On Pulling A Book Out Of Thin Air

The glow of finaling in the Golden Heart is still strong, but I spent enough time celebrating over the weekend. The task for this week, my dear readers, is to write an outline for my next book (tentatively titled ONE NIGHT TO SURRENDER, although all titles are subject to change without notice). The challenge with writing the outline unfortunately extends beyond trying to remember whether to use uppercase or lowercase Roman numerals - and since it's more like a synopsis than an outline, Roman numerals never come into play. Rather, the challenge is that as of right now, all I really know is that the heroine is named Ellie and that the hero is Nicholas Claiborne, marquess of Folkestone. I'm on such a roll, right?

But despite the stress of coming up with a plot out of thin air, this is one of the most entertaining parts of the entire process, and I don't want to rush it. This is when you can fall in love with the characters, before they do something unexpected on page 150 and blow your carefully constructed plot-boat out of the water (to make a somewhat questionable metaphor). This is when you can brainstorm ridiculous plots and subplots (he's a pirate! no, he's a vampire! no, he's a were-whale!) without committing to anything. This is when it all looks like it's going to be an easy, effortless book, one that you can write in perfect bursts of productivity every afternoon before going out with friends and pretending to be a glamourous writer.

So, I intend to enjoy this week, and I will keep you posted as developments unfold. I also intend to get back into blogging now that I've emerged from my editing cave - if there are Regency topics you'd love to see addressed, please let me know!