Thank you so much for joining us today
Stefanie and sharing your tips for getting to 'the end'. Stefanie's amazing new
book Only The Brave Try Ballet, is now available and you definitely want to
check it out!
5 tips for getting to ‘the end’
There was a time when I
though the only kind of ‘sagging middle’ was the one hidden under a pair of
Spanx – then I discovered it’s what happens after you’ve written half-way into
your book. It’s at this point that I pretty much hate whatever I am writing,
not matter how much or how little planning and plotting I have done.
That being said, getting to
the end of the first draft on your first book is a momentous occasion. Writing
doesn't necessarily get easy with time, but I am positive that there is a
mental barrier which lifts once you finish your first book.
Here are 5 tips to help you
get past that tough middle-bit and onto ‘the end’:
Permission
to write crap – this might seem silly, but freeing yourself of your internal critique
is important when you’re feeling stuck in a story. As they say ‘you can’t fix a
blank page’ so just get those words down and worry about polishing them later.
Reward
and motivate yourself – figure out what spurs you on. For me it’s tracking the words I do
and seeing the total increase with each day of writing. Oh and
chocolate…chocolate always helps.
Get someone to hold you accountable – Not always fun, but it can be useful if
you’re prone to procrastination. Have a person you trust and who supports you check in regularly to see how your story is going.
Separate the editor and the writer – this is kind of the point of NaNoWriMo (whether you like the concept of it or not). I have separate times for editing and writing, because I find that once the editor comes out the writer (aka the creative side) is long gone. I don’t edit until my first draft is complete, but I do keep a notebook of ideas and developments that happen along the way so I address them when I go back to edit.
Break it down – saying you’re going to write 50,000 words (or 80,000 or 100,000) can be quite daunting. Chunk down your goal into manageable bite-sized pieces. 50,000 over a six month period is just a little under 2,000 words per week – now that sounds a little easier doesn’t it?
Official Blurb:
Step up, Grant Farley…not
your typical ballet student!
Football pro Grant Farley
is nursing an injury and needs to get back into shape—fast. Ballet wouldn’t be
his first or even his last choice, but he’s desperate. Enter tantalizingly prim
teacher Jasmine Bell—one disapproving arch of her eyebrow and Grant knows he’ll
enjoy getting her tutu in a flutter!
But it’s not only Grant’s
flexibility that Jasmine’s pushing to the limit! He knows she feels the heat
between them, so why won’t she give in to it? Time to convince Jasmine that if
she’s brave enough to dance en pointe she can certainly handle a fling with
him!
Purchase from: Amazon (US | UK | CA | Aus), Harlequin Mills
& Boon (US | UK | Aus) Barnes& Noble, Book Depository, Google Play
Excerpt:
He regretted the words as
they came out of his mouth, but Jasmine Bell stirred something in him that made
him want to bait her. She had this prickly demeanour which he found both
frustrating and fascinating.
He was used to swatting the
football groupies away with a metaphorical stick. But Jasmine…well, she was a
different breed entirely. All long limbs and straight lines, she was sexy as
hell in spite of her don’t-mess-with-me attitude. Or maybe that was exactly
what he liked about her.
She glared at him as though she were mentally setting his head on fire. Her slender arms were crossed in front of her, as if trying to hide the lithe figure beneath. She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of answering his question. There was a small part of him that enjoyed the power struggle; it was a game he liked to play. Moreover, it was a game he liked to win.
Now he’d ticked her off
royally, and that was fine by him. He needed to keep his distance. Women were
not a permanent fixture in his life…people were not a permanent fixture
in his life. The fewer people he saw outside his footy team, the fewer people
had the opportunity to use him. So he kept his distance, and he would do the
same with her.
‘Did becoming famous cause
you to forget your manners, or is that the way you were raised?’
She smiled sweetly, her
sarcastic expression stinging him as much as the intentional barb in her words.
The tilt in her chin issued a challenge.
‘All I wanted was to play
footy; the fame is an unfortunate by-product,’ he said, surprised by his own
honesty. Her small rosebud mouth pursed, and her dark brows creased above a
button nose. ‘As are the ballet lessons.’
‘Isn’t that what they call
a first world problem?’ She hoisted her bag over her shoulder and walked to the
front door. He followed, holding back an amused smile. ‘Like Boo-hoo, I’m
famous and it’s such a tough life.’
‘I’d be happy to swap for a
day so you can experience it first-hand.’
‘As much as I’d love to see
you in here, trying to wrangle a bunch of toddlers, you couldn’t handle my
job.’ She held the door open for him, and offered another saccharine smile.
‘Besides, I have the most annoying student to teach.’
Stefanie London
Sparkling,
contemporary romances with a pinch of spice
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