Sally MacKenzie's Blog, page 11

Bookmas Day 3

I think this was taken at Point Lobos State Reserve. (I definitely should have done something with these photos closer to the time they were taken.) We had great weather the entire trip, but you can see here that this particular day was overcast--I think that's fog hovering at the top of the picture. Consequently, some of the shots look as if they were taken in black and white--but you can clearly see that the camera did do color. (In the old days there was color or black & white film...I guess now there are camera settings?)
I'm not usually so colorful. The windbreaker I dug out of the back of the closet--it seemed the perfect weight for the trip. I think I bought it when the kids were playing soccer, thinking that this way they could find me in the crowd. It was when they still wanted to find me, so they must have been in grade school--which would make this jacket somewhere around 15 years old. The hat is new. It wasn't my first choice, but it was in stock at L.L. Bean (which is where I got the windbreaker years ago--I've got a fair number of L.L. Bean items in my closet) and I needed something for the trip. I've been trying to keep out of the sun, but it's also a rain hat--AND it has a string to keep it on when the weather gets windy, which it did a lot on our hikes along the coast in San Francisco.
The scarf...well, my only other choice was a burnt orange, and that really would have been over the top.
My Bookmas clues: 1. This piece must have given Kim's brain and tongue a work out. 2. Our summer swim coach, looking for a "G" rated film to show the teens on the team, rented a film version of this novel. I guess it was a little slow for the modern--well, ok, this was probably about fifteen years ago...hmm, maybe that windbreaker is older than I think... Anyway, the swimmers, even the girls, thought the movie was endless. (Looking online, it says it runs for 130 minutes...in black and white.) It became a swim team joke.
And speaking of old jackets, my husband owns--and still wears--a jeans jacket he got in college, long before he met me.
Here's proof that my colorful getup makes me easy to find:

Bookmas Day 2

This was from one of our hikes--we did a LOT of hiking. And Mr. M took a lot of pictures, but I promise not to show you them all. I will confess, though, that I now have a serious case of camera envy--as reflected in my list for Santa.
My Bookmas clue: This book is set in one of my favorite cities, but not in my favorite time period.

Bookmas Day 1

Another San Francisco picture. We've got seagulls around here--I'm not quite sure why, since we're not on the coast--but I've never seen one hang out on a car's roof. Maybe the Californian seagulls are more laid back?
Here's my Bookmas clue. (You can find the puzzle here.)
I'm pretty sure I've never read this book, though looking at the copyright date, I certainly could have. I did see the musical of a slightly different name and, no offense to Jessica who's my agent and clearly an excellent judge of literature, but I found it quite creepy.

Back to blogging

Where have I been? Not lying around on a beach like these elephant seals.
After I finished the first draft of Bedding Lord Ned, I went into revision mode. It takes me about a month of intense work to get a manuscript whipped into shape. Then we dashed off to San Francisco to visit third son who moved there this summer--drove alone cross county with his mother trying very hard not to worry--and his fiancee and her family. We visited these seals in the course of our travels. Too bad we don't have sound on the blog...well, maybe it's a good thing. They make rather rude noises.
Once back home, it was time to start the next book. And then copy edits for my May novella, The Duchess of Love, showed up via computer. They were my first experience with e-edits--my old eyes were NOT happy. And then, when I'd barely caught my breath, the novella page proofs were on my doorstep.
Anyway, I'm back now because my agent is doing the twelve days of Bookmas again. You can read all about it here. The first clue goes up tomorrow at noon EST...once I figure out what the clue will be. Any you might get some more SF pictures.

First draft's done!

Yesterday, I finally finished the first draft of the first book in my new Duchess of Love trilogy. Whew! I will bask in a few moments of relief while I run some errands and get ready for Hurricane Irene's possible arrival. Then it's time to dig into the manuscript again to revise and polish. I took the precaution of printing it out in case Irene steals our power. Hmm. Better check the flashlight batteries, too.

Stay safe, everyone in Irene's path!

Poking my head out of my writer's cave

I'm still working away on the first book of my new Duchess of Love trilogy. I just found out that the novella that's a prequel to the series is tentatively scheduled to come out as an e-book in May 2012. I'll share more information about that when I have it.

Meanwhile, I did snatch a few minutes here and there to answer some questions over at The Regency Inkwell. You can find the interview here.

Okay, back to the salt mines!

Inspiration

Poking my head up briefly from the forced march to "The End." (So far so good, btw.)
I was working with my trainer on Wednesday, complaining how I felt draggy--had had to be out in the heat selling programs for a swim league meet the night before. I had a headache, but I had to get my 5 pages written before I went to bed. (I was trying for 7 pages because I'd had to quit early to go work the swim meet, so had only gotten 3 written the day before.) She commented how hard it must be to be inspired to write under those circumstances.
Here's a news flash--inspiration isn't really part of my work plan, or at least not the fairy-like gal that floats by and hits you with the magic story idea wand. No, if there is inspiration, it's more like the mud wrestling. (Not that I've ever mud wrestled.) I sit down at the computer and I bang my head against the keyboard (not literally, though some days it feels like it). I push the words and the characters around. I get up to have a cup of tea. I wish I was still doing something easy like writing regulations. I fret about how I have to get 5 pages done someway. I fuss with the characters some more. And eventually something will click and I'll get them to do something so I can write my darn 5 pages and maybe, if I've got them talking, a few extra.
Every day, it's the same struggle. Finally I reach "The End"--alleluia! And then I wrestle again--a little differently--when I go over the story and revise.
For me at least, writing feels like hard, dirty work. Not very inspiring. And then I'm amazed when I happen to read a bit of one of my books and see that it's not so bad. Frankly I wonder who wrote it. My name's on the cover, but I'm really not sure how the book happened.
Which may be why I feel the same panic every time I start a new book.

In hiding

You probably won't see much of me around here for the foreseeable future. I'm deep in what we authors like to call "deadline hell," though I foresee this as more of an extended stay than just a dash to a due date. With travel and promotion, I'm not where I want to be on the current book...so I'm off to my writerly cave, laptop chained to my fingers.

RWA NYC 2011

Whew. I'm on the train, heading home from RWA NYC. I think I only got online once while I was in NYC. As always, no matter how much I resolved to slow down and savor the moment, the days flew by in a blur.

Here are five highlights and "lowlights" from what I remember of the conference:

1. The hotel elevator system. It was funky. You entered the floor you wanted on a key pad by the elevator bank and it would then tell you which elevator—A, B, C, etc.—to go to. There were no floor buttons inside the elevators. If, as happened to me once, the system was overloaded, the key pad would flash "XX" or your desired floor number without giving you an elevator destination. As I was on the 33rd floor (there were 48), I was not going to be doing the stairs.

2. The beau monde mini conference. As always, it's great fun spending time with my Regency pals and leaning more about the period. Unfortunately, two of the workshops I most wanted to hear were scheduled at the same time—and, even worse, just happened to be during my agency party. So at least I didn't have to chose between them—I missed them both.

3. The giant literacy signing. It's always wonderful to meet fans, and I enjoy chatting with the authors on either side of me. This year's signing seemed particularly crowded. They actually asked us to stay past the scheduled closing time because there were still people waiting in line to get in. (I guess the fire marshals were limiting the number of folks in the room.) And it was LOUD. I ended up with a bit of a headache and a raw throat from trying to talk in the bedlam.

4. The beau monde soiree. I missed part of the soiree because the signing went late, and I didn't do any dancing, but I still had fun--and won a few new research books in the silent auction.

5. The PAN retreat. Mostly because I was on the PAN steering committee this year—and because the workshops were so good, of course—I spent most of my time at the PAN events. This means I missed all the regular workshops which was really too bad as there were some great ones, especially for a Regency writer. One PAN workshop I wish I could have missed was the one on media training. Actually, it was a great workshop. The problem was I'd volunteered to be a "guinea pig." I and two other ladies arrived before the workshop to each do a taped interview. I thought I hadn't done too badly, but then as the workshop progressed, I realized I'd totally missed the boat. The other two ladies did an excellent job, so I suppose my interview served the important role of showing everyone what NOT to do. And my takeaway? Run for the hills if I see a microphone and reporter approaching, lol!

So there you have a few of the things my poor, shredded brain recalls. I wish there was more time--more hours in the day--to take it all in. Oh, well. I'm already looking forward to next year.

Off to NYC

By the time you read this, I should be at Union Station, waiting for the train to New York. Or I'm on the Metro. I do hope I'm not stuck on Metro...but we'll think positively, okay? No travel issues, please. I'm off to the Romance Writers of America national conference.
Even though I'm not an extrovert, I always look forward to this conference--and especially this year when it's in my time zone, just a few hours (I hope) train ride up the coast. I get to see writer pals that I generally only "see" on line. Yes, I may forget people's names and I'll likely say something that I wish I hadn't, but I still have fun. And this year I'm one of the media training guinea pigs which I think means I've volunteered to have myself taped so everyone else can see what not to do. Eh, okay, that might be a little icky. I get to meet readers at the literary signing and see my agent and editor. And I'm sure I'll meet some new people, too. (I'll just apologize now for forgetting your name, shall I? It's really nothing personal. I'm just terrible with names--which I know I should work on, but hey, I don't even always remember my characters' names.)
On Friday My husband is coming up, so when the conference ends, we'll spend the weekend exploring the city while the sons at home hold down the fort. I'll try to post pictures here or on Facebook, but I don't always remember to get out the camera.
Then it's home again and nose to grindstone!