So finally, after year(s) of suspecting I needed a new laptop (and much ridicule from my friends, who insisted I needed a new laptop) I finally ordered a new one. Overnight shipping and everything. Went all out.
(Natch, there's a part on backorder, so who knows when it'll arrive...)
How about you? Do you write on a desktop or a laptop? Old or new? Or maybe an Alphasmart or handwritten on paper? Ever think about upgrading? Or are you an upgrade junkie?
[begin complete and utter paraphrase with shameless abuse of poetic license]
ERiCA!!!
I left you messages on all forty-eight of your phones and yet I haven't heard from you. What could possibly be more important than the super-exciting thing I'm killing myself trying to tell you?? Call me before I shank you!
Love, Lauren
I am pleased, thrilled, utterly apoplectic to announce that my superstar agent Lauren Abramo just sold my superstar Regency-set gothic TOUCHED to Kensington in a two-book deal. Yayayay!!!
It will be arriving at a bookstore near you in the next 18 months. More details to come (including "call story"...)
w00t!
Special thanks to my uber-massive support group: the Mavens Darcy, Lacey, Carrie, and Jackie, Kel & Manda, Janice, PCubed: Jean, June, Elissa, Cheryl, and Linda, all my TARA sisters, Cheryl, Julie and Virginia for never being too busy to answer my questions, and of course Karen and Diana, whose (utterly perfect) initial reaction was, "I told you so!"
Somewhere around mid-year, I fell off the write-every-day wagon.
How did this happen, given that I am the self-professed queen of making specific, quantifiable, realistic, attainable goals and sticking to them like bubble gum on shoes?
Because... I missed a bullet point. I should've added this tiny detail here:
From now until Valentine's Day, the Manuscript Mavens are running a Choose Your Own Adventure® story, in which YOU vote on what happens next! Every morning brings a new author, from the Mavens to the just-sold, to the best-selling. And every night brings a new twist!
Get your Choose Your Own Adventure® votes in by 7:00pm EST (4:00pm PST) and you'll be eligible for random prize drawings, where you can win books by our Guest Mavens! Vote every day, and you'll even be eligible for the Grand Prize. (More info: here.)
For yesterday's installment, click here. To read the previous chapters in order, click here.
Chapter Seven
I lurched to a halt. “Did you say a pink van?”
He let go of my arm and turned to face me. “Yeah, why?”
“Because I saw one pull up in front of Mrs. Peterson’s house this morning.” The driver, dressed in a bright red jumpsuit and red cap, had delivered the old lady a big heart-shaped box of chocolates. And to think I’d hoped that delivery was for me. No such luck. I got all the crazies, none of the chocolate. Then again, I ended up with Special Agent Hunky McMuscles and poor Mrs. Peterson ended up with a package of god-knows-what. Based on my experiences thus far, she probably intercepted explosives. With luck, she and her teacup poodle were still alive. “Is the package dangerous?”
“Yes.” Brant guided me away from the river toward an invisible path between the foliage. “Money always is.”
“Money? How much money?”
He shrugged one leather jacket clad shoulder. “Half the payment.”
I lifted my eyebrows. He remained mum. No way was I letting him get away with his strong silent crap.
“Which, in people terms, is...?” I prompted, nudging his bicep with my shoulder.
His fingers threaded through mine. Maybe because he wanted to hold my hand, and maybe because he didn’t approve of impromptu moshing. His dark-lashed eyes lifted slowly. “Two million.”
“Dollars?” I screeched.
He slapped his free palm over my gaping mouth, filling my nostrils with the increasingly familiar scents of man and danger.
“Euros,” he corrected softly. “Nobody asks for dollars anymore.”
“You sent Mrs. Peterson two million euros?!” I demanded. Or tried to demand. With the warm strength of his hand still pressed against my lips, it came out mostly like, “Ew smurrgle smurrgle oh?!”
He apparently found my garbled outburst preferable to my usual commentary, because he kept his palm cupped over my mouth, tightened the fingers of his other hand around mine, and led me deeper into the woods.
No dappled sunlight streamed through leafy green branches. No leafy anything in February. Matted brown weeds and dry grey sticks covered the grassless ground. The skeletal branches of the densely packed trees loomed over us, their knobby limbs creaking like rocking chairs on a hollow porch.
Being the spooky time of night where the last of the sun’s light sank below the horizon but the stars had yet to make their appearance, I didn’t remotely mind clutching Brant’s hand like a teenage girl at a haunted house. I did, however, mind the continual presence of his palm curved across my face.
So I bit him.
To his credit, he didn’t scream like my brothers used to do when I had to get dental in retaliation. Nor did Agent Brant stumble. He was probably used to people taking a bite out of crime fighters. He swore under his breath and soldiered on. Fine. I’d give him something he wasn’t quite so accustomed to.
I licked him.
Not any quick, sloppy, eager-puppy nonsense, either. A long, slow glide of my tongue across the length of his palm. He tasted like salt, like man, like... popcorn? Just to make sure he knew it was no accident, I licked him again, partly because I’m a sucker for popcorn, and partly because licking him sort of turned me on. I traced a Valentine’s heart on his palm with the tip of my tongue. Slowly. Softly.
He stumbled. Score.
Then he yanked his hand from my face, jerked me into his arms, and covered my lips with his. By the time my back thumped against the closest tree, I had my fingers jammed into his hair and he had his rock hard thighs plastered against mine.
I suckled his lower lip, teasing him. He slid a hand beneath my shirt, teasing me. My front-clasp bra proved no match for a man whose survival skills made Evil Knievel look like a sniveling wuss. Before I could say, “Good God, take me right now, up against the bark,” his five o’clock shadow scraped across the underside of my breast and my nipple elongated itself into his mouth.
I would happily have continued in that vein for another twenty or thirty minutes, were it not for a faint metallic tinkling on the other side of a thatch of trees.
“What’s that?” I whispered. “Sniper?”
Brant’s lips paused around my nipple for a split second before he breathed, “No... bicycle bell!” and jerked me through the shadows toward the noise.
He refused to let go of my hand, which is why I was still fumbling with my bra clasp when we emerged onto a rutted bike trail. Brant may think he commandeered that royal blue ten-speed, but I take full credit for distracting a pre-teen boy with my bare nipple.
After tossing a couple twenties at the dumbstruck kid, Brant leapt onto the bike and hauled me into his lap. Well, the crossbar between the handles and his lap. His arms locked onto the handles, his legs pistoned the pedals, and we careened through the woods so fast it took me five minutes to get my boobs situated properly.
I leaned back against Brant’s chest. “Are we safe yet?”
“No.”
“Damn.”
“Why?”
“You promised as soon as we were safe, you'd let me bitch at you the rest of my natural life. Thanks to you, I flashed a twelve-year-old. I’d like to scootch the timeline up a bit so I can start my bitching now.”
“Raincheck. I promise.” He kissed the top of my head. The zipper of his black leather jacket dug into my shoulder and the barrel of his gun pressed into my rear, but I snuggled against him anyway. The heat from his body spread across mine. “First we have to find Imelda Branchos.”
“What does she look like?”
“Right now?" He hesitated for a split second. "Like you.”
He couldn't see it, but my eyes just narrowed. “How much like me?”
“Check my jacket.”
I slid my hand into his pocket. I felt some keys, a few coins (probably euro), and a crumpled photograph. I pulled out the photo.
“Holy crap,” I breathed, staring at a familiar pixie cut and dimpled smile. “It’s me.”
“No, it’s Imelda Branchos. She just looks like you.”
“Exactly like me. Is she... is she my secret twin?”
“Um, no. How cliché would that be?” He pedaled a little faster. “Imelda is the famous Latina double agent known to the U.S. government as 1000 Faces. She must’ve borrowed yours for her last assignment.”
“Borrowed it?” My fingers dug into his thighs. “How do you ‘borrow’ someone's face?”
“Plaster of Paris.”
Ah. Why didn't I think of that?
“You didn't think maybe I was the original, not the copy?”
“Once I saw you shoot a gun, there was no question.” He paused, no doubt to lament the loss of his safety glass. “But when you told me your name was Cara...”
I twisted around to stare at him. “What does my name have to do with some Latina 007 who let me keep my identity but stole my face?”
“Cara is Spanish for ‘face’. I thought it was an inside joke.”
“You secret agents are a laugh a minute.” I glanced over his shoulder, half-expecting to see Stripper Girl following us on a pair of roller blades. “Who was the crazy chick chasing us?”
“Official intelligence believes her to be Nikita Kournikova, a lethal rogue operative and part-time ice cream truck driver. Or maybe it's Imelda having a little fun with another face.”
My jaw clenched. “She’s a laugh riot, all right. If I ever meet that woman, I'm shanking her with a machete.”
His deep chuckle ruffled my hair. “You have a machete?”
“In my closet,” I admitted. “Next to my collection of thigh high vinyl stilettos.”
Brant sucked in his breath and said nothing.
We coasted in silence until I wiggled against him and murmured, “You have something against a woman's legs being encased in shiny, cherry-red vinyl?”
“Cara mia,” he growled, “that’s no gun pressing into your derrière, but it still might go off if you keep talking about vinyl stilettos.”
Every man has his weakness. Glad as I was to have found his, I’d prefer his “gun” going off somewhere we both could enjoy it.
“I’ll talk about something else,” I promised. “I’ll talk about work. That’s plenty boring.”
“Good.” He shifted. Ostensibly to get comfortable, but I was pretty sure he just wanted to make sure I felt what I was up against. Literally. I hadn’t been this close to third base since... well, let’s just say it’s been a while.
“I spend my nights as a researcher at a sleep clinic,” I told him. “I stroll down the quiet halls in a little white nurse’s outfit with bare legs and high heels and I bend over each patient to—”
One of his arms left the handlebar to lock around my waist, nestling my heinie tight against his... gun. “You’re not funny.”
“I’m actually not joking,” I admitted. “The costume alone added a zero to my salary.”
“No wonder,” he muttered. “I could be talked out of my paycheck easy for a chance to see you dolled up like that.”
I grinned into the breeze. “Swing by the sleep center any weekday after dusk and show me what you’ve got.”
His hips tilted against my rear. “There’s beds?”
“Lots.”
“I’m there.”
But we weren’t there. When our bike burst free from the woods, we were:
A) Half a block from Mrs. Peterson’s backyard. I couldn’t see her, her poodle, or the two million euros, because approximately one zillion flashing cop cars cluttered the block. She must’ve heard me ask her to call 911 when I thought I was being kidnapped. Now we’d never get the damn package.
B) On the bridge heading back into town. His car was still smoldering on the river embankment below. Firemen and cops dotted the river. Brant ditched the ten-speed for a police-issue motorcycle and beckoned me to join him.
“Are you sure stealing a cop vehicle is a good idea?” I asked doubtfully.
“Of course not,” he said with a sexy grin. “Get on.”
C) Face to face with my twin sister. Er, I mean the Bitch of 1000 Faces, who took mine without asking.
“Next time you wanna borrow someone’s face,” I shouted, “say ‘pretty please’!”
Her smile was feral. I mean feral-feral, like a rabid cougar. And the way she leapt into the air at us... I was pretty sure I shouldn’t have provoked her.
D) Oh. Wait. Yeah, that’s definitely the sleep clinic. He obviously wasn’t kidding about his desire to get horizontal (and I had to admit I wasn’t against that plan, in general) but I had to believe a focused secret agent like Brant had an ulterior motive for instigating Bring A Hottie To Work Day. Were my employers somehow wrapped up in the evil schemes?
YOUR TURN: You decide what happens next! Leave your vote in the comments by 7pm EST (4pm Pacific) every day between now and Valentine's Day---Tomorrow's story continued by Terri Reed with the twist YOU choose!
Today's installment brought to you by Erica Ridley. Vote to win a great prize!
Don't forget to join the Manuscript Mavens' quarterly newsletter on the right for advance notice of other exciting upcoming events!
Or, rather, sharing our tips and tricks on how you can promo you.
Today we're going to have a little chat about web sites. What makes me qualified to chat about web sites? Well, I've been designing, programming, and developing them professionally for a decade now. I've seen 'em impact sales, I've seen 'em fade into visitor-less obscurity, and I've seen 'em bomb with enough destructive power to re-explode the Death Star.
Let's aim for success, not planet detonation, okay?
Here are our steps:
* Do I even want a web site?
* What kind of web site do I want?
* Who should make it?
* How should it look/feel/act?
Get out your pen and paper--this is a workblog!
STEP ONE:
Do I even want a web site?
As someone who pays her mortgage by making web sites for other people, you might imagine me persuading everyone I meet to get a web site. The truth is, however, that if there's no reason for you to have one, there's... well, no point in having one.
The purpose of a web site is some combination of the following:
1) Share information
2) Collect information
3) Promote something or someone
4) Sell a product
If you don't have need of any of those, you do not need a web site. Don't waste your time or money.
I'll walk you through the four points.
1) Share information
This can range from contact info (Think store websites that pretty much consist of phone number and directions) to dissemination of information (Wikipedia, anyone?)
If you do have a web site, you must include some way for your web visitors to contact you, for reasons of legitimacy as much as interaction and visitor convenience.
Some authors also include information like tips for writers, or agent/editor interviews, etc. This is value-added content. It is a good idea, assuming the text contains quality information.
You do not have to do this, but if you do, know exactly what information you want to share.
2) Collect information
Maybe you want to get visitor emails for your newsletter. Maybe you want to collect addresses for a mailing list. Maybe you simply want to collect statistical information to see how many people are interested in you, and what search engine keywords they're using to find you.
You do not have to do this, but if you do, know exactly what information you want to collect.
3) Promote something or someone
Perhaps you want to promote your newest release. Perhaps you want to promote your entire book backlist, grouped by continuity series. Perhaps you want to promote your blog, or your writing-oriented community forums/bulletin boards, or your chapter contest, or your writing conference, or your book signing, or your workshop presentation, or your for-hire critiquing and editing service, or simply yourself and your contest wins.
You do not have to do this, but if you do, know exactly what you want to promote.
4) Sell a product
Remember, a product can be a book, and a product can be YOU. Either way, if sales is your goal, you will have to provide the web visitor with persuasive marketing copy as well as a method of purchase, whether that be a web site shopping cart, a hyperlink to Amazon.com, or simply a contact form requesting your book/services/etc.
You do not have to do this, but if you do, know exactly what you want to sell and provide the visitor with an easy method of purchase.
STEP TWO:
What kind of web site do I want?
I'm covering this topic in a six-part series (starting today!) over on my "Erica Writes" blog because it's just too complex to do justice in one post.
However, here are the primary points to consider:
1) Message and Image
2) Marketing and Promotion
3) User Interaction and Content
4) Aesthetics and Competition
5) Technology and Hosting
6) Content Administration
As mentioned, I'll go into explicit detail on each of these on my blog, but I want to make sure we're on the same page.
1) Message and Image
In other words, what is the point of your web site and how do you wish to portray it? If the point of your web site is to sell your dark urban fantasies and you wish to portray this goal by having the tone of the web site emulate the tone of your books, then you might want to theme your site accordingly. (Sherrilyn Kenyon comes to mind.)
2) Marketing and Promotion
Once you know what your web site's goal is, you must determine how to achieve this goal and how to measure success.
3) User Interaction and Content
What do you want visitors to do when they come to your web site? You need to know, and they need to know. If you want them to read your three dozen articles on First Person vs Third Person, then links to those articles better be on the first page. If you want them to sign up for your newsletter or call you for a critiquing quote or buy your new release, again, make it obvious and easy!
4) Aesthetics and Competition
I don't care who you are or what you write, (well, I do care, *g) every single author has competitors. Determine yours. Which of them do their job well? Which do not? (We're talking web site promo here, not prose. *g) What about the successful web sites make them work? What about the unsuccessful web sites make them fail?
5) Technology and Hosting
This means you and your visitors. Who is coming to your site? Know their technology demographics and expectations and provide accordingly. And make sure your web host can support the files, traffic, and technology your web site will require.
6) Content Administration
Do not forget this step! Somebody must update your web site content. It cannot just stay the same, week after week, month after month, or people will stop coming. Whether you will update your own content or have someone do it for you is entirely your preference, but make this decision up front so the site can be designed with this step in mind.
STEP THREE:
Who will make my web site?
There are basically two choices here: You, or Someone Else.
The first thing I'll say--and I can't stress this enough, so listen up--it is far better to have no web site than a bad web site.
Got me? I'll say it again:
It is far better to have no web site than a bad web site.
It doesn't matter if you're just starting out or if you have fifty New York Times best sellers. If your web site looks like you let your eight-year-old nephew make it with fingerpaints, you are not helping yourself. Stop. Step away from the web site.
Word of warning: this can happen whether you do it yourself or not. Before you pay someone to do it, check their references. Meaning, ask for examples of other web sites they've designed. Then visit them. Do they suck? If yes, run away. What is the point of the web site? If you can't tell, run away. If the web site's goal is to sell a book, how easy is it to buy? If it's not easy, run away. Do all the links work and the pages load quickly? If not, run away.
In other words, if the samples provided are not web sites you as a consumer would enjoy/frequent, then why pay money to have an equally bad web site of your own?
The flipside of this coin is that a talented professional can ALWAYS turn out a better product than an amateur do-it-yourselfer.
Know this, and decide accordingly.
If you have zero budget, zero programming talent, and zero time to learn--consider not having a web site at all. Seriously.
If you have no budget or necessary skill set, but you do have the time to learn how it's done, you may consider doing it yourself. It won't cost you anything, and if it sucks, you don't have to publish it, and at least you'll have learned a valuable skill for when the day comes for you to be in charge of updating web content.
If you have the skills already, feel free to give it a try. Can't hurt, so long as you view the final product objectively and only put it out there for the world to see if it truly will accomplish your goals.
If you have a small budget and little time/talent, you may want to consider purchasing a professionally designed ready-made web site template and/or utilizing free, open-source content management software such as Wordpress.
If you have a middle-sized budget, you may wish to hire a semi-professional, such as a university student majoring in web site design and/or programming.
If you have a larger budget, you will probably be best served contracting a talented professional.
STEP FOUR:
How should my web site act?
Once you know what the purpose of your web site is, what it should look like, how you will promote it, and who will develop it, you need to know what it needs to do.
If the purpose is to share information, then your web site better be chock full of useful, en pointe information.
If the purpose is to collect information, then collection opportunities better be on every page. This may mean a newsletter signup form on every page or this may mean a link on every page to the registration form or request for quote form, etc.
If the purpose is to promote something, then your web site better be promoting whatever it is on every single page. Do not miss an opportunity.
If the purpose is to sell something, then buying a product from your web site better be the easiest thing in the world for your visitors to do.
Above all, the web site must be:
1) legible
2) intuitive
3) easy to navigate
4) easy on the eyes
I'll break it down:
1) Legible
No black text on gray backgrounds. No white text on tan backgrounds. Do not make the visitor click "Select All" and highlight the text just to be able to read it. Do not make the text super tiny or overlarge. Do not make the text scroll left-to-right further than the common denominator screen size. Do not design the site/text in such a way as to make it impossible to print, or to read once printed. They will not come back.
2) Intuitive
The visitor should not have to waste time figuring out what to do when they come to your web site. They will not waste time figuring out what to do. If their first reaction to the home page is "What now?" instead of "Oh, wow!" then they will leave and never return. Make the choices obvious.
3) Easy to navigate
Let's say a visitor wants to send you fan mail. They come to your web site. They can't find contact information anywhere. They go away. Forever. Don't do this! If links to important stuff isn't on every page (and, really, it should be) then at the very least, make an obvious link to a Site Map or similar at the top of every page. Somewhere they will see it without scrolling. Ideally, links to the Home Page, the Contact Page, and at the very least the primary pages for each of the major sub categories (if you have subcategories) will be on every page, in the same spot. Easy to find, easy to read, easy to click on.
4) Easy on the eyes
Do not make your web site an eyesore! No loud, clashing colors that give readers headaches. No spontaneous music they can't shut off. (And I would even say, no spontaneous music at all--many web visitors browse at work and do not want to advertise their surfing.) No ads that pop up over the content or blinking text that's hard to read or flashy animated graphics/banners/etc that distract the reader's ability to read the content or buy your product. I'm not saying you can't have music or ads or flash animations, I'm saying do not annoy your visitor with it. If your web site is obnoxious and/or a hassle, they will go away and not come back.
On that happy note...
Last but not least: Measurability
Once your web site is out there, it is often a good idea to use tracking software (such as StatCounter) to find out where your visitors are coming from, how long they're staying, and what they're doing once they get to your web site. This will help you tweak accordingly.
YOUR TURN: Any questions? Comments? Derogatory remarks? (*g) I am able to check the comments frequently today, so please take advantage if there's something you want to know/say/ask!
The web site series on my blog:
* Website Series, Day 1: Message & Image
* Website Series, Day 1: Follow-Up Q & A
* Website Series, Day 2: Marketing
* Website Series, Day 3: User Interaction & Content
* Website Series, Day 4: Aesthetics & Usability
* Website Series, Day 5: Hosting & Technology
* Website Series, Day 6: Administration
This week's Mavenland theme is GOALS. (Er, you have some, right?)
Goals can be either short-term or long-term. IMHO, it's extremely important to have both varieties.
Here's why goals are good:
* Goals give you something concrete to work toward
* Goals give you something concrete to measure progress against
* Goals give you a sense of accomplishment once you've reached them
Take for example that guy we all know who lives in his parent's basement (far past the age when such things are typical), either has no girlfriend or has a slacker/sleazy girlfriend, and who can't keep a "real" job for any length of time.
Why does he still live with mommy and daddy? Because they wash his socks and supply him with free groceries? Yeah, maybe. But more than that, because he has no clear goal to do otherwise.
It's not that it's his lifelong dream to move his girlfriend into his parents' basement and mooch off of them for eternity. It's that he doesn't really know what he wants, and so he does nothing.
Don't be that guy in the basement.
His short term goal might be beer and a cigarette. Good for him. But he needs a long-term goal. Something to work towards.
Go to college. Apply for jobs. (Where college=practicing your craft and job applications=query letters.)
In order to get somewhere meaningful, it's best to know where you're going. And a great starting off point is to select good goals.
How do you pick the goals you set? IMHO:
* Goals should be specific
* Goals should be quantifiable
* Goals should be realistic
* Goals should be attainable
* You should be accountable
Let's take these one by one. This is a workblog, so I want to see your answers in the comments!
SPECIFIC
"I want to be rich" is not specific. "I want to make a six figure annual salary (plus benefits) as a Chicago personal injury lawyer" is specific. We're defining what "rich" means, and in what manner we mean it.
Set specific goals.
What do you want? What end goal do you specifically, objectively desire? Get out a piece of paper and make a list. At a bare minimum, jot down a dozen goals, whether short term and/or long term.
QUANTIFIABLE
How will you know when you reach your goal? By setting quantifiable parameters.
"I want to be successful" is not quantifiable. "I want to be a New York Times bestselling inspirational romance author" is quantifiable. Either you are a NYT bestseller or you're not. It's inarguable.
Set quantifiable goals.
Think back to your specific goals you brainstormed above. How will you know when you reach them? What will be that yard stick of success?
REALISTIC
At the most basic level, realistic=possible. Stephanie Plum's goal of wanting to be an intergalactic princess, while entertaining, is hardly realistic. There's no point in setting a goal that literally cannot happen.
"I want to be more famous than God" is not a realistic goal. "I want to be the next J.K. Rowling" is also not a realistic goal. Only J.K. Rowling can be J.K. Rowling. "I want to be the top selling author of SciFi westerns" is closer. It's specific, and quantifiable. (Er, if you could get reliable publishing house sales data for all authors in your genre, that is. Which you can't. But that's another topic.) And it's possible--somebody is the top selling SciFi western author.
Set realistic goals.
Take another look at your specific, quantifiable goals. Cross off anything that isn't realistically possible. Don't set yourself up for disappointment!
ATTAINABLE
As obvious as this category seems, you wouldn't believe the number of goals people have that simply are not within their power to bring about! If a goal is not attainable based wholly on your skills, talent, ability and willpower, then it must be stricken from the goal list and moved to the wish list.
I'd like to win the lottery. Who wouldn't? I can't win if I don't enter, but even if I spend 100% of my disposable income on lottery tickets from now until the day that I die, there's no guarantee I'll ever hit that magic number. Therefore, even if "Win the 25 million dollar Florida lottery jackpot" is specific (FL Lottery), quantifiable (either they send me a $25M check or they don't), and realistic (somebody wins that crap), it's not an attainable goal in the sense of "if I try hard enough, it's possible for me to achieve".
Being a consistent NYT bestselling author? Totally not within your control. SO many factors come into play for something like that. Advertising, publisher support, initial store purchases, sales at certain locations within a specific time frame, etc, etc, etc. There are plenty of great books that never make a list and there are plenty of mediocre books that do, much like there are plenty of great movies that don't even make it into the majority of public theaters and there are plenty of filmatic train wrecks that break box office records for opening weekend crowds.
Set attainable goals.
Look at your list. Is everything on there truly attainable with elbow grease and perseverance? If not, strike it off. Do not give yourself impossible tasks. That's hugely counter-productive.
BE ACCOUNTABLE
Now that you have a list of specific, quantifiable, realistic, attainable goals ("I will send out 10 queries per month", not "I will get an agent by Christmas") think about what a realistic time frame is to achieve them, and stick to it.
"I will final in a writing contest" is not a good goal. Neither is "I will enter every writing contest known to man until I final" or "I will enter a writing contest I don't really have time to prepare for because I will make time by imbibing mass quantities of chocolate and caffeine, and discontinue sleeping or interacting with my family".
"I will enter my WIP into one reputable writing contest judged by targeted agents or editors every three months" is a specific, quantifiable, realistic, attainable goal. (Whether contests are right for you or not is a different thing--see Diana's recent post and Anne-Marie's recent post for more on that.)
In order to achieve a goal, you must work toward it! Goals do not achieve themselves.
Obvious, right? But then why do so many people put "Lose 20 pounds" on their list of New Year's resolutions, and then wonder why they stay pleasantly plump even though they're not dieting or exercising or otherwise working to attain that goal?
The same is true for writing.
Let's say your goal is "Finish WIP". Well, what does that mean? Maybe it means "Write 100,000 first draft words for current paranormal robot project." Or maybe it means "Do a complete rewrite of the 90k Victorian mystery moldering under the bed." And so on. Specific, quantifiable, realistic, attainable.
And in order to be accountable, it must happen within some period of time. Otherwise, you may spend the next decade finishing your WIP!
The danger, of course, is to set an unrealistic--although theoretically possible--time frame.
"I will write 100k words in three months" is of course possible, but is it plausible for you?
"I will send off my requested full/partial within three weeks" may be possible, but is it plausible--or even advisable--for you?
"I will query five agents per week" is certainly possible, but if there aren't (52x5=) 260 strong, reputable agents that match your personality and your project, then isn't it a ridiculous goal for you?
If you're curious about my goals, how they've changed over time, and how they stack up to these criteria, you might be interested in today's Goal post (ha! goal post!) over on my blog where I give myself a reality check, hold myself accountable to my writerly New Year's resolutions, and publicly announce my updated goals.
So. Hopefully at this point you're looking at a much altered, scribbled and caroted list that now contains specific, quantifiable, realistic, attainable goals for which you've given yourself an ideal-world deadline but also a reasonable, cushioned time frame within which to achieve them.
YOUR TURN: I'd love your thoughts on goal setting, and whether you agree/disagree with the position I put forth here. Do you have any additional tips to share? If you feel comfortable doing so, please share at least one of your specific, quantifiable, realistic, attainable goals, and the reasonable time frame you've decided on to hold yourself accountable.
Can you believe I totally spaced I was the Monday Maven? (Oops!)
This means you don't get an insightful, well thought out post today. It means you get my meandering thoughts. Much like the drivel on genres, web sites, and branding I posted this morning on my blog. (Where I did remember I was supposed to post, and yet still ended up winging it.)
While Maven Darcy and Maven Lacey were busy being super-productive and actually reaching their goals, what did I do this weekend besides see Ratatouille with a six year old and take a long-awaited visit to Dinosaur World?
The first adventure I had was printing out all 400 pages of Trevor & the Tooth Fairy for my editing pleasure. (Seriously, "editing" and "pleasure" do not belong in the same sentence.) The adventure part began when I ran out of black ink and my printer decided to eat random papers in such a way as to have half a page on one sheet and half on another. It was awesome.
So, once I finally got all 400 pages printed in two columns, landscape orientation, I then cut them all in half. Once I'd cut them all in half (and put them back in order, as the cutting process naturally got them out of order) I then proceeded to attack them all with a three hole punch. As I punched three or four sheets at a time, I was then required to reorder the loose sheets yet again.
At last, with a giant stack of 8.5x5.5 neatly punched manuscript pages, I began to place them in my nifty 8.5x5.5 three ring binder (big enough so the pages are book sized, yet small enough to fit inside a purse). Sadly, my 1" binder only agreed to hold half of my manuscript.
Therefore, off I went to the Office Depot in search of a second odd-sized, over-priced binder. I was rewarded with not one but two such creatures (are binders creature? Mine are.) and was lucky enough to find them at a more useful width of 2". (Although was unlucky in that the darn things were over $8 apiece. If a full size one is $1 at Wal-Mart, why is a half-size one $8.49, I ask you???)
I then returned home with said odd-sized and overpriced binder and transferred the cropped and punched pages from the other binder (and my kitchen table) to the new binder, where they all fit quite nicely and even manage to look rather bookish and official.
Thus satisfied, I handed the whole mess over to a friend of mine who is visiting me for a couple weeks (hey, you crit for your breakfast in my house!) along with a pen and a stack of sticky notes.
(Near as I can tell, she has yet to make a single notation, but one can only hope.)
After my houseguests go back to the great white north (okay, really Indiana), I hope to have a chance to read TATTF as a reader (I haven't peeked at Daisy & Trevor's shenanigans in months) before I get my very first revision letter.
And then I plan to lug my binder with me everywhere I go, covering the pages with sticky notes until it looks like a papier-mâché piñata. (Except without the yummy candies inside.)
Following that, I plan to polish TATTF within an inch of its life (evenly spaced 1" margins all the way around, of course) and send it back to my agent for shopping.
We shall see.
Obviously, this is my first attempt at the half-binder trick. I'm still working out the bugs.
YOUR TURN: What's on your plate writing-wise for the next couple weeks? What wacky methodologies have you tried in the name of revision/writing? Please share your secrets/thoughts/tips in the comments!
In case you missed the news on my blog, I am pleased to announce that I now have agent representation! Yay!
Very soon, the sexy tooth fairy book I never shut up about will be making the publisher rounds in NYC, courtesy of Lauren Abramo from the Dystel & Goderich Literary Agency.
OMG! OMG! I can't believe it!
Wait--yes I can, because I worked for this! There was no magic handshake. And I am willing to share the secret formula that got me this far.
STEP 1: Take Writing Seriously
When I decided to change my mindset from "writing is a hobby" to "writing is a career", I did several things. First, I made up a rule that said "No more abandoning unfinished stories". If I were a painter, would I get very far with half-finished paintings? Unlikely. Second, I joined Romance Writers of America and my local chapter, Tampa Area Romance Authors and became an active member of both.
STEP 2: Improve Thyself
Now that I was finishing what I started and learning all about the stuff I didn't even realize I didn't know, I discovered I had a long way to go. So, I went to conferences, attended workshops, read books on craft, did online courses, surfed internet articles, and hunted down brutally honest critique partners. I tried at least half the advice I got, and kept what worked and tossed what didn't.
STEP 3: Write
I wrote like crazy. Between fall of 2005 when I first decided to pursue writing as a career and spring of 2007, I wrote four complete novels. I also did a lot of reading and did a lot of critiquing, both of which helped immensely. Time spent analyzing other stories--published or not--is time well spent. But time spent writing is the best of all. You can't be a writer if you don't write!
STEP 4: Write Something Good
I can admit it--my first stuff wasn't so good. Nor did it completely suck. Eventually I began finalling in contests and getting "positive" (ie "send us something else") rejection letters from material requested at writers conferences. But confining yourself to conference pitches is extremely limiting, which brings us to:
STEP 5: Craft A Good Query Letter
I mean, a real good one. And then send it out. Not to just anyone! Do your research. Pick reputable agencies with agents you respect, who represent your genre and love to read your type of story. I actually had a very short A List--less than a dozen names. Your mileage may vary. But it's best for everyone involved if you only query someone whom you'd want to represent your work.
STEP 6: Be Ready to Send the Material
How many times do agents request stuff that never ends up crossing their desks? Do not be that person if you really want to get to the next stage! I sent Lauren part of Trevor & the Tooth Fairy. A couple weeks went by. She asked for the full. I shipped it out Priority Mail that very afternoon.
STEP 7: Make A Good Decision
Trevor & the Tooth Fairy was actually out with four different agents, all of whom were reputable, from well-respected agencies, who had recent sales and multiple clients, and who were at the top of my A List. Some had spoken to me several times about the project over the past few months. The number one thing that made Lauren stand out to me was her enthusiasm for the project. She loves TATTF! How can I not love someone who loves TATTF! *g. Seriously, though, that enthusiasm will shine through. Who would you rather represent you--someone who thinks your work is okay, or someone who thinks your story is tops?
STEP 8: Let the Agent Do Her Job
This is the easiest and hardest step. The excruciating hurry-up-and-wait game we writers face does not stop just because you've signed an agent contract. But remember, your agent is in the same boat! She is gunning for you at all the publishing houses, but she's also got to back off and give them a chance to read your brilliant masterpiece. This is a slow-moving industry. Might as well make peace with that up front.
So, does all this mean I'm on my merry way to being the next Danielle Steele meets J.K. Rowling? Uh, no.
Agent representation isn't a guarantee of publication. Actually, pretty much nothing is--I've known people with publisher contracts and advance money in hand whose book never made it to the shelf due to lines/houses closing or editors leaving, etc.
But it is one step closer, and it's a step I'm very, very, very excited about.
Okay, I've held it in for the whole entire post...
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Relationships & Intimacy
I'm going to start with the credits. Desmond Morris, a behavioral scientist studying why couples divorce or stay together, first described the twelve steps of intimacy as a way to explain the progression from "Who the hell are you?" to "I can't live without you." (My words, not his.)
I believe Linda Howard was the first to present his research to the romance writing community.
According to Morris, the steps do NOT have to be taken in order, but stronger relationships are likelier when they are, and when couples give themselves time to bond before progressing to the next level.
Morris's research shows that women, specifically, resent being rushed (ie, having a man grope his way into the "grabby boob" phase before the hand holding phase.)
Time to bond can take anywhere between five minutes and five years, depending on the circumstances and depending on the couple.
Interestingly, the couples in his study who repeatedly revisited all twelve steps in order, reinforcing the progression, tended to enjoy longer relationships.
The 12 Steps and Writers
Pretty obvious what this means to you in terms of real life, but how do the twelve steps of intimacy affect you as a writer? As with any craft advice you hear anywhere, remember these two things:
* Know the "rules" before you break them
* There are no true rules, only suggestions
DO NOT marry yourself to the twelve steps in such a way as to confine your characters to some preordained, artificial progression. Instead of two people swept up in the dance of love, they'll look like two robots dipped in water.
Always, always, always keep your characters in character. If your hero is the grabby-boob type, so be it. And if your heroine responds with a swift kick to the---well, he'll learn his lesson.
PLEASE DO let the twelve steps remind you of the the small things that happen on the way to the big things. Even if your hero and heroine hit the sack in Scene One, chances are good (especially if they just met) that they don't just shuck clothes and slide Tab A into Slot B.
Chances are exceptional that they'll follow most of the steps instinctively and naturally on their own. Your job is to show the reader.
The first nine steps can be done in public or in the bedroom, but the latter three are most often done in private. As mentioned earlier, these can be done quickly, just a few moments each, or they can span years. It's up to your characters.
Step 1: Eye to Body
Hero sits in the corner, nursing a Cuba Libre, when across the smoky room, empty beer bottles clang to the floor as a group of women climb from their stools to the bar and begin to dance. Two of them are wearing barely there come-get-me clothes, but the third--the one in jeans and sneakers--has a body that undulates to pulsing beat with a rhythm that matches his own.
Sometimes it's just a glance. Sometimes the glance turns to a stare. Sometimes the gaze starts at the top/toes and takes its time roaming the length of the body. Sometimes the first look leads to an exchange of phone numbers, and other times it leads to a dismissal until next they meet in different circumstances.
If this were a Harlequin Desire, for instance, in the example above, the hero might be CEO of a Fortune 100 company and the sexy thang in running shoes might be the secretary who thought he was out of town.
The two things to remember are: Show the reader whether or not attraction occurs, and why. Why=details. He notices her sex, age, size, shape, personality, how she carries herself, how she moves. Maybe the selling point is she's got that shake-yo-booty thing down cold. Or maybe she takes one look at him and decides against, because the size of his muscles indicate he'll spend more time in the gym than in with her.
Also remember this moment can be just as powerful if the POV character is on the receiving end of the prolonged once-over or the casual dismissal. How does this affect him/her? Is he uncomfortable? Angry? Aroused?
Step 2: Eye to Eye
Let's say they don't run each other off, or at least not yet. They've seen each other and, like it or not, they're intrigued.
Suddenly--oh my God!--they're caught looking. No matter how many people are in the room, for a second it's just the two of them, locked together by the magic of eye contact. Eye contact can be heady flirting, in and of itself.
I asked a friend of mine how she met her husband. She said the first thing they noticed about each other were their looks (this isn't shallow--it's life) and found the other attractive. By chance, they kept showing up at the same social events over the course of weeks. Rather than approach each other, they kept making eye contact across crowded rooms. She'd be caught staring. Or she'd catch him staring. Each time, the one who was caught would look quickly away... then just as quickly back, only to find the other person still looking. And so on. By the time he introduced himself, a whirlwind romance was a foregone conclusion.
How does this relate to our hero and heroine? Show the reader what is happening and how the POV character reacts. And remember not to cross the creepy line! If some burly stranger fixes her with an expressionless stare like a woodsman on the hunt for deer, ew. Heroine wants to be the focus of sweep-me-off-my-feet interest, not fear-for-my-life aggression.
Assuming he doesn't come off as scary or rude, how does she respond? Does she hold his gaze? Look away? Flutter her lashes? Wink? Smile?
Step 3: Voice to Voice
Heroine catches hero staring, and responds with a half-smile and a lick of her lips. Hero plunks down his Cuba Libre and prowls over to where heroine undulates on the bar. One of them says, "Hey, sexy."
Is the hero speaking? Does his voice come out a low rumble, like thunder before a storm? Or is his voice high-pitched and uncertain, crackling over the words like a teenage boy in puberty?
Or is the heroine speaking? Is her voice smoky and smooth, like a '30s jazz singer? Or does she have a thick, nasal accent and a loud, wet lisp, spraying the word "sexy" all over the front of his shirt?
Assuming neither person's voice chases the other away, where does the conversation go from there? Highspeed banter with carnal subtext? Blatant sexual overtones? Strained, keep-it-casual comments on the weather? Low, intimate murmuring? Awkward/charged lapses in conversation?
For strangers, the first conversation is often a get-to-know-you phase, touching on topics ranging from names, careers, likes and dislikes, to hobbies, habits, opinions pastimes, etc. Don't forget to show the reader what the characters do and don't admit, and how their responses--or lack thereof--affect the POV character.
Step 4: Hand to Hand
The music fades. Heroine stops gyrating. Hero lifts his hand, palm up, a silent offer to help her down from the bar.
Do her fingertips smooth across his skin in a soft caress? Do her nails scrape across the sensitive skin of his palm, much the way he imagines them skating down his naked back? Do her fingers lock around his wrist rather than his hand, as she leaps down like a boy scout out hiking? Does she bat his hand away, muttering she can do it herself, and slide off the bar with a disgruntled expression?
Either way, hand to hand is their first taste of physical contact, and their first act of trust (or mistrust, if she refuses him). Up until this point, either person could change their mind and walk away without causing confusion or hurt feelings in the other. Once the body contact line has been crossed, however, bonding has begun, if only at a small level.
Hand to hand contact can blossom into hand holding, an indication of a deepening relationship.
Regardless of the intent or level of the body contact, don't forget to show the reader the POV Character's physical and emotional reaction.
If the heroine places her hand in hero's and squeezes, how does he react? Does he squeeze back, tossing her a flirty wink? Does he touch her hand to his mouth, savoring the feel of her skin against his lips? Does he drop her hand in horror, thinking hand-squeezing is a sure sign of neediness and a harbinger of shrewdom to come?
Step 5: Arm/Hand to Shoulder
Hero escorts heroine away from the bar. Drunken, leering patrons try to pull her from him, and he slings an arm across her shoulders, protecting her from their advances and wordlessly staking his claim.
Arm/hand to shoulder can be anything from a friendly hug to ballroom dancing. Although either sort of embrace can be noncommittal, depending on the cues given and received through body language and physical contact, disengagement at this point can cause hurt feelings.
Hand holding allows space between bodies, but hugs or arms around shoulders require closeness. The closer two people are, the more intimate the contact can feel.
Picture two people hugging. Are they belly-to-belly, feet interlocking like puzzle pieces? Or are they hunched over, backs curved in an A-frame, clapping palms to backs as they carefully ensure no further contact can occur, even accidentally?
Hand/arm to shoulder is non-casual physical contact. Hero didn't sling his arm over her shoulder on accident--he meant to do it. She didn't lose herself in a bear hug on accident--she meant to do it. Don't forget to show the reader whether the body contact works out as planned and how the POV Character reacts to it.
Step 6: Arm/Hand to Waist
As hero sweeps heroine from the smoky bar to the twilit street, his hand coasts down from her shoulder, tracing the curve of her back. His palm glides from the base of her spine to her waist. His fingers splay across her hip, nestling her closer against the warmth of his body.
Physical contact has now become a sexual embrace. (Hero would probably not have pulled this manoever with, say, the garbage truck guy.) He is physically drawing her closer. With this kind of proximity, they can enjoy softer words, each other's scents, intimate dialogue, the feel of body against body.
This stage indicates growing familiarity, increased comfort, and escalating emotional response. Show your reader all of this through body language, conversation, physical response, and internal dialogue.
Step 7: Mouth to Mouth AKA Face to Face
They reach an intersection. The walk light flashes green. Heroine takes a step toward the street, but hero spins her to face him. She looks up in surprise and suddenly her eyes are right there, drinking him in. Her breath is right there, feathering against the stubble of his jaw. Her tongue is right there, wetting her parted lips. Her mouth is right there, asking to be kissed.
What now? Does he claim her mouth in a searing kiss, gazes locked, mating his tongue with hers in blatant imitation of a carnal act, desire lighting his skin afire? Does he rest his forehead against hers and close his eyes, murmuring an apology for being unable to continue because she reminds him too much of his dead wife? Does he lean in and rub the tip of her nose with his before sucking her lower lip into his mouth and nibbling playfully?
Often, this step combines many previous steps into one. He's noticing her body, gazing into her eyes, murmuring love words (or bedroom talk). His hands are locked on her hips, grinding her body to his, while her hands twine around his neck, fingernails scraping the skin below his shoulders.
Whether this is the first kiss or the hundred and first, fireworks are going off all over the place and it's your job as the writer to show the explosion to the reader in such a way as to make the reader feel the emotion right along with the POV character.
Step 8: Hand to Head
Heroine fingers, once splayed against Hero's back, now slide up the hot skin of his neck and into the clipped softness of his hair, toying with the wind-whipped locks. Hero, for his part, locks onto Heroine's long ponytail, wrapping his hand with the fall of blonde hair, and forcing her mouth even tighter to his.
This, even more than kissing, is an act of physical intimacy and a symbol of deepening trust. Protecting the head is instinctual. Allowing another free reign is indicative of submission to desire.
Although it can make both acts more powerful, this step does not have to precede sex nor take place during kissing. Perhaps she strokes his hair while dancing, or he slides his hand down her hair fanned across his pillow when she wakes up next to him in the morning.
Step 9: Hand to Body
Whether this step is exemplified as hand to breast or a foot massage, a high level of trust is required.
This is often the moment Hero and Heroine cross the line between kissing and pre-sexual foreplay. Typically, the body part(s) being touched is one not exposed in public, indicating a great deal of intimacy.
Step 10: Mouth to Breast
Undeniably sexual in nature, the act of licking, nibbling and/or suckling indicates sexual desire, deepened trust, and a high level of emotion.
This step typically includes partial to full nudity, as well as some combination of the previous steps.
As a writer, don't forget to show the reader what the POV character is seeing, thinking, and feeling. Is he dying to knock boots with this wild-haired vixen? Is he straining like hell to keep his starving eyes and aching hands away from his best friend's fiancee?
Step 11: Hand to Genitals
Indicative of high levels of trust, this step is a huge act of bonding.
How do your characters react? Is this a culmination of their dreams or further proof they're the kind of person their mama always said they were? Do they stop before either reaches satisfaction? Do one or both experience an orgasm? Or do they move on to:
Step 12: Sexual Intercourse
This stage represents the highest level of bonding and the pinnacle of trust. Both parties expect to gain and give pleasure. Intense physical sensation flood the senses and bonding is at an all-time high.
As always, show the reader! What is the POV character thinking, feeling, saying, doing? How does the other person look, smell, taste, feel, sound? And most importantly... what happens afterward?
YOUR TURN: Have you seen this or a similar progression used/abused in writing (or, I suppose, IRL)? When reading, what makes a couple's path to physical intimacy more/less believable to you? Are there any steps you feel are dwelled on overmuch? Are there any steps you feel are often missed? Do tell!
 |
 |
 |
Subscribe to this Blog
Posts
All Comments
|
 |
