Making Choices!

Rose's Colored Glasses

March 2008 Newsletter

What's Inside?

Announcements!
Size Matters
Everything Old is New Again
Are you an RT Virgin?
Self-Promotion Tips
Not Going to Conference?
Make New Friends but Keep the Old
Reading in the Digital Age
Dear Rose

Everything Old is New Again
by Roni Adams

Recently I started seriously working on a book that I wrote almost ten years ago. Ten years! So hard for me to believe that much time has passed since I sat at the keyboard on a computer that I no longer even own. Then the computer sat in our dining room and my older kids were eight and nine. Now I have a home office, a slick new computer, as well as a laptop, and my boys have graduated high school. I've written more articles, stories, and books than I can easily recall. I've had successes and disappointments, but all in all it's been a productive ten years of writing.

Going Backwards?

So why go backwards? Why am I working again on the first book I ever wrote? Well, for one thing, because I wrote it. I spent a considerable amount of time on it and put my heart into it and there's a good story there. It's just buried under bad writing.

Unless you just started writing yesterday, you've got old stories too, or ideas for stories around somewhere. Maybe just a few lines jotted on a napkin. Maybe half a chapter you typed up one night or an entire scene and then you stopped. Somewhere along the way, you decided these ideas weren't very good or you just had no use for them at that point in time. You put them aside and moved on.

Looking for Something New?

Now you're looking for something different to write. Something "new". Sometimes the best place to find a new idea is to go back in time. No, not write a time travel; but rather dust off these old ideas. Yes, you'll cringe as you start to read what you wrote years before. You're so much more experienced now. Your writing is stronger, but the idea you had back then is still a good one. It won't be perfect, but it might be something to springboard from, or even clean up and make work without too much effort.

The one line you wrote on that napkin at the diner might be a great book title. And that little scene you started and discarded because it went nowhere? Maybe now, years later you know exactly what happens next. Write it--you've got nothing to lose. These ideas are "free". After you write that scene the next one starts unfolding, and pretty soon, if you're a pantser, you've got several chapters done. Or maybe you start writing notes like crazy and putting together those spreadsheets and organizational charts you plotters find so fascinating. Whatever your method of writing, by brushing off your old ideas, suddenly you've got the framework of a new project.

Pull out that old Manuscript!

What about that entire old manuscript? What do you do with that? The writing is almost primitive compared to how good you are now. If you liked the storyline when you wrote it, then something must have appealed to you. Go ahead and start reading. Maybe too much work exists to revise the whole thing. What if you took chunks from it to start your next book? If there are only a few scenes that you even remotely like, pluck them out, change them around a bit and use them in your newest manuscript.

It's what you do with your ideas that count...

Writers are always asked, where do you get your ideas? Getting ideas isn't usually the problem, but what to do with all the ideas you have. Ideas to a writer are like Tupperware covers, you can't always find the right one at the right time but you certainly don't toss one away. Guaranteed as soon as you do, the right place for that idea will show up just like the Tupperware bowl that suddenly appears out of nowhere the day after you've chucked the lid.
Next time you're staring at a blank screen with no clue where to find something new to write about, pull up your old files. Be surprised by what you find.

Are you an RT Virgin?
by Judith Rochelle

Time for the big Romantic Times Book Lovers Convention. You've heard about it. You've read about it. And finally this year you're attending. But enjoying it takes some planning, because the array of goodies to choose from gets bigger every year.
The first thing you'll do is register, and plenty of people will point you in the right direction. People here are very friendly, and as you stand in line, don't be afraid to ask questions of the old hands. They are more than willing to share information.

Check the Schedule

Okay, you're registered, with your big convention tote bag and a complete schedule of events. Next step is selecting the workshops you want to attend. RT has put together a great matrix of all the workshops by day and time, and even repeated some of the more popular ones in case there's a conflict. So look at the schedule, circle the ones that mean the most to you and start your chart with those.

Meet the Authors

Writers are also readers, too, and we all have favorites. Look at the schedule in your packet for Club RT. That's a large room where authors sign up for timed slots to greet their public, promo their books and meet their readers one on one. If you're looking for great convention souvenirs, venders have a vast selection of merchandise.

Book Signings

Don't forget the book signings. This year, on Wednesday, there will be both an ebook fair and a print book fair, so for those authors whose books are digital, you have a chance to met them up close and personal, get signed cover flats and purchase their digital books. Then on Saturday you have the print book fair, which is just what it says-a place to meet the authors whose books are in print and buy signed copies for your collection Check out Promo Alley. This is the place where authors leave goodies for their readers to pick up so they can establish name recognition. If you're a brand new author, this is a good place to put items such as pens or buttons or even brochures so people will get to know who you are.

Parties!!

Every night is a publisher-sponsored party. They are fun and a good chance to meet people. Come in costume or not, you'll find both. The point is just to go and have a good time.
If you're attending by yourself, you'll find people are easy to meet and easy to talk to, and easy to hook up with. In fact, this year RT has planned three RT Virgin parties for first-timers just to help you meet people and learn the ropes, starting the night before the convention officially opens.

So here are the three things to remember:

But most of all.......................................

HAVE FUN!

This is your time to kick up your heels.

Self-Promotion Tips for Conferences
by Layla Chase

A survey taken by writers describing themselves would probably show at least 75% claimed they were introverts. So how do people who believe themselves more content curled up on a sofa with a book or sitting at their home computers enter a gathering of 50 or 350 or 2000 other writers and start talking about themselves?

Concentrate on writing projects

The easiest way is to concentrate on the writing projects. Either the publishing credits you currently have or that will soon be released. Our books or stories are like our children and we are happy to share information about them with others. One of the best ways to do this could be with a bookmark. Include the cover (or 2-3 covers), the publisher, your name and website. You could go one step further and have a one-sentence description of the plot of each book printed on the back side.

Business cards with Book Titles

Not everyone has access to a graphics program or wants to buy stock photos. Another option is to print business cards with titles. I wanted a business card that sent the message that I write erotica. So I used a stock template of a red flower at Vista Print and inserted the publisher and title of several releases in the lines where a corporate person would have listed a street address, phone and fax numbers. I waited for a time when the cards (250) were on sale and only paid the shipping.

Print your own business cards

The most user-friendly method may be to print business cards on your own printer. Office supply stores have card stock sized for this purpose with several cards per sheet. Choose one that looks professional. Be creative with the fonts to show off a bit about you or your writing-but be sure the lettering is readable. If you're not published, just list your name, a tagline (if you've developed one), or a description of the type of stories you write, and a way for someone to reach you. Not everyone is comfortable using their phone number or street address. If you have a blog or a myspace page, add that. At the minimum, provide an email address.

When attending conferences, you'll have a small, but detailed, print record that will help when someone asks, "What do you write?"

Not Going To ConferencE?
by Betty Hanawa

Boo-hoo-hoo, a bunch of us are feeling sorry for ourselves. We're not able to go to the big national writing conferences this spring and summer. We can't justify buying a whoopee, glitzy outfit because we're not attending the glamorous awards ceremonies. We can't have fun at the parties and dinners. We won't have the opportunity to personally dazzle a publisher, editor, or agent into requesting our manuscript. Worse of all, we won't be able to play with our writing friends. Boo-hoo-hoo.

Are you hearing your mother? Nobody loves me, everybody hates me, guess I'll go eat worms.

Substitute Chocolate

In our case, substitute chocolate. Eat enough chocolate and you won't have to worry about a glittery outfit because you won't find one that fits.

If you want to continue to pout, stop reading right here.

Attitude, like writing a story, comes from inside you. No one can make you sit down and create a story. No one can make you happy except yourself.

Look for a Smaller Conference

Can't afford the big national conference? Family commitments conflicting with the conference schedules? Look for smaller conferences. They're held throughout the year and there's usually one within driving distance. You won't have the big hotel bill because they're normally in smaller, less expensive hotels and are not as long-most often Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, with a welcome reception the night before the conference actually starts. They frequently have editors, publishers, and agents taking appointments. Don't limit yourself to only the romance writers' venues. Attending a multi-genre or a completely different genre's writing conference can shake up your thought process and expand your imagination.

Arrange a Writing Retreat

If the smaller conferences are still out of reach, get in touch with some of your friends and arrange your own writing retreat. You can split a hotel suite's costs or have everyone bunk at someone's house. The latter is also a big savings in meal costs since you can all pitch in to fix meals. Together you can plot, brainstorm, go to a movie, attend a street festival, browse a flea market, whatever you want to do to simulate the creativity and recharge.

If nothing else, make your own, personal writing retreat. Rent a hotel room for a night and just write without having to be on someone else's schedule. Order room service, veg out in the hotel hot tub, stay up late, sleep in.

Personal Retreat Time

Still can't take that much time? Then take a couple of hours and go to a coffee house, take in a movie no one else in the family wants to see, go to a library. If nothing else, park on a little-used back road, relax and write notes on whatever interests you.

Conferences are great marketing tools, terrific sources of information, marvelous for networking. But writers have written and sold for years without conferences.
Find your writing happiness in your own backyard or go eat worms. It's up to you.

*******
Betty Hanawa is going to miss EPICon, the RT convention, and RWA's National Conference this year, but has already made plans to meet with friends for a retreat weekend in Houston.

Make New Friends,
But Keep The Old…
by Eve Savage

Many types of families exist: immediate, extended, blended, single parent, conservative, liberal, rock 'n roll, classically trained. The list goes on and on.

Military = Moving

Mine is a military family. This means we move. A lot! I'll skip my oft-moving military childhood and start with when I became a military wife. Two years in Virginia. Three years in Texas. Four years in Mississippi. And now, we're in Nebraska for a three-year stretch.

In-person Chapters

When I started writing for publication we were in Texas. San Antonio, to be exact. I did some online research and found SARA (San Antonio Romance Authors). I went to my first chapter meeting. Finding some open space at a table, I sat and tried to make conversation. For those who know me, they're not even going to believe this, but I was a nervous wreck and intimidated as hell! Could barely string two sentences together. And these people were going to believe I was a writer? No way! But they did. They made me laugh, eased my nerves, and welcomed me. They got me involved in the chapter and critique group and patiently helped me mold my craft.

Online Chapters

Fast forward a year and a half. I was sad to leave my friends, but that's life in the Air Force. We packed up and moved to the Gulf Coast. There wasn't another "in-person" chapter within an hour of where I lived, so I checked out online chapters. I found FTHRW (From The Heart Romance Writers) and Passionate Ink (PI). These are very welcoming friendly chapters who are always willing to dispense advice, congratulations, and encouragement.

Commuting for Face-to-Face

Social butterfly that I am, I still wanted face-to-face time with other writers. I finally drove the hour and checked out the closest RWA Chapter. Unfortunately, we weren't a very good fit. I struggled to find someone to talk to, to help fill that creative well. As luck would have it. I discovered another long-distance SARA member living close to me. We met for lunch one day and a tradition was born. Once a month, Delores Fossen and I would get together for noshing and talking. A lifeline. A writer. A friend. Delores is a whirlwind of energy and creativity and definitely kept me going.

Making New Friends...again.....

We've moved again. This time to the heartland of America: Nebraska. My search for writers and that special connection we all have began again. In walks HWG (Heartland Writers Group). Talk about a melting pot. Writers from all walks of life, all romantic sub-genres, different formats and just as crazy as I am! They are a funny, inspiring, welcoming group. It's freezing here right now, but HWG definitely embodies the phrase "cold nose, warm heart". I'm looking forward to my three years here and all the adventures I'll have with my new friends.

Keeping in touch with old friends

And my former SARA chapter mates? Today, these women are our very own Roses here at RCG. They still inspire, help, congratulate, and push me. Delores Fossen? A buddy who has my endless respect and love. My new heartland friends? Laizzes bon temps roulez! Let the good times roll!

The moral of the story? Life takes us to many different places. But when you've been as lucky as I and have found chapter mates and friends along the way, you definitely don't let them go! Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold.

Reading In the Digital Age
by Shayla Kersten

Electronic Books

Ebooks are coming out of the racy closet and becoming mainstream.

Epublishers have been around for a while. Ellora's Cave, one of the top epublishers, just celebrated seven years of business and they are growing by leaps and bounds. While ebooks started out as an outlet for the spicier side of romance, mainstream publishing houses are getting into the act as well.

Kensington, Harlequin, Avon…just to name a few…are pushing into the ebook market.

Harlequin launched their Spice Briefs last summer as an ebook-only line of short stories, and they've recently announced a short story ebook line tied to the popular Harlequin Nocturne series. H/S also has all the new releases available on ebook, and they are moving toward converting their backlist to digital.

Ebooks allow instant gratification. Ever wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep? Seen every Fresh Prince showing on Nickelodeon? Nothing new to read? Pop online and in less than ten minutes, you're reading the latest novel hot off the epress.

Of course, this entails sitting at your computer desk or hauling the laptop into bed with you. Reading a laptop lying down isn't easy. I know. I've tried. And if you manage to get back to sleep before you finish the story, throwing your computer in your bag on the way to the office is a little difficult.

Ebook readers are a compact, portable solution and come with a variety of features.

Ebookwise

The most common is Ebookwise (http://www.ebookwise.com/). One of the original ebook readers, Ebookwise, at $139.95, is the most affordable as well. Doesn't sound cheap but ebooks usually cost less than a print book so the reader eventually pays for itself.

The 1150 model with a 64MB memory card can hold around 100 books. It's lightweight, about the size of a mass market paperback book. The 1150 is backlit so reading in bed doesn't even require a light. The text size is also variable for easy reading. Ebookwise also allows you to read various formats including Microsoft Word, HTML or Rocket eBook. Rocket is available with most epublishers.

Ebookwise is associated with Fictionwise, the largest online distributor of ebooks. Dozens of publishers contract with Fictionwise in all genre.

Sony Reader Digital

Last year, Sony jumped into the ebook reader market with a sleek multifunctional model retailing at $299.99. (http://www.sonystyle.com/) The Sony holds up to 160 books and features a paper-like display.

However, Sony uses proprietary software. If a publisher wants to make ebooks available for the Sony reader, the file has to be converted to Sony's software-at an additional charge. So while the Sony reader has great features, the selection of reading may be limited.

Amazon Kindle

Amazon.com wasn't about to be left behind in the ebook revolution. The Kindle, at $399.99, is the most expensive. (http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Amazons-Wireless-Reading-Device/dp/B000FI73MA) And the most technologically advanced. The size is closer to a trade paperback and the Kindle is heavier than the other two. However, the Kindle has wireless access using the same high speed network as cell phones. If you have Sprint coverage, there's no need to find a hot spot as you would for a laptop. Surf through the Kindle titles at Amazon and download on the go. Subscriptions to newspapers and magazines are available as well. Kindle also uses a paper-like display.

More publishers are getting on the bandwagon for Kindle format but not all. Kindle does read MS Word documents but does not allow PDF.

Welcome to the future

While some people want the feel and smell of a paper book, ebooks are possibly the future of all books. Some schools are investigating the use of ebooks for textbooks. A student buys a reader and downloads all the required material. No need to lug around a bag full of books and the idea offers reduced cost. The overhead on ebooks is much lower since print production costs, warehousing and shipping are unnecessary. No trees have to die to produce them. Also textbooks could be updated almost instantly instead of every few years.

Ebooks are handy, portable and less expensive than print. The techy features could entice today's youth away from the video games and encourage them to read. For the book addicted among us, the space saving aspect is appealing. No more overflowing bookcases and boxes of books piled in the closet.

So check out an ebook today and catch the wave of the future now.

Dear Rose

Okay, maybe I'm jumping the gun here. Alright I am jumping the gun here since I've not been given an offer as of yet. My question is if pen names are a must in this industry? What are the pros and con's on having two names?

Confused by a Pen Name

Dear Pen Name,

Pen names are not a must, but can be a good idea.

Check out the pros to Pen names

1. Protect your privacy - you may want to protect your privacy for many reasons. You might want to avoid job pressures, avoid stalkers, or just retain your anonymity.

2. Set reader expectations - you may want to write in very different genres or subgenres and want your readers to have certain expectations they can tie to a name. For example: Nora Roberts writes beautiful romance novels, whereas J.D. Robb writes murder and suspense. They are the same author, but completely different genres. If a regular Nora Roberts picked up a book with Nora on it, she wouldn't expect to get a blood and guts suspense. Think how disappointed she'd be if she did.

3. Give you a new start - say you got a start in your writing career but after your first few books, you couldn't sell another. Your sales figures tanked and editors can see that information. You might want to change your name and give it a fresh start with no sales history behind that pen name.

Now let us list the cons

1. Remembering who you are when you're signing can be a challenge - If you have a bad memory like I do, you are constantly asking yourself who you are. This is especially bad when you're at a booksigning, signing two different pen names! Sheesh!

2. Costs associated with multiple pen names - Two pen names means two websites, two sets of promo items, two sets of ads, two of everything! It gets expensive.

3. Diminished bragging rights - If you choose a pen name and you tell your friends and family you're a writer, they'll go looking for your books under the name they know you by. When they don't find them, they'll say "yeah, right." Or they may think you're a little kooky buying another author's books and signing them with that author's name. It kinda takes away from your right to brag about your book...

Ultimately, it's your decision. Weigh the options and if you pick a pen name, pick one you'll like for a long time!
Rose