So…Where Have I Been?

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No, folks, I haven’t dropped off the face of the earth.

Where?

Obviously, I haven’t been hanging around online at WordPress, either, so where have I been over the last few weeks?

Busy.

I’ve just finished the final draft of a new historical romance novel, and it’s now submitted to the publisher, so that means I’ll be back here playing around more.

It’s part of the process. When I begin a new story, it’s all fun and games. It’s grabbing dozens of wild ideas, throwing them all together, creating off-the-wall characters, and exploring lots of different possibilities. After a while, a story begins to take shape.

It’s still fun and games at that point. I fool around, throw different characters together in improbable situations, I toss in a few conflicts, and sometimes I even throw in a dead body or two. Nothing like that in the latest book, though. Just one deceased older brother. Accidental drowning.

It’s fun and games all the way through the first draft, and through most of the second. I skip around as I write. If I come to a little plot hole, I shrug and figure I can fill it in later. I don’t worry too much about continuity. Sometimes even logic flies out the fictional window.

But then there comes a moment when the alarm goes off inside my head. It’s strange, actually, because it’s so real. I can be anywhere, doing anything when it goes off. But wherever I am and whatever I’m doing, it all changes in that moment. I head to my little writing room, I sit down, and that’s about the last anybody sees of me until the story is finished.

I’ve begun calling it my “Tim Gunn” alarm, in honor of the Project Runway mentor, because whenever I come to one of those plot holes or illogical storylines, I have to stop, take a deep breath, and find a way to “make it work”.

No more fun and games. No more fooling around.  No more wild and crazy ideas.

That’s where I’ve been, and truthfully, I’ve loved every minute of it. Sure, I’ve missed all my online friends and the social buzz, but sometimes we have to set priorities.

Now, it’s back to the fun and games again. Back to blogging, back to Facebook, back to all the craziness that’s part of my life.

Here are a few crazy links we can all enjoy:

8 thoughts on “So…Where Have I Been?”

  2. Thank you so much for including my post! It was one of those things I kept coming back to in between all my other projects…LOL glad to know I can entertain!

    And your process sounds a lot like mine…creating odd characters and plot twists, skipping around, etc. I haven’t written down all the stories I have in my head, though, so you are waaaaay ahead of me in that area!

    Do you have any other novels out? I’m always looking for something new to read. I love historical fiction.

    Reply

    • The novel I submitted today will be my fifth. Sweet Cravings Publishing and its “sister” group, Secret Cravings, have published my first four historical romances: Irresistible, Happily Ever After, Summertime, and The Wrong Woman (scheduled for release next month). I’m hoping they’ll also accept Not the Marrying Kind, the novel I just submitted. The books are also available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All-Romance Ebooks, and Bookstrand. I hope you’ll check them out. I’ll be following your blog. Please, keep in touch!

      Reply

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