, but…. feel free to tell me what you think.

Cheers!
~Mel