Get It Done Your Way

A Fork, Knife and Elephant Means What?

They’re all elements in an old parable where a man feels overwhelmed at the daunting task of eating an elephant. I never heard this story until last July, at the RWA national conference. I think it was either Roxanne St. Clair or Harlen Coben and Lisa Jackson who brought the story up during their discussion.

Writing a book can be much like eating an elephant at one sitting, if we let it be.
First, know writing a quality novel takes thought, sweat and time. A great deal of all three. The project is something you’re not just going to dash off in a weekend. Not even a long weekend. So know your work will take you several months, or a year, or years to accomplish, depending on your time constrictions and ability to type.
It’s less intimidating if you think of a huge job as parts. So size up your project. Is it going to be a novella, a category romance, single title or a series of single titles? Once you know the word count you’re targeting, you can break the project into parts. If you want to write a single title at approximately 90,000 words over ten months, you’ll want to write at least 9000 words in a month or nearly 2400 words a week. Break that down to six days a week (I gave you a day off) and you’ll need to write 400 hundred words a day.

That big elephant isn’t looking too huge now, right?




Now, imagine writing ‘the end’. You did it! Dance. Yell out to the world, yippy. Have some bubbly and chocolate. That’s it. Hold that feeling close. The warm fuzzy memory will urge you on when you think you can’t possibly do this.

Having all the tools you need, will make the task easier. Think about it. Did you ever make a cake batter with all the ingredients at hand? It’s much easier than if you had to grab the flour from this cupboard, egg from the refrigerator and, dang, I’m out of milk and need to run to the store. So gather the tools you’ll need. Computer, document storage (you don’t want to lose your work), any research notes, storyboard, storyline, notecards, whiteboard, and other writer friends. Yes, I said friends. Friends will encourage you and listen to you when you vent, and they’ll also offer up ideas when you need them.

Not every writer writes a book in the same way, or a in a linear fashion. If you hate writing the end, write it first. If the middle seems like a swayback mare to you and you hate facing it, fast draft a few scenes.

Last bit of advice, start eating that elephant. The end is non-existent without the beginning.

***** In The Presence Of Evil ******

Christmas is only a week away. At the insistence of his best-friend, Marine Cole Hanson returns to Mountain Pine, Pennsylvania for the holiday celebration. While he is not looking forward to facing the woman who broke his heart and has haunted his dreams, a small part of him hopes part of their past can be erased and they could start their relationship a new. When he sees Gina trembling in handcuffs, accused of murder, he steps up as her alibi, but can he keep her safe from the real killer.

One minute, Gina is planning the perfect holiday with her new boyfriend and the next she is in handcuffs and facing murder charges. Just when she thinks she’ll spend Christmas in jail, she looks up into the eyes that once had promised to love her forever. Cole. The memory of how he’d crushed her heart, keeps her from jumping into his arms until the truth of their past is revealed. But, is it too late for them? A killer is determined to make Gina his next victim.

Deleting The Blinking Cursor

Cursor..

Did you ever want to change the furniture or the décor of a room in your home and feel lost? Writers feel like this sometime while working on a story. We’ll be chugging along, working on our new story, the story that had burnt our every thought until we sat down and started to write it, and BAM, we lose our way. It’s like we walk into that room and just know we need to change something, but what?

Can we go out and hire someone to write the book for us. No. But, we can grab another writer and start tossing some ideas around. But what if you really want to work this problem out by yourself or just have to? Well, there are a number of things I do when I hit the wall or read back on the chapter I’ve written and just know it’s not right. You know like putting the couch facing the fireplace with its back to the TV. It might work for some, but not for everyone, and definitely not for the most important person in your life, the hubby- also known as the World’s Greatest Sport’s Fan.

What do I do? I take a break, and perhaps grab a few of my keeper books off the shelves and just read a few chapters. These books remind me what I inspired to write. Or, I might review a contest entry I’ve judged and really analyst it-wondering what I, as a reader, was looking for and the author had missed or had hit the mark.

I might try doing a creative project other than writing. I find while working outside the box helps me think different on my project. And then, sometimes all it takes is for me to make a list of twenty what if questions or a flow chart.
Or, I could interview my characters. I’ve changed direction and upped the stakes many times by doing this.

I’ve learned not to sit and stare at a blinking cursor. It does me no good and wastes valuable time. WINK

So how do you change your furniture(words) around?


FYI: This Friday's Friend is Darynda Jones. We'll be talking about her new realease, First Grave On The Right, which has the publishing world humming. Please stop by.