WRITING IN THE MODERN AGE advice - shared with you

It's been awhile so I'm going to try to catch you up on my activities! 

First, my ‘Romance Over 50’ - One Summer Night - has done extremely well and feedback has been awesome. One reader wrote:

“I read your latest in one long sitting. Totally grabbed me! I love that you were able to move into another genre for the Over 50 readers. As always blown away by your writing: so fluid and the dialogue so realistic. Loved Jason. Looking forward to more.”

 https://mybook.to/OneSummerNight

Next, I was invited to facilitated a book club last week using "She's Not You" my first novel.

https://mybook.to/Shes_Not_You

I made it more about the writing process and everything that goes into writing a book – learning to write well, taking classes, doing research and knowing your genre.  The questions from the group were thoughtful and relevant to writing. We talked about where I find my ideas. I mentioned that I was working on a fun story right now – about a woman pirate.  They loved that idea so I guess I better put some time and effort into that. They had questions about that era and where it was set – great questions.

Then, my sequel to “She’s Not You” – “Treat Me Nice” – another Elvis title, has also been well received.

“The author certainly can capture your attention and keep your interest. Her words create a visual image throughout as if you were really in the characters shoes. It’s the second In the series and when your done you know you want more and you know there will be more.  Even if you haven’t read her earlier book with these characters (She’s Not You) you can easily jump into this one and connect . The authors plot creativity and ability to translate into words amazes me. I couldn’t put the book down. If I didn’t need sleep and a short respite for my eyes I probably would have finished it in one day rather than 1 1/2. Can hardly wait to hear there will be another book from this author soon.”

I have another book club coming up in August on the sequel so excited about that.

Finally, my five pieces of writing advice can be found in the Spring 2023 Writing in the Modern Age blog - https://writinginthemodernage.weebly.com/blog-posts/writmodage-advice-from-writers-ten-year-anniversary-multi-author-special-spring-event

I kept it simple…

1.       Be dedicated to your writing,
2.       Learn to write well,
3.       Work on the words that best tell your story and make your characters come alive,
4.       Create interesting three- dimensional characters, and
5.       Do your reseach!!

Right now I have one full draft completed which I put aside so that I’ll read it later with fresh eyes and I guess, I’ll be writing about lady pirates. 😄

Keep writing,
Till, Judi

Links:
https://tinyurl.com/JudiGB
https://judigetchbrodman.wordpress.com/

An just an update on my #over50romance... it is doing great. 

top five pieces of advice (or tips) for a new writer

 

I was asked to offer five pieces of advice for new or experienced writers which will be published on another blog.  When I finished, I thought I might give this advice to my own readers so here we go...

First, you need to want to write... to be dedicated to your writing. Writing is hard work; good writing is almost impossible. It is time consuming and isolating.

Second, you need to learn to write.  What does that mean? Join writers group, listen to other writers and learn from them, from their writing and from the constructive criticism of your peers. I joined one early on and learned so much from them all. I will be forever grateful to this group. I also took an encouraging creative writing class.  The professor encouraged me to continue my writing because I had, as she called it, a unique voice and writing process.

Third, after I said all that, anyone can write, string words together. You can sit down, write 50K words and feel as though you have a book.  Well, you don't, not one that a publisher will touch.  When I said above, "good writing is almost impossible", I meant it. Good writing comes after many drafts, much editing and many revisions. This is where your story comes alive... here you polish it by working on words that best tell the story and fit the character, by making dialogue meaningful (this is very important), removing errors and misspellings, and by creating a story that will capture the reader. 

Fourth, create interesting, three-dimensional characters. I learned this from a workshop I took given by a writer whose books I loved. No one wants to read a story with ‘flat’ characters. You, as the writer, need to know their backstories, what’s in their ‘bag of rocks’ that they carry with them, what their secrets are… what’s in that box under their bed. You may not put all that information into the manuscript, but you will use it as you write, trust me, and your characters will come alive.

Fifth, do your research! If you are writing a time travel back to the 1800s, know what it was like to live in that time. One of my favorite books, “The Looking Glass Labyrinth”, was a time travel back to 1804. As I wrote, the story evolved into a mystery within a mystery with a beautifully layered romance. I won’t say much more except that I spent hours and hours doing my research on sea captains and their trade routes, on how women were educated and treated culturally, the fashion and family dynamics. The research fascinated me and although I didn’t use it all, I felt I knew my characters well enough to tell this beautiful story.  Remember, your readers are smart, and if you make errors in history or anything else, they’ll notice, put the book down and not trust your story telling ever again.

I could go on and on but I was asked for only five points. My advice to all, enjoy the process of creating and writing! I’ve passed my love, my passion for writing, on to two of our little ones, eleven and nine, who wrote every word of their first book, Two Mice and a Train, and I published it. What a huge accomplishment for them!  May their imagination fire many more. One of the keys to their writing was that they are both avid readers and LOVE stories.

Therefore, I hope the advice that I’ve learned along the way helps you to become a better writer.

Keep writing…
Till,  Judi

So I hope this advice that I learned along the way will help you!

NEW RELEASE - "One Summer Night"

 I'm so happy to have this book released!  I LOVED writing it, something I never thought would happen. Why? First I don't write pure romances. If you've ever read any of my novels, they are mysteries with what I call a 'splash' of romance. So when my publisher said they were starting a new category of books, Romance Over 50, and asked if I would write one, I said yes, but wasn't really sure how it would turn out.

Young love is always written about... boy meets girl, falls in love with girl, loses girl for some reason and finds her again and wins her over in the end. It's a recipe, but in an older romance, I wasn't expecting all the complications that come into a life over fifty - divorce, a grown child, and in this case, a profession that's dependent on the MC being able to write about the feelings of new love, the depth of love that one can feel, of being in love... something she hadn't felt in years.

My mysteries always require lots of research... a crime, a criminal, his mindset, how is he cornered and caught, how does the suspense rise, etc. but the over fifty romance had a different set of challenges, life challenges -- balancing a family, career, a know-it-all mother, a lost love, a cheating husband, the shame of his escapades and the feelings surrounding a divorce, the self isolation.  I invested about six months writing it and when I finished, I really liked it.  I was even happier when my publisher's editor said, "It is a good story and deserves a good readership." and he never remarks on the stories.

I think the back cover says it all:

One Summer Night Blurb

A cheating husband, a contentious divorce, and a hollow meaningless mausoleum of a house bring best-selling romance author Isabella Randall to a cliff-side cottage in the quaint Cape Cod fishing village where she had spent all her happy young summers with her grandparents.

Since the divorce, her writing spigot had run dry not allowing a single drop of love to flow into a new romance. Her agent and publisher are pushing her to release a book in the coming year before her readers move on. With deadlines looming, she imagines being back here in this quiet writer’s haven; she can clear her mind, dig deep to find those romantic feelings again and write.

Yet this so-called peaceful town causes her summer to take one unexpected twist after another—a bike accident, a hospital visit, her cheating ex pursuing her, and…him.

Isabella never expected that in returning here, she would come across a lost piece of her young life. She now stands on a precipice—does she forget the past and take the leap with him or retreat back to her safe solitary life? 

So, now I'm returning to the full story of Jenna and Brett who I introduced to you in "Broken Christmas Promise" a few years ago.  I received great feedback on the novella from the 2020 Book Pipeline Adaptation; they said they loved the premise but thought the novella didn't carry the story far enough or make it layered and complicated.  So I've rewritten it and am now spending time revising and editing!

That's All I have time for today... keep writing,

Till,
Judi

COVER REVEAL... ONE SUMMER NIGHT !

I know I haven't been on for awhile, but I've been so busy... everything at once but all good things so I can't complain.

My computer came back all fixed... some part in the screen that caused me to be able to do nothing.  But I used that time wisely while we were away - painting - pleine air.  I loved spending quiet time painting out by the ocean! 

Anyway, I finished the "over-fifty" romance that my publisher wanted. It's in the editor's hands now and then the real work begins... we'll see what he has to say.  I'm excited about having a new book ready to be released.  As I said in the last blog, this was certainly a different kind of story for me but I found that having characters who were older, more mature made the plot thicker, more convoluted, more realistic.  I actually enjoyed writing it. hmmmm... maybe I'll write another after I finish the one I'm writing?

So, I'll post when the book is released... hoping this month but we'll see.

Happy holidays to all and to all a good night!! 😀

Till, Judi

 

Over-Fifty Romance Next!!

 

It's been awhile but I've not been laying off the writing!  I'm working on the over-fifty romance... still. First, I've never written a pure romance story; I've always mixed it with a mystery so this is new for me. Then add the over-fifty part, and I have to incorporate divorces, older children, exs. etc.  And then there's the angst about becoming involved with someone else since the heart has been hurt so badly.  

I was making good headway when my computer went down. It's still in the shop awaiting a part. Hopefully, all my files will be in tack. I do save files when I travel so I have most of my backups but still, hard to use my Surface without the files. But on I go!! I'm hoping to have my publisher release it for Christmas -- fingers crossed.

I've been watching the coverage of the destruction in Florida. We have friends in Ft. Myers Beach... I hope their place has survived.  IAN was a monster storm.

I will continue to write, paint and weed my gardens as I send thoughts to those in Ian's path.

Till, Judi

PICK UP YOUR COPY - New release!!

My new novel, Treat Me Nice, has just been released! Can you believe it's my seventh novel? And to tell you the truth, it's still so very exciting.  The reviews have been awesome.  I think this novel filled in the characters of Jack and Jamie more and to make it even more interesting, I brought back Jack's old girlfriend Lizz and Jamie's old boyfriend Mike. Mike becomes an interesting character and will definitely show up in the next Oyster Point Mystery. I've found that character development goes hand-in-hand with plot. It becomes a balance between the two... coated with the setting. Anyway, if you're looking for a good romantic mystery, Treat Me Nice (another Elvis song title), could be a great beach read this summer. You can find it on Amazon: https://mybook.to/Treat-Me-Nice.

On to my next project - publisher asked for "an over-fifty romance" so that's what I'm working on currently. I've never written one so this is a very interesting side-journey for me. A writer friend told me that she only writes over-fifty romances so obviously there's a market for them. I'm finding that you need to provide a lot of back story in this type of book. And how big a "bag of rocks" does the main character or the next semi-main character bring to the story? This allows you to develop the story... divorced, widowed, still married, children... etc.  Anyway, a new journey for me and I'm enjoying it. I feel that I'm writing a script for a Hallmark movie!

Once I've submitted the over-fifty manuscript, I'll return to the rewrite of Broken Christmas Promise. If you remember, I received great feedback on that one from producers, but their comment was that it was too short for today's romances... so I'm working on bringing in subplots and other characters.

What have I learned so far on this writing journey? 

First, writing a piece that's good enough for a publisher/agent to accept is tough work. I've written and published a lot of technical papers but transitioning to creative writing is not easy. I have to continually remind myself not to write in passive voice. I taken creative writing classes, been part of excellent writers' groups, taken an on-line workshop with a well-known author I admired. Her class changed the way I write, develop characters and place them in a setting.

The second thing I've learned is character development, plot and setting are equally important. Because I'm also a professional artists, I love painting pictures of the setting in words. But too much can make the reader restless to move on, so I try to mix description and dialogue as well.

Speaking of dialogue,  again, too much or too mundane can cause the reader to skip lines or tire of the mundane. Dialogue needs to move the story forward not just fill up the page.

 

I've also found out that I love writing time travel mysteries... actually I just love writing, creating characters that come to life on the pages, speak to you, make you cry when you place them in certain situations or make you smile, and nod knowing you've been there.

 

As I make progress through this "over-fifty" romance, I'll let you know how it's going.

Best and keep writing, and write me with questions or comments. I enjoy hearing from you.

Judi 

A NEW RELEASE is COMING SOON!!

Well, I know I've been gone for a bit :-) but I have a very good reason - I worked on finishing my latest book, the second Oyster Point Mystery, "Treat Me Nice". I had written about two thirds of it and came to a halt not knowing where to go with it... so as I always do, I switched to writing "Tales of the Silent". That manuscript moved quickly - I loved the story, the characters and the location, my favorite spot, Chinon France. I also loved a time travel part which takes the main female character back to the 11th century. So before I knew it, my publisher accepted it, I worked with my editor and it was released last August! 

So then, I still had "Treat Me Nice" sitting there, staring at me. I'd been away from it so long, I had to reread it. It was pretty good as far as I had gone, but where did I go from here? What I had forgotten was how dogged Jamie was... she would jump right in the middle of these cases and never look back... and so she led me through the rest of the book.  I think this new book ups the relationship between Jack and Jamie as well as reintroducing Jamie's ex-boyfriend and Jack's ex-girlfriend. They are both a danger to the relationship that Jack and Jamie had so carefully built. I also brought in two FBI agents, Kat and Clyde, who played really well off of Jack and Jamie.

Finally after much editing, I turned it into my publisher, they accepted it and I'm waiting for the editor to return with the first pass comments. 

So in about another month to six weeks it should be out -- a great summer read!!

Now I'm returning to rewrite, well actually tell the entire story that I started in "Broken Christmas Promise", an eBook that the publisher asked me to write a few years ago right before Christmas. I actually received some great feedback on it which led me to the task at hand, writing Brett and Jenna's entire story.  A screenwriter and producer read it and sent me the following feedback:

"BROKEN CHRISTMAS PROMISE: The setup here is great – a woman running into an ex that basically ghosted her in a high-pressure meeting puts these love interests on interesting footing right from the start. But it doesn’t seem like this shorter novella develops the concept far beyond that, nor does it seem to give us the kind of complex and layered romance that the modern market demands."

I rewrote it, sent it to a friend who is also a published author, for a beta read.  She provided some very good feedback and so I'm buried in thought and words and plots for this next book.

It never gets old and it's always exciting to create characters and places that readers love!

So, that's what I've been up to besides living life and making memories! I hope you are too... life is short!

Till, 

Judi