The "What If" Game

Debra ponders what will happen if...

I'm at about week 10ish in the whole "You'll hear back from us in eight to twelve weeks." timeline. While I wait with fingers and toes crossed. While I wish on as many shooting stars as I can. While I pray. While I sit on pins and needles. I'm playing a little 'what if' back and forth with myself. Obviously, in this particular 'game', there are two options.

What if...I get THE CALL and it's a yes!

Well, first I will fall out of whatever seat I'm sitting in, then get up and do a VERY enthusiastic dance of joy. Probably shed some tears as well. Call/yell for my hubby so he's the first to know. And then let everyone else I've ever been acquainted with know as well.

After that, I'm going to have some fairly major decisions to make. Because my hope for this particular call is that it takes my writing from something I do for fun and pleasure, to something I do as a career (while, of course, keeping the fun and pleasure component.) At the moment, writing is a hobby. Most days I enjoy it. I love to tell stories, as I can live so many vicarious lives, and it gives me something to do with all of those voices in my head. But I'm not writing to make a living. I have a real job that I also love most days and which I need to pay the bills. But if this really happens, I'm going to need to devote more time to my writing. It literally will become a job, not just a hobby if I am lucky enough to sign with this publisher. Does that mean I give up every other interest I have in order to be able to work two jobs? I'm highly involved in my local Historical Society, and it's something I am passionate about. But with two careers to possibly juggle, my already limited time will be even more limited. Would I eventually choose my writing career over my other career? Something I've been doing for 25 years now? Hmn? Perhaps it is time for a change. Time to branch out and try something new. But at that point, it really, REALLY needs to be a career, because my hubby and I are not in a position to be able to live on one salary.

On the other hand...

What if...I get a call, an e-mail, a letter and it's a rejection?

Well, first there will be some tears. Quite different than the joyful ones in the 'yes' scenario. But once I pull myself together, I will still have some decisions to make.

Do I try this publisher (Which I really have my heart and hopes set on.) with another mss (in hopes they like my voice even though the submitted story wasn't right for them), or do I look elsewhere? So far in my writing 'life', I have not gone the agent route. Do I attempt to get an agent and let her pass my work around? But if I submit the original mss to her, then I've already missed out on my target publisher. Or do I submit a new mss to her and let her know I'd like it to be passed along to said target publisher. Is that even an option with an agent. IF she'd even accept me in the first place. Do I take a step back from writing totally and focus my energies elsewhere? Become even more involved with the Historical Society. (There is a possible opportunity on the horizon for that as well.) Will a rejection be a sign that it's not meant to be? Or am I just too hyper-focused on this one submission? I really, really love my current publisher, but the new projects I'm working on don't seem like they'd be a good fit. Or perhaps, again, it's just me being hyper-focused on what I'm coveting at the moment. I mean, there are LOTS of publishers out there. It would be REALLY silly to give up totally just because of a rejection from one. If that's how I played this game all along, I never would have gotten published in the first place. Rejection is all part of the writing life.

The 'what if' game is tricky. It's in turn exalting and depressing. I'm trying to take a glass half full approach in both outcomes, as there really could be something good that comes out of either. But unfortunately I'm a bit too much of a pessimist to do that. And I really feel I've put all of my apple hopes in one basket.

At this point, only time, and hopefully just a couple more weeks will tell. In the meantime, I'll continue with the 'what if'. You all keep those fingers and toes crossed. And if you happen to see a shooting star, make a wish for me.

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

The Final Chapter

Paula is struggling with her final chapter!  

Usually when I get to the final chapter of a ‘work in progress’, I know where I’m going with it. It may need some thought and ‘sorting out’ to ensure I tie up all the loose ends, but at least I have a rough idea how to do that.

Not so with 'Irish Shadows', my current WIP. There are several fairly complex plot strands running through this story, and I’ve realised I resolved two of them too soon, so first I need to go back and rewrite parts of a couple of chapters. Then I have to decide which other problems/issues need to be brought to a satisfying conclusion – and, of course, how to do that. Last but not least, I need to work out just when the final scene takes place, and how I get all the necessary characters together for this, so that it doesn’t appear too ‘convenient’. Most of my novels have a slight twist at the end, but so far the twist for this story is proving elusive. I've thought of, but then dismissed, several possible twists as being either unrealistic or too contrived.

Fortunately, I have an excellent brainstorming ‘partner’ – not a writer, but a reader who knows what she likes, and also knows what questions to ask me. She’s also happy to listen while I talk through the problems – and sometimes that is the best way to sort them out. I’m hoping that after we have lunch together tomorrow I’ll have a clearer idea of how to deal with my final chapter!

Have you ever had big problems with your final chapter – and, if so, how did you resolve them?

Waiting For the Next Step

Jennifer is waiting...

I’m running out of patience.

Those who know me would laugh, because really, I am not a patient person. So to say I’m running out is kind of the equivalent of saying an empty glass is running out of wine. But I try, I really do, and occasionally, I’m successful at pretending to be patient.

In this case, I’m ready to jump up and down.

I’ve been waiting for what seems like forever for my galleys so that I can do my last proof of my manuscript and find out my release date. Only then can I start doing serious marketing. I know I’ll get them in the next week or two. But the waiting is killing me, since I turned in my last round of edits in November.

In the meantime, I’ve been drawing people to my Facebookpage and engaging them in order to begin active dialogues about my book when the time is right. I’ve been continuing my Instagram account and running some giveaways on social media and through my newsletter.

I've also been soliciting readers with ARCs for reviews to appear on release day. And I’ve been obsessively checking my email inbox.

I know that one of these days the awaited email will arrive, and at that point I’ll be busier than ever. But in the meantime…

Helpful Sites for Romance Writers

Ana updates a list of Helpful Sites for Romance Writers.

What would you add?

shawntellemadison.com   Synopsis wizard, Royalties calculator, GMC wizard

Historyundressed.com   Links to historical and research links

Theromantic.com     over 10,000 creative ideas and expert advice on love, dating & romance

Top romantic quote selections     50 most romantic lines from literature via Stylist magazine can be instructive in crafting memorable lines for your own romances.

Writing-world’s romance section includes this guide to choosing names for your romance protagonists.

Onelook.com  Reverse dictionary/thesaurus

Artofmanilness.com   how to do things like open a champagne bottle with a saber

http://phrontistery.info/dance.html        topical word lists

Down Time?

What does Debra do in between releases?

It's been a while since I've had a new release. My last release was New Year's Eve at The Corral which made its debut last December. The beginning of this year started out with a fairly major dry spell for me. I was away from writing for a really, really long time. I picked it back up in the summer again and was able to make enough progress to submit a completed story to a new publisher in October. As you know, now I'm in a holding pattern on that one until I hear back...probably in January or February.

In the meantime, I spent the month of November on a new project and won my first NaNoWriMo. At some point I need to finish up that mss and get it polished to send off...somewhere. It will all depend on what happens with the submission I have out there right now. I have to admit, I was a bit burned out after NaNo and haven't really been back at actual writing with any kind of consistent schedule at all. But I'll get back to it. The characters and setting are never far from my mind, I just needed a little break after the intensity of November.

In December I participated in a Facebook release party for a fellow TWRP author. I'd done a very simplified release party for myself once, but had never participated in one for another author with a multitude of 'hosts'. It was quite the adventure! I learned a lot. During the event I noticed that many of the authors have really neat 'promo ads' as I call them. (I'm sure they have an actual name, but that label works for me!) Since I've been trying to be a bit more active on social media, I've noticed a lot of these 'promo ads' as well on both Facebook and Twitter.

So I decided to give it a go. I'm a big fan of Publisher, so I did some copying, pasting, cropping, resizing, and downloading free clip art and graphics, and I've been creating my own promo ads. After creating in Publisher, I save as a jpeg and then I can just insert into posts on Facebook and Twitter as a picture. Here are the ones I've done so far:

This week I'll do one for my NYE story, and then probably put together ones for my other books as well. I also want to do one for my Corral series and one for just the holiday stories. They're pretty quick and easy to do. I don't spend hours and hours on them for sure. A professional graphic artist would probably do a bit better with design and layout, but for me, they work. And they're fun for me to do! I try to do each one a little bit differently, but I'm really digging the cover inside a e-reader device, so I tend to use that a lot. Sometimes I include a blurb or a tag line or a review.

I've joined some book marketing Facebook sites, so last week I was really plugging my Christmas stories. Even though they aren't new releases, it's been fun breathing new life into them with different posts and these 'promo ads'.

So, no, an author doesn't really ever have down time, it's all a matter of figuring out how to drive readers your way, whether your release is brand spanking new, or if you're just revisiting it to attract a new audience. Updating my web-site and taking a look at Instagram are also on my to-do list in the next couple of weeks.

Until next time,

Happy Reading and Happy New Year!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

Instagram for Authors

Jennifer is trying a new social media platform...

In my continuing quest to try new marketing things, and while I wait for my galleys to be sent to me, I decided to try Instagram for my author account.

I’m on Instagram personally—I love posting photos of my family or events, and playing with the filters is fun. Because I do post photos of my kids, my account is private—if I don’t know you, and know you well, I don’t allow you to follow me.

But photos are popular everywhere on social media. Posts that include them get a higher reach. Readers like to get a glimpse into authors’ lives. And my publisher said that Instagram is the number one social media platform.

So I created an author account on Instagram—authorjenniferwilck. Not very creative, but there it is. Instead of making the account private, it’s public, so anyone can follow me. I post a photo a day of anything having to do with writing—my books, my blog, my writing space, a book I’m reading. And I hashtag the heck out of everything I post, choosing hashtags that are pertinent and popular.

So far, it’s been fun and seems to be working. In two weeks, I’ve gotten almost 60 followers (weeding out the creepy guys—FYI, if you’re going to use a hashtag with romance, make sure there is a word after romance, like writer or author. Otherwise, you get lots of men who think you’re looking for a date.). They are growing slowly and steadily.

I’m hopeful that this platform will increase my reach and enable me to promote my books to another group of readers. Since I set it up as a business account, I plan to run ads when my book is ready for release.  I’ll let you know how it goes, but in the meantime, feel free to follow me!

Getting to the heart of the story

Ana muses about getting the first chapter right.

I've written three drafts of my WIP's opening chapter, one from each main character's POV. Now I have to decide which works best.

The heroine is Mary Masters, eighteen-year-old daughter of a wealthy investment banker in 1889 St. Louis. Pampered and sheltered by devoted parents, Mary has grown up sweet and idealistic. She believes she's independent and free. She's well-educated in the finer things in life: dancing, the proper way to serve tea, when hat and gloves are required. She's a talented pianist and a generous contributor to charity causes.

Her family expects her to marry a Society man, namely Carville Phillips, whose father is a well-connected St. Louis attorney. He expects his son to graduate from law school and join the firm. Trouble is, Car prefers to carouse all night and sleep all day. (He's the villain.)

The hero is Robert Eagle. Stripped by the government from his Lakota family when he was four, he's survived institutionalized abuse in an Indian Industrial School and clawed his way to a summa cum laude law degree. In school, he and Car became friends and struck a bargain: Robert tutors Car in exchange for a position in Car's father's law firm. Then Car introduces him to Mary.

In the dead of last night, I realized I needed to formalize the theme of the story:  love vs security. Does a young woman of privilege settle for a life of soul-killing comfort, or will she dare to risk everything for a forbidden love?

I think now I know whose POV should rule the opening chapter.