Monthly Archives: September 2006

And not the kind from the Kraft macaroni box. Though that sounds like a great idea for lunch, now that I think about it…

Nope, these blues are the icky kind. I have been informed that 1. Luna will not be publishing the 3rd book in the One Rose trilogy, and 2. they don’t want to buy New Blood, the option book I sent them. My agent and I are discussing possibilities to find a place where Eternal Rose could see light of day, and places to send New Blood. And lots of other things I have ideas for.

This is part of the publishing world. The part that really sucks. Just like television shows that get yanked after only 3 or 4 episodes, without being given a chance to find an audience, books and authors now have the privilege of having that happen to them too. We might get six months, since it takes at least that long to gather book numbers, but the booksellers are just as ruthless. If the 1st book by a particular author doesn’t do spectacularly, they won’t order so many of the next one–and if the bookstores don’t order the books, the “suits” will pull the plug.

I think I had decent sales–sales that another fantasy publisher would consider solid–but I think Harlequin’s expectations might have been greater than they should have been. Who knows.

It’s disappointing, but it’s not the end of the world. I may have to take another name to publish more fantasy or fantasy romance. But Dayton isn’t my real name to start with, so yet another one is no big deal to me.

I’ve taken this week off to think about directions, new or otherwise, and to walk and read and clean myself through the suckage. (I NEVER clean when I’m upset–but I’m trying really hard not to eat my way through it–I’m about 8 pounds lighter than I was in Atlanta!) I cleaned about 20 years of grease off my venthood. (I’ve only been in the house 2 years, okay!) Who knew it wasn’t supposed to have a matte finish? It’s shiny now!

Next week, it’s back to the WWII book. And the week after, the fella and I are going to Colorado to do nothing but look at golden aspens, work puzzles of various kinds, read, and maybe shop. Or hike. He’s more into hiking than I am. I may take the book–whichever one I’m working on–and if I do, I may or may not open it up.

As Woody Allen said, Ninety-eight percent of success is just showing up. And you have to KEEP showing up even when things go bad. What else can you do?

Last read: DECEIVED by Nicola Cornick
Rate: Good

I took a flying trip to the DFW area to try out a new workshop on the RWA chapter I belong to down there. North Texas RWA is a great bunch of people and I really enjoy getting to go down and visit, even if it does take me five hours to drive down there. And then five hours to drive back.

I did a workshop on writing the fantasy, futuristic and paranormal novels, and had a lot of fun doing it. I think it came out pretty well. It was fun getting to talk with other writers and pretend to be a fount of knowledge and answer all the questions. I hereby state, I do not know the answer to everything, and often wonder whether I know the answer to anything…especially when I get e-mails from the agent that say “I got your submission. It needs a lot of work.” Ugh.

Makes one wonder whether one even knows what one is doing any more. The brain may be going.

I’m going to finish this WWII partial, and then…I’ll probably have something or other to work on. Something I need to fix. I did get almost 6 good pages for the story last week, so it’s not completely stalled out. I tell ya, this is a soul-eating business to be in, but I can’t imagine doing anything else, so I guess I just need to pull the ragged remnants out of the beast’s mouth and fluff them up a little and get back to work.

And there are many, many days that I wish I knew just where it (life) was going. I think sometimes, it’s left me behind long ago.

I am happy today. It’s been a good day. I typed in some of the WWII story–I don’t have 3 chapters yet, so I probably ought to get back to the writing of it. I did most of the laundry, I walked to the post office and didn’t have a bunch of stuff to lug back home again (and I walked all the way to Koogle Street instead of walking around the park, because there were a few more trees down 6th Street that I could walk in the shade of–I am an expert shade-spotter and walker-under-er… Hmm. Better quit there). I also finally paid my RWA dues–I had to do it online because I lost the paper I needed to send back–and had to go wander round the website a while because there wasn’t an easy way to find the place to do it–as in “Go Here to Pay For Dues.” Instead, it had “My Open Invoices” or something like that. Anyway, that’s done and I don’t have to worry about that any more.

I still haven’t worked on the program I have to present this coming Saturday at the North Texas RWA meeting. Need to do that soon. But I don’t want to do it too soon, or I’ll be doing it cold. Still haven’t added any of the books I read this summer/early fall to the list I keep–they are stacked up on the floor in front of my file cabinet high enough to totally block off the bottom drawer, and the second drawer up is in trouble… Need to do that too–but I’d better go judge the contest entries I said I’d judge for a contest. I’ve done one. (sigh)

Okay, I’ll just quit whining here, and go get busy. The carne guisada I made for supper is done. Food first. Then contest judging or weed pulling or book reviewing–one of those. Or maybe we’ll just have some TV watching.

Oh, thanks Catie for the birthday wishes. We went to see Hollywoodland–still want to see Crank. Maybe I’ll go to town early tomorrow… Got the cutest birthday card from my best bud Belinda (who I forgot to send a birthday card to on her birthday because I think I was out of town–SORRY B!)–usually she sends me a hunk card, but this one has a Ma-and-Pa-Kettle-ish couple on the front, and the inside says “Welcome to Oldville.” It made me laugh.

Better go turn off the oven. Back later to bore you all…

Yes, today is the day I was born mumbledy-something years ago. I’m not going to get specific, but I am barely into my second half-century. There. You already know I’m a grandmother several times over, so you know I’m no sweet young thing. I am however still sweet and I’ve always been something of a thing. Actually, a “thang.”

There is a difference in the South between a “thing” and a “thang.” Things are the dead fish your dog brings home as a souvenir. Thangs are puppies and kitties and pretty girls and handsome boys. I like to think I still qualify as a thang.

Anyway, it’s my birthday, and I’m trying to decide what movie I want to go see for my birthday. The weather will determine whether we go to the big city today or tomorrow–if it rains tonight, we’re not going to the local football game, but if it stays clear, we’ll be at the stadium and go to town tomorrow. I’m not going to complain about the rain at all, it’s been so long since we had much to speak of. The local lakes are anywhere from 40 to 50 feet below their normal levels, so actually, we really need more rain before this drought can be considered over.

Small-town Texas on Friday night–yeah, everybody goes to the football game, whether you have a kid in school or not. We don’t always stay for the whole game now that our youngest has left for college, but we go. Unless, of course, it’s raining.

Mailing a proposal to the agent today. Wish me luck.

I’ve run out of clever titles. I never had that many to begin with, and I have to save the really good ones for the books.

Hmm. Now that I think about it, most of my titles for the blog posts aren’t very clever at all. This one is at least apt. It’s my weekly post. I’d like to manage to post more often, but–well, basically I’m lazy. And I’m busy. Sort of. Mostly.

Fall activities are starting up again in my little town. The ladies’ “Art Club”–which is a “meet once a month for lunch” club–is meeting again. The programs are supposed to be focused on “the arts” and we give a little scholarship to the local junior college, and we meet, talk and have lunch. We had show-and-tell at last Friday’s meeting.

Besides that, about all I have done is write. I haven’t even read much this past week. I’ve been working on reading WARRIOR SOUL by Chuck Pfarrer, which is his “My Life as a Navy SEAL” story. That pretty much took me all week to read, since I was also watching the DVDs of the HBO series ROME. We don’t get HBO, and I really, really wanted to see ROME (I’m into all that historical stuff), especially since it was supposed to be such a good series–so I bought the DVD set for my birthday, and the fella and I watched two or three episodes every night. He got into it as much as I did. (Except he’s not re-watching it with the commentary like I am.)

I mentioned the writing, didn’t I? I’m proud of myself. I got 37 pages written last week. That’s up from my usual weekly count. It’s not going up this week though. I need to get it typed in and the proposal ready to send to the agent.

And I pulled weeds in the front flower beds. The rain has made the grass go berserk, and it’s trying to take over. Actually, it HAS taken over in a big chunk of the bed. And I can’t keep up with it. We need to get some mulch out. Maybe when the petunias die…

Heading off to Odessa for a few days–I’ll try to get back here and blog when we get back.