Today I’m talking about some awesome writerly advice from Orson Scott Card – Never Do What They Want.
I’m happy to say that Mystic Storm is really done. Whew! I’m going to take a mental break for a day or two, then I’m off to plot another story or two.
Have wonderful weekend! And enjoy the adorable photo of my cat.
Happy Friday! Want to hear more about Mystic Storm? Please join me today at the 7 Scribes and find out why I say – When in Doubt, Throw in a Flying Monkey . . . or Three!
Also, our new cat Nene has settled in nicely. Here she is on my lap.
Today, I’m at the Scribes talking about the The Bloggy Blah, Blah, Blahs. If you’ve ever found yourself in a similar situation, stop by and share your tips for the blogging blues.
Also, I’m a guest at “How to Write Fast“. If you’re looking for advice on how to write more quickly, this is the blog to visit.
In other news, Mystic Storm is finally in the hands of my most valued first readers. Yay!! For those of you following along, this is Zephyr’s story. At the end of Mystic Ink, I left him in a bit of a pickle after the Fates punished him for interfering in a Hero’s Journey.
Today, I’m over at the 7 Scribes where I make the case that daydreaming is required – Do Not Disturb – Daydreaming in Progress.
On the Mystic Storm front – I’ve read through the printed first draft and yikes! I still have some work to do to smooth it out. So I will be diving back into the writer’s cave to clean it up.
Hi everyone. Today, I’m a guest at Rosanna Leo’s blog where we share our love of mythology and I answer her questions!
Stop by and say hello!
And in case you are wondering about this photo, yes, those are books in a cage!
No, I didn’t spell WIP wrong. I’m not referring to a whip (like Indiana Jones uses), I mean “work in progress”.
I’ve been taking a hard look at my writing goals in recent weeks and I’ve realized that something has to give. One of those things is my weekly blog post. This doesn’t mean that I won’t blog ever again, just that I need to focus on finishing Mystic Storm and my other works in progress. One of the reasons I haven’t finished them is that I only have so many hours a day that I can spend on my writer life and I must start using them wisely.
That also means you won’t see my hanging out on Facebook or Twitter very often. Not until the WIPs are done! Of course, if I have something to announce or share, I will do so right here as always.
While I have finished another manuscript this year – Misfortune Cookie – I can’t sit on my laurels with Zephyr’s book undone. I have several friends, including my wonderful beta readers, who are threatening to go Annie Wilkes on me if I don’t finish the book. How can I argue with that? They know where I live and I’m pretty sure they know how to tie a mean knot.
I am still blogging weekly at the Scribes. Today my guest is fellow Pink Petal author – Krystal Brookes. She writes contemporary Highland romances! Hello hot men in kilts with cell phones!
Anyone else had to readjust their goals?
I have two winners!
For Virtual Book Tour – Carin W has won a $25.oo Amazon gift card and an e-book copy of Mystic Ink
And the winner of the Indulgent Blog hop is Monique Morgan. She’s won a $15.00 Amazon gift card!
Congratulations! And thank you to everyone who entered. I appreciate all your comments and words of support. Not to mention I did break down and have brownie sundae!
I’m excited! I start my very first official Virtual Book Tour for The Undead Space Initiative.
For Mystic Ink, I scheduled all the blog stops myself and quickly realized (far too late) that I am really not good at writing a zillion unique blog posts in a short period of time. And it totally killed my writing schedule.
So this time around, I decided to hire Goddess Fish to the do the work for me. They also set up an interview only tour. While I had to answer at least 2 interviews a day for a solid week and half (and it was a bit much), it’s much better than what I did before.
I hope you will stop by and leave a comment. At the end of the tour, I will award one lucky commentor a $25 Amazon gift card and e-book copy of Mystic Ink (either Kindle or Nook version).
September 10: Bodice Ripper Novels
September 10: STOP 2 Magically Seductive Romance
September 11: It’s Raining Books
September 12: Rogues Angels
September 13: The Bunny’s Review and The Book Connoisseur
September 14: Black Velvet Seductions Blog
September 17: Mark of the Stars
September 17: For The Love of Reading
September 18: Realmantic Moments
September 19: Lisa Haselton’s Reviews and Interviews
September 20: Words of Wisdom from The Scarf Princess
September 21: Talisman Book Publishing
I hope to see you there!
I saw an interesting quote on Facebook by John Rodgers – “You can’t think yourself out of a writing block, you have to write yourself out of a thinking block.”
Once again, I find myself at odds over the story for Mystic Storm. I don’t why Zephyr’s book is such a challenge, but there is no way I’m not delivering this book.
First off, I’m not suffering from writer’s block (honestly, I don’t believe in it), but I’m having what I think of as “organizational” issues. The book is plotted out and I’m proceeding according to my plan, however, I seemed to have strayed off the path.
How does that happen?
Easy.
I often let the story wander in other directions as I delve deeper into my characters. As a result, there are portions of the timeline that have been skewed. Rather than stopping completely to fix it, I’ve decided to re-read what I have, take notes, then keep on trucking.
Why?
Because the end is not changing. It’s only how I’m getting there that might differ. If I stop right now and try to fix the book, I know it’ll stress me out and I might never finish Mystic Storm.
Since I know there are people out there who would like to know what I did to Zephyr at the end of Mystic Ink, I can’t leave them hanging. Not to mention, I have Devlin’s book – Mystic Hero – waiting in the wings.
So, if you’re spinning your wheels on a plot, might I suggest skipping over that part and moving on? I’ve found that it’s much easier to keep writing and deal with it later because as John Rodgers suggests – the issue may solve itself, but only if you keep writing!
How does everyone else cope when the story is off kilter or not quite right? And do you agree with John Rodgers?
And if you have a free moment, visit the Scribes. I’m interviewing Gerri Brousseau about her debut novel – A Pirate’s Ransom.
