Write what you know. Write what you love.
 
How many times have we heard similar statements?  People are always saying to write what you love and the readers will love
it too.  But at the same time, write what you know.
 
When contemplating a new story, I always think I would love to place the characters in an exotic location, but in the end, I write what I know.  I’m not a big traveller by any stretch of the imagination, so most of my stories are set in Perth, Western
Australia.  Rather boring to me, but I hope it is exotic to others.
 
Write what you love.  That’s easy.  M/M romance, with a touch of humour and definitely a HEA.  I did write an m/f novel once….  It’s still lingering in my computer.  Maybe one day I will dust it off and submit it to a publisher.
 
Write what you know.  When it comes to fleshing out one of my characters, I always try to think, “Why?”  Why would a person think this way?  Is it because he has read a book?  Is it because he once met a person who told him that?  Is it his experience in life?
 
To me, family is the biggest influence on my life.  I come from a large family and their experiences and opinions bleed into
my life on a daily basis.  Sometimes this is good, sometimes bad.  When I write my characters, I tend to place them into family situations as well. It’s what I know.  It’s how I experience my life.
 
Recently I was reviewing Goodreads and noticed that my novel, Loving Jay was sitting at #3 on a list.  Oh – not a “best of” list
(be still my heart!), just a list of books where the character has a large family.  I laughed because, I guess to most people, a family of five boys is a large family.  I never stopped and truly appreciated this, because my family has this beat by four kids.  
 
My character of Liam is the fourth of five boys.  I wrote this deliberately because it influenced dramatically how Liam thought of himself.  Liam had been brought up in a household of men and masculinity with very little feminine frills.  His father was anti-gay
and made no attempt to hide it.  His mother, despairing of ever having a daughter, had subtly suggested his whole life that his “role” was to find a girlfriend, get married and have grandchildren for his mother to fuss over.  His brothers were doing the right thing – one married with a baby, one married, one just about to get married.  Liam felt lost as being gay was seen as a bad thing, and not being able to bring home a girl for his mum to adore was playing on his mind.
 
This is how I see my life – my brothers’ and sisters’ failures and successes are all lined up to judge me against.  Liam judged his life on the fact that he could never bring a girl home or have children.  He judged himself a failure because he couldn’t play football – like his brothers.  He couldn’t keep a girlfriend – like his brothers. He wasn’t straight – like his brothers.
 
Surprisingly enough, it’s not Liam’s family that my own family is most like.  My family is reflected more in Jay’s.  Jay only
has two older sisters, but the family gatherings are a sight to see.  In the book, Liam is invited to Jay’s family dinner. 
In attendance:  Jay, Grandma, Mum, the two sisters, the brother-in-law and the two children.  For three minutes the family sits and eats politely, before wham the table explodes.  The next thing each person at the table is holding two conversations at once, everyone is talking, insults are being yelled, stories are being related, kids are being told off, recipes are swapped.  Poor Liam is completely shocked and sits there in silence until he realises that Jay’s brother-in-law is also sitting quietly, simply eating his meal.  Ignoring the shenanigans of the family, the two men sit and calmly discuss football and allow the others to continue their shouting matches.
 
Yeah – that’s my family.
 
I can still remember the shell-shocked look on the faces of my boyfriends I would bring home to meet everyone.  I would go around the room and introduce him to the eighteen people in attendance at the meal, then while he was still reeling, I would whisper that he was lucky that some of my siblings lived in the country and weren’t there as well.  And then I would go back to holding two conversations at once.

So who do I have to thank (blame) for my inaugural blog of last  week?

With all the information flowing through the web, I wasn’t really thinking of doing a blog since the whole three people who would read it already know my views on things.  And then this persistent person who I’d never met in Real Life told me it would be a blast.  I sighed, thought about it, sighed some more and then it hit me – maybe there will be more than three people reading my blog.  Perhaps, there will be <gulp> four!  Or maybe even five!

So I wish to thank Beany Sparks for inviting (making) me to write a blog and giving me the opportunity to be the next stop in this Blog Hop:
 http://www.beanysparks.com/blog.html

 You can catch up on some of the previous blog hops here:
 Khul Waters:  http://khulwaters.wordpress.com/
 Ellen Cross:  http://vampyangel291197.wix.com/ellen-cross#!blog/c112v
 Evi Asher:   http://eviasher23.wordpress.com/2014/03/24/my-writing-process-blog-tour/

So the rule of this blog hop is I have to answer four questions.  So here goes…
 
1.  What am I working on?

Oh.  My.  God. 

Have you ever heard someone biting off more than they can chew?  (Picture me waving my hand furiously).

So my debut novel Loving Jay is released in < gulp> four days.  I am ever so nervous but excited at the same time and I’ve been setting up my website and talking to 101 people about it.  The book is a wonderful, light-hearted comedy featuring Liam - who doesn’t even know if he is gay or not - falling for lovely, vivacious, make-up wearing, drama-queen Jay.  Dreamspinner have been absolutely wonderful by giving me this opportunity to publish, and my lovely, lovely editor didn’t laugh (too much) at my first attempt at a manuscript and helped me whip it into shape.  Thanks Liz!

At the same time as nervously chewing my fingers down to the quick, I’m up to the editing stage of my second novel: 
The Blinding Light. This one will be out around July/August and features smart-aleck Jake who takes on a housekeeping role for grumpy Patrick, who is blind.

If that wasn’t enough, hot on its tail is my rural m/m novel The Shearing Gun which is set in country Western Australia and features a lot of sheep, along with two hot, sexy guys.  <sigh>

I am making my big announcement here, so don’t blink:  I have just signed my fourth contract with Dreamspinner Press for a novel called Safe In His Arms.  Yes – you heard it right!  Somehow, I’m going to be able to bring you my romantic, erotic tale of Casey and Lon.

So if that wasn’t enough, I’m also furiously writing my next m/m novel for you all, entitled Shawn’s Law.  I love romantic comedies and Shawn is my adorable Aussie bloke who often falls victim to Murphy’s Law.  He knows all the paramedics,
emergency department staff and auto-break down service people by name, and seems to have a knack for finding Australian fauna that bite. I’m hoping to have it finished by the end of May, so look for my announcement that it is done.  If you don’t see it, you have my permission to bug me about it!
 
2.  How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I’m not a path blazer by any means.  I love writing about everyday guys who you could possibly meet down at the local supermarket or at the train station.  I write in order to make my readers smile.

I’m different though, because my characters all live in (or near) my home city of Perth, Western Australia. So if you want a giggle and want to know what it's like to live in my wonderful city, pick up one of my books and have a read.  There aren’t that many Perth-based books out there!
 
3.  Why do I write what I do?

Easy.  To make people laugh.

After the birth of my second child, I fell victim to the dreaded PND – Post-Natal Depression.  And it sucked badly!  I am determined to never walk that path again if I can help it. So each time I think I’m getting a little morose, I find something to make me laugh.  I believe that Laughter (yes – with a capital L) can cure a whole range of things.  And if it doesn’t – what harm has it done?

And of course I’m a romantic at heart, so nothing but a HEA will do!
 
4.  How does my writing process work?

With a concept.

A random thought will hit me from the blue and next thing plot bunnies are multiplying like rabbits.

For example, with Loving Jay, I had the pleasure to befriend a guy who is unashamedly gay from the top of his well-gelled hair to the tips of his beautifully polished, blue fingernails.  One day I thought, “I wonder what’s the reaction of a ‘normal’ straight guy to this flamboyant peacock when they meet him for the first time? I wonder what would happen if a normal straight guy didn’t even realise he was gay until he saw this vibrant, brilliant man and was wildly attracted to him?”

So I put them both on paper – I gave them names and physical forms, and then I pushed them at each other and sat back to watch what happened.  Truthfully, I don’t plan what is going to transpire – I’m along for the ride as much as the reader is.

As a mother to two young children, my writing is fractured, flowing with the wants and needs of the family. My children don’t know I’m in the middle of a very hard love scene, so I’m constantly interrupted in order to make vegemite sandwiches, attend to a bee sting or even just to see what they have drawn (with crayon on the wall).  My characters have been wonderful throughout the interruptions – even when they’re going at it hot and heavy, they just take a break and wait for me to return.  I find the breaks allow me to solidify my thinking and find that elusive word I was missing.

I am completely jealous of authors who write that they listened to opera in order to get them into the mood for writing their period drama.  The background music to my books is usually Sesame Street and Peppa Pig. But somehow, without planning a single thing, my books have developed into being.

 
So, now that you are all caught up on the news, I hope you will stop by again and visit.  Next Monday, we will have another wonderful Australian debut writer participate in the blog hop:  Nic Starr.  Nic is familiar to many readers as she is prolific with her reviews from her site:  http://someonehastosetabadexample.wordpress.com/

She has been writing as well as reviewing, and Dreamspinner will be publishing her first novella in July/August 2014. 
Stop by her blog next Monday and meet her so you can tell everyone you knew her before she was famous!

 
Another great Australian author to publish her story with Dreamspinner in July is Michelle Rae. Please stop by and be introduced to her as well:  http://www.moralfortitude.com/

So you’ve sweated ever so hard over your manuscript, writing and rewriting, burning the midnight oil, ignoring your family, and even writing your novel while you should’ve been working.  Finally it is finished!  Yay!  You send it off to the publisher for consideration.  You sweat bullets for weeks over the reply.  Then suddenly – acceptance!  Celebrations!  You’re going to be a published author!  All that hard work and now you just need to sit back and wait.  Right?

WRONG!

I never knew that it was going to be such a rollercoaster of emotions between that contract signing and the release date.

Of course, each author will handle things differently, but for me, the emotions of editing my precious novel were surprising.  I can only comment on my own experiences, and as I only have one publisher (the wonderful people at Dreamspinner Press), others may find it different.  But for anyone who has ever thought of publishing a story, or is waiting for your first edits to hit – watch out!

The first emotion:  Impatience.

For me, I was like a kid waiting for Christmas Day – I would check my email ten times a day, stare at the calendar and count down the days, alternating between excitement and dread.  When writing and publishing, you seem to either be flat out busy, or waiting.

And waiting.

It was a good four months between signing on the dotted line and those first edits to hit.  Some days I’d dance in the car park at the thought of my book being published. Other days I’d be biting my nails thinking that it was all a big cosmic joke.  And still I counted off the days.

Then one day I received an email from the lovely woman who was to be my editor.  I was so excited and rushed to reply, only to hesitate before sending that email. OMG!  Should I be cool and polite, like a professional person in the workplace? Or should I be me? – daggy, hyper-excited and a total nutcase?  This woman didn’t know me and whatever impression she had of me would be solidified from this initial email.  Should I “pretend” to be a down-to-earth, coolly collected and sensible?  Or should I be me?

The second emotion:  Uncertainty.

Oh, dear – how was I going to pretend to be someone else over what would probably be a long standing relationship?  I was seesawing between excitement that something was finally happening to my book, to uncertainty about what was coming and how I should act.

In the end I figured that my editor could just roll her eyes in front of her computer all the way on the other side of the world if she needed to.  I was going to me, no matter what.  We began our correspondence and got to know each other.  I told her I was a total newbie at writing, so I would need lots of help and explanations.  She told me that I needed to trust her and that what she was doing to my story was to help me.

I did trust her.  I did know that it wasn’t personal, it was an experienced person trying to show me where I was going wrong and how to get it right.

And then she sent me the file.  I had tried to prepare myself, but I couldn’t stop the wave of emotion at opening that document.

The third (fourth and fifth) emotion:  Devastation, disbelief, depression.

I began to scroll through the corrections. Logically I was telling myself that it wasn’t personal, but that initial look is at your first edits is terrible. That manuscript that you sweated over? Those words that you stayed up to 2am writing?  That scene you
missed your mother-in-law’s birthday for?  They are all wrong!  Wrong order, wrong tense, wrong meaning.  Wrong wrong wrong!

I was wrong.  I was hopeless.  I was a failure!

So I did what I always do – I ran and hid myself in a book.  I closed down the computer, picked up my Kindle and immersed myself in someone else’s problems and fantasy world (with a little bit of hot sex thrown in to keep me interested).

It took me a while, but I finally psyched myself up to look at the document again.  I had to remind myself a dozen times that I (a) was an adult, (b) had signed a contract to do this, and (c) wanted to be an author.  
 
The sixth emotion (which I know isn’t really an emotion):  Learning.

Using Track Changes, I began to work through the edits.  Some were easy (e.g. you need a comma here).  Some were amusing (e.g. I think you meant to say “He chuckled” not “He chucked” which would totally change the meaning of that sentence).  Some were frustrating (e.g. American readers will not know what a flat white is, you will need to explain it somehow).

Some were confusing, but I diligently accepted that my editor knew better than me and I changed what she said needed
changing. I struggled to understand some changes, but I tried to remember the why for my next book.  Sometimes I could see immediately that the sentence worked better her way, other times I just shrugged and decided I wasn’t too fussed about it, and
if she thought it worked better, then so be it!

Hours passed.  Days passed.  My back became sore, my wrist ached from using the mouse so much, coffee became my best friend.  I slogged on through.  I read my story again and again.  I vowed that I was changing the title of my book from Loving Jay to Hating Jay.  I could nearly recite the dialogue in my sleep.

I ignored my housework, dinner was prepared and thrown on plates in the five minutes snatches I allowed myself, and I forgot
what my husband looked like.  I became focused and diligently gave my all to the task.  Finally, when I was sure that I could not improve it in any further way, I emailed it back to my editor.

The seventh emotion:  Relief followed very closely by Mental Exhaustion.

I gave a rapturous sigh and crashed, emerging from my writing room and making pancakes for the kids.  I had done it!

I don’t mean to imply that was it for editing, for there followed several hundred emails back and forth while we thrashed out
problems, discussed Australian vs America slang and tried to find a way that was acceptable to both of us.  Then there was second edits where another editor had a look at our work and put her two-cents worth in.  But the main bulk of the editing was done.

I spent several days catching up on RL (i.e. Real Life) and sleep.  I found that I’d forgotten to water some of my plants and they had shrivelled during the week of editing. I did endless loads of washing and remembered to call my mother.  But in the back of my mind a new emotion was growing.  It was a recognition that those edits, no matter how tough, no matter how confusing, no matter how awful it was to take that first peek at that document, those edits were needed.  Those edits strengthened the story.  Those edits made my work better.  Those edits were necessary.

The eighth emotion:  Satisfaction, happiness,  approval.

I smiled and sighed that I was still alive.  When my editor emailed me with that final email, saying that my edits were being handed off to the next department (galley), I emailed her back and thanked her profusely (or at least I think I did – I’m going to have to check).  She had done a fantastic job and must come across some really moody and stubborn authors in her time, but she survived me and I survived her.

At the end of it all, there is a great story – well edited, funny and heart-warming.  And I get my name on the cover of this book, and she gets no recognition apart from the thankfulness of the author and a paycheque in the bank.

So at this time, I’d like to thank Liz – job well done! – and tell everyone that editors do a fantastic job under some tough  conditions.


Despite the emotions that I’ve run through with the edits of my first novel, do you want to know something strange? 
I’m coming back for more.  I’m still writing. I’m still sending off those manuscripts to the publisher with fingers crossed and heart all hopeful.  So I’m here to tell you if you are struggling with your edits, that you do survive.  
 
Then, as you, the proud parent and author of a fantastic book, wave goodbye to that story that you have nurtured from
conception through to publication, you cry a bit. That story is gone, it’s over, you’ve done the best you can and now it is
about to be set upon the world.

You take yourself back to your writing room and you look at the calendar.  Hmm – the next lot of edits should be coming Friday…  And you wait with impatience, ready to start the rollercoaster again.

My inaugural blog will be hitting this spot on Monday 14th April, 2014.

Watch this space...