ROW80 Update April 20

Goals:

1. Spend at least half an hour every day on writing or editing, an hour on weekends
2. Finish rewrite of Dragons at Dawn
3. Post to my blog on the ROW80 update days (Sunday and Wednesday)
4. Read at least one of my books on writing every week

I have been working on editing every day, and I have finished the rough outline for Demons at Dusk and started the outline for the second book, Monsters at Midnight. I think that once I finish all the outlines I will go through them using the tips from the Save the Cat book by Blake Snyder. I’m on Chapter 6 now (of 8), and I am finding a lot of great advice on how to make sure my stories grab the reader’s attention and keep it throughout the book. Even though he wrote it for screenwriters, the tips in the book apply to any fiction writing.

On a personal note, I had some really bad news on Monday. It appears that my nephew (12 years old) committed suicide. My brother and sister-in-law are understandably devastated. I’m pretty upset about it myself, even though I didn’t have a lot of contact with him. The worst part is that I want to do something to help or comfort them, but I don’t really know how. My brother and I don’t agree in our religious beliefs, so it is difficult for me to give him the words of comfort that my faith provides when his church believes the opposite. The best that I can do is just offer my support.

And of course, as a writer, I am considering how to use this in one of my stories.

That’s my update. I’ll be back on Sunday. See you then!

Love is in the Air

It’s February 14 and the first draft of my paranormal romance is finished. I have started sending it out to several of my friends to see what they think of it. I also offered it to my blog readers to try to get a more unbiased opinion, but so far no takers.

I have been seeing romantic advertisements everywhere for the last couple weeks. Of course that is to be expected. Valentine’s Day has always been said to be a holiday created by the flower and greeting card industry. But that doesn’t mean it can’t also be a good thing.

I have been married to my wonderful wife for almost fourteen years now, and I love her just as much now as when I first met her. I tell her this every chance I get. When I wrote my paranormal romance novel I tried to channel that feeling into my writing. I’m not sure how well that worked out, but that’s what edits are for, right?

I have to confess that I really struggled with the romance part of my novel. First of all, I’m a man, so that’s one strike against me. Can anyone tell me of ANY male romance authors? I can’t think of a single one. Or are they writing under a pseudonym?

Secondly, I’m usually a calm and reserved person, so writing a passionate love scene was EXTREMELY difficult for me. I mean, I feel that passion for my wife, but allowing myself to open up and share it with the rest of the world was kind of against my nature.

Third, I felt uncomfortable writing about sex. My faith has taught me to respect the love of two people, which should not be sullied by things like premarital sex and pornography. So I felt that when I was writing about my heroine and her man having premarital sex I was encouraging behavior that I didn’t believe in, even though it was what the characters demanded.

I would be interested in hearing what the rest of you think about this. And if you are interested in reading my first draft of Finding Valhalla just let me know and I’ll send you a link to the file on my Dropbox share.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

ROW80 Status – Day 20 (Jan 22)

I’m still going strong on meeting my ROW80 goals. Blogs are posted, still getting my daily fiction written. I even figured out a plot for my Young Adult novel that I am writing on Sundays. I decided my hero is going to be kidnapped along with two of his friends. He will have to escape the kidnappers and find his way home again. Along the way he will learn some things about himself, his friends, and his faith. I am excited about this story. It’s actually NOT a paranormal story for a change. I can’t wait to see how it turns out!

Total word counts so far:

• Finding Valhalla – 52,724
• Six Days To Sabbath – 1,025

I’ll be adding at least 500 words to Six Days today. I hope you all are doing as well as I am on your goals!