<![CDATA[Bronwyn Stuart - Romance Author <br /> - Bronwyn's Rants (Blog)]]>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:12:36 +0700Weebly<![CDATA[Wedding anyone?]]>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:45:51 +0700http://bronwynstuart.weebly.com/1/post/2009/11/wedding-anyone.htmlAlright. I'm over the broken record about judges and competitions and everything about them. I've had my rant, albeit quietly, about the injustice of it all so I'm not going to go there today. But that really doesn't leave me with much ;-)

What I want to ask is how you feel about marriage in this day and age. Some of you know my partner, Doug, and I have been to three weddings over the last three months with another one just after Christmas. Others know we were going to get married in June just gone but had to cancel. Now we seemed to have changed our priorities and the wedding isn't even something we talk about.
Like most, Doug and I did it all backwards. We got pregnant, bought a house, had a baby, had another baby but are still living in sin and enjoying every minute of it. Back in the day and not too long ago, marriage was just the next logical step in the course of a girls dating life. You meet the guy, fall in love, get married, buy a house, have sex then the babies come. Not now. I don't many women who have, or are, saving themselves for marriage and Mr Right. More commonly, it's Mr Right Now and virginity is a word you forgot the meaning of a long time ago. I'm not saying all the women around me are having sex at twelve and being little sluts. I'm just saying the term 'try before you buy' is being taken more and more literally in terms of the man you are going to marry. And why shouldn't I? I'm only going to get married once!
Then there are those who get married because the old logic kicked in and took it as the next step. Are they happy? If Bridezilla didn't rear her ugly, frazzled, bossy head and you went through with it all, are you happy? $30,000 dollars later, was it worth it?
I'm not asking these questions because I don't believe in the sanctity of marriage. I do. I still term that day of one of the biggest of my life and it hasn't happened yet. I have friends who are already married and divorced and most of them are younger than me but it doesn't put me off. I want to pledge to my life to his in the house of God and then I want to celebrate it with all my friends and family but not at the expense of our financial happiness. Make no mistake, I'm going to go a little Bridezilla and I want our wedding to be perfect and that means spending a little money. I don't want to settle for the wedding that someone else might have been happy with. I want what I want (with some input from Doug) and I won't settle for less. Some days the wedding seems so insignificant in the face of providing our girls with everything they want and need and more.

Guess that means I shouldn't hold my breath... nah, just kidding. I'm going to write that next bestseller, publishers are going to fight over me and I'll be able to pay for ten weddings!!

Anyway, I'm off to my first hen's night of all these weddings and I'm going to let my hair down, wish the bride good luck and be happy.

 I'm going to have fun =)


]]><![CDATA[Luck of the draw...]]>Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:24:27 +0700http://bronwynstuart.weebly.com/1/post/2009/11/luck-of-the-draw.htmlHowdy doody =)

First of all, thanks to the four people who left comments last week. You'll all be getting a little something from Alexis and I to say thanks!

Now I want to talk about luck and being in the right place at the right time. As some of you already know, I've been cyber stalking Anna Campbell to get a copy of her latest release, Captive of Sin. Finally it paid off and I won a copy from Nalini Singh's blog. I really like Anna and the stalking wasn't a burden for me at all but it got me thinking about luck. You enter a story into a competition like the Harlequin iHearts presents. 544 odd entries and my little one seems so insignificant. I feel like I'm swimming in the ocean with sharks circling around a ring of dolphins. The dolphins are on my side but as soon as I flail or show weakness, I'm toast and the sharks will rip me apart. Okay, I'm feeling a little morbid today. While I'm frantically trying to finish my women's fiction, I'm thinking about entering into the Australian Emerald at the end of the month, I'm also thinking more and more about the right book, at the right time, for the right person.

That's what it's all about. It's not that my writing is crap or that I'm not ready to sub or that the judges comments scare the living shit out of me. Everything in this game is completely subjective. You might be having a bad day and be more judgemental. You might have had an ex-boyfriend with the same name as my hero or the dog that bit you when you were four with the same colour eyes. I understand all of this but I also think it's a little unfair in competitions. I know. This started out as a blog and now I'm having a rant. If my story is regency noir and the hero walks into the room, takes the stranger into his arms and kisses her senseless, puts a bullet into her fiancee and then rides into the night on his trusty steed, believe me when I say, this is what happened! It's my story. Go with it for a minute. In one of my regencies, the heroine avenges her father in a duel and shoots the cretin in the thigh (she missed, she was aiming for his...). When her guardian tells her it isn't appropriate behavior for a young lady of good breeding, don't mark me down because you agree. If she has a hissy fit over being treated unfairly, don't tell me that gently bred misses don't have hissy fits! The feisty ones do!!

If you don't understand or read the genre, don't judge it! Sometimes when things happen in an era we didn't see, you have to abandon your own preconceptions and just read. You can't tell me that in the early eighteen hundreds there wasn't an heiress anywhere that didn't have a mind of her own or a tongue in her mouth that she wasn't afraid to use (that didn't come out right). You just want me to believe that all men were either scandalous rogues or fat, balding, sweaty boring gits. My hero and heroine are who they are because I made them that way. If they aren't believable, tell me that. If you don't like them, let me know. But don't tell it wouldn't or shouldn't happen because it can and it did.

Now back to my women's fiction. I decided to have a shot at something different when I couldn't find an entry into the dark regency world I'm fast falling in love with. I've had a couple of my awesome critters read it and they all though it was well written and hilarious but will you? If I enter it alongside single title suspense, regency, medieval, will it have a chance? I'm not sure but what I do know is, if I'm not in it, I can't win it!

Damn, I didn't win the lotto... But I didn't buy a ticket. Same concept. If I want my name and my work out there, I've got to put my fear of sharks to the side and trust that my work is good enough to stand on it's own two feet and that I have just as much right to be there as anyone else. If I don't win, I'll take the critism and chalk it all up to experience. Maybe I'll learn something new. Maybe I'll crack the shits and go postal (I would never do that) but at least I can say tha I tried.

Without trying there is no failure and I won't learn from my own mistakes without someone to point them out (delicately please)

Anyway, that's it from me this week. I want to say thanks again to Alexis for being my crash test dummy last week. While I didn't get the number of responses I was after, I tried =)

Have a great week!

]]><![CDATA[Interview with Alexis Fleming]]>Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:12:08 +0700http://bronwynstuart.weebly.com/1/post/2009/11/interview-with-alexis-fleming.html
Picture

I realised today on top of everything else that I can't count. I thought tomorrow was the 6th but it turns out I was just wishful thinking that I had another day up my sleeve somewhere. So without further ado... (and I apologise for all the font changes, unavoidable...)

 As promised I have an exciting author interview today coinciding with her newest release.

Now comes the hard part. I’m relatively new at this kind of stuff so if there’s something I’ve missed or you want to know something else, please leave a comment and one of us will get back to you.

I would like to introduce you to Alexis Fleming (here’s where you clap), a mum and granny, a wife, business woman and writer of Erotic Romance. Alexis has very kindly agreed to be my first interviewee, something of a trial and error guinea pig or crash test dummy depending on which way the wind blows. Hi Alexis and welcome to my rants page.

Alexis –Hi, Bronwyn. Thanks for having me and I’m more than happy to be a test dummy. Hey, those crash test dummies are all skinny and gorgeous, right? Oh, and young!

Hmm, but sexless! Not a great way to be...

Tell me first about your new release 'Honey Trap' debuting today at Ellora's Cave.

Alexis – Honey Trap was a title I’d had in my brain for ages. No story to go with it, just the title. Whenever I come up with a title I think would look great on a book, I jot it down. Eventually the story line to match the title comes to me. This is what happened with Honey Trap.

Honey Trap is part of the Going Down Under series Ellora’s Cave is publishing, all written by Australian writers. Here’s the blurb.

Publisher: Ellora's Cave Publishing

ISBN: 9781419925269

Release Date: 6th November 09

Link to book:

http://www.jasminejade.com/ps-7771-50-honey-trap.aspx

 

BLURB:

Going Down Under

Seductive scents…torrid suspense…

For Australian scientist Kyla Harris, danger is not her middle name, but when she invents a cologne that acts as an aphrodisiac, she becomes embroiled in a CIA case. Sexy American agent Logan Matthews is assigned as her bodyguard when someone tries to steal her sensual formula. Kyla finally has the edge in the war of the sexes and Logan Matthews is her target. A little fun in bed…on the desk…in the Aussie bush—what better way to test her cologne?

It’s just a shame Logan’s only reacting because of the formula…or is he?

Link to Excerpt:http://www.jasminejade.com/productspecs/9781419925269.htm


That sounds really exciting! What a great premise and I love the Down Under factor! How many does this make it for you?

Alexis – Um, hang on, counting… lol

I’m relatively new to Ellora’s Cave so Honey Trap is only my fourth over there. One of those is also in print in an anthology. With Samhain Publishing, I have five books out, all in both digital as well as print. I have five with Changeling Press, one of which is also in a print anthology. I’m also with Total-e-bound Publishing with four digital books, three of which are in print. And last but not least, I am part of Heart & Craft which is in print with Allen & Unwin. I’m also a contributor to an anthology coming out in print with them on 1st December.

Considering I didn’t get my first contract until August 2004, it has been a busy few years.

Sounds like it! I understand you haven't always written Erotic stories. What did you used to write and what made you decide to make the switch?

Alexis – I started out writing fantasy and contemporary romance, but even then, my stories were highly sensual. I’ve always seen the act of making love as part of the whole falling in love package, so why deprive my readers of that? When a friend suggested I try erotic romance it really wasn’t a big stretch for me. I just opened the bedroom door a little wider and let my imagination (and libido) have at it. I think whatever I write it will always be hot. That’s just the way I see the stories in my head. Hmm, does that make me a dirty old woman?

Never! What does your husband and family think about what you write? I know my partner would think it's Christmas every day but I don't think I would ever be able to tell my dad.

Alexis – My husband doesn’t have a problem with it, although he does sometimes want to know where I get my ideas. In fact, my hubby often does my final proof reading before I send my work to the editor.

With my daughter, it’s easy. Not only is she a published writer in her own right, she’s also my sounding board and one of my critique partners. My son doesn’t have a problem with his mother writing hot books, but he’d prefer if his fiancée didn’t read them. For one reason only. The first time she read one of my books, she raced my boy off to the bedroom afterwards. Yes, he enjoyed the benefits, but he said it felt like having mum in the bedroom with him. lol

As for my mother-in-law, she keeps asking when I’m going to send her a copy of one of my books. Um, never? My father-in-law was a minister of religion and I’m not certain my mother-in-law would approve. In fact, I know she wouldn’t. lol

Many, many years ago my mother-in-law nearly fainted when she realised the lingerie party I hosted included sex toys so I totally understand! How do you fit it all in? Writing and life? Have you found a balance or do you wing it day to day?

Alexis -- Hubby and I run a busy motel which is pretty much a 24/7 job. That means my writing has to fit around the motel. It’s not always easy. I hit the floor running at 5.30am, answer email, do my promo, and then it’s into the shower to be ready to start work in the motel by 7.30am. Most of the mornings I’m tied up with doing the laundry for the motel and running the cleaning team who do the rooms. Afternoons I manage to find some time on the computer, but most of my writing takes place after 5.30pm. I’m spoilt because hubby cooks dinner and just calls me when it’s ready, so I can go on writing. After dinner, it’s back to the computer. During the high season, I really don’t get a lot of writing done. I tend to arrange all my contracts so nothing is due from the end of December to the end of April. After that, things slow down a bit and I can get in more writing time. 

And finally, what would you like to rant about? It wouldn't be a rant page if you didn't have something you want to get off your chest!

Alexis – Hmm, a rant. Have to think a bit.

Okay, in my everyday life, one of my pet peeves is rudeness. In running a motel, I guess I’ve seen every character trait come through our reception door. Most people are terrific, but then you get the ones who are so rude, either to hubby or myself, or, and this really gets up my nose, to my staff. That’s like a red rag to me because there is no excuse for rudeness.

In my writing life, I think the thing that annoys me the most is seeing some authors pulling down other authors. There’s no excuse. If you have a grievance with someone, deal with it in private. Don’t take it to blog land and make it fodder for gossip. It puts us all in a bad light.

I work in a supermarket so rudeness is high on my list of intolerable-s and having been a bystander in one too many Facebook bitch fights and insulting blogs, I see where you’re coming from. I’m not a fan of bashing anyone in public forums unless it’s Centrelink (run by the Aussie government) or Telstra (the largest of the Aussie telco’s). But to individually single someone out and give them hell without the right of reply is a cowardly act. God, listen to me, I’ve taken over your rant =)

Thank you so much for your time, Alexis! I wish you every success for Honey Trap! I'll be going to buy a copy right now (just don’t tell Doug!)

Alexis – Thanks for having me, Bronwyn. It’s been fun.


If you want to visit Alexis' website just click on her name anywhere in the interview and I'll deliver you there =) If you want to purchase a copy of Honey Trap, click on one of the links shown either side of the blurb.
 

Now make sure you leave a comment for a chance to win an electronic copy of Honey Trap (if you aren't into erotic romance I'll give away a big box of Cadbury Favourites or a book and a little goody if you're over the ocean) The winner will have to answer the question...

How hot do you like your romance and why?

Tell us what kind of heat you like and the best answer will win, you have till Friday the 13th November!! Ooh, scary!



Now, I won't be doing this every week. I'm think the first Saturday of every month will be interview an author day so come back next week for more rants or news of my progress in today's tough market.

Have a spectacular weekend!
]]><![CDATA[Where does the time go?]]>Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:52:18 +0700http://bronwynstuart.weebly.com/1/post/2009/10/where-does-the-time-go.htmlHappy Halloween to all my myth-believing, ghost-busting, vampire-loving, witchy friends. We don't really celebrate it downunder, thank god! It's hot today, finally, after all the winter weather everyone thought would hang around for the next century, we have a hot day. Can you imagine all the face paint that would run, all the ghosties and ghoulies with sweat patches on their white sheets? The only advantage would be dressing up in one of those little witch outfits to show off my new boobs =)

But enough about that, I know my father in law gets a little uncomfortable talking about the new additions.

I've already given up on the idea of a running story for my blog. I found with all the judging, writing, critting and submitting, I just don't have the time for anything else. You should see my house. It looks like a bomb hit it!

Okay, so it's competition time in my life. A heap of Aussie comps are closing in November and a few others around the world have closed in the last few days so I've been polishing and editing and polishing again. I haven't heard back from the two agents who have my historical but I'm hoping that will be this month as well. It's all happening!

It's also wedding time. Three weeks ago was my big brother's, last weekend was Bec and Adam's and tomorrow is Casey and Bo's. It got me thinking not so much about writing or reading weddings but about your favourite television or movie wedding.

I like Millie and Adam's wedding in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Adam Ponterby went to town looking for a wife and Millie just happened to be the gal for him. The got hitched in the front parlour of the vicar's house with the man tut-tutting over their three second courtship and the three foot height difference between bride and groom making me want to giggle. Maybe you liked Shrek and Fiona's I do after Fiona is changed into a hideous, ugly ogre, right after Dragon burps from eating the crazy power-driven Lord Farquad. Or maybe your's is a series wedding. Brook and Ridge? Ridge and Taylor? Dominic and Bridget? Dominic and Brook? God, I could go on all day with these handful of names.

So tell me what your favourite wedding is and why and the best one (the one I really, really like) will win a prize! Just leave it in the comments section along with your email address. I'll decide on a winner by next Saturday when I post again.
(If your comment doesn't show up, don't stress, Weebly are having some glitches but all comments go to my email and leaving the comment on facebook doesn't count =) You have to visit here)

From next week I'm hoping to start up some Author interviews with friends of mine so stay tuned for the first one...

Now I have to go and paint my toenails a beautiful sparkly pewter colour to go with my dress for tomorrow. Have a great weekend and week, and good luck with the Trick or Treating!!
]]><![CDATA[Putting it to the vote!]]>Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:33:22 +0700http://bronwynstuart.weebly.com/1/post/2009/10/putting-it-to-the-vote.htmlGood morning fellow humans.

Now that I finally feel human again after my surgery I started thinking about what to write next. My historical is finished and sitting with two agents. I finished the final edits on a blaze and then queried that too. Now I have the enviable position of choosing what to write next. It's a very tough decision and the wrong choice could see me struggling.

So I decided to find out what you want to read. If it's historical, do you want it dark and sexy, dark and emotional, light and fun? Do you want a virginal heroine or a courtsesan or someone entirely different? No question that the hero is going to be hot, sinful and in charge of everything and everyone. (I won't write a wussy hero).
If you like contemporary, what kind of settings do you like? Far away and exotic (depending on where you live) or just somewhere the scenery is beautiful? I can do snow country with the heroine curled up in front of the fire while the hero...

Anyway. I want to know what you want and what you like. A little mystery, a murder? A secret? Leave me a comment on the end of this blog and I'll try to accommodate you =) Well, not maybe not everyone and please try to keep it clean and above the waistline in terms of a hero.

I have plenty of idea's and the one I really want to write is only in the planning phase and already my hero lacks true motivation so I have to wait for inspiration before I can start that one. Maybe I will write a short story with everyone's suggestions intermingled and I'll post it over the next few weeks a chapter at a time. Hmm. That sounds like fun!

Okay, so off to it! I have heaps more editing to do on another Blaze but I'll keep checking back to see how our story is panning out. Have a nice day!
]]><![CDATA[Time for a rant!]]>Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:29:19 +0700http://bronwynstuart.weebly.com/1/post/2009/10/time-for-a-rant.htmlFor weeks now I've blogged about writing and my life. Well, now it's time for a rant. I'm going to apologise in advance if I upset anyone, it's more my aim to rant about the injustice of the healthcare system.

Here goes...

Plastic surgery. It's still quite a taboo subject in Australia. When I announced I was thinking about plastic surgery all I got was, 'why would you do that', 'you can't afford it', 'what for', and my favourite lie, 'you don't need it'.

It's all crap!

Why the hell is plastic surgery so easily accessible and cheap if we weren't meant to seek it out and make ourselves feel better about the little things we can't change with diet and excersise?
If I was 150 kilos and thinking about lipo or lapbanding, everyone would be congratulating me and doing a happy dance. I say I'm getting my boobs done and it's, 'you're mad'. Well maybe I am. Maybe the fact that if I put my arms in the air down at the beach, I would be mistaken for a surf board wearing a bathing suit! Maybe it's because I did the right thing and breastfed both of my babies leaving me with nothing more than, what one person so adequately described, mosquito bites on my chest. I know this is way too much information for some people but that's just too bad. Some things just need to be ranted about.

I couldn't count on both hands and feet how many times it has been suggested that I 'put on a few more kilos'. No thankyou very much. If I can pay my bills and avoid serving up cat food for dinner why can't I do something for myself that is going to make me feel sexier and more like a woman and less like a frumpy, flat chested flamingo? (I am tall and reasonable slim). And this brings me to the real heart of my rant. Why is that the Australian government will pay for lapbanding, tummy tucks, breast lifts, and lipo for the morbidly and deathly obese, yet for someone like me who's worked hard done all the right things in life, paid my taxes, given to charity, stayed healthy and slim, I get nothing! Just because I'm not killing myself with cheeseburgers (you wouldn't know it but I'm doing my best) and chips and coke and pizza, so that means I don't qualify for a little help from Medicare? This operation is costing me close to $10,000, and yes I heard your intake of breath and a couple of swear words, but I can afford it. My partner and I work hard for a living. He works seven days a week most weeks and lately I've been working five nights a week. I deserve to be able to do something that will benefit me as a person, as a mum and most of all as a woman.

Now I sound like I'm trying to justify the cost, the unnecassary risk of having a surgery no one thinks I need. Why isn't it enough that I want it? If only my critics knew that I've gone to sleep with a smile on my face for the last three weeks. I'm happy dancing all over the place just thinking about it. Like a teenager who's dreamed of a sports car and finally the flash of red paint is in sight.

So, on Wednesday morning, I will be going to get my new chest puppies =) I'm going to enjoy them, I'm going to revel in the feeling of finally being sexy and wearing nice clothes without the three layers of tank tops and push up bras.

Now I'm going to ask for support, well wishes and if you're the praying type, I'll accept prayers. I want to say to everyone who knows me personally, I want this and I'm doing it. I don't need permission, I don't care about negative vibes but please be nice...

I can bite!



Now last of all and on a completely different and happier note. I want to throw out a good luck and congratulations to my big brother and his beautiful bride who are tying the know today in a gorgeous old church in Rose Park. I know it's going to be a great day (despite the steady drizzle that just started) and you're going to have a fantastic life together!!]]><![CDATA[Hold the cringe-worthy please!]]>Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:40:33 +0700http://bronwynstuart.weebly.com/1/post/2009/09/hold-the-cringe-worthy-please.htmlDo not read this post if you are a child or very immature!! Contains sexual references!





Okay. Picture this. You’re reading the latest book from one of your favourite authors. You’re loving it, the heroine is someone you can root for, the hero melts your heart and set your loins afire until you’re wishing for a hunk like that of your own... And then this happens.

She felt him plunge deeper, deeper than ever before, so deep she could almost feel him in the back of her throat.

I’m not going to quote and I’m definitely not going to name names but seriously. Something like this was in a historical I was reading, only a couple of chapters after the heroine takes the hero into her mouth and then into her throat. It made me wonder if the author (fantastic woman and great books) has been watching porn. With each novel lately the sex scenes get longer and longer and longer. I don’t know about you, but for me, writing a sex scene is about the sensual touches and the lead up, it’s about the connection you can only get by being one with another person. Sure I have sex in em, I’ve got two blazes on the hard drive, but none of my women would ever think like this, especially not during the act. Whatever happened to the simple stuff?

But then you get stuff like this...

(This is coming...) Bit anti-climactic but I was going to put a paragraph from True Blood, the first book. An awesome bit about a lamb and a wolf but I can’t find the book...

And your faith in good writing from a fairly new author is renewed. (or would be if I could find the damn thing!)

But isn’t that what it’s all about? You like this, I like that, I hate this and you absolutely love that. I’ve met so many people who hated Twilight (mostly because they watched the movie and just didn’t get it) but then I can’t read a John Grisham or a Nora Roberts or a Danielle Steele. I’m firmly seated, front row on the Twilight bandwagon. Every time I see the trailer for New Moon, I have to remind myself that the book is in the room with a light-sleeping two year old and that I have other things to do.

Yes! I do have some will power.

What makes you cringe? What would you as a writer never write? I could never write sweet. I can’t read them, I can’t even look at them. I get angry just thinking of the last one I read so I just don’t go there. I certainly will never bag anyone who does because we are all just so lucky that so many writers and readers have differing tastes. How boring would it be if we didn’t? Selling a book would be easy, writing one wouldn’t be so hard and they would be as cheap as chips. But where would that leave me? I’ve spent the last eight months (not so long when you add up the hours instead of the days) slogging my guts out over my historical. Imagine my horror of if I only got paid peanuts for it and then everyone said, ‘Yeah, I liked it’.

Well, I love it! I love my story, my characters, my setting. I want to get paid good money for it and then I want to share it with women (and some men) everywhere. Writers don’t write for peanuts and for good reason. What we (yes I’m throwing myself in this basket) do is freakin hard! Selling what we have, getting your heel in the door, it’s even harder. Every day I have to convince an agent or a publisher that what I have is unique, that my story hasn’t been done before or it’s a fresh twist on something that has.

It’s exhausting. My eyes hurt. I’m sitting here at the crack of dawn after finishing work at 11pm last night writing my blog so I can get my name out there. I get RSI in my arms because I don’t sit properly but you know what? I wouldn’t have it any other way. This is my love. It took me 25 years to figure out my place in the world and now I’ve found it. I’m going to be an author. I’m going to have my name printed on the front of a novel and I’m going to be damn good at it!

*grins and shrugs sheepishly*

Now I just have to convince one of the two agents who have my partial in their trays that I’m passionate and I can do it.

Maybe I’ll send them a copy of the blog...

]]><![CDATA[When is a good time to throw in the towel?]]>Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:41:50 +0700http://bronwynstuart.weebly.com/1/post/2009/09/when-is-a-good-time-to-throw-in-the-towel.html
I have two trains of thought on giving up and walking away. Actually make that three. The first is when to give up on a manuscript that just won't work, won't sell or gives you the heeby jeebies. Do you think there comes a time when an author simply has to admit defeat, say the manuscript demon won and toss it?

Never!!

Put it away for a few months or a few years. I'm one of these people that gets hit with the inspiration brick. I can try all I want to force the ideas and imagination it takes to come up with passionate, romantic stories and loveable characters but all I end up with is crap. One day I'll be changing a nappy or driving down the street to get bread or even having a shower and all of a sudden, my light bulb turns on and I have something to work with. If you know me, I sometimes walk around in a daze, with (apparently) a grr face. I'm not angry or about to kick your butt. I'm getting an idea and the amount of energy and concentration hurts! So many people that don't read romance (or anything intelligent for that matter) think writing romance is sooo easy and that it doesn't take brains or talent.

Oh how wrong these losers are! I want to hit them in their narrow minded heads and tell them to give it a go. I know some women who took 10-15 years to get published and others who did it early or with their first books but then after a run, something happens. Your agent quits, moves, runs out of cash or dies. Your publisher goes belly up or gets bought out by one of the larger houses and they 'no longer think you fit'. This game is a hard one!

This brings to me to my next train of thought, now that I've waffled a bit. When should you consider changing genres or your targeted line?  If you write for Mills and Boon or Harlequin and you know you definitely want a certain line, ie Blaze.
I have two contemporary manuscripts nearly ready to be submitted and while I would love it if both of them turned up with a red cover and a hunk on the front, I know one probably fits better with Sexy or Presents. Make sure you read the lines you want to target. If you aren't having any luck with Regency but you've read hundreds of Georgian or Victorian novels, write one of them! Stick with what you know. If you try to write all the time and never read anything, how will you know the current trends? You could be trying to write a bosom heaving, corset busting, manhood, steely member type of thing only to find they went out with the 80's along with so many other faux pas. If what you're doing just isn't working, put it away and try something else.

Now for that third train... When is it truly time to give up on writing and your dream of becoming an author?

Never, ever, ever, ever!!

Don't let anyone tell you, you can't do it! I recently heard a story from Mary Jo Putney at the RWAus conference and it went a little something like this...

A violinist went to a performance of someone famous (would help if I could remember the name). After the show he went back stage and asked the famous man to hear him play. the celeb said 'sure why not' and listened while the violinist played. At the end of the piece the celeb told him he was very good but that he just didn't have what it took to make it.
So the man went off and was very successful in his day job and his family forgetting about his dream to become famous. Many years later he saw the celeb again and asked him why he'd thought he didn't have what it took. The celeb then said...
"If you had it, you wouldn't have listened to me. You would have worked and worked and worked and you would have made it." (I took a lot of free licence on this :P )

So there you have it. Never give up. If you want it bad enough, take every rejection and build a bridge. Climb over the hurdles and change what isn't working for you. Enter competitions, send out queries and with each new batch of criticism and comments, work on it. Hone your craft until you get 'the call'. Nothing in life is easy and this won't be either. If it was, there would be no satisfaction at the end, you wouldn't get paid for it and every Joe Blow and Tom, Dick and Harry would be published and the quality of books with take a nose dive off a cliff.

Keep at it, work your butt off and one day you will succeed.

Now to take my own advice and finish the damn book so I can indulge in my current obsession for vampires and Twilight (thankyou Stehpanie Meyer). Until next week...  
]]><![CDATA[Hmm...]]>Sat, 12 Sep 2009 02:03:16 +0700http://bronwynstuart.weebly.com/1/post/2009/09/hmm.htmlOkay. So opportunity is busy elsewhere at the moment and I have been too. Getting my submissions ready from the RWAus conference and then sending them off. Competition entry's for Australian comps. And then there's work, housework, study and ferrying the brats. I wrote 9000 words last week and did some editing so I haven't been completely dormant. I am sick with a cold, courtesy of my two year old so my brain isn'
]]><![CDATA[Can you hear it?]]>Sat, 29 Aug 2009 02:46:16 +0700http://bronwynstuart.weebly.com/1/post/2009/08/can-you-hear-it.htmlYes, that's the sound of opportunity knocking. Well, actually it's banging my door down but when I finally get up to answer it, there isn't anyone there... I feel a presence, I know there was an opportunity but like always I missed out.

Not this time!

This time, I'm going to throw the door wide and tell it to wait a sec, I'm learning, I'm there, I really am!

This last week I have been up to eyeballs revising my first three chapters for Melissa Jeglinski (the Knight agent who requested a partial) and working on my synopsis. What a pain in the bum! But at the same time, I will be ready to submit direct to Avon and then work on getting one of my Blaze's off to Toronto for consideration. Two years, I have been writing full time and I have only subbed one thing to one publisher. It's time I pulled my finger out and put my work out there for more than just the odd comp.

Seriously though, I am hearing it a lot lately... 'I haven't subbed because...', 'I want to but...'. Same old excuses, same old everything. How do we get ourselves published if we let fear rule our every action? If you don't love your book, they won't either. Just have faith that you can do it and they will love it, and if they don't, their loss. Make sure you work on the critisms especially when you hear the same thing from a few different people. And don't let it get you down! If one publisher says, 'I liked it but..." work on the but. If it isn't their cup of tea, send it to someone else. Have a brutally honest friend or crit partner go over it to make sure you crossed your t's and dotted your i's. And for God's sake, don't send it until it's ready. You need to be 200% sure it's perfect before you hit send or lick that stamp.

There are opportunities everywhere, you just need to get off your but and answer the door!
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