Sorry for the lack of new posts in the last few days. I’ve been very busy in my ‘real’ life outside of this erotic romance person you see here.

I wanted to be done with ICE WHITE by now, but that has been delayed. I should be getting back on that tonight or tomorrow.

So that’s the exciting scoop. Not really sure that is worth a post!

Um, but I am kinda excited that November is just around the corner. More new TV! Like I need more stuff to watch. However, you will be glad to know I have recently cut a couple of shows from my schedule. I seem to get pickier and pickier about the shows I waste my time on. All CBS procedurals are dead to me, with the exception of “The Mentalist,” which, due to a TiVo conflict, I have not seen for a few weeks by accident. I fixed the problem and now will play catch up. But all the “CSI” and “Law & Order” shows are pure annoyance.

That “24″ movie is right around the corner. That should be worth spending a couple of hours on. I need to get back to my unhealthy obsession with a seriously messed up guy who couldn’t have a normal relationship even if he *wanted* to…of course I’m talking about Jack the character and not Kiefer the actor.

Fantasy Moment

My ideal tv show…it could be about anything really, but probably some sort of action/drama would work best. Centered around these four actors: Kiefer, Jensen Ackles, Philip Winchester (because he really is that hot), and Sawyer of “Lost” fame. It would be ideal for it to work something like the “A-Team” with all 4 actors involved in each and every episode. Shirts would be removed on a regular basis, or they would work in the rain or with mud. They would travel around in an Army Humvee, because the commercial ones aren’t bad ass enough and solve crimes or get the bad guys or something that is heroic but sneaky and underhanded in some way.  Because hot guys who are too good are kinda boring, don’t you think?

There probably would be some women involved. Pretty’s okay, but if they are pretty, I want pretty with brains or pretty with some mad fighting skills. And they would play hard-to-get most of the time.

The 4 guys would be messed up and tortured. Alpha heroes with all kinds of baggage.

Um, I’m thinking we need to get more women in positions of power in Hollywood. There is a serious lack of mindless tv shows about hot men.

After a six-year absence, I am once again doing the NaNo challenge. For those unfamiliar with it, it’s an online challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. The first time I participated was my very first attempt at writing a novel. (and that book is sitting under my virtual bed, so to speak) So this challenge has a lot of fond memories for me.

When I break it down that’s almost 1700 words a day. Not all that difficult. But I remember back in 2002 that seemed like a LOT to write.

I’m not sure if I’ll make the 50k. One reason being, right now I only have a couple of short projects I plan on tackling….and for a week of the challenge I’ll be on vacation most likely without a computer and doing family stuff with the kids and what not. So, my personal goal is to finish those two projects by the end of the month, which I think is quite doable.

My proposal book will be about 15-20k long. My shifter book that is partially done will probably be another 10-12k in length before it’s done. See, that leaves me somewhere in the 30k range, if I’m lucky.

I’m guessing about 10-12 days for the proposal book. A week for the incomplete shifter book. That leaves me with a vacation week. If I feel like packing more writing in somehow, I will perhaps start writing any number of ideas I have in my writing folder.

Anyone else out there doing the NaNo challenge? Is it your first time? Do you think it’s defeatist of me to start the challenge without a rigid goal of 50k?

I just did something I’ve never had to do before - I submitted a proposal for a book in an anthology series. Query + synopsis.

And it was SO tough for me to do. I’ve said before that I’m an organic writer mostly. I can give you an idea of the book’s set up, maybe even some of what happens in the middle, but the end and how I get there is sometimes very unclear to me.

But this time, I *had* to do it. I tried to get away with just writing a longer blurb for my idea, but it didn’t cut it.

So I spent some time last night and this morning putting together a short chapter-by-chapter outline. And, at times, my creative brain was rebelling, telling me, “But I don’t DO it this way.” Whine, whine, whine.

After a bit of plotting help from the glorious Dee Carney, I finished the outline and emailed it off. Now let’s hope that something comes out of it.

In other news, I made progress in ICE WHITE yesterday and intend to get more of that story done today. I have my stories lined up for the NaNo challenge, so I should be busy writing all the way through November. Should be interesting, because I go on vacation for a week around Thanksgiving. And I don’t think I’ll have any real computer access. Hm.

I have a lot of quiet hours to myself today. Here’s my schedule:

1) Play catch up on laundry. Seems that if I don’t do at least one or two loads of laundry a day, I get so terribly behind that dirty socks and towels start taking over my house in large conspicuous mounds. Must get on top of the laundry situation today.

2) Write at least 1K in my ICE WHITE story.

3) Empty and load the dishwasher. Hand wash all the crap that can’t go in the dishwasher.

4) Write some more in my ICE WHITE story.

Do you think I can manage this? I hope so. I’ve been obsessed with reading the news lately (the elections will do that to you), so I have wasted precious moments of writing time.

Not today.

Significant progress must be made.

Check back this evening for an update on my writing progress. If you haven’t noticed, on my main page, if you scroll down, are some WIP progress reports.

Okay, these trailers are starting to become a little too much fun. I spent FOUR hours of my day doing this new one for MOONLIGHTING. I am not allowed to make any more until I finish a new book!

Kris

Just a couple of days ago I opened up a new text file and started on the third book in my ICE series, ICE WHITE. This will be another Wicked story for Cobblestone Press and will continue the sexy goings on at an antarctic research facility.

I really want to get a good chunk of the beginning written today/tomorrow. The first two stories I wrote pretty quickly, and I’d like for this one to follow the same path.

The more I write, the more I sub, the closer I get to my goals. I wanted to have many more books released this year, but it just didn’t work out that way for me. There are a few things subbed out there that will take some time to get responses, so patience is needed. But meanwhile, I need to be writing like crazy.

The more I write, the more I learn and the better my writing gets. Short books are a lot easier to craft and finish, but yet I do learn a lot from each one. If writing short stuff improves my process for full-length books then I’d be silly not to crank out as much as I can.

I will start a new progress thingie for ICE WHITE on my main page. Check back to see how I do!

I just made my very first book trailer ever, for my book GOING DOWN. Check it out!

In a writer’s world there are three modes of being:

1) Writing a book

2) Editing a book

3) Thinking about the next book.

Now, some of the more ‘prepared’ type of writers might add a forth mode - Outlining a book. But we know how much I like to do that…um, hardly ever?  Heh.

Right now I’m between modes 2 and 3. I’m working on the edits for my latest completed story: BEEF CAKE. But I’m also thinking about what I want to work on next.

My first impulse was to dive right into BEEF CAKE 2. But considering that I haven’t even subbed the first book yet, that would be jumping the gun. I do have SHAKE YOUR MONEYMAKER waiting patiently for me. But then I was very attracted last night to starting the third book in my ICE series. This one would be titled ICE WHITE.

If I go with the historical way I’ve written books, I should really choose the one that’s been in my head the longest, because that idea tends to have more legs. If I do that, ICE WHITE would be at the top of the list.

However, I’m not allowed to start on anything new until I finish the edits on BEEF CAKE and sub that puppy.

Yay!  I just wrote the last few words of my fantasy erotic romance, BEEF CAKE. I have a trusted beta reader giving it the once over before I edit it one last time and sub it to an as-of-yet unnamed epublisher.

This book hit very close to my 15K word goal. It’s about 14800 words. Hopefully, I did okay with it. I could possibly stretch out the ending a little more with maybe one more scene. We shall see. For now, I think it ends on a fun note and sets up the sequel I have in mind.

Glad I’m done, but now I have to start thinking about what I’m going to write next. Finish up my shifter story that’s been languishing, or move on to something new? So hard to decide. Guess I should wait until AFTER I’ve edited and subbed this book.

I’ll keep you updated on anything that might happen with it.

No, this is not a post about the apocalypse. Sorry if you were expecting some crazy ranting…

This is about nearing the end of my WIP, Beef Cake. Yes, I’m closing in on the 15K I had set for myself as a goal. Hard to believe.

Endings sometimes just appear out of nowhere. You’re writing along, thinking, jeez, I have a long way to go. Then, suddenly, you realize you probably only have a few more scenes left to write. And how should I wrap this up? And will I possibly even go OVER my set goal?

Since it was recently revealed to me that my plot would be conducive to serialization, I have begun to plant the seeds for the next book. Should be fun to take my silly but sexy idea and expand on it with new characters and new situations. So look for ‘Beef Cake 2′ to make an appearance on the  ‘Work in Progress’ section on my homepage.

My plan is to finish up this book before the weekend is through, send it off to one of my trusted beta readers, and then submit it sometime next week.

Hooray for having something new almost ready to go. It’s been too too long.