Belly Button Lint...

I have been so frustrated lately. I have contracts to fulfill - books to write - and everything I've tried to put on paper is absolute crap. Yeah - in general writers believe everything is crap until we hit the end of the book. Once we write The End we're pretty sure we've written the Next Great American Novel.

Until then - the writing process just sucks. :)

I have some really fun projects on deck:
Rites of Spring, the sequel to Winter's Daughter
Tactical _____, the next SWAT story
Santo's story from the Jane Porter series...
A cool Urban Fantasy with no title...
But I'm having a hell of a time writing them. I've started Rites - the Prologue is is done and I've written three chapters...but let me clarify - I've written the first chapter three times...and thrown them all out.

I keep telling myself that it just needs more time to percolate. I've found that some books just flow from my brain - the Jane Porter books - and others need to be wrenched from my soul (Winter's Daughter). I guess this one will need to extracted with force.

Now where did I put the aspirin... :)

Light at the end of the tunnel...

I'm pushing through the final edits on the third Jane Porter novella, Reinventing Jane Porter. I'm about two weeks behind where I'd wanted to be but what can you do when life intrudes? It's the last day of January and it feels like the past 31 days were squished into four hours and I slept through half of it. :)

I just keep telling myself that no matter what happens the manuscript is due Sunday at midnight so at 12:01, I can fall down and sleep for two days straight. Or, at the least, I will spend a few days zoning out in front of the television watching the thirty hours of shows I've DVRed because I was trying to get caught up on writing...

Its a vicious cycle.

Upcoming Workshop

PR Isn’t a 4-Letter Word

Self-promotion. Say the word aloud in a room full of authors and watch a fingernails-on-the-blackboard shudder run through the crowd. Promotion can be a scary drain on time and finances. But there are also many entertaining and often free opportunities to get one’s name in front of readers.

Marcia James and over 20 PR-savvy guest lecturers—Melissa Alvarez, Dianne Castell, Kate Douglas, Carol Ann Erhardt, Karen Harper, Susan Gee Heino, Donna Hill, Linda Keller, Laurie Kingery, Karen McCullough, Donna MacMeans, Janice Maynard, Beth Morrow, Jenna Petersen, Patricia Sargeant, Barbara Satow, Jenn Stark, Jennifer Stevenson, Kay Stockham, DeNita Tuttle and J.C. Wilder—will present affordable author self-promotion strategies from author branding and press kits to blog/chatroom opportunities and niche markets.

The speaker fees will be donated to Best Friends Animal Society (http://www.bestfriends.org/), which has the largest no-kill animal shelter in the U.S. For workshop registration information, go to the Yosemite Romance Writers’ site: http://www.yosemiteromancewriters.com/6.html - you have to scroll down to find it. :)

Misplaced Treasures

Yesterday I was in my closet - you just never know where I'll turn up - and I found a case of book from my keeper shelf. Well, in this case I guess I'd call it a Keeper Closet because I have so many Keepers that it would take an entire room to display them all.

So who was in my Keeper box? Old Sharon Sala including the first McCall titles, three Debbie Macomber titles and...Elizabeth Elliott. I knew EE from the CompuServe LitForum back in the mid nineties. She wrote three books, Warlord, Betrothed and Scoundrel, then vanished. If I remember correctly, there was an illness in her family or something of that nature. If you can find these three books - BUY THEM. They are beautifully written medieval historicals that combine romance with some of the grit from those times. I love medieval titles and just seeing these little gems again made me smile.

It also caused me to remember why I started writing in the first place. I love everything about romance novels. The adventure of finding love, the meshing of two lives, the trials and the victories and most of all, overcoming whatever obstacles face them.

Happy sigh.

As I poured through my misplaced treasures - you should've seen me just running my hands over my beloved books and grinning like a fool - and I started thinking about how much romance novels have changed over the past 15 years. When I started writing in the ninties, erotic romance was the exception not the rule. The only authors writing ER was Susan Johnson, Thea Devine and Bertrice Small. I've always written ER starting with my first book, One With The Hunger. In reading it now, you'd probably think it was tame but back then...girllll....I got so much crap for that knife scene. Reviewers said I was glorifying violence against women, that I wrote kink....blah blah blah.

In ER now if the couple doesn't use some sort of toy then people don't think its hot enough. Spanking or menage rules the day along with GLBT (specifically m/m) and straight sex (no kink) seems to have faded into the background. What's going on here? I love ER or I wouldn't write it. But when I started looking through my Keepers (and I have hundreds) not a single one was an ER title. Somewhere I have my stack of early Susan Johnson's - it was her books that convinced me it was okay to not only write the naughty stuff but to enjoy it too.

But romance isn't about SEX. Can you believe it - I said that and the sky didn't fall. Who knew? :) Sarcasm is the next hot accessory in fashion...

Sex is certainly a component, but it isn't the end all be all of a romance novel. More and more I'm seeing books that are high in sex and low in plot or the 'sex as plot' books. When did the character arc turn into a guideline rather than the rule? I like sexy books, but none of my keepers are the hot stuff. Why? Because good sex doesn't equate to a solid, lasting relationship. Would you love your spouse any less if they couldn't have sex?

Looking at my career, in general, my writing has become hotter and hotter. I never write anything that I don't love, period. But in working on my latest project, I caught myself looking for ways to inject more heat in to the manuscript. The plotline does lend itself to being very sexy but love scenes should work to move the plot forward - not for titilation. Love scenes should explore character and work to cement the bond between the characters not to increase the sex count. The interesting thing is I couldn't figure out why the book was giving me fits. I was fighting writing it, it felt so forced and just plain wrong. Yes, writers do get sucked into trying to write to the market. I've seen it happen many times and it sa great way to kill a career. If you don't write what you love, you will burn out pretty fast.

My solution? I emailed my editor to ask for more time and she agreed because she's a goddess. :) I then went back to the manuscript and tore it in half - three weeks worth of work now gone. But its okay, is what the book needed. The last thing I want is to write something that not only cheats the readers but also the characters. I love, love, love romance novels and in finding that box I now remember WHAT it is I loved and why I started writing.

So what books are in my Keeper box?
Sharon Sala - Chance McCall, Queen
Dinah McCall - Jackson Rule, Dreamcatcher, Tallchief
Katherine Kinglsey - No Sweeter Heaven
Elizabeth Elliott - Soundrel, Warlord, Betrothed
Robyn Carr - The House on Olive Street

Writing Update

Well, I'm supposed to be writing - I've allowed myself to become diverted by a lively thread over at Dear Author (http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2009/01/08/elloras-cave-sues-borders-for-1000000/) and all I can say is that some people have their own special brand of crazy.

I'm putting the finishing touches on Reinventing Jane Porter coming in May from Samhain Publishing...

Mills and Boon...Erotica?

According to this source, Mills and Boon will be publishing 'its first pornographic book.' Wow - and who said publishers didn't listen to their readers?

I have to admit it's been many years since I've read a M&B title. I stopped reading them in 1979 when I discovered Ginny and Steve from the old time bodice ripper books. Somehow reading about virginal, blonde, English, Nurse heroines and Greek, Shipping Magnet, Sardonic heros didn't have the same appeal as Ginny and Steve as they loved and raped their way all over the world.

Let's face it - M&B is pretty well known for their characters being numb from the waist down.

When I read about this upcoming change in the M&B lineup, I had to admit my immediate thought was of an oil sheik asking his woman to suck his well dry as she screams for him to drill deeper into her dewy sands...

Thanks to the Smart Bitch site for the heads up.

Guest Blogging

I'm guest blogging this week at NovelSpot and my topic is the path (koff) to publication. Check out my first post:

http://novelspot.net/node/2430

James Frey....Fried....

I'm BACK and feelin' SNARKY!

In a recent Galley Cat Feed, author (koff....fraud....koff) James Frey announced that he 'feared and loathed' the press and wouldn't be doing any any other interviews.

Wait a minute - wasn't this revealed in an INTERVIEW? According to the article, his publisher asked him to do more press and he did this one interview...so I guess he was just following orders?

I've got news for Mr. Fried - if an author isn't willing to do something to promote their work, then they aren't serious about their craft. Doing the promotional work involved with writing is every author's least favorite part. Let's face it, our job forces us to be solitary creatures - does anyone think we want to be shoved out the front door in our panties?

Uh, no.

IMO, his 'fear and loathing' of the press is due to the fact that he lied and was outted by the press. He needs to put on his Big Boy Panties and face the mess he created instead of making lame excuses.

Karma can be a real bitch...and I just love her.

Lewis Black on Writing

Ode to a Mentor

To Romance Authors, Kathleen Woodiwiss was a legend - the godmother of the modern romance novel.


Her first book, THE FLAME AND THE FLOWER was published in 1972 when I was only seven years old. While I didn't read this book until 1980 or 81, it truly changed my life. I knew, in that moment, I wanted to be a writer. To this day, two of my all time favorite novels are THE FLAME AND THE FLOWER and ASHES IN THE WIND.


While her earlier titles might seem dated now, at that time, her work set a new standard of excellence in the industry and the modern romance novel was born.


Kathleen didn't make many personal appearances during the 1990's though she continued to write bestsellers such as MARRIED AT MIDNIGHT and PETALS ON THE RIVER. Basically a shy woman, she was very nervous about attending conferences and this is how I met her.

A mutual friend was acting as her publicist and official hand-holder for Kathleen's return to public life in 2000. I received an email from Judy, our mutual friend, and she asked me to give her a hand in befriending Kathleen and easing her way into the circus that is the romance world.


Me and Kathleen Woodiwiss, one of the greatest romance writers of all time?!?!? Are you KIDDING me? I would've paid just to stand next to her let alone chat her up and put her at ease. I wasn't too sure *I* would be able to get a coherent sentence together as I'd be groveling at her feet.


Looking back now, I'm not sure what I expected from the first goddess of romance! Boas? Spike heels? Red Lipstick?


When Judy introduced me to Kathleen, it was one of the most exhilerating moments of my life. I can attribute my getting into writing to many things and this woman, this amazing creature, was such a huge inspiration for me. She was everything a role model should be. Intelligent, kind, humble and with a smile that immediately put people at ease. I'll never forget how completely out of touch she was with her standing in the literary world.


"Do you think some of these readers would like to meet me?" she whispered to me while sitting in the lobby of the Doubletree Hotel in Somerset, NJ.


It took everything I had to not start fawning and bowing at her feet. I can't imagine any romance writer NOT wanting to meet her. I mean - come on, the author of THE WOLF AND THE DOVE and SHANNA?? By the end of the conference Kathleen was much better able to circulate on her own and just kick back and enjoy herself. I ran into her a couple of years later at another conference and she was having the time of her life.


Kathleen Woodiwiss passed away today. She survived thirty years in the romance industry and that alone speaks to her talent and longevity. She was an amazing woman, an awesome writer and a legend in her comfy slip-on shoes. For the rest of my life I will treasure the time I was able to spend with her along with the many, many hours I spent losing myself in her work. Kathleen Woodiwiss changed my life with her work, and if reach one tenth of the people she did, I will consider my life a success.

To sum it all up, I will let KW have the last word - she would've loved that. :)


"Dear Readers, I'm delighted with the opportunity this website is affording me in being able to converse with such ease with my readers. Although The Flame and the Flower may have launched a whole new genre in the publishing world, I'm usually the one dragging my heels when trying something new and innovative in the area of communication, preferring all the bugs to be worked out before I venture forth. Although websites may not be as archaic as I'm getting to be, I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear comments like "Kathleen-come-lately" in reference to my emergence on the web, but here I am nevertheless, old as Methuselah and green as fresh corn stalks. Kathleen "

On Writing...

This weekend I spent at Lori Foster's conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is always such great fun to hang with new and old friends to discuss one of my most favorite things, books and writing. I met so many lovely people and it was lovely to just kick back, hang and chat with anyone who stopped by.

Of course, as a writer it was also about business.

I met with some agents and editors and received some requests to see WINTER'S DAUGHTER - the manuscript I completed early this year then yanked back from a Publisher-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. I have high hopes for this book as it is truly a book of my heart and it is the best thing I've ever created. So everyone, cross your fingers for me - I have a pile of manuscripts to send out this week. :)