Don't Look Down

I've been monitoring an online class presented through RWA Pro by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer, who are collaborating on a soon-to-be-released book called Don't Look Down. Crusie writes romantic comedy and Mayer writes action/adventure, so it seems like their collaboration could be interesting. I believe they're calling the project a romantic adventure.

The How it Happened page of their website gives a funny story about how these two writers paired up. Their dueling blog carries on the repartee (and might republish their presentation for RWA Pro). Check it out.

Spore

I was watching a video on Google today that featured Will Wright demonstrating and talking about a new video game he's been developing called Spore. (Online rumors indicate it should be out this summer.)

At the end of the video, he had an interesting statement about creative perseverance.

All the games I've worked on I've always hit obstacles, usually trying to convince other people it's a good idea or sellable or whatever. When I look back on this idea, the biggest obstacle I truly had was making myself believe that we could build the game. My own imagination was the biggest bottleneck. Once I truly believed that this game was buildable, it proved to be actually quite easy to con, I mean to persuade the rest of my staff and the executives and everything that we could do it. So I'd encourage all of you, if you've got like some totally weird idea that is just so far outside the box that you think there's no way that would work, go back occasionally and revisit those ideas because you just never know where they might lead to.

Golden Heart and Rita finalists

Golden Heart and Rita finalists were announced by RWA last Friday.

Alas, I am not a finalist. (Jules, you don't have to go to Atlanta with me this year.)

Congratulations to Margaret Watson, who is a Rita finalist for best long contemporary with her book "Hometown Girl", and to Susan Carroll, who is a Rita finalist for best long historical with her book "The Dark Queen". Both are members of my local writers group, Windy City.

Also of note, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, an extremely talented local writer, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from Romance Writers of America in Atlanta this summer.

Spring cleaning

I barely noticed when spring officially arrived, because I was waylaid by the flu. The fever is now gone, but the cough and the congestion remain. Despite that, I'm feeling better and it's time to say goodbye to the mildew and clutter of winter and say hello to renewal.

The house is getting cleaned today, and all the germs and dog hair will be gone when I get home tonight. I can't wait. (The muses have really been shedding badly since they had baths two weeks ago, and I've been too exhausted to push a vacuum.)

But there's no cleaning lady whom I can pay to sort through the clutter of my to-do list. Here's a sampling of what's on my mind for the next month:

• I'm extremely close to being done with the revisions of the first three-fourths of Prairie Fire, then I need to tackle the ending.
• I need to focus on a special project I'm working on for my friend Jerilyn -- probably have to reschedule with her AGAIN.
• Once Prairie Fire is done, I need to jump into the Hunting Lodge/erotic project.
• Next week I start my acting for non-actors class.
• In three weeks, I need to collect Four Seasons contest entries from the first-round judges and prepare for the final round of judging.
• In 23 days, it's the one-year anniversary of my Dad's death.

That's not even the full list, just the major items.

I did a quick Google search for "spring cleaning" and found this LA Times article. I like it because it takes a literal and spiritual approach to spring cleaning. Some of the tips it offers can apply to my to-do list, I think. To pull from the article:

• "Get started by writing a list of all that needs to be done ..."
• "Then have a cup of Earl Grey to lower your stress."
• "Then make a list of all the products or tools you need..."
• "... choose between these two strategies: Do difficult before easy (you'll sail through the day after getting the nastiest job out of the way) or easy before difficult (so you'll be buoyed by quick results)."

Check back with me later and see how I'm doing. Since I already have my list, the next step is that cup of tea, and that list of needed tools might require some shopping... Oh, wait a minute: Did I just add to my to-do list?

Greater Heights Learning

I've been helping a friend refine her copy for her new website. She's starting a tutoring business, Greater Heights Learning, and is in the process of going live with her website. Check it out at www.greaterheightslearning.com

Guest desks at Dusted by Whimsy

The writer in me thinks something fun is happening over at Dusted by Whimsy. Ever wonder how other writers write? Well, author Michele Hauf has had other authors send in photos of their desks/work spaces, and the variety is entertaining.

Check it out in the March and February archives at Dusted by Whimsy.

Rejection sucks

Of course it does, but it feels good to say it anyway: Rejection sucks.

A writer friend is going through a particularly rough time with rejection, and it has me thinking about the topic.

I remember when I started writing my novel, I used to say that I couldn't wait to get to the point when I *could* be rejected, because that meant I had completed the book and I was submitting it. Rejection is part of the business -- the nature of the beast.

I have since been rejected a few times, but I've never gone through anything as bad as my friend. So, in preparation, I Googled the topic of dealing with rejection and found these two links.

The first, www.RejectionCollection.com, bills itself as "The writer's and artist's on-line source for misery, commiseration, and inspiration." It goes on to say: "Rejected again? Don't despair. Join your fellow writers and artists to laugh in the face of rejection. It may not make you feel any better, but it's better than banging your head against the wall."

The second is a letter from John Kador posing as a job applicant rejecting a potential employer's no-thank-you letter. It doesn't perfectly fit a writer's situation, but it is funny. "I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your rejection."

To quote Adam Savage on Mythbusters: "I reject your reality, and substitute my own."

My muses

I was awake earlier than usual one morning this winter. We had received a few inches of snowfall during the night, and the snow was fresh and clinging. The dawn sky was crystal clear, with the moon hanging over the backyard. My dogs were eager to go outside and play in the white fluff.

Thor is my little scamp. Here he is on top of our table. Notice his snout full of snow.

Loki is majestic. Her face so pretty. No matter what she's been up to, she puts on a regal air.

Coming out of the closet

No, I'm not gay.

But I am shy. (See my previous entries about my scary goals)

Just last week, I mentioned my blog to my husband. "You have a blog?" he said.

"Yeah," I said. "And a web site."

"You have a web site?"

"Don't you remember? I registered my domain name a few years ago? I told you then."

"I remember you registered your domain name, but I didn't know you had a web site. Or a blog."

OK, I confess, I've been keeping my online work extremely low-key. I'm here to promote a book that I haven't sold yet. There's not much to promote, really. It's more of a time investment in the future.

But, I didn't realize that I'd kept it so low-key that my own husband didn't know about it. Surely, I'd mentioned it at some point... right?

This weekend we went on a family getaway to Lake Geneva with my mother, my sister and her family, and my aunt and uncle. We had a fun time hanging around our rented house with a lake view. We spent many hours talking, eating and drinking, and playing games.

My husband, evidently still reeling from the news of my online adventures, announced: "Did you know that Haley has a web site and a blog?"

"You do?"

"Well, " I said, "It's nothing major. Just something I've been playing around with. Kind of amateur, really."

Fortunately (or is that unfortunately?), the rental house had a computer with online access and I was able to take my sister for a tour. My uncle asked for the address and intends to look it up later.

Gulp. My secret is out. My family now knows I have an online presence, no matter how small it may be. (I think I'm up to 50 hits on this site. It really is small.)

So my family knows, and a former co-worker has found me. What's next? A major publisher with an offer for a three-book contract? (What? A girl can dream, can't she?)

Another Day Like Today

Many years ago, when my red Pontiac Sunbird hit the 80,000-mile mark, the car decided to start eating cassette tapes. It would hold on to one for a while, and no matter how many times I hit the eject button, refuse to release it. Then, randomly, some day, the tape would spit out.

Maybe I was desperate to listen to some non-radio music one day, but for whatever reason, I braved fate and put in a co-worker's debut album for his band, 6 Feet Over. The album, "Another Day Like Today," was the last one the car ever ate.

My car REALLY liked the album. For the next 20,000 miles or so, every time I started the engine, I'd hear "Another Day Like Today" whether I wanted to or not. It drove my husband crazy. Fortunately, there was a trick to bypass the tape player: Hit eject three times, and magically, the radio would play.

I haven't heard "Another Day Like Today" since late 2000 when my Sunbird went to the great car auction in the sky, and the cassette went with it. I don't think the album is even available any more.

I've long-since left journalism and the co-worker, Don Hammontree, has moved on to a copyediting job at a newspaper on the East Coast. We haven't talked in ages. Then, last month, I checked my email, and there was a message: "To my old boss." It had to be from Don -- he was the only person who ever called me "boss."

He said that out of the blue he wondered if I'd finished my book, so he Googled me and found my web site. I know the Internet is an extremely public place and I am out here to build a name and following for my writing career, but I still had a weird feeling in my gut when I read his email -- someone I know actually read what I've been writing.

It was fun to read about Don's accomplishments since I last saw him. He has his own blog here on Blogspot, Driving to Oahu, which is named for one of his original compositions on "Another Day Like Today". Six Feet Over may have long since broken up, but he's still recording music under his name. His most recent release is Mount Hope Days. He's reworking a novel he wrote many years ago, which you can read about on Baptized in Formaldehyde, and he's starting a new novel yet to be named.

I wonder if I should brave the stereo gods and try to download one of his new songs from iTunes. What are the odds of Don's music jamming my iPod like his cassette jammed my tape player?

Designing the perfect erotic getaway

The Romance Police seem to have taken exception to a statement I made that Our Erotic Project "will either be fabulous or a fabulous disaster."

I humbly apologize. There will be no disaster involved. It will be all fabulous, all the time.

As we make time in our schedules to work on this project, it looks like it *will* actually happen. There are pages written. (And, no, they were not written by me.) The story gets off to a solid start. It shall be fabulous.

My co-writers came over tonight to discuss the project, and we had a productive meeting. Not only did we discuss the pages already written, but we drank wine and got silly laying out the floorplan of our remote and mysterious hunting lodge. Think grand, think old, think hidden passageways. Did I say it's in the Scottish Highlands overlooking the sea?

Destiny gets her chintz ladies parlor (no green allowed!), fireplaces, balconies, ballroom, billiard room and grand entryway. I get my octagonal glass conservatory and a promise that the place can have a dungeon. Grace proved she was of good humor as she kept drawing and planning our dream magical getaway.

Now, I need to get something on paper. Clio and Jason have a story to tell. And, oh, it's a steamy one!

Something scary for March

It's a new month and time for a new scary goal.

February's scary goal was taking a non-credit "Effective Presentations" class. I finished that class Feb. 20 with a 14-minute talk and Power Point presentation on "Understanding the Romance Novel." Hey, why not use it as an opportunity to practice talking about something I hope to speak more about in the future?

I have to say that the presentation went very well. Good comments from the instructor included: great intro, attractive Power Point, quotes, pictures of actual books, nice graph and presentation of data, good Q&A session, good eye contact and props, loud and slow.

Constructive comments included: plant my feet and don't cross them, breathe (she joked that she started looking for a brown paper bag for me), nervous at beginning, a few "ums" and I needed an ending summary slide.

My impression from taking the class is that I can write decent presentations that hold people's interest, I just need to practice and concentrate on channeling my nervous energy.

This leads me to my March scary goal idea: taking a five-week non-credit "Acting for Non-Actors" class.

The catalog describes it like this: "Boost your self-confidence in social situations by learning the skills that actors use. Through a variety of acting exercises and improvisations, develop expressiveness, concentration and powers of observation."

I haven't registered yet. Stay tuned for updates.