What I'm Reading

I just finished reading the reissue of Karen Robards' Night Magic.

From Amazon: "Lovely romance writer Clara Winston dreams of meeting a sensitive, sexy man, and when CIA agent Jack McCain accidentally enters her life, Clara knows that she has found that man."

I couldn't resist that the heroine was a romance writer. It reminded me of the movie, Romancing the Stone, in the sense that this quiet, reclusive writer gets pulled into a harrowing adventure with a sexy hero -- one she could in no way see coming.

Do you like reading about writing heroines? Inquiring minds want to know!

xoxo,
bex

Friday Check-In

It's Friday again and while I am really, really happy the weekend is here I also can't believe how fast this week went. I had another busy week and I have not managed my stress well so this Friday I feel fried and burnt out and in need of a nap.

Tomorrow marks another day devoted to writing time and I am facing the prospect of starting my new secret project. This idea has been percolating in the back of my mind for about a year, and you would think that after all that time I would be ready to start writing it. Not true!

I am in what I feel like is a necessary pre-writing stage this time around, working out some of the conflict points for my story outline and digging deeper into character motivation. It is exciting and a little nerve-wracking, too -- I just want to make good decisions about the book early on so that the latter stages of writing it won't be as painful. Those stages will still be hard (they always are!) but I am hoping that good work now will lead to better work later.

What is your pre-writing regimen? Inquiring minds want to know!

xoxo,

bex

Academy Awards Anticipation!

I love movies and one of my dreams is to write one. And sell the screenplay. And see that the film actually gets made. It's a one-in-a-million shot, like the lottery, but you can't win if you don't play.

I have a screenplay that I have been toying with for a few years now... some scenes are more fleshed out while others I have not yet been able to bring into focus. I am excited by the idea, I just need to keep practicing so I can execute it. One of my writing idols is Nancy Meyers and I would love to follow her model.

Watching the triumvirate of award shows just inspires me that much more to work hard on this aspect of my writing. With the Oscars coming up, my hope takes on a more urgent longing and I know I need to make better progress on my screenwriting learning curve.

In addition to the awards themselves, I am so excited for the red carpet. I love football, but, really, this is my Super Bowl. Who are you rooting for on Oscar night? Inquiring minds want to know!

xoxo,
bex

What I'm Reading

Next up on my reading list: Magnolia Wednesdays by Wendy Wax. I fell in love with Wax's The Accidental Bestseller and couldn't wait to pick up her next book when I attended the literacy signing at the RWA conference in Orlando last summer. That I am just now getting the chance to open it does not reflect my excitement over having the chance to finally do so!

Happy reading and happy writing!

xoxo,
bex

Friday Check-In

This week felt like a good week. We got a little taste of spring after several relentless weeks of snow, sleet, and ice. I bounced off the walls like a fifth grader anticipating summer vacation.

But it was a good week, too, because I made progress on the book. Somewhere in between doctors' appointments, physical therapy, work, and family stuff, I got through the complete draft. It has been wrapped up and shipped off for review by an awesome someone who offered to read it and critique it. I can't thank her enough for her time and help.

It's quite possible that I will get the book back and it will look all red and carved up like the careless victim in a bloody slasher film. But for now I want to revel in this feeling of accomplishment.

Next up? Start pulling together the random pieces for my next secret project and see if I can begin to make sense of the elements I want to weave together. And of course, wait and see in what kind of shape my recent manuscript returns to me.

What are you reading or writing these days? Inquiring minds want to know?

xoxo,
bex

What I'm Reading

It's been a busy week because I have been actually working on my book! Still, in between doctor's appointments and a few restless nights I was able to start reading the next of the many books on my TBR pile: Posh by Lucy Jackson.

The book takes a look at the lives of a number of characters involved with an elite prep school in Manhattan. Students, teachers, and parents. I was at first attracted to the book because I thought it had much in common with some of the more adult YA books being written, but having finished reading it I think I would characterize it as more of a general fiction book.

I really enjoyed it. To quote a friend of mine, "I like observing the rich in their natural habitat." Reading books like these gives me a glimpse of what life might be like in this completely alternate universe.

Get to your local library to check it out!

xoxo,
bex

Friday Check-In

I had a very productive Saturday last weekend, but again the week has proven to contain more than I can handle. So tomorrow I will crack the wip open again and make the edits I identified last weekend. The good news: I am excited to be working again . . . not only on making the wip as good as I can make it but also in jumping into the next project. I have so many ideas, I just have to rustle them all up and find the pieces that make the most sense.

Wish me luck!

What are you working on these days? Inquiring minds want to know!

xoxo,

bex

What I'm Reading

I have been shirking my writing duties in the sense that it's been a while since I've read a book on craft. I have had, I'll Have What She's Having, in my craft library for a while but I just didn't have the chance to get too deep into it. I tried again this week and I am hooked. The book talks about the top fifteen romantic comedies of all time (according to author, Daniel Kimmel) and what makes each of them so special. As a fan of the genre and a wannabe screenwriter, I am fascinated by the information shared about each film. I highly recommend it for RomCom buffs!

As an aside, I want to note that I have read all but two of the books I have been sharing each week. These two, which shall remain nameless, are books that didn't hold my interest enough to push me to the end. I hate setting books aside without getting that satisfying ending, but there are just so many really good books and so little time to read them!

Keep reading and keep writing!

xoxo,

bex

Hard Jobs Done Well

This winter has been so rough up here in the Northeast. Even simple things have become more difficult to do because of the cold or ice or snow. Every so often I notice someone doing a job -- a hard and at times undesirable job even under perfect weather conditions -- and I wonder if anyone has stopped to say thank you to these workers or if the workers are ever told they are doing a good job?

I have seen so many of these instances that I decided to take a moment to point them out on the blog. If I don't have the chance to say thanks in person, at least I can commend their work in another way.

For today's Hard Job Done Well, I want to commend the man who has to round up the carriages in the grocery store parking lot and drive them back into the store. Last night we had a wind chill that brought the temps below zero. It was cut-to-the-bone cold and this man was out there rousting those carriages. Have you ever tried to drive a carriage train? It looks near impossible. Yet he did it, all bundled up, and with no complaint.

The next time you're at the store, maybe you could consider returning your shopping cart to one of the return stations in the parking lot? It would be great if you would bring it back to the store itself, but I think the carved out stations in the parking lot is an acceptable compromise. It helps everyone in the process, and it is the considerate thing to do.

Think about it! And thank you to all the carriage return workers - you have a hard job but you do it so well!

xoxo,

bex

What I'm Reading

A few friends have been saying how much they love Robyn Carr's books so for my next reading adventure I decided to try one of the books in her Virgin River series. I have never read her stuff and it's been a while since I've read a straight up romance so I am excited to get back to my roots and to the kinds of books that made me want to start writing in the first place.

I am currently reading Second Chance Pass. Have you read Robyn Carr's books? Do you have a favorite? Inquiring minds want to know!

xoxo,

bex

Revision Challenges

On my Friday check-ins I have mentioned that I am trying to work my way through a revision of my current manuscript. I have such difficulty with revisions because I don't really know how to do it. When I mention this to a number of my writer friends, they laugh at me. I suppose I should have a better grasp on the exercise, but I don't so I am always looking for help and advice in how one actually goes about fixing a draft when you can't necessarily see what needs fixing.

So I turned to Google to see if I could find some helpful guidance and I stumbled across an article written by Holly Lisle. She offers some great insight on how she tackles revisions and some helpful advice to just dive in and get started. I am still not sure I know what I'm doing, but at least now I have some guiding principles to give me a starting point.

As I find more resources that have been useful to me, I will share them in case they might help you, too. In the meantime, if you have any helpful hints please pass them along. Inquiring minds want to know!

xoxo,
bex

What I'm Reading

I have chosen another YA book for my next reading treat, and treat it is! Dash and Lily's Book of Dares is a fun treasure hunt set up between two sixteen-year-old strangers as they get to know each other through exchanges written in a notebook with clues that take them all over New York City.

Here is a much better summary from Booklist:

In their third collaboration, Rachel Cohn and David Levithan present another clever New York romance. Levithan writes the chapters narrated by Dash, a “bookish” 16-year-old spending Christmas break alone. He finds a red moleskin notebook amid the shelves of the Strand bookstore. “Are you going to be playing for the pure thrill of unreluctant desire?” asks Cohn’s Lily in the first coded message of the notebook, with an invitation to respond. Lily is aglow with the yuletide and devastated that her parents are spending the holidays in Fiji. Armed with anonymity, Dash and Lily exchange the notebook in various locations around the Big Apple, filling it with their greatest hopes and deepest fears, and ultimately find themselves falling in love. Not surprisingly, the young pair’s perceptions of each other don’t entirely reflect reality; Dash’s ex asks if he is in love with the girl writing in the book or the girl he is picturing in his head. The spirit of the season amplifies Dash and Lily’s loneliness and heightens the connection between them, in another surefire hit from the creators of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (2006).

My only complaint is that I am flying through it -- I wish I could make it last longer! It is a great read and so much fun to see where Dash and Lily's clues take them next.

Books like this make for a bittersweet reading experience -- they are so good, they're over before you know it. How do you feel about books that suck you in and make you want to gallop to the finish? Inquiring minds want to know!

xoxo,
bex

Friday Check-In

As 2010 started winding down, I made a promise to myself that when my town sent out its next Parks and Rec calendar, I would sign up for zumba class. I am not a huge fan of exercise but I like the ever-expanding aspects of my body even less, so since I enjoy dancing I figured this would be an excellent way to get some cardio exercise. I have been taking the class for about a month now and it's been fantastic.

The winter weather in the Northeast has wreaked a little bit of havoc on our exercise schedule though. It seems like half of our classes have been cancelled because of snow and ice storms so we are juggling some class times around to see if we can find makeup days.

I mention this because I have struggled with how to manage this new activity with the busy schedule I already have. During the evenings this week I either had zumba or doctor's appointments or have had to shovel snow. I haven't yet figured out how to work the writing into this new busy schedule or how to work this schedule around the writing.

All this leads up to the fact that I have not made much progress on my revisions. Saturday has been my best bet so far when it comes to being able to make time for my writing, so tomorrow I plan to get out the chisel and hammer and start whacking away at the next segment of my book.

Next week already promises to be a busy one as far as evenings go, which is when I used to get most of my writing done. I am not a morning person, but I can see where I need to make some changes to my sleep schedule -- and my body's natural rhythms -- so I can try to work more writing time in. I am not yet ready to confront this option, so I will see what I can carve out during the nights next week.

Until then, keep reading and keep writing!

xoxo,

bex

What I'm Reading

She's Gone Country! I got this book as a Christmas gift and I am so excited to get to reading it. Not only has Jane Porter emerged as one of my favorite authors, but she is also one of the nicest, most giving people on the planet. Jane is so open and honest and is the kind of person you want to see succeed. She is also one of my favorite ladies and I love rooting for her.

If you haven't already checked out Jane's books, I can't recommend enough that you do so!

Happy reading!

xoxo,

bex

So Long, January

I won't truly begin to shake the winter blues until April, but there is a certain amount of relief this year in finally getting through the month of January. We have gotten more snow in New England than most of us can physically, emotionally, and mentally handle, so to know we now have that month of record-breaking snowfall behind us feels somewhat liberating.

I know we are not out of the snowy woods yet -- February can also dump loads on us, too -- but for now I am just so happy to see a new month pop up on the calendar. January was a challenge!

So, a hearty welcome to February! Please be gentle.

(**UPDATE** February is predicted to start with a 3 to 6 inch snowfall followed up by an ice storm. Lovely. **shakes fists at sky**) At least it's a short month.

xoxo,
bex