2011 — By the Numbers

I’m pretty meticulous about record keeping, especially when it comes to writing.  For many reasons, I keep track of the time I spend in front of the computer.  My records don’t capture all the time I spend plotting or thinking about scenes.  That’s happening most of the time, usually in the back of my head.  Yet the time that I do spend at a keyboard are logged.  I thought you might be interested in the breakdown for 2011.  It was a strange year for writing, but then again, aren’t they all?

Number of projects worked on:  11
Number of projects published or contracted:  4
Number of projects with offers:  2
Average time to write a full-length novel:  244 hrs (In Her Wildest Dreams took the longest ever at 352 hr.)
Average time to write a novella:  104 hrs (Blade of Moonlight took the shortest at 57 hr.   The words were flying fast and furious.)
Average time to write a short story:  57 hrs

I’m not a fast writer, but I don’t consider myself the slowest.  Things can move at a rapid clip if I’ve got a clear picture in my mind of where the story needs to go.  Without pictures, though, there are no words.  I don’t know how pantsers do it.  I need a plot before anything will go onto paper.  I refuse to sit frozen in front of a keyboard.

So what’s upcoming for 2012?  Hopefully those two offers will turn into contracts pretty soon, and I’ll be able to tell you about them.  I have a proposal that I’m mulling over in my head, and am working on a few surprises.  Hopefully all those plots will clear up in my head soon and those average times will go down!

Writing Season

Wow, it’s been over a month since I posted.  Sorry about that, but it’s getting into that busy time of the year.  Life gets crazy over the holidays.  Everyone is dashing to and fro.  For me, though, it’s also the time of the year when I’m most productive with my writing.  When the weather gets cold and nasty, it’s easier to stay inside and huddle in front of a computer.

As a result, I’m juggling several projects.  The finishing touches have been placed on Blade of Moonlight, which is currently set for a May release with Samhain.  I can’t wait to show you the cover that’s in development.  Can. Not. Wait.  It’s a super dark and super sexy story, which is only appropriate for superheroes, and the cover is super hot.  Naturally.

I’m working on some proposals and finishing up a New Year’s story, which I plan to self-publish in the next few weeks.  That one’s a short story I wrote just as a holiday treat for readers, because I know this is also the time of year people like to curl up on their sofas with hot cocoa and a book.  “Tis the season!

Mission Accomplished

I dove into a full-fledged writing frenzy this week and I’m happy to report I finished the novella.  Words were just spilling out of me, and my fingers were flying.  I really love the story, which is in a genre I’ve never tried writing before.  It’s still an erotic romance, but set in a different type of world.  I don’t want to give too much away.  The publisher has posted that they’ll be sending out responses by October 1.  I’ll let you know!

Double Duty — NOT

Remember how back in May I bragged about working on two stories at one time?  With June stinking and all, it didn’t turn out so well.  I got knocked off course, but I just discovered that I haven’t missed the deadline for the novella.  Unfortunately, it’s only five days away.  I’ve got about 23,000 words left to write to make the minimum word count.  Ha!  So do I let the idea go or do I kick it into high gear and try to get something submitted?

Of course, I’m doing the crazy thing and am trying to write like a mad woman.  Normally, I don’t write fast.  In this case, I do have the story line pretty fleshed out in my head.  (Fleshed out!  Ha.  Unintentional pun.  I do write erotic romance, after all.)  I consider this a challenge, so we’ll have to see how far I get.  Sometimes it’s good to change up your writing routine.

That’s what I said before when I tried writing two things at once and look how that turned out.  Ha!  Still, it’s what I want to do for at least today and I’m in a weird enough mood.  So here I go…  Ready, set, write!

Double Duty

I’m doing something I haven’t tried before – working on two stories at one time.  I’ve been having trouble gathering steam on the main story I’m writing, which is a full-length novel.  Meanwhile, a novella has been sitting in the back of my head, calling to me.  The idea was sparked by a call for proposals, and I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind.  It’s not something I would normally write, but the idea has grown into a well-rounded concept (to the jeopardy of my WIP).  The question is… can I work on two things at once and produce anything decent?

I think the answer might be yes.  Working on the novella has started the word flow again.  Those words were not coming easily on the novel – until they started to bubble up for the shorter story.  Sometimes it’s just a matter of popping that cork.

But how do I keep the stories straight?   Easy.  They’re totally different stories, with different characters and motivations.  If you hop back and forth watching Raiders of the Lost Ark and Return of the Jedi, you’re totally going to know where you are in each story and whether you’re watching Indiana Jones or Han Solo (regardless if they’re both played by Harrison Ford.)

My real concern is time.  When you’re working on two things instead of concentrating on one, they’re both going to take longer to finish.  Since the full-length novel is the second in a series, this is concerning to me.  I guess it’s a matter of sitting and staring at a blank screen or getting words out of my fingertips.  I’ll take the words anyday.

So how about you?  Have you ever taken on two projects at once?  Did they help one another or did they overwhelm you?  I’m hoping I haven’t jumped into the deep end here…

Tic Toc

I’ve been asked several times recently by readers when I’ll have new material coming out. The truth of the matter is that I don’t know. One of the toughest parts of being a writer is being patient while being in the dark. I know how quickly I write, and it’s not that fast. I’m picky and obsessive, and I can’t stop editing until the story reads right and generates the emotion I want. But while I’m writing, I have control. I know how fast I produce material and I know where I am in the process. That control vanishes once I send off that manuscript to others.

It’s at this point that time can slow to a crawl. Writers are busy people, but so are agents and editors. They need time to do their thing, and they receive a lot of queries, partials, and full manuscripts. I’m just one cog in the big wheel that turns ever so slowly… Of course, having a writer’s mind doesn’t help. With no visibility, I don’t know if my material is being discussed excitedly, still on the bottom of the pile, or has slipped behind a desk with dust bunnies and lost pens.

In the end, the only thing left to do is keep writing and sending out more material – which I can report I am doing! Yet in the back of my mind, I’m aware that the clock keeps ticking away and time keeps slipping by. They say that the best things come to those who wait and who work hard. I’m doing both, so hopefully I’ll soon have something new to report – and you’ll have something new to read!

What to work on next?

I’m in that strange, between-projects stage.  I’m trying to figure out what to work on next.  It’s harder than you might think.  I’ve got two full manuscripts and a partial floating around out there.  Do I work on the partial, finishing more of the story, in hopes that it will be picked up and I’ll be ahead of the game?  One of the completed manuscripts is the first in a three-part series.  Should I work on Book 2?  Or should I start a novella or short story that I can finish more quickly?  These are the things that bounce around in my head.

Not to mention the story ideas themselves…

Book 2 in the series and the rest of the story for the partial manuscript are fleshed out pretty clearly in my head.  But then there are the fragments of other ideas.  Most are short little scenes.  One is a story set in space that is just plain stupid — but it’s there in my head, taking up valuable room.  Sometimes the idea is more of a feeling.  Like I see a dark, scary alleyway.  Tension is in the air, floating like the fog that hides the dark corners…  What’s the story associated with that?  I dunno, but it’s one of my blips of inspiration.

Finally, there’s the time commitment to consider.  When I start a new book, I know I’m committing the next 6 months of my life to the project.  I’d better be sure that’s what I want to do.   Going down the wrong path can eat up a lot of time.  So you see, without feedback from an agent or editor, it’s hard to decide what to do.  A solid “this stinks” or a more exciting “we want this” can make my direction so much clearer.  Any takers?

Without that, I guess I need to sit down and think.  Sometimes I just go with the story that’s consuming my thoughts, day in and day out.  This time, though, I think I need to take a more business-like approach and consider all the pluses and minuses.  It might not be as much fun, but it’s time to be practical.

A Decade of Writing

I did some spring cleaning this weekend (yes, wishful thinking).  I was going through the dreaded filing cabinet when I found something that made me stop and smile.  It was a copy of the deposit slip for my first ever royalty payment.  The story was Playing With Fire, a short story I wrote for Black Lace Publishing.  Wow, that brought back memories.  I still love that story, naughty as it is.  It was published in Black Lace’s Wicked Words 5 anthology, and then again in their Best of Wicked Words anthology several years later.

Funny thing is that the date on that deposit slip was 2001.  It’s now 2011.  I’ve been writing for 10 years.  A decade!  It’s hard to believe.  I still remember how stunned I was when I first found out I was going to be published.  I didn’t receive “the call” as most people put it.  A contract just showed up one day in the mail.  Now it’s been ten years.  Wow.  Just… wow.

Finished!

Oh, happy day!  I finished up my latest manuscript this afternoon.  What a relief.  Of course, it’s not finished finished.  I need to set it aside for a while, then go back and read it again.  Sometimes I’m just too close to the story to see the bumpy spots.  I’ll need to polish it up and finalize all the formatting.  Then it’s on to marketing it and, hopefully, editing it again.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.  I finished only five days behind schedule, and I’m happy, happy, happy.  Hopefully when I go back, the story will be pretty decent, too.

Pick-me-up

I had a little day-trip today.  Although I hadn’t exactly been looking forward to it, it turned out to be a marvelous change of pace.  The sun was shining and the sky was clear.  The temperature got all the way up to 34 degrees, making it a positive heat wave.  It’s amazing how much that sunshine picked up my mood.  It’s been cold and overcast for so long, I hadn’t realized how badly I’d been trudging through my days.  That shot of Vitamin D has picked up my energy and my mood at a much needed time.

You see, I’m closing in on the end of my work-in-progress.  It’s at this stage that I always get anxious to see the end.  I want to finish so badly I can barely stand it.  I imagine it’s like running a marathon (not that I’d ever do that).  At mile 23 or so, you’ve just got to be exhausted, but the finish line is in sight.  Do you kick into gear and make a mad dash to get it over… running the risk of pooping out and not finishing?  Or do you keep the pace so you know you’ll cross that finish line, even if it will take longer?  I’m trying to keep the pace.  If I go too fast with the writing now, I’ll drop important points or get sloppy with characterization.  Yet I want to zoom to the end, just to get the story out of my head.  I always have to go back and fix things when I do that, but it’s difficult to keep my patience.

Hopefully this feeling of refreshment will help me refocus and get the job done sooner rather than later.