Beth’s Blog

I’ve got a ton of big-time deadlines this month.

Nothing like a deadline to get those creative juices flowing.

Well, maybe not.

Yesterday afternoon, I went through one of the driest writing slumps of my career.

I sat down to type and nothing. Ab-so-lute-ly NOTHING. Blank page. Blank mind. Blank everything.

Talk about terrifying.

I stared at the screen as pure panic rose in my throat, fingers silent on the keyboard.

How could this happen? Why me? Why now?

I sat back, stared at Lucy the Rat Terrier Wonder Dog and decided not to push it.

I snapped on her leash and headed outside. After I got home, I read a ton of recipe books deciding on what to make for supper. (I settled on Taco John’s take-out. That’s what happens when you forget to combine planning with action.)

This morning I read. And read. And read some more.

As I sat to write, words began to flow.

That’s when I realized I’d been neglecting to “fill my cup.”

How can we writers expect words to flow when we don’t regularly “fill our cup” by reading at least as much as we write?

I’ve been disseminating this tid-bit of advice for years. I hate it when I forget to follow my own recommendations.

Now go forth… avoid my newbie mistake. Fill your cup.

Talk later,

Beth, who’s back to enjoying her writing (and reading) binge.

Yahoo News tells us that romance readers want “more” and romance.

In fact, they go so far as to say:
“More women want more fiction about what’s going on between the sheets, book publishers say.
“’If you had said five years ago, ‘erotic, hot, sexy romances,’ people would have said ‘What, are you crazy?’ ” says Kensington editor in chief John Scognamiglio. “Publishing goes in cycles. Erotica now seems to be the new hot thing.’”
Wow. Erotica?

Could be interesting, eh? Bet this bit ‘o news will have an impact on the next “romantic” scene you write.

Here’s the whole story:

http://tinyurl.com/pmkr2

Talk later!

Beth (whose first novel “The Almach” was said to have had “sex scenes hotter than desert sand.” Guess I was ahead of this trend…)