Vixenwriter

Today I’m listening to Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here (the album and the song) and I’m remembering the first time I really listened to it. I took the train from Seattle to Los Angeles and I had the cassette so I listened to it on my walkman. I listened to it over and over, hearing nuances I’d missed so many times before and that’s when I fell in love with Pink Floyd and most notably with Roger Waters’ brain and talent.

The album is not a casual listen, it’s one of those things I put on when I want to listen to music, not just have it in the background but as I have the LP and the cassette which long died, I bought it recently from iTunes and it came up and I stopped to just *listen* which doesn’t happen often in my life.

The first time my husband told me he loved me was on a Saturday night, we’d been to Mexico that same night in our friend’s car that threatened to blow up the whole ride up and back, LOL. Anyway, we were in his room, drinking coronas and this record was on. The song Wish You Were Here came on and we were alone for a few moments (imagine a house full of 18 year old boys, not much alone time) and he told me he loved me.

We traveled to Eastern Europe in college and a busker played this on a castle rampart in Budapest. We danced to it, in the middle of the day, under the vivid blue sky.

To this day I won’t exchange my heroes for ghosts.

It’s a cynical album. Here they’ve reached the heights they aspired to the whole of their lives and the negatives had set in. Infighting, jealousy, the band was falling apart and yet, I think this record is amazing, far more so than anything they created without Waters later on and frankly, even though I love Roger Waters, better than anything he’s created solo. The creative process fascinates me, the sorts of dynamics that drive people to make art together and how outside stresses can bleed in and yet make the product amazing.

Anyway, it’s just a gem of a piece and something I’d forgotten the intensity of and here it is playing as I write my futuristic.

Sorry I’ve been so absent of late. I’m in the writing cave finishing up my polish on No Reservations - mine and Megan’s next joint project. I should finish with it today in fact and then it’s on to Fallen, or what was Fallen but is not notFallen and we’re in the process of finding a new title.

notFallen is set in the same world as Undercover but isn’t a sequel. It’s a push/pull sort of story with major opposites so the scenes should be hella fun to write.

No Reservations takes up six months after Taking Care of Business and features the same two couples. Only this time Leah and Kate go to Las Vegas only to be followed by Brandon and Dix. Megan and I have been plotting the story and I think this one is going to be as fun as TCOB to write.

Anyway, I’ve got to get back to it. Plus, hello ANTS! They got in through a side wall, I’m not sure how, but I have to deal with them now. I cleaned up this morning (they love to invade when it’s not quite raining outside, gah!) And then back to Dix and Kate, currently in bed. heh.

Oh and I made my Sven target this weekend! This was the hardest challenge of the three for me but I did it so yay!

Cascadia Wolves: Fated

Wheeee!

Fave snippet:

“Tell me what’s going on? She sounds upset. Put her on.”

“Believe me, you don’t want that. We’re on our way back right now,” Layla said and hung up.

What the hell?

“Something is up, Megan sounded pissed off in the background but I don’t know why.”

Adam laughed. “Well, let’s hazard a guess, shall we? You called her sister instead of her. Her sister who you have seen naked and had sex with. This has to be uncomfortable for her.”

So Amazon clarified its position yesterday with what I think is a workable situation. If I understand correctly, what they’re asking is that those publishers who don’t use BookSurge for POD simply provide stock to Amazon. This is not a bad thing and certainly I can see why they’d want it that way. I’m going to keep watching the situation but at this point, I’m not nearly as worried as I was on Friday.

I was reading something at Pub Rants earlier about career suicide and I have to say, I’m still amazed at what people do and say in public forums. You don’t have to be boring, or perfect, but you should realize this is a business like anything else and when you stand up and slag off your cover or your editor or your publisher - or your authors or your competition - people see it and people remember it. There are ways to say things, there are ways to approach problems and levels of alarm about certain issues. I’m not saying you should simply roll over when you are having a disagreement with someone about something, but I am saying there are ways to deal with those things that are more effective than others. And frankly, sometimes, the best thing to do is:

STFU and WRITE.

Progress with Fated

Favorite snippet:

“Oh honey, I know where you are right now.” Grace looked over at Nina who nodded back at her. “When I met Nina and she was such an insufferable cow, it was horrible. I knew Cade cared about her and I could see how much she cared about him. It sucked.”

“I was pregnant and you just pranced into my house all tiny and cute. Who wouldn’t hate you?” Nina snorted and Grace laughed.

“I am tiny and cute, aren’t I?”

Fated

Wheee! Posting my Sven progress on Fated made me think about story pacing and how the level of backstory and detail is dependent upon overall story length. For instance in a novella, you have less space for character development and detail so it’s important to use guidepost scenes to do the work. In category, you have more room but still not as much as when you’re looking at 90 - 100K.

It occured to me last night as I was writing that I’m at the stage where I keep note of this stuff mentally and I sort of have these little alarms in my head - okay by this point I need to have laid the groundwork for the dark moment, by this stage I need to have the main storyline well developed - that sort of thing. I know my ending will be X long so I keep that in mind as I hit the middle. I don’t keep notes really although I do outline for the books I sell on partial and proposal. But over the last years, I’ve developed a mix of plotting and pantsing. I write as loose a synopsis as I can - essentially hit the highlights of the bones of the story and then fill in the colors and lines as I go. This enables me to have the freedom I love when writing to let the story take over, but also keeps me to timelines and schedules and *most of the time* helps keep me from wandering off track.

Now I am a huge believer in the idea that there is NO one true way. Every author has what works for her and she might tinker with it over time and even across certain books. My way works for me. Another author might do it more efficiently and better, but each of us has our own process.

And now, off to do laundry and hope the sleet outside does not make its mind to go into full snow. Yes I said snow. Yes, it’s March 29. Gah!! And then I shall finish up this scene in Fated later on tonight.

First off - Sven!

Cascadia Wolves: Fated

I got a grand on this last night and I’m happy given how freaking dog tired I was by the time I was able to start work on it.

Favorite lines from yesterday:

Beth turned around in the seat. “Oh you’re awake now!” she said when she caught Megan with her eyes open.

Damn. The woman was diabolical.

I’m building my playlist and thanks to Megan, Five Finger Death Punch seems to be be the dominating force so far.

Fated is complicated. Yes, this is about fated mates but what if you’re not ready? What if one of you is and the other isn’t so much? What are you willing to give up? Because love isn’t always easy. it’s not always simple. And sometimes, if you don’t realize what’s important to you, you might lose it.

Angie has a great entry up at Romancing the Blog about epublishing so you should check it out. As always, she’s got a lot of smart things to say. I thought in particular the last two paragraphs were the best.

But authors should also expect more from themselves. This may be an unpopular thing to say, but first realizing that maybe not every book is meant to be published. Some books are a learning experience and will eventually be shoved under the metaphorical bed. That’s okay. It means you keep working to learn your craft, write the next book, and keep submitting. Choose your publishers carefully, read your contracts even more carefully. Authors should also expect professional behavior of themselves—online, in public and with their publisher and editor, treating epublishing obligations exactly the same as they would obligations to a NY publisher. Representing themselves and the industry they’re helping grow in a way that shows pride in themselves, their work and their company.

Amen. Writing is a business. If you do it as a hobby that’s one thing but if you do it and intend it to be a career, you have to run it like that. Which means sometimes you have to rein in your excitement and say no when you get an offer. Because as I said a while back, not all publishers are equal. And not every author is the right fit with every publisher either. It’s about what you want and what they can provide and then you work your way toward each other.

But when a publisher doesn’t answer their emails over and over for years at a time. When royalty payments are late regularly. When your book comes out without any edits or with a cover you’ve never seen. When you get punished for asking questions - these are all bad signs. Period. I know people keep saying they’re not, but you can’t convince me it’s actually normal business practice to pay people late on a regular basis. It isn’t. It’s a BAD business practice and a sign of poor leadership. And when an epublishing business can’t respond to email from its authors, that’s a bad sign. You can look the other way but eventually things are likely to go south. Because communication is a basic part of business.

In the end, what we have is our gut. (and not the muffin top type, LOL) But listening to our common sense and making it louder than the excitement we feel when we get an offer.

Okay so I may not have written a whole lot of NEW words this week but I’ve gotten a heck of a lot of writing work done in the last seven days.

I finished the revisions on Undercover and got them back to my editor
I reworked a manuscript and synopsis and got it to my agent for a pitch
I edited and finished up Sensual Magic and I’ll mail it to my editor tomorrow

NOW - I can work on Cascadia Wolves: Fated!

My kids are still jacked up on a sugar high from all the chocolate and all my good intentions this last week diet wise have gone out the window in a flurry of mint chocolate chip ice cream. But my husband is home, my kids are going back to school tomorrow, my April 1 deadline has been met and I’m rolling! Wheeee!

I am finally finished with revisions on Undercover. They were pretty light but I wanted to be sure they were as good as possible so I was extremely careful with them. Whew. Now I’m on to a last polish of Sensual Magic, which is due to Harlequin April 1, that shouldn’t take more than a day or so, and finally I can get back to Unexpected. Yay!

I have to say, I got pretty sweaty when I read back over the sex scenes in Undercover. It’s hard when you’re writing something and then editing the first time. You’re very close to the book so you can’t really gauge. But reading it over again, some months later I was like, “wow!” I think this is the hottest book I’ve ever written but also, I was pleased to see the emotional depth in places too. I feel better about it and I already liked it before. Sweet relief.

I ordered some goodies for RT for our Love Shack reader party on Friday (don’t miss it folks!) This party will have goodie bags filled with excellent swag that’ll be exclusive to the party including books from the participating authors. I also ordered postcards for Undercover and Vegas and they turned out so pretty.

I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to Frauke, the person behind the creation of this website (and also the hosting service for it, Janus Portal Hosting) and a great many other websites you you see around. As well as the person who designs my bookmarks, my RT ads and other various graphics like business cards etc. She is truly wonderful. I will give her a few elements and she always turns them into something wonderful. I’ve been a client of hers for several years now and I’m always just so awed by her talent. Plus she helps me with technical stuff when I just can’t figure it out. She always takes pity on me and with good humor. So thank you, Frauke - truly, you make my job so much easier and you do it with style.

Totally UNconnected to any of the above - did you know there was Fraggle Rock fic? I sat in a corner and rocked for a while once I found that out. And then I saw a guy in a furry suit with black leather assless chaps. Don’t ask where I found it. But, well just don’t ask. I think I may have bad dreams.

Now, I’m off to catch up on the stuff I let slide today to finish up with Undercover. Happy Hump Day!!!

In closing, to combat bad dreams - my dreamboat, let me show you him…

Marcus Patrick

What a week I’ve had - working through the tail end of this freaking flu, a call from the principal on Monday afternoon (sigh) leading to much mean momness on my part including the removal of television and DS privileges for a child, trying to catch up on wordcount because being sick put me behind and trying to prepare for a new release I felt like I hadn’t promoted enough. Then bam! I had a new release, I sold a new book, I got an amazing cover and at last, I received my revision letter for Undercover and thank God, my editor did not hate the book. Whew.

I was talking with someone about fear last week. See, I’m scared every day. Scared of failing. Scared of not being good enough, fast enough, of just not being enough period. It’s scary to face this stuff - wonderful because it’s the fulfillment of something I’ve been working for for some time but yet, because I want it so badly, the idea of possibly losing it cuts deep. Sometimes it makes you overthink or freezes you.

But you know, you have to work through the fear or who wins? If I really thought about the stakes I’d freeze up. So I don’t. I mean, in a sense, I’m aware of it all which is why I work so hard at it, but you know, the only cure for fear is facing and working through it. Fear can keep you sharp. It can make you appreciate how far you’ve come and overcoming it can help keep you working and moving forward.

I’m not fearless. I’m human and most writers I know deal with fear. If someone told me they never got a bit shaky when they thought about their first NY release or the manuscript being pitched for that second big contract, or that they never hesitated before looking at that first review for a new release, I’m not sure I’d believe them. Maybe I’m fooling myself and everyone is totally confident 100% of the time about their writing and everything they do, but I don’t think so.

Anyway, just a blather for Saturday while I wait for my kitchen floor to dry. Sigh, I hate to mop! And I cleaned the bathrooms today too and made the penis posse listen to my rants about getting the pee in the toilet and I don’t care how many times they hear it, I’m gonna say it again. My word! Then I’ll get back to writing Sensual Magic, I’m 5K away from being done and SO excited about it. Then I’ll start on my revisions on Undercover (eek!) and get on to Unexpected so I won’t be late and Angie won’t hurt me.

Enjoy your Saturday afternoon and hey, all you folks getting pounded by snow right now, keep warm.

Wheee! Sweating away here and I’m close to the end. I haven’t even started my writing for the day so I’m hoping to break 20K or more by the time I shut down tonight. From day one of Sven to last night I’m up over 7K. A little slower than my normal speed but the flu kicked my butt. I’m hoping to get back up to 3K a day now that I’m not hacking up a lung a few times a day.

Which is good because I just learned yesterday that Outshined, a contemporary erotic romance, sold to Berkley Heat! I don’t know when it’ll be coming out at this point but it’s due mid-September so fingers crossed either late 09 or early 2010! I also got word that the proposal for Fallen, book II in my first Berkley sale, has been accepted. That one will be out at some point in 09 so I’m totally thrilled. Fallen is another futuristic set in the same world as Undercover although not with the same characters.

I’m so fortunate. I want to say thank you thank you thank you to my agent Laura Bradford who always kept me going when I felt as if I’d never sell a darned thing and also to my friends who have been so supportive to me - and most of all my readers who are just totally awesome.

It’s a darned good day!