“Now,” she stood straight, causing those beautiful strong hands to slip from her. “I need you. I need the Fomorian king to back me up. I’m about to take a blood oath and turn into Spider-man all in one night.

As expected, Fallon’s smile broke the harsh reality of everything just a bit. When he nodded she started to turn away from him, to let him finish getting dressed, when he reached out and gently caught her elbow, spinning her back around to him, her momentum halted by his mouth on hers.

​The heat was there, but it was at a low simmer this time. The kiss was comforting and spoke volumes to her; he was sorry and thankful at the same time. A peace offering kiss if she ever did see one, or feel in this case. His lips were warm, their relaxed firmness fitted perfectly to her softer fuller ones. They complemented one another in the brief caress, a well matched pair. One that nature and fate allowed them to find in each other. We won’t neglect the gift, she thought.

A little shaken at the thought, Jess pulled back slowly, but not before brushing her moist lips against his one last time. She wasn’t normally a fate and destiny sort of thinker. Life happened, that was it. And without any preordained plan or mapping by any external powers that be.
“I’ll see you out there,” she said, smiling at him as she turned and walked out of the room.

I am writing an outline for book 3 in the Descending series. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, for the first time since high school I am actually writing a real outline. I wrote a main event outline on a large whiteboard for the second book, but I’m actually writing a real one this time. Complete with chapter breakdowns, subplots and bulletpoints.

I keep thinking about what Carina MacKenzie (screenwriter, showrunner and creator of Roswell, New Mexico) said regarding never having writers block by using an outline. If you already know what’s going to happen going in, you shouldn’t ever have this “block” affliction that writers dread so much. I don’t really get writers block myself, but I do burn out sometimes on one particular project, which is why, as I think I’ve shared before, I have so many simultaneous projects going on at one time. Again, the same reason why I have two books releasing so close to one another. As I write the third book, I full expect to be working on another script at the same time. That is, after I’ve finished editing my last one first. I already have an idea for a new tv pilot script. Again, I will outline that, too.

I have been a hardcore outline hater before now. I see the importance. If I were writing just one book, maybe not, but I am writing a series which means certain things happen in the first book that I forget all about once I finally get to writing the second and last one. I don’t want to foreshadow something and not even use it later on. What a total waste of creativity!

Also, I need to make a character breakdown. It’s damned hard to remember all the characters, especially the less important ones that are only mentioned a handful of times throughout the whole series. I know, a lot of you other writers are probably rolling your eyes at me, but something to consider, I never really wrote my books with the anticipation of actually publishing. I mean, sure I guess that was the end goal when I started writing them, but I didn’t think about keeping things straight, not having plot holes, making sure readers were engaged, even during the slow but important dialogue.

So here I go! I’m going to try and finish the outline this weekend, send The Hunt off for editing and, if I manage to get that all done in just today, I can write an outline for the pilot I mentioned. Next week can be dedicated to editing my feature script and I can work on it, if I have to, which I think I will, during the writers summit next weekend. That’s NEXT WEEKEND! I am so totally stoked! I hope to go to a creative writers summit or conference next year. Balance it out. This will be my first time doing something like this. I’ve gone to conferences for a direct sales company I worked with before, but I know this will be really different. I hope to take in a lot of information and mingle, network and makes friends as much as possible while I’m there. And maybe even sleep in at least once. The hardest part will be the fact that my baby doesn’t drink formula and I don’t have any back up milk right now. We tried the formula last week and she refused it.

I guess I will have to pump like mad this week. 😬

New things to share!

FIRST:

You can now download and read Descending Into Darkness on all other devices aside from Kindle through Smashwords.com

SECOND: Ascending Into Light is now available for Pre-Orer on Amazon!!! The cover hasn’t been approved yet, so I will share on here with you all. I LOVE it. It would mean the world to me if you left a REVIEW on the new book sharing your excitement of the next book’s release, which is April 10th. Or Share/Pre-Order. It will be FREE for those who have Kindle Unlimited membership after it’s release.

A lot of new things are happening this year for me. I’m looking at completing at least half of my goals for the year in the next couple months. The second book in the Descending series, the script I’m currently editing and the YA book I’m nearly done with proofreading and sending off for editing soon. All of those were just to get done and ready for publishing and contest submittal. I need to write the last book of the Descending series and another pilot script to officially mark my goals list done.

On top of going to the writers summit next weekend and a few other film and television festivals this later this year, I was just invited to judge (online movie and script reading) for a film festival. I have no idea what this entails but I do know it’s new and I’m honored for the oportunity and experience I’m sure it will bring me.

I just had to share with you all. Again, I’m trying to cook dinner, make sure my three year old eats and my 7 year old doesn’t wear herself out on the cardio machine (it’s good for her ADHD actually). She goes faster on it than I do. 😞

I hope you all had a great hump day this Wednesday and will have something more to share tomorrow.

Goodnight everyone!

Editing is done! My second book in my Descending series is done being edited. There were only a few things to work change. I added a couple things here and there, did normal edit stuff and now it’s ready for one final read through for proofreading, making sure everything jives. I can’t tell you how excited I am. The first draft is one thing, it’s an accomplishment to get the thing written but it takes a LOT of self discipline to edit it. It also takes a lot of brain power. Reading something I’ve written and picking out stuff that doesn’t make sense or is a run on sentence is hard work because you know in your head what point you were trying to convey. I have to read everything carefully when my brain just wants to get the story done and told already.

So tonight I will do that during commercial breaks of CWs The Flash and Roswell, New Mexico. As soon as all of book 2 is done and I send The Hunt off for editing, I will focus on editing my script, Across the Veil. It will take me longer as there is much more to be done with that project. It needs a couple of scenes rewritten. Being my first feature script, it’s to be expected. I might be still editing it when I go on the writers summit in Altanta next weekend. Which would be perfect if I had any questions.

Now, today....today I am anxiously waiting for an email to tell me what the Finalists are for the ISA Fast Track fellowship competition. I entered Summons for the script contest past and I just hope I place in the finalists at least. There will be 50 Finalists and I think I had a fighting chance so I am constantly refreshing my email and checking their website. I’m surprised they haven’t updated the site yet or sent out notices. It’s usually something done by now, but I guess they do have until midnight on this day. I really hope it’s not that long though.

Well, I’m off to take a small break before the littles wake up from nap. I hope you all have a fabulous Tuesday!

I read something the other day on Twitter. A screenwriter, whom I really aspire to, answered a question a fan had asked: How do you deal/overcome Writers Block?

Her answer was really simple yet really enlightening: She doesn’t get writers block because she outlines all her work. I don’t normally outline anything, but when I found myself deep in the second Descending book, I realized I probably should so I could stick with the plot, sub-plots and mini clues and such. I didn’t do one with the most recent book, The Hunt, either. But I know I will need one again (I lost the original outlines for Descending) for the last book and again for the pilot script I have in my head.

I started writing this with the idea that I was going to talk about outlines and writers block. But now, all I can think about is my 7 year old screaming in her bedroom. And when I say screaming, I’m talking blood curdling, at the top of her lungs, kicking, breaking things screaming. She’s in full meltdown mode and when she’s like that it’s really best for everyone involved, including herself, if you just leave her to it. Once she rides it out, she will be really sorry, worn out and not really understand how it started in the first place. Much like a meltdown that someone with Autism would have, it’s a way for her body to let go of stress that she didn’t know how to otherwise release. Also, she doesn’t quite know how to manage her emotions just yet. Meaning when she’s frustrated or mad, even sad sometimes, the only way she knows how to react is at Maximum Force.

And right now I’m wondering how much she’s broken, if I will find shelves torn down from the wall or if she’s thrown all her Legos out of their bins. I know a ton of parents that are reading this thinking, “No way. Beat her,” lol or “Take away all her toys, teach her a lesson.” When really this is something she has little control over. It’s so hard for me to remember that she doesn’t and it’s a big part of why I take anxiety medication myself. So that I can better help and deal with these meltdowns, among other things of course.

I’m not going to sugar coat it, these days are extremely hard. Especially with her not feeling well on top of it. it’s also getting close to dinner time when I have to feed her, if she even eats, as well as her two siblings and hope she doesn’t fight me.

Wish me luck, friends. I think she’s done now and just sad. This is when I go up there and give her hugs and coax her downstairs to separate her from whatever it was that got her so worked up in the first place.

Maybe I will work on that outline later tonight. Maybe.....

A new announcement! I have finished my YA book, The Hunt! I think I might still add a scene or two today on the back end but for the most part it’s done. I will send it off to editing as soon as I’m done, maybe tomorrow. My editor has a pretty quick turn around time for books so it should have a release in May.

Also, some Descending news, I ordered the second book’s cover, and I got the editing notes back, so I should be working on that this week and have a release date and have a Pre-Order link available by Friday or Saturday.

Now, lets talk other type of business, taxes. I just learned that I can write off all of the contest entry fees, editing, summit/conferences and travel for said trips. Though I didn’t go on any trips last year, I did enter a few contests and this year will be filled with trips and editing, as well as advertising for both scripts and books. That’s awesome! My husband is usually convinced of my trips at the mention of tax write offs. 😂

Less than two weeks until my trip to Atlanta for the Screencraft Screenwriters Summit. I am so stoked! My husband isn’t exactly thrilled, I’m sure, but I know, deep down, he’s excited for me. I really need a mom-cation and this will really help my writing career. Learning and networking, so much! I even have business cards ready! Eeeek!

Ok. I’m going to go mop the floors before I run away for a couple hours to get those scenes done.

I’ve been watching The Passage on tv lately, binge watching because I have a lot to catch up on DVR. Am I a bad parent for watching it while the baby is in the room playing? I don’t think so. LOL If it’s not brightly colored, she isn’t interested and plays with her toys and climbs new things. Once she pays more attention or if more aware of what is on tv I will, of course, stop watching adult stuff and tune in to more cartoons, but for now, I’m enjoying the fact that I have the television basically to myself while my other two children are at school.

I realized yesterday that Korben (3 yrs) will be on a preschool schedule at his school for the next two years after this. His birthday is in October and well after the August 31st birthday cut off for kindergarten. Aurora was the same but I think it helped her maturity wise. She’s great at school but because of her ADHD socialization was a little behind when it came to knowing when to be quiet, keeping her hands to herself. Her impulse control was poor and she only just got some control over it with her medication that she started taking last April. She is making new friends every day, her confidence is getting better and she is really good in school.

Korben will not only have the 3 hours a day, 4 days a week preschool for the next two years, he will also start Emersion Therapy (I think that’s what it’s called) in the summer, and it’s 3 hours a day, 5 days a week. So he will be busy, and I love it. Not only is he getting the help he needs to succeed socially and in life in general, but he also wont be stuck at home bored. That leaves just finding some summer camp stuff for his sister to do. If we could afford it, I would put her in some sort of program that was a few days a week throughout the summer break. She loves stuff like that but I know she also loves the idea of having nothing to do so she can play with her legos for hours.

What about you? Any summer camp plans for your kids? If my kid was in Girl Scouts, which I don’t want to sign her up for (long story), I could send her to a Girl Scout camp. But I guess I will just have to do a good old fashioned Google search.

​Wish me luck!

It happened again! I won Finalist in a small film festival in India. For a while I was thinking, it’s probably a scam, its so small, I don’t know if I should celebrate it, but then I kicked my own ass and remembered that I don’t KNOW if its a scam and I should celebrate any win, even if it is from a small festival. It’s in India so I have no idea what it’s actual size or outcome of participants is.

Oh and I also won Finalist, again, at the Canada International Film Festival. I say Again but it’s with a totally revamped draft of Summons, so it still counts as a new win. I WAS aiming for an actual Place Win but it didn’t happen.

After all the competitions that I’ve already entered in close this year I will retire Summons so I can focus on other projects. It had a good run and I am really proud of it but it’s time, it’s lived it’s life. LOL I feel like I’m putting a prized cow out to pasture.

It’s recently come to my attention that the WGA (Writers Guild of America) is in the middle of a war with shady literary agents, specially the practice of “packaging.” Please forgive me if I get my information wrong, and PLEASE correct me if I am. I know I don’t understand it completly but I feel the need to share.

Though I am not a member of the WGA I do feel attacked, just a little, similarly to those who ARE a part of the WGA. To be a member you need to have worked on a tv series or movie of some sort. It’s quite a few career steps above where I’m at now, or else I’d be a member myself. But I say this to point out that these are experienced people. They know when they are being cheated, and rightfully so.

These agents charge a percentage, likes go with 15%, as I guess is a standard price, and they go to another agent and they strike up a “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” sort of deal with one another and your agent has the gall to request more money from you because he’s using the 15% you’re already giving him to pay Agent B. 😜Sound stupid? It’s because it is. And here’s the thing about the screenwriting industry, you CAN NOT get professionally recognized without an agent — or a miracle — so these agents know they’ve got you by the balls, so to speak. Say no and you lose not just him, but the contacts he’s made on your behalf. When he walks, so do all those possibilities of employment.

The WGA has put their foots down and are demanding that the agents out there change their ways, make this illegal because right now it’s just seen as shady but not surprising nor taboo. It just is because “what are you going to do about it?” Well the WGA is saying Eff that . THIS is what we are doing about it. If I understand it right, members of the guild are dropping agents who practice this crappy business practice and demanding they change their work ethic. I heard mention it was illegal somewhere but then I’m not positive. I will have to Google that. Just because it’s illegal doesn’t mean that young or aspiring screenwriters aren’t still being subjected to it because they aren’t aware of what’s normally right and what’s normally crooked. I know I barely understand a lot of the industry ins and outs: Rules, networking, formats, submissions, queries, representation, agent, lawyer, managers, there is so much to learn and yet you’re still expected to finish a new script each year, if not more — hopefully more so as to have a bigger portfolio — and shell out said script by a certain time during all of this.

If you weren’t already aware of this or didn’t exactly understand it and just heard/read snipits here and there online or Twitter, I hope you spread the word. Please please please tell me if I got something wrong or you want to add something. A new friend clued me in on this, thankfully, last night. If you’re not a member, which I’m sure anyone reading this probably isn’t, please show your support by spreading the word. Hashtags help if you’re on Twitter. There’s even a profile picture, that I’m currently using, stating that “I stand with the WGA,” which is just a small way to show your support. It’s what first got my attention to it and why I started looking into it. I didn’t know where to start so I posted an SOS for information on Twitter and some awesome writers answered the call. 😊

Here is the WGA site you can visit for updates, I know I have a lot more reading to do myself: https://www.wga.org/

This entry is a late one, but I had to take a nap earlier. I am going to have a cup of coffee to help me stay up tonight to write It’s the husband’s night with the TV (more car shows, I’m sure) so I can take this evening finish the scene I started this morning in my MS. I hope to get both of these books done by this weekend so I can work on editing my script for the competition. It’s going to need another overhaul, which I’m all here for! I have an awesome idea for a new pilot too, which I want to get an outline started for. I can’t believe I’m considering an outline, but I know I can’t work on it for another month or so and I don’t want to idea to fizz out.

And now it’s time to feed the baby and cook dinner. Hope you have an awesome rest of your night!