Lucky You!

Rose's Colored Glasses

March 2006 Newsletter

What's Inside?

Announcements!
Pot of Gold
Karma, Karma, Karma...Chameleon!
Curses...Foiled Again!
Contests...From the Other Side
Newbie News: Goals, Motivation, Conflict
Opportunity Knocks
Memory Bracelets
Dear Rose

"Karma, Karma, Karma… Chameleon!"
by Delilah Devlin

Okay, now that Boy George's song will be in your head for the rest of the day, let's talk about karma and why you need it! I'm a huge believer that none of my successes would have happened without my creating positive karma around me.

My son's early driving disasters taught me what karma was all about. Every time he drove somewhere he shouldn't, he had a wreck. After the third wreck that injured his sister slightly, he finally believed that something was at work.

What does good or bad karma mean to me? Karma is the "energy" that surrounds you and helps or hurts you. It's something you build-it can't just happen to you. If you do good deeds-good surrounds you. If you do ill toward others, it clings to you like Pig Pen's smutty cloud of dirt.

My sister, Elle, and I have preached "good karma" to our fellow Roses since before we formed the group. Whenever we were tempted to criticize another author's writing or express envy for her success, we chanted the mantra-"good karma, good karma."
But it goes farther than simply not denigrating someone else's success. We firmly believe you have to contribute to others' success for karma to work for you.

Even before we were published, Elle, Layla and I formed a critique group that served our entire chapter. We offered plotting retreats to our chapter members to share what we'd learned about writing along the way and encourage them to write the wonderful stories they plotted. We volunteered to serve as officers in our chapter and to help with the annual conference.

We shared our experience and knowledge with anyone who wanted it-and we didn't wait for them to seek us out. We looked for the inexperienced or struggling authors. We recruited them.

Today, several of our "recruits" have published and/or placed in contests. When they have success, we're overjoyed. We don't want to keep all the success to ourselves, because karma must be shared to work.

So, maybe I sound a little New Age-y, but my experience has proven the Buddhist belief in karma. Go create some great karma of your own. Join! Volunteer! Contribute!-however much time and energy you can to other writers. The gift will come back to you tenfold.

"Karma, karma, karma, karma…" Just wanted to make sure you didn't forget the song!

CURSES! FOILED AGAIN
by Megan Kerans

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves." - William Shakespeare - Julius Caesar

Writing is a blessing and a curse. As authors, we are lucky to have incredible imaginations to create wonderful worlds and charismatic characters. It doesn't take a soothsayer to know the downside can be when we send precious stories out into the dangerous world. They encounter "evil" editors, "cantankerous" contest judges, and "adversarial" agents. But often, the biggest threat to our stories and our success isn't from the publishing industry, but from ourselves. We can sabotage our success in a number of ways.

The first is by not finishing the book. If you have multiple works in various stages of completion lying around your hard drive, ask yourself why you stopped. Perhaps you wrote yourself into a corner, got lousy comments from a contest judge, or got bored. All of these are surface answers. The real reason you quit may have to do with fear either of success or failure.

Next is writing the wrong type of book. This includes imitating another author's voice, jumping on the latest market trend, or not understanding where your strengths and voice lie. The later can be tough to figure out. Sometimes it takes writing the "wrong" book to realize it's not a good fit. To learn where you belong, ask critique partners to name your strengths and weaknesses. If you aren't part of a group, go through your keeper shelf. Go beyond the genres. Try making a list of what specifically about those stories you liked. Was it the witty dialogue? The dark brooding hero? The strong emotion? These characteristics go beyond the categories of contemporary or suspense. Once you learn what you like, you can decide in which genre you'll fit best.

Refusal to change or accept criticism. No one likes to hear his or her "baby is ugly". Our stories are a part of us and we're emotionally invested in these people we've created. However, if we want to publish, we need to learn how to accept constructive criticism and adapt. Editors will not love your final draft and will likely want changes. Get used to the idea now. Find a critique group, either on line or in person. If you're nervous about showing your work, ask if you can sit in either physically or virtually on a session to get the feel of the group. If the verbal comments are too much, speak up and ask they be written down. When you're calmer, go back and look what was said. You may not agree with everything, but do your best to keep an open mind and at least consider the suggested change.

Never submitting your work. Pages can only be polished so much. Eventually, you have to mail your future RITA winner to an editor or agent if you want to see it in print. This is scary because we're all aware we could well get a rejection letter. But, if you never query your story out and give it the chance to succeed, you've also received a rejection, one much worse than from any New York publisher. You've just rejected yourself.

Sending out stories before they are ready. This is, of course, the opposite problem to the case above. Getting a sale is tough competition. Give your book every chance by making sure it's ready before you head to the post office. Have a writing buddy or critique partner look the story over. Enter contests and get feedback. We all want to get our work out, but jumping the gun won't earn you anything more than a rejection letter.

Finally, there's procrastination. This comes in many forms from excuses, lack of time management, email and loop addictions, and more plotting that writing. Again, ask yourself why aren't you writing. Be brutally honest. Beneath most of the reasons above lies a very deep, and very real, fear. It's an on-going part of creativity many writers struggle with. I wish I could say there's a magic technique or pill to vanquish your fears as well as mine, but so far I haven't found it. What helps is setting reasonable, slam-dunk goals, affirmations, and find a group of writers who are supportive, encouraging, and who refuse to accept your excuses.

Writing is tough business. But, the reward of seeing your book and words in print and in the hands of readers far outweigh the struggles we face. Don't make your journey any harder or longer than necessary by sabotaging your success.

Contests...From the Other Side
by Layla Chase

As you may already know, entering contests is one of the ways (considered by some to be the fast track) to an editor's desk. That's the topic of another article written by my friend, Elle, that appears in Rose's inaugural issue, September 2005.

Have you considered how supporting contests from the other side can benefit your writing career?

Contest Committee

I have never heard of a writing group who refused an extra set of hands when sponsoring a writing contest.
Volunteer to make phone calls to secure editors as final round judges or buy the thank-you gifts after the contest. This gets you personal contact with an acquiring editor, which may only last for the span of the contest period. Or you may get the opportunity to renew the acquaintance when meeting in personal at a regional or national RWA conference-possibly across the table in a pitch session.
BENEFIT: A great icebreaker before a pitch.

Coordinating a Category

In this capacity, you can develop your knowledge about what is marketable. We all know what we like to read and think we know what editors want to see. Years ago, when I sent off my chapter finalists to an editor for final round ranking, I was sure which one would come back in first place. In fact, I thought I knew how the ranking would go. When the envelope was opened, I discovered a ranking that had my first place choice in 4th or 5th position. I appreciated, as I'm sure the entrant did too, the editor who pointed out the elements that were tried and true for the line but not fresh enough.
BENEFIT: Insight into what that particular editor wanted.

Judging

On an average, I judge at least four contests a year. Early in my writing career, this was mandatory-the contest was my small RWA chapter's only fundraiser. I used those opportunities to learn more about my own writing. Sounds backwards, I know, but it's true. Often I can't see particular craft problems in my own story because I'm so close to the characters and the action. But in the story of an anonymous author, I see where the power word of the sentence is buried in the middle, instead of being at the end. OR I spot the verb that shifts the point of view from one character to another for only one paragraph. Oops, I bet the author didn't mean that. OR not enough setting details are included to give the reader a sense of where the action occurs.
BENEFIT: Look at own work with a more critical eye.

Training

Once you're an experienced judge, you'll want others to join the ranks: 1) so your chapter contest continues to be successful, and 2) to demystify the process. New writers need to be trained, because judging a contest entry is not the same as critiquing your buddy's latest scene. Information on what to look for in an entry is easy to present in the form of several online lectures and a detailed description of the score sheet.
BENEFIT: Someday, slip away and let others carry the banner.

Newbie News
Goal, Motivation, and Conflict Book Review
by Bev Oz

Discovery of a Tool

Every once in a while someone will come out with an idea or concept that was really there all the time, but everyone else failed to see it. For cooks, there's the rubber piece that grips lids, making hard-to-open jars a thing of the past. For administrative professionals, there's the little grabby cube that will hold a piece of paper up on a desk, allowing the typists an easy read while she types. For writers, there's the book Goal, Motivation, and Conflict (GMC) by Debra Dixon. In all these cases, once you've seen these tools you wonder why you hadn't thought of them yourself. Without these tools, your life is pretty miserable. In my case, my writing ability before GMC was pretty miserable.

What I learned by reading GMC are the fundamental building blocks of good fiction - like the book says. There's no false advertising here. All great stories, or at least the ones I've put to the GMC test, have all three elements. Why are these three components so important? Without them, the reader has no reason to care.

4 W's of Fiction

GMC breaks down the who, what, why, and why nots of fiction. The who, of course, are the characters. The what of a story is the goal. The why equates to the character's motivation. And, last but not least, the why not tells us the conflict the character is having getting the 'what'. Simple? Yes. Necessary and easily overlooked? Absolutely.

There is simply way too much information in this book to relate to all you good readers. Quite frankly, that's okay with me. This is another MUST READ book all new writers should have in their hands and on their minds. But be careful. Once you've read this book you may be well on your way to writing good fiction. However, you may ruin your ability to overlook flaws in other people's work.

Tools for Analysis

An example of this, I hate to admit, are the last two stories by Diana Gabaldon. Now wait a minute. Before you all write hate e-mails, let me tell you there are few bigger fans of her work than I. One day, I can only hope to write half as well as she does, and my fans love my characters as much as they (and I) love Claire and Jamie. But, let's face facts, in the last two books, what were the major goals of the characters? What drove the stories along?

On the other hand, let's look at her early stories. In the first book, we became engrossed by Claire's goal of returning to her own time. Her motivation was clear. She didn't belong in that time and she needed to return to the husband she had just reunited with after a long absence. We wanted her to get home. But she encountered many obstacles to reaching her goal, including meeting *sigh* Jamie Fraiser. When she finally gets the opportunity to return to her own time, she is forced to decide if she should stay with the man she loves in the 18th century, or should she return to the man she married in the 20th century. Gut-wrenching stuff. I loved it, and so did thousands of readers around the world.

In her second story, which we couldn't wait to get in our hot little hands, we wanted to find out if Claire goes back to Jamie. Again, very strong goal. Her motivation - Jamie was her true love. Conflict? Well, she would have to leave her daughter and travel back in time, if she could. Again, great fodder for story telling.

Applying What I've Read

As I look back to the first story I wrote, and the remarks made by contest judges and, eventually two editors, I realize my story lacked strong goals for both my hero and heroine, their motivation was weak, and there simply was no conflict. In a word, my story sucked. No matter how wonderfully I wrote words onto paper, without GMC, my story just wasn't any good.

Last night I started on my second story, which is significant. I haven't written a word for any story since August. Why? I wanted to learn my craft better before I made another attempt at writing a novel. Now that I've learned more about goals, motivation, and conflict, not to mention last month's book on characterization, I'm ready to try again. Wish me luck!

When Opportunity Knocks
By Roni Adams

Do you know how to take advantage of an opportunity and run with it? Sometimes the best publicity you get comes from unexpected places. In last month's newsletter, you may recall, I wrote about a story I had published in True Romance magazine called "Groundhog Magic". The story takes place in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania during their annual Groundhog Festival on February 2. When I wrote "Groundhog Magic", I had no idea what a marketing opportunity this would become for me as a writer.

People hate "selling themselves"

I hear often from published writers that the worse part is the marketing. We've been conditioned from birth to be humble and not conceited. Suddenly we have a book or a story out, and we're expected to turn into marketing gurus who know how to get people talking about what we've done. It's not easy. But being ready to jump on board when that train comes into the station can make all the difference.

Punxsutawney Groundhog Festival

During my research for "Groundhog Magic", I made a connection with the Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce. When the story sold, they invited me to be a part of their festival. Since Punxsutawney is only four hours away, it was definitely something I could do even as I imagined how cold the event was going to be. I contacted my publisher for True Romance Magazine, and they agreed to send me 100 copies of the February issue. A crit partner and wonderful friend who has a button-making machine made me 100 buttons with "Groundhog Magic" and my website address.

I contacted the small community newspaper and let them know what I was up to, and they were thrilled to do an article.

Morning Talk Show

Another morning, (at five thirty a.m.) I woke to hear my favorite DJ on the radio talking about Punxsutawney and Groundhog Day. Without giving myself time to think, I stumbled to the phone, called the station, and had a great conversation with the morning dj about what I was going to do.
They asked me if I would call them on February 2, and be a live reporter for the event. Of course I said yes. That same day, I stopped by the radio station with a copy of my story, some buttons, and some doughnuts (never hurts to butter up the press).

You see how this is snowballing? Now I'm a live reporter for a local radio station all because I wrote a short romance story about Groundhog Day.

Live reporter for the event

The morning of February 2 - I did my live report via cell phone to the radio station. They replayed the tape of my phone call twice that day. Because of that radio broadcast, several days later, a reporter from a local magazine called. She wanted an interview as part of a story about writing romance today and how the market has changed. When I told her I was attending a local RWA meeting a few days later, she invited herself along. She will be doing a full-page article on romance writers with me as the feature author.
Six months ago, I don't think anyone beyond close friends and family knew about my writing. Now people stop me in the post office; they've read about me and ask how my trip was. They all want one of my books (if only I had one published!!), and I have easily brought more readers to True Romance magazine than any marketing department.

Opportunities for self-promotion come from the unexpected

I have written many short stories and none have generated the excitement this one did. I have already been asked by my editor to do a sequel and possibly make this an annual event. I'm not shy by nature. This helps, I know, as I have no problem speaking to people or crowds. Once someone starts asking about my stories, I don't seem to know when to stop talking.

So many writers think someone else will market their books. They think that once it's written and published, their work is finished. Many authors have told me this is just not true. How well your book does depends entirely on sales and only you care enough about your book to want those sales.

Start marketing before your book is published

Get your name out in little ways, get published in magazines, talk to the small-town newspapers about your local chapter. Writers have said to me, "I'm not published I have nothing to offer a reporter." That's not true. There's always room for a human-interest story. If your local chapter is doing something interesting, contact the newspaper yourself and talk to them. Chances are pretty good they'll quote you since you were the contact person.

Talk about your writing to everyone and anyone

You'll be amazed at how often you'll be able to bring it in to a conversation. Get a web site. Even pre-published writers need a web site. It's an important tool to make your name available a larger audience. Get business cards. Hand them out or drop them in places like the library or bookstores where folks might find them. Do you have anything to offer? Maybe not - or maybe you put up some excerpts to stories on your web site, anything to start building your name as a writer.

Opportunity doesn't always knock loudly. You need to be ready or it may keep on going to the next writer.

Memory Bracelets
by Eve Savage

With everything going on in the world, I've come to realize life is made up of memories. Some we keep treasured in a box only to be brought out during our most private times. Others are displayed along the walls of our home or office. Still others haven't even happened yet. This past Christmas, two of my friends and I got together and vowed over many margaritas to finish the books we've long been toiling over. I wanted to commemorate that with a symbol (besides the hangovers we were sure to have the next day). The memory bracelet was born.

I went straight to James Avery and picked out charms I thought would best fit our vow. Castles. I got one for Bev because her story is set in Scotland. I got another for Allie because her characters live in an underwater castle. These, of course, also symbolize the castles we'll live in when we're published and rich. The memory bracelet has since grown. When Delilah signed her two-book deal with Avon, her sister, Elle, went right out and got a big "A" for her bracelet.

These charms are more than just pretty things on a silver chain. They're tangible symbols of successes in our chosen profession (besides the royalty checks). I think they mean even more because they're given with love from our friends - the ones who see us through all the difficult characters, the writer's blocks, the rejections, and the multi-book deals. I'm sure when we're old and grey and have bracelets full of successes, I'll look at that castle charm and think that's where it all began.

With my friends and a promise.

DEAR ROSE

Dear Rose,

How do you know which editor and agent is right for you? Research only tells you so much. Is there anyway to know which relationship would work out and which wouldn't.
Curious,
Kathy

Dear Kathy,

Unfortunately there are no guarantees with agents or editors. The good news is while you have no choice about what editor you end up working with, you do have complete control of what agent handles your work.

Let's say you've already done your research on agents that specialize in your genre. Now look at their websites. Does anything jump out at you? Maybe it's the professional attitude or do they have a sense of humor? Read up on what authors they represent and how long the two have worked together. To give you a better idea of the agent and author relationship, go to a bookstore or library. Pick out the books written by those authors and see if writers dedicated or acknowledged their agent in anyway.

The last, but one of the best, ways to get information about certain agents is to ask your local writing or critique group. Somewhere, somehow, someone has heard of the agent you're interested in and can provide valuable feedback.
Good luck in your search,
Rose