Megan Hart

Third day of the new schedule. Third day in a row I got up and exercised (I’ve started watching Dead Like Me while I ride my stationary bike. One might imagine this is a good way to pass the time while exercising, and it would be, except inevitably I am interrupted at least four times by people leaving for work/school, having to drive someone to the bus stop, supervise the packing of lunch, etc.) But hey, I’m trying. The show is interesting, too.

Yesterday I wrote 24 pgs, much improved over the past few months where I wrote barely anything. And here’s the problem…I had great and glorious dreams about writing this book just for me over the summer, at a fairly “slow” pace (didn’t know it would be fucking GLACIAL) and then start the new school year with my contracted work. Well, that didn’t really happen so much. Got side tracked, did other stuff, didn’t finish.

I’m on the downward slide now, though. It’s about half finished, I have the end in sight. I like it. I like it very, very much. And I know if I don’t finish it, I will have one more 3/4 finished book that won’t ever sell. I need to finish it, polish it, get it out there, because though I might be able to sell it unfinished it will be much better if I finish it first. And I want to, I will, and I keep fooling myself I have enough time to do it.

The problem is, I have a deadline in January and one in March, and I’m pretty sure it’s the 1st of those months, not the end (which I HATE!!! HATE HATE HATE, please remind me next time to make sure the deadlines are the LAST day of the month!) and that means I really need to finish the Jan. book by December (traditionally a lost month) and work my butt off in Jan/Feb. I don’t like skating that close to the edge of deadlines; I fear something happening that will prevent me from writing. And now I feel like a stooge for fuddling around all summer and not “working” when mostly what I did was try to work or think about working and then only doing a little bit of something that wasn’t much work. OR not work. It was something muddled in between!

The good news is, I had an interesting dream last weekend that’s set up something fun, and gave me some information about my next heroine for Spice. Now I have her name, I have her family information which explains a lot about why she agrees to do what she does. I know about her brother, who may or may not have his own book at some point. I have another idea, too, brewing, and THAT one is tugging at me.

I have lots of ideas. If I want to write them all, I’d better get moving.

Shower now. Maybe coffee. Certainly some cereal. And today, I’m going to write even more than I did yesterday.

I hope.

M
PS– my musical selection at the moment is

UPDATE: GAHHHHH! BUS DID NOT COME MUST DRIVE CHILD TO SCHOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLL

GAHHHHHHH

Exercised, which was good. Made coffee in my new maker, to replace the one that broke. Also good.

Wrote! Very good! But didn’t write enough. Was stalled a little bit. Sort of playing around with where the story’s going, what it wants to be…this one has no contract or deadline and I have the tiniest bit of time to work on it before I really have to buckle down and write contracted stuff, so I’m trying to finish. Halfway through, sort of have an idea of where it’s going and not sure exactly how I’m going to get there. Still, all good!

Laundry. Never a good time, but necessary.

And there’s been about five hours between when I started this and just now, with a whole lot of stuff in between, so I shall say goodnight and pick this up another time.

M

I actually had an entirely different topic to write about today, but got derailed after receiving a rejection from my agent. Via my agent, I should say, as it wasn’t my agent rejecting me but an editor who’d sent an email to my agent. The editor said the project was “incredibly compelling and creepy and very well written” and also “gritty and horrific” — which hello, awesome, right?

Not so awesome when accompanied by “I’m going to pass” — because it was, apparently, TOO gritty and horrific.

Well, I was going for gritty, horrific, creepy and compelling. The well written I could only hope for. And to learn that someone actually thought it *was* all those things I tried for is very pleasing and satisfying and gratifying, because it means that at least I was judged, this work was judged, on what it IS and what it was MEANT TO BE…

Ultimately, it sucks hard and mightily that the editor passed on the book, because um, yes, I don’t write just for the praise. I do like to actually earn a living this way, which has to mean sales. So the rejection stung, as they nearly always do, just the way bad reviews do and which is why I try hard not to read them.

All in all, what are you gonna do? It’s not true that once you’re published you can just sell everything. People express surprise to me that I get rejected, and let me tell you, my lovelies, I not only get rejected, I get refused, declined and passed by also. It’s part of the job. The sucktastic part of the job (unlike the way cool parts like being able to stay home listening to Christian Bale singing the soundtrack from Newsies while I blog…I keep telling him to keep it down, but he’s saucy, that guy).

My work was called gritty and horrific, which is what I wanted it to be. It made someone shudder (presumably, or at least maybe gave her a small lip curl.) I’m really proud that something I did, words I wrote, caused a reaction. I always am. If you cry or laugh or get angry at reading one of my books, hey, that’s good. It means I’m doing something right.

Doesn’t mean I’m not upset by the rejection, but a Coke Zero and a Peanutty Bar (SO did not need that…gawd) and I’m back to work. Writing something that is ALSO going to be gritty, perhaps horrific, definitely disturbing if I can do it right. And it may also never get purchased, either. But I’m going to write it anyway.

Sometimes you just gotta do what needs doing.

M

Okay, so all of a sudden, print publishing is circling the drain, right? Ebooks are taking over, thus creating the demise of foine lit-ra-chur as we know it. Right?

Ummm….wrong.

Look. I’ve been digitally published since we called it e-publishing. Waaaaaay back when in oh…2001? 2002? Somewhere around there, and I wasn’t even in the front line. Epublishing has been around for quite a number of years, and during that time I’ve heard “Ebooks are the wave of the future! THEY ARE TEH FUTURRRRRRE!” and “Epublishing is going to replace print publishing!” And “ebooks are better!” and “print books are better!” and all manner of things that contradict one another.

But this is the reality, as I see it (and since this is my blog, that’s the version you get.) Ebooks are a delightful NEW FORMAT for readers to enjoy. Ebooks allow high-consumption for readers who plow through multiple books per week. Ebooks are mostly, not always, but often cheaper than their print counterparts (much the way mass market paperbacks are cheaper than hardcovers). Ebooks can be purchased and delivered literally, within seconds. Ebooks can be found in many online stores and locations, including but not limited to major online retailers like Amazon.com and BN.com. And, ebooks, for the most part, are still a teensy weensy eensy part of the overall sales of books.

Personally, I’m delighted that ebooks are finding their place finally. It’s long been my position that when ereaders became easily portable and financially feasible to buy, that ebooks were going to really take off. And what do you know? Kindle, Nook, iPad, some others I’m forgetting…I read them on my iPhone, myself, using Kindle for iphone and BN’s reader, and all manner of apps that allow me to purchase, download and read ebooks from just about any place I want. I’m delighted as a reader because this allows me to feed my reading habit in one more format and fashion. I’m less delighted as an author because frankly, my ebook royalties from my “traditional” publishers are not as beneficial as the ones from my primarily digital publishers. As an author, I think that sucks. I think it’s ridiculous. And I hope it changes as the publishing model, however slowly it changes, moves to accommodate this new format.

We all know that digital music has mostly replaced other formats. Again, speaking personally, I purchase and download music frequently. The only CDs I buy are from indie artists I see play live so that I can get them signed; for listening purposes, for ease and quality and simple convenience, I download  songs so that I can listen to them on my computer or iPod, because that’s how I consume that product. Digital music has replaced CDs for me and for many; it’s certainly replaced cassette tapes, 8 tracks and LP’s for the casual listener. Digital movies are replacing DVDs — I stream more video or download movies (legally, m’kay? Pay for that stuff, people, or else there won’t be more of it) than I buy DVD’s. I watch on my computer, via streaming on my Tivo or Wii, on my iphone, on an iPad. I consume more digital movies because it’s easier and more convenient now.

And this is exactly why ebooks are not now, nor perhaps ever going to disappear or be replaced totally by their digital counterparts.

Because music and movies ALWAYS require some sort of device in order to consume them. (Well, not live music, but that’s not what we’re talking about.) If you want to listen to a song or watch a movie, you MUST consume it via some piece of technology, whether it’s a VHS player or a Walkman, or a computer or an iPod or whatever.

Books require…your eyes.

Yep, that’s right. Print books of course need to be printed on paper, bound, distributed, etc. But in that format, all that you need to read them is YOUR EYES. You don’t need another piece of equipment to consume them, a piece of equipment that’s going to be obsolete in a few years. Or months. Printed books require YOU. The readers. And that’s it.

Which is why, in my opinion, ebooks are one more wonderful format in which to consume literature. Just like hardcovers, trade paperbacks, mass market paperbacks. Now we have digital. But ebooks and digital format are not going to totally replace ebooks any time soon, because let’s face it — there will be people for a long, long time who don’t have ereaders. I’m not saying digital books will NEVER outsell paper books. There may come a time when print is for specialists and the casual consumer really does do everything via a device. After all, it’s way more convenient to download a book, then delete it when you’re finished than have thousands of books taking up space in your house. But that time is not imminent. It’s not going to take over the print book world this year, or next year, or the year after that. It might happen someday, but it’s not going to happen all at once.

And you know what? Even if it does?

Ebooks are still books, people. Just because Stuart Skyisfalling hasn’t read one, or heard of one until the past year or so, that doesn’t mean they haven’t been around. Ebooks are books, made to be read and consumed by people who love to read. Digital is a format, not a genre, not a replacement, not something to fear. If you like reading on your Kindle, knock yourself out. If you like reading your hefty hardcover…well…you can do that, too.

In the end what matters is that you can find the books you want and love, that you can purchase them and enjoy them. If you love to read, you’re going to love to read. Authors can still write.

The sky is not falling.

The times are a changing, but that doesn’t have to be something to fear.

Me? Personally, I prefer paper books. I don’t have a dedicated ereader, though if I convince myself I need an iPad I’ll read on it because it’s a sweet, sweet reading experience. But I don’t want to take an iPad to the beach, or the pool. I like tossing a paperback into my bag and not worrying about it breaking. I like getting signed copies from authors I love and respect. I like having books on my shelf to pluck up at a whim and turn to a page randomly, I like them as decoration, I like the smell and feel of paper books. I read ebooks, but I love paper books. Yet I’m happy to have my work available in both formats. It doesn’t make one any less or more “real” than the other.

I don’t have the numbers, and I can’t link you to the plethora of articles about how the world of publishing is coming to an end. I think things need to change and while they do, we’re all going to be a little unsure of how it works and what might happen. But I know in my gut that books will continue to be published and people will read them.

I’m not worried how they read them. Just that they have them to read. No matter what format they come in.

M

Ahhh. Summer’s on the downhill slide and I’ve only just come into the “fuck this, it’s summer” mindset which means I spend my days doing things other than work instead of saying “fuck this, it’s summer” and trying hard to work every day and doing other things instead.

Of course, having said that, today I wrote. I mean, I have to write, it’s my job and all that. Granted, it’s a pretty damn cool job with lots of bennies and vacation time (which…if you add up all the hours I spend working during the rest of the time, I bet it still evens out to a nice, round 60 or so hours a week, bwahaha!)…but it’s still a job. And I gots to do the work.

I don’t have a big deadline until January but I have one in March too, which means I have to work ahead if I don’t want to end up killing myself with the deadlines…but I have a small deadline in September, and look, son, it’s already August. So I started a holiday themed novella which will be out in December from Carina Press. It’s called Unwrapped, and features Leah and Brandon from Taking Care of Business and No Reservations.

Mmmm….Brandon.

I wrote 13 pages today, after many many days of writing nothing.

Yesterday, though, I did this:

Which involved banging on rocks with a hammer.

It was fun!

M

Names are important. We give names to things/people/pets to somehow imbue them with an identity. I mean, I call my purple Impala the Phantum because…well, that kind of car just really needs a name. Picking names can take a lot of time, or not a lot of time. There are thousands of books with names in them to help people out when they’re having kids. Websites, too!

Authors have to name their characters. I mean, you can’t just refer to them as The Man and The Boy (unless you’re Cormac Fucking McCarthy, amirite?). Mostly, you have to give your characters actual names. And authors should spend enough time picking the names of their characters as they do on everything else, because let’s face it, names have power.

When picking names for your characters, personally, I think it’s best to be realistic. Practical. And pay attention to trends. If your hero’s in his thirties, in contemporary times, you need to give him a name that would’ve been in use or popular when he was BORN. Not names that are trendy and popular NOW. Same for the heroine. You might just love the name Neveah but let’s face it, that name didn’t come into use thirty years ago. You can check websites for the top popular names by year. Do it. Of course, this doesn’t mean you *have* to give your characters names that were popular and trendy the year they were born. You could have a reason for naming your heroine Gertie or something considered “old-fashioned” — but if you’re aware, for example, that a name like Emma that’s fairly popular now was considered a grandma name when the heroine was born, you can use that to show how she felt about growing up in the 70s with a grandma name.

For example, my name wasn’t very popular when I was a kid. I was pretty much the only Megan in my classes. Um, in my entire school, actually,  for a long time, until one other came along and she pronounced it differently. Being the one kid in school with a certain name has its effects, you know? You stand out. That can be good or bad, depending on how you feel about it. So if you give your hero or heroine a name that nobody else has, you really have to consider how that’s going to affect them. Let me tell you, not being able to find your name on those imprinted keychains at the beach can seriously scar a kid.

It’s easy to pick really wild, crazy names that are fun. But if you’re going to have your characters with names that aren’t the norm, make sure they still make sense. And chances are, both your hero AND heroine aren’t going to have really off the wall names. If you’re looking at trendy names, make sure they fit their ages, their personalities, etc. Take a look at what names are cropping up in books, too…sure, you might love the name Logan (I like it myself!) but if you see ten books with heroes named Logan…maybe give it a rest. You know?

Pay attention to ethnicity. Yes, of course you can give your characters ethnic names that don’t match their ethnicity, people do it all the time. But if you name your American hero Alejandro, you should probably have a reason why his parents named him that. Spanish descent? Love Lady Gaga? (there, see? If he’s older than a year old, that’s not going to work as an explanation unless you’re writing a futuristic or something.)

Pay attention to spelling. I know you might looooooove the name Mykhayela. But how do you say it? Remember, people are READING this. Not hearing it. Think about how long it took you to figure out how to pronounce Hermione until she put it out there in the dialogue. Or you saw the movie. Or heard people talking about it.

The bottom line is this: your characters need good names that fit their personalities and suit the story. If you want to color outside the lines, you should be prepared to have a reason for it. Names are important, they will affect your characters. Use that.

And with saying all that, here is a list of names I will never use  for a hero (or never use again)

1. Alex — Before writing Tempted, I’d used the name Alex about three times (that I can recall, maybe more in works that haven’t been published.) Alex was sort of my “go-to” name for a certain type of character. Frankly, I think Alex is a kick-ass name for a hero. However. Now that I’ve written Alex Kennedy, I’ll never use it for any other hero. I just can’t. In fact, I had intended to totally retire it from use but then I wrote Everything Changes and Naked. So there.

2. David — let’s just say I can’t use this name for a hero because it’s too personally involved with my life.

3. Brad — my high school boyfriend’s name. He can be a villain or the annoying secondary character, but I’ll never see him as a hero. (Sorry, Brad.)

4. Edward — I don’t know why I keep using this name. It has nothing to do with Twilight. But I’ve used it a bunch of times and it’s got to stop! I like the name, but really. Too many times!

5. Eugene — I think this one’s obvious.

6. Jensen — here’s where I’m talking about trendy useage. Jensen isn’t that common of a first name — but with Jensen Ackles’ popularity, I’m guessing lots of little Jensens are probably being born now. To use it as a hero’s name right now would be too obviously an homage to Ackles (who I loooove) but you know, sometimes it’s just too obvious. On the other hand, Jared’s common enough that I’d use that for a hero, no problem.

7. Keanu — of course, lots of little Keanus exist now, most of them named after Keanu Reeves. But if you  name a dude Keanu, the comparisons can’t be avoided. He is THE ONE, after all. Maybe in another 10 years when all the little Keanus are grown up, you could start using it. But…no. Probably not.

I’m sure there are others on the list, I can’t think of them right now.

Annnd…I’m off to write some more!

bye!

M

So this morning I was dreaming about Stephen Moyer, aka Bill Compton of True Blood fame. I like TB Bill better than I like books Bill. Anyway, I was dreaming I was in my house (not my real house) and the roof had been torn off the attic bedroom by Lorena (Bill’s creator) in a fit of jealous rage — btw, I have NOT seen the famous “water cooler shocking sex scene” episode yet, so DO NOT SPOIL ME…but it involved lots of blood and heart-eating and threeway sex in a messy bed…

Where was I?

Oh, right, so the vampire bitch ripped the roof off. But before that, Bill and I were getting cozy, and he was high on vampire blood (do they get high on their own blood?! FFS, see how complicated this was?) and he was all giddy and giggly and not intense like Bill is on the show, mostly.

And then I had to find Anna Paquin on Twitter to tell her how much I love her boyfriend, because even though in the dream I’m sure I was Sookeh, I was *NOT* Anna Paquin.

And then, perhaps because of all the teeth and blood, I started dreaming about sharks.

And then the phone rang. Early. And woke me. And then I couldn’t get back to sleep.

But it made me think about sharks, and here’s the thing, the trufax: I am not alone in this, either — I have a deep-seated and primal fear of sharks.

99.9% of my time I’m not anywhere a shark could possibly even be close enough to me to bite me, and I’m still freaked out by sharks. Alligators, too. Must be the teeth. I’m not afraid of spiders (though they creep me out) or snakes (except poisonous ones, duh). But sharks, man. Sharks are horrifying. They’re awful. They’re scary!

So I put JAWS on my streaming list. Why? Why not!

I am so tired my eyes are blurry, but hey, I’m up now. It’s already 9 am, the house is still quiet, I’m going to get some writing done.

Stay sharp, ya’ll.

M

Wow.

I still get excited about the release of every new book, but by now, often the book release is buried in mundane life things like laundry and bill paying, or edits on another book. Lots of whatnot. I love when new book comes out, and I’m always excited and happy — but I sometimes…well…I sometimes *forget.* I don’t forget about the book, it’s just that by the time the book comes out, I’ve spent so much time with it, it’s on a TO DO list for me, it’s part of the job. It’s fun and exciting, yeah, but it’s not quite like the first time.

Then there’s EXIT LIGHT. Because it’s not just a book that I loved writing and wrote quite some time ago and never thought would see the light of day, or because it’s a venture into a genre I really adore (and in fact, really started in before being fortunate enough to get published with a different type of work) so it’s special to me for that reason. It’s not even because it’s a new release from a brand-new publisher that’s well on its way to making digital publishing more mainstream than ever before.

It’s because it’s a LAUNCH BOOK.

I don’t think I’ve ever been a launch book before! I AM EXCITE!

So, if you like paranormal fiction (that’s not erotic or a romance!) please take a few minutes today to check out EXIT LIGHT, releasing today from Carina Press.

You can find it at Amazon.com

and Barnes and Noble.com, too! (And right now, if you buy Barnes and Noble’s Nook, you get a $50 gift card! How sweet is that?”

Hooray!

M

Beginning to edit the last Handmaiden book (hopefully not the last ever, just the last one I have to do for now) — which means I have two projects down! The edits on this book are going to be more complicated, because it’s a kind of dense, complicated book, or at least that’s how it came out when I wrote it. So I either have to clean up all the complicated threads and make them fit together, or drop some of them so it becomes less complicated. I don’t know which will happen!

Because as I started to read over it last night, I realized the book I’d set out to write and the one that came out were pretty different. That happens a lot. But really, when I wrote the first few pages, I had NO idea what was going to happen toward the end. Which means I have to fix up those first pages to reflect what comes later.

Still, it means I’m that much closer to finishing all my contracted work that’s due this summer, which means I can maybe take a bit of a break. A real break, not a forced break due to holidays or kids being off school or family obligations or whatever. A week day break where I just…oh, I dunno. Watch tv all day. Sleep in. Something crazy like that.

I have an idea of what I’m going to work on over the summer, too. Which is going to be either awesome or totally fail. But that’s okay, that’s why I work on it over the summer in between my deadlines! It’ll be be my summer project, kinda like a summer romance.  And it’s different from what I’m writing now, so it’s a palate cleanser. I hope my enthusiasm holds out for it! But if not, no worried, cuz it’s just a summer romance. Right?

M

Wednesday: up at 3:15, on the road by 4 am, got the train at 5:10 am.  Got to Philly by 7 am (ish, it’s a blur at this point). Caught my first flight to Chicago at 10:30 am. Layover. Flight to Columbus arrived on time at 2:55.

Met up with my friend Jen and much laughing did commence! Delicious Greek food, picture taking, tweeting at celebrities who never answer back.

Also met up with Lauren Dane and Ann Aguirre who were kind enough to let me share their room, but then I ended up getting a rollaway in Laura Bradford’s room. Which was really for the best, since LD would’ve insisted I spoon her and really, I was just too tired.

Though there was that very tall, fit, baseball player who accosted me at the elevator and quizzed me about being a “romance novelist.” He also told me “You are really beautiful.”

0.0

You know what the best response is when some 6’6′ athletic looking, totally trashed young fella tells you you’re beautiful?

“Why yes, yes I am.”

THURSDAY:

Slept “in” — not late enough but better than nothing. Breakfast. Shortly after that, lunch. Then a while after that, dinner! Oh, and I accepted the RT Reviewer’s Choice award for Best Erotic Fiction for Deeper in there, too. Awesome. Felt like a rock star to be asked for autographs and be  chatted up by people. After dinner changed clothes and headed to the fairy ball for dancing and fun — and later, in the bar some dude tried to offer me a seat but I didn’t want to sit at the bar, I just wanted water.

Him: “How are you?”

Me: “I’m fine.”

Him: “You ARE fine.”

0.0

You know what’s the best response to some drunk, confused man in a bar surrounded by women in costumes and drinking heavily when he says you’re fine?

“Yes, yes I AM.”

Friday: up for breakfast, not too early thank God. Then off to the airport for another round of flights to Ft. Lauderdale, where I picked up Superman and the spawn in the rental car and we zipped down to Miami for the mother of all parties. Let me tell you, this party was so insane it wasn’t off the hook — it was never even ON the hook. Or the chain. Apparently DJ Laz is a big deal, and I didn’t even know! Then up on Sunday, another drive to the airport, another flight home.

Today:

Exhausted. I have to catch up on laundry, finish edits, clean off my desk, which…was clean before I left, wtf? Where did all this stuff come from? Srsly, that’s not cool. It’s not nice to leave and come home to a stack of bills and stuff that weren’t there when I left. Much better to come home to a check or two. Maybe today in the mail, whatcha think? Wouldn’t that be great?

Anyway, I’m going to clear off my desk, clean up the cat puke that also greeted me upon my arrival home, edit my novella because it’s the first due AND the easiest! Hooray! Gonna drink some Coke Zero, too, and drink some water or maybe some coffee and admire my pretty award. I’d post pics but damn if my camera didn’t get absconded with by my female spawn when hers ran out of room. I’ll have to get my sim card back from her at some point and show the world the madness that is RT.

M

OH and I forgot about this: