So what's the problem? I'll tell you . . . .

This book isn't just being written like another romance or women's fiction. It has a certain tone to it, a tone that has to be maintained from start to finish. So I'm finding myself lingering on certain passages that lack that oomph. It's kind of hard to explain; you might have to read the book when it comes out before you see what I mean. But I do believe that's at least part of the reason for my slow progress. Another part is that my dictation time is non-existent now that I'm riding in to work with my husband, so I'm working less. But I'd rather spend $50 to gas up one car than $100 to gas up two, especially since our respective offices are just 5 minutes apart.

Here's the count:



It's also not helping that I find myself thinking of other things when I should be writing. I'm afraid I'm burned out. Not on writing, which I love, but on work in general (and writing is work). It's been a mainstay in my life, to the point where every day - even on weekends - I jump out of bed at 5AM and tell myself to get right to work. Yes, I know I just got back from vacation, but that was five days. This busy period of moving, getting settled in and trying to meet this deadline has lasted for over three months, and I'm sick of it.

Speaking of my mind wanderings, it just occurs to me that today is the centennial of my uncle's birth. Beverly Alan Griffin, the oldest of three children (my father was the youngest) was born on July 30, 1908. (Note that in those days certain names, like Beverly and Vivian, were usually given to boys. My sister's maiden name was Beverly A. Griffin, and at my uncle's funeral in 1992 I remember her holding up the program, 'Homegoing service for Beverly A. Griffin,' pointing to the name and saying it gave her cold shivers.)

So Happy Birthday to you, Uncle Bev!

Is This Any Way to Write a Book?

Okay, so I fell short of expectations - I'd hoped to crack the 60K mark - but day-um! All work and no play, you know. It was a weekend . . . .



I watched some TV, too. One of my all-time favorite classics, The Bad and the Beautiful, aired on TCM Saturday night (I love it when Lana Turner asks, "Won't you marry me, Jonathan?" and Kirk Douglas calmly replies, "Not even a little bit." I can only dream of writing such great dialogue.) I did some unpacking and organizing, too, although not as much as I hoped. My husband, on the other hand, was whizzing through boxes like Secretariat in a horse race. But then again, he doesn't have to worry about laundry and dusting and vacuuming and changing linens, either. Plus I've instructed him not to throw anything out unless I see it first. No wonder I only did two boxes. And if you read my post from yesterday you'll know I also read a book.

Four days left, counting the rest of today. I'll check back in on Wednesday.

Guest Blogger: Deirdre Savoy

Okay, I'm putting the emphasis on relaxation, which has been too scarce in my life lately. I'm reading a fun book and am going to take a long soak in the Jacuzzi with my book and plenty of bubbles . . . and I'm not getting out until I've read the last page. This is the second book I've read in a week and only the third I've read all year. Of course, I should be writing, but do I feel guilty? Hell, no!

Here's Deirdre Savoy with what will likely be the last of the guest blogs I've been running. I want to thank everyone who helped me out during this busy time, and also those who had good intentions that didn't quite pan out. Writers are seriously busy folks!

Be sure to pick up a copy of Dee's latest release, an anthology called Soldier Boys that is in stores now. (I don't know about you, but every time I hear that title I start humming the old Shirelles tune that was a favorite of my sister . . . who was about 12 at the time. Anybody else remember it?)

Take it away, Dee!

Writer Know Thyself

by Deirdre Savoy

I am teaching a writing course in which one of the participants admitted that she had given up trying to weed a certain element from her work. My response: yay! Fighting with your writing is a sure way to make yourself miserable. Each writer has to determine not only what they want to write, but also where their natural talent will take them. There is a famous quote from Jean Cocteau that goes: "Listen carefully to the first criticism of your work. Note just what it is about your work the critics don't like–then cultivate it. That's the part of your work that's individual and worth keeping."

This is one of my favorite quotes because it speaks to the writer's need to hone their own talent, believe in it and be able to withstand the influences of what editors want, agents think, what's hot now or the latest trend. That's not to say that editors/agents/trends/what's hot or whatever shouldn't inform your work, but you've got to have the confidence in what you write to hold fast when others try to sway you away from where you want to go or what you feel is the strength of your writing. Otherwise it is too easy to find yourself blowing in the wind of whatever fad is flying at the moment.

I remember when street fiction first came into vogue and there were many folks who asked me why didn't I try writing that. I couldn't write a street lit novel if someone held a gun to my head and said produce or die. I don't know anything about the life from the viewpoint of a participant nor do I have any desire to explore it. It's not where either my interest or talent lies.

The same is true of erotic stories. Not my forte, even if I can whip up a good love scene on a moment's notice. At least not in book length form. What I do like to write are suspenseful, character-driven love stories. Some people say I'm good at it.

So what do you feel is special in your writing that you try to cultivate? Do you avoid trends or follow them? If could change your writing in one way, what would that be?

Thanks again, Bettye, for the opportunity. Hope you are enjoying summer.

All the best!

------------------

Thanks for an excellent column, Dee. I don't know what's special about my writing, but I do believe it's reasonably good and that I'm continually learning ways to make it better (that would be what I'd change . . . make it better!) As for what I won't write, there's a long list that includes: No YA (which is booming right now, but it's just not for me). No erotica. No street lit. Nothing that I feel is silly. No fantasy. No publishers other than the major houses. What I will write: What I want to. Period. If that means I have no publisher, so be it. It won't be the end of my world. I'll still write . . . that's not just what I am, it's what I do. And I'll leave all my manuscripts to the kids. You never know what will come back in vogue in 2050.

What about the rest of y'all?

Busy Little Bees, Making Honey Day and Night

That's one of my favorite quotes from the classic All About Eve, said by the one and only Bette Davis.

I've got one week to go before it can be said I'm officially late, and with RWA going on in San Francisco next week, maybe no one will notice. Here's my count:



That's about 5,000 up from Monday, and I've cracked the 40,000 words to go mark. Saying I need 39,000 more words is not as terrifying as saying 40,000; don't ask me why.

I still have to post Dee Savoy's guest blog. I'll do it between now and Monday. Hey, I'm busy writing!

A good weekend to all!

He's Getting Better

A lot of A-list Hollywood actors are looking, well, decidedly middle-aged and ordinary to me these days. Tom Hanks' boyish charms have long since disappeared. Even the well-preserved Harrison Ford looks more like his 66 years than he used to. Robert DeNiro looks like the guy on the next barstool at Happy Hour. And when I look at pretty boys like Pierce Brosnan or Denzel Washington, I'm reminded of what my stepdaughter said when she watched Uptown Saturday Night with me years ago: "Bill Cosby wasn't bad looking when he was younger." In other words, they look like middle-aged guys who were probably quite handsome . . . back in the day.

But Kevin Costner, who in an interesting twist never struck me as being particularly good-looking when he rose to prominence 20 years ago, is looking really sexy as he promotes his new comedy, Swing Vote. Actually, with the facial hair he reminds me of Tom Selleck (who when last seen looked pretty good to me).

I suspect I'm not alone in being older myself and salivating over a 35 to 40-ish group of actors: Jude Law, Terrence Howard, Morris Chestnut. But is there an actor over 50 who still rings your bell?

Anatomy of a Deadline



Nobody cares about this but me, of course, but I'm inching closer . . . and still more than a week to go before the official deadline!

Back from Vacation

We had a great time in San Diego. We stayed at a historic hotel (built in 1886) in the Gaslamp District (the room on the left with the balcony, the second floor from the top, was where we stayed) which was home to Wyatt Earp and his wife whenever they were in San Diego.

We were part of a reunion of the high school in Bangkok, Thailand, which my husband attended for two years while his Army father was stationed there. From that first dinner at a Thai restaurant (naturally), we bonded with the other attendees, many of whom my husband did not previously know (they'd graduated before or shortly after he got there). Rarely have I been fortunate to meet such a friendly group of people. And there were attendees who walked into the room and called out my husband's name, thrilled to see him (and he them) after 36 years. Everybody is now in their 50s, and what a kick I got out of seeing how they looked in their class pictures. There's nothing like walking into a hotel ballroom and seeing a bunch of laid-back middle-aged baby boomers dressed in California casual, boogie-ing down to songs like Jumpin' Jack Flash.

The majority of the group have settled in California - a few right there in San Diego - but one person came in from Australia, another from Portugal, and a few from the East Coast. Our group also included a set of identical twins who occasionally dressed alike just to throw the rest of us off track . . . successfully.

This was my first trip to California, and San Diego is truly a beautiful city, very tourist-friendly. Most of our activities involved the reunion, but they involved places I wanted to see, like Old Town and the Coronado Peninsula. We toured the elegant Hotel Del Coronado, and I got my feet and legs wet in the Pacific Ocean. One night our group took an evening dinner cruise in the bay with dancing and even a fireworks show. We were introduced to dim sum and have become devotees. I'll be looking to see where the closest such restaurant specialty is to us here in Kenosha (probably some distance away, since our town is also known as Ke-Nowhere). The majority of our group was Asian, specifically Chinese, so it was kind of neat to eat with so many people who could actually speak to the wait staff in their language!

We wrapped up the trip after the reunion ended by taking to the road in our rented convertible for a scenic 59-mile drive around the area, much of it along the coastline. Just a wonderful trip all around. We're going to try to make the big blowout reunion in 2010, to be held in Bangkok.

Something I was struck by was how tall those California palm trees grow. They make Florida palms look like runts! And how the temperature dips when the sun goes down, something you don't feel in Florida.

While on vacation I usually have a few hours in the morning and maybe an hour or two in the afternoon to work on my manuscript, but since I forgot my power cord, I wrote for a few hours on the plane and that was it. The rest of my spare time I read, and I made an excellent choice. If you haven't read Suite Embrace by Anita Bunkley, I highly recommend it. It was a good read, got me all wrapped up in the story, and it had two elements particularly pleasing to me: One, it was a perfectly realistic story with no fantasy elements that so often strike me as silly, and two, it didn't involve a family (y'all know I can't get into family series, probably because they all seem the same to me). Actually, it is a series, but I have no idea who will take center stage in the next book, only that it will not be siblings of the hero and heroine of this story (one is an only child and the only sibling of the other is already married). I think Ms. Bunkley plans to develop romances between guests or employees at the Colorado ski resort where the story takes place. Whatever she does, I do plan on going along for the read.

I have less than 10 days to go for my deadline date for my 2009 book. This is bad news, as you can see by my progress meter:

But as you can see by the cartoon, I'm not panicked. Nor am I living in a fool's paradise. All I need is a weekend or two to devote to this and I'll get it done.

Tune in tomorrow (or maybe the day after), when we will have wise words from author Deirdre Savoy.