Writing–stretch yourself

My four Emerald Hills novellas are featured on Jen’s blog right now for her Friday Foodie Affair:  http://lratrandom.blogspot.com/.  Jen was one of the first people I met when I joined Goodreads, and like so many of the people I’ve met in the groups I joined there, she’s enriched my writing and reading.  For her foodie blog, she did an author interview and posted  one of my recipes, too.  In the interview, she asked if I had other Emerald Hills novellas in mind to write, and at the time, I did.  I finished two more, but I’ve decided to use those to close out the series.   I hope to make the six of them into a bundle and start concentrating on writing more novels, less novellas.

I’m happy I wrote the Emerald Hills series.  I’ve always been a plot driven person, but I wanted to focus on more romance in those stories.  I started out small.  I hung More Than Bonbons on a mystery frame and padded it with Tana and Nate’s sparring and attraction.  I added even more mystery for Mallory’s Magical Gourds, but by the time I reached Sheri Hits The Right Notes, I was getting more comfortable with characters driving the story line.  Sole Responsibilities doesn’t have any mystery at all.  And I liked it that way.

I’m glad I tried something new, something outside my comfort zone, for that series.  I learned a lot.  Clues and action are great, but so are misunderstandings, conflicting goals, and chaotic emotions for creating conflict and tension.  By concentrating on trying to get two people together, I had to amplify the give and take of relationships, the nuances that hint at something more, and for me, what seemed nearly impossible–filling 40+ pages with two people taking one step at a time toward becoming a couple.

I didn’t think I had romance in me, but I did.  And it’s made me a better writer.  I like to try things in my writing that I’m not the best at, so that I concentrate on the “how to” of getting them right.  I hope I always keep growing as a writer.  Sometimes I bomb, and then I have to shift gears and grit my teeth for rewrites.  But that’s what second and third drafts are for, right?   So for me, it’s worth taking a chance and flexing muscles I don’t have yet, but muscles I just might get.

P.S.  The Babet & Prosper Collection II bundle will be free on Kindle from Nov. 12 to 15.      http://www.amazon.com/Babet-Prosper-Collection-II-Bogeyman-ebook/dp/B00FBG7J4I/ref=sr_1_10?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1384045162&sr=1-10&keywords=Judith+Post