Category Archives: Uncategorized

Writing contests–the good, the not-so-good & the truth

I’ve seen a number of articles and blogs about writing contests for the unpublished lately, whether they’re worth entering, and just how much they are worth. On the whole, I’m in favor of them, if you know why you’re entering and what you hope to get out of it.

I actually personally know of only one all-genre writing contest sponsored by a non-profit writing organization. I’m sure there are more, but the Frontiers in Writing contest, sponsored by Panhandle Professional Writers is a pretty good one. (I’d have linked directly to their 2010 contest info, because it ought to be starting pretty soon, but the website hasn’t been updated just yet.) There are other contests, of course, but some of them look to me like they’re sponsored by business ventures solely to make money off hungry authors.

Of course, the non-profit groups use the contests to make money to support their organization–but that’s not their sole purpose. The Romance Writers of America sponsor the Golden Heart contest to give unpublished authors a chance to shine. The RWA chapters have contests for the same reason, and to give the entering authors some feedback on their manuscripts. The finalists and the winners in these contests also have a chance to get their pages in front of editors and agents in the business. That’s the main reason some writers enter.

And contest finals and wins are good credentials to put in a query letter. Some contests are better than others, but if you start finaling in contests, especially if you make the finals in more than one, the “people who count” (aka those who are in a position to get you published) are going to start taking notice.

Yes, there are judges out there who will tell you that the whole premise of your book is faulty because they don’t believe in terminal cancer, because prayer will heal you, or that your English heroine needs a reason to move to Ireland–when you thought marrying an Irishman was reason enough… But think about it a minute. This is actually a good thing. It gives you an opportunity to grow a thicker skin. A chance to learn to deal with rejections–even if the rejections may not be “fair.” And with any luck you will also have those judges who will encourage you to look deeper at your story, dig deeper into your characters’ psyches and then put it on the page.

Then there is the truth. Winning a contest will not get you published. Not even if it is the big Mama contest, RWA’s Golden Heart. Yes, many of the winners thank the editors who just bought their book, but there are also many finalists and winners who still haven’t sold a book.

There is also this truth. NOT Winning A Contest Will NOT PREVENT You From Getting Published. I Never won any contest for unpublished authors. I finaled a number of times in some good contests, but never, ever came in higher than 2nd place. And I Never, Ever Finaled in the Golden Heart. Ever.

But I have been a RITA finalist. For those who may not know, the RITA is RWA’s big Mama contest to recognize the best in published romance fiction. In 2002, I was a finalist for Best First Book with my little Silhouette Desire romance.

And every single book I have had published since (so far, knock on wood) has either finaled, or won a contest. I won the Aspen Gold for best series romance with my second Desire, and my One Rose books–The Compass Rose came in second for the Prism Award, behind The Smoke Thief by Shana Abe, for Best Fantasy in 2006, The Barbed Rose won the Prism in 2007, and The Eternal Rose won it in 2008. (I did not enter any of the Rose books in the RITA.)

New Blood has been entered in several of contests. We’ll see how it does. (Wish me luck–or a broken leg, whichever is appropriate.)

The thing is–contests can be helpful, both before and after publication. Just don’t start believing that contests, in themselves, will can either get you published, or keep you from it. Only the writing can do that.

So keep writing!!

Vampires, Werewolves & Moons, Oh my!


I have noticed a lot of clamor floating around the Internets about vampires, and how many people wish they would go away. “No more vampire books!” they cry. “Vampire movies–HATE!” and more things along that line.

There are also a lot of hilarious reviews of the Twilight saga movie New Moon. I love these review/recaps. They are SO true. I thought there was too much standing around looking angsty (though they might have been constipated–hard to tell.)

And yet…I enjoyed the movie. Really. (All the shirtless werewolf dudes helped a lot. Hey–past 50 does not mean dead. My eyes work just fine with the glasses.)

And I do understand how so many teen/tween girls (and their moms) can love the books and the movies.

Confession time. I am not myself a big fan of vampire stories. I read Interview With the Vampire way back when it came out–didn’t read any of the stories that came after. Most vampire stories I can take or leave. I do read a few vampire series, but only a few–most of which have a different mythology for their vampires: they’re different species (J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood), or they’re humans who caught a virus (Lynn Viehl’s Darkyn books). I also am addicted to Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake books (they are my crack!)(I like Hamilton’s Meredith Gentry books a little better–but it really doesn’t matter. Crack, I tell you, they are crack). Do not tell me how bad they are, and how bad they are for me. I do not care. I like them. And because I have this addiction, I Understand.

And to all those who wish to see no more vampire books, and no more sparkly vampire stories or movies or anything vampire (unless it’s related to blood & gore & violence), I say SHUT UP. You do not get to pick. You do not get to dictate to people what we should or should not read, watch or enjoy.

As long as people are buying and reading sexy/sparkly/emo vampires, publishers will keep publishing the books. As long as people are going to movies about sparkly/sexy/emo vampires, (and Hoo-boy! Are they!) Hollywood will keep making movies like that, trying to repeat the phenomenon.

And yeah, we do get a glut of them, and some of them aren’t as good as others. Some might be downright bad. In the Opinion of Some. But people are still buying them. When they get tired of them, they will stop buying them, and that will be okay too.

People (even pre-teen/tween people) are allowed to like what they like and read what they want to read.

I don’t like bloody, ultra-violent books where people get both hands cut off with a hacksaw. (Ick.) But I don’t go around saying “Publishers should stop publishing horror novels!” You can like what you like. You can even say that you don’t like vampire books. (Though I’ve found that most of those who say they don’t like vampires like them just fine when they’re bloody and violent and horrible, they just don’t like the sexy-sparkly ones.)

Just let me like what I like too, and don’t try to tell me what I Should like. I don’t care. I’m going to make up my own mind, thank you.

(Disclaimer: I resisted reading any of the Twilight books for a very long time, until after the fourth one came out. (They’re vampires. I’m not a fan of vampires.) I did not even know they existed, until my 27-year-old son, who read them and loved them, insisted I read them, and gave me his copy of Twilight. I did enjoy it. But haven’t got round to reading any more. I also liked Meyers’ The Host. And I liked the movies.)

Pre-Thanksgiving Baking Frenzy


We’re going to visit family for the holidays. My older son, the buttermilk pie lover, thinks it can’t be Thanksgiving if he doesn’t get buttermilk pie. The recipe makes two, so there are two pies in the freezer waiting to be packed. The younger son’s girlfriend requested pecan pie, which also happens to be my favorite, so I baked a pecan pie yesterday. I buy ready-made pie crusts, because –well, you know why. And there are 2 pie crusts in each package. I made 3 pies. I had a pie crust left over. So I made another pie. The fudge pie is baking as I type.

Also, since the buttermilk pie recipe didn’t use up all the buttermilk I bought, I baked a recipe of my no-flour cornbread so we could have some for dressing, or whatever. (We may need to take a separate pan of gluten-free dressing for those who can’t eat white bread.) My cornbread recipe calls for buttermilk. I didn’t have quite enough, so I also soured a cup of regular milk to go in it.

Let’s see–I had all these pies, and I was saving them to eat at Thanksgiving, or while we were visiting relatives, but I wanted something sweet, so I mixed up a little package mix of chocolate chip cookies. (I took a few to the Brit at the paper, who has something of a sweet tooth.) And then, I really needed to make some dessert for the fella, since he can’t eat the pie crusts. (He can eat the fudge & pecan pies, and if I’d thought to sub cornstarch for flour in the buttermilk, he could eat those. But he can’t eat the crust–and I know I can sub crumb crusts–but they’re not as good with these really sweet pies…) So I made gluten-free brownies from a mix last night. They look and smell pretty good.

And then–Mama gave me her bread machine. It was just taking up room in their laundry room. She hasn’t used it in two years (maybe more), and I know she won’t think about using it again. So I said thankyouverymuch, and brought it home with me. And it is now baking a loaf of gluten-free bread.

When I plugged it in, all the lights started blinking at once. So I started punching buttons. After a while, those lights stopped blinking, and another set of lights came on. I kept punching buttons. I hit stop, start, menu, timer–sometimes I got a beep, sometimes I didn’t. Eventually, I hit some right button, because the timer lit up, and the lights stopped blinking, and only a few lit up, and when I punched a button, it didn’t beep at me, and something happened when I hit the button, like the program changed. I think I have all the settings right. I punched the Start button, and it is actually working. The dough got all stirred up. I ought to have a loaf of GF bread in another couple of hours. Cool!

The fella doesn’t eat many sandwiches, but he might like to, if he had bread. He does love French toast for breakfast, on the mornings he eats breakfast. We’ll take it with us to his folks’ because he eats breakfast during the holidays. I’m hoping this works.

The thing is–I really do enjoy baking good things to eat for my family during the holidays. I don’t bake much the rest of the time, because my family is nearing an empty nest, and the boy still living at home is the one who would have Halloween candy left over at Easter. Not much for sweets. So when I fix special things for him, they tend to be pot roast with herbs or shrimp enchiladas.

(Oh–and I have a blog post at “My Book, The Movie” about who I would/did cast as the main characters in New Blood. Go read it. It’s fun. 😉 )

And since I’m in a baking, sharing mood, and everybody on the internet is sharing recipes, it seems like, I’m going to share my easy-peasy not-from-scratch shrimp enchilada recipe, and the famous buttermilk pie recipe (which came from a Southern Living cookbook.)

Easy-peasy shrimp enchiladas

1 pound peeled, cooked shrimp
1 jar Alfredo sauce
1 can chopped green chilis
1 can green chili enchilada sauce
8 oz. grated cheese
12-14 corn tortillas

Mix the cooked shrimp with the Alfredo sauce and chopped green chilis. Spoon sauce with 2 to 4 shrimps in each tortilla, add cheese, and roll up enchilada style in a 13×9 baking pan. When all the tortillas are used/you’re out of space in your pan, pour any remaining Alfredo sauce over the top. Pour the can of green chili enchilada sauce over it and top with any remaining cheese. (If that doesn’t look like enough cheese, add more!)

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Till the cheese is melted and everything is heated through.

You can use shrimp frozen raw in a bag (you have to cook it & usually peel it), leftover shrimp from those rings they sell in the grocery store, or leftovers from a shrimp boil. It’s all good. (But the fresh leftovers are the best, of course.) I like the Alfredo sauce with cheese, but it’s all good. We eat corn tortillas because of gluten issues, but if you really want, you can use flour. (I think corn are better.) I did not specify a type of cheese, because I have used Monterrey Jack cheese, mild Cheddar cheese, and a mix of both. You could probably even use Mozzarella, if you really wanted to. It’s all good. I just used what I had. (Jack cheese with peppers would be good, if you want to spice it up more. This is pretty mild.) This is easy to fix, and you can use whatever you have on hand…

If they don’t have green enchilada sauce in the stores where you live–I am so sorry you have to live in a place that doesn’t know what good eating is, and you can probably find some in a specialty store. I buy the store brand here… Can y’all even get green chilis at all? Not jalapenos. Hatch or New Mexico green chilis. They’re not as hot as jalapenos but have lots of flavor.

Okay. Now for

Mary’s Buttermilk Pie
which is from The Southern Heritage Cookbook series in the Pies and Pastry book c 1984 by Oxmoor House. I keep a bookmark on the page.

1 cup butter or margarine, melted
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
1/4 cup all purpose flour (can sub 3 Tbsp cornstarch to make it GF)
1 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
2 unbaked 9-inch pastry shells (GF for those who need it)

Combine butter, sugar, eggs, flour/cornstarch, buttermilk and water in a medium mixing bowl. Mix well. Stir in vanilla and lemon juice. Mix well.
Pour filling evenly into pastry shells. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool pies before slicing. Yields two 9-inch pies.

(I usually have to bake them closer to 60 min. to get them done, but that may just be my oven.)

Remember, this makes TWO pies.

It’s Been a While

I’ve been out of town. I blogged about it here.

I guess that’s why it doesn’t feel like it’s been that long since I posted a blog. Because I did. Just not here. Oops. Sorry, y’all.

And when I got home from coping with all of that, I had medical stuff, plus Ian at the newspaper wanted me to work extra last week, so I did. Then I had a thing Saturday, and… well, it was just really, really busy.

So, anyway–I did have some pretty good news today, after weeks of running like a crazy person. Heart’s Blood, the book that’s coming out right before the new year, was given 4-1/2 stars from RT Book Reviews and named a Top Pick! in Science Fiction & Fantasy.

I’m not sure why it wasn’t in the Paranormal Romance section, since it’s published by Tor Paranormal Romance, but there were only two Top Picks in SF/F. Less competition. 😉 Anyway, I still don’t know what the review actually SAYS, but it’s a Top Pick, and I’m happy.

Today is the boy’s birthday. My baby is getting old. He’s 23. (He should graduate next spring? A nasty chemistry course has popped up that he may have to take in summer…) Anyway, we had a card, and a nice dinner (pot roast with herb gravy & Real mashed potatoes with lots of butter), and then a pineapple cheesecake. I’d never made it before, but it was GOOD. Yum. And we watched Star Trek on DVD.

Even in this new version–I like Dr. McCoy and Mr. Scott the best. Karl Urban and Simon Pegg. Rowr.

Seems like there was something else cool I could tell you–Oh! I got the excerpt for Heart’s Blood up on my website. Go check it out. :)

Now I think I am going to go dissolve in my bed.

Something to Talk About

That’s what I need. A subject for my blog. The weekend was far busier than I wanted it to be. I really wanted a lazy weekend, but the fella wanted to Do Stuff. We went to the Wings Over Houston air show and saw the Blue Angels we missed in San Francisco. We hurried home to be there for trick-or-treaters, and got exactly four kids, in two families–two kids each. Then we went over to friends for drinks and snackies. It was fun, but I was ExHausTed.

The week has flown by. I feel like I’ve been working all week, but I’ve only gone in two days. I have to go to the parents’ house tomorrow to go with Mom through some doctor stuff, and won’t be home again till Monday. Then I have doctor stuff of my own. Ugh. All of which makes the week feel VERY short. Because I haven’t Done Anything. At least I don’t feel like I have.

The boy introduced me to an online game. (Bad boy!) It does allow for lengthy breaks in which to do one’s business.

Also, I was smacked in the head with a new story idea, and since I need to send the chapters I’m revising out for a read, I think I’m going to take part of November to do a me-style NaNoWriMo (I don’t sign up, don’t log in words, etc. because I don’t do them on a computer) and see what I can do with this. Especially since I’m going to be out of pocket for 5 days. I woke up this a.m. with scenes and dialogue floating through my head, so I really think I’m going to have to. For a little while at least. Then maybe it will leave me along. Maybe I can write it episodically.

So. This is a very short post, because I’m having a short week. Or maybe it’s a long one. I don’t know. I feel rather brain dead. Next week doesn’t look to be much better. The Brit at the paper wants me to work 3 days to make up for the other person being out half a day–but I have this doctor stuff, and I’m not sure I’m going to feel like it. We will see. I may only want to come in ONE day. Ah well. I’ll hang in. Y’all hang too.

What is it About?, or, What I learned at the Retreat

When I go to conferences or retreats or workshops, I believe that if I learn One Thing that will help me (even at cooking lessons or art classes) in the future, then the event was worth my time.

So at the end of my wonderful weekend near Waco (Valley Mills is about 25 miles NW of Waco, but it’s not alliterative), we had a session of “What did you learn at the retreat this weekend?” I honestly don’t remember what everybody else said. Maybe by the time I get to the end of the blog, I will. There were only four of us left by Sunday morning–that’s all that stayed the night, so it’s not that much for me to remember. You would think it wouldn’t be difficult. But I’ve slept since then. Several times. Anyway…

What I learned at the retreat: You Have To Keep Your Focus on What The Story Is About.

During our critique sessions, and our plotting sessions especially, the group kept going off on tangents, and someone (often me) would have to get us back on the point.

Over the years, I have been on a lot of committees. Committees have a bad tendency to go off track and start talking about–all kinds of silly things that have nothing to do with why the committee is meeting. I don’t like to sit around at meetings for hours on end. I want to get the business done and move on. I have spent a lot of time in meetings going “Okay, so we’re going to have a booth at the Fourth of July celebration, and its going to be the library’s used book sale, right? What other fundraisers do we want to do?” when the meeting got off on those little tea cakes Frances brought to the luncheon… I’m big on moving things along.

During the retreat, I found myself going: “Okay, so what’s this book about? Is it a romance? A mystery? A post-apocalyptic adventure? What?” (You try saying ‘post-apocalyptic’ three times fast. Ain’t easy, is it?) Not to move things along, but to be sure I was properly critiquing the material. If you don’t know what it’s supposed to be, it’s hard to make sure that’s what you’re reading.

When we were plotting–we worked on three different stories for three people–we had discussions on “what is the main plot, and what is the B-plot.” One of the stories was like “Twilight” in that she wanted the main plot to be the romance, but had a suspense plot with a bad guy as the subplot. Except when we were plotting we kept coming up with ideas for the subplot.

How the bad guy would find out about the heroine. How the heroine would feel about the death in the story. It was almost like we wanted to do that plot more than the main plot–and we would have to get off the subplot tangent and go back to the main plot. How would the author show the budding romance between her victimized heroine and her cop hero? Then someone would say something like–“Oooh, but what if she has a gun? And the hero sees her gun, and runs a trace on it. And–and–” and we’d get sucked right back into that suspense subplot. Which played off the main plot and pushed it forward–but wasn’t the main plot.

I kept coming back to “But what’s the story about? What kind of story is it?”

Brainstorming a plot is sort of like plotting by committee. All ideas are welcome. It’s the author’s job to decide which ideas she likes. It’s the author who has to keep control, who has to know What Kind Of Story It Is, and maintain a focus on that, on what he wants the story to be about. Whether you create an extensive chapter-by-chapter plot outline, a quick one-page list of plot points, or just start writing without much more than an idea of how the story will end, it’s important to remember What The Story Is About.

This, actually, is why I have my one-page outline to write from. Because in my past–I think it still lives in my file cabinet–I have a historical romance that I wrote before I learned this lesson. I call it my 600-page octopus, because it’s at least that long, and it goes off on as many tangents as an octopus has arms. (or more) I kept forgetting what the story was about, and sticking in this adventure, or this mini-romance, or that complication. That story grew, and grew, and grew, and got absolutely nowhere. I didn’t maintain focus.

It has taken me a while to learn that I am so easily distracted by every shiny story bauble that floats by, I MUST have that outline so that I can maintain that focus on What This Story Is About. Otherwise, I’ll end up writing some other story. Or no story at all, but another octopus. You may need some other tool to help you maintain focus, or you may not need any tool at all, if you’re a fly-into-the-mist, seat-of-the-pants writer. (I am in awe of you types.)

The important thing to take away is that novels are really long. They take a long time to write, and it can be easy to get distracted. In order to get from the beginning, all the way to the end, you have to keep in mind What The Story Is About.

My Heart Isn’t the Only Thing in San Francisco

All of me is here. I am currently sitting on the 18th floor of a hotel near Union Square, piddling around on the fella’s laptop. I was thinking I would have a really long blog post to write when I get home…and realized (duh!) that I had a computer. With Internet access. I can write a not-so-long blog post Now. So I am.

I was going to work on my science fiction romance synopsis, and when I got the folder out of my red bag, I realized that I did not manage to stick in the page where I’d worked out the plot. I put in the form I made for the Hero’s Journey plotting–but I hadn’t filled in any of the blanks on that one. I sort of remembered what I had in mind, so I got about 3 sentences written. But I wanted a bigger finale than what I could recall of my plot ideas. And I kind of decided my main idea really wouldn’t work. So I got out the Tarot cards and did a GMC spread and that gave me an idea or two. I think I sort of know how I can spice things up some.

So that was yesterday morning. I went out for lunch, then walked down to the Museum of Modern Art, since that was one of my “goals” for the trip–to visit an art museum. I got there just in time to join the lecture on the special exhibit of Richard Avedon photography, so that was all good. It was very interesting. And I got to see the other exhibits–some Matisse and other paintings & sculptures. There was a very interesting one titled “Bridge” that was done as part of the WPA in the Depression, and now I can’t remember who did it. But it got “assigned” to the MOMA as part of the project. I liked that one a lot. Liked a lot of the art, actually, but that one made a big impression.

I often set goals for my trips. Things I want to see in a place. The last time I was in San Francisco, last summer, I had one afternoon to do sightseeing, so my goal was just to see Something. I walked to Chinatown. (Nearly killed me, climbing those hills.) This time, I wanted to go down to Fisherman’s Wharf (twice so far), ride the cable cars, actually see the bridge, and maybe get out of the city a little bit.

When we went to Europe–Many years ago–I wanted to: 1. See a WWII resistance museum; 2. See some crown jewels. 3. See a Medieval castle. We saw a whole lot more stuff than that, but I did get to see those three things. We saw the Danish crown jewels in Rosenborg palace in Copenhagen. And the WWII rsistance museum in Oslo is in a 13th century castle, Akershus, whch was used as Gestapo headquarters during the occupation of Norway. It helps to have goals, I think. :) (Yes, I am a Virgo. So is the fella.)

And then I walked back from MoMA and succumbed to the temptation of going into the Britex Fabrics store. I haven’t done any sewing since we moved to Galveston, but I am still a sucker for beautiful fabrics, and of course, they had their most beautiful there on the first floor. I wouldn’t let myself go to any of the other 3 floors–I probably would have gone into a coma. And I managed to limit myself to buying only One Yard of a beautiful Chinese green/black/gold brocade. I will make a cushion of it. Or if it doesn’t go in either my bedroom OR my den, I’ll make a vest. Yes, I am a fabric junkie.

Got back to the room, & went with the fella and a bunch of the folks with us to Scoma’s on the waterfront. We rode the cable car over, which was fun, but COLD. I am a wussy Gulf Coast Texan. It was very warm and even more humid when we left town. And it’s in the 60s For The High temp here (I’m not converting to C because I’m on the flla’s computer & he doesn’t have the website bookmarked), which means it’s colder most of the time. I brought jackets and long sleeves, but my ears and hands got cold. Frankly, I’m spending a fair bit of the time Freezing.
(Typos are Not my fault. I’m hitting the keys, but this keyboard is apparently finicky. Must not be holding my mouth right, or something.)

Anyway, we went to eat at this wonderful seafood restaurant which everyone told us was wonderful–and it was. Absolutely Delicious. I had swordfish–which I had never had before, but there is no seafood I do not like–except for oysters, and yes, I have tried them. I keep trying periodically, but still me and oysters do not mix. I knew I would like the swordfish–and it was indeed wonderful. We have eaten at many wonderful places. Had Italian food (veal scallopini in sambucco-cream sauce) at Venticello last night. Excellent. Fella had shrimp/scallop risotto. He had shellfish saute last night. We get excellent seafood at home. Really. It’s not like we don’t get a chance to eat it normally. We just like seafood. Going for more tonight. I’m not really a “foodie,” but I do appreciate the chance to eat yummy food. (Which is undoubtedly why I look the way I do. Sigh.)

One of the ladies in the group had spent yesterday shopping. I have only been to the one fabric store, and to the store at the MOMA. (Bought a very cool trinket box. Not sure how I will get it home tho…) Since the fella is skipping out on his conference this afternoon, maybe we’ll do a little shopping then. My thing it–I don’t see any reason to shop in stores I can shop in at home… We have a Macy’s. We do not have an Asian Arts Center. So–

I brought my watercolors to try and paint a little, but with my afternoon being preempted, I suppose I won’t get the chance. Oh well. I tried.

I do not have a camera on my cell phone. It’s VERY basic, and really stupid, and definitely not a 3G phone. More like .5G. Anyway, when we get home, and I can download the pictures we’ve taken onto my own computer, I will post some. It’s time to go hunt for a hamburger…

“Write, Write, Write”


There’s a debate on the web, about the “just write” advice writers often give each other.

One side says: “Just plant your fanny in the chair and write, whether it’s working or not, whether you feel like it or not, no matter what. Don’t edit–just write.”

The other side says: “If it’s not coming, take a break. Read a book. Watch a movie. Take a walk. Write something else. Do other writing-type stuff like marketing. Just don’t push it.”

And, as usual, I’m one of the people who says “Yes, Exactly!” to both sides. (I’ve always been one of those “yes” people when asked either/or questions. As in “Do you want chocolate or vanilla?” Me: “Yes, please.” or “Can’t I have both?”)

See, there are times when you just have to power through. Like when there’s a deadline. And there are times when you’re better off taking a break, because there’s something wrong with the story and you have to let your subconscious work on what the problem is.

I think part of the debate comes when people are told “If you don’t do this, then you’re not a real writer.” Which is BAD. Even when we tell it to ourselves. I’m working through Julia Cameron’s Artist’s Way (and I’m not making a link for that, because I have too much to do as it is–you’ll just have to look it up yourself) with my best friend, because she’s been doing some of that to herself. Any time someone tells you that you have to write This Way, because otherwise you’re doing it wrong, it’s BAD. Because it just ain’t so.

Your writing goals are Your writing goals. Your process–How You Write–is Your process. I probably do it differently. So does everybody else. And however you do it–if it works for you, then Great! If it doesn’t work, well–try something else.

That said–if you want to be a writer, and you’re not writing? That’s when you have to just Sit Your Fanny In That Chair and WRITE.

If you’ve been writing, and it’s not working? Try something different.

I spent February through mid-July of this past year (as those of you who have read this before know) wrestling mightily with The Book That Became Heart’s Magic. I wrote pages and pages and pages of scenes that will not be in the book. They are Good scenes. A little action-heavy, but good. I’m hoping I will get to use them elsewhere with some tweaking. I may not. I wrote them because I had a Sept. 1 deadline and had to get the book done. But I knew something wasn’t right. The book just Was Not Coming Together.

Some days I wrote a whole half page. Some days I wrote Nothing. I walked on the beach. I journaled about the issue. I brainstormed and plotted with friends. I visited family and went to writer’s conferences and free-wrote and took the dog for walks and read books and watched movies. I fit and fought with the thing–knock-down-drag-out combat. And I wasn’t winning. (Not sure who was, but it sure wasn’t me.) I kept writing, but writing wasn’t all I did. It took me till mid-July and a conversation with my editor before I finally figured out that it was a plot issue, and the issue was that I had way too much. (As I have said before.)

But all of that wrestling and struggle and fighting was not a waste. Since this is the second time I’ve done it, I will probably try to put way too much plot into a book again, and not figure it out for a while. (The plots of New Blood and Heart’s Blood were originally both in New Blood. I realized I had two complete plots about 1/3 of the way through NB.) If I get to write more blood magic books, I already have a plot for one. :) And I think–by the time I did pull my plot together, I knew my characters and world so well, things just flowed.

Of course, when life throws craziness at you, and you can’t write because of this issue or that one–whether it’s illness or hurricane evacuation (that was Heart’s Blood) or a house full of company for two weeks in the middle of the last month before deadline (Heart’s Magic…)–It is important to acknowledge that Stuff Happens, and you just can’t beat yourself up over it.

The thing is, there’s a lot of stuff that’s included in the writing process that doesn’t necessarily include putting new words on the page. For some people that includes a lot of plotting. For others, that part may be minimal, but they do a lot of revising. It’s all writing. It all counts. And as long as you’re producing something you are pleased with and that accomplishes your personal goals–it’s all good.

Oh–the picture. Did you know that looseleaf notebook paper would go through a printer? Neither did I. I recycled paper from a revision and didn’t realize I had looseleaf paper stuck in the middle of some printed pages with my inserts written on it. This page I could read. Most of the others, I had to reprint…

Time for lunch.

The Book Is In – Deadlines

This is what my office looked like right after I finished putting all the revisions into the ms. and e-mailed it to the editor. Do you see anywhere else handy for me to put the pages after I finish putting stuff in??? Neither do I. The floor works. That hump? The one that’s not a leg of the chair… That’s my purse. It’s under there somewhere.

I did pick up all the papers today. The floor looks much better. And HEART’S MAGIC is turned in. On time. Sort of.

I wrote 448 pp. in 10 weeks, with a couple of weeks of lots of company in there. So maybe, it was more like 9 weeks. (I did get some done while they were here. Just not a whole lot.)

Which I guess really leads me back around to my riff on Deadlines.

Deadlines are really helpful. REALLY. If you want to write a story/book/memoir/whatever–and you don’t have a deadline? Get one.

I am the world’s greatest procrastinator. Just ask the people who know me. Self-imposed deadlines don’t work as well on those of us with this issue, but they do help. I would not blog here even the once a week I usually manage if I didn’t make it a deadline, that I WILL blog at least Once in a week. Monday is a soft deadline. Friday is the harder deadline–and sometimes I miss that one. But not often.

It’s really better if you can get somebody else to give you the deadline. I have a college degree in journalism. That’s when I learned about deadlines, and that you really can crank out 500 words in 30 minutes, if you have the information. An hour is better, but it IS possible to do it faster if you have to. Those deadlines that somebody else gives you? Those are the ones you HAVE to make.

On the other hand, sometimes life happens. Or books refuse to gel. This is particularly bad if you have a deadline set by somebody else, and they are counting on having that book. You Need to tell your editor–the somebody else–that there may be issues.

Early in July, I had a bad feeling about The Book That Became Heart’s Magic. I was writing and writing, and getting absolutely NOWHERE. It had no structure. Individual scenes were pretty good, but as a whole, it sucked swampwater. So I talked to the agent, who talked to the editor, who said “Sure. We can back the deadline up a month.” I figured that would be what it would take to get it nailed down and finished. So I got an extra month, and I needed every bit of it. I got my deadline extended. But I finished it by that deadline.

I have entered contests that required a book to be finished for entry–okay, it was RWA’s Golden Heart contest. Once, I entered with a book that was little more than a 5-page synopsis. I took the days left till the entry had to be turned in, divided the pages to be written by the number of days, and figured out how many pages I had to write per day to get it done. (I’ve been pretty much stuck at 6 pp per day since. I’d really like to get that up…) I’d paid my money. I had to finish the book by that deadline. And I did. (Didn’t make the finals. I’ve Never made the finals in the Golden Heart Contest. Never won an “unpublished ms” contest, either. So you don’t have to, to get published. Doesn’t hurt, but isn’t necessary.) Anyway–contests are another good way to acquire a deadline that is more than just your own “I really need to have it finished by X” because those are really the deadlines that can go whooshing by.

So, yeah. I believe in deadlines. And setting goals and all that kind of stuff. They work.

And next, I will riff on lifelines. Later.

Fuzzy outlines


Picture: The dolphin statue at Fort Crockett Park on the seawall. Hurricane Ike washed out the sand and rocks supporting the concrete here, and you see the result. They’re going to be re-doing it sometime in the sort of near future, so I wanted to get a picture of it in its deconstruction. You can see how so much was knocked down and around and, well, ruined… and hasn’t been fixed yet.

Mostly I write blogs about my life. Because I don’t often think profound thoughts, or if I do, I’m nowhere near a computer and by the time I reach mine, I have forgotten what I thought of. I forget to write the thought down anywhere else too, like my “notebook-o-lists” or whatever else I might have.

Anyway, a lot of times, thoughts are springboarded from other blogs, which I haven’t been reading much, while I have been in the deadline cave (and with it being so cloudy outside, Boy is it Cavelike today). But I read one today. It’s a week or two old, and it’s a good blog by one Ali Hale on Three Words That Will Help You Finish Any Writing Project.

Her words–which I am now going to take and riff on–are: Outline, Deadline, and Lifeline.

Ali apparently mostly writes short things. Articles, blog posts, that sort of thing.

I suck at writing short things, except for blog posts (and even then they tend to be long) and newspaper columns. Mostly I write novels. I just finished (on Saturday!) my 8th.

The process has taught me yet again, the importance of these three things.

FYI, I hate those outline things we had to do back in school, with the Roman numerals and letters and numbers and such. But I really discovered with this book, Heart’s Magic, when I was struggling so hard with the plot, that I cannot just fly into the mist. I have to have something.

I’ve used a lot of different frameworks for outlining. The Hero’s Journey (from Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey); Syd Fields’ turning points method. I had just bought Save the Cat by Blake Snyder when I learned I didn’t have to complete the entire story cycle in HM and pulled out the extra book’s worth of plot, so I used his outline format. Pretty much the same as the others, but a little different way of thinking, which seemed to unstick me.

All I had, when I started putting the story back together, was one page of notes. One loose-leaf notebook page, one side only. It’s not particularly neat. In some places, all I had was a question mark, that I filled in with a tiny note later. That didn’t even turn out to be what I did in that slot. And later, I did add another sheet (of printer paper) where I wrote down scenes that could fit in each section. (these are my pages-the scene list on left, & “outline” on the right) I didn’t put all of those in. But whenever I got stuck, I had that page in my file folder that I could look at and see where I might/needed to go next.

I essentially wrote this book in 10 weeks, people. I struggled with it for twice that long. Because I didn’t have a decent outline. (Which was because I was trying to squeeze too much in.) There are some people who can’t work from an outline. I don’t know many of them, and I now know that I am definitely one of them. It’s not much of an outline. Fuzzy and amorphous-blob outlines will work too. But they’re outlines.

I’m going to have to riff on Deadlines & Lifelines another day… Have to go work. My deadline is tomorrow. Plan to e-mail it today.