Jackie Does Dish

Don't Come Around Here No More

2009-05-15T08:08:00.000-07:00

If you're looking for new posts from me, please visit me at my new digs: http://www.jackiebarbosa.com/blog. Eventually, I'll be taking this blog down, but until we get all the images migrated to the new server, it has to stay here.

See you at the new site!

A Little Sneak Peak

2009-05-04T14:58:00.000-07:00

As some of you may remember, I had plans to roll out a new website and blog on May 1. Obviously, that date has been a bit delayed, and I'm not even 100% sure when everything will be up and running under the new template, but I'm just so thrilled with how it's coming together that I had to share a sneak peak of what Frauke at Croco Designs has worked up for me.

Gorgeous, isn't it?

Anyway, I'm hoping to have everything moved over to the new template by the end of this week, but since I'm a bit of a newbie at WordPress, I can't be 100% sure.

In the meantime, be sure to keep visiting We Heart Historicals every day and commenting for your chance to win.

We Heart the Historical!

2009-05-02T11:28:00.000-07:00

All this month, Emma Petersen is hosting a slew of authors in a tribute to the historical. And not just the traditional historical, but every brand of historical from mainstream to paranormal to fantasy to erotic. There'll be a new author every day, and lots of books will be given away, including fifteen copies of Behind the Red Door.

Want to know more? How about a list of the authors who'll be visiting? I don't have dates for everyone yet, but I'll be posting over in the right hand column every day to let you know who today's guest author is. So here (in alphabetical order by first name becayse, hey, it's gotta have SOME organization to it) is a list of the authors who've so generously agreed to join the celebration:

Seriously, is that a list full of win or what? You know you want to enter and you know you want to win. So come early and come often.

Today's guest author is Madeline Baker, and she's giving away a copy of her recently re-released first book, Comanche Flame.

Winner of Blue Diablo (and other news)

2009-05-01T12:44:00.000-07:00

(Drum roll, please...)

The winner of the signed copy of Blue Diablo with her heart-wrenching tale of economic woe is HockeyVampiress! Please email me at jackie at jackiebarbosa dot com as soon as possible with a snail mail address and I will pop it into the mail to you!

In other news, I'm over at The Romance Studio blog today talking about what's behind the Red Door, and giving away another free copy. Don't miss it!

Also, today my CP and best bud Emma Petersen launched We Heart the Historical month on her blog with a post from Dear Author's Jane Litte. Don't miss it and don't miss all the other great authors who'll be stopping by to guest blog during the month of May, including, but not limited to:

And there'll be free books! What more could you ask?

Win A Signed Copy of Blue Diablo

2009-04-27T10:32:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, the fabulously talented Ann Aguirre was in town for a book signing, and I got two copies of Blue Diablo, both signed, one for me and one for...one of you!

Now, I'm sure you've heard the "buzz" around this book, and it's totally deserved. I gobbled it up in two helpings, half on a plane on the way to Philadelphia and half on the way back.

I'm the first to admit that I'm not usually a big fan of the urban fantasy genre, but because I loved the Sirantha Jax books so much (space opera is up my alley--hello, Star Trek fan!), it was a foregone conclusion that I had to give Blue Diablo a chance. And I am not sorry I did. Every element of this book is exquisite, from the way the setting weaves its way into scenes as if the places were characters themselves to the crackling tension between Corine and Chance. I loved this book and didn't want it to be over!

So, you want a copy? All right, fair enough. Here's the contest. In the comments, give me your best reason for why you haven't yet bought Blue Diablo. On Friday, I'll pick the best, most creative excuse...er, reason, and award my spare signed copy to that commenter.

Think hard. Your reason's gotta be a good one!

And the Winners Are...

2009-04-24T09:11:00.001-07:00

I used a random generator to draw names from the 16 eligible entrants and the winners of a copy of Behind the Red Door are:

Jeanne St. James
Savannah Chase

Please email me at jackie at jackie barbosa.com with your snail mail address, and I will get your signed copy in the mail.

And to all those who didn't win, there will be more opportunities coming up. In fact, I'll be doing another giveaway at the Aphrodisia Authors blog tomorrow, so be sure to check out my post there outlining the details. And I'll be giving away a full fifteen copies during the month of May at the historical extravaganza on Emma Petersen's blog. And there will be more even than that, so stay tuned for details.

On Monday, I'll be opening a new contest for a signed copy of Ann Aguirre's awesome urban fantasy, Blue Diablo. I read this book on the way to and from Philly, and loved it. And wept a little with envy. Ann is a freakishly talented writer whose books grab you by the throat and don't let go...even when you're finished reading them. I still can't stop thinking about Corine and Chase!

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

2009-04-20T10:05:00.001-07:00

Especially, apparently, to those who wait at airports!

Last week, I had to fly to Philadelphia and back for business. And I spent far too much time in airports as a result. I didn't really expect any reward for my trouble, but when I arrived home on Friday, I found a box from Kensington Publishing containing...

THESE!

I was shocked, as I really didn't expect to see my author copies until sometime next month. And I have to admit, I have had a wonderful time touching them, smelling them, and opening them up to random pages to read my own words. It's almost...surreal.

But all of this is good for you, too. In celebration, I'll be giving away two signed copies to random blog commentators. This means you could be getting a sneak peek of what's behind the red door a full month before it's available in bookstores!

I'll be open for comments for until Friday, when I'll draw a winner. And on the day I draw that winner, I'll be opening a NEW contest for a signed copy of Ann Aguirre's amazing Blue Diablo, which I read on the plane to and from Philly and which I can recommend as one of the best books I've read in 2009.

When a Glitch Is Not a Glitch

2009-04-13T09:22:00.000-07:00

If you've been following the Amazon delisting debacle (#amazonfail in the Twitterverse and well chronicled in posts on Dear Author here, here, and here), then you probably know that late yesterday afternoon, an Amazon spokesperson announced that it was all just a glitch, not the result of a deliberate policy decision.

A lot of folks have been calling shenanigans on that explanation, but I think it's at least partly true. There's no doubt in my mind that sales rankings are being stripped from books by a programming algorhythm that looks for certain metadata "category" tags. The books are stripped of their rankings and then are hidden from certain searches (although this seems inconsistent--some unranked books will display in some searches while others won't). This happens to a book if it has any of the offending tags (among them, apparently, the words "Gay & Lesbian," "Erotica" and "Sex"), regardless of its actual content. Thus, books ranging from Lady Chatterley's Lover to The I Do Anthology (a collection of essays in support of same-sex marriage), Foucault's History of Sexuality, Vol. 1, and The Ultimate Guide to Sex and Disability have all lost their sales ranking and, to some extent, are no longer readily searchable.

So, since I just said I think the filtering is based on metacategory and is absolutely intentional, what do I mean when I say I think it's partly a glitch?

I mean that I don't think Amazon's intention was to filter out books like Heather Has Two Mommies or parenting books intended for same-sex couples or most of the books I just listed. It was simply an inintended consequence of implementing a filter that was intended to screen out "dirty books" and instead caught a whole bunch of other thoroughly inoffensive ones (while, I might add, simultaneously failing to screen out sex toys from a search on the word "rabbit"--something I find particularly amusing; why do erotic books lose their sales rankings while erotic appliances retain them?) in its too-wide net.

The outpouring of outrage on the part of the GLBT community has been loud and vitriolic, and rightly so. There's little doubt in my mind that Amazon will soon set about correcting its filtering matrix so that books that clearly don't belong in the "adult" category regain their sales rankings and become once again easily searchable.

What worries me is that few people seem to have a problem with Amazon's continuing to hide books with erotic content. In fact, I've seen a lot of comments that are tantamount to suggesting that Amazon's only mistake here was in not casting its net wide enough to catch all those other filthy romance novels out that that, while not tagged as "erotica," contain graphic descriptions of "teh secks."

All I can say is, huh? For the life of me, I cannot grasp the apparent nonchalance of some folks who are absolutely appalled by the delisting of non-erotic GLBT books but seem absolutely unperturbed by the delisting of books with erotic/sexual content and even keen on the notion of getting more of them delisted.

To those folks I say: Sex is part of the human experience. An important part. Sex is also a meaningful component of romantic love. And yes, damn it, sex is fun. Books that celebrate sex are no more deserving of ghettoization than books about any other topic. Should there be ways for people to indicate that they don't want such books showing up in their search results? Damn straight.

But please, let's leave those decisions to the end user, not to computers and corporate policies. Because that way lies censorship in its ugliest and most insidious form.

Please Boycott Amazon!

2009-04-12T10:30:00.000-07:00

Okay, it's Easter Sunday (hope you're enjoying it!), which is one of the last days of the year I want to wake up to such disturbing news, let alone have to post about it.

It seems, my friends, I've been amazon ranked.

You see, in the past few days Amazon has decided that its customers must be protected from books with "adult" content and has "delisted" the sales rankings for books with erotic or GLBT themes. (See Dear Author post here for initial story and analysis.) At first, I was relatively unconcerned, as I thought it just meant my book would no longer have that "sales ranking" number, which frankly, of late, only serves to depress me.

It turns out, however, that this "delisting" has a number of other negative consequences, since it also hinders direct searches for books that have been determined to be in the "adult" category. This means that, if you search on Amazon in "All Departments" for either my name or my book title or a combination of both, my book does not come back in the search results and, in fact, my last name is even crossed out as though I don't exist. (Apparently, if you narrow your search to Books, I magically exist as does the bookThe problem with this is that, if you have just searched "All Departments" and have been assured no matching product exists, your next thought is not going to be, "Well, it's a book. Maybe I should search there." I mean, if there is no matching product in all departments, how can there be one in books?)

Now, I can (as a parent with young children) have some sympathy for the notion that content should be filterable to prevent the small fry from finding books that are inappropriate for them, and I would say the erotic books qualify as inappropriate (though the notion that any book with a GLBT theme, including non-fiction and YA stories, should be hidden from is simply appalling and mind-blowing). But why not have a simple toggle swtich--something to allow the end-user to indicate they DON'T want the adult content filtered out? Granted, kids could click on it, but really, they can click the "I'm an adult" link on YouPorn and get in, for crap's sake.

Of course, while we're at it, there is the fact that all novels with clearly sexual and adult content aren't being blocked by Amazon. All of Laurell K. Hamilton's books are still right there, easily accessible, and though I've never read any of her work, there's no doubting they're brimming with erotic content. The sheer arbitrariness of which books get delisted or not is breathtaking and frightening. With a single swoop of their pen, Amazon has decided that it's perfectly okay to destroy some authors' careers while preserving others. That is...atrocious.

So, please, until Amazon rectifies this grievous wrong, do not purchase anything from them. It isn't often that I believe the world is out to get us, but in this case, paranoia is warranted. And please help all the authors who have been affected by this (it's not just me, not by a longshot) by contacting Amazon's customer support, either by email at ecr@amazon.com and the customer service phone number is 1-800-201-7575.

Thank you for your support.

What's So Twit-tastic About It?

2009-04-09T07:55:00.001-07:00

A little over a week ago, I succumbed to a combination of peer pressure, curiosity, and Brent Spiner¹ and joined the Twitterverse. I must admit, I've been enjoying it--far too much, in fact. When people tried to explain the concept to me, I truly didn't get it. People would post 140-character blog entries that I could "follow." But what could anyone say in 140 characters that I'd be interested in following?

But within a few hours of my first Tweet, all became clear. Turns out, Twitter is this magical place that spans the gap between blogs and IM chat. It's a little like a Facebook home page, but without all the invitations to events and requests for Sea Garden creatures and whatnot coming along for the ride.

So, now that I'm impossibly hooked, why not come follow me? You can find me at http://www.twitter.com/jackiebarbosa. If you follow me, I'll follow you ;)!

¹The actor who played Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation, my all-time favorite character in the Star Trek universe. When I learned Mr. Spiner was a twitterer, all my resistance was futile. I have indeed been assimilated.

Why Do We Do It?

2009-04-07T07:20:00.001-07:00

Now, now, get your mind out of the gutter. (Okay, yes, that's probably where it belongs when you're reading the blog of an erotic romance writer, but seriously, I don't talk about that particular it that much here! I save it for the books.)

No, today, I'm mulling about why writers write. More specifically, why I write. I've been asking myself the question a lot lately because, at the moment, I am not writing because I have to--at least not in any contractual sense. No one is breathing down my neck for this manuscript, and when it is done, there is no guarantee that anyone will be beating down my agent's door to buy it.

Some days, usually when the story refuses to bend to my will and the words are coming with great difficulty, writing really does seem like a colossal waste of time and effort. I'm not enjoying it, there's no assurance anyone but my CPs and my agent will ever read it, and there must be a thousand more immediately productive things I could be doing with my time.

And yet, I can't seem to stop. There's a drive, an urge to do it, even when it feels about as pleasurable as peeling my skin off, inch by excruciating inch.

My father (who wrote two novels and did lots of freelance nonfiction writing) used to say that he had to write. It wasn't something he did because he wanted to, but because he needed to. That's not to say wanting to was never part of the equation. After all, we need to eat to survive, but most of us enjoy our food, at least a significant proportion of the time.

All of that said, I know plenty of writers who claim no particular compulsion to write. They do it because they enjoy it and/or they make a living at it, and it's better than any other job they could be doing. And more power to them.

But for me, the compulsion is the thing that keeps me going even when it's rough, when the doubts set in. Because the doubts will set in. Is my hero really as hawt and sexy as my CP says? Is my heroine TSTL or just plain bitchy and unlikeable? Is my amazing and clever plot really stupid and boring? And the love scenes--are they sexy and erotic and emotionally engaging or just...meh? But I'll never know the answers unless I soldier on, so I'm glad that I can keep writing, even when it hurts.

YOUR TURN: What about you? If you write, why do you it? And if you don't, do you wonder why other people do? Or wish you could?

A Whine about Taxes

2009-04-02T16:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, nothing to do with them being too much or too difficult to prepare or anything like that. But honestly, who in DOG'S name thought that it would be a good idea to have people PAY to e-file?

Hello, IRS and Franchise Tax Board--you have said on more than one occasion that efilers save the government money. Their returns require fewer hours of human manpower for processing, thereby reducing costs. And yet you still want us to pay you? Are you mad?

This year, my TurboTax software came with five free federal efiles. So I will definitely be filing my federal taxes electronically. But the state of California wants to charge me $19.95 per return. Hello, it costs me <$5 to print and mail you the bloody thing. Why would I pay you four times as much?

Talk about penny-wise and pound foolish. Sheesh. No wonder government is always broke!

Personality Types and the Internet

2009-03-31T16:40:00.000-07:00

Today at our department meeting, we were talking about various personality typing indexes. The most well-known of these is the Myers-Briggs index, which determines your personality type or style based on four "opposing" sets of characteristics:

Introverted vs Extroverted
Sensing vs iNtuition
Thinking vs Feeling
Judging vs Perceiving

These four characteristics can then be mixed and matched in up to 16 different combinations. I've taken Myers-Briggs tests numerous times, and while the first letter (I or E) seems to change depending on the mood I'm in, I almost always wind up with NTJ as my last four letters.

Which is why I was utterly astonished to discover, when I tried out this tool for analyzing a website's content based on the Myers-Briggs index, that both my main site and this blog have exactly the opposite final three letters. My sites, it seems, are all Sensing, Feeling, and Perceiving! (My website is an introvert and my blog is an extrovert, which I guess makes sense, lol.)

Anyway, I thought this was very interesting. When I tried the tool out on some of my friends sites, I was impressed by the degree to which their sites seemed to match what I think of as their personalities. Of course, some of them I only KNOW through their websites and blogs, so perhaps that doesn't mean much. Still, it was intriguing...

Anyway, if you're interested in finding out the Myers-Briggs type of your website and those of your friends, favorite authors, what have you, it's here: http://typealyzer.com.

My New Obsession: Lost in Austen

2009-03-27T13:10:00.000-07:00

Okay, I will make what may be a somewhat shocking confession: I'm really not that big of an Austen fan. Oh, I've read the biggies--Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma--but they don't draw me back for repeat reads over and over again. I've enjoyed the movie adaptations I've seen, but I haven't gone out of my way to see them. I'm more of a "if it happens to be on Masterpiece Theater and I happen to have the time" kind of girl when it comes to watching Austen movies. And I haven't had any particular desire to seek out any of the modern Austen sequels that have become so popular of late.

So, when I checked the TV menu last night and found an hour-long show called Lost in Austen was on my PBS station, I was only mildly intrigued. But there was nothing else I wanted to watch, so I decided to give it a whirl.

And, oh my goodness, am I glad I did! Lost in Austen is about a modern-day Londoner, Amanda Price, whose favorite book is Pride and Predudice. She reads it over and over again as an escape from the coarse rudeness and lack of romanticism in modern life. And then, one night, after her boyfriend proposes to her and then passes out on the couch, drunk, she hears a noise in her bathroom. When she goes to investigate, she discovers Elizabeth Bennett in her bathtub. Shortly thereafter, she and Elizabeth switch places.

I won't reveal more than that because, well, it would be a spoiler, but I think what made this so much fun for me is that it really is seeing the historical romance through the eyes of a modern woman, which is the way we read Austen and all modern romance novels with historical settings. Not to mention, it is very funny.

The entire show is made up of four one-hour episodes, and I'm already eagerly anticipating episode 2. In the meantime, I reckon I'll fire up the DVR and watch episode 1 a few times more!

I Know It's Been Quiet...

2009-03-19T12:52:00.001-07:00

But that's because I've been quietly plotting world domination...muahaha!

Well, that's not entirely true. I did spend a few weeks under a rock after my option book proposal was...well, not exactly rejected, but postponed by my editor at Kensington. I knew there was a very good possibility of that happening, but when it actually did happen, I was a bit more discouraged than I thought I'd be. Even so, the door's not locked, just temporarily closed. Prospects may be better in the fall.

In the meantime, my agent (the lovely Kevan Lyon of the newly-minted Marsal Lyon Literary Agency) and I decided the best course of action would be for me to dust off my Victorian-set single-title historical romance and finish it with the idea of shopping it during the summer. This is a book I started quite a while ago, and I really do love the characters and plot, so it's no hardship to be working on it again after the hiatus. I'm about a third of the way into the manuscript now, and hope to finish the first draft by late May or early June.

I'm also trying to slip a few smaller projects in between the cracks. Those who read and enjoyed my first contemporary novella, The Gospel of Love: According to Luke, may be pleased to know that finished the sequel, According to Matthew, last month. It's currently biding its time in the submission queue, but I hope to hear within a few more weeks whether it will be accepted for publication. I have a few other small irons on the fire, as well, including (are you ready?) a book I'm writing that's aimed at the middle grade/YA market. (Hey, I have to write something my kids can read, right?)

And in addition to all that, I'm working on promotion for Behind the Red Door, which will be out in a mere two months! (I'm still sort of breathless over that). As part of that effort, I'll be rolling out a new, improved website and blog on or about May 1. That probably means this blog will go away as I convert from Blogger to Wordpress (hmmm, I wonder if Blogger considers that admission to be filterable content?).

With everything that's going on, I'll only be posting here sporadically for the next few weeks (but hopefully a bit more than the last few!). I do promise, however, to post soon and ask you if you have any questions you'd like me to ask some of the blog guests I'm lining up for the month of May. Among those who've already accepted my invitation to guest are my agent and her partner, Jill Marsal. So, be thinking about what you'd like to ask an agent, because I'll be asking for questions soon!

Fun, Fun, Fun

2009-02-13T11:58:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow morning, I'll be getting up early and driving up to Orange County. Normally, I wouldn't be thrilled to be getting up before eight a.m. on a Saturday morning, but in this case, I'm making an exception. You see, I'm going to attend the Orange County Chapter's meeting, where I'll be sitting on a panel to talk about the epublishing industry. My friend Tessa Dare invited me in December, and I have been looking forward to it ever since.

I love being around other writers, but I don't get the opportunity very often. Getting away from my family on a Saturday, when my local chapter holds its meetings, is tough. Between our obligations to Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, and Girl Scouts and the general craziness of trying to keep up with general household chores, weekends always seem to be packed. The only reason I'm able to go up to do this panel tomorrow is that I planned WAY in advance and there was nothing on the Scouting schedule on Saturday.

Anyway, I'm expecting to meet some wonderful new people, including my fellow panelists. I'm particularly excited about meeting Jennifer Haymore, whose June 2009 release from Grand Central, looks extremely intriguing. And, of course, I'm thrilled that I get to see Tessa, whom I first met online during the Avon FanLit contest two years ago and then met in person at RWA National in Dallas the following summer. It's going to be awesome!

YOUR TURN: Have any fun plans for the weekend? Spill!

It's Raining, It's Pouring

2009-02-09T07:38:00.000-08:00

Literally. And Southern California is supposedly in the midst of a terrible drought. Go figure!

A rainy day should, of course, be the perfect sort of day to cuddle up in front of the fire with the laptop and write stories set in merry old England. Except...the firewood's all wet, the fireplace wants cleaning, and the kids are all home from school.

So much for the weather setting the mood!

YOUR TURN: Does the weather affect your writing? Or reading?

Lyric Thursday: The Pretender

2009-02-05T08:00:00.000-08:00

I'm probably showing my age by posting these lyrics, but I have to say that this is one of my favorite songs ever, and a large part of the reason I love it so much is because words literally send a shiver down my spine. To me, it's a classic example of a song with lyrics so profound and beautifully composed, it can stand with the very best poetry, with or without music.

The Pretender
copyright 1976, by Jackson Browne

I'm going to rent myself a house
In the shade of the freeway
I'm going to pack my lunch in the morning
And go to work each day
And when the evening rolls around
I'll go on home and lay my body down
And when the morning light comes streaming in
I'll get up and do it again
Amen
Say it again
Amen

I want to know what became of the changes
We waited for love to bring
Were they only the fitful dreams
Of some greater awakening
I've been aware of the time going by
They say in the end it's the wink of an eye
And when the morning light comes streaming in
You'll get up and do it again
Amen

Caught between the longing for love
And the struggle for the legal tender
Where the sirens sing and the church bells ring
And the junk man pounds his fender
Where the veterans dream of the fight
Fast asleep at the traffic light
And the children solemnly wait
For the ice cream vendor
Out into the cool of the evening
Strolls the Pretender
He knows that all his hopes and dreams
Begin and end there

Ah the laughter of the lovers
As they run through the night
Leaving nothing for the others
But to choose off and fight
And tear at the world with all their might
While the ships bearing their dreams
Sail out of sight

I'm going to find myself a girl
Who can show me what laughter means
And we'll fill in the missing colors
In each other's paint-by-number dreams
And then we'll put out dark glasses on
And we'll make love until our strength is gone
And when the morning light comes streaming in
We'll get up and do it again
Get it up again

I'm going to be a happy idiot
And struggle for the legal tender
Where the ads take aim and lay their claim
To the heart and the soul of the spender
And believe in whatever may lie
In those things that money can buy
Though true love could have been a contender
Are you there?
Say a prayer for the Pretender
Who started out so young and strong
Only to surrender

Choosing Names

2009-02-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

As I've gotten into the nitty-gritty of writing my new novel, it struck me that one of the most important things we writers do when constructing a story is to choose the names of our characters. A rose by any other name might smell as sweet, but a heroine named Rose is likelier to catch our readers' fancy than one named Skunk. (Yes, it's silly, but it illustrates the point.)

Often, I find I choose my characters names without much thought or effort. The character's personality traits just seem to "fit" a particular name, or the hero/heroine comes to me with a name before I've even thought up more of the story. (In one case, I thought up a whole series of books based on a single name, Liberty Jenkins. Not that I've had time to write it, yet!)

To me, the fact that a name can suggest a story (or a story a name) illustrates just how powerful they are to shaping what your book becomes. A heroine named Hortense or a hero named Ernest will have far greater hurdles to overcome in playing against "type" than one named Angelina or Brad. That's not to say an author can't overcome those hurdles, but that by choosing those less attractive (apologies to all Hortenses and Ernests present) names, the author sets herself up from page one with a hurdle to overcome.

In the book I'm currently working on, the heroine's name was decided before I wrote the first line. Because she appears in Sinfully Ever After, the last of the novellas in Behind the Red Door, I had to use the name I'd given her in that story. If I had known, however, that I would be giving her a book of her own, I probably wouldn't have chosen the name Marianne.

It's not that I have anything against the name Marianne. It's a pretty name. It's also a perfectly Georgian and Regency-era correct name for a lady (and there are precious few, as Jo Beverley points out here). It's just that it's not the name I would have associated with this particular character as she has evolved. That said, it's what I had to work with, so it's what I went with.

I had more leeway with the hero, since he doesn't appear in any of the other stories. I also had to provide his nephew, who plays a pivotal role in the story, and his three daughters with names that seemed to "suit" them (and, as an added bonus, might provide me with grist for more stories down the road).

As is sometimes the case, the hero's name presented itself almost immediately. Sterling. As soon as it popped into my head, I knew it was right. He's hard and a little tarnished, but with a bit of polishing, his true worth shines through.

Okay, two down, one to go.

The nephew took a little longer. I started with Benjamin, and even used it in the first draft of the first chapter, but it just wasn't working for me. I couldn't say why, I just knew it wasn't the name that character wanted and needed. I knew the name needed to start with a B (again, there's no rhyme or reason to why I thought that...I just did!), so I kept trying and the name that kept coming to me was Bernard. It's perhaps a little nerdy sounding, but for this character, that fits. Not that he's nerdy exactly, but...well, let's just see if someone actually decides to publish the book and you can find out for yourself!

YOUR TURN: Are the names of the characters in a book important to you? Will you deliberately pass over a book because you don't like the name of the hero/heroine? Pick up a book specifically because you like the names? And if you're a writer, how do you choose your characters' names?

Is Erotica Irreligious?

2009-02-03T08:00:00.001-08:00

Sometimes, events conspire to occur in such a way that it's nearly impossible to believe life is in any way random.

So it was at church this Sunday when the sermon title was "Sex and the Bible." Given that there's been a bit of dust-up between the erotic and inspirational factions of RWA over the RITAs (again) this past week (you can get the gist from this post on Kate Rothwell's blog), it seemed almost surreal that our pastor would have chosen to address this topic in such a timely (and entirely satisfactory) fashion.

I won't go into the details of his sermon, but I walked without a smile on my face. For those who feel "on-screen" sex is incompatible with "Christian" values, I point to:

1) The Song of Solomon

2) The Ecstasy of St. Teresa by Bernini

I rest my case.

Why RWA Needs to Revisit PAN Eligibility Rules

2009-02-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

Last week, Emily Veinglory reprinted a fantastically perceptive Absolute Write forum post by Xandra Gregory, a Liquid Silver Books author, on the EREC blog about RWA's current rules for Published Author Network (PAN) eligibility. I hope Xandra (whom I've never met) won't mind my reproducing here what I think is the most interesting and salient point of her post:

RWA's biggest problems stem from the dual need it has to both encourage its members in their careers (providing markets, growing readership and increasing visibility for the genre, etc.) and act as a guardian/advocate against the career paths that take undue advantage of authors. For starters, there's just no real good way to do that except on a case-by-case basis. RWA's best intentions are setting up an environment where the organization "norms" include a career path that enables a writer to earn decent money, see his or her books in places where they can be bought by customers, and retain reasonable rights to his or her intellectual property.

What this does is sets up a tacit approval of the "proper" way a career should progress. What this fails to do is take into account new markets, emerging markets, or "breakout" situations where an author can expand the reach of romance, grow her audience, or explore new methods of getting stories in front of people and getting money for said stories.

This is a perfect assessment of the "devil and the deep blue sea" dilemma in which RWA has found itself. Any set of rules it defines for determining what constitutes a "professional" career path for a romance author will inevitably result in some very professional authors falling through the cracks.

But there are ways RWA could improve the definition to better identify and distinguish between members who are making a serious effort at building a publishing career versus those who are primarily hobbyists. This isn't to say that I think all writers who have yet to receive a publishing contract aren't serious about having a publishing career, but to say that I think the RWA PRO designation does a pretty good job of identifying those people. (For those not "in the know," a member can apply for PRO status by submitting a copy of a completed manuscript and evidence that said manuscript has been queried to an agent or editor.)

While I'm sure my suggestions won't meet with universal agreement (nothing ever does), I think they are a darn sight more fair and realistic than the current rules. With that in mind, here are four (IMO) modest proposals:

The income eligibility guidelines should be scaleable based on the length of the published/contracted work. At present, an author must earn a minimum of $1k, either in the form of advance or royalties, on a single published novel or novella. This is patently absurd because an author who earns $500 on a single 20,000 words novella is clearly getting a better rate of return on her work than one who earns $1,000 on a 100,000 word novel.

Recognize authors of short stories (works under 20,000 words) into the "published" club, again using the sliding scale for payment. I know authors who have earned upwards of $2,000 on short stories in the 15,000-19,999 word range, yet because those stories don't qualify as novellas, RWA doesn't allow them to enter PAN. That's just silly, IMO.

The requirement that the minimum income threshhold must be met on a "single work" within 18 months of publication should be revised. The epublishing model works best for authors who put out multiple, relatively short works in a calendar year. As the author builds readership, sales build steadily for her backlist, which allows her to increase her income over the years as new readers discover her and purchase her backlist. Moreover, I would argue that the epubbed author with multiple releases over several years has clearly established a pattern of publication that indicates she is serious about pursuing a writing career. In fact, I believe I could make the case that the multi-published epubbed author has a better "career" in publishing than the print author who received a single two-book contract five years ago but has never sold since (and that's not making any judgments about why that author hasn't sold again--it may be by choice or by fiat, but the principle holds either way).

Authors who do not meet these eligibility criteria should be permitted to enter the Golden Heart. If they are not "professional" enough as writers to be recognized as such by one set of criteria as published, their publication credits should not count against them when it comes to the premier unpublished contest.¹

I believe that adopting these proposals would go a long way toward meeting the needs of RWA's published members. If RWA truly believes in advocating and supporting its members' publishing careers, it can't continue to be blind to the changing landscape of publishing and the new ways iin which savvy authors are working new markets and new models to their advantage.

¹This doesn't mean that I think the RITA must be restructured to allow all members who are published to enter it. After all, not all unpublished members can enter the Golden Heart, either. To enter the Golden Heart, the member must have a completed novel-length manuscript. If a member's manuscript is either unfinished or less than 40k in length, she's out of luck. So, I have no particular problem with the notion that a published author can only enter the RITA if her book meets the contest's requirements, including by being bound in print by the publisher.

When the Pieces Fall Together

2009-01-30T08:00:00.000-08:00

When I tell other authors that I write historical, one of the more common responses I get (assuming they don't write historical themselves) is something along the lines of "Oh, I've always wanted to write a historical, but the all the research and the accuracy and the details are just too intimidating." They prefer to write contemporaries, set in a world they already know, or perhaps paranormals, where they not only get to do a lot of world-building but also get to make all the rules for how the world works. After all, if you write a book set in a fantasy world of your own creation, no one can come along and complain later that you got some fact about that world wrong :).¹

But one of the things that I find most rewarding about writing historicals is making the details of a story match the actual facts of the period. Sometimes, this can be a real challenge. Other times, it almost seems as if the gods are smiling down upon you and granting you a historical fact so pertinent and perfect, you wonder if the annals of history haven't been altered just to suit your book.

Such a thing happened to me today. The book I'm currently working on is set in 1817 during the London (and Parliamentary) Season. My hero is a duke and takes his responsibility in the House of Lords quite seriously, attending sessions with near religious zeal. (As an added bonus, this devotion to duty keeps him busy enough that his absence from most Society functions, which he prefers to avoid, is mostly unremarked by his peers.)

In the next scene in the book, however, I wanted him to be sitting in Parliament, listening to arguments over a bill--a bill he and his block would normally vote against. But, because he is so distracted by recent events involving the heroine, he quite loses track of the discussion and inadvertently votes in favor of something he finds reprehensible. The question was...what could that bill be? I wanted to find a bill that was actually put up to a vote during the legislative session of 1817, and I wanted it to be something my hero should obviously not favor. And I didn't want to have to order a book from Amazon and wait a week or more for it to be delivered. I need to write this scene today, not sometime in February. Unfortunately, I wasn't having much luck finding what I needed, even using the awesome Google Books search feature.

Thanks to The Beau Monde's wonderful Yahoo loop, which is populated with people who really know their stuff, and the amazing Nancy Mayer in particular, I was able to find exactly what I was looking for. She pointed me toward the Annual Register, which covered the political and cultural events of each year. I found the perfect bill for my hero to vote for by accident. Even better, it was brought to a third reading and vote on June 19th, which was a Thursday. And as it happens, the events which have so distracted him occured, according to what I've already written, on a Wednesday.

Squee! I can't wait to write the scene!

YOUR TURN: How about you? Do you love research? Hate it? Do historical details like this even matter to you? Do tell!

¹I have been known to point out logical inconsistencies in the rules for a paranormal world, however. If, for example, you say at one point that it is totally impossible for a werewolf to impregnate a human, you had better not come along later and get your human heroine pregnant by your werewolf hero. Ahem. I digress.

It's Nailbiting Time Again!

2009-01-29T07:32:00.001-08:00

Last week, I sent my option book proposal to my agent (the uber-fabulous Kevan Lyon) and sweated for what seemed like days on end. Would she like it? Would she like it but think it needed major revisions to be saleable? What if it was so bad, I had to start over from scratch? (Having already started over once, I was in no mood to do so again!)

I would claim to be the queen of AIS (Author Insecurity Syndrome) if I didn't know quite a few other writers who suffer from forms of the same malady. No matter how much our critique partners, agents, editors, and/or readers tell us they love our work, we still worry that this time, we've managed to produce the stinker that outstinks them all. I like to tell myself that this particular trait is what keeps me honest as a writer--it makes me work hard to produce the best possible story I can and to never be satisfied with a mediocre effort. The truth, however, is that it's probably more self-defeating than anything else, since it all too often paralyzes me.

So, suffice it to say that I angsted over my agent's response to my proposal until I heard back from her yesterday. She found a few typos and one place where a POV character's thoughts weren't entirely clear, but other than that, she thought it was ready to go. I cleaned up the errors, added a few lines to the problem scene to clarify, and sent it back. And last night, she sent it off to my editor.

In other words, I just traded one week of nailbiting for (up to) six more while we wait to hear whether my editor wants to make an offer on the book or not.

Yes, I'll keep you posted.

YOUR TURN: What's keeping you up nights? The economy? Global warming? The Israeli-Palestinian crisis? Tell me all and remind me that this is small potatoes!

The Meaning of "Published"

2009-01-21T08:45:00.001-08:00

If you're a member of RWA (Romance Writers of America) or are at least tangentially interested in the organization, you're probably aware that it sponsors two annual contests for writers:

The Golden Heart: For completed, uncontracted manuscripts in one the romance/YA genres by authors who are not published in novella or novel-length fiction.

The Rita: For published romance novels and novellas (though novella is its own category) with a first print run in the past calendar year (i.e., the Rita in 2009 will be presented to a book first published in 2008).

There has, for some time, been a bit of heartburn on the part of epublished authors that, due to the print requirement of the Rita, they are ineligible to enter either contest. But this year, the low, slow burn has been fanned into a full-blown conflagration by the addition of these words to the Rita eligibility guidelines:

Be mass-produced by a non-Subsidy, non-Vanity Publisher in print book format.

The "mass-produced" is the problem.

First, this wording is completely vague. How many copies must be printed in order for the book to be "mass-produced"? Without any clarity on that subject, how is an author to determine whether or not her book qualifies for the Rita? In fact, a fair number of people entered their books in the contest only to be informed that their book didn't meet the "mass-produced" requirement.

But second, why should it matter? It's pretty clear that this clause is designed primarily to eliminate print-on-demand books from the competition, but I have yet to understand why that is either necessary or desirable.

The reason this has caused massive unrest and anger, I think, is that epublished authors were willing to accept (if sometimes grudgingly) that the Rita is a contest for print books and that their ineligibility was solely a format issue. But when RWA moved to exclude some print books as well, it looked suspiciously like the rules had nothing to do with format and everything to do with trying to limit the competition to books published by major New York houses. And that, in turn, looked suspiciously like a statement that authors published by epublishers (with or without print programs) and small presses aren't "published" at all.

This brings me back to the eligibility guidelines for the Golden Heart. The manuscript must be uncontracted at the time it's entered and the author must not have published a fictional work of 20,000 or more words with a non-vanity, non-subsidy publisher. No problem, right? Except--here's the kicker--an author could be eligible to join RWA's published author network (PAN) by virtue of having earned $1,000 or more on a single work in the romance genre, and yet remain eligible for the Golden Heart because that published work was under 20,000 words!

My first published manuscript was just shy of 15,000 words, and therefore, qualified as a short story, not a novella. While I didn't earn the $1,000 minimum for PAN membership on it, Harlequin's Spice Briefs program offers (I've heard; maybe it's not true!) advances in the range of $1,000 for stories under 15k in length, and I did (belatedly) get an offer on that manuscript from them. In other words, I could have earned the PAN minimum on a short story, yet remained eligible for the Golden Heart.

/blink

Now, I've heard some authors argue that PAN eligibility and Rita eligibility have nothing to do one another, and rightly so. After all, I'm a PAN member now, but my print book isn't eligible for the 2008 Rita because it doesn't come out until May of 2009. It would be ridiculous for me to bellyache that I can't enter because my book's not out yet.

Notwithstanding the accuracy of that observation, the fact remains that what's getting up people's noses here less to do with the Rita than with what it means to be "published." Authors who have been offered a contract for publication by a non-vanity, non-subsidy publisher want (by and large; I imagine there are exceptions) to be considered published by the professional organization to which they belong--and they want that regardless of how long the manuscript is, how much money they've earned from its publication, or what format(s) it was released in.

The current system for PAN eligibility is, IMO, both unnecessarily invasive and unfairly restrictive. To join, authors must submit proof of their earnings (in the form of either royalties or an advance or a combination of the two) on a single published work over a period of 18 months. RWA's argument in favor of the earnings clause is twofold:

1) It establishes the notion that money should flow from the publisher to the author, not the other way around.

2) RWA wants to support the idea of professional writers; that is, writers who earn a decent income from their work.

I think those are both worthy goals. The problem is that the non-vanity, non-subsidy clause already makes #1 clear. And as for #2--the percentage of published authors who earn sufficient income from their writing to do it as a full-time job is very, very small. It's greater than zero, but my understand is that the majority of published authors either have a wage-earning spouse/partner or work a day job in addition to writing. Writing has never been a "get rich quick" scheme, and it never will be.

Furthermore, requiring that authors earn a minimum of $1,000 on a single work to be treated as published ignores and excludes many epublished authors who actually are making a living from their writing. These authors have multiple books, none of which individually breaks the $1,000 threshhold but which, together, easily provide $10,000 or more in income each year. These authors are, IMO, as "professional" and "published" as an author who has received a $10,000 advance on a two-book contract from a NY house, yet they are excluded from being treated as such by the very organization that claims to represent their interests!

In the end, it isn't about whether or not an author can enter the Rita; it's about receiving a modicum of respect for what you've accomplished. Published ought to mean "published." And I am radical enough to think that a short story writer is just as published as a novella or novel writer. Brokeback Mountain is a short story--does anyone really think it's less worthy of recognition as a "published" work because it's less than 20,000 words long?

I honestly believe that resolving the issue of what constitutes a "published author" would go a long, long way to resolving the internecine battles within RWA over the Rita. Granted, it won't make the "print" vs. "ebook" problem go away, but that is going to go away in the next twenty years or so, regardless of what RWA does. Because print is on the way out as the primary method of distribution for books; ebooks are the future.

But that's another post!

Lyric Thurs--er, Saturday: B Side of Life by Timbuk 3

2009-01-17T13:42:00.000-08:00

Okay, I really intended to do this on Thursday, but the problem is, these lyrics seem to exist nowhere on the Internet. Which is kind of amazing, if you think about it. I thought EVERY song in the universe had lyrics posted on the 'Net.

Anyway, I may be breaking some sort of rule, but I don't care. I just love the poignant, incisive way this song takes on both the up and downsides of being rich and famous. Not that I ever expect to be either, but maybe that's why I like it so much. I, too, am happy enough on the B side of life!

The B Side of Life
by Pat and Barbara MacDonald

Grandma, do you recognize me?
Course you don’t, I’m nobody,
I have no money, I have no name,
I tear the tickets at the Hall of Fame.

I buy my dinner at the 7-11,
Eat it in the kitchen while I watch TV.
I like my free time and I love my wife.
You’ll find my number on the B side of life.

Once I got lucky, I had a band.
We had a song, it got to number three.
Made lots of money, made lots of friends,
Had lots of pretty people hanging ‘round me.
Now all I want is a place to hide,
To feel safe from the chaos outside.
A cold refrigerator, a warm bed,
A place where no one will stick a gun to my head.

I buy my dinner at the 7-11,
Eat it in the kitchen while I watch TV.
I like my free time and I love my wife.
We’re happy living on the B side of life

We had the key to the city,
But the rooms it did unlock,
Were full of overpriced portraits,
Engaged in cheap small talk.

So turn out the lights, turn up the radio.
Don’t know the singer, but I love that song
I know that I’m no Barishnikov, baby
But I want to dance with you all night long.

I’ll buy you dinner at the 7-11,
We’ll eat it in the kitchen while we watch TV.
Tonight’s my birthday, let’s have a party,
I’m thirty with a bullet on the B side of life

The Return of Lyric Thursday: Jane by Barenaked Ladies

2009-01-08T07:00:00.000-08:00

I used to do a feature in bygone days that I called Lyric Thursday. I stopped doing it because...well, because I got lazy.

But a few minutes ago, the song that tangentially inspired large parts of the plot and conflict in Sinfully Ever After, the third of the novellas in Behind the Red Door, and I felt the sudden need to bring it back. So, for your lyric-reading pleasure today, I present Jane by Barenaked Ladies.

Jane
by Stephen Duffy/Steven Page
copyright 1994 Sire Records Company

The girl works at the store, sweet Jane St. Clair
Was dazzled by her smile while I shopped there
It wasn't long before I lived with her
I sang her songs while she dried my hair

Jane, divided, but I can't decide which side I'm on
Jane decided only cowards stay, while traitors run
Jane, Jane

I'd bring her gold and frankincense and myrrh
She thought that I was making fun of her
She made me feel I was fourteen again
That's why she thinks it's cooler if we'd just stay friends
Jane doesn't think a man could ever be faithful
Jane isn't giving me a chance to be shameful

Jane, Jane

I wrote a letter, she should have got it yesterday
That life could be better by being together
Is what I cannot explain to Jane

The girl works at the store, sweet Jane St. Clair
Still dazzled by her smile while I shoplift there
No promises as vague as Heaven
No Juliana next to my Evan
Jane, desired by the people at her school and work
Jane is tired, 'cause every man becomes a lovesick jerk

Jane, Jane

Squee!

2009-01-05T12:31:00.001-08:00

Since she FINALLY posted the announcement on the Mavens blog today, I can finally stop biting my tongue and tell you all that my dear friend and critique partner Erica Ridley sold her Regency-set gothic mystery/paranormal romance, TOUCHED, to Kensington Books in a two-book deal. Even better, we both have the same editor (John Scognamiglio). How awesome is that?

And since the book is freaking fabulous, I am even more assured of my editor's amazing and wonderful taste ;).

Woohoo! Party time. Can't wait to see her with that gorgeous First Sale ribbon at next year's conference!

Why You Should Never Plan a Home Improvement Project before Christmas

2008-12-24T12:48:00.000-08:00

Yes, I've been very quiet the past few weeks. I had a release yesterday (Unwrap My Heart came out at Cobblestone Press as the last 12 Days of Christmas release), but I didn't have time to celebrate or promote because since Saturday, we have been doing THIS:

That's right, for some reason, Mr. Barbosa and I had this fabulous plan to replace all our old, disgusting carpet with hardwood floors the weekend before Christmas. We THOUGHT that pulling out the old carpet and entry tile and painting would be the most time-consuming part of the task. That took two weekends plus a couple of evenings. We thought installing the new floor would be, at most, a weekend and perhaps another half a day.

Oh my, how wrong we were! It MIGHT have been that fast IF we had had an electric or pneumatic floor nailer and if we were experienced at this and if we didn't have an entry and a closet and a stairwell to deal with. But we rented a hand nailer, my friends. Add to that all the precision cutting (just look at the inside of the closet!) and it took us all of Saturday, most of Sunday, all of Monday, and most of yesterday just to get HALF the room done. We decided yesterday to stop where we were because to continue, we'd have to disconnect the TV completely for the duration of the Christmas holiday (and that is simply a non-starter when there are DVDs under the tree).

I will say, what's done looks positively gorgeous. I couldn't be more thrilled. But I also couldn't be more exhausted and we still have half a room to do. At least in theory, this is the easy half, and the total distance from one side of the room to the other is less. And I must also say that I had no idea my living room was so freaking huge!

In any event, with weekends and evenings dedicated to this project, no Christmas shopping was done as of last night. I went out after dinner and tackled some of it, then polished off the remainder this morning. Sometime between now and tomorrow, I have to mop my kitchen floor (it's disgusting) and clean the guest bathroom (also disgusting). And finish wrapping the presents.

Oh, and did I mention we don't have a Christmas tree yet? Yes, there is much to do.

So, the moral of the story is, don't tackle major home improvement projects before Christmas. Even if you think they're minor. Just don't. Trust me, you'll be glad you didn't.

Oh, and just for fun, here's a couple of pictures of the Barbosa kids with a couple of the Barbosa cats...

Unwrap My Heart

2008-12-09T14:26:00.000-08:00

I have one more novella coming from Cobblestone Press this year. Unwrap My Heart, a contemporary Christmas-themed story about a woman who gets a chance to experience the life she passed up, will be released on December 23.

Because I really enjoy doing them, I created a book video for the story. Check it out:

You can also read an excerpt here.

Swoon

2008-12-04T14:26:00.000-08:00

When It's Not Working...

2008-12-04T11:09:00.000-08:00

I've been working on my proposal for my Kensington option book for the past couple of weeks. I'd hoped to have it turned in to my agent before Thanksgiving, but a nasty head cold set me back a bit, so I modified my estimate to the middle of this week, thinking by then I'd surely have it finished.

How wrong I was!

I'd written the synopsis, and the partial was coming along swimmingly well until I hit the 8,000 word mark. All of a sudden, I found I couldn't write the next (and last) scene for the partial. I knew where it was to take place and what needed to happen. But for the life of me, I couldn't write it. Oh, I tried. A few hundred words here, a few hundred there. But they were boring, going nowhere words. I'd write something and scrap it. Write something else and scrap that. It was getting more than a little discouraging.

It took me three long days of spinning my wheels to realize what I should have known as soon as I hit the scene I couldn't write--I'd already taken a wrong turn in the story. I just didn't realize it because the scene in which I took the wrong turn occurred very early in the book (scene 2, in fact) and I loved what I wrote like a Hummer owner loves $1.75 a gallon gas. I couldn't see it as a wrong turn because the scene itself was solid and...well, it was one of my darlings. But it took the plot in a direction that just did not work. And so, it...and much of what follows, has to go.

I spent yesterday afternoon blubbering to my CP Emma Petersen's about how the story sucked like a hopped-up Hoover and I was doomed to failure. And then, after I got through the second stages of grief and accepted that the story as constructed was dead, I asked, "How can I fix it?"

We then had a FABULOUS brainstorming session and, within fifteen minutes, I had come up with a (I like to think) brilliant way to retool the storyline. Yes, it meant killing my darling second scene and significant portions of the manuscript thereafter. It means reworking the hero's internal conflict significantly. It means reworking the heroine's conflict somewhat as well. It means all but maybe 1.5k of what I've already written is toast. (There's one 2k scene that will probably stay, but it may not make it into the 10k partial, depending on how many words I expend on the new scenes.)

But, it's a story I now feel excited to write. One I really believe in.

So, is there a moral to this story? For me, it's that writer's block is a symptom of having taken a wrong turn BEFORE the writer's block hits. When I'm in the throes of it, I have a tendency to think it means something wrong with the scene I'm trying to write. The reality, however, is usually that the block is a symptom of a larger problem that occurred earlier in the book. When it happens, instead of wasting time trying to make this new scene work, I need to re-examine everything I've written thus far and figure out where I went wrong. Even if it means killing my darlings. Even if it means trashing thousands of words. Even if it means rethinking the story essentially from scratch. Because once you've gone off the rails, all you end up with if you keep driving is a train wreck!

P.S. Rumor has it a color copy of the cover for Behind the Red Door will be arriving in my inbox soon. I promise to post as soon as I have it!

Another Teaser

2008-11-25T15:10:00.000-08:00

And thanks to my dear friend Tessa Dare (whose fabulous debut novel, Goddess of the Hunt, will be released by Ballantine in July of 2009), I am pleased to announce that Behind the Red Door is now available for preorder at Amazon.

Woohoo!

A Teaser

2008-11-21T18:41:00.001-08:00

My bud Amie Stuart dug this up for me this morning:

I know, it's pixellated and black and white, but OMG, swoon...it's GORGEOUS. Can't WAIT to see the "real" thing!

A New Release, A New Newsletter, A Freebie, and Time Is Running Out!

2008-11-15T09:39:00.000-08:00

It really is true that there's no rest for the wicked! Every time I feel I'm getting caught up, something like this happens:

That's right, Comrades in Arms was released yesterday by Cobblestone Press to much fanfare, tooting of horns, and throwing of confetti. (Okay, maybe I exaggerate a little. I didn't actually see any confetti being thrown.)

I have to admit, this was an extra exciting release day for me because I shared it with none other than the legendary Piers Anthony! Let's face it, that is pretty darned cool. For the whole story of how Anthony came to contract his own Wicked with Cobblestone Press, check out his post on the Cobblestone Authors blog. It's very interesting reading.

Okay, so that's the new release news. Since I last posted writing news, I've also signed the contracts for my Cobblestone 12 Days of Christmas novella, Unwrap My Heart. No cover art yet, but I promise to be prompt in doing so when I receive it.

I like to think of the plot of Unwrap My Heart as It's a Wonderful Life in reverse: instead of finding out awful life would have been if she'd never been born, my heroine finds out how wonderful her life could be had she made some different choices. Here's the blurb:

Holly Ackerman has scratched and clawed her way into the position as an anchorwoman at a local TV station, but along the way, she's passed up marriage and family. Now, on Christmas Eve, which is also her forty second birthday, she can feel all she's worked so hard to achieve slipping away. When an unbelievable encounter with a very real Santa Claus gives her a second chance at love, she must decide whether to give up her hard-won past for a storybook future.

I really enjoyed writing this story, which pestered me for months before I finally had the time to put it on the page, and I hope you'll like it, too. I don't have a precise release date, yet, but I know it will be sometime between December 12 and December 23.

With everything that's going on these days, I've decided it's finally time to break down and do a quarterly newsletter. I haven't exactly been resisting it, but I'll admit that the logistics had me a bit bamboozled. But having chatted with some other writers who do regular newsletters, I think I've got the basics down.

As an incentive to sign up for the newsletter, I'll be entering all the names I get before the end of the month into a drawing to receive a free copy of either Comrades in Arms or Unwrap My Heart (winner's choice).

In addition, everyone who signs up before Christmas will receive, free of charge, the Twelve Days of Christmas Anthology collected and edited by my dear friend Leanne Karella (who doubles as Anna Leigh Keaton). The anthology features twelve short, romantic stories by a wonderful slate of authors:

Kate Austin
Brandi Broughton

Leanne Karella

Shonna Brannon

Diana Bold

Deborah Schneider

Mandy M. Roth

Sheryl Hoyt

Kay Gregory

Susan MacPherson

Michelle M. Pillow

Oh, and of course, yours truly.

So, use that button over there on the right hand side of the page to hurry and sign up. Remember, if you join by the end of November, you'll be entered in a drawing to receive your choice of Comrades in Arms or Unwrap My Heart, and everyone who enters before Christmas will receive the free anthology.

Last, but certainly not least, I want to mention that Wickedly Ever After will go off sale at the end of next week (or a few days thereafter). The novella will be the first in my Kensington anthology, along with two new novellas titled Scandalously Ever After and Sinfully Ever After. So, if you don't buy it from Cobblestone Press before the end of the week, you won't have a chance to see it again until June of 2009! Hurry, hurry, hurry!

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

2008-11-06T12:14:00.000-08:00

I usually shy away from posting political commentary on my blog, but in the wake of Tuesday's historic election, I can't keep my thoughts to myself.

First, I am beyond thrilled by Barack Obama's victory. As a lifelong Democrat who doesn't think "liberal" is a dirty word, I'm pretty much always delighted when the Democratic candidate wins, and there certainly hasn't been a lot to celebrate on that front for the past eight years. And of course, there's no denying the cultural and moral significance of Americans' willingness to elect a black man as President of the United States.

But to me, Barack Obama is symbolic of something much more important and fundamental than either the return of common-sense progressive politics or the possibility of a truly post-racial America. No, the real breakthrough here is that Americans elected a person of relatively humble origins who truly earned every single one of his achievements through the application of intelligence, determination, and personal charisma.

I suppose it could be argued that Bill Clinton was cut from similar cloth with regard to personal biography, but he is a white man. The fact that Obama was able to win the presidency based on his merits despite his ethnic heritage (and notably, one of his parents was not an American citizen, which I think is unprecedented) says something profound about the possibility of our country becoming a true meritocracy.

And all I can say to that is halleluia! When voting, may we now truly measure the content of our politicians' character rather than the color of their skin or their gender or the depths of their daddies' pocketbooks or the number of American war heroes they can claim in their ancestry. Because in the end, I don't care who your parents are or what they did; I want to know who you are and what you will do.

Giddy as I am about the results of the presidential election, however, I am monumentally saddened by my fellow Californians' vote to overturn the right of same-sex couples to marry. The irony could not be deeper. On the day we broke a hole in the Berlin wall of racial division, we put up another one, affirming our right to discriminate against people who are different from us by a different measure of difference.

In my never to be humble opinion, the campaign against Proposition 8 was shameless in its fear-mongering. Over and over, they warned us that children would be taught about gay marriage against their parents' religious or moral objections (with the unspoken but obvious implication that our kids are in danger of being recruited to the "dark side" if they find out that same-sex marriage is legal). They told us churches would lose their tax-exempt status or be barred from operating publicly funded charities if they failed to perform same-sex weddings. Most vile though less obviously fear-mongering, they claimed that gay couples have all the rights of marriage because California has a domestic partnership law. Anyone recall Brown v. Board of Education? Separate can never be equal.

And yet, I retain a certain measure of hope and faith. Why? Because, in the deepest irony of all, our children are already comfortable with same-sex marriage. Now, no one polled the <18 crowd (sadly--the measure might have been defeated if they had; ), but people under 30 apparently voted strongly against the ban. (I haven't been able to find any statistics from exit polls, but if I do, I'll let you know.) So clearly, our kids have been hearing the message for some time now that homosexuality is not a characteristic on which it's okay to discriminate, any more than race or gender or eye color or shoe size.

It's no surprise, either. In my parents' generation, people rarely revealed their sexuality, and often entered heterosexual marriages solely to foster the impression that they were straight, leading to many an unhappy marriage and more than a few divorces--those are so good for kids. NOT. In my generation (I was born at the tag end of the baby boon), people really started coming out of the closet and tolerance has risen accordingly, although it's certainly by no means universal.

But in the generations after mine, openly gay people are a fact of life. My kids' generation has never known a time when homosexuality wasn't just...there, a natural part of the tapestry of their world. My son and his friends, who are between 11 and 12, were universally unperturbed by the notion of same-sex marriage and also said it wouldn't affect their choice about whether to marry a man or a woman when they grew up--duh! Would that their parents and parents' parents were so sensible.

In another thirty years or so, the majority of voters in California and the country as a whole will come from the post-sexual generation (for lack of a better term). Which pretty much guarantees that the march to equality hasn't been stopped, only delayed. I and many others would have liked to see it come sooner, but justice deferred is, I suppose, better than no justice at all.

Pot Pourri

2008-10-30T20:30:00.000-07:00

Yes, I've been very quiet lately. There just hasn't been much to talk about. Which is kind of a relief! However, with November fast approaching, I do have a few fun things to share.

First up, I've decided to sign up to do Nanowrimo this year. I have my doubts that I can actually be a winner (which requires writing 50k in a month--my current maximum production in a month is about 35k), but it's great motivation and I've got projects I really want to complete. If you're doing Nano, please buddy me...I'm there under the user name Jackie_Barbosa.

I'm also (partially simultaneously) doing Seventy Days of Sweat. The seventy days starts November 10 and ends January 26 (they built in an extra week for the holidays--wasn't that sweet of them?). The goal is a minimum of 60k, which should be a lot more doable than 50k in one month.

Between Sven and Nano, I'm hoping to get a great jump start on my single title historical, as well as perhaps polish off a couple of smaller projects on the side. (Yes, I'm promiscuous when it comes to WIPs!)

Finally, I have a new release coming out with Cobblestone Press on Friday, November 14. Comrades in Arms is an erotic short story set at the end of the Peninsular Wars. Here's the blurb:

Amid the horrors of war, Lieutenant Heath Wetherill has found comfort in the arms of his commanding officer, Lord Charles Langdon. But now, the war has ended, and the two men must return to their civilian lives as upstanding members of the British nobility. There’s no room for their torrid, illicit affair in stodgy old Mother England, especially not with Charles’s wife waiting for him.

But Lady Isabella isn’t a conventional ton wife, and theirs isn’t a conventional ton marriage. Maybe there’s hope for a happy ending, after all.

And here is the beautiful cover, done by the lovely and talented Bree Bridges:

I love the intensity of the expression of the man on the left. He's Charles to a T. And the guy on the right--a very yummy version of Heath.

And the blonde in the middle? She's one damn lucky lady, that's all I have to say! Who wouldn't want to be caught between these two hotties?

But, of course, I couldn't be satisfied with mere cover art when I could have a book video. I have to say, the whole process of creating them can really be quite addictive.

Of course, you can spend (i.e., waste) oodles and oodles of time looking for images that fit your story and even more trying to find just the right music. And when you do, you squeal like a three-year-old girl who's just received her first Barbie.

So, after a few days of procrastination, a few dollars on images, and an hour at http://www.freeplaymusic.com/, I bring you:

Quick Check-In

2008-10-06T16:55:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know I've been remarkably remiss in posting of late. If you've cruised by the Mavens blog recently, then you'll know I managed to complete Behind the Red Door and submit it to my editor on October 1st. This afternoon, I received confirmation that the book has been accepted, without revisions (though there will be copy edits and galleys, of course), and is scheduled to be released in June, 2009.

Woot!

Now, it's onward and upward. I'm writing a couple of shorts and then I'll be getting started on the proposal for my option book, which I can submit in 30 days from today. Since I have to write three chapters and a synopsis, I may not be ready to send anything until the middle of November, but it's nice to have a target date in mind.

For the next couple of days, I'll be off to San Antonio for the day job. The last time I was there was nearly twenty years ago, when I went to an SCCA conference there with my father (who passed away in 1998). I have very fond memories of that trip and am looking forward to a stroll down memory lane at the River Walk on Wednesday afternoon/evening.

YOUR TURN: Whatcha doing this week? Any fun plans?

Random Post

2008-09-30T15:16:00.000-07:00

I'm 1,200 words (give or take a few hundred) from the end of the third Red Door novella. It's due tomorrow. And yes, I'm going to make it!

That said, I had to share this from the Online Etymology Dictionary.

shrapnel
1806, from Gen. Henry Shrapnel (1761-1842), who invented a type of exploding, fragmenting shell when he was a lieutenant in the Royal Artillery during the Peninsular War. The invention consisted of a hollow cannon ball, filled with shot, which burst in mid-air; his name for it was spherical case ammunition. Sense of "shell fragments" is first recorded 1940. The surname is attested from 13c., and is believed to be a metathesized form of Charbonnel, a dim. form of O.Fr. charbon "charcoal," in ref. to complexion, hair color, or some other quality.

Who knew?

Upping the Ante

2008-09-22T11:03:00.000-07:00

Well, the work-in-progress is currently sitting at a little over 12,000 words. The minimum word count for it is 25,000. Which means 1,000 words per day just isn't going to cut it.

So, as of today, the daily word count goal is doubled to 2,000 words per day.

Eep! Better get crackin'!

Playing Catch-Up

2008-09-20T09:35:00.000-07:00

I fell way short of my goal the past couple of days due to a raging head cold complicated by allergies. It's hard to write anything lucid, much less sexy, when you've got some fiend poking you in the temple with a sharp stick and you're either sneezing or blowing your nose constantly.

I've got my work cut out for me, but there is no try, only do!

YOUR TURN: How's it going? Cheer me up with all your wonderful stories of progress and success!

30k in 30 Days Challenge--Update

2008-09-15T10:55:00.000-07:00

Cross-posted from the Mavens' blog.

I planned to check in a little more often than this, but actually doing the writing seemed to eat up most of my time. (Wonder how that could have happened?) I have been managing to update my daily word count over there on the right, but that's about it for updates so far.

So, yesterday marked Day 15 of the challenge. I'm a little shy of 15k at this point, but that's primarily because yesterday was Sunday, and Sundays are always iffy for writing (this funny little thing called "family time" seems to get in the way, lol).

The good news, however, is that this method seems to be working. Making sure I sit down and write every single day with a specific goal in mind has made a huge difference in my productivity. When I do get a good, solid block of time, I am writing faster and more efficiently, and finding it not that hard to meet or even exceed the 1,000 word goal.

Which is a good thing, because I've now completed two of the three novellas that are due on October 1, and it's going to take me more than 1,000 words per day to finish the one I'm writing now. My math tells me I now have to average 1,400 words to write THE END on that one by September 29, the last day of the challenge, giving me a whopping ONE DAY to polish it up before sending it in. Am I worried? Nah! I'm freaking terrified. LOL.

YOUR TURN: Update us on your writing progress for the last fifteen days. If you're in on the challenge, how's it going? If you're not, what are your current goals and how are things coming along? Remember, we love to hear from you, even if we are pretty quiet ourselves!

The 30K in 30 Days Challenge

2008-08-31T15:23:00.000-07:00

X-posted from the Mavens blog.

Since I last posted right before leaving for the RWA National Convention, I've been swamped by the day job. My company holds a conference for its clients every year in late August or early September (depending on when we can get the hotel), and I'm a major contributor to the effort. This year, I gave four presentations, none of which were remotely close to being developed at the beginning of this month. I had four weeks to get my act together, and believe me, I needed every one of those weeks.

So NOW, I have another deadline looming over me. I've promised all three of the Red Door novellas by October 1st. The first novella is (thankfully) already complete, but the second and third are sitting at 5,000 words (of a projected 25K) and roughly 20.5K (or a projected 30K). Soooo, to finish and ship the printed manuscript off to New York in time, I've got to write an average of 1,000 words per day for the next thirty days.

That's more than doable, of course. But since I've been "out of the saddle" for a full month now, it seems more than a bit daunting. And so, in an effort to motivate myself, I'm setting down the 30K in 30 Days Challenge. My friend and critique partner, Emma Petersen, even created this graphic you can post on your blog or website if you decide to jump on the bandwagon:

The challenge officially begins today, Sunday, August 31 and ends Monday, September 29, but you can jump in any time with your own start and end dates. If you'd like to engage in periodic check-ins, support, encouragement, commiseration, advice, and the occasional ass-whuppin' when you need it, simply leave a comment on this post. I'll be posting again next week to let you know where things stand, and you can let me know how you're doing, too. In addition, I'll be keeping a calendar on my personal blog to show my progress. There's nothing like a little shame and humiliation to keep me on track!

YOUR TURN: Want to join the fun? Leave a comment and I'll blogroll you!

First Sale News!

2008-08-13T13:34:00.000-07:00

I'm tickled pink to be able to announce that my friend, Courtney Milan, has not only expanded her family (by one puppy), but has made her first sale! Because I couldn't say it better than the Publisher's Marketplace announcement of the deal, here it is:

Golden Heart Nominee for Breath of Honor Courtney Milan's PROOF BY SEDUCTION, about a rigidly logical marquis who uses the scientific method to save his heir from the clutches of a fraudulent fortune teller, only to fall for her and discover that the one hypothesis not susceptible to proof is love, to Ann Leslie Tuttle at HQN, in a good deal, at auction, in a two-book deal, by Kristin Nelson at Nelson Literary Agency (World).

Huge, huge congratulations to Courtney and kudos to her agent, who sure knows how to pick 'em!

The Cell Phone Industrial Complex

2008-08-07T07:05:00.000-07:00

Okay, so this rant is unrelated in any way to writing, save for the fact that the incident that provoked it occurred at the RWA National Conference.¹

I must preface this story by explaining that as a member of the Baby Boom generation (albeit the very tag end of it), I am of the general opinion that a cell phone is PRIMARILY a phone and that its purpose in life is to provide a convenient way of contacting other people (and them contacting you) when you are not at home.

This means I have no particular interest in the myriad additional functions that cell phone manufacturers have seen fit to add to phones in the past several years. I do not need a music player on my phone (I have an iPod) nor a camera (I have one) nor access to the Internet (it might be handy, but my eyes are old and the screens are all pretty small!). I will confess that as much as I despise texting, I am finding that a somewhat useful subfunction of the cell phone, simply because it allows me to keep in touch with my IM friends. Even so, texting isn't something I do a lot, nor do I want to do it more, so having a phone that would make it easier isn't high on my list of desires.

All of which means I have a very simple, unassuming cell phone that I bought a little over a year ago. It's got a camera in it, but I never use it, but that's the only "fancy" extra function it has. Before I left for San Francisco, I put a full charge on the phone from the charger in my car, because I lost the wall charger somewhere between Memphis and San Diego earlier this year. A full charge usually lasts me four days, and I was set to be gone only three, so I figured I'd be fine.

I figured wrong. By Friday evening, the phone was running low on charge. In retrospect, that was perfectly predictable, since I was using it a lot more than I usually do. I turned it off that night when I went to bed to preserve what little charge was left, and hoped for the best.

On Saturday afternoon, I ate lunch at a little streetside cafe on Market Street, just around the corner from the hotel. I was on the phone with Beverley Kendall, regaling her with stories of my conference experience thus far, when the charge gave out. Well, damn. That left me with no way to get in touch with anyone for the rest of the conference, not to mention no way for my family to call me in the event of an emergency.

Then, I looked across the street and saw--like a vision--a Verizon store. ROCK ON! After I finished eating (Kofta with hummus and rice, yum!), I walked across the street and into the store. To my amazement, there was no line (I've never been in a Verizon store where I didn't wait for half an hour, minimum). Surely my stars were in perfect alignment!

I bopped up to one of the available reps and pulled out my phone. "I want to buy a charger for this phone, please."

The guy gave me this pitying look and said, "We don't sell a charger for that phone. It's too old."

WTF? I bought this phone a YEAR AGO! Okay, maybe fifteen months ago. The point stands. It's not like I got it at the blinkin' turn of the century.

But I am a polite sort of person who prefers not to make a scene, so I asked in my most pleasant tone of voice, "Well, can you tell me where I might be able to buy one?"

The dude made another face--this one patronizing--and said, "Oh no, no one sells a charger for that phone any more."

Long story short, I left without a charger but in possession of a big chip on my shoulder. Because what this guy was REALLY telling me is that the only solution to my problem is to buy a new phone. And I don't WANT a new phone. This one works perfectly and does exactly what I need/want. Verizon's (and, if his assertion is to be believed, other retailers') failure to carry a replacement charger for this phone
is nothing but a ploy to force people to buy a new phone (and, of course, take on a new contract) to resolve the problem. And IMO, that just stinks.

Look, we are a nation of consumers, and we treat pretty much all goods as disposable. I know that. But people, we have to stop. The planet can't take much more of this. (Hmmm, I feel I am channeling Scotty here: "She can't take much more of this, Cap'n.") This persistent attitude in our culture that the solution to any problem with a product is to simply throw it away and replace WILL NOT DO.

There is an irony here, though. Verizon is, first and foremost, in business to make money, and that means it is in its interest to sell stuff. What I wanted was a charger. NOT a new phone. And I am not going to buy a new phone simply because they don't sell what I wanted. Because I do have a charger in my car and it works perfectly well. No, I can't use it when I'm away from my car, but if my phone runs out of charge, it's an inconvenience, not the end of the world. I can LIVE without it (as I did most of my life before the durn things were invented). I didn't ENJOY it and it was a pain in the ass, but I survived.

So, in reality, the retailer's refusal to carry the charger for a year old phone COST them a sale. Is it a sale that would have made them as much money as selling me a new phone? No. But they're not going to get THAT sale anyway, at least not for quite some time.

Retailers need to catch the clue. There is money to be made in supporting their customers' desire to keep and extend the life of the product they already have. And it's good for the planet. Win/win.

Too bad the Cell Phone Industrial Complex will never buy it!
_________________
¹Had a rocking great time! I met everyone on my "must see" list and a good many others who weren't. Darcy posted a few choice pics over on the Manuscript Mavens blog if you'd like a peek. I have quite a few insights and thoughts to share post-conference, but I'll do that over the next month or so rather than dumping it all on you at once.

My Heart (and More's) in San Francisco

2008-08-01T05:00:00.000-07:00

X-posted from the Manuscript Mavens blog.

By the time this post appears (thank you, Draft Blogger, for the ability to manipulate time and space!), I'll be in San Francisco at this year's RWA National Conference. Based on my experience at last year's Dallas event, I'm sure I'm already exhausted, overwhelmed, and giddy with pleasure.

Last year, I have to admit that I spent most of my time a) hanging out friends, b) hovering around the pitch room, and c) in the booksigning area snapping up free, signed books. What I didn't do was attend a whole lot of workshops, perhaps in part because I couldn't decide which would be useful to me and which wouldn't. A few that I went to were very worthwhile, but many wound up not addressing my needs in one way or another and I ducked out before they were over.

This year, I'm still expecting to spend a lot of time on a) and c), though not quite as much on b), since I don't need to pitch either agents or editors (and believe me, I'm as shocked as anyone by that). I would like to chat with some editors informally about some of my other projects to see if anyone seems really interested in seeing any of them when I'm ready to submit. Hence, I volunteered to help in the pitch room on Friday afternoon.

I'm also hoping to meet my Kensington editor, John Scognamiglio, since I hear he'll be in attendance, and I know I'll be having dinner on Saturday night with my wonderful agent, Kevan Lyon, and some of her other clients (can you say networking, baby?). Since I'm bunking at a family friend's house, I've set aside one evening to get away from it all and have a quiet dinner with her.

Beyond that, though, I haven't made up my mind what to do with myself. I've marked a few workshops/sessions that sound interesting/useful to try to attend. I will probably check out the PAN retreat on Thursday afternoon.

I have to be honest, though, and say that if I had my druthers, I'd find a quiet corner somewhere in the hotel to hole up and write. Because three whole days away from the demands of husband, kids, house, and the day job is just too seductive an opportunity to ignore. Especially with a deadline hanging over my head.

YOUR TURN: What would YOU do it you were me? Suck up as many conference goodies and workshops as possible, or find that quiet corner?

Getting Excited

2008-07-29T10:21:00.001-07:00

I leave on Thursday morning for the RWA National Convention in San Francisco, and I am looking forward to the whole experience so much more than I expected.

You see, originally, I didn't plan to go this year. I attended my first national conference last year in Dallas, and while I reveled in every minute of it, I didn't feel I could justify the expenditure or time away from my family again this year. Realistically, I thought my next conference would not be until 2012, when it's being held in my hometown (San Diego).

But then, life happened (as it is wont to do). First, my dear friends Darcy Burke and Courtney Milan both finaled in the Golden Heart. I thought, "Well, maybe I can make it for the award ceremony. San Francisco's not that far from here. I could get up and back in one day."

A few weeks later, I sold BEHIND THE RED DOOR to Kensington, and suddenly, I wasn't thinking about just attending the GH/RITA ceremony. Because, darn it, last year I saw and envied all those folks with their "First Sale" ribbons and, and I knew this would be the only year I'd be eligible to wear one of those myself. So, I bit the financial bullet (though I decided to stay with a friend of the family rather than at the hotel to ease the monetary burden) and signed up.

That all seems like a very long time ago now, and now the conference has snuck right up on me. And as much as I'm looking forward to wearing that "First Sale" ribbon and attending workshops, I'm even more excited about getting together with my friends in the writing community. Some of them I met in person for the first time last year, and some I'll be meeting for the first time this year, including:

So, hey, if your name's not on that list and you're going to be at the conference, give me a holla and we'll figure out how to make connections. The absolute BEST part of National is the people, and that means you!

Writer's Log Jam

2008-07-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

X-posted from the Manuscript Mavens blog.

Like Darcy, I was going to blog about my pre-conference preparations, jitters, and excitements this week, but another topic has been pushed to the forefront of my mind by recent events. You see, I'm in the throes of writing my two contracted but as yet unfinished novellas, and I'm realizing that I have a problem. It's kind of like writer's block, but not exactly. It's more like writer's log jam.

You see, I'm not suffering from a paucity of ideas. Quite the reverse. I have too many!

The novella I'm currently writing (the third chronologically in the anthology, but the second I "conceived") is giving me fits because I'm afraid it won't fit within its 25K-35K boundaries. I have at least a dozen more scenes rattling around in my head that could and/or should go into this story, but I'm already pushing 20K and I'm still miles from the Black Moment. The result is that I'm finding it difficult to decide which scenes I should write and which I shouldn't. Worse, I'm an incredibly linear writer, so I can't just write the scenes out of order and put them together later. I have to know for certain what happened before the scene I'm currently writing, or I can't write it.

To make matters worse, other stories are plaguing me. Driving through the Black Hills on our way back from our vacation in Minnesota the week before last got me itching to write a Western historical (which I never thought I'd do, but the place is just do darned evocative!). Add that idea to all the others taking up space in my brain (there must be at least a dozen, if not more, begging to be written), and I'm finding it quite difficult to concentrate on the projects I'm actually obligated to complete! The words for the stories I must write are getting jumbled up with the words for the stories I want to write.

So, is there a solution to this dilemma? Short of just plugging away and doing what I have to do, I doubt it. But somehow, putting my finger on the root of the problem has me feeling a bit less anxious if nothing else. "Writer's block"--the possibility that my ideas will dry up and I won't be able to write anything at all--terrifies me. Being caught in an idea traffic jam doesn't make me nearly as nervous!

YOUR TURN: Do you suffer from writer's log jam? How do you overcome your selfish desire to set aside the project you're currently working on to start a new one? Or do you just give into temptation?

P.S. I'm also blogging today at the Aphrodisia Authors blog and guest-blogging with my critique partner, Emma Petersen, over at Shiloh Walker's blog. Drop by and see me if you get a chance!

Checking In

2008-07-18T15:28:00.000-07:00

I've been AWOL for so long, I almost forgot I HAD a blog. That's what a two-week cross-country vacation will do to you, I guess!

Now that I'm back, I'm putting my nose to the grindstone to finish up the last two novellas in my Kensington anthology. My plan is to write THE END on the one I'm further along in before I get to RWA National in San Francisco on July 31 (even if I have to write the last few lines on the plane), then finish the other in three weeks after I get back. It's doable, although a bit of a press.

YOUR TURN: What have you been doing with your summer? Work, play, or a good mix of both? Going to San Francisco? Let me know so we can look each other up!

It's an Epidemic!

2008-06-27T06:54:00.000-07:00

X-posted from the Manuscript Mavens blog

A few months ago, my local paper ran an article about a group of writers in my area who get together to support one another and commiserate over their rejections. (It wasn't the local RWA chapter, to which I belong.) Several people quoted in the story lamented over how impossible it is for a debut author to get published in New York these days. Agents and editors won't even consider an unpublished writer's work, let alone offer a contract for publication!

But is that really true? That the unpubbed, to quote Rodney Dangerfield, don't get no respect?

I used to think so. I was pretty sure that getting an offer of agent representation or of publication were longshots akin to winning the lottery. Unlike the lottery, that didn't stop me from trying, but I knew the odds were poor.

Yesterday, however, I realized that in the past year, I've seen a lot of my unpublished friends become either agented or sold or both. I mean, a significantly higher percentage than anyone would expect based upon the statistics we all hear all the time (agents reject 99% or more of all submissions that come to them, only one-tenth of one percent of books that come before a NY editor are published, etc.). In fact, these events have been occurring so often lately, it seems like a virtual epidemic.

I still think it's DAMN difficult to get published. I know quite a few authors whose work I think is more than worthy of a six-figure contract who have been rejected repeatedly by agents and editors alike. And yet...it doesn't seem to be to be quite the crapshoot it once did. Authors with lots of skill and talent and more than a little bit of good luck and timing can and do get published. Even if they haven't got a previous publishing credit to their name.

Agents are still looking for new authors whose work they love to represent. Publishers are looking for new blood, new voices. And with diligence and perseverance, new authors do get published.

So, yay for the aspiring and unpubbed. Go forth and submit. And never abandon hope!

YOUR TURN: Do you feel encouraged when an unpublished author sells? Or do you think, "There goes another slot for a debut author; now I'll never get published!"

P.S. A hearty congratulations to Avon FanLit winner and all-around sweetheart, Sara Lindsey, whose three-book deal with NAL/Signet was announced this week, thereby inspiring this post.

Just When I Was Ready to Ask for My Money-Back Guarantee

2008-06-16T18:07:00.000-07:00

Today has been one of those days. You know...the kind where everything that can go wrong (or at least unexpectedly haywire) does.

My 16yo niece spent the night and babysat this morning while I went to the office to teach, but that wasn't where things got whacked. It was when I took her home after I got back. You see, her mom and stepdad just bought a place out in the boonies--I mean, I live in East County, San Diego, and I swear it's halfway to Yuma!--and it's the first time I've been there, so the round-trip took much longer than I anticipated.

Then, the plan was to go to the bowling alley for some afternoon entertainment for the kids. I was going to write while they bowled. But when we got there, there was a private party taking up the WHOLE alley. WTF?

So, we came back home, exhausted and defeated (though we did console ourselves with milkshakes/smoothies, lol), and decided to go for a swim because, well, that's what we do in the summer when there's nothing else TO do.

Needless to say, the writing accomplished in this madness was practically nil, and I was thinking once again that having kids is an AWFUL lot more trouble than it's worth, my daughter (who will be 9 next month) yelled to one of the boys who was tormenting her in the pool, "Let me go, you miscreant!"

I ask you, is this the child of a historical romance writer or what?

And absolutely worth the price of admission.

Out and About

2008-06-11T12:11:00.000-07:00

I've been quiet here this week, but I'm noisy elsewhere on the Internet. Come visit me at any of the following places:

At Kris Eton's blog, where I'm the subject of her author interview this week.

At the Cobblestone Author's blog, where I posted today.

On Cobblestone Mainstreet, where you can still enter my drawing for any of my Cobblestone books (you have until Friday).

At Naughty and Spice, where I'll be guesting on Friday.

At the Mavens on Friday (as usual).

At Cobblestone Release Chat on Friday night starting at 5pm Pacific Time, where we'll be giving away a copy of my latest release, The Gospel of Love: According to Luke.

Hope to see all of you somewhere out there!

It's Cobblestone's Birthday...and It's My Birthday, Too

2008-06-06T10:56:00.000-07:00

In celebration, I've giving away three books (your choice of any of my three Cobblestone releases) over on the Cobblestone Mainstreet Forum. Go on over and check it out! (Lots of other Cobblestone authors are giving stuff away, too!)

It's All About the Passion

2008-06-06T00:29:00.000-07:00

X-posted from the Manuscript Mavens

There hasn't been a whole lot of writing in my life this week. Instead, my days have been heavily dominated by the day job, and particularly by a conference I attended Monday through Wednesday.

I have to be honest and say that when I was reminded that I had this conference to attend, I was far from thrilled. I have a lot on my plate at the moment, and taking three days out to go to workshops that probably wouldn't teach me anything I didn't already know (yeah, call me arrogant, lol) was hardly appealing. But, my company paid good money for me to attend, and so, attend I did. (Fortunately, it was held locally, so there was no major travel involved. Just the 20 minute drive to and from downtown San Diego on $4.20 a gallon gasoline. But I digress.)

Truth be told, there weren't a lot of workshops geared toward the things that I would have really liked to learn. Or at least, they weren't marketed in such a way that I thought they were. In all likelihood, I missed a bunch of sessions that were just not accurately described in the conference materials.

I did, however attend one really FABULOUS workshop on Wednesday afternoon. It was my last of the conference, and honestly, it made the whole experience worthwhile. Not so much because of the subject matter, for though I did learn some new things of value, there was nothing really earthshattering in the material he presented.

No, it was because the speaker was flat-out fantastic. Dynamic, funny, and absolutely PASSIONATE about the subject. And it occurred to me that this guy could have been reading the phone book aloud, but if he did it with the same charisma and passion, I'd have been hanging on his every word.

Of course, when I teach workshops of my own (as I had to do today), I try to bring excitement and energy to my performance. It's one of the reasons teaching is so exhausting! (And why, when I got home this afternoon, I pretty much collapsed in a watery heap and didn't do anything useful for the rest of the day.)

But sitting there listening to this guy talk about something that was arguably incredibly boring (performance support) and eating up every second of it, it occurred to me that a big part of what keeps me hooked in a book is that the author demonstrates the same kind of passion for his or her story in writing. And I got to wondering HOW the author is getting that emotional connection to the story across to the reader. Clearly, it's not with body language, tone of voice, or ad-libbing responses to the audience on the fly, all of which the speaker used in spades.

Obviously, whatever an author is doing to communicate that sense of urgency to the reader is both deeper and more subtle than anything a presenter can do with a live audience. I like to think I can TELL that the author *loves* the story he/she is writing, loves the characters, and is aching to share that love with me, the reader. But I'm not sure I can put my finger on what is telling me that. I know when I'm WRITING something I feel passionately about, the writing itself seems to come more easily and I'm almost racing myself to get to the end because I want to experience the story MYSELF. But I'm not sure if that really comes across to the reader.

My contemporary novella, The Gospel of Love: According to Luke, comes out from Cobblestone Press next Friday. (Yes, Friday the 13th. I promise, however, no one named Jason and no hockey masks appear in the story.) And I really felt a passion for that little book while I was writing it. It fell out of my head in a little over two weeks. Every day during that two weeks, I couldn't WAIT to get time to sit down at the computer and write more.

I hope readers of the story will feel that passion in the words I committed to paper (or screen, as the case may be). And I believe fervently, with every fiber of my being, the loving the story you're writing is the first and most essential ingredient to producing a marketable manuscript. After all, if you don't love what you write, why should anyone else?

YOUR TURN: Do you think you can tell when a writer is passionate about his/her story? And conversely, do you think readers can tell when YOU aren't? How?

The Month of Living Breathlessly

2008-06-03T11:54:00.000-07:00

June is supposed to be the month when things slow down, isn't it? I mean, it's the beginning of summer, school gets out, people go on vacation...

Apparently, not for me. June promises to be hectic. It started yesterday with a work-related conference I'm attending (that I'd COMPLETELY forgotten about until one of the exhibitors called and reminded me), got nuttier this morning because I had to teach an online class I simply couldn't reschedule, and continues right through the end of the month with classes and presentations I have to give, my fifth grader's graduation, a new book to promote (The Gospel of Love: According to Luke comes out a week from Friday), a wedding to attend, and two novellas to keep on writing, right up until we leave for a two-week vacation at the end of the month.

Are you tired yet? I am!

Anyway, if you're expecting anything from me (like a query critique), please be patient. I promise I'll get to it. As soon as my head stop spinning.

How about you? Please tell me SOMEONE is sipping iced tea on the veranda and having some of those lazy, dazy days of summer...

Query Critique and Brenda Novak Book Winners

2008-05-27T08:25:00.000-07:00

I know I said I'd do this post yesterday, but I completely forgot this Monday was a holiday when I said that. Even so, I probably would have done it if it hadn't been for the fact that we went camping on Friday and Saturday night, and between the cold weather (down into the 30s at night) and my mattress losing air both nights, I was just too tired to think straight!

So, without further ado (although a drumroll would be nice), the winners are:

Query Critique

Lara Lee
B.E. Sanderson

Brenda Novak's Dead Giveaway

Jane

The winners can contact me by emailing jackie at jackie barbosa dot com.

And now...back to bed!

Release Day!

2008-05-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

Cross-posted from the Manuscript Mavens blog

That's right! Wickedly Ever After hits the shelves (figuratively, at least) at Cobblestone Press today.

If you click on over and it's not there yet, try again later. The new releases usually get posted before noon Eastern on Fridays, but sometimes, it take a little longer! For an excerpt, hop on over to the Cobblestone Author's blog.

And if you're a gambling man or woman, I will be giving away one copy of the book to one lucky person who posts a comment either here or over at the Mavens. I'm also giving away two query critiques and a signed copy of Brenda Novak's Dead Giveaway in the post below.

Have Query, Will Travel

2008-05-19T06:56:00.000-07:00

My novella, Wickedly Ever After, will be released this Friday by Cobblestone Press and be available for purchase from them for the next six months. (Hurry and buy, lol!) After that, the rights will revert to me, and then I'll turn them over to Kensington Books, which will publish this novella and two others in a single author anthology to be released in early summer 2009.

I've told my "call" story already, but one thing I didn't talk much about is the query process. I've queried other projects in the past and never got past the polite, "Thanks but no thanks" form rejection. I know this is a huge frustration for a lot of writers. You have a book that you just know is worthy of publication, but you can't get agents or editors to give you the time of day because your query is falling flat.

So, how do you get the people at the other end of your query letter to sit up and pay attention? Again, this is something a lot of agents and editors blog about (Kristen Nelson did just an extensive workshop series on her blog, in fact), so it's hard for me to claim I have "the answer," but I will share with you the three things that I think made my query for Wickedly successful where my past queries failed.

The opening paragraph provided the agent/editor with the story's genre (historical), heat level (erotic) and word count, and explained why I thought it would appeal to that agent/editor.
My query blurb clearly identified the story's plot catalyst (see Kristen's blog for more on that), described the conflict between the characters (what's going to keep them apart), and left the reader with a hook (something to hint at how the conflict will escalate).
I sent my query to the right people and got lucky. You can control the first part of this one to some extent (make sure you're not sending a genre romance to someone who only represents mysteries and thrillers, etc.), but the second half of it is just plain hitting the right person on the right day at the right time with a letter that has elements 1 and 2.

Okay, so what did my query letter actually look like? Well, I'll show you the letter I sent to John Scognamiglio at Kensington Books. This query resulted in a request for the full within a few hours of sending it.

I am seeking publication for my erotic historical 27,500 word novella, WICKEDLY EVER AFTER, which I believe would be a perfect fit for Kensington's Aphrodisia line. Set in the late Regency era, WICKEDLY EVER AFTER is the first in a planned three novella series tied together by characters who appear in this story and by an exclusive London bordello.
Eleanor Palmer is relieved when her fiancé cries off to marry another woman, but horrified when he suggests the dissolute Marquess of Grenville as his replacement. Eleanor may claim descent from the lusty King Charles II, but this proper English lady has no interest in pleasures of the flesh--she'd rather read the Classics.
Nathaniel St. Claire is infamous for his wicked ways--drinking, gambling, and fornicating-but he's willing to give up all but one of his vices to initiate the lovely Miss Palmer into the joys of lust. Maybe a little dirty Latin poetry will aid his cause...
I am a member of RWA and my erotic short story, CARNALLY EVER AFTER, was released by Cobblestone Press in August of 2007 under the pseudonym Jackie Barbosa. In addition, several of my manuscripts have finaled in or won RWA Chapter contests.
Thank you for your time and consideration.

In my experience, the hardest thing about getting the query letter right is the blurb. Especially if you're writing your blurb after you've finished writing the whole book, it can be tough to distill all the plot elements into 250 words or less that all connect to each other. I've read (and written!) a lot of blurbs that were a series of disjointed sentences hitting on multiple plot points but that failed to make it clear how those points related to each other, and worse, didn't explain how those points would cause conflict between the hero and heroine.

One trick I've started to employ is to write my query blurb before I actually write the whole book. Sometimes, I don't write it before I write ANYTHING of the book, but I rarely get as far as the first 50 pages before I write the blurb. And that works in part because the hook (as opposed to the synopsis) usually doesn't need to reveal any plot elements or conflict that occurs in the story past about the first hundred pages. What you want to do is hook the reader of your query to want to find out the answer to the question, "What happens next." And if you reveal too much of the story in your blurb, you reduce the reader's interest in getting the answer to that question.

In honor of my successful query and release this week, I'm giving away query critiques to two lucky blog commenters. I'll draw the winners at random from all interested commenters next Monday. And as a bonus, I'm throwing in a free, signed copy of Brenda Novak's Dead Giveaway to one random commenter who posts but doesn't want a critique.

Hop on board!

The Road Not Taken

2008-05-16T00:29:00.000-07:00

x-posted from the Manuscript Mavens blog

Earlier this week, I got a call that gave me a moment's pause, wondering if I'd made a poor career decision last summer. You see, it was an editor calling to offer me a contract for Carnally Ever After, which I'd long-since contracted to Cobblestone Press. I submitted the story to said publisher back in April of 2006, and when I didn't hear one way or the other for a few months, I got antsy and submitted it to Cobblestone, never dreaming I'd get a contract offer from them within hours of submission. I figured I had plenty of time to wait for BOTH publishers to get back to me. When I hadn't heard anything from the other publisher after a full six months had elapsed, I figured the rejection dropped into my Spam folder and I'd failed to rescue it.

Anyway, my initial response to this call was to want to kick myself in the head. The publisher in question is a "big name" publisher, and there's no doubt I could have earned more money on the story if I'd contracted with them. Why, oh why, didn't I wait longer? Have more patience?

And then I kicked myself again because, duh, if I hadn't contracted that story with Cobblestone, I'd never have bothered to write the sequel. I'd never have met Deanna Lee and Emma Petersen and Amie Stuart, all of whom were instrumental in my decision to submit that sequel to Kensington Books.

So, as it turns out, what was objectively a "wrong" decision (to go with a lesser-known, smaller publisher without waiting to hear from the larger one) was actually the right one. I couldn't have known any of this back in June, though, and none of these possibilities factored into my decision. I simply decided that I'd found a reputable publisher who loved my story, and I was willing to forego the chance of hooking the "bigger fish" when I already had a solid bite on my line.

Wow, am I glad I did! If I had waited, there's no telling what would have happened, of course. It's possible I'd have written something instead of Wickedly Ever After that would have hooked an agent or editor. Or not. It's impossible to know.

As writers, I think we angst a lot over our decisions. Do I write this story or that one? Should I submit to this agent or that one? Should I sign with this agent or not? And so on.

But I think maybe we worry too much. Even if you make the "wrong" decision, chances are good it'll be a learning experience. It will probably lead you places you'd never have tried to go otherwise. And that, in the long run, it will contribute to your success in ways you can't even dream of when you make your choice.

YOUR TURN: What was the hardest career decision you ever had to make? Did you make the "right" one or the "wrong" one? Or are you still trying to figure that out?

To Contest or Not to Contest

2008-05-09T00:29:00.000-07:00

x-posted from the Manuscript Mavens blog

Beverley Kendall, MaveFave and Avon FanLitter, contacted me via IM a couple of weeks ago with the exciting news that she'd finaled in her first RWA chapter contest for unpublished writers. I congratulated her and said I bet it was the beginning of a trend. Well, color me clairvoyant, but within a week or so, she had finaled in two more, and one of those was a double-final. She missed finaling in a third contest by ONE position.

As we were squealing with delight over this surfeit of good news for news, we started talking a little bit about the overall value of such contests and when/if writers should enter them. One of the things we've both noticed is that the same authors and works tend to reach the final round over and over again. It seems that once a writer reaches a certain level of skill and polish, she (or he) can pretty much count on reaching the finals in many (though by no means all) of the contests she enters. (All bets are off, of course, for those who write stories that are outside the box. Contest judges tend to be traditional/conservative, so the odds of running into one or more judges who just don't get your story are pretty high.)

As a consequence of this observation, we started wondering what motivated authors to continue entering the same manuscript in contests over and over again, especially when the pool of editors and agents reading in the final round is relatively small. Once a manuscript has reached the finals a certain number of times, the odds diminish that it will reach an editor or agent who hasn't already seen it before. And if the final round judge is one who's seen the manuscript before, but hasn't requested it, the chances the entrant will get a request this time can't be great.

Now, I can't claim any particular restraint when it comes to entering contests. I don't have an accurate count handy, but it's certainly in the neighborhood of a dozen over an 18-month period, and more than half of those were with the same manuscript. That said, I was pretty particular in that I didn't enter contests with the same final round judge more than once, and each time I entered the same manuscript, it was after I'd made some pretty significant changes that I wanted to "test-run."

Still, at this point, I didn't think there was anything that could induce me to enter another contest, at least not one for an unpublished manuscript. I just figured since I now have an agent, it's my job to write the books and hers to get them in front of the right people.

But as luck would have it, I met with my agent this week, and we discussed a story that's been taking up large amounts of real estate in my brain lately. The idea behind it is just far out enough that, even though everyone I've shared it with thinks it's fantastically creative and cool, there is some question of marketability. Kevan shared that concern and suggested writing it to the proposal stage, at which point, we'd float it out to a few editors to see what feedback we got and decide where to go from there.

That seemed like a great idea, but then it occurred to me that maybe I could get some of that feedback we were hoping for from the first round of editors by entering the manuscript in a contest. If the manuscript didn't make it to the final round, we'd have some feedback that might help us determine where to tweak to its marketability, and if I did make it to the finals with an editor we'd have targeted otherwise, we could get that editor's feedback without "blowing our wad," so to speak.

As luck would have it, I found a contest I'm eligible to enter with a due date next week with a final round editor we'd love to get the manuscript in front of. So, it looks like I will be going back on the contest circuit again, much to my chagrin.

All of this made me think harder than ever about what *I* think are valid versus invalid reasons for entering contests for unpublished manuscripts. Accordingly, here is my list of three bad reasons and three good ones (I was going to do five, but this post was getting WAY too long!):

Bad Reasons

To get published

Yes, it happens. People do occasionally get requests from editors/agents for manuscripts they entered in contests and even more rarely, they get offers for publication. But as a primary strategy for getting published, entering contests is significantly more expensive than the alternative (sending out queries, partials, and fulls) and fickle (because whether or not you get to the final round is so dependent on the subjective opinions of people who are, in many cases, just unpublished authors like you!).

I think authors get seduced by the logic that say a contest final is better than a manuscript in the slush pile because the agent/editor has to read it. (Guilty as charged!) But honestly, that agent or editor will make up her mind about your manuscript in the same number of pages whether it's a contest entry or something that came to her via the query route.
To gain "credits" for the author bio portion of your query letter

Contrary to what we'd all like to believe, the only unpublished contest finals that really "matter" to agents/editors are the big ones. That is to say, the Golden Heart and a possibly a few other premiere contests like the Maggie. And having a lot of contest finals can actually be a negative. It raises the question, "If this author is so great, why hasn't she gotten an agent/sold yet?"
Purely for the thrill of finaling

Getting that phone call or email telling you you've made it to the final round in a contest is pretty exciting. But if that's the only reason you're in it, you could probably get that excitement cheaper at an amusement park.

Good Reasons

To get feedback on a manuscript

If this is your reason for entering, then you can't summarily dismiss the criticisms you receive as authors are sometimes wont to do. They may not all be valid, but if you really want feedback, you have to be willing to listen to what you hear. That's not always easy, especially if some of the things you hear aren't the things you want to hear.
For a chance to get the manuscript in front of an agent/editor you couldn't otherwise query

Most of the time, the agents and editors who judge the final round on unpublished contests are people you can query privately as well. But every once in a while, an editor or agent who isn't "open" for submissions judges a final round. It can definitely be worth entering a contest to get a shot at that person, especially if he is your dream editor/agent.
To support your chapter

If your chapter is running a contest, then entering your manuscript(s) is a way to add money to their coffers and get something in return. Of course, you should also judge said contest (but not in the category(ies) you entered, lol).

Of course, none of these rules apply to the Golden Heart. That contest is one you enter purely for the glory of finaling. Nothing else matters.

YOUR TURN: Can you think of other good reasons for entering contests? Bad ones? Have a contest experience you'd like to share? Come on down!

Woohoo! Cover Art!

2008-05-08T00:29:00.000-07:00

My first contemporary erotic romance, The Gospel of Love: According to Luke, is scheduled to be released by Cobblestone Press on June 13th, and boy, was I getting antsy for cover art. Yesterday, I'm happy to say, it appeared in my inbox. Done by the amazing Frauke of Croco Designs, I think it's hawt. Totally different feel from my historical covers, but then, the story has a completely different feel, too (heck, it's first person narration, from the guy's perspective!).

I particularly love the skyline on the lake. Since the story's set primarily in Chicago, it feels so right. That hot man chest isn't bad, either, though!

Plans and Some Pimpage

2008-05-07T08:57:00.000-07:00

No Wednesday Word today, as I'm stumped for a word I want to talk about this week. Probably because I've been feeling a bit at a loss for words in general.

Yesterday, I met my agent, Kevan Lyon of the Dijkstra Agency, face-to-face for the first time. She's every bit as lovely and smart in person as on the phone and in email, and I really enjoyed getting to know her a little better. Of course, it's pretty hard to dislike anyone who loves your work!

Last week, I sent her blurbs and the first 4,000 words of the sci-fi/futuristic series that's been rattling loudly in my brain. I was pretty worried about her reaction to it, because while I think the idea is fresh, unique, and interesting, it's also a little far out. She agreed it was all those things, and admitted it might be hard to find the right market for, but she still encouraged me to continue it at least to the proposal stage, at which point, she'd try to shop it and see what we got.

I obviously shouldn't be doing anything until I finish the two unwritten novellas for my Kensington anthology, but not being sure what I'd be working on next was taking up a lot of space in my brain. Kevan didn't really make any suggestions for a plan of attack, but after we'd discussed everything, I found I was able to come up with a prioritization schedule that looks something like this:

Finish anthology by mid-August.
Take a two-week break.
During September, get my single-title historical ready to send to Kensington to fulfill my option clause. I can submit thirty days after acceptance of the anthology.
In October, get the sci-fi/futuristic to the proposal stage.

After we get the sci-futuristic out on proposal, I'll decide what to write next based on what happens with the option book. If Kensington contracts it (or it sells elsewhere), then I'll write that. If not, I'll complete my first person single-title contemporary instead.

And now, on to the pimpage! My friend and writing challenge buddy, Amie Stuart, has an erotic short story coming out with Cobblestone Press this Friday. This is the launch title in Cobblestone's new Wicked line, and there's a cool contest associated with it that you can enter here.

I've read Ropers Rule and let me say, it rocks. Amie's a master (mistress?) of packing a lot of story into a small space. She has a spare but eloquent style, and I admire her writing immensely. Oh, and it doesn't hurt that the sex scenes are inferno hot! And then there's the gorgeous cover:

Seriously, what's not to love?

For a chance to win a free copy of Ropers Rule or any of the other new releases this week, hop on over to the chat room on Friday starting at 8pm Eastern time. It's always a blast and, who knows, you just might meet some new authors whose work you'll adore!

Performance Anxiety

2008-05-02T07:13:00.000-07:00

x-posted from the Manuscript Mavens blog

In the world of romance, heroes rarely suffer from this malady. Not only are they supremely confident gentlemen of the world, they are also so wildly attracted to their heroines that any possibility of failure to rise to the occasion is unthinkable.

Would that the writers who invent these rarefied creatures shared their immunity! Alas, I'm afraid it's not, because I seem to have developed a pretty bad case.

You would think that the validation inherent in receiving a contract for publication would be sufficient to convince any author that her work has merit and she should simply forge ahead. But I'm not any author. I am Jackie and I am neurotic. Which means that instead of rejoicing that my editor loves my work and wants to publish it, I'm worrying about living up to his expectations. About not screwing it up.

Now, of course, I know the best way to screw it up is not to get it written. So obviously, I need to conquer my fear. I've still got plenty of time, but every day I fritter away angsting and biting my nails is one less day I have to meet my deadline.

So, my question for you, MaveFaves, is...how do you conquer self-doubt when it's preventing you from writing? I'm already trying the Angie Fox "it's only half and hour" method with some success, but I think I need more techniques in my box of tricks.

Wednesday Word: Ass

2008-04-30T09:46:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a while since I found the time to post a Wednesday Word, but I'm struggling with the words I'm supposed to be writing today and this particular post has been rolling around in my head for sometime. So, I thought, what the heck? Maybe writing a blog post will shake loose other writing.

A while back, I read a Regency-set erotic romance. While the story had its strong points, it nearly became a wallbanger for me when I read the first love scene. Why? Because the author used the word "ass" to mean "buttocks." And that, my friends, pulled me right out of the historical, English setting. It also made me giggle and squick out at the same time, because I wondered when and how the donkey had gotten into the bedroom.

In a British historical, the proper word for this context is always "arse." From one of my favorite references, the Online Etymology Dictionary:

ass (2)
slang for "backside," first attested 1860 in nautical slang, in popular use from 1930; chiefly U.S.; from dial. variant pronunciation of arse (q.v.). The loss of -r- before -s- attested in several other words (e.g. burst/bust, curse/cuss, horse/hoss, barse/bass). Indirect evidence of the change from arse to ass can be traced to 1785 (in euphemistic avoidance of ass "donkey" by polite speakers) and perhaps to Shakespeare, if Nick Bottom transformed into a donkey in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1594) is the word-play some think it is. Meaning "woman regarded as a sexual object" is from 1942. Asshole first attested 1935.

Now, I'll admit, the above suggests that the spoken word had begun to lose the -r- sound well before 1860, but even so, I still cringe if I see it spelled that way in a historical novel, especially one set in Britain. It's just the wrong word.

Even today, I believe British English speakers use "arse" more often than "ass" as the dirty term for the human backside, although I'm more than happy to be corrected if that's not the case. (My favorite modern slang use of the word is as a verb meaning "take the trouble," as in, "I can't be arsed to post to the blog more than once a week." Those Brits do have a way with the English language!)

YOUR TURN: Are there any words you find used in historical novels that can have the effect of pulling you out of the setting? What are they? Why do they bother you?

Opinions Are Like...

2008-04-25T00:29:00.000-07:00

x-posted from the Manuscript Mavens blog

Gotcha, didn't I?

I'm not going to complete that thought quite the way you probably expected. You see, I've been following the kerfuffles in the blogosphere over some authors' bad behavior vis-a-vis negative Amazon reviews. While I have no intention of bringing the heated debate here, it's made me realize one of the most important mantras an author can learn after being published is:

Opinions are like backsides: it's best to keep yours to yourself.

Now, I don't mean published authors are enjoined never to express opinions about anything. I think, for example, it's perfectly okay to state their opinions about thong underwear (I hate them), brussel sprouts (am slowly coming around to them, and sushi (yum!).

But when it comes to other people's opinions about your work (aka reviews, particularly the negative ones), it is never a good idea to argue, explain, or otherwise defend yourself, even when the reviewer is clearly wrong. Because just like it's the kid who throws the retaliatory punch on the playground that gets sent the principal's office, when an author responds to a negative review, it never ends well for the author.

Before my first story was published, I worried a lot about how I'd feel about negative reviews. I'm an inveterate fixer, and if someone doesn't like something I've written, my natural impulse is to want to make it better. But a work of fiction, once finished and published, isn't fixable. It is what it is. And I didn't know quite how I'd handle that impotence.

As it turned out, I've only seen one review of the story that could be considered negative. And I'll admit, reading it didn't make me feel great. But it was also a very honest and well-reasoned opinion, and I appreciated that the writer took the time to think about my story and express her feelings about it so clearly. At the same time, however, my impulse was to explain away her criticisms, but I managed to refrain. It wasn't easy, but in the end, the story has to speak for itself, and it didn't speak to her. And that's okay.

To further illustrate my point, I entered Wickedly Ever After in a contest for unpubbeds a while back. It didn't final, and when the scoresheets/comments came back in the mail, I deliberately didn't open them because I didn't want to be discouraged from completing the story by what I found there. Good thing I didn't. I finally got around to opening them yesterday, and the scores and comments were not encouraging. Oh, they weren't horrible, but I'd certainly never have had the audacity to submit the story to Kensington if I'd read that feedback first.

Which just goes to prove--one reader's "meh" is another reader's "fabulous." And you just never know.

It's certainly difficult to separate our personal feelings from our work. We pour so much of ourselves into every page, it's hard not to want everyone to love our every word. Realistically, though, that's not going to happen. Not even the world's greatest writers are universally loved, after all. There is, as they say, no accounting for taste!

YOUR TURN: How do you handle "constructive criticism?" Do you think an author can ever respond to a negative review without coming off badly?

Time Flies...

2008-04-24T10:46:00.000-07:00

...when you're panicking.

There is, of course, no objective reason for me to panic. By anyone's estimates, I can complete the two novellas I have to deliver by September 1 with time to spare. Moreover, it is a well-known fact that I am a procrast--er, percolator of the first order. I'm not known for completing stuff much ahead of time because I like to roll everything around in my head for a long time before committing it to paper/screen. For me, work always expands to meet the time available.

None of this stops me from worrying about my percalotory tendencies, however. Every time it happens, I wonder if this is the one where I blow it. Where I fail to deliver the goods when I should.

It doesn't help that a story idea I had a good 10-15 years ago chose this moment to pop into my head and demand to be written. I am referring to this as the SuperSecret Sci-Fi/Futuristic (SSFF) book because I actually think I have a concept here that's original enough, I need to keep it under wraps until it's done.

In the interest of shaming myself into production, I'm adding word meters back to the side bar. Let's hope I can keep them all moving in the right direction!

Odds and Ends and Thank You's

2008-04-15T08:13:00.000-07:00

I'm off to Memphis tomorrow morning on a short business trip, so I'm frantically preparing for that (I need a haircut, the laundry's not done, etc., etc.) while trying to get all the details of my contracts (agency and publisher) squared away. My agent sent me the Deal Memo last night (which outlines the basic elements of the contract without the legalese), and it looks fine. My delivery date for the three novellas is September 1st of this year, which is definitely doable. According to the memo, anticipated publication date is June, 2009, though that isn't set in stone.

Kevan (my agent) is hoping to get the deal announcement written up today, which means it'll be appearing in Publisher's Lunch and/or Publisher's Marketplace soon. How's that for unreal? I think we're going to give the anthology a different title--my current suggestion is Beyond the Red Door, but we'll see if that's what we go with or not.

In honor of my sale, I registered for the RWA National Conference over the weekend (good thing, too--looks like there were only a few hundred slots left at most) and bought plane tickets. I'm still working on lodging. Being terminally cheap, I'm hoping to stay with a family friend who lives in the city and am still waiting to hear on that.

I also finally sent in the paperwork to join my local RWA chapter. I didn't join in the past primarily because their meetings are held on Saturdays, and it's hard for me to get away on Saturdays. On top of that, the meeting location is very inconvenient--something like an hour from home. Buuuuut, they're holding a mini-conference for their May meeting at which Kevan will be a featured speaker, AND I really would like to have that community of local writers to rely on, so I decided to go for it.

Completely appropos of nothing else in this post, I saw the GREATEST vanity license plate this weekend: TO BLAVE. I can't tell you how tempted I was to chase that green SUV down and pull them over, just so we could trade lines from The Princess Bride!

Last, but not least, a heartfelt thanks to everyone who commented here, on the Mavens, or sent me private email congratulating me on my sale. It means so much to me!

Publishing Moves At Geological Speeds...

2008-04-11T06:32:00.000-07:00

...except when it doesn't!

(Cross-posted from the Manuscript Mavens blog)

This past week has been quite the whirlwind for me as my writing career has taken a giant leap forward in the span, literally, of days. I'm still pinching myself, not quite able to believe I didn't accidentally wake up in someone else's life.

So, to tell the story from "the beginning" (and no, I don't mean the "I was born in a small town..." sort of beginning), in early February, I sent queries to a couple of agents and John Scognamiglio, Editor-in-Chief at Kensington Books, pitching Wickedly Ever After. Within hours, I had a response back from one agent requesting a partial and one from John, requesting that I send the full.

I printed the manuscript and gave it to my husband to mail out from his office the very next day. I figured it would be easier for him to use his company's meter to figure and print the postage than for me to go to the post office. I later discovered that, though he did eventually send it out, he let it sit on his desk for at least ten days before he actually bothered to post it. Remarkably, he is still alive :).

At the end of February, I received an email from John, asking whether the two related novellas I mentioned in my query letter were completed or, if not, available in outline form. I shot back with outlines the following Monday afternoon and posted a rather excited comment on my blog that I might have some big news soon.

And then I waited. And waited. And waited. THIRTY WHOLE DAYS!

Yeah, I know you're laughing. But seriously, that first nibble of interest, which came so quickly--and seemed even quicker once I knew that rather than having had the manuscript for a couple of weeks, John had had it only a few days--had me hoping I'd hear something, one way or the other, within a very short period of time. And it was short, as it turned out. It just didn't seem that way at the time! (Does it ever?)

"The call" came last Wednesday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. Now, for those who don't know, I live on the left coast, which means the last call I was expecting to get at that time was one from an editor in New York City. My son answered the phone and hollered for me, and I made my way down to take it (in my bathrobe) expecting it was someone from my office or a client. When the person at the other end announced, "This is John Scognamiglio at Kensington Books," well, I think you can pretty well imagine my reaction. My heart nearly jumped out of my chest because I knew, even before he said another word, that I was about to get an offer of publication.

John rattled off the details of the offer, but I have to admit that I barely heard them. All I could think of was that I had an offer from a major New York publisher for a single author anthology. That my dreams were coming true. Words really cannot adequately describe how amazing and surreal that moment was.

When John finished telling me the details of the offer, I was still coherent enough to explain that I was searching for an agent and that I'd be in touch with him once I'd selected someone to represent me. I had the manuscript with one agent already, and I let her know I had an offer right away. She said she'd read it over the weekend. In the meanwhile, I contacted four other agents who were on my A-list and received four additional requests for the manuscript.

And then things REALLY got interesting. By Friday afternoon, I had two offers of representation. By Monday evening, I had five. I was floored. And it was a tremendously difficult decision, because I felt a real rapport with every one of them. At no time did I feel that any of them was in it "just for this deal." All of them seemed genuinely interested in helping me build my career and representing me for the long haul. Their faith and belief in me and my work blew me away.

In the end, I chose Kevan Lyon at the Dijkstra Agency (they don't have a website, so I can't link you up, but I'm told they're working on getting one) as my agent. She's been a literary agent for a relatively short period of time, but has been in the publishing industry in one way or another for something like twenty years. And the agency itself has an amazing reputation, with a client list that includes Amy Tan, Lisa See, and Chalmers Johnson, to name a few. I know I'm in good hands.

Even though I'm incredibly pleased with my choice, it was tough to write those rejection letters to the other agents. I honestly don't believe I could have gone wrong, whoever I chose. (And I tip my cap to all those agents and editors who have to write rejection letters on a daily basis. It is no easy task, and I look at my rejection letters with a whole new eye now that I've written a few myself!)

This post has already gone on quite long enough, so I'll close by saying how much I appreciate the friendship, support, and encouragement of all the friends I've made in these past few years of writing, but most especially Maven Lacey. We've told the story of how the Mavens got together, but Lacey was the first person who really worked with me and convinced me I could do this writing thing. Without her, I'd never have kept going, never have met the other Mavens, never have stepped fully onto the path that led me here. There have been lots of other people along the way who've made a difference, and I plan to publicly thank each and every one of them over the course of the next few weeks.

But in the meantime, Lacey, this one's for you! Thank you from the bottom of my heart. You'll always be a rockstar in my world.

Yeehaw!--Updated!

2008-03-25T15:07:00.000-07:00

Had to post to let you know that two of my dearest friends have finaled in the Golden Heart!

First shout-out to Maven Darcy Burke, who finaled in the Regency Historical Romance category with her wonderful manuscript, Glorious. I am proud to say I knew Glorious when it was just a twinkle in Darcy's eye, and that I always knew it was...well, glorious.

The second shout-out is to ~~someone who hasn't announced her finalist status yet~~ Courtney Milan, ~~but she~~ whose Breath of Honor made the cut in the Historical Romance. ~~If she swings by and outs herself, I'll update this post, but until then, congratulations! You know who you are!~~ Many felicitations and congratulations!

Falling In Love

2008-03-21T07:10:00.000-07:00

I got one of those rejections today that makes you want to scream. Oh, not because it was mean or got my name wrong or was a form letter. No, it made me want to scream because it was nice and complimentary, but ultimately amounted to an "I liked it, but I didn't love it" with no real explanation of why.

But that's just the thing, isn't it? Love is irrational and, when you get right down to it, impossible to truly justify. Oh, you can always cite reasons. But in the end, it comes down to chemistry, to that indefinable quality that one person (or book or movie or work of art) has and another doesn't.

Read the rest of my words of wisdom at the Manuscript Mavens blog.

Wednesday's Word: Arms

2008-03-19T09:49:00.000-07:00

After a two-week hiatus, the Wednesday Word is back! (Waits for applause to subside. Hey, allow my delusions of grandeur without laughing quite so loudly, please.)

I do have to warn you that today's entry isn't related to romance (or even fiction) writing at all. No, today's blog is overtly, shamelessly political. Not in the sense that I'm taking sides, though. In the sense that I get annoyed when I see language so blatantly misused by everyone, up to and including justices of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Yes, today, I am talking about the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution. The Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday in a case stemming from a Washington DC ban on individual licensing of handguns.

Naturally, the debate falls along the usual lines: those who want to interpret the 2nd Amendment as granting a broad, individual right to gun ownership and those who want to interpret it in light of the preceding clause, which mentions the necessity of a "well-regulated militia to a free state."

But see, I don't take sides in that battle. Because as far as I'm concerned, the 2nd Amendment doesn't say anything about guns at all. It says "...the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

Guns are arms, to be sure. But so are rocket-propelled grenade launchers, tanks, fighter jets, Scud missiles, and ICBMs. As are swords, knives, spears, and bows and arrows.

Now, call me a semantic hair-splitter, but I have yet to understand how this particular clause in the Bill of Rights is always, always read to grant individuals the right to own guns, but not (say) nuclear bombs. It says arms, and that the right to keep and bear them shall not be abridged. Just because the framers weren't capable of foreseeing nuclear fission (any more than they were capable of foreseeing Uzis, given that in their time, the only guns available were of the single-shot variety) doesn't mean they didn't intend to give individuals the right to own A-bombs, does it?

And really, if the purpose of this clause was (as many "strict" constructivists believe) to give people the ability to resist the tyranny of a government run amok, then you know, guns alone are probably not gonna cut the mustard. Just sayin'...

You might think from the above rant that I oppose gun ownership. Far from it. (Although we don't own guns ourselves for a number of practical reasons, my son has been target and skeet shooting many times, and I fully approve.) But I do think it's rather silly that so many people stridently hold to the position that the 2nd Amendment gives people the right to own just about any type of gun known to the hand of man, but not the right to own other types of weaponry that would be, frankly, a heckuva lot more effective in the event of a breakdown of our system of government.

Funny, ain't it?

YOUR TURN: Are there any words you see persistently misused or misinterpreted in political (or other forms of) speech? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

What do you mean, there has to be a conflict?

2008-03-07T08:35:00.000-08:00

Cross-posted from the Mavens blog

When I wrote my first manuscript the first time (and the second, third, and even fouth times), one of the comments I persistently got from my critique partners and from contest judges was that there "wasn't enough conflict to sustain a full 100K-word novel." But since I'd actually written more than 100K to get to The End (the first completed first draft was a whopping 136K and that was after I chopped some stuff), I have admit, I kinda scratched my head over that.

I mean, I'd sustained a 100K novel with the conflict I had. What in the world were they talking about? Obviously, they didn't know what they were talking about and should be shanked with Erica's machete.

Read the rest of my moment of brilliance (or forehead-smacking d'oh!) here.

Sorry to Have Been Scarce...

2008-03-04T11:36:00.001-08:00

I'm afraid I was too busy hacking up a lung last week to post (though if I'd had a little more energy on Friday, I could've cross-posted my Mavens post--must remember to do that this week). I hope to be back with a Wednesday Word tomorrow, but there are some rumblings in the underground that may prevent it. I may have some exciting news to tell soon (or none at all, lol), but we'll save it until we know for sure.

One fun bit of news: I was a runner-up in the Bookends LLC first 100 words contest in the erotic romance category. I entered just for fun, so being selected as a runner-up was a great thrill.

My First Book Trailer

2008-02-22T21:14:00.001-08:00

That was fun!

Wednesday Word: Killing "It"

2008-02-20T21:00:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know it's actually Thursday, but due to Blogger's amazing post options capability, I am able to manipulate the time-space continuum and pretend that it's still Wednesday. Ah, the power...

As you might have guessed from the title of this post, I am not a fan of it.

Hmmm, that didn't come out quite right. I am a great fan of It, as you might imagine from my propensity to write about It.

Let's try that again. I am not a fan of the pronoun it. While it has its uses (wink), much of the time, a writer can make a sentence both more precise and less wordy by avoiding the it.

The most notable example of how using the word it weakens your writing and increases your word count is the it was construction (along with its friendly corollary there was, but I digress).

It was obvious from his tight-lipped frown and narrowed eyes that he was angry.

There's nothing grammatically wrong with this sentence, of course, but it's much wordier than necessary. Eliminate the it was and you wind up with something much clearer and more immediate:

His tight-lipped frown and narrowed eyes communicated his anger.

The other overuse of it I have to watch for in my own writing and eliminate with ruthless precision is the it for which the antecedent isn't immediately obvious.

Safe in the suburbs, it was hard for me to identify with either side of the argument.

Again, the grammar's fine here, but the it doesn't really have a clear antecedent. It's a pronoun without an idea or concept behind it. Now, this is the way people talk and think, so I can see an argument for keeping the sentence as it is. Notwithstanding, I think it's better like this:

Safe in the suburbs, I found it hard to identify with either side of the argument.

I think it's better for two reasons:

1. It's less wordy, and
2. The sentence is more active, with a person actually doing the action of the verb.

So, what do you think of it? Do you want to keep it or kill it? Any examples from your own writing you'd like to share? Spill!

Wednesday Word: On Wasted Words

2008-02-13T13:21:00.000-08:00

So, you're getting ready to submit your manuscript. You've smoothed out all the inconsistencies in the plot, layered in emotion and backstory where appropriate, etc. What else can you do to make your story stand head and shoulders above the rest?

Don't waste words!

Seems obvious, I'm sure, but from my experience in editing both other people's mansucripts and my own, it's harder than it sounds. I'm not talking here about those pesky -ly words that seem to slip in and expand the word count without adding much to the meaning. You already got those, I'm sure!

No, I'm talking mostly about these four verbs:

Watch/watched
Feel/felt
See/saw
Notice/noticed

Now, of course I'm not suggesting you never use these words in your writing. But in your final round of polishing, I do recommend searching for them in your manuscript and making sure each and every one is necessary. That there isn't another way you could construct the sentence that would be snappier and more direct.

Here is an example of what I mean (and no, they're not taken from any of my manuscripts or any that I've read--I made 'em all up just for the purpose of this post).

Mary dropped into the chair with a sigh of resignation. She watched John pace the floor, his brow furrowed in thought.

This isn't horrendous, but since we're Mary's point of view, anything reported in the narrative is something she's watching (or seeing or noticing or feeling...). The fact that she's watching John is a given, so why not just report what she's watching? Not only does the phrase "she watched" impart no useful information to the reader, it actually distances the reader from the scene by placing the emphasis on Mary's act of watching rather than on what John is doing.

The same logic applies to the verbs "see," "notice," and "feel." Though they're useful and even essential at times, it's important to evaluate whether their use is adding to the reader's understanding and immersion in the scene or detracting from it.

No writer is immune from using these words when they're not needed. Knowing that, I'm taking extra care to comb through my manuscripts for offenders and deleting them with ruthless efficiency.

YOUR TURN: What word or words do you realize you tend to "waste?" Do you notice wasted words in other people's writing (including my post above, lol)? Remember, sharing is caring!

Who Has Time to Write?

2008-02-11T07:33:00.000-08:00

Let alone blog!

Before I started trying to get published, it never occurred to me how much work goes into a book after you finish writing it. And even after you've sold it and then, after you've published it.

When you're deep in the trenches, fingers flying (or inching) over the keyboard, it's easy to forget that writing is a business. Production, I'm finding, is but a fraction of the total work that goes into a book. Granted, it a large fraction and the sine qua non of getting your manuscript in print, but the other stuff can be remarkably time-consuming.

What does the other stuff consist of? Well, let's do a run-down:

Querying/Submitting

Depending on whether you're submitting to an agent or editor and what that agent/editor's crieteria are, this can mean anything from mailing a brief letter (whether by email or snail mail) to putting together a cover letter, partial, and synopsis to sending out the whole shebang.

I have to admit to being somewhat spoiled by Cobblestone's submission criteria. All they want is a brief cover letter and the manuscript in .rtf format. So, so easy. But this week, I decided to take the plunge and query some other folks. And, to my amazement, I got some requests, which brings me to...

Responding to Requests

If an agent or editor you query with something less than your full manuscript likes it, then you have the exciting but no less time-consuming task of putting together whatever items the agent/editor wants and sending them out. This week, I sent out one complete copy of a manuscript to an editor and a "proposal" consisting of a cover letter, author bio, synopsis, and first three chapters to an agent. And since both of them wanted printed copies, this meant long hours at the computer, watching the inkject to make sure it didn't jam and reprinting pages that did.

And we won't discuss the little matter of actually writing that synopsis, which I hadn't bothered to do before that point. Fortunately, I find synopsis-writing somewhat easier than book-writing, so I was able to knock it out in a couple of hours, but it was still a piece of work that interfered with "real" writing.

Filling Out Paperwork

Okay, so let's say you are lucky enough to get an offer of representation from an agent or a contract for a sale from a publisher. Well, it's not over yet, peeps!

You've got the read the contract, sign it (or not), and send it back. And then, at least in the case of a sale, there are other forms you may have to fill out. At Cobblestone, for example, we have to complete a Book Information Form (which includes things like your website blurbs, loglines, and so forth) and an Cover Art Form (the bane of my existence, wherein you try to explain to an artist what your characters look like and how you envision the cover).

Editing

Much as we'd all like to believe the reason an editor or agent accepted our book was because it was perfect, the fact is, that's rarely the case. So barring some incredible stroke of good luck, chances are very good that after you sell your painstakingly revised and polished manuscript, you'll have the pleasure of doing it again. And again. And again.

At Cobblestone, we do three rounds of edits. The first round is usually the heaviest, and while my manuscripts are usually pretty clean overall, they're still not perfect and I'm grateful for the editors who check my grammar, punctuation, and the flow of the story (was it six months or eight? is she wearing a T-shirt or a sweater?) to make sure I don't look like a complete idiot.

And while so far, I've had the good fortune not to have to make any significant changes to a manuscript during the editing phase, it still gobbles up plenty of "writing" time.

Promotion

This is the big one. It's the big one because it never goes away. If people don't know about your book, they can't buy it. So you have to be constantly on the lookout for opportunities to get the word out.

Which is why I am supposed to be blogging at least once a week, among other things, lol!

But you can see why I don't get around to it as much as I'd like. There are only so many hours in a day and if I'm going to have any to actually write, I have to steal from somewhere. And so I steal from the job that never ends!

However, starting this Wednesday, I'm going try adding a new "weekly" feature to my blog which I'm tentatively calling Wednesday's Word. Tessa Dare has TMI Tuesday and loads of folks do the Thursday Thirdteen, so I thought I'd spawn my own "catchy weekday blog posting theme." Since, as a writer, my business is words, I thought it might be fun to talk about them a little more.

So tune in Wednesday for the first installment!

Speaking of Promotion

From now until Valentine's Day, the Manuscript Mavens are running a Choose Your Own Adventure® story, in which YOU vote on what happens next! Every morning brings a new author, from the Mavens to the just-sold, to the best-selling. And every night brings a new twist!

Get your Choose Your Own Adventure® votes in by 7:00pm EST (4:00pm PST) and you'll be eligible for random prize drawings, where you can win books by our Guest Mavens! Vote every day, and you'll even be eligible for the Grand Prize.

Mavens' Valentine's Day Gift to You

2008-02-01T08:02:00.000-08:00

I know, I've been very remiss at blogging of late. I blame Deanna. She keeps contracting the stuff I send Cobblestone Press, making me fill out the corresponding paperwork and simultaneously encouraging me to write more! If you didn't notice already in the sidebar, the sequel to Carnally Ever After will be out sometime in May. Wickedly Ever After is the story of how two secondary characters in the first story, the extraordinarily dissolute Marquess of Grenville and the very chaste and proper Miss Eleanor Palmer, find their own happy ending.

Now that the news is out of the way, it's on to promo!

From now until Valentine's Day, the Manuscript Mavens are running a Choose Your Own Adventure® story, in which YOU vote on what happens next! Every morning brings a new author, from the Mavens to the just-sold, to the best-selling. And every night brings a new twist!

Get your Choose Your Own Adventure® votes in by 7:00pm EST (4:00pm PST) and you'll be eligible for random prize drawings, where you can win books by our Guest Mavens! Vote every day, and you'll even be eligible for the Grand Prize. (More info: here.)

And the Winners Are...

2008-01-15T08:52:00.000-08:00

Well, first, I should tell you that the eligible contestants are:

B.E. Sanderson
Darcy Burke
Kelly Jack
brownone
tammi
Erica Ridley
Isabel Sotelo

And now, the hat please (or, more accurately, an online randomizer) says the winners are:

Prize package 1 (Amazon.com gift certification and copy of The Gospel of Love: According to Luke):

tammi
Prize package 2 (a pound of See's Candy and copy of According to Luke):

Isabel Sotelo
Prize package 3 (three listed books and a copy of According to Luke):

Kelly Jack

Winners, please email me at jackie@jackiebarbosa.com to claim your prizes! And congratulations!

I'll be back tomorrow with another post, as my dear friend Emma Petersen appears to have tagged me for some meme or other.

News and a Contest!

2008-01-08T12:48:00.000-08:00

Welcome to 2008 and to my blog. (Some of you may be visiting for the first time, I know!)

If you've come from Jacqueline Barbour's blog, then you already know that I'm in the process of shutting down that blog in favor of this one. If you just happened by for other reasons, the scoop is that I used to have two pseudonyms, but I'm in the process of whittling that down to one: this one! But enough about that.

First, the news.

I am pleased and excited to announce that I've sold another novella to Cobblestone Press. This one, titled The Gospel of Love: According to Luke, is a first-person contemporary (yes, I know I need to work on that tagline, drat it!) erotic romance, which I expect to be released in June. It is the first in a quartet of novellas (and I'll bet you can guess what the other three are called) that I hope will be finished and released in short succession after Luke. Here's the blurb, which I hope entices you to want to read the rest:

Luke Finley, the eldest of four brothers, is a committed serial monogamist.He's all for one woman at a time, but not one woman forever. He knows a lifetime of fidelity just isn't in his genes. But when his latest girlfriend kicks him out--of his condo--the woman he's always thought of as "one of the guys" turns
out to be the one woman who can rock his world and make him see the light.

Second, the Manuscript Mavens blog is a nominee in the Preditors and Editors Readers' Poll. We're hugely honored to have been nominated, but we'd love to win even more. So please, hop on over and vote!

And finally, I am scheduled to appear as an author-guest on The Spiced Tea Party blog tomorrow. I'm very excited about this opportunity and hope you'll come visit me there. But even more, I want to give you an incentive to swing by the Tea Party as well as celebrate my sale and the Mavens' nomination, so I have a little contest in store for you.

Here's how the contest will work:

1. Comment on this post.

2. Visit us at the Manuscript Mavens blog any day this week and post a comment on any of our posts. (We are blogging our writing tips, so it's a great week to drop by if you haven't before.)

3. Visit me at The Spiced Tea Party and comment on my post there.

Anyone who manages to make comments in all three places between today and next Tuesday, January 15th, will be entered in a drawing to win one of the following three fabulous prize packages:

1. A $20 gift certificate to Amazon.com and a free copy of The Gospel of Love: According to Luke (which will be sent to you on release day, whenever that turns out to be).

2. A one-pound box of See's Candy (chocolate...yum!) and a free copy of According to Luke.

3. Any three of the following books (some are signed by the authors, some are not) and a free copy of According to Luke.
Books:

Now, how can you resist an offer like that? Go forth and comment. I'll draw and announce the winners next Tuesday

And happy 2008 to everyone!

Thirteen Books I Read this Year I Want to Pimp

2007-12-20T10:09:00.000-08:00

I don't read as much as I'd like to. Between husband, kids, house, job, and (most time-consuming of all!) writing, I just don't seem to have much time left over for reading. But, I did read some pretty good books this year and, as my early Christmas present to you, I want to share.

I'm listing these in alphabetical order by the author's first name, thereby avoiding any possible accusations of favoritism.

Kink by Amie Stuart
Totally lives up to its title. In the best possible way.

The Average Girl's Guide to Getting Laid by Annie Dean
Sassy and scorching, Ellie and Ash are tons of fun and smokin' between the sheets.

Bounty Hunter by Deanna Lee
Hot, tortured (and highly modified) hero plus kickass heroine equals one action-packed and very hot read. The sci-fi world-building is excellent, too.
The Leopard Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt
Lyrical yet gritty, you'll feel like you're actually in Yorkshire in the Georgian period. And it doesn't hurt that Harry Pye is one unbelievably sexy land steward.
The Serpent Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt
Sexy and incredibly real with a hero to swoon for. The only problem you're likely to have with this book is that you'll want Simon for yourself instead of letting Lucy, the heroine, have him.
Birthday by Ellie Marvel
A wonderful story about finding love with your best friend (and with none of the naughty bits left out).

Reign of Pleasure by Emma Petersen
Not for the faint of heart, but man...if you like to rock, this'll rock your world.
Postcards from the Dead by Ericka Scott
Fascinating premise, spicy romance, and a touch of suspense.
The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman
Okay, technically, I'm still reading this one, but I was intrigued by the discussions about the movie and its supposed "atheist" prosetylization. I find the book "draggy" in spots, but the controversy is entertaining enough to make it worth the read.
Something Wild by Sable Grey
Jack the Ripper with a twist and a great love story.
Goddess of the Hunt by Tessa Dare
This one's sort of cheating since it won't be out until 2009, but Tessa has written a witty and touching Regency romance that you are really going to love (when you can finally get your hands on it ;P).

Fire Within by Yolanda Sfetsos
Fascinating interpretation of the phoenix myth.
and last, but definitely not least...
Carnally Ever After by Jackie Barbosa
Yeah, I know, it's out of order alphabetically. So sue me! And you didn't think I wasn't going to pimp my own book, did you?

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Thirteen Reasons I've Been Slacking at Blogging

2007-12-06T10:14:00.000-08:00

I missed two Mondays running. Bad blogger, bad blogger. But I have good excu...er, reasons. Promise.

I've been judging contest entries for GOTCHA. It takes time. Lots of time.
What do you mean, it's Monday?
Oh, you mean it's Wednesday? Who authorized that?
I've been writing like crazy. Really. 10,000+ words in the past week.
There's no Internet access at Chuck E. Cheese's. Cheapskates! Next time, McDonald's.
I've been doing my Christmas shopping. NOT! (But I've been thinking about it. That counts, right?)
Bitchy, whiny, needy clients. Who can spend hours on the phone.
Did I mention I hate talking on the phone?
Emma's been querying and getting requests. I hate her. (Just kidding. I envy the bejesus out of her, that's all. But I'm so thrilled for her, I can hardly sit still!)
No news is good news.
I've been dreaming of a white Christmas. (Or at least a white New Year. Yes, I live in sunny Southern California, but I booked a weekend in Yosemite after the first of the year.)
Do you ever just get sucked into watching episode after episode of Law and Order on USA? It's kind of like crack--you know it's not worth it, but you just can't stop.
It's my blog and I'll blog when I want to! (But I really do want to blog more. I've just been a little nuts the last few weeks. I'll try to do better next week.)

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On Hold

2007-11-19T16:26:00.000-08:00

Carnally Yours is on hold for the moment, as I've had a bit of a breakthrough on another project. I expect to get back to it and finish it before Christmas, though.

It would appear that An Officer and a Jezebel remains the clear favorite as the title for Jack and Callie's story, so when I get around to posting it to the website, I expect that's the title I'll use.

And Dawne', if you're out there, email me at jackie@jackiebarbosa.com. I owe you a Cobblestone gift certificate!

And the Winner Is...

2007-11-13T14:14:00.000-08:00

The randomly drawn winner of the titling game sweepstakes is Dawne'. Dawne', please email me at jackie@jackiebarbosa.com to claim your prize.

So, several of you really liked the idea of An Officer and a Jezebel. I have to say, it's a great play on an existing title, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with referring to the heroine in the title as a Jezebel. The word just has an awful lot of Biblical baggage I'm not sure I want to saddle Callie with.

What do you think? Is Jezebel too negative a word? Please share your thoughts.

A Late Post and A Little Contest

2007-11-05T16:47:00.000-08:00

I know, it's late. Sorry!

This Friday, the Manuscript Mavens will be playing hostess to Deanna Lee, author and co-founder/co-owner of Cobblestone Press, the publisher of Carnally Ever After. (She's also my acquiring editor, which means I extra adore her for adoring my book.)

In celebration, I'm hosting a little contest here this week. You see, I have an idea for a story that won't go away, but the only title I can come up for it just doesn't seem to be flying with test audiences thus far. I'm posting the "hook" I've written for the story below. Since I realize you might need more than 100 words to come up with a title, and since the hook really focuses on the hero, you can check out this post for more information about the heroine.

Here's the hook:

The Peninsular Wars may have ended more than a year ago, but they’re not over for Colonel Jack Prescott. Cursed with an eidetic memory, Jack can recite the names and see the faces of every man he sent into battle, hear their dying howls of agony, and taste the bitter flavor of their fear. Awake or asleep, he can’t escape the twisted, violent images or his remorse for having knowingly condemned so many soldiers to certain death. That is, until he chances upon perhaps the one woman who can accept him without judgment or condemnation.

‘Tis pity she’s a whore.

Now, for the rules and prizes. You may enter as may title possibilities as you like. One lucky poster, drawn at random, will receive a $5 Cobblestone Press gift certificate. That's enough to buy Carnally Ever After and still have a little left over. I'll draw next Monday.

A Quick Post

2007-10-29T10:36:00.000-07:00

Not much writing has gotten done in the past week. Between the fires and then the things we did to distract ourselves from them (movies, Disneyland, more movies, dinner out, Chargers game), I haven't had much time to write. Which means I simply must buckle down this week and finish up Carnally Yours by Sunday. (That's a tall order, because it means 2,200 words per day. And today I have written exactly...um...zero.)

In the meantime, I thought I'd promo the Mavens' fun-filled activity one more time!

From now until Halloween, the Manuscript Mavens are running a Choose Your Own Adventure® story, in which YOU vote on what happens next! Every morning brings a new author, from the Mavens to the just-sold to the best-selling. And every night brings a new twist!

Get your Choose Your Own Adventure® votes in by 8:00pm EST (5:00pm PST) and you’ll be eligible for random prize drawings. Vote every day, and you’ll be eligible for the Grand Prize–autographed books from Maven pals and Guest Mavens!

(Already read the intro? Skip to today’s story. No idea what’s going on? Read the “rules.”)

Safe

2007-10-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to say the fire threat has abated. Everything that's still burning is well east of us. Which is bad news for those folks, but good news for us.

I just heard George W. Bush has arrived to congratulate himself for not fucking up. I think that constitutes bad news.

Going Up in Smoke

2007-10-24T08:41:00.000-07:00

No, our house isn't on fire, although there's no guarantee it won't be before the end of the week.

That said, the approaching flames combined with having all three kids home (and trapped in the house all day) since Monday is definitely interfering with my mojo.

For more, check out the map and photos on Jacqueline's blog.

The Dangerous Allure of Secondary Characters

2007-10-22T09:26:00.000-07:00

I was chugging along on Carnally Yours, making decent (if not speedy) progress. Then, I went and wrote this scene (warning: dirty words and still a first draft!):

“Maybe if I suck you a bit more, you’ll be able—” The courtesan broke off at Nathaniel’s warning glower.
He sat on the edge of the velvet-upholstered armchair next to the bed and pulled on his breeches. For the first time in his life, his cock had failed him. Never before in his life, even at his most inebriated, had he failed to make wood at the appropriate time.
But tonight, despite being ridden hard by nearly a week of unrequited lust, his prick had simply lain there, limp and unresponsive. Even when he’d closed his eyes and tried to imagine it was Eleanor fondling his balls, Eleanor taking his cock into her mouth, he hadn’t been able to rise to the occasion.
Because his senses knew she wasn’t Eleanor. She didn’t smell right, didn’t taste right, didn’t feel right.
Calliope sighed and stretched to a sit. “I suppose this means you won’t be coming back,” she said, reaching for the silk robe draped around the bedpost.
Nathaniel stopped in the midst of pulling on the first of his Hessians. Though her expression remained carefully neutral, there was no mistaking the disappointment in her tone.
“Probably not,” he admitted.
“A pity.” She slipped her arms into the garment, then ran the backs of her hands under her hair to free the blonde tresses. “You’re my best customer, you know.”
“I know. I’m very reliable.”
Whenever he came to the Red Door, he always requested Calliope first. Of all the girls who worked for Madame Upshaw, Calliope best suited his taste in women. Tall and pale-skinned with small breasts, narrow hips, and long, slender legs, she was his idea of the perfect fuck. Or had been until Eleanor had burst into his study and into his heart.
Heart? That was getting a bit sentimental, wasn’t it?
Maybe too much self-abuse made one soft in the head. He resisted the urge to look at his palms to make certain they hadn’t sprouted hair. At least he was certain he
hadn’t gone blind.
Calliope smiled and shook her head as she tied the sash around her waist. “I don’t mean it that way. You’re not the only gentleman who prefers blonde and bony—”
“You are not bony,” he interjected.
She chuckled, but held up her hand to forestall further protestations on his part. “You are my best customer because you always give as much pleasure as you take.
And so I shall miss you.”
Nathaniel’s throat thickened, and so he merely nodded before returning his attention to donning his boots. Sentimentality apparently was caused by excessive wanking.
“You must love her a great deal.”
He jerked his head up to stare at the pretty Cyprian, realizing that while he’d known her repeatedly in the Biblical sense, he didn’t know her at all.
“No, I don’t.” The denial sprang reflexively to his lips. Love was for the lovable. Not for him.
Calliope raised her eyebrows.
For some inexplicable reason, he felt obligated to explain himself. “She’s a lady. Unmarried. An Eligible. I have to marry her to fuck her, that’s all.”
The courtesan’s lips formed a skeptical grin. “Perhaps. But that’s not why you couldn’t fuck me tonight.”

I finished the scene, but once I was done, I couldn't move on with the story because Calliope interested me. Who is she? What's her background? Why did she become a prostitute?

So what did I do instead of writing the next scene in Carnally Yours? I wrote this:

Caroline James had learnt at the age of fifteen that she had precisely two saleable talents, both of which involved spending a good deal of time on her knees. That was the spring she’d hired on as a scullery maid in a wealthy lord’s London townhouse and, within a few days of taking the position, began serving her employer in a much more entertaining capacity. Before long, she was performing similar favors for the lord’s oldest son and the butler, a turn of events that pleased her greatly. Fucking men was, in her opinion, a great deal more enjoyable than scrubbing floors and the three of them kept her rather too occupied to do much of the latter.
Matters might have gone on in that fashion indefinitely had the cook not complained to the lady of the house that none of the scullery work was getting done, and quick as you could say mince pie, Callie was tossed out on her ear with neither pay nor references. She’d couldn’t have cared less about the lack of references, of course—one wasn’t usually asked for them when selling one’s wares on a Picadilly street corner—but she’d missed the money rather acutely, for sleeping in alleys had a way of making one rather less attractive to even the most desperate members of the opposite sex.
What a long way she’d come since then. Gone was the gutter born and bred Callie James, replaced by Calliope, an alluring fiction as flimsy as the diaphanous white gown she wore to mimic the Grecian goddess from whom she’d taken her name. No one from the Seven Dials would recognize her now, a posh and perfect lady in every respect but one.

God help me, I already love Calliope and must write her story. Like I don't already have enough to do! This happens to me all the time--my secondary characters just demand to be written. Anyone else suffer from this problem?

Speaking of things to do, I'm putting important papers into boxes and packing up the family photos on account of this:

This is southeast of our house and it doesn't look like it's going to reach us unless the winds change direction significantly. Still, it's a possibility.

Finally, pimpage:

From now until Halloween, the Manuscript Mavens are putting on a Halloween-themed Choose Your Own Adventure® story, where You The Reader get to vote on what happens next, and a different author will continue the story each day based on your feedback. The Mavens are giving away tons of prizes to commenters, including autographed books. Definitely bookmark it!

Choose Your Own Adventure is a trademark of Chooseco LLC, Waitsfield, Vermont. Check them out at www.cyoa.com. The trademark has been used by permission herein. Thanks, CYOA!

Good News, Good Stuff, and Where to Find It All!

2007-10-15T09:05:00.000-07:00

Good morning! (Or afternoon, for those of you who still live over there on the right hand side of the planet :->.)

I just got back from a busy weekend of camping (complete with rain, ensuing mud, and my youngest child learning to ride his bike without training wheels...woohoo!) and I'm still trying to find my brain, much less finish unpacking all the gear. (Remind me again why camping is fun?)

Since I'm currently sapped of my cleverness by mundane concerns like laundry and devoid of any exciting news of my own, I'm turning over today's blog to others in the Internet universe:

For exciting first sale news, go here.
For an awesome contest with exciting prizes, go here.
For the funniest damn romance novel writing lesson evah, go here.
For just plain funny, go here.

Also, keep your eyes peeled for Ecataromance Sensual's Cobblestone Press Authors Day this Wednesday, October 17th. I'll be there with bells on (and hopefully with my brain back!).

What's up in your little corner of the world?

Welcome to My World!

2007-10-08T11:09:00.000-07:00

After months of vacillating, I decided it was time to break down and launch a blog. Those of you who are used to conversing with my alter ego, Jacqueline Barbour, can still chat with her on Fridays on her blog. Those of you who don't "know" Jacqueline are also welcome to pop by.

Meanwhile, I'll be blogging here Mondays and whenever else the mood strikes me (but I promise Mondays barring illness, vacation, or the odd emergency). So, I hope you'll be joining me on Mondays, when I promise to dish about anything I can think of: reading, writing, publishing, sex, love, and maybe even rock and roll! So pull up a chair and a cuppa something--I drink tea, like a proper Brit (we'll ignore the fact that I'm a native Southern Californian)--and settle in for a good time!

See you next Monday!