In case you missed the new link in the sidebar Rhian now has a blog.
I’ve managed to do up a couple of pages (in-between chewing my nails off), one is an excerpt page where I’ve been so kind as to put the prologue for the ms currently sitting on the editors desk. Go check it out, oh, and leave a comment on what you think of the blog.
Rhian
I’ve been quiet since returning from Manila, not because of the sore throat I ended up with but because Sunday was Mother’s Day and this year Mother’s Day turned out very special. I didn’t turn the computer on until almost lunch time. Hey, couldn’t knock back the 11 year old making me breakfast in bed! Anyway, I opened my emails, saw the number and thought everyone had been having a party without me. I quickly scanned the names and subjects and when I came across a name I didn’t know I read the subject. Are you interested in submitting? Well yeah, but who besides those companies after your money to ‘help’ you get published sends out emails? I was gonna spam box it. Not even sure what stopped me. I didn’t though.
I actually left it for over an hour, which I feel really bad about now, but I did open it. It was an editor with an epublisher that’s well known, not one of the really large ones but large enough. She’d come across me through a writing friend of mine and popped over here. After reading my excerpt she thought my story would fit in the line she edits for. If I was interest send a query/synopsis as per guidelines but put her name in the query saying she’d requested my work. Needless to say I screamed the house down, Hubby and son 1 came running and because I couldn’t speak just point at the monitor I got that look. You know the one, the ‘oh…… she’s finally lost it’ one. Getting the word read out is the hardest thing I’ve ever done and I’ve given birth to four children naturally!
Umm….. Helllloooooo. Am I going to let this particular red carpet go unwalked? Hell no! It was a good thing I’d done some bare bones structure of a synopsis while I was away in Manila. It took me most of Sunday and Monday to be happy with not just the synopsis but the query as well. It took five minutes to press the send button on that email. But I did it and they had my query first thing Monday morning their time, that’s the one bonus of being at least twelve hours ahead of the US. I can’t exactly work out the days because Tuesday for the US is Wednesday for Singapore but I’ll say two days later I got the request for the first three chapters. Today I go the request for the full.
I don’t think I’ve breathed since Sunday and my feet haven’t touched the ground at all today. I don’t care if it gets rejected, at this point I’ve got to the stage we all want to get to, having the whole story under the editors eyes. This is my first. First everything. And that’s the hard part, there are things you don’t know, things you can’t know until you’re here. Now I’ve hit a snag in the plans I’d made for publication. I want to published under my own name, and I will, just not this story. I wanted to use Rachel C because it’s what I’m known as but that has problems and is really close to my real name. I need a new one!
Yesterday, after much debate and rearranging of letters I came up with my pen name. For the first name I took one letter from each of my family’s first names and for the last name I took the first letter of my married and middle names and added them to my maiden name.
Rhian Cahill.
I’m in the process of getting blog and email set up, while chewing my nails off over the submission, and I’ll let everyone know when they’re up and running. I’ll still be handing around here because I will continue to write the stories that I’ll publish under Rachel Charlton. But for my Erotic Romance I’ll use Rhian Cahill.
Back to writing, I need to get going on Flash Point so I’ve got something else to send out soon. And this lovely red carpet is just the incentive a writer needs to go without food, water and sleep.
‘See’ ya soon!
Rachel
How cool is this cover? Devon certainly got lucky. Addicted still doesn’t have a release date but the fact that it’s on the coming soon pages at The Wild Rose Press says it can’t be that long before we get one. It’s all very exciting, this book is the first one I’ve followed from start to finish (I know we’re not quite finished but you know what I mean) and I’ve loved watching it grow. Now if I can just get as lucky when my turn comes……
‘See’ ya soon.
Rachel
Edited to let you know Devon has a book trailer; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBnGrAK5T-s
Go check it out!!! It’s great. Allie Boniface made it and I’m thinking she’s a very talented woman.
Hey, check me out. I’m in Manila! I convinced the hotel that Internet access was a must and here I am. I’ve been working, did plenty yesterday to give myself the reward of getting on-line. Wish I hadn’t when I opened my in-box to 187 emails. What’s with you people? Don’t you know you’re not supposed to have a life without me? LOL
Thought I’d post a pic. It’s the first time I’ve put on in a post. I’ve got my photo page now but that took me forever to work out. Let’s see if I can master the pic in a post thingy.
OMG! Did it work? I’ve got to publish it yet but it’s looking promising.
I’ve scored myself a lovely throat infection that is putting a crimp in my little hol but I’m sure not being able to swallow your own spit can’t be too bad. Can it? I was pretty pissed last night when I couldn’t order the BLT on the bar menu but this morning when I couldn’t swallow at all was a real kicker. I thought about opening a vein and getting my morning tea that way. I’m nothing without my morning cuppa. Hubby took of for work real quick.
Okay, back to work, Hubby wants to go for a massage again tonight. After last night the man thinks one everyday would be a good thing. I think I’ll just get a foot one tonight. Being practically naked couldn’t help with the sore throat.
‘See’ ya soon.
Rachel
Don’t you just love gathering ideas to write about? I got plenty in Bangkok last month and I think the new character playing in my head has sprung from that trip. She’s interesting and annoying and at the same time I feel really sorry for her. (Long story, you’ll get it eventually.) Anyway, my next trip to feed the muse is Manila. Or Clark. It used to be the US base. We’re actually staying on what was the base because that’s where UPS is. I’m planning on taking lots of pix and because we’re there through Saturday I’ll get to spend the day exploring with Hubby.
I’ve got big plans for this time away. Writing. Lots of it. I’m taking the laptop but don’t know if I’ll have internet access or not, I’m hoping not. That way I can concentrate on the writing without the distractions. I’ve packed the iPAQ which is loaded with books and I’m planning to do nothing else. Not that I do much anyway, but there always seems to be a distraction of some kind here at home.
Like today, footy day. the youngest has footy and I go and watch. The problem is that Midge is just that, tiny. He’s about half the size of the boys he plays with and against. As a mother it scary to watch he get tackled. If anyone bothered to take their eyes of the game and look at me they’d find me with my eyes squeezed shut a lot of the time. Tomorrow is training but I don’t have to go. I can’t, and I think being out of the country is a valid excuse.
I’m going to make the most of these couple of days because as of next week we’ll be going none stop. My in-laws are arriving, then there friends arrive, then my son’s girlfriends step-father arrives (confused?) all at the same time. All staying with us!!! I’m tired just thinking about it.
If I don’t have Internet access I’ll catch you all when I get back. And if I do I just might broadcast live from Clark. LOL
‘See’ ya soon.
Rachel
It can be scary all the things you need to do to further your writing career. There’s not just writing the story, I’ve discovered that part is easy, it’s everything that comes after that. There’s the edit/polish, then there’s the giving it to someone else to look at, very vomit inducing, more edit/polish and finally sending it off to a publisher. Now the really hard part begins. If they reject it your life is over, well, not quite but it comes close. If they want to read the full ms well, let’s just say that bucket is filling up fast. They might ask you to revise and re-submit, revise? But I polished the best I could already. Then of course, not that I know first hand but I’ve been told, they’ll be edits again before it goes to print. And I’m sure that’s not all of it. But that’s just one book! There’s also all the other stuff you have to do to promote ‘you’, the writer. Plus the book, or books. Promo sounds daunting. It can be simple, like this blog and joining some eloop groups or even going to face to face author goups. And that’s not even mentioning all the reader places you can visit. The idea though is to get your name out there. You know, spread the word about you and what you do.
The hardest decision to make is whether to spend money before you start making money. Having your own website is a big cost that some people just can’t afford or don’t want to do in case they don’t make their goal of getting published. Me? I’m in both catagories. Yeah, I can afford to spend the money, probably, but that second catagory tells me it’s a waste of money. Call me insecure, I know I am. When it comes to this part of me, my writing, I am sooooo insecure it’s laughable. So laugh away and when you’re done we’ll get back to it. Better? I have tried to make up for it by doing other things, this blog and my other one among them, and I have to admit that my name is getting out there. My family would probably say that’s because I’m loud and you can’t ignore me. But if I want to make a name as a writer then I have to look at that as an asset. No comments please.
Today my CP, Mari Carr, went live with her website. There’s a link in the sidebar but here have another one. www.maricarr.com
Her site looks really good, it made me feel like I was looking at photos of a really great holiday. It’s fresh and light and not too many bells and whistles to slow it down. I really hate it when a site takes forever to load because of all the bells and whistles. Anyway, Mari chose not to get her site going before publication, so then when her book came out it was a mad dash to get it happening. With everything else I’ve heard that goes on when you’re trying to get a book to print I’m not sure I want to be caught in that mad dash. I already have a good idea of what I want. I have a file full of photos to use, which are all homemade so to speak. I’m planning to have my family involved even if it is just by using one of their photos. You can be the judge on whether they’re good enough. All the photos on this site are taken by my family or me. Including the one in the header.
So the goal now, especially seeing how the early verdict on On A Wing And A Prayer is good, is to get the website going. I’m sure I’ll be blogging more about it as I’m bound to get frustrated and need to whine about it. In the mean time it’s there, my little domain name, there’s not much to see but you can see it. I love that. Little me has a web address, just for me!
‘See’ ya soon.
Rachel
No it’s not a TV show. I’m talking about fear and what it does to us. It guides us, motivates us, or has us shivering in a corner.
Today NJ Walters has a blog post on the Samhain blog about fear. http://samhainpublishing.com/blog/2008/05/03/fear
Go over and check out what she has to say, I can’t praise her enough. I love her books and her wit, and it’s such a thrill and a privilege to be able to spend time with her on the net.
I jumped a big fear myself in the last couple of days. You know I finished the second draft of On A Wing And A Prayer (that name really is too long, I’m thinking of changing it), I did the final read through and then before I could stop myself I sent it to my CP’s. It might have been 2am here but it was only 2pm the day before where they are. That’s if I got the time zone thing right. It’s the whole story. Except the epilogue, but I don’t want to write that until I know certain parts of the story won’t be removed. I’m now trying to get back into writing Flash Point, but that Lux just won’t leave me alone. sigh! (the muse has a lot to answer for)
I blogged over on my Rachel C site about my fear and why it’s so great, go over and have a read. It’s even got porn! (I bet that has you intrigued.)
I’m suffering from sleep deprivation because Hubby’s been away for a week. He’s back today! YAY! Maybe I’ll get more than two hours sleep tonight.
‘See’ ya soon.
Rachel
So I’ve been doing the second draft of On A Wind And A Prayer. I did mention that I hated this story. Well I did. It was great when I was writing it but it totally lost me when I opened it to start the edit/polish. Chapters 1 - 4 were a definite struggle. In fact they sucked the big one. Chapters 5 & 6 weren’t so bad, but what’s amazing to me is that by the time I got to chapter 7 I was falling in love again. Actually, I think I’d already fallen. It might have happen between 5 & 6, I’m not sure, but suddenly the passion was back. I remembered why I loved this book so much when I wrote it. I love the whole idea of this book, it’s outside what I normally write and required more imagination than just a normal romance would, but I was feeling it again. Finally!
I’m done with the second draft. Yep. Closed the file and tomorrow I’ll open it up and read it right through, no stopping. (Okay, there’ll be toilet breaks.) Then if nothing jumps out at me it’s bye bye baby. Off to visit with the CP’s. Then when they’ve picked it to pieces and I’ve cried and hated it all over again, I’ll pull out the red pen and do it all again. After that, it’s going to the publisher. (Oh, God! Did I just say that?) From there I’ll probably bite all my lovely long nails off. Or maybe pull all my hair out. Or I might just get stuck back into Flash Point, or Heartthrob, or the great new story that hit me in the shower earlier today. (Yes I have more people moving into my head.) We’ll see what happens tomorrow.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post on another blog about being struck by lightning (aka inspiration). I’ve been known to be struck at odd moments, for instance I had a whole scene roll out in my head on a busy street corner after colliding with a complete stranger. And yes, I stood there for a good 10 minutes looking like a complete space cadet. Today I was struck in the shower, I know dangerous place for lightning and you would think I’d know not to shower by now because it never fails to strike while I’m in there. Off on a tangent again, back to where I was going, new idea. Actually, new character. And she’s talking. I’m not talking for her, she’s talking, telling it from her point of view. I’ve done first person writing before, quite a lot actually but I’ve never thought about anything more than playing around with it. Well, no that’s a lie, I have one character who always talks in first person and then I have to turn it into third person once that story is finished. That’s what I’d thought I do because the rest of it is in third person. So back to today. Lux. Yeah, her name is Lux, long story and you’ll just have to wait for the book. She’s intriguing to say the least and down right enthralling. I can’t wait to start writing for her. But I will. I’m not sure she’s more than a short story, very short but you never know.
Well, it’s after 11pm and I’ve earned my reading time. I’m off to bed with my iPAQ full of ebooks. Decisions, decisions. Which one will I choose?
‘See’ ya soon.
Rachel
About six weeks ago we found ourselves the reluctant, I mean, proud guardians of two very young kittens. At around four weeks of age they were extremely small identical balls of fur, they have since grown, thank God! It’s quite scary having something smaller than your foot running around the house. The girls adopted them and they were named Boost and Malteaser. Brother and sister have been doing well, until yesterday. Boost took sick, throwing up and not drinking she shrunk to half her size in 24 hours. Lucky me got voted to take her to the vet this morning. Now we don’t own a car here in Singapore and having never taken a pet to the vet in any other form of transport I was a little nervous about getting in a cab with her. So wrapped in a towel (the cat not me) we went to the vet and the driver didn’t bat an eyelid when I got in with the little thing in my arms. Now Boost was not overly impressed by this excursion, but managed to hold her dignity long enough to get in the vets front door. From there all bets were off. With much yowling, scratching and climbing onto my head she voiced her displeasure. And this was all before the vet started with the poking and prodding, not to mention the indignity of having her temperature taken. I’m certainly in the bad books after allowing the vet to force feed her a tablet and give her a shot. Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. (If I say that often enough will I eventually believe it?) Unable to discover her exact ailment the vet has come to the conclusion that it’s highly likely she’s managed to eat something she shouldn’t. Oh, and the vet is 100% certain that she is a HE! Oh, oh! But last time….. Well, it’s difficult to tell at this age and as he’s only about 8 or 9 weeks old… What? She, I mean He should be about 10 to 11!
Apparently not!
So our babies are younger than we thought and I’m glad I had no idea how young they were at first or I’d have freaked at the thought of them dying on us. Three hourly feeds were bad enough when I thought they were 4 weeks old!
All drugged up we left the vet. By then of course it looked like rain so cabs were scarce, I started walking home with Boost wrapped in his towel in my arms. Ever tried to juggle a kitten, a handbag and an umbrella? Not easy. Well I couldn’t even manage it so I stopped at the bus stop opened my handbag and dumped Boost inside. Before you all freak out, it’s a big bag and I didn’t do it up. He promptly went to sleep. CAT-astrophe dealt with by midday!
Now, baby hamsters. Just getting fur, moving around a little and stinking the house out. We can’t touch them or the cage, or mom will turn carnivore. Yep, get any scent on them and she’ll eat them. If only child control were that easy. Kidding! One has it’s eyes open but the rest wriggle around without the benefit of sight. Mom is pretty good so far, occasionally she gets the shits and just gets up and walks away. Usually there’s at least one stubborn bugger still attached but she doesn’t let that stop her, she just keeps going til they drop off. Unrelated desaster not so bad. Yet! Let’s see how bad the place really smells in another couple of weeks.
Fridge door. Well, um… I broke it. Yep, me. sigh! Well not really, the hinge that holds the damn thing on has rusted through and when you open the door it drops about two inches. Consequently you have to lift and push the door against the frame to close it. Ever tried that? Nope. Well don’t bother, it’s hard. Real hard. Now imagine doing it with all the shelves full. Mmmm….. 11 year olds can’t. Even this 39 year old struggles. The repair man says we just need a new door. Cool, how long? Oh, well…. (this is where I’m thinking this is not going to be good) about four to eight weeks. What? You’re joking? Asian repair man doesn’t understand this question, humor unfortunately doesn’t travel the language barrier very well. Seeing how the fridge belongs to the landlord I’ve got no option but to do as he requests. Repair the door. I’m thinking the man needs to come over here and be our fridge door closer for the duration. I’m also thinking the door must be coming from the other side of the world. But alas, no. It’s coming from Korea. And we all know that’s sooooo far from Singapore. Unrelated disaster dealt with but still unsolved. Do you people have any idea how many times you open a fridge in a day?
So after my eventful day I’ve done no editing. Which sucks! I had the day all set aside just for that. Better luck tomorrow. Maybe. Hopefully. Better be!
‘See’ ya soon.
Rachel
When I’m writing a story I love it. I’m so in love with it that I think, ‘yes this is the one.’ I’m still in love with it when I write ‘The End’, not that I ever actually write those words but you get what I mean. The I stick it in the bottom draw and let it mature before pulling it out for the edit/polish stage. And that’s when it hits me. I hate it. It sucks! Yep, bubble burst! So what happened? Why is this great story suddenly not so great? What happened down in that bottom draw? If there’s a word eater in there eating all my great words I’m gonna be really pissed!
I don’t get it, at all! I mean I can see the spelling errors (remember this is my personal flaw) and the grammar ones (another personal flaw), but why does the whole thing suddenly not look so good? And why did it look so good when I was busy spinning the tale? And the editing is harder because I hate it. I had a big whinge about it last night to Sandie, poor girl I think I hurt her ears. She’s got the same thing, so is it an author thing in general or just us newbies/unpub’s? I’m hoping someone will stop by and say it goes away but I’ve got a horrible feeling that it’s gonna be here to stay. Devon has read to chapter four and she likes it. Amie Stuart did a crit of the first 30 pages and she said it was a good story but needed the edit/polish, which was fine because it hadn’t had any when she read it.
So it’s not a complete loss. Well, probably not at all but I’ve got that insecure author thing going on and it fits so well that I don’t want to take it off. It doesn’t help that my latest bunch of characters are all screaming for my attention. I need to get back to them to get their stories told but I’ve promised myself I’ll get On A Wing And A Prayer ready to submit. Where’s those CP’s with their trusty boots when I need them?
I guess I just have to do it. sigh! Does someone want to do it for me? No. Okay, I get it, I’m going now. Back to the editing hole.
‘See’ ya soon.
Rachel
