Is it soup yet?
I managed to crawl into bed this morning at 2AM, but I slept until 9:30AM. I never ever sleep more than 4½ - 5 hours! So, I guess I gained some of the sleep I lost the past 24+ hours. Anyway, I didn't do much of anything except play around with a cover design for the novel I'm editing and polishing at the moment. What do you think?
Here's a blurb for this first in the series of five:
Michelle 'Mickie' Steele, a 20 year-old dance instructor, has devoted her entire life since age three to dance classes. She's armed with her single goal of becoming one of the most sought after instructors by aspiring dancers. She strives to keep her heart under constant surveillance to avoid the pitfalls of love and relationships. But her heart rebels when she meets her 26 year-old pen pal, Mark Brolin, an eight-year career Naval officer whom her cousin had set her up with nine months earlier. With a 30-day leave, he’s back in the states from a one-year tour of duty on the other side of the world.

Mark, with the confidence and command of a Naval officer, has never allowed a woman to alter his career plans. Until now. With the ability to goad him into losing control of his thoughts and heart, Mickie accomplishes what others before her had failed to do...having him second guess his meticulously well-laid plans. With their defenses weakened, they struggle against what their hearts demand. When love blossoms, they accept their fates, until fate steps in with its own set of plans.

Injured aboard ship, Mark is paralyzed from the waist down. Mickie fights to keep their love alive. Mark resolves to do what is best for her. Set her free.

Well, hell's bells! This is not my idea of where I want to be at this time of the morning! But, it seems a nasty 24-hour virus is going to make its rounds through our house. Knock on wood, I haven't gotten it yet. The two sons had it last week, and now DH has it. Hence, my reason for not being ASLEEP at this ungodly hour. Haven't been able to work on revisions because DH is calling me every 15-20 minutes. Being his 24/7 caregiver really becomes tough when he gets sick like this. Hopefully, I'll get lucky and not catch this bug. He's an end-stage-renal disease patient (dialysis 3x's a week), plus he is wheelchair dependent (amputee with charcot joint in other ankle). Diabetes is one of the most debilitating dieases I've ever seen. It doesn't attack one organ...it attacks the entire body. Eyes, heart, lungs, arteries, muscles, nervous system, joints, vascular system, etc. It doesn't result in just kidney failure. Insulin isn't a cure-all. As a matter of fact, I have begun a non-fiction journal/book recounting what we have gone through, especially the past 3 years, due to his diabetes. Well, time for another cup of Colombian Supreme!

March 22, 2006
When you write (especially doing revisions) and you second-guess your changes, I've come to the conclusion that you should leave it alone and let it stand as is and move on. Which is what I've done on my revisions to part 1 of Yesterday's Innocence - The Learning Curve. I want to finish the polishing/revisions by April 1st. Then, move on to part 2.

March 11, 2006
Well, things are slowly coming along on the revisions for Yesterday's Innocence - The Learning Curve. I've got three critique partners so the majority of problems should be pinpointed in the rewrites and corrected. I've even upped Mickie's age by about 4 years, which means Mark's age jumped too. I'm happy with the changes. It allows more freedom for them and for me.

Sent off a blurb and short synopsis to Avon Books. Wasn't the best way to intro the manuscript, but there you have it. It took them a week, but I got a form rejection from them last night via email. I'm going to make a scrapbook of these rejections and then, when my book hits #1 on the Times Best Sellers List, send them all a postcard with "I toldja!" on it. *Just Kidding*

Anyone who is in this business of writing, try to take your time and get it as close to right the first time and avoid rewrites like a plague.