In and out of Love
I’m trying to fall in love with writing again.
Because, lately I’ve been much more out than in. I’m pretty sure this is due to the many rejections that I’ve had and some long years of being THIS close, then SO far, then THIS close again (note to self: printing out a boatload of rejections in one day doesn’t help one’s mood and takes all your printer ink) (also note to self: what you already know- that this is part of the writer’s life. sidebar: knowing this does not make the pain any less).
But the other night I dreamt of characters that I had put aside a long time ago. They were talking to me again. Living and breathing and moving about in my mind. Wheels were turning. This made me happy and at the same time quite nervous. Part of me wanted to tell them to just go away. What good would them bugging me do? Then a new idea came to me * poof* of another really good story. With twists and turns, love and romance. I could see it so clearly that I was smiling and laughing at the fun of it all and then once again with a wave of my hand I was wishing it away.
But they won’t go away. They are still there. Forcing me to sketch out ideas and pushing me to do the painful work of coming up with some sort of plot. And then the more painful work of stringing together some sort of WORDS. Oh well, this is life. My life and mind and I just have to go with it. I will write because the stories want out and I want to get them out or I’ll never get any rest.
So the files will be made. Where they go from there… I just don’t know.
Photo fm DabawenyaBest,
KwanaRemembering Mama
I remember the book Mama by Terry McMillan very well and can’t believe it was well over 20 years ago that I read and loved it. It was one of those books that really spoke to me in both its style and emotion. With all I’m going through as a writer right now I think I need to revisit it. Check out this interview with the amazing author.
Best,
KwanaWork Space
What’s Jack up to? Well, you know Jack so no surprise, he’s up to his old tricks. He got sick and threw up the other day. Could it be because the Dear Twins are home and he’s getting into their secret stash of treats from school? He got into the DS’s bookbag and found a bunch of candy while we were out and I came home to candy wrappers all over the floor. I wasn’t happy with Jack or the DS for that one.
Thank you all so much for your support on my Keeping It Real post yesterday. I’m not sure where it will lead but I do appreciate it. Today I’d like to do an update on an old post Visualization where I talked about wanting to add a writing desk to my already tight bedroom. Well, while the Twins were in Paris last week and I had the DH home I decided to move a bit of furniture around. Too bad it was when the DH was trying to take a much longed for nap that I came up with this plan (shrug).
Oh well after much nudging, we moved his chest of drawers over and took the TV off the, could be antique, sewing table that was its stand (yes there is a real sewing machine in here). Then I made the sewing table my desk. Sure it’s itty bitty but works for now until I find another I like. And I quickly put up my little inspiration board. Next up a nice tall skinny shelf for the pile of books and papers to the left that you can’t see.
But now to deal with this pesky problem of writer’s block that I’m having. More on that later…
Have a fantastic day!Best,
KwanaSinning with a Scoundrel and a Giveaway!
So are you snowed in? Raise your hands if you are?Lucky me! The mail gods and ARC gods have been smiling and in a recent book shipment I received a copy of To Sin With A Scoundrel by Cara Elliot, the first book in the Circle of Sin series. Now once again I was duped buy the old author name change switcharoo. I was like, “where have I heard that name before.” You all know me. Between the Teen Twins and Jack I can’t remember two days ago and surely not when a friend goes and writes under a pseudonym. Foul!
Cara got me with this on twitter too. I was like, “who is this Cara all over the place.” Turns out it’s my friend and bestselling author, Andrea. Duh! I really gotta get it together. Maybe ginkgo biloba, but I do vaguely remember hearing about a study saying that that doesn’t even work. Sigh. Oh well, back to today’s joy…I got To Sin With A Scoundrel, read it, totally enjoyed it and then saw the lovely Cara/Andrea at Lady Jane’s Salon recently and she ever so kindly agreed to do a short interview with me (even though I’m a ninny that can’t remember her very famous pseudonym).Now onto the interview:
Hello Cara thanks so much for taking some time out of your busy schedule to pop over her for a bit at Kwana Writes!
Thanks for inviting me, Kwana. You’re such a wonderful voice for the romance genre—it’s an honor to be here!
First off can you tell us a little about your background? Have you always wanted to be a romance writer or is this something that you happened on later? Do you have some fab story of “overnight success”?Actually, I wrote my first book when I was five years old. It was a Western, complete with meticulously colored pictures of horses and cowboys. (I’ve since moved on to Regency England . . . I must have a thing for Men in Boots!) So I guess that storytelling has always been a passion of mine. However, I also loved art and ended up majoring in graphic design, which took me on a different career path for a number of years, So to make a long story short, I remained an avid reader, but didn’t return to writing until later in life. One day, about ten years ago, I decided to plunk my derriere in a chair and try my hand at writing again. And that was it—I was hooked, though I hadn’t the first clue on what I was going to do with the finished manuscript.
Getting published was a serendipitous quirk of fate. A friend introduced me to an agent and I pitched him a contemporary thriller I had written. (It’s still in a desk drawer for good reason.) He nodded politely throughout the interview and said he would take a look at it. Then, as we got up, I mentioned as an afterthought,” Oh, I also have a Regency romance, but that probably doesn’t interest you.” Well, at that his eyes lit up, and he said,” Oh, the people at the Signet Regency line are good friends. Let me show it to them.” Three days later I got the call that they had bought my book!What’s your writing process like? Are you a plotter or a pantser? What’s a typical writing day like for you?Oh, total set-of-the-panser! I can’t tell you how many times I finish a chapter and sit back saying, “Whoa, I didn’t know they were going to do that!”
I’m also a slow writer. On my writing days, I get up early and pretty much keep at it for 10 or12 hours (Okay, okay, with bathroom and chocolate breaks. Chocolate is an essential item on a writer’s desk. One never knows when The Muse might need a little bribe!) If I end up with 8 or 10 pages, that’s a very good day. The good news is, they are pretty clean pages. I’m not someone who writes three or four drafts.Now I know your schedule is extremely busy since you are currently teaching a class at Yale (yes folks, that Yale) called “Reading the Historical Romance Novel” along with New York Times bestselling author Lauren Willing. Can you tell me a little on how this came about?Mix two romance writers with several glasses of chardonnay . . .
Lauren and I are both Yale grads, and one evening at Lady Jane’s Salon in NYC we started talking about how romance should be treated as a serious genre of literature, and how we would structure a class. Laughing, we both said, “Oh, wouldn’t it be fun to teach a seminar at Yale on the subject.” But the laughter quickly died away as a simultaneous spark lit in our eyes . . and so we decided to submit a proposal. After months of drafting a detailed syllabus, complete with critical readings, and being interviewed by a committee of students and professors in New Haven, our idea was accepted! We started teaching in January, and are really enjoying the experience.It’s actually great to see that we are part of a growing movement to focus attention on the fact that great authors are writing great stories in the romance genre. Now, we readers have always known that, but it’s heartening to see the rest of the literary world, as well as the academic community, start to sit up and take notice!Now onto To Sin With A Scoundrel which as I said I thoroughly enjoyed. Lady Ciara Sheffield is not your typical Regency heroine. She’s been married and has a child and is an intellectual. What made you decide on this type of heroine and the Circle of Sin as an idea for a series?I’ve always liked creating unconventional heroines . . . maybe because I’ve always been a little quirky myself. So I tend to write stories with characters who dare to be different and who challenge the rules of their Society. It allows me to explore an emotional complexity, which I feel allows me to add depth and texture.The Circle of Sin is a group of brilliant, beautiful female scholars who meet each week to share their knowledge and their friendship. They are all scientists—now, don’t ask me why! I was absolutely hopeless in math or science in school. (But hey, that’s part of the fun of fiction, and I did do my homework studying up on the basics so as not to make a fool of myself.) That said, I really enjoyed playing with the “chemistry” of pairing each of the three brainy heroines with heroes who were, on the surface, their opposites. Lady Ciara Sheffield, who stars in the first book of the new trilogy, is wary of men, however she has no choice but to accept help from a rakish rogue in order to save herself from scandal . . . and they both learn some unexpected lessons on love.What was your inspiration for the dashing and sexy Lord Hadley?Oh, I have a real soft spot for Lucas, who is one of my favorite heroes. He’s a charming rake who cheerfully admits to having no interest in anything but sybaritic pleasure. But at heart, he’s far more sensitive than he cares to admit, and as his best friend Jack says, he simply needs a challenge to bring out his better nature. As for inspiration, well, don’t we all dream of turning our scoundrels into noble heroes!
I can’t wait for the next book To Surrender A Rogue and Alessandra and Jack’s story. The sparks fly with these two from page one. Tell us a bit about them.
Oh yes, things get a little hot between Alessandra and Jack in To Sin With A Scoundrel. Having been burned in the past, she’s mistrustful of the handsome devil who tries to ride to her rescue—especially when Jack ends up tying her young daughter to a tree. (Note: he has an excellent reason for doing it, but still, what mother would not be a tad upset at such heavy-handed measures!)
So in To Surrender To A Rogue, when they find themselves working at the same archeological excavation of Roman ruins in Bath, they are none too happy about it. But when fellow member of the expedition threatens to dig up a dark secret from Alessandra’s past, she finds herself in desperate need of a hero . . . I hope you enjoy their story! (Oh, and then there’s free-spirited Kate, the botany expert, whose story will be told in To Tempt A Rake.)Thanks so much for being here today. I can’t wait to see you at the next Lady Jane’s.
Thanks for having me, Kwana! See you at the Salon in March.
Folks you can check out Cara’s website hereAnd if you are in New York on Monday March 1st don’t miss Lady Jane’s Salon where Cara will be reading from To Sin With A Scoundrel. Check out the site here.Oh and one lucky commenter will win a signed ARC (advanced reader copy) of To Sin With A Scoundrel from Cara. So please leave your comments. The only rule is you must be a follower of ye old blog kwanawrites. Oh and please leave your email so I can get back to ya and enter by midnight Thursday. Thanks.Best,
KwanaFeeling Better
Let me start off by saying my DH is all sorts of The Man! You can just put a picture of me on the end of these ecstatic folks.
My laptop is fixed and I didn’t lose a thing. Whew. I can breathe easier. The only problem I have now is some old (annoying) sticky keys which are now stickier. So The DH thinks I may soon have to send it out for keyboard replacement. Ack! More time without my DLT (dear laptop).
But for now I’m feeling more like myself today with my trusty companion. Thanks for all your good thoughts yesterday.
Best,
KwanaAhh Choo!
Happy Monday peeps. I hope you all had a good weekend. Mine was going along swimmingly, that is until I caught a virus.
No, not that kind of virus.
This kind of virus:
And I’m still not cured. I’m typing is on the old computer in my f-f-frezing basement. The DH spent Saturday night and the better part of Sunday trying to fix my laptop with no success while I was alternating between praying,biting my nails, nagging him, rocking and chanting. He plans to come home from work with other tactics to try but is afraid that he may have to wipe out everything I have in order to clear things up. *sob*
This writer chick is not a happy camper. I feel like I’m missing my right arm.
I hope you’re doing better than me today.Best,
KwanaYou Picking On Me?
So I’m sitting in my car and waiting for the DD to get out of dance and I’m wondering what to blog about for today. Should I go with pictures of my Christmas tree? Yeah, that would be nice. Besides, I have been doing a decent job with posting nice sweet posts lately. I’m proud of myself especially with so much to be annoyed about with Tiger and all his tigresses on the prowl and all.
Image from here.And then there was suddenly talk on the radio about Ashley Dupre getting her own advice column in the New York Post. You know Ashley? The hooker from the Governor Spitzer scandal. Now, I’m not normally one to knock anyone’s hustle, but please. There are folks laid off all over the place and I need a paying job bad (preferably one where I write, but reading would be good too) and she gets an advice column? Dang. Makes it hard to write about that Christmas tree.
Now so sorry for the bad transition but then I go decided to check twitter. Darn you tweets! There’s all this talk about this controversial PW cover. Hmm… At first I thought I hadn’t read the article. But guess what, I did. I just didn’t know it since they didn’t correlate. The article talked about the economy and the upcoming downward trends in publishing. Ok, sad, but tame.
The cover is a 1999 art piece by Lauren Kelly from the book Posing Beauty on the representation of African American beauty from 1890’s to the present. Which on its own looks like a pretty good book. But this for a PW cover on African American literature I think is a huge fail. You can read the senior news editor’s response over here at Galley Cat.
As I said in a blog comment, this just further widens the already segregated shelves. It’s a shame. As a Black writer writing multi-cultural romance and finding it so hard to break in and find a spot on the shelves this is upsetting. And I know some will say just lighten up, but no. Sorry.An earlier agent that I had and later broke up with didn’t get my writing. He wanted me to make it more of what he considered urban. Spice up the language to I don’t know what, but I do know it was something I wasn’t and couldn’t do. Now I’m not saying this is the only reason I’m not published yet but it may be part of it. This not fitting into a preconceived box. Why do we have to fit these boxes?
All I wanted and all I can do is write what I feel and write what I live, which is a multi-cultural life. I’m a Black woman from New York now living as a sort of suburban failed housewife in a not at all black town just outside of New York.
I write books where the Black Women have White and Black friends or Asian or Hispanic friends because that’s just who she is. That is also me. And I’m starting to feel like I may never find a publishing home.
One of the best compliments that I ever got was from a good friend of mine and chic knitting buddy. Me: Black woman from Harlem. Her: Jewish woman from the Bronx. I had her read sample pages from a detective story idea that I have working on. I pitched it Lethal Weapon meets Thelma and Louise. There are two main characters one is Black and the other is White. Well, I was so thrilled when my friend told me that, one it was funny and sexy, but what she liked the best was that I just write real women and it didn’t matter what color they were because I showed real situations that all women could relate to.
That’s the problem I have with this cover. It somehow makes African-American writers different. Very different. Foreign even and therefore not the norm. It reinforces a stereotype that we need to drop. As art it’s beautiful, but as a message to the industry I think it says give these books their own section in the bookstore, if you buy them at all and pray a select few will wander over. I say it sets up failure.
If you look at my post below from yesterday you’ll see that I put two pretty hot guys up for my romance obsession, Denzel and Richard Armitage. Hot is hot. It really doesn’t have a color to most Black or White women for that matter and not so hot is, well, not. That’s just how it is.
It’s time to work on bridging this divide. Mixing up the shelves and just focusing on good books.
Oh and Christmas tree pics to come soon:-)
Best,
KwanaDream a little Dream
What’s Jack up to? That Jack was a hot mess yesterday. We had him out for a little walk and he met up with new neighbor Arya (see below) and he wanted no parts of her. I was so embarrassed. Arya was so happy to see Jack ready to sniff and say hi and Jack kept running away. She tried and tried and he was not having it. It was very sad and Arya looked heartbroken. I really shouldn’t be surprised. Jack is not even into dogs on tv. Here he is wanting no part of the dog show. I just don’t know what to do with my anti-social dog. Humph!Onto other news which is not really news, but I’ve still got Nano on my mind. Sorry, if this blog is getting boring. I’ll think up something better soon. Maybe crash a party. Ugh! Don’t get me started on at hot mess. Makes me so mad.But, back to NaNo…Getting it completed was such a thrill. Would you like to see how it looked once I uploaded my manuscript? Sure you do, so here goes. I was happy to see this page. Pretty.
And this was my page once I passed the 50,000 word mark. It’s wonderful how many others made their goals too and even those who did not still came so far because just trying and getting 10 or 20,000 words done is still so much. Congrats to all the participants!
If you have some dream that is gnawing at you and you think it’s beyond your reach, I say give it a go anyway. You never know what you can do until you try. I’m not anywhere near my ultimate dream but I’m so much closer than where I was.Any challenges pressing on your heart that you think you might want to try? Please share.Best,KwanaAnd I’m Done
What’s Jack up to? Jack is doing well. He’s up and at ‘em and ready for a relaxing week after having a long and wild weekend with the family. At least I hope so. I know I’m ready for a fairly relaxing week so I hope Jack is on board with that. Well, it’s November 30th the last day for NaNoWrimo 50,000 word challenge and I’m happy to report that I’ve completed it with 54,194 words. I went a little over since I started with a few words in this story. This was my first Nano and it was one of the hardest and most rewarding experiences of my writing life.Speaking of hardest I had one crazy day on Friday in my post Thanksgiving stupor where I wrote 10,000 words. I would not recommend this for anyone. I think I was sleep writing at one point and had to get up and hop around the house a bit. Splash some water on my face.
In my head I was Rocky and had a little Burgess Meredith pushing me on. Making sure I wouldn’t give up and there were plenty of times I wanted to. At 20,000 and again at 27,000 and again at 35,000 words. But once I got close to 40 I knew there was no turning back.
A life saver, well, NaNo saver for me was Write or Die over at Dr. Wicked’s writing lab. It really forced me to write without thinking and let go of that inner critic. At one point when I was complaining about how hard it was to think up something else to write my son gave me a great reminder when he said, “You don’t write what you think Mom, you write what you feel.” Such wise words.Now I know that this story will take about 20- 25,000 more words to finish and at least 10,000 of the hot mess I’m-so-tired words will be cut, but hey, I’ll be crossing that bridge next month and maybe even next year. Yeah, probably into next year.
Well, that’s it for me and my NaNo journey. I want to thank all of you for your encouraging words. They meant so much and to my RWA/NYC NaNo crew a big thanks too. I’m so glad I joined you for the ride. Oh and all my NaNo tweeting buddies. You rock hard!
Now onto that layer of dust that had been sitting for the past month.Best,
KwanaThe Day After
Happy Friday after Thanksgiving. I hope you had a wonderful day and got to spend time with those you love. The DH took the dear twins to the Macy’s parade in the morning which was so much fun for them since they have not been since they were babies and it left me with time to get in a few NaNo words before heading for dinner at Nana’s.
If you’re reading this blog it must mean you’re not out in the Black Friday shopping madness today. I sure thought about it. Real Hard. But these images will show why I’m not out today. If you are or did go out. I wish you best of luck with finding great bargains. Me, I’m still hanging with my NaNo writing. Only 4 days to make my deadline. Tick Tock.
Best,Kwana
