Kara Lennox's Blog, page 5

Inching forward

Still revising those first three chapters, but at least my word count is moving up, not down, today.

20818 / 70000 words. 30% done!

Right now, though, I need to go to the post office and mail off my contract so I can actually get paid! That will be nice. I'm going to do a few things I've been putting off, like get an eye exam so I can get bifocals and stop peering over the tops of  my glasses whenever i have to read something. I look like a complete dork doing that.

29% done

I wrote a lot of pages today, but I also cut a lot. Not sure what the net ended up being, but I'm ahead of where I was, anyway. And this book is finally clicking. The characters were "off," but now I think they're better. Sometimes you just have to write through the "yuck" to get to the good stuff.

 

18681 / 65000 words. 29% done!

My First MMA/Boxing Match

No, I didn't jump into a cage and duke it out with spike-haired lady wrestler. (I had to clarify that for those of you who know I'll jump in and do almost anything in the name of participatory research).  No, I was a spectator only. Honestly, watching men beat each other up has never been high on my list of desirable activities. When my father used to watch boxing on TV, I would leave the room. When I went to my husband's T'ai Kwan Do black belt test, I had to close my eyes during the...

Almost going backward

13272 / 65000 words. 20% done!

Judging from the pathetic progress between yesterday and today, it looks as if I didn't work very hard today. But my first note from my editor suggested I tighten the first three chapters and eliminate one scene. So I did lots of cutting today, which is why it doesn't look like I made much progress. But I did.

I also did some research into mixed martial arts and cage fighting. I even went to Borders (it's closing soon, sniff sniff) and bought an MMA magazine. ...

The Word Meter Is Back

Now that I have a contract, it's time to get serious about writing. I have to put the vampire book aside (sniff!) and get to work on the next Project Justice book. My writing schedule has been hit and miss lately as I try to work on the house and keep my online businesses afloat. But now that I have deadlines–real deadlines that someone besides me cares about–it's nose to the grindstone. To that end, I've revived the Word Meter (last used during NaNoWriMo).

13069 / 65000 words. 20% done!

H...

The Cabrillo Aquarium

My stepson Nick and his girlfriend, Dani, were here briefly on their way back to Australia. One of the things we decided to do while they were here was visit the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in nearby San Pedro. It's not as grand as Long Beach's Aquarium of the Pacific, but it does boast the largest collection of local sea life.

That's me, inside the aquarium that you can walk under. And the next picture is Nick and Dani, shot from inside the aquarium. Being in there, it was sort of like the fish ...

More Project Justice On the Way

It's raining cats and dogs here in SoCal (more weather wierdness) but I'm not letting that get me down. I got a phone call from my editor today, and the next three Project Justice books for Harlequin Superromance are a go!

Book #4 will feature Beth McClelland from the PJ Physical Evidence Lab and Mitch Delacroix, the super-sexy Cajun computer hacker unraveling a mystery from the past. Current title is SHADOWS FROM THE PAST, but that might change.

Book #5 will star Claudia Ellison, the cool...

The Saga of the Indian Hawthorn

So I recently joined Freecycle, where people give away stuff, and someone was giving away an Indian hawthorn bush. Since I have a lot of yard to landscape and not much money to do it with, a large, free flowering shrub sounded like a great idea. The woman said I could come dig it up. She described it as about four feet tall and five feet wide.

"Can I dig it up by myself?" I asked. She said she would help me, and she thought together we could get it into my Toyota hatchback, maybe with some...

You Never Know What You'll See …

Riding the L.A. Metro.

Yesterday, Rob and I rode the Metro into L.A. to meet some of his family to celebrate his sister's birthday. I love the Metro. Aside from the fact that it's ecological, and usually fairly quiet and comfortable and on-time, the train makes for great people-watching.

So we're minding our own business, and from the corner of my eye I see this woman scooting along the aisle on her hands and knees, pushing a bag ahead of her. She reaches the front of the train and collapses...

Breathless Prose–online workshop

There is still time to sign up for my online Romantic Suspense workshop, hosted by the Colorado Romance Writers.

Whether you write about cowboys and babies or cops and serial killers, you must include suspense in your book if you want to keep the reader turning pages. "Suspense" doesn't always mean bullets flying; family dramas, urban fantasies and sexy romps are fraught with their own brands of suspense. In this workshop we'll focus on how to write a story that keeps your reader turning...