Sunny Saturday

Well, it’s nice to know that the weatherman can even be wrong about bad weather occasionally too, lol! We’ve been getting plenty of sunshine today. A lovely bright blue sky, with a few very non-threatening fluffy white clouds floating along, all around a perfect day to be out and about. In my case though, it was the perfect backdrop for writing my face off.

Last-Days-of-Summer

C&M Security book 5 has been trundling along nicely. The characters, and I have been getting this puppy going. I’m only a few thousand words in, but it’s been pretty smooth overall. Had to rein them in a couple of times here and there. They were trying to get a little too far ahead of things for my piece of mind. After all, you need to set the scene, build the tension and the mystery into the story before you show all the cards in your hand. Okay, yes I’m mixing metaphors. Shush! LOL!

Basically I’m trying to say that today was a damn good day for writing. Over 4k words added, with more bubbling in my head. I may get down some more tonight, not sure yet, depends on how it all coalesces in the old brain. May need to step back for a few, and see what comes of everything that’s rumbling around. To that end, I’m off to make dinner, and maybe make a bevvie as well. To that end, I’m out of here.

EvernightSale

Before I go though, a heads up that Evernight Publishing is having a huge Labor Day Weekend sale on the website this weekend. It goes until Monday, and all titles are 25% off. As well, All Romance is also having a huge sale on specially selected titles – including all three of my titles that are currently out, and many of the other Evernight authors. So go and take a look, maybe you’ll find something to read this weekend.

Hope you all have a wonderful night. ~ Moira

It’s Friday!

SmileySo happy the weekend is here. Ahhhh! It’s been a long, strange, hectic, annoying sort of week at the evil day job. But now I have a whole three days where I can solely focus on writing. Yup, three days. All the household chores have been completed, and except for the occasional venture out into the real world for resupplying whatever I might need to keep me going, I have no other plans.

I am not, nor have I ever been a camper. Even if I were I would not go over a long weekend, they are predestined to end badly – Mother Nature has your number campers. My version of camping is a two star hotel, in the boonies, without a coffee maker in the room to get me going in the mornings. I despise bugs, disdain dirt, and dread sleeping on the ground. Which, with my bad back, is just a recipe for ending up at my chiropractors for weeks on end undoing two nights out “roughing it”. Thank you, but no thank you. Those who enjoy camping, may you have open roads before you, no screaming children next to you, and may your beer remain cold.

I shall stay at home, with my running hot water, my very pricey and plush bed, and all the other wondrous comforts of home. It’s also where the Wifi, and electricity is, which is a hell of a lot more conducive to ensuring I get writing done. Ha! Look at that, a nice little circle back around.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, no matter how long or short it might be. I have characters to manipulate into some sort of a cohesive state. ~ Moira

OH! PS – Before I completely forget, two more things….

1) I am putting out a newsletter whenever I have news to share, or have a book being released – sorry no set scheduling yet. To join up just click on the link at the top of the menu to your left.

2) Evernight Publishing is having a huge Labor Day weekend sale Saturday through Monday. A link with more details will be forthcoming on my Facebook page should you be interested. Just click here tomorrow mid-day for all the deets.

Another one off to the Publisher

Yup, you read that right, I’ve sent off another book to Evernight for consideration for publication. This would be book 4 of the C&M Security series. Amidst some not so minor heart palpitations, and mild hyperventilating I managed to hit the “send” button on the email. And away it went. Good gawd it doesn’t get any easier.

 

Success!

But, it’s off and in their hands now. Which means it’s all a waiting game of thumb twiddling, and inbox stalking. Not that I do that, the thumb twiddling I mean. Too much to try and get out of my head, and into a document after all. As soon as one is done, it’s onto the next in line. In this case it’s book 5 which will start out practically at the end of the story before I very drastically rewind to give the readers all of the details as to how the characters ended up there. It’s a different structure from the other books, but I like that about this series. Mixing up how I go about revealing the bad guy, how I tell the story the characters have to share, and how I end up getting everyone out of whatever mess they have found themselves in.

Though I will admit it occasionally makes my head ache. I’ve found myself in the proverbial corner a couple of times in the four books so far, and had to backtrack to figure out how to get out of said corner, or had to do a bit of rewriting to ensure it all worked out as planned. Not that I really “plan”. I mean, I have an idea of what I’m going to write, have a clue where the story is going, and even know who the bad guy is. But the characters are the ones that really drive the story. They tell me if I need to go left, or right, and what’s coming next. They are also the ones that usually get me stuck in that damned proverbial corner then abandon me to go off and do whatever it is that characters do while their author is pulling out her hair.

I think that’s it, I’m off now to get working on book 5. I can already hear the incessant chatter of that set of characters. Until next time ~ Moira

Need more coffee…

Ugh!

Yup, that pretty much covers my feelings on this day so far. If it’s not one thing it’s another. I swear, my brain is like a narcoleptic hamster on an acid trip that’s stuck clinging to his wheel as it spins madly out of control. Think on that one a while, it’s not a pretty vision. What this all boils down to is a lack of any form of concentration on my WIP. Not a good thing. Need to get this puppy put to bed so I can get rolling on the next one that is already harping on the brain. Thankfully with that deranged hamster in control it’s a pretty low drone of harping, way-way in the distance of my head. For the moment.

It’s when it finally manages to get past the off-his-rocker hamster that I need to truly concern myself with. Don’t need that kind of pressure riding me, from myself no less, to finish my book. Nope, totally not required, needed, nor wanted. With that in mind I intend to caffeinate myself a little more and get to work.

As long as I’m not vibrating too hard of course. It is incredibly difficult to type when your body is vibrating out of control. Though I do find it leads to some funny out takes of what a scene could be with one misplaced word. One word – all it takes to change a scene if it’s the “right” word in a key moment of the scene.

But that’s an entirely different story for maybe another day. Maybe. Right now I’m off to refill the mug, focus with laser guided accuracy on my WIP and get to work! At least that’s the plan. Though I know better than to plan too much, too far along the way. I always end up derailing myself with something… OH! SHINY! As I was saying, best not to get too far ahead. Coffee, writing, all other things of distraction are on the back burner.

Okay… I’m going in. Have a great Sunday folks! ~ Moira

Fabulous Friday

There are so many reasons why it’s so much more fabulous than any other Friday of late. First and foremost, it’s obviously Friday which brings the logical and foregone conclusion that a weekend follows promptly, which is true. The added bonuses were:

  • The boss let us go early – big YAY!
  • This led to me getting all my chores done before dinner time
  • It was take-out night, which meant no dishes and very little clean-up (I only do it twice a month so it’s a treat – the rest of the time I cook my meals for the coming week)

Now that I’ve got all that out of the way I get to fully enjoy my three day weekend. Yup, you read that right, we have a long weekend. Thank gawd! I needed one so badly. Plus the creative juices are chugging along so I fully intend to put them to use and get some more of C&M 4 done, if not fully complete the story. Still have a ways to go on it, but with three days I can dedicate most of my waking hours -not including coffee intake, meals, bathroom breaks and the occasional run out of the house to do other things- to getting it a hell of a lot closer to being completed.

Have a great weekend, long or not ~ Moira

Just relaxing

Not sure what all I plan to get up to today. Relaxing is at the top of my “to do” list for sure.

I do plan on doing some writing, C&M 4 is still in the works with the crescendo scene quickly approaching. It’s one of the few books of this series that won’t have an immediate bad guy being shown for the readers to get behind. This bad guy’s totally hidden, and will remain so until… Well, I can’t tell you that because that would just ruin the surprise. Which if the characters play along as they should, should be pretty fucking amazing. Course, they do seem to have a mind of their own, so we’ll have to wait and see if they are willing to continue playing ball or not.

Other than a little bit of shopping for me, my b-day gift to myself, I have no other major plans outside of reading a couple of new books that I have awaiting me in my Kindle. Today though will be pure laziness. Lots of movie watching, lots of chocolate eating and some writing. Beyond that I plan on doing nothing strenuous. Though I think I may need to go and beef up my chocolate supply. Only downside to living alone, you can’t blame anyone else for eating your chocolate stash lol!

Well, that’s it folks. Hope you all have a lovely weekend. From a sunny Calgary, hope you all have a marvellous day ~ Moira

Getting things accomplished

Since being under the weather I hadn’t really gotten a lot done. A couple bursts of energy though definitely came through at the right time.

The first being yesterday to let me get a whack more writing done on C&M book 4. I’d gotten to a point where I feared I might have written myself into the proverbial corner. But, along with that burst of energy came some inspiration and a plot twist to explain everything, as well as keep me from backing into that corner. Got a good 7k words down yesterday before the brain called it quits and ordered me off to bed.

In other news, the first round of edits came in from Evernight. Bad news was I was in no condition to even look at them until today. Great new was that I have the fantastic Laurie Temple for my editor once again. This woman has seen me through both my previous books, keeping me and my characters in line. Couldn’t ask for a better editor.

Got all the edits done with the second wonderful burst of energy, and a lot of coffee to keep it going. Downside to that is I’m now buzzing around on caffeine so I think I’ll do some writing and burn it up while I have it.

Dangerous Secrets, C&M Security book 2 will be out sometime in July I believe. No date yet set but I will announce it as soon as I know when it will be releasing. Until then I am off to write, write, and write some more before I have to face going to work tomorrow.

10527366_284094728443222_7015729994854315924_nOh! Before I forget, just remember there is only a little over one day left to purchase a book from the Evernight and Evernight Teen sites where the book cover price, in full, will be donated to World Vision’s Education for Girls Fund. Any and all books are included in this amazing fundraiser by the Evernight team. But it must be purchased from their sites directly to count toward the grand total.

So have a lovely evening everyone ~ Moira

Day two of a four day weekend

It’s been a pretty productive day over all. At least in my writing world, lol! Everything else, well – I’m just ignoring it until later, or it comes after me, whichever happens first. It was a very rainy day, apparently the weather guy wasn’t wrong – for once. Which meant I had the absolutely perfect excuse to stay inside and write. And write I did.

I’ve got my main female character facing off against our bad guy. He’s in the midst of messing with her, little taunts and threats, that sort of thing. He’s a very polite, well educated, yet ruthless jackass of a man. I’m hoping I’ve developed him into the sort of bad guy that, even while people secretly kind of maybe like him, they want to see him go down. Because, even though he has his own sets of standards, his own moral code, he’s an asshole that needs to be tossed under the jail. Not sure if I’m accomplishing that great feat, but I’m ever hopeful.

Really, my biggest thing is, making him real and believable. Yes he’s a dick, yes he’s the “bad guy”, yes we all know he’s going to get what he’s got coming (cause that’s how I write them), but he still has to feel “real” to the readers. Cause, if they don’t buy it, then the whole thing just flops. Which would abso-freaking-lutely suck ass.

Well, I think that’s about it. I have to go and torment my lead female character a little more, see about the grand rescue, and then a little hanky panky between the leads. Which, given a number of things that have happened to them up to this point, will be pretty damn hot. Have a good night ~ Moira

Day one of a four day weekend

Yup, that’s right! I got me a four day weekend. With Canada Day on Tuesday the boss said to hell with it, we’re not working Monday. The reality is, he didn’t want to work on Monday since he wanted to go out to his trailer to spend the weekend on the lake. Don’t blame him, the weather today is freakin’ fantastic! From the forecast, except for a “possible chance of precipitation” the four days look like they will be stellar.

Which means I have four days to write, write and write some more. On day one, today, I slept in. I’ve been battling a bit of a head cold on top of my yearly bout of allergies. It’s been a challenge but with my buddy the Kleenex box at my side, I’ve been making it through. Beyond a bit of sinus ache, it’s actually not all that bad this year around. We’ve had just enough rain to help with the dust issue that always arises right around this time. It’s one of my bigger allergy issues, that and the dry crap that’s kicked up when people mow and de-thatch their lawns for the first couple times of the year. Yes, I’m horribly allergic to the dust kicked up by mowed lawns. If I even get a whiff of a freshly mowed lawn at this time of year I will travel four blocks out of my way to avoid it just so I don’t have the wonderful seizing in my lungs. Can’t avoid it entirely, but I damn well try for the first bit. After the first month though it doesn’t much affect me, unless I’m the poor sucker out there doing the mowing. Which, as I have no lawn thanks to apartment living, I don’t ever have to do.

Up to bat on the writing front is C&M book 3. Still need to finish this sucker off. So I have my TV playing softly in the background, coffee at my elbow, and this sucker is getting done this weekend. Come hell or… Okay, given where I live, I’m not finishing that. Since we had high water’s last year and I’m not temping Fate or anything else. *knocking on wood*

With all that in mind, I’m off to do some writing. Hope you all have a lovely weekend ~ Moira

Release Day!

So excited! A second book bearing my name out there for the world to see. Oh boy, yeah, better not think on that too long or I’ll be needing myself a paper bag. LOL! Just kidding.

There was a minor snafu with Amazon, they were having a few technology issues – happens to the best of us after all. But, like the troopers they are, they got things sorted out and my book is up. Hopefully everyone else’s as well affected by this small glitch. I didn’t really worry about it overly much, since I knew they’d figure it out in time. Besides, I was at work so that kept me from thinking about it for too long.

I will admit to looking for it as soon as I got home though. And there it was, in all it’s sexy glory – look at that cover, it’s HAWT! I keep wanting to nibble on that male model, just a little. Okay, enough of that, other things to talk about… All the links I currently have (sorry iTunes and B&N folks) are up on the Dangerous Times page. The other links will come as the individual sites get everything lined up on their ends.

Overall it was good day, not much happening at work, work wise. My one co-worker, the lady I’ve worked with personally for a number of years, left today. Off into the retirement sunset. Lucky bitch. We sent her off in a fashion she approved of, very low key, yet she knew just how much I was going to miss her. The fact I was hanging onto her leg like a two year old in the midst of mother leaving for the first time may have been a clue. My screaming “You can’t go!” may have also led to the belief I’ll miss her dreadfully. I will, but she deserves this, she put in forty years with the company, definitely time to get out and enjoy life a little.

I get myself a super-duper long weekend this weekend. Canada Day is on the Tuesday so the boss is giving us the Monday off, woohoo! That’s a four, yes 4, day weekend. Hot damn! I plan on writing, writing and doing some more writing. It will be great. I can tidy up and work on C&M book 3, maybe even submit it. Then I intend to work on the paranormal story that’s been bugging me for the last while, get some of that down on paper. More than what I currently have I mean.

Well, that’s it, I need to go and do some advertising I think. Have a wonderful evening folks! ~ Moira