Progress Friday - & the battle of the heroes!

Hey beautiful people!

Progress Friday post, but unfortunately, I don’t have any ms/WIP progress to report this week. I have been working on other stuff, mostly work-related, preferring to give my attention to some things and get them done with, instead of multitasking and getting nothing done. But next week, I should be free of other constraints, and the focus will be on the WIP (which is on deadline, btw... I need to remind myself of that...)

Anyhow, what am I posting about today then? There’s something going over the Net these days, called the Lucky 7 Meme. I’ve been tagged by a few people - *mad wave* at Christine Warner, JM Blackman, Lorraine Paton, Siobhan Muir, SK Whiteside, Sandra Bunino for tagging me in this one.

So the point of the Lucky 7 Meme is that you have to go to your WIP, head to page 77, paragraph 7 on the page, and then you post the next 7 lines.

I’m doing mine from Against The Odds, one of my WIPs currently on the backburner. The premise is this one – the hero, Magnus Trammell, is one of the most famous playboys of Europe. Summoned by his illustrious family to get back on the straight and narrow, he reluctantly heads to work at one of the Trammel haute jewellery stores. This is where he meets shrewish, sharp-tongued, and opinionated salesgirl Megha Saran. Sparks fly, but Megha has bigger fish to fry – she’s just been diagnosed with breast cancer.

This excerpt here is taken from the scene where Magnus comes to the hospital to see Megha right after her mastectomy (surgical excision of a/both breasts).

The nurse nodded. "Some people don't deal too well with anaesthesia. It's good she has you here with her."
He didn't reply, instead looking over at Megha.
"Visiting hours will be over soon. Do you want to stay?"
He turned to the nurse. "I thought only family members could stay over."
She frowned. "Oh, you're not..."
Her boyfriend. He shook his head. "I'm just a friend."
And maybe – just maybe – he wanted to be more...
What on earth was happening to him?

Now yesterday, fellow author & good friend of mine, Rebecca Royce, tagged me in the other version of the Lucky 7 Meme that is making its rounds on Facebook.

This one is for shorter works, and can be taken from a WIP, completed work, or even a published work from this year. Same principle, except that you head to Page 7, then paragraph 7, and post the next 7 lines.

Taken this time from my current WIP, Transient Hearts, which a contemporary Western romance set in Wyoming. The heroine, Shania Morea, is an Indo-Briton chef who’s been lured to Wyoming by a good friend under erroneous pretences, and who finds herself between a rock and a hard place as she’s already committed herself to teach the locals how to cook Indian sweets. Things move from bad to dire when the owner of the ranch on which she’s staying returns. Grayson Warner, a Forex broker in New York, is the prodigal son, who wants to be anywhere but in Wyoming. But life’s left him no other choice, and to move forward, he must face his past, and his demons.

This scene is taken from Shania’s first glance at Grayson (and if we’re friends on Facebook, you would’ve seen me post this earlier today).


The back of her neck prickled again, but this time with something else – physical awareness. She squinted in his direction, careful to conceal that she was overtly assessing him.

Tailored suit that hugged a lean yet broad physique; Italian loafers on medium-sized feet; big hands with well-cared-for nails; pale gold skin peeking above the collar of his crisp light-blue shirt; a chiseled jaw; thin-lipped mouth stretched in a smile as he gazed at Aurelia; a nose that was neither too sharp nor too soft; a shock of unruly dark hair, with wavy locks that broke from the swept-back style to brush his wide forehead; and in between his nose and forehead, the most beautiful eyes Shania had ever seen on a man. They slanted upwards at the outer corners, giving him an exotic look that hinted at Asian blood, and the irises were dark – brown or black, she wondered? – framed by thick lashes and topped by heavy, dark eyebrows.

Shania gulped. Character radiated off his face, and when she thought of his soft tone, she reckoned such a man wouldn’t need to raise his voice to be heard, or to make others listen.

So, battle of the WIP heroes! Who wins your vote?


Magnus of Against The Odds? (portrayed by the devastating Judas - actor Norman Reedus)

Or, Grayson from Transient Hearts? (portrayed by the sexy Ed Westwick aka Chuck Bass of Gossip Girl)

Chime in and let me know!

From Mauritius with love,
Zee

Progress Friday

Hey peeps

Apologies for not posting yesterday - my Internet went off in the afternoon, came back for 2 minutes, then went berserk again for another 5 minutes, to settle down for 1.5 minutes, then go all crazy again! I actually gave up, and did nothing except some reading and writing offline (in a way, had I not been forced offline, would I even have tackled those jobs...? Biiiig questions...).

Anyhow, I was at the bank this morning and having to fill in the deposit slip, whereby I have to put in today's date... Was flabbergasted to realize we're already into the second half of February!!! I have absolutely no clue where this year is going. One minute it was 2011 and I blinked *poof* we're in the middle of February!

And all I seem to be doing is asking myself tons of questions. What's next? What to do? Where to focus more? How to organize it all? Who/what deserves most of my time and dedication right now? All of these have been roiling inside my head, and I gotta admit, when you're thinking every step through to the nth degree and second-guessing all your moves before you even lift a foot forward, you're not exactly in a creative mood where the words just flow off your keyboard and onto the screen.

Still, being forced to 'work' yesterday when the connection went off, I have made some teeny progress. The counter for Against The Odds moves by a little under 500 words (pathetic, I know. But it's 478 words more than 0, know what I mean? I'll bask in that!). Plus I've dusted off an old short story and I think this one might just be getting a new lease of life with one of my publishers. Not to mention a special call for submissions story I'm putting together as a proposal this weekend, and which will go to the concerned parties next week...

All in all, there is progress, but I wish it were more concrete, as in, more words to show what I've done. When all your work's in your head, you're hard pressed to show your labour, innit?

Looking forward to a productive weekend catching up on email and promo stuff, all while I work on the above-mentioned proposal, the short, and a special project I'm getting to make with a friend (this one's hush-hush for now, but I'll let you know the minute I can *grin*)

Have a lovely weekend, peeps!

From Mauritius with love,

Zee

Progress Friday

Hey beautiful people

Okay - get your wet noodles ready; I deserve the thrashing I'm about to get... for, you see, I don't have much progress to show on the WIP.

Worse - I switched WIPs...

I did get some brush-off-the-dust moments on Against The Odds, my romantic comedy that revolves around the heroine's breast cancer diagnosis; however, no new words added to it.

That being said, I do have my priorities sorted - my focus isn't more on producing completed works now, but ensuring that the world out there knows I have books out & coming out this year (aka Marketing & Promotion!). And like I always maintain - no one wants to be nice to a cow... so the first rule of marketing & promo? Don't behave like a cow!

Which implies slowly but surely building relationships & friendships with people, esp readers (as fellow Noble Romance author, the best-selling Margie Church, has told me). So I've been a little bit more involved on Goodreads this week. Dunno the results of this effort, or if it's even borne fruit... but I can tell you I am enjoying meeting readers from all walks of life and discovering new people and their likes & dislikes.

In another way, I am once again learning how to juggle and adjust my routine - next week, I should have it smoothed out, whereby I can get some 'real' writing done too. Got a few freelance projects to settle this weekend, but next week, I hope to get back on the ball.

What are ye all up to this weekend?

Hope you have a nice Friday/Saturday/Sunday!

From Mauritius with love,

Zee

Progress Friday

So it's finally Friday! Though I cannot say I'm looking forward to the weekend (home with the boys - no going away this time, sadly...), I also have to admit I am so, so glad Friday is here, to finally bring a close to this week.

How awful can it get to be away for 2-3 days, eh? That's what I asked myself too. Then I came back to my 'usual' workload on Tuesday... and it took me Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and half of Friday, to clear up the backlog that'd accumulated while I was away. Good grief, people - there's something seriously wrong with my life! With my workload... With my awful management skills too, I suppose.

This week's been an eye opener. If I want to get work done (was supposed to have started revamping an old ms, and been done with it, by now!), I need to handle my email better. Which means, more stops online every now and then, so nothing has the possibility to snowball over me and leave me looking at a gobsmacking-awful mess!

So, order for next week - get something, anything, done writing-wise!

And would you believe it? Next week, we'll be in February. So January's gone and what do I have to account for it? Got it - a big old rollicking nothing! Do I dare say I was easing into the year? Yeah, I can kid myself. I seriously need to get back in the saddle and work!

Speaking of work, my bestie, Natalie Owens (you formerly knew her as Angela Guillaume - I didn't swing loyalties all of a sudden *grin*), and I have an ongoing writing project, and we've committed to writing a chapter a month on our respective stories, on top of our other works. So as from next month, look towards the progress metre for Against The Odds - the total should be growing steadily there. Not sure if Glory Days will see any significant progress, since I have 3 old mss to revamp, and I'm supposing that'll take me at least a month. But we'll see...

So, weekend... What are your plans? I have to catch up on some backlogged reading (Backlogged is my middle name lately!).

Right now, off to pack the hyenas to the gym - they're in the kitchen doing their hysterical laughs and wolfing down a bowl of dry cereal (yes, that's what I feed them as post-school afternoon snack!).

Have a lovely weekend, peeps!

From Mauritius with love,

Zee

Progress Friday--strikethat Saturday!

Hey peeps

Sorry I couldn't get round to posting yesterday. I'll tell you why - check the right-hand margin here. See the Book Trailer gadget? Guess what - I sat down and made the video for Walking The Edge 's trailer yesterday. And let me tell you that takes time! Yet, it's also exhilarating and a different kind of rush!

Check out the vid, and let me know what you think. :)

Other than that, I'll rinse and repeat once more - where on earth did the past week go? I barely got any work done. I just had to blink and the day was over. Maybe my brain is hibernating too. I don't know why else I'd be so slow.

Still, some progress to mention. Against The Odds is moving ahead. Not as fast as I'd want to, but it's still progress. Hope to get myself in check and write more on this ASAP. Book 2 of the Corpus Brides, Before The Morning - the story of Rayne & Ash - is totally poking me in the gut to get written, but I can't do that before I finish with the other WIP.

Hope you're all having a nice weekend. We have some God-awful weather here right now and all I wanna do is head back under the covers with a good book.

From Mauritius with love,

Zee

Progress Friday

Hey peeps

If you're friend with me on Facebook, you'll have read my status update, as to how I actually punched myself in the face last night. I was pulling the second blanket up, but I pulled too hard and it was stuck, so I lost my grip and my fist came flying to crash into my nose. Now I know what it feels like to receive a knuckle sandwich - let me tell you it hurts like *beep!*

So, is that the only progress this week, me learning how to punch myself? Fortunately, no. I've been busy and running around like a headless chicken with the promo for Walking The Edge, and doping up on calcium and vitamin supplements to help me keep up. I could've fared way better if I had been sleeping normally, but insomnia reared its ugly head up over the past weekend and I end the week staring bleary-eyed at it.

With all this combined, I added just over 2,000 words to Against The Odds this week. Not bad but not stellar, and still very far from my goal. Hopefully, over this weekend, things will quiet down and I'll be able to delve back into the usual writing routine. Tomorrow my husband once again goes to work for most of the day, and takes the kid to my mum's. Should have a free day to look forward to where I can work without any distractions.

What have you guys got planned?

And I also wanted to say a huge, huge thanks to all of you who have bought my book! It's because of you guys that Walking The Edge made it to #6 on the Noble Romance Top10 Bestsellers list barely a week after it went on sale! I love you guys! XOXO

From Mauritius with love,

Zee

Progress Friday

Celebrating... because I just found out I've passed my last ever university paper! That means I'm at the gate to earn my degree, finally, after 7 looooong years of part-time study (and being a wife, a mum, a writer, and someone recovering from sucker-punch health blows!) None too proud of myself today - I guess I deserve that right now!

The other good news - I finally got back on my treadmill today. Did a measly 0.5 km but it's there, and it's more than I've done in weeks! I expected to feel tired but amazingly, my back's not hurting for the first time in a long, long while. So I guess exercise is really good for you!

Progress-wise on the WIP, Against The Odds jumped up to some 9.5K this week. I'm not stressing too much over it because I have a working plan for July that will see me writing on Saturdays - when I hope to make a sizeable dent in that word count.

Now, peeps - just 3 days until Walking The Edge releases! Can you say jittery from the high and expectation? :)

This will be one loooong weekend of waiting! What are you guys up to?

From Mauritius with love,

Zee

Progress Friday

Hey beautiful people!

Check out the fabulous cover Noble Romance has granted me for Walking The Edge! Edgy and totally spiffy, innit? Fiona Jayde, the talented cover artist, hit the nails right on the head with this one. The cover sums up the story remarkably - showing off that suspenseful edge and the roiling, hot fiery colours harness the turmoil in that plot! Note also the image of Marseille at the bottom. I am totally stoked by this design!

On to the week's progress now. Hampered in my stride for the past 2 days, since I came down with the 'cold of the century' that's left my brain as mush. If I try to concentrate too much, my forehead erupts in blinding pain, so you can see how that's conducive to writing, innit?

Still, quite chuffed as I have hit a pretty reasonable word count - 5,817 words, for 3-4 days of work. And that's only like 1-2 hours a day. Where in the past I used to think that I'd need hours of uninterrupted time to slug through, well, turns out it's all in the determination you bring to the table and the keyboard. Like I had mentioned on Monday, a little here and a little there add up to making a whole quite quickly.

I'm 12% through on this WIP now, which I've titled Against The Odds. So far the characters are talking to me like we're BFFs - let's hope we don't turn on each other a la Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie in the future.

So, weekend up ahead... I hope to get some writing done, because I'll be dumping the kiddo off to my mum's tomorrow through to Sunday, as my stepson won't be coming over this weekend. Can't wait for the break (yes - before you gasp and go shame on her!, let me tell you I fully take the responsibility of being an imperfect and perfectly-flawed mum!)

What have you got planned for this second weekend of June?

From Mauritius with love,

Zee

PS  - Side note: jump on here Sunday, when I'll start putting up quips from Walking The Edge as part of Six Sentence Sunday!