Time Management
April 6, 2008 by Linda O. Johnston in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as Berkley Prime Crime, Linda O. Johnston, Silhouette NocturneI’ve mentioned in my blogs here before–no, complained!–that I’ve become less efficient with time management as I get older. Of course I still manage to meet my book deadlines… sometimes as extended. I have two facing me now, one on April 15 for the manuscript for my seventh Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mystery, called, at least for now, NEVER SAY STY. Then comes my May 1 deadline for a revised proposal for my second Silhouette Nocturne, which stars a Valkyrie.
So what do I do to try to increase my productivity? I adopt a new, very lively puppy as a good friend to our Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Lexie. Little Mystie, also a Cavalier, is a handful. And time-consuming.
So, will I meet my deadlines? Yes. But a little piece of advice to anyone else considering taking in a new pet. Expect delays in everything!
At least pets are absolutely worth it.
Linda O. Johnston
www.LindaOJohnston.com
Linda O. Johnston is the author of 14 romance novels as well as the Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mystery series from Berkley Prime Crime.
WRITE ANGLE
February 15, 2008 by Rebecca Forster in category The Write Life by Rebecca Forster tagged as Rebecca Forster, Write Angleby Rebecca Forster
Consider the month of February. It is an odd and joyous month. Christmas is over but bills still trickle in. The New Year already feels a little worn. Odd.
Spring is just around the corner and summer is on the horizon. Joyous.
February is the month of odd days. How many? 29? 27? 21? Where’s the rhyme when I need it?
My last few books came out in February. Odd or joyous, who can say?
My husband and oldest son are Aquarius types. Their birthdates are the 8th and 9th days of February. Twenty-three years ago my husband, in the hopes of having my son born on the same day as he was, fed me a spicy burrito. It brought on labor, just not fast enough. Oddly joyous?
The point is that things that make us happiest, things we remember, are always a bit odd and a bit joyous.
There is an author I admire. His name is Richard Jordan and he writes a mystery series about old Hollywood and a wonderful woman named Polly Pepper. His latest novel, FINAL CURTAIN, is a Polly party. A veritable gala of memorable characterization.
Polly is such a delight because Richard adores the charmingly odd lady. Every word he writes about this woman is joyous. From her ever-present champagne to the disappointing revival of an acting career that embroils her in a murder investigation (a director is clubbed to death with an Emmy), Polly is Polly. Odd, joyous, charming, challenging. She is a reader’s delight; she is a character-in-waiting for some smart and talented actress. Rita Wilson, are you listening?
Just like February, FINAL CURTAIN ends too quickly. And, as February flies by me, faster than I care to admit, I am beginning a new project. As I do so I will be inspired by the odd month of February, by Richard Jordan and his joyful Polly and I will write with abandon. I will let my imagination spread its wings and will not allow the rules and agent warnings and ever-changing market forces to clip them.
That will be oddly, joyously, fabulously satisfying. This will be writing as it should be.
Rebecca Forster
http://www.rebeccaforster.com/
HOSTILE WITNESS
SILENT WITNESS
PRIVILEGED WITNESS
Multiple Hats on the Same Day
February 6, 2008 by Linda O. Johnston in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as Berkley Prime Crime, Linda O. Johnston, Silhouette NocturneOkay, so much for my keeping the New Year’s resolution I proposed in my last Slice of Orange blog–becoming more efficient in my writing. Where did the last month go?
It may have passed so fast for me because I was on a delightful cruise to Australia and New Zealand for almost 3 weeks. I think. I lost track of time because of crossing the International Dateline a couple of times.
The great thing was that, while traveling, I got word that I’d sold my second Silhouette Nocturne! The not quite so great thing is that the sale was on condition that I make some significant changes to that Nocturne proposal, which I really didn’t mind since that’s sometimes part of the process. The only problem was that I’m on a March 15 deadline for my 7th Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mystery, and didn’t accomplish as much as I’d hoped on the cruise (big surprise!)–although my 2 talks on writing went well.
Fortunately, my Silhouette editor was quite accommodating. I was able to schedule a date for providing the proposal revisions several weeks after my mystery manuscript was due. But I still needed to prepare for a brainstorming telephone call with my editor that occurred soon after I got back. That meant switching writing hats from light mystery to dark paranormal romance each day during several succeeding days as I thought through the Nocturne changes yet continued to write my mystery. Not to mention going to my downtown LA law job each weekday morning. Yikes!
Well, it really wasn’t that bad. As I’ve said often before, the ability to change between genres is something I feel strongly about. My mysteries generally contain romance, and my romances contain mystery, or at least suspense. And changing from fiction writing to contract drafting isn’t much of a stretch. In any event, I met the challenge. My editor seemed to like the revised direction I proposed for the new Nocturne. And I’m making progress with the draft of my new mystery.
How about you? How many hats do you wear on one day?
Linda O. Johnston
www.LindaOJohnston.com
Linda O. Johnston is the author of 14 romance novels as well as the Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mystery series from Berkley Prime Crime.
0 0 Read moreA Fantasy Life – Part 5
January 28, 2008 by A Slice of Orange in category A Fantasy Life by Janet Cornelow tagged as Janet Cornelow, Janet Quinn
Alternate life forms living within our bodies that cause gallstones. MRI’s that can tell what we are thinking. A gay gene. Footprint casts of Big Foot.
Fantasy? Reality?
Sometimes it’s hard to tell anymore. As writers we have to be careful abut writing certain things because they won’t be believable – unless we’re writing fantasy.
I’m getting ready to start on my fourth set of Augeas stories set in a fantasy world filled with magic. Dyna, the picture for the month, is a young Ancient One with the power to see what is happening around her in her mind. I talking about seeing things outside on the street when there are no windows or on the next block over. Her power saved her grandmother, Carissa, and several other Ancient Ones from Dorjan’s thundering hoards.
When I wrote the first stories, I was in a hurry to finish them. A story of 8,000 words seems like not such a big undertaking. After all, it isn’t a 100,000 word manuscript. Wrong. Short stories aren’t as easy as they seem. I came up with an idea and hurriedly built the world of Augeas and the Ancient Ones. I came up with the name Ancient Ones because they lived to be several hundred years old. However, that’s really not a good reason. There were a few other things I had to change with the second set because I hadn’t planned ahead.
So why are they called Ancient Ones? They aren’t all old. They have to start as babies because they don’t get to come into the world full grown. They are all magical, but that doesn’t make the name fit.
As I start on the fourth set of stories, I decided it might be time to explain why they are called Ancient Ones. Just as soon as I figure it out. Are they an ancient culture that the humans started calling Ancient Ones? One story mentioned they came from the mountains, except Gideon comes from the mountains and he’s a human. Are they aliens who came from another planet? Did they come from an alternate universe? Why did they come from either? Were they explorers who couldn’t get home? Were they outcasts running for they lives? Or, were they an ancient civilization around Augeas before the humans who had to leave the area because of war or pestilence and have now returned to help the humans? And who knows the answers?
When starting these stories, I probably should have figured this out before I started. It’s harder to build in things once certain parameters have been established. I know who knows the answers. A very ancient Ancient One who is the keeper of the stories. He hasn’t told me what the stories are yet, so I’m not sure why they are called the Ancient Ones.
No Whining!
January 18, 2008 by A Slice of Orange in category Writer on the Verge by Kate Carlisle tagged as Kate Carlisle, plot group, Writer on the VergeBy Kate Carlisle
Just once, I’d like to get through an entire blog without whining. 
And this time, we have a few important milestones to celebrate so there will be cake!
And cocktails! 
