Today I’m over at Lynn Townsend’s blog, talking about writing, Among the Stars, and monkeys. Head over to Paid by the Weird to read my interview.
Photo credit: me
Filed under: In Progress, Interviews, Parenting, process, Writing | Tagged: Among the Stars, Capturing the Moment, Coming Together: Among the Stars, delilah night, irresistible, Lynn Townsend, Siem Reap | Leave a comment »
Here’s what you need to know about my work in progress.
Six years ago Arjun (RJ) and Megan each broke the other’s heart. Even with the passage of time, they’re still not over each other.
RJ crashes Megan’s vacation in Siem Reap, Cambodia with the assistance of her sister. Due to delayed canceled flights, Megan is there for only one day instead of her planned four. He’s got 24 hours to show her that he’s grown up and is worthy of a second chance. Megan decides that what she needs is one last fling with RJ so she can get him out her system once and for all.
Will he win her back, or is she too scared that he’ll just break her heart again?
Photo credit: me
When I saw a call for stories set in different cities throughout the world, I immediately thought of Siem Reap, Cambodia. I fulfilled my dream of seeing Angkor Wat in May of 2014, and fell in love with the city in the process. I drew heavily on my experiences there when writing this novella.
I finished the first draft late last week and will be editing it over the course of the next few at which point I’ll be asking friends to beta read (friends–poke me if you think you might want to) while I send off the pitch and first 5k words to the call.
In the excerpt below, Megan is reeling from the surprise of seeing RJ. She’s just arrived in Siem Reap, and has rushed to Angkor Wat to shoot the temple at dawn (see my photo above). She’s taken refuge in the tent stalls next to the lake. (See below) The wedding mentioned is Rachel’s–her sister, and one of his closest friends from college–the person who introduced them in the first place.
photo credit: me
I can’t believe he’s here. This is almost as bad as if he were at the wedding.
“Oh. My. God. The wedding.” The bottle froze halfway to her lips. “Where is he?”
Meg scanned the crowd of tourists that were now crawling over Angkor Wat. Where had he gone? Was he invited to the wedding? She pulled out her cell phone to ask Rachel the question she’d never thought to ask before now. There was no signal.
Rachel, did you invite Arjun to your wedding? How could you?
Picking the bottle back up, and suddenly wishing it was a beer, Meg took a swig of the soda.
“Want to share that?”
She choked on the liquid, coughing and gasping. RJ’s hand pounded rhythmically on her back.
“Stop that! I’m—” Meg fought her way through another coughing fit. “Fine!” She tried to pull it together. Panting a bit, she took another cautious sip. What had been blissfully cool relief was now cloying sweetness. Disgusted, she put the bottle down.
“Why are you here? Don’t feed me any of your charming bullshit.”
He gave her a lazy smile. “Rachel told me you’d be here.”
Traitor!
“And you decided to just gate crash my dream vacation as a way to catch up? If you wanted to get in touch with me to warn me you’d be at the wedding, you could’ve just used Facebook like a normal person.”
“This wasn’t just your dream vacation, remember?”
RJ and Meg curled on his bed, daydreaming about where they would travel. They had always ended up in Asia—scuba diving in Indonesia, Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, the Golden Temple of Amritsar in India, the elephant sanctuary in Chang Mai, Thailand, and more.
Junior year he’d given her a poster of Angkor Wat at dawn as an end of term gift. It had lived on walls in dorm rooms and apartments ever since. Angkor Wat had come to symbolize all their dreams for the future. When they’d talked of getting married, spending their Honeymoon in Cambodia had been a given.
After the break-up she’d burned the poster.
“You’re unreal.” Meg shook her head in disbelief.
“Spend the day with me.”
“Why should I?”
“Because if you don’t, you’ll always wonder what it would have been like. I’m not going to pester you during Rachel’s wedding. Besides you’d be too busy to flirt with me if I’m a welcome surprise. And too much of a lady to curse me out in front of everyone if I’m not.” He flashed her an impudent smile. A dimple winked at her from both cheeks.
He knew her too well.
You know you would’ve been picturing him here with you even before you knew he was here. Now that he is, can you really walk away? Have you ever had much willpower when it came to those dimples?
“Just because I agree to hang out with you today and let you try to sweet talk your way into my panties doesn’t mean you’re going to succeed, RJ.”
He leaned forward and whispered in her ear, “Just remember that I’m not the one who brought up the idea of me getting into your panties. You are.”
I hope you’re curious to know what happens next…
Filed under: In Progress, Writing | Tagged: cambodia, Capturing the Moment, delilah night, Erotic Romance, Novella, Siem Reap | 5 Comments »
2014 was only the second year in which I have felt like I could legitimately call myself a professional author. Inspired by Lynn’s far more impressive year in review post, I decided to do my own.
This year I wrote four new short stories and edited a story from 2012 that’s been sitting on my hard drive.
Two stories that had been accepted in 2013 were published this year
I created my official Goodreads author page and added my books to it.
Ghost Novel Progress (aka That Damn Novel I STILL haven’t finished yet)
I’m pretty disappointed that in 2014 I only made it through chapters 3-6 (and I hope to update this at the end of December with several more chapters–7 is mostly written, and I have outlines for most of the novel’s chapters).
My goal had been to finish the entire first draft and it didn’t happen. Part of this is that my time management sucks and I own that. I’ve also been afraid to suck, which I talked about in this post. I’m starting to work past that anxiety so I can make forward progress. I’m also learning that it’s okay if the story doesn’t always get written in perfect order. These may seem like obvious things, but they’ve become personal hang-ups.
The ghost novel was first written for a Literotica Halloween short story contest over a decade ago. (Sidenote-Delilah Night wasn’t the name I used there, and I have since deleted that account and the related stories from Lit.) The characters have been haunting me since–no pun intended. This is the third or fourth time I’ve tried to write it as a novel in the past 10+ years. I always seem to hit a point where I (a) am frustrated with my slow progress (b) freeze because I refuse to move on until I’m completely happy with the existing chapter or (c) I write myself into a corner and can’t figure my way out. So I put down the metaphorical pen and move on with other projects both writing and otherwise.
I’ve wondered if this is the wrong first novel to try to write professionally–perhaps there’s too much baggage associated with it? However, I’ve let some people read what I’ve written thus far in this attempt and they’ve encouraged me to keep going. At this point, I’m my own biggest obstacle. Part of me feels like finishing this book in particular—regardless of whether in the end the book is publishable, or ever sells a copy, or needs to be burned because it sucks—the act of successfully taking a novel from writing to publication once will allow me to do it again without needing a multi-year process. Also, this book needs to get out of my head so I can focus on the other books I’m dreaming up.
When I see writers like Lynn, Alison, Sommer, etc doing as many projects in a year as they do I feel intimidated. Just how do they do that? I’m sure, though, that the answer is experience will bring improvement.
How do I think I did?
I had hoped to write more stories this year, but I am really happy with where my skills are today versus a year ago. I’m learning to identify and short circuit some bad habits (ex.–characters begin to do things instead of just doing them). My start to finish speed on short stories has improved. I’ve made a number of friends online this year within the community.
Overall, I’m pleased with 2014.
Goals for 2015
I said it before, but I’m saying it again–by the end of 2015, I want AT MINIMUM a full first draft of the Ghost Novel
I would like to write around 10 short stories. I haven’t been good about writing stories without a specific call in mind, but I’m hoping to do so even when there’s no call out that speaks to me.
I want to look at where I am a year from now and to know viscerally that I am better at my craft then than I am today.
Filed under: acceptance, In Progress, novel, process, Published, Submitted, Writing | Tagged: 2014 year in review, 2015 goals, Alessia Brio, Alison Tyler, Among the Stars, baby it's hot outside, Choices, Coming Together: Among the Stars, Coming Together: For the Holidays, delilah night, Doctor's Orders, For the Holidays, Ghost Novel, Jessica Augustsson, Just for Him, Love is a Virus, Lynn Townsend, New On the Naughty List, nine to five fantasies, other days, Plunder, sommer marsden, Sucking, writing | 13 Comments »
This week I submitted a story unlike anything I’ve ever written before. It was the first non-erotic piece of fiction I’ve written since high school or my early college years, which pushed me pretty far outside of my comfort zone. While my novel has two distinct stories happening in different time periods, there are clear time lines and what has happened in the past can’t be changed. “Choices” has multiple timelines and the past can be changed…at least once. It went through many iterations before my editor and I found a way to tell the story that worked, instead of being a bunch of random scenes, making it a story that went through a very different writing process than my work typically does. Finally, it was a different experience for me in that it was the first time I’ve been asked to write a story for a specific anthology rather than submitting to an open call for submissions.
The story was inspired by a fairly unlikely source–the movie Kate and Leopold. It occurred to me that the only real difference between Leopold and someone diagnosed with mental health issues in the real world is unbearable hotness. Why else would you believe his story? What would happen if I started swearing that I was from the future? I would most likely end up medicated and/or committed. But what if that happened AND I was right? What then? Thus “Choices” was born.
I think we can all agree I wouldn’t get a commercial
You will hopefully be seeing “Choices” in print before the end of the year–more information as I have it. Today, though, you’ll get a sneak peek
Temporal Authority Central Processing Center – Admiral David Smithson’s office
“Do you know why you’re here?” The admiral raised an eyebrow at Commander Jenna Robinson.
“Because my fourth request for a starship captaincy was the charm?” At least, she hoped that was why she’d been called in.
He glared at her. “Try again. You took Charlotte Donnelly into custody today, didn’t you?”
Uh oh. Should’ve known he’d find out.
“Yes. I removed her before she could splinter the timeline.”
“Commander. The guidelines clearly state you can’t interfere with your own lineage until you are at least 10 generations removed. You are four generations—”
“Five.”
“Commander!” She’d witnessed volcanic explosions with less heat than his eyes were emitting.
Jenna ground her teeth. “Sorry. Sir. But can the record state that if I hadn’t interfered, I wouldn’t be standing here to have this argument with you—”
Smithson cut her off. “Let’s go see your granny. Her records are now designated OEO.”
Our eyes only.
“Yes. Sir.”
I do want to state up front that I don’t mean to make light of mental health issues. I have bipolar disorder and I know all too well that medication can be the thing that makes it possible to live instead of barely survive your day to day life. However, one of my deepest fears is losing the line between fiction and reality; of one day needing more help than medication can give me. So, in some way, taking someone who has been considered beyond help and validating that they were right and the world was wrong I’m also attempting to defang that fear. Sort of.
At any rate, this has been an at times painful learning process, and I hope it won’t be the last time I publish something non-erotic.
Filed under: acceptance, In Progress, process, Submitted, Writing | Tagged: delilah night, fiction, time travel story, work in progress, writing process | 4 Comments »
About a week ago I sat down to write a new story. Before I knew what had happened, Ia found myself taken hostage aboard a pirate ship by quite possibly my favorite hero and heroine to date….
“Put it down, lad. Don’t think to try me,” he warned her.
Defiantly she stepped out of line and faced him. He raised an eyebrow when he saw she was no lad. His distraction presented the perfect opportunity; her sword sliced through the air. Bree grinned fiercely as she scored first blood, but her victory was short-lived. It was humiliating how quickly he disarmed her. She found herself face down on the deck with the pirate captain’s boot planted firmly on her back.
This would never have happened if Papa hadn’t sent me away. Fighting had been yet another useful skill she’d had to abandon in favor of nonsense like bossing around servants. Maids were bigger crybabies than seasick boys on their first sail.
“This girl has more courage than the rest of you scum put together. At least she tried to kill me,” he said derisively.
The boot was removed and he hauled her to her feet. She immediately cocked a fist. “Quite the spitfire, aren’t you?” He picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder.
Her blood boiled. “Go to hell!” She beat at his back ineffectively as he carried her to the quarterdeck. She was put down with her back to the railing.
The pirate imprisoned her hands in one of his own. “I have a proposition for you, minx. You’ve given me more amusement in the past five minutes than I’ve had in a long time. Amuse me tonight and I don’t kill your crewmates. Maybe you’ll even please me so well that I’ll let you keep your ship.”
The roar in her ears wasn’t the ocean. “What?”
“Don’t disappoint me now. Is the idea of my bed so repulsive that you’d rather lose your ship?”
Brianna swallowed. “How do I know you’ll honor the bargain?” My body is to be a bargaining chip no matter what.Better to use it for the Maya than submit to whomever Papa chose.
He gave her a feral smile. “You don’t.”
I’ve submitted this to an anthology, and will hopefully have news for you about this story in the future.
I want to thank Lace Winter for joining my beta readers for this story. It’s so helpful to have a fresh set of eyes, and Lace gave me really helpful feedback.
Filed under: In Progress, Writing | Tagged: delilah night, lace winter, pirate story, Plunder, story in progress | 6 Comments »
I’ve mentioned on and off that I have a novel in progress. One of the things I need to do to really progress as a writer is learn how to do this faster, but that’s not the focus of today’s post.
Today I’m going to share a peek into my Work In Progress which for blog purposes we’ll call “The Ghost Story”
I have a dual timeline going on. In this section, we’re in the past–1834. This timeline’s heroine, Vivienne, is at the Quadroon Ball looking for a man to make a plaçage arrangement with. She has met Ben–a man who excited both her mind and body on the dance floor, but he’s an American and not a Creole, and is thus unacceptable. Her mother–for it was mothers most frequently who formalized plaçage agreements–has decided to make an arrangement with one of her father’s contemporaries, Monsieur Fortage.
Danielle’s hand squeezed Vivienne’s arm painfully. “Allons y, Vivienne! Fortage is waiting for you on the balcony. Maitenent!” Now. It was an order, and one she did not know how to avoid.
“Oui, Maman. But—just a moment. I wish to freshen myself before I go to Monsieur Fortage,” she said, ducking her head obediently.
“Don’t tarry. You secure both our futures tonight. You’ll see—the hours out of bed and our return home will make up for any—unpleasantness—you may endure in the bedroom.”
She knows. She knows how horrible it will be to have that gaping carp of a man thrashing about in my bed. Vivienne began to make her way to the ladies lounge, trying to decide if one drink would be enough liquid courage to accept his offer or if more would be needed.
Benjamin fell into step beside here. “I see you got in trouble because of me. My apologies, Vivienne.”
“No. Thank you. I’ll treasure the memory of our dances while—“ she stopped abruptly.
“While you submit to whatever man your mother orders you to?”
She nodded.
“Why?” he demanded. “Why not your choice? Why not me?”
The ache between her legs at the thought was nearly unbearable. He’d be someone she would welcome to her bed. “You’re American. I just….. It’s not…. I can’t. I want to say yes, but I–”
He took her hand and pulled her past the entrance to the ladies lounge and into the deserted hallway beyond. “Tell me what I must do to convince you.”
“It’s not me you’d need to convince. Maman would never consent. She has already found me a match, and I am to obey. The only thing that could change her mind would be—“
“-Would be?”
Her face burned. “Would be to find me in bed with a man who would swear to take me as his left hand wife. At that point it would be too late for her to negotiate a contract with Monsieur Fortage.”
His breath was ragged. “Would you take such a risk with me?”
She intended to say no. Fortage was security. She owed it to her mother to secure their future. To get their home back. She opened her mouth to tell him as much.
“Yes.”
Not about the quadroon balls, but I can’t wait to see the movie “Belle”. It’s similarly relevant to my interests in race and gender.
Filed under: In Progress, novel, Writing | Leave a comment »
As a publisher of queer books for over two decades, Cleis Press is committed to encouraging LGBTQ people to be visible, free, and well-pleasured. The presence of LGBTQ voices in literature is dear to our hearts.
In celebration of Pride month, we’re kicking off a brand new project we’re calling Out Writers. Join us—and a tide of queer voices—in celebrating the importance of LGBTQ writing. Want to get involved? Please take a moment to share a sentence or two about why queer writers are important, and/or what it means to you to write as LGBTQ author, and use the hashtag #OutWriters.
I suppose that I write LGBT characters for the most obvious reason possible–I’m also a member of the LGBT community. More to the point, I write bisexual women because I am a bisexual woman.
Too frequently I see bisexual women portrayed as bisexual as part of a threesome for the benefit of their male lover, or that a scene with another woman is painted as a “lesbian” scene. I write bisexual women because I’m writing a story right now which has a bisexual female protagonist, and had it referred to as a lesbian story.
Bi invisibility is an issue in the real world and in the literary world, and anything I can do to help mitigate that is a worthy thing.
Filed under: In Progress, process, Writing | Tagged: #outwriters, delilah night, LGBT characters | Leave a comment »
*****Edited to add–I ended changing Gemma’s name to Lucy as a story already under contract at that time had a character named Jenna and I didn’t want confusion. This story was accepted for publication in Coming Together: For the Holidays, edited by Alessia Brio, expected publication date Dec 2014. Read an updated excerpt here****
I wrote an erotic story about one of Santa’s elves back in 2012. It’s still looking for a home. However, I am writing other stories set in the same world (I really love these characters) so I may eventually self-publish.
Here’s a snippet.
‘Are you Matthew?’ Gemma asked.
‘Yeah. You are…’
‘Gemma. I think the mailman was dyslexic. I live in 3C at 32 Fairfax, and he left this at my apartment.’ She smiled and held up the Amazon box.
Matthew relaxed. “Thanks. Not many people would bother to bring it over in person.” He stepped back, gesturing her inside.
‘”It’s Christmas. I thought I’d play Santa’s elf,” she winked at him as she entered. “What’s the book?”
“Uh, well…’”he faltered.
His awkwardness was cute. If only he wasn’t on the Naughty list. She’d always had a thing for men in wire-frame glasses. ‘75 ways to murder a stranger who delivers Amazon packages to your door?’ she teased. ‘Unless it’s that, what’s there to be embarrassed about?’
He turned bright red and cleared his throat. ‘Um, it’s a book of Christmas erotica.’
A delicious idea invaded the elf’s mind: what better way to find out if he was a sexual deviant than to find out first hand?
Filed under: In Progress, Writing | Tagged: Alison Tyler, baby it's hot outside, delilah night, summer loving | 1 Comment »
I have made the terrifying decision to commit to writing a novel. I’ve successfully been writing, submitting, and occasionally getting accepted to short story anthologies for a few years now. I feel like I can legitimately call myself an author.
I have grown tremendously as an author these last few years. Every story has been an opportunity to grow, every rejection a lesson (sometimes you own that a story wasn’t ready, or that sometimes a story is solid and just didn’t work for this anthology), every acceptance a special thrill.
When I was a child, I loved books. I still do. I’ve always looked at authors as magical beings-they create worlds and populate them, they invent people who I care about as if they were real, and best of all they share those people and worlds with me.
I regard authors like Anne Bishop, Maureen Johnson, Alison Tyler, Susan Kay, Lillian Jackson Braun, Mercedes Lackey and countless others in the same way other people sit in awe of athletes, musicians, actors and so forth.
I respect them, but like a sports team, there can be bad seasons. Mercedes Lackey-every Valdemar book after either the Winds or Storm trilogy depending on my mood has sucked to the point where I’ve had to abandon the series. Yet her Vanyel trilogy of Magic’s Pawn, Magic’s Pride and Magic’s Price remains a pivotal series in my development as a person because Vanyel was the first gay person I’d met and cared about.
Then there are the amazing seasons. I reread the Jewels series by Anne Bishop regularly because I’ve grown to love those characters so much I want to visit with them regularly. I reread Gone With the Wind every few years because my opinion of Scarlett and understanding of her actions has changed dramatically as I’ve aged-what I found impressive as a teen looks the poorly thought out impulses of an idiot 16 year old from the lofty age of 34.
I want to do that. I want to be the kind of author who leaves you wanting to know what happens next, to see more of my worlds, and inspires you to care about my characters. I truly hope that people feel that way about my stories, especially my new acceptances when the anthologies they’re included in come out.
But the dream has always extended past short stories. I want to write a book where I’m not one of many, and you buy it because my world intrigues you.
That is what I’m embarking upon-writing my first full length novel. I’ve hired Jessica, who is both a personal friend and a professional editor to figuratively crack the whip-giving me deadlines and feedback. Obviously I hope the book will be published. Even if it isn’t, I know the experience will be invaluable in the lessons I’ll learn. With hard work and persistence I believe I will publish novel length stories as well.
I still plan to work on short stories. They provide a break from the world of the novel. As stories are accepted, they help build my resume. Writing credentials may help my novels’ odds of getting fished out of the slush pile.
Wish me luck.
Filed under: In Progress, Writing | Tagged: delilah night, paranormal romance | Leave a comment »
I’m working on a BDSM story for an anthology. Loved the start, loved the middle…and now I’m stuck. I got caught up in two scenes that had immediately popped into my head, and gave no thought whatsoever as to how to end it.
There are several issues, in this case
1-It’s not as BDSM-y as I think the anthology would like
2-I have a strong suspicion that it’s a novella or a novel and not a short story.
3-I know that I’m hitting the fish or cut bait moment if I actually want to submit to this particular anthology, so I’m feeling the pinch.
4-I have a really good idea for another story brewing, although it doesn’t fit any current calls for submission.
5-I’ve been a bit inspired to dissect and begin to rebuild the novel, so there’s part of me that wants to throw all the short term projects into the “in progress” folder and focus on that exclusively.
I’m feeling very indecisive and stuck. What do you do when you feel like this as a writer? (Or in life in general?)
Filed under: In Progress, process, Writing | Tagged: delilah night | 1 Comment »
delilahnight.com 