Monday, August 18, 2008

A Weekend in the Woods

This weekend I went to the family camp. Its located on Dalhousie mountain and is basically in the woods built near a brook. With no cell phone access or television I had the opportunity to work on cleaning up The Outlaw Bride and to catch up on a little reading. I took with me Julianne MacLean’s latest release, The Mistress Diaries. I had started it before I left but was having trouble finding time to finish it, which was driving me crazy. So my first night at camp I plunked myself down and opened it to where I left off.

I did not move again until I had turned the last page.

Now I had planned on putting a big dent in it that evening and finishing it off the next day, but I couldn’t. I had to know what happened. It was one of those books that you simply couldn’t put down. The Mistress Diaries is Book 2 in the Pembroke Palace series and let me tell you, it is well worth checking out. Julianne is a fabulous writer and she has really outdone herself with this series. She deserves the accolades she receives and then some. I on the other hand, deserve a super-brewed double espresso. I lost a fair bit of sleep staying up so late to finish this book. But it was well worth it. The only downside is that now I must wait until February to read Blake’s story…

By the way, if any of you haven’t seen it, check out the trailers for Julianne’s books on her website. They’re some of the best ones I’ve seen out there. Irreverent and fresh, I think they've set a new standard.

Now, don’t think I spent my whole time at the camp reading. I did manage to get a good chunk of work done on The Outlaw Bride. I made one major plot change which took a bit more work than I had intended, but it makes the book much better I think.

And no, I have no idea why I didn’t see this obvious plot change when I revised the book umpteen times over a year ago...

9 comments:

Julia Phillips Smith said...

I feel the same way, Kelly - I love how Julianne turns my expectations completely around. She always amazes me.

Glad you got inspired with your revisions. I've put my revisions off to the side for awhile and I'm galloping forward with a new story. Freedom!

Tess said...

Glad you got those revisions done. Isn't it weird how we can know a story so well for a couple of years and THEN get hit with inspiration?

Anonymous said...

hey, thanks for the heads up on her trailer. Very, very good!

Amy Ruttan said...

I picked up a copy in Frisco, with a lovely autograph and it's sitting here next to me begging to be read.

I'm trying to ignore it ... I have deadlines.

Annette Gallant said...

I bought Julianne's new book while on vacation and couldn't put it down. Kept sneaking off to my room to read it.

And yay on getting revisions done! Gettingsome distance from your story works wonders, I find. I always spot things easier once I've had some time away from my story.

Rene said...

I love when you get a book like that. I'm reading through the books I got at National. Its kind of nice because none of them are authors I've read before.

Good job on the revisions.

Melissa Amateis said...

This is exactly what I need - a retreat with no distractions!

Toni Anderson said...

It sounds like a nice relaxing trip :) And the book looks good! I have the same questions about not seeing something in the plot even though you've lived it for months. I think a bit of distance helps.

Unknown said...

Sounds like you came back from SF inspired and energized. Hope the editors love your submissions.