Woah baby, it's been a while.

Sorry there folks, it's been a while but I'm back and at 'em.  I apologize that I have not made a blog post in so long.  I just wanted to step back in, and say "Hey".   "I'm still alive,"  and I wanted to announce the sale of my book A Castle Inside.   It is on sale for 1/3 off!   Hurry today and check out my website through CreateSpace and get a copy today for just $12.99 (regular price was $18.99).  

If you want a signed copy all you have to do is ask.  I have some on hand at home that I can ship directly to you also for $12.99 + shipping. 

Happy Reading!

SUCCESS! WINNER! Confetti has sprinkled down among the keyboard!

I reached the most gratifying moment of 2010 here at 11:47 tonight! I was working so diligently on my nanowrimo novel and I reached my ultimate goal of 50,000 words in just 15 days! I worked hard today and wrote just about 15k today alone just to see if I could pull it off.

My hard work paid off, I found a great storyline coming together and just have to fill in a couple large gaping plotholes and will be up and ready for a first draft next month. Now that's a scary thought. Editing is the most daunting task I think, and reading what I actually wrote will be most entertaining. What the hell was I thinking, and that totally doesn't make sense, and why did I just jump three months ahead and then fall into a flashback? So the joys of editing will be among me.... BUT FIRST, I will finish what I started. I will keep going and see if I can get about 80k. Depending on how I can wrap up the holes and filter out any last plot bunnies that are hopping around. So in the least, I can share this with you:

That today I am an overachiever:

A synopsis awaits...

I just finished writing the synopsis along with finding the most interesting excerpts of what I have written so far. It's no where near finished as I sit just over the halfway point of my wordcount. I think, I really do, that I will sit around 80-90k when all is said and done with this one!

Visit:
http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/224498 to find out what my new novel 'Breaking the Chains' is all about~

I can't believe I'm already thinking about the sequel as well!

Breaking the Chains....this years Novel for Nano.

A synopsis is on it's way...now that I've hooked your attention.

My favorite line...

As I sat here today I found myself thinking about that one line that I wrote earlier.  This line could totally take the story on a different loop altogether.  As I'm pursuing my quest to write a new novel this month I sit just about...5000 words in.   I wrote a sentence earlier today that made me laugh out loud and I keep thinking back to it.  It's hard to imagine someone just sitting at the keyboard, with their fingers tapping away and then just laugh.  Not just a har har har kind of chuckle, It made me laugh out loud because of all the different directions this story could go. 

Where do you think this bottle of vodka could take my character?

Here goes the line:  :

A friendly face was what he needed; that and large bottle of vodka. 

November Stats...keeping you up to date

November is here

I will make every attempt at keeping my current word count up to date on my blog.  I hope you check in on me and see how I'm doing for the next 30 days.  There will be overly caffeinated sleepless nights of finger taps on the keyboard while eating leftover Halloween candy.  Oh the joys of writing during Nano. 

What are your favorite nano traditions? 
Mine is to eat all the Milky Way Midnight's first, then move on to Twix.  If I could find Dark Chocolate Twix's I'd be in my happy place.  When I'm out of that I resort to 'other' chocolate-types i.e., Snickers, 3 Musketeers, etc.   Then I throw away the wrappers so the kids don't know I snuck some all the while participating in as many word wars as possible!

Feel free to 'buddy' me.  I can be your buddy during nano.  Search for me!  pati_blue

November 1 is right around the corner...

November 1 is almost here and if you haven't heard there is a wonderful resource out there, ready to help you make that dream a reality.

It's called National Novel Writing Month and it has become outrageously popular.   Take a moment and check out http://www.nanowrimo.org/ and join in the fun.  The best part is... ITS FREE.  I will be participating for a 4th time this year, and have "won" every year and completed the task of 50,000 words in just 30 days.  It's not easy and takes dedication but it's worth it!  Your triumph will prevail!

Anyway... if you own a dream and it involves writing a story...Nanowrimo is here to help.  Join me on a 50,000 word goal starting November 1 and make your dream a reality.   It made mine a reality and I'm still living the dream.

Feel free to find me:  Look for pati_blue, and send me a buddy request.  I'm here to give you inspiration; friendship and support as we write our novels together!

Stir up those creative juices...

You want to write.  You know you do; but you just don't know where to start do you?  Or you are probably stuck in the mud with a giant wall of writers block standing before you.  I know, I can sympathize with you.

I've got a great easy solution that I have a lot of fun with when I run out of creative juices.   There are various writing competitions and short story competitions everywhere and it would be a great way for you to start your own story.   It's a fun way to get your feet wet with writing and a great way to take a break from your everyday novel that has been haunting you 24/7 and start something new and fresh.

I'v been actively following Writers Digest's competitions/contests.  They have many great competitions going on right now that you can partake in.   Come on!   I'll do it if you do....

Check out this month's Your Story competition, the deadline for the 25 word submission is December 10.  There's plenty of time to find 25 words and send them in.  

I'll share mine when it's ready.... will you share yours?

Update on query letters and some helpful links...

The query letters have come back and the results are in: My final number thus far; 12 out of 13 rejection letters and one with no response as of today.

So... I checked in to find some help on how well my query letter was.

First things first.... I need to find out what genre my book falls into. Exactly what genre and I was a little tossed. So after a little surfing I found this site of Genre definitions and examples.

Now that I've classified my book as a Paranormal Conspiracy Thriller I'm ready to move on to revising my letter in general. After a brutual evaluation of my letter many other members of agentquery offered support and critique. So I'm on my way to writing a new query letter. I found some helpful information regarding this and I'd like to share this with you:
How To Write A Query by Noah Lukemans

Need a list of agents to peruse? Check out AgentQuery and their forums!

I'm off to work now, bye!