Congratulations to Edie’s winner…Viki!!

Today it is my pleasure to have my friend (and very talented author) Edie Ramer as my guest.  Edie and I met online several years ago, and I had the pleasure to finally meet her in person at the RWA Convention in Orlando.  She’s a great writers, a truly fab lady, and a woman who has some advice to give today!  (She will also be giving away a free download of her new release, CATTITUDE, to one commenter–very cool!)

How to keep your brains from melting

First, I want to thank Cynthia for having me as her guest.  I admire her so much.  She has a child and a husband, she writes multiple books a year, plus she has copy edits and a zillion other things that come with the job.  Yet she does guest blogs and interviews and goes to conferences.  And when I go on Facebook and Twitter, I see her many comments and retweets, etc., much more than I do.

And she does all of this without her head spinning off.  Or exploding.  Or melting into a puddle on her office floor, screaming, “No more!  I can’t do any more!”  (Not her head or her body melting; just her brains.)

That’s the point where I am now, one task away from my brains melting.  I’m writing this on Friday, and by the time the post is up I should have my energy back.  I’m burned out and had to take the evening off, though I haven’t accomplished more than a fraction of what I’d planned.  So what I’m going to do is get tough with myself.

Someone’s got to do it.  I used to write first thing in the morning, but somehow my email and blog reading became more important.  Assigning myself pages doesn’t work, because I cheat.  When I get stuck, I start peeking at the internet, telling myself “just this one email” or “just this one blog post.”  Which of course leads to another email and another post and another cute cat video.

Taking a break is sometimes valid, because in the past I’ve plowed through scenes even when they weren’t working, which put me on the wrong track and ended in a lot of deleting and teeth gnashing and whining.

Other times I have computer brain, aka rabbit brain.  It’s become the norm for me to hop back and forth on blogs and emails and other places.  My mind isn’t used to focusing for too long, and after a short time of serious writing, I have a hard time concentrating.  No wonder I’ve thought lately that I might have adult ADD.

I’ve decided to set a time limit instead of a page limit.  Every weekday morning, I’ll work on writing new pages or revisions or whatever needs to be done before I open up my email.  No excuses!  Not even glancing at my email to see if anything important came in overnight.

I’ll do this for one hour.  One lousy hour.  Or one FABULOUS hour.

Later in the day, I’ll do another hour.  Once I get into the internet, it’s like opening up Pandora’s Box, and all the “must write, must revise” tasks become less important than the latest news on Twitter and J.A. Konrath’s latest blog.  But I’ll figure out a way to do it, because writing and revising and finishing my books are more important than any of that.

I’m making it my priority.  I have to.  I’m afraid if I don’t my brains will melt.

What are your priorities?

Edie Ramer
http://edieramer.com
http://twitter.com/edieramer
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=747112424

And don’t forget to check out Edie’s new release, CATTITUDE!

It’s all in the CATTITUDE . . .

After Belle the cat switches bodies with a psychic on the run from a murderer, she wants her perfect cat body back instead of this furless human one. But she doesn’t count on falling in love with her former owner. Or that a CEO and a beauty queen want to use up her nine lives. Now is her chance to prove anything a human can do, a cat can do better.

Hi, everyone! Score–it’s the weekend!! And I sure hope you have a great weekend.

I finished the rough draft of my second Fallen Angel book yesterday, and I’m scheduled to begin my edits/clean-up process on the manuscript tomorrow. That means today is an off day, or, as I like to think of it, reading party time!

I wanted to check-in and let folks know what’s happening with me.

First up, I am very excited to announce that I have joined the Magical Musings ladies at their blog.  Hurry over–we are having a big party as all the new blog members are welcomed! Lots of giveaways!

I have a new story that will release in just over a week. THE NAUGHTY LIST is a sensual holiday anthology that I sure hope you will enjoy.  But, please, don’t expect to read about vampires or shifters in this book. My contribution is a sexy Santa Claus this time.  Okay, a sexy cop dressed as Santa.  The story was such fun to write!  A nice change of pace for me, and one that very much put me in the holiday spirit (I wrote it last November so it was the perfect time to write the tale).

I also have the release of another Night Watch book—ETERNAL FLAME will release on November 30.  This is Zane’s story–ah, Zane.  A dark character, but a fun guy.  🙂  I think I’ll play around this weekend and see if I can do a trailer for his book.

And, of course, the month of October is almost here. One of my favorite months.  So, like last year, I decided to have a giant Halloween party here on the blog. I’m making the plans now and inviting lots of authors to come by and guest post. There will be prizes, ghost stories, and even Halloween decoration tips.  A month-long Halloween party–how could that not excite me? I am such a Halloween fanatic!

Enjoy your weekend!!

Update:  Kelly’s winner is…Kate! Congratulations, Kate! And thanks for all the comments!

Hi, everyone! Today it is my pleasure to have fabulous author Kelly L. Stone as my guest.  I love Kelly–her books are incredibly helpful guides for writers. If you want to write, you should definitely read her work. She sure helped me find more time to write.  Welcome, Kelly!

All writers face it—Resistance to writing. The time you had scheduled to write rolls around and conditions are perfect—you have two free hours at your disposal to do nothing but write. But gosh darn it, you just don’t feel like it. You wrote yesterday. Isn’t that enough? Suddenly the doorbell rings; the UPS guy is at the door! You leap from your desk, grateful to get pulled away from that blank page. Or the cheerleader coach calls—the parent who was supposed to cover the pep rally is in bed with flu. Can you fill in? And then there’s that sink full of dirty dishes fairly screaming at you.

Suddenly your good angel taps you on the shoulder. “You are supposed to be writing,” she whispers. “You have two hours before you even have to think about doing any of those other things.” She points to that goal chart hanging behind your computer that says you will finish your book in four weeks. Just how is that sucker going to get written? By osmosis?

One of the critical distinctions writers need to make is between a true distraction and when you are simply resisting getting to your desk. A true distraction is one that demands your attention—a sick child or pet, your own illness, a broken water pipe inside the house, or some other unexpected situation that is time sensitive.

Resistance is a tempting but not-time-sensitive task that lures you away from actual writing—the laundry, the dishes, email, surfing the internet, mowing the lawn, *conducting research*, and so on. Resistance to writing manipulates you into allowing general distractions to interfere with your work.

The key to dealing with resistance is to manage your thoughts. One way to do this is to utilize a pre-planned replacement thought when resistance rears its head. For instance, when you find yourself resisting writing, create a pre-planned statement to say to yourself. It can be something like, “Writers write. This is my scheduled writing time. I can do the laundry/dishes/check email/conduct research later.”

You can also practice changing your thoughts to manage your behavior. Start out by thinking of your goal as if it were already a reality, such as “I write three pages every day” or “I keep my early morning writing schedule regularly” or “I am a published author.” Then, act! Write the three pages, keep your writing schedule, send your work out so that it has a chance at publication. The more you practice managing your thoughts, the more your behavior will be goal-driven and the less Resistance will have a stranglehold on your writing.

Question for comments: How do you overcome resistance to writing? One random person will win a free copy of the LIVING WRITE, hot off the presses!

BIO: Kelly L Stone (www.AuthorKellyLStone.com) is the author of the TIME TO WRITE series, a set of motivational books for writers. The 3rd book in the series, LIVING WRITE: The Secret to Bringing Your Craft Into Your Daily Life (Adams Media) will be released September 18, 2010.

Then Borders Romance Buyer Sue Grimshaw has some recommendations for you! (And–sweet!–one of those covers looks familiar…)

Hi, everyone!  Just wanted to check-in quickly.  I’m working feverishly (really!) on my current WIP. My deadline is October 1,  and I am racing toward the end of the story. If you’d like to learn more about this story, head over to the Danger Women Writing Blog.  I posted some teaser info there.

Some news:  DEADLY FEAR was named as a Fresh Pick by Fresh Fiction (thank you!), and I was also notified that DEADLY FEAR had won a Coffee Time Reviewer’s Recommend Award (CTRR)–thank you to Matilda and all the great folks at Coffee Time!