Newly-minted RWA PRO Member!

I received a confirmation email from the Romance Writers of America staff that I've been approved for PRO membership. While I'm not yet eligible for PAN (the Published Author Network), I can join PRO because I have a completed manuscript and proof that I've submitted to an agent. Of course, that proof was that I was politely rejected, since I sent in my application before I heard back from the agents who requested partials last week. But, it feels good to make tangible progress towards a goal, even if PRO membership is not a guarantee that I will get published anytime in the next decade.

Meanwhile, I'm trying hard to keep my creative juices flowing in my subconscious while I'm slogging away at my real job. I switched offices this week, and since I have an office to myself, I took the opportunity to decorate in ways that remind me of my ultimate writing goals while contributing to the 'fun/unique' culture expected by my current employer. While I may sometimes wish that I could skip out on my day job, I must admit that it's pretty sweet to work someplace where I'm actually *encouraged* to put up things like a vintage Bon Jovi poster, several postcards of romance novel covers, and a fiber optic bonsai tree. At least I can get a few moments of visual escape in my office when I'm up to my eyeballs in Excel spreadsheets or management meetings.

What do you do to keep yourself sane at work? I use stress balls, interesting decorating principles, and the occasional Nerf blowdart -- but what do you use?

Breaking Ground on Book Two

I've survived the torturous process of writing a four hundred page book, rewriting the first four chapters multiple times, doing secondary research to make sure all the titles and details were correct, and editing the hell out of it to check for long sentences (like this one), passive verbs, spelling mistakes, and other grammatical woes. And now I'm kicking off the even more torturous process of sending query letters and hoping that my baby will attract the interest of an agent with a heart of gold who will help me to sell it for the best possible price (which will undoubtedly fail to recover the expenses I incurred by taking six months off, travelling around Europe, and taking the opportunity to buy every British history book I could get my hands on).

So why, after surviving the pain of writing the book and anticipating the pain of trying to sell it, am I even considering getting back on the horse? I know that the horse's saddle is studded with nails and that the horse has a mean temper and a viscious bite. But I can't help myself -- and if nothing else, I'm curious to know what happens with Ferguson and Madeleine as they fall in love. Unfortunately, that book will never come out unless I write it.

Which is how I found myself on my couch yesterday, trying to ignore the nicest weather we've had in San Francisco in a couple of months, setting up my Word program to properly format an as-yet-unwritten manuscript. It was a little bit exciting to go through the process of setting the right margins and ensuring that Word stopped putting 'smart quotes' and 'smart dashes' and other 'smart' formatting that could be bad for manuscript submission down the road. Then I typed the title (currently "Book 2 - Madeleine and Ferguson", although I expect to come up wtih something snappier), and off I went. I ended up writing the whole first chapter, which was around 3000 words, in less than five hours.

While I still have a lot of questions to answer and problems to resolve when it comes to the plot, I have a fairly decent feel for the characters since they were secondary characters in AN INCONVENIENT MARRIAGE, so I don't think I'll go through quite as much trial and error as I did with the last one. Or at least, I hope that's the case -- if I could write for two hours a day (recognizing that that's somewhat impossible but planning to make up for missed workday hours on the weekends), it would take me two months to get to the end of the first draft. That's much better than three years. So even if I fall off the wagon a little bit, I can't imagine this book will take as long as the last one.

And that's where Fate perks up, hears my naive self-confidence, and decides to throw a wrench in things. But I will try to dodge all wrenches and write as scheduled. And if you catch me posting too many procrastinatory links and blogs here, please tell me to stop surfing and start writing.

2008 Reading List Recap

2008 was a so-so year for reading. I read 28 books (plus parts of another 5 books that I didn't finish) -- good for a usual year, bad given the fact that I had six months off and should have read much more than this. But here's what I read, in reverse chronological order:

VISCIOUS CIRCLE - Mike Carey

THE BELL AT SEALEY HEAD - Patricia A. McKillip

THE GRAVEYARD BOOK - Neil Gaiman

THE LIVES OF THE ENGLISH RAKES - Fergus Linnane

MR. CAVENDISH, I PRESUME - Julia Quinn

THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO - Ann Radcliffe (dnf)

THE DEVIL YOU KNOW - Mike Carey

ON WRITING: A MEMOIR OF THE CRAFT - Stephen King

FORTUNE'S FOOL - Mercedes Lackey

CHALICE - Robin McKinley

NEW MOON - Stephanie Meyer

TWILIGHT - Stephanie Meyer

THE DARKEST PLEASURE - Gena Showalter

THE DARKEST KISS - Gena Showalter

THE DARKEST NIGHT - Gena Showalter

WOMEN & MONEY - Suze Orman

WHITNEY, MY LOVE - Judith McNaught

THEN WE CAME TO THE END - Joshua Farris

HOW THE SCOTS INVENTED THE MODERN WORLD - Arthur Herman (dnf)

SEX IN GEORGIAN ENGLAND - A.D. Harvey (dnf)

GEORGIANA, DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE - Amanda Foreman (dnf)

NORTHANGER ABBEY - Jane Austen

NATURAL BORN CHARMER - Susan Elizabeth Phillips

DARK DESIRES AFTER DUSK - Kresley Cole

DARK NEEDS AT NIGHT'S EDGE - Kresley Cole

WICKED DEEDS ON A WINTER'S NIGHT - Kresley Cole

NO REST FOR THE WICKED - Kresley Cole

A HUNGER LIKE NO OTHER - Kresley Cole

TO WED A WICKED PRINCE - Jane Feather (dnf)

THE ART OF SEDUCTION - Robert Green

THE LOST DUKE OF WYNDHAM - Julia Quinn

LAMB - Christopher Moore

BREATHING ROOM - Susan Elizabeth Phillips

This doesn't count the rereads that I did of several of my favorites (THE GRAND SOPHY, DEVIL'S CUB, THE MASQUERADERS, and THE UNKNOWN AJAX by Georgette Heyer, SUNSHINE, BEAUTY, THE HERO AND THE CROWN, and THE BLUE SWORD by Robin McKinley, and various others). It also doesn't count the bits and pieces I read out of a variety of historical research books, or the travel guides that I bought, or some items that ended up languising on my TBR shelf. I bought 47 books from Amazon alone, not counting items that I picked up at Borders or used bookstores, so I did my part to help the publishing industry stay afloat.

For 2008, my favorites were:

Best romance: A HUNGER LIKE NO OTHER by Kresley Cole. It was paranormal, but I thought her world-building was outstanding and she's created enough interesting scenarios for many intertwined books. Book six comes out this week and I've already ordered it from Amazon.

Best research book: THE LIVES OF THE ENGLISH RAKES by Fergus Linnane. The thought of treating syphilis with mercury vapors made me a bit ill, but it provided some great background into the crazy people of aristocratic England.

Best fantasy: THE BELL AT SEALEY HEAD by Patricia McKillip. I prefer the linguistic stylings of Robin McKinley (and loved CHALICE), but THE BELL AT SEALEY HEAD had a fantastic story, a wicked sorceror, a kind princess, a shy innkeeper and his rich, bookish love interest, and all sorts of other interesting characters. Highly recommend, even if you aren't usually into fantasy.

Best fiction: THE DEVIL YOU KNOW by Mike Carey. Actually, this may be fantasy -- but it's more of a noir detective story, it just happens to have ghosts in it.

The overall trend seemed to be that I was into paranormal-type books. Other than the research books and a couple of random contemporaries, almost everything I read had vampires, werewolves, ghosts, demons, or some mishmash of everything.

For me, I think I have trouble reading historical romances when I'm actively trying to write, which was the state I was in for much of the year. But paranormals provided me with the romantic elements I craved, while avoiding the historical elements that made reading historicals seem like work rather than pleasure.

What were your favorite books in 2008?