Jun 18, 2008
My friend
Terrio has tagged me to “sum it up in six words.” That’s six words to describe myself, my life, my hopes, dreams, etc. When I found out, I used six words immediately: Damn you, Terri, you evil bitch. Getting tagged or being asked to forward something or else the universe will implode brings out the rebel in me. As
Captain Hellion might say, “I don’t wanna.” While I pride myself for quick-thinking on my feet in real world situations, my tootsies feel mired in molasses now. How can I find the six perfect words?
But really, Terri has done me a favor. She’s making me think about streamlining something bulky into something short and sweet, or sour as the case may be. I suck at pitching (well, actually, I’ve never tried to pitch but I
would suck if I did). Describe
Mistress by Midnight in a simple sentence? Uhh….young lovers reunite? Borrring. Fellow
Vixen Ely’s good at this high-concept stuff.
My Fair Lady meets reality TV works perfectly for her contest-finalling book
Take a Chance on Me. Then she does something like
Roman Holiday in Africa for
Lay All Your Love on Me. I’m going to have to hire her.
I’ve still got nothing for MBM. Romeo and Juliet after a dozen years but no one dies and there’s a secret baby? OMG, I just realized after over 55,000 words I have written a secret baby plot book. Double-damn you, Terri, you evil bitch. Okay, how about Regency Brady Bunch but much darker with lots of sex?
Now that I’ve got MBM pigeon-holed, it’s time for me. Writer believes in love, sometimes self. That will have to do.
Pitch your current project right here. It can’t be any worse than mine. 🙂 And Terri, you know I love you. I even put it in writing!
Jun 16, 2008
There’s nothing I like better than reading and eating when I’m alone. I’ve even been known to read while my husband sits across the table from me. I am, as Alec Baldwin might say, “a rude little pig.”
I’d like to get my hands on the recently published book, My Last Supper, detailing the final favorites of 50 world renowned chefs. There are some surprisingly humble choices: hot dogs, Krispy Kreme doughnuts, cheeseburgers. There have been studies on what prisoners choose for their last meals before they step involuntarily off into the great unknown. Comfort food seems to be key: steak, fried chicken, and that ubiquitous cheeseburger with a side order of fries.
If you were writing the menu for your last meal, what would be on it? Whose book would you be reading?
I think I’d be having Thanksgiving dinner reading anything by Georgette Heyer. Pass the cranberry sauce, please.
Jun 8, 2008
I’m a little slow on the uptake lately. Blame it on the end of school and the associated craziness. I don’t get paid over the summer either so I get all angsty about fun and finances. I always plan on writing during vacation, and want to finish Mistress by Midnight before the corn is as high as an elephant’s eye. Of course, I haven’t planted any corn, just tomatoes and Hungarian sweet peppers. I have no elephants handy either.
But last week, I realized I had inadvertently set myself up for a series. My heroine Laurette is very bored waiting for the hero Con to come and cavort with her. Here’s what I wrote, without any forethought whatsoever (like most of my writing, LOL):
The afternoon now stretched before her. There would be no afternoon callers or jaunts to the shops. There was no basket of mending she could muck up with her crooked stitches or vegetable plot to weed. But the day was fine, so she walked about in the garden, watching the bright yellow birds flit from branch to bush. The fountain burbled, the flowers exuded their fragrance, the sun braved the haze of the city to shine on her bench. Laurette sat in the square of warmth and gazed up at the windows next door, all discreetly laced and swagged in curtains. She wondered if the other mistresses were as bored as she. Perhaps she could form a kind of Mistresses’ Union, where they might take tea together—or something stronger—and complain about their ennui. She let out a laugh.
So, there you have it. It seems I’m writing a mistress series. I’ve already begun Mistress by Mistake, and Mistress by Marriage is waiting in the wings, or at least in a cobwebby corner of my brain. All future characters must be embroidered lightly into Laurette’s life, a challenge I’m eager to undertake. This pantser will actually have to plot.
But first…32,000 words to go on Midnight.
Anybody out there writing a series? Have a favorite series to recommend? Are mistresses and courtesans passe already? I guess there’s hope if Showtime is airing The Secret Diary of a Call Girl. Gasp.
Jun 2, 2008
When my oldest daughter was little, she wanted to be “famous.” I think she saw herself on Days of Our Lives and dating all the New Kids on the Block (Not simultaneously, though. That would be wrong. And can I tell you she plans to see the resurrected New Kids in concert this fall with her sisters? They have their tickets already. Some things never change.). The other day we were commiserating about several celebrities who are in dire need of no more unflattering crotch and cleavage shots. I reminded her of her earlier wish, and she’s pretty happy just as unfamous as she is. And for the record, she wears underwear.
Writers do not have the glamor that movie stars do, but they still have to get out and meet and greet. The Internet has provided a wonderful venue to do so electronically. If you’re a blog-hopper like I am, you keep tripping over authors who are promoting their books. No red carpet or limos required. You can post in your pajamas. Or your underwear. Or not.
Would you like to be rich and famous, your every action recorded by the paparazzi? Are you comfortable meeting strangers? When you’re published, do you dread getting “out there?”
The way you overcome shyness is to become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid. ~Lady Bird Johnson
May 28, 2008
We’ve already established that I’m one of those pantsers—I start something, or something starts me, and off I go. This was especially true of
Paradise, which appeared in a rather unsettling fashion just over a year ago. It took about eight months to finish, with frequent interruptions (two novellas, the last third of another book and its revision, life). And as I was nearing the end last year, I started
Mistress by Midnight. I made myself stop, then revised
Waking Beauty and
Paradise. I’ve got all the time in the world for
MBM now, but at 45,000 words in, I’ve realized, as usual, I don’t have much of a plot.
Hmm. Halfway home and what to do? Research. I’ve set some of the book in Dorset, a county in England I’ve visited at least twice that I can remember. Yeah, I know. Hardy country. Nothing like setting myself up for a great big fall. But Dorset remains very fresh in my mind. I can picture Con and Laurette skipping rocks and fishing on the River Piddle, going to All Saints Church in Piddletrenthide, a perfectly charming village I’ve stayed in. We even went to church (pictured) one Sunday, along with about six other people total, including the vicar, and we were the youngest there, hands down. That doesn’t happen all that often anymore, LOL. Right now I’m moving around some rocks in my head and creating Ryland Grove and Vincent Lodge from a couple of historic houses. I’m going to follow Con’s footsteps to Egypt thanks to the fabulous memoirs of Giovanni Finati. Yikes.
I’ve already accidentally found some pivotal stuff that’s perfect for my storyline. Crop failure? The heat wave of 1808 with fireballs in the sky and hail the size of a Robinson baby’s head (see post below). And somewhere in my milk crate are folders with even more information. Now all I have to do is write the book on my brand new computer!
Do you jump right in or think and plan before you write? Are you mindful after recent publishing scandals of translating your research into your own words? Do you just make stuff up? Where is the closest Plots R Us store?
Please don’t forget to visit Vauxhall Vixens on May 29 for our very first guest, the awe-inspiring, artful, amazing and absolutely audacious Loretta Chase, whose Your Scandalous Ways is bound to be a bestseller. One lucky commenter will win a copy!
May 23, 2008
I’ve whined about my computer problems for several weeks. I’m happy to say I’m typing on a sparkling new keyboard with a gigantic flatscreen in front of me. I took the old system down and put the whole new thing together in less than an hour, discovering in the process dustballs the size of a Robinson baby’s head— and Robinson babies had big heads.
The fresh computer inspired me to look at the rest of my writing/dressing room, which is a tiny third bedroom on the first floor of my house. This space is my sanctuary. There’s a twin bed I can lie down on to read or think or possibly nap if the thinking becomes tiresome. The closet is filled with my clothes. My dresser holds my wrinkled stuff. There are two tubular plastic stacking shelves that stack an odd assortment of essential things. Quite frankly, everything was a bit of a tip, as the English say.
So the other day, I sat on the floor surrounded by a pile of stuff. I found all my rejection letters. There weren’t as many as I remembered. A part of me wanted to chuck them, but instead I put them in a manila folder and hid them away in a plastic box in the closet. I collected my RWR magazines; the one with my name in it now has a sticky note. My keeper books are vertical and reach almost up to the ceiling. Envelopes and stamps and address labels are actually together and within reach. The plan is to celebrate Memorial Day by dragging the dead things out of my closet and cleaning that too.
Will this new-found organization help my writing? Probably not. But for a short while, I’m going to enjoy it. It can’t last.*g*
What’s your writing/reading space like? Do you keep everything you read? Did you spring clean?
Don’t cook. Don’t clean. No man will ever make love to a woman because she waxed the linoleum – “My God, the floor’s immaculate. Lie down, you hot bitch.” ~Joan Rivers
