RWA 2017

I attended the Romance Writers of America (RWA) National Convention in Orlando Florida along with Jenna Jaxon, Kristine Overbrook, Carolyn Spear, Allie Marie, plus as-yet-unpublished author-friends from the Chesapeake Romance Writers. I learned so much, my head is still spinning, plus I enjoyed the chance to network with so many talented and creative people.

Other highlights were:

• Keynote addresses from bestselling authors Sherrilyn Kenyon and Susan Wiggs, who gave us free copies of their books
• Pitch sessions with an editor and an agent.
• Winning breakfast with bestselling author Angi Morgan, who helped me tweak my pitches  and gave me some great advice for the "cute meet" in my story, which needs slight revision.
• Winning a seat at the Pan & Pro lunch with Pintip Dunn, a bestselling YA author.
• Finding authors willing to help me with Scrivener.
• Getting ideas from a variety of workshops. I especially liked those by Damon Suede. He's brilliant even if he talks a million miles a minute.
• Getting a professional author portrait done.
• Handouts with writing tips and recommendations in case I need more.
• Amazing food. Disney hires great chefs. Enough said.

I learned I have been writing my novels in a length more suited to digital publishing or self publishing. I need to double them in word-count if I want most agents or traditional publishers to take them seriously. Sigh. Still, the agent said she would read a submission of my novels if I lengthened them considerably. The editor was more promising. She wants a partial submission of Dancing Under the Stars if I revise it to suit the line she acquires. I plan to read a couple of titles from this publisher before I start revising.

If this all sounds like a lot of work, it is. But I left the conference more motivated than ever and with lots of great memories. I've also decided to make writing a daily goal in the morning for at least an hour, no matter how hectic the rest of my day. And if you are a writer, especially of Romance, RWA is a great organization to be a part of.

Breakfast with Angi Morgan

Snow Days

It's snowing in Southeastern Virginia, a state of emergency has been declared, and it's a good day to research and write my first historical novel. And watch football with hubby. And bake. And play with our dogs. I am still learning Scrivener, powerful writing software but with many details to master. How do you spend a snowy or rainy day?

A Romance Writer in Greece

Travelers enjoy the view on the Greek island of Hydra

I recently returned from a tour of Greece and several Greek islands. The region would be a wonderful setting for a romance novel. I'm not sure if the heroine meets a working-class guy or someone wealthier. While so far I have written more down-to-earth heroes, the yachts and fancy speed-boats I saw in some harbors bespoke of unimaginable wealth. It might be fun to visit a mansion on a remote, Greek island.

Greek harbor at Mykonos with its luxury yachts

My overall impression of the Greeks is they are very warm and friendly people who welcome tourism and tourist dollars. They are proud of their country and heritage and happy to show it off. I met a woman named Ioanna. She grew up the daughter of a shepherd in a little Greek village. The family was not a poor one, since, unlike some of the neighbors, they always had food to eat. Nevertheless, her father did not even own a pair of shoes until he was eleven or twelve years old. He was a bit of a philosopher and loved to talk. A simple statement like, "There's cinnamon on my coffee," could set him off on a thirty-minute philosophical treatise.

Due to the Greek austerity measures imposed by the European Union, the Greek response is they are already hurting. For example, the price of bread has skyrocketed due to inflation. But the Greek attitude is of people who have survived worse. A search of the various occupations by foreigners in Greek history, including, but not limited to, Nazis during World War II and a 400-year occupation under the Ottoman Turks. Ioanna says the Greeks have gotten used to a rare period of increased prosperity in recent years, but the deep-down attitude to the austerity measures is, "What are they gonna do, take away our shoes?"

Life will go on. As someone who recently finished Robert Reich's best-selling economics book, Saving Capitalism, I suspect I was more worked-up about the forces behind the austerity measures than Ioanna.

I like the Greeks' laid-back attitude regarding time, now that I'm used to it, even though Ioanna says it makes important projects hard to finish, evidenced by a host of half-finished and abandoned buildings found in various parts of the landscape. If you buy so much as a cup of coffee or bottle of water at a Greek restaurant, you can stay there indefinitely. It's considered rude to bring you the bill before you ask for it. In Greece there is rarely any rush. Afternoons were sleepy, and meals and nights ran late. Naps at times were almost required.

Greek cafe on the lovely island of Samos, birthplace of Pythagoras

Another Greek expression I liked is, "New Day, New Rule." Traffic rules, for example, including traffic lights, stop-signs, and even sidewalks are only suggestions. It's important to take care when crossing the street. Drivers won't deliberately kill you, but it's important to make sure they see you and to watch for traffic at all times. Two-way traffic on ancient, narrow roads that would only be one-way at home are something I got used to. I don't have the requisite nerves of steel to actually drive there, however.

Physically the landscape, at least in summer, is more desert than I expected, mostly rocky, barren, hot and windswept. The sky and sea are unbelievably blue with the ocean a variety of shades, depending on location, depth, minerals in the water, and weather. Sunsets are often gorgeous, reminding me of Greek myths where Apollo's chariot, the sun, sets in the western ocean.

Windswept Greek countryside from Mycenae; note the tourists in foreground to give the view scale.

Greek sunset from the rails of a cruise ship

Beautiful colors of the waters off of Crete with deeper water dark blue in the background

I am a Classicist. One surprising aspect of my Greek vacation was how much more comfortably I embraced modern Greek, both its written and spoken forms, than other members of our non-Greek-speaking tour group. All I've ever heard from my professors is how different ancient and modern Greek are, especially in pronunciation. And my ancient Greek, acquired through the passive process of reading ancient texts by authors such as Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, and the Greek playwrights, is extremely rusty. Nevertheless, I found the Greek alphabet totally familiar (if "mispronounced") and could not only pick out words and phrases on signs but even words in conversation. The vowels, especially, have changes so much, it must be very challenging for Greek children to learn how to spell it. I feel much less intimidated now and plan to acquire more Greek before my next trip.

I found a delightful book, An Octopus in My Ouzo, to read on my way home. The author, Jennifer Barclay, also writes a blog by the same name. I'm too tied up with friends, job, and family here in the U.S. to run away to a Greek Island, but I enjoyed escaping (through the author's eyes) to the remote island of Tilos. The book's not a romance, unless Greece, itself, is the object of romance, but the setting, food, relationships and lifestyle made the book a great read. Opa!

My Novel's First Rejection

 My first novel got its first rejection notice. In a sense, this is good news: not a form letter, but a detailed response with useful feedback. The editor liked my characters, writing, and voice, and found the book "touching" and "intriguing." She felt the genre wasn’t "contiguous beginning to end."  

 I can’t help but agree there. I started off writing a rather traditional romance novel, but two of my supporting characters took it in the direction of a white-collar cozy mystery involving a plot twist. It works as a book but doesn't really fit a typical genre category. I will study the editor's suggestions carefully as soon as the sting of rejection wears off a little. I fear her ideas will probably entail a major redraft and lots of time and work. 

My friend Kristine Overbrook, published author of Redeeming the Night and other novels, gave me encouraging advice. She said the rejection is a good sign, especially considering its detailed and personalized nature. She suggested I shop the novel around to at least twenty editors and agents and get feedback from them before engaging in anything as major as a redraft. “All have different tastes,” she told me, “and what one rejects, another might love. You never know.” 

We agreed I should redraft if I get fairly consistent feedback regarding the need.  I also recently submitted to a writing contest, so I will wait for the written comments from the judges there, too. If it makes the final round, a professional editor or agent will read my work, and who knows what opportunities will come from there? In the meantime I need to research potential publishers and agents for potential submission.

Update: An agent wants to see the novel after I've rewritten it with a more traditional plot, so that's my next goal now that I've just finished a contemporary military short story, "Mud Run," for potential inclusion in an anthology. The story is written in the first person and pretty intense.

I am also researching my next novel, which needs a title. Think the Iliad meets The Mists of Avalon. Any suggestions? Post in the comments below.

CRW's Romance Writing Contest

I am entering Chesapeake Romance Writers' Rudy contest this year under the category of contemporary romance. It used to be called the "Finish the Damn Book" contest, in honor of the favorite saying of Judi McCoy, a late member of the group. Now the contest is named after Judi's beloved dog.

Besides contemporary, categories include erotic, historical, mainstream, paranormal, and young adult. Writers who belong to Romance Writers of America get a discount on the entry fee. First prize in each category receives $50. Final rounds are judged by editors and agents whose names are yet to be announced.

I have been told that writers' contest entries were down last year all over the U.S. Perhaps newer authors have turned to electronic self-publishing in lieu of trying to find an editor or agent through a contest. If you have other thoughts, be sure to let me know. I am curious.

For this contest writers submit their first chapter, last chapter, and a synopsis. Although I thought I had all three close to finished earlier this week, I found I labored meticulously on them right up to the point I submitted my work today. The extra incentive to polish up my words made entering the contest worthwhile. Hopefully it will help the novel shine when it lands someday on an editor's desk. In the meantime I will get valuable written feedback from the judges of the contest's first round.

I am not entering the 2016 contest, but writers who are interested may click here for more details.

Pages to Publication Conference

I learned a few things at CRW's "Pages to Publication" conference in Williamsburg yesterday.

I spent the morning timing pitches for editors there from three different book publishers: Frances Sevilla from Wild Rose Press, Bethany Burke and Allison Travis from Blushing Books, and Dominique Eastwick and Valerie Mann from Decadent Publishing. The setting was pretty informal, so all the editors were taking pitches in one room of the library in Williamsburg, Virginia.

The downside to timing pitches all morning was that I missed Meredith Bond's presentation on self-publishing, which I heard was very good. But I did get to overhear the kinds of pitches authors were making and the kinds of information the editors were looking for, which helped me when it came time to make my own first-ever pitches for my 52,000-word novel, currently titled Dancing Under the Stars. It is a contemporary romance with elements of a cozy mystery.

I hope that's not a strange combination. My characters took over in the middle of the book and took the romance in some unexpected directions.

But I think it works, and two of the editors must think so, too, because both asked me to submit to them. I also got an "author to author" suggestion that I visit All Romance Ebooks and find at least two more niche categories I might put my romance under, since "contemporary" is so vague and crowded. I got a tip that "cougar" romances are selling right now.

Hmmm... can or should I tweak my characters' ages as I revise? It would be easy to do, and it wouldn't bother me at all to do it. An older audience might like a ballroom dancing theme as well as a younger hero, but I am going to think about this one for a while before plunging in. Feel free to post any ideas or comments or reading experiences in this regard below.

This is exciting, but it means I have to get serious and even more self-disciplined into putting in the time to polish up my rough draft, and quickly, to strike while the iron is hot, so to speak. The publishing world changes quickly, as evidenced by the fact that Dominique Eastwick was with Musa Press at the time CRW booked her for the conference, and Musa closed its doors at the end of February, 2015, shortly before the conference. Luckily for us, she was bringing her line of authors over to Decadent and had no trouble fulfilling her obligations to our conference.

I did manage to make the afteroon sessions, which I enjoyed. I especially liked hearing a trained dramatist read the first twenty lines submitted anonymously by three different writers. Four editors sat on stage to critique what they heard. The first two examples were extremely well written and received positive critiques. The second example was very dark, told from the point of view of a vampire or a similar predator on young women. It made my blood run cold just to hear it. It was interesting to see how the different editors reacted to the same piece. All agreed it was well written, but the first editor to critique it said it was absolutely not what her house would publish, while the second one, Frances Sevilla, looked out at the audience with excitement and said, "Whoever wrote this, I want them to send it to me. Now!" or something to that effect.

That was a concrete lesson how one's writing needs to be a good fit for the particular editor and the publisher you're submitting to. Just because an editor rejects it doesn't mean it's bad or unpublishable.

The third critique was more critical, but the editors gave good advice, it seemed to me. The author's writing needed to be less passive, should "show," not "tell," and might be better for a brief prologue. We were told that today's reader doesn't have much time or patience and the author must grab their attention quickly and decisively and work hard to keep it. A prologue, if used, should not be more than three to five percent of the total word count. Again, we were reminded of how editorial opinions differ. An editor to whom this author had pitched earlier in the day confessed she understood where this author was coming from better than her peers because she'd heard quite a bit about this particular character and story from the pitch. Although she agreed that this material needed to be tightened up and put in a prologue, she was also quick to defend this author and what she was trying to do in her opening lines.

Bethany Burke gave an afternoon workshop where she shared an Excel Spreadsheet that automatically generates for an author a basic outline of the plot archs of a romance novel, Save the Cat style, but based on the word count. By changing the word count, an author can see where in the manuscript the major plot points should change. The spreadsheet can be saved and customized with the author's own story line. I liked the tool and signed up to have it emailed to me.

Bethany also has been a publisher and self-publisher on Amazon for a relatively long time, so she said quite a bit about Amazon, mostly about how important Amazon is in the publishing world these days. Also that what "works" for small publishers and independent publishers changes very rapidly on Amazon, to the point that a marketing strategy that worked well six months or a year ago will backfire today. Bethany feels the current market makes it harder for the "little guy" to break into the market than it was a couple of years ago.

I encourage other writers to attend conferences like this one, make contacts, have lunch with other writers, learn a little, and have a good time. Those who have at least a rough draft of a novel written should take the opportunity to pitch it.

Don't be scared. Editors aren't the big, scary, powerful monsters that you see in the movies, or maybe that you write about in your books. They are just people, meaning writers and business people, and they want what you're writing if it fits their criteria and if it's well written.

Go ahead. Give it a shot. What do you have to lose?

Pages to Publication Conference

I need to get the word out about my local chapter's writer's conference that is coming up on March 14 in Williamsburg, VA.  The fee for the one day event is $40 and includes workshops, 1st page critique session, local author signing, and gift basket raffles.

If you're in the Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, DC area, you might want to think about coming. It's not necessarily geared toward romance, although it is geared toward publication.

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