Pantsing Vs Plotting

Myself? I was a "pantser" for a lot of years. I just wrote "by the seat of my pants" and let the story unfold as I went. It made me the first reader, the first person to know the story.

This method also made me take FOREVER to write a book. Every plot thread, I would agonize over. I wondered exactly what would happen if I did A, B, C, each time I thought of a way to write or tweak a scene.

Don't get me wrong, I love making everything up as I go, each little twist that I come up with taking me by surprise, calling my fellow writer friends and going "Wow, guess what I just wrote!"

But as I did it, it took me longer.

And one of my goals in my writing is to be producing a good deal more books a year. Instead of writing one to three, I want to do at least four a year, possibly more if I can swing it.

It's not a horribly unreasonable request, but it is something that's going to take time, and I'm going to have to have an idea of where I'm going with each story, before I sit down and start writing.

Which has made me turn over to the dark side.

So What's The Hardest Part?

The hardest part of writing is, well, the writing.

Okay, it's the hardest, but it's also the most fun part.

But it's the hardest.

Anyone who's ever put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard knows this. It's not nearly as easy as you might think, just wanting to write a story.

But, but, I have this awesome idea!

I hate to break it to you, but you're not the only one. There are a lot of amazing, brilliant ideas. These wonder, stunning, fabulous concepts that just beg to be written.

Under His Nose, Releasing in July

I've been working on getting together a little blog tour for the release of Under His Nose. 

I'm really excited about releasing this book, it's very fun with a nice twist on the whole fairy godmother gig. 


So far I have a few places lined up, and when I get everything put together, I'll post a list when I get everything finalized.

(Psst, there will be giveaways at some of these stops!)

For now, though, here's the PRE ORDER links for UNDER HIS NOSE:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Samhain Publishing 

All it takes is faith, trust, and fairy dust. A swift kick never hurts, either.


Christy is due for retirement from her fairy godmother gig, but she agrees to take one last case. Helping Roark Turner find his perfect girl shouldn’t be much of a challenge—after all, she is a veteran fairy godmother.

What makes this case interesting? She must use as little magic as possible to bring Roark his much-desired Happily Ever After.

Roark’s perfect match is his best friend Stephanie Bowers. It should be simple to bring two people together who have been best friends since kindergarten, and let their free will take its course. It probably would have been, too, if Cupid hadn’t started shooting arrows into Roark, forcing the mortal to fall in love.

Now Christy must use every skill at her command—just not her magic—to thwart Cupid’s meddling and get Roark and Stephanie together without changing their free will or ruining her perfect record. Or she’ll never get her own Happily Ever After.

And here's an excerpt from the book:

“So, how do you think it’s going?” Stephanie asked, plopping down into the chair next to him. Her blonde hair, bundled into a twist, had pieces falling around her face. She let out a puff of air, blowing a few strands out of her eyes.

Roark reached into his pocket and pulled out the energy shot he’d been holding for her. “Good. I think I would have parked the barbecue pit a little further away…”

Stephanie rolled her eyes. “Only you would complain about not being able to smell the flowers.” She downed the energy shot in a couple of gulps. “You sure you’re not gay?” She elbowed him.

He picked up his cup, raising his pinky finger. “Not at all, dahling.”

Her grin, broad and wide, showed off her beautiful teeth, and he couldn’t help taking in every detail of her face—from the sparkle in her eye makeup highlighting her moss-green eyes to a similar sparkle from the gloss on her rose-colored lips.

And in a flash, a hardcore buzz hit him—the one he felt whenever he was attracted to someone—though this was more intense than he’d ever experienced before.

Roark gritted his teeth, forcing down the thoughts. This was Stephanie, after all. His best friend since before time. They met in the sandbox in kindergarten when she stole his shovel and he dumped sand on her feet. They’d been friends ever since.

“Thanks for coming today,” she said, setting the energy shot on the table and resting her hand on his. The simple contact shot straight to his groin, and he pulled away.

What was the matter with him? Stephanie never created such a reaction in him. He wondered what was in his coffee, because he didn’t respond like that to her… She was…

She was beautiful, no doubt about it. She was sweet when she wanted to be, and as close to him as Jason and Bruce were. Why would he suddenly feel so intensely for her?

A buzz came from Stephanie, and she pressed her finger against her ear. That was when he noticed her Bluetooth headset. “Yes, I’m on my way.” She stood, and if she realized he’d pulled his hand away, she didn’t say anything. “Gotta run. One of the bridesmaids got barbecue on her dress and is about to go ballistic.”

“Go, have fun,” Roark said with a laugh, trying to hide any strange thoughts.

“Always. Save me a dance later?”

“You mean you get to have fun while you’re working?”

“Occasionally.” Stephanie darted away, disappearing into the crowd to solve this dilemma.

Then onto the next one. And the next. Until the reception was over and the cleanup had all been done.

He wouldn’t get a dance with her, even if he wanted to.

And today, he wanted to.

What was up with that?



“I am going to strangle Cupid,” Christy said, floating around the wedding, zapping the little cherubs who worked for the ornery Roman god. And they were everywhere, too. How would this throw off the contest? Cupid’s minion zapping her charge before she could cast her first spell.

And she had a good one, too. Knock over Roark’s coffee cup so he’d need assistance cleaning up. Allow Stephanie some alone time with Roark.

Let the sparks fly.

Christy didn’t have to look at Roark’s file to know that Stephanie was the woman for him. The woman obviously cared for him a great deal, and he for her. Christy had been relieved as soon as she saw the sparks between the two of them—it should be nothing to fan those sparks into flames of love and HEA.

At least, that was her first intention.

There's also different excerpts on my website and on my Facebook Page

Merry Monday

This is my little guy. He's been really looking forward to today, because he's turning 5. He even told me, as he crawled into bed last night, "Mommy, today is the last day I'll be 4 years old."

So when he got up this morning, slow, and a little sluggish, I was concerned. Especially when he felt warm.

Well, my little boy had a fever. This morning, I gave him some medicine to bring down the fever, and we went to the store. He felt pretty good, even picked out his birthday cake, and the candle for the top. He was excited.

But by the time we got to the doctor, he wasn't feeling better, and wouldn't you know it, he had a sinus infection. Got him some antibiotics, and after he rested all afternoon, he finally got to feeling better by dinner time.

And he opened his presents, completely overjoyed at the gifts of trucks and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys. He played hard with his new toys, running around like a kid who, well, who wasn't sick at all.

So, today, I'm happy about the resilience of a child. While he'll be home with me again tomorrow, I bet he'll be feeling a great deal better. Probably so much better, I'll be wondering why I kept him home from school.

But I'll be happy to get my little, smiling, giggling boy back.