Sasha White

It’s been a busy week. I’m not sure I mentioned it before, but I’m renovating my bathroom-the only bathroom in my condo. Last week I had huge issues with the guy I’d hired to retile the tub-surround, but it’s finally done. This weekend was rip up the floors, rip out the old vanity, prep the walls for painting and put in new lighting. I’m hoping that within the next 3 or 4 days it’ll all be done. And guess who’s doing the labor?
Nope, not me.
My mom.

Yep. my mom is into all that stuff, although she did have my dad over to do some heavy lifting and climbing today since she doesn’t do hights-not even a little bit.

I’m seriously excited, and I’ll be sure to share pics when it’s all done.

In other news, uhmm, yeah. Still not getting much writing done. Some, but not as much as I should. I’ve been fighting something flu-like all week and I’m just not feeling the pressure I’d need to push through it and write faster/harder. The reason for that is because even though the ‘deadline’ was today I still haven’t got a contract for the story. I know authors who’ve turned in manuscripts before they received their contracts, and everything has been fine, but I won’t do that. It’s not that I think anything shady is going on-I don’t. I did say I’d have the story done by the 15th -and I really want to keep to the planned schedule so that it releases when I want it to – but I’m very motivated by contracts and commitments. When I have a contract, it’s my promise, and my professional duty to meet it. But I also have to admit part of the reason I haven’t pushed through things as hard as I normally would is that I figure if I have to be professional and meet my deadline, the publisher should too.

What do you think?

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I’ve said it before and I”ll say it again. I can;t believe how fast this year has gone by. I had plans to do so much, and most of them are started, but not finished. It’s a new problem for me. I’ve always been someone who finished everything she started. I still will …maybe.

I’m saying maybe because I read something somewhere a while ago, (Can’t remember if it was a blog or a magazine article and despite trying I can’t find it again) about knowing when to let a good idea go. It was about how not all good ideas are the right idea for a story. That’s where I am now. After taking some time off because I couldn’t think of any ideas, I now have a multitude of them. I even have a scene or two for each of them, but which idea s the one I should be working on right now? That is a question that needs careful thought.

It’s easy to say you write the one that calls to you the strongest, but what if none of them are really calling to you? Or if all of them are? How do you decide which one to focus on first? I’ve tried thinking about the market, and thinking about which will have a better chance at getting me a new agent. Which one will readers want the most? None of that has helped so for me the answer is easy. I flip a coin.

Yes, I do. Seriously.

I’ve made a lot of major decisions in my life by flipping a coin. Sounds silly to a lot of people I know but it works for me. Sometimes I do what the coin says. Other times when i see what the coin says the bottom of my stomach falls out and I know instinctively that’s the wrong answer – so I do the opposite. So the coin toss acts as a “gut check” when I get too wrapped up in my own head to think straight.

What do you do when you need to make a choice and just can’t decide?

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My Horoscope for Friday
Don’t be afraid to challenge your own excuses, for until you constantly check yourself, you run the risk of establishing a truth for one reason and sticking to it for another. Just because something was true or valid in the past is no reason to assume that remains the case. You’ve got to be open to constantly revising your version of the truth, knowing that it changes and evolves as your life does. Continue to have an open mind.

You know these things, they come in to your email box every day after you sign up, some of them make sense, some are so generalized you don’t even read them (Well, for me anyway). This one is pretty generalized too, but when I started to read it, it struck a chord. Especially after my post at Genreality Wednesday. I got some great advice on how to get myself focussed again, but really, it all comes down to one thing – take it seriously, and get to work.

I think the universe has just cracked the whip over me.

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My horoscope for today. It sounds scarily accurate.

“All your instincts are telling you that you’re at a major crossroads in your life, with the filters through which you viewed and defined your world changing. Where before you saw the world through the people in your life, either being directly influenced by them or by having the same shared philosophies or outlook, that is changing. This may cause you to wonder why people in your life are changing, but they’re not, you are.”

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People have a variety of reactions when you tell them you’re a writer. I’m sure that doesn’t surprise you.

Lately I’ve had a variety of reactions when I say I’m a writer. Does that surprise you?

A big part of me feels pride because everyone, at some point in the conversation, asks if you’ve been published, and I can answer yes. But a part of me feels like a fraud. It was 2 years ago I decided I needed a break to figure some things out, and I haven’t written anything new in over a year. I’ve written words, pages, even, but they’ve gone nowhere yet. They are just samples of ideas that tease my brain. None have truly caught my imagination yet, and this frustrates me. What frustrates me even more than that is the fact that I was waiting until one catches my imagination.

You see, I’ve never been someone who waited for inspiration before. I got into writing to change my career, change my life, and that was what motivated me. I followed Calls For Submissions, and I wrote what publishers wanted. That’s how I sold. But after several years of that, I was feeling burnt out- so I took a break. I thought I could take some time and write something ‘just for fun’ and I’d feel all re-juvinated. It never happened.

Only recently I accepted that no matter how much I want to be like many of my author friends who love to write, I have to be true to me. The truth is I don’t actually enjoy writing. I hate sitting at a desk all day, I suck at typing, and grammar rules confuse the hell out of me. However, I love holding a book in my hands and knowing that the story came from my imagination. It’s something I, and I alone, did. I don’t mind editing, and I enjoy promoting my work. I love talking about the stories and characters-after the book is written.

This is not to say I don’t feel satisfaction after a day at the computer when I look at my pages and think, “Wow, I like that scene.” I like telling the stories, I just don’t like typing them up. I love to brainstorm with friends. I’ll think of a great idea, and be excited about it so I’ll tell a friend about it. Then after I think about it, and talk about it, the urge to write it is gone. This is why writing a full synopsis beforehand is detrimental to me. This is why I don’t plot. It’s not that I don’t like writing the synopsis, or plotting out a story. I’ve learned that I don’t mind doing that stuff. They’re creative and fun, and take a short amount of time. But once those are done, I no longer have the urge to write the story. I already know how it ends, so for me, it’s time to move on. It’s the physical act of writing that I don’t really enjoy. And accepting that has helped me find out what I need to do to continue my career as a writer.

Armed with that knowledge I emailed Crissy Brashear, the publisher of Samhain. I love Crissy. She’s business smart, and she is available to her authors. She listened to me, and she didn’t laugh me off, or put me off. Nope, instead she told me what she wanted form me as an author, she got out her cattle prod, got me an editor to work with, and now I have a contract and a deadline. Yes, deadlines do me well. They motivate me. They help me turn off my brain so I can just write without thinking too much. What am I writing right now? Here’s a short blurb…

One Weekend
Sarah Wilson is in love. Rick Craig is her perfect match, he’s good looking, ambitious, and adventurous in more ways than one.
But what happens to their perfect relationship when another man comes between them, literally, and secret passions are revealed by all?

Novella, deadline Nov 15, release date April 2010.

Now I’m writing again.

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At the beginning of September some friends and I did a writers retreat in Washington State. When the writers retreat part of the trip was over, me and my buddy Delilah Devlin spent a few days bumming around Seattle.

DD: Sasha gave me access to her blog to post some comments, so here I go!

When the retreat ended, Sasha and I stayed with my cousin and his partner in Seattle. Sasha took this pic in my cousin’s back yard. She said, “Pick up the baby gargoyle and let me take a shot!” Little did I know the joke was on me. Who knew the gargoyle and I would bear such a strong resemblance! I do love it though.

Sasha Here: I asked you to pick it up so I could get a picture because your story with a gargoyle hero had just released. I know that little guy didn’t resemble your hero, but I thought it was cute.

My cousin and his partner took Sasha and I to Pioneer Square in downtown Seattle so that we could make a tour of the Underground. I know, all the lovely places we could have gone, but we wanted to see the nasty bits. That’s writers for you. Not quite sure what this shot’s supposed to convey, but you can see a bit of the architecture.

Sasha : It’s the shop right next to where the first part of our Underground tour started. That first part of the tour started through a door to the left o the Cafe, and we came back up in that alley to the right of the cafe. So we went around all underground and behind it. PLus, I thought it was cool cus the sign for the shop says “Seattles Oldest Restaurant” on it.

This shot is definitely in The Underground. If you don’t know, Seattle was originally built at sea level. When more people moved in and they built a sewage system, they had real problems every time the tide rolled in. They posted the tide timetable in the newspaper so folks knew when not to flush, otherwise they’d have geysers of nasty backwash. So when the town burned down in the late 1800’s, they rebuilt the streets higher than the ground. Businesses on either sides of the streets had to build up their foundations and put their entrances on the second floors. Everything beneath became The Underground. There was an intricate system of walkways beneath the ground with skylights in the sidewalks above to let in light. Some of those underground structures still exist, and we got to roam the parts that haven’t been closed to the public. 

Sasha: One of my few from the actual underground that turned out. I really need to learn more about my cameras lighting features.

Without artificial lighting, The Underground would be dark as a cave. She shot this of me with just her flash. Of course she didn’t tell me I was sweaty and bedraggled from the rain.

Sasha: I love this shot. I think it’s all moody and cool, especially considering some of the Dark Vampire stuff you write.

After a day of slogging around The Underground, we picked up takeout at a Chinese restaurant and headed home. Seattle is pretty hilly, almost as bad as San Francisco in parts. Sasha was on the uphill looking down at us.

Photos and information about the writers retreat part of the trip are coming up in a separate post at a later date.

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Does any one here watch Private Practice? Didi you seas the season opener last night? My lord, I think I had tears rolling right from the start. You see, I actually forgot how it ended, (the whole Violet /baby/ crazy person thing.) So the beginning startled me, and then it all came rushing back. I love it when a show gets to me emotionally like that.

Then there was SUPERNATURAL. I’ve been a super fan of this show from the start, although I have questioned where some of the storylines last season were going. ANd at the end of last weeks episode when it looked like they were going to continue to pit brother against brother, I was not feeling the love for Eric Kripke. However, I am once again a believer. I can’t wait to see the rest of this season with the boys kicking ass together!!

I’m not sure what I think of this season of BONES yet. So far it hasn’t stood out as anything great, or anything disappointing. Same with The Mentalist. I like it, but I’m waiting. Criminal Minds is in the same’ol same’ol category too. I’m glad Hotch lived, but that series is never one that I’ve waited for the next episode with baited breath. I like it. I watch it every week, and some are fantastic, others are good. It rarely disappoints.

LIE TO ME on the other hand, still has me completely hooked. Still want more. Same with SONS OF ANARCHY. I love that show. I want Jax for myself. And I can’t wait to see what happens next!

What about you? what are you watching? What are you impatient for each week? Any new shows I should be checking out?

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It’s Wednesday, and I’m over at Genreality talking about how I think strories are better when they include sex. :) Why don’t you drop by and share your opinion?

It’s my day off form the bar, and I think I’m going to go see FAME. I should be writing today. I have the full day, and a story in my head, but I really ant to see this show. I loved the TV series when I was growing up, and the trailer for it makes me think I’ll love the movie as well. And if it’s as good as I think it will be, then it will most likely inspire me to plant my ass in the chair, and chase my own dreams, without a bag of potato ships at my side.

Plus, Kherington from So You Think You Can Dance is in it. I think it’s awesome to see her int he movie after watching her audition for STYCD. I became a fan of hers during her time onthe show, so this will be great.

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I spent the weekend out of town at a Trade show with my mom, selling her wares. (She’s all sorts of crafty and creative.) On the drive back the scenery was beautiful, one of the best things about living in Canada is that yes, we are all apred out up here, but it’s so that we can still enjoy the nature that surrounds us.

Here are a couple of photos of the sunset taken on the drive home-while the truck was moving. Mom refused to stop just so I could take pictures. LOL

The ones below I played with in photoshop. Can’t can’t decide which one I like best. Which one do you like?

You can see some of my other photos from teh whole summer at my Photoblog.

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Kensington Editor Kate Duffy has passed away, and I can’t think of any way to explain what that means to me. She wasn’t my editor, and she wasn’t my friend. I’d met her at several conferences, was lucky enough to have had drinks and meals with her at various times. She was straightforward, smart, and funny. And she wasn’t scared to have a couple of shooters either! She was a wonderful woman, and she’ll be missed.

The Borders True Romance Blog has a videoclip of Kate that I love. It gives you just a glimpse of her sly humor, and her love for romance and publishing.

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