Dawn Meadows

A Romance Writer's Blog

NaNoWriMo Time!

I'm a mere hours away from the starting line.


I've got my plot bunny file open, I've been charting out scenes, and I just make the file for the manuscript.  I've got the header set up and I've typed up the title.  It's just waiting for midnight.

I'm very optimistic about this year.  I hope to go well over 50,000 words before the end of the month.

www.nanowrimo.org

Good luck to the other writers who are participating this year!

What I Like

I just got done reading a book that reminded of me all the things I love to see in a book.  Strong characters, great supporting characters, and the author kept me strung along.  It was a long single title about two families.  The writing was sharp and I knew it was going to be good, when in the early part of the story, the writer was able to put that ache in my chest, that longing for the couple to find happiness.  There were peaks and valleys, but always, that ache was there.  

I want my stories to have that.  To give the reader the slightest bit of hope and put them on a roller coaster ride of emotions, with a satisfying HEA. I want the reader to burn dinner (like I did) because they can't stand to put the book down. 

One of these days...

The story was not perfect, by any means, but it was a great read.  Deborah Smith's Blue Willow.

Busy Life is Real Life Busy

Autumn is here in SoCal.  You can't tell by the wild and brilliant leaves, you can't tell by a chill in the air, but you can tell by how busy I've been.  The kids are firmly set in school, and I've become taxi-mom once again.  Through it all, I've trudged ahead with my dreams, snatching a free moment here and stealing a moment there.

Query letters have been sent to a total of sixteen agents with one request for a partial that resulted in a kind rejection.  I've had six more rejections, so I'm waiting to hear back from nine other agents.  With that story, I entered the New Voices Contest.  I was not one of the ten out of 800 plus entries to move forward to the second round. 

I have completed All Business and started on edits.  The sequel is now in the planning stages, with a ton of notes and a plot bunny form filled out.  I'm waiting for NaNoWriMo to start (November 01, 2010) to actually begin writing.  And it's killing me...

I was invited to join a critcircle and I gladly accepted.  There are four of us, and I'm really enjoying the process.  I've edited/beta'd many a fanfic in my time, still do for a few authors and I've done some critiquing for a couple of original authors, but the circle is something new.  I'm getting three opinions all at once, and it's been very helpful.  I'm planning to enter two contests near the end of this month with All Business and having so many eyes on the story before then gives me a little more confidence.  

When I get blocked or can't write for some reason, I like to play with photoshop.  I've created just-for-fun book covers for All Business and the sequel Risking It All.  I know I won't actually be using them if they get published by an epub, but they were fun to make and they gave me inspiration.