Cover Reveal: Upcoming Romance - Power Play

On January 14 2013, my contemporary romance, Power Play, will be available for purchase with Crimson Romance.

For those of you jonesing for some hockey action (and I do mean action) during the lockout, this is the romance novel for you!  The hero (and the villain...and many of the other characters too, for that matter) are professional hockey players.  Sexy, sexy.

Check out the summary for Power Play on the publisher's website.

And now...for the cover reveal:

Winning at Writing

Last month, I took part in the National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo, a writing challenge that encourages everyone with a book in them to write 50,000 words in the month of November.

And I won!

As it turns out, November was an incredibly busy month for me.  I was involved in several volunteer projects, which included attending meetings, leading to two whole days of zero writing. Some days, hitting the computer seemed like the hardest thing in the world.

I got off to a good start in the challenge by keeping pace with the 1,667 words I needed to write on a daily basis.  However, on Day 11, I hit a roadblock.  I wrote nothing for the next few days, then wrote a little, then again nothing for a while.

The thing about this challenge is that a month isn't enough time to procrastinate--at least, not to procrastinate well.

I realized that the worst move I could make was to fall behind in the first days of NaNoWriMo.  In the last few weeks, I had to write my butt off, putting in at least 2,000 words every day, whether I wanted to or not.  Without this last minute push, I would have never finished on time.

Tip: Have a viable story idea in your back pocket.  When I first ran out of writing juice, it was because my idea had run its course.  I didn't know where else to take my heroine.  That was the point at which having a story outline or even a few plot points jotted down would have come in really handy.

So, in reality, the days I spent not writing were spent trying to work out where I was going.  It was time well spent, but it was time I could have put aside in October, before I was faced with a crunch deadline.

In all, NaNoWriMo was a great experience.  I got to spend more time with my writing than ever before and I was happy producing so many pages, even if after 50,000 words, my novel is nowhere near finished.  Plus, winning was a real rush!

But, next year, I will definitely outline my novel in advance.

Save Your Inspiration For When You Need It

Like most people, I subscribe to a bunch of email newsletters and publications.  Many of these are writing-related.

And, also like most people, I don't usually have the time to read even a fraction of the emails I receive during that same day (or week, or month).  Usually, I just skim the subject line and sender field and decide if it needs my immediate attention (usually career or publisher-related) or sometime soon attention (friends) or if it can wait.  Indefinitely.

Lots of the writing emails I get are interesting and informative (or I wouldn't subscribe to them).  I get a bunch of different emails from Writer's Digest, literary journals like Kenyon Review, which has great suggestions on what books to put into my To Be Read pile, and blogs like the Quick Brown Fox.

I hate having more than a hundred emails in my Inbox so I am pretty obsessive about deleting old ones. I get happy when I have lots of "trash" to take out.

So what do I do with these emails that I don't have the time to read but eventually want to read?

I bookmark them and save them for when I need a shot of quick writing inspiration.

This usually means saving them in my Favourites tab under the heading of Writing (of course) and coming back to the first one on my list when I sit down to write but find that I can't get any words out.  Reading about writing usually gets my fingers moving and these articles I save usually have side notes about published authors and how they got their start.  What better inspiration is there than that?

So, try doing what I do and saving your writing inspiration for when you need it.  Rather than trolling the internet for a quick boost of motivation (and getting sidetracked by a new online game), go to your saved writing favourites and get into the mood.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Nan-NoWriMo!

A big hello to everyone out there in the blogosphere (this is the first time I have ever used that word and I think I already hate it)!

If you don't hear from me much in November, it's because I'm taking part in the National Novel Writing Month challenge, or NaNoWriMo for short.  Yes, this is my first time.  Be gentle.  And, if you're a user, check out my NaNo profile.

Happy NaNoWri-Month!

(Oh, and I'm calling my writing month Nan-NoWriMo, because I'm that much of a nerd!)

Erotic Romance Calls for Submission

I would like to think the title of this post is a funny double entendre...or maybe I'm just writing this too early in the morning.

Anyway, I have been going through an odd stretch of writer's block that is a combination of a strong desire to write, coupled with ideas to write about and, amazingly, the time to write, with a complete inability to write.  All of metaphorical ducks are in a row, yet I'm not writing.  It's almost like I'm spoiled for choice.  Or lazy.  Maybe, really, just lazy.

Well, here's hoping it passes and quickly.

In the meantime, I wanted to share some recent calls for submission by erotic romance publishers that might help you (and me) get our fingers moving.  Typing, I meant.  Geez, get your mind out of the gutter.  Or in, as the case may be.

Entangled: I'm really bummed about missing this publisher's zombie call but there's a Valentine's Day theme that gives us all until the last week in November to come up with a sexy book-length story.  Complete manuscripts only.

Carina Press: This publisher is always seek erotic romance as well as erotica but they also have a special call for holiday themed romance and erotic romance with a deadline in March 2013.  Plenty of time to get those pencils moving!  Bonus: there's also a military "home for the holidays" collection they are seeking stories for.

Ellora's Cave: They're looking for stories about bounty hunters and also expanding their Fusion line (multicultural and interracial stories).  They also have a EC for Men line that was launched this year that is currently seeking submisisons.

Bonus: Forever Yours is a new digital publisher on the block which is seeking all kinds of romance, so they may certainly be worth a query.

Success and Failure

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. – Winston Churchill

Today, I was toting up my writing career.  To date, I've published two erotic romance short stories/ novellas and I have a full length contemporary novel forthcoming in January 2013.

Not too shabby, right?

Well, I've been writing romances for about fifteen years.  Yes, you read that right.  Fifteen...years.

I've completed about a dozen full manuscripts and have countless short stories, chapters, first pages and scraps written.  Again, not too bad, right?

In my sums today, I realized that I have sent out each of these manuscripts at least two or three times to publishers.  I've spent a fortune on ink, paper and stamps.  So far, I've had the three publications I mention above.

That's a lot of failure.

Fifteen years of trying and three publications.  Is it worth it?  Yes!

Seeing my work in print (okay, e-print) ranked right up there with one of the best feelings ever.  And you know what, without sending out my work over and over, I would have never gotten here.

So, a la Alanis Morrisette, thank you Failure.  Without you, I wouldn't have achieved success.

How to Handle Competing Priorities

Like most women, I have about a dozen "to do's" on my list every day.  Heck, every hour.  Work, family, writing, friends, volunteer work, they all pile up every day and every day I must attack the pile.

Lately, we've heard that multitasking doesn't work, but we still do it, don't we?  Right now, I've got my smartphone beside me as I type this out and I have several windows open on my browser, all touching on different topics and all waiting for my attention.

In my writing life, I have second edits due back to my publisher next week, I have an entire novel I'm trying to write by mid-month, I have a submission I have to send off to my writing group which meets this weekend, and I want to read entries for the So You Think You Can Write contest.  Oh, and this blog post.  Does that sound like enough yet?

I can't do everything at once -- nor do I want to -- so how do I handle it?

Set Time Frames

Most of the writing tasks I have to accomplish will take an extended period of time.  Some have concrete deadlines (like my edits), while others don't.

Make a list -- mentally is okay -- of the tasks and how long you estimate they will take to complete, or, if they have a deadline, when it is due.

The Snowflake Method

The snowflake method is a debt reduction strategy I recently read about where you pay the minimum balances on all of your outstanding debts, but you pay off your smallest debt first by putting all of your available funds into that payment, then when that's paid off, you roll the extra payments into your next smallest debt and so on until you've paid them all off.  The idea is to promote a sense of accomplishment as you see your number of debts be reduced.  Another version has you paying off your highest interest rate debts first.

If any of your tasks can be completed in a short time, say less than fifteen minutes, do it first.  Do it now.  So, I would finish this blog first then I would send off my chapters to my writing group.

Set Mini Deadlines

After I've tackled the tasks that can be completed quickly, I move on to my larger ones.  These are high priority tasks that need to be completed by certain deadlines.

The edits will take a few days and I have about a week on hand.  I set out a block of time in my schedule -- the weekend should be okay -- to complete them.  That's my deadline before the deadline, which gives me time to catch up in case I fall behind.

Writing the novel is another larger task and I know I have to dedicate more time to it, but at this point I'm not sure how much time I will have on hand.  So I set a different kind of goal.  Every day from now until I decide that I need to have my first draft completed, I will write X number of pages a day.

In between all of these other tasks, I will be reading entries to the contest...such as when I need a mental break from writing or editing.

This may not be the best way to balance all of the millions of things that come up every day but it is a guideline and I always feel better with a plan in hand.  Try it and see if it works for you.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Vote for my Romance: The Dating Lesson

The voting portion of the So You Think You Can Write contest is now open!

Vote for my Harlequin Romance, The Dating Lesson.

Just a word of warning, the voting works differently than in past years for this contest.  Instead of rating each entry as you read them, you can now only vote for your favourite -- one per day.  Trust me, I learned the hard way and voted for an entry that did not really impress me.  Oh well, tomorrow is another voting day.

Major Editing: Read As A Reader

I recently received major edits back for my upcoming romance release with Crimson Romance.  Although I have published erotic romance stories before, I have never edited a full length manuscript.  It was an experience.

Give It Time

Usually, my first and best piece of advice for editing is to give your work some time to breathe.  Like a fine wine, you need to let it rest, undisturbed, for a period of time to allow the full flavours to develop.  And to try to ensure that you no longer are 'in love' with every single letter you've written.

Of course, in this instance, I'm assuming that you haven't seen or heard from your manuscript in weeks, even months -- that's the time in takes to hear back from the publisher, to sign the contract, and to wait for the first edits to come to you.

So, step one -- done.

Read As A Reader

My first tip, and the method I used for this edit as well as for unpublished manuscripts, is to read over the entire piece once.

The way I do this is to print out the entire manuscript.  Yes, onto real paper.

Sure, maybe you read faster off of the computer screen and you really hate killing trees, but the point of this part of the process is to experience your book as a reader would.  An old-fashioned, Kindle-free, reader.  Trust me, if you've written your book on computer (which we all do nowadays), having a physical copy in your hand will immediately distance yourself from the writing process, giving you a precious bit of objectivity.  Hint: this will come in very handy during major edits.

Don't Pick Up That Pen!

While you're reading your work, don't make a single mark on those pages.  You are trying to recreate the reading experience, how an eventual purchaser of your book will see it.  And, in another sense, you're trying to see your work through the eyes of the editor.  You've already seen their comments and, chances are, they will be on the pages you have printed as well.

Read the comments.  Keep the tips in mind.  But don't make any changes yet.  Not even correcting the typos.

The point of this exercise is, one, to see your book from different eyes, and also, two, to put into your subconscious what needs to be changed.

Now that you have your editor's feedback, it will be lodged in your brain as you read through your book this time.  You will likely see why they made the comments and suggestions they did.  Or, if you don't quite see their point, you can at least look at your work as objectively as possible and see their argument, as well as formulate your own -- if you need it later.

Now that your work is back at the forefront of your mind, along with the comments from your editor, it is time to go to work.

Performing Major Edits

Over the last few weeks, I've been editing my forthcoming romance manuscript for Crimson Romance.

It has been a challenging experience.

I've edited several short stories for publication in the recent past, namely my erotic romances for Total-E-Bound: Captive Angel and Country Hearts.

Perhaps because they were for far shorter works, those edits were relatively easy.  Yes, I had to change fairly major aspects of the pieces, such as tweaking the death of a character or changing a sex scene, but these were discrete scenes that required specific thought, not a major overhaul.

These latest edits were major overhauls.  I was tasked with revisiting the pasts of the characters, questioning the heroine's characterization, and changing an overly sweet ending.  I struggled with the edits for the entire two weeks I had to rework the manuscript.

Eventually, I got the edits done -- early too! -- but it was pretty much the only focus of my life during that time.  I didn't work.  I didn't write.  I barely spoke to my family.  It felt like all I did for two weeks was think about this book and make changes to it.

From out of my experience, I have put together a few tips to help anyone who might be facing their first novel length editing process, which I will be posting shortly.  The key, I think, is patience and planning.  Procrastination in editing is definitely your worst enemy.  This time, I dove right in and I think I did a fairly good job.  But we'll see when I get my next round of edits back.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net