Dumbass goals.

So, back when I was a kid, I thought the year 2000 was going to be monumental. It would also be the year I turned 24.

I figured by that time, I would be ‘on the shelf’ (this method of thinking could have come from devouring historical romances since the ripe old age of 12, when every heroine in anything published in the 1980s was somewhere between the ages of 15 and 20). 24 was far too old for any guy to want to date beyond that, and it seemed like a good cutoff date for matrimony. (I was a weird kid. And a dumbass.)

If I did not get married by the age of 24, I decided, I’d be doomed to spinsterhood forever. Just me, old age, and a couple dozen cats. Naturally, the year 2000 came and went and I was not married. Alas. Life was surely over.

Then I met a guy in the next year, and when I was 27, we married. I was 3 years late on my ridiculous goal. So much for that.

Sometime in 2002, I started writing. And I told myself, age 30 is the perfect goal for publishing. If I don’t have a published novel by the time I am 30, I’m going to give up. I think everyone that is writing has set themselves a dumbass goal, right? The ‘If I don’t hit it by this date, it’s never going to happen and I’m going to give up’ date, right?

You can see where this is going. At age 29, I got my first agent and had written (by then) something around 9 manuscripts. No sale, no book in hand. My 30th birthday passed. I have to admit that I was a little crushed. Who wouldn’t be? There was no contract in sight, my book was languishing on someone’s desk in NY, and life was bleak. I’d missed my own personal goal, and that hurt.

But then, not 5 months later, I got the call. And 3 years (and one month) later, my book is going to hit the shelves.

It’s been on my mind today, these arbitrary goals. Because I made them, just by picking dates out of my head. 24 seems like a marriageable age. 30 seems like a reasonable age for a published author.

But these are dumbass goals. And if I’d simply been patient, I’d have seen that both would happen in their due process. Important things cannot be rushed, especially when they’re not in your control.

So that’s the moral of the story. Don’t set yourself dumbass goals. Or if you do, wait 3 years. Cool stuff never happens on schedule.

Happy November

My favorite time of year is nearly upon us! Next week, I have a birthday and Thanksgiving, which is pretty cool on its own, but I also have a week of vacation!

Throw in Nano and a book release in about 4 and a half weeks, and I will either emerge from the holidays as a testimony to fortitude, or a weeping, bitter wreck.

(Place your money on B, kids)

Oh! GENTLEMEN PREFER SUCCUBI had a really nice review in the Romantic Times Magazine that just released. They gave it 4 stars and said: Myles brings a great new voice to urban fantasy. Her first-person voice is funny and engaging, with clever, crisp dialogue.
(Pretty cool, huh? It’s shelved in romance because it’s a light tone and there is some hot sexxors, but the plot could easily be urban fantasy, so I’m oddly pleased to see them label it so. If you want a comparison, the closest thing I can think of is Katie Macalister’s Aisling Grey series.)

Also, if you subscribe, I have been told there is a big full page ad on page 98 of the magazine (woot) and an author spotlight on me on the webpage (but you have to have access to the bonus content to see it). Good stuff!

/promotional neeping

I have sorely neglected my Nano this week – I think I’m still only at 21k. Luckily I have the next 8 or so days off, so it will not be ludicrous to think about getting 3k a day, which will almost bring me up to speed. It can happen! No one dissuade me!

But because of the holidays and time off, I cannot guarantee that I will blog like regular for the next week, because my writing cojones will be saving themselves for the book itself. Or something.

And if you don’t check the Odd Shots blog, have you seen my pretty book trailer yet? So pretty, so pretty. My husband drew it and I love it. Because the books are kind of light and fun, I asked for something equally light and fun for the book trailer, and this is what my husband came up with. Best Birthday Present Ever!

I didn’t forget about Nano!

I bet you thought I did! But I am sad to report that I am far behind. See, here’s my Nano bar:

Yeah. I am mostly a weekend writer, and between hurting my arm and being lazy all week, I’m barely scraping by for Nano. If this continues, I’ll only hit something like 40k. Which, you know, is not shabby, but it’s also not Nano. And I’m crazily competitive. So even though I’m not doing this all official-like…I WANT THAT 50K.

I hit 2k and some change today. Only 1k yesterday. And I admit that once Left 4 Dead 2 comes out, I’m going to be a big loser and play it for hours on end. But I’m still determined to beat Nano. I have Thanksgiving week off of work like usual, so I’m hoping to crank out some INSANE (at least for me) word counts on that week. Husband thinks we’ll be doing housecleaning, but I think he does not know me very well…
Other than that, not much going on. I read a book the other day that was stunningly awesome, and it’s ruined me for other reads at the moment. I’m even trying to read another book by the same author and it’s paling in comparison. Oh well. Such is life.

Hope everyone else is having a great weekend and getting lots of word count!

(And did you notice? Only 45 days or so until my first book comes out! whee!)

My forks are expired

So I bought a box of plastic forks at the store the other day, because I’ve been bringing my lunch lately and what’s the thing I never have? Forks. Planning ahead, that’s me. Except I cracked the box open yesterday, and noticed on the back…there’s an expiration date. Of last month.

Plastic forks…expire? Um. Okay. Kind of shows you what sort of week I’ve had though.

I went on a Nano frenzy last weekend and ended up writing like 9k in about 24 hours. Which was really awesome but then I messed up my arm. Sad. I have what I like to refer to as ‘mousing arm’. Where you use the mouse to scroll so much that you end up aggravating a nerve.

It sounds really stupid, but there you go. So I’m wearing a dorky wrist-brace and generally trying to be careful. Which is harder than it sounds – you don’t realize how much you’re on the internet!

At any rate, my Nano project is up to 15k, but I plan on catching up again this weekend – with my arm at a more pleasant angle and using my alpha smart (thus taking mousing out of the scenario).

And…um…that’s about it for me lately. Been going to bed early because if I can’t type, WHAT GOOD AM I??? And things like that. I keep thinking of things I need to blog about, but when I sit down to blog, they fly out of my head.

Ava Gray’s release, A Quiz at Odd Shots, and Ilona Andrews

First, let’s start with the obvious. Have you read this yet?

No? Because I did and it was pretty darn awesome, let me tell you. If you’re a SF/UF reader, you might have heard of Ann Aguirre, but if you read only romance (like I seem to do lately) this might have slipped past your notice. I read it a few months ago (thanks Ann!) and it was really awesome. Very fast paced, with a hard-edged, tough heroine and a sexy, roguish hero. She’s a con man and he’s an assassin, and no one gets watered down throughout the story, which was pretty awesome, IMO. Seriously – if you like a different kind of story, and if you like romantic suspense type books with just a dash of paranormal, check this out. I really do think you’ll like it.

Speaking of awesome, have you seen Ilona Andrews’s post today? No? Go read it. She says some wonderful, brilliant things that hit very close to home for me. If you’ve read my journal for any length of time, you know that I’m a little sensitive/easily irritated when people romance bash, and they romance bash all the time. It’s saddest when it comes from other authors, because for the most part? Romance writers might be terribly critical of other romance writers, but as a whole no one really denigrates other genres simply for existing. Not the case with other genres and romance. Anyhoo, I love Ilona for posting this, and I’m happy she spoke up and said what I was thinking (though in a less cuss-filled, more polite sort of way).

Oh, and it’s my day at Odd Shots and I’ve added a quiz – are you Psy? Are you Changeling? And did you buy the newest Nalini Singh release? Hop to it!

Succubi Like It Hot – Cover and Release Date!

Ignore the um, lack of Nano updates at the moment! I’m still doing it, just regrouping for a new attack plan.

BUT! I have cover art to share! Pretty, pretty cover art. Wanna see?

So sweaty under that jacket. So yummy.

For those of you playing along at home, the first book features Noah, my fallen angel. This book features Zane, my dark n’ sexy vampire. Love it. I can’t decide which one I like more!

And if you’re wanting to pick up book two, the release date has been moved up a week. Woot! So look for it on January 19th instead of January 26th. Exciting, isn’t it?

Just keeping myself honest

Word count for tonight: 1675

Look at me! I got reviewed in Publishers Weekly!

Woot! It’s a big deal for any author to be reviewed in Publisher’s Weekly, and they liked my book…mostly!

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6704403.html?industryid=47141

They said:

The cosmology of this battle between good and evil approaches Saturday morning cartoon levels of unsophistication; the mystery could be solved by Scooby-Doo; and the big-breasted bombshells and hunky men are cookie-cutter romance standard, but Myles’s debut somehow sustains an extraordinary, confectionery appeal. After suffering a vampire bite and enjoying passionate sex with a fallen angel, mousy museum curator Jackie Brighton is transformed into a gorgeous, sexually ravenous succubus. Guided by porn star succubus Remy Summore, Jackie is drawn into the search for a magical halo and a love triangle with fallen angel Noah and vampire bouncer Zane. Myles manages to be cleverly hilarious while making all her jokes work for the plot. These particular characters may not be deep enough to hold up through the planned sequel, but Myles’s sexy, wacky humor is definitely something to watch. (Jan.)

Emphasis is mine. I’m pretty darn thrilled.

Nano = Awesome

I love November, don’t you? Not only is it awesome because the weather is turning, the holidays are coming, but it’s also my birthday month. Oh, and a little thing we like to call Nanowrimo.

I’ll be honest – I’m a Nano fan. Sometimes I’m just not feeling it, but when you have a book to write and are lacking motivation? Nothing can get your ass moving faster than seeing the word counts that your friends are posting. I’m competitive, too, so I like to try and keep up. I don’t mind if I’m not first, but I at least want to stay in the game.

Now here’s the thing about Nano. You’re going to see a lot of people groaning about Nano, especially people in publishing. But your Nano powers can be used for good, too! Not just evil.

Good = Getting motivated. Writing awesome word count. Plotting on a deadline. Writing 50k in one month on a solid project. FIRST DRAFTING.

Bad = Flinging shit on the page just to make wordcount. Working on a completely lame project. Not realizing that you are writing a first draft and then just querying it to everyone that has an email address.

And okay. I have done the ‘write shit just to make wordcount’ thing. And you know what? It is a really really bad habit to break if you are trying to improve your craft. It really is. So don’t do it. So you write 3k less a day than your buddy. It’s a good 3k instead of 3k of “He went to the cabinet. He got some Cheerios. Mmm, Cheerios. He liked Cheerios. They reminded him of Uncle Bob who used to go boating at Lake Tawakoni as a child. Mmm Cheerios.” Don’t bloat your novel. Seriously. You’re not going to be happy with the results.

Also? Pick a project you’re passionate about and one that *has* a solid plot. Because that 10k wall comes up a lot sooner than you’d anticipate, and then you’re left holding a story that’s disintegrating in your hands. And there’s nothing worse than having to start over in week 2.

(And I’ve been there, done that on both)

Anyhoo, here’s my word meter.

I’m on Nano as ‘irysangel’  (the same as my Livejournal) so you can buddy me if you like. Or not, cause that’s cool too (and Nano’s site is horrible for tracking any number of buddies over eight). And in case you’re wondering what I’m working on?

I’M CHEATING!

That’s right. I’m totally cheating. But my deadline for book 3 is coming up ASAP and I’m going to get a head start on it. I already have 10k written in the book, and I need to write another 75k before March 1st. And I have two books coming out between now and then, so yeah. I’m totally cheating. Feel free to laugh and point, but I’m going at it unofficial-like, and I just won’t validate at the end of the month. For me, the goal is to get 50k of usable words, and if that means swimming with the Nano fishes, I’m happy to do so.

Anyhoo, for Day 1, I’m happy with my wordcount. How about you guys? How is your wordcount coming? Share!

These things make up a Tuesday

1) Remember way back when I experimented with the Jalapeno Cheese Cup O Noodles? Today, I had Instant Potato Leek Cup of Soup. You know the type – add water and pray. Luckily, it did not turn out vile! I have high hopes for tomorrow – Spicy Thai Noodle in a Cup.

2) I am going through a re-read phase. Currently re-reading DEMON MOON by mah boo Meljean Brook. Will probably bust out my Kresley Cole series next. I have the Larissa Ione trilogy, but I’m not sure I’m ready to make the leap into uncharted territory!

3) I bought a cowl-turtleneck sweater last week. In black. I don’t really wear colors other than black. Ask anyone. So yeah. I take it home and hang it up…right next to the exact same cowl-turtleneck from last year. In black.

Clearly I shall have to stagger my wardrobe a bit more.

4) I took down my zombie & bookmarks post. Here’s the thing. I kind of hate those “OMG LOOK HOW AWESOME I AM” sorts of posts, and that felt like one. So I deleted it. If you want bookmarks, just, you know, drop me an email. I really don’t bite, though I might bitch about the price of stamps.

5) I am still editing the YA. Expect boring nonsense on this blog until then. But really, all the cool publishing stuff is over with for now, at least until I get author copies! Then expect all kinds of crazy babbling again.

6) Has anyone thought about Christmas yet? It is depressing and yet RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER. Sigh.