Happy Tuesday!

I'm trying to get back into the swing of blogging - both writing my own posts and reading others. I have a blog list, but a lot of the people on it no longer seem to blog as often as they used to (gee, who does that sound like???) So, if anyone has any suggestions for interesting blogs (and they don't have to be writing-related, either,) let me know? Kthnxbai.

It's been a hectic few weeks in my house - since I got back into writing. I took quite a bit of time off, just to revise projects that had been sitting on my desk for months. I got tired of looking at the stacks of manuscripts, and the mess in general, and so I decided to tackle those. And, to be honest, I really just didn't have anything to write about. No plot bunnies appealed to me. For a while, I thought I might be done writing in general. I don't know if every writer hits that wall at one time or another, but when I hit it, and I thought I might be finished, I really didn't care very much, either. And that kind of surprised me, because I can't really remember any time when I didn't want to write.

That's when I figured taking some time off might be the best thing. No pressure. No stress. No deadlines.

Of course, it meant no new books and no new sales, either. But even that didn't really bother me.

Well, in that time, I redid my kids' bathroom, took care of some other things in my personal life that needed dealing with, heard back on some outstanding submissions (good news and bad news) and then, wouldn't you know it? Last week, I actually had the urge to write. The story that was nagging me was one I'd begun in February - the next Sebastiano book. The story had stalled about halfway through, so I'd put it aside to work on something else.

I picked it up last week, edited what I'd written and you know what? I knew how the story needed to go. Since last Wednesday, I've written nearly 40k words. Woot! I'm hoping to finish this book up sometime later this week (or if real life sees otherwise, early next week.) And from there? I plan on diving into my next project (just not sure if it'll be my long-dreamed-of-writing cowboy book or something else.) With any luck, creativity will breed creativity. :D

A Bit of This & That

Things have been relatively quiet around here, since I turned in Windemere. I've been fighting with the blurb (which will go to my publisher this weekend, thank God. I hate writing blurbs almost as much as I hate writing a synopsis, which is saying a lot.) I'm working on a blanket for my nephew, so my nights are spent knitting and purling, which is relaxing. The other night, the hubs and I watched Sherlock Holmes, which wasn't quite what I expected, but I still liked it. It's the first Jude Law movie I've seen where he didn't make my skin crawl, so that was a plus. And it had Robert Downey, Jr,. in it, which was a HUGE plus. I'm not a huge movie person (I think the last one I saw in the theater was the very last Harry Potter movie, so that tells you how often I get to the movies.) I watch a lot of TV on DVD, though. Right now I'm working my way through M*A*S*H, and you know you've got brilliant comedy when an episode written forty years ago is still funny today.

I've also been doing some research for my next book. It's been fun, but a little challenging. I don't mind research, rather I kind of enjoy it. It's like solving a little bit of a mystery or solving a puzzle. I usually end up with tons more info than I could ever use, but since there's a chance it will turn up in a book later on (like the research I did on sugar plantations for Eden's Pass. That book came out four years ago and I ended up combing through the research files for it for information while I was writing Windemere) so it's all good.

Our dryer is on its way out, so the hubs and I have begun the joy that is comparing and pricing dryers. Joy. And I always find that the more research I do on stuff like that, the less I end up knowing. I hate reading the reviews, because for every one who loves a certain item, there are at least two more who hate it. I hate buying anything big like this because I know that a week after I get it, the one I really wanted will go on sale, but I've already bought a more budget-friendly thing instead. It's like buying a new car, only worse because I lease my cars, so I'm only stuck with it for 3, maybe 4, years. A new washer or dryer or oven is going to be in my house forever.

I can't believe summer is half over already. Back to school shopping is right around the corner. Of course, that means cooler autumn weather is as well. Then again, judging by how cold last winter was (I think the temps averaged in the forties. Not exactly frigid) it might not be such a relief after all. This summer has been brutal. I've never seen so many days where the temperature, combined with the heat index, hovered at 105 degrees. It's been awful, especially since I hate the heat. We've also had a lot of thunderstorms, which is good, since we really do need the rain.

So, that's really it in my corner of the world. I'm looking forward to watching the Olympics over the next two weeks. I love the Olympics - summer and winter - so it'll be a nice break from the ever-depressing news (and endless political bull^%&* that I won't even get into because it pisses me off so much.) Go Team USA! :D

So Many Things...

And so little time.

Really, that's how my life feels these days. I have so much to do, I need probably another ten hours in my day. Once the school year gets underway, my days have a way of filling up within the matter of a few hours. I'll look at the calendar on Sunday and see a mostly free week (YAY!) but then by Monday morning, this has been penciled in and all of the sudden I'm committed to that and doncha know it? BAM! Week's entirely taken up.

But I have a routine. And that helps.

I wish I had a nickel for the number of times someone has said to me, "You know, I would love to write a book. But I just don't have the time."

Excuse me whilst I call 'bullshit' on that.

Yep - I said it.

Bullshit.

I could use another 10-12 hours in my day but you know what? I don't get them. I have the same 24 hours as everyone else. Now, I'll admit, I don't work outside the home. I'm a full-time mom, but when I did work, I still managed to write.

What's my secret?

I wanted to write.

When my daughter was an infant, I would get up with my husband at 5AM every morning (he's in construction, so his day begins and ends early) and after he went to work, I'd put a fresh pot of coffee on, go down into my office (baby monitor in hand) and I'd write from 5:30 or so every morning, until she got up. I was fortunate. Once I managed to convince her that she wasn't really missing much by sleeping, she'd snooze until 9 or 10AM most days. Which gave me 5 hours of writing time.

By the time my son was born (almost 5 years later), I had to deal with getting the Girl to preschool and a newborn. There went getting up at 5AM. I was just too tired and I am NOT someone who does tired real well. So, I wrote after the kidlets went to bed. I'm a night owl by nature, so that was easier for me right from the get go.

Well now, they are 11 and 6 and in school. The Boy will go full days next year, when he starts first grade, so he's half days now. And now my routine is something like this:

7:50AM - roll out of bed, shower, dress, etc.

8:20AM - stagger downstairs for much needed coffee

8:40AM - take Girl to bus stop. Usually with Boy in tow.

8:50-11:45AM - do morning chores and hang with the Boy.

11:45AM - Wait outside with Boy for bus.

12PM - Boy goes off to school

12:01PM- BICFOK (Butt in Chair, Fingers on Keys)

12:01 - 3PM - Write. Research. Revise (it all depends on what stage in what project I'm at, or what deadlines I have.)

3-5PM - hang with kids.

5PM - start getting dinner ready

7PM- Clean up

8-9PM - Get kids in bed

9:01PM - BICFOK and I'll write until I can't see straight or I want to kill the characters.

The thing is, I want to write. I need to write. And in some cases, I can get sued if I don't, so it's in my best interest to write. So for anyone who claims they would write if only they had the time, I say:

Put up or shut up. You have the time. It's up to you what you choose to do with that time.

It isn't that we writers have magical extra time packed into our days. It's important to us, so we find a way to fit it in. Before my kids were old enough, I would write whenever I could squeeze it in - during naptimes, or I'd bring my Alphasmart and write while my daughter was at gymnastics or swimming or whatever. I still do it. I get strange looks sometimes, but who cares?

And now, if you'll excuse me, it's time for me to get dinner started. CCD tonight. :D

Eagle v. Owl

I am not a morning person. I'd like to be a morning person, I've tried being a morning person, but at the end of the day, I prefer the end of the day. I probably wouldn't mind mornings so much if they didn't start so damn early.

As long as I can remember, I've been a night owl. Back when I was in my teens, during summer vacation, there were many nights when I'd be going to bed just as my mother was getting up for work. I swiped borrowed my mother's old Smith-Corona electric typewriter (does anyone still remember typewriters??) and would be pounding out some wangsty teen melodrama (on onionskin paper. Does anyone still remember onionskin typing paper? Erasing mistakes on it was a bitch and a half. The ink would smear if you weren't careful. Blurg.) I probably still have some of those old stories, horrible though I'm sure they are. Even back then, nighttime was my favorite time to write.

After my daughter was born, I was too exhausted to stay up until 3 or 4 in the morning (that wouldn't come until she was 2 or 3, and since she was a late riser, I had it made in the shade.) So, at that point, I'd get up when my husband left for work. He's in construction, so he's out the door by 5:30-6AM. I'd get up and go into my office (with plenty of coffee), safe in knowing I could work until 9:30 or so.

Unfortunately, my creativity and productivity just aren't that great so early in the morning. No matter what I've tried, I don't hit my creative groove until 10-11PM. And by then, I have to go to sleep because I have to be up to get the Boy and Girl off to school. Blurg.

Because of that, writing is more work than it used to be. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, it just takes some getting used to. But I've found that I can't change the basic fact that I'm a night owl. I think either you are or you aren't, and it can't be changed any more than you can change your height or eye color (and colored contact lenses don't count.)

So I'm a night owl who is forced to be something of a morning person. Sometimes it works, sometimes not so much, but it is what it is. Someday I'll get to be a night owl again, but that'll mean my kids are all growed up, so as much as I love the whole nighttime thing, I'm not in too great a hurry to get there.

How about you? Do you hoot with the owls at night? Or soar with the eagles in the morning?

Stuff and Other Stuff

So it's been a very busy few weeks in my household. Between spring break and holidays, kids, and writing, it's been madness. A lot of madness. Baseball season started last week, and have I had the chance to see more than two pitches of any one game? No. No, I've not. But today is Opening Day at Yankee Stadium (providing it doesn't rain), and I will watch at least part of it. The Yanks get their World Series rings today. I am. Not. Missing. It.

But, since that isn't until later on this afternoon, I've got stuff to do. And then I have other stuff to do. And then still more stuff to do.

I finished the first revisions on The King's Bride. Yes, I know. The title sucks. As soon as I think of a better one (although, really, almost anything would be better) I'll re-title it, but for now, The King's Bride it is. This story is one I wrote two years (I think) ago, and when it derailed (in spectacular Technicolor fashion, no less) I just let it go. I was curious to see just where my imagination would take it. I wasn't disappointed. Instead of being a straight-up historical, it turned into an historical/paranormal romance. The heroine is a Seer. The hero is a future king. There's some steamy smex. There's murder. Revenge. Jilted lovers. It's got a little bit of everything and I think it has serious possibilities.

I also haz coverz. Er, well, cover. I received the mockup for The Pursuit. And as soon as I get the okay, I'll post it. I like it. I think it does a fair job of capturing the overall menace of the villain and the heroine's fear. Yay.

I've also got a bit of news to share. However, I need to wait until all the details are worked out and finalized. When they are, oh, yes. I will share.

Oh, and I almost forgot... Deadliest Catch premieres tonight! I've been looking forward to this since last July, and I'm curious to see how Capt. Phil's death is handled. The show won't be the same without him, but I'll still be watching.

I think that's about it for now. Now, it's time to get back to work...

Edits

I haz them.

I just finished up edits for After the Storm and I'm just beginning edits on The Pursuit. Oy. It's funny, but when I get those first edits, I have to wonder how the heck I managed to sell the damn book in the first place. The red - it burns! But, my editors are good at what they do and they are right more often than not. As a result, each book is the best it can be, and that makes me happy. :D

But it keeps me busy. And of course, the muse showed up the other night just shouting her head off about this new idea she had for me and didn't I want to write at that moment?! She's so fickle, that damned muse. But since I'd be sunk without her, I gave her a cookie and wrote a few pages to make her happy. It seemed to work. Whew.

It's been a great couple of weeks, it's spring, it's getting warm (although, last night was awful. It's been 80+ degrees and sunny here all week. Perfect. But last night it was hot and sticky. I must have woken up half a dozen times from the stupid heat. At least that's gone today. Whew), my daffodils are blooming, I planted my spring flowers. Everything is as it should be.

Only a little crazier. 

And now, back to work.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

To everyone - even if you aren't Irish (though, everyone's Irish on St. Patrick's Day!)

Once again, I apologize for being a lax blogger. Edits for After the Storm are pretty much eating up all my time at the moment. That and I'm readying Devil in Disguise to go out as well.

The other night, for some reason, I began thinking of a manuscript I wrote years ago and promptly trunked. Then, I took it out a few years later, rewrote part of it, and trunked it again. I don't know what made me think of it, but it popped into my head, and so, I had to resurrect it again.

Not an easy feat, by the way. The original was written two laptops ago and saved on disc somewhere. Over the years, a lot of the CDs have gotten shuffled from one jewel case to the other (those things are so flimsy, they break if you stare at them too hard), so of course, I had to go through most of them. Ugh.

But I found it. Yay! And printed it out. And am re-reading it in my spare time. Part of it isn't so bad. The other, however...

The funny thing about it is how dated some of it seems now. I wrote the original story back in the early '90s, and there are references to the Sony Discman, and not a cell phone to be found (until the first update, back when cell phones were a LOT bigger and you could only make and receive calls on them.) Not an iPod or smart phone in sight.

But the rest of the story was about 50-50 in terms of workable or trunk-it-forever. I like the general premise, but parts of it are roll-your-eyes-out-there. So who knows? Right now, I've got more than enough to work on, so when I'm finished reading, it will get filed away for now. But who knows what the future holds for it?

Anything's possible, right?

Oh, and to the person who left the comment saying they liked my articles - I had to delete your comment because it had what looked like a link in it. I think you've left comments before that also appeared to have links in them. I will reject anything with an unknown link it in, so if you want to comment, feel free - but remove any and all links, or they will be rejected.

Thanks.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!

Putting it off

For the last week, I've had Devil in Disguise just sitting on my desk, needing only the slightest of changes (a typo here, a bit of a scene rewrite there - nothing major) before it's ready to go. But, here it sits because of one thing I've been putting off...

The synopsis.

Ugh. I hate writing synopsiseseses (what is the plural of synopsis, anyway? Synopsises? Synopsi? Great, another reason to hate them.) It took me nearly 100k words to tell the story, and now I have to slice and dice it down to between 3 and 5 pages??!?! Are you kidding me?

Now, I know some people who, even if they don't like writing them, write great synopsises. I, however, am not one of those people. I suck at them. It's such a struggle that, when I finish, I swear, I feel like I've just given birth. I need a nap. Or a drink. Or a drink, followed by a nap. This one little thing, and I put it off until I'm about nuts with wanting to get the project out the door.

Oh, and I'm in the midst of second edits on After the Storm. Nothing like a little pressure to add to it, eh?

Okay, I've bitched enough - time to get to work. This synopsis won't write itself, you know.

But wouldn't it be cool if it did?!

Tired

That's me. In addition to being sick for the last two weeks (and finally beginning to feel better,) I've been on a tear - revising two manuscripts that I am determined to get out the door by the beginning of March. Okay, to be honest, they probably won't go out until the middle to the end of March, but hey, it's good to have a goal, right?

I have so many projects on my desk, I have to finish them, or else I won't be able to start anything new and I have a few new ideas just burning holes in my brain, which isn't exactly comfortable, by the way. Plus, I get tired of reading and rereading the same stories. It's time to push them out of the nest and let them fly or crash and burn.

By the by, I recently had a new hard drive installed in my old Toshiba laptop. Can anyone recommend a decent antivirus program that 1) isn't Norton and 2) isn't crazy expensive? The one I have for my HP machine only covers one machine and LiveOneCare (what I had on the Toshiba) isn't available any more (and unlike this stupid anitvirus, LiveOneCare covered up to three machines.)

Please and thank you!

Waiting

I have two subs out, which means the waiting game has begun. It's not a fun game to play, but it's a biggie in this field. Waiting. Patience. Resisting the urge to check the email every fifteen seconds or so.

In the case of Submission #1 - the wait will last another few weeks. In the case of sub #2, it shouldn't be quite as long. Either way, if I still bit my nails (a habit long since broken), I'd have chewed them into nubs by now. I'm not a patient person by nature, and this only makes it worse.

While I'm waiting, I'm working on the outline for the book I mentioned a couple of posts back - the Western. I've got a basic skeleton of an outline from beginning to end. It isn't anything terribly detailed, just notes like: Hero and heroine meet. Or, heroine has a secret that will be revealed in later chapter (followed later by, heroine reveals secret) and I'm not really sure what that secret is yet, but it will impact the story, for better or for worse.

I tend to think of it as a basic pencil sketch - and as I revise it, I'll add the details in as I learn them. Right now, I don't know much about the hero and heroine, so as I get to know them, those details will come to light. It's been a while since I've written something where I didn't know the h/h already (After the Storm, Devil in Disguise, Dance with the Devil, and Tiger Eyes are follow ups to other novels, so even though they focus on what had been secondary characters, I still knew something about them when I began each book.) And it's a change I've really needed, as I've grown a bit weary of dealing with the same families (Montgomery, Montgomery, Radcliffe, Sebastiano - in that order) over and over.

So I'll be putting my waiting time to good use. I hope.

And now, it's time to see if I have any mail. You never know...

What's Up???

That kind of describes the revision process - for me, anyway. The first draft isn't ugly, it's FUGLY, and my goal is to pretty it up. Then the next draft (hopefully) is a little less fugly. And so on, and so on. Until that magic moment when - aha! - it's pretty enough to go to the ball (aka - submitted to the editor.)

So now I'm waiting to hear back, which isn't easy and leads to idiocy like checking the email every ten seconds, starting 30 seconds after I hit the send button, and ending when... well, we'll talk about that another time.

And while I'm waiting (I've got two other projects stewing at the moment. I like to let the drafts sit for a week or so between revisions so I can look at it with fresh eyes), I was hit with inspiration. Yay! A new project.

This time, I'm going to try the whole outlining thing. I know, I've tried it before and it never works, but I have a good feeling this time. Right now, I'm at the roughing out the story stage, and will move into research soon. It takes place in the Old West, so if anyone out there can recommend a good research book having to do with the Old West, I'd love you to let me know about it. I'm starting at Wikipedia and will work outward from there once I have a list of resources, but any and all suggestions would be helpful!

Please and thank you! :D

Oh, and I'm still mulling over just how I feel about RWA's most recent announcement regarding the disaster Harlequin Enterprises created last fall when they opened their vanity publishing arm and started steering their rejected manuscripts toward it. I'm looking into all the info and should have something to say about it soon!

The Dreaded Synopsis

I haetz them.

Now that Tiger Eyes is thisclose to being finished (and there was much rejoicing), I couldn't put it off any longer. It had to be done and the damn thing wasn't going to write itself (although, how cool would that be?!?)

The Synopsis.

I would rather sit down and write the first 85k word first draft than try to cram those 85k words into less than five pages. And now matter what I write, it sounds stupid to me and I think, Ain't no way in hell I'm gonna sell this!

Head, meet desk.

I envy people who can just sit down and bing! have a synopsis written perfectly in about thirty seconds. I don't like those people. I soooo want to be those people. Ugh.

Head, meet desk.

The only thing worse than writing the synopsis is writing the query (85k words crammed into 3 paragraphs. Ugh. Head, meet desk really hard.)

Fortunately, the queries are a little easier when you're querying and editor you already work with - yay! It's a lot easier then.

But that synopsis... it never gets easier. I don't know why it's so difficult. I wrote the damn book. I know what happens. So why can't I just summarize it like bing! that?

Head, meet desk.

And instead of kvetching about it, I really should be writing it. Like, now.

I think I'm getting a headache.

Write, Revise, Repeat as Needed

 And that's exactly what I'm doing right now. The writing part is done. The revising, however... yikes.

The best part about the revision process is when I can't read my own notes. **headsmack** It happens more often than I care to think about. I know I should know what it says, but damn it - I can't make it out for the life of me.

To be honest, I'd rather write the damn book than revise it. No, that's not entirely true. Later revisions are okay, because by then, there aren't that many (duh) but those earlier ones? Ugh. The pages end up a mess of red. Scratch-outs, arrows, new scenes written on the backs of pages, with cryptic notes (that made sense at the time I wrote them, but now... WTF did I mean by that???) and not-so-cryptic notes (continue on backs of pages 47, 52, and 92)

That's where Devil in Disguise is right now - that mess-of-red-ink stage. And not only does my handwriting suggest medical school would have been perfect for me, but I write small and I use a fine point pen (all the better for cramming as many changes into a small a space as possible) so the deciphering can be quite the challenge.

What's even better? When I change something in Draft #2, then change that same something in Draft #3, then find out that I changed it back to what it originally was in Draft #1! **headsmack**

And since Devil in Disguise is not going to edit or revise itself, that's probably what I should be doing right now!

One Week In

And I am over halfway done with my NaNoWriMo project. Woot!

I think, next year, I'll try to do a little preliminary outlining and research. Right now, when I get to something I need to look up, I take a few minutes to look up the basics, then put in what I think might be right. We'll find out, once I un-trunk this book and seriously begin revising it. As of right now, I don't know exactly when that will be, as I've got three or four other projects needing my attention much more right now.

Anyway, just a quick update. I'm closing in on 30k words, which means I've written nearly 5k today alone. Yikes! No wonder I'm tired...

How on Earth did I Sell This???

Seriously.

I've been asking myself this since yesterday afternoon, when the first edits for After the Storm arrived in my in-box.

How did I sell this story?

It's one of life's mysteries.

That's the only thing that makes sense. I can't tell you how many times I **facepalmed** while looking over the changes and comments my editor's requested. Some were so obviously goofs that I can't believe I didn't catch them before they went out (you know, I rewrote a scene, but when referring to it later on in another scene, I forgot about the rewrite and referred to something no longer in the book. Or in the wrong tense. D'oh!!!)

Or there's the strange case of The Disappearing/Missing Character.

You know, she's in the first third of the book (a secondary character, but with a rather important role) and then POOF!!! she vanishes without a trace. Got one of them, too. Guess I'll need to send a search party out for her and bring her back alive...

Overall, the changes my editor's requested aren't really major - and some of them I'm **headsmacking** over because how come I didn't think of them??? D'oh!!!

And some of the goofs are **facepalm** worthy as well, and that's when I wonder how the heck I ever sold this book in the first place.

Then there are the dreaded Overused Words and/or Phrases. Apparently, Miranda's toes curl. A lot. She should probably see a podiatrist about that, since by the end of the book those poor toes are tiny, curled up nubs that will probably never be the same again. Sigh. **facepalm**

On the other hand, some of the changes she's suggested are fantastic and I'm looking forward to rewriting the scenes as needed. The end result will be a stronger hero, and stronger heroine (with uncurled toes, no less) and an all-around better book. Yay!

Makes dealing with the embarrassing screwups a little easier to deal with. Well, sort of, anyway.

Finding the Time

One of the things I'm asked the most is when do I find the time to write? I've got two kids, a house, a dog, a husband and all the ups and downs that go along with these things.

Or the flip side - I also hear "I've always wanted to write a book. Maybe I will when I have the time."

When I have the time.

Man, if I had this mindset, I would never have the time to write.

It's not about having the time, it's about making the time. If you want to write a book, and I mean if you really want to write a book, you don't wait for the time to show itself. You carve it out wherever you possibly can.

Like this blog, for instance. You can't see it, but the Boy is standing right here, hanging on my arm (when he isn't trying to plug the camera into the USB port on my computer, or turning the stereo on.) But he knows, when I'm done, my attention's all his (though he's since abandoned me in search of Daddy - traitor.) But the point is, I carved out a small bit of time. And no, writing a book is nowhere near as simple as a little blog post, but the theory's basically the same.

You make the time.

And that's how it is if you really want to write.


It's that simple.

When the Girl was a baby, it was easy. Nap time. Bed time. She was a late sleeper, so I would get up with my husband at 5 AM - and anyone who knows me could tell you I'm so not a morning person that it isn't funny. I love my sleep. I've raised sleeping to an art form. I also sacrificed it in order to make time to write - and I would write from 5 AM until about 9ish when the Girl woke up.

Then the Boy came along. He slept on schedule. The Girl was in preschool. I had two hours every morning and after they went to bed.

Now that they are both in school, I have much larger chunks of time, but I also have other commitments for them (Girl Scouts, CCD, stuff like that.) So sleep is still the big sacrifice when I'm on deadline, or I've got an idea that just. won't. rest.

It's really not that difficult, either. But then again, I don't have a choice. I think that's what separates the writers from the wannabe writers. I have to write. Not writing just isn't an option. It's something I have to do.

Like now, I know Aidrian's story needs to be told. I want to write it. I have to write it (if only I could just find the damn beginning!!!). If I waited until I had free time... it wouldn't happen. If I tried to ignore that little urge, it would only get stronger and my head would probably explode.

I've never actually tried ignoring my muse. She'd probably hurt me if I did. =)

On a Roll and in a Groove...

With posts, that is.

Oh, yeah... I'm in a groove now.

Don't you just love that? A groove. Doesn't matter what it's for, as long as it's there. A groove makes everything a little better, doesn't it?

That's what I discovered last year, when I was stuck in that rotten slump and couldn't seem to get past page 30 on any project. Then, I signed up for NaNoWriMo.

And that was all she wrote.

Writing under the pseudo-pressure of a deadline helped unblock my mind and I finished two books in a 3 week period. Since then, I've written two more. Egads, that's roughly half a million words written in less than a year. That's a LOT. Ay-yi-yi.

More importantly, it unstuck my mind and got the creativity flowing again.

I found a groove.

Now, I've not started any new stories - I'm almost sitting on my hands about that, though. I want to write something. I did start Aidrian's story (he is Inigo and Finn's son, from Eden's Pass) but the problem with that is I'm not entirely certain where his story starts, so I'm playing around with different openings in between revisions on other projects.

**pauses to breathe**

But I'm fairly confident that, once November 1 rolls around (I'm already signed up, just waiting for the Go), I will find that groove pretty quickly. And I'm looking forward to it, because once that's out of the way, I've got at least three more books planned and that should take me to this time next year.

Ahh... gotta love the Groove...

As the Muse Turns

Ahh... last summer, I thought my muse (I really should name her, seeing as how she lives to make me crazy) left. Gone. Kaput. Bye-bye.

Apparently, I was wrong.

Not only is she back, but she's trying to make up for lost time.

I finished the rough draft to Dance with the Devil last week. I finished the first round of revisions for Tiger Eyes last Friday. Swore I was taking a break. Not writing anything for a while yet.

Yeah.

Right.

On Saturday, I was typing the words Chapter One for a new idea. A wonderful, warm-and-fuzzy inspiration that came to me late Friday night and would not leave me alone until I got the words on paper - er - on file.

Trouble is, the beginning isn't working.

I can't find it.

I've rewritten the same five pages about a dozen times, trying to figure out where the story starts. Still haven't had much luck. The first love scene was already written in my head, so I wrote the rough draft of that instead.

What appeared on the screen was a little different. Not a full-fledged love scene. But the lead-up. A teaser, if you will.

Okay. Now, if only the beginning would come to me.

Rats.

So, I still don't have it written, but that's okay. I've been busy running errands and since the Boy's school program wrapped up last week, my writing time's been cut into during the day. The flip side is that now I can stay up a little later at night to write, since I don't have to be up first thing in the AM.

But still no beginning.

Sigh.

I'll just let it simmer in the back of my mind. My muse has also planted ideas for two more stories, but she's not being quite so pushy about them just yet. At least she's a bit considerate, especially considering how she ditched me last summer.

A muse with a guilty conscience is not necessarily a good thing.

But, it's still better than an absentee muse, that's for sure.

Writer's Block

I'm eyeball deep in work right now, revisions to Tiger Eyes and Devil in Disguise are coming along very nicely and the first drafts of Angel of Darkness and Dance with the Devil are also coming along very nicely. And that's a load off my mind, because new ideas are still coming, different from the current ideas, and I think that's due, in part, to being so productive.

This time last year, I was stalled out on one of my WIP (I can't quite remember if it was TE or DID, but it was one of them) and it was a pretty scary thing for me. I've always felt the need to write, always had a story of some sort simmering in the back of my mind. Well, this time last year, it felt like that well had finally dried up and that's a pretty frightening prospect for a writer.

But then NaNoWriMo came around and I signed up for it. I had no idea what I was going to work on, and it didn't matter. This wasn't necessarily going to be a story for anyone else's eyes but my own. It didn't have to be perfect. It just had to be 50k words in 30 days.

With the pressure off, the all-powerful muse showed up. I wrote two stories, the total combined word count putting me over the 50k mark. After NaNo ended, not only did I have the feeling of accomplishment at having met the challenge, I had those stories percolating in the back of my mind again.

If you'd asked me last year, I'd have said I had writer's block. Now, I don't know if I even believe in writer's block. For me, I was getting too rigid in my planning stages. I tried to outline the entire book. Tried to know every little nugget of info about my characters. It worked for getting to know the characters, but it totally killed any interest I had in writing about them. Turns out, I need to know very little about them in order to tell their stories. I get to know them as I write, not before. If I know too much about any part of the book, the story dies on me and I find myself struggling to make things fit where my outline said they should, instead of letting them unfold as they needed to throughout the story.

So, if there is such a thing as writer's block, the cure then is to write. Write whatever you want, no matter how good or how crappy it is. Just yesterday, I wrote a love scene, about 1.5k words and, within a few minutes of finishing it, I cut it right back out. It didn't fit. But, what it did do was get me through a sagging spot in the middle of the book. So, it took me to the next scene, which was actually the scene I needed instead of the love scene. A major turning point was reached, and the love scene that ultimately proved unnecessary at that point in the story, was relegated to my edits file. I'll probably put it back in later (it was a good, steamy scene and I liked it, it just didn't work at that point in the story. It was filler then, as opposed to moving the story forward, like it will later on.)

I try not to stress over making each word perfect now. The junk can stay as long as it needs to, but I know that the right words, the right scene, will come eventually. It may not happen when I'm actively revising - but could pop into my head as I drift off to sleep - but it will happen. I don't even need to know the ins and outs of my main characters at first. I learn about them as they come alive (realized one of my heroes was actually married before he met the heroine this way.) In doing so, writing's become fun for me again as well. And that sends the muse into overdrive and kicks writer's block clear to the curb.

Another Week

And it's just gone by, without any new posts.

The only excuse I have is that I've been busily writing yet another first draft.

During NaNo last year, I learned that writing really does unleash the creativity and kicks the muse into high gear. Since November first, I've written three and a half books. The half is on hold for now, simply because I have way too many projects going as it is. I'm finding there really is such a thing as writing too much.

But it's a good thing because, while one project is on submission, I've got another one to keep me busy.

However... my muse isn't always so agreeable. When she decides I should be inspired, there is no shutting her up. I have to get that story out and that's it, end of discussion. Which, of course, is why I have three and half books (and that's not including the book I'm writing right now) taking up space - both on my computer, as well as in real life, as I can't edit unless it's in hard copy format.

And since my muse is screaming in my ear about getting back to Dance with the Devil, I suppose I should indulge her for now. I am going to make her take a vacation when I finish the first draft of Dance with the Devil. I only hope she listens...