Web design for those on a budget

Yep, It's now official. I'm now offering my services for web development. Check out my page at www.jodicibelle.com/web.html

It's an exciting project that will have my husband off my back since now my computer is earning me money! wahoo.

Also, Jennifer Colgans site is up. Yey. you can have a look at it here: www.jennifercolgan.com

Enjoy!

Edits and books

Yes, today I have finished my edits and sent them back to my copyeditor. Of course, reading it cold, I was able to see a lot of things that needed a tweak here and there and it would seem my pet word is 'tilt' 'sigh' and 'watch'. LOL - by the end of this - I doubt I'd want to use those words again!

Ok, onto the books
NEW E-BOOKS @ NCP:

Experience the breathtaking romance that began a war that would change their world forever...and find out why readers can't get enough of Jaide Fox.... HARMONYâ„¢: The Devil's Concubine by Jaide Fox (Fantasy Romance) A great contest was announced to decide who would win the hand of Princess Aliya, accounted the fairest maiden in the land. The ruler of every kingdom was invited--every kingdom save those of the unnaturals. When King Talin, ruler of the tribe of Golden Falcons learned of the slight, he was enraged. He had no desire to take a mere man child as his bride, but he would not allow the insult to go unchallenged.... Sensuality: SPICY (Please note: there is a delay in shipping trade paperbacks of this title. We expect to receive our copies around 3/7.)

http://www.newconceptspublishing.com/thedevilsconcubine.htm


One look at this and you'll know why she's a reader favorite.... Kaitlyn crafts a tale so sexy and pulse-pounding, you'll be racing to the finish.... HARMONYâ„¢: Clone Wars--Armageddon by Kaitlyn O'Connor (Futuristic Romance) Rumors abound of a government conspiracy, but it isn't until a mirror image of herself comes to kill her that Lena begins to believe they are true. Thrust into jail for murder, she seizes the chance for freedom when the rebel, Dax, offers to help her escape. But nothing is what it seems anymore, for if someone is replacing people with controllable replicas of themselves, how can one ever be sure that anyone is who you think they are? Sensuality: SPICY (Please note: there is a delay in shipping trade paperbacks of this title. We expect to receive our copies around 3/7.)

http://www.newconceptspublishing.com/armageddon.htm


Return to this darkly sensual world, but beware...it's addictive.... The Wolves Den by Tamara Gray (Paranormal Romance) Samantha Houston had a rude awakening into the world of vampires and Lycans. Now she must come to grips with the monster she is becoming and fight to hang on to every shred of humanity she has left inside. Her greatest fears are now reality as she struggles between hatred and love for the creature that created her. Sensuality: SENSUAL

http://www.newconceptspublishing.com/thewolvesden.htm


If you love the paranormal, take a chance on Karin's newest--you won't regret delving into this fantastical, dark world.... With an Open Mind by Karin Huxman (Paranormal Romance) Kate is already enroute to her friend's home in Colorado when she experiences the unexpected, a physic warning that her best friend is in grave danger. As unnerving as the psychic connection is with a man she's never known, she discovers upon her arrival something even more frightening. Sensuality: SENSUAL

http://www.newconceptspublishing.com/withanopenmind.htm


If tough warriors make your heart pound, D.A.'s newest is sure to get your blood singing.... Against the Odds by D.A. Wallace (Romantic Suspense) After being abducted, Sarah has no choice but to put her life in the hands of a tough, diehard mercenary. She dislikes Clint from the start, but she can't deny her secret attraction to his muscular, battle scarred body ... or the look of hunger in his dark eyes. Sensuality: SENSUAL

http://www.newconceptspublishing.com/againsttheodds.htm

Happy reading!

New Concepts Publishing
Join our reader group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/new_concepts_pub/join

www.newconceptspublishing.com

Give a little sneak peek and smile!

Well, today was Sneak peek at NCP yahoo readers group and 2 of my exerpts were posted up. I had some very wonderful replies that totally made my day. I am so much more confident with my first novel coming out and am amazed at how I've managed to overcomes some pre-pub jitters. Who gets that anyway?? lol

On another interesting note: I've a new website done for the wonderful Bernadette Gardner (aka) Jennifer Colgan, fellow NCP author and Diva. You can check it out here http://www.bernadettegardner.com Her other website: Jennifer Colgan is done but waiting for the upload to see the final product so I expect to see it in a few hours @ http://www.jennifercolgan.com I'm so proud of my latest works. I was able to let loose a little bit and I came up with the goods.

Enjoy!

A cup of coffee and a cartwheel!

I woke up yesterday morning with a wonderful email. NCP wants to publish my 2nd manuscript - A Devil's Proposal. I was so blown away and I hadn't even had my morning coffee yet! Well, I spent the day going over it and my other Manuscript: His Unexpected Bride - that is due out for release in March.

When I had HUB accepted - I was at first shocked numb then terrified. I totally missed out of the jumping up and down and calling people I knew... that ended up being my husband. lol - He was more excited about it than I was. But now that I feel a little more seasoned I AM thrilled and am VERY happy with my experience with my publisher thus far.

Also, I've had some wonderful feedback from my webpage (thank you kindly ladies) and have moved onto hijacking other people's sites while I suffer through insomnia and a bit of a mental block. Yes. I have insomnia at the moment. I have an idea what's it from. Stress. And no, I'm not stressing about my books but rather a family issue that is totally out of my control and in the hands of my husband. NOW you see why I'm worried. lol

ANYway, I'll be spending today editing and writing to finish my Paranormal (yes, Cup I'm pushing it along *grins*)

All in a days work

I've now have a domain name. *gasp* Yep, after much consideration I've purchased webspace AND to make it complete I revamped my webpage. The only original thing I kept was the content. You may check out my new site at: www.jodicibelle.com/ I must say I'm rather proud of it. This is where my programming skills come in handy. Although, I'm not uber-skilled at graphic art, I gave it a fair wack and that was the best thing about this website. My header. *grins* I made that.

Also, I've completed a webpage for Sarah Mcneal @ www.sarahmcneal.com/ You might want to check that out too. Gosh, that was hard because the general feel of different genre writers are similar throughout.

Eg: Erotica/romantica: dark (reds, brown, black) and erotic images.
Historical: Historical looks depending on eras.
Contemp. suspense: Dark
Chick-lit: colorful and fun

Get the picture? On the most part there is something similar with all websites and their genres. So I went on the hunt to find fantasy authors to see what sort of 'feel' they have. Well, I couldn't find any and had to work from what i knew about Sarah and I vague idea. Well needless to say, I had a happy customer *phew*

Oh, and I got my edits back from wordwitch (I love her I think she's great) After a few deep breaths I'm now delving into editing - starting with 1.5chapters a day. Plus writing and finishing my current ms...

Now, all this in a days work....

It's High Noon

After spending the better part of the day working on a couple of webpages: www.carolynhinchywertman.com and www.sarahmcneal.com I am preparing myself for the High Noon challenge on Romance Divas.

What is High Noon you ask? Well, the object of the game is to write like mad from Friday 6pm to 12pm Sunday - High noon. The person with the highest word count wins. What do you we win? Just the self-satisfaction of writing.

On another note, I would have to say that endings are my achellis heel. I don't know any other manuscript where I didn't struggle through the ending. From about 70-90pages from the end everything becomes a stuggle. Why? I don't know.

For my current MS I have everything plotted out, yet I am still plodding along. Ah, well. All I can do it write and if it doesn't work then re-write it.

Well, it's off to prepare for the HN. Later.

Currently I've been tagged

current clothing: shirt and pink eeaw pants.
current hair: black, shoulder length - in a bun
current mood: vaguely irritated. No peace in the morning
refreshment: coffee
current annoyance: Husband can't pack a baby bag without me
current avoidance: to pack the baby bag
current smell: Coffee
current thing or things on your wall: Yearly calender
current IM/person you're talking to: Elbie
current jewelry: necklace and crucifix
current book: Noah Lukeman's how to stay out of the slush pile
current worry: My baby is spending the night away from me *sniff*
current favorite celebrity: Giovani (the guy from gone in sixty seconds the brother of the character Nicholas Cage plays)
current obsession: getting my goals done
current love: my husband - even though his annoying me right now... *grins*
current disappointment: None.
current lyric in your head: It like to move it move it
current music: Madagascar - move it move it
current favorite book: None
current favorite movie: Serenity.
current happy thing: My daughter
current undergarments: very unsexy bra and undies
current desktop picture: None
current plans for tonight/weekend: Not telling!!

On your marks...get set...

Go!

Well, that's what it's going to be starting tomorrow. Both me and my CP are going to race each other to the end of our manuscripts. We are racing TOGETHER not against. We have set a daily limit of 5 pages minimum. If we don't hit 5 pages that day, the remainder gets added to the following weeks total. So, at 35pgs a week if I miss a total of 7 pages in that week I have 42pages to do the following week (6pages a day).

Why am I doing this? Well, it's quite simple. I've had enough. I want the baby finished and out the door. Although I'm usually pretty good at getting my stuff together, the endings are like pulling teeth for me. For some reason, my muse decides to play hide and seek. Well, I'm going to finish this with or without her. You hear me!

I hope she is quivering in her boots. *grins*

So if I do what I'm supposed to I should have this baby finished in 20days (not including editing, heaven knows how long that will take). But by then I can gasp and pant at the end and glance over at my muse and say 'I did it'.

Action!... .... And Cut!

I have a theory. I think writers are like actors. Where did I come up with such a harebrained idea as that? Well, it's quite simple. When we are writing, we feel what the character is going through. Knows their dreams and aspirations and deepest fears. But unlike actors we A. Probably can't act worth a dime and B. Have to be able to act out our one [wo]man show. *grins* We are all the characters, from the waiter to the hero/in. (ok, I can here a few Ewwws. But really it's not that bad. We don't stand in front of a mirror and check out our new imaginary physic. We are just in their heads...Or are they in ours...)

ANYwho, the reason I've said this is because after slaving over a hellish scene for 2 days I found myself unable to think of how she would react to this new information. Not to give my story away I'm going to make this up.

How would you react if someone told you, you were really an alien sent to earth to kill the human race? That you had tentacles and stuff. Disbelief? Yep. Horror? Yep. Logic it out of you. They are clearly wrong. But what would happen if your tentacles started to pop out and kill people? Horror? Yep.

Eventually, she is going to have to accept she is a killing alien. But how do I get to there? I've NEVER been a killing alien. So, hence my problem.

The scene I did was just bad. After it all I realized it was the wrong place for her to have A. A revelation and B. To readily accept it now. It was disappointing, but I decided to get rid of it. 11pages out the door and completely unusable. So back to the drawing board and reworking it. I believe this is going to work in my favor, even though it did cost me a few tears of frustartion. *grins*

A Change and a lift

I have been receiving some wonderful feedback from my contest entries. To which I want to thank every single one who judged my work.

I have also been doing my part and judging a few myself. I would think myself fair but hard. *Ach* I know, but it's all meant kindly.

Well, I make it a habit to thank people for taking the time to look at my work personally. On the most part they wouldn't know which it was, but some figure it out. *grins*

After one particular thank you note, I slipped into a discussion about my work. We went over a few issues and then BAM! It hit me (with her help of course). My issue with my current manuscript was coming from forcing the natural flow of the story. Here I was trying to write for an erotic scene, and although my sex scenes are frank and very sexual I felt it wasn't hot enough to fit into the whole erotic genre. Why was I trying so hard to force the characters into a box that they didn't want to be in? The plot has taken most of the focus and it's a bit difficult to get sexy at a crime scene.

So, thanks cup for your insight that helped me see what was missing in my story or more to the point...what wasn't missing.

I'll be writing the rest of this story as it wants to go, not worrying if it does or doesn't have enough heat and focusing more on the suspense and action. When all is said and done, I'll put it aside and find out where to market this baby while I revise it. Who knows, I just might find someone willing to take on a hot romance that just isn't hot enough for erotic-romance.

On the hunt for my Muse

For the last few weeks my muse has been as stubborn as a goat. I have searched high and low for her and in moments, she would come in spurts of inspiration but on the most part she's been on the lam.

Well, finally I got tired of searching for her I decided to plot out the last section of my current manuscript. I have it all plotted out and I know where I want to go each and every step. From a pantster to a plotter, how did I manage it? I spreadsheet it. Yep, you heard me. I have 4 columns. Scene#, Time of day, POV and Scene description.

Eg: Please note they will be in columns, not rows.

Scene#: 1
Time: Night
POV: Sharon
Scene Desc: Sharon discovers her sister is in danger when she gets a ransom
note for a book for her life. What Book? She goes to her best friend who for help

Scene#: 2
Time: Night
POV: Tom
Scene Desc: Tom wakes to a knocking on his door to find Sharon. She is distraught and
he finds out her sister is kidnapped. His CIA training kicks in.

See how easy it is. From just the desc I can pull a whole scene. Not too shabby for a pantster eh?
So, I'm confident I'll see the light at the end of this tunnel. Ends are ALWAYS the hardest bit for me. Not, that I'm saying I'm AT the end, but I can say I'm getting there...hopefully.