Odds & Sods and Other Stuff

Today feels like a good day for an update…actually it feels like a good day to play hooky from work and take off somewhere to enjoy the sunshine and warm temperatures, but somehow I don’t think I’d get away with it, so we’ll stick with the update.

The Outlaw Bride: Finished Chapter 28, the big showdown and posted it for critique. Just one chapter left to tie together all my loose ends and deal with the Black Moment of the relationship and then I am done! Ahhh, the Black Moment. All that darkness and angst. I love it! I really do need therapy…

The Documentary: I can’t remember if I mentioned it here before or not, but there are a couple of filmmakers who are making a documentary on romance writers and the industry, and I’m one of the writers being profiled (they’re picking writers from different stages in their career and somehow I managed to get myself picked). They’ve sent their demo off to Bravo yesterday, and said they were really pleased with how it turned out, so fingers crossed that it’s accepted by the network. Either way, they’ll be in Reno at the conference. Should be great fun. Should be even more fun if I can lose a little weight to counter-balance the alleged ten pounds the camera likes to add.

The Ribcage: I managed to roll out of bed without passing out from the pain. Woo hoo! Rejoice! There is a slow but noticeable improvement in the level of soreness. I don’t think I’ll be sparring in any tae kwon do matches any time soon, but since my membership ran out last month and I’m too broke to renew it, I guess that isn’t much of a consideration at the moment anyhow. Either way, I’m just happy the pain is ebbing. I even managed to mow my lawn yesterday. Who knew that would ever be considered an accomplishment. Weeding the garden however, that attempt failed. Pulling and yanking may have to be put off for another week.

The New Book/Series: This is coming along pretty good. I am beginning to realize the amount of research I have to do just to get the simple things down – clothing, furniture, customs, all that everyday stuff that add flavor and believability. I have all the resource material I need at my fingertips, it’s just a matter of delving into it and then actually retaining enough of it to use. Or at least remembering to mark the appropriate pages so I can refer back as needed. Otherwise, the stories and characters are evolving and fleshing themselves out at a rapid rate. The only difficulty I foresee is trying to remember I have to tell Devlin and Isabel’s story first, before I can move on to Quinn and Grace, even though the second book seems most prevalent in my mind right now. Those two characters have taken on a life of their own, but since their story flows from Devlin and Isabel’s they have to wait patiently in line. The fourth and final book in the series has started to take shape as well. At first the hero was unknown to me, but he showed up on the weekend and introduced himself. His history is still a mystery, and he’s a bit cagey about revealing it to me, but I’m in no rush. All in good time.

And that is about all I have to report on today. Hope everyone has a good one!