9 and 3/4 novels

I’m putting the finishing touches on my tenth novel today. Then I’ll send it off to the proofreader and betas and for formatting.

As I was reading through the manuscript this morning and accepting/tweaking all my changes from days of editing, I realized I’d hit the turning point and that my work in progress was actually reading like a novel.

I’ve somehow written another book.

My tenth book.

That’s surreal.

Seriously. I’m not quite sure how this keeps happening. Granted, I spend a lot of time writing, then I send huge hunks of that writing to the editor … and then voila, it becomes a novel.

I’m not sure this will ever become my normal, even though I appear capable of producing a novel three times a year.

Is it because each story is a different sort of struggle to tell? Each comes with its own unique problems and quirks? Or is it simply that once the editor adds his touch the prose somehow becomes its own entity, rather than a collection of words and sentences intimately connected to me? Thus giving me breathing space and some perspective.

I’m not sure. But the moment of realization is always a thrill.

I’ve written a novel.

How cool is that?

Well, almost. I have a few chapters to smooth yet. 😉

Screen Shot 2015-11-25 at 12.41.57 PM

The bone structure of a novel … for me.

I woke up feeling slightly rudderless this morning. This happens pretty reliably when I’m not deep in a story, when I’m just scratching around the edges of an idea but I haven’t found the hook into the plot. If I entertain it, this feeling can easily lead to fretting over the time it takes me to bring a novel to market, and then being daunted by the sheer amount of words between me and a completed first draft.

So I usually beat it back by blaring music through headphones – a specific playlist for each novel – and digging into character bios and building settings.

Fast forward six hours later, and I’ve written twelve hundred words of the final confrontation and know exactly were the novel is going … as well as the twists that get the characters there.

I love that.

This cracks Oracle 2 wide open for me. I’ll play around with the guts for a couple more days, sorting through scenes, turning points, and putting everything in its place. Then I get to dig deep into the first draft, inciting incident to the denouement.

I thought you might find it interesting to see what a story looks like to me in this stage, so I snapped a picture of my paradigm before I filled out too many spoilers. Please ignore the spelling errors.

This paradigm – or skeleton – of the plot is heavily influenced by Syd Field‘s structure of a screenplay, which I used to follow rather religiously when I wrote the first draft of a screenplay and saw no reason to drop when I transitioned to novels. I add my own bits, most likely cribbed from other sources, such as Save the Cat! and the like, but really it’s just an amalgamation of how story functions for me.

This will be a novel in approx. 70K more words.

One word, sentence, and paragraph at a time.

A breath, a look, and a sigh.

A kiss, a touch, and a smile.

The brave, family, and blood. Always blood and tears. Courage and fear.

Destiny.

Rochelle and Beau, beyond the skeleton of an idea and the smear of a pen.

Rochelle and Beau, beyond luck.

Thank you for joining me on this journey.

Two very different to-do lists

Every morning Michael and I have a ‘decisive meeting’ in the garden. This gives the chickens a bit of time to free range and us a moment to chat about our upcoming day. Being foodies, we talk about meals mostly, then share our to-do lists. Usually both of these lists are filled with work related duties, but every now and then Michael does something (errands/chores/etc) to keep our life in order and I try not to feel guilty about focusing on writing while he does so.

Michael’s to-do list:

mow 8 acres of wild grass
clean chicken coop(s)
build a new compost and dig out the old one

My to-do list:

read I See Me, Oracle 1
make notes on Oracle 1 and blog for Author Read-A-Long
plant tomatoes
test taste two new chocolate bars so I can finish Dowser 5 and get it off to the editor

Michael sweetly – and not at all laughing his ass off that I had added it to my things to-do – offered to take over #4 for me, since his list only has three ‘light duty’ chores on it and it’s a terrible hardship that I have to eat TWO chocolate bars just so I can finish my work.

Kind of him, yes?

The next three chocolates in the queue for testing. Will two of them be worthy of a place in Dowser 5?

But, in real life …

I write stories of good versus evil, epic demon-infested battles, and life threatening scenarios. My heroes are loyal and stalwart, willing to sacrifice anything and everything for duty and morality.

You know, sword and sorcery saving the world with some chocolate and true love rolled into the mix. The battered and bloody hero always triumphs to win the day, the battle, and the war, sort of thing.

But, in my real life …

The cat always wins.

Even when voices are raised and pillows are being tossed at 5 a.m., or pages desperately need to be written, or the bathroom door has to be closed because there are guests in the house or a business meeting being conducted over Skype in the living room.

The. Cat. Always. Gets. His. Way.

And there are two of them:

Leo aka Mr. Monster and Richard Parker collude at the back window underneath the grow light while the tomatoes harden-off in the garden for the day. Note how they attempt to appear innocent when the camera is turned on them. — Leo aka Mr. Monster and Richard Parker collude at the back window underneath the grow light while the tomatoes harden-off in the garden for the day. Note how they attempt to appear innocent when the camera is trained on them.

I guess that’s just the life of a writer.

Chocolate before 9am

I was just sucking away on some deliciously smooth Boa Sentenca (Cacao Barry) while I cleared out my inbox when it occured to me that it might be a little early in the morning for chocolate, no matter how tasty. And yep, turns out it’s 8:56am as I type this blog post.

Chocolate before 9am is early even for me.

But I figure, since the fire alarm went off to tell us the power was BACK on at 4:40am, and I – ignorant of the time – remained awake and rewrote the entire ending of Dowser 6 while lying in bed, that it’s actually way passed regular chocolate-imbibing time. You know, technically.

Seriously though, why can’t I just plug a computer into my brain? I’ve known how Dowser 6 was going to end for a year now. And, though I’ve tweaked and fleshed out the idea over the last 12 months, the core ending remains the same. The frustration is that it’s still in my head, still haunting my early morning hours … along with my late evenings. To compound that frustration, I have a novel to finish (Dowser 5) and a novel to write (Oracle 2) before I can even crack the spine on a new notebook for Dowser 6 (beyond the pages and pages of notes and scenes I already have jotted down).

All I can hope is that the end result is worth the sleepless nights. For me and Dowser Series readers.

Of course, by then I imagine something new will be haunting me … from inside my own brain.

I guess that’s just normal around here.

Okay, well then. Back to work.

4-week old Swedish Flower Hen cockerel. For you. Just because. Now stop pointing that big red-encased iPad at me and get back to work! — 4-week and two-day old Swedish Flower Hen cockerel. For you. Just because.

Too much story…

There is too much story running around my head this morning … and last night all I could dream about was Jade and Warner and all the conversations they need to have or will have but there isn’t ever enough time for any or all of that because life is always happening … or the world is caving in.

Then there’s the new pieces haunting me … the snippets of a dream I had early this morning that my mind keeps trying to tidy up and make into a narrative, then make into a narrative that would fit into the universe of the Adept. Because otherwise I’m being a bad writer and allowing myself to get distracted from the work.

Yes, story is different than the work. The work – where my fingers should be curled around a shiny Parker fountain pen filled with green ink instead of tapping on my keyboard – is plotted out through Dowser 5, 6, and Oracle 2. The work is those three books, in which most of the story is pretty firmly set.

But the story – and my mind – is with Kandy in a side story I don’t have any time to write. And also it’s captured by this new idea …

Sigh.

The hot chocolate cooling beside me in my piggy travel mug might help bring focus.

And for you? While you patiently wait to see if anything coherent will issue forth from my direction in the nearish future?

For you, I insert a picture of chicks in a box.

These babies are now in their (much bigger) brooder in my laundry room. I’m trying to not constantly check on them, say every fifteen minutes or so. I have grave concerns that one will die from something I could have prevented, or they will eat each other.

Hmmm, this may be contributing to my lack of focus.

And I don’t like my office.

I might have to do something about that later … the office. For now I have simply moved into the dining room.

And the chicks will probably be just fine … if they don’t turn into cannibals the second I apply myself to the work…

ETA: these sweethearts are from Briarwood Poultry. We swooped over to Vancouver Island, had lunch with my Dad, and picked them up in Mill Bay. Five Swedish Flower Hens and six Wheaten Ameraucanas.

Chocolate and Eggs

Yesterday a lovely neighbour messaged to see if I wanted a dozen of her eggs. Though I had a dozen in the fridge, I immediately said “yes, please,” jumped in the car, and tore off down the street to pick them up. Who says no to farm fresh eggs? Not me.

Before I even got my hands on the eggs I had plans for Egg Benedict for Sunday brunch (courtesy of Michael) and Chewy Gooey Chocolate Cookies for an afternoon snack. I believe this is the perfect pairing, using the yolks for the hollandaise sauce and the whites for the cookies.

Then Gerri – the lovely neighbour who is willing to share eggs from her heritage flock – mentioned she was making a chocolate soufflé, which – having never made one myself – sounded like WAY too much work for a Saturday evening to me.

Of course, sometime before making mini pizzas for dinner last night I decided I should try to make a chocolate soufflé as well.

Yeah, I know one doesn’t just whip up a soufflé on a whim, but around 8:30pm Michael and I paused Winter Soldier and gave it a go … the first attempt at the ‘chocolate part’ seized, and I over-whipped the whites as a result of the delay. But, eventually, I baked something that looked reasonable for a first try.

Except I didn’t like it.

It tasted floury, even though the recipe only called for three tablespoons of flour.

Four eggs, some sugar, and a half cup of chocolate. I used some of my precious Allure from Chocolate Arts, and I didn’t like it.

Why?

Not enough chocolate.

You know what has more than enough chocolate?

The Chewy Gooey Chocolate cookies currently in my oven. I’d recommend these over a fiddly soufflé any day.

This is what I look like when I blog on a Sunday afternoon. First selfie ever taken on my new laptop!

Modifications to the recipe/notes: My go-to chocolate for these bad boys is Tanzanie by Cacao Barry, which cuts the sweetness perfectly. Don’t refrigerate the batter!! And either eat these the day you bake them, or freeze immediately. Michael loves them frozen, but they thaw beautifully. 😀

RIP Terry Pratchett and Wintersmith

I’m exceedingly sad to hear of Sir Terry Pratchett’s passing today.

I could rant about the cruelty of Alzheimer’s, to which I lost my step-mother last year, but I’m not going to.

I could also go on and on about what I loved about Sir Terry’s books – I’ve selectively read every one he ever wrote about witches – but I won’t.

What I want to do to celebrate a fantastic fantasy writer is to pass his work on, hopefully to someone who’s never read a book by him before.

My introduction – years ago via a blog mention from an old friend, Darren – was Wintersmith. And I think it still might be my favourite book of Sir Terry’s, though I just bought Good Omens and hope to start reading it tonight. Wintersmith is technically the third book in his young adult series, but it was a perfect entry point for me and I hope it will be for one of you as well.

To celebrate his life and his work, I want to buy this book for one of you – for kindle, or iBooks, or Kobo, or B&N, or in paperback. You name the format and I’ll buy it.

Comment below with your favourite book of Sir Terry’s or why you’d like to read Wintersmith specifically to enter.

I’ll assign each comment a number, run a random number generator, and select a winner at 5 p.m. PST on March 12, 2015 (today). Open internationally for ebooks. Canada and USA for ebooks or paperback. Remember to fill out your email address in the blog comment.

ETA: 5:20pm – GIVEAWAY CLOSED. WINNER to be contacted shortly.

RIP Sir Terry Pratchett. Thank you for the entertainment, the inspiration, and for the strong women and fantastic world you created.

An unsettled breath.

I’m having a strangely, unsettled morning. I was about to post this germ of a thought as a Facebook status update, but I couldn’t seem to articulate it in a couple of sentences, which made me realize it was a blog post. And, yay for that realization! Because I always forget to blog.

So … back to being unsettled. I have a book ready to go to the proof reader. But she can’t start work on it until Wednesday – which is cool, because that is the day I booked her – so that leaves me with two more days. I’ve already filled the morning with last minute tweaks, and I could probably fill the afternoon the same way. In between, I sat down to make a to-do list leading up to the release day.

It’s a rather long list. An exciting, fun list, but long.

So I’m standing here, caught in this breath between –

Okay, Michael just walked into the office looking for a battery for his rechargeable razor-clipper-thingy completely naked. Yes, I turned from writing this post to see my husband wander into the office naked. I actually gasped, then I giggled as if I’d never seen him naked before. Fifteen years of marriage and I was shocked.

So, um, yeah. Not feeling particularly unsettled now. I guess I better tackle that … to-do list.

Right.

The list.

It’s rather long.

Oh, FYI, five days of giveaways are coming. Feb 21-25, 2015.

[normally I attach some kind of picture to every blog post … but that doesn’t seem at all appropriate here]

Breathing the moment – Jan 8, 2015

This morning, despite the looming deadlines I’m attempting to tame with schedules and to-do lists, Michael and I took a moment to let the chicks wander out of the run and into the barren, fog enshrouded garden. And each time I started to say that I needed to go back to work I took a breath instead of speaking. This lasted for maybe ten minutes, but probably more like five.

chickencoopinthefog_Jan8_forblog

Then we returned to the house, drank our smoothies, and chatted about our schedules for the day.

Now I’m cozy in my office with my writing buddy Parker spread out on the desk to the right of me. I can just barely hear Michael playing guitar, and singing quietly, while he writes a new song downstairs in the dining room. And, after I cross a few things off the to-do list, I’m going to fill the afternoon with words scribbled on paper … just as they occur to me.

This is this moment.

I breathe. I type. I sip my hot chocolate.

Tomorrow will be completely different in a hundred almost imperceptible ways.

It’s a lovely life.

Thank you for being apart of it.