The Process

I am back from the RWA conference, pumped, and ready to work. I'm working on revisions and having a great time revisiting THE WISH LIST to get it ready for you to read. There's something about attending a writers' conference that rejuvenates and restores the writer's soul, not to mention all the great things you learn (about yourself and the craft) and all the great books you bring home. Of course, it also drains your energy, so sleep is good for a couple of days.

While I was gone, I received a question (Thanks, Eva):

How do you chose which story to write and stick with when there are so many beginnings in your head?

The answer isn't as straightforward as you might think. I personally like to work on one thing at a time until it is finished. Ideas are always whirling around in my head--the next book, characters that need a book, scenes from books I didn't even know I was going to write--but I work on one thing at a time. Part of being a professional (which by the way does not mean that you earn your living at writing) is completing manuscripts. Having first chapters, half finished novels, or outlines doesn't mean much if you actually want to get published. You must have a finished product at least once (more would be preferable).

But once that finished product is done, then what? If you have a contract to complete, it's the next book of that contract. I still have the third book of my trilogy to write; when the revisions for WISH LIST are finished, I'll be finishing the rough draft of SPELLBOUND, and when that is done, I'll get started on TOIL AND TROUBLE. The only reason I've interrupted my writing of SPELLBOUND is because revisions come first.

If you have the luxury of making your own choice, you can choose anything. I go with whatever (whoever--those characters can be obnoxious) is yelling the loudest. But I do stick with it until it is done.
EXCEPT...
Once you are published, you can start selling on porposal. For Romance, that's usually an idea, three chapters and a synopsis. One of the hardest things I've done was learn to let go of a project just after starting it, after letting it gel into a story, and getting to know the characters. They are still in my head, yelling louder than any ideas, but they have to wait until I sell them.

So once again, my answer is less than definitive. I have to add only one more thing: You have to do what is right for you. What works for me isn't what's right for you. You have to discover for yourself your own method. There is no one answer. How's that for indefinite?

--Gabi

Books I'm reading now:
To Good to be True by Kristan Higgins
Witches Incorporated by KE Mills
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

I got nothing

I have no thoughts this time. Absolutely nothing is coming into mind as I try to blog. No wisdom, no wit, no complaints (well, I have complaints, but I'm sure you don't want to hear me whine about my family--don't get me wrong, they're good people, but sometimes, ARGH, you just have to put up with them, because you won't change them and they won't do things the way you want them to do things. How hard is it to learn where everything goes in the kitchen. And then the pettiness beast rises up in me and I'm not willing to help as they need stupid things. Wait, didn't I say I wasn't going to complain?), no ideas. I am working hard on book two (SPELLBOUND is the tentative title) of the new series and it's going well, not as fast as I'd like (see rant in parenthesis) but I'll be done with the rough draft by the end of July. Then I can meet the characters in book three (TOIL AND TROUBLE).

So I am here simple to wish you all a happy Fourth of July, and I'm asking that you think about what it really means to be patriotic.
--Gabi

Books, I'm reading now:
Careless in Red by Elizabeth George
Atlantis Unleashed by Alyssa Day

Stupid Backyard Games

I just finished playing five holes of golf. Before you get too excited, it was backyard golf. Armed with wiffle golf balls (there's probably a real name for those things, but I don't know it) and my husband's clubs, we pounded in the two croquet end posts at either side of the yard, and proceeded to play: me, my husband, and two daughters. A hole consisted of hitting the post on the other side of the yard.

Not only did this game prove how very little Tiger Woods has to fear from me, but it also proved how much fun stupid little things are when done with the family. So on this Father's Day (tomorrow), play some stupid games with Dad. I don't have my dad anymore, but I do have great memories of the games (mostly tennis and canasta) we played together. Trust me. You'll love the the time spent with the him of your Father's Day (whether it's your dad or the dad of your kids.)

And if you're the dad, Happy Father's Day.
--Gabi

Books I'm reading now:
Highland Scandal by Julia London
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling (What? I had to read it again before the movie next month)
The Duke Next Door by Celeste Bradley

Being Liked

I found a review of one of my older books on line yesterday. It was a beautiful review (she--I'm assuming it was a she--loved the book, gave it the highest grade she could, and basically glowed about it.) If you're interested, here's the site:
http://www.channelingboards.com/Romance/page1.html#Ever%20Yours
If the owner of the site is reading this, thank you. I hope you how much you made my day when I found it.

Being liked and enjoyed is an odd part of this business. As an author, I know that I shouldn't take reviews personally, that everyone's taste varies, that not everyone will like every book, and that we shouldn't even want that. As an author you want to evoke strong emotions in your readers, but strong emotions also means strong dislike in some readers. If everyone likes a book, that probably means the book is meh. But if some people love a book and others hate it, then you've done something special. Nothing is worse that doing OK. Succeed with glory or fail spectacularly, but either way go for the big emotional response.

With my new series of books coming out next year (in a new genre, under a new name), I feel a great deal of fear: What if it's not liked? What if no one wants my type of book? What if I never sell anything again? But ultimately none of that is important. I am writing with all the skill I can, putting in ideas that I find important, and hoping that out there someone will like what I've done and said. I can do no more. Fear is the one of the hidden aspects of writing you don't often hear about. However, doing the writing despite the fear... well, courage is something to be admired even if it isn't your conventional courage. It may not save lives, but it is admirable. It is the picture of someone having the guts to follow a dream, of living a life uncompromised.

Whoa, I didn't mean to wax philosophical.
--Gabi

Books I'm reading now:
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
White Lies by Jayne Ann Krentz
The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore
Third Circle by Amanda Quick

Entering the World

No, I'm not talking about birth. I'm talking about writing. The cool thing about writing is that you create your own world. It doesn't matter if you're writing science fiction, fantasy, contemporary, historical; the world of the novel is yours even if you base it in reality. You have to know your world to write the story. I lose myself in the world of the story. I sometimes have to remember that the reader doesn't necessarily care about the color of the wallpaper in the bathroom even if I can see it vividly. I have to let the reader do some of the work, to get invested in the story and use his or her own imagination to fill in the images.

The same thing happens to me when I read. I can see the story from the words. They won't be the same images that the author had when he or she wrote the story, but that doesn't matter. Reading is a active thing and requires participation from the reader. At least a good book will require participation. That's one of the reasons I don't like movies made from books (although if Hollywood wants to film one of my novels, I'm all for it). The images and actors just don't match the picture in my head. Not that some movies from books aren't great. Some are; but I can think of only two movies from books that I liked better viewing than reading. One was Seabiscuit; the other was The DaVinci Code.

--Gabi

Books I'm reading now:
The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie by Jennifer Ashley
True Love and Other Disasters by Rachel Gibson
The Third Circle by Amanda Quick
Nerds Like it Hot by Vicki Lewis Thompson
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

The Magic

When I'm writing, I always doubt that I can fill one page much less the thirteen through twenty that constitute a chapter. Even when I know what's going to happen, I doubt that the pages will be enough, especially since I am a short writer to begin with (And that has nothing to do with height). And then I start writing. Basically I'm just describing the pictures in my head and transcribing the dialogue I hear there. Not that it's a smooth and easy process. Sometimes the "film" breaks, or the projectionist takes a break, or the film is fed into the machine (Yes, this is old fashioned stuff here--no DVD's) wrong so the film isn't clear or runs ratchety. But the chapter grows and I am always amazed by how much I get on paper. Soon I worry that I'm going to overrun the chapter by five or six pages, because there's always so much more to tell. But eventually it always works out and my chapter is complete and the right length.

I call this the Magic. The story keeps playing in my head and all I have to do is get it on paper. Or computer if we're trying to modernize the process here.
--Gabi

Books I'm reading now:
The Big Bad Wolf by James Patterson
Fast and Loose by Elizabeth Bevarly

Interruptions and the Real World

The worst thing about being a writer is when your characters are waiting to jump on the page, the plot is wanting to pour out of you, and you can't sit down at the computer. The real world intrudes. The dishes need to be done. Toilets must be scrubbed, laundry has piled up to its limit, the floor can't be walked on without boots, and more. OK, not to be gross, but my house needed attention. And worse, my day job requires me to work at home this weekend. I have tests to correct. The Real World is a drag when my fantasy one is calling.

But at least the story is there and the magic exists. What a great feeling.
--Gabi

Books I'm reading now:
All of Me by Lori Wilde
Rewriting Monday by Jodi Thomas