Okay, I admit it. I have wedding brain. We aren't getting married until next year in June but I feel like everything has to be done yesterday and it doesn't help that I'm flighty enough to keep changing my mind. Needless to say, I haven't written much. I am still writing and have started a brand spanking, sparkly new Regency so stay tuned. I have contest entries out and over the weekend I'm going to print off about 80 pages to send to an agent in New York. Busy, busy, busy.
On the writing front, I'm doing some articles for an online magazine called Beauty and Lace. If you hit the wedding pages, you can follow the preparation and madness involved in saying I do... And then there's a new blog I'm associated with called Historical Hearts. On Monday, Cassandra Samuels is going to tell us all about the history and language of the fan and let me tell you, I had no idea! Did you know in the Regency period, a woman could invite a man to her bedroom with a flick of her wrist and a wave of silk? Easier than the come hither finger =) Enjoy your weekend and have an eventful week! If you want a giggle go and check out http://thebloggess.com/ but be warned, she will make you cry at the least and wet your pants at the most... I won't even go into what might happen in between. Peace out!
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This is going to be another one of those rambling posts about my completely random thoughts. But before you get bored and fall into a coma on your keyboard, I want to give you the details for a new blog I’ll be participating in with nearly twenty other Historical Romance Authors from Australia. It’s called Historical Hearts and this week is our launch so we’re having a five day virtual party where you all get to meet us and find out what we write and why we write it. I’ll be on Friday (saving the best till last) and I’ll be giving away Candace Camp’s Scandalous and a contest critique to two lucky people who comment. There will be giveaways every day and general madness and mayhem you get when a heap of romance authors get together on any level. So the link is http://historicalhearts.blogspot.com/ It’s going to be great! And it would be wonderful if you could drop by and check it out. Now onto the ramblings. Let me set the scene. It’s freezing. If there was a fierce wind, I would get knocked over (little exaggeration but not much). And because I’m lazy, I don’t do much to stay warm (housework wise-yuck!). So there I was last night, after crawling out of the sleeping bag cocoon I made myself while I worked on my Regency (73k and still going), and I was cold. Really cold. Lucky I had to foresight to already have switched the electric blanket on to warm up my side of the bed. So I got dressed in the bathroom, crouched in front of a tiny blow heater that sucks more electricity than five plasmas, and then practically ran to my bed. My feet were so cold I couldn’t get to sleep for ages despite the fact it was midnight. So then I lay wondering what would happen if I got electrocuted by the electric blanket. You hear it happening. Pensioners houses burn down due to faulty blankets all the time. This is what my brain does to me in the dark, in the middle of the night. It gives me the worst possible scenario to fall asleep with. Then I started thinking about what I did before I had an electric blanket. My parents never let me have one. Until I got to high school I didn’t even know it was possible to create a heavenly warm haven so you didn’t have to shiver yourself into fitful dreams where you were stuck in Iceland with no sunshine. The truth is, back then, I wore socks to bed. And trackies. And a jumper. And a long sleeve, high necked shirt. You see, I’m a super light sleeper and if I'm cold I can't sleep. And I’m not a touchy feely cuddly type of gal either so I can't tuck my cold feet around the man and wait for him to warm me up. I know I’m not the only one. Not all chicks are into being smothered in their sleep by their men who may or may not have heavy, muscled arms that twitch when they dream (mine does). His arm always happens to land right across my middle and then I’m awake. And it’s not comfortable. (Also, Doug I know what you’re doing at 5am when you pretend to be asleep). And then I’m cranky because sleeping is my most favourite part of the day. It’s the only time when I’m not stressed, I don’t have to wonder where everyone is and what they’re doing. I don’t have to worry about what to cook for tea or what to pack for lunch. And because I have a bad back, lying down at night is like no other feeling. Add to that the fact that I only fell asleep sometime between midnight and 1am. Don’t get me wrong. I love sharing a bed with a man I’m hopelessly in love with but this is why they made electric blankets. So gals like me could stay warm and get some sleep! It's nothing personal about his hygiene or anything like that. it's all me. So now I want to know two things. How do you stay warm when it’s so bloody cold and is my brain broken or do you to think about stupid stuff when you also should have opted for the safety of counting sheep? Oh and are you cuddly? I'm not and most people look at me like it's a disease. It's not. I just really like my own personal space and don't feel the need to hug everyone I meet! Anyway, the answer that makes me laugh the most wins a prize since I got to the all important 2000 hits last week! Thanks to Cherie Thomas for being the 2000th visitor! You win a prize too!! Not sure what yet but it’ll be cool =) I'm not going to start this post off with an apology. I do it all the time so I don't feel so guilty about the length between one blog post to the next. This time I haven't blogged for ages because I'm writing. Yep, you heard right. Quitting the crappy day job has certainly worked for my creativity and lessened the time constraints. So all this writing brings me to this question; What is your favourite part of a book? Some say it's the beginning when you get to meet the heroine and hero and make your judgments, enjoy the thrill of their ride, lose yourself in their world. Others say it's the ending with the guaranteed happily ever after required of a good romance. Then there are other genres like fantasy where the worst part of the book is the end because it either means the end of that world or the interminable wait for the next book (I have to agree there! Robin Hobb needs to write quicker!). For me as a reader, the middle is my favourite part. It's the time when all the introductions have been made and the scene is set and they're off and racing. This is the time where the obstacles rear their heads, the twists get ready to make their turns and the action keeps you hooked. For me as a writer, this is the suckiest part. Ever heard of a sagging middle? It's not around your waist and you can't fix it with diet and exercise. It's the part of the book where if you don't write it right, the ass falls out of it and you lose the reader. Absolutely not a good way to end up! My favourite part as an author is the ending. This is where all the little pieces of string (plot) get tied together in a neat little bow and you go "ahhh" or "ohhh" over the whole package. Or at least you should. This is also usually my fastest writing stage because I know what's going to happen and now I know how to get there. At the beginning when I'm world building or bringing in the characters, it's hard. It's hard to keep their characteristics and names straight. It's hard to avoid info dumping and back story deluges. I do use a chart of sorts until I get a feel for the characters and how they all look in my head. I don't do collages and probably never will but the chart is essential. Anyway, by the time I get to the end, I know who she is inside and out, I know who he is and what he has to do to get her. All I have to do is make sure it's believable and satisfying and voila! The story is done. Well, except for the million rounds of edits, the word fillers and the making sure everything is tied up and not left flapping in the breeze. So this is where I'm at at the moment with my Courtesan story and I love it! You want to know why? Because the next story has me soooooo excited that I keep wanting to run off and write that one but I can't. You have to finish a book to submit a book and a half done book will never get read. So that's it for me. I have to go and get to the end so I can do a round of edits and then put it away for a few months while I get to the next one. I hope you're going to love it too! It involves a nobleman, a pirate's daughter and a mad dash to Gretna... Oh and I nearly forgot. I'm only 80 odd visitors away from the magical 2000 hits to the site so when I get there, there'll be another contest! Last time I gave away Haighs Chocolate and books and all sorts so pass the good word for me and I'll get some stuff ready for you =) |
DisclaimerI'm a published author but I'm still mostly stumbling about in the dark looking for the right paths so this blog is about that, though sometimes something will give the me the shits and I'll have a bit of a rant. I'll try not to be offensive but occasionally my mouth opens without asking my brain's permission so I'll apologise in advance. Archives
September 2018
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