A Drop In The Pond

You know that saying... the whole ripple effect thing....  So I've always been way too sentimental for my own good, but part of me can't help but give praise where it's due. 

Have you ever had one of those people who influenced you in a big way, and you aren't sure how to thank or acknowledge them for it?  I've had lots.  But what makes me a sappy nerd is that I try to express that gratitude, one way or another.  I haven't stumbled across too many people like that in the past couple years, but now my inner nerd is telling me there's someone worthy of a huge THANK YOU.  (See, my self-deprecating nerd remarks are really my own defense mechanism against the potential embarrassment that can come from putting yourself out there like this--if I laugh at me first, it's not so bad if you laugh at me too.  Am I getting to analytic for you?  Apparently I do that.... but moving on....)

I heard from someone recently, someone I haven't heard from in a while.  I'd say an "old friend," but I don't know if he'd consider our association that.  I've never technically met the guy! haha.  We were in an online critique group with a few other people.  It was definitely good times.  Always good critiques and interesting discussions.  Unfortunately, it all came to a bitter and unexpected end, the group crumbled to bits, and I haven't heard from this person since.  I'll keep him anonymous, since he may well want to remain that way. 

I sure do miss that original group we had going, though.  We had a good mix of people of different ages, genders (only two different ones, as far as I know ;-P), backgrounds, writing in different genres.  Maybe because I was the baby of the group, I sometimes got that big-brother feeling about a couple of the guys in the group.  You know, that feeling that someone's looking out for you, trying to encourage you, show you your potential, etc. (and I mean this in a literary way, like a writing mentor might do).  And I, being the novice, ate up every word of encouragement and criticism.  Couldn't get enough.

If you've ever been in a writer's group, I'm willing to bet there was one or more people whose criticism you considered longer, harder, or just plain more than others, and whose praise just seemed to carry more weight than others.  Because this guy was such a talented writer in his own right, and because he was always so thorough and thoughtful in his critiques, his opinion just had a little more weight to it for me.  In fact, the only reason my giggling-like-a-pre-teen thoughts about writing erotica have evolved into something more serious is because this guy I've never met, but who I respect immensely as a writer, said an explicit sex scene I had written was actually good.  Bordering on erotica, he'd commented, but the good kind.  Erotica with a purpose.  I never thought those words would have impacted me this much, but they did.  To the point that I'm actually trying to write something like that, instead of having it happen accidentally.

That kind of encouragement was also a major influencing factor in some major revisions I did with To Call Home (Charlotte).  The story had to grow up a lot, so I made it happen.  And I did it without being embarrassed about the darker aspects (sexual and psychological) of the story that started to peek through.  And damn if I'm not prouder of the story now than I've ever been!  And more confident in my own ability, too.

Can I really pinpoint that one person, that one comment, that one moment, as the catalyst for all of this?  Maybe it's unrealistic.  Maybe my sentimental nerd is just grasping at coincidences, or making a mountain out of a molehill, or whatever.  But maybe not.  There are others from that group who also deserve a big thanks, but I'm still in contact with all of them and can do that any time (like perhaps in the Acknowledgements of my first pubished novel...perhaps?) 

Either way, I couldn't let a favor like that - a favor he probably didn't know he was doing for me - go unacknowledged.  So, if you're out there, still reading, you should definitely know who you are, and know that I'd love to continue the dialogue, if possible.  Or if not, just know that I owe you a HUGE thanks, and I wish you the best in the future!

A New Look! A New Title!

One for the blog, the other for the book!  I just thought the blog needed a bit of a facelift, so here it is.  And Charlotte has always been a horrid title for a book, so I've come up with something better (with much help from my crit group!) and here it is.  Drumroll, please.....  To Call Home.  It has some duality to the meaning, which is nice.  And really, anything is better than Charlotte. 

Speaking of the book, I've got about two weeks to go 'til my extended deadline is here!  I wish I could say I'm done two weeks early, but..... oh well.  I haven't done much in the past two weeks, but I think I can still pull it out.  If I write like mad and stop reading so much.  I recently got a card for my local library and have been reading like a madwoman instead of writing.  I'm trying to do some research for my erotica project--mainly trying to find some good erotica to study!  I haven't had too much luck so far.  First, my library doesn't exactly have a huge selection of books classified as Erotic Fiction.  Second, there's a lot of crap out there, apparently.

I also managed to pick up a book or two that I've simply been wanting to read for a while now.  And most recently, I picked up two books by John Shelby Spong, a bishop in the Episcopal church.  I'd read excerpts from both of them while in college and was intrigued, so I figured I'd read them in full.  On top of that, they're both really good research tools for my other project, Confessions of a Non-Believer.  Spong's ideas really helped me to form my own spiritual beliefs into more concrete terms, and those ideas will be a big part of Bree's story in Confessions.  Write what you know, y'know??

So anyway, I actually have tomorrow off (Labor Day) which is completely unheard of when you're a member of management in the retail world.  Hopefully I'll leave the books (and the internet!) alone long enough to get some good writing done.  Fingers crossed!

Random Updates

My deadline for Charlotte, unfortunately (though not really that surprisingly, ha!), will have to be moved. I think just another month should do it. So September 15th it is. That should be enough time to finish writing and polishing, and to get a good query together. I've been doing pretty well with writing all the new pieces. Of course, I've run into a scene or two that I hadn't planned for but that seemed like they should be there. And I've been doing some bigger revisions on the first half than I'd originally bargained for. All in all, it's just taking a bit longer than expected. My procrastination has actually been minimal. :-)

I'm very much itching to get on writing new projects, but I've got to finish this one first. It's hard to write more than one at a time, especially when everything about them is so different. But I've got so many ideas! Confessions of a Non-Believer is the one I'll dive into next. While working on the query for that one (I realized it's much easier to write the query before the book is done rather than after!) I realized that I needed to shift the focus a little bit. Once I realized that, my brain was absolutely flooded with new chapter and scene ideas. After Confessions, I plan to start my big erotica project. I don't have a title, but I'll probably refer to it for now as Marisol, after the main character. I'm super excited about this one too, because I have a lot of ideas that I'm pretty sure are very fresh and novel, not quite like a lot of what's out there now. (Not to be conceited or anything, haha. But if I don't have confidence in it, who will?)

I'll try not to let the blog fall by the wayside. It's been nearly a month since my last post, but I'll try to keep it up a little better.

Last, but definitely not least, here are a couple new websites that I've been looking into recently:

GoodReads, where you can create a list of books you've read, write reviews, create lists of books you want to read, and then share all this with your friends!

Miss Snark's First Victim, where they oh-so-wonderful Authoress has fun contests, and lots of readers offer valuable feedback.

And then finally, a big thanks to Jessica over at the BookEnds blog for addressing my questions about revealing explicit content in a query letter.

Check! Well.....almost

I'm working on my list, trying to check a few things off. I'm almost there with at least one, but not quite. The query is beginning to shape up, and it' hasn't been as horrible a process as I'd feared. Don't get me wrong, it totally sucks, but it's not as painful as I thought. :-) I've gotten some writing done, and I'm getting closer to the end. But there's still plenty more to go. And I'm starting to freak about my word count now.... It's really getting up there.

But let's see, what else? Erotica short story? Submitting to a magazine? Nope, nothing there yet. Haven't heard back yet, either. The novel's been taking up all my time, I haven't even given any thought to the short stories just yet. A Snazzy Dialogue post? Not there yet, either. I'm frustrated with dialogue right now (I feel like a lot of what I'm currently writing is too dialogue-heavy and is a little lacking in other good stuff) so maybe that's why. But I've got a month to get it all done.

One month and counting.

Making Lists Keeps Me Accountable.... Yeah, Right!

I think I should probably do another post on Snazzy Dialogue, but I've been lazy lately. In every aspect of my life. Doesn't bode well for my Aug. 15 deadline, huh? I'm sure I'll make it though. I have a renewed sense of excitement about the story, mainly because a couple girls from work are so excited about it! They both want to read it. And I'm all about having as many test readers as I can. But just the fact that other people are as excited as I am about my stories just gives me a huge sense of validation that I hate to admit I need now and then.

Once Charlotte is finished, I can seriously get to work on Confessions of a Non-Believer (Bree and Luke's story). Plus, I can continue to dabble in the seedy and sexy world of erotica writing haha. It's been six weeks since I submitted my story and I haven't heard back from the magazine yet. Six more to go before I know it's definitely a 'no' from them. (Incidentally, I've only got about six weeks before my Charlotte deadline is here, so maybe one can keep my mind off the other till then.) I'm pretty sure I can write a couple stories better than the one I submitted, so I should do that and try again. I've just been so focused on Charlotte (or rather, so completely unfocused on my writing in general) that I haven't gotten around to it.

So here's my to-do list over the next six weeks:

• Finish Charlotte
• Write a killer query for Charlotte and send it!
• Dive head-first into Confessions of a Non-Believer
• Write at least one erotica short story and submit it somewhere
• Write another installment of Snazzy Dialogue posts

Sounds like plenty to keep me busy! Oh wait..... I also have a "normal" job. Damn. It's gonna be a busy six weeks.