The Other Woman

Madame de Pompadour  Portrait by Charles-André van Loo

Such an odd topic to be going on about, however, lately it seems to be popping up around me in books and TV. 

Just today, Darling Diva and I watched a Dr. Who episode which involved the woman above, Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, also known as Madame de Pompadour.  This was the woman known to all as chief mistress to the King of France Louis XV.  Imagine that, chief mistress, the head honchetta of other women.  She was second only to the Queen, but really, I wonder, did she truly come in second place or did the Queen do her duty and produce the heirs then to be left alone while the King maintained an actual relationship with his mistress?  Where the King/mistress relationships the real love matches while the marriages were about business only?

From what I've read the opposite seems like it would be true and the mistress' view this life like a business contract.  Wealth, notoriety, the endless trappings of a 'good' life and mostly the freedom to do what they wished with out being shackled by society, it sure seems like the good life.  Only if that were true, then were the Queen's considered the love match? 

Doubtful considering how they were treated most of the time.  Heck, Madame de Pompadour lived in apts above the kings rooms which were probably close to the Queen's rooms as well.  Let's be honest here, you know the Queen probably had to listen to the grunts and groans, yelps and delightful squeals of the King and mistress in what was most likely an above average sex life.  Two times a week?  Right ~rolls eyes~

This, of course, leads me to believe there was little emotion between the King and Queen.  So what happened to love?

Now in all honesty, the Queen probably had a stable of lovers, or at least one steady herself, but the point is how did people live with this lack of love?  Emotion?

So, back to the original thought, the other woman, what an odd thing to be going on about, but it makes me wonder if I could write a story involving a husband, a wife and TOW?  Probably not as I just can't wrap myself around the emotions, or lack there of, involved.  No one would "win" in my story, mainly because I can see the situation from all angles and while I'm pro-love, back then, marriage was like a business deal and love took a back seat.  Maybe then I should take up the challenge and try to write said story...

Who knows, maybe it'll go to the bottom of my to write list. 

Monday Mission...

To find more time to write this summer!

Who knows, maybe if I write it down and come back and look at this blog periodically I will reinforce, er guilt, myself into making it happen!  LOL

Lost in my Gray Matter...

On the run from her hero, not ready to mate, our heroine is overlooking the Mighty Mississippi from a tiny ledge.  Her cell, ringing in her back pocket and straps of her fake Jimmy Choo's in her teeth...  Will she fall, can she answer the phone, is her mate close enough to get her?

And a commercial break....  ~At least in my head there is, dang it!~ 

I've been futzing with this scene now for a while and I can't get it right.  The character is tight-lipped (not wanting to lose those shoes you know) and I'm not quite sure what direction to take her.  One way disrupts the rest of the already written story, but the other just kind of flops.

I need a third option.

One that fits each of the characters and keeps the story going.  The third option must be hiding somewhere in my gray matter...I just need to find it.  :) 

It's Like Naming A Baby...

Okay, maybe not exactly like that, but sometimes it feels darn close.  What am I talking about, you ask? 

Let me start again...

I've finished a story.  Woot!  Well, almost finished, see now I have to settle on a title and much like when naming a baby, I've gone round and round about what to call it.  Most of the time a working title presents itself to me right from the get go and I use some variation of that at the end, but this story has been stubborn.  No stand out title has ever presented itself so I've limped along just calling it magic.

Now that I'm ready to submit, I need a title I love, like or can live with.  LOL

I want it to be short and sweet, concise and memorable.  I want it to look good on the cover I see in my dreams.  I want it to fit the story.  And if I'm lucky enough to sell the story; I know the title could change, but until then I want the story to put its best foot forward and that includes having a snappy title.

So, back to the drawing board.  Bring on the titles!

Have a fabulous weekend!

The Me Book Melee

Good Morning, one and all. 

I hope this Monday finds everyone healthy, wealthy and wise!

So I have high writing hopes for the day and the week.  It's quiet here and the majority of my must do stuff is done!  Yay!  It kills me to put stuff in front of my writing, but sometimes that's just the way it goes.  I've had an influx of ideas of late that I need to jot down before they fall back into the haze.  I'm also very close to finishing another story I started a while back, so today that is the priority.

Now what is this melee I spoke of in the blog title, well I'll tell ya.  My little Darling Diva is in the 5th grade this year and they are kicking off their how to write lessons.  You remember this, right.  For me it was a hellish bout of memorization and a lack of anything that had to do with fun. 

I can still hear the teachers with their..."Repeat after me, a noun is a person, place or thing.  A verb is an action word.  An adverb describes the verb....."

What!!  Wait, describes the verb, what does that mean?  You know, memorization is great for some things, like state capitals and math facts, but soooo not for the parts of a sentence.  You gotta do to get that.  Use it, practice it, find new ways of absorbing what a noun, verb and adverb is....

Enter in...The Me Book!

At DD's school, they are doing a year long project called, you guessed it, The Me Book.  In this book, the kiddo's make the front and back of the book and on the inside, they fill it with information about themselves-  Family trees, about the author, memories from past school years, travels, friends etc...  For each week they are required to turn in a different page and in that week they work on some new thing.  Last week, it was third person, this week the verb and adverb.  Freaking fun if you ask me, what better way to introduce writing than to make it a fun, keepsake about themselves.

Anyway, I just had to share that.  I love to see schools try something different to teach the basics rather than the "old school" ways I learned.  Kudos to those schools who are stepping outside the box!

Have a great week everyone.

A Weekend Treat...

I've scored some quiet, writing time!

Yep, Darling Diva was surprised yesterday with the offer of a weekend sleep-over at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  She flew into her room and was pack in no less than five minutes, G-ma and G-pa have the kid smack, that's for sure...  lol. 

Oh who am I kidding, they have the grandparent right to say yes to all the things mom here is compelled to say no to.  We all need a weekend like that every once in a while...have fun, Kiddo!

Plus, in order to make sure everything is caught up for our vacation in a couple of weeks, my hubby is at work for a few hours today.  So you know what that means...

Uninterrupted Writing Time!!!  Woot!

Have a good weekend, everyone.  :)

Spring Break....

And so ends another Spring Break vaca.

Yep, Darling Diva is back in school after her week-long, relaxing break and mom is putting her nose to the grindstone. ~ouch~

I've learned over the last couple of years that the more I try to squeeze in writing time during one of her weeks off, the less it gets done. So instead, this last week was spent knee deep in fun!

Cookie baking, science projects and wild games of rummy with DD kicking mom's arse were highlights of the week. We also snuck in some quality reading time and a few episodes of Charmed season two. Yep, I have a second generation fan! ;)

But now it's time to crack the whip on myself ~oooh~ and get back at it, my jaguar triad is getting antsy and needy. They were quiet during the last week, but are now howling loudly to get on with the show!

Off I go...

Have a great week. :)

A Gray Area?

I came across an interesting article today titled, Confessions of a Book Pirate.

I couldn't decide if I should post the link on my blog, not because it was a bad article, but because I always feel like putting out there is patting the wrong-doing pirate on the back and giving them a job well done feeling.

No thumbs up here Mr. Pirate, stealing is stealing, but I will applaud the work the author of the article did and post the link.

http://www.themillions.com/2010/01/confessions-of-a-book-pirate.html

No Trip To Oz For Me....

So wow, yesterday was quite a day in my little pond. Storms which included flooding and tornado's blew through all afternoon. Sirens screamed, my dogs cowered and my darling diva sat with her American Girl doll in one arm and her purse over the other. While I, being the grown-up and all, wondered if I did make it to Oz, would I get my own shapeshifting lion, metal man and happy-go-lucky straw man?

If I did, would they have a really sexy story to tell? Or would it be a nightmare of apple whipping trees, green peeps and cranky sexless witches who played with flying monkeys?

LOL...quite the mom, huh. I've found much to my families surprise that there is not much that comes into my life that I can't somehow turn into a story idea. Some of them fizzle, but some of them flourish and need to be written.

My non-trip to Oz? Well, so far it seems to be a fizzle, but who knows, maybe something else will happen to make it flourish. :)

Have a great day!

Fortunate for the ideas...

LOL you know I'd thought that I'd gotten use to getting story ideas from odd places or things, but I guess I can still be surprised.

I was riffling ~can it still be called riffling if your doing it online? hmmm~ through pictures the other day and came across the one above and guess what? Yep, it hit me with an idea. I mean really, a picture of a fortune cookie and all of a sudden I'm jotting down notes for an idea....

Isn't writing cool!!

How about it, anything weird give you a great idea for a story?

Have a great weekend!

A Startling Revelation!

Sometimes I love these, you know when a characters finally decides to be frank with you or when your singing along to one of your favorite songs and the words you always have to hum-i-na, hum-i-na, hum-i-na over suddenly become clear! woot...love those. However, the times when a stiff breeze reminds you that you put on your, well loved, shorts with no undies and left the house without changing...yep, those I hate.

Today's revelation was neither loved or hated, it was the frustrating one.

The past couple of writing days have been tough, and I've been unsure as to why? Was my head not in the game? Is the story off track? Do I just need to take a break away?

Sha-bang. Lightning struck today in the form of one more trip to the thesaurus!

What the heck, here I was trying to edit when I didn't even have the first draft down. Wanting every sentence perfect, every word the right one and I had yet to even get the idea on the paper.

Sheesh, no wonder this weeks been tough.

So I shut down the thesaurus and stepped away from the wip. Read a bit of Lover Avenged by J.R. Ward~loving it!~ then came back to the story, determined to get the idea on the page, no matter what word I used or how many times I used The~which was a really scary amount~ and guess what?

I finished the scene I was stuck on! Whod'ya thunk it!

Now I'm off, back to get down some more ideas!

And...I'm off

The storyboard is done, the characters are anxious. The authors mind is a flutter with ideas to undertake, but one thing is missing...

Character interviews

I do this for all my characters, I need to know all of the nooks and crannies of them. Favorite song, favorite word, favorite swear word, favorite position, least favorite positions, most loved body part, most hated...the list goes on and on, but I do get a really clear picture of my characters this way.

The big interview stuff is done by now, background, fears etc.. Now it's time for the fun, quirky stuff...

Wish me luck!

Is it Hero envy??

I'm having one of those writing days where I know what I need to do, where my story needs to go and the time to take it there.

Rick, my dark blond haired, six foot tall with dark blue eyes that slip easily past a woman's defenses, hero has been whispering in my ear all morning. All of his deep dark secrets are rolling off his oh so tempting tongue, filling my head and the pages of his story.

Did I also mention that he's a shape shifter? ~sigh~

Woo Hoo...right?

Well it should be, except another hero has decided to take up residence in the background of my mind.

Russian born with nearly black eyes and a buzz cut so short it tickles your hand as you try to grab on. His shoulders are wide, his stomach ripped and naked beneath the full length fur coat he wears. Yes, real fur. His own fur.

Werewolf...

He has yet to tell me his name, but it's clear he wants his story told. Do I dare tell him to wait patiently in line or will that directive get me eaten?

Would that be so bad I wonder?

Wish me luck.....

Pbbssslt....Bye bye, Balloon!

LOL...So that is exactly how I feel today, an out-of-shape, over-wrung, deflated balloon.



I've submitted my latest story and know what I want to work on next, but the words just won't flow.

Shoot, even getting this blog done was like pulling teeth.

I'm new, and loving it, to the world of writing. Is it normal to go through moments of wordlessness once a story is finished? I'm most assuredly not at a loss for ideas.

My keepers are flashing themselves at me, begging for their story to be told next, but the Jags just keep growling them down. Rick and LeAnn really want to tell it like it is, but The band works hard at tuning them out. My shorts are trying to pleasantly remind me that they are needing to be finished and that they won't take long and my Fury just flies around my noodle putting off 'don't make me hurt you' vibes!

See ideas are the least of my worries...

Maybe it's the order of things. Maybe, I need to put some order to the disorder in my brain. Or maybe, I need to strap on the leathers and carry a really big strap into the orneriness that is my characters and show them whose boss....

Humm...something to think about.

So tell me, does this happen to anyone else? If so, what do you do to get past the wordlessness?

Have a great Sunday!

Suuuuunny days....Thinking the clouds away...

Yep, you got it. Bring on Sesame Street!

Most days I liken myself to Ernie, happy-go-lucky, astounded by life and just plain happy to be here.

Other days, I'm like Burt. Cranky and muttering to myself.

Today, I'm Oscar. Growly, Grumpy and Pissy. Why?

Well let me tell ya. I'm reworking a fight scene and it is really slow going. I can write snippy, I can write funny. I can write sex~oh yeah, can I write sex~ But when it comes to fighting, I sputter out like a big ol' balloon.

How do I describe a punch when I've never hit or been hit? How to I describe a knee to the gut or a high kick to the jaw when I am the most passive person I know? How, How, How?

I blame my passivity on being force fed large doses of Sesame Street as a kid...LOL(no I don't. I love SS)

Maybe it was my hippie parents or my daily infusion of anti war songs as a child? LOL...nah cause much to my mothers displeasure, my favorite movies are action flicks!

Nope, there is not one to blame for my struggles with writing fight scenes into my stories. Fact of the matter is, I need to practice more and read more of them. Let's see, who are master fight writers? Christine Feehan...definitely, Laurell K Hamilton...Anita kicks ass! Suzanne Brockmann...Her seal fill my dreams.

Yep, I definitely need to read more. So tell me, who tops your list of awesome fight writers?

Have a great Wednesday!

Of course, it's just so simple....

I had an AH ha moment this morning while working on edits to my WIP. I was stunned when it hit me. All I could think of was, why didn't I see it before?

Woo Hoo, I finally found the last piece of my story. ~happy dance, happy dance~ Yeah baby, woot woot.......

Wait, crap, arrrrgggg

This means I have to dismantle my story, again! ~sigh~

I was so close to calling it good and submitting it and now it has to be taken apart again. How many more hours/days/weeks will it be until I finish this time. Once I'm done, will I find something else?

Maybe, but I'm not going to worry about then, I'm going to focus on now! This new info must be added to make the story everything it should be. I'll deal with then when it comes.

Wish me luck! :-)

Holy Cow...I did it!

Yep, you read that right, I did it!

~~Did it, did it, diiiid iiit! Nanny, Nanny, Whoo Hoo~~

Now I bet you'd like to know what exactly I did? Well, I finally finished, edited, and polished my first Novella. Woot!

I have been so surprised by the actual time that's involved in taking an idea from start to finish. Writing, editing, rewriting, re-editing, CP review, re-reedit then finally polish 1, 2 and 3. Whew....

To be honest, some of the above will be carved out with more practice(I hope), but each and every part is so important. When I looked at my story right after I finished the initial draft, heck even the story post first edit, and then the final version, well the differences are extreme. The first story is a pale version of the final, that's for sure.

So what's next? Well, pull together everything I need for the publisher I chose to send it to, then get it out the door. Fingers cross for me everyone.

Have a great weekend!

Who knew editing could be so tough?

OK, yes, I knew editing was going to be tough, but wow color me surprised at how much time it could take to get it just right.

So I started this story, almost a year ago now. It took several months to plot and write, then several more months to edit. I finally finished and sent it off to my CP. She looked at it, love it, then suggested several changes I might want to consider...

Back to the edit!

I had to agree with many of her suggestions as they were great insights. So I beefed it up, adding and removing, rearranging until I felt good about it. Good enough to submit it. Off it went, with all my positive thoughts behind it. The wait seemed to be forever! It really wasn't, but being a newbie it sure seemed to take a long time. Until that day, the day I'll never forget. The day I got...

Rejected???

LOL, I'm such a newbie! Of course rejected. My story is just not there yet, but the publisher was fantastic enough to give me insights into where it needed more editing. So really the reject was the best darn thing for me! Funny how that works. =)

So now I back to editing, and things are going well.

It's really interesting this community of writers I've found myself in. It is such a large community with a small family feel. Fellow writers are right there to help when you need it, the support is wonderful. I just recently met and exchanged work with a new CP who I met through my other CP. I now have 2 wonderful ladies keeping me on my toes and really adding to my knowledge of writing! And 1 wonderful fan/reader of my stories! She gushs and I blush, but dang if it doesn't feel good to know she likes them!

I'm a lucky newbie, that's for sure!

So now I'm going to get back to it, Chap 2 is calling my name....

Have a great day!

Good Morning one and all

So here we are, Wednesday April 2, 2008 and I wanted to say Good Morning!

It's been a while since I blogged, but I've been keeping myself very busy...
I have a new website up and running at http://www.serenashay.com/, I designed it and wrote the code all by myself...Yay Me!! That's part of the reason I've been busy as I took a class, well the first class, in how to create a website. It was a wonderfully informative class. The instructor was very good and he took you step by step through the writing of the site. If you have any interest in such a class here's the site...

Creating web pages

Class two starts soon, so of course I'm taking it! LOL who knows what else I can do to my site!

My other reason for slacking on the old blogs has been of course my writing. I've been editing like crazy to get my most recent story, The Challenge, out there. It's amazing how much time the process truly takes! No kidding, you finish writing the story and know you need to edit, you make a few passes and think dang this looks great only to put the sucker down for a few days, then when you come back it's like WTH was I thinking!!!! Editing is way harder then the writing process!!! LOL

But I'm getting there!

Have a great day everyone.
Large or small, may something positive happen to each and everyone of you!!