Ketching-Up

Well, not really, but you know what I mean.

I'm really psyched. I bought my formal gown for the RWA National convention. It's a really, really gorgeous dress and I'll post pictures of it after the convention in July. :) Got to find some really cool shoes to go with it still though.

And, drum roll please, I bought my first Prada purse. Yes, I paid way too much for it and probably should have spent my money on better things, but I decided just this once to splurge on myself and now I'm all giggles. :() ) I'll post a picture of it soon. Okay, so maybe I'll post a picture of me carrying my purse.

We've got lots of Memorial day stuff going on this weekend, with multiple cook-outs. Which probably means blowing our diet, but hey, I'm 11-12 pounds down, so I might splurge a little and not feel too guilty. Of course, I might find those lost pounds in the process.

GOT to finish up my article that I sold to the RWR magazine. My deadline's still over a month away, but I don't like rushing things so I plan to have it done within the next week. Wish me luck.

Jessie went to his first television show audition this week. He's really excited. Although the liklihood of landing a show on the first audition is next to nil, auditioning was really good experience for him. And you have to start somewhere, right? Anyway, the show is on the Discovery Channel, which he thinks is the coolest anyway. Guess we'll know within a couple of weeks if he's made it to the next round--or however that works. I'm still learning.

We'd planned to go to see PotC tonight, but plans changed and we're relaxing at home, instead, and looking at houses on the internet. Unfortunately the house we put a bid in on didn't go through. :( We really like it, but it's just out of our price range so we're back to looking.

Well, I suppose I have procrastinated from writing about as long as I can justify for one night. Off to write, write, write. Y'all have a great weekend. Oh, and yes, that is yummy Matthew McConaughey below. (Thank you, Tawny--what would I ever do without my friends sending me distracting eye candy???? Oh baby!)

Busy Thursday night?

Well, even if you are, drop everything and make time to join the first ever, FTHRW Author Chat!

Where?
http://www.fthrw.com/chat/

On the night of the chat, no password will be required. Just put in the name you want to be known as, and you're in. :)

When?
May 17 from 9PM EST

Who?
Featuring, Harlequin Blaze author, TAWNY WEBER!

The chat is being moderated by...guess who?--okay, so it's me. :) Janice Lynn --and will last
approximately one hour.

There will be really cool prizes given away during the chat so be sure to be
there!

A bit about Tawny:

Tawny Weber has always loved romance - all the way back to when she
was checking out couple stories in the grade school library. Despite
her family's warnings, all that romance stuff didn't warp her (too
much). What's more rewarding than reading about the crazy twists
and turns to happy ever after, and even better... steamy hot love
scenes? Nothing - those are the good things in life. Add to that a
lifelong wish to write and a nudge from her husband to pursue her
dreams. She took the leap. The result? Three Golden Heart
nominations and a Harlequin Blaze contest win on the way to her
coveted first sale to Blaze.

Tawny's usually found dreaming up stories in her Northern California
home, surrounded by dogs, cats and kids. When she's not writing hot,
spicy stories, she's testing her latest margarita recipe, shopping
for the perfect pair of boots or drooling over Johnny Depp pictures
(when her husband isn't looking, of course). Her alter ego, MOM,
also spends a lot of time scrapbooking and playing in the garden.
Please visit Tawny at her home on the web www.TawnyWeber.com . She'd
love to hear from readers.



So, like I said, drop everything and be there! It's going to be a blast!

Happy Mother's Day

To me. Okay, so really it was more like just mother's day. Sigh. I spent over 5 hours helping my middle son with his science project. The same science project that was assigned 4 weeks ago and is due tomorrow. The same science project that my hubby & I have both asked him repeatedly over the past week if he had done to which he replied he was finished. Unfortunately he'd only finished in his own little world and when I asked to see his project this morning he said he couldn't show it to me until he put it on a poster board. Poster board? Oh yeah, and he had to
have the pictures, too. Picture? What pictures? And did he mention he needed to enter the data in my computer to make graphs???? Imagine this mother banging her head against the wall, the floor, anything close. At least I asked him first thing this morning rather than tonight. Thank goodness as getting it all together really did take over 5 hours. NOT how I intended to spend my mother's day. But everyone is healthy and that's what's important.

Moving?

So, my hubby & I have been looking at houses for the past few weeks. We've found 3 that we really really like and that are within our ballpark price range. All of them have little things that make it more appealing than the others or have deterants that make it less appealing than the others. One is located perfectly. I mean 10 acres located perfectly for our needs. But we like that house the least of the 3. The house is gorgeous but really needs one more room for my family. The second house is gorgeous, has a fishing pond, 11 acres, and the house has a 2500 sq foot basement in addition to the generously sized house. Oh, and did I mention the fabulous garage that comes with its own full bath? But the location sucks. It's only 3 miles out of town, but it's off a GRAVEL road and the closest neighbors have a bazillion HOUND DOGS & BEAGLE DOGS. Not appealing even though there is a good distance between the houses. The third house has no pond. :( No large garage, but it's located decently. Not ideally like house #1, but still not bad. The house itself is the nicest of the 3 houses. No basement. :( But all the kids would have their own room and I'd still have a room for an office, too. hey, when you have 4 kids, their having their own room is a big deal. ;) I think my husband likes house #3 best. Well, I know he does. I'm torn between house #2 & house #3, but keep thinking about how convenient house #1 is. I mean, whatever we decide is where we're likely to spend the rest of our lives, so this is a very big deal for us. On prices, house #2 is probably the one we can get for the best price. House #3 is 20K higher than the other 2 to begin with. House #3 just went on the market a month ago so probably not so much wiggle room on price. Decisions. Decisions. Who knows if we'll end up with any of the three, but looking is exciting and fun...and a bit scary, too.

Writing wise...well, I've been playing with pen names. I think if I ever write under a pen name I should use JANICE McCONAUGHEY. Several of my friends have vetoed this emphatically as they say no one can spell Matthew's last name. So, I thought maybe I'd go with JANICE MATTHEWS. ;) Unfortunately that was shot down too. Such picky friends I have. vbg.

Oh! And if you haven't picked up a copy of Tawny Weber's DOUBLE DARE--do so now! It's currently in stores. :) It was such a cool thing to walk into Wal-mart and see her book on the shelf!!! And her cover is really fab, too! If you like fun, sassy, sexy reads, this book is for you!!!

Brenda Novak's Diabetes Auction

Fabulous romance author Brenda Novak holds a fundraiser auction online each year to raise money for diabetes. Brenda's son has diabetes. There's something for everyone available at the auction--from gift baskets from authors, to original oil paintings, to lunches with editors & agents, to trips. Be sure you go check out her auction at www.brendanovak.com If this link works correctly (which would amaze me), here's a direct link to my basket. :) 810748 Harlequin Medical Romance Basket by Janice Lynn: Health Aids to Keep the Doctor Away!

Happy bidding! for a great cause.

You Are a Bad Girl

You are 30% Good and 70% Bad You're a total bad girl, from your wild hair to tattooed toes. But you're too badass to even care if you're labeled "bad"!

Are You a Good Girl or a Bad Girl?



My friend Tawny is always getting me into trouble. She sent this link to test to see if you're a bad girl or not. I'm thinking I'm not quite as bad as what the above says because I'm cringing at the thought of having a curse word on my blog and there isn't a tatoo anywhere on my body. Too funny that it rated me as 70% bad though. And I did answer the questions completely honestly--although it's been quite a while on some of my responses.

Westwood Freshman Formal

Jessie & Tyler showing off the corsages for their ladies.
The party gets started...
Put the phones away, boys!I think this is their mafia pose...
Line Dancing...
That's Jessie in the middle back. :) And here's a picture of him and his friend Tiffany...

South Beach Diet

So, y'all have listened to me whine over the past year about my weight. I'm still within the uppermost range of normal weight for my height, but that's only because I was blessed with heighth. Thank goodness. I've walked and walked with little to no results. I've given up cokes (my vice, I admit) for a month and watched my caloric intake with little to no results. I've had several good friends to do extremely well on the South Beach diet and they've convince me to try it with them. So 3 of us started it within the last week or so (they actually started a few days ahead of me). My LUCKY husband got to go on the diet with me by virtue of being my husband and my knowing I couldn't stick with the diet unless he and I were on the same page. I admit I've never been on a diet diet. Not one where I had a plan I had to stick with other than no sodas--the horror! ((yes, I very frequently tell patients to avoid these like the plague and I even limit myself and do not have sodas every day, but I'd sure like to. :) )) I'm almost done with day 3 on this diet and so far have stuck with the plan. The first two weeks are not easy. Not by a long stretch of the imagination. No breads, no pastas, no potatoes, no starches at all. Are you getting the picture here? Basically no carbs.

Honestly, the hardest part has been the no soda. I'm not a diet soda drinker and would rather have water than diet soda, so that's what I have. But I crave, crave, crave a Coca-cola. Yes, I really did give them up for an entire month (jan 2007) & gave them up completely with each pregnancy, also. But with giving up all carbs, I'm finding not having soda that much more difficult. Of course, I'm only on day 3 and suspect it'll get a bit easier around day 6 or 7...I hope. :)

I'm walking again. Not 20 miles a day. But I'm walking. So far my knee is holding out well. Yea! However, I'm thinking if someone would hire Matthew McConaughey as my personal trainer that I'd want to work out all the time and these extra pounds would just melt away, ya know? Hey, it's a thought & my motivation factor would certainly go WAY up. ;)

Missed me?

With a week in Washington DC with my oldest 2 boys & then 5 days in Gatlinburg, (8 days of which were with no internet!), & hubby gone to Edwards AFB for a month, I haven't blogged in a while. Bad me. :)

However, I did turn the third medical in on Friday night. :) Yea! I'm really excited to have that one done. And of course, I've started the 4th one already. Also, I'm plotting a YA just because I had so much fun spending the week in DC with 12 teenagers. Was interesting. Made me feel older than the hills, but interesting. :)

Tonight, I'm finishing up taxes. Such a procrastinator. :)

Oh! And this past week there was an article on moi & friends who've donated books & character names for my local Literacy chapter's fundraiser. I'll have more on this soon, plus a list of all the fabulous authors who've donated. :)

Fallen Behind...

I've been a bit swamped writing, working, and getting the kids' ball season started. Lots going on. I'm leaving for Washington DC in the morning thru Thursday and then on to Gatlinburg for four days if all works out.

I've had several ask me about my Laserquest experience--OMG! I love playing Lasertag. Love, love, love, love it! Has nothing at all to do wtih the fact that I WON. Yep, She-Devil got top score for the 27 people in her group. (8 of which was our group and the rest were strangers--a mix of men, women, and teenagers). AND I WON. Not just won, but my score was 793 and more than 300 points higher than the player who got 2nd place. AND, my score was high enough to put me in the TOP FIVE PLAYERS for the day. Oh yeah! I'm totally hooked and plan to go play with the kids this weekend in Gatlinburg. Of course I'll probably get my butt stomped because my teenage sons aren't pleased that Mom gave them a lasertag thrashing. ;) Actually, when we got finished playing I felt more relaxed than I had in weeks, maybe months. Too funny.

On the 3rd Medical. Sigh. The rough draft is done, but I'm still not happy with it. Not nearly good enough to send to my editor yet. It's definitely fixable, but I needed a break from it for a bit so I can look at it with a fresh eye. Plan to jump back in this week while in Washington. We'll see if that works out. :)

My dear pal Kimberly Brookes has not only won Harlequin's American contest, but she finaled in the Golden Heart!! Also my great pals Anna Sugden, Beth Burgoon, Sheila Rae Mohs, Trish Milburn, Mary Fechter, and Carla Hughes!! I'm so pleased! AND, as if that's not enough, Gemma Halliday finaled in the Rita with her fabulous book SPYING IN HIGH HEELS. I'm so psyched for her because she deserves every success and that book is so fabulous!!! Anyway, as you can tell, I'm very pleased with RWA's biggest, most prestigious contest results this year.

It was a little weird not being entered this year and not having to stress 'call day'. I imagine I won't be able to resist entering THE DOCTOR'S PREGNANCY BOMBSHELL this year. Not that I expect to ever final in the RITA--that would be like too unbelievable--but I won't throw away the opportunity without ever trying, ya know?

Oh, I watched The Holiday the other night and just fell in love with Jude Law's character. What a perfect hero, flawed yet totally lovable. Totally. You might recall I had a brief Jude fling while writing a book a year or so ago and posted Jude pics rather than Matthew pics. I do find the man fabulously gorgeous in a completely different way from Matthew. What can I say? They both inspire me. :)

Off to pack and do all those last minute things before going out of town, but here's something yummy to keep you occupied while I'm away. :)

OOPS! Wrong Hottie. ;) Here's another. Yes, he's starring as a surfer dude and has the look, doesn't he?

LaserQuest

Looks like I'm off to play lasertag this weekend with a bunch of cool teenagers. Yes, I know, I'll totally kick their butt because that's what us older, creakier boned folks do--what??? You're not buying this? Alas, you're probably right. I'll likely get my patootie tagged quite often. My son #2 asked for a LaserQuest adventure as his birthday party, so that's why we're headed that direction. Actually, I think it'll be lots of fun.

I worked on Medical #3 again today. This book is giving me fits. I wrote both of the first two medicals in right at a month. A month has come and gone and this books isn't 1.) finished 2.) right as far as characterization and GMC and such. It's driving me batty. I have 208 pages written, which should be done, right???? But I'll end up cutting about 40 pages from this book which is huge cuts for me. :( Still, I know it needs it so I'd rather make the revisions and feel like I have it right prior to sending it to my editor and having her know what a crappy first draft I wrote this time around. Actually, the problem with this book is that I made my heroine too agressive. BIG SURPRISE, huh? For the Medical line I just don't get the impression this would work and because a lot of the plot seemed to hinge around her personality, when I change that, a lot of the scenes have to be rewritten. But finally after working on it today I have a clear picture in my head on where I need to go with it and how to keep the emotional punch high. These books are very emotional. Whereas JANE MILLIONAIRE was fun and light and sassy, my medicals are boohoo books. Okay, so that's what my first agent called the books I write that make people cry. They're supposed to be deeply emotional so that they touch your heart. I feel like I accomplished that with the first two, and after today, the foundation is in place for doing that with medical #3. If I don't injure myself playing lasertag on Saturday, I should finish this one within the next week. Yea!!!!

I plan to jump into some single title ideas I have once I get medical #3 off to my editor. So, basically, I had a good writing day although admittedly not enough time to write as much as I'd like. ((Breakfast with the parents, grocery shopping, running errands, lunch with parents & sister, taxi service for kids, dinner with hubby & kids, movie with hubby, gee, it's a wonder I got any writing done at all come to think of it. ;) ))

Uhm...wonder if Matthew likes Lasertag??? I'm thinking my aim might drastically improve if he was my target. I mean, that would be an excuse to keep him in my sights, right?

More Westwood Play Pictures

I sat in the back of the auditorium last night so that my tripod wouldn't bother anyone & I could keep an eye on it. Tonight I sat in the front row so I could get some good still pictures. They're definitely much, much better! The play was awesome and the kids did great.


Baker Pierre explains to the King that the cream puff cookbook sprouted legs and walked away (the cookbook was cursed by the Witch of All Witches).

Baker Pierre tells the King the secret ingredients of the cream puffs--cream & puffs.


After being ordered to take the cream puffs apart crumb by crumb with the help of the Herald, Baker Pierre is "pooped" & so is the Herald. They reportedly examined each and every crumb and deduced that the cream puffs are made up of "millions and millions of crumbs".


After the King's daughter rescues the cream puff recipe for the Witch of All Witches, Baker Pierre makes a new batch of cream puffs. They are superb. The lightest, most wonderful he's ever made (0f note, Baker Pierre & the King really did bake the cream puffs--yes, I am impressed by this and feel it deserves a second mention. ;) )


After the Witch of All Witches succumbs to the cursed cream puff, Baker Pierre hauls her off to the dungeon.


The Witch of All Witches little sister (who saved the princess from a poisonous concotion the WoAW tried to destroy her with) is dubbed the new Witch of All Witches.


The Page who wants to marry the princess is really a prince who wandered off in the forest at 2 yrs old. The new WoAW recognizes him.


The WoAW asks for the princess's former fiance so he can feed her bats. The king gives him to her. :)

Baker Pierre & the King enjoy a cream puff (that they baked themselves--yes, this impresses me. I've never made a cream puff before, but now that my son knows how... ;) ) And this is the end of the play. :) (And for all you writers out there, I basically just wrote a short synopsis of the play).


"Baker Pierre" presents Mrs. Robbins & Mrs. Wainwright with bouquets of roses.


The King presents Mr. Matthews with a cream puff.


Baker Pierre with 'his girls'.

Westwood Play

My son played the role of a baker in the school play tonight, The King's Creampuffs. They have a 2nd performance tomorrow night. He was awesome. Actually all the kids did a great, great job. Here's some pictures. :)

So very proud of them all, but particularly my Jessie! And for the record, he and the King really did bake the cream puffs prior to the play. :)

Romantic Weekend Get-away

Superman took me to the Opryland Hotel again this weekend. What an experience! I don't know exactly what he did but we got the royal treatment. The service was impeccable. From the time we checked in and they asked us if we'd like something to drink! to when we left our room that evening to go to dinner and came back to find they'd re-straightened the room while we were out, right down to opening the soaps and placing them in the dishes. We ate at the Old Hickory Steakhouse. Way too expensive for me to ever choose to eat there again, but again, the service was flawless. Superman's steak was really good and my smoked salmon was, too, but honestly when I get served a salad I just want a good old fashioned salad. Superman's came out as a 6th of a wedge of lettuce with some dressing and bacon sprinkled on the side. Mine was sun-dried tomatoes mixed with feta cheese & something else that I don't recall, with lettuce & potatoe sprigs on top with dressing to the side. Not that it was bad (although I don't particularly like sun-dried tomatoes--give me a juicy, home-grown one any day!), but it just wasn't my ideal salad. Country girl, I know.

The next day we went to the Guitar Center and bought my youngest son an acoustic Fender guitar. He was totally ecstatic when we gave it to him. It was a belated birthday gift that he knew was coming, just didn't know what. So cute to watch him play.

Superman and I also went to REI to check out the backpacking stuff, then on to the bookstore. That particular Borders had one copy of JANE MILLIONAIRE in stock. Still gives me a thrill to see a book I wrote on a bookstore shelf. I doubt that joy will ever cease because it just seems such a miracle.

My pal Tawny sent this photo to me--such a good friend!!! I'm not to sure she was impressed with his sense of fashion, but I, of course, think he's adorable. Oh, the tatoo on the arm is a fake for his up-coming surfer movie. Thank goodness because I'd hate the thought of him marring that bod!

I signed my Harlequin Contract!!!!

I'd meant to post more pics from the writers retreat, or even some of the fabulous photos my pal Tawny sent me of Matthew McConaughey surfing, but my Harlequin contract came today. So, what you see above is me signing the piece of paper that represents a 20+ years dream. I had to sign in triplicate so the below picture is also of me signing!!! How freaking cool is that?????
I pinch myself and just can't believe it's really happened. If you've ever wondered if dreams really can come true if you work hard and never give up---THEY CAN. THEY REALLY REALLY REALLY CAN. :)
And if signing my contract wasn't enough--I got the title & release date of my second book today! THE HEART SURGEON'S SECRET SON, February 2008. Yea!!!

MCRW Writer Retreat

Wow! This weekend was fabulous. I didn't make it down to the retreat until Saturday morning because of sick children, but it was well worth making the effort. Elaine Spencer and Candace Haven were the guests and WOW! Wow! WOW!
Candy is an absolute riot and so, so generous in her sharing of knowledge. Such a pleasure to meet. I can't wait to read her book Charmed and Dangerous. She describes it as Buffy meets James Bond. Way cool!!

Elaine Spencer is an agent at The Knight Agency, which is the fabulous agency I'm with. I've always liked Elaine and thought her a wonderful person, but OMG! she's also a talented speaker and her comments on pitching to editors & agents--if you ever get the chance to hear her speak, GO!!!! I was mega-impressed and so were quite a few of my chapter mates. :)

Although Candy's workshop was on the Fastdraft & to do so you write 20 pages a day no matter what, I haven't started it yet. I've got about 35 pages to go to finish medical #3 and plan to do this, polish it, and then plot my next single title. When I start writing on the single title, I hope to incorporate Candy's plan. :) Another workshop that if you ever get the opportunity to take, I highly recommend doing so.

Taking a weekend off...

It's rare a weekend goes by that I don't write at least something. Next weekend I'm going to a writer's retreat with the Music City Romance Writers and will be out of town so I pretty much took this past weekend off and spent the time with my family. It was a nice change of pace and I feel refreshed and ready to dig back into medical number 3. I'm over half finished with it and feel good about the characters and plot. I did work on some FTHRW board stuff & my monthly column I do for the newsletter. :)

Although I've been to numerous writing conferences, I've never gone to a retreat. Elaine Spencer from The Knight Agency is going to be there. I'm with TKA and look forward to spending time with Elaine. I'm hoping there will be lots of down time for actual writing. I'd love to finish this book. It's possible, although not likely unless there really is a lot of free time.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day. Mine was fabulous. Got several Matthew things from pals--imagine! ;) And hubby came home for lunch and took me out to eat that evening. Plus, he's made reservations to take me back to the Opryland Hotel. Yea! You might recall he took me there for my birthday. I posted pictures here of some of the features. Lovely, lovely hotel and where the 2010 RWA conference will be held.

Harlequin American Contest!

I am about to bust because I had fabulous news earlier today and I can't wait to share it! My pal Lindsey Brookes WON the Harlequin American contest and got a call today from a Harlequin editor letting her know!! It's not a guaranteed sale, but ohmigosh is it close! You might recall that the fabulous Tawny Weber (no, I am not biased!) won the BLAZE contest and went on to sell to them. Actually she's sold 3 to them. :) And they are ALL awesome. :) It'll be the same from Lindsey because I've read what's written of this story & it is absolutely fabulous! I am so so so proud of her. :)

I have such talented friends. :)

I think even Matthew is excited about Lindsey's good news! ;)

Copy Edits

On Friday I got my second ever set of copy edits. I wasn't really expecting them so it was a nice surprise and makes the sale to Harlequin feel all the more real. Copy edits are a print out of the book with numbered pages and lines. A copy goes to me and to my editor and we get to proof it and I can request any necessary changes at this time. With Dorchester my copy edits were minimal. Very little of the book was changed from what I originally wrote. Very, very little. As in so little that I didn't catch changes if there were some made. I'd done a revision for my Dorchester editor and changed my hero's likeness from Ricky Martin to Benjamin Bratt (good change, I know!) but other than that, Jane is pretty much like I wrote her. The book to Harlequin is different. The HAD monster has taken over and although technically correct I cringe at 3, 4, and 5 HADs showing up in a single sentence. There are also changes with my phrasing of things where perhaps it'll translate into foreign languages easier? And some specific references have been changed to more general things. I found it very interesting to see the differences in the process from one publishing house to another. I only found a couple of typos, but I plan to go through the copy edits another time just to make sure I didn't miss anything. As a writer I cringe at the thought of picking up a book I wrote and seeing typos. Some happen later in the game, where the author has no chance to find them and correct them, but I don't want any overlooked that I have the power to correct.

Will keep you posted as I go! on this wonderful process of publication.

Dr. Matthew

I belong to this wonderful group called the Writers Playground and mostly it's a group of twenty of my nearest and dearest writing friends. We're supportive and fun and playful and the group is overflowing with talent--Terri Garey, Kathleen Long, Tawny Weber, Stacey Kayne, Sheila Raye, Anna Sugden, Tammy Johnson, Lindsey Brookes, Cheryl Wilson, Beth Burgoon, the list goes on, but you get my drift! I sold to Harlequin Medicals in December and my pals sent me this really awesome Build a Bear named Dr. Matthew--bet you can't guess why they named him that? ;) And Dr. Matthew has this adorable medical kit with a stethoscope & blood pressure kit and syringe and thermometer. The kit id darling. AND they sent me a Cross pen engraved with my sale date and the book title. Have I ever mentioned that I have super, duper friends???? I do. They are totally amazing and never cease to fill my heart with love at their thoughtfulness. Isn't Dr. Matthew just huggable??? And surely if they couldn't send the real deal, this cuddly bear is the next best thing? Actually, my pal Tawny did sorta send me the real thing today, too. I posted below. SURF'S UP!