Current Project: TEMPTED Proposal, book 3, Eternal Guardians
Status: Chapter two
And here I thought I was doing so good at all my blogging responsibilities. Ack! I blame my lateness today on release/promo brain.
I'm rather tapped out on blog topics. Two plus weeks of blogging will do that for you, but one thing I've discovered with the release of this recent book - STOLEN SEDUCTION - is that no matter what stage you're at in your writing career, every writer is plagued with fear of one kind or another.
I'm always afraid when I blog that I won't have anything of interest to say. That readers will get offended, that my voice won't resonate the way it does in my books. When a book releases, I'm sure it's going to flop, that readers will hate it, that it will be the last of my career. And when I start a book (as I'm doing now) I'm always convinced it is the crappies thing I've ever written and the stupiest idea on the planet.
But you know what? 9 times out of 10 I'm wrong. Readers respond to my blogs. Whether that's because they like what they read or want a prize or enjoy my books, I don't know, but they respond. When a book releases I get a flood of emails from readers telling me how much they're enjoying my series and how fast they flew through my story. And when writing a book, I always, always hate it at one time or another. At some point I just need to get over that and realize, yeah, that's my pattern. Deal with it and move on.
Fear is a wicked thing, isn't it? It sits there on your shoulder, watching every word you type. It whispers in your ear (mine likes the phrase, "you suck!"), it calls to you in the middle of the night. And I'm fairly certain it plants itself at the post office so you have an excuse NOT to mail that proposal to your dream agent or editor.
How do you get past it? You face it, head on. Acknowledge it, yell at it, give it a name (dumbass works for me), but then ignore it. Ignoring it is the key. It's the only way you're going to ever put enough distance between your fears and your goals so you can finally move forward.
Fear, ironically, is a lot like my children. If I stopped and hovered every time they called, "Mom!" I'd never get anything done.
Ha!
I never thought of it that way. Fear = Gremlins. Go figure.
Okay, it's a new year, a new month and the Portland RCRW girls are doing the Sven's 70 Days of Sweat. Who's in it with me? 1000K words per day for 70 days. That's it. Anyone game? Kick that fear to the curb and join me.
10 comments:
Fear is a constant. If you can't totally defeat it, you learn to live with it. I'll join in the challenge as soon as I get the proposal put together. That takes more thinking time than writing time.
Neat blog!
Great topic and well written as usual. That's my fear- I suck at blog topics.
I'll take you up on the 20 days challenge as soon as I get my research reading done. I'm 100 pages into the next book but I- in my pantser style- now need to research a treaty that took place before I can continue forward with the writing. I should be back writing for sure by Monday if not sooner. Still digging all the information out I need.
I just have to say - it's so crazy to see you're working on book 3 of the Eternal Guardian Series! I remember when you said: "hey Lisa...I think I'm going to write a paranormal." Ohhh how time flies!
I love the fear= whining children thing. Except that I *DO* tend to jump at almost every mamamamamamamamamama. . . . . So maybe I need to get better at tuning out BOTH whining and fear.
Great blog!
And book 3 of the next series, OMG . . . . Go you!
Two weeks of blogging? I'd be brain dead. Fresh blog topics are difficult, ya know?
What? All the fears don't evaporate after being pubbed? I thought it was easy street after you get the deal. (yes, sarcasm)
I know, Lisa. Crazy, isn't it? But I'm totally in love with this story. Thinking about the ending of this one made *me* cry the other day. And it's only in the thinking stage!
You're right, Alice. Proposal time takes lots of thinking. (and for me, hair pulling, eye brow pulling, lots of caffeine, whining on IM...need I go on?)
Ah, the joys of researching while pantstering, Paty. I know it well.
I listened to Delilah speak about research last weekend at the RCRW meeting and afterward I thought, "Well crap. I don't want to write anymore!" She had some great points and her talk was wonderful, but it really made me think about how much research I put into books, if I'm doing enough, too much, if I'm getting my facts straight, if my sources are accurate. Ack. I went home and had wine (and didn't do ANY writing or researching.)
That's cause you have a little one, Bethany. Wait about 3 more years (or four since you have a bean on the way). Once they're like 4 yrs old and you know the whiney stuff isn't because they're possibly killing themselves, you'll start to tune bits and pieces out.
Which is funny and made me think about my daughter, who is 11. And bugs me in other fun ways. Like with the cell phone. She's totally addicted to making calls lately. Last Sat night we went out and I had to specifically tell her her before we left, "Do not call us on the cell unless there's an emergency. You know what constitutes an emergency, right?"
She huffed and said, "Yeah, yeah. Lots of blood, a fire or someone dying."
I turned my cell off so if she called her dad when we were out, I have no idea (but I'm sure she did even after my little "chat").
*snort* I wish, Kendra. I think they multiply. Exponentially.
I have two more blogs to write for this week and I am totally tapped out.
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