Category: ROW80

For the past few weeks I have had a little bit of trouble thinking of how Along Came Neil was going to progress. I just couldn’t figure out how to get them from point A in the story to point B. Then there was that missing twist element. I always have to have a twist in the story and the fact that I don’t want my readers to see it coming.

I was just plain stuck.

I’ve never really written a romance before. I have read a few and found them to be kind of humorous. Especially the romances from Stephanie Bond, I like her stories.

So when it came to writing Along Came Neil, I really have to plot and think about what has to happen. It has to be just so or else it isn’t going to work.

I guess it is kind of like how an artist who normally only sketches with a pencil decides to try their hand at painting. They know the technique but they also have to take care with their brush strokes or the picture won’t come out quite right.

If I sat down to write a fantasy it would be a different story. I know I could whip through that in a matter of a couple of months. Reading and writing fantasy is just me. I can really get deep into the story once I start letting go of my imagination. I know the story is all make-believe.

But writing a Contemporary Romance seems too close to home. The characters tend to be more realistic and everyone has their expectations and desires.

Last time I was stuck my friend Linda Kepner said blow something up. I did, I made the kids catch the kitchen on fire.

Well that worked for a bit. Then I got stuck again. Something unexpected and dramatic had to happen. So, on my Facebook author page I ran a poll. What can go wrong with a car while taking a date to the semi-formal dance?

I got some good feedback that helped me brain storm. Thanks – fans! Your help was greatly appreciated.

Then I bounced the same question off of Mike and he gave me a great brain storm. I won’t tell you what it is and spoil the story. What I will tell you is that once again I have drawn from an incident that happened to one of my kids in the past year or two. Still I won’t tell you about it and spoil the story. (lol)

Now I am getting much closer to the end of the story. I have a minimum of 17k words left to go. How hard can it be to write 17k words? It should be a piece of cake.

I estimate that I should be done with this first draft – time to set the final goal – by the fourth of July.

If I don’t make this goal than either there is either a dramatic event that has happened in my life (something to use in a future story) or this book is going to be longer than any of the books I have ever written.

Stop by our ROW80 Linky List and cheer on the progress of other fellow writers – Linky List

June NHRWA meeting:

LOL- this blog is written backwards this month. Usually I begin with the meeting tidbits and end with my ROW Update.

I hear it is okay to be different once in a while…

So yesterday our speaker was Hilary Weisman Graham. She is a writer/award-winning filmmaker/screenwriter from southern NH.

Hilary spoke to us about how she had gone about marketing her book Reunited. By the way, I won this book in the chapter raffle. I am looking forward to reading this YA book about a road trip taken by 3 ex-best friends after they have graduated from High School, only their road trip is not based on dark matter like my on road trip book Road Salt. It should be a fun read.

She told us about her marketing plan she used on her new release from a year ago and told us how she had gone a little bit overboard with expenses but she had fun while doing it. When she was asked if she would do it that way again she said she probably would not.

 – Good to know – It is alright to put a spending limit on your marketing plan. There is such a thing as a little bit too much.

The best tidbit she shared was how she had better book signing success when she teamed up for book signings at bookstores with two or three other YA writers like herself. It gave the audience more of a selection to choose from. – Good to know –

Now I just need to find a few more YA writers in New England and network with them on book signings and I will be all set.

Things happen in due time – so if any of you YA writers are in NH or Ma, even Vt – I would be very happy to join you in a book signing event. Just contact me and I’m sure I can fit you into my schedule.