Under construction

It's coming soon! My critique partners and I spent an entire day over the weekend setting up a website. We've got our domain. Now we're playing with layouts and content – posting pictures and articles and blurbs about our books. So excited to see it all come together. Hope you'll check us out when we go live, hopefully some time this week!

website workday

Just scheduled an all-day work session with my critique partners! Yay! Can't wait. We may do a little reading and critiquing that day, but mostly, we're going to design a website. Since we all write some form of romance, we're teaming up to create one site that will give each of us an online presence in addition to our individual blogs.
Published or not, agents and publishers say all writers need to build a platform and start reaching an audience on line. Yes, it takes away from writing time, but it's part of the bigger picture, the whole package.
Already we're building a backlog of ideas and articles to include on the site. Key lime pie, anyone? Watch for a great recipe from J that ties right into her novel set in fabulous Key West. We'll introduce ourselves, our stories and our characters, and share blogs and thoughts on writing, romance and publishing. And, hopefully, we'll have a little fun in the process.
Stay tuned!

New Year's resolution

Let's see. Here's an easy one. My goal for 2012 is to get published.

Oh, wait. I can't control that. Okay, my goal is to get an agent. Darn. Can't control that one, either.
Well, I guess my resolution will have to be to keep going – keep writing, keep revising and editing, and keep meeting with my critique group.
Not as easy as it sounds. With busy schedules it's hard to get together even once a week with my critique partners. It's hard to convince my spouse I'm not wasting my time because I'm not entirely sure that's true. It's hard to justify the amount of time I'm spending on my writing with no income to show for it.
Typical writer's angst, I suppose. As I write this, I'm reminded of a favorite movie, The Shawshank Redemption. The main character (Andy) tells a fellow inmate that hope is a good thing. His friend responds that hope can drive a man crazy. I have to agree with both of them. Hoping can be exhausting. But to not hope, is to give up.
So, I hereby resolve to continue reading and writing, to keep exploring and learning and, above all, to not chuck it all in the trash and stop trying.

Christmas memories of a child bookworm

I passed my first bell ringer for the Salvation Army yesterday, and last night, I saw several homes in my area already decorated with Christmas lights. So as I pondered what to write today, my thoughts turned to Christmas.

When I was in third or fourth grade, I received one of the best Christmas presents of my life – I got an entire boxed set of Laura Ingalls Wilder books.

I loved these books. By the time I received the set, I’d already read all the books, probably multiple times. But that didn’t matter. The fact that I had my very own collection was a really big deal. The books smelled new and were in perfect condition, and fit together inside a special display box. And I cherished them. They captured my heart and my imagination.

I remember Christmases in the Big Woods with only a peppermint candy stick in a sock stocking for Laura and Mary, and the Christmas that Laura got her rag doll, Charlotte. There was the Christmas on the prairie where Mr. Edwards crossed the swollen creek, and the Christmas when Almanzo braved a blizzard to get home to see Laura. (Probably the first ‘romance’ I ever read!)

Today, the collection is still complete, though the pages of the books show their years with yellowed edges, a few dog-eared. I rarely flip through them anymore, and they didn’t seem to touch my daughter the way they did me, although she, too, has always been an avid reader. These books from my childhood are still part of my library, sitting in a place of honor on my shelves, and I love having them.

woo-hoo

Woo-hoo! Cha-cha-cha. Woo-hoo! Cha-cha-cha!
That's the sound of me doing a little dance. Just completed the "final" edits on my manuscript. It is d-o-n-e. Done!
Now it's time to hit the contests and send the queries. Calling all agents . . .

what's the rush?

One of my favorite romance authors is Judith McNaught. I was hooked after reading just one of her books – Paradise. Since then, I’ve read many of her novels, and read them many times.

When I began thinking about writing some stories of my own, I went back and read through a few of my old favorites, including a couple by McNaught. It’s funny, but this talented, New York Times bestselling author just might have a hard time if she were starting out today.

I’m guessing she’d be told that her story starts in the wrong place. Not enough action. There’s waaaay too much back story. No body cares. Chop, chop. The pacing is too slow. Get to the point.

In Paradise, the heroine doesn’t even meet the hero until page seventy-six! Copyrighted in 1991, the book is twenty years old. Yes, I get that times have changed. People supposedly have less time to read (never mind that each generation thinks they’re the busiest ever) and won’t tolerate pages that aren’t action-packed from the get-go. Sadly, impatient give-it-to-me-quick readers will miss a few gems.

There's a light

Thirty chapters. Ninety-two thousand words.