Crossroads

I’m starting a new book right now, or at least sifting through three solid ideas to come up with what I want to write next.
Apparently this time it means writing the first chapter and a rough plot outline for each idea to really get a sense for where I want to go with this next book.

For me each new book is a crossroads. I have to decide going in what I want the book to be, and how far I want to take certain elements.
I remember at an editor panel, one of the editors (St. Martins) described the kind of books they were looking for as really books. She explained she was looking for books that were either really, really emotional, or really, really suspenseful, or really, really, sexy, but they had to have a very strong footing in one thing.
At the time the explanation just frustrated me. Of course we want our books to be really emotional and sexy and suspenseful, shit, we’re trying to be everything.

Now I get it. Very few writers can be everything, but we can choose to do something really, really well. This kind of relates back to Molly’s commitment post from a couple of weeks ago.

I also know as an unpublished author, if I write a book and have the good fortune to sell it, I need to know I can write several more in a similar style, so I had better love writing this kind of book.

So as I sit down to start a new book, I have to figure out what kind of book I’m going to write and commit completely to it.
Five books into this whole writing thing, I have a strong idea of what elements I’m better at, what kind of stories I like to write.
So if I’m going to write dark and suspenseful, I had better make it really, really dark and suspenseful.
Because that’s the kind of book I want to write. Because in the end I’d rather get rejected for going too far, rather than not going far enough.
That is, if I have to get rejected.
At this point, I’m not thinking rejections, I’m just thinking about writing a book that’s better than the last and wholly, completely represents the best writing I’m capable of producing.
I'm also thinking about Razor and Battlestar Galactica. Did anyone else see it and love it as much as I did?

My secret guilty pleasure

Ok, so Maureen and I watch America’s Next Top Model, which is definitely a guilty pleasure, but we’re pretty open about it, so not so secret.

But the one show I watch and love, and then could watch again, is What Not To Wear. I was told by a friend(Molly actually) that after a few episodes it gets really boring. I was hoping that would be the case.

Except, No. I could watch it day and night. Seriously, there’s something wrong with me.

Talk about a formula. Person can’t dress. They get made fun of. They get told what to wear. They go shopping. They then get to go shopping with the hosts. They get their hair cut, make up applied and there you go. An hour of my life – lost.

I’m still trying to figure out why I love it so. There are almost never any surprises, nothing unexpected ever happens.

The hosts are witty and fun and never mean-spirited. They give you $5000 to shop for a week in New York with in my other life would be my two best shopping buddies. They give you a makeover and I’m guessing in between you get to sleep.

Sounds perfect. Where do I sign up?

Maybe that’s why I love it, the fantasy of sleep and shopping and a really good haircut.

But it’s also the formula. It’s really comforting. I can turn on the show, relax, not think too much and just enjoy.

Nothing wrong with that when the formula is done really well, be it reality TV or books.

Random thoughts to end the week

My blog posting this week is a random jumble of thoughts. Apologies in advance if it doesn’t make any sense.

Publishing is a tough business right now. Publishers are buying fewer and fewer new authors, and too many published authors are getting swept up under the carpet.

I read on another blog about another E-Publisher going under. That, along with Triskelon’s demise is going to leave a lot of authors scrambling to reclaim the rights to their books.

We know first hand at Drunk Writers that having an agent is no guarantee of a sale, even a good agent, and that getting published is hard, and staying published is even harder.

I’m painting a pretty rosy picture here, aren’t I.

But there are really positive things happening. If the success of the JR Ward series tells me anything its that there are no rules except the happily ending rule, and that only has to apply to the central couple of the book.

Now is a great time to throw everything out the window and write something different and dramatic without even a thought to market. Which is really freeing.

How do we Drunk Writers remain optimistic? Well, Molly sells more books, so she’s got a reason to be optimistic these days, so let’s take her out of the equation.

First and foremost, we write the next book. We sit in our local pub and talk storytelling till anyone not a writer would be snoozing in their beer. We meet with our critique group and get honest, straightforward evaluations of our writing that help us get better.

And we take the criticism and use it to get better. If I didn’t think each book was in some way better than the last, I think I’d have to give up writing altogether.

I learn something new every time I talk with my fellow drunk writers, every time I go to a critique group meeting, every time I write a new book.

And not to sound all Pollyanna, but that’s what keeps me going. I love the challenge of creating a 400 page novel out of literally nothing and knowing it might not be pig swill.

That’s where my random thoughts took me this week. What keeps everyone else going, other than wine, beer and cider?

Why aren’t more people watching Friday Night Lights?

I’m a bad blogger, I know, but I literally couldn’t think of a single writing topic this week, until now.

I know we blog incessantly about Friday Night Lights, and Dexter and Battlestar, but we do this because (I’m talking for Molly and Maureen here) we are consistently blown away by the storytelling on these shows.

This week on Friday Night Lights, they took the pimply, lanky, homely Christian Hard Rocker and made him heroic and wonderful and made the gorgeous bad girl believably fall in love with him. And then they gave him his dream moment and directly afterwards, tore his world apart.

And I loved every moment of it.

And if that isn’t reason enough to watch it, how about for the alchoholic bad boy, who is the most soulful character on the show.

Or, for my favourite reason, the best written, possibly ever on TV, married couple. The coach and his wife. Brilliantly played by the actors, but the truthful, authentic moments the writers are throwing on the screen between these two consistently blow me away.

And not to offend anyone, but freakin’ Ghost Whisperer is kicking its ass in the ratings…

I mean seriously…

The information reveal.

Officially Life is my favourite new show of the Tv season and the only one I’m going to continue to watch.

I have finally given up on Bionic Woman. It was only pigheaded stubbornness that kept me watching this long anyway.

Why Life? It has it’s weaknesses, the case of the week isn’t terrifically imaginative and the lead character’s zen can be wearing. But as it goes on, the writers are doing some really, really smart things.
Well, the smartest thing they did was cast Damien Lewis in the lead role. Even with all the zen, he’s been able to project a sense of ruthlessness behind everything and this week, it really came forward and in a good way. We got a real sense just exactly how 12 years in prison had changed this guy and as much as he’s tried to hide it, he’s a different man. And not for the better and Lewis can convey that the character knows it.

The writers are taking their time revealing everyone’s demons. They’ve been doing it in quick scenes. One of the better ones was when the lead character’s partner gets covered in heroin during a bust. Her reaction tells us exactly what she is, a recovering heroin addict. And four episodes later, we find out she fell in love while undercover and he was a heroin addict also. And it was almost a throwaway line, not a huge reveal and not an information dump. Just enough to really whet my appetite to know what happened.

The Lewis character has this mission, that in some cases, the writers only hint at, and the times when his ruthlessness comes to the forefront are usually underplayed, and perfect. Each episode we learn something new about his character and the writers are trusting the audience to be intrigued enough to continue watching and patient enough not to want to know everything up front.

I really like that trust. I don’t like to be told everything about a character up front, be it movies, tv or books. It requires more trust between the audience and the writer, but as long as the payoff is worth it, then I’m in all the way

And in this show, I believe the payoff is worth it.

And I’m taking notes, because the writers are making all sorts of smart choices about what and when to reveal in terms of the overall mystery of who framed the hero and about the main characters.

I'm rambling and its the wines fault.

I’ve had two glasses of wine, so this post is going to be short and not all together coherent.

Friday night lights is over for the week. God, I love that show. I love that almost every time they show the coach’s wife, she has her newborn sleeping on her. (so true to life) I love that they’ve focused in more on Tim Riggins this year. All the better to get that female, 18-65 demographic and the way the coach furrows his brow almost all the time. The dead body storyline, well the show has earned my trust. I’ll follow them almost anywhere.

But this post is not about our collective Drunk Writer’s obsession with Friday Night Lights, or that Razor( a sort of spin off Battlestar Gallactica movie is supposed to air Nov 24th and oh, does it look amazing), nope, been thinking about Maureen’s post, and publishing and choices and most of all persistence.

I think a lot of writers feel left out in the cold. (remember now, two glasses of wine, which at this point in my life, make me seriously tipsy) they’re banging on doors and getting rejected, or worse, completely ignored.

It’s stupid hard to take a rejection and smile through it, worse still, go on to write the next book. Sometimes we just want to hear yes, something I completely understand.

And the one phrase that keeps coming up(I know, I’ve used it) is write a better book. Which I do agree with. Everyone, published, aspiring, and anyone in between, we need to get better with each book. So sure, but if writing a better book was the only answer, than Judith Ivory would be so much bigger than she is, Connie Brockway’s historicals would have been bestsellers, and Laura Kinsale would own at least three publishing houses.

Sometimes a better book isn’t enough. You need luck and timing as well. Two things that increase exponentially with the number of books completed and queries on the market.

So what kind of a drunk writer post is this. The truest kind, where the writer is maybe a little drunk. But hey, write the best book you can, because really, the next book might be the one.

I love wine.

More New TV and why mystery is so important

I’ve kind of being looking for this years Friday Night Lights, so I tuned into a lot more new shows than I normally would.

Some, because they looked cool. That’s my excuse for Bionic Woman and I’m sticking to it.
Some because they were recommended by TV critics, Chuck, Reaper and Life and the rest of the new shows, I’m waiting to see what stands out as the TV season progresses and perhaps I’ll just buy the DVD.

Nothing so far has come close to matching my old favs, including FNL, or Battlestar, (as an aside, entertainment weekly had a season 4 preview from on it’s pop watch section a few days ago. Looks AMAZING)

Chuck and Reaper I’m giving up on. Both shows are remarkably similar - nerdy guy, in a career slump is thrust into an unbelievable situation and he has to rise to the occasion every week. Each one has a funny sidekick/best friend and a love interest he’s too shy to declare his feelings for.
The best thing about both are the supporting characters. In Chuck it’s Adam Baldwin, amazing in FireFly, and in Reaper it’s the Devil. Both almost make the show, but not quite.

To be honest, I find the shows boring. We know each week, how the show is going to go. Each main character is sweet, and in their own way, heroic, and their character arc is slim to none, and there’s no discernible mystery, other than who is going to be the bad guy each week.

Then there’s Life. The weekly case has proven weak, but the main character, there’s a lot of mystery there. The over all mystery of who framed him, and they are doing a delicious job of feeding small clues in to each episode about what happened.
There’s the mystery of his relationship with his lawyer, what happened between him and his accountant in jail, and why he trusts his accountant(a man charged with fraud). We get glimpses into the rage underneath the zen mind set he’s trying to adopt and small glimpses into how jail changed him.
It could be due to the actor, but there seems to be so much to the character simmering under the surface, so much complexity and I love that the writers didn’t feel the need to spell everything out in the first episode, unlike Chuck and Reaper.

So that’s it. The one new show I’ve added to my list, unless anyone has any other recommendations…

POV and secondary characters

Been thinking as well since the last bout of Drunk writer talk and Maureen’s great post on Wednesday.

In romance, or women’s fiction, where deep POV is a given, how do we underwrite the big emotional scenes? Especially those wonderful black moments.

Sometimes the most affecting black moment is when we see the devastation, and the emotions, but we aren’t in the character’s head. Which sort of goes against one of the more simple POV rules. The POV of a scene should be the character who has the most to lose.

But those big dramatic scenes, if the writer has done their job effectively, we know how the character who faces the black moment will feel. We, as readers, have been anticipating this moment, and seeing it, slightly removed, rather then going through each and every thought in the character’s head, can be more powerful.

So how do we do this?

One thought I have is through our secondary characters. They can give us a POV that is slightly removed. They can show us the devastation.

But this only works if the setup to that big scene has given the reader a really strong understanding of the stakes for the main character, what they have to lose, and how it will affect them.

Then we don’t need to tell the reader what they’re feeling. We just need to show the reader and she’ll fill in the blanks, doing a much better job of it.

Just a thought. One I might try and play around with more in the next WIP.

Let’s talk more TV

The new shows:

Thanks to the wonders of PVR’s, I’ve managed to watch Chuck, Reaper and the Bionic Woman so far this week. Still haven’t gotten to Life, which is waiting for me.

I have not a huge amount of spare time, and I have to fit anything new into an already packed schedule. Some shows that are on my must see list.
Friday Night Lights, Heroes, Dexter and The Office and I’m really debating on House. My love for Hugh Laurie is enduring, but unless they take the show somewhere new, I might be out.

Chuck and Reaper are similar in tone, nerdy cute guy in incredible situation, chuckles and thrills ensue. But they both do this well. They’re likeable if not really memorable, although both have their high points.
Chuck has Adam Baldwin(Firefly) and The Reaper has the devil and various demons.

I’m strangely meh on both, I think it’s because they haven’t posed enough questions. The setup is all there, but there aren’t enough mysteries presented. I feel like I know how each show is going to go.
They should take lessons from Heroes on how to pose questions that will keep a viewer hooked. I love how Heroes answers one question and then throws two more out.

Bionic woman.. eesh.. what a mess. It was like they shot a four hour show, picked scenes at random and threw it together. The dialogue was laughable, and some of the acting was borderline awful.
Except one of the main guys from Battlestar is involved, as is Katee Sackhoff, (who was the best thing about the first episode) and they just brought in one of the producers from Friday Night Lights.
Can the show be saved? Some optimist in me hopes so. Plus it performed pretty well in the ratings..
Not quite the juggernaut that Dancing with the stars is, but that’s a whole nother blog..

I didn’t watch Journeyman, although I love Kevin McKidd from Rome. Not sure about the other new shows..

Writers need to be selfish

Phew, it’s been a crazy day so the blog is late. But the subject matter is timely.

I’m a mom of two kids under two, so time, any time, to shower, dress, eat, is hard to come by. Finding writing time requires strategy, perserverance and occasionally outright bitchiness.

And I have to admit, with laundry piling in the corner, a bathroom that might soon be condemned, and toys scattered everywhere I sometimes have to shut my eyes as I fumble my way to the computer for what some days is no more than half an hour.

This blog isn’t a poor me, blog, promise, but I decided shortly after my first child came into the world that writing was necessary for my sanity and I would do whatever necessary to ensure I had the time.

So my husband does the cooking, our garden is a wasteland of brown grass and bare patches, and my house is a disaster and I’m okay with all of it.

Too often I speak with women(mothers are the worst for this) who give up all their free time, all of it. I know women who write in the wee hours of the morning, because that’s the only time they can find. They’re busy taking care of children, husbands, their parents.

I have a friend who does all the cooking and cleaning and childrearing because her husband gets grumpy when he has to help out. Needless to say, she has zero energy to write in the evenings.

Screw that! It’s time to be selfish. It doesn’t mean ignore your kids, but perhaps the laundry. It may mean hubby has to watch his favourite TV show by himself, or the kids have to do their own homework.

Start with carving out an hour a day. Protect it with the ferocity of a lioness guarding her cubs. That hour might extend into two, it may not, but at least we’ll have an hour.

Forget the 24 hour sacrifice for our families crap. Make it 23 hours, or less, if possible.

Hopefully it’ll be habit forming and if we’re really lucky, someone else will clean the bathroom.

The difference between run of the mill and success.

Went to a great TRW workshop recently, about empowering character’s emotions by Margie Lawson. Really great, would definitely recommend her workshops to anyone out there.

One of the things that really struck me was her rule about clichés. Basically, don’t go there and if you must even approach one, turn it on its head.

Cliches are just lazy writing. This hit me like a ton of bricks(ha ha!) when Margie brought it up. She talked about clichés in the context of the actual writing, the words on the page.

But then it got me thinking about the clichés that exist in the subgenre of romance.
The Duke of Slut in the regency romance, and the bluestocking heroine. These are clichés, because they’ve been produced so often.
Same with the evil villain in romantic suspense. You know, the villain pov where he stalks a victim, and we as the reader get to see everything but his identity and perhaps real insight into his reasons why.
In paranormal Vampires are headed in the direction of clichéd.
And in chick lit, it’s the ditzy but sweet heroine who’s obsessed with shoes and shopping.

I see a cliché like the above and I’ll usually put the book down right away. But turn one of those clichés on their head, and I’ll sing the books praises.

Not to repeat, but JR Ward with her unique take on vampires and amazing world building, took her vampires way beyond cliché.

There’s a lot of speculation out there on what it takes to sell as a new author. The market is tight, lots of competition for fewer spots, but I think most editors would love to see a fresh take on an old cliché.

It’s not too big a risk for an editor, but still compelling to read, it feels fresh, but they know how to market the book.

Sounds easy. Sure, if you can come up with one. Me, I’m still trying..

World Building – part deaux

Molly, speed reader that she is, already blogged about one of the best elements of the JR Ward book. Ward sets a tone, and keeps is really consistent throughout the entire book. It her world, and at no point does JR Ward deviate from it. It’s really effective and great to read. She doesn’t wimp out on her heroes. The book starts dark, violent and fast paced and ends that way.

World building is something every writer has to do. Ok, that’s a duh statement. But for a long time, I thought it was something only fantasy and paranormal writers had to do. Come up with new worlds, or new concepts, and while those writers have to explain their worlds more, every writer out there has to create their world.

We do it through tone, the details in how the characters see their surroundings, but also how they think of the people and things around them.
One of the movies that does this really well is the Departed. I know it’s set in Boston, and the city is well represented. The world in this movie is the two separate existences of the police, and the mob. The world the two main characters live in is tense, completely on the edge, where one bad lie could have really serious consequences. Everyone immersed in these worlds seem to exist on the edge, with hair trigger tempers and one foot in the grave.

Joss Whedon is someone who world builds brilliantly. Check out Serenity to fully understand how he can create a world that is completely unique, through dialogue, a ship that’s almost a character in its own right and again, tone.

Really great world building will pull me into a story, and keep me there long after the plot’s fallen to pieces and the characters have become cardboard. But usually the great world builders don’t fall prey to these problems.

What’s in a hero..

Would love to talk more about the brilliance of Judd Apatow, but nothing comes to mind that hasn’t already been said.
Except we need more movies with Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann.

I’ve been thinking about heroes lately. It’s actually come up in Drunk Writer talk. Molly made the point that the subgenres, specifically romantic suspense and paranormal allow for more latitude in the hero, basically, heroes can be very alpha again.

I definitely agree. Been reading JR Ward’s first of the brotherhood of the dagger series. A really good vampire book for those interested. She world builds really effectively in this book, and creates, dark, sexy men with silly names(Tohrment, anyone?)

Her heroes are definitely alpha. They wear black leather, listen to rap, are tortured and unhappy and wouldn’t hesitate to kill anyone who got in their way, human or otherwise.
They remind me a little of some of Iris Johansen’s historical heroes. Dark, tortured men who had few scruples, at least at the beginning of the books. Laura Kinsale does this brilliantly with her heroes as well.
A hero as an assassin, one who isn’t filled with much self-loathing at his profession. Loved it.

Give me a hero who’s dark. Legitimately dark, with deep character flaws, and show them to me. I’ve read too many Duke of Slut books, with men who besides their predilection to sleep around at the beginning of the book, turn to kittens as soon as they clap eyes on the heroine.

I’m looking for a hero who isn’t heroic at the beginning of the story. They may have heroic tendencies, but they should have a character arc.
JR Ward’s success tells me I’m not the only person looking for this, but I also think a percentage of the romance reading public would hate it. They want their heroes, well, heroic, right at the beginning of the book.

What are the character traits that would turn you, as a reader, off?

For me, there are few. Perhaps outright cowardice, harming children, really detestable stuff, but the rest is fair game. Make him interesting, charismatic and redeemable and I’m in, hook, line and sinker.

Harry Potter

You had to know one of us would get around to blogging about it sooner or later.

Like the rest of the world, got my copy of the 7th book the day it came out. Unlike most others, it took me a few weeks to read it, due to being seriously busy, occasionally sick and somewhat sleep deprived.

I love this series. Probably my favourite was the 4th book, which I read in a day and half. But having finished the 7th, I feel satisfied. The series and I can’t give away any spoilers, felt complete, I closed it with a happy sigh. Did I love the last book, not with the same fervent attention I had given the first four books, but I did really enjoy it.

One day, I’d like to reread all seven books and try and really figure out what it is that JK Rowling does so well. Some day far in the future.

My initial impression is her pacing. Except maybe for some excess in the 5th and 6th books, each scene adds something new to the plot. Even though the books are long, they don’t feel that way when you read them.

Her plotting is also excellent. I rarely know exactly how things are going to go and those lovely surprises are a rare treat these days.

How did everyone else feel about the 7th book?

Does writing lessen our enjoyment of reading?

This is a question that comes up pretty frequently in our little Drunk Writing Circle, and amongst other writers. Do we read differently now that we write and have to analyze our own work and that of others.
It’s also something the Smart Bitches Who love Trashy Novels recently posted on. Check out their website, they are tremendously entertaining. www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com

The short answer on this question is YES.
I read much differently now and am much harder to please. Cliché’s bug the hell out me, I really notice repetition and where before I would read a ho hum book all the way through, now I toss them aside the moment I lose interest. I’d just rather be writing than read something not completely worthwhile.
But when I read a book and don’t notice scene structure and don’t take note of POV, or the intricacies of plot, I am thrilled in a way I wasn’t before I became a writer.
We all have them, the books, or writers who can sweep us into a story and we forget everything but the characters and what might happen next.
One writer who almost always does this for me is Susan Elizabeth Phillips, I can never analyze her books, even on multiple readings, because I get too caught up in the story. Is this because of voice, or plotting, or an amazing skill level I can only gnash my teeth in envy over, (probably all three).
Because this happens less often these days, I treasure these writers and their books. Anne Stuart can do this on an inconsistent basis, Maggie Osborne, JK Rowling, absolutely, and then there are my favourite books, but that’s a much longer post.
There are times I mourn those days of carefree reading. But I’ve come to realize it’s a side effect of writing, unavoidable I’d guess and a small price to pay.

Writing faster

I have a really limited amount of time on my hands these days… largely due to my expanded family. Whoever said newborns sleep a lot should be shot..

So when I do have a free moment, I have to think carefully about what I want to do. The usual answer is work on my current WIP. Which is what I’ve been doing.

What I would love to know is how to write faster. I really have to work on this, because right now, a book is taking me close to eight months start to finish and I really have to shave two months off that.

Lots of people write several books a year and raise families, so I know it can be done. I think it’s a lack of focus on my part. I sit down to write and my mind wanders and I take breaks and check email, and all of a sudden my time is up, and I only have four pages written in two hours.

Molly is great at writing fast, three books a year, and she has said what helps her is having a computer disconnected from the internet, along with deadlines.

Other people leave the house, go to a coffeeshop where they have nothing to but work. This works really well for Maureen.

Me, I work in spurts. I have great weeks, and really pathetic weeks. Some weeks I get to the computer and can focus on what I'm doing and get tons done, other weeks, I find surfing the net irrestible when I should be writing.

What does help me is having a specific goal when I sit down to write. Knowing exactly what scene comes next, and what needs to be accomplished in the scene. If I sit down to the computer with only a vague idea of what comes next in the book, I'm screwed.

Does anyone have any other ways to keep focused and write faster? I'd love to hear them.

Control:

If there’s a theme for the week here at Drunk Writers, it has to be there’s little you can control in this business except the writing, your own promotional efforts and your knowledge about the business.

But that’s actually not true. As unpublished authors, we have all the control.
(stop snickering in the wings, it’s true)

Picture this. I finish the best book I’ve ever written. I think it’s fantastic… (this is very hypothetical)

So I draw a short list of agents to send it to. I have the control initially in choosing which agent I would like to represent me and my work and in a wonderful, perfect world, more than one wants to represent the work, then I get to choose which one.

Secondly, the writer does have a significant say over where our agents send the book. Hopefully we have the right person representing us, so we trust their judgment, but again, this is ultimately our choice.

And we can say yes or no to offers.. (again, stop snickering… I know this is stupidly hypothetical), but I have heard of authors having a choice between publishers if the project is really hot.

Once the publisher takes over, we definitely lose control, over covers, back cover blurbs and the promotion the publisher chooses to do, but if we chose well, then there should be trust in our editors.

Now I know what I’ve just described is highly unlikely.. and when the rejections start coming in, hard not to leap at the first offer that comes along. Hell, did it myself, and came to regret it. Leaping at the first agent cost me time, too much time.

But I did learn to take back some control. I don’t have to sell the first book I write, or even the second, or third, but I do want to feel like I have control. I have a short list of agents, it changes, but it’s not huge. They are all well established and well regarded. If I don’t snag one of the short list with my current project, then I’ll try with the next book.

It might sound foolish to some, but I firmly believe no agent is better than a bad agent.

What’s harder for me is keeping confidence when getting rejections. But here what we all need is an unshakeable faith in our writing and what we choose to write. Not to the point where I don’t listen to criticism, but just a belief that my flawed heros and heroines are interesting to more than just me, and my stories are worthy of publication on my terms.

And if I don’t get there with the current book, then I’ll get there with the next one.

Because it starts and ends with the writing.

Hurry up and wait.

Been racking my brain to figure out what to blog this week. It’s been a really busy week in my other life, so haven’t even been thinking about writing much.

But from the few conversations with writers I’ve had lately, one common element has surfaced more than once.
The long, long waits we have to endure.

I’ve had fulls with agents now for over 8 months, longer perhaps. I’ve asked for updates and been ignored, and while normally that would frustrate the hell out of me, that I’m working on finishing my current WIP makes the wait much easier.
Nothing seems to happen quickly in this industry.

Even friends who are agented have to endure waits. There’s the wait for their agent to read the manuscript, send it out to editors and then wait for responses.
With the right agent, the waiting for responses won’t take too long, but this too can vary, I know of a few agented authors who waited for responses from editors for up to 6 months. And that’s a good agent.
My own personal experience is, if an editor doesn’t respect an agent, the submission is treated basically as slush. In which case, why have an agent… but that’s a whole different blog….

Even the published authors I know have to wait, months sometimes, for their editors to approve proposals, approve finished manuscripts and yet are given very little time to work on art sheets, line edits.
But that’s the nature of this business. I imagine when you become a bestselling author, wait times dramatically reduce..

How do I deal with waiting? Well in my stupider days, I allowed myself to become distracted, didn’t write much, and basically sat and day dreamed about the ‘call’. Now I write and concentrate on the next book I’m sending out. It helps me deal and allows me to do something positive.

How do other people deal? Anyone know of those wonderful stories where an author got an agent and a book deal with in a week?

Just curious, if anyone else’s experiences are different from the ones I know of..

My favourite ladies…

As the title might suggest, I’m blogging about heroines.

Been thinking about my current WIP and my heroine lately. She feels a little bland to me. Serviceable, definitely practical, and I’m wondering what I’m going to do to spice her up.
To be fair, she’s not the central character, she’s part of a subplot, cause the romance is a subplot, a major one, but not the core story.. Which could either be really interesting, or me shooting myself in the foot when it comes time to market this book.

I write historicals and while I try and make my heroines fascinating and proactive, they are limited by the restraints of the time period, as well as my own shortcomings as a writer.

I’ve been thinking lately of my favourite heroines. Here’s my list, in no particular order.

1) Anyone who knows me is going to see this coming. Ellen Ripley, Alien, Aliens. I loved her especially in Aliens. She is strong, vulnerable, maternal and completely kick ass. On top of that she’s smart, resourceful and I could go on and on, but she might be my favourite female character ever, and considering the time period when the first Alien came out, one of the earliest true screen heroine’s kicking butt.

2) Buffy. Can’t have this list without Buffy, one of my favourite all time TV shows and a great central character. She became so much more than the Valley girl stereotype in the movie, but again, strong, kick ass, and again vulnerable, with a wonderful sense of humor.

3) Starbuck – Battlestar Galactica – I love that the original character was male and they made him a chick. A chick who’s the best pilot in the fleet, drinks and swears harder than any male on board the ship, and can take a punch with the best of them. I feel they created this character and the last thing they did was define her gender. Then they layered in a sad backstory of abuse and neglect by her mother that explained her self-destructive behavior. I love the contradictions in her, the way she can be cutthroat, but also completely loyal.

4) Jenny Jones – The Promise of Jenny Jones – by Maggie Osborne. I love,love this book, because of Jenny Jones. A large, mean tempered(by her own description) foul mouthed, ungraceful and completely loyal and honest woman who hides her vulnerabilities behind a hard façade. To me Maggie Osborne creates the best heroines out there and Jenny Jones is my favourite of hers.

5) Anita Blake – Laurell K. Hamilton – I loved the first ten of these books, loved the stories, the world building and the sexual tension, but none of these would have worked with out the main character. Anita Blake is capable and straightforward, caring and loyal. A great series till it went off the rails.

There is a theme to my favourite heroines. They all in their own way kick ass. They are all strong, if not physically, then mentally and they all have a deep vulnerability under their hard exteriors.

I believe it’s the contradiction of the strength and vulnerability that makes them so fascinating. They are not all immediately likeable, but they are interesting and intriguing and a benchmark for me.
Benchmarks are important for writers. We need something to use as inspiration, to reach for, and these are my heroine benchmarks.
If I at any point come close, I’ll be a very happy woman.

Writing time.

I met with a friend for coffee one evening this past week. This is a rare occurrence for both of us, as we both have young kids to get fed, bathed and put to bed and by the time this is done, it’s usually 7:30 or eight.

But we carved out the time, which was really nice. Not only to spend some time talking about adult things, but also to discuss the time constraints involved with our lifestyles.

This woman has a full time, busy job, comes home, takes care of her kids and if she’s lucky, the work/mothering portion of her day ends around 9pm. Then she’s back up in the morning at 5:30am.

And she was berating herself for not writing as much as she would like to. My response was ‘when’. By the time her kids are in bed, she’s exhausted and has zero mental energy.
I have a slightly easier schedule than this woman, lunch hours, a couple more hours in the evening, which I waste watching of all things, American Idol. But I’ve sort of rearranged my life to free up these hours. Taken less challenging jobs, I don’t work overtime, and I have a really helpful husband. But not everyone has this luxury.

I know there are tons and tons of working women out there trying to find time to write, some successfully, usually at the expense of sleep, or relaxation time. Others less so, and maybe like this friend of mine, feel guilty at how little they get done. Her wording was ‘fraud’ to think of herself as a writer and to go to our local chapter meetings.

What makes it worse are the stories out there. Women with five kids and a full time job writing five books in two years, full time mothers writing four books a year. I bow to these woman, but man are they setting the bar high for the rest of us.
Hell, all I have to do is look at Molly. Who has written three books in the past year, as well as take care of her infant son full time.
These are amazing examples and while inspirational, can also make the rest of us mortals feel guilty.

That’s a lot of pressure on top of what is already a full day for so many women. Screw guilt. Do what you can, for the love of it, but ignore the stories of what everyone else accomplishes. I’m trying to, not always successfully.

This isn’t a free ride for everyone out there to surf the internet and not write(I’m lecturing myself at this point…must stop surfing the web…), but let’s cut ourselves some slack. We can’t be superwomen, it’s exhausting, mentally draining and how can we be creative when all we can think of is getting another hour of sleep?

Some excuses are valid.