Fun and news

Well the week has been a fun one. My daughter turned 16 on Thursday and we had a great day with her. We bought a car for her -- actually, as much for us as for her because we didn't want to share our own cars. It's not a new car but it runs and is in decent shape and she was thrilled to get it.

Monday (not telling this in chronological order, obviously) I picked up a message on my voice mail letting me know Whispers was a Book Buyers Best finalist in the paranormal category. Whispers was also a finalist for the Award of Excellence and the USA Booknews Best Books. It's always so exciting and rewarding to have my books recognized like this.

Speaking of books--wow, it's amazing what focus will do for a girl's writing. I've really cranked up the discipline factor and have been writing on a very rigorous schedule. I want to have my first draft of my new book completed by July 1 and I am tracking on schedule. Amazing what a spreadsheet and unlimited supply of coffee can do--even for someone like me. :-)

Hey, thanks to everyone who played tag with me last week. That was so much fun and I learned quite a bit about people who I thought I knew. Check out the Tag, your it post if you missed it.

I've been tagged

Well, I didn't even know I could be tagged, but Cheyenne McCray just tagged me so I guess it's possible. :-) So what does it mean? Apparently I'm supposed to tell 8 things that no one knows about me. hmmm.... 8 things? and then I'm supposed to tag 8 people.

Okay, here we go:

1. I sat in the gas chamber at Florence penitentiary and lived to tell about. I was on a tour of the prison and when they asked who wanted to, I was one of the only people to raise my hand. I thought, how many people can say they sat here (after they sat there?). It was a weird, creepy experience but it comes in handy for things like this.
2. I was born in Independence Missouri, home of Harry S. Truman. Small town girl to my heart, even though we moved when i was young and I've never lived in a small town. I always have that yearning.
3. I started my first book when I was twelve. I stumbled across the hundred pages I'd typed (yes TYPED on an electric typewriter that never made a decent "e") and I thought, huh, not bad for a 12 year old who couldn't spell.
4. I almost didn't graduate from HS because I never went to class. I still have nightmares about walking into Math and realizing there's a test that day and I haven't been for weeks so I don't know any of the answers. I actually thought I wasn't very smart for a long time after high school. It took me years to get up the nerve to try college. I'm doing that now and have discovered that if you go to class, you usually know the answers to the questions on the test. I take great pride in my 3.9 gpa.
5. I don't write everyday. I envy those who do, but I have a full time job so I have to cram my writing into three days that I have off. My life with my kids and hubby are just too busy to try to do it after work. Plus my job is very stressful and I don't have the brain power by the end of the day.
6. Hmmm.... I met my husband at work right after I moved from Denver to San Diego. I was a receptionist at an electronic rental company and he worked in the lab. (They rented test equipment). He pulled up in a white convertible and I thought, Damn who is that sexy Spanish guy in the porche? It turned out he was a Mexican in a VW karman gia, (sp?) but the sexy part was for real. We still laugh about that. We've been married for 19 years!
7. Uhh...this is getting harder. I discovered recently that I'm an introvert. I say discovered because I never new it. Sure I knew that in social situations I'm the person who stands in the corner wishing I had something to say but talking to no one. Usually I end up spilling something on my blouse and slinking home embarrassed and frustrated. But it wasn't until I had a personality test done that the word introvert came into play. Realizing that I was an introvert was a big revelation. Somehow it makes me feel better about being so uncomfortable in those settings. I'm married to the biggest extrovert in the world. We always joke that he makes the friends we have, but I'm the one who keeps them--because sooner or later my extrovert husband is going to say something to piss you off. It's a given.
8. I have a total "older woman" crush on Leonardo DiCaprio. I think I would be tempted to be his love slave if he should ever start desiring overweight 40+ women. :-)

Okay, here's who I'm tagging:

• Calista Fox
• Kallie Owens
• Mary Leo
• Mackenzie McKade
• Melanie Atkins
• Lynne Connolly
• Shawna Moore
• Kathryne Kennedy

me so boring...

I wish I had a ton of stuff to say here, but I've been just plain boring lately. the only exciting thing to happen is our new puppy. Her name is Nala and she's a doll. Here's a picture of her.

If you've read any of my books, you know that I love animals and they frequently make guest appearances in my stories. I'm sure Nala is going to find a place in one soon.

Other than puppies and such, life is going along in a very predictable way. Writing, working, living. I've nothing to complain about (which is good). But I've nothing to report here either, which isn't so good.

What can I say? I'd rather be boring then stressed out.

Summer is here

The temps are rising and the mornings are coming earlier and earlier. In Arizona, Summer is officially on us.

I have company this weekend--my sister and her husband from Colorado. I don't get to see her enough so it should be a wonderful visit.

Day job has been extremely busy and some days I feel like sending up the "I surrender" flag, but at least I'm not bored, right? :-)

ESWF (work in progress) is going great.

That's all....

Stuff I'm learning...

First, I can't drink like I used to. I had 3 drinks last night that made me feel like I was using someone else's lips to talk and gave me a nasty headache this morning. Ugh. Now all I want to do is lay down and read. But I refuse to give in. I've got writing to do. :-)

Second, I'm learning to LOVE my new hero above all others. In the world that is in my head, he is king. His name is Sean and he looks a lot like Clive Owen.

Third, I'm learning to not just think outside the box, I'm learning that there is no box where my new book is concerned.

Fourth, see the first again. :-)

It's all good....

Well I've been negligent in my posts of late, but I can't say I'm sorry about it only because I've been working so hard on my new book. Friends, I have to tell you, I haven't been this excited about something I'm writing in a long time. I am absolutely in love with my hero, Sean, who I'm sleeping with quite a bit these days. (don't tell my husband, okay). And the research I'm doing is so interesting.

I've been wrapped around the business end of writing for about a year now and I finally managed to push back from that table and return to the part I love. There's nothing quite like that feeling of capturing an image or an emotion and find the exact words to convey it. I feel like I'm channeling the characters in Everything She Wished For and it's the most amazing experience.

The only thing slowing me down is a new addition to our family...no, I didn't have a baby. But we did bring home a puppy the other night. She's a doll, but oh does she demand a lot of attention. Sigh.

I've come to accept that life is never going to slow down in my house.

Why is it?

that my husband thinks the time I'm most irresistible is the time I've set aside for me? I'll never understand it. If I'm in the office, door closed, hard at work, that's when he has to ask me burning questions--like, where is the syrup? Or pester me with chores like, did you get your tax stuff ready?--even though we never have our tax stuff ready until months late (yes, we do file an extension). Or, the classic, do you want to do it?

yes dear, nothing makes me want to jump in the sack more than being totally focused on my writing, child-free for another 6 hours, and still in my jammies, unshowered.

Urhg!!!!

Okay, enough venting. So where have I been the past month? Feverishly finishing the story I wrote for the IN THE CHILL OF THE NIGHT anthology coming out in October. Other contributors to this Halloween collection are Melanie Atkins--whose suspenseful BLOOD RITE has a great review in RT this month--Lynne Connolly who writes dark, suspenseful urban Gothics and Shawna Moore--who writes steamy hot books. I feel very honored to be in this collection with such talented writers!

I will be hosting interviews with them later this summer and I'm really looking forward to that.

Anyway, could someone give my house a call and tell my husband he's needed, um, somewhere other than here?

Happy St. Patrick's Day

The luck of the Irish is a dubious thing, but today I'm feeling very lucky. I'm in San Diego with my family on a mini-vacation for spring break. Of course, since we're from Arizona, we are freezing to death. Isn't that a riot? 60 degrees is like sub-zero to my thin blood.

We haven't done too much--we went to Universal Studios, and that was fun, but not as wiz-bang as we expected. Plus we all live at a million miles an hour, so honestly we were tired--from my youngest child to me. Yesterday we lounged a bit, watched a movie, ate too much, went to see my husband's father who is in a nursing facility (and none too happy about it, poor guy). Today my husband plans to visit him again and then we will head over to Coronado Island. I lived in San Diego for 12 years but never made it to the Hotel Del. I've always wanted to see it so we're going to skip on over and visit.

My kids have been wonderful and this is why I feel so lucky this morning. I don't know what I've done in life to be so fortunate as to have the family I do, but I surely don't deserve them. I am blessed, to say the least.

On another note, trying to get my "In the Chill of the Night" story completed. My CP had some great ideas and I'm working them in.

Happy St. Patrick's Day one and all. May the luck of the Irish touch you in a good way today!

The departed, and other Tales from Erin's World

Where have I been? Well, as usual, moving so fast I can hardly breathe. My class at ASU is taking a lot of time. I don't know if I mentioned it or not, but it's Eng 102. That's right, freshman English. Should be a breeze for someone who's multi-published, right? Ah, think again. It's actually argumentative writing and I just really suck at it. I've never enjoyed structured writing. I don't like writing articles or essays. I suppose it's a skill I should learn because I know it's the structure I dislike so much. I wish I had more structure when I write my novels too. My good friend and cp, Lynn, plots down to the detail. Me--I get this general idea of what I want to write. With luck, I get it honed to a vision. Then I start writing.

What else? Well, I've got the deadline for IN THE CHILL OF THE NIGHT. And I'm still working on my ST and wishing I had a real life where I could dive in and write my heart out from dawn to dusk. Unfortunately--or rather fortunately, because I couldn't live without it--I have my day job. I'm fortunate that I enjoy my work, but it is hard sometimes when I'm spread so thin.

Then I have my daughter's book that I'm trying to get read so we can submit. I feel awful because it's taking me a long time to clear a space to fit that in.

Then (and this one really doesn't belong on my to do list because I'm enjoying it so much) I have Kathryne Kennedy's new book to read. She asked me to write a blurb for it and I'm so honored. It's really wonderful. I'll be posting when it comes out because you'll want to read it.

So I just realized I hadn't updated my contest page on my website. Yikes, I need to do that.

Oh, and Departed reference? I've decided I have an "older woman wife" crush on Leonardo DiCaprio. It took him awhile to go from lanky boy to MAN, but wow, was it worth the wait. If you haven't seen The Departed, go forth and watch. I loved it. Very violent, but wonderful. He's extraordinary in it.

Okay, that's all. It's a beautiful sunny day out. Hope I can keep myself focused.

Because I don't worry enough....

I've decided to worry about my blog. I know. I'm a nut.

Really, I wonder how I can make it more interesting. I look at other blogs and they have all kinds of fun and interesting stuff going on. I just can't figure out how to be that fun and interesting. I mean, I could talk about my jello shooter incident, and i could tell you how I write with two doggie beds (filled with dogs) at my feet. But is that more interesting than anything else I do? I don't think so.

I will tell you about a great author I just discovered. I read my first Beatrice Small book recently. I can't believe she's been writing since the 70s and I never heard of her. Sometimes I feel like I've been living in a cave. Anyway, I read her latest release and really enjoyed it. If you've been living somewhere dark too, you might want to give her a read.

Speaking of reading, my dear friend Mackenzie McKade just told me that her steamy hot novel (co written with Cheyenne McCray) is an ecataromance reviewers choice winner. Yay! Mackenzie and Cheyenne!

all for now. Back to my boring life.,

What's going on in Erin's World?

Hey, if I knew, I'd tell you. Normally my life is in overdrive, but the past few months it's hit supersonic speeds. Last month was the SDSU Writers Conference which is so much work--a labor of love, but a lot of work. This month it's trying to get my proposal ready AND my anthology story written. I got the proposal finalized and in the mail on Wednesday and now back to the story. I'm almost done with the first draft and then the polishing and tweaking begins. I've never written short like this before and I'm learning a lot about the process by seeing it condensed. I think I'd like to do more of these if my first efforts are received well. Oh, and school has been sucking up a lot of time in there. I'm used to the schedule of U of P where there are 5 weeks of class and intense assignments and then 5 weeks off. But now I'm at ASU where it's a whole semester and I'm really feeling the wear and tear of it. Is it summer yet?

I'm on the last of 5 RITA books. Last year I did Golden Heart and RITA and my GH submissions were amazing, RITA not so much. This year I didn't have such great GHs, but I had three really great RITAs.

What else? This week is going to be a little nuts. Tuesday I have school and then our Desert Rose meeting. Wednesday I'll be prepping for my turn to host the Bunco group (which comes Friday night). And then on Saturday my girlfriend from Denver and her family are coming for a visit. It will be the first time she's been to my house in Arizona and the first time I've seen her in 5 years. We went to High School together, were in each other's weddings and have a long, long history. Looking forward to that.

And then it's into March! Crazy year so far!

Good morning!

And what makes it such a good morning, you might ask? First, it's Saturday of a three day weekend. (Yay!) Second, I got my proposal off for my ST. (Double Yay!) Third, my husband came home from a long week out of town. Four, see one, two and three.

It's been a very stressful week--too many deadlines and too few hours. Last night I had this weird dream--I was trying to get home (on foot) with my daughter, two pairs of scooba diving flippers (and no, I don't dive) two dogs and an unknown baby in a an unknown stroller. We start off and are suddenly in rush hour like traffic and I'm dodging all these cars coming right after me--while managing the kids, the dogs and the flippers. I'd look ahead and see traffic flowing in a normal pattern and I could see that I was in the right lane to go with traffic but at the place I stood, everything was on coming. I finally make it past this busy intersection but when I looked around, I'd lost my daughter. I started calling for her, and inside I knew I'd find her, but there were thousands of people trying to get through the intersection and my daughter is little.

That's when I woke up in with a gasp.

So I've been analyzing it all morning because it felt so very symbolic.

Traffic--where I want to go, of course. If I could just get through this freakin' knot I'm stuck in, I know I can get there.

Daughter--everything I love and the sacrifices I have to make to get where I want to be. I've lost sight of what I value, but now I am getting my priorities straight--thus the feeling that I would find her but I had to look harder

Unknown baby and stroller--all the responsibilities that keep getting heaped on me until I feel like I'm responsible for everything

Dogs--what I will always have and accept me unconditionally

Flippers--well what's a dream without flippers?

Today, no writing. Gardening as the sun is bright, the temps are predicted to be in the 80s and I need to work through my "knot."

Hope you all have a good morning as well.

Early to rise...

I am up at at'em this morning, determined to crank out some pages. I'm not far from being through them and I feel like I'm hitting the right note. I hope, I hope...

Tonight my husband is taking me out for a fancy schmancy dinner date. I really love that guy.

Later, my friends.

Loss of a friend

It was a rough week for many reasons, but the hardest part was losing a dear friend. Her name was Nicole and I met her 7 years ago when I started working at Intel. We became friends right away. Nicole was very smart, had a sarcastic sense of humor that I loved, and she was giving. Her one big fault--she didn't take care of herself.

A few months before we met, Nicole had an irregular pap smear and she ignored it. At the time, she was unemployed and probably didn't have insurance and so she just pretended the test was wrong and went on. Then about 2 1/2 years ago she started having pains and went to the doctor where it was discovered that she had cervical cancer. It had already spread to the point where she couldn't have surgery to remove it and her only choice was radiation. She went through excruciating months of procedures, but the cancer continued to spread and no treatment would stop it. At 36, she was robust, volunteering at animal shelters, fostering orphaned pets and taking care of others to a whithered and frail woman who could no longer care for herself at 38.

During the years I knew Nicole, she was the first one to volunteer to help anytime someone asked. She gave her time freely and worked with rescue places to save animals that had been abandoned or unloved. She was a beautiful person and my heart is heavy and sick with the loss of her life.

She died this morning at 10 am. The world is a much colder place without her.

Monday, Monday

Goals for the week:

1. finish the proposal for my new book. It was finished, but then I made a major change to the beginning which is pretty much my MO. I never know where I want to start when I start. The more writers I talk to, the more I learn this isn't so uncommon. It's still vexing though. I'm loving this book, though, and wish I could turn off the editor and keep my creator going to the end. It's frustrating editing and polishing words that I know will be changed before it's all said and done. Ah well, the trials and tribulations. :-)
   
2. Get back to In the Chill of the Night anthology. I'm 12k into my 20k, but had to step away to go back to ST. It's probably a good thing because distance always helps. This story is really coming together and I'm excited to see where it ends up. It's my first anthology and I think I'm liking it. :-)
   
3. Finish my paper for my class at ASU. It's a bear, but it has to be done.
   
4. Finish the paper I'm writing for work. This has been a MAJOR challenge. I think I finally have it close.
   
5. At some point before next Monday, I want a nap.
   
6. Figure out what the hell happened to all my links. I lost them when I switched over to the new template. If I linked to you before and you happen to stop by, will you leave me URL? Hey, if I didn't link to you before and you want me to, leave it URL too. :-0

February Report

Ok, there's hope of me having a life again. Maybe. I'm still going a thousand miles an hour, but the writers conference is over and that is a relief. It was an incredible conference this year on many levels. First, I had good friends who came so there was a social time that was very much fun. There have been years when I've worked and then gone straight to my room without ever talking or meeting anyone.

Second, I took my daughter with me this year. She's 15 and has already written a YA novel. Yes, I am serious, no, I didn't help her with it, yes, she's amazing. Even more amazing (although I wasn't surprised at all by it) was the reaction she got in her meetings with editors and agents. Two of the editors who had read her first chapter before coming to the conference gave her their top award and asked to see it. And the agents were all over her. It was incredible. Now she's getting it polished up to send off and we'll see what happens from there. I'll keep you posted.

Then I met with Valerie Gray of Mira Books and had one of those incredible meetings that I never imagined would happen. She read the first chapter of my new book and said, "I love this. I really love this." I almost passed out. Very exciting. I'm getting my pages polished for her too.

Came home to a horrible cold and exhaustion. I started school again a couple of weeks ago so that's keeping me busy. But the writing is going great and I really can't complain too much.

Well I could...but what would be the point?

BTW, I know we're not supposed to talk about them in detail, but I have to say this year the batch of books I got to judge for the RITA are terrific. I'm only on #2, but I've loved both. It's a beautiful thing.

Until the next post, which will hopefully be sooner rather than later... Erin

San Diego

I'm in San Diego right now at the SDSU Writers Conference. It starts tonight and should be a terrific one. I help with the conference by scheduling all of the appointments for editors and agents. It's fun and I love it when participants talk to me afterwards and tell me that they had a great meeting.

My daughter is coming this year for her first ever conference. She's 15 and has written a novella which is really good. I'm sure she's going to get a billion dollar book deal, appear on Oprah and all that and I will forever be known as Hailey's mom, who writes too. :-) There are worse things, right? :-)

Anyway, I will check in later. Happy Friday.

Where the hell is Erin Grady

Good Lord, has life been busy. Mostly I've been working on the SDSU Writers Conferece and working on my day job AND doing that writing thing. I'm 10k into my 20k for the anthology and liking what I have so far. Stewing on my Ireland story at the same time. Looking forward to getting past this month.

Oh, and reading GH and rita entries. No wonder I'm so busy.

Anyway, I'll try to be more regular and entertaining as soon as I can.

Take care!

Things to do

The list is too long, but I'll do what I can.

1. Write. I have about 5k of the 20 needed for the Chill of the Night anthology. It's been fun writing.
2. Redesign my website. It's been too long. I haven't even updated with January contest.
3. Find a way to fit about 10 more hours in my day
4. Spend some quality time with my husband and kiddies. (#4 on the list today because they've been #1 for the past month, which is why I'm so behind on everything else)
5. Send back stuff I ordered for Christmas that was wrong size, color, etc.
6. Try to get 8 hours of sleep sometime in the not too distant future.

2007--May it bring only the best

I feel very excited about this new year. 2006 was a rough one in so many ways that 2007 has to be better. I was a little blue last night--was invited to a neighborhood party that I really wanted to go to, but my hubbie was sick and I didn't want to leave him alone on New Year's Eve so I stayed home and watched TV with him. Then he fell asleep at 11:45. Yes, 15 minutes before. Sigh. But my girls were here to wish me happy new year and that was a beautiful thing.

The upside is that I feel good this moring--no hangover. Repentent husband made breakfast and cleaned the kitchen. My day is going to be filled with movies, books and writing.

Hope yours is equally wonderful. :-)

Happy New Year!