Conference in absentia

I am not going to the RWA National Conference this year, and as my friends and colleagues start to gear up for the gathering in Washington, DC, next week, I am starting to feel a little bummed out that I won’t be there, too.

I love the national conference. I love seeing friends I’ve made over the years – and for a number of them, the national conference is the one time during the year where we can catch up with each other in person. I always learn something new at the national conference. I look forward to the annual literacy signing – buying lots of books, visiting with authors, and looking for the slot where I’d be sitting if my book was published and I was there to sign it.

The national conference is a great motivational tool, networking venue, and learning opportunity.

Even though I won’t be there to partake in all this fun, I don’t want my writing experience to suffer for it. So, during conference week I want to concentrate on conjuring up my own learning opportunities. I have plenty of workshops on tape from previous years, so I am going to build in some time to make my own stay-at-home workshops. I think I will go to my local bookstore and buy a few books in support of the authors I will miss at the literacy signing. And I think I will send some notes to authors I have not yet met so that I can share my joy for their work.

Do you have any other suggestions for making the most of conference week when one can’t be there to participate in person?

And for everyone who plans to go – I hope you have the best time! Take pictures, and post status updates to Facebook!

Last, but not least, I am rooting from afar for my friends who are nominated for the RITA and the Golden Heart awards. Best of luck to:

Jessica Andersen – RITA Finalist in Contemporary Series Romance: Suspense/Adventure

Terri Brisbin – RITA Finalist in Romance Novella

Tina Ferraro – RITA Finalist in Young Adult Romance

Elizabeth Devlin – Golden Heart Finalist in Novel with Strong Romantic Elements

Seize the day!
Jessica

Random Thoughts

Just a few, non-linear thoughts that are swirling in my head.

-- Summertime writing has always been a challenge. Nothing kills creativity like a bunch of teenage boys playing video games or occupying my pool - except a teenage boy whose friends all have summer houses and has no one to hang out with. When your son decides accompanying you to TJ Maxx sounds fun, you know you're in trouble.

-- Every summer I promise myself this will be the year my writing will not become the "push point" or the thing I give up in favor of other activities. Two weeks into vacation I'm already having trouble with that. (See above.)

-- Thank God for Starbucks - the best writing sanctuary I know.

-- No matter how RWA or the board tries to spin it, membership in PAN is a badge of honor. I know, I waited 15 years to qualify.

-- That said, making the transition from unpublished to published author is a lot harder than I thought. It's a mindset thing. It's one thing to tell people you write for Harlequin; believing it yourself is another.

Sightseeing at RWA Nationals

This is my eleventh year attending RWA Nationals, and one of the things I love about the conference is the opportunity to see different parts of the country. Usually, my plan is to fly in a day early (or stay a day late) and do some sightseeing.

This year, however, the conference is being held in a city that I’ve been visiting almost weekly for the past year. Here are a few blog posts I've written describing my favorite Washington DC sightseeing spots. Click on the links to access the posts:


Art Museums in Washington, DC (National Gallery of Art; National Portrait Gallery)

Cathryn’s recommendation: Great for a calm afternoon retreat; close by via subway (no transfers required).

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Pandas! (The National Zoo)

Cathryn’s recommendation: You gotta love Pandas. Just a short walk from our conference hotel.


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Smithsonian Natural History Museum

Cathryn’s recommendation: A fun afternoon indoors, accessible by subway (transfer required). Don’t miss the Gem Store. Good cafeteria, too.

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A Fieldtrip to the U.S. Library of Congress and the Copyright Office

Cathryn’s recommendation: The greatest library in the USA. Take the tour, visit the gift shop. If you want to check out the U.S. Capitol, this is directly across the street (or underground, via the short tunnel). The U.S. Supreme Court is next door. All on Capitol Hill, accessible by subway.

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More recommendations:

If you’ve never visited Washington DC, the monuments on the Mall and near the Tidal Basin are must-sees, although hot and crowded in summer. I also enjoyed the U.S. Capitol tour (via the new Capitol Visitor Center). I believe everyone should see the Holocaust Museum at least once, though I have to say, it's a very emotional experience and I did leave in tears.

Another museum I recommend is the Sewall-Belmont House and Museum (on Capitol Hill, a short walk from the Library of Congress). From their website: “The museum is the headquarters of the historic National Woman's Party and was the Washington home of its founder and Equal Rights Amendment author Alice Paul.” The day I visited, the museum was undergoing renovations and therefore technically closed, though they were kind enough to give me a quick private tour. Still, I plan to go back to fully experience the museum. If you’ve seen the excellent HBO movie “Iron Jawed Angels” with Hilary Swank and Patrick Dempsey, then you’ll appreciate the history even more.

Also, Ford’s Theatre recently reopened after renovations. I plan to visit that museum during Conference week. Maybe I’ll see you there.

Lastly, outside Washington but still accessible by Metro is Arlington National Cemetery. If you go, be sure to take the tour, visit the Changing of the Guards, and definitely stop by Robert E. Lee’s former home (at the top of the hill).

Thanks for reading. Happy Travels!

Riding the Dragon

I am just getting back from vacation so for today I wanted to keep it simple and share something I think is particularly applicable to the struggles of writing and working toward our publishing goals, all while trying to balance other life demands and considerations. It's an ancient Chinese proverb that goes like this:

Three men were traveling along a narrow mountain trail when they came upon a ferocious dragon.

The first man tried to fight the dragon, but the dragon was too strong and it defeated and ate the man.

The second man tried to run away from the dragon, but the dragon was too fast and it overcame the man and ate him.

The third man, seeing what had happened to the first two, took the only other option. He jumped upon the dragon’s back and held on for dear life.

At first, riding the dragon was very difficult and sometimes even terrifying. It also seemed dangerous, for the dragon was totally unpredictable and appeared to be out of control. However the man held on and survived. As time went by he was able to sense when the dragon was going to change directions and it became easier to stay on its back.

Although the man could never control the dragon and had to be continuously watchful, he was able to become more comfortable riding the dragon and was actually able to share in the fruits of the dragon’s many victories; for no one could stop the dragon.

In the end, the man prospered because he had learned how to ride the dragon.

Each time I come back to this proverb I am reminded how wild the ride can be, and when I feel overwhelmed by it all I try to remember that sometimes the best we can do is just hang on as hard as we can.

Seize the day!
-Jessica

Making Sunshine

It's July 1 and it's raining. Not a surprise since it's been raining for weeks now here in the Northeast. I haven't seen weather like this in about a decade. Frankly, it's high time summer and sunshine made an appearance.

Lack of sunshine does more than kill my sunbathing. Like so many others, I need the sun to fuel my good mood and my creativity. When the skies are gray, so am I. (And when you have a deadline appraoching, gray is not good.)

But, being the Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm kind of girl that I am, I've decided to fight back. That's right, I'm making my own sunshine. Let's face it, with these weather patterns, self-made sunniness is the only kind I'm going to get.

So what am I going to do?

1. Stop complaining. It's raining. It's cold. The weather stinks. But I can't do anything about it. Complaining only spreads the gloom around. Excessive complaining also derails productivity and motivation, both for myself and the people around me. So no more complaining about the bad weather.

2. Turn on lights. As a close friend pointed out, I'm not spending money on air conditioning, so why not use the electicity to chase the gray away.

3. Practice self-care. I'm going to relax a little more, wrap up in a blanket and read a little more. If the weather won't warm me up, then I'll find other ways.

4. Take a day-cation. Gray weather does not prohibit me from going out and enjoying myself (or the company of others.)

5. Make a list of all the things that are going good in my life. It's hard to stay down when you are focused on your blessings.

That's my list. What about you all? What are your suggestions for making sunshine? Let's see if we can come up with a good long list that inspires all of us.

2.

Last Call To Win Jess Andersen!

We'll be drawing the name of one lucky reader at the end of the day today. If you haven't read Jessica Andersen, don't miss out on this chance to discover her great books - for free! All you have to do is leave a comment. The winner will receive the previously-released book of their choice. For those who haven't read her Intrigues, might I suggest Book 1 of her Bear Claw Mountain series?

Welcome Jess Andersen!

The Muses are busy recharging this week, but never fear. In our place we have three-time RITA Nominee Jessica Andersen. Jess's latest Harlequin Intrigue, Mountain Investigation, is out next month. (It's a RT Top Pick too!) And in August, look for the next in her celebrated NightKeepers series.

At the end of the week, one lucky poster will get a Jessica Andersen Intrigue! Take it away Jess....


Hi all, and a big THANK YOU to the Muses for inviting me to visit! On the theory of ‘blog what you’re thinking today,’ I’d like to talk about middle books. You know … like number two in a trilogy, or books four through six in a nine-book series.

Why am I thinking about middle books? Because: 1) I just turned in the first draft of Demonkeepers, which is book four of the nine-book Final Prophecy series; 2) I’m sketching out ideas for Keepers5 right now; and 3) my July release from Harlequin Intrigue, Mountain Investigation, is the middle of a three-book miniseries. So I’m all about middles right now!

When writing, I tend to churn out a decent synopsis, stick to it for the first third of the book, go completely off the reservation for the middle third, then pull myself back together for the ending. At which point, I’m 20-50k words over my target word count, so it’s no big deal (in fact, it’s critical) to go back in and rip out all the blither I wrote whilst trying to find my way through the story forest. Which is usually most of the middle.

(And I’m not advocating this as a writing process. Seriously, don’t do this if you’ve got any other option whatsoever. I’m simply unable to write a book without also writing a whole lot of crap that really shouldn’t ever make it out of my head and onto the page. Like meetings. I have this thing about writing scenes in which the Nightkeepers sit around and talk about stuff that the reader has already seen firsthand. Because, yanno, secondhand analysis makes for really gripping narrative. Not.)

Okay, so that’s how I typically avoid having a sagging middle in a given book- by writing enough that I have room to tighten the flab and focus on the characters and action. But what about when I’m thinking in terms of a series? I’d really rather not have to throw out an entire book upon realizing that it’s one big fat sagging middle. Eek!

When I sit down to write the synopsis for a middle book—regardless of whether it’s a short sketch that lets the editor know what I plan to do if they buy into the series, or a full multi-page outline—I concentrate on two key points: 1) I want to increase the danger/suspense from the point where the prior book ended (upping the stakes); and 2) although I want to set up pieces of the next book, the middle book must be self-contained, complete, and satisfying in its own right.

We’ve all read books and seen movies where the middle installment of a three-fer is the weakest of the bunch, existing largely to get the story from point A to point C, without really giving point B its due, yes? I try very hard not to be that writer … and I do that by going back to basics with that old adage: It’s the characters, stupid.

For me, the creation of a satisfying middle book comes from answering the following questions:

1) Why is the story goal necessitated by the overall series arc specifically critical to this hero and heroine? And I’m not just talking about ‘I should save the world/capture the bad guy because it’s the right thing to do,’ but rather a smaller-scale, more deeply personal motivation.

2) If they don’t succeed in reaching that goal, why is the potential negative consequence the worst possible outcome for these specific characters? Again, it’s too vague to use ‘because they want to live’- that’s a given. What I’m looking for is a set of consequences that are tied into the hero’s and heroine’s backstories and motivations.

3) And finally, if they do succeed in reaching the story goal (or identifying a way to get around an impossible goal to reach another, hidden goal), what sort of payoff will not only move us to the next story, but also provide a satisfying finish for these two characters?

See what I mean? It’s about the characters, and about making the story specifically personal to them, while still encompassing the larger series arc.

In the Intrigue trilogy I was talking about earlier, three ruthless terrorists escape from a Supermax prison north of Bear Claw City, and intelligence chatter warns that they’re planning a terrible attack. Furthermore, it quickly becomes clear that the terrorists have infiltrated local and federal law enforcement. So the series goal is obviously ‘recapture the terrorists, prevent the terror attack and root out the conspirators.’ Given that, I had to be careful to make each of the books ‘feel’ different, even if their end goals were very similar.

In the first book, Manhunt in the Wild West, undercover agent Jonah (Fax) Fairfax helps the terrorists escape from prison on orders from a superior who proves to be one of the conspirators. With the help of medical examiner Chelsea Swan, he must clear his name while racing to prevent the planned terror attack and recapture the escapees. Things get personal when Chelsea herself becomes a target, and Fax must choose between his mandate and the woman he has come to love.

Here, the story goal is essentially ‘save the world,’ because that’s the sort of man Fax is. But then again, each of the books in the miniseries is about members of law enforcement protecting our home soil against terrorism. So … I needed to find an angle that would make the second book stand out. Since these are also romances at their core, I turned to the romance for that angle, focusing on the question: Why is this story personal to these people?

In Mountain Investigation (July ‘09), I focus on the heroine’s fight to heal from an emotionally poisonous marriage and boatloads of guilt that she hadn’t realized her ex was one of the terrorists until after he’d done terrible things. When her husband escapes from the Supermax, she’s forced to rely on a revenge-obsessed FBI agent who walks a fine line between justice and vigilantism … and who just may hold the key to her new life.

Thus, while it’s still a ‘capture the bad guys’ book, the tone and focus are very different between books one and two. More, this second book ends with hints of a larger plot afoot, one that will be central to the final book in the miniseries, Internal Affairs (10/09). But even as Mountain Investigation pulls together threads from the first book and sets up the third, it’s a complete, stand-alone love story. Romantic Times Magazine even gave it a Top Pick and 4.5 stars, saying: “Andersen’s first-class novel is terrifyingly real, shatteringly topical and sweepingly romantic.”

So that’s my take on middle books, and a bit of insight into how I go about ramping up the stakes without bringing things to such a hysterical fever pitch that I’m drowning out the character-driven romances that I love so much.

Now … if you’ve gotten all the way to the end of this, thank you! And I have a few questions for you … what middle books (or movies) have worked or not worked for you? Why? Do you have any thoughts on what an author should keep in mind when trying to make a middle book strong in its own right? Let’s discuss!

Mountain Investigation is available for pre-order now at e-harlequin. To keep up with Jess's many releases and achievements, sign up for her newsletter at http://www.jessicaandersen.com/books/ or http://www.jessicaandersenintrigues.com/contact.html