Keep Going

When Sandra and I first discussed my being a guest blogger today, I was going to tell you about my humorous paranormal romance More Than She Wished For. However, Triskelion Publishing filed for bankruptcy and closed its doors. That’s pretty much the end for More Than She Wished For. It’s possible it might see the light of day with another publisher. First though, those of us who were with Triskelion have to wait to see what the Bankruptcy Court decides.

So, what have I done since my publisher tanked? The same thing so many of my writer friends have done. Yes, eaten gobs of chocolate and quarts of ice cream.

Seriously, I’ve kept writing and making plans to submit to other publishers. By their choices and actions, my writing friends have been my inspiration to keep going on the path I’m now treading.

Mary Fechter is a friend whose actions I admire. Mary’s been writing and submitting for twelve years. She’s been a Golden Heart^tm Finalist four times. Mary’s neither won the Golden Heart nor sold.

Yet.

Writing is a valued part of her life. Go to her daily blog and watch as she tracks pages written for one book and edits done for a second. There’s also a time line to when the next Golden Heart competition begins. Mary keeps writing.

Then there’s Cheryl Wilson who submitted her first manuscript twenty years ago. In between college, career, marriage, children, she kept writing. After her third child was born, she began writing with the goal of getting published. In four years, she finished two books while writing from 3:00AM and 7:00AM and on weekends because that was the only time she had to write.

One of those books, Tairen Soul, sold this past year. Her publisher, Leisure Books, decided to split her majestic fantasy into two books. Cheryl found a place to separate the book, then smoothed both out so they can be read independently. For me, that’s going to be like the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Sure, they can be read separately, but they’re so much better when read in order. Look for C. L. Wilson’s first books: Tairen Soul: Lord of the Fading Lands on October 2, and Tairen Soul: Lady of Light and Shadows on October 30. You’ll love them.

One of the big excitements for a author is winning writing contests. As joyous as it is, it’s no guarantee disappointment isn’t lurking around the next corner.

Elle James won the 2004 Golden Heart for Best Paranormal Romance. To Kiss a Frog was published the next year. But, for a year after it sold, Elle didn’t sell another book.

She didn’t quit.

Elle switched her writing style, sold to Harlequin Intrigue, and hasn’t looked back. Her fifth Harlequin Intrigue, Blown Away, comes out in September and she’s signed for three more Intrigues to be released in 2008. Under a different persona, she has written for three other publishers. She now writes full time.

Another major prize winner is Janice Lynn. (Her website is currently undergoing a redesign.) A Golden Heart Finalist in 2003, in 2005 her Jane Millionaire won the very first American Title contest sponsored by Romantic Times magazine and Dorchester Publishing. After years of writing and receiving rejections, it thrilled Janice to see her name on a book for sale in bookstores.

Then came a two year drought of not selling a single manuscript.

Like Elle James, Janice switched her writing style. A nurse practitioner in the day job, Janice used her knowledge to write and sell two medical romances to Boons and Mills and recently signed a three-book contract with them.

Tawny Weber is another who has never taken her eyes from her goal, despite disappointments and rejection. When I first met Tawny, her goal was to write for the Harlequin Temptation line. She was a Finalist in Golden Heart three times and won numerous RWA^tm Chapters’ contests to become a Contest Diva in the years before she finally reached publication. Tawny kept herself and her books visible by focusing on contests in which one of the final judges was the editor she wanted to work with at Harlequin. Through these contests, she and the editor built a working relationship.

Then Temptation was closed.

Tawny took the editor’s advice to heart and revamped her writing style to fit the Harlequin Blaze line. Her 2006 Golden Heart Finalist book, Double Dare was released in the Blaze line in May, 2007. She has two books coming in 2008 and proposals on her editor’s desk.

If you can stand the agony of rejections and disappointments, celebrate the happiness of the moment, and know what you want, you can do it. What you get out of life depends on what you’ve put into it.

It’s never too late in your life to set new goals to reach your life’s joy, including getting your stories published.

Sister Triskelion author Judith Rochelle was fully vested with her employer’s retirement program and a grandmother when she decided to focus on her life-long dream of writing romances. Her career spanned from being one of the first women sports reporters, to managing a rock band, to being executive secretary for the president of a Catholic university.

Now she’s published by several publishers using three different names. “Judith Rochelle” writes contemporary romances, another name writes erotic romance, the third writes inspirational romance. One way Judith has built her fan base is to participate almost daily in various listserves owned by her publishing houses, review sites, and her friends. To watch the various names chat to each other in email in a reader’s listserve is hilarious. All writers are a bit schizophrenic, but Judith takes it further than anyone I know. She has boundless energy, talks with everyone at conferences, and never misses a chance to promote her current work or a future premise. Her goals are set and she doesn’t lose sight of them. And all three of her personas’ books are pulling in rave reviews.

With these women and countless other authors encouraging me and setting examples to follow, I’ll continue to write and submit, despite Triskelion Publishing's closing. The anger and bitterness have passed (chocolate chip cookies helped with that). I had seven electronic books with Triskelion and have seen my name on four of those books in bookstores, which is a whole lot more than most people who think about writing a book. I’ve received lovely letters from readers, terrific reviews, and a couple of awards.

With friends and family cheering me on, I keep writing and submitting.

In November, I’ll have a humorous paranormal romance in an anthology, Love, from Christmas Town with The Wild Rose Press and then a short erotic romance “Naked Bluff” in the Destination: Pleasure line with them in January. In addition to goals of completing submissions for Red Sage, Ellora’s Cave, and Harlequin Spice, I’m expanding my writing horizon by having a weekly humorous writing column in an electronic magazine, LiQuid Magazine starting in September. Once a month, LiQuid will also be issued in print as a “freebie” magazine. In addition to a change of pace from writing novels, it’s a great way to keep my name in public view while I restart my writing career.

A lot of my attitude to continuing and changing comes from being mentored almost from the beginning of my writing career by two sisters—Elle James and Delilah Devlin.

On New Year's Eve 2000, Delilah challenged Elle to have a book published. I met them the following year. It’s been a pleasure watching Elle’s career blossom and seeing Delilah go from unpublished to writing for Ellora’s Cave, Kensington, Triskelion (which she did as a favor for me—the things my friends do to help me are never ending), and Avon Red.

Delilah and Elle started a writer’s help group several years ago and invited me, among several others, to work with them. The motto of Rose’s Colored Glasses is Write, Revise, and Submit.

Keep the motto in mind.

When you’ve created a book you adore, getting it published makes the most bizarre roller coaster ride tame. The ups in this industry raise your emotions to dizzying heights. The lows can break your heart, if you let them.

Aristotle said, “We cannot learn without pain.” To be an author, you have to learn to deal with the pain of rejections, no sales, editors leaving, a publisher closing.

You have the ability to make your dreams come true, but only if you keep your goals in focus and have the strength to adapt to changes and cope with disappointments.

Write, Revise, and Submit.

It works.

Betty Hanawa
www.BettyHanawa.com
Destination Pleasure, Jan '08, The Wild Rose Press
LiQuid Magazine

World Building with Nalini Singh - September Workshop at Sandra's Goings On

Hey, Everyone! Today's post can be found at The Otherworld Diner.

Also, I am hosting a "workshop" post on World Building with Nalini Singh right here on Thursday, September 6, 2007. So, whether you're a writer, just toying with the idea of writing, or a reader who wants a little behind-the-scenes-know, stop by on the 6th.

Sandy :-)

*August 25, 2007 at Sandra's Goings On - Guest Blogger, Betty Hanawa ~ More Than She Wished For

The Fine Art of Chat Challenges

Andromeda’s tear first round revisions are DONE!

Yes, everyone, it’s been a while. Four months, to be exact. But, I think it’s been worth every moment. When I got that request for revisions, I was very excited. I wanted to make sure I did this right. So, I took my time. I brainstormed and mulled my ideas over. Shaping and testing until I found just the right blend of tension and action and emotion. I wanted to make these changes POP!

So, after a couple of months of chewing over my ideas and…erm, talking my poor husband’s ear off and, well anyone else who would listen, I finally had a solid picture of what I needed to do.

At this point, I thought, Hey! This should be a breeze! I know what I want to accomplish. I know how I want to make my hero squirm. (hehehe You might want to check out my post on The Art of Hero Torture at The Otherworld Diner.) And, I know how I’m going to really ramp up the external tension. So, let’s write!

But, it wasn’t that easy. You see, this was my first experience with requested rewrites. I’d never gone back to a completed work and had to make, what turned out to be MAJOR plot changes. I had all these words in front of me and every time I went to change them, I froze! It was like hitting a mental road block. I knew what I had to do. I knew what I wanted to say. I just couldn’t get past all those words that were already there. I most certainly couldn’t delete them. Ack!

Yet, they had to go. They weren’t allowing me to make these new changes. And, believe me, the new stuff? Way better and HOTTER than the original. I just needed to get past my block. How did I do it? Chat Challenges!

What are Chat Challenges, you ask? Well, let me tell you, they are the best thing since sliced bread. But, first, let me tell you how I got around all those pre-existing words. NO! I didn’t delete them! I get shudders just thinking about that. I moved them. To a scratch pad in the word-processing program I use (I don’t use Word. But, that’s a post for another day).

Ok, now that I had moved all those pre-existing words, I needed to replace them. But, for some reason I had a hard time getting past the fact that, although I couldn’t see the old stuff, my brain knew it was there. I just couldn’t get past staring at my newly blank screen. Gah! How frustrating! I had all these great ideas on the changes I wanted to make. I even had dialogue and entire scenes worked out like a movie in my head, but I just couldn’t make it flow to my fingers. I couldn’t disconnect the part of my brain (Hey! I heard that!) that knew I’d already written stuff here.

And, that’s where the Chat Challenges come in. I am a member of Romance Divas. They have a live chat. A bunch of us will go into the chat room at the same time and choose a time keeper. That person wields the *whip*. Ok, so it isn’t a real whip. Just the sound of one cracking. Once we hear it, we all go to our respective works-in-progress and write our hearts out until we hear the whip crack once more. Usually after 20 minutes, hence the need for a time keeper. Here’s the fun part, we all come back to the chat room and post how many words we were able to write in that 20 minutes.

And, therein lies the pure genius of the Chat Challenge. With only 20 minutes to write as many words as possible and with several people going to see your numbers, you tend to forget about everything but getting the words down. MY INTERNAL EDITOR KIND OF SLOWED DOWN! I say kind of, because I can’t shut the freaking thing off. It really sucks sometimes. Also a post for another time, but did you ever notice, the more you know about the craft of writing, the harder it is to write?

Anyway, through these Chat Challenges, I was able to get past what used to be on those pages and just write my new vision. And, when I read through my completed revisions for the first time the other day, I was shocked to see they weren’t as rough as I thought they were going to be! I’m polishing now, but this puppy is going out soon. I am very happy with the new path my characters have taken to get to the end. The basic plot’s the same, but the middle is completely new. As in it doesn’t even resemble the original. And, boy oh boy, am I happy with the outcome.

Ok, so I’m off to polish my revisions. Happy reading and/or writing, everyone!

Sandy :-)


*August 25, 2007 at Sandra's Goings On - Guest Blogger, Betty Hanawa ~ More Than She Wished For

Erin Grady at Romantic Inks this week!

Hey, Everybody! Not only am I a resident blogger at The Otherworld Diner, which has some great photo posts this week (you should check them out), but I am also the newest Lady to join the Romantic Inks roster.

In that vein, I wanted to direct you to RI as we have a wonderful guest blogger this week as well as a nifty contest. Who doesn't love those?

"Readers Choice Contest

Never read one of Erin Grady’s books? Love her books but would like a signed copy?

We have a solution to your problem. Erin will be giving away one of her three published titles to one lucky winner at the end of the week..."

So, what are you waiting for? Head on over to Romantic Inks and enter!

Sandy :-)

*August 25, 2007 at Sandra's Goings On - Guest Blogger, Betty Hanawa ~ More Than She Wished For

Where I'm At...

Hello, Everyone. Today's blog post can be found at The Otherworld Diner, where I'll be posting every other Thursday. I hope you'll pop on over and show your support. There are a great bunch of ladies just waiting to dish you up some paranormal humor.

Oh, and I need to address one quick item. A while back, Elisa Adams ran a comment contest. Due to some technical email issues and then vacation schedules, I somehow missed her announcement of a winner.

I apologize for not getting this up sooner. But, here it is. The winner of a signed copy of Settling the Score, is Ursula! Congratulations. I know you'll enjoy it. Drop me a line with your snail-mail address and I'll forward it on to Elisa.

Thanks!
Sandy :-)

*August 25, 2007 at Sandra's Goings On - Guest Blogger, Betty Hanawa ~ More Than She Wished For

Finally! RWA National Conference 2007 - Life after Dallas

About a week after returning from Dallas, I had prepared a blog post updating everyone on the happenings of my time at Conference. I was pleased with my effort and planned to post it just as soon as I got back from carting my daughter off to dance in the half-time show for our arena football team. (That was really cool, by the way.) Anyway, and this is so embarrassing, I neglected to hit SAVE on my word document and Darling Husband...well, he doesn't like extraneous programs just sitting open for no apparent reason--see where I'm going with this?--he shut Word down and then totally freaked and apologized up and down. I don't blame him. I blame me. The first rule ANY good writer knows is to SAVE your stuff. As in it should be automatic. Save...Save...SAVE!!! Gah!

I haven't had time to rectify my mistake until today, and I apologize for that. But, enough about that fiasco. I have RWA National Conference PICTURES!!! Ummm, I also have dial-up so, although I've started writing this post before 9:00am my time, it will probably considerably later when this post actually goes live. Hey! If any big wigs from Verizon or RoadRunner are reading this, please, please, I beg of you, take my street out the dark ages and give us access to high-speed internet. PLEASE!

Ok, back to nationals. First, I want to send a warm thank you out to my fabulous roommates, Diana Castilleja, Liz Bemis, and Chellesie B. Dancer. I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful group of ladies. We hit it off right from the start. And, trust me, four women who've never met in person, sharing one hotel room with only two beds could have been...er, awkward to say the least. ;-)

Unlike last year, I actually knew some people who were attending this conference. This made for a VERY different experience. I mean, this time I had the Divas to hang out with. What a group! I can't wait until the next Diva Dinner.

Ok, so it wasn't all parties and hanging out at the bar (well, there WAS a lot of that too.), but I did do other things as well. Like, attend the PRO-Retreat, which had some fabulous speakers like Tawny Weber and Serrilyn Kenyon among others. They had a lot of good information to impart. And, Sherrilyn Kenyon's message of perseverance…well, after I got past my tears, I was able to speak with her and to let her know how her story moved me. She is so open and sweet, if you ever have the chance to meet her in person, please do.

I attended some excellent book signings and volunteered at the Literacy Signing. We raised over $56,000.00 in two hours!!! I also finally got to meet Anna Campbell in person. I knew she was a doll from our email correspondence, but, in person, she is so much more--witty and genuine. It was an honor getting to hang with her. Oh! And I've finally been able to start Claiming the Courtesan. Holly Hell, Anna! Talk about intense, rip-your-heart-out-and-flip-it-over writing. I bow to your genius, Woman. If you guys haven't picked up Claiming the Courtesan, drop what you're doing and get out to your nearest book store. Now. Remember my fixation on the bad, bad, BAD hero? The one who is only a nano-step from being a great villain? Well, hell, Anna has got THAT corner seriously covered!

Now that I've gone off on another tangent, I'll move on to what else happened at National this year. I networked. Boy, did I network. I met so many fantastic writers, published and unpublished. The energy of so many talented people in one place. It was just intense! I also attended an editor and an agent appointment with excellent results. I pitched a dark paranormal I've been working on. I didn't expect to be asked for more than a partial, but the editor loved my idea so much she requested the FULL!!! How very exciting. Once I've tweaked it to my satisfaction, that will be heading off to her desk.

There is so much more that has transpired as a result of going to this year's National Conference. However, I'm going to save that installment for next week. As I scroll up, I realize this is already a very long post. ;-)

Next time, I'll fill you in on my upcoming "workshop" segment and the fabulous line-up of top authors and publishing professionals who've consented to participate. I'm very excited about this endeavor.

As for pictures, *sigh* my freakin' dial-up is not cooperating. I must ask for your patience until I can throw them onto a jump-drive and cart them over to my mom's house, which has the luxury of High-speed internet access.

On a totally different note, has anyone read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows? I certainly did. Took me three days. Would have been faster except I had to actually interact with my family. ROFL! I'd love to hear your thoughts on J.K. Rowling's final installment. Do share! What was your favorite scene? No major Spoilers, please.

Sandy :-)

*August 25, 2007 at Sandra's Goings On - Guest Blogger, Betty Hanawa ~ More Than She Wished For