Q&A Friday!!

Labels: writing

posted by Mo H @ 8:49 AM 11 comments

Be Happy by Diane Gaston

"I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be."– Groucho Marx

"Be happy. It's one way of being wise."– Colette

“In every life we have some trouble But when you worry you make it double Don't worry, be happy”—Bobby Ferrin

“Happiness is a choice, not a reaction.”—me!

I really believe this. I really believe we can be happy even when things are pretty rotten in our lives. Oh, maybe not if our very existence is threatened, but otherwise, even if bad things are happening. We just have to decide to be happy.

As a social worker, I once had a client who had little money and no family around her. Nonetheless, she did not feel sorry for herself. She walked to the coffee shop and made friends there. When she could no longer walk to the coffee shop, she stayed home and enjoyed TV. When her TV went on the fritz, she enjoyed reading books. When she couldn’t buy new books, she enjoyed re-reading her old ones. She had more bad things happen to her in her life than you could count, but she chose to be happy with whatever she had. She taught me that there is always something in life to be happy about.

This week I was riveted to the TV coverage of the plane crash in the Hudson River. These people survived a terrible trauma. In coming days, weeks and years, the survivors have two choices: to lament that they had to suffer through such a frightening event, or to be happy about how they reacted, how they survived. All reports are that everyone--from the wonderful pilots to the air crew, to the passengers, to their rescuers--did the right thing. In so many cases they chose to be heroic. Many of us are experiencing adversity these days; we can also decide to handle our adversity heroically. We can decide we will not let go of happiness, even in hard times.

One important benefit to being happy is it is infectious. Saturday my husband and I went downtown in Washington, D.C., to look at the inaugural preparations. What struck me even more than the lines and lines of Portapotties, was the happiness that pervaded the numbers of people who were doing the same thing. It was impossible not to smile, no matter what one's politics might be. The more we choose to be happy, the happier others around us will be.

Even at the worst of times we can marvel at a sunrise, enjoy a TV show, have a laugh with a friend. How many times in my life have I lost myself in the pleasure of a book when things outside of me were going bad? Too many to count!

So when I’m struggling to figure out a plot problem in my writing, when I’m desperate for a new story idea, when my deadline looms and I have tons more to write, I hate to complain, because I'm happy about this life I've chosen, even when it is full of problems.

We can’t stop stress. We can’t stop problems. We can’t stop tragedy from coming into our lives. No matter how clever we are, how smart, how careful, there is always something we can’t control. But we can control how we react to our experiences, and we can decide to be happy.

Soooo....do you think I’m nuts? Feel free to argue with me.
Or prove my point. Share a time when you made a decision to be happy, even when the events around you gave you every reason in the world to be miserable.

Diane is staying home and watching the Inauguration on TV, but you can visit her website and still enter her contest to win your choice of one of her books. Or for more photos from Saturday, including the PortaPotties, visit her today on Risky Regencies.

Labels: happiness, inspirational, writing

posted by Diane Gaston @ 12:01 AM 11 comments

Making the GH a Priority - Esri Rose

Time flies like an arrow.
Fruit flies like a banana.

- Groucho Marx

My last post was about how to take a more relaxed attitude toward your contest entry, but I don't want you to be too relaxed. Your entry fee has to be in by Nov. 17th. Your partial has to be there by Dec 2. How are you doing on time?

Figure out what you still need to do and how long you think it will take you to do it -- just your best guess. Get a calendar, subtract the mailing time for your preferred method, and do some division. If you can build in a week safety margin, that would be good. Kids get sick, you get sick, and plot problems bubble to the top. How much do you need to accomplish each day?

Don't become paralyzed.

If deadlines freak you out, then adopt an attitude of "What's the worst that can happen?" The worst that can happen is that you miss all deadlines and lose fifty bucks. Not the end of the world, and it rolls around every year. Just give it your best shot, realizing that the more you divvy it into small chunks, the more relaxed you can be during the process.

Do become inspired.

Here's a fun exercise. Take five minutes before your GH work for the day, and do a little work on your acceptance speech. Add to your list of what you can do with a Golden Heart final or win under your belt, in terms of agents and editors. Plan what you'll wear at the ceremony. All this becomes possible when you get that entry polished and in on time.

Make it a priority.

You're always busy, but some things can be let go a little, just for the next month or so. Let the house get a little dirty. Ask your husband and kids to pick up some of the slack. Buy more frozen food. Make your fun time-wasters a reward. I have a system that works particularly well. I get up, write five pages, and don't allow myself to get online until that's done. Not only do I accomplish more, but I enjoy my online time more because I don't feel guilty. After lunch, I get back to writing and don't get online until evening. Don't feel intimidated. I don't this every day, but when I do do it, it works like a charm.

Now go. Do it. I'll look forward to seeing your picture on that big screen!


Esri Rose's 2003 GH finalist was her first published book, Bound to Love Her. More information can be found at ElvesAmongUs.com.

Labels: Golden Heart, Golden Heart contest, RWA, writing

posted by Esri Rose @ 12:02 AM 15 comments

Imperfection is Okay - How not to lose your mind when entering the Golden Heart. - Esri Rose

During Golden Heart preparation month, we spend a lot of time answering questions about picky rules, encouraging you to be picky about your writing, and offering critiques. This is all valuable. But for those of us whose pickiness might lead to paralysis, now is a good time to remind ourselves of the following:

There is no such thing as a perfect synopsis, a perfect partial, a perfect contest entry, a perfect completed manuscript, or a perfect book.

If you find yourself shaking your head in denial at this suggestion, then this blog is aimed directly at you, and I’m the one to deliver it.

Hello. My name is Esri Rose, and I’m a perfectionist.

Here are my credentials. Although I compulsively edit my emails and am the first person to straighten brochures at a check-out counter, I sometimes ignore an easily corrected problem on purpose (a crooked placemat, for example). Why? Because perfectionism is a flaw. So I consciously cultivate imperfect moments in my quest to become a more perfect individual. Wrap your head around that.

Am I suggesting that you leave out a paragraph in your GH submission? Of course not. But in the interest of preventing you from breaking into sobs at two in the morning because your caffeine-addled hand can’t properly fill out Federal Express forms, I offer the following list of acceptable imperfections.

Things You Can Let Go.

1) You can’t come up with a title that perfectly encapsulates your story, and you know the judges will hate what you have. You loathe and despise it.

You will find something to dislike about all of your titles, the titles suggested by your friends, and the title eventually pressed on you by your publisher. Now is a good time to get over it.

2) You realize you’ve used the passive tense in your opening paragraph, but try as you might, you can’t come up with a better way to say what you want.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way.

If Charles Dickens could start his masterpiece with an entire paragraph of passive tense (not to mention repeated words), you can get away with the occasional use. Anyway, by the time the judges finish your entry, they won’t remember the first paragraph.

3) Your office-supply store is out of 60-lb. linen paper.

For every judge pleased by the white opaqueness of premium paper, there will be another who thinks you are an environmentally irresponsible poser. Plain old printer/copy paper goes unremarked by everyone.

4) You don’t have a colored piece of paper to separate your synopsis from your chapters. You don’t even have a sticky note!

The judges can tell where your synopsis ends and your manuscript begins. Really. No entry will be close enough to yours in every other respect that having to shuffle a few pages will make them subconsciously mark you down.

5) You ran out of binder clips. Not only won't the pages stay as square with your big paperclips, but the only ones you have left are old and oxidized and leave a little gray mark at the top of the page.

The judges with carpal tunnel syndrome will be pleased that they don’t have to squeeze a binder clip. Any metal smudges will soon be unnoticeable beneath chocolate smears, pet hair and coffee-cup rings.

6) You forgot to enter online, and now your Internet is broken. You’re mailing your submission and payment together, only you made a mistake in the written amount of your check and it’s your last one. You corrected and initialed it, but what if RWA thinks you’re a forger and won’t take the check?

They’ll take it. Even if a new strain of ink-eating bacteria gets inside your envelope and consumes every trace of the writing, RWA will call you and ask for some other form of payment. Same goes for if you forget to sign the check, which is a lot more likely.

7) After sealing your contest package, you turn around and find the entry form on the floor. That was your last big envelope, so you slit open the bottom with a craft knife and insert the missing piece, then neatly tape up the slit. Only now it kind of looks like terrorists tampered with it, making you worry that the post office will hold your envelope to check for anthrax spores, and you’ll miss the contest deadline.

P.S. I’m guest blogging at Yankee Romance Reviewers today, asking what kind of paranormal heroine you'd like to be and why. You also can read the first-ever excerpt of Stolen Magic (May 2009), the second in my series of urban-fantasy, romantic-suspense comedies. One randomly selected commenter will win a copy of Bound to Love Her and some minor swag. You can always find me at ElvesAmongUs.com.

Labels: contest, Golden Heart, humor, writing

posted by Esri Rose @ 12:01 AM 12 comments

Agent Kelly Mortimer Talks About the Golden Heart

Kelly Mortimer of the Mortimer Literary Agency represents clients in both the ABA and the CBA. Kelly gives each client personal attention, including manuscript editing. She’s in the top 10 of the Publishers Marketplace Top 100 Dealmakers - Romance Category, a two-time nominee for the American Christian Fiction Writers “Agent of the Year” Award, and her agency is Romance Writers of America recognized. Kelly writes a monthly column for Christian Fiction Online magazine called “Gotta Get It.” Kelly is also President and CEO of Underdog Press. And if you're looking for up-to-the-minute publishing news, subscribe to her Perils of Publishing newsletter.

Kelly is referred to as "The Extreme Agent," and after hearing the story of her first Golden Heart experience with a client, you'll understand why.

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Ah, the Golden Heart...

I’m going back to a time when my life was simpler. I’d made the switch from writing to become an agent. My first client: one of my writer-friends. Her manuscript made the finals in the GH, and we were ecstatic. Buuut, her manuscript wasn’t as good as her partial.

Problem number one: What to do? She’d sent her full to a Steeple Hill editor before I signed her. (Rejection.) She’d sent this same manuscript to the Golden Heart judges. RWA allows finalists to send in a cleaner copy of the full, if they have one. Yikes! We didn’t have much time.

Me being an editing agent, I went to work. Some of her scenes went into graphic medical detail. (Cut ’em.) I found a subplot that didn’t work. (Ditched it.) Needed some work on mechanics. (Fixed all.) We worked through the wee hours of many mornings to meet RWA’s guidelines, but we made it.

Problem number two: She was going to the RWA National conference. (Not me.) I wasn’t looking for an agent anymore, and I couldn’t take appointments, as my agency wasn’t RWA recognized at the time. My friend/client begged me to go on more than one occasion, but I’d vowed I wouldn’t use household money for agency-related expenses. I told her, “No dice.”

Disappointment isn’t a strong enough word, for either of us. If she won, I’d forever regret I’d missed her shining moment, but what could I do? Wait a minute; I could do anything if I believed I could.

I checked out fares for the flights. Yikes! I talked to RWA, who informed me registration was closed, and there were no hotel rooms left. (No problemo.)

My friend/client invited me to share her room every night except for Saturday, as her hubby would be there. I went on a chapter loop to see if I could find someone who’d share their room for the other night. (Bingo.) You didn’t read this, but I managed to get RWA to register me. (Impossible feat for nearly everyone but moi.) But what about the money for the flight? Hmm. I even figured that one out. I sold my wedding china on eBay. Sigh.

When her category came up I sat with clenched fists, breath held … waiting. SHE WON! Boo-yah! She thanked me for my “eagle eye for editing” in her acceptance speech, and my heart nearly burst with pride for her.

Couldn't find her after the ceremony, then someone almost knocked me down from behind. (Guess who?) And that wasn't the best part. After we got home, a Steeple Hill editor called me. They’d read the manuscript I’d edited that they’d previously rejected, and made an offer. (Double sigh.)

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Now that's working the contest. Any questions for Kelly?

Labels: agents, Christian fiction, Golden Heart, Kelly Mortimer, romances, writing

posted by Esri Rose @ 12:01 AM 12 comments

Writer FAQ

On Fridays, we get to shill for ourselves, so here I go.

I'm off to AuthorFest in Manitou Springs this weekend, to give a workshop on paranormal romance with Lynda Hilburn and Jeanne Stein. (It will be much smaller than RWA's shindig, pictured at right.) Anyway, I made a handout that I'm rather proud of, chock full of valuable info for the beginning and beginningish writer, so I thought I'd make it available. You may know it all already, but perhaps your friends don't. Here's the link.

Labels: paranormal romance, publishing, writing

posted by Esri Rose @ 10:01 AM 6 comments

Desk Ergonomics -- Esri Rose

Mark Twain did a lot of his writing in his bed. My guess is that a little writing in bed messed up his back, and then he had to write in bed.

The more time you spend writing, the more important it is that your workspace works with your body, not against it. Here are the basics, keeping in mind that I’m not a doctor and have only my own experience (and whatever I’ve read) to qualify me for giving advice.

1) Don’t look down. Your computer monitor should be lined up with your line of sight when you’re sitting up tall. My laptop sits on a couple of phone books, with a separate keyboard plugged in.

2) Your elbows should bend at a nice right angle when you’re typing, and these same elbows should be at your sides. Your wrists shouldn’t be resting on anything but thin air.

3) Feet on the floor, and I mean all of your feet, not just the toes. Try not to cross your legs while you type. Oy, the things that does to your back.

4) Sit up tall. If you’re a healthy person, you should be able to sit without your back touching the chair, and it’s good to do that as much as possible. For those times when you’re pooped, a chair that supports your lower back is nice, as is a chair seat that tilts slightly forward.

Those are the basics. I own a laptop because I enjoy an occasional change of scene, but I try not to do too much work away from my ideal setting. If I'm on the couch, I put a lap desk under my laptop, which raises it, and I make sure my lower back is supported. When I brainstorm by writing longhand in a notebook, I try to do it at a fairly high table, like the kitchen table. When writing at a table, keep both feet flat on the floor, and bend more from the waist than the neck.

One last note: if you’re right-handed, consider mousing with your left hand. Way back when, I got tendinitis in my right wrist. My response was to start opening doors and using a computer mouse with my left hand. The tendinitis cleared up. You can buy a lefty mouse or reprogram your existing mouse to be left-handed. (PC users, go to Start menu, Control Panel, Mouse.) It took about a week to get used to the switch, and if I’m at someone else’s computer, my right-handed mousing skills are still flawless.

Esri Rose writes contemporary romantic-suspense novels featuring Tolkien-style elves. Her first book, Bound to Love Her, was a May 2008 release. The second in the series, Stolen Magic, will be available May 2009. You can visit her at ElvesAmongUs.com.

Labels: computing, ergonomics, writing

posted by Esri Rose @ 2:00 AM 15 comments

Inspiration and Humor: You’ve got to be kidding! - Marta Acosta

Esri told me I had to write about inspiration. I said, “Okay, I’ll write about humor.” She said, very sternly, “It has to be about how humor has inspired you.” She had that crazy look in her eyes, so I said, “Sure, of course, whatever you say, Esri!” I didn’t want to cross some chick who’s hawked beer and potatoes for a living. That beer-and-potatoes crowd runs fast and rough. I’d heard about the terrifying “French fry fingers” treatment they practiced on authors who made disparaging remarks about tubers and suds. This is why I always say something positive about beer and potatoes in each of my Casa Dracula novels, and I highly recommend that other writers also take this precaution.

So I’ve been thinking about how I was inspired by humor, and I’ve reached the rather depressing conclusion that I am not one of those inspire-y people. I don’t have an inspiration board filled with kewt sayings and pictures of kittens hanging from branches with “Just keep hanging in!” captions, even though those posters are totally awesome. I don’t read books about the wonder of writing books. I don’t write poems encapsulating my journey as an artist. I’m not a member of any groups where I actually have to meet people on a regular basis and talk seriously about writing or books.

I did like to sit in classrooms and meetings and make snarky remarks because I was bored. I tried telling people that I suffered from Attention Deficit Disorder, but no one believed me. So I guess boredom inspired me to amuse myself. I felt a social obligation to entertain those around me, too. When I wasn’t in a boring meeting, I was supposed to be doing something else boring, so naturally, I was forced to write on the job just to keep from falling into a catatonic stupor. Because, no matter how much bosses say they hate people wasting time, they hate catatonia even more.

People ask me when I decided to be a writer. The answer is never. I never thought, “Gee, I think I’d like a job with no security, no health coverage, no guarantees, and dubious social benefits.” I’d rather be an electrician, because no matter what happens, people need and will pay for electrical work. Also, people don’t go up to electricians at parties and relay in extensive detail their fantasy for a rewiring job and then say, “You should do that!”

Sometimes after people tell me in extensive detail the book they think I should write, they ask, “What’s the best thing about being a writer?” My husband says I shouldn’t keep answering, “Getting paid,” so now I just mumble something that sounds sensitive and artistic. In fact, I try to mumble the words “sensitive” and “artistic” in my response.

Back to the topic of inspiration. Whenever I’m stuck writing a passage, I play with my Slinky for a while. I like to bounce it on my dog’s head, but he only puts up with this for a few seconds. I wish he was more patient, because I find this activity both soothing and entertaining.

I also find reality television inspirational. On “Project Runway,” one of the contestants said, “Good taste is not style.” This was one of the most genius things I’ve ever heard. Naturally, I stole the line and put it in my book.

So my advice for those intent on being a writer are: Don’t piss off the beer-and-potatoes people; consider a career in the skilled trades; get a really boring job and write during the work day; learn to mumble in a way that makes you sound more sensitive and artistic than you are; watch reality television; and consider buying a Slinky.

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Marta Acosta is author of the Casa Dracula novels and owner of Vampire Wire, a blog that covers the paranormal entertainment scene. Everything she said about Esri Rose is true.

Labels: authors, Marta Acosta, paranormal romance, vampires, writers, writing

posted by Esri Rose @ 9:13 AM 13 comments

It’s All about Motivation

Mo-ti-va-tion (noun): a feeling of enthusiasm, interest, or commitment that makes somebody want to do something.

At some point, every published author was unpublished. Most of us are inspired by something or someone to write the book of our hearts. At some point, we all sit our butts in the chair and write. Why? What drives us, truly motivates us, to work alone for hours upon hours and write?

My motivation began over a decade ago when I decided that I wanted to show my kids that they could do anything they set their mind to. When I didn’t sell right away, I decided to prove that determination and perseverance would win in the end. A few years later, I became discouraged. I stopped writing for a few months in 2007, but the stories wouldn’t stop coming. And that’s when I had an epiphany! I couldn’t stop writing even if I wanted to. This realization was freeing. I no longer felt the need to prove anything to anyone. Suddenly, all of the self-appointed pressure I had put on myself disappeared. I was now writing because I loved to write. What a concept. That’s when I found the joy again.

I’m still shooting for the publishing moon, and I’m more determined and focused than ever before. Write and submit. Write and submit. That’s what I do. I KNOW I will sell. I just don’t know when. But it doesn’t matter because I’ve stopped looking ahead. I’m writing more than ever and I’m enjoying the ride.

My motivation has changed. Now I write because it’s what I love to do. Why do you write? What’s your true motivation? Has it changed over the years?

The picture above is of me jumping out of a plane last week. What motivated me to do that!? Other than my daughter begging me to do it for the last two years, I can honestly say that I have no idea why I actually did it. No Fear. Just Do it! I guess that says it all…

Labels: Motivation, Why?, writing

posted by Theresa Ragan @ 2:10 AM 17 comments

Tools that Inspire – Esri Rose

When I was a kid in Daytona Beach, Florida, one of my favorite things to do was go to the Pic ‘n’ Save with my Mom and Grandma. While they shopped, I would head straight to the office-supplies aisle and ogle the pens, pencils and notebooks.

If Mom and Grandma ran into friends, they might be a while, but when they finished, they knew where to find me. “We’ve been here forty minutes,” Mom would say. “Have you been in this aisle the whole time?”

“Uh-huh.”

I’m still inspired by the tools of writing. My desk is covered with brightly colored sticky notes and index cards, signing pens that coordinate with my book cover, and mechanical pencils that use .05 leads, not .07. For brainstorming, I like spiral-bound notebooks with holographic covers, decorated with stickers. Binders are for series “bibles,” and I make special pages to slip under the clear plastic covers. My friend Laura recently scored big points by giving me a set of highlighters shaped like little black cats. Oooh!

My accumulated tools act like a visual cue. I wouldn’t have all this stuff if I weren’t a writer. Stacks of filled and empty notebooks are tangible, weighty reminders of what I’ve accomplished, as well as the possibilities still out there. My lapdesk convinces me that writing is just lounging while you think and move your fingers.

This month, I acquired another writing tool -- one I learned about from a commenter on this very blog, months ago. Someone mentioned web diagrams -- visual mind-mapping tools. I’d never heard of them, but I found a review of some of the bestselling programs. But I waited to get one, because I was heavy into revisions, and I planned on using the program primarily for plotting.

I completed my revisions right before the RWA national conference. When I got back, I downloaded the free trial version of the one that looked far and away the best. You’re going to love this program’s name. It’s Inspiration, from Inspiration.com.

I did the tutorial first, with much Ooh! and That’s so cool! It’s simple and almost infinitely flexible, with layers that let you show as much or as little of the project as you want. Everything is in one place, from pages of text to hyperlinks, video and audio. And when you’ve connected your thought bubbles with lines and moved everything to where you want it, you can have Outline View transform it automatically, then print that sucker out as a synopsis for your editor. I am enchanted -- so enchanted that I not only started the plotting for my option book, but came up with a second book idea for my mystery series and have started plotting it. Now that’s inspiration.

Esri Rose's elven romance, Bound to Love Her, is on shelves now. You can read an excerpt at ElvesAmongUs.

Labels: writing

posted by Esri Rose @ 9:58 AM 10 comments

Conference Activities for Non-Joiners, Newbies, and Self-Promoters – Esri Rose

RWA’s annual National Conference is an opportunity to network, learn and promote. But what if you’re brand-new to the conference, don’t belong to any local chapters, or are a disorganized flake who didn’t get her act together beforehand? I’ve been all three and continue to be two (that’s easy to figure out, isn’t it?). Membership in the Wet Noodle Posse usually saves me from having to entertain myself at conferences, but I’m here to tell you that you can be the howlingest of lone wolves and still get your game on in San Francisco. Here’s how.

Become a Member of the Press

All you need to get people to talk to you are a blog or online photo account like Flickr, a notebook and/or digital video camera (best), and bits of paper telling people where they can see their photos and quotes after the conference.

“Hi, I’m Amanda Roofus of MakeMeMewl.com, and today I’m asking, What kind of underwear do your book heroes wear? Boxers, briefs, a hybrid, or commando? Patterned or white? Silk or cotton? Do you have an upcoming book I can tell readers about? Great. Here’s a card with my site’s web address. Make sure to check in after [or during] the conference.”

You also can ask serious questions, like: What’s the best money you’ve spent on promotion? The worst?

Advertise Your Status

There’s still time to order a HELP! I’m Shiny New. Could I maybe sit with you? button from CafePress (I made them just for you, with no mark-up). Romance writers are generally very kind and mentor-oriented, so give them a chance to help you. Even more, they love to be kind to potential readers, so wear something that lets them know whether you’re into fantasy, historical, inspirational, or whatever.

You can use this same technique to hook up with people who share your non-book hobbies. If you’re a knitter, Corgi-breeder, SCA member or whatever, wear a little flair that lets other members of your tribe find you. The more interests you share, the more fun you'll have!

Organize Something

There is a bulletin board at Conference. Before you go, find something fun to do in San Francisco, whether it’s karaoke, a meal at a quirky restaurant, some kind of tour, or a drag show. Make sure it has a reasonable price point, doesn’t need reservations, is in a safe area, doesn’t conflict with some huge Conference event, and is easy to get to. Now put up an eye-catching sign on that bulletin board. Free Friday Afternoon? Call Amanda Roofus at Room 123 if you want to have High Tea at Blah-Blah historic house. If you get a mob, close registration after the first 20 people and take down the sign. If no one calls, no one but you will know. If only one person comes, you’ll have made a really close friend. And it doesn’t matter if some chapter is doing the same thing. You might get even more people for something like that, because they missed out on a known quantity. Take pictures and blog about it afterwards. Hand out paper bits with your URL.

Offer to Volunteer

Yes, there are official volunteers, but there is always more work. Find yourself a staff member and say, “This is my very first conference, I’m at kind of a loose end, and I’m wondering if you need any help with anything.” If the first person says, “No” and doesn’t give you someone else to contact, ask someone doing something completely different, or locate a coordinator you can speak to. Make sure you’re dressed nicely when you ask, so if they have a sudden moderator hole they need to fill, they can slot you in. If you have a car, make sure to mention that. You can also try this with chapter people, especially if you find someone in a chapter that’s local to you. It's a good way to find out if you want to join them.

Compliment an Author

Especially a newish author, and especially just before mealtimes. “OMG, you’re Esri Rose! This is my first romance conference, but I read your elf romance and just wanted to tell you how much I adored it. Hey, is there a food court around here? I am so ignorant of how this all works.” (Alternatively: “Are tables reserved, or do I just sit anywhere?) This is guaranteed to get you an invitation to join the author for a meal.

Esri Rose will be signing copies of Bound to Love Her at the RWA Readers for Life literacy signing Wednesday evening. Stop by and get an ElvesAmongUs.com button!

Labels: authors, books, Conference, national conference, networking, romance, romance novels, RWA, writing

posted by Esri Rose @ 9:13 AM 11 comments

Marketing Your Locally Set Book - Esri Rose

You might think this topic is geared toward published writers, but the best time to start marketing a locally set book is before you finish the manuscript.

Unless you live in a very small town, newspaper and other media are fairly disinterested in the release of another fiction book, even it’s set on the steps of city hall. Fiction is not news to them. On the other hand, many of the general populace are still pretty excited to be featured in a book. Not all of them, however, and some of them are still going to pooh-pooh romance – sad but true. And if your book has a lot of sex, well… The local marketing angle may or may not work for you.

All that said, here are some things you can do.

• Feature local businesses and landmarks. Don’t pick the latest, trendy restaurant or the brand-new oxygen bar. Chances are, those will be long gone by the time your book is out. Go for longevity. More people will recognize local icons of business, too.

• Feature well-attended, enthusiastic groups. Does your town have a greyhound rescue organization? Breed-dog lovers can be loyal readers if you feature their favorite pup in a book.

• Market to gender when picking what groups to feature. Your town may be noted for its Civil War re-enactment group, but how many of those guys read romance?

• Look for tie-ins. If you feature a woman-oriented business, they may be willing to promote your contest or host a book-release party. Now is the time to feel them out about it, but be diplomatic. “I was thinking of featuring your salon/jewelry store/chocolate shop in my book. Wouldn’t it be fun to have a joint party?” If you know the owner, are a good client, or have a good friend who is willing to pitch for you, you’re in better shape.

• Look for communication vectors. The greyhound group that has an active Yahoo Group and a nationwide email list is better than the knitting store that puts a stack of newsletters out twice a year.

Get the idea? Great! Now get cracking on that book about the lingerie-shop owner who owns a lovable rescued greyhound and gets proposed to at your local fancy restaurant.

Esri Rose’s paranormal romance, Bound to Love Her, is available right now!

Labels: book promotion, Bound to Love Her, Esri Rose, novel writing, writing

posted by Esri Rose @ 8:18 AM 17 comments

RESEARCH for IDIOTS AND DUMMIES

So many great research tools, so little time. I used to spend entire weekends in the library. Now I can do the same amount of research with just the click of a button.

Google and Wikipedia work well for me when I need a quick detail.

For instance, one of my characters in my wip referred to the voice of the Robinson Family robot on Lost in Space. To check when the show was aired to make sure my character wasn't too young to refer to the robot, I GOOGLED “robot on t.v. show” because I couldn’t remember the name of the show. Wikipedia popped up and there was all the info I could ever need about Lost in Space.

In another scene in my WIP, my heroine notices all of the lights on the police cars as she pulls up to a house. I want to get the details right so I look up “lights on police cars” and not only do I find great pictures of different police cars on Wikipedia, I see that the lights are also referred to as “beacons” and “light bars” and, of course, “emergency lights.” These aren’t the best examples, but at least you get the picture.

From my WIP:

She could see the house at the end of a cul de sac. With all the emergency lights flashing it was hard to miss. Three police cars served as a barricade and an unmarked sedan took up most of the sidewalk.

Other info regarding police cars came in handy too: “Police cars have nicknames such as (police) cruiser, squad car, prowler, radio car, panda car, area car, scout car, patrol car. In some places a police car may also be nicknamed a cop car, a Black & White, a cherry top, or a jam sandwich. Depending on the configuration of the emergency lights, a police car may also be called a marked unit, RMP (Radio Motor Patrol) or slick top. Undercover cars can be called "Silver Bullets".”

Another research tool I love to use are the Books for Dummies or The Complete Idiot’s Guide to… The con is that these books can be costly. I like to use them to learn about my character's jobs. For example, in one of my 2008 Golden Heart finaling manuscripts, Better Late Than Never, my heroine is an award-winning nutritionist. I have her win the same award the author of the nutrition book won in The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Total Nutrition. By the time I’ve read the book or heavily skimmed it at the very least, I have a better feel for my character and what she does. Here are two examples from my manuscript where having those extra details, IMO, added to the scene:

No wonder the NFL franchise was worried about him. The man needed serious nutritional help. She took the slices of bagel and tossed them into the garbage with the butter. Next, she reached around him for the package of hot dogs and held them in front of his face. “These frankfurters are made from muscle meat. They have all the essential amino acids, B vitamins and iron, which is good, but they’re loaded with saturated fats and cholesterol.” She shook her head. “A definite no-no.”

Max snatched the package of hotdogs out of her hand. “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” He let out a hearty chuckle.

And another scene…

He grunted. “I have a better idea. How about I write you a big fat check right now, you certify me as nutritionally sound, and nobody need ever know otherwise.”

“And jeopardize my career, my reputation?” She shook her head. “Not in this lifetime.” She was having fun now. Max Dutton obviously thrived on control and she’d bet her good standing with the National Heart Association that this was the first time in his life he didn’t have the upper hand. “Don’t worry about the little green apples. You’ll get great big juicy red ones and yellow ones, too. Lots of variety--just like you’re used to.”

So what internet research tools do you often refer to? Any research books or tools you’d like to share with us?

Labels: Research, writing

posted by Theresa Ragan @ 4:30 AM 14 comments

Traveling for Research

I love to travel, so traveling to do research is twice as fun. There are two kinds of traveling research that I've used. The first type of research is the kind I do when I'm going to make a trip for a vacation or to visit family or friends. On these trips, I may not have a specific story in mind, but I make observations and take lots of pictures that may be valuable for a future story. For instance, one of my daughters lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Whenever we go to visit her, she plans little excursions to nearby places of interest. Of course, there is Baltimore itself. One year we took the Duck Tour around Baltimore. We have also gone to Gettysburg, Annapolis and the Naval Academy, taken a sailing ship out of the harbor and back, toured Evergreen, a house listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Here is a picture I took in Bar Harbor, Maine. Even if I never set a book in Bar Harbor, this is a great gazebo scene that could take place anywhere my imagination might set it.


Besides taking pictures, I always collect any free brochures or maps that are available. I put these things in magazine files. Sometimes, I will buy a book, especially if it has a lot of photographs in it. Now I have all this information handy if I decide I want to set one of my novels in these places. I can also use this information if a character should visit there. I have brochures and maps that I've collected from nearly every state I've visited, and I've been to all fifty states.

Then there is research travel that involves going to a specific place to look for specific things that I need to know for a book I am writing or a book I plan to write. Three of my books are set near Spokane, Washington. I went to high school there, so I am familiar with the area. But things have changed since I went to high school, so when I visited, I took particular note of the changes I saw. Before I wrote the third book in the series I went back to take a tour of Pend Oreille County, which is north of Spokane and found a place where my hero and heroine go on a picnic. Here is a picture I took of a sunset that I describe in each of the three books in that series.


Recently I took a trip to the North Georgia mountains, the setting for my book, HOMECOMING BLESSINGS, which comes out in April 2009. I was nearly finished with the book, but I felt that I needed to make a trip there to get a better idea of the small towns in the area, even though I had visited there many years ago. I was certainly glad I made the trip. Besides reaffirming some of my memories, it also reminded me of the hilly terrain, even in the towns. In the story, I have my hero and heroine stop for lunch in the little tourist town of Helen, Georgia. It is filled with all kinds of shops. I have my hero buy the heroine a small gift. While I was writing that scene, I had no idea what he was going to buy her, even after perusing the shops on the internet. So when I visited Helen with a friend, we went through the shops with the specific mission of finding something the hero could buy. The trip was worth finding the perfect gift. The story revolves around a mission that is restoring old houses in the area. So I took pictures of some old houses. Here's one.


I like to combine an in-person visit along with the information I find on the Internet. Many times I research the area on the Internet to find places I want to visit. For instance, for this last trip I checked out all the tourist information on the North Georgia mountains and discovered that a trip to Amicola Falls was a must. So before you go, make a list of places you want to visit and things you want to learn.


When I travel for research, if at all possible, I try to combine it with a vacation or a visit with friends or family. Even though I may not be able to do that, I still find that actually visiting a place can be helpful in making the story setting come alive in my own mind as well as on the pages of a book. Traveling for research can even trigger ideas for future books. Take pictures, collect all the free stuff and save it for a future book, and don't dismiss any opportunity to do research, even if the trip involves visiting relatives or going to a wedding. Make the most of any trip you make.

Labels: books, Research, travel, writing

posted by Merrillee @ 10:41 AM 14 comments

Is a Car Crash Conflict?

External Conflict is what happens outside of the physical body: The obstacles your characters face throughout the story.

Internal Conflict is emotion—what your characters feel inside (unresolved life problems usually stemming from childhood or past relationships).

The best stories are ones where the character(s) must face past unresolved issues. Example:

After the accident that killed two children while she was babysitting at the age of fifteen, heroine refuses to let herself fall in love with this man who has two young children.

Your characters should learn something by the end of the story. If they don’t grow and learn, there is no story.

In the example above, the heroine needs to learn to forgive herself. The fire the kids started when she was babysitting was not her fault. She received third degree burns trying to save them, but in the end, she couldn’t. By the end of the book, she should learn a new life lesson: To forgive herself. She will learn this by being around hero’s children. The conflict/obstacles throughout the story should allow her to grow. Hopefully new conflicts will arise as she faces old ones.

Find your characters’ flaws and/or fears and then force them to face these demons throughout the story until the black moment that ultimately forces them to face that fear once and for all and learn something about themselves.

Ask yourself questions as you move from scene to scene:

Are the characters actions logical or realistic?
Is your story moving forward?
Are you spending too much time describing unimportant events as you move the characters from Point A to Point B?
Is the conversation between your characters interesting?
Is your reader going to empathize with your characters?
Is your reader going to want to turn the page to find out what happens next?

About the question: Is a car crash conflict? Does the crash move the story forward? Does it make the reader want to read on? Probably not. Unless it happens to the hero/heroine while he or she is running from the bad guy, it's just trouble.

Now tell me: What do your characters need to learn? Compassion? Gratitude? Forgiveness? Acceptance? What are their flaws and/or deepest fears?

Labels: Conflict, writing

posted by Theresa Ragan @ 12:14 AM 10 comments

USING STORY BOARDS AND FRIENDS TO HELP YOU PLOT

By Debra Holland

I wrote my first historical romance because a scene came to me as I was trying to take a nap--a couple riding along a river. Then I had to figure out what the story was. I wrote about ninety pages before I discovered RWA and my wonderful writing teacher, Lou Nelson and REALLY learned to write fiction. (Active verbs, who knew?)

Thanks to Lou, that book, Wild Montana Sky, didn’t end up under my bed, but instead won a Golden Heart.

After I finished WMS, writer friends told to have a second book ready, so if an editor asked me for another book, I’d have one to offer. I started writing, Starry Montana Sky, this time with more of an idea of the story.

Then I became sidetracked into writing Science Fiction and Fantasy. I tend to reread my favorite fantasy series about every other year. Five years ago, I’d just finished about my 10th round of Mercedes Lackey’s Companions/Valdemar books.

I was driving to work thinking about her work, and I said out loud, “I could never write like that!” Being a psychotherapist, I had to challenge myself on my negative attitude. I responded by saying “How do you know? You’ve never tried. Don’t say you can’t until you’ve given it a good try.”

So I took up my own challenge and started to think about a fantasy world. By the time I arrived at my office, I had the bare bones of Twinborne Trilogy, Lywin’s Quest. I scribbled down my notes and mentioned the ideas at my next critique group. Everyone liked the story and encouraged me to explore it more. Two months later I described the story to my writer friend, Elda Minger. She also encouraged me to write the book.

For each book I write, I buy a small notebook with pockets. I carry the notebook with me and scribble down anything that pertains to the story. The need for pockets came from the times I didn’t have the notebook with me, and I’d jot notes on a napkin or the back of a business card. These got tucked into the pocket of the notebook.

For Twinborne Trilogy, I bought a notebook with three sections because I had wanted room for each book of the trilogy.

During the time I constructed Lywin’s Quest, in my critique group, Lou embarked on lessons about plot structure. In every session, she lectured about a different part of the Three Act Structure.

As Lou lectured, I’d dutifully take notes, then a scene for LQ would hit me. I’d pull out my notebook, open it next to the paper I was using to take structure notes, and scribble the scene down.

Soon, I had a vague outline in my notebook, but it was incomplete. Because I was building such a complicated book, I wanted a more visual way of seeing my story, and I knew I’d need some help.

I consulted Elda, who had plenty of practice with plotting in groups. Using her suggestions, I invited three of my writer friends, including Elda, to a plotting retreat at my cabin in Big Bear Lake, California. We drove up for the weekend, and each of us planned to take half a day to share the plot of our story and get help from the others in fleshing it out.

We brought the following supplies to help us plot:

· One large cardboard backdrop. (If you think of a three-sided backdrop to a science project, you get the idea.)

· A stack of sticky notes/Post Its in various colors.

· Markers

· White poster paper

· A roll of tape

· Various baked goods, candy, and other snacks


On Friday night, we each took three sheets of large poster paper, one for each act. Then we filled out a sticky for every scene (that we knew of) in our books. On the sticky, we briefly wrote in big letters what took place in the scene.

We used different colors for the hero, heroine, and villain. We also used a second sticky, on which we’d mark various plot points (like DM for darkest moment) and place it next to the sticky that described what happened. We’d post blank stickies (in still another color) on any scenes where we didn’t know what was to happen.

Once we filled out all the stickies, we lined up the scenes on the paper, until all the scenes in the act could be seen, a colorful, giant chart. So although we didn’t have pictures of our scenes like are used in making movies, we had our own form of storyboards.

The next day, one of us taped her three charts to the cardboard backdrop and propped it on the end of the dining table. Then she explained each sticky in the story. Everyone could see her weak areas and empty spaces, and we’d brainstorm ideas to strengthen or add to the story.

As the writer changed or added to her plot, she moved stickies around and added new ones. We didn’t stop until we finished each writer’s whole book, but we managed to keep to our half a day per person deadline. It helped that the other writers had simpler stories that they intended to submit to one of the Harlequin/Silhouette lines.

At the end of the weekend, we had four tightly plotted books. Tired, but satisfied with our work, we rolled up our papers and took them home.

Over the next months and years (I veered back to writing the historical and another fantasy series,) when I wanted to work on LQ, I’d take out my charts to make sure I stayed true to what I’d plotted. I added a LOT more scenes to the book than I’d originally plotted, keeping track of my ever-expanding outline in my notebook. But the threads of the plot stayed fairly true to my chart.

I finally finished LQ. (At 125,000 words, it’s a BIG book.) Afterwards, I unrolled my tattered charts, spreading them across my bed. I stared at them for a long while, remembering. The storyboard process had given a structure to my dream of a story and made it real. And because of that realness, I could write and finish the book. What a wonderful feeling! (I’m not sure I’d have finished it if I hadn’t spent that weekend in Big Bear.)

Lywin’s Quest was the last fiction book I wrote. I’ve since turned my attention to nonfiction, although I’ve done some revising my other books. But I have new story ideas clamoring for my attention, and one of these days I’m going to head up to Big Bear with a group of writer friends. Want to come along?

Labels: plotting, writing

posted by Jill Monroe @ 10:28 AM 15 comments

Avoiding the Dreaded Info-Dump with guest blogger Kendra Leigh Castle

I’ll never forget the day I found out I had a problem. I’d just received my scores from the very first contest I’d ever entered, and sat eagerly parsing the comments for direction on my beloved WIP. It was the standard three chapter contest, and I knew, just knew, that I had a great opening. Even if chapter two had always seemed a little…bloated. Didn’t matter, right? Chapter two was necessarily chock full o’ crunchy goodness, and probably the judges would love it best of all. I mean, who wouldn’t love the entire tale of how my spunky heroine had come to own her romance-centric bookshop, complete with amusing flashback? Yeah, yeah, so the wounded werewolf hero was staggering toward her doorstep even as she did her detailed reminiscing. So what?

I will now summarize for you the general opinion of those three wonderful, insightful judges: “This is a great story. It’s probably going to sell. But you really need to do something about the glacial pace of chapter two. Do you really need to tell us quite so much?”

As I thought about it, the revelations came quickly: the 420-page failed manuscript living in a box in my closet, the fact that anyone with eyes and a pulse would be able to ace a complete biographical quiz on my heroine after her very first chapter…yeah, it all came together at that moment.

Hi, my name is Kendra, and I’m an info-dumper. Well, recovering info-dumper, if you want to be specific. Because even pantsers like me have a method to our madness, and I’ve learned to recognize certain signs that mean I’m doing my usual and stuffing too much backstory into one of my first three chapters. The things that tell me, “Uh, Kendra, you’re going to want to stop, go back about four pages, and start using the delete key now. Because unless I’m mistaken, no one will ever need to know the name of the dog your heroine had when she was four.” Among the warning signs:

1. I’ve gone more then two pages with almost no/no dialogue

2. Something cool is about to happen, and yet my character is thinking. And thinking. And thinking…

3. It’s early in the story, and I’m focusing on the past instead of moving the action forward in the present

4. All the pertinent parts of my character’s life story have emerged in the space of one or two chapters

I know I’m not alone. As writers, we love our characters, and we love their stories. Their whole stories, from start to finish, all of what made them who our hero or heroine is going to fall madly in love with. The difficult part, for me at least, was realizing that quite a bit of that backstory is only pertinent or interesting for me. It adds nothing to the book itself, and slows the pace rather than spicing things up. It was a hard lesson, leading me to educate myself (with no small amount of agony) in the art of “killing my darlings.” I must have cut five pages of fat out of that much-maligned chapter. Surprisingly, though, once I did, I found I had a tighter chapter with a snappy pace, and that there was even a cathartic aspect to editing down my own work. The amusing flashback and lengthy rumination on the past? Gone, baby, gone. And no one, save me, would ever miss them, which was most telling of all.

That said, and in the interest of helping other closet info-dumpers like myself (oh, the secret shame!), I have a few tips that have helped me write the kind of story I want to read, instead of the kind of story wherein I suddenly hit a wall of words and start skimming to get back to the action. Everyone has their own process, of course, but I’ve found that these things help me:

1. Write that backstory before you even start. Probably a good idea anyway, but like I said, I’m a pantser and am often guilty of, um, bad planning behavior. Write the whole thing, everything you want to know and can come up with about your characters. You want to talk about your hero breaking his wrist when he was twelve? Go for it. But do it in a separate file, or in a notebook, not right in your story. And if you suddenly think of some new twist to that character after you’ve begun writing in earnest? Avoid the temptation to wedge it into your current chapter and add it to that original file to use later. Let it settle. It may fit in better somewhere else.

2. Take a good hard look at what you do and don’t need in that voluminous backstory. What will reveal character and motivation? And what, though you might love it, is just extra? Make a list. Cross stuff out. Yes, it might hurt. Do it anyway.

3. Make a solemn promise to yourself to dole out the backstory in small amounts, no matter how great the urge to do otherwise (some small voice inside of me still screams, “No! They have to get to know him/her NOW!”).

4. Formulate a plan of action, and stick to it. This is a rub for pantser like me, who is sloppy about whatever sort of list I might make, but I haven’t found a better way around it. Divvy the backstory up into layers: what needs to be known up front, what can be revealed later, and best, things that can be hinted at and then revealed for maximum impact at a later time. This part can include paper and a marker, which makes me happy. I mentioned I’m messy, right?

Writing a chapter, or even a whole manuscript (like the one in my closet) that needs to go on a diet is no big deal if you’re willing to accept that diagnosis, then come up with strategies for circumventing counterproductive impulses and avoiding those dreaded pockets of info-dump. It’s amazing what we writers can do with willpower and the digital hatchet of the delete key. As for me, I’m eternally grateful to those three anonymous judges for both their encouragement and their criticism. I took their advice and trimmed my backstory, much as I loved what I had to lose. The end result? First a wonderful agent, and not long after, a book deal for me and the romance-loving heroine who thinks she’s helping a wounded dog and ends up with…well, quite a bit more than she bargained for.


Call of the Highland Moon comes out May 1st from Sourcebooks Casablanca, and if you like sexy Scottish werewolves and sharp, funny heroines, I hope you’ll take a peek.

Thanks for having me as a member of the Posse for today, I love it here. Now go forth and whip those backstories into shape! Happy writing!

Kendra
www.kendraleighcastle.com

Kendra also blogs twice a week at Sourcebooks Author Blog at: www.wickedlyromantic.blogspot.com

Labels: plotting, writing

posted by Theresa Ragan @ 1:06 AM 27 comments