I'm excited about the holidays

It is supposed to be close to 60 degrees here tomorrow. I love it!

But it doesn't feel much like Christmas is coming. That's because we have no snow. There are still leaves blowing around, blue skies and sunshine.

Last Christmas right before Christmas Eve we were down in Livingston to the south of us having dinner out and it started snowing. It was one of those amazing nights when the snowflakes were huge and drifted down from the darkness thick as a blanket. It felt just like Christmas should feel.

I remember Thanksgivings when we had a bunch of snow -- and some like this one where it is supposed to be warm. It doesn't matter.

But I need a white Christmas.

I just know that until it starts snowing I won't really be in the holiday spirit.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!!

Taking my own advice

I blogged for three days about what it is like to write six books a year. Basically, I blogged about my "real" life. I loved all the comments and am delighted that I got some of you writing.

What is funny about the comments is that you all made me take my own advice and work hard. I am now at a spot in the book where I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Tomorrow I will work hard and the next day and the next. I will get to the end, I will rewrite and edit. I will reread and edit some more. Then, when it works, off it goes and I get on the next book, which I've already written the first 65 pages.

It's a good life. Today I wrote some and quilted to my heart's content. Tomorrow I'm going to a town on the hi-line with my husband. Yes, I will work on the way over and back. My husband will listen to the radio. We'll enjoy being together. We'll have lunch, goof off and go home.

It's not all work and no play. Taking time off is almost as important in the process as the time spent writing. You have to recharge. This Thursday, the grandbabies are coming up for an early Thanksgiving. I will play with them for three days.

It's nice to have options. That is probably the greatest benefit of writing for a living. No 8 to 5's, no 12 to 1 lunches, no boss looking over my shoulder.

So it is all good. But the best part is I love what I do. I feel blessed that I get to do this. I don't take a day for granted.

Dreams do come true.

Part Three: Tricks of the trade

I was told I am making writing sound too easy. I apologize. :) Writing is hard. Really hard. The hardest work I've ever done. I can't imagine why anyone would want to do this unless they had to.

So that said here is how I do it:

Everyone approaches writing a book differently. I've told you how I come up with my ideas for my proposals. But when I start a book, I usually have to do some rethinking. The first is where to start my book.

An easy answer is: in the middle of the action. I love popping into my characters' lives when something big is happening. In an upcoming book Jack Winchester is driving up an isolated highway in the middle of nowhere on the way to see his grandmother. Not too exciting until he sees a hitchhiker beside the road -- and we learn that Jack is illegitate and this will be the first time he's been to the Winchester Ranch as one of the family. He isn't sure what to expect from his grandmother, a woman who has been a recluse for the last 27 years.

Even so, still not too much fun. Until Jack stops for the woman beside the road and we see our heroine. She is clearly terrified and running from something when she climbs into Jack's vintage Cadillac convertible with her backpack -- and a gun.

That's one way to start the story. If you're like me and you love beginnings, then the start of the book is pure fun. I love the blank canvas. Anything is possible. It's the first glimpse we get of the characters. I want them to make a lasting impression.

But it is also like painting a wall a color you later don't like, you can always repaint it. I don't slave over every word. I just try to get the story down while it's burning to be told.

So jumping in is really important, getting that story going. For me, it's laying the foundation of the book. I work on the first few chapters until I feel I'm on the right track. If this part is shaky, then it won't hold up the rest of my story.

The hard part is deciding how much to tell the reader. This is not where you want to dump a bunch of backstory. I only hint at Jack's relationship with his grandmother and the ranch. I let the way Josey looks beside the road tell much of the story -- that and the gun and the way she keeps watching the road behind them.

Once those first few chapters feel good and steady, I start building on my story. I like multiple viewpoints because I can stay with one character just long enough to quit on something exciting, then go to another one. I try to end each scene with a small cliffhanger. Each chapter definitely has to have a bigger cliffhanger.

I try to tell the story in the most interesting way I can, that means weaving in any backstory, history and explanations so the reader isn’t bored to tears and has to plow through page after page where nothing happens. As I write, I get more ideas. My characters tell me things I didn’t know and while I can’t see the end, I’m at least heading in the right direction.

But then there is always the point in the story where I want to throw the book in the trash. It's the point where I get stuck, have no idea what I'm doing and wonder who's stupid idea was this. This is the tough part. This is where perseverance pays off. This is where I would rather clean my toilet than write. This usually happens around chapter 8 (my Intrigues are about 14 chapters.)

It is here, about 100 pages in that things just kind of stop. This is where it is a good idea to kill someone. Preferrably one of your characters.

What to do? Other than head banging on my desk, I sometimes get out of the office, talk a walk, a shower, a drive. Then I sit down and read what I've written.

Fortunately, either I find out that it's not as bad as I thought or I see what I have to change. Once that's done, I try to come up with at least 10 things that could happen now. I think of this stage as throwing up -- throwing all my preconceived ideas about what this book is about up in the air and seeing how it lands. Is there a different, better way to tell this story? Do I need another character? Is there a secret one of my characters hasn't revealed yet? Who can I kill?

This could be the sagging middle -- unless something happens that turns things around. In the current book I'm working on in the Whitehorse: Winchester Ranch series, the heroine is taken by the bad guy, the really bad guy. This is where the hero and heroine realize how important they are to each other. This is where the action kicks up and it's a run for the finish line.

Once I get over that hump, it's all downhill to The End. That's because this part is easiest for me. This is the action part. This is what I've been building up to.

So I write to the finish. Then I go back. By now I've been back over what I've written a few times. I've edited the first part until it formed a structurally strong beginning, I've worked on the middle (the ugga bugga part) and now I reread the whole thing, editing the last part.

Then I read it again.

As I write, sometimes I write scenes that just don't fit. These I print out and stack up. At this stage I go through them. Sometimes if there is a line or two that I feel the book needs, I will see about inserting it in a spot. Usually these scenes just get tossed but sometimes there are tidbits that I thought were already in the book, but they are in my pile instead.

I counted how many times I edit my books. Nine. And that’sbefore I sent them off. After that I get to go over the book two more times before it goes to print after the editors have gone over.

It’s a one-step-forward, two-steps=back kind of process. It is a long process and a very labor-intensive one. While we all write at different speeds, my books take me about two months. Some I swear write themselves. Most I have to write and write and rewrite.

Toward deadline, I end up writing from 6 to 8 hours a day. There are moments of sheer panic and moments of esctasy, days I love what I do so much I can't stand it. Other days I look through the job ads in the newspaper yearning for a good ol' 8 to 5 job with benefits and weekends off.

As I write the book, I print out a chapter as I go. I’ve found reading a hard copy makes me notice things I don't on the screen. Plus I can make notes on the hard copy.

I put the chapters in a 3-ring binder. It makes it easy to check something I think I did in an earlier chapter if I can just turn to it. Another thing I do is make a list of characters and their descriptions, especially secondary characters.

By the time I finish a book, I am emotionally and mentally drained. It is amazing how exhausting writing is.

Let me share a few tricks before I tell you how wonderful writing is:
-Don't write in the same place. A change of scenery can make all the difference
-Set a personal goal and a deadline. Make writing a priority.
-Write at least a few words on your book every day.
-Set your timer and try to write as much as you can in a given amount of time.
-Free yourself to just write. Don't edit as you go.
-Remember: it's about storytelling.
-Always keep the story moving

As I said, this is the hardest work I’ve ever done. Fortunately, I love it. If for some reason I don’t write for a few days, I ache to get back at it. Even if I was rich, I would still write. I think this is what I'm supposed to do. Or maybe I think that because I have no artistic or musical talent but I love books and appreciate a good story.

For me it's a case of: I can't not write. I've always had stories going on in my head. I have to write them. And I've found that if I write every day and shoot for 10 pages a day, I will get the book done. There will be good days and bad. But you know what the best part is?

Wrong. It's not seeing my finished book in print. Seriously. It's starting the next book, that feeling that this could be the most fun book I've ever written.

And that is how I write six books a year. Nothin' to it. :)

Part two: My Writing Schedule

First, before we get into my schedule I want you to ask yourself this: Why do you want to be a writer?

This is important. If it is because you love to write, then that is the right answer. You have to love the writing part more than the conferences, the book signings, the blogging, all of that. Because once you hear about my writing schedule, you might change your mind.

After the question: Where do you get your ideas, most people want to know about my writing schedule. I think we all love of the idea of the writer sitting in some really cool loft or garret somewhere banging out a bestseller.

It looks so...peaceful, so romantic, so ideal.

Well, I'm here to tell you, it isn't anything like that. The term "full-time writer” means just that. You work all the time.

I can hear my daughter and husband rolling their eyes at this (if they were here to read over my shoulder). That's because they see me doing other things besides writing 24/7. But the story is always with me -- just like the deadlines looming over me.

Sure sometimes you’re doing something other than sitting at a keyboard, but believe me, if you are in the middle of a book, you’re writing. You eat writing, sleep writing, live writing. I hate to tell you how often I have woken up in the morning and realized that I wrote all night long in my sleep -- sometimes the same sentence over and over again.

What I'm getting at is this: if you want to write full time it takes real commitment. I remember years ago having lunch with Nora Roberts in Billings, Montana. I had just sold I think my first book or two. I could already see how writing could take over my life. I informed her that I was going to write, but that I was still going to have a life. I can laugh about it now – and about her comment to me.

Needless to say, she knew what I had to learn. A writing career takes a commitment. A really big one. There is no Thank Goodness It's Friday. If you have a deadline, every day is Monday.

Also when you meet writers at conferences or book signings, it looks a lot more glamorous than it is. I love reading Allison Brennan's Facebook Page. She is a WORKING writer. And she has five young children at home. I can't imagine. But her life sounds so much like mine, I love it. Also I hate to think that other writers are having fun when I'm at my desk. :)

Okay, enough downer stuff. If you're still with me, let me tell you about my schedule.

I get up in the morning. If I'm feeling really beat, I take a shower, pull on whatever clean clothes I can find… Seriously. If you get up in the morning, shower, put on something nice, you’re going to want to leave your desk the minute you get stuck or the writing gets tough or your behind goes to sleep from sitting for so long.

The idea is to pick clothes you wouldn’t be caught dead in. This way if the writing isn’t going well, you aren't even tempted to go out for lunch, do some shopping or run over and visit a friend. I'm pretty sure that procrastination is the number one killer of bestselling authors. Those bestsellers just never get written.

My husband usually cooks me something for breakfast, then it is off to work. I go straight to my office, grab a drink (I prefer Arizona diet green tea or Coke Zero). I usually start with tea and save the Zero for when I really need it.

Mistake #1. checking your emails. I do check mine in case my editor needs something from me. Personal emails I don’t answer until later. Writing emails make you feel like you’ve been writing when you really haven't accomplished anything – not to mention the time it can eat up.

So it is straight to work. I leave myself a note from the day before to remind me where I was in the chapter and what I was thinking about doing next. I’m a seat-of-the-pants writer so there is no outline to follow. Sometimes I will reread what I wrote the day before, edit it a little, just to get myself back into the story.

Then I write. It doesn’t matter if it isn’t beautiful. The idea is to get something down. I'm going to edit it anyway, numerous times.

A trick I use is to look at the clock and tell myself that I will write as quickly as I can and as many pages as I can within a certain time limit, say an hour. The idea is to get into the book and stay there without any interruptions.

So that means during your writing time you: Don't pay bills, answer the phone, call your dentist or make out your grocery list. I try not to have anything around me that distracts me -- like my husband. This isn't always possible. But the crankier you are, the less they tend to bother you, I've discovered.

When I start a book, my goal is to write 10 pages a day. Once I have 10 done, I can take the rest of the day off. If that takes me an hour, great. If it takes me all day, too bad. Usually it doesn't take me more than a couple of hours. Not that I'm not thinking about it -- and when I hear a conversation between my characters, I have to write it down. So it is hard not to write more -- especially at the beginning when it's fun.

I break for lunch, watch my favorite soap (boy does The Bold and Beautiful need a writer. Finally after months there might be some real conflict coming), then it is back to work if I am in the middle or the end of a book. This is where the weaklings fall by the wayside. This is where the book gets hard. This is where you start thinking about how you should clean the toilet or do anything but WRITE.

This is where I have to make myself stay in my chair. Writing 6 books a year means some long days at the computer. This summer I played tennis with my husband mornings before I wrote or later in the afternoon. Breaks are essential. You just have to make sure you go back to work after them.

I strongly suggest exercise and no eating at the computer. If you make it a hard and fast rule, you will thank yourself years from now. I'm still working on the exercise -- apart from tennis.

About four p.m. I'm usually over it. I quit, stagger home hoping my husband has cooked something. Usually he has. I shower and eat. My AlphaSmart is right next to my chair. If I'm really too tired to think I might just watch TV or knit or sew or do crossword puzzles. If not, I usually get a few more pages done at night before I go to bed and start the whole process over again. Not so glamorous huh.

(I highly recommend an AlphaSmart for anyone serious about writing. If you take it everywhere with you and write every chance you get, no matter how busy you are, you will get some writing done. It's faster to use than a laptop and more convenient. I swear by my Alphie.)

Tomorrow I will write more about my progress including what I do if I get stalled, how much I edit as I go and some tricks I’ve learned to get the book done and I will write about the good stuff about being a writer. Promise.

Stay tuned if I haven't totally made you want to keep your day job….

What is it like to be a full-time novelist?

I promised I would blog about what it takes to write as many books a year as I do. Over the next few days, I will explain my writing process and what works for me.

There are definite steps to get the ball rolling, so I will start there in the process.

First comes the idea. My six books I'm writing this year are part of a series, which means I came up with an overall idea, then six separate ideas. The problem, of course, is that it takes a whole bunch of ideas to make a book. But since I sell on proposal, I just need to come up with enough to show my editor that my idea isn't awful and I should be able to come up with something even better once I write the books.

So how do you plot 6 books? Brainstorm. I start by thinking about the kind of books I like to read. What scares me? What intrigues me? What kind of stories do I want to tell? I try to mix it up. After almost 50 books I'm always trying to come up with something different. I look for plots that will be fun to write. Because ultimately after I sell on proposal, I have to write whatever I came up with.

One of the drawbacks of selling on proposal is that you need to come through once you sell the books. There is always that moment of panic when I look at the proposal and wonder what I was thinking. But I've done this long enough that I know, or at least hope, I can pull it off.

Once I get the go-ahead, I have to finish another book or two on my current series. By the time I get to the new ones I usually realize that while I had an idea or two for each book, it isn't enough to carry a whole book. So that means more brainstorming, rethinking and often times a lot of banging my head on my desk.

The one thing I have learned is that there is only one way to get a book written: TO WRITE IT. I know that sounds simple. But all the thinking in the world doesn't get a book written. Once I put my fingers on the keys, get my characters walking and talking, then a book begins to emerge.

I start brainstorming with plot which leads me to at least one character for my book. My books are set in Montana in and around a small western town. That narrows it down a little. Once I have say my hero, then I think about what kind of woman he needs. It's like matchmaking. Most of my heroes get strong, independent women who give them a run for their money. Those are the kind of women I like and my heroes seem to agree.

Back to plot. Series are a great way to sell more than one book at a time. There are all kinds of ways to string together a series. I started the Whitehorse, Montana series thinking I would write about six families or so. As the series grew, I added more families.

But even those mini-series I strung together in different ways. With Whitehorse: The Corbetts, I came up with 5 brothers and a marriage pact. I know, it's been done and done, but it works. With Whitehorse: Winchester Ranch, the 6 books that come out next April, May, June, Oct., Nov., Dec. I strung the books together with a ranch or maybe more accurately, Pepper Winchester, the elderly reclusive matriarch of the ranch.

If you are just starting out your career, you'll probably want to start with one book. The editor will probably want to see how well that book sells before you can get a series. But if you come up with a great idea for a series and the editor likes your writing, that door is always open.

So I have my proposal and six books due. Yikes. That is a book every two months. What that means is that I am going to be spending a whole lot of time writing and banging my head on my desk.

Tomorrow I will discuss my schedule. What works. What doesn't. And what to do when nothing works. Stay tuned if any of this interests you. :) Or email me at bjdaniels@mtintouch.net if you have questions so far.

It can't already be November

Where did the time go? I started working on my Christmas presents for this year right after last
Christmas. My daughter thought I was crazy. How could I even think about Christmas right after Christmas?

Simple. I knew if I didn't start early, I'd never get everything done. I had big plans not only to quilt some Christmas presents, put up some fun homemade treats and knit and crochet some other things -- and write six books for 2010. So I started my Christmas presents early.

And it's a darned good thing I did. I can't believe it is already November! I still have presents to finish and several others to make. In a blink of the eye, it will be Thanksgiving and we all know how quickly Christmas comes after that!

I really thought this year would be different. I would get everything done then just enjoy the season. Maybe I was being too overly optimistic -- and energetic. I still have to write books along with all my other projects and since I'm in the middle of writing the six-book Whitehorse: Winchester Ranch series...

I'll still get everything done because I'm determined and I live with deadlines, nothing new there. :) I know it would be easier if I'd just bought presents, but I like giving presents I make. I believe it means more -- if not to the people I give them to, then to me. :) It's my small way of putting more meaning into Christmas. If that means starting my projects right after Christmas then so be it.

I'm already thinking about what to do for next year. I have some fun ideas and I'm sure I'll think of more as the year goes on. Maybe if I start now...

Some books still available in Corbett series

I'm delighted to say that my books aren't staying long on the shelves. Unfortunately, I hear from readers who have missed one or more of the books in the series and want to know where they can get a copy.

I'm happy to say that my local bookstore here in my small Montana town still has copies of all five of Whitehorse: The Corbetts. It's a small independent bookstore that promotes Montana authors. So if you need any of those books, please contact: Danni Hill at promises@mtintouch.net or call 406-654-2380. She said she would be happy to ship them to you as long as the supply lasts. Also if you need them signed, I would be happy to trot over there and do that for you. Once you have made arrangements just let me know.

As for other books, check eHarlequin. Amazon still has a few new ones of some titles. Otherwise it is used books from one of the on-line dealers or a used bookstore.

I'm deep in Whitehorse: Winchester Ranch, the 6-book series coming out beginning in April. I send out postcards as I have books come out. If you aren't on my list, email me with your snail mail address. I can usually accommodate most everyone with a few exceptions such as those readers outside the US.

Thank you all again for your wonderful loyalty and support. It is a pleasure writing books with such terrific fans.