Just Watch Me!

Posted on September 8, 2005 by Annie Rayburn/Carol Burnside

I refuse to be daunted by the depressing numbers out there.  Over on Elisabeth’s blog, she’s talking about HEA’s and heaving a Big Sigh over the likelihood of getting published.

But over on Ask An Author PRO, Liz Jarrett is sharing her wisdom on writing and mentioned how it took her 4 years of writing until her first sale.  But she went on to say that of all the people she met in her first year in RWA who’ve worked hard at their writing and submitted a lot have gone on to sell. I don’t know how many that is, but even if it’s 3 out of 3, the key is they were determined and they were actively working toward publication.

Liz is also echoing a lot of the advice I’m getting in a workshop I’m taking this month, taught by Suzanne McMinn (Hi, Suzanne!)

I look at my own RWA group, GRW and am amazed at how many published writers there are in the group. And they’re active, giving mini seminars at the meetings, doing Ask an Author sessions, mentoring through the March workshop and giving critiques when judging the unpublished Maggie.  With all that going on, GRW’s  encouragement, Liz’s comments, and the affirmations homework from Suzanne I don’t see how I can be pessimistic.

I love to write.  I’m going to make that sale!  I’m going to be published.

Just watch me!

(How’s that Suzanne?)

Posted in Carol Burnside, Everyday blather, Goals, Rants and Opinions | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Help Katrina victims

Posted on September 7, 2005 by Annie Rayburn/Carol Burnside

>Do you want to help with the Katrina Relief effort, but would rather know where your money is going?

Help Larissa, (also here) who fled the storm safely with her son, but returned to a flooded gulf coast home. Her insurance company tells her she was covered for hurricane damage, not storm surge. Her husband is Coast Guard, working to rescue others. Her son will have to go live with grandparents in another state so he can attend school without too much interruption.

Help Charlotte, who survived the worst of the storm, only to have flood waters and lack of power drive them to go live with relatives until they have power restored. Charlotte’s newlywed son lives directly across the street from her and is in the same predicament.

For both these ladies and their families, the financial implications are enormous and far reaching, the emotional blow crippling. Please help them recover from this devastating disaster.

Posted in Everyday blather | Comments Off on Help Katrina victims

Book Oopsies!

Posted on September 7, 2005 by Annie Rayburn/Carol Burnside

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Don’t forget Larissa and Charlotte.
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Has anyone read Kimberly Raye’s TEXAS FEVER??? (Blaze)

Good story, sexy premise, hunky cowboy hero and hot heroine.  Don’t get me wrong.  I enjoyed the book, but on pg. 155 the hero replaces the transmission on a wrecked car.  Then on pg. 205 he starts removing the old cracked one – again. Oops!  I guess gremlins put it back in???

These kinds of things give me nightmares.

In one book I wrote, the hero was a cop and–to keep it authentic for that town–his work schedule had to be taken into consideration in plotting the book.  I chose the prime shift, which had him working 6 am to 4 pm Sun-Wed.  He was a single father and this put him home in the evenings and on weekends with his son.  Everything revolved around this schedule.   At one point, I realized I’d started the book on a Thurs (before I’d learned about the work schedules) and had Mack answering a motorist in trouble call – only Mack didn’t work on Thursdays. Oops! One slight revision later… I ended up with a three-month calendar to track my scenes so I wouldn’t goof on his schedule again.

I have plans to expand that manuscript into a series of 5 books. I can’t even imagine the kinds of details I’ll have to keep up with then. While they will be stand alone books, I can only imagine I’ll need more like several years worth of calendars, an Excel spreadsheet and a lot of notes since they will involve siblings of the first couple.

What do you use to try and keep the Oopsies! from happening in your books?

Posted in Carol Burnside, Everyday blather, Here at home | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments