Dear Characters

Is it absolutely necessary to plant ideas in my head while driving listening to music on the way to dinner with the family? I know I haven't written about you for quite some time. You've been pushed aside for my Silhouette Special Editions, and now you have to wait for the rewrite of Fallen and potentially the follow up to Casanova Exposed. I'm sorry you have your beginning all figured out. I wrote it down for when I get to you. I'm also sorry that might be a while and you won't shut up. I promise to spend a day writing a synopsis/outline for the revised version of the story you've been feeding me. So please be quiet while I work on these other stories and get back in line.

Cover-ific OMG Squee!

Career-driven accountant Natalie Collins

wasn’t the type to wish for a Hollywood

hero to rescue her. She preferred life away

from celebrity glitz. Too bad the man who

drove her wild was an A-list actor.

With her understated beauty and brains,

Natalie was the one person Chase Booker

could trust. He could see the strong, sexy

woman beneath her shy exterior, and

she stirred a blinding passion in him that

made it easy to forget that they were from

different worlds. But when she was in his

arms, their worlds were dangerously close

to colliding....

Forgive my exuberance: Copyright © 2010 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited


Cover Art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved. ® and ™ are trademarks of Harlequin Enterprises Limited and/or its affiliated companies, used under license.

Head Spinning Yet?

All right, I completed my judging obligations right on time. I went through a round of revisions on Casanova Exposed with my agent. She pointed out some really great things, well not so great things, but we fixed them. Hopefully we will be submitting sometime this week. Fingers crossed.

I'm mucking through this whole release process. Trying to figure out the review process. As in sending out the book for review when you don't have a book to send? I'm still not sure on that one, but I'll muddle through. I sent the first e-mail today, so we'll see.

So now I'm in a bit of a lull. I have to do some accounting work before I can get busy with my manuscripts again. Yes, I'm going to attempt it again. Write two different things at once. I haven't decided if it's better to do them both the same day or give each one a day. *shrugs* It's a work in process, kind of like when I was figuring out my plotting method that works for me. Notecards and storyboards aren't for me, but a quick synopsis seems to do the trick. Plus it's easier to write the synopsis first and then make adjustments after. Otherwise I start throwing everything in it including the kitchen sink. :) And nobody needs to know about the kitchen sink in the synopsis. Even though it may be pivotal to the plot, the kitchen sink should probably be glossed over. Hmmm... I think I pushed that metaphor a bit much.

Moving on... I broke my left shift key trying to clean the cat fur off from underneath. Occupational hazard. It still works, but it wobbles a bit and the windows key... well, it never got used anyway. Hope your writing is going well or reading or whatever you are into.

Time Flies When You Have Too Much To Do

The other day I got the final copy of L.A. Cinderella for a last check before the printing. This really has been a whirlwind book. Most books take a year or longer from offer date to make it to the stands. I was made the offer Labor Day weekend. Within a week I had an agent and a deal for my book. A couple of weeks later, I had revision notes. After my initial panic attack, I conquered the revision notes and sent them back. By mid October I had a release date and access to my Art Fact Sheet. Meanwhile I had to get busy with Casanova Exposed, the story I had plotted if L.A. Cinderella got picked up. I got my contract mid November. :) That copy got lost in the mail, so I remailed it beginning of January. End of November, I received my copy edits and got busy looking for errors in the MS that I'd missed the first thousand times through. I still found some.

I finished the first draft of Casanova Exposed the second week in December. In January, not a lot happened with L.A. Cinderella. January I revamped my website with the help of my friend, who did an awesome job. Just this week, I received the final version of it (ETA L.A. Cinderella not my website) to read through yet again and a request for my bio and picture for the Harlequin website. I signed up for RWA Nationals including the Literacy signing. I sent Casanova Exposed to my agent, Becca Stumpf, and now it's back to waiting. When Becca's done, it will go to my editor and I'll wait some more. And while I wait...I write. I talked with my editor and am going to proceed with the followup to Casanova which is currently untitled. So while I wait I write, but I'm also working on Fallen. Well...once I get the edits back to my editor and get my mojo back.

I'm still figuring out how all this works. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it soon.

Contest Heirarchy of Novel Warfare

Ah, contests. They either lift you up or grind you into the ground. It takes pretty thick skin to enter writing contests. The judges have no vested interest in your work like a crit partner or friend might. But that's not what I'm writing about today.

Why enter contests? Almost every RWA chapter runs a contest for unpublished authors every year. For them it's a way to draw attention to their chapter and make money for the programs they provide for their members. For the person entering? It depends on where you are in your writing career. Because it's usually not for the first prize. Which can be your entry fee back or a cool trinket (I've gotten a crystal heart pendant and am getting a cake serving set)

When you are just starting out sending out to a contest is a test of sorts. How well received will my first pages be when I send them to an agent or editor? The feedback from 1st round judges vary. Some make you think you could be the next Sherrilyn Kenyon and others make you think you'd be better off as a fry cook. But these are people who don't know you and that's important. They don't have to be harsh, but they can be real about what they think. If they are allowed to be feedback. Something to be aware of when looking for a contest. This can be a testing ground for an idea you aren't sure about.

When you start to get better at writing (which you should always be getting better), you enter contests because of the final judge or judges. Maybe it's your dream agent or editor. This is the real prize. Some editors will tell you what they like or dislike about your entry, but generally they'll just rank you among the other two entries. However, the real prize is the request for a full. This lets you bypass the query stage and the editor slush pile. You get to write "Requested Materials" on your envelope.

Obviously, the MS needs to stand up to the expectations of the piece you submitted to the contest. When L.A. Cinderella won the Marlene, I got a cool heart pendant and a full request. This eventually led to Silhouette Special Edition buying my book. With Fallen, I placed 2nd in the Golden Gateway which gave me a free membership to FTHRW, but I also got a request from the final editor who is on my list when this MS gets done again.

Finally a Bride contest is an interesting contest. You can enter this contest if you've finaled in a contest during the year but didn't get 1st place. So the entries are all top notch to begin with. Making it to the finals was amazing. Winning and getting a request is crazy. So I'm happy as a peach.

One final note on contests, the Golden Hearts is the contest put on by RWA National. You get a number score and that's it on your MS, but if you happen to final, you get noticed by agents and editors. It's the equivalent of winning a golden ticket to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. You may not get the keys to the factory at the end, but the ride will be really cool.

Cheating

So I've given myself a little leeway while waiting for my Beta readers to get back to me on Exposed. I started the followup to Exposed and then got stalled on the heroine's career. So I turned to FALLEN. Yes, I enjoy beating a dead horse. Actually I'm enjoying it a lot more the third time around. I cut it back to around 3000 words. I've always loved the opening, but the book didn't keep the promise of the opening. This time it will. I sure hope at least. Why cheating then? Well, as soon as I ship off Exposed to my agent, it's back to Charm. I need to finish my proposal for a three books series and I need to develop the series overview for FALLEN, which will be changing names after the pleathora of FALLENs that have been flooding the market. *sigh* That would be my fault for having to rewrite it over and over again.

Done Again!

The ending wasn't the best on Exposed, so I rewrote the ending. I ended up with a lot of words and will be sending to another set of crit partners to look for all the stuff I missed, including missed opportunities. Never underestimate a good critique relationship. If you find someone who finds what you miss, grab on and hold.

I also have a new design on my website and blog. Check out the links above for the home page. I'm excited about L.A. Cinderella's upcoming release. At some point I'll get back to my paranormal, but the characters are talking for my category romances.