Daily Pitfalls of THIS Writer

While I could produce a list of all things publishing related such as plotting, editing, publishers, royalties, and the list could go on... This about MY everyday pitfalls.

 

I like to think of myself as efficient, managing time well to get done what I need done. And for the most part I do accomplish my tasks as needed, when needed and on the timetable I schedule. However, I HAVE stumbling blocks.

Room in my house.

The minor of my pitfalls that take me from writing include meal making, vacuuming, laundry, dish washing, letting dogs out, letting dogs in and remodeling. My house has been under construction for 30+ years. That’s the downfall of being in the construction business and having my husband die before it’s all done. I’ll be lucky to finish it all before I too die. Still, I like doing the work even though it  draws me away from writing.

 

Then there is yard work. If I want a pretty yard, it’s all up to me. And I have a big yard. I have to mow it, weed it, (maybe not weed it as much as I should) and plant it...that includes a veggie garden, of which brings another chore of canning what I can’t devour in a short amount of time.

 

A tiny portion of my 5 acre yard and barn.

Then there is working at home. Everyone I know treats me as if I don’t work at all. They don’t believe that plotting a story takes time, or writing takes concentration. They don’t think they’re interrupting by coming over to chat or dragging me to the store. Okay, so they don’t actually have to drag me. I do like to shop. But really... I have only so many hours in a day and I need to get my edits done.



2 of my 8 tvs

I’m also a big television watcher. I have one (or two) in about every room in my house. The programming I’ll sit through may be bad, mediocre, good, or excellent. Everyone has their own opinion on what makes something worth watching. So, I’m for forming my own decision on what's good and what's not. Unfortunately, it’s a big distraction. I can’t very well watch the television and my computer monitor at the same time. Though I try.

 

 

 

Cookies at my computer.

Finally, my greatest pitfall is food. I love to cook. I love to eat. Therefore, I struggle with weight gain. My life has always been endless yo-yo dieting. But the worst struggle comes from sitting all day in front of my computer. I have a tendency to eat junk food. I nibble M&M’s, potato chips, peanut butter and bananas, cookies while reading what I’ve written. It’s a mindless act that many think they have a remedy for, but anyone that struggles with their weight, knows, this is can’t be fixed by anyone other than me. So here I am, thinking every other minute of the day, should I get up and do some walking, only to find I’ve walked myself to the kitchen.

 

So what pitfalls do you encounter in your day?


Brenda

www.BrendaWilliamson.com
~ Seductive in Any Era ~


 

Looking Forward - Acts of Faith and Their Rewards

Writing is an act of faith. ~ E.B. White

When you start telling a story, even if you have a scene-by-scene outline, you still don’t know that you’re going to finish the story, or do justice to your vision for it. If you’re writing for publication, there is always that nagging doubt that the story – even if you have a contract – might not make it to readers.

But it doesn’t matter.

A writer can’t not write. Life is full and hectic enough before you start filling your head with fictional people and conflict, with desires and heartaches and loves. Once a writer begins to regularly empty his or her head of these things, it fills up even faster. Writing is a release, a wish and a promise all at once. It’s an act of faith.

So are most things in life.

Relationships. That first word out of your mouth after you’ve checked your shirt and your breath and crossed the room to talk to someone who’s caught your fancy.

Travel. You pack the car and turn the ignition and drive down the road, firmly expecting the road to continue and your destination to exist when you arrive. Gasoline will continue to fuel your car and gravity will keep you rolling around the Earth until your arrival.

Work. You endure. You study. You learn. You adapt. You learn diplomacy. Because you will keep being paid and, every now and again, when you raise your hand above your head, another rung will have appeared on the ladder.

All acts of faith.

I’m writing the third book in the Night Runner series. It’s the first book I’ve written – other than a few sweet endeavors which are and always will be mothballed – without a rolling outline. The characters, now a novella and novel deep, are substantial. They know what they want, and they want it bad. The obstacles are higher that before. The villains are closer than ever. But Sydney Kildare keeps rolling forward and Malcolm Kelly keeps pivoting. They’re a half-step ahead of the forces that threaten to break them. Not a comfortable position, but better than the alternative.

And I keep writing because their story, their romance, their faith in each other, is on the verge of blooming and demands to be told.

*takes a deep breath*

This post got a bit more serious than I wanted. What else am I looking forward to that I expect will be there when I reach for it?

Summer. That’s a big one. The average temperature this time of year in Alaska is 60F. It’s currently 30 and freaking SNOWING. Someday the sun will return to Alaska…someday.

J

Clearly I need some distractions. Do you need some, too? Here are some things I (along with several other members of Here Be Magic, I’ve noticed) am looking forward to:

Almost Human - coming to Fox this fall

EPIC - coming to theaters May 24th!

There are also tons of amazing fantasy book releases schedules for 2013 and early 2014. I'm salivating particularly hard over Magic Rises by Ilona Andrews, and the CARNIEPUNK anthology *wink*. What are you looking forward to?

***

 About the Author

Regan Summers lives in Anchorage, Alaska with her husband and alien-monkey hybrid of a child. She loves reading, traveling, small plate dining and terrible action movies.

Her Night Runner series from Carina Press is available wherever e-books are sold.

Website  -  Twitter  -  Facebook  -  Amazon  -  Barnes & Noble  -  Carina Press

Paranormal/fantasy heroes: A list of some characters who inspire my muse

A friend and fellow author did a similar post to this recently, and feeling inspired (I mean, who doesn’t want to write about hunks, er, I mean heroes?), I blatantly stole her idea, which I’m sure she stole from someone else, so all’s fair, right? Plus, I really couldn't come up with a better topic to blog about today. What are you gonna do?

Anywho. She did a list of her favorite heroes, from TV, film, and books, and gave an explanation of why they were hero-worthy to her. I’ll dive right in and offer up six of my own favorite paranormal and fantasy heroes. I really could have done a list of 100 of my favorite heroes, but I randomly picked these six. Can I please note that I also came thisclose to including some of the heroes created by Here Be Magic contributors, but since I haven't read everyone's books yet, I didn't think it was exactly fair to single anyone out. But it was tempting. Jax Garren, I'm looking at you. And you too, Veronica Scott. Points finger at Eleri Stone. And...I'll stop embarrassing myself now.

Damon Salvatore  

Feel free to leave your own favorites in the comments section. I adore being introduced to new characters!

Damon Salvatore. To be fair, I haven’t read The Vampire Diaries books, but I watch the TV show every week. Ian Somerhalder is just…wow. Love him. He took a character I thought was only eh in the first few episodes of this show and developed him into a complex bad boy who’s constantly torn between his own gratification and his love for his brother and friends. He’s relentlessly unpredictable as a result. And yes, I watch The Vampire Diaries and I’m not a teenage girl. Back off.

Bones, from the Night Huntress series. I love, love, love Jeaniene Frost’s series of books and fell in love with Bones just as the book’s heroine Cat did throughout this series. Gotta admire a man who joins a secret agency devoted to killing his kind simply to be near the woman he loves.

Dean Winchester

Dean Winchester. Supernatural is my favorite TV show for a reason, and Dean is that reason. He is THE alpha demon hunter on television. Jensen Ackles, who portrays Dean, rocks socks. And I wouldn't want to mess with him if I were a demon. Just sayin.'

Mouse Guard. Please tell me you didn’t just ask yourself, “What the heck is Mouse Guard?” OK, given my utter weirdness, it’s a fair question. Mouse Guard is a comic book written and illustrated by David Petersen. It’s set in a world of sentient mice who live in medieval times paralleling the same period in human history. The Mouse Guard are essentially guards/soldiers who help the other mice survive attacks and the such. I don’t even know how else to describe it, or one character to single out as the best hero, but if you’re open to comic books, this one is awesome. Plus, they're mice with swords!

Legolas Greenleaf from The Lord of the Rings. Confession time. I suffered through the books (please don't pelt me with rocks), but I enjoyed the movies, mostly. There was one character who stuck with me, and it was Legolas. The reason? I was drawn to his kindness and gentle nature, and he had some mad skills with that bow and arrow. Plus, he was kinda cute and all.

The Doctor. I’m a recent convert to this SF/F show from Britain thanks to Netflix, but I’m totally hooked on Doctor Who. What can I say? I’m a sucker for quirky, smart, and witty heroes who brandish nothing more than a sonic screwdriver when slaying aliens, monsters and the such. Plus, bowties are cool.

There’s my list. What’s yours?

Good Madness

"May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art - write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself." ~Neil Gaiman

I've been thinking about good madness as I build the next project.  It's crazy and fun and kind of scary at the same time.  Words like grotesque, freak, and deviant keep showing up.  I even bought the Deviant Moon tarot cards because something just screamed at me when I saw them.

This is the kind of project that I could become obsessed with.

Is that a good thing?

As a reader, I think it is.  Some of my favorite books are ones that are almost startling and creepy the way they seem to suck me into their world.  I remember the first time I picked up Laurell K. Hamilton's Guilty Pleasures. 

Willie McCoy had been a jerk before he died.  His being dead didn't change that.

From the very first line, it was different.  I knew I was going to be in for one wild ride and I gobbled those books up as fast as I could (at least up to Incubus Dreams; thereafter's another story).  They were filled with magic and dreams and good madness, a sort of twisted up world that was so strange and violent and bloody...yet compulsively good too.

I read those books like I was in a frenzy.  Trapped in a sort of madness that was good.  Very good indeed.

What about you - can you recommend a "Good Madness" sort of series that became a crazy good obsession?  Something you just couldn't help reading, whether it was shocking or exciting, strange and twisted, or just wickedly lovely in some way?

Assuming I can drag myself away from my own madness, I'd love to add more obsessively good books to my towering TBR pile!

Here Be News

New releases this week

Book three of Tales of the Underlight

It's all been leading to this.

Jolie Benoit has become a skilled agent of the Underlight, relying on her savvy to complete assignments while Sergeant Wesley Haukon was out of commission. But an unexpected clue to the Order of Ananke's diabolical scheme rattles Jolie, and she turns to Hauk for comfort.

It's been years since Hauk took comfort from the touch of another person, though his love for Jolie is deep and powerful. Uncomfortable in his skin, scarred by a terrible fire, he is unable to give in to the pleasures that Jolie so desperately wants to grant him.

Meanwhile, the Order is lurking in the shadows--and when they strike, the blow is swift and terrible. Hauk and Jolie scramble to fight for their community, but with the future of the Underlight threatened, no one is safe. And Hauk will never be the same...

Discover how it all began in How Beauty Met the Beast and How Beauty Saved the Beast.

Buy

Book three of Facets of Passion

Danielle Sosna has no problem denying herself in order to achieve her goals--after all, that attitude landed her a dream job at Vogue Paris. But in New Orleans for one last assignment before heading overseas, she's faced with the most decadent of temptations. Seductive Cajun chef Bobby Prejean takes Dani's strength of will as a challenge, and offers her a night of wild indulgence--if she will agree to obey his every command...

Dani can't resist Prejean's invitation to join him in a world of carnal desire, complete with fetish costumes and masks. Determined to keep her emotional distance, she gives Prejean everything but her name. A night becomes a week, as she spends Mardi Gras suspended...in the delicious space where pleasure meets pain.

Too late, she realizes the cloak of anonymity has not protected her--and that chasing her dream might come at the expense of her heart.

For more Facets of Passion, check out Sapphire and Platinum, available now!

Buy

Links of Interest

Why everything you know about wolf packs is wrong: "The notion of a supreme pack leader who fought his way to dominance and reigns superior to the other wolves in his pack informs both our fiction and is how many people understand wolf behavior. But the alpha wolf doesn't exist—at least not in the wild."

LEGO steampunk! "The Lego steampunk line is set to debut in July and will include steampunk-inspired designs like a hover-mobile and "mad science ray."

Something Greater: An Epic Discussion of Epic Fantasy, Part 1

Scalzi about the RT Booklovers Convention: "This is something that I think might be worth noting out loud: At a largely female-oriented convention, as a man, I was never excluded, resented or made to feel unwelcome."

Here Be Magic Group Announcements

Cover Reveal for Witch Bound, Book Two in the Twilight of the Gods series by Eleri Stone. Coming June 24th!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by for Fantasy Week last week. In case you missed any of the posts, you can find them here:

5/5/2013 - Angela Highland Fantasy Week Why Fantasy?

5/7/2013 - Jane Kindred Fantasy Week Epic Fantasy: Where’s the Love?

5/8/2013 - Jeffe Kennedy Fantasy Week Braving the Fantasy Debates - Not Only Epic, but Romantic

5/9/2013 - Nicole Luiken Fantasy Week Enriching the Scene

5/10/2013 - Shawna Thomas Fantasy Week Epic fantasy: Does it have to be so long?

5/11/2013 - Ruth A Casie Fantasy Week Why Historicals?

Be sure to join us for our next spotlight June 2-8 on Urban Fantasy!

He Said. She Said. We Snorted.

Ruby releases tomorrow!

Thus I have my Pimping Party Prom dress on and am shamelessly cross-posting this at the Word Whores blog as well.

And, to complete the pimpage, here are a couple of reviews posted to today for it here and here. One is also in French, should you care to stretch those neurons you haven't used since high school.

So, this week's topic is "Dialogue Tags: He Said, She Asked, They Exclaimed ... when to use what."

I'm a really bad person to kick off this topic because, if there's one thing my Carina editor, Deb Nemeth, consistently hammers me for, it's dialogue tags. If she and I were married, this would be the one thing she'd say she'd change about me. She'd say it to the marriage counselor with a deep and heartfelt sigh, while I sat on the other corner of the couch, arms folded defensively.

Because I don't WANT to change. I feel like she should love me for who I am.

See, this comment comes directly from my most recent round of edits with her:

Most of the line edits are to correct punctuation surrounding dialogue. You have a habit of punctuating tags as beats and vice-versa. This technical aspect to craft is something I’d appreciate you paying closer attention to when you self-edit book three before sending it in to me, not only because it’s rather time-consuming to make these corrections, but because I’m always afraid the copyeditor and I won’t catch them all. Use the comma + lower case only for bona fide tags, a period + initial cap for beats. Note that laugh, snort, told, said it (as opposed to plain said) are beats, not tags. Let me know if this isn’t clear. 

How she hurts me.

Really, I think she'd be happy if I just used "said" a lot more. The thing about "said" as in:

"I hate when you harp on my dialogue tags," she said.

is that our readerly eyes go right over it. It's nearly invisible. Studies have actually shown this. Our brains process what the character expressed and register the "she said" part like punctuation. But you guys know me - I'm just not that sweet and obedient. My characters don't just SAY things - they snort them! They laugh out words and sometimes they hiss them!

(This is another of my editorial world pet-peeves - there's this "rule" that you can't have someone hiss what they're saying unless there are sibilants in the word. So you can have

"Sheer bliss," she hissed.

but not

"Get out," she hissed.

I don't know about you people, but I can totally hiss "get out." I may or may not walk around the house hissing words that my editor inSISTS can't be hissed.

Not that I'm bitter.

Amusingly, one of my publishers - Ellora's Cave - officially reversed their policy on the hissing thing. So my EC characters can hiss anything they damn well want to while my Carina ones can only hiss with sibilants in the words. I don't know where Kensington will weigh in yet.

The upshot for me is, even though my editor - who really does love me in every other way - calls this a craft issue, I view it as an editorial one. Some editors care passionately about dialogue tags, others do not. I had one editor who really disliked parenthetical asides. (You can just imagine how well we got along.)

For me, it's voice, which I'm going to stick to as much as I can. I'll bow to editorial decisions and house style, which is part of being a professional writer, but if I can get away with a bit of dialogue snorting, I'm going to do it every time.

After all, she knew it when she married me.

Fantasy Week - Why Historicals?

Years ago I did a lot of international travel for business. But I can remember my first trip overseas very clearly. It was a two week trip to five European cities. I brought six novels thinking I would catch up on my reading—there never seemed to be enough time at home with three small children. I finished one and a half books before I landed.

My idea of Lyn Kurland's magic forest

My days were filled with client calls with the local bank directors, but most late afternoons, evenings and the weekend I was on my own. I filled the time with walking tours of the city, sometimes in groups other times using the track provided by the hotel. Each time I came face to face with history; the Grand Place in Brussels, the Place de la Concorde in Paris, and HamptonCourt in England. As I went on to the different cities I tried to hear the sounds, smell the aromas, and see the sights from a different perspective, a different time. Stories by Julie Garwood, Jude Deveraux, Johanna Lindsey and Lynn Kurland had me enthralled along with Clive Cussler. I know, he's not exactly romance but his Dirk Pit stories always start with some historical fact or thread that's crucial to solving the mystery. I read my books at night and visited places were I could imagine the stories unfolding. 

Historical facts mixed with chivalry and magic made the most compelling stories to me. The romance of the middle ages and Renaissance with their knights and princesses and their myths of druids, fairies, and fae tossed in for good measure all drew me in. Time travel stories and the ability to change the past, protect the future, or simply experience a different time made all things possible. Personally, I want my fiction based on fact but I don't necessarily want the cold truth of reality. I know that history doesn't always end with a happily ever after but taking a little poetic license to alter history just a bit to make it all work out is what I enjoy reading. 

My new story, The Guardian's Witch, is a historical fantasy about the special knight and the woman he must protect. 

In 13th century England, in order to save the man she loves and prevent being married off to another, Lisbeth Reynolds, born with the ability to see things before they happen, must make a crucial decision. Dare she rely on her knight, Lord Alex Stelton, to find a way to save them both or does she trust her magic and risk exposure and persecution as a witch? 

The book releases July 1 and is currently available for pre-order at Amazon and B&N.