Fini!

I think, just possibly, that I'm finished with my Rune, which has been a long time coming, but you know. These things take time. I didn't quite make my projected 30K, but that's all right. 26K is respectable. I'm currently calling it Finding Home. Titles are so not my strong point.

I'll print it and give it a last read and repair, then ship it off to the bosses and move on to the next project on the list. Feels good to have it done and one more thing completed and under my belt.

I like that story quite a bit. I like more of it than I dislike, which sounds like a weird thing to say, but we writers, you know, we're very critical of our work. I'm very good at finding parts that I don't like or that I didn't manage to convey quite the way I wanted, so to say that I like more than I don't at this stage of the book? Is quite something and I'm proud of me.

Spoke with an agent in LA yesterday about my thoughts and hopes for the Fox deal. It was nice to bounce ideas off someone who gets what I'd like to do with a career in Hollywood, should I happen to end up with one. Please allow me to clarify, though: She's not my agent. I don't have an agent of any sort. Just someone who was willing to talk. I've found, actually, that much like published authors (who used to terrify me) that agents and editors are real people too, and that they like to talk--just talk--almost as much as the random person on the street does. About their lives, about the world in general, all without any expectation that they have to do work or provide a service they weren't expecting too. It was a good conversation.

Rumor has it that I will be writing a guest spot at Romance By the Blog in January. Rumor has it that Tessa will too. I'm sure one (or both) of us will let you know more.

And happy birthday, yesterday, to my mother, who is not really online but she might, someday, peek. Happy day, Mom!

Post-holiday updates

I hope that everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving and managed not to be too traumatized by Black Friday. Those of you overseas, I hope the weekend's treating you well.

I have been dutifully writing along on my next project. Then I made the mistake of looking at all of the things I want to do for next year. Even without any firm deadline committments, it looks like it's going to be another busy year. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it means I need to re-examine my ability to say no.

In other exciting news, congratulations to Mary Danielson for winning Round Three of the Harper Teen FanLit contest! It's about time! She finaled nearly every week in Avon FanLit, so her big day was just taking its time.

Thinking is dangerous.

At least for me. I get into 'what if X' conversations with myself and they never end well.

I have not heard from Fox again, so apologies for no exciting updates. As The Engineer reminded me last night, it's a 12 month deal. They've got loooots of time left. And, it's the holiday season. Much as I would rather know something soon, I have to face the fact that I may not hear anything new until next year.

I do wonder, though, whether some of the silence stems from the O.J. book controversy. Who was going to publish the book? HarperCollins (well, Regan Books, but same parent). Who was going to air the special? Fox. Both of the FanLit sponsors. I suspect that they're veeery busy.

Add to that that we're sliding into Sweeps Week and I'm not really shocked that my phone isn't ringing off the hook.

In better news, though I'm not really doing NaNoWriMo (and thus haven't shown up over at the boards), I *have* written almost 28K so far this month. That's a lot for me. More importantly, I've finished a couple of projects I was dragging my feet over. Go go determination!

The Waiting Game

Hands down, the worst part of this writing gig is the waiting. We writers operate on a completely different schedule than agents and editors (and producers!) do. It's very easy for us to get caught up in the cool factor and excitement of having completed a book and want details and contracts and shiny things now now now.

When agents and editors (and producers!) have to deal with dozens of writers all wanting the same thing.

I understand this logically.

It doesn't make waiting any easier. :)

Went to the last "real" meeting of our local chapter yesterday, which was an EMS panel, and it was fantastic. I love my chapter. For all the drama and stresses that we go through now and then, I really do love them. Enough that I'm going to be president, again, next year.

Between me and my pal Anna, we've been president for the last four years. Three years ago it was Anna, two years ago it was me, last year was Anna, and next? After that I'm done, and I really hope the chapter doesn't implode for lack of volunteers. I don't think it will. I think someone will step forward who loves us as much as I do.

But I have to wait to see.

Grr. :)

You're in the right place.

Just on the off-chance that people are wandering by to see who I am, I say this.

Hi! Welcome to my blog!

If you read the press release linked in RWA's eNotes yesterday, then yep, I'm that Sara Dennis. You won't find a lot of behind the scenes information about Fox, yet (and possibly ever, as they probably won't let me tell everything) but the parts of the process I can share, I will. When I've got updates. :)

If you'd like to read my FanLit entries, they're all linked here. The weekly round finalists are there, as well as the entries that didn't do as well.

In other news, I'm considering starting a Yahoo!Group or Google!Group or something. Sing out if you think it'd be interesting.

I can hear it now.

Why are you not updating?

Because, my friends, I spend a lot of time running around like a chicken with no head. And not because I'm working on anything particularly exciting. This is just the state of my life.

I did get to have some fun yesterday. The Engineer surprised me with tickets to the Dixie Chicks concert in town. We trucked on over and got to spend the evening in one of the box suites, watching my girls play. My girls, like I had anything to do with their success. Still, I love them and I support their right to make controversial statements about the government. Heck, I do it. Fortunately for me, maybe, I'm not a big name country group, but still.

So the contest was amazing, their video team did spectacular things, and a good time was had by all!

Back to the salt mines.

My kingdom for an extra hour

I'm beginning to understand the need for a personal assistant.

I have no new updates from Fox as yet, but I did find a couple of press releases that mention Tessa and I, so that was pretty cool.

I also talked to a reporter from the Sacramento Bee this morning, so we'll see if that turns into an article in a couple of weeks.

And life goes on. Writing to do, parts of the house to clean, laundry to fold.

Let's Talk About Sex

Okay, first, let me ramble.

For those who are curious about my list of five things, did I snow you all? Ha! I am so sub-tul. Or, you know, y'all just don't know me.

The one that is *not* true is number 4, about dressing up as a curvy Lone Ranger. Though I participated in high school rodeo in Wyoming, I never did it in costume.

The Engineer says I cheated because he did not actually *fling* the rabbit at me. But, yes, proud romantic that I am, I got married because of a dead rabbit.

Well. The *real* proposal was mine. He surprised me with the rabbit, but *I* had already bought *him* a ring. And so, after I made dinner that night (not rabbit, mind you), I put the little black box down beside his plate and said 'Here, I brought you dinner, marry me.'

It's been eight years. :)

In other news: I have had contact with Fox. I had a great conversation with a man named Gabriel (who told me that Fox actually read the finalist entries. Did you guys know they were doing that? I didn't!) Next steps on how to work with them in the development deal are forthcoming.

I turned in a long overdue novella over the weekend. And I played some Final Fantasy XII, which was my reward.

I have not NaNo'd. I should. I have a bunch of projects, though, so I may just add up the sum of my words and call it a technical NaNo, and not worry about the 50K being all on one project.

Now, the sex part:

I am so, so very frustrated by the fact that, in order to make a good showing in the ebook market at the moment, it seems to me that one must write hot, on-the-page sex. Okay, wait, I amend. One must write hot, on-the-page sex with graphic language. No euphemisms and you absolutely can't close the door. Readers right now want hot, hotter and blazing and that, unfortunately, just isn't my speed. So, I've seen my co-writers sell better, get more reviews, and more oohs and ahhs from the mailing list/chat room crowds than I ever will.

I vent not because I think they don't deserve it. I've read the books. I enjoy reading erotic romance sometimes, too. And these are some very talented women I'm talking about. It just chaps a bit when reviews and readers come back saying, 'We love your writing', but the sales numbers don't bear up.

Sex sells, and that's the bottom line. I can change or I can cling to my sensual-but-not-steamy stories and stiffen my bottom lip.

It just gets to be too much to keep quiet about sometimes, you know?

Contest announcements and answers!

Hope everyone had a fantastic Halloween. I'm a little disappointed, since we got *not a single trick or treater*! What's up with that? Last year we had great ghosts and ghoulies. This year? Not a peep. Though I'm hearing that from friends all over the country. I'll be sad if Halloween stops being what it was when I was a kid.

I'll bet you want to know about that contest of mine, don't you? Well, the wait is over. The winner of my Vegas Magic contest is: Mindy! I'll be contacting her to get her address and have a basket in the mail to her soon.

There's another contest going on over at one of our group blogs. Swing by, answer some questions, and get entered in a drawing for five of Cobblestone's Octoberfest ebooks, including my latest release, Stacking the Deck.

I found out I was awarded one of Literary Sass's Tequila Worm awards yesterday, for a favorite read. I love that blog, their reviews and their taste in books. ;) Go check them out.

As for the question about which of my five facts is false from yesterday... should I let that go another day? Maybe I will. Ah, delicious torture.

Off to run errands (that involve getting my glasses fixed, what fun) then back to the computer to dive into NaNoWriMo. Aieee.