VERY, VERY, QUIET

I’m good at keeping secrets, so I’m sure this comes as a surprise to you that I’ve been blocked lately.*snort loudly* Not “I need prune juice” sort of way, but the people in my head have quieted.

So, I’ve been googling and collecting writing articles on how to finish a novel, how do you know it’s burn out, when the voices in your head go quiet. Then I came across an article that talked about creating memorable characters. And then it hit me, in the past six months I haven’t met a character that has made me turn around and go “wait, wait, let me get my pen out”. Or even a plot I want to see fleshed out. Or even stumbled upon a story/character with enough conflict to sustain a full length story. I’ve learned I can’t write a book with one of these missing.*le sigh* But I think I’ve come across something golden and no I’m not stalling.

Here’s proof of the WIP I’ve tried to write:

In Time: After the hero admits that maybe the heroine does have a ESP the conflict goes POOF! I’m not jazzed about the book and I have no idea how it will end. And the characters have disappeared in that place where characters wait around for their turn to come.

Getting Over Mr. Wrong One: What the hell IS the heroine’s conflict? I know her past, but I don’t know what her goal is. The set up is wonderful and the outside conflict is there, but the heroine is Blah. The hero is funny, but, um, you do need a heroine.

Mora the Witch: It’s a paranormal for goodness sakes! The world was fun until I had to build it from the ground up. And when the writing buzz wears off before the first three chapters are done is a sign of DOOM! I can write the first three chapters in a flurry of excitement, so I know my process, but page 6 and then “zzzz” NOT A GOOD SIGN.

But there is hope (I hope):

1600 Calorie Man Diet (working title and no I’m not married to it.)

1. The heroine is prickly. She’s overweight. She’s prickly. And she actually has a goal, which gives me plot to work from. YAY!

2. Also, because she has a goal I can throw obstacles in her way until the very end and that will create conflict in that magical way it does, but I won’t know until I sit down and get to know her more. But here’s the thing I want to know her more.

3. She has a goal. YAY!

4. It’s a humorous women’s fiction with strong romantic elements, which means I have no idea what it is, which means there is a high chance of a success rate for this book.

5. She has a GOAL!!!!

6. The hero will be in the way of her goal which solidifies his place in this story.

7. I know the four turning points along with the ending. I even wrote it down and wrote THE END just to Squee.

8. SHE HAS A GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But you know what I’m not going to the write the story just yet. It’s been so long since I’ve felt this feeling of knowing where I wanted to go. Or actually wanting to write a story just to see where it goes. My first thought wasn’t “I should write something soon because that’s what writers do and that’s what I should do if I want to get my name out there as much as possible.” No, No, I want to know where this character is going to lead me and where are we going to end up. I’m going to collage this character and this story just so I can start to live in her world. She’s snarky just the way I like them. She has southern roots, which I’m starting to recognize as my signature. (I resent the fact that though I was born in Dallas, TX I have a Californian accent. I blame my parents.)

But I’ve promised myself I will finish revising ISN first. Phoenix is still in my head. I’m grateful because she has kept me company in these long quiet months, but you can only live so long in a characters head before they start to annoy. But that’s neither here or there, I can feel the writing jones coming back and I’m loving it.

P.S. SHE HAS A GOAL! Did I mention that?!?!

I’LL NEVER BE JUNE CLEAVER

Or is it Beaver? Anyway, I’ll never be Martha Stewart either. Hell, I’ll never be my mother who I think went to Mother of the Year University. She’s not perfect, but my mother is fan-tab in my eyes. Now I’d like to say being a writer has diminished my parenting abilities. Nope, my kids were screwed the day they were born.

You don’t believe me?

Case in point:

*sitting at read light*
Not June Cleaver: Idiot, it’s a red light. Red means stop. Jeez.
Little Miss Diva: Yeah!
The 2 foot Comedian: Yeah! Idiot!

Still don’t believe me?

Well, I have a potty mouth. I’ve been trying to curb the need to cuss like a sailor. In my attempts I have created other words to replace them like fudge-sickle and donkey-hole. I’m sure these replacements sound just as bad, but I’m hoping to stop cursing all together. And really I’d rather have my son or daughter say fudge-sickle then you know what. But it’s sad when…

NJC: Sh…*meets son’s gaze and cuts off curse word*
T2FC: Shuckey-duckles, Mommy.
NJC: Yes. Mommy meant to say shuckey-duckles.

So, are there any June Cleaver’s out there?

IT’S AGAINST EVERYTHING I BELIEVE IN *sometimes*

Somewhere on the blogsphere, where I will not name names, a writer has confessed to reading the last page. On one level I can understand. Why waste time on a book with a crappy ending? Hey, it was even endearing to see Harry in When Harry Met Sally all those years later still reading the last page in the bookstore. But in real life what kind of traumatic childhood does a person have to have in order to read the last page? It’s sacrilegious (not really, but work with me here). Why can’t you just be surprised? Why go and ruin all the writer’s hard work building up to the very end by reading it? First!!!

Are you that type of reader? If you are I’m sure you dog-ear pages and think bookmarks are for sissies.;) Go at it in the comments.

Oh, I should confess:

1. I know I’m not naming names, but I’m a fan of this author

2. And…Harry Potter… the last installment…I soooooo read the last page. But that’s different. Really.

Okay, now go at it in the comments.

I SHOULD BE WORKING

But instead I made this Personality Collage. That I stole from MJ and she stole it from Ally who stole it from Rachel and then that’s where the knowledge of theft ends. Anyway, from a set of question I came up with this:

Personality Collage
Originally uploaded by melissablue84

Here’s the list of questions:

1. What’s your first name?

2. What’s your favorite food, right now?

3. What high school did you go to?

4. What is your favorite color?

5. Who is your celebrity crush?

6. What is your favorite drink?

7. What is your dream vacation?

8. What is your favorite dessert?

9. What do you want to be when you grow up?

10. What do you love most in life?

11. What is one word that describes you?

12. What is your Flickr name?

The coolest thing, the soccer ball is an actual photo of my high school.

Here’s where I found the pictures:

melissa 01, 2. Pizza night!, 3. Giant Soccer Ball…, 4. Just a Orchid, 5. IMG_1984, 6. Wasted away in Margaritaville, 7. Lights of Waikiki, 8. IMG_0056, 9. Author, 10. yawn, 11. red light humor, 12. Melissa Blue, Plebejus melissa, male

Okay, officially back to work.

Maybe.

PLAYING HOOKY

Yup, I’m supposed to be at school right now, but I couldn’t take another day of sitting in that man’s class. I’m about this close to calling into work, but then again it’s pay day. I’m exhausted, but that’s not even what I want to talk about today.

I have one more scene to write for See Megan Run. I’ve been in editing mode for this book approx. six months. It’s kind of hard to write a new scene when you have no idea how to tap into these people anymore. It’s more apt to looking at your newly varnished table and then whipping out the sandpaper to smooth an edge. It’s insane, but it needs to be done. So, I’m going to do it while I’m playing hooky from school. I might feel bad about it tomorrow.

*snort* I doubt it.

Also the madness is going to begin soon, aka National’s baby! So in honor of this time honored tradition of blogs turning into RWA central EVERYWHERE here is the countdown.

Get the Countdown Clock widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox!

DREAMS DEFERRED

Still slightly brain dead, but I just had a thought. One of the few that was able to stick around long enough for me to write about it. I thought about my dream publisher when I first signed up for this writing gig. My heart was absolutely set on the Holy Grail of Romance Publishing. I read each line’s submission guidelines, considered what line I could best write for and sent my book in. That book got rejected.

That did not deter my dream of being a Holy Grail of Romance Publishing author. I wrote another book and sent it in. While waiting on word back contests popped up and my first thought always was, “it’s not a line I would want to write for forever, but it’ll get my foot in the door.” Yes, that was my first thought. Thankfully, I never got the gumption to send stuff in for these contests.

Then the book I’d sent in got rejected. Less than a month later I got published by The Wild Rose Press. I stopped thinking so much of Holy Grail due to edits, promotion, and writing on new books. More time passed and still Holy Grail didn’t seem so much like Holy Grail.

Why you ask?

Well, first I finally realized there are other publishers out there. I know it’s not rocket science, but when you are dead set on ONE thing and ONE thing only you get tunnel vision. I also started to realize that getting published with Holy Grail may not be for me. I don’t write stuff that is meant for Holy Grail readers. Not that I don’t enjoy reading books published by Holy Grail. I’m just not a Holy Grail writer. Again, that was like a light bulb for me. And now I’m starting to think, maybe I’m not a traditional romance writer. Maybe, I’m a Humorous Women’s fiction. Or maybe I’m just fickle. Who knows.

Are you fickle? Or did you realize the goals you set for yourself were the wrong goals for YOU?

Okay, I’m done. Back to being brain dead.

BRAIN DEAD

My school schedule does not bode well for my blogging schedule. I’ve got nothing for you. Other than to say I’ve got nothing for you. If you don’t hear from me I’m in HELL called General Education courses. I see a lot of links in the future.

CHOOSING POV: ACCORDING TO GENRE

So, I’m reading over See Megan Run and it hit me, I didn’t follow the usual set up when it comes to sex scenes. I chose two povs for the first one, but the second one is in the hero’s POV. Now when I wrote it I wasn’t consciously thinking “I’m going to write this outside the box”. It just felt right to have it in Aiden’s POV. To me it’s definitely his love story. (which screwed me in the edits because I had to go back and flesh Megan out. But that’s neither here or there.) The common thing in romance is to have it solely in the heroine’s POV or both, or have it in the heroine’s and the after glow is in the hero’s POV.

Why did I make this choice?

Outside of it feeling right, I don’t know. After writing so long in a given genre the rules become ingrained. In romance the hero/heroine must meet quickly. There must be sexual tension. Something must keep them apart until they can get their HEA or Happy For Now (which some may disagree belongs in romance, but that’s another post.) I have to say most if not all sex scenes are in the heroine’s POV. Does that make it predictable? No, because usually she has the most to lose, which is one of the rule of thumbs you use to chose POV. I soooo didn’t follow that rule of thumb, but when I thought of my hero and heroine “closing the deal” writing it in the hero’s POV was just to heartbreaking to pass up.

Will I get flak for not having the heroine’s POV during the love scene nor having an afterglow scene?

Probably, but I think it’s important to write the story keep what fits and worry about the genre rules later, if at all. Also, I made it worse for myself for when the heroine does what she does. I took a huge chance that many readers will throw my book at the wall. Hey, I’m even ready for the WTF hate mail, but it felt right for the story.

So, what is the point of this post?

Hell if I know. But tell me whose POV do you write the sex scene’s in? And why?