Category: Give-Aways

WRITING HELL

First, I would like to thank Cindy for having me here today. When she invited me here my first thought was great, I can do March 3rd. After all that is my release date for EVERY TIME WE KISS and two days after my deadline for book 3—no problem. But anyone who has ever written under deadline knows there is always a problem. 

I made my deadline. Just barely. I did not write “The End” on book 3 until last Wednesday. But I made it. So where am I going with this? Writing under deadline is never easy but it must be done. With the economic uncertainty, the last thing an author needs is an editor looking for a book that hasn’t been turned in yet.

When I started EVERY TIME WE KISS, I was working out of my office that was really an old family room in a 1960s split-level. Then we started the remodel. This was no simple update the kitchen and baths, this was raise the roof, put an addition on the back and take every wall down to the studs. Suddenly, I had contractors knocking on my door at 7 a.m. Dust was out of control and the noise incredible. Did I mention this was my first time writing under deadline?

Before I knew it, my husband and I, and our two boys had moved into our former living room (12×14) with plastic covering the doorways. We had 1 king size mattress, 1 queen size mattress, 1 twin mattress, a small work table for my husband who works from home, an entertainment center with the TV and two portable heaters. It was cozy. (Okay, it really wasn’t). I suddenly found myself with no place to write. I couldn’t stay in that room with my husband on the phone and the noise from the contractors. So I started going to the coffee shop every day to write.

I had always liked my privacy when writing, no noise and no one disturbing me. Thank God for the internet classical radio stations so I could plug my headphones in and write…and write. Several times, I really doubted that I could pull this off. But I persevered. As a former software project manager and developer, I had learned that deadlines must be taken seriously. So I gave myself realistic goals for the week. Some weeks I made my goals and other weeks I did not. The week my husband was away in a sunny warm locale while Maryland had an awful cold front, not a lot of writing was done. It might have been that the gloves I had to wear in the house didn’t work well on the keyboard. But I didn’t give up. Writing is never easy, whether you are writing for fun (do people really do that?) or writing to get published, or writing to stay published.

I’d love to hear your horror stories of writing under deadline. And if you’re unpublished, have you ever given yourself a deadline? If so, did you make it?

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Great Before and After shots, huh?

Please leave a comment to enter for a chance to win a copy of EVERY NIGHT WE KISS. Entries accepted until midnight PST.

To read Christie’s bio or check out the back cover copy for EVERY NIGHT WE KISS, please see yesterday’s post.

To learn more about Christie and her books, you know the drill—please visit her website.

MUST THE SHOES ALSO BE CAUGHT BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HEART PLACE?

No man will ever understand the pain of childbirth (unless medical science advances beyond what he should wish); a scuffed favorite shoe (okay, maybe); or nail polish remover making contact with an exposed cuticle (owowowowowowie!). That’s just how it is. Biology and eons of socializing. Sucks for us as women. But we can make it suck worse for them *eg*.

Okay, seriously, and perhaps less feloniously, let’s talk shoes. Not my shoes. Not your shoes. Daphne’s shoes. Daphne is fictional, but I like Daphne and I hope others like Daphne, too. She’s the heroine in my latest release, BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HEART PLACE (Dorchester Love Spell ~ Feb. 24, 2009), and life really sucks for her in a way that most just cannot understand. You see, she has a plan that’s been in the making for as long as she can remember. Freedom. The woman just wants to take control of her life at last.

As an only child of feuding and exiled Druids—the dethroned king and queen of the weirdo cult, in her opinion—all she wants is to start a life far away. She wants to work and live among normal people who live in blissful ignorance of the existence of magic-wielding Druids, shape-shifting pucas, and temperamental faeries. And guess what? At long last, she has that new accounting job, that sleek new apartment, that new and utterly normal life lined up and waiting for her all the way on the other side of the continent. And she bought herself a new pair of shoes to go with her new life. Now, the woman’s no spendthrift or name-brand fashionista. She’s just an ordinary girl who usually wears sensible, low-heeled pumps to her sensible job in her sensible life. But these…well, these were those red-hot, patent leather, nosebleed-high heels that encourage even a mild-mannered woman to cop an attitude and live a life worthy of wearing them.

Dream shoes.  More importantly, freedom shoes. And now—right now—she’s wearing them…

I guess I don’t need to tell you that all of this was destined to blow up in her face—and all over her beautifully shod feet. A stray thunk with no ordinary cornerstone and suddenly Daphne’s a non-practicing but hereditary Druid wielding puca powers and trying to suppress a lifetime’s worth of rage. Life gets a little messy. Not only do the Druids not let her leave town now that she’s wielding undisciplined shape-shifting and mind control powers—a virtual powder keg just waiting for a stray spark to incite flaming chaos—but now those precious shoes are ruined, just like her plans are. Can’t you feel it? The frustrated rage?  Well, Daphne feels it and she’s going to make darn sure that enigmatic nature spirit Tremayne pays at least a little for it as well. You see, he’s the guy charged with helping her learn how to control her powers or, failing that, destroying her in order to protect everyone else.

Tremayne, however, understands on a soul-deep level her need for freedom. That, plus growing feelings for her—and a little thing like her being the key to his own future—might save her hide as well as his. Those shoes, however, are another matter.

So tell me. Do you have anything like Daphne’s freedom shoes? Or just a favorite pair? How have you celebrated a new direction or milestone in your life? I’m easy. Leave a comment. In celebration of my recent release, I’m giving away to one lucky commenter a free copy of either PANDORA’S BOX (Dorchester Love Spell, Feb. 2008) or THE DRUID MADE ME DO IT (Dorchester Love Spell, August 2008). Both are prequels to BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HEART PLACE. Winner gets to pick.

(Thanks for having me here today, Cindy!)

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You’re welcome! You heard the lady, folks. Leave a comment to enter to win one of Natale’s prequels to BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HEART PLACE. Entries accepted until midnight Pacific Standard time.

To read Natale’s bio, plus the back cover copy and a fantastic 4.5 Star review from Romantic Times for BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HEART PLACE, please see yesterday’s post (arranged, quite cleverly, right below this one).

To learn more about Natale and her books, please visit her website.

HERO SHOPPING

I’m a very visual person.  I always thought everyone had their own personal “TV” in their heads that they could watch.

This works well for me as a writer, because I often see (and hear!) my scenes play out on that personal TV set.

But, the disadvantage is, if I can’t see it clearly, I can’t describe it clearly for my readers so they can tune in their sets.  Sometimes I have to find visuals to help.

One thing I love to do is go hero shopping. 

Where does one shop for heroes?  Why, the Internet, of course. (How did we ever manage without the Internet?)  Most of the time I use modeling websites.  A lot of writers I know use celebrities as the model for their heroes/heroines, but I tend to gravitate more toward models who aren’t that well-recognized. Usually I know some of the characteristics I want, like blue eyes, or dark hair.  I’ll know if I’m looking for someone younger looking, or a little older looking.  What’s fascinating to me is how certain faces pop out for the different characters.  I generally create an “audition pool” of potential candidates, and then I carefully choose between them.  It’s mostly instinct at that point.

I do the same thing for my heroines, and any significant secondary characters.

Then I create a page with their pictures on it, and print it out.  Right now my current hero and heroine are taped to the shade right next to my computer.  This way, when I need to describe a certain physical characteristic, or a particular body movement or expression, I can glance over, get a really solid look at them, and put that onto the paper.

In my new book, A KID TO THE RESCUE, I’m introducing readers to the Hawkins Family.  This family had a total of twelve children.  The hero in KID is “child” number seven. So I needed images of the entire family.  When I went “shopping” for the Hawkins characters, I tried to select people who shared similar characteristics.  It turned out there’s a very distinctive jawline that runs in the family, particularly in the men.  Also, to my surprise as I’ve learned more about the individuals, I can see those traits in their pictures—traits I didn’t know about when I picked out my models.  For example, it turns out brother Hayden is a real flirt, a real lady’s man—and you can clearly see that in his pictures. (To see the whole Hawkins Family as I envision them, with a little help from a modeling website, go here.  Please note that Kasey’s name has been changed to Kara, and some of my characters have developed back story that would make me now list them as divorced instead of just “single”—and these ages are based on the book A KID TO THE RESCUE.  Now I just have to keep them all straight as I try to write more stories for these fine, fun, people.)

I send these pictures along with my manuscript, and my editor passes them on to the art department.  The art department, also being made up of very visual folks, appreciates the fact that I give them something besides words to describe my characters. (Pictures being worth a thousand words, yada, yada…)  My covers have always been fantastic, so I think submitting the pictures is helpful.

I also shop for furniture pictures, vehicles, and home layouts. Whatever I need in order to envision things clearly so my readers can also see things clearly.

Do you have a personal TV set in your head?  When you write or read, do you actually “see” the scenes in your head?  Does it irritate you when the pictures on the cover don’t precisely match the descriptions of the characters inside the book?  Where would you go hero shopping?

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Please leave a comment or ask a question to enter for a chance to win A KID TO THE RESCUE. Entries accepted until midnight P.S.T.

To learn more about Susan and her books, please have a look at yesterday’s promo post and visit her website.