Writing contests.

I’m done with them. Really. I’ve done very well, I think. Most of my excerpts posted here have judge’s comments that were very encouraging. But aside from the pats on the back I don’t get near enough out of them to waste my money on them. The feedback is minimal, good or bad, and the process is so subjective. One judge will give an almost perfect score and praise certain parts. Another judge will give a mediocre score and criticise the same parts the other judge loved. How can you get anything out of that? It would be so much simpler if the scores were even vaguely similar so that you could tell what to work on. :crazy:

I’m saving my money for clothes and shoes!

Tell me what you think about writing contests here.

The romance industry is abuzz with news of Harlequin’s decison to revamp its entire lineup. AAR’s At the Back Fence wonders if we, the websurfing romance community, is so shocked by the news because we’re missing the pulse of the romance industry.

Isabel Swift, Harlequin’s VP of editorial is quoted as saying: “We are driven by what our readers tell us is relevant to them, are totally focused on the women’s fiction market and we constantly look for ways in which to lead rather than follow the competition.”

Laurie then writes, “Which leads me to believe that again, the online romance community is perhaps fairly different than the entire community of romance readers. What do you think, not only of the changes, but of the idea that online readers are not representative of readers at large?”

What a scary thought! A very important part of being a successful writer is knowing what is selling, judging the competition and finding our niche. Could it be possible that the romance readers who stay off-line, sit in the comfy chairs at Barnes & Noble with their lattes, and read their romances are buying romances that we, as an online group, don’t know about? Are they the ones buying all the fluffy Regencies that the publishers keep demanding and we keep bemoaning? Are they the ones who are truly driving this industry in its present direction? Are we behind the times and out of touch? *shudder*

I prefer to think we are leading the way into more creative avenues, exploring new areas, broadening our horizons. Perhaps that’s why e-books are doing so well. But maybe Laurie is right to ask if we are “fairly different”. And if we are out of touch, is it affecting our careers? Tell me what you think. Either here or on the message board.

This morning I woke up (with a painful neck cramp that still hasn’t gone away ) and determined to write all day.

I went down to the kitchen, got my mega-jumbo cup of coffee and went back up to the loft to work on my story. While I drank my coffee I checked my mail, visited some other author blogs and… (yep, you guessed it!) got distracted! I stopped by Alison Kent’s blog and in the process of replying to her entry I went to her message board for the first time. There I saw that she used the same meassage board program I did but her board matches her site! That was my number one complaint about mine was that it didn’t match my beautifully designed site.(Thanks again, Genevieve!) So I sat down and determined to fix the problem. It’s done now, check it out here, and I like it (finally!) but it took a big chunk of my day.

As for my Johanna Lindsey book, Fires of Winter, I started last night… I have to say my tastes have changed. I remembered loving the book back when I first read it but last night I just couldn’t get into it. I read the first few chapters, then skipped to the middle, then jumped to the end. The book is 362 pages of small type. The protagonists are at odds until page 357! Good grief! I don’t have that much patience! :crazy:

Hopefully my B&N order will arrive today. I ordered Gaelen Foley’s Devil Takes a Bride. I’ve never read Gaelen before, never even heard of her until I stumbled across her one day on a link from another author’s site. I liked the title. Liked the excerpt. Ordered the book. Apparently this book is the latest in a multi-book series and the heroine was featured prominently in another book, but I only ordered Devil Takes a Bride. Maybe I’ve found a new author. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Excerpts. So important. I’ve bought many a book simply because I enjoyed the excerpt I found at the author’s site. In fact, of the four books I ordered from B&N three of them, Sasha White’s Handling Amanda in Wicked Words 9, MaryJanice Davidson’s Undercover and Devil Take’s a Bride, were purcahsed because of author website excerpts.

Ah, author websites…

But that’s another blog. Right now I have to get back to work!

Today, I got back to writing. I didn’t get a whole lot accomplished but I was writing so I’m happy about that. I also sent out my first newsletter today and got no bounces so that was nice to know! RWA sent me an e-mail with my PRO acceptance. I should have applied months and months ago when I sent out my first manuscript but I procrastinated.
I’m not sure what, if anything, I”ll get out of it, but I like the idea.

I’m at the point in my story when we all know the protagonists are in love, they just don’t know it yet. It’s fun but still I find myself wavering. I realized today that working on my site wasn’t a distraction from work, it was a breather while I regrouped and figured out how I wanted to handle the situation. Now, after two days of very little writing, guilt is forcing me to confront the story and get past this point. I already know the ending. What’s the problem?

I believe my problem is lack of reading. I’m still waiting on my B&N order and in the meantime I’ve gone three days without reading. That’s just too long for me. I write and then read and then write and then read. All writers are lovers of reading. It’s what make us want to write. We see a story, an idea, and then we run with it. My mom came over today and my sister (to go to dinner–we’re all Atkins people. Hubby, too.) and Mom brought an old Johanna Lindsey favorite of mine so I’ll tuck into that tonight and recharge.

the RSS Feed

This weekend I decided to take a break from my writing to work on my website. I decided to add a message board and I have to say, I am extremely proud of myself for figuring the darn thing out. It took me half a dozen programs I was unfamiliar with, I had to build my own database, and then work on the mods that I wanted to add to the program. Check out my hard work, post some messages, and e-mail me if you run into any problems.

On the writing front I am over half way done with my latest novella. I admit that I am much better at writing novellas than novels. (As witnessed by the fact that my novellas get solicited and my full-length still waits for a home) I am really good at sexual tension and emotional attachments but I get there way too fast for a full-length. I just can’t keep my characters at odds for 400 pages. It is something I am determined to overcome since my dream is to have single-titles out as well. My problem, I think, is exacerbated by the fact that I prefer to read anthologies. I have no patience. I want a story to start out fast and keep on going. I admire the writers who can do that for an entire novel and I aspire to their talent.

See you on the message board!