Taramul Interzis

My first book, FORBIDDEN TERRITORY, is now out in Romania. In Romanian.

And I love the cover!

Trish Sold!

Go congratulate her!

Like Wading Through Cold Molasses

That's what writing feels like right now. It's so much better when I'm in the zone. I've got to proposals to work up, and I really want them both ready before the end of August. Earlier if possible.

But I do not want to send out three chapters and a synopsis while I'm feeling doubts about whether I can finish them on deadline. Argggh. I'm having such a crisis of faith.

But I'll slog through. I always do.

Meanwhile, to make myself feel better, how about a pretty picture? I'm a sucker for guys who are unconventionally attractive. One of my current favorites is Blake Berris, who's young enough to be my son, but we just won't think about that.

Casting Call

It's that time again. Time to cast the hero of my new project. The working title is TARGET: JANE DOE and the hero is a Wyoming sheriff looking for a woman he believes was involved in his brother's murder. But when he finds her, she claims to have no memory of her life before she showed up in the little town of Trinity, Idaho, half-frozen and disoriented. When someone tries to kill them both, the hero, Mitch, is forced to face the fact that his prime suspect may actually be the innocent target of a ruthless killer.

I'm not yet set on Mitch's looks, although I do tend to prefer dark-haired men to blonds. He's in his mid-thirties, lean and a bit taciturn. Very smart, very capable, a real stand-up cowboy of a guy--but bitter when it come to women, thanks to a broken marriage.

So, any suggestions?

The Blog Days of Summer

Yes, I know this is my fourth post in two days. Am I running a fever? Some of you are probably thinking about calling Mulder and Scully to check and see if I've been abducted by aliens and replaced by a pod!Paula.

But I really am trying to be a more conscientious blogger, just to get myself into better work habits. And yes, I do consider the blog to be work-related, since it's about my writing and my books. And okay, also about my weird dreams, my pets and my TV viewing habits, but mostly about my books.

So as a test, I'm going to try to post at least once a day every day in August. I'm calling it the Blog Days of Summer, and I hope you'll try to stop by once in a while to see what I'm talking about and maybe join in the conversation. I can't promise it'll always be about books and writing (in fact, I can promise you it won't), but I'm going to try to keep it entertaining.

Jane and the Slushpile

An experiment in England yields predictable results.

This Guardian story makes a big deal out of editors sending out form rejection letters to a writer who queried with lightly revised versions of some of Jane Austen's novels. But this article fails to understand how rejection letters work. They assume, without much evidence to back up the assumption, that the failure of editors to address the fairly obvious plagiarism proves that the editors not only didn't recognize Jane Austen's writing but found it unpublishable.

I'm sure there may have been one or two who didn't recognize the stories, but I wouldn't be surprised if most did and dealt with the plagiarism the way most busy editors deal with any project they know they can't pursue, for whatever reason--they sent out a form rejection letter. And I'm not sure that Jane's stories could get sold as written now because the language conventions of the early 1800s are not the language conventions of the present. At the very least, she would be heavily edited.

So, in the end, the results of the experiment prove very little of what it sought to prove about modern publishing.

Self-Promotion and the Introvert

I don't think I'm very good at self-promotion, which is bad. Because writing for Harlequin as I do, I'm pretty much stuck with promoting myself, because there's not a whole lot that Harlequin does to promote its lesser authors. We're thrown out among the sharks to sink or swim. (In Harlequin's defense, I think that's true of most new authors at most publishing houses).

I read a quote from someone who went to the RWA conference and sat in on an Agent panel. The gist of the quote was that authors should spend 3 to 10 hours a week self-promoting online. My question is--if I spend that much time self-promoting, when am I going to write? I work full time, for pete's sake, outside of my writing career. Yikes.

My self-promotion consists of this blog and my website, putting my books in the sig line of my email, occasional (far too occasional) posts on eHarlequin (also with my books in my sig line) and just basic word of mouth. The last two books, I bought bookmarks, but the problem with that is, by the time I get the cover art, I have only a month or so to get the bookmarks done and start distributing them before the book is out. And with category books, it's only in the store about a month, if that, before it's removed from the shelves to make room for more books.

I'm not at all comfortable with public speaking. I never have been, and I don't anticipate becoming so after all these years, so I don't think I can go the "give a presentation at a writer's conference" or "try to get on a local TV morning show" route. Just can't go there.

So what do I do? Keeping in mind that I'm a total INTJ (Myers-Briggs) introvert who has a terrible time asking for anything for myself or bragging on myself, what positive steps can I take to get my name and my book titles out there where people know about me? Steps that won't cost me an arm and a leg, mind you, because I'm nowhere near wealthy from my book profits at this point. ;) Anybody have any cool ideas?

Amazon.com and Reviews

First, even though the book is no longer at most book stores, you can still purchase Forbidden Temptation through online sellers like Amazon.com.

And speaking of Amazon.com, if you've read Forbidden Temptation or Forbidden Territory and liked them, please take time to write up something in the reviews section! I'd love to hear what you thought of the books.

Rain, Rain, Don't Go Away

We've been in a nasty drought for a couple of months, but last week we finally got some decent rain, and this week looks like it's going to be rainy as well, and I couldn't be happier.

I'm a big fan of rain anyway, even without a drought. Give me gray skies and drizzle and I'm a pretty happy camper. I'm not sure why I'm that way; I just know that I have been since childhood. Maybe it's the inherent unpredictability of stormy weather that meets an inner yearning for excitement. Or maybe my love of mystery and intrigue just demands a hint of gloom and mist. I don't know.

I just know my mood brightens when I look out the window and see that it's raining.

Happy Independence Day

No barbecuing for me today. Tonight is spaghetti night of all things. I guess we're celebrating the immigrant influence on the American melting pot or something. But I'm happy to be living in the United States, taking part in this radical experiment in Democracy 231 years after its inception.

So have a Happy Fourth of July!

UPDATE:

Well, the spaghetti-maker came down with a migraine, and nobody else wanted to cook. So dinner was potato salad, chicken salad, pimiento cheese and a croissant. I guess that means we celebrated the Mrs. Stratton's Salads influence on the American melting pot, huh?

Be safe and enjoy the fireworks tonight!

Because Basically, I Got Nothin'...

I know I said I'd blog more, and I'm going to try, but it would help if I had a cool and interesting life to tell you about. And I don't. Plus, my book revisions have wrestled me to the floor and currently have me in a headlock.

So, just 'cause I promised to blog more, here's a short film that I saw on Youtube earlier today and thought was really well done. If absurd and demented.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFRhs3-pP8w

Friday Chit Chat

Happy Friday. I haven't posted in about a week, so it's time to catch up. Plus, I'm on vacation until after the 4th, so I have a little time to blather on. I don't have a particular topic, just a few things I've been meaning to mention, and now is as good a time as any.

First, the gratuitous, self-serving plug. FORBIDDEN TEMPTATION is still on the book shelves, but I don't know for how much longer. You may or may not know that category (i.e. Harlequin/Silhouette) books don't usually stay in book stores, grocery stores or your local Wal-Mart or Target for more than two or three weeks before they're cycled out and the new books are cycled in. So if you're thinking about buying someone's category romance (like FORBIDDEN TEMPTATION--buy early, buy often), you really do need to get to the bookstore quickly, because they don't stock a whole lot per store, and they don't stay in the stores that long. Fortunately, places like Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com and the on-line versions of Wal-Mart and Target do have the books in stock online much longer. So it's not too late, even if your local store has sold out of FORBIDDEN TEMPTATION.

/Gratuitous, self-serving plug

Yesterday was my birthday. We're not big birthday people in my family. You're lucky if someone remembers it and says Happy Birthday. (I'm looking at YOU, brother dearest). But we do generally do the birthday cake thing around here, and I got to choose what I wanted. Now, if it were my sister's choice, or her kids, I'd have gotten a big rectangular flat cake with lots of frosting balloons, flowers and writing. But I'm just not into all that stuff, so I requested a simple Red Velvet cake. Yum. They bought it at the local Food World and it was delicious.

Hopping topics like a mad woman, last week, my editor asked me to do a cowboy hero for an "all heroes" promotion Intrigue plans to do next year. My first instinct was sheer panic. I'm that person you run into on writers' message boards who bemoans the glut of "Cowboy, Baby and Bride" books out there in category as it is. Plus, I was born in the city, I grew up in the city, and though I live outside the city at the moment, I'm in a suburban town, not the country, and my exposure to cows and horses is pretty much limited to occasional visits to my extended family in rural Alabama. I've never met a real cowboy, though I once attended a local rodeo. Yeah, I'm really the person to write a cowboy book.

But I actually do like cowboys. I used to watch Bonanza. I liked Tom Selleck in Louis L'Amour movies he did a while back. I read Zane Grey books as a child. I'm prepared, right?

Of course, I hedged my bets a bit when I started plotting . The bulk of the story is set in cities and towns along the road from Philadelphia to the Wyoming Rockies, not on a working cattle ranch. And my hero, while raised on a Wyoming ranch, left it to seek his way in the world. But I do think I understand the appeal of wide opens spaces and the sort of gritty, pioneer spirit that makes a cowboy who and what he is. The ideas of honor and responsibility and the siren call of the land appeal to me as well. So in spirit, I think I can write a cowboy and make him the kind of guy readers will love. With lots and lots of research.

I hope you'll also love the heroine who transforms his life and gives him a greater sense of what the word "home" really means.

I guess I'll let that be it from me for now. Since I'm on vacation, I'll try to blog a little more regularly this week.

Sweet TonyOnAHorse, That was a Show!

Yesterday's Days of Our Lives episode was the best the show has been in about two decades. The dueling Brady and Dimera families each had family dinners to discuss the feud situation between the families. Old friends showed up (Anna! Back in Salem!) and internecine rivalries erupted into near violence and one of the most hysterically funny faux displays of brotherly reconciliation I've ever seen.

Good soap, people. Good Soap.

Chat Reminder

I'll be chatting tomorrow night, Sunday the 17th, on Writerspace. 8 pm central time (9 eastern, 6 Pacific). I hope you'll join me so I'm not sitting there twiddling my thumbs all alone with the moderator!

Launch Party!

FORBIDDEN TEMPTATION should be out in book stores tomorrow, so its Launch Party time again! Tomorrow night from 7 pm to 9 pm Central Time (That's 8 - 10 Eastern, 6 - 8 Mountain and 5 to 7 Pacific), I'll be giving away books and Amazon.com gift certificates and answering your questions about my upcoming book. Anything you want to know, from how I got the idea to what the story went through before it sold, what's coming on the horizon, etc., ask it in the comments section of this blog post and I'll be here Tuesday night to answer them all. And try to make it on Tuesday night to be part of the prize giveaways!

Kira gets The Call!

My Southern Magic and Heart of Dixie chaptermate Kira Bazzel got THE CALL. Her book Curing Dr. Desire has sold to Brenda Chin at Harlequin Blaze!

Go visit The Writing Playground; I'm sure they'll be updating with all the scoop soon!

Five Stars!

CataRomance gave FORBIDDEN TEMPTATION a 5 star rating! Check out the review.

Remembering a Friend

Her name was Marcey Jo Swearingen, and she was thirty-seven years old. She was friendly, supportive, wickedly funny and genuinely welcoming. She was from Enterprise, Alabama, and was attending college. She loved Steve and Kayla on Days of Our Lives, and wanted to meet Stephen Nichols one day.

She died on Saturday, May 12th, of complications from the 'flu.

I never met her in person. I have no idea what she looked like. I only know what I know of her from her posts on a message board I frequent and from the occasional chats we participated in together. But when I heard she was gone, the shock, dismay and--yes--heartache I experienced were real.

It's amazing how you can find community and family anywhere you go. As a Christian, I've often felt that sense of community and family among strangers in strange places when I learned we shared that common religious experience. I've found it when I've been out west or up north and ran into a fellow southerner. Part of what made me notice Marcey from among the hundreds of fellow posters, besides her wit and her sweetness, was that she was an Alabama girl like me.

I'll miss Marcey's funny posts and her wry asides. I'll miss her passion and her sweetness. But I'm also grateful that in the sorrow of her passing, I've found a moment to reflect on the very human need for connections and community. It's a good reminder for people, like us writers, who often toil in solitude, that we are not really all alone in the world.

Laura Shin blogging at Pink Ladies

Harlequin Superromance editor Laura Shin is blogging at the Pink Ladies blog. It's always a treat when someone who has the power to buy your book takes the time to give you some advice, and this is particularly good advice if you're in the middle of revising a book. Go read.

Look What's Up at eHarlequin

http://www.eharlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=14811

I just turned in a proposal for a fourth book yesterday--Code Name: WILLOW. It's not connected to the Forbidden series. And it's not really connected to the series idea I'm working on now. But it's an already completed manuscript, which is a plus.

It's won a couple of contests and placed second in the 2005 Daphne du Maurier contest, so I'm hoping my editor likes it.