Tag Archives: TWRP

Writing does not have to be a solitary act

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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.)
Me and Kelley Armstrong

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

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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: smile

Writing without a computer??

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I am in the middle of editing Silver Blade, and I can’t help wondering….how did they write before computers?

I remember starting to write a book back in high school. I worked at McDonalds at the time, and it was loosely based on me and 3 of my friends/fellow employees. It was a fiction, starting with us in high school with boyfriends very similar to those we had (it was going to be fiction, really!), and then the grown-up lives I imagined us having. The thing I remember most about my book (aside from the fact that one of the girls always wore yellow rubber rainboots), was the number of times I had to re-write pages….over and over and over. I would try to scratch and scribble and add arrows, but I always had to rip out pages and re-write them. I remember the frustration of having to start over again as one of the reasons why I gave up on the book.

So, as I said, I’m currently in the middle of editing my book…for like the 100th time. The first 99 times were before I submitted it, so needless to say I thought it was pretty much done. Eilidh, my editor, came back with some very helpful comments, stating that they were just suggestions and I could disregard anything I didn’t agree with. Well, I’m not THAT crazy that I’m going to argue with someone who edits for a living. I have no preconceptions that I am the next Stephanie Meyers. And now my “done” copy is completely covered with red edits and arrows and scratches, oh my. I confess, I read and make changes on my stories in hard copy, and I apologize to all the environmentalists out there for all the trees I’ve killed, but hey, it’s only 40 pages!! But my point is…what if it was hand written in the first place…or even God forbid, done on a typewriter?! And what if it was 400 pages? Would it end up going in the garbage like the book I started in high school?

Yes, I start most of my stories with pen and paper, but as soon as they get substance, I have them on my computer, using word processing to cut and paste and move and spell-check and…well, you get the picture. Kudos to the great authors like Shakespeare, Dumas and Tolstoy. I certainly couldn’t have done what they did! And thank-you, thank-you, thank-you for the computer!! Not only has it kept me employed in a day-job for 25 years, but it has made my book possible.

Of course, it has also made it possible to stay in touch with all of you. But that is just icing on the cake.