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New Voices Hangover

The top ten have been announced for the big New Voices comp (Abbi is also talking NV on the Sisters’ blog) (congrats winners!) and of course, law of averages…most of the entrants didn’t make the top ten cut. Including some chapters I really, really enjoyed. (please know, I read a lot of chapters that I LOVED and felt were top ten material that didn’t make it).

All of you who entered can hold your heads up high. This was a very scary way to showcase your work. Not just to readers. Not just to peers. But to competitors. *shakes in pointy-toed metallic flats*

It’s hard to feel encouraged though, when you really felt you had a chance…or even didn’t, but hoped…and you don’t see your name on the all-important list.

And this is where I get to tell a grandma-Maisey story. (meaning you’ve all heard it)

Me and contests….contests and me. We aren’t friends. Oh, I like them just fine…they just don’t seem to like me.

I entered my very first romance chapter that I’d ever written in the Instant Seduction contest over two years ago. I was so excited…so full of hope! And then the winners were announced…not me. And then they said they had such a high level of skill in the entrys they would be giving some people feedback! *sigh* Also, not me.

There were 500 entries in that contest. All I could think of was that if I couldn’t stand out in a crowd of 500, there was no way I could stand out in the big ol’ slush pile.

I submitted anyway, mostly because I was just too far into my WIP (different than my comp chapter) that I didn’t want it to be for nothing.

Well, I waited. And I waited. And I got a request for revisions on my partial! And then I waited again.

And then during the wait I thought I’d enter the Feel the Heat competition because then I could get two things in front of editors.

Guess what? I didn’t win that contest either. 🙁 Feedback? Nope.

But…I think it was maybe a week later I got a full request!!

Followed by more revisions. Followed by more revisions.

And then I got The Call. And The Call had nothing to do with my standing in contests, or lack of standing in them.

That isn’t to diminish how great it is to win. Lynn Raye Harris and Lucy King are great examples of that. But you don’t have to win. Or final. Or even get feedback! Not getting it doesn’t mean you won’t sell, to HM&B or to another publisher.

In my case, I sold to the line and the publisher I had been aiming for in the contests. My problem is, on the first go, my beginnings are rough. My synopses suck. Well, I’m not great comp material when that’s the bulk of what’s required of you!

So chin up everyone! And I really am hoping there are a lot of requests as a result of the contest.

But no matter what…this isn’t the end…cliche alert…it can be the beginning. A contest loss was the beginning for me.

I’m currently working on my sixth book for Harlequin Presents…so being a loser has worked out okay for me. 😉
(ooh! I’m also at iheartpresents today!! come see me!)

Mistakes, Flaws and Redemption

This idea of deeply flawed characters is nothing new, of course. I think almost all characters are flawed to a certain extent, because all people are flawed.

I’ve done characters with dark pasts before, but their actions were spurred by a sense of honor and duty, and therefore were much more easily forgiven sins than those of a character who had been selfish in their past.

When I turned in my first version of The Russian, my editor wasn’t convinced by my heroine’s past. She’d had a big, embarrassing scandal, yet had essentially been blameless of any wrongdoing. So my editor asked me if I could explore how some of what had happened might have been her fault.

And so I thought about it. And I realized that yes, some of it was her fault. She may have acted innocently, but it did not diminish or change the effects of her actions. She made a mistake. She regretted it. It affected her life, and the lives of others. But I think it made her a much, much stronger character in the end.

It’s my opinion, that as long as a character is well-motivated, they can be forgiven for a lot of sins. And ultimately, when they were in such bad need of forgiveness, their ‘redemption’ is that much sweeter.

I’m facing a flawed character again in this WIP. I sent my editor the proposal for Mr. Tall Dark and Hot Frenchman and she said, but why does he feel guilty? If nothing was truly his fault, it seems like he’s just playing the martyr in the midst of a tragedy that, really, has nothing to do with him.

It was interesting she said that, because Blaise had just whispered in my ear the other day that he’d done a bad, bad thing. “No!” I told him, “You didn’t!” and I went back on writing.

Well, today I said, “Okay, maybe you did.” And it turns out, he was right, my editor was right, he had made a bad choice in his past. One worthy of a little self-flagellation.

The road to redeeming him will be steep, but I think, the end will be that much better for it.

And this isn’t even addressing the heroine of the book, who has some very deep scars of her own.

I like this feeling of being free to fully explore, not just my character’s pasts, but their own actions in it. To make a character not only an active force in their present, but their past. Not only responsible for good choices, but bad ones too. Not that every character will have that kind of past. But just like in real life, we all make mistakes. Some of us are lucky, and escape unscathed, others don’t.

So what do you think? Do you like flawed characters? Is someone’s past so dark that they’re ever beyond redemption? (I am excluding harming women, children or puppies from that. Heh)

Also, sorry, must share…I had my own, personal, surprising, first shelf sighting for His Virgin Acquisition last night when I went in to town late to buy formula! (aren’t I SO glamorous?)

New Voices and Voice

First off, I want to extend big, major kudos and best wishes to all who have entered the New Voices competition. You guys rock, and having the guts to put your work out there in that setting is a huge, huge thing!!

Second, I was completely thrilled to get some messages this morning, both in my inbox and on twitter, letting me know that my beautiful and fabulous editor, Jenny Hutton, had done a video for New Voices about standing out in slush…and that she’d mentioned me!

It was cool for me to hear her side of things, to hear what she sees when she looks at my work. 🙂

She says something in the video about not being afraid to write in your own voice. And I really wanted to add a big YES to that. Voice is what separates one writer from another, in so many ways. And a big way to stand out from slush is to have a distinct, unique, voice.

I’m very American. Can’t help it. Just am. More and more, there are more American writers for Presents/Modern, so that’s not quite as different as it once was, but between US/UK/Irish/Australian/NZ writers, there’s a natural difference in pattern and sentence structure. One that I really enjoy. 🙂

Another thing is…have you ever seen Bill Engval? The comedian? He did a show called ’15 Degrees Off Cool’ where he was talking about how he tries to be cool, but he’s always about 15 degrees off. I consider my humor to be about 15 degrees off normal. More and more, I’ve embraced that as a writer and gone with the occasional joke that’s just a little…quirky.

We all have things that make us different as writers, and the point is that you have to embrace the things that make your voice unique, not try to streamline it so that you ‘sound’ just like someone else.

Anyway, now that I’ve rambled, here’s the video of Jenny talking about how to stand out from the slush pile:

Russian News

I am a happy camper, because a couple of days ago, my editor got back to me about the full MS of The Russian. (it took her one week, people…Highlander? I think so.)

Anyway, she really loved it, and there were just a few tweaks, mostly pertaining to timelines and me putting gondolas in Milan. (hey, they have canals!)

So I worked on the tweaks all day Wednesday and turned it back in, and now I’m hoping I’ve tweaked enough to get the final good news on it!

Oh…and guess what made a guest appearance? The Train. YES!! I got the train back in without it being a wicked, tricksy, plot device! Private rail car, ahoy!

This was an interesting one to write in so many ways. My heroine has a past. One she doesn’t like to talk about. Oh, it’s not a secret…if you google her, you’d know her biggest regret. She carries a lot of guilt, and has built up a lot of layers of armor to try and shield herself from ever being hurt, or manipulated, like that again.

Because of my heroine’s past being what it was, because she had spent so many years enduring condemnation and heaping it on herself, I found my hero becoming her biggest champion. It was the one thing she’d never had in her life: someone she could open up to, someone who would support her no matter what.

In that moment, when she was baring all to him, I knew he had to accept her as she was. It was such a joy to write that moment.

Of course, even then they were a long way from happily ever after. Aleksei believes in love, but never wants to face the pain it can bring again. And he feels his heart still belongs to the wife he lost in a tragic accident. Madeline believes that loving someone enables them to manipulate you.

They both face an uphill battle, not only to give love, but to receive it. Ultimately, they’re both afraid.

I always get a little theme in my mind as I write, and this one hit me near the end: Perfect love casts out all fear.

In order to truly love, they both had to let go of the weight of fear that was holding them down.

I have two proposals into my editor now awaiting approval, and I’m hoping she likes what I’ve sent her. *fingers crossed* Until then, I’m fiddling around with Mr. Frenchman, even though he’s not 100% approved yet. I just can’t help myself. He’s too pretty!!

And, just a note, for those of you who don’t know…you can follow me on twitter! My super sekrit handle is maiseyyates. 😉

What a Long, Strange Trip it’s Been

I can still remember sitting down at Starbucks, the one in the middle of the foodcourt, and staring at a blank screen. Then I typed: I think the numbers speak for themselves. Marriage is definitely the most profitable course of action.

That’s the first line of my debut book, His Virgin Acquisition. And that was also the day I decided I needed to actually write and finish a book if I ever wanted to get published.

I had entered a chapter in the Instant Seduction contest that Lynn Raye Harris ultimately won, and I decided, while I was waiting for the results of that competition, I would write a MS and get it ready for submission.

Well, as the story goes, my comp chapter died a savage death. No feedback on it even. And you know what? It didn’t deserve any. It was too short, it was poorly thought out, the plot was…well, it was a cliched mess with badly motivated characters.

And by the time I realized that, I was more than halfway done with the MS I intended to submit to the UK office. And by then, I felt like it was too late to turn back. I felt like…if I can’t even get feedback out of 500 entries, what chance do I have of getting anywhere the traditional way?

But I kept going. I wrote at Starbucks, sometimes with my newborn son sleeping in his carseat while my husband sat at hom with out oldest. Sometimes I just got out by myself.

I had a job, a real job, for about three weeks, the first job I’d had since having children. I quit because I couldn’t justify the time at that job, plus the time spent writing, away from the kids. I worried about being away for those few hours because I felt guilty.

I worked on that MS, printed it out, sat my husband down with a pencil and we attacked the hard copy, marking mistakes and finding things that didn’t read right. I didn’t have a crit group yet. My husband was the only person that read my partial before it went out.

The submission process scared me. What if I made a stupid mistake and got rejected because the rubber bands I used to hold the MS together were purple?

And then, after seriously angsting, I sent it off.

In the twenty months that followed there were revisions, another contest, I found my Sassy Sisters, A Full Request! More revisions, another pregnancy, more revisions, The Call, and a new baby.

Now there are four books sold, and titled, one book on the shelf, and another about to hit.

What a long, strange trip it’s been.

I dreamed, but I didn’t really believe, as I sat in the food court, that I was typing the first sentence of my first book.

I can only feel blessed. Not deserving, as there are so many talented people out there. I’m just blessed.

And, this is where I rah rah you guys…It’s possible!! Everyone has a different road to take, and I don’t know if anyone’s stories of publication are the same.

But it starts with trying, with writing that first sentence. With submitting.

Kudos to all of you that have put your work out there on New Voices. The criticism is tough, and some people are just being mean…but when you’re published you get that too.

And kudos to those of you who have submitted traditionally. To all of you that are just writing a first sentence, or a first sentence for the hundredth time. 😉 It’s not an easy business to get in to, but it’s so worth taking the shot.

As a side note, I want to thank the readers who have written to me to tell me how much they enjoyed His Virgin Acquisition. It means so much to me. And a thanks to those who have left reviews for HVA and Mistake! I truly appreciate that as well!

And a thanks to my loyal blog readers. 😉 I love the community we have here. And please know that I’m cheering for all of you!

Here’s to your own long, strange trips!

To the UK With Love

The Russian, that is. He’s gone! He’s with my editor now (she’ll take good care of him…but if you think *I’m* hard on my characters…you should see what she does to them!) and he will be with her until he comes back all marked up in red for me to revise. (that’s metaphorical red, she doesn’t really do that!)

In the meantime, that means I will be preparing a couple of proposals for her to look at. I have one partial complete, but it’s not the book I need to write next…(she says mysteriously…)

The one I need to write next has a half-finished partial, since while I was waiting for The Russian partial revisions I wrote a partial, realized I was making my same mistakes…and *delete* *delete* *delete* (you guys know the drill)

And I have hero and heroine inspiration to share…but I’m monna sandwich this in here real quick since I feel like a scolding school marm…

I’m following the New Voices comp, and comments, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how nice people have been, and how constructive their criticism is. (really) But, there are a couple of people, and they’re doing it to more than one person (so I’ve noticed a pattern) that are being mean. I’m here to tell you right now, it doesn’t make me want to read your work, and it won’t make your work look better. Only your work BEING better will get you a win.

Having said that, I’m pleasantly surprised by how unnasty it’s been in general, so cheers to most everybody! Jeers to a couple.

And now, finally, I bring you the inspiration for Blaise and Ella. 🙂 I know them a bit as characters already and I’m very excited to write their HEA! (tortured? Ha! You ain’t seen nothin yet…)

But isn’t he pretty?

And really, so is she.

New Voices Launch!

New Voices has launched, and we’re having a bit of a party over at the Sassy Sisters. Come get encouraged, share your thoughts, tell us what you entered…or just get a virtual drink from Hoo!

More on the Conflict that Conflicts Us

I’ve been thinking a lot about conflict lately. Well, not a huge surprise since I’m knee deep in my WIP and I have to worry about things like that!

Conflict drives a story forward. And by conflict, I don’t mean yelling and screaming and fighting. And by conflict, I don’t even necessarily mean kidnappings and car accidents and various and sundry other near death experiences. (though, if you’re writing suspense, you might need those)

The conflict I’m talking about specifically is the internal conflict (IC). Internal conflict comes from withing the characters and should be what’s really keeping them apart. (not a half heard conversation or a snide remark from a wicked stepmother)

Something I’ve really been dealing with in my last three MSs has been conflict that needs to be solved in stages. I think to a certain extent, that’s natural, but it’s also tempting to keep everything going until the last six pages. Well, that was something that simply wasn’t possible with my last few books.

In my WIP, my heroine especially has an internal conflict that really needs to be solved in layers.

She first has to fix the way she sees herself, so that she can then begin the process of changing her worldview. Neither of those things is going to happen all at once. She doesn’t believe in love, and more specifically, doesn’t believe she’s loveable.

The way I tackled this, was by, first, realizing there was no way they could solve all of this right at the HEA. The second, was the try and figure out what events need to happen for her to begin to heal.

Her first personal turning point came when she was willing to let go of some of her past hurts. And now she can progress from there.

This is just another example of why it’s important, in the shorter cata romance especially, to keep things character driven so that you’re focusing on the characters and not simply plot points.

Because, and you all know I’ve been guilty of this, hence the title of Revision Queen, when you let the plot steer your characters you’re crippling their development.

I’m a little bit of a panster when it comes to the actual events and scenes in my books. With the past few MSs I’ve approached the synopsis by plotting my character journeys.

The way I do that is I outline their conflicts, I explain what they need to do separately to deal with their issues, and ultimately, figure out how much growth needs to take place before they can have a happily ever after that will ring true.

And somewhere in the there there’s a plot. 🙂

Anyway, just a little insight into my process. (at least my process as it stands at the moment!) What are your thoughts on conflict?

Oh, and I have to share this! Apparently, Hoo went to the shops today (my little octopus friend lives all the way in New Zealand!) and he snaffled the LAST copy of His Virgin Acquisition from the shelf. And then he went to Starbucks. Cheeky little octopus.

Taking Over the World…

One book at time. 😀 Okay, maybe not so much. But His Virgin Acquisition is available on eharlequin today in print and ebook, and A Mistake, A Prince and A Pregnancy is available on Mills and Boon UK, also in print and ebook!

It is one exciting day!

For those of you who missed my Sassy Sisters’ post, here’s a little more info on Mistake:

When my editor and I were talking on the phone, during The Call, she said they were offering me a two book contract. Great! So before the buzz of selling my first book had even faded I had to start thinking about book number two.

I pulled out a MS I had written during my wait and submitted the partial. My ed liked the premise, she didn’t like the execution. And that meant…a rewrite.

I got the revisions on Christmas Eve, I had my daughter on December 30th, and I sold the book six weeks later.

That was a big relief. Because of course, the first thing you think is…what if I can’t do it again? Am I a One Book Wonder? So I’ll always love this book just for it helping me jump that hurdle!

The rewrite of it ended up going very quickly, because I had two characters very eager to share their stories.

Alison and Maximo are two good people, thrown into an impossible situation. Both of them want to do the right thing…although, they disagree about what the right thing is!

Alison Whitman, is a planner. She has everything in her life planned down to the smallest detail…including when and how she’ll have a baby. Alison opts to be artifically inseminated, rather than going the ‘traditional’ route.

Of course, every one of her well-ordered plans is upended by the revelation that she’s received the wrong donor sperm…in fact, the man in question didn’t intend to be a donor!

Prince Maximo Rossi and his wife tried for years to have children, and after her death, he’s given up on the hope of ever having a child. And then Alison, a woman he’s never met, comes to tell him she’s pregnant with his child.

Of course, it’s complicated since this baby is Maximo’s heir…and in order for his heir to inherit, he has to be legitimate.

So much for all of Alison’s carefully laid plans…

Winners!

Okay, so…I’m a softie.

I compiled the entries and put them in the glowing chalice of romance.

And then I had the hunksband draw a name!

And then I felt sad. Because there were so many more names.

So intstead of giving away a copy of HIS VIRGIN ACQUISITION…I’m giving away six! So I made the hunksband draw five more names. 😀

And the winners are…

Becca Heath

Cari Quinn

Sarah Werner

Joanna Terrero

Keira

Julie

So, if you could all send me your info using my handy contact form, I will get these mailed out to you ASAP!

To those who didn’t win…I’m sorry *cries* I always feel bad! But thank you for entering and expressing interest, and for commenting on your favorite themes!

Books! Books!

Today I got…well…half of the rest of my North American author copies of HIS VIRGIN ACQUISITION! You know what that means? I’m giving away a book!

It’s been nine months since I got The Call and it’s been quite a nine months! I’ve sold a total of four books and am working on the fifth now.

Don’t forget, UK friends….A Mistake, A Prince and A Pregnancy will be on Mills and Boon UK Sept 1st! And North American friends…His Virgin Acquisition will be on eharlequin Sept 1st!

In His Virgin Acquisition, Elaine is willing to do what it takes to achieve her goals…even if that means marrying Marco De Luca, notorious womanizer and gorgeous Italan billionaire. Of course, Elaine is all business, and their marriage will only be a convenient one…for a while. 😉

I always LOVE a marriage of convenience story. Something about a married couple falling in love is very appealing to me.

What are some of your favorite romance themes?

Leave a comment to be enter to win a copy of His Virgin Acquisition! (I will have the hunksband draw names later!)

Good Vs. Great

Kobe Bryant is a great basketball player, my personal feelings about the Lakers set aside for a moment. Of course, every basketball player in the NBA is pretty freaking good. They have to be. They’re professionals. As far as the general population is concerned, they’re at the top of the game. (Yes, I’m doing a sports metaphor, go with me here)

But it comes back to Kobe. Yes, it does. Among the elite, Kobe Bryant stands out.

There’s a big difference between guys who play basketball at the public school courts, and guys who play for the Celtics. But the difference between Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom is not as easy to define.

That’s the difference between good, and great.

I got another set of revisions on the partial of The Russian. And as I read the letter I felt…picked on a little bit. How could I have thought of all of those details? What reader would pick up on something so subtle? Surely, only an editor would notice that!

So, as I was having my customary, post-revision whine, my dad brought up Kobe. And how it’s the obvious things that separate amateur from professional, but it’s the subtle things that take ‘good’ to ‘great’.

Maybe a reader wouldn’t finish a book and think ‘hmmm, that book would have been stronger if the hero’s reaction on page 25 had been slightly less self-aware.’ (now, some readers would…I’ll grant you that! But I’m not one of them!) But a reader might finish a book and think…good. But it wasn’t AMAZING.

And I think that might be true. Maybe amazing is in the subtle. A great plot, awesome characters, that’s hugely important. But execution is the key. There’s the broad execution, and then there’s the details.

As a side note, I did the little tweaks and one of my CPs remarked that it was stronger, even though it was only little itty bitty moments that were altered (as part of the broad scope of giving my hero a bit more alpha confidence, and also having him be a bit less familiar with the heroine) but the changes really altered the partial in a positive way.

All that whining…I should know better by now. 🙂

So I’ll make a personal attempt at greatness, at the very least, I’ll be better than I was before.