Writing to spec

One of those things that I have done a lot during my writing career is write a story to meet a given specification. What this means is that there is that a company puts out a request for a story that meets some criteria and I then figure out how to do a story that meets that criteria and still makes sense to me.

For example here are a few of the story specs I've written to:

1. An Ellora's Caveman story that involves one of the following: a heavyset heroine, a vampire, futuristic, or bondage.

Or as I put it "so if I write a story about a vampire who lives on a space ship and finds a heavyset heroine tied to a tree, that would work, right?"

My editor said "Yeah, that would work."

And it did work. The story was "Darkpilot's Bride" and it is in Ellora's Cavemen Legendary Tails, volume 1

2. A story based on a Tarot card to be part of a card set put out by my publisher.

I wrote "Imperfect Judgment" and it was about an abandoned space colony that uses Tarot cards to make important decisions, and the "judgment" card featured prominently in the story.

To date I haven't written another story in that world, but I really enjoyed creating it.

3. A story where people ask Mrs. Claus for something that changes their life.

In "Perfect Hero" my heroine puts on a white board at work her request to "Mrs. Claus" for a new monitor and gets a magic one the next day. When she uses it to design a game character she ends up with a"hero" that steps out of the monitor. He then goes on to ensure she has a magical Christmas.

I've done others but you get the idea. I enjoy the challenge of taking a story concept and twisting it into something I want to write.

Recently I joined a group of writers who are doing an outer space anthology. The concept is a short work, ten to twenty thousand words, set in a casino on a space station. Now there are all sorts of ideas this brings up but I've decide to do a story set in my Gaian world. So the story will be a Gaian man who finds his match in a woman working the equivalent of a black-jack table in a small space station. The tentative title is "a turn of the cards" and I've already gotten several thousand words written and the plot planned out.

I'm pretty excited about it so watch this space for more information.

Cheers,
Janet Miller/ Cricket Starr
http://www.janetmillerromance.com

TAKING CHARGE OF MY BUCKET LIST by Rolynn Anderson

As you read this posting, I’m golfing at La Quinta with two friends, an event I bull-dozed into happening.  Enough of saying ‘let’s take a golf trip together.’  If this is something a bunch of friends want to do, then someone has to organize the ding-dang thing. 

Time’s a wasting and I'm not getting any younger.  I'm taking control of my bucket list!

Most of you know I’m a golfer, leaving my writing desk to play a couple times a week...for exercise, for the competition and for the camaraderie.  My husband doesn’t play golf, so I’m going on these trips with my girlfriends.  Ready?  Set?  Go!

What golf courses are in my bucket?  Easy!  I pulled up a list of the 30 best golf courses in California:

1. Pebble Beach, Pebble Beach

2. Spyglass Hill, Pebble Beach

3. Pasatiempo, Santa Cruz

4. Torrey Pines (South), La Jolla

5. Trump National LA, Rancho Palos Verdes

6. Spanish Bay, Pebble Beach

7. CordeValle, San Martin

8. PGA West (TPC Stadium), La Quinta

9. Pelican Hill (Ocean South), Newport Coast

10. La Quinta Resort (Mountain), La Quinta

11. Rustic Canyon, Moorpark

12. Pelican Hill (Ocean North), Newport Coast

13. Poppy Hills, Pebble Beach

14. Indian Wells (Players), Indian Wells

15. Bayonet Black Horse (Bayonet), Seaside

16. Marriott Shadow Ridge, Palm Desert

17. Aviara, Carlsbad

18. The Grand, San Diego

19. Barona Creek, Lakeside

20. TPC Harding Park, San Francisco

21. Desert Willow (Firecliff), Palm Desert

22. La Costa (Champions), Carlsbad

23. Silverado (North), Napa

24. Old Greenwood, Truckee

25. Maderas, Poway

26. Half Moon Bay (Ocean), Half Moon Bay

27. Indian Wells (Celebrity), Indian Wells

28. Journey at Pechanga, Temecula

29. Saddle Creek, Copperopolis

30. Coyote Moon, Truckee

Three of us are driving to Palm Springs, staying there three nights to play golf courses #10, #21 and #11.

No question about it, we will have fun and we will be challenged…and we’ll be ready to play more of the courses on our bucket list next year.  Goal?  Three courses a year for the next 9 years.  Can we do it?  You bet we can!

Talk about meeting goals: I’ll be trotting out two novels this summer.  Here’s a sneak peak at one cover; expect pages in June or July.  Meanwhile,  grab LIE CATCHERS if you haven’t yet read it!

LIE CATCHERS http://amzn.com/B00HJDS1LG

ROLYNN’S Web: http://www.rolynnanderson.com  

FEAR LAND is coming soon.  Watch for it in June!  Happy summer adventures.  Rolynn

Time is running out!

For my giveaway, that is.

If you haven't signed up yet, go here to get a copy of the first book in my Deadly Landscaping trilogy. Good Reads is sponsoring a giveaway and I have 10 copies waiting to get into hot little hands.

If you've already read the series, maybe post a review on Good Reads or Amazon. Love it? Hate it? Meh? Doesn't matter, a review is good no matter the number of stars.

I'm always gratified when people take the time to post a review of one of my books. It takes time to read a book and time to craft a review.

So thank you, all those folks who reviewed my books -- I do appreciate you!