By Hubby

To the tune of Auld Lang Syne

 Should old attempts at writing books be forgot or brought to mind

Should old attempts at writing books be forgot or brought to mind

Forgot I’m thinking my young dear

Forgot and do not mind

Forgot I’m thinking do not fear

Forgot and do not mind

The year is new and hope is fresh, should I plot or maybe write

The year is new and hope is fresh, should I plot or maybe write

Do plot I’m thinking my young dear

Do plot and be forthright

Do plot a book of love and cheer

And plot all through the night

Now write us something steamy girl

Now write and don’t be shy

Fire up that keyboard give it awhirl

And if you have to you may lie

You’ve now completed a new work and it’s ready to submit

You’ve now completed a new work and it’s ready to submit

Don’t be surprised when it comes back

You’ve been this road before

Don’t be surprised you’re not a hack

Pick yourself up off the floor

For old books should be forgot and never brought to mind

Yes old books should be forgot and never brought to mind

Here’s to kicking 2009 in the Ass!  And welcoming 2010 in with open arms!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Karin*

Hubby wrote a poem, sing to the tune of Jingle Bells!   Oh, and we managed to get a picture of Santa’s littlest helper!

See you next year!!

 

Karin*   Oh, and tell us what your single most fave Christmas gift was! 

And all through the house, not a keyboard was stirring, not even the mouse…

Okay that was lame, I’m actually burning up the keyboard.  My rewrites are going well.  They are labor intensive and as I read what I originally wrote, I wonder why my editor puts up with me.  I know I drive her crazy. 

But, I wanted to take today and say Merry Christmas, Season’s Greetings, and Happy Holidays to everyone!  It’s been a crazy year, but we’re all still standing!

I’m going to take the rest of the year off here at The Write Life.  I have the rewrite to turn in this Wednesday, and then I have to write the last third of the story and get it in by January 15th!     

I’ll be back with bells on Monday January 4^th.

So, to those of you traveling, travel well and travel safe.  To those of you staying home this holiday season, may it bring you comfort and joy. 

See you next year!

Karin*

xoxo

PS, Isn’t she adorable?

Good Morning!   Sorry for the late post, I was up late writing last night.

So I’m posting two first pages today.

Here’s the first one:

     Jolie Burke stepped onto the outdoor walkway of the Regal 8 Motel on her way to get ice. And stopped cold.

     At the end of the walkway, near the ice machine’s lighted alcove, stood a figure. 

     A man or a woman?

     Impossible to tell. Flip a coin. Woman. 

     Maybe.

     The woman wore shades—unusual for the outside of a Regal 8 in the middle of the night.  She wore dark slacks, and a suit jacket. The suit jacket looked a little big. Thick material, one button, closed.  An impassive face and a pale complexion.  Hair trimmed tight to the skull.  Medium height and slim, even in the bulky jacket.

     They locked eyes.  Rather, they locked eyes and sunglasses.  The woman-who-looked-like-a-man made a negligible move, pulling back the cuff of the suit jacket to look at her watch.  The action raised the coat on the other side and under it Jolie thought she saw an underarm holster.

     The woman let the sleeve drop and put one foot up on the bottom rung of the walkway railing and casually lifted the cuff of the slacks.  Just a quick check to make sure everything was there.  It was.  Light bounced off the ankle holster. 

     Then she straightened up and set the foot down on the walkway next to its mate. The shoes were black lace-ups, men’s shoes, buffed to a deep shine. 

     Jolie held up her ice tub.

     The woman-who-looked-like-a-man nodded briefly, then turned the corner. She seemed to have evaporated away. 

Y numero dos:

 Suffolk Coast, 1812

      “Something is amiss at the Hall.”

     It was an understatement of the matter, if ever there was one. 

     Ravencrest Hall sat on the edge of crumbling cliffs, a stone gargoyle clinging to the land like some dying beast spat out of the sea. It devoured all who entered and sucked the last drop of joy, laughter, and life out of them as surely as the worms in the grave. She hated the place.

     Madeline Carston glanced up from her seat on the rickety gig and realized the old Welsh groom was indeed correct. The ancient mansion appeared monstrous enough in its normal darkened state. As it stood now, candlelight aglow in every window, it took on the aspect of a smiling, hungry demon.

     “I’m sure you’re mistaken, Mr. Hughes,” she said primly, even as a fierce shiver ran up her spine. “Please hurry. We’re already late.”

     The gig continued up the long, graveled drive under the watchful eye of the ancient oaks. Their leafless limbs rattled ominously in the throes of a salt-tinged wind off the nearby North Sea. For a moment the skeletal sentries seemed to point at her – in warning or accusation, she knew not which. The closer the gig and sturdy pony drew to it; the more ravenous the stone mansion appeared.

 May the critiques commence!

 Karin*

I’ve been hunched over my keyboard working on my rewrite so much so I woke this morning and can barely straighten out. I feel like a pretzel. But I really like the changes.  My editor is brilliant!

I plan on putting up another first page this Wednesday for Why/Why Not? I’m really impressed with everyone’s suggestions on the two last week.

Also I wanted to mention I did sell my paranormal trilogy!  Yay!  We pitched it as Sons of Anarchy meets Rise of the Lycans.  The books landed at Berkely with Cindy Hwang editing.  They will be releasing 5/11, 9/11 and 2/12.  I’m very excited.

So, I need to hop back on this rewrite, but plan on surfacing Wednesday with another page. Email your page 250 words or less to me at kltabke@aol.com with Why?Why Not? in the subject line, and I’ll pick one or maybe two depending on responses, to post on Wednesday!

 Ciao for now!

Karin*

PS OMG!  Was the Dexter finally last night off the hook disturbing or what?  We sat there in stunned silence.  I woke up thinking about it.

Okay, I couldn’t pick just one submission!  Actually I didn’t pick them, I numbered the submissions and had my son pick two numbers!

Real quick, let’s be nice but forthright.  No arguing, no flames, no nastiness. 

 And now? Let us put our magnificent brains together and help an author out!

Here’s the first, first page. When commenting refer to it as page one.

Holding her tighter over him and closing his eyes he breathed in her scent. He loved her…all of her. As urgency washed over them and fearing this bliss ending too quickly he whispered, “slower love; we have all night…” He wanted to savor this.  She gripped him tighter as a deep-throated cry left her lips urging him to…

RING!!!

“Doorbell… Always when I’m on a roll.” Serena sighed looking down at her cat JJ.

She got up from her writing desk and made her way to the door. “I have a deadline, I don’t need these distractions now.”

“Ms. Serena Foster?”

“Yes?”

“Sign here please.” Signing the clip board she smiled politely at the messenger before closing the front door. The envelope was from Dublin, Ireland.

“Hmmm…I don’t know anyone in Ireland.”

“MEOW!” Replied JJ, who was now circling patiently at her feet. She carefully slid an antique letter opener beneath the sealed flap.

Dear Ms. Foster,

You have been listed as a beneficiary to the estate of Arthur J. Kilkenny of County Cork, Ireland who recently died at the age of 97.

The reading of his Last Will and Testament will take place on August 12, 2009 at 11am at the office of McDougal and Finch.

In the event you are unable to attend the reading in person, a representative on your behalf may attend. Please contact my office for further information at the number listed below.

Please accept our deepest condolences for your loss.

Thomas J. McDougal, Esq.

Here’s the second, first page, please refer to this as page two.

The sharp, acrid scent of sulfur wafted through the air just when I was about to call it a night.  Bingo.  I raised the wine glass to my lips. Now, which one of these bar flies was my target?  The only way to find out would be to leave and see who follows.  Initiating plan A.  Slugging back the rest of my merlot, I steadied my empty glass on the bar before sliding off the stool.  Pausing a second, I wobbled on my stilettos as I made a show of straightening my pencil skirt.  Not that I needed to catch my balance, but I wanted to give the impression that I was stupid drunk with a target plastered on my back. 

Here, demon, demon.  A sloppy grin quirked my lips as soon as the thought crossed my mind.  Of course, I knew it was a sloppy grin, considering I had practiced it often enough in the mirror.  I could do drunk.  I played it quite well, thank you very much. 

Clutching my purse, I slid the narrow strap over my shoulder and walked out of the bar and into the hotel lobby.  My heels clacked across the marble floor.  I had every intention of miss-stepping to give the impression I was toasted, but there was no pretending about it as my right heel slid out from under me.  Landing on my ass should have been the least of my worries with a murderer on the loose. 

Comments?

I’m going to be gone for the better part f the day, so behave while I’m gone (and sorry this went up late, I was up with the baby last night!)

Karin*

I’m really excited!!!  Sometimes I have light bulb moments that amaze me, and this blog post is testimony to that!

I was asking myself, “Karin, until you hook and reel in another editor for the next first line contest, what you can do to help your fellow writers hone their skills and have at the same time?”  Allow me to step back and preface: I do not profess to be a teacher, on any level.  I’m one of those do-it-yourselfers. That said, I do have opinions, a critical eye, and while I may not be able to articulate in writerly terms what may or may not be right or wrong with a blurb, scene or first page, I can show by example what I mean.  Does that make sense?

Basically, I can critique by showing how a passage should or could be written as opposed to explaining in technical terms what is wrong and how to fix it.

 But there are others out there who are very good at the technical aspect of the whys and why nots.  Collectively, the people like me, combined with the people like say Jake (who I am not volunteering) who is amazing at articulating in words what I cannot, I bet we could do some serious good work on a first page.

See where I’m going with this?  The good part of what I’m thinking of doing is all inclusive.  Readers and writers can participate.  So here’s the deal:  Every Wednesday (most anyhow, there will be days where I am just overwhelmed and y’all will have to give me a break) will be dubbed Why or Why Not day.  I will post a first page of some brave soul’s work on the blog (if you prefer anonymity that’s fine.). It will not be more than 250 words.  As a community, we will critique the  page.  It can be as little as, “Wow, that is incredible!”  Or “I found it slow out of the gate.”  Admittedly, while those comments don’t offer much after the comment they do give a personal overall reaction.  So if everyone thought it was incredible then well, it probably is.  Same with the second comment.

What I’m looking for are comments like, “Wow, that was incredible.  But I did not have a sense of setting or know whose POV we were in.”  There can be comments like, “Your fist sentence was 8 lines long, I suggest you make it three sentences by punctuating here here and here.”

Maybe there is no emotion on the page or too much or too many adverbs or adjectives or run on sentences or it’s all introspective, which works if it’s good introspective but not so much if it’s bad.

Do you see where I’m going with this?  I think as a community we may be able to help a fellow author out.  And many of us learn by other’s mistakes.

There is one hard and fast rule to this though.  NO FLAMING.  Period.  You can say, “I really did not like this at all.” Then constructively explain why.  But a “Are you kidding me?  This is junk!” will be deleted and anyone who says things like that will be blocked from my blog.

Ok, there is another rule:  No rape, no golden showers, no bestiality and no explicit sex.  If you have any of that in your submission I won’t post it.  I can only post one page per week, so if yours does not go up, try try again.  Oh, and if something is obviously a joke as in it’s really poor writing, I won’t post that either.

So, boiled down, every Wednesday I will post a page, and in the comment section we lend a helping hand.  Be critical, be direct, tell it like it is, and the author whose page is up?  Please don’t debate the comments. We’re here to help, not argue.  Writing is always first and last subjective.  You don’t have to like or agree with our feedback but you sent the page to me, so soldier up.  That said; if you need clarification on a comment ask away.

This Why Why Not Wednesday is for all of us to have fun, and learn a little bit.

Drawing blood in not fun for the person attacked.  I’m not offering this to be controversial, I am simply reaching out to lend a helping hand and in doing so hope that those of you who are readers and writers alike will do the same.  So, there will be no train wrecks here for drive by potshots, there will be not flaming if someone doesn’t agree with a comment.  There will be no free –for-alls, gang bangs or piling on.

This is for you by all of us.  Play nice or don’t stop by.  And if we can’t all play nice, then I will pack up my toys and go home. 

I’m sorry if I’m coming off as a parent, but sometimes that is exactly what I must do.  I want to have fun with this, I want to see the swell of support I know is out there.  I don’t want infighting.

And, how, you ask, do you submit?  Send in the body of your email with Why Why Not in the subject line, your first page to Kltabke@aol.com  No attachments! It cannot be more that 250 words, if it is I will not chose it.

Then look for it the following Wednesday.  If you’re not up, stick around and support the cause.  You might get picked the following week, but you must resubmit!

Karin*