M.J. Fredrick's Blog, page 83

Things I Did This Summer

The last Monday of summer. Things I did:

1) Traveled by myself

2) wrote and sold a short story

3) sold a book

4) bought a Nook and a netbook

5) made 2 purses

6) ALMOST finished painting MIL's house

7) ALMOST finished a book

finished a short story

9) ALMOST finished another short story

10) wrote guest blogs like damn and whoa

11) saw my book in a store

12) survived my son's romantic dilemmas

13) walked almost every day

14) went on 4 road trips!

What did you do this summer?

Goals for My Last Week of Vacation :::sob:::

I had the coolest dream about Nora Roberts, that she'd moved to San Antonio and bought a complex of shops and opened up a restaurant and a book store and some other cool shops. The neatest thing was that she hung out there, so I got to meet her. I woke up smiling.

So, this is it. I got a lot done this vacation, and read a lot, but I've got to wrap up a few things before I go back.

Goals for Last Week of Vacation

1)      Stop crying

2)      Finish rough draft of Midnight Sun

3)      Hair cut and...

Obsessions

This cat looks JUST like Mama Kitty!

You know me and my obsessions. Earlier this week I had the idea to make a purse with my Sunrise cover. I thought a brown cigar box style would be cool, and, oh, what if I tried to make it look like leather? So I made the dh take me to Michael's. No cigar box purses. I had errands on Monday, so decided to try another Michael's and JoAnn's. No cigar box purses. Then I tried Hobby Lobby. Voila! I even found a stencil on clearance that kinda looked like tooled ...

Goals for the First Week of August

I did really well on my goals last week. I tried a new routine–500 words, then a chore, then 500 words, then a chore, then 500 words. I got to my goal every day but Saturday (painting), and usually by lunch. I hope to repeat the success this week.

1)      10000 more words on Midnight Sun.

2)      Write three guest blogs—inspiration behind DLB and getting The Call, and what I learned writing Sunrise

3)      Lunch with another friend

4)      Day with Mom, BB and stepdad

5)      Get stepdad's bday...

Commitment-phobe

I'm getting ready to head out for my class reunion. I've known about it for months. I decided to go….today at about 1:30. I colored my roots at 4:30 after running to Walgreens for hair color. I didn't really worry about what to wear because it's at a patio bar and casual, and I have cute casual clothes (though I wish I had a cute red top to go with my cute red shoes).

I don't make hair appointments because I don't want to be tied to a time. I don't even care to go to movies because I don't...

Conflicts

So as I meet my daily word count goal, I let myself play with this new series idea. This is my very first time attempting a series, so I'm turning over the big arc in my head, while at the same time working on characters as I try to work out conflicts for the individual stories.

According to the article in the last RWR, the conflict comes from the core belief, so I'm looking at my characters and building their conflict.

I have the bar owner who wants to get the hell out of Dodge. He's been...

Category Romance Themes

When I was in Minnesota, I came up with an idea for a series set in a small lake town. Since I met my writing goal early today, and finished the skirt I was making and cleaned the garage, I gave myself permission to play with it. As of right now, I only have one character firmly in mind. I thought if I'd play a little bit with category romance themes, I might find my couples and my conflict.

All I can think of are:

reunion romances

secret babies

marriage of convenience

friends-to-lovers

I need...

Versatile Blogger

A couple of weeks ago, Marianne nominated me for a Versatile Blogger Award!

The Versatile Blogger award does come with a few strings attached, though.

They are:

1. Thank the folks who gave you the award and and link to them;

2. Share 7 things about yourself;

3. Pass along to 15 bloggers (and link to them); and

4. Pay it forward: Comment on their blogs to tell them they are now recipients of the Versatile Blogger Award.

Thank you, Marianne!!!

Okay, seven things….

1) Until last week I hadn't been on ...

Goals for Week T Minus 3

Well, last week was—weird. I couldn't get back in my schedule, the boy was breaking up with his girlfriend and wanted to talk. We talked more last week than we probably have in a semester. I went to SARA one night and Del Rio with my folks the next, then lunch with the teachers on Friday, after sleeping until TEN AM. Y'all. I never do that.

Anyway, I'm thinking to be anti-social this week and getting a lot more done.

1)    Class reunion Friday

2)    FINISH SHORT STORY

3)    10000 words on MS

4...

The DRAMA

Remember that whole getting back in the swing thing? Yeah, hasn't happened. When I was in MN, the boy and his gf started having troubles, and he's been crying. A lot. And talking to me. A lot. We've talked more in the 4 days I was home than we've talked in 4 months. I know I should be glad that he CAN talk to me. I know. But I'm worried and uptight, and add to that really tired. (I slept 10 hours on Tuesday.) Last night I couldn't sleep and made the mistake of getting up and coming out into t...