Readers Have Expectations

That's just the reality of it. When a reader likes an author they don't ever walk into a bookstore or browse at Amazon thinking "I really hope one of my favorite authors has changed the way he/she writes or the things that she writes about. That would be really awesome!" At least none of the readers that I know.

When I pick up a Janet Evanovich book, I expect wacky craziness filled with humor, Jennifer Crusie is witty and has excellent dialogue, Karen Robards has mild suspense and H O T sex. These are the things that I expect from these writers. Is it wrong to have such expectations? I don't think so. I think that's why Nora Roberts doesn't write murder and mystery under Nora Roberts. She writes it under J.D. Robb. I think distinguishing between what you're writing to your readers is very important.

Having said that, I'm listening to a book (not the one listed on my sidebar) that is by a favorite author and it's just not clicking for me. I keep waiting for the plot to pull me in like it usually does, but it's not happening. I keep waiting for the characters to be fun and interesting and they're not. This has happened to me before with this author and I was hoping it was a one time fluke. I'm beginning to think it's not. I'm beginning to think that this author has lost their stuff and has lost their interest in writing. It makes me sad.

Has an author ever let you down or changed their style so much that you lost interest in their books?

Inquiring minds and all that . . .

Recalling your Character

It's been a while since I've written anything on my WIP. This is due to many unique circumstances and while it probably could have been prevented, I didn't do anything to prevent it. I've let my characters carry on in my head for a long time now without giving them any outlet. They've played their stories through my head and I said I would get to them. Eventually.

Eventually is here now. After months of not writing anything except a grocery list I have decided to take the bull by the horns, quit playing so many Facebook games and get down to the business that is writing. I have an hour (or so) every morning that I have the house to myself before I have to leave for work. I have decided to spend this hour writing. Get in some solid WIP time. I even e-mailed my characters to let them know my intentions. You know what they said? We'll be there. Eventually...

H O W R U D E!!!!

I mean really! Just because you harassed and harangued me for months on end without any getting anywhere, does that mean you get to do this to me???? I don't think so! I created you, you are just a figment of my imagination so damn it get back here!

Fine. Maybe I'll go back to working on Carly & Jack. Who needs Megan & Cole when I have Carly & Jack?? So I left a message with Carly & Jack. Told them I was trying to figure out where their story went wrong. I'm ready to sit down, nose to the grindstone and figure it out. They didn't return my call. Are you beginning to sense a theme here?

So here I sit. Ready to write. Pen in hand. Paper before me. Blank. Please characters, please come back to me. I'm sorry I was bad. I truly am. I have all kinds of excuses, but none that are worthy. I'll be better, I promise. Please please please come back to me. I miss you . . .

Music and Lyrics

Everyone needs their own setting for when they write. I have a friend, who puts on her headphones and writes, anywhere. She says that the music doesn't bother her, in fact it drowns out the rest of the world so she can concentrate. She calls it "white noise". I have heard that other people write in coffee shops, book stores, with music on in the background, with scented candles to help them visualize, you get the idea. Many writers have many different ways of setting "the mood" for writing.

I am one of those writers who needs absolute silence. If I am disturbed by music, noise aka my kids, television, whatever, it completely pulls me out of my head. When I read I can be in the middle of a mosh pit, but when I write I need QUIET.

Having said that, I was in my car the other day and I was listening to 'Against All Odds' by Phil Collins. I LOVE this song. The emotion that this song pulls out of me is intense and amazing. I don't associate this song with any person, place or thing, it's just the music and lyrics. This song makes me think of the terrible heartache that a person could, would feel if the person that they loved more than life itself wasn't available to them. Be it death, divorce or irreconcilable differences for one reason or another you can't be with the person that you love.

...and you coming back to me is against the odds, but that's what I've got to face.
I wish I could just make you turn around, turn around and see me cry
There's so much I need to say to you, so many reasons why, you're the only one who really knew me at all....

And it goes on and on *sniff* gets me every time. I can see the end of Megan's story in this song. Megan and Cole standing at the school where they find her son safe and she's hugging him to her and crying. Cole is standing a distance away from her, watching the scene between mother and son unfold. She stands up holding her son's hand and they walk away with another officer. Back to their lives. And he knows he has to let her go, let her return to the life that she's built with her son.

I get it now. I can see why some writers would use music to help them in their writing. I still couldn't do any actual writing with it playing, but I can see how it helps "set the mood".

Do you have a song that has helped you with a book or a scene?

LSM Monday

I tried in vain to find a picture of Jake Pavelka dressed up (or not) as Tom Cruise from Top Gun. Did anyone else see that fabulous shirtless image??? If not, you missed out. A LOT. So, this is the next best thing I could find . . .


This entire season I've been trying to figure out who he (Jake the Bachelor) reminds me of and I think I've finally figured it out. What do you think?

I Need New Authors

I'm kinda particular about what I like to read. Once I find an author that I like, I read everything they've ever written. Then, I sit around, and wait for them to write something new.

I am in need of new authors. I am asking you to recommend to me some of your favorite authors. I'm going to list the authors that I read regularly and obviously, if your author is one of them, I already know about them. ;)

Here are some of the authors that I read (all the time)

Sue Grafton
Allison Brennan
Janet Evanovich
Jennifer Crusie
Sandra Brown
Nora Roberts
J.D. Robb
Jodi Picoult
Susan Mallery
Patricia Cornwell
J.R. Ward
J.K. Rowling
James Patterson
Maureen Child
Jennifer Lyon
Jennifer Apodaca
Karin Tabke
Natalie Collins
Toni Magee Causey
Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Carly Phillips
Karen Robards
Sarah Strohmeyer
Sara Paretsky
Linda Howard
Iris Johansen
Nicholas Evans
Steve Martini

I'm sure I've left some out, but you get the idea. Romance, Suspense, Mystery, this is what I like. Please help me! I thank you in advance.

Happy Reading!

I have a plan . . . to have a plan . . .

I am writing this post quickly before I run out the door to my temporary full-time job. I have been a big huge slacker lately and need to figure out how to fit everything into my life. I have a plan to sit down and figure out what I WANT to do with my extra time every day. Work on my WIP, write blogs, work on my cross stitch project, etc. So this week I am going to figure it out. At least, that's the plan. :)

Happy Monday to all of you. I hope to be more organized next week!

LSM Monday

My internet has been down for a whole week! ACK! In honor of my return to the internet world, (I know you all missed me, don't lie) ;) I have found a way to keep a good man down.....




Nothing says lovin' like steel shackles. :D

HAPPY MONDAY!

TGIF!!!!!

In honor of this beautiful end of the work week, which has been long and strenuous, I offer up these gifts for all of my internet friends. Happy Friday! May your weekend be long and relaxing.

April Fool's Day

I suck at pranks and I'm gullible, so I try not to play on days like today. However, for all of you who do, have a great day.

In honor of this day, I give you some of the most famous April Fool's Day pranks. Enjoy.

Sidd Finch 1985: Sports Illustrated published a story about a new rookie pitcher who planned to play for the Mets. His name was Sidd Finch, and he could reportedly throw a baseball at 168 mph with pinpoint accuracy. This was 65 mph faster than the previous record. Surprisingly, Sidd Finch had never even played the game before. Instead, he had mastered the "art of the pitch" in a Tibetan monastery under the guidance of the "great poet-saint Lama Milaraspa." Mets fans celebrated their teams' amazing luck at having found such a gifted player, and Sports Illustrated was flooded with requests for more information. In reality this legendary player only existed in the imagination of the author of the article, George Plimpton.

The Taco Liberty Bell 1996: The Taco Bell Corporation announced it had bought the Liberty Bell and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Hundreds of outraged citizens called the National Historic Park in Philadelphia where the bell was housed to express their anger. Their nerves were only calmed when Taco Bell revealed, a few hours later, that it was all a practical joke. The best line of the day came when White House press secretary Mike McCurry was asked about the sale. Thinking on his feet, he responded that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold. It would now be known, he said, as the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial.

The Body of Nessie Found 1972: On March 31 1972, a team of zoologists from Yorkshire's Flamingo Park Zoo, who were at Loch Ness searching for proof of Nessie's existence, found a mysterious carcass floating in the Loch. Initial reports claimed it weighed a ton and a half and was 15 ½ feet long. The zoologists placed the body in a van and began to transport it back to the zoo. However, the police chased down their truck and stopped it under a 1933 act of Parliament prohibiting the removal of "unidentified creatures" from Loch Ness. The body was then taken to nearby Dunfermline for examination. The discovery of the carcass received worldwide media attention. The British press dubbed it "Son of Nessie." But upon examination, Edinburgh scientists identified the creature as a bull elephant seal from the South Atlantic. The next day John Shields, Flamingo Park's education officer, confessed he had been responsible for the body. The bull elephant seal had died the week before at Dudley Zoo. He had shaved off its whiskers, padded its cheeks with stones, and kept it frozen for a week, before dumping it in the Loch and then phoning in a tip to make sure his colleagues found it. He had meant to play an April Fool's prank on his colleagues, but admitted the joke got out of hand when the police chased down their van.

Bombs Away! 1915: On April 1, 1915, in the midst of World War I, a French aviator flew over a German camp and dropped what appeared to be a huge bomb. The German soldiers immediately scattered in all directions, but no explosion followed. After some time, the soldiers crept back and gingerly approached the bomb. They discovered it was actually a large football with a note tied to it that read, "April Fool!"