Day One

Day Two

Day Three

 

The Sloane Taylor Diaries: Day One

Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? You would think an erotica romance writer would have tons of experiences and tête-à-têtes to fill the blank pages. Unfortunately, like everyone else, my life has a routine. Just to give you an idea, please read on.

5:15 a.m.
It’s the crack of dark and time to crawl out of bed. Studs has been up an hour, so he’s showered and raring to go. I, on the other hand, have pulled the sheet over my head pretending to sleep. Doesn’t work, Studs wakes me gently every single morning of the year with a mini backrub. I love that man.

I lumber out of the sack and, if I’m lucky, find my toothbrush in the same location as I think I left it the night before, hopefully the medicine cabinet. Have I dated myself with that phrase? And, of course, avail myself of the facilities.

5:25 a.m.
It’s coffee time for Studs then off to work with a balanced lunch. Gotta take care of your man’s waistline is my motto.
For me it’s time to write my daily to-do list. You see I’m just a tad compulsive when it comes to time, calendars, and accomplishing things. I can’t function without that damned list.

I choke down my supply of vitamins with a small orange juice then go over the list again to be sure it’s complete. A little obsessive, I admit it.

Now it’s time to kick this day into gear. I heat up a pot of water, slice a lime then combine the two into a cup and attack the morning paper crossword puzzles. With any luck this will bring me to six a.m., but it hasn’t yet.

7:00 a.m.
Fire up the old computer and read (ha) 473 emails. Delete has become my new best friend. I am also compulsive about checking the stats on my website. In case you’re not familiar it’s www.sloanetaylor.com. Stop on by and let me know what you think.

8:00 a.m.
Blog time! Twice a week I like to put up something. Many times it’s about writing, but there’s also times when I share good news. Which ever way I go this is the time of day I’m going to do it.

9:00 a.m.
Holy shit! I have to collect my little sweetie from her first day of school in 45 minutes. I jump into the shower and am grateful yesterday I became a natural blond again. Thank the Powers there’s no need to get caught up in that hair ordeal crap. I hate doing my hair, but I’m not rich enough to have someone else do it either.

9:30 a.m.
There’s me, zipping done the streets in a fourteen year old car, praying I make it to preschool in time. Of course this is the time my mind gets flooded with ideas for my new book Lonnie Heats Up. My trusty pen and notebook are right by my side and I scribble my thoughts while dodging semis.

9:50 a.m.
Success! My tiny K, she’ll be two in a couple of weeks, is in her mom’s arms content and reading. Okay so I’m far-sighted on the reading thing. When she spots me her eyes light up and she comes running.

10:00 a.m.
We’re both buckled in and ready to go to the bank. The transaction goes fine. Whoopee! The teller gives us a sucker which grandma smuggles into her purse. I don’t hold with kids eating candy in the morning.

10:30 a.m.
Home again and time for our morning snack of bagel, cream cheese, and sliced peach. For the next two and a half hours we watch Barney and draw pictures until mom comes.

1:00 p.m.
Time to get to work. Bet you thought this part would never come. I place all those scribbled notes by my computer and open my WIP file. The next three and a half hours are spent living in my characters’ book.

We’re in Austria, the small town of St. Wolfgang. Lonnie and Wolfe are discovering one another and I’m getting hotter than hell writing these steamy scenes.

5:00 p.m.
Both my granddaughters come over to stay until their dad picks them up when he gets off work. Let me tell you dinner is going to be easy tonight. Mickey D’s here we come. While the girls are playing I write up more notes to load into the computer tomorrow.

7:00 p.m.
Good bye, kiddies. Grandma will see you tomorrow. The oldest one has this trick she thinks is hysterical. I think it’s a pain in the ass. She runs back, rings the doorbell, and I’m not supposed to know it’s her. I have to run outside yelling about evil little girls who don’t respect their elders. All I get for my efforts is giggling. Obviously these kids have no fear of me. Sometimes I trick her and run around the house to come up behind her and scoop her into the air. Laughing, she plants a big kiss on my cheek then wiggles down to go with dad.

7:30 p.m.
Yea! Studs is home and we have a nice Italian dinner with wine. We both clean up and tonight we go through the rest of our vacation photos. Of course we argue about which ones are crap and have to be thrown out. No problem. In the morning I’ll dump all the blurred ones.

9:00 p.m.
This is my favorite part of the day. We flip on the TV and within minutes I’m sound asleep on the couch.

10:30 p.m.
Studs wakes me up with a kiss and off to bed we go. Here’s where the journal ends because some things should never be written.

 

The Sloane Taylor Diaries: Day Two

5:15 a.m. until 12:45 p.m. it’s the same old stuff as yesterday. See, I told you I had a routine.

HOLY CATS! I just realized I have thirteen days to my self-imposed deadline. Grabbing a pen and paper I calculate how many words I have to write each day to make it. After I pick myself up off the floor I look at my math and don’t believe it. I plug in the old adding machine and run the numbers. DAMN! They’re the same and I’m sick to my stomach. Nope, I’m not confessing that number any sooner then I’ll tell you how much I weigh. Just know that I will not be answering the phone or emails for thirteen long days.

1:00 p.m.
Time to get down to some serious work. Again the scribbled notes I’ve written while driving around are entered into my WIP.

I’m still working on a seduction scene which is driving me crazy. I think love scenes should be 2,000 words. This is a rule I’ve set for myself. It’s pretty damned hard to keep it up, no pun intended, for that many words. Often I have to break away and grab a snack or a bottle of water. Walking around the house will also help my mind refocus.

Lonnie and Wolfe have advanced to the bedroom, of course after an exciting confrontation. Since they’re both naked it’s a challenge to keep the sexual tension high. No choice here and the words are coming slow.

Time to give up the bottled water and go for the hard stuff, seltzer water straight up. I also need to rid my mind of the deadline stress. Since I can’t go for a drive my next choice is to stretch out on the couch and make myself relax. I create the same feeling I have right before falling asleep.

3:00 p.m.
I’m relaxed and ready to go. My creativity is restored so it’s back to the computer for another two hours of work.

5:00 p.m.
A successful day because I met my quota!

My daughter has invited me to check out the new house they bought. On the drive over I’m still in high gear and scribbling in my notebook. It will be a surprise if I can figure this all out in the morning.

8:00 p.m.
Studs is finally home after a long day at work. He looks beat. Tonight is baked potatoes, salad, steaks on the grill and a good bottle of red wine. Can you tell I’m really into food?

9:30 p.m.
Ah, yes, TV time and my favorite pillows under my head. Studs is already asleep in his recliner so I don’t think there’ll be anything interesting to record tonight.

 

The Sloane Taylor Diaries: Day Three

On the third day the Sloane Taylor Diaries, she lets it all flow. No time stamping here, she merely tells us how she writes and what is going on in her head to get the words down on paper.

Let’s scrap all the time crap that you now know by heart and move into the real world. That would be MY real world. Writing.

As you may know, I write erotic contemporary romance for Triskelion Publishing. They’re a great house and offer me a lot of help and resources. Trisk has enough confidence in me that they contracted me for three more books which are due in September 2006, December 2006, and March 2007.

This deadline thing is pressing on me and panic is about two bathroom stops away. I need to have 50,000 GOOD words by mid-September. Should be easy, but for some damned reason my brain is shutting off my creativity. We’re not talking writer’s block because that’s when nothing will come. What’s happening is a thought for a particular scene creeps into my mind and is wiped out before I can get to a pen.

A few deep breaths and jumping around to Rod Stewart, it’s jumping because my dancing really sucks, seems to calm me and let the ideas flow. If you think all that use of energy is weird you ought to be looking in my office window.

Back to the keyboard and ready to pour my heart out. Lonnie and Wolfe are about to have their first bona fide sex scene. If Lonnie is smart she’ll grab Wolfe, the very talented devil, and never let go. Now it’s up to me to write a stimulating scene true to the characters and maybe a step or two beyond my comfort zone.

I write a heat level of three Triskels which is Triskelion’s rating system. The scenes are ultra sensual, graphic with explicit language between consenting adults, and consummated loves scenes. My goal is to kick it up a notch, four Triskels. To accomplish this, my scenes must have explicit loves scenes with high usage of graphic language, varied adult themes, and can contain diverse uses of erotic stimuli including fetish behaviors.

Okay, fetishes are not my thing and no amount of royalties will help me write a believable one. The varied adult theme is another iffy for me, but research is good for the soul and brain so it’s off to Google to check it out. Erotic stimuli are another aspect I could research, hopefully in real life, and write well.

I have a theory about consummation. The reader has invested money in my book, hopefully hundreds of readers. There’s nothing worse then the big build up of graphic language and closing the scene with “and then the lights went out”. Where the hell is the gratification? Keep the damned lights on let and me have a little afterglow. Each of my consummations runs close to 1800 words, my personal quota. Many excellent authors go longer. Unfortunately, my heroes don’t have that much stamina.

Now it’s coming, no pun intended. The words are flowing and the scene is hot. I guess it’s my fantasies at work again. I’ve reached the 1900 word count. Both Lonnie and I are fanning ourselves with grins and sweat plastered across our faces. Damn, I could go for a cigarette.

Time to close up shop until tomorrow.

6:00 p.m.
We’re off to join Erika Kire at her book release party. The woman has great promotional insight. Erika is holding her celebration at the Gary Rail Cats ball park. Studs is up for a fun evening of authors and baseball and I’m so excited for my friend I can hardly wait to get there.