WOW

Terry is this season's Survivor super stud. No doubt about it. I think the man pees testosterone.

But last night proved that Cirie is mentally in control of the game. She single handedly got Courtney's flame torched. Did you see the look on Shane's face? Huh? He was totally stunned. Go back to your blackberry, Shane, Cirie will tell you who to vote out next week, cuz I have news for you. She's planning to take you to the final 2. That is, if she's smart. Which the woman has definitely proved she is (and she can catch fish, too)

With the annoying Courtney gone, the most logical person to take into the finals will be Shane. Anyone, even Shane's imaginary blackberry can beat Shane.

The question is now, what will win out: Terry's brawn or Cirie's brain? Stay tuned till next week...

Would I do it again?

Gina announced on the American Title 2 loop the other day that Dorchester Publishing is now calling for entries for the American Title 3 contest, which really brings home the fact that American Title 2 is over. Almost, that is (The winner of AT 2 is still to be announced during the Romantic Times Convention in May taking place in Daytona Beach).

The news made me a little melancholy. Has a whole year gone by already? And why does time seem to move faster as I get older? And more importantly, knowing what I know now, would I enter AT 2 again?

I can answer that last question with an enthusiastic YES.

Now, I admit, there are times when I went a little wacko with this contest, which my wonderful friend and cp, Mel can attest to . Remember Mel, on pain of death you can never repeat anything I said during the time period I now jokingly refer to as "those crazy 48 hours". But other than that, I can absolutely, positively say the contest was one of the most positive experiences of my life.

Some of what I learned:

I received validation as a writer. I thought I had a pretty good story, and I thought I was getting "there", but having a publishing company think my ms was good enough to publish feels pretty damn good.

I learned all about deadlines. When people at RT say ASAP, they mean yesterday :))

I REALLY got to know my story. Having to write character sketchs on your hero and heroine in less than 75 words can make you get awful cozy with your own characters. Oh, and can you send that to NY ASAP, please?

I had a great excuse to tell people that I'm a writer. A lot of people already knew, but a lot didn't.

I learned tons about self-promotion. This was painful for me at first, and it's still not my cup of tea, but I'm getting there...

I got this great blog :))

I got to know 10 of the nicest, most supportive writers ever--my fellow American Title 2 finalists.

And last but certainly not least, I learned that my friends rock, which I knew, but I truly didn't expect the level of support I received from friends and family. And that, made even "those crazy 48 hours" worth it.

So for those of you thinking about entering AT 3, I say go for it! You never know what great things just might be in store for you.

My Publix Love Scene

This one's for you, Keely...

I have a standing joke at work--before going home I'm hitting Publix. Since I work at night and get off at 7am, it's the perfect time to grocery shop. It's still cool (relatively so, being that I live in Florida) and there's no one at the store. I can zip in, and zip out. I say this at least once a week. Do I actually go to Publix? Sometimes, but more often, by the time 7am rolls around, I'm just way too tired after 12 hours of birthin babies and all I can think about is bed.

But the other morning I was determined. I had to get dog food. So I made my usual announcement at work, "I'm off to Publix!" Keely just laughed. She knew for sure that when I came into work that night, I'd say I had skipped out. Well, in retrospect, that's would I should have done. But then, maybe not. I actually got some good writing time in...

Once I got in the store, I not only got dog food, I was on a roll. I got an entire cart full of groceries (Must be those subliminal messages they put in the Muzak) By the time I was finished, I was exhausted and completely ready to hit my bed. So instead of taking my groceries out to the car myself, I let Bobby (the sweetest bag boy in the world) take them out. Now, since I was in my hospital scrubs, I had my keys in one pocket and my debit card in another. I guess I must have used my keys at some point to open the car trunk. Right? All I know is when Bobby slammed down the trunk to the car, I had that eerie creepy feeling that something wasn't quite right. But it was too late. The car was shut down, and yup... you guessed it. I had no keys. Poor Bobby. You should have seen the look on his face when he realized we had just locked the keys in my trunk.

Now, if I was thinking (as opposed to whatever was going through my head) I would have called AAA and that would be the end of it. But I forgot all about AAA. Instead, I called Mike Geraci to come save me. Unfortunately, Mike Geraci works on the other side of town and was already in his first meeting of the day. But he promised he'd get there asap.

So I found an empty bench in front of the Bone Fish Grill (conveniently located right next door to Publix- I only wish they were open at 8am so I could have gone in for a stiff drink) and did what all serious writers do. I wrote. Now, I had no paper with me. But I did find a pen on the floor and I had a grocery receipt longer than I want to think about, so I improvised. I wrote (in my own convulted shorthand) the love scene to my new historical on the back of the grocery receipt. Originally, I had titled that scene the Yes/No love scene (I give all my scenes little titles) but now, of course, it can only be referred to as My Publix Love scene. Of course, it needs some serious layering, but hey, it's a pretty good scene!

One hour later, as I was dozing on the bench, my hero arrived and I was saved. By this time, the parking lot was full and the temperature was already in the mid 80's and climbing. You should have seen me scramble to grab that grocery receipt. No way did I want to leave that behind. I can only imagine the look on some senior's face if they had found it and read the back!

Psychotic Bunnies

Remember Bunnicula? That great childrens book in which the dog and the cat (Chester and Harold) thought the family pet bunny was really a vampire in disguise? Well, apparently they aren't the only ones who should be leery of Bugs and his relatives. My friend Kitty's sister-in-law, Erin, was attacked last Saturday by the Easter Bunny.

Pretty creepy thinking about who might be under those suits, huh?

Maybe one day I'll work this into a story. But then, no one would probably believe it!

Diana's Diversions: Julie Elizabeth Leto on Getting it Written

OOOPS!
Sorry, Maria. I didn't mean to hijack your blog today. I linked to Diana's post and I guess you had blogged last so it linked to your blog instead of mine. LOL



Diana's Diversions: Julie Elizabeth Leto on Getting it Written

This is a great post.

I'd like to add my thoughts to it...

I've been writing almost 4 years exactly. In that time I've finished one manuscript and I have 2 more half complete and a 3rd in proposal form. (about 75 pages and fully plotted out)

I worked on my complete manuscript for 2 years. I kept going back and revising the first few chapters and not going forward. It really hurt my writing. I became stagnant because I stopped learning the craft. I can't tell you what a feeling it was to finally finish the manuscript!

Finishing was a big deal...but I think the most important thing is to just write. Don't get stuck in trying to make your first few chapters perfect. Just write. It makes a difference. Your voice gets stronger with every new scene you write.

Your style develops with every new idea you start.

Your passion for the craft of writing increases with every breakthrough you have!

By the end of this year, I will have 2 more completed novels. I've already started playing with another 2 ideas. These ideas didn't come to me until after I finally finished the first manuscript.

You have to write forward, otherwise you're just treading water.

The Displaced Person

Remember reading this in high school? Okay, well, maybe not. But work with me here. I went to Catholic school and O'Connor was high up on the reading list. Lately, I've been facing my own displacement issues. For the past 2 weeks my family and I have been living in a state of constant interruption while the floors in the house have been torn out and replaced (How Mel did this for months and months I'm not quite sure)

Not that I'm complaining. I hardly even recognize my own house. It's like it's had plastic surgery. The floor magician, Dave (aka Hollywood) and his little dog Sherwood have become regular fixtures at casa Geraci. I'm almost going to be sad to see them go. Almost being the operative word here. I don't mind admitting that I'm counting the days when I can go back to hanging around in my pj's eating bon bons and writing all day long. Ha! (in my dreams!)

Speaking of writing... I decided to give The Church of Bunco a short hiatus while I polish up the opening to my follow up historical to The War Bride. It's tentatively called In Love and War. I've pretty much gotten the first 3 chapters down, but I now need a synopsis. Sigh... I'll let you know how that goes.

I just got my copy of Deidre Knight's new book Parallel Attraction. Not only does it have a great cover, it promises to be a great story. Here's the set up:

It has been years since exiled alien king Jared Bennett thought of anything other than his people’s fight for freedom. Now his rebel force has the one weapon that can turn the tide against their enemy: the key to the secrets of time. Victory has never been closer—but one woman has the power to change everything.Kelsey Wells can’t deny that there is something unearthly about her fierce attraction to Jared Bennett. His revelations about alien wars and time travel can’t possibly be fact—yet with every seductive touch, every searing kiss, Kelsey circles closer to the truth: that although Jared is exactly what he says, he hasn’t told her everything. And when the future crashes into the present, Kelsey must decide if his deception will cost them the love that should have been their destiny.

For more info go here. I can't wait to start reading!

I have an agent!

Last night, my husband and I, along with our youngest, went out to Food, Glorious, Food a wonderful Tallahassee restaurant that serves some of the best food in town. Little did I know that it was really a premature celebration dinner. I got home to an email from the lovely, smart, talented, insightful (did I say smart?) Deidre Knight of the The Knight Agency. She wants to rep me! I was so excited I could have screamed, but I'm one of those strange people that when she receives really good news gets really quiet (maybe the Cuban in me thinks I'll put a jinx on the whole thing if I say it out loud) So after smiling at my computer like an idiot for about ten minutes, I ran to the living room where my husband was watching basketball. His response: "Well of course, you're very talented."

Humph....

So there was no question as to who I was calling first--my lovely, smart, talented, insightful (did I say smart?) cp Mel who did all the shreiking for me. Deidre is Mel's agent and Mel is the one who introduced us. Thank you, Mel!

Going back to the premature celebration that went on yesterday, I discovered (thanks to my 13 year old daughter) a new shoe store opening in Tallahassee. It's called Polka Dot Shoes Isn't that a great name? In honor of my yet-to-be-good news I bought 2 new pairs of shoes (actually they are really revved up flipflops, but that's okay, cuz this is Florida)

I'm really looking forward to working with Deidre. She's smart, savvy, talented (did I say smart?) and thinks that my historical The War Bride has what it takes to get published.

***THIS IS MEL. I HAVE HIJACKED MARIA'S BLOG FOR A MOMENT***

I am so excited for Maria, but I have to address one tiny thing. I introduced D and Maria, but that's it. Maria's talent got her the representation offer. She has written a fantastic Regency-set historical that will catch eyes and turn heads because she's a helluva writer.

***WE RETURN YOU BACK TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED BLOG***