Favorite Books: Common Elements

Favorite Books: My Historical Romance Keeper Shelf — A partial view of my Historical Romance keeper shelf. Click to enlarge.

This week my accountability group’s How I Write series asks, “What are your types of favorite books? Do you write those elements into your own? Or do you do something different? Why?”

I’m a pretty omnivorous reader. I’ll read cereal boxes if left with nothing better. If you saw how many books we have. Ok, so we have well over 300 linear feet of books (not counting the kids’) in our house. Oh, did I mention I need a new book shelf? Oh, right, my favorite types of books.

In looking across all the books I hold dear, there are three common elements that draw me to them: a coherent world I can escape into, an emotional journey, and a happy ending. This is one reason why romance appeal to me in general and historical romances provide a much needed escape from every day first world problems.

My Favorite Books Have a Coherent World

I love series that continue to build and add depth to the setting with a familiar cast of characters. I like revisiting old friends. It doesn’t have to be the real world, but one of the things I adored about Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern books were how closely tied together everything became the farther you got into the series. I love how a very minor secondary character can repeatedly show up, and each time we learn a little more about them, and end up stealing readers’ hearts. The idea of a coherent world is definitely one of the things I’ve been trying to do in my writing. The main characters from one will show up as secondary characters in another story. They frequent many of the same places which makes research easier and reusable.

My Favorite Books Take Me on an Emotional Journey

I like to laugh, to worry, to think, and yes, to cry over a good book. Now before you go thinking I’m a huge Nicholas Sparks fan, lemme tell you it has to be natural and inevitable, but it can never feel contrived or manipulative. That creates wall-bangers for me. Kat Cantrell is an up and coming author who does this well for me. Suzanne Enoch is an example of an established author who did this extremely well with her Lessons in Love Trilogy. Some days I think this will be my hardest element to conquer, but I’m going to keep working at it.

My Favorite Books Have a Happy Ending

There’s enough doom and gloom in the world. I read for escape. I want something that’s going to restore a little hope to the world and comfort and reassure me that certain truths are universal and the bad guys always get what’s coming to them in the end. I’m writing, historical romance, so duh! This element is non-negotiable for me in my own writing as well.

I don’t find it very surprising that these elements keep showing up. They’re pretty basic, but they’re also pretty universal in their appeal.

Now, if I just had more time to read, I’d go curl up with an old friend (a specific book or author) and tune out the world for a while.

YOUR TURN: What are some of the common elements in your favorite books?

And if you’d like to check out the rest of my accountability group, you can find their blogs here:

* Alexia Reed * Kimberly Farris * Danie Ford * Emma G. Delaney * Susan Saxx *

Comfort Reading

This week my accountability group’s How I Write series asks, “When you need some comfort reading, who do you turn to?”

I took a run at this topic back in 2008, with a Thursday Thirteen post where I listed 13 Repeatedly Reread Books in our personal library. But in looking back at that post, the only one of those books that I’ve reread in the last 5 years (HOW is THAT possible and where did they GO?) is Julia Quinn‘s The Viscount Who Loved Me (Bridgerton Family)

Maybe what I’m looking for from a comfort read has changed. It’s not that I don’t think I’ll never read any of those books on that list again. I’m pretty sure I will. However, I’d like to share a few of the authors I’ve discovered over the past 5 years and will keep buying in the future. Disclaimer: I’m friends with several of these authors and have met many others, but I stand behind their books after having read more than one of them. In no particular order…

Great Contemporary Reads

Caitie Quinn • Tamara Morgan • Christie Ridgway • Christie Craig • Louisa Edwards • Kat Cantrell (Yes, even though she only has one book out so far, I also got to read a WIP of hers that made me cry.)

Great Historical Reads

Joanna Bourne • Tessa Dare • Heather Snow • Jillian Stone • Jeannie Lin

Great YA Reads

Danielle Joseph • Rosemary Clement-Moore

Great Fantasy Read

Jim Butcher – Yes, Dresden Files, but REALLY loved the Alera Codex series.

I have to say that I’m reading more in ebooks these days because some of these authors are only available that way, but also I find myself pulling out my phone or my iPad to read while I’m waiting. I still prefer reading a paperback in bed and think they’re MUCH better for getting authors to sign. =)

There were a couple authors I really wanted to add to this list, but since I’ve only read one book by them I didn’t think it would be quite fair to include them yet. But I don’t doubt they’ll remain favorites.

YOUR TURN: Which authors or books do you turn to for your comfort reading?

And if you’d like to check out the rest of my accountability group, you can find their blogs here:

* Alexia Reed * Kimberly Farris * Danie Ford * Emma G. Delaney * Susan Saxx *

What’s Your Self-Editing Process?

Steaming Hedge - Version 1 before self-editing process — Raw image as downloaded from camera.

I’m trying to develop/discover my self-editing process and this week in my accountability group How I Write series was asked, “Do you have an editing process? If so, what?”

This is one of the things that I’m honestly struggling with as a writer. I do not currently have what I would term a self-editing “process” and have just sort of flown by the seat of my pants in this area. But this year, I decided I needed a process that I could follow and would cover the necessary bases instead of just getting lost in an endless circle of line edits as my internal editor argued with itself.

So, what did I do? I started researching it. I’ve read through Cathy Yardley‘s Rock Your Revisions, by Renni Browne and Dave King‘s Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, and Noah Lukeman‘s The First Five Pages. However none of them really felt like a good fit with what I have in my mind as what an editing process should look like. Just call me Goldilocks… cause they’re either too vague, too fluffy, or too small and only cover a particular part of the self-editing process.

Now, that’s not saying I don’t recommend any of these books. I absolutely do! They are ALL great books, they’re just not what I’m looking for right now. They may have PART of what I’m looking for, and I haven’t discounted that either. I have one more to read through that I have high hopes for that Danie Ford recommended: Alan Watt‘s The 90-Day Rewrite: The Process of Revision. On the surface it sounds like it has the stuff I’m looking for.

So what is it I’m looking for that I haven’t found yet? Something that’s kinda like a checklist, but organized in a logical fashion. Something that details not just what I should be looking for, but how to address any problems I find. Something that holds my hand through the process and doesn’t just say, “G’won! The water’s fine! Just jump in!” Something that’s a comprehensive game plan to tackle these projects. Tall order, right?

I think I’m also looking to clarify in my mind what I should be doing at this point to get a manuscript to a state that is “good enough” to send out and hopefully one that better matches what’s in my head.

As I sat down to write this post, I immediately started thinking about what photo I was going to put with it that would be illustrative of the self-editing process. As I was looking though my digital collection, I realized I do a lot of preliminary editing “in the camera” as well as a bunch of post-processing, especially on my close-ups of flowers to get them to pop.

By “editing in the camera” I mean that I take several shots of the same subject. Often with identical settings, but sometimes I purposely try several different ones to get different effects. Then once I download the photos from the camera, I’ll sift through the multiples and pick the ones that appeal to me. Sometimes, it’s a no-brainer — blurry, badly composed, and/or poorly lit ones get tossed. But I’ve found some that had lots of potential, but it hadn’t been captured in a very flattering way.

Take the photo at the top of this post, for example. Lighting and composition were the first things that jumped out at me at problematic. In writing, this would probably translate to tone and structure. If that photo were a book, I’d say it had a lot of extra irrelevant scenes and odd tone choices that were detracting from the overall story I wanted to tell.

Steaming Hedge after self-editing process — Final image after cropping/resizing, desaturation & additional affects applied.

I’m not sure if I tackled the lighting or the composition first. I suspect I probably played with the lighting first, trying to minimize the glare from the morning sun and then added a few special affects to get the hedge to pop more visually. In that process, I’m sure I decided to play with the saturation levels and the black & white struck me as the best way to show off the contrast between the hedge and the steam rising from it. Then, a quick crop (re-framing the picture and cutting away parts of it) to fix the composition and further eliminate the big ol’ glaring sun from the top left corner.

I guess my next question is, how do I take the ideas of what I do instinctively (now?) for photography into something usable for writing.

YOUR TURN: Do you have an editing process? If so, what?

And if you’d like to check out the rest of my accountability group, you can find their blogs here:

* Alexia Reed * Kimberly Farris * Danie Ford * Emma G. Delaney * Susan Saxx

Interview with Regency Romance Author Valerie Bowman

I originally met Valerie Bowman online through the Beau Monde’s RWA Chapter and Twitter. Then I got to meet her last Christmas while I was in Florida visiting family. Time just flew by as we sat in Starbucks chatting about writing and our experiences so far. It was great catching up with her at Nationals and watching the buzz and excitement grow as her release date approached.

So to celebrate her debut novel, SECRETS OF A WEDDING NIGHT, I’d like to welcome Valerie and thank her for taking the time to answer some questions. I hope you guys find her answers as interesting and informative as I did.

AND we’ll be doing a giveaway! One random commenter today will receive a copy of SECRETS OF A WEDDING NIGHT!

*** UPDATE: THE WINNER OF THE COPY OF
VALERIE BOWMAN’S
SECRETS OF A WEDDING NIGHT IS:
MAY!!
CONGRATS! ***

1. What drew you to writing Historical Romances in general and specifically to setting stories during the Regency Era?

VB: I’ve been a life-long fan of historical romance and a total anglophile so when I decided to write a novel, there just wasn’t any question. Every romantic story in my head was based in the Regency. Despite the Napoleonic wars, it was such a time of fun and revelry. To me, it’s the perfect backdrop to stories of love and romance.

2. What’s the strangest bit of historical trivia you’ve picked up in your research?

VB: I’m not sure if it’s the strangest but one of my favorites (and I intend to write a blog post about the details of this for www.DashingDuchesses.com soon) is the fact that the Prince Regent himself married a woman, Maria Fitzherbert, and everyone knew it and was strangely ok with it, but she was Catholic so it wasn’t technically legal and so when he married Princess Caroline no one batted an eye. I just find that so crazy.

These next few questions assume that time travel is possible. And I know you were recently photographed by the New York Times as part of the Beau Monde’s soiree at the RWA National Conference in Regency garb, so I know you’d be able to handle dressing the part. So, if you could go back to Regency England…

3. What modern conveniences would you miss most? What would you miss least?

VB: Oh, what a fun question! Without a moment’s hesitation I have to say I’d miss air conditioning the most. I grew up in Illinois in a home without it, but now that I live in Florida, I’m strangely addicted to it.

4. What would be the hardest for you to adapt to in the Regency Era?

VB: The hardest thing to take would be assuming without question that men have all the knowledge, power, and rights and that women are weak and need to be taken care of. I’m pretty sure they’d kick me out of Regency England. Hopefully not before I asked a lot of questions and learned a lot though. : )

5. Where would you fit into the society? Where would you like to visit most?

VB: Wouldn’t we all like to be duchesses? But given my family name, Bowman, I’d probably be working class. And life was absolutely awful for those poor people. That’s why all the stories are about the nobility. No one wants to write about the scullery maid who spent twelve hours a day scrubbing kitchen utensils in the basement and cleaning out chamber pots. I’d most like to visit Bath (I’ve been there, but to see it during the Regency would be such a treat).

6. How long have you been writing? What advice would you go back and give yourself as a beginning novelist if you could? Would this advice differ from what you’d say to an aspiring author now?

VB: I’ve been writing since June 3, 2007. Yes. I remember the exact day. : ) If I could go back, I’d tell myself to come up with a better “hook” for that first novel and the second one, frankly. It wasn’t until I’d written two that I realized that just writing the same old story about a girl falling in love with her brother’s best friend wasn’t going to get the attention of agents and editors. I’d definitely give an aspiring author now that same advice. I’d also add to write to the market. I’ve had so many friends who are writing American Civil War historicals or other time periods that don’t tend to sell well. It’s difficult enough to break into publishing but if you’re writing a story that’s not popular in the marketplace, you’re upping the odds against yourself just that much. Of course that assumes that your goal is to be published by certain houses and that you’d rather be well-published than write the book of your heart. If those things aren’t true, then ignore that advice completely. : )

7. Which character (Lily or Devon) or which situation came to you first that made you realize you had to write Secrets of a Wedding Night?

VB: The truth is, what came to me first was the title itself. I’m pretty sure I thought of it in the middle of the night. Isn’t that always when the best ideas strike? I came up with the title and THEN I worried about the plot later. I just thought it was such an intriguing title. Soon after I realized SECRETS OF A WEDDING NIGHT was going to be the title of a very scandalous pamphlet that was selling like hotcakes about the <em>ton</em>.

8. You recently became engaged (betrothed?) and are planning a wedding of your own, any secrets to share with us? Just kidding, what describes your perfect Romance Hero?

VB: Ha! I’ll never tell. (wink) My perfect hero is TDH (tall, dark, handsome), uber smart, compassionate, and a bit humorous. And he’s almost always tortured by his past. But aren’t they all? : )

9. Are you reader? What are some of your favorites?

Perhaps not surprisingly, I’m a huge fan of historical romance. All of Judith McNaught‘s historicals, anything written by Lisa Kleypas, Julia Quinn and Suzanne Enoch are some of my favorites but the list is too long, really. My all-time favorite romance novel, however, is McNaught’s Once and Always. Just absolute perfection as far as I’m concerned.

10. What is the most challenging part of being a writer?

The most challenging part is to make myself better, every word, every book, every story. I listen to workshops, read craft books, and study other authors’ techniques every chance I get. But I always know that my work is right for me because I can honestly say that if I won the lottery—and I mean the BIG one—I would still wake up every single morning and write romance novels. And that is a true gift, to know what your calling is in life. I’m so lucky to have found mine.

About the Author

Valerie Bowman writes Regency-set historical romance novels with a focus on sharp dialogue, engaging storylines, and heroines who take matters into their own hands! Publishers Weekly calls SECRETS OF A WEDDING NIGHT, an “enchanting, engaging debut that will have readers seeking future installments” and Romantic Times Book Reviews says, “This fast-paced, charming debut, sparkling with witty dialogue and engaging characters, marks Bowman for stardom.” Booklist gave it a starred review!

Valerie lives in Jacksonville, FL with her rascally dog, Roo. You can find Valerie on the web at www.ValerieBowmanBooks.com and on Facebook and on Twitter.

About SECRETS OF A WEDDING NIGHT

HOW TO STOP A WEDDING

Young, widowed, and penniless, Lily Andrews, the Countess of Merrill, has strong opinions on marriage. When she spots a certain engagement announcement in The Times, she decides to take action. She will not allow another hapless girl to fall prey to a man—particularly the scoundrel who broke her heart five years ago. Anonymously she writes and distributes a pamphlet entitled “Secrets of a Wedding Night,” knowing it will find its way into his intended’s innocent hands…

HOW TO SEDUCE A WIDOW

Devon Morgan, the Marquis of Colton, desires a good wife and mother to his son—someone completely unlike Lily Andrews, the heartless beauty who led him on a merry chase five years ago only to reject him. When Devon’s new fiancée cries off after reading a certain scandalous pamphlet, he vows to track down the author and make her pay. But when he learns it’s his former fiancée Lily, he issues a challenge: write a retraction—or prepare to be seduced—to find out how wonderful a wedding night can be…

“Secrets of a Wedding Night is the most charming and clever debut I’ve read in years!”

—New York Times bestselling author Lisa Kleypas

Publication Date: Sep 25, 2012
St. Martin’s Press
ISBN-10: 1250008956
ISBN-13: 978-1250008954
Genre: Historical Romance, Regency Romance
Length: Novel

Buy SECRETS OF A WEDDING NIGHT: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Books a Million

Your Turn: What would you include in such a pamphlet? What do you wish someone had told you to expect on your wedding night or if you’d like share a secret about your wedding night or your hopes for that night (PG-13 please!).

Don’t forget, one random commenter today will get a copy of SECRETS OF A WEDDING NIGHT.

Research: Where Ya Wanna Go?

This week for our How I Write series, my accountability group was asked, “If you could do anything for writing research, what would you do?”

Honestly, this was a no-brainer for me. I’d head over to Suzi Love’s blog and pull up her category of posts for the Best Places to Visit that relate to Regency England and start mapping out an itinerary. Since the question seemed to imply that time and money weren’t obstacles, I wouldn’t have to feel guilty about leaving anywhere off the list.

Oh, and I’d definitely take my camera. So I could go back later and revisit everything. Although I might have to invest in a few more memory cards.

I’ve never been to England, but as you can imagine, would love to go. Getting me to come home might be a problem. Hopefully, I wouldn’t fall through a time portal or anything so melodramatic while I was there, but I’m sure I’d come home with a whole flock of plot bunnies.

Your Turn: So what would you do for research on your creative project?

And if you’d like to read how the rest of my accountability group would like to do in the name of research, you can find their blogs here:

* Alexia Reed * Kimberly Farris * Danie Ford * Emma G. Delaney

Kissing Games at LuvYA Today!

A Guest Post on Kissing Games

I’m talking about the history of Kissing Games on Bria’s LuvYA blog today. This is part of the celebration of Bria Quinlan and Valerie Cole‘s Month of Kisses and Kiss-Offs.

A Contest to Enter

Bria and Valerie have planned a whole bunch of fun ways to lead up to their KISS / KISS-OFF CONTEST and I’m tickled pink to be asked to join in! I hope you’ll stop by and check out the contest too, which opens on August 31st!

Do You Adopt Character Traits?

This week for our How I Write series, my accountability group was asked, “There was an article a bit ago about how readers take on character traits of a favorite character from the book they’re reading. Do you do that with your own characters? Do you find yourself doing something your character would do?”

I have to admit I was more curious about the article than thinking about the question itself. I may have tracked down the original article or one very similar, and I wanted to include it here for reference, so you could understand where my thinking on this topic was coming from. The article, “Psychologists Discover How People Subconsciously Become Their Favorite Fictional Characters” by Christine Hsu ran at the site MedicalDaily.com on May 14, 2012 and focuses on the phenomenon of “experience taking”.

The article concludes that in order for readers to make the connection to the character, details that help readers relate to the character need to be shown earlier rather than later in the story. Gee, as writers, don’t we hear that all the time? This effect is why, suck the reader in, keep them in the story and you might also have a temporary effect on the reader’s daily life. And we can hope it’s a positive one!

So… Most people talk about a writer’s characters from the other direction. What real life experiences and what parts of your life do you put into your characters? Which are the autobiographical parts? But this question turns that concept on its head. What parts of our characters that we’re writing, do we reflect back into our daily lives?

I suspect that a lot of my new found courage and willingness to step outside of my comfort zones is a combination of those two things. I want to be more adventurous and more social, therefore, I write about those types of characters and in turn maybe exploring their lives they have inspired me to venture out of the safe zone. Other than that, I can’t think of any specific traits or characteristics that I’m consciously borrowing from my characters that I write.

Honestly, I’m not sure I could consciously (and I suspect that’s a key word here) pin point any characteristics that I’ve adopted from characters written by other authors. Do I think I happens anyway? Probably. Both in fiction and non-fiction. I mean, part of our job is showing characters learning and growing after dealing with huge-to-them experiences and readers read for the emotional experience, putting themselves in the protagonist’s shoes.

I also remember my husband telling me recently about something he read and it might have been the NYTimes opinion piece by Annie Murphy Paul, “Your Brain on Fiction“. Apparently there are studies that show that when reading about someone doing an activity if it’s well described causes the same parts of the brain get used as when the activity is done for real. The article mentions relating words for smells to the memories in the same ways that actually experiencing the scent triggers. That’s pretty strong stuff…. vicarious experience is nearly equivalent to actual experience! Mind-blowing stuff. Makes you want to go read some more of those inspirational success stories, right?

If you didn’t go read those articles, I think you’ll find them interesting and thought provoking. The concepts should definitely make writers stop and think about their choices and whether they’re being morally responsible in their portrayals of their lead characters.

YOUR TURN: What do you think? Does it make sense? Think it’s a bunch of hogwash? What about the last book you read? Did you want to be more or less like the protagonist? Do you think you may have subconsciously picked anything up from them? Did you feel like you were vicariously along for the ride?

And if you’d like to read how the rest of my accountability group answered this question, you can find their blogs here:

* Alexia Reed * Kimberly Farris * Danie Ford * Emma G. Delaney

Overcoming Obstacles

This week for our How I Write series, my accountability group was asked, “What’s your current biggest obstacle to success? Name at least 3 things you can do improve your chances of overcoming obstacles.”

Ok, lemme ‘fess up here. I posed this question this week to my accountability group. And you know what sucks? This question sounded good in my head. It even looked good on the forum where my accountability group meets. However, when I realized I had to answer it too… it suddenly looked a lot more daunting. So forgive me, while I try to do this justice. I know it’s something I need to force myself to look at closely, answer honestly and use to build a game plan.

I’ve been skating by on minimal effort and making far too many excuses lately. And honestly, I’m not sure I can answer this with just one thing. I could point my finger in a number of directions: drive, follow-through, time management — hell, even blaming disruptions of my writing schedule on the people around me, but that one would mostly be a lie I tell myself to feel better. I still have the house to myself most days from around 9 am until noon or so, and I’ve failed to make the most of those hours.

I could also point to the many things I know are NOT obstacles. I can string a sentence together. I can even put together some workable paragraphs that read smoothly. I’ve been told I have a good historical voice. However, some spark is missing between me and the page. The ideas in my head aren’t translating properly. I get feedback that asks if I was going for a certain effect until I want to bash my head against the wall, because… Yes. Yes, that’s EXACTLY what I was trying to do. Only apparently, I didn’t quite.

So what’s my obstacle? Me. Sounds too easy right?

Lemme break it down by tackling three things I need to do in order to up my game and get past this hurdle.

First, and I’ve done this to some degree, but publicly own up to the idea that I am a professional writer. I just haven’t gotten paid for it. But in order to do so… I need to put in my hours and do the work. Nothing is going to write itself. To this end I’m renewing my commitment to use a time tracker on my iPad to make sure I log a minimum of 500 hours this calendar year toward justifying this as a business and not a hobby.

Second, I can’t let my head get in this place where nothing I do is any good. I’ve gotten fabulous feedback in some areas. I just need to work harder and improve the others. How exactly I’m going to accomplish this one? Yeah, I’m not sure either. I know what I can do toward this end is to take the valuable feedback I’ve gotten so far this year, and see if I can tease it apart from the exact manuscript, figure out how to make that work in general and then apply it back to the manuscripts in progress.

Third, I’m going to the RWA National Convention next week. This is part of the first step in treating what I’m doing more seriously, but also a great way to talk shop with experienced writers, take some workshops in some areas to get ideas on how to address the craft issues I’m having and also forcing myself out of my comfort zone and embracing that this is something I want to seriously pursue.

I think that last bit there is probably the most important piece of this post. “This is something I want to seriously pursue.” Pursue, not just allow to happen, not react to it happening around me, but to actively go out there after it, which I believe to be a very important piece of the puzzle when you’re looking at overcoming obstacles of any sort.

And if you’d like to read about the rest of my accountability group’s plans for overcoming obstacles, you can find their blogs here:

* Alexia Reed * Kimberly Farris * Danie Ford * Emma G. Delaney

Lord Marcus Everret

I got to beta read for this one. It’s a bit hotter than I usually read, but Jennifer Leeland is always good at providing a great story that keeps me reading along! If you like hot & spicy historicals… you should love this one! Congrats, Jen!

Indulging in Guilty Pleasures

This week for our How I Write series, my accountability group is talking about guilty pleasures, both in our regular lives and in our writing.

Guilty pleasures shouldn’t be ignored. Indulge in them, because there’s a good reason that you like them. It doesn’t matter that no one else gets why you like it. They don’t have to. What matters is that this activity feeds your soul, your muse or your happiness. Ignoring them means cutting off a part of what makes you, well, you.

Guilty Pleasures: Photo of several different dark chocolate bars. Notably from Chuao and Ghirardelli. — It may be cliché, but chocolate is ALWAYS a winner! The Maya bar has been there a while. Obviously not a favorite compared to the others, but it’s almost time to restock!

Everyday Life: Good Quality Dark Chocolate

I’ve always liked dark chocolate. But since my DH and I started following the Paleo Diet and gave up grains, potatoes, legumes and most sugar, we needed to find a treat that was indulgent, yet also had some benefits associated with it. One of the suggestions made was an ounce or so of dark chocolate for dessert. Preferably above 70% cacao to get the antioxidant benefits.

Most times we stretch this a bit and will go as low as 60% cacao for our favorite chocolate bars from Chuao (pronouced Chew-wow!). It’s a fairly local chocolatier with several shops in the local malls, but they are also stocked in our local grocery stores for slightly less. The first time we went in one of the stores they were trying out new flavors. One of those was a chocolate bar with potato chips in it. Oh, did I forget to mention that they’re a very artisan type chocolatier? They’ve got some really cool flavors: Honeycomb, Caracas (a pistachio/almond/hazelnut mix), and Firecracker (one with cinnamon and cayenne in it). Our favorite is the Caracas even though it’s Guilty because it has closer to 60% cacao, but Pleasure because it’s the flavor we like best and it’s not the worst thing we could be eating.

Our other standbys are Ghirardelli bars. They have an Intense Dark chocolate line that’s wonderful. This line ranges from Midnight (86% which is a tad TOO intense for us. It’s more of a gritty than a smooth feeling.), Twilight (72% – not too gritty and above 70%!), Evening (60% – below the threshhold for us except for special treats and we prefer the Caracas from Chuao if we’re going to go below 70%. However, our favorite Ghirardelli bar from the Intense Dark line has to be the Sea Salt Soiree. It has sea salt and almond bits in it, but I had to check the label a couple of times because it tastes just like pretzel bits. Perfect blend of sweet & savory.

There are a few other brands we like… one of them has a wolf on the wrapper and is very environmentally conscious that has cranberries and almonds—Yep, I’m being too lazy to go look it up, sorry!—but the Chuao and the Ghirardelli are our favorites. Our kids can’t stand dark chocolate, but that’s ok… just means we don’t have to share!

Writing Life: Dialogue, Introspection and Character Vignettes

If I can just get my characters talking to each other, I’m usually in good shape. I can always go back around and fill in what things look like, what they’re doing or what’s going on around them later. But once I get them talking, everything else drops to the background and I’m lucky if I get to put in minimal stage directions and blocking as I go. It’s similar to people watching, but more like taking transcription as you eavesdrop on the characters. Guilty because I tend to ignore everything else to run with this, but Pleasure because it’s fun, allows my sense of humor to play, and it feels like the word count racks up quickly.

The flip side of this is when the characters start thinking and want to hash everything out in their heads with long, rambling bouts of internal monologues. Any action stops dead in its tracks and all forward momentum comes to a screeching halt. However, this is where I learn the most about my characters and it seems to be a process I have to go through in order to work things out in my own head. The problem is when I can’t jolt them out of their heads and into their world and into conversations with the other characters. Guilty because it helps me in the long run, but Pleasure because once I get going, it’s hard to stop and redirect, especially if I don’t know where the story should be going next.

I love little set pieces. I’m currently doing a 100 words/day challenge to just get back into the joy of writing for writing’s sake. Of course, what did I naturally slip into? Yup, little character vignettes that may or may not see the light of day. I like playing with character and seeing what I can draw out in that limited space to give you a sense of the person from so little. Guilty because I should be focusing on my WIPs (works in progress) and the characters in them, Pleasure because it’s been fun! It’s different and there are no restrictions other than getting at least 100 words down on a page.

Guilty Pleasures: Black and White photo of a dandelion gone to seed. — Yes, this was taken blind. The exposure was way off and the original image is mostly black. It’s amazing the hidden gems you can find. Did I mention I LOVE digital photography?

Photography: Flowers & Intuitive Shots

With the 2012 365 Photo Challenge, I figured this would be a good section to include since I’ve definitely been indulging in a couple of guilty pleasures. I have such a wide variety of flowers in my yard here that it’s very easy to get good looking pictures without much planning or effort. One of the things I love to do is to shoot blind. By this I mean, I don’t always look through the view finder or at the screen when I set up a shot. The Guilty part here is that I know I should be stretching my eye and sense of composition beyond the easy stuff and the Pleasure comes in finding hidden little gems like a stray insect or bird I hadn’t noticed in the shot when I clicked the shutter and being surprised by what appears and works.

YOUR TURN: What are your guilty pleasures? In general or in your creative endeavors. What do you do just for the joy of it?

And if you’d like to read what the rest of my accountability group considers their guilty pleasures, you can find their blogs here:

* Alexia Reed * Kimberly Farris * Danie Ford * Emma G. Delaney