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Saturday, March 31, 2007

Redecorating time....


No, the blog's not under construction. It is what it is.....Blogger makes me too nuts to try to figure out how to change it around!
But my website... Maureen Child, is going to be getting a face lift soon. It was supposed to happen in April, but my Web Goddess, Ms. Shelley is neck deep in work, so I was postponed until May.
Which gives me WAY too much time to think about what I should change, how I should change it and just how much can I bug Ms. Shelley without her hiring a hitman.
I'm thinking bright, clean, sharp. I've got romances, funny paranormals, and dark paranormals, so I've got to give a little time to each of those genres. Not so easy.
So, if you get a free minute, go by the website, see what you think and let's hear some opinions!!

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Great Read!


Okay, after my rant on tv yesterday, had to come back and say something about my newest favorite heroine!
KNOCK OFF is the first in a brand new series, cleverly called the F.A.T. mysteries, after its heroine, Finley Anderson Tanner.
And Finley is just the kind of girl I want to hang out with. She's snarky, she's unashamedly unambitious, she loves Starbucks and a good bargain. She's got the perfect boyfriend and yet lusts after Mr. Not So Perfect. She's got great girlfriends and a superior attitude.
There were so many laugh out loud moments in this book for me, I cannot wait for the next one to come out!
Run, do not walk, to your nearest bookstore and get this book. And if you need to be convinced, go to Rhonda Pollero's website and check out her flash movie. You can enter a great contest over there too! Hey, go win a knock off Rolex!

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Battlestar Galacti-WHAT???



Okay, so I'm a little late. Just watched Sunday's episode last night.

Let me just say...this show is driving me nuts. Yes, I'm still watching and yes, I'm still grumbling about it. But this episode really caps things for me!

First off....the Final Five Cylons....we only see four of 'em. And hello? Sam? The Chief? The President's secretary? Since when is she a player? And the one eyed, drunken, always depressed, whiny Colonel? Why would the Cylons want to claim him anyway? And who's the Fifth? My husband thinks it's Starbuck--and if it is, good luck to the Cylons. Her on again off again sanity was getting so hard to take I nearly cheered when her raptor broke up! If the Fifth one is Baltar, then we have nothing to worry about. The Cylons will self destruct after a little more time with him.

And what's up with the SciFi channel? Galactica will continue in '08??? Who will remember what happened by then? Who will care?? The beauty of SciFi used to be that we got new series in the summer--when ZIP was on everywhere else. Now, they're trying to become a 'network' and start their shows in the Fall. The question is, WHY? The 'networks' are suffering incredibly low numbers........

So, excuse my rant. But for Pete's sake. Continued in 08???????

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Synopsiseseses and other pieces of hell....


Not that I resemble this woman on the left at all, mind you, but I did just spend a couple of days putting a synopsis and an overview of 3 books together for my editor.
The synopsis is the fly in your soup. The pebble in your shoe. The pain in the a**....in other words, it is a writer's living nightmare.
When you have 400 pages to tell a story........or even 200, there's room for character, and humor and depth and emotion and description.
When you try to boil that whole manuscript down into five or six pages...well, you see the problem. The trick, I've learned, is to keep as much detail as possible OUT of the synopsis. The book is where the details belong. There, you can spend pages if you want to, (although I don't reccommend it), describing the heroine's clothing or what she had for lunch. Do NOT put it in the synopsis.
Basically, what you've got to do is find a way to tell your story and only hit the highlights. I tell people to write a synopsis as if you're telling your best friend what your story's about. Then you'll hit the big stuff, and blow right past the pesky details that will only confuse the situation.
The best part of writing a synopsis??? Having written it.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Late St. Paddy's Day...



Once a year, EVERYBODY'S Irish. And we're glad to have you all join us.

I'm a little late on the posting of St. Paddy's Day...but the celebration is no less heartfelt.

I love Ireland. It's one of my favorite places in the world. If I could, I'd be living there for at least half the year...the people are as warm as the wind is cold. The greens are so varied and so rich, it makes your eyes hurt just to look around at the beauty of the place.

And the Irish love a good storyteller. For a writer, there's no better spot. The hills actually do feel alive--with memory. Stand inside the ruin of what was once a castle and listen carefully enough and you'll hear the sighs of the past. The laughter, the tears, the celebrations, the mourning.

Life rolls on and never really changes. Time does, of course. We have the nifty inventions that five hundred years ago would have looked like magic. But the people...we're still the same. We love, we cry, we laugh. And to lose yourself in the magic of Ireland is a blessing everyone should discover at least once in their lives.

So I wish you all the chance to walk across a muddy field. To stand beside a Faery ring. To feel the magic of time gone by and to ease yourself by a peat fire. And when you do, lift a pint to all those who have come before....

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Stress Relief...........


The thing is, when you're so busy working you forget to lift your head for days at a time, you can lose perspective! You start thinking about deadlines, and the mad rush to completion and what's up next.
And you forget sometimes, to savor the job you're fortunate enough to have.
See, I have the best job in the world. I'm a writer. People PAY me to make up stories. I get to live in fictional worlds and run them MY way. But I tend to get so wrapped up in what I'm doing that the rest of the real world drifts away.
So I'm grateful for RWA. Romance Writers of America, and specifically the Orange County Chapter Once a month, whether I feel like I have time for it or not, I go to our meeting. I don't always stay for the whole thing, but I get so much out of going!
I get to be in a room with a hundred women (and some men), who all understand exactly what I'm talking about when I want to whine. They know the thrill of fictional worlds and the frantic worrying over publishing trends. We talk characters and plots and every once in awhile, someone says something and another writer gets a gleam in her eye and we know that the magic has happened. One stray thought can give a writer the seed of a story. One friendly word from a peer can lighten your load. One smile lets you know you're not alone.
So to OCC and its members, thanks for all you give me every month.........

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Hey, I'm Working Here!


I'm in the midst of finishing up one book before jumping into the revisions on another and then starting the next!
Sound just a little schizoid? Oh yeah. Sometimes it's hard to keep all of your fictional worlds straight! For example, I'm polishing up a paranormal for Silhouette's Nocturne line. It's set in Ireland and it's about an Immortal Guardian named Rogan Butler. Now, I'm loving Rogan and he's got a great heroine, Aly Blair... BUT, there's also a corner of my frenzied brain already planning how to trim and tuck and change the things that need changing in my recently completed Silhouette Desire.
There, I've got Debbie and Gabe to worry about--oh, and did I mention they're on a tropical island at a luxury resort Gabe owns?? Good times.......THEN, while I'm planning on little nips and tucks for Debbie and Gabe, I'm also thinking about my next project, a Vampire novella for Nocturne!
Yep, my first foray into the world of fangs....so I've got some ideas there. Plus, did I mention, I'm also working on the next book for NAL?
It's another contemporary/paranormal/funny/first person...so far, called A FIEND IN NEED.
So, I'm feeling the rush of too many books, too many words and just not enough hours in the day. And how's your world???