Viva La Revolution!

"Viva la revolution!" has to be one of the many favorite quotes from the RT convention this year, said by the lovely author Emily Hemmer. In my little writing family group this saying has stuck as a war cry and a saying pride.

Why you ask, would a group of pre-published authors use this saying? Well, let me tell you cause it is no secrete of ours, but one of pride that should catch on. With the publishing world in a state of influx between traditional publishing vs self publishing vs indie publishing, along with paper vs ebooks, there is no one right way of doing things any more. The big publishing houses are having to adapt with the changing times of technology and the growing demand of not only what the readers want but that the authors wanting more control of their rights and being apart of the whole process. It is now an everyday thing that all, and I mean ALL, authors have to be part business owner not just a writer. And in this I mean that they have to be apart of their own marketing. Readers what interaction with the author, and no publishing house can do that for you.

I digress...back to the saying. Viva La Revolution is about self publishing. What this means is that the author has 100% control of their entire work. They have to do everything that the publisher does. While in the past self publishing has been looked down upon, and still is by many, their has been some major success stories that have come out of self publishing and it is possible to have a quality book come out of this process. Unfortunately there have been people who will put out their first draft of their work and call it a master piece. It is those works that have put a taint to the self publishing way.

While the tables are turning and self publishing is getting more respect, there is still a lot of cringing when you say that you are self publishing as a debut author. People will tell you no don't do it. Wait until you have a back list of published books to do it. That way you already have readers who will go out and buy your books. That your work will already have the NY editing touch to it.

"Don't pay anyone to get your work out there! They should be paying you." While is true when it comes to traditional publishing, in my opinion to go about self publishing the right way, you have to put money down to make your work clean enough to sell. You have to invest in your work, just like a publisher is investing in you. Go out to find the best editor to help you clean up your work, the cover artist that will give you exactly what you want to grab a readers attention, to pay for a website developer to help make the best webpage for your plateform.

Self publishing makes you a business owner and while it's going to be a hard journey along the way. At the end of the day you can sit back and look at all the hard work you did and say with pride that you did that. Not only did you write a book, but you invested in your career as a writer and are making the best of it. Maybe one day a big publishing house will make you an offer for your books and future ones that you will write, but there is no guarantee in that either. With self publishing you can guarantee that you are going to put out the best work possible without someone saying no you can't do that. What it can guarantee is that if you don't like some thing along the way you can change it, cause you have total control over everything. Even the pricing of the book.

You will end up learning more about the business then you ever would if you went only with the traditional route. But now days with the industry being in transition, it's time for the writer to take control and do what feels right to them. Just remember that you have to put in the same amount of effort into your took as they would with traditional publishing, cause your work deserves it!

When I went into RT this year, I knew self publishing was always an option, but I had personally felt that I needed that validation of the traditional publishers of saying I want your work, you are good enough for us to invest in you. After meeting several wonderful writers who are actively pursuing self publishing as well as authors who have started off there before moving into more traditional publishing, I was encouraged that I could do it. I can take control of my career instead of waiting for a subjective industry to validate myself as a writer.  Thank you ladies for giving me the courage to really take control. To not wait for who knows how long till my work is actually put out into the real world.

I am pre-published. I can do it myself and still have it turn out just as good as if it went to a traditional publisher. That is with the help of a good editor along the way. Plus, I've always wanted to start my own business, so why not do that with the best investment I can think possible....ME.

VIVA LA REVOLUTION!

Don't get me wrong, I don't thing that traditional publishing is wrong. I don't think that indie publishing is wrong. And I don't think that self publishing is wrong either.

Each writer is willing to different things and wants to be apart of the process in varying degrees. "The difference between them is if you want to be a business owner or just a writer." This is the best description I've heard about self publishing and traditional. And in my opinion it's the best of everything I've heard. Cause you are a business owner if you are self publishing.

With all of that being said, I have decided that I am going to join in the revolution. I don't have a date for when my book will be coming out as I've just started the process of getting my work out there, but it will be before I turn 27. That means some time before March 1, 2014 I will be releasing my novel as an ebook. Along the process of finding editors, cover artists, and formatting, I will be bloging about the whole process. That's right, all the ups and downs of the whole thing I will be talking about on here.

Unless something pops up and I get the deal of a life time (that means I get everything that I would want from a traditional publisher that I would get as a self publishing, yeah like that is ever going to happen), then I'm apart of the revolution as a writer,  not just as a fan and cheerleader for my friends.

While within the self publishing world is very encouraging, it is rare for someone to talk about the whole process along the way. For some reason or another some people don't like to give out names of the vendors that they use or trust. Not sure why, if they are freelance then it shouldn't be a big secret.

Viva La Revolution! Don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't do it! Keep writing! Keep putting your work out there! Anything is possible, you just have to put in the time and effort behind it.

Musings on Romance from a Romance Writer

I was going to do a big long post about romance in real life vs in novels and realized one thing...that it is a big enough subject to be a novel in itself. But here is something that as I've learned since coming into adulthood. Don't expect real life romance and relationships to be like they are in the books. Don't expect novels to have real life romances in them. But here is the thing that will contradict all of that. It can happen. There are people who do have a real life romance that is like a romance novel. And there are messy, drama filled romances that don't end in a happy ending that are in books.

You are also not destined to have the same type of relationship that you were raised around. You can decide if you want to stay in a relationship or not. And if it's not healthy and abusive then leave. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect and love. Don't settle for the worst just to be able to say that someone loves you.

"But, I want it now!" yea, life doesn't work like that. For the most part from what I've been around, love finds you when you least expect it. Let it be from getting caught staring at a guys t-shirt logo while walking to get coffee on university campus, to have him find you in the student center an hour later to ask you out (yes this happened to my roommate and her now boyfriend) or to having a college friend become your future husband (yup, my sister and soon to be brother-in-law). You can't force love to happen. It's about timing, putting yourself out there and the right person.

From there, there is no formula as to what happens next. And that is why I love romance novels so much. Yes, in the books they have to have a happy ending, but it's about the journey that gets you there. More and more now, it's happy for now endings, not just ever after. Cause guess what...Love is hard. It has it's ups and it's down. You can love someone, but not like them very much in a moment. It's a working relationship that draws me to writing them. It's the struggles of getting over bone deep issues that you hadn't realized where their and wouldn't have been able to get out and over if you hadn't had that person to help you along the way.

Just cause I'm single and fine with that, doesn't mean that I can't write romance. I've had a friend say "How can you write a good romance novel, if you don't date?" "Well, Jerk, (I did call him a jerk) I don't have to have love to know what it looks like. Or the struggles and fears of putting yourself out there for the potential of getting your heart crushed. I know what it's like to be afraid to put yourself out there. And that's what my books are about. Getting through all that fear, to keep from fighting yourself to not run away from something good and unfamiliar for the familiarity of being alone." My friend sat there and thought about it for a moment, but I don't think her really understood what I meant by this. Personally I think he meant the physical stuff. I mean most guys think that way, or so they do most the time, but I was talking the more mental roadblocks that comes with dating and romance.

Anyways, sitting with my morning coffee pondering over all the different types of romances, relationships and how people go about them was making my brain hurt. Their is just so many different ways of going about them and there is no one right way. As much as being in a relationship would be nice, it's the fear of them that keeps me going and putting myself out there. Fear is the mind killer (reference from Dune, yup I'm a nerd), and it's facing those fears that make it all the sweater when you get past them and come out the end a stronger and happier person. Plus when it comes to romance you have a partner in crime to help hold your hand when you need it.

Well, I better get back to writing. And I can't wait to keep putting myself out there in the dating world. As scary as it is, I get a good story out of it to keep myself with good writing fuel.

RT Part 2

I've already talked about going to the writing boot camp before RT13, and who invaluable conferences have been to me, to keep from burning out in doing something I love, today I'll let you all in on a few things I learned from the workshops. And I'll to it in bullet point since my brain is fried from being super sick. That's right I caught the conference plague. Hold on one second as I cough up a lung here.

Okay, I'm back. Now to the things I've learned.

1. There is absolutely no reason to be ashamed of what you write. Stand tall and say it with proud. Those who have no respect for the fact that you are actually doing something that not everyone can do, and that you are writing in a genre that you love, has no place in your life. If that person has a permanent place in your life, then you know now that you need to keep your writing life separate from them. Keep the positive people close to you, cause this is a hard business to get into, let alone stay in, and you want to keep as much positivity as you can for those rough times that will happen.

2. No matter how many times you hear something, it wont be until that hundredth time when the light bulb goes off and you know exactly what they mean and how it affects your characters. Example, "The villain of your novel, is the hero of his own story. To him he is doing the right thing, it just happens to be wrong." It wasn't until I was in a Thriller workshop when David Morell, the creator of Rambo, said this that my light bulb went off. If I weren't in a room full of people I would have said out loud, "Holy F*cking, Shit balls, why didn't I see that before!" and I might have done a little dance as well. But it's a good thing that I can do all that in my head. Anyways, I've been working on the rewrite of my first novel I wrote in college (so of course I thought I knew all my characters like the back of my hand, ha not), that I realized the real reasoning why my main villain does what he does. And believe it or not HE IS THE HERO OF HIS OWN STORY, I just didn't see it until now.

So, listen to those that do what you do and even if you don't think their writing advice makes sense or whatnot, keep listening, cause at one point or another you will realize that it does apply to you.

3. In romance the vagina is magical and fixes all men. What? Vaginas don't fix men and they sure as hell aren't magical! Think about it this way. I most books for the bad boy to get the good girl, the boy has to change or evolve to be accepted by the good girl. And what's his reward other than growing as a human-being? Her vagina! That's right, sex is a big motivator for men in romance novels. Okay, sex is a big motivator for men in real life too. As much as I'd like to say that sex isn't a motivator for my male characters, in the end it does have a factor. This doesn't always have to deal with only men and women, but with any characters that will have a romance or trying to have a romance in the end. Sex is always a factor. Even if you don't think it is, just sit there and ask yourself this, "If x doesn't do this for y then will, x still be accepted by y?" "What does it mean for x to do something, to give something up for y? Will it kill their relationship? Will having sex too soon or too late, really effect my characters relationship?" In the end the vagina does have magical powers to motivate the man in to changing himself. But if you ask me I believe that the woman has to change herself in the end. One person should not be the only one that has to evolve and learn something in the end. All characters have to learn something in your novel.

4. GMC it's every where. Goal, Motivation, Conflict. If you think you avoid this then you're wrong. Sorry to say it, but GMC is everywhere, in every genre, in every character. Learn it, know it, love it. And yes it does scare me a little bit, but that's why they have a writing manual and conferences about it. Without GMC your book will be flat, and no one wants a flat book.

5. Don't fear the white space. The writers out there will understand this. Use dialogue and small paragraphs so that the flow of your story isn't lacking. Too much black space (the actual words on the page) can pull the reader out of the story. Dialogue is just as important as your narration.

6. Your research bible is imparative if you are going to have a series. Even if you have one book it is key to have a research bible with every little detail about the characters, setting, plot, special events, pretty much anything and everything you might ever think about both in the book and out of the book that affects your characters. I've already been doing this with my work, but after talking to a few authors who do have series going, along with other novels, this has saved their hides more than once. Cause readers will catch the height change, eye color change, or if you spelled a name wrong. With this research bible will help you catch these errors.

I can go on and on about the different things that I'd learned from RT, but I don't want to bore you. Go to a con, learn from those who do what you want to do, and see what works for you. Cause that is my magical number 7 of things I learned. Just cause it worked for one person doesn't mean that it will work for you or your characters. Even if you don't think it will work, try some of the advice of how to write or ways to inspire your muse. Who knows maybe that one thing you didn't think would work is the key to what way causing your writers block. That also goes with don't expect everything to work for you. Everyone has their own path into the industry and how they go about writing their books. Don't judge them for what they do or how they do it. We are all trying to do the same things. Their is no reason to hash on other. Give them a high five and say keep on going, but I'm going to be over her doing it the way that feels right to me.

And with that I will leave you all to curl up in a hacking coughing ball of sick kid, with a good book. Hope to see everyone next year at RT in New Orleans! And keep on writing! I know I will.

RT Booklovers 2013 Part 1

For the last week I've been in Kansas City for my version of a vacation. That's right, Romance Times Booklovers Convention is my vacation, and I've loved every minute of it. Before the con even started I decided to attend the writers bootcamp (for the aspiring writer) and it was the best decision I made other than just attending the whole thing.

All the professionals that they had come in to teach us for the two days were amazing. They were funny, knowledgeable, sweet, encouraging with a side of ADD. I through in the ADD, because I'm finding that more times than not us authors are all distracted by shiny object and good ideas. If you are a beginner writer or even only a few years into your writing career, then go take a beginning writing bootcamp or class. In fact at any stage in your writing career I think people should keep taking writing classes to keep honing your craft.

Not only did I learn a lot from the teachers of the course, but I've met a wonderful group of pre-published authors. Someone had come up with this and I'm loving it. Instead of aspiring author, pre-published makes it feel like we are serious about our writing. That we are already making it our job by writing every day. We are in a different stages of our career with one major thing in common. We are all actively working, learning, and sending out our work to be able to hold that e-reader or paper copy of the work that we've spent years working on sharing with the rest of the world.

It is in this group of people that I've started what I call my writing family. These ladies are amazing. They are all smart, funny, love what they do, passionate about learning to write, supportive and are inspiring. We may have only known each other for a week or less, but I do believe that we have all made friendships that will last a lifetime.

I can't wait to see these women succeed in their writing and the different paths that we all end up taking. They have found a fan for life in me.

For those who haven't gone to a book conference or a writers conference. I greatly encourage it. Going to RWA last year and RT this year have been worth every cent I've spent. If not just for the workshops, the parties, the swag, the books, the opportunities to pitch in person to agents or editors, but for the networking and friendships that you will make.

In later posts I'll give you all updates on the rest of the conference and workshops that I was able to experience.  Till then enjoy the stories that authors put so much time and effort into, and go write, even if it's just one sentence.