Playlist
Usually when I write I try to listen to things without words, or at least without words I understand like Celtic music or Enya. Since this series of books is about a rock band, I’ve found myself listening to rock. I ended up making a playlist for writing, creatively titled Rogues. (I’m a wordsmith, what can I say?)
The first song on the playlist is Joan Jett and the Blackhearts’ I Hate Myself for Loving You, which is very much a theme in Book 2. I also have The High Kings Irish Pub Song which is also a big theme in this book. I’ve found that many times when I’m listening to songs, it sparks a story idea.
I’d like to say it’s because I’m so in tune with music, but I’m tone deaf and have not one iota of timing or rhythm. I’m incredibly jealous of people with musical ability. I can read music and play the penny whistle or flute as long as I have music in front of me, but without it, I’m lost. One of my husband’s friends from college can pick up any instrument and play something if not beautiful, at least easily recognizable. That is like a superpower to me.
I’ve always felt there’s a diva living inside of me, waiting to belt out a tune and break out in dance. Unfortunately, she’s very deeply buried under layers and layers of inability. I actually saw on Ancestry DNA traits that people with my DNA were less likely to be able to carry a tune. I’m not lying. I took a picture of it and sent it to my sisters, who have the same musical ability as I do, and we all had a good laugh over it.
I know if everyone had all the same abilities and talents, the world would be a boring place, but that doesn’t do much for my inner diva. I guess I’ll just have to live vicariously through my characters.
Have a great weekend!
What’s Up With The Haters?
I recently went back onto X after an extended absence from social media. For a very long time going onto any social media made me anxious AF. I just wanted to see who had new books, funny memes, and maybe cat and puppy videos. Instead, it felt like everyone was either attacking or being attacked. I have to admit, it really didn’t bother me to be away from social media. It’s kind of a time sink and I don’t seem to have good enough posts to interest anyone in responding so it was like shouting into the dark.
Anyway, as I was scrolling through yesterday, I saw someone post something to the effect of does anyone read straight up romance, because the poster thought it was boring on its own.
What the absolute fuck?
Now, this could be click bait or rage bait or whatever, but seriously? Why would you purposely alienate an entire group of readers? I’ve been reading romance in its many forms for 40 + years. I think I’ve read every sub-genre of romance except for maybe Quaker. There are definitely some I like more than others, but after reading I’d say 90% of them, I’ve come away with new knowledge and a feeling of contentment.
I read other genres of books. I’m an English and Social Studies teacher. I read A LOT of fiction and non-fiction. I also got my doctorate, so I had to read a metric ton of journal articles and seminal works. I choose to write romance because that is what feeds my soul. Why would someone shit all over people for reading something that makes them feel GOOD? There’s so much angst and anger in the world, what is wrong with reading something that highlights love?
If you personally don’t like romance, that’s fine, we all have different tastes, but don’t disparage a genre because it’s not your cup of tea.
Now I’m going to go write more on my non-boring rock star romance.
Pax
The Kindle Unlimited Dilemma
A few years ago, my friend introduced me to Kindle Unlimited. I’m not sure if I should thank her for that or curse her for handing me Pandora’s Box.
I love KU. A lot. I think Amazon actually loses money on me because I am definitely reading more than $12. worth of books a month. I love the convenience of it and being able to explore new authors without risking my book budget on something that’s not so great.
At the same time, it often feels like I’m at a thrift store, sifting through castoffs to find the designer handbag. I get incredibly overwhelmed by all the sponsored adds, and sometimes I fall for the splashy book cover only to be disappointed when I start the book. I really hate it when the premise sounds awesome, but the execution doesn’t match up.
The fact that someone could say that about my books keeps me up at night. Yes, I know that there is no book that will please everyone. I’m aware that there are haters who will enjoy tearing down anything I write, just because they can. I’m also aware that even after almost 20 years of doing this, working with a number of publishers, and some really awesome editors, I still have a lot of room for improvement.
I still don’t want to be the cheap-ass, cast off, disappointment. I really, really, want to be the Coach bag someone finds that brightens their day and makes them feel like the search was worthwhile. I think that’s what every author is really looking for. Someone to read the story that has been birthed into the world, through blood, sweat, and tears, and love it just as much as we do.
I will never (I hope) trash a book publicly. No matter how bad I might find it, that author worked his or her ass off to get that story out into the world. I may not talk it up, but I won’t call anyone’s baby ugly. That being said, if I ever do talk about a book publicly, you can be sure I mean what I say.
Back in the “stay home mom/part time teacher” days, I was a book reviewer. The site I worked for had a policy of not trashing books. If you couldn’t write an honest, positive review, you’d pass the book on to someone who could. The idea being that if the book was good enough to get published, there would be someone out there who found the book more to their taste. This was in the days before self-publishing when it was reasonably certain that if a book was for sale, it had gone through several rounds of editing and vetting. It didn’t mean it was necessarily great, but it would be free from most errors.
I kind of miss those days.
Admittedly, I’m an English teacher and grammar is my thing. It makes me nuts to find major grammatical errors in the first chapter. I’m not talking about misused commas, I’m talking about capitalization and tense and spelling errors. Yes, mistakes slip through, we’ve covered that, but if you’re going to pay the money for a great cover, you should also pay for an editor to catch a majority of the errors.
I may end up being a disappointment to a reader (should I actually get my books on KU at some point) but, by God, it will not be because I have a ton of grammatical errors in the first chapter. I hope whoever takes a chance on my stories will come away feeling happy and satisfied after finishing the book, but if they can’t, I hope at least they aren’t tempted to throw it across the room.
Whoomp whoomp whoomp
So yesterday, I ended up doing fuck all.
That’s not entirely true, I did some of the edits my cp suggested and I cleaned the dogs’ beds. I did not get more words written on Book 2, nor did I exercise, or paint the trim. I find myself fighting internal battles where one side of me is saying, you lazy ass, just do what you said you were going to do, and the other side is saying, for the love of God, you work 3 jobs, give yourself a day off.
When I first started writing, which was mostly because I was stuck home with a 4 year old, a 2 year old, and an infant in a snow storm and couldn’t get to the library for new books, I always felt like I had to cram my writing in when I could. I dreamed of when the kids would go to school and I could write uninterrupted for hours on end. Of course, when the kids went to school, I went back to work and there went my writing time. Then I used to dream about writing all summer, at least between taking the kids to camp, dance camp, play dates, etc. I figured when they started driving themselves, I’d have more time for writing and could do so at my leisure.
Now, all three have graduated from college, I have an actual office, with a door I can close even, and I’m still not writing for hours and hours on end. I remember reading once the Nora Roberts–the goddess herself–goes to her office and writes for 6-8 hours a day because it’s her job. It’s been a LONG time since I’ve written anything on deadline, and I wonder if that’s part of the problem? I don’t have to get this book finished. There’s no one breathing down my neck clamoring for it to be done. Sure, the characters in my head are a little noisy, but I can drown them out easily enough. Does it really matter if I take a day off to listen to pod casts and read a book?
Yeah, it does.
I guess what it comes down to is self-discipline, self-motivation, and the intrinsic desire to tell my story. I have to come to terms with the idea that even after I write this story, pay to get it professionally edited, (see yesterday’s post for why that’s imperative) pay for the book covers, and figure out how the hell to self-publish it, it may only get read by a handful of people.
Am I writing to make money, to please legions of fans, or because it’s something I need to do to fulfill something inside of me?
I think we all know it’s Door Number 3…
Week 2
Happy Monday!
It’s going to be ridiculously hot the next few days, which makes staying in an air conditioned room and writing all the more attractive! Sitting in one place is already very attractive right now after spending the weekend babysitting and bartending. Have I mentioned I’m in my 50’s? Young children are a young adult’s game…
I sent Rogue Medicine, which is Book 1 to my friend and critique partner and she gave me some fabulous feedback. It’s amazing what you miss when it’s your own writing and you know what’s happening. Let me put this in perspective for you…
I am an English teacher. Grammar is my job. I go through my books at least twice before I send them off to my critique partners and I always, always find mistakes in each review. My critique partners also find mistakes, which I fix when I go through the book a third time. When I was writing for various publishers, I would then send the book to my editor who would go through it and find more errors, which I would fix and send back. Then she’d do another round and find other errors, which would get fixed before it went to a different editor, who would also find errors that would get fixed before the book was published.
Then in the published work, someone would find a typo, or the wrong name in a place, or a missed end quote or something else like that. At minimum, that’s six reviews with at least four pairs of eyes on one story and mistakes still slip through.
My students complain because I make them run spellcheck and beg them to proofread before they turn in their work. ::eye roll::
Today, my plan is to go back into Rogue Medicine and make the changes my cp noted, as they make the book better and it will affect some of what I’m doing in Book 2. I’m hoping I’ll still have something left in the creative fuel tank to get some words in on Book 2, because I don’t know how much writing time I’ll have over the next two weeks and I need to prioritize writing as much as I can this summer.
I’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow…
Day 5
I think this will be the last Day whatever title, it’s getting boring. That being said, this is the first time I’ve had a 5 day streak of writing and it feels really, really good. I’m up to 20K of what I plan on being a 60-65K novel and the story is chugging along. I don’t know if I mentioned it, but this series involves a rock band. I know that stories about “superstars” aren’t always popular, but I freaking love rock stars.
My book Storming the Castle from Entangled Publishing involved a rock star who was burnt out and needed to find his way back to the music. It is still one of my favorite books. I did make a reference to that story in this book, even though I plan on self-publishing this series.
I really don’t have much else to say today. I’m going to try to get another thousand words down before I have to pick up my niece and nephew for the weekend. There will be no writing with a 5 year old and a 2 year old in the house. I have no idea how I managed to write as much as I did with three kids running around, but I was younger then…
Have a great weekend!
Day 4
Welcome to Day 4 of my writing travelogue.
I figure I probably won’t be posting every day of my summer vacation, but I’m finding this a good way to get my head in the writing mode before I open my document. Yesterday I managed about 1500 words, which felt really good. I’m aiming for between 1000-2000 words a day, as time allows. Next week I’m going to a conference and my writing time will be severely curtailed. My hope is that I’ll be able to write something, just so I don’t get completely off track.
When I first started writing, 20+ years ago, I was doing it in my living room while my 3 daughters were playing or watching TV. Somehow I managed to write several novels while listening to children’s television, making sure the toddler didn’t set the house on fire, and keeping the baby from feeding her teething ring to the dog. Now, I have an actual office with a fountain, essential oil diffuser, lots of books and fairies and pretty decorations around, and I get distracted by EVERYTHING.
One would think I’d be banging out books like crazy, but instead I just plod along. I’m realizing that like most things in my life, accomplishing anything isn’t a matter of a quick surge of brilliance, but more of a bone deep stubbornness to continue. Pretty much all of the things I’ve accomplished in my life have come from my absolute refusal to give in rather than any outstanding talent or intelligence on my part.
So maybe I won’t be able to finish Book 2 and start on Book 3 this summer, but I’m going to keep going, regardless. I did manage to start painting the trim yesterday though, so I have a visual reminder of my progress on my summer goals. Now if only I could lose some of those pounds…
I’ll check in tomorrow with the word count for today.
Day 3
Welcome to Day 3!
I actually managed to get some new words down yesterday, I’m excited about where the story is going. I’m hoping to make the story roughly 65 K ish. I’m starting at 16,532, so if I can stay consistent, I should be able to finish this before I go back to work. I’d love to start Book 3 because the characters have been growing in my head, but I also don’t want to rush through this story just to say it’s done. These characters have been in my head for a long time and deserve their story.
I’m really trying to enjoy the writing process and not make myself nuts trying to get stories finished just for the sake of finishing them. I plan on self-publishing this series and it scares that absolute shit out of me. I hate marketing. Like with the heat of a thousand suns hate it. I’m no good at following trends (obviously, that’s why I’m doing a blog, not Book Toc or Book Tube) and it embarrasses the hell out of me to push my own books. Promoting my friends’ books, I’m all in. When it comes to my own stuff, I’d rather eat paint.
I figure if I just focus on writing the books, I won’t have to worry about the publishing process for a while. I’m more than happy to kick that can down the road for a good long time…
Day 2
I had a great Day 1! I went through the entire Book 1 and fixed some continuity issues I didn’t know I was going to have when I started writing it. But I also really enjoyed the story. You may be thinking, well, yeah, you wrote it, of course you’re going to enjoy it, but that is not always the case. Quite often when I read older books, it’s basically a cringe fest. I’m not saying I’m going to be winning any prizes for this story, but I enjoyed it and it left me feeling pretty satisfied, so yay!
Today I’m going to go into Book 2, and sadly, probably delete a lot of what I’ve already written. I tend to have to write them to get to know my characters, and then go back and get rid of a lot of my discovery writing. I’ve tried doing complex character sheets, but I still end up going back and changing things. When I write, I feel like I’m channeling a movie that’s going on in my head onto the page. Often, the movie takes a dramatic turn I didn’t see coming. It’s part of the reason I love writing so much. I really just want to share all these adventures with other people and hope they get a kick out of them as much as I do.
I don’t know if I’ll get many new words down today, but I really need to go in and overhaul. I’ll let you know tomorrow how it goes.
Day 1
Welcome to Day 1!!!
It is kind of sort of the first day of summer vacation for me. I am now only working one part time job so I can focus on writing for the next 60 ish days. This is both exciting and daunting. I always set a list of things to do over the summer, that I can’t reasonable accomplish unless I give up sleep entirely or warp the space time continuum. In an effort to be realistic, my goal for this summer is to edit the book I wrote two years ago and haven’t looked at since. It is the first in a 4 book series I’ve been thinking about for years. I would also like to finish the second book, which I’ve started but needs some serious overhaul.
I also want to lose 20 pounds and paint the trim in my house, but I digress…
My plan is to try to post my progress on this blog to hold myself accountable. I’m pretty sure the 3000 spammers aren’t going to hold my feet to the fire if I don’t post my word counts regularly, but I’m putting it out into the universe.
If you are an author, wanna be author, struggling author, or are just interested in the convoluted way my mind works, I hope you’ll comment and share your progress as well. I would put something in the title bar about writer’s life because I’m bulk deleting things right now and might miss it.
It’s a brand new day, let’s do this!