Megan Hart

Hey, everyone! I’m the guest blogger today over at Romance By The Blog so if you want to stop on over and see what I have to say about first and third person point of view, and maybe win some goodies, that would be okay with me.

M

Whatever that means. I guess it means that tomorrow, I work on my fairy tale story and get as much done on that as I can (it’s not due until July, so I have some time to play) and get ready to start Second Verse on Thursday. March 1, the official start date.

I’m nervous.

I’m always nervous when I start something new. Particularly when I start something new under deadline. What if I suck? What if I freeze? Worse, what if I think I’m being brilliant and I’m not?

I’ve been thinking about Second Verse for a long time. Months, actually. It won’t be the first time I use the subject matter, but it might be the last.

Maybe that’s why I’m nervous? Because I think that I might put to rest a lot of “stuff” that I know is going to come out in Second Verse? Because I know I’m going to have to dig around in some dark places and deal with stuff that’s going to be a little painful? Because when I use it all up…it might be gone?

And I’m not so sure I’m ready to give up all my angst and woe.

At any rate, tomorrow I plan to go to my coffee shop and drink coffee and work on my story and feel like I’ve accomplished something. I’ll go on Thursday too, in order to get a good, strong start. When I write at the coffee shop I can put out a good 20-25 pages in one day, and feel really good.

I should learn to write at home.

But anyway, I’ll get a good start at the coffee shop.

And I won’t let go of all my angst and woe.

M

I was wrong, the story for AQP isn’t At Your Service, it’s Anything You Want.

And it’s done! Finished! Submitted!

So for the rest of today I’ll be working on my “fairy tale” story for them and preparing for Thursday, when I start Second Verse.

I was looking at my calendar and realizing the kids have no school for nearly a WEEEEEEEK!!!! in April!!!!! Plus I’m going away to the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention in April, too!

Man. I’d better get to work.

I do plan on starting Second Verse on March 1, but since I have two fun stories to write for Amber Quill Press I figured I’d finish up the one I have almost done and get that off to them before I dive into a new novel. I might, depending on how I do today, even start/write most of/ the second story for them tomorrow and use Wednesday as a final editing/cleanup sort of thing for that.

Which brings me to why I love short stories. I can write most of one in a day, start to finish. I can actually finish something in one day!

Writing novels takes time. I think I’m fairly fast, and I have the time to do it (both kids in school, no other job, that sort of thing) but it still takes me about three months. Writing a story can be done in a day or two, a week tops, and that ends up feeling very satisfactory.

At Your Service is SF erotic romance, and it’s a lot of fun. Set in the same world as Passion Model and Driven, this story takes place on an intersteller cruise ship. Kind of like the Love Boat, but in space. Come to think of it, it touches on themes found in Amidst A Crowd of Stars too.

I think that’s another reason I like short stories. I can revisit worlds I’ve enjoyed creating, coming at them from a different angle. Telling the story from a different perspective. Different viewpoints. Piecing the entire world together using different experiences. Fun!

Writing is fun!

Today, anyway. Come back in a week when I need a reminder about why I subject myself to this torture!

M

I posted the blurb for Broken in my Amazon.com plog because it’s not showing up yet in the product information. I didn’t write that blurb, btw, but one of the great things about selling to Harlequin was that I don’t “have” to write my own cover copy any more.

Then I got to thinking…is that such a good thing? Just because I’ve always found the cover copy to be somewhat of a chore, albeit a challenging chore, does that mean it’s really great that I don’t have to write it for my Spice releases? I’ll still be writing it for my books from Amber Quill Press, I’ll still be challenged to write the perfect words to draw someone to my book. By not writing my own cover copy, does that distance me from the responsibility of making my books intriguing enough for someone to choose?

Not that there’s anything wrong with the copy that’s on the cover of Broken. Not at all. But I know that it’s had some people question what the book’s “about.” Because many readers, particularly readers of romance, don’t want to pick up a book, won’t even bother with a book, that features infidelity.

Is Broken about infidelity?

Good question.

The heroine, Sadie, is married. Her husband is the man to whom she returns every single night. Joe is the man she meets on a park bench, once a month, to listen to his tales of lust and passion. Joe and Sadie just talk. Joe and Sadie are not having an affair.

And yet they are having a relationship.

Sadie has her reasons for meeting Joe. Her husband might not understand them. She doesn’t understand them, herself. Joe probably would understand them, if Sadie told him the truth about her marriage and the struggles she faces with her husband…but Sadie doesn’t tell Joe stories.

She only listens to his.

So, is Broken about infidelity?

I say, no. I say it’s about love. The power of love to leave us helpless, or to fill us with strength. The power of love to make us, to break us, to lift us up and knock us down. It’s about loving someone who’s not perfect. Loving someone no matter how hard they try to make you stop.

Broken is about love and the challenges it creates.

This is the tag line I’ve been using for Broken. It doesn’t say much, but it says it all.

Once a month he tells her a story…and once a month, she listens.
If you want to see a little teaser I made for it, check out here:

Since Friday is normally my day to do errands and clean my house, it’s also a good day for me to do something fun on my blog. My good friend Lauren Dane does a Friday Book Talk, but I’m going to do a Friday Shout Out, instead!

Welcome to my first one!

Akashan’te, the first release from my friend Vicky Burkholder is available now! Give her some mad love, ya’ll, it’s her first one!

blurb:
Rowyn of Cotswold has eyes as black as midnight, bone-white hair, and powers that go beyond anything the world has seen in centuries. Raised by her aunts, she knows nothing about her powers until a fateful day when she returns home to find everything and everyone gone.

A cryptic note and a magical box direct her to the fabled city of Akashan’te at the six sister stars. The fate of the entire world rides on her ability to find the city before conjunction.

A giant of a man, Daniel is determined to guard her and love her no matter what the outcome. On their journey, they encounter friends who benefit from Rowyn’s abilities, enemies who will stop at nothing to control her, and love that will last a lifetime and beyond.

Taking Chase from my good friend and fellow Maverick AuthorLauren Dane!
blurb:
A battle begins between Shane, who knows what he wants and Cassie, who tries to keep a distance between herself and the very handsome sheriff. But Cassies ex is back and he wants her dead. Book Two of the Chase Brothers Cassie Gambol is on the run. In what seems like another lifetime, her ex-husband nearly ended her life and effectively ended her successful career as a vascular surgeon. But even though the justice system found him guilty of attempted murder, he fled while awaiting sentencing and Carly Sunderland became Cassie Gambol. Fleeing Los Angeles, she heads to small and off the map Petal, Georgia to start her life again. Shane Chase, a man whos held himself away from commitment since his fiance dumped him several years before knows the beautiful newcomer is hiding something. Hes wildly attracted to her strength and her underlying vulnerability as well. But the last thing Cassie wants is another big, overwhelming man who wants to control her life. A battle begins between Shane, who knows what he wants and Cassie, who knows she needs to do everything she can to keep a distance between herself and the very handsome sheriff. But Cassies ex is back and he wants her dead. Warning, this title contains the following: explicit sex, graphic language, some violent situations.

Witch Fire– available for pre-order, now from my good friend and fellow Mav, Anya Bast!

blurb:

Fountain of Tears– if you like Evanescence, try this band! I just got their CD and have been listening all morning. Lots of fun, and you can sample their songs on Myspace.

WHAT I’M WATCHING:

Queer as Folk – The Complete Second Season (Showtime)

Supernatural – The Complete First Season

Supernatural Season Two

Lake Consequence

WHAT I’M READING:

The Rising

And lookit what my mama bought me!

Skulls and hearts! Yay!

So, today, I do errands. Read some things for crit (yayyyyy!!!) Clean my house. Typical Friday.

Then on the weekend, I run around like crazy.

Monday…SECOND VERSE.

M

Since I decided this blog was going to be my “professional” blog and it’s going to be some sort of Year in the Life sort of thing, I guess I’d better keep up with it.

Today, I shall edit. Still edit. Oh, yes, you thought it was over? No. I’m only up to chapter ten and I have twenty all together.

So, because you want to know how how a working writer does it, here’s my process.

1.  Write the book. Generally accompanied by gnashing and wailing about how I never have enough time to finish. (When, duh, obviously I do.) I write in Times New Roman 14 pt., 1 inch margins, spacing set at exactly 25 lines per page. Don’t ask me to write in Courier. It gives me hives. I end up with a 400 page book that’s approximately 100,000 words long or a bit longer (for cutting.) This is the length I prefer to submit. It might vary from 398 to 405, and I have finished books that were longer and short stories and novellas that were shorter, but generally for novels my mind works toward 400 pages, approximately 100k.

2. Print out all pages of the book as I complete each section. (In case of computer failure and also in order to use them later for editing) Put them in a three ring binder to keep them pretty. Keep notes in a special notebook about things I need to add or whatever.

3. Go over the printout by hand with a colored pen. Mark corrections and places where I need to add sections to fill in bare spots. Cut out stuff I don’t need. Literally cut and paste sections on the paper from one place to another so I can read the book all the way through the way it should read. Gnash and moan about how much I suck. (When duh, obviously, it’s not that bad.)

4. IM friends to moan about how much I suck.

5. Enter all corrections, added sections, parts that were in the wrong places, etc. Print out again. I do this ususally in Times New Roman pt. 10, single spaced, 1 inch margins. Yes, it’s tiny. But it takes up less paper. I might even print out on the backs of previously used paper.  As this process begins, I usually send it out to my army of fabulous crit partners who I can trust to be honest and tell me the places that really do suck.

6. As I get feedback, I go over it again, one last time. I mesh my final changes with the feedback from my readers (and at this point, it’s usually minor stuff, hardly any BIG changes), enter all the corrections, check it over one last time and send it off to my agent. I used to send it directly to my small press editor and still do that for the short stuff I do for them, but for Spice it goes first to my lovely agent who makes sure it’s good and sends it off to Canada.

This process takes me about 3 months. Two to write the book and one to edit. Not because the editing takes sooooooo long — it’s actually pretty fast, but I like to sit on the book between stages and also give my readers time to actually read it and they, like, ya know, have lives and stuff. So it can take a month for me to polish and edit the book, and this chafes me because I know how close I am to being finished. So I moan and groan about how I’ll never be done! But I want to send each book as close to perfect as it can be, as clean as I can make it. And that’s pretty clean, I’m not ashamed to say.

So, that’s it. The process. Three months per book. Starting in a week I’ll begin a new book called Second Verse, and you’ll get to follow my daily progress with it. Word count, frustrations, successes, etc. We’ll see how long it takes. My deadline for it is July 31, but I truly want to be finished with it and submitted before my kids get out of school in June. I’m going on vacation. I want to be finished before then.

Based on my last experience this means that I *should* be able to use March and April to write the book (RT will probably cut into that, but that’s ok) and May to edit. I should be finished by June. If I have to do some polishing into June, that’s fine.

And then after that, not a clue. I’d like to revise my SF trilogy and get that making the rounds. I’d like to write my women’s fiction novel, Blackbird. I’d like to sell my paranormal novel and its sequel. I’d like to write some short stories.

I’d like Supernatural to return for a third season and feature Dean reading Dirty on the magic fingers bed.

Hair update: you’d think that with how much I color it, my hair would be fried, but I am satisfied to tell you that it’s as smooooooth as silk. Sadly, the Blue Mayhem doesn’t hold around my face. It’s the first to wash out. Not sure how to fix that.

ON TO THE EDITS!!

M

Don’t miss it! Megan Hart, Anya Bast and Lauren Dane, aka The Maverick Authors will be chatting here:

9 pm EST, 6 pm PST!

I think there will be prizes. Or something. And I’m sure there will be talking about sex.

Come on over!

1. Height?
5′6″

2. Have you ever smoked heroin?
Didn’t know you could smoke it

3. Do you own a gun?
yes

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments?
no
6. What do you think of hot dogs?
*LOVE*

7. What’s your favorite Christmas song?
none

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning?
Diet Coke with Splenda

9. Can you do push ups?
a few

10. Is your bathroom clean?
usually

11. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry?
my necklace or my skull earrings

12. Do you like painkillers?
probably not

13. What is your secret weapon to lure in the opposite sex?
I’m sexy

14. Do you have A.D.D.?
What was the question?

15. What’s your name?
Megan

16. Middle Name?
*deleted*

17. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment?
I’m sad because my cat died
I should be working
My stomach hurts

18. Name the last 3 things you bought:
steaks, yogurt, Diet Coke with Splenda

Name 3 drinks you regularly drink:
Diet Coke with Splenda times three

22. Current worry?
finishing my contracts and getting more

23. Current hate?
dirt

24. Favorite place to be?
watching movies in my theater

25. How did you bring in the New year?
went roller skating and came home

26. Where would you like to go?
Scotland

27. Do you own slippers?
yes

28. What shirt are you wearing?
grey pullover

29. Do you burn or tan?
burn and freckle

30. Favorite color(s)?
purple

31. Would you be a pirate?
of course

32. Are you gay?
sometimes just a little

33. What songs do you sing in the shower?
a medley of many misremembered songs

34. What did you fear was going to get you at night as a child?
my ventriliquist dummy

35. What’s in your pockets right now?
nothing

36. Where are you?
At my desk

37. Best bed sheets as a child?
umm…yellow flannel

38. Worst injury you’ve ever had?
stitches in my head

40. How many TVs do you have in your house?
three, four if you count the mini one

41. Who is your loudest friend?
MISTY

42. Who is your quietest friend?
Anya

43. Does someone have a crush on you?
Who doesn’t?

44. Do u wish on shooting stars?
Yes

45. What is your favorite book?
Many — perhaps Imajica or The Stand might count as favorites of all time

46. What is your favorite candy?
Peppermint Patty

47. What song do/did you want played at your wedding?
The Time Warp

48. What song do you want played at your funeral?
Conquering the Worm

49. What were you doing at 12AM last night?
Sleeping

50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up?
Two hour delay — if the phone rings one more time I’ma gonna kick something…