Creation in Death and The Seance

Woo hoo, the new JD Robb book is out. I'm certain that I'm always the first person to buy the new book on the day it comes out. For me the In Death series is like the best of mystery and romance all rolled into one. You get a great new mystery, but you get see the continuing relationship between Roarke and Eve. Although it didn't top my favorite books in the series, this new addition, Creation in Death, was still very good and worth the price of admission!

I also read The Seance by Heather Graham. I have read several books in her "ghost" series and enjoy them. This was no different. If you like Heather's books, you'll enjoy this one.

85 Books To Go

Actually, that's not correct. I've actually read several non-fiction books over the last few months. But since my goal is to write a fiction book, I have taken on the assignment of reading a 100 books to mean the type of book I want to write. In that case, I have read 15 in the last few months.

Chocolate Mysteries

I'm now down to 87 books...

I just started reading a new mystery series by JoAnna Carl about a divorced ex-beauty queen rebuilding her life in Michigan by working for aunt who owns a chocolate shop. I've read the first two books, The Chocolate Cat Caper and the Chocolate Bear Burglary. They are cute stories and have fun facts about chocolate.

I'm also reading The Right to Write by Julia Cameron and The Scene Book by Sandra Scofield. I'm enjoying the Julie Cameron book mostly because it is giving me important reminders about writing such as "just write" and "if you write, you're a writer". It helps to quiet the critic and make writing a more enjoyable pursuit by taking away the requirement to be perfect and force the words.

Still, with all this reading, I haven't done much writing. I have downloaded a trial version of the Write Way. I think it will be helpful if I could figure out how to best use it to organize myself. With NANOWRIMO coming up in November, I want to be ready to write!

Play Dirty...Agnes and the Hitman...Writing Romance

I just finished Play Dirty by Sandra Brown and Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer. I also read the recent edition (3rd) of Writing Romance by Vanessa Grant. That puts me at 89 more books to go...

I enjoyed Play Dirty although its not Sandra's best. The plot is a bit far fetched. Griff has some significant flaws, but you still find yourself rooting for him. Laura is harder to like. She's a bit stiff and cold. It doesn't have that unexpected twist that you find in many of Sandra's books, but its good read for a quiet afternoon.

Agnes and the Hitman was a fun read. I love Jennifer Crusie's quirky characters and the unexpected crazy things that happen to them. Bob Mayer adds his own dry humor and military background to the book. If you liked Don't Look Down, you'll like Agnes and the Hitman.

There are many books on writing a romance and most cover the same sorts of things. Writing Romance is no different but it did present some concepts in a different way that has helped me in my writing. She has a section on point of view, but goes beyond defining to discuss things like when to change POV. The book also offers a bonus cd with two ebooks that are used as examples in the book, audio seminars, templates she uses to help organize and edit her work, and Internet resources.

92 books to go....

Well its been awhile since I've posted. Seemed like life sometimes gets away from me. I haven't written very much either except some short fiction works. I guess that's better than nothing. However, I'm still working towards my 100 books. Since the last post I have read:

Sweet Anger by Sandra Brown - This is an older book I picked up at the library. It was a good traditional romantic read.

Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Philips - I enjoyed this book a lot. Its in the Stars Football series and tells the story of Dean Robillard who we meet in Match Me If You Can (which is my favorite).

Innocent in Death by JD Robb - Loved it! I love all JD Robb books, but some are more fun than others and this one was. With Roark's old girlfriend in town causing trouble, the scenes between Eve and Roark were electric.

High Noon by Nora Roberts - I enjoyed this book. I many ways it was different than some of her other women's fiction, but it did use some of the same phrases that are often used in the JD Robb books. I loved Duncan's character and the setting of Savannah.

Chapter by Chapter by Heather Sellers - A great book to inspire you to keep on writing.

Don't Look Down by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer - I love Jennifer Crusie books for their fun and cooky characters. I enjoyed this book and have already ordered the next book by this duo, Agnes and the Hitman.

So that's 8 down and 92 books to go. I have read several other non-fiction books, but I think for the purpose of this exercise that I need to count only fiction in the genre I want to write (romantic myster) and writing books.

Next on the list is to finish Page By Page by Heather Sellers and to read Agnes and Hitman and Play Dirty by Sandra Brown when they arrive in the mail.

2 books down...100 to go

I'm reading a book called Chapter By Chapter by Heather Sellers in which she recommends reading 100 books. The books don't necessarily have to be in the genre you want to write and it can include writing books. What she does say is that you need to read them as a writer, dissecting the story, dialogue and other parts of the book. While I have been known to highlight dialogue or passages that model techniques I'm interested in duplicating (not plagiarizing), I find it hard to read fiction with dissection in mind. I found it hard to do in school when I needed to analyze stories for papers and I find it hard now when I want to read for pleasure. But I am able to give my overall impressions of what I like about an author or story.

The first two books I read are by Sandra Hill, The Red-Hot Cajun and Tall, Dark and Cajun. Overall I enjoyed the books. I like stories that take place in Louisiana (my faves are those by Tami Hoag). Hill has some interesting characters such as Tante Lulu an 70-something aunt who changes her hair color daily. As a woman with a round butt, I appreciate reading about women who are weight-challenged. Hill's stories have a lot of humor and steamy parts. However, I found the inner dialogue and comments from St. Jude (a running theme in the stories is Tante Lulu's match-making with the help of St. Jude, patron saint of lost causes) over-the-top and distracting at times. It wasn't enough to prevent me from finishing the books and I'll very likely read the others in the series. But there were times when I felt she provided inner-thoughts that didn't need to be shared. Her characters were well-developed enough that I didn't need the extra lines to help me understand what they might be thinking.

But if you like humor ala Jennifer Cruisie, steamy love scenes ala Blaze or Temptation, and the back drop of Louisiana's Bayou and Cajun culture, then you'll likely enjoy these books.

Long time no write..

I see its been over six months since I've posted anything here, but that doesn't mean I haven't been writing. At this point I have 3 nearly finished manuscripts. They are far from ready to be read by anyone except me, but I'm still proud of what I have accomplished.

My goal is to get back to blogging about my progress so that I can get these books finished, edited, and sold. I just have to pick which one I want to finish first. So ... hopefully... you'll see more frequent posts as I share my progress.