A while back I wrote a story for an anthology of cowboy shifters. It was quite a switch for me, being both western and paranormal. But because of one thing and another, the project got side-tracked to the point that I had more or less written it off.

Then the other day I heard that the antho will be going to formatting by the end of the week. Which means it will be releasing soon. Yay!

The anthology is called Shifting Sands and contains stories by Jet Mykles, Ally Blue, Willa Okati, J.L. Langley, Brenda Bryce and me.

When I have an exact release date you guys will be the first to know.

A lot happened this week, though whether or not I met my goals is sort of debatable. *g*

I received and finished the line edits on my novella that’s releasing later this month. That’s a huge thumbs-up since I not only hate line edits, but I’m totally pumped about this book. It will be my first publication with Loose-ID and I’m really excited about that. I also got a cover draft for that book which I will share just as soon as I get the go ahead. Promise.

Let’s see, what else?

I’ve been working on the revision of DWD and it’s coming along, just a lot slower than I’d like. I’ve spent most of the week on chapters nine and ten and don’t know yet if they’re right, but I suspect I’ll leave them for now. Oh, and I had to cut a sex scene. *cries* But it simply wasn’t working with the revisions I’ve made. Of course cutting it has complicated things since I lost a big chunk of conflict that was driving subsequent scenes, so I need to rework some stuff in chapters ten and eleven.

I haven’t forgotten that I promised an update on the other projects I’ve got in the works, but that will have to wait maybe a few more days. I need to do some long-range planning then I can talk more about those future projects.

So until next time …

Not a horrible week, but not a stellar one either. Witness how late I am with this progress report. Yeah.

Anyway, I did get some writing done. I revised chapter seven of DWD and I wrote another lesson for the novella writing workshop.The workshop starts on the 8th and I have three more lessons to go, so guess what’s on this week’s list? *g*

I was also really busy with the Rainbow Romance Writers contest, the rainbow awards of excellence. We have been swamped with entries over the past week. So much so that it’s been rough for Sara and I to keep up. Hard to believe that I was worried that we wouldn’t get many entries. At last count we were pushing a hundred entries and may well have surpassed that number by now. *happy dance*

But I drift off point.

Goals for this week:

1 Revise chapter eight and rework chapters nine and ten of DWD.

2 Finish the lessons for the novella workshop. As I said, there are three left to do.

That should keep me busy, don’t you think?

Next time, along with my weekly report, I’ll give an update on where I am with the work I have contracted for the near future as well as a glimpse into what I have planned for next year’s writing schedule.

Wow, last week was a hideously unproductive week.

I met none of my goals. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. I did manage to get one lesson written for the novella writing workshop and I discovered a major plot problem in DWD, but as for wordage … I got nothin’. *sigh*

In fact I’ve been so distracted and disorganized that I didn’t even get this lack of progress report filed on Sunday as I’ve been trying to do.

But that was last week.

So here we go. Goals for this week:

1 Finish three lessons for the novella workshop.

2 Revise/rewrite chapters 9 and 10 of DWD.

If I can get that much accomplished, I will be a happy camper. Until next time.

I got a very nice review for my novel, Bound To Please from Christina at Romance Junkies.

She says in part, “Ms. Gardner has created three very distinctive and fascinating heroes. I enjoyed getting to know them. Each man brings unique strengths to the relationship. Benny, Rain, and Jason may be very different but they work well together. Things aren’t always easy between them but as they work together to overcome their problems they grow closer. I also liked the way that all three of them relate to each other individually. Benny has strong feelings for both Jason and Rain and vice versa. Their relationship is complex and very believable. BOUND TO PLEASE by Kimberly Gardner is a compelling and satisfying BDSM romance.”

Read the entire review,

http://romancejunkiesreviews.com/artman/publish/contemporary/Bound_To_Please_KG.shtml

This is my first week *officially* reporting in on my weekly goals, and it went pretty well, all things considered.

My goals were to finish two lessons for the novella writing workshop, write 3k on Jake and Dennis’s story and revise three chapters of DWD.

The revision didn’t happen. At all. Nada. I didn’t even look at that file this week. So that one goes back on the goals list for the coming week.

I didn write 3k on Jake and Dennis’s story and I was pretty happy with most of what I produced until I realized that I had the whole beginning of the story wrong. *sigh*

So it was back to the plot cards after reading my favorite plotting article from Holly Lisle. And I think I have a workable story even if I’m still not entirely sure about the beginning. Of course this is nothing new. Getting the beginning is always the hardest part for me. Why should this story be any different?

The good news is, I think I can still use most of what I’ve written.

And finally, I got two lessons done for the workshop. I also found out that there are ten people registered for the class. Six of them are RRW members but four are not. I’m going to do a little more promo this week so hopefully we’ll get a few more students.

So my goals for this week:

1 Revise three chapters of DWD.

2 Complete three lessns for the nvella workshop.

3 Come up with a solid beginning for Jake and Dennis and write 2k on that story.

Let’s see how I do. Have a great week.

A friend from RRW does a thing on her blog that she calls her Sunday report card where she reports on how she did on her writing goals for that week. She also sets goals for the upcoming week. She says that declaring her goals publicly makes them more real and acts as the stick (as in carrot and stick) that encourages her to get them done.

I can see a lot of value in this, so beginning today I will be doing my Sunday Progress Report.

I had two goals this past week, and didn’t accomplish either of them. But I did get a few other things done. So here are my goals for this week:

1 Finish two lessons for the workshop I’ll be teaching in September.

2 Write 3k on the story I’m working on about the art forger.

3 Revise chapters 8, 9 and 10 of DWD, my current WIP for MLR which I’d hoped to have turned in by now.

So there they are, my goals for the week. Next Sunday we’ll see how I did. Wish me luck.

I got home from RWA yesterday and found this wonderful review in my Inbox. The reviewer says in part,

“Author Kimberly Gardner weaves a tale of desperation, heartache, and the need to be accepted for who you are with skill and talent.”

You can read the entire review at the following link. 

http://www.joyfullyreviewed.com/recommended-reviews/august-2010-recommended-reads/bound-to-please-by-kimberly-gardner

This is my fourth day in Orlando and the second day of the actual national conference. The book signing for literacy was last night and we had nine people from the rainbow romance chapter signing. I got to meet all of them and it was really fun to put actual people with the online authors I’ve known for over a year now.

I met Kate Douglas, Louisa Edwards, Rachael Heron, Deidre Knight, Radcliff, KA Mitchell, Kathryn Shay and Suz Brockmann. Of course my good friend Ally Blue was there as well.

The place was a mob scene but it was all good.

Headed out now for coffee with my first ever romance critique partner, the now NY published Kim lenox. WooHoo!

I know it’s been ages since I’ve posted. Bad blogger, bad!

 But I’ve been busy. Writing, helping to organize the Rainbow Awards of Excellence, as well as running the chapter. All of which take time. And now I’m off to Orlando for the RWA national conference, a week of workshops and networking and reconnecting with friends. And lots of hanging out with other writers, my favorite part. *g*

Hopefully there will be time for writing while I’m there, though I’m not counting on it, too many distractions. Maybe in the airport or on the plane, because the characters in my head are clamoring for my attention. So cross your fingers.