Livin' Large

No, this isn't about guilt after stuffing myself on turkey and pumpkin pie last night. I was really rather disciplined in the meal and only had one plate of yummy goodness. Passed out somewhere between the stuffing and pie, to the strains of Gene Hackmen's rendition of Lex Luthor. (We were watching Superman.) - This blog is about expanding your range of writing experiences.

I started my writing journey with fantasy ficiton. Large, big opuses (or is it opi hehehehehe) that span half centuries and have casts of thousands. After beating my head against a brick wall of rejections for years - coming close with DAW once (said they couldn't use the project I'd sent, but liked my style and wanted to see more - unfortunately I didn't have anything at the time.) - I switched genres. Since my novels had romantic elements anyhow, I figured I'd add more of that and start targeting romance lines. I've always read romances, since that first Barbara Cartland in elementary school. I fell in love with falling in love. HEA's were my cup of tea. There is just something so wonderful and uplifting about the power of love everlasting. With so much horror happening in the world on a daily basis - the evening news filled with stories of murder, mayhem and corruption - it's nice to be able to sit with a book, or in front of the computer and read about people who are beating the odds to be together.

Now for the living large portion: Over the last few days, I've dusted off one of my fantasy series and polished it, streamlined it and submitted it for consideration at another publisher. This one hasn't made the rounds as much as my other one, but I gotta try. I think my characters deserve to see the light of day. I think as a writer I would stifle my creativity if I stayed to just one genre. I love to read all different types of books, so I want to write all different genres.

I've had people ask me how I can keep track of all the different stories and genres I write (most of which I write simultaneously). I tell them it's easy. They are all so different that I don't get them confused.

Write what you know...hmmmm...don't necessarily agree with that. If I only wrote what I knew, I wouldn't be expanding my horizons, stretching my imagination, and learning from my research. I say...write what you don't know, learn something along the way, and most of all live it large!

-Kat