A bit of perspective...

Just a pause in your regularly scheduled programming for a bit of perspective. I've been frustrated, during editing, and I'm pushing and pushing and trying to shape this story into what I want it to be. And, in times of great frustration, I remember this:

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through. — Ira Glass

Thank you, Mr. Glass. I'm trying to remember that.

Time Travel

I'm sure, if you read my blog regularly, that you're wondering what happened to me this past month. January was a vicious whirlwind of sickness and revising. As I've been busy Lysoling my house (is that a verb? it should be....), I've also managed to make it halfway through my 2nd round of revisions.

But, as I'm rearranging and updating, I've debated putting a flashback right into the center of my story. I've seen flashbacks as prologues and I've seen them used throughout. I think the amount of success of flashback varies based on story and skill of the storyteller--a topic for another post--but I don't know how I feel about having just one. My gut tells me that it's probably an unnecessary info dump.

My reasoning for even considering it? My characters had a falling out when they were young, a fight. Things were said and left unsaid and then they had a ten year separation. I've debated whether I need to give that argument or not.

What do you think, readers? Do you think giving a past argument, if it's important to the characters' shared history, is necessary? Or do you get annoyed when authors go back in the past when you just want to read the present and future? Thoughts?

Firecracker

It's New Years Eve.

My plans for the evening aren't exciting. We were supposed to get together with another children-laden family but my oldest son is under the weather. So we're hanging in at home, watching the ball drop and eating unhealthy food.

It's been a hectic week so this actually sounds like bliss to me.

*****

I don't do resolutions but I think it's natural to reflect this time of year, to revisit what happened--good or bad.

Writer-wise, it was a pretty good year. I had a baby in 2010 and didn't finish a book that year. But this year I finished a book. It's always a good year when I finish a book.

I have big plans for next year, though. I want to finish revisions on this book and write another. In fact, I'd like to write two books this coming year. I'd settle for just another one, but I'd like two.

I'd like to final in another contest. I would love it to be the Golden Heart but I'll take another final anywhere. A final in any form rocks.

My biggest goal? A contract, of course. But I'd be happy to sign with an agent.

Going into this year, I'm feeling energized, like a firecracker. I'm more focused than I've been in a few years, in a more positive frame of mind. The last couple years have been full of the exhaustion of baby-making and the initial intense child-rearing that comes with an infant. But my youngest is out of the super-dependent baby phase so I should be able to stretch my wings a bit this year. I hope to reach out a little more, meet more writers, get involved. Maybe join a local chapter. Maybe go to a conference or two. Being with other romance writers fills the cracks, I think. And romance writers are some of the coolest people I've ever met.

My first line of business, though, is to finish these revisions and get to querying.

I got this.

How about you? What awesomeness happened to you last year? What awesomeness are you aiming to accomplish this year?

Happy New Year to you all! I hope you all get everything you need.

Fare Thee Well, Golden Heart Entry!

Au Revoir, GH entry! Godspeed!


I just mailed my six partials, six synopsis, and full manuscript to RWA this morning. Granted, the shipping for it to get there in the next two days was astronomical. But boy was it a good feeling to have it out of here.

I like entering a contest now and again. Not often, but once a year or so, just to keep it interesting. The competition, the excitement and anxiety of it. The deadlines and how it breaks up the monotone of sloughing through a manuscript. It can be fun.

So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. If nothing else, I wrote a synopsis and polished my first fifty pages. That's an accomplishment in and of itself.

Now, on to the rest of the MS. I've decided to break the book into four acts and do each one separately. So, I'm working on my second act now. My goal? To be finished with the first round of revisions by mid January and get it out for some readers. It might be until end of January, though, with the holidays.

Speaking of the holidays.... I'm on a mission to try new Christmas cookies this year. My hubby's family likes chocolate chip (who doesn't?) and snickerdoodles, so I make those every year. Terri Osburn suggested sugar cookies for my boys to decorate so I'll probably do that too, just to make a mess. I do fudge, as well. I make a pumpkin log filled with cream cheese filling. (Yum-o!). But do you have any suggestions? Links to your favorite cookies? Please share!

Happy Holidays, if I don't get back here before then! And may the new year bring you everything you need.

XOXO

RAP (or Revision Attack Plan)

Well, I've been away from my story now for a week and a half.

It's not that long but I can't leave it alone that long right now. I've got the Golden Heart entry to prepare. It's now time to plan for revisions or to devise a RAP (Revision Attack Plan).

I've taken a bunch of classes. I've read a bunch of books. But I was wondering, dear readers, what are your favorite ways to revise? Do you have a RAP? Do you make flowcharts? Do you use excel or a special writing program? Is there a technique you like?

For my part, I've decided to tackle the plot element issues first. Rearrange scenes, add some where there are missing ones, adjust many (particularly in the middle) and cut some where they are dull. I do an excel spreadsheet to check for POV and structure issues, utilizing a four act plan and skills from Carol Hughes's Deep Story class. Then I layer. I love these posts here and here by Renee Ryan about layering. Finally, I mess with the freshness of my writing with Margie Lawson's EDITS system.

So, how about you? Let's share!

Book Blurb

I posted a little blurb about the story I just finished. If you click on the books tab above, you can read it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Done! and Sharing a Self-Inflicted Pep Talk

Squee! Hooray and all that good stuff! The first draft of my manuscript is completed.

This is not to say that I'm done. I am certainly not done. I'm sad to admit that this story contains such witticisms as, "Insert description here." There is much work that remains before it is something that other people will want to read. But the basic skeleton is there. I'm happy with that for today.

Now that the bones are there, I'm forced to face the treacherous path ahead.

REVISION.

*Insert menacing backtrack here*

I confess, this is the roughest rough draft I've ever written. I think I knew that as I was writing, but I just kept going. Now, though, I'm scared of just HOW much work is left. I wouldn't be surprised if I'm messing with these revisions into the spring.

Sigh.

This is my third completed manuscript. I've learned a lot about writing since I first set out to write a novel a few years ago but the biggest thing I've learned is that revision is the KEY. Oh writing the story is important. Getting it all out. But most of the "writing" is actually revising. So, I do not plan to downplay the importance of this next step.

The other thing I've learned is that a romance writer can absolutely not pull their emotional punches.

What I mean is that romance is all about emotion. It's about love, after all, and love is the king of emotions. Therefore, one can not write about emotion without getting in touch with emotion.

This is hard. I have no other way to say that and, to those who write romance, this is not news. The way love is built, the way it grows, the different ways every person feels love... it's a very nuanced thing. Getting in touch with it, trying to feel through it, it's incredibly difficult, not just on an intellectual level but on a deeply personal level. It's something that makes me feel vulnerable.

But when I read romances where I feel like the characters emotions just aren't as involved as they need to be, I feel unsatisfied. Therefore, to make my characters as well-developed as I want them to be, I'm going to have to dig deep within, to my own capacity to love and be loved.

Again, this is hard and scary. Because sometimes looking at yourself is not easy.

But, dear reader, I have decided that if I want this story to be good, I need to ignore these facts.

I must Be Fearless.

I must go to those places where I've felt unsurpassed love, those vulnerable places that have been hurt, and I must tap that emotion. Because that's what I want when I read and I bet that's what other readers want when they read too.

So, to you, I leave you with this bit of advice in your writing: Be Fearless. Dig deep within, to the stuff that you hide from everyone else. Because I'd bet that's the stuff that readers really want to read.

And it's the stuff you really want to write anyway.

Happy Writing, all!!