My historical novel, 'Far Horizons', has been nominated for a reader's choice award at the review site Red Roses For Authors. You can vote for it by sending an email to rosesauthor@yahoo.co.uk, and put the title of the book and the word award in the subject header.
Yes, that is where I'm currently residing. That awkward bit that serves as a transition from setup to deep conflict. Hmm. This is what I have done in the past: Take a break; take a stock; revise my first three chapters; keep writing. Let's hope this remedy works this time round.
Writing a romance novel, in my opinion, is harder than writing a regular novel, say, one of the historical novels I've written for Hale. And the reason? A historical is like a thread; it unwinds and you follow it wherever it goes. A romance is like a puzzle; you have the pieces scattered around in your brain and you have to fit them together. Sometimes you have to hack away at pieces that looked very nice and pleasing to get them to fit together. 50,000 words feel like a lot when you type 'chapter one', and heck, at 18,000 words it STILL feels like a lot. Yet at the same time it's not enough time to develop subplots or secondary characters too deeply, so you have to keep everything spare and clean. Every word and sentence has to have a purpose, every character's every action a motivation, and I seem to have an inner radar which beeps most annoyingly when I write something that sounds really good (in my humble opinion) but doesn't fit in the puzzle. Back to hacking away at those pieces...
Now that Thanksgiving is over, the Christmas rush is starting. We have a Christmas party at our house on December 1, so we've got to be particularly early with the decorations and tree. If you celebrate Christmas, which part do you like best? The tree? The presents under the tree? The carols? The cookies? The eggnog?
I like the sense of unity the season provides. A few years ago we went to a midnight carol service and the electricity went off. There was a beat of surprised silence and then everyone kept singing 'O Come All Ye Faithful' in the dark. It was a wonderful moment, joined together in voice and music.
I'm 15,000 words into my current wip which is a pretty good place to be. I've just realised we scheduled a holiday for the last weekend in January, which effectively moves my deadline a week earlier. Oops!
I've been reading various blogs and book reviews that have centered on criticisms of the heroine and it's interesting to consider what a reader wants from the heroine. Generally the majority seem to be in favour of a flawed heroine--especially physically. Supermodels need not apply. On the flipside, I've read several reviews that claimed the fault of the book was in a heroine who is too immature. That got me wondering, because I like to see emotional growth in both the hero and heroine, and if a heroine is immature in some way in the beginning, then she has matured by the end of the book. I'm not that interested in a heroine whose only flaw is falling in love with a man who isn't quite ready to reciprocate those feelings. So perhaps the criticism is that the heroine doesn't grow emotionally. I suspect, though, that there is a desire for the heroine to be flawed yet perfect; ie, her flaws are lovable and make her more worthy. I'd love to read a heroine with a flaw that's just plain flaw-ish. We've all got them, heroines included. Right now I'm writing a rather flawed heroine and I'm wondering if I can pull her off. At the end of the day, no one wants to read about someone she doesn't like.
2 lb carrots 1 3/4 1b parsnips (depending on which flavour you like more, you can tweak the ratio) 2-3 tbs butter or margarine 1/4 cup milk 1/4 cup maple syrup (REAL maple syrup--not Aunt Jemima or golden syrup!!)
Boil carrots for 5 minutes. Add parsnips and boil a further 5 minutes. Drain. Add butter and milk to pot, mash carrots and parsnips. Add maple syrup. Put everything in a food processor and process until desired consistency.
Season with salt, pepper, and more maple syrup to taste. Enjoy!
And if you're not American, Happy Thanksgiving anyway! Taking a break from the wip and other things to relax and rest--a cold caught up with me at last. I'm on page 968 of Ken Follett's 'World Without End' and while it's gripped me in places, I'm mostly disappointed. Anyone else read it?
Anyway I shall go finish it and take time to count my blessings, of which there are many.
!. A wonderful family whom I love and who loves me 2. A job I love (mostly--honest!) 3. Good health for pretty much all my life 4. A house that is warm and safe 5. Food in our fridge and on our table 6. Friends 7. Books--lots! 8. Laughter--whether it's me, my husband, my children--I love to laugh. I love to hear laughter. 9. Autumn in New England--I'll never tire of the fall colours. 10. A great church and a God who loves me.
And lots more... but even if one of these were missing, the house or the health or even the books (gasp!) I hope I'd still count my blessings. I hope I'd still realise how many I had.
I'm accepting that my reality as a writer is I revise a lot. This is what happens: I outline the book chapter by chapter, I write extensive character bios, I make a chart to plot the development of the characters' emotional conflict, and then finally, I start writing. And it all goes smoothly for a chapter or two until I stop and think, 'hmm... but WHY would he do that then? Why wouldn't she do x, say x, think x?" And then I have to go back to that lovely outline and start crossing things out.
But you know what? I'm okay with this. Really. Because this time round I expect it, and I'm not panicking. Yet. I'm just writing. I'm going to keep writing, and changing my outline and notes until it all starts to make sense. And accept that I don't write a clean first draft. I WISH I did. However, I write a fantastic second draft . The trouble is, I don't realise what book I'm trying to write until I've almost finished it. With my last book, I realised this three days before my deadline. Not a happy time. I was at 47,000 words, about to write the big, final scene, when I looked at the screen and realised: this isn't working. I felt sick. Sick, as in sick to my stomach. Seriously. Then I braced myself and thought I can take out a major plot element (a marriage of convenience) without too many changes. A few tweaks here, a few rewritten scenes there...
So I began to work my way through the manuscript, and for the first three chapters it wasn't so bad. Then there was the whole wedding scene. That was an entire chapter. There was having to write in all the bits about why these people were together, interacting with one another, since they weren't married for convenience. By the time I got back up to 47,000 words, most of the book was rewritten. I've got this whole other MOC book that will never be used. The book that wasn't. Which is okay, because in the end I really liked the way the book turned out. Just not the period from September 27th-October 15th so much.
So this time round I'm going to leave myself lots of time to write it all again.
My RSI has abated somewhat, THANK GOODNESS, because for awhile there I thought I was going to have become all stoic. Fortunately, my strength of character will be tested another day.
I'm 14 pages into the wip, which isn't much but at least it's something, right? And I'm planning on finishing chapter one tonight. Check back tomorrow and see if I succeeded...
This time for six year old daughter, with a 'Superhero Training' theme. I'm spending the evening making personal dossiers for each of her 14 guests, and cutting out Superman badges. And surfing the internet as I do these things, because I can't *not* multitask, even if it's inefficient to do two things at once. I can't help it. I'm a woman.
I've had more or less 2 weeks off writing, although I've tinkered with this and that, making notes, outlining, et cetera. But as for proper sitting down in front of the computer for a good stretch of time and pages... that hasn't happened and now I'm ready to get down to business--which is a good thing, considering my next deadline is February 1st!
First, though, I'm finishing a serial instalment for The People's Friend set in Vermont in autumn--plenty of inspiration in the foliage lying on our backyard! Inspiring me to both write and rake...
Meanwhile, for those of you in Australia, I have a romantic short story in the autumn That's Life Fast Fiction Special. Check it out!
I just heard from my editor that my fourth book, The Italian's Bought Bride, has been officially accepted. This book was hard to write mainly because I wrote it twice--actually, I seem to be developing a habit of doing that! I managed to write the entire thing except for the big moment at the end--around 47,000 words--and then realised it really didn't work! Actually, I think I'd had that realisation earlier but had suppressed it because my word count was still progressing nicely. That was a mistake. So less than a week before deadline I tore it apart, taking out the *major* plot element and fortunately found it all went a great deal more smoothly! And now it's done. Big sighs of relief and happiness.
I'm just starting to work on my next book, writing a chapter a chapter by outline and character biographies, which is generally how I start. Then last night I actually had a dream that was a scene of my book--actually, it was me writing/picturing that scene and it flowed so fabulously... as soon as I woke up, I went downstairs to scribble what I remembered, but it didn't seem quite as fabulous then. So I'm wondering if that's just because I didn't remember it correctly, or as can happen in dreams, it wasn't that fabulous to begin with...
I have a joke among a few friends that I'm craftphobic. I don't scrapbook, crochet, or make my own greeting cards. I wish I did. I wish I COULD. But the truth is I can't cut a straight line with scissors. If you give me a diagram to assemble ANYTHING, forget it. My oldest daughter is crafty, and it is undoubtedly a great trial to her than she is afflicted with a mother who cannot share, or worse, help her with her craft projects. She was finishing a small weaving project recently and asked me to show her how to tie the end loops off. There was a simple diagram with two pictures showing how to achieve this glorious end. Do you think I managed it? Do you think I managed to decipher what those two little pictures meant? Alas, no. Daughter wrenched the diagram from me after I'd been staring at it blankly for several minutes and figured it out mostly by herself.
Today I've been deep into the crafts, facing my fears. Daughter's ninth birthday is tomorrow, and she chose an 'Around the World' theme, which means we're going to play games from different countries. I read online of an idea to help this along--making pretend passports and stamping each one everytime we visit a country (by playing a game). Simple, eh? Really, really simple.
Well, it's taken me 2 hours to make 15 passports out of construction paper and staples--I told you it was simple! And they look so very, very homemade. That doesn't bother me. Trust me, I'm humble when it comes to crafts. But I KNOW a well meaning mother at the party tomorrow is going to point to one of these stapled creations and ask, "Oh, did your daughter make that?" and I am going to gulp and lie, and say, 'Why, yes, she did. It's pretty good for a nine year old, don't you think?'
. The trouble is, I don't realise what book I'm trying to write until I've almost finished it. With my last book, I realised this three days before my deadline. Not a happy time. I was at 47,000 words, about to write the big, final scene, when I looked at the screen and realised: this isn't working. I felt sick. Sick, as in sick to my stomach. Seriously. Then I braced myself and thought I can take out a major plot element (a marriage of convenience) without too many changes. A few tweaks here, a few rewritten scenes there...