Productivity or the Lack Thereof

Greetings, all. I am about 20 pages away from being done with the first pass of edits on my first real-for-true Urban Fantasy. However. The flu bug rose up its filth-infested head and brought me low and those 20 pages are still waiting. I imagine my characters are on the field of battle, filing their nails and cursing my name, waiting for me to get back to work. I'm just not capable of serious butt-in-chair time yet. Unlike what I'm doing right now, squinting at the screen, barely coherent and unable to tolerate coffee. (I really do apologize for the nature and wording of this post - I have no idea if I'm making any sense at all.) I haven't even been able to read, beyond captions on cat pictures. Oh, and that Netflix I used to love so much? Complete waste of money. I'm canceling that shiznet.


The only thing I am beset by, writing wise, is ideas for more books - and there will be no books until the 4 un-edited novels are edited! I've had so many ideas, I haven't written some of them down, and thus they are lost forever. (The limits on my short term memory are truly terrifying!) The only really good thing about this illness? I can't wait to finish those 20 pages of edits, whereas before I was dreading it.


Ok, kids, I'm going back to my chair and spending my Saturday watching HGTV design shows and eating soup. Hope you are being more productive than I am.

Author Interview with Regan Summers

Today, I'm bringing you an interview with Regan Summers - author of Don't Bite The Messenger from Carina Press. I have read it, and can say that the story is as good as the cover. From Amazon:


Anchorage, Alaska
The vampire population may have created an economic boom in Alaska, but their altered energy field fries most technology. They rely on hard-living—and short-lived—couriers to get business done...couriers like Sydney Kildare.
Sydney has survived to the ripe old age of twenty-six by being careful. She's careful when navigating her tempestuous clients, outrunning hijackers and avoiding anyone who might distract her from her plan of retiring young to a tropical, vampire-free island.
Her attitude—and immunity to vampires' allure—have made her the target of a faction of vampires trying to reclaim their territory. Her only ally is Malcolm Kelly, a secretive charmer with the uncanny habit of showing up whenever she's in trouble. Caught in the middle of a vampire turf war, Sydney has to count on Malcolm to help her survive, or the only place she'll retire is her grave...

I want to thank you for visiting us here. We like vampires and all magical creatures. I really enjoyed Don't Bite the Messenger - a very clever title. Did you come up with it or was that much of a hassle to find the right title?

 

Thanks so much for having me, Bettie. I'm delighted to be here!

 

This title was an easier one. I might have even had it on the page before I'd finished the first chapter. It just seemed to fit, you know? (Please don't hate me. This is a rare occurrence.)

 

 

So.. how safe is it for the people of Alaska, what with all these vampires around? I know they have been a boon on the economy, and they have a lot of leeway. But do people feel safe? Do they go out at night?

 

They do feel safe and they do go out at night. In fact, there are lines to get into vampire blood lounges, even when the temperatures dip below zero. Would people still feel safe after getting a glimpse at the real machinations of vampire society, rather than the PR image they project? I'm not so sure.

 

I loved the way the vampires in your book have a sort of energy field that the heroine, Sydney, can sense. But she is special... can everyone sense them, and what does it feel like?

 

This is an ability maybe not exclusive, but fairly unique to Syd. Most people feel uneasy in a vampire's presence, or get the sense there might be something off about the person. Vampires are kept moving, thinking and feeling by a energy other than that which powers regular humans. Syd feels that power like cold pinpricks, or a static electric shock. Disconcerting, I'd think.

 

You mention people being addicted to the bite of a vampire, but they are still human. I take it Vampires can create other vampires in your mythology - do you want to reveal how that happens at this stage?

 

In this world it does take more than a bite to spur the transition into undeath. It's actually a lengthy, rather intimate process. *smiles pleasantly* Which I'd rather not go into at the moment.

 

 

I well remember my first vampire encounter - a very smexiful vampire in the form of Frank Langella. Do you remember your first vampire and was it horror or smexiness that drew you to write about them?

 

It must have been Bram Stoker's Dracula. The book, not the movie. I recall being intrigued, and more freaked out and fascinated by the brides than by Dracula himself. I wasn't attracted to or horrified by vampires then, but I was certainly fascinated by them. They have to watch the people they love die or, if they try to keep them, they alter or destroy them in the process. Could there be a more dramatic backstory?

 

There are some exciting chase scenes.... I think one reviewer said something about a movie voiceover calling it a thrill ride. :) - tell us... how did you learn to explain such exciting, daring, nighttime maneuvers?? *innocent smile*

 

Only the very best reviewers say things like that. :) 

I physically block as many scenes as I can, both to make sure they're possible and so that I get some of the nuances of the motion. Ask me how long I had to ice one of my wrists after a certain bannister-related move. :/ When it comes to driving, obviously I can't grab a friend with a truck and take him out to practice rolling it. So, for those stunts, it's more obeying the laws of physics and watching a lot of "making of" extras for movies with realistic chases and crashes. And, sometimes, dragging people out to watch B- movies. It's all in the name of research, my friends.

 

 

I know you are hoping to get out a sequel... can you spill any beans yet? Or can you assure us we won't go Sydney and Mal-less??

Can you "make it rain" with beans, or is that a slip and fall hazard? 

Never fear, you will not have to go without Syd or Mal for long. The sequel, which is a novel rather than a novella, will be released by Carina Press. Details to follow because I do not yet have them. I can tell you it was a freaking blast to write, so I hope it will be an equally fun read.

 

Is there anything else you like to address before we go, or predictions for the future?

I'd encourage all you writers out there to write what you love. This story started as a way to amuse myself during a very cold, very dark winter a few years ago, and it is steeped in my enthusiasm. Had I written it "to the market", it wouldn't have had this energy and voice, which I believe were major factors in the sale.

Thank you so much for having me, Bettie! You've got such a lovely blog, and... *gets distracted by the vampire...baron* So...pretty...

 

Well, of course, it's hard to concentrate with hot vampires just draping themselves over furniture. Congratulations on the sequel. I'm glad you stopped by - and as I've said before, I will not pimp a book I didn't really enjoy. I highly recommend Don't Bite The Messenger - and await the release date of its sequel.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming, folks!

Interview with a Character: Link 4 in the AW W1S1 Blog Chain

Interview with the Vampire... Baron

Me: Oh, I was so nervous about this...


The Baron: *with raised eyebrow* But why? 


Me: Well, I've never interviewed a character before, much less had a vampire in my apartment! And you know, the cat litter. I understand you have a superhuman sense of smell...


The Baron: Well, I'm flattered to have been invited. And cat litter, well, even in Anguria, excrement happens.


*We both laugh, well, he politely titters, and I giggle like a Girl Scout who just sold a truckload of thin mints. It's true what they say about being in their presence. I'm all a flutter. Of course, this one is incredibly good looking! Oh gosh... I forgot they can skim what's in the front of your mind... oh I'm starting to ramble! And his eyes are starting to glaze over...*


Me: We're the fourth in the blog chain for the Write One Sub One Novel Challenge. People have high expectations at this point! Ria Rees had the previous post. And then Hunter Emkay is up next. (The complete list is available here.)


The Baron: *lifting his tea cup* Then let's make this a good one!


Me: *slightly goofy* All right! So - tell me something about vampires. What does popular culture have right? What do they get wrong?


The Baron: I hate to speak for all of my kin, but most vampires understand that we represent an almost primordial, primitive fear to non-vampires. Much of it is a holdover from superstitions in the dark ages; a truly primitive people trying to understand a race that lives on blood, is stronger and faster, able to see in the dark, and seemingly to read your minds, *here, he looks away from me and I try not to think how cute he is* Of course they thought us monsters, that we wanted to steal their children, we wanted to "make" more vampires, or worse, slaves. All that's nonsense of course. There are always those who are attracted to us, and they want to come to us to be "turned", as it were. If you want to be a vampire, you have to be born one, I'm afraid. If we take a human wife, or in some cases other donors, they could come to share some of our traits, such as a longer life or slower aging, but only after long contact. Drinking another's blood is all about sharing the baser means of life. It is life. It's only right we share some of our gifts with those who give us life, but they don't come to require blood themselves. The modern idea, or literary device, that we are somehow infectious or the result of disease I find a little insulting, but again, we have to give allowances. Or perhaps it's better than the belief that we are re-animated corpses, the result of suicide or the son of the devil. I'm glad those beliefs have fallen by the wayside.


Me: And your eyes are freaky!


The Baron, laughing: Yes, and our eyes are different. We've hardly any color to them. I think it's a matter of natural selection. We can see in the dark, we can see in ultraviolet, in other words, we don't need eye contact to see one another. But I'm no scientist. I could be wrong.


Me: Are our eyes freaky to you?


The Baron: Well...


Me: Oh, you're too polite to answer that, aren't you? Let's carry on! Do vampires believe in God?


The Baron: *pursing his lips slightly, as if surprised at the question. Did the temperature just plummet, or is that me?* I would say we are much like humans in this regard. Some do, some don't. Some of us believe in alternative deities. Spirituality is hardly governed by race.


Me: True, true! So tell me, is it rude to ask a vampire his age?


The Baron: Perhaps it is of the ladies, *he smiles... I nearly faint* but I do not mind the question. At the time of your story, I am about 150 years old. I was just coming up to my middle years.


Me: And yet you aren't married.


The Baron: Gentlemen vampires tend to marry later in life. Probably because it is rare for us to have more than one child. We believe in keeping our numbers low, we always have, so we marry late. It's a survival mechanism.


Me: While we're on the subject of marriage and love and whatnot, what do you look for in a woman, one you might eventually marry?


The Baron: She must have an independent mind, and not be caught up in the changing whims of fashion. I loathe social climbing in all its forms. An education is important, and not just parlor accomplishments, like singing and dancing. I don't plan on keeping my wife in the parlor, at least, not all the time. *laughs*


Me: You were surprised at Ophelia's lack of language skill. (I am referring to his leading lady, who he teases for having no French or German.)


The Baron: *smiling* I manage to overlook it, though. 


Me: *relieved the temperature has come back up* So you are willing to compromise?


The Baron: The heart will override the intellect. And she has the intelligence, of course, she simply hasn't had the tutelage.


Me: Fair enough! What about beauty? How important is that?


The Baron: Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder. Don't groan! Some of the old cliches are true. Beauty is found in love. When you care for someone, their physical appearance hardly matters. Ophelia they say is fetching, or pretty, but only because they compare her to her mother's beauty. If they saw her as I do, they wouldn't compare her to anyone.


Me: Ok. You just made a bunch of ladies go da'aawwww.....


The Baron: Is that a good thing?


Me: Oh yes! Now, before you go, I guess the "character interview" question I'm supposed to ask is, "What do you want?"


The Baron:*laughing* Oh, but that's such a broad question! I want world peace. I want better road surfaces in the upper mountain regions, so they don't turn to bloody rivers in the springtime. What do you want? What did you want this morning? Is it different from what you want now? Can you narrow it down for me?


Me: *sighing* And this people, is why the book is 126k at the first draft. *Aside to the vampire* You have to be difficult, don't you? 

Fin

The first draft of The Vampire Baron is done! It's a whopping 126k of rambling gothic romance. Oh yes. There will be edits. There will be blood. I can already think of three scenes that need adding, and many more that need a serious weeding and hoeing to get them into shape. That will wait though, as I am going straight into edits on Darklight, my urban fantasy, starting tomorrow. 


But that's tomorrow. Tonight, we watch English period drama and dream our beautiful dreams.

A Confession: A Post

Hello everyone. Can't believe I haven't done a real-for-true blog post for 2012. I began le Grand Experiment and got tripped up by the short story exercise... First: because short stories are the bane of my existence. I can read them. I don't write them. And, too-also, I've been writing up a damn storm! So I think it's no tragedy that le Grand Experiment went belly up, because the whole point was to try and kick start the writing again.


To that end: I was getting so caught up in the whole: publish, publish, publish noise that I was feeling very down. Well, that and the fact I have three unedited novels that I haven't even begun to get in query shape. I've been avoiding a lot of blog reading. Instead, amidst the storm of writing, I've been like... reading. Trying to find the love of the craft again. I know that a writer has to be informed in regards to the publishing industry. However. I think the advice of publishers and agents, with their lists of what you should do, what they want, what is "selling" (as well informed and knowledgeable as it is) can be soul crushing to the muse. I hate to come to my writing sessions with some sort of agenda. I just want to write the story the way it wants to be written. I forgot that the first draft is for me. If I can polish and hone it, and make it marketable, well, that should come after the fact.


Depending on how you look at it, I'm either way over or on track for my intended word count for The Vampire Baron. If only I could keep track of what word count I had intended! I'm a little over 106,00. I feared, due to the length of the outline, it could be as much as 140k. Then I got that under control and feared it would be 120k, but I would do a lot of editing, and shave that down. Then I thought I was on track for 100k. But that didn't happen. Right now, I just think it'll be done when it's done. Which I really hope will be this weekend. I need to get editing on my Urban Fantasy! It's gonna be a good long weekend.

Books Read 2011

I'm taking a moment from le Grand Experiment. For the first time, I'm going to list all the books I read and re-read in 2011. This is probably the longest list I've had in quite a few years. I do apologize if there are misspellings, etc. I did try to check names before putting them in here, but some errors may have escaped me. Much of these are library books, so sorry, please don't ask to borrow.

Some things I learned:
Patrick Rothfuss doesn't write fast enough for me.
Neither does Brandon Sanderson.
Sometimes, the movie is better.
Some "first novels" of famous authors are read merely for the experience
Some oldies but goodies are called that for a reason.
The Count of Monte Cristo is so much better than anyone ever told me.
Some oldies but goodies aren't so good the second time around.
Some books I hated as a kid, I still hate as an adult.
I may have learned how to put down a book I don't like. Maybe. But I haven't learned how to stop hoarding them.

Venitia - Georgette Heyer
A Convenient Marriage - Georgette Heyer
Sylvester - Georgetter Heyer
The Gathering Storm - Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson
All the Windwracked Stars - Elizabeth Bear
The Devil You Know - Mike Carey
Blindsight - Peter Watt
101 Dalmations (the full-on novel, not some Disney Goldenbook) Dodi Smith
Where Angels Fear to Tread - E.M. Forster
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
The Professor - Charlotte Bronte
Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien
The Two Towers - J.R.R. Tolkien
The Towers of Midnight - Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
A Reaper's Tale - Adam Slade
Agnes Grey - Anne Bronte
Star Wars Death Star - Michael Reaves & Steve Perry
Ventus - Karl Schroeder
Rosemary & Rue - Seanan McGuire
Anna Kerenina - Leo Tolstoy
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
Cecilia - Francis Burney
The Forest of Hands and Teeth - Carrie Ryan
The House of Mirth - Edith Wharton
Blood and Iron - Elizabeth Bear
Jacob's Room - Virginia Woolfe
The Mysteries of Udolpho - Ann Radcliffe
The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
The Grey Lady and other stories - Elizabeth Gaskell
The Good Fairies of New York - Martin Millar
At the Mountains of Madness - H.P. Lovecraft
The Eye of the World - Robert Jordan
The Great Hunt - Robert Jordan
The Dragon Reborn - Robert Jordan
Uncle Silas - Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
Arabella - Georgette Heyer
Almuric - Robert E Howard
Hospital Sketches - Louisa May Alcott
Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
Little Men - Louisa May Alcott
An Old Fashioned Girl - Louisa May Alcott
Eight Cousins - Louisa May Alcott
A Rose in Bloom - Louisa May Alcott
Behind a Mask - Louisa May Alcott
1984 - George Orwell
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
The Lady in White - Wilkie Collins
Rebecca - Daphne DuMaurier
Joy Luck Club - Amy Tan
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kelsey
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
The Castle of Wolfenbach - Eliza Parsons
Miss Perigrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs
Began but did not finish: Notre Dame de Paris
The Help - Kathryn Stockett
Unholy Ghosts - Stacia Kane
Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
Out of Time - Monique Martin
The Old Man and the Wasteland - Nick Cole
True Grit - Charles Portis
Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
Peter Pan - J.M. Barry
Port Eternity - C.J. Cherryh
Voyager in the Night - C.J. Cherryh
Death by Scandal - Marguerite Butler
Rosemary & Rue - yes , I read it twice in the same year, shoot me
The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss
The Wise Man's Fear - Patrick Rothfuss
Graceling - Kristin Cashore
Summer Crossing - Truman Capote
A Sicilian Romance - Ann Radcliffe
Devil in the White City - Erik Larson
Haunted Hotel - Wilkie Collins
Into the Forest - Jean Hegland
Cold Mountain - Charles Frazier

Shorter Works
Susan - Harlan Ellison
Call of Cthulhu - H.P. Lovecraft
The Choice - Edith Wharton
The Enormous Room - Horace Leonard Gold
The Mysterious Key & What it Opened - Louisa May Alcott
Going into Society - Charles Dickens
Bunner Sisters - Edith Wharton
Ethan Frome - Edith Wharton
Bride of Death - Celina Summers

Exercise Seven: Dear Self

Welcome back from Christmas everyone. I spent four days with my sister, mostly reading. Thinking about reading. Thinking about writing. I decided to post this exercise with no comment :)


Dear Self:


I would like to speak to you about the next six months. I hope they will be more productive and consistent than the last six. To that end, here are a few things we ought to work on.


Well, consistency is one area we need to work on.


It might be good if you occasionally pealed your ass out of this chair and took a walk or something. There might be more room in the chair, and you might see and/or get some sort of inspiration for those novels you write and don't edit.


About those novels you don't edit... you need to edit. As a matter of fact, I see a whole hell of a lot of editing in your future for the next six months. As a matter of fact, all six months. Until at least 3 of the 4 novels you have ready in the new year are ready to submit. As for that other story that keeps popping up out of nowhere, I think you can outline it, you just can't write any of it - not until you've edited.


A better reading schedule. You always say you want to read the genre you're writing or editing at the time, but you don't always do that. I think you should do that.


More time doing everything. You seriously need to work on limiting internet fuckery. Cats make great videos... but you don't have to watch every one. And don't think I don't mean limiting AW, too....


I think that's a good start. Things you should continue: kindness to animals, drinking coffee, witty and or snarky barbs. Those are things you do real good. Don't change any of that. I love those things about you. About me. About us.


Uh... next Dear Self letter: watch it on the voices in the head.