Jordan Summers

I managed to chart out the rest of my manuscripts, but got into a fight I’ve yet to win with the formatting. Grr… I wrote a little today, not near as much as I would like. I guess I should be happy that I’m ahead of schedule. I will keeping telling myself that until I believe it. I think it’s going to be a LONG night.

I’ve officially met my week’s goal today. Yeah!!! I also reached page 50 on the contemporary. I know it doesn’t seem like much, but I’m thrilled. I didn’t think I’d hit that until next week. My goal tomorrow is to hit page 50 with the paranormal, so that they’re both in the same spot. Tonight I plan to chart out the stories. (Yes, I’ve already done that, but I need a more detailed outline.) If I can manage to get that done it shouldn’t be a problem to pick both projects up tomorrow and continue on without delays.

Yesterday, I had a rather unproductive day as far as the writing goes. I made up for it today. I’ve finally passed page 44 in my contemporary and just hit 40 in my pararnormal. It looks like I’ll reach fifty on each before the end of the week. Yeah!!! I’m so happy. I suppose I could keep writing, while I’m still on a roll, but I’d rather be able to pick up where I left off. I hope everyone’s day has been as productive.

Well it’s a gray Monday morning here out West. It is threatening to turn sunny. I just don’t know if it’ll follow through.

I’ve started making out Christmas cards. Yes, I know it’s early, but I want to get it done. I don’t know about you all, but it seems like my Christmas card list has been growing over the years. How? I have no idea. I’d swear I know less people now than I did before.

I also plan to jump back into my story today. I’m not where I’d like to be in the Write or Die challenge. I don’t think I’ll make my goal by the end of the month unless I suddenly become amazingly productive. Stranger things have happened, but I don’t see it.

Hope everyone’s week starts off with a quiet bang. And to my blog buddies, get to typing.

It’s a gray day in a normally sunny state. The strange thing is it’s such an unusual sight that I never know exactly how to react to a change in the weather.

Found out a member of my local romance writer’s chapter passed away on Friday. I just saw him two weeks ago. He seemed in good spirits. It’s very strange and incredibly sad. It really emphasizes the old adage of here today, gone tomorrow. May Ted rest in peace.

I don’t think I’m going to write today. I think I’d rather get out and get some fresh air. Perhaps see a movie. Hope everyone’s weekend is safe and reflective.

This is how anal I am. I ran short on my word count yesterday by 990 words. I know, not that many. I would still be on schedule if I averaged last week with this one. Was that good enough? No! I sat in the living room obsessing about the fact I hadn’t reached my daily/weekly word count. So much so, I had to get up and go back into my office just so I could finish. I grabbed AQ4 and added another page or so, even though that’s not one of the stories that I’ve been working on this month.

The sad thing is I’m like this with most everything. If the kitchen has dishes in the sink, it drives me insane until I clean them up. I swear one more step and I’d be Monk. LOL!

Made good progress yesterday in the Write or Die challenge. I’m still working on bumping up today’s word count, but I’m on schedule when I average last week with this one. Hope everyone else is pleased with their progress so far.

I was thinking about the ‘conversation’ we had a month or so ago about the writing books that have helped us along in our career. I’ve decided to make a list. Feel free to add to it in my comments section. (I always love finding a new guide.) Wendy talked the other day about all the guides she has sitting on her shelf that she hasn’t read yet. I’m embarrassed to say that I have several myself. Because of that, I won’t be buying anymore until I get through the ones I own. Anyway, here’s my list in no particular order.

‘The Joy of Writing Sex’ by Elizabeth Benedict, ‘The Plot Thickens’ by Noah Lukeman, ‘Self-editing For Fiction Writers’ by Renni Browne and Dave King, ‘How to Write Erotica’ by Valerie Kelly, ‘Building Believable Characters’ by Marc McCutcheon, ‘How to Write a Dirty Story’ by Susie Bright, ‘The Art of Sexual Ecstasy’ by Anand, ‘All Books’ by Nancy Friday, ‘20 Master Plots’ by Ronald Tobias, ‘How to Structure Your Novel’ by Robert Meredith and John Fitzgerald, ‘The Complete Guide to Heroes and Heroines’ by Cowden, LaFever, and Viders, ‘The Forest for the Trees’ by Betsy Lerner, ‘How to Write a Damn Good Novel’ by James Frey, ‘The Art of Styling Sentences’ by Waddell, Esch, and Walker, ‘Characters and Viewpoint’ by Orson Scott Card, ‘Conflict, Action, & Suspense’ by William Noble, ‘Beginnings, Middles, and Ends’ by Nancy Kress, ‘Theme & Strategy’ by Ronald Tobias, ‘Plot’ by Ansen Dibell, ‘The Deluxe Transitive Vampire’ by Karen Elizabeth Gordon, ‘The Career Novelist’ by Donald Maass, ‘Writing the Breakout Novel’ (book & workbook)by Donald Maass, ‘The Elements of Style’ by Strunk and White, ‘On Writing’ by Stephen King, ‘Scene & Structure’ by Jack Bickham, ‘Woe is I’ by Patricia O’Connor, ‘Word Painting’ by Rebecca McClanahan, ‘The Writer’s Journey’ by Chris Vogler, ‘Writing Down the Bones’ by Natalie Goldberg, ‘The Sell Your Novel Toolkit’ by Elizabeth Lyons, ‘Techniques of the Selling Writer’ by Dwight Swain, ‘Character Traits’ by Linda Edelstein, ‘The Writer’s Partner’ by Martin Roth, ‘The Well-Tempered Sentence’ by Karen Elizabeth Gordon, and ‘Myth and the Movies’ by Stuart Voytilla, ‘Story’ by Robert McKee, ‘Eats, Shoots, & Leaves’ by Lynne Truss, ‘On Writing’ by Stein, and ‘Chicken Soup For the Writer’s Soul’. Whew!

It’s sad, but I have MANY, MANY more reference books. I’d be here all day if I tried to name them. The books listed above are the ones I find most useful. At some point, I’m going to get ‘How to Write a Synopsis’ by Pam McCutcheon and ‘Goal, Motivation, and Conflict’ by Deb Dixon. For now, I’m off to write.

I went to the bookstore today. My dh is worried because I don’t get out of the house enough. Tried to write. Discovered two things. One, I’m easily distracted my shiny flashy things and two, I cannot write when it’s so noisy. I think I’ve maybe completed 50 words so far today. I have a long way to go to reach my daily goal. Grr…

I managed to get my daily goal met, so I’m on track for the week. I still haven’t waded through all my notes yet. I’m thinking tomorrow I’m going to clear away from the computer and head down to the coffee shop to write. It would be a nice change.

Despite the fact that I haven’t gone through my notes yet some very strange things happened when I sat down to write. I’m guessing Donald Maass’s lessons are emerging from my subconscious.

First, a bit of background. I needed to write a death scene. I’d planned to put this particular scene in the beginning of chapter two. As I started to write I found myself in first person POV. Keep in mind the story I’m working on is told from 3rd. I have no idea why it happened. Reading through it afterwards makes me realize it’s fairly disturbing. Not sure if the average romance reader is going to be ready for it. :-O

I’ve decided to keep the new scene until I figure out if it’s going to work in the over all context of the story. I get a feeling my agent is going to freak. LOL!