YA headache

Okay, so like previously stated, my daughter has asked that I write her a short (40 page) novel. Thank goodness she shortened it from the original 60 pages. I just need to say, the YA stuff is hard. My daughter has already worked out the basic premise, the title (Lost & Found) and the characters...not bad for an 11 year old. ;-)

But lets admit the facts, I'm a romance writer and YA requires me to stretch outside my comfort zone. Let's see...to date (I started today) I've only written four pages. She loved them of course, but I think they were the hardest 4 pages I have ever written. I guess I need to pick up some of her books and see how the big dogs do it. I've got so many questions. How do tweens talk? What kind of things the do they do? How descriptive are the stories? Is the writing less complicated so the kiddies can understand? You see my problem here? Sssssshhhhh....POP!!! That was the sound of the empty thought balloon popping over my head. *Sigh*

So I'm ashamed to say that I have never read a YA book (besides Twilight and personally I think those books need to be in a category all their own) and I think it may do me some good to research it a bit. After all, even though this story is solely for my daughter, I don't' want it totally stink! It still needs to be emotional and heartwarming - right?

New game plan peeps. Read more YA. Learn the genre. Write down the book outline in the meantime. When ready - write. Yeah...that sounds like a plan.

~JD

Losing Critique Partners

Just this past weekend, my Tremendous Ten critique group lost two of its members. I swear, it almost killed me. I'm not an emotional person normally, but my OCD does not handle change that well. Not to mention - I REALLY REALLY liked these two members of our group. Losing them was like losing my right and left arm!

So then what do you do? Well, I haven't figured that out yet - but I'm very thankful to have eight members of the group left (along with the other six "editors" I use - I mentioned them in previous post).

I guess it all boils down to this. One member left because her genre (suspense) is not something the other members are familiar with. She found a group that better fit her needs and I am really happy for her, but sad at the same time.

The other member left because she felt our group would grow stagnant if we didn't do more that just critique each other's work. She had some great ideas regarding other things we could be doing to move our writing forward, I just wished she would have mentioned before deciding to leave because I would have loved to incorporate some of them into our group.

The past few days have been an emotional roller coaster for me, and while some of you may think that's weird, to me, change is bad. Sometimes I wish this darn OCD didn't control my life. Alias, I'll move forward - I've still got eight people left, right?

YA Novel, Requested by daughter

I have a wonderful daughter, her name is Emily. She is 11 years old and loves everything horses. She is also an avid reader...but pretty much only reads about horses. She knows about my writing career and constantly asks if she can read what I am working on.

*Frown* The answer is always no. I write romance and erotica and that is not something I would allow my eleven year old to read. Her uncorrupted mind is just not ready for it. Nor do I think it ever will be.

Alias, we were driving in the car and the light bulb on top of her head lit up. "Mommy! Can you write a story just for me?" Her eyes beamed pure rainbows and sunshine in my direction and I think my heart melted right then.

Of course I can!!

Funny thing, she already had a story in mind and told me all about the plot she wants me to write. Good thing she gave me some pointers ;-) She even gave me a page count!

No prob, I'll get right on it - just to see that smile on her face again....
The story may stink because I don't do YA/children's stuff but I'm going to give it my best shot. Plus, I know Emily will love it either way.

Two horse hooves up for me! (Did I mention the book was about horses?) Yay....

Vanity Publishing

What is vanity publishing you ask?

I'll make this short and sweet: It's a publishing house that makes the author PAY to have their book published. Sound crazy? Well...it is! Most of these publishers also do "print-on-demand" which means no actual store stocks your book and it's only printed when someone buys it from Amazon. Recently, however a large vanity publisher who shall remain nameless upped the ante and included New York Times book reviews, guranteed bookstore placement and more for a HEFTY fee. Long ago I decided to forgo the vanity publishing route because of several reasons.

1. If my book is good, I shouldn't have to pay someone to publish it.
2. Vanity publishers don't have that great of "sales" because really, who wants to buy a book that may not have even been edited for typos? Not me.
3. I see vanity publishing as an 'easy way out'. You don't want to take the time to find an agent or publisher to accept your work. Or lets face it - your work may just stink. If that's the case, you want to see it in print so you fork out your money to do so knowing that you probably won't make any money in return. Does that make you a "published" author? Yes. But in my mind, it doesn't make you legit.

Several people have often asked me, 'Justine, why don't you just have so-and-so publish your book?' My response is always the same.

'Vanity publising is not for me. I write because I love it and I want someone else to love it too. I want an editor or agent to pick up my ms and say YES! to publishing. That would make me feel validated, like I belong in the publishing world. I don't want to have to pay to get there. I'll work for it thank you very much.'

You may not feel like me, but I'm pretty firm on this stance. I may never get published (although I'm really, really, really optimistic about it) but when I do, you better believe it will be because I worked for it and someone loved my manuscript enough to put in on a bookstore shelf!

~JD

Critique Partners

So, yeah - I have 10 critique partners. We work in a group on a Yahoo forum and thus far everything has been great. I also have 6 "editors" as I like to call them who read my books to only find typos. There's a difference you ask? Why, yes...there is.

My "editors" are family members and close friends, whom I love dearly, but probably wouldn't tell me if my story stunk. The one exception to that rule is my sister, who is an avid reader (but not of romance). She is the only one who dares (and the only one I would let get away with) telling me she hates this, I need to re-word this whole paragraph, she doesn't like this, she even hates this more....but I love her and respect her opinion. As a matter of fact, she is one of the reasons my second book turned out so well. Even though she's not an avid romance reader, her insights to that story really did help. (And if she reads this she will get a head bigger than those balloons going down the street at the Macy's Day Parade). Anyhoo...this group generally just finds all my missing "a's", general typos, words I left out or need to put in. They are there for the mechanics.

Now, my critique partners are bit different and much more honest. I have only had one critique partner tell me she pretty much hated the first three chapters of one of my books and let me tell you, it was like a stab to the heart. Granted, I had made drastic changes to the story before I let them read it because of the feedback they had given me from the first chapter. I have to admit, I didn't like the way the story changed, I didn't really like how the story morphed into something that it wasn't. But I gave it shot, and someone hated it. Then there are those times when their critiques give me such a big head I can't fit through the door. The smile plastered on my face can't even be wiped with a grinder. I much rather prefer those types of critiques, but alias - you never know what someone will like and another will hate.

The point is, critique partners tell you what they think is wrong with your story. Conflicts (internal and external), descriptions, Hero/Heroine problems, and yes - they will even tell you if they don't like the way you worded/wrote something. They tell you what your family/friends won't. They tell you what you need to hear. They tell you what you need to do to make your story better. It's not all cookies and cream, and sometimes the feedback hurts, but you have critique partners to help you and your writing grow to something that someone may actually want to buy some day!! And isn't that what all us emotional writers strive for?

Why yes...yes it is. So if you don't have a critique group...get one. They will be pivotal in your journey towards publishing and I am certain it will make you a better writer.

Now, with that being said I would like to point out that everyones opinions are different and maybe you don't like what your critique partners have to say. We understand that, we understand that we are just one voice in a bucket of a million others. You don't have to take our advice. You don't have to mold your story into something you don't like. All and all, you still must be true to yourself with still being able to work out those kinks in the story. You can heed the advice of a critique partners and still make sure your voice and story shine through. That's what writers do! Make a story come to life! Make a story powerful and emotional! And most importantly - Make the story YOURS!

~JD

Writers Block!!

How do you get rid of writer's block, and what is is exactly? I've never had it...UNTIL TODAY!!! URGH! I have lost the ability to come up with new work, and to continue on my current work. What the heck people?

So, I guess lots of things cause writers block; stress, creative problems, inspiration issues, relationship issues, feelings of being a failure, illness....I could go in, but I'll stop there.

So then, what the world is my problem? I'm not sick, I'm always stressed and have never had a problem before. My creative prowess is still going strong and there's plenty of inspiration looming around my life. Hmmm....I think I know what it is. Feelings of being a failure. I'm not saying I am a failure, because I don't think I am, there are times when I still have big head *winks*. I guess the better word would be disappointment in being able to accomplish my dreams. Granted, I've been at this less than a year, but I'm the type of gal who likes instant gratification. Who doesn't? I've learned patience and understanding of the industry, but that still doesn't mean I have to like it.

It's a hard game, and it weighs on you after a time. You start to wonder if your work is worth it, if it's good enough, if your good enough. Yes, all those thoughts have went through my mind - but you know what? I know my stories are heartfelt and emotional. I know they have strong characters and plots. I know they are written with a distinct voice. I know my writing is good (notice I didn't say great...words like that are saved for people like Laurell Hamilton and Nora Roberts). But knowing that doesn't make the journey any easier.

I like a challenge, that I will admit. I love to write. So, I decided long ago, that no matter what is thrown in my path on the way to publishing, I will step around it, jump over it, or clean it up because there is nothing that will stop me from one day seeing my name on book because I have story to tell!!

~JD

Harlequin Presents Contest & Cliches

August 2009 - like previously stated, I was doing some research and found the Harlequin Presents Contest. Oooooh....I wanted to enter!!! So, I bought some of their books, did my best to understand the plots and away I went!

But...I had to come up with a story. I was sitting at work, it was summer and I told one of my employees, Candice, whom was always willing to listen to my writing ups and downs, about the contest. I think she may have been more excited than me...lol. Together, we came up with a BRILLANT story idea!!! I worked out the plot, the scenes, the conflict and this story literally flew off my fingertips. I had until November 2nd to finish the first Chapter and email it. Needless to say, it didn't take that long to write, but it did take that long to edit into pristine condition.

I was determined to have the story totally finished by the time the contest winners were announced just in case I won. So BOOM! by the first week of December the story was done (and I was quite proud of it if I may say so myself). Then, two weeks before the contest winners were announced, the judges gave an update regarding the type of entries they had seen. They listed the "Seven Deadly Sins" that they had seen in the entries. OH NO!!

Remember when I told you I hadn't read a lot before? Well, this is where is came back to bite me on the you know what. I had only completed one of the seven deadly sins, but it was enough to count me out (yes, I didn't win or even final in the contest). My sin? A cliche.

Granted, I still think my story is good, it has wonderful heartfelt emotion and my critique members loved it. But the cliche....Presents doesn't care much for cliches. What was mine you ask? An amnesia plot. One day I'll post a blurb on my blog here and you can tell me what you think, but I think it was the last nail in the coffin for me regarding the contest.

After learning that cliches are no-no's, I had to learn more about them (and yes, there are A LOT). Amnesia, evil ex-wife, evil other woman, evil relatives, the country mouse theme,the naive virginal heroine, the duke of slut, the will stipulation, and the silly big misunderstanding. These are all romance cliches. Granted, you can still write a good story based on these themes, but if you do - watch out! From what I have read, if you do, they must be written in a fresh voice with engaging and likable characters, and the story itself must be GREAT.

You see? That's where I think my cliched story is different. It's a good powerful story and quite frankly, my H/H are pretty darn special in their own right. Okay, so maybe I'm biased, but who isn't about their writing? Wouldn't it be wonderful if we all had literary agents or editors tucked away in our broom closet? ;-)

Back to the point, I didn't win. I was sad...boo hoo. But a wonderful thing came out of the contest. MY CRITIQUE GROUP!!!! The Tremendous Ten, as we like to call ourselves got together after we all lost and decided to take our writing and our knowledge of the publishing game to a new level by helping each other. Thus far, it's been awesome - the members are mucho talented to say the least.

So what am I going to do with my contest entry you ask? Well, the MS is done and my critique partners are helping me tune some of the finer points. I enjoyed writing a catalog/series novel. It was hard, as I am quite long winded, but I loved it. The passion and heart you can put in 50K is astounding even to me. So now I have another love, writing series. When the wheels on my brain start moving, I can't even stop them, so now there are like 5 million more story ideas floating around in my head. Sometimes I wish I could just turn my brain off...hee hee.

So then it's off, to my next adventure with two full MS's sitting on my shelf. They aren't being forgotten...oh no...the are being reworked in masterpieces even as I type (if only in my head).

Yikes! Don't scare agents away!

So, I went back and read my second blog entry and it got me thinking....don't I just sound like a literary agents nightmare?!? A supposed "writer" who has been reading and writing novels less than a year....

Whoa...stop the train right there. Yes, I wasn't a reader until last March. I hated it with a passion you wouldn't believe. But, I soon discovered that I only hated reading stuff I didn't like (like school text books). Once I opened my eyes to the vast world of fiction, well - I guess you could say the rest is history. Reading, along with writing are both things I can't get enough of.

Just because I didn't read, doesn't mean I didn't write. Let me clarify. When I was in school (both high school and college), I prided myself in my paper writing skills. Sure, I'm tooting my own horn here, but it's true. I've always had the skill of being able to tell a good story, which is something I have to thank my family and most importantly - my dad, for. The realization of writing stuff down not only came from Twilight, but also the mother of one of my daughters friends. We were just chilaxing and talking about our girls one day and I remembered telling her a humorous story. She looked at me, an all too serious look on her face, and said, "Have you ever thought about writing? You have a knack for telling a story." Or something along those lines. I got a big head for a few minutes and then blew it off. Now I think I should have listened to her sooner. *Sighs*

No matter! The choo-choo must continue on it's path, up the long steep hill to publication. Do you see I'm unorthodox? I'm special, I know that. I've got a learning curve, but I assure you - I'm an uber fast learner! I've sucked up all the information I possibly can and now I am ready to conquer my dreams! Whew..now that I have cleared up my "skills" in this area, throw in some more coal, it's time for the train to move on!

After the first book -where to next?

So, it was August. I need an agent. My novel was single title and almost all publishers will only accept submission in that catagory from agented submissions. So, a new learning curve. The query letter. YIKES! I queried 5 agents to start, my favorite included (Writer's House...the home of Laurell Hamiltion and Stephanie Meyer). Rookie query mistakes prevailed and it didn't take long to be rejected by all 5. I was bit disgruntled, and again...wasn't sure if I should keep going. Oh, I was still writing...two more books in fact.

Because of those two books, I was trying to figure out what I should write - series or single-title? My first was single-title, but I wondered if I could do series...hmm.....

And then I found it. The "I Heart Presents" contest by Harlequin. In August, I was reading the writing guidelines for their series books and I came across this contest for Harlequin Presents/Modern Heat. The premise? Well, first and foremost your story had to follow their guidelines. Second, you had to submit the first chapter (no more than 5,000 words) by November 2nd.

I had a few books in the works...surely I could mold one of them into Modern Heat/Presents, right? Wrong! They were (and still are) my babies and I didn't want them to be sacrificied and changed into something they weren't. I had to come up with new idea. But first, I had to figure out what Heat/Presents was. Remember that whole part about reading what you write? Same goes here. I figured I better understand the genre before trying to write it, so I went and bought pretty much every book that month from those two lines.

Now, the first two I read shocked me. Never in my life had I read such a sensually crafted story. In both of the them, the H/H meet in the first chapter, and yes - I kid you not, are in bed by the second. I thought a pattern was developing and I was concerned because I didn't think I would be able to do that.

No worries, after book number 3 and 4 I discovered that not all plots end up like that. Now...if I could just come up with a brilliant idea for the story line. Well, of course I did - but I'll tell you about that next time.

How I Got Into Writing

Now, please don't laugh when you read this - it is a true story. What made me want to write? Truth be told I had my first novel in my head for about 2 years before I put it down on paper.

What made me put it on paper? Twilight. (I said don't laugh) Seriously - it's true. March 2009 I watched Twilight for the first time, I hadn't read any of the books (yes, I know I was behind on the times). It was then I decided that no matter the story (or the characters) if you have a powerful story to tell, TELL IT! The next day I started Broken Ties that Bind. 3 months and 80K words later...it was done.

Then I was like - what now? PUBLISHING!!! I'm biased, but I think the story is amazing and publishing worthy. Before I continue, you may want to know a small fact about me. Up until about 4 months ago, I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up (I am 29 by the way). Crazy? Maybe - but I just hadn't found my niche, something I love to do and really wanted to do. That was, until I picked up my pen and pencil...well, sat down at computer and let a story come to life before my very eyes. It was magical, wonderful and life changing.

So, publishing was my next task. By then I thought - I don't know anything about publishing, so where do I begin? Well, the first thing I learned was "if you want to write great stories, you have to read them" (your genre helps) Here's another interesting fact about me. Up until last year, I hadn't read a book since high school - and even then I got by with barely skimming the pages. I was smart by nature, so yes - I got excellent grades even though I wasn't a reader. And then there were those terrible 4 years when I had to read for my Bachelor's program...but that is a story all in itself.

Then I thought, I have to read? Are you kidding me? I HATE reading. At least that's what I thought. Boy was I ever wrong. I thought the best place to start would be the Twilight book, seeing as how that movie got the ball rolling for me. I had all four books read within a matter of days (yes, I mean days). I won't tell you what I thought of the books, but my OCD won't let me NOT finish something I start and a series of books must be completed. I will say this - underneath it all, Twilight is a powerful love story.

Now, after I read Twilight I was like - now what? My sister put Laurell Hamilton's Anita Blake series in my hands and I unstoppable. At the time, the series had 17 books and I flew through them in just over a month. Love her, by the way. Once I was done, I was once again confused as to my next move as my MS sat idly on my shelf.

Crap - what now? Then I picked up the "Dummy's Guide to getting your romance book published". My book was romance with a hint of suspense, so I thought - why not? I read it and enlightened myself more than I could have imagined. So I had to read romances....not outrageous sci-fi erotica like Laurell Hamilton, even though I loved her stories.

Nora Roberts, here I came. The first "official romance" I read was the McKade Brothers series and it was like a slap in the face. WHOA! I thought - how on earth can I compete on any level with that?!? By the time the summer was over I had read over 30 of her books (probably more if I actually counted), I couldn't get enough. In the meantime I was reworking mine to what I would call today's standards and turned it into a mighty fine story if I do say so myself.

Alas...I was still confused as to the publishing game...agents...publishers...etc, so I was still unsure of where to go. But I knew one thing for sure. After reading romances (and numerous other women's fiction), I wanted to write powerful, thought provoking stories more than I wanted to breath. Ideas flooded my head and I couldn't write them down fast enough. I want to bring joy, sadness, heartbreak, and love into someones hands. I want someone to read something I wrote and think "wow...that was a wonderful story". I want people to be moved. I want to be appreciated for WHAT I write, not just because I write. I want to make a difference in the lives of those who love to read. I want to be me. The me that knows what she wants to be when she grows up. Justine Dell, the author.

First Day....pretty awesome!

I have always wanted a blog and voila! Here it is...kudos to me...much kudos to me ;-) I could talk about many many thing....but for now, I'm just excited I have one. Let me sit a bit and think of some stuff to enlighten everyone with!