Friday, December 16, 2005
I've Been Tagged!
Kate Douglas snuck up behind me and shot me through the dorsal fin. Since she posted her top ten writing secrets on our Aphrodisia Author blog, now I'm supposed to post mine here. I'm also not sure what kinds of secrets I'm supposed to include. Writing tips? Secret plot brainstorming rituals? Reminisces about all the books I've loved before? Anyway, here's a smattering of both:
1. I treat writing like a job. It's the only way I get anything done. When I first started writing, I would "wait for the mood to strike." It took me a year to write a draft of a 250 page manuscript. Then I started treating it like a job, with set hours and time sensitive deadlines. I finished the draft of the second book in 3 months.
2. I have the best critique partners in the world. Bella Andre was my roommate in college, and after a "break up" of several years, we reconnected and discovered we were both working on romance novels! I met Monica McCarty at my first RWA meeting in February 2002. They were the first two people who ever read my work, and I know I never would have sold a book without them.
3. The first manuscript I ever finished is a cowboy/secret baby book.
4. Despite being an English major and a romance lover, I have never read a Jane Austen novel.
5. My parents were convinced I'd be a successful author when they read an email I wrote about a trip my husband and I took to Tuscany. It contained my commentary about the "Museum of Torture" and how members of the Spanish inquisition liked to shove various objects up the asses of heretics.
6. My husband is convinced I'm going to make enough as an author for him to retire. I told him, "Sure, if you want to retire to West Virginia."
7. I made friends in sixth grade by passing around a copy of Judy Blume's "Forever" with all the good parts marked.
8. One of my proudest moments was when my husband complained that he didn't get anything done one weekend because he didn't want to stop reading my book.
9. I have a sharpie pen ready to "edit" my book for my husband's family. I figure the abridged version will be about 4 pages long once I'm through with it.
10. For all of you people who keep asking, no, I don't consider my romance novels "practice" as I prepare to write "something more literary."
and now I tag..... Rae Monet, Vivi Anna, and Sasha White.
1. I treat writing like a job. It's the only way I get anything done. When I first started writing, I would "wait for the mood to strike." It took me a year to write a draft of a 250 page manuscript. Then I started treating it like a job, with set hours and time sensitive deadlines. I finished the draft of the second book in 3 months.
2. I have the best critique partners in the world. Bella Andre was my roommate in college, and after a "break up" of several years, we reconnected and discovered we were both working on romance novels! I met Monica McCarty at my first RWA meeting in February 2002. They were the first two people who ever read my work, and I know I never would have sold a book without them.
3. The first manuscript I ever finished is a cowboy/secret baby book.
4. Despite being an English major and a romance lover, I have never read a Jane Austen novel.
5. My parents were convinced I'd be a successful author when they read an email I wrote about a trip my husband and I took to Tuscany. It contained my commentary about the "Museum of Torture" and how members of the Spanish inquisition liked to shove various objects up the asses of heretics.
6. My husband is convinced I'm going to make enough as an author for him to retire. I told him, "Sure, if you want to retire to West Virginia."
7. I made friends in sixth grade by passing around a copy of Judy Blume's "Forever" with all the good parts marked.
8. One of my proudest moments was when my husband complained that he didn't get anything done one weekend because he didn't want to stop reading my book.
9. I have a sharpie pen ready to "edit" my book for my husband's family. I figure the abridged version will be about 4 pages long once I'm through with it.
10. For all of you people who keep asking, no, I don't consider my romance novels "practice" as I prepare to write "something more literary."
and now I tag..... Rae Monet, Vivi Anna, and Sasha White.
Comments:
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I love that one about your husband reading your book ;). What, I'm tagged, wonder what that means, LOL.
Number 6--that's the one I hear all the time! Unfortunately, my spouse wants to retire in northern California, land of high-priced real estate...I have to agree with you on a lot of your points--CPs are gold. I have some of the best and they make me a better writer. I wouldn't be published without them...and ya know what? I've got an English degree, too, and I haven't read Jane Austen either!
The sad thing about Jane Austen is that I love the stories, but now when I have time to read, I want the sex! There, I said it!
And on the retiring comment - I love how when I tell someone that I'm a romance novelist, he or she immediately goes, "Like Daniel Steele!" Funny, when someone tells me they're a software engineer, I never go, "Oh, like Bill Gates!"
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And on the retiring comment - I love how when I tell someone that I'm a romance novelist, he or she immediately goes, "Like Daniel Steele!" Funny, when someone tells me they're a software engineer, I never go, "Oh, like Bill Gates!"
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