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HOME · BLOG · MEET ERICA · BOOKS · CONTEST · EXTRAS · CONTACT · FOR WRITERS · PRESS KIT · EN ESPANOL December 21, 2007Progress!Sorry I’ve been MIA all week, but I just hit THE END on Touched this morning! w00t! Yayayayayayay!!! Also, it’s been one year this week since I first brainstormed the wacky tooth fairy story over on Miss Snark’s blog that turned into 400 pages now known as Hi-Jinxed two title changes, four character tweaks, and a major plot change later. (full story here) 2007 rocked—here’s to 2008!!!  Subscribe in a reader
December 17, 2007Challenging Yourself, Win or LoseI have the (pleasure? horror?) of being snowed in 1,000+ miles away from home, as I flew north this weekend to visit family for the holidays. Internet is sketchy because there’s no wifi (what kind of Neanderthal house is this?!) but I’m scrambling like crazy to finish Touched. Two things about that: Realism vs Procrastination. As you may know, I’m a long-standing advocate of setting specific, quantifiable, realistic, attainable goals and holding yourself accountable to them. I did not make my (internally-motivated) goal of finishing Touched by Thanksgiving. In fact, I’m in danger of seeing Christmas before my agent sees the manuscript. Why? I think it was my old nemesis “realistic”. Finishing by Thanksgiving (an arbitrary deadline, to be sure) may have been theoretically possible, but possible != realistic. And so… and so, once the deadline came and went–and, granted, Life reared its hectic head in the form of germs and cross-country plane trips and omnipresent client work and so on–once making the deadline was an impossibility because the date had already passed, so too went a big chunk of my drive. I mean, partly I was rewriting because I love to write and I love this story, and partly I was rewriting because if I want my agent to lay eyes on it, then (duh) I have to send it to her, but also partly I was revising because I’m self-competitive by nature. Ain’t never seen a goal I didn’t want to meet or beat. I work for what I want, and in general I tend to succeed. But when I woke up Thanksgiving morning with the new goal of making it out of bed without coughing my lungs onto the floor, well… it was all too easy for justifiable delay to slip into that insidious beast Procrastination. Now, as mentioned, I’m scrambling to finish, despite being snowed in a house with more family members than beds and a single non-wifi Internet connection. Because it’s almost time for that end-of-year standby, New Years Resolutions, and I am determined to begin my super-secret new project on January 1. I will start it then. Subscribe in a reader
December 14, 2007How To Write Bad FanFicQuestion: Answer: Yesterday, I was struggling with a scene. Not that I was actively not writing it, exactly. Just that I kept writing 2-3,000 words of it and then having to throw it away because it sucks. Not sucks like the prose is clunky or the dialogue is stilted or there’s too many adverbs and adjectives. The scene is tense, funny, hawt. Too bad it makes no frigging sense. Version 1: Heroine follows hero to his bedchamber, waits by the open door while his valet helps him from one outfit to another, then goes inside when hero calls to her and excises the other bodies from the room, exhorting them to shut the door behind them. The problem? Uh, hello, Regency house party. Broad daylight. Servants everywhere. WTF is she doing with him in his bed chamber, watching him undress and redress, then agreeing to spend some quality time with him alone once he kicks the servants out? Stupid, stupid, stupid. All three of us. (Hero, Heroine, Erica.) Delete button. Version 2: No bedchamber. Too dangerous/stupid/fanfic-y. Hero sweeps heroine into a room off the main thoroughfare, conveniently stocked with sofas and just as conveniently devoid of houseguests and servantkind. He does what any other anti-marriage Regency buck would do: promptly starts to get nekkid. Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrt! (That’s the sound of a screeching halt.) Although the partial nudity was ostensibly motivated by something other than the desire to get into the heroine’s skirts (checking out a wound) it’s still him with his shirt off and her right there staring at his bare chest, if a bit nervously. (As well she should.) Subscribe in a reader
December 13, 2007About that scene…I got back about an hour ago, and since then have been catching up on email, so I’m not any further than I was when I left for lunch. I’ll have to break again here soon for day job antics followed by supper plans, but I hope to report in with a complete scene before the day is through! Subscribe in a reader
Breaking for Lunch…but got most of a scene done! I had hoped for the whole thing by noon but you can’t have it all. I hope to finish up when I get back, and if possible start another. Hope you’re off being productive! Subscribe in a reader
So Far, So SlowSo far, it’s been an hour and I’ve written a whole 150 words. Grrr. If the phone would just stop ringing… Off to try and double the word count before another client catastrophe ensues! Subscribe in a reader
Caught up on crits!Hopefully I will make many many blog posts today as I check in with progress. I was up at 7:30am, and so far have revised 1 scene (all that was left to revise from recent crits) and now have nothing else (story-wise) to prevent me from moving forward with the WIP. Check back with me in a couple hours, and lay me a fish-slap upside the head if I’m not reporting in with another scene written! Subscribe in a reader
December 12, 2007Erica Ridley, Tairen Soul
I’m halfway through my friend C. L. Wilson‘s series (because only 2 of 4 have hit the shelves) and firmly in love with the hero’s right hand man Bel. (If you also love him, back off. He’s mine.) But I couldn’t miss hanging out with C. L. Wilson in person this weekend at the TARA holiday party! Here’s the Tairen queen and myself: YOUR TURN: What did you do this weekend? Are you gearing up for the holiday season or do you wish it would pass you by? If you exchange presents this time of year, how are you doing on your list? Subscribe in a reader
December 10, 2007I’m Rubber, You’re Glue…I’d like to chat about stories and subjectivity. I was reminded of a few things recently when a friend of mine went through some tough times: Published != Easy This is for all you aspiring authors out there. Published does not equal easy. Don’t forget that. Just because Debut Debbie just scored $150,000 for her regency alien time travel secret baby western doesn’t mean she has it made. It means she’ll have $150k more than you–but only if she turns in her book on time, addresses her revision letters to the editor’s satisfaction, and so on. Editors != Yes-men Don’t assume that once you get that contract, the editor will love every word you put to paper. Maybe she will! I have some friends whose editors rarely give big picture changes and limit the majority of their comments to the occasional line edit. I have other friends whose manuscripts come back with more red than white. Neither of those things is good or bad–the editor is there to ensure the publishing house publishes a salable book. They’re in the business of making money. Editor != Friend What I mean by this is, it’s your editor’s job to be your editor, but it is not her job to be your friend. She is first and foremost an employee of a publishing house, and to that end, she possesses a personality of her own. Maybe she has a calm, empathetic, thoughtful personality. Maybe she does not. Whether you get a light edit or a change-every-word edit has nothing to do with how much the editor likes you or the story. But how she presents her comments has everything to do with her personality and the manner in which she does her job. If authors turn in a story to a contest or an agent and it comes back with the words “This sucks” or “You suck” and nothing else, we have no idea where we or the story went wrong. The editor’s job is articulating her concerns in such a manner that the author is able to address them. Compliments and insults are just gravy. Neither is required, but be prepared to get them. Please share your opinions! Subscribe in a reader
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