Elle Houston

Adventures of a New Writer

August 10, 2020

11. Continuing the “Write” Space

I had claimed the “catchall” room for my writing space and two years later while continuing to work at a folding table, I had finally saved up enough to start building out my office space. As part of the agreement for using the spare bedroom, I had to incorporate a rather large(r than expected) wine fridge into a small usable space, so I was already starting out with a pretty big challenge. 

My friend had given me a bright and happy birthday card and I wanted to use the colors as inspiration. I also knew I wanted to have inspirational art and quotes that would make my office a welcoming place to work. Creativity needed to happen in this environment, so I needed it to feel bright, cheerful and happy (just like the card!). After figuring out a way to hide the wine fridge in a cupboard, the only way to balance out the available wall space (most of the room had closets or doors on each wall), was to build a matching cupboard on the other side. We decided that this additional space would be storage and hold things like the printer.

Based on the set up with two cupboards on either side of the walls, the only place my desk could go, was between them. I was afraid it was going to be a bit of a tunnel for me, but as it was built out, I realized there was enough space between them where I didn’t feel trapped between two objects. The ceiling is really high, so we decided to take the shelves all the way up instead of creating a false stopping point at a normal ceiling height. We also decided a bright white paint would really make it pop.

Everything came together beautifully. My space is filled with colorful art and inspiration, that is always bright and cheerful. I sit with enough room for two monitors, which is a huge help in giving me more space to have documents open when writing and I have the occasional hum of the wine fridge to keep me company.

Outlining the Shelves

Outlining the Shelves

We put up tape to outline where the shelves would go on the wall.

The Card that Inspired My Office

The Card that Inspired My Office

I just loved the colors in this card, they are so bright and cheerful.

Printer Cabinet

Printer Cabinet

This is the side where my printer and files will go.

Where My Desk will Go

Where My Desk will Go

The actual top part of my desk isn't in place yet, but the set up is now built for it.

My Completed Office

My Completed Office

Here it is freshly painted! (The wine fridge is on the left)

Loading image... Loading image... Loading image... Loading image... Loading image...

No Comments

April 10, 2020

7. Putting Together a Game Plan

I am inherently a planner. I need to know what comes next or I start to get a little anxious. As I started writing, I realized I really wanted to figure out what my next steps should be. A friend told me about GoHighBrow, a site that encourages people to learn something new every day by signing up for “courses” that are delivered by email (every morning) for a quick, 5 minute read. They also only allow you to sign up for one course at a time, as they want to encourage productive daily habits and don’t want to tire out your brain from too much information at once.

I found they had a number of options to choose from and through their free trial, I ultimately ended up signing up for two courses: “How to Self-Publish” and “How to Market Your Book Online.” Both were actually really helpful and included more resources for additional information. What I basically learned was I needed to build a whole brand as an author. This needed to include a website, blog and social media presence. Great, I already had a full-time job, how was I going to make time to figure out how to build a brand, oh and also write my story?!

I decided I wanted to see if I could go the traditional publishing route. But doing this meant I would need to try and find a book agent. I know that’s a competitive field, and if I wanted to try and find an agent, I would need to make sure my book was as good as I could make it, which would also mean finding an editor.

I started to explain all of this to my husband and he told me to just focus on my writing and finishing it first. While he has always been supportive of me, the way he said it made it sound like he was questioning that I would actually finish this project. I was still going through the outlining stages in The Novel Factory, but I knew deep down that I was going to finish this story. It was hard for me to explain to my husband that I needed to figure out these next steps to feel excited and keep pushing myself forward.

Initially, I started doing some research on how to find a good editor, and went down a lot of rabbit holes in the process. I found myself getting overwhelmed by all the options. Ultimately, I decided to take my husband’s advice and just focus on writing my book. But I was glad that I had done this initial research, because it helped me understand additional areas I needed to focus on and I was excited that I now had my next steps.

No Comments

March 10, 2020

6. Surrounding Myself with Romance

I have always enjoyed Chick lit and Rom Com novels. Curling up with them makes me happy and helps my anxiety go down. I take pleasure in the love stories and getting a good chuckle now and then…or sometimes a girly squeal when the couple does something swoon worthy! I knew when I started writing my own novel that this would be the genre I would work in.

I needed to immerse myself in the Romance world. First up, I started doing A LOT more reading. I was on a quest to find fabulous new stories. I started using Goodreads for recommendations and suggestions. I discovered more New Adult, LGBTQ, Historical, Contemporary, Regency and Erotic romances. And best of all, The Ripped Bodice, the only brick and mortar romance book store in the United States is located in Los Angeles! How lucky am I?! They are a wealth of knowledge and suggestions to discover wonderful, new books, pushing me past what I would have chosen on my own. Check out this great article about them: https://www.glamour.com/story/the-ripped-bodice-bookstore-interview

I also discovered Passionflix.com, an amazing site/app turning romance novels into movies. I want to work there one day! I couldn’t believe all these wonderful companies were coming into the universe as I was starting to truly understand the genre. And not only appreciate the genre, but learn to be proud of a genre that is largely responsible for supporting the book world as a whole.

Here are some contemporary authors that have really inspired me:

  • Mariana Zapata
  • Elle Kennedy
  • Sally Thorne
  • Kristen Ashley
  • Helen Hoang
  • Lisa Kleypas

No Comments

January 10, 2020

4. Creating the “Write” Space

When I first downloaded The Novel Factory (TNF), I was using an old computer that I had bought on sale at Best Buy for $300 as part of a bundle. It was so slow, it took forever to power up and open any application. I used to have to sit patiently waiting for The Novel Factory to open and then for updates to save. We had a bedroom in our house that we nicknamed the “catchall” room because anything we didn’t know what to do with, we stashed in this room. You could barely move in it because there were piles everywhere (but it made the rest of the house look nice!). When I realized I wanted to start writing more and that I needed a place where I could shut the door (instead of the dining room table), I moved a few piles around in the catchall room and brought in a folding table from outside and a chair from the kitchen. I created my own little space.

When I found myself starting to consistently write in the evenings and on weekends, I decided it was time to upgrade my computer to something that ran a little faster. I also wanted to have two monitors so I could have notes open in one program while I also had TNF open. With the help of a friend, I purchased a new computer and two monitors and suddenly it felt so much easier! I felt like I had “space” with more monitor real estate, and all the programs running so much faster felt like a luxury. I kept on writing.

After about a year of writing like this, I thought, this room isn’t used for much, I wonder if I cleaned it up and started saving, if I could make this an inspirational space that encouraged creativity. I asked my husband if he would mind if I took over the catchall room, and he said if I could find an area for a wine fridge in my new office, then I could have the room. A wine fridge didn’t seem like such a big deal, as I was picturing one of the smaller mini fridges that could be concealed in some cabinetry. I decided to order the wine fridge he wanted first, so we could make sure we physically had it when we were ready to start building out the space. I didn’t want any wrong measurements.

Well, when the fridge was finally delivered, it came up to my chest! It was huge! I couldn’t believe what it looked like in person! Clearly, I did not pay close enough attention to the measurements. In my defense, I saw the tall fridges online and understood we were ordering a shorter one, but I didn’t realize the short was still tall! Ugh. I should add that the way the bedroom was laid out, there was only one usable wall because the others had a door, a sliding glass door and a closet. Adding my husband’s wine fridge looked like it would take up a third of the usable space! Also, it occurred to me we would need to actually design around the fridge because it was so large. Sigh.

Well, I had to keep saving anyway, so in the meantime, the fridge went in the guest bedroom where we had the space for it and at least I had a better computer and a room to write that was officially mine. This helped keep my motivation up.

My writing desk

My writing desk

My new computer on my folding table.

The small usable space by the closet

The small usable space by the closet

I did not have much room to expand out.

The back wall

The back wall

This was the only uninterrupted wall and it's really high.

Loading image... Loading image... Loading image...

No Comments

November 10, 2019

2. Inspiration

After deciding that I wanted to try writing as a creative outlet, my next step was figuring out what kind of writing. Did I want to try a screenplay? I had written a script in college as part of a screen writing class; it had been really intimidating. Could I really write a movie? But through the guidance of the class, I did manage to write a complete script.

After deciding that I wanted to try writing as a creative outlet, my next step was figuring out what kind of writing. Did I want to try a screenplay? I had written a script in college as part of a screen writing class; it had been really intimidating. Could I really write a movie? But through the guidance of the class, I did manage to write a complete script.

I didn’t want to get bogged down with all the formatting I’d need to do for the script. It had been so long, I would need to figure it all out again and I just wanted to write. Could I write a book? Through the years, I had picked up books and wondered how an author had been able to come up with so many words that they could form a whole novel. Back in college I had thought trying to write a screenplay was out of the question, so a book seemed truly impossible.

However, in my new, happier state of mind, I found myself dropping historical novels and biographies in favor of chic lit novels. I love a good romantic comedy and chic lit is often a rom com (as “the industry” would call it) in book form. I had been getting so much pleasure out of reading them, I began to wonder if I could write one myself.

So, I knew I wanted to write and quite possibly, I wanted to write a chic lit novel, but what did I want it to be about? I still needed an idea.

One night, my husband and I started watching MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. and I was introduced to Henry Cavill. After we finished the movie, I looked him up in photos and interviews. Not only is he a beautiful human being, but he comes with an English accent. What more could a girl want? I started to wonder in what world a normal person could ever hope to meet and possibly date Henry Cavill. Suddenly I realized I had an idea for my book!

How would a normal person get to meet and hang out with someone like Henry? I worked as an assistant at a movie studio. We interacted with talent on our movies. They always say go with what you know, and I knew about this. I could write about this.

I was inspired! This was my story! I started having ideas, but needed some help forming them. My amazing husband started to go on long walks with me after work, to help talk out thoughts and story lines with me. He responded to my questions around love triangles and dating entanglements with thoughtful opinions.  I was so grateful that he was applying his English major and years reviewing scripts to my own story. There was absolutely no judgement in a genre that I knew held no previous interest to him.

Along those long walks, I also decided I wanted to set parts of the book in New Orleans. It was a place I had always wanted to go and I hoped if I was really going to try and write this, it would finally push me to travel there and check it out.

This inkling of an idea was starting to come together…

No Comments