Well, the good news is out. I just signed a two book contract with Decadent, for the rest of the kraken’s Caribbean trilogy. I’ve already delivered the initial draft of The Chameleon Goggles, but expect to be dealing with edits and edits and edits on it. Which is good. Last time I learned a great deal and I’m hoping my edits will be less because I learned so much.

Knock on wood.

*clunk, clunk

Now, I’m working on the third book and have about 15k done. I want to shoot for around 70k, so there is work to be done. My agent gave them a date about mid June, but I hope to see it in their hands by the end of May. I know how fast e-publishing works!

Now, in The Kraken’s Caribbean, I stuck to two POVs. Mostly deep third. (Ideally.) The hero and the heroine. Until I slipped a third POV in toward the end. That of the hero for the next book. Added him, then let him slip away and returned to the H/H.

In The Chameleon Goggles, I had the new hero. His heroine and … Emily from the first book. (She was needed!) By the end, it was all H/H.

Now, the third, The Pirate Circus. Well, I have the H/H, of course. Janey was part of the first two books, her hero is a brand new character, though he is related to the hero of book one, Captain Silvestri. And the hero from book one also…I use his POV.

Now, don’t hit me! I’m not head-hopping, I need Silvestri the elder or there will be gaping holes in the plot. But his POV will fade to almost nothing in the middle third of the book and only slip back in at the very end as part of the climax. The problem I’m having is this rotten 14 year old girl that plays a major part in the crises that brings the H/H together. Her identity issues are a huge part of things with the villain of the piece.

And I find I want to include her POV.

Sigh.

Can I get away with it? If Silvestri Sr. is ‘off camera’ for the middle third of the book and really only seen partially in the climax…can I let Lee show what she goes through? Should I? I mean, if I don’t use her the sense of urgency might be lost.

It’s not like I want to write like a 14 year old. Heaven knows, angst isn’t my strength. I fear if I don’t sneak her experiences ‘off camera’ into the action, the H/H aren’t going to … wait…it’s not like they’ll be able to read what she’s going through…

Damn. How am I gonna do this?

Okay, looks like maybe I’m going to have to settle for something like a letter from her to explain why they need to hurry before she does something really heinous in her drive to solve her identity issues. Maybe a diary…or someone who gets away from the Circus and warns them of what Lee is mixed up in…

ARGH!

No, it’s not an argh. I didn’t want to write the 14 year olds POV… Maybe I could toss in a tiny bit of villain POV… No!

Stop it!

Just write it with the three you have!

*LALALALALALALALA!

I’m not listening!!!!

*pant, pant…

Sometimes the biggest problem with ignoring the rules is the temptation to not just bend them, but break them into little tiny pieces and so destroy the very framework needed to make a story work.

Lesson learned. I hope.

How many POVs are bad? Not necessarily wrong, but bad-bad. What do you think?

I know, the wedding. We’ll see how many are serious about this blog and how many are wedding serious! HA! I’ll be here all day. By myself if necessary.

We may be a bit rowdy, we may drink and eat a bit of chocolate, we might even get a bit sassy now and again.  But we never miss a reason to celebrate.

Huzzah, Captain!  Happy 29^th Birthday!  Again.

So, in honor of the Captain, what would you bring to a party in honor of our Hellion? Anything you’d like, be creative.  (It’s virtual, so you don’t even have to worry about how heavy it is.)

And if you could get one birthday gift, what would it be? And let’s not pull that “health for all my loved ones” stuff.  I know we all want world peace and would use a real wish in some altruistic and selfless manner.  But today, let’s just pretend.  Physical gifts only please!

2^nd Chance here, stepping in fer the Bo’sun, who is having some rough days, health wise…so I answered the call! It will be the Bo’sun on Friday!

Naming characters. I stumble a bit on this. I tend to like old fashioned sounding names, and I tend to reach for names that reflect a character’s background or personality.

But this doesn’t always ring right for me. I like old fashioned names and what I think of a certain name isn’t what someone else thinks. I want characters I like to have a name I like and associate with some key triggers. For me.

The problem with picking names this way is the simple problem that 1) that name has a meaning totally different than my association and that is what a reader is going to look up or 2) that name has a meaning totally different than my association because the reader has an association totally at odds with my association.

*blink, blink

No, I did mean what I said up there. It’s all about how I’m not terrible fond of characters named Tina. Why? I’m not sure, but I think it’s just how I wasn’t the cute little thing in school that the name Tina makes me think of. And I was reminded of this a lot. (Kids are naturally cruel, ya know?)

I’ve managed to defeat this problem for the most part. I’ve had relatives that just thinking of them makes me flinch away and grimace, and yet I can read their names in a book and not automatically hate the characters. But it takes work sometimes.

My Mom asked me a few weeks ago why I named my lead in The Kraken’s Mirror, Emily. And my reply? Well, no particular reason other than I wanted a nice old fashioned names and I have a fondness of names that end with a vowel sound. (Really, I do. Witness… Miranda, Ivy, Emily, Silvestri, Maura, Johnny…Leo, Tabitha, ) (I also seem to veer toward names that end in ‘S’ making the possessive case always an interesting  thing to spell.)

Mom sort of sighed. “You know that was the name of Granny.”

I did not know that! At least not consciously. But I thought it a neat detail and I may start lying and say that’s where I got the name.

Yup, I like names like James, Thomas, Matthew, Lucas…Charles… Actually more for the men than the female. Other than Emily I tend toward names for the female characters be more traits driven. What do you think when you hear the name Jezebel? And when I tell you she was christened Jasmina but changed it herself? Ivy came from the vision of poison ivy. Miranda? Well, it’s a name I associate with magic. Not exactly sure why…

My first book has three females that play prominent roles. Miranda, Margaret and Mercedes. I didn’t even realize I’d started all three with an “M” until it was pointed out to me. (I’ve been working on new names for two of these ladies. I sorta like Christina for Margaret, or Virginia. Mercedes? Well, she’s a pirate and her name shortened is Mercy, and I loved the irony in that, so she’s been harder. She’s Spanish so I could go for something like Beneficia…something I can shorten to sound really opposite of how she is… How about Charity? I need to come up with a good Spanish sounding name that I can shorten to Charity… Where is that Spanish/English dictionary…?)

So, how do you pick names?

This morning, we get out first official look at the new Kindle 2, the second generation version of the e-book reader everyone is talking about.  The original Kindle was introduced by Amazon in late 2007 and according to information leaked over the internet during the weekend, the Kindle 2 is rumored to be new and improved without a newer and larger price tag.

I’ve long been in the camp of “I’ll never give up my paper books!”  I’ve downloaded some e-books to my computer, but I’ve honestly never read any of them to the end.  Which is a horrible confession, but the truth.  I have many friends who have written e-books and I know there’s a ton of fantastic stories I’m missing out on.  But having these books basically trapped in my laptop means I never think to open and read them.

There’s just something about holding a book in your hand.  The feel, the smell, the texture.  The truth is, the book is pretty perfect just the way it is.  You can get one in any size, they hold up to all kinds of abuse. They stand the test of time and can make us feel better just being there on the nightstand.

Here’s the *but*.  Last November, I got the chance to check out e-book readers in person.  I admit, I was fascinated by the Kindle.  It felt comfortable in my hand, was easy to use, and even easy to read.  I don’t know the details of the technology behind this thing, but it’s impressive as hell.  And I’m considering buying one. 

According to Amazon, there are something like 150,000 titles available.  The perks are many.  I don’t need a computer to buy and download books, I can store my own files, earmark any page I like, and even highlight or makes notes as I go. And there’s the added bonus that if anything happens to my files, my books are backed up on Amazon so I can just go back and get them.  It’s small, simple, and completely mobile. 

I don’t like the idea that I can’t get my books from anyone but Amazon.  I’m not big on monopolies.  But I had the same concerns about the iPod, until I got one.  Now I can’t imagine living without it.  I wonder if I’d feel the same if I had a Kindle.

The big question of the day.  What do you think of this new fangled thing called the Kindle?  Do you have one?  If not, are you considering it?  Or are you too old school to even think of crossing over to the e-book side?  If you do have one, tell us what you like and don’t like about it.

-Ter- “What the hell is she doing?”

-Marn- “I think she’s looking for the glitter.”

-Lis- *puts her hand over her eyes and grimaces* “Or she’s looking for the missing part of her skirt. Full moon alert.”

*Pirates are snorting with laughter*

-Hellion- *eye roll at the mess* “Maybe she lost Ranger in that mess.”

*Sin shoots Hellion the death stare from over her shoulder* “Don’t go there.”

The pile of junk grew higher and higher until it started to sway in the wind. Lightening cracked over the sky and Sin’s triumphant battle cry echoed over the sea. “Ah-ha! I found it.”

She held it in the air, almost like a scene right out of Lion King. It was solid black. Marabou feathers adorned the edges of wood, silver glitter puff paint on the top spelled out “Sin”. Sin brushed it off and blew on it until all traces of dust were gone.

“This,” Sin said, strutting away from the pile of junk in the middle of the top deck. “I’ve been looking for this everywhere. I can’t have a proper soapbox rant without my soapbox.”

I don’t need a microphone for what I’m about to say. In fact, if you’re past the point of listening to soapboxes, you might want to skip to the bold print below. It’s about to get ugly ‘round here.

I am a faithful reader. I have been since I was old enough to learn what I liked and disliked about books. The first time I realized I loved romance novels, it was an accident. Purely accidently. The historical was mixed in with the pre-teen books. I fell in love with the cover art of a castle on the cliff, a girl with black hair and gorgeous blue eyes being swept away into the sea. I picked it up and snuck it home. I poured over the pages of that book. The second time I got my hands on a romance novel, it was a contemporary (I didn’t know it at the time) and it bored the living socks off me. The difference between the two books was the writing. The author. The amount of feeling and passion and emotion put into the words behind every sentence.

I’m drawn to books that pull me in and make me feel like I’m there. Does that make me crazy? Maybe, but the jury’s been out on that a long time now.

Lately I find myself falling off the bandwagon of faithful readership. Why you might ask? Well, I love authors. I realize the more I meet regardless if it’s in person or through email or interaction online that they are people too. They are just like you, the reader, even though they are the author. They know how to appreciate their readers because they treat them HOW they’d want to be treated if the role was reversed. But it only takes one author to ruin the whole apple cart. One author to act like an ass and pretend like it’s okay to offend her readers because her readership is so vast, who cares if it upsets someone or a group of people who read her books.

I am NOT crazy. I’m offended that you, the author of the series about a character you created and the readers who happen to love this character you’ve created, deems them crazy. That seems a little redundant to me. Shouldn’t you be thrilled that you have readers who love anything you create?

Maybe that’s the problem. Yup, I’ve hit the nail on the head.

Now, I’m not going to name names. Trust me, I want to in the worst way. This author has been on my $*#T list for the past two years now. It’s okay to flaunt that you think you’re readers will pick up and read anything you put out. It’s okay to not give a flying @u*k about story integrity.  Where is the loyalty to your readers! The people who put money in your pocket and keep you an author! That’s right! An author !! That’s why you started writing in the first place, wasn’t it?! Have you forgotten already that it takes readers to keep you being an author? And if you don’t want it anymore- STOP writing.

I know I’ve stopped buying.

At this point, there is nothing this author can do to make me want to buy or read another one of her books. She has pushed me so far past my tolerance line that all I do now is hope and pray that other readers will eventually come to the conclusion she just doesn’t give a $*#T anymore.

And I don’t either. I’m done.

*Sin saunters over to her wooden chest and places the soapbox neatly at the bottom. Then quietly closes the top, leaving the rest of the crap out*

We’re not going to name names today. In fact, I’ve probably manage to offend tons of people with this blog. I can’t say I’m sorry.  I want to know what you think about authors. Have you ever met an author (online or in person) who seemed very dismissive and it killed your desire to read their books?  Any really great author/reader stories to share today?

Remember NO NAMES!

Influenced by this week:  I don’t give a f**k, Lil Jon and the Eastside Boys- Kings of Crunk

Word.

This got me to thinking.  I’ve been reading Romance novels for almost twenty-five years.  Could my choice of reading material have an affect on my lifestyle choices?  This begged further attention, so the analysis began. 

I started reading mainstream Romance as a teen.  These books had a great deal of sex as this was still the age of the “bodice ripper”.  I hate that term with a passion, by the way, but it fits in this instance.  In my teenage years (prepare to learn more about me than you likely wanted to know) I did not make the lifestyle choice of becoming sexually active.  In fact, I think the books probably ingrained in me the idea that sex with the right person was the better way to go. And sure, the Catholic education may have contributed as well. So I waited. 

I don’t remember having a specific and detailed “man of my dreams” in mind as a teen.  Unless you count Joe Elliott, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t see him as husband material, even in my delusional teenage mind.  For those wondering, Joe Elliott is the lead singer of Def Leppard.  I was a head banger, what can I say?  But I did have a long list of traits my eventual husband would have to possess in order to win me. 

So we can say, so far, my choices were opposite the realities of the stories, but reflected the lessons involved.  Interesting.

Moving on to my 20s.  I believe it was around this time that Romance had much more variety to them than they do now.  Which is ironic as I’m guessing there are more Romances on the shelves today than there was back then.  I remember reading about drugs in Historicals and about infidelity and experimentation in Contemporaries.  This must have been my own little experimental phase.

However, I did not carry those experiments into my lifestyle.  In fact, my 20s could best be described as boring.  Other than a couple years of partying, my 20s consisted of marrying, settling down, and starting a family.  The true irony here is that you’d think after reading about the ideal man for so long, I would have chosen better.  But I didn’t.  I settled and it didn’t work out.  Whose idea was this analysis anyway?  Oh yeah, mine.  *sigh*

So instead of making choices that brought me my HEA, I went in the other direction.  Again, my choices were opposite of the stories I was reading.

Onto my 30s.  The message is getting through.  By the time I turned 30, I’d lost myself somewhere.  I’d like to think reading about heroines who were becoming increasingly more spunky and independent had something to do with me getting back on my feet and getting a back bone again.  It was by far not the only contributor, but I’m guessing it played a small part.  A good sign my choices had begun to come in line with the literature.  There is hope for this endeavor yet.

To the present.  I now have a quarter of a century of reading Romance under my belt.  Give or take a few months.  I have not found my personal HEA, but I do have a pretty good life.  I like myself most of the time, I’ve worked hard to make a stable and somewhat comfortable home for myself and my daughter.  And though my list of required traits in my hero is considerably shorter, I still have standards and I’m determined to stick to them.

Overall, I believe my reading history has shaped my life history.  Though as we can see, that does not mean one must reflect the other. So, when the detractors say Romance novels give women unrealistic expectations for life and love, I say, bull shit.  Romance novels have given me knowledge, adventure, laughter, tears, and hours (if not years) of entertainment.  They’ve shown me what women can do, what we are capable of, and that redemption is always possible.  They may not have handed me my perfect, real life HEA, but they have kept my hope alive.

What have Romance novels done for you?  Do you believe they have had any affect on your choices over the years?  If you’ve found your HEA, is he (or she) what you had in mind when you were making all those teenage diary entries?  Or do you think this is all bunk and worthless rambling to fill a blog?

I’ve learned a lot from the blogs this past year. It’s funny how we can all talk about one subject and have a different outcome that makes sense. I’ve also learned that life is meant to be lived to have fun, enjoy yourself and those around you. And not to mention, life is lived so that you can live it a different way through your writing.

Writing, for me, is an exercise in clearing my conscience. Redoing things I wished I’d done different, living life vicariously through my main characters. It’s one of the best things about writing a story. You are someone different when looking through a different POV. I give myself up to the feelings of first love, betrayal of someone closest to you, deceit, lying, cheating, begging, and relying on no one but myself. All these emotions claw their way to the surface when on the page. But also, writing teaches you a lot about yourself. Things you keep firmly locked away seem to bubble up until you’re unable to lock it away anymore.

Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. The best way to get it over with is to just get it out.

For the writing, the life of the character is everlasting until that last page when you have to say goodbye and move on. It’s not painful to say goodbye to a good story when you know you’ve given them the right ending. But what happens if life gets in the way of that happily ever after ending and the story must go on through a new POV?  It’s hard to let go then because you know somewhere in the story it went wrong. Your emotions swung the story onto the path less taken and no matter how hard you try; you can’t find your way back. That’s life breathing through your writing. My writing holds more emotion when I write this way. It’s painful for me, but I like the end result. This makes me think about life more often and how short it really is. How sometimes the most important things to us get swept aside in our quest to have bigger and better things. Makes me think about what we have to sacrifice to have what we think we want instead of just what we need. When I write, life is simpler. It’s as easy as that.

I have a theme song for writing. I’ve loved this song for so long that even when I haven’t listened to it for a while, I can still sing it without missing a beat. Love unrequited except for a single night. Lovers who can’t find a way to be together and each second they can spend together draws them further apart. The song is so heartbreaking to listen to but it’s hypnotic. I use this song when I need help remembering what’s worth sacrificing in life, in writing. I think about what it would be like to look at someone from across the room and pretend I didn’t know them. To walk past them and remember the way his fingers felt on my naked skin, the way he looked in the moonlight and the stars shining in his eyes and the way it felt when he kissed me goodbye. It’s that type of emotion that traps a reader and makes them turn the page and I needed to be reminded of that.

What sort of life do you put into your writing? Readers, do you find yourself reading a certain type of book based on what kind of story is being told? If you don’t fancy those questions, I’m curious about music. What kind of theme song would you give your life?

I’m a person who hates to know what is going to happen before it happens.  I don’t sneak to find out what my Christmas presents are or struggle not to give others their presents early because I can’t wait for their reaction.  I don’t have to know everything everyone else knows and I often forget to tell friends things that they consider a big deal.  I was born, by some strange twist of fate, without the nosey gene.  (This often gets me into trouble as what I consider minding my own business, others assume is a lack of interest or me not caring.  Which is not the case, I assure you.)

In surfing around some blogs last week, I came across a little snippet about the book Heaven, Texas by Susan Elizabeth Phillips.  I have this book in the TBR and even started it once.  However, I was also trying to write and this woman is so darn good, she was killing my confidence.  So I put it down.  I’ll get back to it when I think I can handle the awesome that is SEP. 

What I didn’t realize is that the blog I’d found was about endings.  I’d read the entire bit about how the book ended before I realized it.  Now, it didn’t really spoil the book for me, I mean, I know they get their HEA.  But still, it was more than I prefer to know ahead of time.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last eight months or so, you know Stephanie Meyer is the latest publishing superstar and her Twilight series about Bella and her teen, vampire love-interest, Edward, is the smash, must-read of the year.  Recently, a version of a book Ms. Meyer had been writing, a re-write version of the first book from a different character POV, was leaked through the internet.  The fall out has been interesting.  I’ve heard everything from Ms. Meyer leaked the book herself (which I don’t believe) to one of the stars of the upcoming Twilight movie leaked the pages.  No matter who leaked them, they got out and now Ms. Meyer is supposedly not going to finish or publish the book (based on what she wrote on her website last I checked.  Sorry if that has changed since I last looked.)

My question is simple – how do you feel about spoilers?  Are you one of those people who read the ending first (and should be flogged!…lol)? Do you scratch and claw to get a much anticipated book as soon as possible?  And what would you do if something you poured your heart into, that you loved and couldn’t wait for readers to enjoy, got hijacked before you were ready?

Your mission, should you choose to accept, is to write a Romance novel.  Don’t be fooled by how simple this sounds.  There will be many who work against you.  Your greatest enemy is the evil I.E.  She’s sly, unpredictable, and as mean as they come.  She’ll throw up road blocks, make you doubt your skills, and leave you crying in your rum if you let her.

Then there’s I.E.’s second in command, the Regulator.  Don’t let the taped glasses and scrawny frame fool you.  The Regulator is the keeper of *the rules*.  He’ll tell you over and over these supposed rules cannot be broken.  You must stay strong and keep writing.  Rules were made to be broken.  Break them and move on.

Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security once you’ve silenced the Regulator.  Because the next villain is always waiting around the corner.  The dreaded Big Chill.  The Big Chill wants everything cold.  No sexual tension.  No sizzle.  No sex.  Whatever you do, don’t let the Big Chill win.  Close the door on the sex if you must, but don’t lose the sizzle or the mission is over.

This mission requires all of your covert skills.  You must get inside your character’s minds.  Know what they think, how they feel, and most of all their greatest fears.  You must test them, torture them, tempt them to touch the fire.  You must raise the stakes.  Throw obstacles in their way and make them choose between fear and love. 

Yes, you see now why this is your greatest and most difficult mission.  Love is the prize.  The most desired and illusive treasure in the world.  It’s fickle yet steadfast.  Fragile yet resilient.  Free yet always comes with a price. 

Now, do you accept this mission?  If you do, how do you plan to defeat these evil villains.  And once these villains have been slain, will you be ready to face the next wave of terror – the Editor, the Publisher, and the Reviewer?

Inspired by a Sunday morning impromptu dance off, I come to you live from my living room where Mattycakes is busting a move. I’m filling in for the Bo’sun today and you will have to bear with my crazy weekend antics. This is why they don’t let me blog Mondays.

We like to dance. Every Sunday morning, Mattycakes and I schedule a little dancing time. It’s our way of spending time with one another since we don’t see much of each other on the weekdays. I stay up extremely late on Saturday nights to write and then get up all goofified from lack of sleep. This is when the dancing gets wild.

We’ve spent a lot of time thinking up specialty moves that are unique to us. We turn on the radio in the kitchen and bust a move. We have something we call the lawn mower and the row boat with a little of the offset arm action to compliment each other. Then we go our own ways. Usually this is the moonwalk from me and the booty shake from Mattycakes before we move back to do a little of the freak boy made popular mostly by Too Short in the ‘90’s. You know, where the girl does the freak against the boy and the boy’s got his hand in the air like he’s a pimp or maybe that’s more popular now since the Lil Jon era. Anyways, then we go straight into interpretive dance. I call this my pantsing. This gets my brain warmed up. I love to dance. I’m not exactly the most graceful person in the room.

Mattycakes is good at the pansting. He’s actually quite creative. Today’s dance off was inspired by “So You Think You Can Dance”. I make Mattycakes suffer through this two hour affair every Wednesday night. What he calls his interpretive dance number is mostly moves he’s seen in movies. Which to watch a man who’s every bit of 6’4” and looks like a tank, try to move like a dancer is hilarious. But we have a different kind of humor here. Mostly us just jumping around like ballerinas and twiggy cheerleaders. Not a pretty sight.

I bet you’re wondering what this has to do with writing. I know Hellion is sitting on her treasure chest, chewing on the end of her dagger and trying to rationalize throwing it at me.

Just so you know, daggers hurt, babe. That’s why we’ve got a life size poster of Capt’n Jack. That’s supposed to be for target practice not me.

I went to the school of pantsing. Well, I did until I got tired of going and made up excuses not to go. For me, knowing the story before it unfolds on the page is boring. I like to go in several different directions when I write and if I’m set to one thing, it’s certain I’ll go another. The road less traveled is the one I enjoy the most.

Mattycakes and the dancing have really taught me a lot about writing. And no that’s not the lack of sleep talking.

I get an idea in my mind and I go somewhere with it. Just when I think I know what’s going to happen next, I throw a screwball in there and change it up. Dancing is just like that. You have to anticipate your partner’s moves and think up your next one.  It flows together even when you had no idea what was coming next. And if it doesn’t you move forward and interpret what to do next.

Just like dancing with a partner, you have to know your characters in order to pants. I’ve always thought pantsing is more of a character driven way of writing. You let the characters tell you what direction to head in next. Let them tell the story the way it was meant to be told. Sometimes, they aren’t sure either but that’s when you throw the screwball in, the kidnapping attempt. The phone threat. The stalker. The ex-girlfriend. The baby. Whatever.

Do what’s best for your story and you’re the only one who knows that. Learn to rely on instinct. It’s like an adrenaline rush each time you open a new page.

So today let’s discuss methods of writing. What crazy thing do you do to get into the mood to write? And if you’re a reader, do you have a method to your wicked reading ways?