Midweek #ROW80 Check-In

Well, the crazy is officially starting at the Evil Day Job.  For the next month, we are all about the grant submission.

On the writing front, I’ve not actually started drafting the next book, but I clocked nearly 9k words in plot notes over the long weekend.  Boy do I wish I could write actual prose that fast!  There was significant angsting during the process, but things are coming together REALLY well.  I finished the toolkit (but for a couple of questions that will just be clarified as I get into the story).  Hoping to dive into that tonight.

The Hammer is finished with Once Upon A New Year’s Eve.  I’ve got it out with a few betas at the moment to sort out one particular detail, then it out to be out the door this week.  So that’s all good.

I started back properly with my workout program on Monday.  Today makes 3 days of yoga.  That’s been going…okay.  I’m doing it.  I can’t say as it’s been exactly relaxing just because there have been some issues with the wiimote actually registering that I’m doing stuff correctly, and there’s nothing that pisses me off faster than not getting credit for my hard work.   But I DID IT, which is the thing that matters.  And it’s working in the sense that I’m feeling muscles I clearly have not used in a while.  So there’s that.

I also started back with tracking what I’m eating.  On day 3 of that too.  It’s a PITA, but works.  I’m getting back into the groove.

Got into a discussion with some folks this morning about whether there is a segment of romance novels that fall somewhere between the moderate sexy level of normal romance novels and the more “talk dirty to me” erotic end of the spectrum.  I don’t care for the latter, and I feel like there must be something in the middle.  But, of course, what the heck do you call that?  Smexy but not raunchy?  :makes Goodreads shelf:  So…I’m on the hunt.  Any suggestions that aren’t full of slang and bodily fluid references?  I really enjoyed Sarah Morgan’s Ripped from the Cosmo Red Hot Reads line at Harlequin (extra kudos for making me snort with laughter most of the way through), so I’m going to check out some others from that line.

Hope everybody is doing GREAT this round!

3 thoughts on “Midweek #ROW80 Check-In

  1. If only I’d published my novels by now! They definitely fall into that sexy but not raunchy category. At least three major scenes in each that go all the way, but with no ridiculous word choices and definitely nothing that veers on slang.

  2. I tend to lean toward sexual tension but no graphic sex. But even fairly graphic sex is okay if it’s done right. Like you, I’m not looking for the really raunchy stuff.

    By the way, I loved Ripped. Thanks for recommending it.

  3. Tell us more about that Toolkit, Cait. 9K words on an outline over the weekend sounds pretty amazing to me. Congrats! Re the level of spice in romance novels, I really appreciate when the author lets the reader know ahead of time just how explicit the story is, either by key words in the blurb or by the cover itself. Bare loins on the cover = xxx to me. But desire often drives our characters; to not recognize their sexuality means flawed characters. That’s a dilemma. I too don’t want to “talk dirty” in my stories. Nice discussion. Glad you are feeling better.

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