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Fantasy Romance

Writing

Don’t Be a Writer

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At least, don’t be a writer of romance novels when your daughter is in first grade but reading at the fifth grade level, and she wants to read the book you wrote.

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Yeah.

About that…Errr, no.

I tell her the stories in my books will scare her, and there is some truth to that. She has put down more than one book in her few short years because there was death in it. She almost quit reading The Magic Treehouse series altogether because of a book in the series where the kids go back in time, meet an Egyptian queen, but when they return to the present, the queen is a mummy. My daughter was super unhappy about it, saying it was a terrible ending.

I have no idea where she gets it from. *whistles while avoiding eye contact*

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I swear!

 

And I’m totally lying.

But my romance novels are not fade-to-black. And there is no way she is ready for one of them, much less one her mom wrote.

Heck, I’m not ready for her to read them and the barrage of questions that will come.

But she is my daughter, and as we were playing a video game together, her main focus wasn’t on the combat, or maximizing loot, it was all about marrying off the characters. She was especially delighted when that resulted in the parents being “gifted” with an unruly child they had to deal with.

I have no idea where she gets it from. *whistles while avoiding eye contact*

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It was the cat. Yeah, the cat.

 

Kids show you the best and worst sides of yourself.

I’ve toyed with writing her a story just for her, but I’m not sure I can do it. Or that I want to spend my writing time doing it when Knight of Valor is calling to me.

Maybe I could rewrite my current stories and remove the non-fade-to-black scenes.

I’m trying to remember when I first started reading Victoria Holt, and I’m almost certain it was fifth or six grade. I still remember sitting on my bed devouring book after book, and based on where the bed was positioned, I know it had to be before seventh grade when we moved. It wasn’t too long after that I discovered Kathleen Woodwiss and was cemented as a lifelong romance reader.

Granted, it wasn’t until much more recently that I decided I wanted to write what I read. I’d toyed with traditional fantasy, urban paranormal, and science fiction before realizing I could incorporate those into romance and write what I read.

And I’ve never looked back!

Progress Update: April

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So, my progress hasn’t been as spectacular as I would’ve liked.

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Still trying.

Yes, I finished Second Chance, but it’s just shy of 60,000 words, and I was aiming for 70,000.

The story is complete, and I almost always add another 10-15% in revisions. While I have heard the advice to “kill your darlings”, I simply don’t write a lot of extras.

Actually, I write quite the opposite way.

While I’m not a plotter, some might consider my first draft closer to a robust outline than a fully finished novel. I need to go back and add more internal dialogue for the characters, give better descriptions of places, and expand on several other details to make the characters feel more real.

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An actual picture of my first draft.

But the plot is there. Character motivation is there. And I think the chemistry between the characters really works. It’s not what I had originally set out to create, but my dark mage surprised me, and I ran with it.

At lot more will be fleshed out during editing. This is partly because I give myself at least six months between finishing a first draft and editing it. It gives me space from it so I can come back with fresh eyes, and I can see better what I’m missing as I am not as close to what I know is happening versus what I wrote.

I have plenty of other projects to work on in the meantime, so I promise I won’t be idle.

Like that edit on Knight of Valor.

Which I *might* not have gotten as far on as I would have liked.

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But there is progress

Okay, I definitely didn’t.

I have a slew of reasons. That trip to Ohio. The slog. My day job and April 15th happening this month.

Still, I did get Second Chance written, and I’m almost 1/3 of the way through this revision for Knight of Valor. Then it’s back off for another round of beta reading.

I already have back A Knight’s Redemption (working title) that I’m planning to release later this year. I will start making those edits as soon as Knight of Valor is ready. There’s a whole lot less red on that one, so there’s a good chance that will be ready on time.

Editing A Knight’s Redemption is my June goal, and if I can meet it, I will back on track by the end of June.

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Maybe.

Writing: The Slog

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I have gone from the euphoric high of new characters and fresh beginnings to the slog.

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Yep, just fine.

 

So I decided to procrastinate do some research, and curl up with a couple of good books.

Which may have made the situation I’m currently in with this WIP worse as now I am yelling at myself not to compare my first draft with a New York Times best-selling author’s final finished product.

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Easier said than done.

I know this. Mentally. But the reptile brain is less easily convinced by reason.

And it doesn’t help that my characters are not behaving. They are not doing what my notes said they should do. The hero is not at all what I thought he would be like. He’s a dark and powerful mage that…likes puppies and kittens?!?

Wait, what?!?

Leikar, you are supposed to…never mind. You do you, and let’s see if that gives us a story.

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What I’m doing with all my notes for this story.

And this is what happens in the middle of my stories. My characters are off doing things they weren’t supposed to do until later in the story. Acing in ways I’d never intended.

I have to slog through it and find my way to the end.

Usually, writing the ending is much more like writing the beginning. At that point, the characters have tossed my ideas aside and just run toward their own ending.

But, I have to get to where they are taking me.

Let them show me the path even though its not the path I chose.

So, yes, the writing is going much slower. I am in the soft morass of the middle where things happen that I know I’m going to have to go back and add foreshadowing for in earlier chapters. Where I know a ton of things are going to need to be tidied and cleaned up.

But that’s for later.

The middle is where I most need to silence the internal editor as every word is a struggle to get on the page anyway. The last thing I need to do is quiet the ideas that are coming because I started three sentences in a row with the same word.

Still, I am getting there. Perhaps in another few weeks, I will have another completed first draft.

To add to my pile.

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My editing pile isn’t this bad. Yet.

 

I need to figure out how to edit faster. But that will wait until I get through this journey.

First, Leikar has to show me how he’s going to get out of the mess that found him.

*evil author laugh*

 

 

Writing: March Goal Update

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Things are messy.

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March Progress Report

It’s the end of March. As you can tell, February and March aren’t complete, but April is. That’s because February and March involved a great many thing related to a new book release in April that is not happening in April.

Two more months’ worth of things have been added, so I really have fourteen months of work to accomplish in twelve.

Sounds like my day job.

Still, I am making progress.

I am trying to decide if I quit working on the brand new story I’m writing and go back to editing Knight of Valor, or if I should finish this fresh WIP then settle in for a long bout of editing. Not only does Knight of Valor need editing, but Pirate Captain’s Daughter is rough.

Really rough.

Even for a second draft. I need to work on the heroine in that a lot more before it goes to a beta reader.

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I *really* want to avoid this look

And, I can’t edit and create new at the same time. I’ve tried. It doesn’t work for me.

Originally, May’s goal was to finish the WIP I started in April. I know how hard it is to drop a WIP half-way through and try to pick it back up again. I’d love to say I always finish. But I don’t.

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Not the kind of person I want to be, but best to know yourself

 

My current plan to finish this WIP, then I will be spending a great dal of time editing. First, Knight of Valor. That may mean pushing off the other edits as you can only spend so much time editing before you need the rush of creativity that comes from creating new.

Yeah, I know, the rainbows, unicorns and butterflies of a writer.

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Yep, about like that!

But if my writing journey has taught me anything, it’s to trust my own process. It might not work for Nora Roberts or Stephen King, but so far, it works for me.

Their processes may be better, and their processes certainly create best-selling books, but we all have to start somewhere.

How about you? Are there things you just can’t do together no matter what the experts tell you? Can you finish something half way, put it down, and pick it back up again?

 

Pure Joy

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The pure joy of free-flowing creativity is the greatest endorphin rush.

Characters so excited for you to hear them that they are screaming at you.

New worlds unrolling at your feet like a carpet, and the people and places literally sprouting up all around you like CGI magic.

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I am writing storyboards as fast as I can type, the ideas are coping so quickly. Trying to capture these amazing characters, their trials and tribulations.

I am already in love with them. But of course I am! The trick is developing enough talent as a writer to help my readers fall in love with them, too.

Their backstories are coming to life as I learn more about them. As I hear their stories and their struggles.

Honor and love. Betrayal and vengeance. War, assassination, arranged weddings and secret babies.

I have been seriously blindsided by these characters. They are haunting me all day at work. They are the first thing I think about when I get up in the morning and the last thing I think about in bed at night. The have even invaded my thoughts as I brush my teeth.

I am furiously taking notes, trying to get it all down. With a full time job there is no way I can write their story this fast, and I am still trying to work editing another novel that I wanted to publish this.

But that other story, the one I was going to write this year that I haven’t started yet?

It just got shelved.

Achieving My 2019 Writing Goals

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This time of year, a lot of people talk about goals. It’s almost two weeks after the new year, and if my company’s gym is any indication, many have already faced the stark reality of how difficult those goals really are.

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My post here outlined my five resolutions.

To help me achieve the first two goals, I have enlisted the help of Wunderlist and a coffee partner.

No, Wunderlist doesn’t pay me for saying any of this. I use them, and I thought I would share as I had never heard of them until my sister introduced to me to the site.

Wunderlist allows me to create a checklist of goals, and as I reach them, I mark them complete.

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Part of my January list

A little bar slides across the screen, showing me how far along I am to completing my goals.

You know my OCD loves to see that little bar move…

It also allows me to set a due date (as you can see in blue above), and it will send me a reminder a few days before the due date.

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Here is where I am so far in January.

This allows me to break apart all of the tasks I need to do this year into smaller chunks. It’s not write a book. More, write 1,000 works per day, each day, for 30 days. As I achieve the goal, I mark it as done.

I then mapped out everything I need to accomplish in 2019 to publish two new books and write three first drafts, along with the pain of starting to edit 2018 first drafts. I then set up these tasks by month.

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Sample for the first part of the year.

What does the coffee buddy have to do with all of this?

Well, she meets with me once a month to discuss how we are each doing with meeting each of our goals. It’s a little accountability.

No, she isn’t going to yell and scream if I don’t meet my goals, but I do have to look at someone across the table and confess that I didn’t reach them. That something was more important than my writing.

She’s going to understand when the day job that pays my bills trumps my writing, but she’s going to be a whole lot less understanding about binge watching Netflix.

I have been using Wunderlist to track monthly goals for almost two years, but this is the first year I have mapped out all of my goals for the whole year.

 

I mapped out the year this time for three reasons.

  1. To mark the path I need to follow to reach my goals.
  2. To see how close I am to being on track at a glance.
  3. To stop beating myself up when work, family, or life in general interferes with my writing. This schedule lets me work ahead when I have time in preparation for long days at work. It gives me an objective view of how well I am doing year-to-date, rather than just the month. And, it doesn’t let me get too aggressive, then be disappointed later.

We’ll see how it works for me this year. Two published books and three fresh first drafts are aggressive goals, but I have a path to reach them.

 

Anyone else have a method they are using to reach their New Year’s resolutions? What is it? Have you used it before, and if so, did it help you?