Darlene's Digest

Nora Roberts gets her own bobblehead. It's good to be the queen.

Gads, writing lovemaking scenes is exhausting! All that checking: "Did I have him take off his boots? How far away is the bed? Am I leaving in the scene where he sees her [THIS SECTION LEFT BLANK ON PURPOSE TO FOIL THE CENSORBOTS] so I can allude to it here? Write yourself a note! Have they eaten lunch yet? " OK, that last one was just for continuity--I needed to jot a note to remind myself where they are in the course of the day so I don't lose track. Whew! OK, back to the afterglow part...

I listen to music while writing, but it has to be very specific types of music--anything with lyrics and I can't concentrate. What I like best is movie instrumental soundtracks and I'm especially fond of the music of Hans Zimmer and Klaus Badelt. I also listen to internet radio and have some of my own "stations" at Pandora, but I was especially pleased to have a friend recommend Live365. She recommended their Highlander Radio, which I'm very much enjoying, but then I found Movie Sounds/Epics. Perfect! Now I've got a whole range of writing music available to me. I've got my own library of my disks that I've ripped (I'll soon have all three Pirates of the Caribbean soundtracks) and some variety from online services. I love living in modern times.[g]

Why You Should Never Throw Anything Out At least when you're writing. You never know when you might find a use for it later. Case in point: Back in February I was working on this intense scene that went on and on and on and I was getting great information out and writing well...and realized I was doing an info dump and inflicting my research on unsuspecting readers. So I took all that work and put it in a new file. Today I was writing and realized some of that clipped stuff might fit where I was today. Not all of it, you'll be glad to hear--I do realize not everyone finds Florida's history as fascinating as I do--but enough to move me substantially along in the scene I was writing. So when you're writing, either save your old pages or start a new file. Someday you might be glad you don't have to go back and do it all over again.

I should be writing (and will be, shortly, honest!) but it's "Be Nice to the Snake Day" so I moved Frisky the corn snake's terrarium from my son's room out into a more public area, cleaned it, put in a new climbing tree and a new liner. I don't like snakes, but they don't freak me out either. Frisky's been with us a loooooong time. So long that he got a cameo part in Smuggler's Bride . Long enough that his owner, my son, went to college, graduated from college, got a job and an apartment and still has excuses why the darn snake can't come live with him. Ah well. It's family. You can't just throw them out 'cause you don't like dealing with them (I'm referring to the snake, not the son).

I was sitting in a library foundation meeting last week where we learned the expansion project we asked the legislature to fund did not pass. Perhaps we should try this approach, used in Vienna's public library. I'd be happy to volunteer to read some of the classics.

Happy Mother's Day to me! And you! Thanks to Thing 1 and Thing 2 (the teacher and the philosopher). I couldn't have done it without you.

Some books I've read and would recommend: The Monk Downstairs --Tim Farrington--A sweet, thoughtful novel about a man who leaves a monastery after 20+ years and moves into a single mom's extra apartment. I liked it a lot, not just because of the story of the relationship, but because of the discussion of faith and forgiveness. White Night --Jim Butcher--Harry Dresden is back, he's still kicking paranormal ass, and I laughed out loud at some of the noirish one liners. A series that's holding its own. The Leopard Prince --Elizabeth Hoyt--Sure, there were some major logic problems, but I loved the dialog and the overall writing style. She's fast moving up to my autobuy list. Burning Bright --Janine Ashbless--An erotic romance in the Black Lace line. It's a fantasy set in a milieu with overtones of India and the far East, and was quite well done. The erotic element blended well with the story, and I never felt like I was being bludgeoned with sex scenes inter...

I did a word count today on my WIP and was cheered to see that it's close to 64,000 words, which to my mind means it's about 64% done! Yay! This book is taking far longer than it should, but I can see the end in sight now. I even know how it's going to end. It's getting from point A to point B that's the hard part.

Here's something most writers know intuitively, but bears repeating: Make friends with lots of people from lots of backgrounds. You never know when it will come in handy for your book. For example, I needed to know how to drug a cat in the early 19th C. I'm not a cat person, so I have no first hand experience to draw on. However, a frequent guest at our home is a veterinary student who's also a cat owner. She got back to me right away with the information that a century ago about a milliliter of laudanum would be administered to sedate cats. You can also use small amounts of alcohol (Kids, don't try this at home! It's purely for research purposes). I love it when research and writing come together so neatly.