Writing

Don’t Be a Writer

May 16, 2019 by Elizabeth Drake Leave a Comment

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.

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*

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*

notguilty — 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!

Why I Disagree with Internships

May 9, 2019 by Elizabeth Drake 1 Comment

A bit of a segue from my normal writing discussion, but something that has been bothering me for a long time.

Unpaid Internships

I have been frustrated with the rise of unpaid internships. That someone, somewhere, thinks it’s okay to ask people to work, to provide value, and then not to pay them for that work. Sure, the intern is learning something, but then so am I much of the time I’m at work. And I still expect to be paid for it.

All the stranger that the government allows companies to use workers without paying those workers and the corresponding taxes that should go with those workers. Or, maybe not.

Paid Internships

I hadn’t thought much of paid internships until I was having lunch with the director of engineering and he was talking up a candidate he was interviewing. The young man was a sophomore in college who already had extensive international engineering experience after two high profile internships.

Experiencebeforeexperience — Because that’s totally reasonable.

I reviewed the candidate’s resume, and while it was good, I asked the engineer how he thought the young man got such prestigious internships so early in his academic career. After some discussion, the engineer agreed it was unusual. He chalked it up to the candidate being stellar and went on to make the young man an offer.

The candidate didn’t accept with us, so I never met him. But a part of me suspects there was more to it than a brilliant young mind. After years of watching my company’s internship program, I’ve learned a few things.

Poor kids usually don’t do internships. They can’t afford a car to drive to the facility. They can’t afford to pay room and board in addition to whatever agreements they’ve signed back at school. And most poor kids don’t have the connections to get their foot in the door in the first place.

That young man with the incredible internship experiences before sophomore year? I can almost guarantee there was some family connection there. Sure, he did the internship, but he got it through established privilege. And the internship masked the privilege as merit.

That one candidate really made me pause to examine the entire internship program. If internships were as prevalent when I was in school as they are today, would I have been able to land the first job I did that propelled me through my career? Or is this another way to limit social mobility while masking it as meritocracy?

I’m not sure.

But internships are not about to go away, so I think it’s something we should all be asking ourselves.

Progress Update: April

April 25, 2019 by Elizabeth Drake 2 Comments

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

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.

skeleton-1522620_640 — 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.

Okay, I definitely didn’t.

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

Maybe.

Writing: How to Keep Going

March 21, 2019 by Elizabeth Drake

Someone recently asked me how I could keep working on a story after eighteen revisions.

Some would say stubbornness tenacity, others that I might be a little crazy.

Honestly, it’s a combination of both with a sprinkle of inspiration and perfectionism.

Perfectionism

In writing, as with many creative endeavors, perfect is the enemy of good. It’s also the enemy of done. But, I do have a strong need to have things as perfect as I can make them. I won’t be happy until I feel like I’ve created the best thing that I can. Letting go and releasing things that are as good as I can do, even if not perfect, has actually been a journey for me. It’s one of the reasons why I sometimes struggle to reread my older work. It was the best I could do at the time, but I’ve gotten better since then.

Tenacity

Sometimes, the writing just doesn’t come. Sometimes, I stare at the blank page and no more than a few words appear on the screen. I still make myself sit and spend at least thirty minutes a day trying. And, I have set myself up to succeed by purposely arranged those thirty minutes to be at a time where I am not exhausted. Yes, it has meant rearranging my schedule, but it’s also increased my productivity. And, if I’m lucky, those thirty minutes will lead to more. But I have to apply bottom-to-chair to have any hope of making it happen.

I Love My Characters

Not sure I’m allowed to admit that I love them, but I can’t spend days, weeks, even months on ends trying to create characters I don’t love. I want them to get their happily-ever-after, so I keep working.

Inspiration

Sometimes inspiration guides me, and when it does, I can’t type fast enough to get the words on the page. Those are truly glorious moments. As a writer, you live for them even though they are rare and precious.

Crazy

Anyone who can read the same book eighteen times and still be willing to rewrite it again? Yes, we have our share of crazy.

How about you? Any of you have tips on how to keep at something you know needs to be done but may have lost the inspiration to do?

Pure Joy

February 21, 2019 by Elizabeth Drake

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.

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.

Goal Update: Month One

January 31, 2019 by Elizabeth Drake

As I review my New Years Resolutions, I thought I would give a quick update of my goals to show I am holding myself accountable.

Writing Goals

Release Two Romance Novels / Write Three First Drafts

I am still on track!! I finished my January goals, and while I waited for feedback from beta readers that I need to start my February goals, I did get to work on March goals. Not a lot, but with everything else going on, I am really proud of myself for completing January at all.

Not Wasting Food

That has been more of a work in process. There were *so* many leftovers after the holidays that we didn’t make this goal in the early part of the month. We got better as the month went on, but we were far from perfect. That’s okay. February is a new month, and I have started it by cleaning out the fridge. We’ll try again.

Moving At Least Three Days a Week

Okay, I wasn’t perfect on this. And the bar isn’t all that high.

Logging when I exercise has helped me learn a bit. With the new gym at work, I do manage to get at least two to three days of movement in. But they are all on workdays. I am terrible about exercising at home, even though we own a treadmill and elliptical machine. Time to do some thinking on how to get myself and my family into our finished basement so the opportunity to move more is at least there.

Logging Food

I have been pretty terrible about this. I am okay through lunch on workdays, but once I get home, I don’t remember. And, I have learned, I may have an after dinner sugar addiction. Hard to really see, though, as I have so little data. While I have identified the issue, I have yet to come up with a plan around it. Maybe I can set reminders or something in the app to ping me to log. Not sure. But I clearly am not remembering on my own.

How are you doing on your resolutions?

Writing

Don’t Be a Writer