Tag Archives: publishing

Romance, Suspense and Thrillers, Writing for My Life

Two Releases.

This is the first time I’ve had two books released in the same month.

No Amends is a dark psychological thriller.

Last Chance is a sweet contemporary romance.

I wrote No Amends a year ago after a devastating turn of events. It is my most plot-driven story based on two characters and what they desire. The novella originally won first place in a writing contest but I declined accepting the award and the subsequent publication once I realized I could not negotiate the rights I wanted.

Last Chance was originally titled One More Chance. A UK publisher was interested in purchasing it, calling the story “endearing” and “Hallmark-like.” But their marketing department didn’t think the company could recoup their investment in an overseas author. So, I went on the hunt for a publisher that would.

I don’t like the business of publishing, and it is the least favorite of the topics I teach when I coach my students to become professional writers. But it is a necessary evil if you want to reach an audience beyond the handful of family and friends who will read anything you write, published or not.

When I started out over 15 years ago, I had been advised to write in one genre only, but now those same agents and publishers are advising against that technique, stating readers want diversity and a blending of genres. Why not write everything for everyone?

And so that is why you have your choice: thriller or romance. The thriller has a hint of romantic elements. The romance has a historical bent. But both are fiction, inspired by life but born out of the imaginings of my mind.

Enjoy either one of them (or both).

The Divorce Planner

Editing Under Contract

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After signing the contract for publishing The Divorce Planner, I started the self-editing process. Every publisher has its own standard formatting for print, although most publishers abide by the Chicago Manual of Style for grammar and spelling.

Formatting addresses how the manuscript looks. I changed margins, removed tabs, added four asterisks between scenes, and deleted extra spaces between periods.

Grammar addresses how the manuscript reads. I evaluated each sentence to correct everything from dangling modifiers to comma splices.

Three weeks later, I sent the manuscript to my editor for a review. Here’s what I received back the next day to correct:

12 instances of “it is”
153 instances of “it was”
12 instances of “there was”
29 instances of “trying to”
57 instances of a comma before “then”

Now after I submit my additional corrections, my editor will schedule a year of edits—from developmental edits to address any issues with the storyline to galley edits in which the final manuscript is examined for any errors before it is printed and released for sale.

Beginnings

Muddle

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Frustrated Woman Using Laptop

I’m in the middle of the first draft of my anti-romance novel and have hit the wall. I know how the story begins and how the story ends, but the middle is where I am fumbling.

Much like life imitating art, I often know what I want but do not know how to go about getting it.

And I know from experience the only thing I have going for me is the combination of patience and time and writing my way through it.

Many authors feel the same way about the muddling middle. Forty-thousand words into the story and the complications get so intense and the stakes get so high no one in their right mind would ever want to live through it if it was real life. So why do I willing sit and stare through tears at the screen as each painful letter is pounded out?

Because I want to get to the end where the conflict is resolved and everyone lives somewhat better even if it is an anti-romance. Maybe there is a funeral or a wedding or a showdown in the back alley of a bar where both parties realize they’ve drawn blanks, but whichever way the story ends, the puzzling middle is long gone.

In the midst of sleepless nights, I struggle to write through those 40,000 words to crest the summit and head toward those last 40,000 words to finish.

But until I start coasting toward THE END, I’m a miserable person to work with, live with, and love….