The HEA Cafe

Microsoft, Thy Name Is Mud!

This weekend I switched my Office 2003 out to Microsoft’s Office 2007. I’m not sure if it’s a mistake or not yet, but I really hate it when they change things and yet they don’t include code that allows the user to decide whether to use the new view format or to revert to the old, more comfortable, more customizable one. I think I should have a choice as to what I want to use on my personal computer and how I want to use it. The other thing that bugs me about their new design is that it’s not disability friendly. It’s very mouse usage dependent, and for people with fibromyalgia or carpal tunnel syndrome, we’re talking some major issue.

Expectations with Romance Books

With all that said, the same thing could be said about romance books. I want to read a certain type of book. In fact, when I shop online for a book, I select generally from standard fare where I’m fairly certain what I’ll get. For instance, if I buy a Berkeley Sensation book, I know the sex is going to be pretty hot, although there are varying heat levels even with this imprint. If I pick up a Bethany House book, I expect it to be an inspirational read where faith is at the core of the romance relationship.

But what happens when you don’t get what you expect? Sometimes it can be a really good read. Passion by Lisa Valdez was that way for me. It wasn’t what I expected, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Then there’s Kresley Cole’s Dark Needs at Night’s Edge. It’s a completely different type of paranormal read for me, and I’m enjoying it as well. But what happens when you read something that you find is quality writing, but it just doesn’t catch your attention.

What Happens When Expectations Aren’t Met

I encountered this just a couple of weeks ago. The books just didn’t resonate with me. They read like all the other books I’ve read in the past. They didn’t hook me and this was from NYT bestsellers to newly published authors in print and eFormat. So what does this mean? I’m not really sure. It could be the author just didn’t sell their characters to me well enough in the first 20-25 pages. Maybe my own writer’s hat interferes with my ability to just enjoy the read anymore. But I do know that I’m getting harder to please, and I’m more particular in my pursuit of the good read, and that means something to me as a writer. It means I have to keep stretching my writing and reaching for that bar that keeps rising when it comes to each book that I write.

So what do you think a blah reading means to you as a reader, a writer or both?

Monica Burns - http://www.monicaburns.com
Dangerous – 4.5 Stars RT BOOKreviews | “A pretty good read” — Mrs. Giggles
Mirage, Top Pick RT BOOKreviews
Come Enjoy a Paranormal with that Ahh…Sensation

. . . I should be writing. In fact, I should be writing all those other days too. And even some of the nights.

Why is that? you ask (unsuspecting that I’ve set you up because you haven’t had enough caffeine yet this morning).

That’s because when I get to the end of a book I become a HUGE procrastinator. You see, in my head the whole story is perfect. Everything I’ve set up plays out just like it’s supposed to. The emotion is intense, believable, and so gut-wrenching that the story is a Keeper.

What holds me back is fear. Fear that I’m going to fumble, miss, and instead of providing the emotional read of a lifetime, send the reader down a dark hole without a flashlight.

Is it possible to get past my anxieties and actually finish the book?

I’d have to say yes, probably. After all, I have finished books before and managed to live through the experience (barely). I have to say that it feels an awful lot like jumping off a very high diving board when you’re not the greatest swimmer. Still, I just have to do it and have faith that I can doggie-paddle my way to the side of the pool. I have to climb up that very tall ladder, walk to the end, look down, and–once I’ve chickened out a few times–talk myself back, close my eyes, pretend it’s all going to be okay, and go for it.

How do you manage?

Obviously not all that I learned. But perhaps some of it.

This was my first signing at RWA, though not my first conference, so that was pretty exciting. It is a whole different experience sitting at the table, than wandering around buying books and visiting friends, and frankly for the first time I felt like a real author. Oh, I have been a published author for quite a while, but this felt real. Perhaps it was the fact that my books and my name were on the table in front of me and JR Ward was sitting nearby, with a line up.
I did go to some workshops. I learned that my focus on workshops have changed. I mostly went to panels on web presence and branding and publicity. Nothing about writing at all. Not that I couldn’t always use help with the writing, but I really need help with the promotion side of the business
I and some of my chapter mates here at RWA online, who are also American Title Finalists, and two of the other American Title Finalists gave a workshop–on Saturday morning at 8:30 am. People actually came to hear us talk. And we had fun. I’m thinking our audience had fun too, because they stayed to the end. Mind you, that might have been because we bribed them with door prizes, but that was fun too.

But I what I really discovered is that once you are published, networking is the name of the game at Nationals. First there are the meetings scheduled ahead of the conference, with the editor, with the agent, with the publicist. And then there are meet and greets and dinners arranged by the publishing house. And parties. The Beaumonde Soiree, the RWA online Chapter party to mention only two.
After then there are meetings with people who you only get to see once a year. It was non stop networking.

I also learned that historicals have resuscitated. Since I only write historicals, regencies in fact, this was a good thing. Series/category are doing very well at the moment also. Did I mention historicals are back?

I did want to load a picture or two, but can’t figure out how to do that.

I hope all of you who went to RWA had a productive time, and I can’t wait for Washington to roll around.

Michele Ann Young

Today’s my birthday!  Okay, I’ll admit that at my age, that’s not the momumental event it once was, but it’s still worth celebrating, right?  And to make this birthday particularly memorable, my November book cover just came out!

Now that might not mean much to you, but for me, the first glimpse of a new book cover is a major, life-changing event.  Each time I see one, I spend the entire day enthralled, scrutinizing every detail, emailing the jpeg to my friends.  I’m like a mother eyeing her newborn child for the first time (Are his toes and fingers all there?  Whose eyes does he have?  Look at his beautiful hair!)

So you can imagine my excitement the other day when I saw the cover of TO PROTECT A PRINCESS, the second book in my Crusaders miniseries.  All work ground to a halt.  I spent the afternoon staring at the picture, studying every inch of it, flipping through my mental checklist to see if the artists got it right:

-Is the hero attractive?  Yes (huge relief)!

-Do the cover models resemble my characters?  Yes again.  The heroine’s coloring is a bit light, but that’s minor.  No one will notice.  And the red tinge is probably due to the explosion in the background, not the color of her hair.

Do the clothes work?  The heroine’s jeans and t-shirt are perfect.  The hero is wearing a leather jacket that isn’t in the book, but again, no one will care.

The background: I love the lights, the intensity, the way the artists caught the moment when the bridge blows up.  They made the Inca suspension bridge out of wood instead of rope (a minor mistake) but the overall effect is still great.

So I’m thrilled, relieved.  They gave me a good cover.  What a wonderful birthday present.  I can’t wait to show it off.  Here’s a link so you can see it better:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/0373276087/sr=1-1/qid=1219087084/ref=dp_image_text_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books&qid=1219087084&sr=1-1

And in case you’re thinking I’m neurotic, I can justify this obsession.  In a recent Live Journal poll, 63% of readers said they purchased a book based on the cover art.  That’s not as significant as familiarity with an author’s work (99.1%) or the recommendation of a friend (91.1%), but the cover can certainly influence sales.

So what do you think?  As a reader, does the book’s cover matter to you?  Can it influence whether you buy or reject a book?  How about my new cover?  Do you like it?  Any thoughts?

And if you’re wondering how I’ll spend my birthday…  I’ll be staring at my cover, of course. 

… also known as the nature or nurture argument. Which wins out, do you think? Do we have to have talent first, a natural ability that with persistence ensures success? Or does writing success come with a mere grain of ability and then by working at it, learning and practising until our minds and fingers hurt?

I’ve been thinking on this for a while now and not sure I’ve reached any conclusions. Sometimes it feels like the more I know the less I know, if you get my drift. I’ve GMC’d, plotted and pantsed, snowflaked and what-if’d until my head spun, yet lately it feels like wading through treacle. It feels like I’ve hit a barrier which I can’t get through.

The first stories I wrote were as an innocent. I was totally green and naive and just enjoyed the wonderful process of making up those stories and developing the characters who inhabited them. I didn’t know I was doing anything wrong. Then comes the reality of trying to sell those stories, of having them fester in that awful thing they call the slush pile. Of having them critiqued and rejected. Of learning from mistakes, and trying to move forward.

So, my question … Does there come a time when those with the raw talent power ever onward and upward? While those with less talent reach a plateau and stay there? Is there a limit to what we can learn as a writer, a barrier beyond which we cannot move no matter how hard we try? Are writers born or made?

What do you think?