Procrastination

If procrastination were a science, then I'd probably have an M.S. in it. I'm the person who procrastinates on doing the laundry--sometimes there's hand-washing or shopping involved. I procrastinate on cleaning my room (I delay almost anything to do with chores).

When working on a story, I fiddle, I fidget, I surf, I wear myself out. I eventually get something written and I have weird periods of intense production, but when I'm working my way through a plot, I take the long, meandering, scenic route.

I wish I had the discipline the way Nora Roberts (or substitute famous author name) does. I think she once said that she writes every day at 9am and whether she's inspired or not, she's sitting there at 9am, ready to type. Me, I'll say, "Oh, I'm going to work on my book today," and then I'll sit and I'll do "research". I'll play games online. I'll fret about work. I'll email. I'll think of the cleaning that I've been avoiding for the past two weeks...

Thankfully, the writing is more motivating than the cleaning. I'd rather continue to procrastinate on tidying up than procrastinating on writing my book. I just wish procrastination wasn't so tempting.

I'm getting better as far as writing. Romance Diva's chatroom helps a lot with this as I can pretend I'm procrastinating and actually go in and get some writing done. Maybe that's the trick? Tell my procrastinating mind that I'm really just going to have fun, avert boredom, be silly or chat for a few minutes and then I actually use the time to get a few pages done?

Hmmm....I wonder if that would work with getting the bathroom done...Nah. When has scrubbing toilets ever been fun?

Nothing to Write About

I come into this blog intending to write brilliant or at least remotely interesting topics. Today, I'm drawing a blank. So, I figured maybe it's time to explore what happens when you have nothing to write about.

Do you ever just get stuck sitting in front of the computer, pad and pencil, or--god forbid--the typewriter? You know you have to write something but you just can't do anything but stare at the blank page?

Sometimes, I want to write and I look at the screen and think, "I have nothing to say." Other times, it is more that I have a lot to say and I have nowhere to begin.

What do you do when nothing comes to mind?

(On a silly side note, this reminds me of the end of the movie Ghostbusters. For anyone who actually remembers this 80's icon & relic, there's a scene where the ghostbusters are confronted by a being who will bring to life whatever is on their mind. So, they all decide to think of nothing. Except for Dan Aykroyd, who thinks of the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man.)

So to end this ramble about nothing, please share your thoughts about what you do when you can't think of anything to write?

Do Your Heroines Resemble You or Anyone You Know?

When I first started writing romance in the eighth grade or so, I generally chose dark-haired heroines. I had a thing about making a blond heroine the star of the books. I also tended to write about tall heroines (I'm a 5'8" brunette). Today, I write heroines of differing hair colors and heights, but I wonder if there is a natural tendency to write heroines that look like us or maybe even a sister or close friend.

While I do sometimes pick actresses or models who resemble my character, I haven't yet made a character look like a friend. However, there is one particular story that I plan to write eventually in which I will base the look off of a girl I've seen who works at a local bookstore. I just noticed one day that she had beautiful features and looked like what I want my heroine to look like. Interestingly, a friend of my mom's looks a lot like this character and like an older version of the girl in the bookstore. But, these things kind of came to me after I already had the character in mind.

So, do your characters look like you? Or, someone you know?