Newspaper Article

An article in the local paper about our KYRW group:

http://www.kentucky.com/964/story/866958.html

Overall some pretty good press!

Snippet Saturday - Going It Alone

Today is not an "official" snippet Saturday - and I see by my clock that it is actually now Sunday - but since I missed the first one and I'm actively revising I thought I'd put another one up for fun.  I meant to spend tonight finishing up the first chapter (AGAIN), but ended up in Glencoe.  Here we see Alec's actions in the previous week's snip coming back to bite him:

From ONE HIGHLAND NIGHT (copyright 2008, Jennifer R. Clark)

Alec passed the Signal Rock and through the slantwise gusts of snow he saw the fire lit upon it.  Shots rang out, like the crack of branches bowed and broken, and in his heart he knew they were too late.

Yet he could not turn back.  His fate was now bound up with the MacDonalds of Glencoe, and having come so far he would do what he could to save them.  If for no other reason than Highland honor--insulted by the prospect of murder under trust--demanded it.  And Elspeth wished it.

At length he reached the chief's house at Carnoch, where all was madness.

Soldiers ranged through the house, flushing out servants and driving them into the night to be shot.  Two bodies lay already by the door.  He slipped round back, and by great good fortune avoided them all, and came into the laird's bedroom.  The sight that awaited curdled in his wame.

Alasdair MacDonald of Glencoe, the MacIain, lay sprawled facedown on his bed, still in his nightshirt, a bullet hole in the back his head and his trews around his ankles.  In truth, "facedown" was only an expression, for the MacIain's face was missing, blown away by the force of the exiting bullet.

"Ah, Christ, MacIain..."

Sounds of footsteps outside the door drove him into the wardrobe, and he hastily pulled the doors closed behind himself, leaving only a tiny crack through which he could see.

Two soldiers entered, followed by their lieutenant, who instructed them to drag MacIain's body from the house.  Before they had moved more than two paces, he heard a fourth man enter the room.

"My Lord Breadalbane!" the lieutenant exclaimed.  "We had not thought to see you here this night."
Breadalbane!  Och, aye, this scheme reeked of him. 

"I was at Ballachulish with Duncanson," the earl replied.  "I set out early, before the snow began, to meet Glenlyon here and see his orders carried out.  His strength of character is not enough to see this through, so I have come to ensure the old fox is dead."

"He is, my lord.  He lies just here, on this side of the bed."

Through the slit Alec saw the form of Breadalbane pass--dressed as a clansman for winter and without his wig--and heard the sound of the earl's laughter.

"Well done, Lindsey.  You have meted out the king's justice, and I shall see you are duly recompensed."

It was too much to bear.

He burst from his hiding spot, driven by fury.  "You pawkie bastard, I should have kent you would be in this up to your moth-eaten eyebrows, even if the lass had not said as much!  Your very presence here damns you to the deepest pit of hell!"

He felt more than heard the click of pistols cocked and trained on him by the lieutenant and his men.  Breadalbane rounded on him, eyes narrow and cold.
 
"My presence?" the earl asked.  "I think you shall find that hard to prove.  None ken my presence save Lieutenant Lindsey, these two fine soldiers, and MacIain there--" he indicated the body on the floor, "--who shan't be telling tales."

"And me!" Alec lashed out.  His breath came in ragged gasps, anger fueled white-hot.  "I will tell the chiefs who is truly to blame for this abomination, this slaughter of innocents under trust--I, a MacGregor, who knows firsthand the greed and perfidy of the Campbells!"

The room was quiet for a handful of heartbeats.  The earl spoke.  "MacGregor, did you say?"

"Aye, and proudly I claim it.  We may be a broken clan, but we have our honor yet.  I take leave to doubt you had any to start with, and soon all will know it!"

Breadalbane grinned maliciously.  "Oh, I think not...MacGregor." 

Too late, Alec realized his mistake, made in the heat of his anger. 

"You of all people should know: the name MacGregor is proscripted, and all men who claim it are to be put to death.  Especially those who do so whilst obstructing the king's justice."  Breadalbane turned to the red-coated soldiers.  "You there, take him."

He drew his dirk--no room for the sword--and cursed the lack of time to reload his pistols, discharged at Leacantuim against another band of soldiers.  But one of Lindsey's men still held a loaded musket, with which he backed Alec against the wall.  The other relieved him of his weapons. 

"I could kill you now, MacGregor, and it would go unremarked," Breadalbane said.  "But I wish to make a lesson of you, to remind your broken clan who holds power.  I can still wield the weapons of fire and sword against them.  How better to prove it than to execute a favored son?"  The earl sneered.

"But to make my statement it must be done in the legal way, with a proper death warrant.  Not difficult to get, considering your activities against the Watch and in my own hold.  Oh aye, I ken your actions against my daft son, when he thought to capture the prize I so ardently sought.  You stole from me, and injured soldiers of the crown in the process.  I have witnessess that will testify as much.  It will not take so long to make the case against you."  Breadalbane waved a dismissive hand.  "But speaking of my lost prize, tell me: where is the lass?  Was it her Sight that brought you here?"

At that Alec set his jaw hard, and his gaze harder.  Breadalbane would learn nothing of Elspeth from him.  He would protect her if it was his last act on earth.

He felt a sharp pain as the nearest soldier clouted him in the head with the stock of his own pistol, and then he knew no more.

Snippet Saturday

Fellow KYRW member Anya Bast has started "Snippet Saturday" and today's theme is Fight Scenes.  Since I'm (finally!) back on the blog circuit, I'm diving in:

From ONE HIGHLAND NIGHT (copyright 2008, Jennifer R. Clark):

Elspeth lay in her cell, staring up at the dark ceiling, and waited.

She thought of Alec, wondered if he even noticed her absence.  They had talked of her need to return to Kilchurn; it would be so easy for him to leave her here to find her own way, alone as always.  No MacGregor involvement meant no threat to his clan.  It made sense, really.  Her only regret was not having the chance to say goodbye.

Paradoxically, she looked forward to the morning, and the earl's return.  Somehow she felt he wasn't after her body—only her knowledge, and the power it could bring him.  His son, however...

Her eyes snapped open and every muscle tightened in fear when at last she heard the door scrape open.  Futilely, she pulled against the ropes binding her wrists.  They rubbed the raw patches left by multiple previous attempts, and she subsided.

A dim shape moved toward her through the pitch black room.  Ormelie.  She curled into as tight a ball as she could manage with her arms tied above her head, and squeezed her eyes shut in imitation of sleep.

"Lass."

A hand touched her arm.  She exploded from her coiled position, driving both feet like pistons into the man's midsection.  The air left him in an audible rush, and he stumbled back, clutching his abdomen.

"Christ, mo phiseag!" Alec wheezed.  "If ye dislike me so, tell me plain.  Dinna take it out on me just because I get near!"

Relief flooded her at the sound of the familiar voice.  "Oh, God, Alec!  I thought you were Ormelie coming back." He had not left her alone, after all.  Then she remembered where here was.  "What are you doing here?"

Breathing more normally, he returned to her side.  "Rescuing you, I suppose.  Though it might go faster if ye helped instead of hindered…" His dirk cut through her bonds and she pulled her hands free, rubbing her wrists and sitting up.

Alec knelt on the floor at her feet.  He searched her face, concerned.  "Lass, did anyone…harm ye?  Can ye come wi' me now?"

"Yes.  I mean—no, he didn't hurt me.  Yes, I can move."

"Good.  We dinna have much time.  'Tis dark yet, and best to leave before dawn."

They emerged from her cell and passed an unconscious guard slumped by the door to the bailey.  The work of Alec's dirk-pommel, if she had to guess, or the scrolled butt of one of his prized Doune pistols.  It was still night, as he had said, but she could see the faint rose glow of dawn beginning to lighten the sky over the East wall.

A shout sounded behind them: the alarm was raised.  Here and there around the courtyard, torches flared and soldiers appeared in various states of dress and equipage.  Hugh and Ewan emerged from the shadows of the wall and engaged them, drawing attention.

Alec's breath whispered warm in her ear as he gave her hurried instructions to make for the rear retaining wall, then he drew sword and dirk and ran ahead to join the fray.  She slipped along the wall of the bailey, keeping to the shadows.  At first she ignored the warm spot against her leg as a figment of her imagination.  But then the warmth was supplemented by a faint vibration.  She stopped and withdrew the meteorite from her pocket by its string, already knowing what she would see.  Sure enough, it glowed faintly and emitted a low chiming sound.

One more step, and the crystal brightened.  Another wormhole must be forming nearby.  If she just walked forward, the portal might open.  She could leave certain danger behind, and the heartache that would surely result from her growing feelings for Alec.  She could go home.

Home.  Home meant safety, the comfort of the familiar.  This place, this time were not her own.  But home meant loneliness, too.  The pain of abandonment.

If the wormhole even returned her there—and that was a very big "if".  It might take her to another place and time altogether.  Or…nowhere.

She looked to Alec, torn.  He fought two soldiers, plaid swinging and sword flashing.  Sparks flew as his blade met those of his opponents, clash after clash.  It startled her; she'd thought that a special effects gimmick in the movies.

This was no gimmick.  The gentleness and humor she loved about him were gone from his face, replaced by a fierce scowl of concentration.  He was every inch the Highland warrior.  He'd risked himself, his friends, and retribution against his clan to rescue her.  In Glasgow, he'd taken her to see Isaac Newton.  And before that he'd taken her in when she was lost and alone, found a place for her within his clan.  Above all, by coming for her, he'd earned her trust...something she thought to never give another man.

Go or stay?  The men fought, the sun rose, and every second wasted brought them closer to certain capture, but still she hesitated.

And then she saw him.  Half in shadow, one of Campbell's men slunk toward Alec from behind.  His knife gleamed dully in the pale light.  Alec remained occupied with the soldiers at his front, new ones come to replace their fallen colleagues.

Going unnoticed was no longer an option.  She stepped away from the wall and shouted.

"Alec!  Behind you!"

But he did not seem to hear her.  The Campbell crept closer.

Choice made, she sprinted into the open, even as the man raised the knife high.  Throwing up a blocking arm, she inserted herself between Alec and the blade.  But she timed it poorly.  Instead of meeting forearm-to-forearm as expected, she felt the knife bite deep into her flesh, a lightning-strike of searing pain.  It scraped bone before the attacker yanked away.

She had no time to focus on the pain.  A quick left jab to the solar plexus took the attacker's breath.  She aimed a vicious kick at his groin, skirts be damned.  While he was thus distracted, she reached around and withdrew the small sgian ockle from its sheath beneath a startled Alec's arm.

But her first blows had been effective enough.  The Campbell remained doubled over on the ground where she'd kicked out at him, and the direction of Alec's struggle led them farther away by the second.

They fought their way across the courtyard, back-to-back.  Alec did most of the work, and she guarded the rear.  A rope and grappling hook dangled from the top of the north wall.  She watched as Ewan clambered up and dropped out of sight.  Before she really knew what was happening, Alec boosted her to the top of the wall and began to climb the rope himself.  She closed her eyes and dropped to the ground below.

Hugh, the last of the group, landed with a thud even as she and Alec picked themselves up and headed for one of the two small boats drawn up on the rocks.  As he rowed, she saw glowing balls of torchlight gather on the shore, heard the retort of muskets.  A ball splashed into the water off the starboard side.  Garrons nickered from the trees on the shore.

When they reached the mainland, Alec swung into a saddle in a flair of plaid, then reached down and pulled her up before him.  The party rode north along Loch Awe.  Toward Glenstrae, and safety.

Toward home.

I'm baaa-aack!!!

con⋅di⋅tion /kənˈdɪʃən/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [kuhn-dish-uhn]

Origin:
1275–1325; ME condicioun < AF; OF < L condiciōn- (s. of condiciō) agreement, equiv. to con- con- + dic- say (see dictate ) + -iōn- -ion; sp. with t by influence of LL or ML forms; cf. F condition

Related forms:

con⋅di⋅tion⋅a⋅ble, adjective

Synonyms:
1. See state. 8. requirement, proviso.
(from dictionary.com)

What does "condition" mean for me?  It means I passed 4 of 5 sections on my board exam, and I have to return next year to take the fifth again.  Which is actually a good thing, considering these exams only have a 50% first-time pass rate, and had I missed more than one section, I would have to redo the ENTIRE THING.

It also means that the burden of studying and stressing about the exams has been lifted for an entire year, and I have the summer yawning wide open and full of possibilities ahead of me.  Oh, there is work to do.  And stuff around the house that I've been neglecting in favor of studying.

But Alec and Elspeth are getting impatient with me, and I've brought them this far so I'm not going to leave them hanging.  Time to get back on this train, finish up another (hopefully short) round of revisions, and get this MS out there to agents and editors.

Side note: in an amusing (and exciting) proof that my internet presence/marketing is working, a girl I went to high school with and knew (but not well) but haven't really had much contact with in 10 years messaged me through Facebook asking how to make a kilt for her friend.  Srsly.  *g*

DABWAHA Final Four: Jo needs YOU!!!

VOTE NOW for Joanna Bourne's The Spymaster's Lady to proceed to the final round of the DABWAHA tournament.  It's nail-bitingly close (3 votes, last I checked!) and voting ends at midnight tonight.  Jo needs YOU!!!

http://dabwaha.com/blog/

FULL REQUEST!!!

Today I attended my local RWA chapter's "Spring Into Writing" workshop, and was talked into pitching to an editor who attended.  SHE REQUESTED THE FULL!

I told her I have some changes to make and she said send it when I was ready.  AND her husband is a radiation oncologist so she actually knew what a medical physicist was.

All in all, a good meeting.  *g*

3...2...1...

I have come to the conclusion that I cannot be productive on the book in late winter (Jan-March or so) but that is the topic for another post.  (Coming soon, I swear!)

I am typing this on my new, super-cute little netbook...yet another post waiting to be written.

But of most pressing and immediate relevance is that fact that I am in Florida, after a 15 hour drive (including stops - not bad with a 3-year-old in tow) to see the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-119 tomorrow.  If writing a novel was one of my goals in life, seeing a shuttle launch was another.  I was so ridiculously geeked out by seeing the shuttle on our way to the hotel (a spotlighted pinprick in the distance, but still) and Little Boy is as much - if not more so - into space as I ever was.  This is going to be fun.

To see updates on the shuttle and watch live feed of the launch, go here:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

To get live updates and pics of what we're doing, follow @stclark81 on Twitter (www.twitter.com/stclark81).  DH has the iPhone, so he gets to live Tweet. *g*

This is also Carol's neck of the woods, so I'm hoping I can meet up with her in person before the week is out (we're heading back on Saturday).  I have a copy of Cost of Freedom I need signed...

Breaking the Silence

It's been a while, hasn't it?

I actually got my computer back a week or two ago, but life since then has kept me from blogging.  That, and the massive backlog I had going after a month without regular internet access.

First up was the planning and orchestration of two surprises for my mom's 50th birthday.  A flamingo "flocking" - wherein my brother and I snuck to her house (2 hours away) in the middle of the night and covered her lawn with pink plastic flamingos.  It's a long story why I chose to do that, but suffice it to say we have a long-running joke.  I didn't even manage to locate enough flamingos for the flocking until about 3 hours before we left.  But she loved it.

Then I threw her (with my dad and brothers' help) a surprise birthday party.  It was a luau, complete with leis, hula music, and - you guessed it - flamingos!  It, too, was a great success.

Unfortunately, just days after the party, my Grandma (Mom's mom) passed away.  She has had problems with her heart for years now, and had been in the hospital for several weeks.  The good news is that she passed peacefully in her sleep.  And we are Christians, as was she, so that was comfort for us as well.

I've been out of town until today for the funeral.  The weather was beautiful for February.  I and Little Boy stayed an extra day at my mom's house to spend more time with her (DH had to come back for class).  But now that I'm back, I hope to get back into the online swing and slowly finish catching up.

Tomorrow I meet with some of my local crit partners, which should get me motivated again.  I'm thinking about changing the ending (last 4 chapters or so). 

And we're supposed to take LB to see a space shuttle launch this month, but NASA keeps pushing it back.  *sigh*

Long term plans: board exams in May, and a review course for same in late March.  I really need to have queries out before then, so I can get down to studying when the time comes.

Moving on, moving up...

Computerless

A belated Happy New Year/Hogmanay to all!

Since just before Christmas, my trusty laptop had been acting up, mainly due to its tiny and overfull hard drive.  My dad got me a new hard drive (160 GB!) for Christmas, and started "cloning" all my data from the old to the new on Monday, but the process was excruciatingly slow, and eventually hung up.  SO I had to send the whole thing to his house, where he is working to get it into tip-top shape.  Until then, I'm computerless; restricted to checking e-mail on my iPod and when I can steal a few moments on DH's Macbook.  I'm  catching up on quite a few projects around the house over the long weekend, and then I should be online more often again.  (Famous last words...)

In other news, after a few excruciating days and last-minute help from folks (thanks!) I wrote yet ANOTHER query letter and entered that and my first 25 pages into the Great Expectations contest.  Word on both that and the Golden Heart should come by March.

A Fun Christmas Survey

I was tagged by Carol.  I tag: anyone reading this who hasn't done it.  *g*

Insert your own answers and pass it on to whomever you feel would respond – including the person who sent it to you

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper - I consider wrapping gifts an art form, and oddly-shaped packages a special challenge.

2. Real tree or Artificial? I grew up with a real cedar tree cut from my grandparents' farm every year, but these days it's a pre-lit artificial.

3. When do you put up the tree? The weekend after Thanksgiving, but this year we were a little delayed because of the Golden Heart deadline eating up ALL my free time.

4. When do you take the tree down? Usually New Year's Day.

5. What do you do with your tree after you take it down: Back in the bag, and out to the garage until next year.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? A "Pound Purry" I named Love.

7. Hardest person to buy for? My husband's step-family that I barely know.

8. Easiest person to buy for? DH and Little Boy - I always know things they will love.

9. Do you have a nativity scene?  Several.  The main one in the front hall, LB's Fisher Price version, and a few small ones scattered around.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Usually mail.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?  Anything that I have no use for and get no enjoyment out of.  Really, what's the point?  I'd rather get no gift at all than something completely useless to me.  Then the giver is out money, and I'm stuck forcing gratitude.  (Yes, this is directed at a particular person, who shall remain nameless.)  Here's the thing: I'm a gift person.  I take pride in picking gifts people will love.  But just in case, I always include a gift receipt so they can take it back and get something they really want if I miss the mark.  People who buy random stuff and "throw it at the wall to see if it will stick" because they don't take the time to get to know me and what I like get on my "gift person" nerves.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Siding with Carol here: It's a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually around November, but sometimes earlier if I find a good gift.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yeah.  (See #11 above - what else was I supposed to do?)

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Bourbon Balls (recipe coming soon!) and Father-in-Law's Crispix party mix.

16. Lights on the tree? Lots of colored lights.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Carol of the Bells.  My favorite version is Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?  Travel 2 hours to the in-laws' on Christmas Eve, at home Christmas morning, and to my extended family's get-together Christmas afternoon.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's?  You mean you can't?

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?  Right now an angel.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Eve: new pajamas.  Christmas morning: everything else.  (We do gift exchange with the in-laws before this, however, so we've been opening something.)

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?  That the stores put Christmas stuff out in freaking October.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?  I guess cats/kittens, by default.  (I'm kind of a "cat lady"...)  For many years now, my yearly ornament has been a cat.  I'll have enough to do an entire tree soon.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?  We don't really do Christmas dinner, but we have a big Christmas breakfast with cinnamon rolls and sausage and biscuits and gravy and eggs and toast and all that stuff.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? So far I've gotten 2 purses (I ordered them, so I knew in advance) and Trans-Siberian Orchestra tickets (saw them Friday: AWESOME concert) and I'd like some cologne and maybe some cash.  I wrote a list, but I forget what's on it!

Bookwormed!

I've been bookwormed!  By a few people by now, I think.  *g*  Anyway, I'm supposed to find the nearest book, open it to bage 56, and copy down the 5^th sentence and the following 2-5 sentences.

Nearest book to my computer was When the Duke Returns by Eloisa James, which I finished a few days ago.  (Highly recommended!  It's moved from my TBRead pile to my TBReviewed.  Someday…)

Anyway, beginning with the 5^th sentence on page 56:

He arrived in London the night before, woke up at dawn, and waited for the appropriate hour to pay a call on his wife.  It was all easy.

And nothing was easy.

For one thing he had to tell his wife, who already thought he was cracked, that their wedding had to be delayed.  Again.

That ended up a nice little teaser snippet.

Because this is fun, here's the book I'm actually reading right now – The Bride by Julie Garwood:

"Oh, all right.  I'll take him."  Turning back to Jamie, she muttered, "There, sister, are you happy now?  You've forced me to lie to a man of the cloth."

"I forced you?"

The gasp in Jamie's voice wasn't due entirely to her sister's outrageous comment.  Alec's hand had curved around the base of her neck.  His fingers were stroking her sensitive skin.

Another Alec!  And he's up to something, apparently…

Speaking of men named Alec, here's page 56 from my MS, One Highland Night by Rebecca Clarke.  (Yes!  You read it here first!):

"So you believe me now?"

"Aye.  I dinna want to, not really.  But I do." He crossed the narrow space and pulled a stool up next to the cot, laid the bag beside her with shaking hands.

She knew the contents, what he must have seen: the guidebook.  No wonder he was unnerved.  How would she feel if she read a book saying that within a hundred years from her present, the United States would be torn by war and its people conquered, their way of life changed forever?  To see pictures of places she knew in ruins?

Lesse…I think most everyone's been tagged by now, but if you're reading this and haven't been, consider yourself "it"!  *g*

*FANFARE*

Reporter: So, Jenny - you just finished a massive overhaul of your MS by deadline!  What are you gonna do now...?!?

Me:  Forget Disneyworld, I'm going to....SLEEP!!!

Actually, not yet.  I did just finish revisions, but I still have to get everything together to actually submit for the contest.  That means formatting the MS into a singular document (LSB keeps chapters in separate files) and burning it to a CD, pulling and printing 6 copies of my first 50 pages, and revising my working synopsis into something suitable to show people.  That, too, needs 6 printed copies.  Then it's off to the Post Office in the morning on my way to work.  Express Mail delivery is guaranteed by noon on Tuesday (deadline is 5 pm CST).

Then I have a full day of work, and my Scottish Country Dance class.  THEN I'll sleep.  *g*

In a bizarre twist, I guesstimated my wordcount at 95K on the Golden Heart entry form almost 3 months ago, before really starting revisions.  I would have been happy with anything between 95-99K, and made no specific attempt to cut it down to a certain length. 

Final wordcount?  95,098.

Add yours to the list!

Go to THIS BLOG and log-in your book purchases towards the "Buy a Book, Save the World" campaign.  Help us reach One Million!

And while you're at it, join the Facebook Group.

...now back to your regularly scheduled rewrites panic.  *g*

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'...

Through 26 and into the home stretch.  I just tied up the last (I think) of the new story arcs, so there shouldn't be much more new wordage to churn out.  The remaining six chapters (and epilogue) just need a clean-and-polish.  If I can finish that tonight--or rather, by the morning--I'll sleep for a few hours, go with DH to visit my MIL and pick up Little Boy and eat turkey dinner, round 4(!), then get everything formatted and printed and ready to ship tomorrow night.  Monday morning I'll hit the post office on my way to work, and then...we wait.

Finalists will be announced some time in the spring, and the winner at the national RWA conference in July.  It's in D.C. this year (2009) so that might be a fun trip.  Just trying to think positive.  *g*

Thanks to a tip from one of the lovely ladies in my local RWA chapter, I found this blog: Contest Divas.  It's a running list of all the (romance) contests out there and their upcoming deadlines.  I've already found another one to enter, and the judge of my category is a senior editor at Dorchester.  This one's for queries and pages.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!

On more serious note, go read this moving post about "why write."  The bit about being exhausted from pushing through "that draft on deadline" and afraid the state of the publishing industry will make it impossible to sell when I'm done...yeah, I'm there.  But I keep writing.

The Big Push

Here we go...4 hours sleep and I'm back in the saddle.  Sorta.  Gotta run and take a shower soon, and put in my contacts (glasses make my eyes water if I'm on the computer very long) but then it will be like a marathon today.  I'm probably only gonna stop to eat, potty, and help DH get our outside Christmas decorations up before it gets frigid again.

Ten more chapters.  Good thing I have plenty of Mountain Dew and Snickers...

Revisions Update: Getting There

Two more chapters down and I am now two-thirds of the way through revisions.  Ten chapters left to go, and two days left to do them.

I'm up through Chapter Twenty-Two, the "money scene" - Alec and Elspeth's handfasting on the night before his execution.  Interestingly, this is Scene Zero, where I started writing the whole book.  All the rest of the plot has spun out from this scene.  Let's hope it goes over well with readers.  *g*

I'm going to go grab a few hours of sleep, then get up and try to knock out a majority of the remaining material.  There will be some new wordage, though, and resolutions to a few plot changes, so I hope that doesn't slow me down too much.

Revisions Update: Thanksgiving

Tuesday I didn't get much done, because I fell asleep waiting for DH to get home from Boston (there was a minor snafu in his travel plans, but it was relatively easy to resolve) and then went on to bed with him rather than stay up writing.  Wednesday I was back at work, and settled in late last night for what I planned as an all-nighter, to make up for Tuesday's lack of progress.

I was fairly successful!  Chapters seventeen through twenty are revised and edited, and seventeen lacks only a couple of short scenes I just couldn't visualize last night and will work on today (hard copy) while eating turkey and pumpkin pie at three separate (!) Thanksgiving dinners.  Betas will get the lot of them as soon as I finish seventeen, and then it's on to twenty-one.

Since we last saw them, E & A have argued over intervening in another clan's affairs, Elspth leaves for Glencoe on her own and falls in a loch, Alec follows and rescues her, and the two try to prevent the massacre at Glencoe, where Alec is captured by Breadalbane.  We leave our intrepid hero in the cell at Kilchurn, bruised, weary, and sentenced to death.  Elspeth is in Glenstrae, and just learned the news.  She and Hugh set out to rescue him. 

Twelve chapters left, and 4 days.  That's 3 chapters a day over a long weekend.  I think I might pull this off...

Announcer: Will she succeed before she hits the wall of exhaustion?  Tune in tomorrow, same bat time, same bat channel!

Revisions Update: Two for One Night

Despite Little Boy's refusal to nap this afternoon and my own exhaustion, I managed to knock out two more chapters today, thus proving that this crazy, mixed up, middle-of-the-night routine is working for me.

After finishing the first scene in 15 this morning while LB was at preschool, I didn't get a chance to work again until he was in bed.  I dozed for a few hours, then perked myself up with caffeine and Superchic[k] and set to the computer...whereupon I promptly decided to cut and completely rewrite that completed first scene.  Instead of Alec's aunt Catriona (sorry, Cathy - but she still gets a cameo later!) Elspeth runs into Hugh immediately after the announcement of Alec's betrothal.  Then Hugh goes to Alec, and the two discuss what do to about her.  Hugh offers to marry her, but Alec can't stomach the idea, and puts off the decision.  Later he can't sleep, and goes to find Elspeth (who also can't sleep) and the two have the discussion I wasn't sure about leaving in, but reworked to my satisfaction.

Sixteen blitzes through about 3 months, hitting the highlights: Janet's arrival in Glenstrae and the little incidents that start up against Elspeth again; the proclamation that all chiefs must sign a treaty with William, and the power struggle that ensues when Elspeth tells Red Malcolm he must do it;  Elspeth convincing Alec to warn Glencoe via a letter to Alec's cousin Sarah, MacIain's daughter-in-law; Christmas/Hogmanay; and the reciept of a letter from Sarah reassuring them everything is fine, MacIain signed the treaty.

Only it isn't fine; he still did things the way Elspeth remembers, and therefore the massacre will happen.  Going into 17 tomorrow, I have to write Elspeth and Alec getting into an argument over whether or not someone should go in person to warn the MacDonalds, Janet confronting Alec about his continued "flaunting" of his "mistress", and Elspeth's tearful decision to leave Glenstrae and warn Glencoe herself.

Randomly: I am ridiculously excited about my new purses, even though I won't carry one of them until next spring.  When did I become a girly-girl?

Revisions Update: The Wee Hours

Out of Fourteen and into Fifteen!  I'd hoped to be farther along than this by now, but it bears pointing out that these are the chapters formally known as "Sixteen" and "Seventeen" - through revision, reordering, and general tightening, I've lost two.  There are 32 plus the epilogue at the moment, and I wouldn't be surprised to see that drop to 30 or so by the time all is said and done.

Amazing how right now I think nothing of pulling thousands of words - what might have been a week or month's worth of work.  But I'm shooting for around the 95K mark, still a more than respectable wordcount, and that leaves me the luxury of cutting nonessentials.

Chapter Thirteen took a lot of work and most of the day, as cutting the measles scene meant reworking the entire end of that chapter and adding in a whole new section wherein Alec takes a beating for his "careless" rescue of Elspeth from Ormelie at Kilchurn.  Fourteen is Andrew's wedding and the following ceilidh...where we learn just how good Alec is with his fingers (he's a fiddle player, you perverts! *w*) and the result of his father's ultimatum.

I wanted to get through Fifteen tonight, but I really need to take a step back and decide how to handle the next part of the story.  Elspeth's just found out about Alec's betrothal to Janet Cameron.  Fifteen as it stands is her initial reaction (likely to stay) and then a long heart-to-heart between her and Alec that I'm just not sure about.  I need to add in a conversation (blocked out but not fully written) between Alec and Hugh about what to do with Elspeth once Alec's married, and bring Janet to the Tigh Mor as an actual secondary character.

In other (slightly) related news, I am apparently becoming nocturnal.  I seem to have developed a penchant for Diana's writing pattern: doze off for a bit in the evening, wake up late while everyone else is asleep to write, then crawl in bed for another few hours before morning.  The past few days, my best work has been done between midnight and 4 am, and despite spending all day at the computer, nothing compares to these hours for productivity.  Unfortunately, I don't have Diana's (hard earned!) luxury of sleeping in - I usually have to be at work by 8 am, and even though I'm taking off tomorrow and Tuesday while DH is away, Little Boy still has to get to preschool.

In other other (completely unrelated) news, I broke down and bought the second purse.  Merry Christmas to me.  *g*

Finally - if you're just that desperate to see what I'm up to at any given point, come join me on Twitter.  Yes, I gave in.

What to do, what to do...

I have been staring at my computer for hours, making very little headway, because I am trying to decide what to do about a scene.  Should I cut it entirely, revise it significantly, or let it stand?

The scene in the SFD involves Alec and Elspeth on their way home from Kilchurn.  Alec has just rescued Elspeth from Ormelie, who kidnapped her.  On their way back to Glenstrae, they pass a croft in which a mother and young child have contracted the measles, and are dying of it.  The child is actually already dead, and once the mother knows this, she gives up and lets herself die as well.

SPOILERS BELOW

The purpose of this scene was to show Elspeth's reaction to an (unfortunately) common condition in that time period, and set up the absolute certainty that she would not take her own young child back to this dangerous time.  Therefore Alec, who comes forward with the intent to find Elspeth and take her back with him, realizes she will not come once he knows she has a child.  And he must decide whether or not to stay with her if that means up giving up everything he's ever known - time, family, etc.

END SPOILERS

In my rewrite notes, I also intended to use this scene to play up Elspeth's backstory, and reveal how she feels both her parents abandoned her - her mother by dying unexpectedly of breast cancer, and her father by running out on the family shortly after her mother's diagnosis.  This on top of her fiance's abandonment just months before their wedding.  And her realization that Alec alone has not abandoned her, in fact he has made a habit of coming back for her.  This is the turning point in her attraction to him, and henceforward her internal conflict comes from the (supposedly) unrequited love instead of her angst over these abandonments and her difficulty trusting because of it.

But THIS POST on the Smart Bitches blog, along with nagging doubts about the scene, got me thinking.  Do I really need it?

The current state of revisions has already trickled out quite a bit of Elspeth's backstory.  And in fact, the chapter prior to this one has Elspeth's realization about Alec, though to a lesser degree than I planned for the measles scene.  I don't think I'm using the child's death as a cheap dramatic trick; more like trying to be true to my period and acknowledge the nitty gritty reality of living in the seventeenth century, while at the same time achieving the plot purposes above.

OTOH, this IS a romance novel, and while Diana's readers (myself included) appreciate her hard-bitten reality and absolute allegiance to the history, Diana does not write romance.  Romance readers (myself included) often are looking for lighter, happier reads.  Which is not to say we don't appreaciate a story with depth and tragedy.  I love love loved The Time Traveler's Wife.  But a lot of romances, espcially the escapist types with fantastical elements, tend to gloss over some of the darker aspects of the story world.  And let's face it - most of the Scottish time travels in print right now are pretty glossy.

Which is also not to say I'm trying to "dumb down" my book to appeal to the masses.  I'm just trying to take a critical look at a scene and decide if I really need it or can accomplish my goals without it, if it fits in with the overall tone of the rest of the book, and if I was secretly trying to "push the envelope" with the scene, but may in fact end up alienating - or at least disengaging - a large segment of potential readers by leaving it in.  I don't think readers who wouldn't've minded the scene will notice its absence, while readers who hate scenes like this will most certainly notice its inclusion.

That said, I think I've talked myself into cutting it.  For now.  I never throw any scenes away, so if betas or an agent or an editor clambor for it, I can dust it off and slip it right back in.

Well, then.  Back to the drawing (writing) board.  I'm working in chapters 14 and 15 right now.  Elspeth has just been rescued by Alec, as I said.  New stuff is coming up in that Alec will be taken to task by his father for jeopardizing himself and the clan for a strange coigreach lass, and Alec's betrothal to Janet Cameron will be brought forward into more prominence as a result.  Alec's father's way of making him get his priorities straight.

As for me, I've been holed up in my "writing office" (read: guest room) since last evening, and it's starting to look like it.  From this afternoon alone, I cound 3 empty Diet Mt. Dew cans and one dirty coffee mug, plus a handful of candy wrappers littering my desktop.  And yet I've actually been losing weight.  Must be the stress...  I know I blame the book for the sudden profusion of gray hairs on my head.

My other dilemma is completely materialistic.  I have become quite the Coach purse junkie, and there are two particular styles I have wanted for some time - one since this time last year, and one since this summer.  I am already getting one of them for Christmas, and now I am trying to justify the other one, too, to round out my collection.  How to pay for it?  Or should I just wait?  *think, think*