Advice to Myself as a Newbie Author
May 22, 2008 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Advice to Myself as a Newbie Author, Ann Carberry, Kathleen Kane, Maureen Child, Sarah Hartby Shauna Roberts
http://ShaunaRoberts.blogspot.com
Today’s Guest: Maureen Child
Maureen Child is the author of more than ninety romance novels and novellas and has been nominated for a Rita five times, including in 2008 for Christmas Cravings (Silhouette Nocturne). More Than Fiends (NAL) is a Bookseller’s Best Finalist and a National Reader’s Choice Award finalist.
Silhouette Desire recently released three books in Maureen’s “Kings of California†series about millionaire brothers: Falling for King’s Fortune (May), Marrying for King’s Millions (April), and Bargaining for King’s Baby (March).
Maureen, if you could travel back in time to before you were first published, what advice would you give yourself?
When I was a newbie, I was ready, willing, and eager to hear advice. All advice. Not to say I always took that advice, but I did listen.
I remember watching the published members of OCC heading off to their PAW meeting every month and wanting to be a part of that crowd so badly I could taste it. I thought if I could just be published, everything would fall into place. Then one of our members, Rita Rainville, gave me some advice. She said, “Being published doesn’t mean your problems go away—it just means you have different problems.â€
True, but even back then, I remember thinking—I’d rather have those problems, thanks!
So, if I could reach back in time to my newbie self, I’d tell me to listen up and make notes!
1. Ask questions. Don’t pretend you already know all the answers. Don’t make decisions when you don’t have all the information. Don’t assume your agent is going to make the right choice for you. Ask.
2. Don’t be afraid to try something new. Yes, you have to write to the market if you want to be published, but just because you’ve written ten Westerns doesn’t mean you can’t try a Regency or a contemporary. If your current house isn’t interested, look around. Try another publishing house. No one says you can only write for one house.
3. Know when to pack up and move on. This goes for agents as well as publishing houses. Fear is a big factor in the writing world. And we all get comfortable and sometimes stay too long at the party because the unknown is just terrifying. We’re sure that the agent or editor is going to come through for us if we just wait long enough. Sometimes they do. But sometimes, it won’t get better until you find the courage to step out of the comfort zone.
4. Be dependable. If an editor knows she can count on you to come through for her, she’s going to be more willing to work with you. Trust me on this. Editors have to deal with hundreds of people. If she’s got the choice between working with a flake who consistently lets her down while playing the diva or working with a professional writer who always makes her deadline . . . well, whom would you rather work with?
5. Find friends you can count on. When the writing world gets ugly—and believe me, it does, regularly—you’re going to need a few close friends to pull you through. Be loyal. Don’t tell tales. Celebrate their successes and let them celebrate yours. Sometimes the only thing that holds you together is the voice on the other end of the phone. Treasure your friends. You’re going to need them. Life’s too short for competition. The only writer you’re really up against is yourself.
6. Keep reading. So many times, you get sucked into your own fictional world that you forget other writers are out there, making up fabulous stories. Reading those books is what brought you to this place, remember? Don’t lose the joy of reading.
7. Don’t be afraid to say no. Looking back, there were plenty of times I zigged when I should have zagged. We all make the best decisions we can at the time, but try to slow down. To look at the offer from all sides. Make sure it’s going to be the road you want your career to take.
8. Rejection isn’t permanent. My first book, a Western historical, was rejected all over New York City for a solid year. Everyone loved it, but no one had room for it. On the second round of submissions, the first house that had rejected it before made an offer, and I hadn’t changed a thing. Different editor, different day, different outcome.
9. Get out from behind the computer! I don’t care what you do. Go to the mall, the movies, the beach, the mountains. Sit in the backyard and laugh at the neighbors. But don’t lose touch with the life you’re writing about. If you never see beyond your computer screen, your stories are soon going to sound just as flat as that screen.
10. Give every book you write everything you’ve got. I work as hard now on book number 102 as I did on book number 1. I still worry about getting it ‘right,’ whatever that is.
Trust yourself and never give up. For all the ups and downs, writing is the best job in the world, and you’re a lucky newbie to be heading down this road.
✥✥✥✥✥
To learn more about Maureen, please visit her Website at http://www.MaureenChild.com or her blog at http://MaureenChild.blogspot.com. Her newest book, Falling for King’s Fortune, is available at all major bookstores and can be ordered online from Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.
2 0 Read moreLove is…
May 21, 2008 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as The Lone WriterA friend of mine sent me a LINK to Dear Abby this week. (I’m not sure how long her links remain active so read it while you have the chance). The headline “Everyday Kindness is Secret of Marriage Full of Romance” definitely grabbed me. There are five letters and every single one of them made me smile.
We are so fortunate as writers to deal with fantasy. Did your spouse act like a jerk and forget to load the dishwasher? Well your hero not only does the dishes but cooks a gourmet meal as well. Take that! Very few things are unfixable in romance-author land.
I love those grand gestures in romance novels. The Prince who is willing to give up his title for the woman he loves. The CEO who suddenly decides to stop working 80 hour weeks because he has fallen in love and making a couple billion more dollars no longer seems as important. The girl who is unlucky in love but finally manages to snag Mr. Darcy.
Those all make for great stories but I don’t think real romance is about jewelry and grand gestures. Real romance is the little things.
Am I tired at the end of a long day? Mr. Perfect will bring me a bowl of spaghetti and sit through a chick flick on DVD. It’s such a little thing but it’s so important to me. Maybe when we go to bed that night he’ll forget to put his socks in the hamper (a pet peeve of mine), but I’d be willing to let that go for once because that’s just him and he made a miserable day bearable. That’s reality and I love it.
Do you agree? What does “love” mean to you?
8 0 Read moreDesperation — and Inspiration!
May 19, 2008 by A Slice of Orange in category Writer on the Verge by Kate Carlisle tagged as Kate Carlisle, Writer on the VergeBy Kate Carlisle
The best of intentions get blown into the wind like a dandelion sometimes. Take this blog, for instance. Earlier this week, I had every intention of getting up bright and early this morning and posting a blog all about the need for meeting our deadlines.
How ironic.
Instead, yesterday morning I drove 140 miles out to the desert to take care of some things for my mother. I spent all day and part of this morning out there, then drove back home–and only then did I remember that I had a blog to write.
Ah, well. Anyway, instead of my brilliant and passionate spiel about meeting deadlines, I’ll simply make everyone’s day and post a photo of the man who inspired me as I wrote the hero in my new mystery series. My character is a former British Commander turned security agent. With that sort of background, who else could inspire me more than … well, you know.
So here’s a little inspiration for the remainder of your Sunday afternoon.
Cheers!
Kate Carlisle writes the Bibliophile Mysteries for NAL. Watch for the first book in the series, HOMICIDE IN HARDCOVER, in February 2009.
3 0 Read moreThe Write Way………..
May 17, 2008 by A Slice of Orange in category The Write Way by Maureen Child tagged as Maureen Child, The Write Way
ing that somewhere out there, readers are enjoying MY books as much as I’m enjoying everyone else’s.Maureen Child is the author of more than 100 romance novels, but at the moment, she’s sitting in front of her fan, pretending she’s in Mayfair………
4 0 Read moreEye on Hollywood: Why I Probably Never Got Invited To Neverland
May 13, 2008 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Bobbie Cimo, Eye on HollywoodBy Bobbie Cimo
One year I was actually invited to go to the Grammys as a guest. To be honest, it was an era when I actually didn’t know most of the performers. I wasn’t up on the music or the people singing the songs. In other words, there were very few songs nominated that year that I was going to go home humming in my head. But yet, it was a fun experience–sort of like a circus atmosphere, with wild clothes and weird hand shakes.
There were a couple of things I found memorable about that night. One was seeing Paul Simon, of Simon and Garfunkel, wandering around the floor–mostly looking lost. I was surprised to find that he was barely over five feet tall. I also realized that I had a terrific seat– cause I was seated in front of people who had either been nominated or won awards, including Billy Davis Jr. and Marilyn McCoo of the famed Fifth Dimension.
Oh, and I also remember being horrified to learn that two other women were dressed in the same gown as I was, only wearing it in different colors. Nothing thrills a woman more than knowing two clones of her dress are floating around on the dance floor. Only when I came to the realization that my white dress looked smarter and more elegant than the cheap green and pink copies (no bitterness here) did I feel better. However, I continually tried avoiding the harlots who stole my look…not wanting to be confused as one of the lost Andrew Sisters. (For those of you too young to know, the Andrew Sisters are three sisters who sang together and dressed alike during WWII)
But this dress was doomed from the beginning of the evening when I was seated in the audience next to a young man, with ebony skin, a winning smile and nervous leg that wouldn’t stop shaking. This kid, seated next to his four brothers, put new meaning to the phrase, “had ants in his pants”. All five brothers were dressed in white suits, with studs running down the outside of their pant legs. But I had the honor of being seated next to the one who couldn’t sit still if his life depended on it. And of course every time he would nervously shake his leg, he would get caught to my dress. The first few times followed by an apology from him, I would smile and say it’s okay. But by the fifth time, my smile had faded and so had my patience. Without being asked to, probably out of fear for his life by my cold icy stares, this young man got up and asked his older brother, seated two seats away from him, to change places. His brother didn’t want to, until he explained the situation. If I had to take a guess at some of the conversation that was exchanged between the two, I can only surmise it went something along the lines of, “Like dude,…seriously, the woman is going to kill me!â€
A few minutes into the show, the singer with the nervous leg, seated in his new seat, leaned forward and turned to look at me. He waved, I smiled, and we remained friends throughout the rest of the evening. As you probably have guessed by now, the five boys were the Jackson Five and the young man was pop icon, Michael Jackson.
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