Terescia's thoughts and such.

I’ve been writing more articles lately, relative to fiction, and I’ve noticed a transition back to Microsoft Word. For all my website coding and page building, I continue to use NoteTab, and I adore EverNote for jotting notes and ideas, but for some reason I find myself scared to actually write in the program. Maybe I don’t fully trust its capabilities yet.

I write fiction exclusively in WriteWay Pro. It’s a good program that fits my needs in that area of writing.

Word, on the other hand, lets me write articles quickly. I don’t have to sacrifice time with the spell check because I keep the autocorrect turned on and the squiggly lines let me know when something I’ve spelled is questionable. The grammar check gives me notice that I might need to take a second look at a sentence or paragraph. I don’t always follow the advice it gives, but it helps eliminate work in the editing phase.

My point here is don’t let yourself get caught in a rut, using programs that aren’t the best programs for any given task. Each has strengths and weaknesses. Take advantage of them.

I spent some time with Kate Walker recently, asking her lots of writerly questions for this interview. She was kind enough to answer each thoroughly, so don’t pass up this opportunity to learn from such a gifted and productive author. :-)

TERESCIA: You’ve written a book for writers called Kate Walker’s 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance. I haven’t read it but I know you know what you’re talking about because you’ve written over 40 books for Harlequin.

What led you to write this book? Did you see a need for this kind of book, or did you just have a need to write down some of the knowledge and experience you’ve gained as you’ve written all those books?

KATE: Well, Terescia, that total of books for Harlequin Presents is now over 45 – so I hope I do know what I’m talking about by now. :) In the 20+ years I’ve been published, I’ve talked to a lot of writers – and a lot more people who want to be writers. I’ve also held many workshops, done talks, spoken at conferences etc. And what I’ve learned is that there are some questions about writing romance that just keep coming back and back. Questions that get asked each time I do a workshop.

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I’m having a chat about blogging right now over in the wewriteromance.com chat rooms. It doesn’t matter if you’re an author or a reader, we’d love to have you as a guest, sharing your viewpoint on blogging!

Jo Ann Ferguson is on the WeWriteRomance.com forums, posting about writing this week. If you’re interested in writing romance novels, you should definitely take a look. It’s free, so don’t pass it up.

Jo Ann Ferguson writes under her own name and under the pseudonyms J.A. Ferguson and Jocelyn Kelley.

The writing workshop is in the WeWriteRomance.com forums.

I’ve updated my writers’ software page on Happily Ever After. I’ve recently added a couple of new programs to the listing.

Of them all, I think EverNote is the most promising. I use it obsessively to keep track of almost every aspect of my life. Sample categories include projects (new home, genealogy), writing (market, research, book specific subcategories), contacts, website projects, and lots more. This program is so intuitive and simple to use, yet powerful.

Another promising program that I’ve tried out a couple of times (although I haven’t spent loads of time using it) is Text Block Writer. This one is a very close representation of a big bulletin board and a set of index cards. The freedom with which it lets you shift things around is fabulous.

Although I really liked it, I probably won’t use it much because I no longer use index cards. I used to, but once I found WriteWay Pro, I’ve had much better luck keeping all my notes together there.

I don’t imagine I’ll find something to replace WriteWay Pro any time soon. The program just works too perfectly for me and my writing style. Read my review for more details.

Oh, I love Holly Jacobs! Her books are funny, and she’s someone anyone would love to know. You can’t help but like her.

She’s also a very organized writer, one whom I’ve been lucky enough to meet at a writer’s conference on more than one occasion.

I thought her writing tales would be great fodder for an interview, so she’s my first test subj–interviewee, I mean. Ahem.

Okay, here goes. Oh, and her answers are in italic at the end for the fast facts!

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So, I got up one day and decided I was going to begin posting some interviews with authors about their writing habits to my blog.

I immediately went to my list of author friends who might want to help me out by giving me an interview and dashed off an email.

That was the day before my surgery, so now, a month and a half later, I’m finally going to get them onto my blog.

I don’t know why, but I always like to start projects right before I can’t work on it. ;-) It’s a character flaw, I’m sure.

I read another post over on Romancing the Blog today (another old one that caught my eye!), in which the author discusses the use of soul mates in romance.

“…the concept that everyone has a “soul mate” is terribly romantic, but it has a tendency to perpetuate what I call “lazy romance.” Instead of showing two people learning to love and understand each other, the author so often just whips out the concept of soul mates and voila! Instant romance!

I’d go along with that, but I would trade the “instant romance” for “instant conflict”. These soul mate stories have an above average chance of having much more conflict to sustain the story and the romantic tension that most other kinds, if written correctly.

Regardless of their soul mate status, the characters still have to fall in love in a way that makes me care about their relationship and what happens to them. Otherwise, I’ve wasted my time reading a mediocre story, and who wants to leave a reader with that opinion of their book?

So, take the soul mate plot and make it work by focusing on the conflict that the characters have to overcome. Give them common goals, even if those goals don’t seem all that similar on the surface. Dig deeper and you might find that the core beliefs, wants, and needs of your characters fit together much better than they appear to do on the surface.

Personally, I like well-written soul mate stories. :-) Along with marriages of convenience, sham engagements, pretend boyfriends/girlfriends…

Not about writing in any way, shape, or form, but fun nevertheless.

The Nerd, Geek, or Dork Test

For the record, I am: Joe Normal
47% Nerd, 30% Geek, 43% Dork

Google has launched a new service that might be of use to authors who are just starting out with a website.

Although it’s my general rule that any author who has a site should have their own domain name (see this article I wrote: Building Your Own Website :: Step 1: Your Domain Name), if you want to test out ideas for your design and for your site, you can certainly take advantage of a free site to get you started.

However, be wary of what you post.

As per Google’s Terms and Conditions:

By submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through Google services which are intended to be available to the general public, you grant Google a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to reproduce, adapt and publish such Content on Google services solely for the purpose of displaying, distributing and promoting Google services.

Google goes on to say:

This license terminates when such Content is removed from the Google service to which you originally submitted.

This offers some protection, because you can remove anything you don’t want them to use. However, anything you leave posted is fair game.

Google then tacks on one more condition:

Google reserves the right to syndicate Content submitted, posted or displayed by you on or through Google services and use that Content in connection with any of the services offered by Google.

Having your own domain and hosting your site with a paid provider offers the most protection to any work you might post online, whether it is your original artwork, your fiction, or a series of articles you’d like to share with others.

Wouldn’t you agree?

Comments welcome.