I’m in the home stretch of my work in progress. Yay! I had planned a May release for it. It’s looking like September now by the time the edits are done.
I have three novels outside of my magnum opus that I’ve been trying to finish just to clear them off my plate. Life derailed me this past spring and things piled up and threw me off schedule. I feel guilty about not finishing them because I know once I seriously commit to the magnum opus (MO), they may never get finished. If you saw how many unfinished pieces I have that are just waiting on something or someone…artwork, editing, conclusion, etc, you’d wonder how is this woman sane. Ha! I don’t think sane and writer go together. I have to get the stories out of my head and off the docket so they’ll leave me alone. Right now my mind keeps returning to these unfinished projects and they distract me from the MO. I just can’t work that way. Fictional worlds and characters can be so darn bossy sometimes.
I’m occasionally asked by people wondering where my next novel is if I’ve considered giving up promotion and blogging to just focus on cranking out books. There are several ways to answer that question. The first — an author can never stop promoting. Do it yourself or hire a publicist, this is a necessary thing. Right now I maintain the platform I’ve made. I no longer beat the streets looking for reviews. I’ve backed off appearances, blog hops, and interviews until the fall. Mostly I use the various memes around the web. (Come back tomorrow or the weekend to see what I mean. I connect my promo blogs through links)
The blogging here is a different animal entirely. I have a very busy and curious mind that can pull a short blog post out of thin air if I needed to. My morning rambles are simply encapsulated thought. Think of them as short summer showers. They dump their so many minutes of rain and then they’re gone. 😀
Conversely, crafting a fictional world populated by fictional characters takes time and a writer is either in that zone or not. Some authors I know write in blocks. They plot out each step of the way and are referred to as plotters. One author says she writes the whole thing then goes back and inserts love scenes. Another author I know writes the beginning and the end, then goes back to tie them together. I can’t do it. If I could I’d have a much larger backlist. I’m a pantser — I fly by the seat of my pants. Plotters follow a formula. They know ahead of time exactly what has to happen in which portion of the book. Pantsers tell the story as it comes to them. I’m that storyteller sitting around the campfire who adds the hoot of an owl or the sound of wind-rustled leaves to the tale. In other words, I have to be in that moment to write it.
I often dream my stories. I live an 8 to 10 hour day in a fictional world as many authors do. That immersion guarantees some of it will rub off on my dreams. I woke this morning with story arc on my mind so I’ll run with that instead of my regular morning coffee post. An arc is what brings change. It transitions the character or their situation from one state to the next. I finally have the ending and it’s so close I can almost touch it. Almost. *knock on wood* There. Post and coffee done. See you tomorrow.
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
~Maya Angelou
Rest is peace, Maya. The world and I mourn the loss of your beautiful words.
1929 – 2014
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For 100 days, I’ll post something from my chosen topic: Clichés.
There are 56 entries to come.
Here’s a cliché for today:
Ants in his pants
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Today is Author Sandra K. Marshall’s blog day
http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/
Romance Books ‘4’ Us ~ a new contest starting soon!
http://www.romancebooks4us.com
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Love Waits in Unexpected Places – Scorching Samplings of Unusual Love Stories
Find my novels wherever books are sold.
Sample my love stories for free!
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/333971
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