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Some Howling Good Calls (for Submission)

October 31, 2012 by in category Archives tagged as , ,

This month features one call for submission with “bite,” a first-time vampire anthology by Ravenous Romance, a nostalgic look back at mixed tapes and a new shared world series on Cupid’s Conquest.
First Bite

Ravenous Romance is extending the deadline for their virgin vampire anthology FIRST BITE. While the main point is for the characters to have a virginal experience, (first night, first bite, first vamp ménage, etc.) the stories already selected to be in the anthology have created a blood cocktail with a twist. Most stories incorporate a plot twist or discovery that neither the narrator nor the reader see coming. For a cohesive anthology, please include these details in your stories: virgins with a twist, who doesn’t love those? We are open to all types of couplings, but are still looking to fill the voids of ménage, m/m, f/f, and vamp/vamp.

Submission Guidelines: Email your 2500-6000 word short story to Fidencia@literarypartners.comas a word doc, including a short story query letter and your bio. The Deadline is November 30, 2012. Payment is a flat fee of $25.
Mixed Tape – An Anthology Based on Love Songs
Okay, be honest…how many made one? Had one given to them? What? You don’t know what I’m talking about? Way back when, when you needed to tell that special someone how you felt instead of writing a note you put together a compilation cassette tape of MUSIC. Songs that reminded you of that special someone, songs that told them how you felt so you didn’t have to say it to their face (just in case they didn’t feel the same). I’m putting together a MIXED TAPE of stories inspired by love songs (especially from the 1980s). So break out those cassette tapes, acid wash jeans and neon colors.
Stories will:
  • Range between 5 and 40k
  • Be inspired by a love song that plays a part in the story (some suggestions: Air Supply, Chicago, REO Speedwagon, Duran Duran, to name just a few)
  • Flashbacks, paranormal, contemporary, historical (okay, is the 1980s really historical?) all welcome
  • Must abide by MLR submission guidelines (M/M)

Stories due by March 15, 2013 to special_submissions@mlrpress.com
Questions should be sent to me at KrisJacen@mlrpress.com
Amber Allure
For the first time in its long history, Amber Quill Press is opening submissions to the general public. Although this open submission call is for only a limited time, we may extend it in the future, so please check back in the months ahead to see if submission deadlines have changed.
Additionally, at any time in the future we may also have specific “series submissions calls” listed below. Typically, submissions for these series are open to allauthors, those already contracted with Amber Allure and those aspiring to be published with us. See below for any current series submission call(s) and the detailed guidelines associated with it/them, and (important) please note that the acceptable word counts, guidelines, etc. may be different from the “General Open Submissions” requirements.
For more information, visit http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/AA_submissioncalls.html
Cupid’s Conquests

Cupid’s Conquest is a new multi-author, shared world series unique to Evernight Publishing.
The series focuses on contemporary romance between unlikely pairings or those kept apart by forces internal or external who are brought together by the magic of Cupid’s arrows. We’re looking for heroes and heroines readers will want to see overcome the odds against them. 

Cupid’s been a bad boy…
After years of letting love languish on Earth, Cupid has been banished to the surface until he teaches humanity to love again. One couple—or more—at a time. 
  • 15,000-35,000 words.
  • Evernight Heat Level 2 or higher
  • M/F, F/F & M/M 
  • Combinations of above considered.
  • HEA required. 

http://www.evernightpublishing.com/special-lines/
For more information on requirements and how to submit, please contact: Seleste deLaney at selestedelaney@gmail.com and include “Cupid’s Conquests” in the subject line.
— Louisa Bacio
Starting Nov. 12, I’m teaching the Online workshop “Submission: Writing the Short Story for Anthology Call-Out” for OCC/RWA. For more information, visit http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassNov12.html

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When You Learn, Teach

October 19, 2012 by in category Archives tagged as , , , , , ,
“When you learn, teach, when you get, give.” Maya Angelou
 
“One hand reaching forward, one hand reaching back”  Orange County Chapter Romance Writers of America

We sometimes forget as we dash through our days full of deadlines and proposals and promo work what it was like to first put pencil to paper, to first send out a proposal, or meet with an agent at a conference.  We might have buried the memory of that first rejection letter, or the second, or the fiftieth except as an anecdote while we share our (current) success story. 
When a newbie writer asks a question so basic we feel they should have learned the answer in elementary school, how many of us remember angsting over lines per page and perfect format as if that alone would guarantee acceptance by one of the publishers?  Or buying the best quality typing paper we could afford in hopes of recognition.  I sure do.
In discussion with authors from chapters across the country, I hear stories of chapters imploding from expectations of unpublished authors who demand help from the published.  On the other hand I hear stories from unpublished authors who can’t even get an answer to how to set up a blog.  Somewhere in the middle is that healthy place of compromise and share.
Orange County has that great program of “Ask An Author,” but OCC has been innovative in so many ways. But it’s not just the published authors who can step up.  Anyone who has attended a GMC talk can tell a neophyte GMC stands for Goal, Motivation, Conflict.  NaNo refers to a mad dash to produce a book in a month, at the end of which you either love or hate your characters and it’s a tossup whether your  hands or your bottom are more numb,  All of us have knowledge to share.
I’m hoping these ideas spread to other chapters, large and small, to keep the chapters and RWA healthy and supportive of romance writing.

Monica Stoner writes as Mona Karel, and has two books available for your perusal
Teach Me To Forget and My Killer My Love
When she’s not blogging about basic promo or low carb cooking Mona’s Blog she’s enjoying life at 6500 feet in New Mexico, surrounded by a bunch of silly skinny dogs. And writing, writing, writing

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emaginings: Tarot For Writers Revisited

October 17, 2012 by in category Archives tagged as , , , ,

Yesterday was the New Moon, an auspicious time to begin new projects. I am starting a new story and need ideas for scenes. So I turned to my trusty tarot cards. Since this is a spicy story, I used the Sensual Wicca deck. In the process of interpreting the cards, I dragged out my copy of Tarot For Writers by Corinne Kenner. Once again, I was impressed by how helpful the book is.

I received some insights from using the Celtic Cross for Writers spread, and the spread for three-act structure, but the most helpful suggestion was to simply draw ask “what happens next” and keep drawing cards. I gave it a try. I shuffled the cards and kept turning them over until I had a baker’s dozen of idea, from she seduces him to a debt is repaid.

I realizes this kind of visual aide doesn’t work for everyone, but if you are at all inclined towards the mystical approach, I do recommend this book. You can read my original long review at my Flights-A-Fancy blog.

Kenner’s website can be found at http://tarotforwriters.com/

My comments on the Sensual Wicca deck can be found at my Lyndi Lamont blog.

What do you do to jump start a new story?

Linda McLaughlin/Lyndi Lamont

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4 Ways to Meet Your Writing Goals

October 9, 2012 by in category Archives tagged as , ,

You may know this has been a hard year for me. Over at my blog, Routines for Writers, it’s been a hard year for all of us. We’ve talked about how to keep going, both personally and professionally. We’ve discussed whether we have any more to offer our readers or whether Routines for Writers has run its course. All three of us have struggled to keep writing through a variety of personal and professional setbacks.
There are so many cliches we could offer each other, and you, to keep writing and not give up. But here are four solid things you can do now, or anytime you need a boost, to keep going and accomplish your writing goals.
(I didn’t mean for this to be so long, but I wanted to share with you what has worked for me. Go to the end for the bullet points if you’re short on time, and come back and read the full post when you have time. 🙂 )

Writing Routines 

You can tell from the title of our blog that Shonna and Stephanie and I strongly believe in routines in general, and writing routines in particular.  Routines are habits you are acquiring on purpose. I choose to routinely run three days a week because I have a goal of beating my best time in the half marathon I signed up for in January. My habit thus far has been to overeat and carry a lot of extra weight that is not helping me with my running. For my January race goal, I have identified one routine, and one bad habit that I need to change into a positive routine.
In my writing, I have several goals regarding getting my current book into print format, getting my next book out as an ebook and in print, and submitting my superhero novel to Harper Voyager during their open submission period this week. In addition, my 2012 goals include increasing traffic to my web site/blog, creating more online classes to teach in 2013, and learning how to promote my books to increase sales.
It’s great to have goals, but you need to have a plan, too. Just like in Shonna’s post last Friday, I take my big goals and work backwards to break them down into pieces so I know what needs to be done every month to make the goals a reality at the end of the year. When I’ve got that list of monthly goal pieces written down, I can create routines that work for me that will turn the goal pieces into accomplishments. For instance, when my life was calmer, I wrote four days a week and did all my business-of-writing stuff on Fridays. It’s less important what you choose to do, perhaps, than that you create a routine that moves you toward your goal at a pace you can keep up.
Using the “It’s a marathon, not a sprint” metaphor, let me tell you that the training programs for running marathons and half marathons (I only do half’s) suggests running moderately short distances several days a week, increasing your distance slowly, and doing one longer run on the weekend. So I might run four or five miles a day three days a week, then an 8-mile run on Saturday. More 5-mile runs the next week, and then 9 or 10 miles that Saturday. This is the kind of schedule that you can keep up even if you have to get to work in the morning. And it’s a good parallel for making a writing routine as well.

Periodic Reevaluations

When life is going smoothly (or monotonously, depending on your perspective), it can be difficult to remember to check your progress against your goals before the year is up. Several of my friends and I have an unhelpful tendency to wait until November or December, then freak out and try to cram all the rest of the work into the busiest time of the year. Brilliant.
When I teach my goal setting and time management class (coming again in January), I encourage people to check their goals after a month to see if they were on a “get it done” high when they wrote out their list. 🙂 Then I suggest quarterly reviews, taking 15 minutes to see how close you are to where you’d planned to be. At these checkpoints, we can decide if we think we should readjust our goals, and do so if necessary.
Remember, goal setting is about making progress toward something you want. It is not about beating yourself up for what you haven’t accomplished! You need to sit down and think about why you haven’t accomplished what you set out to do, but only because you need to decide if you should change course or just change tactics. You also need to reward yourself for what you have accomplished. That will give you energy to keep on going. (I started a “Done” journal a year or two ago. I write down all my writing-related work that I do on any given day, bullet-point style so I can scan it easily. I haven’t done half of what I’ve set out to do, but I’ve done a LOT and the Done journal helps me stay upbeat.)

Willingness to Change

Depending on how your reevaluations go, you may decide you want to make some changes. It may be that your goals are fine, but the way you are going about trying to accomplish them needs to change. For instance, say you decide to take someone’s advice to get up an hour early to write every day, and two months into that new routine you are exhausted and cranky. You’ve got your pages, but people have started to avoid you.
You may decide that you need to write for half an hour during your lunch break, and half an hour in the car before you come home from work. That way you are getting the sleep you need, and no one feels like you’re ignoring them. I wrote part of Little Miss Lovesick that way. I find it almost impossible to ignore my husband – we’re  like little kids who just want to play when we’re together – and this way I made my goals quickly because there’s an end to my lunch break (hurry!) and the car is not an easy place to type and I’m hungry (hurry!).
This weekend, I did a periodic reevaluation for a different reason. My life has been in constant upheaval this year (and for much longer, really) and I knew I wasn’t going to make all my 2012 goals. I needed to see where I was and figure out what was most important to me to get done before the end of the year. I looked at the big picture and monthly goals for 2012 and sighed. Heavily. Then I wrote down what I most want to accomplish before the end of the year. Yikes! It’s still a lot! But I dropped several projects on my original goals list, promising myself I’d look into whether I still wanted to pursue them next year.
Due to my husband’s unemployment and our recent dedication to following through with our Financial Peace University goals, I’ve taken on some outside work. For every hour I take out of my writing week, I’ll have to make some adjustments to either personal time that will become writing time, and/or decrease my 2012 goals again. I just have to keep reminding myself that I’m willing to make changes now to accomplish big picture goals in my “regular” life as well as my writing life.

Decide Now to Keep Going Later

Perhaps one of the best things you can do to help you meet your writing goals is to decide now not to quit when it gets tough. Life is an ebb and flow of good and bad, hard and easy. When times get tough, what is your plan?
Yes, a plan will help you not to quit.
My plan for this particular hard time was to not quit writing altogether, to not focus entirely on the areas of life calling for my attention. My plan was to let writing time decrease, but to make sure I was still making progress every week. Every baby step counts, and I have to keep reminding of myself of that.
My current plan is to work on my writing career with “gazelle intensity” – a Dave Ramsey term he uses to get people totally focused on getting out of debt. When I’m not juggling bills or working temp jobs, I’m working 10-12 hour days to get back on track. I’m giving up some of my personal time and time with John (he supports this – yay!) and I’m focusing on making up some lost time. I started this a few weeks ago and I couldn’t believe how much I got done. I’m exhausted a lot, but it’s worth it because I’m seeing progress already. (I strongly recommend you take at least one full day off from work a week if you decide to do this. You need a full battery each week to keep up this kind of pace.)
The reason I recommend a plan for what you’re going to do when life takes some (or nearly all) of your writing time, and a plan for what to do if you get a windfall of time, is that you can be prepared and make good decisions that much quicker. A few years ago I walked one step at a time into a very deep writing rut. I didn’t know how to get out of it and I didn’t know who to talk to about it. I stopped writing, for the most part, pretending to most of my peers that I was still working away. But I bet I didn’t write 5000 words (outside of my blog) that whole year.
Ouch. If only I’d had a plan for what to do when something like that happened. But because I learned from that experience, when my mom died this year, and so many other pieces of my life seemed to fall apart, I had an idea about how to survive and continue. I decided back then that I would keep going now.

Bullet Points

To meet your writing goals, you need to:
  • Create writing routines that help you to keep going, step after step after step, getting a little done at a time so that you accomplish your annual goals by the end of the year
  • Periodically reevaluate your goals and your progress, at least quarterly, deciding if you need to make any changes
  • Be willing to make changes, either to your goals and/or your tactics in trying to accomplish your goals
  • Decide now what your plan is to not quit later when times are tough, and another plan for what you’ll do with extra time
I hope you take some time to reevaluate your goals and tactics this week. What can you reasonably accomplish in the next three months? Good luck! I’m rooting for you!


Kitty Bucholtz decided to combine her undergraduate degree in business, her years of experience in accounting and finance, and her graduate degree in creative writing to become a writer-turned-independent-publisher. Her first novel, Little Miss Lovesick, was released in September 2011 as an ebook and will be available soon in print format. Kitty has also written magazine articles, devotionals, and worked as a magazine editor. She is the co-founder of Routines for Writers where she blogs every Monday. Her next novel, Love at the Fluff N Fold, will be released in late 2012.
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Writing Inspiration: Calls for Submission

October 4, 2012 by in category Archives tagged as ,

As we near the end of the year, many publishing companies look to start filling special requests for 2013. This month’s calls feature some sexy Valentine’s Day offerings from Brazen to Big Beautiful Women at Decadent Publishing.
For those writers who want a little more guidance, I’m teaching the Online workshop “Submission: Writing a Short Story for Anthology Call-Out” in November for OCC/RWA.
Hope these calls spark some creativity!
Pagan Holiday Stories
The Black Rose line at The Wild Rose Press is looking for stories relating to the Pagan holidays. *Yule (similar to Christmas)*Imbolc (candlemass)*Ostara (Spring Equinox)*Beltane (May Day)*Litha – Midsummer (Summer Solstice)*Lughnasadh (First Harvest)*Mabon (Autumn Equinox)*Samhain (End of the Celtic year) Length requirement: 20-40KHeat level: SpicyStories should involve characters that fit within the Black Rose guidelines.   Please submit this special call directly to Callie Lynn Wolfe, Senior Editor at callielynnwrp@aol.com
Place the words Pagan Holiday Call in the email subject line.  Submissions will be considered and a response given between 14-21 days of receipt of manuscript. Submissions are open now!
BBW romance!
Decadent Publishing is looking for stories featuring big, beautiful women who ROCK their size 12 or 22, who live out loud, love their curves, and enjoy the man (or men!) in their lives. IR, PNR, straight contemporary, ménage, erotic, sweet romance, SFR all accepted. For more information, visit http://www.decadentpublishing.com
I Do or I Do Not
Concept: Weddings and June go together. But does the couple? In this submissions call there has to be a wedding prominently involved in the story and some doubt whether the couple who is planning to marry will actually get married or if they will get married the way they planned. Whether they do or don’t is up to you but there must be a romance, lots of erotic heat and a HEA or HFN. Someone is going to end up with the right guy or girl at the end…and maybe even a wedding.
The bridesmaid might finally become the bride, the groom may run off with his best man, the couple who called it off years ago may change their mind again, the wedding planner may have to entirely switch the theme from over the top to an intimate wedding, the rehearsal dinner might poison the guests, the gold digger bride might end up a suspect in her fiancé’s murder at the eve of the wedding…it’s up to you.
We would like a complete manuscript in by Feb. 15. Novellas (20,001 words) and up are acceptable. You are welcome to consult with your editor beforehand, of course, or, if you have none, with me or Christy Lockhart. Turn the ms. in to your editor or, if you have none, to looseid.submissions @ loose-id.com and add I DO SUB CALL in the heading. Release date: June 2013.
Steaming up Valentine’s Day
Forget the flowers and stuffy boxes of chocolate—Entangled Publishing’s Brazen, the bestselling sexy romance imprint affectionately coined “the naughty little sister of Indulgence,” is on the hunt for scintillating Valentine’s Day seductions readers won’t soon forget.
Submissions must:
•                Revolve around Valentine’s Day.
•                Be 45,000 to 65,000 words in length.
•                Feature an alpha hero in either a heroic or high-powered profession.
•                Revolve around familiar story lines such as enemies to lovers, one night stand, mistaken identity, matchmaker, best friends to lovers, office romance, etc. Stories that utilize more than one of these tropes are preferred. 
•                Maintain strong sexual tension throughout.
•                End in a satisfying happily ever after.
•                Stories due Nov. 25

Brazen only accepts stories with high heat levels, from explicit sexual encounters to light BDSM. For more information, visit http://www.entangledinromance.com/2012/09/05/call-for-submissions-brazen-valentines-day/
In Search of…

Theme: You’ll never believe how we met
April is spring time. Flowers are blooming and spring fever is at an all-time high. Hormones are surging after their winter slumber.
What are your characters in search of? A handyman or a one night stand? SP is in search of stories that involve personal ads, want ads, dating services or internet hookups. The sky’s the limit for the type of ad/situation that brings two people together. Silver Publishing is looking for unique encounters.

Connection is the theme. How do your characters find each other? Must have romance and either a happily ever after (HEA) or a happy for now (HFN) ending.

Release: Thursday, April 18
Submission close: January 5; shared cover, individual releases; Length: 5-18k words; Heat rating: Any; Combinations: Any. For more information, visit the special submissions page on https://spsilverpublishing.com
Louisa Bacio
Love Knows No Bounds

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