Stop and Smell the Chicken Fried Rice

A few days ago I had the pleasure of going out for an evening with some beloved family members and their spouses. My husband and I always enjoy those rare outings but we seldom find the time and opportunity to indulge ourselves. Between all our children's athletic endeavors, my writing and our mutual exhaustion on weekends, we are as likely to stay home on rare nights off than go out. So even though tired, we commited to dinner at a local Japanese restaurant where the chef cooks on the grill right at your table. The talented young man was quite the entertainer and the food was delicious, especially the rice. Best of all was the company. We caught up on family happenings, had a chance to see pictures of someone's newly constructed home, shared laughs and warm memories. It was completely relaxing. I had a writing goal for that night. I didn't write a single word but the next day I approached my writing refreshed from a day off.
I know many writers try to write every day even if only a little. I know others who only write during the week like a 9-5 job. Others insist on at least one day off. But all those writers break their own rules for a deadline or if the story is really flowing and they can't type fast enough to keep up with their creative flow. For many like me with full time jobs during the week and full time parenting to do, every minute is crucial. I seldom take a day completely off. But after the enjoyment of this wondeful dinner, I've decided I'm going to take some mini vacations of 24 to 48 hours every now and then. I'm going to tackle some of those household projects. I'm going to try some of those receipes I've saved from magazines and newspapers. I'm going to read something from my TBR pile and I'm not going to feel guilty. I'm going to fight that self imposed pressure to work every free minute. I'm going to stop and smell that chicken fried rice.

A Ruthless Good: December Release

I received the wonderful news recently that my third installment in THE SOLONIAN CHRONICLES is due to be released by New Concepts Publishing in December. A RUTHLESS GOOD continues the series with the same mixture of humor, dangerous action and bittersweet loss. Of course it ends happily ever after but not for everyone. Yes a character from the first two books, THE GREATER GOOD and THE LESSER EVIL does loss his/her life in this third book.
The evil the hero and heroine encounters is so vile and repugnant for many reasons but one of the core issues is the belief by this merciless person that he is doing good. I'll explain that further at a later date.
For now I hope all those wonderful readers from my first two books head over to my website and check out the very first excerpt I've posted from this latest book. THE GREATER GOOD and THE LESSER EVIL sold so well with online ebook retailers I'm hoping to see a lot of sales to the faithful. I'm busy updating my readers list and thinking of running a contest in October for all those fans. Keep you eye here for soon to come details on A RUTHLESS GOOD and the contests I'm running to celebrate its birth.

The Importance of Goal Setting

As a teacher, I often speak to my students of the importance of setting goals. I believe having a target is important no matter your career or your age. I've heard writers speak of writing only a line per day or their writing plans being set aside for other issues.
Granted we all have emergencies that interfer with our writing time, but how often do we as writers make the effort to squeeze that time out of another chunk of our lives. My local chapter of RWA started the monthly and annual goal setting thing a few years ago. At first I gave it little attention. I thought myself too busy to hold myself to some plan when I never knew what the next day would bring. Well, one of those next days fortunately brought me a book contract. Suddenly I had many demands on my time not the least of which was to get that next book completed. All those promotional ideas I'd stuffed in a folder to deal with later were now due. Past due!
For a few weeks I felt completely overwhelmed. Then one day I sat down and made a list of exactly what I needed to do. And one by one, I did the things on that list and then crossed them off. I set deadlines for such things as updating my website, getting promotional material ordered, finishing a synopsis and the multitude of other things I had to get done. I set goals. I wrote them down.
I read a thriller a few years ago and a line from that book comes back to remind me when I don't take the time to write down what I've done and what I yet need to tackle. "If it isn't written down, it never happened." I like to add if I don't write it down it may never happen. So write those goals down. Share them with a fellow writer, a critique partner or even your spouse. Hold yourself accountable and make it happen.

In the Fall, I Write

When my third son was in first grade he became my first child to have his writing deemed worthy to be published in the school media magazine that comes out twice per school year. He wrote a very simple free verse titled, The Leaves Fall in the Fall. It was very good and we all loved it. (I have no less than six copies in the treasury chest.)
For the first time this fall, I'm not a football mom. My oldest son has graduated from college and finished his football career. Watching him play occupied most of my fall weekends for the last four years. I miss it. I'll miss seeing the colors of fall in different parts of the country and the noise and excitement of college football. It was a great thrill. But every fall, my writing production slows down. Between coaching field hockey and watching my children play, I had very little weekend time or evening hours to spend at the computer. This year I gave up coaching field hockey and as I mentioned, no longer have a reason to attend college football games. So I'm writing.
No excuses this year. I have four different series I'm working on to either sell the first book or sell a third or fourth book in a series. It's so much sometimes I wonder how I ever did anything in previous years. And it's exciting to have so much going on with my life. I love watching my kids play and witnessing their accomplishments, but the writing is about my goals and my achievements. So this fall and right into the winter, I'm going to try and take my career to the next level. Stay with me for updates and wish me luck.

Raising the stakes

After writing about vampires on an earlier blog, I thought it was important to mention I'm not talking about the kind of stake you drive into someone's heart. I'm in the process of editing a manuscript with some requested changes. The editor has asked me to raise the emotional stakes in the novel by having a secondary character die. Currently the book ends with everyone alive and happy or heading toward happiness. There have been bumps and bruises along the way of the physical and emotional kind, but everyone heretofore has survived. Well, not after tonight.
Tonight someone is going to sacrifice it all for the betterment of the book. It's not a scene you can just write in and then leave the rest of the book the same. Every scene thereafter will have emotional aftershocks of loss and grief. The happily everafter will be a little less joyous. The ride into the sunset will be a bittersweet.
Will this make my book a better a story? First of all, it's what the editor whats so it's going to happen. I'm going to trust her on this one especially if she then offers me a contract. Second, I know that many books I love do have the bittersweet element combining loss and enduring love.
When I write under the name Susan Gourley in the fantasy genre, I do add those bittersweet elements. Even if the good guys do win in the end, it won't be easy and they won't all see the peace after the war. My fantasy series that starts with The Keepers of Sulbreth, will see the loss of many lives before the series reaches its end. On the other hand, my romance series with New Concepts Publishing has all the main characters surviving their tribulations on their difficult way to a HEA. But in my newest in that series due to come out in 2009, A Ruthless Good, will see the death of a beloved secondary character. This character appeared in The Greater Good and The Lesser Evil.
I'll be interested to know what fans think of that. I guess I'll have to wait and see. Right now, I'm off to off someone. I already decided who it will be, I just haven't told the character yet.

"Classic" Books

As my children prepare for their school year, they're both finishing up their required summer reading and writing papers. I'm not surprised my son has let this go until the last minute, but my daughter is such a voracious reader, I expected her to have her completed long ago. Though I actually know why she put it off.
The book she had to read, not to be named here, is BORING. It was written half a century ago by an author from a dysfunctional upbringing who grew up to be a bitter, cynical adult. He writes about the darker nature of man and all the nastier things people do to each other. The world he creates is sinister without even one character possessing any redeeming qualities. Such a glum outlook on the world does not make a book a work of literary art. Yet if you ever see which books school require students to read, they mostly fit into the description above.
Why do we do this to our children? One of the things I loved about Harry Potter was the entertainment it provided young people. It was fun to read. Fun! Interesting! Good won out over evil! And millions of youngsters read all those books cover to cover and often more than once. How can we expect children to love reading when the books we force them to read leave them with the impression that all people are inherently bad and the world is without hope? Why can't we ask them to read something that will have them begging for more to read?
This is a huge peeve of mine when it comes to schools and their reading lists. The books are dry, boring and seldom connect with students. If we must force the students to read such grim fare, can't we update their choices to something written in their lifetime?
At least as adults we can be selective in what we read. I try to make my characters as realistic yet entertaining as possible. I hope you'll check out my previews and blurbs. The Keepers of Sulbreth has many characters who are people doing the best they can against great odds. And in my books, no matter how grim it becomes, I promise the good guys will win. They may have to sacrifice and of course not all of them make it, but evil will not prevail.

Casualties of Fiction

I'm working on some manuscript changes suggested by an editor in the hopes I'll get offered a contract. She asked me to kill someone. Not a main character of course, but a close relative of my beloved heroine. It hurts. These people are important to each other. It's going to change all their lives.
And that leads me to the challenge of writing in this change. Such an emotional toll will echo through the rest of the book. An undercurrent of sadness and loss must now mute the final victory. Feelings of guilt and failure will need to be shared and expressed. The stakes are higher now. The happily ever after will only be won with a price.
Why ask me to do this? Why kill that good person? Why kill that innocent? Must my heroine suffer so much?
The answer is yes. When I first saw what this editor wanted me to do I fought against it mentally. I took a few days to think about it before agreeing to make the changes. Deeper emotions will be explored. The bonds of love will be forged in the hot fires of grief and shared hardships. It will not come easy. And for that, this novel will be a better book. The characters will have added layers of ties to each other and the secondary characters in the book. The good guys will be less perfect. They're going to make a mistake and someone will die because of it.
It's difficult to change so much after a novel is completed, but by working with this editor, I have learned so much about creating internal and external tension.
I promise to tell you more about this novel should I get a contract. I can tell you, I think it's going to be good.