New Year's Updates

I'm trying to get better organized this year--hey, don't laugh! There's a first time for everything. ;)

One of the things I'm trying to organize is my blog, or should I say my blogs. I have more than one since I write in various genres. This one is my default "real me" and non-fiction web site where I've actually try to advertise my editorial services. It's not working too well, so that's going to have be re-thought out and revised. But one of the first things I want to re-vamp is my author bio page.

It's tough to know what all to put in and what to put out. I've always kept mine short and sweet. (Just go to the top and click on the "About me" link and you'll see.) I've been asking folks online for feedback, and they suggest that I add things like "Why do I write?" and "What are my inspirations?" 

I don't know. Those sound rather conventional to me. I'm weird. I'd rather go with funny or goofy or plain unusual. But would that scare off more potential readers than it would draw in? That's the crux of the matter.

So, I'll be considering what all is necessary, not necessary, or just plain scary to add to my bio page this week. I'll also be preparing another pleasant surprise for next week. (Fingers crossed!) I want to make this blog a place where readers and writers feel welcome and can gain some useful information at the same time. 

If you have any suggestions, feel free to leave a comment below. I'd like more comments this year. I know some people are reading what I post since I have those stats, but the interaction of leaving comments and conversing with me would be nice for a change. So how about it?

Here's to a Happy and Healthy 2014 for everyone!

Cindy

Winning Resolutions

Two silly authors mug at the camera on New Year's Eve



Happy 2010 everyone out there in blogland! I admit to being slow getting around to making my list of things I want to accomplish this year. And I have the same ol’ excuses as last year—no time, day job, stress, too much on my plate, etc. If I can suspend reality for a moment and pretend that everything in my “real world” is going smoothly, I can focus my thought processes on the important stuff—that is, creating romantic fiction and sharing it with my readers.

So without further ado…

1. I resolve to have at least one book release this year.

2. I resolve to write at least one new story, screenplay, novel or novella this year.

3. I resolve to keep up better with my online blogs, forum, newsletters, My Space pages, Facebook and Yahoogroups. (If I can ever figure out Twitter, I will try to keep up with that one as well!)

In order to meet these goals, I promise to:

1. Become better organized, particularly with my time.
2. Give in less to anxiety and frustration.
3. Focus more on the joy of writing rather than on the stress of not being able to make ends meet.

I’ve got at least two books coming out this year—so that’s one third of my resolutions met already!

Scrambled Eggs will be a Mojocastle Press release written under my "Cynthianna" pen name. Scrambled Eggs knocks the classic “secret baby” storyline on its head. Sharlene has fallen for the father of her unborn child--and she doesn’t even know it’s him!

Sharlene always wanted a baby, but her husband only wants a child to secure his position in his wealthy uncle’s will. A mix-up at the fertility clinic reveals his hypocrisy, prompting a pregnant Sharlene to strike out on her own.

Single Sharlene “runs into” struggling part-time college student Zack and falls for him. Will Zack love a child that isn’t his? And will Zack find the courage to tell Sharlene that he’s a former sperm donor and possibly the real father of her child before she goes into labor?

My second release in 2010, Seven for Seduction (written under my Celine Chatillon pen name), will be a Liquid Silver Books release in the coming months. It’s the story of Jodi and her co-workers in an all female office. One day, her boss hires Brent, a “token male”. Now it’s a free-for-all with every gal trying to get the guy first.

Jodi decides she’s not up for such shenanigans and refuses to play the game. But somehow it’s Jodi refusing to play that turns Brent on the most…

Moral of the story? Sometimes when you don’t try so hard you do win!

Here’s to all of our “winning resolutions” this year. Let me know what a few of your resolutions are, and I’ll toss your name into the hat for a free copy of Seven for Seduction or Scrambled Eggs when they come out. You’ve got nothing to lose playing this game. ;-)

These Times Are A 'Changing!

These times are a'changing... Find out what these thousands are up to in the blog below!

Happy Chinese New Year!

It’s the Year of the Ox they say. Okay, it’s not as flashy as the Year of the Dragon or as comical as the Year of the Monkey, but where would we be without the dependable ol’ ox? We’d all be starving—or at least our ancestors would have starved and we wouldn’t be here now, would we? The ox pulls the plow, the plow tills the field so the farmer can sow grain, and the grain grows so we can have bread. Slow and steady, the ox is a dependable animal that shouldn’t be thought less of or teased for his understated elegance. So, Happy Year of the Ox! May all of us have the strength to trudge along, pulling our plows, like the sturdy, reliable ox.

I realize my New Year’s resolutions are already off, as this blog wasn’t updated earlier in the month as I had intended. I hit the ground running in 2009 with several freelance work projects, and I haven’t had a chance to come up for air until now. But it’s been an exciting year so far, right? We have a new president and hopefully a new sense of optimism. It’s time for a change. I agree.

I know I personally and professionally need to make some changes. I’m working on them—it is difficult and I’m a great procrastinator. I need more people in my life to hold me to my goals and make me work toward my dreams. I confess that I’ve not been writing fiction lately at all. My heart hasn’t been in it. I miss my daughters a lot, and I don’t hear from them often. I work a long, draining job and make a hideous commute daily, and it’s exacting a toll on my body and soul. I seem to catch all the viruses going around. I suffer back and leg pain to an excruciating degree some days. Bitch, bitch, whine, whine, moan, moan…

I would like to say my New Year’s resolutions include getting a decent paying job that isn’t located halfway across the county, but I have to be realistic. The unemployment rate is dismal here as it elsewhere. I’m pretty much stuck with what I’ve stumbled upon until I stumble upon another position. But I can make changes.

I can say that I will write more fiction this year and get those promised sequels to my fantasy-romantic-comedy LOVING WHO and the next story in “The Paranormal Lovers of St. Louis” series out there. I don’t make much money from my fiction writing, but I do enjoy it. Occasionally, one of my readers tells me that they enjoy it, too. That makes it all worth it.

One tiny bit of “change” I did today was go to an open casting call right here in the St. Louis area. Yeah—a movie with George Clooney is going to start filming here in March. It’s based on the novel Up in the Air, and they needed an airport terminal. Guess what? Since St. Louis is no longer a hub airport, Lambert Field has a completely empty concourse for them to use as a set. They need something like 2100 extras to fill it up. I thought, “Why not?” I might not get “the call” but at least I can say I tried.

(I actually have been an extra before, once on an indie film. I went running and screaming up a dark street in a low budget zombie flick. I had fun. Everyone should have to run away from zombies now and then.)


So in case I ever make it big on the Silver Screen, you can say you knew me when I was just a lowly, underpaid, struggling writer. Autographs will still be free, too. ;)