Don't Steal This Book!!!

Saturday night my DH and I attended my local RWA chapter holiday party. It was a fun affair where everyone brought food--heavy on the desserts--and a book for a White Elephant gift. Given that about 35 of the 40 attendees were writers (the other 5 or so were husbands), books were a great replacement for the bizarre items opened and stolen in past years. There were no rules about what kind of book except it couldn't be one written by the person who brought it. Needless to say, in this bunch there was no lack of creativity in the offerings.

Among the novels, self-help, picture books, histories, biographies and humor, one book stood out. It would have even if three people hadn't brought the same title. The first copy unwrapped was stolen twice ( the maximum number of steals allowed). The second I happily unwrapped and, glaring at the thieving Heather MacAllister who took it from me, had to choose again. A whisper of encouragement told me there was yet another copy in the dwindling pile. All I had to do was figure out which package it was in. Using all my powers of deduction--by that point dulled a bit by red wine--I grabbed a Christmas striped bag and VICTORY! Not only did I get The Book but the generous Christie Craig had included a terrific craft book in the bag. No one dared steal my treasure this time.

So what was the coveted title? FIFTY SHADES OF CHICKEN. It's a cook book with some rather steamy recipes. The trailer is hilarious and gives you the "flavor" of the writing. Check it out:

By the way, no one brought that Grey book.

So what were your favorite books of 2012? Is there one you hope to get for Christmas or Hanukkah this year?

Yeah, I'm a fangirl.

Last Saturday I attended a book signing at Murder by the Book for Hank Phillippi Ryan. Her new hardcover release, THE OTHER WOMAN, has gotten wonderful reviews and made several bestseller lists, but that’s not why I was there. I wanted to meet her because she has been so generous with her encouragement over the past few years after reading my entry in NWHRWA’s Lone Star contest.

For “civilians”—non-writers who have never entered a writing contest—let me clue you in here. Contest judges can be kind, helpful, constructive, encouraging and on occasion make a suggestion that takes the writing to a whole new level. Other judges can be picky, petty, hurtful and even downright nasty in their criticism. Unfortunately, my entry had gotten a more than its share of the latter in previous contests and I was getting discouraged.

Then I got back the entry Hank judged. It was a hardcopy back then and I still have it. She gave it a very high score, but not a perfect one, however, it was her comments that showed she “got it.”  She said she loved my writing and would like to read the rest of the story and gave her name and contact information—very unusual for a judge. I emailed her a thank you and got a lovely reply asking me to keep in touch and let her know how the submission was going. And I have.

When I introduced myself on Saturday, Hank immediately remembered DEYROLLE, the oringal title of the story, and told me again how much she loved my writing. I admitted that it hasn’t sold yet and I was getting a bit discouraged. Her reply? “You’ll sell and one day we’ll laugh about this.” And her sincerity made me believe her.

Hank is only one of the generous authors I’ve met on this writer’s journey. In what other industry do successful professionals give their time, knowledge and friendship to newcomers trying to break in? And yet, go to any RWA meeting and published authors do just that. Like Hank, so many author friends have gone out of their way to help me along the road to publication. Extraordinary women like Sophie Jordan, Tera Lynn Childs, Colleen Thompson, Shana Galen, Dee Gist—just to name a few—have given me and so many others the encouragement and tools to follow our dreams. What a priceless gift!

Give a shout out to someone in your life who has given you a lift when you needed it! 

SHARING THE RIDE

Last evening I drove with three writer friends, Sarah Andre, Jo Anne Banker and Kay Hudson to the release party for Shana Galen’s WHEN YOU GIVE A DUKE A DIAMOND. Hosted by Katy Budget Books, it was a wonderful event with champagne, cake, chocolate dipped strawberries and goodie bags filled with signed historical paperbacks, booksmarks, “real” diamond rings, body jewels and chocolate. 

I wish I could say we arrived promptly at 6:00 when Shana began her talk, but we didn’t get there until well into the Q&A. Given we’d driven an hour and a half in rush hour traffic, our tardiness was forgiven. Why, you may ask, did we drive that far and that long on a Monday night for a book signing? Because that’s what friends do. And many of the writers I’ve met through my local RWA chapters are indeed my friends.

And we weren’t the only chapter members to show up. Sophie Jordan, Ana Walker and Nicole Flockton were also there. After the signing, Sarah, Jo Anne and I took Kay out to dinner for her birthday. Sometime in the evening we remarked that if it wasn’t for writing and RWA, the four of us would never have crossed paths, and yet we’re sharing a journey non-writers find it hard to understand. Who in her right mind spends thousands of hours, years of her life in front of a keyboard pouring her heart and soul into a stories that may never be published? Yup, we do. Who subjects themselves to harsh criticism by contest judges, agents, editors and, if we’re lucky enough to get published, reviewers in pursuit of a career? We do.

Family and civilian friends support us, but after a couple of years with no books out on the shelves, they wonder if we’re crazy, lazy or delusional about our writing ability. Our writer friends understand the piles of rejections, the early manuscripts tucked under beds, the disappointment when our agent can’t sell a story we both love. They also share the triumphs of a contest win, a “full” request, an offer of representation from an agent, a book contract, and the release of a new book and a new series. One writer friend, Pat O'Dea Rosen, even agreed to be a part of this blog! 

My writer friends and I would never have met in our real lives for a thousand different reasons (age, geography, work, lifestyle, just to name a few) and yet they have become some of the most meaningful relationships in my life. In no other profession have I experienced the generosity, the willingness to help a newcomer along, the encouragement and empathy I have with these women. To all my writer friends I say—Thank you! You’re the best!

Google, the verb. We all do it.

After Pat's post Friday about her Klout score, I had to find out just what this Klout thing was. To no one's amazement, mine is very low. So I Googled myself to see what came up. Surprise, surprise the first pages contained my blog posts, Amazon book reviews, RWA activities and literary agency profile mixed in with genealogy sites about someone's great-grandfather Lark Howard born in 1896. Apparently Lark is more common as a male name than female. Who knew? It wasn't until page 10 that my day job company profile appeared which was much further on than I'd expected.

I then went to Google images which turned out to be more interesting. Of the first couple dozen, 9 were actually me. Several other photos I'd posted on this blog (travel pics, Kay, Sarah, Dee) and one was Pat O'Dea Rosen. A Lark Howard who looks like George Carlin on a really bad day was busted in Arizona on several occasions and multiple mugshots of him popped up (he was wearing different clothes so I know there were several arrests).

All this Googling got me thinking about the multiple lives so many writers have. Those of us lucky enough to write full-time may write under a pen name to suit out genre. Others have more than one name for other reasons. Historical writer Eloisa James is a Shakespeare professor named Mary Bly who for years hid her author identity from her students. A wonderful paranormal author friend is an emergency room doctor who took a pen name because she shares her real name with a porn star (not a good thing when readers are looking for your website). A few months back an English teacher was outted in Pennsylvania as the author of erotic romances under a pen name, outraging some parents who called for her dismissal while students defended her. Those of us who have two professional identities under the same name can find ourselves facing some awkward questions when those online identities intersect unexpectedly.

I know a lot of people are horrified to learn how much information is online about them. Those of us who use the internet to promote ourselves as writers are often more aware of what we're putting out there and control the content more deliberately than casual social media users.  Still, I can't help but wonder what my clients might think if they search my name in the vast cyber data-dump and find this blog or my profile as a Prospect Agency author.

What's the funniest, most surprising or most shocking item you've ever turned up when you Googled yourself?

Visiting THE BALLROOM

At the 2012 RWA National Conference I attended a workshop called "Have a Ball with Your Blog: Fostering an Online Community for Readers" where six fabulous historical romance writers (Sarah MacLean, Tessa Dare, Miranda Neville, Sabrina Darby, Lauren Willig and Kate Noble) talked about their blog, The Ballroom. 

 All of these authors write Regency Romances, stories set in England in the early 19^th century and the most popular of historical genres. In these romances, much of the action is likely to take place in ballrooms where lovely young women and dashing aristocratic men meet under the scrutiny of the ton. By a stroke of creative genius, these authors have created a blog ballroom supervised by an ever-gracious hostess, Lady B, and visited by authors and the characters in their books in a fun mash-up of time and cultures.

Each author has adopted a Ballroom personality while remaining herself. Occasionally the hero of a book scandalizes Lady B or or a heroine enlists help in catching the eye of a handsome young lord. There are polls,quizzes, parlor games, holiday parties and guest posts by visiting authors. Last week, Sophie Jordan and Cleo Hadley (the heroine of LESSONS FROM A SCANDALOUS BRIDE) joined Sarah MacLean and Lady B to find Cleo a match. 

Each post is a story in itself--interaction between author, characters and Ballroom regulars that anyone can join in. I was delighted by the wit, not only of the poster, but also in the comments as authors and visitors get into the spirit of Regency romance.

There are thousands of blogs out there with all kinds of purposes and themes. The Ballroom stands out for me as a place to enjoy the whimsy and creativity of a brilliant group of writers who invite us to hang out with them in the imaginary world of their books and an era that has inspired an entire genre of romance. If you enjoy historicals, check it out!

Are there any blogs you find especially fun to visit? Please share!

EXHAUSTED, ENERGIZED AND INSPIRED

Romance Writers of American National Conference in Anaheim ended Saturday night and most of us flew home on Sunday--exhausted, energized, inspired, and in some rare cases a little hungover. For me, this was a time to get away from my day-job identity and be a full time writer.

My two wonderful roommates, historical author Shana Galen and YA author Tera Lynn Childs, both had book deadlines looming (okay, Tera’s was stalking and ready to pounce) and needed to spend time working during the conference. Nevertheless, they took the time to attend workshops, greet readers, participate in signings and meet with their agents and editors. And we all did a bit of partying, especially at the Saturday night awards ceremony where we cheered on our friends and favorite authors.

What impresses me most about RWA is the generosity of published authors in helping those of us still on the journey to publication. These women—for almost all of them are women—share their knowledge through workshops on craft, career and the business of publishing. No other group in this industry or any other I know of offers the kind of in depth support and education for a newcomer who wants to learn the ropes. Seeing the hopeful faces of the people in line for agent and editor appointments, I remembered the nervous terror of my first pitch several years ago (a semi-disaster kindly endured by an agent who sent my partial a gentle pass letter) and was grateful to have passed that milestone in signing with my wonderful agent, Becca.

There’s always gossip, of course--who signed with whom, new imprints and e-publishers, what editors have moved/retired/been promoted, movie deals and encounters of the fangirl variety. There’s always some book buzz—this year’s star seemed to be the suspenseful GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn so I downloaded it in the airport. The first few pages grabbed me but since I couldn’t read on my Kindle during takeoff, I opened THE TAKER by Alma Katsu  (it was in our goodie bag) and have been engrossed in it since. Alma presented a workshop I attended on making unlikable characters sympathetic—she did exactly what she was talking about in her book and I was hooked.

Kay Hudson, Sarah Andre & Dee Gist

As for the awards fete—once again it was a sparkling evening. Imagine a room full of a couple thousand women dressed to the nines in formal and cocktail attire waiting to hear whether they or their friends would go home with a Golden Heart or Rita. (According to Keiran Kramer's FB posts, five woman wore the exact same dress!!) Even the yummy desserts were overlooked in the excitement.

There were plenty of nominees and finalists from West Houston to cheer as their names were announced. Tera (previous Rita winner) presented the Best First Book Rita to one of my favorite authors, Darynda Jones for her debut FIRST GRAVE ON THE RIGHT. And nobody was surprised when J. D. Robb took the suspense Rita.  Here’s a list of all the winners…check it out!

It was an inspiring, fun-filled week--seeing old friends and making new. And now it’s time to apply what I learned, get back to finishing my almost complete WIP and get it to my agent to send out in the world, knowing I’m not on this journey alone.

Anyone want to share you conference experiences, remark on past conferences or just comment about anything writing related in general?

RWA 2012 - Thursday Report

Live from Anaheim

I'm at RWA, sitting in my hotel room listening to Sophie Jordan and Tera Lynn Childs talk about their presentation on writing YA trilogies tomorrow. This is such a marvelous conference--so many talented writers, agents and editors in one place!

I'll admit, I have fangirl moments. Today I was trying to ride the elevator to the 30th floor, only to stop at the 17th where Nora Roberts and friends got on. Her friend asked if I was just riding the elevator. I told her I was looking for room 3042 and La Nora in her gravelly voice told me, "Too bad. There are only seventeen floors, dear." And then she and her posse proceeded to good-naturedly bust my chops all the way to the lobby. Loved it!!!

So that's my celeb story so far. Then there was the vodka party, my agency luncheon with some wonderful writers, and inspiring workshops with Shana Galen, Sophie Jordan and Dee Gist, and others. All in all a great day in Anaheim.

Wish you were here!

If you could hang with any living author who would it be?

Read Kimberly Frost's New Series! Now!

This weekend I finished Kimberly Frost’s ALL THAT FALLS, the second in her Etherlin series. I liked the first, ALL THAT BLEEDS, a lot. With the second, I’m totally hooked. In Ms. Frosts' world the descendants of the ancient muses live in a glittering community in the Colorado Rockies called the Etherlin, while beyond the wall live humans and vendala, human-vampire hybrids who crave muse blood. Here are excerpts from the cover blurbs:

ALL THAT BLEEDS

Alissa North is inspiration made flesh, so she should never have met Merrick, a deadly half-vampire enforcer, but when they do meet, the connection is instantaneous, and an illicit flirtation is born. The long-distance friendship was never supposed to go any farther. But when she is kidnapped and thrown briefly into his world, everything changes.

ALL THAT FALLS

As his muse, Cerise propelled her musician boyfriend to the heights of fame, but when he died under mysterious circumstances her powers vanished. Now she’s plagued by disturbing half-formed memories of his final night…until she meets the fallen archangel Lysander who seems to hold the key to restoring her memories and abilities.

I love the world Kimber’s created—the magical Etherlin which is too good to be true and the violent Varden where Merrick and Lysander live—and the characters who go against their natures to connect with each other. These beings are larger than life and yet very human in their capacity for love and loyalty. The villains are deliciously evil, the heroes heroic and flawed, and the action is fast paced, epic and addictive. If you enjoy paranormal romance, you’ll love this series! I certainly do.

Anyone have any book recommendations this week? I'm headed to RWA and would love to pick up signed copies at the 2012 "Readers for Life" Literacy Autographing in Wednesday. Details here. 

HELP! WHO MOVED MY GENRE?

Several years ago I attended my first Romance Writers of America meeting. The lovely and generous Colleen Thompson introduced herself and asked what I wrote. The question threw me. It should be obvious since I was there that I wrote romance. “But what kind of romance?” she asked. I was baffled. There were different kinds? Yep. Within a few months I determined I wrote contemporary single title, or at least that’s what that first 200,000 word mess was…sort of.

Over the last few years I thought I’d gotten the whole genre thing down. My second manuscript was a romantic suspense, my third and fourth are paranormal romance. Or at least they were until yesterday when I read a Barnes and Noble Review interview Eloisa James did with Lisa Klepas about her new release, RAINSHADOW ROAD. Eloisa is one of the most prominent romance writers in the industry (not to mention a Shakespeare professor!) and Lisa Kleypas is right up there with the best of them. Here’s the paragraph that startled me:

 Rainshadow Road is a deeply moving romantic novel, but it's definitely not a "paranormal" romance.  Your heroine, Lucy Marinn, has the ability to change glass into living creatures, so the shards of a broken ornament turn to "living sparks," a dancing procession of fireflies, for example.  In a paranormal romance, the heroine herself might change shape, though generally into a member of cat family rather than a firefly, but a shape-changer has presumably lived with her feline self for most of her life.  Within the context of the world of the romance, her abilities are normal. 

Whaaaa? By this definition neither SHADES OF PARIS nor SHADES OF THE DEEP  are paranormal! My characters have psychic abilities and their world is strongly influenced by made-up science. Sure, some of the antagonists use Voodoo-like magic, but nobody shape-shifts, drinks blood, or enjoys/endures any version of immortality.

The interview goes on to label RAINSHADOW ROAD magical realism, a new concept to me, but that’s not the point. In the publishing industry we constantly hear agents and editors talk about where to place a book in the marketplace and on the shelves, and now I’m wondering if I even know my own genre. Are my stories contemporary romance with psychic elements? Romantic adventures with psychic characters? I’ve heard Jayne Ann Krentz describe her Arcane Society series as romantic suspense with characters with psychic abilities.  No mention of paranormal.

I’m not alone in puzzling over genre. My critique partner and good friend, Sarah Andre, finaled in RWA’s Golden Heart contest in the Romantic Suspense category but has been rethinking whether her story is technically a suspense because the main characters are solving a murder mystery through most of the story and are not in immediate dire peril. 

Genre labels wouldn’t be important of they didn’t create agent, editor and reader expectations that impact contracts and sales. How can my agent pitch my work to editors if we don't know what genre it is? As writers we write what we love, but, as professionals who want to make a living writing books, understanding where our stories fit in the marketplace is becoming more and more important as genre lines blur. 

What do you write? Has genre expectations impacted how you market your work? If you’re a reader, what do you think of when you hear paranormal romance? 

FINISHING THE WIP...IS THIS WRITING OR JUST TYPING?

My Golden Heart entry is due at RWA headquarters in 5 days and I'm not finished with the the ending of the story. The first 50 pages are polished and ready to go, the synopsis is nearly done but the contest requires a completed manuscript. Ugh. I wish I was one of those people who can write 20 or 30 pages a day. Unfortuantely, I'm not sure I can type 30 pages in a day. What was I thinking when I signed up and paid my $50 in early November? Now I'm down to the wire and madly rushing to finish...or will be again after I post this.

So why not blow it off? Because I commited to finish and finish I will. I don't dare to hope to win like Pat O'Dea Rosen and JoAnne Banker did, or even final like Kay Hudson and Sarah Andre. These talented women have a je ne sais quoi that I truly admire. But I can wrap up this damn thing, print it, deliver it and hope for the best. And promise myself never be so follish again!!

What crazy dealines have you set for yourself? Did you meet them, miss them, or blow them off?