Felines

My dear readers,
You might notice that I changed the title of my blog. It used to say "fangs, fabric, food, fiction, and fun!"
Fangs, well, that's obvious! I'm obsessed with vampires, in case you haven't noticed.
Originally I had included fabric, because I was hoping to include some of my sewing projects occasionally in the blog. But it turns out, I have no time to sew and really that isn't something I'm passionate about. Now don't get me wrong. I'm completely in love with the idea of being a goddess of the textile craft, but when it comes down to it, I'd rather read a book or write.
The food part is that I really like to eat and I love food. Who doesn't? I love to make stuff for people, whether it's cooking, baking, or canning. Last fall I canned sixteen half pints and nine pints of salsa which I gave out as Christmas presents.

This year I'm going to jam blackberries from my parent's property. Canning is a lot of work, but the end result is so well worth the effort. Kind of like writing.

Fiction is also a given. That's what I write!

And fun, because the above elements bring loads of fun into my life.

I now replaced fabric with felines. Felines play an important role in my life. I dedicate this post to the two felines that are at the center of my world. Meet Mitzu:

Mitzu came into my life over ten years ago when I was living in Ohio, going to college, and had just broken up with my first serious boyfriend. He was just a kitten and I hadn't expected him, but that's how cats work. They pick their human. He has been such a faithful companion and eventually helped me find my husband (the only boyfriend, I brought home that he didn't hiss at). Funny, they both have the same personality. In case you are wondering, Mitzu is sort for "mitulica" (pronounced mitzuleeka), which means "kitty-cat" in Romanian. He is definitely mama's boy. :)

Meet Earl:

Yup, that's Earl in his favorite position. He's lazy. He's feisty. He's a sweetheart. He's the devil incarnate. He's the apple of my eye. He's the biggest pain in my ass. He's stubborn as hell. He's the most affectionate cat. He's aggressive. He's playful. He's everything and anything. With Earl, there are no limits or bounds when he sets he's mind to something. He can give you the glare that would make the hairs on your neck stand straight, but he can also make you melt in your tracks with one look. My husband says his personality is quite similar to me. I'd beg to differ, except for he's right.
Earl came to us a few months after our wedding. He chose us and never left. Well, he has made a couple of sly attempts to sneak out and given me several of proper scares. Earl is the best thing that has happened to all of us. Mitzu may disagree with that statement, but even he's more happier, more alive, and WAY more playful now.

So there you have it. My two feline friends. How does this tie into writing? Those two furry beasts are the best friends a writer could ever wish for. When I'm in my writing mode, they like to lay on the couch on either side of me or on my lap if I'm at my desk. It's as if they are trying to hold me down and force me write. They are the loves of my life.

Nothing new to report on the writing front, except for that I'm neck deep into revisions and editing of my untitled romance book. However, I'm taking a day or two a week to work on the The Vampire Novelist. It seems that when I'm working on one, I get inspiration for the other on how to fix certain scenes or chapters. So I've been switching between the two. I'm leaning more towards The Vampire Novelist. That book reflects my style more than the other. How I'm keeping either story straight, I have no idea. I might be driving myself into an insane asylum, but so far it's working. If it ain't broken, I ain't fixin' it.

Cheers,
Melania

Inspiration cometh Part 2

Hello and Happy Friday my lovelies!

So much has happened since my last post, that I don't know if I have time to mention everything. Okay first things first:

Check out this gorgeous cover!!!

Stunning!!! This is the sequel to Jessica's Guide To Dating On The Dark Side which is due to come out in the fall. If you haven't read it, I strongly recommend it. Sexy Romanian vampires, what's not to love!

Also you will notice on the right side under the followers, I added a book release countdown to Illusions by Aprilynne Pike. This is part of the Wings YA series. If you like faeries, this one will charm you. It's very girlie, sweet, and unlike anything I would write or normally read, but I totally fell in love with the story of Laural, the teenage girl who discovers she's a fairy.

So the last week has been incredibly inspiring for everything but my current STILL unnamed project. Every time I try to think of ways to revise and make it sound better, I keep getting great ideas for The Vampire Novelist, the project I stopped midway because in all honesty it sucked and I needed to work on my craft. The last couple of days I've been rewriting the outline and re-plotting the book.

Now the unnamed project, which I will give it a temporary title of Las Vegas, hasn't gone completely to the wayside. Between blazing brilliant inspiration for TVN, I've been working on character profiles. Logic dictates that this should have been done before I sat down and wrote the rough draft, but I didn't realize this until after I started revising the story. As I said I need to work on my craft.

There is hope in sight. :) Last week I joined the Romance Writers of America and the local chapter, Rose City Romance Writers. On Saturday I attended their first meeting. There aren't enough good words in my vocabulary to describe how wonderful this group of people, mostly women, are. Never in a million years had I expected to be so welcomed right away. Not only that, my blog got over 50 hits since I joined the group. Then there is all the resources that have been helping me on my quest already. All this inspires me to work harder and not give up. It truly is a wonderful feeling knowing I belong to such an amazing organization. Thank you, RCWR!

Okay, lovelies, this chickie needs to get back to her writing, but before I sign off, I want to take a moment to thank all of you readers. Your support does wonders to my spirit and motivation. Thank you for your comments!

Cheers!

Inspiration cometh

So it's been over a week since I finished my untitled manuscript. This is the first project I've struggled in giving it a title. It's a contemporary romance and I have zero clue what to name it. I'm hoping that through the editing/revising process that it will come. *twiddles thumbs* BTW, this is also the first time I've sat down to edit/revise a completed manuscript. OMG, it is brutal work! But a labor of love nonetheless.

While filing at work today I mulled the whole title thing in my head hoping something will come up. Well many somethings came up. First, I came up with a much better beginning to my first chapter. *score* Second, a new character came forth for my The Vampire Novelist series (yes, that's right, it will be a series). *double score* Third, I came up with an AWESOME new product for vampires, but I can't tell you, or I'll have to kill you. *triple score*

Inspiration was popping out of nowhere all day. The only problem most of it was for my other projects not the one I'm currently focused on. So what did I do? I wrote it down and saved it for a later date. If I didn't it would haunt me into utter madness and focusing on my current project would be a futile attempt. Now that it's written, I'm back on track.

Another exciting thing (besides the winter sale at REI) is that I'm officially a member of Romance Writer's of America. *SQUEE* One more step closer toward my dream coming to fruition. *sigh*

How was your day?

Cheers,
Melania

I did it! Sort of..

Woohoo! I just finished my third rough draft! My goal had been to finish it by the end of January and for it to be 80K. Well the first part of my goal I met, but it's only 73K. There is a good reason for that. When I was about three chapters away from the end, the story took a different turn then I expected. This means I will be needing to go back as I revise and edit and add two or three more chapters towards the middle part of the manuscript. This will put me well over 80K.

One way or another the fact remains that I finished yet another book. It took me forty-five days to write my longest manuscript yet and I am beyond thrilled. Now it will probably take me twice as long to edit/revise the rough draft, but I'm actually looking forward to that part.

After that I will have my beta-readers critique it. That is the scary part. Besides a random chapter here and there, I have never had anybody read any of my "completed" works. But I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

Right now I'm going to have a piece of chocolate to celebrate my accomplishment. *smiles shamelessly*

Cheers!
~Mel

Ghosts, Demons, vampires, fae, & mermaids

Greetings!

Nothing new to report. Still working on my unnamed project. Currently at 57K and my goal is 80K. My writing has slowed down, but not because I'm having difficulties. No, it's because I can't seem to be able to pry my nose out of books lately. In the last fourteen days I've read:

Secondhand Spirits by Juliet Blackwell
Cast-off Coven by Juliet Blackwell
Flaherty's Crossing by Kaylin McFarren
At Grave's End by Jeaniene Frost
The Mermaid's Mirror by LK Madigan

And now I'm reading Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

Obviously I'm not getting much writing done.... But hey, I'm really enjoying reading books.
Secondhand Spirits and Cast-off Coven are part of the Witchcraft Mystery series. Lily Ivory is an earth witch that decides to settle in San Fransisco and open a vintage clothing store. She solves crimes using her "witchy" ways, fighting demons and helping ghosts. I absolutely loved these books and looking forward to reading the third book which comes out this summer, Hemlines and Hexs.
Flaherty's Crossing was fantastic heartwarming story about forgiveness and love, see my previous post.
At Grave's End is part of the Night Huntress Series. Cat is a badass rouge vampire huntress who happens to be half human and half vampire. She also is married to Bones, a powerful vampire that could come visit me any night as far as I'm concerned. The book is packed with action, romance, and witty humor. This is the third book in the series and the first that I've read of them. Don't recommend doing that, I just got too impatient waiting for the first two to become available to pick-up from the library. Regardless of sequence, still a great read.

The Mermaid's Mirror is a YA novel written by a local to Portland author. I found this book from a blog link from one of the authors that I follow blog. LK Madigan is currently battling stage IV pancreatic cancer. I read her last post and I was brought to tears. Then I found out she's from Portland and I had to read her work. Mermaid's Mirror is a sweet story about a girl that discovers she's part mer. It's based in California just south of San Fransisco.

Wicked Lovely, is about wicked little faeries that lurk unseen by humans and cause all sorts of mischief and mayhem. So far I've been mesmerized.

As you can see, I'm reading a variety of books these days. Reading is one of the keys to being able to write a readable book. It's not just pleasure reading, which it is very pleasurable, but there also is a purpose. Why not have fun while learning, right? :)

No voice, but I can type...

On this fantastic Friday evening. I find myself laying on the couch with a swollen throat and a low grade fever. Can barely whisper or swallow without feeling I'm swallowing razors. Not fun, to say the least. Trying to write hasn't been the most productive, but I do however have a couple of books that I've read over the last few weeks that I wanted to share.

Delcroix Academy: The Candidates by Inara Scott is a really fun YA novel that I picked up reading on Christmas and didn't put it down till the last sentence was read. It's very rare I do that with books, but lately it seems that I've been lucking out with great novels. This was another local Portland author written book. The story is about a girl with special powers that is recruited to an exclusive academy. I enjoyed all the different characters in the story, but my favorite part was that the story takes place near Seattle. If you liked the Percy Jackson books, you'll definitely like this one. I also had the pleasure of meeting Inara Scott twice now and discover that she is as lovely as her story. Now the waiting game for the sequel...

Flahery Crossing by Kaylin McFarren is a divine award winning romance about forgiveness and learning to let go. I picked this one up from the Writer's Faire last month, because it was romance and the character was Irish. What I didn't expect was to completely fall in love with the story. I had tears in my eyes at times. It's a very heart warming book that leaves you filled with hope and love.

This is three books so far from the Writer's Faire that I totally enjoyed. Must say I'm was pleasantly surprised about quality of writing that already exists in this town.

Time for some more tea and another nap...

1-11-11

Hi folks. I just had to post a blog on this date. All these ones, how could a pass the opportunity? Also I had to share milestone.

Okay ya ready for this????

Today I received my first email correspondence from a publishing agent. It was sort of a rejection. Yes my first rejection of many more to come!!!!!

Confused??? Let me share a little background story. Last August I attended my first Writer's Conference through Willamette Writer's. At the conference were many agents that for a small fee you could sign up to pitch your idea or book too. Even though I didn't have a finished manuscript (The Vampire Novelist) to pitch, I signed up for it anyways, because I wanted to practice pitching. The agent I spoke with wasn't even representing the genre I was writing in, but all others were taken.
This is were it gets crazy. He liked my idea and asked for my first chapter and whatever else I had written so far. Before our appointment was over he wrote his address email down on a piece of paper and told me to email him the rest of the manuscript when I was finished. His words didn't really sink in until I arrived home that evening. That's about the time I started to freak and shriek. In the conference brochure, they had clearly stated that when pitching to agents not to give them anything unless they ask and don't be offended if they don't because most of the time they won't. My first agent encounter and he was hooked!!!
Time passed and I paused the project to work on my craft. I sent him an email telling him it would take longer than I expected.
He replied today to say to wish me luck, but that he was leaving agenting and going into publishing. So why am I sharing this? Because even though he won't be representing me (I never expected him too), the fact remains my story had peeked his interest and he took the time to write back.
So with that I will continue to wear my silly grin with pride as I sit my butt down and start a new chapter of my current unnamed project.
Cheers,
Melania