On Writing

  • A real word hurter …

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    50,000.

    That’s the number of words I’ve written since Jan. 3. Yep, I have cranked out 50,000 words in less than a week. Heck, I wrote about 20,000 of them last weekend alone.

    Why, you ask? Because I have foolishly decided that I need to write two, 50,000-ish rough drafts this month. This way, I can revise the spy book I hope to sell and then focus on promoting Karma Girl this winter/spring without trying to write something new in the middle of all the craziness. 

    I finished one draft (clocking in at 40,000 words), and I’ve just started the second one (10,000 words and counting).

    It sounds really impressive — until you go back and actually read what I wrote. Because believe me, these are some craptastic drafts we’re talking about. They’re not even really drafts, just more of detailed outlines. I try to get the basic story down with the scenes, characters, etc., and go back and fill in the details later. Usually, I have to do about four drafts, adding more detail every time, before I’m satisfied enough to send it to my agent.

    My significant other jokingly calls me a word hurter. Well, I’m certainly hurting them now, with lines in my rough drafts like And then they have sex or my personal favorite at the moment, And then stuff happens. Seriously. And then stuff happens is as brilliant as I am right now.

    And my wrist is absolutely killing me. But that’s another story …

    What about you? What’s your writing process? Inquiring minds want to know …

  • ·

    What’s in a genre?

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    There was a good post this week over at Romancing the Blog that talked about how people who read romance will read other genres. And how people who don’t read romance tend to turn their noses up at it. And what we can do to change this.

    I started thinking about genre fiction in general and how all categories have their lovers and haters. Fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, romance, chick-lit, etc. According to many people, you shouldn’t write or read any of these — because they’re just genre crap. The only books that are good books are non-fiction memoirs or literary fiction.

    Whatever. 

    I love genre books, whether it’s romance, fantasy, or something in between. I like the conventions of genres — finding the magic ring in a fantasy book, figuring out who the killer is in a mystery, getting a happy ending in a romance novel. I’m not going to pick up a book on the history of ancient Rome any time soon. What I will be getting is the new Parker novel by Richard Stark.

    People who look down their noses at genre fiction (including romance) don’t know what they’re missing — a wonderful time. It’s their loss.

    What about you? Which genres do you love? Hate? Do you ever read outside your comfort zone? Inquiring minds want to know …

  • ·

    God’s going to get me …

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    I’ve heard horror stories about authors who get snarky comments about writing romance novels, but I’d never actually seen it happen.

    Until today.

    I’m sitting at a long table with a couple of other authors at the women’s expo I attended. Two women walk up and start talking to one of the authors about her books. The conversation goes something like this:

    “What do you write?” one of the women asks.

    “Romance,” the author replies, smiling proudly.

    The woman stares at her. “Do they have all that sex in them?”

    “Yes, my books are pretty steamy,” the author replies, still smiling.

    “God will get you for that,” the other woman chimes in, nodding her head.

    The two women put their names in the drawing for the goodie basket that the author is giving away and walk on.

    Evidently, God’s going to get us for writing about sex, but they can register for all the goodie baskets that they want to from us heathens.

    Oh my.

    These were not young women. They were probably married with grandkids by now. Odds are that they’ve probably had sex at some point in their lives.

    But they don’t want to read about it.

    That’s alright. That’s their choice.

    But don’t tell me I’m going to hell for it. 

    Why do some people think that writing about sex is evil? Why is that somehow worse than writing about serial killers and murderers and nuclear explosions that kill millions? I don’t understand how people can be so narrow-minded and judgmental.

    On the flip side, there were also two lovely women at the expo who were very enthusiastic romance fans. We all chatted about our favorite authors, and they got some pictures with the other authors.

    I hope to see those ladies again next year. I will gladly sign books and smile and chat with them. As for the other two, well, they won’t ever be getting a goodie basket from me — no matter how many times they register.

    What about you? Have you ever had someone make a rude comment about romance novels to you? Inquiring minds want to know …

  • Mangulating the English language — one word at a time

    My significant other and I have this thing that we do — we mispronounce words. On purpose. I like to think of it as mangulating the English language. 🙂

    It started innocently enough. My grandmother jokingly referred to this afghan that we brought her for Christmas one year as an “afrighan.” Then, I noticed that a coworker says “sammich” instead of sandwich. A coworker of my mom’s claimed that she had ESPN instead of ESP. And, here in the South, lots of folks say things like “Eye-talian” instead of Italian.

    And it just snowballed from there. Football is now “fooball.” If we’re going to get Mexican food, we’re really going to get “Mesican.” We “mangulate” and “strangulate” lots of other words.

    And we have an eye-rolling, groan-inducing good time doing it.

    What about you? What kind of in-jokes do you have with your significant other? Inquiring minds want to know …