The Best Laid Plans

Okie dokie, folks. Here's a great book recommendation for your weekend entertainment. Tamara Mataya, aka @FeakySnucker, aka my very first critique partner and the most effective Pants Kicker I've ever encountered, is officially PUBLISHED! *everyone stand up and celebrate with a brief sexy dance* *trust me, this is the most appropriate response*

The Best Laid Plans

So if the cover alone isn't enough to grab you, let me share my feelings.

I adore this story. Malcolm and Jayne each have their own motivations when they meet at an office party, but there's more to their instant chemistry than either of them realize. Malcolm knows exactly who Jayne is: the high school classmate who he feels was responsible for instigating years of bullying he suffered through. He thinks running in to her again might be the perfect opportunity for revenge. He intends to seduce her with the sole purpose of crushing her emotionally. Jayne, however, only knows him as the incredibly sexy successful musician he's become after leaving behind his old identity. She's trusting a little book of dating advice to give her the confidence to go out and snag herself a scorchingly good time, and thinks Malcolm might be the man for the job. Let the games begin!

Not only is this possibly the freaking hottest thing I've read all year, but the steaminess of their romance is just the beginning. It doesn't hurt that Malcolm is good enough to eat, or that Jayne is one smart cookie herself. Each of them starts off with their own secret and devious plan for the other, and as the title implies, things quickly go awry for both of them.

I am so tempted right now to just shake you by the shoulders and make you read it, because otherwise I'll start yelling incoherently and pointing in an effort to keep from squealing out all my favorite bits. I try to stay spoiler-free here. Tam would appreciate that. She hates spoilers. So just go read, dearies, and enjoy. I'll just be over here ready with the fan and a glass of ice water for when you get all hot and bothered.

GO BUY IT AT AMAZON RTFN!

EYRE HOUSE Cover Reveal!!! Feast your eyes on THIS!

How fantastic is this?! *hint: really, really fantastic!

What a perfect cover for Cait's gorgeous EYRE HOUSE. Since every description running through my head sounds like a horrible cliche, here's what you need to know, straight from the source!

When eighteen-year-old orphan Evan Richardson signed up to work at Eyre House, on the sleepy tourist getaway of Edisto Island, SC, he never expected to find himself dodging ghosts. But Eyre House seems to have more than its fair share of things that go bump in the night, and most of them seem to surround his employer’s daughter.

Back from her freshman year of college, Ginny Eyre is dangerous from word one. She’s a bad girl with ghosts of her own, and trouble seems to follow her everywhere she goes. But living or dead, trouble isn’t just stalking Ginny. When her ex-boyfriend is found murdered in the pool, Evan knows he’s got two choices – figure out what’s going on, or become the next ghost to haunt Ginny Eyre.

Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17694883-eyre-house

If you enjoy a good Southern Gothic story full of mystery, romance, and treachery, go add it to your Goodreads right now. I'll wait.

Done? Good. Now try to hang on until July. :) In the mean time, follow Cait on Twitter for updates, or check out her blog for more details (and a few teasers).

Meeting (and flailing at) Authors, Jodi Meadows

I love meeting Authors (big A, you know, the published, the people I admire, whose writing I love). Unfortunately, they are the people I tend to lose my marbles around quickest. I mean, I can hold it together just fine in front of TV stars, famous athletes, etc., but I absolutely puddle for writers.

I met Clive Barker once, and I couldn't get two coherent words out of my mouth. Helper Monkey had to tell him my name to have him sign my book. That was about 17 years ago, though, so I hoped I'd become a little less of a dork. Thursday night I realized that I might not be a mumbling incoherent dork anymore, but that's only because I learned to be louder.

***Cutting across my own post to remind everyone that when you go to an author event hosted by a bookstore, PLEASE do your best to buy the book at the store. Or at least buy SOMETHING at the store if you already own the book. The stores get nothing from hosting, other than the hopeful possibility of sales. If events don't generate sales, they have less incentive to bring awesome authors in for you to meet. But I'm sure you already knew that, because you are awesome people.***

I took Lulu to an author event with four lovely authors. To be fair, I went to meet the wonderful Jodi Meadows who not only writes fantastic books (Incarnate, and the sequel Asunder, which I'm reading now), but who spins her own yarn! I mean, really, literally, spins yarn! Out of wool and silk and stuff! How cool is that? *side note, I crochet, so I am fascinated by soft and fluffy things, like yarn. your mileage may vary. But if the yarn doesn't do it for you, she has ferrets, too.*

Okay, I have to mention the books for a second. Incarnate is about a girl born into a society where every other person is a reincarnated soul who takes the memories of each lifetime to their next lifetime. The same souls had been born over and over again, until Ana came along instead of the soul everyone expected her to be. Hilarity ensues. Well, not hilarity. But Lots of Things ensue. Especially Sam. You will want to know about Sam.

I couldn't wait to get my hands on Asunder, and I'm not going to give you spoilers. Once you see the cover, you'll want to read them anyway.

See? Pretty, right?

When I looked up the details of the event, hosted by Hooray for Books in Alexandria, Virginia, I was intrigued by the other three authors participating. I hadn't read their books yet, and after meeting them, I put all three of their books on top of my TBR list.

The only picture I was able to take before my phone battery died.

From left to right, they are Jodi Meadows, The Megans (as Lulu called them), Megan Spooner, author of Skylark (in a society under a dome where she's never seen the sky, Lark discovers she might be something out of legend when it was her turn to give up her innate magic to power the dome), and Megan Shepherd, author of The Madman's Daughter (which is a really interesting take on the Island of Doctor Moreau told from the POV of the doctor's daughter, so you know I want to read this as a HUGE Wells fan), and Lenore Appelhans, author of Level 2 (an unusual look at an afterlife where memories are currency. More memories means more wealth).

The audience was lovely. I was not. Lulu wanted to suggest a page number for Jodi to read, but I'd already decided on one, and I SHOUTED DOWN MY OWN KID. But it gets better (worse). Jodi asked one question from Incarnate, with the prize of a pair of incredible hand-made Jodi Mitts. I did raise my hand, and Lulu didn't, but she swears she knew the answer too. I know she did, but she's not a hand raiser. You snooze, you lose, kiddo. And I didn't even answer the question 100% correctly, but still won the mitts. Sure, I am Mittens. Mittens needs mitts. But I promised to share them 50-50 with Lulu.

Precious Mitts! They are SOOOOOO soft.

I also wanted to tell Jodi a silly story that took place shortly after Incarnate was released. I believe it was the Authoress who tweeted that Jodi was giving away Fluff Ponies, and to contact her if you wanted one. So I did. I hadn't read Incarnate yet, but how can you not after receiving a Fluff Pony with Super Magical Powers?

This is the content of that email. If that doesn't make you a fan, then I don't need to know you:


Congratulations! Your request for a fluff pony has been APPROVED. Welcome to your new life with your fluff pony.

Your fluff pony is fully loaded and ready for battle. Note the laser bracelets and cuffs; those are weapons. Note the pointy horn; that is a weapon. See the wings? Those aren't weapons. Those are for getting you to the doorstep of your enemy so you can DESTROY. (Or away from your enemy, if necessary.) The glasses are to allow your fluff pony to SEE THROUGH WALLS so you can attack while your enemy is showering or otherwise vulnerable.

You are awesome. You deserve nothing but the best fluff pony available.

Now you have it.

Jodi

I named him George. Every once in a while, when I really need to feel like I could arrive at the doorstep of my enemy and be prepared to destroy said enemy, I have a little visit with George.

But when it was our turn to have our copy of Asunder signed? I babbled incoherently for about 10 seconds and then ran for the hills. No cute story about the fluff pony. No reminding her that I said hi on twitter a few times, including the day before the event. Total incoherence.

So there you have it, my Thursday, wherein I proved I can simultaneously be a nincompoop and a cool mom. Lulu loved the event, even when I couldn't figure out which street you could turn left onto Washington Street from. *shakes fist at Northern Virginia traffic planning*

Thanks to all the authors and Hooray for Books. We had a great time.

No No, Nano! Or, Unsticking All The Words

I didn't sign up for NaNoWriMo this year, because I was more than 50k into a novel, but after a big discussion on Twitter at the end of October, I did agree to NaNoFiMo, or National Novel Finishing Month. We proposed that we'd stick to the NaNo spirit of daily writing goals, whether it be a daily word count goal, an editing goal, or critiquing and polishing. Anything that got you closer to finishing a novel would count as a goal. Most importantly, we would be accountable to each other. We'd have to fess up when we didn't meet our goals. It's a great kick in the pants to stick to those goals!

I wanted my work in progress to be on the receiving end of this sort of kick:



But more often than not for the last week, I ended up more like this:



I was the dizzy squirrel, running in circles, unable to decide where the words were leading. As you can see, I'm still tying my metaphors up in knots. But I think I finally figured out what comes next.

So now this is me, writing many words, skating across the frozen surface of plot holes, and laughing as I swing like Tarzan across the dreaded Boggy Middle of this book:




All it took was a week of reading, self loathing, and a five minute email exchange with the fabulous @FeakySnucker. I swear, she should append her name to include the Fabulous. I don't even think she realized how helpful her gentle prompting was. And for the record, "gentle prompting" now includes such phrases as this:

"Either way, someone's going to be getting pounded."





This is why everyone needs a good critique partner. Not just after the writing is done, but for those horrible, horrible times when you get stuck. And as for NaNo, whether you choose to NaNoWriMo from the beginning, or NaNoFiMo from somewhere in the middle of a novel, I wish you many happy unstickings.

How is your November writing goal coming along? Are you NaNo'ing in any way? Need someone to kick your metaphorical patootie? I am available for booty booting, and happy to help!

Getting back on the horse after tumbling off and rolling around on the ground for a few months...

So, I've been a little ranty-pants for the last few days. I hope y'all can forgive me. I was under the weather with the blergs, but I feel a lot better now. My posts from now on will hopefully reflect the improvement!

On the up side, I have had a lot of time to read. When you can't do anything other than lie there like a lump, reading is an excellent option, at least until you fall asleep on the book and drool on the pages...

But I've largely caught up on my beta-reading duties. I've also been FINALLY reading The Enchantress by Michael Scott. I'd already read the rest of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series, and since this is the final installment, I can't believe I've been sitting on it since it was released in May. That is just how busy I've been. Then again, it got buried on my coffee table for a month or so, and I completely forgot it was there. When I found it again a few days ago, I was THRILLED! HEY! NEW BOOK!!! *_*

And now, while I wait for my CP's to finish writing their current wip's, or to finish their revisions, I shall return to the writing trenches.

It's George! Hows about we go for a ride?

It has been so long since I worked on book three in the series I'm querying right now that I have absolutely no recollection of the details I've written so far. I remember the basic story up to the point where I left off, but revising two of my own books, plus doing critiques and beta reads on several others, not to mention all the summer vacation business, I'm afraid I drove all the plot details right out of my little pea-brain.

I know the worst thing you can do is go back and edit before the first draft is complete. I'm trying to promise myself to leave all the words alone, but I must go back and reread from the beginning. I don't remember some of the minor characters' names (folks who are necessary to the plot, but with very little time on the page so far), all the little twisty-turns I've written, and exactly that the timeline looks like. I MUST go back and read it from the beginning. I hope I don't fall into the trap of revising the first draft in progress. Then again, I revised books 1 and 2 so much in the last few months, some revision will probably be necessary. Required, even. Otherwise, what I've already written won't make sense with the other revisions... Sigh.

So there it is. The main reason I've been procrastinating on getting back to writing. Editorial Paralysis.

I'm looking to George for support. Come on, George!

I will repost the Progress-O-Meter as soon as I make some...

Has summer derailed your writing plans? Or have you ever walked away from a half-written manuscript, only to return several months later? How did you get back into it?

A little CONTEST! With Prizes! Travel-related amnesia.

Today is my last day at home until Sunday night. At least this time I'll be staying at a proper hotel, with a real bed, an en suite bathroom, and air conditioning. The air conditioning is a huge plus, since the hotel is in Savannah, Georgia. In July. I can feel the melting coming on already.

I originally thought to bring my typical wardrobe of Goth-Meets-Southern-Belle-Commando, but after seeing the extent of our walking tours (basically 9 am to 9 pm every day, all around town), I've reduced myself to Tourist Clothing, including the loud, inappropriate socks. It's just too hot to be parading around town in petticoats, even knee-length varieties. I did get a new pair of sneakers, so at least my feet will be happy. Happier than they would have been in my Disney World-tested Fluevog heels. I swear, I wore these for a week, and never felt pain. At DISNEY WORLD, PEOPLE! But I'm not sure how well-paved Savannah is, and the Vogs just don't perform in off-road environments. So, new Chucks, it is.

Fluevogs of Happiness, pretty much the most comfortable shoes ever. I have them in pink, too.

Old Chucks, done in by working at baseball games, and New Chucks, so bright and shiny they practically glow.

Screw it. I'm bringing the Vogs, too.

The other nice thing about this trip compared to our usual Girl Scout trips, we're taking chartered buses, which sounds horrible at first, but then I realized I wouldn't have to drive, or haul all our luggage in my truck like I do when we camp. I can bring a proper suitcase, and I don't have to pack a tent or a sleeping bag, or any other camp stuff! I have SPACE IN MY LUGGAGE FOR ALL THE THINGS!

Ooh, another nice thing. Savannah is a city. Cities have cell phone service! Our hotel has free WiFi! I won't be cut off from the beautiful internets! In fact, after 12 hours hiking around town in the sweltering heat with 85 other people, I'll be grateful to escape into the internets for a little while.

I'm taking my computer with me. Even after bringing it to camp and then never even opening it up (not even once!), I've deluded myself into thinking I might actually get some editing done while I'm there. I'm a night owl, and I don't sleep much. I have to have something to do between 11 pm (lights out, noises off), and 2 am when I normally start to get sleepy. We'll see how that goes. Probably better than camp did. At least with WiFi, I'll have the internet to keep me company if I can't get to the editing...

The only problem I'm having is that Friday is Lulu's real birthday. We celebrated her fake birthday today, so we wouldn't deprive the Helper Monkey of cake. Friday I need to find a bakery in Savannah where I can get a cake to feed about 30 people. It's only fair she gets to have cake on her actual birthday, too! If anyone knows a good bakery in Savannah, let me know. Otherwise, I'll probably ask for directions to the nearest grocery store and buy cupcakes. :)

Now I have to get packing. There's only 13 1/2 hours left before I have to wake up. I hate that. Remember, I'm a night owl. I am definitely not a morning person. I don't think I'll like 4:30 am as an alarm clock setting.

There we go. I think that's everything for this post. My head contains a whirling tornado of to-do lists and anxiety. I'm finally coming to terms with my basic problem with travel: I always forget one thing. It might be small and easy to replace (toothbrush), or strange (I once forgot to pack a single pair of underwear for the Helper Monkey. I blame him for not setting them out with his clothes). Nevertheless, I usually forget something. It used to cause panic, but I've started seeing the fun in discovering what vital thing I left at home.

Let's play a game! Everyone take a guess. What will be the one thing I absolutely need on this trip that I will leave at home? Put your answer down in the comment section (U.S. and Canada only), and I'll buy the lucky winner a souvenir from Savannah.

For Bonus Points, why don't you also vote on what the souvenir should be? Hint, it should be something small, easily shipped, and rather generic. Suggesting I buy a shot glass or a snow globe is on the right track. Suggesting I buy a life-sized stuffed tiger wearing a pink t-shirt from Fort Jackson is a little over the top, no?

Just to be fair, I won't read these comments until AFTER I leave for Savannah, and therefore won't be able to dash around stuffing numerous forgotten items into my suitcase, obviating the need for this contest in the first place! :) I'll hold the drawing Sunday night when I get home, so you have until then to enter.

GOOD LUCK TO US ALL!

New Writing/Editing Achievement Unlocked

For those who don't already know, I've finally been working with a GEN-YOU-WINE crit partner who is overflowing with remarkably spot-on advice. It has been an eye-opening journey from what I mistakenly believed was a well-edited manuscript to what is rapidly becoming an actually-well-edited manuscript.

BUT HOLD YOUR HORSES, PEOPLE! It took a while, but I finally unlocked the most awesome writing achievement that has hit me so far. Chapter 22 is my new "favorite thing I ever wrote." No, I don't think it's the most crucial bit of dialogue, or the most evocative of character development, or even the most moving, or savvy, or intellectual. It is, however, the first chapter we sailed straight through without making a single change.

It's probably not perfect. For all I know, it's the chapter that will receive the most slashy red markings from a future editor. But for one glorious moment, I held my head high. I wrote something that my excellent and insightful crit partner left intact.

She pointed out to me that as we go along, we become better at writing. And yes, the farther into the book we get, the fewer corrections there have been overall. But this, a whole chapter that could stand as-is, made my day.

Achievement Unlocked!

Love and chocolates for everyone! I'm dancing through my day today. Feel free to picture that in whatever way makes you laugh hardest.

And a happy Sunday, and Happy Canada Day, eh? For me, it's Happy Chapter 22 Day!

The big lumpy thing under my hat. AKA: Squee! I'm a Finalist!

Wowie wowzers! I'm a finalist! You are? Yes, yes I am! *insert maniacal laughter* I can't even believe it. But there it is. See? It's right there---> http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/2012/04/finalist-4.html

When Janet Reid emailed me to notify me of my finalist status, I thought there must be some mistake. There was no way my silly little novel would be a finalist in anything. I had an attack of the vapors, eventually recovered, and decided to play along with the pleasant delusion. I sent off the list of answers to the Finalist Questions, and tried like heck to forget about it. Maybe if I played along and kept reading about the other finalists, and their amazing novels, I'd come to my senses. I doubted it until the second I saw the post online with my name on it next to Finalist Number 4. In fact, I still don't really believe it.

When it posted this morning, I was actually at my daughter's school. I showed her the post when she walked by me trying to pretend she didn't know me. It actually merited a thumbs up and a smile. From a pre-teen girl in front of her friends! Wow! Now I'm Really Someone!

I was a chaperone on the drama class field trip to the local high school. We saw "Once Upon A Mattress." All through the play, I fidgeted. It was a great production, and I totally loved it. Other than the fact I was dying to stand up and shout the entire time.

The Helper Monkey works night shift, so he's all tucked away sleeping now. I'll have to squee at him when he gets up. In the mean time, thanks for all the great comments! This has completely made my day! :)

Thank you!

Surprise surprise!

After I wrote for a bit yesterday morning, I really needed to get to the store. I had to make sure Tim wouldn't starve to death while Lulu and I went camping this weekend, and I needed to gas up the buggy so we wouldn't wheeze to a halt on the highway somewhere. I also had to deliver the kid's forgotten lunch to school before she starved to death!

Well, I'd just left the school and I drove about half way to the store, when the little chime on my phone alerted me to a new email in my Author email account. (Yes, I have a dedicated email account for all things writery. All writers should.) I figured it was another rejection, and kept driving. Between the bad weather and the ding-dong I was driving behind, by the time I got to the store, I'd totally forgotten about the email. I remembered it while I pushed my cart through the produce department. I paused a moment to feel the momentary heartbreak of rejection, and WOWIE ZOWIE!!! It was the nicest, most enthusiastic request for a full manuscript I'd ever received! May I repeat, WOWIE ZOWIE!!!

When I got over the shock of it, I called Tim. I felt like a ninny, standing by the lettuce, all giddy, telling him about the email. At that point, I still had to actually buy food, and then head across the parking lot to the gas station. I raced/danced my way around the store, practically singing the entire way. I ended up buying chocolate, Oreo Cakesters, and Cherry Juice (these are celebratory foods). I was indeed truly ninnyish.

I battled the gas pump, filled up the beast in record time, and then drove home unimpeded (thankfully) by any other traffic. I had to put all the perishables away, and repackage the meat I'd accidentally tore the packaging on with my pointy ring while I shoved and crammed everything else into the fridge. And then the doorbell rang. GAH!!!

I forgot I had a contractor coming by, and he needed to talk to me about the job he's scheduled to do. We need to have our house repainted, per the community association. Apparently the old stain is too faded for their tastes. And I have to re-stain the deck too, but I can handle that bit myself. So after I dealt with all this other stuff, I finally had a minute to sit down and format all the requested stuff for the lovely agent.

I checked everything over thirty-seven times, and finally brought myself to hit "send." It was just over two hours after the initial request came in. She replied IN UNDER TWO MINUTES! It wasn't an autoresponse, either, but a very nice letter letting me know she got it, and she couldn't wait to read it. And again, WOWIE ZOWIE!!!

Whew! So after all that, I was truly grateful that I'd managed to write some yesterday morning, because the rest of the day I was so distracted that I think I managed to write another few paragraphs, at the most. Even if I end up with a rejection in the end, this has been a lot of fun. Every other request for pages or fulls has been either written by an assistant, or just a simple two sentences asking to see more in plain business language. This was different. So much nicer! It's great to feel special like that.

So now we are at T minus 5 hours to camping. I still have to finish packing, shower, attend an Honor Roll assembly, and clean out Little Red (there's still Girl Scout Cookies we haven't been able to deliver in the backity back). So glad it's not raining today, though!

So I've decided I won't even look at the current MS today, because if I do get started on a roll with it, I won't be able to continue, and the pain of leaving it hanging until Sunday would drive me crazy. I'm already depressed enough about not being able to take the computer with me! :)

Words: 4,936
Pages: 17

And yes, I'll even miss making my daily blog entry. Last night, I had a great idea, including pictures and everything, and I can't for the life of me remember what it was now. I just remember thinking, "Yeah! That's what I'll write about tomorrow." If I ever remember what it was, I'll probably just forget again before I get to write it down.

At least the cat didn't sleep ON me last night. Oh, but that's probably my fault. I'd forgotten to let him in from the back porch. Oops. I remembered after about an hour, and he was all huddled up by the back door waiting to come in. I think he was just mad at me for forgetting about him. :(  Hey, at least I remembered eventually!

Okay, the sun's hitting me in the face. Time for a break. Have a great weekend. If you don't hear back by Sunday, send snow tires! We might get snowed in at camp and be unable to return on time. I hope not, but I'm prepared for the worst. I packed those Cakesters in my emergency kit.