Archive for March, 2008
March 31, 2008
update from Julie land
Thank you to everyone who helped with my sci-fi request! You guys rock!
I’ve been quite a remiss blogger these days, though I must admit it’s not all my fault…Word Press ate one post and then I think the server has been down every now and then, at times that correspond with my own free time to blog. But mostly it’s because I’ve been concentrating on other things–namely, being a parent and being a writer.
My husband has been off on tour, so I’m the lone parent. This is a little less lonely than it used to be, because the Fecklet is better company, and we have also worked out routines that mean I generally have a handle on what’s going on. I also know now that I need to plan ahead, and schedule a time to see other people most days, or at least talk on the phone, or else I will slowly go insane from lack of adult company. There was a time last week when I found myself gleefully looking forward to two different series of America’s Next Top Model at once, and I realised that I needed to get out a bit more.
I’m also writing nice and steadily: trying for 1000 words a day four days a week, and 2000 words a day the two days that Fecklet goes to his child minder’s, and Sundays off. The wip is growing, and that progress sidebar over there on the right is completely lying, because I’m well over 66,000 words. (Something about Word Press changes means I can’t edit the sidebar any more, but I’m getting a site redesign soon anyway so I’m not bothering to figure it out.)
This means I have something like 24,000 words to wrap up this story, and my main problem is trying to figure out how to do it. This story is a bit different from ones I’ve tried before; it has more story lines, and two main important relationships rather than one. It’s a challenge for me, and I’m enjoying it, but again, it’s new ground and I’m not sure exactly how to cover it.
But for today, I’ve finished my 1000 words (1006, actually) and I’m off to spend the rest of the day with friends. Oh, and I’m looking forward to America’s Next Top Model tonight…
March 27, 2008
help!
Okay. I need some help. I need a plausible-sounding, yet original, name for a device in a science fiction story, which causes localised time distortion.
At present I have “Particle Deconstructor” but I don’t think it sounds convincing enough.
Any ideas? I will love you forever if you can come up with something.
(And yes…I know I write romance and not science fiction. But I have found myself having to make up the entire story arc for a series of comic books that the heroine is drawing. Why do I get myself into these messes??)
March 26, 2008
Liz Fielding
Well, the post I put up yesterday seems to have completely disappeared for some reason. It was about my son’s new words. It’s gone. If you commented on it, I’m sorry!
I have got a post up, though, on the wonderful Liz Fielding’s blog. Liz writes wonderful feel-good romance and she’s celebrating her fiftieth book. Go pay her a visit, and leave a comment to win a copy of One Night Stand.
March 19, 2008
Romancing the Blog
Hello all, I’ve got a post up about doing research on Romancing the Blog today.
March 15, 2008
My mom and dad are coming to visit tomorrow for a week, so I might not get the chance to post much. So I will leave you with a photograph of David Tennant.
Enjoy, and catch you later!
March 14, 2008
win my book!
Hey, to celebrate the launch of Harlequin Presents Extra, today the good people at Harlequin are giving away 20 free copies of book number one in the series, which, er, happens to be mine!
All you have to do is visit I (Heart) Presents, at http://www.iheartpresents.com/, and send them an email saying why you should get an advance copy of the book. And if you are one of the first twenty people to respond, you’ll get a copy of Mistress in Private, which is out in the US next month.
How extremely cool is that? I didn’t even notice the little number 1 on the cover until I saw the contest.
I’m sorry, my European and antipodean friends, this contest is only open to residents of North America.
March 12, 2008
spots, meatballs and Ma
Well, what a day.
The Fecklet, in addition to teething, has developed spots all over his torso. The doctor ruled out chicken pox, and anything more serious, and pronounced it “a virus”. He’s been alternatively happy and active, and miserable and wailing, all day. Thank goodness for two medicines: St. Calpol, and the children’s television/heroin that is In the Night Garden.
The Fecklet is obsessed with Makka Pakka (pictured left, for those of you with no children between the ages of 0-5). In fact he said “Ma” to mean Makka Pakka far before he said “Ma” to mean Mummy. I’m not offended by this, because Makka Pakka is, in fact, the epitome of cool. He is some sort of OCD-ridden genius who sleeps with a rock and my kid can talk about him as much as he likes.
Anyway, also thank goodness I made meatballs last night so all I’ve had to do today is boil up some pasta. I’m off to tuck into those now.
March 11, 2008
Mistress in Private, aka All Work and No Play…
This is actually very cool…you can browse the first chapter of my book online, and though it’s not out in the USA until next month, it’s already for sale on eHarlequin.
March 10, 2008
toast
I’ll admit that most of the time I’m quite proud of myself. You know, what with having a toddler at home with me except for twelve hours a week, and having a husband who goes away for weeks at a time, and having no relatives in the country, and still producing a 85- to 90,000-word book every six months, and doing all the editing and publicity and teaching that goes with that. I know other people who write more with more children, but I know people who write a lot less with no children, so I figure I’m doing okay.
Then there are days like today. When Fecklet woke up at 4 am and didn’t go down for a nap until 9, and then only for 45 minutes. When he fussed and cried and cried and fussed for no discernible reason and needed to be held and carried. When he refused to sit in the trolley in the supermarket and insisted on running around the aisles trying to knock things down. When the slightest difficulty plunged him into tears, and I wrote exactly two paragraphs which I will have to delete.
I think it’s teething. But it doesn’t really matter what it is: it’s shown me the truth, which is that I only write by the grace granted me by my child, and that if my son hadn’t been born cheerful, laid back and healthy, my career would be toast.
March 8, 2008
huh.
Despite all that planning in the photo below, my heroine has just done something completely unexpected which changes her perception of everything, so I’ve got to rearrange. I think.
Which goes to prove that all this planning bunk is completely rubbish, because the characters are just going to tell you what they’re going to do anyway, and stuff the coloured cards.
March 6, 2008
door plotting
I’m about at the halfway mark for Girl from Mars, so today I attempted to plot out the rest of my novel. I did this by using a technique I’ve recommended to my students, but I’ve never done myself. So this is the first time.
I brainstormed all the things that I thought should happen, and then I wrote them, with different colours of card depending on which story thread they fit into. Then I tried to put them into an order that made sense, so that each story thread is spread throughout the book, and so their climaxes roughly fit together and interact.
Then I Blu-Taked them to my closet door, going chronologically from top to bottom, with roughly simultaneous events side by side.
There you have it: the rest of my novel. A little scary, huh?
March 4, 2008
gaps
I’ve had fun today writing about the differences between comics and film. See, my heroine is a comic book artist, and my hero is a screenwriter, and they approach narrative in a completely different way. Anna gave me the idea that their learning about each other’s way of working should be the first step towards them learning about each other. So I’ve been writing about them doing that.
Comics are so cool though. One thing I love about them is that they are visual, like film, but they tell stories through space, rather than through time. A comic will show the still beginning of an action in one panel, and then in the next panel show the outcome of that action. The action itself takes place in the blank space between panels, and the act of the reader filling in that action is called closure. Therefore the reader participates in the deciphering of what’s going on, and there’s potential for big differences of interpretation.
Gaps are interesting. I’ve started to leave more and more gaps at the end of my books; I used to do epilogues quite a bit, but I’ve moved away from them because I like the reader to fill things in herself. I read a review of His for the Taking which speculated on what happened to the characters and the pigeon they rescue after the end of the book. The reviewer wanted something totally different to happen than what I would have written. I’m sort of glad I didn’t write it, because the reviewer got a happier ending for her that way.
