Great Article

So with the tail end of this flu and a general case of exhaustion, I didn't get to my Wednesday post. Meh. Let's face it my schedule idea was always going to face tough opposition from my disorganised self :).

Stopping in to say that if anyone hasn't yet gone to read Kate Cuthbert's guest spot over at the Down Under Divas, please do. It's fantastic, and I agree with Jess Dee that the world needs more Kates. Certainly, the romance genre could do with an army of champions like her. She wrote an article that should be read by everyone too. If you've ever hidden your romance cover inside that of another book or acted like somebody else left that M&B novel behind in your house and you simply haven't gotten around to chucking it yet, you'll relate to Kate's thoughts. I only wish I could put it so eloquently myself.

Sami

What is Motivation?

Anyone who hasn't yet seen Maya Banks' frank Q&A session at Dear Author should check it out. It's fascinating reading, and all kudos to Maya for willing to open up about her financial stats, which are MASSIVE by the way. 600k per year massive, which has my mind absolutely reeling.

Maya assures all aspiring bestsellers that she’s not special. Anyone willing to put in the time and effort can achieve her level of success, i.e. her income. She’s probably right. If you want to achieve a good income from writing just use how many hours she puts in, the type of books she writes, as a template and go for your life. You might just do it.

This all got me thinking about motivation. Where does it come from? What makes a writer, write?

Maya states frankly in the Q&A that she’s motivated by money. In that endeavour she’s succeeded ten times over. All kudos to her. But me? I’ve never been motivated by cash. The most I’ve ever dreamt of having is enough to give up my day job to write full time, because I love to write and want to do it as often as I can. Maya calls herself a ‘one draft writer’, who tweaks as she goes but doesn’t indulge in manuscript overhauls. She writes it: she sells it. That’s it. But a big part of what I love about writing is the quest for perfection, which can only be achieved, at least for me, through much navel gazing and copious manuscript rewrites.

Oh I know, there’s no such thing as perfect. All perfectionists know this, yet they persist in the pursuit of it for reasons even they don't understand. I write because I'm looking for something I can't identify until I’ve found it. That perfect word, the best possible sentence structure, the scene that shows every emotion without me having to tell anything. I want to know my characters inside out and by extension comprehend a little more about human psychology. I can’t achieve this depth of understanding on the first draft, which for me leaves the book feeling unfinished. I couldn’t submit anything that felt unfinished, I don’t think it’s in me (Geez even this blog got 2 drafts :)).

I know, this all sounds very lofty for someone who’s ‘just a romance writer’, one who pens dirty books at that. I’m not trying to sound self important, merely trying to understand and explain myself, much in the way I try to understand and explain my characters. I write because I love it, and I love it precisely because it is difficult (which incidently is also the reason I hate it at least three times a week. Oh yeah I’m messed up). If anyone could do it what would be so darned special about it? I write romance in particular not because it sells, but because it provides the best opportunity to delve into the full gamut of human emotions from euphoria to despair, and still lets you give your characters a happy ending. I write the ‘dirty’ books because so much of human emotion rises to the surface before, during or after sex, which makes it very fertile ground for the likes of me.

None of this is to say I wouldn’t like to make more money from my writing, I would. But I’m not jealous of Maya’s earning figures. Like I said, all I’ve ever wanted is enough to make writing my full-time job. That’s the dream, but it’s a catch 22. The time to write is hard to find when you do have a day job and a family underfoot, and giving up that regular income is not an option until you make enough from writing to replace it. 600k per year is not something I envisage ever making, not at my writing speed. Even a tenth of that would be nice, but it’s still a long way off.

In the meantime I’m going to keep plugging away at my love/hate relationship with writing while trying to produce more books than I have been. My kids are getting older and don’t need the kind of constant attention they once did. The motivation that crumbled away for me a couple of years ago is back. I want to write again. I'm not forcing out every painful word like I'm passing a gall stone. Time and energy are still at a premium but I’m working on that. I’m confident for the first time in a while that I will have more books coming out in future.

Books that will be as perfect as I can make them, even if it takes five drafts.

So what's your motivation? Whatever it is, I wish you an abundance of it this week.

Sami

Is the Internet Making me Stupid?

Dear Hubby printed out an article for me, entitled, How the internet makes us stupid. What was he trying to say?? Should I be insulted?

If I got my back up every time hubby tried to ‘help’ me, I’d be annoyed a lot more often than I already am. Then they'd probably lock me up. So with open mind I sat down to read this article, based on the book by Nicholas Carr called The Shallows: How the Internet is Changing the Way We Think, Read and Remember. And it gave me a lot to think about… and read and, ah, remember. If I’m still capable of these things—keep reading and I’ll explain.

The book posits several theories. For eg: people who read text studded with links comprehend less than those who read printed pages (did you visit the link to Nicholas Carr's website or what?). As media presentations get more complex and visually interesting, less cogent information is ingested by the very people these presentations are meant to engage. Constant distractions from emails and other short message types has diminished our capacity to concentrate for long periods of time. Our brains are always searching for more stimulation, because we have trained them to expect distractions, to absorb shorter and shorter bursts of information (hello twitter) and as a result only contemplate this information on a shallow level. And here’s the kicker for the struggling author. People who juggle many tasks are often LESS CREATIVE AND LESS PRODUCTIVE than those who stick to one thing at a time.

Oh dear.

All these months I’ve been attributing my slump in creativity, my inability to complete what I begin to the demands of motherhood, the need to balance them with work and the general household crap. Could it be less to do with those things than the fact the internet has turned my brain to something with the consistency and mental stamina of a plate of pureed pumpkin? I’ve tried the whole ‘turn off the internet during writing time’ thing, but my concentration span is still minimal, even when the kids are out of the picture. I crave the interuption of email, the background noise of Dr Phil’s Texan wisdom, anything that will provide me with an excuse to leave the mental struggle that is forming a pretty sentence. I figured it was a pregnancy brain thing (okay so Cherub is two, but I thought it was a really long hangover). Perhaps I was wrong. Could it be that the Internet is making me stupid? And if so, what can I do about it?

I have no answers today, but this is something I’m going to be looking into, with a view to understanding it on a deeper level. A more than 120 characters long level. An uninterupted by pop ups, You Tube links and IM notifications level.

There will be more on this in future.

Sami

What the Eff is a Fantod?

Word of the Day for Sunday, August 8, 2010



fantod \FAN-tod\, noun:


1. A state of extreme nervousness or restlessness (usually expressed in the plural.)


2. A sudden outpouring of anger, outrage, or a similar intense emotion.

Next time I have to yell at the kidlets for fighting, I'm gonna use it.

"Stop hitting your sister, I'm about to have a fantod!"

Sami

Wasn't She Beautiful?

"I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best."

— Marilyn Monroe

 

A really smart quote from someone who was generally considered ditzy. I've always loved this particular picture. It conveys that unique mixture of innocence and sexuality that's associated with Marilyn.

 

RIP June 1, 1926 – August 5, 1962.

 

BTW, found this interesting piece of info from snopes, debunking the urban legend that Marilyn was a size 16 dress. There goes that justification for the second piece of cake.

http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/mmdress.asp
 
Sami

Now That's Conflict

An Irish couple with a child have recently discovered they are actually half brother and sister.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/1061681/couple-with-son-discover-they-are-siblings. OMG! Now how would you write your way out of that conflict people?

Sami

Blame the Dog

This is a bit how I feel after working on a book only to find out it's not working;

"An 86-year-old UK man who spent eight years working on a massive jigsaw puzzle has been horrified to discover a single piece is missing.

After scouring the house to find the piece, Mr Harris's family contacted the puzzle company to try and obtain a spare, only to be told the jigsaw had been taken out of production.

The family fear the missing piece has been thrown away by mistake or eaten by one of Mr Harris's pet dogs." source

I could use that in future... sorry my manuscript sucks Ms. Editor, but the dog ate my premise.

Sami

The Editor's Job

Anyone who's interested in seeing how the editing process goes will get a lot from Anne Scott's blog post on the ins and outs of her job as an editor for Samhain Publishing. Yes, she is my editor, and a fantastically intelligent and clever person too (she has after all contracted several of my masterpieces, so clearly she knows what she's doing).

To completely digress, check out this place. Man, could I get some writing done there. All I've managed to accomplish this weekend is to make some low fat blueberry muffins that vagely resemble those rock cakes that they made you cook in high school. Hope they taste a bit better than that.

Sami

Wanker Extroadinairre

For anyone who hasn't seen it, some full of himself nitwitt wrote a thoroughly uninformed article that purported romance novels were responsible for the downfall of love and real romance, or some such bullshit. You know, he called them porn for women (wow, that's original), said they were badly written and soulless etc. based on a few he checked out of his local library and read with a critical eye. Ho hum. You can read it if you want, but honestly I wouldn't give the pompous, mentally deficient windbag any more attention than he deserves. Loooo---ser.

What is interesting is Smart Bitch Sarah Wendall's thought provoking, well informed reply. Good ammo for anyone who still likes to argue with the imbecilic blockheads who decide to judge our beloved genre on the basis of one M&B they read back in 1981. There's a good follow up piece at Dear Author on morality in romance if you're still interested and like to fiddle fart around instead of writing, like I do.

Not long til Chrissie and today I'm madly baking. This will no doubt be followed by some voracious eating.

Sami