Not So Happy Friday

So sometimes life gives you lemons and you can't always make lemonade.

A radio station I've listened to for a while now decided to let one half of their morning team go. They've been a team for 22 years. Now...one of them is gone, just like that. And of course they chose to let go of the woman. It was sad and a very depressing way to begin the morning.

It very much reminded me of what a television station here in Los Angeles did a few years ago. As most know we do the Rose Parade every New Year's Day. This station had a paif of hosts doing the show for years, Stephanie Edwards and Bob Eubanks. One year they got rid of Stephanie and replaced her with a much younger and supposedly more attractive female. I think Bob's contract was up last year so it is doubtful he will be back. Too old.

Anyway...it's rainy today and the news about the layoffs and the mortgages is all quite depressing. At least it is Friday.

Onward

So moving right along...

I signed my contracts for my recent sale to Wild Rose Press. Now I have to mail them.

Filled out some forms which I have already emailed to those in charge. Working on edits already too. Moving right along!

Another Sale

I have accepted another contract for another book. I sold a medieval romance, A Man Not Her Own, to Wild Rose Press.

Three books in 2 months! Not bad!

I am very happy

Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving.

I have a lot to be thankful for.

First for my writing: I finished the first draft of my 5th book. I got offered contracts on 3 books, 2 of which I have accepted and signed the contracts for and the 3rd I expect to do within the next couple of weeks.

For life in general: I have another year of spending the holidays with my mother who is 81 this year. I have friends and loved ones and family. I have a roof over my head and I am reasonably healthy. I have a job. I can see and hear and taste and walk without efffort. I live in a place free of snow.

I am alive, which really is the thing I am most grateful for.

Happy Thanksgiving and God Bless Us Everyone.

Waiting

So now I wait. The other publisher promised to look at my full and get a response to me within a week. I hope it is positive but it could be negative so we will se.

Another Offer

I got an offer to publish my first completed medieval from another publisher. I am very happy and the editor said some really great things in her email to me. The problem is that I have the full with another publisher also. Obviously I want to make the best possible decision for me without cutting off my nose to spite my face. I sent an email to the editor at the other publisher notifying her of the offer in the hope she will get back to me as soon as possible.

Woo. I have a lot to be thankful for this year.

Saying no to Friends

Sometimes you have to say no to friends and they don't really understand.

When you write on the side, friends think of it not as your job but as your "hobby" and they just don't get it when you have to say, no, I can't go do that with you, I have to write. They really do not understand. You should be able to just toss your hobby aside to pay attention to them.

It can be frustrating. And sometimes, you have to cave and say, okay, I will do that. Just don't do it too often. You must write to be a writer.

Got another

So today I got a request for a full from another publisher based on a partial. I'm getting it ready to send off. So crossing my fingers for another sale. We shall see. But exciting and encouraging just the same.

Lesson Learned: Yes Does Become a No

So I've learned something now. A painful lesson and one I am concerned about.

I thought when a publisher offered you a contract, you both signed, and you delivered the goods it was a done deal unless the publisher went under. I mean that certainly happens. Recently there was a romance e-publisher who offered all kinds of contracts to writers and then went under. It was all very sad. But if you publisher is viable you have nothing to fear, right?

Wrong. They can still pull the plug. They can still tell you "never mind". This happened to someone I know. Two months before her release date she received an email from the publisher telling her they weren't going to publish her books after all. She had cover art, release dates, and edits all done. Bam, nope. It turns out her type of book, her romance genre, isn't selling well for them so they changed their minds.

I would have thought they would have fulfilled their contract in that case and just not accepted more of that type of book. But that is not the case.

So, why does this really bother me? I write the same kind of book as she did. The books I sold are the same genre. This very same thing can happen to me. The chances, in fact, are high. So now I wait to see if I will have these books published after all.

The good news for her is she has already found a new publisher. That's great. But the reality is that Lucy episode called "Lucy Writes a Book" can become what really happens. The publisher can come back and say, oh, we're sorry, we don't want to publish you. And you are back to square one. Or square zero.

Lesson Learned.

And then on September 30th...

Okay...so September comes and nearly goes. The evening of September 29, 2007 I went to a church auction. It was fun. They have them every other year at my sister's church and so I enjoy going. I always manage to bid on something and I think I have won at least one basket from the silent auction every year. But I digress...

Sunday, September 30, 2007, I sign on to my email account to check my mail like I do most every weekend morning. I'm a bit of an email/internet junkie. In among my usual writing related yahoo groups and junk emails are notes from the editor who requested my fulls of Duke's Project and Duke Pretender. There are two notes each with the subject line from one of my mss. Ugh, I think. Here it is. The think I had been dreading. Sheesh it didn't even take the full 30 days she said it would take to reject me. Sigh.

I ignore the two emails as best I can and open the rest of the emails in my inbox or delete them or report them as spam. I consider pouring myself another cup of coffee. I stare at the unopened emails. I decide to open the one for Duke Pretender because I think to myself okay, if there is anything nice she has to say in the rejections it would be for this one because I just love Jack and every rejection I have gotten for him has nice things to say about the characters, anyway.

I read the words...pleased to offer you a contract. WHAT! Okay, so my heart starts racing and I stumble over the email reading it and sure enough it still says "offer you a contract" to publish Duke Pretender.

Okay...bravely I open the other one regarding Duke's Project thinking well the offer of a contract will certainly make the sting out of this rejection a little better. To my glee, the same lovely words popped out at me, "pleased to offer you a contract". I then proceeded to notify everyone I know, of course, LOL.

In reality I have read those emails several times now just to "make sure". These are my babies you know? I created these people and their worlds and their problems and their love. Someone wants to publish them.

I was afraid I would end up like Lucy from the old episode I think titled "Lucy Writes a Book" where she gets a publishing advance and then the publisher comes to her door and explains it was all a mistake. I kept waiting to receive the email from Cerridwen saying, oh wait, NOT YOU.

Big relief...I haven't! It's been a month and a half since then and I have signed the contracts and so have they! I submitted my cover art requests. It really is going to happen. And it is amazing.

The Saga continues

So while I sat down to wait, I also sent off a snail mail partial of Duke Pretender to Avalon Books. I knew they wanted wholesome so I sanitized it and sent it off. I knew it was a long shot but I was in the mood to submit to publishers.

Eventually I got a request for a full from Avalon. I sent it off. I heard back from Wild Rose Press on my medieval full submission, A Man Not Her Own, and it was a rejection with a recommendation for revisions and an offer to review a resubmission. I went ahead and did revisions and resunmitted. I should know the results of that resub at the end of this month.

So, anyway I managed to finish the first draft of my new paranormal medieval, Sinful. I still need to do some revisions on it to do the final draft but overall I was satisfied with the result.

The beginning of September, I received an email from an editor at Cerridwen Press for the fulls of both Duke's Project and Duke Pretender. I was quite excited and sent them off.

I started the next medival paranormal and called it Redemption. And sat down to wait the results of my submissions...

Joining a critque group and sending off partials

Okay so...I pretty much quit writing. I couldn't decide which of my 10 partials to work on and the four books I finished "seemed" to be dead in the water. So I wrote nothing. I seriously considered giving up. I obviously just didn't have it in me.

I was still the contest chair for Hearts Through History's contest and since I had to maintain my membership I did. I went a couple of years like this. Once in a while I would send one of partials to a contest to see if I would get a decent reaction. Nope.

Dire predictions of where historicals were going (all bad places of course)

So, then this last spring I decided to join the critique group Hearts Through History had going. had to choose a book to work on there, didn't I? I decided to concentrate on one that involved a medieval knight and a relic. I also decided to make it a paranormal with wizards and magic and good vs evil. In the meantime, while I worked on my 5th book (which I DID finish), something possessed me to send some of my completed books to other publishers again.

I sent off first Duke Pretender to Cerridwen Press for their Cotillion line which was supposed to be a traditional Regency. Duke Pretender wasn't a traditional per se, but I had made it that way to try other publishers earlier. Anyway...off my electronic partial went. I also sent them a partial for a medieval for their historical line, but they weren't particularly interested in medievals so they told me no. They said they were interested in Duke Pretender though and would refer it on to an editor for consideration. This was in May/June.

I sent the medieval to Wild Rose Press and got a request for a partial on that as well and eventually a full request (more on that in a future post) but this was all around the same time.

On a whim, I sent The Duke's Project in to Cerridwen. I still loved this story and my characters though admittedly it had been some time since I had written it. I was thrilled to receive an email saying they were referring it also to an editor. And now I saw down to wait.

Cover Requests sent

Okay so I submitted my cover request forms for my new books with Cerridwen last night. I can't wait to see the finished product though I suspect I have a while to wait. Haven't even got my edits or release dates yet from my editor.

Of course I want some hot hunks to represent my heroes, doesn't everyone?

So, I have been reading that historicals are on the upswing in the romance market again. I hope that is true! I have lots more to submit.

I'll finally continue the tale of how I got to this point tomorrow.

Thinking about covers

I interrupt the story of getting published to mention that I am supposed to be deciding on covers for my two books under contract with Cerridwen. It's harder than it sounds. I want really cool covers, of course, and can see my characters in my head, but I know the artist won't see the heros the same way I do. They do good covers though so I probably don't have a lot to worry about. But still....

The story of getting to published...

Okay...so eventually I decided to promote my hero. I think it was because I had read dukes were still very popular heroes and so all of a sudden he became a duke and the title likewise changed to The Duke's Project. This was the first book I actually completed and it ended up being close to 100,000-words. Never been able to write a book that long since, I might add. I queried a few agents and sent off a full to less than five. One such agent offered representation and I was thrilled. I review her contract and instantly saw some stuff I didn't care for. Other stuff, like send her boxes of stationery, was just plain weird. I had my sister, a lawyer, look at it and she suggested several changes. They seemed reasonable to me. Well the "agent" reacted very badly and was "shocked" I would have a lawyer review the contract. She basically withdrew her offer. I was disappointed, but come to find out she was a scam artist well known for her scams, infamous you might say so I dodged a HUGE bullet there.I tried submitting it on my own to some publishers, but honestly without much success. So I moved on. That was the advice you get from most other writers and industries experts. I wrote another book, a medieval romance this time instead of a Regency romance like The Duke's Project was. I finaled in a few contests with the medieval and even got an agent, but ultimately it didn't sell. I started another Regency romance this one called Duke Pretender and it involved the younger brother from the first Duke book. I ended up trying to market it as a traditional Regency and was told it was well written but not traditional enough and too quirky for regular historicals. So three books written, but nothing published. I got laid off from my job of 15 years and wrote a fourth book, a sequel to the medieval. I parted ways with my agent. Started 10 different partials of books and floundered for a while not really sure what I wanted to work on. For a while I decided to work on nothing...