Decisions, Decisions

As I take a break from working on the synopsis for the book I just finished writing, I have to think about the next project I will be working on. Okay, you all know me too well. I'm procrastinating my work on the synopsis. But, I promise to get right back to it once I am finished here.

Honestly, I really do need to figure out what I want to write next. In October, after getting home from the Magna cum Murder Crime Writing Festival, I was certain that I wanted to turn my attention to writing a contemporary mystery. I was so sure of it, that I worked on a strict mystery during NaNo in November. It was actually the second book in a series, I started the first one last year for NaNo. However, now I'm not so sure I want to leave the romantic suspense genre.

So, here I sit, close to wrapping things up on my latest romantic suspense and keeping my fingers crossed that a publisher will be interested in it, needing to figure out what to do next. Decisions, decisions. I actually have six different projects in various stages of beginnings. I have two books with five chapters finished, two with four chapters finished, and two with one chapter finished. You would think that I would go with one of them that is the farthest along, but no that's not necessarily the case.

I want to select the one that I will most likely stick to and get completed. At least one of those books, I have started and stopped working on several times. I need to choose the one that is the most interesting for me to write. Most importantly, I will have to decide if I want to stick with romantic suspense, since that's what genre my two completed books have been.

As I said.....decisions, decisions.

Carol

Happy Birthday, Mr. Poe

Today is the birthday of my favorite author, Edgar Allan Poe. I first became interested in his works while taking a Poe and Twain class in high school. I had always heard of The Raven, but at the time, I wasn't familiar with his short stories. I suppose it's the mystery lover in me that resulted in me becoming a fan.

One of the things I remember from my high school class was the English teacher bringing a Alan Parsons Project album (yes, those black vinyl discs) to class that were songs about some of Poe's works. I thought that was so cool. I'm still trying to find that album. My favorite was The Fall of the House of Usher, both on the album and the short story. I still love watching the Vincent Price movie of the same name.

I also remember when in college, taking every literature class the school had to offer, my fellow students always gave me an odd look when I would tell them Poe was my favorite author. I always wondered if they were a little afraid of me because of that.

A annual tradition started on his birthday in 1949 was when a mystery visitor would leave roses and a half-full bottle of cognac on his grave. Even with people trying to watch the grave, the mystery visitor was always able to leave his gifts undetected. For the second year in a row, the visitor failed to appear this year, causing speculation about why. CNN has put up a blog post about it here.

I think I need to go check and see if there is a Kindle download I can get of Poe's works. Now, that would be cool to have. Happy birthday, Edgar.

Don't forget, there's still a little time left to vote for me and my novel in the Preditors & Editors Readers' Poll. See my post below for details. Thanks.

Carol

Vote for Me - My Write-in Campaign

UPDATE: You no longer have to write my vote in. I'm now on the ballot for both my novel and as an author. I would appreciate your vote. Thanks.

I need a favor. There's a poll going on right now on the Preditors and Editors web site to vote for your favorite book, etc. I'm not listed, but there is a write-in field at the bottom of the list. I'm asking for your write-in vote for my book under the Romance category. You'll need to put my book's name, my name, link to my book, and my publishers name. I've listed the info below that you'll need. Just copy and paste the url, it's so long.

Love, Lies & Deceit
Carol Preflatish
Red Rose Publishing
http://redrosepublishing.com/books/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=254&products_id=399

Once you enter it, you'll get an email with a link in it to click to confirm your vote. It might take a bit to get the email, I just did mine and haven't got the confirmation email yet.

If you feel the spirit, you can write-in my name on the Author's Page, too.

Carol Preflatish
http://CarolPre.webs.com

Thank you for your vote. I appreciate it.

Carol

Searching for my Discipline

I've felt so out of control lately. I wake up on the weekends with good intentions of getting back to my writing, but then other things get in the way. There's laundry to be done, a vacuum cleaner to fix, packing an overnight bag to keep in my car in case of icy weather (may have to use that this week), and finally helping with a family emergency. Now, the family emergency can't be helped and it will probably continue for a while. The other stuff? Well, those are things that need to be done, but not right away. I've lost my discipline.

I'm not really surprised. It seems to happen about this time every year. I work hard during November on the NaNo project and then take December off for Christmas activities. January should be the month that I get back on track and so far, it hasn't happened. It's not for a lack of trying. I pulled out the partially completed projects that I have so I could decide which one I want to work on first and made that decision. I just can't seem to get out of the starting gate. It will happen, it always does. I'll wait for it and when it does happen, you can be sure that I will be out of that starting gate in a flash.

Carol

Happy New Year!!

It's the last day of 2010. Where has the decade gone? My husband and I have never been ones to go out on New Year's Eve and tonight will be no different. In fact, I'll probably be fast asleep when the clock hits midnight. I did stop by the store yesterday planning on buying a bottle of champagne for tonight, but I've never liked champagne. Instead, I purchased my favorite bottle of wine, French Lick Red, made at a local winery.

I don't usually make New Year's Resolutions, I never stick to them. I would rather call this my "To Do" list for 2011.

1. Lose weight (again)
2. Complete at least one new book and maybe two
3. Find a new day job (this one is leaving me no extra time)
4. Clean off our bookshelves and donate our old books to the local book swap
5. Fill up said bookshelf with new books
6. Go somewhere on vacation instead of just staying home for a week
7. Attend one or two writers' conferences
8. Try my hand at writing a couple short stories

I know that's not a very big list, but as things change in my life goals are completed and new ones added. That why I don't make resolutions, a To Do list can be changed, Resolutions aren't suppose to change.

I hope you all have a safe and happy new year.
Carol

Goodbye 2010 and on to a New Year and a New Book

Wow, where has the year gone? It really seems like 2010 flew by. Below, I have tried to recap my years.

January: I started marketing my newly released novel and it was a learn as you go process. If I had only known more about marketing when the book came out, it might have done even better than it did. I had one online interview in this month.

February: After taking a month off from writing while doing the marketing of Love, Lies & Deceit, I started back to working on a manuscript that I had started in November 2009 for NaNo. This was also a big month for me because I did my first live interview on BlogTalkRadio.

March: This month, I only had one interview on Roseanne Dowell's Author Blog and I continued working on my current manuscript. I bought a laptop computer this month. I'd wanted one forever and finally saved enough money to make the purchase.

April: This was an interesting month for me as I was transferred to a new job at work. It wasn't one that I would have chosen, but I needed a job and had to do it.

May: Starting that new job meant a lot of time on the road during the day and only time to write in the evening or on weekends. No more writing over lunch. Thank goodness the days were getting longer. My daughter and her husband came to visit over Mother's Day weekend. They live out of state and we only get to see them a few times a year.

June: I'm not a fan of summer and this one was a hot one. The air conditioner went out in my car and I was pretty drained after a day of driving to destinations for work. My writing time was now limited to weekends.

July: I had hoped to attend the Romance Writers of America national convention at the end of this month. It was being held in Nashville, Tennessee, which was within driving distance of where I live. That meant I wouldn't have to pay for a flight and only had to come up with the money for the hotel and registration. That trip went down the drain (no pun intended) when the Opryland Hotel flooded and shut down through October. The convention was moved to Orlando, Florida. So much for that trip.

August: I desperately wanted to attend a writer's conference this year and when I found out that the Magna cum Murder mystery writer's conference was being held in October in Muncie, Indiana, I had to try and attend. I scheduled my vacation at work to coincide with the conference and started saving my travel reimbursement checks from work for the trip. I also finished the manuscript this month that I had been working on. The editing began.

September: I put my mind to marketing my book again this month and was able to be interviewed on four blogs this month, while also editing my recently completed manuscript.

October: This was a big month for me. In keeping up with my marketing plan, I had two blog interviews this month and was also the subject of a college project by a friend's daughter who attends Purdue University and is majoring in Professional Writing. We did several interviews via email about my career as a writer. For a short period of time, I thought I wasn't going to be able to attend the Magna cum Murder conference, but my friend and fellow author, Marian Allen came to the rescue. I was able to attend and even rode up and roomed with Marian and another author, T. Lee Harris. We had a great time and I met some wonderful authors at the conference.

November: This was NaNoWriMo month. The book I chose to write this month was a sequel to the one I started working on last November. I wanted to try my hand at writing a contemporary mystery. I didn't make it to the goal of 50,000 words, but I did get almost five chapters written and was very pleased with my final word count.

December: The college project I was the subject of was finished and Abbey received a grade of A on it. Congrats to her. I always take December off from writing as a little break after participating NaNo in November. So, no writing this month, but that doesn't mean that I didn't keep my mind on goals for the new year.

So, here I am in the last week of 2010 working on my goals for 2011. I have a few partially completed manuscripts and need to decide which one I want to work on next. Do I want to continue with writing romantic suspense, or do I want to switch to straight contemporary mystery? I also plan on getting the last four chapters of my completed manuscript edited and the dreaded synopsis written, hopefully by the end of January. Then, in February I can start sending it out to publishers. A new day job would also be nice, one where I don't have to work in a different office almost every day. I also have a short story, the only short story I have ever written, that I want to try and put up as a Kindle download. Wish me luck on that. Beyond that, I have no idea where 2011 is going to take me. Hopefully, another book contract lays ahead. Stay tuned and see what happens.

Carol

Merry Christmas

I wanted to wish a very Merry Christmas to you and your families. I'll be spending my Christmas with my family today. My husband gave me a Kindle a few months ago as my main Christmas present, but he also gave me a couple DVD's and a bag of my favorite bite-size candy bars last night.

We received a couple inches of snowfall on the ground overnight. First white Christmas in a while. I made sure I filled our birdfeeder yesterday, so they are taken care of today. My cat is lazily sleeping upstairs on my bed after feasting on a can of special cat food. He only gets canned food at Christmas and I'll be going out in a few minutes to feed my dog his can of food. Then, I'll be putting the finishing touches on a cauliflower and broccoli salad that I'll be taking to my mom's later. The rest of the day may be spent napping.

Enjoy your day and hug your love ones.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays,
Carol