Heart Pounding Romance

Writing Advice

Goodbye Daylight Savings

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mistress of the darkness

As a writer, this is my favorite time of year. Not because of the abundance of chocolate lurking and ripe for the taking thanks to my kids’ trick or treating efforts. Not because of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. But because I say goodbye daylight savings and cheer that it coincides with #NaNoWriMo — national novel writing month.

The house is dark and my internal clock hasn’t yet adjusted to the new time change. So, rather than force the issue, I’m up at 5:30 — an hour before the rest of the house — and this time is mine to write! Halloween may be over, but I’m still Mistress of the Darkness.

For one hour, I won’t be making school lunches, feeding the dogs, catching up on laundry, locating homework, or any of the other what seems like 250 million chores that occur between the hours of 6:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. when the mad dash to three different schools takes place.

Writing. That’s all I’m doing. NaNoWriMo kicking off is a bonus. Sure, it would be nice to have 50,000 words under my belt in a month, but my real goal is to just keep with the schedule of devoting this extra hour a day to my novel.

So, if it you haven’t adjusted to the time difference, embrace the darkness! Get your write on.

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An Excuse to Eavesdrop

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An Excuse to EavesdropWriter’s block happens to the best of us. You shouldn’t berate yourself that it happens, unless your response to it is to wallow in self-pity. Let’s get to the bottom of this with a snappy quiz.

When writer’s block occurs do you?

  1. Drown in sadness, perhaps with a bag of marshmallows by your side?
  2. Retreat under the covers. Maybe the answer will come to you in a dream.
  3. Eavesdrop!

If you answered “C,” you already know that listening and more importantly, observing those around you can be great inspiration for your writing. But if you’re not convinced that eavesdropping is an acceptable social habit, allow me to present you with your excuse to eavesdrop. Here are the benefits of eavesdropping on your writing:

  • Read reactions. Can you guess in advance what a person will say/do?
  • Authentic dialogue. Listen and you’ll be more aware of how people naturally speak.
  • Become a keen observer. Pay attention to body language and expressions.
  • Social behavior. Become an authority on how people engage with each other.

So where do you go for prime eavesdropping? Here are my favorite spots:

– grocery store check out

– coffee shops

– schools

Now go test it out. Here’s your homework assignment:

Watch a couple and decide how well they know each other. Is this a date? Is it a first date? Was it a set up or a blind date? Or, is it something completely different? Is the man trying to pick up the woman and she hasn’t yet figured out how to get rid of him?

You might not get it right the first time, but if you watch enough people, you get a feel for social behavior. Furthermore, these telltale signs will work their way into your writing to make your scenes more realistic and authentic.

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Why Writers Procrastinate

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Why Writers Procrastinate

There are lots of reasons why writers procrastinate about writing. Here are some that plague me from time to time:

The sun is shining and I’d rather be outdoors.
I’ve got company arriving and I need to cook.
I misplaced my imagination and I need to find inspiration.

Now, let me tell you my personal solutions. Numbers one and two above are easy fixes. If it’s a beautiful day and you want to be outdoors, then go. But, take a notepad with you. Sometimes just being in a change of scenery is enough to make you want to write. Be observant and you might even stumble upon an idea for a new story.

When company is calling and I need to prepare, I think of how that time spent in the kitchen can translate to my writing. If anyone follows my blog you’ll notice that I often post recipes and photos of my dishes. I love to cook. There’s no reason to halt one hobby in place of another. If I’m going to entertain a friend for afternoon tea and make lemon bars (bites of heavenly sunshine), you’ll probably find one of my characters is either going to make them as well or find a local bakery to sample them.

Now we come to the tough one…misplaced imagination. You’ve looked under the bed, behind the closed door and still that stubborn piece of inspiration remains hidden in the recesses of your mind. Where is it? Read this article and repeat. Go outdoors. Make a batch of cookies. Think of your story as you do it. Most importantly, trust as you procrastinate that something will evolve.

There’s really no such thing as procrastination if you keep your mind open to the possibilities as you do whatever activity is driving you. Now you know that I go outdoors or cook when the writing muse is on vacation. What do you do?

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My Peach Tree Died

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Peach Tree

My peach tree died but my writing is alive and well. This might sound like a Twitter tweet and indeed, at 53 characters it could be one, but it’s also my daily dose of inspiration.

True, I’m a horrible gardener. Although I love staring at Pinterest photos of beautiful gardens and the idea of going outside to pick my own fruit or vegetables sounds like a glorious lesson to teach my children, I just don’t have the passion for it.

Perhaps it’s also a matter of time. I live in a very hot climate and to give that peach tree the attention it needed would have meant hours of pruning, weeding around its base, creating a barrier so it was protected from gophers, and yes…water. Too bad there’s a draught going on and my area was told to lay off the excessive watering. But the truth is whenever it was cool enough outside to do this work, I chose to sit in front of my computer with my stories.

Passion + Time Put In = Success

I have it for my writing, but not so much for my garden. But I’ve decided to be okay with that. Pursue your passions and watch yourself flourish!

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Help for Busy Writers

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I think it’s  important to recognize that in our quest to “do it all” and “have it all” that sometimes it’s just not possible. However, there is help for busy writers in the form of online tour companies who will assist in finding bloggers to shout out your latest book news.

While I do take an interest in the marketing of my books, I prefer to focus more on my writing and let others help me in that area. After all, that’s their expertise. So, how do you find one of these companies? Remember, Google is your friend. Aside from that, you can look at other author’s websites and FB pages as they will most likely give a plug for someone who has helped them.

My favorite tour company is My Family’s Heart. They are professional in their response time, which is the most important thing to me. They also work with a healthy number of bloggers, create beautiful graphics for authors and have a fabulous reporting method. What’s not to love?

Screen shot 2015-06-05 at 10.10.02 AM

My Family’s Heart can be found on Google+, Facebook, Twitter, and of course, their own website.

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Not So Great First Drafts

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mondayblog
One of my favorite author-written books on the writing process is by Anne Lamott. Her book, “Bird by Bird,” not only gives wonderful advice about characters, plot, and the rest, it offers one very real chapter on our not so great first drafts.

Lamott refers to her writing process as “shitty first drafts” and let’s writers know that this is to be expected. When I first started writing, I wanted it to be great…right from the get-go. But I later learned to welcome every awkward, boring, mundane phrase that comes out of my mind. Do you know why? Because at least something is getting onto the page.

I know that if I can plot out the basic elements of the story, I can later make it great. I’ll add character development, dialogue that embodies those characters, and setting descriptions that take the reader away.

Because I like to bake, I equate the writing process to making a cake. Taking out the ingredients from the cupboard is the boring part. Even assembling the cake is rather mundane as there’s no room for experimentation. Add the wrong proportions of baking soda to flour and you’re doomed. But when it’s finished, you get to frost it and decorate. Forgive the pun, but this is the icing on the cake.

The same applies to your writing. Just get those first drafts down. Then, you can rework them, make them into a piece of art, and send them off into the world where they will find their home.

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