Michelle Rowen

My News!!

2008-07-24T00:44:09Z

I can now share my big news with everyone!!

I'm very pleased to report that I have two new book deals!

*** Deal #1

LIVING IN EDEN is a light urban fantasy/paranormal romance about a slightly-psychic amateur P.I. named Eden Riley who finds herself rather...possessed. Chaos ensues. I've been working with this idea on-and-off for a couple of years -- it started off as a dark urban fantasy and has evolved to become a fun book that I can't wait to start working on. LiE will be out tentatively Spring 2010 and I'm beyond thrilled to be working with Berkley Books on this!!

*** Deal #2

NIKKI DONOVAN: DEMON PRINCESS is about a girl who finds out the father she's never met is a demon king and now that she's turned sixteen, she's heir to his throne. Chaos ensues. I wrote the first draft of this book for Nanowrimo '06, although it has gone through several revisions since then. I can't tell you how excited I am to sell in the YA genre. It's my first writing love and my first serious attempts at writing were YA-based. I love this book and I'm so happy that it's going to be published! It's also going to be out early 2010 through Walker Books which is a division of Bloomsbury. Another YA will follow it, although at this time it's undecided if it will be a sequel or something completely different.

So...hooray! Obviously I'm in a very good mood going into the conference next week!!

100 Books

2008-07-22T13:32:54Z

I've seen this on a couple blogs and thought I'd do much worse than I did. However, it does make me admit publicly that I've never read Jane Austin, Bridget Jones, or Dracula. I should probably get on that.

The Big Read, an initiative by the National Endowment for the Arts, has estimated that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed. How do you do?

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Cool contest! Hellboy! San Fran!

2008-07-21T14:01:39Z

Holy cats! (who do I know that uses that phrase? Because I like it and I'm adopting it immediately) Check out this new SHOMI contest that's just gone live.

http://shomifiction.com/contests_press.html

Steven King to judge SHOMI Book Trailer Contest

Dorchester Publishing and Circle of Seven Productions have teamed up to present a contest offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for amateur and professional filmmakers who also love books. Participants will create book trailers based on their favorite novel in the SHOMI series of modern-day fantasy fiction. The best trailer—as selected by internationally bestselling author Stephen King—will be shown at a movie premiere in New York City as well as a theater in the winner’s home market.

Could that be cooler? I do not think so. I can't wait to start seeing the trailers. Hopefully somebody picks COUNTDOWN. It's ripe for a kick-ass trailer just taking the title into consideration alone. :-)

--

In other film making news... saw HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY over the weekend and... it was so awesome! I loved this movie -- best movie I've seen in recent memory. I don't remember really loving the first one but this one rocked. I especially liked the dark elf bad guy character. He was 1) super hot for a weird, murderous, albino elf-creature, and 2) a fantastic example of a villain with depth and motivation. Also I found an uncanny resemblance between the character and a whole lot of paranormal romance alpha heroes. Only without the romance. ;-)

Loved the mix of humor and action. Loved the special effects and the creatures. Loved the social commentary. This movie had it all. Plus, lately, I'm very partial to nice-but-demonic characters, and Hellboy himself is such a great character.

Plus, Ron Perlman? I still miss Beauty and the Beast. Vincent was a very different character than Hellboy, though. Sob. Catherine! How could they!!!?? (I still have issues). I definitely need to pick that series up now that it's finally on DVD.

--

Five days until I leave for Los Angeles where I'll be sightseeing for three days before I go to the RWA Conference in San Francisco.

As always, it seems to have crept up on me. But I'm so excited. This is going to be a fantastic conference (can you tell I'm feeling rather perky lately? I'm sure it's temporary). I can't wait to see everybody. And I'm spending the three days in L.A. first with the talented and fabulous Megan Crane and Liza Palmer as they show their fine and famous city to this Northern girl. I will leave the polar bear and mukluks at home.

And the new title is...

2008-07-18T01:16:25Z

The novel formerly known as DEVILS & DIAMONDS shall hereby be known as...

I like it. Well, enough to do a little graphic for it. In fact, my main character describes the hero as such in STAKES & STILETTOS which is probably why I put it on my extensive list of potential titles. So there ya go! Thanks again to everyone who helped me brainstorm a few weeks ago... :-)

Blaze

2008-07-16T15:29:29Z

Today marks the day I'm going to start my Harlequin Blaze. I've cast it with the actors I have in mind and can definitely visualize them in the parts of "Jacob" and "Amanda". I've reread the outline (which I actually still like and hope it's going to be a really fun write -- I could use one of those!). After brekkie I'm going to read through the sample chapters from my proposal, tweaking them a bit as I go and then...ease on into the writing.

The beginning part of starting a new novel is really tough. For me, at least. Before starting the book is kind of on a pedestal, all shiny and perfect. As soon as you start writing it loses a lot of that shine and becomes more real and tangible. Sometimes it becomes something different entirely.

This book will contain lots of witty repartee between the main characters who start off disliking each other intently. I've always loved love/hate relationships. I used it a bit in Lady & the Vamp and look forward to revisiting it here. I call it witty repartee, but one of my beta readers calls it "bickering." Yeah, yeah. We'll see. To each their own.

I'm also trying to finish up the judging I'm doing for my chapter's contest. I find it very draining, actually. I've read one stellar entry so far, which is always nice. Most are middle-of-the-road both in writing skill and story, but that's very normal. There was one that surprised me. The entrant's writing was fabulous but the plot was...not. Usually when your writing is at a publishable level, your story skills are at an equal level, but I don't know. Maybe it's just me. All I can say is having your character think about her life for two chapters is not a compelling story, even if it's nicely written.

Speaking of my chapter, Toronto Romance Writers is having a fantastic contest -- our first one, in fact. Head over to check it out and get the chance to win TWO DOZEN signed books by our published members. That's a lot of books!

TRW Big Book Giveaway Contest!

9 Questions with Eve Kenin

2008-07-15T00:09:34Z

Eve Silver aka: Eve Kenin is one of my favorite authors on the page, and a good friend off the page. She's somebody I have had a few multi-hour lunches with as we discuss 'the biz.' She was the inspiration for me to write my Shomi proposal in the first place and I remember a RWA chapter meeting last year where I grilled her shamelessly about the line and what they might be looking for. :-)

Her latest release, HIDDEN, is the follow-up to her kickass 2007 release DRIVEN. Both books have gotten fantastic buzz and amazing reviews. I thought it would be a good chance to ask her a few questions here on my blog...

9 Questions for Eve Kenin

Thanks for asking me these questions, Michelle. They
were quite a lot of fun to answer.

Desert Island Questions

1. If you could bring only one novel to a deserted
island (only one!) what would it be?

I wouldn’t bring a novel. I couldn’t possibly choose
just one. Instead, I would bring a dictionary. The
largest, most complete dictionary I could find. Those
words would help me write my own stories, and if I had
no paper to write them on, I’d write them in my head.

But if it had to be a novel, I’d cheat and bring more
than one, but it would still only be one book…The
Complete Novels of Jane Austen which combines them all
into a single paperback issue.

2. There's a DVD player there. What one movie would
you want?

A movie about wilderness advanced first aid with
accompanying written guide. Hey…I’m a practical girl.
There are no ERs on a desert isle ;-)

3. What celebrity (living or dead) would you want to
be stranded with?

Someone who could make me laugh. Russel Peters (I
know, I know…but he’s funny!) or Dave Chappelle or
Ellen Degeneres…definitely someone funny.

About the Book Questions

4. What is the one-line-blurb to describe your new
action-romance release HIDDEN?

In order to save the world from a deadly plague, a
genetically enhanced super-soldier is forced into an
uneasy alliance with a sexy stranger, until she finds
that that her new ally just might be the world’s—and
her—biggest threat.

5. Steven Spielburg called. He's going to make HIDDEN
into a big budget movie. Who would you cast as Tatiana
and Tristan?

Kate Beckinsale definitely has Tatiana’s look, but a
young Sigourney Weaver had her grit. Think I can
hybrid the two into one?

For Tristan, that’s tough…maybe a hybrid between Hugh
Jackman and Jared Padalecki, but with dark blue eyes.

6. What was your favorite part about writing HIDDEN?

The non-stop action. It was one crazy, wild ride.
There were points where I had my own heart pounding in
my chest.

About Writing Questions

7. What kind of a computer do you do your writing on?

MacBook.

8. What's the best advice you can give an aspiring
(but disgruntled) writer?

Finish the book. You can’t sell the book if you don’t
finish it.

Rejection is part of the biz. I had hundreds of
rejections before I made my first sale (and, yeah,
after my first sale, too).

If the need to write is a burning flame in your gut,
then write. It isn’t as though that flame offers you
much of a choice, is it?

9. What are you working on right now?

My next historical gothic written as Eve Silver, due
out in 2009. It is one dark, twisty story. And I’m
also playing with some paranormal ideas, one for a
short story that will be released in The Mammoth Book
of Paranormal Romance early in 2009, and another idea
that I’m hoping to spin into a couple of books.

---

Thanks Eve!!

If you want to learn more about Eve, visit her website at www.evekenin.com.

Midnight Hour

2008-07-14T17:49:00Z

Eve Kenin (aka: Eve Silver) is the guest blogger today on The Midnight Hour. Head on over there and leave a comment for a chance to win a signed copy of her July Shomi release HIDDEN (which completely rocks).

Guest blogger Eve Kenin

Interview etcetera

2008-07-13T15:05:07Z

I've done a Q&A with Tez Miller on her blog...

Check it out here.

I took yesterday off to recover from my 32 page final day of writing my vamp book. I read through some old diaries and found this brilliant snippet that makes me laugh for so many different reasons.

August 23, 1991.
I worked a little more on my Harlequin. Up to page two! That's pretty amazing. Maybe I'll check it out again in a minute. Got to do what I've got to do. And do it soon! My dream would be to submit my novel to Harlequin, and have them tell me by the new year, that it's been excepted. Give me a huge advance, and get me on a contract for at least ten more novels in the next two years. Would I go back to University? Well...what the hell do you think? But, before my dreams even have a chance of coming true, I must put forth a little effort on completing the said novel. Just a little effort. That's all.

I liked my use of the word "excepted" when of course I meant "accepted." I was an English major at the time, don't you know. And it only took another 17 years for me to sell to Harlequin! Of course, I did have to get over that dreaded "page 2" hump.

Today I want to brainstorm a new proposal. I've written several proposals lately but they aren't really hitting it for me and I have this new idea, as touched on in the interview with Tez.... Brain, start storming!

Don't give up

2008-07-12T15:47:22Z

Nathan Bransford asked the following hypothetical questions the other day...

Question #1: Let's say there was a seer who could tell you definitively whether or not you have the talent to be a published writer. Absolute 100% accuracy. But. If the seer person said no, that's that. Final answer. Would you want to know?

Question #2: If the seer person said no, you don't have the talent to be a published writer, would you still write?

And it definitely made me think.

Answer #1: I would not want to know.

Answer #2: If the seer told me anyhow...I don't think I would have kept writing.

That's quite sad, isn't it? Don't get me wrong, I love making up stories and daydreaming, etc., but my mind was always on getting published. I also wanted to be an artist, which I gave up to focus on my writing. You can make stories up to entertain yourself in your head, but writing them down, revising them to make them good, and then facing the rejection is not something I would ever want to deal with if I didn't think there was a silver lining. It's hard work. Some of the hardest, not to mention most rewarding, I've ever done. But I needed to believe in that silver lining.

I have posted several very positive things lately about my writing career, but don't let that fool you. This is a difficult business. I honestly didn't know that in the beginning. I thought that once you got a book contract, that's it. You're in. Hell, way back when I thought that every book on the shelves of a book store represented a writer who was able to support themselves financially through their writing.

The last six months have been the most trying I've ever had, and the fact that they've coincided with quitting my day job I don't think is a coincidence. My confidence has been shaken, my doubt weasels have been out in full force. I've been working harder than ever before and not sure whether or not it would mean a damn thing in the end. There's no pay check every other week when you're a writer. It's a risk. A big one. I don't do that. I don't normally take risks. As anyone who knows me can tell you... I like money. And as a single woman supporting herself and her two kitties, money means everything. Risk does not always lead to money. But, I jumped, I took a risk and the landing has not been a soft one.

I had a pretty easy time, all things considered, getting my agent and having my first book accepted. It was the right time, right place for that particular story and I thank my lucky stars every day for that (thank you lucky stars!). Since then I have paid for my initial luck. It's been difficult. Now I'm not saying this to whine or expect sympathy because I know I won't get any. Anyone who looks at me and sees me or another published author -- anybody who WANTS to be published -- will not listen to any sob stories I have to tell. And I don't blame them. I barely listen to myself half the time.

My goal was to be published. I got published. What now?

I guess the goal now is to stay published. Having been a published author for a whopping two and a half years now, I'm entering the second stage of my career. It's the stage a lot of writers don't make it to, or through.

I picked up an old Harlequin novel and looked at the back where they list the upcoming books. I didn't recognize one author name. That means that women who were being published and celebrating their budding writing careers 12 years ago (give or take) are no longer writing. Why? Because they were happy with writing one or two books and then going back to their normal lives? Maybe a few of them. The rest either quit because staying published is freaking difficult or they now write under a new pen name out of necessity.

The key to staying published, I think, is staying on top of marketing trends. I don't honestly think you need to change the kind of book that you really want to write, that speaks to you, but I do think you need to push it in directions that might be more high concept, or higher conflict, or suspenseful. Write a "very" book. Very funny, or very scary, or very sexy. Middle of the road characters or plot do not sustain a writer or her story.

All I can tell you are three things are vital to getting your writing published:

1) Luck
2) Perseverence
3) Voice/Talent/Storytelling skillz

There are lots of people with #3, but are they going to have #1 and #2 working for them? There are lots of incredibly talented actors waiting tables.

So sure, I would have given up if I'd known some seer thought that I didn't have a chance to be published. But I probably would have regretted it. What does some stupid seer know, anyhow? She could be another aspiring writer who's just trying to sabotage my confidence...doubt weasels in another form.

Here's a poem I found on my darkest day recently. Since then, things have brightened considerably for me. The day is still not bright enough for sunglasses, but I am enjoying the pretty sunrise. As they say, it's always darkest before the dawn.

Don't Quit
by anonymous

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest! if you must; but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up, though the pace seems slow;
You might succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor's cup.
And he learned too late, when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out;
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt;
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit;
It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit.

First draft finished!

2008-07-12T15:46:34Z

The vampire book with no title is done! It's going to need a ton of revision in the next draft but I'M DONE!!!

87,140 / 85,000
(102.5%)

A little news and a progress report

2008-07-11T20:08:50Z

I have BIG NEWS to share...probably early next week, when everything gets all finalized and stuff. It's been an exciting week. I sound all calm, but this is BIG and I'm very THRILLED about it!! This is probably the reason why I'm not finished my vamp book yet. I'm easily distracted by anything shiny. And this is super shiny!

No, Hugh Jackman hasn't left his wife for me yet (the fool). Something else!

Okay, enough about that.

The book that does not want to end...is almost at an end. Huzzah!! I've written the last chapter, all 12 pages of it, and now I sit at the precipice of the black moment and story climax. Two writing terms I knew nothing about when I wrote the first book in this series, Bitten & Smitten. In the ensuing five years since I first started that book because thought it would be fun to thrust a character like Bridget Jones into an Anne Rice world using a Buffy-esque voice, I have learned a lot about writing and many things would have changed how I wrote B&S if I wrote it now. Some would have been for the better, I think, but a lot would have been for the worse. I think sticking too closely to "the rules" of writing can be as damning as not knowing any rules at all. I guess it's good to know them and then break them for a reason. Even though this is a light and humorous series (or as somebody described it recently as "fluffy" *shudders*), it's meant a lot to me, to say the very least, and I want to do it justice now that I'm almost at the end of my characters' stories.

That actually wasn't what I was going to say when I started this blog post, but there you go. A few words (of wisdom or otherwise) from the salt mines, if you will.

Bottom line... I still ain't done. I know everything that's going to happen and unless my characters pull a fast one on me in the next 25 pages, then it's all done but the crying, as the saying goes.

Next up... I'm going to write the first draft of my Blaze fairly quickly (one hopes). Then back on the second draft of this vampire book for the month of August, although hopefully it won't take that long to polish it up. Then Blaze gets the better part of September since I do want it to be as good as I can make it. (crosses fingers)

I have a little news I can share today...

I'm very excited that I'm getting the chance to be in the upcoming anthology THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF PARANORMAL ROMANCE with a short story. I have almost definitely decided that my story is going to be about Barkley, the werewolf who has a bit of a problem staying in human form for too long, from the Immortality Bites series. I've been asked more than a few times if he'd going to get his own book like Quinn did. Well, he isn't, but the least I can do is give the poor guy 30 pages to find his HEA, can't I? Yes, I think I can. So hopefully a story will materialize for him from my cluttered imagination. If not, then I'll do something different, but that's the plan as of today. The book, as far as I know, will be out sometime in 2009...

Getting it done

2008-07-09T17:21:50Z

71,136 / 85,000
(83.7%)

I'm getting there. Not quite at breakneck speed, but slow and steady wins the race. It's not all that slow, but not as fast as I wanted. I wanted to be finished this draft by July 1st. Then that moved to the 7th. Then the 10th. And while I'm close, I don't know if I'll be done tomorrow. Probably more like Friday. Then I think I'll recoop over the weekend and then get started on the Harlequin Blaze that I have due on October 1st (Lord, I hope it's an easier write than this has been!)

I worried that I wouldn't make my word count on this one, but there's no doubt that I'll get to at least 85K by the end of this draft. I tried to go ahead and write the last scene before I got there (which sometimes helps to give me a target to write towards) but it didn't turn out like I wanted it to so I guess I'll leave that for the end.

That's all I have for today's blog post. I want to write about some of the movies I've seen lately, but I really want to get this draft done so I'm going to concentrate on that.

Friday! Friday is the goal. Here's hoping........

Character motivation

2008-07-08T00:38:19Z

So I finally figured out what was wrong. As soon as I established what Sarah's true character motivation was, everything started flowing again. It comes down to this deceptively simple question, which is the spark of any book:

What does your character want?

Well, she wants a lot of things. But she needs to want one thing specifically because it will color all of her decisions and actions. I tried to get hyper specific. What does she want? She wants her friends to be safe, she wants to survive against the forces of darkness, and she's willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that.

Fine. That sounds very valid.

But no. That wasn't her real motivation. It's not what drives her down deep. It's not the motivation that even she isn't aware of, it's simply the surface motivation -- what she thinks she wants more than anything.

So what does she really want?

Well, she wants to be happy, of course.

Saving her friends is great, but what's the pay-off if her friends are okay? The pay-off is that she's happy.

Bingo.

She's not looking for world peace or an end to homelessness. This character isn't horrifically selfish or anything like that. But she seeks happiness -- it's what drives her. It's what gets her up in the morning to fight through another day. It's that hope that at the end of the gauntlet there is a happy ever after waiting for her. It might seem like a weird thing for a vampire to be searching for, but that's her core motivation.

And it's made all the difference in the writing. I just wish I'd figured that out a couple hundred pages ago. :-)

WIP

2008-07-03T16:40:05Z

I have 100 pages to go on my current WIP which is still nameless. I know what's going to happen. I've plotted it out. I know how I want the whole thing to end. But for some reason I'm just totally meh about it. I read back through what I've written and for first draft material it ain't half bad, so what's blocking me? I have absolutely no idea. So, should I push on through to the end? Finish in a rush of productivity or should I take a couple days off (which I've already done) and work on something else to clear my head?

I think part of the problem is right now, going into the last third of the last book in this series, I'm expecting way too much for myself. I always fold under pressure. But this is simply self-inflicted pressure. I know that it doesn't have to be perfect. I know that it's just first draft, but I'm letting the subconscious demons (doubt weasels) get to me. Again. Also, bad things have happened and will continue to happen to my heroine and I've totally lost her breezy voice as she deals with all of this. The plot calls for this climax so I'm either going to have to force her through the gauntlet or I'm going to have to change things up a bit to make her be able to see the humor in the situation. I think the better choice would be to send in some comic relief in the form of another character. My books are supposed to be light and humorous (note: I originally wrote "humorless" -- is my subconscious trying to tell me something), but I remember writing the synopsis for Book #2 a while back and it was one joke after the other and my editor told me it wasn't serious enough. Serious? I was confused. I thought I was writing humor. But no, the humor doesn't come from plot or situation, it comes from character. Important to remember.

Perhaps I'll ask myself WWJD? What would Joss Whedon do? When Buffy got serious, it was serious, and he made no apologies about that. There might be a quip or two to lighten the mood, but he let things get dark. He dealt with the situation at hand, he defeated the Big Bad, and then got back to the humor later. Just like a mullet. Business in the front, party in the back. I'm going to Become The Mullet.

There's also been swirling events happening behind the scenes lately in my writing life which is why I haven't been blogging like the good little blogger I've always been. I hope to clear all of that up this coming week since it's been rather distracting to say the least, in good ways and bad.

So... I set aside my vampires for yesterday and let them simmer. I picked up a few of my other proposals and took a long hard look at them. I'd like to write a follow up to COUNTDOWN (not a sequel, but something with a similar feel), another action-packed speculative romance as MIchelle Maddox, and I have two or three projects currently in production which would be right for that. But none of them are exactly right. COUNTDOWN starts off with a bang and doesn't let up for 300 pages. The other proposals I'm working on have slow builds and the action starts at chapter three or so. I like them, but maybe for the future. So I asked the muse for another idea, something that starts fast from the first paragraph and I got the raw material to work with. It's pretty raw. Just an idea, a scene. The hero presented himself and he's so fabulously messed up he makes Rogan from COUNTDOWN look happy and well-adjusted. I loved damaged, tortured characters. :-) So I think I'm going to brainstorm this one and see what I get.

Today I'm also going to go see WALL-E. I'm totally ready to be inspired by a cute, anthropomorphic robot.

Happy Canada Day!

2008-07-01T17:17:37Z

My vamps go to Germany!

2008-06-29T01:29:40Z

In my internet surfing this evening I thought I'd just pop over to the German Amazon site to see if my soon-to-be translated books had gone up for presale there yet, and I found more than that! I found covers! What?

I love them. So much fun, even though it looks like they have Sarah on the cover of Lady & the Vamp...stepping into a coffin, no less! And the release dates have moved up since I last heard. Now they'll be out next January, March and May!

Bitten & Smitten is called Ein Anfang Mit Biss which translates to "A Beginning with Bite"

Fanged & Fabulous is called Ein Bisschen Verliebt which translates to "A little Falls in Love". Which doesn't make any sense so I'm sure it means something different with slang or something.

And last but not least we have Lady & the Vamp as Ein Happy End Mit Biss, "A Happy Ending with Bite".

I want outputs of these illustrations. They're so cute!!

Top Pick!!

2008-06-23T22:17:19Z

Countdown got a 4-1/2 star Top Pick from Romantic Times! I'm so happy!! It's my first one!!!

In this post-apocalyptic thriller, Maddox (aka Michelle Rowen) takes reality game shows to a horrifying new level. This book starts off fast and never looks back as it throws its gutsy protagonists into a do-or-die scenario. Memorable and scary, this first-person novel is a roller-coaster ride of the first magnitude!

Summary: As the sole survivor of the massacre of her family, Kira Jordan has endured on the streets as best she can. One day she wakes up in a pitch-black room, chained to the wall with a convicted killer. Rogan Ellis used to be one of the wealthiest men on the planet, until he was convicted of murder. Now Rogan and Kira have been paired up for a horrific televised game called "The Countdown."

Implants have been placed in their heads and will kill them if they separate. Together, they are faced with completing their tasks in each level of competition or they will die. Successfully completing levels is their only chance of survival. In this game, winning is the only thing. (SHOMI, Aug., 368 pp., $6.99) HOT

—Jill M. Smith

Dusty old prose

2008-06-21T16:38:23Z

I think, for the most part, an ease with one's writing comes after putting a lot of words on the page. I'm not claiming to be a great writer or anything, but I think my writing has that ease after ten years, or so, of working on it. Characterization becomes more natural. Dialogue sounds more true to life. I work hard at making my prose sound breezy and conversational -- which really isn't as easy as one might think. It's true that practice is key to learning any skill and writing is definitely a skill that needs practice.

I came upon this snippet from a "romance novel" I was working on ten years ago and I thought I'd share. I hadn't plotted this one out since it was back in the day that I tried to take a premise and rock it from page one. I rarely made it past page 20. In this case, page 2.

For me, going from the below to how I write now was triggered by switching to first person that immediately makes one's writing smoother. I think. Also reading about five million books about writing and taking a slew of courses. I still think the main idea of this could work, but it would need a lot more thought before it could become usable. To say the very least.

The below was filed as "Bachelorette Auction Idea."

Found any questionable pieces of prose in the dark recesses of your computer? Please share and post a link. I'd love to read them...

Veronica Reynolds awoke to find her face pressed uncomfortalbly against her computer keyboard in her office. She pushed herself back into a sitting position with an audible groan. She had forgotten how stiff a neck could get from sleeping on a desk. She began to rummage through the drawers for some asprin.

The office door opened unexpectedly. "Oh Ms Reynolds! I didn't think you'd be in so early." Her young secretary looked startled.

"Actually you could say that I'm here extremely late."

"You mean you haven't gone home yet?"

"That's what I mean. I guess I fell asleep."

A tentative smile broke through the girl's lips. "You're definitely a workaholic, Ms Reynolds. Why don't you head home and change clothes, and have a shower. I can handle it here. Your first appointment isn't until ten thirty."

"No, I have too many things to do. Besides, I keep a change of clothes here for just such an occasion. Splash a little water on my face and I'll be fine. I could use an extra large coffee though."

"Coming right up," she said.

Veronica wondered why she looked around the office before she closed the door, but didn't give it much thought. The office was a pig sty. Printouts and faxes littered the floor, and empty coffee cups and take out food containers lined her desk. It was part of her nature to be messy. It helped her to work. Her appartment, on the other hand, was immaculately tidy. Of course, that could be because she was always at the office.

She reached for her phone and buzzed the secretary.

"Yes?"

"Sandy, would you mind finding me some asprin to go with that coffee?"

"Not at all, Ms Reynolds." "Thank you...oh, and by the way, who is my first appointment today?"

"Let me see..." she heard some papers rustling around, "That would be Mr. Reese Davidson."

Her eyebrows shot up. "Really? He called for an appointment?"

"Yes, last night actually. He wouldn't have gotten a spot but your original ten thirty cancelled."

"What could he possibly want?"

"I guess I should have asked him but it completely slipped my mind." Sandy's voice had become a little worried.

"Forget it. But when he gets here, give me plenty of notice." She placed the phone on its receiver thoughtfully, and leaned back in her chair.

She glanced at her computer terminal which was still on from the night before.

"Reese Davidson found in bed with his brother's fiance two days before wedding."

The title definitely needed more pizzazz. But the story was going to be front page of the next "Reliable Source".

"Movie Star Reese Davidson apparently likes to keep it in the family after a reliable source said that he's been having a torrid affair with his estranged brother's soon-to- be wife. Davidson is known as a lady's man around town and likes to keep up his reputation with a different girl on his arm every week..."

"What a stud," Roni said distastefully. "I wonder what he'd want to see me about. Unless..." That was it. The story must have leaked out. He wants to stop it before it hits the newstands.

Impossible. She smiled to herself. What was he going to try to do. Sweet talk her? Sweep her off her feet so that she would never want to tarnish his famous name?

Obviously he had no idea who he would be dealing with.

She pushed herself back from the desk top with vigor. She would enjoy taking him down a few notches.

i can haz pagecount

2008-06-19T17:09:19Z

more cat pictures

I'm on page 171 of a probably 330. I like to switch to Courier every now and then because it makes me feel like I'm writing faster. That's really all I have to say today. My blogging skillz are not what they used to be lately.

I guess I can post this, though. Even though the book won't be out for 285 days, here's the back cover copy for STAKES & STILETTOS.... I'm actually rather loving it...

Staked, cursed, and still single . . .

Newly-vamped Sarah Dearly wants her normal life back, but fate is fighting against her. She tries to get a nice, regular job and gets staked at the interview, only to be rescued by a masked vampire who calls himself the Red Devil. Then a wallflower-turned-witch curses her, making her a bloodthirsty, sun-allergic nightwalker—the worst vampire there is. As if all that weren’t bad enough, she can’t get married because her 600-year-old boyfriend, Thierry, is in a centuries-long marriage of convenience he can’t escape.

. . . it’s enough to make a girl start biting.

As Sarah’s nightwalker tendencies make her more dangerous, even to those she loves, she’ll have to counteract that curse, unmask the increasingly intriguing Red Devil, and—oh yeah—get a commitment from her man. But if that’s what it takes to secure her happiness, Sarah is ready . . . even if it means embracing her inner vamp to do it.

Busy weekend

2008-06-16T20:31:02Z

Yesterday I attended Book Expo Canada and got to sign 200 ARCs of COUNTDOWN. It was a lot of fun. The traffic was insane getting into downtown Toronto because of various reasons including a baseball game right next door to the convention centre. So I signed for the better part of two hours and these were the main questions people asked as they looked at the cover...

Q: Is this a young adult novel?

A: I would suppose it depends on the young adult, but it's actually an adult romance novel.

Q: So what's it about?

A: It's a fast-paced, futuristic, post-apocalyptic-esque book about a reality game show where if you lose a level you die...and it's a romance!

I loved meeting everybody who came by the booth and picked up a copy. And I'd never been to a Book Expo before and couldn't believe how packed the place was. I wanted to go and see Laurell K. Hamilton who was signing at the same time I was, but her line-up was ridiculous and I didn't even see her booth. Kelley Armstrong was signing her new YA which I would have loved to get my hands on, but she was gone by the time I finished.

On Saturday I went to my RWA chapter meeting to hear Lori Wilde give a workshop on High Concept and I learned a lot. For one thing, I have come up with some ideas that fit the high concept rules (COUNTDOWN does, actually) but it wasn't a conscious thing. I'm going to definitely pay more attention to this in the future. Lori was a fantastic speaker and if you ever have a chance to attend this workshop I highly recommend it!

I'd like to plow through a hundred pages on the vampire novel (new title forthcoming) this week. While I am fairly confident that it will turn out well, it's been a hell of a write so far. Some books flow easily through the fingertips and some books need to be beaten up and dragged to the finish line. This one requires daily beatings unfortunately. The last book that was this hard to write for me was Fanged & Fabulous. Now that I have an extension on the writing of this one, I would like the first draft finished by the end of this month. I'm on page 154 right now. I have the mid-book blues, I guess. The best cure for them is picking up the pace. This book will require a ton of editing in the second draft (I'm guessing) so the sooner I finish the more time I'll have to polish it up.

Need a new title....

2008-06-12T02:56:39Z

Okay, here's a call for help to anyone who reads this blog...

I need a new title for DEVILS & DIAMONDS. While the working title does have something to do with the plot, it just doesn't have the same kick as the previous titles, so I need something fun, that says paranormal vampire romance.

Previous titles in the Immortality Bites series are:

Bitten & Smitten
Fanged & Fabulous
Lady & the Vamp
Stakes & Stilettos

So obviously we need an "&" in there somewhere. Play on words, puns, rhymes, alliteration...all these things are good! But it should sound like it goes with the rest of the series.

Whoever comes up with the winning title will be thanked profusely on the acknowledgment page.

So.... any ideas? Please post them here or email them to me at michelle@michellerowen.com.

My immortal thanks!

Michelle

It's Monday again

2008-06-09T18:40:29Z

Come on over and visit the Midnight Hour today. Lori Devoti is guest blogging and giving away a copy of her first Silhouette Nocturne, UNBOUND, to a lucky commenter today.

Two new reviews on COUNTDOWN have been posted... here and here.

I'm somewhat surprised by how enthusiastic the reviews have been so far. I think of COUNTDOWN as sounding a lot like how I write anyhow, but with less humor and more violence and character torture (heh). Apparently, according to the people who've read it so far, it's a completely different animal than my Rowen stuff. Hmm.

The elements of writing a speculative, action romance, by Michelle Maddox:

1) No jokes (well, a couple are okay)
2) Strict time line to amp up the tension (so much so that it's the title!)
3) Death could be waiting around any corner
4) Hero who seems very anti-hero...at first...

And, most importantly...

5) Evil robots!!!

It does make me feel that I want to explore more writing as Michelle Maddox, even though my heart (and bank account) belongs to Rowen. Y'know?

It's so difficult having a split personality.

I finished my copy edits over the weekend, so I'm free to get back to the writing. Not sure if I'll be working on vampires or evil robots, though.

Cat is still sick. Obviously, before I move one day, I will need to replace this carpet. Poor kitty.

Deadlines and hairballs

2008-06-06T21:26:44Z

Current word count on DEVILS & DIAMONDS:

31,582 / 85,000
(37.2%)

There has been a dramatic hairball situation the last week in the condo-o-love. For several days in a row one of my feline sons left me small presents that I would find first thing in the morning and have to clean up which told me somebody's tummy was upset. I had no idea who was the culprit until I caught him in the act. It was my eldest, Spike (aka: Spikerton, or Spikey Bear). My personal non-vet diagnosis was that he had a hairball problem. Since there is a fine layer of black fur that is on top of everything in the condo, I have also been coughing up hairballs, so it all made sense. His brother Sammy (aka: Sammy Sam Sam, or Sammy Bear) had no comment other than a concerned "mew." So I took Spike to the vet for his (admittedly delayed) check up and she gave me a tuna flavored laxative. Knock wood, everything seems...better now.

Do you see the fun that is my life? Why do I share these fascinating stories? Because. Just because.

I received my copy edits for STAKES & STILETTOS and only then realized that the release date has been shifted a bit for the book. It's now going to be out April '09, which isn't as soon as February, obviously, but there's not much I can do about it. DEVILS is tentatively scheduled now for Sept '09, which means something very important to me...

My July 1st deadline is now pushed to September 1st! Rock.

While I have been making some serious headway, I think slowing things down a bit is better than busting my butt to get this done. I have to admit, the main character of this book (Sarah) has a mind of her own and a tendency to do questionable things (yeah, I know she's only a character. Tell her that), that require rewriting and adjusting. I have 130 pages written, so I'm going to let them sit for a couple of days and then rewrite them as I go.

So this weekend I'm going to work through my copy edits and rewrite a propsoal I previously tabled that doesn't want to die.

Also, I borrowed season one of Robin Hood from the library. Evil Richard Armitage. *drool*

Progress is progressing

2008-06-03T14:41:52Z

24,158 / 85,000
(28.4%)

I'm only three pages off schedule right now, but some days I don't want to push it because at this pace I am about two inches away from quickly burning out.

The story is coming along fine although I feel like I have too much going on in too short a space, but this is something that can be fixed in the next draft. My first drafts are a whole lot of dialogue and not much else. Sometimes it feels like I have a bunch of talking heads and I'm pushing them around from scene to scene. Hell, maybe that's how it reads, too, but I'm hoping not.

I sent the first 100 pages off to my beta for a quick read and make sure I haven't suddenly lost my mind. When I'm writing and I'm actually thinking "okay, this is way too weird" that can either be a good thing or a bad thing. I'm hoping good.

One stage of a manuscript for me is worrying that I won't make my page count (I aim for 350 manuscript pages, double-spaced times new roman). Worry or not, my stories always end up between 80-90K and that's just fine.

I've decided that I spend too much time online. It's become a habit I need to, if not break, then greatly curb. As much as I love my loops, blogs, and other online venues, I don't think it's adding a great deal to my life or production level, so I'm going to start cutting down. No cold turkey here, because I love being online, but cutting things down to less than an hour a day. There are other things to do in life than be on the Internet, right? I've heard this rumor. Not sure if it's true or not.

So I'm wondering what people's hobbies are. Got a hobby other than writing and the Internet? Please share.... :-)

Q&A with Angie

2008-05-31T13:55:58Z

I'm over at Angie Fox's blog today (her debut, The Accidental Demon Slayer, is out this August!) doing a Q&A. Please stop by for a read if you have the time...

Progress on Devils & Diamonds:

14,553 / 85,000
(17.1%)