Hooked On Romance

Normally the Fall brings with it cold weather, changing leaves, and a whole lot of planning for holiday events. For writers, it's about getting all your deadlines finished and sent off before the industry closes for the holidays. It's no fun having to wait three months for responses so there should be an influx of submissions going to editors about this time. That's not to say that they aren't bombarded anyway, but this time of year is notorious for last minute queries so you're added to the 'waiting' queue.

I've been busy re-writing my paranormal proposal. It is rather challenging, however, I do have a reason to celebrate. I recently sold my short contemporary to Amber Quill Press, I've already gotten a January 2010 release. So on top of priority writing deadlines, I've got to promo my butt off in order to prepare for the January release. That's just the tip of the iceberg for writers. It's a constant rotation that a writer has to expect in order to stay in the game. It certainly seems like there are a lot of writers out there, but there's room enough for everyone...well, that's what I believe, anyway.

I can't begin to tell you how frustrating it is to be on a schedule. I've been pretty lenient on myself until recently. Even authors have their bad months and mine seemed to have lasted for several--but now that I've got my head back on straight, I realized how far behind I really am. Hopefully this time next week I'll be bragging about meeting my own personal deadlines...

Hopefully you've all had a great Halloween. Mine was a quiet evening snuggled up under the blankets while watching "Ice Age 3". It was a great way to celebrate without having to weather the cold. :)

Now it's time to get back to commitments. Fun.

I'm sure you're expecting Abi but she's in bed with the FLU which has been going around. Last week I caught something and luckily it wasn't nearly as bad but I guess I'm doing a double blog post this week.

What shall we talk about? (Since I was suddenly asked to be a replacement)

I've been worldbuilding because that's what you do when you write paranormals. Unfortunately, I was so smug about creating such an amazing universe that I tend to get consumed by it. As I was working on my proposal...which is taking much to long...I realized that my overactive imagination may be the reason why I'm having so much difficulties writing it. As a writer, we are filled with details and it's about how much we want to reveal to the readers to keep them hooked. While I was so eager to expand on this world, I forgot that readers want to be whisked away, not bogged down with too much story. That got me thinking--instead of investing so much on ideas that would bore folks, I need to focus on things that should matter the most in a romance: Emotion. Relationship. Love.

Because I spent most of my life writing screenplays, I'm very visual in my head. It's a positive and a negative when it comes to writing. The positive is that I am pretty decent at dialogue, the negative is that I tend to go over the top. Writing books is a different level of writing all together. You have to make things simple, yet every single word has got to count. Readers want to invest in the characters, they want the jarring emotion, they want the intensity of the relationship...but they also want to be able to read a story that makes sense. Sounds easy, right? WRONG. Simple isn't easy. Simple is complex in its own way and the challenge has really gotten me to think outside the box. Well, the epiphany came just in time but the downside of understanding is me having to re-write all these chapters to fit the new story mold I've created.

Fun, fun, fun. I get to start over from page one again.

If you're sick, I feel for you. Been there and finally recovered.

If you're well, you need to write! What's your excuse?

I normally love cold season just because I can pull up my boots, wrap myself in the plush scarf and don my knit hat to complete the full fall/winter attire. Living in LA, when the weather dropped to 60, you'd see all the women ready for the winter to parade the latest fashion. Unfortunately, when I'm talking about 'cold season'--I'm really talking about being laid up in bed with runny nose, stuffy head, coughing, and downing cold meds like it's candy. I totally lost track of life. I even missed last Monday because I was down with the icks. Today, I'm just behind schedule because I found myself trying to catch up with my workload. Clients aren't necessarily happy when you aren't working on their projects so I had to cram a weeks worth of work into a weekend.

The only good thing that came out of being sick was catching up on tv. I don't watch the tube when I'm working and I tend to become overly obsessive. It's easy for the day to disappear and I'm wondering what day it is. Now that things are starting to ease up, I can feel a bit of breathing room. Unfortunately I'm going to have to start up on my writing projects that I've managed to neglect. I'm really excited about the current WIP because when you're writing paranormals it's always a good thing to have a breakthrough...thankfully, I had one and now I'm ready to start back up.

Hopefully next week I'll an entertaining topic--but for today, I thought I'd pop in to give you the 411 on my life....yes--even writer's have to deal with real life. :P

Seems like the recession isn't just affecting the bottom line--it's also affecting our minds and the way we view everything in our lives. Of course, for me, I've been teetering on the edge...well, I've been going through a transition for a while and with this strange lull, I'm realizing my goals have changed. It's been kind of stagnant when it comes to my projects and writing schedule but I am going to change all that. I've decided that I need to become more proactive so I'm going to crack the whip on myself!

Next week I'll be in Florida to take care of my mother who's getting knee replacement surgery. While I'm there for almost the entire month, I've made it a mission to write my butt off. There shouldn't be any distractions while I'm at the hospital. Basically I'll be living there, so I won't have any excuse except to write!

It's time to build and strengthen my career so I'm going to totally unleashing all the weeks of stifled creativity. After all, my book isn't going to write itself! I'm going to have to reach deep down in my soul and produce something spectacular. Time to make things happen and--at least at the end of the day--I'll finally feel like an author again...

First off, Congratulations Caffey on winning an eBook of Sunswept! Please let me know where to get it to you...email jaxcassidy@gmail.com. Thanks everyone who commented on Thursday!


...I promise to write something fascinating next week. It's been a crazy month and a half...including a part-time job (that isn't so part-time), conference, and more heavy work hours until Friday.

I finally got a day off but spent most of the day sleeping. Just woke up with the realization that it's my blog day. LOL

I don't know about you but I've discovered I'm a reality show junkie. The past two years I've been watching: So You Think You Can Dance, Top Chef, Hell's Kitchen, Next Food Network Star...and this year I added HGTV Design Star, The Fashion Show, and Chopped. I suppose when you can TiVo or come home late enough from work, you can still catch these episodes. I've started watching some things online.

I can imagine trying out for a few of those shows but when it comes down to it, I don't think I'd want to make a fool of myself on national tv. :) Perhaps these shows are filling the void of lack of time...I know my agent would be shaking her finger at me right now. No worries, I'll be tackling my paranormal proposal next week when I finally have the time. Life's too short to not have a breather...in the meantime, these indulgences is what keeps me sane!

It's another work week and there's plenty of cool things going on ...

1. Two members of Romance Divas, Bria Quinlan and Mel Berthier, created EXCERPT MONDAYS ... and I'm participating! One Monday a month, aspiring and published authors will post an excerpt of their projects, either published or work in progress (WIP) for readers to view and comment. It's a great way to showcase authors you've never read or authors you might want to keep an eye on for when they do publish. There's different genres and heat level ratings to choose from. This is my first time participating so I'm hoping that I'll have enough excerpts to provide in the coming months!

2. I had a contest at the Parker Publishing blog in which I challenged authors to do a collage. Cate Hart took me up on that challenge and created an awesome collage of her current WIP. Thanks for sharing and for being a good sport!

3. If you've got teen and teenage girls, my friend Eva Gale directed me to a very cool site to keep her children busy. Polyvore helps teens to express their style by allowing them to virtually mix & match products from favorite stores. You'll find samples of those who participated and some of the stuff is brilliant and soooo creative!

4. I started watching television this year and I've gotten hooked on Castle and Dollhouse ... and I've heard both shows were on the the chopping block, but there are plenty of folks willing to campaign to save the shows. Just click on the links and you'll find details on the campaigns. Twitter has had a big impact and it seems the voices of viewers are making a difference. :) -- You got me! I'm on twitter so if you have an account and care to join me, you can go to: http://twitter.com/jaxcassidy. Maybe I'll get around to designing my twitter page, right now it's a generic template...must add to list.

5. Finally: What are your goals this week? I've got to finish a short story that I should have done last week but was in a funk. This week I'm ready to be productive and kicking butt! Grrrrrr. Now who's with me?! Let's make you accountable. Tell me what your goal is and by Friday, I'll be bugging you all about meeting that goal. Yes, I'm throwing out the challenge!