Long Birthday Mumbo-Jumbo: Standing Up To Time

Today's topic is going to jump all over the place, but I'm going to attempt to make it work thematically ;-).

As you know, I've been trying to get ready a new proposal package to submit to different houses. It can't be a romantic suspense, which I write well (even if I say so myself, ha), because I'm still under contract with MIRA. I have two more books coming out from them and yes, as long as my publisher doesn't put them out into the world, I'm stuck in limbo. Virtually Hers is in their hands. I pray every night that they will find a slot for it, that somehow, a miracle would happen and they will suddenly see the light and publish it.

Yes, I owe you a longer and clearer explanation but as long as people are negotiating and talking, hopefully thinking and saying good things about me, I'm bound by business etiquette not to discuss it in public for now. Suffice it to say that I'm a very frustrated writer at the moment because time is of the essense in this business. The more my book is delayed, the more momentum I'm losing in building a readership. It's a helpless feeling because the process after the writing is entirely out of my hands. Everything I say or argue or point out feels like a hopeless cause.

So I fight against this time thing by doing what I can only do--write. The challenge is to write something other than romantic suspense because in this business, as long as you are contracted writing one genre for a house, it's not a good thing (in fact, it's not allowed, really) to write the same genre for a rival publisher. That makes sense to me, of course. As a businesswoman, if I sold my roofing business to some entity, I can't go out and open another roofing business in the same neighborhood.

Thus, in that part of my mind, the realm where all my characters live and grow, chatter and argue for my attention, an old character moved to front and center and started to haunt me. I've shoved him way behind the others because he scared me. A Viking cowboy with a big magical sword. A what? Yeah, you heard me, a Viking cowboy. The more I "talk" to him and get to know the story, the more I step back and try to run away. You see, he's a magical time-traveling Viking and that's why he's a cowboy of sorts. And to make it even more scary, he's telling me of his ties to ancient Greece. Yes, see my head? Head, meet desk.

The challenges of writing a new genre are both exciting and scary. I have to do it because I want to make a living out of my writing. Right now, starting another romantic suspense, and let's face it, I have plenty of stories eagerly waiting to to be told ***ahemALEX and Tcough*** that readers want, would be easy. But it's not going to go anywhere while I'm waiting for my Virtual Problem to get untangle.

So with the time factoring in, I'm attempting to write about a time-traveling Viking, a Summoner of Time, with lots of evil time bandits coming after him. Got that? Yah. The working title is Quantum Leap With Time Traveling Viking Dude. And to make it even harder, I'm thinking--sort of urban-fantasy, but with a male POV first person. Why? Because I'm tired of the youngish coming-of-age super-heroine story in the urban fantasies that I'm reading. Not that I don't like them--I LOVE urban fantasies--just that I'm trying to find a different angle to tell that kind of story.

Look, it's also my birthday month and I'm treading water here, 'kay? It's like looking at the mirror and asking myself what do I have to do to make myself look a little different today? LOL. I still LOVE myself, but I also want to make myself look better sometimes. Like any woman, there's the fear of aging lurking in the mirror somewhere, the fear of failure because time's not on my side.

Likewise, I'm treading water with trying to write something different because time isn't on my side career-wise either. I have to write because roofing isn't paying like it used to and I have to write something I love, which is romance and action, but I can't do my usual thriller romance either because of technical (business) problems, so I need to broaden my skills and go for the scary Viking Dude. Why is he scary? Well, let me count the ways.

First, it isn't the challenge of writing in male POV. That's easy for me. But would readers take to reading a male voice in their head? And I'm thinking about sexy scenes too. It's got to be weird for some, I don't know. I haven't reached that part of the experiment yet--writing sexy stuff in first POV from a male perspective, I mean--but the thought of it is suddenly sending me upstream in panic. Because of course, he's going to have different sexual interests because he's a man and he's sort of immortal and yes, he looks like a Viking Greek god with these magical powers.

And that's not counting problem #2, the time-traveling part. I have yet to solve the problem of the cultural stuff happening. This isn't your mama's time travel where once the character is in a different time zone, so to speak, everything is fine and dandy with just change of climate and clothing. There's a reason why the Viking Dude is running through time. He's also thoroughly in love with the modern centuries and have chosen them because heck, where else could he hide but in the age of information, with its I-pods, laptops, e-readers, wireless thingies, and heya, sports cars? So I need a damn good reason to send him back in time to search for his roots and fight the good fight. So the problem is, what the heck has he been doing all these years of wandering?

***By the way, I know I'm throwing out a lot at you, but look at this post as the GLOW attempt to use NOPAIN on you. Haha. I knew that would make you sit up a bit. For those who have no idea what NOPAIN is, never mind. It's just one of those things an author gets to do when she has a readership. (You see now why I need to build the readership?)***

Where was I? We were talking about time. How I'm standing up to and against time and isn't it strange that my Big Viking Dude is reflecting on my reality. As usual, I'm using my own life to fuel my imagination. I'm still writing, but it has to be of something different. It's exciting and difficult, and of course I fear failure. Viking Dude--he's wanting so much and yet, not sure what it is he wants. And then of course, that's the destiny bit. You can't have a Big Hero without the Big Destiny. It's funny that I'm making him a Time Summoner who has to stand up to time, something I'm sort of doing; it's funny that he's in flux and I'm frozen; it's funny that he has all the time in the world and I feel that I don't.

It's my birthday month, dammit, so I'm allowed to meander philosophically ;-).

Oh, and back on the Olympic topic, the greatest athletes meet in this place once every four years and they too have this one moment in time. For most of them, they've worked for this one time to get their medal. Yet there are those who succeed in returning again and again (Torres is one kickass mama made of awesome sauce and I want to be her, like NOW) in spite of the challenges time throw at their minds and bodies. For my birthday wish, I'm wishing mighty hard that I'll succeed in my stance too, that like Lezak, in that incredible relay, I'll find that something deep inside me to push me ahead past the my problems.

So, uh, how's your Sunday? LOL.
(Post not edited...have to run off to work...argh, time!)

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