Tag Archives: novel writing

Exciting is in the eye of the beholder

03 Sunday Aug 2014

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A writer’s life isn’t always terribly exciting, although exciting is in the eye of the beholder. I’m editing. To the outside observer, this doesn’t look like much–just a woman sitting at her computer. I get up and wander to the fridge from time to time. I stop and hang out with my son for a little while. Then I sit back back down and stare at the computer again.

It is exciting, though, because this is the last step before I submit SMOOTH AS CHOCOLATE with my heart strings and fingers crossed. This one will be sent to Harlequin’s Heartwarming line. You see, my writing is all about setting goals.

10527876_667102076706593_7045176062608857200_nFirst goal: plan the book

Second goal: plot the outline

Third goal: write the first draft

Fourth goal: edit

Fifth goal: submit

It’s the same with every book, and I give myself a timeline for each goal. I find that the secret to success is goal setting. An idea without a goal attached doesn’t go anywhere very fast. Writers write, but professional writers write with a goal.

So while you might see editing as the process of hacking apart a first draft, I see editing as my fourth goal (complete with timeline) which will allow me to move on to submission.

Which still might sound a little dry, so you’ll just have to trust me on this: EXCITING!

 

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Selling myself

25 Monday Nov 2013

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Promotion is a big part of novel writing, and this week I’ve been in promotion-mode. In my other writing, I have a Christmas novel coming out, but I didn’t want to only promote that new book, I wanted to promote my Harlequin writing as well. So this week, I’m on Sandra Orchard’s blog. Come by and check it out.

Mostly, promotion comes in the form of giveaways and guest blogging. I’m going to open up this blog to some guest posts from other Love Inspired authors as well in the coming months. That way, you can hear about other great reads coming your way from Harlequin.

200px-For_Sale_by_Owner_Sign.svgIt doesn’t feel natural for me to “sell myself.” It feels awkward, frankly, but that’s what an author has to do. While we might be most comfortable safely tucked away behind our computers writing novels, there is also the public aspect of the job, and I have to get myself out there.

So here is a question for you: how much would YOU share with the public, considering that everyone you know, and everyone you don’t, would be able to read it?

I’m still working on that balance. I hope I’m doing alright!

Newfangled research

18 Monday Feb 2013

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I love researching in this day and age.

My first published novel was a historical, and I researched it in my university library. I had already graduated, but still had my student card. So while I couldn’t take books out, I could still go up into the stacks and pore over books, getting the information I needed. It took hours. It took walking to the library. It took a great deal of dedication.

The other day, I was researching cows giving birth for a scene that I was writing. This next novel involves a ranch, and I wanted to make sure that my details were accurate so that my reader could feel like she was really there. Now, in times past, I would have had to call up an uncle who used to farm and try to pump him for information… and go down to the library and go over several different books, taking notes. It would take the better part of a day to research one scene. But not now in this day and age.

This is how quickly it happened last week:

I commented on Facebook that I needed to research calving. I only thought that it might be an interesting little update for my friends who wonder what I do all day. So while I was checking out Wikihow and Youtube videos, a friend of mine linked me up with an actual rancher she knew on Facebook. This rancher either happened to be by his computer, or had a cell phone with him while he worked, because within ten minutes I had enough information to write my scene.

I love modern convenience! Even ten years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to research that efficiently! And there you have it: a newborn scene.

Photo by Patrick Mackie

Photo by Patrick Mackie