WWW May Releases

2008-05-01T10:53:00.002-06:00

Two of our WWW authors have releases this month:

Mary J Forbes
Their Secret Child *Home to Firewood Island*
Silhouette Special Edition
www.eharlequin.com

M.L. Rhodes
Vertigo
Superhero/fantasy/erotica

Under My Skin II
Romance Novella
Sequel to *Under My Skin*
www.amberquill.com

April Releases

2008-04-01T12:31:00.002-06:00

April releases from M.L. Rhodes by www.amberquill.com

THE DRAEGAN LORDS
Paperback containing parts 1 and 2 (True of Heart and Lords of Kellesborne) of the Draegan Lords series

UNDER MY SKIN
Contemporary erotic romance

For more information check out http://www.mlrhodeswriting.com/

March Releases

2008-03-01T08:13:00.002-07:00

Wild Writing Women Releases for March 2008

The Draegan Lords by M. L. Rhodes

www.amberquill.com
www.mlrhodeswriting.com

WWW February Releases

2008-02-10T14:53:00.001-07:00

The following Wild Writing Women have books out this February. If you've read any of our books let us know what you think. We love to hear from readers!

Mary J. Forbes
FIRST-TIME VALENTINE
Silhouette Special Edition
ISBN 0373248814

M.L. Rhodes
LORDS OF KELLESBORNE
(Book 2 in The Draegan Lords series)
Amber Quill Publishers

Marin Thomas
IN A SOLDIER'S ARMS
(Book 2 in the Hearts of Appalachia series)
Harlequin American Romance
ISBN 9780373752041

Natale Stenzel
PANDORA'S BOX
Dorchester Love Spell
ISBN 100505527529

How Do You Learn What You Don't Know You Don't Know?

2008-01-08T16:48:00.000-07:00

How do you learn what you don’t know you don’t know? The romance writing community is set up to help writers who don’t yet know what it will take to make their writing publishable.

Here are a couple of ways to flush out/decode/uncover/unravel the secrets or tips that are so far mysteries to you.

1.)Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. If there is a buzz around something, like Debra Dixon’s GMC, for example, check it out. There is usually a reason why people are talking about it.

This goes for your heart, too. If something sounds really interesting, or the back cover description thrills you to your bones, buy it, borrow it, or steal it, and let it inspire you. What is it that draws you? You might want to try to copy it of course, to borrow the magic. But really, it tells you more about who you are, and that can be invaluable for filtering out advice that’s not for you and capitalizing on your strengths.

You can’t learn everything at once. When you’re at Nationals skimming through the workshop offerings, there will probably be some that really pique your interest. Pick those over the ones you know you “should” go to. You may not yet be ready for the “should” knowledge, when once you have explored the area that is drawing you on, you’ll find a need for it. That’s the time to get into it, when you know what it is you need to learn. It’s especially valuable if you know why you need to learn it. For example, you thought you were really great at your characters’ internal drives and motivations, but somehow you fall down in externalizing it. You think you “should” take a dialogue class to see if it will help, but you just don’t see the need for lots of talking and you’re really drawn to a plotting class. You could use some help with your plotting to get a sustainable story through to the end. In studying plotting, you discover—eureka!/light bulb—the plot elements are really externalizations of what’s going on inside your characters. Now all that wonderful internal angst you’re so good can find its externalization in the plot elements. And now you see how dialogue can help you do that. You now need that dialogue class—and you understand why the reader is looking for dialogue, even though you didn’t see the need before.

When you discover something you need to know, RWA and chapters have it all for you. Selection comes into play here. Tapes in library, online courses, books. They’re all out there. Get recommendations from friends or follow the words of writers you like.

2.) Get feedback to evaluate yourself. Contests can be a good place to get some feedback. Readers who you click with are even better, especially if they’re committed critique partners. Get feedback on your strengths as well as weaknesses. Contest evaluations are good for this, particularly when they break down your score into the many parts like characterization, romance, pacing, and so forth. You don’t necessarily want to take every comment you get as gospel, but if the judges always give you good scores in description and bad scores in dialogue, consider finding a good dialogue class. How do your contest entries say you are doing in the various areas of writing skills? Where are you a natural and where is external learning required? Being a “natural” in any area is, as always a double-edged sword. You want to capitalize on this strength, but you don’t want to rely on it to the exclusion of other things you don’t know how to do well. And being naturally good at something might be enough to get you good contest scores, but not necessarily enough for you to steal an editor’s attention. Even strengths can be strengthened. Try to stay open to critique even in the areas where you know what you’re doing—and even if you’re not sure the critiquer knows. You never know when a pearl will fall into place.

Do you understand each of the categories in a contest? If you were to be the contest judge, would you feel confident judging someone else’s characterization or you would flounder around, feeling clueless? This is a clue about other important areas you might need more information about.

You might save your contest score sheets so you can look at the spread of reactions to your writing and how the comments are changing as you progress.

3.) Choosing instructors: In college I evolved the attitude that it mattered less what was being taught than who was teaching it. A good writer can write interestingly about a garden slug. Look for the good speakers who illuminate their topic. Attending them will be inspirational.

4.) Your writing is another place for discovery. You have something you know needs fixing. You know it needs to be better. Keep seeking critiques and information, feedback, until you scratch that itch. If you don’t feel it’s right, you can do it better, even if no one else has picked up on that particular thing yet. (Actually, they may be talking about it, but not in such a way that you recognize it.)

Help from your fellow writers is generally generous. Remember you’re tapping into a legacy that entails you doing the same. Don’t forget gratitude. It’s very conducive to growth. Take care of those who have helped you by letting them know how helpful they were and being helpful in turn to others.

Testing

2008-01-07T23:37:00.000-07:00