Anya Bast

This is cross-posted to the Bradford Bunch Blog.

Some weeks I have kick ass productivity. I get into my character’s head and I turn out scenes like crazy. I click along, making progress, good progress, solid plot development. The words flow like stream of melted buttah.

Then there are weeks like this one.

This week wasn’t really much different than any other. I had a child to take care of, a house to clean, a part time job to work, various errands to run, but somehow the words lacked that flowing like melted buttah quality. I wrote, but then I had to cut**. So my word count is pretty much the same as it was last week. One step forward, one step back. I’m standing in place, yet, er…working to do it. It’s a dance most writers are familiar with. It happens sometimes. But next week I plan to kick ass and melt word buttah again, just watch me.

I’m philosophical about it. I know some weeks are better than others for productivity. You can’t make the words come when they don’t want to. Sometimes words can be stubborn that way. That’s no excuse, however, for not trying. I can’t count the times I’ve broken my way through a block, (yeah, I’m a little blocked right now), by simply writing through it. Sometimes what I write under these circumstances isn’t very good and sometimes I have to delete it. But the simple act of moving forward breaks the block eventually.

At time I look for reasons to procrastinate with my writing. (Internet, anyone? Laundry? Oh, there are lots of ways.) It would be easy to claim a block as a reason not to put words onto the page. But since I know that, for me, the best way through a block is to wham my way through the middle of it with raw word count, that excuse doesn’t work. (Darn it. )

All you writers out there, how do you work through a block?


**The beginning of the book isn’t coming together like I would prefer

No rain forever and now a flood. I tried to get my daughter off to her child care this morning, but we have washed out roads around my house. I get the day off! I’ll give you three guesses what I’m going to do with it. 😉

I didn’t blog about Sven this Sunday because we were trick or treating at the zoo. So, here’s my update, a little late and a little water logged.

7,015 / 90,000 (7.8%)

About 5k of that are words from last week. I also am revising The Darkest Kiss (yes, again) and I added just over 5k to that one. It makes for a total of 10,000 words toward my Sven goal.

10,000 / 70,000 (14.3%)

Are you sweating? If so, how are you doing?

Every year Romantic Times BOOKclub magazine runs their American Title Contest in conjunction with Dorchester Publishing. The winner gets a publishing contract. Not a bad prize, eh?

The first round is for best first line. I’m a big one for the first line of a book. As a reader, I want it to hook me, fascinate me, make me want to read on. As a writer, well, I want mine to do that same thing for the reader! I TTed about first lines back here, as a matter of fact.

I vote in the American Title Contest every year, and I’ve definitely got my favorite of these. How about you? Go on over and make your vote!

Good Tuesday morning, all. I really need more coffee….

I’m guest blogging over on Witchy Chicks about the tricks and treats of writing magick. Go check it out! There’s a contest too.

The second round of Sweaty Seventy has started! Are you participating?

Or are you gearing up for NaNo?

I’m doing the SS because it gives me more time. I believe in quality over quantity. Some days I struggle all day long for 1,000 words, but those 1,000 words are exactly what I needed to write, where I needed to write them. They are worth more to me than 5,000 words that lead me in the wrong direction, you know?

Plus, SS conveniently starts at the time I’m beginning Witch Heart and runs just short of its deadline. So, SS it is.

How about you?

Cross Posted to The Bradford Blog — which has pretty new digs!

I attended my local RWA chapter’s annual book signing yesterday, along with a whole list of fabulous authors including JR Ward, Heather Grothaus, Toni Blake, Shiloh Walker and more.

The signing was at The Bookstore, in Radcliff, KY. It’s one of those awesome privately owned ones. My favorite kind of bookstore. If you’re nearby, it’s worth a stop in. They’re very supportive of the romance genre. 

Here’s me at the book signing. I really need a trip to the hair stylist. Oy.

My little daughter came along. Grandma also came to keep her entertained while I signed. However, little daughter was having none of it. She wanted to stick close to me. So she “helped” me sign books. She also dumped a water bottle (full of very cold water) all over us both and scattered lemon bread crumbs on the floor.  But she was cute. That makes up for a lot. 

A couple random shots my mom took…. Here is Elizabeth Beverly and Teresa Medeiros…sort of. 

Me: “Mom, you know you cut off Teresa Medieros in this picture.”

Mom: “Who’s she?”

Me” *aghast* “How can you not know who Teresa Medieros is? I thought everyone in the whole world knew of Teresa Medieros! I wouldn’t be writing at all if I hadn’t picked up Once an Angel, my very first romance novel ever.”

Mom: “Well…I got her elbow.” 

So there’s Teresa Medieros’s elbow. 😉

Last random picture. Hmmm, testing the power of my memory…. From left to right:

Maddie James, Jan Scarbrough, Magdalena Scott, Sara Reinke (I think. Ack.), and LuAnn McLane.

These are all authors in my local RWA chapter. You know, RWA has definitely pulled some stunts over the years that have made my respect for the national organization waver, but my local chapter, KYRW, has always been the absolute best. From day one, before I’d made any sales at all, they opened their arms to me. They’ve supported me over the years, celebrated my victories and commiserated my defeats…as I do for the other members.

I have so enjoyed watching some of these authors blossom, find their writerly paths and seize the day. It was a true pleasure to be able to buy a book from Teresa Reasor yesterday, one I’d helped critique the beginning of so long ago, Highland Moonlight. It’s a great book. I loved it then and I love it now. I’m so happy it found a home. Happier that Teresa is now on the other side of the signing table.

Writing is a solitary pursuit and although most of us are introverts, we still need community. We still need others who speak our language and know what we’re going through, who can relate. My local RWA chapter has always filled this need for me. They are a great group of ladies (and one man!), and they are honestly why I remain a member of RWA.

Oh, and I can’t forget the readers! I met so many great people, supportive romance readers and reviewers yesterday. I wouldn’t be writing if it weren’t for you. Thanks for being so awesome. 

1. The winner of last week’s contest, by random drawing, is Rhian! Congrats! Can you drop me an email at anyabast (at) Yahoo.com. The prize, by the way, is a bag stuffed with surprise goodies. 😉

This one’s cross-posted to the Bradford Bunch Blog — but the contest is for here too.

The term “alpha male” is bandied about quite a bit when we’re talking about the romance genre. When I use the term I mean a man who prefers to be in charge of others and will fight to gain or retain that authority. A man who is strong both physically and mentally and doesn’t take merde from others. I mean a man who is protective and can be domineering.

In romance, at least in my opinion, sometimes characters go a step beyond this. I term these guys a**hole alpha males. Mostly I can’t read them. They’re too much of the above. Just too, too. However I’m fully aware that’s an opinion not shared by many.

I like to read a good beta. I don’t tend to write them, though my male leads will sometimes show some beta characteristics.

Most women, as far as I can tell, would rather read an alpha or an a**hole alpha. They want the domineering, over-protective barbarian whose unruly self must be brought to heel by the strong, gentle love of the heroine.

But I’m here to tell you that living with one in real life is no picnic. My husband is one, though I’m not saying he’s all muscular, big, brutish, ect. He’s a regular guy, but his personality is pretty domineering, pretty bossy. He’s a manager and likes that kind of role the best. Thing is, sometimes he tries to manage me and that doesn’t work so well. He tends to think he knows best, his way or nothing. You know the type.

I’m grateful to him in a way, since he keeps me strong. I have to always stand up to him or he’ll just steamroll right over me. I love him, of course, and have spent thirteen very happy years with him, but we all have our (at times) unlikable personality quirks.

So, having lived so long with guy who shares some personality characteristics with the heroes I write (soooo not telling him that. It’ll go right to his head), I have to say that in Real Life they can be a trial.

Tell me about the alpha in your life. Or tell me why or why not you’d want to date/marry one. Finally, tell me about the sort of base personality you like to see in your romance novel heroes. Do you prefer the alpha, the a**hole alpha (s’okay, you can admit it), or the beta? Why?

There will a winner drawn from the participants and the prize will be a surprise.

“Do you listen to music when you write?”

You know, I never used to. Listening to music tends to distract me because I get too into it and forget to, ya’ know…write. But then I bought an iPod and I was suddenly exposed to all this great new music I’d never heard before, (because I cruise all over iTunes).

And so lately (well, when I was writing The Darkest Kiss, anyway) I have begun to use music as emotional motivation. Music can do that, get you into the proper frame of mind for writing. So, like, if I need to sit down and write ten pages NOW, but I’m thinking about the laundry or the fact I need to go grocery shopping, ect, I can use music to put me in a different mindset. As long as I have the volume turned down way low, I can do it.

I have even started creating play lists for books I’m writing. I have one for The Darkest Kiss and I created one yesterday for Witch Heart (when this email came in, oddly enough), which will evolve and change as I write.

Here’s some of what I’m listening to now:

Caught in the Rain — Revis
Suffer — Endo
Stop a Bullet — Black Light Burns
Evening Rain — Moby
Lie — Black Light Burns
Simple Lies — Endo
Lie to me — 12 Stones (Hmm…I’m detecting a theme here. Heh.)
Temptation — The Tea Party
Gyroscope — The Tea Party
Unaffected — Hoobastank
Fall to Pieces — Velvet Revolver
Let Go — 12 Stones
The Way I Feel — 12 Stones
I Will Follow You Into The Dark — Death Cab for Cutie
Beyond Time — Apocalyptica
Cohkka — Apocalyptica

A spider who has defied my No Spidies in the House Decree has spun a web near my kitchen sink. She is not the type of spidy I can relocate. 🙁 But today I start Witch Heart, so she gets a free pass. I don’t kill spidies on the days I start new books. Spidies & writers are kind of kindred, you know? We both spin webs.

Uhm, of course, I don’t catch readers in my web, shoot them full of toxins and then eat them. There’s just the catching part, (hopefully). The reader is free to disentangle themselves to get caught in another web whenever they want.

Yeah, my mind has gone to strange places this morning.

I wish I could talk about Witch Heart! But that would mean spoilers.

This one’s cross-posted at the Bradford Bunch Blog.

Lost in the corn maze and considering a path of our own devising.

I usually take a few days off after I’ve met a deadline. In this case, I turned in The Darkest Kiss (after finishing the book in a record three months) on Friday. So I took the weekend off (mostly).

Yesterday I had a booksigning in Lexington, KY with Lora Leigh, Shiloh Walker and Toni Blake/Lacey Alexander. But that’s not really work, more like play. Sunday my husband and I took our daughter to a function at a local farm where we picked pumpkins, went on a hay ride and navigated a corn maze. We had a nice day together. I love spending time with my family. I’m blessed because I get to do a lot of that. I never take it for granted.

Er, a quick note about the corn maze…a whole bunch of us got lost in this thing…pretty badly. We actually cheated and found a pathway out through the stalks. Otherwise I think someone would have stumbled across our time-whitened bones sometime in the future. This autumn, beware the corn mazes, people. Beware.

In all, it was a nice weekend and yet….and yet…I’m itchy to start a new book. Funny, isn’t it? I can’t even take off a couple days without starting to plot the next novel. It’s a sickness, I swear.

And I’m a fan of authors taking breaks. I think we all need to do that once in a while to rejuvenate, recharge the muse, so to speak. But every time I try to take time off, even if it’s only a couple of days, I always find my brain turning toward a plot. Even though I’m not writing, I’m still writing…at least in my head. I’m like a terrier with a tennis ball and wicked case of obsessive compulsive disorder.

So, yeah, it was a nice weekend. How was yours?

Oh, and where’s my laptop?

The winner of CHOCOLATE contest from last week (on this blog), selected by random drawing (blame my husband) is dorkybarb! Please email me within two weeks, Barb! anyabast (at) yahoo.com