Taboos and Perversions

*Colton Ford looks like I feel*


Good morning and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

And yet another edition of my writing journal.

Well, it's 430 am and I'm awake before work. Been up since two. Why? Well that's because the plot bunnies were a callin'...

Now mind you, I just finished a short story and I'm about to do another for a good friend before I do the full later on in the year. So, I really only have edits to do but in my infinite wisdom, I decided to write out all the stories in my head right now and place them in a doc.



This has happened before! When I had story ideas I put them in a doc with just details, pics of my characters, etc. However, when I cleaned my HD on my laptop, I accidentally deleted these files. GAH! Big mistake but I didn't worry too much because they were still in my head. In addition, I have others actually written out on paper with pen. WHAT A CONCEPT! No one can read it but me! :/

Anyways, to make this long story longer, I recently decided to try getting more organized for 2013. One of my goals was to make a schedule of all the books I was going to write for the year and when so I could mak my goal of 500k and 10 50k novels. Well, guess what? I stopped at like March. Why you ask? Because all my ideas were still in my head and I said, ooh, why don't I put them on paper?

Since I'm already slightly ahead of the game with part one of the Wretched finished, I attempted to accomplish this last evening



Much like the picture depicts above they attacked me. Almost every idea I'd been thinking of was in a doc with pics, small details, some with titles others without. Some had the pseudo already underneath and some didn't! EEK! Some had nothing but pics and a sentence. Jesus! This sort of alarmed me so I had to share this post with you. Lots of incomplete ideas that needed to be formed ended up on pages. And in looking at them, I'm thinking I have enough ideas to last me the next 2-3 years. That's not counting the ones I've written on paper in my chicken scratch!

So what is the lesson learned here peeps? You can't really PLAN the whole year out. I can say, okay, this year I'll write Through the Darkness, finish AS, write the Incumbent, etc but I'm not sure i can say, this month I'll do this story, the next I'll do that one. It must come naturally. 

That's unless you have submission deadlines. This year I only have 3. The Wretched every other month, a sub for the military antho for IRM, and the GRL charity antho. These are the only deadlines I must make for now. Other than that, it's a free for all for the plot bunnies to race to my head first and say, hey I wanna be written, NOW BITCH!

Wow, I'm amazed at the power of the brain, how it's able to retain information and in the head of an author that could be a dangerous thing. Unfortunately, active muses don't really know how to behave. In reality though, do we really want them to? 

Nah, I don't. Better to have a bunch of ragged ideas than none at all!

Oh and lastly? It doesn't help when you see new pics or videos like the one I posted up above of Colton Ford. Now I want to write an m/m story with an older singer and his younger lover... :/

Thank you for listening to me ramble

Wow, good Saturday Morning! *blinks*

I'm still awake. I should be asleep but I'm not.

Can you believe this freakin' year is almost over? OMG. I know I can't but here it is, the beginning of November. It's almost time for Turkey Day, then Black Friday, then that dreaded holiday called Christmas! Yeah I said it. I'm NOT ready as per usual. 

Even though this one shall be a little easier since I'm working the day job. Means a little more money to burn and the royalties this month go towards the bills and maybe a couple of things I'd like. 

*AHEM* Back to the blog. I posted the pic of the man opening the shades because it's a symbol of how I feel about my writing and the steps I've taken to improve. 

In the beginning, I think I was so elated that someone actually wanted me to publish and then I wanted more, and more, that I continued to sub at the speed of light.

Reading the past updates made me smile. Working on 7-8 stories with dates I didn't really make. Some of them I did but how many days did it ACTUALLY take me to finish Closely Guarded and Wild Horses?

Shit, almost a year but I did it.

Anyways, getting back to my point. I have a better idea of the business and what works for me and the muses. Yes, since they are the brains behind my books, I have to give credit where credit is due. 

We know we can't work on multiple stories at once. We'll mix up voices. We also know, keep styles separate. BL with the snark, Michael with the characters who are comfortable. Long winded style of writing, big words, etc and Rawiya, interracial, down to earth, all contemporary. 

Yep, I got it down now. The muses don't cross over all that much anymore. BL and Michael do because of the similarity in some of their characters. Alpha men, military, strong males with strong personalities, quick wit and mouths that might get them into a fight. Their paths do cross on occassion but Rawiya is a style all her own.

More than that, I don't really worry about subcalls. At least this year I didn't. I concentrated on stories of mine that needed finishing and now, I have almost a clean slate for 2013 with only Trois in Treble, and a rewrite of Vertigo 2 and Lessons in Ink to do. 

I mean sure, there are series to finish, sequels but as for the stories not done, those are the only ones left. *intention on pubbing* Yes those, not fanfic. 

I'm very excited that now I have a better idea and choose my writing goals wisely. My plan of attack is better as well as my eyes that are more capable of spotting simple editing mistakes. 

I also learned a lot from my fellow writers and betas who've helped tremendously. No, I'm not perfect but damn, I think i'm a ton better than what I was. 

I suppose when most start out, they begin totally raw which is how I started but now, I figure I know a little more and am pleased with my progress.

I'm going into this with my eyes opened wide, knowing my limits and expectations. Also, paying attention to the market, readers, and fellow writers. 

Yep, this gal is ready for the challenges that lie ahead! Bring on 2013 and skip err, the festivities. 

I'll try to come back more often and speak!

Good early morning!

I'm up particularly late because most of the day I had a sinus headache/migraine, something that kept me from enjoying the light and my family. *grr*

Anyway, I did do a lot of editing on my latest WIP, Out of Bounds, or the Professor as it is newly titled. I also came up with more stories, following the same theme. DAMNMUSES!

I also discovered something else. If I do a short, I cannot do it unless its a big SCENE. One scene. Not over several days in writers time, etc. It must be only one encounter, with a combo of ideas.

One of the latest for my new pub, Naughty Nights Price is a hetero, *shudder* of a m/f I did when I first started writing. Oh yeah, there is more I could add to this story, however, because my head is in novella/novel mode, I've needed to train my mind to only write one scene with different emotions, maybe only 2 or 3 characters and these have proved to be under 5k

Otherwise, I have a long novella over 10k or 12k thats either two long for an anthology or bursts into a series of shorts... *grumbles* No, this is actually a good problem.

My fave editor keeps telling me that longer stories will fare better for me, which is true. The longer your story, the more in touch your audience can get in touch with you and your characters. They can't really connect in a short. Its only to invoke a chuckle, or a turn on, or something to get you to go, ooh hmmm...

Well, thats what those two are. I hope they make it. If not, they'll be free reads or the beginning of something new for me to write. Most of them have turned out that way if they werent accepted.

Longer stories, here I come! :D

* * * *

So, I'm working on Mi Familia and Sakina. It felt great to open up the WIP for AS again. I'll be working on this and Mi Familia looking to finish both by Sept 5th or thereabout.

Then on to my Halloween story for XOXO which is a novella based on a short I already did and then 4 more subcalls. 3 for Oct 31st and my own for Nov 30 to XOXO.

During that time, I'll try to complete Taming and Closely Guarded as well but I'd like to get the subcalls done b4 my trip in mid October.

Thanks for listening

The fingers did not want to follow the muses and subsequently, all my writing stopped the past 3 or so days.

I was working diligently on My Lieutenant till I hit a snag where I wanted to end it and the muse wanted more. I took the the time to read over notes from my fave editor as well as plot notes and such and by the time I got a clear direction, it was time to be mommy again and I was too tired to write. :P

What to do when you feel too lazy to feed the muse? Do you force it? NOPE! Do you go on and let the best rest in hopes you can continue the next day? YES

PROBLEM? If you have plans outside your writing world, that next day turns into Monday which is my case again.

I have made Sunday rest/recreation day and Saturday, I saw my musical heroes which that in itself made me tired. Panting all night, you know... :P

*laughs*

Anyway, so in essence, I have lost Friday evening Sat, and Sun to write! ARGH! Which mean  wont finish things by my own personal deadlines. Just imagine when I throw the EDJ (evil day job) into it! WOW! That will be scary.

Howvever, I cant beat myself up. All I can do is try catching up and hope when I open these stories, the words will flow on the page today when my hubby comes home and I get to do some serious writing.

Here's to finishing things this week and when the laziness takes over, the muses take a bit of a backseat. :P If I dont feel like writing, all I can do is hope for the fingers to cooperate with the muses that following day! :)

****

So that being said, nothing is finished as I'd like but I hope to have 3 of the 6 Im working on done. Lieutenant, Vertigo, and A Second Chance. The AS gang is real antsy and so is the Trois gang. Not to mention, the FF muse demands more of my attention. I hope to get a little in on all of it.

Till next time!