Writing Out of Order

Hello Fellow Writers!

I have some exciting news - my advice column for The Mahopac News is now available online! I've written about 17 columns so far, and they have my column listed here. I'm happy that now I can point people toward my column online when they ask about seeing a copy of it. They even have PDFs of the paper, so I can go through them and print them out. I should really do that so I have a hard copy portfolio of my work, since I don't have a subscription to the paper.

I find it interesting that I've written (and been paid for!) a column each week for the past 17 weeks, but they've only run like eight of them. Hmm. Well, as long as I'm getting paid I certainly won't complain! My full name isn't even in the byline (for privacy reasons) so it's not like I'm doing it for the fame :)

As for my fiction, I sent "Hollywood Spank" to one of my beta readers to try and figure out what else needs to be fixed before I resubmit it to my editor at Ellora's Cave. In the meantime, "Chastity Belt" is on hold and I am writing a Christmas story. When I first thought the story up I was very excited and gung-ho about it, but now I'm slightly stuck. The answer to how to get unstuck came to me today as I sat here thinking about it: I need to write out of order.

Normally I'm a very chronological type person. I start with chapter one, page one. I finish with "The End". But in this case, I need to stop worrying about how to build up to what I consider The Big Scene, and just write The Big Scene. Once that scene is written, I can fill in the blanks as to just how the Hero and Heroine got themselves into that position. Literally, how they got themselves into that position - it is an erotica story, after all.

I have a feeling that once that scene is done, I'll feel more connected to my story and my characters, and I will find it easy to wrap up the story. Since this is going to be only about 8000 words or so, I have a limited amount of space to write something compelling. I don't want to waste it on build up. Who knows, perhaps what I consider to be the middle of the story will turn out to be the beginning. We'll see.

So that's the goal for today - to write out of order and not care. To write The Big Scene. Wish me luck!
Yours Truly,
Shoshanna Evers

Revise and Resubmit from Ellora's Cave

Hello Fellow Writers!

Sorry it's been a while since my last post. I've been crazy busy. I heard back from my editor, Jilly, at Ellora's Cave regarding "Extremely Personal Assistant", about a movie star who likes to spank his assistant. Jilly sounded like she like it a lot but wanted me to revise it and resubmit it as well as retitle it. What do you think of the new title - "Hollywood Spank"!

I also was happy to meet another erotic romance writer at June's monthly Hudson Valley Romance Writers of America meeting. We're going to be each others' beta readers, so I told her I am going to try and have "Hollywood Spank" revised and sent to her by the end of the week. I've been meeting with one of my writing buddies at Cortlandt Panera every Tuesday night to write, as well as my writing buddies from NaNoWriMo every other weekend Sundays at Fishkill Panera. I'm still writing the advice column for The Mahopac News.

I was also told that since I'm going to Romanticon 2010, Ellora's Cave will try and have my book "Punishing the Art Thief" ready for the book fair. That's pretty exciting, it means my book should be out by October 2010!

I've been working on "Chastity Belt" and it's been going pretty well, but that is getting put on hold right now while I get "Hollywood Spank" in order. Then I have to get to work on a Christmas Quickie for EC, since the publisher put out a call for submissions to all the authors. They want short (7K-15K) kinky Christmas stories. I have an idea brewing about a couple who puts Domestic Discipline into practice to make it through the holidays without divorcing!

I'm going to get to work now. I haven't had much time to write since my mother-in-law was in town and just left today. Wish me luck and good luck to you too!

Yours Truly,
Shoshanna Evers