When things go wrong...

I'm doing all those exciting things authors or want-to-be writers do, laundry, dusting, moping. Oh, the life of a "domestic diva" right?

Yet, in the middle of my well planned chaos, the weather radio breaks into a blaring beep to announce severe weather. So, I pause and go down my "mom" check list to make sure all is secure.

So, you might ask, what does this have to do with writing?

Well, sometimes, no matter how well we plan sh* t happens. You know what I'm talking about. You have your outline. Your characters are chatting working well together and all of a sudden - ZIP! ZAP! BOING! The story turns or your mind goes blank and you look at your manuscript wondering what happened.

Instead of your motherly checklist, it's time to pull out the arsenal in your writer's toolbox.

First, if you've written yourself into a corner - step back. Push your chair away from the computer screen and hide the delete key. Remember only a written manuscript can be fixed. Do not delete. Go off dust, take a walk, and terrorize your cat by trying to interest him or her in a toy. If you are away from the screen or your source of stress, the idea might come to you.

Another strategy is to pull out all those index cards or posty notes and look at a way of rearranging them. Is there a new or better out come? Can I create a turn that will cause my characters to really grow and change for the better bringing their relationship full circle?

Or after letting it rest, re read the part, chapter, first half, whatever you've done. I've been known to print the offending pages out and go outside under a tree with my purple pen and tweak.

Whatever you do, remember all disasters can be cleaned up. Yes, like anything else it takes hard work. But, we're writers and that's what we do. Hang in there.
Ok, time for me to crawl under the kitchen table and wait for the storms to pass. I know it's going to be ok, cause I have faith in me.

The kiss...

The lyrics from "As Time Goes By" say that "a kiss - is just a kiss," but as any romance reader knows, that kiss is all important in setting the stage for the romance to follow.


Romance writers use a kiss to convey a variety of things:

a: innocence of your heroine

b: the awakening of passion between hero/heroine

c: need to and desire for the ultimate union of two people

d: the dreaded goodbye


It seems so easy in the movies, guy meets girl, they look into each others eyes, they kiss, love blooms. But, when writing, authors don't have the luxury of frame after frame of visual stimulation giving rise to idea of love. It must be done with words to draw the reader in, connect with their real life experiences, and stimulate emotion. A lot of work for just "and they kissed".


Authors know their readers seek the desired touch, then followed by the joining of lips, that's why they picked up the book in the genre of romance. Even in suspense, we need that bit of humanization. And while it is expected for the reader to bring their first hand knowledge of a kiss to the book with them, our words must paint the picture, help to release the endorphins in the brain, so that desire can occur.


I can't imagine Clark Gable and Vivianne Leigh just walking on the set of Gone With the Wind and creating the famous kiss fleeing Atlanta just before they reach home. (Hum, wait - it was Gable - perhaps he did). Like any other scene in a movie, it was blocked movement by movement, rehearsed, noted where close ups would be taken in order to get the full effect by the camera. Writers must do the same. We must block in our movements, rehearse through revision, and in the text leading up to the pucker, create the noted back story and sexual tension.


We will be talking more about the kiss, the clench, the brush off in the coming weeks. What you might want to do until we meet again is look over the book you are reading and place a posty to mark the places where hero/heroine kiss. Then, look at your own work. Do your words measure up? If not, perhaps some more revisions are necessary to make your work a contender.

DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I'm having one of those Homer Simpson head slapping moments. A child of the 60's and please don't calculate age, just know that AARP sends me notices once a week, I grew up on Television. So I view things as either a situation comedy or a drama. I've been writing as these wonderful screen writers taught me.. duh it doesn't work for romance.

So after so much debacle here is my insight. Ok, when writing romance, I shouldn't do anything from secondary characters POV. I think that's where I'm making my mistakes. I need to stay in the head of my hero or my heroine. However, (didn't you always hate that about rules in English) actions of secondary can move Hero or Heroine toward their realization of love and toward that pivotal moment where they fish or cut bait.

Keep that on a posty next to your computer!

That is all now back to the woman's writer cave for more gnashing of words and breaking of fingernails.

Nan

Are you writing?

If you haven't already started your writing, now is the time. The year is fresh, editors have cleaned off their desks, and they are diligently awaiting the arrival of YOUR manuscript. If you check out Cascade Literary's blog or many others, you have been given lots of tips on how to start, how to managed, and how to edit your wonderful stories. Now, comes the hard part. Its called sit your arse in the chair and write.

The world of block buster novels and award winning authors are littered with the bones of those who can not carry through. This is as the old slogan for tires goes "where the rubber meets the road" . You have to manage the time you spend pitted against the time life gets in the way. You can write all the management plans, jot down the lofty ideas, however if you don't sit and focus at the computer, you still only have blank pages.

So, get your date planner and look down. Find the day to begin. Think about the time you write best. I'm either an early morning person or after dinner writer. From noon to suppertime is when my phone rings, husband comes for lunch, tutoring students arrive - not to mention my job as chief bottle washer, cowboy, cat wrangler, dog catcher, and chef. All of which pull me out of the moment and away from my manuscript.

But, that morning time is golden. I've got the dishes done. I can stand at my counter or sit at the computer desk and hand write my next chapter. The afternoon, I can tweak, add to, note where to change passages, do all but grammar check . Then, after the chaos stops at night between 9 and 12, I can type in and embellish. I'm still the nervous writer that puts in capital letters "WRITE SEX SCENE HERE" and make sure no child is going to look over my shoulder or no husband will say, let's experiment with this. ( Lots of eye rolling goes with that statement considering my youngest is the ripe age of 23).

How much do I consider a worth while daily progress. I like to write about 1500 words a day give or take a hundred. I love the days my husband works late and I can hit 3000k. Those are golden days and now saved til Fridays when I have no tutoring students. Remember to treat this as a job. If you must, let the answering machine pick up the calls. I have a friend who even employs her mp3 player with ear phones so she doesn't hear the phone. I'm not sure I wouldn't be singing along and typing in the lyrics, but it works well for her. DO what you must to REACH your GOAL. Because in the end, that award winning novel won't write itself.

Diggin myself out.

We all know the south has been hit with tremendous snow and ice, while I have found myself buried in a maze of insurance mumbo jumbo.

On December 11th I was involved in an automobile accident. A person pulled in front of me to make a left hand turn. Needless to say, my car is - nope scratch that - was totaled. This one random act has changed my life.

I find it very hard to concentrate now and in that sense, my ability to put out timely newsletters has suffered. We take for granted that we can sit down and let our fingers fly across the keyboard, transmitting thoughts to letters, then to images. Yet, let stress mix into the picture and suddenly the images become fleeting, the ability to focus for indefinite periods of time vanish.

Over one month into this, no car, no resolution, nothing. The more I try to take charge the harder the insurance companies work against me. I'm finding it amazing how quickly they want their material, then how long it takes them to get back to you. I cry more easily. I get very frustrated. I feel in the space of going on 6 weeks I have become a has been.

I hope this stops soon. I'm tired of it all.
The merit of insurance should be - how quickly they come to your aid and those involved NOT by how much they can cheat you, or figure a way to deny you what puts you back on your feet.

I'm sure dealing with another insurance company, they must protect their client. But really, even when you claim responsibility. If you've done so "man up".

I should learn patience from this. I may turn the other cheek but do not plan on kicking my a**.

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!

WELCOME IN 2011 AND SEE YA 2010...

May your lives be longer, your pocket's richer, and your friend to plentiful to count. Take a drink to the loves of your youth, the prince of your old age and may you have gotten the better end of the deal!

Southern Treats

As most of you know, here below the Mason Dixon Line we rarely get snow. I'm sure by know the tweeters, the Weather channel, even your local news is talking about the blizzard that is occurring in Dixie. Indeed, I believe there must be some law about it because it happens so rarely. Yet, a once every 30years snow is now happening. It has been snowing since 7p.m. last night and with about a foot on the ground, my better half and I began discussing the merits of snow cream.

Now, any southerner worth his salt will tell you, you can't eat the first snow of the season. That snow is loaded with germs and impurities. That's why this snow fall has created such delight. It is actually the 4th snowfall of our season and by afar the most perfect. What makes it perfect?

Well, a perfect snowfall must contain moisture so that it clumps well together. Clump fact is needed to build those lovely snowmen or to make the hardest snowballs. If the snow doesn't clump, its like trying to build a sandcastle without damp sand. It falls.

This snow is just right. You can feel it beneath your feet the push of the flakes beneath the soles of your shoes. It rounds up under the ball of your foot, arching, pushing back against you. With this type of snow, a distinct southern treat can be made. I'm sure Paula Dean has already put out her recipe for this but I'm going to give mine to you now.

Snow cream. ( Yes a frozen custard if you will )

Need the second snow of the season. Damp clumping snow to make cream

In pot, combine
3/4 cup of white sugar
1 can of eagle brand condensed milk
1 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
2 eggs.
over low heat beat until sugar dissolves in mixture.
Remove from heat. Then take at least a gallon of snow or a huge stew pot filled with packed snow from a source off the ground ( Remember, in the land where the huskies go, don't you eat that yellow snow ) Yes, it must be high off the ground so animals can not have used your um ingredient.
Scoop snow into room temperature cream mixture. Continue to scoop in and stir until all snow has been used up and coated with cream. Then eat.
Nectar of the gods I tell you!

YUM.