Lisa J. Crane's Blog, page 8
July 1, 2013
Never Say Never...It Makes God Laugh
My friends on Facebook have already heard part of what I'm about to write, but probably not all of it. When I first began writing McKenna's Prayer, it was never meant to be part of a series. The girl (McKenna) was supposed to return home after several years away and end up with the man she'd loved since she was a child, her best friend, Jason Tremaine. I need to digress here a bit and say that, for the first time in my life, I began to pray about my writing. Don't ask me why I'd never prayed about it before. I guess I thought it was silly. I know, it doesn't make any sense to me now either.
While I was praying for my writing to be a success, I also prayed specifically for God to guide my words; I wanted to use this gift He gave me to inspire people, to help people, to lead people to Him. As I prayed, my story began to change. SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't read McKenna's Prayer, and you intend to, stop reading now until you've read it. Suddenly, McKenna was falling for a different guy, a really good guy, a great guy, in fact. But...that meant the love of her life was left with a broken heart; and he wasn't a terrible person, so he didn't deserve that.
So I felt compelled to resolve Jace's story in a second book, Jace's Healing. And as I wrote that book, I kind of fell in love with one of the characters; from that was born Jesse's Heart. Before I knew it, two more books poured out of me, Colt's Hope and Win's Joy. The stories stand alone, but they're all interconnected through the characters who are friends.
In spite of friends and fans saying they didn't want the series to end, I said, "I'm done with McKenna's Haven" (the name I eventually gave the series). I wrote two other books (the first two in my Opposites Attract series). I wrote a handful of short stories and a novella. After I finished Not Her Type (the second in the Opposites Attract series), I had three different stories swirling around in my head. I began to work on all three simultaneously.
Here's the part my FB friends know. I was lounging in my pool yesterday afternoon, thinking about one of the stories. I had an epiphany so shocking it made me lose track of time and I got a little sunburned. That story would fit perfectly -- I mean perfectly, seamlessly, amazingly! -- into the McKenna's Haven series! I even had a hero lined up from one of the previous books! I began to laugh when I realized that, once again, God had steered me in a direction I never expected.
So I've learned my lesson: Never say never. It only makes God laugh. I may be writing books in the McKenna's Haven series ten years from now, I don't know. I'm certainly not going to say I'm done with it again. As sure as I do, God will laugh and throw me another curve ball.
Happy reading!
While I was praying for my writing to be a success, I also prayed specifically for God to guide my words; I wanted to use this gift He gave me to inspire people, to help people, to lead people to Him. As I prayed, my story began to change. SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't read McKenna's Prayer, and you intend to, stop reading now until you've read it. Suddenly, McKenna was falling for a different guy, a really good guy, a great guy, in fact. But...that meant the love of her life was left with a broken heart; and he wasn't a terrible person, so he didn't deserve that.
So I felt compelled to resolve Jace's story in a second book, Jace's Healing. And as I wrote that book, I kind of fell in love with one of the characters; from that was born Jesse's Heart. Before I knew it, two more books poured out of me, Colt's Hope and Win's Joy. The stories stand alone, but they're all interconnected through the characters who are friends.
In spite of friends and fans saying they didn't want the series to end, I said, "I'm done with McKenna's Haven" (the name I eventually gave the series). I wrote two other books (the first two in my Opposites Attract series). I wrote a handful of short stories and a novella. After I finished Not Her Type (the second in the Opposites Attract series), I had three different stories swirling around in my head. I began to work on all three simultaneously.
Here's the part my FB friends know. I was lounging in my pool yesterday afternoon, thinking about one of the stories. I had an epiphany so shocking it made me lose track of time and I got a little sunburned. That story would fit perfectly -- I mean perfectly, seamlessly, amazingly! -- into the McKenna's Haven series! I even had a hero lined up from one of the previous books! I began to laugh when I realized that, once again, God had steered me in a direction I never expected.
So I've learned my lesson: Never say never. It only makes God laugh. I may be writing books in the McKenna's Haven series ten years from now, I don't know. I'm certainly not going to say I'm done with it again. As sure as I do, God will laugh and throw me another curve ball.
Happy reading!
June 17, 2013
My Kingdom for an Honest Review
Occasionally, I read a book that's just so bad, all I can think is, "This writer has a lot of friends. Friends who want their writer friend to suffer public humiliation." There's simply no other explanation for the fact these people believe their writing is good enough for publication -- even self-publication. I have, within the past week or so, read several such books. Well...I've downloaded them. I can't honestly say I've read them. No, I stopped and deleted after a few chapters, pages or even paragraphs.
Don't get me wrong. As a self-published writer, I'm well aware how easy it is to upload a book with a few typos or grammatical errors. Hey, my own personal issue seems to be related to calling characters by the wrong name from time to time. So I can relate. I get it. The majority of self-publishers don't have the financial resources to employ professional editors or proofreaders.
Having said that...how does a writer convince him- or herself that an awful story is good? How does a writer not see that their book should have been about half the length it ended up being? One of the books I deleted was paragraph after paragraph of pointless drivel (i.e., how she replaced the phone, where she put the phone, why she put the phone where she did); it included an entire paragraph about why one character went by a shortened version of his full name (i.e., Rich, rather than Richard). I am NOT making that up. It was pure torture.
Another one had a heroine who was terrified she'd have her heart broken as it had been previously. I believe it was referred to as a "trauma" and a "disaster". I was led to believe she, oh, I don't know, caught her fiancé having sex with her maid of honor minutes before the wedding. In reality? She was stood up by one guy, for one date, in high school. Sure it was a cruel joke, but it was about ten years ago. Seriously? That was the trauma? If I had a nickel for every broken heart and "trauma" I suffered in high school, I'd be able to employ that full-time, professional editor!
So what's my point? you ask. Go ahead. Ask. I'll wait. Okay, my point is, as a writer, I truly value good, honest reviews. Yes, I love to have my ego stroked. Who doesn't? But don't just say, "I love this story!" without explaining why you love it. Likewise, don't leave a 1-star rating with no supporting explanation. Oh, and if you didn't actually read it -- say, you downloaded it by mistake -- don't review it.
So to paraphrase Henny Youngman, "Read my books. Please!" But then tell me -- honestly -- what you thought of my work. You'll be doing me and any future readers an enormous favor. Oh, and if you read my short story, "The Poison Pen", I promise, it is completely fictional...well, mostly.
Don't get me wrong. As a self-published writer, I'm well aware how easy it is to upload a book with a few typos or grammatical errors. Hey, my own personal issue seems to be related to calling characters by the wrong name from time to time. So I can relate. I get it. The majority of self-publishers don't have the financial resources to employ professional editors or proofreaders.
Having said that...how does a writer convince him- or herself that an awful story is good? How does a writer not see that their book should have been about half the length it ended up being? One of the books I deleted was paragraph after paragraph of pointless drivel (i.e., how she replaced the phone, where she put the phone, why she put the phone where she did); it included an entire paragraph about why one character went by a shortened version of his full name (i.e., Rich, rather than Richard). I am NOT making that up. It was pure torture.
Another one had a heroine who was terrified she'd have her heart broken as it had been previously. I believe it was referred to as a "trauma" and a "disaster". I was led to believe she, oh, I don't know, caught her fiancé having sex with her maid of honor minutes before the wedding. In reality? She was stood up by one guy, for one date, in high school. Sure it was a cruel joke, but it was about ten years ago. Seriously? That was the trauma? If I had a nickel for every broken heart and "trauma" I suffered in high school, I'd be able to employ that full-time, professional editor!
So what's my point? you ask. Go ahead. Ask. I'll wait. Okay, my point is, as a writer, I truly value good, honest reviews. Yes, I love to have my ego stroked. Who doesn't? But don't just say, "I love this story!" without explaining why you love it. Likewise, don't leave a 1-star rating with no supporting explanation. Oh, and if you didn't actually read it -- say, you downloaded it by mistake -- don't review it.
So to paraphrase Henny Youngman, "Read my books. Please!" But then tell me -- honestly -- what you thought of my work. You'll be doing me and any future readers an enormous favor. Oh, and if you read my short story, "The Poison Pen", I promise, it is completely fictional...well, mostly.
June 9, 2013
Writing and Sleep-Deprivation
Someone told me this morning at church that she stayed up late last night, reading my latest book, Not Her Type. She said she'd tell herself she'd stop soon, but then she'd read a little more. I laughed and said, "You should be on my side of it!" She asked if I just had ideas swirling around in my head. My answer? "Well, I imagine it's a lot like being crazy!"
I used to be the kind of person who absolutely HAD to have a minimum of eight hours of sleep every night. And I mean an absolute minimum. I took a nap nearly every Sunday afternoon. I slept late on Saturdays. If I wasn't working, I slept late during the summer when the kids were out of school. When I went to bed at night, I was asleep mere moments after my head hit the pillow.
Since I began self-publishing my writing, those days are gone. I stay up late writing. On Sunday afternoons, while my husband (and sometimes my children) nap, I write. I wake up early (for summer, that is) and write. When I do go to bed, I lie there thinking about what I've just written, and what's going to happen next. Did that conversation make sense? Did I inexplicably change a character's name (hey, it happens)? Can I find the right balance of Christian romance and still appeal to a broad audience?
Before my proof-readers had finished reading Not Her Type, I'd already written several pages of the book that was rattling around my head. And there's already another one that's starting to push at me.
So the next time you talk to a writer, be gentle; odds are good he or she is seriously sleep-deprived.
I used to be the kind of person who absolutely HAD to have a minimum of eight hours of sleep every night. And I mean an absolute minimum. I took a nap nearly every Sunday afternoon. I slept late on Saturdays. If I wasn't working, I slept late during the summer when the kids were out of school. When I went to bed at night, I was asleep mere moments after my head hit the pillow.
Since I began self-publishing my writing, those days are gone. I stay up late writing. On Sunday afternoons, while my husband (and sometimes my children) nap, I write. I wake up early (for summer, that is) and write. When I do go to bed, I lie there thinking about what I've just written, and what's going to happen next. Did that conversation make sense? Did I inexplicably change a character's name (hey, it happens)? Can I find the right balance of Christian romance and still appeal to a broad audience?
Before my proof-readers had finished reading Not Her Type, I'd already written several pages of the book that was rattling around my head. And there's already another one that's starting to push at me.
So the next time you talk to a writer, be gentle; odds are good he or she is seriously sleep-deprived.
May 20, 2013
Waiting...
Anybody remember that Carly Simon song? You know the one..."Anticipay-yay-shun, it's makin' me wait!" Yeah, that one. Okay, so some of you only remember it as a song about ketchup. That's okay. You'll still understand my point.
Last week, I wrote about being so close to wrapping up a book and being continually distracted by my family and life in general. Well, guess what? I finally finished. Yep, Not Her Type, the sequel to Not His Type, is finished. I passed it off to my proofreaders last week. So now comes the waiting...one of my proofers will send me a few questions, errors, etc., as she goes. The others make me wait. Until they finish. The whole book.
While I wait for my proofers to finish, that Carly Simon song plays on an endless loop in my head! It's like having the Barney Song stuck in my head! Because I'm always so excited about telling my readers, "It's there!" When I post that link on my Facebook page, there's always this big "Ahhhhh!" moment; then I sit back and wait to see which one of my friends and/or readers will be the first to review the book, or to tell me on Facebook or in person how much they (hopefully) love the book.
So the next time you're waiting oh-so-impatiently for one of your favorite authors to finish their next book, have a little sympathy. Remember that your favorite author is having to wait on proofers, technology, reviews and any number of other things.
Ah, well...I'm off to do some more waiting. Antici-pay-yay-shun!"
Last week, I wrote about being so close to wrapping up a book and being continually distracted by my family and life in general. Well, guess what? I finally finished. Yep, Not Her Type, the sequel to Not His Type, is finished. I passed it off to my proofreaders last week. So now comes the waiting...one of my proofers will send me a few questions, errors, etc., as she goes. The others make me wait. Until they finish. The whole book.
While I wait for my proofers to finish, that Carly Simon song plays on an endless loop in my head! It's like having the Barney Song stuck in my head! Because I'm always so excited about telling my readers, "It's there!" When I post that link on my Facebook page, there's always this big "Ahhhhh!" moment; then I sit back and wait to see which one of my friends and/or readers will be the first to review the book, or to tell me on Facebook or in person how much they (hopefully) love the book.
So the next time you're waiting oh-so-impatiently for one of your favorite authors to finish their next book, have a little sympathy. Remember that your favorite author is having to wait on proofers, technology, reviews and any number of other things.
Ah, well...I'm off to do some more waiting. Antici-pay-yay-shun!"
May 13, 2013
So Close...
Whenever I'm writing a story, I get so wrapped up in it! Of course, while I'm writing, life goes on, meaning I'm still responsible for a lot of things at my house...dishes, laundry, cooking, making sure a teenage boy with "senioritis" and a tween girl with...well, drama, get to school on time. I also spend my days hanging out with the cutest little great-nephew in the history of great-nephews. But when I start getting close to the end of a book, I find that I really want those things -- well, not the kids, but the dishes and laundry -- to just go away.
Each interruption makes me sigh and roll my eyes like a junior high cheerleader who's just been told her skirt is too short. I want to pile the dishes and laundry in the driveway, douse them with gasoline and light 'em up! Oh, sure, I'd like to do that most of the time anyway (who wouldn't). But when I can see the end of the story, when I can taste the sheer elation I feel when I click that "Upload" button, those dishes, those dirty socks, the "cat detritus" on the carpet, they all make me just a tiny bit crazy. Crazier.
I have a lot of readers who are also my friends on Facebook. On a fairly regular basis, they'll ask me when the next book is coming out. None of them have made the correlation between the need to clean house and the delay of publishing my next book. When they do, I'm hoping several of them will show up at my door, mops, buckets and laundry supplies in hand, saying, "We're here! You go write! We'll take care of everything else!" I mean, isn't that what good fans would do?
Ah, well, back to my writing...I mean laundry. Yeah.
Each interruption makes me sigh and roll my eyes like a junior high cheerleader who's just been told her skirt is too short. I want to pile the dishes and laundry in the driveway, douse them with gasoline and light 'em up! Oh, sure, I'd like to do that most of the time anyway (who wouldn't). But when I can see the end of the story, when I can taste the sheer elation I feel when I click that "Upload" button, those dishes, those dirty socks, the "cat detritus" on the carpet, they all make me just a tiny bit crazy. Crazier.
I have a lot of readers who are also my friends on Facebook. On a fairly regular basis, they'll ask me when the next book is coming out. None of them have made the correlation between the need to clean house and the delay of publishing my next book. When they do, I'm hoping several of them will show up at my door, mops, buckets and laundry supplies in hand, saying, "We're here! You go write! We'll take care of everything else!" I mean, isn't that what good fans would do?
Ah, well, back to my writing...I mean laundry. Yeah.
May 6, 2013
My Imaginary Friends and Their Love Lives
It's been nearly a year since I uploaded my first ebook, McKenna's Prayer, for Kindle. I had no idea where it would lead. All I knew for sure was, I had to get those characters and their story out of my head and onto a page -- electronic, paper, papyrus leaf, whatever! I had to write.
When I began writing, I knew exactly what would happen to my hero and heroine. They would eventually overcome all the pain and anguish they'd been through (caused primarily by the hero's misguided actions) and find their HEA. But as I wrote, I prayed. A lot. And the words began to flow and before I knew it, my heroine wasn't following the plan I had in mind for her. And then there was this "extra" character; he was supposed to just be a friendly ear and possibly an occasional advisor.
The next thing I knew, the story had completely changed and I knew I had to write a resolution for my anti-hero. Five books later, I think I've finished what turned into a series called McKenna's Haven. A reader recently pointed out, however, there were a few characters they'd like to see get their own story, too. So as Winchester James, from Win's Joy, might say, "We'll come back to that."
When I finished the McKenna's Haven series, I had another character rattling around in my head, and in December of 2012, I published Not His Type (an Opposites Attract romance). And wouldn't you know it...there was a character in that book -- Nick Rodgers -- who wouldn't get out of my head, so I'm currently working on his story, Not Her Type.
My point, you ask? My point is, I seem to have a lot of imaginary friends. Lucky for me -- and my readers -- they all seem to be in desperate need of my matchmaking skills. I'll keep writing their stories as long as you keep reading them. Happy reading!McKenna's PrayerLisa Crane
When I began writing, I knew exactly what would happen to my hero and heroine. They would eventually overcome all the pain and anguish they'd been through (caused primarily by the hero's misguided actions) and find their HEA. But as I wrote, I prayed. A lot. And the words began to flow and before I knew it, my heroine wasn't following the plan I had in mind for her. And then there was this "extra" character; he was supposed to just be a friendly ear and possibly an occasional advisor.
The next thing I knew, the story had completely changed and I knew I had to write a resolution for my anti-hero. Five books later, I think I've finished what turned into a series called McKenna's Haven. A reader recently pointed out, however, there were a few characters they'd like to see get their own story, too. So as Winchester James, from Win's Joy, might say, "We'll come back to that."
When I finished the McKenna's Haven series, I had another character rattling around in my head, and in December of 2012, I published Not His Type (an Opposites Attract romance). And wouldn't you know it...there was a character in that book -- Nick Rodgers -- who wouldn't get out of my head, so I'm currently working on his story, Not Her Type.
My point, you ask? My point is, I seem to have a lot of imaginary friends. Lucky for me -- and my readers -- they all seem to be in desperate need of my matchmaking skills. I'll keep writing their stories as long as you keep reading them. Happy reading!McKenna's PrayerLisa Crane
