Wednesday 28 February 2007

Closing the bedroom door ...

Just been catching up with posts over at Romancing the Blog and was very interested in yesterday's post about 'sexy' and 'sweet' romance. While I know I am most definitely not an erotica writer, I do like to include the consummated love scene(s) in my books. I started to wonder why.

Like most romance authors I know, I fall in love with my heroes. I fall in love with their strength, with their tenderness, with their arrogance, their vulnerability, their very male-ness. And because I fall in love with all that, and so does my heroine, I want to know what he's like in the sack. Is he selfish, is he generous, is he giving, is he rough, is he tender? I want to know all that. And that's why I follow my characters into the bedroom.

I've read wonderful romances where the author has kept the reader firmly out of the action, and I haven't felt cheated in the least. But, for my own writing, I want to go there.

Then I can fall in love with my hero all over again ... sigh ... and know that whatever happens in my characters' lives after I write THE END, they'll still be happily heating up the sheets for long years to come.

TJ ;-)

Monday 26 February 2007

The Two P's

Whew ... just spent the best part of the weekend writing a blurb for my August release with Samhain. You know, I probably could have written a couple of chapters in the time spent on this blurb, but I wanted to get it right as it's such an important selling tool. It's gone off to my editor now, but still not sure I'm happy with it. You see, I suffer from the two P's ... procrastination and perfectionism and I've got this theory that the two are really part of the same whole. Usually when I procrastinate it's because I'm not feeling in the best mindset and deep down scared I'm going to get whatever I'm procrastinating on wrong somehow. This 'P' usually relates to writing and it's all tied up with perfectionism - if I can't do a thing to the best of my ability I'm going to procrastinate until I can at least think I'll do whatever I'm working on justice.

Well, that kind of thinking can be an absolute bitch, especially when it stops me putting finger to keyboard for longer than a day. It's at these times I have to get out my arsenal of writer mantras ... the oft quoted Nora Roberts dictum about being able to improve a page of bad writing, but not being able to fix a blank one. Then there's 'an ounce of practice is worth a ton of theory' (from yogic philosophy) and when I get really desperate and have to pull out the big guns ... 'God never gifts you with a dream without also giving you the ability to make it come true' (from an unknown genius).

Wow ... I feel better already ... now where's that work in progress? ;-)

TJ

Wednesday 21 February 2007

Mystical meanderings ...

Met a friend for lunch today in Glastonbury. I love going there as I have a weakness for all things King Arthur, Camelot, Merlin, Lancelot ... I think it's a very special place and the atmosphere is always quite magical. We visited the Chalice Well Gardens which were very beautiful, uplifting and spiritual. There are little resting places to sit and enjoy the gardens, quiet spaces to meditate and just be. Daffodils and snowdrops were in abundance, and we drank from the healing waters of the well. Scattered throughout the gardens is the Vesica Piscis symbol - a sacred geometrical figure which shows two interlinked circles representing the masculine and the feminine. Researching the Vesica Piscis is a fascinating (and time-consuming) process, as evidenced by time spent on the Internet when I arrived home, when I really should be writing! But then I feel another story idea formulating ...

TJ

Friday 16 February 2007

Things are happening ...

Well, going with the flow seems to have worked, as the energy is definitely shifting around all those invisible barriers I've been facing. Of course, it could be down to the fact I've been working really hard this past week - both at the day job and the dream job (writing)- and as a wise man once said ... "chance favours the prepared mind" (Louis Pasteur) - so I reckon that as long as I keep working and focusing on what I want to achieve, I'm doing okay.

Heard about a fascinating theory this week, courtesy of Dee Carey's blog. The Secret is based on the hidden laws and principles of the universe known by many of the world's great thinkers, scientists, artists and philosophers. Perhaps a bit 'Da Vinci Code' but then I absolutely devour stuff like that. I was one of the people who read the book and saw the film with my mouth dropping open in complete and utter fascination, absorbed and enchanted by the incredible.

TJ

Thursday 8 February 2007

Patience is a virtue?

I'm not great on patience ... like the hurry up and wait syndrome that besets all writers who want their work published. Nor am I great with things that shoot me out of control. Take this morning, we woke up to inches of snow and if there's one thing to send the fear of God into me it's driving on snow (and ice ... yuck). It's because I'm not in control ... the car can skid at any time and there's not much I can do about it except go with the flow. I know, I know, steer into the skid and all that, but my instincts say do the opposite and try and regain control. But if I believe, which I do, that every challenging situation is there to teach us something, what is my lesson here? I think it's learning to just let go. To allow myself to let things that I can't do anything about take care of themselves. Virtually impossible for a control freak like me, but I'll give it a shot.

Loads of things I'm involved in at the moment seem to have invisible barriers between what I want to happen and when and if those things are going to happen at all, and there's not a whole load I can do to influence them.

So, my theme for the week? Go with the flow, baby. And stay positive!

TJ