Category Archives: Current WIPs

Panic at the Disco

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Well, okay, not at the disco. (That’s a group, right?) It’s panic at the computer.

Here’s where I start to hyperventilate as a new romance writer: I really thought I’d have my next book at least half done by now.

I thought I’d start it immediately after the first book went on submission. I thought I’d dive right in, keep my mind on something other than waiting and Prom dates, and have a “fast first draft” done in, like, three months. Which would, ah, bring us to May.

And now it’s June. (Egads!)

And I’m nowhere even close.

Part of my dilemma was that I wasn’t sure what to write about. I had a few ideas floating around, and one clear character I wanted to start with, and a setting I really wanted, but I didn’t have a nice big “high concept” idea.

I wrote a couple of blurbs, a couple of synopses, and even one first chapter for a few different directions. I showed each one to a couple of writing friends, then my agent, to see what she thought. (One of the most awesome things about having an agent is that you can get that kind of feedback before spending a whole year or more on a book that won’t sell.) She gave some great tips on what “New York” likes (code for the Big Six publishers, I guess), what they probably won’t read, what they won’t buy, what they won’t even try to sell, and I kept trying to spin my ideas in different directions.  Continue reading →

Road to Publication: The Waiting Game

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Whew! So where were we on this road-to-publication story?

I think I left off at Step 76 or so.

If Step 75 on the road to publication was making manuscript changes for your agent, and Step 76 was going on submission, Steps 77-85 would involve waiting. Which is where I am. Sitting-on-the-couch, eating-ice-cream-out-of-the-carton waiting. Checking-your-email-800-times-a-day waiting. Refreshing-your-email-another-800-times waiting. …

Oh, and rejections.

Yeah. I sort of forgot I was going to have to go through a whole slew of rejections again, but that’s part of the process, too.

You sort of get this false sense of hope that once you finally score an agent, you won’t have to deal with all the “we-just-didn’t-like-this” rejections anymore. You sort of feel like you just got married, and you can walk around without any makeup on, and you always have a date on New Year’s Eve, and you don’t have to worry anymore about that cute guy at the bar and why he’s looking at you like that, and you don’t have to care that he would probably say no if you asked him to dance.

But … no. Continue reading →

On Submission!

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Well, I’ve wanted to say this for a looooooooong time, but I’m finally “out on submission,” which means my agent is shopping my book out to publishers.

I can hardly believe it!

Of course, this can take a very long time (and there’s probably another huge string of rejections I’ll have to get used to — this time coming from publishers instead of agents), but I’m still very, very excited.

Now … on to write the next book! 🙂

The Next Step on the Road to Publication — Manuscript Changes for Your Agent

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So if Step 1 is to write your book, and Steps 2 through 73 are to write a bazillion query letters and enter contests to help you find an agent, and Step 74 is to score an agent, I guess I’m finally at Step 75 or so.

And that involves making some manuscript changes that my agent thinks will help win over publishers of my genre.

She didn’t ask for many changes. And the few she asked for I agreed with 100%. But the biggest thing she needed me to do was to trim the manuscript by 16,000 words. (Gasp!)

Not that I didn’t know that was coming. …

I’d read lots of great articles and posts about why 100,000 words it the TOP of the word count, and – for a debut author – you should really try to hit the low line of the word count, like 85,000 words. (Everyone asks me how many pages this is, and I’m not really sure — I always think in word count. But I think 85,000 words is roughly 200 pages, 100,000 words is closer to 350 I believe. I was writing close to 400! a.k.a. Too many.)

Anyway, I’ve always written long. At the newspaper I was known for this, and it sometimes when an ad would drop out, my editors Dixie or Greg would turn to me and ask me if I could extend a story (sometimes other people’s stories!) by 300 words to fit the space? Sure! Writing long was my specialty. …  Continue reading →

I Have an Agent!

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Yes, indeedy!

I’m officially an agented author now!

Now all those weeks of the kids having no clean socks; the refrigerator being mostly empty; missing most of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade; ignoring the kids’ hints that maybe I should decorate for Christmas; having to go out to eat again because I was too busy at the computer; missing the last part of Ricky’s “The Walking Dead” family marathon; and using up every last second of my vacation time … well, it all seems worth it!

I scrambled to meet my November 30 deadline to finish writing the next manuscript, then a January 2 deadline to turn in the polished manuscript to the next Golden Heart contest, and also mentioned to the agent who I really wanted (squeeee!) – Jill Marsal at Marsal-Lyon Literary Agency – that I’d send her the new ms on Jan. 2 also.

It took zero-ing out on vacation time and that burying-myself-in-a-cave thing, but I did it.

And she called me the next morning to offer representation!

Yippee, 2013!

Here we goooooooooo …

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