Having just turned in the second book of a two-book contract, I'm now contemplating what to do next. I do have two more book proposals under consideration with my editor, and I'm planning to write three more books in the Cooper Justice series so all the brothers have their own books. But given the rate I'm writing these days, I could easily be finished with all of the Cooper books by early 2010, even though the books themselves will be spread over 2010 and into 2011.
What that probably means is that I'll have time to contemplate a bigger book if I want to write one.
There are definite benefits to writing a bigger book. I'm not as limited by subject matter, type of hero/heroine, language, etc. as I am writing for category in general and Intrigue specifically. I can delve deeper into the areas of the story that aren't directly related to either the mystery plot or the romance, allowing me to explore other relationships for the hero and heroine--family, friends, etc.--as well as delve a little more into their own personal histories and issues. That's also quite tempting to me, as I sometimes have to leave things out of Intrigues that I might have liked to include in order to flesh out my characters a little more.
Plus, whether it's fair or not, single title authors get a little more respect from readers as a whole than category writers do, despite the fact that I believe some of the best writing happening today is happening in category, especially Intrigue--Dana Marton is hands down one of the best writers I know, and all the Intrigue authors out there flat out know how to tell a great story. I feel completely humbled to be included among them and it's a challenge to live up to their examples. The money for a single title author is hit and miss--but when it's a hit, it can be very good money. Who wouldn't want to be Norah, Jayne Ann, Suzanne or Susan Elizabeth?
On the other hand, there are also drawbacks to consider. First, I'd have to interest a whole new editor. And I'd almost certainly have to get an agent. I'm not sure how I feel about having yet another person to please, on top of a new editor, just to write a longer book. Pleasing the editor I have is hard enough! Also, there's a certain security in writing for Intrigue--you know there are going to be six monthly slots to fill, and if you're an established writer and you write a good book, you have a more than decent shot of landing in one of those slots. But becoming a debut single title author? It's like starting all over again.
I know several Intrigue authors who've either made the jump to single title or write single titles and category novels simultaneously. I know others who happily and successfully write only category books. I love writing category, and it's not a stretch to imagine myself writing Intrigues for the rest of my career.
So I guess I'll keep pondering this question until the Cooper Justice books are done, and then maybe I'll have an answer.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Deadlines...and World Building
I've just printed out and packaged not only the second book of my current contract (thus completing my obligation to my publisher) but I also printed and packaged the proposal (three chapters and a synopsis) for another book that my editor wants to pitch to the senior editor as the second of another two-book contract. So wish me luck!
I'm in a position where I don't want to continue forward with those two books without having agreed to a contract (when you start selling, you soon learn that you shouldn't waste too much time writing something that's not earning you money). So I'm thinking ahead to even proposals. The two contracted books are the first two books of a new series, Cooper Justice. The two proposals I just finished are also Cooper books, and the next three will be as well, to finish it out. So it's probably a good idea to get those last three proposals worked up to pitch a three-book contract next time so I'll know what I'll be doing with my next couple of years as a writer. ;)
After that, however, I haven't really decided what the next group of books will be about. I've created several fictional places within my story world that I can work with, however. And who knows? Before the Cooper Justice series, I may create even more.
Fantasy and Science Fiction authors are the ones best known for world-building, but a lot of writers build their own fictional worlds to play in. For me, I needed to create places where I had control of the terrain, the political structures, the histories and the current affairs of the places involved so that they would meet the needs of my particular stories. But once those places exist in my story world, I've enjoyed using them to give depth to my other stories.
In my book FORBIDDEN TERRITORY, I created the Alabama city of Borland, Alabama. Though I haven't revisited Borland, outside of mentions in the two books that completed the Forbidden trilogy, It's a place I can certainly go back to now if I want to. In the third Forbidden book, FORBIDDEN TOUCH, I introduced the Caribbean island of Mariposa, a tourist mecca with a seedy side, and the Central Asian republic of Kaziristan, a former Soviet satellite with a history of tribal unrest, Islamist terrorism and constant political volatility.
In COWBOY ALIBI, I created Trinity, Idaho and Canyon Creek, Wyoming. I revisit Canyon Creek in my January 2010 book, CASE FILE: CANYON CREEK, WYOMING. I may go back to Canyon Creek before all is said and done. Who knows?
In my upcoming February release, which is currently without a title but will probably be called CHICKASAW COUNTY...something, I introduce Sanselmo, a South American nation on the Caribbean coast that combines the oil resources and volatile political history of Venezuela with the terrorist threat of Columbia. A nascent democracy with a history of both right wing dictatorships and Marxist juntas that have nearly destroyed the country over the past fifty years, Sanselmo's elected government is in a deadly power struggle with a leftist rebel group called El Cambio, which once espoused democratic ideals when it was trying to overturn a brutal dictatorship but now has shown its own totalitarian instincts by opposing honest statesmen trying to build their country into a true liberal democracy. I also revisit Kaziristan as part of Sam Cooper's backstory.
Kaziristan also has a role in the backstory of former Marine officer Luke Cooper, the hero of the recently proposed third book in the Cooper Justice series. And Sanselmo and Kaziristan feature prominently in the proposed fourth book (and the island of Mariposa gets a mention as well).
Here are some things I've discovered about world building in contemporary, earth-bound fiction such as romantic suspense:
1) It's easier to create fictional countries in areas where national borders are constantly in flux.
Thus, Kaziristan is in the Central Asia, where many countries were part of the Soviet Union as recently as the 1980s, and where borders are constantly in dispute (see also Kashmir).
2) It's easier to create fictional countries in areas that are not immediately familiar to most readers.
Can you really be sure there's not an island in the Caribbean named Mariposa?
3) If you're going to create a nation in a more familiar areas, make it plausible.
I couldn't have made Sanselmo an oil-producing nation on the Caribbean coast of South America if a country like that (Venezuela) didn't exist already. And I couldn't have created a quasi-Marxist rebel group like El Cambio if terrorist groups like FARC (Columbia) and Shining Path (the Maoist rebel group in Peru) didn't make such a thing plausible for that part of the globe.
4) A corollary to #3: If you're going to create a city or town in a state that people have visited, make it plausible.
Trinity, Idaho is plausible, because I based it largely on a real town, Stanley, Idaho. I used real landmarks like the Sawtooth Mountains and Boise to ground it more in reality. Canyon Creek doesn't exist, either, but I placed it in the ranch country just east of Jackson Hole, where similar towns do exist. Likewise, Gossamer Ridge, Alabama, the setting of my February 2010 book, may be fictional, but it takes on characteristics of two towns in northeast Alabama that do exist: Guntersville, Alabama (which is the inspiration for Gossamer Lake) and Ft. Payne, Alabama (which supplies a lot of the geographical features for Gossamer Ridge, including its beautiful mountainous terrain. As I did with both Trinity and Canyon Creek, I grounded Gossamer Ridge in real places like Birmingham (where Sam Cooper commutes to work and parts of the story take place).
So, how about you? If you're a writer, how have you handled world-building? And if you're a reader, which fictional worlds (and their writer/creators) have had the most impact on you?
I'm in a position where I don't want to continue forward with those two books without having agreed to a contract (when you start selling, you soon learn that you shouldn't waste too much time writing something that's not earning you money). So I'm thinking ahead to even proposals. The two contracted books are the first two books of a new series, Cooper Justice. The two proposals I just finished are also Cooper books, and the next three will be as well, to finish it out. So it's probably a good idea to get those last three proposals worked up to pitch a three-book contract next time so I'll know what I'll be doing with my next couple of years as a writer. ;)
After that, however, I haven't really decided what the next group of books will be about. I've created several fictional places within my story world that I can work with, however. And who knows? Before the Cooper Justice series, I may create even more.
Fantasy and Science Fiction authors are the ones best known for world-building, but a lot of writers build their own fictional worlds to play in. For me, I needed to create places where I had control of the terrain, the political structures, the histories and the current affairs of the places involved so that they would meet the needs of my particular stories. But once those places exist in my story world, I've enjoyed using them to give depth to my other stories.
In my book FORBIDDEN TERRITORY, I created the Alabama city of Borland, Alabama. Though I haven't revisited Borland, outside of mentions in the two books that completed the Forbidden trilogy, It's a place I can certainly go back to now if I want to. In the third Forbidden book, FORBIDDEN TOUCH, I introduced the Caribbean island of Mariposa, a tourist mecca with a seedy side, and the Central Asian republic of Kaziristan, a former Soviet satellite with a history of tribal unrest, Islamist terrorism and constant political volatility.
In COWBOY ALIBI, I created Trinity, Idaho and Canyon Creek, Wyoming. I revisit Canyon Creek in my January 2010 book, CASE FILE: CANYON CREEK, WYOMING. I may go back to Canyon Creek before all is said and done. Who knows?
In my upcoming February release, which is currently without a title but will probably be called CHICKASAW COUNTY...something, I introduce Sanselmo, a South American nation on the Caribbean coast that combines the oil resources and volatile political history of Venezuela with the terrorist threat of Columbia. A nascent democracy with a history of both right wing dictatorships and Marxist juntas that have nearly destroyed the country over the past fifty years, Sanselmo's elected government is in a deadly power struggle with a leftist rebel group called El Cambio, which once espoused democratic ideals when it was trying to overturn a brutal dictatorship but now has shown its own totalitarian instincts by opposing honest statesmen trying to build their country into a true liberal democracy. I also revisit Kaziristan as part of Sam Cooper's backstory.
Kaziristan also has a role in the backstory of former Marine officer Luke Cooper, the hero of the recently proposed third book in the Cooper Justice series. And Sanselmo and Kaziristan feature prominently in the proposed fourth book (and the island of Mariposa gets a mention as well).
Here are some things I've discovered about world building in contemporary, earth-bound fiction such as romantic suspense:
1) It's easier to create fictional countries in areas where national borders are constantly in flux.
Thus, Kaziristan is in the Central Asia, where many countries were part of the Soviet Union as recently as the 1980s, and where borders are constantly in dispute (see also Kashmir).
2) It's easier to create fictional countries in areas that are not immediately familiar to most readers.
Can you really be sure there's not an island in the Caribbean named Mariposa?
3) If you're going to create a nation in a more familiar areas, make it plausible.
I couldn't have made Sanselmo an oil-producing nation on the Caribbean coast of South America if a country like that (Venezuela) didn't exist already. And I couldn't have created a quasi-Marxist rebel group like El Cambio if terrorist groups like FARC (Columbia) and Shining Path (the Maoist rebel group in Peru) didn't make such a thing plausible for that part of the globe.
4) A corollary to #3: If you're going to create a city or town in a state that people have visited, make it plausible.
Trinity, Idaho is plausible, because I based it largely on a real town, Stanley, Idaho. I used real landmarks like the Sawtooth Mountains and Boise to ground it more in reality. Canyon Creek doesn't exist, either, but I placed it in the ranch country just east of Jackson Hole, where similar towns do exist. Likewise, Gossamer Ridge, Alabama, the setting of my February 2010 book, may be fictional, but it takes on characteristics of two towns in northeast Alabama that do exist: Guntersville, Alabama (which is the inspiration for Gossamer Lake) and Ft. Payne, Alabama (which supplies a lot of the geographical features for Gossamer Ridge, including its beautiful mountainous terrain. As I did with both Trinity and Canyon Creek, I grounded Gossamer Ridge in real places like Birmingham (where Sam Cooper commutes to work and parts of the story take place).
So, how about you? If you're a writer, how have you handled world-building? And if you're a reader, which fictional worlds (and their writer/creators) have had the most impact on you?
Monday, May 18, 2009
Squeeeeee!
Chuck has been renewed!
I can live with the budget cuts, if they can.
Folks, if you've never given Chuck a try, please do it this coming season. The show is funny, touching, romantic and exciting—a smorgasbord of 1-hour dramedy delight.
I can live with the budget cuts, if they can.
Folks, if you've never given Chuck a try, please do it this coming season. The show is funny, touching, romantic and exciting—a smorgasbord of 1-hour dramedy delight.
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Garden Adventures: May 2009
Today on Garden Adventures, watch Paula work on a container garden for her back deck. Pretty pretty tomatoes and peppers. Look at the lovely herbs (cilantro, basil, chives and parsley). See Paula plant the flowers—marigolds, salvia, impatiens, begonias. Oh, look, lizards sunning themselves and playing courtship games...
Hey, wait a minute, is that a black widow spider in that pot?
Why, yes. Yes, it is.
For a little while, I thought I was jumping to conclusions. Yeah, big round black abdomen, and yeah, when she moved around you could see a flash of something red on her belly. But really, a black widow spider in my container garden? Come on.
But then she flipped over and there was the red marking on the underside of her abdomen, just like this. And she also had a big round egg sac just like the one in that photo.
Normally, I'm a live and let live kind of person. She was outside in her own habitat. But she was also laying eggs and making more black widows. And we have kids and animals here. Plus adults trying to have a nice little container garden who don't need to stick their hands into a pot of dirt and come back with a possibly fatal bite.
I hated to do it, but the spider is no more. And neither is her egg sac.
I just hope she was a loner.
Hey, wait a minute, is that a black widow spider in that pot?
Why, yes. Yes, it is.
For a little while, I thought I was jumping to conclusions. Yeah, big round black abdomen, and yeah, when she moved around you could see a flash of something red on her belly. But really, a black widow spider in my container garden? Come on.
But then she flipped over and there was the red marking on the underside of her abdomen, just like this. And she also had a big round egg sac just like the one in that photo.
Normally, I'm a live and let live kind of person. She was outside in her own habitat. But she was also laying eggs and making more black widows. And we have kids and animals here. Plus adults trying to have a nice little container garden who don't need to stick their hands into a pot of dirt and come back with a possibly fatal bite.
I hated to do it, but the spider is no more. And neither is her egg sac.
I just hope she was a loner.
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Top 10 Bits of Trivia about COWBOY ALIBI
While I'm waiting for my new books to come out in 2010, I suppose it doesn't hurt to talk about my last book, COWBOY ALIBI. So here's my Top 10 Bits of Trivia about my September 2008 Intrigue:10. It's the first of my books that takes place entirely outside the state of Alabama. (The epilogue of FORBIDDEN TOUCH took place in Alabama, though the story was set in the Caribbean).
9. It's the first of my books with a cowboy hero.
8. The town of Trinity, Idaho, is loosely based on the small town of Stanley, Idaho, located near the Sawtooth Mountains.
7. While the hero, Joe, turns out to be a whiz at Blackjack, I'm not a gambler and I had to do a little research to find out how a good Blackjack player might react to the hands Joe was dealt.
6. I'm endlessly fascinated by con artists and how they work, so it was fun to incorporate a con artist into the heroine's background.
5. I deliberately wrote a rain scene into the book, despite the notoriously arid climate of the Idaho/Wyoming area, in order to keep my streak of rain covers going.
4. The original working title of the book was TARGET: JANE DOE.
3. I didn't know that Joe's best friend, Riley, was going to be a widower whose wife had been murdered until I actually got to the scene near the end where Joe and Jane meet up with him. His backstory just popped into my head as I was writing the scene. I went back and worked his backstory into previous chapters before I turned the manuscript in.
2. The horse Jazz is actually named after my friend and critique partner, Jenn, whose nickname in college was Jazzy Jenn (because of her affinity for hip hop music).
1. COWBOY ALIBI is still available for purchase at Amazon.com. If you haven't purchased a copy, I hope you'll consider it, especially if you're planning to read my January 2010 book, CASE FILE: CANYON CREEK, WYOMING, which takes us back to Wyoming to give Riley Patterson his own happy ending. You can read CASE FILE: CANYON CREEK, WYOMING without reading COWBOY ALIBI, but it's a lot more fun if you know how Jane and Joe got to where they are by the time Riley's story rolls around.
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Congratulations to my Southern Magic Sisters!
The Daphne du Maurier contest for unpublished writers has announced their finalists in the Daphne, and three of my Southern Magic chaptermates made the finals! Congratulations to Marie Campbell, whose category-length romantic suspense, AGAINST HER WILL, made the finals in the Series Mystery/Suspense category and Pamela Bolton-Holifield and Julie Johnstone, who made the Historical Mystery/Suspense finals with their books THE DECEIT OF DESIRE and DECODING DECEPTION, respectively.
Way to go, ladies! Best of luck to all of you.
Way to go, ladies! Best of luck to all of you.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Blast from the Past
While looking for a picture I'd posted to my blog about three years ago, I ran across two blog posts that amused me greatly, if for no other reason than their proximity to each other.
August 2, 2005
August 3, 2005
Just goes to show you, a door closing doesn't mean another won't open.
August 2, 2005
August 3, 2005
Just goes to show you, a door closing doesn't mean another won't open.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
Check Out My Food Blog
I mentioned a while back that I had started Weight Watchers. At the time I posted about it, I'd lost 16 pounds. Since then, I've lost another 24 pounds, for a total of 40 pounds. I'm still going strong, still really enjoying the program and still feeling confident of reaching my goal, despite how desperately far I have to go.
Anyway, I promised I wasn't going to turn this blog into a food blog, but I have started a separate food blog, if you're interested. It's mostly going to be about the food, more than about my personal food issues, and I'm going to try to share my favorite low-cal foods, how I incorporate "no-nos" like chocolate and potato chips into my food plan, and a few delicious recipes I come up with that work out well enough for me to want to share.
If you love food but want to eat healthier, too, you should check it out: The Kitchen Curse.
Anyway, I promised I wasn't going to turn this blog into a food blog, but I have started a separate food blog, if you're interested. It's mostly going to be about the food, more than about my personal food issues, and I'm going to try to share my favorite low-cal foods, how I incorporate "no-nos" like chocolate and potato chips into my food plan, and a few delicious recipes I come up with that work out well enough for me to want to share.
If you love food but want to eat healthier, too, you should check it out: The Kitchen Curse.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
A Few of My Favorite Things
Sometimes, a girl's just gotta blog about the things that make her happy. So, in no particular order, here are a few of my favorite things:
My lips tend to dry out and chap, especially since I sleep with a fan on most nights, so I couldn't do without lip balm. But I also have very sensitive skin, so when I find a product that works and manages not to irritate my skin at the same time, I become a very loyal consumer. For me, that product is Chapstick Medicated Lip Balm. It works as well as some of the tub balms like Carmex and Blistex, but the stick is so much more convenient to carry around than those little tubs.Sephora Apple-Pomegranate Body Butter
Sure, it's a little on the pricey side, but the jar is large and a little body butter goes a long way. I have dry skin issues, and for a while my skin felt like old leather. But now, I just smooth on the Sephora body butter after I bathe and my skin stays as soft as a child's. The Apple-Pomegranate fragrance is my favorite—its crisp, clean scent is like aromatherapy when you apply it, and it lingers very subtly on your skin for most of the day.
Pringles Light Sour Cream and Onion Potato Crisps
Yeah, they contain Olestra. But Olestra doesn't bother me, and the reduction in fat and calories make this a mostly guilt free snack for me now that I'm on the Weight Watchers Momentum plan.
Hershey's Kisses
Yes, I eat chocolate on Weight Watchers. I'm trying to teach myself moderation, and that includes enjoying foods I have always enjoyed in a more sensible way. I add them to my food plan in small portions, at calorie counts I can live with. I don't "diet." I eat sensibly.
Kashi's Southwest Style Chicken
The first Kashi product I tried was one of their cereals. Hated it. It tasted like cardboard. I didn't try any Kashi products for a long time after that. But recently, I tried their southwest Style Chicken dinner, and it changed my view of Kashi forever. The dish is delicious, very filling and relatively low in calories and fat. It's a fast, easy and satisfying addition to my weekly diet. It also goes great with...
Guacamole and Baked Whole Wheat Tortilla Chips
Forget worrying about the fat in guacamole. Avocados are a very fatty fruit, true, but it's good fat, and in moderation, homemade guacamole is a nice addition to your diet. I make my own chips by slicing whole wheat tortillas into wedges and baking them until crisp in a 350 degree oven.
Want my super easy recipe? Here you go:
1 ripe avocado
2 green onions, diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 cup diced tomatoes
Halve the avocado, remove the pit and scoop the green flesh from the rind. Mash the avocado until it's smooth (or leave it a little chunky if you like it that way). Add the diced onions, chopped cilantro, diced tomatoes and lime juice. Blend it all together until thoroughly mixed. Makes two servings. (If you're counting Weight Watchers points, 1 serving is 3 points).
So those are some of my favorite things. What are some of yours?
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Titles, titles, titles
I've blogged about book titles over on the Intrigue Authors blog. Gimme a little comment love!
Friday, March 20, 2009
So I dreamed I was on Lost Island
Sawyer had pulled a coup and driven both the DI and the Hostiles off the island, and now we were all going to create our own democracy (with him as our elected leader)...and we were doling out jobs, and I just knew he was going to make Kate his right hand woman, but dude, he picked me!
And then I woke up, darn it.
And then I woke up, darn it.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Staying Relevant
I was bummed when I realized I wouldn't have a book coming out in 2009. I think 2010 is going to be a great year, because I already know I have two books coming out, and I'm about to pitch a third book to my editor which almost certainly would come out in 2010 as well. Plus I have two more in the wings, one that's nearly finished, so there's even a possibility of a four-book year for me.
But that doesn't really help me in 2009, does it?
So I've been giving a lot of thought to the idea of staying relevant even when you don't have a book on the shelves. How do you do it? How do you keep people thinking about you when you're not front and center?
I'm not a social person, as anyone on my list of Facebook friends can tell you. I'm not big about just sharing anything on my mind. Part of the problem is that the two things I feel most passionately about, religion and politics, are the two things I steer clear of in my public life, for the most part. Another part of the problem is that I'm a classic INTJ, which means I'm not big on small talk, among other things. I prefer to spend my time actually working on my books rather than rubbing elbows with people to make connections.
Networking is a chore. In fact, I actually created a networking spreadsheet the other day to force me to make the effort to connect through websites, forums, blogs, etc. If I'm honest, one of the main reasons I'm blogging right now is that there's a blank mark on my spreadsheet that desperately needs an "x" on it.
So, back to the question of relevance. What can a writer do to stay relevant when she doesn't have a book on the shelves? I'm trying to work on my networking skills, create a routine of checking out the more visible blogs and commenting, trying to get more involved in forums where readers might go, trying to step up my posting on MySpace and Facebook, etc. But I'm always open to suggestions if you have any.
Also, I'm seriously considering posting an unpublished novel of mine to my website in serialized form. It's a book I think is a good story, but for various reasons, elements in it make it a bad fit for Harlequin Intrigue (though it's definitely an Intrigue-style story). And I don't have any desire to try to make it into something bigger to fit the single-title market. So right now it's just languishing on my hard drive, doing me no good whatsoever.
What do y'all think about that idea? It's 16 chapters long, so we'd be talking about a chapter a week for 16 weeks, which is a nice chunk of the year right there. I could set it up so that I start doling it out about 16 weeks before the publication of my January book, which would hopefully keep people interested in my writing enough to be ready for my new book then.
Is that a good idea? Have I lost my mind?
And do you have other ideas for ways I can stay in people's minds while I don't have a book on the shelves?
But that doesn't really help me in 2009, does it?
So I've been giving a lot of thought to the idea of staying relevant even when you don't have a book on the shelves. How do you do it? How do you keep people thinking about you when you're not front and center?
I'm not a social person, as anyone on my list of Facebook friends can tell you. I'm not big about just sharing anything on my mind. Part of the problem is that the two things I feel most passionately about, religion and politics, are the two things I steer clear of in my public life, for the most part. Another part of the problem is that I'm a classic INTJ, which means I'm not big on small talk, among other things. I prefer to spend my time actually working on my books rather than rubbing elbows with people to make connections.
Networking is a chore. In fact, I actually created a networking spreadsheet the other day to force me to make the effort to connect through websites, forums, blogs, etc. If I'm honest, one of the main reasons I'm blogging right now is that there's a blank mark on my spreadsheet that desperately needs an "x" on it.
So, back to the question of relevance. What can a writer do to stay relevant when she doesn't have a book on the shelves? I'm trying to work on my networking skills, create a routine of checking out the more visible blogs and commenting, trying to get more involved in forums where readers might go, trying to step up my posting on MySpace and Facebook, etc. But I'm always open to suggestions if you have any.
Also, I'm seriously considering posting an unpublished novel of mine to my website in serialized form. It's a book I think is a good story, but for various reasons, elements in it make it a bad fit for Harlequin Intrigue (though it's definitely an Intrigue-style story). And I don't have any desire to try to make it into something bigger to fit the single-title market. So right now it's just languishing on my hard drive, doing me no good whatsoever.
What do y'all think about that idea? It's 16 chapters long, so we'd be talking about a chapter a week for 16 weeks, which is a nice chunk of the year right there. I could set it up so that I start doling it out about 16 weeks before the publication of my January book, which would hopefully keep people interested in my writing enough to be ready for my new book then.
Is that a good idea? Have I lost my mind?
And do you have other ideas for ways I can stay in people's minds while I don't have a book on the shelves?
Sunday, March 01, 2009
March in Alabama
Not always daffodils and sunshine:
A view from the back deck:
Down the street:
The above is a picture of the two tiny snowmen my nieces Ashlee and Melissa made this morning. The snow is still falling—we're hoping for maybe an inch or two on the ground.
Update: Some more snow pics:
A view from the back deck:
Down the street:
Here are a few more Alabama snow pictures from a local news site aggregating viewer photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/abc3340weather/show/
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The Weight Game
I joined Weight Watchers online at the beginning of February. I'm not one of those people who needs to lose just a couple of pounds, either. I've never had a lot of luck on diets because mentally, I just can't stand feeling deprived. It's a major mental block for me.
The sad thing is, I actually love the foods that are supposed to be good for you, like vegetables and lean meats. I don't care for pork or beef, and I love fruit. It's just that dropping by Taco Bell on the way home was so much easier for my crazy busy lifestyle, and that adds up.
Anyway, I joined WW online and as of this past Saturday, I'd lost 16 pounds. And it's not been at all difficult. I haven't felt deprived or hungry, and many days I haven't been able to finish up all the points allotted to me (although I know I should). Usually by this point in a new diet, I'm starting to struggle. But that's just not happening this time.
I've been trying to figure out why, and I think this article sums it up about as well as any.
Weight Watchers Online fixed two problems I had with the old version of the program, which I tried about 20 years ago. First, I'm not a social person, so not having to go to the stupid meetings, for me, is a blessing. I don't need the peer support, and I don't need the kumbaya aspect of weight loss. It works wonderfully for a lot of people, but it was a negative for me. Second, being able to track my points online, and play around with my daily menu to add and subtract points as my daily diet plan changes, gives me the flexibility I need for my hectic lifestyle. I had planned for eggs and grits this morning but changed it to an egg salad sandwich. All I had to do was go to my online tracker, make the changes, and voila. I was done.
The program also allows you to have fast food, as long as you account for the points. What this does for me is make me think hard before I spend those points on something at Wendy's or Burger King. Wouldn't I rather save the points and have a really great salad at home? Or maybe I'd rather have that seven point Subway sandwich instead of the eleven point Milo's hamburger, and then I can also have a piece of fruit and a couple of graham crackers. *I* make the choice, not the diet. It's retraining me to search for nutrient rich, low calorie, high fiber choices. And I'm mentally and emotionally satisfied, because I know I could have the hamburger if I wanted it; I just chose something else instead.
So, I'm not going to turn this into a diet blog or anything. I just came across that article comparing Weight Watchers to an RPG and thought I'd share.
The sad thing is, I actually love the foods that are supposed to be good for you, like vegetables and lean meats. I don't care for pork or beef, and I love fruit. It's just that dropping by Taco Bell on the way home was so much easier for my crazy busy lifestyle, and that adds up.
Anyway, I joined WW online and as of this past Saturday, I'd lost 16 pounds. And it's not been at all difficult. I haven't felt deprived or hungry, and many days I haven't been able to finish up all the points allotted to me (although I know I should). Usually by this point in a new diet, I'm starting to struggle. But that's just not happening this time.
I've been trying to figure out why, and I think this article sums it up about as well as any.
Weight Watchers Online fixed two problems I had with the old version of the program, which I tried about 20 years ago. First, I'm not a social person, so not having to go to the stupid meetings, for me, is a blessing. I don't need the peer support, and I don't need the kumbaya aspect of weight loss. It works wonderfully for a lot of people, but it was a negative for me. Second, being able to track my points online, and play around with my daily menu to add and subtract points as my daily diet plan changes, gives me the flexibility I need for my hectic lifestyle. I had planned for eggs and grits this morning but changed it to an egg salad sandwich. All I had to do was go to my online tracker, make the changes, and voila. I was done.
The program also allows you to have fast food, as long as you account for the points. What this does for me is make me think hard before I spend those points on something at Wendy's or Burger King. Wouldn't I rather save the points and have a really great salad at home? Or maybe I'd rather have that seven point Subway sandwich instead of the eleven point Milo's hamburger, and then I can also have a piece of fruit and a couple of graham crackers. *I* make the choice, not the diet. It's retraining me to search for nutrient rich, low calorie, high fiber choices. And I'm mentally and emotionally satisfied, because I know I could have the hamburger if I wanted it; I just chose something else instead.
So, I'm not going to turn this into a diet blog or anything. I just came across that article comparing Weight Watchers to an RPG and thought I'd share.
Friday, February 13, 2009
How Fast is Your First Draft?
Okay, that blog entry title stank. I'm not good at titles, as my editor would happily tell you. But my topic today is first drafts, a subject much on my mind at the moment, since I finished my first draft of the book currently known as COWBOY JUSTICE.
First, I guess I need to address the fact that, yes, I did write a second cowboy book. Kinda. Riley Patterson isn't a rancher or anything, although his father was. He's another cowboy cop like Joe Garrison in my book COWBOY ALIBI. In fact, Riley is Joe's right hand man at the Canyon Creek, Wyoming, Police Department. And if you read Cowboy Alibi, you should know that Riley has a tragic past to overcome—his beloved wife Emily was murdered three years earlier.
Riley definitely wanted his own story, but I had already started thinking about a series revolving around a family of six brothers and one sister named the Coopers. So I sort of put Riley on the back burner while I developed the ideas for the Cooper brothers. But when I got to the Cooper sister, Hannah, it occurred to me that she just might like herself a cowboy. So COWBOY JUSTICE was born.
The idea came to me back in the late fall. I turned in the proposal to my editor well after the first two Cooper book ideas I proposed, but it turned out to be one of the two she chose for my upcoming contract. It was also a really fast write for me—44 days of total writing, although there was a fairly large break between the first 11 days and the other 33 while I waited to hear from my editor on the proposal.
It was a pretty brutal writing schedule, especially since for most of that time, I was working a pretty brutal schedule in my day job as well. I made time to write in the mornings, during my lunch breaks, in the evenings, and on weekends. I made myself write when I was fighting off colds and when my arthritic knees were flaring up. I wanted to get the book done so I could get it in for 2009. While that didn't happen, I did finish the book well before my editor expected I would. I met my own deadline and I have until March 1st to turn it in.
So now we're down to the nuts and bolts of writing—the first draft revisions. This is where I re-read the book, pen in hand, and edit out the junk, retool the sentence structure to make things flow more easily, ruthlessly replace cliched turns of phrase with wording that's more imaginative, descriptive and true to the characters and situation. Some of this stuff I could have done in the writing phase, had I been writing more slowly. But I find it easier to finish at a dead run and then go back to edit, rather than linger and risk missing my deadlines.
Also, by writing at a clip this way, it makes the revisions easier for me, because as I'm re-reading the manuscript, I find that there's a lot in it that I don't consciously remember writing. That comes from being "in the zone," as I call it, while writing the first draft. When I'm in the zone. the words just flow right from my brain to my fingers, and they seem to bypass parts of my memory. So sometimes I'll read a scene in the edit stage and I don't really remember writing it. It's a weird sensation, but I find that my best writing happens in the zone, so I don't complain much.
So, that's probably more than you ever wanted to know about my writing process. But I just thought I'd share.
First, I guess I need to address the fact that, yes, I did write a second cowboy book. Kinda. Riley Patterson isn't a rancher or anything, although his father was. He's another cowboy cop like Joe Garrison in my book COWBOY ALIBI. In fact, Riley is Joe's right hand man at the Canyon Creek, Wyoming, Police Department. And if you read Cowboy Alibi, you should know that Riley has a tragic past to overcome—his beloved wife Emily was murdered three years earlier.
Riley definitely wanted his own story, but I had already started thinking about a series revolving around a family of six brothers and one sister named the Coopers. So I sort of put Riley on the back burner while I developed the ideas for the Cooper brothers. But when I got to the Cooper sister, Hannah, it occurred to me that she just might like herself a cowboy. So COWBOY JUSTICE was born.
The idea came to me back in the late fall. I turned in the proposal to my editor well after the first two Cooper book ideas I proposed, but it turned out to be one of the two she chose for my upcoming contract. It was also a really fast write for me—44 days of total writing, although there was a fairly large break between the first 11 days and the other 33 while I waited to hear from my editor on the proposal.
It was a pretty brutal writing schedule, especially since for most of that time, I was working a pretty brutal schedule in my day job as well. I made time to write in the mornings, during my lunch breaks, in the evenings, and on weekends. I made myself write when I was fighting off colds and when my arthritic knees were flaring up. I wanted to get the book done so I could get it in for 2009. While that didn't happen, I did finish the book well before my editor expected I would. I met my own deadline and I have until March 1st to turn it in.
So now we're down to the nuts and bolts of writing—the first draft revisions. This is where I re-read the book, pen in hand, and edit out the junk, retool the sentence structure to make things flow more easily, ruthlessly replace cliched turns of phrase with wording that's more imaginative, descriptive and true to the characters and situation. Some of this stuff I could have done in the writing phase, had I been writing more slowly. But I find it easier to finish at a dead run and then go back to edit, rather than linger and risk missing my deadlines.
Also, by writing at a clip this way, it makes the revisions easier for me, because as I'm re-reading the manuscript, I find that there's a lot in it that I don't consciously remember writing. That comes from being "in the zone," as I call it, while writing the first draft. When I'm in the zone. the words just flow right from my brain to my fingers, and they seem to bypass parts of my memory. So sometimes I'll read a scene in the edit stage and I don't really remember writing it. It's a weird sensation, but I find that my best writing happens in the zone, so I don't complain much.
So, that's probably more than you ever wanted to know about my writing process. But I just thought I'd share.
Monday, February 02, 2009
Writing While Working Full Time
This is what's known as a "bleg"--begging on a blog. I'm playing around with an article for my local chapter newsletter (an article which will probably be made available to other chapters) examining the work habits of published writers who don't quit their day jobs. It's a subject close to my heart, since I work full time at a demanding day job while still trying to write two to three books a year.
So here's what I'm looking for. If you're a published author (sorry to limit it to published authors but I'm trying to focus it specifically on people who have to meet deadlines or they don't get paid), and you also work full time or worked full time during a period of time when you were also published, I'd like you to email me the answer to the following questions:
When do you find time to write?
Do you have any tricks or techniques for making the most of your limited writing time?
How do you balance your job, your family obligations and your writing time?
Have you ever thought of giving up writing because it's too much to handle?
Do you have plans to eventually write full time?
Has your day job ever suffered because of your writing?
Has your writing ever suffered because of your day job?
If you do email me, please include your latest (or upcoming) book so I can plug it in the article.
My email address is listed in my blog profile.
So here's what I'm looking for. If you're a published author (sorry to limit it to published authors but I'm trying to focus it specifically on people who have to meet deadlines or they don't get paid), and you also work full time or worked full time during a period of time when you were also published, I'd like you to email me the answer to the following questions:
When do you find time to write?
Do you have any tricks or techniques for making the most of your limited writing time?
How do you balance your job, your family obligations and your writing time?
Have you ever thought of giving up writing because it's too much to handle?
Do you have plans to eventually write full time?
Has your day job ever suffered because of your writing?
Has your writing ever suffered because of your day job?
If you do email me, please include your latest (or upcoming) book so I can plug it in the article.
My email address is listed in my blog profile.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Sold!
Harlequin Intrigue has bought my next two books, to come out in January and February of 2010.
I have no idea what the titles will be, although their working titles are Cowboy Justice and Small Hostage, respectively.
I have no idea what the titles will be, although their working titles are Cowboy Justice and Small Hostage, respectively.
Cowboy Justice is about a man whose determination to find his wife's murderer becomes complicated by his growing feelings for a woman who survived the killer's attack once but has now become the killer's obsession.
Small Hostage is about a female police detective with a tragic past who reluctantly takes on the task of protecting a child targeted for kidnapping. With a past like hers, the last thing she wants to do is fall for the little girl, or the child's sexy, burned-by-love father.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Long Time, No Blog
It's been crazy between work and the holidays, so I've been a bad little blogger. Part of it has been that I'm waiting for a final official offer from my editor on my next two books. I've already received word that an offer is coming, but that hasn't really made the waiting any easier.
On the upside, I'm moving ahead full steam with the first of those two books. So far I've been doing a good job of meeting my daily page totals. Over the weekend, I decided to kick it up a notch and increase my daily totals to see if I couldn't have a rough draft finished by the middle of February and the full, polished manuscript ready to go by the end of February. I really, really want to get a book on the shelves in 2009, and finishing up in February is about the only way to do that.
Did everyone have a good holiday? Mine was pretty good. I got my annual New Year's cold, but it was milder than most I've had in the past. Mucinex is a wonder drug.
On the upside, I'm moving ahead full steam with the first of those two books. So far I've been doing a good job of meeting my daily page totals. Over the weekend, I decided to kick it up a notch and increase my daily totals to see if I couldn't have a rough draft finished by the middle of February and the full, polished manuscript ready to go by the end of February. I really, really want to get a book on the shelves in 2009, and finishing up in February is about the only way to do that.
Did everyone have a good holiday? Mine was pretty good. I got my annual New Year's cold, but it was milder than most I've had in the past. Mucinex is a wonder drug.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Scamming and Piracy
I don't know if readers think that we authors make a boatload of money on our books, but let me assure you, the vast majority of us don't. We get in the neighborhood of 6% royalties of all books sold. When your book costs about $5.00, we're talking 30 cents a book. You have to sell a heck of a lot of books just to make your advance. And these are books that writers spend months writing, sacrificing clean houses, hot meals, family times, going out with friends, taking vacations, sleeping more than five or six hours a night, and goodness knows what else to make their deadlines and deliver stories that people want to read.
All we ask is that people buy these books new. Buy at discounted prices if you must, but please, if the book is available new, buy it new. Otherwise, we won't see a penny for our work. I know that some books can't be found new, and I'm okay with your buying them used in that situation. Or checking them out from the library. But if you want the writers you love to keep writing the books you love, save up a few bucks and buy new, please. It's what makes writing feasible for us, financially. We do write because we love to write, but it's also a business.
Anyway, this post is supposed to be about scamming and piracy. Specifically, this website: http://www.download-provider.com/en/
It purports to be a site where you can download top movies, books, music, etc. for a membership fee. That automatically makes it piracy—downloading copyrighted material for free that you would otherwise have to pay for. It's like stealing from someone, in that the person or persons involved in creating that book, movie, or music is being denied royalty payments on those items.
But more than that, it seems to be a scam site, because it claims to have books that haven't even been written yet. So you pay your money to sign up with the site to download books that don't exist. I suspect it's the same for the movies and music they claim to have. So here's a warning. If you're going to ignore the requests of authors to buy their books new rather than buying used and denying them royalties, don't do it at this site unless you want to be robbed yourself.
All we ask is that people buy these books new. Buy at discounted prices if you must, but please, if the book is available new, buy it new. Otherwise, we won't see a penny for our work. I know that some books can't be found new, and I'm okay with your buying them used in that situation. Or checking them out from the library. But if you want the writers you love to keep writing the books you love, save up a few bucks and buy new, please. It's what makes writing feasible for us, financially. We do write because we love to write, but it's also a business.
Anyway, this post is supposed to be about scamming and piracy. Specifically, this website: http://www.download-provider.com/en/
It purports to be a site where you can download top movies, books, music, etc. for a membership fee. That automatically makes it piracy—downloading copyrighted material for free that you would otherwise have to pay for. It's like stealing from someone, in that the person or persons involved in creating that book, movie, or music is being denied royalty payments on those items.
But more than that, it seems to be a scam site, because it claims to have books that haven't even been written yet. So you pay your money to sign up with the site to download books that don't exist. I suspect it's the same for the movies and music they claim to have. So here's a warning. If you're going to ignore the requests of authors to buy their books new rather than buying used and denying them royalties, don't do it at this site unless you want to be robbed yourself.
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