It Amazes Me

It really does. How things actually do get done if you just settle down with yourself and slowly chink away at them.

I am pleased to announce that I have just completed the Second Draft of my novel, Ever After. It's taken a few months but now it's done. And yes, I rewrote EVERY single chapter.

What I also find pleasing, is the improvement in my writing. The flow is better, there is more showing instead of telling, and I'm getting more and more into the private feelings of each character and finding innovative ways to communicate them to the reader.

I am also pleased with the new shape of the story. I moved several scenes around. I even deleted the sex scene. I was worried this would shorten up the story too much, but in the end I've ended up with 10 000 EXTRA words than I had to start with.

Now, I'm not saying it's a finished product, but I am done the full rewrites. I need to tweak the first three chapters and get them in really good shape. And I need to wrestle my synopsis into a stellar piece of writing.

But my deadline for submission is Oct 15th.

I will be going to the mailbox on that day. And then it will be up to the writing gods.

(Or a couple of editors.)

And on another note, I have received back the results from two contests I entered the story in.

In one I placed sixth out of 11, and the other I had very high scores, but which suggested the manuscript needed a bit more polish before going off to the publisher.

I totally agreed. I must be on the right track, because the judges didn't really tell me anything I wasn't already aware of. I think this is a good sign.

I've got one more contest to hear back from which should be sometime in early November.

So keep your fingers crossed for me.

Now I'm going to read some Patricia Cornwell.

MJ

Under Way

The new Prologue is done, and the new Chapter One is almost complete.

Part of me absolutely HATES having to rewrite the whole damned story.

But the other half kind of loves doing it, because this time all I know everything. The beginning, the middle, the end. And in particular the characters. I now know who they all ARE. In the first draft they're kind of there, but there images are a bit sketchy. And I found myself continually discovering new things about all of them as I went along. Almost as if I was the reader/audience. Not the writer who was already inside their heads.

It was fun to watch them grow, the first time, and to be surprised when they showed me something new about themselves that I had not thought of. In short, when they really started to breathe and become full characters.

In truth it was kind of hard to let them and their story go when I finished the first draft.

I also felt like I hadn't really honoured their story in a way.

And they kept bugging me about it. "Rewrite our story, doofus! You owe it to us! You dredged us up out of nowhere so you'd better fix it up so that we make sense."

Brutal. Honestly.

I think the funnest thing will be rewriting the beginning. And it is. But not for the reasons I first thought. Last time, it was the plot that I knew well, but not the characters. So this time, even though the beginnins is nearly the same, the plot is now enriched by the depth of the characters.

And likewise, now, when I get a bit further along, I will be able to fix up the bits of the plot (the middle) so that it matches the strength of the characters, that I'd found for them by that point.

Anyway, it's all fascinating.

And I'm reaffirming my wriing likes and dislikes. A thousand words is really all I can take a sitting. Even with a break. I just find my writing starts to become forced and then I start to get caught up trying to get the flow back instead of moving ahead with the story.

Nope. 1000 wds is it for me at a sitting.

And I can only listen to classical music while I write. Anything else is too disctracting. (Cause I usually want to sing along!)

There is some great classical music out there.

Until next time.

J.

Back from the Dead

Hello everyone.

I'm back.

What started out to be a six week break from writing has, unfortunately, turned into a six MONTH break. I should have expected this. My reaction times are pretty slow when it comes to momentous moments in my life.

I am now, finally, hard at work on the final draft of my first novel.

I needed the time to completely separate from the original idea and now I'm going back and REALLY ripping it to shreds.

Ok, maybe not to shreds.

It's more like I'm taking the very best of what I came up with and am finally shaping it into something more mature, more readable, and (fingers crossed) more saleable.

Of course, I have been relaxing this whole time, either.

I have been doing lots more research on the business. Attending many workshops sponsored by Toronto Romance Writers, and I also became this years Contest Co-Ordinator for our chapter.

Look at me taking on leadership roles.

I have also decided some things about myself as a person and as a writer.

The word "discipline" does not work for me. It never will. There is no way that I can ever get my body or my brain to accept that word. It's like a straight-jacket to me. And we all know how human beings relate to those.

But I had to find some other derivitive with which I could work.

And I found one.

Dilligent.

It's a good word. I can work with that.

To say I am a disciplined writer/person makes every part of me laugh in great huge guffaws somewhere inside. It also makes me feel like a pile of shit when I don't do what I "should". (There's another word that I hate.)

But to say that I am a dilligent writer seems a little easier to take. And a goal that, to me, seems far more attainable. It doesn't have anywhere near the severity or punishment overtones that discipline has.

Yet it still implies a decent work ethic, and a good focus on what needs to be done. I work dilliegently at my writing.

And I will dilligently get it done.

It's all semantics I know, but whatever floats yer boat, ya know?

Also, I've finally decided on a nom de plume for my writing: MJ Anderson. It flows. And it looks pretty when I practice my autograph.

It also happens to be my mothers initials.

I figure since I paid tribute to my Grandma (one of the lights of my life) when I was acting by using her maiden name as my stage name, it seemed appropriate that I should somehow find a way to do the same for my Mom (an even greater light in my life.)

Also, she is the one who first introduced me to romance fiction, and I know she always secretly harboured the idea of writing a book. In a way, I feel I can finally help make one of her dreams come true. She may not write it, but at least her initials will be on it.

And in truth MJ Anderson also stands for Mister James Anderson.

Cute, don't ya think?

Alright, that's enough for me tonight.

I just finished my thousand words for the day and now I'm writing this.

What I really need is to get myself the hell to bed.

So to all a good night.

J.

Getting My Bearings

Well, I've been taking some time off.

See, not only did I finishe writing my story (46, 320 words!), I also finished reading Stephen King's book "On Writing". VERY informative.

He suggested that upon completion of a story, the writer should just leave the manuscript alone for four to six weeks before going back to it. One needs to separate emotionally and mentally before starting to edit it.

And in the meantime, get started on the next one. Ostensibly, I believe, in order to further separate (or break the umbilical cord) to the previous story.

Only with this separation does the writer again get enough perspective to treat the story with an objective eye.

I whole-heartedly agree.

Although it's driving me crazy not to start ripping the thing to shreds already. The fact that I have to wait until Nov 14 (the 4 week mark) is almost unbearable. But this is EXACTLY why it's necessary to wait.

So, in the meantime, I have been starting to think about my next story.

I grabbed the nearest spiral notebook I could find, and started jotting down whatever points have come into my mind.

I also went right to the Harlequin guidelines page and took down notes on the three categories that interest me the most: Xtra-Sensual Romance, Romantic Suspense, and Silhouette Desire.

It was my way of clarifying what exactly it is that the editors of each line are really looking for. Right down to the vocabulary used to describe the lines. (I've begun to notice that many of these words appear repeatedly in some of the books I've been reading.)

This time I intend to write with a more specific target line in mind.

I don't know if the first book will ever sell, although I think it might. At the very least, I believe it should get me an agent.

And speaking of Agents, I've spent the day checking out all the RWA-approved agents listed on the RWA website. I'm getting a bit ahead of myself, but it's always better to be as prepared as possible.

Anyway, back to brainstorming.

C.J

AT LONG LAST!

It's DONE!

I FINISHED IT!

I typed the last words yesterday afternoon, and today at our monthly Romance Writer's Meeting I got my chocolate and a round of applause.

That applause felt awesome. (You can take the boy out of acting, but you can't take the acting out of the boy.)

Seriously, I accomplished several breakthroughs yesterday.

First of all: I completed something that I started.
Second: It was something for which I had no TRUE deadline.
Third: I did it because I loved it.
Fourth: I turned out not half bad.
Fifth: I did it in a reasonable amount of time. (More on that ina minute)
Sixth: I worked till it was DONE.
Seventh: I now know I can write a complete story/book from begining to END!

All this because I slowly pecked away at it.

And as for the the "reasonable amount of time" thing, well, here's my reference for that.

At today's meeting, I was asked by a couple of fellow members how long it took me to write my first one. I told them, and they were COMPLETELY STUNNED.

They both told me it took them roughly TWO YEARS to write theirs.

And one of them had written a book that was EXACTLY the same length as mine!

What a RELIEF!

Here I was thinking I wasn't taking this whole thing seriously enough, and I come to find out that I'm a tad prolific in my writing.

I can DO this.

I'm not saying my rough draft is anything better than a VERY rough draft. But the point is I got the ROUGH draft done in ONE THIRD of the time it seems to have taken other people.

Which means: I have a passion for this. I wanted it done, because I believed in it, and felt, intrinsically, that I could do it.

Even if this manuscript never sees the light of day, I will know that I did it.

And more importantly, I can do it AGAIN!

The other short contemporary writer and I have decided to share our stories with each other and see if we can't help each other rejig our respective manuscripts to get the into some kind of acceptable form for submission.

Next steps.

I am SO excited.

And proud.

Can I just revel in that for a moment?

J.D

Knuckle Biting

It's so close I can almost taste it.

I'm talking of course about the ENDING OF MY BOOK.

I am roughly 3000 words from the end! That's less than one whole chapter!

THE END! Can you believe it??????

You have to understand, I NEVER finish ANYTHING I start. EVER.

I've just written a 50000-ish word novel. How AWESOME is that?

I have learned so much so far. About myself, and myself as a writer. It's fascinating.

Like for instance:

I don't like to write more than 1000 words a day, and that if I stick to that I am more likely to actually
write those 1000 words.

Writng 1000 words a day means I can write a chapter in four days. Three if it's going well.

I will also make sacrifices for writing that I would NEVER have made when I was acting.

Example:

Tonight, when I got home, (anxious to get another thousand or so words down on my chapter--I have a deadline of Saturday this week to get it done), THE POWER WAS OUT ONLY ON MY BLOCK!

Can you believe??????

And I didn't have any part of Chapter Eleven in my home computer. It was saved in my email so I could download it from my work computer. Stupid.

Here's how I handled it.

I actually packed up my laptop and marched down the street to Starbucks to see if I could get on the internet and do the writing I needed to do.

I would NEVER HAVE DONE THIS for ANYTHING to do with the acting biz. EVER.

Something has changed within me. (Not a deliberate quote from Wicked, but what can I say, it's TRUE!)

I want to sell MILLIONS of books!

I want to tour the world spreading the joy of writing and reading romance.

I am so bloody excited, I can't stand it.

I'll post again when I'm done.

Keep your fingers crossed for me. I gotta be done by tomorrow night.

Yikes!!!!!

J.D

After WOTS

Word on the Street was a great experience.

I met several more of our members at the Toronto Romance Writers booth.

Also, I noticed an odd reluctance on the part of passers-by to openly talk about romance.

People seem embarrassed to admit that they like to read or write romance.

I think it has to do with the fact that ultimately the romance industry is about promoting love, joy, hope, and faith in something intangible.

Something that EVERYONE wants.

We live in such a cynical time, that I believe people don't want to been seen as "foolish" by admitting that they believe in something as seemingly simplistic as love or joy or hope.

WHY?

HOW have we arrived at such a place?

WHY is it foolish to be optimistic?

I would say it's BRAVE to be optimistic.

I have refused in my past to be closeted about a number of things. My homosexuality, the fact that I grew up on a pig farm, that I suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and that I like cheesy pop music.

I again to refuse to be closeted about my love for romance, joy, hope, faith, and love.

Wouldn't we all be in a better mood if we believed that GOOD things can acutally happen?

Something to think on.

J.D