 | 22 Sep 09 |
This past weekend, I had the honor and privilege to present the keynote address at the Central Ohio Fiction Writers annual conference. Can I just say they know how to throw a party in Columbus? (Oh, Hi…) The coordinators were complete pros (I love Jules Bennett!) and the chapter members and guests were bright, shiny, welcome beacons who made me feel so special and loved.
The Friday night book signing was amazing – a sell out crowd thanks to the hard work of COFW’s Donna MacMeans. The whole weekend was top notch, and the hotel was kind enough to book us with a small convention of cute cops and Coasties! I got to meet some of my favorite authors and make new friends, and give a hug to the COFW Bookseller of the Year, Annette Fitzgerald of The Book Exchange in Port Clinton, Ohio. (Who tweets as @nettiesue and is an absolute doll.)
And of course, what would a conference be without some wine and laughter with friends? 
Here we are at dinner, with Romance Diva Kristen Painter, gorgeous hostess Jules Bennett, superstar agent Elaine Spencer from The Knight Agency, and editor extraordinaire Lindsey Faber from Samhain Publishing.
The theme of the conference was “You and Your Muse” – forcing me to offer an apology to the organizers during my talk because I pretty much placed the muse under my stiletto and squashed her like a cockroach. I smashed a few myths in that speech, which I call the “The Ugly Truths of Romance Writing.” No surprise, it was a long speech. Uh, we have a lot of ugly truths.
One of them is the plain and simple fact that there is no such thing as a muse.
Wait! Before you click away, and mumble that damn Rocki is ruining all your fun again, hear me out. As I did with all the ugly truths, I highlighted the beautiful lesson we can learn from each. I advised my audience not to look under the desk for some little sprite dusting the place with snappy dialogue and shocking plot twists, but instead, to turn to the person next to you at your writer’s meeting, or search your email addresses, or scan your cell phone numbers.
Because that, my friends, is where you may find your muse, only you call her your Writing BFF, your chaptermate, your critique partner, your plotting buddy. What I wanted to underscore is a lesson I learned early in RWA that is reinforced every single day: for as solitary a job as writing may be, we are never alone.
Recently, two of my closest writer friends and I have formed an ad hoc “accountability” group, emailing each other at the end of the day with an update on our page/word count. The report was an immediate boost to the three of us, as everyone knows public accountability will help you meet a goal. But another magical thing happened, and this is how my buddies became my muses. One day, someone suggested posting “the day’s best work” for the others to read. It could be anything, a snippet, sentence, paragraph or page, as long as it’s something we are particularly proud of writing that day.
I can’t tell you how much this little “game” has inspired me, and my two friends wholeheartedly agree. I am looking at every scene and passage in a new way, asking myself it it’s good enough to share. Does this descriptive paragraph paint a vivid picture? Does this dialogue exchange squeeze the reader’s throat and make her choke with emotion? Does this wry introspection make someone laugh out loud?
In other words, is this the best I can submit for the day? Surely, that is the question any muse worth her weight in gold would be asking. Until the answer is “yes,” I know I have to keep improving the day’s work.
The coolest thing of all? Without “critiquing” we are each getting a flavor of the other’s books, appreciating plot twists without knowing the story, hearing the voice that will be the hallmark of the book, and already becoming attached to the heroes and repelled by the villains. I can’t wait to read their books!
Let’s talk muse buddies! Do you have some? How do you work? Do you agree there is no such thing as a muse, or is that just heresy? How about starting your own accountability group?
P.S. Relentless Self Promotion: Make Her Pay hits bookstores one week from today! Another 4.5 Top Pick from RT…and possibly the last Bullet Catcher. You don’t want to miss it!
Roxanne St. Claire is a bestselling, RITA-Award winning author of twenty-four novels of romance and suspense. For the past several years, she's been writing a popular romantic suspense series called “The Bullet Catchers” for Pocket Star Books, featuring a cadre of bodyguards and security professionals. In 2010, she's launching a new series, "The Guardian Angelinos" focusing on an extended family of renegade crime fighters and investigators based in Boston. The first book in that series, EDGE OF SIGHT, will be released from Grand Central Publishing in November, 2010, with two more scheduled in 2011. In addition to the RITA, her books have won the National Reader’s Choice Award, the Daphne Du Maurier Award, the Maggie Award, the Booksellers Best, the Book Buyers Best, The HOLT Medallion, multiple Awards of Excellence, and Borders “Top Pick” for Romance in 2007.
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Great post Rocki!
I struggle with writing by myself because I feel like I’m imposing on the authors I work with. I know that pub’d authors have deadlines and galleys and copy edits and all sorts of time sucks that as an unpublished writer, I simply don’t have yet. I struggle with sending stuff off because every time I hit send and then go back and reread, I feel like there are a thousand things I could change.
My muse is not something I think of as a separate entity but I do know that some days, it’s easier to write than others. On the days when I can barely get out a thousand words, I’m frustrated because I know there are other days when things just flow when I can knock out six thousand or more. But just because its fast, doesn’t mean it’s good and the real work comes later, when I’m chipping away at all the solidified mud on the page to reveal the shape beneath it.
I hesitate to bug my cp and my agent because I know how busy they are so I try to muck along as best I can. I’m hesitant to ask questions but inevitably I do because otherwise, I’ll obsess about not asking the question. Ultimately, I think you hit the nail on the head: writing is work. It’s hard work and it’s a lot of work. You will have the door slammed in your face and you need that critique partner to be there to help talk you down from the ledge of panic when you’re in tears over your last round of revisions or latest rejection.
Writing is solitary but then again, it isn’t. Most writers work with someone else, either as a sanity check or as you mentioned, an accountability group. I talk to other writers on line over here in Iraq simply because I’d drive my husband insane if I only had him to talk to about writing and my current burning question de jouer.
Glad you had a blast at the conf!
by Jessica Scott September 22nd, 2009 at 4:50 amAw, Jess, every time I think I have it tough, I remember you are writing AND fighting a war. I just bow to your strength. You’re always going to feel like you want to change a thousand things, until some editor says “I LOVE this!” and then you will have your creative confidence. In the meantime, muse buddies, pubbed and unpubbed, can help you.
Stay safe! xoxo
by Roxanne St. Claire September 22nd, 2009 at 5:48 amThank you for your service, Jess. Please be safe.
by Silver James September 22nd, 2009 at 8:05 amHaving recently presented a creative block-buster workshop called “The Muse is a lazy….lady” … I’m there. Seems like a lot of people have this fantasy of exactly that–a sprite hidden under the desk. Except that, like the Sharon Stone movie, she has to be bribed with chocolate and what have you to perform.
Not so. I believe creativity feeds on itself–when you’re writing, even if you don’t feel creative, it’s going to click. But sometimes we need to shake our brains up a little to pull ourselves out of a rut. I love the idea of your accountability group–especially the sharing of your “best work”. Yay, you! I also liked the idea you shared at the last STAR meeting about looking for the emotional goal–another way to look at your writing from a fresh angle, don’t you think?
See you at Saturday’s signing…save me a book, please? Pretty please?
by Lorena September 22nd, 2009 at 5:34 amYou shall have a book on Saturday, darling, I promise! (And anyone else in the Altamonte Springs, Central FLA area, please come to B&L Books on Sept. 26 for a mega signing with Julie Leto, Susan Kearney, Kathy Carmichael, Wendi Darling, Loretta Rogers and moi! The party starts at noon and goes to 2:00 and the info is available at http://www.bandlbooks.com.)
Have I blogged about that emotional goal in a scene concept yet? I might do that next time, because it was a true lightbulb moment for me.
See you Saturday!!
by Roxanne St. Claire September 22nd, 2009 at 5:52 amIf you did, I missed it and would love to see it again
by Lorena September 22nd, 2009 at 10:00 amIn the words of Nora Roberts: Well, first: There ain’t no muse. If you sit around and wait to channel the muse, you can sit around and wait a long time. It’s not effortless. If only. Well, if it was, then everyone would do it, and where would we be then?
And Robert B. Parker, who said, Writer’s Block? What would you think if you called a plumber and he said he couldn’t show up because he had “Plumber’s Block”?
I find the best way to write is to write — doesn’t matter what, or if it all meets the delete key the next day. One idea, even a bad one, will spark another.
And now, back to lurkdom as I work on first round edits from a new editor.
by Terry Odell September 22nd, 2009 at 6:01 amLOL on Plumber’s Block. I don’t get Writer’s Block, but I do get “story block” and that’s when I know I took a wrong turn along the way. First I fight it for a week, then I accept it, then I find it. This is a frustrating process, but very rewarding when I’ve made the fix.
Thanks for stopping by, Terry.
by Roxanne St. Claire September 22nd, 2009 at 6:11 amI’m going to remember the “plumber’s block” line for a long time…if only because that sounds so…wrong. It’s just wrong.
by Lorena September 22nd, 2009 at 6:59 amNooooo! Say it ain’t soooo! People who hang out on my blog have often heard me describe Iffy, my Muse, as having the temper of a two-year old, the libido of a teenager, and the attention span of a Jack Russel Terrier on speed. She runs with scissors and crops up at the most inopportune times, like when I working under a deadline and she has this bright, shiny new idea to tease me with.
That said, WRITING comes from BICHOK. WRITING is putting words on paper/screen–good, bad, ugly, indifferent. I’ve found that even in the worst of my writing, there’s usually at least a sentence, maybe a paragraph that can be cut, pasted, and added to. Writing is like cooking from scratch, you add a little of this and a little of that, stir it up, taste it, and start over.
I have a local CP now, who’s just starting the process but we are working well together. I also have an on-line group where we can post snippets, or ask for inspiration, advice, and nit-picking. I’m the one wanting the nit-picking. I so often can’t see the forest for the trees and need to find out what isn’t working in a scene. I KNOW it the scene is flat, but I can’t always see what’s making it that way.
Great post, Rocki, even though Iffy is off in the corner sniveling and demanding chocolate chip cookies hot from the oven. She’ll just have to wait. I have 4000 words to write today, though I have the feeling this is going to be an ugly word day.
by Silver James September 22nd, 2009 at 6:59 amOh, Silver, you make me laugh. And crave chocolate chip cookies hot from the oven. Not to mention how much you make me want a 4,000 word day. I have those about once every ten days and I feel soooooo good. Even if I delete 3579 the next day, it just feels so good to produce 4K.
As a matter of fact, my 4K word day is usually Tuesday because my daughter has dance for four and a half hours after school on Tuesday (I am not a pushy mom, this is her choice) and I really don’t stop writing until early evening. So…I better start because it’s Tuesday and I haven’t written one word yet.
by Roxanne St. Claire September 22nd, 2009 at 7:17 amI’m not gonna make my goal. It’s been REALLY ugly this morning. And it’s raining so I can’t go for a walk. I think I’m going to curl up in front of the DVR and watch CASTLE again. That man can always inspire me. LOL! One hour break and then time to shut down the ‘net and get to work. *cracks whip* You, too, Rocki! Get to writing! I’m hoping for 2K (that means a complete rewrite of this chapter – a good thing!)
by Silver James September 22nd, 2009 at 8:09 amSo far I’m at 27. Words, not hundred. Not getting cooperation from my fingertips and brain today.
by Roxanne St. Claire September 22nd, 2009 at 9:02 amYou have me beat by 8 words. I think I’d rather go to the dentist and have teeth pulled. However, I am going to tame that scary half-written page. I am going to write *ugly*. On purpose. See how intentionally bad I can make it. And how many bad words I can crank out. Like a hack. So there.
by Silver James September 22nd, 2009 at 12:24 pmYES – accountability, that’s it exactly !!! I’m so glad we decided to post snippets on Sundays, I’ve never been more consistant, even if it is only 500 words. And having Silver there to encourage, advise & inspire is one of the highlights
by ban September 23rd, 2009 at 6:40 amNever imagined a Muse – the voices in my head are enough !
This. Yes. I never thought about it before, but this is EXACTLY the role a muse should take. Very, very well put. Thank you for making me think about the process of allowing friends to inspire you in a new way! I think I’ll get even more out of my buddymuses now. : )
by Louisa Edwards September 22nd, 2009 at 7:18 amThank you, my dear friend. And don’t think you’re off the hook just cause you’re in New York, hobnobbing with chefs, sniffing about the CIA (not the one write about, the oneYOU write about) and having a killer book launch party. Just sayin’.
by Roxanne St. Claire September 22nd, 2009 at 7:27 amWell hell. I’ve been duped! If there’s no muse, why did she charge a one-way plane ticket to Bali on my Visa the day I filed for divorce?
A dear friend of mine calls it “creative silence” and stress has shut me down. All the Writing BFFs, chaptermates, critique partners and plotting buddies in the world can’t counteract the stress of a major life-changing experience. But they CAN keep loving you and lifting you up and reminding you that one day the stress will be gone and the words will come again and The sun’ll come out tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow, there’ll be sun. Oops! I let my power song playlist on my iPod interrupt. Better power it down or Gloria will start singing At first I was afraid, I was petrified…
Great post as usual, and oh so true. I’m hoping to do NaNoWriMo again this year as a way to push through and start writing again even if the end result is junk. I can fix junk.
And the book store has my name and number to phone me as soon as HUNT HER DOWN arrives on their doorstep. I can’t wait!
by Marilyn September 22nd, 2009 at 7:35 amFirst of all, if that song is on your playlist, no wonder your muse took off for Bali. Kidding, my darling. Stress is a great creative silencer, that is so true. And you WILL survive. (Does anyone else think of Harlequin parties when they hear that song or “It’s Raining Men”??)
I think the uber writing thing (I can’t ever get the acronym right) is just the ticket for you, Marilyn. Because stress does silence your creativity, but it can also be the greatest excuse in the history of literature. I’ve written the best/most during times of great stress. When my husband had open heart surgery and a few months later, when my mother passed away, I wrote two books I happen to personally love. Writing was my *sanity* during those difficult times.
Oh, by the way, you are stressed out. You’ve read HUNT HER DOWN…it’s MAKE HER PAY, but I bet your bookseller knows that. xoxoxo+++
by Roxanne St. Claire September 22nd, 2009 at 7:55 amYeah, yeah. Bookseller has the right title. And I can’t wait!
by Marilyn September 22nd, 2009 at 8:44 amYou could always come to Altamonte Springs this Saturday and get a copy three days early!
by Roxanne St. Claire September 22nd, 2009 at 8:58 amOkay. Completely off topic, but I always flash on the jail cell scene in THE REPLACEMENTS every time I hear Gloria’s song. *sings at the top of lungs and off-key (sorry)* I WILL SURVIVE!
by Silver James September 22nd, 2009 at 8:04 amI do have my muse buddies, and critique partners…I love them, they keep on the straight and often wide point of writing. In general they keep me writing, when nothing else works. And its usually by just telling me to stop feeling sorry for my rejection or what have and get on the ball and make what ever I’m writing better.
by Lee September 22nd, 2009 at 7:39 amI love “stop feeling sorry for yourself” muse-buddies. They’re the best kind. Especially when they bring “no more sympathy” wine to the party!
by Roxanne St. Claire September 22nd, 2009 at 7:56 amOoh, that reminds me…I have wine. I have wine. I have wine. If I say that often enough I will remember to bring it with me Saturday. I won’t bring a corkscrew, though, so you’ll HAVE to wait until you get home!
by Lorena September 22nd, 2009 at 10:04 amThis is such a great post, Rocki. Inspiring, as always.
No muse buddies for me. Guess I’ll need to wrangle some up. It’s the accountability thing that I find so motivating. Especially since I’m the worst at procrastinating, which is why I’m on panic deadline at the moment. Heh.
by Jaci Burton September 22nd, 2009 at 7:48 amSo easy, Jaci. Pick a friend or two, email them and say: Word count, please. Then add the “and your best work” to the mix, and you’ve got a muse BFF!
by Roxanne St. Claire September 22nd, 2009 at 7:57 amI recently discovered that it’s possible for me to hit a wall and stay smashed into it for a long, long time despite repeated brainstorming with multiple friends, piles of GMC charts, and stacks of notes. In the end, the only way to write another word in the MS was to delete all but the first chapter (about 150 pgs.) and start over with new characters, plot, etc. Having the support of my writer friends kept me relatively sane during the process; I don’t know what I would have done without them.
I’m still dealing with the realization that I can’t plow ahead with a book for any reason or motivation in the universe if there’s something wrong with it–mortal muse or otherwise.
Scares me actually.
by S. J. Day September 22nd, 2009 at 8:07 amOh… Also wanted to say that you look FABULOUS in the photos!! I love your longer hair. So pretty!
by S. J. Day September 22nd, 2009 at 8:11 amIs there any other process? I KNOW I’m going to hit the wall, it’s a matter of when, not if. That is a great time for your muse/buddies. One of mine reminds me that it happens every single time.
And thank you for the sweet compliment! I’m having fun with long hair, but probably should get my pub photos re-done, huh?
by Roxanne St. Claire September 22nd, 2009 at 9:00 amRocki, it had to be said, and you did it beautifully!
(Silver and Iffy, please forgive me)
Muse is a beautiful thing to ponder and talk about, but writing is about blood, sweat and tears to drag the story out of our brains and hearts.
Plus I am Muse-challenged. I have a Muse, but she’d much rather be creating the perfect chocolate chip cookie. Today while shopping, that little biotch put chocolate chips and a large Hershey’s bar in my cart. Right now, she’s musing how to make the best cookies out of that while I’m trying to work.
by Jen Lyon September 22nd, 2009 at 10:31 amWe have a serious chocolate chip cookie theme going on today. Make it stop or I shall break down and bake.
by Roxanne St. Claire September 22nd, 2009 at 11:06 amChunks of Hershey’s milk chocolate mixed with semi sweet chips…just saying…
Mwhahaha!!!
I can’t stop. I’m trying to work, not bake, but I can almost smell those cookies!
by Jen Lyon September 22nd, 2009 at 11:20 amYou are an evil witch, Jen. But I’m going to add white chocolate chips and pecans to the recipe. And real butter. Because this is comfort baking, right? No calories in comfort cookies.
by Silver James September 22nd, 2009 at 12:27 pmExcellent post, Rocki!
by Patrick September 22nd, 2009 at 10:55 amThanks, Patrick – so glad you stopped by!
by Roxanne St. Claire September 24th, 2009 at 5:41 amGreat post! Thanks for the shout out Rocki, it was a great pleasure meeting you!
xoxo
Netti
by nettisue September 23rd, 2009 at 9:07 amOur meeting was too brief, Netti! Like your speech, which was heartfelt and lovely. Congrats, again!
by Roxanne St. Claire September 24th, 2009 at 5:40 amI couldn’t get on yesterday, but excellent post, Rocki! My muse…hmmm…I do believe and I KNOW it has a mind of its own!
by Debra Webb September 23rd, 2009 at 9:12 amSorry for being a day late…my “muse” didn’t want me to play yesterday:)
Actually, if I had a muse, she would most definitely be my sister. She so tells me when the plot just stinks or if I’m onto something HOT!
I’d like to state that I totally paid Rocki to call me gorgeous in her blog. I’d just gotten this haircut and I feel like I gained 50 lbs. Who knew my face was so large?
Anyway, Rocki wowed the crowd and had people laughing and swiping tears. She couldn’t have delivered a better speech.
LOVE YOU, ROCKI!
by Jules Bennett September 23rd, 2009 at 5:58 pmxoxo
Jules
You are gorgeous and if that’s what “just gained 50 lbs” looks like, sign me up. The love is mutual, my friend! xoxo
by Roxanne St. Claire September 24th, 2009 at 5:39 am