Say It with Diamonds review

A lovely review for Say It with Diamonds is just what I need to push me to the finishing post of the wip.

Julie at Cataromance says (among other things):

Lucy King has become one of my go-to authors for red-hot romance sprinkled with class and sass! Emotionally satisfying, fast-paced, wonderfully written and absolutely impossible to put down, Say It with Diamonds is a spellbinding sizzler packed with heart, delicious humour and first class romance. Bella is a fantastic heroine who gives Carrie Bradshaw and Becky Bloomwood a run for their money with her quick wit, intelligence and candidness and Will was a gorgeous hero I simply adored.

Funny, emotional and riveting from beginning to end, Say It with Diamonds is another winner for Lucy King!

Check out the whole review here. All I can say is wow, and thank you, Julie!

Progress report

Well, so far I've written 30k (useful) words of the book that is due in a couple of weeks (and thousands more of not so useful ones). 30k in a month is pretty good for me, if very unusual, and am hoping the next 20k come nice and fast. I rather feel I haven't been out for days and probably won't for quite a few more, but hey, who needs daylight?

A poem to my valentine

My cheeks were red
My fingers were blue
Now they are not
And it's all thanks to you
(and the electric blanket you bought me yesterday x)

And a not-so-cold Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

Angst-lite

Oh dear. In my bid to lighten up the angst in my wip, I have the sneaky suspicion that I've simplified the hero's conflict so much that he now has none.

So far it's mainly revolved around him wanting to get the heroine into bed - something she's none too keen on. This has got me to 20k but is hardly going to sustain the story for the next 30k, especially since she's got over her resistance and has just succumbed to his irresistible charms.

Hmm. I think it's time to go back and see if there any conflict strands already there that I can deepen...
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An (in)efficient process

Well, I sent the partial of my book due at the end of Feb (*gulp*) to my ed last week, and have been ploughing away at the rest.

I wish my process was more efficient. The idea of being able to write a complete first draft in, say, a matter of weeks and then going back and editing would be my idea of perfection. However, I can't get too far ahead without having to make sure what I've already written works - over and over again. By the time the thing is done, I must end up writing twice as much as the final wordcount. This is hardly efficient, but it seems to be my process so there's probably little I can do about it (Or is there? Any advice most welcome.)

What I've discovered is that this way the beginning takes an age, but the rest gets steadily quicker. Or at least that's the theory I'm counting on to get the whole thing done by my deadline. Wish me luck...

Title love

My next M&B (out in September) has a title - The Couple Behind the Headlines. As this story is the one about my socialite heroine and playboy hero who aren't quite as flaky and pointless as people think I think it captures the theme perfectly. Let's hope the cover is as great!

Keeping calm (sort of) and carrying on

The five months I gave myself to write this book has somehow dwindled to six weeks, and I now find myself in the scary position of having almost the entire story to complete before the end of Feb. Ok, so life has got in the way quite a bit recently, but really for weeks now working on this story has been like wading through treacle. I've written Chapter One more than a dozen times and every word has been excruciating.

So I'm starting again, which given how little there was to start with, isn't as painful as it could be (although it is wildly panic-inducing). My heroine's original conflict was seriously heavy going and depressing, and she kept wanting to make jokes and do things that she wouldn't have done if she'd been as tormented as I'd decided she was to be. My hero's baggage was so confused even he didn't know what it was. So I've had a rethink. I've simplified, decided to go easy on the angst and lightened things up. And what do you know, this morning I wrote 4,000 words and all three of us are enjoying ourselves a whole lot more.

Unfortunately I doubt this level of output will last, but at even half the rate I should make my Feb deadline. Any tips from all you speedsters out there would be much appreciated!