Category Archives: Romance Books

August 10, 2014 · 5:11 pm

Settling in, kinda

I’m finally coming down off cloud 9, where I’ve been for the past week since I heard my book is going to be published by The Wild Rose Press. It’s been a loco week with family, friends and writing friends Facebooking and Tweeting me. Can you make Facebook a verb? I think I just did.

Anyway.

I’m not sitting back and enjoying this 24/7. I’ve been concentrating on pulling together several other stories I’ve written in the hopes of getting them into print as well. I’ve logged a lot of typing miles on my laptop this past week and I’ve got a lot of work to show for it.

This got me thinking: I have two real jobs now – the one I get paid for every two weeks and now this writing/publishing hat I’ve put on.  Where am I going to get the time to do both jobs well, plus maintain my life? How am I going to be able to  budget the time to do all of this: life’s dream and the reality of still pulling in a paycheck. Not to mention laundry, housework, cooking, seeing friends and family and being a great wife?

It’s a little mind boggling when you think about it.

I can usually multitask well – or at least it was well until I hit menopause. Now, I’m scattered at times and not easily able to get it all back on track. There are only so many workable hours in the day, and even though I don’t sleep well – or a lot – it’s still going to be a major adjustment to find the time that  I will need to devote to edits, when they arrive, and then do all the marketing and publicity necessary in order to actually sell a few books.

Or a million.

I need a plan. Any ideas? I appreciate any and all responses no matter how trite or intricate they seem to be. And thanks in advance.

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August 7, 2014 · 2:59 pm

Goals, deadlines and summer…oh my!

My big news of the past 24 hours is out. If you haven’t heard it yet, my novel SKATER’S WALTZ has been contracted for publication by The Wild Rose Press. To say I am over the moon is such an inadequate descriptor for what I am feeling right now.

What I am  feeling is: overwhelmed, not worthy, scared, fretful, fearful, impatient, shocked,uncertain, uneasy and worried. That’s 10 kinda negative emotions.

So here are ten positive ones – and these are definitely positive emotions: amazed, elated, gleeful, giddy, relieved, reborn, speechless (really!!??), flabbergasted, dumfounded and blown away.

Note to self: never ask a writer to describe something.

That sound you just heard was me falling on the floor. When I pick myself back up I have to start putting together a marketing plan. Books don’t sell themselves. You have to have a fully realized marketing and publicity plan in place before the book is even out.

I think I’ll stay on the floor a few more minutes and just bask in my glee.

More to come on this great news when I have it to share.

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Filed under Author, Contemporary Romance, Family Saga, love, MacQuire Women, Romance, Romance Books, Skater's Waltz, Strong Women

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August 5, 2014 · 9:28 am

I’m a Writer…or am I?

I had this discussion with a woman today who isn’t a writer and never wants to be one. She asked if someone wasn’t published commercially, or getting paid to write, could they actually call themselves “a Writer?”  When my jaw came up off the floor, I resisted the impulse to hit her because I thought educating her might be the better way to go – plus, I didn’t feel like spending the afternoon in jail. To her ridiculous question, I asked one of my own: “Why is getting paid your benchmark for calling a person a writer?” She just stared at me. I could see the rusty cogs twirling in her head as she tried to formulate an answer. When she just shrugged, I knew victory was mine.

I gave her several examples to back up my assertion that getting paid for something  isn’t the end all be all of defining what a person does in life. Example number 1: Actors. I think  the statistic is something like 1 in 5000 people who put the profession ACTOR on their taxes, actually makes any or enough money to support themselves. But they are still actors. They train, educate themselves about their craft, go on job interviews ( called Auditions), do preparatory work on their bodies like keep in shape, and on their faces to keep looking good. They may not be getting the salary George Clooney is getting for their acting work – or any money at all for it – but they still define themselves a actors.

Example number 2: Artists – the painting and drawing kind. I can give all the same reasoning as in the above paragraph, and these individuals still call themselves artists.

Now, to writers, I told her. By now she was rolling her eyes and I could see she had regrets about ever asking me the question. I have been writing for almost 45 years. Of those 45 years, I can truly say I have never been able to support myself financially with my chosen profession. I have had a lot – A LOT – of stuff published. Some paid for, most not. The fact that I could not live on what I did make writing has not for one scintilla of a second ever prevented me from calling myself a writer.

I write. Every day.

It’s that simple.

I write this blog. I write romantic fiction. I write murder mysteries.

If I never, ever get a publishing contract, I will still write.

I write, therefore I AM a writer.

I don’t think she’ll be asking me that question again anytime soon.

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July 28, 2014 · 11:16 am

Post RWA 2014 Update

So, I had really lousy internet in the hotel sand I didn’t get to blog for over three days.

Three days!

To say that I learned a great deal at the RWA 2014 conference would be a gross understatement. I literally learned something new in every class I took, from craft, to marketing, to publicity.

The speakers were amazing and all highly entertaining – they are romance writers after all. From Jayne Ann Krentz and Susan Elizabeth Phillips I learned things they wished they had known when just starting out and things they were glad they didn’t know. From Nora Roberts ( sigh!) I learned to write the book I want and not the book that I think will sell, or the one that an agent or an editor wants. No. Write the book I want . ( And I will!)

The fabulous Holly Jacobs taught me how to be a fan favorite just by being herself – warm, witty and funny. The girl could make a stoic laugh, I swear.

From the other attendees I learned quite a bit as well. For one thing, we are all in this boat together and as such we should all be helpful, respectful, and open to one another. The first night I was in the lobby, waiting to meet up with some of my NH chapter-mates, Shirley Jump approached me to ask if I was having a good time and were people being helpful to me. Shirley Jump! She is a current board member and a PAN liason and saw that my name badge indicated I was a first time attendee. She went out of her way to make sure I was doing okay and being taken care of. Amazing.

The courses I took were varied in scope and concept. Everything from how to instill conflict in a romantic situation, to how to write hot sex. That was the actual name of the course: How to write hot sex.

I can truly say that this was the best spent money I have ever spent on a conference. It wasn’t cheap –not by a long shot- but it was worth the expense and time.

To be in the presence of such a wide array of published and commercially successful authors in a genre that has not been accepted by the mainstream publishing community to the level it should, was uplifting spiritually, and as an artist.

I can safely say that I came away from this conference with much more than when I went in and that as a writer, I have grown.

I can’t wait until RWA 2015. It’s in NYC!!

 

 

 

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July 12, 2014 · 10:28 am

Conference Countdown

In a little under two weeks I will be off to San Antonio, Texas for the yearly RWA conference. It’s my first RWA event and I am literally shaking in my Manolo’s! Can’t wait.

The conference has its own Scheduling app this year and WOWZA did that make it easier for me to figure out what events to attend. The two  events I’m looking forward to the most? A CHAT with Nora Roberts ( OMG!!!) and a session with Jayne Ann Krentz and Susan Elizabeth Phillips. This entire week is a dream come true for a neophyte writer like me. Just to be in the same area breathing the same air as the hundreds of amazing writers at this conference was worth the price of admission and everything else added to it.

I know I am gushing like a little kid on Christmas morning, but this is truly one of those bucket list items for me. Ever since I made the life changing decision to devote more of my time and efforts into writing and hopefully getting published, I have been waiting for an event like this come around. I’ve attended numerous conference over my lifespan – usually medical ones – but this is the first of it’s kind for me – an RWA sponsored event so big, they need a week to get it all done. Amazing.

Several of my “new writing friends” in my local RWA chapter are also attending the conference and by some wonderful coincidence, we are on the same flights into and out of San Antonio. This makes the conference even more wonderful for me because I will see familiar smiling faces wherever I go. Like I said: WOWZA!

I’ll be blogging from the event, detailing ALL the amazing and informative things that I learn and I’ll let you know who of my fan-girl crushes I happen to meet. And my phone will be set to camera-mode the entire time!!

Like I said (AGAIN!) WOWZA!!

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July 3, 2014 · 11:29 am

It takes a village…

Writers need several things to be successful: imagination, talent, and drive being core ones. But they also need balance between their professional writing lives and their personal ones, and they need essential people  they can depend on and who are supportive of them and their writing needs.

Mega published writer Barbara Wallace, in her June RWA article, “Seven Habits of Effective Authors” makes the case that writers need balance between their two worlds: the writing one and the non-writing, or personal, one. We all work. Whether it is inside the home or out of it, writing full-time or part-time. But we can’t write/work 24/7. We would be zombies if we didn’t get away from the “work” aspect for a while. Why do you think employers give vacation days to employees? They know you shouldn’t be sitting at a job all day every day without a break.  You need a balance between the two. Being with family and friends and enjoying the time spent together, doing things and relaxing, strikes a good balance between the solitary work of writing and this need for social interaction.

Along with balance comes support. Writers must cultivate support on many levels and along many different avenues. Having a supportive family who leaves you alone while you work at your writing is great; it’s a gift, actually. Anyone who can do the laundry for me to allow me an extra couple hours of writing time is a blessed person in my eyes. But your friends and critique partners are solid support systems as well. They will listen, with friendly and critical ears, to your ideas, plot problems, deadline needs, etc. and are excellent sounding boards. They can offer advice, questions for clarification, and just point out inconsistencies in your writing that you may not have seen. And everyone needs a good old fashioned bitch session every now and again, and who better than your girlfriends to join you? Hopefully, armed with chocolate and adult beverages!

Writing is a solitary endeavor, even when you have a writing partner. Being able to balance your life and have good, solid support systems surrounding you, are very good ways for you to be more effective in your writing.

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June 14, 2014 · 12:42 pm

E-D-I-T is a four letter word

“So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.”
― Dr. Seuss

I love me some Theodore Geisel!

Truly though, as a writer, I feel my words are my babies. I impregnate the page with them, nurture them through sentence structure and thought processes, expell them into a full story and then foster their development and maturation into a finished manuscript. Then I sit back and revel in their brilliance. And no one had better say a disparaging or unkind word about them or they will suffer my mamma lion wrath.

And then, reality sets in… and I edit.

Editing is a lot like trying to lose weight. You have all this extra weight ( the words) that is making you feel heavy and lugubrious (telling, not showing, non-action words, fragmented sentences). You need to go on a weight reduction plan ( edit) to loose those unwanted pounds. Along the way you struggle, cheat, become discouraged, plateau, feel deprived, and then – if you are lucky – shed that unwanted and not-needed poundage. Now, you hopefully have a beach body. Or, in other words, at this point you have a manuscript that is cohesive, thought provoking and tightly written.

I have been sequestered for days, foregoing all pleasurable aspects of life such a watching Housewives of NYC and Major Crimes,  eating, and exercising, in order to edit a piece that has a very good shot at publication.  I am determined to “get the weight off” this piece and make it the best thing I can write.

My hair is suffering from all the pulling I am doing and my fingers are beginning to go numb from typing. But, I am pressing on and killing my babies – as Stephen King says – and whittling down the words, the fat, the bloated sentences.

I will be beach body ready soon!

My words, though they flow, are more tell than show. So I’ll  cut them and prune them, and hope I don’t ruin them.

Dr. Seuss has nothing to worry about!

 

 

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May 3, 2014 · 9:46 pm

Conference end

Days like today always remind me why I love being a writer and attending writing conferences. Shared experiences, instilled knowledge, networking. This is why you come to conferences and why you should.

Today’s schedule included a class on finding your voice as a writer and how to use humor in your writing. I’ve done a previous blog on finding your writer’s voice and this class reiterated to me why it’s so important to be true to yourself and your writing style. It is distinctly yours and the more your write, the better it gets.

For our luncheon speaker today we had Cara McKenna take us through her journey to published author and gave us some advice on how to navigate through the sometimes tortuous waters of the publishing industry. With some colorful phrases and through a few tears, she made every writer in the room feel as if their journey was a worthwhile endeavor.

I attended a very good workshop in  the afternoon by Megan Frampton titled, Angst and Affability: Using Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice to Craft New Adult and Contemporary Romance. She drew comparisons and contrasts between the older books and their contemporary usages and it was quite fascinating.

Oh, and I did my two pitches. And survived! Suffice it to say, I had a VERY GOOD outcome with them. More will follow  ( hopefully) on that in the future.

I encourage everyone who writes to attend a writing conference at least yearly. I go more often because I can and, let’s face it,  want to. Even if you learn one thing you never knew before about writing/publishing/editing, whatever, or meet one person who can help change your life, the expense is always worth it. I’m going home armed with a new energy and desire to write. I have new writing goals for myself and am determined to see them through.

One of the most important things I learned this weekend was to keep at it. Keep writing and reading what you love. Don’t be discouraged if it isn’t your time to be discovered – it will be one day! Just keep at it and keep loving it.

Good advice.

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May 1, 2014 · 9:08 am

Conferences

In my professional life – the one that pays me a salary – I have to attend several educational conferences every year in order to keep my licensing credentials up to date. These conferences are usually long winded, many times boring, and often soul draining because of the tedium involved with the materials. This weekend, I get to attend a conference I am eagerly looking forward to with joy and anticipation. The NECRWA Let your Imagination Take Flight Conference in Boston. The featured speakers list is a who’s who of amazing romance writers, editors and agents,  including Judith Arnold,  Bella Andre and Angela James. I can’t wait to hear all their pearls of wisdom.

Let’s face it: conferences can be expensive and time consuming. Most are usually never near where you live, so there’s always travel time and gas money involved, or in some cases, plane fare. With the travel goes the obligatory hotel stay. I usually stay in the hotel where the conference is being held just because I’m lazy and don’t want to shuffle from one hotel to the other. Then you’ve got to include the cost of meals if the conference doesn’t provide them. Even with all that, I am still an eager and willing conference attendee because I always learn something and the chance to interact and network with others who love writing as much as I do is very rewarding. I’ve always thought that if I learn one new thing and make at least one new writing friend at a conference, then the expense was more than worth it. I’ve never been let down with this thinking.

So I’m off to the conference today and will be live tweeting @peggy_jaeger and blogging here about all the fabulousness and info that I’ll be collecting.

Next weekend it’s off to Nashua for the Deb Dixon Book In  A Day conference – another great experience in writing. Deb Dixon is a writer/speaker who wrote the quintessential instruction book Goal Motivation  and Conflict, a must have for any writer. More about that conference at a later date.

 

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