Writing life

Here are Sebastian and Fiona, more or less how I see them. It's hard to find images to match people who truly exist only in my mind's eye. In the story their ages are reversed from these pictures, so it is a younger man story.

They aren't being chatty yet, but at least they are feeling and breathing. Maybe they'll talk later. Or perhaps they are talking and I just haven't been quiet enough to catch what they're saying.

Real life

Last week was the worst of my life because I lost my real-life hero and husband of many years to cancer.

His battle was long and bravely fought, I thought I was prepared, but I find there is no preparation for losing the love of your life.

I have wonderful friends, and two terrific adult children, but they each have their own grief to deal with and busy lives of their own. So I've sent them home.

Now it is just me, the juvenile delinquent little dog, and the hoodlum cat. I sure hope the imaginary people who usually live in my head come back.

Publication quest

Another rejection, which to be honest, I expected. The charming editor is right, it’s not their kind of story. Ironically, I know what she wants and I’d love to give it to her, but I don’t have anything unpromised in inventory. Argh!

To make matters worse, real life is kicking my butt and writing has moved to the back of the priority list--barely creeping along.

I have one more discriminating editor to try with my erotica short story. I know there are readers, who want these stories, but there are only a few publishers, who offer them. Argh, argh!

Current year's goals updated

1) Continue to study and learn the craft of writing (this is a permanent goal).

2) Three submissions--done--follow up with a sequels* one done, two in progress

3) In roads into the TBR shelves

Progress report

1) Writing--applying what I’ve learned so far …

2) Six submissions sent! Two novels, one novella x two, and one short x two

Status: One sale--four rejections--one waiting to hear from the publishers

Timeline:

Number one: resting--revisions next year?

Number two: Sold! Tasteful acquiring editor explained it will be months before an editor is assigned to work with me ... actual release date? Some time next year is my best guess.

Number three: waiting for format changes needed before resubmitting

Number four: Submitted--estimated response time: one week to ten months one week**

Number five: Resting before final polishing edit

TBR shelves lightened

*Yes, I do admit this is an insane plan, but I needed to stay busy. Now I need to recover my twisted mind in order to develope more dangerously sexy stories.

** Tasteful review editor wrote that she liked it and moved it to acquiring editor’s inbox. Sadly, acquiring editor’s inbox is overflowing

Writing Life

The story I'm wroking on at the moment, albeit very slowly, may be sheer indulgence. All I can do is hope that others enjoy the fantasy. It's something I'd like to read that I haven't found. I think of it as an X-rated Presents. Lots of the classic fantasy is there--exotic locale, alpha hero, the trappings of wealth and power, and of course the emotional conflict--but an erotic adult version.

Missing are all but the shadows of secondary characters, the long drawn out courtship, and the guaranty of a happy ending.

Wish me luck.

Life

On Sundays, I take stock of what I’ve done to achieve my goals. The answer this week is not much. Uncharacteristically, I’m okay with my lack of production. I’m still writing. I’m still reading, learning, and growing just very, very slowly. There are times when life takes precedence over work.

More cookie corruption

Not only have my cookies gone bad but now one of my word meters is missing. I'll come fool around with them at some future point or maybe I'll get a real website. I can dream--bet they're not trouble free either.

For now real life is demanding lots of time and writing gets whatever computer minutes are available. So I'm away from the cyber world for awhile.

XXOO

Goals

Alone in the office with nothing but pictures of Algernon’s amazing body to inspire me I’ve uncovered a shocking combination of naked ambition and grim necessity.

Let me explain. I already know my next goal (earn a living wage via writing thus preventing the need for a day job). By the way, I loved my former day job--but for a whole slew of reasons--earning money without leaving the house is very appealing.

Cat and dog food is not free, to say nothing of flea treatments, supplements, vet bills, and in the dog’s case--tuition and camp fees. Yeah, I know, they are spoiled, still they’re my responsibility.

Royalty income spans the whole spectrum from really discouraging to oh-my-God I need a much better tax plan. But one thing is clear, one title is not going to meet my income need. Next year I plan on three releases. The following year I want to double that number while adding a second publisher for at least one or two of those titles.

Now this may sound like long range planning, but the time line between submission and contract runs up to a year or more. Then there is there are many steps between contract and actual release of the title--easily another year. Finally, there’s another period of time between release and actual payment of royalties, I figure six months. During these two and half years, the animals continue to eat . . . the pressure to produce increases.

Writing life

Have you noticed the huge gap between career images and reality? Since steamy romance writing is my chosen occupation, I feel obligated to shatter a few rosy myths.

I am not my characters, nor am I living their lives. If I were, when would I have time or energy to write about it?

My office looks like any regular business type office. Desk, computer, printer, books, phone all that boring ordinary stuff. No bed, no satin sheets, and definitely no naked guys.

I’m not dressed in silk and lace. If my jeans don’t have big holes or any bad stains - they’re good enough. Come on, I work at home. What would you wear to work if you didn’t have to leave the house?

Confession time, I do frequently start writing in my nightie and robe. Not a problem--until the doorbell rings. Then dog barks, giving away the fact I’m definitely at home. Then I glance at the clock, noticing it’s after eleven AM. There’s no getting around the fact, answering the door in my bed clothes makes me feel like a sloth, even when I’ve been working all morning.

Eye candy

Steamy stories need inspiration . . .

Publication Quest

The first big goal was to learn to write. This is one of those lifetime journey affairs--took me awhile to figure that out. I continue to travel the endless road, grateful I chose a path with great scenery. It is still a arduous trek but I’m not hacking my way through impentetrable jungle at the moment--more like hiking along decently marked but challenging trail.

The next big goal? Earn a living wage via writing. I do like a challenge.

The word meter for the new story stalled--a combination of real life interfering with my plans and noticing the minimum response time for the Pirate novella is getting closer. Knowing that if the story is not ready then the editor will absolutely respond faster than the estimated range, I hestitated, but getting a request and not being prepared is definitely worse that being ready and impatient. Hence, I’ve spent most of the week polishing the novella.


Current year's goals updated

1) Continue to study and learn the craft of writing. (this is a permanent goal)

2) Three submissions – done – follow up with a sequels* one done two in progress! (I’ve exceeded the submission quota and am well underway with sequels)

3) In roads into the TBR shelves


Progress report

1) Editing --applying what I’ve learned so far …

2) Six submissions sent! Two novels, one novella x two, and one short x two

Status: One sale--three rejections--two waiting to hear from the publishers

Timeline:

Number one: resting (revisions next year?)

Number two: Sold! Tasteful acquiring editor explained it will be months before an editor is assigned to work with me ... actual release date? Some time next year is my best guess.

Number three: Resubmitted--new estimated response time: two to four weeks

Number four: Resubmitted--new estimated response time: three weeks to ten months three weeks
**
Number five: Resting before final polishing edit

TBR shelves even reading ebook and one from library--I know all these good books to read and I’m reading a library book.

*Yes, I do admit this is an insane plan, but I need to stay busy. If I have idle time I become even more neurotic and imagine unpleasant things. Far better to put my twisted mind to work developing more dangerously sexy stories.

** Tasteful review editor wrote that she liked it and moved it to acquiring editor’s inbox. Sadly, acquiring editor’s inbox is overflowing

Confessions of a bookaholic

I do not enjoy reading poetry. But I like to listen to it. IMHO poetry should be solely performance art. Made for aural pleasure, it should be savored audibly.

I’ve read a vampire story and a werewolf story and have no urge to read more. The label paranormal isn’t enough to make me enthusiastic about a book. For that matter, no genre gets an automatic endorsement. For varied and bizarre reasons, there are a few subjects I find so enthralling that I will wade through mediocre writing to inhale them. None of these topics fall into the fiction category.

What kind of book gets my enthusiastic support and hard-earned money? The well-written ones. I want characters who linger in my head long after the cover has been closed. I want a plot, which surprises. I want a story world that entertains. That’s really all, characters, setting, plot--okay decent craft, pacing appropriate to the tale, and a strong distinct voice--too much to ask?

Slightly off-topic, but I don't want you to think I only complain, one of the nicest recent reading surprises for me was finding e-publishers keeping the short story alive in all its edgy glory.

With all the thousands and thousands of books published each year, finding something wonderful to read should be a snap. It’s not. I have purchased many books but own few titles that blew my socks off - literarily speaking.

Yes, I’m picky. Reading thousands of books makes me fussier. I used to fall into stories easier. Experience takes some of the enthusiasm from reading. And yet, there are stories that enthrall me--that still make turn pages way too late at night. I want more like those.

Boring writer rant

Samhain is open for submissions again. Damn, there goes my editor invitation edge! Or maybe not.--I’m trying to become more optimistic. Perhaps the tasteful editor will still look at those she invited to submit first. Actually, with the exception of currently contracted authors, my guess is first in--first read applies to manuscript submissions.

Try as I might I can’t work up much optimism about this particular submission’s chances.

I love the story. But it’s a long ways from anything I’ve read from Samhain. So my head says it’s a poor match for this house. My heart says they publish a wide range and I haven’t read everything they’ve done.

Submitting stories for publication takes a certain amount of optimism. After spending an hour or so researching the publishing industry you catch on it’s a lot like American Idol tryouts--many are called … but few are chosen.

I’ve read books where I wondered what the agent, editor, publisher, and reading public were smoking. I’ve read others that should be famous and aren’t. Why don’t the brilliant, fresh, and delightful become huge successes instantly? Lots of reasons. Timing, connections, persistence all count for as much as talent. Publishing is a business. They want to make money.

Pretend you’re an editor for a few minutes. You work for a mass-market publisher. Your job is to pick best sellers out of the manuscripts submitted to you. If you’re reviewing two stories, both well written, one is by a brand name author and the other by an unknown--who would you pick? Me too.

It took a long time to get this obvious answer into my mule-brain and even longer to get over it. Are there exceptions? Yes. Occasionally a newbie writer zooms straight to the top of the bestseller charts without so much passing go or collecting $200.00. This is an example of that magical timing, and connection stuff at work, which is great if it happens but isn’t a real plan. Personally, I’m big on plans.

So back to the one part of this whole operation I have any control over, writing another damn fine story.

Writing life

All my regular readers know I read, write, eat and sleep romance, suspense, and erotica. I’m not delusional enough to think this makes me well rounded. Luckily, I have the hoodlum cat, and holy terror dog keeping me grounded in the real world.

The cat is very critical. He won’t even listen to blurbs without cleaning his butt or rolling over and going back to sleep. The dog is perfectly willing to listen to lengthy discussions about character motivation, plot points, or dialogue. She’s not much on comments and requires both a leash and walking to concentrate. Once back in the office, she loses focus, nodding off in the early pages of reading.

I’m not taking their boredom personally, neither one of them likes Tolstoy either.

Publication Quest

Actually, the goals aren't updated at all. So what did I actually do last week? Finished up the revisions for book two in Dangerous series, worked on the synopsis, blurbs, etc. more work needed but the story is resting. Reread the first story in the Choices series polished it a little bit--no big changes. Began plotting story two in the same series. Also indulged my geeky side with fresh notebook, labeling, little tabs and all the other fussy details that go along with the birth of fresh story. Joined yet another reader group only to find more writers than readers. Read a couple of books and of course all the real life stuff. LOL

Current year's goals updated

1) Continue to study and learn the craft of writing.

2) Three submissions – done – follow up with a sequels* to each-- three sequels in progress!

3) In roads into the TBR shelves


Progress report

1) Reading my stuff--applying what I’ve learned to edit better

2) Six submissions sent! Two novels, one novella x two, and one short x two

Status: One sale--three rejections--two waiting to hear from the publishers

Timeline:

Number one: resting (revisions next year?)

Number two: Sold! Tasteful acquiring editor explained it will be months before an editor is assigned to work with me ... actual release date? Some time next year is my best guess.

Number three: Resubmitted--new estimated response time--three to five weeks

Number four: Resubmitted – new estimated response time – four weeks--eleven months **

TBR shelves shrank by a couple of titles--the books were good but not OMG I’ve got to read everything this author has--thinking about how few and far between those finds are, undoubtedly more a reflection of my weird taste than all the fine stories on offer.

*Yes, I do admit this is an insane plan, but I need to stay busy. If I have idle time I become even more neurotic and imagine unpleasant things. Far better to put my twisted mind to work developing more dangerously sexy stories.

** Tasteful review editor wrote that she liked it and moved it to acquiring editor’s inbox. Sadly, acquiring editor’s inbox is overflowing

Dangerous Rescue

Finished up the second draft of Dangerous Rescue, book two of my Dangerous series. Also revised the synopsis, drafted a cover letter, and the blurbs. Now the story gets a rest before its final polishing edit. Naturally, when I’m writing a book I fall in love with the characters and I want to share them with my readers.

Here’s Regan Longstreet, dressed up in her princess persona.



And here’s Ian McKnight, dressed down.



Here’s the blurb-

Warrior princess, Regan Longstreet rejects seductive, Ian McKnight until an uncanny resemblance to a real Princess lands her a dangerous assignment in his world. Her mission is simple: play princess, get the terrorists, and get out alive – a second chance for love isn’t part of her plans but Ian is a hard man to resist.

Ian McKnight doesn’t want to get his heart stomped again. He’s older and smarter than the last time he proposed to Regan. A family of his own is his dearest dream, so why get hung up on a woman who won’t commit? When terrorists threaten Regan, he has no choice. He can’t walk away. He’s willing to sacrifice his life to save her. But will he put his heart on the line in the most dangerous rescue of all?

On to the next project, but I’ll get to re-visit Regan and Ian a few more times yet before they venture into the big world.

A suitable hero

Still thinking about the right woman for the pirate job. In the meantime I began considering heroes for the modern she-pirate.

So far, I’ve only found one candidate.

Equal time for bad girls

The next writing project is a continuation of a previously written story. Therefore the characters are already drawn, all that remains is to add a little depth and polish to them in their next episode. Naturally, my head jumps to the project beyond them--Pirate Novella II. I’d like a female pirate this time.

Here are the candidates.



A beauty of Mongolian heritage--Xanadu.



A ruthless schemer of Boer descent--Mareike.

Feel free to cast your vote in the comments section or nominate a heroine of your own choosing. I’m open-minded. Some of the time.