Grumbling and Conflicts
June 6, 2009 by Linda O. Johnston in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as Berkley Prime Crime, Linda O. Johnston, Silhouette Nocturne
As I mentioned in that posting, I won’t see you at OCC this month. Instead, I’ll be at the California Crime Writers Conference in Pasadena, a joint program between the local Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime chapters.
The Los Angeles Romance Authors meeting, which is usually the third Sunday of the month, was moved to the same weekend, since it otherwise would occur on Father’s Day. That means I’ll miss another meeting I’d like to attend.
I blogged a few days ago for the Mid-Valley Willamette RWA Chapter’s blog site. My theme was my multiple personalities, which I cultivate because of writing in two very different genres: dark paranormal romance and light cozy mysteries. And then there’s my lawyer side.
There are times, like the second weekend of this month, that I wish I didn’t only have multiple personalities, but that I could clone myself, too, and participate in more than one event that I know I’d enjoy.
Okay, I know I’m grumbling. Part of life is having to make choices, and I’ve done so.
But I’m going to miss my romance writers’ meetings, especially this month when my Silhouette Nocturne BACK TO LIFE has been released! It’s definitely a romance, although there’s a mystery to it, too. And a very special K-9 cop heroine who has Valkyrie powers that allow her to bring some people back from the brink of death… people like the really hot SWAT-team member whose life she saves at the beginning. She becomes romantically involved with him, then realizes she might have inadvertently passed some powers along to him, too.
I’ll be at the July OCC meeting before heading to RWA National in Washington, D.C., and hope to sign BACK TO LIFE and my latest Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mystery NEVER SAY STY at the meeting.
I won’t be grumbling then!
By the way, today is D-Day. My hugs and kudos to those who were there. My dad landed at Normandy Beach a couple of days later.
Linda O. Johnston
http://www.lindaojohnston.com/
http://www.killerhobbies.blogspot.com/
Linda O. Johnston is the author of 16 romance novels and several novellas, including a Nocturne Bites, with at least one more Nocturne upcoming. She also writes the Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mystery series from Berkley Prime Crime.
The Artist’s Way
May 29, 2009 by A Slice of Orange in category The Artist Way by Gillian Doyle tagged as Artist's Way, Gillian Doyle
“During a drought, the morning pages seem both painful and foolish. They feel like empty gestures — like making breakfast for the lover we know is leaving us anyhow. Hoping against hope that we will someday be creative again, we go through the motions. Our consciousness is parched. We cannot feel so much as a trickle of grace. . . . And yet we write our Morning Pages because we must.” – Julia Cameron, THE ARTIST’S WAY.
It is closing in on midnight. My blog entry here at A Slice of Orange is due to go up in a few minutes. But instead of writing it, I spent the evening at my mother’s bedside, trying to help her comprehend what is going on while her muddled mind repeats the same questions over and over. You see, she thinks she is dying. Maybe she is. My brother and sister-in-law are convinced she is. Though the caregivers and doctors disagree. However, I do believe that a person can will themselves to die . . . or to live.
My eyes are burning. My brain is throbbing. But I can’t stop thinking about my commitment to write this blog. To tell you the truth, it’s the only thing keeping me connected to my writing at this time. I haven’t even been able to keep up with my own Morning Pages. And yet I write my blog because I must.
Is that too much honesty? Shouldn’t I be burning the midnight oil to finish my proposal promised months ago to an agent? I know a writer who came home at 2 A.M. from the ER (after her mother was finally admitted), and sat down to write her daily ten pages. I thought, “Is she insane?” I admire her dedication. But she probably welcomed the chance to escape into her writing and forget about her real world for a while.
Okay-okay, so I AM burning the midnight oil to finish this blog. As much as I would love to escape reality and write a few chapters of fiction, my brain cells are begging for some snooze-time. Though I must admit that, lately, my sleep has been disrupted by the most bizarre and disjointed dreams. I suppose all that unexpressed creativity has to find a release somehow.
I opened this entry with a quote from Julia Cameron about going through a drought. Is this a drought? Not exactly. But I am trying to keep my writing alive, and that’s what is important. Some writers might disagree and consider me a slacker. That’s okay. I’m the tortoise, not the hare.
Oh, one last thing — Check out Dr. Bruce H. Lipton‘s, THE BIOLOGY OF BELIEF: The Science of How We Create Our Lives. I heard his lecture a year ago at a conference. He’s amazing. We really ARE what we believe.
And now I believe I am very tired and I’m going to bed. ‘Nite all!
– Gillian Doyle
http://www.gilliandoyle.blogspot.com/
http://www.gilliandoyle.com/
A Fantasy Life
May 27, 2009 by A Slice of Orange in category A Fantasy Life by Janet Cornelow tagged as Janet Cornelow, Janet Quinn
By Janet Quinn Cornelow
I went to see the new Star Trek movie. It was absolutely wonderful and I’m ready for the next one.
Star Trek of course is science fiction and going back and creating a story that came before means that there is a great deal of history that has accumulated over the years that needs to be followed. Taking an existing world and doing a prequel is always a challenge. The writer has to look at the accumulation of facts and make sure that the story follows those facts. With Star Trek, there is a great store of facts. After forty years, just about every aspect of life has been covered.
That, however, can be limiting as to what the writers want to do with the prequel. Do they want to stay with the type of stories from the original series? How can they make changes? Do they want to tell stories that won’t fit with what happened before? What if they want to put in an illicit love affair? What if they want to kill off a character that hadn’t died before?
This is where the fantasy comes in. Throw in time travel and you can change the timeline and how the characters act. The writers can now change the relationship between characters and make it something it wasn’t before.
That is the one thing a writer always has to think about when writing time travel. If she moves someone backward in time, one little change made by that character can change the entire time line. The results shift and a new ending can be written.
Also, they could bring back Leonard Nimoy as the older Mr. Spock.
0 0 Read moreAdvice to Myself as a Newbie Author
May 22, 2009 by A Slice of Orange in category Advice to Myself as a Newbie Author by Shauna Roberts tagged as Advice to Myself as a Newbie Author, Jill Marie Landisby Shauna Roberts
http://ShaunaRoberts.blogspot.com
Today’s Guest: Jill Marie Landis
Jill Marie Landis is the author of more than twenty award-winning, best-selling novels. Her books have appeared on the New York Times’ extended list and the USA Today list. She has been an RWA Rita finalist seven times and has won a Rita, the Golden Heart, and a Golden Medallion among other prestigious industry awards. She lives in Hawaii with her husband, and when she’s not hula dancing or sitting on the beach, she’s writing. Her latest release, a single-title Western historical romance, The Accidental Lawman (Steeple Hill), will be released on May 28th.
If you could travel back in time to before you were first published, what advice would you give yourself?
As a firm believer that I’m always in my right place, I tend to live in the moment and don’t look back, so it’s hard to picture myself giving myself advice on how to do things differently, but hopefully the following will help someone else along the sometimes smooth and sometimes rocky road of publishing.
1. Write faster. Because I was blessed enough to make great advances from the beginning, I was content (notice I say content and not lazy) enough to write only one single-title novel a year. If I had it to do over again, I would write two books a year in two different subgenres (for example, one historical and one contemporary) or one single title and a category, perhaps. After twenty-five years in the business I’ve seen a whole lot of authors come and go and have noticed that it’s not always quality that promotes staying power, but stamina and quantity. The perfect combination is quality and quantity. Making a name for yourself and keeping it out there in front of readers is what counts.
2. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Stick to what is working if your books are selling. I wrote eight Western historical romances and they were making all the best-seller lists. After six of them, I wanted to do something different. My editor wanted two more Westerns. I wrote them and thought I’d throw up if I had to hang one more gun on one more cowboy. The books did really, really well and the publisher promotion was great. Foolishly, I ventured into other historical settings, New Orleans and the Caribbean, Africa, pioneers in Kentucky. Sales didn’t slip but they didn’t skyrocket and treading water in the publishing business is not a good thing. Readers want what they have come to expect from you—over and over again. My advice—give it to them. If you get bored, change your name when you try something new.
3. Know when to make the big moves and make them quickly. A very well-known big name author told me very, very early on, “Leave your first publisher when you are on top. They will never see you as anyone but the little author they found.†Me? I was into loyalty. Isn’t that worth something? Isn’t loyalty an honorable trait? To a point. I stayed at my first publishing house for fifteen years. I was well paid. I was fat and happy but never slotted at the top of their list. I watched them “steal†other romance authors from other houses and place them ahead of me. I should have let myself be “stolen†and wooed by another house before it was too late.
4. Know when to change agents. For me, changing agents is the most gut-wrenching, hardest decision I’ve ever had to make in publishing. If you are thinking it’s time to change, it’s probably past time.
5. Learn the business. Face facts. You can do a lot to promote your work, but the bottom line is publisher backing and support. The product is what’s most important. Write the best book each and every time you can so that when your work is promoted and slotted and out in quantities where readers can find it, be sure you are giving them the best you’ve got.
This next piece of advice is something I’ve always tried to remember. This is for the newbies out there reading this blog:
6. Network, network, network. Make writer friends. Get to know agents and editors, even if they are not ever going to be your agent or editor. The more people you know and who know you personally, the better off you are in the business. Make friends, not enemies. They’ll guard your back and help when you need advice, encouragement, and a shoulder to cry on. True friends will celebrate your successes. Be happy for your fellow writers and not jealous of them. We have an old friend who is an actor on a long-running soap opera. His favorite quote is one to live by: “Be nice to everyone on your way up. You’ll see them again on your way down.â€
✥✥✥✥✥
To learn more about Jill Marie Landis, please visit her Website at http://www.jillmarielandis.com or her blog at http://www.jillmarielandis.com/blog. You can preorder The Accidental Lawman and purchase her July 2008 book, Homecoming (Steeple Hill), at your local bookstore as well as at online bookstores. Click on your favorite bookstore below to go directly to the purchase page.
The Accidental Lawman: Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Borders
Homecoming: Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble
5 0 Read moreThe Write Way……….
May 17, 2009 by A Slice of Orange in category The Write Way by Maureen Child tagged as continuities, Maureen Child, Silhouette Desire, the Hudson's
