Author page!

I just checked in with Red Sage and saw that my author page is up! Got butterflies in my stomach when I saw it. It's really me! Or rather it's that other me, the one who writes really sexy romance and is of course slim and pretty and all those other things I've always imagined a romance writer should be. The me that is sitting on the sofa in sweat pants and a snuggie watching How much is my car worth? (until my husband changes the channel anyway) is not nearly as much fun as Jean. I think it's this other me that is struggling with my next novella, the time travel story. She keeps trying to write a serious, sad, single title romance, (with a happy ending of course) and is resisting being Jean. It's not easy being two different writers. I can't begin to imagine how Stephen King (aka Richard Bachman) or Nora Roberts (J.D. Robb) manage to keep all their selves straight. Of course, I can't imagine finishing a novel every week and a half as Nora Roberts seems to do. Does that woman ever sleep? I've tried to forgo sleep for writing, but not even the magic of coffee can compensate for the lack of dream time. Could it be the lack of awake dreaming that's causing the trouble with Chastity and her prince? I've been trying so hard to 'write' the story that I'm no longer 'dreaming' it. Writing is hard. Daydreaming on paper is much easier, and more fun. I'm going to work on Chastity's story first thing tomorrow morning. First thing being after nine hours of sleep and two cups of coffee of course. Wish me luck.  

Help!

I just read The Help. You know how some books are so good that you can't wait to get to the end and see how it all comes out? Well, this isn't one of those. This book is so good that I didn't want to rush through it. I didn't want it to end too soon because there's no telling how long it will be before I pick up another book this good. I didn't want to leave Jackson Mississippi in the 60's. I feel I've been allowed into a world I would never have known otherwise, which of course, is what all good fiction does. The maids lives were fascinating, but so were the lives of the southern white women.  When I was reading about women who spent their days telling the maid what to clean and how to care for the kids while they went off to the country club to play tennis or have lunch with their friends I couldn't help thinking about my own mother. We live on the west coast. My mother raised six children during the sixties, seventies and into the eighties. She did not have a maid. She did not even have an occasional babysitter so she could take a little time for herself. My father worked swing shift but like most men of the time period his presence meant more work for my mother rather than less. My mom did it all. When I look back on the tantrum throwing, foot stomping, hitting, screaming, crying, hair pulling, mud playing, snotty nosed little monsters we were, I can't help thinking how amazing it is that she didn't sneak out one night and forget to come back. Those spoiled southern women had no idea how lucky they were to have help. Or maybe they did. Change did not come easy.

Mean Rotten Inner Critics

Well Tine, since you brought up the subject of mean nasty inner critics who exist only to insult us and make us feel like dirt, rest assured, I have one of those too. I find that it helps to envision, and even name this woman, (or man) and then when she's standing right in front of you shaking her head and wagging her finger in your face telling you that you suck, you look her right in the eye and tell her to shut the **** up! This really does help, especially if you do it regularly, and mean it. If my critic needs placating I tell her she can speak up later, in the revision process, but only if she behaves herself. The first draft is daydreaming on paper, it's playtime and the child in us needs to be free to have fun and create without criticism. So, sit your butt in the chair, relax, and have fun!

Smooth Sailing---Not!

This week I'm on vacation from the day job (will that be paper or plastic? What? you want me to put your food in these smelly dog hair covered cloth bags? They are washable you know!) Sorry, went off on a little tangent there. Anyway, the plan was to sit around the kitchen in my jammies, drinking lots of cofee and spending hour after hour blissfully lost in my imaginary world. I should know by now that you can't plan for great writing days. They happen. Or they don't. I haven't been able to keep my butt on this stool for more than fifteen minutes at a time all week. (Unless I was checking out the blogs and websites of other rcrw members, which has been very fun.) I actually thought about cleaning my house, but thankfully I came to my senses before I started down that long tedious road. (Sorry, Honey, I know you work hard all day while I sit on my butt but if it helps any this stool is hard and my butt hurts.) As for my project of the moment, tentative title, Chastity's Prince Charming, every sentence has been a chore. Some have been downright painful. I've been very tempted to work on one of my other projects, but giving up when things get rough has been the story of my writing life. I have more 'novels in progress' than Nora Roberts has finished ones. So I've been sticking it out. Sit. Write a sentence. Get more coffee. Check E-mail. Write another sentence. Eat. Think about exercising. Eat again. And then it happened. I experienced the deliriously wonderful break through that I've been waiting for all week.  I know what's going to happen next! I'm so excited I can't wait to work on it! Just as soon as I finish this blog. And go for a walk. And eat.

The Princess in all of us

A few weeks ago I caught a few minutes of a radio talk show on the subject of popular culture, the media, and in particular, disney princess movies, and their effect on young girls. The idea was that girls are becoming far too interested in their appearance, boys, and sex at younger ages and that it has a negative infuence on their self image. One caller agreed. A second caller surprised the host with a different view of princesses. She is the mother of a three year old girl. She had the child while in an abusive relationship. She has since left the man (whew!). This woman is not worried about her daughter's love of princesses because to be a princesss means being treated like, well like a princess. I interpreted her comments this way: princess doesn't just mean wearing a pretty dress, it means being confident and beautiful and special. Princes don't put down their princesses. They don't hit them. They treat them with all the love and respect that they, and we, deserve.
My all time favorite princess just happens to be an ogre. She is beautiful on the inside. And she can belch better than any man. And who didn't enjoy watching Fiona take out Robin Hood's annoying merry men?  If you haven't seen Shrek, go rent it. Seriously.
Thanks to all who are reading and commenting. When this computer illiterate writer figures out how to comment on your comments you'll hear from me!

Ooops!

Ooops, I did it again. As Dan from my writer's group pointed out (thanks Dan) I used an ' on the end of Demons when it is not a possessive. I really do know the rules but it seems I do this a lot, and often miss it when editing. Does anyone else have one of these annoying little bad habits? How do you/we overcome it? Maybe it's demons. Those pesky little buggers are always cropping up and causing me trouble!

Jean Paradis

Demon's are one of the hottest trends in romance fiction right now. They are right up there with vamps and werewolves. I've never been particularly attracted to fangs or fur, and the whole blood sucking thing just doesn't do anything for me. I mean, have you ever tasted blood? Ick. But the demon thing, well that one has me intrigued. I've always had a thing for bad boys and what is badder than a demon? So when one showed up in my rather warped imagination I quickly made him the hero in one of my current stories. (I always work on more than one story at once and have six erotic romances in progress, not including Betty Being Bad, which is set to be released with Red Sage in June.)
Because of my sudden interest in Demons I was naturally excited when, on Christmas, a book called How to cast out demons (a beginners guide) showed up in our family's white elephant gift exchange. I stole it from my niece who then, to my dismay, stole it back. Lucky for me, at a recent family gathering my niece's mother secretly gave it to me. I opened it full of enthusiam, sure that I would get useful information on the world of Demons. Turns out, it is not quite what I was expecting. This book is absolutely terrifying. Written by an Evangelical Christian it explains all the ways that demons can infiltrate our minds and how we can keep them out. Entering any church other than the evangelical one is really dangerous, for example, and one must say a cleansing prayer first. Education also puts one at greater risk. If you go to college you might get all kinds of strange ideas that go against the church's beliefs leading you away from salvation and into sin. My personal favorite involves those who were born out of wedlock. Being conceived 'in lust' can cause one to have problems with lust later in life. I really feel sympathy for all those married evangelicals who manage to concieve children without any lust being involved. I think I'll stick with fictional demons, they're much more fun.