Well, three posts in January. Not bad. Maybe I’m finally getting this technology thing down. I’ve come to realize that if the tech stuff isn’t for work I really don’t bother learning about it. I finally got an iPhone late last year and the only reason I learned to cool ins and outs of it was because I could sync it with my work computer. And I don’t mean work as in writing, no work as in real job. Sad, but true. I can barely work my camcorder. I have no need for one at work. Ug.
I’ve been working on my outline for LD1, my abbreviation for it. I have the characters pretty fleshed out. Kathleen is the lawyer, Cassie the cop, and Sam the PI. And I have to tell you that Sam is threatening to take over the WHOLE thing. So to appease her, I’m going to write a short story that I originally intended to be the prologue to LD3 (Sam’s Story – sorry Leah, but it works in identifying) :-) but I think it will be too big for a prologue. We’ll see. She has become much more colorful and interesting than what I perceived her initially. I don’t think we’ll ever get to see all of her back story, which is a shame, because it’s a story in itself.
Yesterday I went through my outline and separated the scenes so that they each have their own page and marked where the scene takes place and whose POV each scene is in. This also showed that I have 33 scenes, not bad. I really like how these details are getting worked out early. Before, I would just write and figure it out as I went along. Obviously, that wasn’t working for me, so I’m hopeful that this way does. I found some holes in the story. I’m trying to encompass four story threads and weave them all together. I have found that my love aspect isn’t getting enough attention so that is something I have to address and Cassie isn’t featured enough so I need to get her in it more. Plus show my bad guys in depth and plant the red herrings correctly. And try to keep Sam from stealing the show.
Did you see Leah’s book on sale? It made the #1 slot on Samhain’s best seller this week. Go get it! It’s hot!
Monday, February 2, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Private Property
Come check out my wonderfully talented friend’s new Release.
It is HOT! Leah is an amazing writer and this is her first book to be published. She already has a contract on the second and is working on the third installment of this series. And it’s on sale today. Who can beat that?!
It is HOT! Leah is an amazing writer and this is her first book to be published. She already has a contract on the second and is working on the third installment of this series. And it’s on sale today. Who can beat that?!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Lies & Deception
So a lawyer, a cop, and a PI walk into a bar...
No, it's not some sleazy joke. It's the premise of my new story. I think it's turning into a series. I've got quite a bit of material and I can see more happening to them. Can you see the potential for crazy things to happen with these three personality types?
Right now I'm in the outline and research phase and having lots of fun with it. I have a lot of research for Kate's story that actually works better for this one at the moment. So the story is going to be these three women starting their own PI firm together. In the begining, two of them DO NOT get along so that is going to be fun to write about. Especially since one of them relishes in annoying the other. But really, she needs to lighten up!
Here's the tidbit:
Lies & Deception Inc.
Three no non sense, strong women come together to form their own Investigation and Specialized Protection Agency. They deal with the average, everyday cheating spouse, insurance scammers, frivolous law suit filers, as well as stalkers. And if you’re in a real jam, they can actually help you disappear.
The Diplomat – A former lawyer sick of the bureaucratic red tape decides she can use the system to help the innocents and actually protect victims instead of the criminals. Excellent at diplomacy, she can twist everything you say and make you admit to being wrong and apologize for it.
The Defiant – A former cop that couldn’t keep her mouth shut. Loved by all her coworkers, but despised by her bosses. She became uncontrollable and frustrated with the politics of the office. Pushed off the force may keep her out of a uniform, but it won’t keep her off the streets. She remains close to her siblings in blue and helps out when she can, but working on her own she now isn’t tied to all the rules. Can talk crap with the best of them and tends to be so blunt she incites hatred from others.
The Deceiver – With questionable backgrounds no one really knows where she came from. Has a quick mind and fast study. Got her start actually working for another agency but became bored with trying to help the bad guys when her mentor was bought out. Has the looks of someone sweet and naïve, but she’s the one to do the dirty work. Knows how the criminals think far too well. Has a terrible rage hidden from the world that manages to escape when she starts drinking vodka. She’s the expert on disappearing and undercover.
Diplomacy, Defiance, and Deception
No, it's not some sleazy joke. It's the premise of my new story. I think it's turning into a series. I've got quite a bit of material and I can see more happening to them. Can you see the potential for crazy things to happen with these three personality types?
Right now I'm in the outline and research phase and having lots of fun with it. I have a lot of research for Kate's story that actually works better for this one at the moment. So the story is going to be these three women starting their own PI firm together. In the begining, two of them DO NOT get along so that is going to be fun to write about. Especially since one of them relishes in annoying the other. But really, she needs to lighten up!
Here's the tidbit:
Lies & Deception Inc.
Three no non sense, strong women come together to form their own Investigation and Specialized Protection Agency. They deal with the average, everyday cheating spouse, insurance scammers, frivolous law suit filers, as well as stalkers. And if you’re in a real jam, they can actually help you disappear.
The Diplomat – A former lawyer sick of the bureaucratic red tape decides she can use the system to help the innocents and actually protect victims instead of the criminals. Excellent at diplomacy, she can twist everything you say and make you admit to being wrong and apologize for it.
The Defiant – A former cop that couldn’t keep her mouth shut. Loved by all her coworkers, but despised by her bosses. She became uncontrollable and frustrated with the politics of the office. Pushed off the force may keep her out of a uniform, but it won’t keep her off the streets. She remains close to her siblings in blue and helps out when she can, but working on her own she now isn’t tied to all the rules. Can talk crap with the best of them and tends to be so blunt she incites hatred from others.
The Deceiver – With questionable backgrounds no one really knows where she came from. Has a quick mind and fast study. Got her start actually working for another agency but became bored with trying to help the bad guys when her mentor was bought out. Has the looks of someone sweet and naïve, but she’s the one to do the dirty work. Knows how the criminals think far too well. Has a terrible rage hidden from the world that manages to escape when she starts drinking vodka. She’s the expert on disappearing and undercover.
Diplomacy, Defiance, and Deception
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
New Year, New Story
Well I’m back into the regular grove of things again. Miss M is back in school, thank goodness. I really treasure our time together, but a girl has got to get some work done once in awhile and taking Miss M to my office wasn’t cutting it. I’m very lucky that my real job is very slow in the winter so for her holiday I get to spend lots of time with her. We caught up on movies, went to the ballet (Nutcraker), and the museum. Plus slept in every morning! By nature I’m a night owl and very disinclined to wake on my own before the sun comes up, which is when I need to get out of bed during school. So on our little hiatus I got to stay up until 3 in the morning and wasn’t brain dead the next morning for only getting 3 hours of sleep. Yeah me!
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. We had family come in and they promptly spread the flu in our household. Out of seven of us, only Miss M escaped the epidemic. Unfortunately her allergies morphed into a nasty cold and asthma so while she didn’t have the upset stomach, we are now on a couple of inhalers for the next few weeks.
A couple of weeks ago I was checking out Angela Knight’s blog and she recommended a writing book by Karen Wiesner that sounded interesting. I put it on my Christmas list for hubby, which he didn’t get (he HATES trying to buy books for me) but he did give me a nice big gift card to B&N. So I promptly went and purchased this book. I’m about a third of the way through it and so far I’m really liking it. For me, it’s making me focus working out all my plot lines and making sure they mesh before I even write Chapter One on a page.
I’ve done Candace Haven’s Fast Draft Course and that was great. But I just had an idea in my head and ran with it. I always seem to get stuck in the middle trying to figure out how to make it work with the ending in my head. Karen Wiesner’s book forces you to focus on the middle and lay it all out in a very detailed outline. She says by the end of the outlining you really have a first draft. And I can see where she says that, you detail the outline so far that all you really need to do is just go in and write the actual scenes. You’ve already put in what is supposed to happen in it. Her method has worked all the details out that have plagued me during my previous attempts. So I took a story idea and I'm running with the new system. I’ll keep you posted on my progress.
What system seems to work the best for you?
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. We had family come in and they promptly spread the flu in our household. Out of seven of us, only Miss M escaped the epidemic. Unfortunately her allergies morphed into a nasty cold and asthma so while she didn’t have the upset stomach, we are now on a couple of inhalers for the next few weeks.
A couple of weeks ago I was checking out Angela Knight’s blog and she recommended a writing book by Karen Wiesner that sounded interesting. I put it on my Christmas list for hubby, which he didn’t get (he HATES trying to buy books for me) but he did give me a nice big gift card to B&N. So I promptly went and purchased this book. I’m about a third of the way through it and so far I’m really liking it. For me, it’s making me focus working out all my plot lines and making sure they mesh before I even write Chapter One on a page.
I’ve done Candace Haven’s Fast Draft Course and that was great. But I just had an idea in my head and ran with it. I always seem to get stuck in the middle trying to figure out how to make it work with the ending in my head. Karen Wiesner’s book forces you to focus on the middle and lay it all out in a very detailed outline. She says by the end of the outlining you really have a first draft. And I can see where she says that, you detail the outline so far that all you really need to do is just go in and write the actual scenes. You’ve already put in what is supposed to happen in it. Her method has worked all the details out that have plagued me during my previous attempts. So I took a story idea and I'm running with the new system. I’ll keep you posted on my progress.
What system seems to work the best for you?
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Lorie O’Clare
I’d like to introduce everyone to Lorie O’Clare. An incredibly talented and prolific writer. She has written ten, yes ten, books this year. Some have already been released through Ellora’s Cave. (Click here to see her page there.) And more will be published next year in print with St. Martin’s and Kensington. One of which is Tall, Dark, and Deadly.
Click to go to Amazon and read the reviews!
Click to go to Amazon and read the reviews!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Congratulations to my wonderfully talented friend Leah. Her first book coming out in January! There will no doubt be many, many more.
Look at her Gorgeous cover:
Go here to check it out. I’ve read the pre editor version and let me tell you it is HOT!!! I fell in love with the secondary character and my heart was overjoyed when she devoted her next book to him, complicating his love life in the most delicious ways.
I’ve been back about three weeks now from our vacation and life hasn’t slowed a bit. Utter exhaustion took over the first week. Why is it when you go on vacation with kids you come home with less energy than when you decided you needed said vacation? Once we started feeling like ourselves the pollen count hit over 2,000 here. The whole family got sick. So we are just now getting over all of that too and now it’s time for Miss M’s Birthday. We don’t have any family coming into town this year and while that makes me a little sad to not be able to hang out with my sisters, I’m glad to not have to run around like a crazy woman cleaning my house. Then Thanksgiving and Christmas. I do have family coming in for Christmas, so I’ll be doing the mad scramble then.
On the writing front, I just haven’t done anything. I’ve thought about it, just not any actual writing. I know I’m getting really bad. This time of year for the real job is usually slow for me and leaves me time to write, but I have three MAJOR projects going on that seems to be sucking all my time. However, I came across this blog last month: http://fivescribes.blogspot.com/2008/10/online-writing-workshops-best-ones-ive.html
I signed up for the announcements and decided to take a couple of online courses to kick start that side of my brain again. So while I was on vacation I checked my emails and decided to take a few courses this month. When all was said and done how many did I actually sign up for? 1, 2? Nah, that would be too easy for me. Apparently I signed up for 5. Maybe I need a lecture on moderation?
Look at her Gorgeous cover:
Go here to check it out. I’ve read the pre editor version and let me tell you it is HOT!!! I fell in love with the secondary character and my heart was overjoyed when she devoted her next book to him, complicating his love life in the most delicious ways.
I’ve been back about three weeks now from our vacation and life hasn’t slowed a bit. Utter exhaustion took over the first week. Why is it when you go on vacation with kids you come home with less energy than when you decided you needed said vacation? Once we started feeling like ourselves the pollen count hit over 2,000 here. The whole family got sick. So we are just now getting over all of that too and now it’s time for Miss M’s Birthday. We don’t have any family coming into town this year and while that makes me a little sad to not be able to hang out with my sisters, I’m glad to not have to run around like a crazy woman cleaning my house. Then Thanksgiving and Christmas. I do have family coming in for Christmas, so I’ll be doing the mad scramble then.
On the writing front, I just haven’t done anything. I’ve thought about it, just not any actual writing. I know I’m getting really bad. This time of year for the real job is usually slow for me and leaves me time to write, but I have three MAJOR projects going on that seems to be sucking all my time. However, I came across this blog last month: http://fivescribes.blogspot.com/2008/10/online-writing-workshops-best-ones-ive.html
I signed up for the announcements and decided to take a couple of online courses to kick start that side of my brain again. So while I was on vacation I checked my emails and decided to take a few courses this month. When all was said and done how many did I actually sign up for? 1, 2? Nah, that would be too easy for me. Apparently I signed up for 5. Maybe I need a lecture on moderation?
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Not TSTL, more like TSfP
What is TSfP you ask? Well, in much haggling over the issues I thought were my heroine developing a bad case of TSTL that I didn’t see coming. I discovered that it wasn’t my heroine, I was getting really disappointed in her you know. It was ME. That’s right folks, the blame was mine. I’m sure DH is staggering in shock somewhere now that I’ve admitted fault. ;) I made blunders in the plot outline. Part of the whole ‘pantser’ problem that can arise. Too Stupid for Plotting, that’s me. Or at least my problem. So I plan to spend the next free hour I can reworking the timing of events in the first half of my story. I’m not going to dig in right now and rewrite all of it. Most of what I have is fine for the first draft, just needs to be placed in a different order to make the major conflicts make better sense. Sometimes in getting from A to Z you skip several letters in the excitement of the story. Turns out that I just had a few out of order as well.
Have you gotten through a third to a half of your story and realize you royally screwed something up?
Have you gotten through a third to a half of your story and realize you royally screwed something up?
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