Back in the Saddle

Debra is FINALLY writing again.

It's been a long, long, crazy long dry spell. But I've been back at writing this week, and I'm thrilled. Don't get me wrong...it's not like I've pounded out an entire novel in the past few days, but for three days in a row I've written about 1000 words per day. This may not seem like a lot, but for me, it's huge. I haven't written anything this regularly in what seems like forever. In definitely over a year.

What's more, I'm motivated. I'm in the fun phase where I think about my story all the time, so that when I sit down at my computer, I'm able to put words on the page...not stare at the blinking curser, page up and down, reread certain parts, add a word or two here or there. I'm actually writing paragraphs, pages, entire scenes. And it feels great.

The story I'm working on is "The Cowboy and the Princess". I started it a while (a loooooooooong while ago) and it's kind of just been sitting there. I'm aiming to make this one a full-length, eligible for print novel. At the moment, its word count is about 25,000, so it's not quite one-third of the way there. But I know where I'm going with it, and I know kind of how I'm going to get there, and I'm sure the rest will happen along the way as it usually does.

It's been a long time since I've worked on a full-length. My last six releases have been novellas. Getting back into writing a full-length has been interesting. There's a lot more introspection that needs to happen. A lot more internal dialogue. Which is great for really digging deep into a character's psyche. Perhaps a bit more description. And some very fun secondary characters to help move things along. (Sometimes I think they're more fun to write than the main hero and heroine...)

My biggest 'problem' at the moment is I think I'm channeling too much of my favorite romantic-suspense author. I've been reading her obsessively. With her new release out, I felt the need to reread the entire series (8 books) up until that point, plus two other books of hers from a different series. I liked the new story so much that I'm in the processing of rereading it for the second time in the space of a week. Like I said, I'm a bit obsessed. So I find myself sometimes writing in her style instead of my own. Which is why I usually don't read romance while I'm trying to write one. I swear, as soon as I'm done with this reread, I'm picking up a YA fantasy featuring dragons. And while it sounds like an enjoyable read, it's a far cry from my writing wheelhouse, which is a good thing.

My goal is to finish this book this summer. If, and that's a big IF, I continue along my current trajectory and word accumulation each day, I should be able to do it. I'm sure there will be days I write less, but hopefully there will be days when I write more which will balance things out.

Another goal, okay, maybe more of a thought, I have is to possibly branch out and submit this story to a different publisher. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love, love, love writing for The Wild Rose Press, but I almost feel like I want to challenge myself to see what happens somewhere else. If I could push myself to go a little outside my comfort zone and put myself out there.

So, there you have it. I feel a little bit like my author-self has come into her own again...at least making an appearance that makes me feel like the author I am.

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com