Not sure if I’m going to have internet or not, but even if I do, I’m not going to be online much.  I need to write and so do the 5 other writer chicks I’m going with.  Of course, we’re going to have to force yourselves to write in between the wine and good times, but somehow, I’m sure, we’ll manage!

So, behave while I’m gone and I’ll try to check in later in the week!

Karin*

It’s your civic duty!   I’ve know Doc Cyndi for a long time and cannot think of anyone more qualified for this position.  Read on!

Here’s Cynthia!

Before I talk about me, I want to take a minute and thank Karin for having me here today. From the first day I mentioned I was thinking about running for the RWA Board, Karin has been enthusiastically encouraging me to jump. I looked at the Grand Canyon leap I was about to take…a national officer for a huge professional organization comprised of people I respected (and in some cases fangirl worshiped)…a public election where I would have to step from behind my online personas of Cynthia D’Alba and ArkansasCyndi and be the real me, Dr. Cynthia Morgan…the increased workload…and then, with the encouragement of friends like Karin, I jumped. J

I had an interesting response when I mentioned to a few people that I would be guest blogging on a few sites this week, talking about my run for the RWA Board position of PRO Liaison. The response was that there had been a discussion on Facebook that “campaigning” for a board office was somehow crass and distasteful. Really? Is it? If so, why?

I gave a lot of thought about should I or shouldn’t I blog. Should I or shouldn’t I try to get votes. I even thought about pulling out from blogging this week about my candidacy for PRO Liaison. But in the end, I decided I wanted to let RWA PRO members know that I want to serve as PRO Liaison.

Running for PRO Liaison wasn’t a decision I came to quickly or lightly. I thought about it for over a year. If I lose, then fine, but I want to have done all I could do to let people know that I’m running and I want to win. If I sit on my hands, do nothing and lose, then I’ll always have this nagging thought in the back of my head that maybe I could have done more.

So, what are your thoughts on campaigning for an RWA Board position. Crass? Tacky? Or Okay? Great idea?

Tomorrow on Magical Musings (http://magicalmusings.com/), I talk more about my background and why I’m running.

On Wednesday, I’ll be at http://everybodyneedsalittleromance.com/ soliciting comments about issues important to PRO members.

I look forward to hearing from y’all.

Just remember, you get the board you vote for.

Thanks again Karin for having me. Your support means the world to me.

Go vote, goils!   Now!

Karin*

Can’t seem to get it together.   I know exactly why.  Plot issues with my current wip.  When I sold this book, the outline rocked.  But then we decided to add a paranormal element.  And it changed GMC stuff with my hero.  I’m trying really hard to figure out what his primal urge is in this story, and I just can’t quite put my finger on it.  And to go forward, I need to know what that is!

Grrrrr.  Usually I can work these issues out with hubby during our morning walks, but we haven’t been walking.  He gets up way too early for me these days, and well, with his season in full swing, our schedules just aren’t jiving. 

I think I need to phone a friend.

What do you do when you’re stuck like this?

Karin*

Some of you already know, late Sunday night my kitty scratched my right eye.  Total accident.  He sleeps next to me, by my head, and always has to have at least one paw touching me.  I woke up around 4 in the a.m. he had both paws on my cheek, he was sound asleep, I had to use the little girls room.  I started to scratch him behind the ears, he liked, stretched and I made the mistake of turning my head right into his semi extended claws, and well, he caught my right eye.  Hurt like a mother!  I have antibiotics and thank God for narcotics, but this has not been fun.

I’ll be off the computer for a few more days until my eye has healed a little more.  Today it’s throbbing and still weepy but it’s bugging me enough that I want to keep it closed as much as I can.  I went out earlier to run an errand and the sunlight nearly did me in.  Now I know what a vampire feels like when the sun hits him!

So, bear with me if I don’t immediately return emails or chit chat. 

Have a great rest of the week!

Karin*

Hop on over to Murder She Writes and read what I’m talkin’ about!

Karin*

That’s all I’m saying before I get into really big trouble.

Karin*

And I’m still catching my breath from the weekend!

I spoke at the Yosemite RWA chapter this past Saturday, with my bestest GF’s Tawny Weber and Josie Brown along for company.  It was a great road trip.  Short and sweet.  The Yosemite RWA gals were great too.  Lot’s of energy, lot’s of smiles, my kind of girls.

I did an abbreviated version of my It’s Just Business, Don’t Take It Personally, talk, mostly because I wasn’t in the mood to be all preachy, coz I can be that way (hey!  I’m working on it.  It’s a hard habit to break).  Besides, with this group, I felt like I was hanging out with friends in my family room, so I went with the flow.

I came away with something, as I always hope to when I speak, and with this trip it was the reiteration of the fact that, no rules is the rule!  So many folks try to push what the pundits preach on others, and really, the only thing it does is add confusion to an already confusing industry!

I am more of an advocate of no rules, just write then I have ever been before.  Repeatedly I have heard, “But I’ve heard you have to focus on just one genre.”  Or “I’ve written this story over and over and I just can’t get the hero and heroine to meet on the first page. If I don’t no editor will want to read it”  Or “My crit partner says I can’t do this in romance.”  Stop.  Stop. Stop.

Here’s a rule we can all live by: Write your story, your way, in your time. 

It really is that easy. Don’t allow others to rob your story of your voice.  Don’t allow others to vanillafy your story or your characters.  You are the storyteller here, not them.  Stop putting so much stock in what others say you should be doing and listen to your inner voice, because that is the only one that matters. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying to ignore good advice.  Hell, no!  Embrace that stuff, it’s good, real good.  You can learn from it, emulate it, be one with it.  But only if it resonates with you and your work.  Otherwise?  Fugetaboutit. 

I guess that’s all I have to say right now.  J  So with that, I’m going back under to write. 

Karin*

That the Philadelphia Eagles picked up Michael Vick!  Ok, so some would say, “He did his time, now let him get on with his life.”  And I suppose in most cases I would have to agree with that, but I can’t with Vick.  He viciously, maliciously, and gleefully slaughtered dogs.  I don’t even want to think of the poor little animals he used to rev up his pit bull’s blood lust for fighting.  I cringe when I think of the way those poor animals were trained, used, tortured, killed then disposed of.  Horrible.  It makes me sick to my stomach to think about it.

I am not going to speculate on whether or not Michael Vick is or isn’t truly remorseful or not.  Only he and God know the answer to that.  But I can tell you this; I will never pay to go to a football game where he is on the roster.  Never.  Not even an all expense paid trip to the Super Bowl.

Now, on a much happier note, I’m over at Elisabeth Naughton’s place today.  Come say, howdy and win a book!

Karin*

Warning:  This blog involves Tough Love.  If you can’t handle it, read no further.

So, where, oh, where did Monday go??  I’ve been working so hard on perfecting my proposal, I forgot it was Monday and to blog!  I bet you all have been waiting anxiously for me to post, huh?

Snerk, ok maybe not.

So, here’s what’s on my mind:  Why haven’t you pulled the trigger?  Why have you failed to launch?  What are you waiting for?????  Do you think if you wish really hard you’ll sell a book? Or maybe the publishing fairies will flutter in while you’re sleeping and slide that ms off your hard drive and magically deliver it to your dream editor who will wake up shouting with joy that she found her next best selling author?

I mean what is the point of writing, of honing your craft, of joining RWA and a local chapter and yahoo writing loops if you’re just going to talk about it?  Companionship?  I think this may very well be the key to why many who say they want to sell don’t.  They are looking for companionship and if they don’t have something in common then they can’t be part of the group.  I get that.  So, go ahead and keep working on the same story you’ve been working on for the last ten years.  I mean if you’ve rewritten it twelve times, why not thirteen?

No, seriously, I get the companionship part, so consider yourself excused from this blog conversation but feel free to hang out.  I’m not targeting you. I’m targeting those of you out there who really do want to sell, and who really work on your story, and not the same one for ten years, but new stories and for some unknown reason fail to pull the trigger and submit.

What are you waiting for?  A sign?  Here you go: 

SUBMIT YOUR WORK! IT’S THE FIRST STEP TO SELLING!

If it’s not a sign you’re waiting for, what are you afraid of?  What exactly is it, mentally, emotionally or physically that is keeping you from actually querying an agent or god forbid send in work that has been requested???

I talk to so many women who write but do not submit, hell they won’t even let anyone read their work. Sigh.  Fear is paralyzing. But please, work through it.  Find a way.  Just do it, damn it!  Don’t make excuses.  And if you keep making them?  You need to have a heart-to-heart with yourself and find out if you really are serious about the writing gig.  It’s freaking hard work.  Once you sell, it’s a whole different ball game.  Crazy scary and nerve wracking as hell.  But wonderful.  Yep, batshit crazy but glorious.  I can hear the angels singing now.

Everything I have, I’ve worked for.  Everything I have I’ve wanted and was willing to do the work to get it.  I know myself well enough that if I don’t achieve a specific goal it’s because I didn’t want it bad enough.  And with that realization, I find it hard to justify whining about it.  So, I don’t.  Well, not too much.  I’m not saying anyone here is whining about anything, I was just saying I can’t whine if I’m not willing to put in the work.

So, really think about why you aren’t submitting.  Feel free to share here, I promise we won’t pile on.  J

Now speaking on another hard at work subject:  So the title contest thing last week?  You ladies rocked it.  I cannot tell you how much I appreciated you help and hubby and Jake’s humor.  I sent the list of everyone’s suggestions to my editor, but alas she did not pick one of them.  We talked and I really loved one of her suggestions, which for now I’m keeping quiet until I know for sure we’re going to use it.  BUT!  I’m going to break the prezzies up into three separate ones and pick three numbers from the commenters who suggested titles and announce the winners here Wednesday!  Thank you, thank you, thank you again for your help.

Karin*

by Leigh Court

First off, I want to wish Karin a great big Happy Birthday, and hope she’s relaxing on her day off from blogging! I’ll try to entertain you all while she (hopefully) sips Pina Coladas by the pool…

I’ve admired Karin ever since I started entering her First Line contest a few years ago, but I finally got the chance to meet her face-to-face at the Literacy signing at the RWA Conference in DC last month. She had a cute Sarah Palin look going J You betcha she looked great!

But the real reason for my visit today is to tell you how Karin’s First Line contest helped me sell my sexy Victorian novella, called THE BET, to Red Sage Publishing, and to celebrate its July release in the Secrets Volume 27: Untamed Pleasures anthology!

My first line, “I can make a woman come using just my mouth,” was not the salacious boast it initially appeared to be, but it definitely grabbed Karin’s contest judge’s attention. And that’s what a good first line does, right? It grabs an editor’s or an agent’s or a reader’s attention, and makes them want to keep reading. So I was equally thrilled when the subsequent lines I submitted for that First Line contest enabled me to make it as far as the “Fabulous Fifteen” round.

Getting so far in the contest gave me the confidence I needed to start submitting the story to publishers. Red Sage bought it soon after, and now THE BET is actually in print!

My story was a novella, and ironically, Karin’s contest taught me another valuable lesson. One of the best (and probably hardest) things about novellas is that since the format is so short, every line has to be important to the story, just like in her contest. Every word has to count, and has to move the story forward. But you know what? That lesson applies to single titles as well. Give your story that sense of urgency and action, and you’ll have agents and editors banging at your door J

Karin’s contest is an incredibly valuable tool to help writers hone their skills, and I’m happy to be one of the success stories that shows the First Line contest can lead directly to a sale. If I can do it, you can do it!

On a side note, I was recently interviewed by NBC Nightly News about how romance novels sell hotter than ever in times of recession.  Here’s the link if you want to take a look: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#32157747  My “sound bite” ran only 8-seconds (so don’t blink!) but they DID show the cover of my book, so I was thrilled!

Thanks for letting me share my excitement with you today, and if you want to read an excerpt of THE BET, please visit my website at www.leighcourt.com!   

Leigh, thank you so much for stopping by today! I’m so excited for you and so very happy my First Line Contest helped you on your road to publication!  I’m adding Secrets Vol 27 to my Amazon order!  I can’t wait to read your story.

Readers, feel free to ask Leigh questions bout Red Sage and her process!

K*