New hero inspiration

When I started working on my NaNoWriMo story in November, I had chosen a couple of actors to be the physical inspiration of my characters. I had thought that it was something that shouldn't be done, or wasn't done. But I guess I was wrong because I've seen many published authors mention that their characters are based on real people, phsysically at least.

I had planned that Gerard Butler was going to be the inspiration for my hero, Dorian. Mostly how he looked in Dracula 2000, I like longer hair for vampires. Here's an example:



How could you say no to his eternal kiss? Eh? Am I right? Of course I am.

But, last week I caught a show I've always wanted to see - Mindfreak. It's about a guy named Criss Angel who does magic things, phsyic-esque things, etc. Totally fantastic show and Criss Angel is wonderful. He is now my new Dorian in the vamp series I'm working on. He fits it perfectly, so I'll save lovely Gerard for another day :-) Oh yeah, and Johnny Depp.

Here is a couple of pictures of Criss Angel:

Will. Write. Damnit.

It's Friday, which means that day job is over for the week and moonlighting begins. No, I'm not a stripper, but I hear they make good money. I digress. The weekend means that I have to get my ass in gear on this manuscript. I need to have good working draft before the RT convention in May. Can it be done, you ask. I don't know. It seems that only experienced novelists finish their first 90k book in three months. Am I an experienced novelist, you ask. Well, no, this is my first novel. But can I do it, you ask. I kind of have to if I want an editor or agent appointment. Crack that whip!
Here's the math breakdown for all you geeks out there (like me). Three months to the day until the convention begins, approximately 90 days. Well, your first reaction may be - "Lisa, all you have to do is write 1,000 words a day and you'll be set!" Then I laugh in your face at your imprudence. Poor naive fool. You think my first draft will satisfy me? Ha! I scoff at you.

No, no, no, I'm just joking. You're not stupid, just common sense challenged ;-). So, 90 days, 90k words. Here's the plan - first draft done in two months. That gives me one month to revise and prepare a synopsis for the convention. Can I actually do this, you ask, again. We'll see.

I'm at 10k now, so I guess I just need 80k or so. That's about 1,333 words a day. Holy shit! Am I doing NaNoWriMo again? What the fuck? Excuse the language but that math does not please me.

(Stop bitching Lisa, you want to finish this book so that if an agent or editor happens to request it you can send it to them relatively close to the end of the convention). Yes, that's right. Yes, thank you inner diva.

To kick start this beotch, I hope to reach 15k by the end of the weekend. Wish me luck and send me chocolate vibes, that may help. I need some diet coke... Thank goodness for the Alphasmart 3000 or I would probably spend the writing time playing Age of Mythology.

Michelle Rowen's blog

I recommend that everyone, especially those aspiring to be published, check out Michelle Rowen's blog (http://www.michellerowen.com/blog/) - I don't know how to insert links. Sorry...

I learned of her first release "Bitten & Smitten" on Katie MacAlister's forum. So, sometime last fall I began reading her blog daily. It's fantastic. Funny, informative, and especially inspirational. So I decided to read all her blog entries from the last couple of years. You may think I'm crazy, but I just decided to do it. I didn't do it in one sitting or anything, don't worry. But I read a couple of month's worth a day during my lunch break.

You should take the time to do this, especially earlier ones, because it chronicles her journey from unpublished to published. It's very exciting to read about her getting an agent, then getting "the call," editing the CONTRACTED manuscript, etc. It renewed my confidence and got me moving faster toward finishing my MS. She's living the real thing. Wanted to be a writer, so she wrote. Tried to get published, so she did. Still working the day job, at least for now. Struggles with finding time to write, like many of us.

It's very inspirational. Her entries represent what so many of us think and worry about. My MS isn't good enough. What if this one book is a fluke? What if no one buys it? What if it gets poor reviews? It's very real, not to mention totally funny and links to fantabulous quizzes! I think that's why it took me so long to go through, I did all the quizzes and games, I mean ALL of them.

So - read Michelle's blog. Buy "Bitten and Smitten" and pre-order "Angel with Attitude." Damn it now!

Confession time: I've had "Bitten and Smitten" waiting patiently for me for a couple of weeks. I had meant to read it the day it came out because I had been anticipating it since the fall, but I made a poor decision. I started the Anita Blake series just before BS came out. And I'm sure you can understand how difficult that series is to put down. I'm almost done with Circulean Sins, so BS will get my undivided attention in a couple of days. Michelle, I'm sorry that I have neglected your book, but after reading your blog, I'm sure you can understand about the LKH thing. I just have to get to Incubus Dreams since everyone seems to be up in arms about it.

And Michelle totally posted on my journal recently. I was super tickled! (Thanks Michelle!)

Pic of the day - pumpkin booty

Great example of making use of what you got, gotta love it

Current writing thoughts

I feel the need to share some of the bazillion thoughts running through my head. It just feels therapeutic to say them out loud (or type in a LiveJournal) so I can move on.

1) Writing is hard. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but man can it be hard. You have to make sure it's interesting with believable characters. It has to be original, but something that the reader can relate to. Since my books are a series, I have to make some plot points spread out so people would want to read the other books.

2) I need an agent. I don't know why I care at this point since my manuscript isn't finished. But I know that it is a step to eventually take and when it comes to something I want, I'm not always patient.

3) I wish there were 30 hours in a day. I would devote 3 of those to sleep and 3 to writing. Maybe 2:4 - if I'm feeling motivated. I would get things done a lot faster that way.

4) I'm scared shitless of revisions. I think that's why I'm moving a bit slower at the writing - I know I'm going to end up changing it all anyway. At least I'm not editing as I go, I would never finish a book that way.

5) What if I can't do this? What if I have immersed myself into the writing world and community as much as I possibly could and as fast as I could and it doesn't work? What if I spend hundreds and hundreds of hours writing, editing, shopping for agents and publishers, and it doesn't ever sell and I resort to self-publishing. What if I fail? But then I think, I've wanted to be a novelist since I was very young. I would rather fail than never try and wonder if I could do it.

6) When I finish my manuscript, I think I will print it on multiple colors of paper and use it as wallpaper. That will be my writing room. Yes, that sounds like a glorious idea.

7) Will my husband be angry if I plaster our walls with my manuscript?

8) I wonder if the RT conference is worth the money and vacation time. It seems great on paper and from what I hear, but that's a big financial committment.

9) I hope my vampire world is creative enough to be interesting and liked by people. I hope it's not too much like anyone else's. Reading vampire romance makes it difficult to be original, but it helps with ideas and seeing how much can be done. Catch-22.

10) It's hard to focus on one manuscript when another idea is nagging at me. Maybe I should just outline the books in my head and move on.

End of rant. I don't feel any less clouded. Maybe it takes time. But now I can move on to working on my manuscript so that I actually have the right to be freaking out. Right now I'm simply a poser.

Pic of the day - beer doggy

Good writing retreat

Last weekend I went on a writing retreat with the Romance Writers of America chapter I belong to. I had a lot of fun, even with the storm Friday night. A storm on the Oregon coast in the winter has always been one of my favorite things. Growing up I used to go with my family to stay in a hotel on the ocean for a weekend in the winter, hoping for a storm. There's something relaxing about it.

Well, this one wasn't so relaxing. The house was practically on the sand, only about 10 feet of sea grass separated us from the beach. The wind was up to 80 miles an hour, according to the news reports after the storm. There were reports of swells off the coast and a chance for flooding, which would have been bad news for the basement of the house and our cars. The front of the house came to a point, like a beak, and was almost all windows. The glass was bending back and forth with the strong wind. The logical side of me knew they were built to withstand that, but seeing the reflection of the lamps moving back and forth in the glass was unnerving. The wind howled all night long. I don't think any of us slept more than an hour or two. I kept waking up and feeling the house shaking under the wind. But it was fun. There's something thrilling about being scared of a storm that is out of your control.

The writing side of the trip was great too. It was very beneficial talking to people who have been writing romance for a while, and some published, to hear what they had to say. We did something called story magic where we all brought our story ideas. Then we sat together and brainstormed the inciting incident, long range goal, short range goal, relationship barrier, black moment, reliazation and character flaw for both the hero and heroine. It is much easier to write once you have the main points and themes outline like that. I also got a lot of great ideas with the ladies for my book series. Now I just have to write them.

I know the main events that will happen in all of the books and the sub plots, but I need to develop the hero and heroine more and why they are interested in each other. I also need to think of some ways to make my vampires unique compared to others that are in books.

All in all it was definitely worth the weekend and I enjoyed getting to know these lovely ladies.

Pic of the day - Will Farrell

Will Farrell is a gem


Will Farrell is a gem

Writing progress

Things are going well on the writing front. My biggest challenge right now is pulling my nose out of other people's books and work on my own. It's hard to stop reading though because with each book I read, I feel like it makes me a stronger writer. If that makes any sense.

This weekend I'm going on a beach retreat with the Mid-Willamette Valley RWA. I'm looking forward to it. I think we'll be doing something called a story board and we'll all pitch in brainstorming for everyone's manuscripts. I could use a few ideas to keep the ball rolling.

I also busted out The Plot Doctor workbook. I used it when I did NaNoWriMo. It will probably help me again now that I'm redoing the NaNo MS. I highly recommend this workbook to anyone who's a plotter and outliner before doing a lot of writing. There are some great worksheets in there to get the juices rolling for building characters, scenes and conflict.

Hopefully I'll come back from the beach on Sunday with my whole novel, maybe part of the series, fully outlined and planned out. Fingers crossed! All I need is my writing binder and Alphasmart 3000 baby! Oh yeah, and clean underwear.

Book review: Sookie Stackhouse series

I had never planned to read these books. I was reading the author roster for a series of vampire-themed workshops at the upcoming Romantic Times convention (that I hope to go to) and decided that maybe I would get more out of the workshops if I read the books by the presenting authors.

I'm very glad I made that decision because I love this series. The direction that many books take that vampirism is legal now is very interesting and appealing to me. It was something I hadn't really thought of before and it has opened a whole new group of ideas to me.

Charlaine Harris has done a fantastic job with the relationships, especially balancing them. If someone was telling me that a series of books existed where the heroine bounces back and forth between several boyfriends, I would have thought the heroine was a slut and I wouldn't want to read the book. But Sookie doesn't come off like a slut at all, to me at least. She doesn't date just anyone, all the guys she has dated have been special to her. And there's only a few sex scenes, most of the time she just alludes to the fact it happened.

I also love how they are all different. Bill is the quiet guy with the silent mind that she likes. Eric is boysterous, obnoxious, but straight-forward. Alcede (sp?) is the perfect Southern boyfriend that would fit in right at home.

I keep changing my mind of which guy I hope she ends up with. It's a toss-up between Alcede and Eric with amnesia. I'm not a big fan of Bill, I mean I like it when he's in the story but I hope she doesn't end up with him. Oh yeah, or Sam. He's cool too.

Charlaine has also done a great job with believability. These books are full of supernatural stuff, but I buy all of it. I can imagine living in this world. She does well in tying up loose ends and things stay consistend throughout the series, like Sookie's gift.

All in all a great series and I recommend it! You may think I'm crazy because all these book reviews are positive ones, but since I began reading romances, I haven't found one I haven't liked. I know the day will come, but I'm enjoying the streak so far.

Coming soon: Mary Janice Davidson's Undead series and Michelle Rowen's Bitten & Smitten.

Book review: Anita Blake series (up to Obsidian Butterfly)

I've decided to try something useful with my journal, reviewing the books that have eaten my life for the past month or two. You may not want to read these if you are the type who don't want to know anything about the books before you read them. Those like me who read the last chapter of a book before beginning it, I encourage you to read on.

I'll start with the Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton. I'm up to Obsidian Butterfly. Thanks to the Science Fiction Book Club, I've got all the books through Narcissus In Chains in four nifty volumes. This will seem scattered and random because I'll be talking about 10 books or so, but it's my journal and I'll do what I want to. :-)

The more I read the series, the more I grow fond of it. I've enjoyed all of the books, but it began as a like and is now a love. LKH has done a great job with the characters. I find myself thinking about things that could or have happened in the series and saying "Jean Claude wouldn't do that" or "Richard wouln't say that." But how the hell would I know? I'm not the author. Wrong. LKH is so strong with her characterization that the reader can easily get to know the characters and imagine what they would do.

I would like to say that I love Jean Claude - his ego, his sexiness, his control, everything. I hope Anita ends up with him. I like Richard, but he seems like such a pansy-ass sometimes. Part of me hopes he finds a new lupa and leaves Anita alone, but I don't want her to lose connection with the pack.

Some of my favorite scenes have been Anita's interaction with the weres, especially in the couple of books before Incubus Dreams. It shows the growth within herself and trust of others. I really like her recent interactions with Jason.

I'm only about 100 pages into Obsidian Butterfly, just past Edward admitting that he has feelings for the family he's living with. I'm thrilled that LKH did an Edward book. Of course I had to read the last few pages before beginning the book and I am pleased.

She has done a fantastic job building Edward as a character. I love him, I think he's my favorite. He's so predictible in a I'm-so-scared-I'm-going-to-shit-my-pants sort of way. I am rather anxious to see who Anita bangs in this book, I'm thinking it's the detective.

I've read on message boards that Anita starts sleeping with many more men in later books. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I guess I'll see when I read them. But I think she should choose Jean Claude.

You may want to know why I learn what happens in a series before I finish it - well, I don't like surprises. I'm the same person who goes to ruinedendings.com before I see a movie that looks like it will be sad.

I'll also be sharing my thoughts on a few other series that I've read in the next couple of days. I would love to hear anyone else's thoughts on these books. Maybe if we begin a dialogue about books I'll feel smart. :-)

Lots of progress

I restarted my novel last week. After only a few hours I'm up to about 10,000 words according to Microsoft Word's counter. Using the 25 lines/page method I'm up to about 12,000 words so far. Things are going pretty smooth. I'm much happier with the characters, setting and dialogue now.
I even have the next few books mapped out in the series so I can get started on the second one while I'm pitching the first one. I also have an idea for a contemporary that I'm anxious to work on.

The biggest surprise was that I'm writing the story in 1st person. I hadn't planned on it, it just seems that it will work better that way. Especially since it's going to be a multi-book series.

I have to also say thanks to the person who helped me with ideas for the books. You're fantastic!

Back on the wagon

I've been on somewhat of a hiatus since NaNoWriMo. Once I hit 50k and really started trying to figure out where my story was going, I ran into a brick wall. There wasn't enough conflict, the characters weren't what I wanted them to be, etc.

So I decided to read as much paranormal romance as I could as fast as possible. I joined three book clubs and got a ton of books for really, really, really cheap. I read the Sookie Stackhouse series, Undead series, half of the Anita Blake series, part of the Dark series, and some other random books.

It was the best thing I could have done. I broke some of the barriers I had set up for myself and what my characters could and should be. I also got more ideas of how to lay out a book. And the thought never crossed my mind that I could have the same main characters go through several books, which is what I've decided to do.

I really liked how the Undead, Sookie and Anita series have done that. So having read about 20 books in the past month, I feel like I'm ready to begin writing again. So I have!

I decided to start over on my NaNoWriMo novel. Instead of it taking place in Scotland, it's taking place in Portland, Oregon where I'm from. Knowing the area will help me with my first book I think.

I also decided that the heroine will be more on the spunky side. She seemed boring in my first attempt, but now I'm enjoying her.

So now I'm off, again, to finish my first manuscript. I'm feeling more confident and jazzed about it than the first time.

The only thing left is for me to take a couple of books I really liked and go through them to make a plot outline. That should help me plan my own book and make sure it flows fast enough for publishing standards.

My goal is still to have the manuscript prepared by the RT convention in May. I hoped, and planned, to go to it but I don't think it's going to happen. Disapointing, but such is life.

Back in the saddle folks, wish me luck!

When it rains, it pours.

Life can suck sometimes. Bear with me and my long story. I think typing it out will help me deal with my pent up frustration.

So some asshole broke the window in my car, while my husband was using it. He was inside a restaurant for a work function for only like 1.5 hours. The probably meth monster stole about $2k worth of stuff.

We make a glass claim with our insurance company because the only problem we found was a window was broken. While the glass company repaired the window they found that our regulator was broken, the mechanism that rolls the window up and down. When we made the original claim we were told that we had a $100 deductible, so all we had to pay was $100.

But noooooooo. Since a "mechanical" failure came into play, it no longer qualifies for the glass deductible, it now falls under the comprehensive deductible. Since there is a $500 deductible on our policy, we'll owe another $400.

Here's why this pisses me off. Several people told me that since the mechanical thing wasn't found until the glass people were working, it should fall under the $100 deductible. But the claims adjustor saidi that the $100 deductible is no longer in effect, it's now the $500 deductible, minus the $100 I already paid.

Let me break it down for those of you who have still continued with the story. The parts and labor for the mechanical failure will be about $322. Then there's the $100 I already paid toward the glass claim, so a total of $422 out of pocket. Right? Oh no! It gets worse.

The claims adjustor said that since the $100 glass deductible is no longer in effect, I now have to pay up to the $500. Which means The remaining $78 will be used by more toward glass!!!!

This is what bothers me. If I would have just stuck with the glass claim, I would have paid the $100 and done the mechanical thing out of pocket and not told the insurance company about it. So I would have paid $422. Now I have to pay $500!!!! How in the hell is that fair? I don't even know if this makes any sense to you. It's sort of hard to explain.

You may wonder why I went through with the claim. Well, as I was asking my insurance company about my policy and what my options were, they added it to the claim! So there was no turning back.

To make things worse, my hubby got a speeding ticket today. As I said before, when it rains, it pours!

Still truckin'

Slowly but surely I'm still working toward finishing the first draft of my MS. In some ways it's easier than I thought, but in many ways it's harder. I find myself spending a lot of time thinking ahead. I want to write a vampire series, but I'm not sure if this MS and storyline could be developed into a series. So I'm debating on whether I should just write it how it comes and possibly start a series with a different book, or spend time prepping it for a potential series. There are two male characters other than the hero that I see becoming hero's of their own books. But I'm not sure if the connection between the vampire and heroine I developed (that destines them to be together) is strong enough to work. Maybe I'm just not being confident enough.
I am also struggling with the humor a bit. I really like humorous romances and I want my romance to be one, but it keeps coming out more serious than I had expected. But I figure that during revisions I can add humor and fix the characters to be a bit more funny.

Gosh, then there's the revisions. Oye, that's going to be time consuming. It makes me wonder if I should be one of the people who edits as I go, but then I figure I'll never finish that way. I'm banking on the fact that once I have a full first draft, I'll be motivated to revise it and it won't be too bad.

The one thing I do know is that I need to have a revised and ready draft by the Romantic Times conference in May.

I MADE 50K

I can't believe it but I hit the 50k mark. Yeah, it's brainspew, I know. But I have 50k words down and that's a great feeling. I still have a lot more to go and I hope I don't loose any momentum.
I'm really excited about working on my next book idea so hopefully that will keep me motivated to properly finish the first. I don't want to be that person waiting while trying to sell my first book and not working on the next. I'm determined to make this dream a reality.

Okay, enough sappy stuff. I'm happy to see that so many of you hit your goal - great job!

On an unrelated note, I learned today that there is a Gerard Butler convention in Scotland in January. That's so awesome! I guess there's one in Colorado next year. Pretty neato that there are so many fans of his out there. When I began adoring him years ago I couldn't find another fan for the life of me, but thanks to great casting and Internet improvements, fans are being connected everywhere!

I made a Web site - woohoo!

I've caught up with technology, well sort of. I used a cheaters tool (a site building program) to build the damn thing, but it worked. I used to know HTML, but I don't have the energy to give it a try now.
I keep reading that writers should have a Web site, even if they aren't published. So I thought I'd give it a go. I've been doing okay with the livejournal thing so this is a natural progression. I just need to find some better photos...

I know that the color pink probably makes many of you sick and seems odd for a paranormal romance writer, but I just can't help it. When I see the color pink I am instantly happy. I don't know why. I found a 6 foot PINK Christmas tree (pre-lit) at Meier and Frank. I'm so tempted to buy it but it costs too much. But a pink tree for a pink fanatic? How can you go wrong?

As far as writing progression goes, I'm so close to hitting the 50,000 mark for NaNoWriMo. I can taste it! About a third of me feels great that I typed so many words and they are in a quasi-logical order. But then there's another third that is uneasy about the fact that I'm just passed the halfway point because I'm writing a single title (80-100k). And the other third of me is absolutely dreading the revisions. Right now my manuscript feels like brain spew and I know I'm going to have to go back and make sure that the story lines up, there's enough characterization, foreshadowing appears, etc. But I know I'll be the better for it once it's done.

I also had a moment of inspiration for my next book. It will be a contemporary. I figured that would be wise, in a career sense, in case the paranormal market falls out before I'm finished with my MS, I can try and sell a contemporary.

Okay, back to writing. Stop distracting me journal! :-)

Oh yeah, the site is www.lisapulliam.com (creative, eh?)

Oops

I kind of forgot about my live journal for a few days. I was reading a friend's blog and realized that I have my own journal. Silly me :-) I do have a good excuse though - NaNoWriMo of course!
So I'm at about 18,000 words. Behind by about 10,000 as of today. Hopefully I'll be caught up by the end of the weekend.I had my plot die on me a couple of days ago. I had written the beginning and was approaching the middle when I got frustrated on where to go next. So I wrote the ending. Then I realized that there wasn't any, let alone enough, tension and conflict between the hero and heroine. So guess what I did? I reached out to my fellow WriMo's on the boards of course! I posted an extremely long summary of my story and what I was looking for. So far I've gotten some great ideas and I've taken one and adapted it for my story. Now I feel recharged and it gave me a couple of conflict events that I can put in my story. One where the hero gets upset at the heroine, then they make up. Then the heroine gets upset at the hero, then they make up. Happy days are here again. But now I have to go back and fix and rewrite some stuff. I did the strikethrough feature in Word on that stuff so I knew not to read it, but I kept it for word count purposes. Sneaky sneaky.

And I've decided to go to the Romantic Times conference for sure. It would be too valuable to pass up. I just need to find 3 roommates so my room will be cheap :-) If I can reach that goal, the hotel cost for 6 nights would only be about $270 per person - is that enough to convince you? I have good hygeine, I don't snore and I generally keep to myself so I'd make a good roommate. :-)

Take care all and I hope your NaNo's are going well.

So far, so good

I'm a slack-ass when it comes to this journal thing. I didn't realize it's been five days since posting. Oh well, I've been busy with NaNo so I have an excuse.

The writing has been going well so far. As of right now, I have 7,266 words. Pure crap, but at least it's written. I keep telling myself that I can change it later but that sounds so daunting! It's going to be a total rewrite because my brainspew is exactly that, spew, upchuck, barf. But, once again, at least it's out of my brain and on paper.

I've been pretty much going in chronological order. But I had an idea for some dialogue at the end so I wrote that, and I keep going back to stuff I've written to add things in that I think about later.

I am happy that I spent so much time thinking, planning and plotting. I would have ripped my hair out by now. But I also see why people like to see what shows up on the screen when we type blindly. I've been having a combination of both.

For example, I knew that my hero and heroine would "officially" meet at the Highlander Ball. She'd be exploring the castle (she's writing a book on castles) and go into a room where she found him snooping in the dark. He's a vampire so he can see well in the dark.

I also knew that the conflict in the story would primarily be the bad guy against the hero and heroine. I had an idea of what the conflict would be, but not much more than that. I couldn't plot how she would find out about and plant little seeds of doubt and stuff.

But low and behold as I'm typing the scene after the hero and heroine meet and she goes back to the ball to tell her best friend, who is snogging with a waiter at the party, and began typing an on the fly idea. After the girls left, the waiter goes to report to the owner of the castle and party-thrower (the bad guy) about the girls. He reports that the girls met the hero and then we learn a bit of backstory and foreshadowing to the climax.

This would probably be more meaningful and make sense if I actually explained the storyline a bit. But maybe that will come another day.

So all in all, I'm happy that I spent time pouring over the plot and I'm also pleasantly surprised by what gets written in the spur of the moment and how it can help advance a story.

Back to writing. If I could only include what I wrote here in my word count I'd be so much closer...

Which convention?

I recently joined the Romance Writers of America. I had planned to go to the national convention in Atlanta next July. Thought it would be a great way to network and learn more about writing, and the meeting with an editor or agent would be rad. Right? Well...

So I remembered that I wanted to check into the Romantic Times convention. Well, I did and it's in Daytona Beach! The reason this is significant is because I used to work at Disney World and I've been DYING to go back there. Daytona Beach is only one hour from Orlando and one hour from St. Augustine, the other place I really want to visit again. The problem is that it costs so much. I don't know anyone to go with so I may end up looking for roomies. I'd really like to spend a couple of extra days and rent a car to go to Orlando and St. Augustine but why does it have to cost so much! Argh!!! Registration is like $450, airfare probably $300, $119/night for a single room plus the costs for a rental car and a few extra days. But I do have free passes to Disneyworld :-)

I'm just going to pout for a while...I can't write right now because I'm thinking about the possibility of visitng Epcot...