
I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!
Jennifer Haymore
Wickedly Seductive Historical Romance
www.jenniferhaymore.com
Normally I'm the baker in the family when it comes to holiday feasts. Several years ago my husband and I flew back to Texas for Christmas and we got in late. I had sent my mom the shopping list for the ingredients I need and she assured me that she’d purchased everything necessary for pumpkin pie and pecan pie. So it’s Christmas day, mid-morning, and I’m all set to make my pies. I go to the fridge and the crusts she has have expired. Um…there’s nothing but Walgreens open on Christmas day and they don’t sell pie crusts. I can make them from scratch, but you need shortening for that and well, we didn’t have any of that either. So I opted for graham cracker crusts – not standard at our house for pies, but hey, I can improvise.
With the pumpkin pies done, I began on the pecan pie. Measure the Karo syrup, melt the butter, pour in the butter, look at the recipe again. OHMYGOSH! That was supposed to be 1 cup of sugar, NOT one cup of butter – I only needed 3 tablespoons of butter. Panic, scoop out as much butter as possible and figure hey, this is how great recipes are created. And it’s butter, how bad could that be? So I add the rest of the ingredients, then pour it into the chilled graham cracker crust, only this 9 inch pie plate is either mislabeled or something else because the pie overflows all over the table. So I salvage most of the pie and pour it back into the mixing bowl and try to recreate the crust in a larger pie plate. At this point, it’s just become hysterical and I’m convinced this is going to be the worst pecan pie in history, but I persevere cause that’s what I do.
So the pie is successfully in the reconstructed crust and I throw it in the over. It didn’t much look like pecan pie and it had a rather sticky consistency, but according to my family it was the best pecan pie they’d ever had – although being the smart alecks that they are, they referred to it as the butter pie. I can’t imagine that I can recreate this recipe, but perhaps I’ll give it a try someday.
But as I reflected on this amusing and frustrating experience, I saw the glaring parallel to my writing process. I read something recently where one famous author said that a writer learns to write a book by writing it. To which another author replied that unfortunately writing that book doesn’t prepare you to write the next book. So the fact that I’ve made a million pies didn’t necessarily mean that I could successfully bake another one. Consequently, just because I’ve written books before doesn’t mean that I know what I’m doing when I start on the next book. I generally make one blunder after another while I write my first draft, but at the end of my frustrating and (somewhat) amusing process I end up with a book that hopefully readers will connect with.
So how about you? Ever made a big cooking blunder? Did it come out okay or did you make a big stinky mess?
Happy Thanksgiving and be sure you enter my huge holiday contest.
I am the Queen of Procrastination. There are so many ways to do it! Perhaps worst of all, much of this procrastination can be done in the name of “promo” or “research,” making it so easy to rationalize the time that’s sunk (er, I mean, spent). And that time commitment can be absolutely enormous! In fact, I think between promotion and research, I could make “procrastination” a full-time job!
First and foremost, I know my number one priority is to write the best book I can. But once that book is written, I need to promote it. I need to research the next one. I need to continually work on improving my craft.
Here are some of the ways I engage in “productive procrastination”:
*reading fiction
*reading non-fiction
*browsing google books
*conferences
*Romance Writers of America monthly local chapter meetings
*Specialty groups (mainly historical) chat lists
*Keeping apprised of the state of romance and of technology in publishing
*Critique groups – returning critiques and beta reads that others have done for me
*Mentoring new writers
(2) Social Groups and Promotion
*Group blogs (I’m a member of the Dangerous Women group along with several other Forever authors)
*Guest blogging (how can I say no?)
*Interviews
*Appearances and book signings
*Reader chat groups (for Dangerous Women and others)
*Twitter (you can find me here on Twitter!)
*Facebook (you can find me here on Facebook!)
*Emailing readers
*Snail mailing readers
*Coming up with new ideas for contests and managing them (I'm running a great contest for writers right now over on my Dawn Halliday site!)
*Responding to blogs
*Updating my website, keeping it fresh and current
*Writing groups-the social aspect
*Writing newsletters
All of this is important, right? I do think, in this day and age, most of it is necessary. And sometimes it can be a really fun diversion from the comparative loneliness of writing. But as a writer with a young family, it can be an incredible challenge at times to balance it all. I’m definitely trying, but sometimes I think there needs to be two of me to get it all done!
What are some of the ways YOU procrastinate?
I've just returned from the annual RWA National Conference and it's always so very cool to be surrounded by that many other fans of romance. The literacy signing is exceptionally cool as we get to meet many of you, our readers. We so appreciate your kind words. After a week with fellow romance lovers I'm left wondering what it is that keeps us returning to both reading and writing romance.
You can read about my own strong characters overcoming their own challenges on July 28th when Seduce Me hits bookstores everywhere. Be sure to check out my website, www.RobynDeHart.com for the latest reviews and an excerpt.
Wow...is summer actually here? The weather here certainly wouldn't attest to that! It's cool and gloomy, and it has been for weeks. Here in California, we call it June Gloom, but I wish it would dry up and warm up. Summer is my favorite season, and I want it now!
My first book for Grand Central, A HINT OF WICKED, released on June 1. My kids got out of school on June 5. My son's baseball team had playoffs the week of May 30-June 7. June 7 was my daughter's preschool graduation performance. I'm giving presentations to two different RWA groups on the second weekend of June. I'm at the tail end of a blog tour. My column in my RWA chapter's newsletter was due last night. My critique partner is on a tight deadline and I'm trying to help her. My kids' new school needs about 100 pages of paperwork turned in to them by Wednesday. My mom is in town, and my grandmother is ill. I have edits due on book two by June 20...
See what I mean? I'm suffering from too much to do, too little time. One of my friends just gave me a card that said, "I know 100 languages, but I don't know how to say no in any of them..." So true. I'm so bad at saying no. But I've already said yes, and now I can't renege! I have to get all this stuff done.
I know I'm not the only one who's busy. Almost everyone I know is in the midst of a million things to do. It seems that being over-extended is a common ailment in this day and age.
I'm looking forward to June 20. I'll turn in my edits, and then I'll have a few days to recover & enjoy summer before I'm on to the next thing. And hopefully this June Gloom will have disappeared...
What about you? Are you busy too? How do you manage it so that you find some time to enjoy life in the midst of all the craziness?
Jennifer
www.jenniferhaymore.com
Form-letter rejection.
Rejection with personal note.
Rejection with offer to revise and resubmit.
Request for partial.
Request for full manuscript.
Rejection.
Start over.
Request for full manuscript.
Rewrite manuscript.
Offer on manuscript.
Multi-page revision letter.
Book is produced and published.
Start on second book.
Get better offer, with better terms and more money.
Reviews come in for first book. They’re mixed—good and awful.
Six months to write second book, wondering if the awful reviews were right and you really have no talent.
Turn in second book. Goes to production and is published.
Orders are better.
Start on third book.
Offer for third book in a multi-book deal.
Reviews come in for second book. Fewer awful ones. Some really good ones. Maybe you can do this after all.
Am I having a career now?
Back to third book. Screw the reviews—it’s the writing that really matters.
Shelley
http://www.shelleyadina.com
I’m Jennifer Haymore, a brand new Grand Central author, and I’m way beyond excited to be here! My first book from Grand Central will be releasing in just a few weeks!
A HINT OF WICKED is the story of Sophie, the Duchess of Calton, who loses her beloved husband at the battle of Waterloo. Pregnant and alone, she picks up the pieces and learns to be independent and strong, and years later, she falls in love again. A few months into her second marriage, her first husband returns. Both men want her; she’s in love with both. It’s a tangle of emotions and passions complicated by a sinister threat to all their lives.
The heroine of A HINT OF WICKED, Sophie, is a mother—and for the years preceding the opening of the book, she was a single mother. Sophie’s daughter and stepson significantly affect the decisions she makes. In fact, one of the pivotal questions in the book for Sophie is whether it will be best to raise her daughter with the family she’s known all her life, or with her biological father whom she’s never known.
Kind of reminds me of my own life, and how my kids are behind all the decisions I make, throughout my day, every day...and night. Cast in point: I was up late last night, and I abruptly woke up late this morning from a nightmare about my kids starving at school. I ran downstairs, and not only did I find their lunches sitting untouched in the fridge, I discovered they’d gone to school without their homework. Gah! I was furious (and my husband can attest to that fact after the fuming phone call he received from me at 8:06 a.m.). Seriously, without mothers fretting about lunches and homework and the like, there would be a lot of starving kids and angry teachers in this world!
Grand Central just sent me a boxful of copies of A HINT OF WICKED. To celebrate receiving final copies of the book, and Mother’s Day, I’m giving away a new copy of A HINT OF WICKED to someone who signs up to receive a set of freebies (free promotional items from me and five other authors). You can find more info about this contest at my blog, and if you’re too late for the book contest, you can still sign up for a packet of freebies here.
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY, EVERYONE!