I'm having a moment...

My desire to write for a living is growing stronger and stronger as Tiva's release nears. I'm worried about many things but mostly, I wonder if I should stick with Sci-fi. I've read Star Trek Books, the Jedi Apprentice series, and S.L. Viehl’s Star Doc series.

I've read about twelve full-fledged romance novels, not including the Vampire Romance series I'm still reading now.

Also, I've read a couple dozen kids books.

My book shelf is filled with Suspense, Thriller, Detective-Cop type Fiction, a few Chick-Lit's and True Crime stuff.

My first "book" was a romantic suspense. The second full-length novel I wrote was a romantic mystery. The third and fourth were YA Sci-Fi. Tiva is sci-fi/fantasy-ish, which also has a love story sub-plot, but no "romance" style loves scenes. The "thriller" I'm working on now, is trying to turn into some hybrid romantic-thriller, I think.

With the way Romance has grown in the last ten years, I find there are more subgenre's that actually fit the type of romance books I'd want to read There's Paranormal, Chick-Lit, and Romantic Suspense.

Now, I KNOW more women buy and read books than men; it's just common knowledge. So, why do I feel this need to write stuff for men to read? Hell if I know. Must be the tomboy in me.

I could easily keep the Lucky story the way I had it originally with a bit more oomph on the romantic sub-plot because it just feels natural for me, but I can't help that nagging feeling I get in the back of my head that keeps telling me to stay away from it. Sure, thrillers usually have some type of love interest character, but it’s more the Bond type, love ‘em and leave ‘em. This guy won’t leave.

I think I know my strengths—dialogue and internal conflict. I have that down pretty well. I'm better now with that stupid passive voice—it kills me—and my pacing and plots are cohesive and consistent. I'm still struggling with descriptions (people, places, things) either having too much or too little, or just plainly stating what it is without all those awesome authorly similes and metaphors.

I know for a fact that I could come up with bunch of stories to continue with a series of books for Tiva, but that's complicated on a whole other level. The story for Lucky has evolved into 4 to 7 potential books.

But I'm stuck.

I know I'm going to finish the second Lucky book, I've already started it and it's done in my head. After that...what do I do?

I'll be promoting Tiva and looking for an agent or publisher for Lucky by time September rolls around. I'll have a bit more street cred with three published books under my belt. I'm honestly not worried about being stuck in any one genre; however, I'm struggling to figure out what I SHOULD be writing.

I'd love to get my YA sci-fi series published. I'd love to try my hand at a Paranormal Romance (I have an outline for one, and ideas for others). I want to be a thriller writer too.

I know, stop complaining and keep writing, right? Of course, I know I'm not alone (Hi Chris), but one can't help but vent every now and then.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

Yeah, I haven't updated in a while. I had a post all ready to go on Friday and I hit the wrong toolbar button and lost the whole thing. Ah well, it wasn't that exciting anyway.

Some updates though:

Tiva- Book one is completely edited on my end. Word from the publisher states the website will be done by May. August/September launch for the book.

Lucky- I've finished book one of the series and I'm about 25k words into the second one. My sister has taken up the post of annoying-demanding muse. Sending me emails like this: "I NEED MORE FUCKING PAGES YOU WHORE! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME!" Or something to that effect. :-) Roomie said I'll never need a demanding editor when I finally break into the "big time", I'll have my sister. Heh.

TV: 24 and Lost are getting better, and more exciting. Heroes was awesome, and they come back on my birthday. I think Battlestar is new tonight too. Yay!

Movies: We went to see 300 last week. I enjoyed it. Thought it was very pretty visually. The dialogue tried hard and worked for the most part. The acting was good, Butler is such a grrrrr man. *Swoon* It was a yummy yummy beefcake fest and it had a really steamy sex scene. I laughed at the apple scene, because, well, I'm demented like that.

Music: I realized a few days ago that two bands Three Days Grace and Breaking Benjamin, rock. I knew about four songs from each of the groups without even knowing it. I'm totally obsessed with boy angst alt rock now, it's sad.

Lotto: I haven't won yet.

News: I've had the weekend off from the news. Occasionally, I just need to walk away because there is so much going on that I can barely keep up.

Family: All is well. Have some birthday's coming up.

Friends: Good here too, saw on yesterday. Seeing another one today. Heard from the one who left me to move to California--he's good too.

LJ Friends: How are you?

Book signing with JR Ward

Five o'clock on the dot, I rushed out of the office and broke the speed limit to get home. Sadly, I had to wait for my sister to get home before we could trek over to the Barnes and Noble. The book signing started at seven. We got there with twenty minuets to spare.

Forty people were already there, sitting in little brown wooden chairs, some flipping through the book, others chatting about it because they read it already. We had to stand. But that was okay, because once JR Ward got there, she stood up too.

Before she started the Q&A session, she mentioned speaking with a friend and getting the details of how the ARC she brought along as a surprise gift would be given away. Of course, she didn't tell us the magical situation to get said prize, and considering I hardly win anything, I didn't give it a second thought.

Then the questions started. Awesome questions to be honest. My questions suddenly seemed stupid. I loved the responses, and the wonderful presentation made by Ms. Ward. She was funny and entertaining. So, I'm itching to ask a question. I don't want to seem like an idiot though, so I wait. I wait some more. I started to tingle, probably felt similar to Spiderman's spider sense. My heart started thumping (because I hate speaking in public…singing, sure, talking ugh) and suddenly I thrust my hand up sideways like a five-year-old, my jacket swishing and she said, "You win!"

O.O Me? Huh? What did I do? I was the seventh person to ask a question and someone else promptly handed me an ARC of Lover Revealed. I beamed. My sister looks up at me with her big blue eyes, her lip quivering. "I think I'll have to give this to my sister."

"Aww," says the crowd. My sister hugs me in a giddy fit of happiness.

I ask my question, something to do with how long it takes to write each book and what would happen if her characters decided to change their story in the middle. Ms. Ward responded and took a dozen more questions.

Finally, it was time to line up for the signing. In line, a group of us started talking. I met two ladies from PA, Marcia and Angela, and Nikki and her mom from Jersey. We chatted, laughed, swapped live journal user names, told stories about how we discovered the novels and entertained ourselves making fun of the book shelf order (Love & Sex, Relationships, Sexuality, Self-Help and Addiction/Recovery…I shit you not) while we waited, and waited, and waited.

I'm always making friends with people when I stand on line, it's a gift, I suppose. Sometimes, I just don't shut up.

When we got to the table, my sister pulled out her STACK of books (including the ARC), I handed over my single copy. I thanked her for responding to an email I wrote to her back in June, and she thanked us for sticking around and waiting so long. She signed our books and thanked us again. Marcia said she snapped a photo of us at the table, so I ran over and hugged her, thanked her and headed home.

Considering this was my first book signing ever, I had a blast. I couldn't imagine going to one in a huge bookstore with hundreds of people. They must be exhausting! However, I'm hooked. I'll have to go to another one soon. I love hearing writers talk, and when they are kind, honest, and funny, you can't go wrong.

Restless girl

I'm waiting for dinner to finish baking. I have cramps. I'm restless and I don't know why. Okay, that's enough complaining.

24 and Heroes are both getting good! Tom Lennox needs to get the Jack Bag, and I have a feeling Claire's dad is Linderman. Roomie thinks it might be Nathan.

American Idol is only on for an hour tonight and the only other show I usually watch is a repeat. Maybe I'll write tonight.

I made a book cover for the novel I'm working on. I was bored on Sunday and had nothing else to do. It came out pretty good, but I doubt it will ever be used.

I'm writing as much as I can, when I have time. However, I'm getting to another part where I'm just not sure what to do...yet. I know it'll come to me, I just have to be patient. Which I'm not, usually.

My publisher sent over the final edit for Tiva part 1. So I'll be looking it over this weekend for any minor flaws or mistakes. Fun!

Something weird happened to my AOL account. Part of my buddy list vanished, and the little IM backgrounds I put up are gone. It's only on the master SN, so I have no idea what happened. I don't know who I'm missing now, but if you see me online pop me an instant message so I can add you back.


Do you wave to strangers? I think everyone should wave to a stranger tomorrow and see what happens. UPS, FED EX, USPS, Bus Drivers, EMS Drivers, they all wave to each other when they pass. They don't know each other, but they have a common bond. So next time you see someone driving the same car as you, wave. LOL

*Disclaimer* Not responsible for bodily damage cause due to waving.

I'm still restless, and I don't know why.

2007

Anderson Cooper and I had a lovely New Years Eve. It was nice of Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest to stop by.

When Roomie got home from work, we watched Miami Vice. It was a decent movie. I was never a fan of the series, but I did love how Colin "Hottie McHottie" Farrell donned (pun intended) the Jacket/T-shirt combo.

Woke up sick yesterday, so I stayed home from work and watched movies all day.

Fearless-Jet Li's last martial arts film. Which sucks, because he kicks ass. The fact that he actually acted in this movie, and was good, surprised me. He's a much better actor when he doesn't have to think about translating to English.

The Promise-This was like....weird. But it a good way. It was sorta like House of Flying Daggers meets *Insert Random Disney Fairy Tale here*.

Alex Rider: Stormbreaker-I loved this movie. It didn't do well in the US only $676K. It did decently in the UK, but I doubt they will get the chance for a franchise film unless DVD sales are good. I'll be buying it next time I'm at Best Buys. It was a very cute Bondesque movie for kids. It was MUCH better than both Cody Banks movies. The cast was brilliant and they really did a great job of jabbing at the Bond movies and Q and the gadgets and stuff.

Scoop-I had a dream about Hugh Jackman the night prior, so I had to watch this movie. I'm glad I did. Aside from the annoyance that is Woody Allen, the movie was funny and smart with a great cast and story.

The Cowboy Way-Okay, this one was on cable...but it's Kiefer! I had only seen parts of it before, so I watched the whole thing. It was all right. Woody and Kiefer had some funny chemistry going, but the story was a bit lame and it was rather predictable.

I'll probably go see another movie in the theater soon. Gotta get one more in during the week before all the TV shows come back!

I ordered a shit load of books from BN. I recently read The Spiderwick Chronicles: Book One. Holly Black has a LJ if you want to look her up. I enjoyed the book. It's for young kids, so it took all but forty minutes to read, but it was fun and interesting. I'll probably check the other books out later this year.

I haven't made any resolutions, yet. But I have started back at the gym already. Whee!