Writer's Dreams

Not Exactly Worthless

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 20:23:28 GMT

I was in one of my funks and trying to find a way to get out of it. I think we all have days where we feel basically worthless. So after reading one of my friend's blogs about all the things she could do, I sat down and thought of all the things I was good at. I really didn't think the list would be very long, but here it is:

I decoupage, macrame (Jewlery, purses, wall hangings without patterns. Give me a pattern and I can make anything.), rugs (I can braid room-sized rugs from rags), needlepoint, crochet, quilt, tat, paint landscapes, ceramics (I can pour the slip into the mold, remove, dry, clean, paint and fire. I have my own kiln.), throw pottery, embroider, make homemade candy as good as any you can find in fancy stores, and I can cook just about anything from scratch. I learned in the mid 60s how to make stained glass decorations and windows, but I've not done it in years.

But for the life of me, I cannot sew!

Merry Christmas

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:20:46 GMT

Comments and Graphics - Christmas Layouts - Photobucket

Rain

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 01:52:52 GMT

I love rain. I love the sound of it hitting the roof. I love the scent of ozone just before and right after it begins to rain. I love how it's able to cool the air on a hot summer day. I even love it on a cold winter day, with the fire place blazing and the lights turned down low.

I remember as a child I used to stay the summer at an aunt's farm in upstate New York. Any time it would rain I'd want to go out to the barn and listen to the rain striking the tin roof. I spent many a night in that barn, sleeping on a blanket on top of the hay and listening to the rain.

It's raining now. A slow but steady drumming on the roof lulling me into a peaceful respite from my day. I sit here and let my thoughts run from one topic to another with no real path or plan. Story ideas pop up, I jot them down, and move on to the next thing my mind wants to unload.

I'll set aside the frustrations of the day. I no longer care that one of the kitchen lights decided to die and there is no way to find one to match. Maybe it's time to find something more modern.

I'm not going to worry that EPICon is three months away. It will be okay. I've worked hard and it will pay off. People will register. People will come to New Orleans and have fun. I'll be able to sit back on another night like tonight and say, You did okay, kid.

Just Playing

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:45:43 GMT

Masthead Banner Made with MyBannerMaker.com! Click here to make your own!

Less Than Four Months Away

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:01:45 GMT

EPICon 2010 New Orleans is less than four months away. We have so much planned for you. Holly Jacobs, Deidre Knight, Debra Dixon, C. T. Adams, and Deborah LeBlanc are the keynote and special speakers ready to give us the ins and outs of building a buzz, selling your way to the top, or even how to make that WIP the best it can be.

We've signed, Maria Allaire, M. A., a forensic anthropologist to show you how the cops go from skeleton to a solved murder. Think Bones the TV show, but real. And, yes, she brings real bones and some not so real, so you can describe a crime scene with enough finesse your reader will swear they are at the scene. Don't worry, she doesn't pass around the real thing.

Someone I know personally, Nicholas A. Genovese, Jr, will walk us through the frightening world of the IRS and what they want from writers. (No, not our blood.)

We have a full list of EPIC members booked to WOW you with their expertise. Go to the schedule and check out the topics. For me to list them all here would make a terribly long(er) post. http://www.epic-conference.com/schedule.html

Thursday night, March 4, we will have a mixer with finger food and a cash bar, so everyone can get to know each other and let their hair down.

On Friday night, March 5, we've set up an old fashion river boat cruise with dinner, drinks and dancing. At this time it is $59 a person, but we are searching for sponsors to help reduce or offset that price. I'll keep everyone posted on this.

On Saturday, March 6, there will be a full day of book signings by C. T. Adams, Debra Dixon, Holly Jacobs, Deidre Knight and Deborah LeBlanc.

Then on Saturday night, what we've all been waiting for, the Awards Banquet and Ceremony.

Now, come on, haven't I enticed you to sign up for all the fun? I can't wait to meet everyone.

Look at this!!

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:03:42 GMT

Isn't it cool when you go to a site and find your book's cover art looking back at you?
LOL
http://nightowlromance.com/nightowlromance/

Should I or Shouldn't I?

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:16:58 GMT

I'd thought I'd wait before starting another book. Fugue Macabre: Ghost Dance was released November 5th, 2008. Fugue Macabre: Bone Dance was released Sunday, October 25th 2009(www.sapphirebluepublishing.com), and Misty Dreams will be released by The Wild Rose Press (www.thewildrosepress.com) November 20th.

Ghost Dance is the first book of the Fugue Macabre trilogy, Bone Dance the second. The last book of the trilogy will be Fire Dance.

Now I've done something I swore I'd never do again. I signed up for NaNo. The last time I did NaNo I was brain dead for a month afterward. But I can honestly say because of NaNo I wrote a book that got me published.

Why do I think this may be a bad time to do NaNo? Well, besides the fact that I sure wish they'd pick a different month to do this thing, I'm up to my neck in EPICon 2010 plans, and I'm trying to help my hubby prepare the house to put on the market in early spring of 2010.

A reason why this may be a great time to do NaNo? Okay, when I'm deep into my writing I forget to eat. I'm trying to diet. Doc is giving me hell about my weight (I had a heart attack in February 2008, then another one in February of 2009). Before February of 2010 I'd like to be slimmer (and heart attack free) and have at least a first draft of a new novel written.

So, tomorrow it starts. Any bets? Will I make it? Should I even try?

Fugue Macabre: Bone Dance Release

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:50:51 GMT

Fugue Macabre: Bone Dance Release!

Nearly as old as time, Clan Moran has existed in secrecy in the bayous of southern Louisiana. Years after leaving her clan, Bobbie Luckman has been called back. Father and brother murdered, she is the last of the Moran bloodline and must return to become Queen Moran.
Upon arrival she finds her childhood sweetheart, Kangee, isn’t so welcoming, the clan unforgiving, and an interloper trying to step into her brother’s royal shoes. Can she bring the clan back together in time to save them from the threat of the Prophecy of the Moon Revo Su, and an ancient curse?

Fugue Mabacre: Bone Dance released October 26, 2009.
Available from www.sapphirebluepublising.com www.amazon.com

Just So You Know

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:40:54 GMT

I think I'm getting ill. Every joint and muscle in my body hurts. My throat is getting soar. I've got a low grade fever. So if you don't hear from me for a few days, you'll understand.

Begging

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:35:29 GMT

I'm sure you know by now I'm the Chair for EPICon 2010. Hard not to know when I've written about it so much.

If you're not sure what EPIC is all about, I'll try to explain. We are a non-profit organization hell bent on making life easier for electronically published authors and getting the good word out there that we are "real" authors with great novels, short stories, and novellas you'd love to read. Once a year we have a conference to celebrate our best and brightest and award them with EPIC awards for their hard work and good writing.

For the year of 2010 we've chosen the city of New Orleans to hold our yearly bash. The hotel has been booked...The Sheraton New Orleans. The speakers have been booked...C. T. Adams, Deidre Knight, Holly Jacobs, Debra Dixon to name a few.

Now? I have to fill the goody bags. Hint, hint. Do you have pens, pencils, note pads, badges, candy, toys, keychains, books (yes we'll accept print books. We're not snobs.), etc. you'd like to donate? We ask that you not send bookmarks because the last couple of years they were not a popular item and ended up having to be recycled.

If you'd like to help fill the goody bags, contact me at cjparker20@aol.com

Time

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:11:20 GMT

Is it just me or is there not enough time in the day anymore? Okay. I'll fess-up. 1) I've volunteered for a bit too much lately. 2) I've got two books coming out within three weeks of each other. 3) I have a hubby and a dog who think they should get some attention each day. Who'd of thunk? 4) Hubby has decided he's ready to put the house on the market early next year. The real estate lady seems to think March is the perfect month to list it. Why did that almost make me faint? Because EPICon is March 4-7, 2010, here in New Orleans. I'm the chair. I HAVE to be there. And even if I could hand it off to someone else, at this point I've put too damned much work into it to let someone else take over and take credit.

And speaking of too much to do and not enough time, I need to get back to work.

Kate Duffy's Obit

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:10:27 GMT

Beloved by so many in the romance book world, Kate Duffy, editorial
director of Kensington Books, has died after a long illness. She was 56.

Duffy won a range of awards and published or worked with such writers as
Jude Deveraux, Julie Garwood, Lori Foster, Heather Graham, Judith
McNaught, Mary Janice Davidson, Jacqueline Frank and Mary Jo Putney.

During her career she was an editor at Popular Library, then worked at
Dell and Simon & Schuster, where she was the founding editor of
Silhouette Books. After working at Pocket Books, where she founded
Tapestry Books, she joined Harlequin Enterprises, where she founded the
Worldwide Library imprint. At Kensington, she established Brava Books.

There will visitations this evening, Wednesday, September 30, 3-6 p.m.,
and 7-9 p.m., at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel
<http://news.>, 1076
Madison Avenue (at 81st) in New York City.

Kate Duffy

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:04:34 GMT

Just received word, Kate Duffy, editorial director of Kensington Books
has died.
Kate was fighting cancer, having had surgery to remove the tumor. She
was hospitalized a few days ago in an effort to fight a serious infection.
That's all I know right now.

Rambling Mind

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 01:04:20 GMT

I don't really don't have a topic tonight. Guess I just want to do something other than work on EPICon or read the first five pages of contest entries.

It's surprising how much you can tell about a book with just five pages. Out of the entries I've judged so far, two have great hooks. I mean "don't want this to end" hooks. Two others are bland. But one thing about judging a contest like this is it makes you rethink your own first few pages of your WIP. Do I have a good hook? Will I capture the reader? Or will an agent/editor read them and think, what a hack?

Do you ever sit back and wonder how you can be so confident in life, but so insecure in the pages of the novel you put so much of yourself into? I stress over every word, sentence, paragraph, and chapter. Then when I type in The End, I stress over The End. Is it a good ending? Should I have gone further into this part or that part? Did I miss a comma? Should that comma even be there?

I entered my novel, Fugue Macabre: Ghost Dance in a contest. That little voice in the back of my mind keeps asking, "Who do you think you are? That book isn't good enough to win any contest, much less that one!"

Some days I want to walk away. Say to hell with it. I'm not a Faulkner or Hemingway. Then other days I think, "Hey, they had to start somewhere, too. I'm sure even Faulkner and Hemingway had rejection letters filed away. Lord knows I do. Not quite enough to paper the bathroom walls yet.

Okay, rejection letters...I've received those useless form rejections. They tell me nothing of why the work was rejected. Just...sorry, Charlie Girl. But I've received a few personal rejections, the ones that say close but no prize. Those are becoming flimsy from my reading them so many times, trying to read between the lines. I've not mastered that talent yet. But I'm working on it.

Okay. I'm finished. Go back to your regular scheduled reading. ;)

EPICon

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:45:39 GMT

EPIC (The Electronically Published Internet Connection) is NOLA bound. What is NOLA? NOLA is New Orleans, LA. And EPICon will be held there March 4-7, 2010. To register for the convention, please visit http://www.epic- conference. com/ Oh, and do they have some names teaching this year…Holly Jacobs, Debra Dixon, Deidre Knight, CT Adams, and even a forensic pathologist teaching 2 hours of class on the subject!

To boot, if you’re an EPIC member, early registration is only $195 and $225 for non-members. That includes…

Thursday Night Mixer
Friday: Buffet Breakfast and Keynote luncheon
Saturday: Buffet Breakfast, luncheon, and awards banquet

The hotel rooms are discounted for the convention, as well. You have to mention the conference.

One more note. Membership in EPIC is $30 per year anyway. If you join EPIC while you sign up for the convention, you still pay $225 for the combination of member going to the convention and EPIC membership dues, but you get a year in EPIC to go along with it. That gets you $10 off all EPIC e-book contest entries (one more day to enter, folks!), networking on the EPIC lists, calls for submissions, a built-in place to ask research questions, industry information, and more. So, you make out like a bear on that deal.

And you don’t want to miss the gala awards ceremony, where the new name for EPIC’s contest will be revealed this year.

EPICon2010, EPIC Awards, etc

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 19:45:28 GMT

EPIC's premier eBook competition needs YOU!

How you may ask? Let me tell you how...there are a few ways you can help this wonderful ebook contest out.

First, this contest is in need of entries. Last year you knew the contest as the EPPIEs but with the ever changing field of ebook publishing, EPIC has decided to revamp the contest and rename it more in line with what it has come to be to the industry as a whole. This is the best ebook competition out there and there are those within the finalist ranks who have gone on to become NYC authors. EPIC has been seen as an innovator in the ebook industry for more than ten years and wants to continue to do so for each and every ebook author!

With over 30 categories to choose from there is a category specific to your genre in the ebook field. This includes categories in children, poetry, fiction, romance, erotic romance and many, many more. Entries are still being accepted until August 15, 2009 for ebooks published between October 1, 2008 and May 31, 2009. Full details, plus entry forms here: http://bit.ly/ M9NUc

Finalists will be announced November 2009 with the awards presented to the receiptents at EPIC's 2010 conference in New Orleans, March 4-7, 2010.

Second, EPIC needs judges and if you feel you can qualify as a judge, please sign up immediately for participation! Only industry professionals need apply. Contact Anne Douglas at epic.competition. coordinator@ gmail.com for more information. You will read some of the best books in the field...and love doing it!

And finally, don't forget to sign up for EPIC's 2010 Conference in New Orleans. We have a host of great people this year with agents, editors and authors alike. The conference is still small enough that you will get the special attention you need as a writer but large enough that you'll be rubbing elbows with industry professionals in the eBook field. Just some of our schedules guest include C. T. Adams, Debra Dixon, Deidre Knight and Holly Jacobs as well as industry professional such as Daniel Reitz of Mundania Press with more signing up every day!

The information for EPIC can be found at http://www.epicauth ors.com/, so don't hesitate to stop by today!

EPICon 2010 Link

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 18:13:10 GMT

http://www.epic-conference.com/index.html

Want to know who the speakers are at EPICon 2010. Click on the link.

Want to know where to say while at EPICon 2010? Click on the link.

Want to sign up for EPICon, 2010? Click on the link.

Want to know what I look like? Sorry, the link won't help. LOL

OMG!

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 19:23:30 GMT

OMG!! I did it!

I signed C. T. Adams for EPICon 2010!!

This is the best birthday gift C. T Adams and EPIC could have given me.

Doing the Snoopy Happy Dance!!

Slow Day

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 18:05:02 GMT

I've had a quiet day. No fires to put out. No workshop schedule to rearrange. No phone calls, so far. Planning of EPICon 2010 is running smoothly at this moment. But tomorrow is Monday.

So far I've signed Holly Jacobs for those of us in the romance genre. Debra Dixion; every writer loves her, no matter their genre. After all, she taught us about Goal Motivation and Conflict. Then we have Deidre Knight, agent extraordinaire. Louisiana's own Deborah LeBlanc will join us. Oh, and we'll even have a forensic Anthropoligist (think Bones, the TV show). And we just had to sign on a CPA to help us understand our taxes.

Kim McDougall, Sara Thacker, Jenni Holbrook, Merilyn Meredith, Pauline B. Jones, Lorna and Larry Collins, Lynn Crain, and Jane Bierce are a few of those who have signed up to do workshops.

I'm waiting on word from the BoD on adding a best selling paranormal author. I'll update you on that as soon as I get an answer.

For those of you who don't know, EPICon will be in New Orleans, March 4-7, 2010. It will be held at the Sheraton New Orleans and if when you book you tell them you're coming for the EPIC conference, the room will be $139 a night instead of $169.

The Web site should be up in a few days and I'll post it here as soon as I have it.

My mail box is empty, the phone is still quiet, I think I'll go watch a bunch of grown men race cars in a circle.

I'm Back

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:40:19 GMT

I've not blogged for a while. At least that's what some of my readers have told me.
Excuses: I've been trying to get everything just right for EPICon 2010, which if you don't know by now, is in New Orleans, March 4-7 of 2010. I'm the Chair. Yes. I volunteered for this. Why? Because I really wanted it to be held in New Orleans and the only way for that to happen was for me to volunteer.

I've been working on speakers. I've signed two keynote speakers, Holly Jacobs (Romance Writer) and Debra Dixon (of Goal Motivation Conflict fame). If that's not enough, I also signed Deidre Knight (Knight Literary Agency).

My budget is starting to stretch out of shape, but I've got one more well known paranormal author who may be interested. Won't give her name. I may not be able to swing it. I'm waiting to hear back from said author, to see what it will cost us to get her here. I've been a fan of hers since book one. This would thrill me to no end. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

I had to do a few rewrites to Bone Dance, second book of my Fugue Macabre thrilogy. Now I'm waiting for edits of those rewrites. I'd love to get another book written by December, but with EPICon, judging three writing contest...okay, make that two, I just finished judging one contest, and I managed to not forget my hubby's birthday Monday, okay, maybe I can get it written by December.

Who needs sleep?

EPIC Show

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:34:54 GMT

We'll be listening to the Eppies become EPIC show by Lara Zielinsky on
#BlogTalkRadio - http://tobtr. com/s/576382

Please join us.

Death in Family

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 19:49:57 GMT

My husband's nephew died this morning.

He was a sweet "kid." Yeah, I still looked on him as a kid. He was just a young child when Richard and I first started dating. I guess that's one way we keep ourselves from realizing we've grown old. We never let the kids grow up in our minds.

He was quick with a smile, and that smile lit up a room. I don't know of anyone who didn't like him.

Little John worked at the largest casino on the Mississippi Gulf coast. He went to work this morning, as usual. He had a massive heart attack and died. Little John was 43.

My husband is taking it hard. He still has memories of taking the kids, John and his two sisters, to Disney World and car rides in his convertable.

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 20:33:47 GMT

I mentioned in an earlier post that my hubby and I took a trip to Tennessee and a side trip to the Smoky Mountains and a place called Cades Cove. Just off Cades Cover Loop Road is the Primitive Baptist Church and cemetery. One of the tombstones at the church belongs to Russell Gregory. Upon reading the tombstone I became curious and did some research.

This is an excerpt from The Cades Cove Story by A. Randolph Shields:

"Near the end of the war when the Union army was cleaning up the area with units in Knoxville and Maryville, the Confederates used the route through Cades Cove for escape. they usually followed the road through the "Flats of the mountians," locally called the Joe Road, camped overnight in the cove, proceeded by way of the Trough Branch Road (Parson's Branch Road) to the toll road (U.S. 129), and from there into North Carolina and on to South Carolina. One such unit, said to consist of about 300 men, some on horseback, entered the cove by way of the old Joe Road on a December afternoon in 1864. The unit broke up into smaller groups and scattered out over the west end of the cove to encamp for the night. One group made camp near the spring and down the hollow a bit from the house of Russell Gregory, who was away from the home when they arrived. Gregory returned home at dusk to find the army unit encamped just below his house and making supper of one of his calves. He fortified his courage a bit with the usual liquid, picked his rifle from over the door, and walked down the hill to demand payment for his yearling. The camp guard hardly hesitated when he saw the approach of a rifle-bearing native and proceeded to shoot Mr. Gregory, age 69."

I think the tombstone says it pretty well. Don't you?

Bone Dance

Thu, 28 May 2009 20:02:15 GMT

For those of you waiting for Fugue Macabre: Bone Dance, the second book of the Fugue Macabre trilogy, I've got to apologize and ask you to wait a bit longer. I was never happy with Bone Dance even once I turned it in. But I put it off as just that little editor on my shoulder giving me a hard time. Then once my editors said, okay, and gave me a cover and release date, I figured I was just being silly. But I couldn't let it go. I kept worrying about it. Something just wasn't right. I knew it was missing something, but I couldn't make my brain wrap around it completely to see what it was.

Then my editor e-mailed me. She said they'd publish it if I was happy with it, but....

Yup, they noticed something was missing too. Being such a wonderful publishing house (Sapphire Blue Publishing), they brainstormed the story at a meeting and handed me the problem then said if you want, you can take a bit of time and fix it or we'll run with it as is. The way they see it, it's a good read, but could be better if I take care of this one little tweak.

Well, my reading friends, I'm tweaking away.

I'm begging for your patience a little longer. I promise you, it will be worth the wait. The story will be stonger and I'll be happier. And most important, you'll get a much better read.

Fri, 08 May 2009 20:55:40 GMT

Permission to forward is granted and appreciated.

Fourth Annual Dixie Kane Memorial Contest

New features and awards this year:

Top prize, $50 for the overall highest score in all categories;

Final Round Judges: both Kate Duffy, editor, Kensington Books and Pamela Ahearn, literary agent, Ahearn Agency will read the first place entry winners of each category with the hope of requesting a full or partial manuscript.

New prize classification: Honorable Mention in each category in addition to the usual first, second, and third place winners;

The entry fee is $15 per entry.

Deadline date is July 1, 2009.

The best promotion of the Dixie Kane Memorial Contest is the quality control survey the contest administrators conduct of its entrants each year. The survey results posted on our website indicate that the Dixie Kane Memorial Contest is a highly regarded contest with rave reviews from its entrants. Please visit the Dixie Kane Memorial Contest website to review those survey results at

http://solawriters.org/SOLAContest2009/Survey_Results.htm

Also, for more information and entry form, go to http://www.solawriters.org

Miscellaneous information about the Dixie Kane Memorial Contest:

You can enter more than one entry as long as you pay the entry fee for each entry and include the proper material for each entry. The entries can be mailed in one envelope or in multiple envelopes as long as the proper return postage has been provided for.

You may also enter a previously submitted entry that you have revised and would like to retest.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact the contest coordinator at ngenovese@gmail.com