Motivation...

Lately, it's been a little hard to come by. I took a week off not long ago to do some things with the kids. I should have known better--If I don't stick to a steady writing schedule, I fall behind and it takes me weeks to start writing again. It isn't that I don't want to be writing. I do. It isn't that my characters have stopped talking to me. They haven't. It's just that I've suddenly found so many more things I'd rather be doing. Like vegging on the couch watching horror movies with the boys. I have a few projects that need to be finished in the next couple of weeks--maybe that's part of the problem. Does anyone else ever go through this? If so, how do you deal with it? How do you get your motivation back again? Anyway...I'm plugging along on my paranormal chick lit, slower than usual but the pace is steady. Though I usually prefer to write darker, I'm having a lot of fun with this one. Hopefully I'll have some good news to share soon. Lis:)

Series spinoffs and new (to me) genres

For the past 2 1/2 years, I'd always said that the Dark Promises series would be over with book 5. Once Wil's story was told, I would be able to put the characters aside and move on to something else. But apparently that isn't so. Wil's book is finished and in the hands of my wonderful editor, but the stories are not. So in the fall I'll be working on a spinoff series--and get this--it'll be futuristic. Something I've never written before, and I'm finding the whole idea to be a bit daunting. Intriguing, but daunting all the same. On the publishing front, I've recently sold to Changeling Press--Night Creatures, erotic horror. I'm really excited about this one, since I wrote horror for ten years before I moved on to romance. Combining the two genres was a lot of fun, and I already have a couple ideas for some new stories. Next month, Nothing Personal is being released from Cerridwen Press. I just posted the awesome cover on my website. I'll be posting some excerpts from all my upcoming books in my newsletter. That's all for now. Until next time... Lis:)

Silencing the inner critic

Anyone who's a writer knows what I'm talking about. Once you've learned to edit your own work, it's hard to turn that part of your brain off when you pick up someone else's. There's hardly been a time in the past few years that I haven't had the urge to take my red pen to the paperback in my hand. Not necessarily because I found a glaring error (though there have been more than a few of those) but because I would have written it differently. For a long time it took the fun out of reading for me, until I learned to stuff that inner critic into a mental box and enjoy reading like I used to before I started writing. The same thing can hold true for our own writing--if we let it, that critic can lead to slowed progress, self-doubt, and the dreaded writer's block. We have to learn to turn off the critical thinking and do what we set out to do from the beginning. Just write. The first draft doesn't have to be perfect. Neither does the second draft, or the third, or however many come in between the conception and the finished product. The only one that needs to be spit-shined and polished is the one that's being submitted to editors and agents. You have to give yourself permission to write less-than-perfect paragraphs the first time around. The draft is just a roadmap. When you revise, you follow the course you set for yourself, and this is where your ideas become a story. Lis:)

Print books, upcoming books, and the aging process

The sun is finally shining after a few days of cool, drizzly weather...again. I spent the whole morning reorganizing my office space, but I got outside with the kids this afternoon to play a little football. Now it's back to work for a couple hours. And then I have to wash the floor and give the dog a bath. It never ends. I turned 30 last week. It doesn't bother me, not in the traditional sense of being afraid to age, but the older I get the older my kids get. Sometimes I'd just like to freeze them at the age they are now--or even turn back time to when they were a little younger. My oldest starts middle school in the fall, and my baby is going to be 9 in November. It won't be long before they're moving out of the house and heading off to college. I guess I just want a little more time with them before they realize mom isn't as cool as they thought. Some exciting news~~Two of my books are now available in print. Dark Promises book 1: Midnight, and Dirty Pictures. Make sure to check for them at Borders and Waldenbooks, and also at Amazon.com, Bn.com, and Ellora's Cave's eBay web store. Dark Promises book 2: Demonic Obsession should be available in print sometime in August. Some more exciting news~~I just finished writing the 5th (and final, finally ) book in the Dark Promises series. I don't have a release date for Tarnished yet, but I'll post as soon as I know anything. Also upcoming are two books from Cerridwen Press. Grave Silence is a dark romantic suspense and Nothing Personal is a chick lit/romantic comedy. Both of them are pretty special to me--Grave Silence is a book I've been working on polishing for 2 years, and Nothing Personal was a finalist in Lori Foster's novella contest a few years back. That's it for now. Have a great week, everyone! Elisa

A little about me...

Welcome to my little corner of cyberspace (AKA my latest distraction when I really should be writing). I'm going to use this blog for a variety of things~news, tips for writers, and idle banter. Who I am~Well, that depends on who you ask. I'm a mother, wife, author, homemaker...and many other things. I'm a Gemini, so I have a definite split personality, at least when it comes to my writing. I write comedy, and I write very dark paranormals. I signed my first publishing contract--with Ellora's Cave--three years ago, and haven't slowed down since. I have 2 wips going right now: a vampire book for Ellora's Cave (the last in my Dark Promises series, finally ) and a paranormal women's fiction book--a style fairly new to me and I'm having a blast with it so far. I've been getting some positive responses on that one, so hopefully I'll have some good news to report soon. Elisa