Editing hell: Reaching a new plateau

Just when I think I'm crawling out of editing hell, something else pops in that brings me back. And with it a new level of editing hell. (How many levels are there?) You see, three days ago I received DianaC's critique and made the necessary grammar corrections she suggested. I'd not asked for a line-by-line critique so she didn't give me much feedback on the story, except for a very general impression on how hot the story is. *lol* Still I felt compelled to PMed her asking her how she felt about the hero and heroine, and if she'd found any plot holes. These plots holes came as a result of expanding upon the original story. Most of the recent critiquers found two major plot holes now in my story. One was the hero. Readers found him too elusive, like they couldn't get a grasp of who he is. Also that he accepted his new self too easily. The second one was the panic the heroine has at the beginning of the final chapter. I thought I'd covered the first plot hole, but according to DianaC's answer, obviously, I didn't. As for the second one, I'd divided the second chapter into two, expanding the first part with (yet another) flashback. Still, I thought I was pretty much done with editing. Well... guess what? As I went over the story one last time, I had this little nagging feeling that something still wasn't right with the story. I couldn't put my finger on exactly what though. I kept reading the story until it hit me. The setting. It was all wrong. For this new version of the story anyway. Why didn't any of the critiquers pick that up? *sighs* Now I have to change chapter 1 (if I'm that lucky!) Let me tell you, editing is a frustrating process, and any writer - regardless of their level of expertise - will tell you that. I'm amazed at how much a small story can change when you try to expand it. One scene can affect the whole story. Plot holes become larger than moon craters.

I've been tagged

Crystal tagged everyone who read this in her blog, so here it is: 1. Five people you want to see naked: (In no particular order...) - Brad Pitt (w/long hair) - Jason Lewis (the guy from the Absolut Vodka fake commercial) - Viggo Mortensen - Lorenzo Lamas - Kevin Sorbo (buffed when he was in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys) 2. Four things you want to eat while you'’re drooling and staring at the five naked people mentioned above: - chocolate ice cream - M&Ms - vanilla fudge - Oreo cookies 3. Three things you want each of the men to tell you while you'’re eating the four foods mentioned above while you'’re seeing those five naked people: - "Pour some sugar on me." - "Do you want something sticky and sweet?" - "Want me to give you a ride?" 4. Two people you'd let into the room while the men are begging and you'’re eating and staring at the totally naked people: - Anyone with a video camera ('coz I need to preserve those memories for further reference when I'm writing a love scene. You know, research. *lol*) - Will Kemp (the hot werewolf from Van Helsing) 5. One thing you'd do after you let two people in your room while the men were begging and you were done eating and staring at the totally naked people: - Take a very, VERY cold shower. Victims: Those brave soul who dares... *evil grin*

My sign overview for March

Last night I didn't do much writing on my vampire story. Since Vivienne raised some pretty interesting questions about chapter 9, I realized there were some (huge) holes in the story. Yesterday afternoon I came to the conclusion that the best to deal with the ending of the story was to split chapter 9 into two chapters. However, pretty much it all came to a standstill after that. Well, no. That's not true. I've thought about having the heroine have another flashback that would explain some of her dread feelings. Of course that left me in a tight spot. You see, originally I wanted to send DianaC the whole story. But knowing that I might take a little while to decide how best approach the flashback thingie, I sent off chapters 1 - 8 instead. Today I didn't feel like writing at all. A part of me needs to get a feel for this flashback scene. So I decided to drop by Astrology for Writers, Editors and Filmmakers just to see what the "stars" had for me for the rest of the month. Cancer:This is a great time to cuddle up to the person of your choice and make the relationship better. Signing contracts is out this month unless you cannot reasonably drag the signing out post April 1. Try to keep the discussion going about how your work can be packaged, improved, promoted. Buy time by lengthening the discourse. It's ok, this is not a speedy biz and no one will complain. Maybe it's best things have worked out the way they have and I've not send off my story yet. *lol*

The final stretch

For the past 5 days I've been driving myself to edge of madness as I sit behind the computer, with no Vanilla Coke to boost my energies, editing and re-editing the vampire novella. The word count has varied from 9,980 to 10,250 words. I know some of you would think that last number was good, but not for me. I began chopping down some of the scenes. One of the reasons was to move the action faster. I'm sorry, but I hate lingering on endless stupid descriptions. Yesterday I broke chapter 1 into two chapters since I realized there was no way I couldn't keep cutting down the scenes without damaging it. Whether it was a wise decision or not, well... let's see what happens when I get to that final chapter and check the word count of each chapter. Anyway, as things stand now, the novella has 9 chapters, and so far the word count is 9,994. Today I'll work on the last chapter. Then it's off to DianaC to be critiqued. I know I should have it critique at least by more person, but she was the only one who answered my ad for CP at Romance Divas. And the truth is I want this to be over. I've never been so bored in my life. I wrote that story back in September, so by now I'm tired of it. I just want to be done with it and move on to finish the wereanimal story for the DDD before I get bored of it to. (Yeah, I suffer from WADD - Writer Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. *lol*) Anyway, she promised to have it critiqued by this weekend. So I'll do the final, final, final, final edits, and then I'll submit it.

What Kind of Soda Are You?

You Are Coke A true original and classic, you represent the best of everything you can offer. Just the right amount of sweet, just the right amount of energy... you're the life of the party. Your best soda match: Mountain Dew Stay away from:Dr Pepper What Kind of Soda Are You? HA! I knew it!

Hey! What happened?

I love Vanilla Coke. Better than the original formula. I'm addicted to it. And it's the only thing that I can bribe my Muses with. They'd do anything for Vanilla Coke. So for the past two weeks I've been looking for it at K-Mart, which is the only place that sells it, but the shelves were full of all kind of Coca-Cola except Vanilla Coke. So yesterday, while I was at K-Mart, I saw the guy who distributes the Coca-Cola, and asked him when he was bringing Vanilla Coke. Guess what? He told me that Coca-Cola stopped producing it. I couldn't believe this. No more vanilla coke? This is so unfair! I'm so not happy with the news. And my Muses aren't happy either.

What Song Should You Strip To?

Your Stripper Song Is I'm a Slave 4 U by Britney Spears "I'm a slave for you. I cannot hold it; I cannot control it. I'm a slave for you. I won't deny it; I'm not trying to hide it." You may seem shy, but you can let your wild side out when you want to! What Song Should You Strip To?

Happy Spring Equinox!

Happy Alban Eiler (Ostara)! Today is the spring equinox. Said to be the time when the day and the night stand in perfect balance. A time of great fertility, new growth. But also a time of changes. Out with the old, in with the new. That's why there's the term spring cleaning. I already did the physical cleaning. I spent the weekend cleaning the house with a special liquid blend. I also took a nice bath, with salts and oils. And to start anew, I did a little 3-card reading. And once again they hit right on target. Never cease to amaze me how insightful they can be. Specially the card in the present. With all that I've been through in the last few days with editing, it seems like I've gone to battle - a battle with the story, a battle with myself. And I must admit sometimes I found myself asking pretty much the same questions the card poses. Maybe once the edits are done, and the story submitted, I might want to take stock of the experience by asking those same questions. Past Be aware of not seeing clearly, of being afraid of shadows, or of being led astray by shadowy images that aren’t what they seem. Present You are at the end of a battle. Are you the winner or the loser? In either case, what was lost and what was won? Was it worth it? What have you learned from the experience? Future You are faced with many choices, opportunities, and dreams. Find inspiration from them where you can. Acknowledge them as distractions if they take you from the path you have chosen.

Book suggestions?

I must admit it. Not many books are holding my attention these days. If you've been keeping track of the section "What I'm Reading" on the left sidebar, you'll see that I've 4 books started, and the last 2 of those have been there almost forever. One is from TOR, a well-known sci-fi and fantasy publisher, who decided to hop into the paranormal romance bandwagon with a new line, TOR romance. This is the second book I've read from that line. The first one was good, but it was no romance. I could have dropped the hero, and it wouldn't have made a difference to the story. So I thought about giving the line a second chance. After page 126, I quit reading it. Maybe if it'd been labeled as paranormal, I'd have finished it. But it was label as paranormal romance. Sorry, I don't see the "romance" part in it. So I admit I've been bored. A friend suggested me a few erotic romance books. I started reading one at Borders, then set it aside by chapter 3, and I didn't bother to pick up the rest. Erotic romance... same old, same old. Paranormal romance...same old, same old. There's nothing memorable in them. *sighs* I'm looking at my TBR pile, and a sense of dread creeps up my spine. Have I become tired of reading romance novels? *shudders* Today while I was at Borders I was tempted to pick up something from Carole Nelson Douglas or Rita Mae Brown. Let's face with cats with cute names like Midnight Louie and Sneaky Pie Brown, who can resist? *lol* But the truth is... I'M BORED! I need something new to read. So I'm opened to suggestions. (Please, no romance or erotic romance.)

Breakthrough

Yesterday morning I was hitting the (absolute) bottom of editing hell. I came close to hit the "Delete" button to erase the whole story about 4 times. (Yep, I was ready to say "WTF!" and quit. Yeah, it was that insane.) Then when I came back from lunch, I sat again and tried to make heads and tails out of the story. And by mid-afternoon I finally had a breakthrough. I broke the original chapter 4 into two chapters. Then I turned chapter 3 into chapter 4. Then I took the first part of the original chapter 4 and turned it into chapter 3. The second part of the original chapter 4 is now chapter 5, and move the rest of the chapters up one so now the story has 8 chapters in total. Unbelievably crazy, uh? *laughs like a maniac*

Hello from editing hell

Ehem... Hello? Someone should have warned me that expanding a story from 5,900 words to 10K was the ultimate editing hell when I first mentioned I wanted to expand my vampire story. *growls* Last night I spent four long... grueling... hours editing my vampire story, and I'm nowhere seeing the end of it. Why? Because now nothing - absolutely nothing - makes sense in the story. I thought it did when I expanded it to 9,500 words. But as I went over Vivienne's critique I realized that in trying to expand the story, it lost its rhythm, the focus, characterization, the mystery...everything. *insert your favorite curse word here* I think it'd have been better off if I've deleted what the whole thing and started the story all over again. *grumbles* But it's too late now. I can't write a 10K story in a lapse of week, my full-time job doesn't allow me free time to write at all. And I (really, really) need to get back to the were-panther story. Today's mantra: I hate editing. Editing is evil. Editing is the devil's way to punish us for being creative. (Note to Chryscat: Girl, if the word bliss ever come to describe the process of editing, it'll be a very cold day in hell indeed. *lol*)

Guess what time it is?

Time to get my butt on the chair and start editing my vampire story. Vivienne sent me the rest of her critique yesterday. *g* I've been so busy giving computer workshops that I've not had the time to go over her critique thoroughly. I barely browsed through the first part of the critique which she sent me two days ago and made the grammar corrections. Last night same thing. Just grammar correction. But today, I'm delving into it, and I'll start working on those areas of the story that can be expand, need to be changed, have to be totally deleted, etc. Oh... the fun of editing. *lol* So if I'm not around here for the next two days, you know where to find me - editing hell. Trust me when I tell you that I'm not looking forward to the editing. I'd rather be working on the wereanimal story for the DDD anthology. But this baby has to be ready by Friday night, so I can email it to be critiqued for the last time. Then off to Cobblestone. Geez, I can't wait to go back to the wereanimal story. *sighs* Today's mantra: I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.

What kind of soul are you?

You Are a Hunter Soul You are driven and ambitious - totally self motiviated to succeed. Actively working to achieve what you want, you are skillful in many areas. You are a natural predator with strong instincts ... and more than a little demanding. You are creative, energetic, and an extremely powerful force. An outdoors person, you like animals and relate to them better than people. You tend to have an explosive personality, but also a good sense of humor. People sometimes see you as arrogant or a know it all. You tend to be a bit of a loner, though you hate to be alone. Souls you are most compatible with: Seeker Soul and Peacemaker Soul What Kind of Soul Are You? Okay, I'm not an outdoor person, but I admit I get along better with animals than people. I guess it's the bit of being "a natural predator." Which by the way, it's true. *lol* Explosive personality? Totally temperamental. Seeing as arrogant and know-it-all? Yep, those who don't me think of me in those terms. Extreme powerful force? Oh yeah. So don't tick me off. You don't want to activate that little demon that lives inside me. So don't challenge me. It'll not be good for your health. *evil grin* Geez, the rest of this is sooooo accurate that I'm a bit shocked that a simple test read me so well. *lol*

Weird conversation

Last Saturday I was online chatting on ICQ with a fellow writer. During the convo, we touched the topic of writing, and she mentioned some things that I just don't know what to make of them. Here's how it went (more or less)... She: Did you hear from AQP? Me: Nope. My story didn't make it. She: I heard they're going to call for seconds. Me: Yep. The emails went out the next day the winners were announced. She: Did you get a second call? Me: Nope. She: I was afraid of that. Me: Whatcha mean? She: You've ruffled a few feathers. Me: Why do you say that? She: You went in and did some serious accusations, you know. Me: What are you talking about? She: Remember saying that the contest was a phony to get epublished writers to submit to them? Me: Whoa! That's not true. What I said was that I was fed up with epublishers' contests because already epublishing writers win more often than those who aren't published. And that's a fact. Okay, so experienced writers deliever better material. But hey, if you're already published by one epublisher, why be published by multiple ones? I'd understand if they wrote different genres. But the same genre - erotic romance? Oh pleeze... She: See? People are pissed off with you. Me: Who? She: Epublishers and writers. Me: Well, excuse me for exercising my freedom of speech. Besides, I don't think I said anything to piss anyone off. Gosh, they're really pissed off with me 'coz of that? She: It's also your whining. Me: Me? Whine? Since when? She: You complain too much about your writing, about how bad you are writing sex scenes, etc. Me: Look, I'm new at this. I'm trying to find my niche. So I'm not a good erotic romance writer. Okay. Scratch that one, and move on to the next genre. Isn't that a logical thing to do? Find what your forte is as a writer and stick to it? She: True. But the way you do complain. Many think you don't have what it takes to be in this business. Me: They're entitled to their own opinion, right? She: This negative attitude of yours has them giving you the cold shoulder. Me: OK, explain this one. She: You're constantly bitching about agents and publishers. Me: Sooo not true! I've never publicly attack them! So some writers need agents and publishers. I don't. I have goals that don't involve them. Or taking out more of my money to give to thirds. But that's just me. She: How about all that talk about self-publishing your stories if they're not accepted? Me: What about it? She: They don't like it. The idea of developing your craft is to be eventually accepted by a publisher. Me: I have nothing against improving myself as a writer. But I'm not kissing asses either. Publishers are in this for the money. So am I. I'm a businesswoman just like them. If I want things to happen, I see nothing wrong with self-publishing. Specially epublishing. Technology makes it very easy. She: It's just not done. The goal is to submit your work and have it accepted by a publisher. Me: Whatever. I'm not a snob. A good story is a good story. I don't care who publishes it. Besides being published by a NY publisher doesn't guarantee the story is good. So far I've read 2 novels from TOR's new line, TOR Romance. Those were suppossed to be romance novels? Where's the romance? I'm still trying to push myself to read the second one. So far the heroine and the hero can both drop dead, and I couldn't care less. See? Hit and misses, even by the biggies. She: I know that. Still you should cut out all that talk about self-publishing. Me: How about if I start my own epublishing company, eh? *lol* Except I won't accept submissions from previously epublished writers. Just new people. She: Please don't. Don't make them angrier. They already don't like you there. Tone down your attitude. Me: Oh, you see? Never tell me not to do something 'coz that's the first thing I'm gonna end up doing. *lol* I love challenges. *evil grin* She: Do what you think it's best. I'm telling you all this for your own good. Stop putting yourself down. Maybe you should stay away for a while. Me: Whatever. At this point I diconnected my ICQ without bothering to say good-bye. I usually don't let things bother me, but this one did. I've tried to ignore it, but it keeps popping in my head even after this long. Hmm...

Loribelle sent some inspiration laxatives

Look what Loribelle posted for me so I could get my inspiration back! *g*

Mentally constipated

Yes, you read that one right. I'm suffering from mental constipation. Today I've been working on editing Enduring Promise (title will be changed at the moment of submission to protect the innocent - me). Since the original story was around 7,400 words, and Cobblestone Press doesn't accept anything under 10K, I've been trying to increase the word count. For those who have been following that thingy on the right side of my blog showing my progress, yesterday I had 8K in total. This morning words seemed to flow from my brain to my fingers, and I managed to add 1,227 words for a total of 9,227. But now I'm mentally constipated. I look and look, but I can't seem to find the right place to add more words, a scene to expand. I feel like all scenes have been well developed. But I'm still 800 words short (make it more 'coz I'm sure that Clara Verone and Cassandra Curtis are gonna ask me to tighten it up, which means cut, cut, cut, once they read it). Argh! I keep pushing but nothing comes out of brain. Gosh, I need like an inspiration laxative! Any suggestions?

What romantic heroine are you?

You are Eowyn from Lord of the Rings. People have tried to shelter you from the chaos of life, but you can still see how it affects them. You long to be free so you can fight for what you believe in. What romantic heroine are you? brought to you by Quizilla

Good news

The battery backup is finally here! *does the jiggly wit it dance* The FedEx guy came with it yesterday afternoon. Last night I hooked the battery and put it to charge. It'll take 16 hours since it's a big battery backup. Hopefully it'll be up and running by the time I go home tonight. All I need to do is hook up the cable modem to it. I didn't do that last night since I was too tired to do it.

In my wildest dreams...

Have you ever had a song that somehow is stuck in your head, and then when you sit to write, it keeps popping back until you realize you have to play it and it gives you all this inspiration? That's what happened to me today. I woke this morning this old song from the 60's buzzing in my head. Finally, when I went home for lunch, I downloaded it and brought it with me to work. It has been a great inspiration. My fingers are flying all over the keyboard as the music weaves its magic. Has this happened to you? Is there a song that you can connect with one of your stories or maybe just a scene? You know, say "Oh, I wrote this while I listened to..." Once upon a time Once when you were mine I remember skies Reflected in your eyes I wonder where you are I wonder if you Think about me Once upon a time In your wildest dreams Once the world was new Our bodies felt the morning dew That greets the brand new day We couldn't tear ourselves away I wonder if you care I wonder if you still remember Once upon a time In your wildest dreams And when the music plays And when the worlds are Touched with sorrow When the music plays I hear the sound I had to follow Once upon a time Once beneath the stars The universe was ours Love was all we Knew And all I knew was you I wonder if you know I wonder if you Think about it Once upon a time In your wildest dreams And when the music plays And when the words are Touched with sorrow When the music plays And when the music plays I hear the sound I had to follow Once upon a time Once upon a time Once when you were mine I remember skies Mirrored in your eyes I wonder where you are I wonder if you Think about me Once upon a time In your wildest dreams In your wildest dreams In your wildest dreams - Moody Blues: "In Your Wildest Dreams"

Why I don't read ebooks anymore...

I used to buy ebooks before, but not anymore. I know it's the "Read an ebook" week, so without trying to sound like a total bitch, here are the reasons why I've stopped buy them. 1. My sight is suffering from looking at the screen. I already spend around 8 hours daily looking at a monitor (as part of my job). When I come home, I might spend another 2 hours before it. So add that to read books on a monitor, and my eyes are getting usually sore and dry from looking at the light of monitors. 2. I'm totally turn off by the poor quality of the covers. Sorry, but I do judge a book by it's cover. If the cover is lousy, imagine the inside. I can't imagine the publisher hiring competent editors when they can't hire competent book cover designers. Which leads me to point #3... 3. Poor editing. Sometimes it amazes me how some stories got published. The grammar is atrocious. There are holes in the plot bigger than the ones in the ozone layer. 4. Erotic romance holds 99.9% percent of ebooks market. Lately the quality of the stories has suffered. They lack that meaty part that it's called plot. Most have one sex scene after the other. It's like watching a porn movie. And just as unsatisfying. 5. Ebooks are cheaper to make than books, then they should be sold cheaper too, right? Wrong! Some stories are 80K long just as books, and they're just as pricy if not more. I prefer to buy a book of about 100K for $6.99. Besides, with discount coupons at Borders, I get them sometimes down to $4.50.

Fem-dom thoughts?

A fellow writer read one of my stories, which I'm having trouble getting published, recently. She commented that a reason why I'm having problems selling it might be of the fem-dom theme. Of course, I just stood there blinking. What fem-dom thingy? Sure the hero calls the heroine mistress. But what did you expect? She is a vampire, and he is her slave. But she doesn't treat him like that. There's only one - mind you, ONE - sex scene in which she is acting all dom, and he's all submissive, allowing her to tie him up to the bed and have her way with his body. And I can't eliminate that scene because it's a flashback which shows how the hero and the heroine's relationship used to be, versus how their relationship is now that he is reborn. (He is more aggressive, and likes to take charge in during the sex act.) So I don't see it as a fem-dom story. Still, she is sure that there's a possibility that it might have been perceived that way. She went on to explain me that fem-dom stories aren't popular among erotic romance readers. My question is, would you read a fem-dom story? If so, why do you like them? If not, why do you shy away from reading stories in which the woman likes to dominate, and the man goes along with it during sex?

Weekend in review

Sometimes the best layout plans just shoot straight to hell. My computer's battery backup did a weird sound last Monday, which froze my computer temporarily. Nothing much happened afterwards. Except on Tuesday I noticed a black gooey thingy from under it. The hind legs had melt down. How did it happen? I didn't know. And I didn't want to know. Bottom line, the battery backup was in its last legs (or should I say front ones since the others had melt down). No problem. It is 11 years old. Time for a new one. I went to the only places that sells them here, Office Max. Their prices for those APC battery backups are way too high. So I went straight to the company's website, and I found that APC has a trade-up program, so I ordered the new last Thursday. Meanwhile, I tried to use the old one for short periods of time. Bad idea. Very bad idea. Friday night it started giving this weird smell. Could it be lead leaking from the battery? The idea scared me, so I ended up unpluging it and put it outside. Today my cousin lent me her battery backup from her laptop. It's a small one. Okay for laptops, bad for my full tower computer. But I figured it'll be okay to use it for half and hour. Anyway, my writing goals for this week were simple: 1) Expand scenes in Enduring Promise 2) Have it critiqued 3) Edit it some more 4) Send it to Cobblestone 5) Finish the Phaze - Surge story and submit it Due to the computer problem, I'm bowing out of the Phaze - Surge contest. The battery backup won't be here until Tuesday (or no latter than Wednesday), so I won't have much time to finish it, have it critiqued, and edit it. Then I didn't work on Enduring Promise either. At least now I have access to the story. I've printed the scenes that I want to expand. Even if I don't have a computer, at least I can scribble notes. (Ahh... the trusty old pen and paper!)

Laura Bacchi's test

You'd be hot for Brogan from Laura Bacchi's CHOSEN! But why settle for one man when you can have five? Check out Starlight Serenade Vol. II now available at Amber Quill Press! Which Starlight Serenade Vol. II Hero Is Perfect For You? brought to you by Quizilla

Where would your ideal castle be?

Your castle is mysterious and dark, yet moonlight falls upon it and gives it a magical glow. Wizardry holds a fascination for you, as do creatures that most say don't exist. You don't let many members of the opposite sex see you for who you really are, but once that person is found, he or she will be able to look beyond any image you have built up to see you as a person. You can act well and are very creative. Where would your ideal castle be? brought to you by Quizilla Wow... This is so accurate is scary!

So you're a writer.... uh?

Recently in the Chit-Chat forum at Romance Divas Shari asked how people react when you tell them you are a writer. My answer is very simple. I don't tell them. (The only ones that know that I write are the members of the groups I belong to. And even they don't know my pen names.) *g* Why? I don't want them to find out. And why, you may ask. I love to veil myself in mystery. I enjoy the fact that people might read something I wrote, yet not know I wrote it. I get a kick of hearing them discussing something I wrote, whether it's good or bad. I even get a kick out of joining the conversation. If they're saying something good about what I wrote, I just go completely the opposite and attack it. If they hate it, then I defend it. What can I say? I get some cheap thrill out of the situation. I'm whacked that way. *lol*

Conflicting goals...

Have you ever had one of those days in which you realized you have a lot of things to do in very little time? So in order to meet your goals suddenly your whole schedule has to change and you have to get yourself organized? That's how it has been for me in the last 12 hours. You see, I decided to go along with Lisa's idea of the weekly goals. So after looking at the contest schedule, yesterday I posted my goals for what remains of this week, which consisted in working on the Phaze - Surge story for the next 5 days. The edit the remaining 5 days, and finally submit the story. But just today it hit me that Cobblestone Press is opening its submission tomorrow. Oh-oh... This definively screwed my schedule. Decisions...decisions...decisions... I hate when this happens. If I want to submit my vampire erotic romance to Cobblestone Press by tomorrow, I have to spend editing and adding scenes today and tomorrow. Which pushes my Phaze - Surge story back 2 days. Not good... Or is it? *sighs* I must be frank; I'm rather disappointed with the contests. It's not that I expect them to send emails to the losers with details on why their stories didn't make it. But it should be common courtesy to at least send a generic (even impersonal) email saying, "Thanks for participating. We are not interested in your story at this moment. However, we hope..." However, this policy of not sending an email to the losers seems a bit rude. So I've been debating whether to enter the Phaze's contest or not. And then when taking into consideration that I'll be submitting for Cobblestone Press in which at least I'd get a letter for certain, the priority shifted.

Rejection. Surge. No madness.

It's March! Can you believe it? I thought February went by fast, but it's the year that is passing me by. Before long I'll be celebrating a new year. Again. Anyway, here it is. A new month. And it sure started with a bang. My vampire story for the Amber Quill Press contest didn't win (which means I don't get a 2-year contract with them). For me, that equals a rejection since they won't consider anyone else until they open the contest again next year. So that makes it...er...let's see... the third rejection of the year. Too bad these epublishers don't take the time to email you the rejection letter. It'd be nice to know that my work isn't up to par with their ideas. You know, it'd give me an idea of what they didn't like. Anyway, I'm not sweating it. I don't feel discourage at all. *g* Although a little chocolate mint ice cream does help to bear the rejection. *lol* I still think it's a very good story, and Celia, Laura, and Lisa, all published authors, who critiqued the story, loved it, so the story has merit. After I'm done with DDD story, I'll take this one, add a few more scenes I've been thinking about, and perhaps submit it to Cobblestone Press. Am I begging for punishment? *lol* (Maybe. Perhaps I'll get a real rejection letter this time.) Speaking of punishment, for next 5 days I'll work on the story for the Phaze - Surge contest. Then I'll go into editing, and finally submission. So I'm putting the DDD story aside. I wish I could have something more solid for Cerri and Clara though, but that will have to wait after the 10th. Finally, after much consideration, I decided to stay away from the March Madness challenge suggested by Cerri. I get too competitive with myself, and I get all frustrated if I can't achieve my goal. Besides, the way I write doesn't go with the challenge. (I don't do chapters.) However, Lisa, at Romance Divas, suggested the idea of weekly goals and created The Goal of the Week Club. That might seem pausible for me. So I have set already goals for the next five days. Write the surge story. *lol* (Note to Lynn: I didn't know what yesterday's two-card draw meant. I thought it had to do with something else, more private, although I admit I was 100% sure what it part of my private life was referring to. But after what has happened in the last 12 hours, now I know. It's related to my writing.)