Tag Archives: Silver Blade

Writing without a computer??

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I am in the middle of editing Silver Blade, and I can’t help wondering….how did they write before computers?

I remember starting to write a book back in high school. I worked at McDonalds at the time, and it was loosely based on me and 3 of my friends/fellow employees. It was a fiction, starting with us in high school with boyfriends very similar to those we had (it was going to be fiction, really!), and then the grown-up lives I imagined us having. The thing I remember most about my book (aside from the fact that one of the girls always wore yellow rubber rainboots), was the number of times I had to re-write pages….over and over and over. I would try to scratch and scribble and add arrows, but I always had to rip out pages and re-write them. I remember the frustration of having to start over again as one of the reasons why I gave up on the book.

So, as I said, I’m currently in the middle of editing my book…for like the 100th time. The first 99 times were before I submitted it, so needless to say I thought it was pretty much done. Eilidh, my editor, came back with some very helpful comments, stating that they were just suggestions and I could disregard anything I didn’t agree with. Well, I’m not THAT crazy that I’m going to argue with someone who edits for a living. I have no preconceptions that I am the next Stephanie Meyers. And now my “done” copy is completely covered with red edits and arrows and scratches, oh my. I confess, I read and make changes on my stories in hard copy, and I apologize to all the environmentalists out there for all the trees I’ve killed, but hey, it’s only 40 pages!! But my point is…what if it was hand written in the first place…or even God forbid, done on a typewriter?! And what if it was 400 pages? Would it end up going in the garbage like the book I started in high school?

Yes, I start most of my stories with pen and paper, but as soon as they get substance, I have them on my computer, using word processing to cut and paste and move and spell-check and…well, you get the picture. Kudos to the great authors like Shakespeare, Dumas and Tolstoy. I certainly couldn’t have done what they did! And thank-you, thank-you, thank-you for the computer!! Not only has it kept me employed in a day-job for 25 years, but it has made my book possible.

Of course, it has also made it possible to stay in touch with all of you. But that is just icing on the cake.

My Thank-you Blog

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OK, I know I should be writing about the publishing experience, or about my book, or about something witty and interesting…but what I want to do today is just write a big THANK YOU!

I want to start with a thank-you to The Wild Rose Press, and specifically my editor Eilidh MacKenzie. Not just for the opportunity to be published – which is wonderful in itself – but for all the incredible help and support. The guidance you give every step along the way is amazing.

Next I want to thank all the great authors at The Wild Rose Press, referred to as my fellow Roses. The advice and support given on blogs to everyone and by everyone is extraordinary, and personal requests – such as help with my blog – has been met with amazing response.

I also want to thank The Writers’ Community of Durham Region, of which I have been a member for the last few years. This is another group of talented and supportive writers, whose encouragement and enthusiasm is why Silver Blade has made it this far.

And finally, a thank-you to my family and friends for being there for me. If you see any resemblance between yourself and my characters, I promise that none of you are in my books! I do afterall write paranormal romance, and as far as I know, none of you have any supernatural abilities or tendancies. (Although that would explain some things!!)

My family: stick family

Series vs non-series

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The first books I remember reading as a kid was a series of Felicia Cartwright books in my teens. Yes, I’m sure I read books before those, but they are the first ones I remember. My grandmother would buy these for me at Christmas and birthdays, and sometimes I would take a bus ride with her to the book store to pick out the next new one I wanted. Of course back then, you couldn’t just look them up on the web and read a blurb about what was avialable.

I read a lot of series books today, too. Authors like Gena Showalter and her Lords of the Underworld series, and Kelley Armstrong’s Otherworld series. There is comfort in reading a series because you know what to expect; you know the style of the writer and you know the characters.

In the case of The Daughter who isn’t a big fan of reading, when I find an author she likes, I buy every book that author has written. Hence how I had an excuse to buy and read The Hunger Games and Rachel Vincent’s Soul Screamer series. (Having a teenage daughter is a bonus…because, of course, I’m buying those books for HER not for me. Right?)

But to write a series?….no way! I don’t know how they do it. Maybe it is because I’m restless by nature. I don’t just have one craft on the go right now, no…I’ve started a quilt, I’m one-fifth of the way through a cross-stiitch, I’m crocheting a scarf, and I’m about to begin to knit my first pair of socks. And when it comes to getting stuff done on the weekend, I’m doing this-that-and-theotherthing all at the same time, and cannot understand why The Hubby can’t multi-task. (Side note: some of us mom’s at volleyball last night were discussing how it is that most men can’t figure out that multi-tasking thing! but maybe that is fuel for another blog.)

That “restless by nature” is also why I find short e-books very appealing. (I did mention I’ve written a novella, right?) Sometimes if I can’t get a book read within a couple of days, I put it down and move on, sadly forgetting about the book and the characters. Series books are like taking a long vacation, while non-series books are like a day at the spa, and novellas are like a long bubble bath or going to get your nails done. Sometimes we don’t have the time or money for the longer stuff, and there is certainly nothing wrong with a “little” pampering. Even a little goes a long way.

Speaking of a little…I really need to go and get my nails done.