A Slice of Orange

Monica Stoner, Member at Large

Orange County Chapter of Romance Writers of America gives their authors roses for each sale. As a member many years ago, I dreamed of the day Iâ€™d stand up at the front to receive my rose, and my acceptance speech. Eventually I decided those would only be dreams. Until I saw an e-mail stating: â€œBlack Opal Books is actively looking for new and special manuscripts.â€ What the heck, I thought. Might as well be rejected by a new press as an established press. I did a final polish, had a few critical friends beta read, and sent it off. There were dog shows in Phoenix, and I actively avoided looking for computer connections to check while we were gone.

Come Monday, I turned on the computer, connected to my e-mail, and began to scroll messages. Andâ€“what? A message from â€œeditorâ€ at â€œblackopalbooks.â€ Wow, this would be the fastest rejection Iâ€™d ever had. Oh well, might as well get it over with.

â€œWe like your book, and would like to publish it.â€ I stared at the screen. Turned off the e-mail program. Started it again. â€œWe like your book and would like to publish it.â€ Still the same words. So I printed it out, just in case it was a computer glitch. Yep, it said the same thing. So I called my husband into the room. He looked at the screen, looked at me, and said, â€œCool.â€ Just to be sure, I sent the excerpt to my friends, whom I see once or twice a year, and stay in touch electronically. They concurred, and sent virtual high fives.

It took twenty four hours to decide if I would accept the offer. Actually it took ten seconds, but I pretended to need to think about it. Yeah, right. I was valiantly attempting to follow the advice given in so many lectures and on line discussions. In actual fact I intended to grab for the brass ring and enjoy the ride. Which I did.
The day â€œMy Killer My Loveâ€came out was the day my husband was admitted to the hospital and the next eight months were a challenge on all levels. He lost the battle with cancer and diabetes in January of the next year, and in the months since then Iâ€™ve learned to readjust and rebuild. Come April of this year, events combined to bring me to Southern California, including a Saluki specialty held in Tomâ€™s honor, a gathering of our dog friends after the show, and another gathering for his family, non dog friends, and former students. This would help close many of the connections he had made throughout his life.

And, yes, it was the same weekend as the Orange County meeting. I could have my first book signing among the people who had the greatest effect on my life as a writer. What would be better? Too bad it was the same weekend as the RT Convention in Chicago, but so many of those I remembered from before were still in California.

The roses came home with me and are in a Mikasa vase one of the dogs won years ago. One rose for â€œMy Killer My Love,â€ the book I signed in April. One for â€œTeach Me To Forget,â€ coming out in May, just a few weeks from now. Life does go on.

e-magings: Show Don’t Hide: The Necessary Pilcrow

Last year, when my writing partner, Anne Farrell, and I decided to reissue our Precious Gem as an e-book, I knew I had my work cut out for me. I had to convert our messy, oft-changed, WordPerfect manuscript into a clean Word document. I’d always preferred WordPerfect, suing Word only when absolutely necessary, and knew very little about the program. Thanks to the useful Smashwords Style Guide by Mark Coker, I learned how to format paragraphs that automatically indent and I became acquainted with the Show/Hide feature in Word that reveals the document formatting.

I figured I was the only dummy in the writing game who didn’t know that, but it turns out, I wasn’t. Like a lot of older writers, I grew up in the typewriter era. So for any other Luddites out there, this is how you turn on Show/Hide. Click on the pilcrow (the little paragraph symbol at the left of the image) to reveal your formatting.

Another thing I learned is to never use tabs to begin a paragraph. In the example below I added a Tab before the second sentence, as shown by the little right-facing arrow. To remove all Tabs from a doc file, click in Find, type in ^t and Replace them all with nothing. In a blink of an eye, all your Tabs will disappear.

There’s a lot more to formatting a book for self-publishing, and I do recommend the free Smashwords Syle Guide to anyone who is thinking of doing so. Anne and I were able to get our book uploaded and Lex Valentine made us a fabulous cover, which I’d like to share. Isn’t it gorgeous?

Children’s librarian Amanda Lloyd values privacy above all else. Three years ago her wedding ended in disaster when her groom was arrested at the altar and the story of the ‘Embezzler’s Bride’ appeared in the supermarket tabloids. The experience has left her determined to avoid being caught in the public eye again. Until she meets a sexy single dad with a scandalous past.

Ex-racer Mitch Delaney is a public figure whose life has been plastered across the tabloids more than once. But he believes that anything worth doing is worth a risk, and he wants Amanda in his life. But when they draw the attention of the tabloids, his custody of his son is threatened. Amanda has waited twenty-eight years for the right man. But will happiness come at too high a price?

(Previously published as Private Affair, Kensington Precious Gem #121 by Lyn O’Farrell)

There’s more about Worth The Risk at my website, including an excerpt.

Linda Mac aka Lyndi Lamont

Websites:

http://www.lindamclaughlin.com/

http://www.lyndilamont.com/

http://annefarrellwriter.com/

FINDING YOUR VOICE

â€œI donâ€™t even have to see the cover of the book to know Iâ€™m reading one of your novels.â€

That was the nicest compliment a reader has ever paid me. After years of practice, success and failures, constantly trying to improve my writing, it was wonderful to know that I had finally crossed a threshold: I had found my voice. For other arts, voice is almost instantly identifiable. Fine artists, for instance, communicate through color choice and brush stroke; for musicians it is in melody and instrumentation. For writers creating a recognizable voice is a bit trickier.

Our art cannot be covered up by color nor enhanced by sound; it cannot be appreciated with a mere glance or as background to another chore. A reader must invest time, attention and money to appreciate our work. These limitations make voice critical to our success in an increasingly crowded field. If we do not connect with our reader, drawing them in with our words, format construction and storytelling, they will dismiss us and move on to someone who does.

Voice is personal and intimate. Writing in a true voice puts the author on a limb and opens her to both praise and criticism. We wouldnâ€™t write if we werenâ€™t willing to take a chance that our voice will touch someone, move them to action, make them think, make them cry, but it is a gamble whether our most honest voice will be appreciated. If youâ€™re ready to take a bold step, to write with abandon, to search for your true voice, here are a few thoughts that might help you find it.

Identify what you love about your favorite author. Is it pace? Characterization? Expository talent? Emulate, never copy, her style. A reader doesnâ€™t want a cookie cutter author; they want a refreshing voice that reminds them of their favorite author.

Recognize your verbal comfort zone. Some authors embrace analogy, metaphore and any number of literary conceits; some donâ€™t. If youâ€™re comfortable with short clipped sentences in the vernacular, embrace that style and make it yours.

Establish your energy level. Does your first sentence slap your reader upside the head, or do you prefer a long, slow climb that settles the reader before you let them into the fray? Whichever it is, donâ€™t let anyone try to change that.

Voice is not just a writing style it is point of view that is shared in dialogue choices, character and plot development.

Be proud of your voice. There is no right voice for an author or a genre. Evidence? Epic romances share space with glitz and glamour and all of it gave rise to chic lit. Each authorâ€™s voice was valid in the genre in its heyday, and each was unique and fresh when they hit the scene so do not discount yours if it doesnâ€™t match the mainstream.

It is your job to discover your voice. Explore it. Nurture it. Refine it. Claim it. Present it. Be proud of it.

Cover Art Corner

Today, I’m starting a quarterly series on cover art. I’ll be asking for people to send me questions which I will answer in future posts. To start out, I’ll give you all some information on who I am and who I do covers for.

For those of you who don’t know me, I write under the pen name Lex Valentine, but before there was a Lex there was a Winter. Winter’s been around on the internet since the early 90’s. That’s when a friend got her the domain name winterheart.com. (Yes, I really have had the domain for more than 15 years!) Winter has also been messing around with websites and photo manipulation for about that long although not in any real serious way.

So, now we’ve established that I go by both Lex and Winter and that I’ve had winterheart.com a long time, I want to roll the calendar forward to 2006 or so. I started writing in a serial story online and we gathered photos of celebs to depict our characters. I ended up making banners and avatars for the characters and learned to swap heads on photos. (Guess whose head was swapped on that image of “Al & Lex”, two characters from the serial story?) This is really where I started learning Photoshop. I took a couple of classes that the company I worked for paid for, but really, what I learned was all trial, lots of error, and some video tutorial watching on YouTube.

When I was first published, my publisher at Pink Petal Books was ecstatic to learn I knew Photoshop and I started doing covers for her, including all my own covers. Over the years since then I’ve started doing covers for MLR Press and it’s imprints Passion in Print and Featherweight Press. I’ve also recently begun doing covers for MuseItUp too.

Last year one of my covers for Pink Petal Books won an EPIC ARIANA Award for best erotic contemporary cover. Competition is fierce in the ARIANAs and I was honored to win one. I’ve had numerous covers final but there is nothing like winning!

Currently, I do a lot of work for authors who are self-publishing the books they get their rights back to. A couple of weekends back, I did a total of 13 covers! Well, it did include two series with similar covers but it was still a lot of work.

At any rate, what I do involves a lot of communication with the author. I use the information I get about the book to come up with a cover that is visually appealing while still conveying something of the story inside. This isn’t always easy to do. Some authors have a very clear vision in their head of what their cover should look like, regardless of whether they have an artistic eye or not. They want what they want. I try to give authors what they want whether I think it’s appealing or not because the most gorgeous cover that I think will sell lots of books may not be at all what the author wants for his/her book. And if the author isn’t happy with it, no matter how beautiful it is, they will treat it like it’s ugly and unhappy authors don’t say complimentary things about cover artists.

I really like it when the author gives me a sense of the book without telling me what to put on the cover. I like a little freedom to create something I think will appeal to those who look at it. It’s a tough line to walk though and authors can be all over the charts in terms of how easy or difficult they are to work with.

In the end, what I really want is for the cover to sell books. I want the author and publisher to be so happy with sales that they are happy to work with me again.

I’m going to close today with a slideshow of covers I’ve made. I want you all to look at them and think about them and what makes them appealing or not appealing to you. And then I want you to comment on this post or email me with questions or comments about the covers and what you liked or didn’t like and why. I’m going to take all those comments and use them to tailor my next post about cover art.

Until next time,

Things That Make Me Go Mmmruh!

If a Blog Fell in the Forest…

â€œJust as long as we have we!â€ – Dr. Seuss and Albert Hague

In OCC lurks great power, but we do not harness it, nor do we wield it.

We have 175 members, 110 published authors, and myriad experts on everything from computer technostuff to cover design to contracts to self-publishing. And what makes the whole of OCC so much stronger than the sum of these amazing parts? Our interconnectedness, our willingness to share and communicate. So…our A Slice of Orange Blog should rock much more than it does.

We have the power to make A Slice of Orange grow into a cornucopia of talent, resource, tidbits, and discussion that romance readers and writers will consume voraciously. But when many of our published authors have a book coming out, they guest blog somewhere else. And many of our experts have their own blogs, and they ask OCC members to go there to read a good blog. Can we bring some of this love home to OCC? I think we can, and when we do, A Slice of Orange will be so much mightier than the sum of its parts.

-If you have your own blog, perhaps you can pick a blog day on A Slice of Orange (Marianne Donley has the master list of available blog dates mariannedonley@gmail.com). Then, on that day, on your own blog, instead of blogging, you can have a link to A Slice of Orange where your blog will appear that day.

-If you are a published author, you can blog about your upcoming book and add charming stories. Check out Jina Bacarr’s recent Titanic blogs.

-You can feature your upcoming book and add tidbits from your personal life. Check out Janet Cornelow’s latest blog. That is the kind of stuff reader’s LOVE! To feel they KNOW an author!

-Linda O. Johnston and Monica Stoner provide insight into the life of a writer â€“ pure gold to fledgling writers tying to get to know the biz.

-Rebecca Forster’s recent blog on characters and Barb DeLong’s conversations with Jann Audiss offer such fodder for readers and writers alike to talk about the things readers and writers love to discuss!

-Louisa Bacio’s and Kitty Bucholtz’s blogs are always choc full of info info info about everything that a writer would want to know about. Calls for Submissions, details about self publishing, reading recommendations and more and more and more…

We need more participation to make A Slice of Orange as strong as it has the potential to be. And not just writing the blogs. Do you read the blogs? Comment! Check those boxes at the bottom if you found it interesting or funny or cool or great! Do you write blogs? Comment back â€“ get discussions going. I think it would be great if the commenters even got into discussions with each other. For instance, today Laura Drake posted a link to a great blog by Larry Brooks, Storyfix. I looked 10 minutes ago, and he had 44 comments – I want that kind of interaction on A Slice of Orange!

Are you too busy to blog? You can pitch in by reading the blogs, checking the boxes, and commenting! We can all share and build our collective strength.

Why would this be such a great thing?

-A popular blog home base where you can publicize an upcoming release could be very useful – so the bigger our readership, the better.

-If you are self published and you blog about your book on our widely read blog, the more books you will sell.

-If you are not yet published, you can fortify your profile as a potential author who can sell her or his name by showing that you are a regular blogger on a popular blog.

-If you write your own blog, having it linked to such a strong hub can only increase your readership.

-If you are writer who feels unconnected, isolated or clueless, you can tune in to read about and chat with writers who love to share.

-If you are a reader, you can peek inside the world you love so much and get a heads up about what books are coming soon from some of your favorite authors. Or you might discover new favorites.

-Anyone in OCC can blog. Send Marianne Donley a request.

-Everyone in OCC and beyond can read and comment and discuss. But it has to start with us.

We need more OCC members writing, reading, commenting, commenting back, commenting back and forth, and telling others about our blogs in order to drive A Slice of Orange to its fierce destiny!

And even though many blogs are up for only a day before the next blog goes up, remember, the blogs don’t go anywhere! You just have to scroll down and you can keep the conversation going. For my Davy Jones blog, I was commenting back and forth for 4 days, even though Kitty’s blog posted above mine on day 2. And yes, I shamelessly asked some of you to read my blog and please comment so I could light a fire under my blog, and this flurry of comments brought in 8 unsolicited comments – but I want us all to have more than 8 every time! If we check in on the blogs and scroll through and comment and keep checking and commenting back, we can really get something going.

In OCC beats the power of its incredible membership. We need to harness and wield this power for the good of our careers. Unleashing such power will also enhance the vivacity and might of the romance community of readers and writers. And gleaning power from love and from loving what we do is good for everyone.

Mmmrh!

Please, let’s discuss. Let’s make this happen. All comments, pros and cons, will be welcomed, considered and discussed! And I hope we all discuss: commenters with me and commenters with other commenters.

Where better to discuss blogging than in a blog?