Category Archives: writing

NaNo Goes on the Road: Folly Beach

I’m spending the long weekend (through Monday) in a rental house at Folly Beach, South Carolina. It is gorgeous here, with an ocean view from the front porch and a marsh view from the back deck. I’m here with another writer friend, and we spent part of today in Charleston, where I’d never been before. It reminds me so much of New Orleans! I was expecting it to feel more like Savannah.

My goal for the weekend may not be feasible, but I’m doing the best I can to hit 25,000 words. I’d like to write that many just this weekend, but the more I can do, the better, because I’m wayyyyyyyyyyyyy behind on word count.

My boys are cooperating at the moment, so I’m going to get back to it. Hope your weekend is going as well as mine is! šŸ™‚

Goooooooal!

Without even realizing it at first, I reached one of my writing goals for the year this week. Well, they were more “general guidelines of what I’d like to do,” but one was to publish six stories, of any length. My August novel release will be my fifth, and I’m still hopeful that I’ll have at least one holiday-season story. (If ever finish writing them.)

Then Dreamspinner put out a call to current authors for a special promotional event, and my submission was accepted. It’ll be a freebie, but that’s fine; it’s still going to be published. So that’s six! Go me!

(As an aside, that also gives me at least one publication every other month this year through October. And if one of the Christmas stories is accepted, it’ll be every other month all year. Maybe next year my goal should be to get published in at least one “odd” month.)

Do This, Not That

I see a lot of writerly advice links floating around, mainly via the Twittersphere. Never do this! they say. That doesn’t work! Do this instead! And a heck of a lot of the YOU MUST DO THIS advice is contradictory.

My advice? Read it, sure, but take all of it with a nice, big grain of salt. Spend your time and effort figuring out what works for you.

Every writer is different, and every story is different. What another author does may not fit your schedule or your style. A short story isn’t a novel. Plots and characters can run away from you. Nothing is 100% for anyone.

Unfortunately, there’s no blood test for this. No one’s going to be able to look you over and tell you what you should do. Sure, there are clues here and there—How organized are you? Are you a computerphile or a technophobe? What’s your home life like?—but what it comes down to is trial and error.

Experiment. Try writing early in the morning or late at night. Challenge yourself to write for a certain length of time or certain number of words. Write in your living room, in bed, outside, longhand. Listen to different types of music while you write, or try silence. Write out character bios or build the world of your story before you write the story itself. Outline, or write a detailed summary, or just start writing and see what happens.* Write in present tense or omniscient or whatever your characters want from you.

[*Okay, one specific piece of advice: pantsing generally works better for short stories than long!]

In conclusion: go on already! Quit reading this and get busy writing! Sheesh. šŸ˜‰

Six Sentence Sunday: Sand & Water

Missed last week because I was traveling and internet-less, but back for this week’s Six Sentence SundayĀ with a paragraph from my upcoming first novel, Sand & Water.

Bryan’s fingers brushed over the light stubble along John’s jaw, and his thumb rubbed the edge of John’s chin. The light touches sent tingles across John’s skin, raising goosebumps like a cool breeze on a warm day. His body wanted more, the desire and arousal inside him begging to be set free, but he tamped it down. Slow and steady, he told himself. This feels amazing. Enjoy every moment.

Image: Louisa Stokes / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Home Again, Galleys, and Plotbunny Attacks

My weekend away turned out to be a bit of a rollercoaster, starting with traffic backups and the wifi at the lodge working only intermittently (and never in my room). But I slept and rested a lot, did some reading and writing, and ate hand-dipped chocolate-covered fruit, so all is right with the world.

I got home on Monday to find galleys for Sand and Water waiting for me, so I’ll be going over those for the next few days. So excited! Cover art should be ready soon too. Of course I’ll share that as soon as I can. šŸ™‚

IĀ had a plotbunny (he gave his name as Andrew) attack over the weekend, and it seems to be growing into a whole universe. A trilogy, perhaps. Maybe more. It’d be nice if the world-building part kept rolling out but the actual story-writing part would hold off until I get some more done on the other main projects!

Cover Art and Long Weekends

I’m excited about the progress of the cover art for my upcoming novel release, Sand and Water. The drafts have been gorgeous, and I think we’ve settled on a final design. As soon as I get the go-ahead, I’ll be sharing, of course!!

I’m also lucky to have a long weekend coming up. I’m off Monday for Independence Day, plus we get an early release tomorrow. I’m driving up to north Georgia to play tourist a little and spend a couple of nights at a state park lodge. (And eat chocolate! There’s a great local candy store up there.)

My plan is to rest, read, and write. I have a fanfic bigbang project to finish revising, and multiple original stories in various stages of completion, as usual. I’m also judging a writing competition, so I’ll be diving in those stories, and I have several new books to read, including the latest from my friend Barbara Wallace.

And yes, I will have internet access! No idea how reliable it’ll be, but even a rustic lodge at a small state park has wifi. Heck, I bet the primitive campsites have it!

Six Sentence Sunday: The Christmas Spirit

Jumping into the Six Sentence Sunday fray with a sample from the Christmas-themed story I just finished, titled “The Christmas Spirit.”

I follow Cord’s gaze, and just a few yards away, at the dark edge of the dance floor, I finally see myself. I’ve got my hands in the back pockets of some guy whose name I don’t know, with another body pressed up behind me. This time I can’t remember what happened next. Neither of the men looks familiar, and it’s at that moment I realize how few of the men I’ve bedded—or walled, or chaired, or whatever—have been memorable enough for me to recall their names, much less their faces. Stick it in a hole long enough to get off; that’s been enough for me.

Suddenly it doesn’t seem like enough anymore, and I’m ashamed to watch myself doing it.

Geeking Out

I had a wonderful phone discussion with fellow author Kerry FreemanĀ last night. I’d critiqued a manuscript for her from the Help Write Now auction, and it came with a 10–15 minute phone or Skype chat to discuss it. We spent about that long on the manuscript… and then talked for another hour and fifteen minutes, mostly about writing. (And publishers, and Dragon*Con, and living in the South… LOL)

I love talking to other authors about what we write. I have two very close friends I talk to via online chat nearly every day, and a large portion of our discussions cover what we’re writing (heavier on fanfic, since that’s how we all met). I love it all: hashing out possible plot points, discussing how characters can change the course of a plot, complaining about the overwhelming number of plotbunnies in our ā€œto be writtenā€ folders (all of which were covered extensively last night). I love talking about other authors’ stories, what we like and don’t like about them.Ā 

In short, I am a total writing geek, and I am not ashamed to admit it!Ā 

I’ll take just about any chance I can get to talk writing. I love that my mom is a writer, so I can talk about it with her. (To a point: she doesn’t want to talk about sex scenes, and I wouldn’t want to talk about that with my mother anyway!) I’m thrilled that some writerly friends will be here for Dragon*Con, and I know darn good and well we’ll be talking writing a lot. And one of the main reasons I decided to go to GayRomLit is to have a chance to just talk writing with some of the awesome authors who’ll be there.Ā 

So, if you ever run into me somewhere, or if you just want to sit around and talk writing for a while, hit me up!

Motivation, Please?

I’m having a lot of trouble getting motivated to write these days. I still enjoy it, and I still get a lot done when I start; it’s the getting started part I can’t seem to manage.

I’m still working on two main writing projects, a fanfic bigbang story and an original novel, and I’m slowly revising a former fanfic story into an original. I had an idea this week for a Christmas story, so I’ve scribbled down some notes on that, too.Ā 

I also have several editing/revising projects on my plate,Ā but those aren’t as tough. I have first proofs for the novel, plus an original manuscript and a fanfic chapter to beta. Only the proofs have a strict deadline, but there’s not a lot to be done there. Editing doesn’t require as much effort or creativity as writing, though, at least for me.

On top of all that, IĀ really need to get more organized with my writing files and projects. I have a long list of story folders all piled up together, but without much rhyme or reason. I should have them prioritized based on deadlines or progress or something. In short, I need more direction as much as I do more motivation.

I’ve been brainstorming to try to come up with ideas to get myself across the starting line. I have a “words jar” that I won as part of the Help Write Now auction, and I’m considering filling it up with a pile of “tickets” with various writing, editing, or organizingĀ tasks written on them.Ā Then I can pullĀ one out each day and make myself doing it: write 1,000 words, write for an hour, revise a chapter, make/update a works-in-progress list, work on a character bio, write a synopsis/summary, organize folders and files… you get the idea.

So what do you do to motivate yourself? And how do you keep your projects organized? Any suggestions are welcome at this point! Help meeeeeeeee! šŸ˜‰

Updates, get yer updates!

First up, Dreamspinner is now taking pre-ordersĀ for the First Time for Everything Daily Dose set, which will give you a story a day for the month of June. Right now, you can get the whole set for just $39.99! Prices go up as the release date approaches, so order early. Individual stories, including my story “Chicago,”Ā will go on sale in June.

And my other bit of news: I have a contract on my novel! Sand and Water is tentatively set for a late summer release (also with Dreamspinner). More details as I have them!