Writing progress

Things are going well on the writing front. My biggest challenge right now is pulling my nose out of other people's books and work on my own. It's hard to stop reading though because with each book I read, I feel like it makes me a stronger writer. If that makes any sense.

This weekend I'm going on a beach retreat with the Mid-Willamette Valley RWA. I'm looking forward to it. I think we'll be doing something called a story board and we'll all pitch in brainstorming for everyone's manuscripts. I could use a few ideas to keep the ball rolling.

I also busted out The Plot Doctor workbook. I used it when I did NaNoWriMo. It will probably help me again now that I'm redoing the NaNo MS. I highly recommend this workbook to anyone who's a plotter and outliner before doing a lot of writing. There are some great worksheets in there to get the juices rolling for building characters, scenes and conflict.

Hopefully I'll come back from the beach on Sunday with my whole novel, maybe part of the series, fully outlined and planned out. Fingers crossed! All I need is my writing binder and Alphasmart 3000 baby! Oh yeah, and clean underwear.

Book review: Sookie Stackhouse series

I had never planned to read these books. I was reading the author roster for a series of vampire-themed workshops at the upcoming Romantic Times convention (that I hope to go to) and decided that maybe I would get more out of the workshops if I read the books by the presenting authors.

I'm very glad I made that decision because I love this series. The direction that many books take that vampirism is legal now is very interesting and appealing to me. It was something I hadn't really thought of before and it has opened a whole new group of ideas to me.

Charlaine Harris has done a fantastic job with the relationships, especially balancing them. If someone was telling me that a series of books existed where the heroine bounces back and forth between several boyfriends, I would have thought the heroine was a slut and I wouldn't want to read the book. But Sookie doesn't come off like a slut at all, to me at least. She doesn't date just anyone, all the guys she has dated have been special to her. And there's only a few sex scenes, most of the time she just alludes to the fact it happened.

I also love how they are all different. Bill is the quiet guy with the silent mind that she likes. Eric is boysterous, obnoxious, but straight-forward. Alcede (sp?) is the perfect Southern boyfriend that would fit in right at home.

I keep changing my mind of which guy I hope she ends up with. It's a toss-up between Alcede and Eric with amnesia. I'm not a big fan of Bill, I mean I like it when he's in the story but I hope she doesn't end up with him. Oh yeah, or Sam. He's cool too.

Charlaine has also done a great job with believability. These books are full of supernatural stuff, but I buy all of it. I can imagine living in this world. She does well in tying up loose ends and things stay consistend throughout the series, like Sookie's gift.

All in all a great series and I recommend it! You may think I'm crazy because all these book reviews are positive ones, but since I began reading romances, I haven't found one I haven't liked. I know the day will come, but I'm enjoying the streak so far.

Coming soon: Mary Janice Davidson's Undead series and Michelle Rowen's Bitten & Smitten.

Book review: Anita Blake series (up to Obsidian Butterfly)

I've decided to try something useful with my journal, reviewing the books that have eaten my life for the past month or two. You may not want to read these if you are the type who don't want to know anything about the books before you read them. Those like me who read the last chapter of a book before beginning it, I encourage you to read on.

I'll start with the Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton. I'm up to Obsidian Butterfly. Thanks to the Science Fiction Book Club, I've got all the books through Narcissus In Chains in four nifty volumes. This will seem scattered and random because I'll be talking about 10 books or so, but it's my journal and I'll do what I want to. :-)

The more I read the series, the more I grow fond of it. I've enjoyed all of the books, but it began as a like and is now a love. LKH has done a great job with the characters. I find myself thinking about things that could or have happened in the series and saying "Jean Claude wouldn't do that" or "Richard wouln't say that." But how the hell would I know? I'm not the author. Wrong. LKH is so strong with her characterization that the reader can easily get to know the characters and imagine what they would do.

I would like to say that I love Jean Claude - his ego, his sexiness, his control, everything. I hope Anita ends up with him. I like Richard, but he seems like such a pansy-ass sometimes. Part of me hopes he finds a new lupa and leaves Anita alone, but I don't want her to lose connection with the pack.

Some of my favorite scenes have been Anita's interaction with the weres, especially in the couple of books before Incubus Dreams. It shows the growth within herself and trust of others. I really like her recent interactions with Jason.

I'm only about 100 pages into Obsidian Butterfly, just past Edward admitting that he has feelings for the family he's living with. I'm thrilled that LKH did an Edward book. Of course I had to read the last few pages before beginning the book and I am pleased.

She has done a fantastic job building Edward as a character. I love him, I think he's my favorite. He's so predictible in a I'm-so-scared-I'm-going-to-shit-my-pants sort of way. I am rather anxious to see who Anita bangs in this book, I'm thinking it's the detective.

I've read on message boards that Anita starts sleeping with many more men in later books. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I guess I'll see when I read them. But I think she should choose Jean Claude.

You may want to know why I learn what happens in a series before I finish it - well, I don't like surprises. I'm the same person who goes to ruinedendings.com before I see a movie that looks like it will be sad.

I'll also be sharing my thoughts on a few other series that I've read in the next couple of days. I would love to hear anyone else's thoughts on these books. Maybe if we begin a dialogue about books I'll feel smart. :-)

Lots of progress

I restarted my novel last week. After only a few hours I'm up to about 10,000 words according to Microsoft Word's counter. Using the 25 lines/page method I'm up to about 12,000 words so far. Things are going pretty smooth. I'm much happier with the characters, setting and dialogue now.
I even have the next few books mapped out in the series so I can get started on the second one while I'm pitching the first one. I also have an idea for a contemporary that I'm anxious to work on.

The biggest surprise was that I'm writing the story in 1st person. I hadn't planned on it, it just seems that it will work better that way. Especially since it's going to be a multi-book series.

I have to also say thanks to the person who helped me with ideas for the books. You're fantastic!

Back on the wagon

I've been on somewhat of a hiatus since NaNoWriMo. Once I hit 50k and really started trying to figure out where my story was going, I ran into a brick wall. There wasn't enough conflict, the characters weren't what I wanted them to be, etc.

So I decided to read as much paranormal romance as I could as fast as possible. I joined three book clubs and got a ton of books for really, really, really cheap. I read the Sookie Stackhouse series, Undead series, half of the Anita Blake series, part of the Dark series, and some other random books.

It was the best thing I could have done. I broke some of the barriers I had set up for myself and what my characters could and should be. I also got more ideas of how to lay out a book. And the thought never crossed my mind that I could have the same main characters go through several books, which is what I've decided to do.

I really liked how the Undead, Sookie and Anita series have done that. So having read about 20 books in the past month, I feel like I'm ready to begin writing again. So I have!

I decided to start over on my NaNoWriMo novel. Instead of it taking place in Scotland, it's taking place in Portland, Oregon where I'm from. Knowing the area will help me with my first book I think.

I also decided that the heroine will be more on the spunky side. She seemed boring in my first attempt, but now I'm enjoying her.

So now I'm off, again, to finish my first manuscript. I'm feeling more confident and jazzed about it than the first time.

The only thing left is for me to take a couple of books I really liked and go through them to make a plot outline. That should help me plan my own book and make sure it flows fast enough for publishing standards.

My goal is still to have the manuscript prepared by the RT convention in May. I hoped, and planned, to go to it but I don't think it's going to happen. Disapointing, but such is life.

Back in the saddle folks, wish me luck!