I Did It!

Debra won her first NaNoWriMo!

Sorry about the late post this week, but I wanted to make sure everything was official before I wrote my blog for this week.

Today I am officially a proud NaNoWriMo winner! I actually wrote over 50,000 words in the month of November! It took a lot of time away from other things, but I did it! My official word count was 50,003. Since I started in the middle of a mss already in progress, the entire project is now up to 62,601 words. I'm not sure if non-writers really understand what an undertaking this is, but I'm going to share my exciting news with them anyway!

Since I've reached the end of this journey, I thought I'd look at some takeaways from the experience.

Let's start with the positives:

*I wrote 50,000 freaking words in one month.
*I sat in my chair and wrote every single day.
*I made a lot of good progress on my WIP.
*I challenged myself and came away a winner.
*I am really, REALLY glad I did it.

On the other side of things:

*I'm not sure I'll do it again. Like I said, it took a lot of my time in a month that is already busy.
*I'm pretty sure my mss is a mess. I don't tend to write in linear fashion in the first place. If I get an idea for a scene, I write it, whether it's at the chronological point I'm at in the story or not. With NaNo I was REALLY all over the place. I was determined to get words down no matter what. Lately I've trained myself to be pretty good at not doing a lot of editing or revising when I sit down to write. However, I usually do some, just to find my place, get the rhythm and feel of the story and characters, and check for major continuity issues. With NaNo, I did next to no looking at anything I'd already written. I just kept going gangbusters each time I sat down. I am sure there is a ton of repetition. I'm not sure my characters' emotions and arcs are done properly in a logical manner that builds throughout the story. And I'm pretty sure I have some major timeline issues. Now, granted, all of this is fixable during the editing process, but I'm just wondering if I've made my life harder than I needed to when it comes to that point. I'm almost scared to do a read-through at this point. The story is not finished. I'm aiming for that 85K mark, but it's definitely on its way to getting there.

And what's my next step?:

Now the BIG question is, do I just keeping going in the haphazard way I have been and do a HUGE revision/edit read-through at the end, or do I stop now, print out what I have, read through, and assess where I'm at? Perhaps just a computer read-through. I definitely know what needs to be added in regards to the story, but it might be in the best interest of saving my sanity later to hit pause and take some time to go through what's there. And I have to say, I'm insanely curious to find out what kind of quality product I've put out since I've been mainly focused on the quantity this month. I was decent at cranking out the words, but it remains to be seen if it's any good or not. Knowing I can write 'quickly' puts me in a good frame of mind for future prospects of meeting deadlines and such. (Fingers are still crossed on that submission I have out there.), but again, if it's all crap, writing quickly might not be the way to go.

AND, if nothing comes of that earlier mentioned submission, I'm kind of wondering what direction I want to go with my writing career, and if that all comes to naught, was this just a giant exercise in futility? I guess only time will tell.

All in all, although it doesn't get me much more than bragging rights, I am proud to say I did this. And NaNo combined with my chapter's 90 day writing challenge (Which I won, by the way!) from August through October, has definitely built an excellent habit of writing or editing each and every day. I am author: Hear me roar!


Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

The Waiting Game

Debra is trying to be patient...but it isn't easy.

I did it! I got my mss of "The Cowboy and the Princess" polished up and submitted. And now...I wait.

According to the publisher's web-site guidelines, I'l receive confirmation of my e-mail submission within 21 days. We're at day 17, which means technically I should hear a "Thanks we received your submission." e-mail any day now. After that, I'm to allow 8-12 weeks for a response. Is that from the time I originally submitted or from the time I received confirmation of the submission? Either way, it's a long time to wait.

I know waiting is not uncommon in this industry, but I've been working with a small press that is VERY quick on the draw for the last nine years, so to say I'm a bit spoiled is a total understatement.

I try not to think about it, but every time I open my e-mail I can't help but wonder if I'll have my initial response. And I'm trying to decide, planning ahead, if when I get the BIG response, whether I want to open it at work. If it's a no, I might cry. If it's a yes, I won't be able to scream and shout and dance around. But how in the world will I be able to wait until the end of the day when I get home? What if it comes in first thing in the morning? It'll be like Poe's Tell-Tale Heart: Open Me. Open Me. Open Me. All day long.

See? I'm not very patient.

In the meantime I'm about 11K into my new project. There are two more days left in my RWA chapter's 90 words for 90 days challenge, and then NaNo starts on Wednesday. I still haven't decided if I'm going to tackle that or not. On the one hand, I definitely plan on writing, so even if I don't think I will make the overall goal, at least I'll be accumulating words. And, my chapter challenge has been great for keeping my butt in my chair and my fingers on the keys every single day since the beginning of August. (For someone coming off of a huge dry spell, well, that was...huge!) So for accountability, it might be worth taking it on. So I have a day to decide about that.

I also have several guest blog appearances scheduled for my holiday titles and was asked to participate in a fellow Rose's release party in December. So even though I don't have any new releases this year, I'm trying to drum up some interest in my back list. My Halloween story was on sale for most of October, and my Thanksgiving story and my Christmas stories will be on sale the beginning of November and the beginning of December respectively. And I'm trying really, really hard to be active on social media.

On the down side of things, I learned today that two of my books which I'd entered into a contest didn't even place in the top five. Which I'm a bit bummed about. Let's just say it's not the shot of confidence I was hoping for to add a boost of encouragement for positive results for my submission. On the up side of things, tomorrow is Halloween and if we don't get many trick-or-treaters, I'll have a whole lot of chocolate left over to ease the sting of disappointment.

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

Going for It

Debra is almost ready to submit her latest WIP.

A few months ago when I posted I was having a bit of a dilemma. I was debating on where I wanted to submit my WIP. I've had it in my mind for a while now that I'd like to branch out in an attempt to launch the next phase of my writing career by submitting to a new publisher. At the time (about two months ago) my biggest issue was the word count of the mss. The publisher I wanted to submit to required a word count of 85,000. My mss wasn't even at 65,000 (Although it was close.)

I solicited a bunch of opinions and had an author friend do a beta read for me. She gave me some very helpful suggestions, which I incorporated into the story. After doing my own hard-copy read-through, I found a bunch of places where additional scenes were needed. I found a lot of phrases like "In the six weeks since she'd been at the ranch..." Or, "With just a few weeks left to go in the cast..." Or even just mentions..."She'd gone for a horseback ride that day." Or "He showed her how to ride the ATVs." Lots and lots of places where I told instead of showed and hurried the time line. In the process, missing out on many ways to deepen my story.

So I decided to make those additions, as they would definitely add to the story and not just be filler. At this moment, my mss stands at 85,590 words. I'm in the process of minute edits. Getting rid of 'that', 'seemed to', 'tried to', 'to him', 'to her', etc.

I have a punch list of items to check: time line, checking chapters are sequentially numbered and spaced correctly, etc.

Per the guidelines on the web-site, I've also written a synopsis, author bio which includes previous books written, and brief descriptions of other books I have planned.

Even though I read through the guidelines for submission to the new publisher with a fine tooth comb, I was a bit uncertain if I should submit a query or the full mss as a submission. I e-mailed the editor this weekend for clarification, not expecting to hear back for a few weeks (as stated in their information). To my surprise and excitement, I had a response this morning already. She said to send the full along with a synopsis and brief descriptions of other planned books.

My first reaction was to get the sucker out ASAP. I'm heading out of town the end of this week for a conference for work and then on a family vacation over the long weekend. My knee-jerk reaction was to send it out before leaving on Wednesday.

Then rational thinking (thank goodness) kicked in. I don't want to rush this. There are still things I need to make sure are A-okay before submitting. So I'm going to do what I can in the next two nights. Let the project sit while I'm gone for almost a week. (Which will be good since I've been looking at it everyday for months and months now.) Do a final read-through when I get back, and THEN submit. I've waited this long to submit this particular project, waiting another week certainly won't kill me, AND probably makes the most logical sense.

So, I'm going to put myself out there and go for it. Like Wayne Gretsky said, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."

Wish me luck!

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

The Editing Process

Debra is deep into edits, revisions, and rewrites.

It's been a long time since I've been so immersed in the editing process. I guess that's what happens when you haven't been writing for a long time...no words on the page equals nothing to edit. LOL

But over the summer I really dug in and committed myself to finishing the first draft of my current mss. About midway through August I got to what, then, was THE END. It felt great. After a long dry spell, to have actually completed an entire full-length (65K) word mss was nothing short of miraculous.

I really thought I'd set the mss aside for a bit, what with heading back to work I really didn't feel like I'd have time to work on it. And as I mentioned in last month's post, I was still trying to figure out what to do with it. Where I was going to submit it. Then along came my local RWA chapter's 90 Words in 90 Days Challenge. #CN90wordsfor90days For me the Challenge is doing just what it was intended to do: get my butt in a chair with my fingers on a keyboard or with pen in hand each and every day.

With the long weekend (It's the Labor Day Holiday here in the States.), no major plans, and allergies that are keeping my indoors a good deal of the time, I cranked out over 100 pages of edits since Friday night. I got to the end of the mss yesterday afternoon. I edit in hard copy, printing out a copy of the mss and putting it in a binder, always with sticky notes, highlighter, and scratch paper close at hand.

Now, most of my pages look like this:

I'm in the process of transferring all of my written notes to the computer. Along the way I'm still employing plenty of sticky notes to mark sections needing a tweak or some added research. Last night I was so pumped up and motivated to keep moving that I got through about 80 pages of transfers. Sometimes it goes quickly. Other times trying to decipher the notes written any which way in the margins is quite difficult. And, once I've added lines to various pages, the page numbers no longer match those on the computer doc, so finding my place each time isn't always easy.

I also have notes, scribbled on anything I can find lying around when an idea strikes, tucked into the front and back pockets of the binder. I'm trying to keep everything in one place.

One thing I've discovered is I need to replace the notepad next to my bed. I used the last sheet of one a couple of weeks ago and could only find a tiny pad (like we're talking two inches by three inches) in the drawer the other night. Which, I've used several times when I was desperate to not forget something that popped into my head.

I've found several places where there are some fairly major gaps in the story. This is what happens when you're a pantster and, to top it off, don't always write chronologically. So, I definitely will be doing more writing to add to the story. I've also found places where the characters' actions and reactions aren't quite 'right' for a particular scene or moment, again due that whole writing-out-of-order thing I do.

All in all, I'm having a blast with this. It's really, really nice to feel like a writer again. And for the moment, I'm keeping up with work, other projects, and writing. Hopefully that will last. I'd like to say my goal is to have this done, polished, and submitted before the end of the year. That seems like almost too much time, but I really want to make sure this one shines, so I'm going to take my time with it and not rush to get it done. Which, at this point, is really hard to have the patience to do sometimes. I keep envisioning it all done and on the shelves. Whether that's cyber or real is still yet to be known.

Until next time,

Happy Reading (or Writing or Editing),

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

Roadblocks and Detours

Debra is facing a dilemma.

Believe it or not, this is the last week of summer vacation for me. I'm really trying to figure out where the time went. I mean, wasn't it just June for Pete's sake? I feel like I've had a fairly successful writing summer in that I made quite a bit of progress on my WIP and I've been trying to get myself out there more by making regular use of my Twitter account, visiting other blogs, and even put my Fourth of July book on sale for the month.

However, as everyone knows, the writing road is not always a straight one. It's often filled with roadblocks and detours. And I had plenty of those this summer, too.

I started really getting serious about my writing in the middle of June. Before that there had been a long, long, dry, dry spell. I'm talking like time measured in almost a year, not months. But I started grooving again and was really pleased with the progress I was making on my WIP. I wasn't necessarily aiming for a particular word count each day, just making sure that I sat down and wrote something. Most days, I was recording anywhere from 500 to 2,000 words. Not too shabby. I was pretty pleased and well on my way toward meeting my goal of finishing this story over the summer.

And then, BAM. Roadblock. In the middle of July I got sick. Bronchitis, laryngitis, and pink eye. Fever. Chills. Hacking cough. You name it. In the middle of summer!! It was awful. I was totally down for the count. I literally laid on the couch for ten days, not having the energy or motivation to do anything else except watch tv. (I had a mega "The Office" marathon. I think I watched three or four entire seasons.)

But eventually I started feeling better and got back into a normal routine...although believe it or not, I still have a lingering cough and a slightly scratchy voice...and was once again making progress. I'd lost a bit of momentum, but still felt I could meet my goal of finishing my 65,000 word story. From there I planned to print it out so I could do several rounds of edits, send it to a couple beta readers to gather their opinions and insights, and then send off a query to a new (for me) publisher.

Then, just when I thought I was on the right path again...FORK IN THE ROAD. I was aiming for a 65,000 word novel. I've been so used to writing novellas, that writing a full-length was a bit of a challenge for me this time around. It was going to be stretching it to reach that 65K, but I was confident I could do it. And then I looked at the submission guidelines for the publisher I was considering. Turns out they want novels 85,000 to 100,000. (Now, yes, granted, this is my fault for not checking sooner. Although I swear I did check once upon a time and it said 65,000. But maybe I was just thinking of my current publisher. Who knows?) To say I was discouraged was an understatement. I lost any and all motivation to write and let the mss sit once again. Eventually (about a week later) I got over myself and sat down to finish the darn story.

Anyway, now I'm faced with a dilemma, and I'm not sure which direction to go. My story is for all intents and purposed finished. There's a beginning, a middle, and a happily-ever-after ending. It's at 63,000. There are a few scenes I'd like to add to here and there, which will bring me to what I thought was the magic number of 65K. I can still follow those first two steps. Polish it up. Get a few beta opinions. And then submit it to my current publisher (that I really, really love...don't get me wrong.)

But I'd envisioned something a bit different for this one. Stepping out of my comfort zone and putting myself and my story out there. Just to see what happens. But to do that, I'm going to need to add at least 20,000 words to my story. That is A LOT of words. I mean, it's an entire novella. This wouldn't simply involve adding or extending scenes, this is adding a whole ton of content. Not just extending the story, but going back to various places in the middle and creating new scenes, chapters, and interactions.

I don't know if I have it in me. I know I won't have the time to write like I have been. Like I said, I'm back to school next week. I'd love to think that since I'm back in a writing routine, I'll at least be able to clock something each night. My writers' group is doing this great challenge, too, which is wonderful motivation. It's the 90 words for 90 days challenge. (#CN90wordsfor90days) Starting August 1 and going through October 31, the idea is to write at least 90 words everyday. There's a chance for a prize at the end for those who accomplish it. It's definitely helping me to stay motivated at the moment, let me tell you. I'm I'm still averaging about 1200 words per day at this point, so the 90 I can do standing on my head...most days.

But, like I said, I'm stuck trying to figure out which direction to take with this book now. If I go one way, it's super exciting to think I might be close to finishing it. If I go another way, it's super daunting to think about creating so much more plot. At this point I don't need to rush...even though summer is over, I can take my time in attempting those additional 20,000 words. But come December it will be a year since I've had a release. And who knows how long the process will take, if I even would get a contract from this new publisher, to get this book in print.

I'm stuck. I honestly don't know what to do. Any thoughts? Advise? Sarcastic comments? Smart aleck remarks? Any and all would be appreciated.

For now, I'm going to get out my lap top and clock those 90 words right now.

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

A Work in PROGRESS

Debra is making good headway on her WIP.

It's been a good writing summer. Something that hasn't happened in a while. Last time I posted I was excited to report that I'd begun writing again, picking up a WIP that had been languishing. I am proud to say I've written almost every day since then. My word count is up to 48,700 with a target of 65,000, so I am extremely pleased with my progress. When I picked it up again in June, I was at 23,100. So in a little less than a month, I've recorded approximately 25,000 words.

Some days it's easier than others and I know just what scene I want to work on and where I'm going with the story. Other days it's a bit more like pulling teeth. Difficult and painful, but in the end I get there and am happy and relieved with the end result. Today (Sunday) I wrote about 1,500 words of a scene that I knew I wanted to include in some way, but hadn't exactly figured out how it was going to move the story forward.

I have been writing a bit piecemeal and not in chronological story order, and I was wondering how everything was fitting together, so I took a couple of days to do a read-through of what I had down. Other than that, except for a few tiny rereads just for continuity information, I've been writing and not rereading, editing, or revising. I think it's working well.

Once I've reached my word goal, I'll do a full read-through and begin the editing and revising process. I'm also planning on snagging a few beta readers for this one. I have a few questions in my mind about the story already, and I'd love the opinion of a reader or two. This will be a new step for me, so I'm nervous and excited at the same time.

In the meantime, I've also been trying to be more active with other aspects of my writing career, while I have the time here in the summer. My book Fourth of July at The Corral is on sale for #99c in the month of July. I've been posting and advertising on various outlets for that. And I'm also trying to be more active with my Twitter account. I'm trying to post something every day, although I don't always accomplish this. I've been posting new release blurbs from fellow Roses and sometimes just a what I'm up to at the moment type thing. I'm refraining from posting 'buy MY book' Tweets every day, but have plans to sneak those in too. At the moment, just trying to build a following and make sure my account isn't sitting there inactively. I'm still on the fence about Facebook, but I've posted a few personal and authory things from time to time there as well.

So, all in all, I'm having a lot of fun being an author again this summer. It's been a while since I've felt like one.

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

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

A Peek at "The Cowboy and the Princess"

Debra shares a peek into her WIP.

I have a good half dozen mss in their beginning stages. Some have just a few lines. Some have an entire chapter. This particular one, has about 16,000 words. Originally I'd intended for it to be a novella, but I'm leaning toward making this one a full-length. The opening itself seems more fitting for a full-length, as it does a bit of world building before the hero and heroine meet. With my novellas, they usually have contact by the first or second paragraph. (Although, Cal, our hero, makes an appearance in the very next scene.)

I haven't worked on this story (or any other) in months. But the other day I got a hankering to see what was in the archives, so to speak. I spent an hour or so opening word docs and reading my WIPs. And while it didn't motivate me to sit down and write anything new, it was fun to take a peek, and I feel it did get me one step closer to that moment when the author in me finally steps forward again.

So, for your consideration...here is the opening to "The Cowboy and the Princess".

Chapter One
"Hot dad alert. Lucky you."
Tessa McCormick applied a thin streak of blue eyeliner to her lower lid before glancing up. "What?"
"There's a really fine dad in your section tonight." Becky waggled her eyebrows.
"So?" Tessa brushed mascara onto her lashes. She blinked at her reflection. Long blonde ringlets draped over her shoulders. A round pendant suspended on a velvet ribbon hung in the lace-trimmed sweetheart neckline of the baby blue gown. When she tilted her head, the faux diamonds in her tiara sparkled in the mirror lights.
"So, you should check him out."
Tessa paused with the small brush in her hand. "Um, why?"
Becky yanked a yellow ball gown over her head. When her face emerged, she rolled her eyes. "Because he's hot."
"But he's a dad."
"You love kids."
"That's not the point. What about the mom? As in his wife?"
Becky waved a hand. "I didn't see anyone sitting with him. I bet he's single." Her rosy lips curled out in a pout. "You always have the luck. First you get to be the Blue Princess, and now you have the hottest dad in the world in your section."
Tessa laughed. "Does it really matter? We're not allowed to fraternize--" She made air quotes with her fingers. "--with customers outside of the restaurant." Her glance swept over Becky. "And besides, you get to be the Yellow Princess."
"Right." Becky fluffed out her brown curls. "'Cause walking around looking like a tub of margarine is what I've always dreamed of. While you on the other hand are a dead ringer for Cin--"
"Don't say it," Tessa admonished with another laugh. She glanced down the row of other girls primping in front of the mirror. All the colors of the rainbow were represented. "You know we're not supposed to be any specific princesses."
"Right." Becky flopped down in a nearby chair. "If I would have known there were so many rules, I never would have taken this gig."
"You're going to wrinkle your gown."
"Well, you'll just have to iron it for me when your fancy gown turns back to rags." She glanced at an imaginary watch. "Midnight is in, what? Another six hours?"
Tessa stuck out her tongue before applying a layer of shiny pink gloss to her lips.
"Now that's not very princess like."
A knock on the door was followed by the stage director's head poking through the open slit. "You're on in five, girls."
The flutter of activity in the dressing room increased as half a dozen princesses did a last minute check of make-up, hair, and gowns.
Tessa brushed a final stroke of peach blush across each cheek, then stood to follow the line of other girls toward the stage.
"Tell me again how you talked me into this," Becky muttered.
"Because it looks good on your resume. When we're big Broadway stars someday, we can look back and think of how far we've come."
"Riiiiiight."
"Places, ladies."
Tessa found her mark on the wooden boards of the stage behind the closed curtain. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Letting it out slowly, she visualized the steps of the dance and did a quick run through of the words to her solo in her head.
"Curtain in one. Lights in two."
Tessa opened her eyes and let herself become the Blue Princess as the curtain rose.

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

P is for Princess

Debra talks about an 'abandoned' WIP.

About a year ago, an idea for a story popped into my head. It came from a line in a song (a country one of course) which referred to something along the lines of a princess and a cowboy. For some reason that line stuck in my head and I thought it would make a great title for a story.

So I started writing "The Cowboy and the Princess".

The cowboy is pretty much literally that. Cal Rogers owns a ranch - somewhere out west - that provides livestock (bulls mainly) for rodeos. Tessa McCormick plays the role of a princess on stage at a theme park. She's looking to break into theatre on Broadway, so this gig is pretty much a paying her dues type of thing.

They meet when Cal brings his daughter, Sarah, to the show at the park. She has been traumatized by the fairly-recent death of her mother and is very shy and reserved. However, she forms a connection with Tessa almost immediately.

Cal and Sarah's mom have been divorced for ages. She chose a career as a news anchor over him and Cal is still bitter about it. Sarah had been living in Texas with her mom. Her life has been totally disrupted by the passing of her mom and the move to her dad's ranch.

Our conflict comes in as there is an attraction between Cal and Tessa (duh - it's a romance!), but he is reluctant to get involved with someone else chasing such a similar dream as his ex. And although he's pleased that Sarah is forming a bond with Tessa, he doesn't want it to get too strong when Tessa will up and move to New York if her big break comes through.

I got about 4000 words in. And then got stuck. The story seemed to be dragging and going nowhere. I have a sort of idea in my head as to where I want the story to go, but it just seems to be meandering along the way.

So, I set it aside. Instead, I've been working on stories for my Holidays at The Corral series, which are coming along nicely I have to say.

Will I pick up "The Cowboy and the Princess" again? Probably. Overall I like the idea for the story. I'm enjoying the characters. So it's definitely worth revisiting at some point, even though I have no idea when that point will be. It's been out of my head for so long that in order to write this blog I had to open the mss to remind me what the characters' names were.

I had a similar experience with Family Secrets . I wrote it. Put it away. Eventually came back to it. Made some major revisions before submitting, and in the end it became my fifth full-length novel.

Have you ever set aside a work and come back to it? Whatever happened to the project in the end?

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

O is for Outcome

Debra takes a look at the Happily Ever After...

Although I firmly assert that I am a pantster and not a plotter, even when I first start a story, I always have an idea of how the story will end. Obviously, since I write romance, the hero and heroine will overcome their issues and start their life together.

But I'm talking more specific than that. I usually have a vision of what the closing scene will look like. Sometimes I've been known to skip to that part and write it before I write other parts of the story. Which can get a bit confusing, but it does give me something concrete to aim for besides a general HEA.

Even for my latest project, tentatively titled "The Cowboy and the Princess", which I'm writing using my 'just add water' strategy a day at a time in a very linear fashion, I have an idea of how the story will end. Now I just have to get there!

(On a side note, that story - Which if you remember took me by surprise when it popped into my head last week - is going well...I'm up to 3,605 words in 8 days. My best day so far is 637 words. The least I've accomplished is 250. But every little bit adds up, right?

Anyway, I digress. I know, for me, sometimes the things my characters do in between chapter one and 'the end' sometimes surprise me. Sometimes my characters have a mind of their own and wind up doing things I never expected them to. But my endings always turn out pretty much how I envisioned them at the beginning.

How about you? Does the course of your story every change so much while you're writing it that the outcome is different than you intended/expected? Or are your HEAs firmly set?

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

D is for Dilemma

Debra is having title trouble.

I am still making nice progress with my latest project. After finishing the first draft, I printed out the mss and did a read-through, marking places needing corrections and other places to go back and tweak a bit. That part is done. The next step will be to go through and do searches for 'that', "saw', 'felt', etc. I'll also run through all of my formatting cues. After that I'll do another read-through.

I need to put together a synopsis and a query letter. At that point, a story is usually ready to send off to my editor.

However, this time around, there is still one major hurdle to cross...my story needs a title. And I'm stumped.

It's a holiday spin-off of my Corral series. I'm planning a few more and would like to sub-title the series "Holidays at The Corral". Then, ideally, each story would have a title including the name of the holiday it's representing. My dilemma is this: All of the stories in the original Corral series start with 'This': This Time for Always, This Can't Be Love, and This Feels Like Home.

So, for consistency and to further connect the spin-offs to the series do I go with titles starting with 'This'? All I can come up with is "This is Christmas" which in no way gives any kind of hint as to what the story is about. The theme is about believing, not only in Christmas, but in yourself and in love, so maybe something like "This Christmas I Believe"?

Do I start another theme for just the spin-offs? In the past I thought about using drink names for the spin-offs, since The Corral is a bar, but the only drink I can think of to go with Christmas is eggnog and it's not mentioned at all in the story.

Instead of using a sub-title, do I name each holiday individually for the title? In which case this one would be "Christmas at The Corral". Which works, but would it work for future installments like "New Years' Eve at The Corral" or "Fourth of July at The Corral"?

Seriously. I'm stuck.

Any thoughts? Suggestions? Comments? Concerns? Ideas?

Help...

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

Snippet Sunday - A Peek into Debra's WIP

This story will hopefully be the first in a series of short spin-offs of my Corral Series. It features the brother of Zach, from This Can't Be Love, as the hero. As a disclaimer, it is only the first draft and has not been through any kind of edits whatsoever.

Chapter One
"What do you mean you're stuck in Colorado and can't get home?"
Van Rawlings looked over at the woman sitting a few stools down at the bar. Her open-mouthed expression of dismay might have been comical if it weren't paired with the desperate tone of her voice, which carried even over the energetic beat of Luke Bryan's Run, Run Rudolph currently blasting through the bar's speakers.
Although it had been the content, not the tenor, of the sentence she'd spoken into the phone tucked against her ear that had caught his attention. He also happened to know someone stuck in Colorado unable to get home. No way could it be a coincidence. Not in a town this size.
But who was this woman?
She tucked a strand of long, honey blonde hair behind her ear. "How could you do this to me?" She paused to listen. Made a face. "Easy for you to say. You're frolicking in Colorado with your wife. What am I supposed to do now?"
Van frowned as he took a sip of his beer. Cheating husbands and wives weren't anything new to him, but somehow he'd never imagined his brother falling prey. Was his 'perfect' marriage already crumbling into the dust of impending divorce? Goed to show, even the good guys had trouble keeping those wedding vows.
"Fine. I'll talk to you when you get home." Another pause. A sigh. "No, I'm sorry. I know you didn't do this on purpose. Besides, there's always next year. And you owe me one. Huge." She laughed. "Me too, but don't let Jessica hear you say that."
She swiped the phone off and placed it on the bar. "Better make my refill a double, Nick."
The bartender nodded. He returned shortly to place two stemmed glasses in front of her. He winked. “Double chardonnay, per your request.”
The woman laughed. Not the forced sound of polite acknowledgement, but one of genuine amusement.
Van took another swallow of beer. Should he say something? Confront her? What would he open with… 'So, are you fooling around with my brother behind his wife's back?'
Nope. Best to stay out of it. Really, it wasn't any of his business. Not yet. If it came down to it, he'd offer Zach a family discount.
The woman sighed and tapped long, red fingernails on the bar. Since she seemed wrapped up in her own thoughts, he studied her without fear of getting caught staring. A black sweater hugged her curves. Skinny jeans encased the long legs propped on the rung of the stool. Tall boots molded shapely calves. Definitely attractive.
Still. Even though his life was filled with people who didn't give a damn about upholding the sanctity of marriage, he honestly had a hard time believing Zach would cheat on Jessica, no matter how attractive another woman was. Seeing Zach and Jessica together almost made Van rethink his view on the institution of marriage. Almost.

C is for Complete!

Debra finished the first draft of her WIP.

Yep, that's right. So far my 'attempt' (See my A post for more background information!) to finish a Christmas novella and get it submitted before the March 13 deadline is going well. Extremely well.

Yesterday I finished the first draft. It took me 18 days and turned out to be 13,512 words and 69 pages. I was faithful and wrote everyday. I won't say my writing was consistent (my daily word counts varied greatly), but I got the job done. As I went, I did a running total of my words and how many I added each day. The highest number I did in a day was 2,268, which happened to be a cold/snow day off from school I wasn't expecting. My lowest day was 398 words.

Not only was keeping a daily count of page numbers and progress new for me, I wrote this story in completely different way than my previous ones. For one, other than a few sentences at the very end which I did out of order, I started at page one and kept on, writing the story in chronological order. Most of the time, if I get an idea for a scene, even if it's not at a point in the story I'm at, I write it so I don't forget. This time was a lot more linear.

Another different thing was I didn't go back and do a lot of editing each day. Here and there I did some minor tweaking, but most of the time I used my allotted writing time to keep on moving forward with the story. I also left a few yellow highlighted spots, where I know I need to go back and fix or look for a different word or phrase.

Plus, this time around, I had a definite writing routine and time of day scheduled to write. (For the most part. Days off and weekends were a bit different.) Each night after my shower, I'd sit down at the computer and write. I didn't use that time for anything else: e-mail, blogs, Facebook. It was designated writing time, and I used it as such. Last Saturday I was a bit 'stuck' at one point in the story, so I hopped in the shower. Call it 'muscle memory' or a version of Pavlov's Theory, but it worked. The ideas started flowing, and I was able to finish the scene.

Now, of course, I'll be using my designated writing time for editing and revising. I am curious to read the story from beginning to end, because a lot of the scenes I haven't gone back and looked at since I wrote them. My next step will be to print out the mss and do a read-through.

All in all, I'm excited about my progress, my new routine, and my new procedures. Will they carry over to my next project? Only time will tell. But so far they are working like a charm on this one.

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

A is for Attempt

Debra is attempting a new writing project.

As many of you know, I've been dithering back and forth a lot about what writing project to work on next. Ultimately, when it came down to it, although I had plenty of options, I wasn't doing much of anything. Not in the mood. Muse not musing. Lazy. Unmotivated. Call it what you want.

Monday was the first day back to school after Christmas vacation. A two week period of time where I did basically nothing. Let's just call it a well-needed mental health break. I read about a dozen books, but didn't do anything related to my own writing, even though there was a tiny niggle in the back of my brain telling me to work on a Christmas novella I have an idea for.

Sunday night, for whatever reason, I finally sat down and wrote. After my shower and while waiting for the hubby to finish his so we could watch some tv together, I opened a new doc on the computer, formatted it, and wrote 504 words. For those of you who are prolific, that might not seem like many, but for me, it was huge. Amazing. An incredible break through. I haven't written anything new since I submitted One Great Night to my editor in August. That's quite the dry spell.

Monday night, I used the same routine. Wrote 444 words.

Tuesday night I wrote 626 words.

Yep. They're starting to add up. In just three days I was up to 1,574 words. Again, those of you who pound out thousands of words of lovely prose each and every day are probably saying 'so what?'. But it's progress. And everything counts.

And then on Wednesday, things really got good. By the fortuitous quirk of Polar Vortex 2015, the temperatures plummeted and the wind chills dropped into the negative thirties or so, and we had no school. Not that I needed another day off. I'd just had two weeks worth, but when you get a bonus day at home, the usual routines and rules don't apply. I spent most of the day writing. I managed to work in a work out and a bundled up trip to get my nails done, but I pounded out those words. As of the writing of this (I'm drafting a day ahead.) I've written 1,776 words. Which puts my WIP up to 3,350 words and about 18 pages.

I've plans for this to be a short novella, so I'd have to estimate I'm about a quarter to a third of the way done, depending on where my characters take me. It's a spin off of my Corral Series, featuring a character I'd mentioned once in passing in This Can't Be Love: hero Zach's brother Van. I've wanted to do a few spin offs of the trilogy for a while now, and with the recent holiday season, had the idea for a Christmas story in my head. So, I decided to go ahead and combine the two. So far, it's working out well.

So why call this an attempt? For no other reason than the word attempt seemed less scary than the word goal. Don't ask me why.

The deadline at TWRP for Christmas stories is March 13 each year. So I'm going to attempt to finish the novella and submit it before then.

It won't be easy. Basketball season is in full swing at school. But I have a new routine and time set aside to write, and I'm keeping track of each day's progress. And I've really enjoyed seeing those numbers climb higher in the first part of this week. I know I won't get another bonus day like Wednesday. (Although who knows, Polar Vortex 2014 gave me four bonus days last year.) More importantly, I feel motivated and into the story.

I'll be sure to let you know how I progress in my attempt as I go.

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

One Great Night coming January 14 from The Wild Rose Press.

Mission Accomplished!

Debra celebrates completing her WIP!

I was a day behind schedule, but it's official. The first draft of my WIP, "One Great Night" is complete!

Now I'll admit, there are a couple of places I used stand-in phrases and highlighted them to show I needed to go back and make them better, but that will happen during the revising process. But for intents and purposes, the story is complete from beginning to end.

This stage of a story is so, so fun. Now I'll let it sit for a couple of days and then do a read-through. Since I'd been writing in such a piece-meal fashion, this will be the first time I'll be reading the story from start to finish. How exciting is that?! From there I'll begin revising and tweaking and rewriting until it sounds the way I want it to. After that it will be 'search' edits where I use the find function in Word and look for specific words to eliminate or change. Then I'll go through and do manuscript formatting to make sure everything is aligned the way my publisher prefers.

The last step will of course be to submit it to my editor. The goal is to have it to her by the middle of August when I go back to school. Right now I'm feeling pretty good about my plan and my timeline.

In the meantime, I have a book coming out August 1 that I haven't even thought about promotion for. Yikes.

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

Family Secrets - coming August 1 from The Wild Rose Press. Paperback available now!

Making Progress!

Debra is closing in on the end of draft one of her WIP!

After being away from my writing for a long, long, long time...last week I jumped back in with determination. My muse is in a good mood, and I am making a lot of progress.

It helps that there was less to do than I thought. At least for this first draft. I had a little less than 100 pages already written. In the last week I've increased that to 131 pages and 26,273 words. (I'm not sure what the word count was when I picked up again.) I had a lot of scenes done, but they were all over the place, and I've been doing a lot of connecting to bring things together. I figure I'm about 10 pages or so from being able to say, "Done." And then put it aside while I'm on vacation for a few days. When I return I can start revisions and edits and such on the 'second look'.

Now those ten pages shouldn't be a big deal. I know exactly what needs to be written. Trouble is...I'm not sure how to write it.

This is the big money scene.

The premise of this book is the heroine asks her brother's best friend to be her sex tutor. It's called "One Great Night". Up until now there's been a lot of kissing, some petting, and a whole lot of sexual tension. But they haven't done 'it'. After all of that, there needs to be a big pay off for not only my characters, but the reader as well.

And I'm not sure I'm up to the task. (Okay, there's a kinky pun in there if you were paying attention.)

Oh, I can write a sex scene. I know where everything goes and who does what, where, and when. But like clockwork, in almost every sex scene I've ever written, I get a note from my editor saying, "This reads like a play by play." Or "Get deeper into the POV character's head." Or "This is a little too romance-novel-cliché." Or, well...you get the idea.

Chloe and Jason's first time really, really needs to be fabulous. The sex has to be great, obviously, but the emotion needs to be there too, and that's the part I'm not so good at.

So I've been putting it off. But I'm going to pull out all of the notes I've ever taken, printed, found, etc. on emotion and study up. I'm going to reread some of my all-time favorite love scenes. And then I'm going to go for it. After all, this is only a first draft. Once I have something down, I can work with it. Heck, even if I get the play by play (ha ha) done, I can always get that emotion in during revisions.

Wish me luck!

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

Family Secrets, coming August 1 from The Wild Rose Press.

Building Bridges

Debra had taken a liking to those structures that take us from one place to another.

Tuesday I spent a wonderful day out and about with my mom and dad. Our first stop was the Anderson Japanese Gardens. The Gardens were beautiful, with water features, sculptures, stone paths leading here and there, and trees, bushes, and plants galore, a traditional guest house and a tea house. But what really stood out to me were the bridges placed throughout. I'm not sure why they spoke to me, but every photograph I took (and I did control myself) featured a bridge.

The three above photos were taken at Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford, IL.

After the Gardens, we moved to the conservatory down the street. We toured the outdoor rose garden and then headed indoors. Once again, even surrounded by beautiful foliage, bubbling water, and soaring trees, my eye was drawn to the bridge.

Photo above taken at Nicholas Conservatory: Rockford, IL.

I honestly don't know what it is about the bridges that draws me in, but I find them compelling...and very photograph worthy.

If I really stretch, I can say those bridges are a symbol of my writing right now. My WIP has become a series of scenes that I wrote willy-nilly as ideas struck me. Over the last couple of days I've sat down with it and started doing some connecting, some bridging if you will, to bring those ideas together. And I have to say, it's great to finally be back to doing some writing. It really feels like it's been forever.

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

Beginning to End...or Not

Debra takes a look at her writing process.


I am not a beginning to end writer. Usually, when I have an idea for a story, I know how I want it to begin, and I know how I want it to end, but I generally have no idea of how I'll be getting from one to the other. Sometimes, I'll have ideas for key scenes that I'll jot down as notes. More often I'll just write and see where the story takes me. The more I get into it, the clearer things become, and soon the story takes shape.

With my current WIP, I have definitely followed this system. I wrote the first chapter and a bit beyond. I have the almost-to-the-end scene written, and I know what needs to happen for the HEA. But what I have in between are just a bunch of scenes. What I'm missing are the connections to draw those individual pieces together to make a story. I need to figure out how and why my characters are going to change throughout the course of the story. I have a pretty good handle on my heroine's motivation, but nothing as solid for my hero.

What I need to do is really dig into my characters' emotions. It's those deep POV gut-wrenching moments that are missing and making my story more like stand-alone vignettes rather than a smoothly flowing narrative with a cohesive plot and characters arcs. It's time to get beyond the superficial and see if I can actually make something of this project.

There's my goal. My conflict is I'm still not motivated to actually sit down and do anything about it. What I need to do is a read-through to refamiliarize myself with the story. It's been way too long since I've even looked at it. So that's my short-term goal for today. Like a homework assignment, I'm going to set myself the task of sitting down and reading through the mss. Hopefully, that will get my creative juices flowing. The right mindset is definitely a good place to begin.

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

First Twenty Lines

I was out and about all day yesterday enjoying my last bits of summer vacation and didn't have time to come up with an enlightening post, so I'm taking the easy way out today and posting the first twenty lines of my WIP. It's titled "One Great Night".


“I want you to be my sex tutor.”

Jason choked on his beer. “What?”

Chloe Harris waited until he met her gaze again. “So, will you do it?” The background noise from the crowded bar filled the charged silence as she held her breath, waiting for his answer. Country music blared from the speakers set around the dance floor. Glasses and bottles clinked. Conversations overlapped, individual words indistinguishable in the cacophony.

“Do what?” he asked again as if he hadn’t heard right the first time.

She sighed. “Be my sex tutor.”

He looked at her like she’d grown two heads. His eyes narrowed. “Why do you need a sex tutor?”

“To make sure I’m going it right.”

This time Jason’s beer spilled down the front of his shirt. He dabbed at the spot with a napkin. “Dammit, this was a new shirt.” He closed his eyes for a moment. When they opened, his expression was pained. “I can’t believe I’m going to ask this. Hell, I can’t believe we’re having this conversation. But what makes you think you’re doing it wrong?”

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com