One-liner charity event

Long, long ago (not that long actually) a local writer's group had a fundraising contest for the holidays: The best first sentence. I didn't win, I don't remember who did or what their line was, but I sorta recall mine.

It involved a naked man beneath the heroine's Christmas tree where she found him Christmas morning upon waking and went like: There was a very hot, very naked man lying beneath her Christmas tree.

There was more to the story, a real plot actually, though don't ask me what their names were. The heroine's best friend and the hero's best friend smuggled the very drunk hero into the heroine's home as a Christmas surprise.

This is the last week of 2010, and there is always a need to help others. (Heartwarming story here as to why I'm doing this and why I love this country.) Just because you're tight this year doesn't mean there aren't families who can't afford the very basics for their children. I'm a big believer in education, it's the only way to elevate our society and prevent street gangs from recruiting.

I usually donate to esoteric charities, but this year, for every person who leaves a one-liner, I'll donate to The Children's Aid Society.
It can be from a story you never finished, the best opener you never used, whatever. But it has to be yours, it has to be posted here, and it has to be by 5 pm on 12/31/10.

DISCLAIMER: I reserve the right to ignore cheesy openings like this one (see picture to the right →). They have to be legitimate story openers. If you have a cheesy opening (see picture to the right →) please include the next line for clearer explanation.

For more information about why I picked The Children's Aid Society, click here.

Monday Mornings

Aren't as horrible as they're made out to be. Why? I think all mornings are horrible. If I could sleep through them, I'd be that much happier. I much prefer staying up all night anyway. Always have. What's this have to do with writing? Everything. I can't get started yet on any writing.

My goals today are to finish editing Scars and sending it out to Ravenous well before Sunday's deadline. (Yippee!) And to begin Starlet, the next in my Wicked Seduction Series. Set in 1930s Hollywood, a movie star seduces a gambler/gangster. What happens when he wants more than one night?

Audiobook on now: Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. Meggie kind of annoys me, but it is a children's book, she is only 12, and it is her story. I'll give it more time, I'm only on chapter 5.

Reading now: The Wild One by Denise Eagan. I love her characters, very real and the story is very sensual.

Listening to now: Sharpe's Soundtrack which has music for all occasions: angst, battle, jolly marching, you name it.

Sex & Politics

Ravenous put out the call for sex & politics stories, deadline December 1. I have so many other things to write, though my 2008 deadlined stories are finished. What's an author to do but write one?

The forbidden romance, the thrill of discovery. I love it! So now I'm off to write, between carpet people coming, and getting ready for Thanksgiving, and work.

Deadlines approaching

December 1 is the deadline for the first in my Wicked Seduction short story series. Complicated Courtship, about a woman in 1774 Boston who wants to remind her Sons of Liberty fiance all they can share, is finished. I just edited it again, and will go through it once more before sending it out to Ravenous next week.

My only problem is street names in Boston while Massachusetts was still a colony. After we won the Revolution, they changed all the names. All of them. So now I'm stuck with no street names. A friend, Dee, actually mailed me a couple books on old Boston, but even they conflict with the street names. It's enough to make a writer want to scream.

Now you wouldn't think a street name was that important in a 5800 word story. It is. Makes it authentic and all. Plus it sounds better than Kirsten walked down one street to the next, and never bothered to remember what their names were. Right. Admit it, you wouldn't buy that, either.

Morgana's story

Morganna/Morgana (I decided to change it to one 'n'). I'm working on her story today. All day.

I have pages of research on Philadelphia 1882, reams of what my magickers can and can't do, and 2 separate outlines. One comprehensive and one chapter breakdown. I'm so set.

No, I won't get it finished, possibly the first Act which would be great. With the deadline January 15, I want to make significant headway on it.

Yes, I'm just that anal. I know it, I embrace it, and I have long since learned to deal with it. Besides, you know how fast the holiday season goes! Better to have it done that miss that deadline. Or stressing over it between January 2 and 15. Something's bound to creep up.