A writing blog!

Okay,
I figure if there is anyone reading this besides my buds, they might actually want to know what goes on inside my brain. If nothing else it will make you feel normal by comparison. . .
A little tangent here, I tried to put a hit counter on the blog and for the life of me I can't find it. I'm pretty sure I did it right too, but I can't see it anywhere. So if you happen to see a hit counter, could you let me know if I've gotten any hits? Hahahahahaha

Where were we??? Oh yeah, what goes on in my brain. . .

Right now I'm two chapters into the sequel to my EC space adventure REBEL'S LUST, for now the title is SLOAN'S HEART, but that may change. I've started this story about five times and changed the setting at least three but I finally think I may be on to something. I'm hoping that once I get a few chapters into it things will start to click and I'll be able to actually get some significant pages done on it.

I'm not exactly a planner or a pantser (someone who writes by the seat of their pants). I start off with a vague idea of what I want to write and set up a rough, very very rough, outline. Once I get a feel for the characters they seem to take over and I just go along for the ride. I've had stories that were two chapters away from being finished change on me. Quite often I have no idea what's going to happen until I type it.

This can fun sometimes. And other times it makes things very very complicated. For example I can never submit three chapters and a synopsis to a publisher for consideration, because quite often the finished product looks nothing like the synopsis.

One thing I've learned after writing 14 books is that there is no "right" way to do things as a writer. There are as many ways to write as there are authors. It always amazes me when I see people hanging on every word of a published author, like if they remember and do everything that person says and did, they'll be multi-million dollar authors too. When push comes to shove, a good writer tells a good story and however they get there is moot.

That's not to say you can't learn something from everyone out there, because you can. There's a ton of information available if you only look for it. The trick is to read it, think about it and do what's best for you. That does not mean you do things like send unsolicited manuscripts to publishing houses, call up editors and tell them all about your book, or shove your carefully handwritten tome under the stall door in the bathroom at a conference. What it means is, listen to what successful people have done and learn from it, but write your own story the best you possibly can.

I don't care how "perfect" your manuscript is in mechanics, if it isn't a compelling STORY no one is going to buy it or read it.

That is the sum total advice I have to give. I can't tell you about story arcs, goals, motivation, or anything else. I write a story and hope the characters give me something wonderful to work with. Sometimes it works, and sometimes I fall flat on my face, but in either case I have no one to blame but myself!

End of writing blog, next time I'm going back to whining about my children, hahahha