Mills and Boon have announced a fantastic new competition - details can be found here. Entries will be posted online and this is a wonderful opportunity for work to be seen and commented on by the romance community. And, of course, those prizes are fantastic.
There are many, many reasons why I shouldn't enter:
1. I'm tired and fed up and I've been worn down by years and years of rejections.
2. The entries will be viewed by the public - What if I'm as deluded as some of those contestants on the early rounds of the X-Factor? What if I attract ridicule and hilarity for my pathetic effort? Obviously, published authors can be wounded by harsh reviews, but, when you're unpublished, ridicule from the public could send you over the edge.
3. When there are so many wannabes out there you need something extra - sparkle, magic, talent - to stand out. If I had that I'd have made it by now.
4. I've made the decision - I'm moving on... My love affair with romance is over. Yes, I still think about it sometimes. Yes, I miss it. Yes, I wish it had worked out. But Ive decided it's not a healthy relationship.
5... I could go on, but I think you get the message - the sensible thing for me to do is ignore the lure of this new competition.
But...but...but...
There's one compelling reason why I should, perhaps, give it a go...
I REALLY, REALLY WANT TO.
So, what to do? Do I do the healthy thing and look the other way? Or do I - even knowing it will likely end in tears - give in and have one last fling with my first love?
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
A Shock, Searching My Writer's Soul and a Treat For All
You know Rolos? Those tiny little toffee and chocolate sweeties that are just right for that writing break? Well I was pleasantly surprised when I recently discovered a tube of these is only 125 calories. Honestly, I double and triple checked.
125 Calories. It seemed to good to be true - but it was right there in large figures on the packet.
So, Rolos became my sweet of choice. Sometimes I even ate two packets at a time - at only 250 calories I reckoned it was worth it.
And then today the nasty shock. I read the small print and found that 125 calories is for FIVE tiny sweeties - not the whole lot. That's only half the packet. Who eats half the packet? (I'm guessing the answer here would be thin people, but no need to rub it in.)
So, my 250 calorie treat was actually 500. It really isn't that hard to work out exactly why I'm fat.
But how do Nestle get away with such schockingly misleading packaging? They should either give the same prominence to all the info, or advise the calorific value of the whole lot - which is what most of us will be eating.
On the writing front, I've run out of ideas. Actually, that's not true - I have tons of ideas, just not any good ones. The number of stories I've started and failed to finish is scandalous. They run out of steam on the first page. Sometimes they run out of steam as early as the first paragraph.
I think the trick is to focus and wrestle with one idea until it submits into some sort of finished work. This is what I'm going to try, anyway.
I've also been thinking quite hard about how I want my writing to progress. My first love is romance - and regular visitors will be sick of the story of how I sent my first manuscript out when I was 16 (and received it back a few weeks later). But, realistically, I have to face the heartbreaking fact I'm not any good at it.
However, I have been on the receiving end of some encouragement (and the odd success) with short stories. Tellingly, few of the success have been romances. And most of my other published bits and pieces have been amusing (bitchy) personal opinions about minor celebrities. Nothing at all to do with romance.
Maybe I just don't have the depth of character to convey a couple falling in love. Or, maybe I'm just too cynical. Maybe I don't trust enough that those charming alpha males don't hide a dark side - like charming men in real life sometimes do (yes, the voice of bitter experience - and the details aren't suitable for a family blog). You only need to read The Charm Syndrome by Sandra Horley (sadly not available to buy new at the moment) to see how dangerous falling for a man like that can be.
So, what to do? Continue with the dream despite the resulting heartache (and the fact I've received absolutely no encouragement)? Or jump ship and make a bigger effort with other projects - things I know I can do?
That's the dilemma that will keep me awake tonight.
And now, just to prove a man doesn't have to be alpha to make my heart beat a little faster, here's a treat for everyone:
125 Calories. It seemed to good to be true - but it was right there in large figures on the packet.
So, Rolos became my sweet of choice. Sometimes I even ate two packets at a time - at only 250 calories I reckoned it was worth it.
And then today the nasty shock. I read the small print and found that 125 calories is for FIVE tiny sweeties - not the whole lot. That's only half the packet. Who eats half the packet? (I'm guessing the answer here would be thin people, but no need to rub it in.)
So, my 250 calorie treat was actually 500. It really isn't that hard to work out exactly why I'm fat.
But how do Nestle get away with such schockingly misleading packaging? They should either give the same prominence to all the info, or advise the calorific value of the whole lot - which is what most of us will be eating.
On the writing front, I've run out of ideas. Actually, that's not true - I have tons of ideas, just not any good ones. The number of stories I've started and failed to finish is scandalous. They run out of steam on the first page. Sometimes they run out of steam as early as the first paragraph.
I think the trick is to focus and wrestle with one idea until it submits into some sort of finished work. This is what I'm going to try, anyway.
I've also been thinking quite hard about how I want my writing to progress. My first love is romance - and regular visitors will be sick of the story of how I sent my first manuscript out when I was 16 (and received it back a few weeks later). But, realistically, I have to face the heartbreaking fact I'm not any good at it.
However, I have been on the receiving end of some encouragement (and the odd success) with short stories. Tellingly, few of the success have been romances. And most of my other published bits and pieces have been amusing (bitchy) personal opinions about minor celebrities. Nothing at all to do with romance.
Maybe I just don't have the depth of character to convey a couple falling in love. Or, maybe I'm just too cynical. Maybe I don't trust enough that those charming alpha males don't hide a dark side - like charming men in real life sometimes do (yes, the voice of bitter experience - and the details aren't suitable for a family blog). You only need to read The Charm Syndrome by Sandra Horley (sadly not available to buy new at the moment) to see how dangerous falling for a man like that can be.
So, what to do? Continue with the dream despite the resulting heartache (and the fact I've received absolutely no encouragement)? Or jump ship and make a bigger effort with other projects - things I know I can do?
That's the dilemma that will keep me awake tonight.
And now, just to prove a man doesn't have to be alpha to make my heart beat a little faster, here's a treat for everyone:
Sunday, July 4, 2010
thanks, half-yearly round-up and pulication X 2
Thank you so much to all of you who left messages here and/or on the Minxes site. That's what I love about the online writing community - so much support from lovely blogging friends.
Now we're into July, I thought I'd dig out my records and see how I did, writing wise, during the first six months of 2010. I find it extremely interesting and encouraging when writers, such as Julie Phillips, post up their stats, so I hope this might be of use to some of you.
Here goes: From 1st January to 30th June, my sales have been as follows:
Short Stories: 7
Letters and Fillers: 12
Handy Hints:1 (I can't tell you how thrilled I was when I spotted this in the July issue of Prima - despite my love of housework (ha), nobody has wanted my advice for years.)
Not a lot by some standards, but a much better writing year for me than any other so far.
And what of my February Submission Frenzy?
Well, it did yield results - of the sales above, 4 letters and 2 short stories resulted from those 28 submissions. Not a huge percentage success rate, perhaps, but it does show that the harder you work, the more you sell (or, as Samuel Goldwyn put it: 'The harder I work, the luckier I get.'). And it's certainly enough to encourage me to have another go next year.
The publications mentioned in the title are sadly not the multi-million pound two book deal (I'm reminded here of the joke where a man prayed desperately to win the lottery - eventually, God boomed down from on high: "Meet me half way - buy a ticket." In the same way, I should perhaps meet the publishers half way and submit a novel.), but I'm utterly thrilled to announce one of my short stories is in the current issue of The Weekly News (dated 3rd July). I also have a letter in Chat. Oddly both are on cattish themes. Perhaps I should specialise in this area - is there a call for multi-million pound books about cats do you think?
Now we're into July, I thought I'd dig out my records and see how I did, writing wise, during the first six months of 2010. I find it extremely interesting and encouraging when writers, such as Julie Phillips, post up their stats, so I hope this might be of use to some of you.
Here goes: From 1st January to 30th June, my sales have been as follows:
Short Stories: 7
Letters and Fillers: 12
Handy Hints:1 (I can't tell you how thrilled I was when I spotted this in the July issue of Prima - despite my love of housework (ha), nobody has wanted my advice for years.)
Not a lot by some standards, but a much better writing year for me than any other so far.
And what of my February Submission Frenzy?
Well, it did yield results - of the sales above, 4 letters and 2 short stories resulted from those 28 submissions. Not a huge percentage success rate, perhaps, but it does show that the harder you work, the more you sell (or, as Samuel Goldwyn put it: 'The harder I work, the luckier I get.'). And it's certainly enough to encourage me to have another go next year.
The publications mentioned in the title are sadly not the multi-million pound two book deal (I'm reminded here of the joke where a man prayed desperately to win the lottery - eventually, God boomed down from on high: "Meet me half way - buy a ticket." In the same way, I should perhaps meet the publishers half way and submit a novel.), but I'm utterly thrilled to announce one of my short stories is in the current issue of The Weekly News (dated 3rd July). I also have a letter in Chat. Oddly both are on cattish themes. Perhaps I should specialise in this area - is there a call for multi-million pound books about cats do you think?
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