It's lunch time, and my peeps at work are all out having sushi somewhere. It would have been nice if they'd invited me, their new assistant, but if they had, I would be able to write this blog in peace and quiet.
I've been on the phone all morning, making and changing travel arrangments for one of my guys. He's flying out to London, lucky dog, on Sunday. He hasn't been there for awhile, so I've had to change the hotel 3 times, in order to get him closer to the office so that he can walk to work. He's also going to Paris with his girlfriend for a dirty weekend.
I'm getting ready to go off to the New Jersey Romance Writers conference, and I'm tres excited, not just for the workshops, but to see friends that I missed seeing since I couldn't attend Nationals. I'm more excited about that than the workshops frankly, although there are several that I'm looking forward too. Chiefly on writing paranormal and romantic comedy.
I was also lucky enough to be able to move my reservation from the spillover hotel to the hotel where the conference is being held. It just goes to show that you need to be persistant.
We had our monthly meeting on Saturday as well as our board meeting. I actually skipped doing my morning yoga for some old-fashioned sleep, which I desperately needed. I got paid on Friday, a much bigger check this time for my work which is great. I don't have to eat ramen noodles until Thursday.
We're getting seriously ambitious in the chapter. We talked about having a writing retreat, and didn't you just know that I found the perfect place in the NYTimes this morning. Talk about serendipity!
I'm signing up for National Novel Writing Month along with several members of our chapter, so I'm getting ready, prepping before I start the hardcore writing. I plan on attending an exhibition on Columbus Day which is exactly the type of exhibition my protagonist would assistant curate. I'm hoping to get a chance to talk to the people involved about what it actually takes to put on a large scale exhibition.
I had thought about writing my YA novel during NaNoWriMo but decided against it. The idea is still percolating, although the characters are coming together, particularly my main character, but I'm still undecided about how old she should be. Should this be pre-college program or a semester abroad? I'm leaning towards semester abroad, although I confess, I haven't read that many YA novels that are set in college. The majority seem to be high school, but I've always dared to be different.
I plan on making her 19, just on the real cusp of adulthood, which I consider to be 21. Let's face it, that's when you're legally allowed to drink in most states, which I've never understood. If you can vote and be drafted, you should be allowed to drink, but then again you can't rent a car in most states if you're under 25. But hey you can get a credit card in college!
I'm sending off my revised chick-lit Nearly Famous to the agent that requested it, and I've also sent a partial to a new agency that just opened. However, I just found out that the agent who had requested an exclusive on the partial over the summer (I never sent it because I'd already sent the partial out to 10 agents) has now closed her agency and taken a job with an agency that has already rejected me. So I'm thinking that my window has now closed.
I did get some great stuff from watching the Surreal Life yesterday morning. For anyone who doesn't watch the show, Janice Dickinson and Omarosa have been getting into some serious stuff. Omarosa has repeated called her a crack head, which I think is libel if you have no proof, and Janice has been just vicious. Frankly, I've had a hard time watching this show because of the animosity between the two of them. I hate confrontation with a passion, but it did give me some ideas for my book that I hadn't explored.
Also, they showed some clips of Omarosa during those 'confessionals' that they all do on this show that were very interesting, where Omarosa talked about giving lessons in Reality TV acting 101. Wow!
Who says that television isn't educational?
Good luck with National Writer's Month. I need to get some serious writing in myself. Good luck with the agent request. And yes, I've been following the Surreal Life. Craaaazy stuff going on there. =D
ReplyDeleteIf you're going to set it at college, I suggest early college. We had some YA houses that thought my characters were too old for YA, since they were 21 and juniors. Some suggested I make them freshmen, which would not have worked for the story.
ReplyDeleteRazorbill does some "older" YA. I just finished "Peeps" which has a 19 year old hero.
Good luck!
Thanks, Diana. I was contemplating 19 or 20. It would be a junior year abroad kind of thing. Although I could make it a summer program which would mean I could make her 18.
ReplyDelete