More excitement today. Not only did I finish the first (rough) draft of Arctic Heart (aka the second YA book), but I got the ARCs (advanced reader copies) of Heartbreak River. Here’s me with a copy, and sporting my newly dyed hair. I think it’s time to dance a jig. All together now…

I’ve been a little under the weather the past couple of days. That combined with trying to finish this rough draft and prepare to leave Wednesday for San Francisco has kept me away from the blog the past few days. But the winner of last week’s book giveaway is…Natalie. Please e-mail me your address so I can get the books out to you before I head west.

Up for grabs this week:

The Burning Point by Mary Jo Putney
Pagan Bride by Tamara Leigh
Too Many Bosses by Jan Freed

The cranking on the outline continued today. Got through 10 chapters!

So, the new book currently has a tentative title of Arctic Heart, but it’s possible it’ll need to change since the book technically doesn’t take place in the Arctic (though many of us might think of all of Alaska as arctic). Thus, I need some alternative titles that would fit a YA novel about love and loss set in Alaska. It also needs to have “Heart” in it somewhere since my first book does — Heartbreak River. Any ideas?

Moonlight was back after an extended, writers’ strike-induced break, but it was well worth the wait. I’ve blogged before about how I like vampire shows, so it was a fun fan moment at the end of tonight’s episode when two of those shows had a bit of an intersection. During a scene between Mick and Beth, “Lucky” by Biff Naked started playing. I recognized it from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Album soundtrack. Of course, when the episode was over I had to fire up iTunes and play the full version of the song.

In other TV news, the last two weeks of Survivor have been wild. Last week’s blindside of Ozzy was a brilliant strategic move. Ozzy was one of my favorite players from his original season. While I still liked him, at least the editing made him seem cockier and full of himself this time around. Then last night, another blindside of someone sitting with the immunity idol but not playing it. Poor Jason was just lied to and lied to. I never understood why everyone disliked him so much, and I was pulling for him. Alas, the bitchy patrol got together and ousted him. Those girls have got to realize that everyone on the jury is totally ticked at them. Of the people left, I’m rooting for Erik first, then Amanda, then Cirie, then James. I’d love them to be the final four, would love to see the other three girls voting out one after another over the next three weeks.

So, yesterday could have been called Adventures in Mowing for me. Hubby normally mows the lawn, but he’s been traveling a lot for work. I’ve only mowed one before in my life, and that was just the front yard. Yesterday, I decided to be ambitious and mowed both the front and the back, all while wearing an oh-so-stylish surgical mask because of my allergies. I seriously hope I sweated off about ten pounds because I was pooped when I was done. I’m doing this with a push mower, people. I came away with sore hands and two blisters on the insides of my thumbs, but I felt oddly good to have tackled the lawn and won. But I think I’ll leave the weedeating for hubby.

And finally, in writing news, I finished up my second round of revisions on Heartbreak River. All I have to do after posting this blog post is to do a spell check and then e-mail it to my editor. Wahoo!

Yay! I’m thrilled to be done with my revisions to Heartbreak River. Of course, my Internet is down and I had to come down here to Panera Bread to send the manuscript back to my editor. Side benefit — dinner from Panera.

I went to my local RWA chapter’s meeting today. It was a casual meeting, on collaging. So I started work on a collage for my next YA book. When it’s finished, I’ll post a photo of it here.

How wild was it that a tornado hit downtown Atlanta? It’s really scary when a tornado hits such a populated area. I remember when the one hit downtown Nashville. The sky was this weird green color. My husband can see downtown from where he works, and he said the cloud looked like the mother ship from the movie Independence Day.

Okay, I plan to totally veg the rest of the night. I’m picking up dinner, and we’re going to watch The Bourne Ultimatum, which came from Netflix today.

No, Revision Island isn’t one of the plethora of new reality shows. It’s where I’m living these days. I got through three more chapters of the revisions to The Willow Creek Cafe today. They were fatter chapters, so I got one less chapter done than yesterday. Only five chapters left, then I can send the book off to my editor.

I talked to my Razorbill editor today about the revision letter on Heartbreak River. It’s a very lengthy, detailed letter, but I like the detail. As I told her, it’s similar to when I was still working full time as a journalist. It was always easier to write articles when I had an abundance of information rather than too little. And I don’t have to guess what she wants. It’s all right there in front of me. I think if I take the revisions one chapter at a time, perhaps only a chapter to a chapter and a half per day, these revisions won’t be too overwhelming. Still, I’m going to have to set a pretty good pace because they’re due March 15, and I’m going to be out of town for 12 days during the time between now and then. Let’s just say that some of these revisions will be done in cabins, hotel rooms and a friend’s house.

Here’s a funny picture from one of my favorite “lift my mood” sites.

moar funny pictures

The winner of last week’s book giveaway is Natalie! Natalie, send me an e-mail with your mailing address and I’ll get the books out to you.

Okay, on to Week 2 of the 31 Weeks of Free Books. If you comment on any of this week’s blog posts, you’ll be in the running to win the following three books:

Rules of Engagement by Kathryn Caskie
The Saving Graces by Patricia Gaffney
Lost Colling by Evelyn Vaughn
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Well, I’m getting down to the wire on my second Harlequin American, currently titled The Willow Creek Cafe. It’s due Friday, and I’m working on the second round of revisions. Mary said she cried at least a couple of times when she read it. But that’s a good thing.

After that book is turned in, I’ll be diving into revisions on my first YA novel, Heartbreak River. I’ve been reading through the 21-page revision letter from my editor, trying to soak all the information in and not freak out. That book is due back March 15, so I’ll be remaining busy for the foreseeable future.