Getting My Write On

I have written a lot of books.

My first book was a romance (followed by a lot of gagging). Then came a young adult adventure with a really hot immortal and his two immortal buddies who save the word. blahdda blahdda blah. The story line has been done to death. I wrote a sequel to it before I unearthed my head. After that I was on an undying kick and wrote story about St. Peter needing a day off from the pearly gates of heaven. It was.... dull. Apparently angels have a hard time having a Ferris Bueller day off.

I had a few semi-formed ideas bouncing around after that. I picked up an internship with a literary agency, learned way more than I ever wanted to about publishing, writing and a kinky sex move I read in a crappy manuscript submission (I'm still trying to scrub it from my memory). Burnt out, read out, and writer blocked, I decided I needed a break.

In the 8 month time I took off nearly all of my writer friends found agents and sold their books. All hail perseverance. After one of my pals scored a six figure deal with Simon and Schuster, I decided it was time to get my hands dirty in writing again. This time I wrote from my guts a funny little mystery. I wrote the entire thing not knowing the ending, how I was going form it, the purpose... you get the picture. I pantsed the entire thing and let the plot limp in a broken bloody mess behind it. What drives my main character? Not sure. What is the hook? Um...

Time to scrap it.

I am not so married to my writing that I have to hold a wake for my manuscripts and gain closure before dumping them. I may love the characters and have a blast making their pitiful lives miserable, but I have no qualms editing, ripping them to shreds and ultimately tossing them in the garbage when they don't sing on the page. The best thing to do is open up a fresh new document and start on something new. BUT! (the inevitable "but") This time I did things different.

I have a slew of writer pals who can talk for hours about writing. For the past five weeks I have been compiling a hook, plot and character developments. THEN, I called up Ami (yes dear, you know you rock) and we hashed out ALL of it. It was a good thing too because nobody likes to read a wishy washy main character placed in a sub-par plot who can't make up her own mind what she wants.

So, it's Monday morning, I have a fresh, brand spanking new document up on my laptop and I am raring to write.

Hello, book six. Hope you are better than the previous five.