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Archive for July, 2007



Saturday, July 7th, 2007
Come on…you know you wanna

Sven

Don’t you want to Sweat for Seventy (70) Days? Yeah, you do!

Come on and join a bunch of us, including my friends Jaci Burton, Rhian the Creative Goddess, Jenna Bayley-Burke, among others. And I just know May (Milady Insanity) is going to try too.

I am challenging you all to take part in this but especially to Immi on SITD and then to finish rewrites on WTD and get them both out. No pressure though!

Here are the details from Alison Kent’s blog:

I’m sure you’ve all heard of the National Novel Writing Month where the goal of the participants is to write 50,000 words during the month of November. You’ve probably also heard of the Book-in-a-Week first draft blast, and may have heard of the Book in a Year challenge at eHarlequin, or simply the One Page A Day method to getting a book written in 365. How ’bout a book in seventy days? Doable? You betcha.

Say you’re writing a 100,000 word single title. 70 days at 1500 words per day (approx 6 pages) is 98,000 words total. Say you’re writing a 60,000 word series romance. 70 days at 900 words per day (approx 4 pages) is 63,000 words total. Writing 4 – 6 pages every day for 70 days is a schedule anyone who calls themselves a pro can handle easily!

So . . . along with Larissa Ione and Stephanie Tyler and Jo Leigh and HelenKay Dimon, I hereby challenge any of you who are interested to sign up for our Seventy Days of Sweat. The challenge begins on Sunday, July 8 and runs through Thursday, September 20. (Yes, that’s 75 days, but we’re giving you off July 11 – 15 if you need it for conference. That said, ask yourself, “What Would Nora Do?” Yes, Nora writes at conference. I’ve witnessed it with my own eyes.)

The rules are simple. You agree to write 4 – 6 pages a day (depending on the length of your book) every day between the dates listed above. If you need to take off a day, you make up the pages another. If you don’t like to write 7 days a week, too bad. This challenge lasts for only 10 weeks, and if you have to get up early on the weekends to get the pages done, you do it. (Hey, we all do it! You can, too!)

You don’t have to have a blog to participate, but we do want you to sign up below so everyone involved can get to know one another. And if you do have a blog, you can post the information there. Going public with your commitment is about owning it. As far as reporting your progress, you’ll come back here each Wednesday and Sunday and post your total word count. (We’ll expect the first reports at LEAST by the 18th, the Wednesday following conference, though for those of you not attending, your first report is due on the 11th!) And those of us sponsoring the challenge will be dropping by your blog (if you have one) and egging you on! AND, we may be adding more sponsors!

The challenge is open to anyone writing in any genre, published and aspiring authors both. Oh, and did we mention there will be prizes? Yes, there will be prizes. Critiques, RT subscriptions, memberships to RWA, gift certificates to B&N – who knows WHAT we’ll come up with! More info on the prizes to come. We’ll also be providing a logo if you’d like to put one on your blog. For now, let’s see a show of hands.

They are allowing any length of books as long as combined you write a minimum of 60,000 words (I’m doing a couple of novellas). Go to Alison’s Blog to sign up. But comment here and tell me you’re joining me! So we can help each other. :grouphug:

Friday, July 6th, 2007
Not Going to Nationals Cyber Conference

Not going to Nationals? Don’t worry…Romance Divas is doing the next best thing!

Romance Divas announces the first annual “Not Going to Nationals Cyber Conference” from July 11-15, righton the forum. Best of all, it’s FREE!

Just register for Romance Divas–membership is free, you just need to sign up! www.romancedivas.com if you have trouble with registration email night.diva.maria (at) gmail (dot) com

There will be workshops, Q&As, and giveaways each day. All you have to do is participate!!!!

Schedule:

July 11:
Workshop: PC Cast and Kristin Cast (topic TBA)PCCast.net
Q&A: Erotic romance with Portia da Costa and Madelynne Ellis PortiaDaCosta.com
MadelynneEllis.com

July 12:
Workshop: Book Signing 101: Tips to Help Make your Signing a Success by Jackie Kessler JackieKessler.com
Q&A: Legal Issues for Writers by Amanda Brice AmandaBrice.com

July 13:
Workshop: What to Expect After You Sign the Contract by Marley Gibson MarleyGibson.com
Q&A: TBA (either with an agent from the Larsen-Pomada Agency or a panel on multi-cultural romance)

July 14:
Workshop: Sasha White (topic TBA) http://www.sashawhite.net/
Q&A: How To Write Both YA and Adult Romance by Berta Platas BertaPlatas.com

July 15:
Workshop: Trim That Fatty Writing! by Rhonda Stapleton RhondaStapleton.net>
Q&A: TBA (either with an agent from the Larsen-Pomada Agency or a panel on multi-cultural romance)

We also have loads of great giveaways, including books, critiques, coaching, and more!

Wednesday, July 4th, 2007
Thursday Thirteen – Reasons I Should stop doing TT

tt ballet

  1. Cause every week I struggle for something interesting to say.
  2. Thirteen doesn’t seem like a lot but it really is.
  3. At about 9 I seem to run out of stuff, even when I have a really good idea.
  4. I should be writing.
  5. I should be editing.
  6. I could be reading, but don’t really have time for that any more either.
  7. It’s ten minutes (or thirty) I’ll never get back.
  8. I could be sleeping.
  9. See I’m at 9, you can already see how lame this is getting
  10. It’s really not as easy as it looks
  11. I always post and forget to add Mr. Linky so I need to repost
  12. It has become a chore and a duty, what happened to the fun?
  13. Did I mention thirteen is a lot of stuff? I did? Well how about a Thursday Three? I could do that no problem.

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Wednesday, July 4th, 2007
I’m Falling

… are you?
Falling

My wonderful CP (Critique Partner), Immi, has her very first release out. It is her second contract, but first release, and I’m so proud of her. Isn’t the cover gorgeous?

Falling by Imogen Howson will be out on July 20th from Drollerie Press. If you’d like a new twist on Rapunzel then Falling is for you.

Oh, and look what I found. Immi’s author page on Drollerie. What a beautiful photo of her. Funny that she never shared that with us before. And if you go HERE you can read Helen, a free story she provided to Drollerie. I dare you to read it and not see, clearly, the most amazing imagery-in the world she creates.

AND there will be a contest. I will hold a contest for the release of Falling so if you are interested you need to come back here on July 13th where we will do a week countdown contest to Falling’s release. What can you win? Guess you’ll have to come back next week to find out. O

Monday, July 2nd, 2007
New review for Love’s Blessings & some story facts

Love’s Blessings was an interesting story for me to write. Basically I sat down one afternoon to write one thing, and ended up writing this story. I did not ever intend to write a story like this. My fingers just kept typing, even when I had no thoughts where they would go. It has become the story of my heart, there are pieces of me in this story and pieces of other people I know. I do not take infertility lightly. I have suffered losses of my own. I understand the pain. I also know the ending may be a little too HEA for some people, but the funny thing is that this situation actually happened to our Children’s pastor here, and I found out AFTER I wrote this. His wife has now given birth to a lovely little boy and in two weeks he will go to Africa to pick up not one, but two, children to come join their family. Added to the two children they already have they are going from a family of four to a family of seven in the space of one month.

That being said there is another review for Love’s Blessings, posted today at The Long and The Short of It. Here is a small excerpt:

“Love’s Blessing is an emotional story involving the struggles of infertility. It deals sensitively with a topic that is difficult to discuss – the heartbreak and despair that come from desiring a child, uncertain those longings will be fulfilled. M.G. Braden handles this subject delicately, but with a realness that will capture your heart and emotions.”

Read the full review from guest reviewer Shauna, located HERE (click on link)



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