Getting Serious.

Writing is a little like falling in love.

You meet writing for the first time. 

You dive in recklessly and with abandon, without any real aspiration other than just seeing if you CAN. Seeing if what's in your head looks good on paper in the first place. It's a heady feeling. You are the consummate artist, tapping frantically into your laptop in the back of a coffee shop, fueled by an irrepressible idea and too much caffeine.

But as with any love story, things don't go smoothly...

Conversation is always a little awkward on the first date. 

Where do those pesky quotation marks go anyway? Do you start a new line? Hit the tab key for dialogue? What do you say after or before or in the middle of the conversation other than...'he/she said'?! Why is this so complicated?

On the second date, you start getting a few niggling doubts. 

Do you really have a plot? How long is it going to take to get to THE SCENE that's been burning a hole in your mental pocket since you typed the first word? Can you even make it that far? And is it lying or laying? Really. That just doesn't look right.

Then...

A friend reveals your writing's true feelings for you. 

You finally pull together enough courage to actually SHOW your writing to someone, and they come back to you raving and saying that they LOVE IT and please WRITE MORE and I HAD NO IDEA YOU WERE SO TALENTED. It is a revelation. The relationship takes a whole new serious tone. This isn't just playing around with a few ideas and paddling in the shallow end of the writing pool. Now you're considering getting serious with writing.

So, you take a bit leap and...

You bring your writing home to meet the parents (a.k.a. real reviewers). 

Oh. Not good. They really REALLY disapprove. A debrief reveals that out of an entire chapter, one partial sentence might truly show promise. Your writing has been tried and found wanting.

You consider breaking up with writing. It was obviously not meant to be. You turn to your good friends quilting and Facebook as a focus to get your mind off of the train wreck that is your relationship with writing. Quilting lets you tell sad stories over a glass of wine and doesn't judge you. You decide it's all over with writing.

But...

Writing just won't leave you alone. 

It keeps bugging you with new story ideas. New characters wandering around your head wanting to be let out. What has writing done to you? What horrific brainwashing has taken place?

So...

You confront writing, and agree that you want to go steady. 

You write not one story, but two. You're hitting 2000 words a day, despite your full time day-job. You buy Scrivener so you and writing can spend more quality time together. You start a blog to tell the world about the journey you and writing are on in your relationship. You start to tweet with other people who are also in love with writing, and laugh together about the foibles and struggles of being in love with writing.

Then...

Writing gets down on one knee and asks if you want to make this relationship...permanent.

And you panic.

You run away. Far away.

You are too busy. You have no time. Your laptop has a virus. Writing has so many other lovers, why would it need you? And how would you make a living, married to writing? Everyone knows there is no money in it.

You and writing 'take a break'. 

So, now what? The fence is a painful place, especially when you find yourself perched on it for nearly a year. You halfheartedly check twitter every few weeks. You occasionally pick up one of the twelve stories you started and never finished. You change a few words here or there. Change them back again. Watch 'Breaking Bad' from end-to-end. Eat a lot of ice cream.

*Siiiiiiiiiiigh*

You decide to go see writing. Just to say 'Hi.'

You look deep into writing's eyes (stay with me, no matter how thin the metaphor is stretching here). You take a deep breath.

Okay, It's time. No more denying how you feel. Let's do this thing.



Ryan Gosling memes courtesy of  http://goslinggetswriters.tumblr.com/
Balloon image Copyright: federicofoto / 123RF Stock Photo

Why I Haven't Blogged for a Year (and other excuses).

That was a bit of a shock. Checked my blog and saw that next month will be a full year since I blogged anything at all!

There is a good reason.

I moved countries. Well, both me and my husband moved countries. Together (of course). We have left the damp streets of London, England for the sun and heat of Austin, Texas. The whole process started at least three years ago, heated up when we applied for the Green Card Lottery in 2012 (better known as the Diversity Visa), and went stratospheric when we were granted the chance for an interview. When we were actually granted the visas in January this year, we went into a sort of deep shock and have only just started to thaw out now, five months later.

Our life has been in utter limbo for nearly a year and a half. Emotionally/psychologically for a lot longer than that. We are now finally landed (but barely a month ago), in Texas, and are up to our eyeballs with the whole getting-settled process which includes buying everything we need from scratch and having no friends. Oh, that and I have to find a job. Like...yesterday.

Are you still writing??
Yes. Yes, I am. I actually finished a draft of a story that hit over 100k in word-count, which shocked me, I can tell you. I'm now left with the quandary of what exactly to do with this mammoth tome, as it clearly needs some editing down. That and it's the raciest thing I've ever written and I'm not sure it's exactly what I want to lead with when submitting to publishers! Eventually I will take the leap and put the, "But what will your MOTHER think?!" issue behind me. Eventually.

What's next?
I need to get my feet on the ground. Get a job. Move into our house. Find furniture to sit on/lie on/cook on. But as much as I tell myself this, there are already two new characters running around inside my head making eyes at each other and whispering all sorts of stuff I should probably write down before they find someone else to write it for them. So...who knows. Writing is one of those things that doesn't ever, entirely let you go.

Oh, also what is next is another 'Kingpin' taco at Torchy's. Because they are AMAZING. You should try one.

Kindle Romance Cover End-of-Summer Catch-up!

Hello you lovely readerly and coverly-loverly folk - we're back!

Okay, so that didn't feel like quite so long a 'holiday' as it should have done, but if the kids (others', not mine...I have none of those!) are back at school that probably means I need to hang up the flip-flops, stop overdosing on Bones reruns and find me some purdy Romance covers to share with you all.

I didn't give up on cover-hunting over the holidays, don't worry - plenty covers from around the genres added to my Cover Lover Pinterest board!

CUTE BLUE

Both of these are cute, sweet and clean and use that bright blue with just a punchy little highlight of red or pink to set it off. You get a sense of blue-sky optimism from these covers, with a little passion thrown in.

Title: I Dream of Johnny
Author: Juliet Madison
Publisher: Escape Publishing
Cover Artist: Unkonwn
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Title: Olivia
Author: Paola Calvetti
Publisher: Ediciones Martinez Roca
Cover Artist: Unknown
Genre: Contemporary Romance

A FEW MORE OF MY FAVOURITES...

There are so many!! I really just couldn't pick from them all. So much gorgeous cover goodness! Here's a sampling from just the past week...

And of course, it couldn't be KRCOTW without a Pick of the Week...

PICK OF THE WEEK:

Title: Left
Author: T.R. Graves
Publisher: Amazon/Self-Published
Cover Artist: Claudia McKinney of Phatpuppy Art
Genre: New Adult Romance

SCORES OUT OF 5

Thumbnail-ability: 3.5

Font & Text: 4.5

Genre-fit: 4

Overall Composition: 3.5

Overall Concept: 3.5

OVERALL SCORE: 3.8

What's to love...
Clean, simple, pretty but strong. I think what I liked best about this cover was the fact it was just somewhat different than the usual formula. No couples embracing, no cowboy or kilted rogue looking back over his shoulder. The ribbon feels a bit more like the tenuous connection between two people and not too bondage-y (something I think we're all pretty much over these days!). Simple body language with just two hands. Maybe she's pulling him. Maybe he's reaching out to her. Or maybe both? Nice simple palette. Very pretty brush-script for the title. I don't even mind the little embellishment under the author's name, as it grounds the whole area of text.

Let's see what next week brings us!

Now, off to even out my sandal-tan in the last of the late-summer sun. Oh that's right. It's raining. *sigh*

Is it nearly Christmas yet?