Vixenwriter

I’ve been asked what certain parts of my editing and revision process looks like so I’ll do my best to answer and try not to look too much like a tool:

So I’ve got this big black binder sitting open on a stool next to where I’m sitting. Inside are the 460 pages of Undercover. It works thusly - I write a first draft. No one sees the first draft and I’m always convinced it’s crap until I do the first read. Then I print it and put it in a binder and begin hand edits for revision.

Some pages are blessedly free of notes while others have stickies and hand written edits in the margins. My handwriting starts off very legible but I can tell when I look back when I’ve been at it a while. I begin to see what my repeated crimes are and attempt to purge them (overuse of a certain word or phrase - “murmured” is one, “just” or “well” often too).

Then, I take it chapter by chapter and upload it to my crit group.

They’ll find things I couldn’t see because I’m too close the material. They’ll call me out on my grammar crimes and my overlong sentences. They’ll help me make it better.

I’ll take their crit and make changes to the manuscript and then it’ll go to my agent. She’ll take a gander and will make comments and then I’ll tweak it at long last and send it to my editor.

All in all, the revision process will take about ten days. More if there are a lot of problems to be fixed.

Not very complicated or mysterious really. This part of the process is where everything shiny threatens to derail me. I start thinking about new projects. I get antsy about my schedule. I have to be really hard assed with myself.

Anyway, that’s a glimpse of my totally glamorous life. BTW, I have to hide my highlighters because my three year old likes to steal them to color with and now that my kids are reading (two of the three) I can’t use my old manuscripts as scrap paper with the older ones, at least the sex scene parts anyway.

Any other questions? I can’t promise I’ll know the answer or that I can give the answer but I’m usually pretty open…

Hi All!

It’s a big old party at the Harlequin boards tonight (December 19!). From 8 -9 pm eastern, join Blaze authors, Spice Authors, Kimani authors and Desire authors in the chat room!! http://chat.eharlequin.com/

Come by and say hello!

So I was errand girl this morning. It works like this - one kid to school, come back, the second kid to school, come back. Argue with a three year old about her constant state of undress. Wrestle her back into clothes and head out again, this time to the library. Check out books, turn in books, deal with iffy road conditions because hello, rain and wind again. Grocery store. Three year old complains about how dark it is. All the carts are wet so she has to free range. Thank god the store isn’t crowded. Still, how the hell did I end up spending 110 bucks?

Finally the seat is dry so I can put the monster into the cart for the trip back to the van and I get there to see the front headlight has been broken and there’s glass everywhere. But I’m against a median strip and I parked a ways back so no one is around me. I have no idea what happened and I hate to think someone kicked it out or otherwise broke it on purpose. Anyway. Back home, conversation with the husband about the headlight.

My emails have mated and there are two hundred of them and jeez, it’s noon!

I hope everyone is enjoying the day. It’s my last one before my sons are off school until January. Too bad they don’t sell xanax over the counter at the grocery store. I did promise to make brownies and cupcakes though, which is sort of like xanax only it makes my ass bigger (she says as she belts a diet coke with lime and why don’t those have splenda in them?)

Speaking of splenda, okay so I love my mom. She’s a hoot. She just sent me four boxes of splenda. Now, I don’t eat it on everything and I’m not obsessed with it (like I am decaf tazo chai) so it makes me laugh to open a box she’s mailed to find four boxes of splenda. I realize at some point in my future, I’ll be doing the same damned thing with my kids. Today, I teased the oldest I was just going to put a packet of mayonaise in his lunchbox. He didn’t think it was funny (he’s like the uber picky eater and he never eats school lunch, just the same mom packed lunch every day, sigh). However, I did. I laughed and laughed and then he got all pissy. Jeebus. I told him he should be glad I don’t wear curlers when I drop him off and I bother to wear a bra and stuff. He then got horrified, which made me laugh even more. Mother of the year, people, that’s me.

I have ARCs - neener neener.

They really need to tie up the writer’s strike. One, hello, be fair to the people who create words that give shows and movies life and two, seriously, I don’t watch television much but the reality show explosion is a sign of the apocalypse. Okay except for Girls Next Door. Because, I love that show. I know I should be ashamed, but it’s the most beautiful, glittery awesome cupcake with sparkles trainwreck ever and I can’t turn away.

I don’t even care about Hugh Hefner. Whatever. He’s a gazillionaire and we don’t even have to pretend his life isn’t all fab and stuff. Good for him and stuff.

But, oh, sigh, Kendra. Happy shiver. I. Love. Kendra. It’s not an act people. No one could be that clueless. If she was that genius she wouldn’t be sharing an 85 year old man with two other women and forty two dogs. She’d have her own gazillions and fake snow and round bed stories. When she was in Italy and she asked if they had The Olive Garden there? I win. LOVED IT.

I love the birthday parties for dogs, the trips to Vegas, those same five stories Hefner tells the alpha girlfriend about his childhood and that round bed. Oh, and when Barbi Benton came to lunch? Beautiful.

Anyway, Battlestar Galactica is around the corner, my one actual network, regular show addiction and I want it to be on because it’s been a YEAR. It’s my date night, having drinks, heavy petting and getting lucky night (well, okay, so that’s a lot of nights at my house minus the drinks because I write other nights and I don’t drink and write very often, the results are not satisfactory)

I’m babbling now. I need to get to work but before that, I need to deal with laundry. Because, yes boys and girls, I do glamorous stuff like laundry and tossing kids in bathtubs and making sure they wear clean underwear. ENVY!

Rachel Kramer Bussel is a very smart woman. She’s one of my favorite commentators and I think she often has so much of importance to say on issues of sex and sexuality and in a far more coherent and cogent fashion than most people. (Also, she loves cupcakes as much as I do, what’s not to like?) To wit - she wrote a piece that appeared on Alternet yesterday deconstructing Carol Platt Liebau’s book, Prude: How the Sex-Obsessed Culture Damages Girls (and America, Too!)

I say deconstructing because it’s more than a review, Kramer Bussel takes the huge wad of hyperbole and pulls it apart, addressing it bit by bit. Sadly, this sort of journalistic exploration of ideas is rare. Far rarer than the consistent conflation of several concepts into one terribly skewed point.

I think what bothers me so much is the idea from those like Platt Liebau, that sexuality is a one size fits all concept. When in fact, it is not. What I as an adult feel is appropriate for myself is not what I’d consider appropriate for my children.

This statement, which Liebau endorses and goes running with, is exactly where most such books and pundits fail. Instead of simply advocating for chastity and/or abstinence, they must cross the line to insist that their way is the Only Way. The rest of us are just coarse and vulgar sluts who are ruining it for those who want to wait (not an exact quote, but, I believe, an accurate paraphrasing).

What’s especially sad about this polarization is that plenty of feminists, even of the “do-me” variety, also care passionately about young women’s futures. We want women to succeed and gain access to all the educational, political, and workplace opportunities they can. However, I don’t think any of us should have to sacrifice our sexuality in order to do so.

Liebau pits those of us who are sex-positive against those who favor abstinence until marriage, and I’m still not sure why we should have to pick a side. I’m not anti-abstinence or anti-abstinence education. I’m against abstinence-only education, which leaves those who are already exploring sex, or are simply curious about it, at a complete loss. But reading Prude, you’d think we have armies of sex-positive feminists like me recruiting teenage gurks to forget their homework, whip off their clothes, and get busy with their boyfriends. If anything, I’d rather give them vibrators so they can learn about pleasuring themselves first.

It’s precisely this sort of “One True Way” perspective I find so distressing from those who seek to censor and condemn sexuality and those of us who use it as a medium.

I write sex. I love to write sex and I speak with women every day who enjoy reading the material I and my fellow authors create. Women who come from a huge cross section of cultures, ideals, economic strata and educational background. Women who are devoutly religious, women who aren’t. Women like me with kids and a husband, single women, gay, straight, bi. College students, college professors, secretaries, clerks at convenience stores, stay at home moms. My point being, all kinds of women like to read about sex. And good for them.

As for those women who don’t want to read about sex? Well, good for them too. No one should have to read erotic fiction, or inspirationals, or sci fi, or fantasy, or anything else they don’t like.

Adult women should read what pleases them without guilt, without shame and the idea of returning to a point in our history where women who embraced the beauty of their sexuality were thought of as whores while those who embraced guilt were the “good women” is one that scares me.

I consider myself to be sex positive. I also consider myself to be a good mother and a good member of my community. There are things I don’t include in the culture of my family. My books are not for children, my children understand mom writes and what she writes is for adults. It’s not a difficult concept really and if my six year old can grasp it, I’m sure adults can too.

In other words, I’m not thrilled about the commercialization of sex and how young people are prodded by media culture to be mini-adults at 7. So, um, as a mom I make sure my daughter doesn’t wear hot pants with “slut” on the butt. At the same time, she plays with barbies and adores pricesses. She’s a kid, she’s got it hard enough when mom reads Bust magazine and won’t let them play with Bratz.

However, the standards one applies to children are not those we should apply to adults. And also? The standards I apply to MY children aren’t necessarily what you’d apply to yours so please do me the same favor.

But I don’t pull any punches when I’ll say up front that I believe erotic romance and spicier sex scenes in romance to be revolutionary for women. I don’t apologize for that because I believe sex should be something women enjoy without shame. That doesn’t mean I think teenagers should be blowing every boy who comes along and the suggestion is insultingly preposterous.

The truth of the matter is, these issues are not black and white. There is no “one true way” and that’s not coming from an “anything goes” perspective either.

First - Lara Adrian’s Midnight Awakening

Right off, I need to say that I think Lara Adrian’s Breed books are just amazing, some of the best vampire books out there and they deserve so much more attention than others in the genre do!

In Midnight Awakening we get Tegan’s story. Tegan, the wounded hero we’ve watched over the last two books and wondered about. Adrian gives his story in such stark, unflinching writing and draws the story so taut it makes you breathless.

Just totally well done. The romantic elements with Elise, who you think is so fragile and soft but also carries deep wounds is filled with great tension and chemistry. Wonderful push and pull and a really realistic HEA.

I loved it and really came away thinking it was the best of the series so far!

Charlaine Harris - An Ice Cold Grave

I pretty much have loved everything Harris has written from her cozy mysteries to Sookie but Harper took me a book or two to really begin to enjoy (although I liked the first two, I didn’t love them). But I think Harris has really hit her stride with An Ice Cold Grave.

The big issue in the book is a major spoiler so I won’t go into it other than to say I think Harris handled a particularly thorny issue very well and I was totally happy with the result.

She’s so good at ramping up the fear and stress of the mystery element that by the end I was just as itchy to leave that town as Harper and Tolliver were.

LL Foster - Servant: The Awakening

This book is fabulously dark and uncomfortable and I think Foster took some great risks in the creation of this story rife with moral gray spots and very big questions without any real answers.

First off, if you’re expecting a romance, well why? She’s using a different name here to mark it as different. This is not a romance novel. This is not an easy book. There’s great romantic subtext but Gaby is a totally refreshing change from a lot of the heroines I’ve read and I appreciated that.

In fact, I thing Gaby’s character is what makes this book so inherently readable. The juxtapostion of her innocence with a woman who hunts evil down and kills it with her bare hands is incredibly fascinating. Her loneliness leaps off the page. Her mission is so singular, so stark, just being in Gaby’s head made me ache in points.

Anyway, I will most definitely be back for the next book. Don’t expect Lori Foster here, expect something totally different and you’ll be rewarded.

I can now announce all the details! Wheee!

Okay so Megan Hart and I just sold our jointly authored contemporary erotic romance, Taking Care of Business (formerly Risky Business) to Black Lace! It’ll release in the UK in October 08 and here in the US two months later.

This is the story of two women, Leah and Katherine, who are friends attending a conference together - each woman’s story will be told in alternating chapters. Originally we’d planned it as two separate novellas but it’ll be a single novel now.

Working with Megan is hilarious and also, we work well together. We have very different voices and our stories are also VERY different, but we share the same attitudes about writing and work so it’s just like the rest of our frienship, only with a book. Our editor, Adam Nevill really gets the stories, and erotica in general, which is fabulous so I’m so looking forward to this.

We came up with this idea while in line for a party at RT by the way - which is a sort of fun thing I think.

Anyhoodle, that’s my fab news for today (that and I wrote 2500 words on it last night)

Since she could pick up a pencil, Belle Taylor has used lists and charts to map out her life. When she achieves a goal, she marks it off her to do list. Simple. But now, just steps away from her corner-office, name-on-the-letterhead goal, she realizes that the life she thought she wanted may come at too high a price.

Exhausted, she retreats home for Christmas vacation to rethink her life, complete with all-new lists. What she hadn’t expected is Rafe Bettencourt, her brother’s best friend, the man who she thought only saw her as a pesky younger sister. But when he kisses her under the mistletoe, Belle finds herself with a whole new set of goals to balance with what she thought she always wanted.

Rafe knows Belle is trying to figure out what to do with her life. He also knows he’s done loving her from afar, and he’s not beneath making it as hard as possible for her to choose to return to San Francisco.

Because Rafe can make to-do lists too—and his plan is to seduce Belle back home where she belongs. At his side. And in his bed.

The new title for what used to be Battlefront is UNDERCOVER and it hits shelves December 2!!!!!

Journey to an erotic future universe of passion, danger and deceit…

As a lieutenant of the Federation military, Sera Ayers is more accustomed to giving orders than taking them. Now she must obey the one man she can’t stand—and can’t stop thinking about.

With the enemy Imperialists gaining ground, a new covert team is assembled by Ash Walker. Ten years before, Sera had lovingly submitted to Ash’s dominance in the bedroom. But when he was forced into a political marriage, she left him rather than become his mistress. His marriage now over, Ash wants Sera on his team—and back in his bed.

The third team member, Brandt Pela, has an elegance to match Ash’s savage sexuality. And when their undercover plan requires Sera to pose as Brandt’s lover, it ignites a passion among the three of them more dangerous than their mission…

I should start thinking about one of those “Year in Review” posts but right now, not so much. I’m tired this morning. Stayed up with my dude last night and watched Super Bad - which made me laugh and laugh. Drank more than I usually do, so my old carcass isn’t that ready to roll this morning, LOL.

I need some more tea, I’m freezing today. Then I need to do some wrapping later, I can only hide stuff in so many places before it ends up being discovered or I forget about it.

Hope you all enjoy the weekend!!