Shana, I feel your pain. I do want to write… just not on the book that’s due in, um, nine weeks.

This afternoon I came home from four days spent at the coast, a writing retreat with three critique partners. Between work sessions to pummel two rough drafts into submission and brainstorm two entirely new book ideas, we walked on the beach, soaked in the Jacuzzi, and ate meals our significant others had prepared and sent with us. Housekeeping stopped by our suite every morning to make the beds and leave fresh towels. Even the weather cooperated — we had typical Oregon coast winter weather while we worked, raining sideways, window-rattling gusts all night long, but the sky’s faucet turned off when it was time for our walks. (Yes, we brainstorm on a schedule.) The sun even came out for awhile Saturday afternoon, and we moved our work session out onto the balcony. I absolutely love the fun and exciting story we came up with for Nick (a secondary character in Kiss From A Rogue, in stores next week), and am eager to write it.

But there’s this other book I have to finish first…

I read Shane’s post about getting to the end of the book and it made me smile. What she was describing always happens to me when I near the end of a book. Even though I sell a book on proposal (with a synopsis of the story and first three chapters) the end never turns out like I envisioned.

I always find myself in Shane’s predicament, but I tell myself that subconsciously I DO know how this story is going to end so all I have to do is keep writing.

So, Shane, you HAVE to keep writing. That’s the only way you’re going to know how the story ends.

As far as tying up all the loose ends–truly essential. Don’t you hate it when an author leaves something hanging in the air???

I don’t want to write today. Don’t make me. I don’t feel like doing it.

I’m 30 pages from finishing this book, and I just can’t write another word. Suddenly, the plot has gotten too big, too complicated, too tangled. This happens near the end of a book. You think I’d be glad to be past the sagging middle and speeding toward THE END. Instead, I’m struggling with how to tie all the balloons I have in the air together. If I forget one string, then that balloon floats away, and it might be an important balloon.

This is the hard thing about writing novels, as opposed to blogs or short stories or, I imagine, poems. You have the thrill of developing complex characters and plots and the agony of trying to manage 375 pages of all those complexities.

All those complexities. All those balloons in the air. My head hurts thinking about working on it.

And my head hurts thinking about not working on it. I’ve got a page goal, after all. I can’t just blow that off.

That’s the other thing that’s hard about being a writer. Most of us are pretty driven, and we drive ourselves hard. Writing isn’t like most other jobs. You don’t have a boss checking in with you. You don’t have a time card to punch. All you have is a kernel of a story and your own desire to tell it.

Today I don’t feel like telling mine.

I don’t want to write today. Don’t make me.

We interrupt the regularly scheduled programs to bring you this special announcement.

We have two Quill finalists in the Smoky Mountain Romance Writers’ 2005 Readers and Bookbuyers Best Laurie for Published Authors!

Shane Bolks – The Good, Bad and Ugly Men I’ve Dated –Single-Title Contemporary
Shirley Karr – What an Earl Wants – Historical

Congratulations, ladies. The Quills are certainly making the rounds in the contests these days.

It’s no secret that erotic romance is popular right now. It’s everywhere you look. With the emergence of smaller publishers like Ellora’s Cave into the limelight and the addition of erotic romance lines to some of the larger houses, the industry has grown by leaps and bounds just within the last five years. Erotic romance authors have attained large and enthusiastic fan bases and are even being actively courted by some of the more mainstream publishers.

As an avid reader, I have noticed the trend with interest and have enjoyed reading several of these books. I love the Harlequin Blaze line, Kensington’s Brava, and am looking forward to the release of Avon’s upcoming erotic romance anthology. I also have a few Ellora’s Cave authors that I have become fans of. But as a writer whose books have always been a bit tamer than many of these, I have to admit to feeling a certain amount of pressure to spice up my own books. Perhaps not so much from the publishing world as from myself.

But how do you write “sexy?” What makes a romance an erotic romance? Unlike straight erotica, it’s about more than sex. (Insert Tab A into Slot B, so to speak.) For me, a truly sensual romance balances hot and explicit love scenes with a depth of emotion and a strong connection between the characters. I have discovered that this is far easier said than done, however, and I have only the greatest of admiration for authors who can achieve that balance successfully. I am still working on it, and it seems to get a bit easier with each book. Sins of Midnight, my July 2006 release from Avon, contains some of my hottest and most sensual love scenes so far. But I have to wonder: Where do you draw the line? Surely there is a boundary for each author, a boundary that she doesn’t feel comfortable crossing. Is there such a thing as too sexy?

How do you feel about the current popularity of erotic romance? As a reader? As an author? As an aspiring author? And what makes a book erotic for you? Do you have a comfort level?

I know y’all were expecting me to write about American Idol, but I’m not (although it’s hard not to share some comments…) You see, I’m still not done with this rough draft. I had hopes that I would finish it last week, but by Monday I had run into a serious plot issue, so I had to spend some significant time on the phone with my critique partner to iron that out. Now I have a new and improved outline for the remaining scenes – 5 more to be exact and I’ll be done. So I know I’ll finish this week. And then it will sit a week while I clean my office and catch up with other stuff around the house and then I’ll buckle down for what I’m certain will be the most extensive revisions I’ve ever done.

I mentioned before that in this manuscript, which by the way, is Deliciously Wicked, my October ’06 release, I had a problem with my hero. My editor didn’t care for the backstory I’d given him, so I had to come up with something new. In doing so, it completely changed his GMC – because all of that is so closely tied together. Well, in the last week or two I’ve come to realize that because of those changes, my heroine’s GMC needs to change as well. (Side bar – for any who don’t know GMC is Goal, Motivation and Conflict – I have articles explaining it on my webpage)

So what I basically have at this stage is ½ a book with one set of characters and the other ½ with another. Now I couldn’t completely change my heroine because she’s introduced in my March release, A Study in Scandal, so I had certain constraints with that. And the overall mystery didn’t change from my original idea. And the essence of the romance and attraction stayed the same, but some of their actions and most of their internal monologue will change once I start revisions.

I think that there was a time in my unpublished days that I would have been totally unprepared for such a huge undertaking, and I can’t say that I’m prepared, per se, now. But I take it in stride. After the initial visit with my editor about her concerns, what I realized was that more so than the reasons she listed, the way that I had originally set up my hero significantly changed the tone of the book. Now ordinarily this might not be a problem, were this a stand-alone title. But because it’s the second in a series, this created problems. Not only that, but this early in my career, it’s important for me to establish reader expectation and stick with it in order to build a fan base.

So I’ve re-evaluated, altered my vision and I’m still tweaking and trying to find my way with this one. It hasn’t been easy, on the contrary, it’s been the most difficult one to date. But I suspect that might be a good sign. Perhaps rather than getting easier, writing should always prove some difficulty. For it is in the challenges where we grow the most and I want to always grow as a writer, always push myself, always improve.

I hope next week at this time, I’ll be able to announce to all of you that the rough draft is done. But I must warn you, with all my whining thus far…the rough draft is actually the easy part for me.

My next Avon has been scheduled for September ’06! I’m pretty excited about that since it’s a spin-off of The Bride Hunt. I didn’t want the two books to be too far apart. Either one can be read first – neither book gives away the story of the other, but still. A lot of people have been asking me when the story of Isabel’s sister will be coming, and now I know – Yay!

This is one of those titles that will be reflected in the book – but with some irony. The only reason this title worked out so well is that when I ran the storyline by my editor, I was still deep in the development phase of the book, so I could incorporate the theme of seduction into it. Well, we knew there would be seduction involved but when we named it The Perfect Seduction, a whole lot of plot issues seemed to come together.

So now I’ve heard from my editor and will begin revisions. Luckily, they’re not too heavy, but I will have to print out the entire manuscript and sit down with a pencil and a bunch of sticky notes and work on the issues she raised. At least I didn’t have any loose threads, plot lines that I started up somewhere and then dropped. This was my biggest fear during the writing phase, because my concentration was so lousy after my mom died.

One thing my editor said she didn’t have to critique – the love scenes. She said that a lot of authors need to ‘beef-up’ their love scenes, but not me. I guess I’ve got those down .

Skating With Celebrities…I just saw a preview for this show and was horrified to find myself leaning toward the TV. I have this really, really bad feeling that I’m going to be watching this thing on Wednesday. Anyone care to join me? If you do watch it, please post back here afterwards!!!

Saw the first premiere for 24 tonight. Wasn’t sure my heart was going to make it during the first hour. The thought crossed my mind that maybe I should wait until the whole season comes out on DVD. Possibly cheating, yes, I know. Don’t tell.

American Idol new goody (nougatty, nougaty, nuggaty, new-get-he…) goodness on Tuesday. A friend and I do a back and forth after the audition shows and weekly sing-offs. Makes it quite fun. Looking forward to the first round of crazies this week.

Are there any new shows, or oldies but goodies that are coming back on, that anyone is going to be tuning into this winter season? Recommendations? Cautionary tales? Oh-my-god-I-can’t-believe-I-am-watching-this specials? I’m always looking for a new show that will make at least one member of my family run screaming.

My turn for a behind-the-book exposé!

Kiss From a Rogue, which will be on store shelves Jan. 31 (two weeks! woo-hoo!), is my second published novel, and my third complete manuscript. I had less than five months to write it. Prior to that, the fastest I’d ever completed a first draft was 36 months. (That book became What An Earl Wants, released in Jan. ’05, and I worked on it, off and on, for seven years. It won the Golden Heart for Best Regency in 2001, and is currently entered in the Rita – in Long Historical. Yes, it went through a few changes. )

The tight deadline was my own fault. After I finished the edits of WAEW, I took too long to work on proposals. I had two story ideas and couldn’t choose between them, so I wrote both. Both were rejected. After I panicked that I’d be a one-book-wonder, my critique partners helped me examine the universe I’d created in WAEW and see which character(s) might need their own book, for a third proposal I could put together faster than starting from scratch. And we bound and gagged my inner perfectionist.

In retrospect, a book for the hero’s brother seems like it should have been a no-brainer. Readers, and therefore editors, love connected books. I considered how the events of WAEW would affect Tony, and suddenly had a wealth of ideas. The poor guy would have a ton of issues, plus figuring out his place in the world now that big brother is happily married and well on the way to producing an heir. What’s a spare to do?

The external plot is Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs with a twist – the dwarfs are smugglers, and Snow White is their ringleader. My original plan was to have Tony be a bit like Captain Jack Sparrow, but that got tossed overboard early on after Tony informed me that he gets seasick (which is odd, considering both are played by Johnny Depp). Turns out Sylvia is more like Captain Jack than Tony is. He morphed into a character uniquely his own.

I picked the Lulworth Cove setting after studying Smuggler’s Britain. A friend loaned me her copy, and I was fascinated by the historical accounts and anecdotes, as well as the detailed maps. Alas, she had the nerve to ask for it back. It’s out of print, so I bought a copy directly from the author. It was the second reference book for this story that I ordered from England. And I very much want to visit Lulworth Cove in Dorset.

Other factoids:
* You can see the cover and read an excerpt on my web site. Click on my picture above to go straight to it.
* Yes, I will have a contest. I don’t have any ARCs to give away, but I will collect coverflats and other goodies for prizes.
* The working title was My Lady Smuggler.
* This is the second time we’ve mangled a song title for my book’s title (What A Girl Wants, Kiss From a Rose).
* I wrote the last 100 pages using voice recognition software because my tendonitis flared up so badly I couldn’t type.
* My fears about the book being only the best I could do in the time allowed have been partly put to rest by favorable reviews (four stars from RT!).

Is anyone else bothered by how much of our life is taken up with sleep? I think how much more I could get done if only I didn’t have to sleep

Unfortunately, I need nine hours of sleep to feel at my best. Ideally those sleep hours should come between 10:30PM-7:30AM. The 7:30 is a problem since I should really be at my day job at 8. But go to bed at 9:30 PM?? I’m just not tired at that time…

I do most of my new writing (brand new pages) on the weekend and then edit those pages during the week. The problem is that making changes to what I’ve written can be terribly time consuming (since that first draft is so bad) that I’ll get sucked into what I’m doing and look up at the clock to discover my dh has long ago gone to bed and it’s now 12:30 or 1am.

I love my day job and I’ve been there long enough to have great benefits so it’s hard to think about giving it up–especially since I’ve been able to write and work–but I long for the day when I can sleep as long as I want in the morning.

Want to hear a funny story? My daughter had a migraine and took a pill at 10:30pm. She knew she’d need to get up and take another at 2:30 AM but didn’t want the jarring ring of an alarm to wake her. She told her West Highland White Terrier (Duncan) to wake her at 2:30. In the middle of the night, she heard him making this “Wa-oooh” sound that he makes deep in his throat (usually when he’s glad to see you). At first she couldn’t figure out why he was doing it (since he has a dog door if he needs to go out). Then she looked at the clock (2:36 AM). When he realized she was getting up, he laid back on his dog bed and went back to sleep. Mission accomplished!