Writing

Pages Written: Clint Black

Well, today was the day I was supposed to get back into the writing groove after a weekend of cleaning the neglected house and building gingerbread houses with my son, but I don't feel like writing fiction. I think I'm still mourning the end of my last novel, Emergency of the Heart, which I mailed to Silhouette on Friday. If you are a writer, you can probably understand the strange feeling of loss when you type "The End," which I don't do until all revisions and the final polish are done. The characters are developed and grown up, their story complete, and they don't need you anymore. By the time you finish writing the book, you know those characters better than you know yourself, and it's really hard to start over with new characters who haven't quite grabbed your heart yet.

Good news though! Saturday I got my plaque for winning the Golden Gateway competition! Looks nice hanging above my computer next to the pictures of my characters!

I belong to two serious critique groups, Writeromance, and Noveldoc. One of the authors at Noveldoc, J.R. Lankford, is working on an interesting promotion for her novel, The Jesus Thief. If you buy a copy at Amazon this Tuesday, November 18 between noon and 1 pm ET, you'll receive a pre-release excerpt from her forthcoming book: WRITELAB: ADVENTURES IN FICTION CRAFT.

In Chapter 17: Secrets of Creating Fictional Good Guys, Lankford reveals some of the craft that is causing THE JESUS THIEF to attract so much attention in the press, especially a *starred* [for outstanding] review in the American Library Association's venerable Booklist, calling the novel "great stuff." The Midwest Book Review said it's a "gripping and original novel about an unthinkable attempt to clone Jesus Christ from DNA associated with the Shroud of Turin." ThisChristianLife.com gives it a finger-wagging, but nevertheless says, "The science is impeccable, the writing superb, the plot exciting, the climax breathtaking."

To take advantage of this offer, buy THE JESUS THIEF on Amazon U.S. between noon and 1 pm on Tuesday, November 18, for yourself or as a gift, and forward a copy of your Order Confirmation
to: goodguys@greatreadsbooks.com">goodguys@greatreadsbooks.com. You'll receive Chapter 17 from WriteLab by return email.

This is a book with a movie deal in the works. It's been really interesting to see it go from rough draft to movie deal. I'm curious to see who ends up writing the script, and if the sequel (being written right now) will also get a movie deal.

Anyway, that's about it for today. I REALLY need to get to work on Snowbound. Or I can procrastinate some more and put up Christmas decorations. Yeah, I think I'll do that.

Monday, November 17, 2003 @ 10:57 AM CST [link]

Ramblings

Pages Written: Sheryl Crow

Some of my favorite shows were on last night, so I spent more time watching TV than I did writing, and naturally, I felt guilty. Fortunately, there is only one "must-see" show on tonight. Scare Tactics. If you've never seen it, try it. The producers of that show have GOT to be spending more time in court than actually producing that show. Hilarious! It's funny when people pee their pants.

I also adore America's Funniest Home Videos. I've laughed so hard I've nearly drowned in my own tears. The animal videos are my favorites, and so are the videos where people scream in terror. Then there are the videos where you just know someone got really hurt--and yet, you laugh. What is up with that? Some moron gets his leg nearly torn off in a basketball hoop, and it's funny! And you just cringe when you see a trampoline or pinata in a video. No good can come of those two things.

Writing News

I have finished Emergency of the Heart for the editor at Silhouette, and I'll get it in the mail early next week! I'm so excited. This will be my very first contemporary romance submission. I fully expect a rejection, but getting the request for the full in the first place is a huge step in the right direction.

Ooh, and I've earned a place on Alison Kent's website as an "author to watch!" Pretty cool! She's a Blaze author who is now writing single-title romances for Kensington. Her books are very character-driven, something that is really hard to pull off. I have a feeling that with her new single-title novels, she's got some big things in her future.

Personal News

I live directly over an indian burial ground. I know it. Some ancient tree-worshipping tribe, I think. Just yesterday, the entire neighborhood (VERY rural) was covered in an even coating of leaves. This morning I awoke to cold, wind, and the fact that every lawn nearby is leafless--except mine. Mine attracted ALL the leaves. Every single one. I now have a nice foot-deep layer of leaves in my front and back yards, which are huge. So at 7 a.m., this morning, I went out and raked some of them into the street so they'd blow into the forest. Did they? No. The wind shifted and they are now back in my yard. I can't believe it. I can only guess that the land my house sits on is cursed.

Or else we sit in a "bowl" that's protected by wind and serves as a funnel that sucks all the leaves from other yards into it.

Nah. Cursed is more fun. And explains the unusual number of spiders on my house the painters found this summer, not to mention the mutant spider or the squirrel that throws itself against my basement window every day for no apparent reason...

Friday, November 07, 2003 @ 09:21 AM CST [link]

Website is Done!

Mood: Yay!

Well, I have a website. I'm SO excited. Thank you, Bekke! It turned out even better than I could have hoped. My attempts were pathetic, so I had to hire an expert. Just so everyone knows, Bekke is a critique partner at Writeromance, and she is a partner in a webdesign business called DreamForgeMedia.

So anyway, welcome to my website and my Soapbox!

Hugs,

Larissa

Tuesday, November 04, 2003 @ 07:08 PM CST [link]

Bagels

Pages Written: Nickelback

I'd kill for a good bagel right now. I live in B.F. Michigan (also known as Charlevoix) and you CAN NOT get a decent bagel anywhere. Now, don't get me wrong--I love Charlevoix. I've certainly lived in worse places (Del Rio, Texas, comes to mind,) but good grief! Sometimes a little civilization is nice.

Really, Charlevoix is beautiful. The houses here are amazing, owned by some really rich and famous people. The winter people are very friendly, but you want to stay away from the town in the summer. Very busy, and the people are rude. Really rude, as if their Hummers and Ferraris give them the right to park in unauthorized spaces or to cut you off when you have the right-of-way. The year-round locals dread summer. To give an idea of how bad it gets, Charlevoix has a year-round population of 3,500, which swells to over 30,500 in the summer. It's truly awful.

But now most of the summer people are gone, and things are calm. The leaves have turned and fallen, and we've had a few days of snow. I just wish I could find a decent bagel!

Tuesday, November 04, 2003 @ 11:20 AM CST [link]