Plot Monkeys

Today’s Blog is a departure for a Tuesday but since it coincides with the day I am doing an article at GATHER.COM, it seemed appropriate. And there’s a CONTEST for a chance to win something at the end of this post!

I’m going to talk about how contests can help aspiring authors get published. Contests are an investment in your career – and yes even if you aren’t published yet, even if you aren’t earning money yet, you have a career and you are aspiring towards your goals. You need to work out how much money you have to spend on this kind of contest (RWA chapter sponsored contests range from $25 - $40 – I think! It’s been a long time since I’ve entered). So you want to choose your contest and your investment wisely.

There are different kinds of contests, which leaves many people scratching their heads over which contests to enter at which point in their careers. I’m here to offer you guidelines (subject to my personal opinion, of course!)

Contests for the brand new writer – You’ve started writing and you don’t have a critique partner; or you have a critique partner but you want an unbiased opinion on your work – BUT you know you aren’t quite ready for publication yet. Romance Writers of America has many local chapters and special interest chapters and many of them host contests judged by published authors. Entering this kind of contest gives writers a chance to have their work read by someone with more experience than them – and to have their writing critiqued. Some of these contests ask you to send the first chapter – which will let you know how strong your opening is – whether you start at the right place in the story – whether you bog the reader down with unnecessary information or whether you’re right on with your beginning. My home chapter, Hudson Valley RWA, has a contest called Hook Line and Sinker in which published authors critique the first three PAGES of a novel – and judge based on whether or not you can hook an editor in the first three pages.

There are also contests that offer detailed critiques in exchange for entry; some who offer critiques to only the finalists. Critiques are wonderful things – and they are also SUBJECTIVE – as in CAVEAT EMPTOR – one person’s opinion isn’t necessarily RIGHT for your work. It also isn’t wrong. It’s up to you to sift through the fountain of information you receive and decide what works and what doesn’t when going forward and revising your manuscript. Just because a published author suggests a change doesn’t mean you must make it.

These kinds of contests are worth investing in as a means of judging how you’re doing in the beginning stages of your career.

Another warning – a thick skin comes in handy when entering contests. CRITICISM HURTS. Authors who get reviewed know this. Unpublished authors all must learn to cope with this kind of critique. IF you are in a fragile state of mind regarding your work, it might be the time to opt out of contests until you are feeling more secure. Winning or even finaling gives you a huge ego boost but being ranked low or critiqued harshly can send you running for a pint of icecream at best. At worst it can set back your writing process and that is something NO WRITER should let happen. Don’t give anyone else that kind of power over your emotions or your writing. Remember the word SUBJECTIVE when willingly going through the contest process!

Unpublished but think your work is nearly ready for Publication: You need to find a way to get your work in front of an editor beyond sending in your manuscript and hoping for a read. What better way than to enter and win a contest in which the prize is a read by the editor of the line to which you are trying to sell your beloved book? To me, if you have money to invest in your career, these contests are a no-brainer. It’s worth the investment because of the potential for gain in the end.

Where do you get the information for all of these RWA Sponsored Contests? If you JOIN Romance Writers of America as I suggested, you will receive their monthly magazine, the Romance Writers’ Report, which details upcoming contests, contact information, cost, and which editors are judging. Same for the contests for beginning writers. They are listed in the RWR with website links to the contests.

Unpublished, ready for publication, but just can’t break through: (in other words, a Contest where PUBLICATION is the PRIZE).**

Tomorrow marks the start of the Gather.com First Chapters Romance Writing Competition (http://romancenovel.gather.com). From August 1 through August 22, aspiring romance novelists will have the opportunity to submit a full-length romantic fiction manuscript for consideration to win a guaranteed publishing contract with the Pocket Books imprint of Simon & Schuster, along with a $5,000 advance.

(pasted below is a detailed explanation of how the contest works, which can also be found online at GATHER.COM

To see how it works, visit the link above. GATHER.COM and Simon and Schuster are offering a unique opportunity to get your work published BUT:

**CAVEAT – As with all contests, I am highly recommending that the entrant READ AND UNDERSTAND the rules of the contest, the rights they are giving or signing away by entering. I am not suggesting you enter based on my say so – but with any choice, you make an EDUCATED decision that is right for you by reading the rules and regulations.

SO.
I hope I’ve offered some insight into writing contests. To see what I have to say regarding 10 STEPS TO YOUR BEST ROMANCE NOVEL, visit my article at GATHER.COM today!

HAPPY READING, HAPPY WRITING.
Next Tuesday back to my regularly scheduled blogging!

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And now, the Plotmonkeys have a special giveaway here today for aspiring authors! While at the Romance Writers of America conference in Dallas, Carly and Janelle brought back a big binder and a CD, each containing over EIGHTY (80!) writing workshop handouts and articles geared toward writers! There are handouts from characterization, mastering point of view, plotting, writing synopses, establishing relationships with editors and agents, promotion, AND SO MUCH MORE! This booklet and CD contain invaluable information for the aspiring author!

Anyone can post today, but if you’re an aspiring author and you’re interested in winning one of these giveaways, give a shout out in your post that your an aspiring author and want to be part of today’s contest drawing! One person will win the binder of workshop articles and handouts, and another will win the CD of workhop articles and handouts!

Special Note to all the ASPIRING WRITERS who have been stopping by today…Saturday is pretty much craft/business of writing day here at Plotmonkeys. Please feel free to not only go back and read our past Saturday posts (which IMO have some really great advice) and to come back every Saturday for writing discussions. If you have a question you’d like us to answer, please send it along! We hope you come back!

Bruce…you might not want to read this today. I’m talking about your mother.

Still reading?

Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

For the rest of you…

My 84 or 83 year old mother-in-law is visiting (nobody knows her age for sure because she, umh, “fudged” about it for so long, she, herself has forgotten how old she is. No. That is not a joke.)

Anyway, she’s here for 2 weeks. I think she’s looking at this as a test run to see if we might invite her to live with us.

That might happen.

Of course, I also might wake up tomorrow and find out I’ve won the lottery, hit the New York Times list, and lost 40 pounds, my wrinkles and all my gray hair overnight.

Uh huh. That’ll all be taking place round about the same time.

It’s not that I don’t love her, because I do. I just love her more from a distance.

She can be very sweet, she’s always been very generous and has a good sense of humor. And she gave birth to the man I adore.

The main problem is, she’s a little nutty.

My kids are convinced she’s going to burn our house down so I can’t let her cook without supervision. She talks to herself constantly. Then she denies she ever said a thing (my oldest heard her telling somebody off in an empty room today.)

She can be very critical when your back is turned (this is the woman who told my sisters I was a complete pig many years ago…such love, can you stand it?)

And she has her own language. As in: “Middle child put her arms around me and gave me the biggest hug and told me she’s just SO happy to have me here.” (Meaning: you should invite me to live here forever and ever.)

Now, middle child is my little hard-ass so I had a problem believing that one at all. Here’s middle child’s version:

“She wouldn’t let me go! She threw her arms around me and asked if I was happy she was here and I said, ‘yeah.’ What was I supposed to do, tell her no?”

I make a pretty good living doing “that computer stuff” all day long, but I swear to God, she thinks I’m playing Solitaire (occasionally, and only Spider) or visiting Home Shopping or going to astrology sites all day. My nightly glass of wine makes me a drunk. My credit cards make me a financial drain on her son. The food in my pantry is making us all fat. I should really learn how to use the right knife to cut the meatloaf. I should learn to appreciate cutesy little “let’s be friends” décor that doesn’t match anything else in my house. I should cut my hair, make Bruce cut his, read less, watch the soaps more (I have been hiding in my room reading all week during her daily ABC soap gloms.)

When the kids are smirking over the latest criticism disguised as friendly advice, I smirk back and remind them (and Bruce) that I’m the only one in this house not related to her by blood. They all become very afraid. Then Bruce reminds me of my Dad and I realize we’re even. ‘Cause he’s a little nutty, too.

I think what drives me craziest is that she just doesn’t listen. Not that she can’t hear…she just does not listen, even if you’re answering a direct question. She just moves right along with her conversation, then pauses several minutes later and asks the same question you already answered. ARGH!

One week. She’s been here one week. With one more to go.

As for living with me? Hmm…maybe that would make me famous overnight.

After all, surely somebody would write a book about the romance writer whose mother-in-law drove her into the nuthouse!

Congratulations to Sue Mont, post #54 for winning this week’s contest! Please email me at julie at julieleto.com (no spaces) with your snail mail address so I can get the prize on its way.

And because I can…

Find out your Harry Potter personality at LiquidGeneration!

What about you?

(This so does not surprise me about me!!)

Below is an article I wrote for the Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market 2005 edition.

Hope you enjoy!!

Leslie

ROMANCE: WRITING TO YOUR COMFORT LEVEL
An article for Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market
by
Leslie Kelly

Picture this: you’re at your spouse’s holiday cocktail party, surrounded by semi-strangers talking budgets and forecasts. You’re nursing a white wine spritzer when you’d rather be sucking down a dirty martini, but the job is too important to risk any lampshade-on-the-head incidents. You mingle, you pick at the cold hors d’oeuvres that should be hot, or the warm ones that should be cold. You keep a fake smile on your lips while shooting your hubby looks that say, “I’d better get jewelry in exchange for this.”

And then it happens. From several feet away, in a voice loud enough to warn of an impending iceberg, someone says, “Hey, aren’t you the one who writes those sex books?”
You instinctively look around the room, wondering if Larry Flynt has crashed the party. Then the truth dawns. The half-tanked loser from accounting was talking to you, the smut queen of the group. You know. The one who writes romance novels.

Sound familiar? If you’re a romance writer, I’m sure it does. If you want to be a romance writer, prepare yourself…it will happen. While no one at an office cocktail party would dare ask a surgeon if he’s amputated the wrong limb lately, or an attorney if he’s gotten a murderer off the hook this week, for some reason people have no problem asking obnoxious questions about one aspect of the romance writing profession. The sex.

Sex sells, of course. We all know that. Unfortunately, however, some people think sex is all romance novels contain…and that we live what we write. While at first your husband might not mind everyone believing your sex scenes are based on your own life, you will, eventually, get tired of the lewd comments and the lascivious looks. So before you find yourself in this situation–where you can respond by asking the obnoxious guy if he’s the one who has half a brain and one-third an ounce of common courtesy–you need to think about and define your own comfort level when it comes to writing romance.

First things first: not all romance novels contain sex. There are sub-genres beneath the romance umbrella where there is either no sex, or it takes place behind closed doors. An immediate example is the inspirational romance. These faith-based novels have experienced a huge surge in popularity and the genre has exploded into new areas such as “chick-lit,” historical sagas, and sassy contemporaries. Powerhouse publisher Harlequin has achieved such success with their Steeple Hill line that they’ve recently expanded its size.

For those unfamiliar with them, inspirational romances have all the drama and emotion of any other romance novel, but they also incorporate the characters’ religious beliefs into their romantic journey. While not preachy, the message of faith is an integral part of the story. And because of the inherent promise to the inspirational reader, there usually won’t be graphic sex in the pages of those books.

Among traditional romance novels, there are plenty of books where the sex is a minor part of the story, or is nonexistent. Physical attraction is there, but the big payoff may take place after the book ends, or at least off the page. Think of Captain Kirk kissing some green alien chick in his cabin. After fading to commercial, we come back to see him sitting on his bunk pulling his boots on. We know what happened…but it’s behind closed doors. You might see this kind of sex in some of the “sweet” romance novels, though it’s usually only between couples who are already committed to one another. As an aside, the term “sweet” seems a misnomer, since it implies “insipid.” In actuality, the sweeter romance novels have all the emotional depth, drama and angst as any other romance, they simply keep the action above the belt.

If you’ve examined these options and have decided you’re comfortable writing a sexy romance, you still have a wide variety of options. Whether you’re writing light contemporary novels or long historicals, there is a broad range in which to work. Some authors have become known for their hot, intense love scenes and their readers fully expect them. Others who may write the same length book for the same publisher prefer to keep the sex shorter and less erotic. Her audience will expect that, too. Be warned, however. You may get the occasional hate letter from a reader who picks up your steamy novel by mistake, when she was looking for a kisses-only story. Being consigned to the fiery pit by a little old lady from the Midwest won’t be the highlight of your career.

Still, it’s safe to say that readers will seek out authors whose books continue to satisfy their own demands in terms of sexual content. So while your own comfort level dictates the original level of sensuality in your books, quite often your readership will be the ones reinforcing that decision as your career progresses.

Some publishers or category “lines” are, by definition, hotter than others. Harlequin Blaze novels, as well as Kensington Brava, Red Sage and Ellora’s Cave all promise a sexy reading experience. Choosing to write in one of these more erotic venues comes back to that comfort level question…how will you respond to the jerk at the cocktail party? Is the letter from the little old lady going to haunt you? Does the thought of your child’s Kindergarten teacher reading your book make your heart stop?

Essentially, what is the line you will not cross and how, exactly, do you figure out where that line is?

You could start with trial and error. If you find yourself blushing as you try to come up with another word for a certain part of the male anatomy, you’re probably not an erotica writer. Conversely, if you love cranking-up the volume of a hot rock-and-roll song that sets a pulsing rhythm for your characters to rip each other’s clothes off, you’d likely be okay aiming for Blaze or Brava.

There is, of course, one obvious problem with trying to write books with completely different levels of sensuality. Remember those readers who buy your books based on how sexy–or non-sexy–your last one was? Unless you want to publish under a pseudonym, you’re really going to tick them off if they expect a few kisses but get a three-alarm fire.

In considering this topic, I solicited the opinions of other authors of romance. They all, it seemed, had their own ways of finding–and maintaining–their comfort level. New York Times best-selling author Vicki Lewis Thompson, who was the launch author for the hot and sexy Harlequin Blaze line, finds herself able to write sexy stories by making them funny. She also, however, has one more litmus test, saying, “My comfort level is also controlled by the commitment of the two characters. If they’re emotionally attached and the encounter feels safe for both of them, I can pull out all the stops.”

Others had varied perspectives on how much, how far, and how detailed their love scenes are. Authors Katherine Garbera and Toni Blake believe sex to be another human attribute, and an important part of any realistic relationship. They’d feel guilty leaving it out. Amusingly, successful authors Jill Shalvis and Heidi Betts both said they base sexual content on their own personal “ick factor” while New York Times best-selling author Patricia Rice seeks to avoid boredom. Rice says, “These days, I can conjure up no new ways of creating an exciting sexual experience for me or my reader, so I’ve been gradually reducing sex scenes to the romantic and emotional tension between the couple.”

Some authors who write very hot romance simply enjoy the challenge and the excitement of their craft. Erotica author Vella Munn has found writing her Ellora’s Cave novels under a pseudonym to be freeing and she likes that “fantasy is given free rein.” Downtown Press and Blaze author Julie Elizabeth Leto constantly pushes herself, saying, “To stir things up, I like to write outside my comfort zone, so with each book I try to pick at least one thing that pushes me farther than I’ve ever gone before.”

From all the authors who spoke about this topic, there seemed to be one common theme. Whether spicy or sweet, erotic or innocent, fleshed-out or quietly implied, sex is an important part of the romance novel. But it’s not the most important part. The relationship between the hero and heroine…that’s the most important part. Author Julia Ross puts it best. “The sex must serve the novel, not the other way around.”

With that in mind, do take some time to explore the different sub-genres and think long and hard about how you’ll face those rude party guests or shocked Kindergarten teachers. Finding your own level of comfort is the first–and often most important–step on the road to becoming a published romance writer.

By the way…what’s my comfort level? Well, I’m the one who likes to crank up the rock and roll song and let the driving beat carry me…and my characters…away. And if I can throw in a few laughs while I’m at it, I have a simply marvelous time doing my job.

As for how I answer that question at the party? Well, originally when someone would hit me with one of those obnoxious questions, I’d get all indignant and snap back about how there’s absolutely nothing wrong with sex between two committed, monogomous adults and they needed to get their facts straight on what romance was really all about and yadda yadda. Now I say, “Sure. Don’t you like sex?”

That usually shuts people right up.

My Blaze, STRIPPED, is hitting the streets as we speak…I’m hearing from readers all over that they are getting copies. Yeah! You’ve seen my cover…it features candles created not by the heroine of the book, but by her best friend (who is the heroine of the book I’m writing right now!) Fun, huh? So, of course…the prize this week is…candles.

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This cute gift box filled with four petite aromatherapy candles is yours if you post a comment here! Remember, one entry per IP address and US winners only because of shipping.

Badbarb asked that I put up a blurb for STRIPPED…not a bad idea, LOL! Here’s the back cover copy. For all you paranormal fans out there, this is the first in my St. Lyon Witches series. For those of you who aren’t paranormal fans…trust me, this one is pretty paranormal light…until the end, and by then, you’ll be so hooked in to the characters you won’t care. (Hopefully!)

Under her spell…

Especially now–when Mac’s suddently back in her life, looking to rekindle the magic…

Every once in a while I come across a fun quiz and just have to see what my answer would be. In this case, I found a “Who’s Your Movie Star Boyfriend” quiz and couldn’t resist. I went through and answered all the questions, and in the end, here’s MY movie star boyfriend . . . Johnny Depp! Here’s the picture and little blurb that came at the end of my quiz:

A little Depp’ll do ya indeed, no? Rebel with a clue Johnny Depp is sexy no matter what the role he’s playing, no matter what the hair and facial fur situation and no matter what wacky ensembles he puts on his bod. In fact, his looks are often as unconventional as some of his movie roles, and thank God for that… The only thing predictable about him: that he’s likely to be unpredictable, and we’re often in awe of just how his creative mind works (the incredibly detailed creation of his Captain Jack Sparrow character from Pirates of the Caribbean, for example). On the other hand, he tempers some of that off the beaten path behavior with a devotion to his family and friends that is unshakeable; the man admits enjoys playing with Barbies with his daughter! That is so hot.

Okay, I’ll admit that I wasn’t quite expecting Johnny Depp, but I’ve always thought he was kinda cute. Obviously, he has some of the qualities I’m looking for in a “Movie Star Boyfriend”, though he wouldn’t be my personal choice (how about George Clooney or Brad Pitt, instead?). But, the quizz was a lot of fun to do and gave me a topic for today’s blog.

Go and take the Movie Star Boyfriend Quiz and report back with your celebrity answer!

Okay…it’s not only because I had to fire my housekeeper a few months ago. That’s not the reason. Even she admitted that she’d never seen a dustier house than mine…and this was when she came every week.

My house is dusty and I don’t know why!!!!

We had all of our duct work redone last summer…though it took summer through winter to get it right. We’ve had dust “experts” come out and inspect…they see nothing wrong. We’ve redone our dryer vent. We change the filters on our air conditioner religiously every month. We have had no less than FOUR air conditioner companies and our electric company come out and do inspections and seal leaks in the new duct work.

We replaced the duct work, btw, because of mold. So now, not only do we have new duct work, we also have a UV light in our air handler to stop the growth of mold…and we replace it every year.

So why is my house so dusty?!?!?!?

Normally, I wouldn’t care. I’m not a great housekeeper and I don’t care who knows it. However, for the last few nights, my daughter hasn’t been able to sleep because of congestion. She doesn’t have a cold. It starts only after she goes into her room to read and then go to sleep. She’s fine when she goes in, but 30 minutes later, she’s stuffed up and can’t breathe and she can’t sleep, which means I can’t sleep and people, I get the minimum amount as it is, so this has to stop!

I put her back on Claritin (she developed pollen allergies last year…first time ever) and today, decided to give her room a really thorough dusting and vacuum. I’ve since learned this is not a job that can be completed in a single day. I’ve moved out her Toys-R-Us sized collection of stuffed animals and tomorrow, we’ll dust each one individually with the vacuum cleaner. I’m taking her bedding to the dry cleaners to get a good cleaning. I’ve ordered an air purifier just for her room.

What else can I do???

Don’t believe me how dusty her room is? Check out this photo of a doll that was on her shelf. Poor doll has turned grey…

If anyone has any suggestions as to where this dust is coming from (please don’t suggest I get a new housekeeper…trust me, that happens when the child goes back to school!)…I’d sure love to hear them!!

I left on a short vacation on Monday morning and I’ve been so wrapped up with reading the end of HOT PROPERTY and getting it sent off later today, I forgot to blog! Forgive me!

So I’ll go with just a question today based on a reader letter I received this weekend. I had my FUN bright Carly Phillips covers for years; Cross My Heart and Sealed with a Kiss changed to women on the covers …

Not sure what I mean? Visit Carly’s Book Page to see covers!

How did you feel about the change? What would YOU like to see on a future Carly Phillips cover? And why? (I’ll pass along the feedback to my publisher but no promises on what they will do, LOL!) I’m curious … I want to know what my readers prefer!

Happy Tuesday!

Last Thursday, Bruce and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary. You might think that last year, being the 20th, would have been more momentous. But for me, this was the big one. You see, I am 42. And I realized that I have now been married to him for half my life.

Wow. That really stopped me in my tracks when I realized it. It got me thinking a lot about marriage and family and commitment several days beforehand.

I am sure everyone who’s visited this blog regularly knows I’m crazy about my husband. And I wanted to show him that on our very special anniversary. Usually he’s the thoughtful one who does romantic things, but I really felt that it was my turn to remind him of how we started and how happy I am still and how much I hope the rest of our lives will be just as wonderful.

Since we’ve recently moved back up to Maryland, where we met, dated and married, it seemed appropriate to spend the day doing the things we did when we were dating. So I got bread and cheese and grapes, some cheap wine, borrowed my niece’s convertible (best I could do in the absence of hubby’s old Jeep Wrangler, which we used to ride all over the place in) and we set out. We started at the outdoor shrine where we got married. It is just as beautiful, just as serene and peaceful and magical. Fortunately, this time (unlike during our wedding!) there was no man trying to crawl on his bare knees up the 100 foot cement walkway so he could prostate himself on the altar.

Moving on…he suggested bringing flowers to my mother’s grave. The suggestion truly caught me by surprise, but was also appropriate. I married young and I think we’ve both always been saddened that my Mom was killed in an accident so soon afterward, never getting to see what a wonderful life we’ve had together. The very fact that he’d think of something like this probably tells you a lot about the kind of man my husband is.

Then we commenced our drive. We tried to rely on memory to find “our” old picnic spot, which was in a state park in the mountains. We made it to the park, then kept our eyes peeled for the little pull-off near the stream…no, we weren’t going to get naked in the woods, hoping nobody came along and spotted us like we did once or twice in the old days (probably not, anyway… ) but nostalgia demanded we at least try to find the spot. We never did. Instead, we got horribly lost and ended up driving miles and miles out of the way, ending up way up near our current house in a completely different state park altogether! (Hey, we’re Floridians, we can’t tell one mountain from another.)

But it was okay. We had a picnic at the other park instead, and there, between the cheap wine and the good cheese, Bruce helped me plot my next book. Sorry to cheat on you Plotmonkeys, but since I missed Dallas I really needed the help!

Afterward we did more driving, went out to a lovely historic old inn for dinner, more wine, lots more talking. Even more plotting.

Eventually we made our way to the hotel where we’d had our wedding reception and spent our wedding night. And…

Well. Read one of my books for that stuff.

Breakfast the next day, then home to life and kids and the new house and the dog and reality and a trip up to PA to pick up his mother who’s here visiting for two weeks (help…please help…)

So yes, everything returned to normalcy so quickly. But all this weekend, I’ve caught him giving me little smiles, or I’ve had to squeeze his hand, and I know we’re both thinking about the same thing: that for one day at least, we were the same Bruce and Leslie we were back then. We were young and carefree and madly in love. And there was absolutely nothing better in the world to do than drive around with the top down for hours, laughing, talking, holding hands or just sharing silence.

All the while knowing that even when we’re in our seventies, we’ll still be out looking for that little picnic spot by the stream

And the winner of OLLIE (Colonel Oliver North’s namesake in a keychain) and a backlist book of choice (not CMH or SWAK, sorry!) is:

# 25 - ARDIE

CONGRATULATIONS!
Email me at: carlyphillips@mac.com and confirm your mailing address so I can send out your prize!
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SUNDAY FUNNY