I Write What I Want to Write!

The other day someone asked me what kind of stories I see myself writing in the future. For me, that’s not an easy question because, honestly, I don’t know.

I can’t see myself only writing in one genre. Yes, there are authors who only write novels that involve detectives and serial killers. And some writer’s pen only romance or historical sagas. But, I can’t see myself limiting myself.

My first novel WINDFALL was a dramatic thriller. However, next year when I write its sequel, I’m not going to limit myself to writing another dramatic thriller. It might end up being a dramatic thriller but it might be something entirely different. Right now I don’t know. I’m giving myself options.

This year I’m writing two novels. One is a coming of age story. The other is a paranormal romance.

I suppose if I was younger I might want to focus on one genre and become famous for that. Like Stephen King did with horror, or John Grisham did with novels about lawyers.

But I’m 60. At this point in my life I’m not going to limit myself.

I’m a writer, sometimes novels and sometimes screenplays, and I’m going to write what I want to write.

Writing Devices for the Blind in 1913 (Library for the Blind)

The Shut Mouth Society

The Shut Mouth Society by James D. Best is the kind of book I like best.

It starts with a rich collector who has discovered an early Abraham Lincoln document. The collector asks two people to authenticate the manuscript: Greg Evarts, a detective, and Patricia Baldwin, a professor. The professor, of course, is not only smart but stinking rich and beautiful. The novel has everything from intrigue and murder to romance.

The story begins in California and progresses to the historical east coast where the reader is introduced to private libraries, secret apartments, and shown how rich and powerful civil war descendants live. Conspiracies and secret societies from the Civil War era are unveiled in such a realistic manner that, when I finished the book, I actually did some research to separate fact from fiction.

This one is worth your time and attention.

If you read it, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Help! I NEED A TITLE…

Finding Verity has received the bulk of my attention this week. I am pleased to announce that the word count on this novel has surpassed 15,000 words and I’m happy with the progress. For those of you who don’t know, “verity” means “the state of being true”.

Current Novel needs a title. Right now I’m considering Perspicuous Dreams. Perspicuous means “clearly expressed” or “lucid”. I know a lot of people won’t know what perspicuous means but I have the same problem with verity. I am also considering Lucid Dreams.

Any thoughts on these two titles?

I Entered MoviePoet’s 2012 Logline Contest

In January, MoviePoet conducts their annual logline contest. For those of you who do not know what a logline is, think “blurb” from a t.v. guide. A logline is a sentence or two that hopefully entices us to want to watch the movie. For me, writing a logline is more difficult than writing a screenplay. It is difficult to condense 110 pages into a couple of sentences.

Because I’m so busy with two novels, I wasn’t going to enter this year’s contest but this morning I woke up with an idea I couldn’t turn my back on.

The MoviePoet logline contest is the first stage of a feature-length screenplay contest. The top 30 loglines advance to the second stage where the first ten pages of their screenplays can be submitted. The top ten writers in this stage advance to the third stage, where the entire screenplay is presented.

I have entered this contest twice before and my logline has NEVER advanced.  I have always considered three my lucky number so we’ll see if my logline progresses to the second stage of the contest this year.

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest

This week-end will be spent getting my entry ready for Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Contest.  Amazon will accept entries on January 23rd.  When they have received 5,000 entries they will not accept anymore. If they do not get 5,000 entries, they will stop accepting submissions on February 5th.

Yes, I’m entering Windfall. The manuscript is ready… I just have to get the files ready to upload. In addition to the entire manuscript, I will upload a 3,000-5,000 word excerpt and a “pitch”. The files have to be in an accepted format (.doc, .docx, .rtf, or .txt.).

Winners of this contest wil get a contract with the Penguin Group (U.S.A.).. And, yes, I would love to win. Finalists will be announced in May and the winner will be announced in June.