Happy New Year

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I hope everyone has a happy and safe New Year.

Happy Birthday to me! My 29th year resolutions

I'm not making New Years resolutions this year. I'm making 29th year resolutions instead. That's right today is my 29th birthday. So I've been sitting back thinking about my life and where I wanted to be before I turned 30. A lot of it has come true. I have a great husband and wonderful little girls. I'm so lucky to have all that but of course, human nature as it is I want more. LOL. I'm just not feeling really good about myself lately. I've lost none of the weight I put on having babies. Because of that I end up walking around in over sized t-shirts half the time so I don't feel like I look cute either. I used to wear cute jewelry, rings on about three to four fingers on each hand. I wore makeup every day, not just when I had to go somewhere and I just don't do those things anymore. Part of it is getting older, be busy with kids and getting my writing career off the ground but I'm realizing it doesn't make me feel very good. Then when I don't feel good I eat, or play online when I'm not busy (LOL. Not that I shouldn't be online but I could get way more done if I weren't online as much) instead of writing or actually getting out of the house for no good reason.

I think its time for this to change. I KNOW pushing 30 doesn't make me old. I know that but I also think it is a huge milestone and one I'd like to reach feeling better about myself physically and about my position in life in regards to making my dreams come true. So starting today I'm starting my 29th year resolutions. I'm giving myself until December 26, 2009 to accomplish the things on my list.

1. Lose 35 pounds.
2. Start dressing cuter.
3. Buy myself something special from time to time. A cute ring, or bracelet. New eyeshadow. Stuff like that. Not often but every now and again.
4. Get out more with my kids. We do parks and stuff but I want to find more things we can do together to widen their experiences.
5. Get an agent. I'm 50k into my 80k book right now that I'm going to submit to agents. I need to get serious about my career and I think agents are one of the best ways to make that happen.
6. Sell to NY. Yes I LOVE my publishers now but its always been my dream to be with NY and in my 29th year I'm determined to make that happen.
7. Find a way to go out with my hubby, just the two of us, once every three months. Once a month would be better but honestly, I know that would never happen. We just done have the babysitters to help that often.
8. Do more family activities. My hubby works SO much but we have to find a way to do more fun stuff the four of us.
9. Meet more friends that I can spend time with. I have such WONDERFUL friends online which I love to pieces but I'd also like a couple that I can go have a drink with, or go hang out at Barnes and Noble with from time to time. That kind of thing.
10. Make sure my friends and my family know how much they mean to me. In some ways its been a tough year and I don't know how I'd have made it through without my family and a few friends who really stepped up to the plate to be there for me. I want them to know how much they bring to my life.

So that's my list in no particular order. What do you think? Wish me luck. I'll give an update on the 26 day of every month here on my blog letting you know what I did that month to work towards my goals.

Merry Christmas

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This is kind of a crazy year around our house. My four year old as strep, my one year old has ear infections in both ears, and now I'm starting not to feel so hot myself. That being said we're determined to have a Merry Christmas regardless. We're pumped up on antibiotics and I can't wait to spend the day with my husband, and my girls, spending time together, watching them open their gifts and playing all day. It will just be us this year for the first time and I'm looking forward to a nice, relaxing day at home with the people who mean the most to me. I hope you all have a fantastic holiday. Be safe, be merry and be surrounded by loved ones. That's what's most important. Merry Christmas.

I'll be back on the day after Christmas. It's my birthday. I'll be beginning my last year as a twenty something woman.

Trust your gut?

Do you ever get a really strong feeling that something good or bad is about to happen to you? I get them a lot and over the years, I've learned to trust my gut instinct. There have been times that I just knew something bad would happen but I went ahead with whatever I had planned and usually ended up regretting it later. Most of those were in my younger years though. Now I know better. Well most of the time at least.

I've always gotten strong feelings about people when I meet them. I almost always get a really good feeling if I meet someone who I will get along with well, or someone who I know is just a really good person. It's strange the way it works but I'm rarely wrong when it comes to this kind of thing and my own life.

Right now I'm working on a new book that is a little different for me. The hero Russ, is a real tortured hero. All my characters have their issues but none have been quite as tortured as Russ is. For some reason I have a really good feeling about this book. I'm not sure if its just because I like the story, because the hero is dealing with something that I've dealt with in my life with a close family member or because the story is really special but for some reason it feels different to me. Is it intuition or hope? I guess I won't know until I finish the darn thing and see what happens from there.

Do you strong intuition about your life? Do you trust those gut instincts?

Time flies

I can't believe it has been one year today since I had my baby girl. Time flies doesn't it? She's doing some many new things and before I know it she'll be heading off to school for the first time. She's in that point where everything is so new...so amazing. The smallest things make her smile. She's seriously the smiliest baby I've ever seen. We call her smiley face. She can say Mama, Dada and hi. She'll wave at herself while saying hi to you and its so darn cute. She's going to be fun, and outgoing, I can already tell. She's a daredevil, and a little toughy. She loves Dora the explorer and watching her big sister do anything. She looks up to M so much. I love watching the two of them together.

I'm so lucky to be able to call her my daughter.

Exciting News!

I've crossed over to the dark side! LOL, just kidding but I did recently dive into the erotic romance world writing my first novella called, Satisfy Me. Guess what??? I've sold it to Liquid Silver Books. I'm SO excited to work with them. I've heard nothing but good things about the company and their covers are gorgeous! I am doing my erotic romance under a different name though. So, now when you want to read something HOTTER of mine you'll have to look up my alias, Madison Scott! I've also started a myspace for her. If you're on myspace I'd love to be friends!

Here's a rough blurb for my very first (of more hopefully) erotic romance, Satisfy Me.

Tyson Malone is being stalked by a ghost. Between bouts of calling him Sugar Lips and Hot Cakes, the apparition makes it her goal to get Ty together with his sexy neighbor, Maggie Jacobson. Unfortunately, Ty doesn’t do the relationship thing. He does sex with a no relationship clause. One look at Maggie is all it takes to know she’s a relationship kind of woman.

Maggie is tired of living her life the way others dictate. When her mom leaves her a journal left behind by a grandmother she never met, Maggie is inspired. This brave woman lived her life by her own set of rules and Maggie is ready to do the same. Along the way she meets Ty, a man who inspires her on a whole new level.

After propositioning him with a no strings affair, Maggie and Ty begin a journey to sexual satisfaction and bringing her sexual fantasies to life.

So??? What do you think???

I did it!

I had a very productive weekend! I made my goal of 1500 words a day both Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday I even did a few more ending the day at 1850. Could have probably done more but my kiddos just didn't want to put up with it any longer. LOL. When Mom is in "the zone" it's quite boring for them. We made up for it with multiple games of talking Care Bears. My four year old plays with stuffed animals more than any child I've ever seen. She has tons of them. Unlike myself at her age, she enjoys them. My sat in my bed (or under it) basically just taking up space.

So, back to my writing. I'm really loving this story I'm working on. I feel good about it. Russ is complex yet simple at the same time if that makes any sense. I really like him and my heart yearns to give him his happily ever after. I think he is probably the most tortured hero I've written. I have a thing for reading a good tortured hero but this is my first time to truly try and write one. His issues are real and he has to work everyday to get past them. *sigh* just thinking about him has my fingers itching to go write...

Do you like tortured heroes? Which tortured hero stick out in your mind the most?

Who is with me?

I know I just posted about getting my act together and getting my goals accomplished by the first of the year but honestly, that probably won't happen. With the holidays, birthdays and everything else I have going that's cutting it pretty close. Since I'm being honest here, I'll also admit that isn't my only problem. If I would have kept up at the pace I was going, I would have finished this book by December first. Yeah, obviously that didn't happen. I let myself get way too sidetracked. I wrote so many books, so quickly in a row I think I was a little bit burned out. Not only that but I let myself get way too wrapped up in a book/movie series (lets just call it the book which must not be named. No it's not Harry Potter but close) anyway, I digress. I spent way too much time reading these same books multiple times. I looked up the movie, actors and interviews online like an obsessed teenager when I should have been writing.

Well enough is enough.

It's time to get serious. It's time to pull myself away from my recent little obsession and try writing my OWN books that hopefully readers will love as much as I love these. I've given myself a new goal. My Kentucky (yep still no title) book WILL be finished by January 15. If I write 1500 words a day my goal will be reached. That really isn't a lot. It shouldn't be difficult for me. I've done more and after writing today I'm really starting to get back into this book so much that I think it should be pretty damn easy. Russ and Angelique need their happily ever after! Not only that but I need to finish this book because there is another story I need to move onto...really badly....because....actually I can't say yet. But Hopefully I'll be spreading the news soon (I'm sneaky aren't I?).

So is anyone with me? Is there anyone else who has a writing or ANY kind of goal that they want to reach by the end of 2008 (or 15 days into 2009 :))? If so let me know. I'll keep you on track and you can do the same for me. Some times I can't write on the weekends so its hard to give a daily goal but I'm going to try. If some days I don't do enough, I'm going to make up during the week somewhere. I PROMISE you I'll be writing 10,500 words a week for the next few weeks. How does that sound? An actual promise so now I HAVE to keep it.

But I do expect your help (Abigail...you out there? Tonya...I know you'll help keep me on track too). Anyone else want to play? Want to make a promise here and now to get whatever it is you've been putting off DONE? Come on...I dare you...

A housefull of sick women

My 11 month old woke up yesterday with a really bad runny nose. She was fussy most of the day. Today my four year old woke up with a yucky cough and I have a really bad sore throat. So don't want to be my husband when he comes home :) We're all miserable. I'm drinking hot tea and trying to relax. The four year old is feeling better, still coughing a bit. The baby is fussy from time to time but not consistently all day which is good. I hate being sick but I hate it even more when my kids don't feel well. It's so hard to have sick kiddos. You just want to make it better for them and you can't. So keep your fingers crossed we're all feeling better tomorrow.

I've also been going through the first 75 pages of my Kentucky novel and doing a bit of self editing. A few things with my hero, Russ's past has changed along the way so I had to make the adjustments. I'm loving him though! I can't wait to dig back into the story and start writing again.

Back to the grind

Thanksgiving weekend is over and its time to crack down and get some work done. I want to get as much done before Christmas as I can. It's hard this time of the year but I want the end of 2008 to be as productive as possible. I started off pretty well so far. I kicked butt on my galleys the past two days and I'm just about done with them. Once they're behind me I have to get to writing! My goal is to finish my current novel by January 1. Not sure if I can. I still have a ways to go but I'm going to try. This story has taken a different turn than I'd originally thought but I think the story will be better for it. I really wish I could come up with a title though. I feel weird since I keep calling it my Kentucky story because it takes place in a fictional Kentucky town. I'll have to remember to post my blurb so you can let me know what you think!

Any goals to accomplish before 2009?