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 Rambling about Writing  No Responses »
May 222013
 
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April held an unexpected surprise for my family. We got a terrific opportunity to move into a much larger house in an extremely nice neighborhood for roughly the same amount we had paying at the old place. No brainer right?

So my April plans for doing Camp Nano were derailed while we packed and cleaned and moved and unpacked and settled into our new area.

May, I thought! May I can do my own Camp Nano! So far that hasn’t worked out in my favor either. I have gotten some writing done but it’s really been sporadic. There’s just so much to do around the new place, new locks, new light fixtures, hanging things up, more unpacking, and all the cleaning. Plus, while the house is bigger it’s also noisier so I have a hard time getting into the ‘zone’.

But yesterday things changed. Our longterm houseguest left (he’d been staying with us since December) and I now get his room as my writing space. I can go in there and close the door and write to my heart’s content. And I only have to share my space with the cats, who’ve also laid claim to the space.

This should up my word count considerably. At least until the next guest arrives. :)

 

Changing Expectations

 Rambling about Writing  No Responses »
Mar 132013
 

Writing is a different experience for each author.  And you find your expectations for your book can change many times. While writing, while editing and even after you’ve released it on an unsuspecting public……err published it.

With One Small Touch I didn’t know what to expect. The story changed every time I wrote. It started as a mystery. Morphed into a romance. And then morphed again to touch on the paranormal. So I’ve never really been sure what it was. Is it a romance? Is it a suspense/mystery? Can I properly call it a paranormal when it makes up so little of the story?

This lack of a clear definition disturbs me and makes marketing it difficult.

I also had expected it to contain a full-blown sex scene (or two or ten) at some point. But the story didn’t lead to that.

Part of the issue is that I ‘pantsed’ the story. Meaning I had no clear idea of the story before I started. All I had was a scene in an alley. An epilogue to the story that was at the very beginning. The rest of the story was supposed to lead to that point. But again, my expectations weren’t met and I wound up scrapping that initial start to my story and going in a completely different direction.

I had thought my heroine would be tough. Able to handle herself in a sticky situation. She wasn’t. She folded like a cheap suit when things got rough.

But you know what, all that’s ok. I’m proud of One Small Touch. It may not have been the story I had expected to write. It may not fit into any neat peg and the heroine may not kick anyone’s butt. But the story is engaging and the writing’s top notch.

Sometimes expectations aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.

On Writing Sequels

 Rambling about Writing  No Responses »
Feb 182013
 
DCF 1.0

I read a book this week that was the third in the series. I don’t normally start a series with the third book, but this was a mystery series about a private detective so I didn’t think much of it. I should have. While the plot was interesting and the characters unique, the author didn’t feel the need to give any background on said characters.

One character I only know two things about, the main character trusted her enough to leave her pet with (I’m not even sure if it was a dog or cat) and this same character likes pictures of dead people. You can imagine how confusing this was to me.

Another character could have been an FBI agent or a mafioso. Again, I couldn’t tell you for sure. I thought he was one at the start of the book and the other by the end.

I did finish the book, the story was sufficiently interesting that I didn’t give up in disgust. But I’m very glad I picked it up as a freebie, if I had paid for it I’d be pretty peeved.

Still I must thank this author. It was a timely reminder to consider my audience and not just assume they’ll have read One Small Touch when I start working on Nicki and Kyle’s story.

Free days results (and some really fantastic comments)!

 Rambling about Writing  No Responses »
Feb 012013
 
OSTFlower2large

As you know, I offered One Small Touch for free on Tuesday and Wednesday. In my opinion, I had a fantastic run.

I had 1725 downloads that spanned every country Amazon is available in except Brazil.  It’s not the stratospheric numbers that others have had but I’m thrilled beyond measure. That’s 1725 more potential readers than I had reached before.

One Small Touch peaked at #7 on the free Paranormal Romance list and #11 in free Romantic Suspense.

But the nicest surprise were the comments I got on Facebook saying “I meant to only read one chapter and couldn’t put it down!” Those made my day. I’m still shocked, humbled and delighted by all the compliments I received.

So THANK YOU to everyone who tweeted, reposted, told their friends and otherwise spread the word. I truly appreciate it.

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