My space with all my notes and scenes laid out around me

There are generally two kinds of writers: Plotter and Pantsers. Neither is better than the other, it is just how we approach the story. A plotter likes to have the story points laid out beforehand, a roadmap one might say of what will happen from A to Z. Some writers have detailed a synopsis of every point, character sketches, story arcs and a variety of information all written down before they even compose a single sentence. Others just notes that guide them from one chapter to the next. A pantser has a general idea for a story and that’s it. For them it is the thrill of seeing where the story takes them.

I was the odd ball of our foursome, being in the middle of the spectrum of plotters. As a plotter, I like my work organized, a good idea of where the book is going to go and I always brainstorm each section, chapter and scene before I sit down to write. My three fellow retreaters, Jane Porter, Liza Palmer and Caitlin Crews are more on the pantser side of the fence. Jane does do a bit more plotting than the other two, but the three of them definitely like to write without a safety net. I watched them in breathless awe.

Liza's work area

Really? You can do that?

Not this author. No way.

And I thought I was being really out there writing my scenes out of sequence.

What I found fascinating about Liza, was how she sits down, laptop in front of her and a blank journal beside her and she just starts writing. The pages fill up and the journal becomes her record of her journey. Like a diary of an unplanned trip. She writes down ideas, tips, revisions even as she hurries forward with her story. We debated desserts as she considered what to have her chef heroine make for a man’s last meal, and with a pie decided, she continued on. All the charm and grace of a road trip down Route 66. So very cool.

Megan hard at work in her corner of the condo.

Megan tends to hole up, a few notes and again, just writes. She looks online for visual inspiration–Tumblr and other sites, and after a while, the pages start to come forth. I liked her sparse style, which contrasts with her rich and in depth stories.

Jane's cast of character and composition

Finally comes Jane, who is the most visual of writers–she has pictures of all her characters, in all their moods. Sorting through her collection of magazine clippings, downloaded photos, she can show you her hero happy, defiant, angry, serious, all his stormy, Alpha moods right before her, contrasted with the photos of her heroine and secondary characters. And then with her cast assembled, they begin to speak to her and she writes. It is a very cinematic approach to writing.

We all use music to write with. Finding the right songs, soundtrack and moods using songs that we play over and over as we write. My current sound track is a mix of 70s hits that just seem to capture the light hearted mood of the book I am writing. We shared songs and musicians we’d discovered, each of us taking notes of the others tracks.

Really, there is no right or wrong way to work. It is all about what speaks to you. And one other thing I discovered–some of us mutter as we write. And I’m not pointing any fingers. ‘Cause some of us mutter all the rest of the time.

©2012 Elizabeth Boyle Blog. All Rights Reserved.

.

1. Where is the most beautiful/romantic place you’ve ever been? I once journeyed by bus from Aberystwyth, on the Welsh seacoast, to the inland mining town of Blaenau Ffestiniog. I was traveling alone, and didn’t know anybody in either place (I’d sort of picked them off the map), so it was just me and the craggy, impossibly green Welsh hills and the little towns where the bus would occasionally make a stop. I’ve never seen another landscape with that combination of grandeur and intimacy.

2. Do you celebrate when you finish a book and what do you do? Oh, heck no. The few weeks after a book is finished are some of the most stressful in the process, because that’s when I send it off to my editor and wait to hear what she thinks. And it always seems possible, in those weeks, that her response is going to be, “Oh, my god, reading this manuscript has made me realize you really can’t write at all! What were we thinking, signing you to a contract?”

3. What blogs do you visit? Dear Author and Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, for generally keeping up with the Romance world. History Hoydens and Word Wenches for fascinating articles about historical detail. ReadReactReview for thoughtful, accessible analysis of the genre. And Gossamer Obsessions, because AnimeJune can make me laugh just as hard with a good review as with a bad one.

4. If you were not writing, what job would you have? I wish writing were my only job. But as long as I’ve got dependent kids and a mortgage, I’m going to be pretty wedded to the health benefits and steady income of my day job – I’m just cautious that way. So if I weren’t writing, what I’d have is my same not-very-interesting day job plus more free time. Minus a lot of fulfillment.

5. Most embarrassing song on your iPod? It’s possible there might be some Journey on there. In fact it’s altogether possible that Journey singer Steve Perry’s solo hit, “Oh, Sherrie” is on there, for sing-along purposes. “You’d be better off alone!/If I’m not who you/thought I’d be-EE-ee!”

If anything, the cover for her debut, A Lady Awakened, makes me pea-green with envy. Quite literally! Isn’t this the most gorgeous cover you’ve ever seen? And thus begins Cecilia Grant’s career. You can find out more about her at her website, CecilaGrant.com. Make sure to get your copy of A Lady Awakened, and be on the lookout for her second book, A Gentleman Undone, coming June 2012 from Bantam.

©2012 Elizabeth Boyle Blog. All Rights Reserved.

.

Last week’s winner is Commenter #39, Linda, who posted the following:

Linda says:
November 28, 2011 at 10:00 PM (Edit)
Christmas songs are all so lovely; it’s hard to pick one fav but probably “Hark the herald angels sing” if I had to choose one.

If this is you, email me with your mailing address and I will get your prize off to you.

And if you didn’t win, then it is time to try again!

This week’s drawings (yes, there will be two prize boxes) filled with, what else, books–a number of them signed, along with some fun author swag!

This is how you can enter for a chance to win:

1) Leave a comment below and tell me what on your To Do list you are determined to get done this week,

and/or

2) Tweet the following: @ElizBoyle hopes one of you #wins this box of #romancebooks. http://elizabethboyle.com/blog/?p=1792

Do both and you are entered twice! I’ll give you all until midnight, PT, Saturday, December 10th to get your entries in.

Make sure to check back here Monday December 12th to find out if you won. You’ll have a week to claim your prize.

PS: If you haven’t already, hop over to my Contest page to enter for a chance to win a Barnes & Noble Nook!.

©2012 Elizabeth Boyle Blog. All Rights Reserved.

.

This week’s drawing (in honor of the holidays!) is for a Chapters book bag filled with, what else, books–a number of them signed, along with some fun author swag!

This is how you can enter for a chance to win:

1) Leave a comment below and tell me what is your favorite holiday song or what is the most pressing thing you need to find for the holidays.

and/or

2) Tweet the following: @ElizBoyle hopes one of you wins this box of romance books. http://elizabethboyle.com/blog/?p=1771

Do both and you are entered twice! I’ll give you all until midnight, PT, Saturday, December 3rd to get your entries in.

Make sure to check back here Monday December 5th to find out if you won. You’ll have a week to claim your prize.

Enter today! And if you haven’t already, hop over to my Contest page to enter for a chance to win a Barnes & Noble Nook!.

©2012 Elizabeth Boyle Blog. All Rights Reserved.

.

1. Where is the most beautiful/romantic place you’ve ever been

Wow. So many in the world, but I’d have to say Venice. I’ve dreamed of going there my whole life, and we were lucky enough to stay at a Palazzo built in the mid 1400s with a balcony over the Canereggio Canal. I could have sat there all day watching the gondolas, the sunlight washing the wedding cake houses, the ever-changing water and sky, listening to the church bells and music, the water lapping against the pilings and the chatter in the narrow streets and bridges. I ate pasta out in small piazzas and bought a shameful amount of beautiful scarves, Murano glass, and ceramics. I wandered everywhere, and lit candles at every church I could find(and that was a lot). And then at the end of the evening, we retired to our balcony to watch the moon gleam off the water, and listen to the church bells. When I think of Italy, I think of church bells. They were like a symphony of joy.

2. Do you celebrate when you finish a book and what you do?

I celebrate the end of a deadline by reading every book and watching every movie I’ve saved up during deadline. Then I do my ritual office-cleaning of all of the research, notes, candy wrappers, empty cups and various trash that’s gathered in my office during deadline. Then my critique partner Karyn Witmer and I go out to lunch. Very satisfying.

3. If you were not writing, what job would you have?

I would actually go back to either being a trauma nurse, or become a death investigator. I’m fascinated by forensics. What would I wish I could do? Specialized travel agent for individual trips off the beaten track (after my answer to 1, I’m sure it’s no surprise). For instance, instead of staying in Florence, Italy, we stayed in Sienna and took the train over. Sienna is smaller, cheaper, and to me, far more intimate, a walled medieval city that just reeks of charm. We never stay at chain hotels, or go on big tours. In India I found a place to stay at the Ranthambhore Tiger Sanctuary that had luxury tents for rooms. Incredibly cool. I love it when I find a great deal in an interesting place. (You can follow my travels on my website, where I have a Travel for Fun page).

4. If you were going to an island for a long time, name 5 things you would bring.

• Ipod
• Ipad
• Generator….do I need anything else?
• Probably sunscreen or a hat, but that’s boring.
• My husband and a Swiss army knife(he says you can do anything with a Swiss army knife).

5. Print or ebook?

Print. I’m probably getting something like a Nook for long airplane rides, but when I can, I love the feel, smell and romance of a book. Some of my earliest memories are walking into a library, and there is just a smell that makes me excited and anxious, as if magic is hiding around the corner. I’m page bender, for the places I want to go back to, and an underliner for great lines or research information (I just finished Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier about women who were early amateur paleontologists, and I’ve marked it up to point to more research on the subject, since I have a character in an upcoming book who is a fossil hunter). There’s also just something about a book, a glass of wine and a hot bath that makes my life better.

EB: That combination will make anyone’s life better!

Looking for a great read to curl up in the tub with? Try Eileen’s new book, Always a Temptress, available now. To discover more about Eileen Dryer, her travels/adventures and her wonderful books, visit her site, www.EileenDreyer.com

©2012 Elizabeth Boyle Blog. All Rights Reserved.

.

1. Did you have a nickname growing up?

In college, one of my best guy friends used to call me “Emma”, because of my tendency to meddle (constructively!) in peoples’ love lives. Well, at least it was mostly constructive. Some of my best match-making has been done by misdirection. I had a particular talent for accidentally setting people up with their future spouses while trying to set them up with someone else.
I’d say this was great training for writing romantic fiction. I play the same “will they work? Won’t they work?” game of trial and error with my characters. The only difference? In this scenario, I get to craft both sides of the dialogue.

2. Where is the most beautiful/romantic place you’ve ever been?

Okay, I know this is going to sound counter intuitive, but… Wales. I went on vacation to Wales this past summer. The general reaction of most of the hoteliers and restaurant staff we encountered was “Really? You came here for fun?” Yes, yes, we did. And I loved it. Wales was gorgeous: crumbling old castles, amazing natural scenery, an absurdity of photogenic sheep dotting the fields. My favorite spot was a cliff in Snowdonia with heather turning the hills purple all around and a river and an old abbey lying way down below.

3. Do you celebrate when you finish a book and what you do?

Er, sleep? While I write my books, I print them out chapter by chapter, keeping the growing pile of pages on my ancient Walmart kitchen cart so I can actually see my progress as I go. It’s one thing to know, intellectually, that you’re up to three hundred pages; it’s another thing to actually see that pile and think, wow, that’s a lot of paper! Even better, once I’ve finished the book and send it off to my editor, I take the whole huge, unwieldy pile of paper and dump it with a great big whump into my recycling bin. There’s nothing more satisfying than that whumping noise. To me, that’s the feeling of DONE. Not to mention that there’s then an empty spot on my kitchen cart which needs to be filled with a new proto-page pile….

4. What new authors have you recently added to your TBR pile?

My TBR pile has grown exponentially recently, thanks to a Friday feature on my website called Weekly Reading Round-Up, where my readers pop in and talk about what they’re reading. Through them, I found Rhys Bowen’s Lady Georgiana mystery series and Kate Morton’s compelling historical novels. Also recently added to my TBR pile via Weekly Reading Round-Up is A Brief History of Montmaray, which I’ve been assured is just like I Capture the Castle. I also have Loretta Chase’s Silk is for Seduction, which I’ve been using as a personal bribe. I don’t get to read it until I finish my latest manuscript.

EB: Great! Now my TBR is overflowing.

5. If you were going to an island for a long time, name 5 things you would bring.

• A supersized tube of SPF 85 sunscreen—I burn just by being in the vicinity of sunshine. We’re talking full-on lobster red. My skin doesn’t seem to have grasped the concept of “tan”, although it has “burn”, “peel”, and “freckle” down to an art.
• An ipod, programmed by my little sister—she’s a genius at mixing peppy 80’s music, mellow girl music like Vienna Tang and the Weepies, folk music of the Judy Collins persuasion, and Broadway tracks. Perfect for a week (or several weeks) at the beach.
• A kindle with lots and lots of books! (Is that cheating?)
• A copy of Gone With the Wind, since I can re-read that an infinite number of times.
• My netbook (or, if there’s no power, lots of notebooks), for working on a new novel….

This week saw the paperback release of The Mischief of the Mistletoe, which by the way, won the 2011 RITA for Best Regency Historical Romance. To learn more about Lauren and her wonderful Pink Carnation series, visit her website:
www.laurenwillig.com.

©2012 Elizabeth Boyle Blog. All Rights Reserved.

.

As I said, it seems like every woman knows (or will know) someone who has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. I have a dear friend who was–thankfully, she has overcome her cancer and is doing great. But it struck me as I started writing this blog a week or so ago that I had never asked her what prompted her to go to the doctor. How foolish is that?

We should all be asking each other this one simple question: How did you know? And then make sure we listen and if we suspect anything, we act.

So when I saw her this past weekend, I asked her, and she said she’d been having bloating and her clothes stopped fitting and it seemed odd. But after some reflection, she sent me this email, and I am sharing it so all you can hear the answer as well:

I was thinking about your ovarian cancer question and wanted to say a little more. Other than being able to feel the tumor, I did have other symptoms. Feeling bloated, pressure, frequent urination, which all got worse over about 3 weeks. I was feeling around my abdomen because of these symptoms, and that’s when I felt “something” and called my dr, if I hadn’t felt this mass though, I’m sure I would have put off going to the dr – thinking it was just a digestive issue, or that I was gaining some weight, or that it was all due to getting older, etc.

Good luck with your blog! It is good to spread the word. Being alert for signs and symptoms so it can hopefully be caught early is important. There’s lots of other things that can be going on with women which can cause similar symptoms which makes things tricky. So it’s best to get anything out of the ordinary (anything persistent and unusual) checked out. My drs were great (even though they weren’t thinking it was cancer) they took all the right “just in case” steps. And really I was just very lucky.

This is such an important cause–the symptoms are there–and we as women have to listen to our bodies and then heed the warnings. I know with busy lives it is easy to put off our own care, but it is essential that we seek treatment as soon as we suspect there might be a problem.

Please take the next 60 seconds of your life and watch this video featuring Tessa Dare. And then share the link to this blog (http://elizabethboyle.com/blog/?p=1474) with as many of your friends as you can. If you have any of these symptoms, get an appointment with your doctor as soon as possible.

Now here is what I am going to do: The first 10 readers who send me proof that they have bought all six of the Kiss & Teal books, (Click here to find all the books) and I will send you six autographed books from my backlist. What is proof? A scan of your receipt. A pic of you with your books. Forward an order receipt. Just show me you’ve bought all six titles and I’ll double that with six of my classics. You can find my email on my Contact page. Now even if you already have my books, think about this: the holidays are coming and wouldn’t a handful of autographed books make great, quick gifts? So get your proof in quick and not only will you help spread the word, but you’ll double your stash.

©2012 Elizabeth Boyle Blog. All Rights Reserved.

.

My husband says I always do this, and I wish he wouldn’t always remind me. I prefer my short term memory when it comes to deadlines.

So here are Ebony’s excellent questions:

Do you have all your stories planned out before you write them or do they just come to you and you write?

I like to think I have a story all plotted out before I sit down to write it. I usually have a very detailed outline and synopsis at the ready before I even start Chapter 1. But then I start to write and the further I get into the story, the more the synopsis turns into more of a “general idea” than an actual roadmap. But no matter how far I nearly always stray from that synopsis, I will always start out with one because I like having that sense of where I am going. Over the years and nearly 20 books, I’ve learned–some times the hard

One of my favorite series characters, Temple.

way–not to be too married to a synopsis and open to the creative process that can work magic on a story.

Are series of books hard to write?
Yes and no. I love having an ongoing series because you have this great gang of characters that you can draw on for inspiration. Best of all, you already “know” them. But series characters also come with their baggage–what they’ve done and said before–so you have to make sure you are always aware of their idiosyncrasies and particulars. There are times when I have to go back and hunt down what color a character’s hair and eyes are, and other significant details.

The key to always remember when you are writing a book in a series is to keep focused on the primary story–the romance between the hero and heroine, because face it–the romance is everything!

What would you be doing if you weren’t an author?
I’d probably be unemployed, because I am rather unemployable. Apparently being an outspoken control freak is not a problem when you work at home for yourself. In the job world, it can be a detriment. But that aside, I used to be a paralegal and a pretty good one I will say with no lack of humility. It was the perfect job for me. I got to write, meet interesting people, and come up with wild theories as to why (or why not) our client was innocent. I found the law, especially trial work, really exciting, and at times, miss it terribly. Then I remember that it also involved working for lawyers (no offense to any lawyers out there) and I am content with my current occupation for as long as you all will have me.

©2012 Elizabeth Boyle Blog. All Rights Reserved.

.

What inspires you?

Everything and anything. I am constantly amazed at what offers inspiration. The street names on a freeway sign. A particular reading at mass. A photo in a magazine. An overheard conversation in Starbucks. The characters themselves. I’ve always been the sort of person who can’t stop with one question–I tend to take that kernel of inspiration and start pondering a thousand and one questions about it until a more fully formed story grows around it. Sometimes that turns into a book and other times, the idea gets filed away.

Of all the books you’ve written–which one is your favorite–or if they all are which one is closest to your heart?

Over the years I’ve had several favorites, Stealing the Bride, Something About Emmaline and His Mistress by Morning, which have each in turn stood out as sentimental favorites for a variety of reasons. Stealing the Bride because I find the hero, Temple, infinitely fascinating. I’ve always had a big-o crush on him. I adore Emmaline because I love Emmaline’s audacity. Nothing stops her and that wily determination is admirable and something I wish I had more of. And I loved the complexity of writing His Mistress by Morning–which most people read and don’t realize that the first two thirds of the book are written in one point of view, which isn’t typical of a romance and not easily done–but was a tremendously fun challenge to write. That and I just love the poignancy of that romance.

Who (aside from yourself) is your greatest critic?

You all! Believe me, the reviews on blogs and over on Amazon.com are probably harsher than anything I could muster up. But as a writer you have to realize that you are not going to please everyone with every story. That is just a given. So what you have to do when you read reviews or criticism is look for points that overlap and use that as a starting point to strengthen and improve your writing.

One of my favorite covers. The art hangs in my office.

After you’ve written and published a book do you ever wish there was something you could change about it?

If there is anything I ever want to change, it is usually the cover. But I have little say in those, so I’ve learned to live them with as best I can.

What are you working on next and when can we buy it?

I’ve started a new series, The Kempton Brides, about a village where the ladies are cursed not to marry and there hasn’t been a bride from the village in several hundred years. So my trio of heroines unwittingly fall in love and start breaking the curse. The first book, Along Came a Duke, will come out June 2012. In the meantime, I am going to be e-pubbing the short story I did for the Mammoth Anthology, my Brazen books, and Avon has asked me to do a short story about Kempton, so I have lots of irons in the fire.

©2012 Elizabeth Boyle Blog. All Rights Reserved.

.

Rochester's Belles

But what I shouldn’t be lingering over is the story:  Please let me say outright that RomCon rocked! It was bar none, the best reader’s conference I’ve ever attended. Wonderful readers, great organization (I mean, hey, whoever thought about having the authors’s schedules printed on labels and stuck to the back of our name tags was brilliant!) and fun events. My favs included the Build a Hero workshop, where we all divided up according to interests and brainstormed our perfect hero.

Working with Anna Campbell, Cynthia and Kati, we came up with Sir Rochester deVale. Yes, we were making a nudge and a nod toward that Rochester, but we had a hilarious good time poking at the conventions of the genre (his greatest fear: a lighted match), his big . . . wait for it. . . nose, (and you thought I was going to say something else) and of course, he was tall dark and handsome. What I found interesting about the whole workshop is that nearly every hero created (including ours) had a military background and was emotional scarred by some previous experience. Oh, girls, we loved our damaged heroic goods, don’t we?

The Elizabeths

The signing was a kick of a good time, including meeting so many new readers–and by that I mean, younger readers. Please don’t be insulted, but by the time you reach my age, anyone under 25 is young. Okay, anyone under 40 is young. But what made my heart go pitter-pat was all the young women who are discovering romance. Having come of age reading Harry Potter and Twilight, they are the emerging generation embracing romance with abandon and boy are they enthusiastic. Here I am with the Elizabeths. They were hilariously fun–best friends named Elizabeth and they came to meet me, the other Elizabeth. Hanging with these gals, and getting the opportunity to go out to lunch with Kati (up above) really sparked the old muse. (Truly, the old gal needed a bit of kick start.)

Why, yes that is me. The Devil's Mistress. Or DM for short.

As for the rest of the weekend, the intimate chats, the panels, and the games, ok–the Saturday night in the bar laughing over Missy the Missing Cat until I really just embarrassed myself by laughing so much–made the weekend rollicking. My cheeks hurt by Sunday.

So I hope everyone is putting RomCon on their to-do list for 2011–mark off September and plan on getting yourself to Denver. It was worth every penny. If you want to see more, I’ve uploaded a bunch of pictures on my Facebook page.

And btw, Julia Quinn is a great traveling companion. We sat together flying down and talked nonstop the entire flight, and when we discovered the free wi-fi chatted on Facebook together while sitting next to each other, which was vastly amusing to us, probably not so much to the rest of the rows around us. And on the way home, she got me upgraded with her to First Class and we again finagled seats together, but we were both so tired we just sort of sat there, each in our own tired daze–her doing Suduko and me knitting. Both of us agreed to two things: the weekend was great and we are going back next year!

©2012 Elizabeth Boyle Blog. All Rights Reserved.

.