Keeping the Fires Hot

Recently, I ran across a class from the Rose Colored Glasses group I just had to take. It was titled, Write 50 Books in a Year. Wow, I thought to myself could I really write that many books in year? The women who ran the class, Elle James and Delilah Devlin are writing sisters and they are great fun. Best of all, this class was free. By the end of the class, I had completed two stories and had started my ‘bible’ on a series to send to Harlequin. I was on my way!

So intrigued by that class, I decided to take their plotting class and again, I’m pleasantly surprised. I consider myself a pantser and most of the time I can say that is true. I can just sit down with a vague premise and write the story till the end with little or no thought process toward the plotting because I do it all in my head. It’s easy to do if you’re not building elaborate worlds.

However, I know from experience you must plan for series books. By series I mean books that are intertwined, have a large than life story line and consist of two or more books minimum. This one I’m working on has 4 big books of around 72K and some smaller 15K books to keep the interest up in the series.

Because you have to keep all this straight, it is usually prudent to do some plotting. With this course, I’ve titled all the books except the last. I’ve come up with basic character sketches for all of the main characters and minor ones as well. I’ve come up with internal and external conflict, I’ve come up with the setting and even look more into the villains of my story line.

Yes, I have my work cut out for me. The first one is complete at 15K and I’ve already started first big book. It has been a wonderful journey to discover all these new people I need to know. But the journey won’t be over until I have written the final word for the final book.

Now you may ask yourself why I did this. Every once in a while, I find my motivation for writing lagging behind. Suddenly, the thing I love the most next to my family and friends has made my life miserable for some reason. Sometimes, I can snap out of it and know I’ll get back on track. Occasionally, I find myself needing a class to put the zing back in my writing step. So I go searching the internet for classes which will help me in some way.

I go to writer’s meetings for the same reason. Just being around a group of other writers can keep you focused enough to start a new project or finish and old on. The bottom line is that we support each other and that’s just like it should be. Writers need to support each other in the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly.

Believe me, ugly happens. There are very few writers where ugly doesn’t happen on a first draft. That’s why we have a support system to help each other through the first to the final draft.

This week my main desktop crashed taking much of my beloved writing with it. If it weren’t for good writing friends and a few other folks, I would be crying into my cups right now because most of my WIPs would have been gone. I back up weekly on Friday’s so I’m not losing much but the things I am losing, hurt.

But that is not going to stop me from the goals I have set out for myself in these next few months. I have a Christmas book to complete and a NYC submission to get out. Hopefully, these will be two things that you the reader will enjoy in the near future. Thanks to everyone who helped me to overcome the computer crash. I greatly appreciate it.

Let me ask all you fans and readers out there…just what gets your creative juices flowing? How do you face a day filled with adversity? Don’t hesitate to send me an answer at oddlynn3@gmail.com. You may just be in next week’s column! LOL!

Have a great week everyone! See you next time!

Lynn Crain
Experience the Magic
www.lynncrain.com