Category Archives: writing

My arch-nemesis: the comma

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First off, I’m offering a group critique as part of a charity auction over at Ciar Cullen’s blog. Check out the Rose Group: Romancing a Cause

The premise of the critique is that Amanda Brice, Cynthia Justlin and I all swapped critiques of our Golden Heart® entries. Due to some diva mojo and our collective feedback, all three of us are 2009 Golden Heart® finalists. (By the way, RWA told me to put that trademark sign whenever mentioning the GH.)

I’m not a bad critique partner. I can be cruel, yet kind. But the one thing I cannot do is critique grammar, as evidenced by the Marlene entry I just got back. Judge #16, I thank you wholeheartedly! This thing has been through so many readers, and no one pointed out the mechanical errors to the level that you did. Were they just thinking I must have left out all those commas because I was typing fast? Surely Jeannie will go through and fix all these elementary mistakes herself. She can’t be that bad at grammar.

Yes, she is that bad at grammar. (Head on desk) Reason #1 that I’m a contest slut — your known readers and cps love you too much to see your flaws.

The thing is, I have an ominous memory of where things took a turn for the worse. I realized once that I was overusing the nefarious comma. So I did a quick lookup online about comma overuse. I looked it up online. Did I go to my Strunk and White’s, which I had used faithfully to write my master’s thesis? No, my lazy butt read something really quickly on Google and screwed myself up for the next year. I’m a quick learner — I pick rules up and program them into my head immediately. (Head on desk)

Ominous memory number #2. Not even two weeks ago, little sis was telling me about how people in her MFA program were griping about the period in education when people tried to get kids to read more for the joy of it and didn’t stress mechanics. So now we have this cadre of Lit majors who suck at grammar. “That’s me!” Little sis lamented. Little sis is my primary critique partner.

Judge #16 set me straight. I’m sending along a thank you letter soon, and I wish I could tack on some flowers and candy to that. (See previous comma. Now imagine a whole manuscript where that sort of comma was left out. See light bulb going off in Jeannie’s head about why she continues to get rejections.)

Re-programming starting now…

Networking at the NECRWA conference

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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.

    gwen_chrissy

    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.

    Key points:
  1. avoid “anti-hooks” in a query letter — controversial topics that may immediately turn agents/editors off
  2. In a query, focus on marketable elements
  3. 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.

    Key points:
  1. The blurb should contain what sets your story apart and should go outside the romance because the romance is a given.
  2. Stick to heroine, hero & conflict just like a shortened version of a back cover blurb.
  3. 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.