Weight Loss Challenge - past the plateau

Whoo hoo! I have finally busted past the 133 plateau! Today I weighed in at 132.4, although on Wednesday I reached an even greater milestone, 131.2.

Sadly, it has been confirmed that really, if I want to lose weight, I have to give up the cola, because I didn't have any Sunday, Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, and my weight dropped. It's probably up a little today because I made peanut butter cookies yesterday, two different batches and I tweaked the recipe a little both times. So of course, I had to do a taste test. Mmmmm....peanut butter cookies.... And alas, I fell off the Coke wagon. It was a hot day, I was running around doing errands in addition to baking and cleaning...but really, that is clearly The Worst Thing I Can Do if I want to lose weight.

I'm going to be very busy for the next week getting ready for a tea we're hosting on the 18th, so I won't be blogging except for Friday, when I'll be posting The Picture That Started It All and pictures that show how far I've come, because it will be almost exactly one year since The Picture That Started It All was taken.

This week's step/treadmill tally:
July 3 - nuthin' (Sheesh, what was I doing this day? I really don't remember!)
July 4 - 16,254 steps
July 5 - 1 hr. on TM
July 6 - 1 hr. on TM
July 7 - 1 hr. on TM
July 8 - out for the day, so nuthin'
July 9 - 1 hr. on TM plus running around doing errands

See you next week for the big reveal! To any of you going to the RWA national conference in D.C., have a great time!

Updates, updates, updates

I just finished uploading the new additions to my Web Extras page for THE VISCOUNT'S KISS, about places I mention and/or use in the book. I've also started revising my home page, although it's still a work in progress.

I've also made a batch of peanut butter cookies. I used to make them with graham flour, but alas! I can't seem to find that easily, so today, I tried mixing some graham cracker crumbs in with the flour, to make up the full amount as per the recipe. I think they're a little dry, though, and you can't really taste the graham, so another try's in order.

I also made the butter tart squares recipe from Canadian Living. I substituted pecans for walnuts and raisins. They are definitely yummy, but I should have used smaller pieces of pecans, and perhaps not so many. Also, the bottom crust was a little crumbly, so I think they're a little too messy for the tea I'm hosting. However, I'll definitely make them again for other occasions.

Now it's on to other chores and moving things around in my manuscript!

Rearranging

This is what I look like when I realize I have some major rearranging to do in the middle of my book.

For instance, yesterday.

How did I know I had changes to make?

It didn't feel right.

Sorry I can't be more specific, but that's the way I work much of time. Call it instinct or intuition, it's been that way since I first sat down to write.

I don't do big outlines. I don't map out the plot or character development. I don't use different color post-its for different elements - unless I'm totally, utterly stumped as to what's going on with the story.

But most of the time, it's just me reading and thinking the story's either working or...it's not.

And then I start fixing and moving and deleting. Here are the revised notes I made (what? Everybody doesn't revise their notes on their revisions?), starting in Chapter 12 (out of a current 24):

On the terrace - use kiss from Chap. 15, pgs. 218-219
Esme flees (causes a bit of a scene) [that's a different ending to that particular situation] - use her reaction from Chap. 13, pg. 192-193 (marked with red ink) [because there's another bit outlined with pink highlighter on that page]

Go to Quinn @ the club, Chap. 14, pgs. 194 etc. Interruption Mrs. L-J etc

She goes to McH in his office [which means this scene is in a different place now and other material gets cut] Put confrontation with McH from Chap. 13 here in McH's office

McH has heard the rumor re E's condition - continue to almost consummation scene

As you can see, I'm putting bits from later chapters earlier, changing a setting, deleting material - and this is in the third draft.

Which tells me there will probably be five complete drafts by the time I'm finished.

I also decided I couldn't continue until I'd done all this rearranging and read it through to see if it makes better sense. I'm pretty sure it will from a pacing point of view; I want to make sure it does from a character and relationship point of view.

So now you know what I'll be doing for the next little while, when I'm not getting ready for the wedding tea we're hosting later in the month.

Branding...the pain...

So I've been thinking about this notion of "author brand," specifically why I resisted the very notion of branding, because oh, sweet fancy Moses, I did! Until, like, this week.

Here's why:

I'm a person, not a brand.

I feared that by branding my writing, I'd be forever locking myself into a set of parameters.

And frankly, the whole exercise seemed like a lot of work for...what, exactly? I wasn't sure.

Then branding was described to me as a way to tell readers what sort of thing they can expect if they've never read one of my books. If, say, they're just wandering around the interwebs and see my name and venture over to my website.

So okay, thinks I, that's a reason I can understand, so let's give this branding thing a shot.

And as I suspected, it wasn't easy.

See, I spend lots of time and effort trying to find ways to make my characters and stories unique; I'm not used to looking for the common elements.

I've written over 40 books and novellas in several different time periods, so it's not like I can pick just one setting for my brand description. Or one sort of character or story.

Finally, after coming up with something that sounded so generic as to be useless (or so I thought), I decided to take a look at the review quotes I've gathered over the years about my books, looking for common elements.

One thing stood out very clearly: my characters are "wonderful," "fantastic," "superbly drawn," "credible", "believable", etc. It's my people who make my work special. (And yeah, because I work really hard to make them credible, believable, etc.)

Apparently I'm also pretty good with intrigue.

And of course, I write romance, so there's going to be passion.

So, via research (how appropriate!), I've come up with three elements I can use to describe my author brand.

Now I'll have something else to add to my revised welcome page on my website.

Shaking my fist at Malle Vallik...

Malle Vallik is one of my Web Gurus and her last blog post got me thinking that I ought to redo my website, at least the first page.

So guess what I've been spending the last couple of hours on?

And that's before I start the new pages wherein I'll list my books by time period. I've already got a page with all my books listed, but the new ones will have the covers and blurbs. Since I've written medievals, Regencies, Restoration England, Victorian England, Dark Age Britain, a YA and pre-Civil War Massachusetts, that's going to be some work.

But for all my fist-shaking in Ms. Vallik's general direction, I'm doing the work because I believe she knows what she's talking about.

It's going to take awhile and I've also got a manuscript to work on and a wedding-related event at my house to prepare for, so I'm not sure when the new look will be ready. I'll let you know when it's time for the unveiling.

Weight Loss Challenge - an unexpected benefit

I'm late with posting my weight loss challenge report today because I was getting new PR photos done, something I've been putting off for far too long. But that's one unexpected benefit of losing 20 pounds - I'm not quite so reluctant to have my picture taken.

However, it's clear that exercise alone isn't enough to keep losing weight. Maintain a certain level, yes. Lose more, no. In other words, I'm still around 134. I didn't get quite as much exercise this week as I usually do, and I did eat a host of sweet things (strawberry shortcake!), so I'm glad I didn't gain. But I'm beginning to despair that I'll ever see the scale hit 132, let alone 130.

OTOH, last year at this time? I was 154.

This week's step/treadmill tally:
June 26 - 1 hr. on TM
June 27 - no specific exercise, did walk around shopping, so probably between 5,000-8,000 steps
June 28 - nothing
June 29 - 1 hr. on TM
June 30 - 1 hr. on TM
July 1 - went for a walk, but didn't wear pedometer - probably between 5,000-8,000 steps
July 2 - 1 hr. on TM

Here are some of the many, many pictures taken of me this morning.

This is how I look when the writing's not going well.


This is how I look when the writing's going well.

A few degrees from The Godfather, Part II

I think I've mentioned it before, but the fun and interesting things you can find out when you research never cease to amaze me.

For instance, I discovered that THE VISCOUNT'S KISS is only a few degrees removed from The Godfather, Part II.

There's a reaction to a particularly venomous spider bite that has a name derived from a Greek god they sure never told us about in school.

Did you know they used to think you could cure the bit of a tarantula by dancing?

Read more on the Web Extras page for THE VISCOUNT'S KISS.

And you can now order THE VISCOUNT'S KISS from eHarlequin.