Jordan Summers

It’s been a busy week. Busier than what I anticipated. The door took longer than expected. I had appointments on the days the workers weren’t here–except today. Tomorrow our friends are getting married an hour outside of town, so we’ll be up bright and early tomorrow to make the drive. Did I mention we’re picking up the groom? So today I’m going to try to get something (anything) done on the book. I’d hoped to be ready to go on the writing front by now, but it hasn’t happened. I’m still going to start Crimson on Monday. Can’t delay any longer.

I am hoping to catch Iron Man. It’ll have to be on Sunday, which means it’ll be slammed because of Mother’s Day. Yep, that’s right. It’s Mother’s Day on Sunday. I’ve mailed out my cards, but I haven’t managed the gifts yet. Have I mentioned that it’s been a BUSY week? Sigh. Hopefully you all are more on top of it.

Have a great weekend. Oh, and do not forget to watch MOONLIGHT tonight. It only has two more weeks to go! I really want them to renew that show. Please help me out.

Bernard asked a question in my last post. He wanted to know how detailed my outlines get. I answered him in the comments, but I thought I’d add to it here. When I first started writing, I was a total pantser. I didn’t outline at all. I just waited for the words to flow. It was kind of like taking dictation. This explains the ’style’ of my first four or five books. *g*

As time went on, my stories became more complicated. I could no longer rely on keeping the book in my head. I had to start writing things down so I wouldn’t forget important bits. I began to chart things out. At first it was only a few chapters at a time. Eventually that grew into the whole book. I now try to chart out the book by writing a sentence or three for each chapter. If I’m having problems doing that, I go back to the characters and ask them to tell me their story from the beginning. This tends to fill in any gaps the book has in the first/second pass. I also go over each chapter, using the sentences I came up with, and expand them until I have a paragraph per chapter. If I can, I break the chapters down even further into scenes. I try to have three scenes per chapter. Some of the best advice I ever read was to pretend each chapter is its own little book. (ie it should have a beginning, middle, black moment and/or twist and a conclusion) I wish I could remember who said that. Anyway, it stuck with me. I try to keep that in mind when I’m doing my three scenes per chapter. (BTW, I believe I got the three scene thing from PBW.) And that’s it. I don’t go into any deeper detail than that. My outlines are relatively short. Maybe twenty pages with REALLY big writing. I do them long-hand. For some reason, it’s easier for ideas to flow when I’m writing them on paper.

As an aside, I appreciate everyone who is bidding on my Brenda Novak offerings.

The door is currently being installed. Hopefully it’ll be done soon. Once that occurs, I’m going to work on fleshing out the Crimson outline I wrote up this past weekend. I need to get to writing the manuscript if I want to be finished with a rough draft by the end of June.

I’ve decided to put something else up on the Brenda Novak auction. So not only will I be donating a critique, but you can also bid on an Advanced Reader Copy of RED.

Sorry I’ve been MIA for the past few days. I went into work over the weekend with dh and managed to chart out my third book. Obviously having spotty internet access has its perks. *g* Today I’m hitting the ground at a run. I’m meeting a friend for brunch. When I get home, I have two sets of work-men arriving at the house. One will be putting a door up and the other will be putting in a blind for a very large window. The door will probably take longer since they have to build a frame.

To keep you company, you can find me at Romancing the Blog. I need help with setting goals.

Yep, it’s that time a year again. Brenda Novak is trying to earn money for a very worthy cause and I’ve thrown my volunteer hat into the ring. If you’ve always wanted me to critique your first three chapters and a synopsis, then here is your chance. There are a LOT of wonderful prizes to bid on. If you have a few extra dollars floating around in your wallet, throw them her way.

Somehow my sci-fi romance entry got linked to sci-fi site io9, which is cool. I dropped in to read the comments. They were interesting. Some were pretty predictable given the wide variety of what I write and the target painted on romance’s back. I am a little confused by a few of the comments since they mention cyborgs. I’m not quite sure if they’re talking about my book or something else. For the record, cyborgs aren’t in RED, but that would’ve been a cool idea…if it hadn’t already been done in Blade Runner. Yes, I am a fan and own the director’s cut HD box set to prove it.

I know I’m kind of taking the piss out of the whole thing because they thought I was a dude, but I really did enjoy their site. They have some interesting entries. If you get a chance, check it out.

I’ve heard rumors **coughSarahcough** that some of the editors at RT were saying that the next ‘big’ paranormal thing was going to be sci-fi. I suppose that makes sense given the cycle of things. It’s been a while since sci-fi has had an upsurge in popularity. Like the historical market, sci-fi has been dropping. Historicals have ended their free-fall, so maybe sci-fi’s won’t be far behind.

I admit that I haven’t read a lot of sci-fi romance, unless you consider Old Man’s War and S.L. Viehl romances. *g* I’m currently reading Grimspace. I’m a HUGE fan of sci-fi movies. LOVE THEM! But when it comes to sci-fi books, I’m picky. What do you all think? Do you think sci-fi is the next vamp? Have you read many sci-fi romances/sci-fi novels? What do you think will be the next big thing?

I got this link from Aime and loved it so much I decided to pass it on. Wise words indeed. Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

I’ve realized that over the years we’ve discussed things that we need to work on (ie plotting, description, pacing, etc.). I thought it might be a nice change to talk about our strengths. Sometimes we don’t know our strengths until they’re pointed out by others. (Being too close to the subject does that. I know when I’m asked what I consider my writing strengths to be I tend to struggle with the question. When that happens, I realize I don’t really understand what the question means. I know that sounds weird, but it’s the truth. My dh pointed that out when I was struggling with plotting a couple of years ago. Since then, I’ve learned how to plot. It took a lot of definitions for me to understand what people meant when they said the word plot, but once I got it, I REALLY got it. *g* Now where was I? That’s right, I was discussing strengths. I think in this business it’s really easy to focus on weaknesses and discount strengths. Makes me wonder if we’re going at it wrong. Maybe we should be playing up what we’re good at first, then worrying about what needs strengthening later???

One of the things I’ve realized I can do fairly well is pace a book. I try to make sure that the books I write these days are fast paced. I never studied how to do this. It just seemed to be something that I picked up naturally. Now it’s your turn. What do you do well? What are your strengths? Even if you’re not a writer, I’d love to hear what you think your strengths are because I think it’s important to be reminded now and again.

As you can see, I didn’t cover as much ground as I would’ve liked yesterday. I’m comparing manuscripts side by side, so it’s slow going. I’m also trying to make sure we haven’t missed anything. Want the copy to be as perfect as possible, you know?

There’s a giveaway of OFF LIMITS going on here if you’re interested.

Other than that, no news on this end. Just work. As a reminder to those of you who care, new episodes of MOONLIGHT will air tomorrow night. Please watch the show. It’s doing well, but they’re going to decide whether to keep it based on how many viewers return for the next three episodes. Tonight SUPERNATURAL returns and it looks pretty cool in a Blair Witch kind of way.