Friday, August 19, 2011

Flashback Friday--A New Feature

Okay, call me lazy. Or call me frugal. I've decided to recycle some old posts and call them Flashback Friday. Well, hey. I've been blogging here for eons (yes, much more frequently in the past), and there are GEMS in those posts, I tell ya, GEMS.

So I went to a random date generator (God bless the Internet), and the first Friday it spit out was September 5, 2008.

Click, click, click (fingers crossed there's something halfway decent on that date, and voila!) The following is an account of what was going on in Randyland September 5, 2008.

Writing Stuff

Contrary to recent posts, Randy DOES continue to write romance. Currently, I'm hacking away at a manuscript for which the full has been requested by an agent.

So, that's something, right?

Meanwhile, partials of various manuscripts remain in slush piles all across Manhattan. My favorite is the partial that's been "with an editor" for nearly two years. (Yep, no typo there. TWO YEARS.) Another one--this an actual REQUEST--is going on ten months. Suffice to say, there are others that I suspect are lost forever with no response, despite the SASE provided. Ditto for a couple of short stories submitted twice (not to True Romance, by the way).

In the department of new writing, well...I'm trying an approach which I think can best be summed up as "letting the story come to me" instead of forcing it. When I first began this journey of questionable wisdom, it seemed prudent to have a second manuscript ready in the event the first one garnered significant interest. So I feverishly went about completing Stealing Amy (and then sold down the river to an epub). Then I wrote Leftovers. These days, I'm not in the same kind of hurry. As a result, after completing Lights! Camera! Love! back in February (March?), I didn't rush to start something new. Did a lot of research, though. Sketched out some characters and snippets of ideas. Conjured up a few possible plot lines. Tossed them out to my critique partners who came back with all kinds of help.

Still, the story didn't take shape--it didn't fit the nebulous vision in my brain.

So I waited.

Yesterday, I admitted to myself that I've been avoiding the structure the book absolutely MUST have if I'm to succeed at what I set out to achieve. Truthfully, I'm not sure I have the chops to pull it off, but I have to try.

The cool thing is that I get a little tingle in my writing fingers when I think about rising to the challenge.

Wish me luck!


Sunday, August 14, 2011

Rant for A Sunday

Back when I first started blogging, the title of this site was Randy's Rants, Raves, and Ramblings...or something like that. I forget. Anyway, sometimes I miss having a venue to spill my guts, so today...ta-da! Back to ranting.

Yesterday, step-bro Patrick phoned with an ominous message--Charter Cable was threatening to cut off my mom's cable and Internet service if the outstanding bill wasn't paid within twenty-four hours. Since I handle all their finances, yeah, the issue landed in my lap.

And since I handle all their finances, WTF? Had I missed something?

Which meant a trip to the office where I keep all my paperwork. Just what I wanted to do on a Saturday, right? Schlep into the office? But schlep I did. And as I careened into the parking lot, it occurred to me...um...did I have my keys?

Spent ten minutes going through my purse a million times. No keys.

Schlepped back home (with a detour for gas), pawed through my other purses (y'know--the black one, the white one, the beige one). Finally found them in...you guessed it...the ORIGINAL purse. (How did I forget to check the little zippered pocket on the outside of the damn thing?)

Schlepped back to the office.

Hauled out my records and fired up the computer. Sure enough, there was the payment I made on July 23. Next, I called up the on-line bank statement.

Oops.

But, hey. Is it my fault someone (Charter? the bank?) mis-read my handwriting? That 188 looked a teensy bit like 108...? And aren't they supposed to go by the WRITTEN amount (y'know where the words are actually spelled out?). Meanwhile, I called stepbro, and the new bill had just arrived. Wasn't even due yet.

So, let me get this straight. For all Charter knows, I made a PARTIAL payment, the next payment isn't even due yet, and they're threatening to cut off the service??

Naturally, speaking to a human is nearly impossible, so rather than spend any more time on it, I paid the whole thing with a credit card. But I'm seriously pissed at Charter. (Yeah, and I know they're quaking in their boots.)

And while we're on a rant, how about this one? I ordered a rather pretty dress from an outfit called Soft Surroundings last week. It arrived on Friday, and for various reasons, I went back to the website to see what it looked like on-line. Well, crap. The thing was now on sale for FORTY DOLLARS less than I paid only a week ago! And, as I checked the dress out, I noticed it was made in China.

Back it goes.

Okay. Feeling better now. How 'bout you?




Tuesday, August 09, 2011

Leftovers Available Now! (Edited LOL)


Nooooo...we're not talking food, although each chapter begins with a tasty little recipe from my heroine's kitchen.

Leftovers is my latest release! (Pause for the applause)

I've gotta be honest here. Leftovers is a little different from my previous two books. Let's just say that while Stealing Amy and Lights! Cameras! Love! are romances that also happen to be mysteries, Leftovers is more like women's fiction that also happens to have romance. Go figure. I don't seem to be able to get away from it.

Anyway, just in case the description's not up at Amazon yet, here's what it will say when it arrives (okay, don't quote me on this, 'cuz I've already forgotten what I posted, but this is a reasonable facsimile):

Rose waited too long to get married...now she's stuck with other women's leftovers.

Call her an anti-feminist, but Rose Thornton doesn't care about 'having it all.' She just wants a husband and kids of her own to make up for inheriting the step-family from hell at the age of ten. Impending marriage to her boss John Worthington (the third, and a doctor no less!) bodes well for the dream...until she catches him with a hussy who turns out to be pregnant with his child.
Out of a job, temporarily bunking with a girlfriend, but still fiercely attached to her goal, Rose goes the Murphy Brown route, with only two minor glitches to solve: no money...no sperm. She gets the finances handled, then proceeds with daddy donor options: there's the "baby back-up" (her ex-beau who promised to do the deed if they managed to hit forty still childless); the Internet sperm bank (who knew swimmers were only a click away?);
and...well...there's dating.
Meanwhile, there's also Sam Sheridan--father of two daughters and married to Rose's sister, Angie. Only Angie's currently on hiatus in Borneo doing a spiritual cleanse and Sam's bi-coastal job's left him needing someone to watch the girls. Who better than a family member like jobless, homeless, Rose?
Treading in her sister's stilettos is pathetic enough, but when Rose finds herself falling for Sam, it's her worst nightmare come true.
Talk about your leftovers....
Available now as a digital download at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. And as soon as Smashwords ships to Apple and all the rest, you'll be the first to know!
And shhh...don't tell Amy or Daphne, but Rose's book is my favorite to date. ('Course I'll probably say the same thing about Jen And The Art of Menopausal Maintenance when I get around to finishing it.)