Heather Foeh

I was so geared up to do NaNoWriMo this year and I was off to a decent start. My characters were already taking on a life of their own and the story that had been in my head was taking shape. But sadly, I think I was using NaNo as a procrastination technique for my other writing efforts. I’m in revisions on another manuscript and they’re just so un-fun. But that’s really what I need to focus on, so I’m back in the saddle of editing and revising and I’m going to postpone my new manuscript until the old one is up to par. Sigh.

Do you feel the insanity in the air? Yep, it’s that time. National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) — the goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. In order to do that you need to average 1666 words per day and yes, I’m already behind. But have no fear! I know that I can make it. I’ve done it before (last year) and I’m excited to do it again in 2008. So, all of my weekends and most of my evenings this month will be used up in the pursuit of the written word, but that’s okay. It’s exhilarating!

In my “free” time, I’m a writer. Or at least, I’m trying to be. Yesterday I started Book in a Week. The concept is to vomit out the first draft of your manuscript in 7 days. You may not believe this, but it can actually be done. It’s not beautiful and there are plenty of gaps (”…insert description of house here…”) but at least you get the story and character arc down on paper and have something to work with. I did this last year and found that it worked really well for me. I then particpated in NaNoWriMo last November and again found that I write better in consolidated chunks of time. So here I am again working on a new manuscript and I want to get this sucker out of my head and onto the computer. And guess what - I’m a glutton for punishment because I plan on participating in NaNoWriMo again this year. Which means that I’ll be busting out with another manuscript in November. That also means that the months of December and January will be filled with revisions.

YAY! I had a great trip to San Francisco. My daughter and I did some great sight-seeing (and nearly froze to death!) and the entire RWA Conference was a blast. I’m so lucky to have so many talented writer friends. I feel better and smarter just hanging around them - you’ve gotta love that!

Now tomorrow I’m back to the real world and my brand new job at Eloqua. I’ll be spending the week in Toronto getting up to speed, meeting people, getting my computer, signing papers, etc, etc. Whew! More later…

Tomorrow morning my daughter and I leave for our week-long trek to San Francisco and we’re both very excited! We’ll spend Monday afternoon and all day Tuesday sight-seeing. Then on Wednesday I’ll start attending events at the RWA National Conference, including the Leadership Retreat that day. That night we’ll go to the Literacy Booksigning and do our part to raise money for local literacy funds. The conference fully kicks off on Thursday with a keynote address and workshops. Friday afternoon Michelle and I are teaching our workshop (“Creating a Web Presence”), then Saturday morning I have an appointment with an editor from Harlequin. Yes, at 10:30 that morning I’ll have a mere 10 minutes to pitch my manuscript — no pressure! One of the things I’m most excited about is the weather…the highs are going to be in the low to mid-60’s. That’s heavenly!

Today is the day that all Golden Heart finalists will be notified via telephone and I must say that I’m a nervous wreck. It’s not even so much that I want to final (which I do) but the NOT KNOWING is killing me right now. When the day ends if I haven’t gotten a call I’ll be disappointed, but at least I’ll have closure.

In case you have no idea what I’m talking about, here’s the scoop: the Golden Heart is an international contest sponsored by the Romance Writers of America to recognize outstanding unpublished manuscripts. There are 10 categories and each will have approximately 10 finalists. The winners are then announced at the RWA National Conference at a ceremony on the final night (this year, August 2 in San Francisco). I entered into the “Contemporary Series Romance” category - just in case you were wondering.

So, here I am, trying to work while sneaking longing glances at the phone… Stay tuned.

UPDATE: Well, it’s now 9:20 PM Central time so I guess we can safely assume I will not be getting a phone call. Oh well…maybe next year!

My fellow Austin chapter mate in the Romance Writers of America, Sherry Thomas, has her debut novel out on March 25: PRIVATE ARRANGEMENTS. She has received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, among other illustrious quotes and reviews.

This week she created a lovely and clever book trailer all by herself and I wanted to share it here. Enjoy!

Now, go buy the book!

So, if you read the Smart Bitches blog (or if you keep up with world events better than I do) then you probably already know about the latest writing scandal: Margaret B. Jones published a “memoir” about her gang and drug-infested childhood called Love and Consequences. Unfortunately, it turns out that Ms. Jones is really Ms. Seltzer and none of it is true. What on earth are people thinking?? It’s not like this hasn’t happened before. Hello…remember “A Million Little Pieces”, the Oprah pick? Oops. So what makes someone believe they’ll get away with it.

Here’s my favorite part of the New York Times article:

“Ms. Seltzer’s story started unraveling last Thursday after she was profiled in the House & Home section of The New York Times. The article appeared alongside a photograph of Ms. Seltzer and her 8-year-old daughter, Rya. Ms. Seltzer’s older sister, Cyndi Hoffman, saw the article and called Riverhead to tell editors that Ms. Seltzer’s story was untrue.”

My first thought is that the sister was rather jerky, but then I thought about what I’d do if my own sister was getting famous off of falsehoods — I’d have to speak up (hopefully first to my sister before the publisher…). My second thought was, Ms. Seltzer is even more idiotic than I originally thought! She has a whole family who could at any minute unmask her. Did she not take that into consideration? Did she not think, “Hey, maybe I should give them a heads-up”? Apparently not.

I’ve done some dumb things in my life, but sometimes it’s nice to read about other people’s complete idiocy — it makes my stupidity just a little less stupid.

A few months ago my friend Michelle and I submitted a proposal to speak at the Romance Writers of America National Conference which will be held July 30-August 2 in San Francisco. Well, I’m happy to announce that we just found out today that we were accepted! We’ll be presenting a class called “Creating a Web Presence” which we debuted in September at our local Austin RWA chapter. We then presented again in November at a Writers League of Texas class that our fellow ARWA member Kit Frazier was teaching (thanks, Kit!).

We’re excited and thrilled and “over the moon” may not be overstating it. Yippee!

Last week I pooled together my Christmas money and it was just the right amount to buy a new iPod. I’ve been wanting a new one for a while — mine was 3 years old, black and white display, no videos, and has been randomly freezing up. So, I am now the proud owner of a beautiful 80 GB color/video iPod Classic.

While I was loading my old music to the new iPod, I also downloaded a couple of music videos and TV shows to watch on my flight to Toronto this past week (that flight is a whole other post…). In addition, I checked out the iTunes Best of 2007 Podcast list and found one to download: Grammar Girl.

I AM IMPRESSED! Grammar Girl is short and sweet - segments are between 5 and 7 minutes long and they focus on one point. Examples: affect vs. effect, commas in dates, sit vs. set, lay vs. lie, etc. The podcasts are very professionally produced and I like Grammar Girl’s voice, delivery and wry comments.

So I’m giving two thumbs up to Grammar Girl! Even if you don’t want to listen to a podcast, you can read the entire transcript on her site. Click the All Episodes link to see which topic interests you. My personal favorite so far: lay versus lie.