This I know for sure...

In a certain area of my life, I've been spending a lot of time alternating between disappointment and hope.  Surprisingly enough, it's not my writing life.  A writer should expect to experience quite a bit of these emotions during the pursuit of publication. 

What I've learned is that I'm tired of acting like a yo-yo.  First I was up and full of hope and then I was down full of disappointment when I hadn't heard from the person who would make the decision that affected me.  After too many weeks of this, I made the decision this week that I wouldn't dwell on the hope part. If I didn't have my hopes up, then I didn't suffer the feeling of disappointment.  I would just let whatever was going to happen and not dwell on what could be, what I hoped would be.

Yesterday afternoon I finally heard from the person making the decision that would affect me.  The outcome wasn't what I was hoping for, what I really wanted to happen, but the strange thing is that I don't really feel all that disappointed.  Could it be because I stopped hoping?  Or was it because I told myself the decision was taking too long and that meant the outcome wasn't going to be in my favor?  Either way, I learned that living up and down alternating from one extreme of emotion to another is no way to live.  In the future, I going to do my best to just let go and let whatever happens happen and not dwell on what could happen good or bad when I have no control over a situation.

Please Welcome My Guest

Please welcome my guest, LaVerne Clark.  

LaVerne lives in the beautiful coastal town of Nelson at the top of the South Island, the sun capital of the country.  She is a member of Romance Writers of New Zealand.  I am so very pleased to have her as my guest today.(And intensely jealous that she lives in the sun capital. I'd love to live in a sun capital.)

Tell us something about yourself both writing and not writing related.

I adore writing from the villain’s POV. I think the fun is writing from a ‘normal’ person’s perspective, and twisting it slightly. I’ve often been asked how such nastiness can come from such a nice person. :o)   I tell them the truth – it was the character talking – not me!

When I’m not writing, I take my greyhound out for a run on the beach [I watch her run – not join in ;)] and play social netball pretty badly. If you’ve read my books, you’ll notice greyhounds feature in both of them. I’m involved with an organization here in New Zealand that helps to re-home retired racers. They really DO make the best pets and are the ultimate couch potato. I’m madly in love with my one.

I'd like to take a brief moment and thank you for your work with former Greyhound racers. I have a friend who does similar work with retired racehorses. It's amazing how many owners no longer want the animal once they stop winning.  Okay, back to the interview.  Do you have a writing routine?  Where do you usually do your writing?

I write every day but Fridays. With a preschooler at home, I’ve found it impossible to do any writing while she’s here. Instead, I write in the evenings on the computer in the bedroom. After hubby goes to bed, I’ll continue on the laptop in the lounge till around 12 - 1am. It’s lovely at the moment with it being winter here and the fire roaring to keep me warm.

I'm jealous of your roaring fire.  I live in upstate NY and the leaves are just starting to change and the days and nights becoming cooler.  I'm dreading the upcoming winter season.  Why do you write in the genre/sub-genre that you do?  Any plans in the future to write in a different one?

I love writing suspense and although my latest is a fantasy, elements of suspense still managed to find a way into it. It is what excites me and what I find interests me most in my chosen reading material. Blame all those Linda Howard, Tami Hoag and Nora Roberts books I’ve devoured over the years.

Linda Howard is one of my favorite suspense writers.  How do you stay motivated when writer’s block hits or your muse won’t cooperate?

I’ve got a fantastic online group of writing buddies that include people from Australia, Japan and America. I swear I’d be lost without them in my life. They’re very good at giving me a kick-in-the-butt when I need one. 

Going to my desktop on the computer and seeing the covers of the two books I’ve managed to produce so far is always a motivating factor too. It’s still such a cool and inspiring sight to me.  :o)

What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever done in the name of research?

My husband is a 5^th dan black belt in jujitsu, so a couple of times, he’s allowed me to ‘try out’ a character’s actions on him when in a fight scene. It’s so much fun! I’m just glad the neighbors didn’t see us, or they might think us even stranger than they do!  :o)

What a great husband! I love that he helps you work on your fight scenes.  What’s the best writing advice you were ever given? 

That definitely had to be during my first attempt at NaNoWriMo. Even if you don’t feel like it, sit down in front of the computer and make yourself write something – anything – for at least half an hour. Writing is a habit.

Great advice.  Monday through Friday, I make myself sit down and write when I get home from work and before it's time to start dinner even when I don't want to. Usually I can get a few pages done in that hour or so.  What do you like to do in your leisure time?

Oh – to have leisure time! Sigh… No, seriously. I love catching up with girlfriends, spending time with my family and dog at the beach, reading, riding my bike or playing netball. Anything that takes me away from housework is a wonderful day for this stay-at-home-mum.

Tell us about your current release in a couple of sentences.

Jenna’s family moved to NZ after the atomic bombing at Hiroshima changed their lives – and their DNA. Years later, living a quiet life isn’t possible when Jenna saves a young boy from drowning in extraordinary circumstances, bringing her unwanted attention not only from the media, but the policeman in charge of the case, and a power-hungry villain bent on revenge.

Sounds great!!  Can you tell us a little about your next project?

I’m nearing completion of my first full-length novel as we speak J Although I’ve delved into the paranormal slightly again, this book is a suspense through and through. True to form, I’ve particularly enjoyed writing the villain. I don’t think I really want to know what that says about me J

Anything else you’d like to share?

I’ve really enjoyed this interview Katherine and am thrilled to be on your blog. Thank you for having me. :o)

If you’d like to visit me or know more about me and my writing, you can find me here:

Blog (Novel Natterings) – http://www.laverneclark.blogspot.co.nz

Twitter - https://twitter.com/LClarkAuthor

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/AuthorLaVerneClark 

 Blurb:

In the wrong hands, Jenna Thomas’s legacy could be a curse—in her mind it already is.

As a child, a routine x-ray awakened an abnormality in Jenna’s DNA giving her the ability to “call” creatures and take on their attributes. Labeled a freak since then, Jenna’s learned to keep everyone at a distance. But all that changes the day she saves a young boy from drowning, and the story goes viral.

Nick Hawke, an off-duty policeman, witnesses part of the drama. Captivated by Jenna’s exotic beauty, he decides to investigate, not sure what to believe. Jenna puts his cynicism to the test—even as the attraction between them grows.

As word of her extraordinary rescue spreads, a dangerous man who will stop at nothing to control Jenna’s abilities draws near. With her feelings for Nick putting him in danger too, can Jenna risk everything to protect them both?

Excerpt:

“Back off everyone, give us room,” boomed Nick with authority. Everyone took a step back. An attractive woman holding a microphone stepped into the created space. Her phony smile flashed teeth like a shark. Circling, she came in for the kill, her cameraman capturing the moment. 

“Are you the lady who jumped in to save the boy? What made you do something so heroic? Witnesses say you were under for over ten minutes. How is this possible?”

The questions fired at her like a volley of bullets. Jenna flinched as each one hit its mark. She couldn’t answer honestly without sounding like a freak. So she said nothing, burying her head into Nick’s chest. His arms tightened around her. The subtle turning of his body shielded her from all those eyes. 

He pitched his voice to address the crowd. “It’s been a traumatic event for everyone involved, and as you can imagine, it’s not over for us yet. We’ve no comment to make at this stage, so please, give us some time to come to terms with what’s happened. Thank you.”

“Could you at least give me a little snippet, Sergeant Hawke?” pouted the reporter, pushing her chest out and fluttering her lashes. 

Jenna’s spine went rigid. A sick feeling of dread settled in the pit of her belly.

Police. Nick is a policeman. Dear God, I’m in trouble.

 Her head pounded and her hands shook. His arm tightened when she tried to pull away, holding her firmly in place. Any other person she could have fobbed off. Now she understood his aura of authority, his all-seeing gaze and concern at the thought of a child left alone in her car. He would be relentless uncovering the truth. 

Buy Links for Affinity:

The Wild Rose Press - http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=177_139&products_id=4888

Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Affinity-ebook/dp/B008EX2MSS/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345365492&sr=1-3&keywords=affinity

Barnes and Noble – http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/affinity-laverne-clark/1111794241?ean=2940014625913

Great blurb and excerpt, LaVerne.  Definitely putting Affinity on my TBR list.  Thank you for being my guest today.  I enjoyed learning more about you and your writing process.

 

A Hard Lesson

My nephew had his laptop stolen out of his dorm room a few days ago. He's in his senior year and had numerous roommates during the time he's attended this university. Many times he would talk about he and his roommates leaving their dorm room unlocked or leaving the door open all together and not once was anything taken. Both his mother and I would often warn him about being too trusting

This semester he's in a single room with no roommate so one would think the chances of him being a victim of theft would be much, much lower. (I'm not in any way saying that I think any of his former roommates would steal, just that with the door left wide open all the time, the probability of a theft occurring would be higher.)  Unfortunately, he left his dorm room unlocked for a couple of hours so his girlfriend could come in and use his laptop while he was in class. Her laptop was being worked on by the university's IT department so she didn't have her own at that time.

When he came back after his class, his laptop was gone. He called his girlfriend to see if she took it back to her dorm room, but no luck.  When he called campus security, he found out his laptop was the second one stolen from his building in three days.  The strange but good thing was his Ipod, XBox, TV, and wallet weren't taken, just the laptop. 

While he is without a laptop until his mother can deliver a new one to him, (he goes to school four hours away) at least the one that was taken was insured.  He has said he won't be leaving his door unlocked again for any reason.  What a way to learn the lesson that if the opportunity to take something that doesn't belong to you appears, someone will always choose to become a thief.

This I know for sure...

This is an update to a prior blog post about our rogue tomato plant.  As some of you may know last year I tried container gardening but the squirrels and a homeless bunny kept eating or stealing the tomatoes and peppers.  Well, a squirrel left a half eaten tomato at the side of our porch and before I had a chance to clean it up it disappeared.

Well, I've found it.  I have a tomato plant growing out of a crack in our sidewalk next to our house.  Here are some pictures showing how it's grown from that earlier blog post.  We actually have tomatoes growing, but not ripe yet and amazingly enough, the wild life is leaving them alone. 

Pretty cool, huh?

What I'm Reading Wednesday

I just finished the wonderful book, Taming an Impossible Rogue by Suzanne Enoch, last night which I would recommend to anyone and everyone.

I started Against The Law by Kat Martin this afternoon during my lunch break.  It's the third book in the Raines of Wind Canyon series.

I won't be posting what I'm reading for a while as I'll be having different authors visit for the next few weeks.

Happy New Year?

January 1st is the official start of a new year but I've always viewed the first day of school in September as the beginning of a new year.  Teachers and children go back to school, routines change as after school activities start anew, and the changing of the season from summer to fall begins.  I think all those years of school and college (although I started in mid-August when I went to college) is what first made me start to view September as the beginning of a new year. 

Don't get me wrong, I celebrate New Year's Day on January 1st just like everyone else.  I even set my goals in January with various end dates throughout the year but all of those goals are met by December 31st. (I hope.)  But there's something about September that makes me want to start new and fresh.  Maybe it should be Happy New Beginnings Day although I can't imagine too many kids are happy school is going to be back in session.

Between family obligations, various doctor appointments, and a work schedule where I didn't always get out on time (which cuts into the writing time), I've been struggling to find time to write the last few weeks.  So with a new school year starting and the coming fall season, I've decided to look past all those empty calendar days where there's no notation of what I'd written on any given day and begin again.

I've set a goal beginning today of writing every day for 100 days straight.  Even if I can only manage a paragraph due to time constraints, I will attempt to write every day.  I'm hoping it will help me get back into a daily writing schedule, help me get past the point in my manuscript where I've been stuck for the last few weeks, and to help me reach my goals I set at the beginning of 2012. 

I have much I want to accomplish and it's time to get started.  Happy New Beginnings Day.