February 6th, 2015 Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

I’m a bad person. Well, maybe not bad, but definitely a bit ditzy at times. Since the girls were little, we’ve always held their “family party” on the Sunday between their birthdays – Dani Rose is the 4^th & AlyssaLynn’s is the 15^th of February. So, this Sunday is the day, but with Lys off at college, I guess it didn’t occur to me that some people would question if I was doing a family party just for Dani.

My SiL, MiL, mom and three of my friends just said “what do you need me to bring Sunday?”, and I’m such a scatterbrain, I didn’t realize everyone who is usually invited didn’t know we were having the party. Then my mom told me she mentioned it to her sister, and then I get a text from my other aunt asking “Did I miss something?” I felt so bad that I didn’t extend an official invitation. Then I had to wrack my brain to remember who I said something to, and who I had just assumed would know. See, I’m a bad person.

I am going to take the easy way out this year as far as food goes. I’m ordering several half-pans of Chinese food. I’ve done this a few times in the past, and the food was always a big hit, plus, the Chinese restaurant by us gives me a really good deal – lots of food, not too expensive. I’ll be able to feed 45 people for under $100. It’s a beautiful thing.

I spent four hours this morning on Twitter related stuff. I created an Excel spreadsheet for Tweets, Follows and Retweets. I wrote a couple of dozen Tweets for each books so I can have them at the ready, and then I tweeted, retweeted and thanked. I took a small break to be able to make the kids lunch, and when I got back, there were over 2K tweets in my queue. I’m trying, I really am, but I’m still finding Twitter exhausting. However, even though it is making my head spin and my eyes cross, my books have been climbing in the rankings since I started this Twitter marketing blitz, so I guess it will be worth it in the end.

I finally sent Corporate Blues off to the Indie Next Generation Book Awards. I have been signed up since September, but never managed to get around to mailing them the three copies they requested. Then, two days ago, I get an email saying there was only ten days left to get the books to them. SHOOT! By the grace of God, I still had three copies left in my inventory – and ONLY three copies.

Needless to say, I need to order more books, but I think I’ll wait a little bit. I won’t have another book signing until April, so there’s no sense in ordering them now and storing them in the basement until I need them. I haven’t completed my spreadsheets yet for my taxes, but if memory serves (which is sketchy at best lately, but I try), then I’ve sold – or raffled or donated – 250 copies of Corporate Blues since it was published in March 2014.

Combined with A Second Chance and Taking Chances, I went through close to 1,000 copies of books in 2014. That’s just hard copies and does not include sales on Kindle. Now folks like Nora Roberts and James Patterson probably do that in a day, but considering the competition out there, I’m not complaining. Would I like the numbers higher? Well, DUH, of course, but I’m thinking, for being relatively new to this profession, it’s not too shabby.

Well, I’ve got places to go, and things to do, so TTFN. I hope you have a Fabulous day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge is:

If I could return to any time in my life, knowing what I know now…

You have ten 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.

November 9th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Good Morning! It is going to be another gorgeous day again today, and a few degrees warmer than yesterday. It isn’t much, but I’ll take ever degree I can get. Come 4:00 yesterday, when the sun set behind the buildings, it got dang cold. You would think with two pairs of wool socks and boots on, I would have been fine, but nope. Standing on that slate walkway all day, the cold just seeped in through all the layers. The long johns and my jacket kept the rest of me fairly warm, and sitting on a blanket definitely helped, but I need to figure out something better feet-wise. The cold actually made my feet ache, and it took almost an hour, rubbing my feet on my heated mattress pad, to get the pain to stop. I’m old, I admit it.

It was another great day at Canterbury Tales Forever Book Shoppe in Peddler’s Village. I met a ton of wonderful people, and sold quite a few books. One woman, Murielle (I hope I spelled that correctly), was originally from Belgium, then lived in Canada for several years, and now resides in Pennsylvania. The two of us chatted for quite a while. She too is an author, but her books are only on e-book at the moment, so we discussed her getting her books out in hard copy.

Another woman, Diane, was there with her granddaughter Ella. We actually took a photo together, and if she sends the email with the picture to me before I post this blog, I will include it. I met Sheri, a musician, and Donna who is visiting Peddler’s Village with a bunch of her girlfriends. Donna and friends will be there again today, so I hope they will stop by to say “hi” again before they have to leave.

Actually, I hope a lot of people stop by to say “hi”, because I think I may be the only author there today. I’ve done signings alone before, but they are much more fun when I have other author’s with me. It makes the day go quicker when you have someone to chat with during the slow times.

I also met some lovely ladies from Mary Kay, and a gentleman, Anthony, who is a web designer. I got to love on a gorgeous Husky, a Lab, and a standard Poodle who was a major mush. It’s so funny, I come home from these book signings and Colby is none too pleased with me when he smells all the other dogs who have garnered my attention while I was away from him. He’s so jealous. LOL.

He also didn’t take too kindly to me refilling my doggie treat bucket this morning from his stash of Milk Bones. I bought this huge case of Milk Bones, and honestly, Colby doesn’t love them. So instead of letting them go to waste, I bring them to the book signings for all my four legged visitors. My stash was running low, so I refilled the container this morning. Mr. Jealous had his nose in the box while I was filling the container, so I gave him one. He took it, brought it into the living room and then came back for seconds, the piggy. I didn’t give him a second one because I didn’t think he would even eat the first one, but when he saw me put the filled container out in the garage, he rushed into the living room and started chomping on the Milk Bone I gave him. Crazy dog!

So many people asked about Faerie Tale Queen. One woman even told me to “get my butt in gear, and finish it”. LOL. I’ve said it before, the cover for Faerie Tale Queen is my favorite, and I guess others like it too, because everyone asks about it. Corporate Blues, the one where my friend Linda Rawlin’s daughter was the model, runs a close second.

I did get a few surprises yesterday, and at this point I should be getting used to it, but I’m not, and not sure I ever will. It still surprises me when people tell me they recognize my books, have them already downloaded on their Kindle (one woman showed me because SHE wanted to prove it), say they saw them in an e-mail from Amazon or as a suggested read.

While one woman was reading the “Note to my readers” in Corporate Blues, I was greeting other passersby, when one said, “I am very familiar with your work. When are the next books due out?” I assured her soon, and joke I can’t write them as quickly as y’all read them. Then the woman who was reading Corporate Blues hands the book back to me and asks if that happened often. I admitted it’s been happening more and more, and that it surprises me every time. The passerby didn’t know it, but I think her comment made a sale. The woman went in and purchased a copy of Corporate Blues for her daughter.

I had one uncomfortable surprise as well. A middle school teacher recognized one of my books as well. It seems a bunch of books were purchased for the advanced readers at her school, and A Second Chance – with the old cover – was one of the books purchased. I was mortified. A Second Chance is NOT appropriate for twelve and thirteen year olds. With the new cover, I doubt there is any chance in this happening again, but O-M-G! I PRAY someone screened the book before they allowed the kids to read it. Good grief! I’d be quite content to never have that type of surprise again.

The signing doesn’t start until eleven today, so I still have a bit of time. I am going to use that time to throw something together for dinner, because I know, after day two in the cold, I am not going to want to make anything when I get home.

So, on that note, I hope you have a fantastic day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge:

You find a bracelet, obviously made by a child, on the sidewalk. What is the story behind the bracelet, or what happens after you find it?

You have ten 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.

September 30th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! Perhaps it’s the change of seasons, I’m not sure, but I am definitely a little off lately. I feel like I’m trying to run on low batteries or something. My intentions are good, but my follow-thru is lacking. I have entirely too much to do, to be functioning at less than optimal capacity.

Only one of you weighed in on my request for advice yesterday – thanks Cindy. I am going to heed her advice and just let the judges’ ruling on Taking Chances stand and not enter it in a new category this year. So, this morning, I filled out and submitted all the paperwork to enter Corporate Blues in the 2015 Indie Next Generation Book Awards.

I’ll admit, I have very low expectations for the results. Corporate Blues is a fun, light, book. It’s a quick read. It was very easy for me to write – minus the anxiety of having to contact the FBI to get some of my facts straight. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good story, but it required nowhere near as much work as my Bradford Series novels do. Perhaps because portions of Corporate Blues were actual events, which happened to me, it came very easy. The story just flowed on to the pages.

Research consisted of verifying some facts with our local police, having to check out the subway route to Fenway Park and the baseball pre-season schedule, and asking a few helicopter flight related questions. That’s it. Plus the fact that Corporate Blues is what I call “sex-lite”, the love scenes were not painful to write. There was no blood, no sweat, and no tears wrung out of me to produce the story, and because of that, it makes me wonder if I should have even entered it into the competition.

I realize I’m trying to compare apples to oranges. Historical Romance and Contemporary Romance are distant cousins, several times removed, at best. The amount of work and research required to produce a Historical is astronomical, where as a Contemporary, set in a location you are familiar with, in a profession you are familiar with… not so much.

I don’t think I will have the same issue with entering Faerie Tale Queen, because, since it is set in Ireland, I have had to do my fair share of research. (Flight times, commute time to a fictitious island which is based on a real island, eggs not being refrigerated like they are here in the states, different words for things depending on if the American character is saying them or the Irish character is saying them, a show that would be playing on tv on a certain night at a certain time, etc.)

Now, if Corporate Blues happens to do well (ie: better than Taking Chances), I will be truly confused. I used to get this same feeling when I was in school and aced a test I had not studied for, or bombed one I had studied hard for. Yeah, I know, I’m a nut.

Double Rainbow -The weird thing is,
it didn't rain, so I have no idea how
we had a rainbow.

As a completely random interjection, last night I ran out to the car to get an iced tea – I went grocery shopping yesterday and the case of iced tea had not made it into the house yet – and I was gifted by a lovely, and completely unexpected surprise. I just wanted to share the photo with you.

One last random piece before I skedaddle, this morning I read some advice to woman writers, and I wanted to share the link to the article with you. I think I will be printing out the article and sticking it on my fridge, so I can use it as a reminder from time to time – and who knows, perhaps others in my house will also take a look. (I’m not holding my breath on that one.)

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

Your Next Challenge:

You tried your best…

You have ten 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.

September 29th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! Yup, as suspected, yesterday was completely unproductive, and as you can probably gather by the lateness of this post, I’m not faring much better today either. I think my frantic pace over the past several weeks has caught up to me.

Today, amongst laundry, dishes, and hopefully some vacuuming, will be spent reading FTQ. I need to get back into the story, bring it to culmination, and put the final touches on it. I need to make sure there are no holes, and, if needed, insert clues so the pinnacle leaves you with an “Oh!” not an “Oh?”.

One saving grace is this is the fifth week in the month, which translates to, I only have one meeting this week. I can spend the entire week decompressing (except for work on T, W & Th). Come Saturday, when I have my next book signing, I should be right as rain again.

I would like your advice. I have dithered to the last possible second, and now the early bird deadline for the Indie Next Generation Book Awards is tomorrow. This past year, Taking Chances was a finalist in the “2^nd Book” category. It is still eligible for entry in the 2015 competition. My question is, should I resubmit Taking Chances, or should I just be happy with the 2014 results and submit Corporate Blues instead?

If I decide to go with Taking Chances, I will be entering it again in the “Romance” category, but this time I will also be entering it in the “Historical Fiction” category. If I enter Corporate Blues, it will go into the “Romance” & “Chick Lit” categories. I’m truly torn, and I seek your counsel. Please weigh in on this. I only have until tomorrow evening to decide. In all honesty, Corporate Blues is a fun, light piece, but I feel Taking Chances holds more literary merit. UGH! HELP! (I don’t want to pay $150 to enter both of them.)

Okay, I have procrastinated long enough today. I really should get something, anything, accomplished. Lord I loathe housework!

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

Your Next Challenge:

An Ode to Your Eyes…

You have ten 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.

September 16th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! It’s a chilly, rainy, yucky day here in central New Jersey, but I’m not going to complain. It has been forever since we have had rain, so it is desperately needed.

Sorry I didn’t do a blog post yesterday. I knew, the way my day had started, I was not going to do much other than complain. Yesterday started with me waking up early, because Dani was supposed to go back to school, and I come out into the living room to find it completely littered with trash. My hubby forgot to take the garbage out on Sunday night, and Colby helped himself. Not the sight I wanted to see at 5:00 a.m.

I said Dani was “supposed to” go back to school yesterday. It didn’t quite work. She got up, showered, dressed, put her make-up on, and she was done. She came out of her room, shaky and white as a sheet; and I said, “Uht, ah. No way. Back to bed.” I knew she wasn’t up to it because she didn’t fight me on it, not one complaint. She just turned around and went back to bed.

So, at nine, I called the doctor and told him what happened. He advised she slowly work her way back into school, so that’s what we are doing. Today she will be at school through third period, tomorrow through sixth, Thursday through eighth, and then the full day on Friday. It’s a good plan. Now I’m just keeping my fingers crossed it will work out that way.

I brought her to school this morning, and we went directly to the nurse’s office. We got her a pass to get out of gym, a blanket hall pass to the nurse’s office whenever she needs it, a pass to use the elevator because she’s still having issues navigating stairs, and a pass to get to class, because by the time we got all the paperwork filled out, she was late for first period.

Since first period had already started, the nurse asked me if I would walk Dani to class. I get her to the classroom, I signal the teacher I would like to talk to him for a second, Dani walks in, and the first words out of the teacher’s mouth are, “You picked a bad day to come back.” What the heck? Is he out of his mind? Why would he say that??

Then, I’m still standing outside the classroom, and he completely ignores me. You would think, he would excuse himself for the fifteen seconds it would have taken for me to bring him up to speed, but no. After five minutes I gave up and left. Man I really hope this was an isolated situation and this guy isn’t such a jerk all the time, or we are going to have an issue.

I refrained from posting yesterday because I didn’t want to complain, and here I am today, complaining; so enough with that.

I had the radio interview on ArtistFirst Radio Network last night. It was a ton of fun. Ron and I spent most of the hour laughing. I did get to talk a bit about me, my books, and the stories behind them. I also managed to work in shout-outs for three of my author friends, Keith, Linda and Dorothy May. All three of them will be appearing on The Ron Shaw Show sometime in the near future. We also talked about the covers for my books, so I was able to give Linda’s son Matt – the creator of my Corporate Blues cover, and her daughter Krista – the model for my Corporate Blues cover, some airtime as well.

It was so surprising how quickly the hour sped by. Ron warned me it would, but honestly, I didn’t believe him. Let me tell you, I enjoyed the radio interview far more than the TV interview last week. I got to do my radio interview in a sweatshirt, old pair of shorts, no make-up, and my hair was probably a mess, and it didn’t matter. You can’t get away with that on TV, that’s for sure.

We had such fun last night, Ron asked me to come back on his show the second Monday in December, and I accepted. Not exactly sure what we will talk about then, but what the heck, right?

Hey, if you get a minute, go check out ArtistFirst’s website. I glanced at it before, checked to make sure there were no errors in what they put up about me and my books, but I didn’t really look at the whole page. I did last night, and I got a big surprise.

My book’s cover and my bio are right next to a picture of Johnny Depp! Other folks they have interviewed are Dr. Oz, Priscilla Presley, Joan Collins, Jaclyn Smith, Ben Vereen, and MANY more names you’d know – HOLY CROW! Here they are, interviewing all these mega stars, and then little old me. I feel unworthy. I’m so glad I didn’t notice that until AFTER my interview, or I really would have been ill.

In case you were wondering, the last challenge was a quote taken from The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch. If you haven’t had a chance to read this book yet, I highly recommend it. As a rule, I pretty much do not read non-fiction. The spare time I have to read, I want to escape, to be taken away to another time, another place, and most of all to a happily ever after; and let’s face it, non-fiction usually cannot deliver my requirements.

This book however, was an assigned reading for Dani last year, and I read all of the books my kids have had assigned to them. I finished the book in a little over two hours, and then I went and watched the video of the actual lecture. The book was amazing, and it is the first book EVER that I did not find a single editing error. That alone impressed me. My only complaint was the insane cover price for the tiny book. $22 for a 4X5, 205 page book, even the Kindle edition was $11. I’m sorry, I don’t care who you are or what you’ve got to say or how amazing what you have to say is, it’s not worth that kind of money. I managed to get a used copy for $5, and I strongly suggest, if you plan on reading it, you should too.

Okay, I’ve rambled on long enough. I have to get this puppy posted everywhere and then go get Dani from school.

I hope you have an amazing day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge:

I think I can, I think I can…

You have ten 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.

June 13th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! Good Grief, I had to go back a week to find the last challenge. YIKES! I’m such a slacker.

Honestly, I’m not. I have been working on a new marketing project for the past two weeks or so. I found this Indie Author support group and they give you ideas on how to promote your books in various ways. I decided to pick one and focus on it for a little while.

The one I chose was Goodreads. Goodreads is a site for avid readers, but it also has a section for authors as well. I have been an author on Goodreads for over a year now, but I really did not know how to utilize the site to help me promote my own books. This group has showed me how.

Goodreads has a feature called Listopia, which is a place where you can list books which fit a certain criteria. For example, Taking Chances went on the “Napoleonic War Fiction” list, because a good chunk of it featured the Battle of Trafalgar and Lord Nelson. I then let people who have read Taking Chances know it was on the list, and I asked them to vote for my book (and to join Goodreads if they hadn’t already). Several people did as I asked, and now Taking Chances is rated #1 in that category. Hopefully, now that it is #1, more people will see the book and want to read it.

It’s really a simple process and hopefully it will bump up my sales. If any of you are interested in checking out (and voting for) any of my books that you have read, please sign up for (or in to) Goodreads. Go to my author’s page; scroll down to where my books are listed; click on the book you’ve read; scroll down to where it says “List with this book”; click “more lists with this book”, and that will bring up all the lists that particular book is on and where it is ranked on the list. You can click on each individual list and vote for my book.

While you are there, if you can give my book(s) a star rating, and if you have time a review, that would be WONDERFUL. Now, if you have not read one of my books yet, you can add it to your “want to read” list, and that would help my rankings as well. The publishing world is a harsh and difficult world to survive in, so I am not above begging for ratings and reviews. Every little bit helps, and I would welcome all the help I can get.

Not only have I added my own books to lists, I have gone in and made sure all the indie books I have read have reviews, ratings and votes. I have also found a TON of books which looked really interesting and I have added them to my “want to read” list. I figure I’ll be busy until 2025 provided I don’t add any more books to my list. LOL. (I did not take the time to review or vote on books like The Hunger Games, even though I gave it a 5 star rating, because let’s face it, it doesn’t need my help in the ratings where Indie authors do.)

It’s funny, because I added my books to the list, but then I needed to “check out the competition”, so I took a look at other books on the list. Yeah, you guessed it, several are now on my “want to read” list. It’s all good though. Occasionally I stumbled across a list which fit a book which wasn’t mine, so I added it (ie: Keith’s book Man Hunt was placed on a Horror list, and Linda’s book The Bench was placed on the Cozy Mystery list, or Julien’s Flower of Heaven which went on a Paris Mystery list). I also actively sought out other book lists to add Cherrye’s Teacher, Teacher, and Heidi’s Elements of a Broken Mind (books I edited). I’m all for spreading the love. J

Okay, it’s time to get to the long overdue challenge. I hope you have a fabulous Friday, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

“Curtains Emma. I said please hang the curtains out on the line, not the kittens out on the line! Lord child, sometimes I just don’t know where your head is.”

“I was just playin’ Mamma. I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t hurt those poor babies did you?”

“Oh no Mamma, I could never do that. In fact, I think they kinda liked it. They all crawled into little balls and settled down for a nap in the stockings. Look Mamma, they’re all asleep.”

Mamma shook her head. “You are going to be the death of me yet child. Where do you come up with these things?” Emma shrugged her shoulders but did not offer an explanation. “Come on Sweetheart, take the kittens down off the line and I’ll help you get the curtains up. We have to hurry or they’ll never be dry before sundown, and I don’t want to have to wash them again.”

“Okay Mamma, I’ll hurry.”

Your Next Challenge is (from the writing group):

A Game of “Follow the Leader” gone awry.

You have ten 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.

June 4th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! Sorry about the screw-up with yesterday’s blog. I had everything prepped and I was ready to do my final read through, and I got distracted. It wasn’t until I pulled up my computer this morning when I realized I never hit the submit buttons on any of the sites. UGH!!

Yesterday I mentioned a new marketing thingy I’m involved in; this time it has to do with Goodreads Listopia. This is a pretty neat thing. On Goodreads (a site for book lovers – both readers and authors – you should check it out), there are literally thousands of lists of books, in various categories and genres. You can either vote for books already on the list, or you can add books yourself which you think fit the list’s criteria, and then people vote on the books. For example: A Second Chance is on the “Debut Novels of 2013” list (in the romance category); and both A Second Chance and Corporate Blues are on the “Romance Heroes and Heroines over 35” list.

Look, I'm # 3!!!!

By people either voting for your book, marking it as “I want to read”, or rating your book (if they read it), the book moves up in the rankings. On the Debut list, A Second Chance was #325 when it started, but as of this morning, after a few folks marked it as “I want to read”, it’s now ranked #92. The theory is, the book will get noticed if it is in the top 100 on these lists.

So basically, the event is a list of all the Listopia entries. You go through the list, find books you have either already read or that you feel you would enjoy reading, and you go and vote for them. It’s simple, but time consuming. I’ll probably be going through the lists for the rest of the month; voting for books I’ve read or want to read, and adding my own books to the various lists.

Speaking of time consuming, I’m going to be late for work if I don’t end this blog now and get to the writing challenge.

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

Your Last Challenge was:

That sure went to hell in a hand basket in a hurry.

I should have known better. Things were running just a little too smoothly. All the adult guests were milling around, chatting, and enjoying not having to supervise their children. The presents were all stacked beautifully upon the table. The masterpiece of a cake was proudly displayed upon another table. The various games for the children were met with enthusiasm and squeals of joy. It was now time for the piñata.

A large circle of onlookers formed. As is only right, the birthday boy was the first to be blindfolded. We spun him around and around, then pointed him in the general direction of the papier-mâché dinosaur. Words of direction and encouragement were shouted from the crowd. He swayed like a drunk as he stumbled and

bumbled his way, swinging his bat wildly as he went.

One forceful swing knocked him off balance and into a bystander. The person fell backward, clipping the edge of a protruding gift on the table. The gift worked as a seesaw, and catapulted another present high into the air. The partygoers gasped and I closed my eyes. I knew exactly where that present would land.

Your Next Challenge is:

Scenario: At the zoo. A young woman. There is music. Add surprise.

You have ten 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.

March 28th

Hi, it’s Christina –

Today’s going to be another short and sweet post with no writing challenge, because, due to some wacky things going on with my computer, yesterday’s editing did not go as smoothly as I had hoped. I don’t get it. Everything was fine, and I was plugging along, then things stopped highlighting, notes wouldn’t come up right, I’d be typing a comment and it would disappear. It was weird. Thankfully I got it to save, and I rebooted my computer. Please keep your fingers crossed that I won’t have the same issue again today.

On a more positive note, the proof of Corporate Blues arrived yesterday, and it’s all systems go. I placed my inventory order, and it should arrive here on the 8^th, four days before I actually need them. YEAH!!

I did remember to post the next three chapters of Faerie Tale Queen on Facebook yesterday afternoon, so chapters 7 – 9 will be going up today. I would have just done them all in one shot, but I think FB would have had an issue with it. So, at least you’ll have all the chapters clumped together, if you’re looking for them.

Out of curiosity, how many of you are planning on reading along? If you could just leave a comment (“me” or “I do” will suffice) so I can get a general idea, that would be great. I’m pretty sure I know who some of you are, but I’d still like to see who else will be yelling at me if I don’t produce a new chapter every few days.

Sheesh, even my “short and sweet” still manages to take up an entire page. Okay, I have some serious editing to do, so I should go. I hope y’all have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

March 22nd Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Guess what? This is my 300^th Blog post. Holy cow!

I forgot to say it Thursday, so I’ll say it now… HAPPY SPRING! So did you go and get your free Rita’s on Thursday? I forgot completely, and Dani didn’t say anything. I guess it’s not as big a deal o high school kids as it was for the middle school kids. Dani and her friends would walk to Rita’s on the first day of spring, and then I’d have to fight the traffic to pick them up. I’ll admit, I’m not overly sad the tradition has been broken. Lol

It’s Saturday morning, and every flat surface in my house is not covered with sleeping teenagers; and guess what, it won’t be tonight either. Amazing, right? The pack of kids slept at Adam’s last night, and tonight they are all sleeping at Shauna’s. A whole weekend without teenagers… man is it quiet around here! Now, please don’t get me wrong, there aren’t five to seven kids sleeping here every weekend, but one or two is more the rule than the exception.

I did receive my proof copy of Corporate Blues in the mail yesterday, and it proved to me I’m an…idiot! When writing, and then editing, you have your work double spaced because it is easier to read and review. However, when you format the book for print, it’s supposed to be single spaced. Wanna take a guess what this dummy forgot to do? Now Corporate Blues is a hundred pages shorter, which means the alignment and font of the writing on the spine of the book is off. I had to shoot Matt an email this morning to tell him of my mistake, and to begggggg his forgiveness. I so hate making mistakes which cause more work for others! On a positive note, since the book is smaller, I was able to reduce the price to $10.95 from $14.95, so that makes me happy.

I figure I have two and a half to three hours where I can work this morning before I have to go and pick up Dani, but after I get her, we have running around to do, so that means the rest of my day is shot. I have made a lot of progress. Do I think I’ll finish all three edits and the review in eight days? No, but I should have two finished. Other than my blog and a few hours this morning fixing my print file, I have been doing nothing but editing; six to seven hours straight, every day, of nothing but editing.

Now you might say, “So what? I work at my job for eight hours a day, every day.” I usually do three, or at the most four, hours in a row because, other than my eyes usually start to cross after three hours, I find I get more and more witchy with my comments, and I don’t like to do that, it’s counterproductive. I may have had to highlight the exact same mistake sixty-eight times, but the author has not been made aware of, nor been given the opportunity to correct, said mistake. However, since I’m under a deadline, I am pushing on and making a conscious effort to quell my poison pen, so the comments will be helpful and not a reflection of me getting cranky. I’ve only had to backspace and correct one so far, so it’s working.

Now, that’s not to say I won’t make the occasional tongue and cheek comment like “So how did that desert taste?” when the author wrote desert instead of dessert, but that’s just my style of editing. We all do silly stuff like that, it doesn’t mean we are a bad writers, it means we are human, and that’s what editors are for anyway, right? (Remember I told you in one of my books I inadvertently had “piece” of mind instead of “peace” of mind, and since my character was not berating someone, nor offering a chunk of grey matter, it was the wrong word.)

Okay, it’s time for me to put my nose to the grindstone. I hope y’all have a great day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

The tunnel stretched on and on…

Charlie clutched his side, bent over, and took in gulps of air. He needed a minute to catch his breath, but he wasn’t sure he had a minute to spare. They were close, he knew it. He knew his only chance at escape was at the other end of this never ending tunnel. With one final breath, he straightened and forged on. His legs and lungs burned, but he couldn’t stop until he reached the highway.

It can’t be much further, can it? How the hell did I get myself into this kind of mess? This shit only happens in the movies, not to real people, not to a nobody like me.

As he ran, he replayed the events of the past forty-eight hours in his mind. The strange email, the encrypted message, the scrolling list of figures and coordinates. It hadn’t made any sense. It had obviously been sent to him in error, an error someone has now realized, and was now trying to remedy.

Your Next Challenge is:

Write a story containing the following three elements: An Amusement Park, A Monkey, A Flat Tire

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.