Even my MUSE is exhausted Thursday, November 30, 2006

We've all been there, right? We're too tired to be creative. Too tired to think.

I was there at 2 this morning, when my youngest crawled into bed with me. I was still there at 330 when I took him back to his bed. Despite the fact my eyes were dry, my head was racing ahead. Mostly it was with my To Do List for today. (where blogging got put last, I might add.)

But it was also characters, nattering on in my head about 'make me do this, I wanna do that.' A witch named Brittany of all things showed up, insisting she is very interesting and I want to write about her.

After a day doing edits, writing emails for a project I'm working on, dealing with three children who don't seem too happy to have my attention when they have it, but want it when they don't...

Even my muse is tired. She's quiet as a family dinner after someone's announced they're pregnant.

So. I want to challenge everyone over the weekend to leave us comments:
post your short-short stories about WHY our muses have such sordid senses of humour.

Tipping the Balance Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Life is a juggling act. That's a fact and there isn't much to be done about it except try and keep all the balls in the air and maintain your balance so you don't fall flat on your face.

The same can be said for writing. Especially romantic suspense. The balls: romance, suspense, character development. It all has to balance, to work together, to create the kind of picture and story that you imagine in your head.

So, how do you make it all work. And when the action scenes pile one on top of the other, how do you squeeze in the romance and *ahem* sex scenes? How unrealistic is it to have your characters making it while being stalked by raging psycho-killer terrorists.

This means there has to be some down time too for the development of a physical relationship or more than just vague attraction. However the inability to make good on the attraction can build some awesome sexual tension.

When you write (or read) how do you maintain the balance. Do you notice if it goes too much one way or the other? Who are some of your favorite romantic suspense writers?

Mine: Suzanne Brockmann and Linda Howard.

What Stress? Monday, November 27, 2006

Let me preface this post with a disclaimer. I'm not whining. Okay, maybe a little bit, but sometimes whining is a necessary evil. I'm whining to you because I know you'll all understand.

After fourteen people had Thanksgiving in my home, I spent three days in Sacramento Christmas shopping and came home to a house torn apart by two children and a redneck and I was presented with extensive edits.

With a deadline of December fifteenth and my first release coming out December first, I'm beginning to wonder if my brain can handle the list of things I'm required to do.

I'm laughing right now because I'm the one who submitted two Christmas stories in the height of the holiday season. That means edits and family get togethers and shopping and promotion would all be happening at the same time. What the heck was I thinking?

I've decided to look at all of this as my Christmas present to me. After spending a lifetime "wishing" I could have a career in writing, I have it. It's my gift to me. When edits are hairy, or I struggle to find time to participate in all of the promotional opportunities, or I wonder if I'm going to lose my mind, I remind myself that I'm doing what I love.

Today, I'm remembering that my father spend his whole life dreaming of having what I'm beginning to have now. I talk to other authors. I spend time writing and I'm starting to have some success with it. He never did. He dreamed of being a published author, but never submitted his work.

Part of me feels guilty that I've been having success when I know other authors that have worked years to get published. Part of me wonders if I'll ever know what I'm doing.

Most of me is just grateful to have the chance to see my work published.

Here's my question to you. When the writing gets tough, how do you get going? What reminds you that it's all worth it?

Oh, what to do.... Friday, November 24, 2006

To relax??

Huh?

Okay, let me back up here. A friend's post got me thinking about what we do when we aren't working. Personally, if I'm not working, the list is very short for what I may be doing.

Cooking, laundry, eating, sleeping, reading, or I'm not at home. Seriously. That's a short list! I know it isn't good for me, and I know I'm bordering on being a workaholic, but I love what I do. At least I CAN say that about writing.

Working, by the way, is a long spectrum of small chunks of responsibility, so while I may not be writing ALL the time, I am doing something toward my career.

I am curious about how others relax though, when they are trying to ignore the writing gremlins and pressures of this career. Like I said, I read, but if I am really too burned out to think or see straight, I might crochet. I've completed three afghans this year, and I hand-make a lot of my promo items, like cards and bookmarks, so while I'm doing nothing, it still leans toward doing something for my writing. See? Even when I'm relaxing, I'm working. *sigh* I even feel extremely guilty when I'm not at home, when I should be working.

Do you ever feel that way? Do you feel like you have to be working?

Happy Holiday #1 Thursday, November 23, 2006

This is the first holiday we've celebrated at Shadows of Passion, and it's my honour to be the one to wish all of our American friends:

Happy Thanksgiving.

Creating Effective Villains Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Crystal's post last week about villains made me think. I've read a lot of books crossing genre lines that have two-dimensional villains. They have no motivation whatsoever for their actions except for being "evil" or having some ridiculous vendetta against the hero/ine.

In other words, they aren't an effective villain.

You don't need an effective villain to have a good book--after all, some of my favorite novels have two-dimensional villains--but it definitely strengthens the story. A fully fleshed out and realised villain can work against your hero/ine more actively and provide further plot twists you might not otherwise have thought of.

On the flipside, if you explore your villain enough, s/he becomes more "real," and it can be harder to see him as the "big baddie." I've had two books now where the character I intended to be the baddie turned out to be the hero instead. Since I found this out in prewriting, it wasn't a huge deal, but it could've been if I'd been pantsing.

But I think my work is all the stronger for those changes. In both cases, it's made the story much more complex and dynamic. I like that. ^_^

So what's the point of all this?

After some thought, I'm going to run a mini-workshop here on creating effective villains. It should be a three-part workshop, including exercises. If people want to post their completed exercises in comments, I'll be more than happy to give my commentary.

Check in next week for the first workshop!

Promotions Part Deux Monday, November 20, 2006

It's interesting that Diana was talking about promotions on Friday, since I've been thinking about this too.

It seems that I expend all creativity on writing and nothing else. Games for birthday parties? Forget it. I can't plan them. Pretty little eatables for the holidays? Detailed instructions needed from a magazine. Contests? Uh uh. I'm hopeless.

So, when it comes to promoting my books, I'm stumped for ideas. I know what I like, but I'm not good at coming up with the "right" way to get the word out about my stuff.

Luckily for me, I have several other authors that are brilliant at this stuff. I rely on them for so many things. You've all heard me rave about the help I get from others.

Publishers are also helpful in this area. Cobblestone and The Wild Rose Press know how to get their authors out there on Yahoo groups and chats. Participating in those has been fairly simple for me.

My question for you all is where do you get those ideas? Naturally reticent about my writing, I realize a significant change in attitude is necessary. Has anyone else struggled with this? If so, how did you get out there and do what needs to be done?

Promotions Friday, November 17, 2006

Today, I thought I'd touch on promotions. There's a world of it out there, not only for us to do ourselves, but from others to catch our own scattered attentions. There's a lot of sites that range in preferences, wants and readers who lurk or participate. Some allow active drive-by promos, while others request or require active participation to promote. Honestly, I can easily see the reason for the second and recognize the ease of the first.

There's all levels of paid for promotion opportunities. I'm still not entirely sure that's the best route for me to go. In truth, I should probably be putting more money into visual promotion than just supportive promotion, like contests and being there for fellow writers and for my publisher. Doesn't it make more sense that the more sites you are "visible" on, the better following you would have?

This is why I'm not so sure.

A lot of sites are any heat level or strongly encourage erotic. I don't write it, so am I being noticed? I don't know. It's too soon to say. I've only purchased one promo slot on a high traffic, well known site. I'm researching more, and at the beginning of the year, I'm going to try for more, but how much is reasonable?

Do you notice the banners and covers on sites? Do they encourage you to visit the writer's sites?

Real life Smackdown Thursday, November 16, 2006

For those of you who don't know, I'm a hermit. I have three boys, a husband, and a big ole house that I never leave. This is for the best, for me, and the world in general. Left to my own devices, I can get into some serious trouble (Foot in mouth disease is the least of my problems)
This week, I actually had to interact with real life people, and deal with real life problems. And I panicked. Actually, I felt totally smacked-down (hence the post title)

It's all taken care of now...but I realised this morning, even while I was dealing with insanity, half the time I was thinking "how could I use this in a book?", "what would my character do?"
And I realised, too, that my real-life reactions might not be ones I'd want my characters to have.
Actually, I may want to smack a heroine who reacted the way I do in a tight spot. (Fight or flight? How 'bout hide under the nearest blanket (with a pint of ice cream if I remember to grab it before hiding) and wait for it to all go away on its own)

And that, of course, got me thinking:

What reaction(s) have you read of a character, or seen on a movie or TV that you thought "I wish I'd react like that"?

I did a bad, bad thing. And I liked it. Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Today, I'm talking about villains.

The villain is the equal and opposite antithesis of the heroine and/or heroine. What I hate about some suspense is that you might get a stooooopid villain. Where's the fun in that? If you know the hero/ine is going to win, where's the fun in that? Okay, okay. So you know the hero/ine is going to win anyway. Good triumphs over eeevil and all that. It's fiction. However, give the villain some hope! Even if it's a faint glimmer of cheery feel-good type evil triumph.

Why are we rooting for the hero/ine if we know they'll win? We need to doubt, if only for a moment, that it's all going to be okay. Will they win, but experience some serious personal loss? And I mean serious. Make us believe.

In conclusion: Villains need love too! So give us one that's worthy of your awesome hero/ine.

Are Taking Breaks A Good Thing? Monday, November 13, 2006

Last Thursday, in the midst of all the chaos that is my life, I took some time off. I spent the day doing non-writing, non-mommy things. On Friday, I left for a Convention for teenagers that I volunteer with every week. Picture it. Five girls ages twelve to twenty in a van with two adults, ages 38 and 50. Whew. I'm just glad I made it home alive.
Six hours of driving, several cups of coffee and late nights later, I managed to get myself a little "cold".
Now I'm kicking myself for taking a "break" from writing.
However, I know that taking a break is necessary for writers. Or Mommys for that matter.
Questions swirl around my head. "How long of a break? How much is too much? When do I know I'm not "taking a break" I'm stagnating?"
Maybe I'm the only one who worries about this stuff.
My question is this. Do you know how long to take a break?

Researching your work Friday, November 10, 2006

I was wondering who does what for research. Kind of vague, but let me see if I can do this...

One of my first completed manuscripts is about an artist who was born in Africa, trained in Paris and is a world traveler. Let me tell you, I had a BALL researching the African National Parks where as an artist she found her inspirations. As well as the museums and artistic world as a whole to make her character complete. I got great information on the Louvre in Paris too! Made my heart go pitty-pat.

Another story that I had to do research on was September Heat. Luckily enough, I've been to Las Vegas, one of my all time favorite cities in the country and know many of the casinos first hand. Plus I use to watch the Las Vegas shows on the Travel Channel to keep those memories alive, where I learned about the security and how it works, which is a big point in the story.

Granted, I don't research everything. A lot of my writing is pure creative fantasy. I do research, but if the amount of therapy needed for a recovery isn't part of the story, and would only bog it down, well, then I don't use it.

Believability is important to me. So is not losing the reader because of Slot A and Tab B instructions. Hate that kind of instructional reading right smack dab in the middle of a good action scene.

So how much do you need to believe? How much do you research? How indepth do you feel you need to be to keep the reader interested? Do you need the eighteen letter medical name for a drug used once in the book, or are you happy with "tranquilizer"? Does the wall of a building have to be granite, or rose and marble hewn granite? Once detailed or many times? How much detail rips you out of the story? I know my preferances. So cough it up....

How do I kill thee...let me count the ways... Thursday, November 09, 2006

So I joined a new yahoo group this week. A bunch of crime writers who get to ask all kinds of questions, mostly about how best to kill off their characters. Absolute *heaven* lemme tell you! There's other stuff, too, but really, what's more fun than being able to send a character barrelling over Niagra Falls and know without a doubt that he'd die of a head injury before having a chance to drown?

Yeah, I know, it's completely morbid, isn't it?

I've sort of come to grips with my morbidity. My favorite shows on TV feature the dead or dying. (Dead like Me, CSI...) I'm actually okay with it. It weirds my friends and family out, but that's okay, too. sometimes even a little fun...

So my question for you? What's the most inventive way you've killed off a character? Or read about or seen in a movie, I'm not picky ;)

Contesting Wednesday, November 08, 2006

There are two kinds of contests I want to mention today. One for writers and one for readers. When it comes to contests for writers, I'm not a big fan. In fact, I despise them. Yeah, it's weird. Probably not the majority ruling on this issue. Here's my take. A contest costs money to enter and IF you win, you might have an editor or agent you want reading your manuscript. But that's a big, huge if. It's a heck of a lot cheaper to simply query the agent or editor and see if they're interested in your work. The upside is if you do manage to win the coveted editor or agent has to read your whole manuscript and won't toss it aside after the first paragraph to send you a form rejection. There are people who final in the Golden Heart (THE contest of contests) who never sell that manuscript. What does that tell you? The benfeits of contests are limited and totally uncertain. In my opinion, a waste of money. Yeah, I said it. It's my opinion and feel free to disagree.


On to the contests I like. Reader contests. These are contests that writers hold to reward their loyal readers (or to draw in new readers) for well...reading. Below are two contest giveaways that I'll be using in my upcoming contests. No these aren't up for grabs YET. (Keep an eye on my blog if you want them though, because the contests will be announced shortly.) The first is obviously a christmas giveaway because I have a holiday release coming out soon. I haven't decided what I'll make people do for the contest yet, feel free to make suggestions, but it will probably entail some kind of scavenger hunt or signing up for a newsletter. Thus I can keep a readers attention long after I've given up the goods.

The second is a valentine's day giveaway for a chick lit story I'm writing. See the upside down heart? I thought it appropriate. Why do I do these kinds of contests? It's a promotional gimmick, yeah. But it's also my way of saying THANKS to readers for showing up and taking a moment to play along with me. That's all folks!

NaNoWriMo Check-In Tuesday, November 07, 2006

We're officially one week into Nanowrimo. Since several readers here are attempting the insanity marathon... how's it going?

And since I'm asking the question, I might as well answer myself... *cough* A grand 5k here. Yeah, I suck. I have hope that I can ramp it up over the next few days, though! ;)

The Big Come Down Monday, November 06, 2006

As many of you know, I've managed to get not one but FOUR of my books published. I've got two coming out in December. Last week was a series of "Squeeeee" moments and then the "OMG, what do I do now?". After keeping that up for a while, I came down with a "bump" on Saturday.
In talking to other authors, I found out this isn't unusual. Entering this new universe of edits, contracts and covers, I've found that the initial pink clouds don't really go away, but I don't fly around in them as much.
I wasn't prepared.
So, on Saturday, I found myself a little......well, cranky. Luckily, I'm surrounded by people that, even if they don't understand, love me despite my occasional lapses into weirdness. One thing I've learned from reading threads on Romance Divas and chatting with other authors is TO WRITE. Don't let down. So I've started a new wip called "Deadly Mistake". It's a romantic suspense and I'm shooting for a higher word count. It's the only way I know to handle success, and, for that matter, failure. Keep writing.
With all the nano excitement flying around, emails, contracts and so on, writing has been my stability. It shows me one thing.
Writing is what I'm called to do. No matter what success I have or rejections I collect or sick kids or crabby husbands, I write. It's what I have to do. I can't allow the fear of what may happen next to stop me.
Eight thousand words later, I realize that it relaxes me. Everything else is crazy. Lost in my story, I can relax and let go. I don't know what that says about me, but I think I'll be at this for a long time.
The best thing about where I am right now is that I have people around me to keep me firmly rooted in the writing. Sales, covers, contracts and all the other stuff is important, but it's the writing that counts. So thank you Crystal, Dayna, Diana, Shelli, Lori and the many others that have SHOWN me as well as told me that it's the work that counts, not the number of sales or my name in print.
I'm off to kill off a few more people in my wip. Let me ask you this. What do you do when that come down happens? Whether it's something writing related or not, how do you deal with the high excitement of achievement and everything that follows?

Just a cheer of good luck! Friday, November 03, 2006

I don't really have a post to make today. I'm a bad person. I'll admit it. So instead, what I wanted to do was just congratulate everyone who is attempting NaNo 2006.

I'm one of them, and I'm not sure this year I'll make it. I'm going to give it my best effort though. We all have our doubts about any story, and there's as many reasons to attempt NaNo as there are stories.

So to all who are trying, first timers, repeat offenders... :) Best of luck to all of you! Let the keyboards be heard around the world!

Nano Nano Thursday, November 02, 2006

So those of you who are about to die, I salute you. I'm not doing Nano this year, but I wish all of you the best of luck.

Instead I'll be writing my first requested fantasy romance. Yeah, it's not the same as suspense, which is probably what I should be talking about over here, but you can shoot me later. Hey, that's suspense full. Guns, knives, drama. Right here on my post.

I'm also trying something different in this book. I totally pants the crap out of my books. I have a sorta clear storyline in my mind about how and when things should happen, but then it's fair game. Usually, I'm a way huge pantser and just write whatever comes to me. That means I could be doing Chapter 3 today and the Prologue tomorrow. This time, I'm going from beginning to end. Or at least I'm trying. We'll see how it goes after this one. So far, it's not bad, but I'm not holding my breath.

Wish me luck!

Reviews--for good or evil? Wednesday, November 01, 2006

This is something that's really been bothering me lately. What's the point of book reviews? There's almost as many opinions on this as there are religions.

1) You should always give a good review of a book because as the reviewer, you got it for free, and why would you dis someone who gave you free stuff!

2) Reviews should be your honest opinion of the book.
2b) reviews should be the honest opinion of any reviewer who liked the book.

3) Reviews should be all about whether or not a reader would like a book.

4) reviews should be about how well a book is written.

You get the idea. Sometimes the differences of opinion are so slight it's almost laughable.

And of course, the only thing more prevalent than opinions about reviews is *reactions* to reviews.

1) I got a bad review, Boo hoo. (genuine upset, crying, tantrum, preferably in private, but some idiots...er...people...like to rant about bad reviews on their blog or website. (I say idiots because this never ends well. They don't look good by doing so.)

2) I got a bad review, but the person reviewing it didn't
a) read my book
b) like shorts, which my book was.
c) like the genre, and admitted it.
d) spell a single word right in their review.

These are the toss-away reviews. They lack legitimacy, and authors discredit them.

3) I got a great review. But I know this person, so...what's the review mean? Anything?
b) I got a great review from some random review house, but they have a policy of only giving good reviews.

4) the oh-so-elusive: someone reviewed my book and actually *got* it.

With that in mind, I've come to the decision the only valid review for me personally is a recommended read from someone I know or who knows me. But how 'bout you? Do you cruise the really trash-talkin' review sites to find the most hacked books to buy? Do you only buy the ones that get 5-whatevers from a bunch of review sites? Or do the reviews just not matter at all?