Well, that's all from here for a few days. I'm off on vacation until Saturday. Woohoo! Don't know if I'll have internet access, so I probably won't be around. I'm taking my laptop, a couple of new books and my CP's final chapters to crit. I hope to get a lot of writing and reading done, and hopefully relax a bit with the family.

On the writing front, I managed to write twenty pages today (woohoo!), so I definitely feel like I'm making progress. I'm closing in on the last 25%.

In case you missed it, my post is up today at Romance Worth Killing For. And don't forget to check out Joan's post on Wednesday and Lin's post on Friday.

See you all next week!

In case you missed it, this week the girls over at Murder She Writes have been blogging about their first books. Not necessarily their first published books, but the first books they wrote. It's been a hoot to read...and very interesting.

The general concensus seems to be most authors sell their 4th or 5th book. Why that is, I'm not entirely sure, although I'd bet it has something to do with practicing your craft enough so it finally hits home. (BTW one girl at MSW did sell her first completed ms. And we struggling writers all hate her! LOL - just kidding.) For me, that's encouraging news because I am right now working on book #5. And while I don't want to jinx myself, I can sorta see the theory behind the 5th book idea. My writing is better with this one. My characters are deeper, and (most importantly to me) the words flow onto the page easier.

Book #4 was tough for me to write. I loved the characters, like the plot, but I had trouble with it. It's much darker than anything else I've written. And it took me six months to get it done. Now, part of that could be the fact I had a newborn in the house, but six months is a long time for me. Book #5 just seems to be going so much smoother.

Does that mean I've finally found my voice? I have no clue. That word is tossed around so much, I'm not entirely sure what it means. At my RWA meeting last week, a fellow writer complimented our new blog at Romance Worth Killing For. She said she'd read the first line of the post up that day and immediately said to herself, "This has GOT to be Elisabeth." So she scrolled down to find out who had posted, and sure enough, it was me. Obviously, that means my blogging voice is in line with my normal voice. But does that mean I've finally found my writing voice? I'm not sure. I do know this much though, if my writing voice is finally melding with my natural snarkastic voice, then yeah, maybe I have found it. And maybe that's what people mean when they say it takes you 4-5 books to really find it and work with it.

Tomorrow I may have a different view, but today that sounds pretty good. ;)

I could go in line with the girls at Murder She Writes and tell you about my first book - *SHUDDER* - but I'll save you from that horror. Let's just say I've come a long, LONG way.

Have YOU found your voice? If so...how long did it take you? Or are you still searching?

I've played about twenty games of spider solitaire this afternoon and finally realized I need to get my butt in gear and get writing.

So...I'm blogging.

Well, it's writing in a form, right? At least, that's what Piper keeps trying to tell me. *sigh* Sorry, Pipes. I ain't buyin't it. This is what we call wasting time and avoiding the WIP. BIG time.

Why am I avoiding the WIP? Not sure. I think the main reason is because I have to write a crime scene, and I hate the thought.

Now, I know what you're thinking. But, Eli, you write RS! How can you hate writing crime scenes???

One simple reason. Crime scenes aren't just about dead bodies (which I have no problem with). Crime scenes involve cops. And I hate writing about cops. I feel like a fish out of water when I do.

Luckily, my fabulous critique partners - one of whom is married to an ex-cop, and the other who has researched cops extensively - have given me great info to get going. And I did write it - all of a page. And now I'm avoiding it.

Argh.

So I'm finding anything else to keep me busy. I critted chapters from said CP, but she hasn't sent more and left me hanging on the verge of a sultry scene. (Yes, J. I'm MAD at you!). I printed out a partial of SOS I need to send, finally keyed in some edits on the WIP I've saved for a few weeks, and now I'm balking at sending another partial.

Why?

Because the second partial is going to a big agent. One I'd love to land. And it's my WIP - the one I *think* might just have that something special. And in my gut, I'm thinking, "Well, if I just don't send it, she can't say no."

See? Loser central here.

*sigh*

Okay, I guess that's as much time-wasting as I can manage. I'm off. To do . . . something. Wish me luck.

This is one of those holidays I used to love when I was teaching. A day off that wasn't a major holiday you had to prep for like Thanksgiving or Christmas. Just a day to hang at home and veg out. And it was sure a kick to know all my non-public sector working friends all had to go to work and I didn't. (Snicker, snicker)

Of course, that's when I was teaching. Now that I'm home, it's a day when all my Gremlins are home from school, when the banks are closed and the mail isn't delivered, when the gym is PACKED with people who have the day off or need a place to drop their kids. And now as a non-teacher, it's kind of annoying.

Although what's really annoying today is that Gremlin #1 is grounded and stuck in the house with me. Ay ya ya...I see a day of nothing getting done. This is the part of parenting that totally sucks.

On a totally different note...Monday's my day to post over at Romance Worth Killing For, and I did manage to get at least that done.

So Happy President's Day! Hope it's a good one.

I'm taking this new workout class called Group Power at my health club. Basically, it's set up like your typical aerobics class, but it's all weight lifting. You have a bar and weights, and an instructor up on a stage shouting orders through a microphone attached to her face. And it's all set to music. So you do one muscle group to one track...for example squats (oooh. I hate squats!) for 5.5 min, thereby working every major muscle group in your body in one hour. The idea is mid weights with high reps to tone instead of bulk.

Okay, that's the idea.

So, I've been taking this class three times per week for the past three weeks, and I gotta say. It. Is. Kicking. My. Ass. Nevermind that I've been working out hard five times per week since Christmas. Basically I'm coming off two yrs of not working out - being pg and sluggish, and a post-pg year where I thought I'd just rebound like I did with my other two pregnancies. Ah. No one told me being in your 30's changes your body FOREVER!

*sigh*

There is a point here, don't worry.

So, like I said, it's now been three weeks and I've decided I really dislike my instructor. She's blonde and thin and strong and smiles ALL the time. (I think there's something wrong with her face.) She looks like she's about 25 - perfect, perky, all those things those of us who AREN'T 25 hate. So as I sweat and frown and growl through clenched teeth as I'm lifting and she's yelling at us to "PUSH YOURSELVES!", I look at her and think, if I were 25 and single and had no kids, I could look like that, too. It's immature, but it gets me through the hour without wanting to scream.

Of course, that was before I learned she has three kids ages 10, 8, and 5. That she's been married for fourteen years. That her husband is an FBI agent and often travels so she does the single mom thing a lot.

As you can guess, all my preconceived ideas were squashed with that information. And now instead of being irritated by her, I'm more awed at what she's able to do. (Of course, I still think there's something wrong with her face because she really does smile all the time, even when she's killing us. Maybe she's masochistic? As one guy said to me after class the other day, "It's like being in boot camp all over again, except the drill sergeant SMILES at you.").

Today while in class, that little tidbit of info got me thinking about this whole writing gig (see, told ya there was a point to all this). All those excuses I lump on myself about why I'm not getting things done in a timely fashion are bogus. Yeah, I have three kids. And yeah, they're young. But a lot of successful authors have young kids. A lot have more than three. And a lot have gone on to do amazing things. It's the same if you're working full time or do the single mom thing. If writing's what you want to do but you're making excuses about not getting it done, then you're not really pushing yourself to be all you can.

So, I pushed myself a little harder in class today. And I'm sore and tired, but I know in the not-too-distant future, it's going to pay off. Just like the writing.

Soon.

If I keep pushing, it'll happen soon.

Tagged by Linda. (Gosh, um...am I supposed to be thankful???)

current clothing: blue sweats, white long-sleeved tee
current hair: Down, messy
current refreshment: Water with lots of ice
current annoyance: My legs. They ache thanks to my nazi weightlifting instructor. Lunges suck, and that track/set was NOT easier than the normal one!
current avoidance: laundry
current smell: Chocolate. DH brought home chocolates for Valentine's Day
current thing you ought to be doing: working on my love scene
current thing or things on your wall: The one I can see? The most fabulous sunset picture of Marigot Bay I took when we were in St. Lucia. Had it blown up, matted and framed for DH one Christmas.
current IM/person you're talking to: No one. They left me.
current jewelry: Diamond ring
current book: See side bar. I have a bunch
current worry: Landing an agent
current favorite celebrity: None
current obsession: See current worry
current love: DH (always!)
current longing: See current worry and obsession
current disappointment: see current worry, obsession and longing (wow, is it just me or all of these basically the same question???)
current lyric in your head: "I'm gonna love you, like nobody loves you..." (From Keith Urban's Making Memories of Us) - been stuck in my head all day.
current music: Home by Michael Buble
current favorite book: To The Brink by Cindy Gerard. AWESOME
current favorite movie: None. Although Wedding Crashers is a hit here, and DH has been telling the Gremlins to "lock it up" since I bought it for him.
current wish: A publishing contract
current happy thing: Learning I won in a contest
current undergarments: Huh?
current desktop picture: Purple tropical paradise. See picture:
current plans for tonight/weekend: To write
What are you currently doing? Dumb question. This darn questionnaire

Okay...I tag Paty, Piper, Christine and Teri. Have at it girlies. I'm going back to my love scene.

I just got news Make Me Believe placed first in the Single Title category of the Romancing The Tomb contest!

What a great gift today!

Ever have a scene you're trying to work toward, but things keep getting in the way?

That's where I am at right now. Chapter twelve. I'm closing in on the first love scene, but I have a series of events that have to happen first. What I thought would be a couple of pages has turned into a whole freakin' chapter, and I'm nowhere closer to that love scene now than I was before writing over the weekend.

*sigh*

Joan keeps asking me what's stalling my progress. Nothing! It's just all this other stuff that has to get in there for the plot. It's pretty reminiscent of the days when my mother was teaching me to swim. She'd stand in the deep end (okay, deep to me, not to her) and hold her arms out, while I swam toward her. Little did I know, she'd take small steps backwards as I approached to encourage me to keep going. My characters seem to be doing that now...baby stepping themselves backwards, out of my reach.

Argh.

To top it off, I awoke this morning with the beginnings of what I think is the flu. (Thanks, DH). I need to gather tax info, complete my GH judging (I only have one left. Woohoo!), finish laundry and work on that darn chapter. Not sure any of that is going to get done today.

In other news though, my first post is up over at Romance Worth Killing For! Go check it out!

Just in time for Valentine's Day: ROMANCE WORTH KILLING FOR, a blogging collaboration by three romantic suspense authors, Elisabeth Naughton, Joan Swan and Linda Winfree.

All writing-related topics, all the time. With 8 collective years of serious writing between us, the subjects will range from back-to-basics grammar and GMC, through the submission process, obtaining an agent and beyond. Posts scheduled Mon/Wed/Fri with surprises planned in between, so check back often.

Don't worry, I'll still be posting here with my usual rants about writing, the Gremlins and life in general. But egad! I'm scheduled to post first over at RWKF. Better go figure out what witty things I'm going to say...

Did that get your attention?

I came across this great article today while doing research. No, it wasn't that kind of research, but I still managed to stumble across this. It's interesting (um, to say the least).

Anyone who's ever written a love scene knows it's the hardest scene in the world to write (no pun intended there). You gotta keep it fresh, new, exciting, and you have to figure out a way to say the same thing without repeating yourself in the last scene you wrote. The following article might just stimulate your mind and give you some interesting ideas.

Sex in the Romance: A Review of Romantic Encounters of the Close Kind.

Enjoy!

Whew! Home Safe and Sound

I'm back from my writer's retreat at the coast, and I had a great time! Lots of food, lots of great conversation, lots of laughs. It's so fun to be in the presence of other writers who just "get it".

Highlights of the weekend included:

1. The 80 mph winds and massive storm Friday night. OMG...thought we would BLOW away. Definitely not relaxing when you're afraid the beach house is going to get whisked out into the raging Pacific.

2. Writing twenty pages and editing ten more on Saturday. Wow! That felt good. I really needed that jumpstart.

3. Listening to everyone else plot and brainstorm their books. Wonderful ideas brewing out there.

4. Dancing with Lenny Apple at the karaoke bar. Let me tell you, that man has moves AND great taste. He proved yet again that blondes have more fun. ;) He also proved my hubby wrong when he said I follow REALLY well (See that, honey? I don't always try to lead!)

5. And, oh yeah, who could forget the sexy sheriff's deputy who pulled us over on the way home and could barely keep from laughing at Piper's attempts to get out of her speeding ticket? The really hilarious part was it worked!

Definitely a weekend to remember. Can't wait to do it all again!