I’m doing so well getting my first draft done on MY SWEET THIEF. The climax loomed before me, my heroine has to make a hellish decision, and what happens? In strides this arrogant Englishman who proceeds to tell me that he is supposed to be in this scene.

Er, I don’t think so. I ignore him and keep writing. There isn’t an Englishman in this book. But I promise him I’ll write his story one day.

This dude has zero patience and keeps barging into my head. (Yes, many writers are crazy that way) He insists that he is a major character in MST, and that he’s the hero in the third story of my Born in a Brothel series.

Ok, so that gets my attention.

I finally cut a deal with Mr. Know-it-all. I’ll write him into this one scene, and if he can prove to me that his presence is crucial and the scene works in a big way, I’ll make the necessary changes from the beginning to include his fine arrogant behind. Since I’ve been lured off course by characters behaving badly before, I’m wary of doing so now and screwing up. But I figure the little time I spend writing this one scene will at least go into the Englishman’s file.

After writing it, I’m the red-faced one. The Englishman is right–he’s just been sulking for 340 pages, waiting for the time to walk on stage. Yes, he’s one of those who likes to make an appearance. Methinks he has major control issues too.

Fine. He won this round, but I get to pick his heroine, and if he thought I was difficult to bend to his will, he ain’t seen nothing yet. 🙂

Last week pretty much sucked. My car is on the fritz–think major repair as in the transmission is dying. What a sick helpless feeling! Of course discovering just what was exactly wrong took nearly a week of visits to the mechanic. Kudos to the car guy since he didn’t charge me a red cent for the parts that didn’t fix things.

These hour to two hour waits would’ve driven me bonkers if I had to just sit there. Sure I could take a book along to read and I did one day, but I, umm, have a book to write, too.

Thank God for my Alphasmart. I hauled it along and was able to get some writing done, though I didn’t make my personal goal all week. 🙁
But I did get the first sex scene drafted one day, and was able to tweak it yesterday to get that much needed hook . I’m getting closer to that 300 page mark. Yay!

So now I have the weekend to write. Except I bought flowers that need to be planted. That makes today do double duty. I can get my pages plus in by early afternoon, and still be able to play in the dirt later today–hopefully it’ll be warmer.

What’s with this chilly spring?

Oh, hop over to Magical Musings and read Gary Tabke’s poem. What a hoot! The multi-talented Gary is the dh of my cp–author Karin Tabke.

There are a lot of industry professionals with blogs, and being a blog stalker I’ve visited most of them. Some I check daily because they are so informative. Some are just addictive. 🙂

I’ve never gotten into the editor blogs, but I found a new one called the Evil Editor that puts a different spin on things. He spends a lot of time editing query letters. One of those I wish I’d found sooner.

The agent sites are always fun and there is quite a list of them–Deidre Knight, Kristin Nelson, Jennifer Jackson to name just a few.

I enjoy Miss Snark’s column. Very good repartee and she gives the skinny on the industry and business in an entertaining way.

Another site I regularly check out is The Career Doctor. Agent Irene Goodman gives solid advice in a straightforward manner. I’ve learned a lot from this woman but I’ll be the first to admit I have a lot more to learn.

So any of you have favorite industry sites you visit?

Looking for a fun read? Look no further. Lori Devoti’s latest novel officially hits the racks May 1, but you may be lucky and find it sooner.

“When Del Montgomery’s boss sends her to the Missouri Ozarks in search of a legendary pottery pig, her mission seems simple: figure out which of the clueless locals has the pig, convince them to sell it for peanuts, and then hightail it back to Chicago. Local auctioneer, Sam Samson, could be the perfect secret weapon in her search– as long as he never figures out what she’s really after. But is it possible to resist a tall, dark, gorgeous guy who’s as sly as he is sexy?

Everything about Del turns Sam on, from her city sass to her delicious cleavage to her habit of twitching her nose when she’s about to tell a whopper. And she’s been telling a lot of them. Still, Sam knows a true babe when he sees one, and he’s not about to let Del slip away…

Last Saturday I drove to the Last Chapter bookstore in Overland Park for Amy Knupp’s first signing. It was a great success, btw. And if you haven’t read UNEXPECTED COMPLICATION yet, why?

Anyway, while I was there, the woman who buys romance for the store approached me about doing a signing for ONE REAL COWBOY. Yeehaw!!!

So I’ve reached another milestone on the road to publication. Yep, the book won’t hit the stores until March 2007, but every bit of promotion done beforehand is to my benefit.

The extra bit of good news is that Amy’s second book THE BOY NEXT DOOR should be out a little before mine, so we could do a duel signing.

Life is good!