Welcome to WIP Wednesday

Today I'm instituting what I hope will be the first of many Work-in-Progress, or WIP, Wednesdays. I'll share what I'm working on with you, my lovely reading audience. So will some guest bloggers. If you're an author of any genre and would like to participate in the next WIP Wednesday, simply shoot an e-mail to erinoriordan (at) sbcglobal (dot) net.

Erin O'Riordan: One project I have in the works is an old story (never published in any form) I'd like to revamp as a submission to Melange Books' Having My Baby anthology. The call for submissions goes:

"Having My Baby
(Deadline February 2012, Release May 2012)
Spring is a time for new birth and Melange is actively seeking sensual, poignant, joyous, humorous, and unusual stories about having a baby."

This calls for a sweet, sensual romance, albeit one with no explicit sexuality. The work I have in mind is about a crown prince torn between the man she loves and the man royal protocol dictates she should marry. Being part of the royal family does have its privileges, though, especially when you come from a nation with some out-of-the-ordinary marriage customs. If you liked "Innocent," I think you'll like this one.

Judith Marshall: Right now, I’m staring at a proof copy of my second novel, Staying Afloat, the story of how a perfectly sane woman can lose her moral compass. I’ve had the book professionally edited and, as I did with my debut novel Husbands May Come and Go but Friends are Forever, I uploaded the manuscript to lulu.com and ordered a proof copy. It’s so much easier to do a final read-through in an actual book format, than online.

The next thing I’ll do is read the book with fresh eyes looking for missed typos. Then I plan to send it to a friend of mine who has agreed to give me objective feedback on whether the story works overall, noting where the story bogs down, any inconsistencies, or other problems with the flow. I think it’s important for any author to get a potential reader’s opinion of their work before it’s published. You have to be open to hearing some negative feedback, but in the end, who better to evaluate your book than a person from your targeted audience?

P.S. Husbands has been selected for the Spirited Woman Top 12 Summer Pick List and is being adapted into a screenplay this summer. Yippee!

Judith Marshall
Author of HUSBANDS MAY COME AND GO BUT FRIENDS ARE FOREVER
www.judithmarshall.net

Sheila Lowe: I’m a mystery writer whose Forensic Handwriting series (published by Penguin’s Obsidian imprint) is now on the back burner while I finish my new book, formerly titled Lying…in Bed, currently titled Head Case, and possibly soon-to-be-titled What She Saw.

The new book begins with a young woman who wakes on a train and realizes that she hasn’t a clue who she is, how she got there, or where she’s going. She gets off the train and meets someone who seems to know her and takes her to her apartment, where she discovers that she has two different identities. Her task is to find out why, and what happened to rob her of her memory.

Sheila Lowe, MS
Handwriting examiner
http://www.sheilalowe.com
http://www.claudiaroseseries.com
Twitter: @sheila_lowe

Morgan St. James:

DIAMONDS IN THE DUMPSTER

The third zany Silver Sisters Mystery, Vanishing Act in Vegas has just been released. My sister/co-author Phyllice Bradner and I are now working on #4, Diamonds in the Dumpster. Juneau, Alaska antique shop owner Goldie Silver and her twin Godiva Olivia DuBois, popular Beverly Hills columnist who writes the “Ask G.O.D” advice to the lovelorn column and their 80-year-old mother and uncle, former vaudeville magicians, don’t look for trouble. Somehow, it always finds them. This time Goldie’s cruise ship captain husband has invited Flossie and Sterling on a cruise that will feature a magician’s conference. They even manage to get the third performer in the act they perform on Thursdays at the Home for Hollywood Has-Beens on board the ship—Waldo the Wonder Dog. It’s murder on the high seas and Waldo uncovers a clue that almost gets Flossie and Sterling arrested as the perps. As for the diamonds, is it Godiva’s new boyfriend Dexter Diamond, something more valuable, or both?

We just started this book and we’re up to Chapter 7.

CONFESSIONS OF A COUGAR

This is a funny “coming of age at 42” story that is actually creative non-fiction. I lived a good part of it. I was 42 the first time I left the United States in the 1980s. My boyfriend had a lease on a cottage in Surrey, England in the village of Upper Warlingham (a place most people never heard of). He suggested my friend and I go to England all expenses paid---by him. We had quite an adventure for the three weeks we were in England and Holland. My friend was a recent widow, and my boyfriend said the trip would be great R and R for her. Little did I know that it was also for some R and R for him back home with me out of the way, so when I discovered that I really didn’t feel guilty about our escapades. We encountered many funny situations and several young hunks along the way. Back then, a cougar was a mountain lion! There is a bit of fiction mixed in, but the majority is true. And yes, I did become a modern definition cougar—so did my friend. I think our youngest conquests were in their early 20s.

I am about 25% to the target word count and working it though with Henderson Writers’ Group in Las Vegas. They are my best sounding board.

MORGAN ST. JAMES
Las Vegas and Los Angeles Writing Examiner for www.examiner.com
www.morganstjames-author.com (general)
www.silversistersmysteries.com (series)
NEW: Vanishing Act in Vegas – NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON – and other online bookstores
NEW: Writers Tricks of the Trade: 39 Things You Need to Know About the ABCs of Writing Fiction - KINDLE NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON - eBook and Paperback To be Released Soon
TRAILERS – Devil’s Dance, The Devil’s Due, Seven Deadly Samovars