These are a few of my favorite things...

Scarlett, being the demanding wench that she is, has ordered me to update my blog. And since I couldn't think of anything to blog about, she commanded me to blog about this particular topic. So, off I go...

I'm just about to finish another first draft, and as soon as it's done, I already have another project lined up and ready to start. This doesn't always happen, though. More often than not, I finish a book and spend a few hours (or even a few days) floundering around and trying to decide what to do next. At the end of almost every book, there's this unsettling, fingers-tapping-on-the-desk feeling of "now what?" After spending days on end cranking out a few thousand words at a time, it's a very uncomfortable feeling to have nothing to write.

At this point, I usually sift through folders of unfinished drafts, half-baked ideas, and vague outlines, looking for something. Anything. If nothing calls to me, then I'll do my idea-generating technique discussed in this blog entry. Eventually, something will call to me. Sometimes, the call will be a feeble one, but I'll jump on it anyway, simply because I need something to write. Invariably, these are the books that crap out well before the Milestone of Destinah, leaving me once again drumming my fingers on my desk and looking for something else.

Before long, though, something will call to me. And I don't mean it'll spark something in my head and make me think "Hmm, this could be worth a shot". I mean it will call to me like a damned siren calls sailors to the rocks.

That's how I currently feel about Behind Closed Doors, and I'm not even done with Nine Tenths of the Law yet. Just thinking about that story makes me go "SQUEEE!!!" loud enough to startle my cats. Of all the things I love about this job, easily in the top five is that feeling of "Yes! I must write this!"

And, speaking of things I love about this job, another is the mixture of emotions when a story is finished. You know how you feel when you've finished reading a book that you really liked? When you have to say goodbye to characters after becoming so involved with them?

Now imagine if you have lived and breathed those characters for a while. I usually spend about 2 weeks, 3 at most, working on a first draft, and during that time, I'm completely immersed in their lives. Sometimes, at the end, I'm so ready to kick them to the curb it's not even funny. Feeling that right now with Nine Tenths of the Law. It happened with Breaking the Rules, and probably for the same reason it's happening now: I had another project waiting in the wings, tapping its foot and demanding my attention right now.

But other times, it's really, really hard to let go. The first time I wrote Playing With Fire, I was sad to be finished with Ian Black after only 5 days. Surprisingly enough, the second time I wrote it, I still didn't want to be done with him. I just really like the guy.

The two most difficult were, hands down, Rules of Engagement and The Best Man. Not surprisingly, they're also my two favorite books, and I did not want to be finished with them.

Oddly enough, though, I like that feeling. It tells me that the story and characters are worth the emotional involvement. If I don't want to let go of them, maybe the reader won't either, and that means I've done my job right.

So, there you have it: Two of my favorite things about this job...the high when a story really really calls to me, and the bittersweet feeling of letting go of characters at the end of a first draft.

And speaking of my favorite things, one of my favorite things is...

...wait for it...

SHOULDERS.

Specifically, the shoulders of men.

Such as Gerard...
...Hugh...
And...I would be remiss to mention sexy shoulders in a blog without including this particular pair, which was gifted to the world by one James "Look how sexy I am" Purefoy:
There. Shoulders and writing. What more is there to life?