Been a long week....

I’ve been a bad blogger since I started my new job. I’m not even sure where to begin…so much has happened.

Okay, let’s start with the job. I LOVE IT! I’m doing purchasing for one of the country’s largest nail polish manufacturer. They make nail polish for everyone. Sadly, Jenn has brittle nails so she doesn’t often paint them. But now that I can get free nail polish…I might just go crazy and be a little more girly than I normally am. I mean, really, the most girly-ish thing I do these days is read Cosmo. I’m no fashonista. I wear make-up on special occasions only, and I own five pairs of shoes, and only one pair is heels. I think the last time I wore a dress was in 2005. Yesh….

Anyway, the person training me is great. All the people are friendly and happy and have been at the company for years. Once I learn the job inside and out, I’m sure it’ll get a little busy and hectic, but I enjoy a challenge…honestly. I’d rather the day go fast than slow!

Onto writing! First, my query update:

Queries sent: 71
Rejections: 30
Partial requests: 7
Partials rejected: 4

I have two sent; one is hopefully in the mail tomorrow! I have several emails still out there from January with no response. I probably won’t re-query until I’ve exhausted the rest of the agents out there. Then, I’ll move on to editors at publishing houses.

I joined RWA and the New Jersey Chapter this weekend. I know I don’t write straight romance books, but everything I write does have a romantic or love story sub-plot to it. I went to the NJRWA meeting and met a bunch of wonderful writers. I even saved the day by joining on the spot so they could do their quorum! They’ll all remember me now!

I had a blast and took plenty of notes. The speaker was CJ Lyons, who recently wrote a medical thriller for Harlequin. She was very nice and sat at the same table as I did for lunch. We traded medical stories. Mom#2 is a nurse and over the years she has shared some icky stories from the operating room. Fun!

Of course, my shy side tends to come out on occasion, especially when I have to talk in front of people. Give me a microphone and put on a karaoke song and I’m good to go. Talking? Yikes. But I did stand up and gave a little intro then they made me stand up again and say what I write, etc. So I got up again and told them about Play Nice and Tiva. I didn’t turn into a tomato, I don’t think, but it did get a little warm in there for a minute. LOL

I look forward to going again and making some new friends and network connections!


I did a little bit of writing on Lucky # 3. I’m not sure about the beginning yet. It’s so hard to figure out what to put in the first few chapters of the third part of a series. You’d think most people would start on #1, but I myself have started in the middle and gone back. So you want to make sure you give enough background in ALL the series books so people aren’t completely lost if they do start somewhere other than #1.

I’ll figure it out, I’m sure, once I get into the meat of the book.

What’s next? How about TV? Okay! *Possible Spoilers*

I really like New Amsterdam. It’s like Highlander meets NYPD Blue, only the Blue part is tamer. How could you not feel for a man who is nothing short of heroic and gets “blessed/cursed” with eternal life until he finds his soul mate? Tragic and beautiful. The show pulls it off well and I can see a little bit of Mick from Moonlighting in John Amsterdam. They just want to grow old. How sadly cute is that?

Jericho made me cry this week. Well, a few tears fell anyway. It hit me kinda hard when Stanley went into the morgue and started signing to Bonnie. I’ve lost a sibling too, though not in such a horrific way, but that scene touched me deeply.

American Idol is getting good. I picked David Hernandez to go because I knew they wouldn’t get rid of Archeletta(sp) yet despite the fact he messed up his lyrics TWICE! He better not mess up next week or Simon will let him have it!

LOST is just one big mind fuck, isn’t it? I love it! Flash forward or flash back? How about both in one episode! Hahaha. I figured it out half way through. Last week’s Juliet episode was really creepy and the week before was just amazing. Gotta love Desmond and Penny! I loved the way they edited that last bit when they were on the phone.

Of course everyone was expecting Michael to be on the ship, well, except for the characters, so it wasn’t the big surprise they said. Still, it’ll be interesting to see what happens now. And Ben has to be the single most interesting character I’ve ever seen on TV. He’s good and evil. He will protect certain things/people with every bit of energy and cunning that he has, but then he’ll ax you in the back if you go against him or fulfill your usefulness. Ouch. I can’t imagine what goes through his mind.

Survivor is still going strong. I was sweating this week thinking Ozzy was going to get sideswiped, but I’m glad he didn’t. He’s one of my favorite Survivors ever (second to Rupert). That boy is a fish! And James…he’s an Adonis. Swoon.

I have to watch the new episode of Smallville today. I’m glad it’s back. There’s been nothing to watch all week. I guess that means I should be writing!

Don’t really feel like writing about the news, it’s just depressing me these days, so I’ll move onto video games.

My brother and I have been playing Devil May Cry 4. I’m not very good when it comes to multiple button mashing and combos and remembering all these little things you have to do, so I play occasional. Brother beats the bosses and I usually help navigate and solve puzzles. The story is quite interesting and gives me that little tingly feeling I get when I want to write something similar. I think an action/urban fantasy/paranormal/romance would be very interesting to read.

Of course this means I have to come up with an original concept because I won’t write about vampires or werewolves. Demons are great because you can make up any type you want so long as you follow the rules of the world you build. Once Lucky #3 is out of the way, I’ll think about it in depth.

Books! Yay Books!

I’m almost finished with The Black Echo by Michael Connelly. I’ve only been reading on my lunch break at work the last week and a half, so it’s moving slowly. I like the Bosch character. He doesn’t quite grab me like Lucas in the Prey series, but it is the first book. Depending on how it ends will determine if I get another one. Connelly has other single title books I’d like to read too, so I have plenty to choose from.

*Dirty words alert*
I picked up a couple books at the NJRWA meeting. One was an Ellora’s Cave “erotic” anthology. Me, being me, when it comes to books with sex in it, searches for the sex scenes right away. This will tell me if I want to read the whole book or not. In this case, not. When I think erotic, I think sensual and enticing and exciting and naughty, not raunchy and silly and porn-ish. “Butt crack” is NOT something I’d want to see in the middle of a sex scene, in any book, unless they were talking about a plumber and it was supposed to be funny. Do you really need to see “pussy” and “cock” in EVERY paragraph? No. That’s raunchy, IMHO. You don’t even need body part names to make it erotic. Everyone who reads these types of books know what it means when the writer writes: “He moved inside her.” Etcetera, etcetera…

Sure, I’ve written plenty of sex scenes. I’ve used “dirty” body part words, if you will, but I also try to change it up. I don’t use “historical romance” words like her flowery petal and his charging manhood either. That’s more of the silly for me. I like to use emotion and movement and some dialogue when I write my sex scenes.

Now if I’m reading something “X-rated” then I figure I’m reading a porno and expect nasty and down right frank talking and descriptions and scenarios. But to me, that’s a different genre. It’s more about the sex than it is the two people having it and what’s going on between them. X-rated writing can be good, if done well, but I haven’t seen many. I’ve read the kind of material that guys would probably like. Sorta like Peter Griffin writing erotica. Too funny.

I know, to each their own, but I’ll never write sex scenes like that. Even if I ever did write something hard core X-rated it would probably be considered tame because I’ll never get down and dirty on paper.

Lastly, movies.

I watched Sydney White last night. I really do love Amanda Bynes. She’s quirky and cute and a good young actress. I hope she continues to work, I foresee her doing well in the years to come.

I finally watched Coyote Ugly. It was good. I’ve been to that bar. I still can’t figure out how the hell they filmed in there, the place was tiny. And the bathroom…OMG it was disgusting. I’d never go back there…lol

I also watched Good Luck Chuck a few weeks ago. I’ve been a Jessica Alba fan ever since Dark Angel. You know me and girls who kick ass. LOVE ‘EM! And she was one of the early ones on TV that didn’t get enough credit. The show was damn good until it got weird and ended flat. Still, she moved on to better things. I hope after the baby, she gets back to taking roles that kick ass. She’s funny, but I think she makes a better tough chick.

Hope you all have a Happy (and safe) St. Patrick’s Day if you’re celebrating. Don’t drink too much green beer!

That’s all folks!