Listen to Yourself
By Patricia Sargeant

I'm sorry I disappeared the last two weeks. The Final Deadline Lap was rough. But I submitted my manuscript to my editor last Monday, and now I'm trying to get my life back into balance. Ha!

But I digress.

I learned several Very Important Lessons while writing Sweet Deception, my June 2009 contemporary romance. I'd like to get your input on one of them.

When I started writing Sweet Deception, I signed up for a hands-on plotting workshop. The instructor was a former creative writing teacher and a very well-known author who consistently lands on the New York Times Bestsellers list. I was excited to attend the workshop.

One of the first exercises was to write the high concept of our plot on a scrap of paper and pass the paper forward for the instructor to read a loud and provide feedback. The high concept for Sweet Deception is, "When a minister's daughter's secret life as an erotic romance author is revealed, she has to choose between duty and desire." Or something like that.

The instructor ripped the high concept to shreds. Thank goodness we submitted our ideas anonymously.

The workshop shook my confidence. Temporarily. I believe in the story. I like the characters. And I have a lot to say about the story's theme, which is identity. So I stuck with the story. I'm glad I did. I'm proud of my work. As I mentioned before, the reviews are coming in, and I'm pleased with them.

You've probably heard this a million times. Let's make it an uneven one million and one. There are only two people whose opinion of your work really matter: you and your editor. If you have an agent, then there are three people whose opinion matter. But First, Last and Always - at the end of the day - the only person whose opinion of your work truly matters is you.

Here's what I think. If you truly believe in your story, never give up on it no matter what others may say. Keep working on it until it's the best it could possibly be. Then work on it some more. Listen to yourself, and never give up.

That's what I think. What do you think?

Favorite Part
By Patricia Sargeant

What's your favorite part of the writing process?

Plotting: Do you prefer brainstorming your idea? Developing characters and situations. Researching locations that support - maybe even enhance - the story. Identifying plot points, twists, red herrings.

Writing: Do you most enjoy fleshing out the story? Developing scenes and sequels. Characters become three-dimensional. Maybe they follow your outline. Maybe they lead you to new discoveries that make the story even more exciting.

Revising: Do you like the editing process? Tightening scenes. Adding scenes. Deleting scenes. Moving scenes around. Adding layers - foreshadowing, motion, emotion.

Promoting: Do you get the biggest thrill from promoting your upcoming releases? Blogging. Guest blogging. Doing interviews. Requesting reviews. Sending press releases and/or press kits. Distributing promotional products (e.g., business cards, brochures, bookmarks).

My favorite part of the writing process is revising. I've gone through plotting and writing. I know I have a full, workable story. Revising allows me to further explore the characters and build on the layers of the story.

Which part of the writing process is your favorite? And why?

Sweet Deception book video

By Patricia Sargeant

I'm very excited to share with you the book video for my June 2009 release, Sweet Deception.

In the interest of full disclosure, Sweet Deception is a contemporary romance. The plot doesn't include a mystery or suspense or thriller. The characters are fighting the enemies within rather than external villains.

Reviews have been good, though. RT Book Review gave it a four out of four-and-a-half stars and wrote, "Sargeant's novel develops into an interesting drama with many twists."

CLG Entertainment gave it four-and-a-half out of five stars and wrote, "I like both my male and female leads to be strong, yet vulnerable, and Sargeant handles this wonderfully in Sweet Deception."

It might help if I told you a bit about the plot. Sweet Deception features a dutiful minister's daughter who leads a secret life as an erotic romance author. When she begins an affair with a best-selling thriller author, she's outed and has to choose between duty and desire.



OK. If the above video doesn't work, then click here to view it. Send me your comments and let me know how you enjoy it.

Happy reading and writing!

Writing with a Day Job

By Patricia Sargeant

On one of my writers loops, there we had a really great discussion about writing with a day job. Since most of us don't make enough from our publishing contracts to support ourselves, we have to keep the day job.

Now don't get me wrong. Especially in this economy, I drop to my knees every day and give thanks and praise for that regular paycheck. But juggling a demanding full-time job, a family, personal commitments and a publishing deadline can get hairy.

A lot of really great suggestions and ideas came from that discussion. Writing during your lunch hour. Writing before work, if you're a morning person. Writing at night, if you're not.

Some people carry tape recorders. Others carry notepads.

Discipline is key. For me, at the end of the day, it's important to have written a certain number of pages to stay on schedule. Whether I'm writing in the morning, during lunch or at night.

How do you juggle writing with your day job?

Book in a Nutshell Contest

The literary agency, Knight Agency, is holding the Book in a Nutshell submissions contest. The deadline is April 20, 2009.

If you're interested in participating, submit three compelling sentences - 150 words maximum - about your completed, unpublished manuscript to submissions@knightagency.net. You must write BOOK IN A NUTSHELL in the e-mail subject line. One submission per project.

Agents will choose 20 of the best submissions and request the writers' work. The agent will then give feedback on that work. The contest may even lead to possible representation.

Remember, the deadline is April 20, 2009. Winners will be notified by May 1, 2009. For more information, go to http://tinyurl.com/cnfe9d.

Happy writing!

Patricia

With a child's pen

I attended a lecture given by an elementary school teacher the other day. This teacher also is a multi-published author of non-fiction books.

During his presentation, he admitted the different writing styles of elementary school students fascinated him. He said you can give a writing assignment to two students in the same class. One student will approach the assignment with great energy and enthusiasm. She'll write page after page after page after page tirelessly. But her four-page assignment will be one run-on sentence.

The second student will approach the same assignment very studiously. Each sentence will have a noun and a verb that are in agreement. Each sentence will be punctuated correctly. Each paragraph will begin in the appropriate place. But, even though her assignment is mechanically correct, it will lack the energy and emotion that comes from the type of enthusiasm the first student demonstrated in her writing.

Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever found yourself so focused on the mechanics of writing - point of view, scene and sequel - that you're in danger of losing your creativity? I have. I'm struggling through that with my current work-in-progress.

We should all remind ourselves - frequently - that it's about the story. Enjoy the adventure. We can worry about the mechanics in revision.

Happy writing!

Patricia