The Wheel of My Year- The Writing Life

by Joanne Rock

Hello from sunny Florida...

I’m at the end of a long book contract right now and it’s interesting how different my writing days are now versus when I’m at the start of a long book contract. Or in the middle. Or when I have a no contract at all!

As a creative endeavor, writing can be a challenging way to earn a living. It starts out as a passion and, if you aren’t very careful to protect the art from the income, it can quickly become a chore. I was warned about this as soon as I sold a book. I would bubble with enthusiasm when I spoke about all the projects I couldn’t wait to write and more experienced authors would exchange wry glances. I was warned the “honeymoon period” with my writing wouldn’t last.

Like so much advice from those who have tread the path before me, they were spot on. It gets hard to stay excited about your creative passion when it suddenly becomes your means of support. You need to set dependable hours and produce pages regularly. There’s no more sweet-talking your Muse until she’s ready to cooperate. She has a job and she’d better show up daily.

My latest release! 

But over the years, I’ve found ways to keep my creativity flowing in spite of the more rigorous demands on it. One trick is to mix up my schedule so that I’m bouncing back and forth between kinds of story. For a while, I would write historical stories in between my Blaze books to give myself a break from the same style of novel. Or write a few short books, then a long one. The different demands of different story styles helped me to stay engaged and excited about what I was doing.

As my readers have asked for more contemporary stories, I’m often writing books in similar genres, close together. That presents new challenges. Lately, I’ve found it helpful to write fast and furious while the Muse turns cartwheels at the start of a new contract. Chase the ideas fast, write like a madwoman, and get lots done before the creativity wears off a bit. Then, I slow down. Recharge more often. Read a lot in between writing a little. It helps me to feel like I’m taking more downtime, and really, I am. I focus more on scenes and less on the big picture. I research little snippets of a story and that jazzes me up to fuel more pages.  

Coming Soon...

Really, I play a lot of mind games. Like any self-employed person, I have to stay disciplined to get my work done. But since the work is creative, I know better than to crack the whip too much when my brain is churning at a different speed. Right now, my pace is leisurely. I think a lot and stare off into space. By the time the contract is done, I’ll take a few weeks off and forget all about writing.

Funny how when I ignore my Muse how impatient she gets. After a few weeks of quiet, she’ll start pinging ideas around. I won’t listen. She’ll talk even more. Then, the frenzy to create starts all over again. A new phase of writing mania begins. An all new honeymoon period. The wheel of my writing year turns.

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Speaking of “all new”… I’ve got fresh-off-the-press copies of Little Secrets: His Pregnant Secretary available this week! You can win one by sharing with me your favorite way to recharge after a big project. One random commenter will win their choice of print or digital book. And if that doesn’t work, go enter the contest at Goodreads where I’m giving away five more copies!

Well, Look at The Bright Side ...!

by Michelle Monkou

I've thought about that phrase -- well, look at the bright side ... and how it started to become ingrained in my life from time that I was young girl. The advice probably was of little comfort to me because the upbeat sentiment usually followed something that would have made me sad or angry. But it was something that my parents would say, especially my father, to boost my spirit.

Nowadays, I find myself often sharing that bit of advice with my children, with other family members, and friends. My gems of wisdom and experience are often met with groans of protest or frustration to stop with the "wise elder" approach.

But you know what? Thre is nothing wrong with hope and optimism.

There is purpose to looking at the bright side life. Doesn't mean that you are oblivious to what is wrong or what is bad or unacceptable. Doesn't mean that you can't be angry, upset, or disgusted.

And if there isn't a myriad of reasons for that bright side to show itself, then the main lesson might simply be that you have survived to live another day, to have a better chance, to overcome the odds.

As a writer of romance novels, I write about hope and optimism within each story. I bring imperfect people together with imperfect lives and toss in challenges and opportunities to test their strengths, trigger their weaknesses, and force them to dig deep to be the hero or heroine of their story as they fall in love.

Happy ever after is that bright side that we celebrate long after the story ends and the readers fondly reminisce about the characters. Romance books are not only for entertainment, but can be handy tools of life lessons reminding us to see and believe in our humanity and capacity to love.

Looking at the bright side ... don't underestimate its power.

All the best,

Michelle

Barbara Ankrum: NEW YEAR’S ANGST / RESOLUTIONS

NEW YEAR’S ANGST RESOLUTIONS

First, thanks, Lee, for inviting me to blog here today. It was so sweet of you to invite me! Here, at the very end of 2014, there seemed only one thing on my mind to blog about. Oh, yes. I’m going there.

New Year’s resolutions! I’ve always been fascinated by them.  And that is to say, from a distance, watching other people make them. For many, they work. They can be great motivators, I hear. You write your goals down at the beginning of the year and check them off as you accomplish them. In a way, written goals are a good reminder of your decision to accomplish something. But to me, there’s a self-implied ‘fail’ button attached to New Year’s resolutions because they’re sort of made out of a sense of desperation. End of the year, tick-tock, another year gone and all that. 

Don’t misunderstand me. There’s nothing wrong with setting goals: big goals, smaller goals and in between goals. And I do set them all the time all throughout the year. But agreeing to terms of a rigid resolution? (I will join a gym. I will lose fifteen pounds…) If I’ve learned anything about myself, it’s that I’m stubborn. Independent. I have a knee-jerk resistance to rules. Hence…writer.

Are we talking semantics here? Possibly. Sometimes, I have to fool my own thought process that way.  Yes, I’m just that weird. Perhaps this is a product of getting older and having some hindsight into my own dismal failures when it comes to keeping resolutions. So with the intention of liberating myself from all that self-flagellation when I inevitably fail, I’ve learned to put a twist on the resolution thing by writing a grateful list, instead. This list isn’t really about all the things I think I should do or should have done but didn’t. Instead, it puts into perspective for me the things that have become really important to me over the past year.

Getting more exercise is one of those things that always makes the resolution lists. But as I take my daily two mile walk with my happy little dog, Maggie—who’s always grateful for everything—I make it a point to feel grateful that I can walk this briskly and this easily and this far. Because I know not everyone can. Feeling grateful instead of pressured inspires me to expand my routines, push myself farther. (i.e., Maybe I’ll add that next hill, just to prove that it won’t kill me!)

Spending more time with family always makes my list and it’s even more important to me now that we’re scattered to the four winds. So grateful that I have time now to do it and that I can make time in my schedule for visits with the grandbabies. I GET to.

Writing more books/writing faster is always on the list for writers. Again, after just ending a full time job where I had little time to write, I am so grateful to GET to write again. I remember that whenever I get stuck or slow down. I remember my gratitude to be able to do what I do. No pressure, just relief, really.

And because of those long hours in the chair, writing, Yoga is in my future. When I was working full time, there was a yoga studio across the street from my window at work. All day, I’d watch women come and go, wishing I was one of them. Now, (grateful) I GET to go to yoga! See what I mean? The exercise thing goes hand in hand with the writing thing. But they both come out of my gratitude list.

That’s just a sampling of what will be on my list this year. What about you? Do resolutions work for you? Or do you have to get creative with your goals? I’d love to hear and I’m grateful to have the chance to wish you a very happy and healthy 2015!  

And just for fun, I’m giving away a $10 Amazon Gift Card to get the year started out right! To enter, just tell me one thing you’re grateful for! 

Barbara Ankrum is the bestselling author of thirteen books, including her latest contemporary romance, A FAIR TO REMEMBER, from Tule Publishing. Her bestselling western historical series, ‘Wild Western Hearts’ is available on all e-book platforms. She’s been twice nominated for RWA’s prestigious RITA Award. She’s the mom of two wonderful, grown children and she lives in Southern California with her sweet husband, two cats and her scruffy Toto-impersonator walking companion, Maggie.

***Barbara's winner is Carol L.!  Please email totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your mailing address.***

Percentages are an excuse

Right now, my entire family is in the throes of my eldest son deciding where he wants to apply for university. He has just been to the Open Days at Oxford and Cambridge. There are several more universities to come next week. And the house is groaning with information about courses, how to fill in applications, etc etc. Unlike in the US, in Britain, generally you apply to study a particular course say English and it can be hard to change courses later on.
As a parent, I have learnt that it is far harder to watch your child go through this process than to go through it yourself. You have to step back and allow things to happen.
Last night, however, after he downloaded various bits of information about how many students each of the Oxbridge colleges had taken recently and the percentages, I said enough.
One lesson that I have learnt through my writing is that while tempting you can not think about percentages.
The chance of succeeding with Harlequin Mills and Boon (indeed any large publisher) is far less than getting into any university or any university course. However, every year people do. Each person is an individual. Each manuscript is judged on its merits. The mere fact that they take people on/buy unpublished authors' manuscripts was enough to make me try and eventually I succeeded. Recently my tenth book -- Impoverished Miss, Convienent Wife was accepted for publicatin March 09.
And as applying is also about putting yourself on the line for rejection, I did point out that no one, unless they choose to, goes around with such and such university reject stamped on their forehead. You cross bridges when you come to them and you live your life accordingly. But until it happens, you do not know the outcome.
I reminded him of my friend's daughter who last year applied to do medicine (in the UK, you can study medicine straight from high school) and did not even get an interview at any university, despite being qualified and choosing universities that were supposedly easier to get into. she held fast to her dream. Spent time doing things, including volunteering at clinic and rewriting her personal statement. She received three offers to study medicine and will be going to Leeds in the autumn.
My son nodded and said he would try to find the university that appealed to him most as looking at the lists showed him that each college did take people in his course and that the quality of the applicants mattered. He promised as well to give it his best shot. And he muttered that he was well aware of the deadlines and their importance.
We will see what happens, but at least he is going to try.
If you do not try, you are doomed to failure.
And when you try, statistics become meaningless.
Hopefully, this will also give someone the courage to finish their manuscript and submit it. Just do not think about the percentages!