The benefits of being a pantser

There have been books where I wish I'd have started with a definitive outline, one that plotted where my story was going and how it played out. There have been books where I had to stop writing in order to plot where the story was going because I was getting lost, or writing "blah blah blah" instead of anything that might move the story along. Being a pantser (defined as someone who writes by the seat of their pants) has its downsides. But then...

I'm working on my new book, and yes, I'm pantsing my way through it. I have a pretty good idea where I'm going and what comes next, but the mystery part has been hanging over me. I have a villain. And I have a red herring villain. Today, as I was trying to figure out what comes next--and I should have had this thought sooner, when I wrote down the motives and reasonable cause for the murder--I found yet a third potential villain, one that makes a lot of sense! 

Sometimes we write characters to fill space. Someone needs to be somewhere and they need someone to be there with. Oftentimes, those filler characters don't even get a name because they aren't critical to the story. Sometimes, they need a name because they're going to have a spot in the story later, or they will be a recurring character. Sometimes you just need to call them something other than "the other guy." Many times, I've discovered that if I've gone as far as to name the character, they need to have a reason to be there--sometimes, even to be the unexpected villain! This is when being a pantser is fun. You write things you didn't know you meant to write and they suddenly come together to make the story richer. Deeper. As if your brain knows before you do and sets the stage, just waiting for you to have that "a-ha!" moment. 

I just plotted my "a-ha" moment. Which makes me excited about the story all over again. Which keeps me writing. Of course, I've been pretty interested in this story from the beginning, so that makes it that much more fun.

Stay tuned for more information on Unidentified Remains!

And then what?

Have you ever stopped to wonder why, when you finish a chapter and you have things to do, you keep reading instead? One of the rules of writing: Every scene, every chapter, should have a hook, something that makes you want to turn the page. If you finish a chapter with "and it was the end of the day so they went to bed," so will your reader. But if you finish your chapter with, "and then the bad guy walked in," you're going to want to know what's going to happen next.

That applies to more than just reading a book. As an author, we're often told to write your characters into a corner, and we don't always know the way out. Oftentimes, the hook isn't always obvious, but sometimes... That hook not only keeps you reading, it keeps the author writing. Trouble is interesting. Mysterious characters who show up out of the blue are interesting. 

I often find myself writing the end of a chapter, and if it's the end of my writing day, I'll keep going into the next so I know what I did there. If I finished a scene with a potential villain walking in, I'll leave myself a note so I know where to pick up. If I leave a character in potential jeopardy, I make a note that the next time I go into that point of view, I need to resolve the jeopardy (or up the ante). One example: Bella is in the kitchen at Edith Ann's, the coffee shop she runs. The server on duty comes in to tell her someone is asking for her in the dining room. Bella goes to see, and the potential villain's sister introduces herself. What does she want? The reader has to wait to find out, because now it's time to switch POV and get the forensic results for the second body in the coffin. (Second body in the coffin? Yep, but I'm not giving the whole book away here.) But how did he know to point the forensic anthropologist/dentist in the right direction? Welp, that all has to be addressed before he goes out on patrol and runs into... duh duh duh ... the girl Bella interviewed for a job at the coffee shop -- and the girl is being stalked. By who? End of chapter.

You get the drift. 

In a world full of distractions, it's hard to stay motivated, but if you keep leaving yourself spicy breadcrumbs, they're more likely to draw you back in, both as a reader and as a writer.

Tarot for Authors

Some books fight you every step of the way. Last time this happened, I was writing the Mist series and was struggling with my antagonist. Shout out to my esteemed editor, Kelly Lynne Schaub, who recommended a book to me that she referred to as Tarot for authors. It's called The Writer's Brainstorming Kit: Thinking in New Directions. It helps authors get out of their heads and think outside the box by breaking down the parts of your story.

• Role/Pursuit
• Trait
• Goal
• Motivation
• Internal Conflict
• External Conflict
• Growth/Realization
• The Ordinary World
• Trigger Event
• Change of Plans
• Black Moment
• Resolution

For each of these bullet points, the book provides "thinking points." If you buy the hardcover book, it comes with a deck of cards. Each card gives you a theme. Each theme breaks down five things to consider for each of these bullet points. If you use the eBook version, the book associates each theme with a regular deck of cards, broken down by suit - Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs. It then cross references the card with the options that come on the "tarot" cards in the hardcover book/kit.

The beauty of the book is that you can apply the tarot to one part of the process or the entire project. Need to map out your story? Shuffle the cards and apply one to each of the bullet points. Need to refine a character? Use one of the cards most closely associated with how you want to present your character and it suggests the steps that character can go through from "role" to "resolution." Need to build your plot? Pick a theme and follow the bullet points for ideas. Need to send your plot a new direction? Pull a card and read the "trigger event" for possibilities. Don't like your options? Mix and match. Think outside the box. The suggestions are meant to get you to think, not a limit or a boundary for what you are writing. 

After thirty-some-odd books, I've covered a lot of ground in my books, and it's easy to get stuck in a rut, or to inadvertently revert to an old character. While I've been making progress in this book, I've felt disconnected from one of my characters. She felt too much like another of my characters (or a couple of my other characters) while I was striving for something different. So I stopped. Re-evaluated. Decided I had to do a character sketch, maybe even a character interview to dig deeper into who this person is and why she is the way she is.

There are many resources out there, but this is one I keep coming back to. It isn't a how-to, it's a "let me help you think." Everyone has their own style, their own process. Anyone who tells you their way is the right way is lying to you. This book gives you what you need while still allowing you to do it your way.

Writing about Current Events

As authors, we often walk a fine line between including current events in our writing or excluding them. On the one hand, references can date a book. Things that are "current events" today, are "old news" tomorrow. 

When "the pandemic" hit nearly five years ago now, writers were scrambling. Should they include it in their books? It affected everyone's lives. How could you write a contemporary novel without making some sort of reference to it? For the most part, I think authors shied away from it, much in the same way they shy away from natural disasters. Any reference to it can produce highly charged responses from a reader. There's also the stance that in the midst of it, we didn't have a resolution. Much like my blog post from last week, you can't write a happy ending to something you are still living through. For many people, the ending wasn't so happy. It was an ugly period in time. 

The pandemic has become a part of our history. With some distance from the worst of it, I have made a reference to the pandemic in my latest work in progress. It is now a part of our past, and for those of us that came out alive, we can look back on the events that came along with it. Kind of like this generation's "where were you when... (insert moment in history)."

Society changes. The books I grew up with reflect different social values. Different ways of thinking. The ideas of what a family looked like were different. The contributions people made to society were different. I have a collection of books by a favorite author on my bookshelf that I go back to from my teen years -- old friends. The last time I pulled one down, I was actually shocked at how the heroine in that particular book responded to a negative situation. The message was if a man isn't paying enough attention to you, make him jealous. Talk about making a bad situation worse. Not all of her books are written that way, but this one is definitely one that will not be on my "read it again" list. Heck, when I wrote my first book 20+ years ago, there were some misogynistic messages in it. It's what we grew up with, what we were taught, what we knew. I have since updated my first book to reflect a more contemporary viewpoint. 

At the end of the day, current events don't remain current. There are constants that remain, and trends that change. As an author who hopes to withstand the test of time, better to stick to the constants than jump on a trend that can change tomorrow.

Focusing your writing

When I first started seriously writing, I had this brilliant idea. I wanted to write a quest for the holy grail, and off I went.

I did research. I took writing classes to sharpen my craft. I read books on writing. In the end, I let the story carry me away, and boy, did it ever.

Research can take you down all sorts of rabbit holes. While I was learning, I learned MORE interesting things, things I wanted to incorporate into the story. As a result, early versions of that novel were quite scattered, even if what I was learning and trying to convey was So Interesting. But it became a runaway horse. The story got too big and got away from me.

I went back to the craft books and learned about theme. Focus. What's this story about? 

Theme

First off, you need to figure out what your story is. Every chapter should move the story forward, one step at a time and not wander off the path. 

A well-known author I've read wrote several books where she liked to show off her research. It dragged the pace way down, and ultimately, I was interested in what she showed, but I would have appreciated her more if it had been presented in a separate book addressing a different theme. There was literally a third of the book that wandered away from the theme to provide the background/history - like "100 years ago..." That deserved its own book. As she wrote it (and it was a voluminous tome) it distracted me from what was happening in THIS book. Theme.

I learned about theme writing my first book. In my "quest for the holy grail," I ran across different interpretations of what the holy grail actually is. Then I discovered different aspects to those interpretations. They are wide and varied, and some are quite interesting, but rather than speculate in my story about all those variations, I needed to focus on one. The history surrounding all the players was fascinating, but is it relevant to what I'm writing? Choose what you want to portray and stick with it. For instance, Knights Templar. I learned so much about them and wanted so badly to use all that I'd learned, but none of it related to my character or her quest. The only thing that mattered was one of the secondary characters (well, two) continued the traditions. It wasn't about them. Avoid things that distract your reader from where you're taking the story. 

Moving the story forward - goals, motivation and conflict

While I was writing, I'd been hoping to write something to rival Indiana Jones. In the end, that's not my area of expertise. I grew up reading romance and horror (odd combination, I know, but it is what it is). My story developed as a romance, with part of the reason being I didn't know what to do with the grail once I found it. Stick it in a storage room, like Indiana Jones? I think not. I suppose I could have written a whole series on a grail keeper and their adventures, but again, that isn't my strong suit. My story turned into a romance, with the grail quest as the theme. My character's goal was to find the grail. Part of the conflict was "does it really exist?" Her motivation was to do something for herself. Chase her dreams. Fulfill her father's wishes for her. Everything she does is in pursuit of that goal, until the romance derails her. More conflict. She has to break rules to pursue her goal. More conflict. The point here is it sticks to the theme. In this case, the grail quest, and not all the possibilities. Even if the goal changes, don't lose sight of the focal point - the theme.

Figure out which details are important and which ones aren't

Again, using my quest for knowledge as the example, my scattershot approach produced lots of avenues that didn't move things forward. They didn't add to the story, but rather distracted from it. With that being said, I was able to include some of those peripheral ideas in my example. My main character is on a quest for the grail. It only makes sense she's not the only one. All the research I did helped me determine which details I could use and forced me to consider which things to cut. Indiana Jones was in competition with the Nazis. My character is in competition with religious zealots - some of those folks that turned up in my peripheral research. I was able to use some of that peripheral research and turn it into important details that all came together to tie my theme up. There are those who pursue the grail for "good" and there are those who pursue the grail for "evil" or greed. Waxing poetic on the details for what powers the grail might originally have possessed are also side quests. What's relevant is whether any of those show up in this story. Speculation detracts. 

Other miscellaneous details. I learned about the region my character was visiting. The vegetation. The population. The culture. Things that are unique to that part of the world. It helps to add "color," although not everything is pertinent to the story. I was able to incorporate certain details that highlight the theme. Some of those details were "oh, that's interesting" but didn't have a place in the story. 

At the end of the day, your story has to have focus. A beginning, a middle, and an end. Set the stage for your story at the beginning. Is there an inciting incident? Something that spurs the character on? As they are spurred on, what obstacles do they encounter along the way? Everything should move toward a climax, when that goal is achieved, or changed, or "all is lost." From there, it should move toward a resolution. All of this should tie into your theme. If I want to explain all about the Knights Templar along the way, even if they're related, those Knights need to have a reason to be in the story. Or if I discovered the grail had magical properties, the divine miracles that happened when it was first "blessed," telling that story probably isn't relative to the present quest. 

Theme is important. It keeps your reader focused and provides a more satisfying reading experience.

Get that First Draft down

Every book I write I wonder if I've lost something along the way. Will this be as good as the last book? Have I covered all the bases? What am I missing? This doesn't feel right.

"A funny thing happened on the way to the forum." Well, that's the line that comes to me, at any rate. As I finished my first draft, I muddled over all the details. The story line. The back stories. Something wasn't quite adding up. 

That's what first drafts are for. In my mind, they're like a very detailed outline. Get the story down. It can take a whole book before you know your characters well enough to known what triggers them--both good and bad. 

Just when I was ready to believe this next book was going to be a clunker, I started going over some of the backstory in my head (not advisable to do this when you go to bed--makes it hard to sleep). I had the basics, sure. You can't write a story without them. But then more came through. I started to understand my characters. Why did they do that? What caused this to happen? And as is often the case with me, I went the long way around the block. Added way too many detours when the direct route was a much better option. Suddenly, the stakes were raised. The conflict was more intense. The resolution was more achievable. It made a whole lot more sense. 

Yes, I tend to research things that have no place in my book, or over research things that can be handled simply. It might make me crazy, but it also adds more dimension when I finally "see the light." I can cut out all the extra nonsense, but I have a deeper, more rounded sense of how I got there. 

So yes. Even Stephen King tells you to get the first draft done. You can fix it later. But until you get that first draft done, you haven't really gotten to know your characters. You don't really understand why they're responding the way they do. Instinct and intuition will guide you a long way, and you can lean into that later when you need to clean things up. Many times I find that I've laid groundwork I wasn't even aware of and everything comes together once things make more sense--once you've gotten "all the words" out. Yes, sometimes that leaves a mess to clean up, but at lease you've cleared the path to follow.

How Many Books is Enough? Too Many? Not Enough?

As an author, one thing that is drilled into your head is how the best marketing is writing the next book. So how many books is enough?

One of the first questions people ask when I tell them I'm an author is how many books have I written. I am currently working on book #33. That number includes three omnibus versions -- The Mist Trilogy, two for The Epitaph Series, and one novella. I've done my part in "writing the next book." I like to consider myself a midlist author. People buy my books, but I have yet to crack a best seller list. With that being said, I have won awards for some of my books, so I must be doing something right. 

Here's the thing. I have ALWAYS loved writing. From the time I was just a little kid. For many years, it was a way to release the random thoughts buzzing around inside my head, let the characters who had taken up residence live out their imagined lives. Yes, I wanted to be a "real author," but I didn't really devote the necessary time and energy to it until a little more than twenty years ago, when THE BIG IDEA took shape, and I buckled down to "really" write. Even as I started that first novel, I worried about market. Would a publisher take a chance on a one-book author? Not likely. I knew right then there would have to be a book two. But you know what? I had a million ideas. A million characters living in my head that all raised their hands for a chance to be heard.

So here I am, more than 20 years later and 33 books in. I love hearing from my readers, and every time I get a glowing review or a random email, it sparks me to keep going. When I finished my last book, my editor told me she's loving this Elspeth Barclay series and can't wait to see the next one. Prior to that moment, I hadn't been sure there would BE a next one. Writing is hard work, and sitting in the midlist can be discouraging. "Karla Who Now?" It's hard to stay motivated. 

Oftentimes, writing a book is compared to childbirth. Sticking with that analogy, I'm in my ninth month of pregnancy with the current book. I'm excited to see it born. After months of growing and developing, it's ready to enter the world. This is also where you start to worry if it will "be okay." Will it be healthy? And then, once it's born, there's exhaustion. Why would I do this to myself over and over again? Will there be another one? So far, the answer has been overwhelmingly, "Yes." 

For some of the books, I immediately started on the next one when "this" book went to the editor. And then there are the other times when "this book" was a hard labor. I've had moments where I swore "this is going to be the last book." I've gone as long as a month swearing I was done. "That's enough books." And then I get antsy. My dreams get more vivid. I don't know what to do with myself. Writing is a part of who I am. 

I question every book I write, wondering if it's any good or if people will respond to it. You'd think, after recently reviewing my Epitaph series as it was produced in audio that I'd learn that yes, I do know how to write. I had so much fun revisiting those books, marveling that "I did that." They were well plotted and well written. "I'd buy that book." As the saying goes, we're always our own worst critic. Not every book is going to resonate with every person, but man. I'll never be sorry I wrote those. Time and distance have a way of showing you what you can't see when you're in the moment. 

So here I go. About to birth another book. Calling on "Aunt Kelly" to help me bring it into the world. Will it be "the one?" Will people like it? In the end, it's a labor of love. 

This is what I was meant to do.

Oh. Speaking of Epitaph. THE ARCHITECT is currently at a special price in audio for a limited time. Part of that "marketing" thing that doesn't include writing the next one. Get it while its hot!

Sticking to the writing rules

I have critique partners who redirect me when I'm on the wrong path, who catch my errors through the writing process. We've been together a LONG time, and sometimes it's as simple as highlighting an error rather than pointing out why it's an error. I also have an editor who points out writing errors. With that being said, sometimes I argue my point. "It's in dialog, so it shows characterization." Or "it's there to call attention to what's happening."

I recently got back the audio for THE JANE DOE GHOST, and I sent back one sentence for her to redo. 

“Is that what you want?” I asked Laine. “What you think?” 

She read the sentence with "you" emphasized in the first sentence, and then the second sentence without much inflection. In my head, "you" should be emphasized in both. 

This, my friends is an example of redundancy. Elle and Laine are having an argument, and Elle thinks Laine's perceptions have been influenced by Laine's boyfriend. I did it deliberately, and I can argue the point all day, but as my narrator demonstrated to me, she missed the point, which is MY problem. As an author, I shouldn't have to point out my intentions. I should have made it clear to the reader. A reminder that redundancy isn't helpful. Yes, there are instances where it might make sense, but clearly this wasn't one of them. 

Sometimes, redundancy happens organically when I write, and I usually catch it in editing and remove it. In this instance, it was deliberate. Am I right? Am I wrong? Again, if I have to explain this to a reader (my narrator), it's wrong, and no amount of justification is going to make it right. Authors need to put their egos aside, "kill their darlings" sometimes. 

I've had books where I incorporated particularly "odd" phrases that I'd heard. Real life, right? My critique partners shot back with "people wouldn't say that." But they did! But if it doesn't ring true, I need to support why I've said it, let the character react to it and point out that yes, it's odd, but that's how it happened. You know the phrase, "truth is stranger than fiction?" Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. 

Which circles around to "kill your darlings." Figuratively, of course. You've just written the perfect sentence, and the perfect paragraph to decorate it. You LOVE what you've written. It's PERFECT. The problem is it doesn't belong there. Maybe its expositive. Maybe it's irrelevant. Maybe it doesn't move the story along. DELETE. 

An author has to set their ego aside sometimes. Reading is subjective, and there is always going to be someone who doesn't like what you've written. You can take it personally or understand that one size doesn't fit all in this business. I've had that experience myself, where I read a perfectly good book and didn't like it, mostly because of my own personal biases. Constructive criticism is just that - constructive. Consider the source. Consider their expertise. Consider your ego. Consider your audience. 

So what did I do with my redundancy? Well, the book is already published. The audio is meant to reflect the book. Neither my writing buddies NOR my editor commented on this particular redundancy, and since I can justify my position, I asked my narrator to read it the way I heard it in my head when I wrote it. Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong in this instance, but for this one time, I'm going to let it slide on through.

Jane Doe is making its way to the retail outlets! Check here to see if it's at your favorite.

Click here

Piecing things together

Every book is different.

Sometimes, I know exactly what to write and write in a straight line from start to finish. For that matter, I almost always write in a straight line. That isn’t working for me this time.

I have bits and pieces that I know belong, and notes for what I need to remember to incorporate, but they’re somewhat disjointed. Then, there are the details I don’t know yet.

While brainstorming on retreat, I kept asking the same question. What part in the story does “XX” play? Is “XX” important enough to include? (The answer is yes, according to my editor.) I *think* I’ve figured it out. In every story, I have a tendency to spin my wheels in unimportant details. To coin a phrase, into every life [story] a little rain must fall (and continuing the metaphor) which means getting stuck in the mud. I’m writing the parts of the story I know. I’ll go back to piece it all together later. I like puzzles, after all.

So yes, forward progress is happening, just not in a linear manner. 

The takeaway message: If you think it's writers' block, it's probably too much information struggling to get out. (Does that make it a writers' logjam?) JUST WRITE. It may feel like a mess or nonsense, but you can always sort it out later. 

You can fix words on the page. You can't fix unwritten words.

Writer's Block

I've always said I don't believe in writer's block. I still hold to that, although there are definitely writer's speed bumps.

When I get stuck with writing, I can spend hours going down rabbit holes and chasing distractions (Candy Crush? Words with Friends? or my latest is online jigsaw puzzles). None of those are productive. What IS productive is writing. Even when it isn't part of the story. What does that mean? 

As I was writing last week's blog post, I was using my blog as my distraction. Stuck in a time warp, not knowing how to move forward and out of the ONE DAY my story has encompassed so far. As I wrote the blog, I shook loose an idea. Writing ABOUT the story sometimes gets me past one of those speed bumps. I also do this regularly by emailing one of my buddies to hash out what in the story has me tied up in knots. Talking through (or typing through, as the case may be) the roadblock will often help me clear it. 

As I was writing that blog, I started thinking about a character I'd introduced (and who I have been referring to very vaguely over the course of two books now). I gave him a name. Rule of thumb, if a character has a name, they deserve a place in the story. So as I was wondering what to do with my "problem child," I considered this newly named background character. (Problem child being the person in trouble in this book.) I can't leave them on their own, and they aren't going to put up with a "minder" (as they say across the pond). Enter the character who has been named. They have a vested interest. They don't know what's going on, but they do know they need that character. So while my problem child is "lost," the character who has been named can unwittingly care for them, which benefits both parties. And now my character who has been named has a reason for being named. They now have an active role in the story. All as a result of writing a blog and working my way through one of those speed bumps.

Which brings me to the subject of "how many drafts should a writer write?" I know one author who says one draft is all you should have. I'm not a subscriber to that way of thinking. For me, especially when I get stuck on a speed bump, my writing can become notes that needs to be expanded on. Then, maybe I expand on those notes so that now its a story. Except the story isn't always "good" after the notes are first transcribed, although they are more "story-like." My next step is to make sure I'm not leaving out important details. For instance - someone died. And maybe that's what I've written. Ho hum. Important details might be the characters' reaction to that death. Is it an OMG moment? A trigger moment? A sad moment? A welcome relief? And there are descriptions to be added. Something that stands out about a character or a scene. What does it "look" like? These are all ways to get words on the page and break loose more words. If I can see it in my head, if I can feel it in my soul, there are more words waiting to follow on. Sometimes just flat words that will need to be fluffed up later, but at least it gets the writing going. That's what drafts are for. Get down the ideas, and you can expand on them later.

Writer's Block? I've always heard the cure is to "just write." I subscribe to that idea, including writing even when it isn't "words in the story." Write notes. Write ideas. Write to someone else about what is stuck in your head and often that logjam breaks apart. Bottom line? Write. 

I did promise you an excerpt of the new book, but I'm not ready to share quite yet. There's a certain matter of writer's angst yet to deal with. (Is anybody going to read this next book? Will it be as good as Horned Owl Hollow?) I will take the leap next week and share a piece I hope will interest you!

In the meantime, have I mentioned Horned Owl Hollow is coming soon to audio? Stay tuned...

That doesn’t make any sense

After finishing the first draft, I started in on making HORNED OWL HOLLOW readable. And ran into something startling.

They say when you don’t know what to write, just write. The words will come to you. I agree with that sentiment for the most part, and oftentimes that means I’m writing “notes” such as “…and then this happens, and then that happens.” Get the ideas down even if they aren’t proper prose. The theory is that even if you write garbage, you can always clean it up later.

As I was reviewing and “cleaning  the mess” that is the second draft, I confused myself. Wait. That doesn’t make sense. How can “that” happen before “this” happens? And here’s the thing. I know what needs to happen in the story, but I got it in the wrong sequence. The good news? The story is there, it just needs to be fixed. 

Write. Even when you don’t know what to write. You can clean it up later.

This week, I’m cleaning up. This is the first time I’ve made such a tangle of threads in a book, but hey, I like a puzzle. I’m moving chapters around, identifying which threads got lost in the tangle, and cutting those threads that don’t belong in the mess. 

Happy Thanksgiving! I’m thankful to all of you who have been on this writing journey with me. Without you, there would be no road to travel. 

How Many Times Do You Have to Check Your Work?

My critique partner commented that I read through my finished work in progress more times than she reads through hers. But that’s my process. She combs through each of her chapters the night she finishes them. I don’t. I wait until my first draft is done. Oh, I do a cursory read for easy mistakes, but I miss a lot during the creative process. Granted, as I'm winging my way through the first draft, I will often start reading from the beginning so I know where I am in the story, or to find a detail that needs to be continued, but I don't count that as "reading through" it. Each pass I make has its own purpose.

Details and continuity

After the first draft, my first read of the whole is for details and continuity. Does it make sense? Are the locations consistent? Is there a time lapse? Does time flow consistently throughout the book? Are descriptions consistent? For that matter, I tend to skip over descriptions in the first draft. After all, I know what they look like! My readers, however, can't see into my brain, so they have no idea what I'm talking about in some places. This first pass is a place for me to fill in the missing details. What someone looks like. What the setting looks like. I do include some of these things, but in a first draft, the details are often only added where I don't "see" things clearly. 

Nuts and bolts

The second pass is for structure. Punctuation. Word usage. Overused and filler words. Repeated words in the same paragraph or in close proximity (echoes). I use SmartEdit to help me find my mistakes. Overused phrases. Mistyped homonyms that sneak in (peek vs. peak, discreet vs. discrete, as examples). Sentence fragments. Do they have a place or am I just being lazy? Sentence starters. Have I misspelled someone's name? Or called someone by the wrong name? I'm still kicking myself that I originally used the wrong spelling of my hero's name in the final EPITAPH book (THE GARDEN). Thank heavens for my editor who pointed it out!

Fine tuning

By this time, the book should be editor-ready. At least one would assume so. The problem with correcting mistakes is that you often create new mistakes. My third pass is for fine tuning. Did I "break" anything while I was fixing the nuts and bolts? The answer is usually yes. As an example, in BEING NEIGHBORLY, I inserted a scene late that talks about my main character going on a job interview. She's worried that her current boss will notice she's dressed differently, or that she might be late coming back from her lunch break. Originally, that boss was just "the manager." In the new scene, I gave the man a name. So now I have to check references to "the manager" to see where it makes sense to refer to him by name. It's easy to replace "manager" with "Bruce," but when I did a search, did I remember to take out "the" before manager? (the answer is yes, but only after I forgot on the first one and went back to check twice). 

That's three full reads before it goes to the editor, but each pass has a purpose. I'm laser-focused on one particular function. At this point, it should be ready for the editor. When she's finished with it, there's a good chance I'll read it two more times. Once after I've addressed her comments to, again, make sure I haven't broken anything in the process, and finally, I'll have Word read it back to me to "hear" any mistakes that my eyes might have tricked me into believing aren't there.

Is that a lot? Yes. But that's my process. Even then, I might have missed something, but at some point, you have to trust you've done your job. It's not a good feeling when a reader comes back to tell you you need an editor. Especially when you have one. Mistakes happen. I'm banking on five full reads (and, of course, my stellar critique partners) to catch the majority of them.

And speaking of BEING NEIGHBORLY, you can preorder the e-book at a discount! From now through release day (July 12), it is available for just $0.99. On July 13, it will revert to the regular price of $3.99, so grab your copy before the price goes up!

Best Laid Plans

I've been struggling with the writing this year. Not going to lie. There are so many distractions in the world that tug at concentration and emotions and all. If you've been following along, you'll know that because of this, I actually did an outline for the new book. It helps to keep on track, and on those days I sit down and have no idea where this story is going, it gives me direction. Except when it sends me the wrong direction.

I sat down this week and started a new chapter, then took the outline points to work from. Except they didn't follow on from where the last chapter left off. Folks, I'm a pantser at heart, I write from the seat of my pants. This is where I excel, and usually, those things that I make up all find a way to gel together, whether I intend them to or not. 

So here's what I started with. My characters are working together to unravel a mystery. Was it murder? Or was it suicide? In my outline, I have them meeting with suspects. Formulating hypotheses, and then getting together to compare notes. My last chapter ended with one of those suspect interviews, and in my outline, it jumps to one of the characters referring to a book for ideas on where to go next. The problem is that chronologically, the next chapter should be the comparing notes chapter. I've spent three chapters on one day, which is probably the limit on how long I can stretch this day out. What I don't need is more time with them apart thinking about what comes next. They need time together, time they PLANNED to spend together hashing out what they've learned. 

Excuse me, outline. You missed a spot. 

So I'm pantsing this next chapter, because logically I know what has to come next, and my choppy outline overlooked that. 

This might also be the right place to mention my outline only goes so far. I'd figured that if I got that deep into writing, I would find my groove and "roll on." In truth, that's probably true. I'm still struggling to write, but I'm far enough along now that I know where to go from here. I still have the outline to guide me if I get stuck (at least for a few more chapters), but the "flow" should carry me along from here. 

For those of you who think writing is easy... Nope. It's work. It's a job. Just like anything else. Unlike a regular job, the pay sucks, so you have to love what you do. I do. Which means I'm still plugging along. What can you do to help? If you like my books, tell a friend. 

For those of you who prefer to listen to my blog posts

For those people who would rather listen to my blog posts, I'm revisiting the five senses over on my podcast. It's a quick listen, I try to keep them around 10 minutes except for when I'm hosting my author friends (and then we tend to chat a bit longer). I'd love to hear your preferences, either here or at the podcast. Drop me a comment!

Meanwhile, back to writing the new book...