Another Author in the Making

MOOD STATUS: "Pumped". Got 41% of my WIP done so far.

Hey, all! In case your electricity went out, your Internet service was disrupted, or you were temporarily blinded and missed my Facebook post and half a dozen of my Tweets, I'll repeat my announcement.

I got an email Monday morning telling me that my book Georgie on His Mind was one of the CataNetwork Single Titles Reviewers' Choice award winners for 2010.

I know. I'm shocked too. But it's so nice to be surprised like that.It's not often that a little G-rated romance will get such recognition, so I really have to milk it while I can. :)

Actually, I think my little girl is following in my footsteps already. I noticed these stapled little packets (books) that she's been putting together all over the house recently. When my hubby asked her where she was getting the inspiration to write books, she stated simply, "Mama."

Aww.... that's my baby!

Well, I have to share a few pictures of her most recent work, entitled: Moose.

(Titles obviously aren't her forte)

"LADY MOOSE"

"DISCO MOOSE" (my personal favorite with the sparkly coat and cool hairdo) LOL

In other news, did you know that February is Library Lovers' Month? Yeah, either did I.

So go love a library and take out some books this long President's weekend! That's what I plan on doing--along with mattress shopping. :)

Have a great weekend!

'Tis the Season for a Book Giveaway

MOOD STATUS: "Groovy" (Despite a bad night of sleep) Got the Christmas decorations up already and will decorating the tree tonight!

Hey, all! I'm not here today. I'm at Rula Sinara's blog A Writer's Rush.

She was kind of enough to want to interview me and since it's the holidays and all, I'll be doing a little book giveway to some lucky commenter. You have until Wed. Dec 8th to comment.
I'll be giving away a copy of Georgie on His Mind or The Role of a Lifetime (winner's choice)
Stop by and say hello!



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Oh, and fellow bloggie buddy, Shannon McMahon hosts an Anonymous Critique every week on her blog. If you want to participate, you can provide feedback in the comments section or you can submit a tidbit of your writing to shan.mcm @ gmail.com and she’ll post your work there for honest, constructive feedback.
Check it out! http://shannonmcm.com/

The Agony of the Wait

MOOD STATUS: "Frustrated".


Are you waiting for news? I am, too! And it's AGONY.

I said last week, I've been doing really well with my new WIP. And that's true, but I'm feeling a little distracted waiting for the news, which is making it difficult to put my heart into this book.

You see, I have my third book under submission right now with a publisher and I'm getting a bit antsy. I've been waiting well over NINE MONTHS so far and still haven't heard a thing. I mean, nine months! I'd have a baby by now at least. SOMETHING!

Oh, sorry. I'm calmer now. I promise.

But honestly, you'd think the waiting this would get easier after you're published. Wrongo. In fact, I think it gets worse. Yes, I really do. Because with each added week wait, a little piece of my ego gets flushed down the toilet.

sigh


Of course now that I mentioned this waiting I'm sure I'll hear today--and it won't be good news. LOL. But you know what? At this point, I'd take the bad news over a longer wait.

What about you?
Which do you think is worse: the wait or the rejection?


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In other GOOD news, I got another really sweet review for Georgie on His Mind by CataRomance Singe titles this weekend. If you want, you can check it out HERE.

Halloween Recap

IN THE NEWS: Oops: Accused Fla. bank robber dropped wallet. Read more HERE.

Halloween was good but...unusual this year. In fact, I think it was one of those rare days where we actually celebrated THREE holidays in one. Yes, it's true. The in-laws are leaving for Florida soon but they wanted to have a big turkey dinner together before they left since they won't be around for Thanksgiving. So we celebrated Thanksgiving on Halloween.

But since it was Halloween and trick-or-treating started at 5PM, my mother-in-law had to have dinner early. Way early. Like...1PM early.

Or what I like to call linner.

The in-laws usually come back for a brief time for Christmas but this year they're not going to do that so they gave each of the grandkids one Christmas gift to open up. Thus, the third holiday was celebrated that day. A new record. :)

The actual Halloween trick-or-treating was great. In my neighborhood all the kids gather for one group picture before they're off. All the dads walk together and chaperone the kids while the moms have candy duty. The kids trick-or-treated for maybe an hour and half but still managed to get a ton of candy. Then they (meaning kids AND dads) were pooped so we all ended up getting together at one of the neighbor's houses and had a impromptu party, which ended at 8PM since it was a school night. Too fun!

Here's a pic of everyone: (my kiddo was Hannah Montana)



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In other news...

I just got a review from Booklist for Georgie on His Mind that totally made my weekend. In case you didn't know, Booklist is the magazine put out by the American Library Association. Here's a brief snippet of what it said:

From Booklist
"It’s the mature way Walt responds to Georgie’s shenanigans that make this romance a standout. Shirk’s novel is as breezy and charming as Georgie’s seaside surroundings, and her sweet love affair with Walt will linger in the reader’s mind long after the tale is told."
--Courtney Jones

*sigh* What a nice surprise!
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Oh and one other minor bright spot this Halloween was the "trading" of the candy that went on between the kids after trick-or-treating was done.

Kudos to my kiddo for making a sweet (no pun intended) trade of a giant Willy Wonkers Laffy Taffy for a giant Twix bar (my personal fav). Good girl!


What's your favorite Halloween candy?

Book Giveaway for GEORGIE ON HIS MIND!

IN THE NEWS: Teen's bike stolen by apes and chicken . Read more HERE.


Hey, all! My good friend and blogging buddy, Diane Estrella is hosing a giveaway of my recent Avalon Books romance:
GEORGIE ON HIS MIND.

Isn't that sweet?

If you're interested in trying to win a copy, go over to her BLOG from now to Sunday, October 17th and comment to be entered in the drawing. Winners will be announced on her blog this Monday, October 18th.

PS: She's hosting a BUNCH of other goody giveaways too, so don't miss out!!

Here's a little bit about my book (um, in case you haven't heard)

Georgie Mayer has no boyfriend and rarely goes out. In short, she needs a life. Since she's graduated college and returned back home, her brother's protectiveness has been in overdrive, and she hasn't been able to have any fun, never mind get a date.

So what's a poor particularly attractive girl to do in a situation like this? The only thing she can do: find him a woman!

He'll thank her for it in the end. That is, if his best friend Walt Somers would stop interfering with her plans. The handsome pharmacist has made no secret that he doesn't approve of what she's up to. Unfortunately, having Walt hanging around does strange things to her mind, and suddenly she can't help but take a healthy interest in him. But how can Georgie entertain thoughts of the two of them together when Walt still treats her like his best friend's little sister?

Here are what nice reviewers are saying about my book:

**"I really enjoyed this one. Both Walt and Georgie have been burnt by love and are understandably reluctant to try again. The contest for a date with Clay adds an entertaining complication to the budding romance. The setting of a small seaside town and the entertaining cast of characters make this story a perfect one to while away a couple of hours."
4 COFFEE CUPS

Maura-- Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance & More

** "A cute, funny tale from beginning to end..."

Patti Fischer-- Romance Reviews Today



Whew! I know. I'm sick of me too. But that's all the hot air out of me for today.

Have a GREAT weekend!

Chance to win my book!

Avalon Books editor Lia Brown is over at the Seekerville blog today!

She's giving an opportunity to pitch and giving away two copies of Avalon Books. (Winner's choice!)

If you win, you can pick mine, Georgie on His Mind--or you have a chance to pick out any other great Avalon Books book. You can go to their website to see their catalog HERE.

Good luck!

Old Manuscripts: Hidden Gems Within?

IN THE NEWS:Man listed dog as dependent in lunch scam. Read more HERE.

I remember having a discussion with a friend about first manuscripts. Needless to say, we had both shuddered when we thought about our own hidden away in our computer files. We put so much work and effort into what we had written then. And it would never see the light of day. Was it all a waste of time?

Well, deep down inside I know it's not. If you don't write, you don't grow as a writer. We all know that. So anything you've written builds onto your writing base and you learn from it.

But have you ever considered going back and really digging through it again?

Now, I'm not talking about trying to save your manuscript. (That's another topic) Not rewriting them to make them publishable. I'm talking about just looking for golden little gems in your writing that may have been missed in your mishandled plot or eighty-two pages of backstory.

I admit, I once thought there is NOTHING good in what I had written. But that changed.

My very first manuscript was aimed for one of the Harlequin lines. Unfortunately, it was like four or so years ago, so I really forget which line I was aiming for. But anyhow, I'll be honest when I say I had no idea what I was doing. Obviously the editors must have thought so too because what I received was not your standard rejection letter. It was more like a definite "we cannot use this", and they very kindly gave me a two page list describing all their different lines to me.

The manuscript was set in a pharmacy because somebody gave me the awful advice of "write what you know". Thus, the title was called DISPENSING WITH LOVE. (Because she was a pharmacist who dispensed medication but she also wasn't looking for love. Get it? Yeah, I know. It's terrible.)

Once I got the rejection, I tossed the mailed manuscript into the recycle bin and I thought, "Good riddance". Well, fast forward four years later, I decide to give it another go at writing a romance centered around a pharmacy. (I must be a glutton for punishment) About two chapters into writing my new romance I get a funny little idea of opening up my old manuscript to see if there was anything salvageable I could use for my new work in progress--or maybe I was just in the mood to laugh.

Well, I read it and--horror of all horrors-- still liked my opening. Only I decided to use that scene as part of my new second chapter. So I copied it and tweaked it and low and behold, I was happy with how it fit into the story. The new story was my recent release GEORGIE ON HIS MIND.

I can't tell you how satisfying it was to find and use a hidden gem of a scene from a prior work that I thought was dead and buried. But now I'm encouraged to go back to that manuscript and go digging again!

Have you ever decided to use parts of old manuscripts in your NEW work in progress? Was it successful?

This, a Winner, and That part 9

IN THE NEWS: Mass. police: Shark sighting a practical joke. Read more HERE.

Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by Writer Routine Wednesday to say hi and hear about Tricia Mill's writing routine and hear about her new YA release WINTER LONGING!

(Massage appointments are going to go up now) LOL!

But now the important part: the book winner. :)

And the winner of Tricia Mill's book HEARTBREAK RIVER is...

Robyn Campbell!

CONGRATS!!

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And now for the that...

Big thanks to everyone who entered to win a copy of my book GEORGIE ON HIS MIND and say such nice things about it and me.

You all are so sweet and supportive! And I can't wait until I can return the favor and cheer you on as well!

But now the important part. The book winner. :)

The winner of my romance GEORGIE ON HIS MIND is...

Sarah Forgrave!

CONGRATS!!

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And now I'd like to leave you all with some chocolate.

No, not real chocolate.

According to this website chocolate-circle.com:

Impress your friends and colleagues by jotting notes into this this Brand New Chocolate-Bar-shaped Memo Pad.

It smells like cocoa too! ---->

Have a great weekend!

Georgie on His Mind is Now Available!

MENTAL STATUS: "Flighty". Almost missed my own book release!
RECENT IPod DOWNLOAD: "Half of my Heart" by John Mayer

Well, my new contemporary romance from Avalon Books, GEORGIE ON HIS MIND, is finally released!

And I almost missed it.

**cue the crickets**

I know. How can I possibly be that dumb? Well..I don't know. But I really thought the publication date and release date were kind of one in the same so I thought my book wasn't going to be out until October. My editor was kind enough to explain the difference when I emailed her after seeing all these Google alerts about my book.


Then...this weekend I got that special little package every author loves: free books. :)

So, alas, my trailer isn't finished and my library brochures aren't in, but...

the one thing I can do is have a book giveaway on my blog!!

Starting now.

Well, not right now. But soon. At the end of this post.

First allow me to share some interesting tidbits about this book.
(Or at least allow me to share what I think is interesting) :)

1) Georgie is my heroine. And when I first started writing her, the general consensus by my crit partners was that she was WAY TOO immature. So I honestly thought about changing the story and writing it as a YA.
But instead of doing that, I opted to tweak her character a bit first. Turned out that's all that was needed.

2)This book went through a number of titles as I wrote it. The first being BROTHERLY LOVE and then MY BEST FRIEND'S SISTER.
I finally decided on GEORGIE ON HIS MIND because I liked the similarity in the song title "Georgia on my Mind".

3) When I got about halfway through writing this book I started to have doubts about where the story was going, so I wrote a synopsis and thought I would submit the book before it was done to see if anyone would be interested and to see if it was actually worth finishing. So I sent the partial off and within ONE WEEK Avalon Books requested the full. The only problem was the book still wasn't finished.
The moral of this story was I will never ever ever ever ever ever do that again. That was a stressful writing month. BUT it was nice to know that I could quickly produce a sellable story going by synopsis alone when under the gun. :)

4) My hero's name is Walter. Yes, and I did have a number of my critique partners suggest that I should change my hero's name to something a little more...contemporary. I said I'd think about it--which loosley translated meant: NO WAY. I LIKE THAT NAME AND I DON'T CARE WHAT ANYONE THINKS. PS. I should also mention I like the name Vincent and would not be averse to having a hero named Vince. Just giving you fair warning now.


So without further ado, here's a little bit about GEORGIE ON HIS MIND:

Georgie Mayer has no boyfriend and rarely goes out. In short, she needs a life. Living with her brother doesn't exactly help matters. Since she's graduated college and returned back home, her brother's over protectiveness has been in overdrive, and she hasn't been able to have any fun, or at the very least get a date.

So what's a poor particularly attractive girl to do in a situation like this? The only thing she can do: find him a woman-er, distract him.

He'll thank her for it in the end. That is, if his best friend Walt Somers would stop interfering with her plans. Back in town to help run his uncle's business, the handsome pharmacist has made no secret that he doesn't approve of what she's trying to do. Unfortunately, having Walt hanging around does strange things to her mind, and suddenly she can't help but take a healthy interest in him. But how can Georgie entertain thoughts of the two of them together when Walt still treats her like his best friend's little sister?

Available and on sale at Amazon and Barnes& Noble.

Best yet, Avalon Books is primarily a library book publisher, so run (or walk or drive) to your local library and request my book! Or if you're feeling lucky, enter my book giveaway contest below. :)

CONTEST: To be entered to win a copy of my romantic comedy, GEORGIE ON HIS MIND, please leave a comment below.

NO, you do not have to be a blog follower. NO, you don't have to follow on me on Twitter. NO, we don't need to be Facebook friends. And NO, you don't even need to like me. (But I don't understand why you wouldn't. I mean, I'm pretty nice.) :)

*to be entered in the contest, please leave a comment below between now and Tuesday, August 24 11:59PM (EST). Winner will be announced this Friday along with the winner from this coming Writer Routine Wednesday**

Good luck and viva la romance!