Friday, January 11, 2013

New Year, new book to write (ie what's going on with me)

It's been a while since I blogged - and even longer since I did a newsletter. Things have been hectic. I've had a heck of a lot going on in "real life" while I've been hard at work on my current contract. The good news is that book one of The Burlington Manor Affair is done and with my lovely editor. I'm now working on book two. Yay!

I love this story so much. The protagonists, Carmen and Rex, really are my favourites, and I especially love writing their dialogue. What's baffling me is that when I originally outlined this book I thought it was going to be a novella. What was I thinking? lol! I pitched it as a novella in 2008 and as soon as the outline was done I realised it had to be a novel. It had to be shelved while I came to terms with that. :) As it turns out, it's going to be two novels, and there's a heck of a lot going on in there.

So that's what I'll be working on through until April, book two. During that time my three Taskill witches books will be published - THE HARLOT (Feb 1st) THE LIBERTINE (Mar 1st) and THE JEZEBEL (Apr 1st.) During that three months I'll be running a series of posts here on the blog, snippets from my research on the witch trials in Scotland and England, and background thoughts. I'll post each Wednesday.

Christmas and New Year passed us by quickly here, and I'm seeing lots of writers doing resolutions and goals. I haven't done that because it's usually the same- write more, write better, and take better care of myself. It's always interesting to read what others have to say. I followed a link from Jordan's blog to J A Konrath's blog, and really enjoyed his retrospective look at how his goals have altered over the years. In particular I related to his attitude to social media. A couple of years ago authors were really being encouraged to use social media. It's all writing time though, and - ultimately - does it do any good? If we enjoy it, yes. Mostly I equate it to the kind of office socialisation we don't get because we work alone. But I've been working alone a long time now...

I did rejoin Facebook this past year, after having abandoned it previously. I still can't warm to it and it may fall by the wayside again. But if I'm happily writing instead of griping over having to use social media, what's the big deal, right? lol! My ultimate goal has to be to write well, write better.

I do enjoy Twitter, but I have to say I probably enjoy reading it more than actually tweeting. I get phases were I have fun sharing things I enjoy. A lot of the time I'm agog because I can't believe the stuff people do share there. ;o) I guess I'm in a minority because I follow a lot of authors because I want to know what they're writing and when their book is out, the very things I hear we shouldn't be sharing because it's promo. hmm....

It's been an intriguing time for publishing, this last year, lots of changes, especially for those of us writing erotic romance. Often I'm shocked at how long I've been in this business (first short story published in 1997) and it's when I notice the trends (and outright reversals of fortune!) that I realise just how long it is. Take the changing attitudes to social media, for one example. It all joins up in my head as a long meandering stream of altering perspectives on best practice. Back in 2005 or 2006 the big trend was 5 year plans. We were all encouraged to brand ourselves and make a 5 year plan. I was baffled. What was the point of a 5 year plan when a lot of the time we can't control our publishing destinies? We can have goals, but things change so rapidly. A couple of years ago erotic lines were being axed left right and centre, and the marketplace for authors selling their work shrank. Then last year erotic romance went mainstream because of one trilogy. Nobody planned around that - how the hell could they know a huge breakout book would emerge from fan fiction?

I stick by my belief - the best thing a writer can do is write a great book!

Anyway enough of being philosophical. The novel calls (and my tax paperwork and a short story, yikes.) See you on Twitter. ;o)