Jun 25, 2008 | Writing |
Hmm, after several months of non-stop work, I find myself bookless. Bookless as in I don't have a book to write. What shall I do? Work on the lawn? Do the laundry? Clean the house?
Um, NO! I'm going to catch up on my reading and WRITE another book!! Like most writers, I don't lack for ideas. I have several. I could write the next book in my romantic suspense series, or I have another idea for a Presents novel. Probably, it'll be the Presents I get to work on.
Why? Because I had SO much fun writing the last one and I want to do it again! Writing that book was like coming home. Crazy, but true. I'm a little bereft at being done with Alejandro and Rebecca's story. (Though maybe I'm not done at all — revisions, you know.)
I'll probably also finish the proposal to the next RS — just because I love the story and want that blueprint available. 🙂
Writers: what do you do when you finish writing a book? Immediately start a new one? Revise the old one (I should mention there were two drafts of TSMR to this point)? Take a break and play? Cry and miss the characters? Want to blow them up? (That was me with HOT PURSUIT.)
Jun 23, 2008 | Heroes, Life, Revising |
Thursday, I typed The End to THE SPANISH MAGNATE'S REVENGE. It was sometime Thursday evening, and I went downstairs doing the Rocky fists in the air thing. Hubby said, “So you finished?” 🙂
Nothing is better than the feeling you get when you finish a manuscript. But, the work is never over. Friday morning, I printed it out for the first complete read on paper. I knew I'd have to revise — that's part of the process for me — and I knew by Friday afternoon, I'd be depressed with what I had to do.
Friday afternoon, yep, I'm depressed, convinced I can't write and I'm going to embarrass myself by sending this manuscript to my editor. But I'm determined to get to work on it, of course. I will fix it, I will! It won't defeat me! I'm the writer, it's the creation. Yeah!
And then hubby comes home. He's a little late, but sometimes that happens and I didn't think much of it. Until he gave me a bag with two bottles of wine, a card, and a dozen roses. Awwwwww! I was so touched. He knew how much it meant to me to finish this book, and he was proud of me. *sniffle, sniffle*
I'm halfway through the revisions and feeling much better. But it all started with roses and a card (and wine!) from my sweetie. I enjoyed the flowers all weekend, the card is sitting with the congrats cards that my chaptermates sent for the GH and Presents contests, and the wine disappeared.
Being a writer can be a solitary business, but it's great to have the support of the ones you love. Even when they don't quite understand why you have a glazed look or why you didn't hear the question they asked you three times already. 🙂
Have you ever embarrassed your loved ones by saying something along the lines of, “So, if I kidnap the sister, how do I get the yacht to crash?” in a public place? Guilty as charged….
Jun 20, 2008 | Blogging, Writing |
Today, check out my guest post about my writing journey over at the I Heart Presents site. I talk about what it's like working with an editor.
And, in related news, I typed The End to THE SPANISH MAGNATE'S REVENGE last night. I'm so thrilled! Now, must think a bit on it, and then off it goes. 🙂
Jun 19, 2008 | Writing |
THE SPANISH MAGNATE'S REVENGE is almost done. I've been buried in the ending. I always get this way — grumble, groan, moan along the way, and then I hit somewhere before the black moment and the ball starts rolling so fast I can barely keep up. I write as much in the last few days as I did in the first few weeks. It's crazy, but apparently that's my process.
I owe emails. I owe blogs. I owe time to family and friends. I cannot escape the grip of this story. But it's almost done. 🙂 Soon, I'll emerge from the cocoon and wonder what's happened around me.
Hope you writers are getting much done!!! Does this happen to you, btw? Is there a certain point where the story takes you over so completely that eating and sleeping and showering are extreme impositions? 🙂
Jun 17, 2008 | Life |
Sunday, hubby and I went to my parents' house for dinner. The appearance of a lone firefly at dusk precipitated a crisis as we began to discuss fireflies (or lightning bugs in the South). Hubby grew up in upstate NY. As a kid, he remembered catching jars of fireflies and being fascinated with them.
I remember the same as a kid growing up in the South. The field beside our house would be lit up like a small city with fireflies. I would stand and watch, along with my brothers, fascinated. Yes, we caught them in jars and tried to keep them. I think any kid who kept a firefly overnight knows they don't last in a jar. *sigh*
So where are they now? Why do you only see one every now and then? My house backs up to good ol' Alabama woodland. I stood last night after we came home, waiting to see the woods light up. I saw ONE.
Do you think our perceptions as kids were skewed, that we only thought there were tons of them? Or do you think our modern environment has done something? The chemicals we use on our yards, the sprays for mosquitoes, the proliferation of chemical environmental control in our homes?
I just don't know. I tried looking it up and got a variety of answers. 1) Mosquito chemicals are specific to mosquitoes. 2) Firefly habitats are disappearing as man encroaches. 3) Dry seasons aren't conducive to firefly life cycles. You need rain and moist vegetation for fireflies to breed.
I don't know, but it feels like a magical thing, especially for children, has disappeared from our lives. Do you remember fireflies? Did you grow up seeing millions of them light the night sky? Or did you grow up without them? If you remember them in the thousands and millions, do you ever wonder what happened to them?
Just curious….
