Not much to say today. I *must* get down to writing Marriage, LOL I have the feel of the thing now – so if I write it the next couple of days – I can polish next week.

The only trouble is Treebeard is off to help Grandma Saruman move house. Well the sorting stage of moving. I have a weekend with just me, Frodo and Samwise. Joy.

Smeagol was not happy. He didn’t want to be Smeagol and even the thought of being Gollum made him break out in a rash… but he doesn’t want to be Aragorn, either.

So we’ve come to an agreement. Due to the inordinately long time it’s taken to get the website up and… sort of… running, he’s become an Ent. Hum Hom. Treebeard to be exact.

Anyway, Treebeard finished my website last night as a birthday present. I had a rush of ‘oh God, I’m old’ around midnight… but that’s settled happily into the fog of denial that surrounds me and my age 😉

Look to your left for the link.

And yesterday, I think I sorted what I can do about the short story, Marriage. Bluebeard, Arabian nights, Iago, Othello and a whisper of Angela Carter have all been thrown into the mix. This has to be written in 10 days. Then I *have* to attack Reluctant, before the story comes out an throttles me.

I *almost* have a website. Finally. Hopefully, the thing doesn’t fall down immeditately, LOL

And because of the delay Aragorn is officially renamed Smeagol. Any more delay and he’ll go the full Gollum.

He has been warned…

The story for the Amber Quill contest is driving me insane. I have the characters. I have a plot and a setting, motivation… maybe even a theme 😉 But it isn’t geling.

So I ditched it and read a Writer’s Ideas book.

Marriage is a story I’ve had knocking about for a while. I’ve written bits, come back to it, played about… but I’ve left it alone for a while. Last night, I came to the realisation of how much my writing has changed. For the better. Honest. *grin*

I realised that I was too far away from the characters. I wasn’t in the main character’s skin. And the hero just wasn’t… there. Not really. Then I thought about throwing in Bluebeard and a smidgen of the Araban Nights. The plot will change completely.

It’ll be a *way* better story. Yay.

My New Year Resolution is… to make more of an effort, LOL

So here I am. Everything sort of slid away in December. That was mainly to do with Frodo and his assessments. And then Christmas appeared and I had to decorate the house in a week. Joy.

But I have my list again.

Complete a story, Marriage, for an Amber Quill contest
Finish the nightmare that is Reluctant.
Finish Merlin
Research and finish Alchemy.

Unbelievably, that could take me to August. Eek.

The first round of edits are done for Billionaire. YAY. Waiting on the ones for Buying.

I also have to start thinking about promoting these books… The website, I have been promised, faithfully, by Aragorn should be up tonight (long awaited triple YAY!) Will have to research that inbetween all this writing, LOL

I also subbed another story to ER – The Apprentice.

Oh and my other New Year’s Resoltion is to get into print. Apparently, making these resolutions under a new moon means they’ll come true.

And that gives me a third resolution: winning the lottery. *grin*

Back to pulling teeth… sorry… writing Marriage.

So much for scribbling in this thing everyday, LOL

The edits for Billionaire are done. Just have to add an extra scene. That’s almost finished too… but I’m about to hit Christmas. Or it’s about to hit me. So that’s on hold for a few days.

I have so many wips… and so little time. Well, that’s what it feels like. I know I have three that have to be done. Reluctant is the most urgent. Merlin and Alchemy are equal second. At the minute. A long short story, Marriage, could overtake them all, though. There’s a comp that closes 15 January and the prize is a two year contract.

So my plan of the hour *grin* is Extra Scene and Marriage. That also needs a title.

Oh, and I subbed another short to Enchanted Ramblings – The Apprentice. Shadow demons, anyone?

I put a partial in the post to Harlequin today. It’s my shot at getting into paper rather than pixel, LOL.

And my new revised, revised plan is to:

Finish the edits for Billionaire
Finish Reluctant
Snowflake Alchemy

I think I can safely say that NaNo is out the window. Too much cropped up for me to carry on. The first week was great but…

And that’s probably the motto for most people. *grin*

I became self employed today.

Scary, or what?

I found myself an accountant, chatted about stuff… and now they’ll be doing my tax returns. And I had AUTHOR on my registration form.

That’s been the coolest part of the day.

How completely sad am I? Strange thing is, I don’t care. *grin*

Rather than face the above… I *finally* wrote the synopsis for Reluctant. Which needed doing. Do at least NaNo drove to that, LOL

I’ve made an appointment to see an accountant. Scary stuff. I have no money. I will *make* no money. But I have to splash on this to make sure that the Inland Revenue doesn’t *take* money I really don’t have.

Feeling antsy now. Must get Samwise ready and go pick up Frodo.

So this week was a disaster for NaNo. Ho hum. I’m at just under 12k… but I have got an earlier beginning, which I like. I might read the whole lot through in a bit to get the feel for it again. And that’s better than having to compose a letter to the Inland Revenue… *eek*

Chapter three of Billionaire is edited and off. Chapter four should arrive tomorrow. Is it seven or eight chapters to go? I’ve not checked recently. And editing chapter eight is going to be *really* embarrassing, LOL.

I’ve sent a few queries on the contract for Buying Mackenzie’s Baby and hopefully I’ll hear back on those soon.

It’s still weird. Two of the best stories I think I’ve written are going to be published. Well, best stories I’ve written *so far* I hope. I still think Reluctant is better still *grin* While Alchemy should really be put down quietly and humanely.

Then again, maybe it will improve…

Oh. A pig. Wow… Nice wings.