MOVING FORWARD WITH GINA LAMM

If you happen to see a flying marshmallow or four, don’t be alarmed. It’s only my guest, romance author, Gina Lamm, demonstrating her astounding mouth popping abilities. 

Most writers are more introspective than outgoing. We spend a lot of time lost in the worlds we are creating. We know  very well our faults and failings. It's hard not to get tangled up in doubts and worries. Gina’s topic today is how not to get lost in navel gazing aka artistic depression. 

Hi! I want to thank Sia (which is an incredibly cool name, btw) for having me for coffee today. I’m sipping on my overly sweetened coffee with almond milk while writing this, so it’s totally appropriate. J

Today I thought I’d talk a little bit about the hard times. It’s not always sunshine and roses being an author. There are days when the to-do list seems like it’s as long as a stretch of desert with no water.

Being an author is a pretty lonely occupation. Sure, it’s not my only job. For my 9 to 5, I work in a doctor’s office, answering phones, doing paperwork, and being generally pleasant. But, like a lot of authors, I’m somewhat of an introvert. Especially on days like today, when it seems that there’s no chance to get everything done, all I want to do is hide. But that’s not possible, so I smile, keep working, and secretly pray that somehow I’ll get everything done on time.

I read a statistic somewhere that creative types—authors, artists, etc.—are about three times as likely to be clinically depressed as other types. I believe it. When you spend so much time alone, being introspective, climbing for the goal of always improving your craft, it’s hard not to see all your failings. But we creative types have a responsibility to each other. To keep ourselves from navel-gazing too long. To show each other that there’s a beautiful world outside of our mind’s eye, one that feeds our muses and soothes our souls.

So here’s what I do to keep the over-introspection at bay. I read. I play video games. I spend time with my wonderful and loving husband and family. I chat with my writer friends online, or on the phone. I try to be there for them when their own doubts catch up with them. And I keep on ticking the bullets off my to-do list. With each check, it seems that three more tasks leap to fill the space. But I keep working, and with each tick, I get a sense of accomplishment. 

There are things I could have done differently in any one of my books. There are things that I’m not as pleased with as I could be. But those books are done. They’re behind me. And each book has taught me something about writing, about life, and about me. Even the ones that didn't make it to publication were important, were critical to my growth as an author and a person. And for that reason, it’s important to keep moving forward.

THE GEEK GIRL AND THE SCANDALOUS EARL taught me a lot. Almost more than any other book I've written to date. It taught me that a great idea is what it takes to snag the attention of a great editor. It taught me that when I want something badly enough, I can make it happen, including writing a full-length novel in about 8 weeks. It also taught me that I have a unique voice, a unique perspective, and that my work is worth sharing. It taught me to believe in myself as an author.

• What helps to keep you moving forward? Are you a creative type? How do you feed your muse and keep your doubts at bay?

Thanks again to Sia. I’m so grateful to have been here!

                                                                                                                                       

AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE

THE GEEK GIRL AND THE SCANDALOUS EARL

Gina Lamm

The Stakes Have Never Been Higher...

An avid gamer, Jamie Marten loves to escape into online adventure. But when she falls through an antique mirror into a lavish bedchamber—200 years in the past!—she realizes she may have escaped a little too far.

Micah Axelby, Earl of Dunnington, has just kicked one mistress out of his bed and isn't looking to fill it with another—least of all this sassy, nearly naked woman who claims to be from the future. Yet something about her is undeniably enticing...

Jamie and Micah are worlds apart. He's a peer of the realm. She can barely make rent. He's horse-drawn. She's Wi-Fi. But in the game of love, these two will risk everything to win. 

                                                                                                                                      

Becoming a magician proved to be less interesting than Gina Lamm had anticipated when she was six, so in her adult life, she’s turned to writing.

This belly-dancing, wisecracking, marshmallow-addicted mother of three energetic fur-children loves nothing more than penning funny, emotional tales of love, lust, and entertaining mishaps.

Married to a real live superhero, she and her family live in North Carolina, surrounded by tobacco farms, possums, and the occasional hurricane.

CHRISTIE CRAIG: How To Ward Off A Gremlin

It's something all writers face—published or unpublished—self-doubt.


Romance author, Christie Craig tells how she deals with it and offers Five tips for overcoming and preventing self doubts. 

There’s a monster hiding under my desk.  He lurks there, waiting for the right moment to attack. He’s an ugly little bastard, too.  I have a lot of names for him, but for the sake of not overusing profanity in this blog, I’ll call him by his real name, Self-Doubt.  

Most of you might think that after two decades in the business, I’d have managed to kill the gremlin.  But you’d be wrong.  That sneaky little devil won’t die.  He keeps popping back up. 

I think self doubt is something most writers face throughout their careers.  And by careers, I don’t mean from the point that you become a published author, I mean, from the point you start writing.  I think the inability to fight the gremlin is one of the biggest things that prevent a writer from becoming published.  And it’s probably one of the reasons published writers stop writing.  That’s right, this monster doesn’t care what you’ve accomplished.  All he wants is a big bite out of your confidence.

He’ll tell you that whatever you’ve got on that computer screen is crap.  That you just need to delete it. He’ll convince you that no matter how good of an idea you may have, it’s probably already been done.

He’ll whisper in your ear that you’re wasting your time, that cleaning out your grout in your kitchen tile with a toothbrush is much more important.  Sometimes he possesses your family and friends and they’ll say things like, “How long are you going to put yourself though all this pain before you find something else to do with your time?”  He’ll stare you right in the eyes and tell you that your dreams are silly and you’ll never reach them.  He’ll make you believe that the one negative review out of twenty good ones is the one you should listen to.  If you let him, he not only can slow you down, he’ll rob you of the joy and passion you feel for writing. 

Now, that gremlin is always close by, nipping at your toes, giving you moments of doubt.  I think that’s somewhat normal.  But let that creature scramble up your leg, hang out in your lap, or even worse, let him climb up on your shoulder, where you can listen to him all day long, and you’ll soon be playing Russian Roulette with your passion for writing.  Because writing with a self-doubt gremlin sitting on your shoulder is about as easy as brushing your teeth with a brownie in your mouth. 

So how do we slay the gremlin or at least keep him at bay?  Below are five tips for overcoming and preventing self-doubt from chewing on your sanity.

• 1)      Be Aware or Peer Pressure.

We preach this to our kids but so often we forget that the bad habits of the people we hang out with are as contagious as a stomach virus.  If you’re hanging out with negative people, people who have lost their ability to chase their dreams, you’re at risk of becoming just like them.  Find positive people who validate your dreams and work ethics to share your life and support your journey.

• 2)      Ward off the message that you don’t know what you’re doing by continually growing at a writer.  Read how-to books, take classes, attend those writer meetings and listen to what other writers offer as advice.

• 3)      Mentor someone else.  Nothing can inspire you more than helping and encouraging another person.  Telling others that they have to believe in themselves is a sure fire way or rekindling your own self-confidence.  It also creates karma.

• 4)      Be leery of ruts.  If you’re not feeling the passion for your writing, try spicing things up by doing something different.  Try writing something in a new genre, or try writing something in a different point of view.  Nothing can get you out of a rut quicker than feeling challenged.

• 5)      Accept that sometimes you are going to fail. That you’re going to make mistakes.  That you’re going to get rejections—that it might take you years to accomplish what you want to accomplish. Understand that you aren’t the first person to get fifty rejections, or a hundred, or even a thousand. The truth is, the number of rejections you receive doesn't matter.  You are not defeated until you let yourself be defeated.

Writing isn’t for wimps.  Chances are, you’ll face those gremlins, not once but many times, so just be armed with good friends, knowledge, Karma, a sense of adventure, and perseverance.  And never, ever lose your sense of humor.  And now that I’ve shared with you my tips for slaying gremlins, I’d like to hear some of yours. 

• How do you tackle self doubt?

DON'T MESS WITH TEXASAvailable now on bookshelves and e-book 
Nikki Hunt thought her night couldn't get worse when her no-good, cheating ex ditched her at dinner, sticking her with the bill. Then she found his body stuffed in the trunk of her car and lost her two-hundred-dollar meal all over his three-thousand-dollar suit. Now not only is Nikki nearly broke, she's a murder suspect.

Former cop turned PI, Dallas O'Connor knows what it's like to be unjustly accused. But one look at the sexy-though skittish-suspect tells him she couldn't hurt anyone. The lead detective, Dallas's own brother, has the wrong woman and Dallas hopes a little late-night "undercover" work will help him prove it . . . First Chapter Excerpt (blog excerpt page)

BUY: Amazon : Barnes & Noble : Books a Million : Katy Budget Books

~*~*~ 

Photojournalist, Author and Speaker

Christie Craig, an Alabama native, is an award-winning, multi-published writer, multi-published photo journalist, motivational speaker, and writing teacher.. Her non-fiction articles and photography have appeared in almost three thousand national magazines. A Golden Heart finalist, and a finalist in more than fifty RWA-sponsored contests, she has gained a well-deserved reputation for writing romance fiction that has both witty humor and a suspenseful, sexy tone. Published by Silhouette in the 90s, she recently broke back into fiction in a big way, making four book sales in one day. Her seventh humorous single title romance novel, published by Dorchester, will hit the stands in June 2010. Her non-fiction book, co-authored by Faye Hughes, released September 08, is The Everything Guide To Writing A Romance Novel and their second non-fiction book, a humorous self-help relationship book, Wild, Wicked and Wanton: 101 Ways to Love Like You Are in a Romance Novel is scheduled to be released December 2010. Craig's latest writing adventure is the sale of a young adult paranormal romance series, Shadow Falls Camp, which will be published by St. Martins Press in the near future.

  

The Ghosts of Contests Past

 Romance is not dead.com
 

Click on the picture above to go to Mills & Boon



My guest is romance writer Jill Lynn Anderson. Jill and I originally met through a contest and have remained friends and are both of us are part of a large and very close writing group, The Writing Wombats.

 When Jill mentioned she had not only entered Mills and Boon New Voices Contest (she never said a word about entering) with her novel, WINDSONG, but was in the top ten finalists, I was over the moon! Why? Not only because she was a friend with great storytelling ability, but because she had at one time considered giving up writing.


I’ll let Jill tell you about that.



Thank you so much for inviting me to talk about being one of ten finalists in Mills & Boon New Voices contest, Sia.

I am one of the least competitive people you'll ever find, yet I've lost count of the number of writing contests I've entered over the years. My first "win" came from a silly entry into a contest an America Online writing group held for Mike Tyson recipes---this was soon after Mike Tyson bit off Evander Holyfield's ear in their infamous match. As some of your blog followers are probably too young to even know about this, that gives an indication of how long ago this was. (Also shows my age LOL) My prize was a cookbook. A used one. Yet I was thrilled to win.

Once my writing took a more serious turn, I had two finished novels under my belt when I entered the first novel-writing contest at Gather. I was certain I would win. My novel is brilliant! Readers will recognize it as the masterpiece it is! Imagine my surprise when I was out on the first round.

I then entered my other novel into Gather's next novel contest--this one for romances--thinking I "might" win. Again, out on the first round.

Then came the first Amazon Break-Through Novel Award. I submitted the same novel I'd entered in the first Gather contest. Ah ha! I thought. New audience. They'll see this novel's brilliance! Entered. Out.

Second Amazon Break-Through Novel Award. I'd written another novel at this point, and worked hard to fine-tune my pitch, asked for feedback from all the Writing Wombats--whom I was fortunate to find during all those Gather writing contest--and polished, polished, polished. I just KNEW this was it. Entered. Out.

Although you'd think I'd be used to being out on the first round, I was devastated this time. To the point that I'd decided to give up. Not just give up on contests, but on writing completely. I'm not an, ‘I have to write' type writer anyway, and decided there were other, less time-consuming outlets for my creativity. For me, the satisfaction I get out of writing isn't complete without also having readers at the other end. Between the rejections I was receiving from literary agents and the contest losses, my disillusionment was complete. Four novels no one was ever going to read were enough.

But then...

I took two stories I'd written for the fun contests we Writing Wombats have a couple times of year and submitted them to publishers. One was a dark humor piece I'd written for our Phantasmorgia contest at Halloween time (mind you, I didn't win our contest), and it became my first publishing credit when it was published in an anthology "Night Bird Singing in the Dead of Night." My second publishing credit came when I submitted what I'd written for our Valentine's Day contest to Woman's World magazine. Peach- Flavored Kisses was published in their final issue of 2009.

So, I figured though I wasn't winning contests, good did come out of them. Still, when someone mentioned the New Voices contest, I was reluctant to enter. I'd just started writing again after the five-month hiatus that followed my devastation from the Amazon contest. Did I really want to put myself there again? Besides, my category romance was in first person, which Mills & Boon rarely publishes, AND I don't introduce my hero until chapter two. I'd already broken two romance book "rules", but entered a couple days before deadline with a what-the-heck attitude. I KNEW I'd never get past the first round.

Imagine my surprise...

• I'm not surprised, it's a good story, Jill. How do we go about casting a vote for you? Will I have to do anything special to gain access to your first two chapters? Can I comment on the story if I want to?  

Thanks for asking, Sia. Voting is a bit tricky. Readers clicked one to five roses to rate our first chapters, and they still show up on our pages, but aren't clickable in this round of the competition.

To vote in this second-chapter round, readers register at http://www.romanceisnotdead.com/, and receive an e-mail with a link to click (to verify they're not robots LOL). Once logged in, a "Cast your Vote" button is on the left side of the site's main page. Clicking on that brings up the top ten. Once there, readers can read first chapters, second chapters, leave comments, and vote.

In this round of the competition, the four entries with the highest scores go onto the final round and will post a pivotal scene for readers to judge. The grand-prize winner is announced on November 1st.

Oh, mine is WINDSONG! See? I told you I'm not very good at the competing part.

• Jill, I'm wishing you the best on this contest. Anything you'd like to add or ask readers?

Thank you, again, Sia. Instead of ending with a question, I'll just ask that everyone instead wish YOU a happy birthday. You, birthday girl, are a winner in all of our books!

Aww, Jill. Thank you sweetie.

Here's Windsong's Summary:

Journalist Lexie Gray enters the Witness Security Program and plans to write a tell-all about the secretive program. But, when she falls in love with the U.S. Marshal protecting her, her hard-hitting exposé softens into a romantic memoir. Chapter One Excerpt

~ * ~ * ~

Jill Lynn Anderson has published several short stories. Jill writes mainstream and romance fiction in a little office in her petite home located in an itsy-bitsy Pennsylvania town. To compensate for all the smallness, she thinks and dreams BIG.

Go Jill Go!

Ooh, Pretty!

My guest is Judi Fennell. She is both friend as well as an excellent writer for whom I have a great deal of respect. I knew she was up for the Prism Award and for my favorite of her Mer series, Wild Blue Under. I also knew she didn’t think she’d win it. I couldn’t believe she didn’t even go to the awards. Since I wasn’t able to go to Nationals this year I had to rely on second hand accounts of her win, I told her she owed me an account, lol!

Judi, is also part of my village. Writers rely on others to tell them the truth about their proposals, do beta reading, doing critiques, and be there when a problem is kicking their arses and they need problem solving input. Knowing your *village* and their skills is important too. I don’t know what I’d do without my *village*.

The title’s an inside joke with my online Writing Wombats group (go, Pat!), but the award in this picture is no joke. It’s a PRISM Award, given by the Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal chapter of RWA for excellence in paranormal romance, and if you look closely, you can see my name there.


Trust me, I’ve looked closely. Have run my fingers over it repeatedly. Breathed on it and shine it up quite a bit—and my name doesn’t disappear. How utterly cool is that?


I’ve won writing contests before and the thrill never goes away, but with this one, I’m still trying to catch my breath. I mean, I was up against Kerrelyn Sparks and Angie Fox, both New York Times best-selling authors, who are incredible writers with great stories. I ended up tying with Kerrelyn for this award, which is just icing on the celebratory cake, because, honestly? That whole, “It’s just a thrill to be nominated” thing? Seriously, it was. I saw my name on that list and just giggled myself silly. Me. There. With them. Ha!


Of course I wasn’t going to walk away with that shiny, pretty thing. I mean, Angie Fox and Kerrelyn Sparks! Come on, it was an honor just to see my name there. There was no way I was going to win.


I even went to my publisher dinner instead of going to the awards dinner, that’s how sure I was that my name wouldn’t be called. (Side note: I did, however, write an acceptance speech for a friend to give on the “Hell-freezes-over, off-chance that someone would do the math wrong and take pity on me and call my name” because if I hadn’t, I would have won and looked like an idiot and winning wasn’t worth looking like an idiot.)

See, this was my first book written under contract and under deadline. Close friends have heard the horror story I had with this book, typical “Second Book Syndrome.” If you haven’t experienced it, lucky you, but it’s the “I wrote the first one for me; there’s no way I can do it again and people will like it” thing. (We authors, we’re neurotic!)


But I persevered and turned this book in on time and was happy with it. My editor, however, was not. Major problems with the heroine.


What? I loved my heroine. I thought she was funny and witty and had just enough angst to make her sympathetic but still be her tough-as-nails self.


This, my friends, is why writers need editors. I shudder to think of the response if that book had gone on to be published as I’d turned it in the first time. Man, was my editor right.


Oh, don’t get me wrong; at first I didn’t understand what she meant when she said I had to change the heroine. I mean, that was my heroine. What did she mean, change her? I had done what you were supposed to do; I’d written the best book I possibly could. I liked it. I was proud of it.


But it wasn’t good enough. Talk about a mental adjustment! I gave myself about ten hours to process her feedback, come to terms with the work I had left to do, and then I got down to it and restarted the book—


Twenty-four different times in half that many days.


And none of the new starts worked.


And then, finally, on December 16, I changed the heroine’s name, and voila! There she was. My new heroine.


I’d love to say that her story flowed from my fingertips, but, alas, that’s not true. It was blood, sweat, and tears to drag her into this story.


And stress. Lord, was there stress. You did see the December 16th date, didn’t you? What comes nine days after the 16th? And six days after that? And the book was due by January 4th.


I spent every waking hour on the revisions. And unwaking ones, too. I didn’t sleep well and my cell phone voicemail box had tons of whispered mutterings from the wee hours of the morning when I’d call myself about an idea that had woken me and I didn’t want to wake my husband, but was too freakin’ tired to pick up the notebook and pencil beside my bed to jot down a note.


But the book got written (which is really poor grammar, but I’m reliving the utter “phlumfff!” of getting the story on paper), and thanks to one of my Writing Wombats (Beth Hill, check out http://www.anoveledit.com/ for her editorial expertise!), I turned it in on time.


I still had a few things to touch up after my editor read the new version, but what ended up following that gorgeous cover was 720 degrees from what had originally been turned in so those touch-ups were practically nothing at that point.


That’s why this award means so much to me. It means hard work. It means a big learning curve. It means a few hours of Christmas and New Years’ Eve celebration and very little time with my family. It means the generosity of a very good friend. It means the faith my editor had in my ability and the patience she had in letting me work through it and not tossing my contract into the shredder.


This award is as much my editor’s as it is mine and I’m utterly grateful to her for working on this book with me and making it so much better than it was.


That’s the value of a professional editor and anyone who thinks they don’t need one is fooling themself.


Because we are so caught up in our world, and our story, our characters, and making sure all the loose ends are tied up and the emotions are there, that we don’t have enough distance to see what needs work. I now run my stories through four people before I submit them to my editor, and, still, she finds ways to make it better. Both of my 2009 releases were up for awards this year: NJ’s Golden Leaf, National Readers’ Choice Awards, the Prism, Beyond Her Book PW Readers Choice, and Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, and I credit that to the wonderful, insightful editorial feedback from both my beta readers and my editor.


You know, writers sometimes call their books their babies, and there’s that old adage that it takes a village to raise a child, so cultivate your village on your way to publication so that you can write the best book you can.


And you won’t have to give up your Christmas holidays to do so. :-)

• Who’s in your village?

Judi Fennell's new series:  GENIES ARE COMING! January 2011, "I Dream of Jeannie meets Indiana Jones, and the action is on!"
 

Read back cover and story line.
 
 
 
 
 

Judi Fennell has had her nose in a book and her head in some celestial realm all her life, including those early years when her mom would exhort her to “get outside!” instead of watching Bewitched or I Dream of Jeannie on television. So she did--right into Dad’s hammock with her Nancy Drew books.

These days she’s more likely to have her nose in her laptop and her head (and the rest of her body) at her favorite bookstore, but she’s still reading, whether it be her latest manuscript or friends’ books.


A three-time finalist in online contests, Judi has enjoyed the reader feedback she’s received and would love to hear what you think about her Mer series. Check out her website at www.JudiFennell.com for excerpts, reviews and fun pictures from reader and writer conferences, and the chance to “dive in” to her stories.