The End!

I can finally type those two words at the bottom of a manuscript.

Can't Help But Love You is finally, albeit imperfectly, complete. My moment of relief and joy is tempered by the knowledge that it needs a lot of tweaking before I feel it's ready to go out to publishers. Oh, don't get me wrong! I'm not going to hold on to it and labor over it forever. Just until I'm happy with its theme, its premise, its characters and its plot. All of those items have to gel in order for it to work for me. Already, I have new ideas about my secondary characters and their overall usefulness in putting Paxton and Kelis' romance on the right track.

I've received advice to put it aside for a week then get right to work. Well a week has gone by and life has intruded in the form of a laid-up child, whose calls of "mommy" are echoing in my dreams. I guess edits and re-tooling will have to start in another week or two. (sigh!)

AJ

Reputation at Stake

Has anyone been keeping up with the plagiarism controversy involving Cassie Edwards, the historical romance writer? It's becoming a huge topic in the industry. So much so that RWA has made an official statement. Check out the link below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/12/books/12roma.html?scp=1&sq=cassie+edwards

I've read a few of Mrs. Edwards' romances. It's a shame that such a prolific, successful author will have a blight spot on her reputation.

Thought-provoking, huh?

Has it really been a month?!

TIME HAS FLOWN!

It's been a whole month since my last post and so much has happened. Too much to list, really. Needless to say, I'm glad I made it through the end of 2007 unscathed and have limped into 2008. Limped literally. But I'm resting up and recharging my batteries (taking my vitamins and getting plenty of daytime sleep.)

Now it's time to set a few goals for 2008. Let's see....

• Renew my memberships to RWA and VRW.
• Wrap up CHBLY and tackle two new manuscripts.
• Get out of the house more. It's become my cave of sorts.
• Build an author's website for myself, hopefully to coincide with a sale.
• Post to this blog at least twice a week. I've been a real slacker!
• Log in more critique time especially on RAH and RWC critique groups where I am a moderator.
• And take a real vacation, someplace away from Richmond.

Kudos to all my writing friends who have set their 2008 goals!

AJ