Alison Kent's Blah Blog

On the way to my last day at the evil day job, whoo-hoo!

Check out Carly Phillips’ post today at PlotMonkeys.

I’m going to talk about how contests can help aspiring authors get published. Contests are an investment in your career – and yes even if you aren’t published yet, even if you aren’t earning money yet, you have a career and you are aspiring towards your goals. You need to work out how much money you have to spend on this kind of contest (RWA chapter sponsored contests range from $25 – $40 – I think! It’s been a long time since I’ve entered). So you want to choose your contest and your investment wisely.

Check out Robin’s post today at Access Romance’s Readers Gab.

I have no desire to see violence excised from the genre, but I do wonder, sometimes, how there can be so much controversy over erotic Romance but not the proliferation of Romantic Suspense in which characters are threatened with explicit torture and where the point of view of the villain is often narrated in chilling detail, right down to step by step descriptions of his or her violent fantasies and deeds. Hybridization certainly accounts for some of the more chilling violence to penetrate the genre, but not all of it. I was a little taken aback in the midst of Kresley Cole’s If You Desire, when the hero, Hugh MacCarrick, impulsively pummels the man he sees as competition for the heroine’s affections. And the other guy was a nice guy, not by any stretch of the imagination a letch or a villain. I’m surprised with each passing Anne Stuart book that the acts of violence perpetrated by the hero onto the heroine seem to generate so little stir. And I’ll admit to feeling a little perplexed by the fact that readers will put up with violent heroes more readily than with adulterous ones.

Today’s Sunday Sven post can be found at HelenKay Dimon’s blog! Check in here and then head over there to see what she has to say! (Also, drop by Anne’s blog to see her review of YOUR MOUTH DRIVES ME CRAZY. Anne recently won a copy of the book here, and has posted her thoughts.)

Here’s the money shot from HK’s post:

It’s time for a reality check. Here it is…ready? The Challenge is not meant to drive you nutty. Really. It may feel that way, but the purpose is to inspire and motivate.

How we doin’?

I thought I’d share this bit from Carly Phillips about scheduling:

Schedules and Page Count… All writers deal with the dreaded “S” word. Schedule. How do you have a consistent schedule when you have kids? When life isn’t consistent? You don’t. At least I don’t! First, I have a mental way of handling things. 25 pages per week. For me, that’s 5 pages a day, five days a week. Or two pages one day and seven the next. I don’t much care how I tally the pages as long as those pages get written. And I admit, when the weekend rolls around, if I’m running short on page count, I’m working a lot harder to make those pages up. Not necessarily the most effective means, but it works well for me.

Keeping myself honest… How do I keep myself on track and honest? I use something developed by my critique partner called a GOAL SHEET. (okay if she didn’t develop the idea, she shared it with me. Same thing as far as I’m concerned!) In a binder, I print and put blank goal sheets, broken down by week. One page per week and divided by days. The top of each page/week has the page I’m supposed to be on when the week ends. It’s an effective means of keeping me on my toes and every day I jot down page count—what I wrote, or didn’t write, and why. I make myself accountable.

As I sit on the bus for the ride home from work, it occurs to me that I only have to go through this hell FIVE more times!

Sorry that my posting here has been so sporadic. I wish I could attribute my lack of blogging attention to being deep into my current WIP. Alas, I probably have fewer pages than anyone because I’ve been dealing with a lot of life distractions – the very thing I advise here that we all need to write through. Thing is, I’ve done this deadline thing at least thirty-five times, so I know I’ll catch up and get Finn and Olivia’s story turned in on time. And that’s all well and good, except this whole challenge idea appeared in my tiny little mind when I was trying to figure out how not to get into the same bind I always do as that deadline day approaches. And maybe help out a friend or two who find themselves doing the very same thing. (Raise your hand if this is your modus operandi!) Not only that, I want time at the end of the book to set it aside, give myself a breather, and then read it through. That distance always helps with my perspective on what is and isn’t working.

See, I play this game with myself. As long as I’m still looking at writing under ten pages a day, I don’t push as hard as I should. Especially at the beginning of a book. Beginnings are the hardest for me (as for a lot of people) because I don’t yet know my characters. All the character charts and worksheets won’t change that because I can’t get to know them without writing them. Which means I should write and write and write, throwing out the pages that don’t work until my story people seem as familiar as old friends. In theory, that’s what I should do. In reality, not knowing them makes writing crap as hard as writing pages that work.

I came up with what seemed like a brilliant idea to tell part of my secondary plot, and so yesterday got busy with a scene introducing two of those players. I struggled and fought to fit them into the box that I wrapped up so prettily, a gift I was giving them, and they refused to accept my offering. They did not want to play out their storyline the way I had visualized it happening. The words came, but they were stiff and awkward and what was supposed to be a intensely sensual scene fell flat. Oh, it had all the right words. The scene wasn’t filled with generic banter, or leering substituting for lust. All of the elements there were working.

It just wasn’t what these characters would do. They were moving through the paces of my beautifully designed journey, but they weren’t comfortable. I stopped. Did some writing triage, and only kept what I knew worked for Jodi and Roman and canned the rest. That left me with very little, no gift wrap, not much of a plan. All I could do at that point was let them talk. Not to me, but to each other. I don’t know how much of their conversation will actually stay in this scene. But at least having these two people who already know one another act like they do instead of acting like my really cool plot idea demanded, I should have something to work with, and they might even find their own way into that box, punching out one side where they need more room, ripping at the bow and tying it into a better design.

You’re probably thinking, duh. That’s so simple. That’s Writing 101 if not preschool. ::shakes head:: Doesn’t matter. Even those of us who’ve done this awhile can get caught up in the utter brilliance of an idea, one we think will work perfectly for who our characters are, only to discover they’re more interested in choosing their own ribbon and lace and paper instead of having their story map handed to them all wrapped up.

In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth and populated the Earth with broccoli, cauliflower and spinach, green and yellow and red vegetables of all kinds, so Man and Woman would live long and healthy lives.

Then using God’s great gifts, Satan created Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream and Krispy Creme Donuts. And Satan said, “You want chocolate with that?” And Man said, “Yes!” and Woman said, “and as long as you’re at it, add some sprinkles.” And they gained 10 pounds. And Satan smiled.

And God created the healthful yogurt that Woman might keep the figure that Man found so fair. And Satan brought forth white flour from the wheat, and sugar from the cane and combined them. And Woman went from size 6 to size 14.

So God said, “Try my fresh green salad.” And Satan presented Thousand-Island Dressing, buttery croutons and garlic toast on the side. And Man and Woman unfastened their belts following the repast.

God then said, “I have sent you heart healthy vegetables and olive oil in which to cook them.” And Satan brought forth deep fried fish and chicken-fried steak so big it needed its own platter. And Man gained more weight and his cholesterol went through the roof.

God then created a light, fluffy white cake, named it “Angel Food Cake,” and said, “It is good” Satan then created chocolate cake and named it “Devil’s Food.”

God then brought forth running shoes so that His children might lose those extra pounds. And Satan gave cable TV with a remote control so Man would not have to toil changing the channels. And Man and Woman laughed and cried before the flickering blue light and gained pounds.

Then God brought forth the potato, naturally low in fat and brimming with nutrition. And Satan peeled off the healthful skin and sliced the starchy center into chips and deep-fried them. And Man gained pounds.

God then gave lean beef so that Man might consume fewer calories and still satisfy his appetite. And Satan created McDonald’s and its 99-cent double cheeseburger. Then said, “You want fries with that?” And Man replied, “Yes! And super size them!” And Satan said, “It is good.” And Man went into cardiac arrest.

God sighed and created quadruple bypass surgery.

Then Satan created HMOs.

How goes it?

Check out today’s sponsor post at Larissa Ione’s blog. She talks about rejection, and about selling when we’re ready to sell, saying:

If you’re going through the multiple rejections, the harsh critiques, the feeling that your pedaling and going nowhere…know that almost every published author has been there. And I’ll bet a lot of them realize that they sold when they were ready, and not a minute before.

The husband and I are grocery shopping . . . in 2 separate stores via cell phone.