Release Day Rituals

Recently on a different blog, a debut author asked what she should do on the day her book went on sale. I figured someone would say do a booksigning or go on a blog tour. Other authors suggested the typical answers: celebrate with chocolate, wine, and/or champagne. Go out to dinner. Buy herself jewelry. My answer is always the same: go write on your next project. It affirms you're a writer, no matter the sales or reviews.

I wasn't sure if I have a ritual for celebrating the day, although chocolate is always on the menu for good times. (Or bad times or indifferent times...) Going out to dinner is one of my favorite things, but we do that on the day I sell a book and/or the day my first advance payment comes in. (Or, as my husband claims, any Wednesday. Or Friday. Or...well, you get the point.)

So I paid attention yesterday when Stand-In Mom hit the stands. I spent the morning reading in bed--a sure indulgence and definitely not a ritual. Then I did laundry. Changed the sheets on our bed. I lead a wild life, I know, lol. When I posted it on FaceBook, Harlequin author Shirley Jump replied that she was doing the same thing to "celebrate" the release of The Princess Test. Another author suggested chocolate, so I ate chocolate Oreos. I looked into a few blog posts I'm doing later in the month. I checked out the reviews--okay, I know reviews don't mean anything (and only the glowing reviews are true, right?), but I can't help being curious. Not only were the reviews uplifting, but I received an email yesterday regarding a review of my May book, The Marriage Solution! I hadn't expected that. So of course, I updated my website.

I was waiting for my new bookmarks to arrive so I could take them to the bookstore where I'm signing on Friday. They came after the store closed, so that's on the list for today. My plan to actually see the books on the shelf (my only real ritual) was delayed. I watched the Cardinals play (and win), which is a bonus, as it isn't always a baseball night on book release day. We ate leftovers, so I didn't have to cook, which is almost as good as going out. And I did find dessert in the fridge from going out last week, and I shared it with my husband.

Now I'm preparing for next time. Do you have any suggestions or any rituals I can adopt?

Megan Kelly
www.megankellybooks.com

Contest of Interest

Our own Laura Barth, assistant editor, is the finalist judge at the Gateway to the Best contest. It closes Sept 9th. Here's what she's interested in and how to enter.

***Permission to forward granted and appreciated.*

Gateway to the Best has a Series Contemporary Category. And as of right now, we are very low in entries for this category.

The final judge for Gateway's Series Contemporary Category, Laura Barth, Assistant Editor/Editorial Assistant for Blaze and American Romance at Harlequin had this to say about what gets her excited in a submission:

For me, the most important elements when considering a contemporary series submission are fit, voice, characterization, conflict and freshness.
The first thing I look at is whether or not a new submission fits the line to which it’s targeted. Does the plot work with our editorial guidelines? Are the hero and heroine within the right age range? Is the setting appropriate? What role do secondary characters play, if any? Is the novel the right length?
If the submission is a good fit, I look at the author’s voice and writing style. The prose should be smooth, clear and natural. The tone should be right for the story and the author should engage the reader without intruding into the story.
Characterization is also very important. The hero and heroine must ultimately be likeable and believable. I want to see a heroine who’s strong enough to stand on her own, but vulnerable and human enough to make me care about her plight. I want to see a hero who’s masculine, but self-aware and mature enough to show compassion and concern for others.
A good romance cannot be compelling without conflict, and this conflict should be organic—it should not be based on misunderstandings and coincidences. For home and family lines, especially, there needs to be true internal conflict, not just external conflict.
Finally, it can be difficult, to say the least, to come up with a totally new idea for a romance novel and still have it fit within the parameters of your targeted line. But your approach still needs to be fresh. And hopefully your story will at least have a new twist, something that makes it stand out from the crowd.


Act now! Entries for Gateway to the Best are open until Sept 9th. No extensions.

For more information, go to: http://www.morwa.org/gateway.htm

Megan Kelly
Stand-In Mom, Sept 2011

AUGUST WINNER!!!

CONGRATULATIONS Linda S! You’re the August winner. To receive your free autographed books please contact Cathy McDavid and Shelley Galloway through their Web sites.

To enter the contest simply leave a blog comment and your name will go into the drawing. Simple and painless. And FREE BOOKS.

Every Book a Challenge

One of the joys of writing books under contract is finishing one on deadline and sending it in. Somehow, miraculously, the plot threads have tied together, the hero and heroine worked out their issues—but not until the conclusion—and the author can collapse on the sofa with a well-earned dish of ice cream (my indulgence of choice).

There she will lie until the editor asks for revisions. Oh, wait. There’s another book on the contract? And it’s due when?

People ask me if writing books gets easier when you’ve sold ninety of them. My reply is that, as with ballet, it becomes not easy but possible.

Exposition or back story continues to be a challenge, especially with a continuing series such as my current Safe Harbor Medical. Book six, The Surgeon’s Surprise Twins, comes out in October and last month I started writing book nine. (Book seven, The Detective’s Accidental Baby, is due in February 2012, and book eight, The Baby Dilemma, in April.)

The trick to making each book fresh is to write as if this were a single book, standing on its own. I try to include only as much background and only as many characters as the reader needs. Learning to handle this is one of the skills I’ve acquired in nearly thirty years of published writing.

This brings me to a promise I made here last month, to show you a cover I designed using my fledgling knowledge of Photoshop. I turned my years of writing and teaching experience into a short book (roughly 80 pages if it were published in print) called How to Write a Novel in One (Not-so-easy) Lesson. I posted it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble for $2.99, and designed the cover myself. My husband took the photo.

Lest you think I simply paused in front of my bookcase one day, this is not my usual bookcase, which has a mirrored back incompatible with photography. I had to haul all ninety books and umpteen zillion foreign editions upstairs, strip a wooden bookcase of its assorted books, and set this up. Then I had to put everything back. Ouch.

So here’s my self-made cover to go with my self-made book. Meanwhile, it’s back to my favorite medical center’s fertility program, where everyone is guaranteed a happy ending (don’t we wish!).