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One of the best pieces of advice I ever heard about setting out to write a series, whether it’s a trilogy or a forty-book saga, is that before you start writing the first book, you have to know the “world” of the story intimately.

Yes, I heard this in a seminar geared mainly for speculative-fiction writers (sci-fi, fantasy, allegory, etc.). However, the same holds true for ALL fiction, and it was never brought more clearly to light than when I did my final revisions on Stand-In Groom. You see, in the two years since I last worked on the novel, I’ve written two different openings for the second book in the series, Menu for Romance (a spinoff). Though I didn’t realize I was doing it, I made a few decisions on different aspects of my setting, and some of my characters, that had been different in Stand-In Groom, or that could be added to it to tie the series even more closely together. When I finished edits, I posted an image of all of the notes I made:

Most of these are what we editors call “continuity” details. Such as:
–Forbes’s eyes are gray-green
–Major’s birthday is March 3
–Meredith drives a white Volvo SUV

Since finishing Stand-In Groom two years ago, not only have I gotten deeply involved in Meredith and Major’s story in Menu for Romance, but I’ve written a somewhat detailed synopsis for the third book in the series, A Case for Romance. Forbes, who is the cousin of Anne in SIG, and the older brother of Meredith in MFR, is the hero of the third book. But I was never quite sure who the heroine was. I’d come up with a story idea when I originally pitched the series to Barbour, but even then I wasn’t crazy about the heroine I’d created for him. In the process of writing MFR, a woman walked in and demanded a supporting role and all of a sudden, I had a perfect match for Forbes. Fortunately, I “met” her and came up with the story idea for book three before I went into final revisions on SIG, so I was able to actually drop her name, and the name of her parents’ business (which is important in book three) into Stand-In Groom, tying the books together.

Knowing your “world” is more than just knowing the setting where your story is taking place. It’s knowing as much about your characters as you can. If you’re writing a series in which the main characters from your first book either continue on as the main characters of your second book, or have a supporting role, you need to know them well enough by the end of the first book that you aren’t going to get into the middle of the third book and realize that there’s something fundamentally wrong with one of them that you need to change, which is going to require a complete rewrite of the series . . . especially if you’ve already sold that first book.

Whether you’re using a real or fictional, contemporary or historical setting, one POV character or six, keeping a continuity sheet is important—and that goes for people who aren’t writing series as well! If you have the sign out in front of Delacroix Nursery and Florists being green in chapter three and blue in chapter nineteen, that’s something a copy editor might not catch, but a reader probably will. If Forbes has gray-green eyes in Stand-In Groom (where he’s a secondary character) and hazel-brown eyes in A Case for Love (where he’s a POV character), while that might not necessarily be as noticeable as if it happened in the same book, if someone goes through and reads both books back to back, they are going to notice—and probably lose a little bit of confidence in me as an author. Same goes with my setting. Because Bonneterre is fictional, my readers are depending on me to know the setting intimately. If I “misplace” something from one book to the next—as in, it’s near Town Square in book one and on the north side of downtown in book three—again, the reader loses confidence in my authority as the creator of this setting.

Now, does this mean that you have to map all of this out before you start writing? Not exactly. But it does mean that you have to do some work with your characters and settings before you start writing. That’s why I like to use Real World Templates for my characters, so I don’t have to try to constantly conjure a mental image of my own making for them. That’s why I also make a character spreadsheet as well as a collection of images of the characters as I write. That way, as I write more of the series, I have these files to refer back to so that I’m not having to comb through the first book to find the information or just try to remember it on my own.

For Discussion:
How much time do you spend on developing your characters and setting before you start writing? How do you keep track of the details you’ve written into your story for continuity?

As promised, here is a review of posts on following up and preparing your requested submission.

Following Up After Pitching
Follow-up after a pitch session is very important, whether you’re asked to submit or not.

Networking: Stumbling Block #2–Communication—Have you ever considered taking your thank-you notes to the conference with you and mailing them from the hotel as soon as your pitch session is over?

Networking: Stumbling Block #3—Following Up—How long should you wait after the conference to follow-up with either a thank-you note or a submission? Can you contact the editor later even if they didn’t request a submission?

Networking Refresher–When Did We Stop Sending Notes?—Sure, e-mail correspondence is easy, but a hand-written note shows that you’ve taken time and effort with your communication.

Preparing Your Submission
Ah . . . what a wonderful feeling! You’ve received a request to submit from an editor or agent. But then you get home and you start to second-guess yourself. What if it’s not good enough? I still need to do lots of work on it before it’s ready. As I told Sharon on the ACFW forums the other day—editors and agents don’t ask to see your stuff out of the goodness of their hearts. They ask for a submission because they see promise in what you’ve pitched to them. If they can see the potential through a one-sheet or verbal pitch, they’ll be able to see it through a submission’s rough edges. You have NOTHING to lose if you submit. If you let the opportunity pass you by, you could possibly be losing your only chance with that editor or agent. I forget where I saw it, but somewhere in the last couple of days, I read that editors and agents say that they receive less than half of the submissions they request at conferences. Those are odds in your favor. So get that requested submission in!

A standard submission is a cover (query) letter, full synopsis, and first three chapters (or thirty or fifty pages, whatever the editor/agent requested).

Beyond the First Draft—The Query Letter—While a requested submission isn’t really a “query,” the same format is used for a cover letter with a submission as is used for a query. Article links to a sample letter.

Beyond the First Draft–The Dreaded Synopsis—We all hate writing them. So here are some pointers I’ve gleaned through the years on what the dreaded synopsis should include. Links to samples of both a short and a standard-length synopsis.

What’s the Big Deal about First Lines?—Does your first page start off with a bang? Make sure that the chapters you’re submitting catch the editor’s/agent’s attention immediately.

Critical Reading: The First Date—Editors and agents are professional critical readers. Here are some of the questions they may be asking when looking at your submission.

Hooking the Reader: The Character Investment—Make sure that your character(s) hooks the editor/agent immediately. Poor character development is a big turn-off and almost a guaranteed rejection.

Hooking the Reader: Scene Two, Take Five—It isn’t just the first page that needs to hook the reader. Make sure you carry that through the entire submission . . . and choose an ending point that’s going to leave them wanting to see more!

Writing the Romance Novel: You’ve Written It, Now What? (Guest Blogger Rebecca Germany)—Barbour Senior Fiction Editor Rebecca Germany gives a little insight on what an editor looks for in a submission.

No, I’m not starting the conference prep series right now (that’ll be in August). But I know people are starting to get antsy about the ACFW conference, since we haven’t been able to register yet, so I thought I’d post links to stuff I’ve written that may be helpful in trying to figure out what happens at conference, what to take to a pitch session, how to network, etc.

I’m a Wallflower and Don’t Know Anyone
Though right now we’re all excited and anxious to register for conference, come August, all of us are going to be facing the fear that being surrounded by hundreds of people can bring. Yes, even I, with eight conferences under my belt, have the fears of I’m not going to know anyone. I’ll be all alone. No one will like me. This is a mistake. So here are some posts that include exercises you can start doing this summer to help you prepare to approach all those strangers with a little more ease in September:
Networking–What is it, really?
Networking Refresher–The “Soft Sell”
Networking = Name Recognition = Marketing
Networking Refresher–Building Name Recognition
Networking: Stumbling Block #1–Fear
Networking Refresher–Is This Seat Taken?

Preparing Your Pitch
Pitching to an editor or agent face-to-face can be one of the most daunting things we as writers face. Because the majority of writers are introverts, putting ourselves forward, talking about ourselves, “selling” ourselves is intimidating at best, nauseating and panic-attack-inducing at worst. Here are some posts that can help you prepare your pitch so that you can (hopefully) approach your pitch session(s) with confidence:

Beyond the First Draft–Clarity—Two of the most important things you’ll need to do are to make sure you are targeting the correct publisher and to understand and be able to easily describe your novel. This post will help you get from your thirty-second pitch to your one-sentence to your one-paragraph to your one-page synopses.

Beyond the First Draft—The Pitch Sheet and One-Sheet—Though they used to be the exception, having a one-sheet for each project you’re pitching is now the norm. The sample linked on this post was my first attempt, so pay no attention to it!

My Pitch Sheets!—Samples of the pitch sheets I took to conference last year.

Beyond the First Draft–Face-to-Face Pitch Sessions—Not only do I detail what I take with me into a pitch session, but there’s a link to Gina Conroy’s wonderful article on pitch sessions.

Networking Refresher–Face-to-face editor/agent meetings—This post links to articles that Camy Tang wrote on pitch sessions.

Tomorrow, following up after pitching and preparing your requested submission!

This was originally posted in August 2006

“The goal of reading is not to sound out words but to unlock meaning.”
~Jill Frankel Hauser, Wow! I’m Reading!

I don’t really remember the process of learning how to read. I remember not liking to read aloud because, occasionally, the letters would switch places on the page and Malibu would become Mabilu, nova—avon. I’m not dyslexic by any stretch of the imagination—I just think my brain skipped ahead, then fell back to where it was supposed to be, mixing up the letters in the process.

I do remember that I disliked spelling bees in school, but I usually did pretty well on spelling and vocabulary tests (aside from the occasional mixed-up letters). As an adult, I know the reason why I’m a bad oral speller is because I’m visually oriented. If someone asks me to spell a word longer than about five or six letters, I scrounge for a scrap of paper and pen to write it down before trying to spell it out for them.

The quote above is from a book I edited at work—a reading how-to for parents of three- to seven-year-olds. Since I had to retype the entire 160 page tome, I spent a couple of weeks thinking about reading and stories and how much of an impact the written word has had on my life, and how thankful I am that I have a decent level of mastery over the English language, both spoken and written.

Because I was exposed to print as something more than just a necessary evil—the “sounding out” of the words—I fell in love with the world of fiction. I could find new worlds, live different lives, meet new and interesting people all by reading (which was great for a socially inept introvert like I was!). I thank God that both of my parents are avid readers and that sitting in the living room quietly on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon reading was a normal occurrence in our home.

As children, we live in a world of make-believe—just observe any child at play. At a certain age, though, most children are taught that make-believe is childish and to grow up, they must stop playing—stop making believe—and live in a world of fact, not fantasy. Once again, I must thank God that my parents never did this to me. At thirteen or fourteen years old, when I told my mother of stories I wished my favorite series of YA romances (the Sunfire series) would do, she encouraged me not just to write the publisher (Scholastic) but to write the stories myself. Even though I never completed writing one, I did query the publisher (and received my first, very kind, rejection). But those first original ideas committed to paper (before, all of my stories had been acted out with my Barbies) immersed me in a world of “unlocking the meaning” of words and language. I began to see weekly vocabulary lists as more than just something to be memorized—they added meaning, richness, and texture to my world. To this day, my one must-have writing tool is Roget’s Encyclopedic Thesaurus (the one arranged thematically, not dictionary-style) or access to www.thesaurus.com.

It took me many years to get a grasp on the technical aspects of writing fiction, and only in the last six or seven years have I written anything I’m willing to let anyone else read. But since as far back as twenty-four or twenty-five years ago, writing has added meaning to my life as much or more than reading. Writing for me is sounding-out the literal and figurative words that make up the world around and inside of me so that I can unlock its meaning.

I heard from my editor this week that the manuscript of Stand-In Groom has gone to the copy editor. The copy editor has two months to turn it around, so I’ll probably be working with her off and on through July. I’m hoping I’ve made her job pretty easy with the edit I did on it before I submitted it back in March, but I know I missed some stuff—plus with not knowing their house style on things like serial commas, italics, etc., there may be some things that she’ll have to fix that I wouldn’t have known to change.

I’ve also sent the manuscript out to several authors so that they can read it to potentially give an endorsement (you know, those quotes on a book’s cover or on the front leaf from published authors talking about how much the love the book). This was a much harder task than I anticipated. Even though I know so many published authors, I had the task of finding authors whose books are similar to mine (same readership) who aren’t also currently bogged down by deadlines or other commitments.

Still no word on a final cover, however with the ICRS tradeshow coming up in July, I would imagine that the designers are in overdrive trying to get covers for all of Barbour’s upcoming fall and spring releases finished so they can mock-up the books to have on display there.

This week, I’ll be working on the questionnaire for the cover design for Menu for Romance.

In other news, we heard today from the president of ACFW that they’re still working the bugs out of the online system for conference registration. Most of us are extremely antsy to get registered, as we already have our airline tickets and hotel reservations. The list of editors and agents who’ll be attending is already stunning, and they’ve told us that the list isn’t yet complete. The lineup of continuing education classes and workshops is amazing as well. If you’ve always wanted to attend a writing conference, but weren’t sure which one, the ACFW national conference is the one to go to. More information can be found at www.acfw.com/conference.

1. Send in four applications to teach at the ACFW conference: Showing vs. Telling, Critical Reading, Critiquing, and either POV or Setting. Unfortunately, because of the level of professionals with whom I was competing for teaching slots, none of my workshop applications were accepted for ACFW. My new goal is to try to get onto the faculty for the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers’ Conference in 2009.

2. Turn in revisions on Happy Endings Inc. Stand-In Groom early. I turned in the manuscript the last week of March. I’m now trying to line up a few published authors for endorsements as well as getting the art direction worksheet filled out for the cover of Menu for Romance.

3. Volunteer as a judge in the ACFW Genesis contest. DONE. I judged in the contemporary romance category, and one of the five manuscripts I judged is a finalist!

4. Complete A Major Event Inc. Menu for Romance by June 30, 2008 to submit to Barbour by the first week of July. By writing a little more than 1,000 words a day, I’ll have the first draft finished by the end of June (just in time for my brief vacation to Hot Springs, AR, in July!). My contracted deadline for the manuscript is December 1, but I intend to have it polished and ready to turn in before I leave for Minneapolis on Sept. 13.

5. Complete revisions on Ransome’s Honor; begin work on Ransome’s Crossing. The second draft of RH is complete and has been critiqued, and the proposal went to Chip at the beginning of February. We heard back from one publishing house that is very interested in it, but requested some changes to the beginning. Just this week, I received crits back on the new prologue and revised first three chapters. I’d hoped to have those changes finished and the revision back to Chip by Friday, but time has gotten away from me this week, so that’s my project for the weekend. I have made a couple of attempts at starting RC, but nothing that has led me to a point where I feel like it’s a strong opening, thought I do have what is the beginning of a wonderful action scene when the ship Charlotte is on is attacked by a French privateer!

6. Develop and implement pre-release marketing plan for SIG. Still in the “thinking about it” phase on this.

7. Attend Alumni weekend at SHU—possibly co-teach a workshop. Based on airline prices, the cost of renting a car, the difficulty in finding a place to stay within fifteen miles of Greensburg, and the fact that none of the workshops offered for the alumni retreat are of any interest to me, I made the decision that this was not the wisest way to spend my money this year. While it would be nice to see the people who started my final residency graduating, the truth is that I would really be going just to hang out with friends, not for any kind of professional enhancement, which means that I wouldn’t be able to write it off afterward.

8. Pitch the Ransome Trilogy to at least four editors at ACFW conference. If it hasn’t sold by time of the conference, I’ll be sure to do this then.

9. Sell the Ransome Trilogy. See #8

10. Schedule at least one book signing event for January 2009 (yes, I realize that’s next year, but the work will have to be done this year). See #6

How are your writing goals going?

Why would someone purposely write in a genre that is the most criticized, most reviled, least respected, and most belittled out there? A genre that not only draws pitying looks (or the nudge-nudge-wink-wink reaction) but gets the author rejected by all but one graduate-level creative writing program in the country.

Because I’m in love with the idea of falling in love.

Extreme-sports participants get a rush from flipping three times in the air on a motorcycle or jumping off a cliff with just an elastic string tied to their ankle to save them from a grizzly death. That’s what they need to get an adrenaline rush. All I need for the same “thrills and chills” is to sit down with a great romance novel.

Now, don’t get me wrong—I’m not talking about the titillation that comes from reading the more explicit books in the genre. I’m talking about the true rush of emotion that comes from following the heroine and hero along on their romantic journey—experiencing the first tingle of attraction, feeling my own heart beat faster with the heroine’s whenever the hero walks into the room, grieving with her when it seems all is lost, then rejoicing at the happy ending.

Most critics say that romance novels set up unrealistic expectations in young women about what love/romance/relationships are really like. But those critics don’t really understand what the romance novel is truly about.

The romance novel’s main purpose is
imbuing HOPE into readers’ lives.

Hope that no matter what we’re facing in our real lives, we can still find happy endings along the way. Hope that comes from the sense of control we can regain in our own lives by reading about spunky heroines and warrior heroes. Hope from knowing that things aren’t as bad as we think they are—after all, look at what these characters had to go through and they still managed to find happiness.

When people find out I’m a writer after they’ve known me awhile, many are surprised to find out that I write romance. You see, I’m not a “girly” girl. I love action movies and have to be dragged kicking and screaming to most chick flicks. I’m an LSU football FANATIC—and can tell you what the call on the field is usually before the referee announces it. Though I have a few cute handbags, I don’t obsess over them—nor over shoes or clothes. I’m more likely to watch ESPN or the SciFi channel than E! or Style. I hold my emotions in, abhor public emotional scenes (from me or anyone else—which includes crying in movies), and find it hard to discuss my feelings.

Yet whenever a story idea crosses my mind (which is several times a day), it’s always about how something I’ve heard or someone—either a real person or a character in a show/movie—can become part of a romance storyline.

There may be a good reason for this . . . you see, in my almost thirty-seven years on this earth, I’ve only experienced falling in love once—and it was completely one-sided. I’ve never dated. I’ve never been kissed. I’ve never been “in a relationship.” While I’ve never had any of those positive relationship experiences, I’ve also never had any of the negatives that sometimes come afterward. The breakups, the loss of ideals of what romance is really supposed to be like.

When I start developing a new story idea, it’s usually because I’ve become obsessed with (i.e., have a crush on) a template for a hero character—remember, I “cast” all of my characters from Real World Templates, usually actors I’ve seen portraying a character that speaks to me. I allow myself to fall in love with my hero as he develops, which is why my heroines tend to share several of their personality traits with me—because it is my emotions for, my reactions to the hero I’m putting out there on the page when I do start writing.

I believe in true love—and that two people can love each other passionately for a lifetime. I believe in instant attraction as well as attraction that happens after people have known each other a long time. I believe in passion—the kind that makes the spine tingle, the hair on the back of the neck stand up, the heart race, and the brain falter—and it doesn’t even have to come from sexual attraction. I believe that someone’s intellect can be more attractive than their outward appearance (or can, conversely, be a great deterrent to someone’s attractiveness). I believe, most of all, that it isn’t the hearts and flowers, the candlelight and music, that make a real romance—real romance is companionship. Lifelong, I’ll-always-be-here-for-you companionship.

That’s why I read and write romance.

For Discussion:
Why do you read and/or write romance?

The strong, domineering hero of the romance novel has long been the subject of criticism. What critics don’t realize is that it is the hero’s task in the book to present a suitable challenge to the heroine. His strength is a measure of her power. For she must conquer him.
Robyn Donald, “The Hero in Romance Literature”

Most romance writers I’ve talked to, or whose critical writings or interviews I’ve read, say that their ideas for their novels begin with the characters. I’ve found this to be true for myself—and for me, it’s usually the hero who comes first. After all, the true romance novel is, as we learned last time, a story about the developing relationship between two characters. Meaning that it is the characters who are the central focus of the story, the characters who drive the plot, the characters whom, at the end of the book, the reader really cares about. Therefore, when setting out to write a romance novel, a considerable amount of care and attention needs to be paid to developing your characters.

F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote, “Begin with an individual and you will find that you have created a type; begin with a type and you will find that you have created—nothing.” Back in the glory days of the books that gave us the term bodice-rippers (the 1970s and ’80s, just in case you don’t remember reading them yourself!), most of us who were avid romance readers had our favorite authors, because we could count on them to give us the kinds of heroes and heroines we were looking for. Jude Deveraux, Julie Garwood, and Catherine Coulter were my three favorites. In fact, I didn’t read very many other authors at all, because I had all I wanted in their prolific writings. They gave their readers warrior-heroes who took what they wanted no matter the consequences, who resented the heroines for distracting them from their tasks, who felt love was showing weakness and would bring them dishonor; and heroines who were strong, sometimes well beyond what was realistic for the medieval or other historical time periods in which the stories were set, who put up with the men’s brutality and eventually came to not only love them, but soften/tame them as well—while never giving up their own identity.

I’ve recently re-read two old Julie Garwood novels, Honor’s Splendor and The Wedding, and I came to the realization that even though the heroes are technically different—one is an English Baron, the other a Scottish Laird—they’re basically the same. And the heroines are too. And I’m now remembering that even though I considered Julie Garwood my favorite of the three authors I mentioned, I never really did like her heroines. Like the heroes, they’re all very similar, and relatively silly. Jude Deveraux, while still giving the warrior-heroes at least didn’t make her heroines silly. But for the most part, all of them wrote characters that were stereotypical for their era: the warrior and the damsel in distress.

Sure, there are a lot of readers out there who still want those two archetypal romance characters. Or they want the Scoundrel and the Socialite, or the Rich Man and Poor Girl. And if we study all romance novels deeply enough, we’ll find that for the most part, all of our characters fall into some kind of “type” in one way or another. But we have to fight against the stereotypes to make our characters fresh and appealing.

If a romance novel features a heroine with red hair and green eyes, what kind of personality do you expect her to have? If there’s an African American man as a secondary character in a book and a crime is committed, who’s the perpetrator most likely going to be? Are all Italian men hot-headed, lusty, and linked with underground crime? Are all medieval men warlords, barons, or lairds? Do all historical heroines have to be feisty, spunky, educated beyond what is historically believable, hate their corsets, and want to run around all over the place unchaperoned?

In inspirational romance, we have our own set of stereotypes to deal with: the pioneer widow who must marry a stranger to survive; the nineteenth century teacher who’s gone west to teach and bring God’s word to the heathens; missionaries and preachers; secretaries; characters with jobs so vague as to be nonexistent; ranch owners who take in wayward boys; the good Christian girl who must “save” the backslidden or non-Christian hero; and so on.

Quite a lot has changed in the romance genre since the heyday of Deveraux, Garwood, and Coulter. We’ve seen the splintering of romance into subgenres: chick lit, paranormal, romantic suspense, inspirational, sweet, historical (which has its own genres, the two most popular being Regency and medieval), etc. We’ve also seen the decline in popularity of the warrior heroes and damsel-in-distress heroines. Oh, sure, they’re still out there, but modern readers are looking for something more. They’re looking for a twist on the type. They’re looking for unique individuals, so that each story they read seems different from the last.

One thing that has become possible in the last ten or fifteen years has been the beta-male hero. He’s Clark Kent without the Superman alter-ego. He’s Steve Jobs or Bill Gates. He’s the Hollywood mega-star’s personal assistant (George in Stand-In Groom). He’s most likely not buff nor capable of physically sweeping the heroine off her feet, doesn’t hold a “romantic” job (systems support analyst, anyone?), and definitely doesn’t go around intimidating people because of his physical prowess. Yes, typically, these beta-male heroes are found mostly in contemporaries. (We still like our historical heroes to be alpha-males.)

With the rise of the beta-male has come the rise of the alpha-female—the “bitch,” in other words. She’s the powerful woman who’s completely given up on men. She’s the attorney, the vice president of the company, the CEO, the governor, the senator. She has taken over as the character who must be conquered, whose stony dispassion must be chiseled away by our more in-touch-with-his-emotions beta-male.

But once again, in these scenarios, we tend toward types. Our job as authors is to make sure we’re not falling into the trap of beginning with a “type” of character. Is your character telling you she’s a teacher? Great. Make her a shop teacher at an inner-city high school instead of a kindergarten teacher at a private school where all the children are precocious little angels. He’s a medieval Highland laird? Super. Make him a pacifist. Do something to give some kind of twist to your character’s “type” to keep him or her from becoming a stereotype.

In inspirational romance, we’re so scared of giving our characters any kind of flaws, sins, or pasts that they come across as perfect, sanctimonious prigs. Let them have pasts that they’re still paying the consequences for. Let them say things that not everyone around them agrees with. Let them argue. Let them fall down and fail. Let them get angry at God. Let someone else take them down off of their holier-than-thou high-horse.

Because there’s no way to cover everything about romance heroes and heroines in one blog entry, we’ll continue talking about them tomorrow. But for now, let’s get some discussion going.

For Discussion:
In your WIP, what “type” is your hero? (Alpha? Beta? Highland laird? Nerd?) Your heroine? (Damsel in distress? CEO? Silly girl who gets into one catastrophe after another?) What have you done to keep them from becoming stereotypes? Do you have a favorite author who tends to use stereotypical characters in her/his novels? What are your favorite “types” to read in romances?

We all have them . . . those days when we’re just in a funk, feeling like we don’t really want to do anything, like even if we attempt to do anything we won’t accomplish it. I’m having one of those days today. Hard to drag myself out of the bed because it’s overcast and I have a sinus headache. Annoyed with the people on the radio for droning on and on and on about how they need all their listeners to send them money instead of just giving me Morning Edition as usual. Annoyed that it took me longer to get ready this morning so that when I left the house, I knew I would be ten minutes late to work (not that it’s a huge deal if that happens every once in a while, just that I hate being late). Frustrated that after joining Weight Watchers last night, I was so tired that I just sat in front of the TV for a couple of hours before going to bed instead of reading through the materials and figuring out what I’m going to eat today to start the Core plan. 

It would be so easy to just give up today. Not deal with the diet until tomorrow. Not post a blog entry. Not write. Just coast. Do what has to be done at work, skip the gym (because my walking partner can’t go tonight), and go home and watch Miss Austen Regrets and possibly pull screen captures from Sense & Sensibility and post my final thoughts on it and the Jane Austen series.  

But I’m not going to allow myself to do that. I’m going to take what I’m feeling and pour it into my writing. I’m going to give one of my characters the same kind of funky mood that I have right now . . . which is going to be really bad, because they’re putting on this fancy-schmancy menu tasting for the board of the charity they’re planning a benefit for. There’s nothing like having to put your best-foot forward when you’re in a mood like this!

What do you do when you feel this way? Do you make yourself write? How do you channel your energies (positive or negative) into your fiction?

I’m about to write the scene when the board for the charity Meredith and Major are planning a black-tie benefit for are coming in for a tasting to choose the final menu for the dinner. Since I like all the dishes on the menu, I thought my dear readers could help in choosing the final menu for the Hearts to H.E.A.R.T.S. benefit (raising money for the cardiac unit at Bonneterre’s University Hospital). And believe it or not, I actually found heart-healthy versions of all of these recipes!

The point of the tasting is to narrow the menu down to the choices that will be presented to the guests at the banquet. So if you were attending a black-tie, $500/plate benefit (dinner, dancing, silent auction), what would you want to see on the menu? (Click on the menu to enlarge)