No clickbait for you!

Where the hell did March go? Partly down the tubes via something I've just learned the label for - clickbait.

Oh, you've seen them online. Those irresistible captions, the grabber headlines that hook you into clicking the link to read about something because "you won't believe what happens next" or "you'll never guess what he does."

And oh look! Another BuzzFeed quiz! Because yes, I need to know which character from (fill in the blank show or book or movie) I am, or where I should be living, or what I should be doing with my life (um, not taking these quizzes? but oh, damn, I just clicked so I'll just wait ten minutes for the page to load).

Um, no thanks. I've been disappointed too many times because yes, I did see that coming, and no, it's not the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my whole gosh darned entire life.

I have become clickbait resistant. And now that I'm coming to my senses, I'm not going to waste time on you.

I have my own hooks to craft. But damn, I have to hand it to you. You do know how to hook people!

Do you get sucked in by clickbait? I have some extra repellant if you need some!

2014 Writer's Rebel Creed

I love the title alone - Writer's Rebel Creed. *grins*

Even more, I love the idea behind it. To commit to writing on a regular basis, to focus on the path ahead. I feel as if the past few years, I'd gotten off track somehow. I've been writing, and had stories published regularly, but something feels off. Last year became very unfocused, and I wasted a lot of time until NaNo got me back on track. No more. Time's too valuable, and I want to spend it more productively.

During the last half of 2013, I spent a lot of time re-evaluating. So many stories in my head excited me, but I worried that my "platform" is already muddled because I write mainstream and women's fiction and romance (anywhere from sweet to erotic). Some of the stories I really want to write are not even in those genres (futuristic scifi, speculative). More along the lines of what I used to write but strayed from.

I've always been a strong believer in going with your gut. My gut is telling me to break through the boundaries I've set up for myself. So although I intend to finish a few WIPs already started, I'm also going to begin those new stories.

Another thing I've strayed from - and completely unintentionally - is keeping a strong link to the writers' communities online. My life took a crazy turn a few years ago and I wasn't able to commit support as I had before. There were many days when stress took its toll and I felt I could barely think straight. (But enough about that, I'm not someone who likes to "share" those sort of things online. Everyone has problems, and I'm no different.) Things have eased up somewhat so I want to jump back in. Visit more blogs, invite more blog guests (you're welcome to be my guest too), and more if I can.

Thanks to S.A. Larsen for setting up the Writer's Creed. If you'd like to join, go here. It's never too late to begin. :)

To the list, I'll add: greater balance. It's not as contradictory as it sounds. One feeds the other.

Likewise, I want to read more. My list of books waiting to be read is ridiculously long. I can't absorb them through osmosis, so I'm going to work them in little by little whenever I have spare time (ha!). No, seriously.

Finally, I'll add regular fitness routines - walking, yoga, whatever. I'm a strong believer in the mind-body connection, and if one suffers so does the other. Yin and yang, it has to even out.

Here's wishing everyone a strong, healthy 2014 in every aspect.

Taking stock

Wow. It's August already. At the beginning of the year, I made a public resolution on my blog to slow down this year. Take a breather. 

Yeah, that hasn't happened! Life threw a huge curve ball at me in February, and my writing time dropped to about one tenth, or less, of what it had been. So I've been really frustrated that I haven't had enough time to devote to the dozen WIPs that are calling me, begging me, to finish them, already. I'm about 26k into another paranormal that I'm very excited about, but have so much more to do: at least three more novels in the Goddess Connection series, and possibly a followup to Dead to Rights, along with various other half-started projects.

With half the year gone, I finally took stock of what I have accomplished. Until a recent interview, I didn't realize how much I actually had finished:


- re-releasing seven previously published titles, which included revising and sometimes expanding the stories, creating covers, revising the book video, and formatting the files for Smashwords and Amazon (not terribly difficult, but terribly tedious!)


- finishing and self-publishing four stories - Dead to Rights, The Magic of Lavender, San Francisco Dreams and Just the Right Amount of Wrong. I'd been working on them all for a year or more, and after making the rounds with many critique partners, finally finished them all. Whew! This also involved making book covers, book videos and formatting the files for Smashwords and Amazon.



- promotion. Not my finest skill, and I'm still not sure what works and what doesn't. After two years, I still consider myself a novice, and defer to other authors, following in their footsteps to get the word out. I try to include interesting or fun stuff in posts and interviews, so hopefully it's not always the same old same old. I apologize if it seems I'm yammering at you here instead of opening a conversation - I don't intend it to be that way. I love to hear from you! I'm just overwhelmed and often post in a hurry. Not a great excuse, but I promise to try to do better. I really do love to hear what you think, but you're such a quiet bunch!


- two new releases through publishers - Rock Bottom through Lyrical Press in June, and The Bridge Between through Whiskey Creek Press in April. More promo. More book videos.


- completing publisher edits for two upcoming fantasies with The Wild Rose Press - Romancing the Hero and Ground Rules, a Christmas story. I am so looking forward to these releases!


So, having taken stock, now I don't feel like such a slacker. I still have very little time to write new stories, but I've always been the type to put more pressure on myself than anyone else could ever possibly do. Still, I'd like to do a better job of staying on track with my goals, nebulous though they are (I just want everything to happen now, lol).

What do you do to keep yourself on track? Any tips to share as far as achieving goals?

New Year’s wishes

Three days and counting. On New Year’s Eve, I intend to have a huge bonfire and ceremoniously burn each page of the 2008 calendar, sending the ashes to the high heavens and beyond, where it can never be seen or heard from again.
For a visual, imagine the giant foot coming from the sky in the Monty Python’s Flying Circus opening. But picture my family beneath the foot. That was our year. Suffice it to say I’m ready for a new year.
But really, other than changing calendars and filing a new tax form, what’s so great about a new year? What is it, really, that excites people? Granted, it’s human nature to be drawn to anything new and shiny. And there’s always the traditional resolutions, those things that we meant to do last year but somehow weren’t disciplined enough to do, or didn’t have time for. But ah, here comes a new year! A clean slate. New possibilities. An opportunity to take stock of what’s most important to you, and refocus your goals.
I like the Stoic-Based Suggestions for a New Year’s Resolution. They’re vague enough to be doable, and high-minded enough to be respectable.
My personal list is simple: not to lose my soul. I had, during the two years prior to this year. I worked at a great job with amazing people, but it left no time or energy for writing. I wrote nothing for myself. Zero novels. Nada stories. I felt soulless and empty, as if my very purpose for being had been stripped away. I felt abandoned by my muse. I didn’t even have any new ideas for stories, which was very unusual – normally I have notebooks full of story blurbs and snapshots and one-liners that I distinctly hear in my head. When my family’s luck plunged early this year, I turned back to writing like it was the only thing that could save my life. I wrote every day, all day, as if it were my job. Certainly it saved my sanity. I’m never going to sacrifice my muse again.
But I don’t want to write only for myself. Sure, I love to play with words, string them together so perfectly they sparkle more brightly than a diamond necklace. But I need to know my writing means something to other people, too. That it touches them in a profound way, maybe makes them think about something they might not have, or at least makes them realize that someone else feels the same way s/he has.
I would add to my personal list: A good year for my family, and to have three novels published. Or four, if I finally finish revisions on the last one. Because I need to be able to provide for my family, too, after all.
As T.S. Eliot said, “For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning.”
Whatever your wishes for the coming year, I wish you all that your heart desires. Happy New Year.

Now that NaNoWriMo’s over...

November was an intense month. Not only did I participate in NaNoWriMo, I managed to achieve the goal and complete revisions on two other stories, too. Now it’s midway into December, and what have I accomplished? Well, I did go back to a novel I’d completed in September, and reread it with fresh eyes and made some revisions, although I’m still not completely satisfied with it. And I’m going to revisit the 50k+ I wrote for the NaNoWriMo story, because it needs it. Badly.
But these past few weeks feel wasted, especially after having proved to myself that I could achieve a good head start on a novel. Organization was never my strong suit, but now it’s painfully obvious that if I can become more disciplined, the discipline will translate into productivity. Participating in NaNoWriMo was a good experience, but the fact is, any month can be as productive. Perhaps moreso, because November, frankly, has Thanksgiving and too many other distractions. I suppose one can make excuses for any month.
So the subhead of this post is: No more excuses. Stop the mental whining and just do it. Slam those words onto the page. Rework them later.
First, though, set some ground rules.
1. Do some prep work. Think about the story you want to write. Whether you’re a plotter or pantser, have at least a basic idea of the entire story. If possible, write an outline (you don’t necessarily have to stick to it – stories will veer off into interesting tangents, if you’re lucky).
2. Set a goal. If you want to complete a novel in one month, set the deadline. Mark it on your calendar. Stick to it.
3. Get organized. Complete as much research as possible before you begin writing. If you find you need to revisit a certain section, insert a marker in that section of text so you can easily find it later. For my NaNoWriMo story, I used brackets and placed questions inside. And yes, I counted that toward my word count, since later, the count will only go up from there after I write the real text.
4. Get to know your characters – and not just their physical attributes, but their personalities. What do they want? What motivates them? What are their obstacles? Assemble your cast of characters as completely as you can.
5. Set your own personal goal. November may have come and gone, but that doesn’t mean you can’t go for 50k on your own schedule. Make your goal realistic. If 75k is doable, go for it. Just slam those words on the page, and edit later.
6. Once you reached your goal, set the manuscript aside for a few weeks. Work on something else. Then, like me, you can go back to your story with a fresh perspective. A little distance is a good thing. While writing, authors can get a little too immersed in their stories, or their characters, and not see flaws or gaps that might be obvious to a first-time reader.
7. When you get a good first draft, hand it off to a critique partner. I have three critique partners, and each one finds something different within my stories, just as each reader will bring his/her own frame of reference to each story.
Because really, I didn’t participate in NaNoWriMo for the little blog sticker (though it does make me proud to be able to post it, I admit). My real goal was to finally commit to a story that I’d had in mind for five years – yes, five long years. Why did it take me so long to get it on paper, finally? I wasn’t organized.
I’m spending the rest of December revising my NaNoWriMo story. Hopefully I can complete that by the new year, and then – come January, I begin a new novel. A new adventure. A new journey. As Rudyard Kipling said, Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.
I intend to be plenty high next year.