Short Story for British Anthology

Obsessed for Zane

As you can see from the wordmeters above, I finished the project for Mammoth Books yesterday (yay!), and am getting ready to plow through the next project, a novella for Zane. Yes, the same folks who will be releasing Purple Panties in May, which includes a short story by yours truly. Amazingly, the book is already making #1 lists at Amazon last time I checked, and it won’t be out for months!

Still, today’s the day I stare at a blank page and try to dream the first scene of a new story. It’s a little frightening. I love and hate new starts. Trying to find that perfect first line can really get to me. I play with it, turn it sideways, brainstorm a dozen alternatives. When I get beyond frustrated, I force myself to push on past and write the rest of the opening scene. But I really do have a process, and I hate to break with it. First, I have to have the right title. Then I have to have that perfect first line. The rest flows naturally from that start.

The Zane book is already pretty intimidating. The Purple Panties short was actually my first non-romance piece, but it was only 5000 measly words. This one will be 35,000, and I know I’ll be sweating every one of them to get the emotional intensity I need. I can usually count on the romance developing between a hero and heroine to provide that spice. Not this time.

I’m sure I’ll fly through this week and look back and wonder what the heck I was worried about, but for now, I get to whine and angst. Poor little insecure author me.