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Filed in: friends and family | slice of life | writing Tags: harry potter movie | motivation | random musings | revision | the dragon and the pearl | writing
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Poking my head out for a minute…
Is the Harry Potter movie still out? I lost track of it after mum stood me up in Vegas to play the penny slots instead of going on a movie date with her dear daughter.
“Bah!” I could hear her saying. “You can watch Harry Potter anywhere.”
Back to the cave. I’m supposed to start fast drafting a novella today and I need to ship the D&P manuscript to Little Sis along with some form of bribe. Nothing edible. The last bribe was a disaster when the squeezable bottle of condensed milk busted open in the box. Don’t ask. Little Sis likes condensed milk — just not all over manuscript pages when she’s critiquing them. Maybe that’s why she panned everything from Chapter 12 on…
I think I’ll go see Harry Potter this weekend if I can get this novella drafted. 
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Filed in: book reviews | events | friends and family | miscellaneous | slice of life | travel | writing Tags: brainstorming | inspiration | plotting | random musings | travels | writing
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 Lately I’ve been brewing a lot of thoughts. Last night I even plotted out an entirely new novel. For some people that’s no big deal, but I rarely commit enough to an idea to outline it. It takes a long period of mulling over an idea before I decide it’s tickled my interest enough to latch onto it. Writerly friends always talk about how many ideas they get that are pulling at them and urging to be written. That so ain’t me, babe.
In San Diego, I was thinking about Little Sis’ fiance. Soon-to-be Brother in Law is a journalist and a freelance travel writer. Sunday morning, they got up early to take my brother to the airport, hit the zoo for five hours and then meet up with us for lunch. What kind of crazy person wants to squeeze in time at the San Diego zoo on Sunday after going to a huge wedding the day before? To me, it just sounded exhausting, but Brother in Law was giddy about going to the zoo and seeing lions and tigers and bears.
I thought then about all the articles he has to write on a daily basis. If I had to come up with ideas on a daily basis, I’d implode. Even these little bloggy thingies are hard to come up with sometimes. But BIL loves to go out and experience things. You might think, yeah, who doesn’t? But Little Sis and BIL, both writers, are out every chance they get finding events, places to go, people to see. Maybe all these inputs help BIL formulate this neverending cycle of ideas.
It leads me to think about what kind of experiences I’ve been stirring into the daydream soup. Ever since my honeymoon, I haven’t been writing or revising in earnest (yes, confession time). Some of it was because of the whole euphoria of finding an agent and getting embroiled in the day job. But I’ve also been going out and doing things. There was the weekend in San Diego and the entire week visiting friends and family in Los Angeles.
Even back in St. Louis, we’re getting out more. After the farmer’s market in Amsterdam, I remarked to hubby that it was the sort of Saturday I’d like to have every week. Sure enough, when we got back home, hubby started taking us to the Soulard Market on Saturdays. We’ll walk hand in hand, buying fresh fruit and vegetables. Then we go home and I’ll make the best sangria and guacamole. And that, of course, leads to another couple hours of lounging and non-writing.
All of this stuff feeds my mind, so I guess I have a happy brain right now. So maybe it’s not so bad to not be writing so much for the moment.
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Filed in: miscellaneous | slice of life | writing Tags: all-nighter | goals | procrastination | revisions | writing
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I have a pitching presentation to do this Saturday and I’ve been asked to do a guest blog on “Feminism in the Tang Dynasty”. On top of this, I sorely need to revise “Silk and Seduction”. I made progress today by deleting an extraneous “the”. And that was all.
It struck me that I feel like I’m back in university. I “turned in” my presentation outline for peer review, I’m formulating my arguments for my blog on historical heroines and looming over it all is my 300 page “thesis” on love and redemption.
Just like in school, procrastination is rearing it’s ugly head. I sense an all-nighter coming on.
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Filed in: events | writing Tags: conferences | hooks | jessica faust | lisa gardner | necrwa | networking | pitching | workshops | writing
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I know I’m supposed to put myself out there at a conference and make contacts, but I suck at networking. I’m completely shy and weird and it takes me a long time to become comfortable with people. Still, I had a blast at the New England Chapter’s RWA conference. I even managed to stick my head out of my shell a couple of times to discover (once again) that romance authors really are some of the most warm and welcoming people around.
This was my first writer’s conference outside of nationals and I will definitely make a point of going again next year! I really need to bring a camera and take more pictures.
Highlights:
- I sat at the same table as historical author Terri Brisbin for dinner on Friday so I got to thank her personally for the Golden Heart ® call and congratulate her on her Rita ® nomination.
- Met up with some Romance Divas with the biggest hearts in the world. I was only able to capture two of them on my camera phone, but you can tell what lovely people they are by their smiles.
 Divas Gwen Hayes and Chrissy Olinger
- Danced the night away with a bunch of women I’d never met.
- I pitched to an agent and received a request for a partial. But more important than that, I received great feedback on the marketability of Butterfly Swords. She told me point blank that it was going to be tough and she’d have to be completely wowed by the writing for me to have a ghost of a chance. And you know, I appreciated that and wouldn’t expect any less!
- Lisa Gardner’s workshop on “Conquering the Dreaded Synopsis” is even better in person than online. Even though I’ve read and re-read her online materials so many times, this workshop helped organize what I knew or thought I knew.
- avoid “anti-hooks” in a query letter — controversial topics that may immediately turn agents/editors off
- In a query, focus on marketable elements
- In a synopsis, don’t feel the need to explain the story through plot elements. Instead, the gold standard is to focus on what will make the editor fall in love with your characters.
- Jessica Faust’s workshop “Hooking Them In” is a gem. She focuses in on the essentials of a pitch or a blurb with a keep it simple approach.
- The blurb should contain what sets your story apart and should go outside the romance because the romance is a given.
- Stick to heroine, hero & conflict just like a shortened version of a back cover blurb.
- She took a couple of sample pitches and told us what worked and what didn’t. It really gave an idea of what editors/agents were looking for in a pitch.
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Filed in: writing Tags: agents | red line of death | rejection | writing
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 Rejected manuscripts always come back in pristine mint condition, don’t they? Coupled with a form rejection letter, it leads us paranoid writers to wonder, did the agent even read it?
I know they read far enough to know they didn’t want to read anymore. That could be ten pages in, five pages in, or maybe, they didn’t even get past page 1. So I started wondering, how far are my submissions getting before they’re axed? Damon Knight coined the term “The Red Line of Death” for the spot in the manuscript where he stopped reading. It could happen for any variety of reasons, but when the reader is done, they’re done.
I realized that my CPs and beta readers may not be able to gauge this. They’ve committed themselves to reading the entire section I’ve given them so they’ll keep reading past the rough spots. In this case, it’s kinder to be cruel and tell me: here the writing was too choppy, the pace got too slow, the characters became too stupid to live. This must be what agents really mean when they say “the writing didn’t grab me as much as I’d hoped”.
I believe that my writing doesn’t have to be flawless to be picked up. But it has to be engaging. It has to be readable. It has to keep the pages turning. So this is my new quest. I know my writing is flawed and it’s going to be flawed when I send it out, as hard as I try to polish it. Rather than aiming for perfect prose and technical perfection, I’m chasing the red line. I’m gathering up feedback, especially personalized rejections, and try to use them to gauge where is this line right now for me. It’s different for every agent for every manuscript of course.
When I was getting nothing but form rejections, I assumed I wasn’t getting past page 1. So I worked real hard at my first five pages (I even got the book ). I also entered contests and paid attention to what people who didn’t love me were saying about the opening. I took every negative comment from a judge to heart. I know they say not to do that, but I do.
It was a long, long time and many rejections later before I started getting a couple of personalized rejections. Yes! I even got a couple of partial requests based off of sample pages. They all ended in rejection, but I sensed my line had inched forward a bit.
I finally received a couple of full requests. Not many, mind you! If the request was just off of a query, I know it says nothing about my red line, but if it was off a sample — yay! The line has moved farther, at least for that particular agent.
Even if someone reads through to the end, the story can still be rejected. But in that case, for a brief moment, my little story will have a fighting chance. I don’t know if Butterfly Swords has taken any editor or agent there yet, but hopefully one day, someone will reach “The End” with no red line in sight.
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Filed in: writing Tags: critique groups | partners | writing
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About a year ago, I said goodbye to my original critique group – the beautiful people who encouraged me through my first and second novel, who sat through the painful reading of my first love scene, who still cheer me up when I feel like with every step forward, I’m taking three steps back.
Today is my first meeting with a new small critique group. I’m quite excited! We’ve already posted sample pages to read ahead of time. I love reading pages that are quite different from what I write. I find it so refreshing.
Now I have to go and find something green to wear before we head out.
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Filed in: Announcements | writing Tags: historical | paranormal | romance_divas | workshop | writing
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Writing Historical Paranormal Romance with Some of The Hottest Authors in the Genre
March 20th & 21st at Romance Divas
Featuring:
Colleen Gleason
Melissa Mayhue
Jennifer Ashley
Sharon Page
Jennifer St. Giles
Want to know how to write romance that brings a mysterious and paranormal twist to history? Romance Divas is hosting a 2-day workshop with some of the hottest names in the Historical Paranormal genre. It will take place at the Romance Diva Forum. All are welcome. To get access to the forum you will need to register.
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Filed in: writing Tags: brainstorming | inspiration | Japan | Shinjuku | travel | writing
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I’m trying to brainstorm a new story and my thoughts keep on going back to Tokyo and the amazing two days I spent there years ago.
There’s a short I want to write that isn’t romance. It’s more of a reflective piece; a slice of life. I think I’m going to do that as a palette cleanser.
I picked up an idea a while ago from Candace Havens who suggested making a collage of pictures and phrases that inspire your story. I stuck with just images. I had taken pictures while I was there with a yellow disposable wind & snap camera, but the pictures are gone. I can never hold on to pieces of paper. So I stole these memories off the internet except for the picture of the prayer tablets.
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Filed in: Announcements | writing Tags: brags | butterfly swords | chase-the-dream-contest | contests | openings | writing
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All eight finalists have been posted and voting opens from March 5 to March 11. There’s quite a range there — historicals from different time periods, paranormals, contemporaries. Butterfly Swords is in good company and I feel like I’ve already won since the lovely panel of judges will read over all the final entries.
I feel silly trolling for votes, so if you’d like to check out some interesting openings, click on over and vote your conscience.
To read the final entries
http://chasethedreamcontest.wordpress.com/entries/
To vote:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=OQvSykwHXYudFZ5C3hcdoA_3d_3d
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Filed in: writing Tags: critique groups | karma | mentoring | writing
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I was watching my newly anointed favorite show – “My Name is Earl”. I love how positive it is, along with being hilariously funny. And of course, karma’s big with me. Not religious karma, but more general, “it doesn’t hurt to flood the world with positive energy” karma.
I had a great mentor when I first started writing romance. She taught me so much and really made me believe that I could do this — not with flattery or compliments, but through laying out the process and business of writing for me very clearly. She also led the first critique group I was a part of. We wrote through our first novels together, each writing in a different genre. *sniff* I get emotional just thinking about how much we went through together.
As a part of having such a great experience, I really believe in giving back to the romance writing community. So I was really excited to sign up for the Romance Diva mentorship program this year as a mentor.
The funny thing is that the apprentices are quite nervous about who they’ll get, but I think mentors are even more nervous. What if no one wants me? I’m just an unpublished nobody who’s getting rejected left and right. But of course, I do recognize I’ve learned a lot in the three years I’ve been doing this. I know I have something to offer, which is why I signed up.
My apprentice’s main goal is to “finish the darn book”. That’s a huge goal, the ultimate goal. I remember how good I felt when I finished my first book. It’s the first step toward really putting your money on the line. The rest is just details.
I really, really hope I do a good job. We have our first writing chat session in an hour. Gotta go and crack the whip — with love, of course.
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