Chinese New Year

Happy New Year! I know the day is almost over, but I wanted to give a shout-out! The Lunar  New Year is celebrated by not only the Chinese, but by Korean and Vietnamese people too. Even Japan does a celebration (or so my friend has told me).

Let’s make this a great year for all of us! GUNG HAY FAT CHOY!!!

I have to be honest; I’m so glad that 2011 is gone and dusted! It was not my favourite year. Too much bad stuff world-wise, and I had one too many disappointments to deal with. Anyhow, it’s over, and time to start fresh!

Do you make resolutions? I do, even though I’ve known some people who have stopped doing it – something about not achieving their goals. The first rule of thumb is to make your goals reasonable; why set yourself up for failure? It leaves you feeling bad, and then you wouldn’t want to try to complete the other goals on your list.

And writing goals down on paper is one thing; now you have to find the motivation to start and finish them!

As for me? Well I’m at a stage in my life where I have to seriously look after my health. I am healthy, but I can be healthier. I already have a gym membership, but I mean the foods I choose to eat, how much, that kind of thing. And exercise? Sure, but I’ll be doing things I enjoy doing, not because I have to or should.

And writing? You betcha! I really slowed down in Nov. and Dec., but I have a couple of manuscripts for editing, and that will be my writing goal for January. I’m going to take it easy and not weigh myself down with all kinds of ideas; I’ll write the ideas down and get to them when I can.

Other ideas? Well, a friend suggested that I get my own website, which is a good idea, but I’m not in a rush for it. My posts are infrequent as it is! lol

I have plenty of ideas on the go, but just to sort them out. I will post about what I’m working on.

Happy New Year to you all! Have a blessed, peaceful, joyful 12 months!

Luv Char

Unfortunately, I caught my first cold of the winter, and am staying at home today to rest (which isn’t a bad thing!)

Today I’ve been invited to blog at Nina Pierce’s website. She’s an Ellora’s Cave author with more books than I had first realized! She wanted to know what National Novel Writing Month was like, so I’ve talked about it and included some tips on how a writer can achieve 50,000 words in 30 days.

http://www.ninapierce.com/blog

Drop by! Char

2011 Winner!

Hey all! Yes, I managed to finish National Novel Writing Month this past November, along with a couple of other friends who finished as well. Along with bragging rights, I am now 50,000 words ahead from a month ago. Will I use what I wrote? Pretty sure. Is any of it garbage? Yup! lol

But if I hadn’t done this, I’d probably be sitting looking at my current WIP and wondering “when am I going to get to it?” I’m a very good procrastinator. Now, one manuscript is almost done, another is halfway done and the third has been started. Not bad for 30 days!

A couple of fellow authors has asked me to blog about my NaNo experiences, which I’ll update here in the next week or so. And now that it’s *GULP* December, I need to get cracking on Christmas shopping!

TTYS Char

If I concentrate, I can get one book done and a good chunk of a second one completed. I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving this weekend (and I hope my U.S. friends have an awesome time!) so I can spend the time writing.

Honestly though, I’ll be glad when this is over. While NaNo is a great way to get writing done, it takes up a LOT of time. I’m going to need a break before getting into the edits.

Happy Thanksgiving to the U.S.!! Enjoy your turkey and that unique day known as Black Friday! I’ll watch that on the news in the comfort of my home.

Char

I finally decided to work on 2 projects; one is the third novel to a series (I’m currently working on the 2nd), and if that doesn’t reach 50,000 words, I have an erotic comedy that’s been sitting on a back-burner that I would like to finish (I hope!)

The only problem for me with NaNo is that it’s hard to write after spending all day in front of a computer. A few years ago, it didn’t bother me. Now, it’s bothering me. So I’m trying to squeeze in my word count at work (don’t tell anyone, OK?)

So far I’m on track, but as it gets busier at work (most of our contracts renew January 1, so the work has to be done between now and the end of December), it’s going to get harder. And that’s why turning your internal editor off is so important. If a writer’s time is limited, having an internal editor yelling at you to make changes doesn’t help at all. Thank goodness I can think of an idea and run with it, even if it gets chopped during the editing process.

And now I’m working on a third project–my current WIP which is almost done. Shee! Talk about challenges! But it’s getting there; it would be nice to finish both the 2nd and 3rd novels of this trilogy, but one step at a time.

I’ll post next week and let you know how things are moving along!

‘Til then, Char

NaNo (National Novel Writing Month)!!!

I really don’t like how the year went by so fast. I was just getting into the swing of Summer, then WHAM!! We get hit by cold air, rain, more cold air.

And now I get to hunker down each night in November at my keyboard and bang out about 1,400 words of creativity. The punishment I put myself through! lol

National Novel Writing Month (or NaNo as it’s affectionately called), is an organization of writers who offer one of several challenges to those who to pen the written word. In one month, writers are to write a minimum 50,000 word manuscript. It doesn’t have to be perfect; it a very rough draft of your work. The whole idea is to get your idea on paper; editing comes later. The other great thing about NaNo is you just write. No corrections, no going back (unless you have a scene to flesh out); you let your imagination run free-and it’s a wonderful feeling, let me tell you!

If this piques your interest, sign up at www.nanowrimo.org and check out the info and the tips offered to help you start.

I’m trying to finish a manuscript I started back in July before NaNo hits. If this doesn’t get me cracking,  don’t know what will!

The month has been busy – a lot of changes at work; I had applied for a couple of positions, but unfortunately they were a no-go; had my birthday, which friends celebrated with lunches, gifts and words of encouragement (aren’t friends great?) and slowly but surely slogging away at the writing.

Which brings me to the best part – I actually (and finally) received a contract for my urban fantasy, Eternal Heiress!! After spending almost a year sending and waiting for answers from agents and print pubs, I didn’t get one bite. I hadn’t given up though; I did tell myself that I would submit to e-pubs. But which one? After trying a couple and not getting any positive responses, a fellow author recommended Double Dragon Publishing, a Canadian e-pub that’s been around for a while with a long list of authors. I even have a friend who’s published with them, and after emailing her, she told me that she was happy with their team.

So submit I did; at the beginning of August. I kept working on other things until I heard from the e-pub 5 weeks later. How’s that for turnaround? And he offered me a contract!!! I’m so thrilled that I finally found a home for a story that I enjoyed writing so much. It won’t release until 2013 as DDP’s lineup is already full for 2012 (!), but that’s okay. It means I can work on other projects.

And it just proves my point again that persistence pays off.

Next on the list? I’m working on the sequel to “A Gentleman’s Savior” with the goal of making this story a trilogy. Happy writing, everyone!

Luv Char

July in Toronto was one of the hottest I remember in a long time. August wavered back and forth between Summer and Fall, and now that September is here, I swear the temperatures just dropped! Time for light jacket and *gasp!* quilt on my bed.

Although I haven’t posted, I haven’t been lazy either; my sequel to A Gentleman’s Savior is moving along albeit slowly. My goal is to get it done and an edit by the end of Sept. I even have one of my author friends ready to read and critique, which was sweet of her, since I know she’s busy herself.

And TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) is upon us, but I don’t know if I’ll participate (i.e. watch movies or stalk *ahem, follow*) my favourite actors and actresses. It’s always been fun in the past - I’ll see what time I’ve got to spare.

So, enjoy the change in season, get your goals done, and let’s see if I can post before the first week of October!

ttys Char

Hugh was an absolute treat to watch – he was funny, handsome, dancing, singing and talking to the audience as if we were at a house party and he was the host. All of this wrapped up in a package of niceness *sigh*.

Sorry, can’t help it – it’s just nice to know that there are men like that who exist. One Toronto news reporter actually said “it’s almost illegal to be a man like Hugh – talented and a nice guy too!”

The only problem was the lack of opportunity to get a picture. Being a theatre production, no pictures are allowed during the performance (which makes sense). But Hugh didn’t give the audience a chance to take any pics at the end of his performance. I was actually quite surprised.

But the show was phenomenal. Singing classic hits like “Singing in the Rain”, to “Copacabana”, to a couple of hits from his “Boy from Oz” (Hugh won a Tony or Oscar for his role, I can’t remember), he just mesmerized the audience. It was 2 hour show with no intermission, but honestly, I didn’t notice the time go by at all. The show was money well spent.

Will he do it again? I hope so! The only reason he managed a stage show was his sequel to Wolverine (yes, a sequel!) was put on hold, then the disaster in Japan, where it was to be filmed, happened. So Hugh had 3 months free, and voila! A stage show was born.

Congratulations Hugh on such a wonderful performance and man, I hope you come back to Toronto one day!!