Finish the Book!

For the past several weeks I have been working on finishing a non-fiction book with a writing partner while also working on several fiction projects.  Finally my sister (who is perhaps my best and worst critic) asked me directly, "When are you ever going to finish something?"

Excellent question. It got me to thinking, why is it so hard to finish a project? That was never an

issue in the past. Of course, when you just got two new cats who seem to demand constant attention, it can be harder than you might think. Last week one of them stretched out on the keyboard of my computer and refused to budge. Okay, they should be easy to lift, but then they start to squirm and suddenly everything you've typed into the keyboard disappears with the step of one soft little paw!

This week she wrapped herself up in a curtain cord and had to be rescued from her hanging position.

Why did it used to be so easy?  Well, of course it wasn't, but when you work as a daily television news producer or executive producer, your work has to be finished every day. For years I knew that my deadline was 4pm, 5pm or 11pm. My broadcast was going on the air with or without me. I had to make certain it was with me. I had to have everything ready to go for that next hour or half hour or there would be dead air. There could never be dead air so I had to produce something! Of course I had lots of people working with me, but they had that same deadline. Together we all had to have our stories written, our work done or it wasn't going to get seen.

Writing a book is a whole different animal, and I'm not talking cats now, but the end result is the same. If I don't finish a book, it is never going to be read. I can re-read and re-edit over and over, but my readers are never going to see my work. Just like my sister, they may be asking when will you finish the book?

As writers we all need to keep that in mind. Our work will not be seen until it is finished. I've worked with critique partners who wanted to keep perfecting things but in the end they simply took the vibrancy out of the story.  Sooner or later there has to be an ending.

How do you decide your are getting there?

1. Look back at your story. What was the original goal of the main characters? Have they met it or have you just been meandering and not bothered to keep building the tension toward getting to that final goal.

2. Look at your characters. Have they been learning? Have they been growing? Are they about ready to tackle that final issue to get their happy (or unhappy) ending?

 If you've just been going around in plot circles, it may be about time to start looking for how you are going to finish the story.

3. Study your opening pages. What did you set out to do in the beginning? Have you taken the proper steps toward getting there? Maybe you veered off in the wrong direction some place and all it will take is coming back to the original premise to get your characters back on the right track.

4. Read over the middle part of your book. Are all the scenes necessary? Are there some that need to be beefed up to get toward your ending? Are there some that you put in thinking you wanted to go in a certain direction and then never went there. Get rid of them!

5. Have you put in too much backstory? Is the middle of the book so heavy simply because you kept explaining issues that didn't need to be in the book?

6. Finally, look again at how you want to end the story. Did you have an idea of how you wanted it to end or was it too vague?  If you were never quite sure, maybe it's time to decide that definitive ending then start taking those steps to get there.

7. If you're working on a sequel, as I am on the moment -- working on the second part of my Dead Man series, re-read parts of the first book to get an idea for why you wanted to write a series in the first place. Get to know the characters and situations again to make certain you're heading in the right direction.

It's like taking a long walk. You can look up or down the hill and decide at the beginning whether you want to take the longer version and see all the sights or the shorter version that might leave you breathless. Which direciton do you want to take? Decide and then start aiming for it. Wandering all the paths along the way is only going to get you lost and tired.

8. Finally, make your decision on the ending and then and head for it! Make it direct and push forward until you get there.  (and hope you don't run into cats stuck in a new predicament along the way)

Now it's back to work to finish my next book. If you would like to check out the first part in the series, Dead Man's Rules is available at Amazon.

Tackling A November Writing Project

For the past six years November has been a very busy month for me because I've tackled NaNoWriMo -- National Novel Writing month. It is a time when thousands of other writers also tackle the prospect of writing a book during the month of November. Local groups sponsor write-ins and we all post our daily word count to the website every day. We sit in a coffee shop or at times there have been groups who get together in conference rooms during their lunch hour to work on their stories.

What I've found about NaNoWriMo is that it has been a great way to get new work started. If there is a project I've wanted to get going on, NaNo is a good place to begin. The words begin to pile up and by the end of the month, even if I haven't made my 50-thoussand words I've gotten a good start and I can continue even after the month ends. There have also been Camp NaNo projects in July and during other months of the year.  Why do NaNoWriMo or a writing related project like this?

1. It's a good way to focus on ONE story. This month I have chosen to begin a book I've been planning to write. Don't we all get into that habit of saying, "I want to write this book," but then we don't do it? NaNo gets me focused with that project so I have to construct at least a basic idea to get started.

2. It establishes or re-establishes a daily writing routine.  Too often we find many reasons or excuses NOT to write. With a NaNo word count staring me down every day, I know I need to start writing at a certain time and keep at it until I reach my daily goal or I may fall off and have to make up time later. Keeping that daily routine works and it has carried over many times for several months -- long enough to get this book either close to finished or finished and ready to work on a new project.

3. There are others who are going through the same process. Again, in a big city it's easy to find other

nano groups that are doing write ins and sitting in a coffee shop or library where we are all trying to achieve the same goal is invigorating. It's nice to know we are all having to struggle. And at times we wit and have coffee after our writing time and talk about our work. That can be helpful too by sharing plotting woes and getting character ideas. It's an opportunity to socialize with other writers that might not normally be there. I did my first NaNoWriMo when I was tackling my sweet romance, Home Fires Burning, and the suggestions some writers gave me ended up in the plot for the book.

4. There is encouragement from the group. Just like sharing with others, I get to hear how others are suffering and can add encouragement to them for their writing. They do the same with me, and their problems always sound a lot worse than my simple statement that today I don't feel like writing. They might have children or families interrupting them. I simply have two rambunctious kittens begging for attention that disrupts my writing progress this year. But even their antics get me back to writing.

5. All those words will be written. No matter how you look at it, participating in NaNoWriMo gets a lot more done than I probably would have in other times. Then too often I'll stop and start over because something doesn't sound just right. Working to get a word count done means I have to keep going and know I'll have to come back later. I don't stop and take the time now. My goal is to get that word count up so I have to move along rather than spend an hour contemplating one minor plot point.

Good luck to all the other NaNoWriMo writers out there. Hopefully we will get through our projects and next year we can be starting on something new!

A Halloween Treat

This is the perfect day to visit other worlds and that's what we're doing in My Writing Corner today.  M. S. Spencer is my guest and she is bringing us a tale from a unique realm that can get us into the mood for dark tales, but most of all,romance. Her latest book is Orion’s Foot and it just released this week.

Although M. S. Spencer has lived or traveled in five of the seven continents, the last thirty years were spent mostly in Washington, D.C. as a librarian, speechwriter, literary editor, professional staff at a U. S. Senate committee and at the Dept. of the Interior, non-profit director, and parent. She holds a BA from Vassar College, a diploma in Arabic Studies from the American University in Cairo, and Masters in Anthropology and in Library Science from the University of Chicago.  All of this tends to insinuate itself into her works.

Ms. Spencer has published thirteen romantic suspense or murder mystery novels, with two more on the way. She has two fabulous grown children and an incredible granddaughter. She divides her time between the Gulf Coast of Florida and a tiny village in Maine.

Here's what she has to tell us about the origins of Orion's Foot.

Most people have never heard the word “cryptid” and indeed, Petra Steele, heroine of Orion’s Foot: Myth, Mystery, and Romance in the Amazon, learns of the name for legendary animals for the first time when she’s researching the Mapinguari, a supposedly mythical Bigfoot-like beast rumored to live in the Amazonian rainforest. A cryptid can be any of the following:

Ø  A creature from myth and legend

Ø  A supernatural or paranormal entity

Ø  An extinct animal who may still inhabit a specific area

Ø  An animal found in an area it doesn’t normally inhabit

Ø  An animal of an unusual size or appearance

Ø  An animal that doesn't resemble any known species

Ø  A hoax—stuffed, photoshopped, false accounts

 

The Mapinguari, which the team of scientists have come to find, is a beast who lives in the forests of the Peruvian Amazon. It is huge and hairy and has a hole in its stomach, into which it sucks unwary villagers.  It resembles creatures found in other parts of the world—Bigfoot, the Yeti, Sasquatch. It is NOT nice, as our heroine Petra Steele, and her hero Emory Andrews, discover to their chagrin.

 

Now let's hear about the book and meet the hero and heroine.

Petra Steele is wallowing in self-pity after being dumped at the altar, when her brother Nick invites her to come to the Peruvian Amazon. Before she even sets her suitcase down, she's confronted with a murder victim. In a research station peopled with a quirky assortment of scientists, she is drawn to Emory Andrews, a gruff, big man with a secret past. That is, until his beautiful ex-wife shows up. More murders, more secrets, more mysteries ensue, all in the deeply romantic, sizzling jungle.

Petra

What made you decide to take this trip with Nick?

Good question. I’m not much into travel—except for the armchair variety. Both my father and brother Nick despaired of me ever leaving my beloved library (I’m a research librarian at the University of Chicago). I’d actually sent for a brochure on the Galapagos and was girding my loins to go, when Nick called and demanded I drop everything and meet him in the Amazon. He said they’d discovered something momentous. Huh. Maybe it was the free ticket; maybe it was the mystery. At any rate, I jumped a plane and three days later landed deep in the sizzling, romantic jungle. Good idea or bad? Find out in Orion’s Foot!

What is your first impression of Emory?

I wrote this in my diary my first day—the scientists are having lunch after they’d discovered the corpse of one of their own, his body ravaged by piranhas. The cook serves ceviche—made from piranha. Emory makes a joke.

Emory has a sense of humor—macabre though it may be. I watched him eat. He seemed to savor every bite, as though he’d missed too many meals and appreciated the ones he had time for. He sipped the beer rather than gulping it down like the rest of the guys. At one point, he put down his fork and rubbed his lip pensively. I wondered if he were contemplating their next steps. I thought to myself, Didn’t Nick say everyone looked to him as the leader? I dredged up the study of physiognomy I’d been reading during my last bout with the flu. Strong chin—thank God, no dimple. Tendrils of dark hair almost hid his widow’s peak. Let’s see—widow’s peak means intelligence and breeding. Strong chin? Either perseverance or obstinacy.

So, let’s say I was intrigued but, given my past with men, not really thinking beyond that.

What do you fear about him?

That he’ll leave me like all the men before him. George—he was the last. Let me tell you about George:

“Three years in which her career stalled while she followed him around the world. She made every sacrifice required, tolerated his workaholic habits, kept any disagreement to herself to avoid his explosive temper, saw any chance of children slip away. And for what? She remembered vividly the upturned faces of her family sitting in the front pew, still heard the music start up for the fifth time. Suffered again through the sympathetic expression on Reverend Drudge’s face as he handed her the note. Never again.”

I swore off men and plunged into work. Emory has secrets. I don’t yet know what they are and I can’t risk being hurt again. Besides, I really don’t think I have it in me to make another windmill tilt at love.

Emory

What do you like best about your current life?

Well, I’m not all that happy, to be honest. See, I had some academic issues, and now find myself roving the world looking for guest lecturer positions. I jumped at this grant to go the Amazon, thinking I might discover a new bird species. Instead, I found an intriguing woman, and a great hairy beast. Things could be looking up.

What attracts you to Petra?

Let me tell you what I told her:

“You have a generous soul…I can see it in your eyes. You didn’t know Lewis, but you looked more sad than frightened when you saw his body. You always make eye contact with everyone, even the skittish little Capac. The monkeys adore you almost as much as they do John.”…

“Of course, having chestnut hair cut in a fetching gamine style, not to mention eyes the color of the Hope diamond, doesn’t detract from the generally pleasing impression.” He stood up and touched her forehead. “The slender body—graceful but trim—the elfin little ears, and the perky butt, also contributed to my positive assessment.”

Too much? She seemed to appreciate it.

Excerpt: 

They went back down the path they’d come, surveying the ground and vegetation for any trace of a large animal. They had reached the mahogany tree when Petra checked her watch. “Winston’s been gone half an hour. Maybe we should—” Her words were cut off by a low snarl. “Emory? Is that you?” She whirled around. “Where are you?”

For answer, the growl grew deeper and more menacing. Sounds like a gorilla—but they don’t live here, do they? She whispered, “Emory?”

“Shh.” She looked up. Emory clung to a low branch of the mahogany tree. He held a hand out. “Quickly.”

She grabbed a liana, hoping fervently it wasn’t a Strychnos vine, and scrambled up. The growl came again, closer. They climbed higher. Something crashed through the woods, puffing. Whatever it was entered the clearing, and the noise stopped. Petra held her breath and Emory’s hand. It must be looking for us. After a lengthy pause that left her feeling chilled to the bone in the torrid heat, the puffing started again, gradually diminishing into the distance. She waited five more minutes to be sure it was gone before whispering, “Did you get a look at it?”

“No, the foliage was in the way, but it sounded awfully big. And grouchy. I’m going to—” As he started to climb down, a twig snapped below them. They froze.

Something’s being dragged through the underbrush.

Want to read on? Here are the Buy Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Orions-Foot-Mystery-Romance-Amazon-ebook/dp/B07XBHMZYP/

 Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/orions-foot-m-s-spencer/1133411467?ean=2940160900438

 ITunes: https://books.apple.com/us/book/orions-foot-myth-mystery-and-romance-in-the-amazon/id1478581164

  

Social Media Links:

Blog: https://msspencertalespinner.blogspot.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/msspencerromance

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/msspencerauthor

GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com/msspencer
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/msspencerauthor/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msspencerauthor/

Linked in: www.linkedin.com/in/msspencerauthor

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/m-s-spencer

Thank you, Melissa, for being my guest today.

Real Life, Real Love, Real Romance!

Real life love stories only make reading romance novels more appealing, and that is what we get today from author Judith Sterling.  Her newest book, Night of the Owl, has just been released and she is my guest today. Here's what she had to say about it: 

The hero and heroine’s mutual love of history reflects my husband’s and mine. You might say history brought us together because right around the same time, each of us decided independently to move from different parts of the country to Virginia, specifically to seek work at Colonial Williamsburg.  There’s a lot of both of us in Night of the Owl.  That’s why the book’s release date is perfect; it’s our 19^th wedding anniversary!

Judith Sterling is an award-winning author whose love of history and passion for the paranormal infuse everything she writes. Whether penning medieval romance (The Novels of Ravenwood) or young adult paranormal fantasy (the Guardians of Erin series), her favorite themes include true love, destiny, time travel, healing, redemption, and finding the hidden magic which exists all around us. She says she loves to share that magic with readers and whisk them far away from their troubles, particularly to locations in the British Isles.  It sounds like her latest book will do just that to readers. Let's learn more about Night of the Owl:

PhD student Ardyth Nightshade has renounced men and pursues her twentieth-century career with single-minded focus. When fate whisks her to medieval England, she meets her match in a man whose passions mirror her own. Can she sacrifice ambition for a love she never sought?

Hugh, Lord Seacrest confounds all who know him. He refuses to marry without a meeting of minds and hearts, and no lady has even approached his ideal…until Ardyth. But she's an odd one, with unique skills, shocking habits, and total conviction she needs no man. She also harbors secrets, and in the midst of rumors, plots, and murder, trust is fragile.


A woman outside of her time. A man ahead of his. They must take a leap of faith to forge a bond that will shape history.

Judith writes more than fiction. Her nonfiction books, written under Judith Marshall, have been translated into multiple languages. She has an MA in linguistics and a BA in history, with a minor in British Studies. Born in that sauna called Florida, she craved cooler climes, and once the travel bug bit, she lived in England, Scotland, Sweden, Wisconsin, Virginia, and on the island of Nantucket. She currently lives in Salem, Massachusetts with her husband and their identical twin sons.

Here are the buy links:

Amazon https://www.amzn.com/B07YCX3R2B

Amazon UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/Night-Owl-Novels-Ravenwood-Book-ebook/dp/B07YCX3R2B

Amazon CA https://www.amazon.ca/Night-Owl-Novels-Ravenwood-Book-ebook/dp/B07YCX3R2B

Amazon AU https://www.amazon.com.au/Night-Owl-Novels-Ravenwood-Book-ebook/dp/B07YCX3R2B

Barnes and Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/night-of-the-owl-judith-sterling/1133653973

 Here's how to get in touch with Judith and to find out about all her books:

Social Media Links

Website – https://judithmarshallauthor.com/

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/judithsterlingfiction/

Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16291161.Judith_Sterling

BookBub –  https://www.bookbub.com/authors/judith-sterling

Amazon – https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B01MT3KB7L

The Wild Rose Press – https://www.thewildrosepress.com/authors/judith-sterling

The Captivating Quill – https://www.thecaptivatingquill.com/Author/Judith-Sterling



Thank you, Judith, for being my guest today.  Any questions for Judith?

A Romantic Surprise

There is something irresistible about romances featuring cowboys. Don't we all love to read them?  I've been hooked on cowboy romances since I first started enjoying romance novels many years ago. As a result I'm always looking for new books that feature them and always on the lookout for a new author to enjoy.

 This week My Writing Corner features a new cowboy romance: The Cowboy's Twin Surprise by K. T. Byington, and it sounds like the perfect book for those cooling afternoons and evenings when all you want to do is curl up with a book.

When a little surprise changes her life, Jessie McKinnon has less than nine months to figure it out. A job at Chase Tanner’s ranch seems like a good short-term fix until she can get herself settled elsewhere, hopefully before she even begins to show.


Left to care for his abandoned twin baby nieces, Chase can’t believe his luck when Jessie offers hope of reining in the chaos his life has become. There’s only one problem—the feisty redhead from his past has the potential to break his heart all over again.

K. T.   has worked as a legal assistant and  probate paralegal. She tells us that she  enjoys beach vacations, a cup of tea on a wintry day and she loves holiday movies all year long. Now that sounds like a great  combination.





When she's not writing, she says,  she enjoys  spending time with her family, relaxing in her backyard at home or  frequenting favorite restaurants.

Want more? Here's an excerpt!

EXCERPT
From the back, she thought it could be him. His usual cowboy hat was missing, but the long, lean frame, dark hair, faded jeans, and scuffed boots with bits of mud clinging to them easily fit her memory. Typical Chase Tanner. But there was something—no, two things—making it very unlikely. Namely, a little girl with blonde curls peeking over his left shoulder and a second fair-haired cutie clinging to his leg who appeared to be mere moments away from a full-fledged meltdown. Twins, barely old enough to walk.
No way would the fella she grew up with have allowed himself to be found in a situation like this. He was not the marrying kind, much less a family man. Whoever this guy was, buried in domestic responsibility, he could not be the man she remembered. Besides, why would a fourth-generation Montana rancher be standing in the middle of the local employment agency on a freezing January morning when there must be cattle, horses, and a million other things to tend to back at the homestead?

If you would like to read on, here  are the buy links and how to get in touch with K. T.

The Cowboy's Twin Surprise|NOOK Book

https://www.amazon.com/Cowboys-Twin-Surprise-Boots-Babies-ebook/dp/B07X3SN3DG

Contact information:

Email:  ktbyington.author@yahoo.com

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/AuthorByington  (I'm just getting started!)

Amazon Author Central:  https://www.amazon.com/author/ktbyington

Thank you K. T. for being my guest. 

A Lesson from The Past

Do you have old stories just waiting to be told?  Those wonderful characters you designed on neat pages of character forms, or those great plots on note cards that are all sitting inside your desk drawer?

Or what about old story ideas? As writers, aren't we getting them all the time? What do you do with them? I have a whole file.  Back when I worked in a newsroom I was always running across crazy stories... either in a newspaper or on the old Associated Press or UPI wire machines and I made a practice of keeping a file in my desk drawer just for them.  Why?  Not because we were ever going to do a news story on them -- some of them were international, but just to be able to re-read them and laugh again at the human condition or think about what kind of a fiction story might result from an incident.

Let's face it: We all love unique and great stories -- old and new -- not only non fiction, but the fictional stories we start writing and never finish. Sometimes it's enjoyable to get out those old works and re-read them. If nothing else, they can show you how far you've come! Recently when we were cleaning up the basement I ran across one of the first old manuscripts I began writing some 40 years ago while I was still in college.

 The typing paper is yellowing, and there are plenty of typos because I  didn't even have white out back then.

 What do you do with an old manuscript?  Don’t we all have them?  Some, we started years ago and just lost interest. Or maybe the story was going no where or we weren’t connecting with the characters. Whatever the reason, we just gave up on the story and let it go. 

But there it was – still in its own individual folder, the pages yellowed with age, the print from an old Smith Corona typewriter I got in college.


What to do with it? I knew immediately I couldn't throw it away.  Who knew what might be in those pages? Maybe there were pearls of wisdom I wrote back then.

The funny thing about the story is that while it was never published it did set the stage for my book Dead Man’s Rules.  This was the original story behind it. My first temptation was to go through and put this one into the computer and see if I could get it published as sort of a prequel.


But then I began to go through it.  What I really discovered was just how much I had developed

 as a fiction writer. Okay, so yes there were the obvious typos that couldn’t be fixed with a couple of key strokes back then. Instead of clean copy that gets printed now, I had lots of pages with xxxx on them.


But the story itself wasn’t bad. At least the plot wasn’t. I found myself caught up in the problem of a woman who discovered she had married the wrong man. Actually as I read through it, I found myself surprised at the story, but also cringing at the mistakes and problem areas – things like She smiled followed four lines later by He smiled. Such smily people!

Then, of course, there were the obvious punctuation mistakes and all those little things that I was to learn later in writing and editing classes.

What I came away with from this experience is that we can develop our voice and make it clearer and better and we can become better at dealing with the editing and the word choices.  The need to write, though, stays and we shouldn’t ignore it.  We should be ready to pick up that pen and paper or sit down at the keyboard and write when we get the urge.  


And we also need to keep learning.  There were so many lessons that followed those early pages that I have taken to heart and so much of what I see in those pages as compared to my current pages only illustrates that.  If you want to be a writer, go for it! Just like any other choice, make the one that works for you, and if you want to write, do it!  The mechanics can be learned. The writer’s touch doesn’t go away.  The need to write only becomes more urgent.


I’m not certain what I’m going to do with this old story. What I also discovered when going through it is that the first 60 pages from it are missing. Who knows where they went!  

I do know I’m going to re-read it all though again – not just to see how far I’ve come, but because I might it will give me more ideas for the future. And not only that... but I kind of enjoyed that story. I do remember that.