Author: Meg

Easily amused, never bored and constantly distracted. My creative pursuits include writing, drawing, painting and photography.

Random and raw

~ Meg ~ 68 Comments

My brain is in a bit of a jumble, finishing up my latest project. So much to think about, details, details… It needs to be perfect. It’s never going to be perfect. I have so many random thoughts running around in my head….

Am I ever really going to feel like “A Writer”?  Yes, I’m a published author, but I wouldn’t be able to survive on the income from it. Is that what it will take?

Marketing. I have a BS in Marketing and right now that BS really does feel like bullshit. (That was before chiropractic school). I’m exhausted and overwhelmed by what I REALLY need to do to get my writing that kind of attention. 

Blogging might actually be making things worse. I’ve developed this schedule that my brain has started treating like a real world obligation. Like I get fired if I don’t write “this” for this day and “that” for that day. I’ve got it in my head that you all will leave me if I don’t keep it up. I watch some of you post once, twice, three times a day – beautiful poetry, heartfelt personal expressions, short fiction… I can’t measure up. 

The novel series… I have ideas for 3 more of them. What I really want to write is my WWI story. I can’t do both. How long can a series sit dormant before readers lose interest? 

I’m not reading. Not nearly enough, anyway. My reading challenge for 2016 is 25 books. I’ve finished 6. That’s pathetic. I have books by 4 fellow bloggers on my list. I swear I will at least read those before the close of the year. 

Sometimes I wonder what you really think of me? Do I sound confident? Positive and upbeat? Do you know that I worry? That I have panic attacks sometimes? That I fake being happy just so I don’t have to talk about it? Because I really don’t like to talk about it. Consider this the rare occasion I’m saying something.

I need to move. I hate the place I’m at right now. I have to think about getting out of here and I don’t quite see the way ahead. 

Just one final thought. I love you guys. I appreciate your friendship. I treasure the relationships I’ve formed here over the last ten months of blogging. Don’t go away, ok?

The blurb… feedback appreciated!

~ Meg ~ 50 Comments

Tainted Inheritance, my fourth book, is nearly ready for publication. If you are interested, the first 4 chapters are available here. As you might have read yesterday, I’ve been working on the blurb/synopsis and designing the cover. While I rather enjoy cover design, writing the blurb is my least favorite thing about the whole process. As per Phil’s suggestion, it might help to have some feedback from other writers and readers. So…

Here it is! The bane of my existence. After tossing the ideas back and forth with Kevin over the last couple of days. I finally “settled” on this one. Now tell me, honestly, would you read a book based on this blurb?

Why would anyone want to kill Olivia Sutton? Her life was finally coming together after her divorce. She’s come into an unexpected inheritance, found new love with contractor Leo Donovan and made a fresh start in a new home. When she becomes the victim of one too many random accidents, she realizes a killer is stalking her. Has something in her past come back to haunt her? And can she and Leo discover the killer’s secret before it’s too late?

What do you think?

Meg versus The Blurb

~ Meg ~ 60 Comments

I’ve reached that stage in novel development that I like the least — writing the synopsis, or blurb that goes on the back cover of the book or in the description on the Amazon page. How do you distill 90,000+ words down to a few sentences or a short paragraph? And write those sentences in such a way as to suck your potential readers into buying your novel? Ugh. It’s agonising!

Why is it so hard? Fellow writers, do you struggle with this part, too?

The blurb needs to convey the mystery, the suspense, the drama of the book without giving away the details or the ending. It also has to be concise and attention grabbing. I either end up with three sentences or an entire page. Finding the happy middle ground is elusive. So as I work on the blurb for my fourth novel, Tainted Inheritance, which save for a few details, is ready to be published, I rant, I rail, I stomp and I curse.

Last week, I felt so frustrated and stuck, I was ready to throw in the towel. Say “the hell with it” and shelve the whole thing. All because of a blurb. Ridiculous, I know… But after a good wallow, a little too much bourbon, a cry on a friend’s (Kevin’s) shoulder and an orchid to cheer me up, I got angry. What?!? Angry, you say? How does that help?

This is not the path I would recommend to you all, but for me getting angry energizes me. It sets me on fire and it feels kind of good. Maybe that makes me a dangerous psychopath, I’m not really sure. Whatever the case, it works for me. I spit out a poem Just Burn in about 15 minutes, Monday night and with the frustration out of my system, I moved on, rejuvenated.

I’m nailing that blurb today and then the cover is next.

What is the lesson here? You want me to get stuff done? Go ahead and piss me off…

Header Image courtesy Flickr.com