What's it about?

Yeah, part of this post will be about my latest book, but since I've been—and will be spending tons of time editing—I decided I wanted to go on and on about a question that comes up a lot. What is it?

And how do you get rid of it?

Confused yet? Lol! Don't be. And don't even think of stressing over word choice in your first draft. Tell your inner editor to put a sock in it and just let the story flow from your mind to your fingers.

As for your second draft, well, train your brain to notice those 'its' like they're little fleas crawling around your story. Look real close, because some of those little black flecks might just be dirt. A little dirt is okay. But fleas will irritate the hell out of your editor. And worse, your readers.

They shouldn't have to guess what 'it' is. You should be showing them what 'it' is.

I'd make a great teacher, wouldn't I! If you're still with me, I want to try an example so I can show you what I mean. This is a paragraph from one of my snippets (all of which will be full stories one day—freebies! You can vote for which on you want me to finish first):

Through the wind and the rain he spotted a light, flickering in the darkness but a beacon to fulfilling his promise. He carried her towards it and laughed. He wasn't a religious man, but obviously someone was looking out for them.

This paragraph actually has a few issues. The first sentence is confusing. The second sentence vague. Let's see if I can fix this:

Sheets of wind and the rain wrapped around them as he trudged through the darkened woods, cradling Gretel in his arms. A light flickered in the distance. Shelter? Oh please, God! Maybe he could keep his promise after all. Hope took the weight  from his wounded burden and got him moving faster. As he cleared the trees, the source of the glowing beacon came into view and he let out a grateful laugh. He wasn't a religious man, but someone was obviously looking out for them.

Not perfect, I'll probably tweak this again when I get back to the story, but hopefully you've got a good idea of how important removing 'it' can be. Sometimes, just taking out that meaningless little word will force you to look at what you didn't say. In this case, I noticed a lot of telling. Once I switched to showing, taking 'it' out was easy.

So this is my lesson for the day! Helpful? Maybe you want to add your own example in the comments, show me up a little. Or tell me I don't know what I'm talking about, that's fine too.

On to my new book! Last month I mentioned I'd have a treat for you soon. Well, now it's official. Yesterday I signed a contract with Noble Romance Publishing for my short story The Trip! The release is scheduled for August 22. Here's the temporary blurb to give you a general idea of the story:

The Trip Blurb:

On the long trip back to Toronto from an art show in Detroit, Shawna's bus makes an unexpected stop in the middle of nowhere. When the bus is evacuated, she ends up alone with a man who's just as dark and dominant as the heroes in her favourite books. Her desires tempt her to let her guard down—to take a chance that he might be genuine—but how far is she willing to go? She's afraid to find out…and even more afraid not to.

I've never managed to keep a story short before, so I'm pretty damn proud that I managed with this one. If people enjoy the story, I might do a mini-series with those characters. We shall see.

In other news, I'm really excited about the new group Kallypso Masters started. This announcement from Cherise Sinclair is what peeked my interest:

Hey, y'all–the wicked Kally is starting a new facebook group: Masters Group, a new Facebook Group for readers and writers to discuss erotic romance stories with BDSM elements or themes. Sounds like fun, eh? I'm in!

Ahh, Kallypso…the stories you tell!: Got BDSM in your novel (whether reading or writing)?

You should really check it out! I'm already involved and can't wait to see how big this is gonna get. Because it's gonna be big. We kinky folk (including writers, readers, players) are fun to hang out with. As I always say, the more the merrier. Speaking of which, I have a ménage to get back to. Have a great weekend!