Alison Kent

Are . . .

AngieW, May, Cheryl, April, Carol B, Gina, Laurie B, CW, and Karen. Send me your mailing addresses, and I’ll pop those into the mail.

There’s one copy left. First person to sing out here gets it.

This time it’s about writing!

In his post, Looking for the Short Cut, Lee Goldberg quotes screenwriter Paul Guyot who says:

A huge problem I see with people wanting to write for a living - more screenwriters than prose for some reason - is that they are so completely focused on getting an agent, or getting their script to a producer or studio, or dreaming of that one spec sale that will solve all their troubles, that they don’t spend any energy on becoming a good writer.

Boy, can I relate to this one. I can’t tell you how many agents I queried back before I had anything worth selling. I know why I did it. Validation. If an agent would take me on and get me in front of an editor, it would mean I wasn’t wasting my time pursuing the dream of publication. But I had it all backwards, one of those “if I’d known then what I know now” things. (And, oh how I wish that I had, did, uh, whatever!) Because now I look at authors who bring complete books to the table, brilliant books, books that cause a huge buzz, that publishers bid for. Those authors spent their energy wisely. On their craft.

Paul goes on to say:

Try something new this year. Just for 6 months. Forget completely about trying to get your scripts or books to agents or producers, or trying to enter contests, or suck up to the rich producer/editor at the party, or meet the “right” people.

And just concentrate on your writing. Making it better. I promise you, on my granny’s grave, that your writing can be improved upon. That script that you think you can’t do any more with - it can be better. That manuscript you’ve tweak four or five times and think is your best work ever - it can be better.

Totally agree. But I’ll go further and add that if you have a manuscript that has won contest after contest after contest but just hasn’t found an editor to love it yet? Put it away. Retire it. Pull it out again once you’re established and see if even you still love it as much as you did when sending it out on the contest circuit. RAISING HAND! GUILTY! I still have three manuscripts that I’m dying to sell; I love them each so very much. One is a paranormal, two are adventures, one of those a modern-day western, the other set in the jungle.

Want to know how many contests my jungle story won before I was published? Interested to hear how many editors told me they loved it but couldn’t buy it because adventure wasn’t selling? I still have my rejection letter from Carrie Feron telling me how much she loved the book, but how it was totally unmarketable in the current climate - maybe 1995ish - and could I send her something else.

I still want to sell that book. Desperately. But years ago I let it go and accepted it would probably never happen. I can’t read it objectively any longer. I adore it, but it could really and truly suck big bad wind. I just can’t tell, and so I’ve put it away. Do yourself a favor and do the same. Tuck your babies into bed while you grow up as an author. Write something that an editor loves - not that a dozen contest judges love - and then think about that story later.

Paul also says:

Find writers BETTER than yourself to read your stuff. Stop having friends and fellow AW’s read it and critique it. Stop being involved in writers groups (actual or cyber) that are made up of people trying to figure out for themselves what the hell it’s all about. Trust me, they will give you BAD advice on your work.

This is reiterated in the Embraced By Love article in the 11/21/05 edition of Publisher’s Weekly which focuses on the Romance Writers of America.

“The group has tended to homogenize a lot of writers,” says agent Karen Solem of Spencerhill Associates. “A lot of times the group dynamic takes a lot of freshness and individual voice and creativity out of the projects.”

(And, yes, there’s a reason Karen gets 15% of my writing income!) Think about the critique group you’re in - if you’re in one. Do your critique partners have any more experience than you do? Are you all struggling together to get there? Maybe the encouragement is exactly what you need, the camaraderie, the shoulder on which to lean for support. But maybe, just maybe, the writing advice isn’t quite cutting it. Don’t get me wrong. I work with aspiring authors who often catch things in my writing that have me crawling under a rock with shame. But I’ve found this to be the exception rather than the rule. Only you can be the judge of your situation, but listen to the pros and do give a bit of thought to who it is giving you feedback on your work.

Lee follows up his quoting of Paul’s post with this:

Too many aspiring writers these days are looking for short-cuts to success, a way to avoid all the hard work and rejection, and there simply aren’t any.

If you’ve read my rambling bio, you’ll see that I lucked out in many situations. And, yes. Luck is a short-cut of sorts, just not one within an author’s control. The work is. And the work is all that matters. Don’t worry about agents, or branding, or image until you have a reason to! I just read an article in an industry publication that floored me. All about what colors to wear, how to buy clothes that fit to impress your publishing house, yadda, yadda, yadda. And I’m thinking, yoo-hoo, hey, over here! What about the book? Maybe an author should worry about dressing to impress once they have someone who cares? (And even then it’s not a concern for many of us, heh! That final pic on my bio page? That’s all you’re likely to ever see of me!)

Needing a bit of 2006 inspiration?

Go here to check out JA Konrath’s Mantra for ‘06. Go here to join Jo Leigh’s Uber-Challenge. Go to PBW’s site, scroll down to the bottom right, and check out her links for How I Write Novels. Go to Storytelling and do the same, bottom right, Writing Fiction links. Go to Holly Lisle’s site and read through her Writing Index library. Go to Erotic Quills for Morgan Hawke’s articles on Writing Erotica if such is your poison. Listen to Paul Guyot one more time when he says:

My point is that the single best thing ANY aspiring writer can do to greatly increase their chances of becoming an employed writer is to get disciplined. Like, seriously disciplined.

It’s your job and you have to treat it as such. No excuses. No crap like, “Well, I have this day job that really drains my energy because it’s so lame, and by the time I get home I only have a finite amount of time to work on my own…” Stop.

Well? What are you waiting for? The New Year is almost here!

I’ll do reading first. (I’ll have more to say about writing goals later!) I MUST make a dent in my TBR shelves and boxes. I’ve actually been doing pretty good at that the last couple of months, catching up on my last two Lisa Gardner’s in getting ready for GONE. I have a handful of Tami Hoag and Alex Kava and Greg Rucka books to read and I think I’ll knock those out next. Make January a nonstop month of murder, mayhem, and suspense.

I don’t read as much as I should. In ON WRITING, Stephen King says:

Can I be blunt on this subject? If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.

Reading is the creative center of a writer’s life.

I think the “tools” thing is what gets to me. I learn so much about writing from reading. And I never remember how much I learn until I’m away from reading for awhile and get back to it. It’s a subtle education, one I absorb without much effort, one I have a hell of a lot of fun obtaining.

To that end, I also have set myself the goal to read more authors new to me this year. Ones I can add to my list of auto-buy authors. I’ll probably be looking toward suspense, and do have several unread authors on my TBR shelves. So I’m going to be specific and say I’ll try one a month. If I find more must-reads, I’ll share them with you here.

What about you? What reading goals do you have for 2006? Any? Or do you just read? *g*

From the Publishers Previews for April 2006 in the new issue of RT, which has outdone itself this last year making mistakes in my reviews (Kelly Long Beach rather than Kelly John Beach, Quentin Hawks rather than Quentin Marks, The BANE Affair in print as The BAIN Affair, Alison KEN not Alison KENT under Red Letter Nights):

Harry and George take a DEEP BREATH [RS] before heading into adventure and romance. By Alison Kent. 0758211139.

Maybe I should see if Scott and Scott would like me to submit to Romentics, eh?

Sigh. It’s Harry and GEORGIA. GEORGIA, not GEORGE!

Forget spring cleaning. I’m all about the year end cleaning!

I just found 10 ARCs of LARGER THAN LIFE. If you check out the link, you’ll find a bunch of excerpts from all the main characters’ viewpoints. You can see how I visualized my story people. Or you can skip all of that and just tell me you want one, though if you do visit be sure and have your sound on so you can hear the music to the intro movie the dh made for me!

I’ll pick ten winners from the comments on this post Saturday, 12/31, at noon CST - assuming there are ten of you actually around this holiday week, LOL.

The winners of the GOES DOWN EASY giveaway that I made you all work for are D’Andrea Galbreath, Kim Westgaard, Nichole Lupardus, Cheryl Strange, Nicole Hulst, Laurie Gommerman, Kelly Rivers, and Julia Blanco. Jack Montgomery’s band was called Diamond Jack and he played the bass in high school. (Those are all on the way, btw, as I am spending today doing a big mailing of a lot of things I’ve been putting off! The dh will SO love me, heh!)

GOES DOWN EASY! ON SALE NOW! *gg*

Now, the dh has been bugging me since before Christmas to watch a movie he rented at Netflix, and I’ve declined repeatedly. Well, last night I gave in. Not really because I wanted to, but because he already had it in the DVD player watching the bonus features when I came into the living room. Here’s the synopsis:

Action star Errol Flynn shot to stardom in this swashbuckling adventure about Peter Blood (Flynn), who’s forced to work as a slave on Col. Bishop’s (Lionel Atwill) Jamaican plantation. Blood joins up with marauding Spanish pirates, saves Bishop’s gorgeous niece (Olivia de Havilland) from a French pirate (Basil Rathbone) and is eventually made governor of Jamaica.

It was actually quite good! I take back all I said about it surely being dull and boring, heh. Seriously, how can you resist this dialogue:

Dr. Peter Blood: Nuttall, my lad, just one other little thing. Do you think you can find me a good stout piece of timber? About so thick and so long?
Honesty Nuttall: Yes, I think so.
Dr. Peter Blood: Then do so and lash it to your spine - it needs stiffening. Courage! We’ll join you at midnight.

Okay. What am I going to work on during the Uber-Challenge I described in the post below. First of all, discipline. That has been my biggest downfall this last year. (Oooh, look, shiny!) I am *so* easily distracted. Either by a story other than the one I need to be working on, housework, playing outside, reading . . . it really never ends. I’ve tried the timer thing. I’ve tried the no email until the pages are written thing. I’ve tried writing at night, writing in the morning, writing in the wee hours when the rest of the world is asleep. I get antsy sitting too long. (Oooh, look, shiny!) My best writing, seriously, is done longhand at the park. There is nothing there *to* distract me. But the weather doesn’t always cooperate. I’m still thinking about what I want to concentrate on re: writing skills/craft elements, etc. I have so many that need to be fine-tuned . . . so while I think more on that, here’s my real New Year’s resolution (courtesy of Jennifer Jackson):

From an IM conversation with the FVT who I asked to choose my Deep Breath winners:

AlisonKentBlah (8:15:05 PM): hi
AlisonKentBlah (8:15:17 PM): pick 4 numbers between 1 and 22
AlisonKentBlah (8:15:24 PM): i need to choose 4 winners
b00mcherryb0mb (8:15:33 PM): 4, 7, 13, 21
b00mcherryb0mb returned at 8:15:33 PM.
AlisonKentBlah (8:16:12 PM): thanks!
b00mcherryb0mb (8:16:15 PM): ok

There were 26 comments in the post below, 1 was a duplicate name, and 3 were pingbacks rather than comments, for a total of 22 entries. Using WordPress’s number feature, that makes the winners:

4 = Lynn Raye Harris
7 = Kim Westgaard
13 = Arlene
21 = Mapletree7

Email me your mailing addresses and I’ll send out the ARCs to you all! Congratulations!

I found out today from Crystal Green that my 10/06 Blaze is now an 11/06 Blaze, which it was originally, but got moved up, and now back. I’m in a mini-series (For A Good Time Call . . . ) with Crystal and Nancy Warren. Crystal’s book is INNUENDO in 07/06, Nancy’s is INDULGE in 09/06, and I’m INFATUATED in 11/06. I’ve only written a chapter and a half on this one but am SO ready to get back to it!

Shannon reports that GOES DOWN EASY is on the shelves. This would be a good time to shop at Waldenbooks if possible to see if I can hit the list again, heh! As HelenKay is so fond of saying, buy 40 copies now because you never know when you may need them!

Now, gearing up for 2006 - Jo Leigh’s UBER-CHALLENGE! Explanation? Certainly! Here’s Jo’s explanation:

Each year for several years, I’ve been choosing one subject that I need to work on regarding my writing. One year it was dialogue, another was metaphor and simile. What I did was choose my topic, then dig into every resource I could find about that subject. So I’d goggle the topic and order books and articles, I’d go to workshops if I could, and basically focus on improving that one skill. I didn’t limit myself to how-to books for romance writers. I read everything I could, and experimented with different approaches and exercises. Each year I’ve learned a tremendous amount, and I think my writing has improved as a result.

This year, I thought it would be very cool if a whole group of us did the Challenge, with each of us choosing our own subject, of course. I’m doing something a little differently - my 2006 Challenge is writing discipline. You can choose a specific goal, say completing and submitting your novel, or perhaps writing first person books. There are so many things to learn, to improve upon, that the choices are unlimited.

The group is here. It doesn’t matter where you are in your career. We can all learn something and share with each other. There’s a database started that lists great resources books. Don’t be afraid to add yours. There are no assignments, no deadlines. Just learning in an atmosphere of friendly encouragement.

I hope you all join, and I’d love it if you got the word out on your blogs and web pages. The more folks we have, the better the experience for all of us.

Still a few hours to sign up to win an arc of DEEP BREATH!

ONE DAY LEFT to register to win an advanced copy of DEEP BREATH. Details here! (Also, there’s an excerpt of Harry’s story in the post!) I’ll pull the winners on Wednesday evening, say 8:00 p.m. CST.

Ah, the week between Christmas and the New Year. Here on the Texas Gulf Coast, it’s currently 77 degrees with gale force gusts blowing birds into my bedroom window. Yes, it’s true. It sounds like it should be a spooky Halloween night in a haunted house or something. Even the dog is in the bathtub where he retreats during inclement weather.

I told the dh I was going to blog about him and he told me not to, but I’m doing it anyway. We had a very small Christmas this year. Monetarily small, but HUGE where it counts, with family and friends. We had such a good time with all four of our blended-family kids, the FVT’s roomie, the boyfriend-in-law, and the couple from the Halloween wedding.

Now, having listened to me complain, i.e., whine for weeks about the lack of good lighting in my office area of our bedroom, the dh bought me a lamp with a bright 3-way bulb and another arm with a sunlight bulb. I CAN SEE! He also bought me a flash drive to use for backups, YAY! Not only that, he stuffed my stocking with lotion for my horribly winter-dry skin and a tube of mini Tootsie Rolls, my favorite candy, and other goodies! What a guy! (See, sweetie? That wasn’t so painful now, was it?) I still want a new cell phone since mine is on its last legs, and the dh still wants a hi-def capture card. Good things come to those who wait, yes?

After the Christmas morning madness that didn’t really start until almost noon, heh, those of us around watched Serenity, Young Guns, and Crash (which was actually a 2004 release, not 2005 as I posted yesterday). The night before we watched Back to the Future II and III, and the night after we watched The Princess Bride. On Sunday night, however, when it really was too early to go to bed but I was too beat to do anything else, I plopped down on the loveseat and turned on the television. I started in on the second hour of a CBS Christmas movie, then realized the Grey’s Anatomy repeat was one I hadn’t seen. And I had the weirdest epiphany while flipping between the two channels.

You see, I’ve been wondering for awhile about what I want to write.

When I moved from straight contemporary romances into romantic action-adventure, I knew I’d lose some readers while others followed along. And, honestly, even the readers who don’t care for the SG-5 books have been supportive, and have enjoyed my recent Blazes which are more straight contemporary - with the exception of Jack - who goes on sale any day now! Even my next Blaze, INFATUATED (10/06) will be relationship intensive with no action or suspense.

But there are times I miss writing books like LOVE ME TENDER and LOVE IN BLOOM, books that have more of a Hallmark/Kodak moment tone like the Christmas movie I started watching. Except when I switched to Grey’s Anatomy, I was again instantly hooked by the cast of characters, each one with an individual story, all of them intertwined, much like my gIRL-gEAR books!

So, what’s an author to do? I’m already diversified between action-adventure and contemporary urban love stories. Do I need to be faithful to my brand or to my muse?

Am I Hallmark or Grey’s Anatomy?

First off, there are still two more days to register to win an advanced copy of DEEP BREATH. Details here!

Secondly, I got up early this morning (since the dh was missing), found him, returned to bed and got up late, and decided that taking care of my mental health (as in, getting the sleep I need, getting out of the house more often, cutting down on the barrage of media and noise all around and paying attention to what’s going on in my head; just ask the dh how many times I’ve freaked him out the last 2 or 3 days) is now priority number one. I’ve had so much on my plate for so long, and I fear hitting a wall from which recovery will be a slow and agonizing process. I’ve taxed my brain to the point where conversation is an effort. Just ask any of the six twenty-somethings who sat around the living room amidst piles of wrapping paper yesterday morning, ha! (”Hey, you’re the writer. You should know all the words.”) Right. I may know them. The connect between my brain and my tongue just can’t find them.

BTW, got a copy of my favorite 2005 movie from my son for Christmas. Crash. The movie itself is thought-provoking, but the vehicle for the storytelling just blows me away. I want to do this in a book, have several intertwined subplots going on that all wrap up like the neatest Christmas bow at the end. Even knowing everything that was going to happen while watching it again yesterday, I still had that heart in the throat tingling skin feeling. And watching it with two more twenty-somethings who hadn’t seen it before and were gasping and saying, “Oh my God, oh my God,” made it even better! Absolutely love it!

Now, even though taking care of my mental health is a huge one for me, I totally agree with JA Konrath when he says, “Writing involves sacrifice and hard work. That means denying yourself some things, like friends and family and free time. If you want to make it, you have to put in the hours.” He goes on to say:

The harder you work, the better your chance at success. This is a business about persistence, not talent. Asimov wrote 400 books. James Reasoner just finished his 185th. How many have you done?

Now I fully expect some vehement disagreement. Replies that speak of values and priorities and happiness and importance, and examples of authors on the bestseller list who take plenty of time off. I’m sure plenty of folks will feel sorry for my family, or for me for not ‘getting it.’ Some of you will insist you can have your cake and eat it too, and some of you may indeed do that.

But the next time you’re lamenting your career, ask yourself two questions: What have I done so far? & What have I sacrificed?