Conference Wrap-Up

Jennifer shares her thoughts after a writer’s conference

I just returned from a two-day writer’s conference and I’m so inspired! The conference was sponsored by the New Jersey Romance Writers of America. Their yearly conference features workshops, panel discussions, keynote speakers and pitches with editors and agents.

The conference is fabulous. Because we’re in such close proximity to New York, we get a lot of big-name publishers and agents attending and participating. We also get attendees from up and down the East Coast of the United States.

I had a great time meeting in person many of the people I follow on Facebook and Twitter, or getting to know better the people I see at the occasional meeting I attend. And of course, hanging out with good friends was a plus.

But the best part was what I learned at the conference.

On the first day, there was a Publishes Authors Retreat. These were separate workshops geared specifically for published authors, who are at a different point in their careers than unpublished ones (it was not a “ha-ha, you can’t be here” kind of thing). Because there were other workshops going on simultaneously, I actually only went to the kick-off speech by Virginia Kantra, before attending other workshops not part of the retreat.

Her speech was inspiring. It was supposed to be about the state of the publishing industry. And I’m sure, if she had stuck to that, I would have gotten lots of useful information that I would have filed away to be dealt with later. Instead, she turned that topic on its head and claimed that WE are the state of the industry. We need to write what we love, because when we write from a place of love, we turn out the best work. And readers get that, like that and want more of that.

I love this woman (and her coffee habits at breakfast the next morning were hilarious)!

My two favorite workshops were on self-editing and writing a conflict-based synopsis. Both of those workshops were jam packed with information. I cannot wait to make use of the handouts we were given! After sitting through those workshops, I feel completely prepared to edit my work and to write an amazing synopsis (providing I can pull it off).

The second day of the conference featured a really cool thing called Anonymous Author. We submitted the first 200 words of our WIP ahead of time and five agents and editors critiqued them out loud, discussing what they liked, didn’t like and whether or not they’d request more based on those words. Because it was anonymous, there was no shaming done and they were very polite, even though they were very blunt. I’ll admit, I submitted my first draft of my first 200 words and they pointed out a lot of errors. What was interesting was that I could hear exactly where the problems were when the submission was read out loud. And I completely agreed with their diagnosis. So although a bit disappointed, I am not discouraged.

At the end of the second day, I participated in their book fair, where I had a chance to sell some books, meet readers (and talk incoherently to Connie Brockway, who stopped at my table and turned me into a babbling idiot) and basically see what an amazing body of work we’ve all produced.

It was a fantastic conference and one that I wish everyone could participate in!

My imagination is back!

Ana posts the first sentence of her new (old) WIP.

I am gradually disconnecting from my CSA job. Dark dirt embedded in my hand and knee callouses is wearing off. I don't rush outdoors at daybreak.  A stubborn ache in my left butt has subsided.  The biggest change, though, is in my head. My imagination is back.

This is good news! Ideas for my three WIP compete for frontal brain stage.

I read an announcement for a new press dedicated to westerns and western historicals. So I decided to pull my first novel out of its dust covered folder.

Here's the opening sentence.
What do you think?

Gripping the crisp Demand for Payment notice, Stormy Hawkins marched up to the Prosperity Land and Loan, pushed back her leather work hat, and kicked the door with the dusty heel of her boot until she heard the heavy thunk of a deadbolt. 

Friday Friend, Jenna Jaxon

Today's Friday Friend is Jenna Jaxon!

From Stage to Page

I’ve thought about my process before, of how I write, and have come to the conclusion that it’s very much like directing a play for me.  I’d been a theatre director for many years before I began writing professionally and one might not think the two had a lot in common, but I’ve found quite a lot of overlap that’s helped me in various ways.

If we begin my process with the spark of an idea, my ideas for books come from just about everywhere.  A chance phrase overheard, a place in a novel that has an unanswered question or sparks a question in my mind, song lyrics.  Song Lyrics have been the bane of my existence--it’s why I have such a long list of book outlines on my computer.  I hear a song and the idea for another book just pops into my head. 

In directing this would be play selection.  The ideas aren’t mine, but I get to choose what play I want to work with.

I’ll admit I’m a plotter.  I’ve got to have an outline before I start, a road map that takes me where I need to go, before I can write a word.  Once that’s complete, as I start a chapter, I’ll re-write the chapter in more detail so I know exactly what the characters are supposed to do.  When completed, I’ll have my rough draft.

In directing I always block my shows in my earliest rehearsals.  Blocking is moving the people around on the stage, giving the characters motivation for movement, finding out how the characters work together.  When completed, this is my bare bones, my rough draft.

Next draft, I layer on characterization, fully fleshing out the characters, giving them motivation, delving into their back stories, finding out why they act the way they do.  This step is almost identical in directing.  As I work a play, I talk to the actors about these same things.  And both characters and actors give me feedback and help me define who they are.

Finally, in directing, I begin to run through the show and the set and costume designers bring in the sets and props and costumes for the actors to use. Creating the world of the play.  In my third draft of a novel, I add in description, fleshing out the spectacle of the novel with details of rooms, parks, outfits, giving the book a richness and making the reader understand the world in which my characters live.

At this point, in both production and novel, I polish--fixing little things here and there--until either opening night or book release day.

I’m not sure how other authors write--everyone has their own process--but I think my years of experience in the theatre has shaped my writing process and helped me to become the best writer I can be.

TAG: He has the woman of his dreams, but what price will he have to pay to win her heart?

Kidnapped and sold at auction in a London brothel, Lady Katarina Fitzwilliam squelches an undeniable attraction to the masked stranger who purchased her, pits her wits against him, and escapes him and the scandal that would ruin her life.

Unable to resist temptation in a London brothel, Duncan Ferrers, Marquess of Dalbury, purchases a fiery beauty. She claims she's a lady, but how can she be? No lady of his acquaintance in polite society is anything like her. Then he discovers she is who she says, and that this latest romp has compromised her reputation. He knows how that is. One more scandal and he'll be cast out of London society, but he needs a wife who'll provide an heir to carry on his illustrious family's name. He seeks out Katarina, intending only to scotch the scandal, but instead finds his heart ensnared. He's betting their future he'll capture her heart, but does he have what it

takes to win the wager?

WARNING: A blade-wielding heroine who crosses swords with a master of sensuality.

Excerpt for Only Scandal Will Do:

“Lady Katarina,” the marquess said, taking her limp, cold hand. “I have been looking forward to this moment ever since I heard you were in London.”

That voice sent shivers down her spine. She remembered well the arrogance in it when he’d declared himself her master. Soft and silky now, his mouth poised over her hand, and the words sent searing heat that penetrated her long kidskin gloves. Only sheer determination kept her from snatching it out of his grasp, and fear at what might be said if she acted in any way as though she had met this man before. No one must know.

She made herself look at his face, into the dark brown eyes that gleamed with…apprehension? Amusement? Katarina twitched her mouth into what hopefully passed for a smile and said, “I am delighted to make your acquaintance as well, Lord Dalbury. Although I must confess that until just now I had not heard your name.” Although pleased to hear how strong her voice sounded, she feared she might choke on the lies she spouted. Kat slipped her hand from his and a measure of calm returned.

Jack was deep in his conversation with Lord Braeton, completely unconcerned about her. She tried to refrain from looking at the marquess, but he demanded her attention by addressing her again.

“I almost missed the pleasure of making your acquaintance, Lady Katarina. I left the ball just before midnight, but one of my carriage horses came up lame and I returned to ask Braeton for the loan of a replacement. Lady Luck surely smiled on me tonight.” His wide smile seemed genuine, his voice tinged with a hint of relief.

She sighed. Her last night in England and Lady Luck had to favor this fellow.

He continued on, disregarding her silence. “I understand from Lord Braeton that you and your brother only arrived from the colonies three months ago, Lady Katarina.”

She found it hard to keep her tone civil. “Yes, my lord. We came to England in early February.” As she had told him before! It helped not to look at his eyes. Instead she fastened her gaze on his cheek. He would likely carry those scars the rest of his life. She hoped it hurt his vanity every time he looked in the mirror.

He apparently saw where her gaze lay, for he ran his finger down the center mark. “Ah, I see you are curious about my wounds.” He shifted his weight slightly, drawing her a little away from the others.

“Is it a war wound, my lord?” she asked, feeling the return of her confidence.

“It is a badge of honor I wear, given to me by a worthy opponent who I underestimated in many ways. I now regret the chance encounter, Lady Katarina.” He lowered his voice. “She did not deserve the treatment she had at my hands. I make my most sincere apology for doubting her words to me.”

Kat stiffened at this offering. How could he stand there and try to apologize so cavalierly in a crowded ballroom? “Whoever she is, then, Lord Dalbury,” she said sweetly, “I hope your opponent is more forgiving than I would be.”

Jenna Jaxon is a multi-published author of historical and contemporary romance.  Her historical romance, Only Scandal Will Do, the first in a series of five interconnecting novels, was released in July 2012. Her contemporary works include Hog Wild, Almost Perfect, and 7 Days of Seduction.  She is a PAN member of Romance Writers of America as well as a member of Chesapeake Romance Writers. Her medieval romance, Time Enough to Love, is being published this year as a series of three novellas.  The first book, Betrothal, released on April 19th.

Jenna has been reading and writing historical romance since she was a teenager.  A romantic herself, she has always loved a dark side to the genre, a twist, suspense, a surprise.  She tries to incorporate all of these elements into her own stories. She lives in Virginia with her family and a small menagerie of pets.  When not reading or writing, she indulges her passion for the theatre, working with local theatres as a director.  She often feels she is directing her characters on their own private stage. 

She has equated her writing to an addiction to chocolate because once she starts she just can’t stop.

The Thrill of Release Day

The Vampire and the Vixen by Debra St. John officially hit shelves yesterday.

I thought it would be anti-climactic. And in some ways it was since Vampire has been out on Kindle for months now, but there's still something thrilling about an official release day. It's always fun to see my title at the top of my publisher's page.

And it's fun to be touring around to various blogs to get the word out. Tomorrow I'll be visiting with Karen Michelle Nutt and offering a piece of Flash Fiction as part of her Halloween Flash Fiction Bash. There are so many fabulous authors participating, and each one is giving a prize! Be sure to check it out.

And of course now I'll be able to offer my book in other formats besides Kindle. The PDF version is available through TWRP. And soon it should be available for Nook. (Although I checked yesterday and the title wasn't up yet.)

Reviews from professional reviewers will hopefully soon arrive. I've gotten some really great ones from readers on Amazon, but it's always nice to have 'official' sites weigh in as well.

So all in all, it's a pretty exciting week!

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

Does networking work?

Paula’s thoughts about social networking

Way back in 2009, when I started writing romance novels again after a 20+ year break, I began to explore Yahoo groups and then Facebook. This was two years before I had another book published, but by June 2011 when ‘His Leading Lady’ was released, I had a fair amount of online friends. Two years later, and with four more books published, I’ve continued to expand my online friendships. It’s true to say many ARE now my friends, and not just names, because we’ve exchanged comments, often to the point of feeling as if we’re having a real life conversation. I’ve made more friends through several FB groups too, notably the GBE2 and Writers’ Post groups.

Blogging has also helped. I make a real effort to visit and leave comments on friends’ blogs, probably two or three each day (on average). I took part in the Six Sentence Sunday group for about 18 months, and the April A-Z blogging challenge for the last 3 years, and ‘met’ more people through both of those. Inviting people to be a ‘Friday Friend’ here has strengthened many friendships, as has being a guest blogger elsewhere.

I don’t spend as much time in the Yahoo groups as I used to, as many of these seem to contain only promotion, but I often follow the links on the loops to different blogs. I also dabbled in Twitter for a time, but I found it difficult to keep up with all the activity there (especially as a lot of it seemed to be pure advertising of books).

There have been times when I felt I was spending too much time on ‘socialising’ – which I prefer to call it, rather than networking. To me, the latter implies that you are ‘using’ the networks simply to promote yourself and your books. That’s not to say I don’t advertise from time to time, but I prefer to think of it as socialising and making friends.

What I didn’t actually realise was that by doing this I was establishing an online presence for my name. Several times in the past few weeks I’ve had friendship requests from people who have said (to paraphrase one of them): “I see you around so often on different pages I thought we were already friends.”

My ‘online presence’ came home to me last weekend. On Saturday evening, I posted a message to the effect that my next novel would be released next February, and I was looking for blog visits in February and March. Within a couple of hours, I had ten offers to host me, some by leaving a comment, others through direct messaging. By the time I got up next morning, there were five more. I know there are other friends I can approach directly to ask for a guest spot on their blogs, but what was especially gratifying about the offers was that only two of these were from bloggers I had visited in the past. The others were from other friends I have made on FB, and it’s always good to be able to visit ‘new’ blogs. I also had two offers to read and review the novel (in addition to their offers to host me on their blogs).

Bearing in mind that FB posts soon get pushed out of sight by all the other posts appearing there, I could probably repeat the request next week, and get more offers. However, I think 15 is enough for now!

One short message on FB has resulted in me being able to plan a two month blog tour. It’s also made me feel a whole lot better about the time I spend socialising on Facebook!

Finding the Inspiration to Write

Jennifer is making progress on her writing.

I spent yesterday writing.

I know, the first sentence of a blog post (or anything, for that matter), is supposed to snag the reader’s interest. But my first sentence should snag your interest, because it’s a bit amazing and it’s true.

See, my kids were home from school yesterday for Columbus Day. Normally when they’re home, I don’t write unless I’m on a deadline, because it’s too easy to get distracted and there’s too much that I need to do for/with them.

But while I was taking my dog for a walk in the morning, my critique partner called with her feedback on my first chapter.

She and I have just entered into this relationship and everything is brand new. She made some comments and suggestions about that first chapter, ones I hadn’t considered before, and I spent the rest of the walk and the morning considering what she’d said.

Eventually, I NEEDED to write. Both of my girls had a ton of homework—one of them had a study group over—so I used the time to break out my computer and rewrite.

It was not the most productive writing I’d ever done. There were lots of interruptions—going out to get lunch for the study group, helping my younger daughter with lots of questions about her homework, doing laundry, running errands, etc. But in between, and consistently for the whole day, I wrote.

I rewrote the entire chapter. I’m not sure how good it is, or if it fixed the problems my critique partner found—some of which I agreed with, others that I didn’t. But I was productive. And I wrote. And I’m closer to my goal!

My critique partner and I are finding our rhythm. It’s looking to be a promising relationship. And she inspired me enough to push through on a day where I thought for sure I’d be too busy.

I call that a huge success!

Got a tip (or trick) on world building?

Ana asks for help on world building for a series.


We create a 'world' for each book we write. Stand alone stories end with a HEA, but a series needs more continuity:

Setting details. Who lives where and how you get there.

 Character descriptions. Hair and eye color, build, choice of clothing and accessories.

Have you discovered a useful tip or trick to keep these details straight and organized? Easily accessible?   Modifiable?

What details are important to keep in a 'bible'?
A series could go on for years.