Resolutions

Most of you know how I feel about goals. Last year around this time, I yammered on about how they must be specific, quantifiable, realistic, and attainable, and how above all, you (er... I) should be accountable for sticking to them.

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:

• Goals must be a priority

Even a goal like "get out of bed by noon" won't come to pass if it seems more important to lay in a sea of pillows with the TiVo remote and a plateful of comfort food.

So. My #1 goal for 2009 is:

Write/Revise/Plot/Daydream about my WIPs every single day, even if a few stolen moments is all I have.

1b: Because it matters.

You?

And, It's Off!

And by "it," I mean the completed manuscript of Behind the Red Door, my novella anthology which is slated for release by Kensington Books in the summer of 2009! I emailed the file to my editor yesterday (my official "extended" due date) with a follow-up hardcopy hitting the regular mail today.

Yay me!

As you may remember, I started a 30K in 30 days challenge to help motivate myself to finish. I wound up not only meeting, but exceeding my 30-day goal, although it wound up taking 32 days for me to put the final finishing touches on it. I literally closed the file ten minutes before I emailed it out.

So now, I'm free. (Breaks into a refrain of "I'm free to do what I want any old time.") It's a rather odd sensation, actually. I've been bound to that book for so long, I feel a little rudderless.

Oh, it's not that I don't have ideas. No, no, never that! It's more that I have a plethora of them, and since none of them are contracted, it's hard to prioritize. That said, for the next couple of weeks, I'm going to kick back and do some fun projects--a short story for a freebie Christmas anthology Anna Leigh Keaton is putting together and a short Christmas novella for Cobblestone Press.

After that, I reckon I'll get serious again by putting together a proposal for an option book for Kensington. And then we'll see what happens.

YOUR TURN: What have you been up to the past month while I (and the other Mavens) have been hiding in our caves? Tell us all the news. We'd love to hear!

That Crazy Internet

Howdy Mavenland! I had to share something I learned this evening from my brother...he found our cousins. Were they lost? Not really, just lost to us. Long story short: Our father had one sister and she moved to Denmark in 1951. I only met her once in the early 80s. We lost touch with her (and consequently our cousins) after our grandmother died in 1987 (my father died the previous year). I'd always wondered what was going on with them, but it never, ever occurred to me to Google them.

And how stupid was that.

See, my aunt was an actress, and a rather famous one in Denmark. She has a page in Danish Wikipedia! And my eldest cousin, Kim Sagild, was in a successful latin/jazz/funk band (Buki-Yamaz - they have a myspace page with super groovy music!) and went on to do something in music (he came to visit once also - I remember him as being so, so, so cool - I think I was maybe 9?). My other two cousins, Paprika (if you go to her page here at Internet Movie Database, click on the first trailer for The Substitute and watch what happens to her at the end!) and Nikolaj Steen were also artists, but I'd no idea Paprika won the equivalent of the Danish Oscar - for both best actress and supporting actress...in the same year! Wild.

My brother gets credit for finding them and is trying to make contact. I hope he's successful and that we'll be able to swap photos and stories. I'm certain we have much to share about our families and I'm really excited about the possibilities.

Ah, Internet, sometimes your powers are far more good than evil.

So what's the Internet done for you lately?

The 30K in 30 Days Challenge

Since I last posted right before leaving for the RWA National Convention, I've been swamped by the day job. My company holds a conference for its clients every year in late August or early September (depending on when we can get the hotel), and I'm a major contributor to the effort. This year, I gave four presentations, none of which were remotely close to being developed at the beginning of this month. I had four weeks to get my act together, and believe me, I needed every one of those weeks.

So NOW, I have another deadline looming over me. I've promised all three of the Red Door novellas by October 1st. The first novella is (thankfully) already complete, but the second and third are sitting at 5,000 words (of a projected 25K) and roughly 20.5K (or a projected 30K). Soooo, to finish and ship the printed manuscript off to New York in time, I've got to write an average of 1,000 words per day for the next thirty days.

That's more than doable, of course. But since I've been "out of the saddle" for a full month now, it seems more than a bit daunting. And so, in an effort to motivate myself, I'm setting down the 30K in 30 Days Challenge. My friend and critique partner, Emma Petersen, even created this graphic you can post on your blog or website if you decide to jump on the bandwagon:









The challenge officially begins today, Sunday, August 31 and ends Monday, September 29, but you can jump in any time with your own start and end dates. If you'd like to engage in periodic check-ins, support, encouragement, commiseration, advice, and the occasional ass-whuppin' when you need it, simply leave a comment on this post. I'll be posting again next week to let you know where things stand, and you can let me know how you're doing, too. In addition, I'll be keeping a calendar on my personal blog to show my progress. There's nothing like a little shame and humiliation to keep me on track!

YOUR TURN: Want to join the fun? Leave a comment and I'll blogroll you!

We're Still Here!

Hey Mave Faves! We're still here, we're all just swamped. Busy writing fabulous stories for you! (I'm working on book two of my Wicked trilogy - Their Wicked Bargain - it's so fun!) We'll post when the mood strikes, or if anyone has questions, we'll answer those too.

I'm so thrilled to share that our dear friend Courtney Milan just announced her first sale - a two-book deal to HQN. Feel free to squee congrats here or over on her blog (see link). We're so excited for her!

My Heart (and More's) in San Francisco

By the time this post appears (thank you, Draft Blogger, for the ability to manipulate time and space!), I'll be in San Francisco at this year's RWA National Conference. Based on my experience at last year's Dallas event, I'm sure I'm already exhausted, overwhelmed, and giddy with pleasure.

Last year, I have to admit that I spent most of my time a) hanging out friends, b) hovering around the pitch room, and c) in the booksigning area snapping up free, signed books. What I didn't do was attend a whole lot of workshops, perhaps in part because I couldn't decide which would be useful to me and which wouldn't. A few that I went to were very worthwhile, but many wound up not addressing my needs in one way or another and I ducked out before they were over.

This year, I'm still expecting to spend a lot of time on a) and c), though not quite as much on b), since I don't need to pitch either agents or editors (and believe me, I'm as shocked as anyone by that). I would like to chat with some editors informally about some of my other projects to see if anyone seems really interested in seeing any of them when I'm ready to submit. Hence, I volunteered to help in the pitch room on Friday afternoon.

I'm also hoping to meet my Kensington editor, John Scognamiglio, since I hear he'll be in attendance, and I know I'll be having dinner on Saturday night with my wonderful agent, Kevan Lyon, and some of her other clients (can you say networking, baby?). Since I'm bunking at a family friend's house, I've set aside one evening to get away from it all and have a quiet dinner with her.

Beyond that, though, I haven't made up my mind what to do with myself. I've marked a few workshops/sessions that sound interesting/useful to try to attend. I will probably check out the PAN retreat on Thursday afternoon.

I have to be honest, though, and say that if I had my druthers, I'd find a quiet corner somewhere in the hotel to hole up and write. Because three whole days away from the demands of husband, kids, house, and the day job is just too seductive an opportunity to ignore. Especially with a deadline hanging over my head.

YOUR TURN: What would YOU do it you were me? Suck up as many conference goodies and workshops as possible, or find that quiet corner?

Writer's Log Jam

Like Darcy, I was going to blog about my pre-conference preparations, jitters, and excitements this week, but another topic has been pushed to the forefront of my mind by recent events. You see, I'm in the throes of writing my two contracted but as yet unfinished novellas, and I'm realizing that I have a problem. It's kind of like writer's block, but not exactly. It's more like writer's log jam.

You see, I'm not suffering from a paucity of ideas. Quite the reverse. I have too many!

The novella I'm currently writing (the third chronologically in the anthology, but the second I "conceived") is giving me fits because I'm afraid it won't fit within its 25K-35K boundaries. I have at least a dozen more scenes rattling around in my head that could and/or should go into this story, but I'm already pushing 20K and I'm still miles from the Black Moment. The result is that I'm finding it difficult to decide which scenes I should write and which I shouldn't. Worse, I'm an incredibly linear writer, so I can't just write the scenes out of order and put them together later. I have to know for certain what happened before the scene I'm currently writing, or I can't write it.

To make matters worse, other stories are plaguing me. Driving through the Black Hills on our way back from our vacation in Minnesota the week before last got me itching to write a Western historical (which I never thought I'd do, but the place is just do darned evocative!). Add that idea to all the others taking up space in my brain (there must be at least a dozen, if not more, begging to be written), and I'm finding it quite difficult to concentrate on the projects I'm actually obligated to complete! The words for the stories I must write are getting jumbled up with the words for the stories I want to write.

So, is there a solution to this dilemma? Short of just plugging away and doing what I have to do, I doubt it. But somehow, putting my finger on the root of the problem has me feeling a bit less anxious if nothing else. "Writer's block"--the possibility that my ideas will dry up and I won't be able to write anything at all--terrifies me. Being caught in an idea traffic jam doesn't make me nearly as nervous!

YOUR TURN: Do you suffer from writer's log jam? How do you overcome your selfish desire to set aside the project you're currently working on to start a new one? Or do you just give into temptation?

P.S. I'm also blogging today at the Aphrodisia Authors blog and guest-blogging with my critique partner, Emma Petersen, over at Shiloh Walker's blog. Drop by and see me if you get a chance!

Can't.Pick.Title.For.Post. (too wiped out.)

The past two weeeks have been absolutely, unbelievably, wonderfully, insanely, unforgettably stupendaculous. Let me summarize:

WED: Do a little research on trysting. Find it highly entertaining.

THUR: Kayak from Renton to Mercer Island (and back).

FRI: Poker night with the guys at Bryan Crancy's.

SAT: Attend a party at the invitation of a friend's brother. Go with said friend to said party (and take own friends), ready to party, only to find out it's a Celebration of Life party i.e. funeral. @#%!.

SUN: Watch 1080p Batman Begins on friend's new PS3 (BluRay) in the comfort of own living room. Sweet.

MON: Crash friend's fitness club's 2 hour boot camp session, followed by wrecking same friend's motorcycle, ended by a cozy heart-to-heart with friend and friend's husband at dinner.

TUES: Hurt.like.hell.

WED: Hurt like hell. Browse craigslist for motorcycles.

THURS: Hurt like hell. Sign up for motorcycle licensing course in September.

FRI: Feel marginally better. Dinner with the girls. One crazy story after another.

SAT: Work 12.5 hours, dash home to walk dog, have first-ever experience at a Turkish restaurant, followed by quality time at Del Rey, capped off with shocking drunk-text from completely inappropriate person. Delicious.

SUN: Work, then host barbeque for friend's birthday and attempt to give food poisoning to 12 people.

MON: Get food poisoning. Be rushed to medical when 2nd level manager decides to mobilize the troops at the end of a meeting. ("Have a good day out there, everyone. And oh, yeah. You guys better take care of Lacey 'cause it looks like she's dying.") Cue frantic shuffling, coddling and general insanity.

Spend rest of day wishing actually were dying.

TUES: Drag poor, cramped, burning stomach into work. Because am covering for manager. Oh. Almost forgot about that.

WED: The angels are shining down because somehow calendar magically becomes devoid of commitments. Discover no weight has been gained in past 2 weeks of slackerhood. Pay bills. Organize tickets and logistics for upcoming San Francisco and Vegas trips. Make it home while it's still daylight. Go running. Clock in under takt time. Get blog post written.

Think about sleeping sometime.

Enjoy being alive.

:-) See you in SF!

Shameless Self-Promotion

Today I'm indulging in shameless self-promotion. A few weeks ago I was interviewed by our local newspaper. They received a press release regarding my Golden Heart final from RWA who graciously sends them to three media outlets (designated by me). I had no idea if the press releases would bear fruit and was thrilled to get a call from Kristen Forbes who wanted to interview me for the article.

I'd never done an interview before! But I'm a talker (no, really?), so it was pretty easy (okay, except when I spotted a couple of teachers from my daughter's school at a nearby table and had a moment's panic for some inexplicable reason). The only problem was not asking her a bunch of questions in return (which I ended up doing anyway - she was incredibly nice and fun to talk to). I'm just amazed at how much information she packed into the article. And I'd even forgotten a few things I'd said. She took awesome notes.

Ever done an interview? Been on the news? What about from the other side - ever interviewed anyone? What's the one thing you'd like to share about yourself - dish it here!

Oh, and here's the article of course!

This Too Shall Pass

Life seems to move in mysterious circles sometimes. Earlier this week, I was checking the stats on my websites, seeing how many people had come by recently and how many of those had actually found me on purpose. (I figure the ones who find me after inputting searches like "her creamy bosom" or my agent's name or my editor's name probably aren't really looking for ME.)

As I was scrolling through the list of visitor paths, I happened on one coming from a parenting newsgroup I used to subscribe to and post on regularly before I got too busy writing to keep up with that stuff any more. I clicked the link and, lo and behold, someone had posted asking if anyone knew what had become of me. Several people had answered, including a friend who lives in Virginia with whom I still correspond on irregular occasions. And someone posted a link to my website as a follow-up.

I thought it was pretty cool that my old friends (whom I've only ever known online) were asking after me, so I posted a response to say hi and let them know what I'm up to and where they can find me. I did explain before I unsubscribed from the newsgroup WHY I was unsubbing, so it wasn't like I just vanished or anything, but it was still flattering to be remembered and asked after more than two years after I left.

But I didn't see the symmetry in this until this afternoon. You see, I've been lamenting quite a bit lately to my writer friends about how I'm up to my eyeballs in everything. Kids are out of school, so home life is crazy. I've got teaching engagements with my day job almost every day this week and next. And I have to get ready to go to a wedding next Friday night and leave on a two-week family vacation the day after. I've had two books come out in the last two months, and I've got promotion to do.

Oh, and did I mention there's this little matter of three novellas I have to deliver to my editor by September 1? Two of which are no more than a third written, if that.

It helps to whine because I'm finding plenty of company for my misery. Others are in the same boat. Their work and personal lives are crazy. Their writing is suffering. They're hanging on by a fingernail and wondering when or if things will ever return to normal again. And it's awfully nice to know I'm not alone.

That thought made me remember why I haunted those parenting newsgroups for years and years. Because I didn't feel alone in what I was experiencing as a parent. Other people had been through--or were in the throes of--the very same struggles I was facing, whether it was a newborn who wouldn't sleep more than 45 minutes at a stretch (all 24 hours of every stinking day, and yeah, I had one of those!) or teething or potty training or five-year-old trash-mouth. I had company.

But I also remembered the most oft-repeated advice on those boards. Advice I myself gave to other parents as I gained knowledge and experience: "This too shall pass." And while I have to admit, that seemed like cold comfort when I was hanging onto my sanity by a thread because I hadn't slept properly in months (actually, I think there may have been a period where I hadn't slept properly in YEARS!), when the phase would pass and the NEXT problem would crop up, I'd always think, "Damn, they were right. It DIDN'T last forever!"

So today, I'm giving myself that advice. This too shall pass. I'll cope with what life throws my way, and before I quite know what happens, it'll be throwing something else at me. Maybe something better, maybe something worse, but definitely something different. And somehow, I'm finding that's pretty good comfort!

YOUR TURN: Life throwing you curveballs? Want to vent? Need commiseration? Bring it on!

Predictably Lost

In the last week or so, I've been watching Season 4 of LOST (at Maven Darcy's urging; she couldn't believe I'd let an entire season go by when it's on the internet), reading Julia Quinn's The Lost Duke of Wyndham, and gossiping incessantly with my girlfriends over men friends who have lost their minds. I've come to a conclusion.

Unpredictability is where it's at.

So now I'm wondering how we generate unpredictableness ourselves. In the romance genre, in particular, there are certain expectations our readers have that we are [required] to meet. There has to be an HEA. There has to be a love story. There has to be something about the heroine our readers can identify with, and true beta heroes are a tough sell. But within those basic (and arguable) confines, we have choices. Maven Darcy's outstanding post yesterday got me thinking [as I was watching an incredible and shocking episode of LOST], while we're busily and creatively ruining our characters' lives, should we also be looking for the most surprising way to do it?

At the same time, the reader also needs to feel like they can predict the book, to a certain extent. I think this is a cross between keeping the story realistic and logical and helping the reader feel smart. So no space alien babies, and the villian needs to make sense, at least in hindsight. But still. When we're plotstorming, it probably wouldn't go amiss if we asked our critique partners to fill in the blank. As in, "Can you guess what happens next?" If they say, "Yeah, he falls into the same cellar where she's being held captive and they make hot, sweaty under-the-ground love," then maybe that's not the answer. Maybe we should ask, "What's the last and/or craziest thing you would expect to happen next?"

But maybe, by virtue of them thinking it, that is the expected thing.

Agh.

YOUR TURN: Surprise or reader intuition? (That's code for predictable.) If you think you keep the reader jumping, how do you do it? Would you rather have a man you can predict or one who's constantly keeping you guessing? Oh, how'd that get in there...

What I'm Going to Do On My Summer Vacation...

So it's the last week of school here and I am sooooo ready for summer. Of course it's 50 degrees here in Oregon, so summer seems like an absolute pipe dream. I'm ready for summer because it should be warm (note, I like it warm, not hot), because I don't have to rouse my tired daughter for school, because I don't have to worry about doing homework or getting lunch made, because I can write more.

Are you laughing? I hear you laughing. Yes, I hope to get more writing done. I'd actually like to write the first draft of Their Wicked Bargain between now and September (maybe that's the pipe dream). Not sure I can make it, but I'm going to try. And I'm going to try an early morning/late night schedule. We'll see if it pans out and I promise to check in with you. If I don't, ask, okay?

In the meantime, we're headed to the beach for a long weekend on Friday with some friends. Can't wait. And I'm leaving my laptop at home. I could take it because the campground* has wi-fi, but it's sketchy at best. I took my laptop when we stayed there during Spring Break in March because we left the day I got the call that I'd finaled in the Golden Heart, and I could not be away from the computer. Pathetic, I know. But, I ended up frustrated because the connection was more dead than alive. Thank goodness for McDonald's and their free wi-fi.

We're starting our summer break with this camping trip and finishing it over Labor Day with another camping trip to central Washington (annual pilgrimage to the Gorge Amphitheatre to see the Dave Matthews Band).

What are you planning for this summer? Both vacations and other goals - anyone else hoping to write a book?

*Lest you worry about us camping in 50 degree weather, it's worth nothing that this is "camping." While we could tent, we rented cabins complete with beds (they supply the mattress pads, we supply the sleeping bags), microwaves, mini-fridges, TVs (with cable, of course), porch swing, fire pit, barbecue, and HEATER. Oh, and there's an indoor pool.

It's All About the Passion

There hasn't been a whole lot of writing in my life this week. Instead, my days have been heavily dominated by the day job, and particularly by a conference I attended Monday through Wednesday.

I have to be honest and say that when I was reminded that I had this conference to attend, I was far from thrilled. I have a lot on my plate at the moment, and taking three days out to go to workshops that probably wouldn't teach me anything I didn't already know (yeah, call me arrogant, lol) was hardly appealing. But, my company paid good money for me to attend, and so, attend I did. (Fortunately, it was held locally, so there was no major travel involved. Just the 20 minute drive to and from downtown San Diego on $4.20 a gallon gasoline. But I digress.)

Truth be told, there weren't a lot of workshops geared toward the things that I would have really liked to learn. Or at least, they weren't marketed in such a way that I thought they were. In all likelihood, I missed a bunch of sessions that were just not accurately described in the conference materials.

I did, however attend one really FABULOUS workshop on Wednesday afternoon. It was my last of the conference, and honestly, it made the whole experience worthwhile. Not so much because of the subject matter, for though I did learn some new things of value, there was nothing really earthshattering in the material he presented.

No, it was because the speaker was flat-out fantastic. Dynamic, funny, and absolutely PASSIONATE about the subject. And it occurred to me that this guy could have been reading the phone book aloud, but if he did it with the same charisma and passion, I'd have been hanging on his every word.

Of course, when I teach workshops of my own (as I had to do today), I try to bring excitement and energy to my performance. It's one of the reasons teaching is so exhausting! (And why, when I got home this afternoon, I pretty much collapsed in a watery heap and didn't do anything useful for the rest of the day.)

But sitting there listening to this guy talk about something that was arguably incredibly boring (performance support) and eating up every second of it, it occurred to me that a big part of what keeps me hooked in a book is that the author demonstrates the same kind of passion for his or her story in writing. And I got to wondering HOW the author is getting that emotional connection to the story across to the reader. Clearly, it's not with body language, tone of voice, or ad-libbing responses to the audience on the fly, all of which the speaker used in spades. Obviously, whatever an author is doing to communicate that sense of urgency to the reader is both deeper and more subtle than anything a presenter can do with a live audience.

I like to think I can TELL that the author *loves* the story he/she is writing, loves the characters, and is aching to share that love with me, the reader. But I'm not sure I can put my finger on what is telling me that. I know when I'm WRITING something I feel passionately about, the writing itself seems to come more easily and I'm almost racing myself to get to the end because I want to experience the story MYSELF. But I'm not sure if that really comes across to the reader.

My contemporary novella, The Gospel of Love: According to Luke, comes out from Cobblestone Press next Friday. (Yes, Friday the 13th. I promise, however, no one named Jason and no hockey masks appear in the story.) And I really felt a passion for that little book while I was writing it. It fell out of my head in a little over two weeks. Every day during that two weeks, I couldn't WAIT to get time to sit down at the computer and write more.

I hope readers of the story will feel that passion in the words I committed to paper (or screen, as the case may be). And I believe fervently, with every fiber of my being, the loving the story you're writing is the first and most essential ingredient to producing a marketable manuscript. After all, if you don't love what you write, why should anyone else?

YOUR TURN: Do you think you can tell when a writer is passionate about his/her story? And conversely, do you think readers can tell when YOU aren't? How?

Never Thought I'd...

This week, I decided to check out online dating. I have several friends who've been doing it for years and while I suppose that might mean they haven't technically been successful (as arguably, were they "successful" they would not still be dating), they've had enough harmless fun with it that I figured it couldn't hurt to find out what it's all about.

What's our motto again? Oh, research. Right. Research.

My first order of business was to create my profile. Should be easy, right? I have pictures of me and I know me and I know how to click a check box. The "What is your favorite thing to do?" text boxes should be a cinch. I mean, I write romance novels. I convince higher-ups to fund my crazy ideas all the time. Surely, between those two talents I must be able to write something that will generate a little interest in me.

Never, ever underestimate how difficult it is to write an online dating profile. On the one hand, you're selling yourself. Should be easy -- just list your good points, right? But on the other hand, you're paying money to find people who like you just the way you are. Why jeopardize that with a varnished version of the truth?

I've browsed perhaps 50 men between the ages of 26 and 35 and I have to tell you, I'm surprised at the number of intelligent, well-though-out profiles I've seen out there. I'm not sure if this is a function of the type of people who are most likely to a) be able to shell out the money for an arguably overpriced online dating site b) be interested enough in finding a relationship to shell out money for an online dating site or c) meet the education level and income level I've narrowed my search to, but I'd say if nothing else, there's good news out there for women everywhere. Not every single man in the world just lurched out of his Xbox cave, grunting and dragging pin up calendars behind him.

The only downside to the online dating thing -- okay, actually there are two -- is that if I try to narrow my search to the few qualities I consider absolutely imperative, I match exactly...zero men. Now, that is partly because lots of people don't fill out all their fields, and you can't match with a blank field. But that's also partly because let's face it, we can't always get what we want. Sometimes what we think we want is wrong. Isn't that how every romance novel relationship starts out, anyway?

I'm not saying one needs to settle to find a match (I would never, ever say that), but just that it might be a better approach to look for a little chemistry to start things off. I'm not speaking from online dating experience here, as I just started three days ago. But scanning a list of potential qualities really doesn't give me the same thrill reading a really well-written, witty, engaging, slightly sarcastic profile (uh, with a hot picture) does.

I have no idea where I'm going with this.

YOUR TURN: Have you ever tried online dating? Blind dating? (I haven't yet...better put that on the list of things to do!) Speed dating? Are you a stickler for some quality in a mate? What world views constitute no-gos for you? Can I deduct my online dating fee in my taxes if I write a book about it?!

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Writer's Life for Me!

First, let me award B.E. Sanderson a signed copy of Stephanie Rowe's Sex and the Immortal Bad Boy for her hilarious title offering last week. Though I won’t be using Give a Lord a Bone as an official title, picture it as the subtitle. I did come up with a tentative title: Their Wicked Bargain. I also came up with a title for book three that I absolutely adore: His Wicked Heart. So, yay on both counts! Do let me know what you think.

I’ve been suffering from writer’s life this week. What is that? Please contribute to the following:

Angst

1. Have I edited my WIP enough?
2. Will my CPs love my WIP as much as me?
3. Is the hero’s arc strong enough?
4. Why won’t everyone leave me alone so I can write?!
5. Your angst here

Excitement

1. One of my CPs cried reading the end of Her Wicked Ways!
2. I can’t wait to start my next book in earnest!
3. Can’t wait for my agent to read HWW!
4. RWA is going to rock!
5. Your excitement here

Fear

1. What if I can’t write another book as quickly and efficiently as HWW?
2. What if no one ever buys my books?
3. What if I get a ginormous zit right before the GH ceremony (legitimate fear, people)?
4. How will I afford gas? (I assume this is everyone’s fear, but perhaps not.)
5. Your fear here

One thing I really love about the writing community is everyone’s willingness to share their angst, excitement, and fear. They’re the things that unite us as writers and as human beings. So, come on and let’s angst together.

Sometimes the Writer's Life is Like an Episode of Lost…

Please welcome today's Guest Maven, Amie Stuart.

Complete with the flash-forwards!

Thanks so much to the Mavens for inviting me! I’m celebrating the release of NAILED this week. NAILED is the single-title erotic romance I turned in January of 2007 to fulfill my first book contract. Eighteen months later, I’m hard at work on SCREWED (the follow-up) on the cusp of finishing up my second contract. Hard as it is to believe, NAILED was two books ago and SCREWED is slated for a Spring 2009 release--there’s no telling what pies I’ll have my little fingers in come nine months from now, which goes to the point of my post.

In this business, when so much of what we do may not see the light of day for months or even years, it is difficult to live in the moment. You find yourself distracted and pulled fifty different ways by contracts and negotiations and trying to write new projects to sell.

I distinctly remember coming back from RWA last year. I’d finished up that first contract, and parted ways with my second agent. Despite the fact I was HORRIBLY sick, I was TERRIFIED I wouldn’t get another contract offer, let alone find another agent! At the encouragement of a friend, I found myself querying new agents and gently nudging my editor weekly about my option book between naps and doctor visits. Lo and Behold, Audrey came through, and I did get another contract. I was so relieved. Except now, I was sick AND under deadline.

I learned a very important lesson, though and as I sit here, near the end of the second book of my contract…I’m getting ready to say something that might get me hit or burned at the stake or stoned. I’m getting ready to say something that just nine short months ago, I would have never believed I’d say.

I’m looking forward to NOT being under contract.

*ducks*

Now, I know there are probably some unpublished authors out there wondering what I’m smoking. I can assure you that I’m perfectly sane. You know all those folks who say that selling to New York is simply trading off one set of worries/issues/problems for another? They’re right. And believe me, I’m not complaining. I know just how lucky I am, and there are writers who would do some mad voodoo to trade places with me, but I’m ready to get off the merry-go-round for a while and catch my breath—-it’s been a whirlwind two years filled with writing, struggles, growth and a search for some balance in my life.

One thing I have learned: Variety really is the spice of life. In the interest of my writer’s sanity, I can’t keep writing the same type of books over and over. To that end, I have a southern fiction proposal I want to polish for my agent. I have a futuristic I want to finish writing because my agent is currently shopping it. I have a contemporary western series I want to go back and rework and see if I can sell to New York, and I want to write some more shorts for Cobblestone’s Wicked line. All things I can’t do when I’m under contract (and, in the interest of full disclosure, I’m not a fast writer: I have a full-time dayjob and I’m a single mom with two kids, three cats, a puppy, and a house).

But before I take that much-anticipated break, I have a book to finish.

The first three chapters of NAILED are here. And just for fun, I’ll share a snippet from my current work in progress, since it’s the follow-up to NAILED.

“You ran off my bodyguard.” Tish propped her hands on her hips, his wig dangling from her fingers.

“Sorry?” he offered up lamely. He wanted the wig and wanted away from her.

“Sorry...my ass! You’re going to take his place.”

“What?”

She gave him a deadpan look that made his insides shrivel. “Or I call my dad.”

“I have to—“

She snatched her cell phone off the bed and wiggled it at him, a sly grin on her face.

“You’re shitting me.” His shoulders slumped. She had him. She knew it and so did he.

“Never would I shit you,” she drawled. And she looked serious too.

He had to give it one last try. “I really need—“

“I’ll do it. I bet Daddy will be thrilled to know you’re still after Mark.”

Not near as thrilled as John’s dad. The only reason Mark was still alive was because Tish’s brother, Jim, had stepped in and saved his sorry ass before John could finish the job.

“Aren’t you a little old for a bodyguard?”

“No!” Her brows drew together slightly as she morphed from indignant to concerned in seconds. “How old do I look?”

“Old...enough.” Please drop it, please God, let her drop it.

“How old?”

“Old...e-enough.” He nodded for good measure. Drop it, Tish. Drop it now.

“Specifically...” One of her pretty little eyebrows arched.

Shit. “Twenty...” six, seven, and eight clicked off in his head but, “--Thirty,” came out of his mouth.

She gasped, her upper lip curling in horror.

“-ish,” he added hopefully. “Thirty-ish.”

“I’m twenty-seven, and in case you didn’t get the memo, my father’s a powerful man.”

“I know who your father is.” John nodded wondering what the point was.

“He has enemies.”

“I can imagine.”

“Which is why you are going to take Mark’s place. Uh uh--” She waggled a finger at him before he could tell her no. “I don’t go anywhere without a bodyguard. And my best friend is getting married, so for the next four days you will be my bodyguard. Comprende?”

“Com—“ he nodded glumly, “-yeah. Just—“

“What?”

“Nothing.” Don’t ask me if your ass looks fat because I can’t lie. Not that Tish’s ass looked fat. She actually had a really nice heart-shaped ass that made him think things that could get him killed, but the last girl he’d shared his little “No Lying” problem with had tortured him with questions about her ass, her clothes, her friends, her job, anything she could think of...then dumped him when the fun had worn off.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” She held his wig out to him, letting it dangle from her fingertips. “Go get your stuff.”

He snatched the wig from her hands, turning and using the mirror to, once again, get it on straight. “There’s no reason—“

“There’s every reason. And since you ran my escort off, you just became my boyfriend.”

“What?” he shouted.

“You heard me.” She settled her hands on her hips again. “By the way, what’s your name?”

Fucked? “John...John Collier.”

YOUR TURN:Now, I’m going to open up the floor to questions. Ask me anything. But I’m also going to ask you a few…if you’ve sold, how has your life changed? If you haven’t sold to New York, what do you think will change, what do you look forward to?

Trending

We all read blogs, talk with fellow writers, devour books on craft, and listen to RWA conference lectures over and over -- to name a few of the more obvious resources at our disposal. What I'm wondering is, how often does any of that affect our technique? Do we read others' how-tos and test out the ones that appeal to us, or do we mire ourselves in "I could never do it that way" and "that would make me crazy"?

(Un)specifically, my family recently had a huge email thread on exercise going. Exercise is one of those things we all know (and have always known) we should do, but most of us don't do it. I bet there are as many ways to implement exercise into one's regimen as there are people in the world. My brother pointed out that many of us benchmark what other people are doing and try to implement that routine with disastrous results. He hypothesized that it can be more self-defeating to try to do it someone else's way than to not do it at all. It's a matter of ownership. As long as I'm not trying to do it your way, I'm doing it my way (which may be not at all). But as soon as I try to do it your way, I'm inherently not doing it my way, and my brain (often) immediately starts fighting back.

He suggested it might be more productive to think about and truly understand your personal goal and your reasons for wanting to reach it than to ask around and find out what other people are targeting and how they are working to reach it.

Now, you may be thinking that this post is, in fact, yet another example of how someone does something in a way that doesn't feel natural to you...just sit back and enjoy the irony :-) I happened to think his opinion was an interesting take on self-improvement. Do you copy the NYT author who writes 4 pages a day, or do you seek out your own internal rhythm and work with it?

One last thing before I head off -- and this is totally unrelated, so bear with me, but it was a huge epiphany for me and I've been dying to post it forever: In the last month or so I realized something about losing weight. I'm serious here...even though it's simple math, the logic escaped me.

They say you need to burn 500 calories a day to lose a pound a week. That has always made losing 20 pounds seem insurmountable to me. But then I realized what was wrong in my thinking. You don't burn 500 calories a day this week and 1000 calories a day next week, i.e. keep off the 500 you lost last week plus take off another 500 calories this week. You just trend at -500 calories and the old calories never come back. Obvious, right? But if it were truly obvious, people might not have so much trouble keeping the lost weight off. In other words, you don't have to necessarily work harder to lose more weight. You just have to have patience...lots of it.

/End remedial anatomy lesson

YOUR TURN: Which do you prefer? Doing things your way or benchmarking others? A little of both? Do you like to have a starting place then adapt it to your personal groove? Am I the only one who ever made losing weight more complicated than it has to be?

How do you define success, redux.

Last week, Maven Erica had a fantastic post asking the question, "How do you define success?" The gist of the post was that we can't and shouldn't define our own success by anyone else's. This really got me thinking and while I'm not sure I've come to any conclusions or have any grand statements on the matter, I thought I'd share :)

One of the things that's difficult about writing is that there's always a goal out there in the distance, always another rung on the ladder or another bar to hurtle over. Suddenly it's not just "write the book" it's "write the book, revise the book, research agents, query, get requests, get representation, sell, sell for more, get tours, make lists, sell again, sell more books..." Every time you reach one milestone, another appears in the distance and rarely do we stop and say "great job on climbing that hurdle" and instead we take off full speed to the next.

I think it can be too easy to fail to recognize your own accomplishments in this business. I think it's too easy to think "when I get an agent, then I'll know I've succeeded" and then once you get the agent shift that goal to "when I sell, then I'll know I've succeeded" without recognizing the success you've already had. This is one reason I feel it's so important to find that feeling of success within yourself rather than needing outside validation. That's why ultimately you have to write for yourself and your own love of it rather than to reach these external milestones.

Another issue with defining success in writing is that everyone succeeds in such different ways. In most other professions there's a defined-ish path to success. For example, being a lawyer my path is laid out: I toil as an associate for however many years billing X number of hours and collecting Y% of my hours billed and then I'll make income partner whereupon I'll work however many more years building a suitable book of business until I make equity partner. I can look at those around me who have succeeded and copy their paths and there's a good chance that I can follow in their footsteps.

There's no way to do this in writing. You can take 10 different highly successful authors and trace the steps they took to get to where they are and even if you could copy those steps, there's no guarantee you'd end up in the same spot. Just because Author A becomes a NYT bestseller after being lead title from B House doesn't mean that you're guaranteed to become a NYT bestseller if only you can be lead title from B House the next year.

I think that's why success has to be a deeply personal question for everyone. I love to look at other author successes as motivation. I love hearing about the success and reading about how the author got there (especially because there are so many paths). But in the end, I think it does come back to enjoying what you do and being happy with where you are.

The Road Not Taken

Earlier this week, I got a call that gave me a moment's pause, wondering if I'd made a poor career decision last summer. You see, it was an editor calling to offer me a contract for Carnally Ever After, which I'd long-since contracted to Cobblestone Press. I submitted the story to said publisher back in April of 2007 (ed: not 2006; I'm chronologically-challenged!), and when I didn't hear one way or the other for a few months, I got antsy and submitted it to Cobblestone, never dreaming I'd get a contract offer from them within hours of submission. I figured I had plenty of time to wait for BOTH publishers to get back to me. When I hadn't heard anything from the other publisher after a full six months had elapsed, I figured the rejection dropped into my Spam folder and I'd failed to rescue it.

Anyway, my initial response to this call was to want to kick myself in the head. The publisher in question is a "big name" publisher, and there's no doubt I could have earned more money on the story if I'd contracted with them. Why, oh why, didn't I wait longer? Have more patience?

And then I kicked myself again because, duh, if I hadn't contracted that story with Cobblestone, I'd never have bothered to write the sequel. I'd never have met Deanna Lee and Emma Petersen and Amie Stuart, all of whom were instrumental in my decision to submit that sequel to Kensington Books.

So, as it turns out, what was objectively a "wrong" decision (to go with a lesser-known, smaller publisher without waiting to hear from the larger one) was actually the right one. I couldn't have known any of this back in June, though, and none of these possibilities factored into my decision. I simply decided that I'd found a reputable publisher who loved my story, and I was willing to forego the chance of hooking the "bigger fish" when I already had a solid bite on my line.

Wow, am I glad I did! If I had waited, there's no telling what would have happened, of course. It's possible I'd have written something instead of Wickedly Ever After that would have hooked an agent or editor. Or not. It's impossible to know.

As writers, I think we angst a lot over our decisions. Do I write this story or that one? Should I submit to this agent or that one? Should I sign with this agent or not? And so on.

But I think maybe we worry too much. Even if you make the "wrong" decision, chances are good it'll be a learning experience. It will probably lead you places you'd never have tried to go otherwise. And that, in the long run, it will contribute to your success in ways you can't even dream of when you make your choice.

YOUR TURN: What was the hardest career decision you ever had to make? Did you make the "right" one or the "wrong" one? Or are you still trying to figure that out?

10 Sure-fire Ways to Drive Maven Lacey Crazy

Yesterday, I was chatting with a new acquaintance of mine, trying to nail down a mutually agreeable time we could meet up to play some pinball. Now, this person is notorious for no call / no show, so I wanted to be *sure* the time was agreeable. I didn't stop to wonder why I needed to know this person would show. To me, that was obvious. It's why they're called plans. You know, you plan them, and then they happen. Work the plan. Any changes to the plan need to be communicated in a timely fashion, to all parties, and should certainly be kept to a minimum. After all, changing the plan confuses people. It's frustrating. And if you can't look forward to what you're going to do at the end of the week, what's the point of going out on Friday, anyway? I mean, that IS the point, right? Good times will be had by all. You know it for a fact.

Never say there could be another point of view.

Are there people who actually thrive on not knowing what their Friday night will hold?

Apparently.

Who are they?

People *I* know?

I don't think so...

My friend IMed back: Never make (P)lans with a (P)erceiver! :-)

I IMed back: What is this crazy talk?

What I got in response sort of annoyed me. Nobody wants to think of herself as a (J)udger. How terribly unflattering.

So I googled it, having heard of the Myers Briggs assessment before, even if it didn't trip up instant recognition at the first mention. (I even wrote a blog about it a year ago.) Now, I've taken other types of assessments at work, as requirements for certain group projects. (See blog above.) I know my type. And no, it's not always flattering. But it's me and it makes sense to me and the rest of you...stop being so scatter-brained!

Well, being the type of person I am, I never really read through any of the other possible assessment outcomes. (And literally, that fits perfectly with the type of person I am.) Imagine my surprise when I read up on Perceivers. What craziness is this? People who don't wear watches!? People who thrive on chaos? People who celebrate their ability to generate creative ideas but shirk the responsibility of implementing them?! People who don't like to make plans way in advance, for fear of limiting their options as things come up?

That's insanity.

Or is insanity someone like me repeatedly trying to get someone like that to behave in the same way I expect myself to behave? Being the type of person that I am (and yes, this is in the type description nearly verbatim), having gained this new insight, I immediately revised my expectations so as to avoid generating the same unwanted outcome in the future. And, naturally, I phoned a friend to discuss. Because being the type of person I am, I like to talk my issues out, not sit alone with them and percolate.

Which basically started a flurry of interpersonal assessments that resulted in my reading a few other possible outcomes. You know, the ones I never had any interest in before. (Why? Well, if you guessed that perfectly matches my personality type...you're probably paying attention :-) ) All this reading up on various personality types -- ones that are eerily, freakily close to reality; so much so it's hard to believe anyone was able to nail down my and my friends' psychosis in so few words -- made me think about those authors who swear by Sun books or Sign books or that one book with all the hero / heroine combinations, whose name I can't remember (and as my personality type, don't care enough to look up because I trust someone else will supply the minutia). I've clearly never cracked one open before. I never thought I needed to. I mean, I've known enough people in my life to paint a few personality traits, right?

Or is that just my personality type talking? The one that says I can see the big picture, so why stress myself with the details? Or is getting the combination of your character's personality too much like having the answers to the test -- is it cheating to be able to conceive of how their internal clockwork ticks if you haven't even had a chance to get to know them yet?

YOUR TURN: Have you or do you use a personality book to help you craft your characters? Have you taken a Myers Briggs assessment (or other assessment), and if you have, were you surprised -- or freaked out -- by the results? Have you and your spouse / significant other / close friend ever taken a test together? Are you a Judger or a Perceiver?