Let's Get Physical

Okay, so today I've managed to put a huge dent in my current WIP. I started feeling creative late yesterday afternoon and stopped right in the middle of a love scene. It was a good scene too! However, I had limited time to work, so poor Piper and Connor had to quiver with anticipation a little longer.

I picked it up again this morning and wrote one of the hottest love scenes I think I've ever written. It left me in a bit of a daze until I snapped myself out of it and kept keeping on. I'm not sure how many words I've written so far today, but I'm liking it. I think the WIP is coming along swimmingly.

I'm doing my best not to think about Ruby, out there in the cold, cruel world, but she pops in my head frequently as she's a character in this story as well. I'm the kind of reader who loves to visit with old characters, find out how they're doing, and how they fit in the writer's world. I think there are a lot of us out there, so I intend to bring old characters back in this series.

How about you? Do you like to revisit with characters you've read about? Do you like them to play a pivotal role in the rest of the series? How about love scenes? Do you sometimes get lost when writing them and think 'Darn, I'm scorching the pages!'?

Getting My Head on Straight

It feels like I haven't really concentrated on writing in a while. I'm sure it's due in part to my mom finding out she had a mass in her bladder and the subsequent worry about her and the future. My muse, who I've decided to name Ann, had abandoned me for the most part and I'm hoping to attract her back into my life.

One way of doing this is letting go of the stress. I didn't blog yesterday because I was having a bonding day with my mom and sister after finding out that mom's mass wasn't cancer. The relief I felt when the results came back was overwhelming. Even now, twenty-four hours later, I'm still a bit stunned that she's fine. I was hoping and praying, but I'm a pessimist by nature so that wasn't working very well.

I hate feeling disconnected from something that I enjoy so much, so I'm working on getting Ann to sit with me today and work. She's brushed by a few times to give me a few ideas, but nothing tangible. Most of the time, she gives me an idea of other projects to work on and I appreciate it, but that doesn't help me with the two stories I have boiling on the stove. She's coming around though, I hope. Just need to find the right enticement.

So far, I've managed to get her to sit with me long enough to really think about where we're going in the two stories we've started. It took a lot of reading (finished 2 novels yesterday) and a sleepless night to get her to come back. After she's given me a few more ideas, she'll be sitting with me this afternoon to get them down.

What do you do to entice your muse? Do you read? What television? Take a walk? What gets your muse's attention and how do you keep it?

Weekend Warriors

I really hate Mondays. They always come too fast and last too long. The only good thing about Mondays as far as I'm concerned, is Monday Night Football and House. Of course, I still have to complain because House and football are playing at the same time.


I don't have DVR, so it's a matter of deciding whether or not I want to watch the game more than I do my favorite sarcasm-wielding doctor. This is okay with me. I've decided that television is going to rot my brain.


Case in point, I spent all day yesterday watching football. This isn't anything new for me during the season. However, this is the first year I'm attempting to get some serious writing done as well. Last season, I wrote a little under half of Ruby's story before football season and finished it well after the season ended (which included the Pro Bowl). I think I see now, why I didn't write at all. I thought it was because I was fishing all last autumn, but I'm suspecting it's because football doesn't make me feel romantic and in love.


Oh sure, I love watching those big hulking men run back and forth across the field, slapping each other on the ass, sweating, grunting, wearing those uber tight pants. It just doesn't say 'romance' to me. I came in today ready to write (or at least thinking I was ready to write) and found myself writing absolute trash. Just nothing worth saving. I'm disgusted! Where is my muse? I know where she is. She's at home watching the NFL network hoping for a glimpse of her favorite players during game highlights.


Then, I just realize, I completely forgot about Fantasy Man Friday! Argh! So, in keeping with today's subject:

Week 1 Book Winner

LaTessa, get with me :) You're this (extended) week's winner! You can e-mail me at danica.avet(at)gmail.com and we'll sort out which book you'd like :)

New contest starts this week.

Bernice Has Left Her Cake Out...in the Rain!

I've mentioned before that FF&P Chapter has been having a 60 Days to PRO Boot Camp going on. Well, when I first learned about it, I was like 'what's PRO anyway?' like a complete noob. Is it some not-so-secret organization with a special password and a handshake? Is there an initiation? Will I have to promise my first born to be a part of this group? (Well this...could sort of happen if you hand your first-born manuscript over to an agent/editor. Meep. Big meep.)

After I imagined a scneario where I found myself skulking through the RWA corporate offices with nothing but a thesaurus and an ink pen to help me get through the gauntlet of professional writers who were there to test my mettle, I looked it up online. Always best to do this before you start coming up with worst-case scenarios.

According to the RWA website (and I'm going to trust them on this one, I didn't sense a trap), "PRO was created to serve RWA members who are pursuing publication, but are still waiting for "the call" from a publisher. PRO promotes the interests of RWA members who have submitted at least one completed manuscript, but have not yet been published, and, to enhance communication between those members and publishing professionals."

"Hm," I thought as I tapped my chin. "This seems strangely easy, there has to be a catch." Of course there isn't. I'm just a bit melodramatic at times.

Today I put my application for PRO status in the mail. It was fraught with danger! The car was suffocating (from the intense heat). I had to navigate an obstacle course (to get to the Post Office) and I almost got a paper cut! Then, to make matters more dangerous and fantastical, by the time I got back to the office, it had started to pour down. So then I had to dodge rain drops in an attempt not to get my hair wet since my evil umbrella was sitting next to my desk. *Glares at said umbrella* My hair is now twice the size it was when I came in to work today and of course, it waved up. Bye-bye straight hair, hello Bozo. But the application was mailed off, now we just have to see if I met all the requirements as requested.

Disclaimer: There was no gauntlet at the RWA corporate office as far as I know. If anyone knows differently, let me know! ;)

Short Attention Span? I don't think so

I've been working on Succubus-in-Waiting since mid-July and haven't gotten very far. It isn't because I don't love the story, because I do. I want to find out how Connor and Piper end up together and I think I've written some good stuff lately. However, their story has been pushed further and further from my mind as Pagan began demanding her story.

Pagan is a character I began trying to write five years ago. Even then, I had the idea for The Veil and couldn't wait to start writing about the beings within it. But no matter how hard I tried to write Pagan's story, I didn't know who she really was and why she would fall in love with Christian. (I know, Pagan...Christian...am I hoaky or what??) Recently though, she's become more prominent in my mind. It could be because she made an appearance in my finished MS, Ruby: Uncut and on the Loose. Or it could be because I've finally figured out who she is.

Whatever the case, I started writing her story this morning. I'm playing with the idea of calling it Falling for Dr. Love (I did say I was hoaky). Why this title? Well because I have a playlist in mind for it. Let me list it:

Playlist title: For Medicinal Purposes
Song/Artist
'Dr. Feelgood' by Motley Crue
'Calling Dr. Love' by Kiss
'You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet' by Bachman Turner Overdrive
'Sexual Healing' by Marvin Gaye
'Doctor My Eyes' by Jackson Browne
'The Nurse Who Loved Me' by A Perfect Circle
'Just Like A Pill' by Pink
'Bad Medicine' by Bon Jovi
'I Wanna be Sedated' by The Ramones
'Contagious' by Trapt
'Remedy' by The Black Crowes

I know, I have too much time on my hands. Anyway, Pagan is demanding her story right now of all times. Doesn't she realize I'm in the middle of Piper's story? Or doesn't she care? Probably the latter. And I know, Piper, Pagan...I'm going to get mixed up with my P's. These two characters are so different, I don't think that'll happen.

So, what do you do when you're stuck on a story? Do you try to work on something else? Do you take a break from everything and go back to it?

Reading Between the Lines

I have a confession to make. I love to read. Really love it. I can remember the first book I read for my own enjoyment to this very day. It was called 'Socks' and it was about a stray cat. I was about 11 years old, at a new school away from all of my friends and Socks helped me escape how 'unbearable' my life had become. I put unbearable in quotations because when you're 11 your definition of unbearable and others' aren't quite the same.

Anyway, after 'Socks', I moved on to Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Super-mysteries. I sure did love solving the crime before the book was over. I'm something of a smart ass when it comes to that. If you've read/watched enough, you pick up the clues that tell you who the perpetrator is. Remember 'The Usual Suspects'? Yeah, I knew who Keyser Soze was. So thank you Nancy and the Boys. You helped me be the person who ruins the end of movies for their friends!

Once Nancy Drew was no longer fun, my aunt's neighbor was getting rid of boxes of books. We're talking about years of Harlequin romances. Some of these books were probably as old as I was (at 13) and they were going to throw them away. My aunt, being the thrifty person she is, asked me if I wanted them. I said 'sure' and the world of romance was opened to me.

That was it. I was hooked immediately. By the time I was sixteen, I'd read all 300 books the neighbor gave us and began checking books out of the library. I was reading all the time. It got so bad that my mom threatened to throw my books away. I think she was worried I was going to rot my brain or something. I didn't party, I read. I still did things with friends, but seriously, those books kept me out of trouble.

Senior year: My high school was right across the street from the library and since I didn't have my license and had to wait for someone to pick me up from band practice, I'd hang out at the library. Every week I checked out anywhere between 6 and 12 books, finishing them and returning them the next week to trade for more. This went on at least 9 months. I began to read fast enough to finish a full-length novel in 3 hours. This excessive reading actually helped me on my ACT! Can you believe it? I wasn't the best student (hiding my romance novels in my textbooks), but I scored well enough that the valedictorians and all were asking me how I did it. What'd I tell them? I just read a lot. Yeah, the geeks thought I was a geek, lol.

When I finally got a car and a job, I began to cultivate my collection. Over the years, I've had to thin it out, but I still own some of the first books I bought for myself. No, I don't have anymore of those old Harlequins or Barbara Cartland's (they were taking up too much room in my bookcase!).

I'm 33 years old and if I had the money, I'd be at the bookstore every week buying 20 books at a time. Because I don't have the money (and I've started writing). I re-read my novels. I have some books I've read up to eight times. Excessive? Probably, but when you're desperate to read and can't spend money, this is what you do! I keep telling my mother this, lol. If a new book comes out in a series, I have to read the entire series before reading the newest release. This is a little more difficult with some of the series (like Sherrilyn Kenyon or Laurell K Hamilton), but I do it. The Black Dagger Brotherhood? Immortals After Dark? Lords of the Underworld series? Yeah, I've read them about eight times.

My joy of reading has helped me so many times. Now that I'm writing, I hope that my books (should the blessed things ever be published) do the same for some other teenager.

Now that I've finished rambling, does anyone else re-read their books frequently? Do you remember the first book you read for the joy of it? How fast do you read?