A Day in the Life of My Computer...

*waves frantically* Hi. I'm Tara S. Wood, and I have been graciously asked to post from time to time on this fabulous new blog. For my first post, I thought I would take a moment an give you all a glimpse into the inner workings of my fevered little brain. If my computer was sentient (and sometimes I'm not so sure it isn't), I have a feeling this is probably what it would be thinking when I sit down to write. Or maybe this is my subconscious talking, poking me in a not-so-subtle fashion to gasp and point in horror. Either way, here you go. *raises coffee cup* Cheers.

A Day in the Life of Tara's Computer

*boots up* Oh...good morning. Let's see what the day has in store for us.

*click* Ah...Firefox, my old nemesis. Are we going to crash today? *frowns* Not on my watch. *typing* Yep. Weather Channel.com? Okay, let me load that for you. What's the weather like today? Clear and sunny, but a bit chilly. Violet will need a jacket today.

*click* *typing* Time for the school lunch menu. No. The child won't eat spaghetti. Off you go...make her a sandwich. *waits* Time for school!! See you when you get back. Don't forget the dry cleaning on the way out. *powers down*

*boots up* Back already? That was quick. Okay, where to? *typing* Really? Facebook? You should start with your emails. Might be something important in your inbox. No. Really. I know what's in there. Came in early this morning. *stage whisper* It's from the UK. *waits* Come on! You'll kick yourself if you don't go over now. *groans* Yes, yes. The Grumpy Cat is hilarious, but there's something from Moon Rose Publishing in your inbox! You've been waiting for this! You can look at Tardar Sauce anytime. That cat's all over the internet. 

*typing* NO! Don't start chatting with her now! She has emails to check. *growls* I should refuse to refresh the chat window. I might on general principle. What? Don't mention Tom Hiddleston! I'm trying to keep her on track! GAH! These people. *typing* Finally! Why, yes, I will load your Hotmail.

*click* *tense waiting* YES! A new contract from Moon Rose Publishing! Yay, you! *click* 

*typing* Yes, yes...let's tell everyone in chat about it. *stutters* Okay, okay! *loads barrage of chat messages* My goodness, they're all excited for you. You really do have lovely friends. 

*typing* Oh, hugs all around. *waits* What? Where are you going? *checks time* Oh, yes...coffee. No wonder. You're not firing on all cylinders yet. See you in a few.

*click* *typing* Riiiight. Here we go. *flexes circuits* Down to business. Let's open that file, shall we? Well, go on. Pick one. *mouse hovers over filename* No. Not that one. You know what you're supposed to be working on. Don't get sidetracked by a shiny new project. *waits* *double click* Good choice. I want to see what happens with this one. *typing* *settles in* Yes, I've been waiting for you to finish this scene. Angst and UST. Nothing gets this motherboard hopping like some unresolved sexual tension. *grins* Keep going. I like where you're headed. 

*typing* Oh...oh...I see we're resolving it. Oh, my. *click* *typing* What? Thesaurus.com? Okay, fine. Seriously? That's how many synonyms there are for 'hot'? *waits* *click* *typing* Going with 'fiery', are we? Might be a touch overdramatic, but then again, I'm not the writer. Okay, 'fiery' it is. So, what's 'fiery'? Oh...oh...*oh*. Well, I...uh, okay. *typing* Are you sure? *typing* This is getting serious. Okay, hold on. Backtrack. *delete* Right? She can't speak with his tongue in her mouth. There you go. Move him to her neck. Better. *typing* Oh, now he's whispering in her ear. *gasp* He didn't just say that! He did. Oh, she liked it. Wow...she really liked it. Moving on.

*typing* Keep this up and I'll overheat. Explain that to the hubs. *click* *typing* Where to? Not here again. *skeptical frown* This better be for research. Good thing your anti-virus is up to date. I'm not getting friendly with more spyware. *waits* Find what you were looking for? Hurry...I'm getting chatted up by porn servers. No, thank you. Just because we're browsing less than vanilla jargon doesn't mean we need streaming XXX content. Ew.

*click* *typing* Finally. You do realize at some point we're going to have to talk about your browser history? You may or may not already be on a government watch list. Just saying. 

*click* *typing* Right. Back to work. Hang on. No. That's not right. Take another look at that. Simple physics. *delete* *typing* Much better. Real people don't contort like that, I don't care how bendy you are. *typing* Oh...oh...and they're done. Well, that was...vigorous. *click* Yes. Save ALL of that. Bravo.

Oh, so we're all done for now? Okay. Go take care of the laundry. Vacuum something. And, for the love of all that is holy, call your husband! I have a sudden need for that man to de-frag my hard drive. SOON.

About me: Tara S. Wood is a multi-published author of paranormal and fantasy romance, dividing her time between creating domestic bliss and havoc in her readers' hearts. When not playing June Cleaver for her hubby and daughter, she can be found at the local Starbucks slamming back Frappuccino's and plotting out her next idea. Either that, or she's watching the BBC getting her Doctor Who and Sherlock fix. Tara resides with her wonderful and tolerant family in the suburbs of Houston, Texas and is currently at work on several projects.

Revision…Painful or Pleasurable?

These days I’m in the middle of deep revisions with my book Very Bad Things due out in September.  This week Kristin Anders, my darling editor, ( and I mean that sincerely) is carefully combing through my MS, looking for potholes, head-hopping, tense changes, blah, blah, blah.  That stuff is easy to fix.

But, the most difficult to perfect is the content editing, where she tells me to dig deeper to find my character motivation and goals, to find the conflicts that keep the reader engaged.  It all sounds terrible and time consuming, yet I think I’m one of those rare people that love to revise and polish my MS until it gleams and sparkles like a shining star.  (By the way, my editor would tell me to delete that unoriginal simile.) 

I want to have the best novel I can and if that means staying up late or even (gasp) delaying the release of my book, then I’m in like Flynn. (And, here again, my editor would tell me not to use that particular expression.)

Revising my own MS got me to thinking. What’s the best way to revise?  Which critiques should I take to heart?  And most importantly, how in the hell could I go any deeper into my heroine’s motivation?  I thought I’d already dug to China when it came to figuring out who she was.  She’d already sucked every ounce of sweat, blood and angst from me already.  I had nothing left to give.  Or did I?  Maybe this could be a whole new beginning.

I came across an article by writer Ann Harleman that might help us (ME) with finding out more about who our characters are and what drives them.  Her idea is called Expanding your MS, not in words necessarily, but on a deeper level, which is trickier. 

For example, my goal in revisions is to write a better developed heroine.  So, it’s not about thinking of better words; it’s about seeing the character better.  How did she look?  How did she feel?  What made her say that?  Why is she doing this?  Expanding is about analyzing my heroine in the entire story: her character, her description, her dialogue, her actions.  Hopefully, we are increasing the intensity of the story when we delve deep inside.

So, how do we do this, especially when we feel like we’ve been drained dry already?  Harleman suggests that in order to Expand, you will need to brainstorm and get fresh ideas.  First have a copy of your MS.  Start at the beginning and read, looking for those nouns, verbs, and adjectives that are repeated.  Make a list.  Next, look over your list and jot down any recurring themes, images, atmospheres, or ideas that come to mind.  This is your second list.  Perhaps draw lines between words and ideas to connect them.  As you do this, try not to use the original story to interpret or clarify.  These two lists will become your Touchstone Lists.

Then go back to your draft and take a highlighter and mark the spots where you feel excitement in the MS.  Highlight in a different color where you feel confused or irked or annoyed.  Highlight in yet another color where you feel desperate, where the writing pretty much sucked and nothing you did make it work.  Hopefully, you don’t have much of those!

These spots are the points where you need to dig down deep and try to re-imagine your story. Read the Touchstone List to refresh it in your mind.  Then read through the highlighted parts and ask yourself several questions:  What can we see?  What can we hear?  What can we touch, taste, smell.  What is in motion?  How does the character feel about the senses she is experiencing?  Why is she doing what she does here?  What will it gain her?  What is her ultimate goal?  

Then consider how can you incorporate or connect some of your Touchstone List into the new MS.  Can you see a new side of your character forming?  Are you seeing a more developed person?  Are you seeing a new theme for your book?

Now write a new version of that scene.  Repeat until you have covered all of the highlighted sections.  Yes, this will take a long freaking time and may make me hyperventilate, but in the end I think my MS will be longer, richer and more complex. Will it make me want to throw my MS against the wall?  Probably.  But isn't my baby worth it? ♥

Everyone does revision different.  What is your process? We’d love to hear your ideas! Comment below and let us know what you think.

By: Ilsa Madden-Mills, new adult romance author

Click on the links for more about me and my editor as well as a fan-freaking-tastic book trailer for my new release Very Bad Things.

My FB author page

Trailer for Very Bad Things

Goodreads Page

Kristin Anders: The Romantic Editor

Impatient Writers

A writer is the most impatient of all the worlds artistic creatures. Being one myself, I know this for a fact. When I paint it could take months to finish a piece and that doesn't really bother me at all. Books on the other hand are a whole other beast. Even during the first draft (I'm well known for this, ask Lachelle Redd or Christine James) paragraph by paragraph, we want to show someone for any form of validation we can get and to feel for just one moment that our work is worth a damn. When the time comes that we finally do finish the first draft, we're so elated that we often jump to sending it off to everyone and their brother before a single edit has been made. More often than not, if we made the mistake of sending this first draft to an agent or publisher this leads to a rejection - that we also are forced to wait anywhere from weeks to months to receive and have our hearts torn out of our chests, not that we can act like it. Worse yet, if you're anything like me there's a very good chance that the entire thing has been redone and you're wondering how long you have to wait in agony before resubmitting.

If it's your first book it won't be the first time that happens. My first book I must have redone a hundred times or more. In fact I kept working on it until the day my publisher ripped it from my hands to send it to print. I made the poor woman crazy. Either way, the lesson here is that we've burned ourselves without need. Why? Because the waiting game is murder and we just couldn't stand to wait through a dozen betas, re-writes and edits. Do you think i learned this the first time I stuck my hand in the fire? Hell no... Again, WHY?! Because it's our book and we think it's a freakin masterpiece! And with any luck, we'll survive this journey with our spirits in tact and prove our worth before we're dead and gone. Well anyways... after what felt like the millionth rejection, I finally realized I was doing something wrong. Rather than give up, I became more determined than ever to find out what exactly that was. As it turns out there was way more wrong with it than I realized. For years I became obsessed with the technicalities of writing.

I was astounded there was a difference between writing a novel compared to writing something like an educational book. I could go on for ages about what I've learned and I do have other articles out there that go over all the little tips and tricks I've learned and am learning every day- but for this round what I want to share and express is how important it is to care ENOUGH about your book to give it the respect it deserves and do whatever it takes to make it the best it can possibly be. Never stop educating yourself. Never believe you're work can't possibly improve but always be confident in yourself because you know that you have given your written work of art all of your best. Your book is your heart, you wear it on your sleeve. If you're gonna put it out there, do it right. Show the world your best and then no matter what happens from there, you can be proud of that and yourself.


Don't give up.

From the desk of Jacquelynn Gagne, cofounder and Editor in Chief of Ambrosia Arts and Midnight Hour Publishing

Write, Just Write By Amanda Albright Still
	The most important piece of advice for a writer?  Well, that would be “Just write.”  You have to have something written, to have pressed on to the  finish to be a writer.  A blank page is full of possibilities, a chance for you  to tell a story that makes readers smile or cry.  Fill up those blank pages,  finish what you start, and you have  something most people never will, a story.
The Finish: Take it to the End
I’ve known authors who have said that they get asked all the time, “Where do you get your ideas?”  I’ve only gotten this once, it was from my mother-in-law and I suspect she was just being nice.  Maybe I seem more clueless than other writers, but most of the time, people tell me what ideas they think I should use.  “You should write a book about my office,” a friend said to me.  “It’s full of just the craziest people.”  “Sounds like a book you should write,” I said to one man with a story based on his harrowing experiences as a family-law attorney.  “You know it and you have the enthusiasm for it.  You’re the one who could get it right.”  He shook his head.  He was willing to pay me to write his story rather than have to write the whole thing himself.  No one else can write your story.  I learned that when I agreed to ghost-write my father’s memoirs.  I wanted to focus on the time he came face-to-face with Hitler or being injured on the Russian Front.  He wanted to describe all the pranks he played in medical school.  You can hire someone else, but they will never produce what you would like.
The Ghost:  Someone Else’s Story
Writing is a huge amount of work.  Not only does a writer have to spend time writing it, but if he wants it to be any good, he’ll have to edit it as well.  And then re-edit.  And then input the best suggestions from his critique group and his friends.    Writing is a commitment and walking away before even starting something means you don’t have to face not having finished when you give up that manuscript three-quarters of the way through.
The Sprint:  Making Time to Write
Most people don’t think they have time to write, but a fifteen-minute sprint (where you write as fast as you can without any concern for punctuation, typos, or if you’ve veered way off the plot highway) nets around 500 words.  You do a couple of these a day and you’ve got the start of a novel before the end of the week.  Sure, this isn’t the most imaginative writing and not the best you will do, but whatever gets out there in the first draft can be fixed in edits.  The first draft is not for crafted prose and the exact turn of phrase, it’s to spit words onto the page so that a story can be found within the text.
Nurture Skill Rather than Wait for Talent
An even stronger reason is because we believe we lack the talent to tell our story.  We don’t have time because we are waiting for that lightning-strike of talent to hit.  While I’ve read many stories that were not to my taste and some that were written badly, I suspect that just about everyone who is interested in books, everyone who loves to read, has inside them that spark needed to create art.  Often, having talent can hinder writers because it makes them lazy; they don’t take the time to learn the rules of writing or to develop the skills.  My voice teacher, a formidable woman who studied at the Royal Conservatory in her native Belgium, used to point to the end of her pinky and say, “One-percent talent, ninety-nine percent work.”  Rely on talent, and you won’t do the work, you won’t just write, and you won’t keep on until you are finished.  Fortunately, writers have all sorts of resources out there to help them write, to develop talent, and to keep writing until they are finished.
The Support Group:  NaNoWriMo
The nonprofit group, www.nanowrimo.org is the National Novel Writing Month where participants from all over the world push themselves to become award-winning novelists by writing a 50,000-word novel.  Every November and camps throughout the year, they encourage people to become authors.  They help you get the words onto that cyberpage and get a novel finished.  Chris Baty who started NaNoWriMo has the philosophy of “just write.” Even if you get stuck and write nothing but old song lyrics, get something on that page, get your novel going, and finish it.  Baty believes that pushing ahead and writing fast is necessary for the first draft.  Otherwise, your internal editor will step in and start finding fault.  The internal editor is a great help when going through a draft and editing, but don’t let it write for you.
The Evil Editor:  Your Inner Fifth-Grade Teacher
I have a particularly harsh internal editor.  Mine can be help on an editing pass, when tamed down to say, “That metaphor doesn’t work,” “The phrasing there is too complex,” or “What the hell?”  When writing a draft, my internal editor takes on the voice of my fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Closey, who thought I was the most loathsome of hyperactive children to ever cause a rise in blood-pressure.  Often, her comments are, “You think that’s good enough?”, “What makes you think you can write something anyone wants to read?” or just a scoffing laugh.    Another question I get frequently is, “how long does it take you to finish a novel?”  I used to not know.  I didn’t want to know, but then I took a look at my progress.  Now, I give the honest answer of, “Five months of actually working on the novel, but a year and a half if I listen to that voice in my head telling me it isn’t good enough.”
	Some writers have listened to their internal Mrs. Closey and can’t write.  When the brilliant Douglas Adams fell to writers block for the last several years of his life, I suspect the Mrs. Closey in his head was behind it.  When I start a scene, such as a fight scene when the only fight I’ve ever been in was with my hair-pulling sister, I get scared, I hear Mrs. Closey, but then I have to shut her out by saying, “Write, just write.”
About Me
		I’m the author of the Hurricane Mystery Series, ECHOES OF THE STORM and BRIDES OF THE STORM, set in Galveston, right after the 1900 Hurricane, as well as the military thriller, SHADOW OF TWILIGHT.  When I’m not writing, I’m working with my husband and daughters to restore our Victorian house in Galveston.  While some people have waiters in fine restaurants greet them by name, we are known to the guys at the Salvage Yards.

How To: Tell People Off -- Politely

Since I get the first crack at this awesome new blog, I thought I'd start it with a bang.  

To tell people off (politely) you must use an amazing tool called tact.  Unfortunately people don’t use tact as often as they should.  This tool is almost an art form in my opinion.  Most people know that what you say and how you say can make a big difference in how it’s perceived.  Choosing certain words enables you to control the mood of the message also.

Writers that can involve their readers -- to the point where the reader feels certain emotions while reading specific passages -- know how it works. 

For example:

If someone tells you that your children can’t play with theirs because your kids have been playing outside all day and got dirty.  And since you are new to the area, she and her friends feel that you are not a stable enough family to associate with.

*****

I think everyone reading this can tell that these are lame reasons and you are just being brushed off by someone that thinks they are better than you.

You could….

Ask her who she thinks she is… Miss High and Mighty? -- thinking she is better than you.  Then cuss her out with every foul name you can think of or maybe even invent some new ones…. And then storm off. (or maybe start swinging)

OR

Instead of losing your temper, simply say that…

It is fine that she doesn’t want to associate with you and your family.  She is right -- you agree that, given her strong feelings on the matter, they wouldn’t be the best match for your children either.  After all, you encourage imagination and independent thought.  Also, if being new to the area means that you are not a stable family, you can tell that you and your family will be much better off finding a less close-minded family to befriend.  Thank her for opening your eyes to your mistaken attempt.  It would certainly be a waste of everyone’s time to prolong the inevitable.

ABOUT ME -- ANN SNIZEK:

I write speculative fiction (primarily YA),  I also contribute to Bloid News, and am the Founder and President of Snow Flower Enterprises: Home of ShortBooks by Snow Flower).
You can check out my books through my personal blog and also find other inspiring and semi-useful ramblings.  Follow me on Facebook, and Twitter.

(these graphics are from photobucket)