Feb 2, 2009 | Contests, Writing |
Can you guess which desk belongs to which author? Come on over to eHarlequin and give it a try: http://community.eharlequin.com/forums/cafe-social/whos-desk-belongs
My desk is on there, along with the desks of Kate Walker, Holly Jacobs, Carly Phillips and Maria V. Snyder — just to name a few.
There are prizes!
Also, I finally typed The End! Except it's not done yet, of course. 🙂 But I'm always happy when I write the story to the finish. Makes it easier to go back and see what I need to revise to keep the story arcing. So, today, I'll be doing a reread and hoping I didn't take a detour somewhere along the way.
But you know, for just a little bit there, I felt like Joan Wilder. I love that scene at the beginning of Romancing the Stone when she's crying and typing and then she can't find tissue. Love the celebration with the cat. I tried to find that clip on You Tube — but they don't have it. I think some techno geeky person needs to upload it! That is the best romance writer movie ever. 🙂
Oh, provided my editor lets me get away with it, there'll be another Italian hero in the next book I write. And while I have a heroine already, I don't have him. I know who he is, but I don't have a name. Suggestions?
Jan 30, 2009 | Fun, Life, Writing |
Well I'm pretty much just wore out. Tomorrow night is a birthday party for a friend and I am SO looking forward to getting out of my cave, putting on my new leopard print boots, and whooping it up with a bunch of the gals. I cannot WAIT.
I didn't realize, when I accepted the invitation, that I'd be in deadline mode. Oh I should've, considering how I practically had the date stamped on my forehead, but it just slipped my mind. And you know what, I'm glad I accepted, because I have about 5k maximum to wrap this book up — and over a week until it's due. I hope to finish it today, but who knows. Or maybe tomorrow morning. And then I'll be partying guilt free.
Until I have to reread and make revisions on Sunday, LOL. Yeah, I could take the whole weekend off and still safely get the book in on time. But did I mention I'm an overachiever? A perfectionist?
So, got any great weekend plans? (I think Hubby is doing a SuperBowl thing — but I am NOT involved in that. Going to Starbucks to write if necessary….)
Jan 28, 2009 | Writing |
I'll often get ideas about blog topics, then by the time I sit down to write one, I've forgotten all the interesting things I wanted to write about. Just yesterday, as I was working to finish this book, something struck me as a good blog topic (and it was unrelated to writing). By the time I got around to starting a new post, I'd forgotten it.
But something that has been on my mind with this book is that ever-evolving mysterious thing known as Process. When I was unpublished, I wrote when I pleased. I tried to do it everyday. But I didn't always. And I wrote and rewrote books two or three times. Spent 3 years on the book that ended up being my GH finalist last year. Gah, that's too long!
But now that I'm writing for an editor, I've realized a couple of things.
1) Procrastination and perfectionism are not my friends.
2) I have always known I can write fast when I put my mind to it — but I can in fact produce a whole book in a matter of weeks if I respect my process.
3) My process, which is probably still evolving, goes like this:
a. Write one chapter.
b. Rewrite chapter.
c. Write second chapter.
d. Rewrite first and second chapter.
e. Write third chapter.
f. Rewrite first, second, and third chapter.
g. Write fourth chapter.
h. Cry about how bad the whole thing is.
i. Revise four chapters.
j. Write chapters 5 and 6.
k. Tweak first several chapters along with 5 & 6.
l. Stall on chapter 7.
m. Finally write chapter 7.
n. Tweak all chapters.
o. Write rest of book in varying degrees of speed — sometimes slow and easy, other times breakneck.
p. Reread all the above. Add, subtract, or revise as needed.
q. Send to editor.
It takes me twice as long to write the first half as it does the second. It's been that way through two contracted books now, so I can only hope I will evolve further and not need so much gnashing of teeth on the setup. But that setup is so crucial that it just twists me into knots and takes me forever to get it worked out.
And now, back to the mad dash…. What's your process like?
Jan 27, 2009 | Writing |
That would be me at the moment. No, not crazy enough to take on a million cats (Hubby would kill me), but crazy from brain overload. Not much happening in the Harris household except eating, sleeping, and writing. Laundry & grocery shopping managed to occur over the weekend, but I had help. If I was right up against my deadline, even that wouldn't get done.
So, nothing intelligible from me today. I'm closing in on the end of the book. Saw it all very clearly while torturing myself with a 2 mile jog on the treadmill. Now, if only it works out that way in truth. Because if I have to think of something else, I may really go crazy.
Feeling crazy lately?
Jan 22, 2009 | Auctions, Writing |
Is it Thursday already? I've been a bit, um, mired in the writing lately. The good news is that the mountain is being scaled. The bad is that I haven't reached the top yet. *sigh*
So, not a lot of coherent thoughts today. Just working like a dawg and trying to get to the magical end of the book. There comes a point in every book for me where I think I just can't pull it off, can't manage to make the whole thing into a coherent tale, and that I'm just writing a series of unconnected scenes that I make up as I go along. That's where I am now.
But it usually works out, so I can only hope for the same result this time around. What are you working on?
Don't forget about the auction to help a homeless teen and her mother! You can bid on a one chapter + synopsis critique from me. Or many other cool things! Click here. Information about the auction in general is here.
Jan 19, 2009 | Auctions, Writing |
See the post below. The auction is live today!! You can bid on some terrific things, including a critique by moi. 🙂
