Category Archives: writing

Current Projects

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The bane of a writer’s life is all the ideas that bubble up inside the brain. So many stories, all limited in getting on the page by how fast I can type. At this point in my life, I really, really wish I had taken a typing course in high school or something. I didn’t. So now my stories are prisoners until I can liberate them slowly. In the meantime, I can use a pencil like a ninja. So I guess that would make me pencil ninja. Able to sharpen my tools and take copious notes in a single bound. So what if my superpower is that I can outline like nobody’s business. In the end, even with notes and outlines, I type like molasses.

Normally the speed of my typing isn’t too much of a problem. It takes my ideas a little while to percolate and become grownup enough to need to be told. At some point, they are so ready and ripe, they won’t leave me alone. I think about them when I am awake and I dream about them when I sleep. They hammer and hammer at me until they become the black on a white page and get told.

The problem right now though is that I have four stories in progress. And I feel a little schizophrenic. They are all clamoring to be told. Each one is yelling that it is more important than the other. As they yell over each other, I am finding it hard to listen to any one of them because I can’t hear just one clearly. I need them to take a number and stand in line. Otherwise, I fear that madness is not too far off. Okay, I am already a little crazy. But these four stories that I am in the process of writing are so not helping by being the crazy-making stories that they are. Each one feels like it is the most important. None of them want to take a backseat to the others. Unfortunately, I am only human and can only write one story at a time. Slowly. So very slowly.

I think the one that is winning out currently is my contemporary romance. It is going to be the first in a five to seven book series. I didn’t know it would be a series until I started writing it. But shortly after I was properly introduced to the characters, I realized that some of the secondary characters needed their story to be told. Those secondary stories aren’t even more than glimmers of thoughts. Yet. I have a feeling once I am done with the first story, one of the others will start making itself known in ways destined to bug me until I do what it wants. So this contemporary romance is winning out right now because even with all the yelling in the background, I can hear the voice so clearly. I can see the story in my mind.

I put my May-December bdsm story on the back burner. I started writing it and realized that the idea wasn’t quite ripe. It was hard for me to. see the story line clearly. And the writing was coming slowly, not because of my typing speed but because the story wasn’t completely mature. It was hard to put it away because even in the early stage, this story wants to be told. And it is a compelling story with some great characters. Plus, I don’t like stopping the story telling in mid story telling. If that makes sense. I feel a certain amount of pain when I stop. But it’s not ready and I can’t force it. I can feel that it will be ready soon though. Really soon.

The next book that I have partially written is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi/urban fantasy combo. Yes, yes, it is crossing genres (but not really). Which I don’t think is as bad a mixing metaphors but what do I know? This tale is going to be told in three parts. It came to me as a trilogy and it has remained that way. In fact, a lot of my stories come to me as trilogies. I don’t know why. In the end, I am glad. Because sitting down and trying to write a 300,000 word single title would really take me around the bend. I couldn’t do it. I won’t do it. I think this project is in three parts because it is a classic tale of questing. Only the main characters don’t know they are on a quest. Not yet. They will by the end.

My last current project is a middle grade/young adult space opera. Really it is more like a space western. It started off as a request to write something everyone could read cause I normally write naughty things. No smut in this one. At all. Just lots of shoot outs and action. Good guys versus bad guys, lots of ingenuity and some math and science thrown in for good measure. It is is the far future, unlike my PA Sci-Fi/UF which is in the near future. The far future has brought a lot of changes to Earth. A lot. But the basic stuff is still the same because no matter how far in the future you get, underneath it all, we are still human. With all our human greatness and all our human failings. Good to know, right?

While all these full length stories are battling each other for supremacy, I have lots of little projects as well. Teasers, pleasers and short-shorts. I need to write the second of three novelettes that are loosely affiliated to the novelette that was recently accepted (did that even make sense? it did in my brain). It is going to be about shifters and will be MFMM menage. Then I have the second of a two part story that is novella length. This is also a menage but it will be a MMF menage about a witch, a vampire and a shifter. I have another short I want to get out about a dominant woman as well. Not a lot out there about Dommes. More needs to be. So that will be my contribution. See how giving I am? lol There are more little projects but until I can get the ones already outlined done, I really can’t even spare the brain cells for even thinking about them.

It’s a good thing that I am able to multi-task. Because if you think my real life has stopped to let me write, you would be sadly mistaken. My real life hasn’t even slowed down. Then again, I didn’t really expect it to. Life NEVER works that way.

Sex in Books

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Yesterday  I posted a little something something on a writers’ forum about sex in books. Yup I said sex. The questions that was asked was who my reader was. I am reposting my answer below:

 

People who don’t think that sex should be excluded from every genre but erotica. And people who don’t think that just because people are sexing it up in a book, it is erotica. It can be erotica. But it can also be the adult version of sf/f, horror, mystery, etc. It amuses me that whole weirdness that exist by genre writers. Ummm, people in the old west had sex. It’s a western whether the sex is portrayed. But now all of a sudden because we put some sex into it, it’s an erotic western. Ummm, okay. I’m actually good with that. I can then choose those books that have adults writing them for other adults to read doing adult like things. Okay, I’ll confess I was a pervy teenager as well. I probably read those adult books back then. Okay, Okay. I did. Hmmm, maybe that’s why I like to write sex in all my fiction regardless of genre, well except those that are actually targeted for kids. Cause that would just be gross.

 

So I guess, I’m the target audience. Perverted adults that like to read about sex in all genres. lol

 

Now, there are a lot of things to talk about in that post. One, authors are weird. And so are the people that categorize books. Sex makes people feel all CRA-CRA in western culture. Well, in a lot of other cultures too. I promise, weirdness about sex is not limited to America or Japan. Lots of people in lots of different cultures have lots of weird hang ups about sex. In print and in real life. Genre fiction writers are as prone as everybody else in the whole my crap is better than your crap and I want to point that out so I can make myself feel like I am superior to you or make you, at least, feel inferior to me. Cause, they whisper, you write dirty things. I write in the great genre of mystery, sci-fi, etc. etc. etc. insert genre of your choice here. Just another form of discrimination peeps. That’s all it is. So move long. Yeah?

And two, not all books with sex in them are erotica. Seriously. Erotica to me is if sex is the main theme throughout the book. The genre is secondary. While genre books written for adults have whatever the genre is as primary with the sex as secondary. The sex happens in those books um, cause, um, there are adults in those books. And adults have sex. I promise it is true. Adults have sex. Including it in writings is just more honest. To me at least. Getting squicked out about sex in a book whether you are the writer or the reader is really juvenile. Seriously.

I mean how do you think we have kids in real life? Sex. How do you think little aliens can crop up in fiction? Sex. In every genre, to even have characters to talk about, there first was sex to make that character possible. And if there are adults in the books, they are probably having sex too. Cause it is a biological imperative. It really, really is. Food, shelter, sex. I promise there are lots of studies on the biological imperative of species continuation. So really, it’s not just erotica, it’s science. lol

Alrighty, talking about all this smex, smut, and borderline porn, as erotica is portrayed, is making me want to go write. Laters.

Rinse and Repeat

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So I was thinking about genre fiction and all the tropes, cliches and repeats that go on with it. There are so many stereotypes when it comes to books and writings.

Like Literary fiction is by smart peeps for smart peeps. And it is usually about nothing. Nothing happens. It’s just a telling.

In Romance, there are certain story lines that get used over and over again. Like secret babies or marriages of convenience or boss-secretary. There are certain things within the story line that gets reused like dish rag. Like virgins who are old enough not to be or motorcycle gang members who are really misunderstood heroes.

In SF/Fantasy, there is usually a quest. To find something or someone without which or without whom the world would end as they know it.

Nothing in fiction, or in real life for that matter, is new. It has been done a thousand times before. But for some reason, novels cycle these in great numbers. Like a thousand books about rock stars. Or a gazillion books about millionaires who fall in love with broke waitresses. Or orbs that must be found at the end of the quest.

I get that repeating verbatim, aka word for word, another person’s words is plagiarism. But what about all these recycled and repeated themes, tropes and story lines? No, I am not saying that using such is considered plagiarism. What I am saying that using such is a necessary part of writing fiction. I bet google searching will find your book has already been written. Your story has already been told. But, and this is a big but, I hope that you have written it better. That in your telling, something fresh and something new emerges. Even though it has been done a thousand times before. I also hope that your characters are the ones that are memorable. Fresh, new and defines that particular trope, cliche or theme.

I like reading genre fiction. I see the patterns in the writing. But I like it anyway. What I don’t like is laziness on the part of the writer, falling back on the trope and not making it theirs. Even if a theme has been written a thousand times, I appreciate that certain something that takes that trope and makes it their bitch. Now that’s talent. To take something old and make it new.

Carina Press Tweet Pitch

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I just ran across a phenomena. Something for which I am sure Twitter is responsible. I have been glued to my computer screen reading the author pitches being made on Twitter. Carina Press, a digital first epubisher, is taking pitches from both agented and unagented writers.

I am totally getting into the story pitches. There have been several that I as a reader want to read. Wish they were already available. Then there were a couple that I as a writer wished I had thought of. It had been completely gratifying to browse all the cool ideas being thrown out by all these creative types.

It is also a learning tool. I can see the difference between a good pitch, a bad pitch and the really great pitches. Awesomeness all rolled into one.

And yes, I opened a Twitter account just so I could vicariously live the life of an editor at a publishing house. lol Not really. But still, it has been an eye opening experience.

If you have a Twitter account and a completed manuscript, check out #carinapitch on Twitter. check it out even if you don’t because it is really fun and a good way to waste a few minutes of your day.

Me, I have wasted many minutes of my day. But it has also not been a waste because if I ever get a chance to pitch, I will have learned something from the carina pitch today.

Sunshine

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No this post isn’t about weather. Although it could be. This is about the manuscript I am working on at the moment. Gonna be a mid-length May-December romance. And not the cougar kind where the woman is older than the man. Nope. This is your plain jane, average, run-of-the mill kind where the guy is older than the girl. Not creepy older. About 12, 13, 14 years older. He is also the boss but she is not the secretary. lol  I like to write my chicks to be more. I like reading about heroines that are smart, sexy, and fun. So that’s how I write ’em. My girl in this story is a forensic accountant. And she ROCKS.

So I was listening to a CD I have. It is a chill-out CD. Cause I can’t write to just anything. It has to groove a little. Ya know? But not too groovy or I wanna dance. And not too slow or I wanna sleep. Too much beat makes me crazy and not enough is distracting. I need that stuff that is in the middle. So I am listening to the CD and what is playing but Stryke’s Aint No Sunshine. This is a chill out version. And it is about an older guy messing around with a younger girl.

I am thinking that in the song, the age of the girl is really young. Don’t get all crazy. It’s just a song. Although it happens in real life, my story is about a woman who is around 27 or 28. See, not crazy young. I am not a big fan of real young girls in real life being hit on by old dudes. It squicks me out. But an adult woman and a slightly older adult man? Well, that makes a good romance story line, no?

So for your listening pleasure and for mine to keep the story line in my head as I write is Stryke’s Aint No Sunshine.

Brain Fried

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You know, after you’ve written so many thousands of words when the word well has been fried all out. I need a few days to reset. I wrote almost 20K words in like three frickin’ days. Not only are my fingers tired but so is the rest of me. So I just cruised the internet yesterday. Set up a goodreads account. Well I’ve had a goodreads account for a while but it was mostly just blank. But I finally decided to do something with it. Sheesh. Who knew being all author-ly was so much more than getting words on a page.

Gonna try and get some words out today. Well see. What I really want to do is read somebody else’s stuff. Got a few books that just downloaded to my kindle. They are so burning a hole in the back of my eyeballs. I keep glancing over to it lying all innocently beside me. Enticing me by just quietly waiting until I can’t take it anymore and click the on button.

Getting lost in the words of other is a good thing. Plus, the authors I want to read are some of my favs. Kristen Ashley, Lauren Dane and Cynthia Eden. How can I resist all that goodness? I can’t. I am weak. Weak I tell you.

So I like Kristen’s work cause she writes the BEST heroes. All that alpha male yumminess makes me squirm. In a good way. They are all badass and sweet. I like the way they talk. I like the way they walk. I like the way they do just about everything. They don’t mess around. Once they’ve made up their minds to have the girl, they HAVE the girl. Mmmmm.

I like Lauren’s work because her heroines ROCK. Straight shooters the lot of them. No bullshit. They don’t give it. They don’t take it. And… this is a BIG and… they are not too stupid to live women. I get so tired of chicks in fiction being too frickin’ stupid to be anyone I want to know, admire or read about. Don’t get that in Ms. Dane’s books. Her heroines kick ass.

Cynthia writes awesome chicks and awesome dicks. lol Plus, her books are filled with things that go bump in the night. What’s not to love? I love me some werewolves, vampires and all sorts of paranormal peeps. Her writing is tight, her story lines tighter and there is ALWAYS great sex and a satisfying ending.

So that’s why my kindle is like crack to me. When I am not putting my words to page, I WANT and NEED to read other’s word on pages. I choose to pick authors that are GREAT at what they do and offer me characters that I want to read about.

Now, off to pick up the kindle crack.

Reasons to Celebrate

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So I had a pretty productive month in March. I decided last year about mid way through to start taking my writing seriously. As a result, I buckled down and just began to write. It took me almost 8 months to write my first novel. 86,000-ish words never felt like so many in my life. And I love to read long books so I was so certain that writing a large book would be easy peasy. Not so much. But eventually I got it done. Finished. So happy, I could weep tears of joy, ya know?

So that’s my first thing to celebrate in March, I sent out my finished manuscript to a couple of publishers and am hoping to hear back. Waiting is such the bitch. Gah.

I also finished and submitted two novellas/novelettes. Short little things. One was around 18,500-ish words and the other a little over 11,000 words. I submitted them both.

Things two and three to celebrate, no?

Related to one of the things above, I just got word that the 11,000-ish word thing was just accepted for publishing. How awesome is that?!?!?

So a BIG reason to celebrate number four. Like party celebrate. I know that maybe not everyone would be as happy as I am over this. I know it is a smallish work in the grand scheme of works but still, it ROCKS.

Thing number 5 to celebrate is that I finished a 26,000-ish word novella that I also submitted last month. Still waiting to hear back on that one.

Which brings me to my thing number 6 to celebrate. I also did a very short story for an anthology call. A little under 3000-ish words. I won’t hear back from them for quite a while so no worries about that one.

So all in all, March was an absolutely FABULOUS month for me. Six submissions. One acceptance. Equals a really happy writer.

 

 

3 More Titles

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So after I finished my first novel, I had an explosion of words and ideas. Since then, I finished a short story, a novelette and a novella. All while working on longer pieces. I’ve been a busy busy girl. And I hope to continue to be filled with words that want to come out to play and be seen.

Digging around the internet, I found this definition of different lengths of writing.

 
Classification of Writing by Length:

A Drabble is an extremely short work of fiction with a length of exactly 100 words
A short – short story is defined as 500 to 1500 words
A short story is defined as 2,000 to 7,500 words
A novelette is defined as 7,500 to 17,500 words
A novella is defined as 17,500 to 40,000 words
A novel is defined as 40,000 to 125,000 words

While the length of a novel is to a large extent up to its writer, expectations of novel lengths may differ by genre: a typical mystery novel might be in the 60,000 to 80,000 word range while a thriller could be over 100,000 words.

Other traditional word count terms:

Chapters can be any length, but most authors try to keep them around 2500 words, because that is the length that most people can read in about 15 minutes, so the reader can get through one chapter while waiting in line or commuting to work

Music

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Music and writing go together in my opinion. I especially like listening to certain tracks as I write a particularly sensual scene. So I am going to hunt up some music and try to get them embedded into this blog. Enjoy!!!

The one I have with this post is Silence- Delerium feat. Sarah McLachlan. This is the Michael Woods Trance Remix. The original Karma album version and this one are my favs.

 

Finished First Book

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I just finished my first novel. It was really hard. My imagination was taxed beyond all get out. Seriously put through the wringer. I thought I knew what writing was all about. After all, I have have been writing legal briefs for decades. 10, 20, 50, 100 page behemoths.

Writing a fiction novel, however, is a beast of a different type. Something I am not used to at all. But the process is the same. Outline, write, edit, let is sit for a day or two and then re-edit and then go through for technical and grammatical errors. I used to do this everyday for my legal briefs. But the subject matter is vastly different. VASTLY. My legal briefs held my arguments. Took the law and I got to put my spin on it based on other people’s writing. I had a platform from which to spring. 

Fiction writing is completely my baby. All the ideas, all the words, all of everything. Which made it both harder and easier to write. Editing was a nightmare. I had become vested in my words, my characters, my plot. Changing things, even to make it better, felt like a little slice into my flesh. Editing is like a death with a thousands cuts. You know that in the end, bled dry, you have the best product you can make but doing it hurts. Plus, it is just a bitch to do with 300+ pages. Time-consuming. And often fraught with peril because as you edit, more great ideas pop into your head. 

I have been listening to voices in my head all my life. Sometimes they have steered me right, often they have lead me down the path of wickedness. I knew that if I listened to those voices about changing things too much, adding too much, that they would be leading me down the path of editing doom. So I argued with them. I asked them gently to stop. I yelled. I cried. I gnashed my teeth. To no avail, they kept whispering, whispering, whispering. 

Finally, I just let them run and ignored them. Cause they just wouldn’t freakin’ shut the hell up. Now they are like white noise running in the background letting me know, definitively, that yes the universe does have a sound. Unfortunately, that sound is an awful like a nagging mother. Sometimes, it is like a seductive lover. When those two combine, my head will explode. 

That is, if my head doesn’t explode from starting my second novel.