December 15th

Hi, it’s Christina – 

Good morning! The blog is going to be short and sweet today, and there won’t be a writing challenge because I still have a whole lot to do.

I won’t know until the sun comes up what it looks like outside to determine if the cookie exchange is still on or not. From what I can see, things are not looking good. PLUS, my husband can’t get the snow blower going, and I don’t want him to have to shovel the walk and the driveway by hand. It’s too much work with six inches of snow and a layer of ice on top.

I have an update for you. So, the good news is, I was accepted by the publisher in New York. The bad news is, I read over the contract he sent, and I’m not going to accept. I won’t go into details, but it just wasn’t right for me. Oh well, maybe next time.

Okay, the kitchen looks like a bomb blew up in it. I still have to get the chocolate on the Venetian layered cookies. The wall heater in the family room went kaput so my husband had to rip it out and put in a new one, so that room is a mess, and I still have all the set up to do, so I better run.

I hope you have a great day, and happy writing!

December 7th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

First I want to take a moment to remember all those lives lost over seventy years ago today. Most of you are not old enough to remember Pearl Harbor, but you are, I’m pretty sure, old enough to remember 9-11. Remember the horror you felt when our country came under attack? Well, I’m sure, our country was feeling the same way back in 1941. Over 2,400 people lost their lives that infamous day in Hawaii, and they should be remembered.

So, yesterday was kind of exciting. I realized some of you are not on Facebook, so I will share what I posted there yesterday afternoon:

 

“So I just got off the phone with the publisher from NYC, and I am doing my happy dance. 

He told me he was "proud" to have presented Corporate Blues to his team this morning. He thought it was a published book already, because not only did I send him the fully formatted, ebook ready, manuscript, I sent him the artwork for the cover. He immediately wanted to know who did the cover and if those beautiful blues were mine, and I told him no, they were a friend of mine's daughter's and Riverbench Publishing made the cover. (He raved about the cover, so, Linda Rawlins, there very well may be a phone call in Matt's future as well.) 

I reminded him what I sent was an unedited first draft, and he told me to "Stop it! You should see some of the s**t that comes across my desk." He also said he was having his secretary print out a copy so he could take it home this weekend to read it, and his team would have an answer back to him by the end of next week, because he was "pushing hard for this one".

I know I shouldn't get my hopes up, and I know I shouldn't take a chance in jinxing it by telling you, but he was so excited on the phone, it was contagious. Please keep your fingers crossed for me!”

I also posted this on my personal Facebook page as well. I usually try to keep my personal and my professional identities separate, but I was really excited, so I wanted to share the news in both places. I don’t want to get my hopes up too high because of my last experience with a traditional publisher, but I will admit, it was a big ego boost to have a publisher truly excited about my work.

Now, all I have to do is wait a week to see if his team is just as excited as he was about the book. Piece of cake…NOT. I’m nervous about sending them an unedited version, but that’s what he asked for, so that’s what I sent. I’m also wondering if they will approve of how I ended the story or if they will want more. That is, if they even like what I sent to start with, or if Corporate Blues simply ends up in the circular file.

If it does, I’ll simply polish it myself and release it through CreateSpace as I did the others. I don’t need a mainstream publisher to pick me up, but it would sure be nice. If I did, that would mean someone else was dealing with the business end and I could concentrate on writing instead of having to split my time. Which at the moment is roughly 65% marketing and 35% writing, and that does not sit well with me.

I still have to finish Faerie Tale Queen and Simply by Chance, and I have two more stories rattling around in my brain that are getting impatient and want to be told. Plus, I think a publishing contract would validate my career choice in my husband’s eyes and I’d get a little more support on the home front. But again, I’m putting the horse before the cart. There are no guarantees, and until there are, I just have to sit patiently and wait.

I think I will take a break from writing today and start decorating my house for Christmas, because other than the tree being up, I really haven’t done anything yet. I also have to make a batch of potato pancakes (requested by the hostess) to bring to our first holiday party of the season.

So, I am off to start all of that. I hope you have a fabulous day, and happy writing!

 

Your Last Challenge was:

 

With Nelson Mandela’s passing yesterday, it made me think, what is it that makes someone great, makes someone stand out over the rest? Write about who you think should be remembered as “great” and why.

 

I honestly cannot think of one person to single out, because of what I consider “great”, can be achieved by anyone who truly wants it. You do not need to be Nelson Mandela or Mother Teresa, to be great. You do not need to have won the Nobel Prize or have found a cure for some horrible disease to be great. You do not need to be featured on the cover of Time to be great.

In my eyes, greatness is a gift within each and every one of us, for I believe if you have the ability to change just one person’s life for the better, then you are a great person. Let’s face it, the Nelson Mandela’s of the world are few and far between. Not many of us are called to fight for justice the way he was, and our small acts of kindness will probably never get worldwide acclaim, but notoriety shouldn’t be a driving factor anyway.

If you start by just trying to make the immediate circle around you a better place, then before you know it, the circle will grow. You do not need to be rich or powerful to make someone else’s life better, something as simple as a friendly smile or a kind word could mean the world to someone.

 

The ten minutes are up, but I think you can figure out where I was going with this.

 

Your Next Challenge is:

 

Write a story containing: an animal, a magical being, and snow

 

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

December 6th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

Good Morning! At about eight last night I realized I never posted a blog entry yesterday. This was the first time I missed in I can’t even remember how long, but I do have a really good excuse.

While NaNoWriMo was in full swing, I received the information from the FBI I had been waiting for in order to finish Corporate Blues, but I couldn’t take a break from Faerie Tale Queen to be able to work the information into the story. Well, from six yesterday morning until around seven last night – with only one break to take my daughter to the chiropractor – I wrote and revised Corporate Blues. And…wait for it… sent it to the publisher in NYC who has been asking for it. Now, I have no idea if he will pick up the novel, but at least it is out of my hands and into his.

I have been down this road before, the traditional publishing road, with less than a positive experience. I have learned from my mistakes, so unless they come back with “an offer I can’t refuse”, I will be releasing Corporate Blues myself. I will keep you updated, and I will probably be asking your opinion when the time comes as to what you think I should do.

Today, after a little bit of maintenance housework, I will be headed back to Ireland. It has been a few days since I’ve written anything on Faerie Tale Queen, and quite frankly, I’m starting to miss Kieren and Logan. I guess that’s a good sign, no?

I hope you have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

 

Your Last Challenge was:

 

You are posing for one of those “Old Time Photos”. The camera flash goes off, and when you blink the spots from your eyes, you find you are no longer at the photo studio, you are actually in the place where the photo is set.

 

It was silly really. Just a whim. The four of us were walking along the Wildwood boardwalk and we saw the “Olde Tyme Photo” sign, and we walked in. There were dozens of scenes we could have chosen. We could have been princesses and the guys could have been knights, but they weren’t keen on putting on the armor. We could have picked a scene from a royal ball, but the guys refused to wear tights. Then like kids in a candy store, the boys saw the Al Capone era photo, and they wouldn’t settle for anything else. Pretty sure the machine guns are what hooked them. Okay, so we’d be in corsets and fishnet stockings. I could live with that.

My boyfriend’s sister and I went into our dressing room to change and the guys went into theirs. When we all emerged, there was a lot of giggling, especially when the photographer posed us and told the guys they needed to look pissed off.

Finally, he snapped the photo. It was the biggest and brightest flash I had ever seen. Before my vision returned, the room slowly began to get noisy. I blinked and I blinked, and kept trying to focus, but the spots were still swimming before my eyes. The sound of piano music started to permeate the din. My peripheral vision started coming into focus. Where the heck did all these people come from?

 

Out of time.

 

From left to right: My husband Paul, me, my sister-in-law Cindy, and my brother-in-law Frank. I think we were 23, 21 & 18 when this photo was taken. Dang, I would kill to look like that again! LOL.

Your Next Challenge is:

 

With Nelson Mandela’s passing yesterday, it made me think, what is it that makes someone great, makes someone stand out over the rest? Write about who you think should be remembered as “great” and why.

 

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.