Keeping the important on the to do list...

So, you all know, I released two books last month.  GUIDEBOOK TO MURDER – BOOK #1 OF THE TOURIST TRAP MYSTERIES and THE BULL RIDER’S KEEPER –BOOK #3 OF The Bull Rider Series came into the book world with a bang.

At least in my world. And anyone who reads my posts, my blogs, my tweets, my emails… well you get the point. Promotion is part of the author’s world now and since I’m not on a five city book tour like Richard Castle, I have to be creative in other ways. (Thanks Wikipedia.) 

One way to get world of my new releases is to send the book out to blog review sites. For GUIDEBOOK, my publisher handled that process and put up a copy on Netgalley. I was so excited the first day I got an email from a stranger telling me they liked the book. Branching out into a new genre (cozy mystery) was exciting but scary. I knew I loved the book. My editor loved the book. Even my copy editor loved the book. But when a stranger says she loves the book, well, that made it real.

I've been slacking on getting THE BULL RIDER’S KEEPER out into the review world, not for lack of wanting to, but instead, my to do list and my brain has been filled with must do today items.

When that happens, your need to do items (those that are important but not urgent) can fall by the wayside.

This week I’m returning to my focus on the important, not just the urgent. And trying to weed out the unimportant/un-urgent time wasters. Like watching almost an entire season of Castle to clean out space on my DVR for 24. Maybe that was urgent though?

How do you juggle everything into your day? Are you a list maker like me? Or do you have a different time management style? 

Taking a break -writer style.

Two days ahead of schedule, I turned in a 'complete' manuscript to my editor checking off writing book #2 of my eKensington series.  Now, I have one book left to write for my contract.  It's due November 1st.  I have 4 months. I need 3.

Now, if you think I'm going to talk about taking a long, restful vacation. Maybe fishing on Warm Lake like the guys in the picture? Uhm, have you met me?  No, my break time will be spent returning to my world of romance.

So instead of diving back into the California cozy world I'm building, I'm working on some romance projects. The first one is a completely new story. Not a continuation of either the Bull Rider's series or The Council series.  Brand new people, new world, new setting. Having a solid three chapters and a partial, I'm setting that project aside and returning to Shawnee, Idaho - or actually Boise, where my bull rider is finding his days of the player coming to a close.

I was writing Jesse's story when I sold my cozy series and had to put the book away while I got the first two books on my editors desk. And I don't have much time before I have to return to book #3. So I'll be focusing on finishing by the end of July. 33000 words in 24 days. Or 1375 a day. Not unworkable. But a challenge.

Wish me luck.

What are your summer plans? Do you have a fun project you 'want' to finish?
Lynn

Confessions of a Pantser.

I’m relatively new to this writing gig.  After starting classes in 2000, I took a break, writing when the muse hit. (Which as all of us knows is every other day with an ‘r’ in July.)

In 2007, life slapped me up against the back of my head.  I had breast cancer.  (Some of you know this story, so feel free to skim.) And I realized that my ‘dream’ of writing someday, could be in trouble.  What if someday never came? Was I building a bridge to nowhere?

So I got serious.  I sold two essays that I’d had floating through my head for years. And then I started a novel.  I wrote about four chapters and determined I wasn't a thriller writer.  So I started what I thought was a young adult story. Four chapters in, I decided I wasn't a YA author.  So I started a romance. 

You’re sensing a pattern, right? 

I didn't know what kind of writer I was because I never finished anything.

Then a friend stepped in and said – finish a book.  Any book. That was the magic push I’d needed.  Once I slogged through the murky middle once and wrote THE END, I knew I could do it again.  And again.

Then my critique group asked me to do a plotting brainstorming on another author’s book.  She gave us the set up, then we brainstormed plot points.

I was clueless.  Lost without direction. And I’m afraid, not much help.

And now, looking back, I know why.  I didn't know these characters, so I didn't know what they would do.  Now, I’m not so woo-woo that I think my characters live in my head, but until I've played with them a while, I have no idea what the next scene is because I haven’t written them there yet.  And every writer knows if you change something that happens to a character midstream (like a new job or an emotional loss) it changes everything.  Because just like in real life, the events of a character’s life mold them into the person they could be.  Their essence.

I need to know my characters before I can throw out scene ideas.

What’s your take on brainstorming?  Can you play plot monkey for your friends?  Or are you more like me and need to let the story flow? 

Lynn