Muddled Writing Progress Update

I have a hectic evening tomorrow, so thought I would blog about my progress now.

Today I've closed my manuscript down at 31,705 words. I don't think I'll do any more tonight - I've written 1210 words today. That means I'm 7 days a head of myself. But considering I'm going on a 2 week holiday soon, then I will soon be 7 days behind (if you take in the words I've accrued). When I return from my holiday, my novel should have been sitting around the 40k mark, as it's 40 days into the challenge! Gosh, 9th June is half way, girls (and boys)!

But I'm not panicking about that. I've already proved I can write more than 1000 words a day if push comes to shove, so I'll reach my 80k in 80 days. The thing is, have I got a 80K story?

I've started struggling in places, and I do wonder if it's because I've written this story a bit more 'seats of pants' style with not doing much research beforehand, or even planning. The good thing is, I'm noting down every time I come up with an idea and bash it away in my story, what I need to research (and highlighting the text to remind me). Things like does the Hilton Hotel on the M5, near Bristol, have a suite, and if so what does it look like? I need to phone them, and see if they'll let me take a look... maybe they'll give me a complimentary nights stay... (I am dreaming now). So doing the research alone, might help fatten up the story - but only a bit.

I know how I wanted this story to start, I've got an ending in mind... it's just getting to it, I'm struggling with.

So I've been feeling a bit crap about my writing actually. I'm worried I'm repetitive, not fresh enough, in fact downright boring with my story telling, worrying I fall into the trap of 'amateur'. Which I am really. Have I even got Steve right? How do I find out how an A-Lister really is? Would reading Hello and OK help me?

I'm taking my notebook on holiday - yes, I think I'll use my present - and will be using this time to think about this story further and put it into logical scenes. This I am lacking at the moment.

Steve playing action hero where he gets to kiss the girl!

When I wrote The Wedding Favour, my organised brain had the scenes planned well. As far as I can see I don't need to jig chapters/scenes about. Whereas with Perfect Isn't An Option I'm not even creating chapters, just putting scene breaks in where I think there should be one.  And bashing out scenes as they come to me, and not necessarily in chronological order. And this leaves me worried I don't quite have enough for 80,000 words. Hence, I need to brainstorm.

So my writing progress is a muddled one, and I'm wittering again...  

This Is What A Romantic Novelist Looks Like...

...or at least an aspiring one.

Some of you may or may not have read this article from Claudia Connell at The Daily Mail. Apparently, all romance writers are little old biddies with blue rinses, twin-sets (whatever they are, I'm not even sure) and pearls.

Well, it's got some romance novelists riled. And quite rightly so, because they are far from getting their blue rinse yet! (Do hairdressers even do that any more... surely it's got to be a dying fashion?). So much so Kate Johnson aka Cat Marsters urges us to post photos on our blogs and to advertise it everywhere!

So this is me.

My name is Teresa Morgan. 

I'm 37 years of age, and my hairdresser reassures me not a grey hair in sight! 

Do like the odd pink bon-bon though.

I get to use my lovely headshot photos again... thought I'd pick a colour one to emphasis the no grey hair bit.

So if you're a romance writer and the Daily Mail has got you riled, post your photo and share with us all!

Do You Need Romance Writing Advice?

Liz Fielding is giving advice on writing romance over on her blog, first post Ask An Author and I thought I would share!

Liz provides some really great advice and if you've never read one of her books I urge you to! Liz has a way of making her characters sizzle, they're so sensual and the tension mounts between her hero and heroine... and because she writes for Cherish/Sweet genre for Mills and Boon, you never see the bedroom! It's fade to black, or the door closes. But with Liz's stories, you don't need to - the sexual tension and the frustration is the interesting bit and she has the reader hooked fabulously.

I'm waiting for my Tempted By Trouble to arrive! And can't wait. Liz's latest book. The Riva's I've so far read have had some hot bedroom scenes, so I'm interested to see how far Liz has taken her 'romance'. 

I do worry The Wedding Favour doesn't quite put Sophie and Adam together quick enough, and so I did make Adam show up at the pub in chapter one, before James finds Sophie's wedding invitation. Will definitely go back and see if I can get to this sooner again... sometimes the setting can come a little later. I do need Sophie to jump off the page, and get the readers hooked.

Steve doesn't meet his love interest until later on in Perfect Isn't An Option. And Ruby, his sister, plays a heroine type role of her own. But the key is, when I go back to the editing, that the reader falls for Steve and wants to continue reading his story... right?

Neither of my books fit Mills and Boon genres but I'm hoping they'll find their place in the romance/contemporary world of fiction... one day.

Book Review: Cupcakes And Killer Heels by Heidi Rice

Cupcakes and Killer Heels by Heidi Rice

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is the first of Heidi Rice's I've read and it didn't disappoint. It starts off fast paced and sexy, and this Riva goes all the way.

The writing is sassy, sharp, and witty and her characters were explosively sexy. Sparks fly with Ruby and Callum, and boy, does Callum Westmore knows a thing or two!

Personally, I wasn't sure if the epilogue was necessary. It's Mills and Boon, of course it's going to have a happy ending and the heroine is going to get what she wants! I never doubted that for the second. It possibly deflated the 'ahhh' factor for me at the end.


View all my reviews
Additional note, that I won't post on Goodreads - I did enjoy the middle part of the book, because it shared a similar theme to The Wedding Favour which is my first novel (in the making). So happily took mental notes.


I think this makes it 18 books read out of my 40 now!

My Writing Progress

Tonight I started my writing staring at my monitor wondering how to piece a scene together. I'm still not sure I've got it right, but the best bit about writing is editing... editing makes writers look so clever. I've learnt that much. (Although I wouldn't say editing is easier! Far from it.)

Then, events that lead from that scene flowed beautifully.

Steve does something utterly stupid, because yes, his brain is back down in his pants - he might be a celebrity, but he's also male, and Ruby goes off the wall at him. And I thoroughly enjoyed writing that moment.

I am slightly worried that the story, albeit a romance, isn't very romancey at the moment. Ruby is really the heroine of the story, and she's Steve's sister. Lydia, Steve's intended love interest is the secondary heroine. I've not even written anything in her point of view - and not sure whether to, actually. I'd say 85-90% is Steve's (I'm going to need a male proof reader aren't I, to make sure he sounds bloke-ish enough). The other 10-15% I've done in Ruby's.

But this story is about Steve and Ruby too. And I've decided that Ruby will find a love interest of her own. And thanks to my present I received yesterday (that I've now blogged twice about, thanks to blogger losing original post) I've got a visual for Brett.

I suppose when you read a romance like Mills and Boon you expect the Hero and Heroine to meet practically on the first page, or at least in the first chapter. But I'm not writing this for Mills and Boon, so hopefully it will fit somewhere. I'm going to write my story, then worry about the publishing side of things. Let's just enjoy the writing, huh?

Don't panic, I think I know what I'm doing...  

As anticipated, this story has taken over. I'm supposed to be doing my second fiction assignment, too... but have failed miserably. Maybe I'll get some extra time at the weekend, if I get my 1000 words out of the way early and all that.

Oh, and I've put a counter on my blog which I update each day with my new word count, so you can see how well (or badly) I'm doing for May - You Write Your Novel challenge.