Successful Operation

No, not on me. On Forbidden Love, #3 in the Arbor University series! Here's a quick blurb:

Keri Patterson meets an older man, and is instantly transported into her first adult relationship. But is Kyle Sampson really telling her the truth about his ex-wife? Is Keri's ambition to someday be a part of an Indianapolis 500 racing crew interfering with her love life?

In the first book in the series, Keri's general outlook on her ambition is clear: She's in college to get certified, be ranked first in her class of all-males, and to work for a racing team, eventually working her way up to becoming the first female Chief Mechanic. Halfway through the book, she meets Kyle.

In the second book, Love Finds a Way, Keri's dating Kyle, and Stephanie fills Amy in on some of the details of the relationship, again, about halfway through the book.

But when I started writing Keri's story, I was also writing Amy's story; Elicia's story was fifteen years from being written; I went back to the beginning and began the set-up. They meet, are attracted to each other...and then I put it down and didn't touch it for six or seven years. When I did pick it up again, I continued on, making the occassional changes, as I had most of Gretchen's story finished. So yes, I wrote Amy first, then Gretchen, Keri, Caitlyn, and finally, Elicia, Stephanie, Susan, and now I'm trying to write Lynne's story. But she's not cooperating at the moment.

I sent Keri off on her merry way, and was first rejected because it does not have the romance gotta-have HEA ending. So I sent it elsewhere, who also rejected it, but who also very nicely pointed out the fact that my first couple of chapters TELL the story; they don't SHOW the action.

Right after I received that email, my PC crashed.

No, it's not that sensitive to my rejection letters, lol! The virus just happened to coincide with it.

But it's been restored; I successfully re-installed Word on it, and yesterday popped the disk into the PC, made a copy of the document, and started ruthlessly cutting.

I ended up cutting the first 5 or 6 chapters and adding in some details to the beginning, as well as other pertinent information so that the readers aren't scratching their heads and asking, 'And who is this person?"

The result? I'm happy with it. Yes, it was painfull to cut several of my favorite scenes, but they still exist in the original document. They are not gone forever, and maybe I can re-work them into a later book?

Now I just hope an editor appreciates my efforts and offers to publish it!


Happy Birthday Sara:)
Jackie called. My birthday girl is eating fresh strawberries and Splenda for her breakfast. They will arrive around 1:00 and we'll all go to lunch at Zander's. Later, S has said she wants Applebees for dinner, and we'll pick up her Pirates of the Carribbean cake and take pictures of her blowing out the candles. And in the grand tradition of holiday birthdays, the celebration will continue tomorrow night with the fireworks, and whenever her grandparents arrive, there will be more presents!

Busy Day!
I also typed the pages I had written Monday (three handwritten translated to 1.5 typed!) and kept going. I'd intended to only work for 2 hours; I actually put in 3.5! I literally had to force myself to stop; otherwise my toddler was only going to get junk food for dinner. And it's a good thing I stopped when I did; I fixed tortellini and garlic bread and he devoured his supper! Afterwards, I gave him a long hot shower, read him two books, and he passed out.

Don't know if I'll work some more on it today and this weekend; it depends on whatever we decide to do. Today's going to be busy cleaning up the house before the rest of the family arrives, and if we go to the family reunion on Sunday. D is fixing my van on Saturday, and my parents are arriving sometime in the next four days to see their grandchildren and to spoil the birthday girl (see yesterday's post!).

I'm also planning on taking my memory card to Walmart and downloading the pictures of Holiday World, the race, and this weekend, so maybe I'll post some for you to see.

Enjoy your day; we're expecting rain again. AJ, I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll try to send it your way:)