by Shauna Roberts
http://ShaunaRoberts.blogspot.com
Today’s Guest: Charlene Sands
Charlene Sands writes Silhouette Desires and Harlequin Historicals. To date, she has penned 25 romances, and her books have won the National Readers’ Choice Award and The Cataromance Reviewers Choice Award, and, this year, she won the 2008 Booksellers Best Award.
Her current release, Do Not Disturb Until Christmas (Silhouette Desire), a Romantic Times Top Pick, is a Borders/Waldenbooks and eHarlequin.com bestseller for November. Her next book, Reserved for the Tycoon (Silhouette Desire), finishes the series in February 2009. Presently she is working on the Texas Cattleman’s Club continuity for Desire.
Charlene, if you could travel back in time to before you were first published, what advice would you give yourself?
When it comes to writing, I have my ALWAYS and NEVER rules to live by.
ALWAYS write. There are so many distractions now with the Internet and family issues, but it’s imperative to make writing one of the priorities in your life. You can’t sell if you don’t write. Enjoy the process and find ways to add extra writing in. There is more time in the day than you think. As I write this blog, I have the kitchen timer set for 20 minutes. I’m early getting ready for an appointment and so here I am at the computer, getting those extra few minutes in before I have to leave. Remember, if you are serious about being published, then you have to write!
NEVER allow yourself more than a day or two to bemoan a rejection. Yes, you’re allowed to feel badly and yes, you’re allowed a few moments of depression. Heck, you’ve earned it. You worked hard on that last manuscript and put your hopes and dreams into it as well. Give yourself a day or two to recover. Then forge on. Pick yourself up and most importantly learn from the comments the editor took the time to write. If you’re given advice and tips, by all means take it to heart. Implement their feedback into your next story and keep at it.
ALWAYS take workshops and attend lectures about craft. After penning 25 published novels, I’m still learning. I learn something new and different each time I listen to a lecture or read a good book. Try to figure out at least one important way to implement what you’ve learned into your writing. Look for ways to constantly improve. Be honest with yourself. If you know your weak points, then by all means, try to fix the problem. Authors are very generous with their knowledge. If you are lucky enough to attend classes, and there are many out there, both online and in person, then absorb as much knowledge as you possibly can from reliable sources.
NEVER allow jealousy and envy to creep into your daily life. Remember, you’re only in competition with yourself. I live by this creed and feel truly happy when others I know make great strides. They’ve earned it and you will too. If I can say one good thing about competition, it’s that it makes me try harder to be successful. It’s okay to have the “If she can do it, so can I†attitude as long as it’s not mean-spirited.
ALWAYS know your own limitations. Here’s where honesty is key. Vampires are hot, hot right now. But I know in my heart I wouldn’t be happy writing those types of stories. Think about what you truly enjoy writing. It will be transparent in your writing style. You know when your story is going well. You know your comfort level, and thus you’ll know your own limitations. They say, write what you know, but I say, write what you love! It may be one and the same, but maybe not. No one knows your limitations better than you.
NEVER stop reading books that inspire you. Find the time and enjoy those precious moments you tuck away for both fun and inspiration. Whether it’s reading books about craft or motivation or simply diving into a new novel, keep reading. It’s something I try to do, but I will admit that I don’t read as many books as I used to. My day is so busy writing, promoting, and answering mail that often my TBR (to be read) pile suffers. So with this one, do as I say, not as I do. ☺
ALWAYS know your target line or publishing house. Know the guidelines and word count. Know the editors of the line. You can’t sell your story to an editor if you’re not sure your story fits into the framework and guidelines they are looking for. The best way to know if your story is viable is to read and read and read some more from that line. Know the authors and what kind of story works. If it’s category, are you writing a sexy Blaze or a home-and-hearth Special Edition? If it’s a romantic comedy or a thriller, are you sending to houses you know for certain publish those types of stories?
NEVER submit anything that isn’t your own personal best. Be professional. Send in a clean and neatly polished manuscript and know that what you’re sending to an editor is something you have struggled to make perfect. They will note your efforts and pay attention to details. Even if you don’t sell that one, they will regard your work with respect and look forward to seeing your next project.
ALWAYS experience life! You can’t write about life if you’re stuck behind a computer every day. You need to get out, observe your surroundings, take trips, and make new friends. Each day is a new chance to learn and improve. You’ll revitalize your writing by your new experiences.
I’m always amazed what I learn from or about people when I do something new. Case in point, I recently took dance lessons at Arthur Murray Studios for my daughter’s wedding. It was a great experience to share with my husband and daughter, so I’ll always have fond memories. And during that time, I was invited to write a book in a continuity series for Silhouette Desire. You can guess my surprise when I learned that the heroine in my story owned a chain of dance studios! I had all the firsthand knowledge I needed to write that story with authenticity, and if I needed any advice, I could simply call upon my dance instructor. Sometimes, life is so pleasantly surprising.
✥✥✥✥✥
You can visit Charlene and enter her Suite Secrets Contest at http://www.charlenesands.com. Her newest book, Do Not Disturb Until Christmas, is available in stores and online at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.
Monica Stoner, Member at Large
How many of us have heard disparaging remarks concerning Romance? We defend our chosen genre as obviously the most popular and the money maker for many book stores, and point out we write to bring pleasure to a large reading audience. How often do we define our books instead of defending them?
To write Romantically is to show life as better than it is. Mildly attractive becomes stunningly gorgeous. Successful businessman becomes a leader of industry. Feature writer becomes an award winning journalist. Story telling, yarn spinning at its finest and also writing Romantically.
Some authors manage to write successfully about the less glamorous aspects of our daily lives. Disease, poverty, injury take center stage in their books. But no one is pluckier and more beloved than their heroine, no one falls harder or rises further, drawing the reader along for the journey. We hope we can be as tenacious, as graciously successful, as these heroines.
When it comes to the relationship aspect of these books, once again larger than life trumps the every day. One of my favorite romances was about a small town veterinarian and a visiting young woman who has to work through a personal trauma. Standard story, boy meets girl, the feel attraction, their relationship has its ups and downs, ending in marriage. What takes the story beyond the mundane is the character of the veterinarian and the extreme trauma the young woman has experienced, plus her own shy nature, plus a domineering mother. What a lot she has to overcome and she does it so in a fashion we could only hope to emulate all the while maintaining her near translucent skin without a drop of facial cream.
In the real world it=s not unusual for people to meet and fall in love, a high percentage experiencing some form of Happily Ever After. How many of even these exemplary men manage to remember birthdays without a reminder and think to move the couch when (or if) they sweep? Just find one who can replace the toilet paper roll. Now that would be writing about life better than any of us could ever imagine.
Write? Promote? Write? Promote?
I’m writing Book Two, but what should I do about Book One? It’s a quandary every writer faces, but I think I know the answer to this one …
Sell, baby, sell!
Yup, that’s me. Kate the Promoter.
Okay, yes, I’m a little obsessed with promotion right now, but it happens to everyone, right? I’m determined to sell every book printed in order to trigger a second and third printing. Is that so wrong? I just wish I knew how many books my publisher is printing. Then I could really obsess.
But I don’t know how many they’re printing and they won’t tell me, so I’m forced to play with imaginary numbers on the calculator. I carry my calculator around with me, just in case I get the urge to figure out something.
That’s not weird, is it? No, it’s fun. Obsession can be fun. Really. And then there’s bookmarks. I really want bookmarks. I’ve got postcards, but bookmarks can go anywhere. And I’ll need pens. And magnets.
I obsess over my calendar daily. When my book comes out, I’ll need to fill my calendar with lots of speaking engagements. I’ll need to schedule readings, and maybe go on a book tour and meet booksellers and lots of readers. I need to do a blog tour, and contests, and I’ve got to get lots of reviews, do radio interviews, go to every conference in the country.
My protagonist is female, so I’m hoping to speak to a lot of women’s groups. There are women at Rotary meetings, right? And lawyers’ groups, legal secretary organizations, nurses’ associations, librarians, teachers.
Oh, and my protagonist stops for coffee in chapter seven. I wonder if barristas have speakers at their meetings. There’s a connection I could exploit. I wonder if they have a mailing list.
Maybe I need to take a nap.
Kate Carlisle’s debut mystery, Homicide in Hardcover, comes out February 3, 2009. Buy, baby, buy!!
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The spark is still there... and brighter than ever
More info →We all keep secrets, especially from the ones we love.
More info →Her family secret is stolen by pirates. His business is in jeopardy if he doesn’t find it.
More info →A Slice of Orange is an affiliate with some of the booksellers listed on this website, including Barnes & Nobel, Books A Million, iBooks, Kobo, and Smashwords. This means A Slice of Orange may earn a small advertising fee from sales made through the links used on this website. There are reminders of these affiliate links on the pages for individual books.
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Launch of Tell Harlequin.com – Online Reader Panel
November 24, 2008 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Comments, Harlequin, Isabel Swift, Reader Panel, Silhouette, Tell HarlequinHere’s information from a recent press release on a program Harlequin is launching to open the door to reader’s comments and suggestions:
http://www.TellHarlequin.com/ gives readers the opportunity
to contribute to the future of romance reading.
Toronto, ON (August 18, 2008) – Harlequin Enterprises Limited, the global leader in series romance and one of the world’s leading publishers of women’s fiction, announced today the launch of Tell Harlequin (www.TellHarlequin.com)—an online advisory panel that allows readers input into the direction of future novels by voicing their opinions and sharing their book experiences directly with the publisher.
Tell Harlequin is an online advisory panel designed to enhance Harlequin’s relationship with its readers through an ongoing dialogue whose insights will help guide the evolution of the publisher’s business and allow Harlequin to publish the best in women’s fiction. Participants on the Tell Harlequin panel can make their voices heard on topics such as cover designs, new
miniseries ideas, new series concepts, new promotional ideas and more. The staff at Harlequin will then consider Tell Harlequin suggestions along with the publisher’s own plans as it develops editorial for the future. Contributors to Tell Harlequin receive free Harlequin novels and sneak peeks at upcoming books, participate in entertaining online surveys and exchange opinions and ideas with other readers.
For more information please go to http://www.TellHarlequin.com/.
Hope you enjoy the telling!
Best,
Isabel Swift