Hot as hell outside. Even at 11 PM. Wow.
I now have over 700 emails in my Inbox that have yet to be answered, so if any of you contacted me and I have not responded, it isn’t personal. It’s just that I take one look at Outlook and then run screaming back to the book. Which, I suppose, is a good thing.
Blogging, of course, is another kind of procrastination, but one that I can live with without too much guilt.
***
Some time ago,
My answer? Lots. Rejected by numerous agents and publishers. And each time I’d get a letter in the mail, I’d toss it in the pile and just keep going. Rejection is the spice of life. Or as Sly Stallone says, “I take rejection as someone blowing a bugle in my ear to wake me up and get going, rather than retreat.”
Take it from Rambo, kids: Never give up.
I don’t usually write knowing the ending I’m headed toward—unless it’s a happy ending, of course, which is a very broad term and always takes on a certain tone, depending on what has come before (thereby incorporating those elements that have become important to me in the story). Tiger Eye = Very Happy. Eye of Heaven = Bittersweet. Shadow Touch = Loving!Angsty!HotRussians!
But to add to that answer, the endings for Tiger Eye, Eye of Heaven, and Soul Song were not written until I cranked out the previous four hundred odd pages. In other words (so to speak), the endings came at the end. Literally, for me, as writer.
Of course, it’s not always the case that I save the end for the end. The very last scene of Shadow Touch, for example, was written about half-way through the book. And at the moment, the same is true for The Last Twilight, although the particulars could still change. Rest assured, it’s a happy resolution (through hell and back). I would never do less for Amiri and his lady.
***
More later. Back to the book.