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:

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 Little Tub Song (to the tune of Frere Jacques)

Wash your arm pits
Wash your arm pits
Then your toes
Then your toes
Clean your hands and face
Clean your hands and face
Brush those teeth!
Brush those teeth!

Parenting brings out strange creativity at times.

So Long, Jack

My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.

- Hon Jack Layton (1950-2011)

I don't often talk about politics on this blog. This isn't a current affairs blog, and I tend towards the private with my political, spiritual or philosophical leanings - my authorial arena is public, while those things are personal. I don't even believe in being a card-carrying partisan.

However, when I'm talking about the recently passed Jack Layton, I'm not really talking about politics. Or, rather, I'm talking about something that goes a bit beyond, or above, politics.

I'm talking about the Jack spirit.

It's about optimism. It's about hope. It's about acting in an earnest and positive manner, without being fearful that people will scorn your sunshine. It's about daring to be a happy person.

Jack Layton was a fighter. He believed in what he did. But he wasn't nasty. He was determined.

I don't think many people could survive in public service for very long if they were total cynics, but Jack went so far beyond this that the only word to describe him is indomitable. Even when it became clear that he was not going to win his fight with cancer, he looked towards the future. He took the time to write a letter, urging other cancer patients to retain hope, urging young Canadians to keep their energy, urging all Canadians to believe there is a better Canada. Like his political-forefather Tommy Douglas, Jack reminded us, as he has always reminded us, that it's never too late to fight for a better world.

Jack Layton's smile, the subject of much public ribbing here in Canada, is his legacy. Disarming and friendly, it often led people to underestimate Jack - yet, he went on to drag the NDP from the "third party option" to the opposition, something that many didn't believe possible. Jack showed us one can go about one's work both cheerfully and intelligently, and maybe even better than those who mistake rudeness for savvy.

So, no - I'm not really talking about politics. My writing has always been about optimism. About how the kind and the cheerful are underestimated, and the power of positivity over negativity. How hope, an undervalued gift in a harsh world, does have the power to heal and bring about better things.

It's okay to declare yourself an optimist. Don't be embarrassed.

In my winter 2012 project, the hero is a small town Canadian politician, a boundlessly energetic and tireless champion for a better world. I've renamed him Jack. It's only a little romance, but it's the best tribute I can offer.

So, farewell, Jack. Thanks for everything - especially the reminder.

I am Mommy, Hear me Roar

Mommies can really do anything. Or, at least, they can do what is needed. I know this is not true of every mommy out there - I am sure there are mommies out there that throw their hands up and let other people handle the tough stuff. But, most of the mommies I know can do anything they have to.

Perhaps this is not news to everyone. It was news to me, in a way. Before I had a child, I had no idea what I was capable of. Now, I know mommies can do anything.

I have opened up a broken DVD player and, somehow, managed to revive it with nothing but a screw driver - it was one of those days that I really needed an hour's respite provided by Blue's Clues, and had no money for a new machine, so I managed. I have hauled home bags of groceries in one arm and a screaming child in the other without collapsing. I have finished a degree with a nursing child on my knee. I have managed so much more than I ever thought possible.

More, even, then I could have done without being a mommy, though I know that sounds paradoxical. Being a mommy unlocked a whole deep well of inner resources of strength, and determination, and resolve. Being a mommy, in a sense, ended my own childhood. Now, I know - if I do not do it, no one will. I must depend on myself, because the tot depends on me so. There is no longer an option to throw my hands up in frustration. Everything, always, must go on. And it's up to me to make sure that happens.

On Friday, I woke up to find my computer monitor and phone had both simultaneously died. Both had been malingering for some time, so it wasn't a shock, but it was a major setback. Especially since Friday was a holiday in Canada, so there were no stores open to replace them.

Recalling a stowed away busted up phone in the storage closet, I unearthed it and got into working condition as a temporary stop-gap. One problem solved in the meantime!

Digging out the old 1990s computer monitor stashed in the storage room did not result in a similar positive ending. The poor old thing simply could not handle modern graphics. So, I tried opening up the dead newer monitor - no luck, though it sputtered for a while. In the end, I fished out the emergency laptop to suffice for the time being until I can find a very cheap monitor. I miss the files on my old hard drive, but at least I have rudimentary internet functionality, even if on an 8" screen that looks more like a calculator on steroids than an actual computer.

And this allowed me to finish a crucial job application on time. And to keep writing my daily quota.

I didn't cry, I didn't throw a tantrum, I didn't lose hope. I just did what I had to do. I did, however, call my mommy, though - because mommies are also good for sympathy.

It's been one heck of a weekend. Here's to luck improving.

And here's to all the mommies! ;)

Party Like it's 2011!

Merry Christmas!

Happy holidays & all the best for 2011!

Thanks for reading.

~AH

Wild Horse Press, Wicked Nights and Decadent Publishing

A word about my e-pubbing and my publishers.

Much has been said about e-book companies, some good and some derisive, but I am one of those who made e-books my first choice. This was partly because I respond better to smaller businesses, and like being a part of an independent venture - I find independent companies are more willing to work with everybody attached to a project, as a general rule. Primarily, however, I chose e-books because you don't need an agent, and my first attempt at publishing was an experiment; I had a manuscript, and I just wanted to see if someone found it worth publishing. I wasn't in it to write full time right away - I just wanted to see if someone would accept that first novel. When someone did, it was fast. I got word back within a month of submission, a turnover that would be impossible in traditional brick-n-mortar publishing, where the two years in the slush pile is the norm.

Two years of waiting, while life moves on, is simply not conducive to an experiment.

So, e-publishing was for me, straight away. Would I love to move into paperbacks? Sure. I will be thrilled when my current companies move into paper (like WHP has started to do, and Wicked Nights will be doing this year), and I wouldn't say no to a chance to publish something with a big print company someday, now that I know I'd like to stick with my writing for a while. But the general practice of e-publishing, of taking quality works fairly efficiently, and letting new authors get considered for publication without the work of an agent, was best for me at first, and will remain so for a while yet.

I won't be seeking an agent until I decide to write full time, if I ever do. So, e-pubbing is for me.

I now have works out with three e-pubs. I have two other companies in mind for current works in progress, but I am sure I will work with these companies again. Right now, I have my short paranormal erotic Waking Kara and my upcoming full length, Strings Attached, with Wild Horse Press; I have Good for the Goose with Wicked Nights' erotica line, After Dark, and I plan on a further series of holiday erotica with them (in the hopes of benefiting from their move to print). I have only one short Christmas romance, Unwrapping Scrooge, with Decadent Publishing, but I would love to work with them more.

Wild Horse took the very first chance on me, and has been instrumental on me staying in writing, and doing more. I have also met some of the most important writing friends I have through my association with this company, and the more experienced writers have been wonderful at helping me figure out where I am going. WHP is open to all of my creative suggestions, and, despite how busy life is for a publisher, they have remained enthusiastic and happy to hear from me. I owe WHP a lot.

My second company, Wicked Nights, was a heaven sent chance. I had a book that needed to go out by Christmas, and was in a panic because it was growing too long for the anthology for which it had originally been planned. I turned to Stacey Thompson-Geer, one of the authors at WHP, for advice, and she welcomed me to Wicked Nights with open arms. For a small, new company, Wicked Nights is getting it together - slick, determined and fresh, Wicked Nights has a strong future, and I am pleased to get in at the ground level.

My third company, Decadent, was a long shot for me. I knew they were quite powerful and "major league" for a startup, and, unlike Wicked, I didn't know anyone working there. But, I had Christmas romance that needed a home, and WHP simply couldn't accept any more submissions for 2010, as they were packed. Sitting with this romance, I was thinking to send it to Wicked, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to have two releases at one company within weeks of each other. I found Decadent, and was considering it when a happy Decadent author on Facebook gave me a nudge of encouragement, so I sent it off. I knew this book was strong, but I admit I wasn't sure it would be accepted. Then came word - Yes! Unwrapping Scrooge would have a home at Decadent!

I have really enjoyed my time with Decadent. They have lovely covers (which is important, despite the old adage), extremely rigorous editorial quality control, and they also do a bit more promotion than a lot of e-book companies do, which is great for a new author on a budget. They also have an incredibly supportive and active author community who have embraced me as one of their own, even though I am, at the moment, a one-short author with the company.

I would gladly work with all three of these companies again, and very likely will if I can come up with more works they like. Sure, my sales have been moderate at best, which is the price one does tend to pay for e-pubbing, and, in time, I might have been more successful (if you measure that in dollars or stats) had I been miraculously discovered in the slush pile two or three years from now... But I wouldn't have been happier.

And I wouldn't have been more keyed up, that's for sure. Right now, I have a great deal of enthusiasm for my avocation, which might not have been the case if I felt my publishing lacked momentum. Right now, I can feel the rise - when I Google myself, I get more and more hits, and I feel like putting out all of these works are starting to pay off. I may never be Nora Roberts, but that's okay - she has the big times all sewn up. I'm happy producing good work with small, intimate companies.

So, wherever I head now, and whether things work out with the other companies I have in mind, or if I never hit the big times, I am putting things out there, and proud of them all. I will always remain grateful to all of the companies who see in my work something worth taking a chance on.

2010 has been good to me. I wish us all the very best in 2011!

Gone Fishin'

Well, not really. Gone writin', more like it.

My NaNo project is steaming along, as you can see from the count at the top of the blog, but if I am to hit 2-3k a day for the month until this thing is done, I kind of need to be sparse on the "free words," if you know what I mean.

Therefore, I am invoking my right to take weekends off from blogging and save some ink for the NaNo writing, and I will likely not be posting on Saturdays, and on Sundays I will be posting only snippets from that week's NaNo production. Many days will be auto-posted in advance, just to free up my days in between blog batches. Some other days, I might only post links and things you might find interesting, just to save my typing.

Sorry, but something has to give, and the blog is a good option there.

I am also, as always, willing and eager (and grateful) to accept any and all submissions for guest blog posts and interviews, promos, etc. Just give a holler, and give me a day off. (Please!)

Happy writing!

Cover Art Excitement!

Wild Horse has okayed the use of this beautiful painting done for me by my good friend, artist Amanda Wood. The titles and such will be added later, but I wanted to share the painting as it is - I think it is absolutely lovely, and I am grateful to Amanda and to WHP.

I wanted bison, snow and the northern lights to be the focal point of my cover, even though a pair of lovers is, perhaps, more common for romance novels. To me, the lone buffalo in the cold represents the willfulness of people who resist change and love, a major theme of my story, while the northern lights represent hope and passion - and fire in the coldest reaches.

Further, buffalo and the lights play a significant role in the book, and symbolize the distant exoticness to be found right here in Canada - a reminder that there are still wild, beautiful places, even in places we know well.

I am so excited that this will be my cover, and I can't wait to see it up for sale. And I look forward to hearing reader response to this, my first full length novel accepted and released.

I Love the Fall!

Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all.

- Stanley Horowitz

What a wonderful time of year! I love that season when it is still comfortably warm, but you need a sweater, just in case, and the leaves blanket the park - perfect for running through and jumping in. It is the perfect season.

I hope everyone is getting their time out there to enjoy it!