Primal Instinct Release Party!

We had the Primal Instinct book release party yesterday (4/3/14) -- thrown for me by my fabulous parents and hubby. Had a wonderful time with my local friends and family. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!!

My Momma -- unloading books for me to sign

Cinderella At the Ball - My First RWA Conference Experience

Last week I attended the Romance Writers of America annual convention. I hadn’t planned to go. But when three weeks before the conference  I suddenly found myself with a publisher who wanted to wine & dine me while there, I decided I was awesome  to attend.

A well-attended Harlequin workshop

Hey, especially since it was in Atlanta, my old high school stomping grounds.  Plus, my parental units are in Georgia = free babysitting.

There were about 2500 people (I’ll admit, mostly women) in attendance. The different types of romance writers present ran the absolute gamut: from sweet, inspirational romances to the type of stuff I cannot even think about without blushing.

We came together to celebrate and learn and meet and commiserate.  And I must say, it was wonderful.

Here was a group of women who understood almost every issue I have that involves writing. Joys such as: writing while children are screaming for dinner, the challenges of your “writing space” being the living room couch, and writing a sex scene when you know your mom is going to read it.

Everybody understood my problems and I understood theirs. I walked into a sisterhood I never knew I needed. But I know now.

My SOLD! Ribbon

It was my first RWA conference, although I didn’t wear the little
ribbon they gave me for my name tag that said so (btw, I don't wear a
t-shirt saying “I’m a tourist!!!” when I go to a new city either). But I did proudly sport my SOLD! ribbon indicating that I had sold my first book.

I was able to attend workshops about Surviving You First Book Deal, Boosting Energy & Beating Stress (more vegetables? Gross), Developing an Online Presence (wait, you want me to use social media MORE than I do now? Is that possible?), and Ergonomics for Writers (You mean sitting hunched over a computer for twelve hours in a row is not good for me?).

Plus there were workshops on self-publishing (which was, by far, the best attended workshops), pitches, plots, dialogue, research, serial killers, forensics, queries, steampunk and dozens of other topics. I didn’t make it to any of those, sadly.

Heather Long, Delores Fossen, Bab Han

Although the RWA convention itself was great, the really fabulous part for me was going there as Harlequin Author. I’ll never get tired of saying it… “Janie Crouch, author.”

Well, almost author. Soon. You know, in April 2014. But that little not-quite-published-yet detail didn’t matter to Harlequin. They brought me in like one of the family.

I got to go to parties and receptions and lunches and dinners, even a pajama party – all paid for by my publisher. Author-only stuff, like the famous (amongst writers) Harlequin soiree this year held at the Ritz Carlton.  I must admit, I felt important. Appreciated. Like Cinderella at the ball, except there were no pumpkins at midnight.

I was able to meet my delightful editor face-to-face and am looking forward to having a long and fruitful relationship with her. She’s tiny and fun. I'm sorry I don't have pictures us.

Nora Roberts& stalker on the dance floor

Plus, I got to see Nora Roberts (arguably the biggest name in contemporary romance) dancing to It’s Raining Men at the Harlequin Author party! I had to keep my distance due to an earlier... er,... stalking event, but we still did a "walk-by photo shoot". That woman can dance!

More importantly (yes, even more important than Nora Roberts dancing), I met the wonderful ladies of the Intrigue line. All of them highly successful authors, yet they still took me – someone they had never met and never read – and treated me like one of their own.  We laughed and sang and took crazy pictures and chatted for hours. They offered invaluable advice, and I’m thankful. I hope to be friends with these ladies for years to come.

Intrigue Authors - a true sisterhood

...or something. :-)

I left RWA counting my blessings: To have a book finished and new one in the works. To have a publishing contract. To have a husband and family who support me in all my neuroses.  And to have new friends who understand exactly where I am and where I'm trying to get. 

Cinderella at the ball, indeed. And no pumpkins in sight.

Will Trade Pride for Votes...

So today is the day you probably feared – somewhere deep inside – would come as a result of reading my blog.  I know and I’m sorry.  Sigh. It pains me too.

I’m about to ask you for a favor.

The good news is I’m not asking you for money or to buy anything (although if anyone is interested in Yankee Candle’s or Boy Scout Popcorn, we have tons of fundraisers going on in this house).

Cue adorable kitten drowning in sand to garner votes...

No, instead I need a vote from you in a contest. Harlequin Romance is holding their “So You Think You Can Write” Contest (yes, I cringe a little at the title). It’s a writing competition for unpublished novelists. Over 600 writers have submitted the first chapter of their books, in all the 19 different romance lines Harlequin publishes – from sweet & Christian (like mine) to the more Fabio-inspired. 

Harlequin is asking the general public to help them narrow it down to the best 25, by voting once per day for their favorite from Oct 2-11. The top 25 (actually 28; 25 by popular vote, three “wildcard” picks by editors) will submit their full novels. From there, the editors will narrow it down to three and then the public will again vote.

Anybody who makes it into the top28 is guaranteed to have their full manuscript read by an editor and feedback provided by the middle of November.  As someone who has had a query into Harlequin since March and has yet to hear a word of feedback, I have come to truly appreciate the opportunity to have feedback in such a short turnaround.

So, I need your help this week in form of your vote. You can either read all 600+ entries and judge for yourself or just trust that mine will be your favorite and vote for me without reading the others. :-)

Vote for my chapter every day from October 2-11. You only get one vote per day, but you can vote from every computer, ipad, smart phone, dumb phone  or anything else that has an Internet browser in your house, office, school, shed, neighbor’s house…whatever.  You don’t have to sign up or give any personal information to vote.

Click here to vote for Janie's chapter: Unbreak My Heart

Oh yeah, you can even read my chapter if you want to. :-)

Dumping the Peanut and Moving On

A few people have asked where my boot camp book word counter has gone. (The actual question was, “Where did that crazy looking peanut thing that counted your book go?”) Remember him?

Well, I retired him. First, he was obnoxious. Second, I kept forgetting to update him so he was never very accurate in terms of my writing “mood,” although the word count was usually correct. And third, I have moved on to another writing project for the time being. I promise I am not being flighty. Although I will fully admit I am a stronger starter than I am finisher, I do plan to come back to Love and Other Stunts soon.

I was writing Love and Other Stunts for a particular reason but not because it was really the book I wanted to write as my sophomore effort. 

Later this week I'll discuss how the "trying to get published" process (with a large publisher) works for a newbie writer. Let's just suffice it to say it's a difficult process and the response time from editors is long. Like 6-9 months just to hear back about a one-page query letter.

So when a big-name romance publisher was having a “fast-track” submission opportunity, I jumped on it. The editors were calling for new writers to send them 1) A query letter, 2) A synopsis of the book, 3) The first chapter. Writers did not need to have the manuscript completed in order to send. The program closed on April 23.

The greatest thing about the “fast-track” program – the publisher promised to respond to all queries by May 18. A three week turnaround!  Much better than the 6-9 months I may have to wait to hear about my first submission: Unbreak My Heart.

The “fast-track” program was the sole reason I was writing Love and Other Stunts. It was a story I hoped would fit that publisher’s niche and word count. So I took April and got through about half of Stunts, and figured out where the rest of the book was going. From there, I was able to write the synopsis, polish the first chapter and sent it off to the fast track program.

But I’ve decided that unless the publisher likes it and wants me to send them a manuscript, it’s not the story I want to really tell right now and put all my effort into. So I’m going to put it aside for a little while.  

Instead, one of the many stories in my head has caught my attention.  About a girl. And a guy. And a murderer. Fun stuff.  So I’ve started a word counter for the new work in progress (WIP) I’m calling See No Evil (although I’m sure that won’t be the final title), so I can keep track and you can peek at the numbers if you’re into that sort of stuff. I am hoping to have it finished by the end of the summer, but don’t have an anticipated number of words yet, so although I’m starting the counter goal at 50,000, that will change.

And so project #3 begins… with project #4 (a non-fiction book about running that a friend pitched to me yesterday) hovering in the wings.

Four open projects. It’s like having four children; each with their own needs, developments, and personalities…

Good thing I have a little experience with that.