Writing does not have to be a solitary act

Posted on January 13, 2013 by Charlotte Copper

They say writing is a solitary act. That is true, and yet there is a lot of support out there if you look.

For a few years now, I have been a member of the Writers’ Community of Durham Region (WCDR); an amazing group of writers who are very supportive and encouraging. Some are multi-published, some are just thinking about writing, and many are in the business (editors, teachers, etc).

I joined the WCDR after I wrote my first novel. “Wrote” mind you…not submitted, not published. I joined to find out how to get it published, and I learned a lot. The one thing I learned is that the book will likely never see the light of day. Although my first book ended up being shelved (or more correctly removed from my computer to a USB key), what I gained resulted in Silver Blade being seen and accepted.

The one thing that seemed to be lacking from my WCDR experience was other romance writers. Romance is the largest book market out there, and yet I felt like I didn’t belong with these writers. “What do you write?” I’d ask and get answers like poetry, non-fiction, and memoir. “What about you?” they would ask. “Paranormal Romance” I’d say and feel like I wasn’t a serious writer.

Now let me clarify that no one…ever…at WCDR made me feel that way. It was all of my own doing, and yet I decided I needed some more interaction with like-minded individuals. So this year I decided to spread my wings and join the Romance Writers of America (RWA) and the TRW (Toronto Romance Writers)…you must join the RWA before you can join the TRW. And both memberships were Christmas gifts from my mom – thanks mom!

Anyway, my first TRW meeting was yesterday, and it couldn’t have been better. Yes, it was 95% women (and I think 2 of the men were there simply because they drove their wives) but just listening to some of the women talk, I knew I was in the write place (pun intended).
What made it even better, was that Kelley Armstrong was the speaker at my first TRW meeting. She spoke from 9 – 4 about the business end of writing, as well as her own personal writing. I’ve got her entire Otherworld series, and can’t wait for her new adult Cainsville series to come out in August. Here is a photo of me with Kelley. (Yes, I did ask her permission to post her photo on my blog.)

I’m looking forward to learning and sharing with these women (and men). If I could achieve a fraction of Kelley’s success with my books, I’d be happy. As I said before, as a romance writer, I believe in happy endings!

Big happy face

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Charlotte Copper

As I sit here typing, I’m wearing a big, silly happy face. I was going to post a picture, but I also have a big cold sore at the moment, so I’m not getting anywhere near a camera!

Why the smile? Because my editor just said we are done with all our work, and my novella has moved on to the copy editor. As I understand it, the copy editor is the one that checks the punctuation and format…which means my book is almost ready to go. My editor says the release date will probably be about 3 months. Once I get the final date…and a copy of my cover…I will post them here.

I am soooooo excited and thrilled, and just beside myself. To make things even more exciting, Eilidh (my editor) asked me if I have another book ready. So I’ll be working this weekend on Golden Star, what I hope will be my second novella. The story is pretty much done but I’ll be trying to do some of the edits to this one that Eilidh already had me do to my previous one. Of course I realize it is better for Wild Rose Press if they can have multiple books under my name and hopefully generate a following, but I still can’t get over the fact that they liked my first book enough to ask for a second.

In the meantime, if I was going to post a photo, it would look something like this:

How to embarrass and/or disgust your teenage daughter

Posted on December 30, 2012 by Charlotte Copper

There are several ways to embarrass and/or disgust your teenage daughter.

One…dance.
It does not matter how good you are…or think you are…she will not appreciate it.
And if you do it in front of her friends, she will appreciate it even less.

Two…tell her you think the teenage boy in her class is hot.
Yes, you could say “handsome” or “attractive”, but in an attempt not to sound old-fashioned, you use the word “hot” and, well…ewwwww!

Three…tell her your editor wants you to make the sex-scene in your book longer.
The Daughter is actually upset that I will not let her read the book because of the sexual content. She insists on telling people that I will not let her read it because “mom writes sex”. The Daughter wrinkles her nose and makes an ugly face as she says it, so what is it…does she wants to read it or not?

The fact that she is too young (under 30 in this case) does not seem to mean as much to her as it does to me, but suffice to say she has a few more years ahead of her before I let her read many of my stories.

Knowing the response I would get, I did have to tell her that I was working on edits today because I had to add more sex. “Ewwww” she said. How did I know?

By the way, I was dancing when I told her.