4 Books & A Confession

I promised you a confession, and so here it is: Until this morning, I have not written a single word since April 26th. Ack! How did this happen? I was so good about writing one scene every day!

Well, until April 26 when my creative juices sputtered and died a quarter of the way through Scene 22. The- villain- who- is- really- an- antagonist had just arrived to take the heroine out for dessert (I know, super-villainous, right? Just give him time--he has an Evil Plan) and she took one look at his car and said no way, I'm not getting in it. And then we both stalled out.

If I had her climb up into the passenger seat, I had to show the ride to the cafe. How would she react? How would he react? What would they talk about? Normally, these aren't issues for me. Dialogue is typically my strong suit. I don't even think about it--I just write down what the characters are saying in my head, as though I were eavesdropping. Sometimes I can't even keep up with myself (that's the excuse I give for first drafts without any hint of stage direction or scene setting) and fill the pages with screenplay-like conversation. Not today.

Part of it was because one of my CPs had looked at a prior scene (rife with fantabulous dialogue, if I do say so myself) and asked what the point of the scene was (outside of the fantabulous dialogue, which cannot exist merely to be fantabulous.) And then I had an anxiety attack, wherein I wondered what the point was of any of my scenes and began to doubt my entire plot in general. And then I stopped writing. None of this is my CP's fault--she asked a perfectly valid question (after all, every scene should matter, or what's the point?) and I allowed myself to use it as an excuse to procrastinate and wallow in a tequila bottle of depression. But not for long--I'm usually not very good at being depressed for more than a few hours. (I have this hideous, naturally sunny disposition. Sickening.)

And besides, the very next day, I was leaving on a jet plane to scope out sites for my wedding! Yay! No time to be depressed (or to write, I told myself) and I grabbed a book and sailed out the door for the airport.

The book I grabbed was Under The Rose, by Diana Peterfreund--the sequel to Secret Society Girl. I suppose I could've attempted to write a few words on the plane once we'd reached a high enough altitude that electronic devices were allowed, but by that point I'd devoured the first third of the book and didn't put it down until we landed and I'd read the last page. Good stuff, people. Cue white font and cryptic acronyms, as this is an ARC and you have to wait until June to buy the real deal: Amy is as Amy-like and fun as ever! My two favorite characters who keep crossing her path continue to be GHP and P(J), the former of which is hot in an I'm- a- bad- boy- and- I- like- it- that- way sort of way (which gets me every time, *purr*) and the latter of which is so adamant about his antagonism that I spent both books on tenterhooks waiting for him to slam Miss A against a wall and kiss her senseless (and I'm not going to say whether or not this finally took place, just that it's something I have secretly wanted to see him do from the moment he exploded on screen in the first book--what's that say about me? That I am absolutely ridiculous over bad boys? I can't help it! Bring on book 3!) [End white text.]

The wedding-planning weekend was a whirlwind of activity (and if you are truly interested in that, maybe I'll dish more details in a seperate post?) and then I was back home late Monday night, to be greeted by a Priority Mail box stuffed with three books from my CP Darcy. The first was Must Love Dragons by Stephanie Rowe, which Darcy recommended, knowing how much I dig the paranormal romcom scene. (Exhibits A & B: TATTF and DATD.) This book was so unutterably fabulous that I was instantly reminded of my short-lived writing depression, and I picked right back up where I left off, this time with an inferiority complex to keep me company at night. Stephanie's book was fun! silly! crazy! witty! hot! published! and full of zany Otherworld characters much like mine! How could I ever compare??? Well, I decided I couldn't compare, and so I gave up trying to compare, and decided to spend the rest of my free time reading the other two books: The Raven Prince and The Leopard Prince, both by Elizabeth Hoyt.

These books were equally fabulous but luckily in a different genre (non-paranormal historical) so I didn't suffer quite the same anxieties as with the Stephanie Rowe book. Actually, they made me feel a bit better about DATD, as one of the sticking points I was having was that my heroine, not being privy to the small detail of my hero being a demon from hell, had no strong external reason not to pursue him, provided that they keep the relationship on the downlow. Elizabeth Hoyt's heroines, I am happy to say, had no compunctions about keeping their hands off the heroes, and their indulgence did not harm the storyline in any way. Last night in chat, Darcy pointed out (that Darcy! Chock full of good stuff, she is!) that although my heroine may not have a strong external reason not to knock boots with the hero, she has an exceptionally strong internal reason, and that it wouldn't take much to play up that angle. (She also said, "Writing is useful." Pithy, and to the point. Put it on a Post-it and stick it on your monitor.)

So armed with renewed self-confidence, I sat down at the keyboard this morning and finished that pesky Scene 22. Not only do I have my writing groove back, I cannot wait for Scene 23, in which our hero stumbles across the post-cheesecake duo and demon magic chaos ensues.

Enough about me... How was your week? Did you stay on the writing wagon? Make much progress in your WIP? Read any good books? Do tell!