Pamper the Writer in you

Hello My Lovelies

Can you tell am awfully chirpy this morning?
I have had a week or more of bad news rolling in, you know how everything just seems to pile up on top of you when you are down? Well am over it now and the writer in me survived too, I am ready to start blog stalking too.
I could not take myself to a Spa or even a Cafe for some solitude, because lets face it when you have a child or even a pet they hardly understand the words "Mummy needs to take a time out now". So what I did was just give in and let my brain take a vacation (Sad I know), every night I made sure I wrote 50 words - 50 words that were sometimes spread over 2 WIPs, 50 words my mind told me was the worst thing ever written - a monkey with a typewriter could do a better job, but I still wrote something every night.

I had a rewrite for a chapter that I desperately wanted to send to the Harlequin fast track thingie but I just could not bring myself to do it. Now you know that thing inside every writer that just does not make you give up? it yelled at me yesterday. So after getting the toddler fed, cleaned and watered I cranked out 17 new pages in addition to my original one page, cranked out another 2 paged synopsis and sent it off to Harlequin with just 4 minutes to spare.

For once I did not feel like it was crap (it could still be to the editors) but the fact is - I DID IT! and I feel proud of myself, I got my mojo back and if you are in the dumps (blame the weather) you can get out of it too okay? just grab yourself a cup of coffee and tell yourself it will work out in the end - No Worries!

XOXO
Jo

Let's connect

Hello World (has anyone heard Sal Masakela song for yo gabba gabba?)

One of the places I love to hang out besides your blogs is eHarlequin and we have different forums where we the writers and the authors can connect, ask questions and basically be there for each other.
So in an effort to get to know each other better(think of this as speed dating), leave a comment and tell me about yourselves. The essence of today's exercise for me and any other interested parties is to network with my followers, I'm not just interested in gaining followership, I want to have a meaningful connection with those I already have; I'll go first.

Hi, my name is Joanna
I write Contemporary Romance and I'm toying with chic lit
I took my brave 1st step and submitted to the harlequin med. romance fast track
I have a requested partial with an editor as a result
I have 3 other works in the pipeline for edits and
I have wanderlust.

That wasn't so bad was it?, its your tun now.
In other news, our interrogation room with Author/Editor Clarissa Yip was a huge success. To win a copy of her book the comments section will be left open till Friday when 2 lucky winners will be chosen.
The harlequin fast-track opportunity for "So You Think You Can Write" closes December 15th, you will get feedback by Jan 31st in the latest.

I swear I went in

If I can buy one wardrobe space in this richman's playground I woun't have to pay taxes again. The first commercial fiction I read was set in Monaco - The tax exile

I went back to Monaco last month, only to find out the interesting art only showed up in the summer

Short Stories Anyone

What good is a short story? and why do you read or write them?

I have read my share of tomes, I have read my share of 600 paged books, I have even read my share of 800 paged textbooks per week for a class at uni not to talk of grading seniors at the same uni, but I guess you get the point I am a reader and a fast one at that.

I love short stories, the last book I read was  mistletoe and the lost stiletto by Liz Fielding around 50k words, I finished it in 2hrs (during nap time) and if you want to quiz me on it am sure I will ace it.

Me + Books of this length = Perfect Match

As a writer we are always told to know out target audience, I am my target audience, I love to read and will probably wither if i don't read but I have no time to read. Don't worry blogger friends I will read your 800 paged book when it comes out even if I have to hire a Nanny but unless you are a blogger friend or Tim Robbins (Nora, Steph, Dan or Steven) and the like I won't buy your humongous book at the store(no offense).

Writing short stories is also good practice for writers, have you ever started a WIP just to realize it has fizzled out at chapter 3 and nothing you do will resurrect it? is that story meant to be a short, is there a magazine or publisher out there wishing they had a manuscript like the one you have abandoned? lets talk about Ether books  for a second have you heard about them? you can read more here they publish short stories - 2k words on your IPhone.
In other news today I won $10 Breathless Press gift card from Jessica Lee and a $5 Wild Rose gift card from Sally Clements - I tweeted these competitions.
Finally I got an author/editor for the interrogation room, what questions would you like to ask the editor side of her? I need suggestions.
Have a beautiful day now.

Promenade des anglais - Nice

Internals

Woo Hoo tomorrow I have Jessica Barksdale Inclan in the interrogation room tomorrow, she has been writing going on 10 years now and I am really glad I was able to bring her here.
Liz Fichera also won my last giveaway, I shall be sending her a bag of European chocolate and maybe a sachet of sea salt as an inside joke :)
I am still waiting for feedback on the partial I sent in to my editor, I sent it in Sept. 28th and I have used up every bit of my patience, so I might start checking my email incessantly, anybody out there have any "serenity now"(Seinfeld) tips?

Anybody interested in writing for greeting card companies? I met a fellow blogger who does this as her day time job if you are interested check Lisa out here , she was very helpful and answered all my questions.

I try not to post more than once a day because I know how pressed for time we often are so I shall start a new tab somewhere on this blog to let you know about giveaways or blogfests I enter or hear about. I won an Olivia gates book and she also did a Q&A session all weekend at Clarissa Yip's website and now I feel bad that I did not bring that to your attention. So check back on the tabs or follow me on twitter or facebook I shall follow back, don't make me get lucky all by myself.

For those interested in writing for Harlequin I hope you have all heard about the fabulous opportunity they have going on for aspiring writers, if you send in your synopsis and first chapter by dec 15th you will get some form of feedback by january 31st I think.

So have a great Poppy Day and remember those whom we have lost.

Tuesday News and Book Giveaway

Okay I know I said my schedule would be Monday Wednesday Friday for NaNoWriMo but am an addict, sue me!
Remember when we talked about the Public Lending Rights well you will be pleased to know that the budget cut has been made and it is not as bad as was feared it was cut by 15% over 4 years as opposed to 30% for the Arts Council (these are the guys who have loads of Writer in Residence progs).
My NaNo mood: NaNo sucks! why? I just realized I am a pen and paper writer I can't tell you what my word count and I cannot win a prize at eHarlequin because of that, they are giving out prizes every week to act as incentive to the Nanoers by the way and its good stuff. But I think if I were to guesstimate my word count from yesterday would be closer to 3k than 2k and that was me writing with a migraine. My plan is to finish the 50k words hopefully by the middle of the month and get it typed(1st edit) by the end of November, If I get this done then I will be a true winner.

Don't forget if you have not entered my not 100 or 150 followers book giveaway there is still time, all you have to do is leave a comment telling me what genre you like to read and if you are one of my winners, I will have a book in that genre shipped to you from the book depository.

Invite your like-minded friends to join in this giveaway, the more the merrier and who knows maybe every referree will get a chance to win a chocolate package (please let me know if you have tweeted, blogged or facebooked abt this giveaway, I would make a button but IDK how)
Enjoy these pictures and have a lovely day.
Oh Oh the husband gets back tomorrow!

one of the many lighthouses here

good snorkeling spot

A writer's elation

if people like Bono kept quiet about their charitable works they will not be able to get awareness for their cause so am wagging my finger at you Brian Johnson

Okay so I sent off a manuscript to the Harlequin medical Fast track and almost died from high blood pressure while waiting, other people I knew who had submitted got their response in about 2 days imagine my dismay when I had to wait 20 days for mine.
20 days in which I doubted if i sent the manuscript off in the 1st place, I wondered if my bad writing had sent the editor to the hospital and all other stuff.
Now dont get me wrong  Editors have a lot to handle and i'm not complaining about having to wait cos this set of editors were rockstars for giving us this opportunity - the average wait time to hear back from an editor or agent is usually 3 months.

So anyways I got the email from them yesterday, they liked my work especially my Hero they gave me some really helpful feedback and want to see three more chapters. As we speak I am walking on air this is a huge milestone for an aspiring writer and I plan to give it all I've got. I will be bouncing my ideas off of you every once in a while so lets take this journey together (I should shut up now before I start spouting Eminem's lyrics).
Have a lovely day y'all