KAREN KELLEY—TRIUMPH AFTER SIX LONG YEARS OF WORK

My guest is best selling romance author, Karen Kelley. She writes sexy, quirky romances and paranormal romance.

Karen shares a bit about her road to publication and her tears and triumphs along the way.

Thanks for inviting me for coffee. I have to admit I’m hooked on Café Mocha. I didn’t always drink coffee, but late nights and deadlines had me reaching toward something that would keep me awake and semi alert.

You asked me to share the laughter and the tears, the glitches and triumphs. That would be a book in itself! But I wouldn’t want to do anything else. It took me 6 years of hard work and a wonderful group of friends before I sold my first book. I talked my husband into mailing it because I couldn’t face the looks of pity from the postal workers. That was on Tuesday. On Thursday morning Hilary Sares from Kensington called to make an offer. Yes, it can happen that fast.

I dedicated the book to my mom and dad. My dad had passed away the year before from cancer and my mother’s health wasn’t good. I quit work, brought my mother to live with my husband, and me and stayed at home to take care of her. Those were lean times living on one income, but I would do it all over again because every time I lifted my mother from the bed to her wheelchair I felt the warmth of her arms around me. She told me stories I’d never heard and we laughed and we cried and we bonded like I never could have imagined.

She was so excited when I sold, and again when Kensington sent me a big mock up of the cover, and so proud when I told her I’d dedicated it to her and daddy, then I read her the dedication. I guess I knew she wouldn’t ever hold the book in her hands and I wanted her to know just how much I loved her. She passed in May; my first book was released in August.

I wrote 19 books for Kensington, one for Berkley and then I found Sourcebooks and I continue to write my quirky romances, even more sexy than my earlier ones.

Where There’s a Will is the second book in my brand new series. Haley lives her day to day dreary life until she’s stood up by a coworker. That night she cries herself to sleep and prays for a miracle.  The next morning a handsome nephilim (half angel/half man) rings her doorbell and promises to give her the miracle she’s been waiting for. Ryder rings more than her doorbell.

If you’ve ever felt like you were on the outside looking in or someone made you feel inferior, then you might enjoy Where There’s A Will. It’s a story about discovery and love and it’s very sexy and a little funny, too!

Who wouldn’t want an immortal on her doorstep promising to make all her dreams come true? 

BUY: AMAZON, B&N, INDIEBOUND

Her Fantasies Were Wild But Buried Deep...

Haley Tillman words hard at being a good girl, hiding her rich fantasy life in the pages of her diary. But being good doesn’t seem to get her anywhere with men, and her confidence is on a downward spiral. She's ready to try something altogether different, but hasn't a clue where to start. In a moment of desperation, she prays for a miracle...

He Might Take Her Beyond Them...

Ryder is the perfect combination of powerful angel plus normal hot–blooded man. Crossing into the mortal world could cost him his existence. But mortals are like a potent drug to Ryder, and Hayley is quickly becoming his drug of choice... excerpt

Currently Karen writes for Sourcebooks and the Brava Imprint with Kensington Publishing and has the fabulous Kate Duffy for an editor. Karen writes full-time, and collects junk which she fondly calls antiques. Her husband can still be talked into mailing her manuscripts and also helping with her publicity. She has two grown children, one son-in-law and four grandchildren and a very spoiled Pekinese. She loves sitting on the patio on a warm spring day and procrastinating about her approaching deadline. 

You can find Karen: Facebook, Goodreads, Website

So You Want To Write A Legal Thriller?

Reece is offering two copies of The Insider to two commenters today.

I'm pleased to have debut legal thriller author, Reece Hirsch, as my guest today.

Aside from the fact that his book is a must read, he has some practical pointers on pursuing the ambition to write and be published. Reece covers The Law of Literary Inertia (which cracked me up), Write What You Know – Then Make Stuff Up, Don’t Chase Trends, Embrace the Process, The All-Important First Page, and  Develop a Thick Skin. Sounds like he's been there and done that, doesn't it?

Reece calls it his six year struggle.

Scott Turow and John Grisham are a little like the Beatles and Stones of the legal thriller genre. Everything that has come after them tends to be categorized and measured in terms of those two highly successful lawyer-authors. When Turow’s Presumed Innocent was published in 1987, I was a first-year law student at U.S.C. When Grisham’s The Firm was published in 1991, I was a first-year associate at a Los Angeles law firm.


Like many other lawyers of my vintage, I read those two enormously successful (and very different) books and thought, “I’d like to try writing one of those someday.” But it took 12 or so years for me to find the time to make the effort. After all, the demands of practicing law and maintaining a personal life don’t leave a lot of spare time for creative endeavors.


Eventually, though, I did begin writing and in May 2010 my debut legal thriller The Insider was published by Berkley Books, a division of Penguin, as a mass-market paperback. I’d characterize The Insider as more of a “Grisham” than a “Turow” because it’s a fast-paced story of a young lawyer who becomes a pawn in a complex criminal scheme that involves, among other things, Russian mobsters, insider trading and a secret government domestic surveillance program.


While I am but a humble beginning writer, I think I learned a few things in my six-year struggle to complete a novel and get it published. For those of you with a partially completed manuscript in a drawer or a long-postponed goal of writing one, I hope these pointers will make your journey a little shorter and less arduous than mine was.

• The Law of Literary Inertia. 

To paraphrase Sir Isaac Newton, a writer at rest tends to remain at rest, while a writer who is writing tends to continue writing. After I turned 40, I began to hear the literary equivalent of a biological clock ticking. I knew that if I was ever going to make a serious effort to write a legal thriller, I’d better get started. Then I hit the snooze button and commenced writing in earnest two years later.


In order to jump-start my literary efforts, I enrolled in a U.C. Berkeley Extension Novel Writing Workshop. The weekly assignments forced me to write regularly, and I enjoyed the process of getting and giving feedback.


At the end of the workshop, I had about fifty pages written and an encouraging evaluation from my teacher. It gave me just enough momentum to continue writing consistently on weekends, early weekday mornings and on the BART train to work. Later, I joined a weekly writers group, which provided the same kind of weekly deadlines and critiques that were so helpful to me early on.

• Write What You Know – Then Make Stuff Up.

Despite the number of legal thrillers that line the bookstore shelves, I found that, as a practicing lawyer, there were still many facets of the legal profession and law firm life that were relatively new ground for the genre. For example, in The Insider, I touch upon the tussles over billing credit among partners that can sometimes define a career. In one scene, I try to show the drama that can be found in the gamesmanship of an M&A negotiation. I also drew upon my knowledge of privacy and security law in developing one of the novel’s key plot elements.


Of course, a little legal verisimilitude goes a long way with most readers. If I had stuck to the real-life experiences of a young, workaholic corporate attorney like my protagonist Will Connelly, my thriller would have been about as thrilling as a day spent in a due diligence room reading corporate minutes. To remedy that, my story also includes plenty of deception, betrayal – and a sizable body count.

• Don’t Chase Trends.

As tempting as it might be to write a legal thriller about vampire lawyers following a series of clues that may reveal the lost secrets of the Freemasons, chasing publishing trends is futile. The lead-time involved in writing and publishing a book is so long that any fad will be hopelessly passé by the time your book reaches the market. However, it is helpful to read the genre that you’re writing in and think about how you can bring a fresh angle.

• Embrace the Process.

Like most things, writing a novel is something that you learn by doing, and by making mistakes. Many of the debut authors that I’ve met recently have a first, unpublished manuscript in the drawer, their “learner book.” Instead of scrapping my first attempt and starting over on a second book, I chose, perhaps from sheer stubbornness, to laboriously rework and rework my first book until it was publishable. Whichever route you take, there seems to be no getting around the fact that, unless you are some sort of literary prodigy, writing a publishable novel often takes years of painstaking revision and refinement.

• The All-Important First Page.

The first page, and the first chapter, of your manuscript are critical. The competition to grab the attention of literary agents and publishers is intense, and if they aren’t absolutely riveted by the first pages, they simply won’t read further. No matter how brilliant the climax of your book is, it probably won’t get published without a killer first chapter.

• Develop a Thick Skin.

To write is to be rejected. Unless you are that literary prodigy that I mentioned earlier, you will amass a fat stack of rejection letters from agents and later, if you’re lucky, publishers. You will amass so many form rejection letters that a handwritten rejection will seem like a drink of cool water in the desert. Fortunately, lawyers are well known to be fairly impervious to abuse. And that may be the lawyer-author’s secret weapon.

• What some of the lessons you've learned along the way to publication?

The Insider Back Cover:

San Francisco corporate attorney Will Connelly's well-ordered life is shattered when he watches a colleague hurtle to his death outside his office window. Within days, Will is the prime suspect in a murder, the target of an S.E.C. insider trading investigation, and a pawn in a complex criminal scheme involving the Russian mafia and a ruthless terrorist plot. Now, Will must ensure that a deadly enemy doesn't gain access to the nation's most sensitive and confidential information—and the power to do incalculable, irrevocable harm.  

EXCERPT

Hirsch's fast-paced, film-ready plot and tough, ambitious characters will keep fans of legal thrillers on the edge of their seats."

—Publishers Weekly

 

BUY: AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, BOOKS-A-MILLION, INDIEBOUND

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Reece Hirsch Facebook

Reece Hirsch's debut legal thriller THE INSIDER was published by Berkley Books in May 2010. He is a partner in the San Francisco office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, specializing in privacy, security and healthcare law. Reece is also a member of the Board of Directors of 826 National, a non-profit organization that conducts writing and literacy programs for young people.

Reece earned his law degree from the University of Southern California and a B.S. degree in journalism from Northwestern University. Prior to law school, Reece worked as a journalist in Atlanta for several years, including a stint as an assistant editor of a business magazine. For three years, he edited and published an arts and entertainment magazine in Atlanta.


In writing THE INSIDER, Reece drew upon his experiences working in law firms and his background in privacy and security law. THE INSIDER touches upon privacy concerns raised by government domestic surveillance in the wake of 9-11 and is based in part on the true story of the Clipper Chip, a National Security Agency encryption program from the mid-Nineties.


Reece lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife Kathy and their dog Simon.

The Immigration Of Characters

I write, as do many writers, because I enjoy writing. I take pleasure in telling stories and taking people on adventures via my stories. I have voices and ideas in my head. It gets crowded in there; I need these clamoring characters to immigrate. Onto my computer screen is the perfect new world for them. Rarely are they happy there, though. They want a larger world. They want to travel; they want to see and be seen. These characters are determined; they have visions of the wide world of places like Barnes and Noble in which to sow their wild oats. A few are truly ambitious and, having a high opinion of themselves, dream of traveling to New York and make the rounds socially—on the ‘A’ list, of course. One or two have even mentioned being on the ‘A’ list will help them realize another dream, living on the silver screen. Once they’ve done that, then they want to settle down on a nice little cozy bookshelf somewhere.


So what’s a beleaguered writer to do? Help them immigrate, of course.


As a writer, I’ve in effect given birth to them and I’m emotionally attached to them. I’ve raised them to be tough and strong, to set goals and dream. I applaud their ambition. I love my characters, so I start the paper trail to help them realize their dreams and ambitions. However, immigration laws for characters have become tough in the past ten years. There’s so much red tape involved. Character immigration is a tough business all around. Getting through to the Character Immigration Officers is daunting.

I get frustrated because some of these CIO’s reject my characters without even giving them a chance. I polish them, provide my characters with a new wardrobe, take care with accessories—because appearances are everything in this world—and try again. I provide them with the right background and setting and still they get rejected. Some of these CIO’s want clear-cut categories to pigeonhole them. A certain background. Some of my characters don’t fit into a particular category—they are people after all—much less a set background. Some of my characters do, but still aren’t accepted. My characters are upset and I’m frustrated. Because I’m attached to them, it bothers me when they’re rejected. Meanwhile, I have a small town of characters living on my computer, and more in my head. Will I stop creating? No. Will I stop trying to help my characters to immigrate? No, again.


I have invested in some tough Rhino skin for my characters and myself. It’s survival. I have no intention in giving up on finding homes for my characters. But rejections hurt you as an author. They can’t help but hurt us because we have created these characters and invested time and emotion in them. Rejections are a normal process of the querying your novels and stories. Some published authors say they’ve received enough rejection letters they could’ve papered their bathroom walls. That’s a lot of rejections.


Some of these published authors made it through the red tape of Agents and Editors and gotten their stories published with traditional publishing houses, others investigated smaller publishers and went that route, and still others have settled in nicely with POD publishers. They did this because they believed in their abilities to tell an entertaining story and a desire to take readers on an adventure. They enjoy writing.


The point is, these are published authors and they didn’t give up. They obviously invested in some tough Rhino skin as well so as not to be discouraged to the point of not writing or querying their stories. Persistence has its rewards. They’ve networked and marketed aggressively. Even after getting a contract, they continue working on building and keeping a strong reader base by perfecting their skills as a storyteller.

For these published authors, their characters have emigrated from the world in their heads and their computers to New York and hit the ‘A’ list—the Best Sellers list. Some of the authors have had their books optioned and have seen their characters make it to the movies. Some of their characters have starred in TV movies or series. Their characters have happily found homes in Borders and Barnes and Noble. Others are happily ensconced on a nice cozy bookshelf in someone’s home.


There are many success stories out there. The question is, will you stay the course and help your characters immigrate? Where will your characters end up? Will they immigrate or end up spending their life with you?


As for me, I’m determined to help my characters immigrate.

~*~*~*~*~

Sia Mckye lives in Missouri on a ranch out beyond the back forty. She raises kids, Great Danes, horses, and has been known to raise a bit of hell now and then.

Sia has been involved with marketing and promotion for most of her working life. She's published various articles and conducted seminars on marketing/promotion.

She has written several romance novels and Para romance. Sia is in the process of helping her characters immigrate to Barnes & Noble.

WRITING: DON'T TRY TO CONTROL THE UNCONTROLLABLE

~Sia McKye~

"Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement; then it becomes a mistress, and then it becomes a master, and then a tyrant. The last phase is: you kill the monster, and fling him out to the public." Winston Churchill

One of my favorite blogs was discussing the attitude of some aspiring authors and how critical they were of books on the market today. I do read many blogs and the comments as well as discussions on writer’s forums. There is a worry that the writing market is being flooded with wannabe authors. Frustrated writers trashing, not only the books that are being published when theirs are not, but also agents and publishers and the horse they rode in on, because they have passed on their manuscript.

They curse the market that’s buying books that aren’t in their genre. I’ve seen a lot of scrutiny on what is being published. Questions and opinions on formula writing to the market, thrillers and suspense, romance and various sub-genres of romance. Are there too many types of Regency novels flooding the market? Is erotica another word for porn and is it a valid genre? Are Vampire stories a dead end now? Are paranormals on their way out?

I happen to think any idea, if presented in a fresh way, will still sell. I’m a selective reader and will say I do think twice about reading a book or series written about vampires. I’m the same way with Regencies and to a certain extent, paranormals. It has to have that certain something that makes it stand out. Say what you want, but paranormals are still hot and I don’t see them declining in popularity any time soon and I think it’s the same with genres of erotica.

Reading some of the blogs and writer forums is a lot like walking into a room filled with chaos and loud opinions. I tend to do one of two things when that happens, walk out or start watching for the patterns. Make sense of the chaos and find my own path.

There are a lot of opinions and strong feelings on what’s selling today. Speaking as a writer, I am more critical of the quality of writing in books I read, this is true, but not so much that I pan most of the books published today as drivel. I don’t think they are.

I suppose some of the attitude among writers’ stems from the feeling that most books published today are tripe. It may also depend upon the genre of books a person reads. Various genres wax and wane in popularity. When they wane, it’s hard to find a book to read in that genre. I love a good romance but I read several genres, so I usually find something worthy of reading. Right now, I’m reading and enjoying a thriller by Stephen Coonts, called Deep Black: Arctic Gold.

I think some of the attitude among writers might also stem from having their work passed over while others seem to get published. They compare their book ideas or those of their friends with what’s out there and finding it lacking. Some feel that their writing is as good as or better than what’s being published—and that may well be true. I’d say this attitude is both frustration with a highly competitive market and plain jealousy. One you can’t do anything about and the other you can.

I have a good friend who says getting published is like a lightning strike. You need to be in the right place at the right time. Lightning strikes happen more times than we realize. So, following analogy if that’s the case then I am going to be the one out in the storms carrying the lightening rod and trying to draw the lightning.

While I'm ambitious, determined, and success oriented, I've never been a type A personality. I feel that yes, there is some luck involved—being in the right place at the right time. I watch the patterns I try to place myself where I can take advantage of the thread of luck, such as it is. I also feel there is a good deal of work involved. I can’t control the market. I have no control over readers' taste in books. I realized a long time ago, there are few things in life you are able to control, so why waste the energy trying to control the uncontrollable? I can control the quality of my work and improve it so I’m more competitive in the existing market. So, I work.

The thing about jealousy, aside from making you bitter, is the fact that while you are so busy bemoaning another's success you don't have the time to work on your own. I don't begrudge someone his or her success being published and I’m not. Good for them and I’ll have my own soon enough unless I give up—which is not my style.

For me, success has always been about applying myself, believing in myself, getting knocked down but getting back up. I don’t have time to sit in the middle of the road crying over whether something is fair or not, or worry about the market, agents, or publishers. There is one thing about all those writers trying to break into the business though, if I fall and skin my knee, or have hurt feelings from a rejection? I sure as hell better get up quick or I’ll be trampled or left behind. Footprints and dust aren’t the fashion statement I want to project.

So, regardless of the market, the opinions of agents and publishers, my philosophy is: Don’t get caught up in jealousy over another’s success. Don’t try to control the uncontrollable, like readers' taste and what is or isn’t being published. Control those things you can and if you want to be published, be willing to work hard to perfect your craft. If you get knocked down, get back up. Writing is a business so learn the business to the best of your ability. Carry a lightning rod and always keep your eye open to look out for your own luck.

“Opportunity dances with those already on the dance floor.”

What do you say? Shall we dance?

***

Sia McKye has spent over twenty years in marketing and promotion. She's written and published various articles on writing, marketing, and promotion. She's a Marketing Rep by profession and also writes fiction.

AS A WRITER, WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR PEBBLES?

I’m a reflective person by nature. I think about many things in life. Look for lessons and ways to make things better for me and mine. To me life is like a giant puzzle made of pebbles. Sometimes it’s comprised of hard labor. Other times, the fun is in seeing how to work all the pieces tossed at us, and make a picture of it. Don’t like those particular pieces, rearrange them. I’m also an optimist but with my feet firmly planted in reality. I know if I work at it hard enough, think it through, I’ll find a way. And so it is with my writing.

To be a writer is rather solitary. We pour our hearts and souls into our writing--our characters, our created world. They're part of us, aren't they? When someone rejects that, of course we feel it AND feel they're rejecting us. On one level that's true, but we have to learn to compartmentalize, or we're dead in the water. We have to have tough Rhino skin or we're not going to survive. And yeah, it sucks.

As with most of the entertainment/arts groups, publishing is a tough playing field to break into. A key element in being a success in any field is focus, working at perfecting your skills, and believing in yourself and your abilities.

I think about authors like Nora Roberts, Jayne Ann Krentz, and Catherine Coulter. They all started out with Harlequin and or Silhouette. Many curled their lips at books from Harlequin. Whether it’s a lightweight romance publisher, or POD and E-book publishers—who cares where you start, so long as you start? I believe these authors honed their story telling skills and learned what readers like and didn't like, and built a readership base in these forums. And who are we to curl our lips, or diminish the worth of an author that makes those choices? Now, these authors are regularly on the Best Sellers lists.

Singers start out playing local, market themselves aggressively, and get their names out there. How? Singers play for anyone that lets them sing. Bars, lounges, you name it. Actors do the same with local theatre, and work their way up. They network like crazy. Are you doing that as a writer?

Pebble in the pool effect. Think about American idol. These singers are looking for shortcuts and there isn’t anything wrong with that, but even the shortcuts come with fierce competition. As authors, we do contests too, so we can relate.

What’s important here is: if the pebble isn’t first dropped into a pool of water, no ripples happen. The pebble has to be dropped more than once. It’s the same with writing. Every time you write a story, you drop a pebble and every time you query, or enter a contest, you drop another one. Every blog, writer’s conference, and joining a writing group is another pebble.

Maybe only a few of us will make it big. The truth of the matter is; getting published is not solely dependent upon talent. There are many talented people. Sometimes chance, fate or whatever you want to call it, steps in. If we’re not putting forth the effort of getting our writing and our name out there, what have you offered fate or chance to work with?

There’s a quote I like and I’ll share it with you. "Opportunity dances with those already on the dance floor."

…or dropping your pebbles.

It’s something I think about frequently—what am I doing with my pebbles? Stacking them in a pile with no work or thought given them?
Am I hoarding them in a drawer where no one can see them?
Am I allowing fear of success or failure, hold me back?

By putting our work out there, we’re on the dance floor or to continue the metaphor, dropping our pebbles.

As a writer, where and how are you dropping your pebbles?