I’m blogging at Rose City Romance Writers today, where I made a very public confession of one of my most serious lifetime flaws, complete with pictures. Get a glimpse of my psyche.
And my kitchen.
My friend and one-time critique partner, R. Scott Shanks, Jr., has been having some frustrations getting his website up and running, so he decided to post to his blog, instead. Click the link. Read. Enjoy. Remember that he wrote the following in a timespan of approximately 17 minutes, and know that he is a far better writer than I—than almost anyone—and some agent should make a fortune off him when he finishes his book.
I’ve been experimenting with doing more thorough pre-planning/outlining/storyboarding. I’ve always written a pretty thorough synopsis and had a clear idea of the overall story, but there came a point in each of my past books that I would get lost. Somewhere between chapters 8 and 12, give or take, the synopsis would say something like “they spend several days tracking down the McGuffin.” It worked for selling the story to my editor, but left me to work out the details when I was actually writing. So I’d try out 10 or 15 possiblities—by writing them out.
Ack! Days of wasted writing. Sometimes weeks.
Clearly, with a nine book series stretching out ahead of me, I need to get a handle on that, so inspired by Cherry Adair, the Manuscript Mavens, and others, I decided to make a thorough storyboard. I bought lots of sticky notes and and a big folding display board and started scribbling and sticking, just like Ally Carter, whose storyboard is to the left.
And promptly lost interest. Too fiddly. Same with 3×5 cards.
But I still need SOMETHING, plus I have this sense that if I find the right method, this is all going to fall into place. Read the rest of this entry »
Around the Hendrix household, Mother’s Day means I get to be bossier than usual…but only in the nicest way, of course. To avoid boxes of chocolate that wind up on my hips and flowers that wind up in the compost pile, I’ve taken to being very specific about what I want for Mother’s Day. This year it was Lemon Ricotta Pancakes from a recipe that appeared in the local paper this week, a strong suggestion for Jewelry to be picked out by my daughter (who understands my tastes quite well and has since she was, like, four), and an outing to the local Arts Festival, which the city fathers wisely hold on Mom’s Day weekend so that we can force our families to join us. Otherwise, I suspect the streets would be full of unaccompanied women.
So, the pancakes were excellent. The recipe called for blueberry compote on top, but we were unexpectedly short of blueberries, so the above-mentioned daughter opted for raspberries. Superb choice. These pancakes are almost, but not quite, South Beach friendly, so I’m going to tweak the recipe a bit, and then I’ll post it here.
The jewelry somehow morphed into an FM transmitter for my iPod. I was so excited, it didn’t even notice the lack of precious metals until much later. Usually things with cords are off-limits for holiday gifts unless I specifically ask for it — like the Dremel I requested one year. But the kids knew I’d been looking at the FM transmitters, so they suggested it to the Big Guy and the three of them split it. Now I can listen to my RWA Workshop recordings while I tool around town or have music in “the gaps” when I travel — where we live is surrounded by mountains and far from any other population center of any size, so when we leave town, there are miles and miles with NO RADIO. Barbarous. Boring. And now, solved, thanks to my kids!
After breakfast, and after forcibly disconnecting my son from his iPod, we trekked off to the Arts Festival. The plaza and two streets were blocked off for art booths, garden stuff, food, demonstrations, children’s activities, and the pièce de résistance, the Smudge Pot Art competition. Smudge pots are the old style orchard heaters that gave off lots of smoke to keep the trees warm when temperatures dipped below freezing (the one on the left in the pic is pretty much unmodified except for paint). I live in orchard country, and there are plenty of them around, though they’re seldom used any more (thank goodness).
Once a year, our local artists go nuts and decorate one, using whatever techniques strike their fancy. It’s our version of the art-cows that some towns host, and as in the case of the cows, the results range from sublime to silly. The picture is of a previous year, but you get the idea. This year, someone quilted a watercolor-style cover for the entire smudge pot, including stack. Another artist wove a multi-colored, fringe-y covering. One had an adorable folk-art chicken nesting on top. Everybody votes, and then the smudge pots are auctioned off to benefit local arts organizations. (Here’s more on the pots and the auction.)
Smudge pots are, however, are not the sort of thing I’d display in my house—even the quilted one, as beautiful as it was (sorry, didn’t get a pic). But one of the local quilters groups (the Material Girls) was auctioning off the most amazing quilt. I never buy raffle tickets for anything, except at RWA functions that benefit literacy, but I plunked down my money today without hesitation.
Here’s the pic the Big Guy took. Even with the odd sun angle and the shadow of the overhead power line and the raffle information pinned to it, you can see how amazing it is. Click here to get to a bigger version.
I want this quilt. I lust after this quilt. I will win this quilt.
When I do, I will take a better picture of it to post here, and then I’ll redecorate my entire bedroom to go with it. The raffle isn’t until November 9, though, and I fear my fingers and toes will be cramped beyond use by then from being crossed. Will someone kindly take shifts with me?
So, that was the planned portion of my day. Once we got home, I plunked down to take a nap, eat BLTs (yum), and then fired up the computer while I watched some of the Eureka marathon on SciFi Channel, which I enjoy a great deal (any excuse to watch Matt Frewer—and Colin Ferguson isn’t too shabby, either).
And that’s when I discovered that IMMORTAL WARRIOR is now available for pre-order on Amazon, a lovely surprise, even if the cover and the rest of the info aren’t up yet.
So, all in all, a great day. Please share what you did today, whether you celebrated Mother’s Day or not.
I’ll be back later this week with something more “writerly.” Have fun ’til then.
Rose graphic courtesy Pat’s Web Graphics
…and I cannnot tell you how pleased I am with it. The initial idea came from my editor, and then the terrific Art Department at Berkley put it all together. Between them, they’ve captured the feel of the story perfectly.
This is always the most exciting part of the process for me, next to the day the finished book lands in my hand. It used to be that we never saw the art until we got the cover flat. Now we get preliminary artwork, then the finished covers, via email. We still get the actual cover flats, which are front, back, and spine printed all on one sheet, with a fold-over that includes information for the sales reps to use (quotes, reviews, previous sales info, etc.). But although it’s fun—and useful—to have them, the thrill comes when you first get to see the art with the title font and how they’ve put it all together.
And honestly, is this young man a hunk, or what? To get a better look at that six-pack, check out a larger version here.
Those may not be the first two question I ask myself when I start writing, but they’re right up there. I HAVE to know his name and appearance — hero first, almost always. Until I get them right, I cannot truly begin. Names are a huge thing for me. I can’t use a placeholder name to start out; too much baggage attaches to it, and then when I try to switch to the “real” name, I find I’m writing about a completely different person.
The title of the book is much the same, though it can wait a little while. I do have to put a good name to it sometime before I hit the end of Act I, however–usually before I complete the proposal–and I tend to obsess until I come up with something I like. I’ve had to change a couple of titles after I turned the manuscripts in, though, and strangely, it didn’t bother me like a character name change does. All I did was obsess again until my editor and I agreed to something.
As for appearance, that’s more general but just as critical. Really, a blond hero is different from a raven-haired one, and if you add a streak of silver to the raven, well you have someone entirely new. I’m not one of those people who does a collage, but I do clip images on the internet and save them. Dozens of them (more on that in another post).
What brought this up is that I got my cover art for Immortal Warrior a few days ago. It’s gorgeous, all hero all the way. Unfortunately, it’s also preliminary, so I can’t share it yet — and I did ask. Though the cover model doesn’t look anything like who I pictured while I was writing, he’s a perfectly wonderful stand in. In fact, he has replaced my original model in my mind and heart. I’ve asked for his name and will share it when I can post the cover. This boy has a chest…omigod.
So while we’re waiting, I thought you might like to see what Ivo looked like while I was writing him. Turns out, he was a dead ringer for the juicy, tortured, wonderful Captain Etienne Navarre from Ladyhawke (aka Rutger Hauer)–except he wore grey.
Sigh,
How about burning 600 Calories a day while writing with a treadmill desk?
And here’s info on how to buy or build one.
I am so there
Mega-thanks to Jonathan Fields at Awake@The Wheel. Photo cred EOntario (and no, that’s not me — but it easily could be after a couple more books!)
Marketing expert Seth Godin spoke to recording industry execs recently about the changes they’re going to have to make to survive in the new music market.
Well, the publishing industry faces similar changes as ebooks approach true feasibility, and any writer, editor, agent, or publisher who is interested in surviving in the changing market needs to read Godin’s Live Music Talk and step out ahead of the curve.
One point Godin emphasizes is that recording companies could shift to providing valuable services such as building tribal-type communities for their artists. Interestingly, the most successful romance authors I know have been building their tribes for years. For example, Nora Roberts has her Noraholics, and Debbie Macomber has her incredibly faithful band of readers who turn out for signings in droves (Debbie publishes a paper newsletter that goes out to thousands of these faithful!). Both Nora and Debbie have put a lot of time, money, and attention into gathering these tribes, and it has paid off in spades. Only recently have their publishers begun to contribute to their efforts.
Authors can already put digital copies of their books on-line very easily (check out these free downloads from science fiction author and blogger Cory Doctorow). Once a truly usable ebook reader hits the market, the houses will find themselves fighting the same DRM battle as the record companies — with as little success (as Godin points out, suing listeners/readers is both a BAD idea and a battle you can’t win). Instead, smart publishers — the ones who ultimately survive — will find a way to provide valuable services to readers (and thereby to their writers) other than killing trees.
Lisa
I found a piece by Steve Martin at the Smithsonian Magazine website today. Even though the title is Being Funny, it’s not really about being funny. It’s about professionalism, finding your voice, being true to yourself, hard work, and a myriad other things a writer needs to make part of his or her soul.
And about being funny.
Be sure to watch the video that’s linked at the top of the article (Martin’s breakthrough Tonight Show performance). Just be sure you don’t have a mouth full of coffee. I nearly sprayed my keyboard.
Lisa
They’re good kids. Really they are. I love them very, very much. They’re even old enough I don’t have to pay attention to them every minute.
But it snowed Sunday night, enough that the district cancelled school yesterday, so they were home all day. Wanting to talk. Wanting to eat. Wanting to play video games. Wanting to *breathe*. I don’t know about other writers, but I have issues with people who breathe while I’m writing, or at least when I’m starting a project. Until my characters manifest fully and are so clear in my head that they refuse to go away until the story’s done, the presence of other people in the same vicinity rips me out of the zone (Twilight Zone, Writing Zone, whatever). I need not just privacy, but solitude.
So, you say, that was yesterday. I have my solitude back today. Why am I bitching?
Because it’s snowing again. Big, floofy flakes right out of the last scene of White Christmas. Gorgeous. I should be smiling. Instead, I’m thinking that if it keeps up, they might cancel school again tomorrow.
Sigh.
Lisa
UPDATE! (Weds, 30 Jan 08) — Yep. They’ve closed the schools, and in the nastiest possible way. At 7am when I checked, there was only a 2 hour delayed start. Then at 8am, one of the kids’ friends called to say it had changed to a full closure. That makes 4 days off in the last 8. (A holiday and an inservice day last week, and 2 snow days this week. So far).
Sigh
