I’m so Excited, so Here’s a Giveaway

     
        In less than a month’s time, the Hubby and I will be making the 14-hour drive to Chicago, so that I can attend the RT Booklovers Convention. (He will be attending the C2E2 Comic Book Convention going on the same weekend.)

        This is my first convention, and I am extremely excited to go. My goal is to learn all I can and have a great time doing it. I will get to meet and be instructed by many different and amazing authors and editors, and I’m looking forward to coming home ready to apply what I’ve learned to my current WIP.

        I will be sure to blog my experience during this fun-filled week.

        All this talk about meeting authors brought me back to my trip to San Francisco last October when I met 4 fabulous authors. I completely forgot that I had bought a giveaway treat for you, my followers and have yet to host the giveaway that I’d promised. So There goes.

        I have here, a copy of Becca Fitzpatrick’s SILENCE to giveaway to one lucky winner. What’s so special about this particular novel you ask? Well…not only is it her third book in the HUSH HUSH series and an AMAZING read, but as you can see from the above picture, I got this one signed just for you.

      Open to all who wish to win this great hardcover book. (International)   

        Contest closes on March 30 2012 at Midnight

My Writing Journey ... So far

     I've been on a roll these past few days with my witting and loving every minute of it.

     That’s a lie.

     Yes, being on a word count roll is something to be proud of, but it’s not been easy, and it doesn’t mean I haven’t veered off course or been stuck a few times, having to figure out where I might have gone in the wrong direction. I’ve been agonizing over my ending and shed a few tears about not knowing what to do with my characters next. I’ve had plenty of moments where I just sat at my laptop wanting to write, but nothing poured out.

     I recently shelved my second manuscript without finishing it. I loved my characters, but somewhere down the line, I lost my plot line and the story fell apart. I mourned the death of my story and made the grave decision to put it away and start something new.

     This new WIP has me excited again and wanting to write.

     I guess the message and the lesson learned, is that writing the story isn’t always as simple as we want it to be. I mean, I always thought editing, revising, writing query letters and synopses were the hard part and that writing the first draft was the easy part, but I’m learning that this isn’t always the case. Not for me anyway.

     I’d always pictured writers sitting at their desks, hashing away at the keys, producing page after page of story off the top of their heads and enjoying every minute of it. Now I know that’s not true for at least 75% of writers including me. I can actually say I’d rather revise and edit than sit down and write the story from scratch, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy it even though it’s hard. Writing the story is just as hard or just as much work as the rest of the process.

     With all that said, I now realize what an accomplishment it is to complete a Novel, and how proud I should be that after all that hard work, I'm eager to do it again and again whether I get published or not.

Happy New Year

       Another year has come and gone. 2011 was a good year. It’s the year I decided to take my writing to the next level, the year I took my three week road trip to California and the year I met up with long lost friends and spent the last night of 2011 with. I met many great authors online and in person that have inspired me, like Kristi Cook, Amalie Howard and Becca Fitzpatrick to name a few.

      This year I feel different, I know what my goal is and I’m looking forward to achieving it. This year is my writing year. I know what I want to write, I know my audience, I just need to continue to learn and hone my skill and do the best I can in hopes that it will pay off.

      I have so many things to look forward to in 2012 like the many great novels coming out this year that I desperately have to get my hands on, my big trip to Chicago in April to attend my first RT Convention and the Nationwide Nascar and Rolex Series Grand-am race in Montreal in August. I’m also heading up north to visit my sister in October.

      This is going to be a great year, and I wish you all the same.

      I’d love to hear how your 2011 ended and what you look forward to in the new year.

My name is Lucy, and I have a problem

     My problem isn’t alcohol or drugs or any other nasty thing that might have popped into your head. My problem is that I'm addicted to buying books.

     Well, financing the habit can be damaging to your budget, space can be an issue for some (not yet in my case), but the biggest problem is buying them faster than you can read them. Between work, writing and daily responsibilities, I can’t foresee getting through the 99 books and counting that sit on my shelves before the wave of 2012 books starts coming in.

     Another contributing factor to my book buying addiction is the fact that I love to read a hard cover book. There is nothing better than a glass of wine and a hardcover sitting in my lap. This means I buy books within the first year they are released for fear of having a hard time finding the hardcover edition later.

     I’m also a sucker for a happy ending which doesn't help the matter either. When I read a book and then find out that it's going to be a trilogy, as much as I love a good trilogy, I cringe. To avoid having to live with the devastating second book cliffhanger, I wait for the third book to be released. This is another reason I have so many unread books on my shelves. This also means that in 2012 when all the third books are released, I will have doubled my reading list.

     It never ends.

     In conclusion, I enjoy my book collecting hobby, and I believe that since my addiction hasn’t put me out of house and home, doesn't affect my health in the present or in the long term, and that reading and learning bring me joy, than I can accept what I am.

     My name is Lucy, and I'm a book buying addict.


     If you can relate to my book buying addiction, leave a comment below. I’d love to read your thoughts.

The Muse I left behind

     It's been two weeks since we’ve been back from our once in a life time trip to California and I'm having a hard time getting back to my daily life, especially in my writing.

     Before I left, I had been spitting out 2000 to 3000 flowing words per day, losing myself in the story and enjoying where it was going. Now, I can't seem to cough out a single word and not from lack of trying or wanting.

     I decided to take a break and read to get inspired. Sometimes reading beautifully structured sentences gets my mind in the right mood to create my own. I read through Becca Fitzpatrick’s Crescendo and Silence in the matter of days. Amazing story that kept me glued to the pages. Although it's motivated me to want to write, the mental block still persists. I've been using the downtime to do some online research to help me hone my craft, but what I truly want is to find the muse I left behind before I left for California.

     I realize this is something that many writers suffer through, and it’s happened to me before. I know I will move past this eventually, but it's hard to accept when you sit down to write, and you desperately want to lose yourself in the momentum of your words, but your fingers just can't seem to type a single sentence that makes sense. The idea is right there, at the forefront of your mind, but nothing is happening.

     Many blogs posts have been dedicated to this very topic. Many offer tips and tricks that have worked for them, but for me, I know I can't force it. The best I can do is continue to read, research and learn everything I can that could be of use to my writing, and hope that the wall breaks down soon.

     Until then, If you see me lurking through your blog's writing tips and experiences, say hi.