So where the HECK have I been?

Well, I have been around, just not here. And of course, I've been writing. A lot. I pop into Facebook and Twitter if you ever want to keep up with what I'm doing, but I have big news. BIG! I signed with a literary agent!! Roberta Brown of Brown Literary Agency is my agent and I'm so very excited. I'm even on her web site and everything! Check it out here. I know, I'll try and restrain myself, but it's hard. At least I'm no longer running around my house singing "I have an agent. I have an agent." LOL. Well, not every day at least.


Landing an agent is one of those major author milestone thingys. At least in my book it is. Some even say it's more difficult than getting the attention of an editor. Having someone knowledgeable in the industry, someone experienced and seasoned when it comes to authors and publishing interested in your work? Interested in you and your potential? Someone who believes in you? THAT is absolutely priceless.

I have more exciting news to share once it's all signed, sealed, delivered and OFFICIAL, but for right now, I'm super psyched with the direction I'm going. Stay tuned :).

2010...it's a wrap

2010 was an amazing year for me. I became published for one, realizing a dream, even if it was a fairly new one :). I gained a tremendous amount of experience with the craft of writing as well as understanding how the publishing industry works. Sort of LOL. And I made wonderful friends, some I've never even met in person!

So...2010, what did you teach me?

• Writers are just so friendly & supportive towards other writers. It really is an amazing community to be a part of.
• I really can tell people that I write hot & steamy romance and the sky won't fall in. Really :).
• I'm a bit lazy. Yep, I can term it being a perfectionist, I can call it procrastinating, but I have a tendency to be lazy if I can get away with it. There. I said it. The first step is recognizing the problem, right LOL?
• I actually like blogging and social networking. Who would ever have guessed that?
• Publishing is a changing and evolving industry and it doesn't look like that's going to stop anytime soon.
• Marketing and promotion is a bit of a crap shoot. You never really know what works or doesn't. You kinda make the best educated choices you can and hope for the best!
• Sadly, the romance genre is still looked down on by people in the 'literary world' and the public in general, despite the incredible sales figures.
• Writing is hard and it's work and it's solitary. Even though I love it and intellectually I knew it was hard, I think you have to live it to really get that on an emotional and spiritual level. It's not for everyone.
• Being published feels just as amazing as I thought it would.

I haven't firmed up all of my goals for 2011 yet, but thought I'd share the highlights of my thinking for the coming year:

• Read more! My reading has really dropped off lately and I feel like it could have an impact longer term. I'd like to get back to my favorite authors. I've missed them. The good news is that there is a huge backlog waiting for me.
• Attend the RWA Nationals conference in NY, possibly RT and probably RomantiCon. There's nothing quite like networking (aka partying) with other romance authors.
• Turn in 4 - 5 ebooks - hot & steamy contemporaries!!
• Finish 2 category length manuscripts that are in progress.
• Flesh out the outline for my first paranormal series and draft the first book. This story just won't give me any peace, so I have no choice.
• Revamp the look & feel of my website and blog. It's long overdue, right?
• Add new segments on my blog. Stay tuned!
• Query agents.
• Stop dicking around so much on the Internet :).
• Become Twitter Queen. Well, perhaps not queen, but at least use it more effectively. See point above ;).

Happy New Year to everyone!! Wishing you a year filled with good health and happiness and much reading--romance, of course!

Writers, Professionalism and...the Internet

There's been a lot of discussion about this topic lately on loops, forums and blogs. It's a topic that each and every writer, aspiring to be published or already published, should take into account when they post anything on the Internet--on any of the social networking forums and media. That stuff says around forever, you know? What people say and how they say it, reflects on them (and that could be a positive or a negative thing). I'm regularly amazed at what some people post and the language they use. We all constantly hear that the first thing an editor or an agent does when they're considering a submission seriously, is to Google the writer. Really? You want an editor or agent to see that? What is out there on the Internet is sometimes the only way an editor or an agent can perform a 'compatibility test' if you will. How easy is this person to work with? How reasonable? How professional?

Me? I try not to post anything I wouldn't have issue with anyone seeing. I try to strike a balance between providing insight into me as a person so that people can get to know me better, but not revealing too much information, if you know what I mean :). I consciously try not to post anything of a religious or political nature. I believe everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and why should I feel the need to push mine onto anyone else? They're not relevant to my books anyway. I do my best not to offend anyone. Sure, I write hot and steamy romance. Some consider it 'erotic', but I think I can still have a professional persona, I don't have to 'live up to' that moniker. I want this to be a long term career, after all.

Now, in the spirit of believing in free speech and everyone being the master of their own destiny, people can post anything they like, of course. I just hope they've thought through clearly all the possible ramifications and that it's a conscious choice. If so, that's fine. If not, oh-ho!

Is it just me or do others see this as well?

OMG! I'm going to be published...

They finally put me out of my misery!  I've been excited, distracted and just about bursting with this news for two weeks, but wanted to make sure everything was finalized and official before I announced it. I'm going to be published! PUBLISHED! Another milestone for 2010! OK, so it's a biggie milestone, but it's one I didn't think would necessarily happen in the first part of this year. At the beginning of 2010, I didn't plan to write a novella and I hadn't planned on submitting to an epublisher. Not yet anyway. I've written about this before, but when I was browsing the publisher sites, I saw a call for submission and was immediately hit with an idea. Even then, I shrugged it off but the characters and the story just wouldn't let go. So, over the course of about a week I sat down and just wrote it. I sent it in and moved on and the voices in my head stopped (well those particuar voices anyway) LOL. I went through a round of revisions and about two weeks ago, they let me know they'd like to contract it! It's under 15,000 words, but my first published work Picture This, will be released from Ellora's Cave (hopefully soon!) and stays true to my 'heat with feeling' approach to writing. My editor, Grace (wow, not sure I'm going to get used to saying that anytime soon) has been very professional, responsive and oh so kind and understanding. So far! I haven't received my final edits yet, though :). I can't wait to get to know her better and learn as much as I can from her. Lots of happy dancing going on here!

So, how did I celebrate? Well, I did what any other woman would do, of course. I went out and bought a new pair of shoes. :)

I still don't know what to say ...

Unfortunately, I haven't gotten any wiser since the last time I mentioned this. What the hell do you say when someone asks you any of the following:

• What do you do for a living?
• What are you doing these days?
• Where do you work?

This writing romance (and hot/erotic type romance specifically) is so far removed from what I used to do that I still can't get past the thought of telling anyone from that past life. I was in the corporate world, a very conservative corporate world, and very high up the management chain. Most that I worked with were men and I would like to maintain those professional relationships. You never know, right? Coupled with the fact that I have no real validation that I'm any good (I'm not published yet, but working feverishly towards it) it's kinda hard for me to proclaim 'I'm a writer'. And what happens when I've tried that out? Well, then the next two questions are pretty predictable ' 'What do you write?' & 'Where can I find your books?' NOW, what to say? I have to say when a guy asks me I've used the response 'I write woman's fiction'. That pretty much ensures their eyes glaze over and they change the subject, but I can't do that forever and women seem to want to know all the specifics. It sounds so lame to say 'I'm not published yet but working towards it'. I just get the nods as if 'oh, she'd got a cute little hobby going on.' Is it just me? Am I paranoid, overly cautious, completely neurotic or just a coward?

Writing Full Time V Part Time

Just over a year into this journey of mine and I'm still none the wiser about this one. Long before I decided to do this seriously, I wondered about it, researched it and yeah, kind of angonized about it. Why do some established authors still have 'day jobs'? I get authors just starting out and perhaps they're e-publishing, not getting advances and their sales are low because they're in the process of building readership. Perhaps they've started in single title and it takes awhile to establish themselves. I get that. I'm talking about authors who publish print novels with established, well known publishers and who have done so for many years. I'm talking about authors who seem to crank out 3 - 5 novels a year consistently and seem to be very popular. I understand the delay in royalty payments, but for these folks they should be reaping those rewards by now. Shouldn't they? Is there a reluctance to commit to something fully that's perhaps not as reliable or predictable? Is there a fear it's just transitory? Do some women look on this as a hobby only, not a career? Are they really not making much money at writing once established or do they simply see it as a second job and are maximizing earnings for as long as they can? Are they worried it would be more widely known what they're doing behind closed doors if they're not open about it? Yes, I suppose I'm talking primarily about category romance, so do authors who stay in this field really have an income stream that's 'inadequate' (which I know is very subjective of course)? I've seen all the figures that everyone else probably has around earnings, but I guess I still don't get it. Not fully. Am I missing something? Anyone have any insights into this?

Authors are people too...

So far on my (relatively short) road to publication I have had the opportunity to meet and communicate electronically with, a number of published authors. A couple of them have been on the best seller lists and I have to say I have been surprised and amazed each time. These women have been incredibly responsive, very engaged, truly interested and positively encouraging. To a lowly aspiring author such as myself! I'm not sure there is another industry where the successful professionals so caringly encourage, mentor and facilitate the success of those trying to break in. It continues to astound me!

I would be interested to know if anyone else has had similar experiences?

I'm so sure...

My hubby asked the other day what I would do if I got a rejection back on the partial I sent to an editor last month. Keep writing? YES was what resounded through my mind. I've been thinking about it a lot lately and I just know deep in every cell of my body that I was meant to do this, that I am capable of doing it and that I will be successful. I just know it without question. I've never been so certain of anything in my life and I know without any doubt that this is what I want to do with my professional life moving forward. If I get a rejection? I'll be devastated because I know what I sent in was good enough. I may became a victim of our economy with publishers buying less new authors but I just know if I stick with it, I'll get there. The question will be how long will I persevere, how long can I continue to maintain the confident and positive outlook that will keep me going? That, I'm not sure of...

Someone else knows....

... that I' m writing romance. My husband mentioned it to another mother at my daughters school. Well, HE sort of knows what I'm doing but nothing about the content. I've never let him read a single word. It's funny that a lot of people will say 'Oh, yeah, I wrote a romance once...'. I've heard that alot. What does it mean exactly? I too was interesting in pursuing that career? Or, it's so easy anyone can do it even in my spare time? At first it was liberating. This successful, corporate woman knew what I was doing and that I was working on something productive. I began to discuss the specifics of my approach to being published, what I had done to be organized about it and how I have been educating myself on the business side of things (which I find so fascinating). Then not so much, especially when she said 'there's no way I could write or read anything like that now without tongue firmly in cheek'. What/why does the think I'm doing it? I can only imagine in dread. Now, I hope she doesn't tell that many people! It would be one thing to be published or know you're going to be published, it's another to discuss your pursuit without any hint that you're going to make it.

What do you do?

It used to be an easy question for me when someone asked what I did for a living. I had the short answer, the elevator pitch or the really long involved answer that detailed the nuances of my prior career. It sounded impressive. It usually impressed. I stopped that career August of last year but still frequently get asked the question 'What do you do?' I literally choke. When I was at the RWA conference in DC I met many authors. Many of them were so sure, so confident. When I asked what they had published, a lot of them responded that they haven't been published yet. Some of these women had been writing for 10 years! I offered the standard words of encouragement but I was really thinking 'Gosh, I hope that's not me!'. Does that make me a bitch? What do I answer to the dreaded question? If I say I' m a writer anyone would invariably ask what I had published. I would then have to admit that I am not published and does that make me seem lame? They would ask what I write. I'm not sure I'm prepared to share with the general public that I write romance, erotic romance at that. I will often say I write women's fiction. That scares most guys off from further questions. Whatever I say ends up sounding flaky and not at all like a serious pursuit. Anyone have any words of wisdom, any cute comebacks or any specific suggestions?