This morning, a few short minutes ago, I successfully completed chapter 11 of my contemporary romance.  And why is this important you say?

Well, I’ll tell you why!!   For one, with my final word count from this morning, I am now OFFICIALLY over 50% done with this story!! WOOHOO. I have been working on this (in varying degrees) for the past 2 years.  I am now, as of this morning, finally on the downside of the hump.  I am quite proud of myself as I have threaten to chuck this book more times than I care to admit, including at least 3 times this past week alone. 

And the second milestone you may also ask yourself, considering this blog’s title is “More Milestones” not “I’m halfway through”-lol.  Well, l’ll tell you that one too.  I completed my first full sex scene this morning.  Just let me tell you how hard this was.  I’ve been dreading and avoiding this moment from the very second I decided I wanted to write a romance 2 years ago.

But it’s done ~done in my best imitaion of a dying gladiator that had just enough will left to kill his opponent–who’d btw killed his family and burned his lands and killed his dog– before he succumbed to his own fatal injury) <– see, I have quite the active and dramatic imagination, now you see why I write.

So to borrow a word from another friend and writing buddy Mynfel, I am just full of AWESOME SAUCE today.  So I am heading off to take the kids swimming while I am riding the wave self-fulfilment, because I know me and it won’t be too long before I’m wanting to chuck this story again.

I survived my first pitch (barely) to Deb Werksman from Sourcebooks yesterday.  It went well… not the actual pitching so much (although Deb assured me, once I’d calmed down, that I did a good job), but I did come away with a request, two actually.

YAY!!

Currently, Deb is not accepting multicultural or IR romance, so I was given a referral to an editor at another publisher.  I also got the chance to speak to her about my Urban Fantasy trilogy I have in the works, and she requested that I send that one to her when I was ready.

Can you say “Woohoo”? 

I am over the moon at this opportunity.  So needless to say, I am off to the bat cave to polish up my contemporary romance so  I can submit it.  Then I’ll be digging into my Urban Fantasy trilogy in a couple of weeks.

This has been an unbelievable year for me, as far as my writing goes.  I decided in January to get serious about getting published, and I set several goals that would help me accomplish this task.  So while it is just a request to read my manuscripts and not an offer to buy– at least not right now 

“If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.”- Peace Pilgrim

 (I’m working on channeling more optimism)

I feel good now knowing that I am actually making progress in my journey.  While I’ve not reached my destination, I have past several mile markers.  This means I’m further along the path now than I was at the beginning of this year; In fact, I’m now closer to my goal than to my starting point, so that’s a very good thing. 

I’m feeling like a real writer now.

Ok, I got a lots of work to do, so I’m off to the bat cave.

I am more than late in posting my Qtr 2 progress report, but I’ve had a very good reason for this…. I’ve actually been writing!!!

My wonderful critique partner told me about a book she’d just purchased, Book in a Month by Victoria Lynn Schmidt.  My first thoughts were “I am NOT getting any more crafts books, I have plenty on my shelf to read now.”  But after a couple of days, her growing enthusiasm about both this book and her wip intrigued me enough to go to the book store and get it.  Since then, I’ve embarked on my own Book in a Month journey and I must stay, I’m quite pleased with the progress I’ve made in just 3 weeks.

After I recieved my contest feedback on my current work in progress, I decided to revamp the begining in order to pick up the pace more.  So basically I kept the prologue and scrapped about 7,000 words.  It was very painful to do this, being that it had taken me close to a year to produce those 8,000+ words in the first place.  But if you check my progress meter over in the side bar, you will see that I am now at over 27,000 words after only 3 weeks of concentrated effort on my story.  

WOOHOO!!!

Yes, I’m more than behind in schedule to actually produce a completed draft in 4 weeks, but I ‘m more than happy about my progress so far.  In just 3 weeks, I have more than tripled my previous word count and I’m well on my way to finishing my draft in about 2 weeks time.

I’ve also entered another contest, so I should have the results of that by the time I do my Qtr 3 recap.  All in all, I am quite pleased with my progress and growth as an author this year. 

Qtr 3 will be very busy for me.  I’ll be attending my first RWA conference in a DC in a few days.  I’m very excited about meeting several of my CP’s in person for the first time, catching up with a few old friends, and meeting all the industry professionals what will be on hand.

My writing goals for Qtr 3 are to:

1. Finish my intial draft of Worth Fighting For
2. Revise and polish my draft
3. Begin actively querying & submitting my manuscript
4. Pitch my completed mss in September to an editor that’s visiting my writing chapter

Needless to say, I will be quite busy the next few months, but I’m looking forward to it.

For more info on the Book In A Month book:

After a hard & very distracting weekend, I think I finally got a hold of my mojo again. 
(Excuse me while I do the happy dance.)

Mr. Mojo, not to be confusesd with The Muse, was been elusive the past few weeks, escaping me at every turn.  Taunting me with quotes, ala Capt. Jack Sparrow, like  ”You will always remember this day as the day you almost caught Mr. Mojo”. 

LOL– seriously, it’s been like a bad super hero comic book.

But anywho, I got a great start on my chapter 1 re-write,  although due to some unforeseen issues, I did not make all 3 of my writing goals for the weekend.  But with my CP’s blessing (I think) I did earn 1 chapter from LOVER AVENGED. 

 Woo-hoo!! 

But I’m going to hold off until I’ve earned at least 3 chapters before I crack it open.  Only being able to read 1 chapter would drive me up the wall.  JR Ward is always leaving those chapters with some sort of hook and I wouldn’t be able to take it.  Although, just reading the 1 chapter would probably inspire me to push through my goals for the week though.

So I have 2 goals for this week, with 3 LOVER AVENGED chapters up as grabs as the reward.  I will report in next week on my progress.

‘Til then, lata

I got the contest results back this morning from the RSJ Aspiring Authors contest, and…

I didn’t place, but I scored much better than thought I would.  In fact, the feedback was very encouraging.  I’ve recently been battling writer’s block with this story, and the judges’ feedback, along with my CP’s, have helped spark the muse.

So I’m off to increase the word count.