Liz Lee's Blog, page 3

Nope, not yet

So I've played with this opening so often it's driving me crazy. Doesn't matter. It's still not right. I'll know when it's right because I'll feel it. The right words will go together and it will be like readers are living in the story instead of reading about the story.
That's where I am now. Readers are reading about this really great character.
No thanks.
I write romance.
Readers don't want to read about someone. They want to BE someone, feel like they're in the moment. They want the "Calgon take me away" experience.
At least, I THINK they do. Because that's what I want when I read romance.
So yeah. I'm not there yet.
Lil needs work.
On the bright side, I have some ideas to try tomorrow.
Fingers crossed.

SO, yeah, that didn't work, Giant Jesus Rings and "You're Going to Hell"

Seriously. One the minute I went to bed, the heroine started speaking to me. I mean, I could HEAR her dialogue. Within three minutes I was out of bed and at the computer and WHAM! ONE freaking sentence. One.
And then I was up until 4 a.m. not sleeping because I kept thinking it would come back. That muse that speaks to you and you just know it's some kind of divine intervention character magic.
Yeah. No magic here. One lousy sentence.

AND THEN
My mom called totally freaking out because she has a bad feeling. Some moms have bad feelings and it's no big deal. My mom has a bad feeling, and it's watch out, folks, there's something big coming.

She wanted me to call my daughter who lives half a country away to make sure everything was okay. She wanted me to do that because she and my daughter don't exactly have the best relationship.

They love each other, but this started way back when DD was a kid and Mom gave her a Giant Jesus Ring for Christmas. No joke. I told her she should be happy with Giant Jesus Ring (Forever after now known as GJR) because her dad and I got Left Behind Bags. Seriously. Bags for us to help us get through the tribulations because Jesus was coming back and we were definitely going to be Left Behind. Included in the bags: a tea set, rope, MREs and this wind up flashlight thingy. It was a Christmas to remember, for sure.
I digress.

So yeah, I pick up the phone and call DD and one ring in it goes to voicemail. I start to leave a message because Mom's bad feelings are serious business. AND DD is calling me, thus the straight to voicemail. I answer the phone AND DD IS CALLING ME BECAUSE SHE'S GOT A BAD FEELING!

The only thing worse than a Mom bad feeling is a DD bad feeling. When my daughter was in middle school, she asked one of my best friends if she could call her Grandma. My friend was appalled because she wasn't old enough to be called Grandma. We laughed it off and went for a walk. AND THAT NIGHT my friend called to tell me her daughter was pregnant. So DD's Bad Feelings are serious business too.

So now I'm sitting here tired as hell and hoping that DD and Mom's Bad Feelings are just a cosmic punking of the writer whose character DID NOT make an appearance last night.

Yeah.

Happy writing, folks. Happy writing.

Lil Character Work

Feel free to skip this post. Or not. But it's going to be different here for awhile.
See, I've been working on a new series and book one is in stage three of revisions.
No matter what I do, I can't get my heroine's voice right in the opening. I love what's going on with her, I love the character, but on the page, she's stilted, which works for her because in her real life she's somewhat stilted.
But it's not really working on the page right now. So I'm going to use this space to work through that.
Since I haven't really used the space for much more recently I figure that will work.

Switching to Lil's first person POV now.

When you give up a life of luxury, you expect something back, you know? Not awards or accolades, but something. Like Karma or Fate should throw you a bone and say well done.
And God, I'm so stupid for even complaining.
Since I left the beautiful life and traded it in for this dusty border town with its incredible kids and a school with less of a budget than my clothing allowance, I've developed great friendships. I reconnected with my college roommate who convinced me to make this move, and that is awesome. Of course, these days she's gone all the time so yay.
And I've made an incredible new friend in Nancy. I think she wants to change the world more than I do. Together we're making a huge difference in the lives of these kids. I know it.
THAT should be enough. It really should.
But it's not.

I'm building a new life. I don't need...a relationship.
I don't need a guy to fulfill me as a person.
I should have never agreed to dance with him, should have never answered his calls, should have never...well, yeah. 
The worst part of all that is that he Kamikazied our relationship AFTER I'd fallen in love with his family. 

I hope we can still be friends.
WHO lets that happen?
I guess me.
And that's the problem.

And all of this, all of it, is nothing. Because it's there in the background, but it's not the story. 

***Okay, I'm back....and I don't think this did much yet. Maybe she needs to write a letter to her mom tomorrow.

Lil's Pinterest Board

DGD Makes An Appearance

It happened. Actually it happened quite a while back now. I'm a grandma, and I finally understand all the talk about how amazing and wonderful that miraculous journey is.



People have always told me nothing beats being a grandma. Now I know it's true. For future reference on the blog this will be DGD (Darling grand daughter). You can see from the photos that we're kind of in love with this sweetie. <3

For Writers

I planned on writing 5k this month. It's Spring Break month and HUGE crazy deadline month for the day job, so I set a goal and planned on working toward it little by little.
And I know this is going to be a little redundant to past blog posts, but I just have to say this:
Y'all, #1k1hr works. Follow the hashtag on twitter and join a group using it and watch the magic happen. It's March 8 and I have 18309 words. Most of them written this weekend. That is crazy. No way that happens without twitter and #1k1hr. No way.
Writing sprints are magic.
I'll try to check in this week. It's a crazy week with the day job. Like insanity.
Happy writing!
Liz Lee

I'm not a fashion writer, but my heroines sure do like shoes!

I know most steamy romance authors have blog and twitter posts filled with hot, hunky men. And my heroes are HOT, but those photos aren't the ones that make me salivate.
Maybe I'm crazy, but hot guys are everywhere. I like eye candy just fine. But shoes, shoes are where it's at.
I'm working on Lil's Pinterest board right now. The hot guy photos are there. BUT one of my all-time favorite photos on the board is this one:

They are perfect for Lil. Lil is a girly girl. She turned her back on her trust fund and the constrictions of her Dallas life and made a new place for herself in a small border town in Texas where she feels she can do more to help others.She's petite, so she wears high heels almost all the time. She's a girly girl, and she loves pink. BUT she also tells it like it is, and if you need an ass kickin', well, she's going to take care of that, too. Only she uses words to put people in their places.This book is going to be so much fun to write! I'm so glad Pinterest makes boards so easy! <3
Happy Reading!Liz Lee
My current book One Night In Vegas debuted two days ago. I'd love for you to take a look! It's a kindle exclusive right now.

Writing Community

The One Night In Vegas newsletter is out! 12 romantic recipes and some fun. Check it out here and feel free to share!
You can see the Meg inspiration board on Pinterest here.

Housekeeping done. On to the blog post.

I don't know about you, but for me writing can get a little depressing. I write and write and write and I see my dog and my hubby and then I go to my day job where I don't write but I inspire others' writing and then I come home and it starts all over again and even though I'm loving every minute of it (sing the song now. you're welcome.) I can end up going hours and hours without talking about the writing, the story, the cool thing that happened, the fact that every word I wrote for three hours sucked, the fact that the next three hours were magic, that my computer ate the final copy of a novel before I could convert it to print, the fact that my Mac just started going black when I turn it on, the face that you can write one hell of a long sentence and still have a sentence not a run-on if you've done it with the right conjunctions or you've done it for voice, etc.
Yeah.
Years ago I faced some of those problems, but I had a local RWA group with people who knew and loved me and were writers too. We had community and it was glorious. But then my writing group disbanded and those of us left in town got busy and connection was lost. Wow. I had no idea the importance of community for other writers, at least for me.
Last year I joined a long distance RWA group and that helped some. Two years before that I workshopped The Artist's Way with a friend, and that was magical. Still those things aren't constant connection.
Facebook provides a great connection, but for me, it's too distracting. I end up laughing at cat videos and arguing for an hour over whether a dress is blue and black or white and gold, so Facebook is not a healthy writerly connection for me.
Which is why I love twitter and the #amwriting hashtag (Is it one word or two? I could google the answer, but nah.). And NOW I also have the #RWATheEnd hashtag because I'm taking part in the RWA Writing Challenge with a whole lot of other romance writers. One Night In Vegas made it to publication because of the challenge and we're only one month in. Yay! I can't wait to see how much my productivity increases.
I'm off to write. You can follow me @AuthorLizLee on twitter you can follow #amwriting #RWATheEnd and we can talk.
Thanks and Happy Writing!

Liz Lee

Writing Process AKA Revision Hell

I'm in the revision cave right now AKA revision hell.

I just read chapter one and all I can think is WHAT THE HECK WAS I (not?!) THINKING?!
I mean, I definitely threw everything and the kitchen sink in this thing. I know there's a heart of a good story here, and when I'm done it will be so much better, but OH DEAR GOD this sucks so bad.
And the good thing about this is I've been through the revision process enough now to know it's okay. I'll get through the this sucks part and get to the this is magic part.

If you're lucky enough to be blessed with the first draft muse genius, embrace that gift. I am not that lucky. Funny thing is way back when I started writing, I thought I WAS blessed with the gift of awesome writerly greatness. I mean, hello, my fourth grade teacher told me so, my mom told me so, my best friends in junior high told me so, my professors told me something I took to be so but now see as something completely different.
Even funnier thing, when I first started self-publishing I STILL believed in the greatness...sort of.
I'm learning though.
I mean, I believe in zeitgeist for sure. In the magic where the stars align and everything just flows and you finish a book and say holy cow, that was freaking amazing.
BUT zeitgeist is a rare and beautiful thing.
And in what I just read? The closest thing to zeitgeist was me closing the iPad because I needed a break to come write this down.
Revision hell is a good thing. Usually it's where the magic happens.
At least it is for me.
Because my first couple drafts, especially of my suspense novels, are more detailed outlines. And sometimes they're more of a hodgepodge of ideas that may or may not work. Mostly because my plots aren't always hammered out before I start writing, so I'm exploring, discovering, learning the story while I'm writing.
I usually have a better grasp on my characters, thank goodness.
So yeah, I'm in the revision cave with a plot that makes me wrinkle my forehead and wonder what I was thinking, and characters who are telling me to take a deep breath because figuring that out is what revision hell is for.

I hope I survive! JK, I know I will.

FYI: My steamy contemporary romance One Night In Vegas debuts tomorrow on kindle. It concludes the It Started In Texas series. I survived revision hell with it and then some. :) Tomorrow's book birthday newsletter is made up of 12 romantic recipes. You can subscribe with the link at the top of the sidebar!

Happy writing and reading.
Liz Lee

Steamy Romance Novels and Steamy Romantic Recipes

A steamy contemporary romance and steamy romantic suspense book series needs some steamy food.
I didn't realize that until I started writing the It Started in Texas series. Somehow without me even realizing it, food became a central point in several of the books.Whether it was the Better Than Sex cake and Italian dishes in Close to Home or the margaritas in The Real Deal, A Chance at Forever and One Night in Vegas, somehow food played a pivotal role.In celebration of the conclusion of the series, the One Night inVegas newsletter will contain a ton of scrumptious recipes. 
Want in on the fun?Subscribe to the newsletter here (click the word here to open the Author Liz Lee newsletter link).
Want a preview of what's included?
Here ya go:
Close To Home (steamy contemporary romance novel, a little steam)Better Than Sex CakeZitiManicotti
To Trust A Prince (steamy romantic suspense novel, medium steam)Brownies
To Risk A Heart (steamy hot romantic suspense novel, smokin')Colorado Bulldog
The Real Deal (steamy contemporary romance, medium steam)Waffles
A Chance At Forever (steamy contemporary romance novel, medium steam)MargaritaGuacamolePico
One Night In Vegas (steamy hot contemporary romance novel, smokin')French toast Mimosa
Want to know more about the Author Liz Lee romance novels? Click the link below. It will take you to the Liz Lee Amazon author page. 

A New Steamy Texas Romance

by Author Liz Lee....

Okay, seriously, I started this blog with the hope of connecting with my Liz Lee readers after I accidentally found out some of my readers wanted to talk.
And then they never talked.
And then I was sad.
But then I realized I could still use this space as my place to talk about what I was working on.
And I do....sometimes.
But more often than not, I'm self-promoting, which comes across a little like a smarmy used car salesman who either ends up the villain, dead or both in my romantic suspenses.
I don't want to be that blogger.
Soooooo
I turned this space into more of a website. If you're reading this, I hope you'll pop over to my About page and my WIPs page. I had fun writing about what I'm working on.

Here's the truth about the last few months: Dear God in Heaven what was I thinking?!
When I scheduled One Night In Vegas, it was titled The Truth About Romance. But that was wayyyyy too sweet for where this book went, so it changed.
Along the way to this book's publication I was inducted into the amazing club known as GRANDMA, which just completely blows my mind and thrills me all at the same time.

I've learned a lot this year:
 I learned as a self-published author to never put a publication date down I can't meet. That's not cool for readers. I've learned, for me anyway, that means no date unless a book is done. Not drafted but D-O-N-E.
I've learned when I start writing, I get all sorts of keyed up (pun intended) and can't sleep. And if I can't sleep, I'm exhausted the next day. And if enough of those days add up, I get sick. And if I don't stop then, my body will make me. I should have learned that last year, but I'm a little stubborn. My body kicked my butt from Halloween to Christmas. I learned the lesson for life this time.
I've learned I love writing more than ever, and I can't wait to share my new work with my writing group.
I've learned I NEED connections with other writers.
I've learned I really don't know anything about the business side of what I'm doing, and that's okay. I've got eight to 10 years before I want writing to be my full-time job to help supplement a Going Gypsy life-style.
AND I learned you can CHECK OUT LIBRARY BOOKS ON KINDLE, which is bad, bad, bad for my writing. I'm budgeting reading time, though, so it will be okay.

And that's that. I learned a lot, which is always a good thing.

Later this week I'll be debuting the last of the It Started in Texas Books: One Night in Vegas. Have no fear, despite the title, the book makes its way to Texas. But it starts in Vegas. And it's supposed to be one night. Soooooo.....
Yeah. Thus the title. One Night in Vegas, a steamy contemporary romance by Author Liz Lee.
More on that later this week.

FYI: subscribe to my newsletter for the It Started in Texas recipes. You will not be sorry. <3