Big Sticks?

Anyone got one they care to wield in my general direction?

I've got news, good news... I finalled in The Romance Writers of Australia High Five competition. I think most of you who read my blog already know that this is a contest of the first five pages for category novels - ie. those targetted at Harlequin Mills & Boon. I'm up against some steep competition though! Special wave to Melissa and Nikki!

My wonderful writing buddy Bec has given me a stern talking to, asking ''What more inspiration do I need to get off my butt and actually put my fingers to the keyboard again?'' Sleeping kids would be a start :)

But she's right... there's no excuse to not write when getting published is your DREAM!! So... this morning, I'm trying, I really, really, really am trying and have given myself the goal of 2000 words for the weekend.

500 down... 1500 to go. In the words of a train from Trouble's (Son 2) favourite picture book - ''I think I can!''

Reading, procrastinating, whinging and the odd bit of scribbling...

The title really sums up what I've been up to the last few weeks but perhaps I'll elaborate for the heck of it for a few moments. 

Since mid-year I've been torn between targetting M&B Modern Heat or Harlequin Superromance. I love both lines for different reasons and have been alternating my reading between them and single-titles. I'm currently reading Natalie Anderson's ''Pleasured By The Secret Millionairre'' and an LBD called ''Blue Remembered Shoes'' by Nell Dixon. 

I'm loving both but have dived into Nat's book because I'm stuck in the middle of my own attempt at a Mod Heat and wanted to see how an expert managed to do all the things I want to achieve in my own middle. I'm struggling cos I've created two characters with a lot of personal baggage and I really want to get across to possible readers that these two have a lot in common emotionally if they'll only let go and open up to each other. Problem is one of the plot points is the fact that he is hiding the truth about himself at all costs, so it's hard to get them talking on the level. I guess I'm scared that I'm gonna let the story potential down. 

So... while I wallow... writing is slow but steady at the moment. 

I'm also getting extremely buggared (blaming the babe in my womb) at the moment, that by the time I get my kidlets to bed, all I wanna do is curl up with a good book in bed myself. 

But I figure that when I feel this way... when I pick up a Mod Heat, a Super, an LBD or something else entirely, at least I'm still researching and learning! Right??

Meet my ''new'' heroine!

Okay... she's not really new as I'm 32000 words into the mss but thanks to help from you lovely people, I've found new inspiration for her and I'm hoping it INSPIRE me to great things!

Here she is:

And again...

She's a serious gal (who has a fun side brought out by the hero) and she's on a mission... a mission my hero is set to halt!!! She's adopted and feels like she's been the misfit wherever she's been, but the hero's about to show her just how wrong she is!

Thanks so much to Eleni for giving me Eve Miles!!

iHeart Presents!

Hey folks

Just a quickie (cos I'm off back to bed - long, horrible story) but thought I'd let you know my blog post is up at iheartpresents 

It's simply a little spiel about my writing and specifically how I started writing category romance :) 

Until next time...

Heroes and Heroines...

Let's face it... they are the essence of a romance novel, are they not? Well, I'm having a little casting issue with mine. 

I thought I had these characters in my head before I began writing, but when I got stuck in the middle a few days ago, I started wondering if I had the heroine all wrong. She was blonde and rather a perfect package when I really wanted her to be a contrast to her two perfect, blonde sisters and to have a few hang-ups about her figure and looks. So, I've ditched the image I did have, see pic here and am looking for a heroine with a little more zest! Not even sure that's the right word. 

I want a short brunette with attitude written all over her face and would LOVE your help if possible. I thought about the actress who plays the role of Beth in The Bill, but the only real image I could find of her was in a police uniform and it just didn't do it for me. Thought about Katie Holmes but she wasn't right either... so please, please... can anyone out there, help me find my fiesty heroine. I think if I have her pegged, the writing of her character will be easier - at least I'm clinging to hopes that's the case :)

This is her bad boy hero and I think you'll all agree, he's simply perfect!

Pulling teeth...

I know it's cliched, but writing at the moment is like pulling teeth. Excrutiatingly painful... only difference is I guess, I have no desire to have my pearly whites evicted from my mouth but I have a real desire to get the words down on the page just right. 

I've hit the very middle of WWMM and where I can usually knock out 1000 words (ones I'm reasonably happy with) in an hour, I'm struggling to make 100. And, I'm really questioning their quality. I'm trying to remember Nora Roberts mantra, ''You can correct a bad page, but... you can't correct a blank one!'' But it's tough. I want them all to be perfect first time round. :) 

I'm not sure if my bump in the mss is due to the fact:

a) I've been away from it for such a long time or

b) I'm just not good at writing middles or 

c) I so want this mss to be the one that hits the mark that I'm losing it.

To be honest, I find the middle section of a novel the worst part. Beginnings are easy for me (as I know they are for many others) and the endings aren't too horrendous either, but middles always drag me down. I always go through a period of self-doubt somewhere between 20000 and 40000 words. There's so much I want to put in there, so much emotion I want to get across, but it never seems to come out on the page the way I want it.

So... anyone else in the same predicament? Have you any tips for getting through it? What parts of the novel do you find the hardest?? 

Back to Alphie...

After an extended break from actually writing (was revising and then trying to holiday with my family), I finally threw myself back into the current wip tonight. I've been soooooooooo distracted of late by the Internet (reading emails from fabulous writing buddies, surfing blogs of fabulous writing buddies, etc) that if I give myself an hour to write, it's always diluted with distractions. So tonight, I decided to dig out my faithful Alphasmart again and give it another go. 

I wrote much of one of my novels on this magnificent writing tool, but had all but abandoned it recently. Think I didn't like the idea of not being able to check my word count on a very regular (like every five minutes) basis. 

Tonight I wrote 930 words on Alphie and then added a fair few more when I transferred the work to my computer. And, I'm happy to announce I've finally stormed over the half-way mark on this mss. 

My aim - and I'm putting it out there for all of you to check up on me and push me towards it - is to have the rough draft of this mss finished by the end of October. This means writing about 1000 words a day, which should be reasonable if I don't mind forgoing some sleep :) 

Anyway... speaking of said sleep, I'm off to (hopefully) achieve some.  

Till next time... Happy Writing!