Jessica isn't here this week because, as we all know, she's in San Francisco for the Romance Writers of America conference!
So I'm here to remind you that Jessica, Barbara Hannay, Barbara McMahon and editor Lucy Brown will be giving a panel entitled "Emotion, Emotion, Emotion: Writing Romance with Global Appeal" from 9:45 to 11:45 on Friday morning (August 1). Don't miss it!
And to fill in the time for those of you not able to go to the conference, here's an article Jessica wrote last week for The Pink Heart Society:
This Writer's Wednesday Romance author Jessica Hart extolls on the pain of the dreadline...er...deadline...even as she prepares to celebrate a couple of pretty terrific milestones!
2008 is a big year for me. Not only do I turn 50 in September, but by a happy coincidence my 50th book, Last-Minute Proposal, is released in October – and yes, there will be a party!
It’s hard to believe that I have muddled my way to over fifty deadlines now. Every time I think I won’t be able to do it. I start off full of enthusiasm for the new story. I love my characters. I’ve found the perfect situation for them. I’ve set the time aside to write the definitive romance, and the deadline lies far ahead in the future. This one, I secretly believe, will be the one that will garner plaudits and awards, the one that will magically hit the spot and break all sales records.
And yet, somehow as I start to write the first draft, that sense of control starts to evaporate. This is largely due to my complete and utter inability to say ‘no’ to other distractions. Suddenly those three months I set aside so sensibly are cluttered with holidays, weekends away, guests, dinners, workshops to be prepared, manuscripts to be read, blogs to be written, films not to be missed, friends to be met , and emotional crises (usually mine) to be resolved. None of which would really be a problem if only I could bring myself to write before dark. But no, the day is frittered away until six o’clock, at which point I am so wound up about not getting any work done that the only thing to be done is go out for a drink …
By the time I get to Chapter 7, that distant deadline is rearing its ugly head and the dread realisation hits that everything I’ve written so far is absolute rubbish. The book is a disaster, I can’t write, my career is over. The fact that this is a pattern is no help at all. I have to go back to the beginning and completely rewrite the entire book in frenzy to meet the deadline – and inexplicably, I usually manage it.
You’d think I’d have evolved a more professional approach after 50 books, but sadly not. I was much more confident writing my first book when I didn’t have a clue what I was doing than I am right now, floundering in the middle of my fifty-second. Of course, it was a lot easier when I started writing in the early 90’s. There were no deadlines; I just posted off a manuscript when I’d finished it and waited for the thump on the doormat when it was returned to be revised. Also, my writing was much fresher then, and it was easy to be confident when I’d never heard of emotional tension or hooks, and simply wrote the kind of story I wanted to read. Since then, I’ve become much more interested in how romance works, but there’s a danger in over- analysing what you do instinctively. For me, writing is like riding a bicycle: if I think about it too much, I fall off! And I do seem to be falling off a lot recently …
So here I am, hyper-ventilating as usual, as the latest deadline looms. In this case it’s 24th July, the date I jump (or possibly fall) onto a plane to San Francisco for my first RWA conference. I’m giving a workshop there with Barbara Hannay and Barbara McMahon, and am simultaneously excited and absolutely terrified. There’s SO much to be done on so many fronts before then, but by the time you read this, on 23rd July, I should be beyond panic, and the only deadline that will matter will be catching that plane!
Next week Romance author Donna Alward will be here! Can't wait!
The webmistress