When Life Gets in the Way

What happened to April?

I swear an hour ago it was April 1 and I was making a list of all the things I had to do before the end of the month:

     do the taxes

     get the Hub's trucking business invoices out and get the March books on the computer

     Schedule time for a major yard clean up

     turn the clocks ahead - all of them this time

     change the sheets

     recharge the Clarisonic and the toothbrushes

     refill the prescriptions
     car is due for inspection
     make a list of people needing greeting cards sent to them in April and try not to forget to mail them
     YIKES - Easter is in April - the family brouhaha approaches
     schedule a hair appointmen - gray is showing
     Lose weight - in other words, begin your 4th diet this year

And don;t forget the usual  - job (two night meetings a month normally, but this month I have 4 becasue we have to adopt a budget for 2014), laundry - wash the clothes, dry the clothes, fold the cloths. (note - there is no iron the clothes.  If it wrinkles, it does not live here), food shopping (Question - why is the food market with the best organic produce so far away?  Answer - Becasue it is.  Quit whining and drive), load the dishwasher, unload the dishwasher, clean, cook, reserve Sunday night for Game of Thrones

And the unexpected.  Sis said the Newsboys are in town for a concert.  Let's see now - hear Michael Tait and company sing and lift my spirits or clean the dead leaves out of the mulch?  No contest.  Michael, here I come.  And I do hope he does hit the Restart so I can get back on track..      

So what am I forgetting?  I know there's something - Oh yeah -  make time to write.

For me, that last entry is getting harder and harder ro do, the older I get.  When I was  a child, a year lasted forever.  Now it's over in a blink.  By the time I get home from work and do what needs to be done before I can relax, it's 9PM.  I rationalize away the writing by asking myself something like "Who can be creative when she is this tired?" But I know the answer.  We all know the answer.  The successful multi-published, award winning, NY Tiemes best selling authors can be creative anytime day or night.  It is the only answer that makes sense and brings success.

There is one of those authors inside each one of us.  I know that becasue it can feel her trying to claw her way through the guilt when I realize that a month has gone by and I haven't made a dent in my WIP.

I met Janet Evanoxich at a writers conference many years back and we talked about just this sort of thing.  Her advice was to write at least 3 pages a day.  3 pages a day is about 100 pages (give or take) a month.  In three months you have a book.  Brilliant!!!  If one would only listen, that is.

So it's now May (give or take).  I will write 3 pages a day and in 3 months I will have the book that the editor from Berkely wants to see thanks to the New Jersey Fiction Writers Conference in March.    That will be July.  One month to self edit - August.  Then a contract by the end of the year (give or take).

3 pags a day.  I can do that.

     

Oh and I did go to the Newsboys concert.  Here's proof.

Single Title Novel VS Series: Which is Best?

Should you write a single title novel or a series?  That’s a question many writers wonder about when they start a new book.  There are both advantages and disadvantages to writing either a single novel or a series. 

With a single title, the writer gets to start fresh each time with a new plot, setting. and cast of characters.  Not all books are cut out to become a series, nor should they be.  A single title works best when a book idea has a definite ending.  For example, a love story that ends in marriage, a thriller centering around a specific event such as a natural disaster, or a character with one, important goal in mind.  Once the love issue is satisfactorily solved, the emergency has passed, or the desired end attained, there may be no need for an encore.  The writer has said all there is to say about that group of characters and that situation.

The advantage of a series springs mainly from the readers’ desire to return to people and places that are familiar to them.  Because of this, there is great potential for increased sales.  The disadvantage is that series writing requires great planning and effort, deeper sub-plots, and a lead character strong enough to sustain long-time interest. 

 

Some series are planned from the beginning, but many books develop into series when the author finds they do not want to let go of the character or characters they have created.  The writer knows the first book is just the beginning--the character they have created has many more adventures to explore.  They start on Book Two--and a new series is born.

Many series are mysteries, for the genre is well-suited for a returning character. A series works best when the main character has a job such as a sheriff or private eye or some profession where there is opportunity for repeat business.

The series often develops after the author thinks of another crime or mystery to solve.  A writer of any novel must find a much-loved character.  Sheriff Jeff McQuede, a character we wanted to write more about resulted in our High County Mystery series.The fourth book in that series has just been published.

An idea for a series often comes from setting. Our travels to many foreign and exotic settings led to the Ardis Cole mysteries where Ardis, an archaeologist, travels to Egypt, Scotland, China and other countries and encounters a crime to solve related to her work.

Expanding into a series can be challenging as each subsequent book must have the same history as the one before it.  Characters, both major and minor, cannot change much from the original book without creating explanations for those changes that the reader can understand.

 Our advice to writers interested in starting a series: when in doubt, start out with a single title and if there is material for a second or third book, then consider developing the novel into a series.

Vickie Britton and Loretta Jackson are authors of over 40 novels, including the Jeff McQuede High Country Mystery Series: first book: Murder in Black and White, and the 8-book Ardis Cole Series: first book: The Curse of Senmut.