And so Starts Another Year

As the end of the year rolls around, and this is my last blog of this 12 month series, A Year in the Life of an Author, I find myself planning for the future.

Most people think ahead to the next year as to what needs to get done. My 2013 is already planned and has been for nearly a year. I'm speaking at the Midwinter ALA meeting, the Southern California Romance Writer's conference, and again at the Orange County RWA meeting in June. I'll be at the RWA National conference in Atlanta in July, and there are few trips down to Portland and other places in between.

In addition, I have a book due in February, a book coming out in March (AND THE MISS RAN AWAY WITH THE RAKE) and another in November (IF WISHES WERE EARLS). And in amongst all that, there will be another book to plot, plan, write, revise and finish. And if you been reading my blogs throughout the year, you also know that will mean copy edits, page proofs and the other necessary parts of bringing a book to publication.

So if I have my year all planned out, then what am I planning? Believe it or not, 2014 and 2015. I already have events on the calendar for those years. Yes, my life gets planned out years in advance. There is a comfort to that, (Huzzah for the work!) a bit of panic, (Yikes how am I going to get that all done!) and the inevitable fears that life will step in and muck it all up. But I have to do it. I have to come up with a reasonable guess as to when I will be able to complete three more books in the next two + years.

With kids, a husband, a house, a family, and that one thing we all have: LIFE, I just make the best guesstimate I can (factoring in all the elements that go into writing a book) and march forward. Sometimes it works, other years, not so much. In those instances I either have to haul on the hip boots and wade through it or even sometimes find myself crawling along at a whimper. But do it I must.

So for 2013, I have chosen a word to guide me and a word to challenge me to rise above my doubts and fears: COURAGE.

Debbie Macomber and Christina Skye told me I was taunting the powers-that-be to chose that word, I was just asking for life to present the need for courage. I laughed, realized they are probably correct, but am sticking to it. COURAGE it is.

So with COURAGE in hand to tackle the world in 2013, I challenge you to find a word that fits, that will broaden your outlook and buoy your heart into taking great big striding steps into 2013. And 2014. And even 2015.

The Fairy Dust Element - Trish Wylie

'Where do you get your ideas from?' is one of those questions authors are asked so many times we barely even flinch after a while. We don't mind answering it, don't get me wrong... but it's always been more interesting to me how that initial spark of an idea becomes the finished article on the page. Because having the idea is one thing, making it a book that people all over the world might enjoy? Now that's fascinating!!!

Since I was first published I've been fortunate enough to have met many, many, many writers both published and unpublished. But the one thing we all understand is the one thing it's really hard to explain to other people. You see, when it comes to writing there's an intangible... an unexplainable element... one thing we just can't teach someone no matter how hard we try...

I call it fairy dust.

And when it arrives, I can't begin to tell you how much more enjoyable it makes my job! I know the millisecond it gets here, cos that's when my characters really come to life; they speak to me, they argue when I'm wrong and place obstacles in my way till I fix it, they tell me things outta nowhere that I didn't even think of before. And when any of those things (particularly the last one) happen - the story grows wings. I LOVE that. It also tends to be when I pick up speed in the word-count so that may have something to do with it too ;)

Earlier this year I lost my fairy dust. And writing without it? HURT. I mean REALLY HURT. Every word, every line, every paragraph and every page was dragged from me like someone was pulling off my fingernails with tweezers and running them down a blackboard behind me. At my lowest moment I spent two and a half hours moving single words back and forth inside one paragraph - I jest you not. One word in a sentence moved down a few words then moved back ten minutes later. And still the paragraph didn't read right. I was almost suffering a writers version of O.C.D. I wanted to start something new - not an option; deadline. I wanted to quit writing - not an option; getting too old for most of the jobs I used to do before and I need to eat... I wanted to cry - so I did. Usually every single time I re-read what I'd done the day before. I spent days in tears. I hated what I was doing. Had I burned out already?

Where was my gosh darned fairy dust!!!

Maybe it's part of my pantster mentality? You know plotter = someone who plots, pantster = someone who flies by the seat of their pants? I'm of the latter persuasion. I know the basics of the story and the characters and their problems and a few key scenes but after that I wing it. I had a conversation online with a very good writing buddy but a few days ago and we both agreed that for us, it's more organic that way... theoretically... When it works it really works. These people become real and part of the adventure is where they lead us. Maybe not a very professional approach to some but to me a big part of why I took up writing in the first place was because I LOVED it. Still do. I love to write as much as I love to read and watch movies and daydream. To me there's a little touch of magic in all those things. Set a whole bunch of rules in place and it suddenly seems more like work. *shudder*

Thankfully, with this latest book I've been working on the fairy dust has reappeared. Can't tell you how relieved I was about that!!! I started out tentatively, was scared if I'm completely honest. But somewhere in the middle, little details started to appear that I hadn't planned. Where did a hurricane in my hero's past come from for instance? That wasn't in my outline. It changed it, added a new dimension... brought him to life a little more... led to yet more pieces of information I would never have thought of on my own... Fairy dust. Yay!!!

Course now I have the burn out fear out of my head I now get to worry that the lack of fairy dust in the one that caused me so much pain will show to the reader. We writer's do like to worry about such things, especially when we're lucky enough to have loyal readers out there. And one of the things about category or series romance is that we produce a lot. It's the nature of the business. Burn out is a very real risk. Repetition is a very real risk. Slipping standards not so much (we hope!) - cos we care and cos we have editors who care (thankfully!) And I know I've read books by other authors that they claimed had been horrific writing experiences for them but it never showed on the page... so maybe it won't show in mine as much as I think?! I'm crossing my fingers as I type...

Readers are like gold dust to authors. No readers = no career. End of. And every penny or dime or cent or whatever currency they buy books in is precious. So what happens if you get a favorite author who you feel has let you down in a book? Do you quit on them, give them the benefit of the doubt, consider it a glitch? Its a tough call, especially if you read on a budget. And you can see how much I've thought this one through, can't you??? Maybe it's because I had a favourite author and she was an auto-buy for me and then I hit one and the magic wasn't as obvious to me as I read. I did try again. And again after that - I'm a Leo, we tend to be loyal that way. But it was never quite the same for me and I was gutted. I still have her earlier books on my keeper shelf and I re-read them over and over, but it might be a while before I run out to snap up a new one as it lands on the shelf. Now that I'm at the writer end of the scale I feel guilty about that. I can't help but wonder if she lost her fairy dust too? Maybe she did and still can't find it? See and now I want to go to her house and give her a hug...

So have you read a book you thought was sprinkled liberally with fairy dust? One where the characters were so real for you that you thought about them long after you closed the cover? Somewhat ironically I'm now in the position where my latest one is ready to go and I'm loathe to hit send cos I know I'll miss it so much. Can't win with me really. Or like me have you had an author you loved but lost faith in? (Don't name names here gang or for me The Salem Witch hunt will soon seem like a Sunday Picnic...) Would you try them again? Would you maybe library a couple to see if the magic is back for you? Or once you've lost faith is it lost? Yes, cos if you say yes to the last one I won't at all stress over it will I? Terrific, now I'm a masochist. I should just ask you if I look fat in this outfit while I'm here too, shouldn't I? Get all that angst out in the open in one go...

I did a competition to win a copy of my May Presents release Her Bedroom Surrender last time I was here - I'm not only pleased to say it's a finalist in the Short Contemporary Category of the Booksellers Best Award under it's Modern Heat title Breathless! (A fairy Dust book btw) but I'm also pleased to say I have a winner - Aideen! So Aideen please email me and I'll pop you a signed copy in the post!

This time out I'll offer a copy of my May Modern Heat Claimed By The Billionaire Bad Boy to a random commenter...

To find out more about Trish and her books you can visit her Website or her Blog.