Eden Bradley's signing at Hustler

I went with my friend, Eden Bradley, to the Hustler store in West Hollywood. She was participating in a reading series called In The Flesh which helps to raise money for victims of incest and rape. Eden read from her upcoming book, 21st Century Courtesan. Let's just say it was spicy though the theme was sex in adolescence.

The event was fun and I think Eden had the most fans present. Our LARA friends came out in a big group to support her. It was funny because some excerpts were really funny and about that awkwardness of childhood and some excerpts were more about the emotional part of the sexual experience.

Eden has a very vivid writing style, so as I listened to her read, I could distinctly see the time and place in my head, who Valentine (Eden's character) was at this age in her life and how she felt about her first sexual experience as well as how she feels about her current sexual experience with the hero.

Reading Eden's other book, Exotica (which is fabulous by the way--shameless plug), and listening to the excerpt from this book made me think a lot about my own writing style. They say love is in the details and I think in Eden's books, this is correct.

My strength is dialogue. I love witty banter and innuendo between a hero and heroine. That's where I tend to shine. However, my description of the setting needs work. I tend to write bare bones in a first draft and though Belle Scarlett, my critique partner, tends to help me flesh things out and put more in, it's something I have to consciously think about. Dialogue tends to flow out naturally from me. I don't think too much about it.

And, yet, now that I've read what good description is and what good characterization is, it's shifted something in my perspective. I look at what I've written differently. I find I want to be better. A better writer. A better storyteller. I want to weave a deep connection between my hero, heroine, and reader.

As a kid, I read Alex Haley's Queen. It was one of the best books I'd ever written (no offense to Jane Austen and Shakespeare, my favorites). The thing about Queen is that the language is beautiful. Vivid. Lyrical. It takes you places. Some places you want to go and some places that live in the nightmares of millions of people. I loved it. I hated certain characters. I laughed and I cried and I lived the experience of the book. And, it was more than just being a biracial girl reading about another biracial girl's experience. What I think drew me was the perfection of the storytelling. Now, Queen was not complete when Hailey died, so another person had to finish the book, so I don't know how much was Hailey and how much was David Stevens. But, the story is alive. The words are alive. They touch something deep inside, so that you're not quite the same when the story is over. Queen lives in me.

In a different way, Eden's book, Exotica, did that for me. Reading the book changed me. And, at a time when I needed to be changed. I needed to see the power of words. The simple power of what happens when you read the story of a sexual journey and when the characters grow, you grow as well.

I had intended to write this funny post about the Hustler signing and winning a very interesting goodie bag during a raffle after the reading, but as I started typing, a deeper story emerged. See how I've changed? :)

Fun addictions

Okay, so I have to say that I am addicted to watching Xena Ares videos on YouTube (see the post from last month). I just can't seem to stop myself. And, even though I've already seen probably 25 or more, I am still finding different ones to amuse me. And, then of course, there are my favorite videos that I like to re-watch.

I've been thinking about whether to get NetFlix so I can watch the rest of the seasons of Xena that I missed. Apparently, you can watch them online as well as getting them in the mail. I want to do that, but I know if I have the ability to watch them online, I'll be glued to the screen for days.

A few years ago, I decided to catch up on the last two seasons of Angel. They jumped the shark when they brought his son back as an eighteen year-old. I just couldn't get with it, so I stopped watching. Anyway, I finally decided to watch them and I rented seasons 4 and 5 from my video store. So each day, I was sitting through four hours of Angel episodes. Totally crazy. But, once I watched one, I had to watch another. And another. Kind of like potato chips. You can't eat just one. And, potato chips are my weakness.

So, my idea of restraint is spending a couple of hours watching Xena music videos on YouTube instead of renting the actual episodes and watching them. Help! Do I need an intervention? Or, maybe just a Xena Ares IV? You can hook it right up to my brain and it will be all Xena all the time!

Heaven.

Pleasant Surprises

So, today was one of those days where you go from low low to high high. I had just returned from a trip to New England and had a minor injury on the plane so I spent most of the day at the Emergency Room of a local hospital. I bumped my head while boarding the plane yesterday and after a couple of hours, I realized it wasn't just a casual knock on the head. It turned out that everything was fine and the doctor sent me home with the advice to take some ibuprofen, acetaminophen, and get some rest.

About two hours ago, I decided to check my email again and I realized there was a message regarding a contest I'd entered earlier this year. I am now a finalist and the contest coordinator told me that my entry was "impressive" and that the judges said it was one of the most "seductive, compelling, and well-written" entries. I was totally stoked as Inez Kelly would say!

My bumpy morning turned out to be a terrific evening. And, the best part is that the sexual tension scene I submitted to the contest will now be passed on to two senior editors at a couple of big epublishers and if they like it, I can get this book sold and published! Or, should I say published and sold? I love knowing that this time next year, the book could be for sale online.

My excited ramble has come to an end, but the hope and joyful anticipation live on...

A song for a character

I'm up later than usual tonight. I decided to make a soundtrack for my current WIP. I've always liked to listen to mood music when I write. When I was younger, I tended to pop in the Corrs first album, Forgiven Not Forgotten, or Sarah McLachlan's Surfacing Album. It wasn't until a few years ago when I was reading a book called Plot & Structure that I had ever heard of anyone actually making a "soundtrack" to a novel. The author calls it a brainstorming tool.

While writing my last book, I did create a soundtrack and discovered I could still write well to pop and R&B songs. So, this time, I went through my CD and itunes library and picked out several songs, but I got inspired to give each character a playlist and make a special folder just for this novel in my itunes library. It was interesting to do because I realized each character had a mood. One of my suspects is into early jazz (Dinah Washington, Billie Holiday) and her songs are moody and melancholic. All of her songs feature lost love, wrong love, or unrequited love.

Both my hero, Sebastian, and the victim in this book both favor pop. Their songs are overtly sensual and in-your-face. Sebastian favors Usher and Justin Timberlake while the victim favors Fergie. My heroine likes Natalie Imbruglia's first album.

I had never before considered having songs for each character. But, I find that now that I've thought about it, I like it. There is a sense of individuality in the songs, something which I hope will come through in the writing.

Do you pick certain CDs or songs for your novels? And, do certain songs specifically reflect a character or do they tend to reflect on the relationship or the tone of the novel as a whole?

Ode to Ares (and Xena)

So, last weekend, I was trying to think of characters for a new story idea. I wanted to pick actors or models who looked liked my protagonists and I was having a hard time picking a face for the lead male. Finally, I thought of Kevin Tod Smith, the actor who played Ares on Xena: Warrior Princess. I was a big fan of the show, though I sadly never saw the last couple of seasons.

As I was searching online, I found a few tribute sites (Kevin passed away in 2002). Then, I stumbled on something I'd never seen before: a series of tribute videos on YouTube. The first video I found was by far one of the best:



Another good one actually shows the characters talking and the music is great. The only thing that annoys me about this is the subtitles. But the rest of it is beautiful, so I'll overlook it. The creator did not want the videos to be embedded in other websites, so here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxJZ8MO26uI

This one is much more fun. And, it shows the juicy parts. Obviously, I missed a lot in those last seasons of Xena!!



Early on in the show, I had postulated that Ares was really in love with Xena and I was happy to see from these tribute videos that the show did finally reveal that and that other viewers were as crazy about Xena and Ares as I was.

So, this is my tribute to Kevin Smith. My Ares and the model for one of my new heroes.

May he live on forever...

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?