Well, it’s not much longer now. So much to do… so little time…

Now that Andy is back in school, I really have to compete for the computer. School work is more important. Good thing I’ve got a laptop and a full sized keyboard I can plug in to it so I can work in another room, although it’s not always as comfortable.

It was my intention to have the first draft of The Anniversary completed in time for the conference–not that I need to take it with me. It’s just my goal to have it done. I think I’m 75% of the way there but with the way I’ve jumped about writing scenes as they come to me, I can’t say for sure.

What can I say? I am so looking forward to this shindig. It’s the first writers’ conference I’ve attended and I want to make a good impression. You know–look the part of a professional. I’ve bought new clothes, still looking for the right “bling” to set them off–although I’ve seen some possibilities.

I want to get more business cards and bookmarks printed, too. Now that I’ve got my new colour laser printer and business card stock for colour lasers, and some heavier card stock to make the bookmarks from, I’ve got that part pretty much covered. I plan on collecting and swapping as many business cards as possible while I’m there so even though I’m printing my own, I want them to look as good as possible.

All I can say at this point is, it’s a good thing that I’m off work the week leading up to the conference.

The ghost is still playing silly beggars with my radio dial. Except in my case – it’s digital. The only good thing was, this morning it seemed to get bored much sooner than earlier in the week. Yesterday, you couldn’t get from the radio back to the computer without it changing stations again.

I like your theory MJ, some disgruntled ghost who hates the CBC, has found his/her way into my house when we had all that rain in July and August.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Yesterday morning and again this morning, my FM radio has been changing channels by itself. I normally listen to CBC Radio on 107.5 while I’m perusing my Press and Journal and the BBC news website. Well, if the radio isn’t automatically switching itself at random intervals to 87.5. Hmm… There’s nothing at that frequency – just a lot of snow and static, although this morning, I thought I did hear something other than that. So, is there someone in the neighbourhood whose remote control is set at the same frequency as my receiver and they’re changing channels? Or, is there someone out there trying to get me to listen to this other radio station?

I just know it’s extremely aggravating! Aggravating to the point of me going BERSERK!!! Speaking of berserk, that’t the theme for the September flash fiction for our writers’ group.

I just finished reading Stephen King’s On Writing. It was entertaining, encouraging and informative. Trouble is, I’ll have to give it back. You see, I borrowed it from one of the girls in my writers’ group. However, it’s a book that should be on any aspiring novel writer’s bookcase. Looks like I’ll be getting my own copy soon.

And you thought Stephen King only wrote fiction.

Well, she should be there. I e-mailed my query letter, full synopsis and first three chapters off to Mills and Boon Thursday evening. All the formating was changed, the spelling checked to make sure it was UK English and I sent her off.

Yesterday was the August Bank Holiday in the UK – everywhere but Scotland – so between that and the recent clip on BBC News (quite likely the telly as well as the website), they are likely inundated with queries.

So in the meantime, I’ll sit back and wait. Who knows this might be the one.

Yesterday, while perusing the BBC news website (as I always do), on the main UK page, I spotted a video clip on How to Write a Mills and Boon. These folks are the UK version of Harlequin Romance. So, I watched it before I made supper last night and came away with the name of the editor and what they want you to send in when you query – query letter, synopsis and first three chapters. She also went on to say that they read everything they receive and are more than willing to work with aspiring authors to make their work publishable.

This morning, I checked out the Mills and Boon website and can either send my Sarah’s Gift query to them via snail mail or e-mail. The only thing I have to do is change a bit of my formatting – the double quotes need to be changed to singles. Not a big deal with ‘find and replace’ as long as I don’t hit the dreaded replace all. It’s much better, even though it takes longer, to replace them one at a time to ensure that something doesn’t get changed accidentally.

Here’s hoping that before the end of the weekend, Sarah’s Gift will be winging her way to the UK – whatever the method of mail, I decide to use.

After all, Sarah’s Gift takes place in the UK, why not send her to a publisher over there? Sounds logical to me.

Well the epiphany came to me. A little cutting here and there and I was down to the 250 maximum number of words.

That noise!

Beep-beep. I woke to the annoying high-pitched sound of something electronic. But what was it? I lay there listening, assorted thoughts running through my head. Was it a carbon monoxide detector? A smoke detector? My son’s alarm clock? I looked at our clock. Definitely not that. It was only around one thirty. The one thing I knew was that this noise definitely wasn’t was the BEEP-beep from either cell phone indicating low battery or missed call.

I eventually dragged myself out of bed. Outside the door, I stood in the hall and listened. It wasn’t coming from upstairs. Beep-beep. It continued. Down the stairs in the dark, I followed the sound. I stood at the foot of the stairs and listened again.

Beep-beep. It was louder now so the origin of the sound was definitely on this level. I moved into the living room. The sound grew fainter. Was it something in the front hall? I approached from the other archway. A flashing red light caught my eye. I looked closer. BEEP-BEEP!

The mystery had been solved! It was the cordless phone! It had been unplugged too long and was telling me that it needed to be put back where it belonged.

I gathered it up, made my way back upstairs, still without turning on a light, plugged the base back in and put the handset back in place. BEEP-BEEP. It had to get the last word. A few seconds later, all was quiet and I fell back into bed.

I decided to take the plunge and register for this year’s conference that takes place the last weekend in September. Luckily for me, I registered early enough that I’m confirmed in the draw for a critique! I was one of the first forty to register so that automatically put me in the draw. There are five representatives in total from publishing houses, an agent, and a published author who will be doing the critiques.

So friends and fans of my writing, keep your fingers crossed for me that I’m one of the lucky ones – or the lucky one, depending on how things are done. The conference registrar thought there would be five individual draws but she would have to double check. Either way, sounds like pretty good odds and I’ll be rubbing shoulders and networking with the right kind of people to get me that much closer to having one of my novels published.

Guess that means I best get my skates on and finish novel #2 which is currently about 50% complete. I know the beginning, the middle and pretty much the end and have written segments from each of those sections.

No epiphanies today at work. Oh well, I still have until June 22 to come up with 250 words on the subject – or not.

Currently, my priorites lie elsewhere but you never know when inspiration will hit and the words come gushing out of my brain through my fingers on the keyboard.

Unfortunately, the title doesn’t allow me to italicize the theme for the next flash fiction prompt. It should appear as That noise! So what noise will it be? Scratching? The ice cream truck playing that SAME song again? Crying? The possibilities are endless. Unfortunately, my available time right now isn’t.

Time to get ready for work. Maybe I will be struck with an epiphany while there.