Beginnings

I’ve probably blogged about this before, but it’s been a while. I’m in the beginning stages of a new book in a new mystery series, and once again I’m reminded how much I envy writers who say they love starting new books. The first few chapters fly onto the page because they’re so excited about the new ideas, the new characters, and the new situation. There are times when I wish that would be true for me, but in my world, it’s just the opposite.

In the early stages of any new book, the words are hard to find and painful to excavate. No matter how much pre-writing work I do, I don’t know the characters yet so putting them in new situations and getting them to the other side is a long, agonizing process. Every thought, action, and reaction requires a lot of thought on my part as I try to feel my way into the character’s heart, soul, and mind.

Add to that the pressure to make the book’s opening interesting and filled with action. And the fact that I wrote the first three chapters months ago and have slept since then, which means that I’ve lost my connection with the characters and have to find it again.

I don’t really start feeling comfortable with the book until I’ve written at least 100 pages, and usually more. By page 125-150, I’m usually hitting my stride and feeling comfortable enough with the character to write whole scenes in one sitting. Before then, I’m lucky to write 2 or 3 pages in a day.

Getting back into a book for which I’ve written a proposal and submitted two or three chapters is equally painful. All that work to find the characters and then they sit on the shelf in my head while my editor is deciding whether or not to make an offer on the book. The good news is that I’ve done this 30 or so times over the course of my career, so I know that I’ll eventually find the connection again. But that still doesn’t make the process easy. 

All this to say that when I tallied my pages yesterday and realized that I’d somehow, inadvertently, unintentionally, and without noticing what I was doing, written 8 pages, I was ecstatic! Crossing fingers that I can repeat that when I get back to the book on Monday.

2010 TBR Challenge - Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons

Finally, I read this book that everyone has been telling me I should read for years now. My own book club read it a while ago (years, maybe. I've lost track) but I wasn't able to attend that month and was probably in deadline hell, so didn't get to read it then, either.

It's not often that I share my opinions of books with the world at large because it's all so subjective. What I love, you may hate and I don't like subjecting others to my opinion when they've expressed no interest in that opinion. But I'm making an exception to my rule with this book because I absolutely loved it. I'm not entirely sure why, and I don't want to ruin my experience of the book by trying to analyze it. I spend way too much time analyzing writing these days, and it's rare that I get to just read and enjoy. Much as I love writing my own books, I mourn the loss of my ability to read for pleasure like I once did. But this book was just that. Pleasure. I didn't analyze. I didn't rewrite passages in my head. I didn't think about what I would have done differently with the characters or question motivation. I just enjoyed. Thank you Lorna Landvik! This one goes on my keeper shelf.

_______________________________ from the blog On My Mind Today

The Research Begins

I’m under contract for a new mystery series which I’ll be writing under a brand new pseudonym--Jacklyn Brady. As a kid, I always wanted to be named either Jacklyn. Or Ruby. I had a beautiful cousin named Ruby and when I was little, I wanted to look just like her. Oh who am I kidding? As an adult I wanted to look just like her, too. She died in a car accident in 1999 and the world lost someone truly wonderful that day.

I seriously thought about becoming Ruby Something for this series, but I wondered if taking her name might make me worry too much about living up to something in my own head. My internal editors are troublesome enough when I’m writing, so Jacklyn it is.

But anyway ….

The new series will be set in New Orleans and it centers on the world of cake decorating, a la Ace of Cakes. I’ve spent a lot of time over the past few months researching the location, the area, and the world of cakes, but today the real research begins – baking and trying my hand at decorating.

Today’s effort will be a lemon scented white cake with a lemon mousse filling. I think I made a cake from scratch back in the olden days when i was taking Home Ec classes in school, but it’s been a while.

How will I decorate? I’m still working on that and I’ll let you know when I’ve figured it out -- just don’t expect anything spectacular. I’ll count today’s efforts successful if the cake is edible!