Backspace, Delete, Nip, Tuck

Have you ever seen the movies Misery or Romancing the Stone? Both feature writers banging out the final paragraph of their books before they triumphantly type THE END, culminating with either an elaborate ritual or an all-encompassing snif of enormous satisfaction. Now although it’s true that most writers look more like Kathleen Turner sporting a red nose and a dirty bathrobe than James Caan with his Dom Perignon, it’s also true that if there’s a writer out there who is really and truly done when she types THE END, then I’ve yet to meet her. The fact is it’s the rare person who emits perfection on the initial go-round.  My brilliance usually comes through in the rewrite, which I’m sure is true with most serious writers: it’s all in the editing. But there’s a couple of schools of thought when it comes to the nip/tuck of the edit (perhaps more, but I’ll just focus on two, or we could be here all night.) The first is the “just write it!”, the second is to edit on the fly. Both have their merits, and neither method is wrong.

The average novel is anywhere from 75,000 to 125,000 words, or 300-500 double-spaced pages, most falling somewhere in between. For a work of this length, I’ve known “just write it!” writers to pump out 200,000 to 300,000 words before they finally take a breath and fan the smoke off their laptops. Many take their inspiration from such methods as Book In a Week or NaNoWriMo which instructs participants to just get it out–no editing, no going back over what’s been written. The point is to get the words down and create a first draft, and worry about the revising later. The main thrust is to get the ideas out. I believe this method works well for people who plot their story out beforehand, who work from outlines, or, to take the opposite tack, who write best in stream-of-consciousness. Like a virulent case of verbal vomit, “just write it!” writers throw it all against the wall, deciding to see what’ll stick after it dries.

I prefer to fix on the fly and edit while I write. Unlike my plotting, I’m deliberate in my revising. Usually I go back to edit before starting another writing session, whether that session is a couple of hours worth or from the day before. Most of the time I do both, and always if I set it aside for a while, as I’ve done now by revisiting the novel I put aside last year. The advantages to this is it keeps the story fresh in your head, lets you and fix plot or continuity problems, and you’re certainly writing more concisely and compactly, as you’re choosing your words more carefully, not just pumping out the first thing that flies into your head. Of course, there’s always the chance, with constant revisiting, that you’ll drain the life out of your prose. The last thing you want to do is beat it into an over-processed, mechanical bore. But this method does help if you tend to lose track of your story, working even better if you’re actively writing every day and on a deadline.

Neither method is right for everyone, and you may work best under a combination of the two. The important thing is you’re writing, and if it takes a bit of the nip and tuck, or more than a few Joycean interior monologues to get you going, then damn the Spell Check–full speed ahead!

Smooch!

Trudy

Just Doing It

While at Bookexpo America the other day, I had the occasion to meet the lovely and engaging Lisa Bloom, host of her own national live daily talk show on Court TV, and a regular legal analyst on CBS News, CNN and HLN. We chatted while she signed a copy of her new book, Think: Straight Talk for Women to Stay Smart in a Dumbed-Down World ISBN 1593156596, Vanguard Press, 25.99), and somehow the subject leapt into how long it takes to write a book. A friend I was with pointed to me and said, “She can do it in six weeks.” A rather surprised Ms. Bloom said, “Six weeks! How do you do that?” What could I tell her but, “For six weeks it’s all you do. From morning ’til night. Shower at four in the afternoon, eat with one hand.” She looked at me, amazed. “Which book was that?” I waved her off with a laugh. “Oh, one you’ve never heard of.” I was going to say Long, Hard and Lethal, but that would’ve been a totally different conversation, and there was a line….

But truly, the upshot of this was there is no formula. There is no magic bullet that gets the book done other than to prepare, plot your course (an earlier post) and sit your butt in the chair and write. All distractions fall by the wayside, you shut your internal door and focus, and sooner or later, the words begin to flow. It really is quite a remarkable feeling when you let yourself fall into what I call full-write,  when you’re so far into the story it starts to infringe on you conscious thought, and every now and then you’re momentarily at a loss to discern what’s real. Impossible? No, not really. And not so hard to imagine as I’m sure it’s happened to you. For example, think of a situation when you were waiting for someone to call with news that could potentially be spectacular. Or spectacularly bad. Or when you’re fixated on that fantastic date you had the night before, on how this person just might be the one, and you’ve got another date that evening, and you can’t wait for evening to come. Or if you’ve been told to report to the boss’s office, and you’re terrified you’re about to get fired. Now, in all those situations, in the time while you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop, can you really and truly think about anything else? Not likely. If you do, it’s a functional thought to get through and over, so you can once again fixate on what’s truly got you in its thrall. Full-write is much the same thing. If you allow yourself to just fall into your story, strangely enough, you’ll find it all around you, and you can’t think of anything else. Warning: only attempt this if you’ve decided to take yourself seriously as a writer, otherwise, it’s like those car commercials you see with this disclaimer: Do not attempt this. Professional Driver on closed course. But we’re all so professional, aren’t we?

Trudy

Booklover’s Nirvana

Cancel everything! I’ll be at the Jacob Javits Center in New York tomorrow for the annual book world bacchanalia known as Bookexpo America! Publishers! Distributors! Editors! Agents! All the best authors! Learn about the latest trends, developments, and technologies affecting the book industry! Readings! Signings! Workshops! Exhibitors! Events! If I told you I’m ready to explode, would you believe me? Who cares! I’ll be happy as a sow in suet tomorrow trolling the aisles, especially with my cache of free books! If it’s free, it’s for me! Yippee!

But seriously, folks, I firmly believe in their catchphrase-We are content. Because even though the book industry is changing at warp-speed, there’s one thing that will never change as long as there’s original writing in any form: the need for content. Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, journalism, advertising, technical writing, public relations–whatever the writing in whatever the platform, someone will always be needed to write it. But to the true booklove worldwide, what can ever be more satisfying than the heft of a brand-new book in their hand, the smell of the ink, the anticipation of the flap or backcover, the thrill of the first few words…  Oh dear, as a romance writer, I just can’t help falling in love every time…

On to NYC!

Trudy!

When Writers don’t Write

I believe I mentioned I was resuming work on a novel I’d previously started and put aside. I began this work nearly a year ago, shelving it late last spring to marathon-write The Rage of Innocence. Once Rage was finished, I took a breather then resumed work on it over the summer and into the fall, when life intruded and I was forced, once again, to put it aside. During the long, dark winter, I found I couldn’t concentrate on the novel, the writing being somewhat more lighthearted than my heavy mood could do justice to, and I focused on a more somber work–a short story–whose every syllable was a slog, a long, painful trudge akin to a slow drip of battery acid upon my person. But I eventually finished it and was proud of the work, and right now it’s out there making the rounds, vying for acceptance. So with my professorial duties easing (though I just couldn’t resist signing up for a quickie summer class, so dedicated, me), I’m back at work on the novel, slated to be finished by The Fourth of July, which having never missed a deadline before, seems to stand a good chance. But what about all that time I ignored it, taking months to write a short story I should’ve finished in a couple of weeks? How could I do that then preach the mantra of writers’ write, especially when I had a novel moldering in my hard drive? Was there something wrong with me, or am I just a hypocrite? Or can one still be a writer and not write at all?

Real life intrusions aside, every writer faces dark moments when the impetus eludes them, and I’m not referring to the what’s commonly know as Writer’s Block (see my previous posts in “Writing Theory & Practice” for my thoughts on the dreaded WB). What I mean is when the will to write is gone, when doubt overwhelms your ability to approach the keyboard, when you can’t even think of yourself as a writer. Most often, times like these occur after a rejection, whether from a teacher, editor or agent, but more likely from a rebuff totally unrelated to anything literary. Rejections of this kind cloud our judgment and sap our confidence, eating away at the one fact that should always keep our writing mojo in perfect harmony: that in the literary world, it’s never about you, it’s always about the work, and never the twain shall meet. That no matter how terrible or disappointing or unreliable things seem, at least there’s the writing, being the one reliable recourse that will always shape itself to our moods, and more than likely, become better for it.

Now get to work,

Trudy

Ode to a Blank Page

O! lovely sheaf of wood and white! Sacrificial lamb of my scurrilous subconscious! How I cower before your splendor–an able tabula rasa of my unworthy whim and fancy. Unwieldingly you idle at the ready while I ponder your blankness and wait for the genius to erupt, not from my efforts, surely, but from the torrent of life’s illuminations, flowing onto your unselfish pages, the unbidden weight of my struggle, my sorrows, my self!

~ ~ ~ ~

My goodness, that’s good! But I know I can make it better–just let me grab this thesaurus here–ah! Now, now many synonyms can I find for empty, let’s see…void, vacant, without contents, unfilled, hollow, Scot and Northern Eng. toom; Hmm. Ah-unfurnished, bare, barren… Now, willing suspension of belief is required here, dahlings. There is no actual “blank page,” just a virtual one, but just because it’s plastic and metal, there’s no reason why it can’t metaphorically referred to as “wood and white.” A blank page is a blank page is a blank page, after all. And an enemy to keep very, very close.

Sigh…

Trudy

Academic Overload

I know that now until The Fourth of July I’m supposed to be writing all about the process from manuscript completion to submission, but I’m just too swamped in trying to finish up this semester. Oh, you’re new to this blog? Well, let me clue you in. I’m not only the Most Fabulous Romance Writer Deluxe, dahling, I also masquerade as a college professor, and right now final papers and projects have me in an absolute chokehold. Not that I don’t enjoy reading the verbal stylings of my little sweeties–truth!–it’s what I LIVE for! But their fabulousness has replicated like rabbits in a rucksack, and if I don’t wrangle them under control, I could be here until nigh on July, and that’ll run smack into my beach time. And no one, no matter how terrific, intrudes with that. So it’s back to my red-pen cave for now, so soon–very soon, I hope–I’ll be breathing the rarefied air of the unencumbered, my fingers curled around a Yuengling, my toes deep into the warm sand. And oh yeah, lest I forget, my brain wrapped firmly around my latest literary masterpiece.

And now, if you’ll excuse me–

Trudy

Priming the Pump

Before starting (or restarting, in this case) a writing project, I have always found it helpful to preface it with a modicum of preparation. (So much easier to appear spontaneous then.) Not only does it allow you to procrastinate a little longer (although I choose to refer to the period as incubating), it’ll whack off at the knees all the little distractions  (and excuses) that keep you from reaching your goal. So, without further ado, allow me to impart the points that get my pump primed…

1. Take yourself seriously – No fooling, one of my defining mantras is writers write. If you want to be a writer, you have to act like one, and require – no, insist - that everyone in your immediate circle treat you as such. I’m going to get a little tough here and state emphatically that NOTHING should intrude on your preordained writing time. I don’t care if little Suzy’s whining or Daddy wants to go bowling, as long as your inner circle has agreed that your writing time is between 8-10 PM, as long as no one’s bleeding and nothing’s on fire, that’s what you should be doing. Little Bobby doesn’t call you at work to say he wants to go to Dairy Queen, does he? (And if he does and you take him, then you have bigger problems than I can help you with, dahling). Same goes with your writing time. If you’re taking yourself seriously as a writer, you’ll set your parameters BEFORE you start, and insist that everyone keep within them. And that goes for your own internal parameters as well; no Cosmos with the girls, either. Derriere in chair; write.

2. Clear the decks – Again, within the parameters of taking yourself seriously as a writer, you should clear out a space of time – weeks, months, whatever – when you’ll be working on your project, and that will be your main focus. Whether you have a family, home or work project you need to take care first, a medical procedure, a class–anything that would divert a major portion of your attention away from your writing–take care of it before you start. Stephen King said in an old interview once that he wrote every day except Christmas and his birthday. People oohed and aahed at this, thinking it typical of his almost mystical writing prowess. Later on in his wonderful book On Writing, he clarified that statement, saying he did write everyday–but only when he was writing. The difference was he wrote everyday when he was actively involved in a project. And you should, too, when you allow yourself the time for it.

3. Create a dedicated writing space – I’m well aware not everyone has an office like I do, with a mahogany desk, velvet fainting couch and a state-of-the-art computer system, all in private cottage in the woods on a lake. (Allow my vivid imagination to run amok for just a moment more, please? Hmmmmmmmmmm…ahhhh. Okay, I’m good.) But you should allow yourself a place where you can set up and return to as often as necessary. Whether it be under the steps in the basement, a corner of the kitchen table, or the livingroom coffee table at six AM, secure yourself a workspace and set up your pencils and thesaurus. And if you’re lucky enough to have an office to call your own, before you start a project is a great time to polish the desk, shampoo the carpet, dust off the bookshelves, rearrange. Nothing like starting a new project with a clean, dust-free workspace because, let’s face it–after you get deep into it, it’ll soon become a sty. Might as well breathe Pledge-scented air while you can.

4. Assemble your research – You’re writing about the New Jersey Pine Barrens, yet you’ve never been there, haven’t read a book on it, never spoke to anyone who ever has. Say…what? Think you’re going to sound convincing? Doubt it. Don’t wait until you’re three chapters in and your protagonist suddenly comes upon a lady slipper in the woods, and you haven’t the faintest idea what they look like. Sorry, sweeties, but you can’t just rely on impromptu Internet for all your information. Whether you’re writing about 14th Century London or how to grow peanuts, get your research together before you sit down to write. That way when your heroine does come across that delicate piece of flora, she’ll sound natural and convincing, and not like she just tumbled out of Wikipedia.

5. Set a date and stick to it – If your sister’s wedding is in two weeks, today’s probably not a good time to begin a major writing project. But once you do see yourself clear, settle on a date then stick to it. The key to success is dedication, and if you’re not reasonably sure you can give your project the attention it deserves, wait until you can. Again, it’s all about taking yourself and your writing seriously, because if you don’t, how can you seriously expect anyone else will?

Smooches-

Trudy

Counting down again….

Around this time last year I was working on a novel, and I introduced a series of posts called “Countdown to Deadline.” I’d been working on The Rage of Innocence, and I genuinely had a deadline with a publisher, and damn if I didn’t make it just under the wire. Now I’m working on another novel, different from Rage and at this point, about halfway finished. And although I don’t have it sold per se, I have committed to a deadline not only to myself, but to my agent as well, who will no doubt hold me to it, needing nothing more than my professional integrity to hang over my head. But hey, I haven’t missed a deadline yet and my reputation–not to mention my considerably large ego–won’t let me cave now. (Which makes me wish sometimes I were shy and retiring and not the blatant antithesis of.) 

But first there’s a bit a business I need to get out of the way. Sitting at my elbow is a stack of final exams, with the promise of more final papers and projects to come next week. So I’m allowing myself until May 16 to clear out the semester before I hunker down and finish what I am hereby committing myself to by The Fourth of July. Yessiree, Independence Day will be mine as well as the USA’s, with a brand-spanky new novel to shove up the pipeline. So from now until then, all my posts will be (no doubt fascinating) accounts of my progress, spending every waking moment eating, breathing and banging out my Great American. Get ready to follow along as I stare at blank screens, head off to bed at three AM, cultivate my stiff neck, and wallow in the singular joy of eating with one hand. Ah…bliss!

Smooch!

Trudy

Beyond the Jingo

Of all the interested parties in this photo, the Secretary of State is the most striking to me, as Sec. Clinton seems to reflect exactly how I feel. She appears riveted, sobered yet slightly appalled, reacting to the “surgical strike” the US had undertaken to nab Osama bin Laden. Of course, it goes without saying it couldn’t have been an easy road for anyone involved, and I’m sure the President considered it necessary in terms of National Security, as well as a continuation of a mission first launched in those horrible days post September 11th. And most importantly, if it brings a degree of comfort and closure to the families of the 9/11 victims, then it serves a dual purpose, even though no amount of retribution could ever assuage the pain they’ve suffered, and are no doubt enduring.

That said, I’m still taken aback a bit by all the flag-waving and chest-thumping. Even though I’ll certainly shed no tears for bin Laden, feeling the world’s a safer place without him, it leaves a somewhat sour taste in my mouth to see such glee at his death. If what was done was indeed justice and not retribution, then let us look at it soberly and with a sense of decorum, and not wallow in a kind of “eye for an eye” logic that only cheapens the mission and our moral standing in the world community.

Trudy