To NaNo or Not to NaNo?

NaNoWriMo starts in just about 15 days, give or take, but I am still undecided. I have at four three ideas for projects I could do, if I really felt like it, but... Do I feel like it?

The issue is, I'm becoming a little less RAWR, I think. I mean, I've written things, and they've been published. I did NaNo. Twice. That mountain, she has been climbed. So, do I feel like climbing it again?

In case you don't know what I'm talking about, NaNoWriMo is "National Novel Writing Month," during which writers attempt to write a novel (50k) in one month (November). It's a challenge, and can be quite fun - all that guerrilla-style marathon writing, which forces you to lose a lot of your inhibitions. It can also be quite productive. My latest novel, Textbook Romance, was my NaNo project in 2010, so that was time fairly well spent.

Yet, there are a number of other things I could (should?) be doing this winter, including preparing for my monster teaching term starting in January. Plus, I might not be in a place where I have the same motivation and clear mental direction to enjoy it. I say enjoy it, because ten to one, I'm stubborn enough that if I sign up for it, I will do it. That's just how I roll - and another reason I shouldn't start it unless I really want to.

So, we'll see. I have a few more days to think about it. Nevertheless, I hope to have some NaNo-related guests in November, whether I take the jump or not, and I salute the participants!

Hello, October

October is here, blindsiding me as September seemingly just zipped by. Finally, my favourite month of the year! October isn't even my birthday month, but I do love it. Not only do Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving in October, but my other favourite holiday, Halloween, is coming close. Besides all that, the weather in October is the best for me - no longer hot and humid, but nice and crisp, yet not yet slushy! It's lovely here these days, and I'm getting as much outside time as I can before the winter winds start to blow.

October is also the start of my "promo season," considering that at least seven of my titles focus on holidays falling between October and February, so this month should be a bit fun around the old blog - two holidays, a special book anniversary on the 10th, and a new release on the 3rd! I hope you'll join me.

Happy October, all! Enjoy the strolling weather and the seasonal fun.

25 Things About Me

I spotted this game on one of my interweb haunts tonight, and considered doing it. But since no one on forums really reads anything but their own posts if they're longer than a paragraph, I decided if I was going to do it, I should make a blog post.

So, here it is: 25 Random Things About Me...

1. I have been described as "very Canadian," but I have no idea what that means.
2. Recently, I've been inordinately fascinated by Victorian postmortem photography.
3. My least favourite thing about teaching, aside from the marking, is anything relating to disciplinary stuff. This was the main reason I went for university teaching instead of high school. Yes, you would think that there would be less of that at the uni level, wouldn't you?
4. I prefer the version of Spiderman who shoots webs out of his wrists, somewhat spider-like. I find the whole canisters of web stuff, though more "canonical," slightly lame.
5. I don't always eat BBQ chips, but when I do, I prefer Lays form, because they taste sweet.
6. I'm finding writing 25 random things much more difficult than I anticipated.
7. I used to hate pink as a child, but now I find it cheerful and pretty, and I like to punch my usually sedate and/or black wardrobe with touches of hot pink.
8. I once had a stranger toss a toonie into my cup of coffee thinking I was a panhandler while I was merely waiting for a bus. I used that toonie to replace the ruined cup of coffee.
9. I am a vegetarian, and a bit of a green freak.
10. I am a proud non-driver, and I walk or use public transit devotedly.
11. I insert my favourite foods into all my books, so if you were to read them all you'd be able to track my culinary tastes to a fair extent.
12. I have a great fondness for pink peppermints.
13. I wouldn't say I'm a coffee addict. More like a coffee devotee.
14. I admit I am very reluctant to travel, and I do as little of it as humanly possible. A number of people have expressed dismay over this: "How can someone not like to travel?" they ask in horror. I'm not sure about other non-travelers, but I can assure you at least one exists, and she's me.
15. I write all of my story outlines and a lot of my first drafts (or portions of them) long hand in coil or hardback notebooks, which enables me to write on buses, outside, and in waiting rooms.
16. I do most of my writing at night or very early in the morning, which means I have learned how to type very quietly.
17. I have a strong hatred of noise. Loud sounds physically hurt me, and droning sounds make me kind of crazy. I contend that no sound should be made unless it's nicer than the silence it breaks, and very few sounds qualify.
18. Perhaps due to #17, I find television irritating beyond belief, use the radio sparingly, and am becoming less and less inclined to use the telephone. Yet, I still love music - weird, huh?
19. When I'm stressed, I colour in colouring books or I do puzzles. (Good thing I have a four year old to make these things seem legit!) I eat ice when I'm tense, unwell, or frustrated.
20. I have a strong interest in politics, but a great dislike of discussing it. Same goes for religion, unless it's a historical, philosophical or anthropological discussion.
21. I am a movie fiend. I own thousands, and recall a lot of detail from every one I've seen. I can never identify my favourite film, since it changes constantly, but if you're ever so inclined you can see my Top 100 List. (I like lists.)
22. I love water - being near water, in water, around water. Being landlocked makes me claustrophobic. (Oh yeah, and I'm also a claustrophobic.)
23. One of my favourite books of all time is Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, and it sits on or near my desk most of the time. I find the "will to meaning" to be more significant to me than the "will to power" or "will to pleasure" theories of motivation. I think most of the world's problems could be solved it more people had (1) a sense of purpose, and (2) resources and some hope that they can achieve this purpose.
24. I have a general policy about stating my opinion only once. Beyond that, and you run the risk of argument, and argument is not really worth it. No one's mind is usually changed, but bad blood can arise.
25. I love plants - flowers, veggies, trees, and so on. If I could, I would spend my life growing things. I worked the family food plot as a kid, and I now have potted plants for my son to help tend. While I love the convenience of apartment living, and am adapting to urban life, I regret not having a real garden, and would like to rectify that some day.

There! 25 very random things, in the order in which they popped into my head. What are some random things about you? Stop on by the comments and tell us - got five, ten, twenty-five things?

If you'd rather do it on your own blog instead of in the comments, go ahead and then post a link (or link to me) so I can read them!

Wordless Wednesday: Ode to Coffee

Work, Work, Work

What would I do without you, Timmy's?

By the way, I'm over at Rebel Reasoning today, so drop by and say hello!

St-Hair-io-Typing

A friend-of-a-friend has been so uncool as to join facebook but not post a photo of his face! I have never met this friend-of-a-friend, but I hear about him so much that I find myself trying to construct his appearance through snippets of information. I can do ok, I think, in a generic, police-sketch, could-be-anybody-sorta kind of way.

I find now, likely due to the fact that men are almost constantly in hats (ball caps are awful, men, please stop) these days, I have trouble picturing realistic male haircuts in my mind. I can write them okay, since they come from my imagination, but I have difficulty guessing what haircuts which guy will have.

Instead, if someone gives me a general description of a guy, I simply supply a "type" hairdo, and that is what he's stuck with. I have even pin-pointed the general trends, plotting where film and TV have supplied data not offered by my eyes, based on other descriptors I have been given about the guy. Some examples:

1. "Blond" - He has the Luke Skywalker in my head.


2. "Dark haired" - He is suddenly sporting the Erik Estrada.


3. "Republican" - Nothing short of the Johnny Unitas will do.


4. "Democrat" - He gets his hair done at the same place as George Harrison.


5. "Trendy boy" - He is inevitably some variation on Meg Ryan.


6. "Square" - He is Stephen Harper.



This is not right. Will I have to go to cosmetology school just to solve this issue, or shall I just grow accustomed to, and accept, these Starsky and Hutch wigs of my imagination born from the crassest of profiling?

Or maybe I just need more sleep...

Vibes

I feel like either something big or something awful will happen fairly soon. You know that anxious wobble in the tummy, like adrenalin, and you can't say if it's dread or excitement? That's what I've got.

Subs are out there in the ether, with another soon to follow (I hope), with a fair ton of new releases for me this month and later... Plenty of shots for good news or bad. I want to start moving on up. I am itching to get on with a new contract, and to start making my mark. I've had my rookie year, almost. Now, it feels like time to piddle or get off the pot.

Will it be my shot soon, or will there be more wandering in the wilderness? Hard to say, but I feel like a change is in the air...

Anyway, here's one of my all-time favourite songs, and somewhat related (emotion-wise), as a little thanks for visiting:

Mourning My Local Blockbuster

I went to pick over the bones of the local Blockbuster the other day, taking advantage of their closing out sale. I got a heap of DVDs for $25. I was pleased with the deals, but it was sad to see their empty shelves.

Back in 2001 or so, I was living in Halifax, NS, when I bought my first DVD player at some department store. My boyfriend and I at the time each got one DVD to go with the player - he got Star Wars, and I got Hannibal. The next day, I popped into a Blockbuster, and I got Bridget Jones' Diary. My second ever DVD.

I now have thousands of the things, since film is my main area of research interests and I am a major film buff. I am a constant trawler of cheap bins. I have a rule that if I ever come across an Oscar winner that I don't already own in the discount basket I buy it. I like Amazon, but Blockbuster's "previously enjoyed" shelves were my favourite haunts.

And now, this is no more.

It used to be HMV near campus, but that closed over a year ago. I then turned my impulse DVD shopping to the local Blockbuster by my bank and grocers. I loved wandering in there and seeing what I could find. Since having a baby, I hardly ever go to the cinema, so discount DVDs were my salvation.

I hate shopping, normally. I buy pants about once a year, and I rely on my mum to send me cheap t-shirts most of the time. I look kind of like a beatnik sporty hobo, but it's worth it to avoid clothing shopping. I buy socks at the same time as I buy my yearly pair of shoes. Groceries are a necessary evil. I don't mind book stores, but the prices kill me. I like my regular trips to the Salvation Army, but that is fairly far away for a non-driver.

DVD shopping was my one vice; my retail therapy. No matter how low or lost I felt, I could go in and get a couple cheap disks and feel a little cheerier. I will certainly miss that, now that I have no place to find secondhand DVDs locally - or at least close enough to make it an impulsive trip just because I feel like doing something fun and frivolous.

I do some buying on Amazon, but I don't impulse shop online. When I am buying something online, it's because I went there to look for something - or, I look at the things on my wishlist for the millionth time before I finally get it, and it's usually something I've already seen. I never just randomly grab something because I like the blurb and cover, and it's cheap.

I can still get a few random DVDs at the drugstore, I guess, but I won't have any place I can just get up and go to and find some new friends.

One of my favourite places to snoop for over ten years is now just a memory, and I can't help but think my life will lose a bit of colour with it.

So, goodbye Blockbuster. I'm sorry it came to this.

By the way, I got three Anthony Hopkins movies on this final trip to the Blockbuster. Nice to see some old friends are still around since that first DVD purchase.

Female Shifters: The Rarest of Beasts

I say rare, but not totally absent, mind. There have been some very good, popular books featuring women who turn into various werecreatures. However, it is my impression this is relatively uncommon.

Why would this be? Why do the dudes get all the shifting fun?

It has occurred to me that the practicality of this is that books are seldom written from the shifter's POV. We writers like to place the book through the eyes of the "normal" character, thereby allowing the reader to experience the story though relate-able eyes. Like the reader, the normal character is thrown into a situation that is outside his or her everyday life, and this makes it easier to reveal the details of the book's world. It also allows for an element of surprise, fear and occasional frailty, which wouldn't be as easy to achieve through the eyes of a powerful shifter.

Similarly, most romance, paranormal-romance or erotic-romances are largely told through the female character's POV. Hence, the predominant use of male shifters, from a practical angle, I think.

However, there is a cultural reason, as well. First, that very frailty authors like to explore are simply more acceptable in a female character. As a society, we are more comfortable with the male being the powerful being, for right or wrong. Often, we are intolerant of fictional males weaker than the females they love, and are less jarred by the reverse, regardless of how well this mirrors reality. Further, there is a psycho-sexual dimension to this - female readers (the target audience) are believed to be drawn to strong males, and not to weaker males. The description of a dark, mysterious male shifter with the power to both love and kill them is meant to tap into the ultimate in alphamale desire.

Hence, the relative scarcity of female shifters, I think.

In writing my new WIP, I have been struggling with these things, and how to balance the needs of the story with the expectations of the audience.

However, I do believe there is room for more female shifters. I am a female, who loves to read romance, and I find the presence of an extremely strong female character quite alluring, especially if there are other factors that balance out the power dynamics between the male and female leads. I will just have to hope there are enough people out there that feel likewise!

So, that is something I've been thinking about lately as I write and read.

***
Please, feel free to comment and suggest female shifter romances below!

More Edits, Edits, Edits

Just in case you're curious about what I'm up to, I've been editing.

For the most part, my editing process is now better than is was when I first started out, so that's good.

My typing and editing with an eye to eventual formatting needs is leaps and bounds beyond what it used to be. I could always handle using indent instead of tab, but I never used to think of checking for format frags, needless extra spaces, and so forth. This came with blogging experience with html and compose views, I think, along with some helpful info from my publishers.

In terms of basic writing, I seem to have improved, as well. I don't head hop any more, and my tenses/POVs are a lot less amateur than they were when I started out. I am no longer putting descriptors on every bloody verb and noun, and I've stopped mentioning the characters' eye colour over and over. Oh, and I no longer have them saying each other's names more than absolutely necessary (though I still find speaking the lover's name during romantic moments quite touching). I have really put the boots to the passive voice problem I used to have, thank heavens. I am clearing up my lack of contractions issue, as well as my love of formalities. I rarely get reminded to show instead of tell. I put in much more dialogue than in my early works, and I've become much more comfortable with leaving off the speech tags and being fine just saying "said" when that's what's needed.

Finally, on the topic of dialogue, I now no longer put a comma after speech when the following line is not a said thing (i.e., "Hi." He unwrapped his gum. As opposed to: "Hi," he unwrapped his gum. You can see that the latter makes little sense.)

As far as story stuff goes, I am a bit more able to deal with logistic issues. For instance, since joining Rebel Ink, I no longer whine about figuring out how to include condoms realistically in my erotica (as this appears to be their policy). Now, I am able to handle the issue as a matter of course fairly well, I think.

These are all great signs of progress! I can feel my style and general habits changing from amateur hobbyist to real writer, which is encouraging for me. I am now doing (or not doing) these things habitually in the first draft, which makes the editing process easier for us all.

Nevertheless, there are a few repeated weaknesses that I'm having trouble defeating. (sigh.) Commas, for example, continue to be an addiction to me, and I find not every editor likes my conversational dialogue style. That's fine. I'm never so attached to my style that I stall or refuse when an editor shoots me down. I can continue to work on my voice the way I want to, and some day it may be strong enough (combined with an editor who likes it) to take it's own lead. Otherwise, there wasn't a lot by way of huge issues - the experiment I was trying of dropping the reader right in the middle of an erotic scene kind of floundered, but I think I solved that one by moving a paragraph and massaging the scene a bit. We shall see when the next round of feedback comes in.

In this MS, I also found a preposterous modifying clause that made no sense, which is not something I usually foul up. In any case, I found it and fixed it. whew! This is why you guys never get to see the first draft!

Thank heavens for editors! Every editor (and betareader and reviewer) I have worked with or encountered has taught me a lot along the way and contributed to this more professional writing right from the get-go, so I thank them all!

In the end, this past week, I managed to turn in the edits on the Halloween story, Like Magic, a couple days ahead of my estimate, just in case I have a few more rounds left to go before the Oct 3 release goal. I suspect I will have the edits for the Thanksgiving installment, Charity, quite soon. (I also hope to have the cover to show you shortly, as well!)

Onward I plod. It's all coming along. I'm not fresh-writing as much as I would like, but am managing to do a little. I still hope to have the new paranormal in draft by Oct 1-ish. I've done a lot of guest blogging and interviews over the past week, and kept up with the day job, etc. However, the last couple of days, mostly, I've been trying to make this book ready to go live, but I should be able to do it on time.

So, that's what I've been up to. Hiding in my editing cave and burning holes through my gut with editing-strength coffee.

How's by you?

A Moment of Personal Reflection

To be honest, I think I might need a break, though I am not usually a "take a break" person. I like going full-out, normally. I run best at "tense." I love being busy, most of the time, as long as I feel it's good, worthy work.

Recently, I have been having those "Why not give this gig up?" thoughts, which I'm sure happens to many writers (especially those of us who write along side a day job while also juggling a family). Without a real sense that it's worth it, it's hard to keep it all up at times.

Right now, I'm just not sure I'm enjoying this. Much of the writing process isn't jump-up-n-down enjoyable; some of it is often frustrating, depressing, draining and dull. A lot of it is very hard work, and time consuming to boot. I know this, have always known and accepted this, but usually I can find purpose and energy in the toil, because the enjoyable parts make it worth it. In general, I am most happy when industrious. This week, I might be flagging a bit, and feeling like all of this is just a high tech version of talking to myself.

Maybe I just need a new contract to re-energize me. This could merely be a between-contract lull for me. Or, perhaps after this WIP and the edits I have to do, I should take a break until NaNo, and see how I feel then.

Of course, this might just be a whim that passes - or it could be a sign that I'm ready to pick up my toys and go home. I'm simply not sure, yet.

Or, maybe I'm just coming down with something - that's always possible as well. :p

Author Photo

I need a new author photo.

For a while now, I've been getting by on some fortunate candid shots that, with a bit of cropping, turned out quite nicely and managed to carry the weight. But, now I think it might be time to actually do a real author photo.

I'm not happy about this. I seriously don't like having pictures taken, and I really don't like the pressure of doing one for my "public face." I hate the thought that, at some point, my picture could help/hinder a reader buy my book. ugh.

So, how does one look like a romance writer...?

And, no, I refuse to go to GlamorShots. Sorry.

My New Haunt

I just wanted to stop in for a moment and recommend a site that I have been loving recently.

The Romance Reviews: If you haven't gone there before, you should.

As the title suggests, they have plenty of reviews - they also have chat areas, author pages, and oodles of contests. They cover all forms of romance and erotica, both m/f and GLBT, and do indie/small press and mainstream. I highly recommend this site, especially if you have limited net time and are looking for a few romance fan sites that offer a lot with one membership.

As both a writer and a fan of romance, I have enjoyed it a good deal!

You can even visit me there!

Question for You: What's on your Editing Hit List?

This past week and a bit, I have been slaving away trying to whip my WIP into shape, scouring it for typos and plot holes, strengthening the little threads, and punching up the dialogue. This week, I'm opening up my dirty little editing secrets in a series of three posts exploring my worst weaknesses, but there are other little habits that I also have to watch for: forgetting to use contractions when necessary, using way too many purple adverbs, reusing phrases that I love a bit too much... The list goes on and on.

I think it's useful and important when a writer knows their bad writing habits, especially in editing.

So, today's question: What little foibles are you constantly fixing in your work in post-production or on the look out for during writing? If you are an editor or a reader, which bad habits do you hate most?

Leave a comment, and let me know what you think!

A Personal Project on the Horizon

Hanging out with self-published folks. I think that's what has done this. I don't know; the Kool-Aid looked innocent enough. I guess I should have guessed by smiles on their faces as they offered it... Actually, maybe it's just that SP people seem so full of energy. Or that they've convinced me it's an outlet for a story that isn't likely to find a home any place else.

Either way, I am thinking of doing a self-publishing project.

No, I am not going to start self-publishing my genre fiction, or the new comedy I am writing. Those will still go to nice, small but competent epublishers who are willing to take them and give me the editorial and cover support I still need as a new author.

But, I have had an idea in my head for some time, and this project - a special, personal one - might just go self-published. A few years ago, a tragedy happened in my family. I won't go into details here, in case I decide to keep it private, after all. But I've been working on the story of this tragedy for some time - knowing I would write about it some fashion some day.

I have been considering writing it as a gift for my mom and dad. A short; around 20k or so. I thought to write it, convert it to PDF and get it coil bound at Kinko's for them. It's not a commercial book. I plan for it to be well-written and complete, but I had no idea of selling it.

But now, seeing the features of modern self-publishing, including "Create Space," which makes printing it in paperback a lot easier, I am intrigued. And thinking about it. Certainly, it would be more of an exciting thing for my parents in "real paperback."

So, I don't know. If I figure my way around Amazon, and get a cover art/layout, buy an ISBN some place (if I can), and hire a personal developmental editor, line reader, and proofer. Learn about the formatting (yikes!)... Maybe. Just maybe.

I'm keeping it in mind, anyway.

Daily Dose of Frustration: Non-"Zany" Need Not Apply

Right now, I looking for a publisher for my new novel - my NaNo story, which is currently in editing and re-writing. I am hoping to submit by the fall, so I'm casting around for the best shot for publishing. I am looking for something mid-class this time - not too small, but not too lofty, either. Some company that sees half decent sales, makes some token effort at marketing and can help me produce a quality book. Not too huge a list of wants.

This week, I came across this lovely little snippet on a submission instructions page of a mid-range ebook pub:

Contemporary Romance: Fun and whimsical, these books should showcase your sense of humor and focus on a modern couple in a zany situation.

"Zany"?

Really?

Zany only, huh?

Damn you Bridget Jones. Damn you.

So, fine. I understand that people like zany. I can appreciate that. I love Bridget Jones, actually. But, honestly, is this the only market out there? Readers only want to read zany romance (if it doesn't involve sulky vampires, that is)?

My NaNo novel is not a zany romance, nor is Strings Attached. Now, this does not mean I am devoid of humour (in fact, my new WIP is a comedy), but these first couple of full lengths are serious contemporary romances. Not quite melodrama, but focusing on honest emotions and mature, realistic people. Not zany people.

(Zany people are, like, girls who wear red dresses a lot, which randomly get blown up by the wind, right, and inexplicably carry bunches of daisies way too often? Zany guys, I can only assume, wear a messenger bag all the time.)

(Yeah, I don't have any of those.)

So, it seems I am simply not zany enough for the category of contemporary romance in today's market.

Perhaps I should see if I can re-write into it a pouty nosferatu as Plan B...

Help! Another Identity Crisis

I've seen these two terms chucked around, "Indie" and "Traditional." Now, I know these terms are rife with some controversy, since they were (according to interwebs lore) first coined by a shady vanity press in order to glamorize their scam. Yet, regardless of how the categories started, they have been widely adopted in the "writing world" - or, at least, in that corner which I haunt.

I have always understood it to be a matter of scale.

"Traditional" publishers, in my understanding, included the Big Companies - the brick-n-mortar, advance-granting, agent-oriented, paperback-lovin' companies that market/sell internationally and make big bucks, and all those mid-range companies run on this model in hopes of being one of the Big Publishers. We can all name several of these off the top of our heads, no doubt.

"Indie" (short for "independent") publishers, I assumed, included the small scale publishers - micropresses and self-published authors who have a smaller distribution and privately-seeded marketing budget, no agents and no advances, but royalties from sales alone. Largely, these days, this means epublishing.

This week I ran into a handful of blog comments that claimed "indie" doesn't include self-published. But, this sentiment I easily disregarded as indie authors who, foolishly, have bought into the idea that self-published means vanity publishing and terrible quality. These comments were, after all, left on a now-fairly-famous so-so review to which the regrettably deficient self-published author under review left some awful, immature and petty ravings, involving the senseless repetition of expletives. I can see why people were scrambling to distance themselves from her.

However, I then came across something a little more puzzling, and not exactly unique - and from a source I can't so easily dismiss. From a NY Times bestselling author and writer of "how to write" pieces, Bob Mayer, it was hard to ignore. This quote, which was not the gist of his point (just what struck me), is from the June 12th post on his blog Write it Forward:

I use the term indie for one who self-publishes and trad for those who are published via a traditional publishing house. I’ve copyrighted them and you need to pay me any time you use them. Joking.

True, Mayer is clearly expressing his terms as he sees them for the purposes of his post, which is an otherwise considered and useful editorial. Yet, he is not the only person defining these terms this way, and I am confused.

I consider myself an "indie author," though it seems many people do not grant me this category. However, I am not really published through a "traditional" venue, either. So, what the hell am I?

First off, why do I consider myself "indie"? Well, frankly, my publishers thus far have been pretty independent - without a big corporate source of money, no advances, requiring no agents, not having a publishing "house" as such, and focusing largely on ebooks, they seem to me to be small-scale and, therefore, not the same as those commonly recognized as traditional. They are, I believe, independently owned and operated by individual publishing entrepreneurs. I don't even think they have investors beyond their owners/managing editors.

And why am I seemingly not "indie"? Because I do publish through companies not belonging to me that employ editors not controlled by me, and, especially, because I do not "self-publish." I guess. (Insert "head scratching" emoticon here.)

Now, I suspect the easy argument is that these companies could become traditional-scale in time, and that Harper-Collins might have started out as a micropress (I really couldn't tell you if it did or not, actually). Also, more obscurely, the concern might be that these publishers, be they ever so humble, might be creatures similar to the "gatekeepers" that indies dislike so strongly, and that signing with these epubs might be "compromising my artistic vision" in a way that self-pubbed writers don't have to. Finally, I reckon the royalties thing is the kicker - as long as a middle man is getting a cut, I guess (according to some) I am not truly "independent."

Well, colour me confused. I can understand the arguments and points above, but they never occurred to me naturally. I had to ponder them.

But, the point of all this is - Even if I concede that I am not "indie" (which I don't, really), I am left with a dilemma. What am I? In this recurring rhetoric of "indie" vs "traditional"... which am I? Am I an "us" or a "them"? In a greyzone, worthy of the attention of neither?

True, we shouldn't think in those terms of narrow categories, but such is what we have to work with in the seedy underbelly of starving author forums. So, where do I land?

It would just be nice to know.

Newsletter Feature Tomorrow!

Hi all! Sorry I have been MIA - tot and I are still fairly ill. This chest cold is just lasting and lasting. I hope you are all well, and will enjoy your holiday weekend.

If you haven't already signed up for it, please sign up for the 1Place for Romance newsletter. Tomorrow, the featured author is yours truly - Christmassy name, Christmas book, Christmas cover - good material for Christmas Eve spotlight, I guess. :)

I'm still working to recoup the sales on Unwrapping Scrooge, which is actually not doing too badly, considering. I am hoping this will give it a little nudge.

Take care, and very happy holidays!

XXOO
~AH

A Little Good News

Good for the Goose just got a strong review from Tyhada's Place!

http://tyhadas-place.blogspot.com/2010/12/review-good-for-goose-by-anne-holly.html?zx=8c4c282f6948eb6a

Midnight Fun

Come join me around midnight over at Deanna Wadsworth's blog for cocktails, some chit chat, and a give-aways! I'm giving away a copy of my Christmas romantic comedy, Unwrapping Scrooge, or of my Christmas erotic-romance, Good for the Goose - Your choice!

One commenter (between midnight tonight and midnight tomorrow night) will win!

My NaNoWriMo Goals

My personal goals for NaNo:

2k-a-day nets me these deadlines:

• Nov 6 - 12k
• Nov 13 - 26k
• Nov 20 - 40k
• Nov 27 - 54k
• Nov 30 - 60k

I have set weekly goals so if I have to skimp on one day, I can make it up before the end of the week, i.e. writing only 600 words one day, and 4k another - but the aim is 2-4k every single day of NaNo, come rain or shine!

The novel I am writing is aimed at 60 to 65k, so I have decided to keep up the 2k-a-day level if I can, so that it will be finished in total rough draft by the end of the month, so I can put it away and then get working on other things for a couple weeks before I edit. I want this novel all ready for submission by Jan 1, 2011, so this way I can have a rest between writing and editing.

So, let's see if I can hit those markers, shall we?