Revisiting the Past and Looking to the Future Tuesday, December 26, 2006

We near the end of 2006, and the New Year is on the horizon. It's almost cliché (who am I kidding? It is) to look back at the happenings of the year, and towards the next.

I've learned a lot about myself this year. I discovered the roots of my years-long writing block, and though I still struggle with it, knowing what it is I fight makes me all the stronger. I've been published with three different e-publishers, though my experiences have run the gamut. On the personal front, I've been betrayed by someone who I thought loved me as much as I loved her, I've lost someone as dear as a mother to me, and I've gotten married.

It's been one hell of a year.

I've made a lot of realisations, and I can't stop now. I have to keep moving. I don't make "resolutions" for the New Year, because those almost always fall flat. I have goals, but I don't know if I'll succeed in them. When dealing with almost disabling health issues, nothing is certain.

In 2007, I want to continue to pursue my writing career. My novel, Stronger than the Night, is half-rewritten. I want to finish it and start the agent hunt. I want to continue the Shadowguard series; I want to write the sequel to A Passion Draconic; I want to finish Wings of Steel; I want to finish The Reaper's Price.

Most of all, I want to keep moving forward. I'm still trying to find my "groove." Hopefully, I can find it in 2007.

What realisations have you made in '06? What do you hope to achieve in the coming year?

Merry Christmas Monday, December 25, 2006

Merry Christmas to you all.

May all your family visits be drama free.

May your vacation actually be a vacation.

May your upcoming edits be quick.

May all your writing flow.

May you discover new authors and new talents.

May the gifts under the tree be secondary to the gifts that aren't wrapped; friendship, love, support and, most of all, sleep.

Happy Holidays to all from all of us.

All I want for Christmas... Friday, December 22, 2006

Is easy edits...

I know, many of you are laughing, your tummies jiggling, as it's the season for it. But it's a personal pride issue for me. I HAVE to have the ABSOLUTE BEST work I can produce on that page before anyone will see it. Ask my CP's, they know I'm dead serious about this.

That usually means rereading a piece no less than a dozen or two dozen times to find dropped words, passive voice, and other evils that befall us as writers.

Why should the editor be responsible for cleaning up my mess? If I have to write something which requires THAT much work, then it shouldn't be going to a publisher. Any kind of publisher. I know some people believe that an editor is there to "cure all the errors" but honestly, that is the writer's job, and I take pride in it. I love it when I get work back with next to nothing done to it. That means my writing is growing, I'm learning the right way to WRITE, not just throw words on a page and let someone else fix the jumble into coherency.

So here's what I'm wondering as we go into the Christmas countdown -- How much is good enough for you to submit your work? Do you reread until your eyeballs threaten mutiny? I'm a closet perfectionist when it comes to this point, so I'm really curious if my standards are just personal, or if others have CP's (Critique Partners) or beta readers to go over their work?

Writing in the void Wednesday, December 20, 2006

I have nothing to say today.

Yeah. I know it sounds weird coming from the uber chatty, sometimes catty, hairy-scary me. But, there you go.

I got nothing.

Nada.

Zip.

Zilch.

Sigh. That's sort of how my writing has felt like lately. I'm just typing and hoping it turns out okay. Jen and Dayna have been reading my stuff over lately and they say it looks good, but I'm just blindly feeling my way along. I'm not certain what's going on. Maybe it's the lack of deadline. I don't have anything pressing to write right now. Nothing is DUE in 2-3 weeks, which is sort of how my last six months have gone.

"I'm done with this. Okay, next project. Due date: yesterday. Best get to work."

I've tried giving myself deadlines in hopes of flogging myself into motivation, but it ain't working. Maybe I should take the rest of the month off. It is the holidays, after all.

Last time I tried to take a week off, I made it three days before I was crawling the walls and broke down to start writing again. It was the thought that counted, right?

I Hate Winter Tuesday, December 19, 2006

(Given that most everyone is taken up with the holidays, I'll complete the Creating Effective Villain workshop in January. :)

I hate winter. Okay, to be more accurate, I hate fall and winter. Between my body's reaction to the seasonal change (pain! pain! more pain!) and the seemingly constant holidays (which require shopping, and planning, and dealing with other people), I'm a wreck.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not a total Grinch. I love the holidays. (Okay, let me requalify that. I love the holidays when I'm not stuck spending them with my crazy fundamentalist in-laws.) But I can't seem to juggle my time worth shit. Writing? What's that? *sigh* I think I'm just going to count on getting jack and shit done 'till January rolls around.

Anybody else have better luck juggling eggs than I do? :p

What's In A Length? Sunday, December 17, 2006

As some of you know, (how could you not with my big mouth) my romantic suspense novel has been accepted by
Whiskey Creek Press/Torrid "Heart of the Storm" will be part of a "Men of Alaska" series, the first one tenatively set to be release in September of 2007. I've decided to go with the print option, so it will be a BOOK. Cool.

I was beginning to think I couldn't write anything over 20K. "Heart of the Storm" is 46K and I'm thrilled that it's been contracted.

Now, we come to my goal for 2007. I want to write 100K by the end of next year. That's my goal and it's going to be tough. I might actually have to write an (*gasp* *choke*) outline.

Scary.

This is my first romantic suspense to be contracted. I have the sequel started and I'm hoping to expand this part of my career a little further.

It's exciting. I've got two out this month ("Yule "Tied" and "A Taste Of Christmas"), two out in Febuary ("Singled Out" and "Naughty Notions"), the In The Garden anthology out in March and another contracted for later next year ("Perfect"). With this new contract, I'm well on my way to having the career I've always dreamed of.

Who knew? And you've gotten to see the whole thing, since I was unpubbed (and blogged about it here) when we started Shadows of Passion. Thanks for being there everyone.

So, on the topic, what's the longest book you've written? What's the longest book you've read? I have to say that the longest book I read was "Hawaii" by Mitchner. I'd like to have that year back please.

My turn Thursday, December 14, 2006

I'm suffering from major mood swings lately. I'm not sure why, whether it's the holidays, or the rain, or just that I keep my emotions so controlled normally that they have to go haywire once in a while to break free....but it sucks.

The hardest part is that my characters are feeling the effects. I'm putting them through the ringer. I think I may've put one of them in a permanent depression. I'm tossing them overboard, blowing up buildings, stabbings, shootings...whatever it takes to get my agression out.

So my question for you is how does your mood affect your writing? And when you're in a BAD mood, what do you like to read?

Expectations Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Today, I'm talking about series.

If an author writes a book and it's the first in a series, it sets the mark for the rest of the books that follow. The author can slave and sculpt and hone the second, third, and fourth, etc books and still never satisfy anyone. Imagine the terror this imparts on the author. You go in knowing that even if everyone loved the first story, not everyone will love how you dealt with number two or three. Didn't like the direction a character took in your head and on to the paper.

Hyperventilation ensues.

We've all read those series, where the first book had so much potential in our mind. We really, really, really wanted to read number two and then the author, to our mind, dropped the ball.

I'm on the receiving end of that right now. Not the Oh God You Suck portion, but the scary hyperventilation part. The second installment in my first series is set to come out in January, and I'm terrified the people who read the first book won't like what I did with it. I love the story, I love the characters. but maybe other people envisioned a different story arc. Or a different character. Or a different...whatever.

Hyperventilation ensues.

As an author, how do you deal with the expectations. As a reader, what do you do when an author doesn't meet your expectations?

The Newbie Promotion Outlook Monday, December 11, 2006

I'm a "Published Author". I have to remind myself everyday that two different publishers like my work. Cobblestone Press and Wild Rose Press have both contracted my stories and the promotional merry-go-round begins. On Saturday, I discovered that I double booked myself. Not only was I chatting at Ebook Love with Cobblestone, but I was supposed to be over at Joyfully Reviewed for WRP. I thought I got them all on the calendar, but being new at this, I didn't.

Then, I'm chatting over at Ebook Love and I'm freakin' clueless. I think I did okay, but I'm not used to promoting myself or my books. It got me thinking. Do you (who are much more professional than I am) have a "plan" when you go to a promotional chat? I had my blurb for "A Taste of Christmas" and my website address. I did have that overwhelming feeling of "What the heck am I doing?"

*sigh*

I know I'll get the hang of this. It's funny. I do so much better raving about other people's writing than my own. It's not that I'm shy (stop laughing you guys!). I'm just really green.

How did you guys overcome the promotional newbie hurdles?

Collections Friday, December 08, 2006

I fell asleep last night thinking about all the stuff I collect. Christmas bears, carousel horses-of all kinds. And of course, books. That one goes without saying. Craft books, hardcovers, paperbacks. Well, just about everything.

I'm also one of those insanely weird people that if I have a book out of a series, I HAVE to buy all the books in that series. Yep, more collecting. And I also like to have them all either paperback, or hardcover. That's my organizational analness speaking up, I know.

I also collect in certain genres, depending on what I'm doing at any given phase of the moon. Paranormals has been a big one lately, and of course that would mean anything with the name Feehan. Then there's my Romantic Suspense. I love those. I also have quite a few Fantasy.

Now, not all of these have been read. Hardly. Tons of books, begging to be read, but I think I like collecting them as much as I do reading them. And don't leave me alone with Amazon to surf. That's just dangerous territory.

So if you had collections of books, or even not of books, what do you collect? And if there was one thing that you really wanted to collect, cost not being a factor--like priceless oil paintings or something--what would be the one thing you really really want to collect and just don't? Mine.. Horses. But that's hard to do when living in an apartment.

Don't Be Stupid! Thursday, December 07, 2006

Ok. Maybe I'm the only person here who knows someone, or has spoken to someone who's afraid their net-presence is going to bite them in the ass.
Because I have to say there are some authors who take stupid to a whole new level.

Print Author Unnamed wakes up one morning and posts to her blog a rant about:

Chain Bookstores. And how they suck. Indie bookstores are the only way to go.

Kinda like Hershey's going and ranting about those annoying places that buy their chocolate bars in bulk and then go sell them, innit? MUCH better to rely on all the little mom and pop stores I'm sure we all stop at for our chocolate instead of grabbing it at Walmart when we're there buying everything else we need, right?

I'm epublished, though. Maybe that accounts for my realisation that the pond we're in is incestuously small. Rumours pass quicker than Uncle Bud's chili. So I know enough that I try to keep a lid on my own stupidity. I got enough of that in my misspent youth, anyway.

I also know there are some epublishers that continue, in spite of what should be some obvious black marks against them. (Shady business practices, bad contracts, bad editting. Hey, there's one or two I can think of that even have crummy cover-art!) But, since the pond is so small, people are afraid to stir up any shit. (why poop where you swim!)

So I'm going to pimp Piers Anthony's resource for e-authors: www.hipiers.com where he lists epublishers and the rumours/reputations they have.

So I guess I'll open it up here. What do you think is the stupidest thing a writer could have on their website or blog?

Project Undone Wednesday, December 06, 2006

We all have one of those projects. The one that we always meant to finish but just...haven't gotten around to it. It could be that knitting, painting, drawing, sewing, quilting, woodworking project that is half-done and sitting in a box somewhere collecting dust or mold.

For writers, there's that one book that we started and always meant to finish, but just haven't quite figured out what's wrong with it or it's a bigger project that we anticipated or something was just not working at the time we were trying to write it. So it sits in a file on our desk or computer and glares at us, nagging us for giving up on it or never really finishing. The characters whine or whisper, reminding us their story remains untold.

Sounds crazy, right? Well...right now I'm in the midst of dipping my toes back into that nagging project. It's an urban fantasy romantic suspense (say that ten times fast). I love these characters, this story, the whole concept. Which is why I didn't delete the file when it frustrated me to the point of ripping my hair out (and Jen can tell you, I really, really love my hair) and pulling a freak-out meltdown worthy of Donald Duck.

What about you? What's your Project Undone? How does it turn out for you when you finally pick it back up again?

Creating Effective Villains, Pt. I Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Welcome to Creating an Effective Villain 101. Building an antagonist, if you want to be accurate, but same difference. ;)

Last time, I talked about villains and their goals/motivations. When developing any character, here's one of the most important questions you should ask:

• What does [insert character] want more than anything else?

Note: "hot new Porsche" is not the correct answer.

This is the point at which you need to delve deep into your character's head. What do they want? Why do they want it? How are they going to go about getting it? Cause you can want all you like, but if you never do anything to get it... well, you're like a good portion of the human population, and not exactly fodder for an exciting novel. LOL.

Let me take an example from the novel I'm currently working on. (Worldbuilding note so this makes sense: The antagonist is a psychic vampire, and in this world, they are very often created through extreme abuse. This is not a widely known fact, even amongst the psi-vamps.) Eric White wants to prevent his people from going through the same kind of hell he has (goal and motivation). He knows that almost all of his people have been hurt by humans. Because of this, he wants to found a sanctuary where they can all be safe.

Noble goal, no?

Well, sure. But there are people who don't believe the same as him, and his goals are threatened. If he wants to succeed, he's going to need to make some hard choices (conflict). Ultimately, in order to achieve that goal, he will stop at nothing to get it. Over the course of the novel, he resorts to ends that many would say do not justify the means -- such as killing an innocent human woman. He believes it's necessary, and he does not see himself as a villain. He sees himself as a normal guy who's just doing what needs to be done to protect his own.

See what I'm getting at here?

Okay, let's apply this to YOUR villains. Here are the usual questions I ask when villain-building:

• What is your villain's main goal?
  
  
• What is his motivation? Eg, why does he want it?
  
  
• What is his conflict? What would he have to do/give up/etc in order to reach his goal?

That's all for this week. If anyone feels so inclined, post your answers to this exercise sometime in the next week, and I'll toss you my critique. (For whatever that's worth. ;)

Music and Writing Sunday, December 03, 2006

I was visiting one of my favorite blogs,
Paula Graves
and she was talking about using music as inspiration. When I wrote "Yule "Tied" (The Wild Rose Press) and "A Taste of Christmas" (Cobblestone), I played Christmas music to keep the mood for the stories. As I work on my romantic fantasy, I've been playing Evanescence's new CD to keep the mood dark and ethereal. I use music a lot to keep the creative juices flowing.
When writing love scenes, I will often put in something sexy to keep me in the right spirit to write.

I love that Loribelle Hunt
puts her "Current Playlist" on her blog, so we know what she's listening to as she writes her sexy paranormals. Of course, it helps that I'm a music junkie as well as a bibliophile. Even when I was young, I had music that I read to go with the book I was reading. The clearest example of this was when I read "Dune" by Frank Herbert. For some reason, Alan Parson's Project would be absolutely necessary to have playing in concert as I read all the Dune series. When I read Ngaio Marsh books, I'm usually in the mood for Diana Krall. When I read Jane Austen, I usually want to listen to Arvo Part or Mozart. Every story has a mood.

My stories usually require something hard and moody, like Crossfade, Seether or Linkin Park. But then the mood will change and I'm listening to Enya. So my question to you is does music inspire you? What do you use to set the mood? Does music give you ideas or do your ideas spark a need for "mood music". Which comes first? The music or the writing?