Cathy Yardley's Blog, page 4

Why Do We Keep Trying To Be Prom Queen?

I never wanted to be prom queen.

I don't even remember voting for her (actually, right this second, I can't even remember her name.  Huh.)  But every time you see a teen girl movie that involves the prom, the villain type mean girl is usually lobbying for votes like it's a presidential election.  Making promises, handing out buttons.  Even hobnobbing with the undesirables (which she did with a fake smile and obvious distaste.)

I was definitely a nerd. (Still am, come to that!)  I had a brief...

No More Muse Potato

This past month, I have been on a roll.  Got the Blaze written, have a synopsis in to my agents that I'm waiting for feedback on.  I scratched out six scenes of lightning draft for the potential book.  I've got an outline for my "sweet new thing" and I've got plot points for my ghostwriting project.  Preschool is going to be starting, so theoretically, this could be the most productive month I've had in years.

Except…

We've got to move.

For those who missed the saga, the husband and I decided...

It's DONE

The last book in my Blaze trilogy, THE PLAYERS' CLUB, is even now winging its electronic way to my editor.  It has been a long, hard, unbelievably strange journey to get this series completed, and I have to say, it feels like I just climbed Everest.

Thanks for being there for me.  Now, I'm off to bury my head in my pillow.  When I wake up, it'll be a brand new day.  And a brand new book, which I hope to tell you about soon…

MWAH!

©2010 Cathy Yardley Blog. All Rights Reserved.

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Twitter-phobic?

So, I'm on Twitter.  (You can find me here.)

I'm checking it every day now… which is saying something, considering I've disappeared from the "Twitter-verse" for months at a time.  Every week or so, I'll post something.  More often, I'll re-tweet something that somebody else has posted, that's funny or interesting.

Why am I on Twitter, you ask?

I have no bloody idea.

Okay, that's disingenuous.  I'm on Twitter because it's supposed to be good for promotion.  It's a good way to build your...

Split Personality

I've been having an identity crisis.

First, the writing…

For those of you keeping track, I'm still working on a trilogy for Harlequin Blaze.  Due to the past three years, during which some really ass-kicking bad stuff happened all at once, I am hideously, horribly, shamefully late on this contract.

The trilogy is about a group of guys, called The Players' Club, who basically approach life as a cross between Fight Club and The Bucket List. Sort of extreme wish fulfillment as a means of personal g...

12 Steps for Writers, Part 2

Last week, I started writing about my 12 steps for writers.  This week is part two, steps 4 through 6… where the actual "work" begins.  Fun stuff!

Please note: these are based on the steps of most anonymous programs.  Even if you don't follow it as a "program" I hope you can find some useful stuff here.  If not… well, I'll be writing about other stuff soon. Just take what you like and leave the rest.

So, here we go…

4.  Made a searching and fearless inventory of our strengths and our...

12 Steps for Writers, Part 1

I've seen tongue-in-cheek versions of the 12 steps for writers before, usually with snarky and amusing plays on a 12 step program.  (Example: "6. Were entirely ready to have the editor hack the manuscript into little pieces of rotting sushi.")  However, I promised myself that one day, I'd have the guts to post what I feel would be a helpful "12 Step" blog, specifically for writers, adapted from the 12 steps of most Anonymous programs.

So, today's that day.  I'm breaking this down, three steps ...

Last Night a Novel Saved My Life…

First, a quick update: I've been working hard on a trilogy of books for Harlequin Blaze, a series I seem to have been working on forever.  Life has been intervening in a huge way, and I'm finally learning how to roll with it instead of letting it roll me.  Only took me thirty-something years, but there we go. I'm really excited about moving forward with the writing projects, especially when I've got a YA trilogy, an urban fantasy series, and a tween chapter book series all clamoring to get...

Lane Changes and Destuckifying

I'm stuck.

It's not that I'm blocked.  I could pound out draft in a blink. It would make no sense and go nowhere, but by God, I could make page count!  That might work for NaNo… but for a contracted novel, not so much.  Worse, considering this is a complete re-write of a completed crap draft.

I've been stuck like this before.  Hell, I've been stuck on almost every project I've worked on.  About two-thirds of the way into any project, I become convinced it's utter and complete bunk, that I...

Writer's Gratitude List

I didn't post the last week or so because I've been in a funk, wrestling with a book that just hasn't been cooperating. I've been making the horrible, dreadful discovery that I need to become more of a "pantser" (a notion that has the control-freak plotter in me hiding deep in the trenches and preparing for siege.)  Some other stuff wasn't going well, and I started to realize that it's like the old adage:  "When Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."  Well, when my writing's not happy…

So a...