Progress Update

I've made significant progress on Unexpected in the last couple of days. Managed not only to get past the shower scene (and did a pretty decent job on it too I might say) but also finished that chapter (5) and started and finished another chapter (6). In the last three days I've managed 4400 words. So, yeah, not bad for someone who only writes part time.

At this rate I should have Unexpected finished within the next couple of weeks, then I will do the synopsis and send it out to my editor for consideration, probably well before my vacation as I originally planned. We'll see. I don't want to kill myself but I am winding down to the conclusion. This is going to be novella length.

Then I will decide what to do once Unexpected is concluded and sent. I'd like to work on "Trust" but feel I really need to think about Sorcerer's Lover before I tackle something entirely new. I do want to work on "Trust" though. I used to be able to work on more than one story at a time, but recently I seem to have lost my ability to do so. There are so many project/works in progress that I want to do and just really not enough time. I need to make a list and decide what is a priority.

In writer friend news--two of my recently agented buddies are getting so close to offers I am very happy for them. I can't wait until it happens for them and I will be first in line for copies of their books! Strangely I am not as envious as I once was, although naturally I am still a smidge jealous. I mean I still would love to be with a print publisher and certainly intend that to still happen with my trio (Mathias/Graham/Morton) but I am having so much fun and such success with the books I've contracted on my own with the epublishers that I still feel pretty good and very happy for their potential successes.

Monday's Musings

So I gave myself a break and wrote the prologue for "Trust". I'm not sure I am completely satisfied with it, but at least I got some ideas of what I wanted to go on down on paper.

Which is important because now I feel like I can continue on with Unexpected. I am determined now to work through the shower scene. I re-read what I have so far on that scene and it isn't horrible, so I am going to continue with it. I really want this book to be novella length so I'd rather not cut out any planned scenes.

I've decided I really waste too much time on stupid things. I had a lot of free time on the weekend and I still piddled away the time doing pretty much no writing. Watching television. Playing a video game. Cruising websites. Anything I could do rather than make myself write. Okay I wrote the prologue for "Trust" (not it's real name) but that was what...722 words? That's terrible for having hours and hours of free time to work. I need to learn my discipline if I really want to make a good living at this with lots of available works out there.

The Hearts Through History Contest is over soon. Today is the deadline judges were to have completed their judging. Of course there is always some straggler judge who can't manage it despite multiple reminders of the deadline. As a judge who has ALWAYS returned her entries in plenty early I just don't really get the mindset. But anyway...so I should know within a couple of weeks how Sinful and Redemption did in my final contest appearance. I entered them to help the chapter so I am not expecting miracles. I don't generally do well in contests. I can count on one hand the number of contests I have ever finaled in. I finaled in two contests with A Man Not Her Own and one contest with Duke Pretender. That is it for chapter contests. Then I won the Amber Quill contest with The Squire. I am still convinced what pushed that win was the era I wrote it in. AQ doesn't have much in the way of historical erotica yet and none in the medieval period. The Squire is good, but I am sure they got a lot of good entries.

Anyway, the point is I am not expecting finals for either Sinful or Redemption. I've entered Sinful in a few contests with varying degrees of success. This is the first and only contest for Redemption. Which I love Graham but he certainly has his non-heroic qualities. Not that the amount of pages the judges will read will really highlight those. The problem is I know many of the judges for the contest and know how they are, thus my pretty good idea of how I will fare. Oh well. I can consider it a donation to the chapter.

I am coming up on a busy time for me. May is filling up with activities and vacations. June is also part of my vacation and then I have two releases coming out and edits on new works for Ellora's Cave coming. All the more reason to stop wasting precious writing time.

Trying to Stay Focused.

So this is one of those times when I have the time to write but don't seem to do so.

I've hit an unexpected snag with Unexpected. I'm trying to write an erotic shower scene between my hero and heroine and I am squeezing it out like drops of blood. It's not going fast enough and I keep giving up. I am getting ready to toss the scene and move along in the book. I'll give it a few more attempts before I give up entirely on the scene.

I've come up with the beginnings of an idea for my next contemporary male/male erotic romance. I am calling it "Trust" right now because I don't have a name for it. I am trying very hard not to work on it while I am trying to get Unexpected finished. It's almost May and I want to get Unexpected to my editor before Memorial Day Weekend because my almost two week vacation begins after that.

So bad muse, I need to stay focused on Unexpected

Today is the Day!

It's official! My book, Duke's Project, is out from Cerridwen Press.

http://www.cerridwenpress.com/index.asp

There is my lovely book cover right there on the home page. Doesn't it look great? It's finally here and it feels pretty good.

Many times I doubted it would happen, but there it is. Nice and pretty. I hope, of course, that folks buy it and enjoy it as much as I loved writing it.

Support from Family and Friends

Do you have it? It's important, I think, but most of us get it in varying degrees.

My S.O. is very supportive. Couldn't ask for more.

But what about the rest of my friends and family? For years I refused to even tell my mother I wrote because I was sure she wouldn't be supportive. She reads romances but she has never been particularly supportive to any of her children. But to my surprise she has been supportive of my endeavors.

My sister is another story. Probably my closest family member yet she is not supportive. She doesn't read much and definitely never romances. It's interesting given most movies she likes have romances in them. But anyway, she has not been supportive. When I mentioned my mother would not want to read on the computer but she could print it out for my mother to read she refused, saying she would not waste her toner on such a task. Bad enough, but then last week when I told them at dinner that I had received another contract offer she actually said to me, thinking she was amusing, "Do they actually read them or do they just accept anything?" Very hurtful and not at all supportive.

My friends are mostly supportive. Some of them don't read and have no plans to do so just because I have become published. But I appreciate their trying.

What about you? Are you a writer or an artist or want to do something not necessarily the norm? Are you supported?

We Interrupt Your Regulalry Scheduled Programming

I'm sad today. Nothing related to writing.

I knew it was coming, or I figured it was anyway, but when it actually comes...sigh. I don't like to get into too personal things for the most part. I try to keep my private life separate from the writing life. Even in my bios provided to my publisher I keep the private stuff private.

But today someone very close to me was laid off after more than 20 years. It's tough to be laid off ever not to mention when practically your entire working life has been spent at one place. I was laid off by the same company after 15 years in 2002. I feel not unlike that now facing a similar situation. It took me a year to find another job and that job was a temp job before I finally got hired where I work now.

It's happening all over the country of course, but this one directly affects me. Two years ago when we bought our townhouse it probably seemed like our jobs were safe enough to do such a huge step. You never know what's coming two years later obviously. You would have made different choices then if you had known what was coming only two years later. But when you get to be our age (40s) without ever owning anything you start to feel restless and you take the chance. Not knowing the housing market would collapse right after and not knowing this about the job. So with the layoff comes a severance package. Which is more than some get, I know. But the inevitable questions come up as to whether we'll be able to keep our home. I don't know and it's scary. Especially living in high price California where we were both born and raised and love.

Anyway...back to your regularly scheduled programming and I will stick to writing/publish relating blogs next time I post.

Another Sunday

Mailed off my latest signed contract so hopefully it won't be too much longer for me to be able to talk about it.

I also mailed some ammendments to my Cerridwen Press contracts. They are going to be selling them on another site in addition to the site for Cerridwen Press and you had to opt into it. They aren't going to do it for Ellora's Cave titles because they sell very, very well through the site. Anyway, I figured it is more exposure for the titles so I decided to opt in for it.

That's about it.

And the Last One for the Week

Had to get a post in today to make it the ful week as I started last Sunday. Have nothing new to report. Still plugging away on Unexpected. I am at a scene I am struggling with a bit so it's take a while to get past that hurdle. I have almost 11,500 words written on the book soon so I should have no trouble making it to novella length.

To Make It a Week

I debated whether to write an entry in the blog today. So far this week I've written one every day. Of course at this point I think the only ones reading it are me and my critique partner and an occasional slammer. Even PD doesn't read it on a regular basis. Okay probably never.

But who knows someday when I get readers they might read my blog and might even possibly read some of the archived entries. Even years from now I can look back and see where my career was at that time.

Fairly soon I will be returning to novel length works in progress. I have two novellas to finish. One I expect to be over 18,00 words and that is an interracial erotic contemporary romance called, Unexpected. The other is a gay medieval erotic paranormal (too many genres there perhaps). Not sure the length on that one but likely under 20,000 words. I have publishers in mind already for both so when they are completed and polished as best I can (and I am not entirely sure I always polish as best as I can. I find mistakes I should have corrected all the time after the fact), I will send them off. And wait. Which we have already established I am terrible at. Oops, ended a sentence with a preposition there. Naughty!

Then it is a return to novels when my vacation is over. I leave Memorial Day week and don't return until June 08th. Going off to a lovely beach town called Depoe Bay in Oregon for a few days and then back down to wine country in Northern California, Windsor to be exact, for a few more. Since I am using up all my work vacation days and then some it will be a while before I can take any more time off.

Sinful, Redemption, First You Die, Morton's book, Scarborough's book...where she stops nobody knows. Actually I wrote a teensy, teensy bit of Scarborough's book today. Only a page really. Something I wanted to get down while inspiration hit me. A bit darker and depressing than my original vision of the book, but I have begun to see that I can't really make the original version work to the satisfaction of the publisher I plan to target with it so thus I will be changing it. How I will get the hero from dark rage and despair to the heroine's arms...I have no clue. I am a seat-of-the-pants plotter so figuring it out ahead of time rarely works for me.

For instance in Sinful I thought I knew the characters and their roles yet by the end of the book I was struggling not to let Graham take over from the real hero, Matthias. And an old, weak patsy of a character turned into a young, tortured magical soon-to-be heroic character, Morton.

Even when I started the novella I just got offered a contract for (details coming soon) I only had vague ideas and it took shape and changed even as I typed the pages.

Anyway, I have rambled on already probably more than I ought considering I don't have readers and wasn't even sure I would blog today.

One Week to Go

I do seem chatty this week.

One week to go until my first book is released. Duke's Project comes out a week from today from Cerridwen Press. Not too bad considering it was less than a year ago that I was offered the contract. Somewhere I have the information, but I want to say it was April or May 2007 when I first sent my initial query and partial to Cerridwen. I know the full was requested at the beginning of September and the contract offered on the last day of September. The contract was signed by the end of October. So here we are in April and it is about to be released!

It went through some changes in the editing process. All books do and should, frankly. But the core intent of Duke's Project has remained. I don't remember exactly when I began to write it. I do know it started out with the hero as a marquis before I promoted him to duke. I also know I finished it in 2002. Yes, that long ago. It was the first book I had ever finished. I was so proud of that then. It is still the longest book I have ever written, too, coming in at 90,000 words or so now with the changes made.

I had such a good time writing Simon, my hero from the book. I made him part alpha, part beta. I think the heart of him is alpha, he wants to be in charge, it's his nature. I have a great fondness for Simon because he is the hero of the first book I completed. I'm a hero writer, really. I think heroines are very important (unless I am writing about two heroes, of course), but I think I always pay just a tad bit more attention to my heroes. Although, I think of all my heroines, Dani is the most interesting, the most unique.

I never thought when I finished that book back in 2002 that it wouldn't be published until 2008. And then at one time I wasn't sure it would be published at all.

Anyway, I couldn't be more thrilled that Duke's Project has bumped all the way up to the lead position on the coming soon page of Cerridwen Press. And it is fitting that it is my debut novel having been the first. I can't wait for next Thursday!

I Admit When I Am Wrong

Okay,

So I was wrong. Happily. Can't post too many details yet until the contracts are signed, but, I got another offer for a contract. Yes, yes, yes, it was on the one I was so sure was a "no". I feel like such an ass too.

So that makes 7 for anyone keeping track (like me).

I know it is something of a cliche, but in my case it still applies. If anyone had told me in April 2007 that a year from then I would have 7 contracted works with 3 different publishers and that I would be writing erotic romances besides, well...I would have thought they were crazy. I'm still not sure how it happened. But I am going to enjoy it just the same.

Feeling a Bit Better

It's true. I do feel a little less depressed today.

Not that anything has really resolved itself other than my own attitude I suppose.

I'm guessing the short novella I submitted will not be accepted by my publisher. You know how sometimes you just know something. This is one of those times. It's sad and it sucks because I put a lot of work into it and I think there are actually some really cool parts in that story. But I think writing specifically to a themed series might just not be my forte. At least not that theme. I could see myself writing about firemen in love or sports figures or whatever. Even Masters and Slaves if I didn't already feel like I had a similar story. Werewolves, that sort of thing. So maybe I just wasn't right for that particular theme. Anyway I figure I have to get over it. When the offical reject comes, I will update the blog.

I thought about what I wanted to do writing-wise for the rest of 2008. A bit ambitious maybe. We'll see.

My plans are first and foremost finish my interracial erotic romance, Unexpected. I absolutely love my characters in this book. I want it to be novella length and I am pushing it toward the longer novella length. I hope to have this finished by either the end of April or middle May so I can send it off to an editor before my two week vacation at the end of May, beginning of June.

Next comes Socerer's Lover my next gay erotic romance. I've got a chapter or two on it but I want to get it finished and submitted to the aquisitions editor at AQ by the end of June, beginning of July.

Then I am going to finish Graham's story in Redemption. I miss the big axe-wielding warrior. Depending on how long that takes, I may get to begin Morton's story towards the fall/winter of 2008. I really cannot wait to give Morton his story. He's hands down one of my favorite characters I have ever created. Funny since he was so not a major character when I first started Sinful.

I'd also like to work on a novel length story for Ellora's Cave. I have one I started a while back and I think it might be good for them. It's a romantic suspense with a white hero, black heroine called, First You Die.

Lots to work on. Not to mention I may want to finish the Duke of Scarborough's story to complete my trio of Duke books for Cerridwen Press. I guess it depends on how well the other two do. I don't seem to run out of ideas.

April's Blue Funk

I'm in a little bit of a blue funk. Not sure why.A number of reasons probably.

I'm alone this week. Well me and my cats. But alone. You'd think that would inspire me to write a lot of new material but so far it has not. Still a lot more days to come though, so I might get out of my funk enough to work on it.

Months ago I entered the beginning of a novella in a writing contest. After I entered I subsequently contracted three novellas making me ineligible for the contest, but because I contracted after the entry date they allowed my entry to remain. Too bad. I got majorly sacked by two of my three judges. One judged loved it. One judge liked the hero, but hated the heroine, and the third judge just...hated the whole thing. Only my second contest for this story and I did get better scores for the last one but honestly it is discouraging. It does remind me why I really hate contests and think for the most part they are a waste of time and energy to read the judges comments. They are great for getting in front of a particular final judge you want, but if you don't final...don't bother reading the comments and scores. That's my advice and I am sure many others would argue with me. I've judged plenty of contests myself and also been a contest chair for contests and believe me the variety of opinions and judging capabilities varies widely.

I have two stories under submission and I have heard nothing on either of them. Patience is not my virtue, I freely admit it and as my friend, Ava, would say, I have been stalking my email. To no results. All it has done is make me convinced one of them is definitely a rejection. One she flat out told me to give her until the end of May so I'm not as convinced that is bad news as I am the other story.

I'm sure that is part of my funk, too. I put a lot of sweat and tears into that little short novella and wrote it fast and really worked my brain. I mean to the point where it drained me, my head hurt. So if it is rejected by my editor, it is going to sting. No doubt about it. I created it specifically for a theme series too so if it is rejected I am not sure I could really fix it enough to be sent elsewhere. So yeah, I am getting depressed or should I say pre-depressed since I haven't even been rejected yet.

Of course no one likes a Negative Nellie and I am trying NOT to be but I am pretty sure I am not succeeding very well.

The "real" job is swamped with work right now and it is majorly stressful too which certainly doesn't help.

I've still been avoiding serious work on Sinful. I am allowing the rejections my friend is receiving for her medieval to color my perception of working on Sinful. I freely admit it. The books are nothing alike of course but hers is excellent and is represented by an agent. Mine needs work and is not. Hell I need to add like 40,000 words to it to make a decent word count. Ask me how much I want to do THAT.

I was having fun working on my interracial novella, but now I am doubting myself. I know I shouldn't. I have six contracted works with three different publishers and another publisher where an editor said she loved my writing and would love to see more work from me. So I don't suck.

Not Too Much To Report

Late last week I got my final line edits for Duke Pretender, my release for Cerridwen Press in June. Turned them in so hopefully everything is okay for that.

Also turned in my cover requests for my Quickie length gay Regency-set erotic romance, Another Chance, for Ellora's Cave and my novella length gay contemporary romance, Perfect Man, for Ellora's Cave.

That's the only news I have for now.

Duke Pretender - New Release Date

Jack's story, Duke Pretender, has been moved forward to release about four weeks earlier. I'm pretty happy about it as I have such a soft spot for Jack. His new release date is June 26, 2008

Official Announcements

I finally have a release date for my medieval romance, A Man Not Her Own. It will be released as an ebook from Wild Rose Press on August 01, 2008. It is scheduled for print release on February 02, 2009.

As my publisher has now officially acknowledged my new contracts I believe it is 0kay now to post about them.

I have been offered and accepted contracts for two gay erotic romances from Ellora's Cave. One is Regency-set and is titled "Another Chance". The other is a contemporary titled "Perfect Man." No release dates of course, but I got the word from my editor that we would begin edits on both of these stories in June. I am, of course, thrilled I have these two coming out from such a great, high profile epublisher. These books will be out under my Shawn Lane name and I will be updating my website with this information soon.

This brings my current contract count to six. Four of them from Ellora's Cave (two from the Cerridwen Press) and one from Wild Rose Press and another from Amber Quill.

Other things are in the works and I hope to announce more contracts in the coming months.

Random Musings

I was reading some erotic romances from some of the e-publisher that were interracial and I was really enjoying them. So when I thought in the back of my wee sponge like brain to write them myself that is what I first thought of. Then my good friend and critique partner, Ava March, talked me into trying to write male/male erotic romances, which I was also reading and enjoying. At first I didn't believe I could but decided to go for it when Amber Qull was having their erotic romance contest for a publishing contract. I decided not to use my real name for the erotic romances because certain family members would never understand. There are some friends who are aware of my writings under the Shawn Lane name but my family is better off being clueless.
I was surprised when I actually won the Amber Quill contest (one of seven) and I haven't looked back since under this name which brings me to...

2) Different kinds of stories - I've sold three of my regular romances now and I am crossing my fingers that I will soon have another contract offer to report on that front. I finished the first draft of my medieval paranormal, Sinful, and hope to have it ready for querying some time this summer. I am going to begin the process with agents first before I go to publishers. I am about a 1/4 way into the sequel, Redemption, which I need to get back to because I really love Graham,
my hero. Not to mention his sidekick and soon to be his own hero, Morton. I also have many, many other partial stories I could work on at any time.

But the thing of it is I am having such fun and such success lately with my erotic romances that I find myself much more interested in working on them than my more "mainstream" stuff. I have now been offered contracts on three erotic stories, one of which will be released in June (Amber Allure-The Squire). I am waiting to hear on another story I finished and submitted and I am now back to working on Unexpected, my m/f interracial erotic romance.


Anyway...I've bored enough folks today with my random musings

Cerridwen Newsletter

CerridwenPressNewsletter for April has my interview in it!


Also, sent off another short story to one of my editors. More waiting, :-)

Well, the goods is it is a potential two more contracts between that one and the sequel I sent to Wild Rose Press.

Now I can get back to the story I was working on before I dropped it to write my short little story to submit.

I certainly am having fun with these shorter stories. Even my longer stories have always been on the short side.