Reader Pet Peeves

 I heard it said recently that authors make the worst book reviewers. My immediate reaction was that this couldn't possibly be true. We authors love books. We love reading them, obsessing over them, fangirling over other authors. We discuss them to death...and, occasionally, we even love writing them.  Whenever a group of authors get together, the books we've read or the ones we're writing form our main topics of conversation...followed closely, of course, by discussions of food, wine, shoes, and sometimes business. 

Who knows better how difficult writing can be? Why wouldn't we be the best, most forgiving, people to review books? Well, I've given the matter a lot of thought, and I think I've figured out why. 

I think the problem is that we're too serious about writing.  We're too invested--in both the process and the end results--we take it too personally. Also, there's our inner critic. We have to ruthlessly squash the tendency to critique in order to get any words at all down on paper. So I guess it's not that surprising, after all, that the instinct to pick things apart would explode out of the gate when we finally unleash it on someone else's book.  

Here's a list, in no particular order, of things that have annoyed me as a reader--things that, not always, but for the most part, I'm reasonably certain wouldn't have bothered me one iota before I started publishing. 

1. Continuity problems. This has always bothered me to some extent, although not as much as it does now. I like to think the reason me is that I pay attention, and it bugs me that others (other authors, that is) don't. But I suspect the real reason is that it's an issue is that I obsess over and struggle with so much in my own work. But books where the author seemingly can't recall details from one book to the next (or worse, within a single book) make me furious. We've all changed characters' names, and find-and-replace doesn't always get the job done--mostly, I think, because there's always some part of our brains that continues to think of that character by his or her former name. So I give gratuitous name changes a pass. But things like eye color, age, height, and all those little quirks we lavish on our characters to make them stand out--those shouldn't change. If they do, it's a problem for me. I feel like I shouldn't know your characters better than you do. 

2. Location, location, location. I love fictional locations that are based on real locations that I'm familiar with. I love being able to pick out the actual places that inspired the author, as well as seeing where imagination took over. BUT, if you're going to set your story in the real world, in a place I feel a personal connection to, I'm going to hate absolutely everything you write that departs, in any way, from my experience of the place. 

Case in point: I spent hours, recently, ranting about a series set in the Oakland Hills; wondering why the characters, on a trip from Tilden Park to the Berkeley Marina would head right toward Albany, when they hit San Pablo, rather than left toward Emeryville. And I felt unreasonably cheated when they ended up not going to the marina after all (even though it shouldn't have been surprising, I guess, since they clearly would have gotten lost, the way they were going!) since I'd volunteered at the Nature Center there for nearly ten years. 

3. What's on your menu?  In my first series, it often seemed to me that everyone was always eating or drinking or cooking. And I was good with that. I enjoyed testing or inventing recipes that matched my characters' individual tastes. Then I began writing about things like vampires and angels, automatons  and demi-god tree-shifters and, over time, food began to disappear from my books. Other than cookies, of course. Apparently all my characters enjoy those. 

So, I guess it was only natural that I'd begin to critique dishes (or vintages) that I was reading about.  Occasionally, I've tried to recreate the dishes I've read about (that's not new. I still recall, when I first read Pippi Longstocking as a child, pestering my mother for open-faced, flatbread sandwiches like Tommy and Anika ate.  Recently, I tried my hand at buckwheat scones--because they sounded amazing when I read about them. FYI: a little buckwheat goes a loooong way. Too much, and you get very dry scones. 

More and more often, I  find myself complaining when an author (or a character's) tastes differ too much from my own. Which I freely admit is absolutely ridiculous, and I suspect might have more to do with this being 2020 than anything else.

4. Paranormal details. Going back to those aforementioned vampires, I only started writing them because I was so critical of various vampire quirks that my daughter basically challenged me to write my own version if I did didn't like what I was reading. This is one area where I've actually become less critical. Yes, I still have very strong opinions on what the rules should be governing the ways in which vampires, shifters, ghosts, the Fae, etc should behave, but apparently writing my own was exactly the antidote I needed. 

5. Careers, hobbies and assorted interests.  This takes us into "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" territory.  If I've done it, known someone who's done it, researched it for a book, or always wanted to do it, I'm going to be hyper-aware of tiniest discrepancy between what I've experienced, and what you're showing me. It's an obnoxious trait. I annoy myself with it. But there it is.  

As I've been compiling this list, it's occured to me that part of the reason I've been so critical lately could have to do with fact that I'm not writing as much as I used (because reasons). It's sort of a: "those who can do, those who can't critique," scenario. 

Of course, it could also be because I simply have more time to read now, but I don't think so. I think I just really am much happier, overall, when I'm actively working on my own books. Which is good to know, honestly, because I've 've been so sporadic lately, that I've really started wondering if there was any reason to continue.

Getting my inner critic to chill TF out once in awhile? That's definitely a reason.  

JUST DON’T USE AN ORANGE CRAYON… by Dani Harper

As I’ve been updating and reworking my very first shapeshifter series for re-release, maybe it’s only natural that I would look back down the road I’ve traveled to get to this point.

Turns out it’s a looong road – my writing career really began when I was a little kid!

As an active child—and I mean ‘swinging from the top of the nearest tree’ ACTIVE—I wasn’t known for sitting still. But if someone was telling a story? That got my complete attention. And I didn’t let a little thing like not knowing how to read stop me from being enthralled with books. As a toddler, I dragged around books and pretended to read aloud by making up a tale on the spot. I “read” to my toys. I “read” to my stuffed animals. I “read” to my cranky cat. (The toys and stuffies were a lot more appreciative than the cat was…)

At that time, most children’s show hosts read books to their audiences. Captain Kangaroo and The Friendly Giant introduced me to countless classics like Curious George and Harry the Dirty Dog. I don’t remember if the hosts ever talked about the authors, but somewhere along the line my young mind grasped that a mysterious SOMEONE had created the story.

Made it up. Wrote it down.

And that’s EXACTLY what I wanted to do!

True, I also wanted to be a cowboy, a zookeeper, and a circus performer, but those things didn’t glow in me quite as brightly as the notion of telling a story. Besides, I figured I could do all of them, right?

When I was about 3, my dad gifted me with a huge sheaf of lined paper that must have been two inches thick. It was an office leftover from the factory he worked at, and I’m sure he thought it would keep me busy drawing pictures in it for days.

But all I noticed is that the paper was bound together like a real BOOK!

I climbed up on the peaked roof of the big old doghouse behind the garage—the previous homeowner must have kept a large St. Bernard or a small cow—and pretended to “write” a story with an orange wax crayon. I didn’t even know the alphabet yet but that didn’t slow me down. Line after line, page after page, I produced lovely loopy cursive writing which I read aloud as I “wrote”.

When I finally filled the entire “book”, I presented it to my parents, expecting them to be impressed with the masterpiece I’d created. Instead, I found myself in hot water for “scribbling” and “wasting the paper”. Maybe it would have gotten better reviews if I’d illustrated it...

As it was, I even lost points for the font color.

So that was my very first formal rejection as a writer. A few decades plus dozens upon dozens of rejection slips later, I signed a three-book contract for my Changeling shapeshifter series. Fast forward ten years and six more novels, and here I am, refurbishing and polishing these three original books. New covers, new blurbs, new edits, new scenes. Making sure the stories are ready for re-release into the wild. Hoping against hope that they’ll find new readers to love them.

And in the midst of going through all the original notes for the series, I’ve discovered half of a fourth Changeling book, an abandoned relic from a time when my publisher decided shapeshifters were just a passing trend. Is there a real story hiding in those pages? Maybe yes, maybe no—after all, first drafts are notoriously ugly—but I think it’s time to dust it off and find out.

Meanwhile, I’ve never forgotten the utter magic of sitting on that doghouse on a bright sunny morning and creating my very first “book” as a kid. If I sit on our current doghouse, will I find some of that magic again, some fresh inspiration?

One thing’s for certain:  I promise not to use the orange crayon!
……………………………………………………………………………………………

Distractions

Happy Mardi Gras! Or, as they say in New Orleans, Laissez les bon temps rouler!  I was planning an entire Mardi Gras-themed post for today, in honor of Never Have I Ever, which I was planning on re-releasing today, but…distractions happened. Which, unfortunately, seems to be a recurring theme for me these days. I’m endlessly distracted and, yes, some of that has to do with the general political climate; some of it has to do with the current hysteria occurring within RWA (which has affected me much more than I would have thought it would); a lot of it has to do with my adorable grandson who is twenty-three months old today. But most of it is me: my brain is stuck in hummingbird mode, constantly whirring, darting here and there, refusing to settle.

I used to be able to write through anything. Seated by a family member’s side in hospital; waiting for my children to get out of school; in a busy café in the middle of San Francisco; on the deck of a cruise ship; flying cross-country; moving cross-country—you name it. I was laser focused. A part of my mind was always immersed in whatever story I was working on. I’ve told the story many times of how my characters would wake me up in the middle of the night demanding their story be told. I even dreamed an entire story.

But somewhere along the way, I lost that. Nowadays, I’m far too easily distracted. I have trouble focusing for the length of time it takes to write a simple blog post—and that’s with nothing going on around me. I find myself resorting to tricks I’d relied on in the beginning, motivational tools I haven’t needed in a very long time. Creating soundtracks. Surrounding myself with objects and pictures that act as touchstones, reminding me of the story I’m working on. Challenging myself with writing sprints, turning off the internet, writing scenes out by hand.

It’s all helping a little, but it’s still a struggle. And I’m sure I’m not the only one. So what about you? How do you handle distractions? What tricks do you use to get yourself back on track when you’ve fallen off the writing wagon, so to speak?

Help a sister out!

The Soundtrack of Writing

Some authors like to listen to music when they're writing, mostly to block out extraneous noise that would interrupt their stream of concentration. Other authors need absolute silence. Me, I fall into the former category.

However, I cannot listen to songs. As a professionally trained singer and musician, listening to a song means I pay attention to the lyrics and the melody. Yes, I love songs, especially when I can relate them to the hero and heroine in my book. But for general writing, I turn to movie soundtracks. More specifically, to the orchestral versions. But, again, I found myself being distracted at times because I'd recall the specific scene going on in the movie during that musical interlude.

It was by accident that I discovered trailer music. You heard me.

Trailer music -- music specifically written for movie trailers that studios can use in their trailers when the movie's actual soundtrack hasn't yet been solidified.

This is fully orchestrated music, written in song-length excerpts of 2-3 minutes each, and featuring everything from soaring dynamics to upbeat tempos. From gentle measures that almost caress your inner soul, to harsh and pounding drumbeats that sound like advancing armies or themes of war.

So if you have eclectic tastes like I do, and if you enjoy this kind of music, I heartily recommend you check out the following four artists: Audiomachine, The Immediate (look for their Trailerhead series), Position Music, and Two Steps from Hell. 

These are the soundtracks to my books.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New!

THANN
A Sensuous Paranormal Romance
Word Count: 42.2K
$3.99 e / $9.99 p
#horseshifter

It started with a winning lottery ticket, and could end with her death.

What would you do with $597 million? 

Despite her estranged fiancé raving that it’s a waste of money, Maren Padgett decides to try her luck and buys a lottery ticket with the last few bucks in her wallet. What could it hurt? What Burke Shavet wasn’t expecting was for Maren to actually win. With dollar signs in his eyes, he starts making big plans for the big winnings, contrary to Maren begging him to slow down. She’s uncomfortable with how fast he’s moving, with good reason. 

She should’ve trusted her instincts. Pushing a spur of the moment trip to the Grand Canyon, Burke had it all planned out… 

Maren owes her life to the people living at the bottom of the canyon. Especially to the mysterious black-haired man named Thann who rescued her. The problem is she doesn’t remember why her life was in danger to begin with. She can’t remember anything actually. But slowly, her memories are returning, and no one is happy with what she’s recalling.

Warning! Contains lumpy soap, a shopping spree, a heavy load, an Oscar-worthy performance, five hundred million reasons, white water, petroglyphs, and a devastating act that brings two people together seeking justice...and love.

Excerpt and Buy Links

The Magic of Paper

September brings many things to love. There’s the final harvest from our vegetable garden, the glorious arrival of Pumpkin Spice Coffee, and the opportunity to enjoy some quality time outdoors without frying to a crisp. 

Best of all, the month of September is perfectly placed between my two favorite seasons, Halloween and Back-to-School.

Back-to-School? Yup, it's officially classed as a season in my mind, and I look forward to it. Like the classic Staples ad used to sing, "It's the most wonderful time of the year..." 

Yet it’s not because I have kids heading off to class and I'm anticipating some peace and quiet. I have 2 dogs, 30+ chickens, 2 roosters and a neighborhood with many ATV enthusiasts, children, feral cats, and a drummer who lives next door. “Peace and quiet” is definitely not in my future.

Nope, the real magic of September is in all the wonderful office supplies that go on sale just as the delightful Halloween decorations appear!

And my favorite? 

PAPER!

Lined, unlined, reams, pads, loose-leaf, you name it... I’ve never met a piece of paper I didn’t like. It’s purest zen for me to wander the aisles of Staples or Office Depot, inhaling the heady combined scent of all that marvelously pristine stationery.

Don't even get me started on sticky notes.

At any given time, there are enough supplies socked away in my crowded office to outfit a small classroom. But the appeal of it has nothing to do with school (my apologies to teachers everywhere) and everything to do with 

P-O-S-S-I-B-I-L-I-T-Y

Truth:  Ever since I was a kid, I’ve found an amazing bliss in simply contemplating the sheer potential of all that magnificently blank material. I find myself smiling, my brain kicks into high gear and my imagination begins whirling away at the very thought of ALL THE STORIES just waiting to be written. 

It’s a library that hasn’t happened yet, a bookstore on the verge of existence. 

See? Magic.

And in that magic lies every writer's hope: that if I work really hard and keep my mind open, maybe, just maybe, some of the magic will leach out of the paper and into the words I write.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE GRIM SERIES by Dani Harper

The fae are cunning, powerful and often cruel. The most beautiful among them are often the most deadly. Hidden far beneath the mortal world, the timeless faery realm plays by its own rules—and those rules can change on a whim. Now and again, the unpredictable residents of that mystical land cross the supernatural threshold…

In this enchanting romance series from Dani Harper, the ancient fae come face-to-face with modern-day humans and discover something far more potent than their strongest magic: love.

See ALL Dani's novels on her Amazon Author Page

All the Voices in My Head

Today I have a question for all you readers out there. And, to be honest, it's a question that I've rolled my eyes at in the past. But lately I've been really struggling with POV and so I'm wondering, do you have a preference for first person or third person POV? And, if so, what is it you like or dislike about one or the other?

Full disclosure: In terms of reading, I can't really say I like one more than the other. Which should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me. I generally answer all either/or questions with yeses or nos. Coffee or tea, wine or beer, red or white, light or dark, favorite season, favorite color--whatever. The more the merrier. Pisces are nothing if not inclusive. So, in terms of viewpoint, it totally depends on what I'm in the mood for at any given time. But when it comes to writing, I definitely prefer third person--unless the viewpoint character has a voice that really stands out. 

In most of my first person stories the viewpoint characters have had what were--at least to me--interesting voices. They've also been very chatty. It definitely makes the writing process smoother when you can practically hear the characters' voices in your head, or when you feel as though you're merely taking dictation. 

Sadly, that doesn't happen as often as it should. 

Which leads me to the book I'm writing now. This is a story told in alternating first person--one chapter in the hero's POV, the next chapter in the heroine's. It's not the first book like that I've written this way, and I actually have another book written like that--the sequel to this one, in fact--all planned out and ready to go. And those characters are practically screaming at me to let them speak. 

The h/h from this story, on the other hand? Yeah, not so much. 

They've been so very quiet that it's reached the point where I'm wondering if I've made a mistake. Perhaps this book might be better in third person. Hence my opening questions: First? Third? Do you care? And why?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Researching for fun

People are often surprized at how much research I do given that I predominantly write paranormal or sci fi romance. How much research can be done when I’m making stuff up?

Well…

If my heroine has wings I have to research different types of wings and decide which kind to base her wings on.

Writing about a desert dwelling alien race….how do earthlings do it? There are many different desert dwelling people and learning about they how survive means I can use similar ideas for my people.

For my Blood and Silver series I researched lost civilizations, as well as reading Collapse by Jared Diamond (which is about how societies collapse) and also the World Without us by Alan Weisman (how long does it take nature to reclaim what is abandoned).

I research things that interest me, which in turn feeds my work. Ideas come from everywhere, because I feed my brain with things that I don’t usually come across in my day to day life. I sometimes just browse a library shelf until something jumps out at me. Which is how I started reading Atlantis by Allan J Danelek. This book raised the idea that civilization had risen and fallen many times over the last 100,000 years  and tied together a few ideas from the other books. It also made me think of the ending of Battlestar Galactica (really need to re-watch that series)….

Between edits and writing and reading fiction I think it’s important to keep learning. Learning doesn’t have to be expensive or formal it just means being open to learning new things and new ideas. As an author those new things grow into many different plot bunnies.

What are some of things you like to research for fun?

The Beauty of Deadlines

I’m on a really tight deadline right now. By which I mean I’m only two scenes away from finishing the second of three books that I need to be putting to bed before the end of the year.  On this day before Thanksgiving, that’s what I’m most thankful for.

Being on a deadline means I get to tune out the family drama that’s been erupting off and on for most of the year, the political drama—basically everything.  When the going gets tough, the tough...get writing.

Being on deadline means I get to delegate without guilt. To give up control, to stop worrying.  So I have twelve people coming to my house and my dining room table comfortably seats six. What’s the worst that can happen?  Either I end up with a memorable (for all the wrong reasons) holiday, or I end up with a new book. Maybe both? Either way, it’s a risk I’m willing to take.

Deadlines aren’t anything I ever thought I’d be thankful for, but oddly enough, I am.  Here’s an excerpt from the first book in this new series about three cousins who are running a haunted hotel.

On her way back to her room, Gwyn castigated herself for being such an idiot. She should never have spent the night. She should have set her alarm for some ungodly hour and left while they were sleeping, while all her illusions were still intact. Now, she had to navigate her way from one end of the hotel to the other. It was lucky for her she knew all the hidden passageways. The Wild Geese Inn was not her walk of shame.

At least the ghosts seemed to find her predicament entertaining. A murmur of voices flowed around her, coming and going, echoing with amusement. Boards creaked beneath her feet. Lights buzzed noisily above her head. Nails poked out of the wainscoting to catch at her clothes. Time and again, she brushed at cobwebs, only to have them dissipate into nothingness at her touch. But at least she didn’t encounter any stuck doors on her way. And when she arrived at her room, she found the clothes she’d been planning on wearing laid out and ready.

“Thanks, Haunt,” she muttered in grudging appreciation. She was sure Brenda would have questioned whether Gwyn had suspected that she’d be out all night, that she'd hoped for it, wanted it—and had set the clothes out herself last night and then forgotten. Gwyn refused to think about that. 

The hotel ghosts had been her companions since she was a child. They’d been her friends and playmates when the others went home, and she was here by herself. She wasn’t about to start denying their existence now.

She grabbed her things, and ran back down a half flight to the landing, to her private bath, built into what had once been a closet under the stairs. She shed her clothes, turned on the shower, and waited until she was standing under the spray, until the hot water was beating down upon her, before she let her tears fall.

Don't Let Writing Endanger Your Health

One thing I quickly discovered when I retired and became a "full time" author, was that my butt was stuck in the chair for long periods of time. And that, in a nutshell, can be a dangerous thing. Why? Because...

1. I'm not getting much exercise. Sorry, but going to the bathroom and to the kitchen is not considered exercise. Not enough, anyway.

2. I tend to nibble when I write. Or imbibe. My drink of choice is coffee. I try to stay away from bad snacks and eat only when I'm actually hungry. Or chew gum, but I've discovered gum literally melts when it comes in contact with a hot brew. Who knew?

3. I find myself staring at what I've written, or haven't written, without an idea or thought in my head.

What are the results of all this? Weight gain, loss of muscle tone, and writer's block.

What to do, what to do? 

Actually, I've discovered a few things that have helped me tremendously. And you don't have to be a writer to benefit. This will also do wonders for those of you who spend a lot of time at a desk.

1. Get out of the house and walk around the block. Or take a stroll around the office. Do it briskly enough, and you get the heart rate up. Live where the weather won't oblige? Dance to a favorite tune. Get jiggy with it! Or jump some rope. You'd be surprised what 5-10 minutes with a jump rope will do for you!

2. Watch what you're snacking on. Try something with protein in it, like yogurt or almonds. Need crunchy? Hit low fat no fat like pretzels or carrots. Just stay away as much from the sugar and carbs as possible. And if you imbibe, try not to go for the soft drinks.

3. To kick start the brain, go do something else. At home I'll hit the laundry, run an errand, wash the dishes - anything that'll get me off that creative treadmill that's taking me nowhere. At an office, stop and discuss something with a colleague. Do a crossword puzzle. Make a grocery list. Or just stare out a window for a few quiet minutes. Anything to clear your mind, sort of like a soft reboot.

Oh! And don't forget to take a day off every now and then. Even those of you with full time jobs outside the home get two days off, usually a weekend. Do the same if you're a writer. Every so often, take your creativity on vacation to let it recharge.

I've taken a hard look at my habits and lifestyle, and by making a few adjustments, I've managed to keep on track with my daily quota. Hopefully, one of these suggestions will work for you, too!

*************

Now Available!

Ghost of the Swamp

(Subwoofers, Book 2)

A Sensuously Erotic Contemporary Fantasy/Paranormal Romance

http://lindamooney.com/Subwoofers.htm 

Coming February 15th

Qitirin

A Sensuously Erotic Contemporary Fantasy/Paranormal Romance

http://lindamooney.com/Qitirin.htm

Writing and Contracts

When a writer gets serious about his or her career, he or she begins paying attention to craft. This means polishing a manuscript, looking for other writers to critique or read and, ultimately, trying to attract the notice of the publishing world.

This is the first step away from doing something you love just because you love it. Most writers start writing because we love telling stories, but telling the story is really a very small part of the business of writing. The process is work. Hard work. You’ve heard the phrase, kill your darlings? Yeah, that means when someone you trust tells you that sentence/character/scene just doesn’t work, even though you love it. You hit the delete key. I’d like to tell you it gets easier with time. But at least for me, I still have to take a deep breath and put on my big-girl panties. I'm not even going to mention grammar or pace...well, I guess I just did, didn't I?

Once a writer gets serious about craft, it isn’t much longer before they get serious about pursuing publication. This usually means a contract. The joy of that contract is something I truly can’t convey. But of course I’ll try. I am a writer. *grin* Imagine buying a lottery ticket every day, studying the trends and the statistics faithfully to give yourself the best chance possible. Then one day they read those numbers and yup. You won. All your hard work paid off.  You’re stunned. You’re amazed. You want to call everyone and shout from the rooftops and you want to just sit and enjoy the feeling of accomplishment.

Well, there is one huge flaw in my comparison.

Once you get that contract, the work starts. There are edits, deadlines and promotion. Suddenly you’re writing because you have to. Because it’s a job, not just because you love it. The pressure doesn’t lessen with subsequent contracts. You’re writing to maintain a standard; you’re writing to let your publisher and editor know they were not wrong in putting their faith in you; You’re writing so that wonderful person who gave you a glowing five star review on your last book, will give you another glowing review on your newest book.

You’re writing under pressure. A lot of pressure.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to go all sunshine and butterflies and bring up the coal/diamond thing... Pollyanna I am not.

But I will share something I’ve learned.

When you’re feeling the pressure. When the deadline becomes more important than the story. Stop.

I am not going to tell you to throw everything out and write for fun. Because let’s face it, this is a business and your books are your commodity. It’s not just about you any more. But there is a balance. If you’re not in love with your hero. Stop and daydream about him until you are in love with him.  If the death of your protagonist’s best friend didn’t just bring a tear to your eye. It won’t bring a tear to the reader’s eye either. Stop. Imagine what the protag is feeling. Put yourself in her or his shoes and rewrite it. There must be balance.

I honestly think maintaining this balance is the difference between a successful writer in love with his or her job and a burnt out writer.

I’ve been both.

I like the in love writer a lot better.

Now it’s your turn. Do you have any writerly advice? And if you do, will you share?

And I have to take this opportunity to share my newest release, Journey of Dominion... I will never get tired of looking at this cover. 

Setting Goals - and Sweetening the Pot

Because our Here Be Magic blog schedule coordinator, Veronica Scott - known affectionately as BLOGZILLA - is a big fan of my cat, Jackson, I had to throw in a pic of him here.

Those of you who read my personal blog will know that I've been working diligently to meet an April 1 deadline. This is for my 90K novel, which is a modern-day retelling of Phantom of the Opera. I sold it on proposal to Kensington just before Christmas. When I talked to my new editor, Peter Senftleben, I said I thought I could have it done by end of March.

He was all pleased and said that was much faster than he expected.

I've been tracking how fast I can write for quite a while now and had figured this by my formula of approximately 1,000 words/day. I usually write quite a bit faster than this - I try for 1675/day - so this gives me room for occasional missed days and revisions. I tend to revise as I go, so when I'm done, I'm pretty much done.

My regular readers also know that I'm a spreadsheet queen. I love Excel and conditional formatting, so I use it to set all kinds of daily, weekly and monthly goals. I'm also setting up annual goals now, too. Eep.

For my day job, too, my company is in the thick of annual performance evaluations, so we're all about the SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-sensitive). We also have Stretch goals - ones that maybe aren't so easy to attain.

So, to relieve your suspense, just in case you were worried, as of today, March 26, I have 2700 words left, all wrap up. The hard part is done. I'll do some smoothing, send to the critique partners and agent for a quick read (they've already seen chunks) and I'll make my deadline.

But it's kind of close, you know?

Closer than I thought it would be. A number of things cropped up, including an emergency trip to see my failing father-in-law. That sort of thing.

What happened along the way though is: I missed quite a few goals. And I just hated that feeling. In fact, I got so far behind on some of my interim goals, that I started to feel bad about myself.

It reminds me of this article I read a while back - and that stuck with me, so I've quoted it often - about search and rescue dogs working disasters like earthquakes. The dogs are trained to find people in the rubble, but after a while, after they find corpse after corpse, the dogs get depressed and don't want to look anymore. So the handlers have living people hide themselves, so the dogs can "find" them and it renews their excitement for the job.

I realized that, while it was good to set high goals for myself - that "Stretch" thing - that I also need to make sure I have some easily attainable ones, too. Just to keep my doggie self happy.

We all need to guarantee ourselves some successes along the way, to sweeten the journey a little.

Working Around Life

Real life has the terrible habit of inserting itself between you and your goals. There are bills to be paid, illnesses to endure, the crises of family and friends. There are small spaces filled with loud little people and long commutes that carve hours out of your personal clock.

And eventually you look up, and months or years have passed and you’re no closer to your goal, whether it’s to bike across the state, restore the hardwood floors in your house or write a novel.

This isn’t how it has to be.

Sometimes it is difficult to insert the concept of a large goal into the small pieces of free time in your busy life. That doesn’t mean the goal is impossible. It just means that it needs to be reconfigured. Real life isn’t going to go away, but your goals don’t have to cede to it.

Take writing that novel. Writing and editing eighty to a hundred thousand words is a daunting task. But what about ten thousand? A thousand? Two hundred and fifty?

250. That’s a single page.

But, by writing that mere 250 words, that single page, each day, you’ll have a novel complete inside of a year. How long does it take to write that? That, of course, depends on the writer. But if writing a novel is your goal, and you find yourself stealing time in order to do it, I’d wager you would write that page inside of 20 minutes.

Sometimes, making the time and space to follow your
dreams comes at the price of your dignity. Deal with it.

Where will you find that time each day? That’s one and one third coffee breaks, for those who take them. That’s a notebook on the lap for the bus ride there and back. That’s the kids in the tub at night or sitting at the Laundromat waiting for the spin cycle to finish.

There are 20 minutes in each day that you can shape until they belong to you. And it doesn’t matter if the house is full of people or kids. There are coffee shops and benches and stairwells all over the world, waiting to welcome you for that repurposed time. All you have to do is decide you’re going to take it.

* * *

Regan Summers has a day job, a night job and a child. If stealing time were a felony, she'd be a repeat offender with no chance of parole, and she'd be just fine with that since she's pretty sure you're allowed to sleep in prison. Her Night Runner urban fantasy series is available now from Carina Press.

Regan can be found roaming the Internet at Website  Twitter  Facebook

Cross-Posted at ReganSummers.com

It's All About Words

I’ve got all these words in my head that are just screaming to get out. Some are descriptive, emotional, sensual, horrifying, loving. I know you understand what I mean. For us, my dear writer, they are the heart and soul of our work.

There are the types of words we scrutinize: adjectives and adverbs. We search them out and agonize over having too many or too few. We edit, re-write and edit some more. We don’t stop there. We hunt out clichés and overused phrases ripping them from our pages. And all the while we struggle for originality and that magic that hooks the reader and draws them into our stories. We work until our manuscripts shine with a high polish.

The readers are the witness, the hero or heroine, or whomever they prefer to identify with. It’s the juxtaposition of our words that create the pacing, paints the pictures, strikes the chord, arouse emotions and, for us romance writers, brings the story to a happy ending.

Some words we are eager to hear: the call, published, multi-published, reprint, best seller, finalist, award winning. But I’m getting ahead of myself. More often the words are strung a bit differently: I think the concept of your novel has a lot of potential …, Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read your manuscript …, Thank you very much for your manuscript which I have read with interest …, I think you have a wonderful voice … The ellipse is followed by the same word but. Different words but all with the same meaning, rejected, although I really prefer passed. It is just so much more humane.

I have worked hard on my new manuscript. I am well past my first draft. I have self reviewed and edited, my critique partner has reviewed and commented, at chapter meetings I have brought my five to ten pages for discussion. The version number on my document is in double digits. I know I have the words just right. I just need an editor/agent to love them as much as I do.

Sure I can. I can love them anyway you want them!

Special thanks to David Coverly for permission to reprint his cartoon.

Dave Coverly admits there is no overriding theme, no tidy little philosophy that precisely describes what Speed Bump, his syndicated comic, is about. "Basically," he says, "if life were a movie, these would be the outtakes."

These "outtakes" now appear in over 400 newspapers and websites, including the Washington Post, Toronto Globe & Mail, Detroit Free Press, Chicago Tribune, Indianapolis Star, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cincinnati Enquirer, New Orleans Times-Picayune, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Vancouver Sun, Baltimore Sun, and Arizona Republic as well as the published “Speed Bump” books.

In addition to his syndicated work, Coverly's cartoons have been published in The New Yorker, and his cartoons are now regularly featured in Parade Magazine, the most widely read magazine in the world with a circulation of 73 million. Coverly works out of an attic studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He is married to Chris, and they have two daughters, Alayna and Simone. Speedbumpcomic@comcast.net

Ruth A. Casie's debut novel, Knight of Runes is currently available. 

The one thing that made a difference

A workshop mentor of mine recently asked her workshopees, "What was the one thing that made the biggest difference in your writing, whether it was a piece of advice, a teacher, etc.?"

For me, it was hard to pin down. I remember other significant epiphanies; the moment when I realized I could actually read when I was about five and reading the Little Golden Books version of Snow White. Or the time when I finally understood how to read music while practicing flute on the Indiana Jones theme for band. (I made it to first chair after that.)

But...writing? Several things came to mind. The first is actually non-fiction. My tenth grade English teacher asked us to write an essay saying, "I am like a . . ." I decided I was like a crow (don't ask the reasons, either I don't remember or don't want to remember) and wrote about it. A friend read the essay and said it wasn't really an essay because I didn't prove why I was like a crow and went on to explain how to format an essay. That one little conversation made a world of difference when it came to writing high school and college papers and prompted one college teacher to write, "Too bad the English department lost you to music!" Ah, foreshadowing. . .

As far as fiction...I've written since I was little but didn't start seriously writing until after college, but I can't pinpoint one great epiphany.

Maybe it was in grade school, when I was lucky enough to know that creative writing and storytelling was valued because the teachers were kind enough to type out my stories, laminate the covers and bind them with my illustrations.

Maybe it was the initial realization that writing in other people's worlds, fun though it can be, will only take me so far. Writing in the Star Trek universe helped jumpstart my writing, because I didn't have to worry about the world, but could focus on character and story. Once I had the story, I moved it to my own world and began to hone my craft--which resulted in five fantasy novels I had high hopes for but will likely remain in the depths of my hard drive forever.

Maybe it was the online writing workshop which kindly told me info dumps and fantasy names like Eryk'esth'y'a'valen were bad things.

Maybe it was the community college teacher and her short story class where she assured me my story was good, which gave me the courage to write more stories and put them in front of people, which eventually got me into the Clarion SF/F workshop.

Maybe it was Clarion, where I didn't have to be published to feel like a writer, and the friendships I made, which meant connections with more people and other workshops and whole networks of writers whose advice and friendship I continue to value.

Or maybe it's simply knowing I can tell stories people want to read.

What about you? Was there something that really, truly made a difference for you in your writing?

Evey Brett

Tag Team Writing

Many writers have critique partners. We often try out many potential partners before finding the right fit. Sooner or later we find that person or people with complementary skill sets, who encourage us, but also let us know when we’ve gone in the wrong direction with a story. Still, at the end of the day the story we write is our own original creation.

My coming release from Carina Press, Amazon Heat, is actually a product of a partnership between Melinda Leigh and I. It started as a whim, a random brainstorming during the ride to our writing group’s monthly meeting. We had so much fun plotting out the story that we decided to put the idea to paper.  Still, neither of us had ever written with a partner. We had no idea if we could successfully blend our styles and voices so that the final product would be a seamless conglomerate of the two. I’d always wondered how writing teams did it? Do the partners trade off scenes? Does one partner write from the hero’s point of the view the other the heroines? Every team has their own unique writing process. When people learn that I write as part of a team, I'm often asked how we do it. So,  I thought I’d share a little bit of collaborative process. 

We start by creating a detailed outline jotting down all of the scenes that we think will be needed. Once we have that we dive in, writing tag team so to speak, alternating scenes as we go. We’re both fairly laid back people. Neither one of us is married to the words on the page, which is a good thing. You’re never going to get anywhere if you’re so in love with every word you write that you won’t let anyone change it. If the story starts to diverge from the path that we’ve set up, we’ll discuss it. In the end we usually come up with something even stronger.

Once we make a bit of progress, we’ll go back and make some editorial passes even as we continue to progress forward. Stylistically, Melinda and I are very different writers. However, those differences complement each other. It's very cool to reread a scene I’ve written after she’s taken a pass at it. I’m a layer writer. My first drafts are very skeletal, so I enjoy seeing what meat she’s added. Conversely, when I go through I’ll focus on punching up the paranormal or romantic elements of the story.  We’ll tweak until we both agree that it’s finished. Then out the door it goes. 

It’s been a great experience having another writer as immersed in a story as I am. We’ve learned from each other and had a lot of fun in the process.

That's just a brief glimpse into our writing world. Now tell, me have you ever tried writing with a partner? If so what was your process? If not have you ever considered it?


I hope everyone has a safe and happy Memorial Day!

~Rayna Vause
www.RaynaVause.com

Magic? What Magic?

I spend many of my waking hours in Stewardsville, Virginia. Sometimes I'm lurking in the graveyard, eavesdropping on conversations among the funerary statues. Sometimes I'm on the bluffs of the Miagullet River looking for the flash of a long, long tail. Sometimes I'm competing in the Slurring Bee at the biker bar out off Interstate 52. Sometimes I'm in the basement of the church shoving cafeteria trays into the sink while weary searchers come in and out. No matter where I am, it presents a problem--since Stewardsville is a figment of my imagination.

Note to self: find a better word than "figment"--implies smallness, when, in fact, Stewardsville takes up a huge chunk of my brain.

Sooner or later, however, I must step back, take in the vista of the world beyond my computer screen, and roll up my sleeves. For me, editing is not magical--it's structural and mechanical. If you'd like to believe in the fantasy of the magical writer channeling entire stories a la Jack Kerouac ON THE ROAD, stop reading here.

Otherwise, I'm about to show you the inside of the top hat and roll up my sleeve so you can see where I've hidden the coins.

My first drafts are hot messes. I'm a pure pantser, which means that my first draft is 100,000 words of plotting. My characters talk back to me (and they're never encouraging). My descriptive passages are chock-full of "notes to self" to find better words than I've written--and more often than not, I hack those paragraphs out anyway. But, after one good novel and a few, ahem, false starts, I have process that works for me.

Step 1: Write the crapdraft. 100,000 words minimum. This is the time to stick in all of those pretty little side episodes that don't lead directly from beginning to end. 75% of them will get deleted later. 25% will become major plot turning points.

Step 2: Trim the toenails. Run spell check. Cut/replace to create contractions. Jump around looking for squiggly lines and see if you can make them go away.

Step 3: Cut the hair. Eliminate most dialogue tags. Cut variations of "to know", "to realize" or "to think." Do a document-wide frequency check for words and phrases (God bless the creators of WriteWords ) and edit the overused ones away.

Step 4: Amputate fingers and toes. By now, you've been all over the document at least two or three times. You've already gotten a feel for those paragraphs and scenes that really do not work at all. Move them over to a "bits and pieces" file because you can't stand the idea of eliminating hundreds or even thousands of words at a time.

By this point, I'm narrowing in on a specific word count target--about 85K. Why 85K? By 85% I'm at the target length for the final book. The story of Stewardsville itself is infinite--every character is the potential hero or heroine of a subplot or even a novel of his own. At some point, therefore, each book's content must be an arbitrary choice, or I'll never see my real-life family again. My hero and heroine get 85K to tell the story of their love with the backup singers of their choice. After that, it's some other couple's turn to take over my brain.

Step 5: Wipe up the blood and see what's left. Create a scene list (I divide my chapters out at this point as well). Identify the page, the POV character, the action of the scene and the hook that will take it forward. Discover that you've been in the same POV for 50 pages. Discover that several scenes are pointless. Discover that others are missing. Discover that your scenes have neither action or nor hook. Drink Scotch.

Step 6: Two-day hangover.

Step 7: Go back to page one and fix the problems you identified in Step 5. Revamp that scene list as you go because that's the core of your true synopsis, if you need one (as opposed to that thing you plotters write before you write the book that you CALL a synopsis).

Step 8: Send your file to Kinkos (or whatever they're calling themselves these days) and print it out in hard copy. Read it out loud. Read it backwards. Mark the heck out of it and fix those problems, too.

Step 9: Run spell check again just so you don't embarrass yourself in front of your beta readers, then send it off. And guess what? You'll embarrass yourself anyway.

Step 10: Do what they tell you (or don't--working with critique partners is a whole 'nother blog post).

It's a bloody, messy, unsexy process. But when you're finished, your rough lump of brain vomit is a pretty, polished, princess-cut diamond that glitters especially well under the influence of scotch.

Pillow Talk

(In bedroom a few weeks ago. Keri Stevens takes fluffy feather pillow from under Dr. Stevens's head.)KS: Gimme that. I've had a long day.

Dr. S: You? What did you do?

KS: I dragged your son and his broken ankle to two different doctors, a radiology lab and two pharmacies to get crutches.

Dr. S: (snatches pillow back and shoves over thin, threadbare, lumpy foam pillow) Well, I worked on two review articles and spent three hours staring at the microscopy results.

KS: You need me to copyedit yet? (sticks thin pillow between her knees, rolls to side)

Dr. S: Not yet. But you're a writer. (yawns). Ghost for me.

KS: Sure. You at the third sex scene yet?

Dr. S: (spooning, freezes still) The what?

KS: The resolution sex. They've got it almost figured out now. Less conflict, more fire.

Dr. S: Um. Yeah. The mossy-fiber boutons have found their place in the hippocampus.

KS: (rolls onto back, elbows him away because the room is stuffy). Good. What about the grand gesture?

Dr. S: Huh?

KS: What sacrifice will the high-fiber buttons make to ensure the hippie campers live happily ever after?

Dr. S (yawns, rolls away)...trek-bee...neuropeptide excitability...GABA...

KS: (sits up, excited) That's it! Gabba-Gabba-Hey! We'll use Ramones music as a thematic element. This'll be the best Neuron paper any scientist has ever published.

Dr. S: (snores)

KS: (Slowly tugs fluffy pillow out from under his head.)



Note: Thanks, Tia, for letting me jump in with an old favorite from my personal blog. Hope you're feeling better soon!