Chevy Stevens Guest Blog

Hi. Maureen here. :)

A month or so ago, one of my writer friends, debut author Chevy Stevens, was in Toronto on a pre-release promotional tour (yes! cool, right?), for her July 2010 release STILL MISSING, and we managed to grab dinner together. Among other things, we got talking about all the weird misconceptions that people have about writing and publishing. (And all the helpful suggestions they offer like, "You should go on Oprah!")

Now that I'm thinking about it, people assuming that authors always get sent on book tours, never mind pre-release tours, is a misconception I've dealt with. ;) But at least now I personally know someone whose publisher has done that! I also had the privilege of reading Chevy's ARC and let me tell you, this one's worth all the buzz and is sure to hit the lists. She just got starred reviews in Publisher's Weekly and Library Journal, too!

But one of the misconceptions Chevy's come up against is: if you know how to write, you don't need anyone else's input. To which everyone who is in the business would say, whaaat??? This came up when the Globe & Mail did a lovely feature on her and she mentioned using a freelance editor before seeking an agent. There were a few random bloggers and commenters on the Globe's site who clearly had no idea how publishing works (and/or were jealous writers.) Anyway, I thought it might be fun to have Chevy stop by for a drink to talk about it.


Hey, Maureen! Thanks for having me. This is so cool—I’ve been reading you guys for years! Ah, yes, misconceptions. I think the one that gets me the most is that if you work with a critique group, hired a freelance editor, or revised for your agent then it’s no longer YOUR book and you didn’t actually write it yourself, which makes me scratch my head. Okay, it makes me do a lot more than that, but I’m on my first drink. Wait until I get warmed up!

They’re aren’t many trades that don’t require learning from someone or getting feedback. Carpenters apprentice before they start building houses, plumbers too. They may have a natural aptitude for construction, but they still have to learn the skills. Great artists and magicians apprentice. My accountant's firm has a system where everything is checked over by another pair of eyes—twice. Olympic athletes have trainers, coaches, managers, nutritionist, and physical therapists. No one asks them if they really deserved to win the gold. Even sports teams have coaches. They run plays, study tapes, practice over and over again. On the occasions I’ve hired a personal fitness trainer I work harder and see better results. There’s something about having someone standing over you yelling, “One more time!” that really fires me up. In movies there’s the writer, the director, and then even an actor may bring something to the table. Chefs give people a taste of their creation, then adjust their ingredient accordingly.

Even when your final draft is bought by a publisher, your editor has feedback. Then there’s a copy-editor and after that, a proofreader. And you know what? Stuff still gets missed. I had to make two corrections last week because of errors readers found in my ARCs. One of them was a medical mistake that no one caught. You can’t see everything that’s wrong with your work. Sometimes you’ve been living with it for too long and other times it’s because you only see things from your own life experiences. Until someone points out that your character sounds like a real bitch when she says X, Y, Z and people are going to want to stab her with a fork, you might have no clue. Getting feedback can teach you a lot about yourself and your way of viewing the world.

I don’t work with a critique group because I live in a small town and don’t know many people working on novels. I also like one on one attention. I can be demanding and impatient. That doesn’t always work out well with writing partners! If I was to use an analogy, I’d say for me writing a book is like having an idea for a house, then building it and decorating it. When it’s as perfect as I can get it, I invite a couple of people in to tell me if I missed a spot, if my ceiling is sagging, or if the front door is crooked. I’m careful whom I invite as the wrong person can make me feel like shit about my house, and I don’t want someone who suggests I knock it down and build a condo because that’s what they secretly want to build. I also like having someone who can explain why it’s a bad idea to hook the toilet up to the sink and how I can get it to flush faster!

Once my beta readers have given me their feedback, I step back and think everything over. My natural reaction is always to want to slam the door in their face, so I take a moment, grab a tea, and when I’m ready, I go to work. A good freelance editor, beta reader, or critique partner might make comments like, “The kitchen seems too dark,” or they might brainstorm with me and say “orange” would look good. Then I might think, “No, I hate orange, but I agree it needs to be brighter so I’m going to go with yellow.” Then when I’m finally satisfied I’ll invite guests in. But I’ll still run around trying to straighten pillows and open curtains. I’m crazy like that. :)

Feedback is just that, feedback. You still have to find your own voice and figure out what works best for YOUR story. But getting feedback can sometimes help you figure out what the true essence of your story is, what is really, really important to you. It can be agonizing in the process. I once had someone suggest I get rid off all my shrink intros and just tell my story in real time. I considered it, because the intros weren’t working. I talked it over with a few people, tried to rewrite the book a few different ways, cried, ate too much food, and ultimately took six months, or so, to rewrite the intros so they were stronger.

There is no wrong or right way to write a book. If you want to use a critique group, go for it. If you want to hire a freelance editor, that’s cool too. But if you hire a freelance editor, do your homework. Ask for a sample and testimonials, check them out on Predators and Editors— be smart about it. I would recommend finding someone who doesn’t just point out flaws but teaches you why something isn’t working. Then learn from them. It’s also important they give you positive feedback or there’s no light at the end of the tunnel! Not all editors, critique partners, or beta readers are created equally, so be clear what you’re looking for and what works best for you. They’re a relationship like any other. You still have to know yourself, know what you need and want, and be willing to do your part.

Okay, I’m thirsty now. Is it time for another drink?

Great observations, Chevy. And to answer your last question, it's always time for another drink. Especially when talking about writing and publishing. ;)

Psych Me Out!

I have read three books in the past few weeks that I've just adored: The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry, Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane and Heartsick by Chelsea Cain. They're all very different books, although I suppose you could argue that Shutter Island and Heartsick are both mystery/thrillers, but one is a contemporary creepy serial killer book that takes place in Portland and the other is a 1950s mystery that takes place somewhere outside of Boston.

What actually connects the books is that they're both very psychologically intriguing. What actually happens in the books isn't all that interesting, what it means to the people in the books is FASCINATING.

I'm almost done outlining my new book. I want to make it as psychologically complex and layered and intriguing as those three books. It's not all about plot twists and surprises, although those are definitely there, it's about something deeper and truer.

Wish me luck!

Forcing Ourselves To Grow

Yet another way in which this business is unlike any other business. Improvement is largely self-driven. It can be inspired by competitive jealousy or even a big contract - but taking the steps to actually make ourselves better at what we do is something WE have to do ourselves. Editors help, don't get me wrong, but often they help after the fact, because sadly my editor doesn't sit at my kitchen table with me when I'm sweating through chapter 7.

Critique partners, for me, are the biggest help, but once again, they're not drinking cold coffee with me in the middle of day while I pull out my hair - wish they were. But they don't.

So, it's up to us. It's up to us to think of better and bigger ideas, to write faster and more efficently, to create characters that force us to be on the top of our games. All, while actually finishing the book - which is hard enough.

I'm thinking of this because I just wrote a super in what seems like ten minutes. I'm not kidding. Ten minutes ago, I was at page 60 and this weekend I typed the end. I was telling my husband this, proud of myself, because you know ...it's hard. And he asked me - "is it good?"

The answer is probably not. But the downside of forcing myself to grow as a writer is that whatever little bit of perspective I had on my work - what little bit of confidence I had cobbled together from bits of scrap and pebbles is gone and I have to figure it out all over again. Can I write fast and still put together a clean rough draft? Who the hell knows? I just finished the thing ten minutes ago.

Writer's retreat

First off, my apologies, because of some drunk writer talk, I got four hours of sleep, and the coffee hasn't quite hit my system yet, so there will be typos and wierd phrasing. (it was totally worth it)

We at drunk writers have been throwing around the idea of a writer retreat for a while now. A place where we go for a few days, to read, chat and possibly drink. And last night we hammered out some of the details.

Molly's main criteria is a place where someone brings us drinks.
Mine is somewhere warm, because to me there is nothing more decadent than lying on a chaise, in really hot weather, and reading.
We threw around the possibility of Vegas, then an all-inclusive somewhere south and sunny, and finally Maureen mentioned the idea of a spa, which is particulary intriguing.

Molly and I have young kids, so who knows when this will actually happen, but it's really nice to think about and plan for.

Any other ideas? Anyone out there have an ideal destination for their writer retreat?

Drawer Books

What are drawer books you ask? Those are the books you write but your editor/agent/whoever felt that it wasn’t quite the right market/right book /big enough – you fill in the adjective – and you stuck it back in the drawer. These are books you loved, invested in and thought were good enough but these are the books that in the end got rejected.

Now don’t get me wrong, on some level I love drawer books. I have like ten of them and if I ever become an NYT Bestselling author I’m going to make a killing off of books that I’ve already written.
But here is the problem. As a reader I can smell a drawer book from an established author ten miles away. (Okay not really – I have to start reading it first – but then I can tell.)

The writer in me can usually appreciate these books. They give you a sense of the author’s growth. How they started smaller and eventually made their way bigger. I like to see that. I started reading Nora in single title and eventually went back to her category stuff. I enjoyed seeing the originations of the character types she would later perfect. Good stuff.

But what I don’t like is when they package and try to sell it to me like something new and for more money than the first book! I really think there needs to be a disclaimer. If for no other reason than to protect the author.

Now we’ve all read amazing debuts by authors followed by so-so seconds. But usually this is a direct result of the time the author had to write book one vs. the deadline the author had to produce book two. I get that and forgive them for it. As readers we want that follow up and we want it fast. So if the second or third book in the sequel seems a little rushed I’m still willing to give that author another try depending on how well I loved the series. Of course after a while if I don’t see them pick that pace back up then I get a little weary. I understand deadlines and I understand when something hits you have to act fast, fast, fast. But after a while a writer should develop a groove.

But then comes the drawer book. That sneaky book that doesn’t relate to the series, isn’t part of a new series, but instead stands alone and when you read it it’s like a shadow of that first debut you fell in love with.

When I read them it reminds me how smart agents and editors are. I just read what I’m SURE is a drawer book of an NYT author. It’s the author’s voice, the style… but it just doesn’t compare to the debut.

I think as writers most of us know that we usually do improve. My guess is this author wrote this book and garnered a lot of attention from the publishing world. But the agent or editor said… close but not close enough. Let me see what else you got.
You know what… the agent or editor was right. This book is an example of someone on the cusp just waiting for that right that story. And sucker that I was I paid twice for that drawer book than I did the original. Damn those sneaky publishers!

Character, Plot and Dragon Tattoos

I went to see The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo tonight and it got me thinking about plot and character, again.

On the absolute plot level, this film (and I assume the book, too, but I haven't read the book), is a who-done-it type murder mystery with a thriller/suspense edge. But it's so much more than that, and I couldn't help but think of how it rises above other popular books/movies in that same ilk like, say, The DaVinci Code.

Both had an intriguing mystery to solve, both have danger and life-threatening situations, both have chills and thrills, but the big difference is that Dragon Tattoo also has interesting characters.

Really interesting characters, whom we really care about, and worry about, and have unanswered questions about.... And the backstory for the one character is held back until virtually the end of the film but we're so fascinated by her (or at least I was) that I actually wondered at one point if maybe I'd be okay if we never found out what had happened to her. I actually started to think that they were going to hold that info back... because I knew there was a sequel (for the book, anyway).

I just read a bit of the description of the second book The Girl Who Played with Fire and it does have the same characters and it does sound like we find out more about her... Hmmm... Thinking I need to buy this book now. Too many books, not enough hours in the day.

Anyway. Good film. A few scenes were hard to watch, but a highly entertaining film.

On another aside... I don't know the story of how/when this bestselling book got optioned... but I also thought it was bold to do the film in Swedish with subtitles... After the book took off so big in its English translation, I'm sure there was huge pressure to do the film in English or even move it to Maine or someplace like that. Glad they didn't.

Je ne sais quoi

I've been doing some contest judging. I don't do a lot of it, but it's a volunteer something I can do at my leisure (sort of) so I don't feel like a total parasite on the bum of the many RWA chapters that help and sustain me in many ways.

The easiest entries to judge or the really great ones and the really sucky ones. It's fun to go through a terrific entry and mark places that totally rock. It's fun to write gushy notes in the comments at the end about what a pleasure it was to read the entry.

It's not as much fun to mark up the sucky ones, but at least I feel like I can offer some constructive criticism so the person has a chance to learn and grow. It's satisfying to be able to pass on some of the things that I've learned over the years.

The ones I hate judging are the ones that fall somewhere in between. They're good, but not great. There's nothing glaringly wrong, but there's nothing fabulously right, either. They're often missing that certain something that makes me fall in love, that certain Je ne sais quoi that takes something from ordinary to extraordinary.

I can't figure out how to tell someone how to do that (or how to do it myself ) and I so wish I could. It would make the process much easier.

My Cleaning Lady and A New Bantam Deal....

So, Lisa, my cleaning lady also happens to be a nanny, so a few weeks ago, amid a terrible freak out that I was never going to get any work done - I hired her to babysit my daughter for one morning a week. This stressed me right out - I like Lisa, but I was a little convinced that she was going to kidnap my daughter and sell her on Yonge Street. I'm crazy, but I think it's a common fear anytime you hire someone to look after your kid.

Now, at the same time a proposal I had written was garnering some interest. And then, suddenly it was garnering A LOT of interest. It seemed for one dreamy weekend like I was going to have the job of picking between two interested houses, but at one house the last person that needed to read the proposal before they could offer went on vacation. The other house made an offer but my agent wanted "everyone to be able to come to the table." So, on Tuesday it was all going to shake out.

Tuesday was also the day that Lisa was going to take Lucy for the morning. So, Lisa and Lucy trundle off to the park and I call Maureen and Sinead a thousand times to ask them what they would do if they had to choose between houses? Editors? Promotional promises? Money? Maureen had firm arguments for both sides. Sinead said Bantam. Every time.

My agent calls to say that Bantam wants a pre-empt on a two book deal. I don't have to make a decision! I'm so sick to my stomach with giddiness and nerves I can barely stand it. I giggle and stress out and call my husband, call Maureen and Sinead, my folks.

But what's really crazy, in this business where success feels like luck, I suddenly felt like the other shoe was going to drop. Like for this good fortune I was going to have to pay some price. And then I realized that my daughter was still out with Lisa. And what did I really know about Lisa? Really? Who hires thier cleaning lady to look after thier toddler? Am I nuts?

I stood on my front porch in a weird panic and I answered calls from my agent to hammer out delivery dates and other exciting things and the whole time my heart was in throat.

And then, they arrived. Lucy was filthy and happy. Lisa had bought her piece of pizza. And there it was - the best part of this ridiculous day - a two book deal with Bantam and my daughter didn't get sold on Yonge Street.

Who else hates the word discipline?

We talk a lot here at the Drunk writer blog, and more so over beers at our regular pub, about what makes for great writing. Seriously, we have analyzed the different components every which way.

We love to take apart our favourite books, figure out what maked them work, and hell, this is fun, usually because we're doing it over a few drinks and because it's how we learn to improve our own writing.

It's the fun part of writing. It's definitely one of my favourite parts. But discipline is the fundamental foundation writing is built on.
Discipline is what seperates the 'I'm writing a book when I have my weekends free again' people from the writers. Because aside from cool conversations over beer and sitting with a glass of wine, while you figure out the main points of a plot (seriously, I think I might sound like an alcoholic ) most of writing is one word, than the next, and then the next.

And then when you've put 90,000 words into your computer, you get to read them all again, and re-write many of those words. And then once you've done that, you get to re-read it all over again, and possibly again, re-write some of those words.

It doesn't sound sexy, and while a lot of this process is exhilerating at times, it can also be tedious. For example, reading all 90,000 words out loud, because it's the only way I can really catch all the basic mistakes in wording.

Discipline is opening the computer at 9pm at night, while Supernatural is on, or editing for twelve hours in a coffee shop because home has too many distractions, and not enough coffee.

It's the discipline that allows us to sit and talk at excrutiating length about pacing over beers.

And it doesn't matter where it comes from. Real deadlines, self imposed deadlines, treats, the disapproving faces of your critique partners, not being able to watch any of your favourite shows until you finish the bloody book.
It all works and it's all worthy.

And if I ever want to see Supernatural again, I have to go back to work.

Networking

I was recently on a panel of romance authors at a library event in my area. It was the first time I had ever been asked to do something like this. I felt very official sitting up there on the podium. Like I had really arrived! Stephanie Doyle - author!

But it’s not like they asked me because they knew me or my work - I just happened to know one of the organizing authors. And it occurred to me how little time I spend networking and putting myself out there at events like this. I was told to provide a picture – I didn’t have a good one. (That’s since been corrected.) I was told to bring some promotional goodies… huh? I brought some books instead.

I’m an absolute loser when it comes to this. I know other people get published and right away get a picture, pens, bookmarks and business cards. It took me 5 conferences to learn that when somebody asked for my “card” they weren’t asking for my day job business card. I used to think what the heck do they want that for? It wasn’t until that 5th conference that I actually looked at what I was getting in return that I realized people were handing me “writing” business cards. Ohhhhhhh. I get it. (This has also since been corrected.)

Anyway one of the questions asked of the panel was how did you get your start. Two of the authors said that networking played a crucial role for them in getting published.

As the anti-network person I thought how? You write a book, you send it in, someone likes it or they don’t. But they gave a really compelling argument. One mentioned that they started with the three C’s. Contests, conferences, and critique groups. That it was important to have face time with editors and agents. And two of the authors actually told stories about how after meeting their editor at a pitch session, it eventually led to a sale.

I felt like a jackass. Not that I didn’t get my start that way. Just that here were these other authors - some with fewer sales than I had - who had gone out to libraries and bookstores, had been asked to speak on panels and had been to conferences around the country.

Who had stuff. While I was totally oblivious to all of it.

So for the “networkers” out there - educate me. How do you network? How do you get invited to conferences? Where do you go to get all the stuff? And when you have it who do you give it out to? But more importantly do you think it helps? Do you think it’s making a difference in your career for those published and not published yet?

I love me my RWA

Yet another short post today. Sorry, but I just got back last night from the Desert Dreams RWA Conference in Scottsdale.

It was fantastic. The organizers did a terrific job. The hotel was lovely (okay, lunch was questionable, but really, what do you expect?). There were tons of interesting talks and people and I feel all jazzed up. This is what I love about RWA. I mean, really, I got to hang out at a cocktail party chatting with Linda Lael Miller and then she mentioned it in her talk at the lunch the next day! How cool is that?

The whole thing felt especially meaningful to me since the very first RWA anything I ever attended was a Desert Dreams Conference back in (I think) 1993. I'd read about the conference in the Arizona Republic and as I'd been trying to write a romance novel, I decided to go. A bunch of people had these little stickers on their name tags. I asked what that was about and found out that it means that those people were published authors. I remember thinking, "I want to come back to this conference with one of those on my name tag."

Now I did! Well, that don't do stickers anymore. It was a ribbon, but it felt good all the same. I am reasonably certain that I would not have gotten published without what I learned through attending RWA conferences and workshops and meetings. It felt good to be in a position to pass it along a little.

Smoochies, RWA! Big Hugs, Desert Rose Chapter!

Taking Stock

So, there I was the other day, on my hands and knees on the kitchen floor using a wipe - yes, a DIAPER wipe - to clean up the mysterious sticky brown spots by my sink when I realized, while this wasn't rock bottom (I love my life far too much to be bothered by some diaper wipe house cleaning) it certainly was strange. And sitting there, next the the crushed blueberry that I haven't bothered to pick up for the last week - I took a quick stock of my life:

I love, absolutely love being a mom, wife and writer. But there are days - many of them, for each - I want to get in my car and drive to my mommy and let her take care of me.

Susan Elizabeth Phillips is about as comforting and page-turning as a writer can be and those two traits are hard to achieve in tandem.

I will never get to that Tuesday morning spin class. Never.

I have no problem saying no to the first beer, it's the second and fifth that get me in trouble.

Should my trusted writing friends get kidnapped by a Columbian drug cartel - I would ransome them. Maybe quicker than I would my husband....

The words SPRING MAKE UP TRENDS are so foreign they're like an alien language.

The self doubt that plauges me as woman, plagues me as a mother and a writer. It blows, but I really think I'm just going to have to live with it.

If I drank as much water as I do coffee I have no doubt but I would be healthier.

I want to pay people to do most of the things in my life so I can have more time to drink coffee.

Spartacus is as close to a penis as I get sometimes....

Where are you guys? Similar boat?

Tension, or why American Idol sucks this season

American Idol, so boring right now. And it's not, as some are saying, because the participants can't sing, because they can, go back a few seasons and listen to the top ten. These guys aren't awful by any stretch, but sadly, they are consistent.
Crystal is always going to be great, Lee probably too, Siobhan is going to scream at some point, and Casey will sound generic, but in tune.

No surprise from week to week, and no tension what so ever.

To me tension is the glue that holds any book together. Tension is created by not letting the reader know what is about to happen, but they know that it is of crucual importance to the POV character, and when it does happen, everything will change.

It involves everything - emotions, pacing, plotting, these are all the groundwork of creating tension. And when it's missing, that's when things get seriously ho hum.

There has been a serious lack of tension in the romances I've read recently. Sexual tension can only take you so far, and when added to a predictable plot, well, it's gets a little dull.

But there should be a new Sherry Thomas book released soon, which is great, and a couple of more books are getting serious buzz and I just cracked the spine on Eileen's book, so I'm excited to read that.

And, Tru Blood is coming back soon.

Summer should be good.

Crap!!!!

I screwed up. I messed up my pre-post option and it posted today instead of tomorrow.

I'm sorry Maureen!!!! Sorry everybody! Just wait and read it tomorrow!

You gotta have an arc... you gotta!

I have been majorly impressed with two television shows recently as they dealt with the romance of the lead couples. Glee being one (but I don’t want to talk about the episode if not everyone has seen it).

And the other is Bones. You all know I’m a fan. This week in the pivotal 100th episode our hero admitted his feelings, which we the audience have been privy to since the season premier.

The admission of love, the grab and kiss and then…. BAM! He was denied. She didn’t want a relationship with him.

Now for those who don’t watch the show – her prevailing arc has been she was abandoned by her parents who left her at age 15 - thought dead. Her 18 year old brother couldn’t take care of her. He left her to foster care, where we know she was abused in some of the homes where she stayed. A special child (she’s a gifted savant), she shut down all emotional connection with people and used her highly developed intellect as a defense shield.
In a very emotional scene she tells him she can’t love. She doesn’t have an open heart. And she doesn’t want to hurt him by failing to love him the way he deserves.

But what I loved more than the drama of it – was that it was so true to her character. She’s not done with her arc. She’s moving forward. For the past 5 years we’ve seen her developing this connection with the hero. We, the audience, can see by her actions that she’s in love with him. This season we see her touching him in simple ways.

But when pressed - her fear of abandonment kicked in… the way it should.

Am I worried that the relationship component of this show is over? No way. I trust the writers implicitly here because they’ve been so true to sticking to these characters growth arc that I know in the end they’ll get me to the Promised Land. (Although I’m probably going to have to suffer through the hero getting a new girl friend to get there.) But I have trust. This wasn’t the end of their chance. This was the first crack in her defense shield. If I was writing the next few episodes I would paint her as more agitated. She would have fits and outburst at odd times. The kind of thing to show us that she’s breaking down.

This is good solid relationship writing. The couples have internal conflicts that are legitimately hindering their chance at a relationship despite how deeply they love each other.

Every editor/agent/critique partner will say it. Your characters must have internal conflicts, not external. And they must grow over the course of the story. If you’re a writer and you’re asking yourself how do I do this? Watch Bones reruns from the beginning and start watching Glee now. (I trust those writers too.)

So many times movies and TV romances fail in this component. They set up the relationship – play, tease, fight, play tease, fight and then finally consummation. Inevitably people will complain that the “spark” is gone.

The creator for Bones rejects what he calls the “Moonlighting” curse. And I agree. Done right, the relationship after consummation can be just as interesting if your characters are still growing and working on that arc.

So you gotta have one. Who are your leads? What are their issues? Most people find this part easy. But how are they growing beyond just falling in love. The love in a romance is a given. It’s what your characters are going to change about the way the act, think and feel that makes them able to handle that love… that’s the challenge.

For the Love of Crit Groups

I'm thinking about Molly's post on Monday and wanted to explain what she quoted me as saying... But first a word about critique groups. I know some writers hate them, and I think there are bad situations. Situations where critique partners are biased or want to rewrite books the way they would have written them, or when writers are too timid to stand up for themselves and end up trying to please everyone and by listening to all the advice, end up with either a hodge-podged mess, or a something so tamed down and homogeneous it's boring.

But crit groups can also be fabulous. And I think all writers are smart to get feedback on their writing. I've been talking about this with writer friend Chevy Stevens a lot lately, and she'll be doing a guest blog very soon on the topic. (Next week, if I can get my act together.) Basically, she had a lovely article written about her in the Globe & Mail and then was attacked by a few crazy bloggers, (whom I won't link to, because they're crazy and don't deserve any more attention), who seemed to think her book had been written by committee, because she talked about her editorial process in the Globe article and they seemed to think that getting editorial input or critiques or even input from your agent meant the author wasn't doing their job. But more on that topic of craziness when Chevy comes over for a drink and some writerly talk...

But that's all lead in to what I meant to post about today. I wanted to set the record straight about my blurting out that I love everything I write until people tell me it's crap. I'm not that arrogant. Honest. :)

I think anyone who's read my posts on this blog over the years knows I'm a bundle of insecurities 90% of the time, but when I find my confidence about something -- well, I can be really confident about it -- at least until someone rips that confidence away from me. (Not that hard.)

The exact context in which I said, "I think everything I write is great until someone tells me it isn't," is kind of personal to what's going on with my career right now, and I don't want to get into it publicly, but in general, what I really meant was that I'm never shooting for mediocre or "good enough".

Once I finish a book, or proposal and send it out to my agent, I never think it's mediocre. I never think, "Oh, I'll be so happy if this is just published. " I never think, "Oh, I'll be happy, even if I get a tiny advance for this one." I never think, "I'll be happy if it's in print, no matter how it's published." I never think, "Oh, I'll be so happy if this sells a thousand copies." No! I always think, "I've done my part and done it well. Now, if the stars line up the right way, this book could be huge."

I know this might be delusional, and having those kinds of expectations means I get slapped down pretty hard when things don't work out how I'd hoped, and I know every publishing deal must be evaluated on its own merit.... and the more stuff I put out there, the harder it is to believe it's all awesome... but I still haven't given up. Not on any of my manuscripts except the very first one. (Which wasn't the kind of book I should be writing, but I learned a lot writing it.)

But this faith that what I'm writing is good, is the reason I haven't tried to self-publish or to submit to the digital-first or other really small publishers with my projects that haven't sold. I still think they mostly rock, but just haven't landed on the right desk on the right day, yet. Or if I now see (based on the rejections and with the benefit of hindsight) that there are issues with them, I think I know how to fix them to make them rock.

So, ya... I still get horribly nervous (and sometimes defensive) when I get critiques from my CP's, with whom I've been working for over seven years now, so you'd think I'd be over that. I'm not. I'm still genuinely self-deprecating and think my stuff sucks until someone is kind enough to tell me it doesn't suck. I still hear the bad crits louder than the good ones and beat myself up a lot...

But once I'm through the hell that writing and revising a book can be... I'm typically pretty damned confident about it. At least I try to be. At least until the first rejections come in.

Connection

My family put together a team for the UC Davis Relay for Life. We walked this past weekend. The Halperns for Hope (that's us!) was one of the top fundraising teams of the relay. In addition, we won a prize for having a team member from the farthest away (my cousin Sondra from Maine). We had three generations walking and ranged in age from 83 (okay, the 83-year-old more rolled than walked) to 15. For 24 hours (give or take), we talked, ate, walked, ate, laughed, cried and ate together (trail mix rocks!). We had several very memorable moments, including but not limited to, when I took off pushing my mother in her wheelchair for the special Survivors Lap and went in the wrong direction. It wasn't until my sister pointed out that the band was walking TOWARD us that I realized my mistake.

Mainly, however, we were together. I don't know of anything that gives my life more meaning than those connections. While I'm certain that there's some core to me that is immutable, much of me is defined by who I am to and with these people: mother, daughter, sister, cousin, aunt, lover, friend. Each one of those people has touched my life, changed me, enlightened me, loved me, been exasperated by me, been proud of me and I've done the same for them. It's like a giant web of connections with the vibrations from any one occurrence to any of us reverberating through the rest of us.

Or as my uncle would say, we're like a bunch of little piggies. Pull one of our tails and we'll all squeal.

Tough Love

Maureen said something last night at our critique group meeting that rang totally true for me: "I always think what I write is great until someone tells me it's not." Sometimes I have an idea that something might not be working, but usually, I think what I've got on the page, or in my head, is pretty great.

On Saturday we went to the Donald Maass workshop at Toronto Romance Writers. And he said, that feeling resistance to changing our work is totally natural and normal and that we need to pay attention to is, because where we feel the most resistance is where we need to make the most change.

I can't say that I agree with that for myself a 100% of the time, but when I do agree with it, I agree with it 100%.

I'm working on a series of books and at the Saturday workshop I did a lot of great work on the first book, but those decisions impacted the second book and in regards to plot and character for the second book - I had nothing, so I really wanted to get it figured out so I wouldn't be half way through it and realize that the things I put into effect in the first book had totally screwed me.

So, my brilliant critique group started throwing around ideas. I love brainstorming. I adore it. And my ideas last night were weak, and tired and mostly non-existent. I had just kept circling the same tired plot points. And my lovely little critique group - and I have to say Sinead was particularly brilliant - kept saying; nope. Nope. Not big enough. Old-fashioned. What's in it for him? What happens to her? What's the worst thing that can happen to her? What does he really want? Until finally, the story broke wide open and it was fresh and exciting and new. Scenes arrived in my head. Characters created a second and third dimensions. Subplots got juicy and all tightly-woven with the main plot.

In so many words - they fixed my book.

After the meeting Sinead said she was sorry if they were too hard on me and I wanted to kiss her. Too hard was what I needed. Tough love was the only way this book was going to be anything but boring. It's hard to push a person past that resistance to change, but man, it's so worth it.

Thanks critique group.

I write like a soap opera amnesiac

Finally worked through the last major edit of the current WIP. An edit I thought would take a week, maybe two max and here I am four weeks later and i'm re-writing the ending.

And I still have one more read through of this bloody book.

Every book, I tell myself, I won't make the same mistakes and every book I get a little better, but the same problems crop up with every manuscript.

Inevitably, I race towards the end and finish it in ten pages, really abruptly, when it should be drawn out, savoured, satisfying. Hence the re-write.

I always write too short. Some people have to cut back on their word count. Not me, I struggle to get to single title length. EVERY single time. Even with six POV's... seriously.

I always underestimate how long it will take me to do the final edit. Always. This time by four weeks.

I always plan to write faster, so that by the time I get to the end of the book, I'm sick to death of the story, and have lost all perspective on it.

Maybe with the next book, I'll fix these things, but I'm guessing I'll be going through the same pain on the final edit of that book as well.

I'm writing like a teenage driver...

I just recently let my seventeen year old niece drive me to the beach. She’s actually a very good driver, but it just reminded me about the one mistake that new drivers (and sometimes bad drivers) make. That hitchy start and stop motion. Gas, break. Gas, break. You know what I’m talking about?

And I realized it’s sort of like my writing these days. I start and then I hit a wall - usually an historical fact that I need to know - and it stops. I find the information I need and it starts up again. But then I wonder where I’m going with the end of the chapter and bam - I slam on the breaks.

This freakin’ book! I can’t seem to build any momentum. I know the opening so well in my head but still I’m struggling at twenty pages when I should be at hundred by now.

I’m like a bad driver. Or a bad writer. I can’t seem to find that easy start up where I coast along and slowly break toward the end of the chapter. Instead it’s hitchy. Which I can only imagine how that’s translating on the paper.

I’ve tried that technique where if you don’t know a particular fact you just put ( ) or ??? and move on figuring you’ll find it later. Doesn’t work for me. I can’t move on until I know I’ve found the answer. Which might lead you to ask… why are you writing historical?

Good question. But it’s not like I really have all that much control over these stories. They just come.

Anyway – that’s my writing rant. In other news I now have a picture to go with my profile. Be warned – this is not what I look like. It’s really the best version of me. So if you see someone at say Nationals that looks like this picture but only chubbier with baggier eyes… that’s probably me. If you’re not sure call out “Steph” – if I turn around that’s definitely me. If the person instead looks at you funny, then turn your ahead away and pretend to look around for the person who just shouted.

Also Suspect Lover (see cover below on loopy thing) was nominated for best series cover of 2009 by Cover Café. The cover will be here: www.covercafe.com at the end of April and voting begins April 28th. Of course I take absolutely no credit for this. All props go to the amazing art department at Harlequin. But I do think this scene was actually one I submitted which never happens… so that’s cool.

Lessons Learned in the Pressure Cooker

Well, other than the line edits, I'm done with the first two books in the new Twisted Tales series for Pickwick Press, a new Children's imprint for Phoenix Books. YAY!!!!

And.... drumroll... I have release dates (October 5, 2010 for both) and covers! And they're up for pre-order on all the online retailers. Check them out!

But most of all, I feel like I learned a lot of lessons. I suppose one should expect to learn a lot of lessons while in the midst of one's first book contract, but the lessons I learned weren't necessarily the ones I expected to be learning. D'uh. I guess that's why I had to learn them, right?

1. I can write way faster than I ever imagined.

I had 4 1/2 months to write two 80K length books. And while they were simple in that they were based on fairy tales, they were decidedly NOT simple in their structures because of the "you decide the outcome" feature of the series.

2. Something will always come up to throw a wrench into your plans.

I knew from watching my friends and from reading writers loops that authors often have requests thrown at them from their publishers, without any regard for timing or their deadlines. I knew this. BUT, I didn't expect the number and frequency of such requests. Or how they would throw me off and take me out of my flow. And all that's before my personal life intruding... family and friends, eye infections, colds, daily life...

3. It's not smart to drop everything else in your life.

Dropping everything while under deadline seemed smart to me when I made the decision. It was only 4 1/2 months. It was my first contract. I figured I could stop doing "optional" things like--opening mail that wasn't obviously a bill, deleting SPAM, doing my personal blog, updating my website to, like mention the sale, cleaning my house, talking to my family, answering personal e-mails, taking care of myself and my life--until the books were done. Turns out, this was dumb. Very dumb. I may have met the deadlines, but of course more writing things have come up... I have a bunch of opportunities in front of me, all with urgency.... So, I'm not really any less busy now, PLUS I have a very messy house and stacks of goodness knows what that landed in my mailbox. And these tasks seem monumental to deal with now, whereas with a half hour every couple of days... I could have kept up with it all. At this point, I can't even remember all the e-mails (personal or professional) I put off until later... I kept putting people off with, "Just wait until March." And so they didn't understand why I was still busy in March (editor's revision letter -- plus, um, my own revisions because I turned in such a hot mess) and why I'm still busy now. Worst, I stopped going to the gym and gained weight... Basically I let my life fall apart. Not so smart in the end.

4. Eating right and exercising is worth the extra time.

Kind of related to #3, but while under so much pressure, I figured I'd give myself a break in terms of eating right and working out. So, I ate too many thing sold at coffee shops. I ordered take out too many times. Now I feel like a slug. A fat slug.

5. You can't change who you are.

I know I'm a last minute panic person. Always have been. And when I have a deadline (whether self-imposed or not) I always make my schedule knowing my nature. Usually I set out a schedule I think is doable, leaving myself a few days off, and knowing that likely I'll fall behind, but will be able to catch up at the end. Problem with this deadline was I didn't have the luxury of a reasonable, doable plan from the start. When I divided the amount of work over the number of days (with no days off) I already had to produce more per day than I'd ever done before--even during a Nanowrimo situation. Nano seems easy peasy, now. Right from day one, even before I got behind and it all started to fall apart, I knew I was in trouble... And so it was a lot of stress.

6. I'm not good at tricking myself.

If I could change one thing, I would have stopped work on the first book, the Cinderella book, in early-mid December. That was the book that I'd already done a detailed outline for. (Did one for the proposal that sold it.) That was the book I'd already started and developed characters for. That was the book I had time to let my critique partners help with. If I'd stopped working on Cinderella in mid-December, that would have divided the time between the two books pretty evenly. But my deadline was January 3rd, and my editor wasn't interested in getting it before that (because she was on vacation in late December) and so I took every last minute to finish. So, not only did I not have as much time to do the second book, I also had to do revisions and line edits for the first book, as well as meeting several other unexpected requests (for marketing materials, etc.) during that shorter period of time. I think I had about five weeks to do the second book, total, and going in all I had for book 2 was a title and concept. No outline. No characters. No book. In hindsight, I feel like a superhero for pulling it off. And in the end, I actually love my Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer book. :)

7. Good friends will save you.

I don't think I've ever, in my life, felt quite so much panic as I did this February. And my friends came through for me. In late Jan/early Feb, even though she has 3 small kids and had just moved, Sinead met with me to go over my outline. Even though she has 2 small kids and deadlines of her own, Molly read the first scenes for me and met to give me some ideas. Then the weekend of Feb 20-21, I was basically only at about 33K in, and I knew some of that I had to trash. And not only was I behind, I still had some HUGE logistics/world building and story decisions to make and I could not think. Brain was frozen. Just kept going around in circles chasing my tail. (As Molly would say, I kept looking right, over and over, when the answers were off to the left...) Molly and Sinead came over that weekend and let me talk through my issues and told me which of my solutions worked and which ones didn't, and where I was making things more complicated than I needed to, and just as important they reassured me that everything was going to be okay and it wasn't the absolute end of the world if I had to send a near first draft to my editor, that I wouldn't be the first writer to ever do that... And I calmed down and wrote about 53K in the next ten days and did a quick second draft of the entire 83K in three days (the fastest I'd ever revised a book before that was four weeks. I prefer to have six weeks for revisions. I'm a reviser...)

8. If I take time off right after a book, I should plan something busy but satisfying and non-writing related.

Instead, I planned a short trip away that ended up being miserable, because after so many months of relative isolation, a vacation by myself wasn't what I wanted or needed... and I was still too anxious to relax. Plus the weather sucked, so I just felt sorry for myself. Didn't feel like a break at all. Just added to my stress.

And I think the biggest lesson, one I'm still learning, is you should stop and smell the roses. Cliche, but true. My dreams are starting to come true, at least things are moving in the right direction, again, but through this process I felt too panicked to rejoice and enjoy it.

So, let's pop the champagne now!

What lessons have you learned under pressure?

I'm taller!

Well, probably not really, but I turned my book in last week on Thursday (at approximately 8:05 p.m.) and immediately felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I'd grown an inch or two.

Normally, I take a week or two off after finishing a book. I don't have that luxury this time. I need to get to work immediately on the next project. At this point, I can't even remember the names of the characters and am having to reread the proposal so I know what it is I said I was going to write.

I was worried that there would be a certain amount of brain drain (and maybe there is a little, hence the fact that I'm posting this way later than I usually do), that I might not be able to plunge from one project to another. Apparently I'm getting better at the switch from one genre to the other and I'm now all excited about the new book and can't wait to get to it.

I think it might be possible that taking off the week or two between projects wasn't a good idea. Often the two weeks would stretch to three or more. I always felt sluggish when I finally got my started with the new one. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to turn off my author brain and rest it.

We'll see at the end of the summer. If my brain has totally overheated and I'm blowing gaskets, I'll know that those two weeks off helped at some point.

Stamina, Ryan Reynolds and why Sinead is off her rocker....

What a weekend! The weather was out of this world, my husband went away on rugby tour and the kids went to my MIL's. For two freaking nights!!! I had roughly 43 hours all to myself. The plan was to write as much as I could - at LEAST fifty pages.

But, man, I learned pretty quickly that I am out of writing shape. I've been writing in two maybe two and half hour stretches for four years now. Which is great, but I have no stamina. This weekend, every two hours I needed to move to a different part of my house, or a different coffee shop. The longest I think I could write in a stretch was four hours and that was first thing in the morning. Maureen's ability to put her head down and plow through twelve hour days is a freaking miracle! I amanaged to get those fifty pages, but it was work.

How about you guys? How is your writing stamina?

Also, this weekend, because a girl needs a break, I watched The Proposal. My feelings for Ryan Reynolds are out of control. It's not just his abs. Though, that's a big part of it. He's got the same twinkle as Harrison Ford. It's a really potent twinkle.

And finally, Sinead is off her rocker for publicly admitting she is excited about Clash of The Titans. Granted she had a few ciders, but honestly. Excited? Now, I have incredibly fond memories of the first movie (I went with the Zawislak's and Mrs. Z snuck in homemade popped popcorn in brown paper bags. I got scared about Medusa and Matt turned to me and said it was just a movie. Not making me any less scared, but making sure I kept my mouth shut about it.) And I too have a curiosity about Sam Worthington. But come on. Excited? Outside of some effects isn't this movie going to be a steamy pile of poo? Isn't Sinead wasting her few precious moments of entertainment?

Please, weigh in.

Instincts and Imagination

It's good friday, the kiddies are home, my house is a madhouse, so this will not be a long post.
I noticed the other day, both my daughters were trying to lift something heavy. Without ever being told, they both, bent their legs and lifted without ever straining their backs, as if the right way to use their body has been imprinted in their DNA.
The Wii fit has a test when you sign on, a balance test that no matter how much I suck in my stomach, or relax my shoulders, or tense my legs, I cannot seem to manage to gain a perfect score in this. But my daughter steps on, and every single time, perfect balance.
We're born knowing all this stuff and the older we get, the less we instinctively know.
Unless we make a real effort to nurture it. The same goes with our imaginations. Children compose the most far fetched, beautiful imaginary games, and as we get older, those imaginary games become harder and harder as we practice them less and less.

I'm keeping this in mind as I think long and hard about what I want to write next, because my instincts are leading me somewhere interesting and very, very different and I want to believe that they will not lead me astray.

Oscar Winning Performances

So I just watched the Blindside. Very nice movie. Very nice performance by Sandra Bullock. Was it Oscar worthy? Maybe there is some debate – but understanding Hollywood they probably wanted to recognize her for her career achievement. I’m fine with that. I’m especially fine with that since her husband turned out to be a scumdog. (Note to all scumdogs… if your wife is going to win a bunch of awards and you know you’re cheating on her and it’s about to all come out – tell her to tone down the love rhetoric in her acceptance speech. Ouch!)

What does this have to do with writing you might ask? Not really whole lot and I got off the track with the scumdog stuff, but it made me think of other Oscar winning performances.

That’s what I want to do. I want to write an Oscar Winning Performance! I want that type of story where the characters are so unforgettable, the emotion so elevated that if the book were a movie… my heroine or hero would be nominated.

I’ve got this plot point that will happen between my hero and heroine in my current WIP. It’s heartbreaking, awful, mean and purging. It’s all bottled up emotion and it’s going to come spewing out after this one revelation somewhere around Chapter 14 or 15 or so.

In my head I can “see it” sort of like a movie. No famous people. My characters are always strangers when I meet them. But I definitely can see the scene being played out. I know how they’re going to move. And I know the gist of what they’re going to say. The actual words right will only happen when it comes time to write the scene. But what I want to do is elevate it somehow. Take that nice performance and make it “Oscar” worthy.

Is it the dialogue? Is it what they don’t say? I don’t know yet and obviously the proof will be in the pudding. But it made me think about other characters. Who could have won “Oscars” in the romance genre? RITAs and GHs are great for picking the best stories but who have been the best characters?

Who would have won an Oscar if that book had been a movie?
My first thought… Laura Kinsale’s hero in Flowers from the Storm… portraying people with a disability tends to do well with the Academy. He would have been a lock.

Who else?

Welcome Nelsa Roberto!

Today, I'm happy to welcome Nelsa Roberto whose first book Illegally Blonde was released this week! Nelsa's been a friend of the Toronto contingent of drunk writer talk writers for years, has even come out with us for drinks a few times, and we're thrilled to have her here to talk about her new book.

Welcome, Nelsa!

Hi everybody! This is my very first guest blog post anywhere and I'm a little weirded out by it. Not that DWT - home of the awesomely supportive and amazing writers Molly, Maureen, Sinead, Eileen and Stephanie - are anything but warm and welcoming. It's just been a year of many firsts for me not the least of which has been the debut release of my YA book Illegally Blonde
just yesterday. This past year I also started my blog, Out of the Woodwork, joined Twitter (@nelsaroberto), and attended my first writers panel last week (as an author! For reals!). So, when I think about all these firsts and try and figure out how the heck I ended up doing all this 'being out there' kind of stuff which does not come naturally to me, I keep coming back to one main thing:

I wrote a book I loved.

Everything that has happened to me this past year happened because finally, after five years of writing a few 'not quite there' books, I finally wrote about something I loved. Illegally Blonde is about seventeen-year-old Portuguese-Canadian Lucy discovering she and her family are illegal immigrants, getting deported to Portugal and her attempt to get back home. It's inspired by actual events that occurred in Toronto in 2006.

That's the basic plot, but the story is so much more to me. I wrote a story about a Portuguese-Canadian girl (ya, that's my heritage too :) ) - a heroine I'd never seen in a YA book and had certainly never read about growing up. I set the story in Toronto and the rural countryside of Portugal - places I adore but don't see much of in books. I wrote a story that I hope had drama and humour with a dash of mystery and romance thrown in too - all things I love seeing in books. Discovering your cultural heritage, love and resentment of family, searching for independence and self-realization are themes threaded throughout the book - themes I care about and will probably explore in one way or another for the rest of my writing life. All these things made the writing of Illegally Blonde an absolute pleasure for me. I tell you all this because I really do believe that loving what you write - even if it may not be the most commercially viable or recognizable - makes it possible to stand the agonizing process of getting a book published today.

I've heard many writers compare getting a book published to being on a roller coaster ride. Well, I absolutely freaking hate roller coasters so why would I even attempt this? Because I love writing more than fear the plunging nausea of the book publishing world. I took that plunge with this book.

I sent out Illegally Blonde to agents in December 2006. I signed with The Carolyn Swayze Agency in February 2007. Over 2007 and 2008 I received rejections from publishers, some lovely, some not and went to acquisition meetings at 2 different publishing houses and missed it 2 times by 'that much'. I mentally gave up on selling the book I loved until in January 2009 when my agent said, "Let's try a few independent publishers here in Canada". Great Plains Teen Fiction loved the book as much as I did and without hesitation made an offer in February 2009 and Illegally Blonde was released on March 30, 2010.

It has not been the easiest path. There were twists and turns I had not expected. But, throughout it all, I never stopped loving my story. With the number of times I've had to read and edit it and with the length of time and effort it took to get here I had to love it. I couldn't have managed this roller coaster ride if I didn't. Loving that book has been my safety belt. So, to my fellow drunk writers I say I hope your own safety belt is nice and secure - because it may be the only thing that prevents you from falling off this crazy ride.

Thanks again, DWT, for inviting me! Whew. My first guest blog post has been written. I think a drink is in order…

Nelsa, a drink is definitely in order! Thanks for stopping by!

How Lost lost me

I'm done with Lost. Oh, I'll watch those last few episodes, but mainly because my kids and my boyfriend and are still watching and I almost always succumb to peer pressure. I'm weak that way.

I love the first season of that show. Seeing the survivors of the plane crash figure out how to live on the island was fascinating. I loved the first season of Jericho for the same reason. What would they eat? Where would they sleep? What kind of society would form?

The fact that all those questions were hung on a larger framework about the struggle between faith and reason and fate and free will made it even more delicious. The survivors decisions and choices had more riding on them than just survival. Those decisions meant something.

Still even with those grand themes, Lost was always about the people struggling within that framework. Jack and Kate and Locke and Sawyer and Sayid and Hurley and Sun and Jin and all the rest. I cared about them and how they resolved their dilemmas.

Smokey versus Jacob? Not so much. Richard? Hmm. Not really, especially when they give him stringy dirty hair for the entire episode thus removing the pleasure of looking at Nestor Carbonell's beautiful eyelashes.

Don't get me wrong. I love me some theme. Without an organizing principal like theme, books, movies and television shows become random happenings without meaning. For, me, however, there has to be a balance.

The first season of Lost hit that balance with the sure-footed confidence of an Olympic gymnast. This last season, however, totally hasn't stuck the landing.

Thinking About Backstory

Oddly enough, I've never read any Jennifer Weiner. I really liked the movie IN HER SHOES, but I've never cracked the spine on one of her books, until a few weeks ago when I totally gobbled up BEST FRIENDS FOREVER.

Yes, the characters are great. Yes, the writing is witty and smart and in turns thought-provoking and laugh out loud funny. But, what really struck me was something that Sinead was was talking about last week: what do you read for?

My answer was questions - I need there to be questions I want answered. Little mysteries that the writer is skillfully handing out. Why is that person doing that? What happened to them? Why are they scared of the dark? etc...

And Jennifer Weiner, in this book, is the master of the backstory questions. The what happened way back when questions? And the why questions? And then I realized, these questions - the backstory ones - are the easiest questions to create. You just don't tell the reader the backstory! It is truly that simple. Small clues. Hints. Dollops of delicious teasers will keep those pages turning forever. And I think readers are so smart, so savvy at this point, you can keep it pretty damn spare. The tiniest hint will keep a reader going. And she plays around with point of view - ratcheting up tension as she goes, revealing things in one pov that makes life harder for another pov.

Characters, much like people, live in the now. We don't spend a lot of time wondering about that big event that changed out lives so signifigantly - we just live our lives. Weiner's characters do that. And those questions about the past were mighty powerful.

Drunk Writer Rita and Golden Heart Finalists

We have fantastic news this week.

Drunk Writer Molly is a finalist for the Rita for Romance Novella, for her Christmas story
“The Christmas Eve Promise” in The Night Before Christmas

and Drunk Writer Maureen is a finalist in the Golden Heart in the Novel with Strong Romantic Elements category for her book, Switching Sides.

Both are amazing stories, and we are thrilled for both Drunk Writers.

Congrats to both of you.

Deliberate or Talent?

I am just now fully committed to the new season of American Idol. It usually takes me a few weeks to get there. I think about how I miss David Cook and Adam Lambert. How I’m probably never going to connect to another contestant the way I did with either of them or Fantasia. But then of course I do.

And even if I don’t I watch because I love the process these people go through. I can draw so many parallels to publishing.

You need to stand out. You need to be current, but you can’t be a copy. You need to take something that’s been done before and make it fresh. You need to have talent but you also have to have something “else” that sets you apart. And you need to make your impact fast. You don’t get a whole lot of second, third or fourth chances.

Anyone writing for a major publishing house today understands all of that. The days of slow growing an author are gone. More common is the blockbuster approach. Which means out of the gate the publisher is looking for the next great thing. Is that always the “most” talented writer? No. It’s the writer who found a way to turn something on its head. Who hit the right vibe at the right time.

The one thing we as writers are spared that Idols are not – is that they also have to have a certain look. Pretty, interesting, cool… whatever it is.

My standout so far this year… wacky Siobhan. Last week she did the Rolling Stones song Paint it Black. This performance struck me on so many different levels. First the way she started out quiet, then built the song and the performance. Then she hit her high crazy note, then she settled to a softer moment which showcased again how pretty her voice was.

David Cook mastered the art of BIG NOTE and quiet end. Adam Lambert mastered the art of drama. This girl to me combined those two elements to great effect. When I went back and watched the performance again I noticed the way her feet were positioned when she sat on the stairs to start the song. They were twisted and oddly placed. Like a doll just dropped on the stairs and it added to her look.

And what I wonder is… did she know to do that or was that just something that happened as a result of her being a gifted performer? Deliberate thought or natural talent? Simon has teased her about how “odd” she is. She has a way of speaking that sometimes makes you wonder if she’s “all” there. So I wonder is this girl just a natural and the things she does just "happen"?

Or is she really thinking about each element? The dress, the makeup, the movement, the positioning and most of all the execution of the song.

And the same is true for writers. When I read something so cool, I wonder did that just come to them? Did they think their way through it? Did they maximize a certain element because they knew it would resonate with the audience or did they simply write the story in their head and it happened to hit.

What do I do? I think about a lot of things. But then sometimes I just write and cool sh*t happens. (At least I think it’s cool).
But at the end of the day I think I would rather believe it’s deliberate. If it’s deliberate then enough brains can power you through a story that will be the next greatest thing.

If it’s magic… well then you’re relying on your muse, fate, the whims of the storytelling gods and all that other crazy stuff.

P.S. - I'm adding this after Tuesday night's performance. I didn't care for her as much this week. Which just goes to show the second hardest thing to do as a performer/writer - is being amazing. And then being amazing again!

The New Phonebook's Here!

I know I'm dating myself (The Jerk came out when Sinead and Molly were toddlers--probably Stephanie, too.) But that bit from The Jerk is still one of the funniest things I've ever seen in a movie. I'm not sure quite why Steve Martin running around screaming, "The new phone book's here!" was so funny to me, but it was.

I think it's because, even though his character was such an over-the-top simpleton, there's just something so pure and true about someone feeling legit--like a real person--because it's the first time they've ever been listed in the phone book. And his excitement over it cracked me up.

Well, I had my first listing in Publisher's Marketplace yesterday.

March 23, 2010

Children's: Young Adult
Maureen McGowan's CINDERELLA: NINJA WARRIOR and SLEEPING BEAUTY: VAMPIRE SLAYER, the first two books in a new series of adventurous fairy tales for girls, in which the heroines are capable of saving themselves, but also claim their handsome princes, to Pink Shoes Productions, for Phoenix Books, for publication Fall 2010, by Pamela Harty at The Knight Agency.

Yes, if you're a PM subscriber, you can actually search on my name, and get a listing now!

The new phone book's here! The new phone book's here!

**Maureen runs around holding it up and screaming, a la Steve Martin.**

Thanks Juliana Stone for noticing and letting me know! BTW Juliana's first novel, DARKEST HUNGER, comes out next week, and she's going to stop by here the following week to celebrate with us! Woot! (She's got a great contest going on on her blog right now. Check it out.

Random!

My brain is a tiny bit hurty right now so I apologize for my somewhat random rambling today.

I spent the weekend finishing my rough draft. It's actually beyond rough. It's a hideous mess, but that's okay. I can fix it. I have eight days to do it. I have the technology. Plus I had a great motivator. Berkley sent me the cover! And it's awesome! Check it out!

Ain't it gorgeous? I love love love it.

For those of you who haven't read the first in the series (it just came out like two weeks ago), one of the characters is named Alexander Bledsoe. I thought it was kind of a clever name for a vampire. Then I got an e-mail from . . . Alex Bledsoe! Turns out he writes paranormal novels for Tor! Vampire novels, even. I don't know who was more tripped out by the coincidence, him or me.

What do you read for?

I've got a time crunch right now, so I have few, but treasured moments, to read for pleasure. Something I think is common amongst many women out there.

Because of this, I've become incredibly picky about what I'm reading. Lately, the best books I've read have either been in YA, or literary fiction and all were recommended by writer friends.

And all in some way managed to surprise me. One key thing that needs to be present for me to really love a book is the element of surprise. I can accept a lot of faults in a book, but what I have serious issues with is when I can predict where the book is headed.

If I can forsee the events of the story, then I quickly lose interest. I can accept less than steller characterization, and even some plotholes if a story takes me places I did not expect.

I'm curious about what makes a story readable for everyone else. Is there anyone element that will elevate a book into keeper status?

Startabookaphobia

I’ve got an extreme case of it right now. The plan is to start my next historical. I’ve pitched the idea to the agent and she likes it. Although we both agree I seem to have a propensity for taking the “hard way” when it comes to story ideas. At least half of this book is going to be told through two servants’ povs. That’s right. I’m going to have to sell NY on the idea that servants can be sexy and romantic too. How much harder can that be from trying to tell people that a mute witch in 1698 is the next big thing? Let's hope I do better this time.

I’ve thought about little else besides this idea since I turned in my last proposal. I wanted to have at least 3/4 the book done by June. That’s looking a little less likely right now.

Certainly, I’ve been doing everything I can to prep for this book. Reading Victorian history books, Victorian true crime fiction, actual Victorian fiction. Books on domestic servants, etiquette, money… all of it. I’ve been studying the streets of London and maps that indicate class distinctions. Mayfair vs Whitechapel and that kind of thing.

I’ve gone over the opening scene in my head a million times. I know what the heroine is going to say and how the mystery is going to unfurl. I know the back stories of my characters. And I know how the primary relationship will progress and most importantly how it will end.

The middle is vague, but it always is. I just trust that since I know how it starts and I know how it ends and I know what has to happen in the middle that the tiny specific details will come when needed.

So why can’t I start it? I sat in front of my computer on Saturday and looked at the blank page. After several minutes, I told myself I wasn’t ready and subsequently turned the computer off.

Why the sudden case of Startabookaphobia?

I think it’s because I realized that right now it’s a really good book. I mean really good. It’s different, it’s edgy. It’s got lots of twists and turns. It has all the feel of a creepy Victorian mystery steeped in thick London fog mingled with my sarcastic humor and the propensity to create really strong heroines.

I love this book… in my head. It is the execution of it that I’m afraid of. Can I get it right? Can I handle all these pov’s? Can I make what is in my head hit the screen in a way that will be so good everyone will get behind the idea that I’m using servants as two of the main characters?

I don’t know.

Hence… Startabookaphobia.

I’ll conquer it eventually. I always do. But right now it’s really powerful. I guess I just have to wait until that moment when my desire to tell the story will override my fear of failure. I’m pretty sure that’s how I started writing in the first place. Anyway – here is hoping that happens this Saturday morning!

Post Book Burnout

Okay, so I met my write two 80K books in 4 1/2 months deadline. Phew. And I thought I'd be elated, euphoric, ecstatic. Instead, it was a real downer.

At first I couldn't relax, and then I was in a fog, and then I was depressed, and then that all merged into an antsy depressed fog.

Better now. :)

Does this happen to anyone else, or just me?

OH!!! And Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The Week from Hell . . . or was it?

By the time you're reading this, I will be in Seattle to celebrate my sister's graduation from nursing school. Yes, she is awesome. It's going to be great fun. All three sisters, some nephews, a niece, an uncle (yes, THAT uncle) and a cousin or two will all be there. There will be too much food, lots of laughs, a few tears and possibly a margarita or ten.

I feel I deserve it because the past week has been so insanely crazy busy that I feel like there hasn't been a minute that I wasn't doing something. First up was my book signing which was great, but stressful. I like to make it more of a party so there's food and booze (thanks for theVampire Wine, Raquel) and music (Sir Finn and the Sharks rock!). But since it's not exactly an RSVP type event, I really don't know how many people are going to be there. There was a bad moment around 7:10 when I thought only about 30 people were going to be there. Then I turned around and the crowd had doubled. Here's what it looked like from my perspective:

Nice, huh? It turned out sweet, but not before I'd sweated a few bullets.

Meanwhile, I was not the only person having issues in my house. Both my kids had huge, major projects ending at school. My oldest (he's the one with the goofy grin in the front row) has been participating in his school's Hail to the Chief project. The kids have to create their own political party, establish a platform, raise money and run a candidate for President. My son is the Press Secretary for The Donner Party. They're "Hungry for the Presidency." They've had a lot of fun, but the project is a huge amount of work and it all came to a head this week with the elections. Last I heard, The Donner Party was one of the top three.

My other son (the blonde one on the end in the front row) had the World War I Museum project that was all due on Thursday. He and his group built half an airplane out of plywood and cardboard to house their exhibit about technological advances that helped Great Britain in the war. He's been working late and, as group leader, had some epiphanies about how much fun it is not to be in charge. (Ha! Someone rolled his eyes at HIM! Not so funny now!) It came out great and he did a fabulous job. While we at the school, several teachers and a few other parents came up to tell us how terrific both our kids are.

Meanwhile, my long-suffering boyfriend managed to double-book himself for both a music gig and a photography gig and was having a rough time, but you know, at least everybody wants him.

So everyone here was stressed out all week and everyone had everything turn out fine so it felt like the week from Hell while we were living it, but now it feels like a damn fine week where we all accomplished a lot and got pats on the back for it!

What I am Reading Now

I was going to write about my sudden and totally inappropriate rage towards other mothers and other writers, but I decided not too. I got too angry. Maybe another time, when I've had some sleep.

Instead, let's talk about what we're reading. A little lame, I know. But I am reading a book so good right now, I want to scream it from the rooftops. And I'm almost done with it, and then I have Eileen's Don't Kill The Messenger (arrived the other day, so crisp, so clean, covered in that new book smell - I love it!!) And then...after that...nothing. So, I need some recommendations and ideas. So, dig deep into your TBR pile or the ten books you have on the go right now - and let me know what's good.

As for the book I'm reading: Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden

It's got two of my favorite storylines - Native Americans and War. That's weird. Can't watch diaper commercials without crying but give me a story about trench warfare and I'm glued. This time it's Cree and World War I. It's freaking amazing. So many times when writers try to tell two stories through flashbacks, one of them gets boring and the whole book pulls lopsided. Or worse, there's no forward momentum or mystery to keep the readers interested in what's happening in the pages between flashbacks. Not this book. Very much not this book. It's amazing. Big mystery, lots of questions, amazing story telling. The horrors of war told from a totally different pov. Not that a soldier POV is different - but a Canadian Cree Indian - it's fabulous.

So, what are you reading?

There is no conspiracy

There is still a vocal, albeit minority voice on some chat groups out there that editors and agents are actively trying to keep good books from being published, because their books are too challenging, too different, or too wierd.

If you want to publish a book in a specific genre, and you are really stretching the conventions of the genre, then you really have to write an amazing book. And some genre's have a smaller readership, I'm thinking men on men erotica, has a smaller reader ship than a standard romance, but truly, when books like The Hunger Games, with it's alternate world and hard decisions can get published for teens, then anything if written well enough can be published at some point.

I think it's easier to believe there is a conspiracy, than to understand that the writing isn't good enough, but if we make excuses, then how do we get better.

I'm hunting for an agent and trust me, when I get a rejection, I desperately want to hide behind the idea that my book is too different.

But I truly believe any book, if amazing, will find a publisher and readers.

Good Vs. Bad

I read Maureen’s post yesterday and thought about how true it was. Publishing, like music in some aspects, is being watered down because of the number of avenues people can now publish their work.

Actually “watered down” has a negative connotation so I should clarify. Some might say publishing has been enriched by having more people with more voices contribute where before it was limited. Trends are broken, new avenues explored. Maybe Urban/Paranormal/Steampunk Romance only exists because of these other avenues and that’s a good thing.

However, others would argue it’s making it even harder for the real talent to shine through. I’m on the fence. I see both the positive and the negative.

The negative was reinforced when I read a book for a contest. I’m probably going to get a lot of reaction here because it happened to be an eBook - but it was not fit for publication. Now let me be VERY clear. I know great writers who publish through non-traditional channels. And I know crappy writers who publish through traditional channels. I’m just saying - in this instance – the book was not and should not have been published in ANY format. At least not in a format that was intended to sell to other individuals to read. You want to bind it and give it out to your family and friends – knock yourself out. But to sell it…. that just doesn’t hurt me the reader, it hurts the industry as a whole.

Now some might argue that’s my taste. And yes it is. But darn it I’ve been a reader for a lot longer than I’ve been a writer and I can tell you what I read was not fit for publication. This book is part of a problem that we really need to look at. I’m not blaming the author. This was a junior attempt at writing a story and maybe after some time, practice, study and hardwork he/she will eventually become a bestselling author. He/she thought it was good enough to be nominated for something. Just like contestants who try out for Idol often do so because they think they will be a star. It’s up to the judges to say… Not so much.

So who are our judges? The publishers? I’m all for opening up new venues, allowing for different tastes and trends. And for publishers to find new ways to make money. Fantastic. But I think if we’re going to go this route we do have to have some expectation that what will be produced will be of a certain quality. That someone (the publishers, the editors, reader review sites…) will judge the work and hold it to a standard. Because if as a reader I have to purchase so many of the books like the one I read to get to a good one, I’ll eventually stop buying. My trust in what a “published” book is will diminish.

So eBook, traditional book, whatever… please let someone be that harsh judge. We need our Simon.

I finally read Hunger Games. This is an amazing book. This is something I think universally we can read and say… Wow. And to think that the book I judged and Hunger Games exist in the same “publishing” arena… well frankly it hurts me.

What Simon Cowell Taught Me

Well, mostly when I watch Simon Cowell, he reminds me not to be a jerk. I mean, IMO it's possible to be honest without being condescending or mean. I know, I know... for many people his caustic remarks are what makes the show. I just think he comes off as an arrogant jerk.

But beyond lessons in manners, his new line this season (instead of calling people cruise-line singers or karaoke singers, or theme park singers, bar band singers) is to say, "There are thousands like you doing that on the internet."

Seriously, the ones I liked best the week of the top 24, he almost universally said something like this to them: It was good, but I can see that any day on YouTube. And maybe he's right. Dunno. I don't cruise YouTube searching for indie music often.

But I found his new stock criticism really interesting, because I heard him say it not long after reading a Publisher's Weekly article (that I can't find now!!!) that compared what's happening in publishing, to what's already happened in music. And I do think the comparison is valid. And it scares me a little. Okay, a lot.

Just like it became easier over the past decade or so for a singer to be their own recording engineer and producer using their laptop, just like venues like MySpace and YouTube made it possible for musicians to act as their own record labels and distributors, it's become relatively easy these days to publish a novel. That is, there are many self-publishing options as well as a plethora of small, digital-first (or digital only) publishers.

Anyone who can get their opus down on paper (and by paper, I mean typed into the computer), can be a published novelist. Easy peasy. Not that it's easy to write a novel. I don't mean to trivialize what a huge accomplishment it is to finish a novel. But once it's written if you're determined to have it published, you will find a route to do it. (Whether you'll get paid or people will buy it is another matter.)

What I fear, somewhat, is that the already very crowded and saturated book market will become so crowded that it will become virtually impossible for any one book to stand out in the crowd, and that with so many more books published each year, the odds that readers will find or buy your book will go down dramatically. (And let's face it, even in the "old world" of publishing, the odds were pretty bad.)

Anyone who's taken Econ 101 knows that the law of supply and demand means this will devalue books. Just look at the recent battles in publishing over the deep discounts on hard covers and the pricing of e-books as evidence that I'm not the only one worried about this. And for those of you wanting an Econ 101 refresher... if demand stays constant, while supply goes up, prices will go down. (If you could find diamonds in your back yard, they wouldn't be so expensive.) And I fail to see any reason why the demand for reading will go up, simply because there are more books published... Maybe a little. But I fear the volume increase won't be enough to make up for the difference and that to get readers to try new authors the books will have to be virtually free, making it even harder than it already is to earn a living as a novelist.

And while many claim the above mentioned changes have been positive for musicians, it has to be pointed out that musicians also earn part of their living from performing. For writers, publishing is the only source of earning money from their creations. People don't go to concerts or bars to dance to the latest unknown authors reading...

But that's all doom and gloom. I could totally be wrong. I lack a crystal ball. (It's in the shop.) And on the positive side, if one believes that quality always wins out in the end and that word of mouth sells books, then perhaps nothing will change that much. The creme will rise to the top of the ever-expanding pack (vat of milk?) and the best books will still sell well, in the same way books in the traditional publishing world had to rise above the pack to be published by an old skool publisher in the first place.

And there's the real lesson in Cowell's new stock criticism: be different, be better, be unique. Don't be the same as the other thousands of books he read on the internet.

Keepin' It in Perspective

I like what I do and, frankly, most people are pretty impressed when you tell them you're a published author. While I've encountered some snobbery about the fact that I write romance novels, it's not as common as one is occasionally led to believe.

Yesterday, I did a radio interview at the local NPR station. Jeffrey Callison is a terrific interviewer. Smart, funny, smooth, and honestly, not too hard on the eyes, either. When I told everyone at my day job that I'd need to be late yesterday because I was being interviewed, they were all so impressed.

Then I got to the station . . . I walked into the green room to wait my turn and plopped down on the couch next to a woman who was already waiting. We introduced ourselves. I asked her what she did. She is the Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court at The Hague. Yep. She spends her days prosecuting the people who use rape as a weapon of war. Talk about impressive!

Anyway, a little dose of humility is probably healthy for all of us. I had mine yesterday. After she told me what she did, I told her "I wrote a vampire book."

She looked at me for a second and then we both burst out laughing. It was a great moment and one I'll keep in mind any time my head starts getting a little too big to fit through doorways.

That all said, click here if you want to listen to the interview. My part starts about halfway through. Also, if anyone out there is northern California, stop by the Borders in Davis tonight between 7 and 9. Have a glass of Vampire wine and a snack and help me celebrate the release of Don't Kill the Messenger!

The Dan Brown Effect

The Toronto drunks have a very smart friend - Jude. I was talking to Jude about how slimy I feel watching Spartacus; Sand and Blood. It's not the sex, or the graphic novel blood splatter. It's how bad it is in almost every single aspect of storytelling. There is not an original character, the dialogue is ridiculous. The acting...oh, dear god, the acting. This was clearly cast on a willingness to be naked and how good everyone looked being naked.

And yet - I wasted an entire nap time watching back to back episodes of this garbage. Guilty pleasure doesn't begin to explain my complicated relationship with this crappy show.

And Jude, the sage, nodded her head and said "it's the Dan Brown Effect."

Dan Brown, for all his millions, wrote a great story but a terrible book. He got the blood pumping through a fabulous and intriguing idea and he kept the adrenaline up with cliff hangers and reversals and reveals. The terrible dialogue and 2-d characters bothered me - they bothered all of us, but not enough to put down the book.

THis is exactly what Spartacus is doing.

Suddenly - idea and plot are enough to make something successful. I know not everything can be Mad Men and I don't want it to be, but honestly, Spartacus is killing me.

Have you guys been watching Spartacus? What do you think?

I like my Vampires scary

I love True Blood, the Vampire Diaries, the conflicted, tormented vampires from Ann Rice's books, but truly, my favourite vampire moments are when they are truly the bad guys.

Once upon a time, vampires sucked people's blood, killed them and in retaliation people hunted them down and killed them and it was tense and exciting and the sensual nature of the vampire was understated, but still present.

And while I love what has happened to vampires, and JR Ward's books, and Eric, and Damon, I still prefer my vampires lethal. One of my favourite horror movies of the past few years was Thirty Days of Night, where the vamps were sharp fanged and without mercy and really, really scary.

But where it all began was with a series of books, the Necroscope series by Brian Lumley. They almost derailed my third year exams in university. In them, (and it's been a while since I read them, so bear with me) the vamps were truly horrific. Lethal, evil, fascinating, and a true nemesis. Which sort of makes sense, as the books were horror, and about as far from romance as it gets.

But tense, and riveting, and the start of my love of vampires as the bad guy. Something I miss in romance, so if anyone knows of a romance where vampires are strictly the bad guy, let me know.

My Boyfriend Eric is a Vampire

Okay so this week we’re talking about why we’re drawn to vampires. Actually not me. I’m on a beach in Jamaica hopefully not committing sistercide. But I knew in advance what the topic of the week was going to be and instantly I called dibs on Eric the Vampire from True Blood.

Discussing what I find interesting about him is easy. He’s hot. He’s uber hot. He’s hot squared. I love his chest and shoulders. And his chest. Did I mention his chest… especially when it’s naked?

But let’s talk about why as a Vampire he works. I first fell in love with him when we saw him in highlight foils basically ripping apart a human man. The blood splattered on the foils and in that one moment we were treated to the complexity of his character. The light and the dark of him… no pun intended. Throughout that season we saw lots of different layers to him. His bravery, his ruthlessness. And my favorite - his shamelessness. He reminded me of the French character from Cheers. Woody’s girlfriend Julie (??) goes to Paris and comes back with this guy. She claims they were just friends. But every time she left the room he would tell Woody in an exaggerated French accent… “I’m going to steal your girlfriend!”

That’s Eric. No bones about it, he’s going to steal Bill’s girlfriend. How does the Vampire factor in? I think the Vampire is the ultimate bad boy hero because the Vampire lives forever. There is no need for redemption. There is no begging for forgiveness. His lot in life is as old as time and will remain so. He is the ultimate “live for the moment” type of character.

It’s that reality that feeds into the shameless quality. However, a “person’s” character is still always there. We saw that with flashes from Eric’s long ago past. He was a warrior then. He is a sheriff now. We know he has a sense of justice and deep loyalties.

All that combined with … “I’m going to steal your girlfriend.” Makes Eric (for me) the most interesting character on the show and one of my favorite Vampires.

Eileen - this is a shout out to you! Good luck on your release week. Can't wait to read it!