Get out of my head

I have a stretch of days off, and I haven't slept many of them. It might be the normal night schedule or the voices inside my head.

When writing something new, what is it that brings that story to life?

Is it your first thought when you wake-up or did it wake you up?

I fall into the wake me up category. "My Redneck Boyfriend " is such a story. It refuses to sleep or be forgotten about for a minute. It consumes my thoughts and dreams in a way that I haven't felt before. It has a constant movie running in my head that won't rest. Not that I haven't lost sleep before over some book I'm writing. Might just be who I am. I'm passionate about what I write; that's the bottom line.

I made it to the 5,000 word mark and hope to add another 2,000 words today. I'm at the point where I'm wondering if it can develop into a 80,000 word book. I have yet to write a book that is 80,000 words on the first draft. I'm an adder. Stopping in the 60s is something I'm more comfortable doing. This is my first shot at writing romance, there shouldn't be any mystery other than what's going to happen next. Not that I haven't written romance before, all of my books involve a romantic element. Even "The Bone Extractor" where you wouldn't expect one.

This idea came out of the blue too. I told Nick I had an idea about a great book title, thinking there was some book out there somewhere named the same thing. Nope. How can you base a book from a title? That's easy for me; I have based stories from far less. When I begin a book or story, I hate the beginning because they kinda suck, and even after I write a few pages I still think it's lame. I'm not the type of writer that thinks I'm great at it. I guess it's the critic inside of me that has the power to beat me down quicker with a stick than anyone would dare. I think most of us writers have one of those. I have yet to find a way to extract the little bugger, maybe I need an exorcist. I mean what good is something that basically tells you that you're the worse writer ever. Right?

The point is that you shouldn't let the voices win. If the beginning isn't great, so what? Keep writing until you get to the point that you're happy and then go back. You'll probably find out that it wasn't that bad. It's getting past that first chapter or 1,000 words that count. You can always make changes later.

"My Redneck Boyfriend" is all about stereotypes, the ones someone from the south may have and the ones us northern people have. It's funny how that could turn out.