Yikes--Eight Days?

It's been that long since I posted anything? Bad blogger. Bad, bad blogger.

Let's see...well, I've finished the third draft of CRYBABY FALLS and it's off to my critique partners, finally. I have two people to thank especially for my most recent changes--Karin Tabke and a guy named Jerome, last name unknown, who both answered my police procedural questions with alacrity and specificity. If this book sells, they're both going in the credits.

I'm about three-fourths of the way done with my edits to CODE NAME: WILLOW for the editor who suggested I revise it to fit Silhouette Intimate Moments. I like the changes, I think. It's made the book richer. I still think the story is going to be too mystery-intensive--it was written for Intrigue--so if the editor still passes on it, I think I'll submit it to Intrigue instead after some edits for length.

Did I mention that I'd already submitted WHAT THE HEART SEES to the editor who requested it? I'm trying to clear all my finished books off the table and out to editors so that I can concentrate on writing something new.

The Marlene awards are supposed to announce today. I have a submission in that one (can't remember if I have two). Keeping my fingers crossed.

And WILD CARD's On a Roll!

Add another contest final to the WILD CARD tally--it made the Long Contemporary finals in the Winter Rose contest.

I've been trying to pick and choose my contest entries based on a handful of criteria: who the final round judge is and whether or not she's already seen the work I want to enter; how many pages at a time I can enter (the more, the better); the contest's prestige and whether or not I have a new book that I want feedback on.

Primarily, however, I'm looking at the final round judges, because I've had a lot of luck using contest finals as queries. Four of my completed manuscripts have finaled in multiple contests. So far, three of those manuscripts have been requested by editors through contests. The fourth may yet, as it's only finaled three times and the final winners haven't been announced yet.

I like the idea of using contests as a sort of backdoor query. I've had occasional trouble getting an editor to ask to see my book off a query/synopsis; contests make the editors read my first chapter and let my writing sell itself. Not to say that knowing how to write a query and a good synopsis isn't important; it is. But contests take the pressure off me AND give me contest finals and wins to put on my writing resume. Two birds, one stone, etc. etc.

Even when I don't final, I usually get plenty of useful feedback on my stories, which is well worth the entry fee. There's just not much of a downside to entering contests that fit my criteria.

Another Contest Final for WILD CARD

WILD CARD made the first round finals of the LERA Rebecca Contest. I think this means the entry goes to Pattie Steele-Perkins, who's the agent half of the agent/editor combo judging the first and second rounds.

Hmm--April Fool's Day is a bad time to be posting anything. Nobody will believe it's true!

If You're Going to Get a Rejection...

Getting a rejection with a request to revise and resubmit is the way to go!

The editor who's had CODE NAME: WILLOW since last November gave me some notes for revision and said that if I'd like to revise the manuscript with her notes in mind, she'd be happy to reconsider it for Silhouette Intimate Moments.

I'm going to put aside, for the moment, the fact that the book was actually targeted for Harlequin Intrigue and bask in the glow of her complimentary comments and the request for revision. Beats the heck out of a form rejection, let me tell you!

CRYBABY FALLS: Close But Not Quite

Heard back from the Romantic Suspense coordinator for the Heart of the Rockies contest. CRYBABY FALLS didn't make the finals, but it was awarded an honorable mention. (There are only three finalists in each category, and in my category there were two honorable mentions).

So, not quite a final but I'm fairly pleased anyway.

WILD CARD Gets Lucky

My newest manuscript, WILD CARD, just made the finals of the Heart of the Rockies contest! I haven't finaled with this manuscript before, so I'm doubly excited. That's six finals with six different manuscripts over the span of my contest career (which is a looooong span).

Now if I could just sell something!

Remembering Simi

I was doing a little spring cleaning today and came across an old photo album of my cats. There were several beautiful photos of Simi, my half-Himalayan cat who I had to have put to sleep a couple of weeks ago after she came down suddenly with a severe neurological deficit (probably due to an undetected brain tumor).

I cried for days during and after the decision to have her put to sleep, and just seeing the photos made me start crying all over again. I didn't cry this much when my father died three years ago.

Why is it that losing a pet makes us so sad? Simi lived fifteen years and had a good life. That's pretty long life for a cat, after all. But I can't stop feeling heart-broken about losing her.

Maybe it's because she needed me. I was responsible for feeding her, cleaning up after her, giving her love and attention. She rewarded me with unmatched devotion, responding with a head butt or a soft mew when I spoke to her. She took obvious delight when I stroked her fur or scratched behind her ears. And I'm told that every morning when I left for work, she walked around the house meowing for me, her voice plaintive as she realized I was gone for another eight hours.

I miss her.

Why Romance?

It's a question a lot of us romance writers get when we tell people about our work. Why are you writing those trashy novels? It's all about sex, sex, sex.

Well, no. It's not. At least, not entirely.

So if you wonder why romance writers choose that particular genre, check out Diana Duncan's answer. It's remarkably personal to her life. At the same time, there's a passage that I think is universal to romance writers:

I hope that through my stories, I can help ease these women’s sufferings a little. I hope they forget their own troubled lives and take off on an adventure with my characters. That they escape from the real world.

And when they finish, when they reach "the end," and close the covers of the book, they go back to their own lives with a little more peace in their hearts.

Refreshed.

Uplifted.

Better able to cope.

Because in romance novels, good always defeats evil. Tomorrow is a better day. Relationships are mended, hope is restored, love triumphs over all.

As they say, read the whole thing.

Catching Up

I've been a very bad blogger this week--and when I actually had news to share!

My single title romantic suspense novel, CRYBABY FALLS, placed first in the Romantic Suspense category of the 2005 Duel on the Delta contest. The judging editor also asked to see the full for either MIRA or HQN (I'm thinking it fits MIRA better, since it's not a pure romance).

You may not be able to tell it from the tone of my post, but I'm way past excited!

Done! (Well, sorta)

I finished revising WHAT THE HEART SEES to fit Harlequin Intrigue more snugly. Cut back to 300 words while simultaneously beefing up the mystery element. Whew! I'm tired.

I'm going to give it a week and read back over the last half of the book (where most of the revisions lie) before I print it out and send it to the editor who's requested it.

The Tribulations of Contests

I've had some pretty good luck in contests. Won a few, placed in several, finaled in even more. But this weekend, I not only found out I didn't place in the top three in the MARA Fiction from the Heartland contest but I also found out I placed fourth in the NOLA STARS Suzannah contest. Yeah, yeah--I placed in the finals. And I'm very happy about that. I was just hoping this book, CRYBABY FALLS, would place higher and maybe get an editor request or two. No luck there.

Oh, well, there are always the other contests I haven't heard from yet...

Chicken Pox averted, I think

No spots have shown up on my niece, and she's meanwhile developed symptoms that would suggest her fever was due to an upper respiratory infection. So I think I'm out of the woods. (famous last words).

Chicken Pox Watch, Day 1

Well, it looks like my niece is coming down with chicken pox, despite having been inoculated against it. And, as I've never had the chicken pox (despite being exposed more than once), I guess I'll be sweating this one out, too.

(I should note that my sister and her children, as well as my widowed mother, all live in the same house with me, hence my anxiety).

I hear that chicken pox is not a pleasant disease to have as an adult. I hope I don't have to find out first hand.

THE FUTURE WIDOWS' CLUB also an RT Top Pick

Wow, just when I thought my chaptermates couldn't surprise me anymore, Rhonda Nelson's novel THE FUTURE WIDOWS' CLUB received 4 1/2 Stars Gold - the top rating that RT gives out these days. Amazing!

Way to go, girl!

THE CAPTAIN is an RT Top Pick, too

My Southern Magic chaptermate Lynn Collum's book, The Captain, is also an RT Top Pick. Have I mentioned that my local RWA chapter rocks?

WEDNESDAY'S CHILD an RT Top Pick

In this month's edition of Romantic Times, my friend Gayle Wilson's new HQN romantic suspense, Wednesday's Child, is a Top Pick with 4 1/2 stars. Congratulations, Gayle!

Red and White Revolution

I didn't intend for my blog to follow politics--why alienate half your prospective readership by shooting off your mouth? However, I think this is good news. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,148962,00.html

Discovering Story Magic

Yesterday, my local RWA chapter, Southern Magic, sponsored a seminar by Laura Baker and Robin Perini called "Discovering Story Magic." Laura and Robin gave a short version of this seminar last year at the RWA National Conference, and our members who'd attended gave big raves to the seminar.

Having attended yesterday's seminar, I can see why. Laura and Robin have put together a simple, workable story-building concept that helps writers distill their books to the elements that can make or break a story. The beauty of the Discovering Story Magic plan is that you can use it not only to build a story from the ground up but also also to examine a finished draft to see where your story holds together and where it falls apart. And it's not just for romance writers; any writer can use the concepts Laura and Robin have developed to make sure your idea contains the necessary elements to become a full blown story.

If you're a member of a writer's group looking to set up a seminar, this is a good one.

Free Mojtaba and Arash Day

Mojtaba and Arash are Iranian bloggers who've been arrested by the Iranian mullocracy for daring to speak freely on their weblogs.

Committee to Protect Bloggers has deemed today "Free Mojtaba and Arash Day."

Pass it along.

American Title finalists

Romantic Times' "American Title" contest is down to two finalists, both worthy contestants. Congratulations to Lois Winston (my Golden Heart 2004 fellow finalist) and Janice Lynn (my fellow From the Heart Romance Writers chaptermate). Good luck to you both--I hope Dorchester's smart enough to publish both books!