Veronica Blake's Blog, page 9

THE DEATH OF A MANUSCRIPT

Revisions.  That part of writing where—after you’ve celebrated writing ‘THE END’ and thought you were some big shot because you did finish a whole book; you imagine your name on the New York Times Best Seller List, and start picking out the stars you think should play your hero and heroine in the movie version–you then go back and rip the guts out of your first draft.   Now, you are standing there with nothing more than bloody entrails of what was so recently your ticket to fame and fortune.

Wait?  You didn’t really think you were finished just because you wrote those two final (THE END) words, did you?  Ha!

Cowboy Up, Cupcake.   This massive operation isn’t over yet.  Hook up the heart monitor, because the writing process isn’t for weaklings.

Sure, you’ve birthed a complete manuscript, but it’s only a pitiful little skeleton of what it needs to be before you’re ready to send your brilliant creation out into the cold cruel world.   Take that scrawny baby, print it out and get a new bright red pen.   For me, the printed version looks nothing like or reads nothing like the version on the computer screen.    Then, pour some wine, or make a pot of coffee, grab lots of chocolate and settle in for the slaughter.   With knife—er—I mean, pen in hand read those words like you want to slash the fricking life out of them.   That’s what an agent or editor is going to do if your manuscript isn’t up to par when you send it out to them.   They don’t care that every word of your incredible work of genius was lovingly written with passion and devotion.   Don’t make them gag on your words because you were too anxious to give your masterpiece its wings, and didn’t complete the entire (painful) writing process before letting it fly.

At this early stage of the revision cycle I’m really excited to start reading through that entire rough draft for the first time.  Usually, it’s been a long while since I initially began writing the book to the time when I’m ready to do revisions, so it’s somewhat like that feeling I get when I’m going to see an old lover who used to make my toes curl and my socks roll up and down.  I’m all giddy and excited at the possibility of seeing him again after such a long time; I’m fantasizing about taking a hippity-hoppity skip down lover’s lane.   But, then he shows up, a total loser now, and fatter than I am, and I’m not so turned on any more.   That’s usually how I’m feeling about my first draft after a few chapters, too.   As I hack through page after page with gory red marks, notes in the margins, and huge what-the-Hell-was I thinking question marks, my enthusiasm quickly wanes.   I wonder why I had been so excited about this book, because seriously, it’s total crap.   This is where self-rejection sets in, and I’m truly my own worst enemy when it comes to my writing career.

About this time, I also start avoiding the wounded pile of red slathered vile like it has a sexually transmitted disease.   I stop bragging to my friends and to random strangers on the street about my new book.  Instead of working extra hard to fix all the problems with the poor bloody babe I’ve just shredded to bits like yesterday’s recycling, I start running blindly into the dark.   I spend my nights trolling Pinterest, cyber-stalking Facebook friends, cleaning out my Yahoo emails, and writing blog posts about revisions.   I listen to old songs I never really liked all that much.   I’m just a hot mess.

This lowly period could last a day, a month, forever.   Fear of failure is a paralyzing  emotion.   If you give into it, you will absolutely fail.   So, let yourself wallow in self-pity for a short span of time, but not long enough to let your evasiveness take control of that dream you had of publishing this book, or it will remain just that…an elusive dream.   Get a shot of penicillin and get your butt back to work.

The next phase of this major surgery really isn’t as bad as you might think.  You’ve already found the major issues such as where your heroine has blue eyes like the azure sky in one scene and hazel like the desert landscape in another scene, or you hero’s father is named Harley in the beginning of the book and Jack about mid-way through.  You’ve wrote everything from ‘puke’ to ‘you suck’ on all the scenes that really did suck and made you want to upchuck, and wrote ‘good job’ on the scenes that were so good you just had to point that out to yourself.   Now, you merely have to sit down in that chair in front of the computer—you know, the one that has started to resemble an electric chair that you must avoid at all costs—and just do it.   Stitch up all those jagged wounds you made with that evil red pen, sooth your baby’s pain, and let the healing begin.

Wow.  This second draft is so damn good.  Who knew you could write like that?  Who should play your hero in the movie?   Get real.

It’s time to get out the scalpel and do another major surgery.  Yeah, that’s right, round two.  Not as painful as the deep cuts of those first revisions, in my humble opinion, but equally as important.   I’ll talk about my next revision phase in my next blog post.  I hope you’ll stop back by and join me.   Bring wine or coffee, lots of chocolate, oh yes, and a mirror.   Guess you’ll just have to wait until next time to find out what we’re going to do with that mirror.

MY WILD ‘SECRET’ NIGHTLIFE

There’s a ankle-length dark green trench coat I wear when it’s not cold enough for a heavy winter coat.  Every time I slip it on, I feel like a secret agent and I have a little fantasy lasting a couple of minutes about a passionate rendezvous with some sexy James Bond type along the white sands of the Riviera.  This morning, as my mind filled with images of gentle waves lapping up on the shore where my fantasy lover is sensually rubbing oil into my wet sun-drenched skin—still aglow from our recent lovemaking—it occurred to me that I really do lead a ‘secret’ double life. 

By day, I’m just a typical average type person, doing mundane everyday things at the office job that pays the bills, running errands on my lunch-hour, rushing home in the evening to do the normal type chores that finish off the remainder of my day.   But, as the last glow of the hazy twilight fades from the darkening sky, and night-time encompasses my little corner of the world, my wild ‘secret’ nightlife begins.

On a typical night, you’ll find me meeting a tall dangerous stranger at some exotic locale, or maybe engaging in some perilous journey sure to lead to a night of sweaty animalistic sex or sweet tempestuous love.   I might spend the entire night helping to cover up some dastardly deed, or maybe even (gasp) kill someone off.   Whatever my nightlife has in store for me, you can be assured it’s going to be the polar opposite of my daytime activities.

Do I work for an exclusive high rolling escort service, you might ask?  A fast talking pimp down on some seedy street corner?  Am I really a double agent who works under the cover of darkness and only pretends to live a normal type life in the glaring light of day to conceal the secret life I really live?   Ha! 

I’m just a writer. 

When I delve into this exhilarating world I create with my wild imagination, I become those electrifying characters I’ve conceived,  and I’m living their bigger than life escapades.  There is no place I’d rather be, well, unless I could live the ‘real’ adventures, of course.   Sigh.   But, oh baby, here in my secret fantasy world the possibilities are endless!

THE SIMPLEST THING

As I was literary dragging myself into work this morning at 7:15 a.m., thinking about all the stacks of papers waiting on my desk, worrying about my elderly parents, whom I stop by and check on every morning before coming to the office, agonizing over a meeting I had to attend today, and basically just hating life…the most extraordinary thing happened.   It was something I’ve never seen before in the little mountain town where I live and I’ll probably never see it again; it’s something I might have seen in a TV commercial or movie.  But wow, it touched me in the most amazing way.

Loaded down with my purse, my bag the size of a suitcase that carries all my necessities for the day, my coffee mug and my bitchy attitude, I sauntered very reluctantly up the sidewalk towards my office building.  And then, this young man—probably in his early twenties—came dancing around the corner, down the sidewalk and right past me.  Yes…dancing and smiling, and changing my entire world.  He was tall, thin, and wearing tan pants, a red hoodie and a burgundy knit cap.   Earphones dangling from under the sides of his cap were obviously providing him with a melody that was starting his day off in a spectacular way, because his expression was one of complete happiness.

The smile that came to my face was immediate and sincere.  I turned after he danced past me and watched him swinging his arms out to his sides like he was doing the wave, and moving his feet in rhythmic movements, until he was around the next corner and out of sight.

He was so unexpected, and what he was doing was such a simple thing really, but he brightened my day in a way he’ll never even know.   Thank you, Happy Young Dancing Man.   Even though nothing in my world has changed other than my attitude, I’m now having a spectacular day, too.

THAT FOUR LETTER WORD CALLED LOVE

The word ‘love’ is a word I say and write about a lot.  In my books, I try my absolute hardest to create a deep emotional connection between my characters by describing all of the tender, exciting, aching, heartbreaking, passionate elements associated with this four letter word.  Hopefully, my written words will also evoke the sense of all of those emotions in my readers.  In my everyday life, I find myself saying, and/or, writing that little word all of the time, too.  Of course, I always say ‘I love you’ when I’m saying goodbye to my parents, children or grandchildren, my boyfriend, other cherished relatives and my closest friends, whether it’s on the phone, texting, or in person.  But, it recently occurred to me that I’ve been adding ‘love you’ or ‘love ya’ to a lot of my posts and comments on social media sites, too.  Many of the people I’m saying ‘love you’ to are people I haven’t even met in person.  So, am I using this special word, this emotionally-charged sentiment, much too casually?

In analyzing my use of this word, which is something I rarely do…analyze anything.  I usually just stumble through my life blissfully ignorant of my good or bad habits, until someone else points them out to me.  But, in this case, I noticed this habit all on my own.  Wow.  When this revelation of what most would consider extreme irrelevance hit me, I began to think about why I found it so easy to say ‘I love you’ to people I don’t even know outside of our little cyber world connections.  I really don’t want to use this poignant word in vain.  Much to my relief, I realized I don’t.  Whew.  The people I say ‘I love you’ to on social media sites are people I truly do love in a different sense of this four letter word.

I have seven media outlets where I post everything from what I ate for breakfast to my deepest darkest desires, and there are some people who care enough to respond to my online craziness on all, or most of these sites on a regular basis, with words of understanding, encouragement, and lots of humor.  Most of them, I have never met in person.  But, we have connected on so many personal levels.

So, if I am commenting or posting on Facebook, Blogging, Tweeting, Pinteresting, chatting with you on Goodreads, Amazon, or any other media site, and I write that ‘I love you’ it is because I really do.  It’s that different kind of love I mentioned earlier…it means you have touched my life in some very emotional way and made the time I spend online with you extra special.  Thank you…you know who you are because I’ve told you ‘I love you’ and I’ve meant it.

PARTY TONIGHT!

Tonight is my Cyber Party to celebrate finally finishing my first Paranormal Romance.   I’m so excited, but a little nervous since this is the first actual promotional party I’ve ever hosted online for any of my books.  But, this is only the beginning, because I’m hoping to build an ‘Author Platform’ and increase my media presence.   Scary!   The actual party will be happening on my Author Page on Facebook, but everything I post there and on Twitter will be showing up here on the lower right hand side of this page.   I really hope you will join me on FaceBook tonight, though, so you can be there to comment and compete for the prizes I will be giving away.  I will be posting excerpts from my new manuscript, music that inspires me, to just about anything and everything else.   Alcoholic beverages will be involved (at my end, anyway), some naughtiness is promised, and hopefully, at lot of fun for everyone!  Hope to see you there.

For a really good time ‘LIKE”…….

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Veronica-Blake-Author/224473460912244

‘THE END’ PARTY (ANY EXCUSE TO PARTY, RIGHT?)

This literary pregnancy lasted two tortuous years, but at last I gave birth to a complete manuscript. I’m worn out and I seriously need to party! Please join me for a cyber party to celebrate my newborn Paranormal Romance. BYOB or beverage of choice, get comfy and let’s get naughty and silly! I’m likely to post just about anything during this party, because it’s been a really grueling conception, pregnancy, labor and birth. Who knew switching genres would be so hard for me? There will be a prize or two given away throughout the course of the evening, so I hope you’ll stop by Facebook, Twitter or my Blog to join in the fun.



Veronica Blake, Author, on Facebook; @VeronicaBlake53, on Twitter; Veronica Blake, Writer, on WordPress

https://www.facebook.com/events/248250898657246/

THE END

“And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.” THE END by THE BEATLES…..
At 12:10 a.m. this morning I wrote “THE END” on the first complete draft of Dawn and Mateo Two Moon’s eternal love story, including a beautiful epilogue. I’m still on a high over finally finishing something I started two years ago. I love both of these characters so much! I’m on vacation on the East Coast until Tuesday, but when I return home to Colorado, we are going to plan one heck of an “THE END” cyber party for next weekend on my Facebook and Twitter pages, because as you all know, until recently switching genres was really difficult for me. But, oh baby, I’m into writing about sexy vampires now – forever…and even that is not long enough!

MISSING CHRIS LEDOUX

“Glam Rock, Heavy Metal, Classic Rock and Kid Rock.”   That would be my answer if you asked me to list my favorite types of music.   Of course, take me out to hear live music and I’m not too picky.   I love the thrill of seeing and hearing musicians in person, especially if it’s in an outdoor setting.  Music has always been an immensely huge part of my life for as far back as I can remember.

In the 1960’s I was a screamer to groups like The Beatles, The Stones, The Animals, The Doors, and forever in love with Elvis.   I wore miniskirts and go-go boots and I never missed an episode of Hullabaloo.   I wanted to hitch-hike to Woodstock from Colorado to New York in ’69 even though I was barely more than a baby.   Haha!

The 70’s found me getting down to Lynyrd Skynyrd, Alice Cooper, AC/DC, Pink Floyd, Bob Seger, Aerosmith and Kiss.  I wore Granny Dresses, huge bell bottomed jeans, tube tops, and discovered my life-long love affair with stylish cowboy boots.

But, the eighties, those fabulous eighties will always be my favorite decade of all.  Poison,  Bon Jovi,  Motley Crue, Twisted Sister,  Cinderella, Skid Row, Def Leppard, Guns ‘n’ Roses, Tesla, Scorpions, this list could go on and on and on.   My fashion tastes ranged from massive shoulder pads, legwarmers and fingerless gloves to parachute pants and jellies.   Bring back the eighties!

So how is it that Chris LeDoux, rodeo champion cowboy from Cheyenne, Wyoming, and all American Country Western songwriter and musician, is the greatest music inspiration in my life?   My love and appreciation for Chris and his music began the first time I saw him play live at our local small-town rodeo back in the early 80’s, and it will never end.   Maybe my upbringing had something to do with it.   My dad is an old rodeo cowboy.   I grew up listening to stories about Cowboys and Indians, the Old West, and the cowboy way of life.   We lived that life, too.   Every Friday night my parents hosted a sing-a-long at our house where friends and family would pile into our living room or out in the back yard with every sort of instrument imaginable and just play and sing until the wee hours of the morning.   The songs they performed were always Country.   I knew and sang every word of every song, in spite of my love for the wilder rock genre of music.  I guess I’ll always be a bit of a cowgirl at heart.

When I started writing Historical Romances way back in the 1980’s, I realized I couldn’t write unless I had music playing, and that hasn’t changed.   However, most of the headbanging songs I listened to then, and even now, aren’t all that inspiring for the types of books I write about romance and the adventure of the Old West.   But on a warm summer night under the star-lit Colorado sky so many years ago, I heard a young Chris LeDoux singing his songs about the legends of the West.   Magic happened.   For over thirty years, his songs have been a constant inspiration for me when I’m writing.  After that night, I never missed a chance to see him in concert as his music career achieved more recognition.   I even gave him an autographed copy of my very first book, TEXAS ROSE, and told him his music was my inspiration.

Chris LeDoux lost his battle with cancer in March of 2005.  But, for those of us who were so deeply affected by his music his legacy lives on forever.   Most people don’t even know who he was, but if you have ever read any of my Western romances, you might hear the distant whispers of his influence in my words.

Even now that I’m switching genres from Western to Paranormal Romance there are certain songs that must be playing when I’m writing certain types of scenes, and I’d like to share them with you here:

For the never-ending turmoil that must be a part of all good love stories, this song is the one that must be playing while I write about the conflict trying to prevent the hero and the heroine from being together for all eternity.   Of course, you have to know I love this video, too…Cowboys and Indians.   Sigh!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWR7ILg75D4  Tougher Than The Rest

No love scene in any of my books has ever been written unless this song was playing in the background.  Yes, I love this video, too.  I had a lace dress just like the one the girl is wearing in this video back in the 90’s, and Chris is so gorgeous in this video.   Double sigh!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSBH6bTZPro  Look At You Girl

And, last but not least, all great Western romances need for the hero to ride off into the sunset, at least for a little while, until he comes to his senses and realizes he needs more than his horse to snuggle up to at night.  I can’t tell you how many scenes I’ve written with this song playing over and over again on the stereo.    In the manuscript I’m working on now, my vampire hero drives off in his big Ford truck as he agonizes over his hopeless love for a human woman.  Of course, this song was playing while I wrote that scene.   Chris’ songs cross all genres, because the deep meaning is always there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4fMT9H8ItQ  Riding For A Fall

So, if you see me driving down the street, you can rest assured I’m headbanging to some old 80’s metal song, or rocking out to Kid Rock on my car stereo.   Chris LeDoux songs are special;  they need to be listened to with candles burning, a glass of wine, and inspiration lighting my imagination.

ART HARDER

I experienced a devastating disappointment this weekend.  Disappointing only to me because it was very personal, and to just about everyone else would seem seriously petty in the big scheme of life.  Even I was becoming disgusted at myself for acting like the end of the world was here because I didn’t get to attend an event 1700 miles from my home.

As I was in the middle of my emotional meltdown over missing something that was deeply important to me—and will never happen again—I also realized there are very few people who would understand the way I was feeling or even the way live my life these days.  I felt very much alone.  Oh sure, the minutia is there for all the world to see on my Facebook posts, Twitter or Blog, but I only allow the deep intense stuff to surface occasionally, and every time it does, I end up regretting it.  If I have learned one important thing; it’s don’t ever whine about your life on social media unless you want to be reminded of how lucky you are, which I do remind myself of every single day.  This weekend I just wanted to have a big ole pity party and invite everyone who would feel my pain, even if it would have seemed silly and frivolous to most.  Sometimes, I just need to have a virtual hug or kick in the butt, and a falling down drunken cyber-party with my peeps.  Kapish?

So, after being pretty much of a hot mess all weekend, and listening to this song ‘Down’ over and over again, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGVhhdBhiqM, I think I’m coming out on the other side of this huge disappointment with a huge new resolve.  I’m going to ‘art harder’, thank you to my new kick-me-in-my-butt blogger and literary hero, Delilah S. Dawson, for this phrase.  For me, it means I’m going to finish this book that I’ve been whining about, and working on for the past two years, and I’m going to do everything in my power to make it the best thing I’ve ever written because I am never again going to miss out on something I desperately want because of stupid mistakes I’ve made in the past.

So, here’s to pity parties (real and cyber), well-meaning friends who remind me how fortunate I am (thank you), and most of all, to the very few friends who really do ‘get me’, and to ‘art harder’.  Now, let’s get ‘Down’ and rock on…

MATEO TWO MOONS

I’ve been trying to write this book for two torturous years. Never would I have imaged switching genres from Western Romance to Paranormal Romance would be so difficult for me. I’ve felt defeated numerous times, and wondered on many occasions if my writing days were finished because this story was just so hard for me to write. At least three times I’ve deleted every single word of this manuscript and started over again. Each time I have changed almost everything about the story line, except for one thing…Mateo Two Moons. Since the very first moment I decided to write this Paranormal book, this mysterious immortal man has haunted my mind and soul. I know everything about him intimately and I just had to find a way to tell his story. At long last, Mateo’s story is finally turning out the way I always hoped it would. I wish I didn’t have to work a ‘real’ job or sleep or do anything other than finish writing this book, because I’m truly living my character’s lives right now. Dawn and Mateo are all I can think about during every waking hour lately. It’s been a very long time since I have felt this passionate about my writing, but of course, I also have less time to write these days than ever before because of my crazy busy life. Today, in an unexpected flash, while I was doing routine accounting at the ‘real’ job, a new and perfect title for this book came to me. But, I’m going to keep that a secret for now and continue to use Savage Bite as the ‘working title’. I can’t wait to write ‘The End’ because I just realized Mateo’s story is only the beginning.