Thanks to Cynthia for the invitation to be part of her Deadly Days blog. I’m Becky Martinez but I’ve been writing for the past six years under the name of Rebecca Grace. After several years of writing romances I am now specializing in romantic suspense and mystery. My newest book, DEADLY MESSAGES, was released in February by The Wild Rose Press.

As I tell everyone when they ask why I moved from romance to suspense, well, the truth is I just had to do it. While I love writing and reading romances, dead bodies kept turning up in my newer stories so I just had to switch directions. I’ve always loved those older gothic suspense novels where the hero is some dark, mysterious guy who is harboring all sorts of secrets. And I’m not talking paranormal or vampires here, I’m talking about those brooding heroes—like Heathcliff or Maxim de Winter of REBECCA. But then again, I also love those straight, fearless but protective guys who believe in absolute justice and always want to do the right thing.

That second type of character is the sort I chose for DEADLY MESSAGES. Inspector Mitch Weldon is a buttoned-down guy who comes from a family of law enforcement officers and he thinks logically. He has to—in order to track down the bad guys. Then he gets a dose of Connie Romero, who is bound and determined to track down her sister’s killer, even if it means putting her own life in danger. That’s another favorite of mine from Gothics—the feisty heroine who is willing to do anything to get at the truth. I had a lot of fun coming up with these two characters and putting them into harm’s way—both romantically and physically.

People are always asking me how I keep a writing schedule, even during the dog days of summer when I would much rather be wandering around the Rocky Mountains, which are about a ten minute drive from my home against the foothills of Denver and very visible from my backyard. It can be tough, but I go back to some of the lessons I constantly keep learning from some of my favorite authors.

When I get in the doldrums and think of excuses not to write, I make myself think of prolific professionals and how they get through these tough periods. Probably one of my favorite calls back to duty comes from the great Nora Roberts. I recall her saying at a Romance Writers of America conference years ago, “If you are a writer, you write. It’s your job!”

Gee, I wouldn’t ignore my job just because I want to go play in the mountains. I might take a day off, and sometimes that is a good way to get myself re-energized. But I can’t use all the various excuses to keep from writing. This spring I heard best-selling author Stephen Cannell say much the same thing. Years ago he established himself as a TV screenplay writer with programs like “The Rockford Files” and “The A-Team.” He told us that as a result of those hectic days when he had to crank out script after script that he set a writing habit of writing for several hours every single morning. He still follows that rule all these years later, even when he’s on the road or there are other things he’d rather be doing.

Other professionals agree. If you want to write, you have to make it a regular habit or you’ll see the summer pass and have nothing to show but tan lines and perhaps a few pounds gained from all those barbeques.

One proven way to keep going that works for me is joining a Book in a Week group. Our local romance writers group does it every month and the idea is to write as much as you can, even if you know you won’t finish an entire book that week. We all keep each other motivated as we announce how many pages we get written or edited. By the end of the week those pages can really add up. The accountability (and not wanting to be the only person who didn’t write any new pages) pays off for me.

Author Candace Haven, who teaches classes on fast writing a first draft, recommends writing sprints of five to ten minutes. That works too because once I get going I find I can’t quit after five minutes and before long I’ve got a new page or two cranked out.

Best selling author Stuart Woods said at a recent booksigning that he only writes two to three hours a day, but he begins each day by going over his previous day’s pages. That works well too. It gets me back into the story and reminds me of where I want to head.

But finally when the call of getting away is too great, I follow the advice of suspense best seller Harlan Coben and mystery writer John Sandford. Get away from the desk and go out—but take a notebook with you! I heard Coben say in a recent NBC interview that he writes all his books in long hand while he wanders from Starbucks to Starbucks. Sandford told a group at his booksigning in Denver last month that when he runs into a scene that gives him trouble he goes to dinner and takes the pages with him and works it all out. I agree with both those ideas because I’ve found in the past that just sitting in a coffee shop might sound distracting but before long I’ve closed out all the sounds until my focus is on my computer or my notebook and I’m working hard at creating my next book.

That’s all good advice and that’s part of how I keep going too. Now it’s time to get back to the keyboard. I’m working on a sequel to DEADLY MESSAGES, again set in the Northwest, with one of my favorite brooding male characters and a heroine who finds herself left totally on her own. I love the Northwest and there’s another good way to get through the dog days of summer—mix writing and pleasure. There’s nothing quite like taking a trip—for research, of course.

If anyone has any other ideas on how to keep motivated and survive through the dog days of summer writing, I’d love to hear about it. I can always use another tip.

Becky
www.rebeccagrace.com

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 10th, 2010 at 6:00 am and is filed under Romance. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.