Don't forget to listen

The Encyclopedia of Mammals - for details on the wolf side of my werewolves.

The SAS survival handbook - for a character that's going to get stranded in the middle of nowhere.

The Oxford History of the Classical World - for a pseudo-classical fantasy series.

The New Complete Book of Self Sufficiency - for a character who wants to start up a small holding.

Daily life in Medieval times - for a character who likes to talk about various periods in history.

http://www.extremerestraints.com/ - to see if there are any new toys for my characters to play with.

Wipi at the London Fetish Scene - for a character who wants to do things a little differently.

Adonis Art Gallery - because I have three different character who want to be artists.

................................................................

These are all on my desk or my internet history at the moment.

Will the research make it into my books?

Some of it will. Most won't. I've found that a lot of research is just putting the right background noises in your head, so that when you write, you can feel confident that it will be there if you need it. Like any writer, I like my writing to be accurate. If I state a fact, I like to know it's right.

But while I like that side of research - there's another side of "research" that I really love.

Researching the characters. I don't mean looking up personality traits in a book or finding out about their career. I like inviting a character into my mind and just listening to them as they start to tell me about themselves.

To me, listening while a character tells me why he is going to act like a jerk in chapter two, making sure I have all the information so I can state his case to the reader when I come to write that bit - that's as much research as encyclopedias or anything else.

I like to get to know my characters that way. And since I write BDSM, I like to know what dominance and submission means to this character rather than any other character. I like every character to have their own little twist on the main themes - something that makes it personal to them - that makes the story their story, the ending their happy ending.

While I'd love to provide a link for that, I've never done that side of my research by looking things up on websites. I've never gone out and asked someone else to explain it to me - I've never felt it necessary. The dominance and submission of relationships has always been part of the way I've thought about the world, so maybe, in some way, that information came built in, lol.

Anyway, I suppose what I'm saying is - sometimes you need to read books, but sometimes you also need to listen to your characters and trust your instincts. At least that's the way I do it :)

Kim Dare.

Did you know...

I'm a little late with this post today because I'm deep in researching the newest computer worm that is set to attack on April 1. I've hijacked my son's computer as I scan my laptop for Conflicker. Doing research on a new computer virus was NOT on my list of things to do, until I heard a story on the radio this morning as I took my boys to the dentist. One of the symptoms is that your security program gets turned off, and guess what, my computer notified me this weekend that my program was off and I wasn't protected. UGH!

So that's not the type of research I normally do for my stories, but hmmmm I might be able to work this into my next one. I do have something squirrelled away on the shelf with a heroine who is a computer network specialist. Ooooo, this idea is growing and taking up space in my head.

Moving on.

I love research. I love using the Internet to learn new things. I can easily lose entire days doing research, so with my newest WIP, I designated how many days I would spend on my initial research. Because it is an historical western, I needed much more than just the Internet. I needed nearly the entire section of call number 978 in my local library. (I live in a small town, small library.) As much as I love the Internet, there's nothing like flipping pages in a book with that good ole' library smell.

Excuse me now. I've got to go check for viruses.

Blog-Rolls, eh?

I like to start the day with a solid laugh. It's important to find humor where you can. Toward that end, I visit quite a few blogs. Most of them I found by surfing different authors and their associated blog-rolls. But here are my faves:
1. Barefoot Foodie. Best I can figure, she's from Michigan. It's not a blog about food. Not directly, but she can lay you out in side busting laughter with her candid view on things.
2. The Bloggess. Ditto. This one has a ton of comments. I never leave one, but she's got them for a reason. Trust me. And keep scrolling to read.
3. Writer's Evolution. (duh. and, no, I'm not giving you a link. you're here already)
4. CuddlesandChaCha. A recent favorite because they are freakin' hysterical.
5. The Goddess Blog. Name says it all.

Those are my toppers. I visit a slew of author sites every few days too, just way too many for naming here. If nothing else? Check out them out and tell me what you think in the comments box.

SWX

I really should be working, but...

I don’t make the blog rounds as often as I’d like, since there’s always another book to be edited or paperwork to do, but I do enjoy a good blog.

I always make a point of stopping by my authors’ blogs. I like to see what kinds of things they’re doing to promo their work as well as what's going on in their lives. I think it’s a good idea for authors to do a combination of promotion and more personal posts. Readers like to get to know their favorite authors as opposed to just reading the equivalent of ads.

I also enjoy the personal blogs of all of the writers on this blog as well as the Evo blog itself. The diversity in this group is great.

Other blogs I enjoy are:

Post Secret Like some of the writers mentioned, I’m voyeuristically addicted to this blog.

Paperback Writer Lynn Viehl is a fantastic writer and a positively brilliant blogger. Her posts range from useful info on technology to hilarious observations about writing romances and the publishing industry. For instance, this one had me falling off my chair laughing. Please go read it – you’ll thank me later.

Beyond Her Book This is the blog of Barbara Vey who writes for Publishers Weekly. It’s a great place for contests and tons industry news.

Smart Bitches Trashy Books My very favorite thing about SBTB is the cover snark. I can’t get enough of it. Here’s the main listing as well as some of my very favorite snarkage.

The Old School WTF Show Continues
Look Out Behind You
Clinch Covers - The Revenge

I could honestly spend all day reading blogs, but unfortunately it really cuts into my productivity. If you haven't checked out these blogs, you might want to give them a try...after your work is finished.

Blogs Schmogs…

I’m another baddie. I don’t do blog hopping very often. I used to have a blog agenda. I’d visit all those blogs every day. Then about a year ago, I got really busy. It never let up. Going to blogs is awesome. You meet great people. Your name gets out there. But it’s a ‘buyer beware’ situation. Blog hopping takes time. It used to take me about two hours a day.

There are still some blogs I visit. There are some that I’ve struck from my blog list and I refuse to visit – these would be the blogs that seem to spew nothing but venom. They didn’t start out that way. Thankfully, my favorite blogs are still good.

So where do I go when I hop?

Dakota Rebel, Bronwyn Green, Ashley Ladd and Mia Watt’s blogs.

Writer’s Evolution. Yes you’re here, and yes I’m part of this blog, but I think it’s terribly important to support my co-writers. They all have great things to say.

Blunder Woman. It’s a ‘blovel’ online.

The Part-time vegetarian. Good stuff. Healthy living. And a down to earth way of looking at mostly being vegetarian.

That’s about it right now. I have a huge blog list on my personal blog. I these are all blogs I like. I just don’t get to go to them as often as I’d like.

I love list posts!!!

I could be all industrious like Andrea...but I am lazy. So here is a list of some of my favorite blogs:

Postsecret - This blog is awesome...and often very sad. Post Secret is a blog, they do appearances, and they release books. People send in postcards with annonymous secrets written on them. It's a little hard to explain, but it's quite voyeristic for those of us who do not submit, and I would imagine extremely cathartic for those who do. It's a way to release the stress of holding in huge secrets by telling them to millions of strangers. They post new secrets every Sunday.

Brynn Paulin - An amazing writer and someone I am beyond proud to call one of my best friends.

Bronwyn Green - Another phoenominal writer and another dear, dear friend.

Sommer Marsden - I adore this blog. She is funny, smart and a FONT of information you never knew you wanted to know. Check her out on Monday for insightful "toy" reviews or Wednesday for her "Humpday Hersey" where guest can post random information for your delight.

Alison Tyler - An incredibly prolific editor for TONS of anthologies, and a damn good writer to boot. She runs contests every week for people to write shorts (250 words or less) based on various topics. The posts are annonymous until the voting is over, but this is a fabulous chance to read some top grade erotic shorts by some of todays most amazing writers. Plus...she is funny as hell.

Those are just a few, VERY few, of the blogs I try to frequent. With all my computer troubles lately I haven't had the chance to make my blog rounds as often as I'd like, but I always manage to hit these even if I have to sneak around at work to do it. (Shhhh, don't tell.)

XoXoXo
Dakota Rebel
www.dakotarebel.blogspot.com

I should, but I don't

To be honest, there aren't many blogs that a really follow.

I suppose I should, given my genre of choice, like the BDSM type blogs where people chart their real life experiences of the lifestyle. But I always find myself wondering if they are making it all up. Sometimes, I read parts of them and I'm pretty damn sure they are making it all up.

Now, I obviously don't have anything against people who make up stories - I'm not that much of a hypocrite! But if someone tells me something is real, I sort of expect it to be real, and I feel cheated when I realise it's not. Maybe I'm suspicious at heart. Or maybe I've just been spending too much time writing my own stories, but I find myself reading this type of blog and looking for - and finding - continuity mistakes.

And when I find something that makes me sure it's not real, I stop following that blog. So I can't really give you a list of them. (Just for the record, whatever quite a few of the people writing this sort of blog think - if you had to hold that position for that long you would get cramp. And if you were tied up for that many hours at a time, sooner or later you would need to take a leak. If you want to pretend you're talking about reality - make it realistic!)

Blogs about writing and publishing. I should probably be following quite a few of those. Accept I don't. I dipped in and out of a few while I was first looking for a publisher, but never really got around to following them properly. However, if I remember correctly a lot of the time I spent on them was pretty much about putting off submitting something to any of the publishers rather than doing proper research, so perhaps it's a good thing I stopped reading them. Anyway, not much to say there either.

Other writers blogs. I follow a few of those - mostly writers on here, lol. But in general, my networking skills are pretty non existent. I'm far happier with the people who live inside my head than I am with people who live in the real world.

Okay, here's the simple truth - despite all the blogs I probably should like, read, follow and comment upon, the only ones I get to on a regular basis are the ones I contribute to.

This one (obviously...)

Hitting the Hotspot - Total-e-bound's author blog. I'm there on the 27th of each month, and I try to pop in and see what every else is up to pretty regularly.

Oh, Get a Grip! - A group of six erotic / erotic romance writers talking about the topic of the week. While the subjects on this blog tend to be about writing, the topics on that one tend to be more about sex. Or maybe that's just when it's my turn to pick the topic... not entirely sure about that. Anyway, I'm there on Thursdays.

And that's about it really. I should have a lot more to say, but I don't :)

Kim Dare.
www.kimdare.blogspot.com

Frequent Blog Sightings

I am a late bloomer. I was a Blog Virgin until 10 months ago. I had never been to any blog. I didn't understand what all the buzz was about, but I heard at a writer's conference that I should have a blog. So I started one and then I didn't write on it for eight months. I still didn't get it.

But then my bff introduced me to The Pioneer Woman. OMG! She rocks! I lost a whole day and night reading her Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, the true romantic story of how she met her hubby. *Sigh* In addition she blogs about living on a ranch in rural Oklahoma, photography, cooking, and homeschooling.

Now I keep up-to-date with another aspiring author friend. She always entertains me on Thursdays when she writes on her blog, Authorial Mom.

And a real close friend, Suzanne Graham, just sold her first story to Total-e-bound and has begun a blog. So I am watching to see what she has up her dress...errr sleeve.

And lastly I have found a wonderful site where I can get lost for hours at Writer Unboxed. When I went to this blog for the first time, I felt like Alice in Wonderland getting sucked down the hole. (OK, maybe Alice fell in the hole, but I was definitely sucked into this blog.) The links led to websites that I had to read that led to blog pages that I had to read that led to websites and blog pages that I had to read that led to... I think you get the picture.

So what has this new world of blogging taught me?
Keep my head down and keep writing.
Don't stop to look at all the pretty flowers until my work is done for the day.
And no matter how long I live I will never reach the final page on the world wide web because someone will always write another.

I hope you will enjoy some of these blogs if you haven't visited them yet.
Just don't say I didn't warn ya!

Have a happy Monday.

Peeving my Pet

Where do I start? Seriously. I have a ton of them and yet I don't usually let on unless it's killing me. People who chew with their mouths open. People who talk during a television show about stupid stuff and shut up for commercials. Pompous asses that make fun of my coffee being all tan... Oh wait. I do that to one of our Evo people (you know who you are and I love you).

But wait, this is about writing. Okay, lemme redirect then. Writing peeves. OH! People who walk back and forth behind my computer while I'm working. ESPECIALLY little people of the whining variety who really shouldn't read over my shoulder.

I have a new peeve too. It took two days to do a full back-up of my computer this week. Slowed every system down and working was a hack. Because the dh is the computer head, he kept trying to speed it up or at least stare at the screen like that would help the megabites cross into saved territory faster (go into the light, it's full of love and peace). What really got my goat was him listing crap off as it transferred. "Hey SWX (that's right. It's my real name), What is a BG.pdf? Who's BG?" Well, duh. It's Bronwyn Green. But still!

There are things on that computer I don't need him asking about. All those juicy pics people send me? The one's I wind up keeping go into a hero folder for later drooling---er, sketching. All the sites I visit for research...? Yeah, you get the picture. It was like looking into my virtual purse and making eye rolling judgments about the color of my lip balm. I took my computer away from him after that. I have no idea what all is stored in there. And I don't have secrets from him, but that doesn't mean I want him looking at all of that crap either.

Guess that's my biggest writerly one at the moment. Oh yeah, that one and having an idea for a new story which won't go away when you have a deadline on four other projects first. Fun.

SWX

Don't Do This

I thought long and hard about this post. I have a few peeves as an editor, but I didn’t want to sound petty or haggish (not to be confused with haggis which is also icky). Upon thought, I decided the things I’m going to mention should be givens for behavior and responsibility. So here they are. My top five peeves:

1. Overall, edits are suggestions for improving the manuscript. Line edits improve flow and correct grammar. Content edits address other manuscript issues. If a writer does not want to make a change, I’m open to discussing why. I expect that the author will give valid support for keeping something as is. “Because this is a fantasy” or “Because I like it that way” aren’t convincing. They’re just irritating.

2. Writer's who believe their writing is sacred but fail to submit it on stone tablets, so that I know. I've yet to come across anyone who writes perfectly 100% of the time. Edits are a fact of life in this business. Take a deep breath and realize that your sentence that's 10 lines long might just need to be reworked even if it's the most perfect prose written since Shakespeare.

3. Probably one of the things at the top of my list is failure to do research. Research isn’t just for people who write historical. If you’re writing about BDSM, you should know it’s about far more than bondage and, um, tools. If you’re writing about racing you should know the rules, the car models, that the Winston cup is now the Nextel cup…

4. On that same note, a writer needs to keep track of his or her book details. There are days when I want to thump my head on my desk because the heroine’s hair in the manuscript I’m reading has changed four times.

5. If an editor rejects your manuscript, and you send back a virulent letter about how great the manuscript is and how you can’t believe the editor didn’t take it and that fifteen other houses want it, well… It’s really not going to change the editor’s mind. It will cause them to remember you and your behavior. Since editors talk, do you really want that?

So those are my top editorial peeves. Now do you want my personal one? That list is much longer, lol.

Pet Peeves That Give Me THE RAGE

I’m sure this will surprise no one...but I’ve got pet peeves, too. Lots of them. But to keep this from turning into the never ending bitch session, I’ll just focus on the main rage inducers.

I think the thing that drives me the most insane is the misuse of the apostrophe. In addition to creating contractions the apostrophe’s other main function is to indicate possession. However, I see it being misused everywhere to indicate pluralization.

For instance, I absolutely lost my freaking mind last summer when I read my niece’s cute little pink shirt with a picture of a tiara on it.

The text on the shirt said, “Tiara’s make me look taller.”

I pointed it out to my brother...my brother, the high school teacher and said, “Oh my God, I can’t believe the grammar on that shirt.”

“What do you mean?” my brother (remember, he’s a teacher) asked.

Really? Seriously?

After I gave him the look of death, I said, “The pluralization of tiaras is t-i-a-r-a-s — no apostrophe. With the apostrophe, it’s possessive – that means that something belongs to the tiara.”

He tilted his head to the side and said, “Huh...I didn’t notice.”

At a loss for words, I cuffed him across the back of the head and left the room.

Another pet peeve of mine is misprinted signs. The worst one I’ve ever seen was in the liquor aisle of a local grocery store right after the holidays when they were clearance-ing out their holiday booze gift baskets. The sign said, “Liquor Gift Basket’s Our In The Main Isle.”

It said that. For real.

There were four copies of this sign up and down the aisle. I lost my mind. Being the incredible nerd I am, I corrected each and every one of them with my trusty red pen that I keep in my purse. Needless to say, my husband pushed the grocery cart into the next aisle leaving me alone with my pen and my rage.

Other pet peeves include excessive point of view changes – particularly when they drop into the points of view of random characters –cab drivers, waiters, a grandmother, a nosy neighbor – heck, I’ve even seen the point of view of a cat. As a reader, if it’s not a main character that moves the story forward, I don’t want to know what they’re thinking. And unless the cat’s thinking that what he’d really like to do is pee in the corner and hack up a hairball on the hero’s shoes, I’m not buying that POV anyway.

Another thing that drives me batty is when the characters the author has firmly established suddenly start behaving completely out of character (with no discernible internal motivation) because it’s a convenient way to move the plot forward. An example would be a strong, intelligent and logical woman who suddenly loses all ability to reason and agrees to meet a serial killer alone on a moonless night because the author needs her to get captured so she can be rescued by the hero. Now, if she’s going there because the bad guy promises he’ll release the school bus full of small children he’s holding hostage, at least there’s some relatively believable motivation, but if she’s going because he says he “has information for her” I’ll probably get the rage and throw the book across the room.

There are a lot of things that bug me, but these are probably the ones that make me the craziest...well, writing-wise, anyway. ;)

Pet Peeves...I has them.

As a mid-career writer I probably have the most pet peeves. New writers (I remember) are so excited about writing and being published that they can roll with things easily. Multi-published and Famous Authors don't have to deal with some of the drudgery of the publishing world because people are more willing to work with them. That and they've been around long enough to know which battles are worth fighting and when to...again roll with it.

But then we get to my level. Or hell, maybe it really is just me. But here are a few things that stick in my craw.

1. Incomplete (or worse incorrect) submission guidelines. This can be the fault of many factors. Something as small as a typo by the editor takes your story from perfect to completely wrong for the request. And just because the editor mis-posted do not expect an apology, do not expect and explaination, and do not expect him/her to take the story just because the call for submissions said they were looking for something like your story.

A word of caution - Be very careful when getting guidelines from a "guideline site." If the person running the site misses a line when copying and pasting, or is posting third part information, things can get all kinds of screwed up. Remember the game "telephone?" Yeah. You don't want that to happen to you when submitting. I suggest that if you are trolling these sites and come across a call that strikes your fancy you research it at the publisher's site too. And if you have questions for God's sake ASK. Most editors are happier to answer one or two questions than to be bombarded with submissions that aren't even close to what they are looking for.


2.Rejection letters hat are mean and specific for no good reason. (Please note this is a link to a specific post and not to the person in general. She would NEVER treat ANYONE so mean.) This letter was sent to a friend of mine and it is the worst thing I've ever read. A simple, "This story is not for us" would have sufficed JUST fine. But no, this editor got on her high horse and went off for no good reason. I know for a fact that none of the editors I know and/or have worked with would EVER, EVER, EVER, send a letter like this. It shocks me that anyone would feel the need to send that letter. If you don't like the style of course it's okay to say that, but you don't need to go into excruiting detail. Save that for if you take the piece and need to explain changes. And don't be so cruel about it. Sheesh.

3. Not specific enough rejection letters. (I never said I was consistant.) Writing "no thank you" on my query letter doesn't help me. I realize that editors are busy and cannot tell me (and I don't want to to know anyway) every single thing that made my story not wanted by a publisher. But "This story is not for us" is really a good blanket statement for "we don't want it." I can handle that. Just "No." Well...why? I don't know. Editors cannot win when rejecting and author, we all know that. Just know, dear sweet editors, it bugs the crap out of us too. We know we are strange, we just can't help it. We're writers.

4. Waiting for news. If the guidelines say 4 - 6 weeks why the hell is it customary for me to give the publisher/editor and extra 3 - 4 weeks before following up? I've already given them 6 weeks. If it takes 10 weeks they should say that in the guidelines. What is the point of putting a time frame at all if you really just mean "we will read it when we are damn good and ready?"



5. Rejection. What? I hate it. It is a pet peeve...right? No? Hmmm.....I disagree. I don't like it so it totally counts.



6. Lack of manners. Okay, so this doesn't have to do specifically with writing...but I am a writer and it is a pet peeve so I am including it. What is so fucking hard about saying please and thank you? About holding the door open for the person behind you (male or female)? Where did common courtesy go? This pisses me off so bad.



7. Womens Liberation. Who the hell decided I should work outside the home? Why is it so politically incorrect for me to want to stay home and take care of my kid, clean my house and cook my husband dinner? I want to find the woman who started this trend and kick her in her testicles. Womens Lib...what a crock.



So there are my top seven pet peeves. I am quite sure there are more, but I don't think I'm up for a total and complete rant this morning, so I'll quit while I'm ahead. If I still even am.



XoXoXo

Dakota Rebel

Warning: this post contains some things that some readers may find objectionable!

I'm generally pretty easy going about most things. Well, maybe that's not strictly true. But I try to be easy going about most things. I try to keep things in prospective and not let the things that wind me up really get to me.

I don't particularly like the misconceptions so many people have about the genre I write in. (One more time - everyone sing along now - BDSM, done properly, is not about misogyny or abuse!)

And I don't enjoy the way some critique circles treat the erotic romance genre as a whole. I'm not sure if that stems from similar misconceptions or not, but there's one particular circle I belong to (on the internet - we're talking a circle of thousands of people here, not half a dozen people meeting in a church hall once a week) that seems incredibly offended by the fact some people don't close the door when the characters take their clothes off.

But, do you know the one thing that annoys me above all logic or reason? It's the little warnings that often crop up underneath the blurbs on publishers sites.

Yes, I know it a completely bizarre thing to get wound up over. I can understand that there has to be some way of telling the reader that if they don't like reading X, they should probably pick another book. Really, I do get that.

But have you ever really had a good look at those warnings? Here's a typical example off the top of my head.

This story contains situations and activities that some readers may consider offensive - male/male sexual practices, BDSM.

The assumption that some (which always sounds like they mean most for some reason) people would obviously find those things offensive makes my skin crawl.

Where are the warnings that this story contains male/female sexual practices? Where are the warnings that if you're looking for something kinky it won't be in this book?

Everyone likes to read different things. I wouldn't want things to be any other way. What rocks my boat may not rock yours. That's great.

But why can't they just say this book contains male/male or male/female or any other combination of characters and leave it at that? And why can't they apply the same rules across the board?

Why can't they just say BDSM and not pass judgement?

Two (or more) men (or women) having sex, falling in love and living happily after is not intrinsically offensive.

Two or more people of any gender or orientation getting kinky together isn't intrinsically objectionable.

*Sigh*

I know it shouldn't bother me, but it does. And if I'm honest, I think I get offended on behalf of the characters as much as anything else - this is their lives that people are condemning. Just because someone's a figment of the imagination, that's no reason to be rude about them.

......................................................................................

On a side note...

My new novella Turquoise and Leather was released yesterday.

There's no warning attached to it, so if you're inclined to click on the link - here's the low down.

It's a male/male story. It's a BDSM story.

It's also the first title in a series called Collared.

And it's about one of my all time favourite characters - Eric. He makes me smile every time I think of him.

In fact, thinking about him makes it difficult to be annoyed with anything - although even he can't make my completely happy about the fact that some publishers would have labelled him and his time with George as automatically offensive!

Writer's Peeves

As I writer I don't have any peeves. Yet. I'm not published so I don't have any problems with editors. I don't have an agent so no problems there either. As a writer the only one bothering me is me.

But as a reader, my biggest pet peeve is poor editing. Nothing will take me out of a story faster than poor editing. I'm currently reading a two story collection from a major publishing house and I can't believe the missing prepositions and even WRONG prepositions! And don't get me started on verb tenses. I've read (or tried reading) books that were obviously written from a rough draft. Interspersed throughout the text I'd find -ing verbs where there were supposed to be -ed verbs.

I'm definitely a grammar cop because I want to arrest people who use 'your' instead of 'you're' and 'there' instead of 'their'. Currently my oldest son is taking the brunt of my peevishness. He's in fifth grade and at his school they don't put any emphasis on spelling. His misspelled words on his work are never marked with a big red pen. So when he brings these papers home, Mom makes him look up the correct spelling in the dictionary. (The old fashioned kind - in a book). Then I give him a spelling test the next day. Fortunately for my middle son he is already looking to be a natural born speller.

What I want to know is when did spelling and grammar go out of fashion?

PS Please forgive any of my missing, misspelled words or poor grammar. I am going in a hury to git my son at school this mornign.

Brought to you, by Muzak

I don't know if I can call my experiences embarrassing so much as stupid. I laugh a lot. I laugh at myself a lot and I can't say that I have that many shudder moments when funny is also horribly wrong.

I do remember being at RT last year and heading toward the bank of elevators with a host of other writers, when my heel skidded on the marble and I did the splits in front of everyone. I also glared at the carpet, dusted off, and chuckled my way into the elevator. Sore thighs for two days.

Of course at that same conference there was a guy in a "wife beater" undershirt, skank tattoos all over his arms, and looking like he was twice hung over who barely reached my chin (I ain't tall). He leaned against the back of the elevator box and said he only had an hour to get ready for the Mr. Romance contest he was in. I remember meeting the eyes of the other person in there with me and we had this exchange of looks like, "Riiiiiight." Turned out... he was serious.

Geez, as I keep thinking about it, there seem to be quite a few at that RT convention. Hmm. I remember sharing one with Bronwyn in fact. Bron, what was that guy's name? The calendar guy when we stood in line for signatures? I really think you should tell that one in the comments. I laughed so hard I nearly wet myself. I don't want to mess it up, but you really should ask her.

Or the other time, in an elevator, at a local chapter conference when about twelve women fresh from reading excerpts of our work, piled in on the first floor. We were roudy and cracking jokes, laughing at lines we remembered. Floor two a distinguished gentleman got on (almost didn't) and we enfolded him into the center of our ranks. The elevator got veeeery quiet. I started grinning like a crazy woman--as I will--and said, "You realize, don't you, that you just walked into a tiny box with twelve erotic romance writers and I have access to the emergency stop?" The women busted into laughter. The poor guy turned very red and the doors slid open at his stop. Just after he stepped out, he smiled kinda shyly and said, "Maybe I should get back on."

I don't know. Maybe it's the karmic energy of elevator muzak that holds these stories together. All I know is, if you want quality gonna-pee-cause-I'm-laughing-so-hard embarrassment, hang around Bronwyn. If you want under-your-breath-gonna-snark-on-you-with-sharp-wit-without-warning, hang around Brynn. You want elevator amusement, I'm your gal. Dakota I'm getting to know and aside from a heart of gold, she seems to possess that kind of humor that sneaks up on you because it's said so quietly. But it's fast and intellegent. Don't know the other ladies here personally, but I have a feeling they are a rare bunch--in a very good way.

SWX

Why, yes…I AM a cautionary tale…

No seriously…I am a walking, taking public service announcement for how not to do something. These are tales of writing excursions gone very, very wrong.

For example, there’s the time I was at one of the last Autumn Authors conferences near Chicago and for some reason Jen Armintrout and I were in a hotel elevator singing songs from the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The elevator doors slid open while we were mid-verse (complete with hand motions) and who’s standing there but one of the conference guests – an editor who had my manuscript and who Jen had to pitch to later in the day. He looked at us with an expression of absolute horror, put his hands up as though we were about to attack him, took a giant step back and said, “I’ll…uh…I’ll just wait for the next one.” Yes indeed, Jen and I know how to impress. Please note…he did not buy my manuscript. Or Jen's. He did however purchase the book of the only non-singing occupant of the elevator. Coincidence? Perhaps. Nah…probably not.

Then there was the time I took a ten week long Citizens Police Academy course for research. Totally fascinating…and also very, very awkward. You see, about ten years ago, one of my brothers was a dumbass. Said brother had a dumbass girlfriend. One night, dumbass brother and dumbass girlfriend very stupidly got drunk and dumbass girlfriend decided to drive with the lights off – you know…so as to be inconspicuous. (She was a clever one, that girl.) Long story short, they got pulled over (right near my house where they apparently thought they could hide out – did I mention the dumbass part?) and then the fun started. Dumbass girlfriend was arrested for drunk driving and being a minor. She was cuffed and put in a state police cruiser while the cop talked to dumbass brother – who was free to go if he could get a ride. Only dumbass girlfriend slips her cuffs, climbs over the backseat and steals the police car. Dumbass brother laughs and says, “Dude, she’s stealing your car.” Bad things happen – girl totals several cars and her tires eventually get shot out, both dumbasses go to jail and the dashboard camera catches it all. You can see an abbreviated version here. In fact, you can even see my house go by too – and believe it or not, we slept through the whole thing.

Fast forward to me sitting in cop class with some friends and it’s time to learn about traffic stops. Out comes the non-abbreviated video, because you see, dumbass brother and dumbass girlfriend have become a cautionary tale of their own. This footage is shown to all police academy recruits as a learning tool - not to mention around the country on those cop car chase shows. So I’m watching this thing and my friend says to the class, “Hey! That’s Bronwyn’s brother.” Much hilarity and awkwardness ensued. I’m pleased to report dumbass brother is no longer a dumbass and no longer dating dumbass girlfriend. Actually, it pretty much ended that night. The cop I went on a ride along with at the culmination of my class made sure I got to meet the cop who shot out the tires of the car dumbass girlfriend stole. More awkwardness.


And lastly there’s my tale of subway drama. Brynn and I were in NYC at the RWA National Conference in 2004. We'd gone out to dinner with some chapter members and some of the women said they wanted to ride the subway, but were afraid to do it on their own. So Brynn, her dh and I, who'd been riding the trains all week, went with her and decided to ride the F train since it was on the way back to our hotel. That's when things started to go awry.

There were these handy automated ticket machines. Put in two bucks and it would spit out a ticket, then you went to the turnstile slipped the ticket into the reader, the machine clicked and you pushed open the turnstile...at least that's how it's supposed to work.

Unfortunately, it was a full body turnstile instead of the waist ones I was used to. Having used my last two dollars, I stood in line behind my friends and waited my turn. I fed the machine my ticket and tried to walk through. It didn't work. Brynn patiently stood on the other side of the turnstile and passed me two dollars and told me to get another ticket...so I did. Same thing. Brynn, slightly less patiently, handed me another two dollars. Same thing. By now, I've got about 20 New Yorkers standing behind me trying to give me advice on how to get through.

"Just go real, slow, girl and then push - real slow...then push."
"Okay, what ya hafta to do is push and walk, push and walk."
"You can do it, girl. You can do it."

I think we went through this scenario two more times. I'm laughing so hard at this point I've got tears rolling down my face and I can hardly stand up. There was a little old woman who kept asking Brynn if her friend was okay - as though I was some sort of escapee from a mental hospital.

Brynn sent me back for one more ticket wearing the expression she usually saves for her errant children. The very nice people in line let me through again and I fed the ticket into the machine. Before I could touch the gate, Brynn finally said, "Don't. Touch. Anything. Just. Walk." She then proceeded to pull the gate toward her and of course I can walk right through.

We got through in time to make the train where many of the poor souls who had been standing behind me were already seated. When I entered
the car, several of the people clapped and cheered. One guy yelled like, "You GO girl. I knew you could do it. I just knew it."

I guess the message here is, if you want to point and laugh, I’m a good person to hang out with. If you’re easily embarrassed, you probably want to keep your distance – who knows what’ll happen?!

Oops…I did it…

Mistakes. Embarrassing moments. We all have them, but some just stick with you. Anyone will tell you I’m calm and cool and perfect. Snort. Really, I’ve been desperately trying to think of my embarrassing moments all week—it’s not that I don’t make mistakes. It’s that I repress them and shove them far, far away.

The first thing that comes to mind, one that never goes away, is when I first pitched a book to an editor. I was so prepared. I knew my book inside and out. Unfortunately, unlike what I’d been told, she didn’t take the kind of book I’d prepared to pitch. Then she said that horrible thing that so many editors and agents say (be warned). She said: what else do you have? Of course I had something else. Could I intelligently talk about it? Um…no. This was the pitch where I said the infamous line that haunts me. “And lots of interesting things happen. They do lots of interesting things. Really. I think you’ll like it.” Hey! I was nervous. It just…spilled out.

My critique group will never let me forget the time my hero changed clothes in the trunk of a car. Hint: he was being kidnapped, not using it for a changing room. I’ve become an illustration for proofing.

Sometimes, even proofing doesn’t work. In one of my books, the snow was making steaks on the windshield of the car. This made it through me, my critique partner, and my editor. Thank God for the final line editor. That would not have been cool. Mistakes in manuscripts never are, and they make me shudder every time I see them.

You may know that I’m a research zealot. There’s a reason for this. The first book I wrote was a medieval. I wrote whatever I thought fit. I entered that perfect piece of writing into a gadzillion contests. Okay, maybe three. But it felt like a ton, because the first contest I entered, the judge highlighted practically every other word or convention I used and told me they didn’t exist in the time period I was writing. It’s a wonder I ever wrote again.

Back to editors. They like to catch you off guard. I was at a conference once and, well when you’re at conferences, often you get silly buttons to wear. I had one that said “I have a book and I’m not afraid to pitch it.” And I wore it. On my way to breakfast. And who did I run into? A big shot, ‘oh my God I’m going to stutter in your presence’, New York editor who looks at my stupid button—why didn’t I leave it in my room???—and says, on the escalator, “Okay, so pitch it.” Come on, I hadn’t even had my coffee. I didn’t have my 3x5 index cards! And contrary to the button, I was suddenly terrified. It wasn’t nice of her to ask me. She had one of her authors with her. So after I looked like a fish for a few moments, I got to be their breakfast entertainment.

I could go on and on and on…like the Ellora’s Cave stage walk last year at the Romantic Times Convention and my own personal wardrobe malfunction. I don’t think anyone but me and the model noticed and I’m sure it amused him. Was there an underlying meaning when he said, “I love a woman in black”? The thing is, I was almost not in black if you get what I mean…

Enough said, and enough embarrassments for today.

Tomorrow Bronwyn Green will be sharing her moments. We won’t have our editors weighing in about their embarrassments. Editors are kinda squeamish when it comes to that I suppose. I can’t blame them. Anyway, we’re going easy on them, and Bronwyn will speak instead. Trust me…it won’t be something to be missed.

D'oh!

So, my most embarassing writer moments usually revolve around me forgetting that I am a writer. No, really. I forget all the damn time. Maybe it's because I am still supported by a day job. Or maybe it's because I don't write every day. Or maybe it's because I use a psuedonym. (Yes, sorry to disappoint, but my mother was not cool enough to actually name me Dakota Rebel so I had to do it myself.)

Here are some examples of what I mean:

I go to Starbucks every morning. They all know me, they all call me Dakota. When the manager asked me one day what I do I told her that I work for an automotive supplier. Yes, this is after I told them my name is Dakota...which I only use when writing. Unless I am in a group of writers I do not expect people to call me by names other than my real one. People find this story hilarious, especially the Mr.

Another story, that is not so much embarassing as funny:

I was invited to do an interview on a very popular local radio station. It went really well and I had a lot of fun. About three months later my alarm clock goes off and I am convinced that I am still dreaming because I can hear myself talking. It takes a good five minutes for me to realize that my alarm clock has turned on the radio stations "Best Of" show and it really IS me talking because they are replaying my interview. Talk about surreal. Sheesh.

Probably the most actual embarrassing moment was before I was published. I was writing the first draft of Sweet Dreams while on a camping trip. My friend Joe took my laptop and read a very graphic sex scene outloud to the entire camp site. Since I write in first person, and this book was from the point of view of a woman, it was quite hilarious for everyone. I don't really know if this was embarrassing for me or for him, but it was funny as hell so it doesn't matter.

XoXoXo
Dakota Rebel

Embarrassed? Me?

Like Andrea, I think I might be a bit new to the game to have any funny stories to share with you on this topic.

I'm sure there is a lot of potential for getting yourself into embarrassing situations and conversations when you write something that a hell of a lot of people would label as kinky gay porn. But, I seem to have cleared those situations without too much trouble.

For example - My parents know what I write and they've read what I write. Perhaps it's not the genre they expected me to end up writing, but they don't object. They are proud of what I've acomplished rather than embarrassed by it - and they have no problem telling other people what I write - and where they can find the books if they want to read them.

I don't go around shouting about what I write from the roof tops, but that has more to do with me not being the sort of person who likes a fuss rather than feeling any embarrassment.

Maybe it's just me - perhaps at some point I just forgot to blush when other people would. But I think there's another explanation.

It's not an embarrassing story, but I'll share anyway...

Every week my mother runs group meetings for an organisation completly unrelated to writing. My father and I both help. When my first book came out last Christmas, my mother made an announcement about it to the group - a collection of about 50 or so nice respectable women.

Here's how it went...

My mother: Kim's first book was published today.

(Insert pause where everyone looks impressed)

Voice from the back of the room: Is it dirty?

My parents (In perfect sync): YES!

For some reason everyone seemed far more interested in the book after they heard that answer, lol.

And I think that's why I don't have any embarrassing moments to share. That's the way of things around here. No one gets shocked by much. No one gets embarrassed by much. And writing dirty books isn't considered anything to be ashamed of :)

Uh, Oh!

Sorry, guys and gals, but I got nothing here. Maybe it's because I'm still so new, but I can't think of any embarrassing writer moments. Or maybe it's because I'm a little fried right now. Fried, but definitely in a good way. Do you want to hear why?

Okay, since you asked nicely. I'm going to veer a little off topic this week.

I went to a writer's conference this weekend and pitched to an editor from a major publishing house. And guess what!!!!! Yep!!! She said it sounded interesting and she requested the first 5 chapters. Holy Smokes, Batman!

Now I've got a problem because in the week leading up to the conference I was supposed to be piecing back together those same five chapters that I had just hacked apart based on a critique by an agent.

But did I do my work last week? Not so much.
But I did find a lot of lost friends from high school on Facebook. And several presenters at the conference talked about how important social networking websites are for self-promo.
So I kinda was working, right?
Don't answer that, because I also heard from the presenters that the story has to come first.

Of course my demanding car-mates from the drive to/from the conference insisted I work in the car. And actually they were most splendiferous with their suggestions on my stucky points. (Wow, It's really late. I'm really tired and I'm making up some doozy words. But I did some serious work today to get my pieces put back together and making up words is funfully delicious.)

So now my chapters are put back in order with new scenes and sequels, and as I read through my new versions of 1-5, I must say that I'm really pleased. The effort was worth the result. Did I get that backward? The result was worth the effort. Ahhhh, that's better. I told you it was late.

Tomorrow, which is really today, but I gotta go sleep for a few hours. Anyway later this Monday morning I'll read the copy I just printed through a few more times and check for editing booboos and consistency flareups. If all looks good, I'll see if my hubby is available for a quicky (as in reading, you sex-crazed people) and get his input. (I'll just leave that one alone.) Then it's off to the wizard to see if I can get a brain, a heart and a timepiece. Because I already used my courage to face down an editor of a major publishing house to ask her to listen to my story idea.

I think I'll just wrap it up there and go to sleep in a field of poppies.
Nighty, nighty.

PS Maybe when I reread this post after a few hours of sleep later today, this will be my most embarrassing writer's moment. (Betcha didn't think I would be able to get back on topic.)

Writing Marketeers

Boy, I think this one's been covered every which way. Here's yet another writer's thought:

Yes and no.

You want to get published?
Yes, write to the market but don't make that your only project. ALSO write what you want, or they will get bored and you'll be left with nothing to move on with (editors everywhere are cringing at the way I ended that sentence. Scary bastards.)

You want to get published but it doesn't have to be now?
Spend more time on the one you want to write and consider writing to the market.

You never want publication?
(not fool-proof) Only ever write what you want. Completely ignore all edits and all suggestions about what is selling. --I say not foolproof because somehow there are books which get out there anyway, despite the author's best efforts to fux it up for themselves. No accounting...

You maybe want to get published but success scares you?
Write slowly. With much angst. Drag your feet and whine.

You want to get your feet in the door?
Write a popular piece of crap for the purpose of the market, whether you like it or not so long as its not so crappy as to not get published. THEN while they are figuring out your cover and how to place you, write the book that calls to you. Once you are in the door, you have a better shot.

So there's my answer. Yes and no.

Hugs and Kisses (sarcasm rocks)
SWX

The Advice You Don’t Want to Hear

Write to the market? Heck yeah. Is there a reason that there are a trillion Scottish historical on the market but not so many on the Russian revolution? Yes. Scots sell. When I evaluate a manuscript, one thing I have to look at is: will people buy this? If the answer is no, it doesn’t matter how well-written the piece is, you’ll receive a polite rejection letter. I hate writing rejection letters. I especially hate writing them when the story is technically perfect—and I like it—but I know it won’t sell.

As an author you need to watch the trends and you need to be adept enough to ebb and flow with the fiction tide. Most trends aren’t flash in the pan. You can catch them early and jump on before they burn out.

I often run into people saying “but I’m not comfortable writing about ________”. Who says that’s the trend for you to follow? In the romance genre, there are tons of sub-genres and countless variations on each one. It’s unlikely you’re going to write just one book. Are you going to rehash one plot over and over? Authors are a flexible lot. Most like to stretch in several directions. So stretch in the direction of the growing trends and pull back from the waning trends and the over-saturated markets. Then pretend like you’re Neo dodging bullets in The Matrix and you’ll be fine.

What Do You Love?

"Write what you love... Love what you write, otherwise no one else will either!"

I see this signature line every time I get an email from Arianna Skye, and every time it catches my eye and makes me pause. The first part, Write what you love and love what you write, is attributed to Dan Poynter, and I love that quote. But the second part is all Arianna and I love that bit too. I also think it applies to this week’s discussion. If we don’t love what we’re writing, how on earth can we expect anyone else to either?

If we’re writing books based on what’s currently flying off the shelves, we may be in for a disappointment. By the time our book is finished and hits an editor or agent’s desk, that particular trend might be winding down due to over saturation in the market and because of that, there may be reluctance to buy the book. Worse, if we’re simply trying to chase the market, there’s a good chance that our hearts won’t be in our stories and that lack of heart is going to be obvious to anyone who reads what we've written.

I’ve read books before that seemed to be written for no other purpose than to make a quick buck. To me, it seemed like the authors had just knocked them out to get in on a trend. It felt like the they hadn't cared about writing the stories anymore than I cared about having read them.

For instance, M/M is very hot right now, but and I know a lot of people who write it well and sell well doing it. I love reading their books – they’re on my keeper shelf – but it’s not a genre I feel I can write believably. I think it would be apparent that I was less passionate than I should be about my subject matter, and readers would come away with the same sense of dissatisfaction that I experienced when I read what I felt were "quick buck books."

I had an eye opening experience at the Romantic Times convention last year. I was chatting with an author friend at the Saturday book signing and a reviewer from one of the online review sites stopped by. My friend introduced me to her and the following conversation was had:

Reviewer: I know you. You write that hot S&M stuff.

Me: *smiling* Oh, I think you have me confused with my friend, Brynn Paulin. She writes amazingly hot BDSM.

Reviewer: What do you write?

Me: Mostly paranormal erotic romance.

Reviewer: Huh. Well, I don’t have time for that shit. (she then walked away)

My friend and I picked our jaws up off the floor and expressed our...surprise...over that exchange. Now, I’m not saying that I think everyone should want to read what I write. Yeah, sure it would be nice, but let’s be realistic—not everyone likes the same thing. Personally, I have no interest in sheik stories—nada. And there are very few cowboy stories that hold my attention. It’s just not where my interests lie, so I understand completely that what I like to write isn’t what that reviewer likes to read.

But as I left the ballroom where the signing had taken place, I had a moment of doubt—well, let’s be honest, several. I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe I was missing the boat—if maybe I should try my hand at this genre that was so popular. After all, I loved Brynn’s stories as well as several authors in that genre. Maybe I should give it a go.

Just as quickly, I realized to do that would be to chase the market. While I thoroughly enjoy that market as a reader, it’s not a market I’d feel confident in as a writer. So I continue to write what I love and love what I write, because if I don’t love the stories I create, it’s unlikely anyone else with either.

Peace Love and Understanding

So, I get the concept of writing to the market. I do. You know that the piece you are working on has potential to sell. You know that when you send "piece a" to "editor a" it is the subject matter they are looking for. HOWEVER (didn't you just know that was going to happen?) Is this a story you want to write? Sure, "editor a" is looking for a 12k story about masturbating with wind up toys. But do you know anything about that? Do you WANT to know anything about that? Do you want to spend hours researching the topic on the off chance you might be chosen for publication?

OR (come on, you have to be used to my set up by now), do you want to write about something that...wait for it...YOU love? Something that sets your stomach fluttering and your heart rolling and your fingers clacking on the keys?

Of course if you are interested in masturbating with wind up toys (or at least writing about it) then that is what we call a win-win. And this is how I tend to roll.

I write vampires. And lately I write gay vampires. I write them because I love to write them, and I believe I am relatively good at it. Sure, I may have to sub a book for months to get it accepted whereas if I pulled up a publishers site and saw they wanted gay cowboys eating pudding I could write that and have a better shot at acceptance. But I don't want to write that. I am not interested in gay cowboys eating pudding.

Now, if I were to come across an open call for a gay vampire anthology then BINGO! I am in and will try my hand at that antho. I would much rather make the calls work for me than work for the calls.

Some people can write anything and it is good. I am not one of these people. I have to want to write it, I have to have the idea before I go trolling for somewhere to shop it around. And maybe that is why I still have a back log of unsold stories. But that's okay. I like them, and eventually I will find a publisher that does too. Until then I will just continue to do what the muse tells me to and let the rest fall in to place when it is time to do so.

I do want to go back to the research comment for a minute. I am in no way, shape or form saying that research is not important for subjects you know something about. You should still fact check your ass off before subbing. I just meant that research for stories you don't want to write isn't going to be as enjoyable as it would be if the topic was of actual interest to you.

XoXoXo
Dakota Rebel

Answering the call

I tried writing for the market. I tried to write the books I thought other people would like to read. It didn't work. Okay, if I left it at that, this would be a very short post, lol. So, here's the thing...

When I mention that I write MM and BDSM I get a fair number of people who say something along the lines of "Oh, yes - I've heard they sell really well at the moment."

Now, if that's going to turn out to be the case, I'll be very happy. But that wasn't why I started writing them. Actually, when I started writing them, I was pretty sure they weren't something anyone would ever want to publish. They were what I wrote when I stopped writing for the market.

It always makes me uneasy when I hear another writer say they are going to write something because it should sell well. Maybe there are writers out there who can do that and still throw their heart and soul into it. I don't know.

Answering calls for submissions are a bit different in my mind. I've written a few different stories that way. I suppose it depends on the call. And even more than that, I think it depends how much you are willing to bend the story to fit the call.

Three stories I've written that way spring to mind, each had a different outcome...

1. The Stroke of Twelve - the story was acceptable, but it contained too much serious kink to fit in with the other stories in the anthology I wrote it for. That's fair enough. The story was what it was, I couldn't have written it any other way and I wouldn't have wanted to re-write it to make the story into something other than what it was. (I'm extending this story to be a novel in my Perfect Timing series, if you're wondering.)

2. Between Tooth and Paw - I'd never written MFM before, but somehow I found myself putting my name down for an MFM anthology (as you do, lol). I wrote a BDSM story again. Getting the MFM psychology right was... interesting, shall we say. Trying to work out why two very dominant, very possessive, men would want to share was something of a sticking point for a long time. I'm not sure I would have managed it if everyone in the story had been human, but the addition of a vampire and a werewolf made everything click into place. I learnt a hell of a lot doing it and the story turned out far better than I ever imagined it would.

Was I writing for the market? I don't know if I would call it that. It feels more like I was stretching my comfort zone - I took the MFM as a challenge and wrote it to see what would happen. I still feels very much like my story - like the only story those characters could have found their happy ending in. Now I can't imagine Stafford and Hayden not wanting to share!

The story is going to be in Total-e-bound's Caught in the Middle anthology in May (BTW - just got the cover art for the anthology through - it's on my blog here if you want to have a glance)

3. Yes! - Total-e-bound is bringing out a gay anthology called Friction in August. I decided to sub to that too. But Yes! wasn't the story I originally intended to submit. I wrote another story specifically for that call. A few days before I was due to sub it to my editor, I realised it didn't really have a chance of getting into the anthology as it was. It was too serious and too kinky for an anthology that wasn't about BDSM. If I wanted it to have a chance in the anthology, I'd have to completely re-write it, I'd have to make it into a different story.

I couldn't do it. The characters needed the story to be as it was if they were to have any chance at their happy ending. They had issues that couldn't be resolved unless the story stayed as it was. Their book wasn't ever going to be an anthology story and I just had to accept that. I couldn't make it what the market wanted. In the end, I looked through my long list of drafts that need to be edited. There was one story there called Yes! It screamed out to be an anthology story. That's the one I edited up and submitted.

I don't know if it will be part of the anthology or not - the call for submissions hasn't closed yet, but I know I'd be a hell of a lot happier not to have a story in the anthology at all than I would have been if I'd cut my original story to pieces to make it what that particular market would have been more likely to accept.

I suppose what I'm trying to say (in a very rambling, convoluted way) is, if you see an opportunity to write something for a call for submissions, sometimes it's worth having a go even if you're not sure about it, and sometimes it's worth going slightly outside your comfort zone. But it's never worth selling out just because the market wants your story to be something it's not.

Writing to the Market???

I'm new here. So what I know about the market is what I find by searching publishers' websites. I don't have my ear to the ground to pick up silent rumblings that clowns with tattoos who love women with pink underwear is the next big trend in romance writing. Maybe the editors on this blog know something more about that.

As an aspiring writer I have found the eHarlequin website about writing to be quite helpful. They list the newest writing opportunities for their entire line of imprints and they give complete submission guidelines. In addition there are several articles about writing and finding an agent.

Another publisher's website that I like for their information about submissions is The Wild Rose Press. On their submissions page they give detailed information about what each imprint is looking for. For example The Cactus Rose (historical westerns) is looking for stories for the Earth Songs series. The stories can be set anywhere in the United States among any Native American tribe as long as it is between 1870 and 1890. Each story should involve a Native American character as the hero, heroine, or both.

So if the historical western I am working on had a Native American, I would be psyched to finish it in a hurry and submit to TWRP. But alas there are no Native Americans in my story. So I will find another place to submit when it is complete. I could try to change my heroine, but that's not how I imagined the story.

So I will write what my shower muse has given me and I will find another opportunity for publishing. Because if the story is good, then someone is going to want to buy it. Right?

Like I said, I'm new here.