Muse Online Writer's Conference

If you are looking for a free, on-line writer's conference, check out The Muse Online Writer's Conference.  It's running from October 8-14. Registration ends September 30, 2012. Hope to see you there!

Have a great weekend!

Listening to Your CP's

Most of us know the value of a CP/Beta reader. (I think mine worth their weight in gold). They can point out those areas of a WIP that just don't quite work. Sometimes they can see your characters better than you can, and show you where you've let a character do something they wouldn't.  They're great for brainstorming with when you get stuck, too.

Another place you need to listen is when they tell you to read a specific book or author as they think you can learn something from them. My CP Tammy did that this past week. She recommended a book to me. So I bought it and read it (and then I read the sequel). And as I read them, I saw what she was trying to tell me I needed in my current WIP.

I was making it too easy for my MC to accept that the male MC loved her. There needed to be more doubt, he needed to work for it more.

So. when your CP's/Beta's give you feedback, really listen. It can make all the difference in the world.

Why does it work?

Hope you all had a great weekend. We went to the Hershey Camper Show on Saturday- looking for a new camper to upgrade from the pop-up to. No luck yet, though we were close. Good thing the boy was with us, because seeing him in our front runner, knocked it out of the running. (The beds are too small to fit him- if they only were 4 inches wider!) We learned what won't work, now to find what will.

Speaking of working and not working. I have a question for you all. When you find a story that just sucks you in and puts you in the world and you can't put it down, how do you go back and read it and look for what the author did to make it work so well for you?

I keep trying to do this- to analyze works that grab me and pull me in so I can learn what the author did and try and do it with my own writing, except I get caught up in the story when I try to analyze it.

So, any tips you all have would be greatly welcomed!

A Heap of Trouble by Lorrie Unites-Struiff

Today I welcome fellow MuseItUp author Lorrie Unites-Struiff to the blog for a peak at her Western Romance, A HEAP OF TROUBLE.

(Isn't the cover gorgeous? I just love the way the sun makes a heart between the two of them!)



Sheriff Cole Walker is fearless, except when it comes to critters. When a runaway ringtail monkey decides to adopt Cole and won't leave, he has more woes than he can handle.

Cole has a powerful yen for the newly arrived Mattie Wells, the pretty woman who can jingle his spurs with just a smile. Mattie takes a shine to men who have pets, and she adores the monkey. So do all the town's folk – until their smaller valuables start coming up missing. But Cole has no choice but to put up with the thieving furball if he's going to win Mattie's heart.

But Mattie is holding a dark secret and refuses to get married. Cole tries every which way to make her see that she's the only woman he wants, but with cattle rustlers and a miniature thief on the loose, it's all Cole can do to find time to take her to a picnic.

Cole and his deputies, Wade and Sully, are given a month to find the thieves before Mayor Farley calls for outside gunslingers. Cole knows that'll spell disaster for the town and likely unemployment for him. Can he overcome Mattie's fears, bring the rustlers in, and teach his new unwanted furball sidekick a lesson about property rights before the town implodes?

With the help of his deputies and his unwanted sidekick Beggar, Cole must find a way to win Mattie's heart, bring the rustlers to justice, and bring peace once again to Cold Creek, Kansas.

Yep. Cole has a heap of trouble on his hands.

So, if you're looking for a western romance, with a bit of comedy, check out A HEAP OF TROUBLE.

Available on MuseItUp at http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=367&Itemid=1&vmcchk=1&Itemid=1

Progress Update

The edits are coming along very nicely. I've gone through from top to bottom, and am now re-reading and making a few more tweaks.

Some things I've been working on are:

1) Dialogue tags- Removing ones that aren't needed, as the speaker is clear, and adding where the speaker isn't.

2) Passive voice vs. active voice. More on this one in a later post.

3) On my current read through, I noticed when I was introducing new people I stopped to describe them (almost head to toe!) I am working to give snippets of their appearance that fit with the action (or thoughts) taking place, so it isn't such an information dump.

4) And obviously, I've got my eye out for typos, grammar errors, and things that just don't make sense or flow correctly.

What are you working on and how's it going?

Sorry I'm Late!

Sorry for all the missed posts lately, but between vacation, working on edits for Quest, and trying to figure out what to do with TLP, I've been busy. Oh, and I know I haven't made it around to all your blogs (same reasons), and hope to get that corrected by this weekend!

The boy starts Middle School today (yeah, I know- what's with starting on a Thursday, rather than the usual Wednesday after Labor Day?). Hard to believe the summer's gone already and that my boy is starting Middle School!  I'm sure he'll have all kinds of interesting things to share over the next few weeks!

Well, time to make breakfast and get him off to the bus stop.Here's to getting back to a normal schedule soon!

Hope you all have a great weekend!!!