Authors Alexis Anne, Mary Chris Escobar, and I got together to talk holiday romances, writing about Thanksgiving and Christmas, and what we do to celebrate the season. Add in a dash of celebratory booze and you've got a pretty good chat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpHC6o9TwBA&feature=share
Do you have a favorite holiday tradition in your family?
I'm almost done! It's been a month of ups and downs, but I'm about 1,500 words away from hitting 50K and must closer to having a completed novel. I couldn't be happier heading into the hectic holiday time. I want to hear how your writing challenge is going. You can leave a comment here or find me on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Pinterest. Happy writing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Sr1xNubBwg&feature=youtu.be
Day 22 is here, and I'm back on track (thank goodness)! NaNoWriMoers, how are you guys doing with your own challenges? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJgRgkdbZs8
This is the hero chat with Alexis Anne I mention in the video. And here's a link to the heroine chat too.
As always, you can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Pinterest. Happy writing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKI_k6LIx9s&feature=youtu.be
To follow my progress during NaNoWriMo check out @The_Julia_Kelly where I'm tweeting about my writing challenge! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtbnjzu77jw&feature=youtu.be
It's the first of November and that means all across the country crazy writers are saying yes to NaNoWriMo. The rules are simple: write a 50,000 word book in November. It sounds impossible, but it's definitely doable (although a challenge)! I want to invite you to join Alexis Anne*, Tracie Puckett, Lashell Collins and me as we write messy first drafts of the books that will (hopefully) eventually wind up on your shelves! Every once in awhile I'll post a video about my progress. Here's the first one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaOznxoRQeU&feature=youtu.be
*Alexis already has a NaNoWriMo first day video up on her blog. Check out how bright eyed and optimistic we are on Nov. 1. Hopefully we're still feeling that way by the 15th...
My novella is in the hands of some trusted beta readers, giving me the chance to do some housekeeping. I've been meaning to share a wonderful post on Wonkomance showcasing photos of romance writers' work spaces. I'm on there as well as my good friend Mary Chris Escobar who is about to release a new novella. Most writers are creatures of habit, so I love getting a glimpse at what makes them tick. Of course then edits took over my life, and I forgot about that post. The other day I read Serena Bell's interview on Miss Ivy's Book Nook talking about what she needs to write. I decided to record this little video for you guys to welcome you to my writing space (just in time for NaNoWriMo). Where do you guys like to work, and how to do you make it feel like home?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jwUF0L9CKY
Yesterday night my good friend Alexis Anne sat down for a Google Hangout with me to talk about strong heroines. She also gets into the writing process a little and tells us about her new book The Storm Inside. It was ($0.99 on Amazon when I posted this and has some fantastic reviews, so definitely check it out. Isn't technology great?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE2DVHo2lq4
It took me four years to write my first novel.
Actually it would be more accurate to say it took me four years of starts and stops to write my first novel. I kept picking up the book and putting it down. I was in graduate school when I started it, and I'd been working for three years when it finally went off to agents.
My book would suffer when I would couldn’t find the time to sit down to get a solid block of writing in. I would push my manuscript aside if I felt overwhelmed with work, relationships, living in New York, everything.
Finally I got serious. I finished the book, and I went through edit after edit until it started to look like the romances I read. I decided I would never again push writing aside. I was going to make it a priority.
How exactly was I supposed to do that? How are any of us supposed to do that when we're always swamped. It doesn't matter whether you work, raise children, or care for ailing loved ones. Time is precious.
This is my big secret: you make time for the things you want to make time for. If what you really want to do is write, you can find the time to do it.
This isn't a post about balance. Honestly, I'm a little sick and tired of people telling me I'm supposed to write, hold down a job, dedicate time to my relationship (when I'm in one), work out, cook beautiful meals, and still be social. When I'm in the middle of a draft, balance is the last thing on my mind. I go to work. I eat whatever I can make quickly. I sleep less than I probably should. I write whenever I can. My friends are used to me declining about half their invitations because I'm writing. I have very understanding friends. I try to make it up to them when I resurface for breath after a draft.
Last January I found an article I've long since lost about a NYC-based writer who works on the subway. I should do that, I thought.
Into my purse went a notebook and a pen. I promised myself that for at least one leg of my daily 45 minute commute to or from the Bronx I would scribble.* I've always thought of myself as a skeleton first drafter who does her best work during edits. The words didn't have to be good the first time they go on the page. They just had to be there. I could fix them later.
For a couple weeks I stuck to my plan. On my commute I would write. At night I would transcribe the handwritten pages and pick up where I'd left off. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. At the end of those two weeks I had close to 30,000 words of a first draft. I was stunned. Clearly I'd hit on something.
This is what I've realized since then. Fitting in writing time whenever I can isn't just about hitting a daily word count. Something happens when I transcribe from paper to computer screen. The words flow better. Perhaps it's because I'm not starting cold. Whatever the reason, it's the best feeling.
I've now written in bars waiting for dates because I am always, always early. I've scribbled in a Florida hotel room packed with 3 other women getting ready during a wedding weekend. My notebook comes out on the bus, in the back of cabs, and on airplanes. On trips home my family is used to seeing it during slow football games and while we're all lounging outside. I've even got sand in the thing from days at the beach. I'll write wherever I can lay my notebook flat.
How do you find the time to write? Do you block out time, or can you snatch a 15 minutes here and there like I do? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
*Of course there are hidden dangers in writing on the subway. I was so absorbed while writing this post on the train that I missed my stop and wound up 5 stations away on the express train. A small sacrifice in the name of getting things done.
I'm happy to be writing this blog post from my parents' backyard in Los Angeles. After a crazy summer with few chances to stop and catch my breath, I needed to get away from life in New York. When I want to relax and not worry about anything more pressing than when to walk the dogs or what to make for dinner I come here -- my home away from home.
Taking a vacation from my day job at the TV station doesn't mean I took a vacation from writing. Into my suitcase my trusty binder full of manuscript pages and outlines went. My iPad, a Moleskein I carry everywhere, and a ridiculously high number of pens made the trip too. The big deal isn't that I brought all of these things with me. Instead it's that I promised myself I would actually use these tools. I haven't always been so good about making good on that.
Around this time last year I decided it was time for an author grow up moment. It was time to start treating writing as a full-time job. My friend Mary Chris Escobar has a great blog post about this. She's decided to own the phrase, "This is not your side hustle." I couldn't have said it better myself. This isn't my side hustle. This is my second career.
Now I write on the subway to and from work. Sometimes, when I can squeeze in a lunch break, I take my iPad upstairs and do a little work in the cafeteria. I used to worry about my coworkers getting curious as I've decided not to start telling them I write until I had something to show for it (ie "My book is coming out next Fall," etc.). It turns out that most people aren't observant enough to notice. This routine makes my writing goal -- five pages, five days a week -- a bit more attainable. Sometimes I make it. Sometimes I don't. Sometimes it's complete drivel and I later leave the page bleeding with edits. What matters is that I always sit down and write.
Because I spend most of my days writing around my work schedule, going on vacation means plenty of unstructured time to work. It also means time to think. Saturday afternoon I took myself on a solo drive up the coast. I stopped somewhere over the Los Angeles County border in Ventura, and got out to put my toes in the surf and have a long think. I also brought that notebook I mentioned earlier with me. Good thing I did because as soon as my feet hit the Pacific the floodgates opened.
I now have a solid idea of the next characters I want to write about. They're taking shape in my mind, and I'm loving the process of getting to know them. At the same time, I'm barreling through the last third of what I've come to think of as "My sports novella," although it's starting to swell to novel-length proportions. We'll see in revisions if it shrinks or grows.
I'm making my way back to New York Tuesday morning, so I'm saying goodbye to the luxurious, unstructured days of writing I've been enjoying. It's just another thing I'll miss about leaving California along with the sunshine, family, and two rambunctious puppies who always make it interesting.
I've been a writing machine since I got back from RWA in early July. I've been working hard on a new novella that I couldn't be more excited about. It has a second chance at love and a secondary sports storyline. Until two weeks ago the words flowed easy as can be. Then I got stuck. When I'm not writing romance novels at my kitchen table, I'm a TV news producer. That means I'm constantly writing for work. I can proudly say I've never had writer's block in my professional life, but that's hardly surprising. That world is deadline heavy, and there are no opportunities to dither. If you don't write, you don't get paid, and momma needs new shoes.
Fiction writing has not always been so kind to me. I used to fall victim to writer's block just like most people. I would sit in front of the dreaded blinking cursor, stressing and stressing that I couldn't figure out what part of my story came next. It was awful.
Then I realized this made no sense. If I can avoid writer's block when I'm cranking out news copy each and every day, why can't I do avoid it when I'm writing romance? The content might be different, but the process? Not really.
Last week I felt writer's block trying to sneak up on me as I typed away at the kitchen table. Immediately I deployed the two weapons I've learned work best for me.
1) Get over linear writing and write through the block.
I used to feel that if I wasn't pushing the story forward by churning out pages and pages of chronological action I was doing it wrong. Now I sometimes set my timeline aside and work on whatever scene is knocking around in my head. If that scene jumps to the very end of the novel, so be it. The point is that I'm still writing. My novel is still growing.
2) Change how you physically write.
A couple of years ago I learned that the most powerful thing that I can do to kick-start my writing is change how I put down words on the page. I can't explain why, but for some reason moving from the computer to good old pen and paper is like magic. I can't write as quickly as I type, and slowing down seems to really help.
Here's the one catch: I only use one kind of pen. The Pilot Precise V5 Extra Fine Rollerball Pen in black is my weapon of choice. For editing I use the red version of this pen. The architect in my life says that everyone in his industry uses these for work because they create a fine line with rapid drying ink. I use them because they feel right. To each her own.
What tools to do you use to fight off writer's block?