Acting Out Wraps!
Published January 17th, 2012 | 
This weekend saw a completed draft of Acting Out, the follow-up novel to No Apologies.
I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect when I set about giving you a little more of Aaron and Greg while creating two new characters and telling their intimate story. I couldn’t be happier with the result, and hope to get a finalized draft to my editor in the next week.
In the meantime, I thought I’d share the playlist for the novel. You can find the songs and playlist on iTunes here, or visit YouTube and give them a listen. They’ll give you a pretty good feel for Jeremy and Kit’s story.
All the Right Moves by One Republic (How Jeremy views Kit when they first meet.)
City of Blinding Lights by U2 (Jeremy)
Crooked Teeth by Death Cab for Cutie (Kit)
Fix You by Coldplay (Kit to Jeremy)
Look What You’ve Done by Jet (Jeremy to Kit)
Run by Collective Soul (Kit)
Scar Tissue by Red Hot Chili Peppers (Jeremy)
The Scientist by Coldplay (Kit to Jeremy)
Show Me What I’m Looking For by Carolina Liar (Kit to Jeremy)
Stop and Stare by One Republic (Kit)
Straight Away by Mat Kearney (Jeremy to Kit)
Under the Bridge by Red Hot Chili Peppers (Jeremy)
No Apologies is going to print!
Published January 13th, 2012 | Loose Id contacted me with my cover flat today. I can’t believe I’m actually going to hold No Apologies in my hands soon!
I don’t have a release date yet, but rest assured I’ll shout it from the rooftops as soon as I have an inkling.
Now, to figure out how to market a print book… As soon as I finish writing Acting Out this weekend.
Suddenly it feels as if I have six jobs instead of two. I guess I’ll be really really busy for the foreseeable future. But, hey, I don’t mind. It’s the best kind of busy in the world!
Undercover Lover’s cover EXPOSED!
Published January 6th, 2012 | It’s official! Undercover Lover has a hot, Hot, HOT cover!
If I could draw Gunter, I couldn’t find a better model than “Sam” and I know I couldn’t get a better Ellora’s Cave cover artist than the wonderful Syneca.
Trust me when I say I could (and might) lick my computer monitor.
Without further ado…here’s the cover for the follow up novel to Sheet Music, from Ellora’s Cave’s Breathless Line, Undercover Lover!
(Click on the photo to see a larger graphic.)
Well, I feel like they’re talkin’ in a language I don’t speak…*
Published November 26th, 2011 | I’ve done a heavy amount editing to Undercover Loverover the past week in an attempt to get Gunter’s voice (accent, dialect, cadence) down on the page, and along the way I discovered a few tricks:
1) Listen to a YouTube videos from the region/country from which your character hails, then edit your prose to match. You’ll pick up on the rhythm of the speech and some of the colloquialisms which will help your character sound authentic.
2) Have someone from the region/country beta read your prose. They will not only be able to give helpful hints on dialect and colloquialisms, but also be able to tell you when your character says something strange. (For instance, outside of Boston, you rarely hear someone in the US say “wicked” as in “Wicked cool!” From a southerner, this phrase would seem off.)
3) Try Wikipedia. There’s an amazing array of dialect information on Wikipedia. Also, remember to scroll to the bottom of the entries you peruse where there are links to other useful sites. This is how I found #4, below.
4) Use Urbandictionary.com and other online dictionaries to pick up everything from slang to swear words.
Here are a few of the British-English resources I found useful and enjoyable:
The Septic’s Companion: A list of British swear words (non-comprehensive and not listed by region, but fun none-the-less)
Hugh Laurie and Ellen Trade Slang (Not particularly useful, but highly amusing!)
*Blog entry title from Talk, by Coldplay
It’s drafty in here
Published November 20th, 2011 | Finally! I finished up the second draft of Undercover Lover this afternoon and sent it off to a beta reader. I’ve never had a beta reader before–only critique partners. The difference, at least to my mind, is that a critique partner approaches the book as an editor would, while a beta reader approaches a book as a reader would.
While the lines might become blurred in actual execution, the intent for a beta reader is to keep the internal editorial voice off and the enjoyment-o-meter on.
The second draft has proven MUCH more enjoyable to write than the first. I feel as if I really have a story here now. Whereas previously I had a skeleton of a story. Many of the pieces of the mystery/suspense didn’t make it into the book until the second draft. I wonder if most people write mystery/suspense plots this way–with a need for layering in on successive drafts. Or if it’s my inexperience that has necessitated so much extra work.
It’s not that I don’t revise books–I do. I’ve just never had to add quite so much to one before. And I’ve not only added to Undercover Lover over the past three weeks. I’ve also edited the heck out of it. Line by line. While I know it needs more of the same, I’m a lot happier with the prose now than I was previously.
My goal for this book was to prove to myself that even if a manuscript proves difficult to tackle, I can create something I love through an iterative process. I don’t have to set down a draft I adore the first time around. Writing is not magic. With enough feedback, commitment, and willingness to skin my knees, I can come out the other side with a piece of work I can be proud of.
Sheet Music and No Apologies each presented their own difficulties. Each book seems to get more difficult, however, not easier. I look back on the relative ease of writing those other two books and shake my head. They seemed so difficult at the time, but so easy in hindsight. I wonder if Undercover Lover will ever strike me this way?
I imagine a couple more drafts will be in order for this book before I’m ready to hand it in to my editor. I hope, pray, and doubt the subsequent revisions will be as extensive. (Please, God, have mercy.) Still, if I need to roll up my sleeves and wrestle this thing to the floor, I will. I swear.
Bookshelf:
