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Convention in Orlando Florida along with Jenna Jaxon, Kristine Overbrook, Carolyn Spear, Allie Marie, plus as-yet-unpublished author-friends from the Chesapeake Romance Writers.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

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?

Suffolk Mystery Authors' Festival

After my romance writers' meeting yesterday, I headed over to the Suffolk Mystery Author's Festival. Featured authors were Ellery Adams, Mollie Cox Bryan, best-selling author Mary Burton, Erika Chase, VIcki Delany, Annie Knox, Joyce and Jim Lavene, Linda O. Johnston, Amanda Lee, Maggie Sefton, and LynDee Walker. I was disappointed that my friend, Jayne Ormerod, wasn't there, especially when I realized that all the authors there, with the exception of Mary Burton, were writers of cozy mysteries, just like Jayne.

One of the authors called cozy mysteries, "Death wrapped up with a bow." Mary Burton, who sometimes refers to herself as "Scary Mary," was quick to point out that her work is much darker and more violent than the other authors' work. Her category is romantic suspense.

I arrived too late for the workshops and readings, but I got a chance to meet authors at the book signing. I also listened to the evening's moderated panel discussion, where I gleaned some information that was useful to me as a new author.

An apiring writer from the audience asked for advice because she starts books with lots of enthusiasm for her initial ideas but winds up hating all her characters a few chapters into the book. Then she feels compelled to stop writing it. The panelists said authors often feel "trapped in the soggy middle" of their book. It's common to be excited about the start, and authors need to be excited about the end (or nobody else will), but problems in the middle are common. Their advice was to keep at it. Throw some twist into the plot, do something unexpected, and see what that does for the characters. Free yourself from the outline, from order, make your character do the one thing s/he would never, ever do. Write the end and then go back and figure out how to get there, or make the characters say something out loud. The characters might be too much in their own heads.

E-Books and social media have totally changed writing and publishing in the last few years. If you self-publish, don't do it on the cheap. It's a considerable investment of time and money to do it right. At least pay for professional editing and an exciting, professional book cover.

While listening to the panel discussion, I also took time to work on my own novel, "Dancing Under the Stars." Since the introductory speeches and panel discussion took about two hours, I got quite a bit written. I smiled wide when someone asked the published authors how they found time to write. While the various authors' specfic answers varied, I think the general answer is that you just make time.

Plotter or Pantser? New Writers May Want to Give Each a Try

I spent yesterday morning with the Chesapeake Romance Writers. The speaker for the expected workshop fell through, so after a long business meeting several of us spent an hour or two just writing. I joined in and felt happy to watch my word count grow.

I am working on my first novel, a contemporary romance tentatively titled, "Dancing Under the Stars." A couple of members of our group are participating in National Novel Writing Month, or NaNo for short. It's an event that takes place every November. NaNo challenges writers to produce a draft of a 50,000 word novel between November 1st and 30th.

I admire those making the effort, but I am not ready to work at that frenetic a pace. I have been working for a couple of months and so far have a synopsis plus about 11,000 words written.

I've learned that I still really don't know myself as a writer. For example, there are two general types of writers: plotters and pantsers. Plotters plot and pantsers write by the seat of their pants, preferring to let the characters take over and even surprise them. I thought I was a pantser. Then in September I participated in a workshop by Andrea Jackson called, "Taming the Dreaded Synopis."

I really didn't dread a synopsis because I'm such a new author I've never tried to write one. But I could tell from the reaction of the other members of the group that the term "dread" was not at all exaggerated, so I paid as careful attention to Andrea's advice as everyone else did.

Apparently, many authors write the book first, then the synopsis. Contests, publishing houses and potential agents often want to see first and last chapters and a synopsis. In the past, when I've tried to write a novel, I've often gotten a few chapters in and then stopped, stuck because I couldn't figure out where my novel needed to go. I decided to use Andrea's technique to write a synopsis first to use as a general guideline for where my book should go.

I am glad I did! Now I have names, main characters, background information, and a basic outline of the novel. If my characters take the story in another direction, so be it, but I no longer have the worry of getting stuck because I can't tell where the story is heading. I feel confident that I can take the plot from beginning to end.

I also read advice in The Everything Guide to Writing a Romance Novel that novelists should shake things up for themselves once in a while. If they feel they write best or most easily at home, they should take their writing out on the road, or if they feel they must leave home and go elsewhere to write, they should try writing at home, just to see what happens.

I thought this was stupid advice until I tried it. I am a homebody and thought I would write most easily in the comforts of my own home. But after trying the book's advice, I find I am most productive at the local Barnes and Noble bookstore.

A novelist friend is highly prolific. She says she thinks it's because she still writes her books out longhand. She carries notebooks everywhere she goes and writes her novels constantly throughout the day as time and opportunity present themselves. While I prefer to type, I plan to bring my Kindle HDX, for which I purchased word processing software, and my keyboard with me when I'm out and about more often. I plan to grab every decent opportunity to produce "Dancing Under the Stars" in a timely manner despite my day job and hectic schedule.

The Birth of an Author

I am an aspiring author of contemporary romance novels. Between reading, writing, cooking, cleaning, and working my day job, there never seems to be enough time for everything I need to do.

Sound familiar? Right now I am working my way through, "The Everything Guide to Writing a Romance Novel," which has some useful advice. The most useful so far has been to join Romance Writers of America. I also found a local chapter, Chesapeake Romance Writers, which provides a group of authors, many of whom are either published or self-published, with whom to network. Meetings are monthly. This group also hosts conferences and writers' retreats, all of which I am excited about.

So far, through this group, I have learned the basics of how to write a synopsis. Although many writers write this after they complete a novel, I have so far found it easier to start with one. It provides an outline or road-map of where I envision my novel going. While I haven't found time to write daily, I carve out time to write on weekends.

It may take me longer than other novelists, but I will reach my goal of becoming a published author. Follow me if you would like my thoughts as I work through the process of writing my first full-length work of fiction.