What a difference a year makes!11/15/2015
One year ago today. Has it only been a year? Time flies.
I’m at the same physician conference as this time last year. And, as I struggle to stay awake in the classes, I’m once again pushing each evening to get edits done for another book. (Because nothing says “rampant creativity” like Six Sigma industry safety data and leadership development skills, right?) This time last year, I was: 10) About to quit the whole writing dream. I mean, come on now, 7+ years of working on this stuff and no one wanted my books. A gal can take a hint. Check, please. Then along came Crimson and lots of support and, yes, I’m still writing away, and feel more confident with each book. Timing and the right people and a little perseverance make all the difference. 9) Dealing with fear. What the heck was I doing, writing a book, much less editing it? How ridiculous. What if people hated it? (Thank goodness, it looks like most of them thought the series was a fun read!) 8) Keeping secrets. Still doing that. Patients, colleagues and families as yet are not in the loop. Until it becomes inevitable to spill, I’ll keep this writing gig as my little secret for right now. What's the point of writing?10/16/2015 Oooh, that's an ominous title!
But really, the question should be twofold: What's the point of writing? And what's the point of writing romance? Because those are different questions, aren't they? Maybe we can answer both. Another list, if you will. Because lordie knows I love lists. #10) We write to keep in contact with what it is to be human. Nuances of behavior, quirks, motives for actions -- writing is studying the details and then depicting humanity, sometimes in its rawest form. #9) Because a story isn't your story until you've told it. That's right. Everyone has a story in them. But not everyone can get that story on paper. That takes special skills. However, if you can write it and shape it, then that's real power. Wow. #8) Writing is better than photoshop. You can make readers see or feel anything, with a turn of a phrase or a tweak of a sentence. You can make different readers see or feel different things with that same phrase or sentence. BookBub deal recap10/11/2015 Here’s what happened. In true Mr. Magoo fashion, and by some miracle of God, somehow I convinced the fine folks at Crimson Romance to help secure a BookBub deal for 2 of the 3 books in my Hell to Pay series. How? Because I’m a numb-nut and have no idea what questions I can and cannot ask.
So I asked. Because I didn't know any better. (I >did< ask nicely, which could have helped.) Whaddaya know? They did it! Not only did they secure a BookBub deal, but here’s how it went down. On the date of Book #3’s release (regular price), Book #1 was FREE for 5 days and Book #2 was 99 cents for 5 days. What did I do to help out? I had secured postings on about 15-20 blogs/book review sites, as well as had the support of some fellow authors for this week. Crimson also supported the deal on their social media platforms, which reached an even wider audience. In the article, I am referring to my Hell to Pay series. Book #1: Immortal Flame Book #2: Relentless Flame Book #3: Flame Unleashed Questionable Romance Novel Titles10/3/2015 Thanks to @gwenhayes @holleytrent and @chronic_mom for inspiring this list! 10) Christmas title, gay romance: “We Three Kinds of Orient Are” (Yup, someone's been sniffing the myrrh.) 9) Option #2 for Christmas fella love story: “Deck the Balls” (I’d like to know what trimming the tree entails.) 8) Harlequin Presents type: “The Loan-Strapped Assistant Manager's Secret Babymama" (Same scenario, but just way less glamorous when it’s not a Tycoon. Yeah, see? Caught you passing judgement.) 7) Harlequin Presents option #2: "Broke Stepbrother's Questionable Relationship Choice" (Holley Trent made me put something in here with “Step” in the title) 6) Harlequin Presents option #3: "The Not-Very-Good Playboy’s Mediocre Score" 5) How about something in a suspense category? “The SEAL’s Quiet Vacation Where No One Abducts Anyone and No Guns are Fired” (Yippee, no flashbacks!) 4) Inspirational? “The Amish Widow’s Secret Cell Phone” (Gosh, don’t tell Obidiah!) 3) Historical: “A Butler of Her Own” (Ah, girls, we can only hope!) 2) Historical #2: “The Reluctant Prostitute” (She wasn’t super successful) 1) Erotica: “Befuddled” (It’s always a 1 word title, often a verb that can be liberally misinterpreted. Or a random phrase like “Contort With Me”) *Disclaimer: My sincere apologies if any of these items, by some karmic freak of the universe, are really book titles. I had no idea. Writer, heal thyself!9/8/2015 As a newcomer to writing and publishing, there have been the typical highs and lows that authors often experience. No amount of pep talks, trolling newbie author boards, or self-affirmations helps those periods of doubt. You know the times: queries sent into the great black void, the release of the first book to…cheers? crickets?, the awesome reviews, and the reviews where no feelings are spared. For every fist-pump milestone, there were corresponding fears and doubts. Too many highs and lows. Too much doubt. So how could I fix this problem?
A side note: As a physician, this job is heavily invested in fixing things. Solving problems is what I do in my day job, and I’m pretty good at it. I also give lots of advice to go along with the fixing of patients’ problems. However, this writer/doctor is great at dishing out advice…but not so great at taking it. But enough already. Enough with second-guessing and fear of rejection. Enough! I’m no expert on writing and publishing, but I’m can sure give out medical advice. Perhaps this doctor could help herself? Time to take some of my own medicine – writing style! #1) Breathe. Confession time. I deliver babies, so I often tell women to breathe. (Sometimes also husbands.) At 9 centimeters dilated, women might ignore this advice and hurl objects, hurl obscenities, or simply hurl. But for the mothers-to-be who take this simple advice to heart and try to take slow, deep breaths, their anxiety and pain improves, the pelvis relaxes, and that baby descends through the pelvis faster. (By the way, if you tell a fully dilated woman she has “discomfort”, it is likely that she will demonstrate in an easy-to-undestand manner the difference between “discomfort” and “pain”.) #1) Is the main character based on you?
#2) Is the hero/villain/spunky sidekick based on someone you know? #2.5) Not mentioned but you know they wanna ask: Is that scene how you have sex? (OMFG, do I WISH I were that flexible...and orgasmically refractory for eight hours at a stretch. As it stands, if I attempted 10% of one my sex scenes, I'd need a total hip replacement and rods placed into my back.) #3) Do you have some kind of mental problem or need counseling? Because I read that book and there's a lot of violence and evil stuff and um.... #4) Why can't you write more books per month/year/decade? (You're right, I'm lazy. It's the only plausible explanation.) #5) From my Mom (who by the way, does NOT know that I write dark paranormal, athletically- and unrealistically-sexy romance novels): Why don't you write one of those romance novels? You'd be good at it. (um....) #6) Will you put me in your next book? (Thanks, hubby. No.) #7) Can I have copies to give to my friends/family/coworkers? #8) Are the guys on the cover real? (Please, baby Jesus, please make those cover guys be real and let them come over to visit.) #9) Why don't you write something like that Twilight stuff? Seems like it was really popular. (Someone already sold their soul to Satan and did this already....) #10) Why can't this book be sexier? Why can't this book be cleaner? (Please confer first and THEN pick 1 complaint.) Ok, book #2 of the Hell to Pay series has been released. Book #3 (Flame Unleashed) is headed out the door for final copywriting in a week and will release in September, 2015.
So what, if anything, have I learned now? #1) Marketing. Need to increase education in this area. Still doing the throw-it-against-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks method, and it's not ideal. In better news, I now have a list of worthwhile investments of time/funds. (And a list of worthless ones....) #2) Newsletters. I was like a monkey doing a math problem trying to set up my sign up newsletter signup form, new email (because something about yahoo is gnarly with mail lists), and creating and editing my first newsletter. I hit send only to realize....I sent the test newsletter. Ugh. Author fail. Dude, aren't there people to help with this kind of stuff? #3) Covers. IMHO, these covers need a hot dude, smart lady, mountains, a bad guy oozing yellow smoke, snow and/or avalanches, a puppy, some nondescript people looking on in sympathy/awe, an old bald guy and molten lava. Why my editor believes that all of these critically important features won't fit on a standard thumbnail image is beyond me. Luckily, I don't design my own covers, or it'd be a flaming, hot mess. #4) Crushes. Kind of have one on each hero while I write them. Didn't really expect that to occur. #5) Terror. Just because I wrote a few books doesn't mean I can keep doing it. Maybe the juju runs out after a while. What if, one day, I can't come up with a new description of "heaving breasts" or "throbbing members"? I've been thinking about the whole "write what you know" concept. Sure, that's great. But what if the stuff you "know" really shouldn't ever be made into a novel? Like, ever?
In my first novel, my heroine is an ER doctor. Cool. I've done that job, so that's writing about something I know. (And NO Allison is not me, because I'm not that skinny, tormented, awesome, and I don't want kids. So there.) There are a lot of visceral injuries throughout all of my novels because apparently I'm not "well-adjusted" or have "suppressed feelings" or something all psychological like that. (You work in rural ER's, you'll see about a thousand bizarre ways the human body can be broken, mangled, and destroyed. After duct taping that mess back together, crying, praying or hosing yourself off, it occurs -- that's good fodder for writing!) My upcoming 3rd book features a kick-ass nurse as a heroine, so again, there's that medical aspect of verisimilitude in the novels. Ok, fine, none of the nurses I know are actually 150 years old, but I enjoy researching the history of medicine, so there's that. Super Bowl vs Romance Novels2/1/2015 Yup, procrastinating editing book #2 Relentless Flame again. So here's the result of this "idle mind"…
Super Bowl = Romance Novels 1) Tight buns (and we're not talking hairdos) 2) Glistening, rippling muscles 3) Leggy women watching with hitches of breaths, bosoms heaving and hearts thudding. 4) Secret codes and safe words (you'll never think about "omaha" the same way again….) 5) Gasping for breath, frequently Super Bowl ≠ Romance Novels 1) No hero smells like a funky-sweat locker room in a romance novel. Ever. Guarantee there's no "sexy musk" down on that field. 2) In romance novels sometimes the women play football. Really well. And always get the guy. 3) Does not require tackling to defend someone's honor. 4) Secret codes for plays. Look, all you need is an ex-Navy Seal hero to get everyone to safety. Duh. 5) Creepy big brother type with a headset dictating who does what. (Ok, maybe in some BDSM's that's legit. My bad.) I know even less about writing than medicine. But here's what I've figured out so far. I'm certain in another few weeks/months/years, this information will change dramatically. But for now….
1) That English writing major? Doesn't help one bit. Neither did that erudite senior seminar paper "Analyzing Literary Analytic Style: The Major Works of Stanley Fish's Literary Criticism." Means nothing in the real world of publishing. (That was a real title for my real senior seminar class that subsequently cemented my desire to study harder for the MCAT and go into medicine and NOT shoot for a masters in English.) 2) I thought I knew grammar, but apparently 4 years of college and I still don't know where to stick a comma. That's why God made editors. 3) Just when you think the book is perfectly logical and well-thought-out, some smarty pants comes along and totally punches holes all through the book. Stuff you hadn't even considered but then later are like, "Yeah, why DID the hero suddenly leave? That makes no sense." 4) A good editor is worth their weight in gold. And chocolate. 5) It's easier to negotiate a book series when you've already written the entire series. 6) It's fabulous to have great ideas. It's another thing entirely to get them written down. Coherently. |
Jillian DavidAuthor, daydreamer, and practitioner of trying very hard to duct tape folks together and help when I can. Archives
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