I checked on Amazon to see what ranking Butterfly Swords was at. Yes, I do check to see if the number has gone down meaning someone pre-ordered. It’s so silly. *hangs head*
This morning, I was amused that it was ranked #88 among Harlequin Historicals so I took a screen shot of it. Eights are very lucky in Chinese culture because the word for eight sounds a lot like the word for “wealth”. I heard you have to pay extra to have an eight in your phone number as businesses would want to snatch up the numbers with 8s in them to seem more fortunate.
So double eight is doubly lucky. That’s why you have those 88 markets and in Kill Bill there was that gang called the “Crazy 88s”. It also kind of looks like the character for double happiness, which is very popular motif and symbol for weddings. Symbols upon symbols — that’s how these things work.
I’m not superstitious, but…well, seeing two 8s made me kind of happy. Then again, it seems like everything makes me happy these days as my publishing dream is about to come true.
I suppose if I wanted to brag, I should have waited until right after a sale for a lower number, and then took a screen shot.
Actually, it’s pretty darn cool. I didn’t know much about NetGalley before, but apparently it’s the best thing since sliced bread for reviewers. It allows reviewers, librarians, journalists and other professional readers to request digital galleys directly from the publisher.
You know the movie where Jim Carrey has to say “Yes” to every request? Well, apparently that’s what I must have done earlier this year because for August, I find myself scheduled to teach two online classes and coordinating the historical category of the Gateway contest. And judging for the Golden Pen.
I’m not complaining. I’m actually smacking myself on the forehead. *smack* I must fire my personal assistant. (My personal assistant is myself — as I try to answer writing e-mails in between day job conference calls and activities.) I must also install a physical calendar in front of myself instead of the virtual one that I have in my head that I THINK is always open.
Speaking of classes: I promised the people who attended my workshop at Nationals that I would post the handout online for those who didn’t get it. Well, here it is: Selling the Hard Sell handout.
I was having a Twitter discussion with a couple of writer buddies around contests and feedback. How it’s so helpful when judges give comments versus just filling out the scoresheet. And how do you interpret polarized comments from different judges? And finally, when people judge, sometimes they feel like they ended up giving a six page critique or red-lined the whole darn thing and maybe that was overkill.
I’ve had that happen plenty of times. I send out pages asking for a look at motivation or a look at overall plot and I’ve received the pages back with every line marked up — suggestions for replacements of all my word choices, fixing all my passive sentences. I always step back from those detailed line edits with a sense that I can’t see the forest for the trees. I rarely give such edits because of my philosophy that:
1) that level of editing is very personal and tied to Voice. Tell me that too many of my sentences are passive and it’s distracting or that you hear an echo of the word “that”. I appreciate that, but going through the extent of reworking my individual sentences and suggesting how I should rewrite them is rarely helpful to me because those sentences will all naturally disappear and get reworked in the next revision.
2) That level of detail is only helpful at the very, very end of revisions when you’re spit polishing and only for an advanced writer who knows what to throw out. For a beginner writer who is trying to take all your advice, I feel this can be very destructive to their development.
Not to say I don’t always get something from a deluge of revision notes, broad to the nit-picky. But I feel that it’s easy to confuse a writer with such a critique. First, they may simply cry. Or freeze up like a deer in the headlights. They may become so lost about what to tackle first that the critique becomes counter-productive.
This is where teaching philosophy comes in. Or in this case, critiquing philosophy. Everyone has one deep down — even if you haven’t stated it yet. And no one’s philosophy is superior to anyone else’s. The philosophy just grounds you, as the critiquer, and gives you a reference point for making your decisions on what feedback to give and how to give it.
Ha! If I haven’t lost you yet, let me bring up Vygotsky and the Zone of Proximal development.
I threw that in there because it’s a five dollar phrase and I spent a lot of money for my Education degree to learn that Soviet dude’s name. It’s just the idea that students learn best when you gauge where they are and then give them proper scaffolding and guidance to get to the next level. Then they master that level until they can do it independently.
Trying to teach beyond that zone without addressing the gap causes frustration, increases the affective filter ($5 dollar phrase meaning you’re too keyed up/frightened/embarrassed/emotional to learn) and ultimately results in failure for the student. On the flip side, teach below the Zone and the student fails to learn or grow. The lesson is too easy.
So when I critique and when I comment as a contest judge, I’m aiming for the Zone of Proximal Development. The place where the maximum and most effective learning can occur. Based on the writing, find where the writer is “at”. Then identify what bit of writerly advice will most likely boost them to the next level. Push them to one notch beyond where they are.
Sometimes the writing is very solid, but the characters are flat. So I concentrate my comments on characterization.
Sometimes the writing sparkles, but the scenes don’t have a good build of tension, not enough highs and lows. So I’ll comment on that.
Sometimes the writing is very, very beginner. That’s tougher. Is the maximum benefit then to concentrate on sentence structure and grammar? Or on structural issues such as motivation, conflict, etc. I have to insert another philosophy there. I believe writing only smooths out with more writing and explicit instruction, i.e. telling someone how to write, doesn’t necessarily help a beginning writer. So yes, I may give a couple pointers about sentence structure, but I’ll stick to the global issues.
But what about all the other issues? All the other things that are wrong? Can you just ignore them? I can and I do. They’ll all work themselves out in the next zone or with practice and self-discovery.
This is why I always qualify when I critique that I don’t do line edits for people. Mainly because you don’t want me doing line edits. I find it hard to critique people at that level of detail without inserting too many of my Voice biases which I know are exactly that, my biases. Plus I suck at reading for that level of detail. I like to admire the forest. From there, I can see if a part of it looks a little barren.
So, what do you think? What’s your critiquing philosophy?
P.S. Any educational folks, if I’ve mangled Vygotsky and oversimplified, I truly apologize.
I spent $80 dollars to spend three hours in line and went on only one ride — AND IT WAS SO WORTH IT! I must do a separate post on this, but I just wanted to show you my favorite moment.
It was sweaty, sticky hot and we were in a ginormous line that wound around the park just to get into Harry Potter world. But the moment we passed the arch into Hogsmead/Diagon Alley and you saw the snow-covered rooftops, for a moment I actually thought I felt a burst of cold and I believed.
The best part of the experience was walking down the street and being immersed in the world. I took a gazillion pictures there, so I’ll organize them into a post later this week.
Met a Favorite Author (and didn’t burst into tears like last time)
I’m always torn about going to RWA and actually meeting authors I love. I was always afraid it might ruin that fourth wall and the fantasy. I want the stories and books to live in their own space and not be linked in my head to the person who wrote them.
The literacy signing was crazy this year! The room was huge and there were people everywhere. Bria Quinlan and I started from “A” and went alphabetically down the aisle, but after Tessa Dare sold out before Bria could get a book, we rushed straight over to Sherry Thomas. I managed to procure the second to last copy of His at Night. I was so giddy that Not Quite a Husband won the RITA for Best Historical Romance and I loved her acceptance speech.
Sherry told me she cried a bucket of tears while writing that book. I must have cried another bucket reading it. I haven’t felt so taken in by a story in a long time and I still have scenes from that book haunting me. We also got to chat a little bit about wuxia and Jin Yong. I was pleased.
Good Eats
I haven’t perfected Cindy Pon’s talent for photographing yummy food, but there was definitely plenty of it at the conference. Luckily, my personal trainer isn’t around. *looks left, looks right*
First up, I had afternoon tea at the Floridian with the Harlequin Historical authors and the editors from the UK. One look at the lobby told me that we were in the low-end Disney resort for the conference. The Dolphin is beautiful, but just take a look at the Floridian.
Anyone who knows me, knows that one of my favorite past times is afternoon tea. For this alone, I think I landed in the perfect publishing spot with Harlequin Historical!
I wish I took more pictures of the finger sandwiches and the little scones with cream, but I was sitting with my fellow authors and the HMB editors, so I tried to behave. Plus I was spending a lot of time eating.
Meet Ups
It’s hard to capture the spirit of all the random meet ups that are so special about conference. The main meeting place was the fountain in the lobby. I like this picture even though it’s fuzzy because it shows a couple of us all converging there, unplanned, unposed, all with probably different places to go. It also has some of my closest and long-time writing buddies Gwen Hayes and Bria Quinlan as well as romance divas December Gephart and Victoria Janssen.
For A Shy Gal, I Really Like an Audience
I was able to use my teaching background and share my lessons learned about querying and submission in “Selling the Hard Sell”. This was my first time presenting this particular talk, so I feel it went well based on the audience response. I was going up in the same time slot with Donald Maass and Brenda Novak, so I was grateful to have a decent showing. Big thanks to my CP Kristi for snapping this photo from the back.
The Dress for Historical Success costume workshop was pure fun. I learned so much about costuming throughout the many popular periods in historical romance and I got to strut my stuff in Tang Dynasty costume, a fantasy of mine since childhood. I’ve decided to offer the twin swords used in the workshop as a prize as part of my Sept/Oct release celebration.
I’m still gathering the photos and editing the video from the workshop, so this one is also going to have it’s own post. Just a preview of me in the lobby with swords in hand (sheathed) after the workshop:
Ruby-Slippered Sisterhood Rules!
One of the huge highlights of conference was catching up with the Ruby Sisters. In my excitement, I baked ruby slipper cookies the weekend before heading to Orlando:
Dinner was at Kouzzina on the Boardwalk. I showed up a bit late coming from the literacy signing, so I missed the group photo in the lobby. Doesn’t everyone look fabulous?
And the gratuitous food shot. Kouzzina is Iron Chef Cat Cora’s restaurant. One entree would have been enough, but I had to go for the sampler: Greek lasagna, lamb burger and a spiced chicken with orzo. Every bite was fabulous! My drink was a special martini made with ouzo, also delicious.
So many great moments: Liz Talley and Addison Fox were signing for the first time. Jamie Michele was absolutely sweet, reminding us during rehearsal to give the envelope to the winner after announcing. She was the one who grabbed my envelope and gave it to me last year. Darynda Jones and Sara Ramsey and I sat at the same table for the GH/RITA awards and sipped champagne together while we cheered for this year’s finalists. And two more sisters, CJ Eernisse Chase and Elisa Beatty took home Golden Heart awards this year!
The Harlequin Party
I got in, got a ridiculously girly-looking martini glass, sat down, and looked around the beautiful room. Then I turned to Victoria Janssen and gushed, “It’s pretty awesome being a Harlequin author!” (See previous note about Jeannie not being able to play it cool.) Victoria replied in the fashion of, “Ah, young grasshopper…”
Fellow Ruby Sister Liz Talley (below), who writes for Superromance looked fabulous.
And I quite like this rather artistic photo of me with chaptermate Megan Kelly behind the roses. It’s actually the beginning of the night, so that’s not me passing out from exhaustion. I just always blink in photos.
My roomie and plus one, MG Braden, posed with Diva Dude Mike Myers for a photo.
I made a vow to try every dessert at the Harlequin party. I fulfilled that vow. I showed two of the most photogenic here, the Yule log style cake and the sorbet bar.
We danced for hours and I nearly lost my voice from singing and shouting. (The source of my sultry microphone voice at the RITAs, if anyone was wondering.) Amanda Berry didn’t let recent hip surgery or a cane stop her from hitting the dance floor. And I must say, I think her electric slide was still better than mine. (That dance was the electric slide, right?) I’d be in indebted to anyone who has a picture of Amanda dancing with her cane, by the way. Can’t keep a party girl down.
At the end of the night, I was a very happy, very sore grasshopper. My hip still hurts from dancing — maybe I’m doing it wrong?
RITA/Golden Heart Awards Ceremony
All dressed up….and I forgot my camera!! I presented the Golden Heart for Best Historical Romance this year and once again Kristi came through with a shot of me on the jumbotron.
The highlight of the ceremony had to be when bottles of Clicquot (get that? multiple bottles of champagne…the good stuff) appeared magically on the table, compliments of the general manager. The reason, of course, was that Roxanne St. Claire and Kresley Cole were sitting with us. Roxanne and Kresley are charming, gorgeous, talented and they must practice voodoo and possess magical powers.
Kresley won the RITA for best paranormal romance for her book, Kiss of a Demon King. I asked to touch her RITA statue for good luck because I’m a dork like that. The photo here doesn’t do it justice. Sara was able to get a better one. The RITA really is so shiny and pretty. Maybe one day, if I work really, really hard…
After the ceremony, the Tuesday critique group was able to get together for a photo. Dawn had gone back to her room since she had a drive early the next morning, but here’s Shawntelle, me, Kristi, and Amanda.
The cool thing about hanging with writers is sometimes you hear a concept when it’s barely more than a twinkle in someone’s eye. From the first moment I learned about Kate Pearce’s Tudor Vampires, I was hooked. It wasn’t a surprise at all when a publisher snatched it up — especially considering that Kate already had a strong historical romance fan base from her “Simply” series, which I’ve also followed.
I’ve always been intrigued by the stories of the wives of Henry VIII. Most particularly, the Tower of London ghost stories about the ones who were executed there. There’s enough passion, mystery, and yes, a bit of gore and horror, to keep anyone morbidly fascinated. So when I heard of Kate’s paranormal twist on the tale, I had one of those “why didn’t I think of that?” moments.
Before I go more into the Kiss of the Rose, I wanted to take the opportunity to say that Kate is one of those authors I aspire to emulate. She’s open, genuine, and friendly. Earnest about her craft and is successful simply because she keeps on writing the best book she can over and over. The rest seems to come naturally.
Kate gave me the best advice I heard at RWA conference this year. Since I’ve achieved PAN status (Published Author Network), I attended the PAN only workshops which were geared toward the business side of publishing. “It can drive you crazy,” Kate said, referring to the stream of depressing market news about lower sales and uncertainty in the wake of digital publishing. But she imparted her wisdom to me, “Just be nice to everyone.”
I think that’s the key and finally — advice that’s easy to follow. I’m going out at lunchtime to buy Kiss of the Rose, the first book in the Tudor Vampire chronicles which releases officially today. Kate Pearce never lets me down when it comes to compelling characters and fluid storytelling and I’m excited to see where she takes the story in her first historical paranormal.
The Tudor Vampire Chronicles: Kiss of the Rose
First in a sexy new series that takes a bite out of the court of King Henry VIII
Desperate to defeat King Richard III and gain the English crown, Henry Tudor made a pact with the Druids that bound him and his heirs to the Druid’s deadly struggle against the Vampires. Ever since, the Llewellyns, an ancient Vampire slaying family, have been in the permanent employ of the monarchy.
Now Henry VIII is on the throne, and his father’s bargain has almost been forgotten. Until corpses drained of blood start turning up in the most inappropriate of places, including the king’s bedchamber. But are these people the victims of the Vampires-or of the Druids?
To save the king from a nameless assassin, Rosalind Llewellyn, Vampire hunter extraordinaire, must form an uneasy alliance with a known Druid slayer. Sir Christopher Ellis hails from a family that has protected the Vampires for centuries, yet Rosalind has no choice but to rely on his help. And with her life threatened and her loyalty tested, Rosalind may even have to acknowledge the unthinkable. This sworn enemy may be her soul mate.
It’s starting to be a tradition that I fly to another state after conference rather than returning home. This year I’m in Philadelphia, PA with my hubby, so it’s going to take a bit longer to return to normalcy. I’m just checking in for a couple housekeeping items so to speak.
First of all, a HUGE thanks to everyone who came up to me to express their encouragement and enthusiasm for the October release of Butterfly Swords. The most common thing I heard was, “Are you the one who wrote that book with the beautiful cover?” So big kudos to the Harlequin art department!
Thanks to everyone who showed up to my “Selling the Hard Sell” workshop and/or the “Dress for Historical Success” workshop. I’m avidly looking for photos from those events or from the Awards night ceremony when I was presenting to post here. I don’t have them on my camera so it may be a hunt.
I ran out of handouts at the “Hard Sell” workshop, so I’ll be posting a copy on the website as soon as I get home to my writing computer.
Forgive me for this bout of sentimentality, but I’m a reflective sort of person. Last year, on this day, the Friday before RWA conference, I received a call on my cell phone while at work. Blithely, I called the number back when I had a break and found that it rang to the message machine of Harlequin Mills & Boon in the UK. An English accent never sounded more lovely!
The actual “Call” wouldn’t come for another several days. I had the weekend to stew, my agent had other editors to nudge, and after a little bit of this and a little bit of that, I sold Butterfly Swords five days later on Wednesday morning in Washington D.C. at RWA ’09.
It was an exciting conference for me, to sell right there among so many friends. I was also up for a Golden Heart award. Someone asked me if I still wanted to win even though I’d sold.
“Heck, yeah, I want it,” I said. “Winners always want the ball.” (Extra credit for anyone who can place that quote.)
You see, I’m absolutely awful at playing it cool and nonchalant. Some people try to downplay the possibility of disappointment by voicing their denials. I have as much self-doubt as the next person, but I’ve always been someone who fell on the side of saying, “Yes, I want it, I want it. Disappointment, I dare you to smack me in the face.”
Because can’t we all admit, we all WANT IT?
Neither approach affects the outcome. The Golden Heart scores were already tallied and that envelope was already sealed. But maybe the attitude does matter. Maybe just admitting your dreams proudly, as vulnerable as that makes you, affects you in little ways — affects your pen upon the page, trying just a little harder to pull out the words from inside you.
Anyway, it’s RWA time again. A bunch of authors, hopefuls, and the rest of Romancelandia will be converging on Orlando. I’ll be heading there and not blogging for the entire week.
This year, I’m presenting the Golden Heart award in the historical category and I just wanted to say to whoever the winner is going to be, and also to all the other writers who are pitching, networking, and waiting for “The Call”:
Aim high. Dream big. It can happen, it can happen, it can happen. Exactly as you dream.
I don’t think I’d be able to handle not going to RWA conference. This will be my fifth year going and it’s an addictive yearly ritual.
This year I’ve been dancing double time, though less concentrating on preparing a pitch and shopping for clothes. I feel like I’m going to really be a part of the conference this year. I’m presenting in two workshops and giving away the Golden Heart award in my category. I even loved stapling and folding all the excerpt booklets for Butterfly Swords by hand for the goody tables. It feels like an amazing journey from when I stumbled through conference five years ago in Atlanta, wet behind the ears and completely at a loss.
A bit of confession. I’ve probably spent the most time preparing for the Dress for Historical Success workshop — as my YouTube video can attest. I’ve practiced Tang Dynasty-esque hair dos that I can do on my own. And yesterday….tee hee…yesterday I put on my costume to practice walking in it. I also tried out the swords and couldn’t resist playing dress up and striking a few Wing Chun poses.
I felt like a kid playing in the yard with my brother and cousin Mary, pretending I was a wuxia heroine. (I’m alone at home, btw. Hubby is thankfully away on business so he doesn’t have to be subjected to this outlandish behavior.)
When I say it’s a dream come true to publish this book, I’m not just talking about the dream of being a writer. There’s so much more behind it. The movies we watched, the games we played, the endless TVB videos my grandmother would dub late into the night (illegal by the way…shh….)
I can’t stop smiling. I’m looking forward to every moment of RWA conference this year and, I must warn, there might be just a little bit of strutting when I’m in costume.
Excerpt Monday was started by two lovely writers: Bria Quinlan and Alexia Reed. Visit the other links for some interesting reads from unpublished and published alike and if you’d like to join up for next month, take a look at the main site: The Excerpt Monday blog.
I had told myself I’d abstain from Excerpt Monday since it was so close to conference, but old habits die hard! For this month, I’m posting a rough draft of a snippet from a historical paranormal series which I’m calling The Soul Stealers. The Sorcerer’s Daughter is Book 1. This would be part of Book 4: The White Snake Demoness.
I’m not sure if this scene will make the final cut. I’m working on putting the ideas together.
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Huo Long only caught a glimpse of the two women as they left the inn that morning. The young girl held a bamboo parasol over her mistress’ face to shield her from the sunlight. Even shielded in that way, it was the mistress that held his attention.
She wore white, pure white as if in mourning. But the silk of her gown flowed about her, wholly unlike the coarse drape of sackcloth. They walked across the courtyard and every eye followed them. Two women, unescorted and alone. That was strange enough.
He was still thinking of the women much later that morning after they left. A group of men gathered in the alley beside the inn to confer in hushed tones. Huo Long leaned close to the wall of the tea room. Their voices drifted through the open patio.
“Who was she?” they asked. And, “Where was she going?”
It was more than curiosity that had these men brewing. The lady traveled with a satchel of riches, they said. Gold and precious jade. She must have been a wealthy widow, relocating after her husband’s death.
His stomach knotted with disgust. It was too easy to find ill-will and foul spirit in this world. He didn’t need to look to demonkind for such evil. Men were too willing to turn their own weaknesses on each other.
He tossed several copper coins onto the table and took to the bustling morning streets of Hangzhou. The gang had scattered throughout the crowd. Huo Long was able to identify one man here, another figure there as he wove through the foot traffic. He tracked the men through the market until they disappeared into the wooded park surrounding the West Lake.
The two woman were likely expecting a peaceful morning, visiting the pagodas and bridges of the lake. Huo Long moved his hand near his sword as he stepped into the shade of the park. The trees pushed back the clamor of the city and the area grew still and quiet. Dense grass muted his footsteps. He listened for voices through the thicket.
To his surprise, there was no sound, no movement as he wandered deeper. He emerged at the shore of the lake and saw the woman in white. She stood serene and graceful, with the sunlight glittering over the water behind her. Her attendant was nowhere to be seen.
He came closer and was about to inquire if she was alright. Then he saw the bodies strewn around them. They lay lifeless in the grass, unmarked A trickle of blood ran from one man’s mouth. Huo Long had been trailing them by less than twenty paces.
A green snake slithered by his foot in the grass and he jumped backward, but the lady in white remained still as the creature undulated toward her. She smiled brightly, the beauty of the smile grotesque given the circumstances. His heart pumped faster with an emotion he couldn’t place.
“Oh, he’s come to rescue us. How heroic!” Her eyes glowed like polished jade. “And handsome too.”
The grass at his feet came alive with snakes, writhing one atop another, moving en masse toward the woman in white.
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More excerpts:
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