Day four of a four day weekend

First off, to all my fellow Canucks…

Well, this is the last day of my four day weekend – which is so depressing. I quite enjoy this long weekend stuff, I really like it and I’m damn productive too! But it sadly means that I have to go back to the evil “day job”. After finishing and submitting C&M 3 yesterday, tentatively titled “Dangerous Lines”, I started to work on book 4. Actually got a good start to it, not a lot – it was pretty damn late last night – so I wasn’t expecting to get a lot done.

The foundation is there though I still need to figure out how to take it from the tie in of the start deeper into the story. This one will be a slight shift, a different look into the C&M Security I’ve set-up already. While it’s not a departure by any means, it will be a little different take – I hope. LOL! So hard to tell at this point since I’m waiting on the characters to throw in with their ideas on how this will all go. Yes, I’m one of “those” writers. I have no issue allowing my characters to drive my writing bus. Though I do hang onto the map and at least try to play navigator so we don’t end up doing a swan dive into a gorge.

This book will also be stretching my knowledge a little. I’m by no means an expert in anything I write about. This one may need me to reach out to a few folks that are more knowledgeable than I could ever dream of being. Not sure yet, as it all depends on how the characters pull me along. We shall just have to see.

Anyway, I think that covers everything so far today. I need more coffee and then I have a bunch of projects to get working on. So I’m off, have a great day, especially my fellow Canadians. At least at this end of the country it’s turning out to be a beautiful, sunny day. HAPPY CANADA DAY! ~ Moira

Day three of a four day weekend

Jun30

Well, obviously I needed the time off! Without family obligations, hordes of running around, or dozens of projects to see to. Because, finally, I’ve got C&M book 3 done! That’s right, done. I’ve gone through the spell check, grammar check as far as I can figure it out (thank goodness for editors), and written up the synopsis. Which is really one of my least favourite parts of writing. But, it’s completed and ready to send off.

All I need to do now is package it up, hit send, and then it’s out of my hands. It feels really good to get this sucker done, lol! It gave me more than a couple grey hairs I think. Not that anyone will ever know for sure, wink-wink.

Of course, with C&M 3 out of the way I now need to start plotting on the fourth instalment. I already know who the characters will be, had that figured out a while back actually. The only book that was completely unexpected, yet insisted on being written, was book 2 of the series. It just came to me, but didn’t fit any of the set characters I already had planned. So, with a shrug, I tossed it into the mix. Which I think was a really smart plan. While I obviously plan most of the stories to a degree, a surprise here and there along the way isn’t amiss.

It fits in well with the rest of the books, showed a little more as well as a different look at C&M, the staff and their jobs, and it brought one of the characters (a main in book 3) out a little more. All in all it was a very happy little surprise.

Well, it’s about dinner time around here so I’m going to go and send off my stuff to Evernight and start cooking. Hope everyone has a lovely evening ~ Moira

Day two of a four day weekend

Jun29

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

Jun28

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!

Jun26

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

First in a series…

Jun24

Coming this Thursday Dangerous Times, is the first book of the C&M Security series. I’m very excited about this series, it’s my first one, and it’s also a slightly different take for me on a romantic story. It’s got mystery, it’s got danger, and it’s got some good old fashioned heat.

In book one we get to meet the delightfully adorable, Tamara Phillips. She’s a photographer who lives on her caffeinated beverages and hates mornings. Okay, I admit, those two traits are all me. Gotta put a little of yourself into your works, right? She meets up again with the sinfully sexy, Shawn Camden. He’s co-owner in C&M Security – the “C” if you need a hint as to how I came up with the name of his company.

I had a lot of fun writing this first book in the series. It was a great stretch of my abilities to try something new. Never having done anything with a bit of mystery behind it, and keeping the “big secret” actually a secret to the end, was definitely a challenge. So many times I caught myself giving something away that I knew would just ruin the effect I was attempting to create.

Thankfully my editor, the wonderfully talented Laurie Temple, was on my side of keeping the “secret” a secret. Normally not identifying a key character is a no-no, but in this case it was necessary to assist in leading the reader along just so. Then, at the end, WHAM! Big reveal. I also have to give a shout out to the talented cover artist who does all the Evernight Publishing covers, Sour Cherry Designs did a fantabulous job on the cover for this – so thanks!

That’s it for tonight I think, I have writing to do, characters to mess with, and a plot to twist up into knots. ~ Moira

Sunny Saturday…

Jun21

It’s actually sunny out there, not kidding in the least! It’s a miracle really, given I was starting to feel like I was living in Vancouver (hehe!) after the last couple of weeks of nearly constant rain, and drizzle. I love my neighbors to the West, but seriously, keep the rain over there. Those of us living right across the Rockies are still feeling a little twitchy from last year over anything more than a couple hours of rain.

If I didn’t feel like such a pile o’ shit right now, I think one of my co-workers gave me her cold, I’d be out enjoying it. Instead I’ve been cleaning furiously in an effort to sweat some of it out. Now that I’ve exhausted myself though I think I shall write for a while before I go shopping. Nothing exciting though, just some food for my relatively bare fridge. Not bare-bare, but definitely lacking more than a few beverages, bread, butter and eggs. Need something for dinner, something with a bit of substance, maybe a nice thick and juicy steak. Oh god that sounds good! Of course, if I’m still feeling crappy when I go shopping I’ll likely just get a bunch of comfort foods instead, lol! It’s always that way.

On the writing front I’m stuttering through a bit of C&M Security book 3. I’ve been playing around with getting my hero and heroine back into town to confront the bad guy after they made a necessary, and strategic, retreat to recover from what he’d done. Now I need to get them back onto the playing field, quickly, so that this guy goes down – hard. Not really sure how I’m going to do this, but we’ll see. I’ve got a few ideas that I’ve been playing through, seeing how they’ll come to a conclusion. So far only two really seem to work, but I’m not really sure if it fits them. Oh well, it’ll work out, always does.

I think that’s it from me. I’m going to watch a bit of backlogged TV – Games of Thrones and 24 – while I write. Maybe I’ll be hit by some inspiration ~ Moira

Whole new meaning to Wet Wednesday…

Jun18

The weather is dreadful, raining and nasty cold out there. It has been raining on and off all day long. It’s only just picked up in the last hour or so, the temps dropped and the clouds have lowered enough that it’s truly dismal out there. Ick!

To commemorate this gawd awful day of wet weather I’m getting into the spirit of things with a Wet Wednesday slide show of naked, wet men. All of whom should raise the temperature just a little bit more. These are all images I got out of my purchased file folder – so I have no clue who any of them are, but I really wish I knew at least…well, maybe…screw it, I want to know them all!

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And, because what would a Wet Wednesday be without the one, the only, the original…

Oh yeah, I went there. Matthew Broderick as Ferris Bueller of course.

All right, I’m off to keep working on my C&M Security book 3 -title yet to be decided- and see if I can’t make my characters nice and uncomfortable for a bit. Before I make them all run for their little lives. It’s good to be in charge of such things, lol!

Have a great night ~ Moira

Need to play catch-up

Jun16

I only took three days off, but damn did it throw me behind the proverbial ball. Today was shot too since I had other things that needed doing, like getting my hair cut, doing laundry, and reading everything in my inbox and off of Facebook in an attempt to get caught up on all the latest.

Did a bit of writing as well, since I’m three days behind on that too. Didn’t get quite as much as I’d have liked done, but I’m back in the groove of things so that’s a major plus. This weekend, on top of a number of other things, have totally thrown my schedule for getting book three of the C&M Security series submitted. Not going to stress on it though. No reason to, and it doesn’t do a damn lick of good either.

Had a good visit with the family though. It was actually pretty relaxing in comparison to some of my other trips to see them. A very nice change actually. Though my mother still won’t let me sleep in to what I term an “acceptable time”. She does it on purpose, I know this, yet every single morning I’m still awoken way earlier than I’d like and my nerves are shot for a good four or five hours. The woman has it down to a science. Likely had to, given what a deep sleeper I am.

I have a couple of shows I need to catch up on, one of which apparently has had it’s season finale apparently. Since I’m also a couple shows behind, on the same series, I’ve been studiously avoiding any and all mention of anything in relation online. Never realized just how damn hard that was until this one, lol!

In other news I think I might just have a concept for a new stand alone. Not sure, but we’ll see. I was jotting notes down on the trip back last night so we’ll just have to wait and find out if it’s something my brain will actually want to write. Only real issue is, I’m not entirely sure what all my notes mean. There are a couple that, at the time they obviously made perfect sense, yet in the light of a new day don’t mean shit! LOL! Oh, dear. Well, maybe it’ll come back to me when I eventually get around to it. I have other stories to write first before I get too caught up in that.

I think that’s it for tonight. I have a B movie I have saved on my PVR that I plan to watch tonight. “Pacific Rim” for anyone that’s wondering. It’s got Charlie Hunnam in it, which was reason enough to record it for later viewing. I honestly don’t remember it so I’ll have to see how “bad” it really is. So, if anyone’s seen it – don’t tell me. I don’t mind some of the B movies honestly. There are some though, the made for TV so-called B movies (they aren’t B, they are not that high up in the alphabet) that I cannot stand. We shall just have to see where this one falls.

Have a good night ~ Moira

Off for the weekend!

Jun12

Yup, that’s right, I’m off to visit the family this weekend so I will be out of touch. Heading out tomorrow (got the day off work – HA!) to see my dad for Father’s Day. Should be good, I’ll get to see everyone, at least for a short time. Only bad thing is that I’ll have no time on the computer to keep writing. ARGH! Not that I’ll be completely Net-less, but I’ll be limited to my iPhone for everything.

So that also means today is my Friday! Yay! LOL! So happy about that fact, if for no other reason than a four day week is so much better than the forced five day work week. I can sit out on my balcony and laugh at all the people as they scurry into work tomorrow morning. If I feel like getting up early enough to watch them scurrying into work of course.

Tonight’s plan is to finish up some laundry, do some writing and then chill. Get in a good night’s sleep before I bolt out of bed tomorrow, run around like a chicken minus it’s head, and hopefully not forget anything of importance. In other words, my phone charger. Did that once, will never, EVER do that again. The horror of not having a charger, over Christmas break no less, when going into a mall to get a new one is the last thing on your mind. Thankfully though someone had a spare to lend me so I at least had that small connection to the cyber world.

Well, that is it for now. I shall wish everyone a lovely weekend. I hear my end of Canada has a bunch of rain in the forecast, ugh! May the rest of you have great weather ~ Moira

Moira Callahan

Tag Archives: Writing