Jennifer Apodaca's Blog, page 143

Wednesday Worthy

Eli from the Wing Slayer Hunter series is bugging me. For a while he was quiet, but now, he’s getting more urgent about finding his witch, Savina.

I explained, “Um dude, get in line! I have a novella and one and a half other books to write before I can write your story.”

“Don’t care. I need to find her.”

Sigh…we both have to wait. But it’s reaching such a critical point that I was dreaming about my current book and just when I thought I was going to get an answer I need, Eli dropped into the dream to nag me.  So rude!

Now let’s move onto Wednesday Worthy. Since we’re talking (sort of) about Wing Slayer Hunters…

What do you think, is he worthy?

Weekend Roundup

My weekend was not interesting at all. I cleaned, did some writing and dealt with a small stomach issue. But I’m back here on the blog

After a herculean effort, I have this novella started, and at least partially plotted. This  latest writing snafu is 100% my fault. I want to blame it on stress and worry and all the usual things but the truth is a little more embarrassing: Arrogance. I was so sure I could do this that I didn’t do the pre-work necessary to write this novella. I believed I knew Ethan and Ana, who were secondary characters in The Plus One Chronicles.

I forgot ( and this is such an amateur mistake) that I knew Ethan and Ana from KAT AND SLOANE’S point of view, not their own! So for instance, Sloane is seven or eight years older than Ethan, and comes for a background just as dark and difficult. To him, Ethan’s “a kid” who needs his guidance, and in Sloane’s world Ethan is normal. But Ethan’s view of himself is entirely different, which is what is important for this story. His self view will influence every decision he makes. The same thing with Ana. So I needed to really discover who these characters are in their own minds and to each other.

Amateur mistake born of arrogance. I’m not proud of it, but there it is!

And also, I have major trouble spelling amateur and give spellcheck a migraine

Now it’s your turn! How was your weekend?

 

Taking A Break

My weekend was good but I’m sinking in work right now, and desperately trying to get my head around too many projects. As a result, I’m going to take a week off the blog. I’ll really miss you guys! Please come back Monday, April 25th!

Have a great week!

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday! I’m rerunning this post from 2012 because I noticed I really need a pedicure, and that made me this of this story. Probably because anytime I try to do a pedicure myself–Wizard laughs at me So here it is:

I decided I should give myself a pedicure. Sometimes, I get lucky, and it turns out okay.

This was not one of those nights.

So I go upstairs, do all the pre work, then gather up my stuff and sit on the floor in front of the TV. And I start polishing.

Wizard, and I don’t know how he does it, will sense when I have been rendered a “captive audience.” It’s freaky how finely tuned this sense of this is. He had been out in his garage for a while, not bothering me. But once I have polish on and can’t move until it dries?

Wizard appears in the room. “What are you doing, Witch?”

I narrow my eyes and say,  “I’m mixing chemicals that will kill you. Run while you can.”

He’s not the least bit worried.  He tilts his head. “Why don’t you just go get a pedicure?”

“Shut up.” I can soooo do this. I can. Really. I used to decorate cakes, damn it. Okay not professionally, but still, I wasn’t embarrassed by my cakes. I can do this!

Wizard totally ignores my outburst and goes on, “Are you making yourself pretty?” Then he starts walking around the room singing “Prettyyyy Girrllls” in the creepiest Wizard voice possible.

I cave in and do the worst possible thing.  I laugh. I can’t help it. Wizard is so not creepy, and when he does that voice, it sends me into fits of giggles every freaking time.

But then he starts to leave, and I sigh in relief. He’s done and I can have some peace.

And then he spots this:

It’s sitting on my upstairs desk. I have no clue what it is–but Biker Witch gave it to me.  Probably because she’s in cohoots with Wizard to DRIVE ME INSANE.

How?

Well Wizard’s face lit up when he sees this. He picks it up, them LOOMS over me.  “Say, Whoo Hoo.”

“No. Leave me alone. I want to watch TV.”

“You have to say Woo Hoo. Then I throw this to you. That’s the game, I saw it on a TV show.”

I swear to you I Am Not Making This Up. I can’t get up and escape because…hello, wet toes. Dark grape polish. Light carpet. I am trapped.

So I say Woo Hoo.  And he throws that weird ass thing at me. I catch it before it attacks me.

Then he stands there sing-songing Woo Hoo! And won’t leave until I throw it back.

I seriously had to play this game while trapped on the floor with wet toes until he was done torturing me.

Finally, he puts the stupid ass thing down and said,  “Fork out the money for a pedicure you cheap witch,” and leaves, laughing all the way down the stairs. Why? Why does this amuse him so much?And he’s wrong, because I can so do a pedicure if I try!

So finally my toes dry, I go downstairs and he’s like totally NORMAL for awhile. Then I look at my toes. Damn it.  I stomp upstairs totally pissed because my toes aren’t right at all and I take off the stupid polish.

I’ll probably pay for a pedicure as soon as I’m done sulking.  I can’t even blame Wizard, he didn’t touch my toes. He’s totally responsible for making me insane, but not the poor polish job. Heck, he didn’t even say “I told you so.”

If you actually made it through this story–all true because yes, we are that boring–have a great weekend everyone!

Wednesday Worthy Cage Fight

I can’t seem to shake The Blah’s lately. Does that ever happen to you guys? It’s been weeks now, and it’s sucking out my motivation to write and making me second guess every idea. But enough of that, like most things,  it will pass. So to amuse myself, and hopefully you, I’ve arranged a little Cage Fight for Wednesday Worthy. And here we go!

Fighter Number #1 is armed with a whip and a serious frown. 

(I think he might have a man-crush on a character from a certain well-known “fifty” novel–or is that just me?)

Fighter Number Two brings his towel and death glare to the match. 

(Anyone else wonder if he’s hiding a weapon under that towel? What? *looks around innocently* I’m just asking.)

Man in red towel

Time to lay down your bet–who do you think will win?

Weekend Roundup

My weekend was quiet. I cleaned, worked on Ethan and Ana’s novella while waiting for edits on Savaged Dreams and hung out with Wizard.  Oh and I rejoined Weight Watchers Online. I debated even mentioning this because I’m not a fan of defining a woman by her weight in any way. Plus… I’m not hugely overweight. This is just about staying in control and this helps me regain a sense of control. My days of wanting to be fashionably thin (LOL, I’ve NEVER been that, my body build is short, muscular and curvy, not tall and slender) or rocking a bikini are over. I’m just interested in getting dressed and feeling confident and comfortable. And FYI I wear a bikini around the pool at my house anyway

So…I told Wizard that I rejoined Weight Watchers.

Wizard’s response? “If that’s what you want, I’ll help you. I like most of the stuff you cook on Weight Watchers.”

That’s my hero! I love that he supports me when I want to make a change. (My weight loss goals are smallish, which he also supports.)

And then two days later, which would be last night, Wizard says, “I heard there’s a chocolate festival in San Diego.”

Hmm…he meant he’d support me when he said it, LOL! Okay seriously, one day at a chocolate festival  isn’t a big deal in the scheme of things. So as soon as I post this blog, I’m going to look up this chocolate festival and see if we can go. I just thought it was funny he mentioned it two days after vowing to help me.

On the work end of things, I’m enjoying getting to know Ethan and Ana again, and digging in deeper now that they are the hero and heroine of the story rather than secondary characters. For me, they were immensely likeable characters in the Plus One Chronicles, but for this novella, I had to get past that likableness to find their real flows. That’s still a work in progress, but I’m getting there! Flaws make a hero/heroine so much more interesting in my opinion!

So how was your weekend?

Happy Friday!

It’s the weekend again! This week I’m happy because I was able to finally get started on Ethan and Ana’s novella (they are two characters from The Plus One Chronicles, and their story will go in the 1,001 Dark Nights Bundle in Dec 2016.) I’m so happy about that!

In other news, I am still obsessed with French Bulldogs. I think they are adorable and funny. But Wizard says, “You had a choice, new floors or a dog.”

“Wait…I had a choice??? No one told me that!”

He smiled. “I’m sure I mentioned it.”

“No you didn’t!” I’m sure I would have picked a dog. Who cares what the floors look like if you have a super fun dog to keep you distracted?

Wizard said, “Oh well, too late, you got your new floors. So no dog. And especially no high maintenance (true, the dogs tend to have all kinds of problems), freaky-looking French Bulldog.”

My response looks just like this little guy’s expression!

I’m sure I’ve been tricked! I do not remember agreed to floors over a French bulldog! But no worries, I’m not giving up on a dog yet! Although I’ll probably never get French bulldog  If we ever decide to really take the plunge into becoming pet owners, we’ll just go to the shelter or local rescue and pick a dog that needs a home.

Hope you guys have a great weekend! Do you have any special plans? I’m going to clean bathrooms because my life is just that exciting

Wednesday Worthy

It’s hump day and you all know what that means! Time to take a look at a new candidate for our Worthy file! And without further delay, here he is:

 

So what do you think? Is he worthy?

My Inspiration

Today is Wizard’s birthday. So for Business Monday I’m going to share some of the reasons I consider my husband (aka Wizard) my biggest inspiration.

I had a secret dream of writing since high school. But for the first few years of our marriage, I was too busy. Once we had our three sons, Wizard went back to school to get his Master’s degree and I began to think that I needed a goal too. I loved our children and being a mom, but I needed my own identity too. When my sister gave us her old computer, I began writing while the kids napped or played, but I didn’t tell anyone.  Then after a few weeks, I worked up the courage told Wizard, “I’m writing a book.”

He nodded. “Okay.”

“Do you think I can?”

He met my gaze. “Don’t ask me. Show me. Write a book and I’ll read it.”

See for those of you who might think Wizard is all sweet encouragement…bwahahaha! Um no. Wizard is a real man who judges on actions. So I wrote a book. It wasn’t easy. I had no idea what I was doing. In those days, we were on a very tight budget. Wizard bought me books on writing for my birthday and Christmas.  He became friendly with the managers of our local Barnes and Nobles and Waldenbooks because he asked them for suggestions on books for me. Soon they had his phone number and would call him if a good writing book came in. I know this because I met the two of them and they told me how he’d search for just the right book for me.

He supported my dream with actions. Best gift ever!

And when I finished my book, he read it. Every single page. I don’t think he’d read a romance book in his life, but he read mine. That’s love people, because let me tell you, that book sucked. I sent it everywhere and was brutally and soundly rejected. But he never told me it sucked. He told me the things he liked, the things he thought could use work, and he came up with a better title than I had. I rewrote it and it sucked less But I still had a lot to learn about writing.

I joined Romance Writers of America. Wizard zealously protected my one Saturday a month meeting. He made sure he was home with the kids, or he took them to sports or family obligation so I could go to the meeting. Our extended families soon learned that I would not be available that one Saturday because Wizard made it clear. I knew then how amazing that was, but looking back, it honestly chokes me up. Wizard always knew there was no guarantee I’d get published. But he knew I loved writing and loved being a part of the community. That’s all that mattered.

Finally one day I was fed up with rejection. I’d been writing historical romances because they were big at the time but it wasn’t working for my voice. I decided to write a book that was just for me. I opened a new document on my computer and started writing about someone I liked and that I thought was fresh, fun an full of imperfections. I fell in love with Samantha Shaw, a newly widowed woman with two sons and running a dating service.

Wizard saw my happiness and asked to read a chapter. First time he’d asked since that first book. I sent it to his email to read when he had time. He was hooked. It became a game between us. I’d get emails and phone calls. MORE! WRITE MORE! We talked about the book all the time. We argued about plot points. I finished the book and did the usual submission process.

And one day, I came home from taking care of my mom (she was seriously ill at the time) and Christmas shopping to a message on my machine from Amy Garvey at Kensington books asking me to call her. I was stunned.

I returned the call and got her machine. I have no idea what I said.

Then I waited. And waited.

And then THE CALL came. Amy Garvey offered me a two-book deal! I was ecstatic. It took eight years and five manuscripts but I was going to be a published author. A lot of credit goes to Wizard who believed in me, pushed me, supported me and challenged me.

Sadly, my mom passed away before the book came out. She’d knew all about it, of course, and was so excited. She was very supportive too. As you would expect, it was a hard time for me in the months after she passed. But I had to finish the second book in the series, Dying To Meet You. I had a deadline, but I was…well…floundering. Wizard saw this and said, “I know how much you miss your mom and she’d read your manuscript for you. Let me read it and help you.”

I never told him that, he just knew it, understood that there is special kind of support we get from our moms. And frankly, I was scared. Could I do it again? The stakes were higher now that I had contracts and deadlines, and the book had to be good. The pressure had mounted on me just as I was dealing with grief. I wrote that first draft from my mom’s side while caring for her. This was also when I got sick with RA and the pain was unrelenting. I could only write for maybe twenty minutes before I had to take a break and ice my hands and wrists. Looking back, I don’t know how I did it. Except…

Wizard. He read the first draft. And I thought, okay, he’ll do what he usually does and talk about it.

Nope. He surprised the hell out of me. Wizard wrote up a two paged, singled spaced critique, detailing exactly where I could flesh out scenes and add more mystery, humor or drama. I have no idea where he learned to do that, he’s an accountant not an editor. He’s never done it before or since, but that book…I needed him. I was floundering in grief, fear and physical pain and he stepped in to give me that extra support I needed. But it was more than that–he turned that book into something joyful during a difficult time. Every time I look up at Dying To Meet You on my shelf, I think of Wizard quietly helping me hold onto my dream while I struggled with grief and my own health.

So when people ask me, who is the biggest or most powerful inspiration in my life?

I don’t care if it’s corny or cliché, I answer with the truth–it’s my husband.

And that is what I wish for all of you, that you find your true inspiration.

Happy Friday! (Late Edition)

I’m late! We went out to a retirement party last night and I forgot to get a blog up before we left. In other words…I flaked out Which has been the theme of my week. I’m getting nothing accomplished but whining!

But the party last night was fun!

This weekend, I’m working to make up for all my flakiness. What are you doing?