The HEA Cafe

Archive for January, 2009

It’s my day to blog today. I’m sick. I’m going back to bed.

And yeah, I should have prepared this ealier, but I can’t think my brain hurts.

See you all next month.

Such was 2008.

The highs were as high as they could be and the lows were equally as extreme, but we survived it and stayed up to welcome in what we hope will be a slightly less eventful year. Nobody wants to listen to the bad stuff, so let’s talk about the good, shall we?

On April 1st, my first Devil book was released.  THE DEVIL’S DAUGHTER was a twist to the ‘normal’ western historicals I write in that the heroine is, in fact, the devil’s daughter.  She strikes a deal with dear ol’ dad whereby she’ll win her freedom if she can hand over the souls he specifies.  Sounds easy enough, eh?  Yeah, well, maybe not.
On December 1, the sequel, DANCING WITH THE DEVIL, was released.  In this story, Deacon (who we meet in the first book) has come back to do something that is completely unheard of: he’s come to make ammends with a human!  Needless to say, dear ol’ dad isn’t very happy about the whole thing, and Deacon’s plan is further complicated when the woman he’s come to apologize to shoots him before he has a chance to explain.  Deacon learns fast that it’s a whole lot harder being good than it is being bad.

And since things tend to happen in three’s, we had one more exciting thing happen this year.  On November 12, we opened our very own bookstore!  The Bookshelf had been a bookstore under a different name for 30 years, but when the owner announced she was ready to retire, my husband suggested we buy it.  And why not?  It’s not like we didn’t have enough stress in our lives up to that point (cough choke wheeze), so we did it.  Can you say HUGE learning curve?  I can.  In fact, I can probably say it in several different languages now.  It’s been amazing, confusing, exciting and overwhelmingly overwhelming, but I wouldn’t change a thing about these three events.    As for the rest of the year. . .we won’t go there.

(I’ve been trying to upload pics of the covers and the store, but I can’t seem to do it.  If I can figure it out, I’ll post them later!)

Happy New Year to everyone!  I hope it brings nothing but happiness, good health and all things good!

Cheers!

Laura

It’s 2009.

Stop and think about that for a moment–the year is 2009.  I was born in the middle of the 20th century.  I’m living in the future I used to read about in science fiction, though that does raise the question, “If it’s 2009, where’s my flying car?”

Regardless, it is an amazing time to be alive.  I recall attending a SF convention some years back where there was a panel called “What we didn’t predict”.  One of the items I remember from that discussion was personal computers.  Despite Star Trek’s tricorders, there was almost no writing in science fiction about portable personal computers.  Now we live in an age where my son carries a smaller than pocket-size computer that makes phone calls–the iPhone.

I think this is one reason I enjoy writing historicals.  I’m not a Luddite, far from it.  I enjoy waking up in the morning, popping in contact lenses that correct my vision, turning on a tap confident I’ll get clean and hot water, and turning on a machine that allows me near instant communication with people around the world at an affordable cost.

But when I’m writing a historical, I know I’ll enjoy the research, partly because it helps me appreciate the time in which I live.  One of the books I’m using for my new WIP is called Medical Firsts by Robert E. Adler, and I found this passage on the germ theory of disease:

“Germs cause disease. This simple idea is so much a part of our thinking that it seems as self-evident as gravity…the humdrum basics of medicine–…a quick swipe with an alcohol-soaked wad of cotton before an injection–can seem more like rituals than the lifesaving offspring of a profound concept.”

He’s right. There’s so much we do now that we take for granted, it’s good to refresh our memories as to why these “rituals” are important and why they made such a difference in our world.

At the same time, I don’t want to fall into the trap in my historicals of giving my characters knowledge before their time.  If my surgeon hero bleeds a patient, it’s because he’s practicing state-of-the-art medicine–for his time.  I get annoyed with writers who feel compelled to insert anachronistic information into their historicals because they believe no true hero would bleed an injured man or treat syphilis with mercury.Cover via Amazon

I have little doubt that 100 years from now readers will be looking at the 20th century and saying, “Can you believe it?  They used to treat tumors with poison chemicals, cut them out with knives and burn them with radiation!  How could they have been so benighted?”

I enjoy the research involved in historicals because it’s not only educational for me in crafting my characters and scenes, it reminds me of how much I have now, and what a fortunate person I am.  And if you don’t believe you’re fortunate as well, pause for a moment the next time you go to flush your toilet, and think about what that action would have involved in 1809–both the action of obtaining water in the first place, and disposing of waste afterwards.

I’m glad it’s 2009.  But I still want a flying car.

I’m working on a story that seems destined to be written entirely in the dark. First, I couldn’t find the story but I pushed on ahead and created a synopsis. Of sorts. I wrote over 100 pages but every day it felt wrong, stilted, and worse, I dreaded facing the keyboard the next day and trying to figure out what next??? So Dec. 23, I gave up and threw it all out and started again. This time I did two things I know I need to ALWAYS do. I made sure I had a clearly definable conflict and one that put the characters in opposition. Duh. How basic is that?  

Still, the story is being stubborn. I can blame the holiday season when it’s hard to pull my thoughts into the office and force them to remain on the words appearing on the screen. Or I could blame it on a touch of the flu. No brain power.  

But the last couple of days something miraculous and odd has occurred. When I go to bed, my story becomes a living organism in my head. I see the characters moving, talking, laughing. Like a mixed up dream, I see bits from different scenes. I have to jot things down. Last night I ended up with four pages of notes that will translate into 20 pages or more in my story. I could complain about missing my sleep but after agonizing over this story, I am not about to whine about that, though I might steal a nap during the day. In fact, I intend to do all I can to nurture this particular event.

It’s like I have fallen back into my childhood when I always made up stories to put myself to sleep. (One big difference—this is NOT putting me to sleep.) It just goes to prove that I can nurture the creative process but I can’t control it.  Not that I intend to trust my future to this method. In fact, I strive always to prepare well for writing a story. I don’t know all the details (in this case it seems I know none of them) but I need to know the major turning points, the emotional journey, and have a feel for the theme (which often changes and develops as I write). I need to have understandable motivation, and clearly definable conflict. I have learned the horrible frustration of trying to write a story without these and vow every time it won’t happen again.  Oh yes, a pen with a light in the tip or a little book light at the bedside are absolutely essential as well.

I have a book out this month with Love Inspired Historicals, The Path to Her Heart.I’d love for you to pick it up.

   Everyone loves to dream. We love to wish on stars and birthday candles. We aren’t opposed to working hard to make the dream come true, but often we find our hard work doesn’t manifest into the dream we so clearly see in our minds. Missteps and wrong turns may dim the brightness of our dream. Fate, the Universe, and Mother Nature blindsides us. We get tired. We lose hope. We question our mission, our passion, our purpose.
   The New Year gives us renewed hope and restores our optimism. We can finish that manuscript. We can land that agent. We can sign our name to a three-book contract.

   Yes, we can. This is our year. This is our life. This is our dream.
   While having a positive attitude and believing in ourselves is extremely important, we know that just wishing on a star won’t finish that manuscript or write that query or land that contract. Every dream, every wish, comes with a gift and a challenge (see Monica’s post below…Congrats, Monica!). We have to take the necessary steps, embrace the hard work, to put our wish in motion. If you don’t do the work, what will your life look like a year from now? Every step we take, we move closer to our dream. Every step we take gives us confidence. Every step we take tells the Universe we’re serious about making this year The Year.
   So what do we need to do to make our dreams come true? That’s what I want to explore with each of my monthly blogs here at the HEA Cafe. Happily Ever After is a concept that can exist outside fairy tales and romance novels. We know we can’t be happy forever…or can we? Can we, as witers, have an inner happiness that isn’t diminished by the outside world?

   Can we be happy just to write a story, no matter if it ever gets published? These are questions I’d like to explore with you on the first of every month during 2009.
   This month, we have to look inside ourselves and get clear about our goals, because how can we define what makes us happy otherwise? Ask yourself, what do I want? What are my expectations? What path is really my calling? Don’t censor yourself. Some of you may get an instant message from your soul when you ask these questions, others of you may stew for several days before you have a clear picture in your mind. But a clear picture is essential. I want you to free the limits of your current life for a few minutes every day and see yourself as the person, the writer, you want to be. You know yourself better than anyone else. Live your truth for just five minutes a day.
   When you are able to imagine yourself in the beautiful dream of your soul, say this to yourself, “As I dream, so I am. Infinite possibilities are coming my way.”
   Next month, Exploring Crossroads.