Onto Day 3 of the #BAWritingLife challenge by the awesome Bethany Atazadeh, which is to say where you write and when.
I write anywhere the muse moves me! ?
Mainly I write in my bedroom, sometimes I’ll jot some notes down in an app on my phone when I’m out and about, and sometimes I write on my front porch (though I do have to put up with some SERIOUS *cattitude*! — pictured above!).
I just did an Author Interview with a fabulous online platform for readers and writers to connect: check out Qwerty Thoughts on their website, Facebook page or Instagram feed.
My interview blurb:
Read the conversation between Sacha and Qwerty Thoughts about her Book 1, “Climbing the Walls“, in the real-life romance, Hart and Cole series.
She has a lot of works-in-progress and her series is based on what she believes “A marriage is not a happy ending; it’s a beginning of so much more to come.”
I’m participating in the Instagram #BAWritingLife challenge by author Bethany Atazadeh and also posting to my blog. Now we’re onto Day 2: Say what your WIP (Work in Progress) ??? is about.
I’m currently working on editing the second installment of my “real-life” romance ? Hart & Cole Book series ? “Pandora’s Poison”. In Book 1 “Climbing The Walls“, we meet Darren and Luisa, who will be the focus for Books 2 & 3.
I’m participating in the Instagram #BAWritingLife challenge by author Bethany Atazadeh and figured I should also be posting these to my blog!
Yesterday was Day 1: introduce yourself and why you write. Here’s my story!
“Right now, this is not the type of book I am looking to read… mostly due to the page count.”
Er… ok. It’s not an epic 2000+ page book I’ve written… but 500+ pages — most of which is dialogue, so there’s a lot of white space.
But the page count alone was my potential blogger-reviewer’s hard “no” from the jump.
…And unfortunately, it’s not something I can change at this point. 🙁
There’s a line in Pandora’s Poison (Hart & Cole Book 2), that if a certain person from my past reads it, he will burst out laughing… or at least, I hope so!
Thankfully, I’ll most likely never have to find out. I don’t think he reads much, and if he does, my book won’t be his “cup of tea”.
…And then, there’s an another event in my past that I would love to write about. But I can’t, so I don’t…
“I’m so, so, so sorry, Lee…” I’m almost in tears, as I delete an entire scene with one of my favourite characters.
But I’m down 50 pages already (woohoo!), and all the nips and tucks in the world won’t get me to where I need to go. I need to edit. I need to CUT.
First of all, you have to remember that Darren loves Luisa.
…To hell and back.
And she’s taken him there, so she knows.
Second of all, you have to remember that Luisa owes Darren.
Even when he behaves badly (and oh boy; does he!)… she owes him…
My friend and beta reader was determined to dislike Darren, after the end of Book 1 of my Hart & Cole series.
The question was eating me alive. So, I posted it on several of the Writers’ groups I had recently joined.
Within minutes, my phone was plinging like it was having a seizure.
Responses poured in from all corners of the globe — across the many groups, members amount to 90,000+ writers, and 2000+ of them were leaping and squabbling over each other to share their opinions!
Mind you, this isn’t a “Work In Progress” and no one specifically asked you to be a “beta reader”. Maybe Amazon just gave you a nudge and said “Hey, what did you think of this book?”
You’re a writer. You hated it. Should you tell the world?
Now that I can say I’ve finally, at long last, published a novel, my thoughts circled back to this TED talk by Chimamanda Adichie, one of my favourite pieces on writing.
While her focus is on the danger of the “single story”, the part that resonated with me most was at the beginning — the conundrum of writing and representation.
I experienced a similar childhood to this prolific Nigerian writer.
“So, you wrote a book, huh? Congrats! Er, hmph… romance? Ahh… not my cup of tea…”
Let’s get one thing straight. As I clarify in my Hart & Cole Author Q&A, I am not a romance writer.
Or, at least, I never saw myself as a romance writer.
But it’s easy to see how genres blur into each other and become something else.
So… Hart & Cole Book 1.
It’s officially out. It’s published.
It’s available. ANYONE can get it, ANYWHERE in the world. On ebook or paperback. It’s OUT THERE.
I’m excited. I’m thrilled. But more than anything, I am, in a word… TERRIFIED.
I’m fortunate to be able to say I’ve accomplished a lot of great things in my life, but still — just being able to push that “Publish” button, and open the whole wide world to a piece of my mind… it’s one of the scariest things I’ve ever had to do.
I’ve said it before, and it’s my professional motto: “I Write. It’s What I Do.”
I literally can’t remember a time when I wasn’t writing. As soon as I could hold a pencil, I had stories to share, things to say, things that needed to be said.
I have poems and stories and random snippets of things from kindergarten, elementary/primary school, high/secondary school, both universities, all years of employment — some creative fiction, some poetry/prose, some personal brain-dump diaries.
