Yes. And no. (Ambivalence I know. Confidence? NSM.)

I figure if I can make myself cry, I've got the audience by the throat.

It's a damned good start, anyway.

Yes. And no. (Ambivalence I know. Confidence? NSM.)

pftphftphftphftph. Silly spouse.

Huh.

Day Two of WMGGW.

Written: Most of prologue (more about that momentarily) and first half of chapter one.

Word count: 2,964, with more to come.

Projected word count: No frickin' clue.

The prologue is tricky. Since it's opening up in a SOMA rehearsal space, and I haven't been in one since 1981, I had no clue what the current toys for name band studio time might be. Ditto on modern recording studios; digital didn't exist in the days of the Record Plant and Wally Heider and Electric Ladyland's heyday. I can do guitars with the best of them, no problem there, although there seems to be a deep love of Paul Reid Smith that wasn't around thirty years ago. And on some of the keyboard stuff, I'm having warm little moments, here: ooooh! Roland! Korg! Holy shit, a Yamaha PF88! WOOT!

See, I'm a musician myself, but not a geek and definitely not a gearhead in the modern era. HUGE difference.

I have Matt and Nic as the ultimate reference source, here - they build guitars for fun, my husband's a regular up at Alembic, it's all good. But in terms of balancing how much JP - my narrator - would actually mention, his own ease with the terminology as opposed to how much the reader needs or should hear without interrupting the flow of the story with tech stuff?

Tricky. So I'm being all the way careful on the prologue.

I'm sort of glad to hear that other writers have problems like that, because I do.

Deb, if you need another hand on the recording gear ping me and I can give you some help on the stuff that would be on the other side of the glass. What consoles are the current hot ticket and what stuff is being used for recording. The instrument side I'm not as hot on, but the recording side I can help you with.

And ND rocks da house. You bet I will.

As mentioned, right now, the band's in a leased rehearsal space, SOMA - they basically have it on longterm lease, complete with security and lockup, and the equipment/PA rig would be stashed there and just wheeled out into the space by the techs and roadies when rehearsals were happening.

You know what's scary? I'm so far gone down the road from my old rock and roll days, I don't even know if the Bay Area even has any world-class recording studios anymore. We sure as hell used to - Wally Heiders, the Record Plant in Sausalito (oh, the memories...), His Masters Wheels (ah, Elliot!), but nowadays? No clue.

Happy Birthday, Teppy baby.

Deb, I wasn't able to read the rest cause when I got home, my electricity was turned off (in 95 degree heat, AND they coulda CALLED me).

So I'll be reading the rest today.

Erin, 'tis cool. BTW, last night, I took Marlene's rec and added a character to the mix in a scene in Chapter 16 - an Assistant DA. Needed there, doesn't actually say much, but does have to be there physically, because in the end, a certain decision would be his to make. Doesn't affect the outcome, but he's added in. If anyone wants that revised 16 - as I say, it doesn't change anything and is minor - yelp.

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY, angelic Teppy, to whom I sent music.

t bounce bounce bounce

One of the romance writing discussion loops I belong to has an author in this week doing a workshop on voice and finding your niche/brand in the market. You posted your questions, along with the opening page of one of your books, and she'd respond.

Given that I'm far from shy about this stuff, I posted an abbreviated version of my "historical romance v. historical epics w/ strong romantic elements" questions along with the first page of the wip. Since I was in the middle of the pack of question posts, she answered a dozen questions or so before she got to mine, and I started getting nervous. This woman, you see, pulls no punches. It's not that she takes pleasure in putting others down or can only appreciate her own kind of writing (and there are plenty like that out there, oh yes there are)--just that she's blunt and doesn't sugarcoat her advice in piles of nicey-nice writerly monkey grooming. So by the time I got her reply this morning I was braced for impact.

Here's some of what she said:

Wow. Nice voice. Nicely lyrical. Getting the epic flow. You're right. It's not the immediacy of a shorter read, but I'm there with her. Well grounded. So yes, you have a voice. And you're right, it's an epic one. You don't have to write like Diana Gabaldon or Patrick O'Brian. You just have to write like you.

...But forging your own genre path is HARD, HARD, HARD. It is however, a path forged by many great authors. And you may be one of them....But you know the problems. Epics don't generally fit in today's hurried lifestyle.

...Market wise, I'm hearing a "danger, danger Will Robinson!" On the other hand, the better you write, the better the chances that some editor out there will love your work and insist that it gets published. So...how long are you willing to wait? How much are you willing to compromise in the search for your dream?

She goes on to suggest that it might be easier to break in by finding a way to keep myself to 100,000-word romances, then build to epic length and style once I've got an editor on my side and a bit of a reader following, but that that was just her advice with no claims to be the Word From on High.

Even given that this is just one person's opinion, it's put me in a very good mood and provided some confirmation that I'm on the right path, mostly because I can tell she wouldn't have doled out the praise unless she meant it.