Recipe For Success

Hello and welcome to Tabby's Nocturnal Nights! I’m so happy you stopped by! As some of you know I have a Romance Recipes blog. It’s a fun blog where you can meet a new author, try a new recipe and pick up a new book all in one post! Well, it got me thinking about the recipe for success in our writing. Is there such a thing? Are there ingredients for a successful writing career?

I think so! And I’ve put together a list of what I think are important ingredients to making your writing career a success. I would love for you to add to my list so please leave me a comment with your ingredients for success!

• Write every day!! This is the most important ingredient for me. I have to write every day to stay in the groove and keep my momentum going. It keeps my creative juices flowing and prevents me from getting out of my routine.
• Treat your writing as a career. The day I began calling my writing ‘work’ it became a career and I started treating it like a real job, not just something I wanted to do. I began telling my family I was going to work now, even though I was still at home. Soon, they came to understand that mom worked at home and when she was writing she was working. I think it’s important to view your writing, at every stage, as a career.
• Perseverance is the secret handshake. A very wonderful writer once told me that. When I was still dreaming of being a published writer with a full request into Silhouette Intimate Moments (tells you how long ago it was, lol), I emailed my favorite author, Cherry Adair, and asked for writing advice for an aspiring author. She replied within days and gave me the key to success: the secret handshake. I’ve never forgotten it because perseverance is sooo very important!! Never give up!!
• Listen to your heart and write what you love. Don’t write for the market or for anyone else. I will always stand true to this because if you write for someone or something else you won’t love your story.
• Learn the craft of writing. This isn’t a step you can skip. You have to learn your craft. It takes practice just like anything else in life. Read, critique, study, learn.
• Follow your dreams and never give up! This is an important one!! No matter how many rejections, how many roadblocks, ups and downs, joys, sorrows, heartbreaks—Never give up!! Dreams do come true and you can make them happen as long as you don’t give up!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I would love to hear your ingredients for success!

Jennifer Kamptner
w/a Jennifer LoweryAction. Adventure. Romance.
'Where happily ever after is only the beginning...'
2006 Golden Heart FinalistAuthor Website  Facebook  Twitter  Romance Recipes

Hard Core  The Treasure   Murphy's Law   

An Interview With A Mercenary

Hi TNN and all you fabulous readers out there *waves* Thank you so much for having me today! My debut book, Hard Core, released this month so I’m very excited to be here! Thank you so much for sharing it with me!! 

I was able to convince Cristian to do an interview today. Let me introduce you to the hero of Hard Core, mercenary, Cristian Slade.

Jennifer: *sits in an armchair in front of the fireplace in a beautiful 1920s Victorian home* “Thank you for agreeing to an interview on such short notice, Cristian.”

Cristian: *sits across from Jennifer* “You aren’t going to ask me more questions like the last time, are you?

Jennifer: “Only a couple.”

Cristian: *scowls* 

Jennifer: “Humor me. We’ll start with an easy one. What do you like most about where you live?”

Cristian: “Alana.”

Jennifer: *smiles* “Is she working?”

Cristian: “She’s asleep.”

Jennifer: “Long shift at the hospital?”

Cristian: “No.”

Jennifer: *glances at the door where a black duffle bag sits* “Ah. I see. You’re leaving.”

Cristian: “I have a job.”

Jennifer: “Tell me your greatest fear.”

Cristian: *glances at the staircase* “I’d rather answer the underwear question.”

Jennifer: “Okay, boxers or briefs?”

Cristian: *scowls* “Neither.”

Jennifer: *grins* “You offered. Would you be interested in a sequel, if your writer was so inclined?”

Cristian: “Hell, no. Once is enough.”

Jennifer: “But you could fall in love with Alana all over again, go on another adventure.”

Cristian: “I was beaten, shot, practically blown up and scared out of my mind for Alana’s welfare throughout the entire book, Jen. I sure as hell won’t let you put Alana through that again.”

Jennifer: “Okay, okay. I guess I’ll pick on Mercer next. I have just the woman for him. One more question and I’ll let you go. One for my readers. Fast or slow?”

Cristian: *rises from his chair to whisper in my ear* “Both.”

I just want to send out a big THANK YOU to all my readers out there! Without you I wouldn’t be here. My wish is to one day meet each and every one of you so I can personally thank you for your generosity and support! 
All my best, 
Jennifer

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Meet the Characters!

Hello and welcome to Tabby's Nocturnal Nights! I’m so happy you stopped by! I’ve just begun the revision process on an old manuscript which is one from my heart. I love the characters, the story, and am ready to put the time into it. I decided to introduce you to the characters in a character interview because they are so much fun! So, without further ado, here is Noah and Attie from my WIP titled, The Maze:
 
Jennifer:  What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Attie: *sits up in her chair and speaks before Noah gets a chance* Becoming the first female ATCOM agent.

Jennifer: ATCOM?

Noah: *casts Attie a sideways glance* Anti-Terrorist-Covert-Operative-Missions.

Jennifer: Ah. Black ops.

*Noah and Attie both nod*

Jennifer: What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Attie: A mission complete.

Noah: *nods*

Jennifer: What is your most marked characteristic?

Attie: Determination.

Noah: *quirks a dark eyebrow*

Attie: *glares at Noah* What?

Noah: *looks at Jennifer with a mild expression* Not determination. Obstinate.

Attie: *emerald green eyes flashing* His nickname is The Rock.

Jennifer: *hides a smile* Oh? Why is that?

Attie: Because he never shows emotion.

Jennifer: Hmmm…is that true, Noah?

Noah: *looks directly at Attie* Losing control gets people killed.

Jennifer: Okay. Moving on. What is your greatest fear?

*silence fills the room*

Noah: Losing a member of my team.

Jennifer: You were a former Navy SEAL. Did you ever lose anyone?

Noah: *muscle jumps along his strong jaw* Only once.

Attie: *breaks the tension with a soft glance at Noah that she quickly hides* Snakes.

Jennifer: Eww. I’m with you there. What is your greatest extravagance?

Attie: *lifts her chin but refuses to look at Noah* Guia La Bruna undergarments.

Noah: *coughs and shifts in his chair* 

Jennifer: *putting Noah out of his misery* So Attie, you just graduated the academy, what comes next?

Attie: That’s classified. But, I can tell you I’m going undercover to bring down a drug lord no man has been able to. I have every intention of bringing him to justice.

Jennifer: And you, Noah?

Noah: *expression unreadable* I’m her control for the operation. 

Jennifer: Which means?

Noah: I’m responsible for her.

And there you have it! Thanks for stopping by and taking time to meet Noah and Attie! Maybe someday you’ll get to read their story in print!

Jennifer Kamptner

w/a Jennifer Lowery

'Where happily ever after is only the beginning...'

Hard Core~Lyrical Press~October 8, 2012

Murphy's Law~Lyrical Press~TBA

2006 Golden Heart Finalist

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Why Can't I Write?

 

I began my writing journey ten years ago.  Well, actually, it began when I was five and published my first poem in the local newspaper, but ten years ago was when I got serious and began to learn the craft and put real effort into working toward my dream.  Yep, it took me that long to finally become published so don’t ever give up on your dreams!

Long story short, I wrote all the time.  Day and night.  Couldn’t get enough of my stories, characters, plots.  Dreamed about it, couldn’t wait to write!  I didn’t mind revisions.  I didn’t even mind the rejections.  They meant I did it.  I actually achieved my goal.  I finished a novel and had the courage to send it out.  I finaled in the Golden Heart in 2006 and in a local chapter contest.  I was on top of the world.

Then, my dream came true!  I sold my first book!  Yep!  I’ll be a published author in October of this year.  Seeing my name on the cover of that book is the best feeling ever.  It’s what I always wanted.  I’m so happy I can’t stop pinching myself to make sure I’m not dreaming.

But…I can’t seem to write.  I’m a writer who can’t write.  It’s been slowing the past couple years, even though I now have an office to write in and time to do it.  I want to write.  I love to write.  I’m miserable when I’m not writing.  I miss it!  I think about it 24/7.  But, when I sit down to write I stare at a blank page.  I even manage to write a page or two, but just can’t seem to get inspired or interested.  I feel like I’ve lost that fire, that passion I had when I first started writing ten years ago.

Was that the fireworks stage of writing?  Like in a relationship?  When everything is new and fun?  Does writing become complacent?

Or, is this writer’s block?  I’ve never experienced this before.  And I don’t know how to combat it.  So, if anyone can relate, or has gone through anything like this, or can offer any words of wisdom I’m all ears.  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for listening and visiting Tabby's Nocturnal Nights today!  I hope you’ll stop by again!


Jennifer Kamptner
w/a Jennifer Lowery
‘Where happily ever after is only the beginning...'
Hard Core~Lyrical Press~October 2012
2006 Golden Heart Finalist
Author Website   Facebook   Twitter   Romance Recipes

Let's Make A Scene

Let’s Make a Scene

I know what you’re thinking, but trust me I’m not going to throw a fit in the middle of the grocery store because they don’t carry my favorite brand of yogurt, lol.  Not that I would do that anyway, I swear.  No, instead I’d like to talk to you about writing a scene and what goes into it.  I was years into my writing before I learned there was a method to writing a proper scene.  A beginning, middle, and end.  And here I was simply writing until the scene got too long and then I’d start a new one.  Not a good way to write.

Well, my favorite mentor, Dwight V. Swain in Techniques of the Selling Writer, maps out scene structure in this simple a-b-c formula and it works:

a.      Goal.

b.       Conflict.

c.       Disaster.

Let’s think about what a scene is.   Swain says it is a ‘unit of conflict, of struggle, lived through by character and reader.  A blow-by-blow account of somebody’s time-unified effort to attain an immediate goal despite face-to-face opposition’.  

What does a scene do?  It moves your story forward.  According to Swain it ‘pits your focal character against opposition’.  And doesn’t that make us, the reader’s, wonder if the hero/heroine will win and want to read on?  

But, what part of the a-b-c above makes us want to read on and care so much about the scene?  The conflict!  My favorite, favorite part of writing!  Without conflict you don’t have story.  Without story you have no scene.  Without scene you have no story.  See how that works?  

So, to begin a scene, your point-of-view character must have a goal.  It can be as simple as wanting to go home and take a shower, but they must want something.

Second, there must be conflict.  Why can’t they have that shower?  When they get home is there a surprise birthday party?  A friend in need of a shoulder to cry on?  A busted pipe and no water?  Flat tire?  Must be something to prevent that shower.  Make is as personal as you can to tie into the internal conflict.

Thirdly, there must be a disaster that leaves the reader hanging and wanting more.  You want the reader to stay up until three in the morning reading your book because they can’t put it down.  Disaster=hook.  A new question, a new dilemma, new information, urgency.  Not only can’t your character take that shower because of a house full of people there for a surprise party, her ex-husband is there and she never told him she was pregnant.  Oh, boy!  Big hook.  Big problem.  Disaster.  

I hope this helps make sense of Swain’s a-b-c method of building a scene.  If you don’t have a copy of his book I would definitely consider ordering it.  It’s a must have for writers. 

Good luck building your scenes and happy writing!

Jennifer Kamptner

w/a Jennifer Lowery

http://jenniferloweryauthor.wordpress.com/

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