Woolly Gray

Does simplicity mean cardboard characters? Must a streamlined plot be populated with stick figures?

No!

Don’t let anyone tell you different.

Don’t let your scheming, yellow-bellied, desperate-for-a-honking-large-royalty-check insecurities tell you different.

Stuff your ears with woolly bits if you must. (FYI: I have woolly bits for each day of the week. Sunday’s are Dover Gray in color.)

Until tomorrow…

Chloe in her Dover Gray

A Cure for the Saddle Sore

After struggling uphill with my writing every day since my return home, I finally enjoyed a bit of happy coasting yesterday.

My 400 words were not wrenched from my head with grubby pliers and bloody sweat, but came willingly, a tiny, wry smile upon each of their dear syllables.

Oh, I do live for such marvelous surprises.

Until tomorrow…

Chloe

A Beautiful Place

Last things first?

Apparently the answer to that is “yes,” as my mighty 311 word effort yesterday went entirely to the final scene in Twisted Intent.

Working backwards isn’t usually my style but maybe there’s something strange and wonderful in the fictional Oklahoma air that turns endings into beginnings?... Hmm, what a beautiful place for a writer to roam.

Until tomorrow…

Chloe

Quick and Dirty

Sometimes you must treat your writing like a lover.

When things have turned predictable and stale, when sex is still had but breathless anticipation of it is not, surprise can be the cure. Corner your other in the kitchen, the foyer, behind a tree in the backyard and instigate a little “quick and dirty.” It is amazing what will come.

(I jumped my writing last night right after dinner and had a rowdy and productive romp with it on the living room floor. It was just what we both so needed.)

Until tomorrow…

Chloe  

213 Words

I dragged 213 words out of my head yesterday. Kicking and screaming, spitting and cursing, they fought me every darn step of the way. Finally, I hogtied their unwieldy butts to the Twisted Intent manuscript and left them there to rot.

*sighs tiredly*

And how was your writing day?

Until tomorrow…

Chloe

The Small and Curious Storm

I brainstorm scenes. Always have.

Once I get my characters fleshed out in my head, I build small, curious scenarios in which the lads can show their true selves. Quiet, fleeting moments that are rarely caught in most romances.

Like I said, I’ve always done this, but I’ve never written these brainstorms down… that is, until yesterday. Let’s see if this helps or hinders a novel’s process, shall we? I’ll keep you updated.

Until tomorrow…

Chloe

Claptrap & Doggerel

So, 2017 stretches out before us. Whether it is as a gaping chasm ready to swallow loved ones whole or as a whimsical oak whose twisted, sturdy branches dare one to climb up to dreams is, alas, beyond any of our prognostications.

2017 frightens and arouses me and I tremble in its presence.

Until tomorrow…

Chloe

Post-note: Might as well start off the new year with a spot of claptrap and get such foolishness out of the way. Back to my normal doggerel tomorrow.