Status Report
12 Mar 2011 8 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: publishing, status update, writing
The time has come (the time has actually passed) for the monthly status update. So on with the show.
Struck By Lightning sold to Lyrical. Tentative release date in November. Time to get on to the last book if in fact it ends up being the last book.)
Welsh Rogue awaiting crits so I can send it back to Carina in the hopes that they will publish it.
Finding Roanoak still in a slush pile at HQ Undone.
All Sci Fi stuff currently stalled as I don’t know where to sub it.
Melody Unchained in a slush pile at Samhain.
Third Weaver’s Circle still stalled.
Co-writing project proceeding at a nice clip. We’re about 25% of the way through.
Considering putting together a timeline for rock star books because with 6 finished titles and 5 more planned, it’s getting complicated. Still waiting on an editor for Satellite, but that’s mostly my fault as I haven’t emailed to bug yet.
I really need to write more.
Welcome to Weaver’s Circle
09 Feb 2011 4 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: publishing, Weaver's Circle, writing
Weaver’s Circle is a little township in middle America with a diner, a library, a grocery store and two churches. Why does it have two churches? Because the little town I grew up in and based Weaver’s Circle on had two churches. I never attended either one though I did go to Girl Scouts in one of them. Not that Weaver’s Circle is a mirror of the town I grew up in. What fun would that be?
The town of Weaver’s Circle isn’t all nice neighbors competing for ribbons in the county fair either. First of all, they have a summer festival, thankyouverymuch. Pretty much the whole town participates and it’s what puts them on the map. They have a winter festival too, but that’s generally just to give the locals a reason to get together in the dead of winter. The summer festival is organized and run by three volunteers, Elaine Hammersmith, Lily Walker and Beth Wilson. All three teach at the local school. Elaine teaches high school English and everyone is pretty sure she’s a lesbian because no one has ever seen her with a man. She’s such a good girl. Always has been. Beth Wilson is one of the The Wilson’s, but she’s proving people can escape their bad families. (Unlike her cousin Jeff whose wife is still walking into doorknobs. Too bad she won’t let anybody do anything about it. You know Sheriff Daniel would love to catch him a dark alley in an unofficial capacity one night. If Weaver’s Circle had any dark alleys.) Lily just moved here five years ago and she seems nice enough, but nobody really knows her that well. George Kline is head over heels about her, too bad she doesn’t realize it and he’s too shy to say anything. They’re nice girls, those three.
And did you hear about Lucy Kelly? She was always a bit strange, but she’s done so well for herself writing those travel articles. Such a shame. Hope she’s alright. Where is Myanmar anyway? Don’t know why anybody would want to go that far from home in the first place. Hope Old Mrs. Benetti is alright too. She’s just about gone, isn’t she? Can’t remember her own face. Good for her that Beth was here to take care of her because you know her own daughter won’t come home and her grandson is mixed up in that real estate thing in Atlanta. Not really mixed up. He’s the one who turned the man in. He might not know how to take care of family, but at least he’s honest.
The first book in the Weaver’s Circle series, Secrets Everybody Knows, is available now from Lyrical Press.
Late Status Report
07 Feb 2011 3 Comments
in Status Report Tags: publishing, Status Report, writing
Just dawned on me that I haven’t done a status report for January. Been busy. You know. So let’s see. Where am I?
Arden FD #3 Struck By Lightning. Finished and subbed to editor. Yay! I’m always a bit nervous about these things despite the fact that Lyrical has never been anything but overjoyed to get something new from me and the fact that this is a really good book. Doing the final comb through the other day I was laughing and yelling at the characters when they were being stupid. Now I’m left with the daunting task of writing the last Arden book (I think. There’s another character who seems to be angling for his own story and there’s a novella I have to write because I was told I had to by a friend/fan. And then there’s the police department.)
Welsh Rogue. I got a massive revise and resubmit from Carina for it and every comment was a Doh! moment. That’s going to take a while, but it will come out a stronger book even if Carina doesn’t take it in the end. And it’s nice to see how far I’ve come since I wrote it.
Roanoak. Sent off to HQ Undone, but I’m not sure it’s right for them. The story is really strong and tight. My critique partner said it’s her favorite so far, but it’s really unusual so it might have been better off with Carina. However, I was waiting on Welsh Rogue from Carina when I sent it off so that’s how that ball bounces.
Melody Unchained is out to Samhain. I’m not sure about that fit either. It’s not as steamy as most of their stuff, but it’s a strong story.
Surface Tension. Stalled on the hard drive. I got a pretty involved revise and resubmit from Wild Rose on it, but I don’t know if I can pull off the suggestions and keep true to the story. I’m considering doing a total remodel in the tradition of my favorite Leigh Michaels’ book, Backward Honeymoon, but with aliens.
Destined Flight is lost on my hard drive because I’m not sure where to send it. It’s ready to go, but where to? Decisions, decisions.
Weaver’s Circle #1 Secrets Everybody Knows. Coming out Friday! I’m setting up the promo for that. Yay! Friday!
Weaver’s Circle #2 Long Memory. Slated to come out in May. WooHoo!
Weaver’s Circle #3. I’m on the middle of that one and it’s killing me, but the R&R from Carina is taking precedence for the moment.
Touchstone #1 Satellite of Love. Still waiting on an editor. Book 3 in that series is done and ready to go. Book 4 is buzzing in my ear. Book 5 (novella length) is done and Brett might be my favorite hero ever. EVER! Book 6 (novella length) is forming in my subconscious. Book 7? No clue. At this point, I’m glad about that.
The other band novellas. One is done. Two is done and Alan runs a tight second for favorite hero ever. Angie is my favorite heroine. Doing all the right things for all the wrong reasons. Beautiful. Three is halfway, interrupted by Weaver’s Circle #3 which was interrupted by the Welsh Rogue R&R. Four is cooking in the back burner. After as much of a snot as Trent was in the first 2 books, he’s going to find out how much of a bitch karma really is. Bwahahahaha. Book 5, no clue, thank God. The last thing I need right now is more ideas I don’t have time for.
Most of this year (not July or August), I’m running a contest. Once a month (on the 17th for no real reason) I am posting a picture of a well known chain in Arabic. If you can be the first to correctly guess what the chain is you will win an ebook from my backlist. Any one as long as it’s already published (because if I have to try to remember to send something at a later date, I won’t.)
So that’s where I am. Wow. I better get to work. That R&R isn’t doing itself and it’s jamming up the works.
Oh the Agony!
22 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized, writing Tags: publishing, Weaver's Circle, writing
Lately I’ve been struggling with my current WIP, the third Weaver’s Circle novella. Actually, I haven’t been struggling, I’ve been procrastinating which for me is a sure sign that there’s a problem.
In Secrets Everybody Knows, Sue’s father has a heart attack and her brother Johnny comes home to bail out the family business. Johnny thinks he needs to prove himself to be seen with the girl he loved and left town to protect years ago so he starts trying to make things right starting with his family. Sue, realizing what he’s doing, says that she wishes someone would change the world for her.
This story was meant to be someone changing the world for Sue, but the further I got into my brilliant idea, the more I realized I hadn’t left enough one on one time for Sue and her hero, but I couldn’t figure a way around it.
Well, I’ve figured a way around it and it means pretty much starting from scratch. Boo.
Still, Weaver’s Circle beckons and somebody has to change the world for Sue because every time I read that line it brought tears to my eyes.
What moves you?
15 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in publishing, writing Tags: motivation, publishing, writing
Motivation is a tricky business when you work for yourself. When you have a boss leaning over your shoulder telling you to get it done, you do. When you have a family that needs cared for, you do. When you work for yourself, you might. Sitting down at the keyboard can be the hardest thing for a writer to do. There’s so many more interesting things to do. Like dishes. Or laundry. Or that mountainous to-read pile. But you want to write. You really do. Unfortunately deciding to write a novel and actually producing one is hard. Really hard. Fifty to a hundred thousand words, oh my! How do you manage it?
First of all, quit thinking of it as fifty to a hundred thousand anything. Create manageable, attainable, daily writing goals and then low ball yourself. You heard me right, low ball. If you set your daily word count above what you know you can accomplish, you are setting yourself up for failure. Nobody likes to fail, therefore, after a couple of failures, you will quit. However, if you set your daily word count just below what you know you can do, then you will have success and you will keep coming back for more. I like to set my personal word count at 1500 words because I know I can do that on the worst of days. Once I hit 1500 words, its all gravy and “look how good I am.”
Next, make sure you start with something you are happy with. Do you need to plan out every second of the story? Then plan out every second of the story. You don’t need fancy computer programs or spreadsheets, a pack of note cards will do the trick. Don’t want to plan out every second? Then don’t, but make sure you have enough story to go on. Personally, I’m a pantser. I know how the story is going to start and I’ve got a pretty good idea where it’s going to end. All the stuff in between? I like to be surprised. Sometimes I find myself so caught up that I’m yelling at the computer as I write. However, the quickest way to lose momentum is to discover half way in that you don’t have enough conflict or motivation. It really is all in the planning, even if you don’t have everything spelled out to the smallest degree.
Third, set aside a time. Just like you can train your body to go to sleep or get hungry at certain times, you can train your brain to write at certain times. If you’ve ever suffered with jet lag, you know how true this is. I have woken up in the middle of the night just starving even though I had a snack before going to bed because it’s lunchtime halfway around the world and my body clock hasn’t adjusted yet. Your brain will operate the same way about writing. Once you’ve developed the habit of sitting down and doing the work, your brain will start even if you aren’t at your desk.
Lastly, start thinking about your story as you drive home or make dinner (or whatever it is that you do before you start writing) so that when you get to your desk you can start writing. I wrote entire novels while stocking magazines at Borders, just ask my co-workers. If you can sit down and start writing you will feel like you’re getting something done. If you have to sit down and figure out what’s happening next, then you have every chance that your mind will wander and Facebook beckons.
So what’s the key to motivating yourself to write? To borrow a phrase, just do it.
*Sadly, I do not know where I got this image from, but if someone can tell me I will be happy to credit the creator because I think it’s brilliant.
Planning for 2011
01 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in publishing, Status Report, writing Tags: business, planning, romance, writing
Since last year turned out far different than I imagined it would, so I’m not thinking that by laying out a plan now that at the end of 2011 I’ll look back and say, “everything went just the way I thought it would.” Please, I teach kindergarten, I am used to not getting what I thought I was going to. Regardless, that doesn’t mean planning is useless. Look back at what worked or didn’t work last year and plan to replicate, fix or avoid in the coming year. Easy enough (especially when sitting at a desk with the whole year ahead of me like a field of fresh snow. Oh wait, I’m in Abu Dhabi, we don’t have snow here. Bwahahahaha!)
I’m going to stick with the finish five titles, sub five titles, release five titles that has served me so well in the past. Didn’t always get done, but at this moment, I have one sub out, two titles ready to go and one more that just needs a final edit. Let Me Be the One is also ready to go but as the third Touchstone book, I’m waiting for an editor for Satellite and then I sub it to her or him. (I’m betting it’ll be a her, what do you think?) I’ve got the plans and the ideas, I just need to do the Butt In Chair part. No problem. I like my chair. (My office light I’m not too happy about, but I have plans for that as well.) I’m not going to pin myself to a list of what I plan to write this year because that never works out for me. Just knowing I want to finish five, sub five and release five is good enough. I’ve already got two scheduled and one that should come out this year though I don’t know when. That just leaves me with two more to get in there which means I need to get on those subs.
I also am not the greatest at promotions. This year, all year long, I’m running a monthly contest. I have pictures of chain restaurants in Arabic. Every month on the 17th (why the 17th? Because I said so, that’s why) I’m going to put up a picture of one and the first commenter to correctly guess what it is gets to choose a published ebook from my back list. It’s already set up so I don’t have to think about it other than to check the comments. I also plan to blog a little more (if not more regularly.)
On a personal side, I plan to pay more attention to what I’m eating, work out on my Wii regularly and get new pages put in my passport so I don’t run out of space before it expires.
As plans go, this isn’t the tightest, but it gives me the room and the direction I need when nothing works out like I think it will. After all, that is the only thing I can rely on.
2010 Recap
29 Dec 2010 2 Comments
in publishing, Status Report, writing Tags: business, planning, romance, writing
It’s that time of year when we look back on what we’ve done and try to plan for the upcoming year. To be honest (and why wouldn’t I be) parts of this year were astoundingly successful and other parts sucked raw eggs. Mostly, my writing suffered.
At the beginning of last year my plans were as follows: finish my classes so I could get my teaching license back, get a teaching job for the 2010-11 school year somewhere on the eastern seaboard of the USA, finish five manuscripts, sign five publishing contracts and release five titles. Now let’s look at what happened.
First quarter of the year I worked at my classes. I applied for, interviewed and was offered a job in Abu Dhabi (so not the eastern seaboard.) The second Arden FD book, Spark Of Desire was released and I got a print contract for it. I contracted out Love To Declare to Wild Rose Press and the second Touchstone book (which is the first in the chronology) Satellite Of Love to Freya’s Bower. (I also learned to stop calling it SOL because that reduced friends to hysterics.) I didn’t finish a darn thing but I did start a piece of fan fiction in class. It’s about War and Peace length now. I’m so ashamed. Or not, because I use fan fiction to incubate characters in. It works! I also house sat for an elderly dog which I’m sure was more traumatic for me than it was for her and juggled four very part time jobs (explaining the need for four of them.)
Second quarter of the year I finished my classes with A’s. Spark Of Desire was released in paper. Love To Declare came out in ebook form. I contracted a pair of novellas to Lyrical. Secrets Everybody Knows is coming out in February and Long Memory will be coming in May, I believe. My jobs all dried up within the same two week period when classes ended and suddenly with time on my hands I started writing. I started another rock star series with a band called Send Down that was mentioned in the Touchstone books. I wrote and edited the third Touchstone book (which really is #3 in the chronology.) I also finished two other novellas, one that had been knocking around my hard drive and a new one. And I got the paperwork in for my license renewal. I also started working on the endless process of getting my paperwork authenticated for Abu Dhabi which took the entire summer and cost about $300 to various agencies.
Third quarter saw me write another Send Down book, finish yet another old novella and write a novella that will slot into the Touchstone series between books four and five. (No, four isn’t written yet, but I have faith in myself. Someone has to.) And I finished writing the third Arden book, which I have been picking at for eight (yes, eight) years. In the meantime, I finished the authentication process, packed my bags and moved to another continent where it is very hot and people dress funny.
Fourth quarter was mostly spent in hotels, outfitting and moving into my apartment and settling in to my new job. I got moved from classroom to classroom three days in a row due to confusion and lack of planning. After the third move I had a nightmare that I walked into school and my boss was saying, “I hate to do this to you, but…” and I woke up in a cold sweat. Very freaking little got done on the writing front. I think I subbed one thing. I did a little editing and started two, er three, projects.
So what’s the score?
Goal: “finish my classes so I could get my teaching license back, get a teaching job for the 2010-11 school year somewhere on the eastern seaboard of the USA.”
Finished classes, got teaching license and a job. The job is several thousand miles from where I planned to be, but it pays well and I love it. As I write, I’m waiting for my laundry man to come drop off my laundry because I have become that lazy. I’m considering hiring a Filipina to follow me around this summer on my travels so I won’t have to carry my own suitcase. (Just kidding. Sorta.)
Goal: “finish five manuscripts.”
I did manage the letter of this, but failed horribly on the spirit of it. I meant, “begin and finish five full novels.” What I did was finish 2 novellas and a novel that had been started previously and got start to finish on three other novellas. I didn’t really have the brain capacity to handle anything longer. Of course, I said titles to give myself the wiggle room of completing novellas in lieu of novels so maybe I should stop being so hard on myself and call that one a win. Finished five novellas and a novel.
Goal: “sign five publishing contracts.”
About that. It’s not really a fair goal because I don’t have control over whether I get offered a contract. All I can do is submit and cross my fingers. That is where I fell down. I submitted things and had publishers interested enough to hold them for months, but ended up only signing three contracts all year. What I didn’t do was make sure things stayed out. Subbing by email is wonderful because I can do it anywhere in the world. Now from the middle of August to the middle of October, I was living in Intercontinental Hotels and not willing to pay the absurd prices they were asking for wifi very often and them it took almost to December before I got internet installed at my apartment, but for the rest of the year I have no excuse.
Goal: “release five titles.”
I released two. Three if you count the ebook and the paper release of Spark separately.We could argue all night over whose fault it was (no we can’t. It was mine, all mine.) but in the end what’s the point? If you don’t sub stuff, you don’t release stuff. I was busy with school and other distractions for the last half of 2009 and most of 2010, didn’t sub and didn’t release anything. I’ll work on that.
In the end I guess it wasn’t as bad as I thought. This time last year, I was barely employed, in the middle of the massive project of regaining my teaching license which would get me actual employment, scraping by financially and floundering in snow. Creatively, I thought I was out of gas. I had no inspiration or energy to write. Now I’ve got a very well paying, stable job in a really nice place. (Okay, the drivers are nuts, the laundry man always says he’s coming at four o’clock and never actually shows up at that time and never in my life did I think I’d be giving directions like “turn left in the parking lot, then right at the mosque, second street on the right, my building is the last one in the row.”) I’m sorta writing again. I was going gangbusters this summer while I waited for documents, but moving from place to place, living in hotels and settling into a job and an apartment it was all I could do to dabble in editing. Of course, that just means that I have a lot of stuff that I can sub this year, right? Which will be the next post. Every “where have we been” needs a “where are we going” in my opinion.
Where is that laundry man?
Stagefright
02 Dec 2010 2 Comments
in writing Tags: romance, writer's block, writing
Stagefright is a thief.
For a performer, wanting for go onstage is the ultimate end to all the work. Actors spend time perfecting their ability to project their emotion and learning their lines only to be hobbled at the curtain’s edge by fear. Musicians learn to play their instruments and write songs only to freeze in the spotlight. Public speaking is a very common fear, but stagefright is its bigger, more aggravating brother. To not want to talk in front of an audience, or even to be terrified to, is frustrating and aggravating, but when the point of everything you’ve worked for is to show it and you’re afraid to do that then you have lost your reason d’être.
So what stagefright can a writer have?
Having the whole story in your head and not being able to put down a word.
Isn’t that writer’s block?
No. Writer’s block is not knowing where to go next with the story or not knowing what to write. What I’m suffering right now is having the stories in my head, all mapped out and ready to go, but not being able to put the words down. I’ve got two Weaver’s Circle stories, two Send Down stories, a Touchstone novel and a novella, the last Arden FD book, and a few others in my head, waiting to come out and what am I doing? Watching Supernatural. Thinking about what I need to get to work because if I had the magic bullet, it would all work. And reading my old stuff thinking, wow, this is pretty good. I should write more.
Doh.
