Vixenwriter

On one of the boards I’ve been on for years and years, a new member came on and had some questions about romance as a genre. I see these types of questions a lot and almost always by people who don’t read romance or read one back in 1985 and somehow think they know enough garnered from other people who don’t read romance or read one thirty years ago to make sweeping generalizations about it.

One of the main comments was something about why don’t romance authors make it easier for men to pick up books they feel comfortable reading in public.

The thing is, it’s not my job to make your being an adult easier. It’s not my job to help you realize you shouldn’t have to apologize for your preferences, especially to people who don’t bother to understand what they’re judging to begin with. It’s your job to read whatever the hell you want and stop worrying about what some total stranger three seats behind you on the bus thinks.

I don’t care that authors over at a certain well known fantasy writers’ board spend at least 40% of their time whining about romance and how they’d hate it if their books got shelved in romance. I do care that my readers are treated with such little respect except when their hard earned book dollars are spent and help many of those authors sell through and continue to get new contracts. But all I can do is respect my own readers and be true to my craft. I don’t care that recently a sci-fi lover took women to task for “ruining” the genre. My guess is, having never actually touched a real woman, he’s confused about what we are and what we do.

The deal is, the world is full of people who can only find pleasure by tearing down what other people do, like, write, eat for breakfast, wear on a date, etc. A lot of those people have blogs. In the end, what matters to me is what I do. What the people I care about do. If a stranger on the bus thinks it’s a hoot when I read a romance novel in public, who’s problem is that? Because it’s not mine. If I can’t walk up to the register at my local bookstore and buy a book because of the cover being silly, that’s not the fault of romance or cover art, that’s my issue. If I let people make themselves feel better at my expense because they write X and I write romance and therefore I’m not as literary or clever or whatever, that’s my fault. I’d rather just give em the hand and pick my book back up.

I *like* to read romance. I *like* to write romance. I read a host of other genres too, I love a well told story.

My response to the folks who haven’t read romance but hate it, or haven’t read anything since 1985 is to shut up and pick up Jenny Crusie’s Welcome To Temptation. Or Nalini Singh’s Slave to Sensation. Or Elizabeth Lowell. Or Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ Ain’t She Sweet. Oh or JD Robb’s Naked In Death. In other words, if you’ve read more than one romance book thirty years ago, you might be able to state these “ooh icky kissing junk” things with more convincing argument. Or not. You might just find that there are some really excellent authors out there telling some wonderful stories about people. Either way? It’s not my job to make you feel better about your ability to read a book in public or not. And if you feel askert about having your book put in the romance section instead of rejoicing in your book deal, you have way worse problems than I can possibly solve.

Find the joy people. Like what you like and don’t apologize.

I wanted to wish a very happy birthday to Anne - one of the most genuinely beautiful and sweet people I know. I hope your weekend away is a good one, doll.

As in, I am on fiyuh!

Boys and girls I just wrote 9,470 words today. No, I’m not joking. It’s a recordbook day and I’m really freaking thrilled. The power went off several times so thank god for my flash drive and the windstorm which pretty much kept me inside with a mug of chai as my daughter colored and played with Barbies just a few feet away while I wrote like a fiend.

Oh Sven, how I love you and your challenge. And how I know I’ll be happy for this day the next time I grind out 75 words in four hours and hate my keyboard with the heat of ten thousand suns.

I’m a normally a 2-3K a day writer but wow, the words just melted from my brain today like buttah. It’s because I love Skye so much - yes this is Skye’s story from my Cherchez series. Which I need to put aside on Saturday because I found out today Standoff has moved up to March 4 from April 1. This is very good news, I’m very happy but yikes, I gotta get moving!! Good thing I love Cade Warden as much as I love Skyler Andrews, huh?

Wheee! I finished the polish of my short novel partial, dirty/bad/wrong last night along with the newly revised synopsis and mailed them both to my agent this morning. Megan and I emailed, critted and IM’d back and forth last night until what was quite late for her, working on our intertwined scenes.

It’s interesting to see how a project sort of takes on a mind of its own. The story for me is about dichotomy, about my character and her internal divisions of self. When it came time to write the partial so my agent could pitch, I was like, “meh.” I love the idea, I wanted to write it, but not right when I needed to. So every word was like a job. And then I realized the issue was I didn’t have enough meat and I couldn’t very well have 50K of sex or even 50K of internal discussion or worse, some contrived black moment. So I brainstormed and the story settled into the place it needed to be and I finished it in just a day and a half. By the time I finished last night with the little adjustments after some crit, I was so thrilled with it. I love it and I’m glad I kept at it. I love Megan’s story too and I think combined, they’re just fabulous together. Funny how that works!

Sven progress yesterday - 3125 = and 10,938 words for the first three days! In real terms those words represent a completed partial, a revised synopsis and the start of a new novel. (the partial already had been started).

A very good start to Sven!!

I’ve been guesting in a few places! First over at Amy Smith’splace - there’s a prize so head on over!

And today I’m at RR@H Novel Thoughts and Book Talk talking about secondary characters - also with a contest!

Oh gooodness, lookie here - the cover for my upcoming Spice anthology. Ain’t it purty!

So my editor, Angela James, is participating in AAR’s auction to benefit Hands On New Orleans. This is such a good cause and I heartily encourage everyone to run over to ebay to participate - there are many different items up for auction including a critque from the aforementioned Angie.

I’m totally biased of course, but I happen to think Angie has a fine hand at editing so she’s worth a bid!

Total for Tuesday night - 4557, a very productive evening indeed. I finished up my partial of dirty/bad/wrong, re-worked the synopsis and got started on Clan of All Nations.

Today is the day my friend and fabulous writer Michelle Pillow’s second book in her Matthews Sisters series, Along For the Ride releases!

Meet Megan Matthews, a detective who is cursed with always being right. Her instincts are good, her deductive reasoning even better. But she’s that most men find her intimidating, so she’s given up trying to find Mr. Right and has settled, perversely, for arresting Mr. Wrong.

Crime scene photographer Ryan Andrews has had a wicked crush on the sexy detective since he first took her photograph by accident at a crime scene. That picture became headline news, and she hasn’t talked to him since. He’s tried everything to get her attention, and when nothing works he’s left with only one option. But is blackmailing a cop into marriage really a good idea?

You can check out my review of Along For the Ride right here…

How’s everyone doing? I know sometimes getting started on a new project or a challenge can be daunting and the pressure comes when you start overthinking and it freezes you up. Just try and relax and remember the Sven challenge is really about yourself and only yourself and your words.

Night before last I realized as I shut my laptop down, I didn’t have enough for the wordcount the short novel I was working on demanded. I brainstormed with my husband, who is always a great source of inspiration but it wasn’t quite enough so I woke up disgruntled and still searching for the thing that would give me the depth and layers I needed.

So I booted up the desktop and turned on IM and sent a note to my buddy Megan - I’m stuck and I don’t have enough meat for the story. She popped on about half an hour later and after I told her I couldn’t very wel have 50K words of fucking (well I could but it wouldn’t work for this story) we worked back and forth (our stories are interconnected) until I finally hit on what I needed, the hook, the layers that would bring the story’s heart to light.

By that time, a story I’d been struggling for a few hundred words here and there (but with a clear idea of what I needed which made it even more painful) loosened up and I got over 2700 words yesterday.

So while we can’t compare ourselves to others and find ourselves wanting when we talk about wordcount or book deals, we can reach out to others who know what we’re going through. Brainstorming and plotting sessions with a friend is something I’ve found to be a really big help and I highly encourage it!

This year, we’ve added five new sponsors to the challenge. Those of us running Sven’s gym are Alison Kent, Jo Leigh, HelenKay Dimon, Larissa Ione, Stephanie Tyler, Shiloh Walker, Lauren Dane, Diana Peterfreund, Jaci Burton, and Portia Da Costa. Expect to see us popping up on various sweating challengers’ blogs over the next 70 (93) days.

In addition there are nearly 300 sweaters and many of us know other authors who are willing to lend an ear and their creativity to help you out of a block or a tough spot. We’ve all been there so there’s no shame in reaching out. BTW, Megan is made of sparkly awesome for helping me.

2715 words. Not bad for having to do some re-plotting earlier today! For now, I’m to bed. Yes, an hour earlier than usual but it’s very cold and I’m very tired and since I got good words down, I’m going to treat myself with sleep.