My new Mac is almost a month old and I'm beginning to work my way through the bookmarks I had stored on my PC in hopes of getting a Mac again. One of the sites I had bookmarked was Vitamin-R.

I read about Vitamin-R, or heard about it more accurately on Storywonk with Lani and Alastair. I'd looked at it then but, of course, I didn't have a Mac. Now that I'm back in the Land of Mac and writing again everyday, or close to it, I'm looking at Vitiman-R as a way to help me chunk out my time and avoid procrastination. I'm avoiding it now - I've downloaded the trial and I'm looking forward to the white noise. I think that's going to be my favorite feature!

Now that I'm back in the land of Mac I'm returning to software that I know and love. Scrivener is one of my favorite writing programs. It's a wonderful way to break down novels, screenplays, and I guess anything bigger than grocery lists, into a manageable size. There are wonderful features like cork boards, which make moving scenes around so much easier than hunting around for your work in a lengthy, volume then cutting and pasting. There are 'full screen' features in case you are easily distracted, split screens in case you want to work on various versions, name generators, and when you are done Scrivener will compile your work into one full document. I've only scratched the surface of the parts of Scrivener I use, and I don't even use all of the wonderful features in Scrivener.

While there is a PC version of Scrivener, and I used it for a couple of years, I much prefer the original Mac version. But don't take my word for it, test it first and see if you like it.

Uh-huh. And then you sat down and tried to write. How did that work out for you. Some days I get writing done and some days my butt just goes numb.

Somedays I just have to push through even if the kidlets are home sick from school. It's not easy and it usually means I can't get the heavy-lifting kind of writing done because someone says "I need juice" every two minutes.

These are times when I can stretch my creativity and let it out to play untamed for a bit. Sometimes I have a subplot I can noodle. When this happens I'm often surprised at the twists and turns - sometimes in a good way:)

Sometimes I need a prompt for this creativity exercise. That's when I head over to The StoryWonk Story Generator. It randomly generates a Hero, a Heroine, and a Situation of Action. Here's the one I just got:

He's a disillusioned pirate; she's a dishonest stripper. Together, they must survive in the wilderness and save the world.

Voila! How Cool is That. Or, if you want a different prompt, just click and try another one. But really, the best part of using the story generator as a creativity prompt is taking whatever if gives you and just working with it.  Usually it wakes up something in my head that I can actually use because that's the way the brain works.

So, hop on over to The StoryWonk Story Generator and give it a spin. Not only is it a great kick in the  creativity pants but it's just plain fun and that is definitely a Cool Idea!

Hey, where ya been?

Well, actually no one has said that except me. The month of October blew right past me and now November is half over. Thanksgiving is around the corner and yet I'm taking it 1,667 words at a time.

Yes, it's National Novel Writing Month.

Lest you think that there won't be blog posts - you're wrong. Already there are posts ahead detailing some of the wonderful ways in which I'm avoiding writing. It's scintillating - and tasty.

Spring Break is over and after I dropped Comfort and Joy at school I walked to the store. Yes, it's a lovely day in Richmond today. The sun is shining. Birds are singing. Pollen is flying through the air. Well, you can't have everything - this is Richmond in the springtime.

We love the fact that our neighborhood is built for walking. After dinner walks. After rest time walks. After church walks. Where-ever walks. And today it was a 'to the grocery store' walk.

But being me I had to do some multi-tasking. I grabbed my iPod so that I could listen to the soundtrack for my book, found a grocery list for the dinner I'm making for friends tonight, and walked the 5-6 blocks to the grocery.

Of course, I can't do this when it's time to do a major stocking up trip but I used to do the weekly shopping like this when the girls were in the stroller. I'd go 2-3 times a week and I found that $30 worth of groceries was what would fit in the storage compartment under the jogging stroller.

Now that they're walking I take them less but we still make some trips together. My trip today consisted of one very heavy reusable bag. It would have been lighter but I bought a quart of milk from the local creamery that was on closeout for $.50 and these come in glass bottles. So even though my total was only $17.10 my bag felt heavier.

Now I'm off to begin the dinner preparations, opening the windows and enjoying the wonderful weather while I can. Definitely a Cool Idea!

I posted a week or so ago about the wonderful experiences I had in Revision and Discovery with Lani Diane Rich Well, not only can you sign up for her upcoming classes but you can try to win the classes for FREE!

Yep, hop on over to the NaNoWriMo blog to enter. If you have already signed up for Lani's class and then are lucky enough to win, you're money will be refunded. And isn't that an incredibly Cool Idea!

Sometimes work comes in waves and sometimes it all comes at once. Last week I had several mystery shops and reviews to write. This week I've been focusing on my writing. It was time. I'm done with the Discovery class I took and I was itching to get some stuff on the page.

If you're a writer and not familiar with Storywonk you need to hop over to the forums and check out the audio modules that Lani Diane Rich already posted. There are some real gems in there. I promise.

This was the second class I took with Lani and I loved it as much as the first. I had no expectations though that I would use what I was learning. Not like I did in Revision. That's not to say that I didn't think Lani would teach great stuff - she always does. But I didn't really think I'd find anything to put to use right away. I figured I'd try everything out and then put them back in my brain and let it sit.

What I found is that the Discovery process was a lot more useful to me than I thought. Silly me. I should have had more confidence in the process. And me.

But I like words. I always have. I'm less comfortable with other forms of expression like music and art. But I do like to watch television and movies. I also recognize the brain's capacity to give us great ideas seemingly out of nowhere and help us make connections that we might not have seen before. That's what the Discovery process is about. And more.

Revision is just what you think it would be about. Once you're done with your story Lani goes through story structure and how to take the story you have and revise it with out making yourself nuts. You will work hard because you'll be revising your story as the class goes on but Lani's not checking homework each week. She's just checking to make sure everyone has what they need in order to move forward each week so if you need more time - taking more time is fine.

How does Lani do this? First of all, she's Super Woman. She writes books. She has kids and cats and dogs. And she teaches these great classes online a few times a year. Discovery and Revision are coming up again in a few months. If you are getting ready to begin a new story [Discovery] or have a story that you are just finishing [Revision] I can't recommend Lani's classes enough. Her teaching is informative and fun and the class community is fantastic. This is definitely a Cool Idea!

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to acknowledge publicly that I write. Well, obviously, I write - this blog has been around for a year now. But I write fiction. No one's read it and no one's publishing it but I still write it.

Some of you might remember my posts last summer when I went to the RWA Conference in Washington, DC. I spent three days attending workshops on the craft of writing, meeting other writers, listening to people describe their work or how hard it is to get published, etc.

There was some fun, too. I met women who I, at that time, only knew from the internet. We met as part of an online writer's community and it wasn't until July that we met in person. Now I get hear their voices in my head when I read their emails or their Facebook posts.

But Why Do I Write? Because I have stories that I think are interesting and I want to learn how to tell them better. Today I'm at my monthly writing workshop - learning more about the craft of writing, having great conversations and just generally catching up with friends. Not only does it give me a creative outlet but it gives me some personal time as well. And as we all know, it's definitely a Cool Idea to get out of the house every now and then!

Cyber Monday is coming to a close and Turkey comas are almost done and in a few short hours thousands of writers across the United States and Canada will be posting their word counts into the official NaNoWriMo server to get credit for writing a novel in a month.

I've been posting my word counts all along and the widget to the immediate right has kept a tally of my progress. This year I'll finish somewhere over 60K words, officially. My unofficial count, per my word processor is at almost 70K words but now my eyelids are tired and I'll be heading off to bed.

The good news, I think, is that I still have plot left in my story so I'll still be writing on into December until I finish this draft. Then I'll put it away for a bit. I have other projects that need attention and this story could use a little time to percolate.

If you've been doing NaNo, I hope you had a great experience. Whether you win or not it's about getting words on the page. And even if that doesn't happen sometimes just learning something about yourself and your writing process is worth not winning.

For those of you who have ever thought about writing a novel but haven't sat down to do it consider doing NaNo next year or make your own Novel In a Month event and find someone to help keep you accountable. Fifty thousand words in thirty days comes to 1,667 words a day and if you work on it every day and complete your novel than you can say 'Hey, I wrote a novel' and it's that a Cool Idea!

There are only a few more days left in National Novel Writing Month and from the widget on the right you can tell I have a few more words to write. The kicker is that according to the word count on my word processor I'm actually closer to the 50K endline but c'est la vie. I'll just keep writing so I can actually win this year.

But since Thanksgiving is still between now and the end of the month and several other days when there will be many people in my home and day without school it could still be tight. So, there may be fewer posts here. I'm sure you'll be able to live without me. Check the widget for my progress if you care to and I'll see you soon.

So, I'm over the mid-point of the word count and into the land where I don't really know what happens next in the story. I know where the story is headed but the road beyond the headlights is getting darker and darker. My daily word count is getting harder to meet, too.

As a way of motivating me to continue to hit the count that I need I've posted the NaNo word count widget. Now everyone who sees this page will know where I am in my quest to hit 50K - as long as I've updated the NaNo site with my new words. I haven't been good about this but I'll try to keep it up to date at least every couple of days.

Word count widget as accountability tool. Definitely a Cool Idea!

I'm at 28K words or so into my NaNo book and on target to finish somewhere around November 22 according to my online report card. Whew. It's true that slow and steady wins the race. Not that I've won yet. There's still Thanksgiving to get through and Joy is getting tubes put back in her ears this week. So many more struggles here at home to compete with my time.

Remember when I wrote about the details of the Romance Publishing industry this summer. Where here are some new numbers to grapple with:

· Romance novels currently comprise the largest share
of the consumer book market as reported this fall in Time Magazine. More
than one out of four books sold is a romance and romance novels earned nearly
$1.4 billion in sales last year. The happy ending feature of romance
novels seems to be the uplifting aspect that appeals to people even more in a
recession.

· Some of the challenges the publishing industry
struggled with in 2008 and is continuing to in 2009 include the following:
imprints reorganized, independent booksellers struggle, mass merchandisers like
Wal-Mart continued to dominated the book-selling scene; proliferation of
used books, book piracy, increased competition for consumer leisure time.

· Americans only spent 3.9 hours per week reading
books in 2008, while they spent 15 hours online and 12.1 hours watching
television. The biggest challenge for the publishing industry to overcome may be
increasing the perceived value of reading. Industry analysts believe the
book business should remember that the future of content isn’t about whether
it is seen, but whether it is valued.

So, while it's not all peaches and sunshine the Romance industry is still keeping the publishing industry afloat. While you may not think that 'romance' is for you I would venture to bet that there's a romance book out there somewhere that you'd love. There are so many subgenres within the romance umbrella that it's almost impossible not to find something you don't love.

If you like funny - try a Jennifer Crusie. If you like suspense - try Linda Howard. If you like terrorists - try Cherry Adair. If you like vampires - well, there are so many to pick from:) And if you just want to get more ideas you can take a look at the reviews I've been writing or go over to my sister blog and see the books I've been reading over the course of this year.

For the rest of the world that is not pestered with voices in their head and who may not know what that means. NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. NaNo, as it is mostly abbreviated, requires writers to write 50,000 words of original material in the month of November. If you do - then you win. What do you win? Nothing but the ability to say that you finished a novel, which is something that most people say that want to do in their life, but let's face it, they rarely accomplish.

So, for those of you who may be thinking that "Hey, I could do that!" Well, you're right! 50K words is something like 1,667 words a day. If you can keep up that pace than you really don't have any huge worries.

Ahem, of course, you'll need to plan for the flu, several early dismissal days from school, the 4 days that your in-laws will be visiting for Turkey Day and various other distractions but otherwise it's totally doable.

But some of the best things about NaNo is that you're not doing this alone. There are several levels of community for you to be part of. There's the national level, then you can find a local group, or maybe even an online group. I went to a local kick-off a few years ago and it was amazing. Not something I need to do again by myself but there was a lot of energy there!

For me, I'm all about the online communities. I have 2 online writing communities of which I am part and we have a NaNo discussion set up already. Also, the NaNo site allows you to set up a buddy list using your NaNo username. These communities and buddies are to keep encouragment up and make sure you know that you're not alone. You might still go crazy but you won't be alone.

This announcement is also to say that posts to this blog in the month of November will either b a) sparse or b) used as a way to avoid the novel I'm supposed to be writing. It probably won't be hard to figure out how the writing is going after the first week!

Probably the most amazing part of the NaNo process is that it's a volunteer/ non-profit site. There's a fund-o-meter to let people know if they've met their expenses for the month to keep the servers up and to fund the educational projects they run. You see, it's not all about a bunch of people putting their butts in a chair and typing. It's also about teaching kids about the power of story. And truly, that may be the Coolest Idea of All!

Stomach bugs plagued us all a bit last week - Joy had it the worst and then I got a touch of it the day I left and DH got it Thursday and Friday. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it'll bypass Comfort all together. She does not do well when she is sick!!

And now that I'm home I'm wiped out. Exhausted from spending my days in workshops and my evenings catching up and talking with some really wonderful people. I saw some of my favorite writers and a couple of times had to sit on my hands so that I wouldn't be 'that' person who ran across the lobby to 'help' them get their luggage to the car. Yep, that just screams 'stalker' doesn't it! Instead I nodded and smiled and acted like a professional. Or at least I hope I did. Maybe the smile looked really goofy. Odds are since I know this particular author is definiely not a morning person she didn't notice anyway.

And when I got home the kitchen was a wreck. Veggies that I got at the farmer's market Tuesday afternoon were worse for wear so I chopped them and put them in the freezer. I took the trash out and emptied the dishwasher. I scrubbed the sink and swept the kitchen floor. Oh, there's much left to do but hopefully this will make walking into the kitchen tomorrow morning a little less scary.

And the blog will return to it's usual topics as well. In fact, coming up will be a week-or-so long series. Hope you enjoy it!

Well, I have some favorites and you can probably tell who they are by looking at What A Cool Idea! Books. Jennifer Crusie is funny and there's food and dogs. Jayne Ann Krentz's books take place usually in Seattle and sometimes involve a bit of woo-woo or paranormal. She also writes historical romance under the name Amanda Quick. Also, check out historicals by Cathy Maxwell. I don't have any on my page yet because I read them all before I started the blog but I think there's one coming out this fall. And if you are ever stuck for a book Nora Roberts has enough backlist to keep us all busy for a few years so you can't go wrong there.

But here are some other's. Women who are up for awards tonight in fact. The romance industry has an award called the RITA. It's a big freakin deal. Listed below are the finalists by category.

Best First Book:
Her One Desire by Kimberly Killion
No Good Girls by Jean Marie Pierson
Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs
Passionate by Anthea Lawson
Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas
Strangers in the Night by Kerry Connor
The Secret Soldier by Jennifer Morey
Your Roots Are Showing by Elise Chidley

Contemporary Series Romance:
A Mother’s Wish by Karen Templeton
Adopted: Outback Baby by Barbara Hannay
Antonides’ Forbidden Wife by Anne McAllister
Falling for the Lone Wolf by Crystal Green
Last-Minute Proposal by Jessica Hart
Texas Heir by Linda Warren
The Children’s Doctor and the Single Mum by Lilian Darcy
The Cowboy’s Christmas Miracle by RaeAnne Thayne
The Right Mr. Wrong by Cindi Myers

Contemporary Series Romance: Suspense/ Adventure:
A Sexy Time of It by Cara Summers
Cold Case Connection by Kathleen Long
Danger Signals by Kathleen Creighton
Lethal Attraction by Diana Duncan
Strangers in the Night by Kerry Connor
Tall, Dark and Lethal by Dana Marton
The Man Behind the Cop by Janice Kay Johnson
The Secret Soldier by Jennifer Morey
Twin Targets by Jessica Andersen

Contemporary Single Title:
No Good Girls by Jean Marie Pierson
Not Another Bad Date by Rachel Gibson
Out of Time by Samantha Graves
Snowfall at Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs
Sweet Talk by Susan Mallery
Tall Tales and Wedding Veils by Jane Graves
Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber
Your Roots Are Showing by Elise Chidley

Historical Romance:
Duchess by Night by Eloisa James
In Bed with the Devil by Lorraine Heath
Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas
Seduce Me at Sunrise by Lisa Kleypas
The Edge of Impropriety by Pam Rosenthal
The Spymaster’s Lady by Joanna Bourne
To Seduce a Sinner by Elizabeth Hoyt
Where the Heart Leads by Stephanie Laurens

Inspirational Romance:
Deep in the Heart of Trouble by Deeanne Gist
Faking Grace by Tamara Leigh
Finding Stefanie by Susan May Warren
Love Starts with Elle by Rachel Hauck
Mulberry Park by Judy Duarte
The Convenient Groom by Denise Hunter
The Perfect Life by Robin Lee Hatcher
Where Love Abides by Irene Hannon

Novel with Strong Romantic Elements:
Last Dance at Jitterbug Lounge by Pamela Morsi
The House on Tradd Street by Karen White
The Paper Marriage by Susan Kay Law
The Shape of Mercy by Susan Meissner
The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley
Tribute by Nora Roberts
Where Serpents Sleep by C.S. Harris

Paranormal Romance:
Dragon Wytch by Yasmine Galenorn
Mine to Possess by Nalini Singh
Moonstruck by Susan Grant
Seducing Mr. Darcy by Gwyn Cready
The Darkest Night by Gena Showalter
The Healer by Sharon Sala
The Undead Next Door by Kerrelyn Sparks
Thunder Moon by Lori Handeland

Regency Historical Romance:
Duke Most Wanted by Celeste Bradley
Mr. Cavendish, I Presume by Julia Quinn
My Lord and Spymaster by Joanna Bourne
The Dangerous Duke by Christine Wells
The Edge of Desire by Stephanie Laurens
Three Nights of Sin by Anne Mallory

Romance Novella:
“All He Wants for Christmas” by Jill Shalvis in Heating Up the Holidays
“Blame It on the Mistletoe” by Terri Brisbin in One Candlelit Christmas
“Only You” by Jacquie D’Alessandro in It Happened One Night
“Our Day” by Jean Brashear in The Valentine Gift
"Penance” by Sharon Sala in Aftershock
“Snowy Night with a Highlander” by Julia London in Snowy Night with a Stranger
“The Fall of Rogue Gerard” by Stephanie Laurens in It Happened One Night
“Thicker Than Blood” by Meljean Brook in First Blood

Romantic Suspense:
Killing Fear by Allison Brennan
Night Secrets by Cherry Adair
Now You Die by Roxanne St. Claire
Scream for Me by Karen Rose
Stop Me by Brenda Novak
Take No Prisoners by Cindy Gerard
The Angel by Carla Neggers
Triple Exposure by Colleen Thompson

Young Adult:
Hell Week by Rosemary Clement-Moore
How to Hook a Hottie by Tina Ferraro
Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs

So, there you go. All the Finalists for the 2009 RWA RITA Finalists. This is a good place to start and shows some of the breakdown in sub-genre. Enjoy!

An article in the NY Times this spring quoted Kelly Gallagher, VP of Publishing Services of R.R. Bowker, discussing who actually buys books these days. So, who is today's book consumer:

• The average book reader was 45 years old


• Women comprise 65% of buyers


• More than 50% of book buys were impulse purchases


• The fiction market is predominantly female, except in science fiction where men still dominate the purchases.

During this economic downturn the romance industry is doing it's share to help bump the publishing industry along. In 2007, the last full year I found statistics during my search, the romance industry sold $1.375 BILLION. Freakin amazing when you figure a lot of that is $4 or $8 at a time.

And that is pretty much why the industry is still flourishing is this downturn where one of every book in five sold is a romance novel. People - and women in particular - are looking for something hopeful and happy. They have limited money and time and they know that for $4 to $8 they can get several hours of enjoyable entertainment that will always have a happy ending. Personally, I think that is definitely a Cool Idea!

Well, I might beg to differ. Sure it's an industry that is mainly for and by women and I appreciate that. But there are men who write romance fiction. Some write alone under pseudonyms, some under pseudonyms with their wives, and others - like Bob Mayer - who collaborates with Jennifer Crusie writing Romantic Adventure, writes under his own name.



Also, NPR had a great essay two weeks ago by Jack Murnighan, the author of Beowulf on the Beach, in which he confessed his love of romance novels as part of their Guilty Pleasures series. He talked about hiding the books in his briefcase and reading them during faculty meetings but also being surprised to find out that women had some of the same fantasies that men had and that this had been a great surprise to him when he first started reading romance.



Personally, I realize that one of the reasons that romance fiction has difficulty being taken seriously is because men aren't involved as writers and readers. Sometimes that bothers me a little because it seems unfair to the women who are working their fingers and hearts out to produce some great books. But then again, this is also an industry that was built around women writers who sat and wrote their novels while their kids were napping. There's something very impowering and fantastic about that and it's a wonderful story to share with our sons and daughters even if stories of women breaking into the business like that now are few and far between.

This isn't an existential posting about the state of the universe. It's a post about a change of roles for the week. For the first time in almost four years I'm not with my kidlets and I'm taking care of my professional life.

I have a professional life? Well, actually I do. Not only do I write this blog everyday but I also write fiction. Three guesses as to what kind of fiction I write. LOL

Odds are if you've looked through the types of books I post about you'll see a trend. Sure there are the 'book club choices' and a few non-fiction books sprinkled in but mostly I read romance novels.

Really? Yep, I read romance novels and I love them. Here I am college educated with a Masters of Science in Business and I read romance novels because I like books about characters and I believe in justice. I used to read mysteries but those are stories about puzzles for people who believe in justice. I decided I like people and characters more than I like puzzles so I switched about seven years ago.

A lot of people are reading romance novels and the Academy has noticed. Recently there was a conference at Princeton University where one of the presenters was Mary Bly, Professor of Shakespeare at Princeton and daughter of Robert Bly who was the author of Iron John, who writes romance novels under the name Eloisa James. She commented that, "Romance novels insist that women's physical desire is significant." Here's the rest of the article from USA Today.

And that friends is the difference in romance novels currently being written and those that probably gave the genre a bad rap. So, if you haven't picked up a romance novel in the last decade give one a shot. Check out some of the books that I've posted about and over the next few days I'll be posted about some other books in other sub-genres of the romance industry so stay tuned! It'll definitely be Cool!