On Editing, continued.

Just turned in some book edits (for a project that's not public yet!) and O. M. G.
 

This process turned me inside out. It had me sending the following texts to writer friends*:

HELL NO I'M NOT CHANGING ANY OF IT.

IT'S OKAY IF I REWRITE CHAPTERS 10-40, RIGHT?

I'M CRYING. I LOVE [REDACTED] AND [REDACTED] SO MUCH. 

I CAN'T DO THIS BOOK JUSTICE.

I JUST WANT TO GET THIS SHIT DONE. I'M SO SICK OF IT.

*only slightly edited to get my point across*

Yeah, writers go through our own little special brand of obsessive hell during book edits (see here for a previous blog post about editing.) Part of it is our own fault, of course. 

When I was editing SISTERHOOD IS DEADLY, I had injured my right shoulder, torn all the nerves in it and lost feeling in my right fingertips.  I could only use my computer while propped up in bed, with my right arm resting on a pile of pillows. By the time that book was done, there was a small mountain of protein bar wrappers and empty Diet Dr. Pepper bottles by the side of the bed. 

No one is making me wear the same sweatshirt and lounge pants for seven days in a row. None of my editors are insisting that I listen to the same twenty songs over and over in order to submerge myself in my book's world. If I'd told my editor, "Hey I can't feel my right hand, can I have an extra week or two to get this done?" there was probably a good 50/50 shot that she would have agreed. 

But basically we're... what's that word? Where we hate ourselves and are willing to destroy the world as we know it in order to write the best book possible? Yeah, writers are that. 

Hey - there's a reason why they say to 'kill your darlings.'

Authors talk a lot about diving into a "writing cave" which is totally a real thing, but in my opinion? Nothing is as deep and dark and as all-consuming as the editing cave. It's stinky in here. It's filled with unfolded laundry, tea bags that have been reused, and a notebook that's filled with illegible notes and arrows drawn in interminable loops and possibly an entire new language that will be debuted in the revised chapter thirty. 

But, the final result is beautiful. Every time it's the best thing I've done. 

And I cannot forking wait to share it with you.

So sign up for my newsletter so that when I CAN talk about all this amazingness, you'll be the first to know. 

RESISTING SANTA - Cover Reveal!!!

It’s here! The cover for my #bookinaweek (read about the creation of it here)!

RESISTING SANTA, Book 1 of the Mistletoe Key series!

Isn't it adorable? The cover fits the book perfectly- cute, holiday fun.

Want more? Read on!

Caroling Mermaids, Snow in Florida, and Matchmaking Parrots – Who can Resist Love in Mistletoe Key?

Mistletoe Key takes Christmas traditions very seriously. So when Eliza Hart advocates for a gender-inclusive Santa late one night on public radio, she inadvertently sets off an historic island-wide scandal.  After years away, she’s just returned to the island but once again she’s persona non grata, fighting the patriarchy one Santa suit at a time.

Tiki bar owner Shep Butler had a childhood crush on Eliza and while she’s stirring up trouble in town, he can’t help the feelings she’s stirring up in him. He’s always been fascinated with her eyes and her freckles, but now her grown-up feminist opinions are a package deal and maybe even a deal breaker.

On an island where Christmas is celebrated 365 days a year, can Eliza and Shep find room at the inn for different opinions – and love – before politics and tradition tear them apart?

This book was so fun to write and I’m loving hearing back from early readers that they’re having fun reading it!

If you're in the mood for a Hallmark Christmas movie that you can read on your phone, well, this is the book for you.

Pre-order yourself a Holiday Present today!

Amazon ||iBooks || Barnes & Noble || Kobo

Everything You Need to Know About Writing You Can Learn From Rogelio De La Vega

JANE THE VIRGIN is back!!!!

Okay, I was a bit late on the Jane train. I think the word “virgin” threw me off. I knew the premise was that somehow a chaste Latina got knocked up but the story I picked up from the promos was that maybe she was hiding her sexual activity from her traditional (read: anti-sex) Latinx family and I was just not into that story.

But y’all. Jane the Virgin was not actually about that! It’s a telenovela that manages to be about family, about love, about ambition, about America, about face-stealing murderers and evil twins and snow in Miami and… it’s everything.  I cried last season. Hard. I also laugh and get inspired and I have concluded that the best character is Rogelio De La Vega.

I know, it’s a crowded field. This could be a controversial opinion.  I mean, there’s the title character, Jane. Her abuela, Alba. Her mom (oh how I love the flawed and brave Xiomara). The ever-hotness of Rafael (see below). The perfect man-next-door-ness of Michael. Hey, I’ve even warmed up to Petra, Our Lady of The Eternal Short Shorts.

But despite Mr. Sexy Pants right there, Rogelio is THE BEST. (And he would agree with me.)

 And really, every single writer in the world needs to watch Jane the Virgin (returning to the CW, 10/13, 8/9 CST) and take notes on confidence and hustle from Rogelio.

Why? He believes in himself.

He really loves his art.

He gets knocked down in the tabloids, gets second billing under his nemesis, loses everything and keeps hustling (with the support of his best friends Oprah and Charo, claro.)

And he just owns who he is, in all his lavender, spray-tan, new pants glory.

And really, that’s what all writers need to do. Embrace your inner Rogelio De La Vega. You’re hot, you’re inimitable, you’re YOU. And the world needs more of all of us. And all of YOU.

#RWA17 - #SquadGoals4Life

For some reason, this year’s post-convention wrap-up is particularly hard to write. 

RWA Nationals was last week in Orlando and it felt like a wonderful dream, one that I didn’t want to wake up from. 

Why?

My tribe, y’all.

Ride or Die Friends

The OG HBICs are my family away from my family. No one can empower me or make me laugh, cry, create like this crew.

So leaving them on Saturday? It hurt, to be honest. Physically.

More than these five ladies, I met and reconnected with more amazing kindred spirits - Frannie, Kate, Amber, Violet, Ainsley, Laura, Tamsen, Tina, Cheryl, Elizabeth, Kristin, Megan, and so many more.  In a world that so often encourages women to take each other down, to compete  with each other, to judge and to mock, for four days in July, women writers from all over the globe join together and talk about making the world a happier, more hopeful place.  And the women I met are at the vanguard of this bodice-ripping movement (in the most Diana of Themyscira way).

So, yeah. It was hard to leave this beautiful wonderland. 

So fun to celebrate Jeffe Kennedy's RITA win on the dancefloor!

Like all the HBICs, Alexis and Julia stayed until the music was over.

For one brief, shining moment, RITA was mine... until Cheryl Etchison took her away.

The best roomie ever - saved me from total disability.

Me & VonHottie singing beautifully.

Because dance parties. And golden statues. And sparkly shoes. And books. And best friends. These are the best things in the world. 

If you’re coming home from #RWA17 and want a game plan for working through all that you’ve got running through your head, subscribe to our HBIC Nation newsletter for an exclusive post-con workbook. Because we can change the world together. 

True Life: I wrote a Book in A Week

I’m an idea person. I’ve always gotten these crazy ideas and then lately, I’ve been convicted to follow through on them.

So when I got the idea to write my Mistletoe Key** novella in a week and - even better - to post updates on Facebook all week - I thought hey, why not? What’s the worst that could happen?

The worst that could happen, I reasoned, was that I got a big chunk of the first draft done. A lot of work is still a lot of work, even if my full word count goal wasn’t reached. 

But here’s another fascinating thing about my personality. I’m competitive. It’s not something most people identify about me, since I’m not an athlete or a salesperson. But I like to win. I really, really don’t like to lose. 

So even though I was preparing a concession speech, I knew deep down that I was going to do everything in my power to full this damn thing off.

And so I did. I wrote the entire first draft of my Mistletoe Key novella - 25,000 words- in 7 days. And I even took a day off in the middle of the week to take my kids to the water park. 

I’m tired. My wrists hurt. My ankles are swollen. Here are some things I learned.

• Writing 4000 words in a day, every day is doable, full time job doable, occasionally hard work doable.

• I would prefer to write 3000 words a day. Maybe 3500 when the kids go back to school.

• Setting public goals for myself works, big time.

• I’m still an introvert who would prefer not to film myself on Facebook every day.

• Squirrel brain is real.

• I’m still learning to trust myself, my intuition and trust that the words are inside me.

• Walking is really important.

• It feels amazing when I meet my hefty word goals for the day.

• Rewards are important.

• Caffeine is less important than I would have thought.

• Getting up early before the family wakes up is essential to getting all the work done.

• I can’t wait to write the next thing.

• I’m going to write my next book in three weeks…. Maybe.

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Sign up for the Mistletoe Key Newsletter to be the first to see the cover, to get an early review copy and find out when this amazing book goes on sale.

**Mistletoe Key is a magical place in the Florida Keys where Christmas is celebrated 24/7/365. My book and more books will be set here starting in 2017...!