  "Dark Haven" (revised title thus) sucks big time. It's not going well. I know it has potential, but that potential I may not be able to reach. My character seems to be trying too hard to be a hard ass. She's a pale Anita Blake wannabe with less personality.
Sigh. I shall let it sit and simmer and fester for a while as I peruse a new project. My writing email buddy and I were discussing how to be successful in today's writing world (successful = writing exclusively and making enough money that you don't have to do stuff you don't like for a paycheque), and we decided, sadly enough, that category romance is probably the easiest and most lucrative area of the publishing industry for the regular joe off the street to break into. I thought about this, as I have in the past, but this time I came at it from a different angle. Whenever I've tried to write a category romance, I've tried to remake the wheel. Make it palatable to me, a non-category reader. Give the heroine more problems, a edgier personality, etc. At least I'd like to think I tried to do those things. Driving home yesterday I just let my mind wander.
What would be the most vapid, the most sugar-sweet, diabetic-coma-inducing plot I could think of? And :::bling::: it came to me...characters, plot, conflict, in all it's chocolate-chip gooey glory. And I'm going to write it. In one month. I'm going to Nano it and see what comes out of the oven. All the metaphors about baking are on purpose, because the sweetest thing I could think of is something revolving around pastries. My heroine owns a small bakery. My tentative title is "Sugar & Spice" and I will aim it at Harlequin's insipid Flipside line. This means I'm actually going to have to get serious about it and choke down a couple current books they have.
Can do. The one I started reading last night is kind of lame. Comedy is way subjective, that's for sure. They all seem to read like a mediocre episode of "Suddenly Susan. " I'll try to make mine like a *good* episode of "Suddenly Susan. " (There were good episodes of that show? ) Anyhow, one month....August 22, 2004. If I don't have anything worth using by then, so be it. 
