Archive for July, 2007
In real life, I want responsible behavior from others, well-adjusted children, a considerate mate, and good books. I also want perfect weather, reasonable prices for the commodities I buy, and high quality television programming. But reality doesn’t work like that, which has a great deal to do with why I need good books.
The funny part is what makes a great life is dull fiction. In the Lord of the Rings there comes a point in the journey when the weary travels stop with the elven people for bit and all is pleasant and serene. The author sums up this part of the story with a few words, saying there’s little to tell of happy times. The drama we avoid in real life makes fiction compelling. Conflict is the heart of entertaining stories.
My enjoyable reads are far from reality. I love submarine stories. Patrick Robinson and James H. Cobb both have series, which deserve to be better known. I know nothing about submarines, warfare, or any aspect of their story worlds. I know nothing about secret agents, which only adds to the appeal of James Bond adventure. The special world of regency romance is guaranteed to charm me. Favorite stories are always far from my everyday life and far from the stories that I write. This makes them ideal for escaping into an alternate reality.
Posted by Evanne Lorraine @ 3:16 pm |
Bad boys taught me about sex – of course. Who else?
They taught me some real useful stuff too. How to drive. How to hotwire a car, pick a lock, siphon gas, play poker, hunt, fish, maintain a car, clean, and cook. Some of these basic survival skills I don’t use much any more. Some I’ve refined–mainly the cooking and cleaning.
What is it that makes bad boys sooo irresistible? They’re smart, strong, the very best of men but wild and uncivilized. They appeal to the healer/nurturer side of good women. It’s not sensible, it’s not safe, it’s not even sane. But there it is–the lure of being the one woman who could heal his wounds and tame him.
The appeal of the bad boy is exactly the same as the appeal of the wild stallion (usually black) that only the little girl has a magical connection with and can ride.
I have a soft spot for bad boys, no doubt about it. I even married one. What makes a bad boy marriage material? An honorable core. Deep down underneath all that smoldering attitude is a nice guy. Early on when I was just learning about men and life I wasn’t any good at seeing past the exterior, which made trying to tame bad boys a dangerous game.
It was sheer luck, finding a bad boy who was at heart a wonderful man.
Posted by Evanne Lorraine @ 3:15 pm |
Made it through the first pass of the current story. There are still scenes to add–but only a couple and they are at least sketched in. Setting, details, lots of stuff still needs work but the big changes are in place. The story is alive in my head again. The niggling formatting issues are cleaned up since I know what publisher gets this story is going and I have their style sheet! Already pitched the lovely editor and she said go for it.
Current year’s goals updated
1) Continue to study and learn the craft of writing.
2) Three submissions – done – follow up with a sequels* to each– two sequels in progress!
3) In roads into the TBR shelves
Progress report
1) Reading craft stuff — Painless Grammer– very elemental makes me feel smart!
2) Six submissions sent! Two novels, one novella x two, and one short x two
Status:
One sale – three rejections – two waiting to hear from the publishers
Timeline:
Number one: resting (revisions next year?)
Number two: Sold! Tasteful acquiring editor explained it will be months before an editor is assigned to work with me … actual release date? Some time next year is my best guess.
Number three: Resubmitted–new estimated response time–four to six weeks
Number four: Resubmitted – new estimated response time – five weeks–eleven months one week **
TBR shelves are substantially cleaned up-culled never to be read titles, and read a couple. Didn’t buy any books all week! I realize it’s only one week but I need to celebrate the little steps.
*Yes, I do admit this is an insane plan, but I need to stay busy. If I have idle time I become even more neurotic and imagine unpleasant things. Far better to put my twisted mind to work developing more dangerously sexy stories.
** Tasteful review editor wrote that she liked it and moved it to acquiring editor’s inbox. Sadly, acquiring editor’s inbox is overflowing
Posted by Evanne Lorraine @ 3:12 pm |
So the other day, I was thinking about how to become Myspace famous, well sort of … what I was really trying to do what figure out how to promote my book. The experts tell me that it’s like planning a wedding–a year of lead-time is perfect. I dunno know if I even have a year. But now seems like a good time to get interested in marketing.
For starters, I looked around at the top bloggers. What an odd assortment of content and styles! Going by Myspace blog rankings poetry is making an amazing comeback. Has anyone alerted the big publishing houses? Naked chicks, or nearly naked chicks with tattoos and piercings are very big. Hmmm, no help so far.
So I looked at The Super Jabs blogs (http://www.superjabs.com/ ) because he’s parlayed Myspace success into a sponsored website with advertisers–very impressive. Based strictly on reading a few entries in his blog, he’s funny and opinionated and underneath that rough bad boy exterior lurks the heart of a really sweet guy.
I will continue to study at the Mighty Ball Sack institution of higher education. After all I learned everything I need to know from bad boys.
It’s true. Well bad boys and good books but that’s for another blog. Maybe that’s just how life is–maybe it’s just me. My cousins, bad boys–every single one of them, told me about sex. I didn’t believe them. I was six and admittedly naïve. But I knew they were wrong about Santa Claus and they were wrong about this. After all, I knew how much they liked to tease.
To give them credit, there was a certain logic to their explanation of the mysteries of life. However, I weighed their reputation for honesty (non-existent) against the whopper they’d just told me. Also, I considered the likelihood of their version of human reproduction as applied to what the Queen and her consort would do in order to ensure the continuity of the royal line. I laughed in my cousins’ smug faces, telling them I wasn’t so stupid as to fall for it.
A few weeks later, I interrupted my parents in flagrante delicto, forcing me to admit, just this once, shocking as the whole concept was–the bad boys told the truth.
Posted by Evanne Lorraine @ 10:01 pm |
I have few talents–come to think of it I don’t have talents. Not the singing, dancing, or artistic kind at least. Everything I do reasonably well, I worked my butt off to learn. Sometimes all the effort in the world doesn’t help. Singing is like that for me. I love music and I enjoy singing. Pity. I know better than to subject others to my lack of musicality. But puttering around the house or garden when there is no one around to offend–why not?
The dog before the current spoiled puppy sang with me. In fact, I taught her to sing for a treat. If I sang then she would tip back her head and howl–sirens always got her going too. So I tried to teach holy terror puppy the same trick. I started the howling and she trotted over with a worried look on her face to give me kisses, obviously believing I was suffering serious pain. I decided to cancel her singing lessons and stick with obedience basics for now.
Yesterday, I was working in the yard and began to sing, Night and Day. The pup came trotting over, looking very concerned, and then began licking my face. I stopped singing and she wandered off to chase butterflies. I started singing and she ran over to make it all better with more dog kisses. No more singing in the garden.
Posted by Evanne Lorraine @ 1:40 pm |
The other day I took a serious look at my TBR (to be read) shelves. Yeah, you read that right–shelves. I’m an addicted reader with a serious book habit and fickle tastes. Or maybe just evolving–books and me go way back. To the days of reading forbidden books, like Gone With The Wind by flashlight under the bedcovers. Over the years, what impresses me has changed several times.
Because I read a lot, print titles pile up, despite using the library. They don’t stock everything. Plus there’s the comfort factor of having a nice stash of books on hand. Barnes and Noble stays open till eleven in my neighborhood and I have made late night runs, due to a reading emergency. Emergency defined as not owning the next book in a series when I’d just finished the last one and had an hour till bedtime.
Writing my own stories has curtailed the read habit but not cured it. In fact, it has led to a new problem for the first few years of writing I continued to acquire books at the old pace while my reading time decreased dramatically. This led to the groaning shelves where there used to be a manageable stack.
So yesterday I culled. There’s no resale market–I checked. There was no interest in these titles even on the free book exchange list. The books went into the recycle bin. To discard a book, even a mediocre title with no viable market seems like a sacrilege. Then I read about the mass dumping of books here http://www.romancingtheblog.com/blog/2007/07/19/filling-the-landfills-with-new-books/. Strangely, it made me feel better. It’s not just me.
Posted by Evanne Lorraine @ 4:40 pm |
Background for those of you not part of Myspace–it is a popular social networking site with 190+ million users. All of them functionally literate with regular access to computers. Like the internet itself, the question isn’t if the connections you want are there–the question is how to find them.
Yesterday I stopped by the Captains Blog (Josie Majestic) way too often–riveted by the drama of hurt feelings and angry responses among the hoi polloi of the Myspace bloggers.
The Captain was hurt by Jabs endorsement of a poser. The Captain made a valid point–there are real people behind even the most outrageous blogs. Myspace is not real life. The internet is not real life. Some of it is much more entertaining.
Since the last thing I want to do is offend Myspace friends, I need to go make my profile plainer. The pictures I use in my profile are not me. They are images of my story people. Someday when I have cover art, I’ll use that as my avatar. I’m a writer. I write steamy romantic suspense. I write erotica. I write sexy fantasies. I’m here for networking, for entertainment–yours and mine. I’m not looking for real life relationships–just readers and fun.
In real life, I have a husband, children, pets, house, garden, and a passion to create good stories.
Unlike some of the glamorous bloggers who live exciting lives in the 3-D world I don’t. Despite my mundane existence, I’m over-committed. I’m a workaholic and I have no desire to change. I’m obsessive, often cranky, and irrational about a great many things–mainly relating to the amount of things, which are possible to accomplish in any given length of time.
Currently, I’m spending lots of time trying to figure out an effective no-cost marketing plan. Remember that girl Emily? With her billboards and blog? Very effective in terms of generating interest and buzz. Did it translate to viewers for the show? I don’t know. I do know that I want to attract readers who will enjoy the kind of stories I write. Sounds simple, huh?
Posted by Evanne Lorraine @ 5:08 pm |
I don’t know about you but I’m a shoe and purse kind of girl. Yes, it is shallow and materialistic and a total cliché. No, I don’t sniff them. But the cat and dog do. The cat sniffing is relatively harmless. He bats any dangling bits around for a while, and then wanders off to look for a snack.
If the dog gets within sniffing range of unprotected shoes or purses–kiss them goodbye. She acts like a rabid terrier with vermin, ripping and shaking viciously. This mayhem continues until there are no recognizable pieces left. Very sad. Hence the baby gates and hyper-vigilance.
With a decent assortment of shoes and purses available, I still always have a favorite. The most adored selection surprises me. Currently, the number one purse is a squishy oversized tote in valentine red with silver hardware. I almost didn’t buy that purse. It was extravagant, especially considering the color. I didn’t think I’d use it that often. Wrong. Red goes with everything I own. The practical black purses never make it out of the closet any more. It isn’t just the color. There’s a fuchsia tote that rests most of the time and a blue suede bag that never goes anywhere. They simply don’t compare to the red.
For years, my favorite coat was a purple wool concoction I almost passed on when I tried it on in the store. Yes, it fit perfectly. Yes, it felt wonderful and looked better. Yes, it too was extravagant and certainly not very practical. A purple coat–come on. How often would I wear a purple coat? All the time.
The heart soars for reasons of its own. Maybe that’s what I need to learn–love has nothing to do with practicality.
Posted by Evanne Lorraine @ 3:15 pm |
A big part of success in getting published is finding a good match between your story and the publisher. This is why you hear, right editor, right day so often in writers’ loops. There’s truth to it, timing is a big factor. But here’s what all editors are looking for–stories that will sell well. That’s the editor’s job to acquire the best stories she can for her publisher.
This is why the already successful author has a big edge. So what is an aspiring writer to do? I suspect we each have to find our own answer to this question.
Here’s what I do. Work on becoming a better writer–not a goal but an endless journey and look at which publishers, and or editors I like. No two writers are alike but you can probably come up with a few that are sort of like you that you admire and enjoy, Who publishes them? Who edits them? Who represents them? They might like you too. If you’re pitching to an editor who is looking for your kind of story you’re miles ahead of the game.
BTW, despite what the word meter says I’m making progress on the revising. I may not have a lot more words but many more the current words are the right ones.
This week brought another rejection, I’d almost forgotten it. They’re still not fun mind you. But when I submit to a line that I know has it’s pick of brand name authors, then I’m prepared for the thanks-for-thinking-of-us letter.
Current year’s goals updated
1) Continue to study and learn the craft of writing.
2) Three submissions – done – follow up with a sequels* to each– two sequels in progress!
3) In roads into the TBR shelves
Progress report
1) Reading craft stuff — character related
Six submissions sent! Two novels, one novella x two, and one short x two
Status: One sale – three rejections – two waiting to hear from the publishers
Timeline:
Number one: resting (revisions next year?)
Number two: Sold! Tasteful acquiring editor explained it will be months before an editor is assigned to work with me … actual release date? Some time next year is my best guess.
Number three: Resubmitted–new estimated response time–five to seven weeks
Number four: Resubmitted – new estimated response time – six weeks–eleven months two weeks **
TBR shelves is even (as long as I don’t count the virtual shelf, which is growing) – reading two books (one print, one virtual – very slowly) I may as well admit I cheated to keep the stack even I took three books that I’m never going to read off the TBR shelves since I sent away for three, okay four, books that I’m positive I want to read.
*Yes, I do admit this is an insane plan, but I need to stay busy. If I have idle time I become even more neurotic and imagine unpleasant things. Far better to put my twisted mind to work developing more dangerously sexy stories.
** Tasteful review editor wrote that she liked it and moved it on to acquiring editor’s inbox. Sadly, acquiring editor’s inbox is overflowing
Posted by Evanne Lorraine @ 7:21 am |
Usually on Wednesdays, I blather on about writing craft. But at the moment, something else is on my mind. Apparently, I‘m a bad influence. Until recently, I didn’t realize just how bad.
I was aware that I have a hoodlum cat. He sneaks out of the house night after night, crawling in during the wee hours of morning reeking of smoke, alcohol, and odors best left uninvestigated. He routinely deposits dead bodies in the dining room. This isn’t the kind of behavior that even the most rosy-eyed optimist can spin into adorable antics.
I know the dog is an obnoxious spoiled brat. Lord help me, I’m the one who spoiled her. She believes she’s the center of the universe and carries on until she gets whatever it is she wants. If I foolishly fail to secure a baby gate or door she will dash into the room and empty the wastebasket first then head for the drawers. Laundry is a special treat. She particularly favors my previously worn underwear. Considering her penchant for munching on cat poop, I hesitated even mentioning the part about wearing my underwear on her head. But you have a right to know the whole sordid truth.
Now things have gotten worse. I have corrupt cookies. Even the cyber world has succumbed to my evil influence. Really, it is the last straw. I never meant to ruin them. I had no idea the computer lacked moral fiber. How did I corrupt the cookies? Was it the careless explicative when the computer locked up? Surely, it takes more than a bit of swearing. I washed its little mouth out several times–virtually speaking. But now that I’m aware of the menace, can I ever trust it to surf again?
Posted by Evanne Lorraine @ 6:29 pm |
When both Hunter and Tru bond with Amber their mating triangle threatens everything they hold dear.
Determined to help rescue the princess, Cassandra agrees to act as the dragons’ sex slave, but can she guard her heart from the dominant males?
Camille, a plump, sweet-natured breeder, is caught in New Eden’s endless war with Baldor. Her mates, Jaxon and Aegis, need cunning and courage to rescue her. They need a miracle to capture her heart.
Werewolf-whisper Daniel is the only one who can heal Scarlet’s broken werewolf connection. If he succeeds then the pack’s needs will eclipse his claim on her heart. But if he fails, they'll both die.
A Scarlet Past, the story of Scarlet's parents is available on Amazon or Barnes and Noble for just 99 cents!
A lonely woman finds passion with a dominant much younger lover, when she tries to leave she learns her new master plays for keeps.
The Enyo Chronicles includes both Dalia's Choice and Joon's Tempation.
Three different stories, three dangerous men, and three women who deserve them.
One dangerous warrior woman plus two rogue demon males equals a love to threaten an empire.
Getting paid to watch Eduardo is Desiree’s dream assignment, but when he reaches out to her, crossing the line, everything changes.
Deep in her secret heart, she lusts for a sexy pirate who’d be her master and commander in the bedroom. But, this man may be too dangerous
One woman, two men, three wounded hearts--though already mated their love is still forbidden.
A reluctant reporter and a lone wolf undercover cop work to catch an extortionist, finding love requires the most dangerous risk of all.
Street-smart cop plays princess to catch deadly terrorists. Now,the only man she trusts is the one she can't resist.
What Sam doesn’t know may kill him--the love of his life is his worst nightmare--his enemy’s daughter.r.
