Jennifer Apodaca's Blog, page 174

Wednesday Worthy

I love writing. I love it so much, I’ve gone back to Page-Freaking-One to play Can We Save This Book.

But then I thought, is that really enough of a challenge? Let’s make this even MORE interesting and put a time limit on it. Say one month until my deadline.

Easy…Bwhahahaha!! Okay, here’s the deal, I sent the first few chapters to my friend, Marianne. she read then, thought about them, then I got this text. “Do you have time to talk about your book.”

FYI–that’s never good. Marianne *might* call, but she usually works directly in the manuscript showing me where I can strengthen etc. That text confirmed what I knew–the book set up wasn’t working.  Interestingly, it was a relief to hear it. We can’t really fix the problem until we acknowledge it (my powers of denial are awesome). So after a marathon plotting session on the phone with Marianne, I’m working frantically, trying to redo those pages, and then the story should work and I can write the rest. The night sweats and burning stomach waking me up through out the night are just added motivation But that’s fine, as long as I get this book closer to something I love, I’ll live with the stress!

Marianne has saved my butt, and helped me save my books, too many times for me to count. Friends like that are priceless.

Today, I’ve promised myself I’ll hit the gym first thing (stress management tip #1) and then work straight through the day until Wizard walks in the door and lures me away from the computer with a glass of wine (stress management tip #2).

Now onto Wednesday Worthy. Here you go:

What do you think, is he worthy?

Weekend Roundup

It was quieter this weekend than last, which is a good thing. I’ve been a bit quiet online party due to my work load and partly because a member of Wizard’s family had a serious health issue this week and was in the hospital but he came home on Saturday and things are getting better.

Do you ever read books that give you mixed feelings? I just finished a book that I wanted to love because the author took risks. I respect that and rooted for her because of it. But in the end, for me, the risks failed and the book fell flat. That just killed me. I loved it when authors take risks! But the nature of risk is the greater the risk, the greater the chance for success or failure. Having said all that, I’m glad I read the book. Am I the only one who gets those conflicted feelings?

This week, assuming everyone remains healthy, I’m going to keep plugging away on EXPOSING THE HEIRESS.  This book could really use some risk-taking

How was your weekend?

Happy Friday!

How can it be Friday again? It’s crazy how fast time is going.

I sent in the revisions on THE COWBOY MARINE, and once I hit send, I thought of a few more things I should have done in the manuscript. But I’ll get another crack at changes during line edits so I’m not too worried yet.

After that, I spent the morning listening to the first 7 chapters on audio for THE PROPOSITION. I love this narrator, Ryan Hudson! He’s doing an amazing job. It’s so surreal hearing the characters this way. But I could really get hooked on audio books

In the afternoon, I tried to get caught up on some cleaning and man, I felt like this afterward:

It’s getting harder and harder for me to keep up–and I still have more to do just to get the house to my acceptable level. Time is a premium these days, so I may have to get some help with the house (I say that but I never do it), but more importantly, I miss Bailey!  I can always make time for Bailey!

No big plans for me this weekend, what about you all?

 

Wednesday Worthy

Working, working, working! I just need to do a final edit on THE COWBOY MARINE!

So the other day I had allergies which isn’t a big deal. But Wizard happened to walk by just as I did the whole eye-watering, sniffling thing. He stopped and frowned at me. “Stop your crying and get back to work! And don’t stop until there’s a new Mustang in my garage.” Then he laughed all the way up the stairs–where he sat his butt down IN MY NEW CHAIR and read the paper.

If only I didn’t love him so much…and you know need him to put gas in my car and run all my errands for me…

Hmm, let’s change the subject. Here’s our candidate today:

I should put my picture in there on the left just to tick off Wizard

So what do you all think? Is this guy worthy?

Weekend Roundup

This weekend was a blur, but the first order of business today? A HUGE SHOUT OUT TO SILVER JAMES! If you haven’t heard the amazing news, Silver has been offered a two book deal from Harlequin Desire! I’m thrilled and proud of her! While Silver has been a working writer for a while now,  her talent, hard work and  perseverance has brought her to this next step in her career. On top of her talent and drive, Silver is one of the most generous , giving writers I know, making this news ever more freaking awesome! Congrats Silver!

Saturday we celebrated BLB’s birthday, and here’s the cake:

I was happy with the way it turned out (so easy!) and BLB loved it.  His girl friend (they’ve been together for years and we all love her!) also brought him a pan of brownies topped with his favorite peanut butter M&M’s. He was a happy guy. Plus I gave him all the left over candy to take home. BLB is living on a very tight budget and limited time while finishing college and working, so he doesn’t a lot of this kind of junk food in his day-to-day life.  His girlfriend and I both spoil him a little bit

I spent half the weekend working and made surprising amount of progress on THE COWBOY MARINE revision (getting up and working at 5 am helped). I have one more issue to tackle then it’s the usual tightening and clean up work.  I should have that finished sometime this week (I hope) then back my EXPOSING THE HEIRESS book.

Sunday we had a surprise party to go to and as I’m writing this blog Sunday night, I’m beat.

How was your weekend?

Happy Friday!

Happy Valentine’s Day for those of you celebrating! It’s going to be a busy weekend for us, so Wizard and I are staying in tonight and making steak and lobster to celebrate V-Day. Saturday we’re celebrating BLB’s (youngest son) birthday, so I’m going to attempt the Sugar Shock Candy Cake. Not sure I can pull this one off though.  Then Sunday we have another party to go to.

And someone is on two extremely pressing deadlines, but we won’t talk about that!

To celebrate Valentine’s Day, I’m planning to give away a few books through out the day on my FB page here if you want to hop over and enter.

So a little story, the other night Wizard picked up the chair I wanted for my backup office upstairs. After dinner Wizard was putting it together in the garage while I was working on revisions for THE COWBOY MARINE. When I came to a stopping place, I went in the garage  to check on Wizard.

He looked up and said, “How do you do that?”

I’m more confused than usual. “Do what?”

“Show up exactly when I need you? Come hold this for me.”

I went over and held the chair so he could finished assembling it.

Once he had the screw thingie in, he asked again, “So? How do you do it?”

Seriously, I didn’t know he needed me. It was just a random guess because he’d been out in the garage for a while and I decided to check on him.  But I told Wizard, “When you love someone you just know these things.”

I think he might have gagged a little, but I ignored that  He’s lucky I didn’t say, “There’s a hidden camera in the garage–good luck funding it.” That would have been pretty funny to see him ripping the garage apart searching for a non-existent camera. Wish I’d thought of it!

So are you doing anything for Valentine’s Day? Any weekend plans?

Wednesday Worthy

Revisions for THE COWBOY MARINE have taken over my brain. Totally. So Wizard called me yesterday to tell me something, and then he said, “How’d grocery shopping go?”

“I made a mess off it. Bought the wrong things, spilled a bottle of cleaner on the right things. Totally screwed it up.”

He’s starts laughing. “Got something on your mind, Witch?”

“It’s not funny.” How can he laugh at me?  ”You’ll be lucky if I can manage to pull dinner together at this point.”

“Did you buy me beer?”

“Yes.”

“Then it’s funny.”

I give up.  Wizard’s a nutjob who lives to torment me. Today I’m going to take a break and have lunch with Biker Witch (my sister) then revise, revise, revise!

Here’s our guy for today.

 

I have cowboys on my mind, and this was the best I could find to buy at iStock yesterday. What do you think?

Weekend Roundup

I’ve mentioned that Wizard and I have talked about downsizing to a one story house.  We really are just talking but this weekend we looked at another housing track. Liked the house, but the location wasn’t for us.  So I tell him, “You know, I still like that house up on the hill.”

He stopped what he was doing and said “You know, I’ve been thinking the same thing.”

So this is a one story, totally affordable and the back yard ends at the very top of a hill overlooking the entire town. It’s freaking gorgeous, and not something I’d expect to find in our modest town.  However Wizard and I have serious concerns about fire, wild life and SNAKES. I’m terrified of snakes.

But by Sunday morning I’m still thinking of the house and location. So I lure Wizard out to breakfast and then we stop by and look at the location of this house. Still breathtaking…

Later that afternoon we’re talking to our brother-in-law who lives in a home on a hill similar to that one, but in a different town.  After telling him about this house, and he’s like,  ”Don’t let a snake scare you.” Then he proceeds to tell us this story of a long snake that got into their house when they were having a party. Many screams later, the police and fire department arrived (my niece called, she’s not a snake fan either). They caught the snake, bagged it and HANDED THE BAGGED SNAKE to my brother-in-law because they don’t transport snakes.

My brother-in-law takes the bag just as the snake pops his head out.

Right in that moment, just hearing the story I nearly had a heart attack. Long story short, my brother-in-law returned the snake to the forest behind them and I’ve decided I love my current house and never want to move.

How was your weekend?

Happy Friday!

Time to break out the appltinis and rock the weekend!  Although I do have a book to write…one that has taken for-freaking-ever to get rolling.  I’m making progress in feeling and hearing the story which is a great sign. So naturally, yesterday afternoon I got revisions for THE COWBOY MARINE. Which means I’ll have to set aside this book to work on those  :-(

But the good news is the editor loves THE COWBOY MARINE and said the book is in good shape. Actually she said quite a lot about what she loved in the book and I’m so happy about that. Like…appletini happy And after reading over the revision suggestions, I agree with her so we’re on the same page there too. Now I just have to roll up my sleeve, dive in and get to work.

What are your weekend plans?

 

 

 

Wednesday Worthy VOICE Edition

I’m adjusting to the new computer pretty quickly and very happy.  If I could get my characters to behave as well as the new computer, things would be awesome!

Now lets change things up a bit. Instead of a picture of a hunk, I’m going to give you the link to a super hunky voice. Laura Wright has just released FIRST INK (book one in the Wicked Ink Chronicles) in audio. Ryan Hudson and Holly Fielding are the narrators. But today we’re focusing on Ryan because he’s narrating my book THE PROPOSITION. If you’d like to listen to Ryan’s amazing voice, click here and then below the cover of FIRST INK click on “sample” and you can hear that sexy voice.

Now if you’d rather have hunk pictures, then how about this:

Let me know what you think!