Thursday Thoughts

It's funny how I can crank out a whole week's worth of blogs here on the CBEB in no time at all, but the ones I have to write for WR or Casablanca are like pulling teeth. Perhaps it's the naked hunks, but I'm thinking it has more to do with the fact that I feel more like I'm talking with friends here and don't have to create a great work of literature. Not that my other blogs are all that great, but these seem to flow better for some reason.

Sort of like Renegade has been doing. I worked hot and heavy on the synopsis a while back, inserting needed scenes here and there and playing with the order of events. It was sort of like writing revisions: at least I had a clear outline to follow. Not that revisions are always that clear. It's best when you come up with them yourself, rather than having your editor suggest them, because you have a better understanding of your own ideas than you have of what's in someone else's head. Sometimes my editor's suggestions are very specific, but often they are quite vague and it's difficult to grasp the concepts.

I've never written a book before that had quite so much prep work done prior to the writing, which is, according to some, the only way to write. I must admit, the process of writing is much faster when you know exactly where a story is going and how to get there, but there are still some fun things to discover along the way.

One thing I don't get is feedback from readers at every juncture. With the exception of a few things that my friend and unofficial critique partner, Marie Force, has read, the writing all takes place in discussion with myself, and perhaps a few things I mention to my DH from time to time. He doesn't read any of it, but just explaining it to someone helps for me to understand the plot a little better myself.

Another nice thing about writing a synopsis first, is that you can spot the holes in the plot before you waste time writing the book. If it doesn't work in the synopsis, it probably won't work anywhere else, and I know I'll just end up rewriting it--which is something I hate to do. I really prefer to get things right the first time.

This whole writing thing has been a learning process, and I hope I've learned a few things. It amazes me how quickly some writers are able to write book after book in rapid succession and have them turn out well. It's a skill, one that is developed over time just like any other. I'm getting better at it, and hopefully this new process won't screw with my creativity.

Now, if I could just blog faster....

Back to work. . . .

Today marks the beginning of a new era in the Cheryl Brooks saga. I have simply GOT to start writing again! I've been blogging constantly for the past two months and getting very little work done on Renegade. I hope the promotions for Fugitive were effective, but I won't know for sure until I get my royalty statement, which, if I remember correctly, will be arriving in late April. Aside from the blog tour, part of the reason I haven't been doing much on Renegade is that was that I wasn't completely sure my editor wanted it. Knowing that a contract is in the works helps enormously, but I still have to buckle down and do it.

I came up with a great idea while I was sitting in the INRWA meeting on Saturday, and fortunately, I had a pen and paper to write it on. I tried writing a little bit on Saturday night, but by the time I had caught up on all the emails and blogs and such, I edited the last few pages a bit and wrote maybe two lines of new dialog before conking out. This is NOT a good trend! Granted, I have until the end of June to finish it, but during that time I also have to work and go to Myrtle Beach and the RT Booklover's Convention.

Speaking of RT, Last year's Mr. Romance, Charles Paz, is apparently expecting me to "find" him and give him a big hug, so that's one thing to look forward to in Columbus this spring, but aside from that, I'm hearing that the convention is one big party and I am so NOT a party animal! I do try, however, but I do best when I'm among friends. In a big crowd like that, I tend to disappear. And for the record, I am NOT dressing up as a Zetithian. That would require a complete body, face, hair, eye, and ear makeover, which I don't think I'm quite up to.

So anyway, I will be writing more and blogging less in the coming months, with the result that there will be more books for you ladies to enjoy, so I'm sure you'll understand. The blogs will still go up daily, but forgive me if I don't check in quite as often. Any hunks, stories, or recipes you ladies care to send me to post will save me a lot of time and will be greatly appreciated.

Oh, yeah, right. . . . It's Monday. What the devil is wrong with me? I almost forgot the moons!

Enjoy your Monday!

Back home again in Indiana...

Damn it's good to be home! Vacations are lovely, but my bed, and my sweetie, have been calling my name. And boy oh boy, have the mice been playing around the blog while the Cat Master was away!

The trip as a whole would have been a lot more enjoyable if I hadn't had a cold the whole time I was gone. While others all around me were catching the flu and every other bug imaginable, I alone remained healthy. Under a great deal of stress, perhaps, but healthy. Looks like the pressure finally caught up with me, though, but at least Hero got finished on time and the new contract is in the works, so it was probably worth it. I've pretty much recovered, but now Suzie has it and coughed her head off all the way home.

Another thing we had to contend with was crappy weather. If it wasn't raining, it was snowing or at least cloudy. Yesterday was the only day of sunshine we had this whole week. However, I can't complain. The snow around here was pretty tame in comparison to the blizzard the East got this week. Looks like all of you at least had internet while I was gone.

The lake trip was pretty uneventful. We watched movies, laid around, had one short sing-along, and, as usual, ate way too much. I never stuck my nose out of the house the whole time we were there. I felt like I'd been hibernating all winter by the time we left.

I got a few new things to wear to the writer's conferences this spring (RT) and summer (RWA) and refreshed my memory about how to get around Nashville (a little bit) so I won't be completely lost when I go back there in July. It'll be nice to visit when it's warmer, but Nashville in late July might have me wishing for February.

The good news is that now I can start writing again! I've got until the end of June to finish Renegade and I've already got 32,000 words, so I'm pretty sure I can do it. I wrote a little bit on book eight before I left for Tennessee because I had some ideas I didn't want to forget, but I need a title for it. This is the one about a Zetithian who has been spreading his seed as he travels. He winds up rescuing one of his "clients" but I'm not sure which way to go with the title; whether to focus on the seed-spreading or the rescuing. So put your thinking caps, ladies, and let's hear some ideas!

A blog without a picture is like a....

I nearly had a meltdown Tuesday night. Sharon had just sent me a bunch of new hunk pictures, and Blogger had developed some sort of "internal error" and was not letting me post them. ARRRGGGG!!!!

As the ducks in Berkeley Breathed's "A Wish for Wings that Work" once said:
"Catastrophe! Calamity! A considerable setback!"

Fortunately, that problem has been corrected, but how can one blog without pictures????

I suppose we all know the answer to that one: you just have to write more words. Not that this is a hardship for me, but sometimes when I have nothing in my head to write, I gaze at those images and the words begin to flow.

Take that picture of Derrick yesterday. I went through my files, chose it for the blog, wrote a blog, and then had a bit of a fantasy about what it might be like to somehow incorporate that pic into a story. A story about a photographer who has taken photos of a hundred different men and everything stayed strictly business, but then, there was Derrick, and the hands started shaking and the knees got weak.

You just never know how a person will react when they finally meet "the one." I'm exploring that in Renegade right now. Poor Dax has never met an available female of any species who did it for him--until now, and she's a girl who's down on men in general and only wants to go back to the one she left behind. Dax wants her for himself, but when it comes to enticing women, he's clueless.

I don't know about you, but the bumbling, awkward type gets to me a lot faster than the smooth-talking Romeo who can charm the pants off any woman he meets. By the same token, an accomplished rake whose skills desert him when he finally falls in love has a similar appeal.

But whatever kind of hero you like best, that image of him is important, whether it comes to you in a picture or in words. For some, a few descriptive words are best because they like to use their own imagination. Others like to have a very clear portrait drawn so that they know exactly what that character looks like.

What is your preference?

The "Look"

I forget just what site I was on when I found this one of Benji, but I was pretty sure you ladies would enjoy it. For my money, it's proof positive that he doesn't have to strip down to his undies to get your attention--or to say a word. He just has to give you that "look."

So how does that look translate into words? How can you describe it without using a picture? I think what you have to do is to focus on the reaction of the person looking into those arresting eyes, which is the tack I've taken in writing Renegade. I took that look, made him Zetithian, made him really tall, and made him (sorry Benji!) a virgin.

He's finally found a girl who does it for him, though, and he's got to woo her, but, never having paid much attention in "How To Entice A Female 101," he's clueless. I think the idea of a Zetithian man who doesn't know anything about women is sort of fun, particularly after the other guys who were all experienced in some way. This time, it's the girl who knows more than the guy, but she's wanting to go back to her old boyfriend, and it's our hero's job to make her change her mind, and his awkwardness is just part of his charm.

Of course, a tall Zetithian who looks like Benji shouldn't have much trouble doing that, should he? What are your thoughts?

Eight weeks old!

Peaches is now eight weeks old and had just had her first bath when I took this picture on Monday. She did very well with her bath, but it's probably the first and only time I'll be able to do it in the kitchen sink! I used a peach mango dog shampoo, so now she smells more like her name.

Don't let this pose fool you. In the three weeks since she came to live with us, she's grown from a very timid puppy to a little wild woman. Everyone talks about how quickly children grow up, but Peaches has almost doubled in size in less than a month!

Like puppies, books grow very quickly. What started as an idea a few short weeks ago is now taking shape. At the time I wrote this entry, Renegade had already grown to 17,000 words. That doesn't sound like much when you have to write at least 90,000, but I'm starting to get a feel for the characters and the story, just as I'm getting a feel for Peaches and her personality. When I first start writing a book, I don't have a clear cut personality for my characters. I have a few traits and a physical appearance, but that's about it. As I write, they develop in my mind and their motivations become clearer.

With a new story in the works, I find my imagination centers on it while I'm doing other things. I might be washing the dog or washing the dishes, and my trusty ol' brain will pop in with another idea. This usually works better than if I sit in front of my computer and try to force it. But sometimes, the story and the dialogue just flows.

Here's hoping that everything flows for you!

Something for a rainy day....

I read Marie Force's manuscript for See You Next Time yesterday and finished it at about 7pm when I realized I hadn't written today's blog! It's a good book. I think you'll all enjoy it very much when it's finally published.

If you missed the update on the puppy, it's a girl. Must change the name. Don't know how I let the DH talk me into believing she was a boy when I was pretty sure she wasn't. But that's me, sometimes. Every now and then I let someone convince me I'm wrong when I'm pretty darn sure I'm right. I need to be more assertive.

The puppy formerly known as D'Argo was a real trooper on her first visit to the vet. She got four shots and two pills and then we went back to the waiting room where she met a Great Dane. Didn't bat an eyelash for any of it, just kept right on looking cute. What a girl!

I sent Marie my manuscript for Hero. No idea what she thinks of it yet, or even if she's started reading it. I seriously doubt that our editor has looked at it yet either. It's one of those limbo times. I'm glad I'd started writing on Renegade, or I'd really be feeling lost. It rained continuously yesterday, too. I took the dog to the vet in the rain, fed the horses in the rain, fixed dinner while it rained. . . you get the idea.

Somebody suggested a "Wet Hunks" week a while back. Not sure if this guy is wet or oiled, but since it's still raining, I'm gonna say he's wet.

And here's a little something for Donna on her last day at work!!!!!
Have a great day and enjoy your retirement!
We're all so envious. . . .

What's in a name?

After the post about D'Argo the puppy yesterday, I have no idea what to blog about now. No ideas whatsoever. But just in case none of you have ever seen Farscape and were wondering where the name came from, this is D'Argo. Doesn't look much like my puppy, does he? Except maybe the eyebrows. . . .











Which brings me to another character in the Farscape series, John Crichton. He was, as you might expect, my main reason for watching the show, but they had some pretty cool villains, too. There's a lot of John in Jack, my heroine in Slave. John called his gun Wynonna (Jack called hers Tex) and would mystify the aliens he hung out with by rattling off pop culture references from present day Earth, which is something Jack does, too.



























Jack had a lot of John, a healthy dose of Han Solo, and just a touch of Captain Jack Sparrow in her. How she ever turned out female is anyone's guess, but since those are three of my favorite male characters, putting them all into the one who I think is easily my best heroine seemed appropriate for some reason. I was looking for a tough, quirky, unromantic heroine who needed a guy like Cat, and I think it worked.




























I'm currently working on developing the characters for Renegade. We've talked a lot about the hero. He looks like Benjamin Godfre, has a flame tattoo on the left side of his neck and cheek, wears a gold earring in his left ear, and braids his hair back from his face. His curls are as tight as dreadlocks and he always wears a white T-shirt and gray cargo pants with everything you can imagine stuffed in the pockets. We've talked about his name, and you all seem to like Jag, but the opening scene with Jack turned into a "Jag said, Jack said" thing that seems a bit confusing, so the jury is still out on that name. Several of you have sent me lists of words for cat in other languages, and Kotka (Bulgarian for cat) is my favorite so far, along with Nahuel (Native American for jaguar). Later on last evening, Marie and I were emailing back and forth and I came up with the name Dax, which she liked very well. It's not feline, but I like it.



Right now, my heroine is a Terran/Aqureian cross called Ava who has huge, aquamarine eyes, flippy blond hair, and can breathe underwater. Not a whole lot to go on, is it? I wrote the scene where her character is introduced last night, but I wasn't sure if she should be sweet and innocent or as quirky and tough as Jack was. We'll see. Guess I'd better start writing some more and find out, huh?

Just chillin'. . .

I was in the mood for a sweet one today. I think he qualifies.

I keep thinking I need to be starting another book. Actually, I have. I have the template set up and the first two sentences of Renegade. That's all! It's hard to imagine that it will eventually become a 90,000+ word book someday.

LOL! Only 89,970 words to go. . . .

Maybe I'll just chill on the beach with him for a while. Who knows, I just might be inspired!

Funny thing about inspiration. You never know when it will strike. Too bad I can't write everything that pops into my head down just when I think of it. I have to mull it over first and then write it. I say I don't plot out books ahead of time, but maybe I do. I just don't do it on paper.

I'm rambling, can you tell? This is what happens when a writer loses direction. They ramble until they find their way. At that INRWA meeting I went to last Saturday, the speaker said the same thing: Just write. It doesn't matter if it's any good because you can always fix it later. You just have to do it. I have no problem writing most of the time. I hear voices in my head: They speak, and I write. Trag (Hero) was easy. He's not based on any particular actor or singer or anyone else, for that matter. He was just that younger brother type. I can't explain it any better than that. I hope the Renegade guy can speak to me as well as Trag did. Manx (Fugitive) was pretty good, too. He always knew what to say, but I did base him on someone. He's Jeff Goldblum, believe it or not. Somewhere along the way I lost Jeff's voice and it became Manx's own. It's nice when that happens, but it doesn't always turn out that way. You just have to find that starting point. After that, they take on a life of their own.

Come on little voices! Speak to me!

Blond Long-haired Hunk!

What would Long-Haired Hunk week be without Blond Muddy Guy? Of all the hunks I've ever seen, this one comes closest to my idea of what a Zetithian should look like. I mean, he IS Leo! He's got the face, the body, and most especially, the HAIR!!!!

Remember that scene in Warrior where Leo is unconscious and all dirty and beat up and Tisana is giving him a bath with some very stimulating results? That's another reason this picture is so hot. Just imagine how much fun it would be to wash him, getting the mud out of every little nook and cranny. Oh, yeah!

Imagination is a funny thing. Remember yesterday's post when I had no ideas whatsoever? Well, I wrote that this past Sunday, but on Tuesday morning when I was driving to my riding lesson, the whole plot for Renegade began taking shape while I was listening to my Matchbox Twenty collection. The "plot" of several of those songs inspired a plot of my own, and as I drove along, more snippets popped into my head.

I know I say things pop into my head a lot, but really, that's exactly what happens. Something triggers the thought, of course, but the scenes themselves suddenly come to life in my mind's eye. The trick is to piece them all together and then flesh them out a bit.

I'm still tweaking Hero, and it's almost to the point that I'm happy with it. That's another funny thing that happens when you're writing a book. You write and you write and sometimes it's a struggle and sometimes it just flows, but then you think: "This is total crap! It's no good at all! (Insert any other author's name)'s books are so much better than mine!" You feel rotten and know that you'll never write anything that anyone else would ever want to read.

Then, you start over; reading the whole thing through from the very beginning and you realize that it's not crap, and that someone, somewhere, might actually like it. It's sort of like standing back and taking a look at the whole picture instead of the tiny little details that you've been working on so painstakingly.

I guess it's true that sometimes we can't see the forest for the trees. If you doubt that, try writing a book sometime and you'll see what I mean.

Or better yet, just go find yourself a blond muddy hunk and hose him down and then take a good, long look. Trust me, they clean up very nicely!