#vdayplaylist

Growing up, one of my favorite hobbies was making a mixed tape, and my love of mixed tapes has never died. When people transitioned to CD, I did as well, burning mixed compilations for birthday, holidays and special occasions. I'd make the cover art and the backing pages by hand. But once I had kids, my free time dwindled and the pastime was forgotten in a haze of diaper changing and cleaning. However, since the advent of Spotify, the mixed tape aka playlist has come back. I make them all the time and occasionally share them with friends. The only sad thing - no handmade artwork to go along with it.

Yesterday, I shared some of the tracks on my #vdayplaylist and I was asked to share the complete list. I tried to range the gamut of love, from happy & hopeful to tragic & despairing to lusty & wanting. 

Can't Help Falling in Love - Lick the Tins

Breathin' - Asylum Street Spankers

In Spite of Ourselves - John Prine & Iris Dement

My Funny Valentine - Chet Baker

Cupid - Amy Winehouse

You Belong to My Heart - Old 97's

Let's Stay Together - Al Green

Make You Feel My Love - Adele

Valentine - Fiona Apple

We Both Go Down Together - The Decemberists

I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) - The Proclaimers

Question - Old 97's

I Will Follow You into the Dark - Death Cab for Cutie

My Valentine - Paul McCartney
Wicked Game - Chris Isaak

Let's Get It On - Marvin Gaye

What songs would you have on your #vdayplaylist?

A Work Complete

"Let it be known: Friday the 13th day of January, I finished my monster in a box. It is done! Final count: 160,004 words, 519 pages. WHOOOOOO HOOO! Time to celebrate. *bounce*"

Facebook 01/13/12

One year later… I have finally finished revising and editing.

What took me so long? My husband would love an answer to this question. His as well as everyone else's excitement for me dwindled as the days lengthened to weeks and months, and I still couldn't put my stamp on it. But I only get one shot at this folks. My book needed to be as polished as possible before letting it go.

Any agent or editor could look at my FB post and tell you right away why I was still editing. Too long. When I started writing, I just wrote. I focused on my story. I didn't research the industry or what agents/publishers looked for in a debut manuscript. I knew the kind of novels I liked to read. The ones that hold you gripped in their hands and won't let you go. The ones that when you finish leave you desperate for your next fix. I've been a literary junkie for years. I know what gets me going and keeps me reading. Because I was writing the first of a series, I had to plan for the future. Some of my favorite series do a fabulous job of foreshadowing the next book.

As I wrote, I kept the following things in mind:

1.  The major story arc that would span the first several novels.
2.  The characters that would become important in later novels.
3.   Building the tension between future couples.

And I accomplished my task. Too well. I had too many characters, too much tension, too many side stories, too many points-of-view.

So I simplified.

I focused on the main HEA. I cut scenes I loved. I scrapped characters and put them on a waitlist. I slowed the build on one of the couples. They needed cooling or they would never make it to book three. That alone shrunk my monster from 160k to 118k.

The next step was focusing on the nitty gritty. Words. I had to cut the fat in my manuscript. Filler and filter words had to go. I learned my sloppy words (look, thought, that, so, just) and nixed them. And in doing so, I made my writing better. Showing, not telling. A lesson I always taught my students but didn't fully understand until now.

My monster in a box is now a respectable 106K.

It's ready. I'm ready. Today I'll be sending out my first query letters. It's scary and terrifying and all that jazz. But it's time.

A few thanks to the following:
My husband for his support and putting up with me in general. Jason Kiniry for being my personal hole-poker and not the dirty kind :P. (See Poking Holes.) My girls who read my manuscript and gave me feedback (Angela Johnson, Elicia Arwen, Tanya Barnes, Shea Precht, & Sarah Haney). You guys are awesome. My mom aka babysitter. Without her help, I would have never finished my book and would never have clean laundry. Del Dryden for beta reading (and giving it to me straight), general sounding board, and industry question answerer. Your feedback was invaluable. Seriously, you rock. I owe you. Angela James for B4UHitSend. Her workshop helped me clean up the nitty gritty. I can't recommend this online class enough. 

Never Again

I will never take another break from writing.

I feel terrible. My mind is sluggish.

It isn't that I chose to stop. No. Life got in the way as it is apt to do. If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you're aware my husband and I are remodeling our house. I had heard horror stories about home renovation, so I was prepared for the worst. Or so I thought.

 I have no desire to rehash in gory detail all the crap that has befallen us. I'll make this brief. In fact, I will simply describe our Thanksgiving holiday. We had one week to move all our worldly possessions into a POD. If that weren't a difficult enough task for a typical family of four, my father-in-law passed away, my husband had an emergency root canal, and my kids got lice.

But we made it. Big, big thanks to wonderful friends and family who helped us along the way.

Since October, I have been mom, wife, contractor, painter, grief counselor, demolition crew, packer, organizer, nit picker, handyman, and chef. I have been everything but writer.

I wrote that life got in the way, but really I let life get in the way. I let the renovations take over. Life will always try to change your plans. The trick is making the time. Every day. I have to find a way to write even when life is beating down my door with crazy demands (along with my children).

When I don't write, I am unhappy.

My resolution for 2013: Write.

And yes, that includes attempting to maintain my sad excuse for a blog ;)