So……………………………….
………………………………….Ellora’s Cave politely declined “Bound: A Post-Apocalyptic Lust Story” (featuring the warrioress Ana in her jungle home and the fertility researcher she encounters) on the grounds that they did not feel it was a good fit for their women’s interracial line of erotica.
Therefore, I submitted it to my publisher NCP (New Concepts Publishing, http://www.newconceptspublishing.com) to see if they would be interested in putting it to print.
ALSO……………….NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have a very interesting commercial fiction agent reading the first book of my Reaper Series of novels….I DO SO HOPE SHE CHOOSES TO REPRESENT ME!!!!!!!!!!!! Cross your fingers, fans, cross your toes, cross whatever it takes to get the Reaper Series off the ground….There’s so much I want to do with that storyline, a little incentive would be just the thing to give me the peace of mind (that it is a good investment of time and energy at this point in my life/writing career).
ALSO…………………………
……………………………….I have three shifts left of my student Senior Practicum as a BN student, and then — PROVIDED I PASS — I have my BN degree!!!!!!!!!!!!
YAY FOR ME!!!!!
It’s been a LONG time coming!!!!!!
Then, there’s the CRNE exam in October, to become a registered nurse, and then if I pass that, I am a genuine freaking RN.
WOWSERS.
How time does fly when you’re having fun and keeping preoccupied.
Until next time, happy reading, and enjoy (what’s left of) the summer.
(we’ve had a great deal of rain here, and thunderstorms scheduled for tonight)
Sincere regards,
Amanda M. Holt
Amateur Authoress and Pending BN
Permalink
1 Comment
So…………………………………………………
……………………………………………………opportunities are presenting themselvs from a number of locations, but here’s the dilemma:
A. Love my new apartment, but there are limited employment opportunities in this area for GNs/BNs/RNs.
B. The Community Health Nurse Development Program in the NWT has cancelled/postponed applications, due to lack of funding.
C. Feeling a certain degree of restlessness. Wondering if I should push my envelope a little more, exercise my options, take some (small and reasonable) risks.
D. Coming to the conclusion that I would have to be INSANE to think that I could handle the role of charge nurse in an ER environment immediately after graduation.
E. There might (MIGHT) be a possibility (read: possibility) of working as a public health nurse or community health nurse in STI prevention, which is EXACTLY where I want to be in my career path (the only question is, how much experience should one accumulate prior to chasing down one’s dreams with all the fervor of a rabid rabbit???).
Okay, that is multiple dilemmas, and there are more…
…Haven’t done any writing in the last few days, and that is n my conscience. Haven’t done any lengthy studying either, but that is because I don’t want to re-injure my neck so soon after making a full recovery. Studying with my laptop is an option….there’s always WebMD…and Canadian Nursing websites…
Had an EXCELLENT telephone chat with both my biological mother and surrogate mother/mother by proxy….these helped me put things in perspective….
Still, it feels as though the sands beneath my feet are shifting, and I must reposition myself to keep equilibrium, a good sound foot hold on the vast dune whose name is Challenge.
Okay….enough self-absorption for one evening.
Time to shower. It was plus 27 today at one point, and the new place was sweltering!
Sincere regards,
Amanda M. Holt
Permalink
Leave a Comment
So…………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………mid-term evaluation for my Nursing Practicum this week, and I admit, i am a little nervous. I know that I shouldn’t be: both of my preceptors are great, very supportive, and I have been asking for feedback regularly (READ: every single day like the neurotic insecure little nursing student I am). Yes, I need more confidence (according to my “coworkers” it will come in time). Yes, I need to pcik up my pace (admittedly, I feel I have improved in this area — second guessing myself less, and learning the routing helped alot). And I do need to practice my skills whenever the opportunities present themselves. I think I am doing well with the psychosocial aspects of client care, the nurturing, goal-setting, et cetera, et cetera……………..
Now if only I could memorize every step to every procedure and every aspect of every medication and every preference of every client 🙂 Why can’t our brains work like instantly-accessible storage units where you just have to think of the word “SEARCH”, psychically key in the subject you are looking up, and find what it is in the recesses of your mind you are looking for????
LOL Okay, okay – enough silly self-involvement for one evening.
Time to do something constructive with the rest of my night off, like edit my sensual contemporary romance “Her Man” (I know, the title sucks with a capital SUCK) of 57, 000 words or OR or review laboratory tests and normal test range values and do some more mid term assignment work……..I DID designate tomorrow as “Finish Homework Day” though, not to be confused with “Finnish Homework Day” the day people from Finland celebrate the liberation of working from home (less of a commute that way, I hear).
Okay, I’m pulling your leg – there’s no such thing as Finnish Homework Day. Or is there? I mean the Internet is THAT bizarre these days………………………….and there’s a celebration for EVERYTHING.
(This coming from a Manitoban, where we have these things called SOCIALs…..in May we had a Manitoba Homecoming social [big party, dance, drink fest] where we celebrated the World’s Largest Social [a Manitoba-wide social]. I don’t know if we actually set or broke any records, but long story short, people from Manitoba are so sociable we delight in having sociables [Socials: wedding socials, anniversary socials, Halloween socials, fundraising socials, New Years socials, etc etc] just to prove how sociable we can be).
Ok, I did say I would stop.
Stopping now.
Sincere regards,
Amanda M. Holt
Permalink
Leave a Comment
So………………….
…………………….I had a few days off of my nursing student practicum, and I spent it grocery shopping, visiting, studying (there seems to be no end to studying) apartment hunting, and bill paying.
Now, I am blogging, and then will be baking – a Gateau a la Orange!!!! (Yes, I am trying to learn French – Gateau a la Orange means orange cake).
I regret to inform you that I have not been writing much of late – in fact, I have neglected my laptop so long, I don’t even recall which project I was working on last! An unfortunate thing, oui oui. Last night I spent a sliver of time editing a tale for eXtasy Books – an adult romance featuring a hot-headed strong willed young woman trying to find her true calling, as well as the best sex that rural Manitoba has to offer! This spirited young woman doesn’t hold back, nor shy away from a challenge, and comes to find both men and women as suitable lovers. Believe it or not, despite the “tame” rural setting, she has many a wonderful adventure, finds love, loses love, and…well, whether or not she gets love back is for the reader to know!!!!
Expect the tale out around October 1st or 15th, as there are a number of Halloween themed chapters that my editor has agreed makes this an ideal Halloween read.
I will post excerpts as I make the last of the editing/alterations.
I hope that you find something delightful to read this summer!!!
Sincere regards,
Amanda M. Holt
P.S. If you like modern-day vampire erotica, you might like to try my short eBooks “In His Thrall” and “Of Crimson Blood and Ivory Skin” from New Concepts Publishing (www.newconceptspublishing.com). If you like vengeful vigilantes of the Nephalim (angel human hybrid) variety, try my Reaper Series at eXtasy Books (www.extasybooks.com). If you like stories about headstrong heiresses and the bodyguards assigned to them, try my tale “Guarding Miranda”, a full length romance novel from NCP.
Permalink
Leave a Comment
So………………………………..
…………………………………..I wrap up the theory courses in my Bachelor of Nursing studies this week.
I am experiencing mixed feelings of elation and terror; accomplishment and subtle regret; anticipation and impending doom; progress and stasis — all at once.
The thought of transforming my life, reinventing myself again, starting fresh – starting something new – appeals as it has always appealed (what’s underneath THAT rock? Oh look, little wriggly things).
Only now, the REAL test of character and wit and tenacity begins.
From student nurse to graduate nurse soon to actual nurse: the process as fascinating for me as a catepillar entering chrysalis to become the butterfly.
Here I am, ending one chapter of my life, taking off my layers of student self, stepping into a nurse’s shoes, shoes that I can only hope to grow into and fit properly in the near future.
Here I am, ending one book, perhaps aptly titled “M’s Adventure’s: The College Years” or “The Formal Education of M”…certainly not the first in the series, certainly won’t be the last. Or will it? Fate laughs at the best laid plans.
And all the while, a Community Health Nurse program in the Northwest Territories beckons….but leaving Manitoba’s subzero temperatures for NWT’s Hell-Frozen-Over-And-Literally-Frozen-Over-Like-In-That-Disturbing-Painting-By-Was-It-Dante-Or-That-Other-Guy-? is like jumping out of the frying pan into the fire, for those of us humans who do NOT like cold weather or ice or snow-machines (a major form of transportation up there).
Yet I should not grumble – not at all!
Now is a time for celebration! A time of seasons changing and accomplishment and really, is there anything at all wrong with finishing a good book? A book that had twists and turns and intriguing characters, and even the occasional “what if-?” cliffhanger?
“Not at all,” said M with a sigh, her lips curling into a wry grin. “Oh silly, silly girl. You’re talking to yourself again, and in front of God Knows Who this time.”
This summer, I will be devoting a GREAT deal of time to studying for my RN exam, so I humbly apologize: there will be no new fiction published until possibly October 1st/15th/31st — that is IF (a big IF) I am able to find spare time to edit the manuscript I’ve promised Extasy Books, the full-length erotica titled “My Experimental Years”.
Which is nothing less than what all the experts would encourage: in My Experimental Years i very literally wrote what I knew about – being a headstrong young woman in rural Manitoba who was as untameable as a wildfire and as shifting as mercury.
Priorities being what they are, my nursing career comes first, my writing career/hobby second.
I will try to at least post exerpts of my novels on this blog over the summer to give you a taste of what might evolve into something remarkable one day.
Sincere regards,
Amanda M. Holt
p.s. – that old adage, write what you know? Admitting that you don’t really know anything is the first real step to learning (especially about yourself….that’s what I’ve noticed, anyway).
Permalink
1 Comment
The Novels of Amanda M. Holt 