Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Waxing Moon
Saturn Retrograde
Snowing
It’s snowing. Again. ‘Nuff said.
My article “Making the Leap: The Transition into Full Time Writing” is on WOW- Women on Writing, here. I’ve got some great experts weighing in on how to make the leap. I”m very grateful to them for taking the time to share their expertise (and am getting thank yous and links out to them).
Yesterday morning was spent in a flurry, getting blurbs for the deconstruction workshops out for fall (WATCHMEN the movie, HOGFATHER the novel, the Anita Blake Series, and the Harry Potter series both books and films), and setting dates for workshops as far as April of 2012 — an Advanced version of the Dialogue workshop in the fall, 5-in-10 from January through March, Sensory Perceptions in March, and One Story Many Voices in April. This is all 2012, mind you. I may be picking up another deconstruction workshop this May, along with teaching the Setting as Character Workshop. So dates, contracts, and the like all had to be sorted.
Everything I had for March 2011 is now cancelled, so I have to replace it.
Got the write up done for Confidential Job #1, out the door, and invoiced. Got out some correspondence. Started prepping interview questions for something that might or might not happen, but at least I’ll have the questions.
I’m trying to come up with a fun and unique “bonus” something-something for each of the deconstruction workshops. It’s not going to be advertised ahead of time; it will be different for each workshop; but I want to give the participants something unique. I figured out what I’d like it to be for one of them, and have started putting it into motion (it still might not happen), but now I need to figure out what to do with the others.
Some calls for submission crossed my desk. I matched one to something I had queued up to go out — in fact, they’ve published me before and indicated they wanted more work from me. Another, I haven’t found the right match — they seem more obsessed with word count than content, but that’s probably for the pages they have to fill. The third, I tossed. Not only do they pay a pittance, they expect me to reformat the piece in a way that isn’t useful to me in any other venue. In other words, the publisher – -whose job it is to put the magazine into production — expects the writer to do production work, but without pay. Sorry. I do my job. I’m not doing yours as well. NEXT.
It was a full ten and a half hours at the desk, flat out, still not getting everything done that I needed to. But it was a good day’s work, and I’m making progress.
Today: talk to HealthConnect about getting my own insurance sorted out before the cut-off; work on the essay; work on the short story; work on the book; write another review; mess around with matching the backlog of short stories to potential markets; get the link to my experts for the article, do the PDF of the article, etc.
Pancakes first, and then back to the page. At some point, I need to get to the post office to mail some bills, buy coffee (ack, I’m nearly out), and pack.
Devon
Archaeologist Dr. Gwen Finnegan is on the hunt for her lover’s killer. Shy historical researcher Justin Yates, frustrated with his failing relationship, jumps at the chance to join her on a real adventure through Europe, pursued by factions including Gwen’s ex-lover and nemesis, Karl, as they try to unspool fact from fiction in a multi-generational obsession with a statue of the goddess Medusa.
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Stuck in NYC when plans for their next expedition fall through, Gwen and Justin accept teaching jobs at different local universities. Adjusting to their day-to-day relationship, and juggling the academic and emotional demands of their students, they are embroiled in two different, disturbing, paranormal situations that have more than one unusual crossing point. Can they work together to find the answers? Or are new temptations too much to resist? For whom are they willing to put their lives on the line? Available on multiple digital channels 
SAVASANA AT SEA
Yoga instructor Sophie Batchelder jumps at the chance to teach on a cruise ship when she loses her job and her boyfriend dumps her in the same day. But when her boss is murdered, and the crew thinks she's taking over her predecessor's blackmail scheme, Sophie must figure out who the real killer is -- before he turns her into a corpse, too. A Not-Quite-Cozy Mystery.
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PLAYING THE ANGLES
Witchcraft, politics, and theatre collide as Morag D’Anneville and Secret Service agent Simon Keane fight to protect the Vice President of the United States -- or is it Morag who needs Simon’s protection more than the VP?
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THE SPIRIT REPOSITORY
Bonnie Chencko knows books change lives. But she never expected her life to change because she happened to duck into a small bookshop in Greenwich Village on a rainy late November night. She’s attracted to Rufus Van Dijk, the mysterious man who owns the bookshop in his ancestors’ building. A building filled with family ghosts, who are mysteriously disappearing. It’s up to Bonnie and her burgeoning Craft powers to rescue the spirits before their souls are lost forever. Buy Links 
RELICS & REQUIEM
Amanda Breck’s complicated life gets more convoluted when she finds the body of Lena Morgan in Central Park, identical to Amanda’s dream. Detective Phineas Regan is one case away from retirement; the last thing he needs is a murder case tinged by the occult. The seeds of their attraction were planted months ago, when Phineas investigated an attack on Amanda’s friend Morag. Now, fate is determined to draw them close. But can they work together to stop a wily, vicious killer, or will the murderer destroy them both?
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By Jenny Storm. A young girl fights to save her horse trainer father's reputation when vicious rumors could ruin their lives. Purchase from 