Getting Ready for #NaNoWriMo

I might have a chance of succeeding at NaNoWriMo this year. I have successfully cleared my writing plate, so to speak. My next novel, Accomplice, is edited and formatted and sitting in Amazon waiting for the magic go-date. And for once, I don’t have three other projects that are begging my attention. Well, actually I have exactly three other projects, but all of them are prime NaNo candidates and not mostly-done works in progress that I’ve been procrastinating on.

When I logged into my account just now, I reviewed what I have set up the past two years, where I participated but then failed miserably.  2012 I said I was writing The Vegas Affair.  2013 I said I was writing Take Me Down. So now it’s 2014, and those are two of the three contenders for my NaNo book. Because, you know, I never wrote them.

Take Me Down is the prequel (or really, just book 1 of the series) of the sci fi romance I wrote in 2009’s NaNoWriMo called Leap.  I have never sold or published Leap because after querying and revising it for a year or two, I realized that I really needed to introduce the world and some of the side characters in a different spot.  I already have about a chapter of Take Me Down written, but I’ve been dragging my feet about working on the rest of it.

The Vegas Affair is a sequel to The Paris Affair, which was my first published novel.  The Vegas Affair will pick up with the story of Kelsey, the sister of The Paris Affair’s hero Helmut.  Kelsey is the baby of the family and used to being coddled (and rescued) by her two older brothers. She’s also pissed at both of them, who have refused to talk to each other for over a decade.  Fed up, she comes up with a plan to get them into the same room—or at least the same city: she is going to elope to Las Vegas with the one man that both brothers can agree to hate, in the hopes that they will work together to save her from certain disaster. But, of course, things don’t go quite as she plans.

My third option is Steal the Sun, the next installment to Call the Rain, my fantasy novella.  Steal the Sun will also be a novella or short novel (short for the fantasy genre).  Trapped in the equivalent of an ivory tower by a ruthless dictator, my heroine will enlist the help of a criminal to escape the only world she has ever known.  But the hero has reasons of his own for helping the runaway princess. He believes that sacrificing her is the key to saving his own people from certain doom. The fantasy world for this story has been floating around in my head for three or four years now.  I have been reluctant to really start writing on this one, and I’m not sure if it’s because I don’t have the story line solidified yet, or if it’s because I’m having too much fun musing over all of the possible directions I could take it.  Once I start writing, I lock things down and the playground in my head loses some of its adventuresome qualities.

So now, I need to decide what to write. And then strategize my November.  It looks like I will have a week of business travel to work around.  That week should include two travel days where, battery permitting, I can write many words on the plane.  But the rest of the week may be a wash depending on how stressful my days become.  Plus Thanksgiving.  It can be done. I’ve done it before. The travel may end up boosting my writing, because I won’t be bogged down by housework and the distractions of the real world.

New Release!!

So, after way too much procrastination and foot dragging and other assorted delaying tactics, I have a new release.  Accomplice, which I know I've mentioned on the blog before (I have tags to prove it!) is up on Amazon.

It can be pre-ordered now, and will be released as an ebook on November 25th.

Here's the official verbiage:

All the new widow Jessica Kingsbury wants is a quiet new life away from the Hollywood spotlight that made her infamous. But the paparazzi aren't the only ones interested in dredging every sordid secret they can from her past. 

All FBI agent Noah Grayson wants is to uncover the mastermind of a blackmail plot that touches the nation's highest ranking politicians. All the clues lead straight to Jessica's late husband, who died under suspicious circumstances. Though his instincts tell him that that the beautiful model is no criminal, he can't help but wonder how much she knew about her dead husband's business dealings. 

Then a diamond necklace with ties to the blackmailer is stolen from the Kingsbury mansion, and Jessica begins receiving death threats. She must decide whether she can trust the handsome agent with her secrets and her life, not to mention her heart.

Slowly Writing

I'm not very talkative lately, am I?

I hit one major milestone this week--I finished a complete draft of my biggest work-in-progress, a full-length romantic suspense.  Right now, the story is fermenting (aka, I am not opening it for a few weeks to allow my brain a chance to read it objectively and not just fall back into the love-hate pattern I had while writing the end).

I don't have any firm release plans yet.  I haven't even read the thing start-to-finish, let alone decided on my approaches for editing and all that.  I can self-pub it, self-edit or pay an editor, I could shop it around to a variety of e-presses, I could shop it to agents in the hopes of snagging a print press. I could stuff it under my bed and pretend I didn't spend a year and a half on the dumb thing. (wait, did I call it dumb? By "dumb" I meant "brilliant", "engaging", "evocative"....ahem...) .  I do have a potential cover photo picked out and paid for that I bought as an incentive to finish the story.  So if I do self-pub, I've got step 1 (of like 50) checked off.

Next up is a re-write/edit job on a short story called The Christmas Affair that is a tie-in to The Paris Affair. No specific release plans there either, except to say that I'll try to have it available by some method or other around Christmas. This is another sexy story, similar heat level to The Paris Affair, featuring a minor character from that first novel.  My initial draft of it, according to my critique partners, lacked conflict.  Oops.  This is why you have critique partners. (Also, The Paris Affair has a new price over at Amazon--$2.99 for the Kindle edition. If you are looking for a steamy beach read, go download a copy).

Call the Rain has been enjoying a slow but decent little career. I've got a few good reviews here and there. I'd love more, but that's not up to me, really. Short of whining and begging, there's not much else I can do except to remind folks that if you read it and liked it, then give it a few stars (and maybe a few kind words) :)

And lastly, I have a new laptop. Not that it's really writing news, except setting it up did suck several days of my time by the time I installed Office, Adobe CS4, Visual Studio, Eclipse, etc. The old one was making a disturbing clicking noise and occasionally refused to wake up from hibernation. It also was barely powerful enough to run Word on Windows 7--Skype continually complained that that the video wasn't fast enough, and the built-in wifi adapter would drop connections from all but the oldest routers.  I never could install Photoshop on it because it simply couldn't handle the pressure. Also, you can now buy micro SD cards with more storage space than it's harddrive (all of 60 gig...which was huge when I bought it).  The old laptop and I have been through a lot together--8 years and 4+ manuscripts.  It's not dead yet, but shall enjoy a slow slide into retirement with a much lighter workload.

What's next after Call the Rain

A downside of my shameless genre hopping is that, so far, I haven't really written two books in a row that are similar to each other. It's not that I can't write a follow-up, but over several years of shopping manuscripts, I was afraid to spend too much time working on a follow-up to something that might never sell.  Throwing good money after bad (or, really, throwing good time after bad).

So, if you've read either of my published books (or even if you haven't), you might be wondering what I'll publish next.  People like series, and if anyone happened to like what they read, they might want more of the same. The good news is that everything I have written will (eventually) have related follow-ups. The bad news is that I have yet to write most of those follow-ups.

Here's the plan (chronologically):

Near-Term:

Accomplice. Fall 2013  A sexy romantic suspense. Novel-length (around 65000 words). I'm a handful of scenes from the end, plus I have the post-draft work to do (lots of edits, formatting, cover art, etc).

Holiday 2013 I will be release a short (about 7500 words, or about 50 pages) tie-in called The Christmas Affair, featuring a character who only had a brief moment of screen time (Harriet, the disgruntled engineer). I have a draft of this done, but edits remain.

Longer Term:

Follow up to Call the Rain. Alas, I have not #2 in this series. And this will be a series made up of more novellas and some novel-length works.  I have two competing ideas for the next installment.  One is Quarie's story, the sister of the heroine from Call the Rain.  The second is a different part of the same overall world, but all new characters. Quarie may appeal to readers of Call the Rain, but the second idea has been floating around my brain longer. I also have the beginning 1/4 of a longer, also-related work set in the same overall world.  (Did I mention that this is Epic Fantasy with a ginormous world in which I shall slowly begin unveiling a rather large problem that affects every one of these disparate peoples that I'm going to be writing about...)

The Vegas Affair. This will be a novel-length direct sequel to The Paris Affair.  It is the story of Kelsie, Helmut's sister.  I am aiming for a 2014 release, but no promises because all I have written now is a short synopsis and some character notes.

Sci-Fi Romance series.  I  have been sitting on Leap for a couple of years (title is subject to change), but it is really book two of a series. I have the opening chapters to Take Me Down, book 1. But an opening does not a whole novel make. I have a whole series name and follow-ups planned.

The Wild Card:

And last, but not least, I have yet another contemporary (with series potential). I've been sitting on Hold on to the Knight for several years now. It's a sweet contemporary--another PG-type rated story. I didn't want to release it back-to-back with uber-sexy Paris Affair.

My first progress

27973 out of 55,000 (approximately). I need to dig up the code for one of those cool graphical counters again. Maybe tomorrow.

Patience

One of the things in contest entries that drives me crazy is where a judge deducts points because they have questions about where the plot is going. If picked up a random book off the shelf at the bookstore, and read only the first 25 pages, with no cover picture and no back cover blurb to help out (i.e. no synopsis), I’d probably have questions too. If I didn’t, I’d put the book down. If I know in 25 pages exactly where a story is going and how its going to get there, I’m bored. With my Sci Fi, you really can’t guess on page 1 or 25 where the book will head. I hope that’s a good thing because I had no idea exactly where that would be until I got there, but I know the characters ended up in the right spots. Yes, I’m a pantser :) And some parts of my plot are kind of unexpected (I hope). I like it that way.

These aren’t short stories, folks. You don’t get the whole scoop in 25 pages, and nor should you. In my opinion, the first 25 pages should be starting the action, starting the conflict, starting the plot. Not handing it to you wrapped in dancing snowmen and ribbons. I do think that the suspense judges were kinder about not knowing everything on page 1 (or on page 25).

I also get a lot of questions on romantic conflict. And I think its related to how I’m showing my stories and the same comments about wanting to understand where the book is going. I don’t necessarily delve into every romantic conflict on page one. I’ve been trying to uncover them, layer by layer. For example, in my single title, its clear from page 1 (or maybe 2) that the hero is engaged to someone other than the heroine. But you have to get much further in the book to understand why he’s rather adamant about staying engaged, despite events that keep leading him elsewhere. Nope, I don’t feel like speeding that up. I’d kind of like it to be frustrating to the reader until they get a little aha moment where things really click into place.

Again, don’t think I had any questions about it on my suspense entry—I guess FBI agent vs someone on the run makes the romantic conflict pretty darned clear, even though as the author, I know that there is more to come.

I also had entered Leap in the Daphne last spring, which is a suspense contest that has categories for various flavors of romantic suspense. Leap didn’t final, but I got rather consistent feedback (I forget the actual numbers, but they were all between 80-90% of total points, and I’ve made improvements since then). I wonder if the storytelling I’m doing is leading me down the suspense road. Its definitely something to think about.

Oh yeah, my scores for Leap: 100, 85, 70 Interesting spread, if you ask me...

I have three works in progress. Three. That's probably two more than I ought to have, accordign to every teacher/parent/manager who's ever told me to focus on one task at a time and finish it. But its way fewer than I would probably have if I gave my fingers free rain to listen to my idea-generator-brain.

I have to have a game plan, even though I don't always follow them. Right now, Leap, my sci-fi, is nearing Draft-1-Completion. The happy couple are even in the getaway spaceship, preparing for blast off. And I'm a little stuck as to how to wrap it up. I think I may have to stop here, and do an editing pass from the beginning. That worked for Chivalrous--I wrote 3 endings before I was satisfied with the final plot. My brain does a lot of its writing and plotting subconsciously, and providing time for it to churn out ideas tends to help a lot.

At the same time, I have beginnings to my romantic suspense, Accomplice, and a contemporary category, The Appearance of Impropriety. I think I'll be working on those next, and letting Leap simmer.

I also entered 4 different MS's in a contest--all 3 in progress, plus Chivalrous. In fact, I entered 4 of the 5 categories that the contest offered (the only thing missing was Historical...maybe next year LOL). I'm expecting good feedback on all 4, Hoping for an honorable mention for at least 1, and secretly wishing to final on any one of the 4. Time will tell.

Then, depending on my contest feedback, and general progress on Leap, I have to decide on the Golden Heart. Chivalrous was entered last year, with a less than stellar finish, but the beginning's MUCH better now. But, if it doesn't read well in this contest, it might go back under my proverbial bed. Leap, well, I just don't know. Again, it might depend on how well it scores in the current contest. And the ms has to be complete. Complete enough to save to a disk for a quick verification, anyway--I am fairly certain most entrants (and finalists) continue to revise long after they send in the entry.

Anyone else? Whatcha working on?

More ramblings, angst, and excuses

I made a little more progress over the weekend on Accomplice, but I think I'll end up cutting about half of it. Blech, I'm getting stalled out on it. Not sure I'm stuck, but I think I have to back-track on a few scenes to get my people into the right places. I guess I could go all NaNo on it and just introduce the next scene with a paragraph describing what should have happened to get them here, and then move forward. And fix it later. I might do that. I requested a couple of research books from the library. Not sure I'm willing to admit the subject just yet. I don't know if I'm irrationally afraid that someone would "steal my idea", or just that everyone would laugh. Or tell me that I can't/shouldn't do it.

In the mean time, I'm stressing over time to get other things done. This week, we have evening activities every day but Friday. Thursday is a daycare field trip to the pumpkin patch, which I'm helping to chaperone. And since it's my "day off", I'll probably end up going home with the kids instead of leaving them there so I could get work done (or at least get my oil changed). Saturday my daughter is attending a Fancy Nancy "soiree" at the library, and we have a Halloween party that evening. Oh yeah, and my husband and I don't have costumes yet. Sunday after church we have some sort of Thomas the Train event that my mother-in-law found. Next week is more of the same, plus we're double-booked on Thursday night (daycare hosts their Halloween party in the evening, which annoys the baloney out of me), Friday is Halloween, and Saturday is another party.

And, coming back to the subject of NaNo (I'm actually thinking chronoligically, not just skipping from topic to topic...really), I'm still wavering on whether or not to try it again. Time is worrying me. I don't want to use Accomplice because I think I'm too far in to just power out 50,000 words (I'll want to edit too much). And because the "rules" say you have to start fresh, not use a work-in-progress. Having two works-in-progress worries me. I'm prone to starting projects and not finishing them, and I really don't want to do that here.

I have an idea for a paranormal/urban fantasy, and (with or without conscious permission), my subconscious brain is working through character sketches. I don't know how well this would work, but my hero is going to be a nurse. Yes, a nurse. A male one. Talk about non-alpha male :) And I think that he'll have a bit of a chip on his shoulder about it too. Although its the best career for him, and though nurses are pretty well-educated and well-paid these days, and there are more and more male nurses, people (especially his guy friends) still give him shit. Maybe some of his previous girlfriends have too (which might be why he's unattached). The heroine won't quite understand the issue, though. That will count in her favor, some of the time. He doesn't have a name yet (I may have to go back through my last name-storming post...there were some good suggestions in there).

I just don't know. Am I up for sleep deprivation? Writing from about 9-11+ every night is my best(only) bet for winning. That also means no yoga or pilates DVD workouts before bed (I'm not giving up my weekly exercise class, but that's only one day a week...).

Last year I had a nursing infant who didn't sleep through the night. I'm accostomed to sleep now. Last year I worked 3 days a week, and could count on 2 weekday naptimes for bonus writing time. This year I'm lucky to get one day a week home with the kids, and only one of the two still naps.

Last year this was brand new. NaNo was a lark. I didn't admit to even my husband that I was doing it for nearly 2 weeks. This year, I think I have decent writing skills, and am on the verge of actively seeking publication, am a publicly admitted member of RWA. Failure would be so much more disappointing. Success would have so much less novelty.

I need chocolate!

Ramblings

Still no new progress on Accomplice. I have made a good pass through Chivalrous for entering the Golden Heart. I have a copy that is all in one file (that I can burn to a CD and mail), as well as my snopsis written. And I spell-checked. That takes a long time on an 80k word manuscript when Word isn't fond of sentence fragments. Apparently, I misspell desperate and tongue a lot :)

Happily, my synopsis clocks in at 6 pages, double-spaced. And the end of my Chapter 4 is at exactly 49 pages. Added together, it's a neat and tidy 55...exactly the maximum requirement for entry. Magic, I tell you.

My brain is being seduced by a potential paranormal book (in a world that easily lends itself to a series). It's to the point that I've actually scribbled a couple of paragraphs of dialogue between the two main characters. No name for it yet, only for the heroine: Myrrah. I don't know why. But its her name.

The power of suggestion

I really ought to learn to keep my mouth shut. I have told any number of people--here, at a RWA critique group, at home...--that I was looking forward to having about 2 hours on Thursday of writing time (daytime hours! Before 5pm! When my brain is still working!), and was going to take Friday off (I had a long list of other household issues to take care of, but writing was on the schedule).

I apparently said something in front of my youngest, the 18 month old. Who, by 10am Thursday, was running a fever of over 102. And threw up all over me once I got him (and his sister, who was fine but jealous) home from daycare. Joy.

I found about 5 minutes between soothing the baby, acting as a human crib (I'm apparently much more comfortable than his bed), and acting as a large kleenex (did I mention the snot?). Joy.

Friday wasn't so bad. His fever actually broke around 5am, so he was in fairly good spirits all day, though he didn't nap for very long. I got a couple of good walks in--he likes riding in the jogging stroller. The third walk became a stroll around the living room (in the stroller, buckled at his insistence), because I was too tired for another half mile jaunt around our hilly neighborhood (and we're up high...so there's no ending on a downhill glide).

So, no progress. No editing. There might have been 20 new words on Accomplice, but I'm not going to post that yet. I'm still feeling a little annoyed about the whole thing, but there's nothing to do. And everyone was healthy all weekend, and most of the household chores got done on Saturday. And I bought new shoes today (2 pairs!). Retail therapy is good.

Angst

I haven't posted much because I haven't written much in over a week. I've been dragging my feet, and I think one of them is stuck in the mud somewhere behind me...

We've also been just plain busy, with a stomach flu, albeit a mild one, running through all 4 of us over the past week. But Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I Love You, Tomorrow, I should have a few precious (and kid-free) late-afternoon hours to myself. Assuming I don't order a few yards of mulch to be delivered instead...

I haven't done any more clean up on Chivalrous for the GH yet. It's on the to-do list. And I have more scenes for Accomplice running through my head. And, I have a big decision to make about NaNoWriMo. Yikes, it's coming up quick.

I did it last year--and hammered out my first "draft" of Chivalrous. Less of a draft and more of a fleshed-out outline really. So this year, I have to choose: do I start something completely new (which follows the rules and the spirit of NaNo), do I just power through Accomplice (I'm aiming for 80-90k words, so there will be easily 50,000 left for me to write), or what? The idea with NaNo is to write 50k words of a brand new work, not to finish an existing one...

Too many ideas. The past couple of days, an idea for a paranormal romance that could easily lend itself to a series has infiltrated my waking hours. I started doing a little shopping around on Amazon, and don't see anything quite like it. So far. And no, I won't share my idea. It sounds like fun, but scary--will be a sort of urban fantasy/paranormal where a lot of the action (in my initial book anyway) will be set in contemporary USA. But there's some serious world-building that I need to do, including some language development, etc. Frightening.

And did I mention the other half-dozen or so project ideas I have? Two womens' lit stories, a completely different paranormal, a couple of other flat out contemporaries...

This is why I hate election year. Yes, there's a segue here. I don't do well with too many choices, or too much time to decide. I waffle. I waver. I overthink everything. Much better to just jump first and then check for a parachute.

Work I forgot I did

I was checking through my list of notes in Yahoo (I frequently write stuff in my yahoo mail when I'm away from my laptop...I don't lose it that way). Lo and behold, I have a synopsis of Chivalrous. Nearly complete, and it reads pretty well. The part that was missing was the ending to the book. So far, I've written 3 endings--each plotted completely differently. I think I wrote up the synopsis before I plotted out that last ending.

That's been on my list of things to do, in case I need it for a query letter, or if I decide to enter the Golden Heart. It's like finding a $20 in the pocket of an old purse.

I have started a spreadsheet with a list of agents (looked up via what authors they represent), including what I could find of their submission requirements. I have probably said all this before. Oh well, so I repeat myself. I entered one contest, and think I get results back about a month from now. That's probably when I would start sending out a round of letters. Unless the contest results say "this sucks quit writing and never come back" :)

Hmm...I have a tiny bit of progress to report on Accomplice, but I'm not on my laptop just now, so I don't know how much. I tried bringing my laptop to my daughter's dance class and writing in the lobby on Monday. That might have worked better if there was a power outlet. I get about 20 minutes on my battery before I have to shut down. That's one of those things I just haven't bothered to fix...99% of the time I can plug in (even in the car...i bought one of those cigarette lighter power inverter thingies...$10 much cheaper than a $100+ laptop battery....).

Maybe I should start checking my old purses...If my luck holds I might be able to afford that new battery after all....

You're just teasing me now

I'm having a bad day. And writing. My hero, Noah, is, coincidentally, also having a bad day. He did what I don't intend to do: he just quit. Not his whole career, just an assignment that he disagreed with. Vehemently. And he's about to get himself shot.

Shh...he doesn't know that yet, though. But that's ok. By the time he comes around, still groggy from the pain meds, he will have more problems to worry about. And a slightly new perspective on things--traumatic injuries and drugs will do that to you. Heck, even the not-so-intense meds that I was given after both of my c-sections made me fuzzybrained. And I remember some rather disturbing dreams after getting my wisdom teeth out, too.

That ought to make his search for Jessica fun to coordinate.But enough about that. If I keep talking like this, soon Noah's boss will be on to him (and her), and will spill the beans to someone else (someone not yet to be named, but who has a stake in the outcome) who might just do something drastic. Like try to have her killed. Him too. Unless that someone already did try to have him killed. He was just shot, you know.

Fun, fun.

Its research, I swear...

Ok, so I've been reading instead of writing.

At least one of the books I'm reading is about writing. That counts, right? I won a copy of the Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Erotic Romance from Alison Kent (the author)'s blog a couple of weeks ago. No, it's not all body parts and sex toys. Yet. I'm only on chapter 4.

As a book on writing, especially writing romances, it's pretty good. There aren't any magic formulas or strange diagrams to force you to lay out your plot like some sort of paint-by-number (*shudder*...I'm a pantser, you know....). But its got organized sections with plenty of things to think about for planning (yikes) and staging a novel.

So, it's research. And I added a few words tonight. I did a little revision, too, so there was slightly more progress than the wordcount shows.

Thursday progress

His name is Noah. Too many J's to use Jared. Jessica & Noah. Now I have to pick a fake name for her to use while she's on the run. And a few other plot elements. Like, most of them. I have a few of the major ideas worked out (that ought to get me through at least, say, 5000 words. Only 80000 to go from here....

New Beginnings

It didn't take me long to move on after leaving Jake. I have already begun a new WIP, titled (at least for now) Accomplice. This one's a romantic suspense. I am not yet married to it, so if I get into the story a little and really struggle or want to explore characters or scenes for any of the other half-dozen stories still fogging my brain, I will. I should make a new word-count widget, but all I've written so far is an outline (outlining mostly backstory, which is important to the story), my heroine's name (Jessica), and one single-spaced page in Word (that I haven't run a count on).

I don't have a time goal for this one. My first draft of Chivalrous (my alpha release, in software terms) was from NaNo. The second draft (my beta/release candidate 1) took about 4 months of helter-skelter writing to complete (which included about 40k new words). Deadlines make me work harder usually. Give me a couple of weeks to see how I'm doing and I'll let you know. I do think that I want to do NaNo again this year, but it will have to be with yet another book. So, maybe my tentative goal for Accomplice will be to have the Alpha version done by Oct 31.

Now I need a name for my hero. Any suggestions? (I know, I have failed to provide any requirements or even a hint of story line...maybe later....)