Elizabeth Drakes's Site

Fantasy Romance

Writing

New Year’s Resolutions – 2020

by 4 Comments

It’s that time of year. Everyone is discussing their New Year’s resolutions.

I don’t really make New Year’s resolutions, but I do make goals. I feel like resolutions are too easy to throw up my hands and say I failed. Goals are trickier, particularly when I map them out with tangible steps. The two things I am focusing on in 2020 are health and writing.

 

Health

I have really studied what it will take to get me downstairs and onto the elliptical machine or treadmill nightly.

Treadmill2
Very complicated.

First, I need to feel like I am still part of the family group.

  • That means whatever we are doing upstairs as a family, whether playing video games or watching something, I want to be able to do in the basement. I can’t right now as the 1990s is calling and wants its TV back.
    • Solution: We purchased a new television for the basement compatible with the new gaming systems. Yeah, our other one really is so old we couldn’t hook the Switch up to it. At all.

Second, I need to give myself permission to be bad at exercising until I can be good at it again.

Treadmill1
This  might be generous.
  • This means allowing myself to walk, slowly, as I rebuild stamina
  • It means letting myself be done after 15 minutes if I’m tired.
  • It means counting things like playing dance games with the kids rather than feeling guilty that I am tired

All the science says 30 minutes a day of just brisk walking will get us a majority of the health benefits of exercising. I need to tune out the rest of the nonsense and focus on that.

 

Writing

I have been using Wunderlist for a couple of years now, and I use it to create monthly goals with subtasks within that tell me if I’m where I need to be each month.

It allows me to set my yearly goals then work ahead in months where I have more indoor time. Hello January in the frozen tundra! So that if something is happening later, say spring break with the kids, I can plan for it.

snow-3193865_640
Okay, a little dramatic, but you get the idea. 

My goal is to publish two books in 2020 and set myself up to do the same in 2021.

  • A Knight’s Redemption, available here, will be released in January.
  • I am working on The Pirate Captain’s Daughter, and I plan to release that in June of 2020.
  • I also have specific goals related to revising The Shadowguard so that it is ready for publication in 2021.
  • I have created a timeline to write the first draft of an interconnected three novel series that takes place within the Knights of Valor world.

Yes, it’s aggressive. Particularly with a demanding day job, two kids, and a spouse. Plus, I need to sleep. Really.

But I figure its best to lay it all out, try, and fail than not to organize myself for success.

 

Anyone else out there have New Year’s resolutions? What are they? What is your plan to achieve them?

Book Review: Romancing the Duke

by

RomancingtheDuke
Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare

As said by one of the greats, and quoted often:

“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”
― Stephen King

But as a writer, I need to do more than just consume fiction. Consuming it is easy. But much like watching great movies doesn’t make me a screenwriter, I also need to do more than read great books. I need think about what makes them great. To understand what I liked about them, and even what I dislikes about them. But more than that, I need to think about the how and why the author does what they do.

Tessa Dare is an amazing author, so I decided to really think through one of her books. I just finished this one, and it is was a nice read. I started it on Friday night and finished it on Saturday morning.

As a said, it’s a solid read, and I would recommend it.

As I think through it, here are a few things she did particularly well I can learn from:

  • She doesn’t reveal things too quickly. Why is the heroine afraid of the dark? You’ll find out, but not too quickly. And when you do, it moves the romance along. She does this repeatedly, seeding story points early and bringing them to fruition later.

 

  • Her characters are not perfect. The heroine isn’t insurmountably beautiful. The hero is scarred. Literally. And blind. She uses this to build tension naturally. There are very few external events, which is perfect.

 

  • She uses these flaws to create tension. The characters do talk to each other, and sometimes they say mean things. But this fits with the flaws. Never too much to make them irredeemable, but you can see them working through their pain and flaws to earn their happily-ever-after.

 

  • Her characters all have agency. Each one chooses their path. They act with self-interest as well. Sometimes blatantly, but never maliciously so you still love them.

 

  • Her steamy scenes are concise but impactful.

 

Reading the work of a master always helps with your own work. Building a world. Crafting a story. I am particularly mindful of how she builds those character flaws and allows them to guide the story.

Something more for me to ponder.

NaNoWriMo 2019

by

I will not be doing NaNoWriMo again this year.

nanowrimo
And any love from your family.

To those that are doing it, I will once again cheer for you from the sidelines.

I set my goals last January, and I am trying to stick to them as well as I can.

At the moment, I am working on my February 2020 goal because that is what has me inspired right now and because I managed to finish my October goal earl. Which happened to be the first draft of Thomas of Claudia. So maybe that means I already finished Nano?

Okay, so not really.

I just can’t complete so much in a month, especially not a month when I am already so busy at work.

Thomas and Claudia’s story is currently only fifty-five thousand words, but it has a beginning, middle and end. I like the characters, but clearly the novel needs more robustness.

64514455
Will always be how it is for me.

Not surprising as that is how I write.

I have given up on trying to do what I am “supposed to” do. I don’t outline. Yes, it means more rewriting. So be it. In my defense, my editor says my first draft is like a very chunky outline. All the pieces are there, but they are stripped down to their bare bones. Not that she has ever seen a first draft, but she has seen how my revisions work. And she knows how spare the third draft she receives from me is. So, instead of paring down and killing my darlings, I tend to start by writing a skeleton draft and layering on from there.

skeleton-1522620_640
Actual footage of my first draft.

This is what works for me. It may not be the best thing, but it works.

To everyone out there taking on Nano, I wish you well!

I will be writing this year along with you instead of revising as these new characters just won’t hush, but it will be at a much slower pace.

My family thanks you, especially as I need to keep that day job!

And so does my cat.

 

SnoozingApollo.PNG
Yeah, he’s cute. Until you want him to move.

 

Writing Update: September

by

Things were going okay until they weren’t.

September Update
Thank goodness I worked ahead a little.

Work has been crazy, and I have been struggling to feel even remotely creative.

We tend to play video games as a family, and some of that game time crept into my writing time as it was easier to consume creative content than to produce it.

Still, all in, I am on track for the year, but only because I worked ahead earlier in the year.

I am halfway through Prince Thomas and Mage Purple Class Claudia’s story. Finishing it in November is my goal. I hope to make it, but work will only get busier. I have a huge deadline on November 15th, and a “drop dead” date on December 19th. I am marching to those orders now.

We all know stress kill creativity, but with so many other things going on at work, it is absolutely overwhelming right now.

stressed
Me right now.

I also need to tackle a series of promotion stuff I tend to be less enthusiastic about doing. I need to set aside some time to just do it, and I am hoping that will happen late in December. Work will not quiet down until next April, so I have to figure out a way to push through this. I also need to start a lot of the bits of publishing a Knight’s Redemption ahead of time so it doesn’t derail me like publishing Knight of Valor did this year.

Yes, I finished my December goal. It was a rewrite I worked on while I was delayed with Knight of Valor.

As I am reviewing this year’s goals, the one thing I have to admit is revising take a lot more time than I would like.

Once I complete Thomas and Claudia’s story, I will have written three first drafts this year. But I was only able to publish one book.

As I take a look at next year’s goals, I think I need to reduce my number of first drafts to two. I wanted to publish three books per year, but the editing time doesn’t permit that with my other obligations. Perhaps if I only write two in a year, I can then have the time to do all the edits on them so I can release two in a year.

Something to ponder.

I do enjoy the thrill of crafting a story fresh. It’s one of the best and most exciting parts of writing.

But there is also something gratifying about a final draft.

Given how goal oriented I am with my day job right now, might not be the best of times to make such decisions.

goals3

Writing: Why Vacations Are No Longer “Catch-Up Time”

by

We just recently got back from vacation. Once upon a time, a vacation from work was a relaxing time, a time I could catch up on my writing, maybe even get a little bit ahead. We’d have things planned, of course, and spontaneous things would come up, but there always seemed to be plenty of time to get in a few thousand more words.

Then we had kids.

familyvacation
And I have to people. *shudders*

 

I had thought the four day weekend we had for the Fourth of July or the week of vacation we took would give me some time to work on my writing and maybe do a few other things like update my mailing list. We had quite a bit of time after all. Sure, we had things planned, like a small cook-out with close family and a larger graduation party for my niece. I already had the food planned, and I had selected tasty things with minimal prep. The gift was already purchased. And yes, we were taking the kids to a water park. Wait, what do you mean my expectations weren’t realistic?

But I hadn’t figured that one or the other of my children would want to snuggle the entire vacation. And by snuggle, I mean never leave my side. Even in ninety degree weather.

parentspersonalspace
Can we be any closer, momma?

While this is a gift, and I like snuggling them, by day two, I am getting a bit annoyed. Snuggling literally means they sit on me. Both of them. At the same time. While still cute, they are a lot bigger and heavier than they were. And they squirm. And wriggle. And try to steal more real estate on my lap from each other until they both get tossed off.

And there comes a point where I simply want my space back.

And writing does not happen when there is snuggling. Most of the time, writing doesn’t happen when they are awake and in the house. My oldest one is an avid reader, and despite her age, she can and will read over my shoulder as I am typing. Yeah, not cool, especially if I am “in the zone” and don’t see her right away as I don’t write “closed door” romance.

Reading doesn’t usually happen, either. I don’t read “closed door” romance, either.

MomVacationReading

While I wouldn’t trade these days for the world, I do need to adjust my expectations.

Vacation doesn’t mean what it used to, and if I still want time to write every day, I am going to have to get up at 5am like it’s a work day.

Not that I want to get up at 5am. If left to my own devices, I wouldn’t go to bed until well after midnight then sleep in every morning. But that hasn’t been my life since college. The one and only time my natural sleep cycle meshed with my obligations.

I wish I were a morning person.

Things I Learned Writing Knight of Valor

by

Pending no major calamities, Knight of Valor will be released at the end of this month. I started writing this book in January of 2015, so it’s taken over four years to write, edit, revise, rewrite, edit again… You get the picture.

During that time, I learned a lot about writing, both the craft aspect of it, but also what works for me. Here are a few things I learned.

You Get Better the More You Write

I was just getting back into writing in 2015 after a long sabbatical, and it was a challenge to write even the first draft. While writing may have a degree of talent, see George RR Martin or Nora Roberts, it also has a huge degree of practice. The more I write, the better I get at it. I have to believe this is also a part of why George RR Martin and Nora Roberts are so amazing. Certainly, I need to read, too. Studying craft books helps as well. But none of that replaces the work of sitting down and crafting a story.

Revising is Crucial

I need to revise. My first draft is far from perfect. So very far. It is mostly a sandbox I have shoveled sand into that becomes the rough lump of a story. Revising turns that lump into a sandcastle. Some stories take more drafts than others. Knight of Valor took more than twenty drafts. A big part of the revision process was making up for how rough the first draft really was. I was out of practice when I wrote it. More recent works have required seven or eight revisions. I almost felt bad about it.  Then I came across this.

revision4
Yeah, even he had to rewrite.

Take Only the Advice That Works for You – Ignore the Rest

Part of the reason this book had so many revisions was I took a lot of advice I shouldn’t have. More benign advice was to write in any order than piece those scenes together. Yeaaaah, no. Doesn’t work for me, and it created a lot more work in the revision process.

For example, I was also reading a lot of craft books on romance as I wrote this, and they were all touting the alpha male as really the only hero most romance readers wanted to read about. So I revised and changed the hero and made him a lot more alpha. But then I didn’t like him anymore, and that meant I didn’t like the story Knight of Valor became. So I revised it again, removing most of the edits I had added, then focusing on really showing who he was instead of what a craft book told me he should be.

 

EatMushroomsAdvice
What works for one author doesn’t always work for another.

 

Write Your Story

Which leads me into my last point: learning to trust myself to write my story. The one I want to tell. The one that reflects my characters. That can be a lot harder than it sounds, as I learned writing Knight of Valor. Doubt is a powerful force, especially when you are working on a story for years at a time. When there are so many things going on around you personally, professionally, and in the world. Sometimes it can seem foolish to question those who “know” what they’re doing. In writing Knight of Valor, I’m glad I did. Even though it took me all those revisions to do it.