On writing

When I first picked up my pen and started scribbling about a man who'd taken a girl to bed and woke up in the morning to find her decapitated head on his nightstand, it was easy. The words flowed like water allowing the characters to jump from my imagination like true people in the world. Then all at once, it stopped. I hit a wall and just couldn't figure out how to pass through it so, I gave up. Then I wrote 30 pages about a boy chosen to protect the world from and evil scientist but when he crossed into a new dimension, I couldn't find the right words and I quit again.

I can continue through the dozen or so stories gathering dust in my documents folder, but we don't have that much time. The truth is I always believed writing to be an easy (an well paying) job. You sit down to a computer, pound out a hundred thousand words and make millions. That's all there is too it, right?

WRONG!

Writing is the hardest thing I have ever done and I'm raising a hormonal over achieving middle schooler, a strong willed pre-teen and a destructive monkey boy. They're cake compared to Katrina and Landon and all the vampires surrounding them. I've found that the trick is in the determination and open mindedness. No matter the storyline, there are going to be hiccups along the way. A writer must disregard social stigma and allow ideas to flow onto paper and those pesky writer's blocks will not be so frequent.


In the four year process of writing Taken, I realized a few things. First of all, writing is debilitating and invigorating all at the same time. You create these characters and these worlds and think you have utter control over them but, you're dead wrong. A strong creation will build their own personalities and take control of the story without you ever realizing. A good writer is simply a typing tool. Katrina is no longer my creation but a strong person herself.

Right now, you think I've fallen off the deep end. I haven't. Katrina was never supposed to be a Hunter and Landon was never supposed to fall in love with her. He was supposed to be turned and she was supposed to die at his hand!

The other, and most important, thing I've learned is that writing does not manifest itself into dollar signs. Simply sitting here and pouring my heart and soul onto paper will not make me a millionaire tomorrow. Don't write for fame and fortune. Write because you love it. Write hard and pray.

Let me return to my point. Writing is hard. You start with an idea that grows with vigor and ease. You type like the world depends on your words per minute. Then, unexpectedly, you find yourself stuck and staring at a condemning cursor blinking insults at you. Determination is the only thing that kept Taken from become an inactive member of the documents folder.

Read for FREE!

Bannerman's Castle

Hudson Valley Photography

If you read Taken, you remember a brief mention of a castle at which Joseph arranged a meeting of the Cole Legacy. This location was my first inspiration for Lady Eleanor and Kol's home in the new world. I sometimes regret that in the three years since, I have chosen a new home (a topic for another day) though the Castle still resides in my dreams. In my writing, it still remains unnamed. In the real world, it goes by the name of Bannerman's Castle and rests on Pollepel Island in the Hudson River.

I remember vividly the day I was researching possible meeting places for the Legacy. Joseph said he would summon the family to the castle and all I could think was four days was not enough time for Lady Eleanor to travel to her homeland. Growing up in New England and having often crossed the Hudson River, I knew there were huge houses and wonderful castles littering the Hudson Valley, so I started googling.The photos posted on the Hudson Valley Photography website were so breathtaking that I knew right then and there I had to use them in some way.

As you can tell, the castle is in ruins giving me free reign to design the inside as I see fit. In my imagination, Lady Eleanor, bent over her cane, hobbles up the grand front staircase with the help of her youngest son, Joseph. A bird's eye view captures her white hair in it's typical tight bun and a long dress covered with a black cloak. Beside her, Joseph's brilliant ginger hair stands out against the darkening surroundings. Once inside, they hand their jackets over to the evening's hired servant and step forward through a set of grand french doors to the head of a large staircase to be met by the gleaming blue and green eyes of the Legacies children.

Photo by Neil Caplan via bannermancastle.org

 

When I designed these scenes in Taken, the history of the castle didn't matter. I just needed a meeting place. As my writing builds, I find that I need to know the real history of the island. Without it, I can not weave it into the my own story as I have done with so many other true life events and locations.

The true history of Pollepel Island and Bannerman Castle are just as rich as that of the Cole Legacy. I will not attempt to summarize it here as I am just today grazing the subject. However, both  Hudson Valley Photography and bannermancastle.org have wonderful summaries on the subject!

That time when you shouldn't click publish!

It occurred to me this morning that I haven't babbled at my beautiful audience in quite some time. Did you miss me? Don't answer that. I would prefer to believe you can't live without me.

So here I was, staring at the computer screen. I wish that damn cursor would quit winking at me. It's hard enough to concentrate without it's mocking me. As usual, I have a million things running through my head. Why are there phantasms at Felipe's house? How will I use them? What color should I paint the bathroom? I have to work in three hours. You know, the typical random stream of thought of a frantic mom.

Sometimes those thoughts lead me somewhere wonderful and fantastic. Today, just a cursor.

Blink. Are you going to use me?

Blink. I'm getting bored!

Blink. Maybe you should just go nap.

And then, I find myself personifying the cursor. Which leads to me playing a whole lesson through my head about personification. Which leads me to considering college in the fall. (Gag)

It's not writer's block. My head is overflowing with awesome story lines and colorful characters. It's more of a preoccupation with the millions of things I have to do.

Do you feel like you just wasted five minutes of your time reading a pointless blog post? I sure feel like I wasted ten minutes trying to write one...

Free! Free!

Saturday mornings mean some kind of sporting event. Today is soccer. I can't really complain as it is the one sport my children play that doesn't leave me yawning and bored. And I've been told bringing a book to one of my child's sporting events is unacceptable. Only a true non-reader would say such revolting words. A book is NEVER unacceptable.

This brings me to today's topic. Books. Yes, I understand that the every day's topic is books. I don't need you to remind me. In fact, today's post is simply because I am to lazy to walk upstairs and grab my book!

She's such a cute volleyball player!

So, what aspect of books, you ask? Ebooks. They are everywhere. It makes transmitting the written word so much easier for us nerdy types who love to sit and ramble words into a computer, but let me ask you a question now. Do you feel that the fact that anyone can write and publish a book these days is hurting the book world?

Let me put it into the words of my favorite book reviewer over at Book-Attic. "I don't like to review indie books because they are usually so full of errors that I can't push through it. Sorry, no offense, Mom." No offense? No offense! What the heck. I would like to say I take offense, but I was just another one of the ill edited books in the ebook world for a while. I was in such a hurry to get my book out there and have the world fall in love with it so I could become J.K. Rowling rich that I didn't figure a few misplaced commas and grammar errors were a big deal. Then this happened.

It gets 5 stars for having an interesting story idea. It loses 3 stars for poor grammar and multiple spelling mistakes, repeatedly repeating the same word repeatedly and failing to maintain consistency. Humans can't become vampires until they are 18. Oh here is a grave of one who is 8. Vampires can only be permanently killed by 6 daggers that only one vampire hunter knows the location of (and is willing to die without sharing the location. After all, it isn't like that would be useful for a group of vampire hunters to know) but vampires are killed by getting their blood sucked out, shot, stabbed and impaled. The main character is uber important, but gets left with someone who is planning to kill her on her 17th birthday for 14 years. Oh and the same girl meets a boy and marries him after knowing him for 2 weeks, thereby making them both immortal. Not sure what book the other reviewers were reading, but it either wasn't this one or we have drastically different expectations for our reading material.                                                                    -Amazon Reviewer

Can you say ouch? When this review hit Amazon, I was dumbstruck. How could ANYONE be so hateful. I stewed for a few days. Made a few hateful posts on Facebook, then it hit me, this reviewer, though most of his reviews are not gracious, was right. So, I pulled it back and reread it and republished it. The only problem is now Taken is known for it's crap editing and repeatedly repetitive words.

So here, I offer it for free!!! All I ask is that you read it and review it somewhere online and comment back here with a link to that review. Good, bad or indifferent. Let me know what you think!

I will leave these links for 8 days, deleting them 4/19 at midnight. Share away!

Taken (.epub)

Taken (.mobi)

Now, you have something to read at your soccer games as well! 

Oh, silly me. My book has been right at my elbow this whole time! Off to read.