I was attending a Steampunk Convention last weekend with a dear friend of mine, P. She is a real engineer type writer. By this I mean that she isn’t a plotter…that doesn’t go far enough to explain how P. writes. She doesn’t just outline. She OUTLINES.

Before she writes, she has every single scene figured out…or that is her ambition, since we all know that we writers seldom have things work so smoothly. But P. tries. Colored highlighters? Check! Colored post-it notes? Check! Character sheets? Check! Basic W Diagram, for every character, the romance, the plot and the arc? Check!

She has taken more classes in the last year than I have taken in eight years. She is an avid online class taker and actually…really…takes part in the online classes she takes. (Unlike me, who lurks, takes notes and stashes them away in a folder, intending to use them…someday.)

It’s really quite amazing we can talk writing.

P. has taken classes on everything you can think of. She has dissected her writing and revisioned it. I mean, honestly, she impresses the hell out of me. She writes with painstaking precision. It’s amazing. We talk and I burble on about some wild assed idea I had or how my plot ran away from me and split like that car commercial with the little mini (I think it’s a mini..) and runs down streets, seeking the clearest path and then eventually all comes together so the driver makes the ferry…

You know, that is a very apt analogy of how I write…

Where was I?

Oh, yeah! P. is an extraordinary plotter. If she were a computer programmer she would be the engineer all the other engineers would hate because she’d insist of perfection with every bit of code they wrote. If she were cooking, she’d be the tyrant in the kitchen who threw out ingredients because they weren’t perfect. She’d be the film director who exhausts her actors. But, in all of this, she’d put out something that would impress. No loose ends, no dangling plotlines, no side characters taking over anything.

None of the stuff I consider totally necessary to having fun.

I’m not sure she has fun when she writes. She is driven and doesn’t have time to sightsee.

I want to stop at every overlook and gape for an hour.

Now, you want to know something fascinating about this woman? She is also an artist. She paints wonderful visions, right out of fantasy and science fiction. Starscapes. Doorways to another world. Dancers skipping across the cosmos. Magicians and witches and cats and birds and wolves and… I met her at a science fiction/fantasy convention, selling her art and showing in the art shows. She once wore Vulcan ears to the convention. (Used the wrong glue and couldn’t get them off for DAYS!)

I know she paints with precision when it comes to technique. But it is amazing…how does the rampant vision of fantasy exist hand in hand with a writer who is so intensely structured?

I mean, I’m anarchistic. When I write, when I don’t clean house, when I shop or don’t cook… or flit about the internet with no plan… I…you know, that last one is biting me on the ass. But let’s not go there right now… (No, I didn’t set my reputation on fire with an ill-conceived rant. I just waste a lot of time.)

Anyway! The contradiction, or seeming contradiction, of how P. manages these two creative endeavors fascinates me. And she has admitted the way I write repels her. But I told her the way she writes has a similar effect on me! So, we’re about on the same page with that. She needs control and as much as possible, she has it. I could use some of that control, that hands-on-the-reins sort of thing right now.

Today, I’m one day away from leaving for Los Angeles and the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention. And I’ve tried to plan my packing, plan my promotion, plan my being ready for whatever I face and how I handle it.

Of course, I expect to forget something important. I expect to deal with disruptions that throw my planning out the window. I expect to find things I’m not ready for. And when the things I expect come true…well, I’ll blithely look to the sky and thank the universe for giving me the chance to be here, regardless of how much something might stink at the time.

I hope I’m that good about it. ;-)

(I even enlisted two friends to be my designated ass-kickers. To keep me from falling prey to melancholy or freezing up when I need to be basking in the joy of simply being there. Celeste and Kim? You got your big boots ready?)

Am I prepared? Who the hell knows!? In control? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

When it comes to handling the ‘fiction’ of being in control, where do you fall? Not just the writing pantser or plotter stuff, but the planner, the schemer, the floating leaf on the currents of life? Are you the control freak? The give-it-to-the-universe type? How does it touch upon not just how you write, but what you write? Do you write your characters the same as you? (Prime material for conflict, btw.)

Last week, Terri posted an excerpt from Loretta Chase's Your Scandalous Ways, which sent me straight to the library. I've been reading it in chances during middle-of-the-night bottles.

One of the multitude of things I've been impressed with is Loretta Chase's ability to write dialog in such a way that you hear the character's accent in your mind.

Take, for example, this, from an Italian character:

"She reads the poems to me, else I would not understand them at all. To read it hurts my head. The way the English spell: Where is the logic? Nowhere can I find it. They spell like madmen."

And this, from a Russian character:

"Signoria enjoys to make me blush. I tell her, in my country, we awe shy to speak of such matters. To say them in the company of a woman is unheard of."

I can just hear these accents as I read. Part of it is the strong characterization, but much of it is the small tweaks to the dialog. The little nuances that a non-native speaker would miss.

For the Russian, she used "to make" rather than "making" - a tiny change, but one that has a big impact in the way we hear the speech.

Likewise, the phrase " Nowhere can I find it" instead of "I can't find it anywhere" has a foreign ring to it.

At the same time, the accents are not so over the top that they're difficult to read or annoying. In each excerpt, there are phrases or sentences that read exactly as a native speaker would say them. Its a nice balance, for me at least, to create just enough of an accent for readers to hear it, but not be distracted by it.

So let's practice! Pretend a character with a thick accent stumbles into your WIP. They can be French or Russian or Indian or anything else you can think of. Give us a few lines of dialog that has a accent to it!

 

Influence this week: I found my missing Kiki flash drive!! And a new playlist for next month.

 

 

 

I've been working up a storm this month.

 

Yeah, the day job is chaos. No joke. When is it not? But also at home. Just like I prepared for National November Writing Month last November, I decided to embark on a similar journey for the month of April. It's affectionately being called, Awrapawrimo. The GPS made it up. I'm sure there is some April, Writing and Month in there. Much like the bruising pace of November, April will test the wills of even the hardest writers. I've set quite the goal for myself this year. One that won't be easily obtained and I will only get close if I manage to stick on track with my writing. I need to complete two books this year (the first and second book of my YA series) and by NaNo 2011, I will be ready to start my second book of Kiki's series. That gives me three months for each of the YA series, with a month in between to defrag my brain and breathe before November.

 

So just like how I prepare for November, I prepared myself for April. While I love and consume a number of paranormal and urban fantasy novels, I've never actually worked on one myself. I've never built a world or generated otherworldly beings. I live in my own little fantasy world where these creatures live and inhabit but never make their way to the light of day. My YA series is a paranormal, urban fantasy based series of a seventeen year old girl. At first, I wasn't convinced to write a YA book. I like YA books. I've read some pretty far out there YA books with lots of adult situations and language. But me? Write one? Um, on my best day my language is rated R and on my worst, I can make construction workers blush bright red.

 

But honestly, I'm tired of writing sex scenes. I truly am. Maybe when I find a set of characters that deserve it after they've earned the right in my story to have sex I'll start enjoying it again. I never thought I'd say this but I'm giving up the sex writing for the time being. YA is a good genre for me to get into and I think a good learning opportunity for me. To grow my own relationships, to watch my own characters grow and come to life. I'm looking forward to seeing through the eyes of a new character set even if the task at hand is a little daunting.

 

So is anyone willing to take on the crusade of Awrapawrimo with me? I made GPS pledge to do it. I made Hellie swear under penalty of walking the plank. But let's make it fun. While NaNo is stressful, how about we all set a lofty goal of words for next month and see how far we can get? You don't need to do 50k (I am. I've sworn a glittery blood oath with GPS) but something you want to aspire to next month. This is not the time to be stressed out. The whole fun of NaNo is quantity over quality. Use next month to edit. Or the next one after that, but let's get fired up. RWR and loyal friends, let's kick ass!

 

How many of you have participating in a writing challenge? What's the most words you've written in a single month?

- Chance groans and lets her head fall to the bar. “I’m never gonna get a handle on all a’ this! Why did she put me in charge a’ networkin’?”

- Barossa reaches out and grips her hair, lifting her face and bending to peer into her eyes. “Net-whatting?”

 -She jerks away from his hand and rubs at her head. “That hurt, ya know!”

- “Thought you were drunk, if you were drunk, it wouldn’ta hurt. I do apologize! But really, what is networkin'?” His blurry eyes open and close as he lifts his rum tankard.

- Chance snatches it away from him. “You’ve had your limit, Hector. You’ll be no good ta me if’n yer soused. She sighs and tales a sip from the tankard. Networkin’…it’s sorta like usin’ a net ta snag customers. Me alter-ego put me in charge a comin’ up with ideas ta help sell ‘er book, thinkin’ as a bartender that I’d be social and all. HA! She don’t know me so well… I hide behind me rum bottles…”

- “Serve yer drinks nude, ya’ll get customers that way!” He leers.

- “I don’t need customers, she needs customers. Or fans or whatever ya calls those who read. She needs readers.”

- Chance’s head rises as a Tarzan like call comes from the shore.

A moment later, a gorgeously dressed blond sweeps down from the topsail and onto the deck, dropping the line as she lands. Her ruby red high heels gleam, her teeth shine, her hair is…perfect. She lowers her glasses and peers over them at the motley pair.

- “I heard someone is in need of networking advice!” the blonde says.

- Barbossa grins crookedly at her. “I remember you! Last time ya brought a curvy lass in a red cape and an…interesting young man.”

- “That is my alter ego. Today, I’m your Networking Mistress! You think you scurvy lot are ready for RT?”

- Chance and Hector snap to attention at Deanna’s stern voice. “Aye, ma’am!”

- Deanna cracks the long whip no one realized she had strapped to those leather pants. “That’s Mistress Deanna, you flea ridden dogs!”

- Sobering up immediately, Chance and Hector salute.  “Aye, aye, Mistress Deanna!!”

- She smiles wickedly. “Now, that’s more like it. I want you to listen up! You’re running out of time here! Your conference is in one week and you, Chance, need to sell some books! I think I got here just in time to remind you a few things.

- “First is your swag. You better have business cards on you at all times. NO EXCEPTIONS!!! This offence is punishable with a long walk down a short plank! Hear me?”

- “Aye aye, Mistress Deanna!!”

- Mistress Deanna begins pacing in front of them like a general addressing  her troops. She palms her whip which Hector eyes warily. “Now this is important because you may spend all your days in your jammies writing, but this is a professional conference. And professionals have business cards. Now let me see your cards!”-

- Chance looks nervously at Hector who shrugs. She reaches under her pirate hat and pulls out a small metal container and slips a crisp business card out and with trembling hands presents it to the dominatrix before her. “Here ya go, Mistress Deanna.”

- Mistress Deanna takes the card and eyes it shrewdly. “Hmmm,” she says after a minute. “You were paying attention. I see a crisp card you were carrying in a business card holder. Very professional. So much better than a rubber band. I hate rubber bands. Though I had a sub once who was into cock and ball torture. He loved a good rubber band….but I digress. These cards are nice. And I also see that the design on the front is simple and clean. You have your email and website on there. And you even have your card white and empty on the back. Very, very good. It’s important that you leave the back clean and matte. Why is that?”

- Chance grins big. “So ye can write all the stuff you talked about with the person on the back of the card, Mistress Deanna.”

- She grins. “Very good, Chance. And why do you do that? Hector?”

- He scratches his head, looking at a loss but finally says, “So’s you can use that email thingy to contact them later?”

- “That’s right, Hector. The most important thing you can do after a conference is contacting all the people you talked to via email and Facebook. But you lot look a right mess! Stand up straight! NO slouching!”

Chance and Hector straighten up straighter than the mainmast of the pirate ship Revenge.

- “Networking is about more than fancy bookmarks and nice business cards,” Mistress Deanna tells them. “If you don’t look your best and put yourself out there to meet new people you can have all the pretty swag you want and when you get home there will be no one for you to email.

- “The real reason for going to conferences is to promote yourself thru networking. If you hole up in your room and write or sit in the back of the classes and take notes like a good little school girl you are wasting your money and time. I don’t know about you salty porpoises but my time is valuable! And I am going to make the best use of it.”

- “How’s we gonna do that?” Chance wants to know.

- “By making a goal to talk to three strangers every day so that at the end of the day you made at least one good connection.”

- Chance and Hector share a nervous glance and Mistress Deanna saves them by saying, “Don’t worry your flea bitten heads.” She cracks the whip and they both start. “If you go where the people are you will find someone to talk to. But this ain’t Field of Dreams. If you go into the bar or the café they WILL NOT COME!

- “You have to go up to them! But have no fear they are there for the same reason you are. Networking! As soon as you say ‘hi’ and introduce yourself they will do the same. Then if you prepared well, you can even have a conversation starter prepared such as “Is this your first writing conference?” Let them talk about themselves and ask leading questions. When your great chat ends, make sure you make notes on the back of their business card so that when you get home you will remember who they are. Believe me, if you do your jobs right you will come home empty of your own cards and swag and bearing a hefty load of cards from all the people you met.

- “Don’t forget, if you met someone you really connected with, stick their card in your business card holder with your cards so you don’t lose it.”

- “Yes, Mistress Deanna!!”

- She eyes them one last time “Now I have to go, but just remember this:

- If you don’t step out of your comfort zone and try to make friends, your conference won’t be nearly as fun or as successful as you want it to be.”

Without another word, Mistress Deanna whistles loudly. Everyone jumps and she leaps effortlessly up on the gunwale of the ship. When they look down into the water they see two giant sea turtles harnessed with patent leather waiting patiently for their rider. Mistress Deanna leaps over the side, and effortlessly lands on them despite her stilettos, one foot per turtle. She grabs up the reigns and waves at her pupils.

- Before she rides her reptilian steeds into the sunset she shouts back up on deck, “And don’t forget to smile and shake hands!”

***

Bestselling erotica author Deanna Wadsworth leads a pretty vanilla life in Ohio with her hubby of 14 years and three demanding little dogs. She has a fascination with the exotic and taboo but it is her love of love in all its stages and incarnations which made her an erotica and m/m author.

You can find her on Facebook, or her blog.

Her blog, btw, has all sorts of wonderful pictures on it! ;-)

She's at Goodreads

And you can buy her books here: Decadent Publishing and Amazon

***

Now, I know no one but me be goin’ ta RT, but there be conferences and opportunities ta network everyday… Mistress Deanna be available today ta answer questions ‘bout how ta make connections. Ask away!

(Sorry for the Bieber reference.  Good luck getting that out of your head today....)

So, I admit.  I'm sick of looking up good looking guys.  I never know what to search that isn't going to get me XXX rated pics.

I decided today, I'm going to use today's post to distribute other hottie people.

Aren't they wonderful?  I love the face on the fellow with the hat.  And the pretty eyes on the girl with the blanket.  The smooshy, sleeping one is my all time favorite.  I love that face.  Especially when it's accompanied by drool.  I've also decided I want a sweater like the gray one and the little white blanket one is all kinds of sweetness.

It's the usual suspects this week, crew.

And a big CONGRATULATIONS to all of our GH/Rita finalling friends.  :)  Way to go ladies!!

 











And this last one is mine....  :)

 

[caption id="attachment_4026" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="And this little piggie went ARG! ARG! ARG! All the way home!"][/caption]

I love animals.  And you KNOW I love pirates.  So putting them together is good!  Right?  So, for your entertainment, here are the creme de la creme of pirate animal photography.  I would like to suggest we have a little caption contest.  I'll come up with some weird but fabulous prize for the winner.   Here's an (really lame) example.

[caption id="attachment_4024" align="aligncenter" width="264" caption="How do ye like me wooden legs?"][/caption]

 







Okay!  Let's see what you can do!  I'll be in the corner, drinking me kraken's rum.

The Assassin

Here it is, another contest season.  I’m going forward on my story and my mentor says I’m doing great.  Whew.  That’s a good sign.  It’s slow moving.  Ok, it’s caterpillar crawl moving.  It’s “was that a turtle that just passed me?” kind of moving.  It’s “old women with arthritis and bad backs run faster than this” kind of moving.

It’s slow.

So, I’ve been trying to decide whether I should enter any right now.

When it comes to contests, entering is a very personal thing.  In my mind, there are a lot of pros and cons.  I thought I’d throw some out there for your consideration.

PRO:  Get in front of agents/editors.

If I final (the ultimate goal), I could get in front of agents or editors I want to impress.  Maybe they’ll request more of my story.  It could be a gateway to a business relationship.

CON:  Exposure too soon?

If I do final and an agent/editor does like what they see, there’s a chance—with my slow pace—that I won’t be ready to give them anything when they ask.  Or, what I give them might not be ready for public consumption.  Either may do more harm than good.

PRO:  I’d get some feedback.

Feedback at this point would help me to see if the story is resonating with an audience.  Granted, contest judges are just a slice of the reading population, but feedback—good or bad—is still feedback and maybe it’d help me to refine my story, if it needs to be refined.

CON:  Maybe I won’t get any good feedback.

Not really an explanation needed.

PRO:  Can put a final on my query letter

IF I final, I can use that exposure going forward on my query letter.  Some agents are into that, maybe it’d draw their attention.

CON:  Maybe I won’t final

Again, not really necessary to explain.

CON:  Contests are expensive

If I don’t final, it’s basically money out the window.  Oh, the feedback’s nice, but there are other ways to get feedback.

 

PS:  Good luck to any of our contributors and readers who entered the GH or the Rita.  We're rooting for you!!

 

Anyone else thinking about jumping into the contest pond?  Anyone else excited to see who finals in the GH or the Rita (that's tomorrow, squeee!!)?  Anyone else have any pros or cons to add to the list here?