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Here’s Part II of what I affectionately call How a Pantser Writes A Series Proposal And Somehow Sells It Without Having Any Idea What She’s Doing.

You will quickly see that while putting together a proposal for the Mystery Men minsieries I had no idea who the heroines of books #3 and #4 would be. Oh, the proposal included potential heroines for each story, along with plots and backstories. Those potential heroines just didn’t end up being the actual heroines in either book. As yesterday’s post showed, neither did the plots.

The heroine in LOCKED AND LOADED (Book #3) is Maddie. In Book #4, THE BIG GUNS, the heroine is Sela. Maddie is a WitSec participant whose identity and whereabouts have been leaked by someone within WitSec and she’s now in danger. Sela is the assistant to the Recovery Project’s nemesis, Trevor.
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I’m going to call the posts this week: How a Pantser Writes A Series Proposal And Somehow Sells It Without Having Any Idea What She’s Doing.

Ready?

I’ve said before, but it’s worth repeating, I don’t plot out a book from beginning to end, chapter by chapter, before I start. Actually, I should say that I did it one time – for IT’S HOTTER IN HAWAII – and it was the hardest book I’ve ever written. Like, the book made me go back and forth between wanting to cry and wanting to throw my laptop out the window.

I’m one of those folks who if I write a super detailed synopsis for a book then in my mind the book is done and there’s nothing left to write. Instead of all that super pre-plotting, I need to think about the book, take some notes and, frankly, start writing. I revise the book every single day as I write. In fact, for most of the book, I start each day by reading from page 1 – not kidding – to where I stopped writing the night before. That means, by the time I finish the book, it has been polished and revised about a billion times. It’s a convoluted process but when I tried to change it (the IT’S HOTTER IN HAWAII plotting disaster), I was miserable and every writing day was painful.

Knowing I’m not good at pre-plotting a book, imagine my panic when my Intrigue editor asked me to do a proposal for a four-book miniseries. That meant having a plan and writing four synopses. It also meant having some idea what was going to happen in the series. I actually had no idea what was going to happen which will become obvious in a second.
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I haven’t lived on the east coast for a few years, but I spent most of my life there and sure remember hurricanes. I have friends, family and readers who still live in the danger zone and I hope they are all safe.

We used to rent a house every summer in Corolla, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Here’s my favorite photo from the area:

Let’s hope the damage is minimal and that the area looks like this again soon.

I’ve had a bunch of questions about how to write a series when you’re not a plotter. I can’t speak for everyone, but I can say this was an issue for me when I wrote the Mystery Men for Intrigue. When my editor asked if I would consider writing a four-book series with an overarching mystery, I did what I always do in these circumstances, I said “sure” and then later tried to figure out how the heck to write it. To get the deal I had to write a proposal. If you read the proposal now after reading the books you’d be confused because they do not match.

Next week I’ll give you a behind-the-scenes look at what the series looked like when I proposed it versus what it looks like now that it’s done. You may be surprised at how much the series changed while I wrote it. Trevor being the Recovery Project’s nemesis throughout all four books? A total surprise to me. The heroines in the last two books? Totally changed from the proposal. Vince? No idea where he came from. What happened to Rod? Even I didn’t know until about midway through the second book, GUNNING FOR TROUBLE.

In the meantime, here is Adam’s reaction (the hero in LOCKED AND LAODED, book #3) when he met Sela (the heroine in THE BIG GUNS, book#4) the first time. They didn’t exactly like each other, which is a problem when Adam’s best friend falls for Sela later:

Adam ripped open the door to the outer office of the suite and spied Sela’s desk. Small room, big desk. It was a nice set-up for a boss who wanted to enjoy some quiet time with his assistant.

She slid in front of Adam as he reached for the door to Trevor’s inner office. “You can’t go in there.”

“But I am.” He wore a t-shirt and carried a gun. A smart woman would know he wasn’t all that concerned with rules and statements about the hours of operation.

She frowned at him. “You need an appointment.”

Adam looked her over. He couldn’t figure out if she was brave or stupid. She certainly seemed prepared to sacrifice her life for Trevor. That meant one thing: this was not the usual boss-secretary relationship. Not the kind human resources bragged about in the sexual harassment seminars.

Finding a hot blonde in Trevor’s outer office wasn’t a surprise. Adam assumed pretty women with big breasts went with the wealth and power routine. This one looked a bit young, but it wasn’t his business.

He put his hand on Sela’s arm and shifted her to the side and away from the doorknob. “You should leave.”

“I can’t let you-” Her gaze found the gun.

Adam knew then she hadn’t seen it before. That explained the show of strange bravado.

“Don’t hurt him.” She whispered the plea.

“Your boyfriend will be fine.”

“He’s my boss.”

“Call him whatever you want, I’m going in.”

There’s a lot of sad news in the romance community lately. Harlequin Desire author Sandra Hyatt died while attending the New Zealand romance conference over the weekend. It sounds as if she had an unknown aneurysm and it ruptured. Debbie Mcomber’s son committed suicide. And Jude Deveraux was swindled out of a supposed $20 million by a woman Jude thought was a friend. This grifter used Deveraux’s grief over her son, who died in an accident when he was eight, to get the money.

That is a lot of devastation. The type that shifts life back into perspective and makes me forget something as small and unimportant as a broken laptop. My heart goes out to these women and their families. I don’t know any of them personally, but the romance community is a small one and it’s hard not to be moved by the grief. If you ahve a spare moment today, maybe send some good thoughts their way

I finally got my laptop back. For those who missed the announcement, the laptop had to be sent to computer hospital (ie, the Geek Squad Mothership) because my cat threw up on the keyboard. No, you didn’t read that wrong. I left the room for three minutes and the cat threw up on the laptop. He shorted out the keyboard, resulting in my laptop being gone for 17 days. [That sound you hear is from my author friends groaning in sympathy.] Oh, and to make this whole thing really special, right before the laptop incident the Mac desktop died. So, yeah, it’s been a little tough in the technology department around here lately.

Good news, all is well now. I’ve been quiet because I had to finish some revisions on my holiday novella from Carina. Have I told you the title? It’s The Right Season For Love. I love the couple. Love the story. I’ll post an excerpt soon.

I’m being interviewed today by the lovely Robin Bielman. She’s giving away copies of my books, including my newest release, LOCKED AND LOADED, plus some other goodies. So, head on over and say hello.*

*Just click on the LOCKED AND LOADED link.

I continue to have Word/laptop issues, but I found a scene that fits this week’s topic: public scene. Since LOCKED AND LOADED just came out, that’s the book you’re getting. This scene actually is semi-public. Okay, that’s nto true. It takes place in the Recovery Project building, but that’s kind of public…sort of… Enjoy!

“How are you feeling?” His voice dipped low as he asked the question.

The sexy vibration made her insides jump around in excitement. “The shoulder and the back hurt.”

“We can get you some medical attention.”

“You won’t call the police but you’ll call an ambulance?”

“I think he means me.” A guy slipped in behind Adam. “Hey, man. Have a nice time in West Virginia?”

She tensed but Adam smiled. “Maddie, this is Caleb Mattern.”

“I work with Adam.”

She shook the man’s hand and then pulled hers back fast. She wasn’t even out of the truck and she had to battle two of them. And what exactly did these guys eat? Caleb stood over six feet with broad shoulders, light brown hair and the most soothing blue-green eyes she’d ever seen. He had that handsome mused look that reminded her of blue jeans and football of Sunday afternoons. The relaxed style matched his welcoming smile. The only surprise was the shiny gold wedding band.

Attractive or not, she didn’t trust Caleb one inch more than she trusted Adam. Well, that wasn’t true. She reluctantly believed Adam wanted to help her. She didn’t know why or if her radar was off, but she was willing to go along for now. But only with Adam.

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Today is the official release day for LOCKED AND LOADED. I know it’s been shipping for a week, but today is the day.

Nothing was as it seemed… Not even the protection Maddie Timmons was promised when she’d entered the Witness Security Program. One of her handlers was missing, the other had burned her, and now Maddie was at risk.

All that stood between her and certain death was one sexy stranger.

Deep undercover, Recovery Project agent Adam Wright vowed to keep Maddie safe from the leak at WitSec. But Adam wasn’t prepared for the confident woman he’d rescued, the sensuous lover who got under his skin. He could do nothing about her past being taken away, but he’d do anything to secure her future…even if it meant forsaking his own….

A huge thank you to all who already bought the book and for the lovely emails about Maddie and Adam’s story.

Since so many have asked, I promise you’ll know what you need to know about Trevor, Rod and Vince by the end of the last book in the miniseries, THE BIG GUNS (out next month). As for Trevor’s intentions, you’ll have some insight after LOCKED AND LOADED.

How’s that for a hint?

Since LOCKED AND LOADED is out and shipping, my plan was to post an excerpt for you. Then I had a problem. This is the problem:

That’s Jack, one of my cats. Jack, the little sweetheart, threw up on my laptop keyboard. Yep, that’s what I said. Threw. Up. In case you’re wondering what that has to do with the excerpt, his vomit shorted out my keyboard. So now the laptop, the one with the digital copy of LOCKED AND LOADED (and all of my other Word documents), is off for three weeks (three!!!) being repaired.

I was not amused.

Instead of an excerpt, how about Maddie’s (the heroine) view of Adam when she thinks he’s a geeky (yet kind of hot) neighbor rather than an undercover agent:

He stood there, all six-foot-three of him. Sandy blonde hair, thin wire glasses and shoulders wider than the door frame. He was her next door neighbor. The chatty, sexy computer nerd with the linebacker body who moved in and insisted they be friends, all while she dodged every attempt.

I love Adam. And I’ve almost forgiven Jack for the computer damage. Almost.