Thursday, August 26, 2010
Getting Serious for September
For any of us with kids, summer probably wasn't very productive, writing wise. Hopefully those trips to the beach, Disney Land, Wonderland, the Grand Canyon or Gramma's provided some sort of inspiration for a new story. Even if you don't have kids, chances are you let your word count goals slip more than a few times because the weather was great and you couldn't stand the thought of being inside all day. With only a week until school starts up (for my kids...some of yours might be in school all ready) it's time to do some planning to get yourself back in gear for writing again. Here are a few ideas to help get the creative juices flowing.
1. Clean your writing space. Nothing makes it harder to write than trying to see the monitor over piles of paper, or not being able to move the mouse because of the stack of notebooks piled beside it. A tidy space reduces stress, which is a good thing when you're trying to write. I won't get into the Feng Shui advice.
2. Review your notes. After a long break, it's hard to remember the little points that had you so excited about a certain story. You remember the fight scene that took you days of agonizing to write, or the secondary character that keeps wanting more than his share of page time. It's easy to say screw it and move onto a brand new project. Reviewing your notes will remind you of all the brilliant ideas you had and hopefully, will inspire you not to toss it away.
3. Make a plan. Pick a daily word count goal, or a date to finish the first draft on. If your plan to write a 25K story, and your goal is 5K a day, it feels really cool to say "I could have this done in 5 days!" Give yourself a bit of a buffer though...chances are you won't manage 5K a day one day, or the story will go beyond 25K. Nothing is certain in writing, so don't set yourself up for disappointment.
4. Stay connected. You don't have to be on facebook all day or chatting with your writing friends, but the odd little break to discuss how you're doing, or a problem that just popped up.
5. If you have a dedicated following of readers, let them know what you are doing. Nothing sparks a fire under your butt better than fans begging you to finish so they can read your latest work. If you don't have dedicated fans yet, you can do the same thing with a good writing group who will offer encouragement. Even someone saying "YAY!" or "Good job!" helps you keep going.
6. Plan to participate in NANOWRIMO or another group mass writing event. Make notes on the story you want to write ahead of time, and get excited about participating. Count down the days, mark it in red on your calendar, write it in big letters on your white board. Whether it's a huge world wide event like NANO or a something similar organized on Twitter or within your group of writing friends, take advantage of it. It's always nice to have people to share the successes and failures with.
If any of you have ideas for getting back into the groove after a writing break, let me know. I can certainly use all the help I can get...though with that being said, I'm heading out for a day of canoeing today, not writing. Technically it's research for a book I have in mind. *cough*
Labels: motivation, Writing
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Finding Your Groove
Imagine, if you will, the perfect quiet household, soft music playing in the background, everyone asleep and there's nothing but you and the words you pour out on the page. You're in the zone, everything is perfect, and the book will be done. Not only that, but it will be done early, need little to no edits and the editor will say it's the most brilliant thing you've ever written.
That's not my world.
If the world was perfect and nothing interrupted, writing would continue to be a breeze. That's not the way it works in the real world. Ever. :) I have a toddler who's far more hyperactive than most children (this from professionals LOL! He's my first kid, so how would I know the difference?). Work is a constant stress. I wake up at OMG that's early in the morning. And my husband has a full time job of his own. Where is that soft quiet time? The perfect writing moment when the muse speaks?
I have to fight for what I want. What I need. And writing IS worth it to me. It's something I feel passionate about and something I love. So ask yourself before you set the new goals for 2009: What do I feel passionate about? What do I want and am I willing to carve out time to make it so? Being frustrated is normal. If I waited for my fickle muse to get around to inspiring me, another home catastrophe would interrupt his magic.
If you think it's a silly idea, let me tell you a story. There's a guy I know, a strong willed man who was passionate about cooking. It was his hobby and he was really good at it, and since his retirement from web design, he had nothing but time to perfect it. His wife adored his cooking and wished he could reproduce some of those recipes, but he was a by the seat of his pants kind of guy.
One day, frustrated with his inability to remember some of the best recipes in the world, she convinced him to take his love of cooking and combine it with what he used to do for a living. Give him a place to put his creations and give him an interactive way of staying interested.
His excuses were many and the wife countered each one until the cook was forced to try it out or listen to her nagging for eternity. Since he was deaf in one ear already, that wasn't a comforting prospect.
Finally he did it, with his wife following him around with a notebook and pen to write down all his ingredients and preparation. The first recipe went up and the cook realized it was kind of neat to be able to go back and find his recipes again. So it continued. He struggled to find a way to make it work and the wife soon left him to his own devices, where he had to rethink the way he cooked. Instead of flinging things into the pan like always, he had to remind himself to take notes, to think his way through, to create the perfect recipe for his imaginary readers.
Writers are like that, don't you think? We start out young and fresh, slamming out words and stories until one day we make our sale. Then things change a bit. Now you're published and there are certain things expected of you. Learn your craft, write the story for reader's ease, make things easier on yourself by writing the story well to start with...
Continuing with the story...
So he created this blog, expecting no one to care, wondering if anyone paid attention. Suddenly strange things started happening. He got emails requesting help on this or that, received comments for his recipes, had others making his recipes and posting comments about it.
He perfected his art: photography, content, voice until he received acclaim from many other food bloggers and publishers in the food biz. He honed the tools necessary, and yes, some days it was a struggle. Some days he wondered why did what he did but at the end of the day he looked back over his work and said...wow. I did that. And it all started from one moment. One key moment that made him say, I can do that. Let me try and he's still doing his thing.
What tools do you need as an author? A good grasp of grammar, understanding conflict/resolution, finding that groove and sticking with it, muse or no muse.
The food blog market is flooded with bloggers, all trying to make a niche for themselves. Did he work hard to get what he needed? Yes. Did he have to work long hours outside his full time job to make it happen? Yes. Did he need to figure out how to balance his day job, family, and his blogging hobby? Yes.
You can too. But first...find that groove and set your 2009 goals. Good luck!
-- Dawn Montgomery
That's not my world.
If the world was perfect and nothing interrupted, writing would continue to be a breeze. That's not the way it works in the real world. Ever. :) I have a toddler who's far more hyperactive than most children (this from professionals LOL! He's my first kid, so how would I know the difference?). Work is a constant stress. I wake up at OMG that's early in the morning. And my husband has a full time job of his own. Where is that soft quiet time? The perfect writing moment when the muse speaks?
I have to fight for what I want. What I need. And writing IS worth it to me. It's something I feel passionate about and something I love. So ask yourself before you set the new goals for 2009: What do I feel passionate about? What do I want and am I willing to carve out time to make it so? Being frustrated is normal. If I waited for my fickle muse to get around to inspiring me, another home catastrophe would interrupt his magic.
If you think it's a silly idea, let me tell you a story. There's a guy I know, a strong willed man who was passionate about cooking. It was his hobby and he was really good at it, and since his retirement from web design, he had nothing but time to perfect it. His wife adored his cooking and wished he could reproduce some of those recipes, but he was a by the seat of his pants kind of guy.
One day, frustrated with his inability to remember some of the best recipes in the world, she convinced him to take his love of cooking and combine it with what he used to do for a living. Give him a place to put his creations and give him an interactive way of staying interested.
His excuses were many and the wife countered each one until the cook was forced to try it out or listen to her nagging for eternity. Since he was deaf in one ear already, that wasn't a comforting prospect.
Finally he did it, with his wife following him around with a notebook and pen to write down all his ingredients and preparation. The first recipe went up and the cook realized it was kind of neat to be able to go back and find his recipes again. So it continued. He struggled to find a way to make it work and the wife soon left him to his own devices, where he had to rethink the way he cooked. Instead of flinging things into the pan like always, he had to remind himself to take notes, to think his way through, to create the perfect recipe for his imaginary readers.
Writers are like that, don't you think? We start out young and fresh, slamming out words and stories until one day we make our sale. Then things change a bit. Now you're published and there are certain things expected of you. Learn your craft, write the story for reader's ease, make things easier on yourself by writing the story well to start with...
Continuing with the story...
So he created this blog, expecting no one to care, wondering if anyone paid attention. Suddenly strange things started happening. He got emails requesting help on this or that, received comments for his recipes, had others making his recipes and posting comments about it.
He perfected his art: photography, content, voice until he received acclaim from many other food bloggers and publishers in the food biz. He honed the tools necessary, and yes, some days it was a struggle. Some days he wondered why did what he did but at the end of the day he looked back over his work and said...wow. I did that. And it all started from one moment. One key moment that made him say, I can do that. Let me try and he's still doing his thing.
What tools do you need as an author? A good grasp of grammar, understanding conflict/resolution, finding that groove and sticking with it, muse or no muse.
The food blog market is flooded with bloggers, all trying to make a niche for themselves. Did he work hard to get what he needed? Yes. Did he have to work long hours outside his full time job to make it happen? Yes. Did he need to figure out how to balance his day job, family, and his blogging hobby? Yes.
You can too. But first...find that groove and set your 2009 goals. Good luck!
-- Dawn Montgomery
Labels: Dawn Montgomery, goals, Writing, writing life
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
The Best Laid Plans...
I'm a little late posting this, but at least I remembered! I have reminder upon reminder set up yet I still manage to miss things from time to time - especially things like blogging dates. Grrrr.
So... what I've been up to lately... lots of writing, lots of waiting to hear back on things I submitted last Spring... lots of gnashing of teeth. In short, typical writer's life things. ;-)
I'm writing a new paranormal novel. It's creeping toward completion at a steady pace and features a really sexy vampire, a lone wolf, a fey knight and some interesting shifter secondary characters including two selkies who just showed up unexpectedly. Of course, now that they're here, boy-o-boy do I have plans for them!
I plan to have the first draft finished by Christmas. Then I plan to turn back to a manuscript I nearly completed last month - the fourth installment of my Resonance Mates series - Grady's Awakening. That will be my next submission to Samhain and hopefully will release mid-to-late next year. It's been percolating at the back of my mind because it needs a little work. I put it aside to think about it and plan to do the necessary repairs between Christmas and New Year's, if all goes according to plan.
I make these plans, but they're always flexible. Something else might pop up that's more urgent, but at least for now, that's the strategy until January. After New Year's I hope to launch a writing challenge on my blog and a bunch of the Daughters have said they'd help out, so look for more info on that when it happens. I like to spend the first few months of the year writing because by April things start to get busy in the way of conferences, traveling and such. So January thru March is prime writing time.
I am a planner. I plan and plan and plan. And then things change. I try not to get too upset about it, but I guess it's better to have too much on your plate than too little. I detest boredom. ;-)
Oh! I should mention that I have a new print release this month. Davin's Quest will release in print on December 30th, so look for it! :) Here's wishing you all a very Happy Holiday!
So... what I've been up to lately... lots of writing, lots of waiting to hear back on things I submitted last Spring... lots of gnashing of teeth. In short, typical writer's life things. ;-)
I'm writing a new paranormal novel. It's creeping toward completion at a steady pace and features a really sexy vampire, a lone wolf, a fey knight and some interesting shifter secondary characters including two selkies who just showed up unexpectedly. Of course, now that they're here, boy-o-boy do I have plans for them!
I plan to have the first draft finished by Christmas. Then I plan to turn back to a manuscript I nearly completed last month - the fourth installment of my Resonance Mates series - Grady's Awakening. That will be my next submission to Samhain and hopefully will release mid-to-late next year. It's been percolating at the back of my mind because it needs a little work. I put it aside to think about it and plan to do the necessary repairs between Christmas and New Year's, if all goes according to plan.
I make these plans, but they're always flexible. Something else might pop up that's more urgent, but at least for now, that's the strategy until January. After New Year's I hope to launch a writing challenge on my blog and a bunch of the Daughters have said they'd help out, so look for more info on that when it happens. I like to spend the first few months of the year writing because by April things start to get busy in the way of conferences, traveling and such. So January thru March is prime writing time.
I am a planner. I plan and plan and plan. And then things change. I try not to get too upset about it, but I guess it's better to have too much on your plate than too little. I detest boredom. ;-)
Oh! I should mention that I have a new print release this month. Davin's Quest will release in print on December 30th, so look for it! :) Here's wishing you all a very Happy Holiday!
Labels: Bianca D'Arc, New Releases, Writing
Monday, October 29, 2007
Busy Time for Bianca! :)
It' been a busy couple of weeks. First, I've been on a signing tour around the Northeast US. This past Saturday, I had a great time in Marlboro, MA, meeting a lot of new readers and next week will be my final appearance, at the Borders in the Garden State Mall in New Jersey for this year. I hope you'll come by and see me, if you're in the area! (I'll have goodie bags!)
I've also been writing and editing a great deal, getting involved in a Halloween project on another blog I'm on, called Beyond The Veil. About 8-10 authors on that blog got together and wrote related paranormal stories, all set in a ficticious Las Vegas casino based on Dunvegan Castle. It's called Dunvegas! LOL. We've been posting snippets on the blog for the past month. Mine went up today, as a matter of fact, and we'll be offering the entire collection of stories as a FREE download on Halloween, so keep an eye out for it! :)
My short story in the collection is called The Big Bad Wolf, and it's a little more serious than some of the other stories in the collection. See, some of the authors write humor a little better than I and have made a lot of this sort of tongue-in-cheek. It's pretty darn funny - what I've read of it, so I'd definitely recommend checking it all out on Halloween. I mean, the price is right, right? LOL! And I got the additional honor of creating the cover for the series. I'm actually working on putting up a new page on my website that will hold links to the freebie stories I have available. That will probably be unveiled at the beginning of December as a little holiday gift to my readers (if I can get it finished).
Aside from all that, I'm doing the 2 writing challenges most of the DoC are participating in -- NaNoWriMo and 70 Days of Sweat -- and going through the edits from hell. As soon as I finish up this round of edits, I'll be concentrating on getting some more actual writing done. Can't wait!
Bianca
Come over to The D'Arc Side... http://www.biancadarc.com/
I've also been writing and editing a great deal, getting involved in a Halloween project on another blog I'm on, called Beyond The Veil. About 8-10 authors on that blog got together and wrote related paranormal stories, all set in a ficticious Las Vegas casino based on Dunvegan Castle. It's called Dunvegas! LOL. We've been posting snippets on the blog for the past month. Mine went up today, as a matter of fact, and we'll be offering the entire collection of stories as a FREE download on Halloween, so keep an eye out for it! :)
My short story in the collection is called The Big Bad Wolf, and it's a little more serious than some of the other stories in the collection. See, some of the authors write humor a little better than I and have made a lot of this sort of tongue-in-cheek. It's pretty darn funny - what I've read of it, so I'd definitely recommend checking it all out on Halloween. I mean, the price is right, right? LOL! And I got the additional honor of creating the cover for the series. I'm actually working on putting up a new page on my website that will hold links to the freebie stories I have available. That will probably be unveiled at the beginning of December as a little holiday gift to my readers (if I can get it finished).Aside from all that, I'm doing the 2 writing challenges most of the DoC are participating in -- NaNoWriMo and 70 Days of Sweat -- and going through the edits from hell. As soon as I finish up this round of edits, I'll be concentrating on getting some more actual writing done. Can't wait!
Bianca
Come over to The D'Arc Side... http://www.biancadarc.com/
Labels: appearances, Bianca D'Arc, Writing
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Dragons and More
First of all, I should mention my most recent releases (which I don't think I did on this blog yet). At the end of September, Prince of Spies came out in print, so please look for it wherever books are sold!
And the very next dragon story just came out in ebook. Wings of Change will be part of the I Dream of Dragons anthology that will be out in print next March, but for now you can get all of the stories in ebook.
My next release will be in December, titled, Sweeter Than Wine. It's a paranormal story that will bring together my vamps and weres in a very tangible (and naughty!) way. LOL. Here's the tagline: An abused woman has the power to unite werefolk, fey and vampire against an evil that would see them all dead—if she can learn to love again.
Now with all of this, I've been running around doing signings. I'll be at the Borders in Middletown, NY this Saturday and the one in Marlborough, MA next Saturday, so please drop by if you're in the neighborhood! Understandably, I haven't been writing much with all this going on, but I signed up for a writing challenge to help get me back on track. Accountability really helps. So far, I've managed to write each day of the challenge, but then, it only started on Monday! LOL. Be sure to drop by my blog to track my progress and read the little snippets from my WIPs I'll be posting every few days. I've got a "first meeting" scene up there today, so it's probably worth checking out if you like those kinds of things.
Whew! So now you're up to date on all things Bianca. Well, mostly, anyway. Now that I'm caught up, next time I get to blog, I promise to post something more conversational, but it's been quite a while since I've blogged here. Sorry for the absence!
Bianca
http://biancadarc.com/blog/
www.biancadarc.com
And the very next dragon story just came out in ebook. Wings of Change will be part of the I Dream of Dragons anthology that will be out in print next March, but for now you can get all of the stories in ebook.
My next release will be in December, titled, Sweeter Than Wine. It's a paranormal story that will bring together my vamps and weres in a very tangible (and naughty!) way. LOL. Here's the tagline: An abused woman has the power to unite werefolk, fey and vampire against an evil that would see them all dead—if she can learn to love again.
Now with all of this, I've been running around doing signings. I'll be at the Borders in Middletown, NY this Saturday and the one in Marlborough, MA next Saturday, so please drop by if you're in the neighborhood! Understandably, I haven't been writing much with all this going on, but I signed up for a writing challenge to help get me back on track. Accountability really helps. So far, I've managed to write each day of the challenge, but then, it only started on Monday! LOL. Be sure to drop by my blog to track my progress and read the little snippets from my WIPs I'll be posting every few days. I've got a "first meeting" scene up there today, so it's probably worth checking out if you like those kinds of things.
Whew! So now you're up to date on all things Bianca. Well, mostly, anyway. Now that I'm caught up, next time I get to blog, I promise to post something more conversational, but it's been quite a while since I've blogged here. Sorry for the absence!
Bianca
http://biancadarc.com/blog/
www.biancadarc.com
Labels: Bianca D'Arc, Writing
Monday, March 12, 2007
Eppies and Things!
Wow, it has been a wonderful weekend! Our very own Bianca D'Arc has won an EPPIE!!!!! Ice Dragon won for Best Erotic Romance Fantasy/Paranormal! Woohoo!!! So what is an EPPIE? These are prestigious awards given by the Electronically Published Internet Connection (EPIC).
Earlier in the month they announced the awards for best cover art. My primary cover artist (until this point), Jinger Heaston, swept the competition. She took first or honorable mention in multiple categories. What awesome stuff!
On the writing front, I've started an erotic romance sci fi with Eve Vaughn. We have plans to have it finished before RT this year. :-)
Other news from our DoC...we're looking forward to having a themed party soon. A come on out and have fun day! And don't forget to stop by Brenda Williamson's Romance party on the 21st. It's guaranteed to be fun! And I've heard through the grapevine, our own Aline has some publishing news! We'll wait for her to tell you the good stuff. :-)
Since I love baking when I'm avoiding work, I thought I'd give you a snickerdoodle recipe I'd recently made:
Snickerdoodles
1 C. butter, softened (that's 20 seconds in a microwave on high if you don't want to wait hehe)
1 1/3 C. Sugar
2 Eggs
3 C. Flour
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 C. sugar mixed with 2 tsp. cinnamon (mix them in a bowl and set aside, you'll be dipping your cookies in this before putting it on the baking sheet.)
Makes about 3 dozen cookies
Preheat oven to 400 deg F.
Mix together flour, cream of tartar and baking soda. Set aside.
Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (It'll look like little yellow balls)
Beat in eggs one at a time, then vanilla.
Reduce mixer speed (or expect to do a LOT of cleaning) and add flour mixture until well blended. (At this point, you want to add the flour about a quarter at a time and bring the mixer up to high till smooth before adding the next quarter, JMHO)
With your hands, roll the dough into small balls, about the size of a large walnut.
Roll them in the cinnamon and sugar mixture and place 1inch apart on a large baking sheet.
Enjoy! I know my family did. LOL.
Dawn Montgomery
Earlier in the month they announced the awards for best cover art. My primary cover artist (until this point), Jinger Heaston, swept the competition. She took first or honorable mention in multiple categories. What awesome stuff!
On the writing front, I've started an erotic romance sci fi with Eve Vaughn. We have plans to have it finished before RT this year. :-)
Other news from our DoC...we're looking forward to having a themed party soon. A come on out and have fun day! And don't forget to stop by Brenda Williamson's Romance party on the 21st. It's guaranteed to be fun! And I've heard through the grapevine, our own Aline has some publishing news! We'll wait for her to tell you the good stuff. :-)
Since I love baking when I'm avoiding work, I thought I'd give you a snickerdoodle recipe I'd recently made:
Snickerdoodles
1 C. butter, softened (that's 20 seconds in a microwave on high if you don't want to wait hehe)
1 1/3 C. Sugar
2 Eggs
3 C. Flour
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 C. sugar mixed with 2 tsp. cinnamon (mix them in a bowl and set aside, you'll be dipping your cookies in this before putting it on the baking sheet.)
Makes about 3 dozen cookies
Preheat oven to 400 deg F.
Mix together flour, cream of tartar and baking soda. Set aside.
Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (It'll look like little yellow balls)
Beat in eggs one at a time, then vanilla.
Reduce mixer speed (or expect to do a LOT of cleaning) and add flour mixture until well blended. (At this point, you want to add the flour about a quarter at a time and bring the mixer up to high till smooth before adding the next quarter, JMHO)
With your hands, roll the dough into small balls, about the size of a large walnut.
Roll them in the cinnamon and sugar mixture and place 1inch apart on a large baking sheet.
NOTE: If dough is too sticky, chill it a bit before forming it into balls
Bake for about 10 minutes or until the tops of the cookies are a light golden brown, flattened some, and split on top in several lines.Enjoy! I know my family did. LOL.
Dawn Montgomery
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
I'm still learning...
I'm in between projects.
I finished a killer of a one last week, just completed the first set of edits of Past Lies due out in April... and now I have to think about what to attack next.
It's something brand spanking new, not a languishing wip, and so I want to tackle a problem I have with beginning a new story:
I finished a killer of a one last week, just completed the first set of edits of Past Lies due out in April... and now I have to think about what to attack next.
It's something brand spanking new, not a languishing wip, and so I want to tackle a problem I have with beginning a new story:
How the hell do I start it?!
Most authors seem to have a system. I've yet to fully find mine. Do I start with the characters? With the plot? Or just plunge in and write my way out of it. I've tried the latter, and usually get stuck just as I get to the dreaded middle. The place of much sagging and very little idea how to make it into a oil-slicked six pack. *grin*
So this time, I'm trying names first and hanging my characters on those.
I have two, picked from my bumper book of names, otherwise known as the Character Naming Sourcebook published by Writer's Digest. A much quicker method than hunting the web. Mainly because I can't be distracted.
I've also picked out photos from a site called www.newfaces.com. It was pick two, get one free - I got a great ex-husband picture, LOL
And now I know she has an ex-husband,which I didn't know before.
So I brainstormed and I have an idea where they live, what they do for a living, what's happened to their families and why my two main characters are so-o-o very wrong for each other...
And that is about as far as I've got.
I'm off to work on it now, but I hope that really getting into the skins of my characters will help me to get to grips with the story and write it quickly.
And '...getting into the skins of my characters...'
Erm... I think that's a Knox story, not a Rees one.
So, tell me how you work it all out, because as the title says.
I'm still learning.
Labels: characters, Writing
