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Staring down revisions

You already know I spent my vacation procrastinating. This is what I was avoiding doing: Each one of these colored squares represents a scene in my Golden Heart®-finaling manuscript, “Beauty and the Ballplayer.” The yellow ones are turning points; blue are scenes that can stay the same; pink must be deleted altogether; and green are […]

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Playing along with Excerpt Monday

When Bria Quinlan, one of my fellow 2011 Golden Heart® finalists, tweeted her need for “Excerpt Monday” participants, I decided to jump into the fray. What follows is the first few exchanges in my as-yet only completed single title MS, “Blind Date Bride.” I chose it instead of my GH-finaling MS because “Beauty and the […]

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Two rejections in two days

Now I remember why I’m so glad to be off the dating scene. Rejection hurts. A lot. I’m sure I’m not the only one to equate the search for an agent to the search for Mr. Right — but it’s an apt comparison. You try to make a good impression on your dream man/agent. If […]

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Arlene Hittle, 2011 RWA Golden Heart® Finalist

This is an exciting time for me. My manuscript, Beauty and the Ballplayer, was just named a finalist in the 2011 RWA Golden Heart® contest. About Beauty and the Ballplayer: Spunky and independent to a fault, graphic designer Meg Malone isn’t exactly crushed when she finds herself pregnant soon after her no-good boyfriend abandons her […]

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Still on Cloud Nineteen

Yeah, I’m saying there has to be something higher than Cloud Nine, and I’m on it. I am a 2011 Golden Heart finalist. I’ve been fielding congratulatory calls, tweets and e-mails all day — and I’m glad to get them. I can’t count the number of times I’ve thought to myself “OMG, OMG, OMG” today. […]

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The Golden phone call

My phone woke me up — and this time, it was THE call … well, the call that I’m a Golden Heart finalist, at least. “Beauty and the Ballplayer” finaled in the contemporary series category. More later, since I’m sure this is the beginning of a long, wild ride! My immediate dilemma: How can I […]

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Mom doesn’t always know best

If your mother was anything like mine, she dispensed tons of advice: Sit up straight … Don’t go outside with a wet head or you’ll catch a cold … and NEVER stop at a rest area after dark. Well, I slouch all the time, frequently go out with wet hair and recently stopped at Sunset […]

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Riding the whirlwind

Today just might go down as the highlight of my writing career to-date. It could be the start of something big. Today, I was one of the lucky 125 entrants selected to submit to the Knight Agency’s Author Speed Date contest. You should have heard the excited whoop I let out when I saw my […]

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Vocabulary lesson

The hero in my WIP, Cody, has a tendency to use big words and shrink-speak when he’s upset, angry or flustered. (There’s a reason he has a T-shirt that says “I’m fluent in psychobabble.”) It turns out Cody and I have that in common. Now that I’m writing fiction fairly regularly, I notice myself trying […]

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