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Orlando, Baby!!

I have booked my flight and it is now official, and I am going to RWA!! I’m so excited! I really hadn’t imagined getting to do this so soon. I am a heathen (in a very loose sense of the word) and I just joined RWA earlier this month and I’ve never been to a conference before.

My editor will be there, which is awesome. And I am absolutely giddy over the people who have invited me to lunches and dinners. This, to me, is bigger than if the cast of Twilight asked me to hang out. I’m a reading nerd, more specifically, a romance nerd, and this is where my fangirl comes out. I promise, I will behave when I meet everyone in person. 🙂

Sooo…who all gets to go to RWA this year? 😀

And, for your entertainment, Jackie Ashenden will be introducing herself (and possibly Hoo, the blue octopus…if you’re lucky) on the Seven Sassy Sisters blog!

Also…this is my new wall art. How cool am I??

The Sisters Are Coming…

Some of you have heard our story…we met on the I Heart Presents blog after the Feel the Heat comp. We started commenting back and forth to each other and we just…clicked.

Since then we’re had an online critique group that has provided not only amazing advice on writing, but great support as well.

And now the Seven Sassy Sisters are starting a blog! (step two in our Evil Plan To Take Over The World…erm…I mean…it’s for philanthropic purposes…we promise.)

We’re published, unpublished, submitting again, submitting for the first time, contest winner, contest runner up. Modern Heat, Presents, single title, Superromance, Sweet Romance and Blaze (and those last two are the same person…) and we’re going to be talking about our experiences in writing, life and, very possibly, anything and everything that falls in between. With a dose of sass and humor.

The blog launches tomorrow! 5/14/2010

Hope to see you there!

Life After The Call

This blog post was requested by the very lovely Joanne Pibworth, and it was a really good idea. She asked me what life in general was like after The Call. And there’s a lot to write about on the subject, lemme tell ya! So I’ll try to cover it all, and if you have any more questions, I will gladly answer them in the comments section.

As far as writing goes…well, remember those wait times? Yeah…what wait times?? Okay, so we still have to wait for things sometimes, but, and okay, my ed is possibly some kind of Highlander and this may not be normal, but she read and critiqued my last full MS in FOUR DAYS. Yeah.

There are deadlines. Yes, my friends, deadlines. And if you’re working off a multi-book contract, deadlines for the whole year, all mapped out for you. Proposal deadlines, full MS deadlines, revisions deadlines. Deadlines. I like a deadline personally, lights a fire under me, so this is all fine with me.

Another thing that changes is the relationship with your ed. You get to hear from them a lot more (sometimes more than once a day) and talk to them on the phone and bounce ideas off of them. I like that a lot.

For the first few days after getting The Call, every time I came home I had a hundred emails (granted my website, facebook and crit group all link to my email, but still) That was when I got a BlackBerry. (welcome to the modern era, Maisey!) I was suddenly getting messages from authors that made me want to scream like a fangirl. (Kate Walker! Sharon Kendrick! Helen Bianchin!)

And this is all wonderful…wonderful stuff.

But then, my dear friends, there’s…the people in real life. One of the most common responses I get when I say I have a book coming out is: Oh! Who printed it for you. Followed closely by: How much did that cost you? And my all time favorite: when you get your copies you should give me one! I’ll totally read it! ( :-/ <—- me.)

But, even if I wants to get shnappy about it, I don’t. It’s really not their fault they’re the fortieth person to say that to me this week. But I do get ranty about it in the privacy of my home…and now my website.

I did, and this was the coolest thing, end up having a really cool moment. I was buying some specialty pasta from our local mercantile and the woman working there asked me what it was for. I told her it was for a writer’s luncheon and that I was doing an Italian theme to go with my book. She asked about the book and I explained that I write romance for Harlequin. And she screamed. And said “OMG!! I’m meeting someone famous!!” I think I turned ten shades of bright red on that one. But THAT was pretty cool.

There’s also publicity, which I hadn’t ever really thought about. But I had an interview with The Guardian, then there’s the guest blogging, (seeing my post on ihearts was a very big moment for me. Made me feel very much like it was real) and recently, I got to do a written interview for the magazine that Harlequin sends out to UK book club members.

One great thing is being able to say “I’m a writer” and not have people look at me like…”yeah…you and everyone.” Well, okay, they still do that, but usually when I explain they start to believe me.

There’s pressure, how can there not be? You want things done and done right and on time, and that crunch can get to you sometimes. The One Book Wonder doubt was the hardest thing for me. I sold one book…but could I sell two? I feel better now that that hurdle’s out of the way. Although, the doubt crows and I still do coffee together every so often. More often than I would like.

One thing that always gets me is the fact that I get paid to do something I love. That people are going to pay to read my stories, stories that become so personal to you, which all you writers know. That’s really kind of humbling. It’s the thing that makes me want to write each book better than the last one.

For me, personally, this whole experience is like Christmas morning that never ends. And I mean that in a good way. I look forward to Mondays. I love hearing from my editor, even getting revisions. I love getting titles and release dates, and seeing my beautiful, first cover, was one of the most amazing feelings ever.

Yes, the work keeps on after you get published. It intensifies. But if you love it, it’s wonderful. And I love it.

His Virgin Acquisition…Covers!

Yay! I got my very first covers today!! And I have cover copy…

Daring proposal…

When Elaine gives her business presentation to Marco De Luca she thinks she can be cool, calm and collected. She’s wrong! The fierce tycoon can see straight through her shapeless suits and scraped-back hair to get right under her skin…

Ruthless awakening!

She may have proposed marriage as the perfect business arrangement, but suddenly Elaine’s not quite so confident. Marco’s made it clear that he’s no modern man- if he takes a wife, he wants a ravishing beauty by his side, obedient and willing, day…and night!

And here’s the NA Larger Print version of the cover…(the NA version will be the same, without larger print written on it)

Hero Love

I was having a little bit of trouble finding all the love for my hero. I’m coming off of a very strong, stoic, manly scarred up hero (my fave) and moving to a man who’s just…well he’s great, but he doesn’t have that same level of intensity, but good grief, The Sheikh had the corner market on intensity. And I hadn’t quite found that love for my new hero as a result. (He who shall henceforth be known as The Land Stud *compliments of Pamela Cayne*)

But I have it now. And it came upon me suddenly. Why? I suddenly got a firm image of him. Allow me to share:

You love him too now, don’t you? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Oh, also, this image has nothing to do with my hero per se, but it is another shot of Mr.Whitfield….Shameless? Maybe. I don’t care. 

I Do Believe In Romance…I Do! I Do!

Tough to do sometimes in this day and age. Tiger. Jesse. And now, David Boreanaz, who, I admit, I had a bit of a soft spot for. (I don’t now!) All this infidelity in the news gets me down sometimes. What happened to marriage vows? What’s the point of even being married if you aren’t going to honor them? Is romance, commitment, real love, dead?

(It ticks me off, when the people in these situations claim to love their wives. Um…not more than you love yourself. Anyway…moving on.)

It’s not dead. I believe in romance. I believe in real, lasting love. I don’t believe it’s always easy, but I believe it exists.

It’s there. I saw it just a few days ago when I watched an elderly couple make their own dance floor at a restaurant we were in last week, because their song was on. No one else was dancing, but they did, and you could see in how they held each other, how they looked at each other, how much love was between them.

It’s when my husband tells me I’m beautiful every day, (and he does) even when I’m barefoot, nine months pregnant and in the kitchen, or when I’m still carrying around 20lbs of baby weight after having the baby, or if I’m wearing his sweats. It’s when he offers to change one of the kids’s diapers for me so I don’t have to do it.

It’s in the small things. In a couple’s commitment to each other. Even with all of the crud in the news, I still believe in it. And that’s why I write about it. Yes, in my books, love and romance come with some grand gestures. There are designer gowns and private islands, but I also like to add those small moments. Like when a couple really tries to understand each other, even though they come from different places, different perspectives. Or when they have one of those universal man/woman arguments we all have, but they’re really trying to communicate, even if it’s hard.

Romance novels have, many a times, been accused of giving women an unrealistic notion of romance (first of all, thanks for giving us women folks’ intelligence so much credit…and as a counter argument, I say action movies give men an unrealistic expectation of experiencing a car chase) but I don’t believe that’s true. Sure, most of us won’t get swept off of our feet by a Mediterranean billionaire (but it COULD happen…) but we can at least agree on this:

Romance novels show two people who overcome their differences, and usually have to change their expectations, to find love. They show commitment, they show passion, they show love. I don’t think that’s unrealistic at all.

In fact, I think it’s darn reasonable.

So here’s to love. Fidelity. Romance. Passion. I believe it’s possible to have those things. The Tigers of the world won’t change my mind about that. The real issue is, he’s just not hero material. And there are plenty of men out there (and women!) who are. They just won’t make headline news for staying faithful and loving for the last 35 years. But they exist. And so does romance.

Clap your hands if you believe!

Sheikh! (The Musical)

Okay, not really, but I thought since revisions got their own musical, the sheikh should too, since he was the star of that musical. Yes, I’m sleep deprived, why do you ask? Ahem.

So, my editor, who is apparently a genius and also some sort of Highlander, got back to me about my dear tortured sheikh today…and she was really pleased with what I’ve done! One tweak to do and he’s pretty much gold and THAT makes everything worth it. Why? Because it’s SO MUCH better now.

This story was always there, but it took digging to get there. I had the structure of it, I had the characters, but it took some serious work to really get there and really go as deep as I could with it. It was complicated, it was tricky, but it was doable. And while I didn’t see everything that I hadn’t done, and everything I could do, she did. Getting it there was still up to me, but it took that extra, very well-trained, pair of eyes to help me see it all.

Here’s what I really have to work on, what I still need to be mindful of: Don’t let the plot make the characters do things they wouldn’t. (it makes it much more interesting if they’re kicking and screaming to whole way anyway) Pacing. I tend to think of keeping the pace up as moving the characters from one place to the next. Like, really fast. This, however, hampers the character development, and the reader is left with lots of physical action, but nothing real of the characters to latch onto.

Above all, I have to remind myself it’s character, character, character. What the reader needs is to be able to really feel connected to those characters. As quickly as possible. I think a fabulous example of that is in Kathleen O’Reilly’s Sex, Straight Up. (don’t let the title fool you, this is a seriously well-written, deeply emotional book) The first two pages gives you so much of the hero, where he’s been, where he’s at now, where he’s going, and the struggle in him to stop the direction his life is taking. Two pages in, I’m shedding tears for this man I’ve just met, and THAT is an amazing skill. One that I’m still trying to really grasp onto.

So, yet again, I say, no matter how painful (and a 5 page, yeah, 5 page) revision letter is somewhat painful, no matter how hard, it’s worth it. I guess the moral of the story is, if you don’t suffer, how will you ever make your characters suffer enough? It’s the key to the HEA. Theirs and yours.

The Sheikh, Polishing, New Ideas and Shoes

And maybe we’ll even talk about more than that. I don’t know, I’m winging it today. *g*

I have sent the sheikh, and in the grand tradition of Ms. Jackie Ashenden, I am trying to NTAI. And I hear, if you’re going to NTAI, you need shoes. So I bought shoes. Online. And I hope they fit. As I mentioned a couple of posts back, I’m only 5’7, but my feet think I’m 5’11 and have grown to an appropriate size. So I’m banking on the fact that I can cram my feet into these tens. But anyway…

I’ve got a germ of a new idea with a heroine who is…well she is something very different from the heroines I usually do. She’s beautiful, she knows it, she works it. She has great confidence in that beauty and it’s her shield between herself and the world. She knows that it makes her intimidating, a force to be reckoned with, and she embraces it. Once I hit that idea I knew she needed to be ruffled. She’s a perfectionist with the best manicure and her roots never show, and she needs a hero who can really shake up her life and make her face the things she’s hiding beneath that glossy outer layer.

Fortunately, I’ve had a taker. He thinks he knows just how to handle her, and I’m more than willing to let him have at it. So we’ll see what unfolds…

And then, there’s a MS I wrote right before I got The Call that I’m thinking I might polish up. It’s very close to my heart and I’m not entirely sure why, but it is. So I’m nervous about. It’s one thing to send a project that you’ve gained a little distance from, quite another to show one you feel wrapped up in still. Makes you feel like you might be exposing yourself and that can be tough.

But, with the encouragement of my CPs I am moving forward with polishing it.

I have a question for all of you: Do you prefer a darker back story? Or does it bum you out?

No Pain, No Gain

Ah, The Sheikh. I love him. I love the MS. But I have bled for it. This is the hardest I have ever worked on a MS and I hope that it shows. I think it does. It was a very tricky premise, typical in some ways, but totally, totally non-typical in others.

So what have I learned through all of this? It’s been huge. I’ve learned character development, I’ve learned more about conflict, character growth…it’s just been incredibly valuable…painful, but valuable.

And what advice can I pass on?

Don’t be afraid to get in there and get dirty. Tear the MS apart if you have to. Drag your characters through purgatory, do what you have to do to make the best MS that you are capable of, and then stretch yourself farther. We can always go farther, we can always improve, and each thing you write should be better than the last.

And really, I may not have hit the mark dead on. I hope I have. I feel I have, but we’ll see. But I can’t regret what I went through to get this MS finished.

Writing is work. Fun work, the best work ever, but work. Like an athlete (she says with a touch of irony since she can’t walk across flat surfaces without falling on her face…) if you don’t train, if you don’t push harder, farther, if you don’t make yourself stronger, you won’t win.

That’s why we have to be willing to take criticism and apply it, that’s why we have to be willing to push. So we can be better.

I like to say, in writing there’s no room for false modesty or a big ego.

So, onward! Upward! Train hard. Push yourself. See what you’re capable of. You might surprise yourself. I think I did. I think I’ve emerged from this a much better writer. And that, in the words of the venerable Martha Stewart, is a good thing.

Oh, and also, I have to share this. My heroine from the Sheikh is a European princess and she is supposed to marry the emir of an North African, largely Arabic, nation. I wanted her wedding gown to be something a Westernized girl would love, and could wear, to her culturally diverse wedding…and I found this dress…and I love it. And I wantsss it. Precioussss.

Although, my heroine is not blonde. She is Mediterranean. Dark hair, olive skin. Just though it was important so you didn’t get the wrong visual. 😀

Rose City Romance Writers

Over the weekend I got the very fun opportunity to go up to Portland and attend the Rose City Romance Writers luncheon. It was the very first conference I have ever attended and it was awesome! I had never met any other Harlequin authors in person, and I definitely met my share at the luncheon.

I was fortunate enough to share a table with Lucy Monroe, who is absolutely one of the sweetest ladies you’ll ever meet. It was great to talk with her about some of the workings of the UK office and her take on multi book contracts and all kinds of blah blah blah! Plus, it was especially thrilling for me since her book The Rancher’s Rules was one of the books that really made me feel like *I* could write Presents. It’s a wonderful book and it’s set in Oregon, which really bolstered my confidence, feeling like a girl from this lovely state who hasn’t done very much (er…any) traveling could just might be able to write one of those glamorous, passionate books. (so thanks for that, Lucy!)

Jane Porter was the key note speaker and she’s beyond inspiring. She was walking about the importance of sharing our success with others, because that’s the only way it really means anything. I so agree with her, and it’s great to meet someone who’s been so successful and is still so accessible and humble and just easy to talk to. I can’t say enough good things about her.

Really though, everyone I met there was so sweet and willing to offer advice and I so greatly appreciated everyone really treating me like a friend.

Other wonderful authors who attended (and I’ve forgotten two people’s names who were there and were so nice and write for Super and Nocturne and I feel terrible about it…ugh. Bad with names…and sleep deprived. But please know I didn’t forget YOU and that I so appreciated my conversations with both of you!) were Lisa Hendrix, who is a friend of mine already and it was great to see her there, even if she was drooling all over my husband…and Delilah Marvelle who writes seriously sexy, racy Historicals, Courtney Milan who was a book and novella out with HQN and has been getting RAVE reviews around the net, Meljean Brook, who looks sweet but writes books with the word demon in the title *g*, and Jenna Bayley-Burke, who has been there for me via email, offering lots of advice and just good chatting since I got The Call.

Anyway, I had an absolute blast and thanks again to Lucy, Jane and everyone else who welcomed me so sweetly! I am so truly blessed to be a part of this industry.

Oh, and before anyone asks. I’m 5’7. I’m not THAT tall…other people are petite…and I am not. *vbg*

His Virgin Acquisition Update

Good news for my North Americans in the house…

His Virgin Acquisition will be available in October! And that will be September if you order from www.eharlequin.com!

Also, His Virgin Acquisition is now available for pre-order on Amazon!

And…for your entertainment…

Shopping Spree!!

No, I didn’t have one. I window shopped at a verrrry lovely mall this weekend though, when I (and my family!) drove up to Portland this weekend for the Rose City Romance Writers luncheon. I got to meet all sorts of lovely people including Jane Porter, Lucy Monroe, Courtney Milan and Delilah Marvelle. And I will have more on that when I get all my pics together…hehehe…so you have to wait until then!

But I wrote this really fun shopping scene in my WIP that takes place at an upscale department store in Paris, and I couldn’t resist taking some fun pics of the mall I was at and imagining myself in my heroine’s fabulous designer shoes.

The necklaces are Swarovski Crystals and the one that looks a little like a flower has a black pearl hidden in the center, which I thought would be a perfect piece of unique jewelry for a Presents heroine. And of course, boots with zipper detail, which I know my heroine would choose, but my sheikh hero would fine a bit silly. (she would buy them anyway, woman of independent means that she is. Well…independent of the hero anyway)