Posted By Anna on May 14, 2010
Hey all,
Today I am guest blogging at Once Written, Twice Shy about being a shy writer who happens to write sexy, leave nothing to the imagination, sex scenes.
Thanks Rebecca for letting me participate!
Posted By Anna on May 5, 2010
Welcome back to day two of the Write at Sea workshop on board Carnival Cruises Fun Ship Paradise.
After a night of revelry followed by endless tossing and turning as I ruminated on the new beginning of my story, I arrive at the Break into Fiction workshop ready for the next step- What happens after the first twist point.
My new start is rife with conflict. My subplot and secondary plot that I was flirting with weeks ago will fold in beautifully. But now I’m stuck on the details, or rather the tests. I need obstacles, things for my couple to do, and more importantly, create events that will lead them up to the next twist point.
Dianna’s favorite suggestions is “kill somebody.” Great, but I can’t kill off
Encenada
everybody. So I’m staring at the wall again. The ticking time bomb that is my brain has been activated
Think, think, think, think, think- BOOM!
I’ve fractured off again.
This is when a second person comes in really handy. As I start to rattle off where I’ve got the story going, Mary is plucking the threads out of my jumbled sentences and narrowing my focus. Now the secondary storyline has more importance than earlier. Fantastic! Thank you subconscious. Have I ever mentioned how much I love my subconscious?
At the end of the day I am mentally drained, but I now have a strong, fully plotted story that is fit for my shape shifter and his mate. The process was painful, but you know the saying, “If it was easy, everyone could do it.”
My next step now? Take the templates and go through the first story in the series. Do I see more internal bloodshed and frustrated tears? Yes. So why do it?
Because I don’t want to be a writer. I want to be a published author. And that requires more that just putting words on paper.
Posted By Anna on May 4, 2010
Ahoy matey! Welcome to my adventures on the Carnival Fun Ship Paradise.
I’ve just returned from a weekend at sea attending the Break into Fiction workshop taught by the fantastic team of Mary Buckham and Dianna Love, or as we lovingly referred to them as, The Punisher and the Evil Queen.
My voyage began with a few hours of me time relaxing by the pool with a book in one hand and the drink special of the day in the other. If I had only know about the arduous metamorphosis that awaited me the next day, I would have relished that time a lot more.
My roommate was the lovely Susan from Canada. Although she wrote YA and I paranormal, and we came from different backgrounds and were born in different decades, we had similar life experiences which gave us plenty to talk about.
There were sixteen of us on this maiden excursion of Write at Sea. Most of us wrote romance and there were several of my GSRWA mates in attendance. We had a few thriller and suspense writers as well. The class was geared towards commercial fiction, so there was plenty of opportunity for everyone to learn.
The project I brought to the workshop was the second installment in my superhero series, or as it’s called in my world, The Shape shifter and the Nurse. The reason I chose this novel over the first in the series was because I’m pretty much married to Max and Crystal’s storyline. In the second I knew who the H/H were, the first chapter, and a vague idea of the villain, or villains. After that I was opened to all ideas. I had the first chapter written. It had danger in it, angst, sexual tension and snappy dialogue. I thought I was off to a fantastic start.
Then I talked to Mary and the torture began.
She pointed out that while the concept and characters were good, there wasn’t enough conflict in the beginning to sustain throughout the book. They needed to collide sooner. I needed more.
Ah! Well crap. Now, I needed something new. Something spectacular. What followed next was thirty minutes of me staring at the wall, swaying to the rhythm of the rocking ship. My pre-cruise fear of not being able to come up with ideas quickly came to fruition as I sat and sat. Then I discovered that my brain is a ticking time bomb.
Think, think, think, think, think- BOOM!
Two ideas pop into my head, and each had three or four possible outcomes that splintered into several directions. My desk is now covered in creativity carnage.
Being suddenly smacked with multiple ideas is both a blessing and a curse. I have something to work with. Yay! But where do I place the focus? More staring at the wall. Unless I find a direction, I cannot go forward in the process.
So I do what anyone else does when they hit a wall whilst on a cruise ship. I went to the pool.
Laying out under the sunny rays off the coast of Mexico I let my mind wander. Tropical drink near by, I close my eyes as the pool band launches into a reggae version of Hugh Lewis’s The Heart of Rock N’ Roll.
She needs to witness something. Something bad. Of course. A murder? No. Drug runners? Been done to death. Human trafficking? Hard sell. Terrorism? Even harder sell.
My front starts to burn, so I flip over, mind still working.
Ooo, that could work. It’s different and definitely plausible. I can work with this.
I pop up in my lounge chair. “Susan, I’ve got a plan.”
She blinks at me in surprise over the top of her book. “Wow. You were brainstorming. I thought you were asleep. Good for you.”
“Thanks.”
Even through dinner, a comedy show and an Indian kid howling his way through Bohemian Rhapsody, my concept is percolating, grow
ing, solidifying. My brain is working so much, I’m up at 5:30 in the morning writing on the Lido deck.
I feel like a fighter knocked down in the first round, struggling to their feet. I’m hurt, disorientated, but the will to fight flows through me. This will be a stronger story. A better story, A story that will sell.
Posted By Anna on April 25, 2010
It’s three o’clock in the afternoon and I am just now waking up. This weekend was a whirlwind and the are no signs of it slowing down.
On Friday I attended the new author panel and book signing of my colleagues Rose Lerner, Gayle Ann Williams, Marie-Claude Bourque and Amy Rench at the Redmond Borders. It was a fun evening listening to their stories. However, my favorite part of the night was realizing that we were sitting in the erotica section. Perusing the erotica shelves with other romance novelists is highly entertaining, and led to an ideal of holding a workshop for men entitled “What Women Really Want.”
Saturday afternoon was spent working on the Emerald City Writer’s Conference. I am assistant registration chair this year and I was learning the ropes from Carol the reg. chair. Organization is the key when handling 250 attendees and their preferences for meals, editor/agent appointments, and other affiliations. Alyssa Day and Brenda Novak will be speaking and it is shaping up to be a great conference.
Later on I went to work at my sister’s where I am the bookkeeper for her event planning business. While entering in time sheets and receipts, we dished on the latest episodes of Vampire Diaries and Glee. I love those shows.
The night ended with a plotting party that quickly turned into a wine tasting party with Gwen, Christa, Danielle, Vivenne, Marianne and Natalie. There was lots of laughter, food, storytelling, and oh-yeah, wine drinking. Learning and listening to everyone’s life and writing experiences had me laughing my ass off. While not a whole lot of actual plotting was done, it went a long way to getting a feel for where everyones’ personalities and writing styles lay. It is so difficult to offer advice or an opinion to someone you have just met. Knowing where they are coming from makes a world of difference to me.
Up next is the Writer’s at Sea cruise. Three days with Mary Buckham and Dianna Love on a Carnival cruise along the Mexican coast. The plan is to work hard and play hard. My hope is that by the end of the weekend I’ll come away with the entire second book of my superhero series plotted. I know it is possible despite the allure of sunshine and rum at the Serenity pool.
As far as my writing, I finished the second draft of the first superhero novel. Progress is being made amongst all of the fun.
Posted By Anna on April 16, 2010
Today started out grey and nasty. It’s Seattle and to be expected. However later in the day the sun peeked out from behind the clouds, and the roads dried out enough that motorcyclists took to the streets.
On the eleven mile drive home, I passed at least twenty different types of bikes. From the big bad Harleys to the nimble Yamahas. I even passed a guy on his dirt bike. If it was on two wheels with a motor, it was on the highway.
I have no idea what it is, but I cannot take my eyes off a man on a bike. I don’t know the difference between a Fat Bob or a Soft Tail, but I get excited when I hear the roar of the engine and see the sunlight glinting off the handlebars.
There’s a mystique about the man in the seat, and I will say man because 99.9% of the time it is a man. Who is he, where’s he going, where’s he been? It’s like Grease 2 when Michelle Pfeiffer and gang sang “Who’s that Guy?”
Everybody wants you when they don’t know who you are. If you’re a man of mystery, it really takes you far.
Maybe it’s like a belly dancer who wears a veil. It’s titillation, excitement. Under that helmet it could be anyone. Marlon Brando in The Wild One, Steve McQueen in The Great Escape, Ewan McGregor in, well, real life. He’s balancing a thin line between exhilaration and total dismemberment. Freedom and a lifetime in a wheelchair. Insanity and total clarity. A fantasy for my fertile writer’s mind.
So ride on my brothers. Be safe. And if you see a curly hair girl staring at you from her little SUV, give her a wave and a smile.
I want a devil in skin tight leather. And he’s gonna be wild as the wind. And one fine night, I’ll be holding on tight. To my cooool rider.
I loved that movie. I should dig it out.
Posted By Anna on April 14, 2010
I spent three hours today trying to find the right explosive to blow open the door on a bank vault. At the end of the day I still couldn’t figure it out. On the news they talk about how easy it is to find out how to make a bomb on the internet and I couldn’t do it. I don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Oh there was lots of information about explosives in general, this one is powerful, this one not so powerful, and a whole lot of mathematical formulas. But nothing that said this type blows up this material best. That was what I needed.
I tried looking up bank robberies to see what was used in the past. Apparently almost all bank robberies are carried out by either kidnapping the manager or the old note to the teller routine. While it was all very interesting, I couldn’t find how to blow open the door.
So in the end I described the bomb as a bunch of cylinders taped together attached to colorful wires. The scene is from my heroine’s point of view, andshe’s not a bomb expert, so she wouldn’t know exactly what she was looking at either.
I guess you can’t learn everything from the internet. If you know differently, please let me know.
Posted By Anna on March 29, 2010
I finaled in the Greater Detroit’s RWA chapters Between the Sheets writing contest. It’s my first final, and it almost didn’t happen.
When I received my scores I was told that I was not a finalist. However when I reviewed my score sheets I had a total score of 117 out of 120. So close, yet so far. All day I stressed inside. How close had I gotten? I finally gathered my courage and sent a little message asking how out of the race was I. Much to my joy, I actually had finaled.
I have been in a daze all day. This is a big moment for me. Hopefully not the last. And also a valubale lesson in trusting my gut and question when need be.
Posted By Anna on March 27, 2010
Hot cross buns are my favorite bread item this time of year. They’re good warm, or room temperature. They’re yeasty, chewy, fragrant and have just the right amount of sweetness. So I wanted to share my favorite recipe with everyone for Ostara, Easter or just to celebrate the Spring.
Most of this recipe comes from the book Breadby Jeffrey Hamelman.
Sponge: ¼ cup Bread Flour
7/8 cup Milk (warm, not hot)
½ tablespoon Sugar
2 ¼ teaspoon Instant Dry Yeast
Whisk all of the ingredients together, cover with plastic wrap and let it stand until it grows 3 to 4 times the size (about 30-40 minutes).
Dough: 2 ¾ cups Bread Flour
4 tablespoons Butter
1 Egg
¼ cup Sugar
½ teaspoon Salt
½ tablespoon Ground Allspice
Sponge
¾ cup Dried Currents
¼ cup chopped Candied Lemon Peel
Add all of the ingredients ( except fruit) into a mixer, making sure that the sponge is first and the flour and salt is last. Mix on first speed until everything is combined, then turn to second speed and let it go for about six minutes. Add fruit near the end. The dough should form a nice pliable ball. Place in a large bowl and cover in plastic wrap, and a towel if the room is cold.
Let stand for 40 minutes, then fold the dough. Folding dough is just like it sounds. Place the dough on a wooden surface and taking one side in your fingers, fold it to the center. Repeat for all four sides. Place back in bowl and recover for another 25 minutes.
Fold the dough again, then divide into 12 equal pieces. Round the pieces into a ball shape and place on a sheet pan. Cover with plastic again to rise a final time. About 1 hour.
Now comes time for the crossing paste. Combine 1/2 cup Pastry Flour, .75 ounces of shortening and a 1/3 cup of milk. The mix should be firm but pipeable. Adjust milk according to make that happen. You don’t want to hurt your hand squeezing too hard. Also at this time make a simple syrup with equal parts sugar and water. Flavor it to taste with ground ginger and lemon zest.
When buns are nice and place the crossing paste in a pastry bag with a round tip and pipe a criss-cross pattern on each bun. Bake in a 440 degree oven for about 15 minutes. I say about because every oven is different and baking times may very. Check on them after ten minutes. When their hot out of the oven brush them with the sugar syrup.
Not only are they tasty, your house will smell fantastic.
Enjoy 
Posted By Anna on March 21, 2010
“I write because I have to.”
I’ve heard many writers say that. Authors who posses an all consuming need to put words to paper. Over the year I worried that I didn’t have the heart to pursue a career that is a constant up- hill battle and knocks you around all of the time. I wrote because I had stories inside that I thought people might like to read, but it wasn’t really a deep burning drive like others spoke about. It was a concept that I understood, but never attributed to myself. Until now.
This week was a self-imposed break between drafts to recharge my brain. Seven days of not touching my work in progress. I have taken these breaks before, but I would be working on two projects at once. This was the first time in a year that I wasn’t composing. By day three I knew something was off.
I would find myself staring out of the window every few minutes. I didn’t know what to do with my hands without a pencil between my fingers or typing. It was frightening to feel so disconnected to what had become the central part of who I am. I was a boat without a rudder just drifting through my day.
Not all of my time was spent zoning out. I did house work. Read. A lot. Played with my kids and joined Twitter. My days were full, but there was always a sense of something not being right. A piece of me was missing and I knew it was due to not writing.
My writing is the only thing in my life that is 100% completely mine. I didn’t have to discuss whether it was a lifestyle (and it is a lifestyle) that would fit in with anyone elses plans. It is my choice. My art that I work on and hone and craft with everything in me. Without it, I’m not whole. That spark was missing.
I know now what it means to write because I have to.
Posted By Anna on March 18, 2010
During my self imposed break from writing I’ve been reading graphic novels. My brother recommended Y the Last Man by Bryan K. Vaughn which follows the trials and tribulations of the last man on Earth. I also picked up volume one of the Ultimate Annuals and Green Lantern. You may ask what do graphic novels have to do with romance novels? Well, it’s all about telling the tale.
Graphic novels are the epitome of slash the fat storytelling. The author does not get the luxury of 80+ thousand words to tell their story. They get a hundred odd pages to convey a compelling tale with two-dimensional pictures, dialogue and little to no narrative. And I thought condensing a single title into a three page synopsis was hard.
It’s actually fantastic. I love the getting to the point and moving on pace. No repetitive retelling of information. If you don’t know what’s going on, tough, you should have paid attention when you read it the first time. Ah, there are some authors out there that really need to learn this concept. One thing I promised myself is that I would not fall into the repetative trap.
The dialogue is also very straight forward. Short conversations with simple phrases. Before people were consumed with television, comic books was the media that taught the masses to read, which is why they are so appealing, anyone can read them. I’m not saying dumb down your book, but don’t alienate readers either. As Thoreau said “simplify, simplify, simplify.” Just because you can insert half of Merriam-Webster’s dictionary in your book doesn’t mean you should.
On a side note- Ultimate Annuals vol. one, chapter two (I am being vague in case you haven’t read it and I don’t want to spoil anything). WTF?? Seriously? My favorite character since I was a kid and that’s how you do him?
*head hits desk and I observe a moment of silence. With a deep sigh I sit up and brush a lock of hair out of my teary eyes.
I’m just going to pretend that I never read that. Even though it might turn out that everything is all right, I don’t want to risk it. In my mind he is whole and healthy with that wicked smile and killer accent. Right, mon cheri?