Changing genres

Warning: Random bouncing thoughts.

Ugh! I'm mentally drained. I have been writing my butt off--figuratively--though it would be really cool if I did in real time. I've been writing roughly 3000 words a day for eight days which ends up to about eighty or so pages. With one big push I should finish my MG novel today, though it might be Monday before I can wrap up all the loose ends--the happy crap. Then it needs to sit and ferment before I dive in to fix all the major problems. Trust me, there are A LOT of problems: POV shifts (3rd person to 1st, etc), tense shifts, general crappy sentences/structure. You know, the normal stuff to fix.

Anger is becoming an issue with me, probably from sitting in a damn kitchen chair for eight days straight. I really want to kill something right now. I NEED to kill something. Killing bad guys doesn't have the intense emotional jerk that killing a character's friend does. But it's a middle grade story, can I really kill someone? You bet your sweet bupkiss I can. I wanted to kill my main character's mom, but it really didn't work for this story. Maybe later. So it's either her new friend or his dad. His dad is too far removed, so friend it is, 'cause I can't kill the gnome, can I?Oh, no, Rory has a role to play way down the road. He lives, though I could do some damage to him.

Why did I switch to writing middle grade from writing fantasy and romance?

Because I sucked at writing romance, and I couldn't sell my fantasy if my life depended on it. Trust me, I tried. So I played with picture books for a little while. I liked writing them, but I haven't drunk the secret elixir to figure out the perfect formula. I'll still dabble, but as a sideline.

I returned to square one and thought about my writing strengths. I love writing fantasy. Not the dark urban stuff--trust me, I tried that too--but the lighter fantasy. Okay, I have a snarky voice, but it is definitely one on the level of my eight year old, not other adults. I like stupid jokes and puns, which I tend to write in my stories.

I have the advantage of buying/reading a lot of middle grade stories, since I check them out for my daughter. After reading a few of them, I realized I could write one. Don't get the false opinion that these are easy-peasy, putzy stories to write, they aren't. The have to be just as convoluted and exciting as adult stuff, maybe even more so. Kids do not forgive. Kids stop reading in the middle of a sentence never to pick up the book again. I've seen it first hand. Adults might give an author a second chance after a crappy book, not so kids. Plus, kids are growing and will outgrow the story before you get a chance to write the next one. The window of opportunity is very narrow. In other words, I'm not writing for the current population of third graders, I'm writing for the toddlers of the world.

After this story sits a few days. I intend to hit my second draft pretty hard. I want to finish it by the end of June to enter it in the Delacorte contest. This is a tight deadline, but doable. We'll see how it goes, won't we?

I'll probably work on the third draft during July and August, while thinking about the second story in the series. Plus, I can make my kiddo read it to see if it has staying power.

I think this main character has a lot of potential. Why?

Because I've already written her adult story. These middle grade stories are the background for who she became in The Leprechaun Connection. See? I just might sell that story even though it has about sixty rejections so far. And we have come full circle.

Write on!

Winner!

And the winner is! DONNA!
Email me @ kltabke@aol.com with your snail mail addy and I'll send you a copy of MASTER OF SURRENDER!

Once Upon a Time

And without further ado, my friend and fantastic writer, Karin Tabke!

Warning: Spew Alert!

In a land far far away, there was a noble Viking knight, Thorin Harraldsen, bastard son of King Harrald of Norway and a Byzantium gypsy princess. Thorin was one of eight fierce knights known far and wide as the Blood Swords. William, Duke of Normandy’s, elite guard, les morts.

Thorin stood head and shoulders above most men. His long, thick golden hair shrouded him like a cape, he was broad of chest and thick with muscle. In a Saracen prison when he saved a brother Blood Sword’s life he was rewarded with a scimitar to the face and lost his eye. He is ominous with his black leather eye-patch and sword emblazoned scar burned into his mighty chest. Despite his scars, he drew many a sigh from many a maid. Queens and princesses fainted in his presence so overcome with yarning were they. Aye, he was most handsome. He feared no man, no king, nor creature. Nothing on God’s green earth struck fear in his heart. Nothing…except--Lady Margaret of Tulsa.

For once she cast her eyes upon the noble warrior, his life became a living hell, for there was not a corner on earth he could hide, that she could not track him down and ravish him. Repeatedly. Aye, Lady Margaret had the nose of a she-wolf and the determination of a banshee. Not even Thorin’s brother Blood Swords could stave off the lustful lady.

And so, ‘tis this one infatuated maid who now holds Thorin captive as her sex-slave. Aye, the things she does to him, unimaginable to be sure. ‘Tis whispered she is insatiable. The Viking has not been seen since she snared him so many centuries ago. But ‘tis said, if ever you travel through the heartland of the Americas, and if you listen closely, you can hear Thorin’s cries for rescue and Lady Margaret’s sighs of satisfaction as she once again takes her captive Viking for another rollicking ride…

The End!

:-)

Margaret thank you for having me today! And thank you for taking care of Thorin all this time. But I have to tell you, you’re gonna have to let him go pretty soon. I’m working on his book, and he’ll need to be 100% available to MOI!

To celebrate the release of MASTER OF CRAVING, book three in the Blood Sword Legacy series, I’m giving away 8 Days of goodies for 8 Knights over at my place beginning today! Hop on over to www.karintabke.com/blog and check it out.

Plus, today I’ll be giving away a signed copy of MASTER OF SURRENDER, book one in the series to one lucky commenter here!

But, to win a copy you have to answer this question: have you ever stalked a fictional character? If you answer yes, we want deets!

Oh, and please, if you haven’t already, hop on over to http://www.simonandschuster.com/giveaways/karin-tabke-free-download to download my FREE short story A KNIGHT TO REMEMBER, and of course to read more about MASTER OF CRAVING!

Ciao!

Karin*
http://www.karintabke.com/

PS if you’ve never stalked a character but have a question you’d like to ask me, shoot! I’m an open book! :-)

Cyber Writing Friends.

On Monday, my friend Karin Tabke promised to blog about her new release, Master of Craving, Book Three in the Blood Sword Legacy. If you love medieval knights like they've never been portrayed before, you need to check out Karin's historical backlist.

Master of Surrender

Master of Torment

And now, Master of Craving.

She writes about hot cops, too, but it's her hot knights that have my heart. Especially Thorin. *heart beats erratically* She promised me that book four will be his. I would love to have some of his Viking luv. Mmm-mmm.

I highly recommend starting with the first book and keep on reading. She takes the reader into a realistic world of the Crusades, and sweeps them away into a huge story filled with pain and love and especially a Happily Ever After. But if you you just aren't sure about Karin's stories, why don't you go here and you can read the freebie. Enjoy! I know I did.

I cyber met Karin when I joined my on line goals group GIAM in 2005. And met her in person in Atlanta at RWA's National Conference in 2006 (I think). I may have met her in Reno, but it's kinda hazy for me. She is as beautiful and gracious in person as she is online. Don't ever come whining to Karin. She'll pat you on the head and then you to get the F*CK back in the game. She drops F-bombs like no one else I know! . . . except maybe Jody. :-) And she has started giving a presentation titled, "It's Only Business", reminding us all that the bottom line will always be to make money for the publisher and don't take rejections personally.

Karin is an extremely supportive of the newbie writer as well as the vetern. Which earned her RWA's PRO Mentor of the Year in 2008. I wish I could have been there to cheer her on when she accepted it.

I hope you will enjoy Karin's blog on Monday. Please feel free to go out and buy her books. Jaded, one of her hot cop books, just won the Romantic Times Reviewer's Choce for Best Erotic Suspense for 2008. I read it and it's great!

Write on!

Before and After

This was the pond picture from a month ago.

And the one below was from two days ago.


I worked in the garden a little this weekend. I always enjoy shoving my hands in dirt. And if you are my Facebook friend, you will also know that I enjoy nature, especially having to rescue it from the pool. I didn't see Mr. Toad again, as he has since stayed out of the pool. I just don't want to go into baby bunny rescue. They usually don't make it and I'm not out there enough to catch them before they go in. Last year, I had two dead baby bunnies. One I tried to give mouth to mouth (he was still warm and soft). Don't "yuck" at me. It was a wittle baby bunny! You would have probably done the same!

Parts of my yard are low maintenance. . . Well, my goal is to have most of the yard low maintenance, but my roses will always take some TLC, though I refuse to buy hybrids since they take a lot of TLC. Anyhoo, I planted lots and lots of perennials and all I have to do is pull up the dead stuff in winter or whack them down to the ground and fertilize.

This little corner of paradise is where the air conditioning units sit, along with a pallet of bricks (don't ask). There's a hill here and grass wouldn't grow and the dirt was eroding from under the cement pads. So I suggested we just throw some plants back here. In the far back corner is a hydrangea, a variegated butterfly bush, phlox out the wazoo (3 colors--and I see some transplanting in my future), some sort to evergreen thingy, an Autumn fern and Gaillardia. Yeah, I don't do anything back here. Nutso growth!

I'm working on hubster to get rid of this little section of grass--he's starting to think my way. Maybe next year, this year we have to work on some drainage issues--the neighbor backwashes his pool into our yard. There really isn't any other place he can do it. Oh, well.

And last but not least, here is my Clematis. It's on a pyramid structure and every year it is beautiful!

Back to my gnome story!

Write on!

BIAW: Book In A Week

Not literally, but I'm sure there are a few diehards willing to try.

One of my cyber GIAM (a goals group) buddies, Barbara White Daille supports a monthly BIAW, and today is the starting day. It runs Monday through Sunday, though I doubt I will be able to write anything from Friday onward. Todd will be home on Friday, so I'll be kissing any productivity out the window. :-) Plus it is Memorial Day weekend and I want to hang by the pool provided it warms up and the rain leaves us alone for awhile.

Back on topic, the goal of BIAW is to write as much a possible each day. Some people have a goal of simply sitting in the writing chair for ten minutes a day, while others intend to write thousands of words each day. Barbara suggests we shut off all communication with the Internet (my personal bete noir), freeze meals for the family, and buckle down--BICHOK (Butt in Chair, Hands on Keyboard).

I plan to do something in the middle. I'll still have stuff to do around the house, namely working out, laundry, cooking and some gardening, but I'll set the timer to write for 30 minutes at a time without checking email or turning on one of the damn addictive judge shows. Trust me, this is my challange!

In preparation for this, I'm pre-writing my blogs for this week. Yes, I'm writing this on Sunday. I will not blog hop or comment on blogs. I will not check email every 2.5 minutes. And I MUST finish my third wave of revisions on Faerie--DONE! They are marked on the hard copy, but I want to put them in the computer so Todd can read it to Rachel tonight.

I will finish these items even if I have to type while watching the Survivor finale tonight!

Why am I making myself crazy about this?

I really, really need/want to finish my gnome story. Yes, I want to enter it in the Delacorte contest, but primarily I want this rough draft finished before Rachel is out of school. If it's finished, then I can edit/tweak to my heart's content over the summer, provided I have something to tweak!

So my goal is BICHOK.

Write on!

Monday: 2515 words
Tuesday: 3373 words
Wednesday: 3028 words
Thursday: 3408 words
Friday: 1929 words
Saturday: 980 words
Sunday: 336 words
Grand total: 15,487 Words or 53 pages!!

Field Day!

Today I helped out with 101 second graders as they had their Field Day. It was pretty fun. I wasn't assigned to any spot, so I stuck with my kiddo as she did the various games until it was time to guard the Wendy's kid meals. My kiddo is the one in the pink hat.

After about four injuries from scooterland with the kids pushing each other, the powers that be decided it would be smarter to have the kids push themselves with their feet.

On to tug-of-war. . . where the team my daughter was on promptly romped the other side four times in a row!

Then they had a bean bag toss. My pics didn't come out, so I didn't post them.

And then the jump rope. Look at the air the kiddo is getting!

There was the hula-hoop ring toss. Boring pics. And then the boy vs. girl relay race. The girls wore shoulder pads and a football helmet, while the boys had to put on a cheerleader's skirt and top.

Uh. . . Girls Rule! Boys Drool! Oh, sorry, girls won again. :-)

And that was that. I missed Musical Chairs and Four Square since I was guarding the Wendy's.

Mrs. Snodgrass, their teacher, wasn't there so when it came time to pass out the food, I literally tossed the food the kids. I had a blast! The kids and some of the parents that stuck it out think I'm weird, but I had fun and I think the kids did too!

I'd write tomorrow, but we have the an all day soccer fest. With all the rain we've had they've had to cancel a lot of their games. Ugh! First pictures, then warm up for the 10:30 make-up game, an hour break, and then the 12:30 make-up game. An exodus to the nearby Mazzios for a pizza party and the obligatory 'awards'.. Yep, the crappy plastic soccer ball statues. :-)

Maybe next week I'll be able to . . .

Write on!