Wrestling with my muse: Are all his ideas good ones?

My damn muse woke me up at 4:00 a.m. Actually it was 3:54. WTF? He told me the beginning of Her Twisted Pleasures was kinda dull. It didn’t arouse his dirty mind like it should, so he gave me an idea how to fix it: rearrange the stories.

The first story, A Good Slut, started like this: A summer vacation in the desert southwest sounded like a good idea when Will and I planned it during a cold Chicago blizzard, but when we crossed the border into Texas, the heat slammed into me like a brick wall. Good details, but it sounds like ‘how I spent my summer vacation.’ Who hasn’t heard that essay before?

I could move another story to first place, Breaking Rules. Will tells it later in the series, and he starts it with some provocative words, but they spoil the big reveal. Hmm….

It wouldn’t take much, just a simple cut and paste to make Twisted erupt like an overexcited honeymoon husband. But I wonder if my muse’s idea is the best one. I don’t want to waste my best stuff on the first shot. 😉 Maybe all I need to do is write a stronger opening for A Good Slut: I never live with a guy because I like fucking him in a different bed every night.

That’s better, but I’m still not sure who’s right. I’ll know after it goes through beta reading. I still want one more reader. The first draft will be polished and ready for reading on 2/24. It’s just over 53,000 words, so if you’re interested in critiquing it, please let me know.

About ameliajamesauthor

When I was in the third grade, my teacher wrote ‘tends to daydream’ on my report card. What did she expect from a girl raised on fairy tales? I’m convinced those fanciful stories led to the romance novel addiction I acquired in junior high. My mom caught me reading a particularly hot one and took it away from me. She couldn’t stop me from daydreaming though, and after I got married, I wrote some of my steamier daydreams down and sent them to Playgirl magazine. Two of them were published. I kept writing and eventually my short stories became romance novels. I live in Colorado now, but I’ll always be a loyal Wisconsin Cheesehead. When I’m not lusting after my next bad boy hero, I’m looking for inspiration in sci-fi and action movies, football players, morally ambiguous lawyers, muscle cars, and kick-butt chicks. Characters—the ever-present voices in my head—bring my books to life. They’re my imaginary friends. We all need to get away from reality for a little while. I prefer to escape with a sizzly, sexy, forever romance.

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