A Day in the Life of a Writer…Or, Procrastination Central

By Jorja Lovett

One of the biggest problems I face as a writer is concentration. Not ideal when you're self-employed and mistress of your own destiny. There are so many distractions out there it's almost impossible to stay focused.

I mean, there's the research for a start. Unfortunately I don't get paid for the hours spent ogling half naked men for 'inspiration' or else I'd be a millionaire by now. Damn you Pinterest!

Working from home, although preferable to actually going to work, puts so many temptations in the way of a writer. The television and the fridge are my personal nemeses. I can't seem to write more than a chapter before I find an excuse to reward myself with an episode of my favourite show, or some chocolate.

Procrastination also stretches to social media activities. Authors are told to build up their online presence and become accessible to readers. Cue lengthy, very important, Twitter chats on the importance of a hero's beard. Then there's the sharing of cover art, and cat pics, on Facebook, which invariably leads to playing the Odd Socks game. A curse which can only be broken once one has run out of lives and matching pairs of socks.

Usually at this point of the day guilt will then set in and there's a vague attempt at actual housework. Whoops! Is it lunchtime already? Well then, I'll stalk my inbox for news and check my book sales.

Once all other avenues have been exhausted, it's finally time to write. I'm old school, and I like to make things harder for myself. I write longhand first, and, when I eventually decipher my own handwriting, I edit as I type. It's probably twice the length of everyone else's process but it seems to be the only way I can work. For no logical reason, the words flow better for me with a biro and a reporter's notebook than by typing straight into a document.

So, my pen is poised, but wait, I need to refresh my memory with what I had written yesterday. And you can't read without having a cup of tea…

Ah yes, I was leading up to the big love scene. 

 

Now, there are said to be two types of writers – plotters and pantsters. Naturally, I claim to be neither one, nor the other. I'm something of a hybrid. Generally, I have an outline of the story, or scene, before I begin writing. However, my characters have a habit of hijacking my plans and steering the plot in a completely different direction from the one I'd laid out in the synopsis.

Before I commit pen to paper, I mull over the scene I want to create. Never underestimate the power of mulling. 

 

'There was a heartbeat before Nate captured her lips with his.'…leads into the hot sex scene which will be completed another day since it's time to cook dinner.

And there you have it, the reasons my book releases are so sporadic - my brain is prone to unsanctioned vacation time without me. At present, I have two half-finished manuscripts. One is a contemporary romance between a wedding planner and a jaded Earl-in-waiting. The other, is a shifter ménage. Hopefully I will finish one before Brain decides it's time for another trip to La-La land!

Until then, I will leave you with details of my latest release from Totally Bound, Pyramid of Passion. Available on general release from September 12th.

*Childish representation of Brain courtesy of Jorja Lovett – Age 38*

Oh, almost forgot! Leave me a comment on your favorite method of procrastination, and I'll throw your name into the hat for a book from my backlist. Don't forget to include your email address!

Blurb:

Rosie Carter can’t decide—should she act on her feelings for her real-life co-worker or lose herself in the fantasy of her Ancient Egyptian lover?

Rosie Carter’s cleaning job at the museum is far from boring. She starts her night shift by finding the security guard, Nick, screwing a redhead in the office. Running from her attraction to him, she distracts herself with the newly acquired Ancient Egyptian exhibit.

The Gold of Valor catches her eye—a pendant bestowed on the Pharaoh’s soldier, Edifu. Its mystical powers transport her into the bedroom of the man himself, who thinks she’s a gift from the gods and worships her with his mouth, his tongue…

When Rosie wakes up back home she thinks it’s all been an incredibly erotic dream. Until it happens again. She rediscovers the joy of sex and a newfound confidence with her hunky warrior, but she’s caught between her fantasy life and reality. When co-worker Nick starts to show his true feelings toward her, Rosie has to decide what it is she really wants.

Excerpt

Rosie stood in awe as she was transported into a scene reminiscent of a lavish Hollywood production. With her path lit by a burning torch mounted on the wall, she could see the compact gallery had expanded, its neutral décor now a vibrant yellow adorned with colorful painted frescoes. A large bed filled the floor space, its wooden posts carved into what looked like animal paws. Like poor Alice down the rabbit hole, Rosie grew curiouser and curiouser and stepped forward to investigate.

A dark figure rose from the depths of the bed and sent her scrabbling backward onto a wooden chest. She landed atop it with a thud.

“I’m so sorry to intrude. I don’t know how on earth I ended up here.” Wherever here may be. Have I sleepwalked mid-shift? Am I dreaming?

One way or another, weeks of sleep deprivation must have taken their toll. How else could she explain her appearance in someone else’s bedroom with no knowledge of how she’d got there? Unless the combination of cleaning chemicals she’d used had created some sort of hallucination. She could have mistaken their smell for the heady incense that filled her nostrils and gave her that woozy effect she got after a few glasses of wine.

The occupant’s hulking silhouette left her in no doubt about his gender. Especially when he leaped from the bed, naked. Oh my! Rosie didn’t know where to look. So she started from the shaved head and worked her way down.

Dark eyes, black kohl lined in the Egyptian fashion Rosie recognized from history books stared back at her. She followed the muscular trunk of his long body, as smooth as his head, down to the impressive cock swinging freely between strong thighs. Out of politeness, she averted her eyes, then to make sure she hadn’t exaggerated, took a second look.

Common sense screamed at her to get out after finding herself alone with a naked stranger. But she remained seated, frozen to the spot. The vision before her too surreal to fear.

The living statue of masculinity knelt at her feet, with an arm across his chest and his head bowed. “Goddess Anuke, you honor me with your presence,” he said.

He sounded so sincere but Rosie fought a bubbling laugh. Dressed in her navy uniform, she didn’t see how anyone could mistake her for a goddess. “Sir, I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else.”

“My queen, mere moments have passed since I beseeched you for guidance on our forthcoming battle with the Hittites and traveling on the light of Ra you have appeared in my chamber.” Confusion shined in his almond-shaped eyes.

She stood up. Bless. She’d apparently stumbled into a mental hospital. A small sigh escaped her lips at the waste of such prime beefcake. “I am not a goddess or a queen. I’m just plain old Rosie Carter.”

The ‘patient’ rose to his feet and gave her an up-close and personal view of his anatomy. She found his appendage strangely hypnotic. With only experience of her now ex-husband as a lover, she could see exactly how much she had missed out on.

“Hmm. Your strange attire would indeed appear ineffective armor for the goddess of war. If you are not the goddess herself and she has not sent you, then perhaps Qadesh? Such a gift from the goddess of sexual pleasure would surely increase a mortal’s prowess on the battlefield tenfold.” He drew a thick fingertip from the hollow of her throat to the zipper on her smock. Rosie had gone from goddess to sex toy in one fell swoop.

Buy Links: Totally Bound, Amazon, All Romance

Author Bio:

Jorja Lovett is a British author with both Irish and Scottish roots, which makes for a very dry sense of humour. Writing since she was old enough to wield a pen, it wasn't until she joined her crit group, UCW, that she pursued her passion seriously.

Now, with Joe Manganiello as her permanent muse, if she can leave the pause button on her Magic Mike dvd long enough, she hopes to spend the rest of her days writing steamy romances.

You can stalk Jorja here: Website, Blog, Facebook, Twitter

The First Thousand Words

I don't know about other authors, but for me, the first thousand words of a new book are by far the hardest. Hard enough that I sometimes find myself procrastinating, avoiding the unpleasant effort of starting my next tale - even when I have a deadline.

It's not just the problem of figuring out a good "hook" line, to pull readers in right away. That's tough, I agree, but sometimes I already have a first line and yet I still dither and dally, looking for excuses or other tasks so I can put off the moment when I open that blank document and begin to type.

Very occasionally, I'll be hit with sudden inspiration and be able to sit down to capture it before it evaporates. More normally, my ideas come when I'm committed to other, non-writing activities. I've learned to jot down the basics in my notebook (or they'll be gone forever) but it might be days or even weeks before I have the opportunity to write that first sentence.

So I'm patting myself on the back, because I just wrote the initial two thousand words of a brand new paranormal novella, entitled Rough Weather.  I've been planning to write this book for more than six months. Somehow there was always something more urgent. Well, last weekend that story finally made it to the top of my to-do list. I had to force myself to start the book, even though I really haven't worked out all the details of the plot. I have my characters and the main conflict - it's time to let it rip!

Now I have to keep up the momentum. I find that relatively easy, once I can open a manuscript and see that I actually have something there!

If you're reading this, and you're an author yourself, I'd love to know whether your experience jibes with mine. I know some authors who dive in, but get hung up in the middle of a tale. Other people have trouble with endings. What about you?

Time Management and the Procrastinator

By Lisa Blackwood (Guest Blogger)

Do you waste time? Sure, we all do. How can we not with all those new time saving (::snorts::) gadgets always within reach, just waiting to snatch up our attention? We’re human, not machines; we’ll never be 100% efficient, but we can maximize what time we have for writing by exercising some self discipline.

Did I just write that load of bull? I’m the ultimate procrastinator. It took me ten years to write my first novel, and then a good 3-4 years to learn how to write. LOL. I’m a slow learner. MuseItUp Publishing contracted that novel. Since that time I’ve been a busy new writer. I certainly don’t have more time, not with a full time job and volunteering at a horse rescue every Sunday, but I have reformed my procrastinator ways to better manage what time I have.

Start small. Set realistic goals or you’re just going to get frustrated and give up. Within an hour of signing the contract I was already looking into blogs (I’d heard of those—didn’t know much about them though. By the way, I’m a 32-year-old cavewoman.) Next came the website. Once again, it was like the blind leading the blind (pardon the cliché). I didn’t know anything about website design—so went with a template. Now this was nothing like choosing a blog and switching some stuff around until it looked nice. Oh no. This arrived as an innocent looking zipped file which opened into hundreds of html files. I didn’t even know what I was looking at. I almost cried.

Then I got down to the business of learning a little bit about html source code. (I didn’t know it at the time, but this came in handy when I decided to self publish the first novel in my second series and had to learn how to create ebooks.)

Next came Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and an assortment of other forums, of which I still probably don’t spend as much time on as I should; however the day only has 24 hours.

Once the new author thing became less scary, I started to explore the idea of self publishing on Amazon and Smashwords. Really, there isn’t that much more work to do for self publishing than there is for small press authors. Both have to guest blog, as well as maintain Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads accounts. Basically, you must get your name out there regardless. With self-publishing there’s also the need to hire a cover artist and editor, and learn how to format ebooks.

How did procrastinator me manage this?

I started to keep track of my time, studying where I used my time and how much time I spending on certain sites and activities.

I set goals—I soon realised goals are my friend.

I studied my habits to find my biggest time wasters and tried to cut them down by a half. As I said earlier, were human and need to take breaks and escape the sometimes harsh routine of writing. We still have to enjoy writing.

Biggest time wasters

• TV—I used to watch a lot of TV. Now there isn’t much to watch so it’s no longer a problem.
• Reading (oh yes!)—as writes we need to read since it helps us better our own work. However, it is much easier to get lost in someone else’s book instead of working on our own. I try not to read other books while I’m drafting something new unless it’s for research. Once I’m finished a draft or have a large chunk of chapters done, I’ll go fire up my e-reader to save my sanity.
• INTERNET (oh Twitter and Facebook—I’m talking to you) The internet is both my greatest tool and worst enemy. I’ve read in other places that writes should unplug while writing. However if you’re a writer you still need the internet. It’s good for research, promotion, blogging, communicating with editors and other authors. I now try to live by one simple rule—no random browsing allowed.
• One other thing to remember is that while promotion is key to both indie and small press writers, all the promotion in the world isn’t going to help you if you don’t find time to write and build up a healthy back list of titles.
• Learning to say no to friends and family when they want to do something during your writing time is perhaps one of the hardest things to learn. If you’re serious about writing, you need to treat it like a job. You wouldn’t leave your day job in the middle of the afternoon to go to the mall with your friends, would you?

Things that helped (me)

• Outlines—I’m not saying you have to follow an outline like it’s an exact science. I just find them a good starting point.
• Daily Word Count—don’t drive yourself crazy with this one.
• Have more than one project on the go—this helps in case writer’s block strikes. I find my Muse works better if given free rein. I won’t force myself to work exclusively on one story when another is demanding to be told.
• Organization—I’m not talking about your house, I’m talking about your computer files so you can easily find your newest blurb, bio, synopsis or whatever else someone has just asked you for. (This one took me a while to realise. You can spend a big chunk of time sifting through all you documents.) This applies to your email as well.
• When you do have time, use it. Do you have a little time in the morning before work? Maybe you have a few minutes at lunch. Can you squeeze in a little more work before bed?

Bio: Lisa Blackwood grudgingly lives in a small town in Southern Ontario, though she would much rather live deep in a dark forest, surrounded by majestic old-growth trees. Since she cannot live her fantasy, she decided to write fantasy instead. An abundance of pets, named after various Viking gods, helps to keep the creativity flowing. Freya, her ever faithful and beloved hellhound, ensures Lisa takes a break from the computer so they can rid the garden of cats with delusions of conquest.

If you like a beauty and the beast type story with gargoyles, try my debut novel Stone’s Kiss.

***

As a child, a near-drowning accident stole Lillian’s old life. Her new life began the moment she awoke at the foot of a brooding, stone gargoyle.

Years later, Lillian still finds comfort in Gregory, her gargoyle, never guessing he is more than cold stone until demonic creatures called the Riven attack. Gregory senses her terror and wakes from his healing sleep.

After the battle, Lillian learns the humans she thought were her family are a powerful coven of witches at war with the Riven. Lillian is something more than human, a powerful worker of magic, an Avatar to the gods. Gregory has been her protector for many lifetimes, but troubles in their homeland forced him to flee with her to the human world. And it wasn’t an accident which stole her memories—it was Gregory. He suspects Lillian is host to an infant demon, one capable of evil greater than the Riven.

Despite everything, Lillian fears she’s falling in love with her guardian. While she might be able to defeat the Riven with Gregory’s help, she doesn’t know if her fragile new love can survive the evil growing in her own soul...

***

By the way, I'm giving a Smashword's gift certificate to one lucky commenter. So let me know about your strategies for fighting procrastination!

Find Stones Kiss on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Stones-Kiss-The-Avatars-ebook/dp/B006EAMITG

And Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/109540

Website: www.lisablackwood.com/

Blog: http://blackwoodsforest.wordpress.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/Lisa_Blackwood/

Constipation of the Imagination

I'm not like some authors. I don't have characters screaming in my head, begging me to write their stories. I do have a long list of possible premises in my files, each one associated with a set of potential characters. However, I find that characters don't really become real to me until I begin writing. At that point, they unfold, revealing themselves to me chapter by chapter as they find their way through my fictional world.

Lately, I've been suffering from what I call "constipation of the imagination". This condition manifests itself mainly by the difficulties I'm having getting started on new projects. I have three projects lined up, two with hard deadlines, but until this weekend, I hadn't written a word on any of them.

I had done some research. I'd spent several hours (collectively) on the elliptical trainer, blocking out scenes and considering plot details. I even sat down and wrote a free story, trying to get the words flowing. Deep down, though, I knew that I was simply procrastinating, avoiding the point where I'd begin a new work.

This weekend, I got out my figurative whip and beat myself into submission. I tried something that other authors have recommended but which I've never attempted, namely, creating some formal character profiles. Usually I know only a few facts about a character when I start a book. When I need to know more, I ask them. In this case, I wrote down every detail I could dredge up about my hero and heroine: their appearance, socioeconomic background, education, strengths, weaknesses, strongest desires, greatest fears. I did mini-profiles for the secondary characters. Then I sat down and forced myself to write that first sentence.

Once I actually started, everything became much easier. I wrote 5000 words in two afternoons. Now I'm eager to push the story forward, but the real world is interfering! I won't have a chunk of writing time until the end of the week. Meanwhile, scenes and conversations are whirling in my mind. I'm praying that the inspiration stays fresh for the next few days, until I can get back into the story and my characters' heads.

Meanwhile, though, I feel a tremendous sense of relief. I worried, as all authors do on occasion, that my talent had deserted me. I was facing some kind of psychological barrier--I don't know why and I guess, ultimately, I don't care--but now I've pushed past it. The story is unfolding, and it's going to be deep and hot, the way I like it.

I'm looking forward to finishing, so that I can start my next project.

For those of you who also write--what do you do when your creative pipes are clogged? What are your strategies for freeing your imagination?