Favorites of 2008

Well, it’s that time again. Out with the old, in with the new. 2008 has been an interesting year of change and growth for me. I became a full-time writer. I sold five books. I had two releases. I have been really, totally focused on my writing this year. I want to continue that focus into 2009…however, I’d like to try to fit in some stuff that isn’t writing related! I want a focus on health and fun in the new year. Better health and more fun! Those are my resolutions.

Have a very happy new year! I’ll see you on the other side!

 

Favorite Book I read in 2008

Poison Study. Maria V. Snyder came up to the Toronto Romance Writers (which, FYI, I’m now the vice president of this RWA chapter. Join today!) to do a workshop on worldbuilding. I’d heard about her books before but never picked them up. Frankly, they sounded too literary. Not that I shun literary fare, but I don’t remember really enjoying much of it and it made me remember the book club I was once in where I was subjected to really boring stuff. Anyhow, I digress. Maria had some excerpts in her workshop hand-outs and I was interested in what I read about a woman forced to choose between execution or becoming a poison tester, her sexy boss, and this wonderful alternate world Maria created, so I bought the first book and devoured it in a few days and have the next book, Magic Study, at the top of my TBR shelf.

Starting in 2009 I’m going to keep track of all the books I read in my WordPress blog sidebar.

 

Favorite Movie

Twilight. This is the first movie for a long time that I actually anticipated seeing for months. I looked forward to it. I planned ahead for the day I was going, and with whom, and it became an event. And as I sat in the darkening theater I hoped very much that it wouldn’t be a let down. And, for me, it wasn’t. It had some flaws, sure. Visible contact lens edges. Weird vampire pancake makeup and unnaturally colored hair. The pacing was a bit off with a slumpy middle and a rushed ending. However, I’ve seen it three times now which should hold me until the DVD comes out.

 

Favorite Hot Actor

Rob Pattinson. I know, it would make sense I’d pick Hugh Jackman since he’s the Sexiest Man Alive and buzz is gathering for Wolverine and I’m always yapping about how he’s my intended. Plus, I channeled his godliness for Thierry in two books this year. But it’s not. Hey, he turned 40 this year. Maybe I prefer 22 year olds now. 😉 In any case, I found Robert Pattinson, his unruly hair, and the fan adoration surrounding him absolutely fascinating — enough to inspire a character in a YA contemporary I want to write. This guy is also interesting because he can take either a photo where he looks like 1) a serial killer, or 2) absolute hotness incarnate. Plus he’s English and he’s really very funny and smart and a good actor. Although I’m still not sure why Edward calls Bella his spider monkey in the movie. Does he do that in the book? Because that was so random.

 

Favorite TV Show

This is a tie for me between Lost and Supernatural, with Lost possibly edging out Supernatural by a smidge. Lost is consistently good for me and leaves me on the edge of my seat. Supernatural sometimes annoys me because I would do some things differently if I was the writer. Which I’m not, of course. Dammit. Plus, I’m still not thrilled with the way women are portrayed on the show. Who knew a show about two hot brothers would bring out the girl power side of me? Both return in January and I’m keeping my PVR just for this reason. Can’t miss an episode of either!!

Ten things I’ve learned

I’m working through my second draft of LIVING IN EDEN right now. I’m about half way done. However, most of the changes are in the second half. I’m very happy with how it turned out — it reads way more fun than it was to write — and can’t wait to get it to my betas next week.

It was three years ago that my first book was released. The official release date for BITTEN & SMITTEN was January 1, 2006, but by now, three years ago, it was already on the shelves. THREE EFFING YEARS. I can’t believe it!! Time sure flies. Right now it’s being released in Germany and that’s just way too cool for school.

I’ve learned a lot in the last three years about writing, publishing, and…well, writing. And I thought I’d share with the class…

Ten things (in no particular order) I’ve learned after three years of being published

1.     Writing doesn’t burn calories.
A full day of writing will be mentally exhausting but if you don’t do any exercise or watch what you eat, your ass will get bigger. And bigger. And…well, you get the idea. Why is RT in Orlando in 2009? Sigh.

2.     Never reply to a bad review.
This is sometimes difficult, but far from impossible. I think it’s best to just not respond at all. It gives the illusion that the writer is much too busy with her oh-so-glamorous writer life to allow such things to negatively affect her. Bottom line, the more successful you get, the more reviews you will receive — and it’s impossible for everyone to love you. The more popular you are, the more haters you will collect. Don’t respond. Ever. Blogs, MySpace, Amazon, wherever. It makes you look like an idiot or really, pathetically needy. I repeat. NEVER. Restrain yourself. There’s a review site I read religiously but I won’t comment on. I just think it’s better that way for everyone involved. Mostly me.

3.     Writers are all varying degrees of crazy and paranoid. The successful ones are the craziest and the most paranoid.
There might be an exception to the rule, of course. But I doubt it. And I don’t even mean it as an insult, just an observation. Just because we’re crazy, doesn’t make us bad people. It makes us really, really dedicated. Obsessed is another good word. How can you write four books a year if you don’t have a little bit of obsession going on? YOU CANNOT, that’s how.

4.     In the middle of a first draft I’m always convinced that it’s utter crap.
It’s always the way. It feels like I’m pushing my characters around and forcing them to have strange, meaningless conversations. But once the book is done I see these strange, meaningless conversations actually contribute to the plot as a whole. At least, I sincerely hope so.

5.     Writing is hard work.
If it wasn’t, everyone would be doing it. Sure there are those magic days, the days when the muse lands and the pages fly and everything is perfect — la, la, la. Those days are few and far between. Usually it’s a slog. It’s forcing yourself to sit down and write something that might not be any good and possibly end up being a huge waste of time that could have been spent seeing Twilight yet again.

6.     It is possible to write a book in three weeks.
My average time to write a first draft now is six weeks. I’ve done one in three weeks. I won’t say which one. But this is, of course, after I’ve done lots of prewriting and more than likely already have a proposal to work from. And it’s also not including revision time. What’s the difference between the first book that took me two years and the ones that take me a month and a half or less now? The fact that I wrote two hours a week then, and I write eight hours a day now. Sometimes more. Including weekends. Concentration of writing time. That is the only secret to being prolific. Use it wisely.

7.     Nothing cures a bout of depression like a new book deal. At least, temporarily.
The first five months of this year were very touch-and-go for me. I quit my day job to write full time, but I hadn’t considered that that didn’t guarantee me a flood of new contracts. I worked harder than I’ve EVER worked on my writing this year and worried about my dwindling funds and the sudden scary case of writers block this money panic had created. But then I sold. And I sold again. And I sold again. Three book deals in two months for five books. The relief and happiness is tempered by the reality check I’d experienced, because it can happen again. But right now I feel pretty okay about everything. Sort of. And, FYI, five books at my current advance rate is what it takes for me to continue writing full-time. We’ll see what 2009 brings. Hopefully new eyeballs because I’m wearing out my old ones.

8.     Awards and good reviews are nice, but numbers are the only thing that matter.
Just because the world seemingly loves your book and the awards are pouring in…doesn’t mean anyone’s actually buying it. And if no one’s buying your book, you better be damn prolific, because an award doesn’t guarantee you another book deal or an address on Easy Street. Reviews and awards are a nice ego stroke, but they don’t pay the bills. However, a consistent sales record can.

9.     An idea is never as perfect on the page as it is in your head.
Maybe this is the reason a lot of people stop writing the book they wanted to write. I know that used to be why I abandoned lots of ideas back in the day. The first chapter didn’t sing and didn’t match the movie in my head. Perfection is one way to guarantee never finishing anything. The sooner you get over that fact, the sooner you’re going to start making some major progress.

10. Just because you want to write the book, doesn’t mean you should.
I have this fabulous (ready to go) proposal sitting in on my hard drive. It’s a humorous, action-packed sci-fi with romantic elements. It could be a series. But it’s not marketable right now. It’s hard to see past that. It would be fun to write, but it would take several months to finish and send out and then there are no guarantees. I’m now focusing my efforts on building my career with specific projects instead of having my attention scattered by shiny new ideas. It’s a hard lesson to learn.

Progress

67,408 / 85,000 (79.3%)

 

Yesterday was one of those days when I remember why I want to do this writing thing. The words came fast and furious and I was in the zone almost the whole time I was writing. Total magic. Whether or not the writing itself is usable is another thing, but the process was fantastic. I wrote over 6600 words (28 pages) and it felt GOOD.

Today is another matter. It’s nearly four o’clock and I still haven’t written anything. I’ve done some research (witch’s talismans and what if feels like to get shot) and reread some pages, but nothing new. Yet. Usually after a really good day I hit a minor wall. It’s okay. I’m on track to finish up this first draft by next Sunday. I’m liking what I’m getting. I’m over the hump of “OMG this is really horrible” and onto the “OMG this just might work” section of the journey I take with every book. The climax of this story is a bit up in the air. It’s not going to work out exactly as I had it in my synopsis since some things have shifted a bit as I’ve written. I had to ax an entire extraneous subplot since my word count was in danger of being too high (there’s a first time for everything), so I need to figure out just how everything’s going to turn out. I think I know. But we’ll see if the characters agree.

After this book is done like dinner I have the go-ahead to write up the synopsis for book 2 in my Demon Princess young adult series. So happy I’m going to get to hang out with those characters again really soon. I’ve seen a rough cover for REIGN OR SHINE and it’s really mega cute. The second book is going to be due July 1st with a probable Spring 2010 release. Life is good. I can’t complain.

Well, I can complain. In fact, I’m very good at it. But I don’t really have any reason to right now when it comes to the writing. This is subject to change at any moment.

Okay, enough chit chat. If you want to keep up with how I’m progressing, I do twitter my little heart out every day. That site is seriously addictive.

It’s Wednesday already??

50,094 / 85,000 (58.9%)

 

Living in Eden‘s coming along. I wish I could say it’s been an easy write. It hasn’t. Sometimes I think there is no such thing as an easy write and this is simply something we tell ourselves after the book is finished — so as to avoid any potential post traumatic stress issues. But some books are harder to write than others. This one isn’t particularly hard to write, but since I’m really wanting it to be good, that has put a great deal of pressure on the act of writing itself. And I’m babbling. Yes, I am. What is your point, please?

It may not be an easy write, but I think I’m liking what I’m getting. It’s going to need a brisk rewrite, that’s for sure. My descriptions are pedestrian to say the least. I’m okay with my dialogue, rambling though it is. The characters seem to be coming out through dialogue. Darrak, my hero, is great. So far. He’s so funny. I’m not used to having a funny hero. Actually, scratch that. Jacob from my Blaze is kind of funny, too. Maybe I’m going through a funny hero phase before I get back to my darling emo angstmeisters.

I might have to inject some additional humor in the next draft. I don’t know how funny this is right now. There was a recent workshop at my chapter on how to write funny, but the speaker goes about it in the exact opposite way that I do. Different strokes. My humor comes from the characters and their observations and I think it’s fairly organic that way. I don’t specifically add in comic beats as if there should be a laugh track and my book is a sitcom. Dunno. Besides, I’ve never really thought of my books as hugely comedic. I much prefer a mix of comedy and drama, laughs and tragedy. You know, just like real life. I want to make you laugh and cry with my books. Whether or not I succeed is another thing altogether.

Luckily I’m going to have enough time to give this book the attention it needs. I’m staying on track to finish before Christmas (it won’t be easy, but I think I can, I think I can). I’ll take a couple days off and then go into the next draft. I have approval to start on the second book right after I finish so that will be interesting. There are a lot of things I had planned for the first book which I just don’t have room for, so I’ll be pushing that off to the next or (hopefully) future books in the series. This first one is to establish the world, the problem, and the characters. Everything is new and fresh.

Speaking of new and fresh, I’m supposed to be getting a new cover for Stakes & Stilettos soon. Very soon. Hopefully very soon. I have held off on making any postcards or bookmarks since I know the purple cover is only temporary. I would assume checking my email every half hour for cover art is probably excessive. Less than four months till the release!!

Today’s plans… writing and making banana muffins. I don’t bake, usually, but I have some bananas going bad. Glamorous life! Yes, it is!!

Oh, and I’ve decided to pony up and go to the Romantic Times convention. Me in Orlando, Florida at the end of April. Where is that bikini of mine? Oh right. I don’t own one. Ever. The end.

Waiting in the cold to see some hot dancers

I’ve mentioned here that I’ve been enjoying So You Think You Can Dance Canada, which has been on for the last couple of months. Well, they have chosen a winner and it was really no surprise to me who won.

Well, my friend Bonnie called me and asked what I was doing Monday (yesterday). She had us on the waiting list to see the Top 10 on eTalk Daily, which is an Canadian entertainment show similar to Entertainment Tonight. So we went. And we waited in line outside in the (freaking) cold for over an hour. But we got seats. Sure, we were in a sea of 17-year-old girls, but THAT’S OKAY. Because it was a lot of fun to see everyone up close. I took some pictures. The show airs today at 1:00 EST on CTV. Hopefully I will not be in many audience shots. We were seated in the back, which was a very good thing.

That’s Bonnie and yours truly after waiting over an hour in minus zero temperatures. A little rosy.

That’s Ben Mulroney, the host of eTalk. He’s the son of former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. FYI.

The winner of SYTYCD Canada, Nico Archambault. Well deserved win. I’ve never appreciated facial piercings before. I stand corrected.

Nico and the runner up, Allie Bertram. The rest of the top four were shielded from my view by a big-ass support beam so I didn’t get pics of them.