Work Day!

Today is going to be a work day as Louisa Edwards, Roxanne St. Claire and I put the final touches on our workshop for tomorrow and do a few practice run-throughs. We're also going to be brainstorming book ideas for each other. Have you ever done that with a group of your writer friends? You should really try it - it's amazing what you can come up with!

Have a great weekend!

All hail her majesty. Of sorts.

I'm off to the airport shortly to pick up the Queen of Ohio, Louisa Edwards. She, I and the fabu-licious Roxanne St. Claire are doing an amazing workshop (the one that RWA turned down, despite its life-changing possibilities for both plotters and pantsers) this Saturday at the STAR chapter to which Rocki and I belong.

Don't you wish you lived in Florida too?

Guilty Childhood Pleasures

I'm over at Fictionistas today talking about one of my favorite childhood treats. Come share yours!

Are you an angry reader?

As a reader, how willing are you to suspend your disbelief? If you read a vampire novel, is it ruined because vampires don't really exist? If the book is set on an imaginary planet, do you find yourself pulled out of the story by a blue sun or pink grass? I'm guessing most of you would answer no to this.

Books are an escape, romances/fantasy/sci-fi especially, however the contemporary and historical romance genres don't seem to get cut as much slack as the paranormals do. It seems readers fully expect the paranormal worlds to be unreal and the historical and contemporary ones to be as genuine as possible.
Why is that?

To be honest, as a reader, I'm okay with some altered facts. I'm not reading a history book when I read a Victorian romance, I'm reading for entertainment. If I read a contemporary that features a small, quaint town, I'm perfectly accepting that such a place still exists in this world. Hollywood gets away with it all day and night, why not books? Are you one of those readers who gets bunched up by such things or are you capable of taking a story at its entertainment value?

Caturday!

Is there a hairball behind me?

Can you believe it's Friday?

Where has the week gone? Once again, I haven't accomplished as much as I'd hoped, but I'm also not as far behind as I could be. Does that makes sense? Ah well, it's Friday. What else matters?

No major plans for the weekend, just hoping to get some more writing in, read a little, maybe catch a movie. What about you? What are you doing this weekend?

Going for gold

Yesterday was the winningest day in the history of American achievements at the Winter Olympics with a total of six medals for the day. Compare it to the year the games were held in Calgary - six medals was the American total for the entire games. Three of yesterday's medals were gold - Lindsey Vonn, Shaun White and Shani Davis - all amazing to watch, all inspiring in their own way.

In fact, the games have been pretty inspiring in general. All the personal stories and small details that get revealed help to shape the way we see the athletes, not just as competitors, but as people. From the Chinese pairs skaters who've been together for eighteen years to the Canadian skier whose brother's cerebral palsy inspires him to train harder, the stories are what connect us to these athletes. We empathize and we root for them, even though they represent different countries.

For the writer, there's a lesson in that. That emotional connection is so important in our characters, whether they be the hero or the villain. We must create that connection so the reader cares. If the reader doesn't care, it's far too easy to put the book down. (Or to continue the Olympics theme, change the channel.)

Something to think about when you work on that WIP today.

Giving up on Wednesday

I'm thinking about eliminating Wednesdays from my blogging schedule. As my writing schedule increases, something's got to give. Wednesday might be the day to go. What do you think? I'm curious.

If you blog, how many days a week do you post? Would there be a better day to go silent? It's not like I couldn't blog if I really had something to say.

Have a great day. I look forward to your input.

Strange Presidential Coincidences

I'm over at Fictionistas today discussing, well, strange presidential coincidences.

Day Off!

I'm taking the day off. You should too. ;o)

Caturday!

After much wrestling, Scooter won the cube, only to realize it didn't come in his size.

Writer Basics: Conflict

So for the last two days we've talked about the Goal and Motivation part of GMC. Today we pull it all together with Conflict.

Conflict can be described as "If she wins, he loses. If he wins, she loses." Conflict and plot are closely tied together. And if you add in an element of time, you can really ramp things up.

Let's say our hero, who is on his way to becoming the best firefighter in his unit, and our heroine, who is working on uncovering corruption in the fire department, have begun to fall in love.

Now let's amp things up. Our hero suspects that the heroine's suspicions are well-founded, but helping her uncover this corrupt will destroy his career. And if our heroine writes her expose, the hero will be lumped in with the other guilty firefighters, tarnishing his good reputation and failing to win his father's respect. If the heroine doesn't write her story, she'll be relegated to soft news and never feel like she measure up to her sister's success.

Now, what if the heroine's position at the paper is provisional? What if she only has a month to bring in a great story or lose her job? See how the time element can really take things to the next level?

What's the conflict in your story? Can you find a way to increase it?

I hope this discussion on GMC has been helpful! Any questions? Comments?

Writer Basics: Motivation

Yesterday we talked about the Goals part of GMC. Today we're going to discuss Motivation.

What is Motivation? Motivation = Why these goals are so important.

For our firefighter hero, becoming the best firefighter is important because he wants to prove his disparaging father wrong. He wants his father's respect. He wants his father to see him as a man and a peer, not a rebel kid with a dinged up past.

For a man, a father's respect can be a great motivator. I'm sure you can think of someone you know with a less than great relationship with their father. How does it color their decisions? Can you think of something they've done because of that relationship? That's motivation.

What about our heroine? Her desire to uncover corruption in the local fire department is spurred on by her goal of becoming a field reporter, not just the obits writer. But let's dig deeper into her motivation. Why does she want this? Maybe she's been compared to her sister all her life and her sister is happily married, with 2.5 kids, a great husband and a white picket fence. Our heroine can't compete with that because she's never had a successful relationship, but she can become a success in the business world. Making a name for herself with the corrupt story would certainly get her some time in the spotlight, wouldn't it?

What motivates your characters? Tomorrow, conflict!

Writer Basics: Goal

If you've never heard the acronym GMC, today is your lucky day. GMC or Goal Motivation Conflict is the foundation of any great story. Without it, your story will languish, rambling on until the reader passes out from sheer boredom. Trust me. You need GMC.

Let's start with Goal. What is it? How does it relate to your story?

GMC is character-focused and the Goal is what your character wants. It's what drives them, gets them out of bed, forms the decisions they make, colors their world. If your hero's goal is to become the best firefighter in his unit, then he's going to focus on doing everything he can to achieve that. But let's go deeper. Becoming the best firefighter is an external goal. Why does he want that? The answer is his internal goal. Let's say in this case, it's to impress his father who never thought our hero would amount to anything.

Do you see how those goals will drive our hero? What about our heroine? What are her goals? Remember now, we want them to work in some way (and by work, I mean provide conflict) with what the hero's goals are for the best possible storyline.

Let's say our heroine's goal is to uncover corruption in the local fire department. Why? Because she's the newest reporter at the town's newspaper stuck on obituaries when she really wants to do the hard stories. Now we have instant conflict. Especially when the hero and heroine begin to fall for each other.

Do you see how important goals are? Tomorrow we'll talk motivation. What are the goals of your hero and heroine? How do they work together? How do they create conflict?

When I had braces...

Did you have braces? Come on over to the Fictionistas and talk about them with me! I'm also sharing a site that looks back on those days and what we were like then.

The only jeans a writer will ever need!

You may not believe this, but the perfect jeans have just been invented. Perfect for writers, that is.

Check out PAJAMA JEANS! Are they jeans? Are they pajamas? YES!

Wow. The very idea is kinda scary. I mean, I barely put street clothes on now. These could ruin me. Good thing they don't come in tall.

What do you think? Would you wear them?

Caturday!

Reason #45882 that I'm not getting any work done: There's a cat on my mouse.

Valentine's Day Free Read!

My free read from Samhain is now available for download, so go grab yourself a copy here!

And if you want to share this freebie by mentioning it on your blog or tweeting about it, go right ahead. After all, it's free. ;o)

I'd love to hear back from you if you do. Thanks and happy Friday, y'all!

Woot!

Some of you may recall that a while back I said I was going on Nutrisystem? Well, as of today I am down 16 pounds. Not bad!!! I plan to keep going until people think I'm suffering from some mysterious wasting disease. (Not really. Mostly.)

I think I'll go have a milkshake to celebrate. Kidding! I wish I didn't live 5 minutes from Steak-n-Shake. That place should be illegal.

Are you dieting? Working out? How's it going?

Why?

Why do unpublished writers worry so much about things that don't matter? If you haven't written a book yet, designing a book mark is sort of pointless. If you haven't finished a book, but you have eleven on again/off again projects, who cares what your pen name is?

I understand the excitement of that new idea, the one that takes over your brain and woos you with whispers of greatness, but if you let every new idea take you away from the book you're currently writing, you're never going to get anywhere. The key is finishing. Even if the book sucks. Finish it anyway. Push through, get to the end, then set it aside. I guarantee you'll have learned something. I've gotten better with every book I've written. You will too. That's just how it works.

Focus on the now, not what could be. Write the book. That's how you get published.

The groundhog hates you

Find out why here.

Are you going?

Registration opens today for RWA National Conference in Nashville. Are you going? I am. Let's face it, it would be as much fun if I didn't. Hah!

This year, I might even be doing a few workshops! As in giving them, not attending. I can't wait to find out if the ones I'm on got picked.

So, have you been before? Are you going this year? Chime in!

Caturday! Sort of.

Well, there was a cat here.

Itty Bitty Chewing Committee

Less than happy with the way you fill out a sweater? Well, fret no longer my flat-chested friends, the Japanese have a product that will solve all your problems.

Introducing Bust Up Gum! Just chew and expand. Apparently.

Of course, if gum isn't your thing, perhaps you'd prefer these delightful treats. Yes, that's right. F-Cup Cookies. I bet the Girl Scouts aren't selling those.

Ah, those crazy Japanese. They never disappoint, do they?

Reality check

A woman in Ohio won $8000 in the lottery, only to be hit and killed by a car as she left the bar where she'd been celebrating.

Really gives you pause, hmm?

What would you do differently today if it was your last? I know what I wouldn't be doing - folding laundry. Ugh. Why is there so much laundry in my life?

What's up with your hair?

Hair is an accessory, at least for women. Many of us wear it long, but some of us opt for the wash-n-go style. We color it, tease it, highlight it, spray it into place, tie it back, tie it up, let it loose, perm it, curl it, twist it, braid it...some of us even use wigs and hairpieces.

What about you? What's going on with your hair? Does it suit you? have you had the same style since high school? Do you have a secret hairstyle you'd love to try but are just too chicken to?

I have two - short platinum blonde and a bob. Will I ever try them? Maybe, but probably not anytime soon.

What about your heroines? Do they express your secret hair fantasies? What kind of hair do they have?

More of the same

I'm over at the Fictionistas today talking about my new cats. Again. Deal.

It's official. We are the crazy cat people.

We now have two new additions to our family.

Meet 7 month old Jack, the most lovable, rambunctious orange menace ever to prowl a house.) He's already cleared half the stuff off my desk with one jump and this morning decided that the cursor on the screen must be killed. Oh Jack, you are too much!

And 6 month old Finnegan. Finn is a wee thing, barely 3 pounds if I had to guess. He's had a bad start in life and only has one eye, but boy, is he affectionate! He has decided Hotrod is the best cat bed ever and laid on his lap during the entire Viking/Saints game. That wasn't enough bonding time, however, so Finn then slept at Hotrod's feet all night, occasionally drifting into the space between us to be petted.
Ah, life is good.

Caturday!

What "want" looks like.

Icky Friday

It's raining and windy and apparently a tornado just passed by us. So, you know, fun day here. We lost power once this morning and I wouldn't be surprised if it happens again.

I've got a busy weekend ahead - our niece is coming for a visit tonight, then I've got a chapter meeting tomorrow, church on Sunday and writing to squeeze into the cracks. What's up with you this weekend?

Good news!

I'm going to have a free read available for you all very soon! It will be part of the free reads Samhain is doing for Valentine's Day. It features the same characters as my Samhain paranormal romance, All Fired Up, so if you've read that book, you'll get a fun peek at Alrik and Calleigh again. If you haven't read All Fired Up, this will give you a glimpse of what you've missed!

I'll keep you posted when it's live. In the mean time, you can check out some other free reads from Samhain here.

Stuck?

Ever have one of those days when you're stuck for an idea? Or none of your ideas seem to be enough to come up with an actual story? Maybe you have a character, but you don't know what they're doing or why they're doing it? All you need is the handy dandy plot generator!

Try it out here. What did you come up with?

Now let's go write!

100 Questions - The Kitteh Edition

I just answered 100 questions about myself. Go see for yourself.

A little something to start you dreaming...

Writers, most writers anyway, dream about retreats in magical places where they can do nothing but write and soak up inspirational atmosphere while surrounded by other writers (in my dream it's always writer friends I already know).

Here's a little something to perpetuate that dream. (Courtesy of fellow Fictionista, Chrissy.)

Happy Monday!

Caturday!

Cat out of the bag. Literally.

Argh!

There's been a little too much hammer time at my house recently, and I don't mean the dancing, diaper-pants kind.

See, the leak in our roof is being repaired. Which is great. I'm happy it's being fixed.

The noise level of the repair? Less happy. And today the demo guy is coming to rip out all the drywall that got ruined. Can't. Wait.

Really, it's a wonder I've gotten any writing done at all. Maybe this weekend will be better. What are your plans for the weekend?

Work Day

Seriously, today is a work day. I need to concentrate on finishing up the two projects on my desk. No fooling around online, no goofing off in the house, no anything else but work.

It's really hard to get back in the groove after the holidays, but I have to. I have another book to write! And then there's that YA proposal I'm working on! And who knows what else!

What do you do to get yourself back in the groove?

My gift to you

This free ebook was sent to me by my good friend Eva Gale and I enjoyed it so much, I wanted to share it with all of you. Take a moment and skim through it.

What Matters Now - free ebook

And now, for another ebook released by my partner in crime at Romance Divas, Jax Cassidy. Check out Brush Strokes here.

Lastly, I hope to have a free read of my own available for all of you shortly!

Why you shouln't text while driving.

If you text while you drive, please check out the video I posted on Fictionistas today. I bet you'll think twice next time you take your hand off the wheel to pick up your phone.

Oh great, it's Monday again.

I've got a cold. The sniffling, sneezing, running nose kind. Fortunately, no sore throat or aches or fever, but it's still bothersome, because much as I'd like to lay in bed, I can't.

I have work to do. Edits to finish. A short to write. Emails to be answered and sent. Blah, blah, blah.

Off to medicate. What are you doing today?

Caturday

Laser cat! Now available for immediate shipment!

The Trouble With Reading

I didn't make my goal of reading 50 books last year, but I've realized that for me a heavy writing schedule and reading for pleasure don't mix very well.

I wish that weren't the case, but when my characters are so much in my head I have a hard time concentrating (or wanting to concentrate) on one else's characters.

So far this year, I've read one book and am almost done with another, but then I'm just doing edits right now. Even then I tend to shy away from the genre I'm writing in and pick something completely different like historical.

How about you? Can you read while you're writing?

Random Things

1. Today is my agent's birthday! You can wish her a happy birthday on Twitter at @elainespencer

2. Got comments back from one beta reader. Book Two does not suck as much as I'd thought.

3. Am working on V-Day freebie for Samhain. Will involve the further adventures of Alrik and Calleigh from ALL FIRED UP. In theory.

4. Spa was THE BEST. I wish I could get a doctor to prescribe monthly visits.

5. Stop by Louisa Edward's blog and ask her if her book is done. She'll enjoy that. Promise.

What are you up to today? I have edits to finish on one book and edits to start on another. Busy busy!

Don't hate me...

But I'm headed to the spa today. (Thanks for the gift certificate, Hotrod!) And that's the actual spa I'm going to. It's fab. I've been there before and it's my favoritest spa I think I've ever been to. And not just because it's five minutes from my house.

I'm hoping as part of the massage, they can work on the right side of my neck and upper back and my right arm and wrist. Those are the spots that suffer most from long hours at the computer.

Other than that, I hope to come home relaxed and full of spa goodness. I plan to go early and sit in the steam room and defrost. lol

When's the last time you treated yourself to some pampering?

Ereaders and questions

I'm over at Fictionistas today talking about ereaders and ebooks and looking for opinions! Come chat!

Don't worry about Amish kitteh. She's got too many chores to do to disapprove for long.

Wow. It's Monday.

The cookies have been eaten, the fun and games are over, Christmas is behind us and it's a new year, full of new obligations (and some old ones). Time to get back to work. I have tons on my To Do list today, including emails to be sent, errands to be run, some sort of workout to be done, pages to be edited, and goals to be written. Goals are SUPER important to me. Having no real plan for the year could be disastrous.

What's on your list today? Have you already started back to work or are you still on vacation?

My New Addiction

I'm not always that good at brainy games, that Olympics of the Mind kind of stuff, but this game? This game has me hooked. It's such a nice break from writing, maybe because it uses a different part of your brain? I'm not sure. But it's free and I love working out the problems and building the machines.

I dare you to try it. If you do, tell me what you think?

Caturday - New Year's Edition

No, I'm not hungover, why do you ask?

2010