Settling the Dust

Okay, so the last two weeks have been a total whirlwind.  Three book deal, revisions from Mills and Boon, a contest final, plus another thing I'm not allowed to mention yet, AND my birthday!!  Apart from all the good writing stuff, the bestest present was the crocheted screamer from Edvard Munch's The Scream. Yes, a totally awesome friend of mine made it - she crochets robots in her spare time - and I think it sums up perfectly my feelings about all of this. In a good way. :-) Hoo is also very pleased to have Screamy for a friend. He was kind of lonesome all by his knitted self.

I have to confess it's been VERY difficult to concentrate on writing for the past week or so. I have to get my head around the fact that not only have I sold one book, I've  also have sold two more that I haven't even written yet!  Which is exciting but also scary. Because it means I now have deadlines to make, the first of which is in October.I'm hoping this won't be too much of a problem though because while I've been unpublished, I did get into the habit of giving myself deadlines, sometimes for a contest, sometimes for my own discipline. I'm also going to have to get my head around the fact that people are actually going to read my writing. Readers! Not just editors! Eeek! Oh well, at least I'll have a good few months before that actually happens. :-)

The best thing though to realise has been the knowledge that this is finally my job. I was 12 when I decided that being a writer was what I'd love to be. I never thought though, that at the age of 41 it would actually come true...

Anyway, for those who are interested, I thought I'd share with you my secret tips to getting published:

1. Write.
2. Learn your craft.
3. Submit.
4. Don't give up. 
5. Rinse and repeat.

Do those five things enough times and you'll get published. :-)  

A Romantic Start to 2012

So, this is what 2012 is like... *walks around* *sniffs the air*

Okay, not too bad so far. No rejections at least so that's something. Still, the year is but a nipper which means there's plenty of time for Rs to come rolling in... Sigh. Positive much?

On the up side, my New Year started beautifully and romantically with the wedding of very dear and close friends of mine. It was organised in a week, the bride made her own bouquet out of felt and wire, drove herself to the wedding, and cleaned up afterwards (along with her new husband and guests!). Even though there was no notice to speak of and it was in the middle of the summer holidays, 65 people still turned up, all bringing a plate of nibbles to share! It was about 3 hours from start to finish and although my friends would shudder with horror at the very mention of them being romantic (they're far too practical) I actually secretly thought they were. Very romantic. :-) It quite inspired me to write. 


I was also pleasantly surprised a couple of days later to meet someone who, when they asked me what I did, burst into a happy shriek and confessed that she was a romance reader and had just bought herself a whole stack of Mills and Boon to read over the holidays. Now since confessing to reading romance in NZ is somewhat akin to confessing you like torturing small animals in your spare time, it was really great to meet another like-minded individual and have a chat about how there was nothing wrong with it! The reading romance, not the torturing of small animals.... Ahem. Of course my unromantic friend (whom we were staying with) then told the romance reader she should read my writing. And you know what? I said no. Because I found out I'm actually quite sensitive about people reading my stuff when it's not really ready. And the story I was working on wasn't ready. Plus it had a billionaire in it and this lady didn't like alpha billionaires (though I mean really, come on, what's wrong with an alpha billionaire I ask you??). 

Still, I was moderately tempted to show her because it has been a story I've been enjoying writing. Quite a bit actually. And the billionaire isn't really a billionaire, he's a prince. And the heroine is a bodyguard who's one tough chick. It's the kind of story that makes you feel quite pleased with yourself for like....oh, at least the next five minutes. ;-) Or until the R rolls in. But it would have been quite interesting for someone I don't know that well to have a look at it and see what she thought. Then again, she might have hated it because it does require some buy-in from the reader to make the fantasy work...

I guess that's a whole other post though.

Still, a wedding and a nice chat about romance were perfect starts to my year. What about yours?