My process: I get an idea for a book, discard it. Get another idea for a book. Discard it. Get another idea for a book. Discard it. I keep doing this until I think I have an idea that will work, an idea I am excited about, an idea that sings. Then I start thinking about characters and their backstory, their story arc…then I go to plot and think about scenes. Sometimes scenes come easily out of the ether and sometimes they don’t which is most of the time.

When I start writing I usually have a false start. So I hit the delete key, start over. Write something new. Hit the delete key. Start over. I continue doing this until the beginning feels right. Then I can write the rest of the book. The beginning MUST feel right before I can continue. I have tried to push through a bad beginning and keep writing but I just can’t.

Once the book is done, I let it sit for a few days before I read it through and revise, edit and so forth. I do this ONLY if I have a contract in hand and a deadline. At present I have no contracts or deadlines so a book will sit longer while I piddle around, come up with some other book ideas, maybe take an on-line class or three, do some laundry, play Free Cell, check e-mail and other non-essential stuff before I get back to that book.

Than of course the doubt creeps in and I start second guessing myself and my abilities and comparing them to other much more stellar writers, NYT best sellers, Nora…well you get the idea. Then I tell myself, screw it, and send out the ms. No pain, no gain. If you don’t ask, you don’t get. Right? Of course right!

Have a great day all,

Cher

After a little while, I’ll have my novel group take a peek at the book and give me a little feedback and then I’ll work on it until I’m happy.

But I don’t work under deadlines…since I’m not published or anything. So I don’t have to worry about that.

I’m also trying to figure out my process. But, from the few ms that I have completed, because I tend to bounce back and forth between them, I can definitely see how that time off between is an advantage. When you go back and read it again, it’s like looking at it for the first time and certain things just jump off the page.

Have a great time at the Christmas party!!

Silver, I’m taking you up on that. We have several things to discuss anyway, pursuant to the Jo Leigh auction, LOL!

Michele, do pick up the King book. It’s incredibly enlightening!

katie, yes those people are annoying!!!

Writing. I think I’m an ADD writer. I have so many stories and characters clamoring for attention that I can get distracted easily. Get writers block? Put the manuscript aside and jump to the next project. Needless to say, I ended up with half-@$$ed semi-completed novels cluttering up my files. I was so proud of the ones I DID finish that I thought they were perfect. (Wow, I only used “that” twice and probably could edit both out… )

Friends introduced me to National Novel Writing Month three years ago. 50,000 words in 30 days. It’s insane. But it’s an insanity that taught me to focus and to push through writer’s block. The process taught me to write more words than I need so I have lots of words to play with when it’s time to edit. For example, I edited a manuscript down from 84,000 words to 65,000 to met requirements for a Silhouette line. I was terrified. Think about it, I was “deleting” about 1/4 of the words. Yet I was determined to make it work. It did. The full manuscript is up for consideration. *crosses fingers and repeats a mantra of pleasepleasepleaseplease*

My goal with NaNo this year was to write the sequel to that novel, but rather than padding words for the total count, I wanted to write a tight, concise story. I “won* with just over 50K words. When I stopped, my heroine is in jeopardy. She must free herself, catch the bad guy, reunite with the hero and get the HEA. I have 15K words to play with. What a luxury! Unfortunately, I had to put it aside while I worked on revisions for the novel that has sold to The Wild Rose Press. OMG, don’t even get me started. That book? Dang. I’m amazed it sold. Lots of red-button editor flags while I did the self-edit – many of which, btw, I learned here from you four and the guest author bloggers. THANK YOU! Uhm…yeah. ADD. *focuses*

One other note – I mentioned about all the stories and characters dancing in my head? Since November, I’ve had three more books demand to be written. One I actually opened the file on and jotted down the opening scene. It was too good, too intense to let get away. Usually, I just do a sticky note with the idea and tack it to my writing board above my computer.

Eventually, I’ll finish those partial projects. Eventually, I get around to at least starting all those ideas from the sticky notes. I hope. So putting a completed project aside for six weeks is a done deal for me. I “hang up” on it and all those “calls on hold” start beeping at me.

Great blog today, Julie, and I’m serious. I’ll happily transcribe your speech. We’ve got :freezin moving in over the weekend so I’m off to finish some holiday shopping and then I’m baking cookies all day!