Chattering away
Bethany and Cody are chattering away in my head and I’m getting more and more antsy to start telling their story. Today, I spent an hour or so sketching out a basic plot. Since I’m not much of a plotter, that’s already more plotting than I usually do for...
On characters and conflicts
A new heroine and hero have been talking to me lately, and I think their story has to be told. They’re Bethany and Cody, the best friends of my hero/heroine in “Blind Date Bride” … the ones who enter poor Kari and Damien into the contest they think will...
Pitch, anyone?
After reading agent Nathan Bransford’s blog post on the importance of having one-sentence, one-paragraph and two-paragraph pitches ready for your novel (you never know when you’ll run into your Dream Agent in an elevator, after all), I decided to take a stab at crafting some of my own. One...
The dreaded synopsis
Saturday’s NARWA meeting went great, and — as usual — I came away inspired. Our guest speaker, Harlequin American author Cathy McDavid, presented talks on characterization and that bane of many writers’ existence (or at least mine), the synopsis. I came away with some great tips, along with some...
A thought on love
After reading my last blog entry, one of my friends from college messaged me with this bit of inspiration about giving characters reasons to love one another: Love isn’t only about the hot sex – it’s about friendship. Cuz when the hot sex goes away (old age, car accident,...
More food for thought
Over at the Ruby Slippered Sisterhood, my writing blog home away from home, I read a fantastic post the other day. It was all about what editors want from a category romance. After reading it, I wonder if Brad and Erin’s story is as ready as I thought. I...
Behind on my reading
I’ve been trying to catch up on my blog reading, and found Nathan Bransford’s great post on “voice.” The post and the comments afterward are full of great stuff … but all of it combines to make me wonder if I have a developed “voice.” I’ve always thought I...
Inspiration comes from the strangest places
I was out on a walk Saturday morning, listening to my iPod, when a song by my favorite band came on and it hit me: This could be Mike James’ theme song. Mike, you might remember, is the hero in Bree & Mike’s story (the one with the crappy...
In limbo?
Sadly, not much writing has happened since Wednesday (and that writing didn’t count toward my Word Count Countdown, because it wasn’t actually writing on any of my WIPs). I’m at a certain point: Finished MS but no query or synopsis — and since our NARWA meeting next Saturday is...
Getting to know them
Inspired by a post earlier this week at the Ruby Slippered Sisterhood, I sat down to have a chat with my hero and heroine yesterday. No, I’m not crazy. I went to Starbucks (my favorite place to get things done) and pulled out the laptop. Several hours later, I’d...